Miami police said officers were called to the 3800 block of Oak Avenue at about 1:55 a.m.

Police said when officers arrived, they reported hearing gunshots in the area and later found a person who had been shot.

They said Miami Fire Rescue personnel transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s emergency room.

The age, gender, identity, or condition of the victim was not immediately released.

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

The 114th-ranked Polish player Maja Chwalinska is attempting to become the first qualifier to capture the Roland Garros title.

At 19, eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva of Russia is bidding to become the youngest player to win the women’s singles title since Monica Seles was 18 when she landed her third straight French Open in 1992.

The final on the red clay of Court Philippe-Chatrier starts at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT; 9 a.m. ET).

Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli in the men’s final on Sunday to conclude the wildest Grand Slam in recent memory.

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

The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike nine people from the list, including three women and two Black men, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not permitted to be released publicly.

As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service's midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.

The Associated Press spoke with eight female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth's cuts, which were reported earlier by The New York Times, became public. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from their superiors.

The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn't part of the intent.

The Pentagon has not offered any rationale on why the women, or any of the other six people, were removed from the promotion list.

The Pentagon says promotions are based on merit

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's top spokesman, said on social media this week that “military promotions are given to those who have earned them” and that the Pentagon “will never consider the color of a service member’s skin or their gender as a factor in promotions." The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request seeking further comment.

The Navy's process for choosing which officers to promote to the one-star rank has been relatively constant and transparent over the years. The service convenes a group of officers, called a promotion board, that examines the records of eligible officers and chooses the most qualified.

The board that selected the initial slate of 31 officers for promotion was directed by then-Navy Secretary John Phelan, an appointee of President Donald Trump, to “recommend for promotion the best qualified officers within their respective competitive category.”

The order from Phelan, who later abruptly departed his post in April, said the board should consider an officer's performance, competence and character, among other traits, as part of those qualifications.

It also said that given China's prominence in the Trump administration's National Defense Strategy, “special consideration shall be given to officers who have excelled in their knowledge of the political military affairs and U.S. strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and operational contingency planning for Indo-Pacific war plans.”

Hegseth has long argued, without offering evidence, that women in the military benefit from preferential treatment and are not suited for combat roles.

"For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth told hundreds of military leaders in September.

The approach, he asserted, made the Pentagon “less capable and less lethal.”

Navy leaders and other top officials had approved promotion list

Phelan's order said the Navy cannot discriminate based on criteria such as race and sex, and it specifically noted that “this guidance shall not be interpreted as requiring or permitting preferential treatment of any officer or group of officers on the grounds of race, religion, color, sex.”

The full list of 31 people to be promoted was approved by Phelan, other Navy leaders and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, before it reached Hegseth, who chose to make the changes, the defense official said.

While Hegseth is within his rights to intervene in the list, “it’s just not the norm,” said Katherine Kuzminski, a researcher specializing in military recruiting and retention at the Center for New American Security think tank.

Kuzminski noted that “this is a decision that’s not being made by the U.S. Navy — it’s being made by the secretary of defense” and said Hegseth's growing interference in operational aspects of the military services such as promotions is creating “tension" about what “normal” will look like going forward.

Some of the more senior Navy officers who spoke with the AP expressed concerns about the message it sends to the next generation of young sailors.

In addition to pulling the recent promotions of three women to admiral, Hegseth shortly after he took office fired Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the service's top officer and the first woman to hold the job. He never explained his rationale.

Since then, he also has fired two other female three-star admirals without explanation.

Some of the officers who spoke to the AP said that while they were encouraging female sailors to stick with the Navy, they acknowledged that message is coming at a difficult time.

Kuzminski said the rhetoric and actions surrounding women in the military “affects individual service member decision-making and it also affects family unit decision-making,” including whether people make a career of the military.

Kuzminski said that following the monthslong hold on military promotions by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., during the Biden administration, surveys showed that partisan politics spilling into the day-to-day lives of troops affected their decision-making.

One officer said this impact was not confined to women.

In conversations with other sailors in her unit, she said that male sailors were hesitant to deal with what appears to be a growing politicization of simply following the orders of previous administrations.

FWC officials on Saturday said their officers were notified by the Hollywood Police Department on Thursday about the fatal incident.

Investigators said two fishermen spotted the victim in the surf near Hollywood Beach and called law enforcement at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The victim was identified by authorities as 31-year-old Kellie Melinda Williams.

FWC officials later confirmed Williams “had injuries consistent with a vessel strike.”

Williams, who was born in California and lived in South Florida, was an American Airlines flight attendant and experienced swimmer who had recently married. She disappeared while snorkeling Wednesday near Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Dania Beach, according to authorities.

Investigators said her body later washed ashore on Hollywood Beach, where witnesses reported seeing fishermen pull her from the water. The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her cause of death was blunt force injuries.

FWC officials said the investigation remains active and that a full report will be available through a public records request once the case is completed.

The agency also extended its sympathies to Williams’ family and loved ones.

The FWC is asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about what happened to call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 888-404-3922. Tips can be submitted anonymously.

As the Misterwives started to play, the drums and saxophones blared from the trembling speakers. Shires soaked in the music — but on the way home, a different sound played in her ears.

“The half hour after the show my ears were like, ‘Are we okay?’” said Shires, a social media coordinator from Houston. “There was some ringing going on.”

Concerts offer that rare, visceral opportunity to hear your favorite song sung live — really really loud — and scream the lyrics alongside diehard fans. Quieting the music with a pair of earplugs might seem to undermine the whole point.

But experts say earplugs turn the volume down, not off. And more young people — Shires included — are embracing them, taking a simple step to protect their ears for many more concerts to come. To overcome concerns some might have about coming across as a killjoy, there are fashion-forward options with attached earrings and bling that blend the plugs more seamlessly with concert attire.

“People think that we are young and invincible, and that’s true to a certain extent,” said Asia Pon, an audiologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, who goes to concerts — and wears earplugs at them. “But repeated exposure over time can certainly accumulate and lead to permanent damage in the long run.”

Earplugs protect against long-term hearing damage

It takes a combination of loud noise and time to damage hearing, experts say. Starting at around 85 decibels — similar to city traffic — hearing can be damaged with prolonged, hourslong listening. The noise at concerts — from both the giant speakers and screaming fans — is often far above that level. The louder the noise, the less time it takes to hurt your ears.

The inner ear is filled with tiny, fragile hair cells that convert sound waves into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.

Pon said to think of the those cells like a field of grass. If trampled once, the blades bend over but eventually stand back up. “But if you keep walking across that same area again and again, eventually that grass doesn’t bounce back,” she said.

Permanently damaged hair cells can lead to longer-term problems like tinnitus and hearing loss.

Ringing happens when hair cells get temporarily stressed from loud noise. But, listen up: No ringing doesn't necessarily mean there's no damage.

Even a simple pair of earplugs can get the job done — if they fit

Many concert venues and festivals offer free earplugs at their guest services desk and there are several over-the-counter options at retail and drugstores.

When picking a pair of earplugs, look for a noise reduction rating, typically labeled NRR on packaging, between 15 and 30 decibels. That strikes a good balance between enjoying the music and protecting the ears.

If the plugs don't fit, they won't do their job — so make sure to find a snug pair. To insert foam earplugs, Pon said to straighten the ear canal by pulling the ear up and back. Roll the plug up and pinch it tight before inserting it as deep as it'll go. Then, hold the plug in place with your finger until you feel the plug expand.

After the plugs are in, look in the mirror and make sure there aren't large chunks sticking out. Play music or watch TV at home to see how it sounds.

If it's tough to find snug earplugs at the store, concertgoers can also see an audiologist and get fitted for a custom pair. While more expensive, these typically include filters that are adjustable based on the venue and are reusable. Foam plugs shouldn't be worn more than once.

Earplugs don't make concerts sound worse

When Shires wore her first pair of earplugs to see the alternative pop band Valley, she wasn't sure what to expect. It took a little adjusting to, but soon everything smoothed out and she could hear the music clearly with some of the crowd noise filtered.

“After the first few songs, it's like they weren't even there. I was just enjoying the show,” she said. Now, she keeps them in a case attached to her keys and has worn them to see many of her favorite artists including Hayley Williams and Taylor Swift. Many of her concert-going friends wear earplugs too, and she gets asked about them by the friends who don't wear them.

If your ears feel clogged or muffled or ringing persists in the days or weeks following a concert, consider seeing an audiologist to get a hearing test. Also see a doctor if you experience more severe symptoms like dizziness, pain or ear drainage.

A slight change to a concert's sound now can preserve hearing for the future. Audiologist Meaghan Reed with Massachusetts Eye and Ear often sees patients who tell her that music doesn’t sound as clear or natural as it used to.

“It might have a temporary impact of your enjoyment of the music right now, but it’s offset by saving your ability to hear music in the future,” Reed said.

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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.

Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.

In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.

Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit.” He maintains that he is innocent.

Trump used his Truth Social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011. He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial and in 2016 he served on Trump’s transition team focusing on veterans’ issues.

A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s trial.

“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.

A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.

Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.

The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. The pardons do not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as act of mercy or justice.

According to Miami police, a ShotSpotter alert was detected near Northwest Second Avenue and 38th Street around 10 p.m.

Investigators said the driver was struck in the shoulder while transporting a passenger.

They said despite being wounded, the driver continued north and called police from the area of Northwest Fifth Avenue and 46th Street.

Miami Fire Rescue medics transported both the driver and passenger to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, according to police. The passenger may have suffered a graze wound, they said.

While responding to the shooting, a Miami police sergeant was involved in a separate crash after another vehicle ran a stop sign, authorities confirmed.

Police said the sergeant’s patrol vehicle overturned in the collision. The sergeant was not seriously injured but was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

Authorities have not released information about a suspect or what may have led to the shooting.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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

According to Reuters, Castro appeared at an Interior Ministry event in Havana, Cuba, and was shown on Cuban state television.

The Trump administration accuses Castro of ordering the Cuban Air Force’s shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessna 337 Skymasters that departed from Opa-locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996. Investigators said four people were killed in the shootdown.

Castro was indicted by a Miami federal grand jury on April 23. The superseding indictment remained sealed until it was publicly announced on May 20.

Reuters reported that Castro, who turned 95 on Wednesday, was last seen publicly during May Day celebrations in Havana, shortly before the indictment was announced.

Before that, he had not appeared in public since Jan. 15, when he attended a ceremony honoring 32 Cuban soldiers killed during the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The case stems from one of the deadliest incidents involving Cuban exile groups and remains a source of tension between the United States and Cuba nearly three decades later.

President Emmanuel Macron confirmed her death Saturday, saying he and his wife Brigitte had learned with “great sadness” of the passing of a woman who marked French history beside Jacques Chirac, who died in 2019, and changed the lives of millions of patients through her charitable work.

“A great lady of the heart has departed,” Macron said.

For more than half a century, Chirac was the fixed point in her late husband’s restless climb — through Parliament, two terms as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and, in 1995, the presidency.

She appears in the official photographs with her chin lifted, blond hair lacquered into place, a small handbag on her arm, looking less like a spouse than like an institution.

But the caricature never quite contained her.

The Chanel suits, dark glasses, nasal voice and withering judgments became part of the national image.

Beneath them was a relentless worker and a cold-eyed political operator who, almost alone among the wives of French presidents, built a base of power that was her own.

She was born Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chodron de Courcel on May 18, 1933, in Paris, into money, lineage and Catholic duty.

Her father’s family included soldiers, industrialists and diplomats; an uncle had served as an aide to Charles de Gaulle in wartime London.

But her life would be most marked by her time at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, where she met Jacques Chirac, a handsome and much-courted young man whose appetite for politics would come to define them both.

They married in March 1956. The union lasted 63 years and was, by her own account, a long lesson in endurance.

Jacques Chirac was famous for his warmth, appetite and instinctive connection with crowds. Bernadette’s gifts were different, observers said.

She was controlled, socially formidable, devout, exacting and sometimes devastatingly funny.

The Catholic philosopher Jean Guitton called her the “last queen of France,” and she did little to discourage the idea.

Her husband’s reputation as a womanizer was an open secret she chose, after much pain, to meet with dry humor.

Swarmed by photographers in Corrèze in 1998 — after rumors that Jacques Chirac had been unreachable the night Princess Diana died because he was with an actress — she stepped from her car and deadpanned: “Calm down. I’m not Claudia Cardinale. Or Lollobrigida.”

“At first, it was hard. I was very heartbroken, and then I got used to it,” she said years later in a television documentary.

“I told myself that was how things were and that I had to accept it with as much dignity as possible.”

Sent to tend her husband’s rural stronghold in Corrèze while he pursued power in Paris, she did far more than tend it. In 1971, she was elected municipal councilor in Sarran. In 1979, she became a general councilor in Corrèze and held the seat until 2015.

Her influence grew after Jacques Chirac became president in 1995. The role of first lady in France has no constitutional power, but she made the Élysée a place where her approval mattered.

She could be loyal, cutting and unforgiving, and understood that campaigns are made not only of speeches and polls but of debts, slights and resentments.

Yet she also carved out a space for female authority inside a male political culture that had little interest in sharing power — making it quietly clear that she would not be reduced to “the wife of.”

Her deepest grief stayed mostly private.

The Chiracs’ elder daughter, Laurence, developed severe anorexia after meningitis in adolescence and attempted suicide more than once. She never fully recovered and died in 2016 at 58.

That ordeal pushed Chirac toward the charitable work that reshaped her public image.

In 1994, she took over a medical charity that collected coins for children in hospitals. To millions of French viewers, the woman once mocked for hauteur became the face of hospitalized children and families living around hospital beds.

She continued running it until 2019, when she handed it to Brigitte Macron, the wife of France's current president, and became honorary president.

By then, she had long since become a political force in her own name.

“My husband no longer does politics, but I do,” she said to journalists, after Jacques Chirac left office in 2007.

She famously nicknamed Dominique de Villepin, the Élysée official she distrusted, “Nero,” yet also reportedly helped engineer her husband’s reconciliation with Nicolas Sarkozy, the former protégé who had betrayed him politically.

Her 2001 memoir, “Conversation,” written with journalist Patrick de Carolis, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and introduced the French to a franker, funnier and more independent woman than many had assumed.

After Jacques Chirac left the Élysée, his health declined and his public voice faded. Hers remained sharper for longer. Asked how he was, according to French media, she answered in her flat, unmistakable voice: “He keeps the dog.”

Age and grief eventually drew her out of public view.

By the time Jacques Chirac died in 2019, she was too fragile to take part in the public farewell where France and foreign leaders honored him.

Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny is performing two shows of his 10-concert Spanish tour in the Spanish capital.

Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane, Leo acknowledged the Bad Bunny draw when he referred to anecdotal reports of a newfound spiritual awakening especially among young people in Spain.

The American pope said he understood that young adults are sensing a lack of meaning in their lives and mused that his visit might help “awaken” something in them.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

Leo on Saturday is opening a weeklong visit to Spain that, after Madrid, will also take him to Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He’s hoping to bring a message of unity in a country polarized with political and church scandals.

Leo was also asked about news that plans are moving ahead for his beloved Chicago Bears to move to Hammond, Indiana. The board of the team voted this week to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond.

Asked if he had any words of consolation for Illinois, the Chicago-born pope quipped: “That’s out of my pay (scale).”

In other sporting comments, Leo confirmed he would root for the U.S. in the upcoming World Cup but showed his true team colors when asked about whether he would root in Spain for Real Madrid or Barca: “That’s easy,” he said. “The pope is for all teams, but Prevost is Real Madrid,” he said, referring to his birth name.

Kuwait's foreign ministry called the attacks a “serious escalation” and a “flagrant violation of its sovereignty." It said on Saturday that it reserves the right to defend the country.

The statements came hours after the U.S. military said it shot down Iranian ballistic missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies on Friday, while striking some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response, an exchange of fire that further frayed a shaky ceasefire with Tehran.

The exchange of strikes comes as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran to make a deal to end the conflict.

U.S. Central Command said on social media Friday night that Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, with U.S. forces intercepting six of the missiles and a seventh failing to reach its target. The military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.

The ballistic missiles were fired after the U.S. earlier in the day shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward the Strait of Hormuz.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said on social media.

Kuwait’s military said forces were intercepting missiles and drones attacking the country, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location and follow official instructions.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the tiny Gulf island nation of Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The U.S. military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments, which has sent energy prices spiking and posed political problems for President Donald Trump's Republican Party ahead of the midterm congressional elections.

U.S. Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, “to defend against further attacks.”

Trump promises a quick end to US-Iran conflict

It was the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend that truce. Earlier this week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield.

Despite the attacks raising new concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, Trump told reporters Friday that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well.”

“We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way,” Trump said at an event with farmers in Wisconsin. “The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we’re going to come out, and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.”

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in on a conflict that has settled into a holding pattern. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But Trump has called for unspecified changes and Iranian officials have shown no public signs of signing off on the deal.

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” it was because “it’s a very hard thing for them.”

“There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” he said in the interview.

Trump said the Iranians still have 21% to 22% of their missiles.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue

His administration also has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to this week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group has rejected the agreement and new attacks have put it at further risk.

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed nine people including three members of the Lebanese military, the Lebanese army and state media said. Israel's military said it was reviewing the incident. It said that it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.

On Friday, the Israeli military struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the fighting. Nine people were killed, the state news agency reported.

The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, in an encounter Friday with militants in southern Lebanon.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, also threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz because Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon.

Besides the drone interception in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said earlier Friday that its forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean as the United States seeks to prevent Iran from profiting off its oil and other goods.

The U.S. also targeted Iran’s energy sector with new sanctions on a group of people, firms and tankers.

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Price reported from Bridgewater, NJ.

An airstrike on a vehicle on a road linking the city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun killed a brigadier general, a captain and another soldier, the army said, without immediately releasing their names. Another airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyah killed six people and wounded four, state-run National News Agency said.

“The continued, deliberate, and repeated Israeli aggression against Lebanon, its people and its army only strengthens our resolve, faith and determination," the army said in its statement.

It said Israel's attacks aim to thwart all efforts “to reach a solution that would restore stability, establish a comprehensive ceasefire and lead to the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.”

The Israeli military confirmed hitting a vehicle and said the incident is being reviewed. The statement added that the vehicle was “moving suspiciously” toward Israeli soldiers near the village of Kfar Tibnit, after the military received “concrete indications” that Hezbollah would direct fire toward Israeli soldiers from the same area.

The military said that it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called the strike “a flagrant violation to Lebanese sovereignty and international law.” He said it came in the context of “ongoing escalation that threatens stability and security in the south (of Lebanon), despite the efforts Lebanon is exerting in the Washington negotiations to put an end to the ongoing Israeli attacks without deterrent.”

The latest ceasefire announced in Washington came about through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. Hezbollah has refused the truce.

On Friday, Aoun and Lebanon's prime minister criticized Iran for opposing the latest ceasefire deal between the Lebanese government and Israel, saying their country should not be used by Tehran as a “bargaining chip” in its talks with Washington.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded in a post on X on Saturday by saying that after Aoun's comments, “one would think it’s Iran that has occupied a fifth of Lebanon, displaced a quarter of Lebanese and is bombing his country on daily basis.”

“Had Lebanon been a bargaining chip for Iran, we’d have a deal long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President,” Araghchi said in reference to Israel.

The war began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. began their attacks on Iran. Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon and carried out wide attacks that have displaced more than 1 million people.

Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing further into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov advised the residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while Regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.

“Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region – to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote of the attack on X.

Although no casualties were immediately reported, the renewed attack on St. Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

A Ukrainian drone strike set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin’s annual showcase for investment.

Speaking at the forum, Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over the event in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Zelenskyy for a face-to-face meeting on the four-year-old conflict, saying he sees “no point” in it. Thursday’s letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power, as well as some taunts about his age.

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes.

In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

In Zaporizhzhia, seven people sought medical care after a Russian drone strike started a fire at a parking lot, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

Russia targeted Ukraine overnight with 272 strike drones, and air defenses shot down 249 of them, the Ukrainian air force said Saturday.

The 24-year-old right-hander didn't allow a hit through 4 1/3 innings and had a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings in a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.

Sasaki notched his first career scoreless start after 18 previous starts. He threw 98 pitches, 72 for strikes, generating his second-best strike percentage of 73.5% in a start. He reached 100.4 mph.

“He went through some tough times and some doubts,” manager Dave Roberts said, “but he’s gotten to the other side.”

Roberts sent Sasaki back out for the seventh inning to see how the youngster would respond in a scoreless game. Sasaki retired the side, striking out two.

“He was on the attack, he didn't run,” Roberts said. “That shows a lot of growth.”

Sasaki was expected to be the next big thing coming out of Nippon Professional Baseball. But he failed to crack the Dodgers' starting rotation as a rookie. His sad face and teary eyes in his U.S. debut was shown on Japanese television, triggering some unflattering reaction on social media and around baseball.

“We all felt sorry for him,” Roberts recalled.

Sasaki's poor body language on the mound tipped opposing hitters to a lack of confidence, too.

He then missed 4 1/2 months with shoulder issues before returning as the team's closer during its postseason run to a second straight World Series.

But he arrived to spring training and walked 15 batters, again raising concerns about his ability to perform as a starter and shaking his confidence.

Over the last month, however, Sasaki has built consistency thanks to a harder splitter that touches 90 mph and complements his fastball and slider as well as improving his command.

“There is an adjustment with the ball that he had to make with his grip,” Roberts said. “You can see his demeanor on the mound. There’s just no more doubt and uncertainty."

Sasaki lowered his ERA to 4.03 and he has a 1.48 ERA over his last four starts.

“I'm just doing small things all the time, and I just keep building on it,” he said through a translator.

The Dodgers beat the Angels on Freeman's sixth career walkoff home run after both teams had three hits apiece.

“Roki has really turned the corner here and it’s fun to watch,” Freeman said, “especially after last year grinding, coming back as a bullpen guy. He just looks great out there.”

Freeman and catcher Will Smith are among a clubhouse full of teammates rooting for Sasaki to succeed on a team in which his fellow Japanese — two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — set high standards.

“You can see the care factor, the drive he’s got,” Smith said. “It’s good to see the benefits right now.”

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Sam Fahd Abu Haikal was killed Friday evening, and his parents were wounded while driving in the Tel Rumeida area south of Hebron City, according to the ministry.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the baby was critically wounded after being struck in the face by the same bullet that injured his mother. He later died of his injuries. His father, Fahd Abu Haikal, a lecturer at Bethlehem University, was shot in the hand. They were traveling from Bethlehem to visit family in Hebron when soldiers opened fire, the agency reported.

Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 people and took 251 people hostage, which triggered the war in Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has so far killed more than 72,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations said last month that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, at least 240 of them children.

The Israeli military said Friday soldiers shot at a vehicle that was perceived to be accelerating toward them in the Hebron area. It said the soldiers responded with single shots, wounding three Palestinians who were evacuated for medical treatment. An initial inquiry found that the wounded were uninvolved civilians and the situation is under review.

At Al-Ahly Hospital in Hebron, the baby’s father told Associated Press reporters that a bullet struck the car’s windshield before piercing his right hand, then his son and wife who were in the back seat. Another bullet struck the vehicle’s hood, according to AP reporters who saw the car.

His wife is in critical condition because there’s shrapnel close to her heart, he said. The family told her that her son, who turned seven months old on Friday, was killed, just before heading to funeral prayers.

The baby’s grandmother, Feryal Abu Heikal, was also in the car during the shooting and said they were driving near a checkpoint and stopped when they saw Israeli military vehicles and soldiers in the distance. As the forces fired at them, she initially thought it was warning shots before they were struck, she said.

“The scene was horrific to see a 7-month-old baby with a smashed face,” she said. “What kind of army in the world does this? ... What happened to my grandson can’t be easily forgotten."

The funeral service was held at noon at a nearby mosque. The tiny body was wrapped in the Palestinian flag as people lined up for prayers before taking him in an ambulance for burial. At the ambulance, Abu Haikal was seen crying and hugging the infant’s half-brother.

The British Consulate in Jerusalem said it was “shocked and saddened” by the Israeli killing of the baby, calling on X for an "immediate and transparent investigation and accountability.”

Also on Saturday, the Palestinian Red Crescent said eight people were wounded in settler attacks on the town of Huwara, near Nablus, including from tear gas inhalation and rubber-coated metal bullets.

In March, Israeli soldiers fired on a car carrying a family in the northern West Bank, killing four people, including two children, the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said at the time.

Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are rarely penalized and were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

——

Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt, and Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Freeman sent a 3-2 pitch from former Dodger reliever Kirby Yates (0-2) over the wall in deep center and was greeted by his teammates at home plate. Fans chanted “Freddie! Freddie!”

The Dodgers were on the losing end of a walkoff homer in Arizona on Thursday night. Freeman finished with two hits and a walk Friday.

Blake Treinen (3-1) got the win in relief with a scoreless ninth.

The Dodgers outscored the Angels 31-3 in winning the teams’ first three meetings this season. Friday’s series opener at Dodger Stadium was taut, with each team notching three hits.

Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki struck out a career-high 10 over seven scoreless innings. He didn't allow a hit until the fifth when Nick Madrigal doubled with one out. The Japanese right-hander lowered his ERA to 4.03.

Angels starter Reid Detmers matched Sasaki through three hitless innings of his own before Freeman singled in the fourth. The left-hander gave up two hits over six innings, struck out six and walked two.

Angels slugger Mike Trout was hitless in four at-bats, and struck out three times. His former teammate, Shohei Ohtani, didn't fare any better. The two-way superstar was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.

Up next

Angels RHP Jack Kochanowitz (2-4, 5.23 ERA) was set to start Saturday against Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-4, 2.86).

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“Very blurry,” Wembanyama said.

The San Antonio Spurs' situation, though, is very clear. They're in trouble. Big trouble. And Wembanyama pointed the finger of blame squarely at himself.

The Spurs had an epic comeback and an epic disaster in the same fourth quarter, falling to the New York Knicks 105-104 — after a finish that Wembanyama likely won't be able to forget anytime soon. The Spurs were down by 14 midway through the final quarter, went on a 14-0 run to tie the game, then briefly took the lead when Wembanyama had a three-point play with just under a minute left.

The score was tied with about 14 seconds remaining and it was best vs. best, the Knicks' Jalen Brunson against the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year in Wembanyama.

Brunson wanted to take a jumper from about 16 feet. The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama got an arm up, causing the Knicks' guard to put a little too much on the shot just to get it over the Frenchman's sky-high hand. It hit the back of the rim. Wembanyama got the rebound. The arena was buzzing. He saw Spurs teammate Stephon Castle and sent a pass his way. Problem was, Castle wasn't looking and it bounced off him. Brunson wound up with the ball and Wembanyama fouled him.

“I need to have more poise,” Wembanyama said. “More control over the game.”

Said Castle: “I was looking at him when he first got the rebound. I just started to take off to try to give him some space to dribble up the court. I didn’t see him throw it to me.”

It was a bad play. It wasn't fatal. Brunson missed one of the two free throws and the Knicks led by one. The Spurs called time. The last play was a pick-and-roll, De'Aaron Fox finding Wembanyama for a jumper from basically the same spot on the Spurs' end of the floor as Brunson tried at the other end moments earlier.

“He's made that shot a thousand times,” Castle said. “He has a game-winner with that shot this year. Yeah, I’ll take that shot every day.”

But it missed.

Game over. The Knicks stormed the floor in celebration. Wembanyama headed to the opposite tunnel, wondering how it went so wrong.

“I threw that one away. I messed up,” Wembanyama said. “We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game. This game was ours. But at this point, it’s done. Am I going to regret it? Yes, of course. Am I going to use that to fuel me and to fuel us next game? Absolutely.”

They'll need all the fuel they can get right now. The Spurs trail 2-0 and will fly Saturday to New York for Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Wednesday. They need to win one of those to keep the season alive, and they'll have to win twice at Madison Square Garden before this series ends if they're going to win the title.

History says that won't happen.

The Spurs jumped out to a quick lead and even resorted to the Hack-a-Mitch strategy — intentionally fouling the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson, who was the worst free throw shooter in the NBA (among those with at least 100 tries) in the regular season and has been even worse in the playoffs — in the first quarter, looking to disrupt New York’s offensive rhythm.

And even that didn’t really work. Robinson had missed nine of his last 10 free throws entering Friday; he went 3 for 6 from the line in the Hack-a-Mitch portion of the first half, which probably felt like bonus points for New York.

Those three points came in handy at the end of the night. And Robinson was the one who got a hand near Wembanyama on the Spurs' star's final shot, a neat twist in the eyes of Knicks coach Mike Brown.

“It started with Mitch and it ended with the other four guys boxing out,” Brown said. “So just a heck of a job by Mitch guarding the most iconic player in the world."

Wembanyama is the leading scorer in these finals, but he hasn’t been dominant. He’s averaging 27.5 points, though shooting only 41%. From 3-point range, he’s 4 for 15, or 27%. And he does have seven blocks, but the Knicks haven’t been afraid to go right at him, either. He had a very slow first half Friday night, taking only four shots in the opening two quarters.

That won't be enough Monday. The Spurs' best player needs to be the best player on the floor if San Antonio is going to get back into this series.

There's nothing blurry about that.

“We don’t feel like we played well or up to our standard at least in the last two games,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “New York has played very well and they’re a part of that. But we’re going to go into Game 3 (and) if we play our brand of basketball up to our standard, we’ll be just fine.”

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The Ugandan trader was awaiting clearance from authorities for trucks to pass through the Mpondwe border post on Thursday after they were prevented from entering or leaving Uganda as part of escalating measures to prevent cross-border Ebola contagion.

“Our things are here rotting,” she said.

On May 28, about two weeks after Congo declared an outbreak of Ebola in the eastern Ituri province, Uganda closed its western border in a decision that reflected growing fears of cross-border contagion. Exceptions were made only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, humanitarian, cargo or security reasons.

But in recent days, as the spread of Ebola in eastern Congo appeared to outpace the response, authorities in the Ugandan frontier district of Kasese have tightened the measures.

Traders say they are frustrated by the slow movement of cargo trucks. Some at the Mpondwe border post told The Associated Press that while they knew the tough measures are provoked by fear of Ebola contagion, they felt that holding up the trucks was excessive.

Sylvia Asiimwe, a clearing agent, pointed to the queue of trucks stretching over a mile on the Ugandan side. At least seven were carrying fish imported from China and destined for the Congolese cities of Beni and Butembo.

Asiimwe was adamant those Congolese towns are in the province of North Kivu, not the Ebola epicenter of Ituri. “The fish is going to spoil,” she said. “So much money.”

‘Ebola has wasted our work’

The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Trade is often booming along the route up to Mpondwe, and there is kinship between the Bakonzo people on the Ugandan side and the Banande on the other side.

Mpondwe is Uganda's top border post for informal exports that were valued at an estimated $131 million in 2023, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

After the recent border closure, some shops were shuttered and young men, deprived of casual work, sat on stools dolefully.

“The situation is bad,” said Ismail Mumbere, who often works as a vendor of roadside snacks on the Ugandan side. “A lot of people earn from here, in many businesses. But now the government has told us there is Ebola. Ebola has wasted our work.”

The current outbreak in Congo is suspected to have infected over 1,000 people. The number of confirmed cases is much lower because many suspected victims succumb to their symptoms outside hospitals and without firm proof they had Ebola.

Congolese authorities, as of Thursday, have confirmed 452 cases with 82 deaths in total. Seventy-one new cases were confirmed within 24 hours, which the authorities said is a sign of “active community transmission”.

The World Health Organization, while declaring the current outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, discouraged border closures. But the U.N. agency also acknowledged that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion.

“With movement of cargo, and maybe trucks, is mobility of people, and we want to reduce that,” said Arafat Bwambale, a surveillance officer for Kasese, defending the measures.

Officials were trying to stop Congolese nationals from crossing to Uganda by way of more than two dozen footpaths along the Mpondwe border, he said.

All available vaccines and treatments for Ebola don’t work for patients with the rare Bundibugyo type spreading in Congo, making the outbreak worrisome.

Ugandan authorities are cautious after 19 confirmed cases

Uganda has confirmed 19 Ebola cases, all linked to the outbreak in the neighboring country after some Congolese nationals sought treatment in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, before it was known there was an outbreak.

The disease was believed to have been spreading for days or weeks before the outbreak was declared May 15.

Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks of its own since 2000, when the disease killed more than 200 people.

Ebola, named for a tributary of the Congo River, was first discovered in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in Congo and present-day South Sudan. Outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, according to experts.

Once Ebola has infected one person, the virus then spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit.

Tracing and isolating contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of Ebola, in addition to getting medical workers proper protective equipment.

Bwambale, the surveillance officer, said the nearest referral hospital in Kasese has an isolation center and is equipped with a lab that can return results on a sample within six hours. In recent days, samples taken from 41 people in the Kasese area tested negative for Ebola, which manifests as hemorrhagic fever.

Still, authorities appeared to be planning more restrictions.

A meeting of the local Ebola task force was likely to come up with “a more restricted way on how both the cargo or the trucks get into the country in a systematic way,” Bwambale said.

That alarms traders for whom the Mpondwe border post is the primary route of business.

Masika, the plantain dealer, said she would not order more goods from Congo until the current outbreak was over. But she would be in trouble if the cargo already in transit didn’t reach various locations in and around Kampala, where the fruits, deep fried or boiled, are a staple of breakfast menus in restaurants.

Masika said she couldn’t countenance a loss of 50 bags, each worth roughly $44.

“We are begging them to help us and open (the border),” she said. “We will not go back to Congo.”

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Leo is expected to double down on his messages of unity amid polarization, peace as war rages, welcome for migrants and hope for young Spaniards in the era of artificial intelligence.

In a sign that the clergy sexual abuse crisis continues to overshadow papal trips, the Vatican confirmed late Friday that Leo would meet with survivors during his visit. The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up in the once-staunchly Catholic country.

Leo’s June 6-12 visit, the first to Spain by a pope in 15 years, has three distinct chapters, in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, each with its own focus.

But Leo isn’t the only VIP who'll be paralyzing much of Madrid this weekend. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is holding two shows of his 10-concert series in the Spanish capital while the pope is in town.

Madrid, June 6-8

The highlight of Leo's visit to Madrid will be his speech June 8 to both chambers of the Spanish parliament. Even though St. John Paul II visited Spain five times and Pope Benedict XVI three, no pope has ever addressed Las Cortes Generales, as the parliament is known.

Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate. The last time a pope addressed a foreign legislature was in 2015, when Pope Francis delivered a speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Leo will find a legislature that is highly polarized, with the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hammered by a series of corruption scandals and far-right groups such as Vox harshly criticizing the Socialists’ migration policy.

Leo will also meet with the Spanish royals and preside over a prayer vigil for young people that will recall the last time a pope visited Spain: 2011, when Madrid hosted World Youth Day with Benedict.

Barcelona, June 9-10

Leo arrives in Barcelona in time to celebrate the June 10 centenary of the death of the great Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Leo will celebrate Mass in Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, and will inaugurate its central spire, the Tower of Jesus Christ, which has made the basilica the world’s tallest church.

While Catalonia’s beloved native son is on the path to possible sainthood, no announcements on his canonization are expected.

Leo will also visit another place of spiritual importance to Catalans, the Our Lady of Montserrat abbey on the sacred mountain outside the city.

Canary Islands, June 11-12

By traveling to the Canary Islands, Leo is fulfilling a wish of Pope Francis to minister to the many migrants who arrive on the Spanish archipelago after risking their lives to reach Europe from Africa.

Leo will spend two days in the Canary Islands, which are closer to Africa than the Spanish peninsula, visiting two of the seven islands and meeting with migrants and the humanitarian organizations that provide care for them.

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the U.S. by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the country’s economy with an aging workforce and low birth rate.

Migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands peaked in 2024 at nearly 47,000, but have fallen dramatically, with just over 2,000 people landing there in the first four months of 2026.

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A person with knowledge of the NCAA's decision told The Associated Press on Friday night that the NCAA for the second time denied Texas Tech's petition to restore the quarterback's eligibility. He was ruled ineligible after he acknowledged gambling on sports, including on his own team while at Indiana.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP because there was no announcement about the appeal decision from either the NCAA or the quarterback's current school.

That came while the NCAA and Sorsby were still waiting for a ruling from a Texas judge after the quarterback filed a lawsuit May 18 seeking a temporary injunction against the NCAA in hopes of playing this season for the Red Raiders after transferring from Cincinnati.

A two-hour hearing was held Monday in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located. As of Friday, there still was no decision from Judge Ken Curry.

Texas Tech had said May 26 that it was appealing after the NCAA denied the school’s initial petition to have Sorsby's eligibility reinstated.

University president Lawrence Schovanec at that time wrote in a letter to the Texas Tech community that the school felt “the NCAA’s ruling should be reversed or modified.”

The school had ruled Sorsby ineligible May 18, the same day he filed his lawsuit. Tech had to do that to be able to pursue a request for his reinstatement that it submitted to the NCAA the following day. That was denied May 22.

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The American pope, who has Spanish ancestors, traveled to Spain dozens of times as a priest, but this is the first visit by a pope in 15 years. It signals Leo is returning papal attention to Europe’s Christian roots after Pope Francis largely stayed away from the traditional centers of Christianity in favor of smaller Catholic communities farther away.

Leo is seemingly keen to bring his message of peace, unity and human dignity to a continent sorely polarized over migration, Russia’s war in Ukraine and anxiety over artificial intelligence.

The pope opened his weeklong trip in Madrid, greeted at the airport by the country’s Catholic monarchs, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He told reporters, while traveling, that he was particularly heartened by reports of a spiritual awakening among young people in the once-staunchly Catholic but now secularized country.

During his welcome address, Leo appealed to Spaniards, especially political leaders, to put polemics aside and invest in educating young people to appreciate diversity and complexity rather than shunning them.

“Today, the temptation to gain popularity by fanning the flames of polarization seems to have grown rather than diminished, and human dignity continues to be violated,” Leo said.

He appealed to Spain’s place at the heart of Christian Europe to serve as a model for the rest of the continent, while also recalling the country's 800-year Moorish past, when cities like Toledo and Córdoba became, he said, “centers of dialogue between languages, religions and knowledge.”

“For the love of truth, I invite everyone to set aside the divisive and polarizing narratives of your societal reality and history,” he said. Doing so will help Europe “overcome sterile simplifications through the fruitful appreciation of complexity.”

Spaniards find themselves increasingly divided over issues including immigration, feminism and political corruption, while historically it was riven by territorial and independence movements.

The Spanish Parliament prepares for its first-ever papal speech

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Madrid will be his speech Monday to both chambers of the Spanish Parliament, the first by a pope. Such speeches are rare and often become one of the most important of a pontificate.

But Leo will find a highly polarized legislature, with the ruling Socialist party hammered by a series of corruption scandals. Conservative parties, including the Popular Party and far-right Vox, have called for Sánchez to step down before the 2027 elections and have roundly criticized his government’s migration policies.

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a general trend in Europe and the United States by announcing it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization. Sánchez has highlighted the benefits of legal migration to the country’s economy with an aging workforce and low birthrate.

Despite some expected protests of Leo’s visit, his speech to Parliament in particular is something of a milestone for Spain’s Catholic Church. Shaped by the anticlerical violence of the country’s 1936-1939 civil war, more recently, it has dealt with a credibility crisis over revelations of decades of clergy abuse and cover-up.

While much of Europe has secularized in recent decades, Spain stands out after it underwent a religious crisis following the 1975 death of Gen. Francisco Franco. A staunch Catholic, Franco viewed his reign as something of a religious crusade against the anticlerical anarchist, leftist and secular tendencies in Spain.

As Spain transitioned to a democracy, the percentage of Spaniards who declared themselves Catholics fell from 90% in the 1970s to just 55% in 2025, according to polling data collected by Spain’s state opinion agency. Of that group, only 19% say they regularly attend Mass.

And yet there are signs of renewed interest in all forms of spirituality, Christian and otherwise, especially among young Spaniards, said sociologist Narciso Michavila Núñez, president of the GAD3 consulting firm that polls young people about their faith, among other things.

In recent surveys, he said, pollsters are registering newfound interest in faith among Gen Z Spaniards. Michavila and others cite the popularity of Spanish pop star Rosalía’s new hit album “Lux,” which is overtly spiritual.

“The truth from a common view is not that God is in fashion. What is new in this moment, in this visit of the pope, is that God in the Spanish society is not a tattoo anymore,” he said.

Leo’s face has been plastered across subway cars, billboards and ads in metro stations in the Spanish capital, and souvenir shops are selling magnets of Leo and other papal knickknacks. Bakeries are selling limited-edition pope cakes and pastries.

Leo pointed to the signs of a spiritual awakening in comments to reporters en route to Madrid. But he also acknowledged he is facing stiff competition from Bad Bunny, who is holding two concerts this weekend.

“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”

Pope to meet with abuse victims and migrants

In a sign that the clergy sexual abuse crisis continues to overshadow papal trips, the Vatican confirmed late Friday that Leo would meet with survivors during his visit. The Spanish Catholic hierarchy is belatedly reckoning with decades of abuse and cover-up in the once-staunchly Catholic country.

Leo acknowledged he could only meet with a few, telling reporters that “abuses are still an open wound.”

Spain's monarch also acknowledged the Spanish church’s sexual abuse crisis, saying such cases “neither are nor can be representative of the immense ecclesial community.”

“Your clarity and firmness, which I also wish to acknowledge, are essential in the process of healing and repairing the harm inflicted: they are essential for the victims, for the faithful, for the Church, and for society,” Felipe told Leo, in an apparent reference to a recently launched Church-state reparations system for some victims of clerical abuse.

After Madrid, the other highlights of the trip include Leo’s visit midweek to Barcelona, where he will celebrate Mass in the Sagrada Familia basilica on the centenary of the death of its famed architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Leo will also fulfill a wish of Francis by ending his visit with a two-day stop in the Canary Islands, the Spanish archipelago closer to Africa than the Iberian Peninsula and a key destination for migrants leaving West Africa.

Leo will meet with migrants and the humanitarian organizations providing care for them. He is expected to toss a wreath of flowers into the sea, in memory of migrants killed during the treacherous Atlantic crossing. He’ll do so from the port in Las Palmas that in 2020 earned the nickname the “Dock of Shame” because thousands of migrants were forced to sleep in the open for weeks on end during a spike in arrivals.

Francis had made reaching out to migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy and Leo has followed suit by demanding dignified treatment of migrants, especially in his native U.S.

“For those of us who are immigrants and find ourselves in this situation of having family far away, someone like the Pope — who is an important figure for the entire world — coming here is truly something that makes me say ‘wow,’” said Constantina Nchama, an immigrant from Equatorial Guinea.

“It’s something that happens once in a lifetime,” she said. “I’m very, very excited about that, truly.”

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But at least three prominent members of his administration will be, representing the Democratic Party in a trio of governor's races that may test the resilience of the Biden brand two years after he left the White House under a cloud of disapproval.

Two Biden Cabinet members — former U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of New Mexico and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra of California — advanced to the general election ballot for governor in their states this week. They joined Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former senior adviser, who secured the Democratic nomination in Georgia's governor's race last month.

Their rise comes as a bitter feud erupts among Biden's allies, including some who worked in the White House, about the Biden family's reemergence in the public spotlight just five months before the high-stakes midterm elections. Hunter Biden is mixing it up with admirers and critics on social media, while Jill Biden is rehashing the tortured saga of the last presidential race in a new memoir. Biden himself has his own book coming out later this year.

As candidates shift toward the general election phase of the midterms, it's unclear whether the Biden connections will help or hurt the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls come November.

“I will put my experience to work for the people of our state,” Haaland told cheering supporters this week as she accepted her party's nomination.

She did not, however, mention Biden’s name as she ticked through her experience as a single mother, her time in Congress and her leadership of the Interior Department.

Biden who?

One former Biden White House aide, Rodericka Applewhaite, suggested that some Democrats on the ballot this fall were intentionally avoiding asking the former president to help with their campaigns.

Applewhaite is among the Democratic operatives publicly criticizing the Biden's public reemergence in recent days — especially Jill Biden's book tour.

“The Bidens are burning a lot of good will that they built up over a very long time in what seems to be days," she said, offering the former president and his family a pointed suggestion. "Step aside and let us have the battles that we need to have today.”

On the ground in California, Georgia and New Mexico, Biden alumni are navigating their Biden connection in different ways.

Haaland and Becerra are eager to focus on President Donald Trump in their campaign materials, but neither referenced Biden in their primary night speeches to supporters. Nor does either cite Biden’s name in the biographies listed on their official campaign websites.

Biden did not issue a public endorsement in the New Mexico or California contests ahead of Tuesday’s contests either. Democrats have focused on hammering Republicans over Trump's time in office.

“It’s laughable that Republicans have become so desperate to avoid talking about Donald Trump that they are now trying to go after our candidates for advocating for their states and getting results when they served in the executive branch," said Kevin Donohue, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association. Democrats, he said, “are focused on affordability” while “Republicans are all in on Trump’s cost-raising agenda.”

That hasn't stopped Republicans from highlighting both candidates' old boss.

In fact, Republicans are actively planning to highlight Democrats' ties to the Biden administration as a weakness in the weeks ahead, according to Kollin Crompton of the Republican Governors Association.

“Deb Haaland turned her back on New Mexico to push Biden’s failed policies and the Green New Scam. New Mexico deserves a leader, not a career politician who forgot where she came from,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who chairs the campaign organization, said in a statement.

Georgia is another story.

Lance Bottoms points to her work with Biden on her campaign website. She asked for, and received, Biden's formal endorsement just ahead of Georgia's primary, which she shared widely on her campaign's social media platforms. She also said she'd invite the former president to campaign with her this fall. “As I am moving around this state, people are missing Joe Biden more and more each day," she told CNN.

Bottoms was the first of two candidates Biden endorsed since leaving office, and he called her with congratulations after her primary victory on May 19.

But even Bottoms has not highlighted her time in the administration on the campaign trail. Her stump speech regularly mentions her time serving as Atlanta's mayor and career as a prosecutor but quickly pivots to issues like affordability and the Trump administration's agenda.

“I spoke with him this morning, so he called to congratulate me,” Bottoms said of Biden after her primary win. But then she immediately pivoted. “At the end of the day, we all want the same things. We want to live in great neighborhoods, we want great schools, we want access to health care.”

Biden's bad numbers

Americans had a dimmer view of Biden's presidency when he left office than they did at the end of Trump’s first term or Barack Obama’s second, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Around one-quarter of U.S. adults at the time said Biden was a “good” or “great” president, with less than 1 in 10 saying he was “great."

It was a stark illustration of how tarnished Biden’s legacy has become, with many members of his own party seeing his Democratic presidency as merely mediocre.

Americans were similarly likely to describe both Biden and Trump as “poor” or “terrible” — about half said this characterized each president’s time in office — but about 3 in 10 said Biden was “average,” while less than 2 in 10 said this about Trump.

The Biden family has faced fresh scrutiny in recent weeks, sometimes even from former aides.

The former president's son, Hunter Biden, drew criticism for recently appearing on the podcast of far-right conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. He has garnered attention by posting online about his experience with addiction and criticisms of the media.

Former first lady Jill Biden has shocked some Democrats for comments she made as part of a book tour for her memoir, “View from the East Wing," which was released Tuesday. The former first lady said in an interview with CBS News that she was “frightened” by her husband's performance during the infamous debate against Trump. The fallout eventually prompted Biden to drop out.

In the memoir, she writes that Biden’s senior aides “insisted he needed to run” for reelection. Her memoir includes a retelling of her husband’s decision to end his candidacy and the family’s reaction to the former president’s cancer diagnosis last year.

Throughout her book tour, she has faced tough questions about the former president's health and cognitive abilities while in office, as well as her role in pushing him to seek reelection despite widespread public concerns.

The former first lady described it as “heartbreaking” that the Democratic Party abandoned her husband during an interview on ABC’s “The View.”

“That’s why Joe had to decide to get out, because he had lost the support of the Democratic Party,” she said.

Such comments have sparked a fight among allies, especially after former Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates questioned to the New York Post "why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly re-opened now."

Jill Biden shot back, “I want to say to Andrew, call me up and say it to my face.”

Many analysts favor Pashinyan's Civil Contract party to retain control of the parliament, but with many opposition parties running on pro-Russia platforms, the Caucasus nation's place on the international stage has been thrown into the spotlight.

In the months ahead of the election, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have warned Armenia that joining the EU could come at the expense of massive economic damage by disrupting Armenian trade ties with Moscow and its allies.

“These are the first elections in Armenia’s history where geopolitical orientation has become a decisive issue,” Mikayel Zolyan, an analyst and former member of the Armenian Parliament, told The Associated Press from Yerevan. “Until now, Armenia has remained within Russia’s sphere of influence, and this was taken for granted, but now, for the first time, this is being called into question.”

Armenians disappointed with Moscow over Karabakh

Relations between Moscow and Armenia soured in 2023 after Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region. The mountainous region had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia, part of a long conflict between the neighboring countries.

Armenian authorities accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, busy with the conflict in Ukraine, has rejected the accusations, arguing its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.

“It turned out that Russia’s image as a guarantor of Armenian security was not based in reality, and it all collapsed after the Karabakh war,” said Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan.

Pashinyan has begun cautiously weakening ties with Moscow, joining the International Criminal Court in 2023 and suspending its participation in the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2024.

Armenia also officially declared its aspirations to join the EU and hosted the European Political Community summit in Yerevan in early May.

A convincing win in the parliamentary vote would give Pashinyan a mandate to continue the trend and finalize a deal with Azerbaijan.

Western ties could bring benefits

Western nations have sought to show some of the advantages that closer ties could bring.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev to sign an agreement declaring an end to their decades-long hostilities and including provisions for the creation of a new transit corridor between Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan. An agreement in February could pave the way for a U.S. company to build a new nuclear reactor in Armenia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also has said that Europe is ready to invest in Armenia's energy industry and its “booming digital scene.”

Trump has endorsed Pashinyan and called him a “great friend” and a leader who is making his country “strong, wealthy, and very secure!”

Opposition parties back Moscow ties

Much of Armenia’s opposition is still dominated by pro-Russia groups and many are also against normalizing relations with Azerbaijan. Key opposition figures have called for Pashinyan to stand down over the loss of Karabakh.

Nineteen political forces, including two blocs and 17 parties, are taking part in the elections.

Pashinyan’s main rival is the Strong Armenia Party, which wants closer business ties with Russia and accuses Pashinyan of attempting to spark a war with Moscow. The party is led by Armenian-Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, who is on trial for calling for the overthrow of Armenia’s government. He denies the charges.

Other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and has accused Pashinyan of “seriously undermining” relations with Russia.

Russia applies economic pressure

Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, has warned that Yerevan’s Western turn could have dire political and economic consequences.

Putin has compared Armenia’s course to that of Ukraine in thinly veiled threats and has suggested Russia's conflict with Ukraine started with its attempts to join the EU.

In recent weeks, Russian has introduced new restrictions on Armenian produce after citing sanitation violations, banning Armenian flowers, certain types of cognac and wine, eggplants, potatoes, dried fruits, fish and more.

Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian-led customs union, was placed under formal review during a members’ meeting in Kazakhstan in May, with threats to suspend it completely it by December.

During the Kazakhstan summit, the governments of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also demanded Armenia hold a referendum on whether it would remain in their group or seek EU membership. Pashinyan has rejected the need for such a vote.

Armenian government statistics show 38% of Armenia’s exports went to countries within the Eurasian Economic Union in 2025, the vast majority heading to Russia. In comparison, just 8% of trade went to the EU.

The Russian measures prompted von der Leyen to announce Thursday that the 27-nation bloc would send 50 million euros ($58 million) to support Armenia. In a statement, she said Russia is “weaponizing” economic relations and its ban on imports was “nothing short of economic coercion.”

Facing an uncertain future

Russia could exert further pressure on Armenia because it controls a significant portion of the country’s energy and infrastructure and supplies cheap gas.

“It’s completely unrealistic to say that Armenia can somehow overcome Russian influence in a short period of time,” analyst Zolyan said.

Armenia’s civil society also isconcerned by what they have described as Russian-backed disinformation campaigns ahead of the vote. Moscow denies any interference.

Daniel Ionnisyan, head of the Union of Informed Citizens, an independent election watchdog, told the AP that his organization has documented instances of Russian interference through social media campaigns, cyberattacks, vote buying and bribery of journalists.

That echoes findings of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which visited Yerevan in May and said foreign interference included illicit political financing, cyberattacks, economic coercion and direct attempts to manipulate the electoral process.

“These hybrid tactics aim not only to sway public opinion but to secure long-term geopolitical leverage over Armenia,” the delegation said.

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Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

The meeting between the two had come just after the Vermont senator announced a plan for the public to take a 50% ownership stake in artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI, using their stock to create a public wealth fund that would spread the fortune generated by AI behemoths.

Altman told Sanders that he, too, wants the public to have equity in AI companies. Though the CEO said he couldn’t support Sanders’ threshold of 50%, he nonetheless wanted to work with him to advocate for the general idea, according to people with knowledge of the conversation.

The nearly hourlong meeting in Sanders’ Senate office this week, held at Altman's request, highlighted the inherent tension between AI powerhouses and policymakers as Americans are increasingly asked to accept the costs of the AI boom even as they remain unconvinced of its direct benefits. Yet it's also creating odd political bedfellows fueled by populism as politicians from Sanders to President Donald Trump embrace giving the public a stake in AI's growth.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump described a potential partnership “where the American people can benefit from the success of AI" and said executives from leading AI companies will visit the White House, “probably next week,” to discuss the idea.

“There’s something very interesting about it, where it almost becomes a partnership with the American public,” Trump, a Republican, said Friday.

When reporters noted to Trump that Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, had proposed public ownership in AI companies, he pointed to similarities in their coalitions. The economic views of Trump voters and voters who supported Sanders for president, Trump said, “aren’t that far apart.”

Trump has embraced government investment in private companies in his second term, scrambling his party’s politics. His administration last year secured a 10% stake in the struggling Silicon Valley company Intel, and it considered a government takeover of Spirit Airlines earlier this year, although the airline couldn’t reach a deal and ultimately closed.

Public backlash is becoming harder to ignore

The positioning of leading figures such as Trump and Sanders comes as concerns about AI are emerging far beyond Washington.

In Michigan, Democrats recently clashed over Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s appearance with Altman at the site of a major data center. Candidates such as New York Democratic House hopeful Alex Bores have also made AI regulation a campaign issue by tapping into voters’ angst about the technology.

“This is a real change to society,” Altman told reporters this week. “I think it’s possible both that people can use AI a lot and like using it and also have anxiety about what it’s going to do for the future.”

Data center projects across the country have drawn opposition from residents concerned about electricity demand, water consumption and environmental impacts. Some states once eager to attract the facilities, including Ohio and Virginia, have moved to reconsider tax incentives.

“We need to pass legislation right now that says there’s not going to be any further data center development until they agree to pay for their own electricity, build their own grids and pay for their own water supply,” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a leading Republican skeptic of Big Tech, told The Associated Press.

Before arriving in Washington, Altman stopped in Michigan on Monday to appear alongside Whitmer, a Democrat, at the building site of a 1.65 million-square-foot data center. Whitmer’s team claimed the project will create more than 2,500 union construction jobs.

But it also drew criticism from local activists and some Democrats, including Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who called the project “disgusting.” She said she was “so disappointed” in Whitmer.

“It’s a very controversial topic right now and it’s coming from the ground up,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, said about the grassroots pushback. “People feel very strongly about it."

Whitmer, however, told reporters after the event that “one thing’s very clear, everyone has a cellphone in our pocket.”

“We are all, more and more, consuming technology and data and these data centers are going to get built. So, my thought is if we can hold them to a high standard and do it in Michigan, that’s the best way to do it,” she said.

The tensions extend beyond data centers. On college campuses, commencement speakers have been interrupted by boos when discussing artificial intelligence. About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Altman acknowledged those concerns. He said that while “the impact on jobs has been less than many people in our field expected," he understands “that college students have a lot of anxiety about the future."

Washington searches for an AI bargain

The idea that AI’s expansion is inevitable is increasingly shared by leaders across the political spectrum, even as they disagree sharply about how to manage it.

That reality was at the center of Altman’s conversations in Washington. In addition to Sanders, Altman met with Trump administration officials such as Michael Kratsios, the White House's chief science and technology adviser, and congressional leaders from both parties.

Sanders' team emphasized that the two did not reach an agreement on the main points that the senator made to Altman, including the 50% figure so the public has decision-making power. Sanders also expressed opposition to the growing election spending by the AI industry.

“Unfortunately, Sam Altman did not commit to any of those,” said Sanders' spokesperson Jeremy Slevin.

Altman, in emerging from the conversation, described it as “great,” adding that the two “obviously don’t agree on everything.”

Policy makers are also looking at how AI should be governed

Congress this week released a bipartisan framework that would establish the first broad federal approach to AI regulation while temporarily preempting many state laws.

Anthropic, one of OpenAI’s top competitors, has proposed mechanisms for coordinating pauses on advanced AI development if systems become too powerful.

The Trump administration has also begun constructing its own oversight structure, signing an executive order to establish a process for reviewing national security risks posed by advanced AI systems before their public release.

Sanders said he found the administration's move notable after years of warnings that regulation could slow American innovation.

“Even these guys are beginning to catch on that there are legitimate concerns that have to be dealt with," Sanders said.

The protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, marks the movement’s first foray into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting millions of online followers and widespread support among young Indians.

The immediate trigger for Saturday’s protest was reported irregularity in a recent exam that has dominated headlines in India, angering a large community of students.

Protesters seek minister’s resignation

Hundreds of mostly young Indians gathered in the heart of New Delhi’s protest zone near Parliament, some with placards and cockroach masks.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the online movement, joined the protest after he landed in the capital from the U.S. on Saturday morning. Police had laid steel barricades at arrivals at New Delhi’s international airport.

Dipke said in a social media post shortly after arriving that police granted permission to the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, to hold the protest, adding: “Cockroaches gather at Jantar Mantar.”

CJP organizers used social media to rally supporters for Saturday’s march, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The demand grew out of an exam irregularity controversy in May that quickly became a broader outlet for frustration over India’s education system and limited job opportunities.

Supporters chanted slogans including, “Cockroaches are coming, Dharmendra Pradhan is going!” One placard read: “Waiting for exams that don’t leak.”

Participants were encouraged to bring India’s national flag and a book, which organizers said symbolized the right to education and equal opportunity for all. Organizers also urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and avoid any confrontations with police.

“Time to turn this tiny joke into a revolution,” the official CJP account on X posted Friday.

Mansi Sehgal, a 26-year-old protester, said the protests began around exam issues, but the deeper problem is that people haven’t had a space to speak up or ask questions. “CJP is doing that. So, this is literally the first thing that people can connect and ask questions,” she said.

‘Cockroaches’ face tough challenge

“This is a long fight. We are seeing that’s it’s nearly a month that we are demanding (Pradhan’s) resignation,” Dipke said at the venue.

How many ultimately would join the protest remained unclear, making the event an early test of whether the movement can channel its online popularity into a broader grassroots support around growing frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and economic prospects.

The other main challenge would be how the party navigates the kind of pushback earlier protest movements have faced under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Over the past decade, authorities have sought to stamp out protests against his government, including demonstrations against a controversial citizenship legislation and yearlong farmers’ protests. Some protest movements also have faced legal action against organizers and activist arrests, which critics say reflects a broader effort by the government under Modi to suppress dissent.

But despite challenges, protesters expressed optimism for a change.

This is a youth first movement,” said Satya Prakash Yadav, a young student. “Youth is the future and we will ensure that our future is secure.”

The online party has risen swiftly

The CJP emerged only three weeks ago to become an unlikely outlet for discontent among supporters who proudly call themselves “cockroaches.”

India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant likened critics and some unemployed youth to cockroaches during a May hearing, sparking backlash among frustrated young Indians. Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party. Weeks after launching a website and social media accounts, CJP’s Instagram page has until now amassed more than 22 million followers.

The party has turned the cockroach into a wry badge of endurance and political articulation. Videos and memes lampooning unemployment, corruption and political dysfunction have drawn millions of views online. Parody CJP accounts also have adopted the cockroach as a political symbol and use memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary.

The movement’s tongue-in-cheek messaging blends self-deprecating humor with political criticism. Supporters jokingly describe themselves as unemployed, perpetually online and shut out of meaningful influence. Beneath the humor lies a broader criticism of Modi’s government. CJP supporters argue that under Modi ordinary Indians, particularly young people, have been left with fewer opportunities.

It’s a gimmick for Modi supporters

Young people in India make up more than a quarter of the population but face limited job opportunities, rising unemployment and growing disillusionment with traditional politics. Many young voters also are critical of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, citing concerns over rising religious polarization, widening inequality and mounting economic pressures.

The movement’s skeptics, particularly supporters of Modi’s party, dismiss the phenomenon as little more than a social-media gimmick. They argue the movement’s online popularity may not translate into street mobilization and that its rapid rise is likely fleeting.

The group’s rise echoes a similar trend across South Asia of youth movements born out of social media playing a central role in anti-government protests, including uprisings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and unrest in Nepal.

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Associated Press journalists Shonal Ganguly and Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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Surveillance video obtained by Local 10 News shows the moments leading up to a shooting.

According to police, the shooting was reported at 4:53 a.m. in the 6700 block of Collins Avenue.

Police said officers arrived at the scene and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound.

Miami Beach Fire Department officials transported the victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.

Northbound traffic on Collins Avenue was shut down for hours at 67th Street during the investigation, police said.

Residents in the area started their day with questions and concerns, especially when the SWAT team was spotted in the neighborhood, searching nearby apartment complexes for a suspect.

“I saw them gathering on the sidewalk with their weapons, getting ready to go inside and make sure that it was safe, and that’s when I rode my bike by and asked an officer ‘Is everybody safe?’ And he goes, ‘Yes,’” Thomas Antone said.

“It just happened so fast,” another resident, Rene Welcome, said. “I saw people and then I saw the police having it roped off and stuff ... It was worse than I thought.”

According to authorities, a person of interest has been taken into custody for questioning.

No other details were immediately released.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Miami Beach Police Department or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani greeted her leading off the bottom of the first inning as he customarily does with the umpire in each of his at-bats.

Pawol, 49, umpired during spring training for the third straight year but she did not get one of the permanent staff openings. Instead, she is part of MLB's call-up list.

She worked her first game of the automated balls and strikes challenge system on April 17 when the Giants visited the Nationals.

She became the first female major league umpire on Aug. 9, 2025, and worked a total of five big league games last season. In 2024, she became the first woman to umpire big league spring training games since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Pawol has been a minor league ump since 2016 and has worked at Triple-A since 2023.

Pawol was flirting with potential history early in Friday's game.

Angels starter Reid Detmers tossed three hitless innings before allowing a single to Freddie Freeman in the fourth.

Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki pitched no-hit ball through the first four innings before giving up a double to Nick Madrigal in the fifth.

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This story has been corrected to show Jen Pawol previously umpired this season.

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

Twenty-six years after the original film introduced audiences to its signature mix of parody and horror, the franchise is coming back with a new installment.

The original movie poked fun at popular horror films while teaching viewers to be wary of suspicious phone calls, avoid dark basements and never take horror movies too seriously.

Now, the spoof series is rising from the grave.

A brand-new Scary Movie is in the works, bringing the franchise back to its R-rated roots.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda jumped into the hunt for her first Women’s Open title by shooting the day’s lowest round at 67, leaving her just two shots back after struggling Thursday.

Opening-round leader Jennifer Kupcho, Sei Young Kim and Mexico's Gaby Lopez were in a group of six at 3-under 139, while Korda and three others were at 140.

The venerable course at this 100-year-old country club is hosting its first U.S. Women’s Open, and it remained unforgiving for the world’s best. Only two players managed a bogey-free round Friday — including China's Yin, who semi-jokingly called Riviera “passive aggressive" despite being the only player in the field to shoot two sub-70 rounds so far.

“I love it,” Yin said. “I always say that the more difficult (the course), the better.”

Yin carded her second straight 69 in the same city where she earned her first LPGA Tour victory in 2023, a couple of months before she won the Women’s PGA Championship. She tied for fourth at last year's U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

Lee played under par for the second straight day at Riviera, highlighted by back-to-back birdies just before the turn. The new mother’s first two rounds are an extension of a strong start to the season that includes a third-place finish at the Mizuho Americas Open four weeks ago.

“To win in basically my backyard, where I grew up, would be super cool,” Lee said. I don’t want to get ahead of myself ... but if you’d told me I would be in this spot at the beginning of the week, I probably would have started crying.”

The 31-year-old Lee grew up in suburban Valencia and had a stellar junior career before playing at UCLA and embarking on her pro career. She is a two-time Solheim Cup participant, but she has yet to win on the LPGA Tour while managing just two top-10 finishes at 44 majors.

“I'm not going to lie, it’s been very tough,” Lee said. “I’ve gone through a few stages, a few slumps, if you want to call it, in my career, even since I was like 15 years old. ... no matter what I did, no matter how much I practiced, it just wasn’t going my way.”

Lee then took most of last year off for the birth of her son, Levi. While she says her sleep rhythms are regularly interrupted by her 13-month-old these days, her parents and extended family in Valencia have relieved some of the burden during the Open.

Levi was in attendance for Friday's round, but Lee's partner only brought him out to watch the 18th hole because the youngster has a tendency to get excited: He yelled “Ball!” during his mom's backswing at The Chevron Championship earlier this year.

With family around her, Lee is finally having the moment she had long anticipated.

“I feel like I’ve definitely underachieved what I could have done out here on tour,” Lee said. “It’s definitely been really frustrating. I’m at a point now where I’ve truly accepted it, but like I said, that’s part of why I want to come back and play. I feel like I was so close so many times.”

Kim was one shot behind Kupcho after the opening round, and she was thrust into the lead early in the second despite shooting 1 over on the front nine. She bogeyed the 18th to drop her share of the lead in one of the day's final groups.

Kupcho scuffled to a second-round 73 after carding the only 66 of the tournament so far on Thursday.

Among the players who missed the 36-hole cut were world No. 3 Hyo Joo Kim, three-time major champion Lydia Ko, five-time major champion Yani Tseng and Michelle Wie West, who largely left golf in 2023.

The 36-year-old Wie West returned to competition last month at the Mizuho Americas Open, but she isn't currently planning to play beyond this U.S. Open.

She shot 7 over at Riviera — the former club of her late father-in-law, Lakers icon Jerry West — after using the final year of her exemption from winning the 2014 U.S. Open. Her husband, Jonnie West, was her caddie.

“Obviously, I would be lying to say I wasn’t disappointed,” Wie West said. “I would have loved to have made the cut today, but I had a blast, honestly, playing here at Riv. Such a special week to have played it, and to have family, friends, a lot of familiar faces coming out. It was a lot of fun. I hit some good shots, hit some good putts and kind of felt that feeling again, which is awesome.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/golf

Meliá announced May 26 that it will cease operations at 15 of the 34 hotels it manages in Cuba after the U.S. announced new sanctions while upholding an energy embargo that has deepened an economic crisis on the island. Cuba’s government has blamed the U.S. blockade for prolonged blackouts, water shortages, supply problems, deficiencies in the healthcare system and disruptions in all aspects of daily life.

The company's decision follows similar moves by hotel chains including Canadian-owned Royalton and Spain’s Iberostar to limit or suspend operations in Cuba, dealing blows to the vital tourism sector that has plummeted since its 2018 peak.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced the new management policy in an interview with a Spanish journalist that was broadcast Friday on the official presidential channel.

“There will be hotels that we will have to operate more with Cuban management than with shared management with foreign entities,” Díaz-Canel said. “We are proposing different business models. We are open to Cubans who want to invest and manage hotels,”

“We have also offered these business opportunities to Cubans residing abroad,” he added.

Melia’s decision came weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island. Most of the sanctions targeted Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, with the assertion it was a threat to U.S. national security.

The order also freezes the assets of other foreign companies, seizes accounts in the United States and prohibits travel by shareholders, investors and employees, virtually eliminating activity in the U.S. financial system.

GAESA, a Cuban conglomerate created in the 1990s, owns a wide range of businesses from car rentals and retail stores to transportation companies. The company is Meliá’s partner in hotel management through one of its subsidiaries, Gaviota.

Meliá is one of Cuba’s most important partners in the tourism sector, operating some 14,000 rooms until its partial withdrawal.

Tourism in Cuba, which reached a peak of 4.3 million visitors in 2019, saw a significant drop in the number of tourists arriving in the first quarter of this year, 48% lower than in the same period in 2025.

Only 298,000 tourists arrived in Cuba during January, February and March compared to 573,300 international visitors during the same period last year, according to government data.

In the interview, Díaz-Canel said it was “cynical” for Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to promote a narrative that Cuba’s government is ineffectual while intensifying an already harsh embargo.

The U.S. moves could be aimed at strangling Cuba to “provoke a social explosion that would give (Trump) a pretext for humanitarian aid to intervene in the country,” Díaz-Canel said.

Or they could be intended to “pursue a coercive dialogue with Cuba, employing maximum pressure to economically occupy the country.” Or they could be a prelude to a military intervention, he said.

While U.S. and Cuban officials held talks earlier this year, tensions have risen. In late May, former President Raúl Castro was charged in a U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Miami-based exiles in Cuban waters.

It doesn’t guarantee that the 2,000 bartenders, servers, cooks and dishwashers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, will walk off the job. But it gives them the option to do so after contract talks have stalled with the stadium’s food service provider.

The vote comes days before the stadium near Los Angeles will host the U.S. team’s opening World Cup match against Paraguay. Union member Yolanda Fierro said that unless a deal is reached workers could go on strike for the June 12 match.

Fierro said workers are concerned about pay and security on the job amid ramped-up immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump's administration. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said this week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told him federal authorities would be at the matches to assist with security but not civil immigration enforcement.

“What good is the World Cup for Los Angeles when workers don’t earn enough to pay the rent and must choose between showing up and being kidnapped by ICE?” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11. "If we’re forced to strike, those $100,000 FIFA suites will have nothing but bottled water and Doritos.”

Legends Global, which handles hospitality at SoFi, said the company has a longstanding relationship with the union and is committed to reaching an agreement through contract negotiations.

“We look forward to delivering an outstanding hospitality experience for fans at the FIFA World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Petersen said contract talks have been moving at a “glacial” pace. He said Legends has agreed to minimal wage increases for cooks and dishwashers and freezes for some suite attendants and bartenders even as the World Cup is expected to reel in ample revenue. The union is also asking Legends for protections from subcontracting and potential federal immigration raids.

Cesar Zamora, a bartender at the stadium, said he is a lifelong soccer fan and is heartbroken to see his employer not making the needed changes before this major event.

“The FIFA World Cup will generate enormous profits, but we are still fighting for basic respect and security,” he said in a statement. "We deserve better, and if that means going on strike, I’m ready.”

Community groups in other World Cup host cities such as Atlanta and Miami also have called for a halt on U.S. immigration enforcement during the matches, fearing arrests near stadiums and watch parties could damp the festivities.

The World Cup is expected to draw millions of fans to soccer games played in June and July in 11 U.S. host cities as well as in Canada and Mexico.

Robot makers in China say they have thousands of orders from both the government and private businesses for humanoids that can do such things as sort parcels at postal centers, as the country finds ways to cope with an aging population and rising labor costs. However, some experts believe demand for humanoids lags the capacity to build them.

China and the United States dominate research for what Morgan Stanley estimates is a $5 trillion humanoid robots market.

By some measures, the U.S. holds an upper hand in developing the artificial intelligence for such robots' high-level computing power, or “brains.” But as the world's factory floor, China leads in mass production capacity, supplies of hardware and harvesting of data for training robots.

Robot makers say real-life demand is growing

The Shanghai-based startup Matrix Robotics makes humanoid robots that employ AI. Its flagship humanoid robot, the “MATRIX-3,” stands nearly 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) tall and is equipped with hands able to make finely controlled movements. They are priced at around $99,000 per unit.

Customers for the roughly 1,000 orders it has received include coffee chains and hotels, its founder and CEO Allan Zhang, who formerly worked for Tesla, said at a recent robotics expo in Macao.

So far, Matrix has made only a few hundred of the robots, though it said it will be capable of delivering 5,000 units within this year, depending on the number of orders.

EngineAI, a startup based in southern China’s Shenzhen, says its full-sized humanoid robots could be used as security guards and museum guides. They also perform, with dancing and boxing.

A basic edition of its humanoid costs 180,000 yuan ($26,600). “The next step will be to move into more real-life scenarios,” said Issac Li, EngineAI's head of brand and marketing.

Demand for robots may lag behind

Most humanoid robots are still performative rather than functional, falling short of working in messy, unpredictable environments, said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the New America think tank focused on Chinese technology.

“The use cases of these robots are still so limited,” said Chibo Tang of the venture capital firm Gobi Partners, which invests in technology startups including robotics companies. “Without the demand and without that scale from the market, these companies are not able to really go into mass production.”

China had more than 140 humanoid robot manufacturers and more than 330 models in 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Last year, the Chinese government even publicly warned about the risk of a bubble in the industry given the lagging state of commercialization and applications.

Corporate and academic labs are buying humanoid robots for research. And in China, many of the more than 2 billion yuan ($295 million) worth of orders in 2025 came from state-owned enterprises for use in places such as power plants, data centers or for entertainment, Morgan Stanley said.

“The economics are tough: humanoid robots remain expensive to produce, fragile in operation, and dependent on highly structured environments to function,” Sacks explained. There's “a long way to go to get to a level of functionality where people will actually feel comfortable having them in their homes providing care for elderly or children,” she said.

Still, compared to other countries, China is keen on humanoids

The more viable commercial path will more likely be through industrial and logistics settings, Sacks said. But many factories in China and elsewhere already are equipped with non-humanoid robotic arms that perform repetitive single functions and may not need many humanoid robots.

In Japan and in the U.S., humanoid robot startups are also struggling to find buyers in industrial and other work settings.

Yet over the past year, real-world deployment of humanoid robots in China has accelerated.

Chinese people are relatively “used to this rapid change in terms of technology,” said Ye Tian, an ex-Apple engineer and founder and CEO of the Chinese startup RoboScience, which focuses on developing the systems behind AI-powered robots.

As the technology matures, humanoids could perform heavy-lifting and mundane tasks in warehouses, factories and ports, said Lian Jye Su, with the technology research group Omdia.

Humanoid robots also can fill in gaps where work is dangerous or repetitive, Matrix's Zhang said. There's also a “very large household market” for handling chores in hundreds of millions of homes in China, he believes.

In Beijing, freelance social media content creator Yang Ning recently tried out a cleaning service with a helper robot with mechanical arms and hands. It can do simple tasks like organizing shoes, folding clothes and changing garbage bags, but it's accompanied by a human cleaner.

Watching the robot sort shoes at her doorway was “amazing,” she said. Still, she thought the helper robot was not that efficient and was “a bit too big and difficult to move around in a small house.”

China leads the global humanoid robots market

Last year, Chinese humanoid robots accounted for around 85% globally, according to a recent research report by Barclays.

Startups in China have the advantage of massive state support, in line with the ruling Communist Party’s 2026-2030 five-year plan targeting the frontiers of technology, including advancements of humanoid robots.

Of the more than 13,000 humanoid robots shipped in 2025, AGIBOT and Unitree, two of China’s leading robotics companies, each shipped over 5,000, while U.S. rivals like Figure AI and Tesla each shipped a few hundred or less, according to Omdia.

Morgan Stanley expects China’s humanoid sales to more than double this year to around 28,000 units. Omdia forecasts that annual shipments of advanced robots could surpass 1 million units by the early 2030s.

Some robot makers say they are already profitable. Unitree said it made 1.7 billion yuan (around $250 million) in revenue last year, with a profit of over 278 million yuan ($41 million).

Robot makers argue that as production of humanoid robots increases, costs will drop. Using more locally made parts also helped make Chinese robots 20% or more cheaper than foreign models on average, Morgan Stanley said. It estimates the average price could fall to about $21,000 by 2050, from $46,000 last year.

Some humanoid robots in China were priced at below $6,000.

Even so, cost remains an obstacle

A report by the Mercator Institute for China Studies said while China’s humanoids are already cheaper than those made elsewhere, they are still “far too expensive for widespread deployment.”

Another challenge for manufacturers is to accumulate enough good data to train more robots.

Wang Xiaogang, co-founder of the Chinese AI software company SenseTime and chairman of ACE Robotics, said his company is collecting a lot of human-centric data from factories, retailing and offices settings that could guide advanced robots to perform complicated functions.

For humanoid robots to learn more than single tasks, data from a wide variety of scenarios in public and private settings with a reasonable level of difficulty is needed, said Eric Guo, founder and CEO of Shenzhen-based AI² Robotics. But that could take years to massively scale up.

“The mass production capability in (the) robotic area is still at the very early stage,” Guo said.

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Associated Press video journalists Olivia Zhang and Wu Jia in Beijing contributed to this report.

Police have since cleared the scene, but an urgent search remains underway for the driver who struck a BSO patrol vehicle and fled.

Video from the scene showed significant damage to the deputy’s vehicle. The driver’s side door was heavily crushed, and the airbags had deployed.

Investigators said the crash happened around 6:15 p.m. near West Broward Boulevard and Northwest 11th Avenue. After the collision, the driver involved ran from the scene, according to authorities.

Investigators were seen examining a black Hyundai SUV as they continued working to determine exactly what led to the crash.

Witnesses said the black SUV ran a red light before colliding with the deputy’s vehicle.

“The black vehicle ran through the red light,” the witness said. “Caught the sheriff car on the side. The sheriff car spun all the way down Broward Boulevard until it made a stop and the officer was very injured. We know he’s injured because he got hit on the driver’s door.”

The witness said he went to check on the deputy after the crash.

“Then I went to check on the officer,” he said. “The officer was pulled from the car. He wasn’t thrown from the car. He was pulled from the car by paramedics.”

The deputy was rushed to a hospital for treatment. Authorities have not released an update on the deputy’s condition.

The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to identify and locate the driver who fled.

FIFA in a social media post said fans will be permitted to bring one, soft, plastic, 20-ounce (590 milliliter), factory-sealed, disposable water bottle into any match taking place in the United States or Canada.

In a video released by FIFA, Chief Operating Officer Heimo Schirgi said fans will still not be permitted to bring in hard sided, reusable water bottles “due to safety and security reasons.”

FIFA stated, “for the avoidance of doubt, reusable water bottles may not be brought into the stadium.”

FIFA’s stadium rules had stated that fans could bring in a transparent, reusable bottle up to one liter, or 33.8 ounces capacity. On Thursday, the “Stadium Code of Conduct” update was criticized by an English fan group, which argued FIFA had given assurances on carrying empty plastic bottles to fill with freely available water at a tournament where heat and extreme weather are expected to be a factor.

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

A brief ceremony with their families was held on the team’s 13th Pride Night, hours before the Dodgers hosted the Los Angeles Angels in the Freeway Series.

“It’s brave of them in this day and age to spotlight someone in our community when other organizations are trying to erase us,” said Greg Baker, Bean’s husband.

The families let out audible “aahs” and applauded as a blue curtain dropped on the display under the left-field pavilion near the Dodgers bullpen. Against a swirling rainbow painted on the wall are Burke's No. 3 and Bean's No. 40 framed jerseys, along with a color photo of Burke's baseball card and a black-and-white shot of him in action. Bean's side of the display features two color photos of him. Placards describe their careers and contributions.

“He would be smiling, he would be so happy, he probably would be giving a high-five,” said Joyce Burke Henderson of Vallejo, California, one of Burke's three sisters on hand.

Burke was the first MLB player to come out as gay, announcing it in 1982 after he retired. He played for the Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to '79. He and Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker are widely credited with inventing the high-five after they slapped hands on the field in 1977.

Burke Henderson recalled that her brother initially kept his sexuality hidden before reaching a point where “he just didn't care.”

“Nowadays the world is different and we need to conform to what’s going on,” she said. “As long as everybody is safe, they’re healthy, we don’t have the right to tell people how to live their lives. That’s up to them, but just respect that decision.”

Burke died at age 42 in 1995 of AIDS complications.

Four years later, Bean became the second MLB player to reveal that he was gay. Bean did so after he had been retired for four years. Bean was appointed MLB's first ambassador for inclusion in 2014 and later became the league's senior vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Bean was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2023 and died the following year at age 60.

“It never stops being emotional,” said Baker, who got choked up addressing the gathering. “It's so well-deserved. I'm so proud of him.”

Baker has remained close to Bean's family, including his parents Ed and Linda Kovac and three brothers who attended.

Baker said he's not surprised that more professional athletes haven't come out.

"I still think there’s a lot of work to do and I think that work is not necessarily like within the sports community. I think it’s within our community as a whole,” he said. “There's always going to be homophobia, just hopefully there’s going to be less and less of it.”

The families took turns posing in front of the wall and taking their own photos of it.

"We still love him,” Burke Henderson said. “We just appreciate the Dodgers honoring him and Billy Bean, too. We knew Billy Bean. They were both great guys.”

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

The 33-year-old third baseman hit his fourth career grand slam, a three-run homer and added a sacrifice fly to finish with a career-high eight RBIs in the Giants' 18-3 rout of the slumping Chicago Cubs. The eight RBIs tied the Giants' San Francisco-era individual game record, shared by five others. The first to do it after the team relocated from New York in 1958 was Mays in on April 30, 1961.

The other Giants to accomplish the feat were Orlando Cepeda (July 1961), Brandon Crawford (July 2019), Joc Pederson (May 2020) and Wilmer Flores (May 2025).

“I feel like I’ve been doing a good job with runners in scoring position and I’ve been having a lot of opportunities with guys on base,” said Chapman, in his 10th major league season and third with the Giants.

Chapman hit his slam in San Francisco’s six-run fourth — and in a light rain — off Edward Cabrera. It barely reached Wrigley Field’s left-center basket.

He added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Chapman’s second homer capped the Giants’ seven-run sixth inning. He launched Ethan Roberts’ down-the-middle sweeper and sent it 432 feet to left before it struck an electric ad sign above the bleachers.

Chapman's slam was the Giants' second in two days and sixth this season — all in San Francisco’s last 18 games. The Giants are the sixth team in MLB history to hit six slams in 20 days or less, according to the club.

Chapman said he has now homered in every major league ballpark after going deep twice at Wrigley.

“I got Sacramento (the Athletics' temporary home) in Triple-A, so we’ll count it,” he said. "But this was my last one, so that’s cool.”

Willy Adames and Casey Schmitt also each homered twice and Jonah Cox added a solo shot after entering as a pinch hitter. The Giants won their third straight with a 19-hit attack after getting 20 hits in a 12-9 win at Milwaukee on Thursday.

Chapman is up to four homers and 31 RBIs on the season with a .241 average. His best output was 36 homers and 91 RBIs with the Athletics in an All-Star 2019 season.

“I haven’t been doing anything different over the last week,” Chapman said. “We went to Milwaukee and I hit that home run (on Monday) and then got a few more hits yesterday, so I felt like I was starting to feel more comfortable in the box.

“I feel like I’m on time, getting good swings off and then today just showed up and just kept trying to repeat it and, you know, the power showed up a little bit."

Even so, San Francisco is still just 26-38 and deep in the NL West standings.

“We didn’t have many guys swinging the bat early and it seems like everybody’s kind of come alive at a similar time,” Chapman said. “The quality of at-bats have been really good."

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

Las autoridades argentinas indicaron que biólogos de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades de Estados Unidos (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés) se sumarán a la misión en Mendoza la próxima semana.

El inusual brote en el buque MV Hondius fue causado por el hantavirus Andes, una enfermedad transmitida por roedores endémicos de Argentina y Chile, y el único hantavirus que se cree puede propagarse entre personas en algunos casos.

Reconstruir la cadena de transmisión es un trabajo difícil, y las autoridades argentinas señalan que quizá nunca sea posible determinar con exactitud dónde fue que las primeras víctimas conocidas —una pareja holandesa que murió en abril— contrajeron el virus antes de abordar el crucero en Ushuaia. Pero expertos afirman que esclarecer el brote aportará información valiosa sobre cómo se propagó el raro virus y dejará lecciones importantes para el manejo de la enfermedad.

A medida que los pasajeros del crucero repatriados de más de 20 países han desembarcado e ingresado a centros especializados de cuarentena, epidemiólogos examinan los 11 casos confirmados de hantavirus, incluidos los itinerarios de las tres personas fallecidas, para comprender mejor la cadena de transmisión.

Científicos argentinos trabajan para reconstruir el recorrido de los turistas holandeses. Creen que la fuente original del virus a bordo pudo haber sido la exposición del hombre a excrementos u orina de roedores durante su viaje de varios meses por Argentina y Chile antes de que el barco partiera. El período de incubación típico antes de que aparezcan los síntomas es de aproximadamente tres semanas, pero puede extenderse hasta ocho.

Poco después de que se conociera la noticia del brote, el Ministerio de Salud de Argentina identificó a Ushuaia como una posible fuente del contagio, y el mes pasado envió investigadores del Instituto Malbrán —un organismo gubernamental de investigación— para recolectar muestras de roedores en diversas zonas boscosas en los alrededores de la ciudad.

Autoridades locales de Ushuaia —una ciudad que depende del turismo y es famosa por su ubicación en “el fin del mundo”— han rechazado con enojo que el virus se haya originado allí. Aunque el hantavirus Andes infecta a unas pocas decenas de personas cada año en la región patagónica de Argentina más al norte, nunca se ha detectado en Ushuaia ni en el archipiélago de Tierra del Fuego.

El Ministerio de Salud informó que aún aguarda los resultados de laboratorio de esas pruebas para determinar si la pareja contrajo allí el virus.

El ministerio señaló que especialistas del Malbrán, junto con sus homólogos de Estados Unidos en los CDC, se preparaban para analizar roedores en busca de hantavirus en la ciudad de Malargüe, Mendoza, del 8 al 12 de junio.

Un portavoz del Instituto Malbrán confirmó que la pareja holandesa visitó Malargüe mientras atravesaba en auto la región vitivinícola de Mendoza rumbo a la provincia nororiental de Misiones, durante el último tramo de su viaje por Argentina.

La directora del Malbrán, Claudia Perandones, se reunió con investigadores de los CDC en Argentina para hablar sobre la operación, que —según explicó— implicará equipos con amplio equipamento de protección, los cuales tomarán muestras de sangre de roedores muertos y trasladarán el material al laboratorio principal en Buenos Aires para su análisis. Las autoridades han dicho que los resultados podrían tardar hasta un mes.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud ha dejado claro que, dado el bajo riesgo de contagio, el hantavirus no representa una amenaza de pandemia.

Aun así, el hantavirus Andes ha generado preocupación en todo el mundo debido a su tasa de mortalidad, de hasta 30%, y a la actual carencia de tratamientos y vacunas.

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

Becerra leaned on his more than 35 years in public office, including as state attorney general and U.S. health secretary, to argue that he was the most qualified candidate in a crowded field.

“The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken — loudly and proudly,” Becerra said in a statement. “We are never backing down. November, here we come.”

It was not yet clear who Becerra would face in the general election. His top rivals came down to Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator backed by President Donald Trump, and Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist who poured $215 million of his own money into his campaign.

Born and raised in Sacramento by Mexican immigrant parents, Becerra has a wife and three daughters. He has said his family’s immigrant background mirrored his “underdog” gubernatorial campaign, in which he initially failed to garner substantial support before surging in the final months.

After one of the top Democratic contenders, Rep. Eric Swalwell, was accused of sexual assault and dropped out of the race, Becerra benefited from an opening to coalesce Democratic support. He quickly racked up key endorsements from labor groups and Latino legislative leaders.

Becerra has vowed to maintain the state’s mantle as a chief antagonist to President Donald Trump. As attorney general, he filed more than 120 legal actions against the first Trump administration on everything from immigration to climate policy.

The president has also been in a spat with the state over its drawn-out vote count. Trump made baseless claims about mass fraud Thursday, and on Friday, federal prosecutors said they opened investigations into allegations of election fraud. Hilton called for California to limit mail ballots to those who request them, rather than sending them to all registered voters.

During the campaign, Becerra’s rivals scrutinized his leadership as health secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic and the unaccompanied migrant children crisis in 2021, when Becerra’s Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for shelters where they were housed. Some of them were criticized as having inadequate living conditions, and there were also concerns about authorities failing to thoroughly vet sponsors with whom some children were placed.

If elected, Becerra said, he would declare states of emergency to address high energy costs and housing shortages and to freeze home insurance rates.

Though California is one of the nation’s most diverse states, Becerra would be the first Latino to hold the office since the late 1800s.

Newsom was barred by term limits from seeking a third stint in office.

“Habrá hoteles que tendremos que operar más con administración cubana que con administración compartida con entidades extranjeras, estamos planteando modalidad de negocios diferentes, cubanos que quieran invertir y que quieran administrar hoteles estamos abiertos para eso”, dijo el presidente Miguel Díaz-Canel en una entrevista a un periodista español y difundida el viernes por el canal oficial de la Presidencia.

“Hemos ofrecido también estas oportunidades de negocios para los cubanos residentes en el exterior”, remarcó el mandatario.

La firma española Meliá —el socio histórico más importante de la isla en la gestión de sus mejores hoteles— informó esta semana que se retiraba de 15 de 34 centros turísticos y se sumó a otras cadenas como su compatriota Iberostar y la canadiense Blue Diamond Diamond –con su marca Royalton— que también se replegaron total o parcialemete de sus actividades.

Un paquete de nuevas sanciones impuesto por el Departamento de Estado dio como fecha tope este mismo viernes para que compañías extranjeras no estadounidenses, como Meliá, dejen de operar con la corporación empresarial militar cubana GAESA, so pena de medidas como la congelación de cuentas y el bloqueo de su actividad en el sistema financiero del vecino país.

El recorte de la presencia de las cadenas se produce además en el marco de una radical caída del turismo en la isla ocasionado por un cerco petrolero impuesto por Estados Unidos desde enero. Históricamente, el gobierno de Cuba tuvo una difícil relación con su emigración y algunos empresarios exiliados tras el triunfo de la revolución están entre sus mayores detractores.

El presidente Donald Trump amenazó a los países que vendan petróleo a la isla logrando una semiparalización de todos los sectores con serias consecuencias para la población, desde apagones de más de 20 horas, cortes de agua, limitaciones en la producción de alimentos y el transporte.

Líneas áreas como World2Fly, Air France e Iberia cancelaron sus vuelos a la isla.

Mientras, el Banco Central de Cuba informó esta semana que debido a la suspensión de la relación de entidades extranjeras con la agencia financiera isleña Fincimex S.A, —del conglomerado empresarial GAESA—, se cancelaron las operaciones de las tarjetas Visa y Mastercard.

Díaz-Canel calificó durante su entrevista de “cínica” la narrativa de Trump y su secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, que acusa al gobierno de la isla de ser inoperantes, al tiempo que cierra un cerco contra la isla agravando las ya duras medidas de embargo y provocando una severa crisis económica.

El mandatario consideró que las acusaciones buscan desestabilizar a la isla y consideró posible tres escenarios: que se busque asfixiar económicamente a Cuba para “provocar el estallido social que le de un pretexto (a Trump) de ayuda humanitaria para intervenir el país".

Una segunda posibilidad sería “seguir un diálogo coercitivo con Cuba de máxima presión para ocupar el país económicamente y que eso después les diera posibilidad de provocar un cambio político” y una tercera “la intervención militar”, una solución dramática porque costaría vidas para ambos países.

Los dos gobiernos indicaron que tienen actualmente conversaciones, pero no ha trascendido el alcance real de los mismas.

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Siga a Andrea Rodríguez en X: https://x.com/ARodriguezAP

En una conferencia con la prensa internacional, Sánchez indicó que si llega al poder no pondrá “vetos” a la inversión internacional, incluyendo capitales provenientes de Estados Unidos y de China.

“China es el primer socio comercial de Perú y con Estados Unidos hay otros emprendimientos importantes por afianzar”, señaló.

El nacionalista destacó la importancia para Perú de un puerto gigante de capitales chinos llamado Chancay, en el Pacífico, e indicó que desde su funcionamiento, a inicios de 2025, aportó 1,5% del PIB nacional, alrededor de 298 millones de dólares.

“Los goles son goles en el deporte y en el primer año de funcionamiento China ha contribuido la actividad comercial portuaria del nuevo puerto de Chancay con 1,5 del PBI el primer año”, destacó.

El candidato del partido Juntos por el Perú también dijo que es promotor de otro proyecto de puerto gigante en la costa del Pacífico, llamado Corío y a más de 1.000 kilómetros al sur de Chancay, que afirma “puede ser cinco veces más grande que Chancay” y que podría tener otros capitales de inversión, incluido de grupos empresariales de Estados Unidos.

Mientras que su rival del domingo, la candidata conservadora Keiko Fujimori, del partido Fuerza Popular, sostuvo el jueves durante el cierre de su campaña en Lima que su gobierno respetará todas las inversiones desde las más grandes hasta las pequeñas.

Fujimori felicitó en 2024 la inauguración del puerto de Chancay porque dijo que impulsará el intercambio comercial con Asia. En febrero, la candidata indicó que se reunió con el embajador de Estados Unidos en Perú, Bernie Navarro, y afirmó sentirse alegre que Estados Unidos “vuelve a mirar a Latinoamérica”, incluida Perú.

Estados Unidos mostró preocupación en febrero luego que la justicia de Perú decidió que reguladores locales no podrán supervisar el cumplimiento de los derechos de usuarios en el puerto de Chancay, cuya propiedad mayoritaria pertenece a COSCO Shipping, una empresa estatal de China.

China rechazó la posición estadounidense e indicó que "lamenta profundamente los rumores descarados y la difamación acerca del puerto de Chancay por parte de Estados Unidos”.

Sánchez también habló por primera vez sobre su apoyo a impulsar una normativa a favor del aborto en casos de violación sexual, una propuesta a la que se opone su rival Fujimori.

De acuerdo a la ley actual de Perú el aborto por violación sexual está prohibido y sólo es permitido en casos donde la salud o la vida de la persona gestante se encuentre en peligro.

En 2021, la legisladora Ruth Luque, del partido Ahora Nación, impulsó un proyecto de ley para que se despenalice el aborto por violación, pero el plan legislativo no fue aprobado en un Parlamento dominado por una mayoría ultraconservadora.

En febrero, la candidata Fujimori dijo en una entrevista televisiva local que estaba a favor del aborto terapéutico en caso de que la madre corra riesgo de vida, tal como lo permite la ley. “Pero en caso de violación, no”, afirmó.

Según datos del Ministerio de la Mujer, en 2025 hubo 13.096 denuncias por violación sexual en Perú, lo cual equivale a un promedio de una denuncia por violación cada 40 minutos a nivel nacional.

Las elecciones presidenciales de segunda vuelta en Perú se realizarán el domingo 7 de junio. Quien triunfe gobernará por cinco años desde el 28 de julio.

Argentine authorities said biologists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were joining the mission next week in Mendoza.

The rare outbreak on the MV Hondius was caused by the Andes hantavirus, a disease carried by rodents endemic to Argentina and Chile and the only hantavirus thought to be able to spread between people in some cases.

Reconstructing the chain of transmission is difficult work, and Argentine authorities say it may never be possible to pinpoint exactly where the first known victims — a Dutch couple who died in April — contracted the virus before boarding the cruise in Ushuaia. But experts say getting to the bottom of the outbreak will offer valuable information about how the rare virus spread and carry important lessons for management of the disease.

As repatriated cruise passengers from more than 20 countries have disembarked and entered specialized quarantine centers, epidemiologists are examining the 11 confirmed hantavirus cases, including the schedules of the three people killed, to better understand the chain of transmission.

Argentine scientists are working to retrace the path of the Dutch tourists, believing that the original source of the onboard virus to be the man's exposure to rodent droppings or urine during their monthslong trip across Argentina and Chile before the ship’s departure The typical incubation period before symptoms appear is around three weeks but can extend up to eight.

Shortly after news of the outbreak emerged, Argentina's Health Ministry identified Ushuaia as a possible source of the contagion and last month sent investigators from the Malbran government research institute to collect rodent samples in various wooded areas around the city.

Local authorities in the tourism-dependent city of Ushuaia, famed for its location at “the end of the world,” have angrily disputed that the virus originated there. While the Andes hantavirus infects a few dozen people every year in the Patagonian region of Argentina further north, it has never been detected in Ushuaia or the wider archipelago of Tierra del Fuego.

The Health Ministry said Friday that it's still awaiting lab results from those tests to determine whether the couple contracted the virus there.

On Friday, the ministry said specialists from Malbran, together with U.S. counterparts at the CDC, were preparing to test rodents for the hantavirus in the city of Malargüe, Mendoza from June 8-12.

A spokesperson for the Malbran Institute confirmed that the Dutch couple visited Malargüe as they drove through the winemaking region of Mendoza to the northeastern province of Misiones during the last leg of their trip in Argentina.

The head of Malbran, Claudia Perandones, met with CDC investigators in Argentina on Friday to discuss the operation, which she said would involve teams in extensive protective equipment taking blood samples from dead rodents and transferring the material to the main laboratory in Buenos Aires for testing. Authorities have said test results could take up to a month.

The World Health Organization has made clear that, given the low risk of transmission, the hantavirus will not become a pandemic threat.

Still, the Andes hantavirus has raised concerns around the world due to its mortality rate, as high as 30%, and the current lack of treatment and vaccines.

The World Food Program said an analysis in three vulnerable countries found that an additional 2.5 million people in Somalia, 2.3 million in Afghanistan and 1.3 million in Sri Lanka are struggling to meet their basic food needs.

In March, WFP predicted that 45 million people could be pushed into food insecurity by the end of June. That would be on top of the 318 million people around the world who are already food insecure.

“We remain by that prognosis,” WFP’s acting Executive Director Carl Skau told U.N. reporters. “That’s mainly because the correlation between the prices of energy and food is so tight in many places, and also that in the poorest countries people are already spending all their money on food, and hence when food prices rise, they eat less.”

WFP said in its report, circulated late Thursday, that its findings indicate the Mideast crisis is generating “significant spillovers," particularly on the prices of food and fuel, and disrupting trade. Especially in already vulnerable countries, the Rome-based U.N. agency said, these factors interact and quickly impact food security and livelihoods.

“These impacts are expected to intensify in the coming months, even if the crisis in the Middle East de-escalates,” WFP said.

Skau cited other global hotspots with food insecurity, including Sudan, Gaza, southern Lebanon, Yemen and Haiti.

WFP has had to limit aid to millions of needy people because of funding cuts, and Skau urged donors to step up, especially for Somalia and Afghanistan “because the human consequences of not doing more will be massive.”

Poston had eight birdies in a round of 7-under 65, a score best measured by the fact he was nine shots better than the field average, enough for a one-shot lead over Ryan Gerard going into the weekend at Muirfield Village.

Poston was at 9-under 135, a score not many saw coming.

The quality of his round could be measured by the comments of some of his peers. The interview with Tommy Fleetwood began with a statement that it seemed tougher out there.

“Is that a question?” Fleetwood replied. “Yeah, we'll expand on that. It was pretty brutal, actually.”

Justin Thomas hit a phenomenal flop shot from behind the 18th green and holed a 6-foot par putt to make the cut on the number.

“I can’t put into words how hard that was,” said Thomas, who did anyway. “That was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane.”

It was all about the wind, not the strongest these players have ever felt (especially if they have been to Kapalua or Scotland) but Muirfield Village has so much trouble and so little room to play it safe that it became vexing.

That wasn't the case for Poston, who decided last week to change to what he called the “left dash ball Titleist makes."

“It’s supposed to help me a little bit in the wind,” Poston said. “So we felt like today was going to be a good test of that and it obviously performed really well. We had a couple shots that I felt like didn’t quite hit them perfect and it hung in there pretty well.”

Of course, there was a player hitting the shots, and in his case rolling the putts. So was it the golf ball or the putter?

“Both,” Poston said. “The ball got me there, the putter helped me get it in the hole.”

Only two of his eight birdie putts were inside 10 feet. Statistically, Poston picked up four shots on the field with his putting in the strokes gained category. He took 24 putts and the distance they covered was 134 feet. No matter which number, it was really good.

He might have been the only one happy to see wind.

“Yeah, sure,” Poston said with a laugh. “It’s hard to say I wasn’t when you shoot 65. I just knew it was going to play tough and the goal was to try and be patient and keep hitting the shots like I was hitting yesterday and it helps to get off to a great start, make a few nice, longish putts the first couple holes and I feel like I was just kind of off and running.”

Gerard was pleased with his 69, getting three birdies before the wind really started to get tough. And he clearly remembers when that happened.

“Seven fairway,” Gerard said. “I was spraying sunscreen and all of a sudden it started going all over the place. And my caddie was like, ‘Oh, I guess it’s windy now.’”

And it only got worse.

Scottie Scheffler hit a shank, said he felt like he was going to shoot 90 and came to life late with three birdies to salvage a 72. He was 10 shots behind in his bid for a third straight victory at the Memorial. Rory McIlroy had a double bogey and two bogeys over his last six holes for a 74. He also was 10 shots behind in his bid to win for the first time in 14 tries at Muirfield Village.

Sam Burns had another 69 and was three shots back, followed by Fleetwood (73).

Gerard, much like Scheffler, was happy with 69 considering he wasn't entirely on top of his game. He spoke of “grimy up-and-downs” to stay in the game.

“I hit it in two hazards off the tee on par 5s on the back nine and hit both greens in regulation from 240-plus,” he said. "But it’s just kind of keeping yourself in the hole — it’s not easy — and allowing yourself to be positive.

“Mentally and physically this place is a monster, not only because it’s a big walk and I’m dealing with nine million allergies or whatever they’re putting out there,” he said. “So it’s a test of patience.”

___

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

He was described by his family as a man full of life who shared a strong, faith-based, loving bond with them.

“Our family will never ever ever be the same. I see it every day. It is not the same. It will never be the same,” former Coral Springs Mayor Vincent Boccard said.

Authorities said Addis was struck and killed by a wrong-way driver. Dash cam video captured the crash.

His stepfather Boccard, and his mother, Terry Boccard, said the loss is still difficult to put into words.

“You don’t realize how important somebody is until they’re gone. You don’t realize the little things that they do and that you do with them,” Boccard said. “All those memories, they flood your mind. They pass through.”

Asked whether the tragedy made him want to return to public office, Boccard said he is stepping away from politics.

“I gave 20 plus years of public office to cities and I want to spend time with my family now,” he said.

“We have a new mission. We’ve got to get through this and I want to create a legacy for my son somehow,” he added.

The driver accused in the crash, 47-year-old Sult President, has appeared in court and is currently in jail. Addis’ parents said they are beginning to find some closure.

“Just the way it happened, it’s devastating, so unnecessary. I’m happy he’s now put away and he’ll have his trial. He can’t do that to someone else now,” Terry Boccard said.

In the meantime, Addis’ younger sister, Sophia, recently graduated from Coral Springs Charter School, where her brother once attended. She wore his graduation cap to honor him.

The family continues to share memories of his charisma, spirit and legacy.

Trump first raised the idea last month on his way back from meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing, saying that he intended to speak directly with Lai as he weighs whether to go ahead with a $14 billion arms sale for Taipei that Congress approved earlier this year.

The U.S. president on Friday suggested that a call with the Taiwanese leader is still in play. “I’ll always talk to him,” Trump told reporters when asked if he still intended on calling Lai.

Such a call would mark the first direct dialogue between sitting American and Taiwanese presidents in many decades, and Beijing has discouraged Trump against such an engagement.

The Chinese embassy in Washington in a statement to the Associated Press this week said that kind of phone call could undermine progress in the delicate U.S.-China relationship and urged the Republican administration to “handle the Taiwan question with utmost prudence” and “avoid sending wrong signals” to officials in the democratically run island that China views as a breakaway province.

It would be an unprecedented phone call

Trump raised China’s ire when he took a congratulatory call from Taiwan’s then-President Tsai Ing-wen after winning the 2016 presidential election but before taking office.

Trump has raised the idea of a direct engagement with Lai even as he's been more circumspect about whether he'll move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Xi in Beijing. Congress greenlit the arms deal in January but it still needs Trump's approval,

The president said last month he sees arms sales with Taiwan as a “negotiating chip” in the administration's approach to Pacific policy.

At last month’s Beijing summit, Xi warned Trump that the “Taiwan question” is the most important issue in ties between China and the U.S., and that the two nations will “have clashes and even conflicts” without proper handling of the matter, according to Chinese officials.

Trump had an unusual consultation on Taiwan during his Beijing visit

Trump’s discussion with Xi about the arms sales to Taiwan seemed out of step with the U.S. policy principles known as the Six Assurances. The nonbinding principles, formulated in 1982 under President Ronald Reagan, have helped guide the U.S. relationship with Taipei, according to analysts.

The second of the Six Assurances states that the U.S. “did not agree to consult with the People’s Republic of China on arms sales to Taiwan.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a series of congressional hearings earlier this week said that the United States' Taiwan policy has not changed.

But Trump’s rhetoric has added a more foggy dynamic to the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Trump’s comments about Taiwan arms sales as a negotiating chip, combined with uncertainty around a possible Lai call, have created more ambiguity than Taipei would like,” Singleton said. “The real test is not the rhetoric. It is whether the pending arms package moves, and on what timeline.”

Taiwan's president is ready for a Trump call

If the call were to happen, Lai has said he would emphasize to Trump that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are crucial for global security, and make the case that China was acting as the “destroyer” of the strait’s peace.

Lai said he also would tell Trump that Taiwan’s increasing defense budget was a response to threats, and purchases of U.S. arms would be an essential means to safeguard the strait’s stability.

In 1979, Washington ended diplomatic ties with Taiwan as part of recognizing the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese have reacted strongly after other engagements by senior U.S. leaders with Taiwan’s leadership.

After an August 2022 visit to Taipei by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and five other Democratic lawmakers, China responded with large-scale military exercises that included launching short-range ballistic missiles over the island.

Trump repeats plans to call Lai despite Beijing pressure

The United States, under the “One China” policy, recognizes the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China, while still allowing for informal U.S. relations with the self-governing island.

At the same time, the U.S. has long agreed to ensure Taipei has the resources to defend itself though Washington has remained ambiguous about how far it will go militarily to counter Beijing should it decide to take Taiwan by force.

After Trump's Friday comments, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington reiterated its position that it intends to “maintain close contact” with the U.S. on arms sales and other issues.

“We will leave it up to the U.S. to announce if there’s any arrangements for President Trump to speak with President Lai,” the office said in a statement.

China would view a phone call between Trump and Lai as more provocative than moving forward with the proposed arms sale to Taiwan, said Edgard Kagan, a former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia and senior State Department official handling East Asia policy issues under Trump and President Joe Biden.

Kagan added that it was notable that Trump continues to publicly state that such a call is a possibility after China had warned the U.S. administration against a Trump-Lai engagement.

If Trump bypasses a phone call with Lai, he may create the space to move forward with a new arms sales for Taipei while dulling the blowback from Beijing, said Kagan, who is now the China Studies chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“This could give him the room to announce an arms sale, defuse the criticism that the U.S. is turning its back on Taiwan, and do it in a way that leaves the Chinese feeling there was some respect for their views,” Kagan added.

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Madhani reported from Washington.

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During the tournament, none of them will be referring to the stadium at 347 Don Shula Drive in Miami Gardens as the Hard Rock Stadium. It will be the Miami Stadium.

Heimo Schirgi, FIFA’s chief event operations officer, was leading his team to monitor everything from security to weather, flights, and tickets.

“This is where all of the information from all of the over 500 official sites that we have throughout the three countries comes together, and where we can do some centralized and informed decision making,” Schirgi said.

The FIFA World Cup, held every four years since 1930, runs from June 11 to July 19. There are 104 matches scheduled at 16 host cities, including Miami.

It is the first time the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will host a FIFA World Cup, and the first time the tournament features 48 teams.

“The whole world is already here, and we are super excited,” said Schirgi, who was born in Austria and grew up in Turkey and South Africa.

The 12 groups of four teams each will play the first 72 matches, including four games from three groups at the Miami Stadium.

“Some of the biggest matches we have in terms of demand and interest are right here in Miami,” Schirgi said.

Uruguay plays against Saudi Arabia at 6 p.m. on June 15 and against Cape Verde at 6 p.m. on June 21. Brazil plays against Scotland at 6 p.m. on June 24. Colombia plays against Portugal at 7:30 p.m. on June 27.

During the tournament’s knockout stage, there will be 32 matches, including three key games at the Miami Stadium.

The winner of Group J will play against the runner-up of Group H at 6 p.m. on July 3. The quarter-final match is at 5 p.m. on July 11, and the bronze final match is at 5 p.m. on July 18.

More related stories

• Broward’s free FIFA World Cup watch parties will be at in-door arena for 18,000
• FIFA cancels World Cup tickets to about 60 fans who got them for free due to error
• Shakira and Burna Boy to play in first of three World Cup opening ceremonies
• Some of the most dedicated World Cup fans skipping this year’s tournament, citing costs and politics

Track FIFA World Cup groups

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

Cordero Stutz said deputies will be working on undercover operations as soccer fans take over tourist destinations and the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, which FIFA will refer to as the Miami Stadium.

“The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, alongside our local, state, and federal partners, has been actively planning, training, and coordinating to help ensure that residents and visitors can safely enjoy one of the largest international events our community has ever hosted,” Cordero Stutz said in Doral.

The FIFA World Cup, held every four years since 1930, runs from June 11 to July 19 and includes 104 matches at 16 host cities, including Miami.

Brett Skiles, FBI Miami’s special agent in charge, was also at the news conference. He focused on civilian drones and warned fans against flying these to try to get a peek at the stadium.

“My advice to you is to leave your drone at home; the penalties are going to be severe,” Skiles said about violators, who could face civil fines of up to $75,000 per violation and criminal fines reaching $100,000 or more.

Aside from fines, the Federal Aviation Administration has suspended or revoked the licenses of multiple drone operators for “unsafe and unauthorized operations,” including flights near major sporting events.

Cordero Stutz said Homeland Security agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will also be running independent operations and investigations.

It is the first time the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will host a FIFA World Cup, and the first time the tournament features 48 teams. There will be seven games at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, which FIFA will refer to as the Miami Stadium.

Raymond A. Martinez, the chief operating officer of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Miami Host Committee, had a message for fans: “If you do not have a ticket, don’t go to the stadium.”

The 12 groups of four teams each will play the first 72 matches, including four games from three groups at the Miami Stadium.

Uruguay plays against Saudi Arabia at 6 p.m. on June 15 and against Cape Verde at 6 p.m. on June 21. Brazil plays against Scotland at 6 p.m. on June 24. Colombia plays against Portugal at 7:30 p.m. on June 27.

During the tournament’s knockout stage, there will be 32 matches, including three from July 3-18 at the Miami Stadium.

The winner of Group J will play against the runner-up of Group H at 6 p.m. on July 3. The quarter-final match is at 5 p.m. on July 11, and the bronze final match is at 5 p.m. on July 18.

More related stories

• Behind-the-scenes look: FIFA runs World Cup operations center in Miami-Dade County
• Broward’s free FIFA World Cup watch parties will be at in-door arena for 18,000
• FIFA cancels World Cup tickets to about 60 fans who got them for free due to error
• Shakira and Burna Boy to play in first of three World Cup opening ceremonies
• Some of the most dedicated World Cup fans skipping this year’s tournament, citing costs and politics

Track FIFA World Cup groups

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I
• Group J
• Group K
• Group L

The exchange of strikes comes as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Iran to make a deal to end the conflict.

U.S. Central Command said on social media Friday night that Iran fired seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, with U.S. forces intercepting six of the missiles and a seventh failing to reach its target. The military said there were no reports of harm to U.S. personnel.

The ballistic missiles were fired after the U.S. earlier in the day shot down four Iranian drones that were launched toward Strait of Hormuz.

“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said on social media.

Kuwaiti’s military said forces were intercepting missiles and drones attacking the country, while Bahrain activated air raid sirens and told residents to move to the nearest safe location and follow official instructions.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it targeted the Ali Al Salem airbase, which hosts U.S. forces in Kuwait, and the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in the tiny Gulf island nation of Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The U.S. military is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s chokehold on the crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments, which has sent energy prices spiking and posed political problems for President Donald Trump's Republican Party ahead of the midterm congressional elections.

U.S. Central Command said it hit the radar sites, including an island in the strait, “to defend against further attacks.”

Trump promises a quick end to US-Iran conflict

It was the latest in back-and-forth attacks that have strained the tenuous ceasefire in the war and efforts to reach a deal to extend that truce. Earlier this week, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person, wounding dozens and briefly closing the airfield.

Despite the attacks raising new concerns that the ceasefire could collapse, Trump told reporters Friday that “the situation with Iran seems to be going quite well.”

“We’re going to come out of Iran very quickly and it’s going to be very strong one way or the other, whether it’s a piece of paper or the very tough way,” Trump said at an event with farmers in Wisconsin. “The very tough way is maybe the easier way, but we’re going to come out, and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago.”

Trump increasingly appears to be boxed in on a conflict that has settled into a holding pattern. U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement a week ago to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program. But Trump has called for unspecified changes and Iranian officials have shown no public signs of signing off on the deal.

Asked on Friday why it was taking so long, Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” it was because “it’s a very hard thing for them,” citing their “great independence” and the fact that “they’re strong, they’re proud.”

“There are things they never thought they’d be doing that they’re going to have to do. They’ve got no choice, and it takes a little while,” he said in the interview.

Trump said the Iranians still have 21% to 22% of their missiles.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue

His administration also has touted the latest ceasefire agreed to this week by the Lebanese government and Israel after U.S.-brokered talks in Washington. However, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group has rejected the agreement and new attacks have put it at further risk.

The Israeli military on Friday struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the fighting. The strikes killed nine people in six locations in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.

The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, in an encounter Friday with militants in southern Lebanon.

The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, also threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz because Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon.

Besides the drone interception in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said earlier Friday that its forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean as the United States seeks to prevent Iran from profiting off its oil and other goods.

The U.S. also targeted Iran’s energy sector with new sanctions on a group of people, firms and tankers.

__

Magdy reported from Cairo.

Organized by the Miami Host Committee, Copa de Sol is designed to showcase the power of soccer when communities, cultures and generations unite.

The event has drawn soccer fans from throughout the region, with participants signing up to compete in matches running through Sunday.

About 160 teams are competing on a 4-versus-4 mini pitch.

Organizers said the festival is the result of about two months of planning and is focused on creating a community-centered experience.

“It’s all about community,” said Alina Hudak, president and CEO of the Miami Host Committee. “It’s a very fast, rapid-pace tournament. We’ve got youth teams that have been playing all day. They’re going to be playing throughout the weekend. We have corporate teams. We have women teams. We have influencers. So it’s just an opportunity to be excited.”

Fans attending the event said their passion for the sport brought them out.

“I just love soccer,” said Joshua Leconte. “It’s a good event. I love soccer. That’s why I came.”

The attack happened Thursday night in the Keystone neighborhood.

Officials said a resident had hired a professional trapper and had a nuisance raccoon trapped in a backyard.

“The person went out to investigate because of the noise and to secure the area,” North Miami Council Member Kevin Burns said. “And as they were doing that, three additional raccoons came under the fence and attacked the individual, causing severe trauma.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, raccoons are intelligent animals found throughout Florida. The agency says a panicked raccoon can bite.

“We have a large raccoon population,” Burns said.

Burns said he has received many emails from concerned residents following the attack.

“We advise people, along with FWC, don’t feed the animals,” Burns said.

The injured woman is recovering at Ryder Trauma Center, where several FWC officers were seen.

In a statement, the agency said the county health department has been notified.

“FWC Wildlife Assistance biologists will be providing the injured party and neighbors with technical assistance and guidance for prevention of further conflicts with raccoons,” the agency said.

Richards tore two ligaments in his left ankle while playing for England's Crystal Palace on May 17. He has been ruled out for Saturday's friendly against Germany, but the U.S. is holding out hope that he might be able to play in its World Cup opener next week against Paraguay.

“Chris Richards is on the right path to coming back and being completely with the squad,” midfielder Weston McKennie said. “I think everyone trusts his body and what he feels and the coaching staff as well. He’s an important piece of the group, (with) his energy, his leadership on and off the field. And so obviously we’re just all behind him and can’t wait to have him back and out with the group."

During the 15-minute portion of practice that was open to the media, the 26-year-old Richards showed no signs of any issues as he warmed up with the rest of the team at Endeavor Health Performance Center, the practice home for Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire.

Richards, who missed the 2022 World Cup because of a hamstring injury, is considered the best central defender for the United States.

“His training and his evolution is well, but he still is not ready to compete and to play,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said before practice.

Pochettino and the U.S. are running out of time when it comes to making a decision on Richards. They can replace injured players on their 26-man roster until Thursday.

“Maybe this is the final of the World Cup, maybe he can play,” Pochettino said of Saturday's game at Soldier Field, “but the advice of the medical area is not to play.”

The U.S. is coming off a 3-2 victory over Senegal on Sunday. Following its matchup with Paraguay, the U.S. also has Group D games against Australia on June 19 and Turkey on June 25.

Germany also is playing its last friendly before its World Cup opener on June 14 against Curacao. It also has Group E games against the Ivory Coast on June 20 and Ecuador on June 25.

“We’ll be going into this game with a lot of players that haven’t played against them yet, and players that have,” McKennie said, “so I think the new energy, the new style, the new, just circumstances in general leading into a World Cup, I think it’s going to be a great test for us.”

The U.S. has 13 players who were on Gregg Berhalter's roster for the 2022 World Cup, including 11 who made an appearance in Qatar. Berhalter was fired 10 months into his second stint as U.S. coach, but he took over the Fire when he was hired as head coach and director of football in October 2024.

Berhalter got a chance to catch up with his son, Sebastian, a midfielder on the U.S. team, and some of his former players with the Americans practicing at the Fire's facility.

“When I got them, they were young. They were babies and they were just learning what it takes to be a professional athlete,” Gregg Berhalter said. “And now when I see them, they're men. They have kids. They're adults, and they know exactly what it means to maintain themselves as professionals. And it's an amazing thing to see.”

___

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

But a new exhibit may be prompting an about-face from the federal government.

The Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library has struggled to keep its doors open, according to director Robert Kesten.

“We were notified that the federal government would not be giving any grants,” Kesten said.

So when the museum began planning its latest exhibit, Kesten was surprised to learn it had received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“And we were told that we got the grant and so I remember calling to find out if that was true,” he said.

The grant is funding an exhibit about the Revolutionary War and the story of Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a military general who many historians believe was gay.

Around 1778, the Americans were looking for military help. Kesten said von Steuben had some of the best military training in Europe.

“He had the best training in Europe,” he said.

According to the exhibit, von Steuben was wanted for arrest in Europe over homosexual activities before being recruited to America by Benjamin Franklin.

“He really was expert at military strategy,” Kesten said.

Historians believe von Steuben became one of George Washington’s most trusted military advisers.

“Some people would say he is the father of the U.S. Army,” Kesten said.

Von Steuben also wrote the military training manual known as the “Blue Book.”

“That book is still in print, and still available, and still used,” Kesten said.

The exhibit highlights von Steuben’s role in helping the Americans defeat the British during the Revolutionary War.

“He gave them strategy, he gave them a sense of purpose,” Kesten said.

The exhibit is now open and is part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebration.

Kesten said he believes it may be the only diversity, equity and inclusion-related exhibit in the country that is partly funded by the federal government.

Kesten said the exhibit’s message is especially relevant during Pride Month.

“We hurt ourselves when we dismiss people because we are uncomfortable with their lifestyle that has no impact on their ability to protect and defend the country,” he said.

The exhibit will remain on display through June as the museum faces additional state funding cuts in the coming months.

The museum has largely been operating on donations from residents, according to Kesten.

Humidity levels will be quite tolerable Saturday! The day will offer sunshine, scattered clouds and hardly a drop of rain as east-northeast winds, sustained 5 to 15 mph, persist.

The onshore breeze carries into Sunday. Conditions will start to become more humid and there will be a better chance for showers in the area. Temperatures will make a run for the mid and upper 80s, both days.

Sankey, in an interview Friday on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” outlined the reasons the SEC does not support a bipartisan bill introduced last week in Congress that would regulate a college sports landscape that has changed dramatically in the new era of multimillion-dollar payrolls for players.

The commissioner said there were “about one dozen big buckets” of issues the league needed to analyze in the first section of the 111-page bill. That first section does not include a proposal in a subsequent part — the rewrite of a 1961 broadcasting law that would allow conferences to pool their media rights. The SEC and Big Ten oppose that idea, which in this bill would make the pooling voluntary.

“But I really need to see that it's voluntary to understand some components of how that would be treated under different scenarios,” Sankey said. “I think the notion that we would simply rush to say we support is not the appropriate position. I do think it’s appropriate to try to work through these issues,”

One of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has said the bill would prevent the two biggest conferences from forming a super league — a notion that Sankey knocked down in the interview with Finebaum and that Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti told Yahoo Sports is a “fabrication.”

In testimony this week at a Senate hearing about the bill, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, a former NBC executive, was asked about the super league concept. He said it would likely involve around 30 teams and could happen if the big keep getting bigger. But he also warned, “I don’t think it’s good for college football to be a mini-NFL.”

Sankey leaned into the irony of the idea that a Big Ten-SEC merger is being discussed at one level, while on another, some see a fatal flaw in the conferences' inability to agree on some key issues in college sports — notably, how big the next expansion for the College Football Playoff should be.

“Tony and I have laughed about that particular reality, and the notion that somehow we’re going to merge our leagues and have some magical agreement,” Sankey said.

He agreed that some action is needed sooner rather than later and said he appreciated that Cruz and bill co-sponsor, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., came together to draft a bill that could eventually help guide this troubled industry.

The Big Ten and SEC Power 4 brethren, the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast conferences, have each come out in favor of the bill.

Another key supporter is Texas Tech regent Cody Campbell, a long proponent of the media-pooling idea, which he says could bring in billions more in revenue. In an interview last week with the AP, Campbell said he and lawmakers are open to discussing changes in the bill.

“I think it's very healthy and helpful for people with outside perspectives and without personal agendas to be involved in trying to help solve this problem,” he said. “But the main thing is, look, if you created this mess, you can't stand up and say you're the ones who are going to fix it.”

___

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

The developments came a day after President Donald Trump made baseless claims of mass fraud in California's drawn-out vote count from Tuesday's primary. Late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots were continuing to eat into the vote totals for the president's preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor.

The announcement by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, Trump's appointee as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, and the visit to Los Angeles County's ballot tabulation center marked an escalation in the president's campaign against the Democratic-dominated state, whose notoriously prolonged vote count has been a magnet for election conspiracy theories. Trump weighed in again Friday while participating in a roundtable discussion in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, claiming without evidence that Democrats were rigging the election.

“You look at what’s happening — it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter,” he said. “And the people who were supposed to win, bad things are happening. It’s a crooked state.”

Trump has often said that changes to vote totals as late ballots are counted are a sign of fraud, when they're merely a reflection of more ballots being counted.

On Thursday, Trump said his Department of Justice was investigating the California count. By Friday morning, Essayli posted on X about ongoing investigations without providing details, saying only that California’s elections have “serious structural vulnerabilities.”

An assistant U.S. attorney came to the main ballot processing center Friday morning, according to a statement from Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for Los Angeles County's Registrar-Recorder. The prosecutor “was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walkthrough of the ballot processing operations,” Sanchez said.

He added that “election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests.”

It was not the first time Trump's Justice Department has taken an interest in California's elections. Last fall, it sent observers to monitor polling sites in five counties, including Los Angeles, during the special election asking voters to change California's congressional map.

GOP candidate calls for change in mail ballot law

Also on Friday, Republican Steve Hilton, who is Trump's favored candidate for governor, called for a sweeping overhaul in California's election laws to limit mail ballots to only those who request them, rather than being sent to all registered voters. He also called for an Election Day deadline to accept them rather than the seven-day grace period the state currently allows as long as they are postmarked by the final day of voting.

Hilton said in an interview that the U.S. attorney's office might know more than his campaign does, but noted his team has been monitoring the count and has seen nothing that seems illegal.

“We certainly haven’t seen anything of that nature that would warrant legal action,” Hilton said.

Still, Hilton said the sluggish count has made California “a national and international laughingstock.” He proposed the state government send an emergency detachment of state workers to California's 58 counties to speed up the vote count.

Jesse Salinas, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officers, said he welcomed Hilton's eagerness to help but the proposal would do no good.

“It'd be more disruptive than helpful at this point,” said Salinas, who's also the clerk and registrar for Yolo County.

Anyone who handles a ballot or machine used in the vote-counting process would have to be trained by the very people working feverishly to tally mail ballots that poured in Tuesday. And, added Salinas, his own vote-counting facility is already full, with no more room for any additional staff.

Hilton, who has been endorsed by Trump, is battling two Democrats for one of the two slots on the November ballot. Reality television star Spencer Pratt, another candidate backed by Trump, is likewise competing with City Councilwoman Nithya Raman for the chance to face Mayor Karen Bass in the November election.

Because Democrats usually vote by mail, and held onto their ballots unusually late in the crowded primary, their votes are often tallied after those of more Republican-leaning voters who might have cast ballots early. The net effect is that Republican candidates appear at their high water marks in the first batch of returns on election night, only to see their leads whittled away in the days or weeks that follow, when election workers complete the lengthy process of tallying late-arriving mail ballots.

Según la policía, la balacera fue reportada a las 4:53 a.m. en la cuadra 6700 de Collins Avenue.

La policía informó que los agentes llegaron al lugar y encontraron a un hombre con una herida de bala.

Funcionarios del Departamento de Bomberos de Miami Beach trasladaron a la víctima al Ryder Trauma Center del Hospital Jackson Memorial en estado crítico.

“Debido a la investigación, el tráfico en dirección norte por Collins Ave. ha sido cerrado a la altura de la calle 67 y desviado hacia el oeste por Harding Ave. e Indian Creek Drive”, dijo un portavoz del departamento de policía a Local 10 News.

No se divulgaron de inmediato más detalles.

Cualquier persona con información debe llamar al Departamento de Policía de Miami Beach o a Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers al 305-471-8477.

Investigators told her father, who lives in California, that a boat had struck her off Dania Beach, hours before her body washed ashore on Wednesday night in Hollywood Beach.

Williams, who had recently gotten married, was also a scuba diver who loved the ocean and had lived near it in South Florida for about four years, according to her grieving father.

Williams vanished on Wednesday while swimming in the area of Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park at 6503 North Ocean Drive, according to the Hollywood Police Department.

Hollywood police officers responded to a 911 call at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday after witnesses saw her body, east of the North Boardwalk and south of the Hollywood North Beach Park.

“We saw two fishermen and then what looked like a body on the beach ... We saw them drag her up ... it was disheartening,” Gianluca Fiore, a witness, told Local 10 News on Thursday morning.

There were Hollywood police officers on and off the beach late into the night, near North Surf Road, between New Mexico and Thomas streets.

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation investigators worked with Hollywood detectives. The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and reported Williams’s cause of death as “blunt force injuries.”

Detectives asked anyone with information about the case to call 954-764-4357 or 954-967-4567, or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477 to remain anonymous.

Related reports

• Police: Body washes ashore on Hollywood Beach
• Hollywood detectives investigate woman’s death after her body washes ashore
• Police: Woman vanishes off Dania Beach, washes ashore dead in Hollywood Beach

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Despite this, President Donald Trump faced criticism over his renovation projects, and this prompted lawsuits involving nonprofit organizations.

The $14.8 million “Great Reflecting Pool” is between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“That’s clean, beautiful water,” Trump said on Thursday about the water in the “American flag blue” pool.

The 250-foot “Independence Arch” would be at the Memorial Circle roundabout, near the Lincoln Memorial. Public Citizen sued the National Park Service to stop it.

The National Capital Planning Commission held a public meeting on Thursday, and opponents judged the arch as a “waste of taxpayer money” and a“vanity project.”

The $400 million "White House State Ballroom" required the demolition of the East Wing. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the National Park Service.

U.S. Appeals Court Judge Patricia Millett is considering U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s order to stop the above-ground construction of the ballroom.

Latest related stories

• Court can’t stop Trump ballroom construction, government lawyer tells judge
• Water begins refilling Reflecting Pool after Trump’s renovation to repaint it ‘American flag blue’
• Planning commission seeks more details on Trump’s planned 250-foot arch near the Lincoln Memorial
• Kennedy Center moves to erase Trump references after judge said they were illegally added

A pesar de ello, el presidente Donald Trump fue objeto de críticas por sus proyectos de renovación, lo que provocó demandas por parte de organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro.

El “ Gran Estanque Reflectante ”, con un costo de 14,8 millones de dólares, se ubica entre el Monumento a Lincoln y el Monumento a Washington. La Fundación del Paisaje Cultural demandó al Departamento del Interior de Estados Unidos.

“Es agua limpia y hermosa”, dijo Trump el jueves refiriéndose al agua de la piscina de color “azul bandera estadounidense”.

El “Arco de la Independencia”, de 76 metros de altura, se ubicaría en la rotonda de Memorial Circle, cerca del Monumento a Lincoln. La organización Public Citizen demandó al Servicio de Parques Nacionales para impedir su construcción.

La Comisión Nacional de Planificación de la Capital celebró una reunión pública el jueves , y los opositores calificaron el arco como un “despilfarro del dinero de los contribuyentes” y un “proyecto vanidoso”.

El salón de baile estatal de la Casa Blanca , con un costo de 400 millones de dólares, requirió la demolición del ala este. El National Trust for Historic Preservation demandó al Servicio de Parques Nacionales.

La jueza del Tribunal de Apelaciones de Estados Unidos, Patricia Millett, está considerando la orden del juez de distrito estadounidense Richard Leon de detener la construcción del salón de baile en la superficie.

Últimas noticias relacionadas

• El tribunal no puede detener la construcción del salón de baile de Trump, según le dijo el abogado del gobierno al juez.
• El estanque reflectante comienza a llenarse de nuevo tras la renovación realizada por Trump para repintarlo de “azul bandera estadounidense”.
• La comisión de planificación solicita más detalles sobre el arco de 250 pies que Trump planea construir cerca del Monumento a Lincoln.
• El Kennedy Center procede a eliminar las referencias a Trump después de que un juez dictaminara que fueron añadidas ilegalmente.

La senadora Lisa Murkowski, quien no busca la reelección este año, fue la única republicana que votó en contra debido al fondo de conciliación de $1,800 millones USD denominado “Anti-Weaponization”.

También hubo controversia por una propuesta de $1,000 millones USD para que el Servicio Secreto de Estados Unidos mejore la seguridad en la Casa Blanca, incluido el nuevo salón de baile.

Desde enero, los demócratas han pedido una reforma del DHS en el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) y en la Patrulla Fronteriza de Estados Unidos.

Más sobre inmigración

• Un juez federal anula una política migratoria de la administración Trump que afectaba a 39 países.
• El Senado aprueba proyecto de ley migratoria de $70,000 millones USD tras rechazar esfuerzos para prohibir permanentemente el fondo de conciliación del presidente Trump.
• El Departamento del Tesoro advierte a los bancos sobre “señales de alerta” relacionadas con clientes que se encuentran ilegalmente en Estados Unidos.
• ICE dejará de reportar las muertes de detenidos que hayan sido liberados recientemente de custodia.
• Sargento de policía de Nueva Jersey acusado de robar el bolso de cámara de un periodista durante una protesta relacionada con inmigración.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava made the announcement after negotiations to purchase the property broke down.

Related: Miami-Dade mayor announces leadership shakeup amid Fisher Island fuel depot dispute

The fuel bunker on the exclusive Fisher Island has been the subject of several lawsuits and a high-profile dispute over its future.

Levine Cava said the county’s goal is to ensure a reliable fuel supply for PortMiami’s operations.

The same crowd that roared at the start of the series was stunned, with their beloved Hurricanes shut out through the first two periods for the first time since mid-January. They were fewer than 15 minutes away from a 2-0 hole that only five of 55 teams have overcome to hoist the Cup.

The topsy-turvy ride that followed ended with Carolina winning in emotional fashion and making this a competitive series between two of the best teams in the NHL. Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas.

If it is anything like the first two, it is best to expect the unexpected the rest of the way.

“It’s obviously a new series, a five-game series now,” said defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who leads the Hurricanes with three points so far in the final. “A lot of emotions throughout the games, too. For almost 50 minutes there it’s kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high. It’s a roller coaster for sure."

This final is shaping up to be more like a seesaw, with wild momentum swings back and forth. This is the first Cup final in league history in which each of the first two games featured a multigoal comeback victory.

Carolina is now the first team in 82 years to win a game in the final when down by more than one goal within the final 10 minutes of regulation. That would also make Vegas — which fell behind by two goals in the opener — the first team since 1944 to blow such a lead.

“The sport of hockey is funny that way," Golden Knights center William Karlsson said Friday. "I think that’s why we all love it. It can go either way at any times .... But it’s hockey. It’s a game of mistakes, and it’s bound to happen.”

The Hurricanes after cruising through the first three rounds with 12 wins and just one loss met their match in Vegas, and that was evident in Game 1. What also became clear is that neither of team is going to get pushed around for an entire night, even if there are stretches of domination by one side or the other.

“It’s going to be hard to play your best game — that's the point,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “It would be great if you could do it for the whole 60 minutes. But it’s probably not going to be that way because they’re a very, very good team.”

Counterpart John Tortorella emphasized that again before he and his team flew home, insisting he likes where Vegas is at two games into its biggest challenge yet this postseason. The Golden Knights have stolen home-ice advantage and get to play the next two on The Strip, where Tortorella can better control matchups.

“There’s no difference,” Tortorella said. "We’re going to play. We know how to play. We know how we want to play.”

So do the Hurricanes, and it's what they displayed at the end of Game 2. Logan Stankoven provided the spark, Mark Jankowski kept it going and Jordan Staal scored on a power play after Tortorella's failed goaltender interference challenge became a difference-making moment.

Of course, the Golden Knights dominating for much of the first two periods and the start of the third showed why they've been such a buzzsaw since Tortorella took over in late March. Brind'Amour acknowledged the vibes around his team were better than they could have been if not for the turnaround, but neither team should expect to feel too good about itself for toon long in a series like this.

Players are embracing that as part of the fun.

"This is exciting," Jarvis said. “This is what playoff hockey’s all about is tight games and momentum swings, and you never really know what’s going to happen next. I don’t think you can ask any more of a playoff series.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Durante el torneo, ninguno de ellos se referirá al estadio ubicado en 347 Don Shula Drive en Miami Gardens como el Hard Rock Stadium. Será el Miami Stadium.

Heimo Schirgi, director de operaciones de eventos de la FIFA, dirigía a su equipo para supervisar todo, desde la seguridad hasta el clima, los vuelos y las entradas.

“Aquí es donde se reúne toda la información de los más de 500 sitios web oficiales que tenemos en los tres países, y donde podemos tomar decisiones centralizadas e informadas”, dijo Schirgi.

La Copa Mundial de la FIFA , que se celebra cada cuatro años desde 1930, tiene lugar del 11 de junio al 19 de julio. Hay 104 partidos programados en 16 ciudades anfitrionas, incluida Miami .

Es la primera vez que Estados Unidos, Canadá y México organizan una Copa Mundial de la FIFA , y la primera vez que el torneo cuenta con 48 equipos.

“El mundo entero ya está aquí, y estamos muy emocionados”, dijo Schirgi, quien nació en Austria y creció en Turquía y Sudáfrica.

Los 12 grupos de cuatro equipos disputarán los primeros 72 partidos, incluyendo cuatro encuentros de tres grupos en el Estadio de Miami.

“Algunos de los partidos más importantes, en términos de demanda e interés, se celebran aquí mismo en Miami”, dijo Schirgi.

Uruguay juega contra Arabia Saudita a las 18:00 del 15 de junio y contra Cabo Verde a las 18:00 del 21 de junio. Brasil juega contra Escocia a las 18:00 del 24 de junio. Colombia juega contra Portugal a las 19:30 del 27 de junio.

Durante la fase eliminatoria del torneo se disputarán 32 partidos, incluyendo tres encuentros clave en el Estadio de Miami.

El ganador del Grupo J se enfrentará al segundo clasificado del Grupo H a las 18:00 horas del 3 de julio. El partido de cuartos de final se disputará a las 17:00 horas del 11 de julio, y el partido por el tercer puesto a las 17:00 horas del 18 de julio.

Más historias relacionadas

• Las fiestas gratuitas para ver la Copa Mundial de la FIFA en Broward se llevarán a cabo en un estadio cubierto con capacidad para 18.000 personas.
• La FIFA cancela las entradas para el Mundial de unos 60 aficionados que las habían obtenido gratis debido a un error.
• Shakira y Burna Boy actuarán en la primera de las tres ceremonias de apertura del Mundial.
• Algunos de los aficionados más entregados al Mundial se saltarán el torneo de este año, alegando costes y cuestiones políticas.

Seguimiento de los grupos de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA

• Grupo A
• Grupo B
• Grupo C
• Grupo D
• Grupo E
• Grupo F
• Grupo G
• Grupo H
• Grupo I
• Grupo J
• Grupo K
• Grupo L

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a range of scenarios generated by computer models Friday, spanning from 10,000 cases to more than 20,000. If accurate, a worst-case scenario could approach the worst Ebola outbreak in history, the West Africa epidemic in 2014-2016 — which resulted in more than 28,000 reported cases and more than 11,000 deaths.

“Without strong public health interventions, the modeling work suggests an outbreak of that scale is possible,” said Dr. Satish Pillai, incident manager for the CDC’s Ebola response, in a briefing with reporters.

Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center, said the modeling “affirms what we have worried about since the beginning: This outbreak is following dangerous trajectory” if more is not done to stop the spread of Ebola.

But she cautioned it can be extremely difficult to predict how outbreaks will progress. “I wouldn’t read too much into the specific numbers. It’s really hard to make an accurate projection when you have limited data,” she added.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that there have been about 400 confirmed cases, including 63 deaths. Experts say there likely others that haven't been diagnosed or reported.

Viruses that cause Ebola disease spread through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood and semen. There are no specific treatments or vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus at the heart of the current outbreak. The disease is often fatal.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency in May. Some experts believe infections may have been occurring in February, but health officials initially tested for a different kind of Ebola virus.

The outbreak response has been complicated by an armed conflict between Congo’s government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, as well as attacks by the Islamic State-affiliated group the Allied Democratic Force. The violence has caused massive displacement of people living in the conflict areas, officials say.

Earlier this week, Nuzzo said the risk to the United States seems low. “I don’t think it’s a scenario that it’s going to come here and spread broadly,” she told reporters. The CDC echoed that assessment in an article released Friday.

That's due in part to decisions but the U.S. government to ban the entry of people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card holders who visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. Also, people with U.S. passports who traveled to those countries are undergoing health screenings and being funneled into four receiving airports.

CDC's modeling report attempts to project how things might play out, depending on different factors — including how many infections and deaths have already happened, and how successful responders are in quickly identifying and isolating infected people before they can spread the infection to others.

Assuming around 50 people had died and about 20% of infected persons were successfully isolated by late May, most simulations suggest at least 20,000 cases and 4,000 deaths will occur in Africa over three months.

Pillai said the actual isolation rate is unknown but is considered to be “on the lower end of the scenarios” that CDC modeled.

Higher isolation rates, of 50% or 70%, could result in the number of cases being more like 10,000, CDC officials said. But if the actual number of deaths were greater in late May that currently recognized, that could make the outcomes worse, CDC officials said.

Some CDC modeling during the large Ebola outbreak in West Africa proved to be way off. The CDC issued modeled numbers in 2014, when the epidemic was spiraling out of control and international health officials were quickly trying to build a response.

The CDC estimated that in a worse-case scenario where nothing was done, as many as 1.4 million people might become infected. That turned out to be more than 50 times higher than what happened.

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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.

The fired employees included four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst. The FBI declined to comment.

“This action is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure,” their lawyer, David Laufman, said in a statement. “These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered to protect our country.”

The January 2023 intelligence product produced by analysts in the FBI's Richmond, Virginia, field office emerged as a political flashpoint after it was issued, with Republicans in Congress repeatedly citing it as part of their broader contention that the FBI during the Biden administration was targeting conservatives.

Then-director Chris Wray repeatedly denied that charge and the FBI has said the document was quickly retracted and an internal review was launched. Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Joe Biden, has said he was “appalled” by the memo.

Earlier Justice Department investigations into the memo challenged the analytical tradecraft but did not find intentional misconduct by the analysts involved.

The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a Trump loyalist who over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.

In February, for instance, the FBI fired a group of counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into President Donald Trump over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Richmond memo, which emerged from a domestic terrorism investigation, sought to examine a potential link between what it called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and racially and ethnically motivated extremists. It warned of the potential for violence and also highlighted what the authors described as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” FBI leadership quickly condemned those findings once the document became public.

An internal FBI review described in a 2023 letter to Congress and based on interviews with 26 people “found that all individuals involved in the creation, review and approval of the product failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards and failed to recognize that the product, as drafted, equated the subjects' interest in their self-described form of religion with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) ideology without sufficient evidence or articulable support.”

The failure to adhere to standards, including on proper domestic terrorism terminology, “created the appearance that the FBI conducts investigative activity based on religious affiliation,” the letter said. “One of the FBI's most fundamental principles is that investigative activity may not be based solely on the exercise of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

A Justice Department inspector general report in 2024 summarized the earlier FBI review by saying that though there were departures from proper analytic tradecraft, “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose” were found.

MS NOW earlier reported the firings.

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Tucker reported from Los Angeles.

The memo comes at a time of growing anxiety over AI in American society, from replacing people's jobs to helping to identify targets on the battlefield. The Trump administration has been pushing to unleash the power of AI for the U.S. military, while some military leaders and companies that contract with the Pentagon have been noting caution and calling for guardrails.

Trump's memo addressed much of his Cabinet, including the secretaries of defense and homeland security as well as the attorney general and director of national intelligence.

Trump is requiring an updated directive on autonomous weapon systems to account for AI's rapidly evolving capabilities. It directs the Department of Defense “to ensure the deliberate adoption of AI systems that respect the chain of command and operational authorities.”

The current directive, issued in 2023 under the Biden administration, states that such weapons systems will be designed "to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

Trump's memo also restricts the use of AI to “censor free speech, embed ideological bias, or conduct unlawful surveillance against the American people.”

“The use of AI by the national security enterprise must always be consistent with United States civil liberties and protections afforded by the Constitution and laws and regulations safeguarding the privacy of American citizens,” the memo states.

The Defense Department has already been accelerating its use of AI in recent years. The technology can help reduce the time it takes to identify and strike a target, while aiding in the mundane tasks of organizing equipment maintenance, supply lines and other logistics.

But concerns about protecting civil liberties and human oversight of autonomous weapon systems have drawn increasing attention. They're at the center of a dispute that erupted this year as the Pentagon seeks to leverage the power of American tech companies to boost the military's AI capabilities.

The company Anthropic said it wanted assurances in its contract that the military would not use its technology in fully autonomous weapons and the surveillance of Americans. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the company must allow for any uses the Pentagon deemed lawful.

Anthropic sued after Trump tried to stop all federal agencies from using the company’s chatbot Claude and Hegseth sought to label the company a supply chain risk, a designation meant to protect against sabotage of national security systems by foreign adversaries.

Concerns about military use of AI arose during Israel’s war against militants in Gaza and Lebanon, with U.S. tech giants quietly empowering Israel to track targets. But the number of civilians killed also soared, fueling fears that these tools contributed to the deaths of innocent people.

U.S. military leaders who attended an annual special forces conference in Tampa, Florida, spoke about the benefits of AI as well as the need for human safeguards.

Adm. Frank Bradley, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told attendees that troops “have to be very careful about how we come to (AI’s) employment and its inspiration into the delivery of lethality.”

Bradley said he can see a future where AI determines what targets to hit but that “we, as humans, have to have the confidence that ... it’s going to deliver violence only where we intend it to be delivered.”

Protesters from the country's teachers' union, CNTE, blocked main throughways in Mexico City, bringing central parts of the city to a standstill this week to demand better working conditions. Demonstrators knocked down figures of World Cup soccer players, broke into a government building and on Friday played a soccer match on a blockaded street. At the same time visitors from across the world began flooding in to the Mexican capital ahead of the competition that starts June 11.

“The proximity of the World Cup places a lot more pressure on the government,” said Abel Escalante, a 52-year-old special education psychologist who traveled from the southern state of Chiapas to protest, who was blocking the street around the city’s iconic Angel de la Independencia monument on Friday.

The protests come just days before Mexico City hosts the tournament's opening ceremony, co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada. In addition to kicking off the competition, the Mexican capital, Guadalajara and Monterrey will also host a number of matches.

They are joined by a range of other social movements that have jumped on the World Cup to increasingly place pressure on the government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at a time when authorities seek to present a friendly face to the world.

“This isn’t an event for the Mexican people. Tons of people are going to come, but they’re going to be people with all this disposable income. It’s for the elites. The few average people who do go will have to scrape together all the money they have to live off of," Escalante added.

Sheinbaum responded to mounting protests on Friday morning, saying that “the door is open” for teachers to negotiate with the government over their demands for better retirement packages.

But she added groups of protesters, who broke in to a government building the day before, were trying to provoke a violent reaction from authorities, which she said was not going to happen. She promised that Mexico's main square known as the Zocalo, which the teachers tried to take over at the end of May to stage a sit-in, would remain open for World Cup events.

Sheinbaum's government has come under criticism by activist groups for prioritizing World Cup celebrations over pressing social needs, like addressing the soaring cost-of-living fueled in part by foreign tourism or the country's forced disappearance crisis.

More groups planned protests in the coming weeks as celebrations were slated to kick off. Building on top of all that is a robust protest culture in the Mexican capital, with unions and activist groups that regularly take over public spaces in demonstrations.

Protests of families searching for their disappeared and rural teachers pushing for better working conditions have mounted as the local government has made a push to beautify the city.

Local workers have painted bridges bright purple, planted orange Mexican marigolds across the city and plastered streets with cartoon axolotls, an endangered species that has become the sort of mascot of Mexico City.

Last weekend, families searching for their loved ones plastered the faces of the disappeared people across the city and sprayed graffiti next to one of those bright purple bridges now lining the city's streets.

“Mexico, champion of disappearance,” it read.

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

The team's participation in the World Cup has been complicated by Iran's war with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with California.

One U.S. official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them. A second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff.

The second official could not say if any Iranian applicants had been denied. A third official said athletes and “necessary support staff” had been issued visas, but suggested that some applicants affiliated with the team had been rejected for requesting visas “under false pretenses.”

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly.

It was not immediately clear when the Iranian team’s passports would be returned to them to allow them to travel, but the official said it could be as early as Friday or Saturday.

The squad has been preparing for the World Cup at a training camp in Antalya, Turkey, before departing for Tijuana. The team said it has already received visas from Mexico’s embassy in Ankara.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack credited the U.S. Embassy in Ankara for processing visas for the Iranian team. “Sports transcends borders, and we look forward to welcoming competitors and fans from around the world,” Barrack wrote in a social media post Friday.

Iran plays its first two games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then heads to Seattle to face Egypt on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 on July 3 in Arlington, Texas, if both teams place second in their groups.

President Donald Trump in March had discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, saying he didn’t think it was “appropriate” and raising concerns over players' “life and safety.” A day later, Iran’s national team pushed back, saying “no one can exclude” it from playing.

Iran finalized its team Monday, including 17 home-based players whose clubs have not played since February because of the war. Star forward Sardar Azmoun was dropped in March, reportedly because of a social media post that angered Iranian authorities during the war.

Iran's sports minister said in March that it would “not be possible” for the team to participate in the World Cup, but the republic's soccer federation said in May it was moving ahead with a team. The federation had insisted that all players and staff be granted visas, including those who had military service in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In an Instagram post on Friday, Samantha and the Busch's children, Brexton and Lennix, wrote: “The prayers, messages, flowers, meals, hugs, and countless acts of kindness have carried us through the most heartbreaking days of our lives. While our hearts are absolutely shattered, we have felt God’s presence and arms wrapped tightly around us through each and every one of you.”

Busch died May 21 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications, according to a statement released by the family soon after his death. According to his death certificate, Busch had pneumonia for “days to weeks.”

Busch's unexpected death devastated the NASCAR community.

He was thought to have had a sinus cold while racing at Watkins Glen on May 10 and radioed in to his team saying that he needed a “shot” from a doctor after the race. He continued racing and won the Truck Series race at Dover before finishing 17th in the All-Star race, five days before his death.

Busch also attended the opening of a go-kart track with 11-year-old Brexton days before his death.

Friday's message on social media was the first statement from his wife and children.

“The love that has surrounded our family during this unimaginable time has brought comfort in the middle of so much pain,” Samantha Busch wrote. "Knowing the impact Kyle had on others and seeing how they are honoring him through each unique act of generosity is a true testament to how special Kyle is to so many people. There are moments when the weight of this loss feels impossible to carry, yet time and time again God, through you all, has shown us we are not alone.

“From family and friends to fans and complete strangers, thank you for showing up for us. Thank you for loving our family so well. Thank you for loving Kyle. Thank you for honoring him. We may never find the words to fully express what your support has meant to us, but please know that we are deeply grateful.”

Busch won Cup Series championships championships in 2015 and 2019 for Joe Gibbs Racing. The younger brother of NASCAR driver Kurt Bush, Kyle Busch won a record 234 combined races across NASCAR’s top three national series. He had 63 Cup victories and added 102 O’Reilly Auto Parts wins and 69 Trucks victories.

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

The new list of 31 is down from more than 200 previously recognized traditions that troops could choose from. The list no longer includes atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans.

“This decrease in religious affiliation codes is not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement. “Rather, it is designed to allow chaplains to quickly look at the religious composition of their units and determine how they structure resources to best provide for warfighters of all faith groups.”

Parnell added the department values the free exercise of religion and chaplains facilitate service members' “ability to freely exercise their religion of choice, or no religion at all.”

The list creates broad categories of some Christian traditions — Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist — without specifying denominations within those traditions, which can span the theological and ideological spectrum.

Service members can choose to identify as “no religion,” “other religions” or agnostic. Also included are Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, the Baha’i faith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Unitarian Universalist Association, which was cut from the list, said in a statement, "This may make it more difficult for our uniformed UUs to access the spiritual care that they need.” The denomination said it is working on a strategic response to support UU service members.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has infused his evangelical Christianity with his leadership of the Pentagon, hosting worship services for employees and often speaking of the United States as a Christian nation.

He first announced the impending changes to the faith categories in December, saying the large number of faith codes had become unmanageable.

“Secretary Hegseth is not ‘streamlining’ anything. He is elevating one narrow religious worldview from the top of the chain of command,” said the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and head of the progressive Interfaith Alliance. “The First Amendment does not allow the government to create a hierarchy of faiths, and it certainly does not allow the Pentagon to decide which beliefs are worthy of recognition.”

The military is religiously diverse, and nearly 70% of troops identify as Christian, according to a 2019 congressional report. Almost a quarter of troops were listed as other, unclassified or unknown.

“As a member of a minority religion, I think it’s really important that we be counted,” said Irene Glasse, a pagan religious professional and Marine Corp veteran. “It erases us, and so many of us have served so proudly, so well, and so honorably.”

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AP reporter Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

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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.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is not up for reelection this year, was the only Republican to oppose it over the “Anti-Weaponization” $1.8 billion settlement fund.

“The notion that anyone who violently beat police officers on Jan. 6 should get a dime of taxpayer dollars is so abhorrent to the American people we are going to fight it tooth and nail,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN.

We cannot trust the Trump administration to abolish their corrupt $1.8 billion slush fund.

Congress must kill it by legislation.

Permanently.

— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) June 3, 2026

There was also controversy over a $1 billion proposal for the U.S. Secret Service to improve security at the White House, including the new ballroom.

Since January, Democrats have been calling for DHS reform at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.

Yes, we did.

Yes, we do.

Yes, they are. https://t.co/vMKwnac0gJ

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) May 29, 2026

Latest on immigration

• Trump’s deportation agenda is about to get a $70B infusion from Congress
• A federal judge strikes down Trump administration immigration policy affecting 39 countries
• Senate OKs $70B immigration bill after rejecting efforts to permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund
• Treasury warns banks of ‘red flags’ tied to customers in the US illegally
• ICE will no longer report deaths of detainees who have recently been released from custody
• New Jersey police sergeant charged with stealing journalist’s camera bag at immigration protest

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Jimmy, 9, was kidnapped at gunpoint when he got off of his bus, just a block from his home, in the area of Southwest 162nd Avenue and 232nd Street on Sept. 11, 1995.

The murderer in this case would end up confessing to killing Jimmy and then he was later convicted and executed for the crime. But in the decades since that time, the family turned their grief into advocacy and launched the Jimmy Ryce Center, primarily with a focus on bringing bloodhounds to law enforcement agencies and other search groups in order to aid and help the search for other missing children in the future.

Redland street named after Jimmy Ryce, whose abduction, murder called attention to child safety https://t.co/pOCMbpZJXt pic.twitter.com/MmrFLMUFHm

— Christina Vazquez (@ChristinaWPLG) June 5, 2026

Now, a portion of Southwest 162nd Avenue has been given the “Jimmy Ryce Avenue” designation to honor him.

“It’s a tragedy that shook the nation and it was some 30 years ago. And renaming the street where the tragedy took place, in order to recognize him, honor him and honor the work that came after him with the foundation and with our law enforcement, really is the very least that we could do in Miami-Dade County,” Miami-Dade Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins said.

Edward Montizaan, who maintains a memorial in the area, said that Jimmy “had a short life and that was terrible, but out of the tragedy, a lot of good has come with bloodhounds that the law enforcement has been able to get through the Jimmy Ryce Foundation.”

Family members said they focused on bloodhounds, believing that Jimmy would be alive today if a bloodhound had immediately been brought in to search for him.

Henry Nowak, 18, died after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa in the English city of Southampton in December. Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed to police he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with an 8-inch (21 centimeter) Sikh dagger and sentenced this week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term.

The case has been seized on by anti-immigration activists and politicians, despite the fact that both Nowak and his killer were British. On Tuesday, police in Southampton were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks and flares after a demonstration over Nowak’s death attended by far-right figures and others.

Vance said in a post on social platform X on Friday that there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder, which he blamed in part on “the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”

In a statement issued in response to Vance's comments, Starmer's office criticized people “trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.”

“The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes,” Downing Street said in a statement. “Our politics should bring people together even in the most terrible of circumstances. That is who we are as a country.”

Ed Davey, leader of the centrist opposition Liberal Democrats, said “we all need to resist attempts like this to politicize Henry Nowak’s death and divide our country — whether they come from MAGA politicians like Vance or their cronies here in the U.K..”

Politicians including Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right party Reform UK, have claimed that the police response is evidence of “two-tier” policing, with a bias against white people in the British justice system.

The U.S. State Department echoed the “two-tier” policing claim in a post on X Thursday, expressing condolences to Nowak's family and saying that “Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.”

The British government rejected the “two-tier” allegation, which is not backed by statistical evidence.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates allegations of police wrongdoing, is probing the actions of police officers responding to Nowak’s stabbing.

The victim’s father, Mark Nowak, has said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son’s death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create “further division, hatred or tension.”

Jimmy, de 9 años, fue secuestrado a punta de pistola cuando bajó de su autobús escolar, a solo una cuadra de su casa, en el área de Southwest 162nd Avenue y 232nd Street, el 11 de septiembre de 1995.

El asesino en este caso terminó confesando el homicidio de Jimmy y posteriormente fue condenado y ejecutado por el crimen. Pero en las décadas transcurridas desde entonces, la familia transformó su dolor en activismo y fundó el Centro Jimmy Ryce, enfocado principalmente en proporcionar sabuesos a las agencias del orden público y otros grupos de búsqueda para ayudar en la localización de niños desaparecidos en el futuro.

Ahora, una parte de Southwest 162nd Avenue recibió la designación de “Jimmy Ryce Avenue” en su honor.

“Es una tragedia que conmocionó a la nación y ocurrió hace unos 30 años. Cambiar el nombre de la calle donde ocurrió la tragedia para reconocerlo, honrarlo y honrar el trabajo que surgió después con la fundación y con nuestras agencias del orden público, realmente es lo mínimo que podíamos hacer en el condado Miami-Dade”, dijo la comisionada de Miami-Dade Danielle Cohen Higgins.

Edward Montizaan, quien mantiene un monumento conmemorativo en el área, dijo que Jimmy “tuvo una vida corta y eso fue terrible, pero de la tragedia ha surgido mucho bien gracias a los sabuesos que las agencias del orden público han podido obtener a través de la Fundación Jimmy Ryce”.

Los familiares dijeron que se enfocaron en los sabuesos porque creen que Jimmy estaría vivo hoy si uno de estos perros hubiera sido utilizado de inmediato para buscarlo.

Seager belted a two-run homer homer in the sixth inning that put the Rangers ahead in a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night. The five-time All-Star shortstop and two-time World Series MVP missed the previous 19 games because of lower back inflammation.

That homer also snapped a career-worst 0-for-29 slump in his 12 big league seasons, since his previous hit May 6.

“It was just nice to get out there with the guys again,” Seager said. “You obviously want to help.”

He went deep off Cleveland rookie Parker Messick right after a double by Wyatt Langford, who was also activated from the IL before the game. Seager’s eighth homer of the season made it 3-2.

“It's definitely good to have them back,” said Rangers manager Skip Schumaker, who saw good signs early in the game. “Their timing looked right the first at-bat, both of them. ... Good news on both ends.”

Langford, the left fielder, had missed 39 games since going on the injured list April 22 because of a right forearm strain. They batted 1-2 in the lineup and their consecutive extra-base hits came in their third at-bats.

Seager, still hitting .181 in his 43 games, went into the series opener in an 0-for-27 slide that included 11 strikeouts. He had been hitless in his previous seven games, also a career worst, since an RBI single on May 6 at Yankee Stadium after he hit a home run earlier in that game.

“I’m excited to see, really for the first time in some time, our group together. Still missing (second baseman) Josh Smith, but beyond that, we have not had our group together in a long time,” Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, said before the game.

“Look at the past week, 10 days, and there have been a lot of positives with the way we’ve played,” Young said. “And now getting Corey and Wyatt back in this lineup, I think will be very big for us. I’m excited to see what that does for everybody.”

The Rangers (31-32) have won six of their last seven games.

“Honestly, in a weird way, it’s an easier way to come back for me and Wyatt when the team’s going (good),” Seager said. “You've just got to hop on the train and keep going. So it’s definitely nice to be playing good and just to be able to be back out there.”

Utility man Cody Freeman and outfielder Alejandro Osuna were optioned to Triple-A Round Rock to make room on the roster. Utility player Sam Haggerty was designated for assignment after he was activated from the bereavement/family medial emergency list.

Langford and Seager played in two rehab games together this week at Double-A Frisco. That was after Langford played two games with Round Rock.

Seager hadn't been in a big league game since May 13. At that point, the 32-year-old shortstop had started 42 of the Rangers' first 43 games. He said then that physically he felt “completely fine” after playing all of their 24 games in a 27-day span.

The Rangers had a day off after that and planned for Seager to get an extra break by sitting out the series opener at Houston. But he didn't play at all in that series after waking up one morning with back spasms.

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

“They can watch it on television,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday as he flew to Wisconsin for an event with farmers, after he was asked about tickets that have climbed as high as $8,000 each when the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs square off in Manhattan for the first time in the series.

"It’s sorta semi-free to watch it on television,” the president added. “That’s the way life goes.”

Trump further noted that if the Knicks weren't successful — as they haven't been most seasons since last advancing to the finals in 1999 — “you could go very easily.”

The president of course doesn't have to purchase tickets to attend major sporting events. Trump has been to a lot of them in his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Ryder Cup.

But a centerpiece of his reelection campaign was a promise to tame inflation and bring down the price of groceries and other cost-of-living essentials. He has increasingly come under pressure to make good on that pledge as November midterm elections draw nearer — and as the war in Iran has caused gas prices to spike and global commodities markets to wobble, raising new fears about inflation and the strength of the U.S. economy.

A longtime Knicks fan, Trump said on Air Force One that he watched Game 1, which New York won 105-95 in San Antonio. “I think the Knicks have an amazing team the way they played," he said.

“Started off slow and it just got stronger and stronger," Trump said of Game 1. He pointed to Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns when asked to name his favorite player on the team.

Trump was also asked about Spurs star Victor Wembanyama having stood with his arms crossed for the national anthem before Game 1. That touched off a conservative firestorm online, even though Wembanyama is French, meaning his country's anthem wasn't being played.

Trump was complimentary of Wembanyama, saying that he “looks like he's gonna be a great player.” But he ducked a chance to weigh in on the national anthem controversy, suggesting he'd not seen Wembanyamba's crossed arms.

"Is that what he did? What did he mean by that?” Trump asked, before recommending that reporters seek the answer from Wembanyama himself.

Trump confirming his attendance for Game 3 follows NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying on Wednesday that a presidential appearance at a finals game might be unifying in “our increasingly divided society.”

“It creates a sense of connectivity among people," Silver said. "It creates a sense of belonging, and I feel that every day.”

___

Weissert reported from Washington.

__

An earlier version of this story said the Knicks were last in the NBA Finals in 1994. The last year the team competed in the Finals was 1999.

A memo from Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker to fellow staffers expressed anger — and grief — over the recent firings at the show, and said the three had had “a hard time” deciding whether to remain.

“Here’s why we are staying: We don’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die,” the three wrote in the joint memo obtained by The Associated Press on Friday.

They expressed their regret over the recent firings of colleagues implemented by Bari Weiss, the new CBS News editor-in-chief, and the executive producer she installed last week, Nick Bilton. He replaced Tanya Simon, who was let go after a 30-plus year tenure with the show. Also dismissed were correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, among other top staffers. Scott Pelley was then fired this week after a tense confrontation with CBS News bosses.

“We want to express how sorry we are that these principled, fair and honest journalists were treated so shabbily, with such indecency," the three correspondents said in their memo. But they said they were “working to build trust” with Bilton, their new boss, and left open the possibility that they could leave later, if need be.

“If we can continue doing the work that made this show what it is — committing acts of independent, fearless journalism and storytelling — we’re here for it," the three wrote. “If not, we leave.”

“Here’s to Season 59!” the note ended.

Persuading the three to remain was a crucial step in Bilton’s task of getting the show back on track for the next season, which launches in September.

The show is suddenly down four correspondents. In addition to the three dismissed, Anderson Cooper — whose primary job is on-air work for CNN — said earlier this year he was leaving of his own accord after two decades.

Turmoil had been evident at “60 Minutes” for more than a year. Much of it came after President Donald Trump sued the show over its editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

That became part of a broader shake-up at CBS News after Weiss was named to the new role of editor-in-chief by parent company Paramount late last year following David Ellison’s arrival as the network’s corporate leader.

Ellison’s company, Skydance, merged with CBS parent company Paramount, which later settled the Trump lawsuit for $16 million. That upset some at “60 Minutes” and many believe it indirectly led to the departure last month of popular longtime CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert, who had called the settlement “a big fat bribe.”

CBS News has been at the center of the American broadcast-news ecosystem since its radio days before the dawn of television, though Weiss earlier this year announced the shutdown of CBS News' radio operation. The network's nightly newscast was seen for decades as one of the most widely trusted institutions in the nation under longtime anchorman Walter Cronkite.

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Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

Those responses in the most pressure-packed of scenarios helps explain why they're back to even in the Stanley Cup Final after losing the opener to the Vegas Golden Knights heading into Saturday's Game 3 on the road. If anything, they seem to be thriving on it with a perfect record in overtime and road games in the postseason, along with avoiding consecutive losses since mid-January.

“It's a special time of year, and it's a really cool opportunity and experience we all get to have,” goaltender Frederik Andersen said Friday. “And if we weren't enjoying it as well, it would be a big shame, right?”

The Hurricanes improved to 13-2 in the playoffs in dramatic fashion Thursday, rallying from a two-goal deficit in the third period to win 4-3 in overtime and split the first two games of the best-of-seven series. The thriller ended with Seth Jarvis hammering a one-timer past Carter Hart from the left side with the man advantage, a moment the Hurricanes are hoping is a breakthrough moment for their regular-season goals leader and the power-play unit after both have sputtered in the postseason.

The story is just as much about the Hurricanes' ability to navigate through turbulence. The win marked marked Carolina's 13th straight win when coming off a loss, a run that started after consecutive losses at Detroit and St. Louis on Jan. 12 and 13.

“It goes to talking about belief," forward Andrei Svechnikov said. "I think we believe in the group. We’re confident in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. We believe in our system, and we just try to go there and play our game, and that’s what we’ve kind of been doing.”

Carolina's first postseason loss came in the Eastern Conference Final against Montreal, with the Hurricanes emerging from an 11-day between-rounds break — the longest in the playoffs in more than a century — and giving up four first-period goals in a 6-2 loss.

They responded with four straight wins, twice in overtime and then two in romps by a combined 10-1 margin to close out the series.

Coming off a 5-4 loss in Game 1 to Vegas, Carolina responded again, though it looked grim facing a 2-0 deficit and being outplayed in a second period that coach Rod Brind'Amour admitted was “kind of a dud."

The Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals in a span of roughly five minutes in the third period, the last being captain Jordan Staal's deflection from the top of the crease on the power play.

Then Carolina shook off Vegas scoring an OT-forcing goal with 1:21 left in regulation to cash in for a second straight time on a power play with Jarvis banging in the winner. That came on a well-executed sequence with Shayne Gostisbehere — who assisted on Staal's score — working up top.

Gostisbehere sold that he might shoot the puck enough to heighten the attention of the Golden Knights' defenders packed in the middle, while Nikolaj Ehlers even hopped in the slot as though jumping over a shot. That kept Hart locked an extra beat in the middle as Gostisbehere instead passed to Jarvis on the left side for the winner.

Before those scores, Carolina's power play stood at 7 for 60 (11.7%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season (24.9%).

Now Carolina is 6-0 in overtime in the playoffs, including in all four Game 2 home wins, and a 6-0 on the road.

“For almost 50 minutes there (emotions are) kind of low, and then kind of even, then really high, then low again, and then high,” Gostisbehere said. "It’s a roller coaster, for sure. But it’s just managing them. We’re still human beings. We’re going to be nervous out there and have emotions, but the more you do it, the more you do anything, you get used to it.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

El detective Robert Rutkowski, el agente Zachary Kerin y Keith Costa, capitán fuera de servicio del Departamento de Bomberos de Fort Lauderdale, trabajaron juntos el 1 de mayo en Pompano Beach.

“La cámara corporal muestra un rescate increíble. Muestra la diferencia entre la tragedia y la supervivencia medida en apenas segundos. La conductora está viva hoy gracias a sus rápidas acciones”, dijo el sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony en un comunicado.

La mano de Kerin resultó herida mientras rompía la ventana del lado del pasajero del automóvil para poder sacar a la mujer del vehículo.

Personal de Pompano Beach Fire Rescue y otros agentes de la BSO también respondieron al canal en el área de South Palm Aire Drive y South Powerline Road.

Rutkowski dijo que tomó un dispositivo de flotación de un agente que ya lo tenía listo y rápidamente saltó al agua.

Los agentes habían atado una cuerda amarilla al dispositivo de flotación rojo, la sostuvieron y la utilizaron para ayudar durante el rescate.

“Nuestro trabajo era salvar una vida; eso fue lo que hicimos”, dijo Rutkowski, según un video publicado por la BSO. “Tuvimos éxito”.

Ubicación

Solari, who had struggled with Parkinson’s disease for at least a decade, was found dead near an indoor pool at his house in the provincial town of Ituzaingó, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, authorities said, without identifying a cause of death.

His family confirmed his death on social media, saying they would hold a public funeral to allow people to bid farewell to the rock legend. Fans began gathering at his home, with some bearing flowers and wearing T-shirts printed with his nickname. Crowds filled a large plaza in downtown Buenos Aires to mourn, commune and sing Solari's hit songs. People wept. Strangers hugged.

Eros Ruarte, 19, said he woke up Friday to his mother breaking the bad news.

“'I said, no, mom, you can't say that.' I couldn't believe it, that the Indio had died. ... He is the biggest idol in the world. I grew up listening to him," he said from the impromptu wake. “I heard his songs from my mom, my uncle.”

As the lead singer of Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota — known more simply as “Los Redondos” — Solari became a countercultural icon for disaffected Argentines coming of age as their country transitioned from a bloody military dictatorship to a democracy characterized by newfound freedoms but also instability and hyperinflation in the 1980s.

During the consumerist frenzy that gripped Argentina the 1990s, under the free-market policies of then-President Carlos Saul Menem, Solari's classic rock anthems, punchy dance tunes and cryptic lyrics gave voice to a spirit of rebellion against the excesses of capitalism and influences of foreign powers. Los Redondos released 10 studio albums, eschewing major record labels to maintain artistic independence.

The band broke up in 2001, but Solari found continued success as a solo artist, releasing five more albums under his own name that mixed mainstream rock and electronic influences and drawing hundreds of thousands of fans to parks and stadiums across Argentina.

At a massive concert in 2016, he announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “Mr. Parkinson is nipping at my heels. But here I am,” he said. The crowd went wild. He later retired from touring, speaking candidly in interviews about the debilitating effects of the disease.

Tributes poured in from politicians, artists and soccer stars across the country.

The Argentine Soccer Association said Solari's voice “became a popular rallying cry” and “echoed in the stands” of the soccer-crazed country.

The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a prominent activist group which sought to find relatives who had been killed or “disappeared” by the 1976-83 dictatorship, said the singer “inspired society as a whole to doubt, to question and to think critically.”

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina's former president who is serving a corruption sentence under house arrest, posted one of his famous lyrics on social media, popularized as a call to live courageously: “Just living costs you your life.”

Solari is survived by his wife, Virginia Mones Ruiz, and 25-year-old son Bruno.

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Detective Robert Rutkowski, Deputy Zachary Kerin, and Keith Costa, an off-duty Fort Lauderdale Fire captain, worked together on May 1 in Pompano Beach.

“The body-worn camera shows an incredible rescue. It shows the difference between how tragedy and survival was measured in just seconds. The driver is alive today because of their quick actions,” Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony said in a statement.

Kerin’s hand was injured as he shattered the car’s passenger-side window, so they could pull the woman out of the car.

Pompano Beach Fire Rescue personnel and other BSO deputies also responded to the canal in the area of South Palm Aire Drive and South Powerline Road.

Rutkowski said he grabbed a flotation device from a deputy who had it ready to go, and he quickly jumped in the water.

Deputies had tied a yellow rope to the red flotation device, held it, and pulled it during the rescue.

“Our job was to save a life; that’s what we did,” Rutkowski said, according to a video BSO released. “We were successful.”

Location

The three-time AL MVP will rest and have limited activity before getting re-evaluated and having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

“Very disappointed,” Judge said before the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Red Sox. “That’s why we went through every measure we could to get an expert to take a look to see what was going on in there, but definitely not what you want to hear — any fracture or anything like that.”

“He really is going to have some downtime,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “So once he gets cleared to have the imaging and stuff like that, hopefully it comes back positive at that point and then we can start mapping out a return to play protocol and expect him back and get a clearer picture of when that would be.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The Yankees initially said Judge had shoulder soreness before clarifying the injury was to a rib on his right side, which was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on Monday, the team’s off day.

Judge said he first experienced pain while making a diving catch on April 26 in Houston and added that crashing into the right-field fence to complete a catch on May 3 against Baltimore “didn’t help.” The pain intensified last weekend, when he was 2 for 12 against the Athletics, leading to an array of tests and findings from Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“I kind of felt the symptoms for the past month and we did everything we could to make sure, we could be out there,” Judge said. “In Sacramento it just got a little worse. So, I fought it as long as I could.”

Including a stint on the COVID-19 injured list in July 2021, Judge is on the IL for the 10th time since debuting Aug. 13, 2016. He missed 45 games with a fractured right wrist in 2018, 54 games with a strained left oblique in 2019 and 42 games with a fractured toe in 2023 after crashing into a wall while making a catch at Dodger Stadium.

In 2023, the Yankees went 19-23 while Judge was on the injured list. In 2019, they were 37-17 and 25-20 the previous season.

“Obviously you’re not going to replace Aaron Judge, and we all know how important he is to our club, but we’re also very confident in our ability to go out there and absolutely have the expectation to continue to win games,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Yankees recalled Spencer Jones from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre for his second stint with the team to replace Judge.

Jones went 4 for 24 on May 8-21 after being called up to replace Jasson Domínguez, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder while crashing into the left-field fence on a catch against Brandon Nimmo on May 7 against Texas.

Judge has a rib injury for the second time in his career.

He was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn’t miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

The 34-year-old is hitting .248 with 17 home runs and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

“That was probably the biggest thing,” Judge said. “I just couldn’t swing the way I wanted to.”

Judge won the batting title last season, when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield when Judge was hurt last season. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 games in right field. Jones made his fifth start in right field Friday and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

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

Attorney Yaakov Roth, speaking during an exchange with U.S. Appeals Court Judge Patricia Millett, said only Congress could halt the $400 million project. The administration has been asking the court to allow it to press on with the ballroom without congressional approval.

At issue is an April 16 order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for Trump’s Republican administration to halt aboveground work on the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed for construction to continue on belowground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.

The hearing Friday centered on who has standing to challenge government steps once they have already been taken and whether that standing overrides national security.

In response to hypothetical scenarios put forward by Millett, Roth agreed that the government could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and the White House — and the descendants of immigrants who came through Ellis Island and the enslaved people who built the White House would not have legal standing to oppose the move after the fact.

Millett, nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, asked Roth when the construction on the ballroom was a “fait accompli?”

“Was it when you started doing the underground work, which is now totally completely integral and connected and inseparable from a massive ballroom on top?" she asked. "When did it become impossible for courts to stop this project?”

Roth replied: “I think it would have been improper to enjoin it even on Day One."

The exchange was one of many during the two-hour hearing before the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The hearing concluded without a decision by the judges.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people.

It is hard to determine how the judges might rule. While there were numerous questions for Roth over the administration’s authority and changing explanations of how it is moving forward, plaintiff attorney Tad Heuer also faced numerous questions.

The judges pressed Heuer on standing in the case and on how basic aesthetic questions can override the national security concerns.

“We have never opposed the underground construction of the bunker, which is where the government until recently has said the national security concerns lay,” Heuer said. He said construction should be halted until Congress weighs in.

“Congress can allow ballrooms to be built — it’s its property,” Heuer said.

Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

“These upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them,” they wrote in a court filing.

Jarrett was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011 after 50 career wins on the sport's top circuit, including championships in 1961 and 1965. He was part of the second five-member NASCAR Hall of Fame class.

Jarrett, known as “Gentleman Ned” for his demeanor, may have been better known by younger NASCAR fans for his broadcasting career. One of his signature moments in the booth came in the 1993 Daytona 500 when he didn't try to restrain from rooting as his son, Dale Jarrett, held off Dale Earnhardt for the win.

Dale Jarrett won the Cup Series in 1999. The Jarretts became the second father-son combination to win Cup Series championships, following Lee and Richard Petty. Bill Elliott and his son, Chase, later completed the father-son achievement.

NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell said Ned Jarrett was a racing legend.

“Despite his calm demeanor, ‘Gentleman’ Ned Jarrett was as fierce a competitor as NASCAR has ever seen," O'Donnell said in a statement. "His on-track accomplishments speak for themselves with wins and championships across several NASCAR divisions.

“But it was his off-the-track persona that separated Ned from his peers. He was as kind as his nickname indicated. And his endearing personality helped him excel in his second career as a broadcaster. Ned was an outstanding ambassador for the sport for more than six decades and he will be dearly missed.”

Jarrett's family described him as "a devout Christian and a devoted, loving family man.”

“He was a friend to everyone he met and NASCAR’s oldest living champion," Jarrett's family said in a statement. "By all accounts, he was a true NASCAR legend. While we mourn his passing, we celebrate the remarkable life of an amazing man and truly the best father anyone could have wished for. Rest in Peace, Dad.”

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

Robin Pendery of Enumclaw, Washington was a seasonal mountaineering ranger assigned to Denali National Park and Preserve. She fell Thursday while on climbing patrol on Mount McKinley, and died despite immediate rescue efforts, the park service said.

The death is under investigation. It comes only a week after three climbers from a Latvian mountaineering expedition died after falling near a treacherous pass on McKinley. A fourth climber was rescued. They were part of a seven-person team traversing a route known for its exposed sections, where many climbers have died or been injured over the years.

McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet (6,190 meters), and Pendery fell near what's known as the 14,000-foot (4,328-meter) camp.

“Our mountaineering rangers dedicate themselves to serving visitors and helping others in one of the most challenging environments in the world,” Denali Superintendent Brooke Merrell said in a statement Friday. “Today, we mourn the loss of a valued colleague, friend and teammate.”

The Bears' board of directors voted Thursday to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond, Indiana. The team had been doing its due diligence on a tract of land near Wolf Lake, but it said Friday that an exact site had not been selected.

“We believe a world-class stadium project in Hammond will transform the region, connecting Northwest Indiana to the South Side of Chicago through the Loop and across neighborhoods and suburbs stretching north of the city," the Bears said in a statement that the team attributed to chairman George McCaskey and team president Kevin Warren. "It will bring Chicagoland together and deliver new opportunities to its residents and businesses.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun welcomed the team's announcement. A committee in the Indiana House of Representatives passed a bill in February that established a Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a stadium.

“We look forward to building a partnership as strong as the ’85 Bears defense, creating opportunities and economic growth that will benefit our state and the Bears organization for decades to come," Braun said in a statement. “An NFL franchise in Northwest Indiana will be an economic boost to the entire region like we haven’t seen before.”

The Bears, a charter NFL franchise, have played in Illinois since the team’s founding in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved to Chicago in 1921 and called Wrigley Field home before they started playing at Soldier Field in September 1971.

The Bears’ lease runs through 2033, but they can pay a fee to break the lease early. Soldier Field is about 40 miles south of Halas Hall — the team's headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois — and Hammond is about 20 miles south of the team's lakefront stadium.

Matt Hill, a spokesperson for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, said the governor "remains open to a sensible solution that protects taxpayers.”

“The Bears have built a storied legacy in Illinois for over 100 years but have spent the last six years, and especially the last few months, shifting their position on a stadium location," Hill said in a statement. “That has hindered their progress. Today appears to be another instance of that after Illinois leaders have been working with the Bears in good faith.”

The Bears also had been considering Arlington Heights — about 30 miles northwest of Chicago — as a potential location for their new stadium.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill early Monday morning that would have cleared the way for Arlington Heights and Chicago to create local stadium authorities, creating a pathway for the Bears to avoid paying property taxes on a new stadium in Illinois. But the House adjourned without taking up the measure on the last day of the state’s spring legislative session.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, whose district includes Soldier Field, posted on social media that he spoke with Warren on Friday morning.

“He ended the conversation by committing to continue discussions around their pursuit of a new stadium in Illinois,” Buckner said.

While the Bears said as recently as May 21 that Hammond and Arlington Heights were the only sites under consideration, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has been lobbying for the team to stay in the city.

The mayor's office issued a statement that said the city "will continue to engage in discussions grounded in the interests of our residents."

The Bears still have to secure NFL approval for the location of their new stadium. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the team has kept the league apprised of all developments.

The Bears have been pursuing a new home for years, but the process has been hampered by repeated twists and turns.

The team announced in September 2021 that it had signed a purchase agreement for 326 acres of land in Arlington Heights. The $197 million deal with Churchill Downs Incorporated was finalized in 2023.

In September 2022, the team unveiled a nearly $5 billion plan for Arlington Heights that called for an enclosed stadium that could host Super Bowls and Final Fours. The conceptual illustrations also provided for a year-round entertainment district with restaurants and shopping.

But the Bears shifted their focus toward building a new stadium next to Soldier Field after Warren was hired as team president in January 2023, replacing the retiring Ted Phillips. The plan to transform Chicago’s Museum Campus got an enthusiastic endorsement from Johnson and a tepid reception from Pritzker and state legislators when it was announced in April 2024.

The team switched gears again in May 2025, announcing it had made “significant progress” with local leaders in Arlington Heights.

Amid lingering efforts to secure tax incentives in Illinois, along with as much as $855 million in public money for infrastructure at the Arlington Heights site, the Bears began to take a closer look at possible options in Northwest Indiana.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. said the Bears decided on Hammond because it's “a successful city of opportunity and possibility, an excellent choice for such a significant investment.”

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

The microreactor being developed by Antares Nuclear Inc. at the Idaho National Lab reached “criticality” on Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. The milestone occurs when a nuclear reactor achieves a self-sustaining chain reaction capable of producing a steady release of energy.

Antares is the first private company to bring an advanced reactor to criticality under a pilot program begun last year by the Trump administration meant to supercharge nuclear energy production in the U.S. The demonstration was conducted in partnership with the Energy Department and other contractors with support from the U.S. Army.

“We are very excited by this news today,” Wright said Friday on a call with reporters. “I think June 4th will be a historic day in the American nuclear renaissance.”

Antares and its partners "have shown America can do bold things,” Wright added. “America has great technology, great entrepreneurs that are ready to drive energy innovation to power our future, lower energy costs and make our country more powerful."

Trump administration pushing to ramp up nuclear power

The achievement shows that the Trump administration’s push to remove regulatory barriers is helping to advance new nuclear technologies, Wright said.

President Donald Trump signed executive orders in May 2025 intended to speed up the development of nuclear power, including steps that grant Wright authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects. Trump's orders limit some authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.

Skeptics warn that nuclear energy poses risks and say microreactors may not be safe or feasible and have not proved they can meet demand for a reasonable price.

While the Antares system is years away from commercial use, achieving criticality is a notable step. The California-based company, which is initially targeting military applications, said it expects to begin producing electricity by late 2027 and see its systems deployed in the field by the end of 2028, CEO Jordan Bramble said Friday.

"Nuclear in America has been defined for too long by delays, by companies that said they would and then didn’t,” Bramble said in a written statement.

At a briefing on Friday, Bramble said achieving criticality “is the first step on a roadmap toward producing electricity ahead of deploying this technology for customer sites.”

“Microreactors are a technology that’s here today," he added. “2026 is the year where microreactors are becoming real. We’re months to years out from being able to start deploying this technology to military installations.”

July 4 goal for test reactors

The Trump administration has set a goal of achieving the criticality milestone in at least three test reactors by July 4 — the nation's 250th anniversary.

Officials have selected 11 advanced reactor projects, including Antares, to move their technologies toward deployment.

In February, the Pentagon and the Energy Department for the first time airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah, demonstrating what they say is the country's potential to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use. The nearly 700-mile flight transported a 5-megawatt microreactor manufactured by Valar Atomics in southern California to Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The reactor — which did not have nuclear fuel — eventually will be able to generate up to 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 5,000 homes, said Isaiah Taylor, CEO of Valar Atomics. The company hopes to start selling power on a test basis next year and become fully commercial in 2028, he said.

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the transport flight, which attracted significant news coverage, was little more than a publicity stunt.

He offered a similar response to the claims by Antares and Wright.

“This stunt is a rudimentary first step that has absolutely no bearing on whether the Antares reactor will be safe or commercially viable,” Lyman said in an email Friday.

The Energy Department's statement that the test “confirms that the reactor can operate safely” is false, Lyman said, adding that more testing of the reactor is needed.

The administration has not resolved how nuclear waste will be disposed, although Wright has said the Energy Department is in talks with Utah and other states to host sites that could reprocess fuel or handle permanent disposal. States including Tennessee, Nebraska and Idaho have expressed interest in handling nuclear waste.

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The nearly $70 billion package, which cleared the Republican-held Senate in a middle of the night vote and now heads to the House, was declared a “rotten bill” by the Democratic leader and an "ATM for ICE” by pro-immigrant advocates.

But for those aligned with Trump’s campaign promise for the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, it all but guarantees an uninterrupted flow of money to carry out the administration's immigration enforcement operations — and comes on top of some $170 billion Congress already approved for the department last summer, as part of Trump's big tax breaks bill.

“We’re going to continue to arrest people, we’re going to continue to detain people and we’re going to keep deporting people,” Trump border czar Tom Homan told CBS News on Friday.

He hinted at summer sweeps of enforcement actions coming next to New York City.

More money, fewer guardrails

The work of Congress comes at a pivotal time for the Republican president and his party as they face restless voters before the midterm elections. About one in three U.S. adults know someone who has been impacted by Trump’s immigration operations, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in April. And as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, most say it’s no longer a great place for immigrants.

The funding package from Congress is just a slim dozen-page bill that carries none of the usual guardrails or directives typically demanded in legislation. It turns loose $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and billions for the Border Patrol, and others, prepaying the department’s operations into 2029.

“Their options are limitless in terms of what they can do with this money,” said Vanessa Cardenas, the executive director at America's Voice, a longtime advocacy organization for immigrants.

“That is such a hard thing to accept as a taxpaying citizen that our dollars are going to this massive, mass deportation machine, while Americans are struggling to meet health care costs, and have access to food and they’re paying so much in gas.”

The administration has sought to shift the debate over its immigration operations, installing new leadership at Homeland Security in the aftermath of violent scenes of immigration enforcement earlier this year and the shooting deaths of Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Rather than the dramatic street sweeps, the administration is working behind the scenes on actions that are stripping immigrant groups of their ability to remain in the U.S., by doing away with Temporary Protected Status or making it more difficult to secure green cards.

The so-called Dreamers, young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children, have reported delays in renewing their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, exposing them to potential deportation.

But protests on American streets continue, including over detention conditions at the Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey.

At the same time, Homeland Security continues to hire more ICE agents — it's hosting an employment fair next month in Florida — build more detention facilities and partner with countries around the world to take people who are being deported from the U.S.

In a statement, the department said Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin are “laser focused on ensuring the hardworking men and women” of ICE and Customs and Border Patrol are fully funded. It said the package from Congress “will ensure our critical national security operations continue despite any Democrat attempts to hold our great patriotic employees hostage in the future.”

Power of the purse becomes a blank check

Typically a funding package from Congress would run hundreds pages or more, with a range of specific instructions about how the money can be spent and on what timelines.

Congress, after all, holds the power of the purse, and often uses that constitutional role to put checks on the administration.

But after Democrats refused to fund Homeland Security earlier this year following the violence in Minnesota, Republicans retaliated by using the congressional budget resolution process to muscle the package through on their own, outside the traditional appropriations channels.

It’s the same process both parties have used in the past, most recently on Trump’s 2025 tax cuts bill.

“All this important oversight" that typically comes with the appropriations process "doesn’t happen,” said Bobby Kogan, a former staff member of the Senate Budget Committee who's now at the Center for American Progress, a think tank.

Overnight, Democrats in the Senate worked to exert that authority, offering amendments to ensure Congress had some say in the process. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, for example, sought to protect “Dreamers” from deportation as their DACA renewals are being delayed. But those efforts all failed.

Deportations not enough, for some

Meanwhile the administration is under enormous pressure to deliver on its promise to boost deportations to some 1 million a year, after the Republican president's first year numbers fell short.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, is a leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition that is pushing the Trump administration to stick to its promises.

“Everyone’s talking about it like ICE is about to get another massive cash injection, and that’s not how I see it at all," he said. "They're getting like life-support money.”

“We’re not asking them to keep going,” Howell said. “We're asking them to start.”

Howell said there's little chance the Trump administration will be able to reach the president's deportation goals unless it drops its priority to go after what they call the “worst of the worst.”

His group put out a framework earlier this year that proposes more comprehensive sweeps to arrest immigrants, particularly in the workplace. He also wants to see the Trump administration make it more difficult for immigrants who are in the U.S. to use the banking system, get social services and obtain drivers licenses. Republicans in Congress have offered bills tackling some of those issues.

The administration has been amping up its own rhetoric and recently posted a new website that characterizes immigrants as “aliens” — with outer-space themes — and suggests ways the White House is working to prevent people from staying in the U.S.

The 104th-ranked Arnaldi withdrew before the first all-Italian men's Grand Slam semifinal against Flavio Cobolli on Friday at Roland Garros.

Arnaldi believed he caught a virus and said he could not play competitive tennis.

“I think it’s a virus because I was feeling pretty cold,” he said. “I had a fever. I just know that I can’t move, and I can’t eat, and I can’t drink.”

His withdrawal handed Cobolli a place in Sunday's final against second-seeded Alexander Zverev.

Arnaldi said he felt fine during practice on Thursday, until he had dinner.

“I started to feel so-so with my stomach,” he told a press conference also attended by Cobolli, who sat at the other end of the interview desk.

“I was, like, ‘All right, just didn’t digest very well.’ But then I woke up at 1 a.m. and I started vomiting. Then I tried to sleep. I couldn’t sleep at all. At 6, 7 a.m. I vomited again. This time was pretty bad.”

He summoned a doctor to his room and took medicine.

“I was hoping that it would just be something from dinner or something like that, but then throughout the day I couldn’t eat," Arnaldi said. "Every time we did something or would drink, I would go back to the bathroom."

He reached the semifinals after countryman Matteo Berrettini retired in their quarterfinal due to a hip injury before the end of the second set. Arnaldi spent a total of 19 hours, 42 minutes on court, more than any other player has taken to make the semifinals at any major tournament since the ATP Tour began recording match times in 1991.

“It’s tough, because for how the tournament was, for how many hours I spent on court, I was feeling actually very good,” Arnaldi said.

“To have to withdraw from the first slam semifinal is not something that you wish to anybody. I tried to get ready and tried to stay as much as I could here and tried to see if I could go on court, but every time I get up, I feel dizzy, and I don’t feel like the best. I’m pretty sure if I eat again, I’m not going to feel, like, good. That was the right decision for me to take."

Cobolli said he was saddened by the news.

“When he came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried,” he said. “Matteo is a big inspiration for all of us.”

___

AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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Gilbert, 53, plans to officially announce his run for the 24th Congressional District on Sunday at the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens and livestream it on his new site.

“I grew up here. I went to school here. I served here. And every step of that journey is the reason I’m running,” Gilbert said in a statement on his site.

Oliver, who was elected to the commission in 2020 and served as the commission chair from 2022 to 2024, announced he was resigning from his commission seat effective Jan. 3.

Miami-Dade School Board member Steve Gallon III announced he is running for Gilbert’s commission seat.

The list of candidates running for Wilson’s seat also includes former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jean Monestime, Dr. Rudy Moise, Christine Sanon-Jules, an entrepreneur, and North Bay Village Commissioner Andy Daro, an independent.

Florida Sen. Shevrin Jones asked his supporters on Thursday to meet him on Tuesday at the Koinonia Worship Center in Hollywood.

Jones, 42, announced on May 27 that he was not going to seek reelection for Florida Senate District 34, which he had represented since 2022.

“I also told you that when I was ready to share what comes next, you would hear directly from me,” Jones said in a video released on X.

After Wilson announced her retirement on May 29, Florida Rep. Ashley Gantt announced her campaign for Jones’s seat and released a statement saying Jones was seeking Wilson’s seat.

“As Congresswoman Wilson passes the torch and Senator Shevrin Jones announces his campaign for Congressional District 24, this moment also creates an opening, and I believe I am ready to fill it,” Gantt said in the statement.

Florida Democrats faced conflict after a Republican majority passed a redistricting map on April 29 and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 4.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced on May 22 that she had decided not to run for reelection in the 25th Congressional District, but instead run in the 20th District. She faced backlash from Black Democrats.

On Tuesday, U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that he had not decided whether or not to endorse Wasserman Schultz, whom he praised for her “strong” track record.

“I think we all recognize the sensitivities of the moment in terms of an unprecedented Jim Crow-like assault on Black political representation that has been unleashed by the Supreme Court’s outrageous decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, and it’s an environment that all of us need to be sensitive to,” Jeffries said.

The primary election is on Aug. 28, and the midterm election is Nov. 3. For more information about key election dates in Florida, visit this page.

VOTER GUIDE: Here is how to prepare for Florida’s Aug. 18 primary election

Read Gilbert’s resignation letter

Gilbert, de 53 años, planea anunciar oficialmente su candidatura al 24º Distrito Congresional el domingo en la Iglesia Bautista Misionera Antioch en Miami Gardens y transmitirlo en vivo en su nuevo sitio web .

“Crecí aquí. Fui a la escuela aquí. Serví aquí. Y cada paso de ese camino es la razón por la que me postulo”, dijo Gilbert en un comunicado en su sitio web.

Oliver, quien fue elegido miembro de la comisión en 2020 y se desempeñó como presidente de la misma de 2022 a 2024, anunció su renuncia al cargo a partir del 3 de enero.

Steve Gallon III, miembro de la Junta Escolar de Miami-Dade, anunció que se postulará para el puesto de comisionado que actualmente ocupa Gilbert .

La lista de candidatos que se postulan para el puesto de Wilson también incluye al excomisionado de Miami-Dade, Jean Monestime, al Dr. Rudy Moise, a Christine Sanon-Jules , una empresaria, y al comisionado de North Bay Village, Andy Daro , un independiente.

El senador de Florida, Shevrin Jones, pidió el jueves a sus seguidores que se reunieran con él el martes en el Centro de Adoración Koinonia en Hollywood.

Jones, de 42 años, anunció el 27 de mayo que no se presentaría a la reelección para el Distrito 34 del Senado de Florida , al que había representado desde 2022.

“También les dije que cuando estuviera listo para compartir lo que viene después, lo escucharían directamente de mí”, dijo Jones en un video publicado en X.

Después de que Wilson anunciara su retiro el 29 de mayo, la representante de Florida, Ashley Gantt, anunció su candidatura para el escaño de Jones y emitió un comunicado diciendo que Jones aspiraba al puesto de Wilson.

“Ahora que la congresista Wilson me pasa el testigo y el senador Shevrin Jones anuncia su candidatura para el Distrito 24 del Congreso , este momento también crea una oportunidad, y creo que estoy preparado para aprovecharla”, dijo Gantt en el comunicado.

Los demócratas de Florida se enfrentaron a un conflicto después de que la mayoría republicana aprobara un mapa de redistribución de distritos el 29 de abril y el gobernador Ron DeSantis lo promulgara como ley el 4 de mayo.

La representante estadounidense Debbie Wasserman Schultz anunció el 22 de mayo que había decidido no presentarse a la reelección en el distrito congresional número 25, sino hacerlo en el distrito número 20. Su decisión generó críticas por parte de los demócratas afroamericanos .

El martes, el líder de la minoría en la Cámara de Representantes de Estados Unidos, Hakeem Jeffries, declaró a los periodistas que aún no había decidido si respaldaría o no a Wasserman Schultz, a quien elogió por su sólida trayectoria.

“Creo que todos reconocemos la delicadeza del momento en lo que respecta a un ataque sin precedentes, similar al de las leyes de segregación racial de Jim Crow, contra la representación política de la población negra, desatado por la indignante decisión de la Corte Suprema de desmantelar la Ley de Derechos Electorales, y es un entorno al que todos debemos ser sensibles”, dijo Jeffries.

Las elecciones primarias se celebrarán el 28 de agosto y las elecciones de mitad de mandato el 3 de noviembre. Para obtener más información sobre las fechas clave de las elecciones en Florida, visite esta página .

GUÍA DEL VOTANTE: Aquí le explicamos cómo prepararse para las elecciones primarias de Florida del 18 de agosto.

Lea la carta de renuncia de Gilbert

It turned garages into impromptu rehearsal spaces for would-be rock stars across the American suburbs. For those who couldn’t play, couldn’t try to play or couldn’t get some friends with instruments together, there was always the air guitar. (Does anyone ever play an acoustic air guitar?)

Nearly 100 years ago, Americans' love of tinkering, music and just making things louder combined when George Beauchamp created and Adolph Rickenbacker produced the first commercially successful electric guitar. That was “the Frying Pan.”

The tinkering continued. Musician and inventor Les Paul put strings and pickups on a block of wood called “the Log” and made it one of the first solid body electric guitars. And now we’re talking.

Imagine the intro to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” without the electric guitar. Would that song about a guitar player even exist? It’s the engine powering Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” It spawned the ax man, the guitar god and the apotheosis of look-at-me American exceptionalism, the guitar solo.

It’s in your face and loud. It goes to 11, after all.

It was so provocative that many felt deep betrayal when Bob Dylan plugged in.

It became so ubiquitous, so essential to rock and pop music, that MTV created its successful “Unplugged” franchise, where bands were forced to play nonelectric instruments as an acoustic counterprogramming novelty.

And like all the best American inventions, it was exported around the world, where it still has the power to make kids dream. As long as they have somewhere to plug in.

___

Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

Trump noted that the size of the office has been “way too high for way too long” and that “if he cut, I wouldn’t mind that."

“He'll do a very good job,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to Wisconsin for an event on agriculture. “He'll watch it closely, but Bill Pulte is very good, he's very talented.”

The Republican president said in an earlier interview with The Wall Street Journal that he has asked Pulte to start the process of firing employees. In the interview, Trump said he has already conveyed his view to Pulte, who has served as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency but has no apparent national security expertise.

“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump said, which the Journal said was in reference to intelligence community officials who had served in the Democratic administrations of Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Trump told the Journal that he wants Pulte to “start the process” of firing personnel and that the eventual permanent director of national intelligence should continue it. The president has indicated that he would not formally nominate Pulte for the position.

“Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come,” Trump said. “Because, if he (Pulte) reduced the size, in conjunction with me … and in conjunction with possibly the person coming in … he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”

Pulte was tapped by the president earlier this week in a surprising move that has been met with bipartisan resistance in the Senate, which confirms presidential nominations. The temporary appointment has now snarled the renewal of a critical national security surveillance program on Capitol Hill, with Democrats key to the vote pointing out that they did not trust Pulte — whose office oversees 18 intelligence agencies — to help administer the surveillance program.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that Pulte will stay in the position depending on how long it takes to get his successor confirmed. The president also said he was considering five people who were “all very good, all people that you know very well, all people that do that kind of thing.”

“They're very respected people,” Trump said of his intelligence candidates, without naming them.

Under Pulte’s predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard, the DNI office had already taken steps to scale back its size. In August, the Trump administration said that the office’s budget would be cut by more than $700 million per year, while slashing the size of its workforce.

At the time, Gabbard said the office had become “bloated and inefficient” while she announced the roughly 40% workforce reduction.

Gabbard resigned last month after revealing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.

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Kim reported from Washington.

In true “Torts” fashion, he is not explaining why.

"I like our team, where we’re at," Tortorella said Friday. “We’re good. We’re ready to play. I like a lot of things about what’s gone on in the first two games. I’m not giving you specifics.”

Tortorella and the Golden Knights return home for Game 3 against the Hurricanes on Saturday night with plenty of lessons to learn from. It's the first time in NHL history that each of the first two games of a Cup final featured a team erasing a multigoal deficit to win.

Vegas trailed 2-0 in the opener and won 5-4, then led 2-0 on Thursday night until past the midway point of the third period. After Carolina scored three times in just over five minutes, it took captain Mark Stone tying it 6 on 5 with goaltender Carter Hart pulled for an extra skater to force overtime.

“We have pretty good control, and then some minor mistakes and it ends up in the back of the net,” center William Karlsson said. “Just kind of ride it out all game long and hopefully not give Carolina any chances to come back.”

Teammates credited the crowd in Raleigh for aiding the Hurricanes' comeback, and with that came an appreciation to be playing the next two games at the arena on The Strip nicknamed the Fortress. The Golden Knights have only been in existence for nine years, but their home-ice advantage quickly became one of the best in the league.

“We feed off the crowd,” forward Keegan Kolesar said. "You can tell from (Game 2), once things started going their way, they’re playing a lot faster, a lot harder when their crowd is involved. Go back to even the COVID year, it makes you realize how important fans are because when they’re not in that building, it can be pretty miserable, so really excited to have that back in our building.”

The Knights are 6-2 at home during the playoffs. They are also 7-3 on the road.

Tortorella has preached consistency since taking over when Bruce Cassidy was fired in late March, and that applies to not changing much depending on where games take place.

“There’s no difference," Tortorella said. "We’re going to play. We know how to play. We know how we want to play.”

Carolina went a perfect 6-0 on the road through the first three rounds, including the Eastern Conference Final at hockey-mad Montreal.

“I don’t think we really care, to be honest, where we play," said Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has a 1.27 goals-against average and .931 save percentage away from home in the playoffs this spring. “We’re really just focused on our foundation in our game, and that’s really what sets us up for success.”

Lingering over Vegas is the potential absence of top-pairing defenseman Brayden McNabb, who took an 87.3 mph slap shot to the face 11 minutes into Game 2 and did not return. If McNabb is unable to play in Game 3, fellow left-handed shooter Ben Hutton or righty Kaedan Korczak are likely replacements.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

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At 9 p.m., on June 12, the U.S. team will be playing Paraguay. The arena’s doors will open at least one hour before the game, according to organizers.

At 7:30 p.m., on June 27, Colombia will be playing against Portugal. Security will not allow big bags.

The other two parties are on July 11 for the quarterfinals and on July 19 for the final. The times had yet to be announced on Friday afternoon.

Although the events and parking are free, the arena requires ticket registration through SeatGeek. For more information, visit this page.

Useful links

• Broward County government’s World Cup page
• Lauderhill government’s World Cup page

Related stories

• FIFA cancels World Cup tickets to about 60 fans who got them for free due to error
• Shakira and Burna Boy to play in first of three World Cup opening ceremonies
• Thousands of free World Cup tickets available for veterans, military members and first responders

El 12 de junio , a las 9 de la noche , la selección de Estados Unidos se enfrentará a Paraguay. Según los organizadores, las puertas del estadio se abrirán al menos una hora antes del partido.

El 27 de junio , a las 19:30 , Colombia jugará contra Portugal. El personal de seguridad no permitirá el ingreso de bolsos grandes.

Los otros dos partidos se disputarán el 11 de julio, los cuartos de final, y el 19 de julio , la final. Los horarios aún no se habían anunciado el viernes por la tarde.

Aunque los eventos y el estacionamiento son gratuitos, el recinto requiere la reserva de entradas a través de SeatGeek. Para más información, visite esta página .

Enlaces útiles

• Página del gobierno del condado de Broward dedicada a la Copa Mundial
• Página del gobierno de Lauderhill sobre la Copa Mundial

Historias relacionadas

• La FIFA cancela las entradas para el Mundial de unos 60 aficionados que las habían obtenido gratis debido a un error.
• Shakira y Burna Boy actuarán en la primera de las tres ceremonias de apertura del Mundial.
• Miles de entradas gratuitas para el Mundial disponibles para veteranos, militares y personal de primeros auxilios.

Amarr Knox, Shawn Fulcher, Corey Hines and Tony Madlock were alleged to have engaged in game manipulation when Alabama State played at Southern Mississippi on Dec. 5, 2024. Southern Miss was a six-point favorite and won 81-64.

According to the NCAA, two known bettors offered the players a total of $2,000 to throw the game. The players accepted and were later paid.

Knox, Hines and Madlock were Alabama State's top three scorers for the 2024-25 season and Fulcher was a reserve. Knox’s layup with a second left lifted the Hornets to their first NCAA Tournament win, 70-68 over Saint Francis in the 2025 First Four.

The two bettors were indicted in January by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on wire fraud and bribery charges related to sports contests.

The NCAA discovered the game-fixing after Hines transferred to Temple, which notified the enforcement staff that Hines had been contacted by the FBI and shown text messages concerning a sports integrity issue when he was at Alabama State. None of the players was active on a college team last season.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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Pino, 55, is charged in the death of 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez after a boat crash on 2022’s Labor Day weekend.

Authorities said Pino, then 52, was behind the wheel of a 29-foot Robalo boat in the early evening hours of Sept. 4, 2022 when he lost control and slammed it into a channel marker near Boca Chita Key, killing Fernandez. Two other girls were seriously hurt, including 17-year-old Katerina Puig.

On Friday, 76 potential jurors were quizzed on their jobs, life experiences and any biases they may be coming in with and what they knew about the case.

But Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez expressed frustration at both Pino’s attorneys and prosecutors.

The former filed some late motions and provided late witnesses. The latter said that they conducted a deposition and would, in light of some of this new information and things that were turned over from the defense, have to do some more work and asked the judge for a one week continuance.

That request did not go over well.

“Let me tell you all: we are not delaying this trial,” Tinkler Mendez said.

Tinkler Mendez called the defense’s late filings “willful violations” of what’s called the Richardson rule, pertaining to potential violations of pre-trial discovery procedures.

Opening statements are set to begin as early as Monday, provided that a jury can be seated Friday.