Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Wayhowe Huang said officials will be continuing to evaluate the tank Sunday after emergency crews spotted the potential crack overnight. As of Sunday morning, he said it does not appear that any of the highly volatile chemicals in the tank have leaked.

“There’s still the danger of a possible explosion. We’re not taking that off the table,” Huang said. “We’re still operating as if that is the risk.”

Firefighters have been spraying the outside of the tank with water hoses in an effort to cool the chemicals heating up inside and prevent an explosion.

Lee Zeldin, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Sunday that the “most likely scenario” at this point is a “low-volume release,” where officials will be able to “monitor, neutralize, and contain the threat.”

"The Orange County Fire Authority is working to keep the temperature of the tank down. That is very important,” he said on CNN, adding that keeping the temperature under 85 degrees F (29.4 degrees C) is key.

The pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors at a company site in Garden Grove, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

No injuries have been reported. Air monitoring tests have so far found that air pollution around the evacuation zone is so far within normal limits, and specialized equipment has been deployed to ensure no gas is released from the compromised tank, state and federal environmental officials said Saturday.

Meanwhile, some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action lawsuit on Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, the company that operates the facility where the tank is located.

Lawyers for residents living in the evacuation zone argued in their federal court lawsuit that regardless of what happens next, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.

“There is no good outcome here for the people who live nearby,” the lawyers wrote in a statement. “In the best-case scenario, a slow, controlled leak still forces residents out of their homes for an indefinite period, disrupting families, businesses, and daily life. In the worst case, a catastrophic explosion could send a plume and debris across a far wider area, damaging thousands of properties and exposing residents to serious health risks.”

Spokespersons for the company didn’t comment on the lawsuit itself, but pointed to an earlier statement on the incident in which they apologized to residents and businesses that have been forced to evacuate.

“The situation remains ongoing and we are fully focused on working with emergency services, specialized hazardous, material teams, and the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of the local community, our employees and everyone else involved," the statement read.

Officials said the valves on the tank are broken or “gummed up,” which prevented crews from removing the chemical or relieving the pressure on the tank, said Craig Covey, Orange County Fire Authority division chief.

Firefighters’ first hope is to find a way to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it won’t leak or explode. If that is not possible, Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton said it would be best if the tank sprang a leak so the chemical could be mostly contained. An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario.

If the temperature inside the tank continues to increase, the pressure will continue to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas, because officials said the pressure relief valves on the tank were no longer working. Whelton said it’s unlikely that firefighters would consider creating a hole in the tank because of fears that could create a spark that might ignite the volatile and flammable gas.

Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes and planning was underway to ensure a possible leak could quickly be prevented from spreading into waterways or the ocean, Covey said in an early evening post on social media platform X.

“Sitting back and allowing these tanks to fail is unacceptable,” Covey said, adding there was no guarantee tanks will not breach and leak. “Our goal is to protect your homes — no damage to them — and protect the environment.”

Tank wasn't cooling as first thought

Efforts to cool the tank appeared to be working Friday, but Covey backtracked the following day, saying a reading conducted by drones actually showed the temperature on the outside of the tank, not the inside.

“Unfortunately I do have to report that the temperature was 90 degrees,” Covey said, up from 77 Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) the previous morning.

Cooling the tank is important because the liquid chemical's flashpoint is 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Residents are frustrated and stressed

Initially people in Garden Grove were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders were then expanded to some parts of five other Orange County cities including Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. Some people with pets planned to sleep in their cars.

Several shelters remained open Saturday, including at three high schools.

Marco Solano, 32, spent Friday night at his parents’ home, frustrated by the situation and monitoring the news to see if he could go home.

“I don’t think that they should have dangerous chemicals in a neighborhood area, especially that dangerous that they have to evacuate people,” Solano said. “But again, it's not up to me. I don’t make the laws. I don’t make the rules. We just have to do what is best I guess.”

Solano, who has multiple jobs, said he felt very tired and weak and believed the stress of the chemical leak was exacerbating his anemia and ulcerative colitis.

“This has been affecting me quite a bit,” he said.

Solano also said he went to his apartment after work Friday to grab belongings and saw other residents who had not evacuated, and he was worried for them.

Exposure could lead to health problems

The damaged tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. It holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems and even render someone unconscious. It can also cause neurological problems and irritate the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical. But Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and residents may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Whelton said the volume of chemical in the tank is much smaller than in the disastrous 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which he studied when more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride was released after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.

“Many of these are acute, fast-acting effects. But the longer somebody stays in contact with it, the more potential for significant damage that occurs,” Whelton said.

If there is an explosion, officials said they expect “severe structural damage and significant harm” in the blast zone closest to the tank.

If an explosion releases the chemical into the air, Whelton said, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did in East Palestine. General tests, often completed with handheld detectors, may not be capable of detecting the chemical. Indoor tests of buildings and homes may also be needed before residents return home.

The weather will be an important factor in determining where a plume of chemicals would go in the event of an explosion. Officials were developing maps to predict different scenarios about which areas would be most affected.

Meanwhile containment barriers have been set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said.

Emergency declaration

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County, making state resources available to local agencies and letting state-owned properties and fairgrounds be used for shelters if necessary.

Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the incident and supporting employees impacted by evacuations.

GKN agreed to pay state regulators more than $900,000 in 2025 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

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Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.

West Ham beat Leeds 3-0 but that wasn't enough to climb out of the relegation zone because fourth-to-last Tottenham also won, 1-0 at home to Everton, to stay two points clear of its London rival.

That meant West Ham's 14-year stay in the Premier League was over and Tottenham will be in the top division for a 49th straight season.

Guardiola's decade-long tenure at Manchester City — which has included six Premier League titles — ended with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa that featured a mid-match guard of honor for first Bernardo Silva and then John Stones, two of Guardiola's stalwarts.

Salah was given a standing ovation — before he kissed the Anfield turf — during his second-half substitution in his 442nd and last game for Liverpool, in which he grabbed an assist in a 1-1 draw with Brentford. The Egypt winger finished his nine years with the Reds with 257 goals.

Arsenal has already clinched the title and closed its first championship-winning campaign since 2004 with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace

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

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

Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack. He never heard his shipmates firing antiaircraft guns at the attacking planes — shooting down a torpedo plane. By the time he was topside, the St. Louis, a light cruiser, had evaded midget submarines and safely set out to sea.

“While all the rigamarole was going on topside, I was inside a steam drum. Couldn’t see anything, absolutely nothing,” said Johnson, a Centerville, Massachusetts, resident whose living room is filled with mementos and photos of his Navy service, including photos of the St. Louis and him as a young sailor, along with a collection of Navy challenge coins and ribbons representing the places he visited. He still has his military identification tag — popularly known as dog tag.

Even as the St. Louis headed into the Pacific Ocean, Johnson, whose job was known as a fireman on the ship, knew little about the attack.

“We were way out to sea, way out. You couldn’t see any land at all. All you saw was ocean,” he said. “I was just a sailor, just a swabbie, I was not an officer. They don’t tell you anything if you don’t need to know. And I didn’t need know it. So they tell you nothing.”

When he visited schools, children often asked Johnson whether he was scared that day. “You’re not scared. You’re too busy to be scared,” he said, his gravelly voice rising. "Besides, you don’t know what you’re scared of. You can’t see anything. What are you afraid of?

One of only 11 survivors

Johnson became the oldest survivor after World War II Navy veteran Ira “Ike” Schab died in December. He was 105. With Schab's passing as well as the death of Clarence Lane in February at the age of 100, there remain only 11 survivors of the surprise attack, which killed just over 2,400 troops and propelled the United States into the war. The United States mourns the nation’s fallen service members on Memorial Day, which takes place Monday.

Every year, there is a remembrance ceremony at the military base’s waterfront for Pearl Harbor survivors.

About 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary event in 1991. A few dozen have showed in recent decades. In 2024, only two made it. That is out of an estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day. None made the pilgrimage to Hawaii last year.

Growing recognition

For most of his life, Johnson avoided the spotlight and talked little about surviving the bombing. After all, he was one of the tens of thousands sailors who were there on that tragic day. He recalled his wife, Ruth, “thought that was something special” so she called the Navy and “the girl laughed at her.”

But as the oldest survivor, he's become a local celebrity and the reluctant face of one of the most important events in World War II. Johnson showed up at his 106th birthday party in a limousine and was mugged by television cameras. He gets letters from all over the world and is routinely called a hero wherever he goes out.

Johnson, who is hard of hearing, needs a walker to get around and suffers from congestive heart failure, can recall his wartime experience down to the smallest detail. A 19-year-old who was unemployed and living at home in Waltham, Johnson said he feared being drafted so he signed up for the Navy — because he felt it would be less physically taxing than the Army.

“As a kid, I walked. If I wanted to go somewhere, I walked or took my bicycle. But I didn't want to walk from France to Germany," he said, sitting in a recliner, dressed in an oversized flannel shirt and waving his hands like an orchestra conductor.

“It's a long way carrying a knapsack with you ... Water for a day, food for a day, a 9-pound Springfield rifle all on your back and walking through the mud,” he said. “No thanks. That’s why I joined the Navy.”

Witnessing history

Johnson's memories have less to do with battles while on the St. Louis, and later aboard the USS Iowa, than their significant roles in history. He helped commission the Iowa and recalled the battleship's preparations in November 1943 ahead of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The ship was equipped with two elevators and a bathtub. All the ammunition and much of the oil was removed to lighten the ship as it made its way down the Potomac River to pick up Roosevelt. It was reloaded before the ship headed out to sea.

“It was a big meeting,” Johnson said, recalling how the crew were photographed with Roosevelt. “I don’t know what they talked about, but I didn’t need to know. We picked him back up, brought him home.”

Johnson also witnessed the war's end aboard the Iowa. He was on the Iowa's mast watching the surrender ceremonies about a mile away in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

“I could see the boats coming up with the Marines escorting the Japanese onto ship and sitting around a table,” he said. “It was all over. That was the end of the war. A bunch of us got together — the war is over. Let's go home.”

Telling the story of Pearl Harbor

These days, his daughter, Diane Johnson, is often by his side. They live together and always take a trip on Dec. 7, often attending Pearl Harbor remembrance events, including the 65th and 80th anniversary in Hawaii. She often poses questions to get her father talking and likes to nag him that he has “a responsibility” to share the story of Pearl Harbor —- especially for children who know little about the bombing.

“It’s kind of overwhelming when you think of it. Well, the 106 is what gets me,” she said. “When I think about his history, he’s at the beginning, he’s at middle, he is at the end when he witnessed the surrender. It’s something.”

Johnson began getting more attention several ago, when Diane Johnson heard a local television report suggesting the last survivor in the state had died. She called to correct the record and that raised his profile. Johnson also started making regular appearances in the Cape Cod St. Patrick's Parade, often leading from the front.

“I wish more people were like him today. He just gets on and doesn't complain about anything,” said Desmond Keogh, the chairman of the parade who has accompanied Johnson. “It's what this country was all about. They were just a different generation. They did what was best for their country.”

For all the attention to Pearl Harbor, the gruff Johnson, who is known for his cackling laugh and mischievous smile, doesn't see it as a defining moment in his life.

That would have been getting married after the war to his late wife and having three daughters. He also worked for years in a machinist shop, then in a convenience store and, finally, delivering meals to seniors — all jobs he retired from, the last one at the age of 90.

“Pearl Harbor just happened. I can’t put it any other way,” he said.

It's become a familiar theme for anyone attempting to complete "The Double,” racing in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson tried it each of the past two years, but a rain-delayed start in Indianapolis caused him to miss the start in Charlotte in 2024, and he crashed out of both races last year after another rain-delayed start in Indy.

Only one person, Tony Stewart, has completed all 1,100 miles, and that was a quarter-century ago. Legge is the first woman to attempt "The Double.”

“She’ll stay here throughout,” her father, Derek Legge, said while texting from a golf cart outside her garage. “We’re keeping an eye on the weather. It might even be delayed here an hour at a time.”

By then, Legge’s car was already on the Brickyard as the sold-out grandstands filled in and hundreds of people surrounded the cars on the track.

The English driver is starting from the No. 26 spot, the middle of the ninth row, at Indy, where she's driving for HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing team. Legge will drive for Live Fast Motorsports at the Cup race, where she'll start 37th after qualifying was rained out Saturday.

Rain was in the mix again Sunday in both places, too.

Less than 90 minutes before Indy's scheduled start, radar showed rain all around the iconic 2.5-mile oval, with ominous-looking dark clouds hovering over the track's first turn. But the precipitation held off and the remaining afternoon forecast had a several-hour window before there was a significant chance of rain again.

In North Carolina, meanwhile, the forecast was brighter for the start of the Coca-Cola 600. But the chance of rain increased significantly throughout the race.

Legge is certainly hoping for better luck than she had earlier this week. Her flight from New York to Indianapolis was delayed, causing her to miss Indy's annual media day. Then she had a communications problem in the final practice for the 500 on Friday. And after flying to Charlotte for qualifying, she flew back to Indy on Saturday night after more rain.

"Hopefully, we get all of the travel woes out of the way now before the weekend, and this weekend goes smoothly,” Legge told The Associated Press on Thursday. “My management has been speaking with Kyle’s management about how to get the logistics sorted out, how they did it and we’re trying our best to copy and paste what they had and they’re just keeping me in the loop.”

While the other five drivers who attempted "The Double” had months to prepare, Legge's teams didn't announce her attempt until last week. Since then, those behind the scenes helped Legge line up the helicopter ride she'll take from the speedway to Indianapolis International Airport and the private jet that will take her to Charlotte for the second race of the day.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

An Associated Press reporter witnessed police and security guarding the entrance to the mining facility located in Qinyuan county in the city of Changzhi as emergency vehicles were on site.

Hundreds of emergency responders and medical personnel were sent to help with rescue efforts, state media reported. Rescuers were taking turns to go down the mine shaft, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, facing hurdles including flooded tunnels.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a thorough investigation and accountability of those responsible following the explosion Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi.

Two were missing and dozens of miners were hospitalized, local officials said late Saturday. The death toll was revised down from 90, with officials blaming “chaotic” scenes in the aftermath and inaccurate information provided by the mine operator as a reason.

Some hospitalized miners recalled seeing smoke and blacking out, according to state media reports. Many among the injured were hurt by toxic gas.

Coal-rich province

The inland Shanxi province, located southwest of Beijing with a population of around 34 million, is China’s main coal-mining area.

A few hundred meters (yards) from the mine lies the village of Shangzhuang, where some of the miners who work at the site live, including some of the victims, residents said.

The village includes a single main street through which mining trucks pass. On both sides stand two-story houses, some with red-tiled roofs. Some of them are divided into separate rooms and rented out to people including miners.

After the explosion, other mines in the area shut down and some miners left, while others stayed behind waiting to receive their pay, residents said.

Wang Linjun, a coal miner at Liushenyu, said he was at home when the gas explosion occurred.

“My heart is very heavy,” he told the AP. “Thinking that those who eat together and work together suddenly are gone, no one would feel good.” Wang said he does not want to continue at the job, but doesn’t know where to go.

Miners can be paid more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month.

Feng Renfu, also a miner at Liushenyu, said he was working underground in a pit next to the one where the accident took place. Feng said he and his co-workers smelled gas and withdrew from the underground.

“My father is over 80 and he is worried about me. He always calls me to check if I am safe and well in my job,” Feng said. “There are eight people in my family and they all depend on me.”

Safety lapses investigated

The coal mine has “seriously” violated the law, according to local officials, although they did not elaborate on the specific violations. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that blueprints provided by the Liushenyu coal mine did not match the actual layout, which hampered rescue efforts.

State media said those responsible had been “placed under control.” On Sunday, a commentary in the official People’s Daily newspaper called for all regions and departments to learn from the accident and to “always keep safety in mind.”

Local authorities also announced a “comprehensive, blanket” inspection of the coal mining sector that would include checks of coal mines’ gas drainage, ventilation, safety monitoring systems and their underground layouts.

A broader inspection of coal mines could put pressure on the province’s ability to produce its annual capacity of around 1.3 billion metric tons of coal, which accounts for nearly a third of China’s total. The country's total coal output rose to approximately 4.8 billion metric tons last year.

China still relies on coal

Coal remains a major energy source in China, given its high availability and low cost, even as the country accelerates its green energy transition. Mining accidents were common and authorities had implemented measures to help improve safety over the past years.

China’s National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 put the Liushenyu mine, operated by the privately run Shanxi Tongzhou group, on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines.

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Chan reported from Hong Kong.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

“The moviegoers rule," said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. "I think given the audience reaction and the scores that are coming from parents and kids, this is going to be in it for the long haul."

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.

“That’s really unheard of,” Dergarabedian said. “And it is a testament to how this social media buzz from younger viewers is fueling the FOMO factor."

The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

Boots Riley's colorful shoplifting caper meets surreal social satire “I Love Boosters” also opened this weekend to $3.7 million. The Neon release stars Keke Palmer and Demi Moore.

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Tuesday, this list factors in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $82 million.

2. “Obsession,” $22.4 million.

3. “Michael,” $20 million.

4. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” $12.6 million.

5. “The Sheep Detectives,” $9 million.

6. “Passenger,” $8.7 million.

7. “Mortal Kombat II,” $6.2 million.

8. “I Love Boosters,” $3.7 million.

9. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $3.2 million.

10. “Project Hail Mary,” $2.7 million.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

The crew is set to conduct dozens of science and application projects, state media said. They are also expected to complete an in-orbit rotation with the crew of Shenzhou 21, who has been at the Tiangong space station for more than 200 days.

One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space. The astronaut's mission is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” in long-duration spaceflight environments, state media reported.

As China steps up its space program, its astronauts have carried out multiple missions to the Tiangong space station, developed after China was effectively excluded from the International Space Station on U.S. concerns over national security.

The U.S. is seen as China’s top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.

China’s space station Tiangong, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” first hosted the country's crew in 2021. Last year, an emergency mission in the Shenzhou program, which means “Divine Vessel,” returned a team of astronauts stranded on the space station due to a damaged spacecraft.

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Associated Press video journalist Wu Jia in Jiuquan, China contributed to this report.

Iran has not publicly committed to giving up its uranium — a key demand of U.S. President Donald Trump — and the sides previously seemed close to a deal in recent weeks. Trump on Saturday said a deal had been “largely negotiated,” after calls with Israel and other regional allies.

“The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side,” Trump said on social media Sunday. He said the U.S. relationship with Iran is becoming “much more professional and productive.”

The strait's reopening would begin to ease a worldwide energy crisis sparked by the surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran on Feb. 28, which led Tehran to effectively close the crucial waterway. Prices have spiked for oil, gas and several downstream products, jolting the world economy. Experts say it would take several weeks or even months for shipping and prices to recover to prewar levels.

The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports for over a month, and Trump on Sunday said the blockade “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

The emerging deal would include Iran giving up uranium

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to India, said that “significant progress, although not final progress, has been made” in negotiations, and the world would no longer need to fear Iran getting a nuclear weapon, without elaborating.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian told state TV they were ready “to assure the world that we are not after a nuclear weapon.” Iran’s embassy in India responded to Rubio on social media, saying Tehran has an “inalienable” right to nuclear technology.

Iran has always insisted its program is peaceful while enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels.

Under the potential deal, Tehran would agree to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to the two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

One official, with direct knowledge of the negotiations, said how Iran would give up the uranium would be subject to further talks during a 60-day period. Some would likely be diluted, while the rest would be transferred to a third country, the official said. Russia has offered to take it.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Trump has sought greater concessions from Iran than those required under a 2015 Obama-era agreement that the U.S. later withdrew from under Trump.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the state-run news agency that there are “narrowing differences” between the Iranian and U.S. positions, but that Iran is cautious after being attacked twice in the past year during nuclear negotiations.

Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, a key mediator, left Tehran late Saturday after more talks with Iranian officials.

The strait would reopen and Iran would be able to sell oil

Under the emerging agreement, the Strait of Hormuz would gradually reopen in parallel with the U.S. ending its blockade, the officials said.

The U.S. would allow Iran to sell its oil through sanctions waivers, said the second official, who has been briefed on the negotiations. Sanctions relief and the release of Iran’s frozen funds would be negotiated during the 60-day time frame, the official said.

Both officials said the draft deal includes an end to the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Twelve weeks have passed since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and other top officials. A ceasefire with Iran has held since April 7, though the sides have exchanged fire on occasion.

Several countries, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, welcomed progress on a possible deal with Iran.

Israel remains concerned over Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a social media post Sunday, said “President Trump and I agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” and that Trump had reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself “on every front, including Lebanon.”

Science Minister Gila Gamliel, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party and part of his national security cabinet, told Israel's Army Radio that Israel is taking a “wait-and-see” approach.

Israeli officials are concerned that Hezbollah remains a serious threat to Israel and that Lebanon is ill-equipped to disarm it.

A fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect in Lebanon on April 17, but fighting has continued, mainly in the south. Hezbollah has launched daily drone and rocket attacks on Israeli forces and northern Israel, and Israel has struck targets across Lebanon while its troops remain in large swaths of the south.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the latest round of fighting, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Additionally, 22 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Kostyuk fought back tears after beating Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3 on Court Simonne-Mathieu on the opening day of the clay-court Grand Slam at Roland Garros in western Paris.

“I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career," the 15th-seeded Kostyuk said. “This morning, 100 meters away from my parents’ house, the missile destroyed the building and it was a very difficult morning for me ... I didn’t know how I would handle it, I’ve been crying part of the morning.”

She received a message at 8 a.m. and could not stop thinking what could have happened.

“I felt sick,” she said. “If it was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mom and a sister today.”

Her mother, sister and great aunt — were in the house at the time of the strike, she said, among 17 people in total, so her relief was enormous that no one was injured.

“I don’t want to think what I would do if something worse happened, but I knew that this is the day to go out and play,” she said. “It didn’t cross my mind today that I shouldn’t go out, because, you know, at the end of the day, everyone is alive.”

After the match, she thanked fans and received an ovation. Then she explained how she found the emotional and mental resources to play.

“I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is Ukrainian people, I woke up in the morning today and,” the 23-year-old Kostyuk said, becoming tearful before repeating and finishing the sentence.

“I looked at all these people who woke up and kept living their life, kept helping people who are in need,” she said. "I knew a lot of Ukrainian flags would be here today and a lot of Ukrainian people would come out, support. My friends from Ukraine came as well.”

When Kostyuk first served for the match at 5-1 she got broken. But she served it out on her next opportunity and waved to fans holding up a Ukraine flag in the upper deck.

She next plays unseeded American Katie Volynets and Kostyuk's countrywoman Elina Svitolina — a recent winner at the Italian Open in Rome — faces Anna Bondar on Monday.

The heat is on

Sunday's opening day saw players coping with high temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91 Fahrenheit) — with the intense heat contributing to Frenchman Arthur Gea taking an emergency bathroom break early into his first-round loss to No. 13 Karen Khachanov on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Spectators folded newspapers in half and fanned themselves to keep cool as players on court attempted to stay hydrated.

The opening match on Court Philippe-Chatrier saw No. 11 Belinda Bencic beating Sinja Kraus 6-2, 6-3 and 2024 runner-up Alexander Zverev followed with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win against Benjamin Bonzi. The second-seeded German plays unseeded Tomas Machac next.

The night match on Chatrier features three-time champion Novak Djokovic against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Two days after his 39th birthday, Djokovic will play a men’s record 82nd Grand Slam tournament — one more than Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez.

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Paris contributed to this report.

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

Winning a second would put Palou in elite company.

The first Spaniard to win IndyCar's biggest race returns to Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval Sunday as he tries to add another milestone to his resume by becoming the seventh driver in race history to win back-to-back 500s.

For the second straight year, the grandstands were sold out, prompting a local television blackout to be lifted. Throngs of colorfully clad fans started funneling through the track tunnels when the cannon sounded at 6 a.m., and the streets around the Brickyard were as packed as they've ever been to witness the pomp, circumstance and celebrities of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

NCAA football championship-winning coach Curt Cignetti of Indiana was scheduled to lead the 33-car field to the starting line as the pace car driver — presuming the threat of rain held off. WNBA star Caitlin Clark was set to give the traditional command sending drivers to their cars. And, of course, track owner Roger Penske was to direct drivers to start their engines for the largest single-day spectator sporting event.

Though race officials do not provide actual attendance figures, there are an estimated 275,000 reserved seats and when the infield crowd is included, approximately 350,000 people attend the race.

Naturally, there will be tributes for two-time Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch, who died at age 41 earlier this week.

Dale Coyne Racing driver Romain Grosjean, who drives the No. 18 car in the IndyCar Series, will be driving with a new font, set to resemble the font Busch used for the 14 years he competed in NASCAR'S No. 18 car with Joe Gibbs Racing. Race officials also planned to light up the scoring pylon on Lap 18.

As for the racing, it's been all Palou, who seemingly has won anything and everything in recent years — three straight series titles, 11 of 23 races and now the second Indy pole of his career.

And the chase to catch Palou resumes with a long list of storylines.

Two-time runner-up Pato O'Ward is trying to become the first Mexican to win the race. Again.

Alexander Rossi, the 2016 race winner, qualified a career-best second and will be racing less than a week after one of the hardest crashes of his career forced him to undergo surgery on his right ankle and the middle finger on his left hand. He'll be racing with a special brace and a protective boot on his right leg.

Scott McLaughlin is starting ninth as he tries to redeem himself following a parade-lap crash that knocked him out of last year's race. McLaughlin, front-row starter David Malukas and two-time Indy champ Josef Newgarden, who qualified 23rd, are all hoping to help powerful Team Penske erase the bitter memories of last year's cheating scandal and surprisingly poor race-day finishes.

At age 51, Helio Castroneves is trying to become the oldest race winner — and the first five-time winner — while 45-year-old Scott Dixon hopes to add a second Indy title to the one he captured in 2008. If Dixon does win, it would be the longest gap ever between Indy 500 wins.

Katherine Legge, who starts 24th, also is making history. She'll be the first woman to attempt racing's “double" by completing 1,100 miles in one day by racing in Indianapolis and at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tony Stewart is the only driver to complete every lap of both races, taking place in 2001.

But everyone, especially Legge, will be watching the weather, hoping they start on time and they get a full 500-mile race.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The force of the explosion caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online.

The attack happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road, according to witnesses and images circulating on social media.

Doctors at local hospitals said they had received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. Three security officials told The Associated Press the bodies were transported to hospitals following the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak to the media.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to reporters. The militant group said it targeted a train carrying security personnel.

Quetta is the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province. The oil- and mineral-rich region has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency. The insurgents have frequently targeted security forces, government installations and civilians in the province and elsewhere in the country.

“We strongly condemn the targeting of innocent civilians and are deeply saddened by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” said Shahid Rind, Balochistan provincial government spokesman.

He said following the explosion, a medical emergency was declared at hospitals in Quetta, and an investigation has been launched.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, calling it a “cowardly act of terrorism" in a post on X and offering condolences to the families of the victims.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti strongly condemned the attack in Quetta, saying the militants targeted “innocent civilians, including women and children,” vowing to “hunt (them down)” in a post on X.

Bugti and the federal government in Islamabad often use the phrase “Fitna al-Hindustan” to refer to the BLA, which they allege is backed by India. New Delhi denies the allegation.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari denounced the bombing, saying militants and their backers sought to undermine Pakistan’s role in regional and international peace efforts.

The attack came a day after Pakistan said the United States and Iran were close to reaching a memorandum of understanding to end the war in the Middle East that began on Feb. 28 after the U.S. and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic, upending global travel and spiking oil prices. U.S. President Donald Trump had said a deal related to the conflict had been “largely negotiated” following calls with regional allies, including Pakistan.

Zardari promised in a statement that his country “will defeat terrorists, their facilitators, financiers and those providing them safe havens.”

Pakistan and India have long had strained relations and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is claimed by both in its entirety.

Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.

At least 26 people, including soldiers, were killed in 2024 when a suicide bomber attacked a train station in Balochistan.

The Knicks can wrap up the Eastern Conference Finals and sweep their second straight series with a win on Monday night. Knicks fans — who were boisterous throughout the night — were chanting “Knicks in four!” as the final seconds of Game 3 ticked away.

New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title. Cleveland, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers have done it twice.

All but one of the Knicks' wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.

“We've just have to keep our mind on the task at hand. The game is over and we found a way to win. We have to execute at a high level in Game 4,” said Karl Anthony-Towns, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

OG Anunoby had 21 points as New York led the entire game. The Knicks not only made 55.8% of their shots from the field, they also had 11 3-pointers and were 24 of 27 from the foul line.

Evan Mobley scored 24 points, Donovan Mitchell had 23 points and James Harden added 19 for Cleveland. The Cavaliers were 12 of 41 on 3-pointers and 12 of 19 from the foul line.

Not even an appearance by the superstar couple of Taylor Swift and Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce could spur the Cavs to beat the Knicks.

“I think their physicality and energy, we couldn’t get to that level to combat it,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They’re on a hell of a run. We haven’t been able to stop the momentum. We had one chance in that first game I thought to stop it, but they haven’t been able to halt their momentum.”

New York led 91-82 at the end of the third quarter but put it out reach in the fourth when Landry Shamet made three 3-pointers in a 99-second span to make it 105-94.

“Our guys were locked in from the beginning of the game and it showed from the first few minutes of the game. We got a lot of great contributions,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I thought throughout the whole game we did a good job trying to play fast. We don’t want to go against their set defense all the time, so we’ve got to keep trying to play fast. And then our guys did a better job in the second half trying to defend without fouling.”

The Knicks made their first four shots en route to a 9-1 lead less than two minutes into the game. New York was 12 of 17 from the field in the quarter and was up 37-27 after 12 minutes.

Cleveland rallied to tie it at 50-all on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.

Brunson had six of his 12 points during an 8-1 run midway through the third quarter as the Knicks extended their lead to 83-70 with 3:41 remaining.

“It’s the next-man-up mentality and the guys found me a few times," Shamet said. We knew we were going to get a real good punch from that team, and we weathered their best punches tonight.

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This story has been updated to reflect that Evan Mobley led the Cavaliers with 24 points and James Harden scored 19.

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

High temperatures will still be below average, but much warmer than the past two days.

The 70s will take over later in the day, once the clouds clear out and we see some brief sunshine followed by some showers and thunderstorms later.

Even though a cold front will push through our region, the temperatures will not drop. This will aid in the development of showers and thunderstorms across the region later in the day.

Showers and thunderstorms will begin in the NRV and Highlands around dinner-time this evening, and last on and off throughout the evening.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms persist throughout the next week. We are already seeing the Weather Prediction Center issue a marginal risk of excessive rainfall not only for tomorrow, but Tuesday and possibly beyond.

With this, localized flooding is possible, mainly in urban and poor drainage areas. If you are planning on traveling in the next coming days, make sure to watch out for areas of high water.

Remember: turn around, don’t drown!

Rain continues on for the next week, peaking between Monday and Wednesday. Temperatures are also on the incline yet again, but we will drop back down into the low 70s by next weekend.

Debby Hannigan, her great grandniece, tried for years to access Conole’s medical records, because she thought they might hold clues to mental health issues in her family, including her oldest daughter’s depression.

Hannigan twice wrote to the state of New York for the records. The second time she included a supporting note from her daughter’s therapist, who said the details would help “to know their family medical history better.” Both times she was turned away.

Her experience is hardly unique.

Frustrated family members and others have been pushing for law changes in New York and other states that would allow the release of mental health records of long-dead ancestors. Their efforts have resulted in access policy changes in some states, including Massachusetts and Washington, but elsewhere reforms are happening slowly or not at all.

“It really does piss me off that we couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, we’re the descendants, here’s the proof, now tell us what you know!’” said Doug Clarke of Alfred, New York, who tried unsuccessfully to get records of a great-grandfather. The records might help explain the depression and bipolar syndrome seen in his generation of his family, he said.

Here’s a look at the problem and what people are doing about it.

The cruel history of state mental institutions

In the 1800s, the U.S. saw a boom in state institutions for the confinement of people with mental illness; every state had at least one by 1890. They were called lunatic or insane asylums, but the reasons for admission ranged from “brain fever” and “grief and anxiety” to “laziness,” “religious excitement” and ”desertion by husband," according to historical records.

Conditions varied, but some asylums gained reputations as brutal, overcrowded warehouses where patients were neglected and restrained. Asylums gradually became psychiatric hospitals, but practices didn’t necessarily improve: In the 1900s, they were the settings of since-discredited treatments including lobotomies and induced comas.

But staff at the hospitals often took extensive notes, with detailed descriptions of patients and their symptoms. They also took photographs and had other materials, said Dr. Laurence Guttmacher, a former clinical director of one of New York’s state hospitals, the Rochester Psychiatric Center.

Records at some facilities were likely damaged, destroyed or lost through the years. And the surviving documents may not be well organized or cataloged. But a lot of information still exists, Guttmacher said.

“We had this incredibly rich trove of records” at the Rochester hospital, he said.

How old records can be helpful today

Such records have drawn the interest of some people whose families are struggling with depression, suicide or other issues.

“Would you want to know if your grandfather died of a heart attack?” said Dr. Christine Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “It’s information that you can use to understand how vigilant to be.”

An untold number of patients died at state hospitals, and some were buried in unmarked graves. Some families haven’t been able to establish when a relative died, let alone how, said Alexandra Lord, a historian writing a book about suicide in her family. She struggled to gain access to New York state records about her great-grandmother.

Guttmacher said: “About twice a month I would get a request from a family member to get access to records, to try to learn the story of their families.” State officials told him he couldn’t release that kind of information.

Patient privacy protections can last decades

A federal law enacted in 1996 protects the privacy of each patient’s health information, including diagnosed conditions and what care they received. The law, known as HIPAA, protects health information for 50 years after someone dies.

Some states have similar guidelines. Ohio law allows the closest living relative of a deceased patient to request information from state mental health facility records, and they can be requested by anyone 50 years after a patient’s death. Maine also offers fairly easy access to records dating back that far.

But many other states are more restrictive. New York allows such records to stay sealed “in perpetuity,” according to a statement from New York’s Office of Mental Health. Records can be released to patients and their immediate family members, but generally not to more distant descendants. They also have been released to medical professionals “with a justification,” and to historians who agree not to name individual patients, state officials say.

Massachusetts was similarly restrictive, but a reform push resulted in a new law last year that made public state hospital records that were at least 75 years old, plus records for people dead at least 50 years.

The change followed a report from a commission that discussed state institutions’ history of abuse and neglect, including patient sterilizations at a state hospital in Monson. One of the commission’s members, Alex Green, suggested the state’s nondisclosure of records amounted to a “cover-up” of the decades of abuse disabled people endured.

Now some are working to change New York’s law. This year, state Sen. Pat Fahy introduced a bill that designates records and information relating to a patient who has been deceased for 50 years or longer as historic records — no longer subject to privacy protections.

Fahy noted New York’s psychiatric facilities have their own troubled history. She cited the Willowbrook State School, a Staten Island facility where developmentally disabled children once lived in deplorable conditions.

“If the person is deceased, there should be an availability of these records to help give the family closure,” said Fahy, a Democrat from the Albany area. “Leaning from our history is one of the best ways to give us insight into how we do better in the future.”

How to find records on institutionalized ancestors

Families do have some other routes to information on ancestors’ mental health history, according to historians.

Online services such as Ancestry.com provide — for a price — access to old records, including census information that can reveal if someone was in a state institution at the time a census was taken.

Veterans’ military pension files have contained details on a person’s mental health.

Old newspapers were packed with items about residents, including about when people were sent to state institutions.

There may be many more people interested in family mental health history than is commonly realized, said Ryan Thibodeau, a St. John Fisher University researcher who has been involved in the push to change New York’s law. In the 1950s, at the peak of institutionalization in America, more than 500,000 people were in state hospitals.

“Their descendants are everywhere,” he said.

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

“I need to go to the bathroom. I can’t move anymore. I’m going to (go) on the court,” Gea told the chair umpire in French before hastily running off Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The 135th-ranked Gea was trailing 13th-seeded Karen Khachanov 4-2 when he made his move. Khachanov won 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0.

Usually, bathroom breaks are only permitted between sets.

Khachanov protested to the chair umpire as three minutes passed between games at a point in the match that was not a changeover when players change ends.

Gea said the umpire allowed him the break because of "medical circumstances" and that he was given some medicine to settle his stomach pain.

After the match, Gea said he had not felt ill the night before but started feeling unwell when he woke up in the morning.

“During the match it was even worse,” he said. “I had to go to the toilet really quick.”

His situation was not helped by the intense heat at Roland Garros with lunchtime temperatures hitting 31 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit).

“It was harder than usual, because I was ill,” he said.

The 21-year-old Gea received a wild card invitation from Roland Garros organizers to participate in the main draw.

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

According to police, officers responded around 2:17 a.m. on May 24 to reports of shots fired in the area.

While officers were on the way to the scene, they learned a man had arrived at the emergency department at Lynchburg General Hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

At this time, investigators say there is no information about a suspect.

The investigation remains ongoing, and police say more information will be released as it becomes available.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Owen at 434-455-6060 or submit tips anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 888-798-5900.

It was a violent end to a standoff between members of the Republican Peoples’ Party, or CHP, and a leadership team appointed by an appeals court.

Footage taken by local media Sunday in the courtyard and inside the building showed clouds of tear gas as riot police stormed through the premises, before journalists were removed by the police. Supporters initially attempted to resist the police by spraying them with fire extinguishers, but were quickly stopped. Doors, furniture and the ground floor windows were destroyed.

Among those inside the building was Ozgur Ozel, elected as party chairperson in November 2023 but removed by the appeals court ruling.

Leaving the headquarters building to cheers and applause from supporters outside, Ozel told the journalists gathered at the entrance: “We are leaving (the building) now only to reclaim it in a way no one will be able to interfere again. When we return neither this administration nor the administration’s collaborators will dare do this again.”

Ozel and his supporters then began marching toward Parliament over 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the CHP headquarters.

Tension had been rising since Thursday, when an appeals court nullified Ozel's election as CHP chairperson, suspending him and members of the party’s executive board.

The court ruling said Ozel should be replaced by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his predecessor, who led the party for 13 years but never won any national elections.

Meanwhile, Ozel, in his first and only election as party leader, delivered a decisive blow to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal polls.

The opposition says the decision was politically motivated to weaken the party as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

Immediately after the raid began, Ozel posted a 3-minute video on social media in which he said, “We are under attack. Our crime? To make our party Turkey’s number one party after 47 years. Our crime? Defeating the Justice and Development Party."

“We will resist here till the end. And if they forcibly remove us, we’ll resume our march towards (becoming) the administration in the public square," he said.

The next presidential election isn't due until 2028, but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member, has been imprisoned since March last year and is on trial on corruption charges.

Many observers have said the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

The vast majority of the party has rallied behind Ozel. He and most of the party had been inside the CHP headquarters in the capital Ankara since Thursday’s ruling, with the new administration unable to enter. The rival teams were supposed to meet Sunday afternoon to figure a way out of the impasse.

Early on Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, watched by a growing police presence. In his social media video, Ozel said those outside had been sent to intimidate CHP members.

Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, sent a request to Ankara police to assist in vacating the building. The Ankara Governor’s office released a statement approving the request.

The police raid comes at the start of a nine-day holiday for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when many people are on vacation and out of the big cities.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a setback in 2019, when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure who many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.

The intense aerial assault damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market, Ukrainian authorities said. At least 83 people were wounded in the attack.

Air raid sirens blared through the night as smoke billowed across the city from strikes. Associated Press reporters heard powerful explosions near the city center and close to government buildings.

The attack included 600 strike drones and 90 air, sea and ground-launched missiles, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed and jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles. Around 19 missiles failed to reach targets, the Air Force said.

Ferit Hoxha, Albania’s foreign minister, reported that the residence of the Albanian ambassador to Ukraine was hit during the attack, denouncing it as “unacceptable” and a “grave escalation”.

The Oreshnik, which is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads, struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Russia had vowed to strike back for an attack Friday

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed the weapon's use, as well as other missile types, to strike Ukrainian “military command and control facilities,” air bases and military industrial enterprises. The ministry added the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on “civilian facilities on Russian territory,” without giving detail.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denounced a drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which Moscow blamed on Kyiv. He said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college. Putin said he ordered the Russian military to retaliate.

The death toll from that strike had risen to 21, Russian authorities said late Saturday. They said 42 other people had been wounded in the attack the previous night. The Kremlin-installed authorities of the Luhansk region announced two days of mourning for the victims.

At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the strike, held at the request of Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

Kyiv's European allies, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, condemned the Russian strikes and use of the Oreshnik in statements published on Sunday. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said top diplomats from EU states will meet within days to “discuss how to dial up the international pressure on Russia.”

Ukraine struggles to down all ballistic missiles

Zelenskyy said not all the ballistic missiles were intercepted and that most of the strikes hit Kyiv, the primary target of the attack.

The apparent interception failures underscored Ukraine’s chronic shortage of air defense missiles capable of downing ballistic missiles. Kyiv relies heavily on U.S. Patriot air defense systems to intercept such weapons, but interceptors remain in short supply and are among Ukraine’s most urgent requests to its Western partners.

Developing a domestically produced alternative has become a top priority for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, though doing so will require time and funding.

Fires rage into the morning in Kyiv after attack

Damage was recorded in 50 locations across several districts of the capital, including residential buildings, shopping centers and schools, Ukraine's emergency service said in a Telegram post. Police department buildings were also damaged, it said.

Fires continued to rage into the morning, complicating rescue efforts as buildings collapsed from the blasts.

“It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war," said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who had worked in the market that was damaged for 22 years.

“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I am not staying there anymore, there is no possibility," she added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”

Yevhen Zosin, 74, a Kyiv resident who witnessed the attack, said the moment he heard the explosion he rushed to grab his dog.

“Then there was another explosion and she and I were thrown back like a pin by the shock wave. We both survived, she and I. My apartment was blown to pieces,” he said.

In Kyiv’s Shevchenko district, a five-story residential building was hit, which caused a fire, and one person was killed, Ukraine's state emergency service reported.

A school building was damaged by an attack while people sheltered inside, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Local authorities reported supermarkets and warehouses across the city also were damaged.

Multiple communities recorded damage throughout the Kyiv region, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, who heads the regional administration.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone killed a civilian in the Russian town of Grayvoron, in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, local authorities reported on Sunday morning.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down or jammed 33 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday, including over the Moscow region, western and southwestern Russia, and Russian-occupied Crimea.

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Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

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This story corrects Mykola Kalashnyk’s title.

Rubio's first official visit to the South Asian country came amid an economic and diplomatic downturn between the United States and India, largely strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which raised duties on several Indian exports.

Rubio is set to meet in New Delhi on Tuesday his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan, members of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad.

India is a US strategic partner, Rubio says

Rubio and Jaishankar held a joint press briefing after Sunday’s initial round of talks. They reiterated their aim to deepen the U.S.-India strategic partnership while pursuing their respective national interests.

The U.S. top diplomat said that India is one of the most important strategic partners of the United States and expressed optimism about finalizing a bilateral trade deal soon. “I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India,” he said, adding that he hoped that India-U.S. relations would come out much stronger in the coming years.

Rubio stressed that the Trump administration’s trade decisions were of a global perspective to serve the U.S. economy, rather than targeted at New Delhi. “There virtually is no country in the world that I could travel to that isn’t going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective.”

Jaishankar said the U.S.-India strategic partnership exists because of a “convergence of national interests" in multiple areas.

“Trump administration has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as America first. ... We have a view of India first. So both of us are obviously driven by our respective national interests,” he said.

The Indian foreign minister also said his country sought dependable, multiple and cheap energy sources for its 1.4 billion people.

“The United States fits the bill in many respects. So do some other countries. So, we will continue to diversify and maintain multiple sources of supply at the most reasonable cost,” Jaishankar said.

India has recently made a notable shift by wrapping up a series of trade deals: three in 2025 with Oman, New Zealand, and the UK. This was followed by an agreement with the European Union in January, which represents a third of global trade.

On tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, following the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran that sparked a war in the region, spiking oil prices and disrupting supply chains, Jaishankar said India and the U.S. are keen on keeping global maritime trade safe and uninterrupted, while ensuring fuel remains affordable and widely available.

He said India's approach is to diversify its energy sources so that energy markets stay open and unconstrained, with prices kept low to support global economic growth.

Rubio's four-day visit includes a multicity tour and a gala reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

India and US have different priorities but shared concerns

“In the past one year, statements and rhetoric coming from Washington on some of India’s most sensitive security concerns and trade matters have not been helpful and have created a trust deficit,” said Ashok Malik, a former policy adviser in India’s Foreign Ministry.

“Certain misgivings will remain,” Malik added, noting Rubio’s visit will be considered an achievement if the talks somewhat stabilize the relationship and check further deterioration.

Experts say friction exists between U.S. global strategic ambitions and India’s priorities as an emerging middle power. Historically close to Russia, New Delhi has long expressed unease as it moves closer to the U.S., reflecting India's lingering distrust of American intentions rooted in cultural differences and Cold War-era instincts.

Still, India-U.S. ties steadily deepened over two decades into a broad, robust strategic partnership, increasingly shaped in recent years by shared concerns about China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and articulated diplomatically through the Quad forum.

The Quad has repeatedly accused China of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea and aggressively pushing its maritime territorial claims. Beijing maintains that its military is purely defensive to protect what it says are China's sovereign rights and calls the Quad an attempt to contain its economic growth and influence.

After the U.S. presidential inauguration in January 2025, Rubio’s first formal international engagement was meeting with the foreign ministers of the Quad countries jointly and in separate sessions.

Tensions build up over conflict with Pakistan and Russian oil purchases

Despite close ties and often being perceived as ideological allies, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi downplayed Trump’s role in brokering a ceasefire after a brief India-Pakistan military conflict triggered by the April 2025 massacre of mostly Hindu tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir. But Pakistan openly courted Trump and even advocated for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Economic tensions followed, with the Trump administration imposing tariffs on India over its discounted purchases of Russian oil, further straining ties between the two countries.

“In India, there is some skepticism about U.S. policy and predictability,” said Malik, who heads the India chapter of The Asia Group advisory firm in the U.S. He said what has happened in the past year between India and the U.S. “can’t be forgotten or erased easily.”

When the Iran war broke out in February, the U.S. stepped up engagement with Pakistan, which positioned itself as a mediator between Washington and Tehran, deepening unease in New Delhi. Trump’s recent, high-profile visit to China has only added to India’s discomfort.

India-U.S. relations are challenging “due to a few structural tensions and Trump only brought them to the fore,” said Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“New Delhi’s foreign policy, increasingly colored by its domestic politics, has become more black-and-white in the last decade, as evidenced by its deep discomfort with the U.S.’s ties with Pakistan and its moves toward detente with China,” Donthi said.

Experts say these shifts reflect the growing complexity of India-U.S. relations, rooted in shared strategic interests, yet increasingly shaped by competing priorities and a shifting geopolitical landscape.

“New Delhi is likely to exercise strategic patience and wait for Trump to leave office,” Donthi said. “India would hope that the bipartisan consensus on India in the U.S. survives his term and that it can start building on that again.”

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Hussain reported from Srinagar, India.

At least 24 workers either managed to dash out of the building, where they mostly slept on the ground floor, or were rescued after the it crumbled to the ground around 2:30 a.m. in a crowded neighborhood of budget hotels, cafes, spas and rural houses outside a former U.S. Air Force base, officials said.

A Malaysian tourist died and another guest was injured in a lodging house, which was partly hit by debris from the collapsing building in Angeles City in Pampanga province, Fire Superintendent Maria Lea Sajili said.

Relatives of those trapped under concrete slabs, twisted iron bars and aluminum scaffoldings and other debris prayed and wept as they waited for word from about 700 rescuers gingerly scouring the rubble pail to create space for them to safely move into the collapsed structure.

“This is the worst day of our lives,” Joamel Angcao, an 18-year-old student, told The Associated Press as she and other siblings waited for word on their parents, who were among those trapped.

Her parents were tending to their food and coffee cart positioned beside the building when it tumbled down. The parents had struggled through poverty to send her and another sibling to school, Angcao said, tears welling in her eyes.

John Carlo Villarente, a young plumber, said that he stepped out of the building about two hours before it collapsed after heavy rains and fierce wind to have a drink.

“I was so shocked, there were people inside, including my nephew,” Villarente told The AP. “We ran and tried to help but we were not allowed to ger near because people said it was very dangerous.”

Randy Alapide, a 41-year-old plumber who was off-duty when the accident unfolded, said he rushed back to the scene and helped rescuers locate trapped workers by drawing a map to pinpoint their location. “I know three of the missing. They are breadwinners and they have families waiting for them,” Alapide said.

Sajili said two of the trapped workers were located alive by rescuers but it was taking time to pluck them out safely. Ambulance vans, firefighters and police lined up waiting for the two to be extricated.

Nearly 200 police officers were helping in the rescue, which would proceed overnight “until all are accounted for,” regional police director Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez said.

Angeles City hosted one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside of the American mainland until it closed in the early 1990s, helping develop Angeles and outlying cities and towns into entertainment and commercial hubs in the main northern Philippine region of Luzon.

The former American air base, now a bustling industrial and tourism enclave called the Clark Freeport Zone, lies about about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila.

That's because Democrats, in many states, can draw partisan political lines only if they evade constraints — some self-imposed — on their ability to counterpunch.

In Colorado, New Jersey, New York and Washington, redistricting commissions draw boundaries that are not supposed to benefit either party. Democrats will have to gain voters' permission to nullify those politically popular bodies and replace their balanced maps with ruthlessly gerrymandered ones to match what Republicans did after President Donald Trump last year demanded a sweeping redrawing in Republican-controlled states in an attempt to help his party keep its House majority.

If the Democrats get a detail wrong in their process, courts could unwind the new maps. That is what happened in Virginia this month when the state Supreme Court invalidated voter-approved maps that would have given Democrats four more winnable seats. The court found the Democratic-controlled legislature did not follow the correct procedure when it placed the measure on the ballot.

“It's going to be expensive, it's going to be unpopular, and it's going to be a challenge for them to do what they want,” said Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust.

The next census will present another challenge for Democrats

Democrats remain favored to win control of the House this year despite recent setbacks in redistricting. The most consequential was the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, allowing Republicans to swiftly eliminate at least three majority-Black House seats in the South that Democrats now hold.

Strategists for both parties expect Democratic gains in November that are typical when the party of an incumbent president faces voter backlash in a midterm election. In Trump's first midterm in 2018, for example, Democrats added 40 seats in the House.

But a 2028 House majority looks much harder for Democrats.

Presidential votes are usually much closer than midterm ones. Under the recent high court decision, Republicans next year could easily eliminate another five or more majority-minority Democratic-held districts in states whose maps were already set for 2026. They can likely gain an additional four seats by redrawing maps in Indiana, where some state lawmakers balked last year and were punished by Republican primary voters, and in Kentucky and Kansas, where Democratic governors who have been able to block Republican maps will reach their term limit.

The mapmaking pressure is high for Democrats to try to boost their chances of winning the House in 2028 as the party also hopes to take back the Senate and White House that year. Only then could it try again to pass a national ban on partisan gerrymandering that could rob the Republicans of what could become a durable advantage for them.

After the 2030 census, House seats will be reallocated to states seeing the fastest population gains, which are mainly ones that Republicans control. They are projected to pick up as many as 10 seats, largely at the expense of Democratic strongholds such as California and New York.

“Looking at the next census makes me all the more stressed to ban partisan gerrymandering at the federal level,” said John Bisogano, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Constitutional and legislative barriers confront Democrats

Republicans face some of their own legal hoops in the redistricting competition.

In Florida, their redrawn congressional map hinges on the conservative-majority state Supreme Court throwing out that state's constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.

But Democrats face far more obstacles and need to execute a series of complex political maneuvers.

Only in Illinois and Oregon would Democrats have a chance to draw additional winnable seats without many impediments.

Among Colorado, New York and New Jersey, Democrats could rack up close to double-digit gains in House seats, but only if they likewise thread the needle to change their constitutions.

In Maryland, Democrats who balked at redrawing their map this year are moving to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would give them permission to eliminate the state’s sole Republican House seat in 2028.

Democrats note that their voters have embraced the idea of ditching the reform approach they once favored to let their party match the redistricting by Trump and his fellow Republicans. The biggest success came in California, where a ballot measure to adopt a new map to pick up as many as five seats easily passed last year. Virginia's map passed more narrowly, but Democrats there remain resolute about implementing the 10-1 map in 2028.

In Washington state, Democrats' only chance to revise the constitution and redraw maps would be to win a two-thirds majority of the Legislature in November, a tall order. Because Democrats expect to do well in November, they re also hoping to win a handful of state legislative seats that would give them control of maps in states such as Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker has floated new maps to let Democrats win up to six seats in a state where Republicans now hold six of the eight House districts. Such an aggressive move is necessary, he said, because of what Republicans are doing elsewhere.

“If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned that when you know a knife fight is coming — bring a bazooka,” he said.

Redistricting reforms of the past are complicated to overcome

In other states, Democrats are confident their voters will be behind them.

“People in New York are pretty fired up given what they've seen around the country,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who is close to the top Democrat in the U.S. House, Hakeem Jeffries, also from New York.

But New York voters cannot enter the redistricting fight until next year because the state constitution will need to be amended by a statewide vote to permit it. That can happen only after the Democratic-controlled Legislature votes twice over two years to put the question on the ballot.

Likewise, Colorado Democrats embraced the idea of an independent commission redrawing lines in their state. Though many have had second thoughts, they cannot act until voters lift the commission's map this fall and permit a Democratic redrawing for 2028.

Their proposed initiative faces a challenge at the state Supreme Court. Even if it is approved for the ballot, it could face a rival measure from Republicans to redraw the map to favor conservative candidates.

“Republicans are stealing votes of Americans all across the country, and Colorado voters will say: ‘Hey, you can’t do that,'” said Curtis Hubbard, a spokesman for Democrats pushing the Colorado redrawing.

Democrats see an existential threat in the GOP's rush to gerrymander

Colorado is the most visible example of Democrats' about-face on redistricting.

Republicans won control of numerous statehouses in the 2010 midterm election and used that to redraw maps across the country, giving them an edge in the U.S. House. Democrats responded by embracing nonpartisan redistricting, a push that reached its zenith in 2018 when Colorado Democrats rallied behind a measure creating such a body in their state.

Now, both candidates for the party's nomination for governor support overruling the commission. Former Democratic President Barack Obama, who made redistricting reform a key pillar of his platform, has also had a change of heart, calling for aggressive map redrawing nationwide.

Nicholas Stephanopolous, a Harvard law professor, said it is clear that Democrats view Trump’s redistricting push as an existential threat.

“I think they’re going to move heaven and earth to respond,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.

U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at allies for not doing more to support the United States' war effort in Iran, whose chokehold on the strait has crippled international shipping and sent energy prices soaring. In March, Trump told NATO allies to “go get your own oil” and secure the strait themselves.

On the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, the U.K.’s Royal Navy is preparing to do that — but only once a peace agreement is reached. Trump said Saturday that a deal with Iran has been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other allies in the region, but it still needs finalizing.

Britain’s Armed Forces Minister Al Carns took a small group of reporters to visit the RFA Lyme Bay as it prepares for a possible international operation, led by the U.K. and France, to secure the strait. As Carns spoke, the amphibious landing vessel, docked at the gateway to the Mediterranean, was being loaded with ammunition and mine-hunting sea drones equipped with sonar.

With a crew of several hundred sailors, the RFA Lyme Bay will soon depart Gibraltar to link up with the U.K. destroyer HMS Dragon and allied ships for air support before sailing through the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf.

“Which other country can pull together 40 nations and come up with a solution to deal with a complex problem that we couldn’t predict because we weren’t involved?” asked Carns, responding to a question from The Associated Press about what Trump wants from his British ally.

After the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, a key waterway for the region’s oil, natural gas and fertilizer, causing global economic pain. The U.K. in particular has drawn the ire of Trump, who has described Britain’s navy as “toys” and Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “not Winston Churchill.”

At least 6,000 ships have been blocked from passing through the strait since the conflict began, Carns said.

There could be a range of threats from Iran’s mines

Iran could have a “huge” variety of mines throughout strait, said Cmdr. Gemma Britton, who is in charge of the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group. Mines could be rocket-propelled, cabled or sit on the seabed and be triggered by sound, movement or light.

AP was shown autonomous systems that can scan the seabed and the water with sonar in about half the time it takes for a crewed vessel to enter and map potential dangers. The sea drones equipped with sonar produce a picture of objects under the water, from fishing traps to pipelines. The picture is used to identify mines that can be explored with advanced acoustic systems and cameras, Britton said.

Some of the systems on the RFA Lyme Bay can be loaded onto a smaller vessel that can be launched and piloted autonomously from the ship, which acts as a mother ship, waiting outside any potential minefield, Britton said. That reduces the number of people needed to enter, she said.

Once a mine has been located, a diver with explosives normally places a charge on the mine before swimming away to detonate it. But RFA Lyme Bay is trialing a remotely operated vehicle that dives and drops a charge by a mine before setting it off, Britton said.

The priority, she said, will be to clear a transit lane in the strait to allow around 700 ships to leave. A lane flowing in the opposite direction will then be cleared, allowing ships to enter, she said, but added that clearing the entire strait could take months or years.

It's still not clear if the UK and its allies will be deployed

It's still not clear if any mines are in the strait — or if the U.K. and its allies will be deploying to remove them.

A U.S. official speaking on condition on anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters told the AP that the U.S. has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait, nor have any ships been damaged. Commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow, though at a much lower volume than before the conflict.

When asked by the AP if the British effort was partly for show, to curry favor with the U.S., Carns said he was sure some mines had been blown up or floated away but that assurance is not good enough for commercial insurance companies. He said those companies need “absolute certainty” to get vessels traveling through the strait again.

“That’s what this capability will provide,” he said.

The international effort to secure the strait would happen only once hostilities are over.

“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump said Saturday on social media, with no details on timing.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that a deal has been described as close.

“We don’t know when the Americans, Iranians and Israelis are going to come up with a suitable solution,” Carns said.

In the meantime, the RFA Lyme Bay and its crew will be waiting and will be “really, really ready,” Carns said.

——

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump said on social media, with no details. He said he had spoken with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, and separately with Israel.

He described it as a “Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to PEACE" that still must be finalized by the United States, Iran and the other countries that participated in the calls. It capped a week in which the U.S. weighed a new round of attacks on the Islamic Republic that would break a fragile ceasefire.

There was no mention of Iran's nuclear program and highly enriched uranium, which Iran has sought to discuss later. There was no immediate comment from Iran or Israel. Trump said speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had pressed the U.S. to go to war, went “very well.”

There had been growing optimism among officials

Earlier on Saturday, a regional official with direct knowledge of the Pakistan-led mediation efforts said the U.S. and Iran were closing in on a deal to end the war.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door deliberations, cautioned that “last-minute disputes” could blow up the efforts. This is not the first time in recent weeks that a deal has been described as close.

The official said the deal would include an official declaration of the war's end, with two-month negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. The Strait of Hormuz would be reopened and the U.S. would end its blockade of Iran’s ports.

Iran, meanwhile, had signaled “narrowing differences” in negotiations after Pakistani army chief Asim Munir held more talks in Tehran.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday welcomed Trump’s efforts to advance peace in the Middle East. He said Pakistan would continue supporting peace efforts “with utmost sincerity” and “we hope to host the next round of talks very soon.”

In a post on X, Sharif congratulated Trump on what he called his “extraordinary efforts to pursue peace” and described discussions among regional leaders as “very useful and productive.”

Twelve weeks have passed since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, killing top Iranian officials including its supreme leader and interrupting nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran for the second time in less than a year. Iran fired at Israel and at neighbors hosting U.S. forces, shaking Gulf nations that had considered themselves safe havens in a tough region.

A ceasefire has held since April 7. But Iran’s decision to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz for ships carrying regional oil, natural gas and other critical supplies has been a focal point of global concern and economic pain.

Iran described it as a ‘framework agreement' for more talks

Iran state TV earlier quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as describing the draft as a “framework agreement” and adding: “We want this to include the main issues required for ending the imposed war and other issues of essential importance to us. Then, over a reasonable time span, between 30 to 60 days, details are discussed and ultimately a final agreement is reached.”

He said the Strait of Hormuz is among the topics discussed.

But Baghaei told Iran’s official IRNA news agency that nuclear issues are not part of current negotiations.

“Our focus at this stage is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon,” he said, adding that lifting sanctions on Tehran “has explicitly been included in the text and remains our fixed position.”

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that the Lebanese militant group's leader received a letter from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying Tehran will not abandon its allies. There is a fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, a conflict that began two days after the Iran war started.

Trump had said ‘serious negotiations’ were underway

Trump earlier said he was holding off on a military strike against Iran because “serious negotiations” were underway, and at the request of allies in the Middle East. Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the lead negotiator in historic face-to-face talks with the U.S. last month in Islamabad, said Saturday that Iran has rebuilt its military assets and if Trump resumed attacks, the result would be “more crushing and more bitter” than at the start of the war.

State TV said he spoke after meeting with Pakistan’s army chief, who also met with Araghchi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior officials. Qatar sent a senior official to Tehran to support Pakistan’s efforts.

The war’s stated aims have not been achieved. Iran still has its enriched uranium and a missile program it says is being rebuilt. It continues to express support for armed proxies in the region. The new supreme leader, though still unseen publicly since the war began, is the son of the previous one and close to the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

And the Iranian people have not revolted against the government as both Trump and Netanyahu had predicted after nationwide protests early this year.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Superville from Washington. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

No injuries were reported after the pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors at a company site in Garden Grove, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

But officials said the valves on the tank are broken or “gummed up,” which prevented crews from removing the chemical or relieving the pressure on the tank, said Craig Covey, Orange County Fire Authority division chief.

Firefighters’ first hope is to find a way to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it won’t leak or explode. If that is not possible, Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton said it would be best if the tank sprang a leak so the chemical could be mostly contained. An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario.

If the temperature inside the tank continues to increase, the pressure will continue to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas, because officials said the pressure relief valves on the tank were no longer working. Whelton said it’s unlikely that firefighters would consider creating a hole in the tank because of fears that could create a spark that might ignite the volatile and flammable gas.

Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes and planning was underway to ensure a possible leak could quickly be prevented from spreading into waterways or the ocean, Covey said in an early evening post on social media platform X.

“Sitting back and allowing these tanks to fail is unacceptable,” Covey said, adding there was no guarantee tanks will not breach and leak. “Our goal is to protect your homes — no damage to them — and protect the environment.”

Tank wasn't cooling as first thought

Efforts to cool the tank appeared to be working Friday, but Covey backtracked the following day, saying a reading conducted by drones actually showed the temperature on the outside of the tank, not the inside.

“Unfortunately I do have to report that the temperature was 90 degrees,” Covey said, up from 77 Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) the previous morning.

Cooling the tank is important because the liquid chemical's flashpoint is 50 Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Residents are frustrated and stressed

Initially people in Garden Grove were ordered to leave. Evacuation orders were then expanded to some parts of five other Orange County cities including Cypress, Stanton, Anaheim, Buena Park and Westminster. Some people with pets planned to sleep in their cars.

Several shelters remained open Saturday, including at three high schools.

Marco Solano, 32, spent Friday night at his parents’ home, frustrated by the situation and monitoring the news to see if he could go home.

“I don’t think that they should have dangerous chemicals in a neighborhood area, especially that dangerous that they have to evacuate people,” Solano said. “But again, it's not up to me. I don’t make the laws. I don’t make the rules. We just have to do what is best I guess.”

Solano, who has multiple jobs, said he felt very tired and weak and believed the stress of the chemical leak was exacerbating his anemia and ulcerative colitis.

“This has been affecting me quite a bit,” he said.

Solano also said he went to his apartment after work Friday to grab belongings and saw other residents who had not evacuated, and he was worried for them.

Exposure could lead to health problems

The damaged tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. It holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems and even render someone unconscious. It can also cause neurological problems and irritate the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical. But Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and residents may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Whelton said the volume of chemical in the tank is much smaller than in the disastrous 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which he studied when more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride was released after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.

“Many of these are acute, fast-acting effects. But the longer somebody stays in contact with it, the more potential for significant damage that occurs,” Whelton said.

If there is an explosion, officials said they expect “severe structural damage and significant harm” in the blast zone closest to the tank.

If an explosion releases the chemical into the air, Whelton said, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did in East Palestine. General tests, often completed with handheld detectors, may not be capable of detecting the chemical. Indoor tests of buildings and homes may also be needed before residents return home.

The weather will be an important factor in determining where a plume of chemicals would go in the event of an explosion. Officials were developing maps to predict different scenarios about which areas would be most affected.

Meanwhile containment barriers have been set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said.

Emergency declaration

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County, making state resources available to local agencies and letting state-owned properties and fairgrounds be used for shelters if necessary.

Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the incident and supporting employees impacted by evacuations.

GKN agreed to pay state regulators more than $900,000 in 2025 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

___

Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.

The law enforcement agency said in a statement posted on X that the man was in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue when he “pulled a weapon from his bag" shortly after 6 p.m. EDT and began firing. Secret Service officers returned fire and hit the suspect, who died at a hospital, the agency said.

The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, said a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.

According to District of Columbia court records, Best was arrested in July 2025 after he attempted to enter a different White House checkpoint without authorization, didn’t heed officers’ commands to stop, “claimed he was Jesus Christ” and said he wanted to be arrested.

An initial hearing was held and a “Pretrial Stay Away Order” was issued, typically a measure ordering a defendant not to go near a person or area before a trial. A bench warrant was issued in August after a notice of “noncompliance” against Best, who did appear for a subsequent hearing.

Latest gunfire incident around Trump

It was the third time in the past month that shots were fired near the president after incidents at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April and near the Washington Monument earlier in May.

A bystander was also struck on Saturday, but a law enforcement official said it wasn’t clear whether that person was hit by the suspect’s initial bullets or those fired subsequently by officers.

Secret Service said none of its officers were injured, and that Trump — who was at the White House at the time — was not "impacted.” Trump originally was scheduled to spend the weekend at his New Jersey golf club but changed his plans on Friday to stay at the White House instead.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on social media that agency personnel were on the scene and "we will update the public as we’re able.”

Evidence of the shooting was visible on a sidewalk just outside the White House complex, where yellow crime scene tape snaked across the pavement and Secret Service officers placed dozens of orange evidence markers on the ground. Medical material, including what appeared to be purple surgical gloves and kits typically used by emergency medical personnel, were also seen.

Gunshots heard by journalists at the White House

Journalists working at the White House on Saturday evening reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room.

In a post shared on X, ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang shared dramatic video of the moment she said she heard what “sounded like dozens of gunshots” and ducked for cover. Writing that she had been performing a routine task that White House reporters do daily — filming themselves on a cellphone for a social media post — Wang’s video shows her speaking for a few seconds about Trump’s statements earlier Saturday about a potential Iran deal.

As the sounds of gunfire are heard in the background, Wang’s eyes grow wider, and she ducks down in the media tent, which is among those situated in a line along the White House driveway where broadcasters film their reports. On X, Wang’s video had been shared thousands of times as of Saturday evening, and viewed at least 3 million times.

Shooting scene not far from a deadly incident last year

The shooting scene is within walking distance of where a gunman ambushed two members of the West Virginia National Guard last November.

U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from the wounds she suffered in that shooting. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, then 24, was critically wounded. Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been charged in that incident.

The gunfire Saturday came nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president as he attended the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at a Washington hotel on April 25. Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump. Allen is accused of running through a security checkpoint inside the hotel and firing a shotgun at a Secret Service officer.

Following that scare, Secret Service officers shot a suspect they said had fired at officers near the Washington Monument, several blocks from the White House. Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with the May 4 shooting. A teenage bystander was wounded in that incident.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press photojournalists Jose Luis Magana and Alex Brandon and AP writers Gary Fields and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

They got that most of Saturday night for Game 2, along with a huge performance from offseason addition Nikolaj Ehlers.

Ehlers got loose up the center of the ice and popped the puck past Jakub Dobes at 3:29 of overtime to lift the Carolina Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Saturday night to level the Eastern Conference Final at one game apiece.

Ehlers scored twice for the Eastern Conference's top seed, the first with a highlight-reel individual effort in the second period against two Montreal defenders.

And when the game went to OT, the guy the Hurricanes landed as a sought-after free agent carried them to the finish line.

“He's a special talent,” Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said, “and it was on full display tonight.”

The winning sequence started with a retreating Jalen Chatfield bouncing the puck back into the neutral zone to Mark Jankowski. Jankowski had a quick redirection to Ehlers entering the zone at full speed for a clean look at Dobes for the sudden winner.

“We didn't get a second breath,” said Dobes, who had 23 saves. “It was over pretty quick.”

As the puck hit the net, that sent a tense home crowd into a relieved but jubilant roar — along with a screaming Ehlers.

“I can barely talk right now, but I was yelling pretty loudly after that OT winner,” Ehlers said.

“It was a great pass ... and then just try to get some speed and get the puck off my stick as quick as possible and try to surprise the goalie,” Ehlers said. “Seeing that go in, seeing how the fans reacted was pretty cool.”

Eric Robinson also scored for Carolina, which improved to 4-0 in overtime in the playoffs — including 3-2 home wins in extra time during Game 2 in all three playoff series so far.

Carolina was facing massive pressure to regroup from Thursday's 6-2 loss in the series opener that only magnified the team's long-running troubles in the Eastern Final. Now the series is level as it shifts to Canada for Monday’s Game 3.

Josh Anderson scored twice for the Canadiens, the second coming at the 12:51 mark of the third period to ultimately force the overtime at 2-2.

The Canadiens won Game 1 by jumping on a Carolina team coming off an 11-day break after sweeping through the first two rounds — the longest wait to start a series in more than a century — for four goals in the opening 11 1/2 minutes. Montreal repeatedly got loose for clean breakouts and breakaways for high-danger chances against Frederik Andersen in that one.

But Carolina looked much closer to its earlier playoff form with is aggressive forecheck and defensive pressure, holding Montreal to 12 shots on goal and giving up far fewer of those quick transition chances the Canadiens kept burying in Game 1.

“It's hard to go 200 feet and produce offense unless you execute a little bit through that pressure," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "I felt today we weren't terrible, we just weren't as good” as Thursday.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The global music superstar sat courtside at Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night along with fiance and Cleveland native Travis Kelce as the Cavaliers hosted the New York Knicks desperately needing a win in the series.

Swift and Kelce, who recently signed a 3-year, $54 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, took their seats in Rocket Arena shortly before the opening tip. Their appearance caused a stir as fans reacted to seeing the power couple together.

Kelce didn't need long to settle in and was animated while cheering for the Cavs.

With the Cavs trailing 91-82 at the end of the third quarter, Kelce and Swift were shown on the arena's giant scoreboard. Fans cheered wildly as Kelce showed off his team cap and wine-and-gold shirt before chugging a beer to help rally the Cavs.

As Kelce gulped down his beverage, Swift covered her mouth and feigned shock and embarrassment.

Swift became a staple at Chiefs home games when she began dating Kelce a few years ago. She also accompanied him to Game 1 of the AL Championship Series at Yankee Stadium in 2024.

Kelce has attended Cavs games in the past and he and his brother, Jason, were celebrated with a bobblehead giveaway by Cleveland in 2024.

The couple announced their engagement last year and there are reports they'll get married sometime this summer.

The Knicks have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after winning twice at Madison Square Garden.

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

The U.S. Travel Association said that Mullin confirmed he is considering withdrawing CBP officers in a meeting where the trade group was pressing its concerns about other proposals the Trump administration is considering that could hamper travel. U.S. Travel and the major airlines quickly condemned the idea, and even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it doesn't make sense to him.

“U.S. Travel believes such a move would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation,” the industry group said Friday in a statement.

Details of the meeting were first reported by The Atlantic.

Duffy told a Congressional hearing earlier this week that he wasn’t familiar with Mullin’s remarks, and he’d like to learn more about the context and maybe ask Mullin a question about what he meant. But Duffy said it would be a bad idea to start restricting travel based on political views. After all, at some point Democrats will be in charge and “you will all switch spots at one point — hopefully not too soon Mr. Chairman,” Duffy said.

“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places. We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics,” Duffy said.

So it's not clear how much support this idea has within the administration, though President Donald Trump has previously threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities.

There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally describe limited cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And courts have rejected the idea of pulling funding from them in the past.

In Trump’s first term in office, in 2017, courts struck down his effort to cut funding to the cities.

It’s not clear exactly which cities and airports Mullin might target, but the Justice Department last year published a list of three dozen states, cities and counties that it considers to be sanctuary jurisdictions.

The Airlines for America trade group was quick to say the idea would hurt the economy and disrupt travel.

“Reducing CBP staffing at major airports would have a devastating effect on the airline and tourism industries, causing a significant operational disruption to carriers, travelers and the flow of international cargo.”

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This story corrects a reference to Customs and Border Protection in second paragraph.

At a 79th Cannes Film Festival that saw few films cause a stir, “Fjord” found wide admiration for its engrossing tale of what Mungiu called “left-wing fundamentalism.” It stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Romanian Evangelicals who move to Norway, but soon after have their children taken from them by child services for spanking them.

“Today the society is split. It’s divided. It’s radicalized,” said Mungiu. “This film is a pledge against any type of fundamentalism. It's a pledge for these things we quote very often, like trauma and inclusion and empathy. These are lovely words but we need to apply them more often.”

Mungiu becomes just the 10th filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or twice. His “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a Romanian abortion drama, won the award in 2007.

The win for “Fjord” extends one of the movies’ most extraordinary streaks. Neon, the specialty label, has now taken seven Palme d’Or winners in a row. “Fjord” adds to its unparalleled run, including last year’s champion, Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” and the 2024 winner, “Anora.” The latter went on to win best picture at the Oscars.

‘Minotaur’ wins Grand Prix

The Grand Prix, or second prize, went to “Minotaur,” Andrey Zvyagintsev’s domestic thriller set against Russia’s war with Ukraine. Loosely based on Claude Chabrol’s 1969 film “The Unfaithful Wife,” “Minotaur” is about a Russian businessman suspicious of his wife’s indiscretions. At the same time, he’s tasked with conscripting 150 of his workers for Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

“The only person who can stop this butchery is you, Mr. President of the Russian Federation,” Zvyagintsev said, accepting his award. "Put an end to this slaughter. The whole world is waiting for this.”

By wide consensus, it wasn’t a banner festival. Hollywood largely sat out this year’s edition. Many of the selections struggled to bowl over critics. The global buzz that Cannes typically generates was fitful at best.

But the awards handed out Saturday as the 79th Cannes drew to a close will significantly raise the international profiles of the winners. Last year's Cannes produced a long string of Oscar nominees, including “Sentimental Value” and “The Secret Agent.”

The nine-member jury that decided the awards was headed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård were also jurors. Chan-wook, a Cannes regular including last year with his satirical thriller “No Other Choice,” joked that he preferred not to give away the Palme.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to award the Palme d’Or to any of the films, because it’s an award I myself have never gotten,” Chan-wook told reporters after the ceremony. “But I had no other choice.”

Awards are split and shared

Two films won for best director: the Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, for his postwar drama “Fatherland,” and the Spanish creative duo Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo for “The Black Ball,” a generation-spanning queer epic “The Black Ball.”

It was Pawlikowski's second time winning the same Cannes prize in as many films, following his “Cold War” in 2018. But the award marked a breakthrough for Ambrossi and Calvo in their first Cannes entry.

"No one knew us. Thierry didn’t know us," Ambrossi told reporters, referring to Thierry Fremaux, Cannes artistic director. “It was just that the movie spoke.”

Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, the two stars of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden” shared the best actress award. In the elegantly empathetic drama, the two play women brought together in friendship out of their mutual sense of care for others.

The jury also split the best actor prize. They chose Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the two stars of "Coward,” Lukas Dhont’s drama about young Belgian men sent to the front lines of World War II.

The prize for best screenplay was awarded to Emmanuel Marre for “A Man of His Time,” a French drama about a Nazi collaborator in Vichy France. Marre based it on the experiences of his own great-grandfather.

The jury prize, or third place, went to German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach’s “The Dreamed Adventure,” a crime drama set in a Bulgarian border town.

Saturday’s ceremony was missing its tribute honoree. Barbra Streisand was to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, but a knee injury prevented her from attending. Isabelle Huppert nevertheless celebrated Streisand during the ceremony, and Streisand appeared in a taped video message.

The Camera d’Or, Cannes’ award for best first film, went to Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’Imana,” the first Rwandan film to be officially selected for the festival.

BVPD said a larceny occurred around 4 a.m. on Friday in the 2400 block of Beech Avenue. The person was captured on camera, which you can find see a photo of below.

Law enforcement is now asking those in the area to check any residential or business security cameras between the times of 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. on Friday for any suspicious activities or vehicles.

If you have any information regarding this individual or footage, please contact the Buena Vista Police Department at 540-261-6171 or email pdinfo@buenavistava.gov.

While the rally at a central square in Belgrade passed peacefully, groups of young assailants later clashed with riot police, throwing flares, rocks and bottles at police cordons. Police responded with pepper spray as they charged forward to disperse them.

The groups, including apparent soccer hooligans, rolled trash cans into the streets as shield-carrying riot police tried to surround them. Police parked anti-riot vehicles in a central Belgrade area to block the demonstrators from returning and the violence soon ended. Police said 23 people were detained.

Protests have shaken Vucic

Crowds of protesters earlier on Saturday streamed into central Belgrade, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts inscribed with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement which organized the gathering. Columns of cars drove into Belgrade from other Serbian towns earlier in the day.

Vucic has sought to curb the mass demonstrations that have shaken his hard-line rule in the Balkan country. Big crowds on Saturday suggested the dissent persists more than a year after protests first started to demand accountability for a train station tragedy in Serbia’s north in November 2024 that killed 16 people.

Serbia’s state railway company on Saturday canceled all trains to and from Belgrade, in an apparent bid to stop at least some people from coming from other parts of the country.

The president said in a video on Instagram on Saturday that protesters “have shown their violent nature and that they cannot stand political opponents.” Vucic, who was on his way to China for a state visit, added that “the state is functioning and will continue to work in line with the law.”

Anti-corruption protests forced then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign in January 2025 before authorities pushed back hard against the protesters. Many people in Serbia blamed the concrete canopy crash at the station on alleged graft-fueled negligence during the renovation work on the building carried out with Chinese companies.

The students on Saturday demanded an early election and the rule of law, accusing the government of crime and corruption.

Prosecutor Bojana Savovic told the crowd that “a state where laws are not implemented or are implemented selectively is no longer a state, it becomes a mafia organization.”

Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic downplayed the student rally, saying “it offered nothing new.” Police estimated that 34,300 people came to the rally, while organizers said it was many more, without giving a specific figure.

Vucic's supporters gathered at park camp

Clashes first erupted in the vicinity of a park camp of Vucic's loyalists outside the Serbian presidency building that he set up ahead of another big anti-government rally last March as a human shield against protesters. Folk music blared from a fenced area surrounded by rows of riot police in full gear.

The Serbian president has faced international scrutiny for his hard-line tactics against the demonstrators in the past year, including arbitrary arrests and use of excessive force. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticized Serbia’s government in a report this week and said he “will monitor the situation closely” on Saturday.

O’Flaherty also cited “reports of police protecting unidentified and often masked attackers of journalists and protesters.” He said the overall rights situation has deteriorated since his previous visit in April 2025.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry but it has nourished close ties with Russia and China. The democratic backsliding under Vucic could cost the country around 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in European Union funding, the EU’s top enlargement official warned last month.

The venue on Saturday was Belgrade’s Slavija Square, the scene of a huge anti-government protest in March 2025. That rally ended in sudden disruption that experts later said — and the government denied — involved the use of a sonic weapon against peaceful demonstrators.

Students prepare for elections

The youth movement’s quest for justice and rule of law has resonated widely among Serbia’s citizens, who are disillusioned with established politicians after decades of perpetual crisis.

Students now say they plan to challenge Vucic at the approaching elections that they hope will oust the right-wing populist government. Vucic said this week that the ballot could be held between September and November this year.

Vucic, government officials and the pro-government media have branded critics as foreign agents who wish to destroy the country — rhetoric that has ramped up political polarization.

Protester Maja Milas Markovic said students “managed to gather us here with their youth and wonderful energy; I really believe that we have right to live normally.”

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Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this report.

No one was hurt in the attack, according to initial reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections left the facility and are now unaccounted for, a local hospital director said.

The angry residents had arrived at the clinic in the town of Mongbwalu on Friday night and set fire to a tent set up for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases by the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian group, Dr. Richard Lokudi, director of the Mongbwalu hospital, told The Associated Press.

“We strongly condemn this act, as it caused panic among the staff and also resulted in the escape of 18 suspected cases into the community,” he said.

On Thursday, another treatment center, in the town of Rwampara, was burned down after family members were banned from retrieving the body of a local man suspected to have died of Ebola.

Burials of Ebola-victims stir anger, frustration

The bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals. The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from families and friends.

A communal burial for Ebola patients in Rwampara took place on Saturday under tight security as tensions between health workers and the local community ran high, said David Basima, a team leader with the Red Cross overseeing burials.

Armed soldiers and police monitored the burials as Red Cross workers clad in white protective suits lowered sealed coffins into the ground. Crying family members stood at a distance.

Basima said his team, after arriving at the scene, “experienced a lot of difficulties, including resistance from young people and the community.”

“We were forced to alert the authorities so that they could come to our aid, just for safety,” said Basima.

Authorities in northeastern Congo on Friday banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

The outbreak is a high risk to Congo, WHO says

The World Health Organization has said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday that 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger.”

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, which spread undetected for weeks in Congo’s Ituri province following the first known death, while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative. There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, though more are expected as surveillance expands.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said a response to the outbreak must include building trust with communities.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died from the outbreak in Mongbwalu. The agency said it believed the three healthcare workers contracted the virus on March 27 while handling dead bodies as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola.

If confirmed, this would significantly push back the timeline of the outbreak from the previous first confirmed death in late April in the town of Bunia, the capital of Ituri.

The US bars green-card holders from Ebola-stricken countries

U.S. federal health officials said on Friday night that they are banning green card holders who have been in Ebola-affected countries from returning to the U.S.

Green card holders are people who are not U.S. citizens but have been granted authorization to live and work permanently in the United States.

According to a Federal Register notice on Friday, the U.S. government is enacting a rule that restricts green card holders who have recently been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan from reentering the United States.

It's unclear why South Sudan was on the list as the country has not confirmed any Ebola cases so far in this outbreak.

Such a ban will help ensure that Ebola screening, contact tracing, quarantine monitoring, and medical monitoring will be available to U.S. citizens, according to the notice.

Federal law provides for a period before such decisions become final but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can argue that the order can take effect immediately in certain circumstances.

The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal. AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.

The 30-year-old South Korean still managed to maintain an edge over a couple of major champions, including hometown favorite and defending champion Scottie Scheffler, heading into the final round.

Kim shot 3-under 68 on Saturday for a two-shot lead over top-ranked Scheffler and 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who had matching 65s.

“It’s fun being in contention,” said Clark, a three-time tour winner seeking his first victory since Pebble Beach in 2024. “Whether you have to shoot 8 under to win or 1 under to win, it’s fun because you still feel the same heat. Tomorrow it’s probably going to be exactly that way where you have to make a ton of birdies.”

Sungjae Im, Kim's countryman, followed a second-round 61 with a 67 and was another two shots back with Stephan Jaeger and Tom Hoge. Jaeger's 64 was the low round of the day at the TPC Craig Ranch, and Hoge shot 66.

Zach Bauchou (66) was 16 under, one shot ahead of Brooks Koepka (66) and three others. Koepka, who opened with a 63, is looking for his first win since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf.

Kim, the field's second highest-ranked player behind Scheffler at No. 24, was in position for a 59 in the second round but had a bogey at 18 that forced him to settle for 60.

His five-shot lead was tied for the second-biggest on tour through 36 holes this season behind Rory McIlroy’s six-shot edge when he defended his Masters championship in April.

It was gone by the 11th hole.

Three bogeys in a span of four holes — all on putts inside 10 feet — dropped the four-time tour winner into a tie with Clark at 18 under. Clark had earlier pulled within a stroke with a short eagle putt on the par-5 ninth.

Kim, a Dallas resident, answered with three birdies over the next four holes — a day after he had 12.

“I was thinking about too much scoring like first 10, 11 holes,” Kim said. “So I’m just trying to be back to kind of like yesterday. Yeah, just trying to hit the good shots and trying to like, all the mojo’s back.”

Clark took the lead a scrambling birdie at the par-5 12th, making a 15-foot putt after a bunker shot with his right foot in the grass, his flexed right knee almost touching the ground.

Kim, Scheffler and Clark were tied at 19 under when Kim went in front with a birdie on the short par-4 14th after Scheffler and Clark settled for pars after trying to drive the green.

Clark got even again, but Kim went in front for good with a birdie at the par-3 15th.

Scheffler, a four-time major winner who ran away to an eight-shot victory at last year's Nelson, answered his first bogey of the tournament on the par-3 fourth with three birdies over the final five holes on the front nine.

“Two shots back going into tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to the challenge,” said Scheffler, who is looking for his 21st tour win. “It’s always fun when I get to play with Si Woo. I think it’s good for the community to have two guys that are local up there on the leaderboard. Should be a fun day tomorrow.”

Clark, seeking his first win since 2024 at Pebble Beach, was standing over the putt before what ended up being one of his early birdies when he stepped away and dabbed at his nose. He made the putt, but was still dabbing at his nose a few holes later.

“I don’t really know,” the 32-year-old said when asked if he had a bloody nose. “I had like a cut on my nose, and I went like this. Next thing you know, I was bleeding. It wasn’t quite a bloody nose, but it lasted a couple holes.”

Jordan Spieth, a hometown favorite alongside Scheffler, faded with four bogeys on his first five holes on the back nine a day after six consecutive birdies to start his second nine spurred a 62. He shot 73.

First-round leader Taylor Moore was back in contention after four consecutive birdies, but went in the water at 15 and ended up with a triple-bogey 6. He shot 69 and was 13 under.

Japan's Kensei Hirata, playing in the final group with Kim and Im, shot 70 and trails by seven.

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

Today swayed to the cooler side and our high temperatures did not exceed the 60s for most of us due to the warm front taking a slower route.

As we head into the overnight hours, that warm front will bring up our temperatures for tomorrow, and our lows will remain to be only a few degrees cooler than what we experienced throughout the day.

Tomorrow will be much warmer, with highs reaching the mid-70s, but we will continue to see this wet pattern stick around.

That said, most of the moisture will come in the afternoon, and have hit-or-miss showers and storms throughout the evening.

Even as we head into Monday and the coming days, rain will be in the forecast.

For Monday in particular, the Weather Prediction Center has put out a marginal risk of seeing excessive rainfall; this means that isolated flooding is possible due to the rainfall rates that will occur.

Saturday Morning:

A low-pressure system is spreading widespread rain across much of the East Coast Today. Periods of steady rain and scattered showers will continue through the afternoon and evening.

The heaviest rainfall is to be expected from parts of Texas into lower Mississippi Valley. Though we are expecting to see a decent amount of rainfall within our region which should help alleviate some of the pressure from the ongoing drought.

Cloud cover and rainfall are keeping temperatures cool today, with highs mainly in the upper 50s to mid 60s across the region. Expect a chilly, damp feel through the afternoon before temperatures fall back into the 50s tonight.

The hourly outlook shows temperatures holding steady in the upper 50s through midday before nudging into the 60s by later afternoon. Clouds will dominate, keeping conditions cool and seasonably below average as temperatures bar off at around 62 degrees.

By Memorial Day, we will return back into the 80s for our high temperatures. Those warm temperatures will linger on throughout the week, as well as the scattered showers.

For Scott Remer, the champion spellers' coach, posing for a picture was more than just a celebration. It was a business necessity.

While nearly every National Spelling Bee champion over the past 15 years has worked with a coach, the 32-year-old Remer is the country's only full-time, professional tutor for elite spellers. Most coaches are former spellers who are still in college or even high school.

When the field of 247 spellers at this year's bee — which begins Tuesday and concludes Thursday in Washington — is cut down to 10 or so finalists, it's all but inevitable the group will include multiple Remer students.

“He’s probably one of the most influential figures in spelling over the past 10 years,” said Shah, now 17.

Remer has coached five national champions, and since the bee emerged from the pandemic disruptions of 2020 and '21, he has scaled up the coaching profession. He claims 34 spellers as his students this year and has worked with no fewer than 29 during each of the past four bees.

He charges more than other coaches: up to $180 for an hourlong private lesson. If spellers finish in the top 10 and earn a cash prize, he receives up to 10% of their winnings, which he called “a performance-based bonus.”

Many spellers and their families believe Remer is worth it — despite, or perhaps because of, the intense personality that emerges during his lessons.

Always earnest and gregarious on any spelling-related topic, Remer describes coaching as a passion that grew out of his disappointing fourth-place finish in 2008, his final year as a speller. He says he's motivated by sharing his knowledge, helping kids reach their potential and the challenge of discovering spelling bee-worthy words.

“This is really about the love of language and the love of the competition. Part of it is once you're stung by the bee, there's kind of no going back,” Remer said. “I'm not going to deny that it pays well, because it does. But I don't know that there's anything wrong with that.”

The last two champions he coached say he was crucial to their victories.

“Even though his classes are more expensive, it's definitely worth it,” Faizan said. “I saw results.”

Faizan's father, Zaki Anwar, said he negotiated a reduced rate of $120 an hour for Remer's services because Faizan was already an accomplished speller. Remer took home 7% of the champion's prize haul of $52,500 — a bonus of $3,675.

“After winning, it doesn't really matter,” Anwar said.

Expensive and demanding, Remer is not for everyone

Remer drills his students on roots, language patterns and the exceptions to those patterns. He seeks to instill a deep understanding of languages that will allow spellers to figure out a word even if they have never seen or heard it before, as Shah did with “rommack” in 2023.

But Remer's pricing, and his coaching style, have led some spellers to seek help elsewhere.

“I found it prohibitively expensive,” said Navneeth Murali, a University of Pennsylvania student who competed through 2020 and now coaches spellers, charging roughly $50 for an hourlong lesson. “It wasn't a realistic option for me.”

Grace Walters, who coached 2022 champion Harini Logan and four other champions, charges $75 an hour. She and Murali take a handful of students each year.

“I'm very much quality over quantity. It's really important to me that I'm able to get to know each speller as a whole person, not just as a speller, and tailor my curriculum to them as individuals,” said Walters, a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Kentucky. “But I have to give credit where it's due: If everyone was doing it like me, there wouldn't be enough coaches for all the spellers out there.”

Sree Vidya Siliveri was coached by Remer before her 60th-place finish in 2024 but didn't respond well to his methods, said her father, Sreedhar Siliveri. She found a new coach and finished 10th in 2025.

“We were looking for alternatives and found some of the fresh, like, high school students who can be friendlier and charge less,” Sreedhar Siliveri said.

Even spellers and their parents who swear by Remer say he can be brusque and demanding of his middle school-age pupils. Simone Kaplan, who finished runner-up to the “octo-champs” of 2019, appreciated Remer's tough coaching but said it's not for everyone.

“Scott is a true logophile, a master of languages. He pushes his students to keep up with him,” Kaplan said. “That can inspire some spellers to learn and succeed, but it can also leave a student feeling like they've disappointed him if they don't spell every word right. And that's difficult for a kid.”

Remer said his goal is to be supportive while giving spellers the feedback they need to avoid repeating mistakes.

“I try to be tough but fair, and I also try to modulate my teaching methods, based on the kids' needs and the kids' personalities,” he said. “Whether I'm always successful at that is I guess an open question.”

From the Ivy League to full-time spelling coach

Remer graduated from Yale in 2016 and earned a master's degree from Cambridge a year later. His first study guide, “Words of Wisdom: Keys to Success in the Scripps National Spelling Bee,” was published in 2010, when he was a teenager. That was also the year he coached his first champion, Anamika Veeramani.

He has published three other books and has worked for the Council on Foreign Relations and as the communications coordinator for an LGBTQ-friendly synagogue in New York. Since 2020, he has been a full-time spelling coach while also offering tutoring in Chinese, Spanish, writing and standardized test prep. Born and raised in the Cleveland suburbs, he now lives in Mexico City.

Remer has written an op-ed about the bee for the Guardian every year since 2019. He emails out lists of his students and sends updates on their progress, calling them “my spellers” even if they have multiple tutors. (Faizan had three coaches last year.) During bee week, Remer is a constant presence, giving lessons on-site and sitting with spellers' families while the television cameras roll.

He knows he has to market himself, but he says he doesn't enjoy it.

“I think I'm trying not to be particularly self-aggrandizing in general,” Remer said, “so if the question is, does it come naturally to me to do that sort of promotional and marketing work, the answer is no.”

Scripps, the Cincinnati-based media company that has run the bee for a century, does not endorse coaching, but Corrie Loeffler, the bee's executive director, described the practice as inevitable, given the intensity of the competition.

Loeffler gently pushed back at the idea that any coach should claim credit for a speller's success.

“It's hard work, it's study ethic, it's perseverance,” she said. “These kids are doing pretty incredible things at a really high level, especially at a young age, and I want them to be able to take credit for that themselves, knowing that it's a community and they've had so much support along the way.”

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow him at https://x.com/APBenNuckols

Two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft, which have characteristics of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane, flew over the recently reopened U.S. Embassy in Caracas. They landed in the parking lot with the downdraft blowing tree branches. Forces then descended from the aircraft.

“Ensuring the military’s rapid response capability is a key component of mission readiness, both here in Venezuela and around the world,” the embassy said on Instagram.

Venezuela’s government had announced the drill earlier this week. Foreign Minister Yván Gil said the United States would conduct the exercise to prepare “in the event of medical emergencies or catastrophic emergencies.”

The drill comes almost two months after the U.S. formally reopened its embassy in Caracas. The reopening followed the restoration of full diplomatic relations with the South American country after Maduro's ouster in early January.

Some Caracas residents gathered near the embassy to watch the aircraft, while a few dozen others gathered elsewhere in the city to protest Saturday's exercise. The protesters held a Venezuelan flag with the message “No to the Yankee drill” written over it.

U.S. military aircraft last flew over Caracas on Jan. 3, when elite forces rappelled down from helicopters and captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Both were taken to New York to face drug trafficking charges. They have pleaded not guilty.

Squadron markings on the Ospreys that landed in the capital Saturday identified them as belonging to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263. The same squadron is currently deployed aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Ocean. Maduro and Flores were flown to that warship immediately after their detention.

The head of U.S. military operations in Latin America observed the exercise firsthand. Marine Gen. Francis Donovan, head of the U.S. Southern Command, also met on Saturday with senior Venezuelan officials and embassy staff.

U.S. Southern Command said on X that Donovan arrived in one of the Ospreys for his second official visit to Caracas this year. During a visit in February, Donovan met with Venezuela's defense and interior ministers.

They are searching for 43-year-old Larry Ranson Cooper.

Police say the incident happened around 12:09 a.m. in the 1000 block of Orange Avenue Northeast, at the Circle K gas station.

According to investigators, officers spotted a car connected to a wanted suspect parked at a gas pump and attempted what police described as a “high-risk warrant service.” Officers positioned patrol vehicles in front of and behind the suspect’s car before getting out and ordering the driver to exit.

Police say the driver instead put the vehicle in reverse, hitting the rear patrol car. The vehicle then accelerated forward toward one of the officers, prompting the officer to fire his weapon.

Investigators say the vehicle again moved toward the officer, hitting the front patrol vehicle. The officer then fired additional shots into the vehicle before the suspect drove away from the scene.

The vehicle was later found abandoned a few blocks away in the 900 block of Connecticut Avenue Northeast. The driver has not been located.

Police believe the suspect is 43-year-old Larry Ranson Cooper. Cooper is wanted on a felony probation violation out of Pulaski County, as well as a misdemeanor assault on a family member warrant from the city of Roanoke connected to an incident reported roughly four hours before the shooting.

In accordance with department policy, the Virginia State Police has been called in to investigate the shooting.

In addition, RPD said they responded to the 600 block of Orange Avenue Northeast after receiving a report of a gunshot wound victim around 4:45 a.m. Upon arrival, they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds who claimed he was shot in Roanoke County. He has been taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Both officers involved were taken to a local hospital for evaluation and later released. Police say the officers have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation continues.

Anyone with information about Cooper’s whereabouts or the incident is asked to contact the Roanoke Police Department at 540-344-8500.

This comes as the sheriff’s office continues to investigate a shooting incident that occurred on May 17, which occurred at a large gathering of youth. Law enforcement believes those involved in these incidents are from outside of the county.

Due to the planned party, Amherst County residents can expect an increased law enforcement presence.

If you have any information regarding the May 17 incident or anything related to this matter, please contact the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office at 434-946-9300.

Mehdi Taj, president of the Iran Football Federation, announced the decision Saturday in a statement issued by the federation's media relations official. FIFA has not confirmed the move.

Iran had been scheduled to train in Tucson, Arizona, but a move has been a possibility because of uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East and security concerns. Officials at Tucson's Kino Sports Complex had no comment.

The federation says the team will now be based in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego. This year's World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 and will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“All team base camps for the countries participating in the World Cup must be approved FIFA," Taj said in his statement. "Fortunately, following the requests we submitted and the meetings we held with FIFA and World Cup officials in Istanbul, as well as the webinar meeting we had yesterday in the Tehran with the respected FIFA secretary general, our request to change the team's base from the United States to Mexico was approved.”

Iran plays Group G games in Inglewood, California, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium six days later, then faces Egypt on June 26 in Seattle. The federation said Tijuana's relatively close proximity to Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles, will benefit the team and the new location “includes all training facilities, gym, private restaurant and everything else the team needs."

Team Melli is appearing in its fourth straight World Cup and seventh overall. It has never advanced past the first round.

Iran's federation said moving the base camp will resolve potential visa issues since the team will enter the U.S. through Mexico. The president said that the team “may even be able to travel to and from Mexico using Iran Air flights.”

Teams use base camps for training ahead of and after matches.

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

The Liberty’s star guard practiced Saturday and said afterward she’s good to go against Dallas on Sunday.

“It’s exciting to me,” Ionescu said after practice. “I haven’t had a regular-season game yet, so I’m excited. It feels like it’s been a while. It hasn’t, but it feels like it’s been forever having to watch from the sidelines.”

Ionescu, who averaged 18.2 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds last season, knew the injury wasn't major when she went down against Connecticut on May 3, but that it was going to cost her some time.

“I knew I was going to be out for a little bit, and thankfully, I came back a lot sooner than I was supposed to with returning now,” she said. “So I’m really excited about that. I had some structural damage, but thankfully it responded quickly, came back. It was nothing that was going to sideline me or need surgery."

Coach Chris DeMarco said Ionescu would be on a minutes restriction and with New York playing back-to-back games, he wasn't sure if she would also play on Monday against Portland. The Liberty were 3-2 without Ionescu and are in the midst of a seven-game homestand.

While Ionescu is back, New York is still missing Betnijah Laney-Hamilton who is out for personal reasons. DeMarco said she wouldn't play Sunday. She was practicing Saturday when reporters could watch.

New York is finally getting completely healthy. Satou Sabally made her season debut in Thursday's loss to Golden State. Leonie Fiebich was taking shots after practice as she just got to New York after winning a championship in a Spanish League.

Raquel Carrera is ready to make her debut The Spanish forward was drafted by Atlanta in 2021 and traded to New York the next season. She's been playing overseas the past few years, but finally is in the WNBA.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and crutch.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.

After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the Justice Department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the Jan. 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.”

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ's weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ's website of partisan propaganda.”

Among the releases removed from the site were those concerning seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, far-right extremist groups. The Justice Department, in an unopposed motion last month, asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department on Friday moved to dismiss the cases against the group members.

Dakota Hunter, vice president of Kyle Busch Companies, said in a news release the family received the medical evaluation on Saturday.

Busch, a two-time NASCAR champion, died at 41 on Thursday, a day after passing out in a Chevrolet simulator.

Sepsis is considered a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when the body has an extreme, overactive response to an infection, causing the immune system to damage its own tissues and organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Typically the immune system releases chemicals to fight off pathogens like bacteria, viruses or fungi, but with sepsis the response goes into overdrive. The results can cause widespread inflammation, form microscopic blood clots and make blood vessels leak.

Busch was thought to have had a sinus cold while racing at Watkins Glen on May 10 and radioed in to his team saying that he needed a “shot” from a doctor after the race. However, he bounced back to win the Trucks Series race at Dover last weekend, and then he finished 17th in the All-Star race on Sunday.

Busch, who was preparing to race Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday when he became unresponsive and was transported to a hospital in Charlotte, several people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

During the emergency call placed late that afternoon, an unidentified caller calmly told the dispatch: “I’ve got an individual that’s (got) shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.”

The caller said Busch was lying on the bathroom floor inside the complex and told dispatch “he is awake,” according to audio provided by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office. The man then gave directions on where emergency responders should go and asked that they turn off any sirens upon arrival.

NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski said he knew Busch wasn’t feeling well recently.

“Yes, but I won’t go into any specifics," Keselowski said. “But then when he ran the Trucks race last week, those (thoughts) were honestly kind of erased in my mind.”

Keselowski said running multiple races on the same weekend can be difficult on a driver's health — but most don't want to miss a race for fear of being replaced.

“There’s no shortage of drivers that would love to take my seat or anybody else’s seat if we weren’t feeling well, and I think every driver feels that pressure,” Keselowski said. “All athletes do. It’s not unique to NASCAR in that sense. We’re all thinking to ourselves, ‘I don’t wanna be replaced.’ ... So you try to power through it the best you can."

Keselowski said Busch’s unexpected death has forced him to pay attention to his own health moving forward.

Chase Briscoe said Busch’s health issues served as a “wake-up call” for him and other drivers, who often put aside dealing with potential issues because they are so busy traveling around the country and competing on a weekly basis.

He said if something feels off, “you need to get checked out.”

Busch's Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon was not made available for comment.

Austin Hill will replace Busch on Sunday and drive the No. 33 car. RCR is temporarily retiring Busch's No. 8 until his 11-year-old son Brexton is old enough to race.

All 39 cars in the field for Sunday’s race will include a small black No. 8 decal to honor Busch.

Busch won 234 races across NASCAR’s top three series over his two-decade career, more than any driver in history.

Drivers spoke at length on Saturday about his accomplishments, praising his toughness, competitive spirit and penchant for speaking his mind — all of which led to him earning a reputation as NASCAR's villain.

“He was a polarizing figure that no matter if you like him or disliked him as a racer, he was always talked about,” Ryan Blaney said. “Just this guy that was always there and won too much, which is why people didn't like him. And he always spoke his mind. I think people came to respect that about him, that he was true to who he was and that never changed."

Blaney added that Busch's personality outside of the car and his competitiveness behind the wheel made him "a larger-than-life person in racing.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Global Sumud Flotilla of 50 vessels was intercepted Monday in international waters some 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the coast of Israel as they sought to breach the blockade and deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The activists said they were held for several days in Israel's K’tziot prison where some said they were shocked with electricity while being interrogated about their participation in the flotilla.

The Israeli government has denied allegations of mistreatment of detained flotilla activists, saying they were “false and entirely without factual basis.” There was no immediate response to the activists' accusations Saturday.

The activists were welcomed by pro-Palestinian supporters and their families as they arrived in South Africa from Turkey on Saturday morning.

They said many of them received harsh treatment, especially when the Israeli soldiers learned they were from South Africa, a country that has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice and accused it of committing genocide in Gaza.

“We were denied access to water for a while. Food they did give us, food that was not suitable for human consumption. We were denied access to toilets for many hours, and the minute we started protesting we were shot at with rubber bullets,” said activist Faizel Moosa.

Moosa, a former anti-apartheid activist during South Africa's liberation struggle against white minority rule, said the treatment they received under detention was the worst he had ever experienced.

“Having experienced detention under the apartheid regime during the struggle, this was far worse. It just goes to show that this is what Palestinians go through on a daily basis,” said Moosa.

Dr. Margaret Connolly, who was among an Irish contingent in the flotilla, said she had never been so frightened as she described dehumanizing conditions in detention.

She said some people were struck with guns. Detainees who had been stripped of their clothes and denied blankets had to huddle together in the cold to prevent hypothermia.

Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, was among a group of 15 Irish activists who were greeted by cheering supporters and family members as they arrived home in Dublin on Saturday.

She said Israeli forces didn’t provide enough water or toiletries, and her medical kit was confiscated, preventing her from providing proper medical care. She said bread bags and shirt sleeves used for bandages and slings were later taken away.

“They wanted us to suffer,” Connolly said. “A lot of the soldiers with American accents, shouting down: ‘You should have thought of this before you came.’”

Three Chileans who were detained by Israel while attempting to reach Gaza to deliver aid also arrived home Saturday, where they criticized the Chilean government for what they described as its inaction in securing their release.

Víctor Chanfreau, Claudio Caiozzi and Carolina Eltit were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla. A large group of supporters greeted the trio at the airport in the capital, Santiago, with Palestinian flags, signs and applause.

“The Chilean government acted terribly, unsurprisingly,” Chanfreau told reporters at the airport, calling the Chilean Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic efforts in their detention “negligent.”

Eltit reported being beaten and held “in precarious conditions, without toilet paper, one bathroom for 190 people, lying in the sun, tied hand and foot.”

Connolly criticized the Irish government for rejecting sanctions against Israel.

Activist Qutb Hendricks called on the South African government to pile pressure on Israel by banning the sale of coal and other supplies to the country.

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Associated Press writers Brian Melley in London and Regina Garcia Cano in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Many paused to share photographs and other mementos of children and young people who have died or are battling cancer because of the pollution.

Leo's visit to the so-called Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ big ecological encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be), and indicates Leo’s commitment to carry on his predecessor’s environmental agenda.

“I have come first of all to gather the tears of those who have lost loved ones, killed by environmental pollution caused by unscrupulous people and organizations who for too long were able to act with impunity,” Leo said in remarks to family members and local clergy inside Acerra's cathedral.

The pontiff recalled that the area now dubbed the Land of Fires was once called “Campania felix,” Latin for blessed or fruitful countryside, "capable for enchanting for its fertility, its produce and its culture, like a hymn to life.

"And yet — here is death, of the land and of men,'' the pope said.

The European Court of Human Rights last year validated a generation of residents’ complaints that mafia dumping, burial and burning of toxic waste led to an increased rate of cancer and other ailments in the area of 90 municipalities around Caserta and Naples, encompassing a population of 2.9 million people.

The court found Italian authorities had known since 1988 about the toxic pollution, blamed on the Camorra crime syndicate that controls waste disposal, but failed to take necessary steps to protect the residents. The binding ruling gave Italy two years to set up a database about the toxic waste and verified health risks associated with living there.

Bishop says the dumping continues

Bishop Antonio Di Donna estimated 150 young people had died in the city of some 58,000 over the past three decades — emphasizing in his opening remarks that the number didn't take into account adults and victims in other municipalities.

He urged the pope to admonish those who continue to pollute, noting that the dumping of tons of toxic waste was reported a day earlier near Castera. Di Donna said that Italian officials had identified dozens more human-caused contamination sites throughout the country, including the Venetian port of Marghera, and the leaching of PFAS forever chemicals into groundwater near Vicenza.

"We say to those brothers of ours ensnared in evil and seized by a mirage of fabulous earnings: Convert, change your ways, because what you are doing is not only a crime, it is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance,'' the bishop said.

The pope later greeted the mayors of the 90 communities impacted by the toxic dumping, and greeted thousands of people waving yellow flags and chanting “Papa Leone” along the route of his popemobile and in a central piazza.

Families of young victims appeal to the pope

The victims include Maria Venturato, who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 25. Her father, Angelo, said he hopes to speak with the pope to explain their reality, “not for me … for the next generation.”

“I’d like to give these young people a future, so I’m asking for the pope’s help with this. That is, I’m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say, ‘Look, let’s heal this land of fires,’" he said on the eve of the pope's visit.

Inside the cathedral, Filomena Carolla presented the pope with a book containing memories from the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at the age of 24.

“I’m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young,” Carolla told The Associated Press on Friday.

Francis' plans to visit the area in 2020 were canceled due to the pandemic.

“As of today, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from entering French territory. This decision follows his unspeakable actions toward French and European citizens who were passengers on the Global Sumud Flotilla," the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced in a post on X.

“We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated or brutalized in this way — all the more so by a public official,” Barrot posted, calling on the European Union to also sanction Ben-Gvir.

The Associated Press has sought comment from Ben-Gvir's spokesperson and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This week, Ben-Gvir sparked global outrage after promoting a video of himself taunting detained flotilla activists.

In one clip, Ben-Gvir is seen waving a large Israeli flag over hunched-over detainees whose hands appear to be bound. In another, he taunts a kneeling detainee whose wrists are zip-tied, yelling “Am Yisrael Chai” at him — Hebrew for “The nation of Israel lives.” In a third, detainees can be seen — foreheads to the floor of an outdoor pen — as the Israeli national anthem plays and armed guards encircle them.

Foreign leaders — and even coalition partner Netanyahu — condemned Ben-Gvir's on-camera treatment of some 430 flotilla detainees.

In his post, the French minister was also critical of flotilla activists, who were attempting to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.

“We disapprove of this flotilla’s approach, which produces no useful effect and places an additional burden on diplomatic and consular services," Barrot wrote.

The flotilla of 50 boats was intercepted in international waters some 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the coast of Israel. Detained activists accused Israeli forces of mistreatment, describing beatings, tasers and attack dogs.

Poland has also barred Ben-Gvir, announcing a five-year-ban on Thursday.

“In the democratic world we do not abuse and gloat over people in custody," Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski posted.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the accident at Changzhi city’s Liushenyu coal mine happened on Friday evening.

At a news conference late Saturday, local authorities said 82 were dead and that more than 120 people were hospitalized. Two were still missing. The death toll was a revised, lower number from earlier reports by state broadcaster CCTV that said 90 had died.

The scene at the coal mine was “chaotic” in the immediate aftermath of the accident, they said, and figures provided at the time were initial and not definite.

The explosion was under investigation, local officials said, adding there were “serious violations” of the law by the mine’s operator. They did not elaborate on any specific violations.

Earlier on Saturday, Xinhua reported that rescue work was pressing on a day after the accident, with hundreds of rescuers and medical personnel sent to the site. Among the injured, many were hurt by toxic gas, according to CCTV.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out effort to rescue the missing, Xinhua reported. Xi also called for a “thorough investigation" and accountability "in accordance with the law.”

Xinhua later reported that those responsible for the company involved in the mine accident have been "placed under control,” citing the local emergency management bureau.

An investigation team sent by China’s powerful State Council, equivalent to the country’s Cabinet, would be conducting a “rigorous and uncompromising” probe into the deadly explosion, a separate Xinhua report said following Xi’s remarks.

Wang Yong, one of the hospitalized miners, told CCTV in a video interview that he smelled sulfur “like firecrackers” and saw smoke.

“I told people to run,” he said. “As I ran, I saw people being choked by the smoke. And then I blacked out.”

The state broadcaster also reported that blueprints provided by the coal mine did not match the actual layout, hampering rescue efforts.

The coal mine, operated by the Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons, was placed on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines by China’s National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 for having “high gas content.”

Shanxi province is known as China’s main coal mining province. With a size larger than Greece and a population of around 34 million, the province's hundreds of thousands of miners dug 1.3 billion tons of coal last year, almost a third of China’s total.

In China, coal remains a key energy source due to its lower cost and high availability, even as the country accelerates its transition toward green energy. Mining disasters have been common although authorities had implemented measures to improve safety over the past years.

In February 2023, 53 people were killed after a collapse at an open-pit mine in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region. In November 2009, an explosion at a mine in northeastern China’s Heilongjiang province killed 108, according to state media.

RCSO said an Augusta County deputy informed the sheriff’s office that he was going to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle on I-81 that was reported stolen out of New Jersey, resulting in Rockbridge deputies arriving to assist. When they attempted to initiate the traffic stop, the driver refused to stop, and a pursuit ensued.

Authorities said the pursuit continued to Exit 50 on I-64, and proceeded North on Fredericksburg Road. Around one mile from the exit, the driver jumped from the vehicle and fled on foot. Law enforcement apprehended the suspect within 100 yards of where he left the vehicle.

The sheriff’s office said they identified the driver as 27-year-old Evan Goodwin of New Jersey. He was taken to the Carilion Rockbridge Community Hospital for evaluation and subsequently released. He was then arrested and charged with the following:

• Disregarding a Signal to Stop
• Possession of a Stolen Vehicle
• Obstruction of Justice / Fleeing from Law Enforcement
• Fugitive from Justice

Goodwin is now being held without bond at the Rockbridge Regional Jail.

Another surprise: The 2022 world champion at 100 meters, banned from the regular track circuit until August 2027 for missing tests required by a system he portrayed as disrespectful and intrusive, has every intention of being on another starting line.

“I will compete at the LA Olympics in 2028," he said.

When Kerley signed onto the Enhanced Games roster, he became their most recognizable name and gave the new enterprise a headliner it had been missing.

Some six months later came his two-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit for missing tests, a violation of the antidoping code that doesn't necessarily mean an athlete is taking drugs.

The 31-year-old Kerley, who bet on himself after the COVID-19 pandemic when he successfully gave up the 400-meter grind for the 100-meter straightaway, insisted it was the multimillion-dollar contract, not the prospect of taking performance enhancers, that led him to the breakaway league.

“I don't need it,” he said. “God gave me fast feet for a reason. I'm here to showcase my talent. You still have to work. Drugs aren't going to give you an advantage if you're not putting the work in.”

USADA's doping control officers on hand this week

That, in part, is what the Enhanced Games will or will not prove on Sunday. Most of the 50 athletes competing in track, swimming and weightlifting are taking performance enhancers under the watchful eye of doctors and trainers. A few, like Kerley and Olympic gold-medal relay swimmer Hunter Armstrong, say they are not.

Rick Adams, the former chief of sport performance for the U.S. Olympic team whose move to become an executive for Enhanced also gave the enterprise a greater sense of legitimacy, said doping control officers are on hand in Las Vegas this weekend, testing on behalf of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which still keeps a list of active athletes who could return to traditional events.

“There's a lot of scrutiny, not only against me but against the Enhanced Games,” Armstrong said. “I want them to test me because I don't want there to be a single doubt that I'm a man of my word.”

Kerley, a man of few words, says he will be ‘fast’ on Sunday

Kerley, who has a reputation as a man of few words, has spent large parts of 2026 using his social media feed to rip into antidoping authorities, while teasing that a 9.4-second run could be possible. He has turned himself into maybe track's most intriguing character this side of Sha'Carri Richardson.

Does he think Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record can be broken Sunday — a feat that would earn the record breaker $1 million, in addition to a $250,000 first prize? “It's going to be destroyed," Kerley said.

How fast does he think he can go? “Fast.”

How fast? “Fast.”

Does he have a time in mind? “Fast.”

When Kerley's ban for missing tests was announced in March, the easy conclusion was that he didn't care about testing anymore now that he was part of the Enhanced Games.

But the reason, he explained, had to do with the 24/7 whereabouts requirements in antidoping. In essence, athletes in the testing pool have to spell out where they'll be at all times and give drug testers specific windows when they'll be available.

When the ban came down, Kerley argued he had no intention of answering phone calls that looked like spam from Mexico while he was in the U.S. Those, apparently, were from doping control officers trying to track him down.

On Friday, he went a little deeper.

“I grew up with family,” he said. “You just don’t come and disrespect my space. Once you come and start disrespecting my space, it’s irritating.”

But, he says, despite the ban and despite his presence with Enhanced, he continues to be tested by the AIU and USADA.

He says the move to Enhanced had nothing to do with taking drugs, everything to do with signing a contract that he suggested on social media would take $12 million-plus to top.

Like so many in his sport, he has grown tired of shoe contracts that place too many obligations on athletes and sometimes go away if an injury hits or times falter.

“We're training, basically, 365, and it hasn't changed from back in the day when all the greats were running,” Kerley said.

Banned for taking PEDs, Marvin Bracy-Williams makes a comeback

Also running in the 100 on Sunday is Marvin Bracy-Williams, whose own curious doping case resulted in what could have been a career-ending 45-month ban but instead led him to the Enhanced Games where he said he is, in fact, taking drugs.

Bracy-Williams, who finished second at worlds to Kerley by .02 seconds in 2022, conceded that his sudden disappearance from track in 2023 came because he was doping after a series of injuries.

He ended up providing information to authorities that led to the arrest of a Florida man, who faces up to 10 years in prison for violating a law passed in 2020 that allows U.S. authorities to prosecute doping crimes involving international events.

The reduced ban wasn't enough to salvage the 2028 Olympic hopes of Bracy-Williams, now 32, so he jumped when he saw the chance to go to the Enhanced Games.

“We get in these situations where the treatment is good when you're good,” Bracy-Williams said, referencing a $100,000 reduction in his contract that came if he failed to make a U.S. national team. "But when you're in a place where you're not doing so good, it just goes away, and sometimes, for some people, that can be hard.

Bracy-Williams said he trained with Tyson Gay in the early 2010s when Gay got nailed for doping. He passed no judgment on him or anyone else.

“The dude never changed,” Bracy-Williams said. “I didn't look at him like he was some boogeyman now."

He rattled through a long list of great sprinters who had tested positive for doping through the years.

“But you meet them behind closed doors, and they're good guys,” Bracy-Williams said.

As he spoke at a table surrounded by media, his two kids sat quietly against the wall and played on cellphones. There was no need to ask why Bracy-Williams, who has a two-year contract with "lots of zeros" on it, was trying to extend his career at the Enhanced Games.

Same for Kerley, who promises that track and field hasn't seen the last of him.

“At the end of the day," Kerley said, “I'm here to provide for my kids and myself.”

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

One night after Stephen Colbert recorded his final episode of “The Late Show" on CBS, he made a surprise appearance hosting the “Only in Monroe” community access show broadcast in southeast Michigan along the shores of Lake Erie.

Michigan native Jack White, who grew up in Detroit about 40 miles northeast of Monroe, joined Colbert as his “volunteer music director.”

“Looking forward to hearing some of your music, time permitting,” Colbert joked with White, as laughter could be heard from a handful of people off camera.

Colbert interviewed actor Jeff Daniels during the hourlong broadcast that leaned heavily into Michigan-centric jokes. Actor Steve Buscemi appeared in a recorded bit joking about Buscemi’s Pizza in Monroe.

Rapper Eminem, who was raised in Detroit, appeared on tape as the “fire marshal” who approves setting fire to remnants of the set that Colbert, White and Daniels destroyed at the end of the show.

Colbert also spoke via FaceTime with comedian Byron Allen, who will be hosting “Comics Unleashed” that is replacing Colbert’s canceled “Late Show,."

The community access program’s normal hosts, Michelle Baumann and former Miss America Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson, sucked helium from balloons with Colbert while discussing Baumann's battle with cancer. A warning on the screen said, “Former professional TV host, do not try this at home.”

It marked the second time Colbert has hosted “Only in Monroe.” As he said during the surprise Friday broadcast, he previously hosted an episode in the summer of 2015 just before taking over “Late Night” from David Letterman.

It was not clear where or when Colbert recorded the latest episode, which aired exactly 24 hours after his final “Late Night” show. Messages left Saturday seeking comment from the community access channel were not immediately returned.

He spent the time contemplating the haunting images of a spinning car hitting the wall last May before the race had even started, his hands flapping in anger and the frustration sinking in as he climbed out. All the inconsolable McLaughlin could do was cover his face.

He's not going to blow it Sunday at another sold-out Indianapolis 500.

Instead, McLaughlin intends to take full advantage of a second chance on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval, and he hopes to show everyone what he's learned and how resilient he's become as he tries to write a worst-to-first script.

“No doubt I’ve come back stronger from it,” he said. “I don’t think I’m driving differently this year because of it. I’m just looking forward to getting back into the race, creating a new storyline, getting on with it. I’d love to go zero to hero, of course, but driving with emotion like that is probably a detriment. I've just got to go out there, execute and see what I’ve got.”

The 32-year-old New Zealander has returned to Indy with a steadier, more determined mindset to prove he won't make the same mistake twice. He didn't duck any questions about what happened, even if it still seems inexplicable.

But at Team Penske, it's not just McLaughlin seeking redemption this weekend.

Last May might have been the worst for team founder Roger Penske since 1995, when neither of his two-time 500 winners — Al Unser Jr. or Emerson Fittipaldi — made the 33-car starting field, with the open-wheel split keeping Penske away from Indy for the next five years.

In 2025, the trouble started long before McLaughlin crashed while warming up his tires as he was driving past pit lane. Two-time defending champion Josef Newgarden and 2018 Indy 500 winner Will Power were both penalized following a post-qualifying inspection that showed each car had illegally modified rear attenuators.

It marked the second time in 14 months The Captain's team had been tarnished by a cheating scandal. In April 2024, Newgarden was stripped of his win and McLaughlin lost his third-place finish at the season-opening race in St. Petersburg because they improperly used the push-to-pass button on restarts — a rule that was changed earlier this month after a dozen drivers did the same thing at Long Beach. The new rule will allow all 33 drivers to use it on restarts Sunday, the first time on an oval.

“What happened there was a nothing burger,” Newgarden said when asked about Long Beach. “I mean look, I don't have much to say about it, it doesn't matter to me. I'm here in Indianapolis.”

But the second infraction sent both cars to the back of the starting grid, essentially ending Newgarden's opportunity to become the first driver in race history with three straight 500 wins and Power's chance to add a second Indy crown in his contract year. Three key team executives —president Tim Cindric, IndyCar managing director Ron Ruzewski and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer — were fired.

The three drivers' race-day results were subpar, too, for a team with a record 20 Indy wins. Power was the team's best finisher, in 16th and one lap behind the leaders. Newgarden dropped out with 66 laps to go and came in 22nd. And McLaughlin, Penske's top qualifier, didn't complete a single lap.

This year, McLaughlin and Newgarden came back to Indy with a new teammate, David Malukas, who drives the No. 12 car Power occupied for more than a decade. McLaughlin also has a new race strategist, Cindric.

And while Malukas and McLaughlin already have put Team Penske in more favorable position this May, starting third and ninth, Newgarden struggled in qualifying. He'll start 23rd, in the middle of Row 8, though it's still a nine-spot improvement over last year's starting spot. The combination at least gives Penske's team a fighting chance on the track he owns.

“I'm just going into it like I do any race,” Malukas said when asked about starting on the outside of Row 1. "I'll just watch previous race starts from that position, just getting a collection of data to see where people funnel out, funnel in. I'll just go with the flow.”

Newgarden, however, will have to manage traffic all around him after earning his worst starting spot since 2013 with the exception of last year's penalty.

And then there's McLaughlin, who has a second chance to prove to his fans and the team that last year was an aberration and this year could have a storybook ending.

“I feel like last year sucked and stunk, but it’s part of my journey,” he said. “I feel like I’ve gotten years of experience in one. It was a tough thing. I never wish that upon my worst enemy, as I’ve said. It’s something I’ve grown from, for sure. But it put a lot of perspective in my life.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Authorities in the city of Novorossiysk said falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil terminal, injuring two people. Russia’s Astra news outlet said Ukrainian drones struck the Sheskharis oil terminal and depot, the terminus for Russian state-controlled pipeline company Transneft’s main oil pipelines in the region. Images posted by Astra appeared to show smoke rising above the oil terminal, but they could not be verified.

On Saturday afternoon, Ukraine's General Staff said its forces had struck the Sheskharis oil terminal overnight.

“The facility provides shipment of oil and oil products for export and is involved in meeting the needs of the Russian army,” the General Staff wrote on Telegram, adding that Ukrainian forces had also hit a tanker in the Black Sea belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”

Ukraine has expanded its mid- and long-range strike capabilities, deploying drone and missile technology that it has developed domestically to battle Russia’s 4-year-old invasion. Attacks on Russian oil assets that play a key part in funding the invasion have become almost daily occurrences.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Ukrainian drone strike overnight into Friday on a college dormitory building in Starobilsk, a city in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region, rose to 18, the press service of Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said. According to the ministry, 60 people were wounded in the attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denounced the attack on the dormitory as a “crime” and ordered the military to submit its proposals for retaliation. He said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college.

At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the strike, held at the request of Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

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

Rep. Mark Takano, whose American-born parents were both incarcerated as young children with their families during the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, could not help but see the parallels between that chapter of American history and this one.

“I do feel like there's a similarity of circumstance of my own 2-year-old father and my 1-year-old mother being labeled as enemy aliens and they’re considered a danger to national security," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

“They’re put into these incarceration camps,” he said. “Similar arguments have been made by this administration — that immigrants pose a grave danger to our country and it’s for the security of our country that we’re doing this.”

Echoes of history in Trump's immigration sweeps

President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history is at an inflection point. Americans are seeing what it looks like to round up, detain and deport thousands of people, particularly in the aftermath of the deaths this year of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens protesting the actions in Minneapolis.

The White House changed the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security as it reframes its approach. New Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep the department off the front pages.

But Trump is also under mounting pressure from conservative groups not to let up on the goal of deporting 1 million people a year. The president's Republican allies in Congress are fueling the immigration and deportation actions with billions of dollars in special funds.

Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, has drawn from his own family history — and the country's eventual redress to Japanese Americans who were detained — to challenge Trump's approach.

“We look back on that era of history as a shameful one, as a time when our political leaders failed the Constitution, failed the American people,” he said.

One family's story among many

A former high school history teacher before being elected to Congress in 2012, Takano grew up in Southern California and came to understand the family stories.

His grandfather Isao Takano arrived in the U.S. from Hiroshima and married Kazue Takahashi, a U.S.-born citizen. Together they settled in Bellevue, Washington, and launched a business growing tomatoes, strawberries and chrysanthemums for the marketplace in Seattle.

When the U.S. entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they were among some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, immigrants and those born in the U.S., forcibly relocated.

His father, William, was 2 years old when his family was sent in 1942 to the incarceration camp at Tule Lake in California. His mother, Nancy Tsugiye Sakamoto, born in California to American-born parents, was a year old when she was relocated to the detention facility in Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

Then, as now, he said, people are being swept up in the anti-immigrant detentions.

“Will Americans generations from now visit Alligator Alcatraz and think to themselves, How could our government do this?” Takano said during a House floor speech, referring to the Trump-era immigration detention facility in Florida.

“These future generations of Americans will look to us, the Congress, to see what we did to try to stop it.”

A Reagan-era law is seen as model for redress

Takano remembers his father taking him to see the land the family once owned. He learned about his great uncles who served in the Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese American soldiers; one was killed in action in Italy. He recalls his own father later collected donations for the national redress campaign.

In 1988 Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which sought to apologize for the “grave injustice” that had been done and provide $20,000 to each person detained. Republican President Ronald Reagan signed it into law.

Takano's parents were among those who received a letter of apology from the federal government, he said, and a payment.

Talks are underway among some in Congress, he said, for a similar redress to the people who have had their car windows smashed in, their homes raided and livelihoods upended as part of Trump's immigration enforcement operations.

“Remarkably the country did come to realize the mistake,” he said. “I believe we’re living through one of those eras of mistakes and I believe we can come out of this moment stronger.”

He smiled as she ran to fetch it. Caregivers cheered.

“Look how good you’re doing!” said Hadley's handler, Schellie Scott.

Such small victories and moments of joy are common whenever Hadley or one of the other three facility dogs at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital show up. These furry caregivers aren’t the typical therapy dogs volunteers bring to hospitals to comfort patients. They are specially trained, full-time working dogs that provide emotional support during stressful procedures, motivate kids to move around and make hospitals seem less scary. And experts say their ranks are growing at children’s hospitals across the nation.

A mounting body of research shows that even short interactions with facility dogs can improve children’s overall well-being, decrease the pain they feel and reduce signs of stress, like cortisol levels and blood pressure.

“These dogs are making a real difference,” said Kerri Rodriguez, director of the Human-Animal Bond Lab at the University of Arizona. “They can provide a little bit of normalcy, a little bit of comfort, in a really stressful, sterile environment that kids might not feel comfortable in.”

How hospital facility dog programs work

Although no one tracks the number of facility dogs in children's hospitals, Rodriguez points to the continual growth of the annual Facility Dog Summit, where handlers and other participants network and where attendance nearly doubled from 2024 to 2025. Other types of hospitals also have full-time dogs, but experts say children's hospitals account for most of the expansion in programs. One large nonprofit, Canine Assistants in Georgia, has a specific children’s hospital initiative through which it has placed more than 80 dogs nationally.

Dogs have been on the job for years at places such as Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital in New York, Norton Children’s in Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. And new programs keep sprouting up. In March, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland introduced its first two facility dogs.

Hospitals generally get the dogs from nonprofits. Organizations such as Canine Companions, where Cincinnati Children's gets its dogs, breed, raise and train them, then place them with hospital staff members but still own them. Dogs and handlers live and work together.

Although hospitals don’t pay for the dogs, they’re responsible for costs such as food and veterinary care, which can add up, especially since most are larger breeds like Labradors or golden retrievers. Hospitals usually fundraise or seek grants to cover the costs.

Experts say the benefits of these sorts of “animal-assisted therapies” are clear. A 2022 study Rodriguez coauthored analyzed a survey conducted across 17 children's hospitals. Pediatric health professionals described how facility dogs provided a comforting presence, built rapport, and normalized the hospital environment for children and families. A 2021 study in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing concluded that animal- assisted therapies were beneficial for controlling pain and blood pressure in children and teens. Other research also found these therapies reduce anxiety and pain and can even improve heart and lung function.

Facility dogs are allowed in more sensitive areas of the hospital than volunteer dogs, and sometimes serve particular hospital units. Opal, one of two St. Louis dogs, splits her time between the pediatric behavioral health unit and the child protection program.

No matter where the dogs work, keeping them clean is key.

Hadley, in Cincinnati, is bathed twice a month because she works in the cancer and blood diseases area, where kids might have reduced immunity. She gets even more baths, or cleanings with special wipes, if she’s potentially exposed to germs. Handlers use leashes and balls that can be easily cleaned, and people must sanitize their hands before and after touching the dogs.

If a patient is in isolation, the dog stays outside the room. The one exception is if a dying child wants a dog to be close. In those cases, caregivers say concerns about germs are outweighed by the need to ease fears and provide comfort.

A day in the life of a hospital facility dog

Hadley’s workday starts whenever her handler Scott — whose job as a child life assistant involves keeping patients' lives as normal as possible — arrives at the hospital. Hadley mostly sees patients, but also gets breaks when she can just do what she wants.

On a recent morning, the Labrador-golden retriever mix raced around a grassy dog play area with her canine co-worker, Grover. While Grover is calm and chill, Hadley gets so excited she shakes her head to toss balls to herself.

“Hadley loves life,” Scott said. “Hadley lives big.”

Inside the hospital, the dogs get constant attention. For handlers, "it's like being the assistant to a famous person,” joked Scott.

Signs of the dogs’ celebrity status are everywhere.

They appear on closed-circuit television shows filmed by the hospital and beamed into patient rooms. Photos of the dogs, themed for holidays or events, line the hallways. And there are mailboxes where kids can drop letters or pictures for the dogs and get replies.

Patients can also get trading cards for each dog with stats like breed and birthday, bandanas to decorate for their furry friend, or little stuffed dogs. Caregivers create books featuring the dogs to show kids about procedures or treatments they’re about to undergo.

Kids hospitalized for long stretches get to know the dogs well.

Aspen Franklin, a 14-year-old fighting a life-threatening immune disorder, has been coming to the hospital since she was a toddler and was recently hospitalized for weeks. At times, Hadley has snuggled beside her in bed.

“She has a calming presence,” Aspen said. “That is a comfort to me.”

Like other facility dogs, Hadley also helps her family cope. When Aspen's younger brother Emory donated his cells for her bone marrow transplant, Hadley spent time with him — and other visiting siblings.

Having Hadley around “is really nice because they’re away from their animals at home,” said their mom, Brittney Franklin, whose family has two dogs and a cat.

Franklin recently watched as Aspen painted with Hadley. The dog couldn’t go in her room so soon after her transplant, so Aspen dabbed colors on a small canvas and handed it to Scott, who put it in a plastic bag and smeared peanut butter on top. Just outside the room, Hadley eagerly licked it up. A piece of abstract art emerged.

Hadley’s next patient was Calvin, the little boy she met on the patio. Calvin has a rare, severe type of childhood arthritis and recently had a bone marrow transplant. Though he could only stand for a few moments at a time, he made the effort repeatedly to play with Hadley.

“He’s such a strong little man,” Scott said.

After Calvin went inside, Hadley met up with 11-year-old Bethany Striggles, who recently finished a chemotherapy treatment for bone cancer. The girl hurled the ball all the way down the hallway, and Hadley bounded happily to retrieve and gently return it. Bethany rewarded her with an ice pop.

“She helps me exercise more,” Bethany said. “She’s energetic and happy and always likes to see me.”

But Hadley does eventually tire. When that happens, she goes back to an office affectionately known as her lair, where she has treats, toys and a big dog bed.

Above the bed is a bulletin board covered with drawings, photos and notes. One, written on orange construction paper, contains a small, pink handprint and the words: “Thank you for being my BEST FRIEND.”

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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.

Rubio's first official trip to India comes as Washington seeks to stabilize relations with New Delhi after ties soured over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which raised duties on several Indian exports.

Much of Rubio’s four-day visit, however, will focus on a multicity tour, along with a gala reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

“There’s a lot to work on with India, they’re a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them so this is an important trip,” Rubio said ahead of his visit to India.

Rubio arrived in eastern city of Kolkata early Saturday and was scheduled to visit Mother House, the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa. In coming days, he will also visit northern cities of Agra and Jaipur, known for iconic monuments and palaces.

Later Saturday, Rubio called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and “shared U.S. perspective on various regional and global issues, including the situation in West Asia,” a statement by Modi's office said. Modi reiterated India’s support for peace efforts and stressed the need to resolve conflicts through dialogue and diplomacy, it said.

Rubio briefed Modi on progress in bilateral cooperation across defense, strategic technologies, trade and investment, energy, connectivity, education and people-to-people ties, the statement added.

Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador in India, in a social media post said Rubio extended an invite to Modi on behalf of Trump to visit the White House in the near future. He said the meeting was productive and focused on ways to deepen U.S.-India cooperation in security, trade and critical technologies.

Rubio is also scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Sunday.

On Tuesday in New Delhi, Rubio will participate in the ministerial meeting of the Quad that has repeatedly accused China of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea and aggressively pushing its maritime territorial claims.

Beijing maintains that its military is purely defensive to protect what it says are its sovereign rights and calls the Quad an attempt to contain its economic growth and influence.

After his inauguration in January last year, Rubio’s first formal international engagement was meeting with the foreign ministers of the other Quad countries, both jointly and in separate sessions.

The Global Sumud Flotilla of 50 boats was intercepted in international waters some 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the coast of Israel, and activists along with journalists and at least one lawmaker from Italy were transferred onto military boats and brought to a larger military vessel at the Ashdod port in southern Israel, where they were held in containers, according to their accounts. They told The Associated Press they were punched and kicked, as well as dragged and pulled by their hair.

Israel's far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has called for deporting political opponents and was barred from mandatory military service for his extreme views, sparked global outrage after promoting a video of himself taunting activists from a flotilla to Gaza who were detained by his police force. Foreign leaders have condemned his on-camera treatment of the detainees and several countries summoned Israeli envoys to air their concerns.

Israel denies mistreatment. The allegations were “false and entirely without factual basis,” said Zivan Freidin, a spokesperson for the Israeli Prison Service.

Some 420 activists departed for Turkey on Thursday after they were deported from Israel, many wearing gray sweatsuits and Arab kaffiyehs.

The AP spoke to some Thursday and Friday as they reached Istanbul, Athens and other European cities:

Here are their accounts:

Zeynel Abidin Ozkan, Turkish flotilla board member

He detailed being held in a container alongside other detainees shortly after the flotilla raid and he said some people were taken outside the containers where he heard them being physically assaulted.

“We faced periods where we couldn’t stand, our heads were bowed to the ground, we were dragged and pulled by our hair. The handcuffs left serious marks on us.”

After arriving at Ashdod port, Ozkan says he was denied the right to contact his lawyer, embassy officials or relatives back home. He describes being told to sign papers under duress, which he refused.

“When we refused to sign, they treated us like prisoners, creating a file, taking photos, forcibly handcuffing our hands and feet with iron shackles. And then, with the soldiers, dragged us along the ground, surrounded by dogs, releasing the dogs on us, before loading us into prison trucks.”

Christopher Boren, activist from Hawaii

“When we got to Ashdod port, I was immediately grabbed by five IDF (soldiers) or police officers. They put my head down and started beating me. One of them had gloves on with hardened plastic and he started punching my face and it swelled shut,” he said, showing his black eye.

Alessandro Mantovani, Italian journalist for the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano

“During the crossing, we were put on our knees, blindfolded, and told to make sure the blindfold didn’t move. They repositioned mine 30 times because I kept trying to look around. And there’s absolutely no possibility in this situation to say ‘I’m a member of parliament’ or ‘I’m a journalist’ — you’re dealing with machines that scream and accompany their screaming with physical gestures. They put you flat on the ground, then on your knees, with zip ties on your wrists. The blindfold, plus an additional zip tie securing your wrists down to a metal structure, just a few inches from the deck. So you’re forced to travel in an extremely uncomfortable position on rough concrete. And I had cramps in my legs the whole time, obviously.”

After they were transferred to a ship that was used for detention “the treatment became immediately more violent. We entered through this small hatch and were shoved and dragged by force with our arms twisted behind our backs, forced to kneel in front of a wall with our heads down.”

At one point, he was thrown down “flat on my stomach, hands behind my back, face pressed, head pressed against the soaking wet and dirty floor of this ship — pressed down with their feet — and then they pressed my hands behind my back.”

Once inside the container, “I was kicked in the shin. Honestly, I don’t expect it. And they say ‘Welcome to Israel.’ Then a punch to the face, one from this side, one from that side. A closed-fist punch. I moved to get up and I got kicked in the leg. A little jolt from a taser to the ribs. And then I make it out the other side of this container and reach the deck.”

Mantovani said he was also strip searched, and his eye glasses and wallet discarded. He and the activists on his ship threw their cellphones into the sea when the Israeli boats approached, and he didn’t wear a watch on this mission after his was nearly confiscated on a previous flotilla.

Yiannis Atmatzidis, Greek activist

“I was struck with a taser, beaten with punches and kicks, insulted and humiliated. On the prison ship there was a container that everyone had to pass through. You entered through one door and a group of six or seven people would beat you mercilessly until you emerged from the other side. Every single one of us went through that.”

Atmatzidis said he was being processed for identification when Ben-Gvir was touring the prison ship.

“The minister entered the room and asked me where I was from. I replied, ‘from Greece.’ He then asked why I was there, and I told him that I had come to deliver humanitarian aid to people who needed it. He responded, ‘Are you a friend of Hamas?’ I explained that our mission had no political agenda and was purely humanitarian. He was surrounded by four armed guards who aimed their weapons and laser sights at me while I sat there handcuffed behind my back.”

He added: "Whenever we told them that circulation was being cut off and our hands were going numb, they showed absolutely no mercy. I do not have the words to describe the brutality and cruelty of these people. It is something I will never forget.”

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AP journalists Emrah Gurel in Istanbul, Andrea Rosa in Rome and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed to this report.

Before it became the somewhat easy-to-mispronounce name of a rare type of Ebola virus, Bundibugyo is a mountainous district in western Uganda that even some locals would struggle to pinpoint on a map.

It's home to roughly 200,000 people. Many are cocoa farmers who search for whatever cultivable land they can find in the impossibly steep landscape of hills and valleys marking Uganda’s border with Congo. As an example of the classic village idyll, Bundibugyo is a beautiful place.

Yet it now trends for an unpleasant reason, making some Ugandans rue Bundibugyo's association with the current Ebola outbreak, which has infected hundreds of people in eastern Congo. There are 160 suspected Ebola deaths in two provinces.

Virus type discovered in 2007

The Ugandan district's connection to the Bundibugyo virus stems from an Ebola outbreak there nearly two decades ago that was flagged as a new species of Ebola, a viral disease that usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever.

The outbreak wasn't the Sudan virus, named for the area in present-day South Sudan where that type was first identified. It also wasn't the type known as Zaire, as present-day Congo was known when Ebola — itself the name of a Congolese river — was first discovered in 1976.

So the November 2007 outbreak in a remote part of western Uganda came to be known as Bundibugyo, one that scientists even now haven't studied as much. That is why Ebola specialists say it is particularly dangerous. Moreover, it was spreading in Congolese villages before health authorities there identified it as the cause of sickness in a growing number of people.

The 2007 outbreak in Bundibugyo killed at least 37 people but had been contained by the end of the year. A second outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, also relatively small, came in 2012 in Congo's northeast.

Initial cases in those outbreaks were identified early, allowing for a quick public health response, according to Dr. Tom Ksiazek, a University of Texas Medical Branch virologist who directed the group within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that first identified the Bundibugyo virus.

Ugandans upset about the name

This time, while there is no Ebola in Bundibugyo, a lingering connection to the picturesque Ugandan district is hurtful, said Ugandan government spokesman Alan Kasujja, who has urged global health authorities to clarify that Uganda isn't the epicenter of the latest outbreak.

“Bundibugyo is too beautiful to be the name of a disease,” he said on X. “We need to take back its name from this madness.”

The World Health Organization is responsible for the taxonomic descriptions. As was seen with the global mpox outbreak — the disease's name was changed in 2022 from monkeypox — the United Nations agency is sensitive to the use of descriptors or tags that may expose whole communities to stigmatization.

With Ebola, however, the trend has been to name viruses for the places where they were first identified.

Ugandan health authorities have experience dealing with Ebola, one reason they are adamant there is “no Ebola” in this East African country and want WHO to be more specific in its updates on the toll of the outbreak now deemed to be of global concern.

Cases in Uganda linked to Congo

Uganda has reported five cases, all linked to the outbreak in Congo. One of them, a 59-year-old Congolese man, was admitted to a hospital in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, on May 11 and died three days later. On Saturday, Ugandan health authorities said a driver and a health worker — both Ugandans — exposed to that Congolese patient have since tested positive. The others are two Congolese women who sought medical care in Uganda before Congo declared an outbreak on May 15.

This outbreak is on “the Congo side” mainly, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Thursday, urging local tourism authorities to fight the perception that Ebola is spreading in Uganda.

Museveni urged Ugandans to “stop shaking hands” as part of measures to avoid infection. He also ordered the postponement of an annual religious event that attracts thousands of pilgrims, from Congo and elsewhere, who converge around a Catholic basilica just outside Kampala by June 3.

Other measures announced Thursday include the suspension of all public transportation and flights between Congo and Uganda.

Contact tracing is key

The risk stemming from cross-border commerce is high, said Dr. Emmanuel Batiibwe, who led efforts to stop an Ebola outbreak in 2022 that killed at least 55 people.

Stopping the current outbreak from spreading into Uganda will require “enhanced surveillance at all points of entry,” he said.

Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed more than 200 people. There was an outbreak in Kampala last year.

All available vaccines and treatments for Ebola don’t work for Bundibugyo patients. Tracing contacts and isolating them is seen as especially key to stopping the spread of this virus, in addition to getting healthcare workers proper protective equipment.

A family of fruit bats is believed to be the natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to WHO. Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.

“I don’t think people had this on their bingo card,” Golden Knights defenseman Dylan Coghlan said. “We knew we could do it.”

Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev scored in a 2:07 span in the third period and the Golden Knights stunned the Avalanche 3-1 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Final.

Eichel tied it, then set up Barbashev for the go-ahead goal with 8:38 remaining. Barbashev added an empty-netter with 1:03 left. The comeback stunned the capacity crowd and wiped out the top-seeded Avalanche's 1-0 lead.

By winning twice at Ball Arena, the Golden Knights put the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche in a huge hole. Since 1982, road teams that started 2-0 in the conference finals have a 13-0 series record.

“They understand the situation,” said Vegas coach John Tortorella, who has watched his team go 17-4-1 since he took over on March 29. “I’m not sure where the series goes. I’m not sure where Game 3 goes. But I know I’m not going to have to worry about that, because they get it."

Carter Hart had another stellar performance, stopping 29 shots. He made 36 saves in a 4-2 win on Wednesday.

Colorado was cruising after Ross Colton opened the scoring in the first period. But things unraveled for the Avalanche in the third. Eichel lined a shot past Scott Wedgewood for his first goal in 11 games to get Vegas on the board.

“I haven’t scored in a million days,” he cracked.

The Golden Knights then took advantage of a miscue — Devon Toews and Brock Nelson struggled to clear the puck along the boards in the Avalanche end — as Eichel sent a pass to Barbashev, who rang in a shot off the post.

This was the fourth third-period comeback by the Golden Knights in this postseason, the most in a single playoffs in team history, according to NHL Stats.

“Just resiliency,” Hart said. “That’s the key word for our group here — we’ve just stuck in games and just grinded it out, and just battled. Resiliency, that’s a term that describes our group really well. We’re never out of the fight, and we’re always grinding in games.”

Game 3 is Sunday night in Las Vegas. The Avalanche are hoping to have star defenseman Cale Makar back in the lineup. He has missed the last two games because of an upper-body injury.

“There's urgency to get him back since he got hurt,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “He's doing all the work he can possibly do to get back as fast as he can.”

Before the Golden Knights' rally, the Avalanche were 45-0-0 when leading after two periods in the regular season and playoffs combined.

“It stings for sure right now,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “But tomorrow we’ll wake up, have a meeting, fly to Vegas and regroup. That’s all you can do.”

Vegas struggled on the power play, going 0 of 4. The team also saw defenseman Brayden McNabb limp to the locker room in the first period soon after taking a check along the boards. He returned for the third period. The hard-checking Golden Knights finished with 32 hits and 16 blocked shots.

“We know how hard it is to win,” Eichel said. “A lot of that falls on playing hard defensively.”

Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson briefly left late in the second period after delivering a check on Barbashev and then ramming his face into the boards.

Wedgewood had 22 saves.

“We can't ride the emotional roller-coaster like fans,” Bednar said. “If you lose Game 1, you're getting swept. If you win Game 1, we're sweeping them. That's not reality. You have to deal with the task at hand and what's to come. We're not going to try and win four games the next night in Vegas. We're going to try to win one game.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Jared McCain had 24 points and Jaylin Williams added 18 for Oklahoma City. The Thunder were without Jalen Williams, who sat out with left hamstring soreness.

Oklahoma City’s bench outscored San Antonio’s 76-23, including 15 points by Alex Caruso.

“We just went out there and competed,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They obviously jumped on us early. First game in their building, their crowd behind them, they were excited to play. We just wanted to make sure we competed from that point on. We obviously didn’t give our best effort to start that game, but can’t do nothing about it. It’s behind us. All we can do is focus on the next possession, and we did that.”

Victor Wembanyama had 24 points for San Antonio. Devin Vassell added 20 and De'Aaron Fox had 15 in his series debut.

The Thunder have won two straight after the Spurs' double-overtime victory in Game 1. Game 4 is Sunday.

Fox (sprained right ankle) and Dylan Harper (right adductor soreness) were cleared to play 45 minutes prior to tipoff.

Fox's return sparked a historic start.

The Spurs raced to a 15-0 lead, the longest run to open a game in the conference finals since the play-by-play era began in 1997.

Fox opened the run by wrapping in a driving layup and Wembanyama followed by crossing over Isaiah Hartenstein to drill a 3-pointer. Vassell’s 3-pointer put the Spurs up 10-0, leading to an early timeout by Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.

“Other than the first 15 points, our defense was really tight,” Daigneault said. “We got back, settled down into the halfcourt. Our offense had something to do with that. We ran good offense tonight, despite the fact that they were amped up and ready to go, the Spurs were. It’s a discipline series. We did that. We couldn’t be reckless against them, they are too good with the ball, too well coached, too talented. So you’ve got to be able to do it with discipline. I thought we really were disciplined tonight.”

Isaiah Hartenstein broke the drought with a runner over Wembanyama, but the center was immediately greeted with thunderous boos after his physical play against the Spurs in Game 2.

The Thunder went on a 13-2 run when Wembanyama went to the bench and closed the first quarter trailing 31-26.

It was a pattern the Spurs could not overcome.

“It’s my first playoffs,” Wembanyama said. “It’s the first playoffs for many of us. Of course, there was going to be hard trials. It’s to be expected, but now we’re going to see what we’re made of.”

The series continued to be chippy with emotions boiling over early in the second half. Stephon Castle hit the court on back-to-back dunk attempts. The second resulted in a flagrant 1 foul against Ajay Mitchell and technical fouls on Mitchell and Vassell after the two exchanged words following the foul.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams extended Oklahoma City's first lead to 35-31.

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

The Franklin County girls defeated William Byrd to claim the girls tournament championship and a share of the regular season championship.

“Just let it rip downrange and see what we got,” the New York Yankees ace thought to himself.

Cole allowed two hits over six shutout innings Friday night in his return from elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. He left with a 1-0 lead that the Yankees wasted in a 4-2 loss to the major league-best Tampa Bay Rays.

“It was almost like a second debut," the 35-year-old right-hander said. “It was nice to get back in the fire.”

Cole had not pitched a big league outing that counted since Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 30, 2024. He had reconstructive surgery the following March 11, then started a rehab path that included two spring training outings this year and six minor league rehabilitation starts beginning April 17.

“Some ups and downs, for sure. A long road," Cole said. “And yet at some point tonight it was almost like I had never left.”

With a few days of stubble on his face, Cole warmed up to the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.”

“Let’s go swing the rock around,” catcher Austin Wells told him. “Have fun.”

Cole averaged 96.1 mph with 35 four-seam fastballs, reaching a high of 98.6 mph in the first. He mixed in 13 sinkers, 10 sliders, eight changeups and six knuckle-curves.

“It's great to have our ace back in the mix,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He did a lot of game management things really well.”

Cole threw 50 of 72 pitches for strikes, starting 18 of 22 batters with an offering in the strike zone.

“It was lovely,” he said.

Chandler Simpson singled leading off and Junior Caminero walked but Cole retired Jonathan Aranda on a flyout, picked off a dancing Simpson at second and got Yandy Díaz to take a sinker for a called third strike.

Using his new overhead hand movement in his windup, adopted during his rehab, Cole needed just seven pitches in the third inning and four in the fourth. He retired 10 in a row during one stretch.

“He looked healthy to me,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s as special as there is.”

Cole munched on a banana between innings at one point to keep up his energy. He struck out two and walked three, including Richie Palacios on four balls that followed a first-pitch strike and Taylor Walls on four straight balls.

Against the high-contact Rays, he induced just five misses among 31 swings.

“The command was good enough. It was hard to trust some off-speed pitches there early,” Cole said. “Controlled the zone well and sequenced well. Brought ourselves room inside the strike zone and beside some lapses in control kept pressure on the opposition throughout the at-bats.”

He thought there was room for improvement.

“There’s probably some opportunities to get a little further outside of the strike zone, but at the same time, knowing that that might not be as crisp as it has been before,” he said.

He joined a rotation that includes Carlos Rodón, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers, taking the spot that opened when Max Fried went on the injured list because of a bone bruise in his left elbow.

Wells backed him with his first home run since April 28, a fifth-inning drive off Nick Martinez.

José Caballero, back at shortstop after missing 10 days because of a broken finger, allowed Simpson’s one-hopper to bounce off his glove leading of the eighth. The Rays burst ahead on Aranda's RBI double, Palacios' two-run single on a comebacker off the glove of leaping reliever Tim Hill and Ryan Vilade's sacrifice fly, then held on to improve to 4-0 against New York this year.

Yankees captain Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with a game-ending flyout to the center-field warning track with a man on against Bryan Baker. Judge is in a 1-for-24 slide that dropped his average to .245 and has gone a career-high 11 games without any RBIs.

Cole will start again next week at Kansas City. During his long rehab, he had thought about the night of his return.

“It was kind of what I imagined it would be,” he said with a smile.

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

The officers who conducted a welfare check at the home of Caleb Vazquez wrote that he was “involved in suspicious behavior idolizing nazis and mass shooters,” and obtained a court order on Jan. 29, 2025, to remove 26 guns under a 2014 California law allowing the confiscation of firearms from people considered dangerous.

Vazquez's father initially denied police entry into his home when they requested to see how he was storing his weapons.

Vazquez’s parents had voluntarily removed the guns from the house and placed them in a secure storage facility days earlier, according to an affidavit signed by Marco Vazquez, the father.

Authorities have said Vazquez, 18, met Cain Clark, 17, online, where they both were radicalized. Police haven't shared more details about how they knew each other, or specified whose weapons were used in the shooting.

Cain Clark’s mother told law enforcement that weapons were missing from her home on Monday, kicking off an hourslong search for the teens before they committed the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego and then killed themselves, police said.

Court filings indicate mental health struggles

Court filings show Vazquez decided to “secure all sharp knives in the home” and removed from the house the firearms that they had previously kept in a secure gun safe into an outside storage facility. The affidavit also mentions unspecified serious allegations against their son, who was also previously committed to an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. The court filings, first reported by The New York Times, didn't say what he was admitted for.

The Vazquez family said in a statement released Thursday that Caleb Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had grown to resent parts of his identity — but didn’t specify what aspects were challenging to him.

“Coming from a diverse family that not only includes immigrants but Muslims as well, we always taught the importance of acceptance, compassion, and love for one another. We are proud of the different backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and religions within our family and community,” their statement said.

“We believe this, combined with exposure to hateful rhetoric, extremist content, and propaganda spread across parts of the internet, social media, and other online platforms, contributed to his descent into radicalized ideologies and violent beliefs,” said their statement, released through their attorney Colin Rudolph.

His family said they tried to get him help

They encouraged him to seek help and he spent time in rehabilitation centers, the statement said. Vazquez's parents did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment from The Associated Press. An attorney who represented Vazquez's parents when their guns were confiscated also didn't immediately respond to calls.

In writings by Vazquez and Clark that expressed white supremacist views, Vazquez wrote of having “some mental health issues” and being rejected by women. They suggest both teenagers idolized previous shooters who have died while carrying out mass shootings. The writings expressed hatred toward Jewish people, Muslims, Black people and a range of other groups.

Vazquez left the San Diego Unified School District in June 2018 after attending Washington Elementary up until the 5th grade, district spokesperson James Canning told The Associated Press. It’s unclear where he went to school after that.

Clark was enrolled in a virtual high school in the district, Canning said.

Police began searching for the teens on Monday after Clark's mother called to say her son was suicidal and ran away. She told them he was dressed in camouflage, had taken multiple weapons from the home, and was with an acquaintance, San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said earlier this week.

Officers were still interviewing the mother about places the teens might be when the shooting began at the county's largest mosque.

De-radicalizing people is becoming more difficult

Vazquez's father said in a 2025 court statement that his family made a concerted effort to steer Caleb Vazquez back onto the right track. He said when they locked away their weapons, they were in communication with his school, were monitoring his social media presence closely and he was in therapy twice a week.

“We observe all of his online activities, who he talks to, what he talks about, and who he is friends with,” Marco Vazquez wrote, emphasizing that he didn't support his son's ideology.

Some experts say it's increasingly difficult to help people drawn to the kind of radicalism Vazquez and Clark expressed.

Samira Benz works for the Violence Prevention Network, which conducts interventions when people are radicalized into believing in violent extremism. Benz said the work has become increasingly complicated as the internet blurs ideologies and creates niche, meme-based languages that can be fleeting and hard to decipher.

“Even if a parent is looking at the phone of their child, they don’t necessarily see something bad is going on,” Benz said.

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Associated Press writers Julie Watson and Javier Arciga in San Diego contributed.

The Hornets struck first after a scoreless opening two innings. Brandon Garcia delivered a two-out single in the third before Benton Jones followed with an RBI double to right field, giving Lynchburg a 1-0 lead.

Lynchburg starter Tyler Kaltreider kept East Texas Baptist scoreless through four innings despite early traffic on the bases. The Tigers broke through in the fifth after two singles and a Hornets error loaded the bases. Carter Nannini then cleared the bases with a three-run double to left-center field to put East Texas Baptist ahead 3-1.

The Hornets answered in the sixth inning when Jack Pokorak blasted a solo home run to center field to trim the deficit to 3-2. Sean Pokorak later doubled and Kyle Flora drew a walk, but Lynchburg was unable to capitalize further.

East Texas Baptist pulled away in the seventh inning. Jobee Boone drove in a run with a single before Brody Tewers added a two-run double to extend the Tigers’ lead to 6-2. The Tigers added two more runs in the eighth on Connor Massimini’s two-run homer.

Lynchburg finished with seven hits and drew five walks. Garcia led the Hornets with two hits and a run scored, while Jones added a double and RBI. Jack Pokorak accounted for Lynchburg’s lone home run, and Sean Pokorak also doubled.

Kaltreider struck out 12 batters over 6 2/3 innings while allowing six runs, five earned. Trent Judd, Austin Riney and Davis Watson each appeared in relief for the Hornets.

With the loss, Lynchburg trails in the best-of-three Super Regional series and will look to stay alive in Game 2 on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Worthington Field.

Vietnam's U.N. Ambassador Do Hung Viet, who chaired the conference, announced that there was no consensus among the 191 parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty on even a watered-down final document.

He told a news conference later that “no one blocked consensus.” But he said “a very important reason” for the failure to reach an outcome was a provision in the final draft that said Iran “can never seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.”

It was the third failure in a row at a conference reviewing the NPT, considered the cornerstone of global nonproliferation and disarmament. At the last treaty review in August 2022, Russia blocked agreement on a final document over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and references to Moscow’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed regret at the failure when the “elevated risk posed by nuclear weapons demands urgent action,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. He appealed to all countries “to make full use of all available avenues of dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiation to reduce tensions, lower nuclear risks, and ultimately eliminate the nuclear threat.”

Tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program escalated ahead of the Iran war, which began with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Feb. 28. President Donald Trump has said the war was aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has enriched uranium to near weapons-grade levels but insists its program is only for civilian purposes.

The U.S. and Iran have clashed since the opening of the review conference on April 27. The U.S. has accused Iran of showing “contempt” for its commitments under the treaty, while Iran has said U.S. and Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities violated international law.

Iran is a party to the NPT, which requires countries to open all nuclear sites to inspection by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. But Iran has not given inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency access to nuclear sites that were bombed by the U.S. last June.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the United States insisted that Iran be named in the outcome document for its refusal to comply with its NPT obligations, including inspections, and it was. Iran objected to being singled out and insisted that the U.S. and Israel be condemned for attacking its nuclear sites, which violates the NPT, but that was not included, he said.

In speeches at the end of the conference, the United States called Iran a “prolific treaty violator” and said it had spent the conference “shirking accountability for its grotesque violations.” Iran accused the U.S. and its allies of conducting a “relentless campaign” to legitimize their “unlawful attacks” on the country and its nuclear facilities.

Kimball said the conference “showed that rhetorical support for the NPT is strong, but the foundations of the NPT are cracking due to inaction, inattention, and intransigence on the part of the major powers.”

“Much more enlightened, engaged, and pragmatic leadership and diplomacy will be needed to guard against the growing risks of an unconstrained nuclear buildup, threats to resume nuclear testing, and the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran," Kimball said.

Britain’s Rebecca Johnson, founding executive director of the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy, had harsh criticism for both the U.S. and Russia, the two largest nuclear powers, which she said "double down on nuclear threats, blame others and try to undermine or ignore the NPT’s nuclear disarmament commitments and related agreements,” including on nuclear testing.

Seventh-seeded Virginia Tech stayed within striking distance through the middle innings before the second-seeded Tar Heels broke the game open late with a four-run eighth inning to secure a spot in the ACC semifinals.

The Hokies jumped out early offensively, using back-to-back home runs in the third inning to briefly seize momentum against North Carolina starter Jason DeCaro. Virginia Tech finished with four runs but struggled to slow a balanced UNC lineup that produced timely hits throughout the afternoon.

North Carolina answered in the fourth inning and gradually extended its lead behind key RBI performances from Jake Schaffner and Owen Hull. The Tar Heels added insurance late while ACC Freshman of the Year Caden Glauber stabilized the game in relief, tossing 5 2/3 shutout innings after entering in the third.

Virginia Tech reached the quarterfinals after a 17-10 offensive outburst against Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball in the second round Wednesday night. The Hokies totaled 19 hits in that victory to earn their first ACC Tournament quarterfinal appearance since 2013.

Despite the loss, Virginia Tech closed the week with momentum entering NCAA regional selection discussions after winning series against Clemson Tigers baseball late in the regular season and advancing in Charlotte. The Hokies now await their postseason fate when the NCAA Tournament field is announced.

Liberty improved to 40-16 on the season with the victory, marking the program’s first 40-win campaign since 2019. The Flames secured their semifinal berth after opening tournament play with a 10-4 win over Sam Houston Bearkats baseball earlier in the week.

The Flames powered past Louisiana Tech behind a trio of home runs and a dominant pitching performance. Liberty held the Bulldogs scoreless throughout the contest while continuing its offensive surge in pool play.

Liberty entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed after a strong regular season under head coach Bradley LeCroy. The Flames were picked seventh in the CUSA preseason poll but have emerged as one of the league’s top teams during the 2026 campaign.

The semifinal appearance adds to a resurgent season for the program after Liberty finished 30-27 a year ago. The Flames will now look to continue their postseason push with a chance to reach the CUSA Championship game.

Base, whose real name was Robert Ginyard, was best known for the 1988 chart-topper “It Takes Two,” a blend of hip-hop and house music that helped bring both genres into the mainstream.

“Rob’s music, energy, and legacy helped shape a generation and brought joy to millions around the world," read a statement on his Instagram announcing his death. “Beyond the stage, he was a loving father, family man, friend, and creative force whose impact will never be forgotten.”

His creative counterpart Rodney “Skip” Bryce, who went by the stage name DJ E-Z Rock, died in 2014 at age 46 of complications from diabetes.

The two met as fifth grade students in Harlem and said they were inspired to make music by the success of another Harlem-based group, Crash Crew. They signed in 1987 with Profile Records, one of the earliest hip-hop labels.

The following year, “It Takes Two” landed in the Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 3 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Club Songs chart. The song has since been sampled by other artists including Snoop Dogg and The Black Eyed Peas and has appeared in several films. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The duo's next single, “Get on the Dance Floor," saw similar success on the club songs chart.

The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he’s taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world.

The spacecraft reached its final destination — the Indian Ocean — despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX.

Musk called it “an epic” launch and landing.

“You scored a goal for humanity,” he told his team via X.

It’s the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA’s Artemis program.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon.

The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX’s third-generation Starship — a souped-up version dubbed V3 — soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt.

SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames.

There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited.

While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles (194 kilometers) up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight — a remarkable first.

At 407 feet (124 meters), the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet (more than 1 meter) and packs more engine thrust.

The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything — more cameras and more navigation and computer power — as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions.

Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos.

NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars — and also Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.

The two companies are scrambling to be first.

While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos' Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year.

NASA is following April’s successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.

A moon landing by two astronauts — Artemis IV — could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA’s first lunar landing with a crew since 1972’s Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots.

SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship.

The world's first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3 1/2 years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain.

This week, another wealthy space tourist — Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang — announced he will fly to Mars on Starship's first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles.

No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise.

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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.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in federal court in Manhattan chided Wolff for an “inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship” and said she “will not be conscripted to oversee an abusively presented spat.”

Vyskocil, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, agreed that Wolff and the first lady “have a real dispute,” but said “they must litigate it according to the same procedures as everyone else.”

Wolff sued Melania Trump last October after her lawyer, Alejandro Brito, told him in a letter that she would be “left with no alternative” but to sue him if he didn’t retract statements that the lawyer said had caused her “overwhelming reputational and financial harm.”

Wolff wanted a judge to declare that he did not defame the first lady and that, were she to pursue a lawsuit against him, she would be liable for costs, fees and unspecified monetary damages.

Wolff originally sued in state court in New York under a law barring lawsuits designed to silence critics. Such lawsuits are known as SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. Brito then had the case transferred to federal court and later sought to have it dismissed or moved to a federal court in Florida.

Vyskocil, in her 45-page decision, said that while federal court does have jurisdiction, she was declining to exercise it and “dismisses this case to be litigated like any other.”

Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for Melania Trump, said she “is proud to continue standing up to, and fighting against, those who spread malicious and defamatory falsehoods as they desperately try to get undeserved attention and money from their unlawful conduct.”

In April, Melania Trump made a statement at the White House denying any affiliation with Epstein, the millionaire financier and convicted sex offender who killed himself in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Reading prepared remarks, the first lady said she and her lawyers were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” that suggested she had ties to Epstein.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” Melania Trump said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

In his lawsuit, Wolff argued that the Trumps “have made a practice of threatening those who speak against them” with costly legal actions “to silence their speech, to intimidate their critics generally, and to extract unjustified payments and North Korean style confessions and apologies.”

He said the threats were “designed to create a climate of fear in the nation so that people cannot freely or confidently exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Wolff has published a dozen books, including four bestsellers about the president.

Wolff said in the lawsuit that Melania Trump’s threat to sue him was related to statements he made to The Daily Beast and in three social media videos. Some statements were incomplete phrases and were taken out of context, he said.

Others, the lawsuit said, were protected speech. For instance, the statement that the Trumps were in a “sham marriage, trophy marriage,” was a “fair and justified” statement of opinion, it said.

The lawsuit noted that Wolff never said Melania Trump was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

In July 2025, after receiving a letter from Brito, The Daily Beast retracted an article titled, “Melania Trump ‘Very Involved’ in Epstein Scandal: Author,” that was based on an interview with Wolff.

Wolff, in his lawsuit, said his comments pertained to the first lady’s “involvement” last year managing the matter “behind the scenes” at the White House — not that she was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

Among other statements Wolff said were true were those his comments about Melania Trump meeting Donald Trump in Epstein’s social circle, and that Donald Trump liked to have sex with his friend’s wives and first slept with Melania Trump on Epstein’s private jet.

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed.

The Roanoke Police Department announced Friday that Taylor was located and arrested in Montgomery County Friday.

The Roanoke Police Department would like to thank the United States Marshals Service for their continued support and partnership.

Original:

The Roanoke Police Department announced Thursday that it was searching for a suspect involved in a stabbing that injured a 17-year-old girl Wednesday.

According to officials, the investigation has identified 30-year-old De’Sha Shamal Taylor of Vinton as the suspect. An arrest warrant has been issued charging Taylor with two counts of aggravated assault.

Officials say the incident occurred at 10:09 p.m. Wednesday night when officers responded to the report of a stabbing at a gas station in the 1800 block of Melrose Ave NW. While enroute officers received information that the victim left the scene and was being driven to the 300 block of Campbell Ave. SW.

Upon arrival, officers located a 17-year-old girl with non-life-threatening stab wounds, and she was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The initial investigation determined that the girl and the driver of the car were at the gas station when the suspect accused the women of taking his phone. The argument escalated, and the suspect attempted to stab both women. They were able to get back to their vehicle and leave the scene. By the time officers arrived, the suspect had also fled.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information on the location of Taylor or this incident is asked to contact RPD at (540) 344-8500.

Busch died Thursday at age 41. No cause of death has been given, though his family said earlier he had been hospitalized with a “severe illness” three days before he was to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch was testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday when he became unresponsive and was transported to a hospital in Charlotte, several people familiar with the situation told the AP.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because details have not been disclosed by Busch’s team or family.

During the emergency call placed late that afternoon from the General Motors training facility, an unidentified caller calmly told the dispatch: “I’ve got an individual that’s (got) shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.”

Busch was lying on the bathroom floor inside the complex and the caller told dispatch “he is awake,” according to audio provided by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office.

The man then gave directions on where emergency responders should go and asked that they turn off any sirens upon arrival.

NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell addressed reporters at a news conference Friday but declined to answer any questions about the cause of death or any health problems that might have plagued Busch.

“We are 24 hours from getting a phone call and out of respect for the family, and they have asked for privacy, I am not going to address anything,” O'Donnell said. “But transparency is something that we all believe in. So in due time I think that everyone will be comfortable with where things stand.”

O'Donnnell talked at length about Busch's legacy, his rebellious nature and even his feuds with NASCAR, while calling him “an American badass.”

“We certainly had our battles but I would give a lot of money to have a few more battles,” O'Donnell said.

He joked about the time Busch pretended to be seriously hurt when NASCAR had ordered him to go to the infield care center after hitting the wall at Texas.

“He laid flat out on a pit cart, made fun of us,” O'Donnell said. “I was mad at the time, but I look back and that was damn funny — and that was Kyle.”

O'Donnell mentioned NASCAR might consider adding Busch to this year's list of Hall of Fame Class of 2027 inductees, which was determined earlier this week with Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Larry Phillips being voted in.

The news of Busch's death sent shock waves across the motorsports world on one of racing's biggest weekends, which also features the Indianapolis 500.

The NHL's Carolina Hurricanes honored Busch with a moment of silence before Thursday night's Eastern Conference Finals game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Vice President JD Vance took to social media, saying “I had the opportunity to meet Kyle, one of NASCAR’s greatest racers, on the campaign trail in 2024. Usha and I are praying for him and his family. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.”

Richard Childress Racing announced plans to suspend use of Busch's No. 8 Cup Series car until his 11-year-old son, Brexton, is old enough to begin NASCAR racing.

Gloomy, gray skies hung over the track on an unseasonably cool day in Concord, which seemed a fitting background for the in memoriam photo of Busch on the videoboard.

Christopher Bell was among the drivers planning to run in the NASCAR Trucks Series race on Friday night, one that Busch had been scheduled to compete in. Busch won last week's Trucks race at Dover — the final win of his career — giving him 234 victories across NASCAR's three national series, the most of any driver.

“It's going to be very strange to be out there without Kyle in the field,” Bell said. “It's going to take a long time before things feel back to normal.”

Bell called Busch's death a “gut-wrenching feeling.”

He said he spoke to Busch before the last Trucks Series race and said he seemed “normal, like completely normal.”

On Monday, Busch posted a birthday message to Brexton on Instagram, saying, “Your mom & I are so proud who you’re turning out to be!”

The father and son spent Tuesday night in Durham, North Carolina, with the Andretti family at the opening of a go-kart facility.

“I guess it is a very stark reminder of how fragile life can be,” Bell said.

O’Donnell said NASCAR never seriously considered canceling the Coca-Cola 600.

“Kyle Busch would probably be pretty (upset) if we didn’t race,” O’Donnell said. “So we’re going to honor his memory and make sure people know what he was all about.”

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Ken Martin, the committee's chair, faced new calls to resign from elected officials and Democratic operatives, who say he mismanaged a report originally intended to be a comprehensive examination of the party’s failures and a potential road map for its future. Martin kept the document under wraps for months, stoking speculation about its contents, only to release it this week and insist it was too flawed to be useful anyway.

“There doesn’t seem to be a plan to turn things around and the clock is ticking. November is literally around the corner,” Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, told Semafor. “I believe it’s time for him to move on.”

“He should resign,” Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said to Axios.

And in a radio interview, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisc., said he agreed with a caller saying Martin should be replaced.

But Martin maintains support from many state party leaders, who have benefited from a steady stream of funding from national headquarters since he took over. In a conversation with DNC staff on Thursday, Martin apologized for his handling of the autopsy and said he was determined to continue leading the organization.

“This was a major mistake. I own it, and now it’s time for us to move forward at the DNC, and I hope that you’ll move forward with me,” Martin said, according to a person with knowledge of the call who was not authorized to disclose a private conversation.

Martin, a little-known Minnesota operative before emerging last year as the head of the national party’s formal political machine, has already faced criticism for dismal fundraising and inability to inspire confidence among his party's unruly membership.

However, there was no sign that a serious alternative was emerging. The Associated Press contacted a half dozen Democratic presidential prospects to gauge their support for Martin and all of them declined to weigh in.

The intraparty feud represented an extraordinary distraction for a Democratic Party showing signs of momentum in its fight to break President Donald Trump's grip on power in Washington. Democrats hope to regain majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the November midterms, and Republicans could be vulnerable because of Trump's low approval ratings, dissatisfaction over the war in Iran and lingering economic frustration.

Martin's allies across the country lashed out at Democrats who were fueling the election-year drama, dismissing them as unhappy consultants and supporters of Martin's previous rivals for DNC leadership.

Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna RePass described calls for the first-term chair to step down as “ridiculous and dangerous.”

“It is dangerous for Democrats to be playing politics with our leadership when these elections are five and a half months away,” she said. “The American people are counting on us.”

Janet Kleeb of Nebraska, who leads her state party and the DNC's association of state committees, said the fighting “is nuts.”

“I haven’t had a single chair come to me saying I think Ken needs to resign,” she said. “Ken was elected by the DNC members to do a four-year term, and he has not violated any of our rules or bylaws where there would be a two-thirds vote, right? Because that’s what it would take to remove the chair.”

Kleeb added, “These reports are such distraction.”

The long-awaited postelection autopsy said Kamala Harris “wrote off rural America” during the 2024 presidential campaign and failed to attack Trump with sufficient “negative firepower,” among other key findings.

Martin shared the 192-page report only after facing intense internal pressure from Democratic operatives. He originally promised to release the autopsy even before taking over the committee last year, only to keep it under wraps because he worried it would interfere with Democrats’ focus on the November midterms.

“I didn’t want to create a distraction,” Martin wrote on Substack. “Ironically, in doing so, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. And for that, I sincerely apologize.”

Although the autopsy criticizes Democrats’ focus on “identity politics,” it sidesteps some of the most controversial elements of the 2024 campaign. The report does not address former President Joe Biden’s decision to seek reelection, the rushed selection of Harris to replace him after he dropped out or the party’s acrimonious divide over the war in Gaza.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

Only this time with his son kneeling behind home plate.

The Red Sox's career leader with 2,590 strikeouts fired his latest offering just slightly off the right side of the plate to 30-year-old Twins utility player Kody Clemens in a ceremonial first pitch before Minnesota's matchup with the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

With family members, including his grandchildren in the stands to witness it, that was just fine by the 63-year-old grandfather.

“A little two-seamer. Didn’t slip, didn’t tear anything,” Clemens said. “Home plate seems to get farther and farther away every year. I don’t know what that’s about. But it’s kind of like the Ted Williams seat. I think we know no one’s going to hit one there and it keeps going up one row every year.”

Fans were also given a special edition Roger Clemens bobblehead to commemorate his latest return to Fenway.

It was the latest father-son moment for the elder Clemens. He exchanged pregame lineup cards with Kody in 2025 before a spring training game between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. Roger was working with New York, and Kody was playing for Philadelphia.

Roger also played alongside his oldest son, Koby, in the minors in 2006 when a 43-year-old Roger was making a rehab start while with the Houston Astros in what proved to be his penultimate major league season.

Roger said whenever he gets together with Kody on the field, his family often reminds him of the baseball exploits he’ll never have over his son.

“They’re always messing with me now because they said he’s done two things in professional ball that I never will: strike out (Shohei) Ohtani and hit a home run here at Fenway,” Clemens said.

There is another thing the elder Clemens doesn’t yet have: a retired major league jersey. The University of Texas made their former star the first player to receive that honor in 1993.

While he’s not officially on Boston’s row of honor, since Clemens left following the 1996 season no other full-time Red Sox player has worn the No. 21.

He said he's open to the idea of seeing it retired by the Red Sox, the franchise for which he played the bulk of his career.

“I don’t have any control over that, but I had 13 wonderful years here. I love that number,” Clemens said. “I thought it was really cool when I came out at Texas that they had it hanging in my locker. So, it’s been a great number for me. I went to 22 a little bit, and a lot of family members had that number, too. So both solid numbers.”

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

The protesters gathered In Kyiv to oppose legislation passed in February on the legal status of missing persons that critics say allows courts to declare missing Ukrainian military personnel legally dead before their fate has been fully confirmed.

“Today all the families came out so that the missing are not equated with the dead,” said Mariana Yatselenko, 27.

More than 90,000 people are listed as missing in Ukraine’s unified registry of persons who disappeared under special circumstances, according to Artur Dobrosierdov, the country’s commissioner for missing persons.

The missing date back to 2014

Neither Russia nor Ukraine publish regular casualty numbers in the war, although analysts estimate hundreds of thousands of casualties in the fighting.

The Ukrainian register covers people who went missing during combat, as a result of armed aggression or in occupied territories, mostly after Russia’s all-out invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022. But some cases date back to 2014, when Russian soldiers invaded the Crimean Peninsula and pro-Russia forces started fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The registry began operating in May 2023, and at that point, information about both military personnel and civilians from previous years was entered into it.

Similar demonstrations have been held previously over the issue.

Russia says Ukraine struck a dorm, killing 6

Ukrainian drones hit a college dormitory building in Starobilsk, a city in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region, killing six people and wounding 39 others, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He added that another 15 remain missing as emergency workers are clearing the debris.

Speaking at a meeting with war veterans in Moscow, Putin denounced the attack on the dormitory as a “crime” and ordered the military to submit its proposals for retaliation. He noted that there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college.

Later in the evening, Putin called Russia's Security Council meeting to discuss the attack on Starobilsk.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting on the strike on Friday at the request of Russia.

During that session, Melnyk Andrii, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., blasted and refuted his Russian counterparts’ accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show.”

“Such false accusations belong to a textbook disinformation campaign from Moscow designed to deflect from its own war crimes and manipulate international public opinion,” Andrii told the 15-member council.

He added that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine” with strikes neutralizing an oil refinery, “which was fueling occupation forces, ammunition depots, air defense assets, and also command centers.”

The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday said that it intercepted 217 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, including the Moscow region and St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city.

For the fourth time this month Ukraine struck Russia’s Yaroslavl oil refinery, around 700 kilometers (440 miles) from the border, in an overnight operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday.

Ukraine has been pounding Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny Moscow funding for its invasion.

U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting have brought no significant results and recently appeared to peter out.

“They were not fruitful, unfortunately,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of negotiations over the past year with Russia and Ukraine.

No talks are happening now, he said during a trip to Sweden, although they could resume if Washington sees an opportunity for progress.

Zelenskyy had a call Friday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to brief them on the progress made in recent weeks, according to Starmer's office. The leaders agreed that “standing up to Russian aggression remains vital for European and global security, and reaffirmed their commitment to securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine," the office said.

Russian barrages as Ukraine makes battlefield gains

Ukraine’s air force said that it shot down or jammed 115 of 124 Russian drones that were launched overnight, in regular bombardments of civilian areas that in recent months have escalated.

Russian attacks across the northern Sumy region wounded 11 people, including a child, the National Police said. Also, a Russian drone killed a man in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to the region’s military administration chief.

The number of Ukrainian civilian casualties verified by the United Nations increased by 21% in the first four months of this year, compared with the same period last year, with 815 civilians killed and 4,174 wounded.

In Washington, the Trump administration approved a modest $108 million arms sale to Ukraine that will help the country sustain its midrange air defense missile system.

The U.S. State Department announced the sale of ground-to-air Hawk missile components, spare parts and logistic support late Thursday. Under U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington has slashed military support for Ukraine.

On the battlefield, Ukrainian counterattacks have driven the Russian army out of more than 400 square kilometers (150 square miles) of southern Ukraine since the end of last year, Western analysts say.

Those successes are attributed to Ukraine’s increasingly homegrown drone and missile technology, as well as Russian forces being denied access to Starlink satellite services used to steer drones toward targets.

Ukraine keeps a wary eye on Belarus

Zelenskyy said that Russia could be planning new attacks on northern Ukraine, launched from Belarus.

Moscow “is eager to draw (Belarus) deeper into this war,” Zelenskyy said on social media, warning that “there will be consequences” for the Belarusian government, if it provides a platform for strikes on Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha alerted allies at a NATO meeting in Sweden about what Ukrainian intelligence services say are growing threats from Belarus. Sybiha urged partners to take unspecified deterrence measures against Minsk.

Russia and Belarus held joint nuclear exercises earlier this week.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, underscored “Russia’s ability to leverage Belarus for future Russian military operations and Russia’s deepening de facto control over Belarus.”

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Matthew Lee in Washington, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.

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

The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high" risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that the outbreak is believed to be “much larger."

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, which spread undetected for weeks in Congo's Ituri Province following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative. There are now 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths, though more are expected as surveillance expands.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner told the AP. “It is a race against the clock."

Efforts ramping up in Ituri Province

Supplies were being rushed to Ituri in the northeastern corner of the country, where nearly a million people have been displaced by armed conflicts over mineral resources. Ramping up contact tracing is a priority, Kayikwamba Wagner said.

In the provincial capital of Bunia, AP reporters saw empty emergency treatment centers, and doctors in the nearby town of Bambu using expired medical masks while tending to suspected Ebola patients.

The provincial government said Friday it was temporarily banning wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people. It said funerals must be conducted in strict compliance with health protocols. The authorities also required journalists to obtain a permit to report on the outbreak, impeding their work.

Illness spreads in rebel-held areas

The illness also has been reported in two Congolese provinces to the south of Ituri — North Kivu and South Kivu, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu, where the rebels reported two cases.

The group said Friday it was creating a crisis team to fight the outbreak.

Kayikwamba Wagner said having the illness in rebel-held areas was alarming because “M23 is, despite whatever ambitions they may have, thoroughly ill equipped" to fight the disease.

She said the Congo government and rebels were not communicating on the outbreak.

Response clashes with local customs

The efforts of health officials and aid groups have met with pushback from communities due to misinformation or situations where medical policy has clashed with local customs such as burial rites.

On Thursday, an Ebola treatment center in Rwampara was set on fire by youths who were angered when they were blocked from retrieving the body of a friend who apparently had died of Ebola, according to witnesses and police.

The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, because the bodies can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when they are prepared for burial or when people gather for funerals.

Julienne Lusenge, president of Women’s Solidarity for Inclusive Peace and Development, a local aid group, said the population’s anger is mostly due to misinformation. “We have lived through years and years of conflict and hardship so rumors spread easily,” she said.

She said some churches have told their congregations the outbreak is fake and that divine protection makes medical care unnecessary.

Grief and the lack of a proper goodbye

In the Ituri province mining town of Mongbwalu where the outbreak is believed to have originated, Lokana Moro Faustin lost his 16-year-old daughter to the disease and bemoaned the fact that he was not able to give her a proper goodbye because of Ebola restrictions.

“At first, we thought it was malaria. But then came vomiting, a high fever, nosebleeds, and bloody diarrhea,” he said, grief-stricken.

The teenager died on May 15 and her body was taken from the hospital by specialized teams and taken directly to the cemetery for a secure burial. Faustin was not able to say goodbye because he was in self-isolation, and it pained him to have his daughter buried by people who were not family.

In Bunia, coffin workshop manager Christian Djakisa said demand has soared since the outbreak began. “We're here every hour making coffins,” he said.

Aid is being flown in, but front line staff lacks resources

The United Nations said Friday it released $60 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to accelerate the response in Congo and in the region.

The U.S. has pledged $23 million in funding to bolster the response in Congo and Uganda, and said it would also fund the establishment of up to 50 Ebola treatment clinics in the affected regions.

Lusenge said her group’s small hospital near in Bunia lacks basic protective equipment, exposing nurses and doctors to possible infection, she said. “We only have hand sanitizer and a few masks for the nurses, but we need much more than that," Lusenge said.

Public health officials say that a person infected with Ebola generally passes the virus along to one to two other people — which is less contagious than measles, whooping cough and chickenpox, in which one person can infect around a dozen others.

But researchers note that transmission rates have varied in past Ebola outbreaks, and they are still trying to determine how contagious the Bundibugyo virus is.

The outbreak is bigger than official figures show, WHO says

Both the WHO and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe the outbreak is larger than the cases reported so far.

The region’s already-weak health infrastructure and surveillance capacity has been further weakened by international aid cuts, experts say. The International Rescue Committee said it had to stop its surveillance activities in three out of five areas in Ituri over the last year because of funding cuts.

Armed conflict in the region further complicates efforts to handle the crisis. To get from Bunia to Mongbwalu, aid groups have to brace for potential attacks from armed groups.

“The outbreak can still be contained but the window for action is narrow,” Gabriela Arenas from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Friday.

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Constant Same Bagalwa in Bunia, Congo; Jean Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo; Jonathan Poet in Philadelphia; Mark Banchereau and Wilson McMakin in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The 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.

Patrick Manna said residents first learned several years ago that a new road connection and housing development could be coming to the area near Old Mountain Road.

“Five years back, they sent us a thing from the county saying they were going to break through a road here because they had to build all these houses,” Manna said. “And then it doesn’t look like they’re going to build that many houses.”

According to a 2021 letter Manna received from Roanoke County’s Department of Planning, the project involves rezoning for a proposed 124-lot subdivision at 5524 Old Mountain Road.

Manna said he received notice after public hearings on the proposal had already taken place, leaving him feeling unable to voice concerns about the project.

“We don’t really know where to start and to whom to complain,” Manna said. “Because we don’t really know what’s going on, I’m kind of in the dark.”

Residents say they are concerned not only about how the development could affect property rights, but also about traffic and neighborhood safety.

“I don’t like that they haven’t made any consideration for what’s going to happen here,” Manna said. “There are a huge number of kids living on this street. They play basketball in the street all the time.”

Michael Davis, a local Uber driver who first contacted the WSLS 10 Help Center, said he is also worried about the environmental impact of land that appears to have remained exposed for years while the project has stalled.

“Well, naturally with heavy rains you’d have runoff,” Davis said. “That goes down to a main road, maybe a back residential area. So they haven’t reseeded it or anything that I could tell.”

Manna said he fears the planned roadway changes could eventually transform the quiet neighborhood into a busy cut-through street.

“Now they’re going to make it a thruway,” Manna said. “And then crazy traffic pattern here that seems like it’s going to get me clobbered someday.”

WSLS 10 reached out to Roanoke County and the City of Roanoke for information about the status of the project, why work appears to have stalled and what plans are in place for future road and development changes.

We are still waiting to hear back.

The 30-year-old South Korean put himself in position to break 60 with a curling 17-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-3 17th hole at TPC Craig Ranch. It was his 12th birdie of the day, putting him at 12 under on the par-71 layout.

Kim was in the fairway on the 18th, but blasted his second shot over the green. His chip coming back stopped about 19 feet short of the hole, and his putt for par lacked pace and broke to the right for his only bogey of the day. Kim shot 11-under 60 for a five-shot lead at 18-under 124 after two rounds.

The 18th hole at Craig Ranch — about 30 miles north of Dallas — is a par 4 for the first time in the six Nelson tournaments it has hosted. A $25 million overhaul designed by Lanny Wadkins changed it from a par 5, and it has played as the hardest hole on the course through two rounds.

Most of the rest of the holes are as easy as they've been in the past — despite more bunkers along the fairways and contours on the greens. Part of the the reason is soft conditions from a rainy opening day and calm winds that aren't supposed to pick up on the weekend, either. Because of the rain on Thursday, players were still allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairway.

Kim, playing with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, took full advantage.

The four-time PGA Tour winner who lives in Dallas already had seven birdies through 10 holes when he put his 166-yard approach shot at the par-4 11th inside 3 feet.

Needing just one birdie over the final three holes for a 59, Kim missed by inches on the par-4 16th. Hopes dimmed with his tee shot on the stadium hole at 17, until he dazzled by far the biggest of any of the galleries on the course with a perfect putt.

“I hit it great and putted great,” Kim said. “So everything was perfect, other than the last hole. I’ll still take it. Sixty is hard, but I was a little bit of thinking about the 59 after I make that on 17. It was a little bit of like adrenaline.”

Jim Furyk has the PGA Tour's 18-hole record with his 58 from the 2016 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. A 59 has been recorded 14 times, including by Furyk and Scheffler, who shot his at TPC Boston in 2020. That was two years before the first of his 20 tour wins, and four major victories.

“I definitely wasn’t going to tell him anything about his round today as we were out there,” Scheffler said. “I would say it would definitely be in poor taste to remind somebody they’re on 59 watch.”

The 59 watch overshadowed Scheffler's 8-under 63, which included a stretch where he was 5 under over four holes with a 45-foot eagle putt.

Scheffler was five shots back in second place, tied at 13 under with Kim's fellow South Korean, Sungjae Im, Japan's Kensei Hirata and Wyndham Clark. Im aced the par-3 seventh and shot 61.

“I feel like, when you’re watching somebody like Si Woo, especially when you’re paired with him, just watching somebody birdie every hole and you feel like the tournament is getting further and further away from you,” said Scheffler, who had a runaway eight-shot victory at his hometown Byron Nelson last year. “I think I did a good job of staying patient and not forcing things.”

Kim said he chose a hard 6-iron over a 5-iron for the approach on 18, and said the chip might have been too clean because it had too much spin and stopped sooner than he hoped.

“Yeah, it was a tough shot,” Kim said. “But I’ll take it still — 60.”

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

“Her speech was rapid and slurred, her gait was unsteady, and she was fidgeting with her fingers,” the report from the California Highway Patrol said. “Her mood changed from confrontational and agitated to flamboyant and compliant. She also appeared to speak with a British accent at times.”

Spears told officers, “I could probably drink four bottles of wine and take care of you, I’m an angel.”

But she said that in actuality she only had one drink, a mimosa, hours earlier, and she put her level of drunkenness at “zero.” Breath tests put her blood alcohol level at .05 and .06, below the .08 level at which someone is presumed impaired in California.

A bottle of Adderall — the stimulant used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — was found by an officer in her purse, and was not prescribed to her, the report said. She also gave a blood sample for a drug test, but those results were not included in the report.

A Spears representative did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.

Spears was pulled over for speeding and swerving on U.S. 101 in Ventura County near the Los Angeles County line in the area where she lives on March 4, authorities said. She was later charged with misdemeanor DUI and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Spears at first refused to get out of the car, saying she had been pranked and harassed in the past and as a woman she had a right to decline. She also said she feared getting out on the highway. When officers said they could take her around the corner, she suggested they go to her house.

“I’ll make you food or lasagna, whatever you want. I have a pool,” Spears says on the video.

She was eventually cuffed, taken to jail and released on bail hours later.

Spears voluntarily checked into a rehabilitation facility soon after.

On May 4 she pleaded guilty to reckless driving involving alcohol and drugs and avoided more jail time. Ventura County prosecutors said the plea agreement is standard offer for defendants with no DUI history, no crash or injury on the road and a low blood-alcohol level.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy about pleading guilty to anything, but under the circumstances, to get this behind her, I think everybody is pleased with the result,” Spears' lawyer Michael Goldstein said after the plea hearing, at which she did not appear.

Spears grew to superstardom in the 1990s and 2000s with several platinum-selling albums and hit singles including “Toxic,” “… Baby One More Time” and “Oops! … I Did It Again.”

She became a tabloid obsession in the early 2000s and a source of intense public scrutiny as she battled mental illness and paparazzi fought to document her private life.

Spears spent nearly 14 years in a court-ordered conservatorship controlled primarily by her father before she was freed from it in 2021. Since then she has married, divorced and released a bestselling memoir, “The Woman in Me.”

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This story has been updated to correct the date of Spears’ arrest to March 4, not March 5.

Three people found inside the house on Wednesday died. A fourth person who was in the house and one of the emergency responders who became sick were still being treated at a hospital Friday.

A doctor who saw the responders exhibiting symptoms — including nausea and dizziness — said their symptoms most closely resembled fentanyl exposure. However, the investigation into how the exposure happened and what caused it was ongoing.

University of New Mexico Hospital Chief Medical Officer Steve McLaughlin said during a news conference in Albuquerque that authorities were working “under the assumption” that fentanyl was to blame. He said the responders' symptoms ranged from mild to slightly more severe.

“It’s probably not absorbed through your skin, but it would be absorbed through your eyes, nose, mucous membranes, or if you inhale it,” McLaughlin told The Associated Press.

Meth is notoriously toxic when exposed to it, and fentanyl less so. Authorities noted during Friday's news conference that the responders who became ill had directly treated the people found inside the house east of Albuquerque, in the rural town of Mountainair.

More than a dozen first responders were quarantined and decontaminated after responding to the scene.

Of the two people still hospitalized Friday, one was a person who was found unresponsive in the home where three died. Authorities said they were called to the home by a co-worker of one of the people inside after they failed to show up to work.

New Mexico State Police Chief Matt Broom said investigators did not immediately find evidence of drug manufacturing in the house.

State police said early on that there was no threat to the public and that investigators did not believe the substance that caused the responders to become sick was airborne.

Two of the victims were identified Friday as Mika Rascon, 51, and Georgia Rascon, 49. The name of the third person who died has not been released, and the cause and manner of their deaths has not been determined.

Audio archives from the Torrance County Fire Dispatch channel on the site Broadcastify showed that responders went to the home following a report of a 60-year-old man unconscious but breathing.

Within minutes, a dispatcher is heard saying there were three other people at the home, two of whom might not be breathing. Then came a call for naloxone, the opioid-overdose antidote. One person was revived using naloxone, authorities said.

Less than an hour after the initial call, the dispatch center relayed that there were multiple exposures.

Some first responders began coughing, vomiting and experiencing dizziness, authorities said. Most had no symptoms, hospital officials said.

The initial responders on the scene did not have protective gear but followed safety protocols, said Torrance County Fire Chief Gary Smith. They saw two victims inside, pulled them into the fresh air and attempted to resuscitate them, he said.

“This did come in as an overdose. There was no indication of any type of hazmat type scenario,” Smith said.

Debriefings were planned in coming days to determine if there were any weaknesses in the response, he added.

Scientific evidence shows fentanyl, a potent opioid, does not cause overdoses through casual skin contact or brief airborne exposure in typical field scenarios. Experts say overdoses require significant ingestion, injection or inhalation of the substance.

Residents around Mountainair, a town with fewer than 1,000 people, have voiced frustration about drug use in the community and elsewhere.

New Mexico had the fourth-highest rate of drug overdose deaths of any U.S. state in 2024, with 775 deaths, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Claudia Lauer contributed reporting from Philadelphia.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Spieth is giving himself a chance to answer, although Si Woo Kim's flirtation with history while settling for a 60 left the three-time major winner with plenty of work to do.

Kim was in position for the 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history on Friday before a bogey on the final hole left him at 11 under for the day and 18-under 124 through 36 holes. Scheffler was among the players five shots behind the 30-year-old South Korean.

Spieth started his back nine — the front side of TPC Craig Ranch — with six consecutive birdies on the way to a 9-under 62 and was 12 under.

Spieth was one shot behind playing partner Sungjae Im, who aced the par-3 seventh moments after Spieth's sixth birdie in a row and finished his 61 with an eagle on the par-5 ninth. Im was tied with Scheffler, Japan's Kensei Hirata and Wyndham Clark, who matched Scheffler's 63.

A nearly $25 million renovation at the TPC Craig Ranch added bunkers and put plenty of contours in the greens. But a rainy Thursday and minimal wind left the Lanny Wadkins-led redesign as vulnerable as the course was the first five times it hosted the Nelson.

“I think the problem right now is that this is like the first time in the history of Dallas, Texas, that you’ll have four or five days of very little east wind and soft conditions in May,” Spieth said. “You get your normal what we had on Monday out here, that’s how it’s designed. I think it would show that it’s significantly harder, but also fair.”

Tom Hoge shot 62 and Tony Finau had a 63 to join Spieth at 12 under, one stroke ahead of first-round leader Taylor Moore, who followed his opening 62 with a 69. Tyler Duncan and Keith Mitchell also were at 12 under after each shot 66.

Brooks Koepka, who opened with a 63 and is looking for his first victory since his return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, shot 69 while playing with Scheffler and Kim. He was eight shots back.

Spieth credited a par at No. 18 for setting up his birdie binge, which started with a 12-footer. He hit the first four fairways after struggling off the tee on his first nine, made a 12-footer at the par-3 fourth, a 4-footer on the par-5 fifth and capped the surge from 9 feet on the sixth.

After Spieth put his tee shot 29 feet right of a pin to the far left at No. 7, Im bounced his 222-yard shot between the fringe and the hole and watched it roll in, raising his arms and looking skyward after the ball dropped. The 28-year-old was tied for the lead at that point.

“That was one of the prettiest hole-in-ones I’ve ever seen,” Spieth said. “Prettier than any one I ever made. There’s only a few people that would land that left of it on purpose. He might be one of them.”

Spieth's birdie run ended when his 29-footer at No. 7 came up about a foot short, while Im added another eagle with a 14-foot putt at the par-5 ninth. Spieth finished a bogey-free round with a birdie on No. 9. Im had a bogey and seven birdies to go along with his hole-in-one and eagle.

“I was hurting my head trying to figure out what our best ball was,” Spieth said. “I think it was 57, which is pretty good.”

Spieth, who contended on Sunday as a 16-year-old high schooler at his first Nelson in 2010, finished fourth a year ago when Scheffler won by eight at 31 under while tying the tour's 72-hole scoring record of 253.

The 32-year-old Spieth with 13 tour victories was actually worried about the cut line when he was 5 under at the turn. Then he went on to match his career best at the Nelson from the final round last year.

“Just a lot of it just comes down to knocking in putts,” he said. “It’s not a normal week, and it’s fantastic. Now that our families have grown and stuff, you get the little kids coming out, and it makes it even better.”

Scheffler kept himself in contention by playing a four-hole stretch in 5 under on the back nine, including a 45-foot eagle putt on the par-5 12th.

Hirata, a six-time Japan Golf Tour winner looking for his first PGA Tour victory, followed a 64 that included an eagle with a bogey-free 65. A short birdie putt on the ninth pulled him even with Im.

___

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

The consistent chance of rainfall is brought by a couple of back-to-back weather-makers. This is all very good news as we need any and all rainfall we can get!

Besides a few showers, we will have a light breeze today that will peak at 14 MPH around 4 PM. The increase in wind speed is due to the stationary boundary to our south.

Futurecast shows a few showers on and off during the morning, a brief break in the afternoon before rainfall resumes overnight and into early Saturday morning. Be sure to pack the umbrella for the weekend plans!

Memorial Day Weekend will bring on-and-off showers and cooler temperatures due to a cold air wedge in the area. We will warm up quickly next week, but keep the showers and storm chances in play. Have a great weekend!

But one local family says they were left with more questions than answers - and they’re now pushing back.

“Derek was the biggest Hokie I’ve ever known,” Derek Emmerson’s brother Bryan said.

For Bryan Emmerson, there was never a question where his brother Derek belonged.

Derek earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Virginia Tech, later returning to Blacksburg as an associate professor.

“He always says his best memories were those years where he was at Virginia Tech, so when I think of a Virginia Tech Hokie, I think of Derek,” Bryan said.

So, when Derek died of pancreatic cancer in 2017, his family chose to lay him to rest at Virginia Tech’s columbarium at the Holtzman Alumni Center.

“There was this peace that came into the room at the worst time of our lives, literally looking at Derek across the room, because we had a plan,” Bryan said.

Now, nearly a decade later, Bryan is fighting to keep his brother’s memory in the place he loved.

Bryan and his sister also purchased spaces in the columbarium, but in March, Bryan’s brother-in-law received an email saying it was being moved - later learning the relocation was to make way for new dorms.

“I look at it, and it says, ‘We are moving the columbarium, we want to do this respectfully,’” Bryan said.

The form given to families offered three options: move their loved ones to the new site, retrieve the remains, or request a refund.

Bryan says there was no option to keep Derek where he was.

He also points to a clause on the form stating that by signing, families were consenting to the relocation of their loved ones’ remains.

“It’s like slipping in consent after the fact of telling somebody, you’re gonna do it, and these are your choices,” he said.

Derek’s wife, Kathy, initially returned the form unsigned - worried the university could one day move the columbarium again. Virginia Tech provided her with an updated contract, but Bryan tells 10 News it did not provide her with a guarantee.

“‘What if they do this again, and what if my kids have to bury their dad a third time?’ And she’s asked that question of them directly,” Bryan said.

The university plans to move the columbarium from the alumni center to Southgate Drive, near the baseball stadium - where Bryan says he and others worry about safety, traffic and noise.

“There’s traffic, there’s a scoreboard, it’s not the duckpond view,” he said.

Bryan showed us the contract he signed in 2017, which states the niches would be located at the Alumni Association, in view of the duck pond.

He then started filing Freedom of Information Act requests with Virginia Tech.

Bryan says documents he received show the project is moving quickly - with site work for the new residence halls set to begin June 8th.

Families were told they must pick up remains by June 4th if they plan to remove them.

“This is time sensitive; we need to get this done, we need 1200 beds,” Bryan said.

While Derek’s wife has decided to retrieve his remains, Bryan is still fighting.

He filed a request for a temporary restraining order, hoping to stop any removal until a judge can rule.

“I know my brother is at peace. He was a man of faith, I know where he is, but I’ve realized ‘Rest in Peace’ is at least 50% for those of us on the other side,” Bryan said.

Virginia Tech responded to questions from 10 News on Friday.

University spokesperson Mark Owczarski says the area around the alumni center has seen significant development in recent years — and the university’s long-range plan includes four new residence halls totaling about 1,200 beds.

The university says it surveyed the campus last fall to find a more peaceful and permanent location for the columbarium.

Virginia Tech says families of those interred were contacted in early March so questions and concerns could be addressed.

According to the university, about 92% of families chose to have their loved ones moved to the new site, while most of the remaining families chose refunds.

The university says supporting families has been its top priority throughout the process, but it cannot comment further due to current litigation.

Several other families have reached out to WSLS through our Facebook and Help Center - we will keep you updated as this story develops.

You can view the presentation made at the April 13 Board of Visitors’ meeting regarding the relocation here.

But the eyebrow-raising move — the latest in his push to prove his loyalty to Trump — has agitated the same Republican lawmakers whose support he would need if he is nominated for the permanent job.

Blanche insists he’s not auditioning for the job of attorney general. But a series of splashy steps the Justice Department has taken under his watch since he took the position on an acting basis last month, including an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, has left no doubt about the impression he’s hoping to make on the president who appointed him.

The fund in particular has put Blanche at the center of a Republican firestorm at a time when he aims to establish himself as the perfect person for the post for the remainder of Trump’s term. And it sharpened concerns from Democrats and other Blanche critics that he has not shed his mantle as the president’s personal attorney.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader, said in a statement.

From Trump's former lawyer to the Justice Department's top job

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche came to public prominence for his lead role on Trump's defense team, including during the Republican's hush money trial in New York. That perch afforded him, he has said, a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

He was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job, then was elevated last month after Trump ousted Pam Bondi.

Now he finds himself the latest Trump-appointed attorney general to simultaneously confront expectations from subordinates to uphold institutional norms and demands from the president to do his bidding.

Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was forced out after the 2018 midterms after infuriating the president over his recusal from an investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign. Another, William Barr, resigned after their relationship fizzled over Barr's refusal to back Trump's baseless claims of massive election fraud. Bondi was removed after struggling to bring successful prosecutions against Trump's political opponents.

Blanche has moved to advance Trump's interests

Two weeks after becoming acting attorney general, Blanche announced the appointment of Joseph diGenova, an 81-year-old former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to a special position inside the department, where he'll oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump.

“At some point, at the right time, that will be made public and the American people will see exactly what happened to this administration and President Trump over the past decade," Blanche said in a Fox News Channel interview.

Prior government reviews of the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, a centerpiece of the current conspiracy investigation, have failed to produce criminal charges against senior officials or evidence of criminal conduct by them. It's not clear what, if any, new information the continuing investigation has developed.

The Justice Department also last month obtained an indictment charging Comey, a Trump foe whose prosecution the president has long called for, with threatening Trump through a social media photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47" — a case legal experts say will be challenging for prosecutors. Comey has said he wouldn't be surprised if the Justice Department pursues additional indictments against him.

In other moves, Blanche announced an indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that has long been the target of conservative outrage, with misleading donors about its activities, and has publicly defended a Justice Department crackdown on leaks to the news media, including subpoenas to reporters.

The $1.8 billion fund sparks Republican resistance

Arguably the most audacious demonstration of loyalty to Trump came this week when the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who feel they've been unjustly investigated and prosecuted, coupled with a guarantee of immunity from tax audits for Trump and his eldest sons.

As Republican concerns grew, Blanche held a tense meeting with GOP lawmakers Thursday. Shortly afterward, Senate Republicans abruptly left Washington without voting on a roughly $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies.

Blanche, who defended the fund at a congressional hearing this week, has said anyone who believes they've been persecuted can apply for compensation regardless of political affiliation. But the fund has been widely understood as a boon to Trump allies investigated during the Biden administration.

“It’s pretty clear that he’s not the attorney general for the United States as much as he's the attorney general for President Trump,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and former senior Justice Department official. He said Blanche would get an A+ if report cards were issued for loyalty to Trump.

David Laufman, a former chief of staff to the deputy attorney general in President George W. Bush's administration, said that rather than protecting the Justice Department's independence, Blanche has been a “willing and ardent accomplice for carrying out any partisan or corrupt scheme the White House may devise.”

Blanche says he feels no pressure to please Trump

Blanche’s supporters dismiss the suggestion he is trying to curry favor with Trump to secure the permanent job.

“What he is doing is he is seeking justice based on facts and the law,” said Jay Town, who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama during the first Trump administration. “And I don’t think that will ever change about him, whether he is the attorney general going forward or doesn’t spend another day in the administration. He is an honorable man and anybody that knows him knows that to be true.”

Blanche also insists he is not angling to keep his job or feeling pressure to placate Trump.

He has told reporters he would be honored to be nominated but, "if he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’ I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that.”

In recent days, he's functioned as the fund's public face and most visible defender, a role consistent with his comfort in the spotlight. He sometimes holds multiple press conferences a week and grants interviews to a variety of news outlets, a contrast to Bondi, who largely stuck to Fox News appearances.

His defenders say his experience as a federal prosecutor has made him a more sophisticated communicator for the department than Bondi, but his statements have at times invited backlash, such as his refusal to rule out that violent Jan. 6 rioters could be eligible for payouts.

Though Blanche will appoint the five commissioners tasked with processing claims, his precise role in the fund’s conception and implementation is unclear. He told CNN it was developed through negotiations with Trump’s private lawyers, not him.

But for some Democrats, that's a difference without a distinction.

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, told Blanche during a combative exchange in the Senate hearing, "and that's the whole problem."

Just hours after Rubio departed for Friday’s NATO foreign ministers meeting in Sweden, Trump stunned virtually everyone by announcing he would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, a country that recently was told it would not be getting an expected deployment.

At the meeting, Rubio tried to calmly explain the situation to Europeans who have been unnerved by Trump’s constant unpredictability: The U.S. remains committed to NATO but will adjust its military footprint in Europe, which eventually will mean fewer American troops on the continent.

Rubio and NATO chief Mark Rutte insisted that the U.S. is consulting with allies. Yet the announcements have blindsided some countries.

“At the end of the day, I think it’s well understood in the alliance that the United States’ troop presence in Europe is going to be adjusted," Rubio told reporters. “That work was already ongoing, and it’s been done in coordination with our allies. I’m not saying they’re going to be thrilled about it, but they certainly are aware of it. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody.”

Rubio insisted that “none of this is surprising, although obviously I understand why it creates some nervousness.”

America's top diplomat has often been called on to offer a calmer, less antagonistic presence from the Trump administration. Rubio has been dispatched on several such missions this year, including to the Munich Security Conference in February and, more recently, to Italy, where he met with Italian officials and Pope Leo XIV after Trump criticized the American pontiff for his stances on crime and the Iran war.

Lack of clarity remains about US troop drawdowns in Europe

Friday’s meeting in the city of Helsingborg, which precedes a NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey in July, also came amid great uncertainty over how the war in Iran will play out and whether stalled U.S. efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict will resume. Resentment also still simmers on the continent over Trump’s criticism of allies and his interest in taking over Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Still, it was the abrupt reversal of the Poland decision and an earlier announcement about drawing down thousands of U.S. troops in Germany that attracted the most attention.

Rubio said “this is not a decision that was made on the back of a napkin” and that the Germans “didn’t freak out about it” because the reduction brought the numbers back to where they were three years ago.

With details about the Poland deployment still unknown a day later, Dan Fried, a former U.S. ambassador to Poland and assistant secretary of state for Europe, slammed the Trump administration for its initial decision and an inability to explain the reversal.

He called it the result of a “bad process or lack of process” and said it created “an absolute mess” with America’s European allies. “It was a poorly managed decision — people were appalled,” he said.

Fried, who was traveling throughout Europe for three weeks before returning home Friday, said he had been doing a live TV interview in Poland on Thursday night when Trump announced the surprise reversal. He said he and the host had to laugh when they saw the news.

Although Fried welcomed the step, he said it pointed to larger issues that raise major concerns about the administration’s commitment to NATO and its seriousness about demanding reforms, such as spending more on defense, that most members have already agreed to.

“The administration’s seriousness about that policy is now in serious question,” he said. “They are so haphazard and chaotic that they can’t take yes for an answer. The administration needs to pull itself together.”

For the second day in a row, Rubio declined to discuss any further changes to the American military presence in Europe, including a possible reduction in the number of troops that the U.S. will commit under the NATO Force Model, which is a contingency plan for European defense in the event of serious security concerns.

Rubio reiterates criticism of NATO over the Iran war

Rubio repeated that he is a “strong supporter” of the transatlantic military alliance and called it important. But he reiterated complaints that some NATO allies, notably Spain, had refused to allow access to U.S. bases for the Iran conflict and others had been reluctant, if not resistant, to join a coalition to reopen and protect the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping route that Iran largely has closed.

“When some of those bases are denied to you during a conflict that we’re involved in, then you question whether that value is still there,” he said Friday. “So that’s going to have to be discussed.”

Rubio, who was heading next to India, noted that nearly all NATO allies agree that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, but few, if any, stepped up when Trump said he would take action to prevent it.

Twin River Outfitters says the river is running around 2.5 feet right now, with the potential to rise closer to three feet tomorrow if more rain moves in. They say that is an ideal range for paddling trips.

The outfitter says that during the drought, the James was low and “scrappy,” but right now, there is no projection of high water. Still, they are taking this time to remind anyone heading out to stay safe and remain cautious.

“Definitely everybody be thinking river safety, so you know, that means wearing your life jacket, double check your strainers and water levels to make sure they are at a safe route.”

John Mays, owner and manager for Twin River Outfitters

They say Memorial Day Weekend is typically one of the busiest paddling weekends of the year - and they’re ready, even with the cooler weather.

Elsewhere, a 12th illness linked to the ship was confirmed Friday in the Netherlands as health officials continue to monitor hundreds of people who were potentially exposed.

The doctor who runs the National Quarantine Unit where the American passengers are being monitored said at a news conference Friday that none of them are showing any symptoms at this point, but Dr. Michael Wadman referred questions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about whether these 18 people will have to remain at the specialized facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for the full 42-day quarantine period.

The CDC didn't respond Friday to questions about the plan for these passengers staying in what resemble hotel rooms, complete with their own workout machines and a small refrigerator. The rooms are equipped with specialized negative-pressure ventilation and waste sterilization systems to keep germs from escaping.

Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. Health officials recommended the long quarantine because of the incubation period for the virus.

Passengers arrived with few belongings

Wadman said that once the passengers realized how long they were going to be staying in quarantine, they started ordering things they needed because health officials let them bring only a small plastic sack of belongings with them when they left the MV Hondius. They had to leave their luggage behind, so a steady stream of boxes started arriving at the quarantine unit after the passengers began arriving in Omaha on May 11.

In between the symptom checks twice a day, the staff at the nation's only dedicated quarantine unit are doing their best to help the passengers pass the time with special meals featuring local food trucks and distinctive Nebraska delicacies like Runzas along with lessons on the sandhill cranes migration that brings millions of the majestic birds to the state every spring and other subjects.

The rooms also have high-speed internet connections to help the passengers connect virtually with family and friends. Jake Rosmarin said it can be lonely at times being so far away from his fiance back in Boston, but the days have mostly been flying by as he calls family and friends and makes videos for his Facebook and Instagram pages where he normally posts travel videos. Rosmarin tries to think positive and not dwell on the fact that he still faces almost another month in quarantine.

“Why am I going to harp on those negative aspects? The time’s just gonna go by slow if I kind of harp on the negatives,” he said.

Hospital staff works to make passengers comfortable

Rosmarin said he really appreciates everything the nurses and doctors from the medical center and adjoining Nebraska Medicine hospital, who volunteer to work at the quarantine unit, have done for him and the other passengers, beginning with the deliveries of his favorite Starbucks iced horchata with oat milk and vanilla cold foam.

“They’ve just been amazing. Truly. Truly, truly, truly. I think they’ve gone above and beyond with making sure that we’re comfortable here,” said Rosmarin, who ordered himself a new mattress pad and pillows along with a set of Mixtiles photos of himself and his fiance to hang on the wall to help make the room homier.

Rosmarin and a few other passengers unexpectedly got a chance to leave their rooms for a few minutes Sunday evening when Omaha was under a tornado warning, but they all wore masks and kept their distance while the medical staff had on full protective suits.

The hospital is planning to give the passengers a taste of Runza on Tuesday and a meal from Omaha Steaks on Thursday of next week. Rosmarin said he ordered a barbecue bacon Runza, which is a mix of meat, seasonings and sauce baked inside bread. The fast food chain that's known for the sandwiches is almost exclusively in the state, but elsewhere in the country the same meal might be called a bierock.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, who owns a massive hog farm, said at Friday’s news conference that he’s hoping to arrange a pork tenderloin dinner as well, if he can be sure the hospital chefs will cook it correctly.

Quarantine will likely last roughly another month

Wadman said the passengers who remain in Omaha have all been cooperative despite the fact that the CDC issued a formal order earlier this week to prevent two of them from leaving the quarantine unit.

“I think there's many that would really like to be home,” Wadman said, but it's not yet clear that the CDC will allow that before the 42 days are up. Each case will be evaluated individually.

Twelve people worldwide who were aboard the MV Hondius have fallen ill, including one of the crew members that was just confirmed Friday in the Netherlands. Three people from the cruise died, including a Dutch couple that health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. No deaths have been reported since May 2, according to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“We continue to urge affected countries to monitor all passengers and crew carefully for the remainder of the quarantine period. More than 600 contacts continue to be followed in 30 countries, and a small number of high risk contacts are still being located,” he said.

University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold said the new cases will definitely be considered as public health officials decide how long the passengers have to quarantine, but the CDC is calling the shots on that period.

“Any case, any symptoms, any positive test anywhere gives us more information about the biology of this viral illness. And it as any good scientific approach would be, it influences our decision making,” Gold said.

Caballero was activated and started at shortstop in Friday's series opener against AL-best Tampa Bay after spending the minimum 10 days on the injured list. Volpe was on the bench.

“As I’ve told them each, it’s not going to be the perfect scenario every single day. You may like or not like a decision on a given day, but the end of the day we’re all working for the same thing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We want to win big, and we want win big for the Yankees. And then it’s my job to try and put you in the best position to be successful and there’ll be some days where that makes sense and is fair or not fair.”

Caballero was hurt diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt by Abner Uribe during the ninth inning of a game at Milwaukee on May 10, even though he was wearing a sliding mitt. Acquired from Tampa Bay last July 31, the 29-year-old Caballero started 39 of the Yankees’ first 41 games at shortstop and hit .249 with four homers, 13 RBIs and 13 stolen bases with a .720 OPS.

Volpe, the starting shortstop from 2021-23, had been optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following his recovery from shoulder surgery Oct. 14 and then was brought up after Caballero got hurt.

“Both guys are going to play. Cabby’s versatility comes into play now again with Anthony here,” Boone said. “These things have a way of working themselves out. It’s a good situation to be in because we have two players that we feel like can play vital roles in us winning games.”

Volpe started eight games at shortstop while Caballero was on the IL and hit .217 with three RBIs, two stolen bases and seven walks for a .707 OPS.

“Like what I’ve seen. I feel like he’s had a good week of at-bats," Boone said. "I feel he’s played well in the field. Again, it’s a week, but he’s a really talented player that we have high expectations for.”

Volpe's professional experience at second is one game each at Class A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley in 2021, when he also played three games at third base for Tampa.

“Second base I’m not too worried about,” Boone said. “I probably wouldn’t put him over at third up here. I’d want him to go do that a little bit.”

Volpe also appeared at second base during five spring training games in 2023.

“He may still end up being all at shortstop. On the days he’s playing shortstop, I may move Cabby around,” Boone said. “But I want him to at least get some work over there and see that side of the field, too.”

Caballero also has played second, third and outfield.

New York opened a roster spot by optioning top prospect Spencer Jones to Scranton. Jones debuted on May 8 and hit .167 with no extra-base hits and two RBIs in 27 plate appearances over 10 games. He was brought up after Jasson Domínguez sprained his left shoulder when he crashed into Yankee Stadium’s outfield wall on May 7.

“It was a good experience for Spencer even though he didn’t get a lot of results,” Boone said. “I actually feel like he held his own pretty well.”

Domínguez is hitting off a tee and could be ready for games by the end of next week or early June.

Giancarlo Stanton, sidelined since April 24 by a strained right calf, is to be examined next week and could be given permission to start running.

Trent Grisham was back in the lineup leading off and playing center field after missing one game. He left Wednesday's game because of knee pain and tests showed no structural damage.

New York also activated ace right-hander Gerrit Cole from the 15-day IL following his recovery from elbow ligament replacement surgery. He was to start Friday in his first big league appearance that counted since the 2024 World Series.

Right-hander Yovanny Cruz was optioned to the RailRiders on Thursday night after making his first two big league appearances.

___

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

There is a civil case in Maryland where he has been challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to deport him to a series of African countries. A criminal case in Tennessee, where the government accused him of human smuggling, has just been dismissed after a judge found evidence of “vindictive prosecution” by the Justice Department.

Here is a timeline of key events:

Arrival: around 2011

Abrego Garcia flees El Salvador for the U.S. as a teenager.

Arrest: March 28, 2019

Abrego Garcia is arrested outside a Maryland hardware store. Police accuse him of being a gang member and turn him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration court: Oct. 10, 2019

A Maryland immigration judge rules that Abrego Garcia cannot be deported to El Salvador, where a gang has threatened his family. He is given a work permit and placed under federal supervision.

Detained by ICE: March 12, 2025

Abrego Garcia is detained by ICE in Baltimore while driving home with his 5-year-old son.

Deportation: March 15, 2025

Abrego Garcia is mistakenly deported to El Salvador and held in a notoriously brutal prison.

Supreme Court: April 10, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court says the Trump administration must work to bring Abrego Garcia back.

Criminal charges: June 6, 2025

Abrego Garcia is returned to the U.S. and charged with human smuggling, based on a Tennessee traffic stop from 2022.

Attempts at second deportation: July 23, 2025—present

ICE announces plans to remove him to a series of African countries, but is blocked by an injunction from a Maryland federal judge.

Released from jail: August 22, 2025

Abrego Garcia leaves the Tennessee jail, where he has been since June, to return to his family in Maryland and await trial. Within minutes of his release, ICE sends notice that they intend to deport him to Uganda.

In immigration custody: Aug. 25, 2025

Abrego Garcia reports to an immigration office in Baltimore and is taken into custody.

Judge orders release: Dec. 11, 2025

A federal judge in Maryland orders ICE to immediately release Abrego Garcia.

No immigration detention: Feb. 17, 2026

A Maryland federal judge rules ICE cannot re-detain Abrego Garcia.

Judge dismisses criminal case: May 22, 2026

A federal judge in Tennessee dismisses the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia after finding evidence the government engaged in “ vindictive prosecution."

For over half a century, foreign nationals with legal status have been able to apply for and complete the entire process for permanent residence in the United States — including individuals married to U.S. citizens, holders of work and student visas, and refugees and political asylum seekers, among others.

The announcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said foreigners who are in the U.S. temporarily and who want to apply to become lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, have to return home and apply there, except in “extraordinary circumstances." USCIS officers would decide whether applicants meet those.

“Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process,” the agency said in a statement.

It is the latest step by the Trump administration making legal immigration more difficult for foreigners already in the U.S. and for those hoping to come here.

Hundreds of thousands apply for green cards from the US each year

“The goal of this policy is very explicit. Senior officials in this administration have said over and over that they want fewer people to get permanent residency because permanent residency is a path to citizenship and they want to block that path for as many people as possible,” said Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS during the Biden administration, who added that about 600,000 people already in the U.S. apply each year for a green card.

USCIS did not say when the change would come into effect, whether individuals would be required to remain in another country throughout the entire process, or whether the policy impacts foreigners whose green card applications are already underway.

In an emailed statement to the Associated Press the agency said people who provide an “economic benefit” or “national interest” could likely stay in the U.S. while others would have to go abroad to apply.

The changes come on top of steps the administration has already taken to restrict and limit entry for people from dozens of countries. In some cases, there are outright bans on travel from those countries, while people from others face pauses in visa processing. Experts and attorneys warned that forcing people from those countries to return home to apply for a green card would result in them being barred from coming back.

“If families are told that the non-citizen family member must return to his or her country of origin to process their immigrant visa, but immigrant visas are not being processed there, it’s a Catch-22. These policies will effectively create an indefinite separation of families,” wrote World Relief, a humanitarian and refugee resettlement organization.

Confusion over who the change applies to

USCIS described the change as a return to “the original intent of the law” and closing a “loophole.”

But immigration lawyers and aid groups pushed back, saying it was longstanding practice for many groups to be able to adjust their status in the U.S. and that many people couldn’t return home because it wasn’t safe or they had no embassy to apply at. The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, for example, has been closed since the U.S. pullout in August 2021.

“USCIS is trying to upend decades of processing of adjustment of status,” said Shev Dalal-Dheini, senior director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “This all applies very broadly to anyone seeking a green card”.

Among them could be individuals married to U.S. citizens, immigrants with humanitarian protection who are applying for a green card, and holders of work visas — including doctors and professionals — as well as student and religious visa holders, the attorney noted.

At some U.S. consulates abroad, wait times for a visa appointment could take up to more than a year, said Dalal-Dheini.

Immigration attorneys were picking through the policy memo and announcement Friday afternoon, trying to decipher who it would apply to.

Organizations that provide legal and other assistance to immigrants said they were hearing from clients concerned about what the new guidance would mean for them.

“It’s really hard to tell how this is going to be applied,” said Jessie De Haven, senior staff attorney with the California Immigration Project a non profit that provides legal services to low income immigrants. “I do think it might have a chilling effect on people applying.”

The project marks the first tenant at the megasite, a regional industrial park that has been decades in the making under the oversight of the Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA), a joint board between Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville.

A moment decades in the making

Danville City Councilman Sherman Saunders, one of the regional leaders behind the megasite’s development, described the groundbreaking as something larger than a construction milestone.

“What we’re celebrating today is bigger than construction. It’s bigger than a building. Today is about opportunity for our people, for our families, and for the next generation growing up right here in this region,” Saunders said.

Vic Ingram, chairman of the RIFA board, said the incoming jobs will have wide-reaching effects across Pittsylvania County — including easing the financial burden on residents.

“We can drop the tax rate where people don’t have to struggle to pay their taxes. You know, it’s going to take a while to get there, but we’re working on it,” Ingram said.

The path to groundbreaking wasn’t without obstacles. A $100 million grant was frozen after President Trump took office, raising questions about whether the project would move forward. Local and state leaders worked to get the funding reinstated and continued pursuing additional financing to keep the project on track.

What Microporous will make — and why it matters

Microporous plans to use its Virginia facility to manufacture battery insulators — components that prevent batteries from short-circuiting. CEO John Reeves says the project benefits both the company and the communities it’s entering.

“It’s 1,800 jobs coming into your community and much higher wage rates than our customers in this community. So a win for us and I think a win for the community as well,” Reeves said.

The facility is expected to take approximately 14 months to complete, with a targeted opening date as early as 2027.

The Roanoke Trinket Trade box, located outside Show Pony, had become a popular stop for residents looking to swap small items, leave gifts and connect with neighbors.

“I love stuff like that,” said Elena Leando, who works nearby at Grace’s Place Pizzeria. “I just think it brings people together. I just think it gives happiness and some color to the place.”

But the box is now gone after the creator said it was vandalized overnight.

Leando described the exchange box as “something sweet and cute and fun,” adding that it was upsetting that someone felt it necessary to take away that magic.”

According to social media posts from the owner, surveillance footage showed a man destroying items inside the box and ripping up flowers beneath it. The owner said the contents were stolen and replaced with trash, while signs connected to the project were torn off and taken.

“Because of this, I will be taking the boxes down as of today,” the owner wrote in a social media post. “I put so much love, time, money, and care into creating this little community space, so this is incredibly upsetting and disappointing.”

Leando said the box had become a constant source of activity in the neighborhood.

“It was just constantly, every day, all day. I’d see somebody out here,” she said. “People would either leave here, and they’d drop something off, or I’d see teenagers, kids getting stuff with their parents.”

Despite the vandalism, supporters remain hopeful the exchange will return.

“I really hope that they can manage a comeback for it,” Leando said. “I loved it so much.”

The owner said the closure is temporary and that plans are underway to reopen the trinket exchange at a safer indoor location somewhere in Grandin Village.

“The Trinket Trade box is not going anywhere — and this is just a reset, not the end,” the owner wrote.

The ruling amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a Justice Department that under President Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of targeting defendants for political purposes. The Trump administration touted the charges against Abrego Garcia last year at a press conference in which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, “This is what American justice looks like.”

“The evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, in Nashville, Tenn., said in his ruling granting Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution."

Abrego Garcia’s deportation became an embarrassment for Trump officials when they were ordered to return him to the U.S. In his motion to dismiss, Abrego Garcia claimed that both the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated that the prosecution was vindictive.

Despite the win in criminal court, his future in the United States is uncertain. Barred from deporting him to El Salvador, administration officials have threatened to deport him to a series of African countries, most recently Liberia.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a victim of a politicized, vindictive White House and its lawyers at what used to be an independent Justice Department," his criminal defense attorneys said in a statement after Friday's ruling. "We are so pleased that he is a free man."

The Justice Department vowed to appeal, calling the judge’s order “wrong and dangerous.”

Crenshaw stopped short of finding the government acted with “actual vindictiveness,” a rarely-met standard that usually requires evidence like a prosecutor admitting that charges were filed in retaliation against someone. But the judge did find there was enough evidence of “presumptive vindictiveness” — including the timing of the indictment, statements made by then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the sustained oversight of the case by other top Justice Department officials — that the case against Abrego Garcia was thoroughly tainted.

The government’s own explanations weren’t convincing, Crenshaw wrote.

Abrego Garcia was charged with human smuggling and conspiracy to commit human smuggling, with prosecutors claiming that he accepted money to transport within the United States people who were in the country illegally.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee for speeding. Body camera footage from a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer shows a calm exchange with Abrego Garcia. There were nine passengers in the car, and the officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling. However, Abrego Garcia was eventually allowed to continue driving with only a warning.

In the Friday ruling, Crenshaw wrote that the timing of the charges was central to the presumption of vindictiveness. Homeland Security had been aware of the traffic stop for two years and had closed the case against Abrego Garcia when it deported him. Once the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he should be brought back to the U.S., they reopened the case. While the government bore the responsibility to rebut the presumption of vindictiveness, prosecutors did not call as a witness the person who reopened the case, to explain why. Instead they offered only “secondhand testimony.”

In a statement released by the group We are CASA, which has been supporting Abrego Garcia and his family, he thanked God for the dismissal of the criminal charges.

“Justice is a big word and an even bigger promise to fulfill; and I am grateful that today, justice has taken a step forward,” he said.

Abrego Garcia's deportation violated a 2019 immigration court order granting him protection from deportation to his home country, after the judge found he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years although he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. The 2019 order allowed him to live and work in the U.S. under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision, but he was not given residency status.

The 94-year-old stood tall and unwavering under a warming sun, even as some people nearby fainted before the May 1 event began. Standing behind him was his security detail, led by grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro.

It was a rare public appearance for the last Castro from the revolutionary era. While he is believed to wield significant influence over the government, he maintains a low profile even as a general of Cuba’s army.

He was in the spotlight Wednesday when U.S. prosecutors unveiled an indictment that accuses Castro of ordering the 1996 shootdown of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles. The charges include murder and destruction of an airplane. Castro was minister of defense at the time.

The indictment and remarks Thursday by U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed fears of a possible U.S. military intervention in Cuba, much like what happened in Venezuela in early January.

“We expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way,” acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the charges against the former Cuban president during a press conference in Miami.

Cuba’s socialist government condemned the charges and held a rally Friday to honor Castro.

Thousands of people crowded into Havana’s famed seawall to demonstrate their support for him and decry the indictment against him. Raúl Castro did not attend, but present were his grandson and his daughter, Mariela Castro.

“Who do they think they are to judge Raúl?” Gerardo Hernández asked as the crowd that had gathered in front of the U.S. embassy cheered. Hernández is one of five Cubans accused of being a spy who was imprisoned and later released by the U.S. in 2014.

“For the United States, the law is a tailor-made suit,” he said before punching the air with this fist to a shout of “Viva Raúl!”

The crowd responded to his call: “Homeland or death, we will vanquish!”

Castro is rarely seen in public

In July 1953, Castro was arrested in Cuba after being accused of armed rebellion following a failed assault against military barracks. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison but was released two years later following a political amnesty. He then left for Mexico and helped organize the revolution.

He married a guerrilla fighter, Vilma Espín, in the 1960s and the couple had four children. Little else is known about Castro's private life: He is considered a family man and officially resides west of Havana.

Even during his years as defense minister under his late brother, Fidel Castro, and later as president, his routine stood out for its discretion: no agendas, official ceremonies, or public or family gatherings.

Since stepping down and handing over to President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Raúl Castro has rarely been seen in public. He wears his signature olive-green military uniform when greeting visiting dignitaries.

“He still has influence, and the leadership seeks his opinion on major decisions, but he is not running the government on a day-to-day basis,” said William LeoGrande, a political scientist at American University in Washington.

“If the U.S. were to abduct him, it would not change the operations of government, unlike what happened in Venezuela,” LeoGrande said.

Tensions between the US and Cuba worsen

The indictment against Raúl Castro has deepened tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, which recently announced that its oil reserves had run dry because of an ongoing U.S. energy blockade.

The island’s crises have worsened since the Jan. 3 U.S. invasion of Venezuela, which halted critical oil shipments from the South American country. Then in late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.

Top Trump aides — including Rubio, CIA chief John Ratcliffe and other senior national security officials — have met with Cuban officials in recent months to explore improving relations. But the U.S. side has come away unimpressed from those talks, leading to more sanctions imposed on the Cuban government in the past week.

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Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.

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

Rubio spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike against the Islamic Republic because “serious negotiations” were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end if Iran does not make a deal, with shifting parameters for striking such an agreement.

America's top diplomat made the comment ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, where the military alliance discussed what role it could play in helping police the Strait of Hormuz once the war is over.

Rubio said he did not want to exaggerate the progress, saying there had been “a little bit of movement and that's good.” In recent weeks, repeated claims of progress have emerged, but a deal has stayed out of reach.

Trump has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off. But he’s also previously indicated he would hold off on military action to allow talks to play out, only to turn around and launch strikes. That happened at the war’s outset, when he ordered strikes in late February shortly after indicating he would let talks play out.

The president said he called off attacks on Iran this week at the request of allies in the Middle East.

Pakistan's army chief arrives in Iran for third round of talks

In a renewed push for a peace agreement, Pakistan's top army officer arrived Friday in Tehran for talks with Iranian leaders, Pakistani officials and the military confirmed. It's the third round of meetings between Pakistani and Iranian officials in recent days.

Field Marshal Asim Munir will be joined by Pakistan’s interior minister, who has already met with Iranian leaders in Tehran twice this week. Pakistan has sought a deal between Iran and the U.S. since Munir facilitated face-to-face talks between the two countries in Islamabad last month.

Qatar also sent a delegation to Tehran, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks. The delegation is working in coordination with other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the official said.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the shipment of oil, gas, fertilizer and other petroleum products. The U.S. is blockading Iranian ports and has redirected 94 commercial vessels and disabled four others since mid-April, U.S. Central Command said.

At the NATO meeting in Sweden, Rubio said he discussed reopening the strait with other foreign ministers. He said there needs to be a “plan B” if Washington and Tehran fail to reach a deal.

“Someone’s going to have to do something about it, OK?” Rubio said, insisting that Iran was not going to “voluntarily reopen” the strait.

No mines have been found in the Strait of Hormuz

The American military has not found or destroyed any explosive mines in the Strait of Hormuz so far, but it is still searching, a U.S. official said Friday.

No ships have been struck or damaged by mines in the strait either, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. That is even as some commercial traffic has been flowing, though at much lower volumes than before the war began.

Trump said last month that he ordered the military to begin mine-clearing efforts as part of a broader push to get commercial ships to traverse the strait again following several attacks by Iran.

No evidence of mine-laying by the Iranians has emerged since the start of the conflict, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they targeted and destroyed that capability as part of the airstrikes across the country.

Trump's war pause sparks tension with Netanyahu

Trump's decision to give more peace talks a chance sparked tension with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media said Thursday that Trump and Netanyahu had a “dramatic” phone conversation Tuesday about the status of the Iranian negotiations and that Israel is angry with Trump’s efforts to strike a deal with Iran.

The White House declined to comment on the substance or tenor of the call. Trump told reporters after the conversation that Netanyahu “will do whatever I want him to do.”

The comments are some of the first public signs of daylight between the leaders since they launched the war.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately struck Iran

Two regional officials and a Western diplomat said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates separately launched multiple attacks on Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq during the war. An Israeli military officer with knowledge of the situation also confirmed that the UAE proactively struck Iran at least once.

All of them spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information. The regional officials said the strikes on Iran targeted military facilities.

One of the regional officials said strikes by Saudi Arabia targeted hideouts of Iraqi militias, mainly Kataib Hezbollah, after Riyadh assessed that most of the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia came from neighboring Iraq. He said Saudi Arabia has repeatedly briefed Baghdad before deciding to strike.

The Western diplomat and one of the regional officials said the UAE had pushed for a collective military response from the Gulf Arab countries since the onset of the war.

Asked for comment, the UAE referred to a May 16 statement that "all measures undertaken by the UAE have been within the framework of defensive actions aimed at protecting its sovereignty, civilians, and vital infrastructure.” Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran has not publicly addressed being targeted by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

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Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt, and Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Konstantin Toropin, Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% and pulled closer to its all-time high set in the middle of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%.

Ross Stores helped drive the market and rose 8.1% after the off-price retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that easily cleared analysts’ expectations. CEO Jim Conroy said it saw strong customer traffic through the three months, and the company may have benefited from households spending their tax refunds.

Estee Lauder jumped 11.9% after saying it was no longer considering a possible merger with Puig, the Spanish fragrance and beauty products company.

Workday rose 5.2%, and Zoom Communications jumped 9.2% after both delivered better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

They’re the latest companies to top analysts’ expectations for earnings for the start of 2026, and the cavalcade of such reports has helped U.S. stocks remain near their records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.

The strength is coming even after a survey of U.S. consumers by the University of Michigan found sentiment fell to a record low, piercing below a bottom in 2022 when inflation peaked above 9%. Households are feeling worried about how bad inflation is now because of expensive oil created by the war with Iran.

U.S. consumers are forecasting inflation will worsen to 4.8% in the coming 12 months, up from a forecast of 4.7% last month, according to the survey. In the longer run, their forecasts for inflation jumped to 3.9% from 3.5% last month. Such rising expectations are a concern for economists because they can drive behavior that creates a vicious cycle that makes inflation worse.

Sentiment dropped in particular for lower-income consumers who are least able to absorb higher costs for essentials, and it fell for Republicans as well, according to the survey.

Helping to keep uncertainty high have been continued swings for oil prices. They yo-yoed again Friday, like they did through the week on uncertainty about when the United States and Iran may find a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The closure has prevented oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf and delivering crude to customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil to be delivered in August added 0.7% to settle at $100.21 after erasing an earlier decline.

Worries about inflation staying high have pushed bond yields higher worldwide, threatening to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. High yields have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level since last summer, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

Yields had been down Friday morning, offering some relief, before wavering after oil prices erased their losses and the survey on consumer sentiment showed worsening inflation expectations.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.56% from 4.57% late Thursday, but it remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war.

Worries about inflation have climbed so high that traders on Wall Street have eliminated bets that the Federal Reserve will resume its cuts to interest rates later this year. Lower rates would give the economy a boost, but they could also worsen inflation.

An important member of the Fed, Gov. Christopher Waller, said in a speech Friday, “If I believe inflation expectations start to become unanchored, I would not hesitate to support an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”

But he also said that is not the case now in his speech titled “Policy Risks Have Changed.” Instead, he said it “is time to simply sit and watch how the conflict and the data evolve.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% to another record after a report showed inflation hitting a four-year low in April, at 1.4%, despite higher prices for oil and gas due to the war.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 27.75 points to 7,473.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 294.04 to 50,579.70, and the Nasdaq composite added 50.87 to 26,343.97.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

But he veered off-topic right from the start, going off on tangents about voter identification, crime in cities, transgender women in sports and “Dumocrats,” his new chosen moniker for the opposition party. He complained that toiletries are locked up in pharmacies, making them harder to buy, and polled the audience on what he should call his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

Eventually, he landed on the topic of the speech, telling the crowd that he and his party worked to slash taxes and increase take-home pay, while Democrats opposed the effort at every turn.

"I cut your taxes, cut the taxes on workers, families, small business, who are the soul of this state," Trump said to the audience at Rockland Community College. Listing off the various provisions of the tax law, the president said: “These are all Republican tax cuts. The Democrats voted against every one of these tax cuts.”

Trump traveled to the Hudson Valley area to appear with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is up for reelection in what will be one of the most closely watched House races this November, for an event meant to promote the tax law Trump signed last year, particularly the quadrupling of the deduction for state and local taxes, which is critical in a high-tax state like New York.

Trump called Lawler “fantastic” and mused about how the congressman was a “pain in the ass” as he badgered the administration on expanding the deduction.

He pulled Lawler onstage during the event, and the congressman thanked the president “for working with me to deliver a big win” for the people in his district. He said that more than 90% of the people in his district were able to fully deduct their state and local taxes.

Also appearing with the president at the event Friday was Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Trump-backed Republican candidate for New York governor. Trump said, “Guys like Mike Lawler, guys like Bruce Blakeman, you put them in, they’ll turn it around.”

Trying to reverse a slumping approval rating

The White House has been looking for more opportunities to highlight Trump’s economic accomplishments as his approval rating on the economy has slumped. About one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the economy, according to a new AP-NORC poll, down slightly from 40% at the start of Trump's second term. Trump had promised to bring prices down, but gasoline prices have surged this year due to the war in Iran.

Lawler is just one of three House Republicans who represent a district won by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024. Unlike the other two — retiring Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon and Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who’s been a critic of Trump policies — Lawler has chosen to embrace the polarizing president in hopes of not alienating Republican voters who support the party’s leader.

“Look, the people who hate the president — and that’s their sole basis for their vote — are likely never voting for me, and you know, obviously, you need to turn out your base, and you need people energized,” Lawler told The Associated Press in an interview on the sidelines of the White House congressional picnic earlier this week. “Moreover, I have a record in my district that is one I’m very proud of, and a record that appeals to a broad middle.”

Lawler, wearing a red ball cap emblazoned with “Mr. SALT,” the acronym for the state and local tax deduction he fought to include in the bill, added, “I am confident that I will be reelected on my own merits and my own record.”

Trump established a SALT cap in 2017 through his Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Last year’s law expanded the SALT deduction to $40,000 from $10,000 after arduous negotiations with Republicans, including Lawler, whose district has high local taxes. The law also raised the average tax refund for New Yorkers to more than $3,800, according to data provided by the White House.

“My constituents were seeing anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 refund checks, which is pretty massive,” said Lawler, who said he wanted to give Trump one of his “Mr. SALT” ball caps.

A competitive House race in New York

Trump formally endorsed Lawler for reelection last year, although it came at a time when the congressman was publicly mulling a run for governor of New York. The endorsement was viewed as a way to keep Lawler in a reelection bid rather than opening up a competitive House seat.

Five Democrats are vying for the party's nomination to compete against Lawler in the general election. The Democratic primary is June 23.

“Nothing says ‘I don’t understand my district’ quite like Mike Lawler bringing Donald Trump to NY-17 to tout a disastrous economy that’s crushing working families at every turn,” said Riya Vashi, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Richard Hudson disputed that, arguing that Trump's Friday appearance will “absolutely” help.

“His poll numbers are pretty good in Lawler’s district,” said Hudson, a North Carolina congressman. The NRCC has been polling in competitive districts and Hudson said the “president’s numbers are good. Democratic numbers are tanking.”

The remarks were an official White House event and not a campaign one, said Lawler, who noted that more than 5,000 people registered to attend in the first 12 hours that a sign-up was available.

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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

Trump is heading to a toss-up congressional district in New York to test his midterm message on the economy, even as voters largely disapprove of his stewardship of it. The focus of the event is to promote the tax law Trump signed last year, particularly the quadrupling of the deduction for state and local taxes, which is critical in a high-tax state like New York.

Trump on Thursday said the U.S. will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, stirring confusion following weeks of changing statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the American military footprint in Europe. And in Sweden, Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced NATO allies confused by contradictory administration statements.

The Latest:

Trump says he is posthumously awarding Presidential Medal of Freedom to man who helped rescue people on 9/11

The president, during the rally, announced he would be recognizing Welles Crowther of Rockland County, who lost his life on Sept. 11, 2001. Crowther died as he helped people escape the World Trade Center’s South Tower after it was hit by a hijacked airplane.

Crowther wore a red bandana on his face, which is on display at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Trump called Crowther’s mother to the stage after announcing the award, America’s highest civilian honor.

Trump veers off-topic during speech in New York that was supposed to be on the economy

The president has begun testing his midterm-year message, focusing on the economy.

But in New York, he quickly veered off-topic, discussing voter ID, crime, and transgender women in sports. He complained that toiletries are locked up in pharmacies, making them harder to buy, and polled the audience on what he should call his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

He eventually highlighted his tax cuts, claiming Democrats opposed them.

“I cut your taxes, cut the taxes on workers, families, small business, who are the soul of this state,” Trump said to the audience at Rockland Community College.

Trump appeared with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, praising him for supporting the tax law that expanded state and local tax deductions. Lawler, up for reelection, said he will embrace Trump to energize Republican voters.

The White House aims to spotlight Trump’s economic achievements amid declining approval ratings.

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US says Congolese World Cup team cannot return home before traveling to tournament

A U.S. official said members of Congo’s World Cup team, who have trained for weeks in Europe, far from the Ebola outbreak, will be exempt from the U.S. travel ban on non-Americans recently in affected countries — provided they do not return home before the tournament.

The official said U.S. authorities advised the athletes, coaches and staff currently in Europe that they will be subject to the entry ban and any quarantine restrictions should they return to the Congo or the broader affected region before traveling to the U.S. The impacted area includes Uganda and South Sudan. The team is not prevented from traveling elsewhere to compete in pre-World Cup matches.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations between the U.S. and the team, said the Trump administration “will continue to uphold the highest safety and health standards for the United States and all World Cup participants.”

US military hasn’t found or destroyed any explosive mines in the Strait of Hormuz, AP source says

A U.S. official says the search for mines in the vital oil shipping corridor is ongoing, though none have been found.

No ships have been struck or damaged by mines in the strait, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. That’s even as some commercial traffic has flowed through the waterway where Iran has a chokehold, though at much lower volumes than before the war began.

Trump said last month that he ordered the military to begin mine-clearing efforts as part of a broader push to get commercial ships to traverse the strait again, following several attacks by Iranian forces.

No evidence of mine-laying by the Iranians has emerged since the start of the conflict, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said that they targeted and destroyed that capability as part of the airstrikes across the country.

Trump calls Lawler ‘Mr. Salt' as he praises him in New York

The president opened his rally with Republican Rep. Mike Lawler by touting the congressman’s fight for SALT, the acronym for the state and local tax deduction he fought to include in Trump’s sweeping tax cuts law last year.

“He wouldn’t stop. He was driving us crazy,” Trump said.

Trump also gave a shout-out to Nassau County’s Republican Bruce Blakeman, who is running for governor.

“You better watch yourself, Kathy,” Trump said, referring to New York’s incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for reelection.

“You got a race,” Trump added.

Judge dismisses human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported

A human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Tennessee was dismissed Friday without a trial.

Abrego Garcia’s mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year became an embarrassment for the Trump administration when it was ordered to return him to the U.S.

Abrego Garcia claimed the timing of the criminal charges and inflammatory statements about him by top Trump officials demonstrated the prosecution was vindictive.

A federal judge agreed to dismiss the charges against Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen with an American wife and child who has lived in Maryland for years. Abrego Garcia immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager.

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An all-women Senate delegation is heading to the Arctic to reassure US allies

A bipartisan group of senators is departing for a tour of Arctic nations to reassure U.S allies. And this time they’re leaving the men behind.

From the eight senators to their staff and military liaison officers, the group will be entirely women. They are paying diplomatic visits to government officials in four Arctic nations, witnessing the challenges for militaries operating in the region and visiting a Norwegian archipelago so remote they will need escorts to avoid run-ins with polar bears.

The trip comes at a time when Trump has taken an aggressive, go-it-alone stance in the region.

“We will reassure our allies that we recognize and appreciate the importance of our allies and partners in the Arctic as in so many other areas,” Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told The Associated Press. She leads this trip alongside Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

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Trump says he’s skipping his son’s weekend wedding

The president wrote on social media that he “very much wanted to be” at the wedding of his son Don Jr., but “circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so.”

“I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time,” Trump wrote.

The president had originally been scheduled to spend the weekend at his estate in Bedminster, New Jersey, and was not scheduled to head to the Bahamas, where the wedding is reportedly taking place.

His post came a day after Trump told reporters that his son would “like me to go” and “I’m going to try and make it.”

But he also added, “This is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.”

Senate Democrat says Gabbard replacement needs to restore trust in top intelligence post

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate’s Intelligence committee, said that with Gabbard’s departure, her successor should help restore the reputation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Warner said that “at a time when the boundaries between verified intelligence and politically convenient claims have too often been blurred...the next DNI must be committed to restoring trust in the office, protecting the integrity of our intelligence, and ensuring our nation’s intelligence professionals can speak truth to power, without fear or interference” in a statement released shortly after Gabbard’s resignation became public.

Last summer, Gabbard revoked the security clearances of dozens of U.S. officials who she said had engaged in the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” to advance personal or partisan goals, failing to safeguard classified information, failing to “adhere to professional analytic tradecraft standards” and other unspecified “detrimental” conduct in a memo released at the time.

Trump says Gabbard did ‘a great job’ in the post she’s leaving

In a social media post, the president wrote that Gabbard was “unfortunately” leaving his administration at the end of June.

“Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, and she, rightfully, wants to be with him,” Trump wrote.

He added, “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” and that Gabbard’s “highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.”

Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s health

Gabbard has resigned as Trump’s director of national intelligence, saying she needed to step away as her husband battles cancer.

She is the fourth Cabinet official to depart during Trump’s second term. In her resignation letter, which she posted on the social platform X, she wrote: “Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

There had been rumblings that Gabbard would split with Trump after he decided to strike Iran, which caused some division within his administration. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation in March, saying he “cannot in good conscience” support the war.

Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii known for opposing foreign wars, faced an awkward moment when the U.S. joined Israel’s attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

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Senate Republican chairman urges Trump to resume Iran war

Sen. Roger Wicker, the GOP chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is telling Trump not to settle for a peace deal with Iran.

In a statement, Wicker says the president “is being ill advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”

“Our commander-in-chief needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait,” he added.

Wicker’s statement stands in contrast to the position of a small but crucial number of Republicans who are calling on Trump to end a war that he started without congressional approval.

GOP leaders in both chambers have struggled this week to find the votes necessary to defeat war powers resolutions brought by Democrats that would compel Trump to end the war. A handful of Republicans have switched their votes to try to end the war.

Warsh bri

efly nods to the issue of independence

Warsh, in his remarks, said he saw former Fed chair Alan Greenspan as a model for the role, explaining that the Fed can help with the nation’s prosperity.

“Our mandate at the Fed is to promote price stability and maximum employment. When we pursue those aims with wisdom and clarity, independence and resolve — inflation can be lower; growth, stronger; real take-home pay, higher,” Warsh said.

America’s central bank has a new chairman

Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as Fed chair by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Warsh said it was an honor to be sworn in by his “esteemed friend,” Thomas. He explained Kavanaugh’s presence by telling the audience the two of them had worked at the White House earlier in their careers.

He’s also talking about former Fed chair Alan Greenspan, calling him an idol.

Greenspan was sworn in at the White House by President Ronald Reagan.

Warsh said that, like Greenspan, he intends to fill the role of Fed chair “with energy and purpose.”

Trump says he wants new Fed chair to be ‘totally independent’

“I really mean this. This is not said in any other way,” Trump said. “I want Kevin to be totally independent. I want him to be independent and just do a great job.”

“Don’t look at me, don’t look at anybody. Just do your own thing and do a great job, okay?” he added.

The pressure Trump placed on outgoing Fed chair Jay Powell to lower interest rates raised questions about the independence of the Federal Reserve.

Trump hosts swearing-in ceremony for Kevin Warsh as new Fed chair

The East Room was packed for the ceremony, which usually is held at the Federal Reserve Building.

Among those attending are Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and at one point a top contender to succeed Jay Powell as Fed chair, until Trump decided he wanted to keep Hassett at the White House.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence will deliver the oath. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was also present, as were members of Trump’s Cabinet, other top Trump administration officials, and current and former members of Congress.

Trump opened with praise for Warsh, predicting that he “will go down as one of the truly great chairmen of the Federal Reserve.”

“I think he’s got abilities that very few people have,” Trump said.

Blanche thrust into Republican firestorm over $1.8B fund

When Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate Trump’s allies for alleged political prosecution, he may have pleased his boss. But the eyebrow-raising move — has agitated the same Republican lawmakers he would need to secure the permanent job.

Blanche insists he’s not auditioning for the job of attorney general. But a succession of splashy steps taken under his watch at the Justice Department, including an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, have left no doubt that he’s trying to prove his loyalty to the president.

The fund in particular has put Blanche at the center of a Republican firestorm just when he aims to establish himself as the perfect person for the job for the remainder of Trump’s term. Read more

Buoyed by Trump, Paxton makes final pitch in Texas against Sen. Cornyn

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is riding high ahead of his Republican primary runoff against Sen. John Cornyn, now that he has the president’s backing.

“I don’t know if y’all noticed this, but Donald Trump endorsed me,” Paxton told a small rally in a town outside Austin, inciting whoops and applause.

The senate race in Texas has drawn gobs of money and attention, including from Trump, who continues encouraging voters to boot any politician who displeases him.

Paxton has been turning his focus to state Rep. James Talarico, opening his latest event with attacks on the Democratic nominee, a sign of his confidence heading into Tuesday.

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Judges in Maine and Wisconsin reject DOJ efforts to obtain voter rolls

Democrats are cheering rulings by federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin that dismissed Justice Department demands for detailed voter registration information.

The DOJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force the release of voter information including dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. Thursday’s defeats follow similar rulings in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Rhode Island, In Georgia, a judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit filed in the wrong city, prompting the Trump administration to refile elsewhere.

Bianca Shaw, state director of Common Cause Wisconsin, said the decision protects voters “from an unauthorized national database that would have been a goldmine for hackers and a tool for intimidation.”

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat and Trump opponent who is running for governor, said the ruling affirms that states run elections.

Trump IRS immunity shocks experts, who warn of undermining trust in tax system

Trump has a reputation for slashing his taxes using techniques that some experts find aggressive. Now the Justice Department has told the president he doesn’t have to worry about being called out on it.

In an extraordinary decision this week, the IRS is suspending probes into his past returns to settle a lawsuit that Trump brought against the agency he ultimately runs. Trump says tax authorities targeted him politically — a claim for which he has given no proof — and that he was right to seek a remedy.

Law experts say the move is unprecedented and unfair.

“This is giving the president and his affiliates completely different set of rules than everyday taxpayers,” said Brandon DeBot, policy director at New York University’s Tax Law Center.

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Rubio says an Iranian tolling system can’t happen. Iran says it already has

“Iran is trying to create a tolling system,” Rubio said. “That’s just not acceptable. It can’t happen. If that were to happen in the Straits of Hormuz, it will happen in five other places around the world.”

Iran’s official Mizan news agency reported that 35 vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy in the previous 24 hours.

Without specifying the nationalities of the vessels, Mizan quoted the Revolutionary Guard navy as saying that the oil tankers, container ships and other commercial ships transited the strait after obtaining permission and in coordination with, and under the protection of, the Revolutionary Guard navy.

Iran has demanded the right to collect the tolls as a precondition for reopening the waterway vital to world oil supplies.

Rubio says US remains ready to resume Russia-Ukraine peace efforts

The Trump administration remains ready to resume mediation efforts that have been stalled for some time, Rubio said.

With concerns high in Europe, particularly in the Baltic states, that the administration’s interest in ending the conflict is waning, Rubio told reporters that the U.S. still believes the “the war can only end with a negotiated settlement. It will not end with a military victory by one side or the other.”

Previous rounds of talks were unfortunately “not fruitful,” Rubio said, but “if we see an opportunity to pull together talks that are productive, not counterproductive, and that have the chance to be fruitful, we’re prepared to play that role.”

Rubio: ‘Someone’s going to have to do something about’ Hormuz

The secretary of state said he and other foreign ministers discussed the issue of reopening the critical waterway, and that he reiterated the need for a “Plan B” if a deal isn’t reached between Washington and Tehran.

“Someone’s going to have to do something about it, okay?” Rubio said. “They’re not just going to voluntarily reopen the straits in that scenario.”

Rubio said he received lots of “nods” from European allies when he brought it up Friday. In the same breath, Rubio confirmed what Iranian officials had been saying, that progress is being made in the negotiations.

“I wouldn’t exaggerate it and I wouldn’t diminish it,” he said. “But there’s more work to be done.”

Rubio says US force posture in Europe will eventually be reduced

Rubio says America’s NATO allies understand that eventually there will be a reduction in the U.S. troop presence in Europe as the Trump administration evaluates its force posture globally.

“I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” Rubio told reporters.

NATO allies have been confused by contradictory statements coming from Trump and his top aides, including an announcement last week that troop levels would be reduced in Poland that Trump appeared to reverse on Thursday. A previously announced troop reduction in Germany appears to be going ahead but Rubio noted that the Germans “didn’t freak out about it” because it brought the numbers back to where they were three years ago.

RCR will run the No. 33 car on the Cup Series circuit beginning Sunday night at the Coca-Cola 600 and for the foreseeable future after the 41-year-old Busch died unexpectedly Thursday. The cause of death has not been released.

Austin Hill is scheduled to replace Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, in the driver’s seat at Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR's longest race of the season.

Busch's son, Brexton, is already known for his racing exploits, having won the Tulsa Shootout Jr. Sprint Championship to earn his first career Golden Driller last year.

“Kyle Busch was instrumental in the design of RCR’s stylized No. 8 and it has become synonymous with Kyle and an important symbol for his fans and the NASCAR industry,” RCR said in a statement. “No one can carry it forward to the level that he did. The No. 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing.”

Brexton, a third-generation Busch driver, began his racing career in 2020 at 5 years old in the Beginner Box Stock division at Millbridge Speedway, a 1/6-mile dirt track in Salisbury, North Carolina, according to his website. He picked up his first victory at Mountain Creek Speedway a month later and has built on his racing resume since.

He won 48 races, earned 126 top-10s and 107 top-5’s in multiple styles of race cars in 2024.

In 2001, when Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500, RCR changed car numbers from the black No. 3 to the white No. 29. The No. 3 eventually returned for the 2014 season when owner Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon took over as the driver.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

In her resignation letter, which she posted on social media, Gabbard said she told Trump she would leave her job overseeing the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies on June 30. She said her husband had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote in the letter, which was reported earlier by Fox News.

Trump, in his own social media post, said “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.” He said her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

While Gabbard says her departure is for personal reasons, the juxtaposition between her long-held, anti-interventionism stance and Trump’s series of overseas military operations had seemed to put them on a collision course.

Iran put Gabbard and Trump at odds

There had been rumblings that Gabbard would split with Trump after the president's decision to strike Iran, which caused some division within his administration. Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation in March and said he “cannot in good conscience” back the war.

Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, built her political name on her opposition to foreign wars. This put her in an awkward position when the U.S. joined Israel in launching attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

During a congressional hearing in March, her measured comments were notable for their careful non-endorsement of the Iran war. She repeatedly dodged questions about whether the White House had been warned of potential fallout from the conflict, including Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway crucial for global oil shipments.

Gabbard said in written remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee that there had been no effort by Iran to rebuild its nuclear capability after U.S. attacks last year “obliterated” its nuclear program. That statement contradicted Trump, who has repeatedly asserted that the war was necessary to head off an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic.

This created several awkward exchanges with lawmakers who asked Gabbard for her opinion on the threat posed by Iran as the nation’s top intelligence official. She repeatedly said it was Trump’s decision to strike, not hers.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said.

Gabbard’s departure follows Trump having ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in late March, in the midst of mounting criticism over her leadership of the department — including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.

The second Cabinet member to leave was Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to growing frustration over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. And Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April, after being the target of various misconduct investigations.

Lukas, who will be taking over for Gabbard, was an intelligence aide to the acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, in 2020 during Trump's first term. A former policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, he also served as deputy senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council in the final year of Trump’s previous administration.

A surprising choice for the job

A military veteran but without any intelligence experience, Gabbard was a surprising choice for director of national intelligence. She ran for president in 2020 on a progressive platform and her opposition to U.S. involvement in foreign military conflicts.

Citing her military experience, she argued that U.S. wars in the Middle East had destabilized the region, made the U.S. less safe and cost thousands of American lives. Gabbard later dropped out of the race and endorsed the ultimate winner, President Joe Biden.

Two years later, she left the Democratic Party to become an independent, saying her old party was dominated by an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues. She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans and became a contributor to Fox News.

She later endorsed Trump, who also was a strong critic of past U.S. wars in the Middle East and campaigned on a pledge to avoid unnecessary wars and nation-building overseas.

Iran caused early tensions

But friction with the president started soon after he began his second term and tapped Gabbard to lead ODNI, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve coordination between the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Shortly after taking on the job and before this year's war, Gabbard testified before lawmakers that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. After Trump launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last June, he said Gabbard was wrong and that he didn’t care what she said.

She appeared to be back in Trump’s good graces when she took a lead role in Trump’s effort to relitigate his 2020 election loss to Biden. She appeared at an FBI search of election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, even though her office was created to focus on foreign espionage, not state elections.

Gabbard made big changes in her time in office

Gabbard vowed to eliminate what she said was the politicization of intelligence by government insiders. But she quickly used her office to support some of Trump’s most partisan arguments — that he won the 2020 election.

She also worked to undermine the results of earlier investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.

In her year on the job, Gabbard oversaw a sharp reduction in the intelligence workforce, as well as the creation of a new task force that she charged with considering big changes to the intelligence service.

Earlier this year, an intelligence sector whistleblower filed a complaint that Gabbard was withholding intelligence for political reasons, a complaint that prompted calls from Democrats for Gabbard’s resignation.

Gabbard, 44, was born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa, raised in Hawaii and spent a year of her childhood in the Philippines. She was first elected as a 21-year-old to Hawaii’s House of Representatives but had to leave after one term when her National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

As the first Hindu member of the House, Gabbard was sworn into office with her hand on the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu devotional work. She was also the first American Samoan elected to Congress.

During her four House terms, she became known for speaking out against her party’s leadership. Her early support for Sen. Bernie Sanders ’ 2016 Democratic presidential primary run made her a popular figure in progressive politics nationally.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.

Judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia voted 6-5 against having the court's full complement of judges review the ruling. In January, a three-judge 3rd Circuit panel found that a federal judge in New Jersey who had sided with Khalil and ordered his release last year from immigration detention didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is involved in representing Khalil, said his lawyers will ask the 3rd Circuit for an order preventing the decision from taking effect — and barring Khalil from being detained or deported — while it asks the Supreme Court to take up the case.

An appeal to the high court is expected in the coming months, possibly in late summer.

“Today’s decision is not the final word, and we still strongly believe in our arguments going forward,” ACLU senior counsel Brett Max Kaufman said in a statement.

In its January ruling, the 3rd Circuit found that Khalil's lawsuit challenging his detention and U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz’s subsequent rulings in the case were premature because federal law requires that such challenges first move through the separate immigration court system. That system is part of the Justice Department, not the judicial branch.

The decision didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, who had voted for the 3rd Circuit to review the decision, wrote in a dissent that the court was “abdicating our duty to meaningfully review Khalil’s constitutional claims. The Judicial Branch, she wrote, cannot fulfill its role as a check on the other branches of government, “if we write ourselves out of relevance and leave the Executive Branch to check itself.”

Khalil, 31, has also appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana, where he was detained, after the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld his removal order.

Through his lawyers, Khalil argued that the immigration judge who issued the order failed to consider relevant evidence and wrongly upheld a charge that he had misrepresented information on his application for legal permanent resident status. That charge, Khalil's lawyers said, was brought in retaliation for his protest activity.

The immigration judge suggested Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family. Khalil's lawyers have said he would face mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested in March 2025. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests. In June 2025, Farbiarz ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump’s administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court. The 3rd Circuit ruled 2-1 in the administration’s favor.

Judge Emil Bove, who was involved in investigating student protesters while a top Justice Department official, did not participate in the 3rd Circuit vote on whether to review the decision. He later issued an order denying a request by Khalil's lawyers that he step aside from the matter, calling it moot.

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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

The lawsuit adds fuel to a mounting backlash against the Trump administration's creation of an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to resolve the Republican president's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

Plaintiffs' 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 federal suit, filed in Alexandria, Virginia, claims there is no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

“The unlawfulness that has imbued the Anti-Weaponization Fund from its inception requires that it be wholly dismantled,” the suit says.

Another advocacy group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, separately filed its own lawsuit on Friday in Washington, D.C., to challenge the “slush fund” created by Trump's “sham settlement.” CREW's suit refers to the fund as "a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption."

Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob's attack on Jan. 6, 2021, also sued this week to prevent anyone, including Capitol rioters, from receiving payments from the settlement fund.

During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 could be eligible for fund payouts.

The plaintiffs for Friday’s lawsuit include former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, an Alexandria resident who prosecuted Capitol riot cases in Washington, D.C., before he was fired last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Floyd was a deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Capitol Siege Section. He believes his firing was retaliation for his Jan. 6 work.

Another plaintiff is California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, who was acquitted of an assault charge. He was accused of throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a 2025 protest against an immigration raid at a Camarillo, California, cannabis farm.

Also named as plaintiffs are the government watchdog Common Cause; the city of New Haven, Connecticut; and the National Abortion Federation, an association of abortion providers. New Haven claims the Trump administration officials have targeted it and other municipalities that they perceive to be “sanctuary” cities. The federation fears that the fund will issue payments to people who have attacked abortion clinics, providing an incentive for more violence against its members.

The suit's defendants include the Justice and Treasury departments, Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Spokespeople for the departments didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The Capitol riot investigation was the largest in Justice Department history. Trump ended it with the stroke of his pardon pen, erasing hundreds of Jan. convictions.

Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump handed out mass pardons, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of every pending Jan. 6 criminal case.

Beneficiaries of Trump’s sweeping act of clemency included supporters who assaulted officers at the Capitol. He also freed far-right extremist group members who were imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

After Trump returned to the White House last year, he appointed conservative activist Ed Martin as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin, a leading advocate for Jan. 6 defendants, fired or demoted some prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases.