Swift wore a blue T-shirt with “Stevie Knicks” printed in orange lettering and was seated courtside on Wednesday night next to Ben Stiller. She attended along with singers Este and Alana Haim, who also had Knicks-related references on their shirts: “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickleback.”

They were joined midway through by third Haim sister Daniella, and the quartet witnessed the biggest comeback in finals history as the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

Swift jumped around in celebration, waving a rally towel after leaving the court for the bowels of the Garden. She may be back soon.

Less than a year after their August engagement announcement, reports of Swift and Kelce’s impending nuptials have reached a crescendo. TMZ and the New York Post’s Page Six recently started insisting Swift and Kelce will marry at the Garden in early July, despite their close connections to everywhere from Kansas City, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee, to Cleveland and Rhode Island.

Swift and the Haim sisters were among several celebrities in the house, including Tate McRae and Hailey Bieber, and regulars like Timothée Chalamet and Spike Lee. Swift and Kelce attended Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Knicks and Cavaliers, not far from where the Kansas City Chiefs tight end is from in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

This is the latest sporting event for Swift, who along with Kelce also attended a game during the NHL's Stanley Cup Final a year ago in Sunrise, Florida.

The Madison Square Garden wedding reports remain unconfirmed, and a spokesperson for Swift has not responded to The Associated Press’ requests for comment about the wedding plans. The arena’s calendar of upcoming events lists nothing from June 29-July 6.

Swift first performed at Madison Square Garden in 2009, during her “Fearless” tour, and she celebrated her 30th birthday at the arena 10 years later as part of iHeartRadio’s “Jingle Ball.” She has since graduated to larger venues when she swings through the New York area; her Eras tour shows were just across the river at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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AP Entertainment Editor Mallika Sen contributed to this report.

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

The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the Philippine archipelago in a half century, struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and injured 688 with 31 still missing.

More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses in farming towns and cities. Many were still too traumatized to return home due to aftershocks, provincial officials said.

Sarangani reported 20 dead from the quake, the highest toll from the affected provinces, mostly due to a landslide that buried houses in the coastal town of Glan, according to the government's Office of Civil Defense, which deals with major disasters.

Glan Mayor Victor James Yap said power has not been restored to his province and 10 of 31 villages in his town of more than 100,000 people remained inaccessible mostly due to landslides. He asked the government to immediately deploy air force helicopters to deliver food and other aid to the stricken areas.

“We need food and water but it’s difficult to transport them to some of our villages which remain isolated,” Yap told DZMM radio network. “Choppers are needed to transport food because people there are already very hungry.”

A key access road to the town has been reopened and will allow the delivery of fuel as early as Thursday, but the town remained without power and cellphone services were still spotty, according to Yap.

Most of the deaths from the quake were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in Sarangani, the coastal city of General Santos, and the outlying provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental.

Two swimmers drowned and one remained missing off General Santos after being swept out to sea shortly after the quake hit. Waves of up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the country’s south and smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

The earthquake was one of the strongest to hit the country since an 8.1 magnitude quake and tsunami on Aug. 17, 1976, that killed about 8,000 people.

The Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

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Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez contributed to this report from Manila, Philippines.

Mexico jointly hosts the soccer tournament with the U.S. and Canada and kicks off festivities Thursday with a star-studded event, even as some critics say the government has spent too much time and money catering to international visitors at residents' expense.

The games begin as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum walks a political tightrope, navigating a deteriorating relationship with the U.S. ahead of July trade negotiations, along with political scandals and security concerns following a burst of violence in a World Cup host city in February.

Pressure has mounted as guests flood into Mexico City. Residents say authorities have prioritized the competition over pressing social needs.

On Wednesday night, more than 1,000 relatives of Mexico's missing people marched toward the stadium where the opening match was set to be played Thursday carrying candles and photographs of their missing loved ones.

Earlier in the day, Sheinbaum also said it was unclear whether Mexico City could host its free fan festival on opening night because a teachers' union protest camp has blocked access to the plaza.

“Mexico wants to project an image to the world that doesn’t exactly square with reality,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political analyst at the Mexican Center for Research and Economic Education. “The World Cup is putting the president in a vulnerable situation … The government is under extreme pressure.”

World Cup is a showcase for the country

FIFA's logo, orange Mexican marigold flowers, giant soccer balls and other decorations line streets across Mexico’s capital and the two other host cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Fans buzzed with excitement as they strolled through Mexico City's streets.

The competition is expected to bring in $3 billion for hotels, restaurants and sports venues, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation.

Thursday's fan festival and opening match, where Mexico will face off against South Africa, are expected to draw more viewers than much of the competition, with Colombian superstar Shakira and others scheduled to perform.

If all goes off without a hitch, it will be a feather in Sheinbaum's cap, said Pérez Ricart, showing the world that Mexico is “modern and capable of organizing high impact events.”

‘Everything is under control’

Mexican authorities have fortified security following violence that paralyzed host city Guadalajara in February. More than 100,000 soldiers, sailors, National Guard members and police officers are expected to be deployed across the three host cities, yet social tensions have posed the greatest obstacle, particularly in Mexico City.

For more than a week, the country’s teachers' union has toppled World Cup statues and blocked roads in an annual push for better working conditions. The night before the inauguration, more than a thousand family members of Mexico’s more missing people also marched through the streets of Mexico City in protest of a crisis fueled by years of cartel violence and impunity.

As they walked toward the Aztec Stadium, where the opening match is slated to be held, some families shouted while others walked in silence, making few demands. A number government officials arrived to the protest and told the families they could only advance until “the last mile” before the stadium.

“We just want to be seen,” said Adriana Lozano, 56, from Los Cabos, who has been searching for her son for nine years. "What we are looking for is peace. We want this to end because so many young people are disappearing.”

Sheinbaum had denied there was any social unrest ahead of the tournament, but on Wednesday she acknowledged that “if for some reason the Zócalo cannot be used for the opening, there are 18 venues where people can watch it free of charge.”

“Everything is under control,” she added.

‘The prices are sky-high’

Airports across the Americas were filled with fans. Panama City's airport — one of the main gateways between North and South America — was a sea of multicolored jerseys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Germany and elsewhere.

“This year we’re defending the title, and we’ll follow Argentina to the ends of the earth,” shouted Emilio Sosa, a 29-year-old from Buenos Aires on his way to Los Angeles.

David Botero, a 43-year-old Colombian, was traveling to Mexico City with his family to watch Colombia’s opening match on June 17 against Uzbekistan.

“What matters is that we’ll get to see our team up close," Botero said.

Others, like 66-year-old Dr. Jose Luis Muñoz, struck a more skeptical tone as he read and smoked a cigarette next to a park in downtown Mexico City that once teemed with street vendors. It has since been cleared out by authorities in an effort to clean up the streets. Muñoz said some of his fondest memories were taking his children to games during Mexico’s 1986 World Cup and celebrating their home team's winning streak.

“I was so excited, and that joy I passed on to my children,” he said.

This year, though, he was priced out from attending games. Tickets cost hundreds of dollars.

“The prices are sky-high. Many people aren’t going to be able to go unless they’re foreigners with a lot of money,” Muñoz said. “It feels very discriminatory."

Still, he added, he will root for Mexico's team from home with his children and grandchildren.

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Associated Press journalists Nayara Batschke contributed to this report from Mexico City.

After clanking his shot off the rim at the buzzer on what would have been the Game 2 winner, Wembanyama did the same on two key free throws late in Game 4 on Wednesday night. With the chance to put his team up by three with 1:47 left, he instead went 0 for 2, and the New York Knicks took the lead and went on to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby's tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

“It's just a shot,” Wembanyama said. “You might work on your form hours and hours. At the end of the day it's just a shot, so you need to shoot it the normal way.”

Wembanyama and the Spurs are now on the brink of elimination, down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. It mattered little that the 7-foot-4 big man from France scored 24 points and had 13 rebounds.

It mattered more that the Knicks held Wembanyama to eight points in the second half on the way to rallying from 29 points down, the largest comeback in finals history. Game 5 is Saturday night San Antonio.

“It’s going to go one of two ways,” Wembanyama said. “One of two ways, a bad one and a good one. The bad one would be giving up. The good one would be getting stronger through this, getting more together. I know this is what we’re going to do.”

Wembanyama enters Game 5 on the edge of possible discipline after being called for a flagrant foul early in the second half for a right elbow to Karl-Anthony Towns' chin. Because of the NBA's flagrant foul point system, he now has three and is one more away from an automatic one-game suspension.

“Of course I'm going to be a little more careful, but it’s not going to change much,” Wembanyama said.

An officiating decision in the aftermath of Game 3 going the other way would have put him in danger of already staring down a suspension. The NBA acknowledged officials missed Wembanyama striking Knicks guard Jalen Brunson in the head but did not retroactively make it a flagrant.

“The league’s going to do what they’re going to do,” New York coach Mike Brown said before Game 4. “They aren’t going to listen to me. They aren’t going to listen to nobody else.”

Wembanyama early in Game 4 looked to be getting under the skin of his opponents. After scoring on Mitchell Robinson and letting him hear about it while going back down the court late in the first quarter, he took a forearm to the face and appeared to say, “I'm in your head, bro,” while pointing to his right temple.

A similar play happened early in the second, when 6-foot guard Jose Alvarado jostled with Wembanyama before ultimately pushing the 7-4 big man's right leg to get him to the ground.

Things changed after halftime. San Antonio had its biggest lead of the night at 81-52 when Wembanyama elbowed Towns, and the Knicks outscored the Spurs 55-25 the rest of the way.

Wembanyama played all but three minutes of the first half, which coach Mitch Johnson called normal. Johnson said Wembanyama, who ended up playing nearly 44 minutes, got a little more playing time to try to close it out.

“With two days after this, what was at stake, we wanted to win the game and try to put it away,” Johnson said.

Asked if that caused him to wear down as the game went on, Wembanyama responded: “Substitution patterns, I don’t know. It’s not really my expertise. But, yeah, I guess I did.”

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

There's an argument to make for each — or perhaps all. To get to the bottom of it ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, The Associated Press asked a few of the performers behind World Cup songs past and present. It's a list that includes Shakira — who, alongside Afrobeats star Burna Boy, is responsible for the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem, “Dai Dai” — as well as Colombian singer J Balvin, Wyclef Jean and newcomer Nora Fatehi.

Shakira unites cultures

Before “Dai Dai,” the Colombian superstar co-wrote and performed “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” featuring Freshlyground, the official anthem of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa.

“Fútbol is a thing that unites so many cultures and people of different walks of life,” she told the AP. “The big responsibility of making a World Cup song is that you’ve got to make a song that represents people’s feelings, emotions, and passion.”

“So you've got to write that song, in a way, understanding that it has to be global. It has to encompass so many cultures and represent so many in one tune,” Shakira continued. “That, in a way, has helped me craft those songs in the past.”

But beyond those conceptual ideas, Shakira has some specific sonic suggestions as well.

“I feel like a good World Cup song needs to definitely have rhythm. It has to be rhythmic. It has to make people want to dance. And it has to be an anthem as well. It has to make people want to sing along in unison, sing out loud at the top of their lungs. It also has that kind of energy,” she says. “That's a must.”

J Balvin makes the case for a hook

Colombian singer J Balvin is one-fourth of Coca-Cola’s official song for the FIFA World Cup 2026, a reimagination of Van Halen’s “Jump” that also features drummer Travis Barker, pop/R&B singer Amber Mark and guitarist Steve Vai. He says any song — not just a World Cup anthem — must engage listeners right off the bat.

“Nowadays, with the music and every type of music — it doesn’t matter if it’s the World Cup, if it is a reggaeton or hip-hop (song) — you know, people’s attention (span) is only like five seconds. And that’s the reality. I’m not judging — you've just got to do it with all the love,” he says.

But a World Cup anthem specifically? That should match the intensity of a soccer game. “Fútbol brings us together, with all different highs and lows,” he says. “All these different emotions happen in one game.” The song should have the same energy.

Newcomer Nora Fatehi thinks World Cup anthems are for winners

The Canadian Moroccan singer-songwriter Nora Fatehi is featured on the official 2026 FIFA World Cup album with “Siir, Siir,” a collaboration with French artist Vegedream and Bangladeshi American DJ Sanjoy.

“It needs a great beat because we’re here to dance and we need to celebrate,” she says of a World Cup anthem.

But beyond that, Fatehi, who is best known for work in Bollywood films, says that when you hear it, “You feel like you’re winning, or you’re gonna win, or you won. That’s the emotion it needs to evoke.”

For “Siir, Siir,” she says, “what we were after was finding an emotion. So, the minute you hear that song, it should make you feel like you’ve conquered the world. It should make you feel motivated. It should be aspirational. That’s what it should feel like.”

Wyclef Jean aims for unity

Wyclef Jean, the Fugees multi-hyphenate, co-wrote and performed “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)” for the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, with guitar guru Santana, the late EDM icon Avicii and Brazil's beloved singer-songwriter Alexandre Pires.

“The topline? It has to electrify the stadium,” Jean says. “You literally have to feel the entire stadium shaking.” If you don't — the anthem won't fly.

“I don’t know any World Cup song that don’t have amazing rhythm and amazing movement,” he says.

Though many nations are represented in the identity of his song's performers — Brazil, Sweden, Haiti, Mexico and the U.S. — Jean says he doesn't “think like necessarily you need to have five different artists to make a global anthem.”

“Whether they come from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, America, any part of the world, the Caribbean — people gravitate towards culture,” he says. “And what I love best about World Cup is that before it has a language, it has an energy and a vibe. It has absolutely nothing to do with a language.”

A good hook, a strong melody that anyone can sing along to — that's what's key.

But “Dar um Jeito” has a strong message of unity, adding to its anthemic quality. “Resilience is a very important word,” he says of the song's message. Jean says it was written for “boys and girls all over the world,” particularly those in rural areas.

The aim was a Bob Marley-style “Get Up, Stand Up,” “where the messaging in the song is not being preachy, but it’s a message of hope,” he says. “If you keep fighting the good fight, you’re gonna get to that stadium. And ain’t nobody gonna stop you.”

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

OG Anunoby tipped in the miss of Jalen Brunson’s long 3-point attempt with 1.2 seconds remaining to complete the rally, giving the Knicks a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals and three chances to win the title.

It looked impossible early, when the Spurs rolled to a 27-point halftime lead. But Brunson helped bring the Knicks back with 36 points and Anunoby finished with 33, swooping in as Brunson's shot bounced softly off the front of the rim and stretching high with his right hand to tap it in.

“I told OG as big, as strong, as athletic as he is, he’s got to be a monster on the offensive glass tonight,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I don’t know if there was a play bigger than any other play in the history of Knicks basketball.”

Game 5 is Saturday night in San Antonio.

No team had come from more than 24 points down in a finals game, when Boston did it against the Lakers in 2008, since the NBA began keeping detailed play-by-play for all four quarters in 1997. The Spurs led 81-52 in the third quarter.

The only bigger comeback on record in any playoff game was 31 points by the Los Angeles Clippers against Golden State in Game 2 of a first-round series in 2019.

The Knicks had their 13-game winning streak snapped in Game 3 and seemed headed for a second straight defeat throughout the first half, when Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs opened the biggest halftime lead by a visiting team in the finals.

But the young Spurs, who made 11 of their first 16 3-pointers, went cold in the second half, going 3 for 17 behind the arc as the Knicks outscored them 58-30.

“We got on our heels — we missed some shots,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’s disappointing, to say the least.”

Delirious fans inside Madison Square Garden sang along to Journey's “Don’t Stop Believin’” a few minutes after watching something that seemed almost impossible.

Wembanyama had 24 points and 13 rebounds but shot just 9 for 25 from the field.

Road teams had won the first three games, only the second time that had happened in the finals. San Antonio was well on its way to making it 4 for 4.

President Donald Trump wasn’t at this game — Taylor Swift was — but the same restrictions remained around Madison Square Garden as when he attended Game 3. That angered the Knicks, who decided not to go forward with plans to hold an outdoor watch party outside the arena.

Inside the building in the first half, there wasn’t much for the hosts to be happy about, either.

But the Knicks gave themselves a chance by limiting the Spurs to 14 points on 4-for-20 shooting in the third quarter, using a 13-0 run to get back in it and cutting it to 90-75 heading to the fourth.

These Knicks, who erased a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Cleveland in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, just don’t quit. Even when the comeback seemed for naught when Stephon Castle was fouled after the Knicks had taken the lead and made two free throws to put San Antonio back ahead with 30 seconds left, the Knicks had one more rally in them.

Dylan Harper scored 21 points and De'Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell each had 18 for the Spurs, who will try to regroup and send the series back to New York for Game 6 on Tuesday.

“I think it began before (the fourth quarter),” Wembanyama said of the Spurs' collapse. “I can’t really explain it right now. I don’t know. ... We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”

Fans booed Wembanyama when he came on to the floor to warm up about an hour before the game and the Knicks tried to get rough with him, with Mitchell Robinson called for a flagrant foul for hitting him above the shoulders and Jose Alvarado reviewed for one after going below the belt.

Wembanyama — who was also called for a flagrant — stood up OK against the Knicks but will regret the two free throws he missed with 1:47 left and San Antonio leading 104-103.

The Spurs broke to a 12-2 lead, giving them a double-digit advantage in the first quarter of all four games. They kept pouring it on and led 41-22 after one, then extended it to 57-32 when Julian Champagnie’s 3-pointer made them 11 for 16 behind the arc.

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

Some of them aren’t too enthusiastic.

“I think they’re all a waste of time,” said Shirley Prior on the choice of candidates in Makerfield, where a special election on June 18 has drawn interest from journalists around the world. That level of attention is all-but unheard of for a midterm by-election to fill one of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.

If Andy Burnham from the center-left Labour Party wins, there’s a strong chance he will replace embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer as leader of both party and country. He's up against Reform UK, a hard-right party hoping to prove that this longtime Labour stronghold is fertile ground for its anti-immigration message, with potentially seismic consequences for British democracy.

This district has elected Labour lawmakers for 120 years, but Burnham is not a shoo-in. Reform, led by the veteran anti-immigration politician Nigel Farage, won 24 of the 25 council seats up for grabs in local elections in this area last month.

“I always voted Labour because my dad, my grandad, everybody voted Labour then,” Prior said. “I’ve never done that for a lot, a lot of years.”

Immigration is a top issue

The election is taking place amid heightened tensions over immigration. A stabbing in Belfast this week, for which a Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder, triggered violent protests in Northern Ireland in which cars and houses torched.

In the constituency’s main town of Ashton-in-Makerfield, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London, some voters echo Reform claims that recent arrivals are straining housing and public services.

“Immigration’s too high, all the services are being put under pressure and Labour just keep inviting more and more people into the country and it’s the taxpayer who has to pay for them,” said retiree Phil Arrowsmith.

Annual net migration to the U.K. reached more than 900,000 in 2023, under the previous Conservative government, before falling to 171,000 last year.

That decline has done little to boost a Labour government that has floundered since winning election in July 2024.

Starmer has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

A dismal performance in local elections last month sparked a clamor from Labour lawmakers for Starmer’s resignation. He has refused, but Cabinet minister Wes Streeting quit so he can run in a leadership contest that could come soon.

Burnham, the popular mayor of Greater Manchester, also harbors leadership ambitions, but needs a seat in Parliament if he wants to challenge Starmer. An opening emerged when Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election.

Burnham said he understands that voters are “fed up” and calls the large Reform UK vote “a cry for real change” that Labour must heed.

The ‘King of the North’ eyes power in London

The Makerfield constituency is a capsule of British history, a collection of former coal-mining communities turned commuter suburbs. The slag heaps and slum housing in the area described by George Orwell in his 1937 book “The Road to Wigan Pier” have been replaced by suburbs of tidy modern houses amid Victorian workers’ cottages, interspersed with farmers’ fields.

Though far from the city center, it is part of Greater Manchester, and Burnham gets honks and thumbs’ ups from passing drivers as he walks down the street in his smart-casual uniform of dark jeans with a navy blue shirt and jacket.

The 56-year-old has been mayor of the region of 3 million people since 2017, a period that has seen central Manchester boom, with skyscrapers blooming on postindustrial sites. Many residents praise him for championing the city, and for taking a piecemeal public transport system under municipal control as the Bee Network.

For a decade and a half before that he was a lawmaker in Parliament, and a minister in Labour governments. He doesn’t emphasize that part of his CV, preferring the outsider status that has seen him nicknamed the King of the North.

“What we’ve built in Greater Manchester needs to go national,” Burnham told reporters during a campaign event this week. “I know what it is to turn places around.”

Many predict a close contest

The campaign is an odd mix of the local and the international. Some voters cite immigration as a top concern. Others mention struggling main street shops, potholes and petty crime.

Burnham’s main rival is Reform UK candidate Rob Kenyon, a 41-year-old plumber and local councilor who came second to Labour here in the 2024 national election. He says he’s an unpolished regular bloke, though opponents have criticized him over crude, sexist and anti-vaccine comments on social media.

Reform voters are also being targeted by Restore, an even more hardline anti-immigration party.

Michael Poultney, a retired teacher and Labour supporter, thinks the unpopularity of Starmer’s government means Burnham faces a stiff challenge.

“Without his personal vote, I think we would struggle,” he said. “Keir Starmer has done reasonably well on the international stage, but the government are yet to be in control of the economy.”

Burnham insists he is running for the people of Makerfield, not his own ambition, and is not taking victory for granted.

“I am making no assumptions beyond the 18th of June,” Burnham said.

But he stressed that “this is a change byelection.”

“I will take the fight for the changes I want to see in politics as far as I can take it,” he said.

The exchange came shortly after the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes overnight Thursday. Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The new assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war appeared to have stalled, with Iran insisting it would maintain its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Talks have also faltered because of Israel's attacks against the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other.

In a first exchange of missile fire from Iran and airstrikes by the U.S. on Wednesday, Iranian missiles were launched at missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Those came in the wake of American strikes in reprisal for the shooting down of a U.S. helicopter in the strait.

The U.S. Central Command said it completed its latest round of airstrikes just before the sun rose Thursday in Iran. It said the strikes targeted military surveillance, communications and air defense sites and were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy. It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes.

Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as in the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the strait.

Here's the latest:

Kuwait closes its airspaces as it intercepts incoming fire

Kuwait says it has closed its airspace over ongoing Iranian attacks and said flights were being diverted to alternative airports, without elaborating.

Flights had been circling outside of Kuwait for some time before the announcement after it said its air defenses were firing.

Kuwait International Airport had taken a direct Iranian hit in recent days, which killed one person and wounded dozens.

Kuwaiti air defenses fire at incoming missiles, Bahrain sounds alerts

Kuwait's military said its air defenses were firing Thursday morning after Iran threatened retaliation for U.S. airstrikes overnight. Bahrain separately sounded its missile alert sirens in the island kingdom that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters.

The U.S. attorney's office in Minneapolis notified the court Wednesday that the Justice Department would not seek the death penalty against Vance Boelter in accordance with a proposed plea agreement. Boelter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The court filing did not detail the terms of the plea agreement.

Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot by a man who came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car. The Hortmans’ golden retriever was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.

Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day after what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history. He faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges. His state case has been on hold pending the resolution of his federal charges.

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case. Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter’s state charges.

While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for the death penalty under federal law.

Prosecutors have called the shootings political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the attacks. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.

In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary, who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.

John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover, and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.

A lawsuit brought by former Republican gubernatorial candidate Duke Rodriguez and other plaintiffs challenges the process used by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's administration to eliminate an income cap and co-pays for childcare assistance before the Legislature had a chance to weigh in or approve funding.

“This is executive overreach. The program was launched unlawfully,” said Rodriguez, who lost his party’s nomination in New Mexico’s recent primary.

The state’s childcare agency disputes that, arguing in court filings that lawmakers have since “expressly authorized” and funded the expansion, rendering the lawsuit moot. Lujan Grisham signed legislation in February enshrining the program into law provided state finances remain healthy.

District Judge Elaine Lujan could issue a ruling Thursday on whether the lawsuit can proceed. A potential pause to the program would put thousands of New Mexican families back on the hook for daycare payments and create a headache for businesses.

Ilene Harding, who runs seven daycare centers in the Albuquerque area, said the expansion has boosted enrollment and streamlined billing.

“We’ve always been financially solvent, but it’s given us stability,” Harding said.

The challenge comes as New Mexico looks to cement its place as the first U.S. state to cover all working families’ daycare bills regardless of income. But the stakes extend nationwide as policymakers from New York to California look for models to reduce costs for families and expand public investment in childcare.

New Mexico’s program, which is financed in large part on revenue from oil and gas production in the state, was among the nation's most generous before November’s expansion, waiving costs for families making up to 400% of the federal poverty rate or roughly $132,000 per year for a family of four.

Legislative analysts already have raised questions about the sustainability of New Mexico's expanded program, noting earlier this year that the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department started overspending just weeks into the November launch.

The state agency acknowledged at the time that enrollment grew faster than expected, leading to higher costs, but disputed that it was over budget.

Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, even though he has little experience for the job. Democrats say they won't support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless the president withdraws Pulte's appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The House will try early Thursday to approve a short-term FISA extension, but passage is unlikely. The Senate may follow suit, hoping to prevent what could be an unprecedented lapse in the surveillance tool.

The impasse could soon result in limitations on what intelligence the U.S. government can collect abroad just as World Cup games begin in cities around the country and ahead of celebrations for the nation’s 250th anniversary. The law expires on Friday at midnight.

“We can’t let them extort us,” Trump said of Democrats.

Trump has stuck with Pulte as the acting head, rebuffing demands from lawmakers for a more qualified nominee. He asked Congress for a short-term extension of the law to “provide time for the selection and confirmation” of a permanent director. He said he wants Pulte to begin downsizing intelligence agencies.

The parties leveled blame for the potential interruption in what has been seen as an essential, if long-debated, surveillance program for keeping the country safe.

“We’re going to ask every member here to do the right thing,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “We cannot allow that to go dark.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said if Trump wants a shot at a short-term extension, he needs to pull the Pulte appointment. Pulte is a “disgraceful individual” and a “partisan political hack" who is deeply unqualified for the job, Jeffries said.

GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail

Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement. But he said he needs more time to do so.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republican leaders have “made our views known” to the White House.

Trump has said that he is interviewing five candidates for his pick to lead the agency permanently, after the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard.

And Johnson said the president has made it very clear that Pulte will serve a “very short term — a sort of renovation role” to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

But Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee led by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said in a letter to the president that Pulte is a “uniquely poor choice” to serve even in the acting capacity.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers skeptical of Pulte have pointed to his lack of intelligence experience and also his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the position, he has been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.

“He has distinguished himself only as someone who will do or say anything to stay in your good graces,” Himes and the other lawmakers wrote, "qualities that are precisely the opposite of what our nation needs.”

FISA will lapse at midnight Friday

Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.

While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long wanted to limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew the authority. But he called Pulte’s appointment to replace Gabbard “a live hand grenade” disrupting the process.

Warner said the only way he’ll support a short-term extension of the surveillance law is if the principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, is the acting leader during the duration of that extension.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the administration that the spy tool is likely to lapse.

The administration should prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection,” they wrote in a letter.

Trump doesn't back down on Pulte

After bipartisan pushback to Pulte’s temporary appointment, Trump said last week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.

On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as acting director — he'd also start earlier than expected, on June 19.

One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump’s ambassador to Canada and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

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Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti, Kevin Freking and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

This time, the contest was won by populist insurgent Randy Villegas. But what sets the outcome apart from similar primary battles is the stakes.

This wasn't a fight over a safe Democratic seat. Villegas will be the standard bearer against Republican Rep. David Valadao, one of the most promising targets for Democrats desperate to retake the U.S. House majority and slow down President Donald Trump.

The November race will test the theory, popular on the left, that voters will flock to progressive, anti-establishment candidates even in places that have traditionally favored Republicans.

“A populist message isn’t just for blue districts or certain parts of the country," said Ravi Mangla, a spokesperson for the Working Families Party, one of the progressive groups that backed Villegas. “It can win anywhere people feel like politics is not working for them.”

"More than ever, voters across the political spectrum want candidates who are willing to stand up to power,” Mangla said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee dismissed Villegas' chances, even though the state's Democratic leaders recently redrew the district to make it easier to flip this year.

“Democrats know Villegas can’t beat Congressman David Valadao, as he embraces the same failed policies that have made California more expensive, less safe, and harder for working families in the Central Valley," said spokesperson Christian Martinez.

Progressives want a shot in key races

The Villegas victory comes during an election season in which substantial parts of the Democratic base are rejecting the candidates that party bosses see as their best shot at winning power in Congress.

Graham Platner overwhelmingly won the Democratic Senate primary in Maine this week after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's preferred nominee, Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out with lackluster support weeks before the election.

A combat veteran and oyster farmer, Platner has never held elected office before, and he's endured controversies over past relationships with women, inflammatory online posts and a since-covered tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol.

In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens is entangled in a three-way contest for the Democratic Senate nomination against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and progressive favorite Abdul El-Sayed. The primary is Aug. 4, and El-Sayed recently scored a major endorsement from the United Auto Workers union, a political powerhouse in the state that is home to the U.S. auto industry.

And in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is in a fierce battle with U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, who is backed by labor unions, LGBTQ groups and moderate Democrats ahead of the primary on Aug. 11.

Another test will come on June 30 in Colorado, where progressive Manny Rutinel faces establishment-backed Shannon Bird in the Democratic primary to take on Republican Rep. Gabe Evans. Like Valadao, Evans is a top target for Democrats. And like the California race, the Colorado contest hinges on questions about who is most electable in November.

Democrats try to unite around their nominee

Valadao finished first and Villegas second in California's primary, in which the top two candidates move on to the general election.

When early voting began about a month before the primary, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the unusual step of publicly signaling support for Jasmeet Bains, a doctor and state Assembly member who had lined up support from a bevy of elected officials, unions and health care groups.

“Dr. Jasmeet Bains has fought on the frontlines of health crises and built a track record of delivering for the Central Valley," DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement at the time. She did not criticize Villegas, but the public support for his rival was a powerful signal to Democratic donors and activists that the party believed Bains was a stronger candidate. Congressional leaders and the party apparatus they control rarely wade overtly into contested primaries for open seats.

The decision to back Bains infuriated many on the left, who saw it as another example of Washington insiders being out of touch with both the Democratic base and disaffected voters who helped power Trump’s victories.

“I think the moderates are wrong. People don’t want status quo, pro-corporate candidates,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a progressive group that grew out of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. “They want people who are going to shake things up."

Now that Villegas won, Democrats in Washington now insist he's a strong candidate who is well-positioned to defeat Valadao. They point to the grassroots support that propelled him through the primary and the combined 59% that the Democrats got in the primary, significantly more than the 41% who voted for Valadao, though many more voters will turn out for the general election.

If the snub created tension between Villegas and his party, both sides buried it by Wednesday and presented a united front. California members of Congress, including some who had backed Bains, issued effusive statements, and he was magnanimous in return.

“We’re all in to elect Randy and flip this seat,” said Anna Elsasser, a spokesperson for the DCCC, the arm of the Democratic Party focused on winning House races. The district is “a must-win seat for the House majority, and we are confident in winning with Randy as the Democratic nominee,” she added.

The new U.S. assault across multiple Iranian cities came as efforts to negotiate an end the war again appeared stuck, with Iran insisting it would maintain its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices higher.

It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested a two-month shaky ceasefire.

Trump has urged Iran to sign a deal to end the war and suggested earlier this week that an agreement could be reached in days.

But Iran has proved resilient despite weeks of heavy bombing. It is betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.

Iran’s United Nations envoy said the U.S. should refrain from threats of force if it wants a deal.

Still, both countries seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict — if they can manage to sell it as a win at home.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing goals that make compromise harder: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program, and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other.

US strikes Iran and Iran fires back at Gulf States

The U.S. Central Command said it had “completed” its latest round of airstrikes just before sunrise in Iran. The military command said the strikes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.” It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy.

Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran responded by launching strikes on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and Kuwait closed its airspace as its air defenses fought off the attack. Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said flights were being diverted to other airports, without elaborating.

“This measure comes in light of the state of Kuwait being subjected to sinful Iranian aggressions and the potential risks that may result from this on civil aviation traffic in the region,” Kuwait said.

Kuwait International Airport took a direct Iranian hit in recent days, killing one person and wounding dozens. On Wednesday, Iran responded to U.S. strikes with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host U.S. troops.

Israel early Thursday also warned residents in the north to seek shelter after the detection of suspected incoming fire from Lebanon, while the U.S. Embassy in Jordan issued a warning that “reports indicate missiles, drones or rockets are in Jordanian airspace.”

There was no immediate acknowledgment from Jordanian state media about the reports of missile fire, but Iran said it again targeted Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base on Thursday.

Trump says US is sneaking oil past the Strait of Hormuz

Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with Feb. 28 attacks on Iran, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices worldwide, and made food and other basics more expensive.

The international benchmark for crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.

Trump said the U.S. military has since last month undertaken a “secret mission” to sneak oil shipments past Iran’s forces in the Strait of Hormuz. He said ships were slipping through at night, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.

Trump said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold on the strait. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which roughly equals five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.

The military’s role was not immediately clear. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said U.S. forces “communicate and coordinate” with commercial ships in the area, but gave no details on military support being offered.

The U.S. Central Command on Wednesday refuted Iran’s claims that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, saying commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out.

US and Iranian strikes shake the Mideast

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. military said an American aircraft fired “precision munitions” into the engine room of the Palau-flagged vessel M/T Settebello as it attempted to breach the naval blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. It was the eighth merchant vessel disabled by U.S. forces in waters off Iran.

India’s foreign ministry said three Indian sailors were missing after the Settebello was struck, while 21 others were rescued. Its statement did not mention the U.S. military or the blockade.

Hawkins of the U.S. Central Command said American forces warned the crew before firing on the ship.

The U.S. military said strikes earlier Wednesday targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites."

Iran said U.S. strikes hit two water reservoirs in the southern city of Sirik, temporarily cutting off water to thousands of people. U.S. Central Command had no immediate comment. Tehran later claimed attacks in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the American attacks as a violation of Iranian sovereignty.

Still, efforts to mediate a deal continued. Following consultations with the U.S., a delegation from Qatar arrived in Tehran for talks earlier Wednesday, according to an official with knowledge of the visit who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.

The exchanges of fire came a day after a U.S. Army attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz. The helicopter collided with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional.

A drone boat rescued the helicopter’s two crew. Trump said they were uninjured.

Big disagreements stand in the way of a quick peace deal

Wary of high gas prices in the run-up to congressional elections in November, Trump seems to be looking for a quick win. But he is also making demands that will be tough for Iran to swallow.

The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, that uranium is a short technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Iran is refusing to give up the uranium and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something Trump rejected.

Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Israel has instead intensified its military campaign against the Lebanon-based militant group.

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Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Will Weissert in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; David Rising in Bangkok; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price in New York; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

The way the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar looks at it, when he's on the mound, his job is to throw the ball. It's up to the guys behind the plate to decide whether to challenge an umpire's call of a ball or a strike.

That deference might have cost Ohtani and the Dodgers in a stunning 9-8 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Los Angeles was cruising when Ohtani went out for the seventh inning for just the third time this season. The Dodgers led by five thanks to Ryan Ward's first career grand slam, and Ohtani seemed poised to win his fifth straight start.

Then things unraveled, a rarity for the two-time defending world champions and the greatest player in the game.

Pirates rookie Tyler Callihan singled. Jake Mangum reached on a swinging bunt. Still, Ohtani and the blister on his right hand that is temporarily limiting the number of split-fingered fastballs he throws felt like he was in pretty good shape when Pittsburgh second baseman Brandon Lowe stepped to the plate.

Ohtani quickly fell behind 3-0, with the first and third pitches borderline calls on 98 mph fastballs that home plate umpire Felix Neon ruled balls. Catcher Dalton Rushing didn't challenge, and with just one challenge remaining, Ohtani decided it probably wasn't worth the risk.

Lowe quickly made Ohtani pay, turning on a fastball down the middle for a two-run double that ended Ohtani's night (on the mound anyway) and set the stage for a five-run rally against the Dodger bullpen in the eighth that gave the Pirates perhaps their most unlikely win of the season.

Ohtani, who allowed season highs in hits (six), runs (four) and earned runs (three), couldn't help but think afterward that he should have tapped the top of his cap earlier in the at-bat so the ABS system could take a look.

“I usually let the catchers make that determination," he said. “But looking back, I think situationally, how important it was that at-bat, looking back I think I could have done a few challenges.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called challenging pitches an “inexact science” and, like Ohtani, is fine leaving it in the hands of the players with the best view in the stadium. And, if the umpire's call was confirmed, it meant Los Angeles would be out of challenges heading into the final innings.

Besides, how often does Ohtani and the Los Angeles bullpen blow a five-run lead? Not often. Even after Lowe's double and an error by third baseman Max Muncy that allowed Lowe to score, the Dodgers were still up two heading into the eighth.

Los Angeles entered the night a tidy 36-3 when leading after seven. Callihan — who hit the first homer of his career earlier in the game with a 427-foot shot off Ohtani — gave the Pirates the lead with a three-run blast in the eighth. Spencer Horwitz then added a two-run homer to give Pittsburgh the kind of cushion it needed after Ohtani delivered a two-run home run of his own in the top of the ninth to cut the deficit to one.

“You’re not going to face too many guys like that,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “There’s one. It’s ridiculous what he’s able to do.”

Even if Ohtani showed small glimpses of vulnerability during his first-ever start at PNC Park. Ohtani acknowledged shaking off Rushing a few times, something he attributed to not working with the Los Angeles reserve catcher that often.

“It’s something you just have to have a conversation here and there and be on the same page,” Ohtani said.

The two could be working together more often in the near future after Roberts announced postgame that starter Will Smith is heading to the 10-day injured list with a neck injury.

Ohtani will have nearly a week off until his next scheduled turn in the rotation. Though the work never really stops. Roberts said the plan is for Ohtani to lead off as usual during Thursday's series finale rather than give him a break after — statistically anyway — his toughest day on the hill this season.

That's just the way Ohtani wants it.

“I’m always going to be prepared to play tomorrow,” he said.

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

Demonstrators wearing masks tore bricks from the walls outside homes and smashed sidewalks with sledgehammers to toss at riot police. In one place, the unruly crowd used sections of a dismantled a picket fence to take cover on the street.

The clashes with police came several hours after a 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court charged with attempted murder in a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence.

Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where a detective said he blinded Stephen Ogilvie in the left eye during the knife attack. He was also charged with possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.

When police arrived at the crime scene, they found Alodid on the man, armed with a kitchen knife, the detective said. Alodid later told hospital staff: “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you."

He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.

Police were prepared for more violence after masked men on Tuesday set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects.

Firefighters rescued several people from burning houses and more than two dozen people were left homeless.

Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, said he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.

“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”

Families, one with a baby, were rescued and taken to police stations for safety, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said.

“These weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behavior last night," Boutcher told the BBC. “There is absolutely no excuse for it.”

Boutcher said 200 more officers would be on the streets Wednesday and the PSNI was calling in support from other forces. Bus and train operators in Belfast said they would stop services early because of expected protests.

Ogilvie’s family appealed for an end to the violence and said migrants “make a deeply valuable contribution to our country.”

“We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility,” the family said in a statement.

Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government condemned the violence. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said it was “thuggery.”

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”

The attack was caught on video

Monday’s attack, caught in video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists. Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, was hospitalized with deep cuts to his head, face and back.

Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a 5-year permit to remain.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there is no information to suggest the attack was terrorism-related.

Protests were encouraged online by far-right activists, and the street violence erupted despite politicians' calls for calm.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the stabbing attack as “sickening,” but said violence against people based on their background would not be tolerated.

“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable," Starmer said on X. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere.”

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponizing” the fears of local people.

“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the color of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.

Some raise questions about the Irish border

Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.

The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people is a major pillar of the peace process that largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and U.K. security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.

Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still hold considerable sway over the streets.

Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England, in December was seized on by activists and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the violence, an idea rejected by Starmer and other British politicians.

Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Digwa was convicted of murder and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term. A protest over Nowak’s death turned violent, with some attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged with violent disorder.

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Lawless reported from London. Brian Melley contributed to this story.

Some slight changes have happened terms of our severe risk.

Heading into tomorrow, the level 2 of 5 risk has shifted more northward. This will mean that these areas will have a higher likelihood of having any storm cells that occur develop into severe ones.

Friday on the other hand, had the opposite effect. Now, the risk has shifted and expanded southward and includes all of our area in the 2 out of 5 risk. Between tomorrow and Friday, Friday will still have the most widespread of impacts, including a higher chance of seeing hail.

Alongside the storms, temperatures and humidity will be up. Areas in the Lynchburg and Southside could experience heat indices in the triple digits, with the Highlands and the Roanoke Valley toeing the line.

Wednesday Morning:

A Weather Authority Alert Day has been issued for June 11th and 12th for the risk of strong storms throughout the region.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed us under a slight and marginal risk for strong to severe storms both Thursday and Friday.

The main threats with these storms will be damaging wind, hail, and heavy rainfall; however, an isolated tornado can’t be ruled out entirely.

Portions of all 5 zones are included in the 15% probability of wind damage, with southern portions of NRV and Southside in the 5% risk area.

The hail risk will also be on the map for Thursday and Friday, with the entirety of the viewing area in that 5% risk zone for hail damage.

Some of these storms that pop up both Thursday and Friday will start out quite isolated. In this case, there is a better chance of rotation and the storm being able to quickly strengthen when these storms form as loners.

Thursday, as these storms fire off, a small tornado threat can not be ruled out for the Highlands Zone, especially. The threat is very small, but not zero.

Each day, storms will fire up in the afternoon and evening. The start time is looking to be around 1-3 PM on Thursday and 2-4 PM on Friday.

Be sure to stay weather aware and download the Weather Authority mobile app to have alerts sent directly to your phone when any warnings are issued.

Leo called Gaudí’s unfinished temple, one of the world’s most visited monuments, a “sign of unity and harmony for all of Spain,” an ongoing building project like the lifelong journey all Christians make to find God.

“We are all the living stones of this edifice,” Leo said from the altar of the basilica, with Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia sitting to his side and a hundreds-strong choir filling the basilica with song.

The service was the highlight of Leo’s weeklong visit to Spain, the first by a pope in 15 years to the once-staunchly Catholic European country that, like many others, has experienced secularizing trends.

The trip, though, has underscored how the country of 50 million people, which experienced a religious crisis after its 20th century dictatorship ended, still has plenty of faithful Catholics who have turned out in droves to welcome the American pope.

An estimated 120,000 people lined the streets around Sagrada Familia for the event, with streets closed to traffic and a heavy police presence, given the attendance of the royal couple and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The crowds remained after Mass to watch as Leo inaugurated the basilica's final Tower of Jesus Christ that has made it the world's tallest church.

Speaking in Catalan and Spanish, Leo blessed the tower and its illuminated ceramic cross from outside the basilica, surrounded by bishops craning their mitre-capped heads to look up. An angelic boy's choir sang as a spectacular light show lit up the basilica's stained glass windows from the inside and fireworks shot off its facade.

Honoring Catalonia's Christian traditions

Earlier Wednesday, Leo celebrated a more ancient sacred monument, traveling to Montserrat, a mountain complex outside the city that is dear to many Catalans. The complex, which includes an 11th-century Benedictine abbey and a 16th-century basilica, is revered for its Black Madonna statue and is home to a boy's choir that has existed since the 13th century and is Europe's oldest.

Thousands of faithful arrived early at the monastery, with groups of nuns and schoolchildren singing and waving signs and photographs of the pope outside the basilica. Bells rang out over the spire-like rock formations that top Montserrat and the valley below as Leo arrived in a golf cart.

In recent years, the Montserrat abbey has faced numerous accusations from survivors of clergy sexual abuse and was included in the Spanish ombudsman’s 800-page report on the crisis in 2023. The report found 15 victims and three alleged perpetrators linked to the abbey.

“It’s very painful because there are members of the church who committed errors,” said the Rev. Cesario Escarda, a Toledo priest, as he waited for Leo at the abbey. “What the pope wants to do is shine a light on the truth and ask forgiveness and bring in the victims and listen to them and accompany them.”

The Bible carved in stone

The highlight of Leo’s visit, though, was his Mass at Sagrada Familia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of its famed Catalan designer, Gaudí, who died at age 73, three days after he was hit by a tram.

A century after construction began during the pontificate of Leo’s namesake, Pope Leo XIII, the basilica has become one of the world’s most visited but unfinished monuments, annually drawing upward of 5 million visitors a year.

Commemorating Gaudí's death, Leo said he wanted to give thanks to all the supporters, artists and workers who “cooperated in the construction of an architectural masterpiece, which is also an eloquent catechesis made of stones, colors and light.”

Gaudí, who is on the path to possible sainthood, spent four decades designing and building the temple as the summary of the Christian faith carved in stone. The most important stories of Jesus’ life, the Nativity and Passion, are etched into the basilica’s east and west facades. A third facade facing south, the Glory, will serve as the basilica’s main entrance when finished.

The temple is an architectural and geometrical masterpiece inside and out, an art nouveau celebration in form and symbol of Christianity and God’s creation through stone and light.

“Much more than a monument, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia remains a work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey, because it is a project that God is carrying out,” Leo said in his homily.

A total of 18 sandcastle spires rise up from the top and pierce Barcelona’s skyline: 12 to symbolize Christ’s 12 apostles, four for each of the four Evangelists who recorded Christ’s life in the Gospels, one topped with a star over the apse honoring the Virgin Mary and, tallest among them, the Tower of Jesus Christ.

When the final Christ tower was finished at a height of 172½ meters (564 feet) last year, it made Sagrada Familia the world’s tallest church. Construction is expected to be fully complete within a decade.

“The entire structure of the Sagrada Familia is striking,” said Laura Rincón, who was on hand outside along with two friends for the Mass, after she finished work in a nearby shop. She said that she was sure the pope would be impressed by the church she marvels at every time she passes by.

“If you look at it just for its architecture, it is amazing,” she said. “Inside, its columns make you feel like you are inside a forest.”

An interior that looks like a forest

The cross-shaped interior, with the altar at the apse, is an homage to light and nature. Treelike columns soar to the sky, colored by constantly changing light filtered through stained glass windows like the sun poking through leaves in a forest.

“Nature is my teacher,” Gaudí once said. “Everything comes from the great book of nature, always open that we must read.”

The colors of the window glass have meaning: The blues and greens of the eastern portal windows, where the facade depicts Christ’s birth, look more joyful and are most brilliant when the sun rises and light passes through. The coarser shades of red and orange, illuminated by the setting sun on the western portals, color the side of the basilica that depicts Christ’s Passion. Behind the altar and above the cross are yellows and gold that glimmer in the noonday sun.

Historian Mònica Santín, who leads tours of the basilica, said that in designing Sagrada Familia, Gaudí was guided by two books: the Gospels and nature.

“The way he lets in the natural light is also an invitation to the Christian mystery,” she said, citing the three facades depicting Christ’s birth, death and glory.

“And when you enter inside, it is all light,” Santín said. “What is that the symbol of? We can’t see God, but we perceive his light all around us. I think that is how you can read this message, and it is fascinating.”

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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.

Montgomery capped a 2-for-5 night with a game-ending, two-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 6-5 win over Atlanta Braves. He became the fifth player in MLB history to hit a walk-off homer in his debut, joining Billy Parker (1971), Josh Bard (2002), Miguel Cabrera (2015) and Carlos Pérez (2023).

Montgomery was still buzzing hours after his 343-foot, opposite-field shot cleared the fence in left field.

“I don't know if I would be considered calmed down at this point,” Montgomery said. “Just been enjoying it, sharing it with my family.”

White Sox manager Will Venable said he isn't worried about the 23-year-old getting ahead of himself after one game.

“We haven't had anybody with a debut like that, but I think he's as grounded as they come,” Venable said. “This is a guy that has really high expectations of himself. I'm sure he envisioned himself doing this, what he did last night. To be honest, his idea of what he can do in this league is as high as anybody else's. It was exactly what he expected.”

Montgomery didn't slow down Wednesday night, hitting two doubles and scoring the first run in a 2-1 win over the Braves.

“He just goes up there with extreme confidence, putting really good swings on pitches,” Venable said. “I think his swing decisions have been great. He's a very talented hitter and for him to come up and be so comfortable and be locked in and show what he's able to do early has been awesome.”

Montgomery spent the start of his second day of his big league career responding to the text messages he continues to receive — “The number shrinks and grows as I answer them, but more come in,” Montgomery said — and spending time with his parents and family, who were sitting behind home plate Wednesday night.

His mother, Gretchen Montgomery Willock, posted a video of the family celebration in the stands that went viral on social media. On Wednesday, she posted, “Let me tell you about a dream I had last night.”

“It's not really something you can imagine,” Montgomery said. “You just kind of go into it with your expectations and do whatever the game brings.”

One of the top prospects in the White Sox organization, acquired from the Red Sox in the December 2024 trade that sent Garrett Crochet to Boston, Montgomery was hitting .315 for Triple-A Charlotte. He became the 12th White Sox rookie to debut this season, the second-highest total before the All-Star break since the 1944 Cincinnati Reds had 13, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The influx of youth has helped the White Sox go 29-18 since April 17, second only to the New York Yankees (30-17), despite injuries to Munetaka Murakami and Everson Pereira. among others. The White Sox are 5-4 since Murakami, a rookie from Japan who leads the team with 20 homers, injured his right hamstring on May 29.

Colson Montgomery joined that list Tuesday. He is day to day with a sore back and was not in the lineup Wednesday. The second-year shortstop, a relative veteran of 135 MLB games, said his younger teammates are feeding off each other to pick up the slack.

“You get up here, and it's like, these are my boys, my teammates, this is nothing new,” Colson Montgomery said. “That's why a lot of our young rookie guys are coming up here and they're thriving because they're just being themselves and they know they can be themselves. ... We have a lot of guys in the minor leagues who are coming up and they’re ready to show their impact.”

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

The accusation came in a new, 149-page report alleging that the forced displacement of West Bank Palestinians resulted from a concerted state policy, and not just the actions of violent settlers. While much of the displacement is driven by settlers who build outposts on Palestinian land, the report asserts that the process could not occur without the support of the government.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal. Israel, meanwhile, views the West Bank as disputed territory and says its final status is subject to negotiations.

U.N. data says that over 100 West Bank villages have been fully or partially emptied out between January 2023 and April 2026. At the same time, the United Nations has tracked more than 7,280 instances of individual Palestinian displacement because of demolition of homes and structures by Israeli forces, a figure that includes people who were displaced more than once.

Israel has in the past denounced such accusations — including allegations of “ethnic cleansing,” a term referring to forced expulsions of population by violence — as reflecting longtime unfair bias. It did not immediately respond to the report.

Amnesty says settler violence is sanctioned by the state

“These abuses are not the result of a few ‘bad apples.’ Settler violence is a core component of a state-sanctioned campaign of ethnic cleansing," said Agnès Callamard, the head of Amnesty. “What we are witnessing is deliberate, state-led annexation, in complete violation of international law unfolding before the eyes of the entire world.”

Israeli leaders have condemned particularly grave violence by Jewish settlers but tend to denounce them as exceptions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government is dominated by settler leaders and supporters, and key Cabinet ministers are pushing for a formal annexation of the territory.

The government has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights groups for accelerating settlement expansion, which they say is aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state there. Over 700,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and claimed by the Palestinians as parts of a future state.

Amnesty says it has identified dozens of bills in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, to extend Israeli civil law and jurisdiction over settlement blocs, as well as over courts that try Palestinians. Recently, the parliament approved a measure making the death penalty the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. The U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that aimed to stop the war in Gaza also acknowledged Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

Villages in remote areas are most vulnerable, rights groups say

Amnesty says the large-scale displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the territory is caused by settler violence, advancement of new settlements and the Israeli takeover of large swaths of unregistered land. Rights groups have raised the alarm about this form of displacement before 2023, but say it dramatically intensified after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that year that triggered the war.

Rights groups say Bedouin herding communities in remote areas of the West Bank are most vulnerable to displacement. Unlike Palestinians in cities and towns across the West Bank, the villagers are less able to withstand the pressure from often-armed settlers as they establish new outposts around Palestinian villages.

The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now says that 212 of at least 363 existing outposts in the West Bank were created since 2023. The outposts are built without permission from Israeli authorities, who sometimes dismantle them but often turn a blind eye or even legalize them retroactively.

Amnesty said its report looked into 27 hamlets and villages in the West Bank where Palestinians were displaced between 2023 and 2025. Researchers interviewed dozens of Palestinians and lawyers, spoke with witnesses of settler violence, watched over 420 videos and analyzed government statements and other reports.

The group also said the international community has failed to act to stop the displacement.

Dror Etkes, who runs the settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, said that since the October 2023 attack, settlers have taken about 12.5% of West Bank territory — land that Palestinians can no longer access or cross safely.

This decision comes after the completion of the Mill Mountain Trail, which added more than 4 miles of bike trails.

The foundation was announced back in 2022 as a non-profit organization to support the city’s parks and recreation department.

According to a press release from 2022, the foundation would “raise funds, accept gifts and provide additional resources to enhance the department’s existing programs, services, facilities and technology.”

In an email, Vice Mayor Terry McGuire told 10 News the following:

I am very disappointed that this issue has been allowed to fester and worsen to the point we are at today. We just can’t afford, financially and in social capital, to lose the support of our volunteers and the private donors who have worked so hard and given so much to make improvements to our parks where the city could not or would not. I sincerely thank the Roanoke Parks Foundation and their supporters for all their work and encourage them to sit tight on any remaining funds. We will get this sorted out.

10 News reached out to the City of Roanoke for comments, and they responded with the following statement:

We value our partnerships with nonprofit organizations and recognize their important role in supporting parks, trails, and other community projects. A large, multi-party project like the Mill Mountain Trail expansion supported by the Parks Foundation, involved complex coordination and differing perspectives, but we appreciate the Parks Foundation’s contributions and constructive collaboration.

However, any arrangement involving work on City property or public rights-of-way is reviewed to ensure compliance with applicable law, appropriate insurance and liability protections, and alignment with the City’s obligations to the public. When volunteers or non-City employees perform work on City property, additional precautions are necessary to protect both the public and the individuals doing the work. The City takes those responsibilities seriously. An MOU was put in place to ensure that work performed on City property that benefits the City, complies with all public procurement laws - regardless of where the funds come from. We rarely allow others to procure services on behalf of the City, but in those extraordinary circumstances, we have an MOU in place to ensure the third party complies with all applicable laws and policies.

We welcome future partnerships and continue to pursue grants, public funding and private donations for future parks and recreation projects.

People who walk the trails advocated for its continued support.

“I can actually see the trails from my backyard and I will be sitting there at night and I will see dozens of lights go by, and it’s because I know people are out there on their mountain bikes and there’s groups of people just mountain biking in the middle of the night,” Vivian Mao said. “So I think people use the trails day and night for all kinds of things. I think it’s a great draw to the community. It’s just that’s what Roanoke is about. I feel like it’s about being outside.”

10 News reached out to Roanoke Parks Foundation for comment, but hadn’t received a reply.

These graveyards form when whale carcasses fall to the sea floor, becoming a sustaining snack for nearby critters. This one, located up to 23,000 feet (7 kilometers) below the surface of the southeastern Indian Ocean, spans the largest area and is so far the deepest and oldest found.

A whale's sheer size and the unique chemistry of its bones are the keys to forming these unique underwater neighborhoods, said Xikun Song, a biologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering.

“At the same time, the very nature of the deep ocean makes these sites exceptionally difficult for scientists to locate,” Song, who was involved with the latest find, wrote in an email.

Researchers explored the remains during multiple deep-sea submersible trips in 2023, collecting samples and mapping the extent of the necropolis. They found five carcass sites and fossils, including skulls belonging to beaked and baleen whales. The oldest bones date back 5.3 million years.

Feeding and living on the carcasses were myriad creatures, large and small, including sea cucumbers, squat lobsters and saltwater clams. Many of them are likely species that have never been documented, according to findings published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“The potential number of specimens is just astounding,” said paleontologist Stephen Godfrey with the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland, who wasn't involved in the research.

Many factors likely conspired to preserve the bones for millions of years, according to the study authors. They’re dense enough to outlast attacks from bone-eating worms, and located deep enough in the ocean to avoid getting buried by dust and loose particles. The bones also were coated with a light layer of minerals from the surrounding seawater, which may have prevented them from degrading.

Why did so many whales die here? Maybe they were already living in the area and died of natural causes. A few could have perished from exhaustion or illness caused by deep-sea diving. The area's shape, akin to the letter V, could also have funneled the remains to their resting spot, the authors wrote.

Such discoveries are important because they clue scientists into the vibrant communities that find a way even in remote, hard-to-reach environments.

Studying the whale graveyards “is important for understanding how life can adapt to such extreme conditions, not only due to the lack of light and oxygen but also to the incredibly high pressure,” said study co-author and paleontologist Giovanni Bianucci with the University of Pisa in Italy in an email.

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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 13 websites purported to be affiliated with consulting companies that advertised job openings for current and former holders of security clearances. But the companies were all fakes and the job postings were a sham, officials said.

The internet domain seizure is part of a broader effort by Western law enforcement and intelligence agencies to sound the alarm about alleged Chinese government plots to recruit workers who can be duped into disclosing sensitive information.

Last week, for instance, the English-speaking Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. — issued a bulletin warning that China is targeting personnel from those countries on job websites to get access to classified or sensitive information.

The bulletin said spies for Chinese military intelligence have been posing as workers acting on behalf of private businesses or think tanks, advertising for bogus jobs such as foreign policy or defense analysts and pressuring candidates to provide “non-public” information.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the website seizure, the fake websites relied on fraudulent or stolen identities and AI-generated photographs to give them the appearance of legitimacy, and advertised generic “consulting” jobs geared toward current or former U.S. government employees.

“These websites are often linked or referenced within the entities’ job postings on LinkedIn and other hiring platforms,” the affidavit said.

Applicants and recruits were offered money for reports related to their work and for sensitive information, the Justice Department said. The operators of the plot, who officials allege to be tied to Chinese intelligence services, used cryptocurrency and online payment systems to hide their real identities, officials said.

Law enforcement officials identified the websites through information from targets who came forward to report what they believed to be suspicious interactions.

“A lot of this information came from doing interviews, interviews with people who came forward that something didn’t seem right,” Dan Wierzbicki, the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence and cyber division of the FBI’s Washington field office, said in an interview.

“They provided information and said, ‘Hey, this is kind of weird, we’re kind of getting paid by a cryptocurrency or an online payment system that’s not typical,'” he added.

He said the FBI believes there are other websites serving a similar purpose and is seeking the public's help in identifying them.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington called allegations of Chinese espionage “entirely fabricated” and “malicious slander.”

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Associated Press writer Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. futures advanced and oil prices gained more than $1 a barrel.

Tokyo's Nikkei lost 0.5% to 63,878.60, while the Kospi in South Korea was also down 0.2%, at 7,720.75.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2% higher, to 24,468.82, but the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.2% to 3,983.80.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 likewise shed 0.2% to 8,632.50.

Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.4%.

On Wednesday, Wall Street’s former superstars continue to face heavy scrutiny.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for its first back-to-back drop in three weeks. Closing at 7,266.99, it's back to where it was in early May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 953 points, or 1.9%, to 49,918.78. The Nasdaq composite led the market lower with a 2% slide, to 25,169.50.

Wall Street has been shaky since last week, when AI stocks went from roaring to records to suddenly turn lower. Among the worries is that their prices may have shot too high, too fast because of AI mania. The question now is whether the break lower has cleared out excessive optimism that may have built into their stock prices, or if it’s the start of a longer downturn.

Super Micro Computer, which sells AI servers, tumbled 28% after saying late Tuesday that it plans to raise $7 billion in cash by selling shares of stock and convertible preferred stock. Such moves raise the most money for companies when their stock prices are high, and they can dilute the ownership stakes of existing shareholders.

Micron Technology swung from an early loss of nearly 4% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 4.7%. It’s coming off a wild stretch where it sank 7.7% last Thursday, then plunged another 13.3% Friday and rallied 9.9% Monday. Despite all the swings, the computer memory maker’s stock is still up 212.5% for the year so far.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s grown into a nearly $4.9 trillion behemoth because of the AI boom, was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after falling 3.7%. The second heaviest was another AI winner, Broadcom, which fell 5.1%.

Some of the pressure on AI stocks could also be coming from investors pulling cash out to prepare for high-profile debuts on the U.S. stock market for several AI giants. SpaceX’s initial public offering could come later this week, for example.

Weakening stocks for companies with big fuel bills also pulled the market lower. United Airlines sank 6.2%, and cruise-operator Carnival fell 6.3% after oil prices rose due to the latest fighting in the war with Iran.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to $93.10 on Wednesday after President Donald Trump warned Iran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations between the two on their war. The war has been keeping the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut to oil tankers, which has prevented the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

High oil prices have sent inflation higher, and a report on Wednesday showed that prices for U.S. consumers jumped in May at the highest speed in three years.

Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will have to hike its main interest rate at least once this year, given price pressures and the strength of the U.S. job market.

High yields can slow entire economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They hit investments seen as the most expensive in particular, and some critics are calling AI a bubble where investment inflated too far.

Early Thursday, Brent crude oil was up $1.34 at $94.44 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.50 to $91.53 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar slipped to 160.44 Japanese yen from 160.56 yen late Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1555 from $1.1537.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Omar Artan, who was named as Africa's best male referee in 2025., said he plans to be at the next World Cup and urged Somali youth to be proud of their country.

Artan was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA’s final list for the tournament.

He was denied entry to the U.S. at Miami International Airport on Saturday over unspecified “vetting concerns,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns. FIFA subsequently cut him from the tournament's referee list.

Artan was issued a visa to travel to the U.S. last week, according to the Somalia Embassy in Kenya, which processed it. The U.S. is co-hosting the tournament with Mexico and Canada, and Artan was due to meet up with other World Cup referees at their training base in Miami.

Arriving in the capital, Mogadishu, he thanked the Somali government and public as well as FIFA for their support.

“I promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one,” he said as hundreds of supporters at the airport waved Somali flags. “I want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident.”

Later on Wednesday, thousands of soccer fans packed the stadium in Mogadishu for a welcome ceremony for Artan, with patriotic songs echoing through the arena as supporters waved the nation's flag and cheered him on.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre also hosted Artan, writing in a post on X that the referee had “already won the hearts of millions and secured his place in history.”

“He devoted himself to ensuring that football was decided by merit, yet fate denied him the stage he so richly deserved,” Barre said.

The U.S.'s highly unusual move to deny a FIFA-appointed match official permission to enter a World Cup host country drew outrage across the world and raised questions among some fans about America's capacity to host the competition.

Somalia is one of nearly 40 countries subject to new travel restrictions under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

On Wednesday, the United Nations’ top human rights official called for a “massive rethink” of immigration policies especially in the United States around the World Cup.

Hundreds of supporters, government officials and members of Somalia’s football community gathered hours before Artan arrived at Aden Adde International Airport.

As he disembarked, supporters waving Somali flags crowded around him before draping him in the flag.

He was then escorted by police officers to the airport’s VIP terminal, where he was welcomed by Somalia’s sports minister and other dignitaries, and spoke to journalists.

“It is up to all of us to defend the Somali name,” Artan said. “Somalia belongs to us, whether it is in a bad state or a good state. That flag belongs to us, and that passport belongs to us.”

In a country where decades of war and the rise of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group have limited the potential of many in Somalia, Artan's denial brought disappointment but reminded people what is possible if they chase their dreams.

Artan's expected milestone at this year's World Cup “stands no matter what,” the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus — from neighboring Ethiopia — wrote Tuesday on X. “You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that.”

The defendant, Vance Boelter, was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing Thursday morning in federal court in Minneapolis.

“The Attorney General has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against Defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement,” assistant U.S. attorneys Bradley M. Endicott and Matthew D. Forbes wrote in a letter to the court Wednesday.

The Justice Department had said earlier in the week that it decided not to pursue the death penalty. While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for it.

Boelter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The court filing did not detail the terms of the plea agreement.

Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot by a man who came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car. The Hortmans' golden retriever was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.

Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day after what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history. He faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges. His state case has been on hold pending the resolution of his federal charges.

Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case.

Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter's state charges.

Under federal law, to obtain the death penalty against Boelter, prosecutors would have to show he committed the killings during another “crime of violence.” Boelter's underlying charge was that he stalked the victims.

A federal judge in New York earlier this year barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, ruling that stalking doesn’t count as a violent crime.

Prosecutors have called the attacks on the Minnesota politicians political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the shootings. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.

In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary, who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.

When Minnesota's legislative session convened in February, Hoffman got a warm welcome as he walked up the stairs into the Senate chamber. He said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover, and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.

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Johnson reported from Seattle. Former AP reporter Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed.

Attorneys presented opening statements in the trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who has pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Whether prosecutors can prove to jurors that Rinderknecht, 29, started a fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 1, 2025, and that it then turned into the Palisades Fire will be at the center of the trial.

Prosecutors say the Jan. 1 fire burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up on Jan. 7. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt O'Brien told jurors that security camera footage shows where and when the fire ignited atop a hill, and investigators were able to place Rinderknecht nearby because he called 911 for help 16 times in quick succession on the evening of Jan. 1.

O'Brien said that Rinderknecht was the only person there that evening. He said that after firefighters arrived, Rinderknecht followed them up the hill to take videos of them putting out the blaze. Investigators later seized a barbecue lighter from his car that he admitted to having with him on the trail.

Defense attorney Steve Haney said Rinderknecht was on the hilltop near the fire's ignition that night, but only to watch the fireworks after dropping off Uber passengers nearby. Haney said multiple witnesses as well as first responders will testify that they heard fireworks in the area around the time the fire ignited.

“When all the evidence is in, there will be one thing missing: proof that Jonathan Rinderknecht started that fire on Jan. 1,” Haney told jurors.

The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes as it incinerated hillside neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and the city of Malibu. Rinderknecht faces at least five years in prison if convicted of charges that also include malicious destruction by means of a fire.

O'Brien, in his opening, painted a picture for the jury of a troubled young man who was lonely and angry at the world after a recent breakup.

“He wanted revenge — revenge against society because he blamed society for all his troubles,” he said.

O'Brien also showed jurors a prompt that Rinderknecht had entered into ChatGPT six months earlier. “So on the far left, we're going to have a burning forest and then you have a bunch of people running away from that,” the prompt began.

Haney reminded jurors it didn't matter if they liked his client or “approve of the way Jonathan uses his computer.” He said Rinderknecht’s behavior after the fire, from calling 911 to cooperating with investigators, demonstrated his innocence.

Haney played an audio recording of Rinderknecht’s conversation with a 911 operator during which he reported a fire in the Pacific Palisades.

When federal investigators knocked on Rinderknecht's door, he didn’t hide or refuse to answer, Haney said. Rinderknecht even agreed to drive back to the Palisades to help investigators pinpoint the start of the fire.

“It’s the voice and actions of a man who was trying to stop the fire,” Haney said.

Leading up to the trial, Haney has argued that Rinderknecht is being made as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the Jan. 1 blaze.

Judge Anne Hwang has ruled that the defense can’t introduce evidence or arguments about alleged negligence by the Fire Department, saying it was irrelevant and could confuse the jury. Defense attorneys had planned to include testimony from a firefighter that the fire was visibly smoldering when first responders left before it reignited days later.

Prosecutors began presenting their case by calling witnesses with California State Parks and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to establish that the fire affected areas with federal jurisdiction.

They also called Special Agent Michael Montevidoni with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, one of the lead investigators in the case.

Montevidoni spent hours on the stand explaining to jurors how investigators gathered evidence and interviewed more than 100 of Rinderknecht's friends, family and acquaintances.

Prosecutors also introduced a multitude of digital records into evidence obtained from his phone, email, Uber, OpenAI and various social media accounts.

Montevidoni said he reviewed thousands of conversations between Rinderknecht and ChatGPT, during which Rinderknecht lamented wealth disparity and climate change in the world and his inability to do anything about it.

These conversations led up to early hours of Dec. 31, 2024, during which Rinderknecht sent angry messages to a woman that he had a prior romantic relationship with. At the same time, he vented to ChatGPT, Montevidoni said.

“It was consistently showing anger and frustration,” Montevidoni said.

The crash occurred near Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, during an ongoing protest and strike called by the Joint Awami Action Committee, a recently banned alliance of various groups.

The military didn't suggest any link between the protest and the crash.

Witnesses said that the helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff from a helipad. Ambulances arrived at the scene and transported the victims to a nearby hospital.

“Rescue and recovery teams immediately reached the crash site,” the military said, adding that a board of inquiry had been ordered to determine the exact cause of the crash.

Residents in Muzaffarabad said that the helicopter was carrying an unspecified number of paramilitary Rangers deployed by the government for security duties in the region, where tensions have been high since the weekend, when members of an outlawed group attacked police and security forces, killing four personnel.

Witnesses said they saw smoke billowing from the crash site, and several ambulances were seen transporting the victims.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the crash, paying tribute to those killed. In separate statements, they conveyed sympathies to the victims' families.

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, also expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and extended condolences to the families of those killed, according to the statement.

Such crashes aren't uncommon in Pakistan. In September, an army helicopter on a routine flight crashed in northern Pakistan, killing two pilots and three technicians on board.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson must also pay $1.17 million in punitive damages.

That is in addition to the $176 million in damages for wrongful death and emotional distress that jurors ordered Grossman and Erickson to pay parents Nancy and Karim Iskander last week, after finding them negligent in the deaths of Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8.

“This verdict sends a clear message that everyone must be held accountable when their selfish actions put innocent lives at risk,” Brian Panish, the Iskander family's attorney, said in a statement Wednesday.

Erickson's attorney, Jeff Braun, said they respected the verdict.

“In the coming days, we will review the verdict with our client and discuss the appropriate path forward,” Braun said in a statement. “Today, however, our focus is on acknowledging the extraordinary loss the Iskander family has endured. We extend our sincere condolences to them and continue to keep them in our thoughts.”

Grossman's attorney, Esther Holm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grossman was sentenced in 2024 to serve 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in a separate criminal trial. She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and the wife of a prominent burn doctor.

The boys’ parents also filed lawsuits in civil court against both Grossman and Erickson, who was driving ahead of her when the Iskander brothers were killed. That trial began in April.

The deadly crash occurred on the evening of Sept. 29, 2020, in Westlake Village, a city on the western edge of Los Angeles County.

Panish, the Iskander family’s attorney, argued that Grossman and Erickson were both driving recklessly after drinking margaritas together. The two were dating at a time when Grossman and her husband were separated.

Panish said Grossman was driving 73 mph (117 kph) when her car struck the boys in a crosswalk on a road where the posted speed limit was 45 mph (72 kph).

He said Grossman was following Erickson, who was also speeding and narrowly missed the family.

Holm, Grossman's attorney, denied that her client was intoxicated. She said Grossman was distracted when she saw the boys’ mother dive out of the way of Erickson’s vehicle.

Braun, Erickson's attorney, called the boys’ deaths a tragedy but emphasized that the vehicle he was driving “made no contact with the children.”

In an opening statement provided to The Associated Press, Gates said he “should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” but that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.”

The tech billionaire became the latest powerful figure linked to Epstein to testify before the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door deposition. The committee chairman, Republican Rep. James Comer, formally requested that Gates testify after he appeared multiple times in a trove of documents released by the Justice Department as part of its Epstein probe.

As Gates arrived at the Capitol, he noted that his appearance was voluntary and said he hoped his testimony would help lawmakers “find justice for the victims.” Gates did not take questions from reporters at the conclusion of the interview late Wednesday afternoon.

Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused in connection with Epstein's crimes and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of girls. He has said the two met only to discuss philanthropy and previously described the relationship as “a huge mistake.”

Most Democratic members who participated in Wednesday's questioning described Gates as cooperative. They said some of the most useful information he provided involved other influential people in Epstein’s orbit. Lawmakers also said they pressed Gates on why he continued interacting with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Gates was aware that Epstein had been convicted of “a horrific crime and continued to interact with him to seek money for his foundation,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top-ranking Democrat on the committee, who described Gates' actions as “a horrific judgment call.”

Before the interview began, Comer told reporters that the committee's effort was “about trying to figure out how the government failed.”

Lawmakers scrutinize Gates’ relationship with Epstein

Gates said he was introduced to Epstein through people involved in his professional and philanthropic work and was drawn in by Epstein’s claims that he could help raise billions of dollars for global health initiatives.

Their relationship began in 2011, three years after Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida, according to the Justice Department files. Gates said he cut ties in 2014 after concluding Epstein could not deliver on those promises.

Included in the files are calendar entries for meetings between Gates and Epstein, email correspondence between the two about philanthropic projects and photos of Gates at events that Epstein also attended.

Gates added that he never went to Epstein's island or his other infamous properties.

“I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Gates said.

Lawmakers offered differing accounts of the interview as they exited the room throughout the day.

GOP Rep. Tim Burchett described the questioning as “intense,” while Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said Gates was “combative” and “not terribly forthcoming or candid.” Garcia, by contrast, said that while Gates pushed back on some inquiries, “he’s answering the questions.”

Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury said Gates acknowledged maintaining contact with Epstein because he believed the “narrow relationship” was “an acceptable means to access wealthy donors.”

The Gates Foundation said in February that a small number of employees had met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources" for global health. They never created a charitable fund together, and the foundation made no payments to Epstein.

Both Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, have said his association with Epstein created tension in their marriage.

Broader Epstein investigation continues

Epstein was federally indicted in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The Justice Department alleged that Epstein formed a vast network of girls, some as young as 14, for him to sexually abuse between 2002 and 2005. He died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial.

The files released by the Justice Department read like a who’s who of powerful men across tech, finance, politics and other industries. All have denied involvement in Epstein’s crimes, but some maintained or formed friendships with him even after his history of sexual abuse came to light.

At another closed-door deposition in February, former President Bill Clinton faced more than six hours of questioning from lawmakers about his association with Epstein more than two decades ago. Epstein visited the White House several times during Clinton’s presidency, and Clinton flew occasionally on Epstein's private jet.

The former Democratic president said he saw no signs of Epstein’s sexual abuse and stopped associating with him long before Epstein's 2008 guilty plea. Clinton has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Democrats on the House committee have pushed for testimony from President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein. Republicans have said they have not come across any evidence that Trump did anything wrong during his well-documented friendship with Epstein.

Comer said Wednesday that he's planning to ask attorney Alan Dershowitz to appear and that he's been in communication with the Justice Department about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche coming in for questioning as well.

___

Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.

The event is part of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and is scheduled for the weekend with the main attraction — seven mixed martial arts matches — on Sunday.

That is, if a judge doesn't halt the proceedings, which is sought by two Virginia residents in a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn.

The agency filed a rebuff of the request Tuesday in court, and, in it, laid out the operations for the event.

“Well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been expended,” the document read, adding that the money came from the UFC and groups affiliated with it.

The Octagon

It's the eight-sided cage that surrounds the sometimes bloodied combatants and sits at the center of the constructed arena on the South Lawn.

The arena is expected to hold 4,000 spectators, with another 120,000 visitors — who swung tickets from an online lottery — anticipated to watch from the nearby Ellipse.

The installation began May 20, and the Secret Service worked with the UFC to screen between 20 and 30 trucks of equipment — as well as between “700 and 900” staff — that came in daily for the installation.

The document did not specify the extent of government resources spent on the project, but said seven agencies, including Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration, have “allocated significant resources and manpower."

The schedule

It’ll kick off Saturday with a ceremonial weigh-in at the Ellipse, followed by a concert by country musicians The Zac Brown Band.

A UFC Freedom 250 Fan Fest will be ongoing through the weekend, with “interactive experiences,” live shows, celebrity appearances, “exclusive on-stage moments,” meet and greets, live music and interviews with the athletes.

Sunday night is when the seven bouts kick off. At the close, Trump is scheduled to fly to France for the G7 summit.

Disassembly of the installations will begin the next day, and they are expected to be entirely removed by June 23.

The athletes' Epsom salt baths

There are 14 athletes competing, and their training is rigorous.

Preparations start months in advance, working toward more intense weight cutting and diet alteration in the final week that can include fasting, extreme sauna use and hot Epsom salt baths.

They could be shaving as many as 20 pounds before weigh-ins, which are designed to keep the competition fair between similarly weighted combatants.

Lawsuit calls it ‘corrupt’

It was filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of the two Virginia residents and argues that Trump’s authorization of the event violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands.

One of the attorneys, Brendan Ballou, characterized it as a “corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain."

The National Park Service pushed back on that claim, but also detailed the event's preparations to make a point.

“All these hopes could be dashed at the very last moment," it read, "by the whim of two people who believe they have superior taste and want to spoil the event for everyone else.”

The restart of No. 6 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station earlier this year was meant to spur a movement to bring more nuclear reactors online. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is one of three plants whose cooling pools will be full in five years, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

“Without solid (fuel management) plans, our power generation will stall sooner or later,” Kashiwazaki-Kariwa General Manager Takeyuki Inagaki said.

After decades of seeking permanent storage for highly radioactive spent fuel, the government is considering Minamitorishima, a remote Pacific island south of Tokyo. But the selection has faced skepticism and criticism stemming from Japan's arbitrary actions on spent fuel and radioactive waste management.

Only 15 of Japan’s 54 reactors have restarted since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a 9.0 earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast and a subsequent tsunami caused meltdowns at three reactors operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, or TEPCO. About 160,000 people fled from Fukushima and some areas remain unlivable.

Kashiazaki-Kariwa, also run by TEPCO, was shut down after the Fukushima disaster as part of a nationwide nuclear power stoppage.

The spent fuel in a cooling pool at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No. 6 reactor, which is 88% filled, can be seen from a top-floor observation area. TEPCO has installed filtered venting systems and devices to prevent hydrogen explosions among additional safety measures based on lessons from Fukushima.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing to bring more nuclear plants online, resulting in more spent fuel. Without a viable permanent storage plan, there are worries that reactors will have to close when storage space runs out.

Fuel recycling plan has stalled

There are two options for dealing with spent nuclear fuel: direct disposal as waste or recycling to extract plutonium and uranium for reuse.

Japan insists on recycling, saying it will help the resource-poor nation's energy needs while reducing the toxicity and volume of radioactive waste. But a reactor designed for plutonium reuse, a key part of the recycling, has failed. Reprocessing also won’t be able to handle all the spent fuel, adding to a plutonium stockpile that already is large enough to arm thousands of atomic bombs.

Experts say Japan should also consider the direct disposal option.

As of December 2025, cooling pools at 17 Japanese nuclear power plants held more than 17,000 tons (15,422 metric tons) of spent fuel, using nearly 80% of total storage capacity, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Beyond the large amount of radioactive waste from normal reactors, Japan also “has to deal with massive and largely unknown high-level nuclear waste from the Fukushima disaster,” said Lila Okamura, a Senshu University professor and expert on environmental politics and nuclear waste management.

Choosing a final disposal site for spent fuel and building a facility would require 100 years and tens of thousands of years to monitor the storage deep underground. For a generations-long project, Japan should plan carefully and not rush the current plan that is full of uncertainties, Okamura said.

A remote island is a possibility

Weeks after Kashiwazaki-Kariwa's No. 6 reactor came back online for the first time in 14 years since the Fukushima disaster, Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa approached Ogasawara village to request a feasibility study for a high-level radioactive waste site on Minamitorishima, an island administered by Ogasawara, which is part of Tokyo.

“With a lot of spent fuel accumulating at nuclear power plants across the country, a final disposal of radioactive waste is a crucial challenge that must be resolved,” Akazawa said in a letter to Ogasawara Mayor Masaaki Shibuya.

The government-owned Minamitorishima, about 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) south of Tokyo, has no permanent residents. The Japanese army is constructing a firing range for long-range, surface-to-ship missiles as a deterrent to China. The island also has deep sea deposits rich with rare earth minerals.

“The move seems political,” said Satoshi Takano, a member of a government panel looking at final disposal of spent fuel. “There will be little opposition from a government-owned remote island.”

Some experts say the island, which sits on a geologically stable tectonic plate, could be suitable. Many residents on Ogasawara and two nearby islands raised concerns about safety and tourism.

“I was baffled when I heard about the plan,” Ogasawara assembly member Yusuke Hirano told an assembly meeting. “I think nuclear waste is incompatible with islands that are a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site.”

Struggling to find a final disposal site

Finding a community willing to host a highly radioactive dump site has been difficult, even with a raft of financial enticements. Minamitorishima is the fourth location to have a feasibility study since the government started looking in the early 2000s.

The whole review process will take about two decades. Municipalities participating in the first stage can receive up to 2 billion yen ($12.8 million) in government subsidies. The next stage would bring up to 7 billion yen ($44.7 million). Funding details for a final study haven't been disclosed.

The world’s first final disposal site for spent nuclear fuel is set to open in Finland later this year. Britain, Germany and the United States have abandoned reprocessing largely because of high costs and technical challenges, while several other countries are discussing plans for direct disposal sites.

Inagaki, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa general manager, said TEPCO is transferring spent fuel from No. 6 reactor to other reactors at the plant with more space, but the utility hopes to resume shipments to a dry cask storage in northern Japan as a near-term solution. Other utilities with nearly full pools have announced plans to build dry-cask storage at their plants.

Many residents worry about Japan's growing stockpile because high-density storage of spent fuel could also increase overheating risks.

Mie Kuwabara, a civil activist in Niigata, wondered “where will it go next?”

“It's irresponsible to accelerate restarts and produce more spent fuel without deciding its final destination,” said Kuwabara, who also is skeptical about using Minamitorishima.

“It's like saying that it's OK to put a facility there because nobody is around to complain if there is a problem,” Kuwabara said. “It's scary.”

“Look, everyone's working hard to make sure the bridge is open as soon as possible. There is no big drama. If it takes a little longer it will take a little bit longer, but this will benefit Canadians, Americans, business, tourists, residents for decades and decades to come,” Carney said on his way into Parliament.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Gordie Howe International Bridge, jointly owned by Canada and the U.S. state of Michigan, is set to take place on Friday, while the bridge itself may not open to traffic immediately.

Carney said Tuesday that the second bridge between Windsor and Detroit would “be open at the end of the week.”

Friday's ceremony will take place following a recent conversation between Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.

In February, Trump demanded that Canada turn over at least half the ownership of the bridge to the U.S. federal government and agree to other unspecified demands in one of his many salvos over cross-border trade issues.

The bridge, which connects Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, would be a vital economic artery between Canada and the United States. It is named after the late Canadian hockey great who spent 25 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings.

The building project was negotiated by Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan, and paid for by Canada to help ease congestion at the existing Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Work has been underway since 2018.

Trump threatened the bridge as the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement is up for review this year, and Trump has been taking a hard-line position before those talks, including by issuing new tariff threats.

_______

Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.

The lawsuits accuse Councilman Aaron Rawls and the law firm Sands Anderson of making false allegations that damaged the pair’s reputations and careers.

Ferrell-Benavides is also suing the City of Martinsville, seeking more than $220,000 in allegedly unpaid severance benefits and additional damages related to her firing.

The legal action stems from investigations and allegations that have been at the center of controversy in Martinsville for months.

Jones and Ferrell-Benavides were accused of misconduct involving city government. Jones faced allegations that he accepted bribes from the former city manager, while Ferrell-Benavides was accused of misusing city funds. Both have denied wrongdoing.

In their lawsuits, Jones and Ferrell-Benavides claim those allegations originated after they began raising concerns about legal fees charged to the city by Sands Anderson, which serves as Martinsville’s legal counsel.

According to the lawsuits, the pair questioned the firm’s billing practices and expenses. They allege that, in response, Sands Anderson launched investigations into them using claims that were either false or unsupported by evidence.

The lawsuits further contend that despite public allegations and extensive scrutiny, evidence has not emerged to substantiate the claims made against either Jones or Ferrell-Benavides.

As a result, both say they suffered damage to their reputations, emotional distress and other losses.

The lawsuits also target Rawls, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of Jones and Ferrell-Benavides throughout the controversy.

Rawls has publicly accused the pair of misusing taxpayer dollars and abusing their positions within city government. Jones argues those statements contributed to a petition drive that temporarily removed him from office for three months.

But Rawls says he stands firmly behind his comments and welcomes further examination of the allegations through the court process.

“You’re not going to silence me. This is a public government. They absolutely deserve the scrutiny. They’re horrible people abusing a public institution.”

When asked whether a court case could reveal additional details about the controversy, Rawls said he hopes the lawsuits proceed through discovery.

“I would love to get through discovery. I’d love to have the testimony of employees. I would love to see some of the records that come out that are so far protected from disclosure,” Rawls said.

10 News reached out to Sands Anderson, legal teams for Jones and Ferrell-Benavides and the City of Martinsville for comment. None provided a statement before publication.

Anyone with information can call the Roanoke Police Department at 540-344-8500.

Briscoe died Sunday at an assisted living facility in Kapolei, Hawaii, said his wife, Leonor Briscoe. He was diagnosed in April with amyloidosis, a disorder in which protein buildup can lead to organ damage.

In a career spanning decades and continents, Briscoe brought a reporter’s curiosity to his native Utah, to Washington and to Hawaii. But it was his perch in Manila that put him at the center of his biggest story.

Taking the helm as bureau chief in 1980, Briscoe charted the waning years of Ferdinand Marcos’ authoritarian regime and the turmoil unleashed by the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. He and his staff fanned out across the country in chartered planes, rented jeeps and, at least once, a horse-drawn cart. They covered a relentless stretch of investigations, hearings and a presidential campaign so improbable it seemed scripted, with a reluctant widow thrust by tragedy to the forefront of a democratic movement.

That thrilling conclusion, with Corazon Aquino ascending to the presidency and Marcos dramatically driven into exile, would stay with Briscoe forever. He recalled searing images “of nuns kneeling in front of military tanks” and “soldiers and civilians crying in each other’s arms.”

“I expect to witness or cover no greater event in my life,” he wrote in AP World, an in-house magazine, in 1986, recounting his coverage of the upheaval.

A love affair with the Philippines

David Chesley Briscoe was born July 30, 1943, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a union steward father and a homemaker mother who raised her two sons in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He grew interested in journalism at the University of Utah, writing for the student paper and eventually getting hired at the Deseret News, where editors handed him obituary assignments and pieces on standout local students.

After two years there, Briscoe signed up for the Peace Corps and was assigned to Paracale, and then Naga City, in the Philippines, where he taught English. For a young man who had scarcely left Utah in his youth, every corner seemed to be a revelation, of water buffalo shimmering from mud baths and children running down dirt roads.

He was smitten with his new home. When his Peace Corps tour ended, Briscoe bristled at the idea of leaving. He found work at a local newspaper, and while staffing an event in which Marcos was to speak, he met the former Leonor Aureus, editor of a rival paper. The two were soon walking down an aisle they lined with copies of The Naga Times and the Bicol Mail.

A dramatic revolution unfolds

Briscoe was hired by the AP in Manila in 1970, covering a deadly earthquake that rocked the capital, an assassination attempt on Pope Paul VI and the hijacking of a plane. By the next year, though, AP said he’d have to spend some time working in the U.S. He returned to Salt Lake, hoping fate might someday bring him back to the Philippines.

In his hometown, he found ties with his faith were fraying. His wife says he was disciplined by the church after discussing its exclusion of Black men from its priesthood in a class he taught. Briscoe opposed the ban. The church later lifted the restriction.

He also found himself at odds with the church over a three-part series he wrote with a colleague, Bill Beecham, examining its intricate web of business interests and tithing by its members that the reporters estimated brought in more than $1 billion a year. No Utah newspaper dared to run the stories, the pair said.

Briscoe spent nine years in Salt Lake before his bosses dangled a chance to return to Manila as bureau chief. He rushed to phone his wife with the news.

“Noree, are you sitting down?” she remembered him asking.

From Washington back to the Pacific

After his six-year stint running the AP’s office in the Philippines, Briscoe moved in 1986 to Washington, where he focused on international affairs. He was bureau chief in Honolulu from 2001 until retiring in 2009.

There, dressed in aloha shirts and bathed in a tropical sun, Briscoe could again call a Pacific island home. He spoke of being “halfway back.”

To his final days, he cherished his time in the Philippines. As the end neared, his family gathered around him and prayed. He grabbed his wife's hand, told her he loved her, and asked her to let him go.

The family plans to hire a boat and scatter Briscoe’s ashes in the waters of the Pacific, hoping the currents take his remains back to his adopted home.

“The land that David learned to love,” his wife said, “and where he met the love of his life.”

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

Tuesday afternoon's act sent shock waves through a city where more than one in four people are Black. Some people drove or walked by, staring, and a video of the cross-burning gained traction online.

The video, taken by a motorist, shows the wooden cross engulfed in bright orange flames as it leans against a tree in Grant Park, located in the core of the city's downtown and near Lake Michigan.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said he was “deeply disturbed” by the images.

“Hate has no place in our city. Every Chicagoan deserves to feel safe, protected, and respected while going about their day or enjoying our public spaces,” Johnson, who is Black, said on a post on X Wednesday. “We will continue working across city government to uphold that standard and ensure Chicago remains a welcoming, inclusive, and safe place for all.”

Chicago police urged the public to come forward with any information. A community alert issued by police included an image of a person walking away from the area.

Police said the person was seen “fleeing from the scene” where an object was constructed and burned in the park. The alert provided no update on the arson investigation.

The Chicago Fire Department confirmed the flaming object was a cross and said officials put out the fire.

Officials with a local Catholic church, The Faith Community of Saint Sabina, posted on social media a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who was involved. The Rev. Michael Pfleger, senior pastor, called the cross burning an act of hate.

“It cannot be tolerated,” Pfleger told TV station FOX 32. “I really believe it should be treated as a hate crime just like a swastika is.”

Cross burnings have historically been symbols of hate

Keinika Carlton, 43, was driving home from running errands with her daughter and mother-in-law when they saw the cross on fire. She said she felt a combination of shock, sadness and disgust, as well as curiosity.

“Is this a racial thing? Is this a religious thing?” she said. “As Black women, of course, our first thought is racial, because burning crosses are known to be used as a tactic, an act of violence toward Black Americans in the South.”

Carlton estimated the cross was at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. As they slowed down to shoot a video of the flames, she saw other cars also slowing down and people walking nearby, staring at the cross burning.

While the motive behind the burning cross was not immediately clear, cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as “symbols of hate” that are “inextricably intertwined with the history of the Ku Klux Klan,” according to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision written by the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The justices ruled that the First Amendment allows bans on cross burnings only when they are intended to intimidate because the action “is a particularly virulent form of intimidation.”

Alyna Carlton, 22, said she never thought she would see something like that in her lifetime.

“It kind of really opened my eyes, had me realize that I’m not that far removed from the past.”

Some attribute the act to divisive political times

Gina Miranda Samuels, faculty director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, said the burning of crosses may no longer create the degree of fear it did decades ago — but there's sadness at the reminder of the level of hate that still exists.

“The burning a cross in Grant Park, personally, does not instill terror,” she said. “If it was on my personal lawn, that would concern me. This doesn’t cause me to want to flee Chicago.”

Miranda Samuels laid some of the blame on the current political climate.

“I do think we’re living in a time when we have a president that stokes this kind of thing and invites this type of stuff,” she said. "People feel emboldened and are invited to see how far they can go.”

Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and a Chicago resident, agreed. He pointed to how people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were ultimately not punished. President Donald Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in the attack.

“The same kind of people got the same white supremacist mentality as a cross-burning,” Chapman said. "So, they figured like they got a license now ... with people pardoned and more or less shaking hands with the devil.”

Next week, Obama will be joined by other former presidents and dignitaries to dedicate his presidential library, named the Obama Center, on a sprawling complex less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Grant Park. The center opens to the public on Juneteenth, the federal holiday marking the end of slavery in the U.S.

___ Associated Press writers Terry Tang in Phoenix and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.

Trump would not say if he planned to follow through on threats he made earlier in the war to attack bridges and utility plants. He urged Iran to sign a deal with the U.S.

Also Wednesday, the president signed a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill that aims to ensure uninterrupted funding for the administration’s deportation agenda through the end of his term.

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$60M and 7 federal agencies required to stage Trump’s UFC fight at White House

The president’s planned UFC fight on the South Lawn has required a monumental effort from more than seven federal agencies, hundreds of staff working on-site daily and at least $60 million, according to a legal filing that offers a glimpse into the preparations.

The event is part of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and it is scheduled for the weekend with the main attraction — seven mixed martial arts matches — on Sunday.

That is, if a judge doesn’t halt the proceedings, something sought by two Virginia residents in a federal lawsuit against the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn.

The agency filed a rebuff of the request Tuesday in court and in it laid out the operations for the event.

“Well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been expended,” the document reads, adding that the money came from the UFC and affiliated groups.

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OB-GYN group makes vaccine recommendations for the first time

A prominent OB-GYN group announced vaccine recommendations Wednesday that differ from what the U.S. government advises.

The schedule is specifically for pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women. It aligns with prior recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, before changes were made under the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists withdrew this year from a CDC advisory committee on vaccines because of those changes, which have spawned legal challenges.

“So now for the first time, ACOG has made the decision to formally release its own immunization schedule to provide and communicate clear evidence-based guidance and to address the growing vaccine misinformation that is circulating,” said Dr. Christopher Zahn, the group’s chief of clinical practice.

The schedule has been endorsed by 13 other professional and medical societies. Some other groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have also put out schedules this year that differ from the CDC’s.

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Florida high court allows use of new US House districts drawn by Republicans for midterms

The Florida Supreme Court declined a request to issue a temporary injunction against the map, which is backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Attorneys representing voters had argued that the new districts violate a state constitutional ban on political gerrymandering.

Republicans currently hold 20 of the state’s 28 U.S. House seats, and the new voting districts could improve the GOP’s chances to win four additional seats this year.

Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier, who defended the new districts in court, declared “complete and total victory” in a social media post.

Opponents expressed outrage while vowing to continue the court fight, even though it may stretch into the 2028 election cycle.

Trump has urged Republican-led states to redraw voting districts to try to hold on to a slim House majority in November.

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Administration plans intensive, year-round construction schedule for Trump’s triumphal arch

Construction of the 250-foot-high triumphal arch that the president wants built near the Lincoln Memorial could occur 20 hours per day, year-round, as officials push to complete the project within three years, according to a preliminary assessment by the National Park Service.

Tower cranes up to 320 feet tall, forklifts, concrete pump systems and other equipment would be needed to build the arch, which would be more than twice as high as the Lincoln Memorial. Work would occur year-round in two 10-hour shifts per day, the Park Service report said.

The 24-page assessment by NPS staff was released last week as a part of a fast-tracked historic preservation review that began Friday. The park service oversees the land where the administration wants to build the arch.

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Judge rejects watchdog bid to block administration’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

A federal judge has rejected a government watchdog’s request for a court order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from forging ahead with a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.

But the judge ended a hearing Wednesday by warning President Donald Trump’s administration not to “play possum” with the court.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled from the bench in favor of the administration, which argued that the watchdog’s lawsuit is moot because acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress last month that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund.

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US military says it is striking ‘multiple targets’ in Iran in latest escalation of tensions

U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that the military is striking “multiple targets in Iran” and it is happening “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression.”

The strikes come just a day after the U.S. hit Iran following the crash of an Army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz that Trump blamed on Tehran.

US Embassy in Baghdad issues new warning to citizens

In a statement it advised U.S. citizens in Iraq “to maintain heightened readiness and stay alert to local news sources” as “travel disruptions and airspace closures could occur on short notice.”

Washington previously issued a warning for U.S. citizens not to travel to Iraq and advised those there to leave. The statement reiterated that warning.

The advisory comes amid rising tensions and renewed exchanges of strikes between the U.S. and Iran. After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, sparking the war in the Middle East, Iran-backed Iraqi militias launched regular attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities in Iraq.

Hegseth says US has ‘options’ when asked about possible operation in Cuba

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters the military has various options for the president if he greenlights military intervention there.

Asked about the possibility of a capture-or-kill operation, the defense secretary said: “All I would say is options, options, options. Our job is to present options at different scales depending on where the commander in chief and president the United States wants to go.”

Trump has warned that Cuba is next following a U.S. military raid in January that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has also ordered a punishing oil embargo on the island nation, while former Cuban president Raúl Castro, 95, faces federal murder charges if ever brought to the U.S.

Hegseth says US will strike Iran tonight

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military will strike Iran “hard” Wednesday night following threats for more strikes from Trump earlier in the day.

While Trump said the strikes are further retaliation for what he said is Iran’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter, Hegseth said they are happening “not because we want to restart anything” but because the Pentagon “is prepared to set the terms to ensure that we get the kind of deal President Trump expects.”

“Those strikes that will happen tonight will be strong; they will be clear,” Hegseth said. “If they have to happen tomorrow night, they will be strong and they will be clear.”

Iran’s UN envoy says Trump should refrain from threats of force if he wants a deal

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani stressed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that “no sustainable deal can be reached through terrorists, intimidation, or the use of force.”

“Iran has never negotiated under threats and pressure and will never submit to pressure or question,” he said.

Iravani said the United States has repeatedly pursued this policy and should have learned by now “that threats and military intimidation are counterproductive.”

“If Washington is genuinely interested in a diplomatic solution, it must abandon the language of terrorism and engage with Iran on the basis of mutual respect, sovereign equality, and full adherence to international law,” the Iranian ambassador said.

Israeli defense minister says Israel is prepared to strike Iran ‘with great force’

Speaking at a ceremony in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening, Israel Katz said the campaign against Iran was “far from over” and warned that if Iran attacks Israel again, “it will suffer a severe blow.”

The comments came shortly after Trump said the United States would be striking Iran again on Wednesday, after a day of escalating attacks in the region.

Israel and Iran traded fire earlier this week for the first time in two months.

Trump says he ordered US military mission to help oil tankers navigate Strait of Hormuz

The president said on social media that he ordered the U.S. military last month to execute “a secret mission to support Oil Tankers and other Commercial Ships” through the strait. He claimed the effort helped get more than 100 million barrels of oil through the strait, though there was no immediate confirmation of that figure.

It was not immediately clear what role the military played. When asked about the secret mission, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said, “U.S. forces continue to communicate and coordinate with commercial vessels seeking to freely and safely transit.” He did not offer details on the specific military support being offered to vessels.

Hegseth warns Cuba over buying certain weapons, saying it will invite confrontation

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continued his tough talk against Cuba’s government while visiting the U.S. base on the island, warning Cuba against the purchase of weapons that could strike the Guantanamo Bay Navy base or the U.S. mainland 90 miles (145 kilometers) away.

“They would be inviting the kind of confrontation, not only do they not want, but they could not stand,” Hegseth said, adding that the U.S. military “will give the commander in chief every single option he needs inside that contingency.”

Trump has been threatening Cuba with military intervention as he tries to pressure its government’s leadership into stepping down.

Rubio to attend World Cup opening ceremony and US-Paraguay match in LA

The State Department says the secretary of state will travel to Los Angeles for Friday’s U.S. opening ceremony of the World Cup 2026 soccer tournament and Team USA’s first match against Paraguay that night.

The department said in a statement that Rubio would lead the U.S. delegation to the opening and be accompanied by Secretaries of Transportation and Homeland Security Sean Duffy and Markwayne Mullin.

In addition to attending the World Cup events, Rubio will also meet with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña in Los Angeles.

US says it has boosted Ebola response funding by another $20 million

The State Department says that the Trump administration has contributed another $20 million toward efforts to counter the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa, bringing the total U.S. contribution to more than $220 million since the outbreak began last month.

The department said the new funds would go to assist the most affected countries — Congo and Uganda — as well as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan, to help them prepare for an outbreak and prevent its spread. That will cover support for national emergency operations centers, surveillance, testing and border screening, and infection prevention and control, as well as assistance in managing potential victims of the virus.

The announcement came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that Europe needed to step up its response to Ebola.

Hegseth tells US troops in Cuba: ‘We are taking back our hemisphere’

Speaking to American troops in Cuba on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. is “defending the homeland. And we are taking back our hemisphere.”

Hegseth cited the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which is often invoked to justify U.S. intervention in the Western Hemisphere. He also mentioned the “Donroe Doctrine” to reference Trump’s aggressive focus on Latin America and drug cartels.

Trump has been trying to bring about regime change in Cuba with a punishing oil blockade on the island nation and federal charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro. Trump has also threatened military intervention while pointing to the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

UN chief warns escalating attacks and rhetoric risk ‘full war’ in Iran and Gulf region

Secretary-General António Guterres told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the ceasefire in the Gulf region “is more like a lesser fire,” as the world has witnessed in the last 48 hours, with the downing of a U.S. helicopter, U.S. retaliatory attacks on Iranian targets, and the Iranians firing at U.S. bases and facilities in the Gulf.

“The world needs to see a complete ceasefire, with navigational rights and freedoms restored … and serious negotiations on the nuclear issues — ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” he said.

Guterres also called for full implementation of the ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza and an end to settler violence in the West Bank, now averaging six attacks a day.

He said, “It’s time to get serious about the only credible way forward” — moving toward a two-state solution where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace.

GCC condemns Iranian strikes on Gulf states and Jordan

The Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, condemned Iranian air attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan on Wednesday, saying the “new heinous Iranian aggression” doesn’t create stability or build relations.

“The Council affirms that these hostile acts do not serve any understanding or rapprochement, but rather distance people from one another, undermine the foundations of trust, sow discord, and close the doors of dialogue to which the GCC states have always called,” the GCC said in a statement on the sidelines of a meeting it held in Bahrain’s capital of Manama.

The GCC blamed Iran for destabilizing the region and impacting international navigation and energy supplies through these “hostile acts.”

The ministerial council said GCC states remain committed to diplomacy and good-neighborly relations, but questioned how future ties could be built while the attacks continue.

Treasury sanctions Chinese and Hong Kong-based people and companies for supporting Iran

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on nine people and firms allegedly associated with supporting Iran’s weapons procurement program.

Among those hit with sanctions is Hong Kong‑based firm Mustad and its leadership, who are accused of acting as an intermediary to facilitate transactions that would help Iran procure weapons.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that his agency is “disrupting the foreign procurement networks that support the Iranian military’s efforts to acquire weapons.”

Speaker Mike Johnson says Pulte is coming ‘short term’ to renovate and downsize intelligence office

The Republican leader spent another morning with Trump at the White House and said the president is “working very hard” to name a more permanent pick to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence – perhaps even by the time Pulte takes over June 19.

Johnson called it a “good faith gesture” from Trump that Democrats should accept as part of an agreement for a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. The spy tool expires on Friday if Congress fails to act, but lawmakers object to Pulte in the role, saying he is unqualified.

Trump made it very clear, Johnson said, that Pulte will serve a “very short term – a sort of renovation role” to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

US military disables merchant vessel trying to transport oil from Iran

The U.S. military disabled an eighth merchant vessel in the waters off Iran on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced in a social media post on Wednesday.

According to U.S. Central Command, U.S. forces disabled Palau-flagged M/T Settebello, which they say was trying to transport oil from Iran, after their crew failed to comply with their directions. “A U.S. aircraft fired precision munitions into the ship’s engine room,” the statement said.

In a black-and-white video accompanying the statement, a small object can be seen slamming into the back of the ship before a large explosion erupts. Afterward, the video zooms out, and the ship is seen floating, but with smoke billowing from the back.

Trump seems to suggest the US is ferrying oil out of the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. president seemed to say that “millions of barrels of oil” have been secreted past Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz, helping to ease energy price pressures.

“Do you know, we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil?” Trump said. “Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran. Until right now. We took out the other night, 22 ships late at night with no lights, because they don’t have any radar, because we blasted the crap out of it.”

The president said that U.S. forces have been removing millions of barrels of oil on a nightly basis, and he had previously “wanted to say it so badly.”

Inflation just climbed to 4.2% annually, and Trump calls those numbers ‘great’

As affordability concerns hurt his popularity, the U.S. president declared that he loves the figures in the latest consumer price index report, which showed inflation hitting 4.2%, the highest level since April 2023.

“I love it,” Trump said without irony. “The numbers were great.”

The president said that he thought the numbers were good because he believes that they’ve been driven by higher energy costs tied to the Iran war, suggesting that inflation would ease “as soon as this war is over.”

Inflation has worsened under Trump’s watch, initially because of last year’s tariffs and now because of a conflict that has blocked oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump piles on about Platner, saying ‘he’s just an outright pig’

The president continued his sharp criticism of Platner in subsequent comments, saying, “He’s like a pig.”

“I watched him a couple of times,” the president said. “He’s like a pig. That’s what he reminds me of.”

Trump added, “You know, I come up with good names for people. I don’t want to stick him with that one, although I think pigs would be very upset,” drawing laughter from Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office with him.

Trump has used “pig” or variations of it as insults before against reporters and political opponents.

Trump signs $70 billion immigration enforcement bill

Trump has signed a bill into law that gives his immigration and deportation agenda a nearly $70 billion boost for the rest of his time in the White House.

The bill provides $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $26 billion for the Border Patrol. An additional $5 billion would cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House.

Trump signed the legislation in the Oval Office on Wednesday, a day after House Republicans pushed the measure through by a 214-212 vote over the objections of Democrats. His signature ended a nearly six-month fight over Department of Homeland Security funding that began with the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in January during federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Trump says he does not want to renew trade pact with Canada and Mexico

The U.S. president told reporters that he’s “not looking to renew” the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal that, without a commitment by July 1, would face annual reviews of its status and possibly expire in 2036.

“I’m not looking to renew it,” Trump said, even though he originally negotiated the pact to replace an earlier trade deal for North America.

Trump said that the earlier agreement was worse than the USMCA. Still, he was displeased with the results.

“You know, with Mexico and Canada, we have trade deficits,” Trump said. “We should have surpluses with them. We don’t need their cars. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything that they have.”

Trump says Maine’s Collins is ‘not my best friend’ but he’s backing her

Trump said that Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has his backing in her reelection campaign this year, even though she voted in 2021 to convict him of impeachment for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

After repeatedly insulting Collins’ Democratic opponent, Graham Platner, Trump said he was backing Collins “because she’s a sane woman.”

“She’s not my best friend at all,” the president added.

Trump said that Collins has “maybe a little different ideology than me,” but she’s “a respected person” and a better choice than Platner.

Iran says the US bombed 2 of its water reservoirs

Water supply to thousands of residents was cut off on Wednesday after two reservoirs in the city of Sirik were damaged by a U.S. strike, according to Hashem Amini, the head of the state-owned National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company, and the head of the local water company.

Iran’s state media published a video of what it said was a damaged water reservoir in southern Iran. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the footage or the claims.

U.S. Central Command had no immediate comment. Central Command said earlier Wednesday that it had “struck Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.” Sirik is at the eastern end of the strait.

Trump announces more strikes against Iran

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the U.S. would be striking Iran again on Wednesday after a helicopter collision with an Iranian drone.

“We’re going to hit them again hard today,” Trump said. He wouldn’t say if he planned to follow through on threats he made earlier in the war to attack bridges and utility plants in Iran.

He urged Iran to sign a deal with the U.S., saying “we were really close to a deal but they keep tapping us along.”

San Francisco trailed 9-1 before rallying for five runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to stun the Nationals and avert a three-game sweep.

Big league teams trailing by at least eight runs in the eighth inning or later had lost 4,291 consecutive games since Cleveland stormed back from 10-2 down to beat Tampa Bay 11-10 on May 29, 2009, per Sportradar.

Matt Chapman had four hits, including two home runs — his second coming as part of back-to-back homers with Rafael Devers in the eighth to set up the comeback.

Jung Hoo Lee singled to extend his hitting streak to 18 games for the Giants, the longest active stretch in the majors.

Luis Arraez and Chapman hit consecutive doubles to begin the ninth. Devers walked and Lee singled to load the bases before Eldridge, who grew up a Nationals fan in Northern Virginia, drove a 2-0 slider from Mitchell Parker (2-3) into the right-field arcade for the rookie's fourth home run.

Lee raised his arms in celebration before the ball went over the wall.

James Wood hit his 18th home run for Washington. Daylen Lile added four hits, and Curtis Mead also homered on a day when every Nationals starter had a hit while seven players drove in at least one run.

Washington, which had already clinched its fifth consecutive road series win, was on the verge of finishing a 5-1 trip before collapsing in the ninth.

Reiver Sanmartin (1-0) retired six batters to earn the win. He gave up Mead's leadoff homer in the ninth that made it 10-6, but that insurance run wasn't enough for Washington.

Wood got the Nationals going in the third when he crushed a high 3-1 fastball from starter Robbie Ray and sent it over the center-field fence.

Washington scored three runs in the sixth and added three more in the seventh before the Giants rallied.

Ray allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Up next

Nationals: RHP Zack Littell (6-4, 4.76 ERA) faces the Seattle Mariners on Friday.

Giants: Had not announced a scheduled starter for Friday’s home game against the Chicago Cubs.

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

But the judge ended a hearing by issuing a “fair warning” to President Donald Trump's administration: “Don’t play possum with this court,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon told a government attorney.

Leon ruled from the bench in favor of the administration, which argued that the watchdog's lawsuit is moot because acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress earlier this month that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he accepts Blanche's representation for now.

The judge's refusal to issue a temporary restraining order isn't the final word on the fate of the government’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund." Leon said he will consider a separate request by the plaintiffs — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington — for a preliminary injunction that would block payouts from the fund on a more permanent basis.

A different federal judge, sitting in Alexandria, Virginia, already has temporarily blocked the fund's operations. However, that order by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is due to expire Friday unless she extends it after a hearing on the same day.

The administration created the fund last month to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The Justice Department hasn’t formed the five-member commission that will decide on payout criteria, so there has been no money paid out nor claims accepted.

The fund has generated a fierce bipartisan backlash. Even many of the Republican president's allies are opposed to compensating rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. During a May 19 congressional hearing, Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police at the Capitol could be eligible for fund payouts.

Later, during a House hearing on June 2, Blanche said, “We are not moving forward with the fund, period."

“Not moving forward ever?” asked Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat.

“Correct,” Blanche answered.

Leon asked Justice Department attorney Andrew Block why Blanche doesn't formally rescind his May 18 order establishing the fund.

“I don't know the reason for that,” Block said.

Block said Blanche's statements to Congress are sufficient to moot the watchdog's claims. He also argued that the group doesn't have the legal standing to bring them.

Plaintiffs' attorney Nikhel Sus noted that Trump himself contradicted Blanche's testimony. During an interview on June 3, a day after Blanche's House testimony, Trump expressed support for continuing with the fund despite the Virginia judge's ruling against it.

“On paper, the fund is still a legally operating entity," Sus said. “Nothing has changed.”

A federal judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS ordered Trump’s attorneys to respond to “grievous allegations” by settlement critics that the president abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of an illegal deal. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave them until Friday to respond in writing to allegations of collusion and whether the case should be reopened because the court was the “victim of a fraud.”

In Virginia, attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The plaintiffs in the Virginia case include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest.

The Chiefs and the two-time MVP agreed to a restructured contract Wednesday that adds two years to his deal and pushes the total compensation past a half-billion dollars, a person familiar with the terms told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Chiefs do not disclose financial terms of their contracts.

The Chiefs later posted a photo of Mahomes signing his extension on social media.

Mahomes signed a 10-year, $450 million contract in 2020 that set a benchmark not only for the quarterback position but for any football player. The latest extension ties the two-time MVP to the Chiefs through the 2033 season, when Mahomes will be 38, and it comes in at $504.75 million, with incentives and escalators that could push the value $522.25 million.

“Over the last decade, Patrick has become one of the most iconic, beloved sports figures of all time,” Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. "He has helped lead our franchise to five Super Bowl appearances and three championships, he has been instrumental in shaping the Chiefs brand and putting Kansas City on the world stage, and on top of it all he has been an outstanding role model.

“Patrick is a generational talent and an elite human being and I'm so excited he will continue to lead our team into the future.”

The Chiefs and Mahomes regularly rework his contract in the offseason, giving the team the financial flexibility to surround him with enough talent to compete for championships. The latest deal, though, includes a massive pay increase after recent deals done for other quarterbacks — among them Dak Prescott, Jordan Love, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen — had reset the QB market.

Prescott's four-year deal included a league-leading average of $60 million per year. Mahomes will now average $63.1 million.

“The magic continues,” his agency, Equity Sports, and its chief executive Chris Cabott wrote on social media Wednesday.

Mahomes underwent season-ending surgery last December after tearing ligaments in his left knee in the waning minutes of a loss to the Chargers. He has spent the entire offseason rehabbing the injury in Kansas City, and he has been on the field for the entirety of the Chiefs' offseason program, which concludes Thursday with the final day of their mandatory three-day minicamp.

“I like what I've seen. He's working hard,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said earlier in offseason workouts. “This is good for him, I mean getting out there and throwing. It’s good rehab as he continues to rehab, so he keeps the feel with the wide receivers. Or he’s doing partial practice and — but it’s important that he keeps his timing up. He’s busting his tail to put himself in this position.”

Mahomes has insisted ever since his injury that his goal was to be ready for Week 1 of the coming season.

The Chiefs play their preseason opener against the Rams on Aug. 15, but their regular-season opener is not until Sept. 14, when they face defending AFC West champion Denver in a marquee Monday night matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.

“I want to be out there with my guys,” Mahomes said recently, "but I know that’s still a long ways away, and so all I can do is execute the day and do whatever I can do to be better that day. We’ve done that up until now, and we’ve set these checkpoints and these goals of where I want to be at, and I’ve gotten to those. So now I just have to continue to do that at the right pace.”

Mahomes has been shattering records ever since the Chiefs made him their starter for the 2018 season. He has thrown for nearly 36,000 yards, earned six Pro Bowl nods and won three Super Bowl titles in five trips to the championship game.

The Chiefs had been to three straight Super Bowls before finishing a disappointing 6-11 last season. Mahomes was on injured reserve for the final three games, all of them losses, while the Chiefs turned their attention toward the coming season.

“As a competitor and as a football player, I want to be there,” Mahomes said. “I can’t predict the future. All I can do is be great today and then continue to be great tomorrow, but I’ve gotten to where I’ve gotten to because of that mindset and the goal at the end — the very far end — is to be ready and to be able to go out there and play with the guys Week 1.”

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

The Highlanders have become one of Virginia’s most consistent postseason programs, capturing state championships in 2022 and 2024 while continuing to make deep playoff runs. Now, Glenvar is one victory away from another appearance in the state title game.

Despite featuring a roster led primarily by sophomores and juniors, the Highlanders have navigated a challenging season that included key tests against top competition. Glenvar suffered a regular-season loss to Cave Spring and most recently fell to Nelson County in the Region 2C championship match last week.

Rather than dwelling on the region title defeat, the Highlanders used it as motivation entering the state tournament. The response paid off with a victory in the state quarterfinals, extending Glenvar’s season and setting up another semifinal appearance.

“We have to start out strong from the beginning every game and we have to stay together,” said Highlanders junior midfielder Sawyer Wilson. “We can’t get mad at each other and we have to keep fighting.”'

“I feel like after like even during the game like I feel like we kind of just like stopped or didn’t try as hard,” said Highlanders goalkeeper Maddie Frackelton. “We were trying obviously but we didn’t have that heart.”

“Watching our girls overcome that and kind of have that feeling of ‘all right let’s go, let’s figure this out and let’s get back to it’ and watching their mindset and how much they’ve jelled over the loss was huge,” said Glenvar head coach Kyleigh Drew.

The Highlanders are also looking to erase the memory of last season’s state semifinal loss, which ended their bid for a repeat championship.

Glenvar will face Central Woodstock in the Class 2 state semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday at Spartan Field. A win would send the Highlanders to the state championship match for the third time in four seasons.

On the other side of Class 2, the Region 2C champion Nelson County will take on perennial power Clarke County.

The undefeated Glenvar boys program will be making their sixth consecutive state semifinals appearance. It’s a run that’s included three consecutive Class 2 state championship wins as well (2024,

A visit to the Virginia State Police firearms website now shows private-sale background checks are “No longer available or required.”

That’s tied back to Virginia’s universal background check law, passed in 2020, which expanded the requirement beyond gun stores to many private sales between individuals.

But the Virginia Citizens Defense League challenged the law, arguing it went too far.

“It also made it impossible for an 18 to 20-year-old young adult to be able to purchase a handgun at all,” President Philip Van Cleave said.

Van Cleave says that’s one reason his group took the law to court.

In October 2025, a Lynchburg Circuit Court judge ruled parts of the law unconstitutional, and the background check requirement was paused.

“It got struck down on those grounds,” Van Cleave said.

But this year, lawmakers passed House Bill 1525.

The law makes it a class 1 misdemeanor for anyone younger than 21 to purchase a handgun or assault firearm anywhere in the commonwealth. It goes on to direct VSP to enforce the existing law related to background checks.

It was signed at the end of April, with an emergency clause, meaning it would immediately go into effect.

That’s when the Citizens Defense League went back to court.

“We immediately filed for contempt of court, because that was in direct violation of the court order,” Van Cleave said.

On June 3, the judge upheld his prior ruling - again stopping the background checks.

We reached out to VSP, and a spokesperson said, “Private sale background checks are no longer available or required by the Virginia State Police.

After a hearing in Lynchburg Circuit Court on June 3, 2026, and in compliance with the injunction and final order entered by the Circuit Court for the City of Lynchburg in Raul Wilson, Wyatt Lowman, Virginia Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of America, Inc, and Gun Owners Foundation v. Colonel Jeffrey S. Katz, CL25000582-01, the Virginia Department of State Police (VSP) is enjoined and prohibited from administering, enforcing, or otherwise imposing upon any person the requirements of Va. Code § 18.2-308.2:5.

The Order prohibits the VSP from running, or assisting in the running of, private sale background checks pursuant to the provisions of Va. Code § 18.2-308.2:5. Accordingly, VSP currently cannot provide criminal history background checks for the private sale of firearms."

We reached out multiple times to the Attorney General’s office but have not received a response.

But as the team hosts its first NBA Finals games in 27 years, the city is restricting spontaneous gatherings outside the famed arena.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his police department have cited a range of reasons for the ban, including President Donald Trump’s attendance at Monday’s game.

Ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday, the NYPD announced it would again prevent fans from gathering around MSG, unless they were going to the game or had “business specific to that area.”

Instead, the city said it had approved a permit to allow 1,000 fans access to a watch party outside the Garden — a scaled-down version of previous viewing parties, which the NYPD had sought to have canceled for rowdiness, before later reversing course.

Otherwise, fans need an “authorized reason” to be inside a security perimeter that stretches for several blocks around the arena. While bars and restaurants will stay open, they were subject to “strict capacity limits,” police said.

Hours before the game on Wednesday, Knicks owner James Dolan indicated the watch party wouldn’t go forward, saying that he had never agreed to the city’s restrictions.

A statement released by the Madison Square Garden Co. also accused Mamdani of transforming the streets around the arena into a “police state” in order to “freeze out fans from celebrating.”

The measures have also enraged nearby restaurants and bars, as well as civil liberties groups.

“It’s ruining my business,” said Angela Reilly, the owner of Molly Wee, an Irish pub near the arena. “I haven’t seen anything like this level of security in 46 years.”

Molly Biklen, the legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, agreed the tactics seemed heavy-handed. “Crowd control for major events is reasonable, but historic moments are not carte blanche for overpolicing or excessive NYPD responses,” Biklen said.

The conflict has also focused attention once again on the shaky alliance between the mayor and his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch. To some, the security restrictions appeared at odds with Mamdani's broader agenda, which included improving access to public spaces and limiting how the NYPD polices major events.

“The NYPD is historically extremely risk-averse to disorderly behavior by crowds, whether they be celebratory or protesting,” said Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University who studies policing. “The mayor now faces a difficult calculus between the strong emotions of Knicks fans and the political risks if crowd control isn’t airtight.”

In recent days, members of Mamdani’s administration have pressed Tisch to allow some version of the watch parties to go forward outside Madison Square Garden, according to two people familiar with the meetings, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the meetings.

Tisch, meanwhile, has advocated for the security perimeter, citing the need to control against crowds that have at times become violent and unruly. Some recent fan gatherings in Manhattan have led to dozens of arrests and several injuries to police officers.

Following the Knicks′ loss Monday, at least 21 people were taken into custody. The NYPD also said it is currently searching for members of a group that ripped a San Antonio Spurs jersey off a man while punching and kicking him.

Shaun Geddes, a Knicks fan who runs a popular podcast about the team, said he had celebrated multiple series-clinching victories outside the arena and found the vast majority of fans were respectful.

“Then there’s a small group of people out there cosplaying as Knicks fans and doing performative things to go viral on TikTok,” Geddes added. “But being passionate as a Knicks fan doesn’t mean assaulting anyone.”

In response to criticism about the closure, city officials have noted there isn’t a recent precedent for the position in which they now find themselves. The Knicks have not been to an NBA Finals since 1999. Most of the city’s other major sports teams play in the less-crowded outer boroughs or in New Jersey.

But when the New York Rangers — who also play in the Garden— last won the Stanley Cup, in 1994, the NYPD took another approach to managing elated fans.

Ahead of the game, police announced they would clear the area around the arena of potential projectiles, like metal trash cans or debris, but would allow fans to move freely.

“We expect the fans to be extremely vocal,” Allen Hoehl, an NYPD chief at the time, said at a 1994 news conference. “If they want to go from here to there, we’ll escort them in any direction.”

Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request for a temporary injunction without ruling on the merits of the case. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction to intervene while the lawsuit gradually plays out in the lower courts.

Republicans already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 U.S. House seats. The new voting districts signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis after a swift two-day special legislative session could improve the GOP’s chances to win four additional seats this year.

The court's decision provides some certainty for prospective congressional candidates, who face a Friday deadline to qualify for the state's Aug. 18 primaries.

Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier, who defended the new districts in court, declared “complete and total victory” in a social media post.

Opponents expressed outrage while vowing to continue the court fight, even though it may stretch into the 2028 election cycle.

“The Florida Supreme Court's failure to stop this brazen partisan power grab is not only an assault on democracy, but an abdication of its duty to the people of Florida,” said Genesis Robinson, executive director of Equal Ground, a community organizing group that sued.

The new districts are “a pretty clear partisan gerrymander,” said Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida. “We’re going to do everything we can to prevent this map from impacting further, future elections.”

Florida's map is part of a national GOP effort

Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census near the beginning of each decade. Florida is one of several Republican-led states that have undertaken mid-decade redistricting as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to try to hold on to a slim House majority in November by reshaping district boundaries to the GOP’s advantage.

Florida’s legislature approved the new House map on April 29 — the same day the U.S. Supreme Court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities while striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana. Since then, several Southern states have taken steps to try to eliminate minority districts that have elected Democrats.

DeSantis had called lawmakers into a special session before the high court’s ruling, but he had anticipated the eventual outcome. DeSantis’ office asserted that no racial data was used for the map he presented to the Legislature. The new map, among other things, redraws a southeastern Florida district that DeSantis’ office said was created to help elect a Black representative in an attempt to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

In addition to barring partisan gerrymandering, a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 2010 also prohibits districts from being drawn to deny or diminish the ability of racial or language minorities to elect the representatives of their choice. It further requires districts to be compact and, where feasible, use existing political and geographic boundaries.

Republicans assert that redistricting restrictions are invalid

In a memo to lawmakers, DeSantis’ General Counsel David Axelman asserted that the racial redistricting provision of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment violates the U.S. Constitution. If one element is invalid, Axelman wrote, then the entire 2010 amendment is void, including provisions barring partisan gerrymandering.

Attorneys representing state officials made similar arguments to the Florida Supreme Court, after a lower court judge last month declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new map. They also argued it was too late in the election season to revert to the previous maps.

In a filing with the Florida Supreme Court, attorneys representing state officials said the new map was “cause for celebration” during America’s 250th anniversary. “Perhaps for the first time in Florida’s history, the State has a truly colorblind map; a map that refuses to assault the dignity of men and women by color-coding them,” their court filing said.

Attorneys who sued on behalf of voters argued the new districts were crafted with political favoritism. They argued in documents filed with the state Supreme Court that the new congressional districts are “among the most extreme partisan gerrymanders enacted in any state over the past half-century.”

Under the new House map, 82% of voters in districts represented by Republicans remain in the same districts as under the previous map, said attorney Chris Shenton, who represented Common Cause and other groups challenging the map. Just 41% of voters in districts represented by Democrats are kept in their same districts, he said.

Justices differed on urgency of Florida case

The Supreme Court's majority issued only a brief written opinion, but two of its members elaborated about the importance of the case. In a concurring opinion, Justice Adam Tanenbaum said the judicial system follows a deliberative process, and “there is no need for special treatment in this case.”

In a dissent, Justice Jorge Labarga expressed frustration that an appellate court hadn't sent the case straight to the Supreme Court. He said the state constitution “anticipates that some matters may be so urgent as to require an expedited path to this Court.”

“Surely, the upcoming 2026 congressional elections affecting the representation of millions of Floridians meet that threshold,” Labarga wrote.

It means AI agents can not only recommend products but complete the purchase on the user’s behalf at potentially any merchant that accepts Visa. The payment network's previous attempts at this technological leap were confined to a single retailer or a small set of enrolled merchants.

It is not OpenAI’s first attempt at e-commerce. The company late last year announced Instant Checkout, which allowed ChatGPT to scour the internet for a specific item like a digital personal shopper. But the process was prone to errors and was not widely adopted by merchants due to the fee that OpenAI was charging merchants. The company retired Instant Checkout in March.

Visa’s collaboration is different from OpenAI’s previous attempts, as it will allow users to link their Visa cards to ChatGPT to shop and make it easier for merchants to accept transactions initiated by agents.

OpenAI will provide the technology to allow agents to interact, make decisions and initiate purchases through ChatGPT. Visa, the world’s largest payment network outside of China, will provide the payment authorization and fraud monitoring needed to do this at scale.

“As AI agents become active participants in the economy, Visa’s focus is to ensure transactions are trusted, secure and seamless,” said Jack Forestell, chief product and strategy officer at Visa.

ChatGPT as a personal shopper

Speaking at a company event Wednesday in San Francisco, Forestell gave an example of a customer telling ChatGPT they're looking for a pair of wireless headphones under $150. The chatbot would find a pair for sale under those parameters and buy it on behalf of the customer.

“I think we're generally at a place where most people are very comfortable with the shopping aspects of it and have discovered this as a superior discovery experience,” Forestell said in an interview. But, he added, making the leap from having AI agents recommend what to buy to doing the purchasing “just requires a whole different level of trust.”

“But that all comes from the underlying infrastructure, the process, the security that we build into it and the rules,” he said.

Visa and OpenAI did not disclose the financial terms of the collaboration and did not give details on the fees merchants or customers would have to pay.

Instant Checkout charged merchants 4% of the transaction's value, which merchants saw as being too expensive.

Guardrails include spending limits, approvals

Allowing AI agents to buy products on behalf of a consumer raises concerns for both banks and retailers. A customer could overspend, or the agent buys the wrong item, or the customer claims they did not authorize that transaction. Banks have been concerned about potential fraud claims that could occur when an agent uses a bank customer’s credit or debit card.

Visa says the feature will have guardrails like spending limits, required approval steps and approved merchants for shopping in order to protect consumers and minimize fraud.

Forestell said Visa will handle disputes with the same essential rules it uses for any other transaction: Did the consumer really intend to make the purchase and did the merchant process it the correct way? Where it might change, he added, is if both the consumer intent and the merchant processing were done the right way, but “something happened in the middle that caused a problem.”

“And that’s why we’re modifying our whole token framework and data capture process with Visa Intelligent Commerce to make sure that problem doesn’t happen,” Forestell said.

Retailers have introduced shopping assistants powered by AI that can recommend products and personalize the customer's shopping experience, with the earliest iterations of those experiments being Amazon’s Alexa. But Alexa could only shop on Amazon, and OpenAI's Instant Checkout feature was limited to select merchants.

Visa’s biggest competitor, Mastercard, has also been introducing its own AI-shopping features to its payment network on a smaller scale.

Mastercard announced that AI agents will have the capability to procure services on behalf of a business. For example, a coffee shop wants to start an advertising campaign as part of a launch, so it gives an AI agent the authorization to purchase services from web and ad providers in order for the coffee shop to build out its campaign.

It will take time for people to fully trust AI agents to do their shopping, Forestell acknowledged. At first, Visa expects the majority of transactions to still loop in humans, with AI agents sending a notification for consumers to approve the actual purchase.

“Now, imagine you do that a thousand times over the course of some period of time,” he said. “And then your agent says, ‘Do you want me to just not check?’”

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Sweet reported from New York.

Refunds still pending after Dos Amigos cancellation

Mason Lane Entertainment canceled its Dos Amigos stop in Lynchburg nearly three weeks ago. Customers say they were told refunds would hit their accounts within five to 10 business days. Now, some say they are approaching day 14 with no refund and no firm answer on when one is coming.

Julie Wheeler, president of the Better Business Bureau serving Western Virginia, says reputation should be a priority for event promoters — no matter the size of the show.

“In the world of concerts these are pretty small venues, these are pretty small events, and the reputation should be top of mind for them,” Wheeler said.

What ticket buyers can do now

Consumer experts say the first step for anyone waiting on a refund is to save everything — receipts, confirmation emails and any messages about refunds. From there, buyers should reach out to the company directly and ask for a specific timeline in writing.

Wheeler also offered a word of caution for anyone who purchased tickets through a third party.

“If you use a reseller, you’ll want to make sure that the reseller is registered with the national ticket sellers, that you have an audit trail of exactly where that ticket is originating,” Wheeler said.

For those who paid by credit card, options may also be available through the card issuer — but consumer advocates warn buyers not to wait too long, as credit card dispute deadlines can pass quickly.

Tips for buying tickets safely in the future

Wheeler says the best protection starts before the purchase is ever made.

“When you’re buying tickets, you’ll want to read and understand what the actual conditions are. Is it rain or shine, no cancellation, what options do you have? Always make sure you go through the venue directly,” Wheeler said.

10 News reached out to the general manager of Mason Lane Entertainment for comment but had not received a response as of publication. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.

Tower cranes up to 320 feet tall, forklifts, concrete pump systems and other equipment would be needed to build the arch, which would be more than twice as high as the Lincoln Memorial. Work would occur year-round in two 10-hour shifts per day, the Park Service report said.

The 24-page assessment by NPS staff was released last week as a part of a fast-tracked historic preservation review that began Friday. The park service oversees the land where the administration wants to build the arch.

The National Capital Planning Commission voted last week to seek more information from the Interior Department, which oversees the park service. The vote essentially kept the project alive as officials study how the arch could potentially impact air travel, as well as other specifics on construction and traffic in the area.

The June 4 vote came after nearly three hours of public comment from about 20 members of the public, some representing historic and architectural organizations, and most of whom expressed concerns about the arch that is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his imprint on Washington.

Preliminary surveys and testing of the arch site began last month, and other approvals are underway. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts — which only oversees designs and has no role in the actual construction or funding of the arch or any other project it considers — has approved the arch’s design.

Concerns over arch's height

The capital planning commission is seeking more information justifying the proposed height of the towering arch, as well as additional details about lighting, management of storm water and how traffic and parking would be regulated for visitors.

The planned site for the arch, across the Potomac River from the memorial, is on a flight path near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it is reviewing whether the project’s planned height poses a risk to airplane travel in the area. An American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided a year ago in crowded skies near the airport, killing 67 people.

The FAA review “found no adverse impacts to operations” at Reagan Airport from the proposed arch. but determined that the top of the structure would need to be lit with red obstruction lights -- a common safety tool, spokesman Donnell Evans said. The FAA will conduct a full aeronautical study in coordination with the National Park Service, he said.

The park service, in its report, said aviation-required safety lighting would be incorporated into the arch design “using the least intrusive technology available, ensuring compliance with aircraft visibility requirements while limiting unnecessary light emission."

Will Scharf, who has served as Trump’s White House staff secretary, heads the commission and has said he believes a federal law limiting building heights for new construction in Washington should not apply to the arch. The law restricts most construction in Washington to a maximum height of 130 feet.

The arch faces a legal challenge

Critics have argued that the arch would dominate the skyline and disrupt carefully designed views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. It would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters), and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, which is about 555 feet (169 meters).

Trump has pushed for the 250-foot-tall arch to mark America’s 250th anniversary, and has said the project could be paid for with private donations left over from the project to build a new White House ballroom. The White House East Wing was demolished to make way for a large ballroom.

A cost estimate for the arch is still being calculated, but a mix of taxpayer and private funds is expected to pay for it. A group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration in federal court to block the project over concerns about disruptions to the sightline.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut criticized the administration about what he called its “persistent lack of transparency” in its efforts to advance Trump’s Washington-area construction projects. Besides the planned ballroom, Trump also is renovating the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool and rebuilding a public golf course along the Potomac River. None of projects have gone through usual legal reviews or Congress.

“Your disregard for legal process and public interest has been apparent in projects ranging from the construction of a White House Ballroom and triumphal arch to the resealing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool," Blumenthal wrote in a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting park service director Jessica Bowron.

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Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard and Josh Funk contributed to this story.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., are planning to sit down with Cheng Li-wun, leader of the Kuomingtang Party, who has supported a peaceful reunification of Taiwan with Beijing.

Mast, in an interview, said he didn’t have specific expectations for his meeting with Cheng but said as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, “I take intelligence from anywhere I can get.”

A spokesperson for Kim, who leads a subcommittee overseeing East Asia policy, said the lawmaker plans to encourage Cheng and her party to support more defense spending because it would be an “important demonstration of Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense and deterrence.”

Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature last month passed a $25 billion special defense budget to fund major U.S. arms purchases. Trump administration officials expressed disappointment that the approved amount is a significant reduction from Taiwan President Lai Ching-te's original $40 billion proposal.

Kim also wants to discuss Cheng’s meeting in April with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “seek greater clarity on the substance of those discussions,” said Ellie Gilchrist, the lawmaker’s spokesperson.

Cheng’s visit to Washington comes as President Donald Trump publicly floats the prospect that he could have a direct call with his Taiwanese counterpart.

The U.S. president had indicated he wanted to speak with Lai as his administration considers whether to go ahead with a $14 billion arms sale for Taipei that Congress approved earlier this year but that has since been on hold.

Trump said last month as he returned to the U.S. from China that he intends to speak with Lai, which would be the first direct dialogue between sitting U.S. and Taiwanese presidents in decades. China has urged against it.

“I’ll always talk to him,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday when asked whether he is still considering a phone call with Lai.

That line of political attack was striking coming from a president who himself has been accused of misconduct with women, was once caught on audio bragging about grabbing women by the genitals and was found liable by a New York jury for sexual abuse.

Trump also has endorsed a parade of Republicans with their own personal baggage — but that didn't stop him from faulting the other side for doing the same.

“He’s a thug, and they’re trying to make excuses for him,” Trump said of top Democrats. “I mean, he’s worse than any human being that’s ever run for office, probably.”

The criticism follows Platner's decisive primary victory

Platner, who clinched the Democratic nomination on Tuesday night, has faced criticism over numerous issues, including past inflammatory online posts, a tattoo he had covered up that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol and sexually explicit texts he sent to women after getting married. He will face five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the November election.

Asked about Trump's comments, Platner's campaign said the candidate remained focused on issues facing Maine.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in response, issued a statement focused on Collins, who is considered one of the most vulnerable senators up for reelection this year.

“Susan Collins is facing backlash in Maine after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time, being the decisive vote for the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and selling out to the special interests that fund her campaigns after three decades in the Senate, and that’s why Trump praised her today in the Oval Office,” spokesperson Josh Marcus-Blank said in a statement.

The White House defended Trump's comments by noting Platner's past social media posts.

“Graham Platner proudly referred to himself as a ‘communist,’ called all police ‘bastards,’ and said rural White Americans ‘actually are’ racist and stupid. President Trump is absolutely correct that Platner is both a thug and a pig. Attempting to compare President Trump to Graham Platner is exactly why trust in legacy media outlets like the failing Associated Press is at an all-time low,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.

‘Can you imagine if the Republicans had him?’

Trump, when speaking about Platner to reporters at the White House during an event to sign an immigration and deportation funding bill, said, “Nobody’s ever had a record like that.”

“He’s like a pig,” the president said, adding that perhaps “pigs would be very upset” to be associated with Platner, drawing laughter from assorted Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office with him.

Trump then brought up another scandal that has swirled around him dating back to his first term as president: his former friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump sought to paint Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer as a hypocrite, saying he “goes crazy over this or that or Epstein, Epstein, Epstein” but instead should be concerned about Platner.

Later, Trump offered, “Can you imagine if the Republicans had him?”

Setting aside the allegations Trump has faced over the years, Republicans have had candidates who were accused of serious misconduct who nonetheless won Trump's backing.

The president this year endorsed Republican Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton over incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn, though Paxton had faced state and federal corruption investigations and a 2023 state impeachment trial in which he was acquitted but publicly exposed his extramarital affair. Paxton has said allegations of wrongdoing were politically motivated.

Trump also didn't back away from endorsing 2017 Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was accused of sexual misconduct involving teenage girls decades earlier. Trump, at the time, noted Moore’s denials and said his vote was needed for Republican priorities. Moore's eventual loss gave way to the first Alabama Democratic senator in a quarter-century.

He endorsed 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson and declined to rescind the backing after CNN reported that the candidate had made lewd and racist comments on a pornography website — though he did try to distance himself. Robinson, who later acknowledged making the posts, handily lost the general election in the swing state.

He similarly decided not to revoke his support for Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales this year after the congressman acknowledged an affair with a staff member who later died by suicide. Gonzales ended his reelection bid, and Trump later endorsed someone else.

Trump also picked officials for his second-term Cabinet and other key offices who had been accused of some form of sexual misconduct.

That includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was accused of sexual assault and denied it, and Trump’s initial choice for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who faced a Justice Department sex trafficking investigation and a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct.

Gaetz denied wrongdoing and withdrew his name from consideration. The DOJ investigation ended without federal charges against him.

Trump has doubled down on his temporary pick for director of national intelligence, federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, even though he has little experience for the job. Democrats say they won't support the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, unless he withdraws Pulte's appointment and nominates a permanent replacement.

The impasse could soon result in limitations on what intelligence the U.S. government can collect abroad just as World Cup games begin in cities around the country and ahead of celebrations for the nation’s 250th anniversary. The law expires on Friday at midnight.

Trump on Wednesday asked Congress for a short-term extension of the law to “provide time for the selection and confirmation" of a permanent director.” But he stuck with Pulte as the acting head and said he wants to begin downsizing intelligence agencies.

“We can't let them extort us,” Trump said of Democrats.

Senate Republicans floated an short-term extension of the law after Trump's request, but it was immediately rejected by Democrats who argued that it's up to the president to replace Pulte.

As the bill stalled in the Senate, Speaker Mike Johnson announced the House would hold a vote Thursday on a stopgap to keep the program running through July 2 even as the chances of passage appeared slim.

“We’re going to ask every member here to do the right thing,” Johnson said. “We cannot allow that to go dark.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said if Trump wants a shot at a short-term extension, he needs to pull the Pulte appointment. Pulte is a “disgraceful individual” and a “partisan political hack" who is deeply unqualified for the job, Jeffries said.

GOP leaders lobby the White House, to no avail

Congressional Republicans have lobbied Trump all week to quickly nominate a permanent replacement. But he said he needs more time to do so.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday that Republican leaders have “made our views known” to the White House about the easiest way to get the bill passed, and “we’re just doing what we can here to ensure that the White House understands what will be necessary in order to make that happen.”

Trump said on Friday that he is interviewing five candidates for his pick to lead the agency permanently and that all have a national security background.

“It’s an important position and one that I think will be filled by a highly qualified person,” said Johnson, who met with Trump twice this week to talk about the FISA impasse.

Trump made it very clear, Johnson said, that Pulte will serve a “very short term — a sort of renovation role” to help the Office of the Director of National Intelligence be “renovated and downsized.”

To unlock votes for FISA, the pick would have to be soon — and Trump's choice would have to satisfy both Republicans and Democrats.

One of several possible replacements could be Pete Hoekstra, Trump’s ambassador to Canada and a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has reached out to Hoekstra about the job and conversations are ongoing, according to a person familiar with the outreach who requested anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

FISA will lapse at midnight Friday

Section 702 of FISA allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.

While members of both parties who cite privacy issues have long wanted to limit the authority, there was broad bipartisan support to renew it, especially after Republicans and Democrats recently worked out a compromise bill.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has worked with Republicans on the compromise legislation to renew the authority. But he called Pulte’s appointment to replace outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard “a live hand grenade” as they were trying to pass it. Republican leaders tried to start the process last week, but seven Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension after Pulte was appointed. (

Warner said Wednesday that the only way he’ll support a short-term extension of the surveillance law is if the principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, is the acting leader during the duration of that extension.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have warned the administration that the spy tool is likely to lapse.

The administration should prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection,” they wrote in a letter.

Trump doesn't back down on Pulte

After bipartisan pushback to Pulte’s temporary appointment, Trump said last week that he would not permanently nominate him to the position. But Democrats, and some Republicans, want his appointment pulled immediately and for Trump to nominate a replacement that can be confirmed by the Senate.

On Tuesday, though, Trump announced that Pulte would not only take over as acting director — he'd also start earlier than expected, on June 19.

And he stuck with Pulte on Wednesday, posting that he needed more time to find a permanent replacement and telling reporters that the agencies need to be downsized.

Both Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte have pointed to his lack of intelligence experience and also his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the position, the Trump loyalist has been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.

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Associated Press reporters Joey Cappelletti and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

For the last month, roughly 80 people from 15 different agencies worked to identify and arrest offenders in the Roanoke area and surrounding counties.

Leaders say 300 arrest warrants were executed and 150 fugitives were arrested.

Roanoke City Police Chief Scott Booth explained one of the few instances where that partnership took place.

“On May the 12th, members of the Roanoke Police Department and the ATF observed a convicted violent felon and documented gang member in the 500 block of Harrison Avenue Northwest. Officers assigned to RPD’s violent suppression unit approached the individual and observed him place an object inside of an unoccupied vehicle. The individual was taken into custody without incident and the subsequent recovery of 2 firearms,” Booth said.

Chief Booth also touched on an active operation involving ATF agents where they seized 12 ounces of fentanyl.

Collectively, leaders from the organization say they seized enough fentanyl through this initiative to decimate the Roanoke Valley population.

Speaking to fans and boosters at the Houston Touchdown Club, coach Joey McGuire acknowledged the “rage” surrounding the situation, with athletic directors across college football saying that the NCAA ban on players who gamble should remain sacrosanct and a court order won this week by Sorsby to restore his eligibility crossed a line that should never be crossed.

“For some reason, as a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that they were against,” McGuire said. “It’s crazy because it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody -- so there’s a lot of things that we’re working through. None of this is OK.”

Texas Tech officials canceled a news conference that was scheduled for before the luncheon. After his speech, McGuire said he'd only take questions from “Red Raider fans” and answered them for about 10 minutes.

According to court filingss earlier this year, Sorsby made thousands of impermissible bets on college and pro sports that were worth at least $90,000 while at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Those bets include the ones he made while a freshman with the Hoosiers in 2022, though none were on games in which he played. Sorsby sought the injunction against the NCAA in a lawsuit filed May 18, the same day Texas Tech ruled him ineligible, a necessary step before the school could pursue his reinstatement — an effort twice denied by the NCAA.

Three top Texas Tech leaders go on the offensive

Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster and chairman of its board of regents, issued a statement and so did athletic director Kirby Hocutt, who said he wanted to “offer a few facts that seem to be getting lost in the noise" and noting the school is not part of Sorsby's lawsuit against the NCAA.

“A young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court and a judge agreed with him,” Hocutt said. “Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility.”

Under the court order, Sorsby will be suspended for the first two games of the season. The NCAA plans to appeal the ruling, with President Charlie Baker telling reporters in Las Vegas that the case illustrated “a new low” in college sports.

McGuire likened Sorsby recovering from his addiction to fellow Texas Tech quarterback Will Hammond’s recovery from knee surgery. Both he and Hocutt said Sorsby would be evaluated — “his recovery, compliance and readiness," the athletic director said — before he would be cleared to play in Week 3 against Houston on Sept. 18 in the team's Big 12 opener.

“I’ve sat down with this young man multiple times and the things that he is going through and what he’s been through, it’s serious," McGuire said. “And I have a number of people in my family that were addicted to different stuff and so I’ve seen what addiction does to people.”

Billionaire booster says boycotting Texas Tech could lead to legal action

Campbell, a key figure in helping Texas Tech land top players over the past two years, took a far more aggressive and defiant stance on a podcast appearance with Dan Dakich.

“As it stands right now, the kid is eligible, so we don’t have a whole lot of choice but to play him," he said. "Not only on a legal grounds, but ethically and morally. We told him we were going to back him up and support him, and Texas Tech does what it says it’s going to do and keeps the promises it makes.”

He also addressed reports that schools have been talking about boycotting Texas Tech in light of the ruling, suggesting that could lead to legal action.

“I love when the Big Ten or the K-State AD comes out and says we’ve all gotten together and we’ve talked about how we’re not going to play Tech, because guess what? That’s collusion,” he said. "That’s an antitrust violation. So have fun with that one, guys. You can’t do that.”

Hocutt also struck back at those who questioned what this does to the integrity of college football.

“The integrity of sport matters,” he said, “So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who sought help, entered residential treatment, and is working every day toward recovery. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict.”

McGuire was adamant that the most important thing in this story is supporting Sorsby in his “darkest times.”

“He’s the first person to tell you it was his fault,” McGuire said. “He chose to do this, but when you know anything about addiction, there’s a point that you choose it and then all of a sudden you don’t choose it anymore. There’s not something that you can do by yourself to get past where you’re at. So I wasn’t going to turn my back on him.”

McGuire added that Sorsby was “back in the building” after spending some time away from the facilities while he was dealing with his issues.

“Do I see a different person? I know it sounds crazy, but I do,” McGuire said. “I see a kid that feels like he’s got 1,000 pounds of weight lifted off of him. He’s made the statement that he feels like this is a moment that can actually change his life.”

Sorsby may soon explain himself to fans, critics

The coach also said that Sorsby wants to address fans of his new school.

“At some point soon, I would expect Red Raiders will hear from Brendan Sorsby because I think it’s really important,” McGuire said. “And I will tell you, he thinks it’s really important for him to get everybody to understand exactly where he’s at.”

The injunction comes with conditions that Sorsby must continue counseling for his gambling and to participate in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or a similar group. He also must continue treatment to address “the underlying anxiety that served as the primary driver of (his) gambling behavior.”

McGuire said Sorsby is working through many things right now and provided more details on restrictions that will be put in place for the quarterback in his return. He said that there will be technology on any device he has “for us to know everything that’s going on.” Sorsby, who reportedly signed a multimillion-dollar deal to join the Red Raiders after two years at Cincinnati and two years at Indiana, will have a person that will account for “every single penny that he has.”

“The proper steps are in place to get for him to get to the point where we can get him playing,” McGuire said. “There’s a lot of stuff to go through.”

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Asked about the new report that the consumer price index in May had jumped 4.2% over the last year, the president took a surprisingly optimistic tack with the challenging news. Trump didn't dismiss the affordability issue as a “hoax” that was started by Democrats, as he has done previously. Nor did he claim that he was bringing down the cost of living.

Instead, after the government said that inflation spiked to the highest level since April 2023, Trump praised the numbers.

“You know what I really love?" Trump said. "I love the inflation.”

It was an unexpected take given that voters ahead of the November midterm elections have ranked the economy as a top concern — and have given Trump low marks on that issue. Within minutes of his on-camera comment, Democrats quickly rushed to promote it on social media.

Trump had pledged in his 2024 campaign to quickly vanquish inflation, but his argument now is that higher prices are solely a function of the Iran war raising energy costs. On Wednesday, he claimed that relief is already on its way because of a secret military operation that had ferried what he said was 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary shipping channel for 20% of the world’s global oil supply that has been effectively closed by the war since late February.

“Trump really said, ‘I love the inflation.’ On camera. For all of America to hear,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer quickly posted on X. “His contempt for you knows no bounds.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on X that with Trump's stated love of inflation, "We finally found something that Donald Trump loves as much as he loves himself."

Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, quickly pressed Energy Secretary Chris Wright at a hearing about whether he, too, loved inflation.

“Do you love inflation?” Sykes asked.

“I love ending Iran’s ability to have a nuclear weapon,” Wright answered. He only conceded after being pressed: “No, I would prefer lower inflation.”

When asked about Trump's specific comments, Wright said, “He's an entertaining, hyperbolic guy who's done tremendous leadership.”

Trump claimed the secretive shipments were why oil prices had fallen below $90 a barrel, after surpassing $110 at the start of April.

“I'm just announcing today for the first time, but we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil, millions of barrels every night,” Trump said.

On social media, the president said the mission began last month and had “resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Strait, and into the Open Market. More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait.” There was no immediate data available to back up that total, and it was not immediately clear what role the U.S. military had played.

To put that figure into context, a daily average of 20 million barrels of oil had gone through the strait before the war, which would mean that Trump's mission had resulted in the equivalent of five days' worth of normal oil shipments.

Responding to the new inflation report, the White House pointed out that some expenses had dropped in May relative to the previous month: the price of new vehicles, prescription drugs and auto insurance, for example. But when the overall inflation number is paired with the change in hourly wages, there is a bleak sign that people's spending power relative to their earnings has declined.

“President Trump has consistently maintained that oil and gas prices — and thus overall inflation — will plummet once the Iran situation is resolved, and the administration will continue pushing our affordability agenda to enable Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an email.

But the financial markets were cautious about Trump's claims that he was lowering prices by getting oil tankers through the strait — claims that came as the United States also launched airstrikes against Iran, and as Tehran fired back at countries in the region.

U.S. crude oil futures climbed roughly 4% on Wednesday, closing at nearly $92 a barrel.

Infantino spoke with reporters during a rare question-and-answer session on the eve of the opening match of an expanded 48-nation, 104-game World Cup tournament. He defended record ticket prices, said FIFA was powerless to get the U.S. government to admit a Somali referee, and praised his ability to get Iran's national soccer team into the United States.

FIFA priced tickets starting at $140 for group-stage games, but regular seats for the July 19 final outside New York were listed at up to $8,680 and hospitality seats at up to $73,200. It raised prices for the final to $10,990 and then $32,970.

After much criticism, FIFA offered $60 tickets to national federations for their regular supporters. Infantino said 130,000 tickets were offered in that category.

Four years ago at the tournament in Qatar, prices ranged from $69 to $1,607.

“If you sell it at a lower price point,” he said, “in this particular market it would have gone — which is perfectly legal in this country ... in secondary markets at much, much, much higher prices and where would the money go then? Well, to those who organize secondary markets or black market activities and not to football.”

Infantino said the average ticket price was below $500 for the tournament and was comparable to other U.S. sports during their playoffs, a claim that while true for resale prices does not appear to be accurate for list prices. Major League Baseball's average World Series ticket price has been $350 to $400 in recent years and NFL prices last season averaged $230 for the wild-card round, $320 for divisional games, $450 for conference championships and $3,300 for the Super Bowl.

Infantino said he was unconcerned about ticket probes by attorneys general in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

“When it comes to these legal investigations or complaints that were made in some states in the U.S.,” he said, "we are very relaxed about it because before starting to sell 6 and a half or 7 million tickets we check what we do with the best lawyers, with the best experts. If we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong, as well.”

Infantino pointed to the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs as an example of how other major American sporting events are experiencing a similar surge in prices.

The get-in price on FIFA's resale site for the World Cup final is $9,805. The NBA Finals have had wildly varied get-in prices, ranging from a minimum of about $500 for the first two games in San Antonio to about $10,000 for Game 3 in New York. Game 4 in New York was much less, dropping to about $4,000 on Wednesday.

The Stanley Cup Final this year between teams in Las Vegas and Raleigh, North Carolina, has included a get-in price of at least $600 for each of the first four games of the best-of-seven series.

“We welcome every investigation,” Infantino said. “We are happy to present everything, and we are happy to make our case.”

Infantino says FIFA is powerless to get US entry for denied Somali referee

Infantino said it was unfortunate Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the U.S.

“We don’t control everything. We try. We’ll discuss, we will speak, we’ll see. Maybe sometimes it’s good as well to just chill, relax,” he said. “We try to solve everything. Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution. Believe me when I tell you, or don’t believe me if you don’t want, but we try always to find solutions, always. But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces.”

Set to become the first Somali referee at a World Cup, Artan was denied entry to the U.S. at Miami International Airport on Saturday over unspecified “vetting concerns,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns.

“Our world is a very aggressive world and security goes above everything and you need to respect the decisions which are taken," Infantino said. “We are working behind the scenes.”

Infantino thinks FIFA deserves credit for ensuring Iran’s participation

Infantino praised FIFA for working through details that allow Iran to play in the tournament at a time the U.S. is at war with that country. The Iranian team moved its training camp from the U.S. to Mexico and will fly to the United States just before matches.

“I think it has already been successful to bring Iran to play in America," he said. “I don’t know who would have managed to do that. And of course everyone here believes it’s the right thing to do. But, again, we don’t live on the moon. We live on planet Earth and you have to deal with different situations.”

Infantino claimed the tournament will be “the biggest event probably in the history of mankind.”

Infantino claims tournament could not have taken place without Donald Trump

“Without his engagement and his involvement I think it would have been impossible — as simple as that, it would’ve been impossible to organize a World Cup in the United States,” Infantino said. “He understood immediately the magnitude of the World Cup, the impact of the World Cup.”

Infantino says FIFA could make far more money with more broadcast sales to pay services

FIFA is projecting $11 billion in revenue for the tournament, and Infantino said the governing body could have generated far more.

“We could put everything on pay. We would generate $30 billion revenues, probably," he said. "But then you have billions of people in the world who would not be able to watch the World Cup.”

This news conference went smoother than Infantino’s opening comments in Qatar

Four years ago, Infantino scolded critics during a news conference ahead of the opening match in Qatar. He lectured Europeans for criticizing Qatar’s human rights record during a bizarre appearance in which he claimed to feel gay, like a woman and a migrant worker, among other odd claims.

Now 56, Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and intends to seek another term next year that runs through 2031.

Infantino kept an empty seat at the news conference for Christophe Gleizes, a French freelance reporter given a seven-year prison sentence in Algeria last year over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement.

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AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

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

Most residents who spoke said they understood the need for an increase but wanted it phased in gradually rather than applied all at once.

“I know that it’s a struggle, and not having a tax increase for 10 years, I understand that,” said Pearisburg resident Ricky McCoy. “You can’t go back and fix that, but I don’t think you can fix it all in one fell swoop either.”

Why the large jump?

Town Manager Adam Poser said the increase is the result of compounding financial pressures that the town has absorbed for years without raising the base property tax rate.

“It’s been a decade since property taxes were adjusted. In that time, inflation has increased by 40%, 28% since COVID alone,” Poser said. “In that period of time, council has done everything it could to keep that burden off of our residents by pushing those revenue streams and trying to keep up with cost impacts through transitory taxes, like meals tax, transient lodging, cigarette taxes, as opposed to every resident.”

Vice Mayor Kristi Eaton outlined three driving factors behind the proposed budget increase: the county’s most recent six-year property reassessment cycle, the broader economic pressures on local governments following years of historic inflation — including a 28% increase since COVID-19 — and the rising cost of materials, equipment, and personnel.

Residents raise affordability concerns

Resident Brandon Steele said the proposed jump could put a serious financial strain on property owners, particularly those who have invested heavily in the town.

“That’s a big issue because a 50% jump for some people could be thousands of dollars and they’ve invested in this town,” Steele said. “Yes, they own multiple properties but they love it here. They live here, they’ve invested in town.”

Steele also questioned whether the increase reflects a need or a want — a distinction he said every household has to make.

“If it’s a want, then we all make those decisions in our daily finances, each of us. I want a new car but I can’t afford it so I don’t get it. I don’t have an option to go tax somebody just because I want it,” he said.

Where Pearisburg stands among neighboring towns

Despite the size of the proposed increase, Poser noted that Pearisburg would not have the highest property tax rate in Giles County even if the hike is adopted.

“For the current tax rates in the county, you have the county as the highest. You have Narrows right behind them. And then you have Pearisburg in the middle. And then you have Pembroke and Rich Creek,” Poser said. “So we are in the median of the county.”

Poser also defended the town’s long-term financial planning approach, saying staff conducted a deep analysis to avoid the budget crises that have plagued other communities.

“We don’t want to end up like other communities that are struggling with their finances, which are in the news almost every single day,” he said. “We’re supposed to anticipate needs of the community and handle them before they become consequential to that community.”

What comes next

No decision was made at Tuesday’s public hearing. The meeting served solely as a venue for public comment. The Pearisburg Town Council will hold its budget adoption meeting on Wednesday, June 17.

Steele said he hopes council members weigh their decision carefully.

“I’m hoping that they make the best decision and it’s not an easy one,” he said.

Alongside new policy proposals from the maker of the Claude chatbot, Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei published an essay on his personal website that expanded on his position that the government should promise economic support for those financially impacted by AI. The technology could produce much larger disruptions to the labor market than previous technological advancements, Amodei wrote, and those disruptions could last longer.

“The key challenge in such a world won’t be incentivizing growth, but finding a way for everyone to share in the benefits,” Amodei wrote.

The announcement comes on the heels of Anthropic rival OpenAI on Monday outlining goals that included ensuring gains from the technology are “widely shared.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently met with Sen. Bernie Sanders to discuss a plan for the public to take an ownership stake in artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI, using their stock to create a public wealth fund that would spread the fortune generated by AI behemoths.

In the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he will soon meet with executives from several leading AI companies to discuss “giving back” to the public.

"We’re talking about giving back ​something to the public, and if we do that, the ⁠public will become very rich,” Trump said. “I think they’ll do that, and I think it’ll make ​it very popular.”

In his essay, Amodei said he has warned of job displacement not because he is “trying to be a ‘prophet of doom’” but because he wants “both policymakers and the private sector to have the best chance to adapt and respond.” He proposed better data collection to track AI job displacement, pro-employment policy incentives to slow or reduce displacement and “mechanisms such as universal basic income” if job displacement more permanently drives down labor demand.

That universal basic income could be financed through taxes on "relevant companies” or by raising the capital gains tax, Amodei wrote.

Scant details were available Wednesday about the $200 million commitment from Anthropic, but the company said it will go to what it calls an Economic Futures Research Fund that will back research trials and “program evaluation” on public policies it deems promising. The company is also establishing a $150 million national fellowship program it says will help early-career professionals “extend the benefits of AI to communities across America.”

Anthropic and OpenAI each recently announced they were moving toward initial public offerings of shares, following Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, which is pitching itself as an AI-focused space company as it prepares to go public.

The economic policy framework Anthropic proposed Wednesday set recommendations for how the U.S. government could respond to three levels of economic disruption caused by AI: one in which the national unemployment rate reaches 5%, 10% and an unspecified, “unprecedented” level. The latest unemployment rate, reported last week, was 4.3%.

In the “unprecedented” scenario, the company wrote that more permanent support will be necessary, and it listed several ways to generate and share revenue broadly, including basic income, sovereign wealth models and equity-sharing mechanisms. This would be “novel economic territory,” the company wrote.

The company's proposals also outlined several suggestions for mitigating safety and security risks. Anthropic is known for its emphasis on safety and building reliable, “steerable” AI systems, with Amodei and its co-founders splitting off from OpenAI to form the new company in 2021.

The proposals add that the government should be able to “block or deter” the rollout of AI models that “pose a significant risk of catastrophic harms.”

Amodei wrote that AI regulations should match the rigor of Federal Aviation Administration regulations in that AI models would be required to go through technical testing and auditing like airplanes. They wouldn’t be released if they didn’t meet high safety standards.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order on AI oversight that established a framework for the government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release.

Amodei added existing regulations for aircraft, automobiles and drugs should serve as models for regulating AI. They are all “powerful technologies essential to the modern economy,” he wrote, “but capable of killing large numbers of people if designed or operated poorly.”

The amendment would tighten existing restrictions in the Southern Baptist Convention, which already has a faith statement opposing women pastors.

The vote was 6,028 to 2,026 — a 3-to-1 margin — which easily exceeded the required two-thirds majority. It will require a similar two-thirds vote at next year's meeting to become part of the constitution.

The two-day meeting concluded Wednesday after bringing more than 11,000 delegates, or messengers, to a cavernous convention center in Orlando, Florida.

Typical of the SBC’s annual meetings, the gathering carries the feel of a town hall with a cast of thousands. It mixes worship and sermons with numerous motions and resolutions governed by parliamentary procedure, where the sacred and the arcane are debated with equal fervor. A debate Wednesday over the location of a future SBC annual meeting took longer than the debate over women pastors.

Albert Mohler, who sponsored the amendment on women pastors, said it addressed a defining issue.

“This is an opportunity for Southern Baptists to speak in truth, in unity, in conviction,” said Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

“There’s a great line that divides liberal and biblical evangelicalism, and you can see it on this very issue,” he said. “The trajectory of liberal denominations is clear.”

There was only brief debate — and none of it contained support for women pastors.

The sole opposition came from South Carolina pastor Doug Mize. He said the measure wasn’t necessary because the denomination already has a mechanism to expel churches with women in senior pastoral positions, and it’s done so multiple times.

“What we have already works,” he said.

Southern Baptist leaders cite biblical passages that limit pastors to men. Advocates for women’s ministry cite biblical passages that proclaim men and women as equal under God and where women are called to proclaim the gospel.

Southern Baptists can expel churches

While the SBC can't tell its self-governing churches what to do, it does have the power to expel churches from convention membership, declaring them not in “friendly cooperation.”

There’s already wide agreement within the denomination that its belief statement — the Baptist Faith and Message — rejects the appointment of women as senior pastors who lead churches. Debate has persisted regarding churches with women serving in assistant pastoral or preaching roles.

“We need constitutional clarity on this issue,” Mohler said. He had a lead role in drafting the Baptist Faith and Message, which passed in 2000.

The amendment's language requires the exclusion of any church that acts “to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.”

Churches were removed in recent years for having women pastors

In the previous three annual meetings, a majority of representatives voted to amend the SBC constitution to ban churches with women in any pastoral role. But only in one of those years did the measure get the needed two-thirds supermajority, so the matter languished.

The denomination has expelled churches with women in senior pastoral roles, including the large Saddleback Church of California, on the grounds of an existing clause in the constitution barring churches whose “faith and practice” was out of harmony with the denomination’s.

The SBC debate stands in stark contrast to the practices of numerous historic, more liberal Protestant denominations, which ordain women and have opened their highest offices to them. Practices vary widely in conservative, evangelical denominations — particularly in Pentecostal and charismatic circles, where prominent women pastors include Paula White-Cain, head of President Donald Trump’s White House Faith Office.

But other, more conservative Protestant groups do not ordain women as clergy. And the Catholic and Orthodox churches — the world’s two largest Christian communions — ordain only men to the priesthood.

Some Baptists disagree on women's roles

The organization Baptist Women in Ministry, which works with female ministers in various Baptist denominations, issued a statement lamenting the vote.

“We express our solidarity with the women in ministry who have been harmed by this vote, the hateful rhetoric and propaganda leading up to the vote, and the damaging theology the vote represents,” it said. “Women in ministry deserve affirmation, respect, and the opportunity to follow God’s call. We are heartbroken that they have been denied those fundamental freedoms in the process of this vote.”

Baptists say the Bible places high value on both men and women as created in the image of God while assigning them different roles in churches and homes. The Baptist Faith and Message not only asserts a male-only office of pastor but also the “servant leadership” of husbands over wives.

“I realize that in our egalitarian society, that runs against the grain,” Mohler said afterward. But he said Southern Baptists have a “pricelessly high view of the role of women and even the necessity of the gifts and contribution and work of women in every sphere of life.”

Resolutions passed on immigration and political violence

Later Wednesday, SBC messengers approved a resolutions denouncing political violence and hateful speech. They approved another that called for humane treatment of immigrants while affirming the legitimacy of immigration enforcement and rejecting nativistic and dehumanizing rhetoric.

They also approved a resolution denouncing antisemitic violence and conspiracy theories, notably those arising during Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

At the same time, the resolution affirms Southern Baptists’ hope for Jews’ conversion to Christianity. In 1996, an SBC resolution called for the evangelization of Jews, prompting major Jewish leaders to call it a setback for interfaith relations.

On Tuesday, delegates elected Florida pastor Willy Rice to be its next president. He won 58% of the votes over South Carolina pastor Josh Powell.

Rice supported the amendment barring churches with women pastors, as did Powell and the SBC's departing president, Clint Pressley.

Rice, senior pastor of Calvary Church in Clearwater, drew support from advocacy groups such as the Center for Baptist Leadership, which have argued SBC leadership has gone “woke” on issues ranging from race to gender to immigration.

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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.

“I’m gonna noodle around, reach up under some rocks here, and see what we can find, but this looks pretty good right here‚" Hopkins said, as he stood in the middle of the stream with a diver’s mask and snorkel on his head.

He’s been studying the creatures for at least two decades.

Hellbenders live under rocks, hugging the bottom with sticky toes - making them hard to find. Yet after all those years, Hopkins has a pretty good idea where to look.

Though he finds one rather quickly, the chances of anyone finding one are declining.

“So hellbenders are in a lot of trouble. We know that they’ve been declining since at least the 1980s, probably longer, and they’ve disappeared from hundreds of streams across their range,” Hopkins said.

Hellbenders breathe through their skin, with unique folds along their body flowing in the current to increase their oxygen intake.

The creatures date back to the dinosaurs, so they’ve survived everything the world has thrown at them.

Hopkins and his team of researchers at Virginia Tech, where he is the Thomas H. Jones Professor of Wildlife Conservation, are trying to figure out why males, which guard their young for eight months, are suddenly abandoning their nests.

“And what we found is that in streams with degraded water quality, the males aren’t doing their job. They’re not taking care of those babies, and then all the babies die,” he explained.

A scan of this hellbender with a special electronic device shows it has a microchip, placed inside the animal in a previous trip to the river - so the team can compare its health to previous examinations. It’s a healthy hellbender. It’s about a foot and a half long, one of many measurements and observations he’ll record this day.

“We always, when we do our health assessment, we always check for open wounds, any sort of distinguishing marks, any sort of missing toes,” he said.

Back at his lab, at Virginia Tech, Hopkins heads a pilot project raising baby hellbenders to release back into the wild.

Fortunately, there is still a solid population of hellbenders in Appalachia where cold, clear rivers meet the animal’s needs. Yet, it’s a bit of a mystery why their numbers are going down.

“They are highly specialized, which, unfortunately, makes them even more vulnerable to changes in the environment. And so they’ve been hanging on for millions of years. But something that we’re doing in the environment now in modern times is affecting them in unprecedented ways,” Hopkins explained.

Hellbenders are not exactly pretty. Yet they are harmless to people. And in a way, valuable as an early indicator of water quality issues, and somehow even more than that.

“You know, I think it’s so cool. This is an animal that is really a symbol of this region. If you think about Appalachia as this place with amazing biodiversity, from salamanders to fish to crayfish to ferns to mushrooms to millipedes, this is an amazing place. And I think... Hellbenders really, they’re sort of like the iconic figure for that biodiversity,” he said.

Though they are not yet listed on the endangered species list, Hopkins believes they will be in the next few years.

Although they are mostly unknown to the population at large, more and more people are learning about the species.

Coming up on June 26, 2026, the Salem RidgeYaks baseball team is hosting Hellbender Night to celebrate the unique wildlife of Southwest Virginia and support conservation efforts for the hellbender.

Hopkins’ research team will be there with information, and a portion of the proceeds from the game will support his research.

Victoria Mboko, the American star's doubles partner, retired from her singles match against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday after sustaining a knee injury in the second set.

Williams and Mboko had won their opening doubles match Tuesday — in the 44-year-old Williams' return to professional tennis after nearly four years away from the sport — and are scheduled to play again Thursday.

As of Wednesday night, Mboko and Williams remained on Thursday's schedule to face Leylah Fernandez and Laura Siegemund in the quarterfinals. It's set to be the last match of the day at the HSBC Championships.

While trying to return a shot against Pliskova, the 19-year-old Canadian slipped behind the baseline and immediately grabbed her left knee. Mboko had lost the first set 6-2 and was up 4-3 in the second against the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, who was facing a break point.

Mboko got up on her own but then told a physiotherapist there was “no stability right now."

She walked gingerly to her bench and put a towel to her face as she sat down. Minutes later, she retired from the match.

Williams had previously announced that she will also play doubles at the Berlin Open next week.

On Tuesday, Williams and Mboko beat third-seeded duo Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe 7-6 (2), 6-2 in Williams’ first professional match since the 2022 U.S. Open.

Mboko is ranked No. 9 in singles.

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

The kingdom slapped a ban on Lebanese fruits and vegetables in 2021, saying they were being used to smuggle drugs. In one notable case, Saudi Arabia announced it had seized over 5 million pills of the amphetamine drug Captagon hidden in a shipment of pomegranates coming from Lebanon.

Months later, the wealthy Gulf country extended the ban to all Lebanese products after Lebanon's then- Information Minister George Kordahi publicly criticized Saudi Arabia's war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.

At the root of the diplomatic crisis was Saudi Arabia's regional rivalry with Iran and its displeasure with the influence of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. The ban came at a time when Lebanon's economy was already reeling from a major financial crisis and the collapse of its currency.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the reversal of the ban at the order of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came as a result of “positive steps taken by the Lebanese state.”

It did not specify what those steps were, but over the past year, the Lebanese government has announced plans to disarm all non-state groups, including Hezbollah. Before the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, the Lebanese army had made progress on implementing the plan in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement thanked bin Salman for the decision, which he said “will contribute tangibly to reviving the national economy and providing support to broad segments of Lebanese producers and exporters.”

The current government of Lebanon, which came to power last year with promises of reform, has sought to rebuild ties with the Gulf countries. Before the outbreak of the latest war, Lebanese officials were courting Gulf tourists to return to the country in hopes of reviving the economy, and some Gulf countries had lifted travel bans preventing their citizens from visiting Lebanon.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight monthly increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.

Prices have now risen faster than wages for several months, pressuring many Americans' finances and causing consumers to take a decidedly dim view of the economy. Families are dipping into savings to maintain their spending, and more people are falling behind on their credit card bills. Large retailers say they have also noticed changes in customer behavior, like buying smaller amounts of gas during visits to the pump.

Inflation is now well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target, which it has surpassed for more than five years. New Fed chair Kevin Warsh will preside over his first policy meeting next week, when the central bank is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged. But the Fed is also likely to change the statement it issues after each meeting to remove a suggestion that its next move could be to lower rates. With inflation proving stubborn, financial markets expect the Fed could instead raise rates by the end of the year.

When the Fed lifts rates, over time it can make mortgages, auto loans, and business borrowing more expensive.

Outside energy costs, price increases last month were not as dramatic, a sign that sharply higher inflation hasn't yet spread throughout the economy. Should the Iran war end and oil and gas prices decline, headline inflation could begin to cool. Gas prices have fallen this month, though they remain elevated.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose at a more modest pace. On a monthly basis, they climbed just 0.2%, down from a 0.4% gain in April. Compared with a year ago, they have rise 2.9%, up from 2.8% in April.

President Donald Trump praised the inflation report in comments to reporters Wednesday, saying, “the numbers were great" and “I love it.”

He said the inflation data was good because it showed energy prices were a huge driver of rising costs — the government said they accounted for more than 60% of the monthly increase — and he suggested inflation would ease “as soon as this war is over.”

However, the U.S. launched more airstrikes against Iran on Wednesday, and Trump said more were coming, as Tehran fired back at countries in the region.

Crude prices shot back above $90 a barrel on the violent exchange of fire.

Still, many goods and services rose in price last month: Clothing costs increased 0.3% and are 4.8% more expensive than a year ago. Airline fares, pushed higher by pricier jet fuel, jumped 2.7% just in May and are nearly 27% higher than a year ago. Electricity prices rose 0.6% in May and are up 5.9% in the past year.

Grocery prices were tamer in May compared with previous months, rising just 0.1% from April. Still, they are up 2.7% from a year ago and have risen sharply since the pandemic.

“I don't think we're anywhere near out of the woods yet,” Omair Sharif, chief economist at Inflation Insights, said. Price increases “were stronger under the hood.”

Sharif and other economists point out that the cost of services, including child care, home health care, and dental services are still rising much more quickly than is consistent with the Fed's 2% inflation target.

Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, attributed some of the gain to a crackdown on immigration, which has likely forced many employers in those industries to raise wages.

Inflation had been cooling before Trump imposed sweeping tariffs in April 2025, which lifted the costs of many goods. Prices have since surged after the Iran war made oil and gas more expensive, making affordability a key political issue.

Small businesses are struggling with higher costs, some of which they are passing on in the form of higher prices. Others have slowed hiring or even cut jobs.

Beth Benike, the founder of Oronoco, Minnesota-based Busy Baby, said her small company was hit hard by tariffs last year and is now struggling with higher shipping costs stemming from more expensive fuel. The company sells silicon placemats and toys that attach to high chairs and strollers.

Sales have declined as inflation has worsened, and Benike recently reduced one full-time employee to part-time hours. She said that more of her customers are now grandparents of newborns, rather than the parents.

“Grandparents have a little more disposable income than the generation that’s having babies,” she said.

Gas prices rose in May because of Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has choked off about a fifth of the world's oil supply. Prices at the pump rose, on average, from about $4.04 in mid-April to $4.49 in mid-May, according to the Energy Information Administration.

They have since fallen back to $4.16 on average nationwide, according to AAA, which could lead to a cooler inflation reading in June. That doesn't mean gas prices are not prominent in the minds of most Americans. A gallon of gas has hovered above $4 a gallon since March.

Major retail chains have discounted prices to accommodate customers who are watching their spending more closely.

Dollar General is expanding the number of items that cost $1 or less, including frozen food. The shift has come with shoppers swapping out favored retailers for dollar stores.

“When that (gas) price hits that $4 mark and then crosses it and then sustains for a while, you start to see that trade-in come in and you start to see that our core customer needs us most,” Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said this month.

Amber Greenwell, executive director of the America First Credit Union’s charitable foundation, based in Ogden, Utah, says the cost of gas, housing and groceries have risen sharply in her state and much of the west in the past year. Her organization organizes food and diaper drives in the six states where the credit union operates.

“There is substantial growth in families who need more food resources as well as diaper resources,” she said.

Stubbornly high inflation has shifted the debate among Fed policymakers, who had signaled at the start of the year that they were inclined to cut their key rate twice more this year. Now, more officials are saying they expect the Fed's next move will likely be a hike rather than a cut.

Despite higher inflation, the job market appears to be improving, with hiring increasing to a healthy level in May, and the economy is still growing. These positive signs suggest the Fed doesn't need to cut rates to stimulate growth and hiring. They also signal that the Fed's rate isn't so high that it is weighing on the economy. Yet some officials want rates to cool growth a bit, because that can bring down inflation.

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AP Writers Josh Boak and Anne D'Innocenzio contributed to this report. D'Innocenzio contributed from New York.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for its first back-to-back drop in three weeks and is back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 953 points, or 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite led the market lower with a 2% slide.

Wall Street has been shaky since last week, when AI stocks went from roaring to records to suddenly turning lower. Among the worries is that their prices have simply shot too high, too fast because of AI mania. The question now is whether the break lower has cleared out excessive optimism that may have built into their stock prices, or if it’s the start of a longer downturn.

Super Micro Computer, which sells AI servers, tumbled 28% after saying late Tuesday that it plans to raise $7 billion in cash by selling shares of stock and convertible preferred stock. Such moves raise the most money for companies when their stock prices are high, and they can dilute the ownership stakes of existing shareholders.

Micron Technology swung from an early loss of nearly 4% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 4.7%. It’s coming off a wild stretch where it sank 7.7% last Thursday, then plunged another 13.3% Friday and rallied 9.9% Monday. Despite all the swings, the computer memory maker’s stock is still up 212.5% for the year so far.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s grown into a nearly $4.9 trillion behemoth because of the AI boom, was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after falling 3.7%. The second-heaviest was another AI winner, Broadcom, which fell 5.1%.

Some of the pressure on AI stocks could also be coming from investors pulling cash out to prepare for high-profile debuts on the U.S. stock market for several AI giants. SpaceX’s initial public offering could come later this week, for example.

Weakening stocks for companies with big fuel bills also pulled the market lower. United Airlines sank 6.2%, and cruise-operator Carnival fell 6.3% after oil prices rose due to the latest fighting in the war with Iran.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to $93.10 after President Donald Trump warned Iran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations between the two on their war. The war has been keeping the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut to oil tankers, which has prevented the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

High oil prices have sent inflation higher, and a report on Wednesday showed that prices for U.S. consumers jumped in May at the highest speed in three years.

But Treasury yields nonetheless held relatively steady in the bond market because the figures were pretty much exactly what economists had forecast. The rise in an important underlying measure of inflation, meanwhile, was not as bad from April through May as economists expected.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.54% from 4.53% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its overnight interest rates, held at 4.13%.

Traders have been building bets recently that the Fed will have to hike its main interest rate at least once this year, given how high inflation is and how strong the U.S. job market remains. Wednesday’s inflation update didn’t sway them much, according to data from CME Group.

High yields can slow entire economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They hit investments seen as the most expensive in particular, and some critics are calling AI a bubble where investment inflated too far.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 119.66 points to 7,266.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 953.33 to 49,918.78, and the Nasdaq composite sank 509.32 to 25,169.50.

In stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe were mixed following sharper drops in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 4.5%, hurt by losses for tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.9% after data showed Japan’s producer price index, a measure for prices at the wholesale level, rose in May at the fastest pace in more than three years. Shares of technology and telecommunications giant SoftBank Group, which has a strong AI focus, lost 8.3%.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The indictment describes threats and vandalism at officials' homes, some businesses and the Jewish Federation of Detroit.

“In America, we rule by law not by fear. These alleged threats and attempts to terrorize government officials, businesses, and the Jewish Federation are anti-American. We will counter intimidation with justice," U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said.

The document highlights several incidents that made headlines in the past few years, including fake bloody corpses that were placed in an elected university board member's yard and the spray-painting of anti-Israel messages at the home of the school's president at the time, Santa Ono.

Two glass jars filled with a blue substance were thrown through a window at the home of the university provost, the government said.

“They marked their victims with threatening symbols used by Hamas, including red inverted triangles and red handprints,” the indictment states. “They used the internet and social media to broadcast their message to ensure their threats and commitment to continuing criminal activity were heard by their victims and others who support Israel.”

All eight are charged with conspiracy to transmit threats through interstate commerce, but some face more charges than others.

Five people made an initial appearance in federal court in Detroit; four of them were ordered to remain in custody at least until another hearing Friday.

About two dozen supporters appeared at the courthouse. Some carried Palestinian flags outside, and one had a sign that read, “Drop The Charges.”

“Everything that happened today is a shock,” said Eaman Ali, an organizer with the TAHRIR Coalition, a group of students and Ann Arbor community members that calls for divestment from Israel. “When one of us is targeted, we want to make sure we show up for them.”

Ali declined to comment about the specific allegations.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began, pro-Palestinian protesters have demanded that the University of Michigan’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university has insisted it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. That’s less than 0.1% of the total endowment.

In 2024, a pro-Palestinian camp on campus was cleared by police after a month. The university said it was a threat to public safety.

Sarah Hubbard, a member of the university's Board of Regents who found phony corpses on her lawn in 2024, welcomed the indictment, saying she was “very appreciative of the tireless work” of law enforcement.

Another board member, Jordan Acker, said his home, car and law office were vandalized with paint.

Excel Center offers more than a diploma

The center is designed to remove the barriers that often keep adults from finishing school. Flexible scheduling and career-focused services are central to the model, helping students move toward better-paying work and new career opportunities. Officials say more than 50 people have enrolled since the center opened.

Secretary of Labor Jessica Looman said the center reflects what workforce support should look like beyond simply helping someone land a job.

“Our role in our job is not done when you get the job. Our role is to be a community…this place embodies what it means to provide that community so you can go from employment to advancement to opportunity.”

Center’s design reflects a forward-looking mission

Even the building’s design carries meaning. Richmond Vincent pointed to the blue fixtures overhead as a symbol of the center’s philosophy.

“If you look above at the blue, that’s not just some wild fixture there...that reflects looking back at our best practices from the past and bringing them forward so that we can be successful in the future.”

Nine months in, lives are already changing

Just nine months after opening, the Excel Center is already making an impact — giving adults in the Roanoke area a real pathway to a high school diploma and a better career.

These big coastal floods happen when high tides and storm surges — the amount above normal tide level — combine with seas that are already rising. Those pile on top of natural climate patterns and other human influence.

Climate change has strengthened storms like Hurricane Ian, which caused significant flooding in 2022, scientists say. Flooding threatens hundreds of millions of people each year in low-lying coastal areas across the globe. It also causes billions of dollars in damage and can be deadly.

Floods that historically had a 1% chance of striking a coastline in a year are now about 12 times more likely, on average, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Wednesday. Those events have become about four times more likely due to human-driven climate change, the research shows.

Researchers looked at how often extreme sea level events — which cause coastal flooding — happen by considering long-term records from tide gauges at more than 100 sites, as well as using climate modeling. The study looked at the increase from 1900 to 2005. It was limited through 2005 because after that, there weren't enough models that could point to instances of human-driven climate change. The researchers said their findings likely understate today's risk, because human contributions to changes in coastal extremes have only increased since then.

Researchers looked at which changes were caused by human activity, natural forces or shifts in the landscape. Although sea level changes earlier in the 20th century could mostly be chalked up to natural forces, the scientists found that since the 1960s, human-caused warming was the main reason sea levels are going up.

A separate study published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday also supports the idea that extreme ocean heights come from climate change, specifically around 58% of the days with big floods from 2000 to 2018. Climate change has also, on average, nearly tripled the number of days where the sea tops extreme flood levels since the 1970s, according to that study.

“Essentially every coastal flood today has human fingerprints on it through climate change,” said Ben Strauss, chief scientist at Climate Central and a co-author of the Science Advances study. “Without the extra bit of sea level rise caused by global heating, most of these events would not have reached the status of flood.”

The research in Nature Climate Change didn't fully examine individual human factors, said Sönke Dangendorf, the lead author, but he noted greenhouse gases — the result of burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal — are the most significant.

“Since the 1970s, it’s by far the dominating factor, and this is of course not good news,” said Dangendorf, also an associate professor at Tulane University. He said the threat is growing, and communities need to do more to prepare.

Jeff Williams, a retired United States Geological Survey oceanographer who wasn’t part of either study, said the research shows that planners need to take the growing threats into account. They should also think about how much money they'll need to increase coastal protection, he said, and figure out who pays for it.

The current protections for New Orleans, for instance, “will likely not be adequate beyond the next couple decades,” Williams said.

Nations across the globe are increasingly using renewable energies like solar and wind. Last year, clean power generation exceeded overall global electricity demand growth, and the share of renewables hit more than one-third of the world’s electricity mix for the first time.

Even in the United States, where the Trump administration has boosted fossil fuels, solar is growing as coal power declines. As such, scientists have recently said the world is no longer on track for the worst case scenario for warming — but it's also not on track to the best case, either.

“The impacts, even of a relatively little sea level rise, can be pretty impactful on our coasts,” Dangendorf, the Tulane author, said.

“There is a silver lining because we have control about how much we emit, right?” he said. “So we can stop that development, at least to some degree.”

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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

Unveiled by Ian McKellen, the plaque at 22 Lupus Street in Pimlico marks the place where Olivier began acting as a child.

“For those of us who were lucky enough to have seen him in the theater, it’s of course quite right that, because he was the leader of our profession for so many years, it’s appropriate that this should be put up," McKellen told The Associated Press after the event. “Actors go out of fashion very quickly, but I've a feeling that this man's name will never be forgotten, and perhaps because of this plaque."

Olivier lived at Lupus Street between the ages of 6 and 11. While there, he reportedly transformed a wooden box and blue curtains into a makeshift stage where he sang, danced, and acted for hours at a time.

Olivier was venerated as a Shakespearean actor, playing many iconic protagonists in London including Hamlet, Henry V, Macbeth and, controversially, Othello. For his role as Hamlet, Olivier won his only Academy Award for best actor in 1949. Other famous screen roles include ones in “Rebecca," "Wuthering Heights"," "Marathon Man" and "Sleuth."

London owes much to Olivier, who died at age 82 in 1989.

He campaigned for the establishment of the National Theatre. The building that now houses the theatre officially opened in 1976 and its largest auditorium is named after Olivier.

“Laurence Olivier transformed British theater and film through the brilliance, range and intensity of his performances," said English Heritage senior historian Howard Spencer. "The plaque celebrates the formative home where one of Britain’s greatest cultural figures first found his voice as an actor.”

The Olivier Awards, which celebrate London's theater scene, were named in his honor.

The London blue plaque program began more than 150 years ago. The plaques commemorate notable people who made London their home at some point. There are more than 900 official plaques in the capital.

The first plaque commemorated the poet Lord Byron in 1867 but the house was later demolished. The oldest surviving plaque commemorates France’s final emperor, Napoleon III.

The warrant signed by a federal judge last week approved the seizure of documents and records related to the “storage, use, or disposal” of methyl methacrylate, the chemical inside the affected tank.

“Samples of the substance within any tank, tote, drum, vat, vessel, or container suspected of containing or having previously contained methyl methacrylate and/or any hazardous substance” were also sought, according to the warrant.

The warrant also orders agents to seize records related to “any cooling equipment or other equipment used to control or regulate the temperature of methyl methacrylate.”

The FBI confirmed its agents were searching GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. Multiple vehicles and several federal agents were seen outside the facility Wednesday morning.

Company says it's cooperating with authorities

GKN Aerospace makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields. The tank that overheated contained 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, which is highly flammable. The liquid is used in the manufacturing of plastics and coatings, such as Plexiglas and dental prosthetics.

Exposure to the chemical can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological issues and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The chemical that overheated is still in the holding tank, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency, which is leading the site cleanup and waste removal efforts.

The agency had planned to pump the neutralized methyl methacrylate from the storage tanks into sealed trucks for transport and disposal starting at the end of last week, according to a press release on the agency’s website. But on Friday, they said the removal didn’t happen “due to unavailable resources.”

Once a new date is confirmed, they will provide advance notice to the community.

Responding to a request for comment on the FBI investigation, a GKN spokesperson told the AP on Wednesday morning: “We are cooperating with authorities at our Garden Grove facility and will continue to do so.”

GKN Aerospace’s Steve Carlin spoke at a community meeting Tuesday evening. He thanked the firefighters and local leaders who responded to the incident at the plant that employs more than 500 people, and apologized to the community.

“On behalf of GKN and the Garden Grove plant I want to say that I’m sorry that this event and this incident occurred. I understand and I realized sitting here tonight what a disruptive event it was and how unsettling it is to the greater community. Particularly unsettling to us at GKN because of the long history that we have with Garden Grove and how connected we are to this community.”

Garden Grove city leaders and residents urged GKN Aerospace to consider moving these tanks of methyl methacrylate off of the Garden Grove plant, so the chemical would be far away from residents and businesses. But Carlin said it is very early in the investigation into what happened, so it is too soon to decide what the company might do in response to the incident. He promised to be transparent with the community about the investigation.

Overheating tank risked a catastrophic explosion

The incident was reported on May 21 and evacuations began the next day. The tank overheated because a valve on the cooling system that kept it at 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) failed, officials said.

Crews sprayed water on the tank until the interior temperature stabilized to 92 F (33.3 C), down from 100 F (37.7 C). A sprinkler system was used to douse the tank, and the company said its technical specialists and firefighters removed insulation from the tank to help cool it.

A crack that formed by chance on the tank relieved pressure and helped avert a catastrophic explosion, allowing most evacuees to return home over the Memorial Day weekend. Authorities announced they were lifting the final orders after the temperature on the tank remained stable for four hours without intervention from sprinklers.

Separately, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office also is conducting a criminal investigation into the GKN Aerospace plant, according to DA spokesperson Kimberly Edds.

“We have sent a preservation letter to GKN directing them not to modify or destroy any evidence, which the company’s outside counsel confirmed receipt,” Edds told The Associated Press in an email.

Lawyers in federal lawsuits welcome the FBI's involvement

About a dozen people and businesses that were among the 50,000 evacuated during the chemical emergency have filed lawsuits against the company. Some residents reported strong odors, respiratory irritation, headaches and dizziness. They question why the chemical plant was allowed to operate so close to homes.

Lawyer Rickard McCune represents Big Rob’s Pizzeria and Fruit Caboose Concessions in a federal lawsuit claiming GKN Aerospace and parent company Melrose Industries were negligent and put the surrounding communities at risk. He said they’re pleased the federal government is investigating. The FBI’s involvement will help bring justice to those who were harmed, he said.

Another lawyer, Alex Wheeler, represents Dinh Tran and Drippys Gourmet Ice Cream Sandwiches and said they’re relieved that the FBI is using its resources to investigate potential criminal acts.

“As more information becomes public, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that the risk to our community posed by GKN’s operation of the Garden Grove facility may require a long term and lasting solution,” Wheeler said.

GKN did not immediately respond to the allegations in the lawsuits.

Orange County health officials assured residents that no contamination or fumes were released, and that they would keep monitoring the air for several months and checking the sewer and storm drains.

The California incident was the first of two major hazardous chemical emergencies on the West Coast within a week of each other. Five days after the GKN Aerospace situation began, a large tank containing a corrosive chemical at a Longview, Washington paper mill ruptured and imploded, killing 11 people.

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Bellisle reported from Seattle. Associated Press journalist Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.

Sean O'Malley earned American style points for dressing in red — his hair and suit — and blue — dress shirt, tie and, well, hair again — and Michael Chandler visualized accessorizing his fight night walk-out before he dished out a patriotic pounding draped in an American flag.

“For me to walk from the White House to the octagon to represent America, to represent myself, to represent just who I am and what this country means to me,” Chandler said, “it’s just a dream come true.”

The usual foul-mouthed fight hype from UFC's American fighters ahead of their prime-time debut Sunday on the White House grounds largely yielded to bursts of national pride Wednesday.

O'Malley, known as much for his cornucopia of colors that turn his locks into rainbows or cotton candy tops as his fight skills, tried to downplay the week and called it business as usual. In the next breath, O'Malley confessed fighting on a UFC card on the South Lawn was indeed “epic.”

Hokit, meanwhile, wasn't about to modify his style on the microphone just because he will fight in the mixed martial arts show timed to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

"You'll never see me apologize for anything I do,” Hokit said.

Well, the heavyweight is in the right city for that declaration. He was one of several fighters who added a dash of brashness and boldness in the nation's capital just four days before the surreal juxtaposition of pummeling and patriotism set for Trump and UFC boss Dana White's big-fight vision of UFC Freedom 250.

Forget the Washington Monument. The claw, the temporary arena structure that houses the eight-sided cage, is the buzziest landmark this week in DC.

Weather is a slight concern for fight night

Umbrellas were a necessary accessory around Washington early Wednesday and the threat of heavier rain later in the week, which could dampen both a scheduled press conference at the Lincoln Memorial as well as fight night, was the only true concern ahead of the fight card.

White, who helped launch UFC into a global sports empire, insisted inclement weather will not keep the spectacle from proceeding as scheduled.

“We're going to be good on Sunday,” White said this week. “I don't care if it snows, rains, we're going. Even lightning. You guys all played sports when you were growing up. Whenever there was lightning, you'd sit the lightning out. When it was over, you played. That's what we'll do.”

Two titles at stake on the South Lawn

While the South Lawn setting normally reserved for low-contact events like the annual Easter Egg Roll is the real star of the show, there are two championship fights set for the Paramount+ show.

In a card that has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, Brazil’s Alex Pereira will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Then Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.

Middleweight Bo Nickal was a three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State who was awed when he met Trump in 2019 at the White House during a ceremony for collegiate national champions.

"The president said hello to all the teams,” Nickal said Wednesday. “When he got to us, he was all excited because he likes wrestlers. He talked to us for maybe 10, 15 minutes because he likes chatting.”

Nickal is set to fight on the main card Sunday against Philadelphia fighter Kyle Daukaus. Nickal called fighting on the show a “massive opportunity,” and one he may have manifested back in that 2019 meeting.

“I told him at that time in 2019 that I was going to fight at UFC,” Nickal said. “He asked if I needed an agent. He’s put in a good word for me, obviously, getting on this card.”

The bulk of UFC's roster seemingly threw their names on the ballot and hoped to get the call they would fight in front of the president.

Chandler, the 40-year-old Missouri native, laughed when he said he would feel “as high as kite in the best way possible” on his way to the cage. He was thrilled when he earned a lightweight bout against Mauricio Ruffy.

“Even if you're not watching, you've heard about this card, whether you like to admit it or not,” Chandler said.

White not fazed by federal lawsuit

Not everyone is on board with fighters commandeering the same South Lawn where Dwight D. Eisenhower once put in a putting green.

A federal lawsuit filed Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents contends the Trump administration’s authorization of the event was unlawful. The lawsuit says such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space and no environmental review was conducted before the construction.

White, a long-time friend and former business associate of Trump's from the days when Boardwalk cards at Trump Taj Mahal lifted UFC into relevancy, brushed off the idea the lawsuit could halt the fight card.

“We were expecting a lawsuit,” White said. “We expected everything coming into this event. We thought it would be sooner. We knew it was going to come. We didn't know who or how, but we knew it was going to come.”

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Long considered among the best actors to never win one, the eight-time nominee will get an honorary Academy Award along with director Ridley Scott and animator Floyd Norman at the annual Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday.

“Throughout her extraordinary body of work, Glenn Close’s unparalleled emotional range has brought to life some of the most complex characters in cinema,” the academy said in a statement. “Floyd Norman is the legendary animator who has broken barriers and inspired generations of artists over his remarkable career. Sir Ridley Scott is a true visionary whose decades-long legacy has left an immeasurable impact on global cinema and culture.”

Nominations for the 79-year-old Close date back to 1983, when she got her first nod for “The World According to Garp.” She was also nominated for her blockbuster turn as a rabbit-slaying stalker in 1987's “Fatal Attraction” and was most recently up for a statuette for 2020's “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Her eight nominations tie her with Peter O'Toole for the most for an actor without a win.

She has won virtually every other major award within reach, including three Emmys, three Tonys, three Grammys and three Golden Globes.

The Governors Awards often go to artists with extraordinary careers, but no competitive Oscar. Tom Cruise, a recipient last year, is a case in point.

Scott, the 88-year-old director of “Alien,” “Blade Runner” and “Gladiator” whose epic decades of work have blended popular success and prestige like few others, has also never won despite four nominations, including best director nods for “Thelma & Louise” and “Black Hawk Down.”

Norman’s 65-year career began in 1956 when he became the first Black animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios, contributing to “Sleeping Beauty,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book” and Robin Hood.” Decades later, he would work on “Mulan,” “Toy Story 2” and “Monsters, Inc.”

Producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler will get the academy's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, presented to “a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production,” the academy said.

Vachon and Koffler co-founded the New York-based indie production hub Killer Films in 1995. Their credits as producers include “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” One Hour Photo” and “May December.” Both were nominated for best picture Oscars for “Past Lives” in 2024. Killer Films' output includes “Velvet Goldmine,” “Happiness,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Far from Heaven” and “Carol.”

The academy statement says the two “play a central role in American independent cinema, championing bold, ambitious and distinctive storytelling.”

All the winners will be honored at a ceremony on Nov. 15 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood, the same complex that hosts the main Oscars ceremony. Along with luminaries who worked with the honorees, the event has been increasingly packed with young stars as it has become the unofficial kickoff to Hollywood's award season campaigning.

The Governors Awards, named for the academy's board of governors and not the leader of the state, honor “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

According to court records, Joshua Presley was sentenced to 32 years in prison in Roanoke City Circuit Court.

Update:

The RPD announced Wednesday evening that they had arrested the suspect in the murder of a woman in Northwest.

45-year-old Joshua Robert Presley of Roanoke is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Meagan Martin.

On Monday, June 16, Roanoke Police Officers took the report of a missing woman 40-year-old Meagan Martin who last spoke with her family on Saturday, June 14. Prior to meeting with the reporting party, officers visited her address in the 1400 block of Downing St NW in an attempt to locate her, and nobody answered the door. Authorities say that at the time, officers did not have enough evidence to enter and search the property.

On Tuesday, at approximately 11:09 a.m., officers responded to the Downing residence for a report of a suspicious item being found. Based on the evidence collected, a search warrant was conducted and Martin was found deceased outside the residence with signs of trauma. The office of the Medical Examiner is working to determine the cause of death.

The investigation determined that Presley and Martin were involved romantically.

Update:

The Roanoke Police Department has identified the suspect in the murder of the missing woman who was found dead.

Authorities are searching for 45-year-old Joshua Robert Presley, of Roanoke, in connection with Meagan Martin’s death.

A warrant for second-degree murder has been obtained for his arrest.

Update:

The Roanoke Police announced in an update Tuesday evening that Meagan Martin was located deceased outside the residence. RPD says that it is now a homicide investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call RPD at 540-344-8500.

Original:

Roanoke Police announced Tuesday that they were searching for an endangered missing 40-year-old woman who last spoke with her family on Saturday.

According to RPD, Meagan Martin is described as a white woman with hazel eyes and brown hair. She is 5′2 and weighs 95 pounds.

On Monday at 2 p.m., officers took the report of a missing woman. Prior to meeting the reporting party, they visited the woman’s address in the 1400 block of Downing Street NW in attempt to locate her, and nobody answered the door.

Authorities say that on Tuesday at 11:09 a.m., officers responded to the Downing residence for the report of suspicious items being found. Based on the evidence collected, a search warrant was conducted, and nobody was located inside. Martin is now considered endangered, and the investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Roanoke Police Department at 540-344-8500.

Collins has proved to be a hard target for Democrats, even for candidates without the baggage of Platner, who has faced criticism for his relationships with women, for his inflammatory online posts and for a previous tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol.

Collins is also the rare Republican these days who can sometimes boost her own popularity back home by keeping her distance from President Donald Trump. She has perfected that delicate dance over the years even as Trump has sharply criticized her and tightened his grip on the party, costing two of Collins' colleagues their chance of reelection.

On Wednesday, however, Trump made clear he is in Collins' corner.

Although the president told reporters Wednesday that “she's not my best friend at all,” he also said “she's a sane person and she's a person that never missed a vote in many years.” Collins recently set a record by casting her 10,000th Senate vote in a row.

Trump suggested Platner is "worse than any human being that’s run for office probably" and went on to insult the Democratic nominee. "He’s a cheap, no-good person," the president said, adding, “He's like a pig.”

With the November general election months away, it is uncertain whether Trump's support for Collins will help or hurt as she seeks a sixth term. Years of practice have made her adept at staying close — but not too close — to the president when it is politically advantageous, and moving away when showing an independent streak is helpful.

“She’s shown time and time again where her state’s electorate is. She understands what’s too far, she understands where she needs to be,” said Republican political consultant Matt Mackowiak.

The road to Senate control goes through Maine

The Democrats need to flip four seats to take control of the Senate. They hope Trump's falling approval ratings and the war with Iran, as well as the fallout on oil prices and the economy, could buoy their chances. Maine is among the top targets, along with Alaska, Ohio and North Carolina.

Platner wants to make the case that Collins is not as independent of Trump as her reputation suggests. He often notes that she allowed his Supreme Court nominees to go through, which in 2022 led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had legalized abortion.

"Susan Collins may have started her career decades ago in Washington with good intentions, but she has become just as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves," Platner said at a party Tuesday celebrating his primary victory.

Platner supporters are ready for change, said John Keenan of Sullivan, Maine.

“I think Maine has grown tired of the same old system,” he said. “And putting youth into the campaign, with new instead of a rubber stamp, is very refreshing.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee posted a pro-Collins video on X that resembled a 1980s video game. It said Collins “has brought more than $1.5 billion back to Maine" and Platner “spent time as a kid at a $70,000 a year prep school in Connecticut.”

Trump has often criticized Collins, but not lately

Collins may still have to stay wary of Trump, who has singled her out for daring to occasionally defy him on some issues. For example, she voted last week with Democrats to block the nearly $1.8 billion fund the president wanted to create to benefit allies that he claims were unfairly targeted by law enforcement.

Nonetheless, he has refrained from criticizing lately, especially as the senator failed to draw a credible GOP challenger and cruised in the primary.

Political advisers close to Trump said the president understands how critical it is that Republicans maintain control of Congress, and that requires accommodating Collins. Trump understands the need to avoid a Republican wipeout like the 2018 midterms when Democrats flipped the House and derailed much of the final two years of his first-term plans.

Collins " represents the people of Maine first and foremost and has proven herself to be a dedicated public servant," said Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci in a statement.

Collins spokesperson Blake Kernen said the senator “has worked with five different Presidents throughout her Senate tenure, and has never agreed with any of them on every issue.”

“When she agrees with an effort, she will support it; when she disagrees, she does not hesitate to speak up for what she believes is the right outcome for Maine and for America,” Kernen said in a statement.

Other Republicans ran into trouble with Trump

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was among his party's top voices, but Trump viewed him as insufficiently loyal. State Attorney General Ken Paxton trounced Cornyn in a runoff race on May 26, just days after receiving Trump's endorsement.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana voted to convict Trump during his impeachment trial after the Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021. Cassidy lost his primary when Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming advanced to a runoff later this month.

“She’s always down in the polls and she survives,” Trump said when asked about Collins in an interview with the New York Post last week.

Collins defeated Gideon, the Maine House speaker, by almost 9 percentage points in 2020, the same year that Democrat Joe Biden beat Trump by a similar margin in the state.

Mackowiak said “there’s just no pathway to a MAGA senator from Maine,” referring to Trump's ”Make America Great Again" movement.

“It does appear that the Trump political operation is soberly analyzing the electoral environment in Maine and really kind of follows her lead as it relates to that state and that race, particularly this cycle,” he said.

Maine Republicans are ‘a bit more pragmatic’

Chuck Ellis, a Republican from Westbrook, Maine, who runs a digital marketing company, said Collins' reluctance to move in lockstep with Trump can be a plus.

Although there are some “hard-line” voters who may disapprove, Ellis said, "ultimately a lot of your conservatives, your Republicans, are people who are a bit more pragmatic.”

After Collins opposed the White House’s signature tax cut and spending package last year and voted against a proposal to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding, the president complained about her on social media.

“Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins," he wrote.

Then, in January, Trump lashed out at the “stupidity” of Collins and four other Senate Republicans who joined Democrats to start a debate over restricting the president’s use of force in Venezuela.

White House may keep a further distance

Trump is unlikely to travel to Maine before November despite visiting other states with key Senate races such as Iowa and Michigan.

Vice President JD Vance has been to Maine, where he promoted his anti-fraud task force. Collins did not attend Vance’s speech in Bangor last month where he acknowledged the senator's distance from the Trump administration.

“If she was as partisan as I sometimes wish that she was,” Vance said, "she would not be a good fit for the people of Maine.”

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This story has been corrected to show the spelling of Collins’ spokesperson’s surname is Kernen, not Kernan.

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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

This year's tournament — which is hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico — was expanded to 48 teams that will play in 16 stadiums in a record 104 matches over the 39-day tournament.

Mexico gets the World Cup started Thursday and will be a heavy favorite when it hosts South Africa in Mexico City. The second game of the day will be between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico. All four teams are part of Group A.

Canada and the United States will host their first games Friday. The Canadians will play Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto while the Americans face Paraguay in Inglewood, California.

What to watch June 11

Fox is the exclusive U.S. broadcaster of the World Cup with all 104 matches in English on Fox or FS1. All matches are also available on the Fox One app. Telemundo and Universo will broadcast all of the matches in Spanish. Peacock is the streaming home for Spanish language broadcasts while Telemundo also has an app that includes all the matches.

1. Mexico’s opening ceremony, 1:30 p.m. ET in Mexico City (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)

2. Mexico vs. South Africa, 3 p.m. ET in Mexico City (FOX/Telemundo/Peacock)

3. South Korea vs. Czechia, 10 p.m. ET in Guadalajara, Mexico (FS1/Telemundo/Peacock)

Mexico is a heavy favorite against South Africa

Boosted by a home crowd and a star-studded opening ceremony with performances that include Andrea Bocelli and homegrown talent like Alejandro Fernández and Maná, Mexico hopes to play better in this World Cup than in 2022, when it failed to advance out of the group stage for the first time since 1978. El Tri will be led by veteran Raúl Jiménez and 17-year-old midfielder Gilberto Mora. Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa will be competing in the World Cup for a record sixth time. South Africa is playing in its fourth World Cup and first since it hosted the tournament in 2010.

The games in Mexico will be played at high elevation. The Azteca stadium in Mexico City is at roughly 7,300 feet while Guadalajara sits at 5,138 feet, meaning visiting teams will have to make a significant adjustment to the altitude.

South Korea hopes to build on '22 World Cup success vs. Czechia

South Korea is one of the best teams in Asia and has qualified for 11 tournaments in a row since 1986. The Koreans made it to the round of 16 in 2022 before losing to Brazil. Son Hueng-min, 33, is the captain and might be playing in his last World Cup. The Czech Republic is back in soccer's biggest showcase for the first time in 20 years.

World Cup sticker shock with sky-high prices

FIFA has faced pressure for sky-high World Cup ticket prices and sales tactics that fans say left them with worse deals than they wanted.

The attorneys general in New York and New Jersey, which is hosting eight World Cup matches including the final, announced last month that they are investigating whether FIFA’s ticketing practices violated consumer protection laws.

Some seats for the July 19 final are going for nearly $33,000.

In the U.S., bipartisan skepticism of Infantino, FIFA

In the deeply polarized U.S., few things unite elected leaders outside the White House quite like skepticism of Gianni Infantino and FIFA, the governing body for the world’s most popular sport.

It’s a sentiment that cuts across the divide and spans from Washington to state capitals and city halls.

There are mayors like Zohran Mamdani of New York and Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Democrats who’ve balked at ticket prices. Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who played Division 1 soccer at the U.S. Naval Academy, said FIFA has been “detached from regular people around the world.”

More World Cup news

4. World Cup by the numbers: 104 matches, 48 teams and 3 countries make this the largest ever

5. Iran’s World Cup players wear pins for victims of deadly strike on school as they arrive in Mexico

6. Somali soccer referee denied entry to US for World Cup is welcomed home as a hero

7. Celebrations clash with social tensions in Mexico on the eve of the World Cup

8. Bettors taking a chance on the longshot US in World Cup, though France and Spain remain favorites

9. Pochettino says no Americans among top 100 players yet US can win World Cup

Stats of the day

10. Only eight countries have won the World Cup, with six of those teams winning multiple titles led by Brazil’s five. The only first-time winners in the last 11 Cups came in 1998 when France won the first of its two titles and in 2010 with Spain.

11. There have been six defending champions who failed to make it out of the group stage, including in three of the last four editions. France made it back to the final in 2022 but Italy (2010), Spain (2014) and Germany (2018) all get eliminated before the knockout rounds.

12. South Korea's Son is one of the most accomplished players in the national team's history. His 144 caps rank first while he needs just two goals to match Cha Bum-kun's career record of 58.

13. At just 17 years old, Mexico's Gilberto Mora is the youngest player among the rosters of the 48 teams playing at the tournament. He could become the second-youngest player to score a goal in World Cup history behind Brazil legend Pelé, who was 17 years, 239 days old when he scored in 1958. Here's a look at some of the up-and-coming teenagers in this year's tournament.

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

The following locations will serve as cooling centers, with bottled water provided by Lynchburg Emergency Services:

• Department of Human Services Lobby, 99 Ninth Street - [8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday]
• Miller Center, 301 Grove Street, 2nd Floor Customer Service Desk - [8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday]
• Miller Center, 301 Grove Street, 1st/Ground Floor Entrance to Library Hub (back parking lot) - [10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday]
• Lynchburg Public Library, Downtown Branch, 216 12th Street - [10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday; 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday]
• Salvation Army, 2215 Park Avenue - [12:00 to 5:00 p.m. Friday only]

The City of Lynchburg also released the following information on how to stay cool and other assistance options:

TIPS FOR STAYING COOL

Residents are encouraged to follow these prevention tips from the Virginia Department of Health:

• Drink water. When the temperature rises, it is important to drink plenty of water. Drinks that contain caffeine, large amounts of sugar, or alcohol should be avoided because they can cause you to become dehydrated.
• Keep cool indoors. On hot days, prevent illness by keeping cool indoors. If your home is not air conditioned, try to spend the hottest hours of the day in a cool public place such as a library, movie theater, or store.
• Dress for the heat. Wear lightweight, light-colored clothing. Light colors will reflect away some of the sun’s energy. It is also a good idea to wear hats or to use an umbrella. Always apply sunscreen to exposed skin.
• Limit physical activity. Avoid excessive physical exertion in hot temperatures, especially in the middle of the day. If you must work outdoors, stay hydrated by drinking two to four glasses of water each hour and take frequent breaks in a cool place. Even a few hours in an air-conditioned environment reduces the danger of heat-related illness.
• Do not keep children or pets in cars. Temperatures inside a car with windows up can reach over 150 degrees quickly, resulting in heat stroke and death.
• Check on your neighbors. Although anyone can suffer heat-related illness, some people are at greater risk than others. People aged 65 or older are particularly susceptible to heat-related illnesses and complications that can result during periods of high temperatures and humidity.

In addition, keep animals cool when temperatures soar. According to the Humane Society of the United States, never leave pets in a parked car; limit exercising your pet to early morning or evening hours; make sure pets have protection from heat and sun; always provide pets and plenty of fresh, cold water, whether they are inside or outside.

COOLING ASSISTANCE

Virginia’s Department of Social Services offers Cooling Assistance to help eligible households stay safe and comfortable this summer. The program supports:

• Electric bills to run air conditioners or fans
• Repair or replacement of cooling equipment
• Purchase & installation of one A/C unit (if none is working)
• Security deposits for new or reconnected service

Applications are accepted from June 15 – August 15. You may qualify if your household has someone under age 6, age 60+, or with a disability and meets income limits. Full eligibility details online at https://commonhelp.virginia.gov/ or by calling VDSS at 1-855-635-4370.

SUMMER COOLING FUN

The City of Lynchburg has planned free cooling activities throughout the summer. For more information on these activities and pop-up cooling events during extreme heat events, follow the City of Lynchburg social media and visit our “Stay Cool This Summer” webpage at https://www.lynchburgva.gov/869/Youth-Summer-Fun-Safety.

Initial public offering, or IPO

A company's first offering of stock to the public. It is the first time a company's value will be determined by a public market.

Prospectus

A formal offer to sell shares in the company. It also includes a business plan with details about the company's finances and operations. Also known as an S-1, after the Securities and Exchange Commission form.

Listing

This describes the ticker symbol for the stock and the public exchange where it is being traded. For example, Apple is traded as “AAPL” on the Nasdaq and Macy's is traded as “M” on the New York Stock Exchange. SpaceX plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “SPCX.”

Underwriter

An underwriter is a bank or other financial institution that acts as the intermediary between the company and investors. They purchase the stock being issued by the company in the IPO and sell it to the public. There are often several underwriters involved to share the risk. The lead underwriters for the SpaceX IPO are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

Roadshow

The name for the presentations given by company executives and underwriters to potential investors, typically institutional investors, before the company issues its shares.

Lockup

This is the period of time when executives, insiders and early investors are legally prohibited from selling their shares. It is typically 90 or 180 days and is meant to prevent insiders from quickly cashing out or dumping their shares. Elon Musk and other SpaceX executives have agreed to a lockup period of 366 days.

Over-allotment

This is a provision that allows underwriters of an IPO to sell more shares than initially planned. It is meant to meet unexpectedly high demand or to help stabilize the stock price.

Price range

This is an estimated range for the price of the shares the company is offering provided before the stock is publicly traded. Investors place bids within that range before the listing price is determined. SpaceX went against convention and set a price of $135 for shares in the offering.

Price discovery

This describes the broader process undertaken by the company and underwriters to determine the listing price for the stock. It attempts to balance demand for the stock with the potential supply of shares. The process typically takes longer when an IPO has high interest from potential investors.

The Roanoke Police Department announced Wednesday that it had arrested a man and charged him in connection with the incident that occurred Sunday.

According to officials, Malik Johnson has been charged with aggravated assault and robbery. Investigators are also seeking the identity and whereabouts of a juvenile subject who was seen fleeing the scene.

The individual was last seen wearing a black sweatsuit with a white shirt.

Anyone with information regarding this incident or the identity of the second subject is encouraged to contact the Roanoke Police Department at 540-344-8500.

Original:

A man was injured in a shooting incident that occurred in Roanoke on Sunday afternoon, Roanoke Police Department said.

RPD said they responded to the 700 block of Fairview Road NW around 12:48 p.m. on Sunday after receiving a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found an 18-year-old man with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Authorities said they are now investigating. If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact the Roanoke Police Department at (540) 344-8500.

We will update you with more information as it becomes available.

A heat wave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are set to scrutinize wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever.

“This is truly a marathon,” said Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia's health commissioner.

The mass gatherings come at a tense moment for budget-strapped health agencies in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hit hard by Trump administration staffing cuts, already was grappling with a growing Ebola outbreak in central Africa and a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. While CDC officials have advised state and local health departments behind the scenes, its expected World Cup disease surveillance dashboard still was “in final development” days before games began, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Our public health professionals are pretty stretched,” said global health specialist Rebecca Katz of Georgetown University, who is leading an unusual new hub to help.

At the Health Security Operations Center, a joint effort between Georgetown and MedStar Health, workers are analyzing data from around the country so they can alert health authorities, even emergency rooms, to any early signs of trouble. The center is issuing daily “situation reports” about disease trends around World Cup host cities and team base camps to several hundred local and federal public health groups, emergency management and hospital officials and others who’ve signed up.

“It's important that we don't become alarmist,” said MedStar emergency medicine specialist Dr. Shane Kappler. “We're trying to be the insurance policy.”

Measles is a top concern for potential World Cup spread

Already more than 2,000 people in the U.S. have come down with measles this year, nearly as many as during all of last year, according to the CDC. Patients can spread measles before the rash appears and they realize they're sick. Not too long ago, the U.S. seldom saw measles except from international travel by unvaccinated people.

Now with frequent U.S. outbreaks, "actually a lot of our international partners are worried about measles being exported to them after the games,” said Georgetown’s Katz.

Measles is spreading in Canada, too, and has exceeded 11,000 cases in Mexico, according to PAHO. It’s urging soccer fans to be sure they’re vaccinated, with a health campaign saying a single measles patient can spread the virus to up to 18 unprotected people.

Is Ebola a concern at the World Cup?

Brown University’s Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola while working in the West Africa outbreak over a decade ago, said he’s repeatedly asked about the risk of Ebola during the World Cup — but “for me, Ebola is not the No. 1 or No. 2 or even No. 3 threat.”

“I am concerned about importation of measles, I am much more concerned about the importation of other infectious threats that may not seem as scary to us as Ebola,” Spencer said.

Many health experts agree that the risk of Ebola spreading in the U.S. is very low. That’s partly because of government travel screenings and restrictions on people recently in outbreak-affected areas. Moreover, Ebola spreads by contact with bodily fluids from someone showing symptoms, not through the air like measles or respiratory viruses.

“One fortunate thing about this virus is you’re most contagious when you’re really quite ill. It’s not like COVID, where you could be sitting next to someone who doesn’t even know they’re infected and perhaps contract the virus,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown’s Pandemic Center.

How to spot brewing diseases

There’s precedent for germs invading major sporting events. Canadian scientists linked a community measles outbreak to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and clusters of norovirus had to be contained during the Olympics this year in Milan and in 2018 in South Korea.

One way to detect signs of trouble: People with certain viral or bacterial infections shed genetic material that sophisticated testing of wastewater can spot. For example, measles can appear in wastewater days before an emergency room sees its first patients.

This week's surveillance reports from Katz's center note that wastewater testing recently found diarrhea-causing rotavirus, hepatitis A and norovirus in some parts of the U.S., something to watch as soccer crowds arrive.

In Dallas, officials ramped up wastewater screening including at the international airport, casting a wide net rather than looking for specific illnesses, said Dr. Phil Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

His team also is enhancing the usual mosquito testing, checking not just for West Nile virus that regularly spreads in the U.S. but for viruses more common in other countries like dengue and chikungunya.

Public health officials have been preparing for months, said Philadelphia’s Raval-Nelson, including with mock emergency drills and communications with counterparts around the country.

“I don’t want to send a message that there’s one key thing," she said. “We have the frameworks in place to carry out what we need to.”

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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.

A safety officer blew his whistle and others screamed to warn about 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel to dash to safety as concrete debris crashed down from the leaning three-story building in General Santos city in a frantic scene witnessed by an AP video journalist.

The coastal city, a bustling commercial hub and the country’s tuna capital, was devastated by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Monday and left a trail of destruction across southern Mindanao, the Philippines' second-most populous region.

“It was a strong aftershock and an alarm was immediately sounded so those inside and under the damaged building can run out for a headcount,” said Ressa Mia Tactaquin-Betoya, who speaks for the firefighters searching for the last employee missing in the ruined grocery, where two upper floors collapsed during the initial quake.

“It was scary because we don’t want our rescuers to be harmed so the area must be secured before they can go back in,” she told The Associated Press.

The earthquake has been followed by more than 2,100 aftershocks including a few that ranged up to 6.4 magnitude, which is strong enough to cause more casualties and damage, according to Teresito Bacolcol, who heads the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

More than 25,000 people remain displaced, many of them staying in 45 government-run emergency shelters and still too traumatized to return home, officials said.

Monday's quake was one of the most powerful to hit the Philippines in a half century. It injured at least 630 people and damaged more than 3,100 houses, 29 roads, 11 bridges and more than 100 government buildings.

It also damaged the international airport in General Santos, forcing it to shut down indefinitely except for government and military flights transporting aid and disaster-response personnel, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio said.

About 6,000 public school buildings in quake-hit provinces must be assessed before classes can resume. The quake struck on the first day of classes nationwide after a two-month summer break, and many who sustained injuries were young students who had gathered with excitement for morning flag-raising ceremonies.

Most of the deaths were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in General Santos and the nearby provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Davao Occidental.

At least one person died after being swept out to sea following the quake, as waves up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the southern Philippines. Smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan before tsunami warnings were lifted.

Seven swimmers near General Santos were swept away by strong currents in the minutes after the quake. Three were rescued by the coast guard, one managed to swim back to shore, one drowned and two remain missing, the Philippine coast guard said.

The strong currents that swept away the victims were most likely set off by the earthquake, Bacolcol said.

The earthquake was set off by movement in the Cotabato Trench and was one of the strongest to hit the country since the same undersea depression triggered an 8.1-magnitude quake that whipped up tsunami waves on Aug. 17, 1976 and killed about 8,000 people.

The Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Elon Musk’s rocket company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is steering some of its initial public offering of stock directly to what are called “retail” investors. These are people who buy stocks in a brokerage account on their phone, not pension funds or other big “institutional” investors routing orders to their professional trading desks.

Here are some things to keep in mind as the IPO approaches:

A chunk of SpaceX stock will go to regular investors

Most IPOs offer only 5% to 10% of the total offering to retail investors, according to Fidelity. In this case, though, it could be up to 30%. SpaceX expects retail investors to participate in its IPO through Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi and E-Trade by Morgan Stanley.

At Fidelity, investors with as little as $2,000 in their accounts could potentially snag SpaceX shares in the IPO. That’s down from account minimums of $100,000 or even $500,000 that Fidelity has for other equity offerings.

Demand from investors may be so high in this IPO that not everyone indicating interest will actually get a share.

Trying for a short-term flip has risks

Given all the hype around SpaceX, temptation could be high to grab shares in the IPO and sell them quickly if a frenzy sends its price spiking. But brokerages have policies to block investors from future offerings if they dump shares bought in an IPO quickly, like within a couple weeks.

Big swings in price may be possible

Potentially high interest from retail investors following the IPO is one reason SpaceX is warning that its stock price could be volatile. These investors aren’t known for moving as meticulously as a pension fund, which is trying to build money for payments it must make years or decades in the future.

It’s retail investors, after all, who helped drive GameStop and other “meme stocks” to market-bending heights in 2021 that professional investors called irrational.

IPOs can see a big first-day bounce, but that may not last

The typical IPO has seen a 7% jump in its first day of trading, from 1980 through 2025, according to Jay Ritter, an IPO expert and a professor at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business.

But IPOs tend to lag similar-sized peers in the ensuing five years, not including their first day of trading. They do so by an average of 3.6% per year, according to Ritter.

SpaceX has debt and has been losing money

It’s very expensive to launch things out of the earth’s atmosphere and to construct huge AI data centers, and SpaceX has built up $29.1 billion in debt, as of the end of March.

The company also lost $4.9 billion last year and another $4.3 billion through the first three months of 2026. It acknowledges that it “may not achieve profitability in the future.”

Over the long term, a stock’s price tends to track with how much profit the company is making.

You don’t have to buy SpaceX to own it

You could end up owning some of SpaceX even if you never intended to. Consider the many people who own shares of the popular QQQ exchange-traded fund, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index and has roughly $460 billion in total assets.

Historically, the Nasdaq 100 index would wait until each December to add new members in an annual reconstitution to make sure it includes the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq. But Nasdaq recently made changes to allow some big companies to enter the Nasdaq 100 index after just 15 trading days.

That means if SpaceX’s IPO is as successful as expected, it could quickly join both the Nasdaq 100 and QQQ fund, all while QQQ holders do nothing on their own.

The company behind the more popular S&P 500 index, though, is not making changes that would allow SpaceX faster entry.

Any shares bought would take a back seat to Musk’s in influence

In its IPO, SpaceX is offering 555.6 million shares of its “Class A” stock. Each of these shares gives an investor one vote on matters that shareholders decide. That includes such weighty things as who is on the board of directors overseeing the CEO.

This IPO is not offering what are called “Class B” shares, each of which give its holder 10 votes. Musk, meanwhile, owns so many of those shares that he by himself could control more than 82% of all the stock’s voting power following the IPO.

In filings with U.S. securities regulators, SpaceX acknowledges the potential for conflicts of interest between it and Musk, along with other companies he owns, such as Tesla.

Some big investors really disagree with the ownership structure

Officials from pension funds for firefighters, teachers and other workers in California and New York sent a letter to SpaceX last month decrying some of the provisions in its IPO, including “super voting shares,” mandatory arbitration of shareholder claims instead of the possibility of lawsuits and how much power Musk will hold over the company.

They said they could become owners of SpaceX stock because they hold index funds, which automatically buy stocks after they get included in certain indexes.

If Musk is able to control so much of the voting power on the board of directors, it would make him tremendously powerful atop SpaceX, “essentially making him unfireable without his own consent,” the CEO of California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the New York state comptroller and the New York City comptroller wrote in their letter.

“This level of insulation from accountability is virtually unheard of among any other large U.S. issuer whose governing documents foreclose accountability to public owners on these terms.”

Don’t confuse SpaceX with other companies with similar names

SpaceX plans to trade under the ticker symbol “SPCX.” That’s very close to “SPCE,” which is the symbol for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings.

Most Latter-day Saints do see themselves as Christians. But there are many prominent Christian clergy and scholars who disagree, citing core differences in how they view God and the Trinity and revere a scripture that is not part of the two-testament Christian Bible.

Utah U.S. Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis, both Republicans and Latter-day Saints, challenged the Pentagon’s exclusion of their faith from its list of Christian religions. It was part of the Department of Defense’s recent effort to significantly pare down a list of more than 200 religious affiliations that troops could choose from, deleting categories such as atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans.

“Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country,” Curtis posted on X in defense of his faith. “They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church.”

He also said in his post that it is “unacceptable” for the government to characterize a faith in a way that contradicts how the religion identifies itself — a sentiment echoed widely in the social media blowback.

The Pentagon responded on Monday by removing the Christian label from 20 other traditions, including Catholic, Lutheran and Pentecostal, and stayed away from labeling Latter-day Saints as Christian. The department also issued a statement saying that the new rubric is not intended to “make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religion’s belief,” but to help chaplains do their jobs and structure resources quickly and efficiently.

Latter-day Saints identify as Christians

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, has nearly 18 million members worldwide, with the highest concentration in Utah. The church has a long history of military service; it emphasizes patriotism and chaplaincy support.

In a social media post, Lee said: “My church membership is inextricably intertwined with my Christianity, as it is for 17 million other Latter-day Saints. Regardless of what the Pentagon thinks.”

The church’s website states that it is a “Christian Church, but is neither Catholic nor Protestant.”

“Rather, it is a restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ as originally established by the Savior in the New Testament of the Bible,” the site further explains. “Jesus Christ is central to the lives of Church members. They seek to follow his example by being baptized, praying in His holy name, partaking of the sacrament, doing good to others and bearing witness of Him through both word and deed. The only way to salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.”

Yet the debate about whether Latter-day Saints are Christians goes back nearly 200 years to the days of the church’s founding.

Definitions of God and the Holy Trinity vary

Matthew Bowman, chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California, said the primary difference between major Christian denominations and Latter-day Saints lies in how the nature of God is defined, and their view of the Trinity, the spiritual relationship between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Most Christian faiths believe God is spirit, while founders of the Latter-day Saints believed that God was a human being who achieved Godhood, he said.

Latter-day Saints also reject the Nicene Creed, which emphasizes the doctrine of the Trinity as one divine being.

“They believe that while the three have a relationship, they are distinct beings,” Bowman said.

The Catholic Church has long held that Latter-day Saints are not Christian. Most recently in 2012, the Vatican stated that even if the Latter-day Saint baptismal rite refers to the Trinity, the church’s beliefs about the identities of the three are so different from Catholic and mainline Christian beliefs that the rite cannot be regarded as a Christian baptism.

Tension over religious beliefs spilled over to politics

This debate has raged on in U.S. politics over the decades, resulting in tensions between evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints who have long considered themselves members of the religious right. Like evangelicals, most Latter-day Saints hold conservative views on topics such as abortion and LGBTQ+ issues.

Bowman said the question of Latter-day Saints' Christian identity exploded during Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.

“At the time — and often after that — there continues to be a sense of surprise among Latter-day Saints that the evangelicals didn’t consider them Christian and among evangelicals when they learn that the Latter-day Saints in fact consider themselves Christian,” he said.

The rise of Donald Trump has created a feeling among Latter-day Saints that their old alliance with evangelical Christians is shakier than ever, especially with younger Latter-day Saints viewing evangelicals as a hostile group, Bowman said.

“In the past five years or so, there is a growing push among evangelicals to create a muscular, masculine Christianity, more vocal on doctrine, with some calling (Mormons) heretics,” he said.

LDS chaplains in the military were viewed with suspicion

Philip McLemore, who served as a Latter-day Saint chaplain in the Air Force from 1984 to 2005, said he and others felt discriminated against then, and he was passed up for promotions because of his faith.

“That mostly came from other Christian chaplains and supervisors who believed Mormon chaplains were not Christian,” he said. “They also felt the same way about Christian Scientists.”

McLemore said some of the other Christian chaplains told him they feared that Latter-day Saint chaplains were using the military to proselytize and convert. But he said he could see why other Christians were suspicious of Latter-day Saints.

“Mormonism doesn’t fit comfortably into most classic Christianity mostly because of the founders’ claims of exclusive truth and authority that can be offensive to some,” he said. “Joseph Smith’s first vision — a foundational event for the church — was one of Jesus telling him that all the other churches are false and their creeds are abominations.”

Overall, McLemore does not believe denomination matters much in the military.

“In my experience, service members would not know what your denomination was, and they didn’t care,” he said. “They didn’t consult chaplains on matters of religion. They needed chaplains for personal problems and issues with work, mental health and marriage.”

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AP reporters Konstantin Toropin and Tiffany Stanley 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.

But the situations are notably different.

Vegas had home-ice advantage against Utah and Anaheim, winning both series in six games after they were each 2-2. Now the Golden Knights have to figure out a way to win two of the next three games in the Stanley Cup Final with the possibility that two will be at Carolina, including what would be a winner-take-all Game 7.

Game 5 is there Thursday night.

But the Golden Knights have more issues to confront against the Hurricanes than trying to sneak out a win in one of the NHL's most daunting atmospheres. Whether the Golden Knights address these issues will go a long way toward determining whether they hoist the Cup for the second time in four seasons or rue the missed opportunities of what could have been.

Eichel struggling to score

Jack Eichel has 20 points in the postseason, second only in the NHL to teammate Mitch Marner's 29.

But Eichel has scored just two goals in the playoffs and none in the past six games going back to the Western Conference Final against Colorado. He always has been a pass-first player, but even there Eichel has just two assists against the Hurricanes.

If it's true the stars have to be a team's best players in the playoffs, the Golden Knights badly need Eichel to get back on the scoresheet. He almost did in Tuesday night's 5-3 loss, hitting the puck just over the crossbar on what would have been the tying goal late in the third period. If that had gone in, Vegas might be heading to Carolina for a potential closeout game.

“I know Jack doesn’t have the goals,” Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said after the game. “He was close tonight. He had the game on his stick on the faceoff there, just missed, hit the crossbar, one-timer. I think they’re developing chances, but we do need to finish when we have some opportunities.”

Hart no longer looking so dominant

It’s not all on goalie Carter Hart, who was lights out in the first three rounds. He has been the victim of numerous defensive breakdowns in front of him.

But it’s still hard to dispute the numbers.

Hart was 12-4 with a .924 save percentage and 2.22 goals-against average before the final. He was in the conversation for the Conn Smythe Trophy that goes to the top player in the postseason before allowing four goals in each of the first four games of the final.

Against the Hurricanes, he has an .861 save percentage and 3.60 GAA.

Hart has shined at times. His play in double overtime in Game 3 in which he turned back some dangerous chances was critical in helping the Golden Knights win. But Hart also has given up goals in bunches at times when his team could use at least one big save to minimize the damage.

And some help from the defense would be timely. The Golden Knights had just 12 blocked shots on Tuesday, tying their lowest this postseason.

“Just trust our system, trust each other to step up, block shots, make plays and win our battles,” center Colton Sissons said. “Hartsy will be there when we need him.”

Special teams not so special

Vegas entered the final converting on 23.9% of its power plays, part of a special teams unit that was largely responsible for winning the West. But against the Hurricanes, that number is 8.3%.

On one power play Tuesday, the Golden Knights spent a minute and a half in the offensive zone passing the puck looking for the perfect shot that never came. That did the Hurricanes' work for them.

It's the same on the penalty kill. Carolina entered this series by converting on 12.5% of is power plays, but that number is 36.4% against the Golden Knights.

What makes it even more surprising is the Golden Knights' penalty kill was humming before facing Carolina, working at an 87.5% clip and with a league-best four short-handed goals.

The Hurricanes technically had one power-play goal in Game 4, but another came right after time expired.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Her campaign mirrored her whipsaw career. Mace courted the support of President Donald Trump after harshly criticizing him over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. She emphasized her fights with other Republicans to release files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

In the final days before Tuesday's primary, she called for a law to prevent anyone not born in the U.S. from holding political office or serving as a judge. She suggested that Rom Reddy, another candidate for governor, wasn't qualified because he was a naturalized citizen whose mother was from India and father from Italy.

“I didn’t come out of a slum in India,” Mace said during an appearance in Greenville County this month. “I am born and made here in America.”

By the end of her campaign, she was only making sporadic public appearances. She struggled to raise money and had no presence on television. Mace mostly communicated through social media — a place she has used to her advantage since first being elected to the South Carolina House in 2017.

Mace didn't give an indication of her next plans in her concession speech Tuesday night, although she posted Wednesday on social media that she was “headed back to the private sector” at the end of her current House term. She is backing Alan Wilson in the runoff for governor, even though just last year she accused Wilson of protecting child sex abuse defendants.

“When children needed him to act, Wilson looked the other way," she said.

Wilson will face Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the runoff on June 23. Evette received Trump's endorsement, spurring Mace to lash out on social media.

“Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP,” Mace wrote, incorrectly. “Do not believe her LIES.” Mace posted an AI-generated image of herself posing with Trump.

Where does Mace stand with Trump?

Mace’s history with Trump goes back a decade, and, like many Republicans, it’s had its ups and downs.

She worked as a field director on Trump's 2016 campaign, and he endorsed her first congressional run in 2020, albeit after she won the Republican nomination.

But their rapport fractured as soon as Mace got to Washington. After the freshman House member sought to hold Trump accountable for Jan. 6 and said his “entire legacy” had been “wiped out,” he labeled Mace as “crazy” and solicited primary challengers to take her on. Trump endorsed and campaigned for one of them, but Mace — with future Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita as her media consultant — won anyway, and Trump went on to support her general election bid.

As Trump sought to return to the White House in 2024, Mace didn’t endorse him over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley until a day before the New Hampshire primary.

Mace lauded Trump during a primetime Republican National Convention speech and, after winning her own reelection, branded herself as “Trump in high heels” during the early days of her gubernatorial campaign.

But another fracture was on the horizon. This spring, while angling for Trump’s endorsement, Mace was among several Republicans who joined congressional Democrats to force the Justice Department to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump went on to back Evette, saying she had “never wavered” in her support of him. Evette had endorsed Trump early in the 2024 campaign.

Four congressional Republicans were part of the initial group pushing for a discharge petition forcing the files’ release. Mace and Rep. Thomas Massie lost their races, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned in January.

In a lengthy statement posted after her Tuesday loss, Mace said she had “taken on the rich and powerful in both parties” and “voted to release the Epstein files and lost some support for that.”

From Waffle House to The Citadel to Congress

Mace dropped out of high school and worked as a server at the Waffle House before getting her diploma. She later attended The Citadel and became the first woman to graduate from the state’s military academy. And in recent years, she talked about the importance of defending victims of sexual assault and shared stories of being raped as a teen.

After her political career began in the South Carolina House, Mace got wide praise from Republicans in 2020 for winning back a U.S. House seat around Charleston that had flipped to Democrats for one term.

“For those folks that are out there today that maybe weren’t with us yesterday, I’m asking for a chance — a chance to prove to you that I will be a compassionate leader, a good listener, an independent thinker,” Mace said then.

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Kinnard reported from Washington. Bill Barrow contributed from Atlanta.

The immunization schedule is specifically for pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women. It aligns with prior recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, before changes were made under the Trump administration and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Earlier this year, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists withdrew from a CDC advisory committee on vaccines because of those changes, which have spawned legal challenges.

“So now for the first time, ACOG has made the decision to formally release its own immunization schedule to provide and communicate clear evidence-based guidance and to address the growing vaccine misinformation that is circulating,” said Dr. Christopher Zahn, the OB-GYN group’s chief of clinical practice.

The new schedule has been endorsed by 13 other professional and medical societies. Some other groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have also put out vaccine schedules this year that differ from the CDC's.

Here’s what you need to know about the OB-GYN group's advice.

What does the OB-GYN group advise?

Four immunizations are routinely recommended during pregnancy:

— The flu vaccine, which can be taken any trimester, at any time of year, although it’s best to get it in early fall.

— The COVID-19 shot, which can be taken during any trimester at any time of year, although it’s best to receive it as soon as possible during pregnancy.

— A tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) shot, preferably as early as possible between 27 and 36 weeks.

— A respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy in your first pregnancy, during September through January in most parts of the U.S. If you had the RSV vaccine during a previous pregnancy, you do not need to get it again, the group says, but your baby should get an antibody shot after birth. Your baby can also get that shot instead of you receiving the maternal vaccine.

Other vaccines –- pneumococcal, meningococcal, hepatitis A and hepatitis B –- may be needed for women with certain risk factors. The group recommends talking with your doctor about them.

Three others are recommended before pregnancy or after birth, protecting against human papillomavirus; measles, mumps and rubella; and chickenpox.

How do these recommendations differ from CDC advice?

The biggest difference involves the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last May, Kennedy announced that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy pregnant women and children — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts.

Spokespeople from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Are health care providers seeing pushback on vaccines?

Yes. Several spoke at an event announcing the new guidelines.

“Vaccine hesitancy is huge in this country right now," said Carol Hayes of the American College of Nurse Midwives. “Patients come in all the time saying I’ve done my own research, and sadly, they’re doing research and they’re getting information that is not scientifically based.”

Sarah Vaillancourt of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health said her organization’s members are seeing much the same. Some of the confusion is being fueled by social media, she said.

In such a landscape, she said, it’s “really useful” for the OB-GYN group to provide accurate information for patients.

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

Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state, will host four World Cup matches including South Korea against Czech Republic on the opening day Thursday. Mexico is co-hosting the tournament with the United States and Canada.

Local officials say visitors have nothing to worry about despite the outbreak in violence in February following the Mexican military’s killing of the country’s most powerful cartel boss. The operation and waves of violence killed 70 people as cartel gunmen set fire to cars to block streets and fought with Mexican forces.

“It’s important to remember that normalcy returned to the state in less than 48 hours after what happened in February,” Alfonso Briseño, the security coordinator in Jalisco told The Associated Press in the run-up to the World Cup. “I invite all tourists, all citizens of other countries, especially those who will be playing here in Guadalajara... They will be welcome. The Mexican government and the state of Jalisco guarantee their safety.”

Briseño stressed that Jalisco has not faced any security issues recently and that a resurgence of trouble was not expected. He said local authorities were prepared to react quickly if anything happened again.

Nearly 15,000 security personnel have been deployed in the region, including National Guard officers with assault rifles and vehicle-mounted machine guns near the stadium where the games will be played.

“We are feeling very safe. We are not concerned about the same issues that we had a few months ago,” said Rodolfo Valencia, a 22-year-old resident of Guadalajara. “You can see a lot more police on the streets and there is a sense that there won’t be any problems around here. Having the World Cup here has helped because the authorities had to take action and make sure that everything goes well.”

Jalisco state is the central hub of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, whose leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or “El Mencho,” was killed in a capture attempt by the military in February.

Security in Guadalajara will be a special concern for the June 26 match between Spain and Uruguay, when Spain's King Felipe VI is expected to attend.

Mexico has stepped up security countrywide

More than 100,000 soldiers, marines, National Guard and police officers were expected to be deployed across the three Mexican host cities — Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey — as well as in major tourist destinations during the World Cup.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday the “the opening ceremony is guaranteed” and “the World Cup will be enjoyed.”

Anti-drone teams, surveillance-camera networks, special crowd management units and military and police patrols will operate during the duration of the tournament at Mexican stadiums, fan fests, airports, national-team camps and other strategic facilities in coordination with FIFA.

Cartel violence may be less of an issue than street protests by groups trying to capitalize on the World Cup spotlight to cause unrest, traffic disruptions and bringing central parts of the city to a standstill.

Demonstrators recently knocked down figures of World Cup soccer players, broke into a government building and even played a soccer match on a blockaded street.

Teachers, families of Mexico’s 130,000 missing people, animal rights groups and a range of other social movements in Mexico were trying to put pressure on authorities and make demands.

The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday reiterated its travel advisory for Americans to reconsider going to Jalisco. It also advised visitors to exercise extreme caution in Mexico City and Nuevo León, where Monterrey is located.

Briseño dismissed concerns about security in the region.

“We are prepared for any contingency,” he said in Guadalajara. “We are going to be the best venue, the most Mexican, the most hospitable, and the safest.”

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Associated Press writer María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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

The five firms represented or performed work involving 98 former players who in recent years sought six- to seven-figure payouts from the settlement for Parkinson’s disease claims, the special masters appointed to help oversee the settlement wrote in a report filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

Of those, 37 remained pending and will now be denied, with a chance for the players to restart the claims process. But 57 were approved — totaling more than $95 million — before tips about suspicious activity prompted an audit. The attorneys' share of that came out to about $20 million, the report said, and additional firms may have been involved in similar actions.

The report called it “an organized scheme ... in which these law firms — and potentially others — circumvented the Settlement’s anti-fraud safeguards and laundered questionable Parkinson’s Disease diagnoses into payable claims.”

According to the report, the attorneys involved included Bart Oates, a former three-time Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers who earned his law degree while still playing in the NFL. Oates did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press on his law firm voicemail seeking comment.

NFL fund meant to last for 65 years

The NFL in 2013 agreed to establish the fund, meant to last for 65 years, to settle class-action allegations that it long hid what it knew about the neurological risks of playing after concussions. The plan offers retired players baseline testing and compensation of up to $5 million for the most serious illnesses linked to football concussions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and deaths involving chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

The fund is uncapped; so far it has awarded more than $1.6 billion on about 2,100 claims.

The league has previously expressed concerns about doctor-shopping or other fraud in the disbursement of the money, while some attorneys representing players have accused the league of throwing up roadblocks for players seeking payment.

A judge in 2019 terminated three of the four lawyers serving as class counsel after they objected to restrictions on geographical restrictions on the doctors who can evaluate retired players for dementia and other brain injuries.

A 2020 lawsuit uncovered racial bias in dementia testing that prevented some Black players from being awarded payouts. Hundreds more qualified after they were reassessed using race-neutral tests.

“The NFL remains committed to ensuring that players and their families receive the benefits they deserve, and any misconduct threatens the integrity of the Settlement and the prompt payment of legitimate claims," league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement to the AP. “We are pleased with the Special Masters’ Decision, which sends a clear message that fraud in the NFL Concussion Settlement Program will not be tolerated.”

Under the settlement, only doctors contracted with the claims program are allowed to render qualifying diagnoses; those doctors must be board-certified, have expertise in neurology, and comply with anti-influence rules designed to prevent fraud or kickbacks.

Law firms recruited retired players

The report said that the law firms circumvented that requirement by recruiting retired players as clients and sending them to unapproved doctors who diagnosed them with Parkinson's and prescribed them a drug that suppresses the symptoms.

At one point, retired players waited in a hotel lobby in Dallas to meet with a traveling doctor who had rented a suite for the purpose of examining them for Parkinson’s, the report said. Another unapproved doctor used by the firms was neither board-certified nor known to be a movement disorders specialist, but even if he were, he would have been ineligible due to past bankruptcy, tax liens and civil judgments, it said.

After the diagnosis and prescription from an unapproved doctor, the law firms sent the clients to approved ones — who were hamstrung in making a decision about whether the former player had the disease, because the player was already on medication to suppress the symptoms, the report said. The approved doctors typically could rely only on the past medical history: the prior diagnosis and current prescription.

The report identified the law firms involved as Douglas Grossinger, Attorney at Law; Feder Law, LLC; Pro Athlete Law Firm, P.A.; Syme Law, PLLC; and Reppert Oates & Vytell, LLC. It said the practice began with Grossinger, who then recruited other attorneys to submit claims for him so as to avoid raising suspicion for submitting so many Parkinson's claims.

Oates did not farm out claims to other attorneys, but he engaged in a similar practice with diagnoses, the report said, with informants telling auditors that he “cold-called Retired NFL Players, promising a Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease” if the players switched from another law firm to his.

“By structuring their clients’ evaluations in this way, Mr. Grossinger and ROV deliberately put (approved) Physicians in a position where they had little choice but to defer to manufactured outside records,” the report said.

Grossinger, a New York-licensed attorney, declined to comment on the record when contacted by the AP. Pennsylvania-based Fred Feder said in a text message he would not make any statement without first consulting his lawyer. The AP could not immediately confirm contact information for Syme Law or Pro Athlete Law Firm.

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Johnson reported from Seattle. AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

With the World Cup about to kick off, security is heightened and there’s a zero-tolerance policy for drones over or near stadiums during the 78 matches in 11 U.S. cities.

Authorities have ratcheted up counter-drone measures used at the Super Bowl and other major events, while Congress has given law enforcement broader authority to electronically disable drones or shoot them down.

“The war in Ukraine has become a real-world testing ground for drone technology, and if there is one threat that keeps me up at night, it is from drones,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Taking the threat seriously

Congress just gave state and local law enforcement the green light to take control of a threatening drone or even shoot them down if needed in December, though the first option will be to disable them electronically and land them safely. Key federal agencies already had that power.

The Federal Aviation Administration will restrict the airspace around and over crowded stadiums for World Cup games and fan events — much like it has done for years around NFL and Major League Baseball games. Violators can face fines up to $100,000, see their drones confiscated and even face criminal charges for flying within three miles of one of the games. But those penalties likely wouldn’t deter a determined terrorist.

The FBI has spent the last seven years building up its capability to deal with drones by investing in the technology needed to quickly identify drones and take control of them, and authorities have been using that already at major events. The bureau also provided counter drone technology training this year to law enforcement in all World Cup host cities that taught them how to recognize dangerous drones and respond.

The military has also developed counter drone lasers like the ones used along the Mexican border earlier this year and other systems to shoot down drones, but the FBI is not planning to do that during the World Cup because of the dangers involved with the wreckage of a drone falling over a major city.

“If the drone is intercepted and it no longer flies, it’s going to fall. And as we say, no matter what you do, you can’t change the law of gravity,” said national security expert Hal Kempfer, who estimates that he has trained more than 30,000 law enforcement officers on counter-terrorism techniques.

‘Everybody’s a little behind’

The government has invested heavily in systems that should allow officers to take control of suspicious drones and land them safely or jam their signals, including handing out $250 million to help states prepare to protect World Cup matches and the big public events planned this summer to honor America's 250th birthday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Congress at a recent hearing that federal officers have successfully dealt with drones over several recent events, including bringing down eight drones over a Formula 1 race in Miami and 12 that entered the no fly zone over the Masters golf tournament, but “everybody's a little behind” the rapidly evolving technology.

“Biggest concern I have is honestly with drones,” Mullin said. “I wouldn’t say a vulnerability, but it is, it is one of the areas that we are struggling with every single day.”

Drones are scary in the wrong hands

The FBI is taking a “zero-tolerance” approach to protecting the airspace around World Cup events. Devin Kowalski, an FBI assistant director in charge of the bureau’s Critical Incident Response Group, said the agency plans to treat all drones “like they could be a real-deal threat.” Other federal agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard, will take the lead at several stadiums while the FBI protects three of them.

“When that drone comes into the TFR (Temporary Flight Restricted area), we’re handling it as if it’s something that could hurt people, and we’re aggressively locating its operator and conducting the logical investigation to determine the nature of the situation as well as to hold that person accountable,” Kowalksi said in an interview with The Associated Press.

ATF Director Rob Cekada said in an interview that the focus now is on protecting the World Cup, but the America 250 events, World Series, Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics aren’t far behind. “Then think about all the events in every community in the country — high school and college games — that are a concern for our state and local partners. So we want to do what we can to help them as best as possible,” he said.

Derek Reisfield, who is the former president of one of the companies providing counter-drone technology to the host cities, said “this technology in the wrong hands is very scary,” and there are many around the globe who want to harm America.

“We have to assume that there’s somebody in Iran who’s spending every day thinking about how they can attack the United States on our home turf,” said Reisfield, who used to lead Ondas and now serves on the board of a Ukrainian company called Swarmer that makes software that allows one person to control hundreds of drones.

Early detection could be key to stopping drones

Some of the technology could allow authorities to detect drones up to 25 miles (40 kilometers) out, which would provide more time to mitigate the threat, according to Matt Sloane, the co-founder of SkyfireAI. But it's possible that someone could sneak a drone up close to a stadium and launch it from less than a mile away (less than 1.6 kilometers), which would leave little time to act.

And the systems designed to jam the signal from an operator or take control of a drone might not be effective if it is preprogrammed to crash into a stadium full of fans while carrying an explosive payload or if it is controlled over a fiber optic line.

The battlefield tactic that might pose the greatest threat would be sending a swarm of multiple drones to attack at the same time. Even with the best defenses, a few drones might sneak through to the target as Iran has been able to do with large numbers of its Shaheed drones. The U.S. military has an assortment of weapons to knock drones out of the sky, but Iran has still be able to hit targets across the Middle East.

But Sloane he feels like the government is doing what it can to be ready.

“The threat is real, certainly. But I do think that there’s a lot being done to prepare for it. To educate about it,” said Sloane, whose company has helped protect Super Bowls in the past. “And then we just need to tell everybody who’s just trying to take pretty pictures ‘Hey this is not the time. Keep your drone in the box.’”

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

Elsewhere, users will get to see parts of matches live on YouTube and TikTok for the first time.

Forget about the exclusivity of traditional over-the-air networks: The World Cup will be watched differently this time.

As FIFA pushes to engage a new generation of fans, younger audiences will have more options to access soccer’s showcase event thanks to what soccer's governing body describes as a record number of deals with broadcast partners that carry digital-only platforms. Creators’ perspectives will be brought to the forefront and user experiences worldwide will be enhanced thanks to what FIFA is calling “game-changing” partnerships.

The goal is to grab viewers' attention, effectively giving them an appetizer that will encourage them to go back and watch the games on traditional channels.

Co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, this year's World Cup — the biggest ever, with 48 teams — begins Thursday and will run through July 19.

Brazil’s CazéTV has the rights to all games

Brazil historically has been one of the countries with the most engagement on social media and digital platforms.

FIFA took notice, and four years ago did a type of a test run with popular streamer Casimiro Miguel, now 32, who had shown success engaging with younger sports fans on his Twitch channel. For the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA reached a deal with him — and his partner LiveMode — to broadcast 22 matches on the CazéTV YouTube channel.

With a more informal and conversational approach to the broadcast, along with increased fan engagement and the participation of content creators as commentators, the trial was considered a resounding success. It led to an expanded deal for the tournament this year, with CazéTV becoming the only channel — digital or traditional — with rights to all 104 games in Brazil. The network Globo, the home of soccer in Brazil for decades, will show 55 games.

“FIFA is always looking at innovative ways about how to enhance the broadcast coverage of our flagship competitions and the deal with CazéTV is an example of such, which will ensure football fans in Brazil will be able to watch all 104 games, while also helping to reach new audiences and demographics,” the governing body told The Associated Press in a statement.

A Cristiano Ronaldo connection

LiveMode, the Brazilian company that has CazéTV under its umbrella and broadcasts matches with content creators, announced last month that it had launched an international broadcast arm of the company and that Cristiano Ronaldo was one of its shareholders.

LiveMode's channel in Portugal will broadcast one game per day during the World Cup, including all of Portugal's matches and the final. The 41-year-old Ronaldo, one of soccer's all-time greats, is making his sixth World Cup appearance with the national team.

“There is an audience that connects with digital first, and digital allows us to bring this new audience to follow major sporting events,” LiveMode co-founder Sergio Lopes told the AP. “Generally, this audience is younger and doesn’t just want to watch a match. They want to participate in the conversation, interact in real time, and feel like they are part of a community.”

YouTube and TikTok deals

FIFA earlier this year picked TikTok as the first “preferred platform” for video content on social media at the World Cup, giving creators access to content. World Cup broadcast rights holders can livestream parts of the 104 games at a dedicated hub on the TikTok app. Then in March, FIFA reached a deal with YouTube to also allow rights-holding broadcasters to stream game action live on the video platform. Rights holders will be allowed to broadcast the first 10 minutes of games.

“YouTube is where global sports fans tune in before, during, and after the game. That is what makes our preferred partnership with FIFA for World Cup 2026 so unique,” said Angela Courtin, YouTube's vice president of entertainment and sports marketing. “Between the incredible reach of our creator cohort and providing FIFA’s media partners with a pathway to upload more premium content to their YouTube channels, plus our live YouTube FIFA Creator Cup in New York City this July, we are ushering in the next generation of soccer fans for years to come.”

Taking aim at world records

With the new deals, FIFA expects the 2026 World Cup to break all records related to digital and streaming audiences.

In 2022, FIFA reported 5 billion total engagements during the tournament in Qatar, with 2.7 billion coming through digital and streaming services, and 2.9 from linear television. Nearly 1.5 billion people watched the final won by Argentina, with 237 million of them being digital-only viewers, according to FIFA.

In the U.S., Fox holds the rights for the 2026 World Cup, and there were no exclusive deals by FIFA with digital platforms, though the network will have every match streaming live and on-demand within its apps. Streaming giant Netflix has secured the U.S. broadcasting rights to the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031, in the most significant deal FIFA has signed with a streaming service for a major tournament.

“We are seeing that sport needs to occupy all screens, engage with all audiences to grow,” LiveModeTV co-founder Lopes said. “New audiences expect authenticity, interaction and different ways to follow an event. The World Cup continues to be the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet, but the way to experience it is also becoming more social, more participatory, more accessible, and more connected to the digital habits of each generation.”

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

Wagner’s four-opera epic “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” approaching the 150th anniversary of its premiere in 1876, has been reinterpreted and deconstructed by directors finding various meanings in the conflicts among gods, humans, giants and dwarfs.

While most new recordings are on video, Luisi led his Dallas Symphony Orchestra in concert performances that were released on 13 compact discs by Delos on May 22 and are available on streaming services.

“Wagner conceived this as a total immersion in visual and acoustic, but I could focus really only on the music, and this was the point actually — not to be distracted by staging and not to have to cope with maybe strange ideas of staging,” Luisi said. “I think the music tells everything.”

Luisi became DSO music director in 2020 and broached the idea while dining two years later with Morton H. Meyerson, a longtime board member.

“Fabio came back from lunch sort of giddy but sort of sheepishly saying: `Do you think that this would ever be possible?” recalled Kim Noltemy, the Dallas CEO at the time. “So, I said, well, let’s give it a try. So, we called around to see if there were people who wanted to support it and did a budget.”

After securing a waiver from the orchestra allowing for the needed rehearsals and performance length, recordings were made during four concerts from May 1-5 and six more from Oct. 5-20. Each opera was performed two or three times.

Americans in cast fill big roles

American singers featured prominently, with Mark Delavan as Wotan, Lise Lindstrom as Brünnhilde and Sara Jakubiak as Sieglinde, part of a cast that included Christopher Ventris (Siegmund), Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), Deniz Uzun (Fricka), Tómas Tómasson (Alberich), Michael Laurenz (Mime) and Stephen Milling (Hagen).

Delavan sang Wotan at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 2013 after Luisi took over from an ailing James Levine in Robert Lepage’s much-maligned production staged on a 45-ton set of 24 rotating planks.

“We’re accessible and they know that we’re hungry and we have a chip on our shoulders,” Delavan said. “What conductors like about American singers is their technique is sound. Even a European conductor would say: Well, I’m going to give up some of the communication skills, only one degree of separation with the language, but I’m going to get a solid technique, and I’m going to get pretty good acting chops.”

Lindstrom has been in Atlanta to sing in its production of “Götterdämmerung,” the concluding night of the tetralogy, leading to what is being billed as the first complete Ring Cycles in the America South in 2029.

“The wonderful thing about it is the intimacy between the orchestra and us, because we’re not separated by a chunk of stage or a chunk a scenery or a chunk of concept,” she said of the Dallas performances. “And for people like me, who have had the opportunity to perform the role before, I have all those iterations to rely on for my portrayal that I can sort of filter myself through.”

A younger Luisi listened to famous renditions

Luisi, 67, first heard a Ring recording in Georg Solti’s famous studio set with the Vienna Philharmonic from 1958-65. He also admires Karl Böhm’s live recording from the 1967 Bayreuth Festival and Marek Janowski’s 1980-83 studio version with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

He first conducted Ring when he was music director of Dresden’s Semperoper from 2007-10. Luisi’s Dallas performances include more legato and softer sound than his rendition a decade earlier at the Met. He tries to keep an arc from the first notes of “Das Rheingold” to the final strains of “Götterdämmerung.”

“I have a deeper understanding about the meaning of this piece,” he said. “I consider the ring to be a big Bruckner symphony. So we have the introduction, then we have the first movement, this is “Walküre,” which happens to be a slow movement, and then we have the scherzo, which is “Siegfried,” of course, and then the long, long, last movement. There is a unity.”

The drivers wore white “Stop Ebola” T-shirts and displayed public health messages and illustrations on how to prevent the disease as they rode through the streets of Bunia and Rwampara, two towns in Congo's eastern province of Ituri at the heart of the outbreak.

The province accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, as well as a handful across the border in Uganda.

There have been 115 confirmed deaths from the disease, out of at least 598 cases confirmed so far, according to a report by Congolese authorities late Tuesday.

Still the outbreak has been met with skepticism and misinformation among communities where residents sometimes deny there is an outbreak or strongly oppose the strict measures imposed by health workers on burials of the bodies of victims to minimize the spread of the disease.

Residents in Ituri province have launched at least three attacks on health centers when demanding the bodies of deceased patients. Overall, more than 520 incidents impacting the work of health professionals have been reported, according to Marie Roseline Darnycka Belizaire, WHO’s emergency director for Africa.

Taxi drivers can help spread the word that medical workers are just trying to stop the spread, said Jacques Maliro, the World Health Organization’s Risk Communication and Community Engagement Officer, one of the organizers of the caravan.

“Response teams have been attacked in some areas, and that is one reason why we chose to involve motorcycle taxi drivers. They are an important group because they transport both sick and healthy people, so they too need to be informed and engaged,” Maliro said.

Misinformation spreading in the communities of Ituri have discouraged residents from adhering to health warnings or seeking medical help, health officials say. At the onset of the outbreak, some churches told their congregations that the outbreak is fake and that divine protection makes medical care unnecessary.

“Those who do not believe in it need to understand that it is real,” said Josue Mbabona, a motorcycle taxi driver from the caravan, adding that he has already lost three family members to Ebola.

Front-line health workers, who labor with little pay or rest, have also been unable to reach some communities cut off by conflict involving armed rebels.

Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to neighboring Rwanda or the extremist Islamic State group.

The response has also been hampered by shortages of essential supplies. Residents and local officials in Bunia on Wednesday cited a shortage of water needed for the frequent handwashing recommended to curb the spread of the virus.

The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which does not have an approved vaccine or treatment unlike the “Zaire virus,” responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

“The vaccine needs to be available so that we can protect ourselves, move forward, and return to normal life,” David Kasimwa, a student participating in the caravan said. “This disease has disrupted many activities: We are no longer able to travel freely because we are afraid,” he added.

Three vaccine candidates are currently in development. Africa’s top public health agency said last month it aims to have a vaccine and treatment against Bundibugyo virus available by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, several countries have imposed travel restrictions or enhanced screening measures for travelers arriving from Ebola-affected areas, though WHO have not recommended broad travel bans.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged European countries to tighten travel restrictions on people arriving from Ebola-affected countries in Africa, warning that failure to do so could lead to stricter U.S. travel measures for arrivals from Europe, including during the World Cup.

There are relatively few direct flights between Africa and the United State per day but more than 300 direct daily flights between Europe and the United States.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Constant Same Bagalwa in Bunia, Congo contributed.

Creasy brings more than 30 years of experience in fire and emergency services to the role. He is well known in the community, having held a variety of positions in the Lynchburg area and beyond.

Currently, he serves as executive director of the Virginia Department of Fire Programs, where he oversees a state agency responsible for firefighter training, professional development, grant administration, and fire prevention programs.

He stepped into that role in 2022, when he was appointed by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and was later reappointed by current Gov. Abigail Spanberger this year. Creasy continues to work with the governor and the secretary of public safety and homeland security on fire and EMS legislation, regulations, and policy.

In addition, he serves on the Virginia Public Safety Foundation Board of Directors, the FEMA Fire Investigator Comprehensive Occupational Study Advisory Board, and the Bedford Community Health Foundation Board.

Creasy is a graduate of Liberty University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in business management and administration. He previously served as fire chief for the Town of Bedford Fire Department from 2008 to 2022 and held leadership roles with Roanoke Fire-EMS.

He has had many accomplishments during the span of his career, including the Governor of Virginia Fire Service Award – Fire Chief of the Year in 2021 and the Southeastern Association of Fire Chiefs Fire Chief of the Year in 2022. He also holds the Center for Public Safety Excellence Chief Fire Officer (CFO) designation.

“Brad Creasy distinguished himself throughout this process as a highly respected leader with a proven record of service and innovative organizational leadership,” said City Manager Wynter C. Benda. “His experience leading at the local, regional, and state levels, combined with his commitment to workforce development, community engagement, operational excellence, and firefighter wellness, makes him exceptionally well-suited to lead the Lynchburg Fire Department into the future. We are excited to welcome him to the City of Lynchburg.”

“I am deeply honored and excited to accept the opportunity to serve as Lynchburg’s next Fire Chief,” said Creasy. “I have tremendous respect for the proud tradition that has been built by the men and women of this organization, and I look forward to working alongside our firefighters, elected officials, and community partners to continue that legacy. Together, we will build upon the department’s many strengths, embrace opportunities for growth, and ensure we remain prepared to meet the evolving needs of the community. I am grateful for the trust that has been placed in me and am enthusiastic about the future of the Lynchburg Fire Department. I look forward to listening, learning, and leading as we continue our mission of providing exceptional service to our community.”

Creasy will officially begin his role as fire chief in July.

Auburn was on the board with a couple of runs in the bottom of the first before Honaker put a run on the board. Auburn would explode in the later innings offensively, securing a win and advancing to the semifinal.

Auburn turns to take on William Campbell on Friday at 10 a.m. at Salem’s Moyer Complex.

Hidden Valley baseball was on the board first in their first state playoff game since 2012, however, they allowed an avalanche of runs to Spotswood to end their season with a 17-7 record.

According to a Facebook post, the business was vandalized Monday night with someone allegedly cutting electrical wires.

The A.C in the building was damaged and is no longer working. The business says they closed for the day for HVAC repairs, while also reviewing security footage.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police.

According to officials, at approximately 2:17 p.m. officers responded to the 3800 block of Panorama Ave NW for the report of a shooting.

Upon arrival, officers located a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment; the extent of his injuries has not been released at this time.

The incident is under investigation, and officials are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to contact the Roanoke Police Department at (540) 344-8500.

Afghanistan said the strikes hit the eastern provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika, and government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said 13 people were killed — 11 children, one woman and an older man — with 14 other civilians wounded.

Pakistan confirmed it carried out strikes, saying it targeted militant hideouts and infrastructure linked to recent attacks inside Pakistan and that 26 militants were killed. The two sides often give widely differing casualty figures.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan since February, when Afghanistan attacked Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Several rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to produce a lasting truce.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since it seized power in the country in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

Seven children killed in the strikes are buried

In Khost, hundreds of mourners attended the funerals of nine people killed — seven children ranging in age from 3 to 15, a woman and a man. All were from the same family, killed when their house collapsed from the airstrike, relatives said.

Residents knelt to mourn at the open casket of a small child.

One mourner, Talib Gul, said those killed were his uncle and aunt along with their four daughters and three sons.

“In my uncle’s family, only two of his daughters survived. The rest of his entire family was martyred,” Gul said.

He said a second strike hit his brother's house, causing significant damage and killing many livestock that are central to livelihoods there.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Kabul to protest ”the violation of Afghan airspace and the bombing of the homes of innocent civilians,” deputy spokesperson and public relations director Zia Ahmad Takal said in a statement, adding that Pakistan should “find a fundamental solution to its internal problems.”

Pakistan says it targeted militant hideouts

In a post on X, Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said strikes were carried out in border areas on "hideouts and safe havens of masterminds and planners" of attacks carried out by the Pakistani Taliban and insurgents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

Tarar said four targets were destroyed: a training center, a hideout, an ammunition cache and a facility belonging to militant commanders.

Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign will continue “at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism,” he said.

Pakistan’s information ministry on X dismissed Afghanistan's reports of civilian casualties, asserting that “Afghan Taliban accounts are peddling propaganda.”

Wednesday's strikes came a day after suspected Pakistani Taliban militants attacked a security post in Pakistan's Hasan Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, triggering a gunfight in which six members of the Federal Constabulary were killed and several others wounded, according to Pakistan’s interior ministry.

Local authorities in Pakistan said Tuesday that security forces killed eight of the attackers and thwarted an attempt to overrun the checkpoint.

The situation along the border was calm hours after Wednesday's strikes. Kabul has previously responded to strikes by targeting Pakistani posts along the frontier hours or days later.

Fighting has closed the border since October

Pakistan in February declared it was in open war with Afghanistan, following a surge in militant attacks on its civilians and security forces.

Afghanistan has said a Pakistani airstrike in March hit a drug treatment center in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. Pakistan has disputed the toll and denied targeting civilians, saying it struck an ammunition depot.

Wednesday's strikes come months after China hosted peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Beijing later said they had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

Authorities in Pakistan have said China and some other friendly countries were still encouraging both sides to reach an agreement for durable peace.

Masood Khan, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the solution to the tensions lies in enforcing a decree by Afghanistan's Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordering the TTP to stop attacks on Pakistan.

“That decree must be implemented sincerely and faithfully,” Khan said.

The border has been closed since October, disrupting trade and transportation and stranding thousands of people.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

Rita Priyadarshani Francis, 58, is from Fenton, Missouri and has no known ties to the Bedford area; however, investigators believe that it is possible that she might have stayed at other nearby hotels and might have used public transportation or rideshare service during her time in the area.

Her family members are concerned for Francis’ well-being due to her medical history and the fact that she might be without necessary medication. Authorities say the last known contact with Francis was on May 16. She is described as 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighs approximately 200 pounds.

Anyone who has seen Francis, recognizes her, or may have had contact with her is asked to contact the Bedford Police Department Crime Line at 540-587-6102 or by email at crimeline@bedfordva.gov.

The request followed reports that the Oilers expressed interest in hiring Babcock. Both people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the talks were private.

It was not clear whether the league had resumed or restarted an investigation of the veteran coach who has drawn criticism in recent years for his approach with players. All coaching hires are subject to league approval.

Babcock resigned from the Blue Jackets in September 2023, less than three months after taking the job. At the time, Babcock's requests for personal photos from players in an attempt to get to know them drew criticism as an invasion of privacy.

“Our players deserve to be treated with respect in the workplace,” NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said then. “Unfortunately, that was not the case in Columbus. The club’s decision to move forward with a new head coach is the appropriate course of action.”

The union reviewed the situation, but the NHL dropped its planned investigation of the situation when Babcock stepped down.

Babcock, who turned 63 on April 29, has not coached a game in the league since being fired by Toronto 23 games into the 2019-20 season. He coached Detroit to the Stanley Cup in 2008, reached the final with the Red Wings in '09 and Anaheim in ’03, and helped Canada win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2010 and '14.

Once considered one of the best in the profession, former players have spoken out about Babcock's old-school tendencies that some say can be considered bullying.

A report surfaced after the Maple Leafs fired Babcock that he had asked a player to share his ranking of teammates from hardest- to least-hardest working and then shared that with the rest of the group. Former Red Wings player Johan Franzen told a Swedish outlet that Babcock was the worst person he had ever met and said at one point he was terrified to go to the rink.

The Oilers are looking for a replacement for Kris Knoblauch after firing him following their first-round playoff exit, despite back-to-back trips to the final before that. They asked Vegas for permission to speak to recently fired coach Bruce Cassidy, but the Golden Knights rejected that request because he remains under contract through next season.

The NHL Coaches' Association expressed dissatisfaction over the matter. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly last week said Vegas was not in violation of any rules for denying permission.

“We don’t find it unreasonable because we’re allowing it to happen,” he said. “I do think Vegas is clearly within their contractual rights to do what they’re doing."

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The bill provides $38 billion for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $26 billion for the Border Patrol. An additional $5 billion would cover unforeseen costs, according to the White House.

Trump signed the legislation in the Oval Office a day after House Republicans pushed the measure through by a 214-212 vote over the objections of Democrats. His signature ended a nearly six-month fight over Department of Homeland Security funding that began with shooting deaths of deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in January during federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis.

Democrats began demanding changes to immigration enforcement after the shootings, creating an impasse — and resulting in the longest agency in history — that ultimately led Republicans to go it alone on the funding.

The agencies will be funded through the next three years. The new law front-loads routine annual funding, ensuring a virtually uninterrupted flow of money as the Trump administration seeks to deport some 1 million people per year.

The legislation had become sidetracked over $1 billion for White House security, including for Trump’s new ballroom, and a $1.8 billion fund to compensate his allies who claim to be victims of political prosecution. Both proposals became politically toxic and were scrapped.

The bill as passed focused exclusively on immigration enforcement, a topic that Republicans have treated as a defining issue between the two major political parties and one the GOP hopes will carry it to victory in November's midterm elections.

A resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's board also said that giving information and access are “essential and urgent” in order to enable verification that there's no “diversion of nuclear material.”

Twenty-one countries on the IAEA’s 35-member board of governors voted for the resolution at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote.

Russia, China and Niger opposed it, while 10 countries abstained and one didn't vote as it was in arrears.

The resolution was put forward by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.

A senior Western diplomat, who wasn't authorized to speak about the sensitive matter so requested anonymity, said that the resolution “aims to keep diplomatic pressure on Iran to come into compliance with its legal safeguards obligations.”

The resolution comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East, with the U.S. having launched airstrikes early Wednesday against Iran, and Tehran firing back at countries in the region. The escalating attacks threatened to derail efforts to end the war, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that the Iranian government would “pay the price” for stalled peace negotiations.

Since Israel and the United States struck Iran’s nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June 2025, Iran hasn't given IAEA inspectors access to nuclear sites that were affected by the strikes — even though Tehran is legally obliged to cooperate with the watchdog under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The agency also has been unable to verify the status of the stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since the June bombing.

According to the IAEA, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned in a recent interview with The Associated Press. He said that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Iran says that it's not pursuing nuclear weapons, and its program is entirely peaceful.

Talking to reporters outside the IAEA boardroom, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, denounced Wednesday’s resolution and said that the document describes the situation in Iran “as being quite normal and as if nothing had happened.”

He said that “under the current unprecedented security environment created by the attacks and continued threats by the aggressors, the legal, technical, and operational foundations for the normal implementation of safeguards in Iran have been destroyed.”

Najafi also said that Iran had granted the IAEA access to “all unaffected facilities,” saying that the resolution “neglects all Iran’s cooperation with the agency, even under war conditions.”

The resolution also “deeply regrets” Iran’s “failure to remedy” its noncompliance with its nonproliferation obligations over the past 12 months. The IAEA board found Iran officially in noncompliance with its safeguards agreement last June for the first time in 20 years – right before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites.

Central to this issue is a long-running investigation by the U.N. nuclear watchdog into uranium traces detected by inspectors at various undeclared sites in Iran.

Iran has failed to provide the agency with “technically credible answers” regarding the origin and current location of this nuclear material since 2019.

Western officials suspect that the uranium traces could provide further evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003.

Wednesday’s resolution fell short of referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council to consider more sanctions for the country's noncompliance, a move that last happened in February 2006 after Iran was found in noncompliance.

The resolution on Wednesday leaves that door open, however, stating that the IAEA board “will stand ready to take further action,” including by addressing the “timing and content” of a formal noncompliance report by the IAEA for consideration by the U.N. Security Council.

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Ka Nye Taylor is wanted on 11 counts of felonious assault, the Toledo Police Department said Wednesday, four days after the shooting in a park filled with event tents, a music stage and food trucks.

Police on Wednesday released a photo of a second male suspect dressed in all black at the festival. Phone numbers for Taylor or his family members were not immediately available or found in online directories.

The shooting erupted after someone was tackled and assaulted at the festival, leading one person to open fire and a second to respond with more gunshots, Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle said at a news conference Tuesday.

Three of the 12 people shot were involved in the altercation, authorities said, while the rest were bystanders. The wounded ranged in age from teenagers to one person in their 60s. All but three had been released from the hospital by Tuesday.

The police chief and other city officials praised officers and good Samaritans who quickly helped the victims.

“We saw strangers who were shocked and frightened by the violence they just saw, they jumped into action,” said Chief of Fire and Rescue Allison Armstrong. “They helped others by placing tourniquets, dressing wounds, applying pressure and comforting those victims until additional help could arrive.”

Half the victims arrived at hospitals with tourniquets applied by either police or bystanders, Armstrong said.

Hundreds of people were at the Old West End Festival, an annual two-day celebration in Toledo’s historic district that covers several city blocks and features live music, vendors and home tours. Toledo is located in northwest Ohio near the western edge of Lake Erie, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southwest of Detroit.

The remainder of the festival was canceled Sunday. Organizers said it would not have been "compassionate, responsible or possible” to continue through he weekend.

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

The mass shooting unfolded late Tuesday night in an informal settlement in Johannesburg's Cleveland suburb, police said. At least 10 attackers participated in the killings.

Organized crime gangs have long vied for control of illegal mining and other activities in Johannesburg. Police did not provide a motive, saying the shooting is under investigation.

Police said in a statement that the shooters “moved through the area, opening fire on residents and community members at multiple locations before fleeing the scene.”

Nine men and three women were killed, according to police. Eleven died at the scene and one died in a hospital.

Police say the shooting was insane and barbaric

Police are searching for the suspects and their vehicle but no arrests have been made.

The provincial police commissioner, Tommy Mthombeni, called the killings “insane, heartless and, to a certain extent, barbaric.” Mthombeni said it was too early to link the violence to illegal mining gangs but that police were investigating. He said police confiscated illegal firearms, including assault rifles, in a recent operation in the area and that illegal miners were known to operate there.

Ambulances were on the scene on Wednesday morning to carry away the victims' bodies while community members huddled in groups on the streets. Some of them said their homes had been struck by bullets.

Resident Nkosinathi Phatha said his uncle was among those who were killed.

“I was sleeping at home with my daughter, but we all woke up when the gunshots started going off," Phatha said. “I’m still shaking even now, my young girl is still traumatized.”

Informal settlements are common in and around big cities in South Africa, where people looking for permanent housing live in shacks and other makeshift structures. Illegal miners sometimes operate in the same areas.

Residents said the settlement had a problem with illegal miners and that police rarely help.

“This area is not safe ... The police are not doing anything about it, and we will get into trouble if we start taking the law into our own hands,” said Phatha.

‘This was basically a massacre’

The government of Africa’s biggest economy deployed the army to high-risk areas — including in and around Johannesburg — in March to clamp down on illegal mines run by criminal syndicates and other organized crime. The yearlong operation has been decried by opposition lawmakers and crime analysts as an admission that police are losing the battle against organized crime.

South Africa has extremely high violent crime rates, with the country recording more than 23,000 killings in the last financial year, according to official crime statistics, an average of more than 60 a day.

Jack Bloom, a local politician, said there had been crime and murders in the area before, but this shooting was different and appeared to be related to criminal gangs.

“This was basically a massacre. It’s horrifying,” Bloom said.

Illegal gold mining is rampant in the area

South Africa has been hit by several recent high-profile mass shootings, including two in December that left more than 20 people dead. One of those attacks also involved multiple shooters.

Violent gangs are involved in illicit mining in and around Johannesburg, which has large gold reserves and many abandoned mines. The gangs search the abandoned mines for leftover gold deposits, which they sometimes store in hideouts in the informal settlements. Rival gangs also fight turf wars or use violence against communities to establish control in those areas.

Local council member Neuren Pietersen confirmed that illegal mining gangs have ties to Cleveland but said other problems exist in the suburb, such as tension over land, and that he is not sure those gangs were responsible for the latest killings.

“There are a lot of moving parts here so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is driving the issues,” Pietersen said in an interview with eNCA TV station.

Acting national police commissioner Puleng Dimpane said in a statement that forensic investigators and tactical response teams have been deployed to the scene. Tracing the white minibus is a priority, Dimpane said.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. Associated Press writer Michelle Gumede in Johannesburg contributed.

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

Data released Wednesday by global energy think tank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, show the continued growth of solar and decline of coal in the United States despite federal policy. In May, for the first time, solar supplied more of the nation’s electricity than coal, or 12.8%, Ember said. Coal supplied 12.2%, its fourth-lowest monthly share ever.

“For years solar power has risen in the U.S. electricity mix," said Nicolas Fulghum, senior energy and data analyst at Ember. "At the same time, coal power has lost its status, first as the largest source in the U.S. mix, and then gradually over the years has fallen even further.”

Solar also became the third-largest source of electricity in the U.S. in May, behind natural gas and nuclear, Fulghum said. Coal generation hit an all-time monthly low in April and rebounded only modestly in May, allowing increasing solar generation to overtake coal, he added.

Electricity is produced by converting sources of energy — fossil fuels, renewable resources and nuclear — into electrical power. Burning coal, oil and natural gas for electricity emits carbon dioxide, trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the planet. By contrast, solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower and nuclear are carbon-free.

After about two decades of essentially flat electricity consumption in the U.S., electricity demand is increasing to power artificial intelligence, grow domestic manufacturing and electrify transportation and heating. Fulghum said he expects to see more months when solar exceeds coal generation, before overtaking it on an annual basis in a few years.

These milestones signify that solar “has staying power” at a time when there's less support for renewable energy at the federal level, he added.

Wind and solar combined have overtaken coal in the past, and wind power alone has outpaced coal during spring months when wind speeds pick up. Ember gets its hourly and monthly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Globally, electricity generation from renewables is growing rapidly. Renewables will become the largest global energy source, used for almost 45% of electricity generation by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.

Trump helps the struggling US coal industry while curtailing solar and wind

Last week, Trump, a Republican, announced a plan to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry by spending nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports. Trump said at a White House event that “coal’s a great business” and that "in terms of power, there’s really nothing like it.”

Martin Pochtaruk, CEO and founder of Canadian-based solar panel manufacturer Heliene, said Trump can say that coal is coming back but investors will invest their money in whatever brings the best return. And for power generation that is solar, making it the fastest-growing fuel, he added.

A White House spokeswoman defended the Trump administration's overall energy policies, saying they were geared toward strengthening the country's security.

“The President has reversed the Left’s devastating policies, saved the American coal industry, prevented the retirement of more than 17 gigawatts of power, and saved lives during heightened demand periods," Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

While Trump is trying to reverse the coal industry's decline, solar has been the top source for new power for five years, SEIA said. SEIA and Wood Mackenzie said solar and battery storage were practically the only energy resources being built in the first quarter, making up 91% of all new generating capacity.

The Trump administration has canceled solar and wind projects, implemented policies that slowed clean energy permitting and development and terminated $7 billion in funding intended for affordable solar energy projects across the U.S.

“As power demand skyrockets, political and regulatory attacks are slowing down the exact resources we rely on,” Darren Van’t Hof, interim president and CEO of SEIA, said in a statement. “Impeding the only sector that is actively building new power is a reckless gamble that will only drive electricity bills higher.”

Several groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency over canceling the Solar for All program. A district court dismissed the case last week citing lack of jurisdiction. The plaintiffs have another filing pending in the Court of Federal Claims.

In a ruling Saturday, a federal judge struck down guidance from the Internal Revenue Service restricting tax credits for wind and solar projects.

Trump has blamed renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power for skyrocketing energy costs. But energy analysts say recent price hikes are based on growing demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change. Most recently, the war in Iran that Trump launched has also led to a spike in energy costs.

Blaming clean energy is “nonsensical,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman. The California Democrat said that “not even lighting $700 million of taxpayer money on fire” can save the dying coal industry.

“The rest of the world will move ahead toward a clean energy future with countries other than the United States leading the charge, unfortunately,” he said Wednesday. "Trump will fail in this agenda. But, he will do enormous damage to our global leadership on clean energy and to the cost of living for struggling Americans.”

Top states for solar voted for Trump

States won by Trump in the 2024 election accounted for 74% of all solar capacity installed in the first quarter of 2026, with Texas, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona and Mississippi ranking among the top 10 states for new solar additions, SEIA said. The U.S. now exceeds a total of 6 million installations nationwide across all solar sectors, which includes large-scale solar arrays, commercial, community solar and residential or rooftop solar.

Johanna Neumann, at the Environment America Research and Policy Center, said it's “good news for our health and our planet that solar continues to grow,” and also, not surprising.

“Today we can harness solar more affordably than any other energy source. It’s scalable. And it’s also our most abundant renewable energy source,” said Neumann, senior director of the center's campaign for 100% renewable energy. “So I think it’s hard to keep the lid on a good idea, especially if the economics are tilting in your favor as well, which they are in the case of solar.”

Environment America's renewable energy dashboard shows that 32 U.S. states generated at least 10% of their retail electricity sales from solar, wind and geothermal energy last year, compared to 18 states in 2016. Clean energy in the South is booming, particularly in Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi, Neumann said.

“I think there is a misconception in the United States that clean energy is something for the coasts and liberal cities,” she said. “The true story of renewable energy is a 50-state story.”

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