“The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Trump posted on social media.

Trump said that people had wanted this change, especially with regard to the wooden barrels in which the spirits of Scotch and bourbon can be aged.

The trial centers on the 2015 birth of the ChatGPT maker as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk. It pits the world’s richest person against Sam Altman, a fellow OpenAI co-founder he accuses of betraying promises to keep the company as a nonprofit dedicated to humanity’s benefit.

On the stand, Musk has taken issue with the cross-examination by opposing attorney William Savitt, accusing him of asking misleading questions designed to trick him and the jury. At one point Thursday, Savitt asked Musk about earlier testimony where he said that as long as investor profits were capped, OpenAI wasn’t in violation of agreements to keep it a nonprofit.

“It depends on how high the cap is,” Musk replied. Savitt then said that “wasn’t your complete answer yesterday right?” In response, Musk said “few answers are going to be complete, especially if you cut me off all the time.” He added that if the cap is “super high,” then OpenAI is “really a for-profit at that point.”

Lawyers for OpenAI have rejected the allegations brought in Musk’s civil lawsuit and said there were never promises that the company would remain a nonprofit forever. The company has argued Musk’s legal challenge is aimed at undercutting OpenAI’s rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.

The trial in federal court in Oakland, California, is scheduled to continue through late May. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers excused Musk from the witness stand Thursday, but he may be called back later.

During the cross-examination, Savitt also asked Musk about his companies — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and X — and whether they were all for-profit. Musk replied yes, and affirmed that be believes all of these companies are “socially beneficial.”

Savitt then asked why Musk hasn't started a nonprofit himself, eight years after he left OpenAI.

“I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it,” Musk replied, adding that this is “the entire basis of this lawsuit.”

The Rev. Adam Hamilton enters the race as a potentially formidable candidate, though it appears likely that at least a few of the eight other, lesser-known Democrats who previously launched campaigns would remain in the Aug. 4 primary race. The winner will face incumbent Republican Roger Marshall, who aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump in his first run for the Senate in 2020.

Hamilton, 61, has a national following among mainline Protestants, and he’s built his Church of the Resurrection over the past 35 years in the Kansas City area with about 22,000 members — giving him a base from which to tap volunteers and donors.

Hamilton weighed an independent run first

He had considered running as an independent candidate, telling his congregation that he could bridge partisan divides in a highly polarized political climate. However, many Democrats believed that would simply split the anti-Marshall vote, giving Marshall a second term.

“Every week, it seemed there was another news story in the last year where I would find myself shaking my head and thinking, we have to do better,” the self-described fifth-generation Kansan said.

While Democrats and Republicans have traded off the Kansas governor’s office for the past 60 years, Republicans haven’t lost a U.S. Senate race in the state since 1932. Democrats gave Marshall a vigorous challenge in 2020, but he still prevailed by more than 11 percentage points, even as Democrat Joe Biden ousted Trump and his party won control of both houses of Congress.

In some ways, Hamilton’s candidacy would be similar to that of the Democratic nominee in Texas, state Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian minister in training who speaks often of his faith and how it guides his positions. However, Hamilton is a generation older.

Hamilton has been registered as both a Democrat and a Republican previously, according to voter records, but switched to unaffiliated in February. He has registered as a Democrat again, his campaign said Thursday.

Run greeted with skepticism on both sides

The Kansas Republican Party quickly signaled that it plans to portray Hamilton as liberal and out of step with the state, however he identifies himself.

“His so-called ‘independent’ exploration was little more than a political marketing strategy to mask a radical left agenda,” its executive director, Rob Fillion, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, two Democratic primary opponents were skeptical of Hamilton's return to their party.

A spokesman for state Sen. Patrick Schmidt of Topeka noted that Hamilton registered as a Republican for the August 2020 primary and argued that the pastor was not a Democrat “when it counted most.”

Noah Taylor, a Wichita-area veteran who served in Afghanistan, said Hamilton's return was “not a conversion.”

"That's a calculation,” he said.

Hamilton started massive church from nothing

But other Democrats — and Marshall — must reckon with Hamilton's ability to attract followers and raise money.

Hamilton was a graduate of Oral University in Tulsa and then Southern Methodist University in Dallas when his denomination tapped him at age 25 to start a church in suburban Kansas City for nonchurchgoers.

Worshippers initially met in the small chapel of a local funeral home and now gather at nine campuses. The main one, on 76 acres in an affluent suburb, resembles a small college. The Christmas Eve offering — devoted to mission work — sometimes tops $2 million.

Hamilton also has written and published dozens of books, and his video-based lessons are popular for Sunday school classes in churches across the country. In 2013, he preached at the National Prayer Service.

He's running in what promises to be a challenging midterm election year for Republicans. Polling shows most Americans believe the U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far and voters are increasingly worried about what they see as Trump’s failure to address affordability issues.

Hamilton’s home of Johnson County is the state’s most populous, with 643,000 people, more than one in every five Kansas residents. Once overwhelming Republican, it has grown increasingly blue, voting against Trump in the last two presidential elections.

The county is a key reason why a state with an overwhelmingly GOP Legislature has a Democratic governor.

Hamilton's views shaped through decades as a pastor

How voters view Hamilton’s politics is a key question, because he’ll need to win over disaffected Republicans as well as unaffiliated voters — the formula for Democrat Laura Kelly’s successful bid for governor in 2018 and narrow reelection win in 2022.

Hamilton’s congregation is a nearly equal mix of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, and he describes himself as “a liberal conservative and a conservative liberal.”

Although Hamilton hasn’t run for public office before, he isn’t a blank slate, with decades of sermons, and more recently podcasts and Facebook videos.

Following a surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis, for instance, Hamilton cited an Old Testament verse that commands Israelites to treat foreigners with love and fairness.

On abortion, the father of two married to his high school sweetheart said during the final stop of a listening tour earlier this month that he voted in 2022 against a state constitutional amendment that would have cleared the way for tougher abortion restrictions or a ban in Kansas.

He said lawmakers should not be “the ethicists and the spiritual guides” for women and that he has counseled rape victims. However, he also said his mother considered an abortion when she got pregnant with him as a teenager.

“I feel both of these things at the same time,” he said.

But Taylor said Hamilton “couldn't decide he was pro-choice until last week,” and Democratic state Rep. Alexis Simmons, of Topeka, focused on abortion in a Facebook post and reacted to Hamilton's announcement with, “Why would we go backwards?”

“Sorry but no," she posted. "It’s 2026.”

___ Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.

The three-hour hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee mostly traced the well-worn positions of Republicans and Democrats on the conflict, Hegseth’s leadership and the ways in which President Donald Trump has used the American military.

In his opening statements, Hegseth called Democratic lawmakers “reckless naysayers” and “defeatists from the cheap seats” who have failed to recognize the many successes of the U.S. military against the Islamic Republic.

Hegseth said Trump has had the courage “unlike other presidents to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon and that their nuclear blackmail never succeeds. We have the best negotiator in the world driving a great deal.”

Democrats peppered Hegseth with questions about his efforts to remake military culture, U.S. support for Ukraine and whether Trump would seek congressional approval for the war. The defense secretary said the ceasefire postpones the deadline for securing such approval.

Hegseth seemed to emerge with solid Republican support, though a few GOP senators asked about the dismissal of a top Army general and sought assurances that the Pentagon is doing everything possible to prevent civilian deaths.

The hearing was convened to discuss the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, stressed the need for more drones, missile defense systems and warships.

Top Democrat argues that war has left US in worse position

Sen. Jack Reed, the committee's ranking Democrat, argued that the war has left the U.S. in a worse strategic position, with 13 American troops killed, more than 400 injured and equipment destroyed.

The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, sending fuel prices skyrocketing, Reed said. Iran still has enriched uranium and retains enough combat effectiveness to keep the conflict locked in an impasse, while Iran's hard-line regime is still in charge.

“I am concerned that you have been telling the president what he wants to hear instead of what he needs to hear,” Reed said. “Bold assurances of success are a disservice to both the commander in chief and the troops who risked their lives based on them."

Reed also lambasted Hegseth for his firing of top military leaders and suggested the defense secretary had failed to recognize the accomplishments of women and people of color in the military. Reed noted that 60% of some two dozen officers fired by Hegseth have been female or Black.

Hegseth said any firing is based on performance and that previous Pentagon leaders "were focused on social engineering, race and gender in ways that we think were unhealthy for the department.”

Republican chairman offers warmer welcome

Hegseth received a warmer welcome from Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the committee, and other GOP lawmakers. Wicker kicked off the hearing by noting that the U.S. is in the most dangerous security environment since World War II.

Through the war against Iran, Trump “has worked to remove the regime’s conventional military capabilities and force it back to the table for a permanent solution,” Wicker said.

He also commended the budget proposal for 2027, saying it "is chock full of important programs and initiatives that are absolutely necessary to secure American interest in the 21st century.”

Sen. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, praised Hegseth's statement on the need for nuclear deterrence as well as the development of Trump's Golden Dome missile defense program.

“For years, this committee has known that we must improve our ability to defend our homeland against a wider variety of threats,” Fischer said.

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican asked Hegseth whether he ever lied to Trump, pushing back against Reed's claim that Hegesth tells the president what he wants to hear.

“I only tell the truth to the president,” Hegseth said.

Questions about civilian deaths

Senators also focused on civilian deaths in the Iran war and the Pentagon decision to hollow-out a congressionally mandated office set up specifically to reduce civilian casualties.

The Associated Press has reported that growing evidence points to U.S. culpability for a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base that killed more than 165 people, including children.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked Hegseth, “What is your response to targeting that has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals, civilian places? Why did you cut by 90% the division that’s supposed to help you not target civilians?”

Hegseth responded that the Pentagon has an “ironclad commitment” to do more than other countries to prevent civilian deaths.

A day earlier, Hegseth battled with Democrats during a nearly six-hour House Armed Services Committee hearing, where he faced sharp questioning over the war's costs in dollars, lives and diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons.

Hegseth said Wednesday that the strike on the Iranian school remains under investigation.

War powers resolutions fail to pass

Democrats have called the conflict a costly war of choice that lacks congressional approval or oversight. But they have failed to pass multiple war powers resolutions that would have required Trump to halt the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize use of force within 60 days — a deadline that arrives Friday. The law provides for a potential 30-day extension, but the Republican administration has not indicated publicly whether Trump will seek it.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, asked Hegseth if Trump will seek congressional authorization or ask for the 30-day extension. The defense secretary said the clock pauses during a ceasefire. Kaine disagreed based on his reading of the law.

The Trump administration is in “active conversations” with lawmakers on addressing the 60-day timeline, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

___

Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

The measure that passed unanimously by voice vote Thursday was written as a change to the Senate’s rules, so it will go into effect immediately. It comes a week after a U.S. special forces soldier was charged with using classified information to bet on the January capture of Venezuela's then-president, Nicolas Maduro, and as lawmakers increasingly voice concerns about who might be making public wagers on the war with Iran.

“United States senators have no business engaging in speculative activities like prediction markets while collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck, period,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who sponsored the resolution. An amendment by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., broadened the measure to include staff.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the move was a “no-brainer.” He encouraged the House and Trump administration to do the same.

“We must never allow Congress to turn into a casino where members representing the public can gamble on wars or economic crises or elections,” Schumer said. “That would destroy the very principle of representative government.”

Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., have introduced a bill to ban all federally elected officials and government employees from using insider information to make prediction market bets. Young said the resolution was “a good first step” and he encouraged the Senate to take up their bill.

Prediction markets, including the betting platform Polymarket and its chief rival Kalshi, have come under scrutiny as the business has expanded. Polymarket has received particular criticism as a venue for offshore trades that are beyond the reach of U.S. regulators.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that a group of new accounts on Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the United States and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new customers. On the same day the AP published the report, the White House warned staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.

The administration has been a key ally of the growing prediction market industry in a legal fight with states seeking to ban the platforms. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, is an adviser for both Polymarket and Kalshi. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.

“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what’s going on all over the world and Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things,” Trump said this month.

Alejandro Jacomino Gonzalez, 41, went missing while heading to Miami with a shipment of vehicles he picked up April 16 at the Port of Brunswick on the Georgia coast, according to the FBI.

He was last spotted at a rest stop along Interstate 95 in Brevard County, Florida, in the early morning hours of April 17. His tractor-trailer was found later that day about 320 miles (515 kilometers) away in Port Wentworth, Georgia, west of Savannah. The FBI said Gonzalez and several of the cars he was hauling were missing.

A body was discovered that day in coastal Glynn County, Georgia, nearly 80 miles (128 kilometers) south of where the semitrailer was found. Investigators confirmed it was Gonzalez's body, Tony Thomas, an FBI spokesman in Atlanta, said Thursday.

Thomas said he couldn't provide further details, citing the active investigation. No charges or arrests have been announced.

Gonzalez, a commercial truck driver, pulled into the Florida rest stop on April 17 at about 1:20 a.m., the FBI said when it posted a missing person bulletin for Gonzalez last Friday. He had completed more than half his trip to Miami.

The semitrailer's GPS showed it began moving again hours later, at about 7:50 a.m., the FBI said. The truck drove south a short distance on I-95, taking the first available exit. It then turned north, heading back toward Georgia.

The FBI said three of the vehicles missing from Gonzalez's truck when it was located in Georgia were later found in Florida, but others haven't been found.

Coe's wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, confirmed his death to Rolling Stone on Wednesday.

She described him as one of the best singers and songwriters of our time.

“My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years. I’ll never forget him and I don’t want anyone else to ever forget him either,” she wrote to the publication.

A statement from a Coe representative to People said he died around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The cause of death wasn't disclosed.

Whether he was labeled outlaw or underground, Coe was clearly an outsider in Nashville's music establishment, even throughout his successes as an in-demand songwriter and singer, eventually developing a core following around his raw, often obscene lyrics and a checkered and somewhat mysterious past.

His wife posted on Facebook in September 2021 that he had been hospitalized with COVID-19, and he made few appearances after that.

Coe toured over the years with Willie Nelson, Kid Rock, Neil Young and others. He wrote “Take This Job and Shove It,” a hit by Johnny Paycheck in 1977, and “Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone),” a hit by Tanya Tucker in 1974. He was also the first country singer to record “Tennessee Whiskey,” penned by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, which has since become a genre standard and a hit for both George Jones and Chris Stapleton.

“Spent so much time with David over the years, touring, writing songs and just hanging out,” Kid Rock wrote Thursday on X. “I knew a side of Dave most people never got to see. He was such a deep thinker, kind and about as real as an outlaw can get!”

Coe's own country hit recordings included “You Never Even Call Me by My Name,” written by Steve Goodman and an uncredited John Prine; “The Ride,” and “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile.” Coe also appeared in a handful of movies, including “Stagecoach” and “Take this Job and Shove It,” which was named after his song.

Coe, born in Akron, Ohio, spent time in reformatories as a youngster and served time in an Ohio prison from 1963 to 1967 for possession of burglary tools. He also said he spent time with the Outlaws motorcycle club, but some tales about his prison time and his personal life have been wildly exaggerated over the years.

“I’d have never made it through prison without my music,” he said in a 1983 interview with The Associated Press. “No one could take it (music) away from me. They could put me in the hole with nothing to do, but I could still make up a song in my head.”

He recorded his first album, a blues album called “Penitentiary Blues,” using songs he wrote in prison. He later told reporters that he tried not to lean too heavily on prison as a song topic because of similarities to Merle Haggard's backstory, but that his criminal history was all people seemed interested in.

Coe recorded next for Columbia Records and made the album “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy,” which became his nickname after he performed in a rhinestone suit while wearing a mask.

During the outlaw movement heyday, Coe placed himself at the center of the scene with songs like “Longhaired Redneck,” which featured lyrics about performing in dive bars, “where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies who are praying they’ll get out of here alive.”

He was featured in the acclaimed documentary about the outlaw country movement called “Heartworn Highways,” in which he performed a concert at a Tennessee prison.

Coe, himself heavily tattooed and sporting long hair, claimed a diverse fan base that included bikers, doctors, lawyers and bankers. His last record, released in 2006, was a collaboration with Dimebag Darrell and other former members of the heavy metal group Pantera.

He released two R-rated albums, 1978′s “Nothing Sacred” and 1982′s “Underground Album,” that he sold via biker magazines. The songs on these albums have been criticized for being racist, homophobic and sexually explicit. He told “Billboard” magazine in 2001 that author and songwriter Shel Silverstein convinced him to record the songs he had written, something he had come to regret.

“Those were meant to be sung around the campfire for bikers, and I still don’t sing those songs in concert,” he said.

David Wade, a friend who worked on several projects with Coe, said the singer wanted people to be talking about him.

“He always said any press is good press,” said Wade, who runs music management company Neon Deuce.

They met in 1988 and Wade said he began working occasionally with Coe in 1996. Wade said a close family friend of Coe's told him of the singer's death.

“I learned a lot from David,” Wade said of Coe. “He was very complicated. I never found him to be racist. I never found him to be any of those things.”

They collaborated on a documentary about Coe that’s still in the works, according to Wade who said he's producing it along with actor Johnny Knoxville.

“David did hours of interviews for it,” Wade added. “It all comes down to money and getting the rights and clearances and everything for the songs.”

The documentary looks at Coe “being in prison, to being a biker gang member to being a songwriter,” Wade said.

In 2016, Coe was ordered to pay the IRS more than $980,000 in restitution for obstructing the tax agency and was sentenced to three years’ probation. Court documents say Coe earned income from at least 100 concerts yearly from 2008 through 2013 and either didn’t file individual income tax returns or pay taxes when he did file.

In a social media post, Trump said he would nominate Saphier, whom he called “a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment.”

Saphier is a radiologist and director of breast imaging at Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth, according to her profile on the New York-based institution’s website. She has a doctor of medicine degree from Ross University School of Medicine in Barbados along with fellowships at the Mayo Clinic, the profile said.

The withdrawal came after tense exchanges between Means and lawmakers of both parties threw into question whether she could secure enough votes to advance out of the Senate health committee.

Her nomination had languished since her confirmation hearing in late February, even as activists from the Make America Healthy Again movement orchestrated a push to support her bid by surging phone calls to Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. They had both indicated reservations with the pick.

Means pitches ideas popular with MAHA

In nominating Means last May, Trump sought to hire a close ally of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation’s doctor. The 38-year-old Means, a Stanford-educated physician who became disillusioned with the health care system and pivoted to a career as an author and entrepreneur, promotes ideas popular with the MAHA movement, including that Americans are overmedicalized and that diet and lifestyle changes should be at the center of efforts to end widespread chronic disease.

But Means, who did not finish her surgical residency program and doesn’t currently have an active medical license, also had faced scrutiny for her lack of experience and potential conflicts. On top of those concerns, senators grilled her in February about Kennedy’s wide-ranging pullback of vaccine recommendations — leading to some contentious moments as Means toed the line between support for vaccines and calling them a decision best made by patients and their doctors.

In her confirmation hearing, Means was repeatedly asked about the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending for all children late last year in a move criticized by scientific and medical groups nationwide. Means has raised doubts about the birth dose, posting on social media in 2024 that giving the vaccine to a newborn whose parents don’t have hepatitis B was “absolute insanity.”

In another post earlier Thursday, Trump called Means “a strong MAHA Warrior” and also criticized the “intransigence and political games” from GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who is facing a tough reelection this year and who interrogated Means about vaccines during the hearing.

Means' brother, Calley Means, a health adviser to the Trump administration, blamed Cassidy in a social media post, claiming his “constant delay tactics” sank the nomination. Cassidy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Now Trump will try to fill the post a third time

Means is the second U.S. surgeon general pick whose nomination has been withdrawn in Trump’s second term. Trump withdrew his first nominee, Fox News medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat, after questions were raised about her academic credentials.

In at least one case, Saphier has diverted from Trump’s medical messaging. Last year, as Trump advised pregnant women, “Don’t take Tylenol” — promoting unproven and in some cases discredited ties between the medication, vaccines and autism — Saphier said that while pregnant women generally are advised to take acetaminophen only under medical supervision, when necessary and at the lowest effective dose, equally important was that untreated fever or severe pain can also pose serious risks to mothers and babies. She noted that part was missing from Trump's message.

“For decades, women have endured a paternalistic tone in medicine. We’ve moved past dismissing symptoms as ‘hysteria,’” Saphier wrote in an email to The Associated Press at the time. “The President’s recent comments on Tylenol in pregnancy are a prime example. Advising moderation was sound; delivering it in a patronizing, simplistic way was not.”

Means and Saphier did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services referred inquiries to the White House.

___ Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.

Add into it that this weekend's race is in Miami — traditionally one of the most-viewed of the season not only in the U.S. but worldwide — and hopes are high that casual viewers of the sport will be able to increase audiences.

“I think it’s a relaunch in a way. We’re treating it and we were treating it in a huge way anyway, and we’ve kind of probably even done a little more, but we’ve got a lot of things coming up for the race, so we’re very excited about it,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services.

Apple reached a five-year deal with the global motorsports series last fall, averaging $150 million per year. ESPN, which had carried F1 races since 2018, paid nearly $90 million during a three-year extension signed in 2022.

Miami is the first race since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29. The Iran war forced F1 to call off April's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Apple is showing the races in 4K Dolby Vision with immersive 5.1 surround sound. Viewers can watch up to four live feeds at once during practices, qualifying and races via multi-view displays. In addition to in-car cameras, there are timing and scoring channels.

Viewers can also choose either the commentary team from F1 TV or Sky Sports. ESPN used the Sky Sports feed when it aired the races.

“I think the first feedback that we’ve gotten in general is how good the video quality is because we do Dolby Atmos and we do 4K and we really don’t compress at the levels that all of the others do. The first time you watch a race, you’re like, ‘Wow, this looks amazing.’ The video and sound quality is just really, really good,” Cue said. "We’ve had almost a third of the people that are watching the race are taking advantage of multiview, because we’ve made it easy to do that where you can watch the key feed and watch your favorite cars."

Apple TV is also adding two shows before and after race weekends.

“Circuits in Focus” debuted on Thursday and features 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg and creator Emelia Hartford previewing the circuit where the race will be run heading into the weekend, including strategy and key areas of the track that could define the race. Rosberg and Hartford will use the EA Sports F1 25 video game to take viewers into the driver's seat to show where there will be chances for drivers to overtake or defend their position.

“POV” will take place after races. It features former Red Bull Racing senior technician Calum Nicholas as well as content creator and engineer Christina Roki as they react and analyze key points from the weekend from a technical point of view.

Apple is also adding an on-demand, 10-minute recap of qualifying to join its race reviews.

In addition to content in its sports app, Apple also offers detailed circuit layouts in its Maps app, driver-curated playlists in Apple Music, and content in Apple News and podcasts.

Besides the content on Apple, Sunday's race will be shown nationwide from 50 IMAX locations. The race will also be shown in Times Square in New York.

The Tubi streaming “The Fast Lane: Miami” altcast features YouTube influencers Michelle Khare and Jeremiah Burton along with F1 expert Scott Mansell.

Apple is not part of Nielsen’s ratings system, and the company has not released ratings on the first three races. It is expected to release its first set of viewer numbers in May.

___

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

The decision, a striking reversal of the camp owners' determination to reopen amid bitter opposition, follows weeks of testimony in court hearings and legislative investigations. Those hearings laid bare the camp’s lack of detailed planning for a flood emergency, reliance on poorly trained staff, and missed chances for an evacuation that came too late as floodwaters ripped through the camp.

The floods that devastated the Texas Hill Country camp claimed the lives of 25 campers and two teenage counselors. The camp’s owner, Dick Eastland, also died in the flooding.

“No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy,” Camp Mystic said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed Thursday that the camp withdrew its application.

The decision was praised by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had opposed the camp's reopening while investigations were ongoing.

“I am thankful to hear that, today, the Eastland family withdrew their application,” Patrick said in a statement. “Given the tragic circumstances, this is the correct decision to protect Texas campers and to allow time for all investigations to be completed.”

Edward Eastland, one of the camp directors and a member of the Eastland family that owns and has operated the 100-year-old camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River, offered a tearful public apology to the victims’ families on Tuesday.

“We tried our hardest that night. It wasn’t enough to save your daughters,” Eastland said, with the victims' families sitting behind him. “I’m so sorry.”

All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.

Texas health regulators have said they are investigating hundreds of complaints against the camp's owners. The Texas Rangers are also looking into allegations of neglect, according to the Texas Department of Safety, although the scope of the state’s elite investigations unit was not immediately clear.

The camp, established in 1926, did not evacuate and was hit hard when the river rose from 14 feet (4.2 meters) to 29.5 feet (9 meters) within 60 minutes.

___

Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.

James Broadnax was sentenced to death for the 2008 shooting deaths of two men outside a suburban Dallas music studio. Prosecutors say Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, fatally shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole.

Prosecutors say Broadnax, 37, confessed to the shooting, telling reporters during jailhouse interviews that “I pulled the trigger” and that he had no remorse.

Broadnax was scheduled to receive a lethal injection after 6 p.m. CDT at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Houston.

About five hours before the scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court issued brief orders rejecting Ricks’ final appeals to block the execution. No reason was given for the rejection. Broadnax's attorneys have also asked Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a one-time 30-day reprieve. But in his more than 11 years as governor, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution.

His lawyers had focused his final appeals on two issues: Cummings has recently confessed to being the shooter; and Broadnax’s constitutional rights were violated because prosecutors eliminated potential jurors during his trial on the basis of race.

“I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer. I shot Matthew Bullard, Steve Swann,” Cummings said recently from prison in a video created as part of the efforts to stop Broadnax’s execution.

Broadnax’s attorneys say in filings with the high court that Cummings’ confession is “corroborated by the fact that his DNA, and not Mr. Broadnax’s, was found on the murder weapon and in the pocket of one of the victims.”

In the video, Broadnax said his confession was false as at the time he didn’t care about his life. Broadnax’s lawyers say he was under the influence of drugs during the television interviews.

He also apologized to the families of Butler and Swan for taking part in the robbery.

“I wish I could show them my soul, so they could see just how sorry I am. I am very much remorseful for everything that happened,” Broadnax said.

His attorneys also allege prosecutors dismissed all seven potential Black jurors on the basis of their race, “utilizing a spreadsheet during jury selection that bolded only the names of every Black juror,” according to court documents. One Black juror was later reinstated to the jury. Broadnax is Black.

In a 1986 ruling known as Batson v. Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that excluding jurors because of their race violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Broadnax’s attorneys had argued in an earlier appeal that prosecutors had violated his constitutional rights by using some of the rap lyrics he wrote to portray him as a violent and dangerous person in order to secure a death sentence. A number of A-list rappers, including Travis Scott,T.I. and Killer Mike, had filed briefs at the Supreme Court in support of Broadnax’s appeal.

But the high court rejected that appeal as well as another that focused on how forensic evidence was presented at his trial.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Broadnax’s request for a 180-day reprieve or to commute his death sentence.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office has described Cummings’ confession as the shooter as “questionable new evidence.” It also said in court documents that Broadnax’s claims that potential Black jurors were targeted for removal are “entirely meritless” as these jurors were stricken not because of race but because of their answers during questioning, including that some opposed the death penalty.

Theresa Butler, Matthew Butler’s mother, has asked that the execution proceed.

“This so called confession from cummings is just a stall tactic by broadnax’s desperate defense team. Its all a lie,” Butler wrote in a post on social media.

If the execution is carried out, Broadnax would be the third person put to death this year in Texas, which has historically held more executions than any other state.

About an hour before Broadnax's scheduled execution on Thursday, Florida is set to put to death James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, for beating and choking his 13-year-old step-niece to death.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

Staff and players have been aware for the last two weeks the Public Investment Fund was only going to support LIV Golf through the end of this year. LIV responded with a new board and a plan to diversify into an investment model with hopes of finding long-term partners.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who was behind the creation of LIV Golf, is no longer listed as chairman of LIV Golf amid reports he has resigned from that role.

“PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season,” PIF said in a statement. “The substantial investment required by LIV Golf over a longer term is no longer consistent with the current phase of PIF's investment strategy.”

The newsletter “Money in Sports” reported earlier this year LIV Golf has spent $5.3 billion since it began in 2022, a figure likely to exceed $6 billion by the end of the year. LIV Golf spent about $1 billion in luring top names away from the PGA Tour when it launched — Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, among them.

Prize money was increased this year to $30 million at each event.

PIF two weeks ago revealed a new five-year investment strategy geared toward “sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence."

LIV Golf, which announced this week it has postponed its Louisiana tournament from late June until the fall, is scheduled to play May 7-10 in northern Virginia.

The new LIV Golf board

Gene Davis of Pirinate Consulting Group and Jon Zinman of the strategic advisory firm JZ Advisors are leading a newly created board, with Davis as chairman. The focus is on securing long-term financial partners.

LIV Golf has said it expects 10 of its 13 teams to be profitable this year, and it has five title sponsors of tournaments this year after not having any the previous three years.

“The executive leadership team, along with Jon and I, see a clear opportunity to help the league formalize its structure, attract and secure long-term capital, and position the business for growth while continuing to promote the game across the world,” Davis said in a statement. "We look forward to positioning LIV Golf for future success.”

Scott O'Neil, the CEO at LIV Golf, had told Britain-based TNT two weeks ago during the Mexico event: “The reality is that you’re funded through the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going.”

That raised questions whether LIV Golf could keep some of its top players once their lucrative contracts expired.

Future of LIV Golf players

Koepka left LIV after last season and the PGA Tour granted him a path back with stipulations that included no access to equity grants for five years, a $5 million charity donation and no bonus money this year.

The tour offered it to three other LIV players who had won majors since 2022 — Rahm, DeChambeau and Cameron Smith — and gave them a Feb. 4 deadline to accept. None did.

In an interview earlier this week with The Wall Street Journal, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said: “We’re interested in having the best players who can help our tour. Not every player can do that.”

Patrick Reed, a former Masters champion and three-time Ryder Cup player, chose not to renew his LIV contract and is playing a European tour schedule. He is all but certain to finish on a points list that will get him PGA Tour membership.

Unclear is the path back for anyone else from LIV Golf who would want to return. DeChambeau and Rahm — both multiple major champions — are considered LIV’s top two players.

DeChambeau said in an interview with the Flushing It social media site last week that “as long as LIV is here, I would figure out a way for it to make sense.”

“There’s a lot of moving parts like in any business,” DeChambeau said. “It’s a startup, right? And so there’s going to be times where we’re squeezed and punched. This is one of those moments. But I’m going to do everything in my power to make it work and I really see the value in franchise golf.”

The loss of Al-Rumayyan from LIV Golf

Al-Rumayyan leaving his post as LIV Golf chairman costs the players their biggest ally. Many referred to him simply as “H.E.” (His Excellency). He is passionate about golf and long wanted a seat at the table with the sport's leadership.

Al-Rumayyan signed a framework agreement in June 2023 intended to unify the commercial assets of golf. Under the agreement with the PGA Tour and European tour, he was set to join the PGA Tour Enterprises board if it was approved.

The deal never materialized, except for ending antitrust lawsuits. PGA Tour Enterprises instead got a minority investment from a consortium of North American sports owners.

Al-Rumayyan was at the White House in February 2025 to meet with President Donald Trump along with a PGA Tour team that included Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Commissioner Jay Monahan. But it was clear LIV and the PGA Tour could not find common ground, mainly because the Saudi league wanted to stick with a team component.

Al-Rumayyan was all about team golf when he and former CEO Greg Norman launched the league, even though the team concept was one reason it took more than three years for LIV to get recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking.

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

The soldiers are members of the 10th Infantry Battalion Guard Security Corps National Reserve on a weekend exercise to hone their skills as the Netherlands bolsters its military with new recruits and volunteers. The Dutch government and top brass have committed to raising military personnel from 80,000 to 120,000 by 2035 — plans that have broad political support.

The recent enlistment by the country's queen and her eldest daughter as reservists look to be helping, with authorities now scrambling to arm and train new recruits.

The recruitment drive in the Netherlands reflects moves across Europe to expand and modernize militaries as leaders warily eye the grinding war launched by Russia against Ukraine and the disenchantment expressed by U.S. President Donald Trump with the NATO alliance that has been the cornerstone of the defense and security architecture of the continent since World War II laid ruin to much of it.

Trump on Wednesday suggested that he could soon reduce the U.S. military presence in Germany as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war.

A corporal in the Dutch reserve battalion, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the nature of her service, said that she's seen a shift in priorities as the global security outlook has become more volatile and less predictable.

“When I first joined, there was almost no risk or almost no threat ... and now it’s changing so we are more aware of it," she said. That has meant a mindset shift toward “more what we call ‘green things,’ infantry things.”

She added: “We are here to defend our country and to make sure to keep the threat down.”

The threat is very real, according to European Union and NATO officials, who believe Russian President Vladimir Putin could be ready to launch an attack elsewhere in Europe in three to five years, especially if he wins the war in Ukraine.

New NATO plans aimed at countering that threat require allies to prepare their armies for big battles, focused on more mobile forces that can be quickly deployed.

Getting the House of Orange into military green

Dutch recruitment got a significant boost when Queen Maxima and her eldest daughter and heir to the throne Amalia, Princess of Orange, enlisted as volunteer reservists. Photos of Maxima in training and aiming a pistol on a shooting range were published around the world.

That royal seal of approval, together with recruiting campaigns running everywhere from newspapers and billboards to social media, has proved so successful that the military is now working overtime to arm, train and accommodate all the newcomers.

At the Defense Ministry, it's known as “the Amalia effect.”

“It's really a thing, yes,” State Secretary for Defense Derk Boswijk told The Associated Press. “It’s very inspiring to see how members of our royal family inspired people to join our armed forces.”

Boswijk said that there are about 9,000 reservists in the Netherlands, and recruiters aim to have at least 20,000 in 2030.

“We have more applications than we can handle,” Boswijk said. Now the military has to battle “a lack of training capacity, a lack of housing. You have to give them all uniforms, you have to give them weapons.”

But, he said: “It’s a luxury problem.”

Other nations boost recruitment

German lawmakers are considering a government plan to offer better pay and conditions for people who join up on a short-term basis, along with better training and more flexibility on how long recruits must serve.

The aim is to draw sufficient recruits without reviving conscription, which was suspended for men in 2011. The plan leaves the door open for limited compulsory recruitment, if not enough people volunteer.

Like the Netherlands, France is leaning into voluntary service to boost the military. A program starting in September seeks to recruit 3,000 volunteers from ages 18-25. They will serve in uniform for 10 months in France’s mainland and overseas territories only. The plan seeks to attract up to 50,000 volunteers per year by 2035.

In northern and eastern Europe, where the threat from Russia is felt most keenly, some nations still have some conscription.

Finland has a draft for all males and a voluntary system for women. Sweden reinstated a gender-neutral partial military service in 2017. If not enough people volunteer, a lottery is held to select people for the remaining slots. Neighboring Denmark has a similar system, as does Latvia since it revived its draft in 2023 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Netherlands never fully abolished its draft, but call-ups have been suspended since 1997 and there are no immediate plans to reintroduce them. Instead, the Defense Ministry is seeking to make the military more attractive to a broad cross section of society.

Threats have expanded from traditional battlefields into cyberspace and the digital world, he said, “so we need all kind of skills, to keep our society, our country, our allies safe. So, yes, we need also people wearing hoodies, having blue hair, who can game perfectly.”

Motivated by Dutch history and modern instability

For some among the new generation of answering their country's call to arms, a bitter lesson from Dutch history is motivating them.

"When I was in primary school, we were taught that in the Second World War it took (German forces) five days to take over Holland," Lisette den Heijer said at a recent information evening run by the Dutch military for reservist volunteers, adding that she doesn't want history to repeat itself.

At the exercise in the eastern Netherlands, a private first class in the reserve battalion who also spoke on condition of anonymity, because he works for a defense-related company, said he too has seen a shift in recent years.

“So where we were just focused on peaceful operations in 2018, we’re now more focusing on protecting vital infrastructure,” he said. That included duty in the massive security operation to guard last year’s NATO summit in The Hague.

A weekend mission accomplished

Reservists in the Netherlands commit to 300 hours of service each year, including regular weekend exercises. Traditionally, they are deployed to secure and guard domestic sites and aren't sent to combat missions overseas. They also can be used in national emergencies, such as piling up sandbags in cases of severe flooding.

Back in the forests of the eastern Netherlands, the reservists suddenly stop and point their weapons at an innocent looking mound of earth covered in dry leaves and wood.

A soldier — a member of their unit — crawls out of the foxhole where he was hiding and surrenders. The volunteers exchange high-fives before preparing to break down their camp and return to their day jobs.

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Associated Press reporters across Europe contributed to this report.

For the first in almost five decades, there will be a former chair on the central bank's board, potentially creating an alternate center of power. And on Wednesday multiple officials dissented from the Fed's statement, a sign they won't easily roll over for a new chair who has sharply criticized recent policy. Outgoing chair Jerome Powell — who announced he will remain on the board of governors for a “period of time, to be determined” — has also shown a new outspokenness since the White House launched an unprecedented legal investigation into a Fed building renovation.

Warsh “is inheriting an institution that will fight for independent, consensus-driven decision-making, a potential obstacle to his vision of wholesale ‘regime change,’” said Jon Hilsenrath, a senior advisor to StoneX and visiting scholar at Duke University.

It's all a sharp contrast to the previous three Fed chairs — Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen, and Powell — who were all Fed governors before becoming chairs in relatively smooth transitions.

At a news conference Wednesday, Powell indirectly acknowledged the unusual nature of his decision, when asked how it would work to have a current and former chair on the board: “I don’t know what the exact specifics of it will be," he said.

He also said he would move to the background as a governor, yet his presence could make it a bit harder for Warsh to cut the Fed's short-term rate, as Trump has loudly demanded. While Powell is considered by economists to generally favor lowering rates, he said inflation is “misbehaving” and signaled it could be months before a cut is considered.

“We no longer anticipate a rate cut in December,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, but expect the Fed to stay "on hold through the remainder of the year.”

On Wednesday, Powell emphasized that he is staying at the Fed to protect its political independence from the White House's legal attacks, rather than to push for any particular interest-rate policies.

“These legal actions by the administration are unprecedented in our 113-year history,” Powell said. “I worry that these attacks are battering the institution and putting at risk the thing that really matters to the public, which is the ability to conduct monetary policy without taking into consideration political factors.”

Trump has sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she has denied, in what has become a test case regarding how much power the White House has to remove Fed governors. Should Trump succeed in firing Cook, he would be able to fill her seat and have much more sway over the central bank's interest rate decisions.

Three of the seven governors are already Trump appointees. So far, courts have allowed Cook to remain in her position and the Supreme Court in January appeared to lean in her favor.

By staying on as governor, Powell will also deny Trump an opportunity to appoint a new governor. The president won't have another shot at filling a seat on the Fed's board until Powell leaves. While his term as chair ends May 15, he can serve as a governor until January 2028.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday criticized Powell's decision on Fox Business, calling it “highly unusual” and “a violation of all Federal Reserve norms.”

Powell, however, rejected that his decision has injected politics into the Fed.

“I’m literally staying because of the actions that have been taken,” he said Wednesday. “I had long planned to be retiring and the things that have happened really in the last three months have left me no choice but to stay.”

Still, Powell said he planned to keep a “low profile” in his remaining time on the board, and would not be a “shadow chair”: "That's just something I would never do. There is only ever one chair of the Federal Reserve board. When Kevin Warsh is confirmed and sworn in, he will be that chair.”

The Senate is likely to confirm Warsh on a narrow, party-line vote the week of May 11. In a sign of the increasing politicization of the Fed, when Powell was confirmed for a second four-year term in 2022, the Senate vote was 80-19 in favor.

Warsh told a congressional committee last week that he would be an independent chair, but Trump has continued to say he expects his choice to reduce the Fed's key rate.

Yet on Wednesday Powell said the “center” of the committee was moving away from a bias toward cutting rates toward a more neutral stance. Three policymakers dissented from Wednesday's statement because they wanted to make that shift more explicit. A fourth official, Stephen Miran, voted to cut rates immediately, but he will be replaced by Warsh.

The four dissenting votes were the most since October 1992.

"A 34-year high in dissents is not exactly the welcome mat Mr. Warsh was hoping to see upon his arrival," Stephen Douglass, chief economist at NISA Investment Advisors, said in a note to clients. “He might want to wear a hard hat at his first meeting, and not only because the (Fed building) is still under construction.”

Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, said in a joint statement that Wednesday’s high court ruling effectively prohibits the state from carrying out the primaries under the current districts. Early voting had been scheduled to begin Saturday in advance of the May 16 primary.

“The State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map," Landry and Murrill said in the statement posted to social media. “We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward.”

That path is likely to lead to a new U.S. House map benefitting Republican candidates in Louisiana.

President Donald Trump, in a series of social media posts Thursday, praised Landry for moving quickly to revise the state's congressional districts and urged Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to do likewise in light of the Supreme Court's decision.

While civil rights activists denounced the potential for diminished minority representation in Congress, top Republicans cited the Supreme Court's decision as justification to spur an already intense national redistricting battle among states before the November elections.

“I think all states who have unconstitutional maps should look at that very carefully, and I think they should do it before the midterm,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters in Washington.

Questions persist about election postponement

Louisiana's election suspension was denounced by some Democrats and questioned by some legal experts.

“This is going to cause mass confusion among voters -- Democrats, Republicans, white, Black, everybody,” said Louisiana state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents the New Orleans area. “What they’re effectively doing is changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game. It’s rigging the system.”

While Louisiana officials may legally be able to move the primary, it's not accurate to assert that it was blocked by the Supreme Court's decision, said Ruth Greenwood, director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School.

State Rep. Kyle Green, a former assistant state attorney general who is chair of the House Democratic caucus, also cast doubt on the legal justification for postponing the congressional primary.

“The Court’s decision does not halt the election process on its own,” Green said. “And any attempt to suspend or disrupt an ongoing election at this stage would raise serious constitutional concerns.”

Delaying an election is unusual but not unprecedented.

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, several states pushed back elections because of health concerns. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, who led Louisiana at the time, postponed Louisiana’s April 4 presidential primary three weeks before it was supposed to occur — then delayed it again until July 11.

Louisiana could join a national redistricting wave

Louisiana currently is represented in the U.S. House by four Republicans and two Democrats. A revised map could give Republicans a chance to pick up at least one more seat in the November midterms — adding to Republican gains elsewhere from redistricting.

Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But Trump last year urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge in the midterms. California Democrats reciprocated, and redistricting efforts soon cascaded across states.

On Wednesday, Florida became the latest state to redraw its U.S. House districts, adopting a new map backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that could give the GOP a chance at winning several additional seats.

The Florida vote occurred just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority issued a ruling that significantly weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act. The court said Louisiana officials had relied too heavily on race when drawing a congressional district that is represented by Democrat Cleo Fields.

Trump wants Tennessee to also take up redistricting in response to the court's ruling. The president posted on social media that he had spoken with Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who he said would work hard for a new map that could help Republicans gain an additional seat. Democrats currently hold only one of the state's nine House seats — a district centered in Memphis, which is majority Black.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said he is in conversations with the White House and others while reviewing the court's decision.

Louisiana has a history of redistricting challenges

After the 2020 census, Louisiana officials had drawn House voting district boundaries that maintained one Black majority district and five mostly white districts, in a state with a population that is about one-third Black.

A federal judge later struck down the map for violating the Voting Rights Act. And the following year the Supreme Court found that Alabama had to create its own second majority Black congressional district.

In response, Louisiana’s legislature and governor adopted a new House map in 2024 that created a second Black majority district. But that map also was subsequently challenged in court, leading to the most recent Supreme Court ruling.

After the ruling, Landry called U.S. House candidates on Wednesday and told them that primaries would most likely be stalled, according to Misti Cordell, a Republican running in a crowded race to fill U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s vacated seat.

“It’s an inconvenience for a candidate for sure, but you know they want to do it right versus having to go through all this again,” Cordell said. She added that she appreciated the heads up before she and other candidates began “spending their war chest” during the final weeks leading up to Election Day.

Republican state lawmakers are reviewing which pending bills could be used to alter primaries and reconfigure congressional maps, said Louisiana state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, chair of the House committee overseeing redistricting efforts.

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Brook reported from New Orleans and Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. AP reporter Travis Loller contributed from Nashville.

Myanmar’s military information office confirmed the news through a text message to the press. Accompanying the announcement was a photo of the 80-year-old leader dressed in a traditional white blouse and skirt. She is seen sitting on a wooden bench, behind a low table facing two unidentified men, one in a police uniform and the other wearing another kind of uniform. The photo was also displayed on the TV broadcast, but it is not clear when or where it was taken.

Suu Kyi has been in detention since Feb. 1, 2021, when the army seized power from her elected government. She has not been seen publicly since then, and the last official photo showing her was released on May 24, 2021, showing her in court.

Earlier Thursday, authorities had announced her prison sentence was being reduced as part of a prisoner amnesty marking a Buddhist religious holiday, the Full Moon day of “Kason,” known as Buddha’s Birthday and Demise. It covered 1,519 prisoners, including 11 foreigners, with the sentences of convicts remaining in prison cut by one-sixth.

Suu Kyi was originally sentenced to 33 years in prison in late 2022 for several offenses that her supporters and rights groups described as attempts to discredit her and legitimize the army takeover that removed her from office, as well as to prevent her return to politics.

Thursday's amnesty, the second applied to her in recent weeks, would bring her sentence down to 18 years, with more than 13 years left to serve according to the calculation.

The message announcing her transfer says she was moved from the main prison in Myanmar’s capital Naypyitaw to house arrest, with the action “made to celebrate Buddha Day, to show humanitarian concern, and to demonstrate the kindness of the state.”

It does not specify her exact location but says that according to the law on designating a place of imprisonment “she will now serve the remainder of her sentence at a specific home instead of in prison.”

The amnesties come after Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was sworn into office as president on April 10 following an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was orchestrated to maintain the military’s tight grip on power.

In his inauguration speech, he said his government would grant amnesties aimed at promoting social reconciliation, justice and peace. Actions including the amnesties and Suu Kyi's transfer are widely seen as an effort to burnish his image.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appreciates Suu Kyi’s movement from prison to house arrest, calling it “a meaningful step toward conditions conducive to a credible political process,” his spokesperson said Thursday.

The U.N. chief reiterates his call for the swift release of all political prisoners, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said, stressing that this is “a fundamental step” toward a political process and solution that “must be based on an immediate cessation of violence and a genuine commitment to inclusive dialogue.”

Information about Suu Kyi's condition has been tightly controlled. Reports in 2024 and 2025 indicated declining health, including low blood pressure, dizziness and heart problems, but these claims could not be independently verified. Her legal team was allowed to meet her in person after December 2022.

Kim Aris, her younger son living in London, and Myanmar democracy activists launched an international online campaign named “Proof of Life” to demand for evidence that she is still alive and well-being, following the last mass amnesty on April 17.

The 2021 army takeover triggered massive public resistance that was brutally suppressed, triggering a bloody civil war that has killed thousands of people.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization, 22,047 people had been detained for political reasons since the army takeover.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s martyred independence hero Gen. Aung San, spent almost 15 years as a political prisoner under house arrest between 1989 and 2010.

Her tough stand against military rule in Myanmar turned her into a symbol of nonviolent struggle for democracy, and won her the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

“Being on the ground is essential. It allows journalists to question official accounts on all sides, to speak directly with civilians and report back what they witness firsthand,” said the statement from the executives, released Thursday. “That is why news organizations send their reporters into the field, often at great personal risk.”

From the AP and the BBC and Sky News to CNN to MS NOW, from Reuters to German news agency dpa to The New York Times and The Washington Post, the top editors of more than two dozen organizations said the Israeli government has so far not responded to their efforts to discuss the situation. They questioned the country's rationales for why the restrictions are still in place.

The letter was released at 5 a.m. ET by the local foreign press association.

Israel had said ban was necessary

Initially, Israel said the ban was necessary because foreign journalists allowed into Gaza could give away the positions of Israeli soldiers and endanger them. Other rationales have included that as an active battle zone, it was too dangerous. The army has occasionally brought foreign reporters in on highly controlled trips, but media outlets want independent access.

An email seeking comment was sent to New York-based representatives of the Israeli government. There was no immediate response.

Currently, “the heaviest fighting is over and there is a ceasefire in place," the editors' statement said. "The hostages have come home. Journalists do not pose a threat to Israeli troops. There is a mechanism in place—however restrictive—that allows aid workers to enter and exit the territory. Why not journalists?”

There have been attempts at legal action to force the issue. The Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, has been waiting on a decision from the Israeli Supreme Court on a petition for independent access to Gaza. That action was filed in 2024, but a ruling has been repeatedly delayed, most recently in January.

With foreign journalists kept out of Gaza, coverage of the conditions on the ground there has been possible only for local Palestinian journalists. While covering war would be fraught for any reporter, the Palestinian correspondents have also had to experience it on a personal level — their homes destroyed, their loved ones killed.

Gaza-based reporters face big risks

When access to food became severely restricted last year they also had to deal with hunger, to the point that the Agence France-Presse news agency in July raised an alarm about their Palestinian colleagues' continued survival. That concern was echoed by the AP and Reuters for the reporters in Gaza they work with.

The editors raised that point in the statement Thursday, saying “this has pushed the responsibility for covering this devastating war and its aftermath almost entirely on our Palestinian colleagues ... They should not have to shoulder this burden alone, and they should be protected.”

Their lives have also been put at risk from military actions. Well over 200 journalists and media workers have been killed according to a tally from the Committee to Protect Journalists organization, far more than in conflicts elsewhere like the Russia-Ukraine war.

Among them was Mariam Dagga, a 33-year-old visual journalist who worked as a freelancer for the AP and other news organizations. She and four other journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri and Moaz Abu Taha, a freelance journalist who worked with Reuters, were among those killed last August in an Israeli strike on a medical facility.

The AP's reporting on the strike raised questions about the rationale used by the Israeli government to carry out the action against the hospital, which was known as a place where journalists gathered. AP and Reuters later issued a statement calling on Israel to explain what took place and what steps would be taken to protect reporters. The Israeli military says it is still investigating.

The statement from the editors on Thursday came during Press Freedom Week, which they noted. “Freedom of the press is a basic value in any open society. It is time for the delays to end. Let us into Gaza.”

In a statement read by a state television anchor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is “at the bottom of its waters" and that a “new chapter” was being written in the region's history. Khamenei has not been seen in public since taking over as supreme leader following the killing of his father in the war’s opening airstrikes.

His remarks come as Iran's economy is reeling and its oil industry is being squeezed by a U.S. Navy blockade halting its tankers from getting out to sea. The world economy is also under pressure as Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all crude oil is transported. On Thursday, the global benchmark for oil, Brent crude, traded as high as $126 a barrel.

That shock to oil supplies and prices is putting pressure on Trump, who is floating a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by the U.S.'s Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.

Under the plan, the U.S. would continue its blockade on Iranian ports, while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts to subvert the free flow of energy, according to a senior administration official.

Trump is weighing multiple diplomatic and policy options to push Iran to end its chokehold, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

The new proposal, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, is Trump's latest effort to persuade other nations to help reopen the strait.

Ceasefire shaken as strait remains shut

The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store oil.

A recent Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country’s nuclear program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons. Iran long has maintained its program is peaceful, though it enriched uranium at near-weapons-grade levels of 60%.

Pakistan on Thursday said it was still facilitating indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran aimed at easing tensions, but Islamabad would also welcome direct communication between the two sides, even by phone.

“If the two parties can engage in real-time conversations, that could ease the sticking points,” said Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Tahir Andrabi at a weekly news briefing. He declined to share details of any Iranian or U.S. proposals.

Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei's remarks signaled that nuclear issues and Iran's ballistic missile program wouldn't be traded away.

“Ninety million proud and honorable Iranians inside and outside the country regard all of Iran’s identity-based, spiritual, human, scientific, industrial and technological capacities — from nanotechnology and biotechnology to nuclear and missile capabilities — as national assets, and will protect them just as they protect the country’s waters, land and airspace,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei referred to America as the “Great Satan,” a long hurled insult by Iranian leaders toward the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He said Americans should have no business in the Persian Gulf.

“Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away to act with greed and malice there have no place in it — except at the bottom of its waters," said Khamenei, who was reportedly was wounded in the Feb. 28 attack that killed his father, the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Khamenei signals strait will remain shut

In his remarks, Khamenei seemed to signal Iran would maintain its control over the waterway, which sits in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. Iran had been charging some ships reportedly $2 million apiece to travel through the strait.

He said that Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz will make the Gulf more secure, and that Tehran's “legal rules and new management” of the strait will benefit all the region’s nations.

However, the world considered the strait an international waterway, open to all without paying tolls. Gulf Arab nations, chief among them the United Arab Emirates, have decried Iran's control of the strait as akin to piracy.

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Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

To honor that, he took the unusual step of leaving the Oval Office and going to Capitol Hill for the signing ceremony. It was Aug. 6, 1965, five months after the “Bloody Sunday” attack on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, gave momentum to the bill that became known as the Voting Rights Act.

In the six decades since, it became one of the most consequential laws in the nation's history, preventing discrimination against minorities at the ballot box and helping to elect thousands of Black and Hispanic representatives at all levels of government.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked out a major pillar of the law that had protected against racial discrimination in voting and representation. It was a decision that came more than a decade after the court undermined another key tenet of the law and led to restrictive voting laws in a number of states. Voting and civil rights advocates were left fearful of what lies ahead for minority communities.

“It means that you have entire communities that can go without having representation,” said Cliff Albright, a co-founder of the group Black Voters Matter. "It is literally throwing us back to the Jim Crow era unapologetically, and that’s not exaggeration.”

Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Washington office, said the court’s steady work to erode the Voting Rights Act, culminating in Wednesday’s decision, amounted to “burying it without the funeral.”

Hollowing out America's ‘greatest legislative landmark’

The Supreme Court’s ruling came in a congressional redistricting case out of Louisiana after the state created a district that gave the state its second Black representative to Congress.

It found that map to be an unconstitutional gerrymander because it took race into account to draw the lines. In an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court's conservative majority said the provision of the Voting Rights Act in question, called Section 2, was designed to protect voters from intentional discrimination.

Justice Elena Kagan in her dissent said the bar to show intentional discrimination is “an almost insurmountable barrier for challenges to any voting rights issues to prove discrimination.”

Voting rights experts said the ruling leaves the Voting Rights Act only a shell of what it had been and will provide an open door for political mapmakers at every level — from local school districts to state legislatures to Congress — to undermine minority representation.

“We’re witnessing the evisceration of America’s greatest legislative landmark at the hands of a far right Supreme Court,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York said.

Maria Teresa Kumar, president of Voto Latino, said the decision will allow more aggressive “cracking and packing” of populations to dilute their votes, “not just in congressional districts but also in state legislatures, county commissions, school boards and city councils.”

On Thursday, several civil rights groups held a joint news conference to condemn the Supreme Court ruling and pledge to fight its impacts.

Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, cautioned against framing the current moment as merely a battle for political control between Democrats and Republicans.

“This decision is a continuation of a frontal assault on the gains of the Civil Rights Movement that began in 1954 with the Brown versus Board of Education decision,” he said.

VRA was the key tool to fight dilution of voting strength

Voting rights experts said there is no doubting the law's impact over the decades.

Sherrilyn Ifill, a law professor at Howard University and the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said there were about 1,500 Black elected officials throughout the country in 1970. Today, that stands at more than 10,000.

"And it isn’t because of the goodness of people’s hearts,” she said.

She said that success was a direct result of Black communities, civil rights activists and lawyers having the tools, through the Voting Rights Act, to file challenges to efforts to diminish the voting strength of Black and Hispanic voters. Most of the Section 2 cases have been over representation in local governments.

It’s not just the numbers.

A loss of representation, especially in state legislatures and Congress, will translate into minority communities losing a voice on issues that matter to them, such as healthcare, education and needed public works upgrades, said Sophia Lin Lakin, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project.

“States can now point to partisan objectives to justify maps that strip voters of color of representation, and federal courts will have little basis to intervene,” she said.

A steady erosion by the court, a future in doubt

The landmark law signed by Johnson 61 years ago had been amended over the years, but the biggest change was in 2013, when the Supreme Court released its ruling in Shelby County v. Holder. That decision essentially ended a provision of the Voting Rights Act mandating the way states and local jurisdictions were included on a list of those needing to get advance approval, or preclearance, from the U.S. Justice Department for voting-related changes.

That decision paved the way for mostly Republican states to pass a wave of restrictive election legislation, especially after President Donald Trump, a Republican, falsely claimed widespread fraud cost him reelection in 2020 against Democrat Joe Biden.

In a surprise ruling in 2023, the Supreme Court upheld Section 2 in a redistricting case out of Alabama, a ruling that it essentially reversed on Wednesday.

The question now is what comes next, for minority representatives and the communities they represent.

In Louisiana, the decision puts Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields on the endangered list. The state's top elected leaders, all Republicans, already are planning to postpone the state's May 16 primary so they can redraw the congressional maps.

This isn’t the first time redistricting has complicated Fields’ political plans. He served for two terms in the 1990s before the state redrew his congressional district.

“I’ve been down this road before, you know, 33 years ago,” he said.

Shomari Figures, who won the seat created in Alabama after the court’s 2023 decision, said the decision doesn’t make changes to that state’s current congressional districts, but it has made proving future racial discrimination in redistricting cases significantly tougher.

“It will lead to states, primarily in the South, launching immediate efforts to redraw districts in ways that will dilute the impact of Black voters and drastically reduce the number of realistic opportunities to elect Black members to Congress,” he said.

Shalela Dowdy, an Alabama resident who was a plaintiff in the lawsuit that resulted in the creation of a new district now represented by Figures, said she is worried the decision will lead to the rollback of the district created in 2023, which she said gave Black voters a greater voice.

“Putting it in the hands of the states on this level is dangerous,” Dowdy said. “There’s just been a history of the states not doing the right thing based off their state population.”

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Ala. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Joey Cappelletti, Matt Brown and Haya Panjwani in Washington; and Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a May 9 ceasefire to coincide with Victory Day in Russia in a phone call with Trump the previous day, according to the Kremlin.

“We have instructed our representatives to contact the United States president’s team and clarify the details of the Russian proposal for a short-term ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Russian attacks overnight killed one person in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro and wounded dozens more in the southern port city of Odesa, as Ukraine continued to strike industrial facilities inside Russian territory for a second day in a row.

A ship that created a brief diplomatic scuffle between Israel and Ukraine has departed Israel without unloading what Zelenskyy said were grains Russia stole from occupied areas of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.

Potential short-term ceasefire

Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said that the Russian president had discussed a ceasefire for the May 9 holiday, when Russia celebrates victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, during a phone call with Trump Wednesday.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that no definite decision had been made, and that it would be for Putin to decide on the specific terms.

“For now, no concrete decision has been made,” Peskov said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is proposing a longer-term ceasefire. “We will find out exactly what is being discussed, whether it’s a few hours of security for a parade in Moscow or something more," he said in a post on Telegram.

Controversial ship does not unload

The ship that Ukrainian officials said was carrying stolen grain had anchored close to the Haifa port for several days, but departed from Israel on Thursday morning, according to MarineTraffic.com, which tracks ships.

The Israel Grain Importers Association said that the country’s largest grain import company rejected the shipment, due to the sensitive situation with Ukraine, Israeli media reported. “The Russian supplier of the wheat cargo will be forced to find another destination to unload the cargo,” the association said.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the development was welcome.

“This demonstrates that Ukraine’s legal and diplomatic actions have been effective,” he said in a post on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had threatened sanctions against Israel on Tuesday if the vessel unloaded. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said earlier in the week that the country’s tax authority had opened an investigation into the ship.

Russian attacks continue in Ukraine

In Dnipro, a drone attack killed one person and injured five, Dnipropetrovsk regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said in a post on Telegram. He said a shop, a residential building and vehicles were damaged.

In Odesa, region head Oleh Kiper said Russian forces launched waves of drone attacks on residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in Odesa overnight, wounding 20 people.

He added that Ukrainian air defenses had downed many of the incoming targets but hits and falling debris damaged residential buildings, a hotel, a kindergarten and an administrative building. They also caused fires at several locations which were later extinguished.

Ukraine strikes inside Russia

Units of Ukraine's Security Service, or SBU, struck Russia's Perm region in the Ural Mountains for a second day in a row, according to a security official.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the drone attack disrupted the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez refinery, located over 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine.

Gov. Dmitry Makhonin said an industrial facility was hit, and there were no casualties or any significant damage. He didn’t provide any further details.

Separately, Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondtratyev said in an online statement that a fire caused by a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian oil refinery at the Black Sea port of Tuapse has been put out after raging for almost two days, with oil products spilling out on the streets of the city.

Ukraine’s Navy said it struck two Russian vessels in the Kerch Strait using sea drones overnight into Thursday.

It said as a result of the strike, a Russian patrol boat called “Sobol” and another vessel named “Grachonok” were hit.

The Kerch bridge which was completed in 2018 links mainland Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

It's the third time Jessica Mann has had to answer his lawyers' questions in a New York court. But different attorneys are now defending the ex-studio boss whose downfall powered the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. The first several hours of back-and-forth were tense but didn't hit the emotional boiling points of Mann's prior cross-examinations.

Weinstein lawyer Teny Geragos began questioning Mann on Wednesday by seizing on her complicated feelings about Weinstein during a knotty relationship that involved some consensual sexual encounters.

Under prosecutors' questioning earlier, Mann said that despite the alleged rape, she loved “a part of him” because he could be kind and encouraging about her personal struggles and professional dreams, and that the two had “some pretty human moments” together.

“What did he do for you that made parts of you really love him?” Geragos asked.

“It was the validation,” Mann said.

When Geragos went on to ask about the “human moments," Mann said she once slapped Weinstein, thinking he was inviting it as sex play, but that he later told her, “Jess, that's not you.”

“So when you were talking about the validation that you received … and the human moments that you shared with Harvey, it was that you slapped him?” Geragos asked.

Mann said she instead was referring to his remark that “that's not you.”

Court ended for the day soon afterward. As it resumed Thursday, Geragos quizzed Mann about her early interactions with Weinstein.

Weinstein, 73, is on trial for the third time on a charge accusing him of raping Mann in a New York hotel in March 2013. He was initially convicted in 2020, but an appeals court overturned that verdict. During his first retrial, the jury couldn't reach a decision on the rape charge.

Mann also alleges that Weinstein raped her again in Beverly Hills, California, in late 2013 or early 2014. He has never been charged with any crime related to that allegation.

“He just treated me like he owned me,” she told jurors this week.

Mann, 40, acknowledges that she accepted his sexual advances at times but said the two rapes happened as she protested and pleaded with him to stop.

Weinstein's lawyers maintain that everything that happened between the two was consensual and part of a supportive, caring relationship. They say Mann benefited from associating with an Oscar-winning producer, only later accusing him amid the #MeToo outcry of 2017 and 2018.

Mann and Weinstein met at a Los Angeles-area party around early 2013. At the time, she was a financially struggling hairstylist and actor aspiring to make it big in show business.

The then-married Weinstein invited her to a bookstore, where he bought her volumes about movies. Not long afterward, he took her to dinner at a hotel in Beverly Hills.

“From your perspective in 2013, going to dinner with another man who’s older than you can imply certain ideas, like a date, correct?” Geragos asked.

Mann said she hadn’t thought of it as a date. His assistant scheduled the dinner, so it seemed “somewhat professional,” she explained.

After the meal, Weinstein asked her up to his hotel suite, where Mann testified that he pressed her to take off her shirt and let him massage her. She said she instead rubbed his back to “de-escalate” the situation.

Geragos suggested Mann simply could have left the room.

On another occasion, Mann said, Weinstein pulled her into a hotel suite bedroom and made advances she initially resisted, before submitting to oral sex because he otherwise wouldn't let her leave.

Geragos noted, through questions, that although Mann said the encounter shocked and dismayed her, she didn't call out for help from a friend who she said was in the suite's sitting area throughout.

The alleged rape happened weeks later.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.

James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Hitchcock was initially sentenced to death in 1977 after being convicted of first-degree murder in the July 31, 1976, killing of Cynthia Driggers.

Then came years of appeals: Hitchcock's lawyers argued that the trial judge had barred consideration of mitigating evidence, that they weren’t allowed to keep three people off the jury and that he was falsely portrayed as a pedophile. He was resentenced to death in 1988, 1993 and 1996. After that, no governor signed his death warrant until Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to empty Florida’s Death Row.

This would be Florida’s sixth execution so far this year. Four of the other five received their death sentences in the 1990s. DeSantis also oversaw a record 19 executions in 2025, more than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record had been eight executions, in 2014.

Five decades is an outlier — it generally takes at least 20 years, but usually closer to 30, from sentencing to execution. How much it cost Florida taxpayers to enforce Hitchcock's capital punishment over the years would be difficult to calculate, but it's far more expensive than a sentence of life without parole.

“It requires a higher degree of scrutiny, more careful legal proceedings, and expert attorneys and investigators,” Grace Hanna, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said in an email Thursday. “There’s a misconception that the death penalty saves money by closing cases. In reality, it extends them -- often for decades -- while draining public resources at every stage.”

According to court records, Hitchcock was unemployed and had moved into his brother's Orlando home several weeks before the killing. He told police following his arrest that after several hours of drinking beer and smoking marijuana with friends, he returned to the home, entered the 13-year-old girl's room and raped her, investigators said.

When the girl told Hitchcock, then 20, that she had been injured and planned to tell her mother, Hitchcock tried to stop her from leaving the room and began choking her, officials said. Hitchcock then took the girl outside, where he beat and choked her until she stopped moving, and left her in some nearby bushes. Hitchcock then took a shower and went to bed.

Hitchcock recanted during his trial, and blamed his brother instead. He testified that his brother had walked into the girl's room shortly after they had consensual sex, and that his brother beat and choked her in a fit of rage. He said she was already dead by the time he pulled his brother off the girl, and that he had initially taken the blame to protect his brother.

The Florida Supreme Court denied another appeal last week. His attorneys had argued that he was innocent and that the state had illegally refused to grant him access to public records related to the death penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court denied another appeal on Thursday morning.

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025, with Florida leading the way. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

Also Thursday evening, a man who claimed he was not the shooter in a fatal robbery that killed two people nearly 18 years ago — and who says prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence — faced execution in Texas.

Another Florida execution is planned for May 21. Richard Knight, 47, is scheduled to received a lethal injection for his conviction in the fatal stabbing of his cousin's girlfriend and her 4-year-old daughter.

All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection, using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

The White House had warned that temporary funding Trump had tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel would “soon run out,” and that sparked new threats of airport disruptions.

DHS has been without routine funds since Feb. 14, causing hardship for workers, though much of Trump’s immigration agenda that is central to the dispute is being funded separately.

“It is about damn time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than 70 days ago.

The House swiftly voted by voice, without a formal roll call, to pass the measure. It was an abrupt end to the standoff that began months ago, after Trump's deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis launched a reckoning on Capitol Hill over the money being sent to fuel the president's agenda.

Trump's deportation strategy fueled the dispute

Democrats refused to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol without changes to those operations after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents during protests against the immigration actions in Minneapolis. Republicans would not go along with a plan pushed by Democrats to fund TSA and the other parts of DHS without the money for ICE and Border Patrol.

While the Senate unanimously approved the bipartisan package a month ago, the bill languished in the House.

Johnson, R-La., himself had just last month called the bill a “joke.”

To break the impasse, Republicans in both the House and Senate decided to tackle the immigration enforcement funding on their own through what is called budget reconciliation, a cumbersome weekslong process ahead.

By beginning that budget process Johnson was able to unlock a broader bipartisan bill for TSA agents and the rest of DHS. House Republicans late Wednesday adopted budget resolution on a largely party-line vote, 215-211, that is focused on eventually providing $70 billion for immigration enforcement and deportations for the remainder of Trump’s time in office and ensure Democrats can no longer block funding. Trump's term ends in January 2029.

Johnson acknowledged after the vote that he had trashed the bill before. But he said that with the new budget process for funding immigration enforcement on its own, he was ready to pass it "with no crazy Democrat reforms."

One key Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, said isolating the immigration-related money on a separate track is “offensive to the men and women who serve in ICE and Border Patrol, and are serving this country every single day.”

White House warning

The White House urged Congress this week to act, warning that the money Trump tapped to temporarily pay TSA and other workers through executive actions was drying up.

“DHS will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk,” said a memo Tuesday from the Office of Management and Budget. Most of its employees are considered essential and have remained on the job.

Paychecks at risk again

Immigration enforcement workers have largely been paid through the flush of new cash — some $170 billion — that Congress approved as part of Trump’s tax cuts bill last year. Others, including at the TSA, have had to rely on Trump’s intervention through executive action to ensure their paychecks.

But with salaries topping $1.6 billion every two weeks, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently, those funds were dwindling.

More than 1,000 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, the U.S. airlines trade group that on Wednesday called on Congress to fully fund the Cabinet department.

“The urgency to provide predictable and stable funding for TSA is growing stronger by the day,” the group said in a statement. “Time and time again, our nation’s aviation workers and customers have been the victim of Congress’ failure to do their jobs.”

Complicated budget strategy ahead

The go-it-alone strategy under the budget resolution process is the same that was used last year to approve Trump’s tax cuts bill, which all Democrats opposed.

With the budget resolution now adopted by the House and Senate, lawmakers will next draft the actual $70 billion ICE and Border Patrol funding bill, with voting expected in May.

Trump has said he wants it on his desk by June 1.

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Associated Press writer Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% and is just above its all-time high set earlier this week, as companies keep delivering fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 725 points, or 1.5%, as of 1:57 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.

Alphabet led the way and climbed 9.4% after the owner of Google and YouTube reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts’ expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.

The steadiness on Wall Street followed manic swings in the oil market, where prices surged overnight on worries that the Iran war will affect the flow of crude for a long time. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, keeping them pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide, while a U.S. Navy blockade is preventing Iran from selling its own oil.

Traders are always buying and selling contracts for different kinds of oil, going out for many months. In the most actively traded part of the market for Brent crude, for delivery in July, the price got as high as $114.70 per barrel overnight. It then fell back toward $107 before sitting at $109.08, down 1.2%.

So far during the war, the peak price for the most actively traded Brent contract is $119.50, which was set last month.

In a less actively traded corner of the Brent market, the price for a barrel to be delivered in June briefly went above $126 overnight before pulling back toward $113.

Brent's price is still much more expensive than the roughly $70 level it was at before the war. But the morning's easing, along with the continuing flood of better-than-expected profit reports from U.S. companies, helped keep Wall Street stable near its records.

Caterpillar and Eli Lilly rallied by more than 10% and Royal Caribbean jumped 4.4% after delivering profits for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. That’s big because stock prices tend to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term.

Still, a better-than-expected result isn’t always enough to boost a stock’s price if it’s already shot much higher.

Meta Platforms tumbled 8.8% even though the company behind Facebook and Instagram made more profit last quarter than expected. Investors focused more on Meta’s increased forecast for how much it will spend on data centers and other investments this year as it builds out its AI capabilities, up to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion.

Doubts are still high among some investors about whether all the AI spending by Meta and other companies will produce enough profit and productivity to make it worth it.

Microsoft fell 5.2% after likewise raising its forecast for investments and other capital spending. But analysts also said accelerating trends at its Azure business were encouraging.

Amazon slid 1.1% despite blowing past analysts’ expectations for earnings in the latest quarter.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices gave up their big overnight gains. Reports also suggested the U.S. economy's growth accelerated by less in the first three months of the year than economists expected, while a measure of inflation worsened in March by about as much as expected.

A separate report said that fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in an indication of fewer layoffs even though companies are announcing large cuts to workforces.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.39% from 4.42% late Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a weaker finish in Asia.

London’s FTSE 100 jumped 1.6% after the Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold. That followed similar decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan on Tuesday to keep their rates unchanged.

Germany's DAX returned 1.4%, and France's CAC 40 rose 0.5% after the European Central Bank also held its own interest rates steady.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3%, while stocks added 0.1% in Shanghai after a report said China’s factory activity slowed slightly in April but remained in expansion territory for the second month.

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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The Biennale said in a statement that the jury, made up of the president, Solange Farkas, and Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, Giovanna Zapperi, had resigned. It didn't provide an explanation for the highly unusual move.

It followed a visit to the Biennale by Cultural Ministry officials who arrived on Wednesday to gather information about the reopening of the Russian Pavilion. The Italian government has opposed the Biennale's decision to allow Russia to participate in the international exhibition.

The jury was due to select winners of the highly prestigious Golden Lion and other prizes on the official opening day on May 9. The Biennale announced that after the jury's resignation, visitors to the Biennale will select winners of two awards: Best Participant in the 61st curated Exhibition “In Minor Keys,” and the Best National Participation among the 100 national pavilions. It will be awarded on the closing day, Nov. 22.

Premier Giorgia Meloni, asked about the resignations, reiterated that the government didn’t agree with the Biennale’s decision to allow the Russians to participate, but acknowledged that the Biennale is autonomous.

She said that she didn’t know if the resignations were connected to the Culture Ministry’s decision to send inspectors to Venice.

Cabinet Minister Matteo Salvini said that it was a “great idea” by the Biennale leadership to allow the exhibition’s spectators to decide the ultimate winner of the Biennale, at the end, and not a jury.

“So it will be an autonomous and democratic Biennale,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The European Union last week slashed a 2-million euro ($2.3-million) grant to the Venice Biennale over Russia’s participation in the exhibition for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russian artists withdrew their participation in 2022, and Russia did not present an exhibition in 2024 for its permanent pavilion, which it instead lent to Bolivia. Russia last participated in the International Art Exhibition in 2019.

The Biennale said in a statement that it “does not have the authority to prevent a country from participating. Any country recognized by the Italian Republic may request to participate.’’

Since Russia owns the pavilion built in 1914 in the historic Giardini, it was required only to send notification of its request to participate, the Biennale said.

“La Biennale di Venezia rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art. The Biennale, like the city of Venice, continues to be a place of dialogue, openness and artistic freedom, encouraging connections between peoples and cultures, with the constant hope for an end to conflicts and suffering,’’ the Biennale said.

The Biennale contemporary art exhibition is the world’s oldest and most important, comprising a main exhibition alongside national pavilions, which are curated separately by the participating nations.

The Biennale has in the past refused pressure to exclude countries, including Iran and Israel, from participating.

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Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Rome.

It was a period of painful rejection that is familiar to exonerees. Some see their own struggles reflected in Calvin Duncan, who won elected office in New Orleans after clearing his name but likely won't serve. Louisiana lawmakers sent a bill to the governor's desk Wednesday abolishing his job.

“We’re still kind of like looked at as an inmate that did a particular crime. It further deteriorates our ability to believe that the system can heal itself,” said Miles, who eventually found a job through a minister at his church. “When cases like in Louisiana occur, it just shows us that the system is not healing itself.”

The fight in Louisiana has touched a nerve among exonerees in the U.S. who see Duncan's plight as reflective of the biases and stigmas they have to confront as they try to rebuild their lives.

Duncan served nearly 30 years in prison before his murder conviction was vacated in 2021 after evidence emerged that police officers had lied in court. He was elected to become the Orleans Parish clerk of criminal court in November, vowing to fix the system that failed him. He had been set to take office May 4.

Louisiana Republicans who want to dissolve the office say it isn't about Duncan's past but a necessary step toward government efficiency.

“Even if they are seen as somebody who is exonerated, there is still a stigma as somebody who has been in prison,” said Jon Eldan, the founder and executive director of After Innocence, a California-based nonprofit.

On Wednesday, Duncan sued Gov. Jeff Landry and other state officials, accusing them of conspiring to prevent the “Black exoneree and supporter of racial justice" from taking office. Duncan asked a federal judge to let him take office as scheduled on May 4.

A spokesperson for Landry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying Murrill “had nothing to do with the bill.”

Nonprofits and others offer help to exonerees

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, more than 3,800 people have been exonerated in the U.S. since 1989.

But unlike those released on parole or probation, exonerees don’t have access to government-provided services such as employment or housing assistance and mental health services.

“I was turned down by many prisoner reentry organizations because they said, ‘Look, you’re not on parole, you’re not on probation,'” said Jeffrey Deskovic, who was wrongly convicted of rape and murder in Peekskill, New York, and spent 16 years in prison before being freed in 2006.

Thirty-eight states have laws that compensate wrongfully convicted people. But it can be years before they receive that money.

After Innocence works to connect exonerees with organizations that help with job training, housing, medical and dental care. It also tries to clean up their records to accurately represent what happened in their criminal cases, Eldan said.

Miles, who spent more than 14 years in prison, now runs Miles of Freedom, a nonprofit in Dallas that helps formerly incarcerated individuals, including exonerees, rebuild their lives.

The challenges Miles faced as an exoneree looking for employment — including a lack of work history, viable skills and training — are not unusual, but it also appears some employers simply don't want someone who has been behind bars on their workforce.

There are no government statistics that track the employment rate of exonerees. Multiple studies have shown the unemployment rate for people who were in prison is much higher than the national rate. A 2018 study from the Prison Policy Initiative found that formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27%. A 2021 Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that 33% of federal prisoners released in 2010 did not find employment for four years. Nationally, the unemployment rate in March was 4.3%.

Finding employment remains a challenge

Deskovic used the compensation he received five years after his 2006 release from prison to start the Deskovic Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit that helps free wrongfully convicted people. He later got a law degree so he could represent them in court.

Exonerees tell Deskovic little has changed since the years following his release when he applied for jobs, including as a doughnut shop worker and a weekly newspaper reporter, but could never find consistent work.

Supporters of exonerees point to Duncan as someone who has rebuilt his life and won elected office but still faces pushback about his innocence and post-incarceration accomplishments.

“If he wasn’t an exoneree, would they be doing this to him? I’m sure that they would not,” Deskovic said.

Groups push for legislative help for exonerees

Eldan's organization worked with a state senator to help write and pass a law in Delaware that provides compensation for wrongful imprisonment, as well as a stipend and help with housing, food benefits, and health and dental insurance. It also provides exonerees with a certificate from the state saying they were wrongly incarcerated and found innocent.

Eldan said his group is working with several other states, including California and New Mexico, to get laws passed to provide similar innocence certificates and update exonerees' criminal records.

More states should fund programs to help exonerees after their release, Eldan and Miles said.

“But it’s hard to write into a statute, something that actually translates into real benefit for these people,” Eldan said. “It's not because the state is bad, but because the state just is not particularly good at delivering those services.”

Ben Spencer spent 34 years in prison for a murder in Dallas he didn’t commit before being exonerated and released in 2021. He applied for jobs at an Amazon warehouse and as an airport baggage loader but failed to secure a position.

Eventually, someone who had taken an interest in his case helped get him a job as a facilities engineer, doing repairs for a company. He’s worked there five years.

“I think I’m kind of settling in a little more now. I’m still trying to figure out the cellphone and computers,” Spencer said. “When I walked out of the jail, it was like waking up out of a coma or a bad dream. And of course, I still had to try to get some financial stability. I guess I won’t say I’m there now, but I’m closer to where I wanna be now than I was.”

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Associated Press writer Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

The order is intended to help more people gain access to retirement plans before next year, when the federal government will start matching retirement contributions made by low- and middle-income workers, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the order before it is formally announced.

That new matching contribution, known as the Saver’s Match, comes from 2022 legislation passed under Democratic President Joe Biden. Starting in January, it will offer a match of up to $1,000 for workers who make less than $35,000 a year.

Trump’s order is meant to help make the match available to roughly 50 million people who do not have retirement plans offered by their employers. The Republican president is directing the Treasury Department to launch TrumpIRA.gov, where workers can compare private-sector retirement plans.

He is not offering a new government retirement plan but helping match workers with existing plans from private companies.

Details of the order were first reported by the news outlet Semafor.

Trump discussed the idea during his State of the Union address in February, when he noted that about half of the people in the country do not have access to employer-provided retirement plans with matching contributions.

“To remedy this gross disparity, I’m announcing that next year my administration will give these often-forgotten American workers — great people, the people that built our country — access to the same type of retirement plan offered to every federal worker,” Trump said.

The Saver’s Match program will offer a maximum match of $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for married couples who file jointly. It will offer smaller matches for single filers making less than $46,000 a year. It applies to contributions made toward 401(k) plans, IRAs and Roth IRAs.

Oklahoma City and San Antonio, they made quick work of Round 1.

The six other higher-seeded teams, they're in battles. There will be six Game 6s in Round 1 this season, the most the NBA has seen since 2014. A trio of Game 6s await on Thursday, followed by three more Game 6s on Friday.

On Thursday, New York (up 3-2) goes to Atlanta, Boston (up 3-2) visits Philadelphia and Denver (trailing 3-2) plays at Minnesota.

Then on Friday, Detroit (trailing 3-2) plays at Orlando, Cleveland (up 3-2) goes to Toronto and the Los Angeles Lakers (still up 3-2 after losing closeout chances in Games 4 and 5) head to Houston.

Thursday’s games

— Game 6, New York at Atlanta, 7 p.m. EDT (ESPN)

Series: New York, 3-2.

Odds: New York by 2.5.

The Hawks went 2-0 in Games 2 and 3 by a combined two points. The Knicks went 2-0 in Games 4 and 5 by a combined 45 points. Now Atlanta is back home, looking to keep its season alive.

— Game 6, Boston at Philadelphia, 8 p.m. EDT (Peacock/NBCSN)

Series: Boston, 3-2.

Odds: Boston by 5.5.

Philadelphia hasn't gone 0-3 at home in a Round 1 series since 1984, a best-of-five against New Jersey when road teams won all five games. The 76ers need a Thursday win to avoid it here.

— Game 6, Denver at Minnesota, 9:30 p.m. EDT (ESPN)

Series: Minnesota, 3-2.

Odds: Denver by 5.5.

Shorthanded Minnesota gets a home closeout chance in the 18th playoff game between the rivals since 2023. Minnesota is 9-8 in them. Average score of those games: Wolves 106.4, Nuggets 105.9.

Friday's schedule

— Game 6, Detroit at Orlando, 7 p.m. EDT (Prime)

Series: Orlando, 3-2.

Odds: Detroit by 3.5.

Eighth-seeded Orlando let a 3-1 lead slip away against top-seeded Detroit in Round 1 in 2003. The Magic get another chance Friday night to ensure that such a fate won’t happen again this time.

— Game 6, Cleveland at Toronto, 7:30 p.m. EDT (Prime)

Series: Cleveland, 3-2.

Odds: Cleveland by 3.5.

The Raptors pushed Cleveland to the limit in Game 5 even with Brandon Ingram (heel) limited to one point in 11 minutes. The Cavaliers went 18 of 36 from 3-point range to win Game 5 at home.

— Game 6, LA Lakers at Houston, 9:30 p.m. EDT (Prime)

Series: Lakers, 3-2.

Odds: Houston by 4.5.

The Lakers are 0-2 in closeout chances in this series, and a Rockets team that isn’t lacking for swagger suddenly looks to be brimming with confidence. Lakers do not seem to be panicked, yet.

Wednesday recaps

— Pistons 116, Magic 109 to get within 3-2 in series. The stars put on a show.

— Cavaliers 125, Raptors 120 for a 3-2 series lead. Dennis Schroder came up big.

— Rockets 99, Lakers 93 to get within 3-2 in series. LeBron James is not worried.

Awards watch

A breakdown of this season's NBA awards:

— Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year: DeAndre Jordan, New Orleans.

— Hustle Award: Moussa Diabaté, Charlotte.

— Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio.

— Clutch Player of the Year: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City.

— Sixth Man of the Year: Keldon Johnson, San Antonio.

— Sportsmanship Award: Derrick White, Boston.

— Most Improved Player: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta.

— Rookie of the Year: Cooper Flagg, Dallas.

— Executive of the Year: Brad Stevens, Boston.

Among the announcements still to come:

— Most Valuable Player: Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year: Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

A scoring duel like only one other

Cade Cunningham of Detroit and Paolo Banchero of Orlando both finished with 45 points on Wednesday night, when the Pistons beat the Magic in Game 5 of their East first-round series.

It was the second time that opposing players scored 45 or more points in the same NBA playoff game. The other was Aug. 23, 2020, when Utah's Donovan Mitchell scored 51 and Denver's Jamal Murray scored 50 in Utah's 129-127 win.

Betting odds

Defending champion Oklahoma City (-130) is favored to win the NBA title, oddsmakers say.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+500), Boston (+525), Cleveland (+1400), New York (+2200), Denver (+3000), the Los Angeles Lakers (+3500) and Detroit (+4000).

Orlando and Minnesota, even with 3-2 series leads, were at +40000.

Key dates

— Saturday, Sunday and/or Monday: Conference semifinals begin.

— May 10: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

— May 17 or 19: Eastern Conference finals begin on ESPN and ABC.

— May 18 or 20: Western Conference finals begin on NBC and Peacock.

— June 3: Game 1, NBA Finals on ABC. (Other finals dates: June 5, June 8, June 10, June 13, June 16 and June 19).

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft

Quote of the day

“I was going to put Donovan and Evan back in and they said, ‘No, this group’s rolling.’ I was like, ‘What?’ That never happens in the NBA.” — Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson, on how Cavs stars Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley briefly delayed subbing back into the game in the fourth quarter Wednesday night because the unit on the floor at that time was playing so well.

Stats of the day

— There will be at least 45 games needed to complete Round 1, the most since 2018.

— Underdogs have won 41% of games in Round 1, the most since 2014.

— The Lakers lost Games 4 and 5 with a chance to eliminate Houston. This is the second time a LeBron James team has lost two closeout-opportunity games. Cleveland lost Games 6 and 7 to Detroit in the 2006 East semifinals.

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

Trump's threats came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in comments this week that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Tehran in negotiations to end the Iran war.

The mercurial U.S. leader has mused for years about reducing the American military presence in Germany, and has railed against NATO for its refusal to assist Washington in the war, which began on Feb. 28 with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Trump wrote Wednesday on social media that the U.S. was reviewing possible troop reductions in Germany, with a “determination” to be made soon. On Thursday, he was still thinking about Merz, posting that the German leader should “spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country” than concerning himself with Iran.

US military presence in Europe

American allies in NATO have braced for a U.S. troop withdrawal since just after the Trump administration took office, with Washington warning Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.

Depending on operations, exercises and troop rotations, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. personnel are usually stationed in Europe. NATO allies have expected for more than a year that U.S. troops deployed after Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022 would be first to leave.

Germany hosts several U.S. military facilities, including the headquarters of its European and Africa commands, Ramstein Air Base and a medical center in Landstuhl, where casualties from wars in places like Afghanistan and Iraq were treated. U.S. nuclear missiles are also stationed in the country.

Ed Arnold, an expert in European security at the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, in London, said that the U.S. gets a lot out of its presence in Germany — like logistics and support for Middle East combat operations — and was unlikely to withdraw.

Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Analysis agreed, and said that there are approximately 36,000 U.S. soldiers in Germany who primarily serve U.S. interests, including “the projection of American power globally,” rather than helping with the defense of Germany.

The U.S. has invested “substantial funds” in high-quality infrastructure in Germany that can't be moved overnight, and a different deployment would cost Washington a huge amount of money, which would require Trump to get approval from U.S. Congress, Lange said.

As early as 2020, Trump announced plans to withdraw 11,900 U.S. troops from Germany, but that didn't happen partly because U.S. Congress didn't provide the necessary funds and a withdrawal would have required enormous investments elsewhere.

That's why Trump’s post is most likely “bluster,” Arnold said.

“There is a difference between the military view and the political view,” Arnold said. “The issue with some of these threats is that they are not quite as galling as they were a couple of years ago.”

Merz, visiting troops Thursday at a military training area in Munster, in northern Germany, didn't directly address Trump’s comments, but alluded to working “shoulder to shoulder for mutual benefit and in deep trans-Atlantic solidarity,” and said that his government has “made great efforts to strengthen Germany’s security.”

Arnold, the expert at RUSI, said that Europe is more concerned about issues like a U.S. redeployment of Patriot missile systems and ammunition from Germany to the Middle East, and notifications to NATO countries such as Estonia and Belgium that orders for American weapons will be delayed as the U.S. government is prioritized.

A senior Western official told The Associated Press that they weren't aware of any discussions between the U.S. and Germany or other allies regarding the possibility of troop reductions in Germany.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said that Europe and Germany, which recently announced its new military strategy, is taking more responsibility for security on the continent.

In October, the U.S. confirmed that it would reduce its troop presence on NATO’s borders with Ukraine. The move to cut 1,500-3,000 troops came on short notice and unsettled NATO ally Romania, where the military organization runs an air base.

As Russia looks on, Iran war has had an impact

The U.S. administration informed the allies early last year that it has been reviewing its military “posture” in Europe and elsewhere. The findings of that review had been due to be made public in late 2025, but still haven't surfaced.

However, the U.S. did commit to inform its allies in advance about any changes to ensure that no security gap is created at a time when Russia is increasingly confrontational.

The Iran war only made the prospect of a withdrawal more likely, and a flurry of meetings has been held between administration officials, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and European leaders since the conflict started more than two months ago.

Over the last year, European allies and Canada have understood that they will have to provide Europe’s conventional defenses. The main U.S. contribution to NATO deterrence going forward will be the presence of American nuclear weapons and some troops.

Trump's Greenland fixation

Beyond the uncertainty over U.S. personnel, the allies have become accustomed to Trump’s outbursts, having weathered insults as “cowards” or hearing NATO branded as a “paper tiger” by their most powerful ally in recent weeks.

Repeated threats to leave altogether, or over things like defense spending, have inured them to social media posts that Trump might be considering some action or another.

The real damage to NATO unity was done by Trump’s fascination over Greenland, and his intent to annex the island, which is a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark, including sending family members and administration officials there.

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Emma Burrows reported from London, and Lorne Cook from Brussels. Jamey Keaten in Geneva, and Aamer Madhani in Washington, contributed to this report.

Japan is pouring tons of money into everything from breeding to training and racing, with a turn to dirt-track runners over the past decade or so after turf was the focus for so long. Following a near miss with Forever Young in 2024, the investment could soon pay off in the form of a Kentucky Derby winner, with Danon Bourbon and homebred Wonder Dean the country's hopes in the race this year.

“We are getting closer,” racing manager Hiroshi Ando told The Associated Press outside the Japanese horses' barn Thursday. “For Japan, I think we’re able to change Japanese racing history again, like we did with Forever Young in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Our ambition is the Kentucky Derby right now, if possible.”

The ambition for a longer period of time has been the Arc De Triomphe on grass in Paris, because Japan's roots in racing are on turf. The Japanese Racing Association launched the Japan Cup in 1981 to promote the sport and get more national interest in it, and it has become the richest turf race in the world with a purse of $8.2 million.

“We tried to learn a lot of things from the techniques and lots of things from foreign countries, not only U.S. — from European countries,” said Tom Hashimoto, general manager of the JRA's New York Representative Office. “Developed not in a short period, (but) we make it. It took step by step and learn from other countries, and now we are very lucky to have so many good thoroughbreds.”

That history of quality thoroughbreds there dates to the early ‘90s, when 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sunday Silence drew little breeding interest in the U.S. and was exported to Japan to stand as a stallion. He was Japan's leading sire for 13 consecutive years from 1995-2008, and his ancestors have won races all over the world.

Interest in mainstream dirt racing piqued a little after that, around the time Victoire Pisa delivered Japan's first Dubai World Cup championship in 2011. American Pharoah, who won the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 2015 to end a 37-year Triple Crown drought, is in Japan breeding until July.

“Obviously he produced a lot of good horses in Japan, too, so Japanese people love American Pharoah babies,” Ando said. "I’m really interested to see how his babies perform because we have many good Japanese mares."

While the result of his stay in Japan won't be evident for a few years, the country is churning out strong horses on a regular basis, coming a long way from its debut Ski Captain finishing 14th in 1995. Master Fencer in 2019 and Derma Sotogake in '23 each were sixth, and Forever Young was a very close third two years ago when Mystik Dan beat Sierra Leone by a nose.

The post time just before 7 p.m. at Churchill Downs makes the Kentucky Derby a first Sunday morning in May event in Japan, and all the horses coming from there running in it is making fans take notice.

“Last couple years, Japanese racing people understand the Kentucky Derby,” Ando said. “Even the public knows the Kentucky Derby now, which is great for betting, great for the industry.”

Ando just wants to keep experiencing the Derby, which he called the best atmosphere in racing — and addictive. The chance to have a Japanese presence almost annually is certainly no accident, given how intentional Japanese stakeholders have been about getting to the elite level of the sport.

“The important thing is, how does the money fund the horse racing industry as a whole?” Hashimoto said. “Not only the racing: breeding, training, training, training and racing and back to breeding. We have to invest the money to all the aspects of horse racing.”

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

The resumption of a nonstop commercial flight between the two countries comes months after the U.S. capture of then President Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas in early January.

It also comes a month after the U.S. formally reopened its embassy in Caracas following the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

“I'm very excited to go and see the family and I'm looking forward to see the country,” said passenger Lennart Ochoa of Miami shortly before boarding. He said that he was “ready to go" and got his ticket as soon as they were available. “Just to go and see the family on a direct flight from Miami to Caracas is priceless.”

The director of the U.S. National Energy Dominance Council, Jarrod Agen, was among the passengers on the inaugural flight. Agen is scheduled to meet with Venezuelan officials and executives from energy and mining sectors as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate the entry of U.S. companies into the South American country, reported Venezuelan government.

At Miami International Airport, American Airlines staff handed passengers small Venezuelan flags. Balloons with its colors — yellow, blue and red — adorned the gate door leading to the plane.

Flight AA3599 operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines, departed Miami at 10:11 a.m. EDT (1411 GMT), five minutes ahead of its scheduled time, according to Miami International Airport flight departure information. It arrived around three hours later in the Venezuelan capital, returning to Florida later in the afternoon.

Earlier, the airline said that a second daily flight between Miami and Caracas will start on May 21.

In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he informed Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez that he would open up all commercial airspace over the country, allowing Americans to visit.

“American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there,” Trump said at the time.

The flights mark the resumption of nonstop travel between the U.S. and Venezuela for the first time since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. For the past seven years, passengers have relied on international airlines and indirect routes through neighboring Latin American countries.

In January, when the airline announced the resumption of flights, it said it would give customers the opportunity to reunite with families and pursue new business opportunities.

American Airlines was the last U.S. airline flying to Venezuela. It suspended flights in 2019 between Miami and Caracas, as well as flights to the oil hub city of Maracaibo. Delta and United Airlines pulled out in 2017 amid a political crisis that forced millions to flee the country.

“Parents will be able to connect with children, grandparents with grandchildren, and entire families with a home that shaped and raised them,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference before boarding started. “Miami-Dade is home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States.”

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

The country's official threat level from terrorism was raised from substantial to severe after Wednesday's stabbing attack in London, which police have called an act of terrorism. Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale and means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government “will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out” after two Jewish men, ages 34 and 76, were seriously injured in a stabbing in Golders Green, an area in north London that is an epicenter of Britain's Jewish community. Both men are in a stable condition.

But some in the community turned their anger on the government, which they say is failing to tackle antisemitism. Starmer was heckled by about 100 protesters holdings signs saying “Keir Starmer, Jew harmer” when he visited Golders Green on Thursday.

The prime minister said in response that “I absolutely understand the high levels of anxiety and concern that there are.”

“Antisemitism is an old, old hatred. History shows that the roots are deep, and if you turn away, it grows back," he said during a televised statement at 10 Downing St. “Yet far too many people in this country diminish it.”

Police have arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder and labeled the stabbing attack as an act of terrorism. Detectives are working to determine a motive and whether there is any link to Iranian proxies.

The suspect, whose name hasn’t been released, had “a history of serious violence and mental health issues,” police said. In 2020, he was referred to the government’s Prevent program, which tries to steer individuals away from extremism. The police force said that his file was closed later the same year, and didn't disclose the reason for the referral.

Stabbing follows arson attacks

Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000 people, has faced growing attacks online and in the streets.

The number of antisemitic incidents reported across the U.K. has soared since the attack by Hamas-led militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust charity.

In October, an attacker drove his car into people gathered outside a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur and fatally stabbed one man. Another man died during the attack after being inadvertently shot by police.

Since the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, there have been a string of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London as well as on opponents of the Iranian government.

Police say that 28 people have been arrested over those attacks, which did not cause any injuries. A handful have been charged and one teenager has been convicted after pleading guilty.

Police investigate potential link to Iran proxies

Several arson attacks have been claimed online in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia. Israel’s government has described the group, whose name means the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, as a recently founded group with suspected links to “an Iranian proxy” that has also claimed responsibility for synagogue attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

An online post under the same name also claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s stabbing. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that authorities were investigating whether that claim is credible or “opportunistic.”

Security experts have warned that the name may be a flag of convenience rather than a coherent group, and its claims should be treated with caution.

The U.K. has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting Iranian opposition media outlets and the Jewish community. Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says that more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year ending in October.

The government said the increased threat level was not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, but also due to increased danger “from Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the U.K.”

The threat level stood at severe for much of the time between 2014 and February 2022, when it was lowered to substantial.

Government under pressure to tackle antisemitism

Starmer pledged that the attacks would bring a “swift and visible” criminal justice response. Mahmood said that she's treating antisemitism as “an emergency,” describing it as the top security issue she faced.

The government announced 25 million pounds ($34 million) for more police patrols and protection around synagogues, schools and community centers, and Starmer said that the courts would speed up sentencing on antisemitic attacks as a deterrent.

But some Jews and others say the government has allowed an atmosphere of antisemitism to grow. They say pro-Palestinian protests, held regularly since October 2023, have gone beyond criticism of Israel's actions to foster an atmosphere of intimidation and hatred against Jews.

The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some say chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite anti-Jewish hatred. Some protesters have been arrested for displaying support for Hamas, a banned organization in the U.K.

Jonathan Hall, the government’s former reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for pro-Palestinian marches to be temporarily banned, saying they had helped “incubate” antisemitism.

The leader of the opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, backed calls for a ban, saying the marches “are used as a cover for violence and intimidation against Jews.”

The government hasn't backed a ban, but Starmer said that protesters who used the phrase “globalize the intifada” — seen by some as a call for attacks on Jews — should be prosecuted.

Starmer said that the government would fast-track powers “to tackle the malign threat posed by states like Iran — because we know for a fact that they want to harm British Jews."

The massive retail chain is breaking out of its no-frills service model by staffing its beauty aisles with trained specialists who can suggest foundation shades to match a shopper's skin tone or knows about a moisturizer trending on TikTok.

The roles were filled at 22 stores in Arkansas and Texas in recent months, and Walmart expects to have them in more than 400 of its 4,600 namesake U.S. stores by year-end.

The addition of “beauty experts” comes as Walmart, rival Target, specialty chains like Sephora and department stores all are vying for a bigger slice of the $129 billion U.S. beauty and personal care market, including by offering customized advice and playful, interactive spaces to encourage consumers to shop in person as well as online.

A year ago, Walmart set up areas in 40 stores where customers could sample makeup and speak with beauty advisors. The pilot “beauty bar” concept is now in hundreds of stores, according to Vinima Shekhar, vice president of beauty merchandising for Walmart’s U.S. division. As part of plans to remodel 650 locations by the end of the year, the company is moving beauty departments to the front of stores and installing displays to showcase products getting attention on social media.

“We’re not trying to be an Ulta or Sephora,” Shekhar told The Associated Press. “We have the breadth of assortment that no one else has. We have convenience that no one else has. What we also then want to do is layer on a level of service for both our associates and our customers: ‘Here’s what trending. Here’s what’s new.’”

The importance of a human touch

Department stores and beauty product chains always have employed people to assist customers with testing and buying cosmetics. Pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens added beauty experts to many of their locations in the last decade or so. Walmart's decision to join them highlights how retailers with physical stores rely on a human touch to distinguish themselves from online shopping platforms and AI chatbots.

Walmart has added more premium brands to its beauty assortment in the last year, including French pharmacy skin care brand La Roche Posay, Australian natural makeup brand Nude by Nature, and FHI Heat hair tools. They are not cheap. Some La Roche Posay sunscreens cost just under $40 for 1.7 oz.

The beauty refresh is part of a broader Walmart initiative to upgrade its merchandise and ambience as it attracts higher-income shoppers. Customers who buy higher-end products and not only everyday skin and hair staples are looking for inspiration when they shop, Shekhar said.

Target announced in early March that it planned to expand its assortment of upscale beauty products and to deploy staff members with enhanced product expertise this fall in 600 stores. In those stores, a new department called Target Beauty Studio will partly replace in-store Ulta shops. As part of a Target partnership ending in August, Ulta had beauty consultants in Target stores.

Experts providing enhanced customer service may become a feature in other departments of mass market retail stores. Whitney Hunt, vice president of Walmart's U.S. operations, notes there could be other departments like electronics that could benefit from experts.

Target began launching a “baby boutique” experience last month in nearly 200 stores where a concierge helps shoppers find products registries created by expectant parents.

Advice that's in demand

While artificial intelligence threatens to eliminate jobs across industries, online job postings for beauty experts and beauty advisers remained fairly stable between February 2020 and this month, according to Cory Stahle, an economist with the research arm of jobs site Indeed. Online postings for both marketing and software development jobs fell more than 20% in the same period, Indeed said.

The median wage for beauty expert roles was $19.54 per hour in March, roughly $2 more than the hourly wage for all other retail jobs, according to Indeed data. Walmart said its beauty experts can earn $14 to $35 an hour, depending on the store location. That's similar to the hourly range of $14 to $37 for all of Walmart's hourly workers, the company said.

Walmart's beauty advisers undergo a day of training at a company academy and receive ongoing instruction on products, seasonal trends and working with customers. They don't apply products on shoppers or do makeovers, unlike some of the employees at department stores and specialty beauty chains.

Walmart is providing online tools to help the advisers understand the beauty department's top-selling brands and how their store compares with the business generated in other Walmart locations, Hunt said.

Helena Bacon, 21, a University of Arkansas junior studying biology, said the training she had last fall made her feel more empowered to help customers. Before then, she helped out in the area that covers pharmacy, health and personal care items like basic shampoos and toothpaste of a store in Fayetteville and occasionally helped customers find items in the beauty area.

Bacon said she now understands product ingredients, knows how to identify lipstick shades that flatter different customers and is on top of TikTok trends.

“I was kind of everywhere before,” she said. “But now that I’m just in my section, if someone does come up to me and asks for a recommendation for something, ... I could go over with them into that section and say, 'This what I know is good for the problem you’re trying to fix.'”

The move now thrusts political newcomer Graham Platner, an oyster farmer almost no one knew a year ago, as the expected Democratic front-runner against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose seat Democrats are targeting in their effort to win control of the closely divided Senate.

“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else – the fight – to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources," Mills said in a statement. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.”

Mills, a two-term governor and longtime Maine politician, was seen as one of Democrats' top 2026 recruits when she entered the Senate race last year. She had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and prominent left-leaning advocacy groups hoping to unseat Collins in the chamber, which has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.

But Mills struggled to outshine first-time candidate Platner, her opponent in the June 9 Democratic primary. Platner has maintained strong popularity despite facing controversy over past comments he made online and a tattoo he had that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.

Mills did not endorse Platner in her campaign suspension announcement but instead promised to keep defending the Constitution and democracy while she's governor for the remainder of her term.

Meanwhile, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, said they would work with Platner to defeat Collins.

“Our North Star is winning a Democratic Senate majority, and over the past year, Senate Democrats have carved out multiple paths to do that,” their statement said.

Democrats debate how to win back some power

The contest between Platner and Mills was part of a broader debate within the Democratic Party over how best to defeat Republicans and win back some power in President Donald Trump's Washington, where the GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.

While Schumer backed Mills, his caucus did not fall in line.

Platner is backed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. He said during a Thursday news conference that he hopes to work with Mills to “turn the seat blue again” in November.

“We both got into this race because we knew how critical it is to defeat Susan Collins, and her decision today reflects a commitment to that project,” Platner said.

Mills had tried to convince voters that she was the best candidate to stand up to Trump, repeatedly noting she told the president she would see him in court, a reference to Maine officials' lawsuit against the Trump administration over federal funding and a dispute over transgender athletes in sports.

Yet the message appeared at times drowned out by the popularity Platner attracted on the campaign trail. His events have attracted thousands of supporters as he pitched his populist message and flooded airwaves with his ads. He consistently outraised Mills every step of the way, raising $4 million while Mills raised $2.6 million in the latest fundraising quarter. Collins raised $3.1 million but has $10 million in the bank.

Age also became an issue in the race, as some Democrats want younger candidates to lead the party going forward. Mills is 78, while Platner is 41. Collins is 73.

“I’m sure this was a difficult decision for Governor Mills, and I thank her for her decades of service to the people of Maine,” Collins said in a statement.

So far this year, Democrats have largely avoided messy internal fights in their bid to retake the Senate. The Maine race was an exception, and with Mills’ decision, the Michigan Democratic primary could be the most heated campaign this year. Abdul El-Sayed, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow are locked in a competitive race there ahead of the August primary.

Many political observers initially anticipated that it would be Platner, not Mills, who would be forced to bow out of the race.

Questions about Platner

Platner has been dogged by questions about the skull-and-crossbones tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol that he said he got on his chest during a night of drinking while on military leave in Croatia. He has said the tattoo has been covered to no longer reflect that image. Additionally, there have been lingering questions from Democrats and Republicans about inflammatory comments he made in old online postings, which he has since disavowed.

Yet, Platner's willingness to talk and apologize about his past mistakes has helped propel his favorability.

Republicans had already begun attacking Platner ahead of Mills' campaign suspension announcement, pointing to his old social media posts that were dismissive of sexual assault. Among the posts, Platner once wrote on Reddit that people shouldn’t get so drunk “they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to.”

With Mills' departure, the GOP will only further attempt to paint Platner as a radical candidate.

“I think what that does is it tees up a race for Susan Collins against a very extreme radical Democrat who has views that are completely out of the mainstream from the people of Maine," Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Thursday.

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This story has been corrected to show a reference to the candidate’s name should be Platner, not Plater.

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Kruesi reported from Providence. R.I. Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed from Washington.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

The appeal filed Wednesday was a response to a March 16 court order that blocked the decision by President Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV, a respiratory virus.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy's order also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee.

The judge's order remains in effect while the appeal is considered.

The government's one-sentence filing did not say why the block should be lifted. U.S. health officials did not immediately comment on the filing, or respond to a question about why they waited six weeks to file an appeal.

The appeal is the latest development in a lawsuit filed in July by the American Academy of Pediatrics and some other medical groups. The lawsuit in federal court in Boston originally focused on Kennedy’s decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.

The lawsuit was updated as Kennedy took more steps that alarmed medical societies, causing the plaintiffs to ask Murphy to take steps to address those policy changes too.

For example, the plaintiffs amended the lawsuit to stop the scaling back of the nation’s childhood vaccination schedule. They also asked the court to look at Kennedy’s actions concerning the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises public health officials on what vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients.

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official, fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices.

Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Joe Biden, said Kennedy’s reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. The judge ordered the appointments — and all decisions made by the reformulated committee — put on hold.

Earlier this month, the Republican administration updated the committee's charter to broadens qualifications for panel members in ways that would allow the inclusion of Kennedy allies. That move did not resolve the legal challenge, according to Richard Hughes IV, a lawyer representing the pediatrics group.

Hughes this week said he was disappointed that the government decided to appeal but said he expected to prevail. He pledged to bring an end to Kennedy's “steady destruction of vaccine policy and public health.”

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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.

But one distinguished guest — even if his fleeting stop consisted of a three-and-a-half-minute speech — brought a buzz that had some members of high society lining up along velvet ropes and craning their necks inside Christie's New York auction house. That would be King Charles III, who made his first appearance in the five-year history of the event supporting his nonprofit that helps young people find work.

The excitement was evident from the red carpet. Charlotte Tilbury, the British cosmetics entrepreneur, asked Martha Stewart, who wore a sparkling blue dress, if she would tell Charles that she wore “royal blue just for you.” Natasha Poonawalla — the executive director of the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer — said “everyone's been waiting for him."

“I think the fact that he’s here is going to strengthen the presence of the foundation so much more," Poonawalla said.

It appears so. Organizers reported a record fundraising total exceeding $3 million, affirming hopes that the arrival of the monarch and Queen Camilla might boost the sum collected Wednesday as the nonprofit tries to establish an endowment for its work in the United Kingdom and deepen its relationships in more than two dozen countries.

Charles is wrapping up the first visit to the U.S. since his coronation, a four-day trip intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence from Britain and strengthen the countries' fraying relationship.

The King's Trust counts 1.5 million people worldwide who have been reached in some way by its education and employment programs over the past 50 years. In brief remarks before guests sat for dinner, Charles noted that many of their beneficiaries return to support disadvantaged young people much like themselves.

“Only now do quite a lot of them actually admit they were started (here),” he joked.

Edward Enninful, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue and a co-chair of the gala, has seen the trust's impact in West London. He said his cousins and brothers have been able to make something of their lives despite being classed by society as “not worthy.”

He described Charles' appearance as the nonprofit's “glory moment."

“He’s set the example that philanthropy matters," Enninful told The Associated Press. "No matter how well you are doing, you’re not doing enough unless you’re passing it on to a newer generation.”

The event was more intimate than previous years with just about 160 guests. There weren't musical performances either; Richie informed guests from the get-go that he wouldn't be singing, prompting Charles to joke that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer “must gargle with port.” Other attendees included supermodels Karlie Kloss and Iman, actors Leo Woodall and Meghann Fahy as well as designers Donatella Versace and Stella McCartney.

Stewart recalled her own luck as she built a multi-million-dollar media empire centered around cooking, entertaining and homemaking. The lifestyle entrepreneur said she paid for her “fine education” through scholarships. And she was fortunate that all of her jobs were “excellent.”

“But I know today there’s a big challenge in getting a good job, a big challenge in getting a good education,” she said. "And we’re here to help those people.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Teachers are using it to create lesson plans and grade papers. Marketing professionals are harnessing it to work a room and learn about the needs of potential clients. Product managers are asking AI to serve as an interpreter when technical conversations went over their heads in meetings.

Some people who employ AI tools are concerned that widespread use of the technology could erode critical thinking skills, especially among children. They also caution that AI-assisted work needs to be checked carefully because the tools have been known to hallucinate and make mistakes.

Here are some ways that people with a range of jobs use artificial intelligence to save time and generate ideas.

Unpacking jargon

One creative way Kristin Moore, a technical product manager at PERQ, a digital marketing platform for property management companies, uses AI is to help ensure she understands her colleagues’ technically advanced conversations. If she’s in a meeting and engineers talk through a topic in a way that she doesn't grasp, she can upload the recorded conversation through Claude, AI assistant built by Anthropic, and ask it to summarize what she needs to do to follow up.

“It picks up on all of that terminology that I don’t understand, and it can simplify it into something that I can consume,” Moore said.

She also asks the AI tool to read through emails, support tickets, recorded meetings and conversations to determine what her clients would like her company to build.

“It’s definitely freed up hours and hours of my week,” Moore said.

Grading papers

Kyle Weimar, an elementary school teacher for Charter Schools USA, serves as coordinator of a Florida school’s multi-tiered support system, a position that involves creating plans to help children performing at the bottom 20% of the student population.

In that role, he uploads test scores, report cards and health information into his school district's AI tool. Then he asks it before meetings to help brainstorm what the district can do to help each child.

Weimar has also used AI to grade papers. He says he can upload 100 to an AI agent, give it a scoring guide, and let it grade and give students instant feedback. “I can do that in 30 minutes, whereas it would have taken me a week before,” he said.

Teachers are really overwhelmed with work, “so any tools that we can use to make that a little bit more viable, we’re really excited about using,” Weimar said.

Working a room

Ashley Smith, head of marketing at HireQuest, a staffing and recruiting company with about 400 franchises, used Claude to build a dashboard that analyzes website traffic data and social media trends. It reports what the HireQuest’s followers are reacting to or ignoring, and Smith uses the information to inform franchisees about how to win more business, she said.

When members of her sales team attended a huge manufacturing trade show recently, she asked them to take screenshots of the companies they wanted to pursue. She uploaded the images to an AI platform and prompted it to build a list including company names and, based on press releases and stock reports, insights on what their staffing needs might be over the next 18 to 24 months.

The hours Smith said she saved by handing off that research task to AI let her spend more one-on-one time with her franchisees.

“AI has not replaced anything. It’s only expanded what we’re able to offer to our franchisees,” Smith said. “It allows us to do things that, candidly, we just weren’t able to deliver even as short as two years ago.”

Rebranding the Brawny paper towel man

A design leader at Georgia Pacific, the pulp and paper company that makes Dixie cups, Quilted Northern toilet paper and other consumer products, says he uses AI to create quick visuals. When brainstorming how to modernize the Brawny paper towel brand, for example, Andrew Markle said his team asked AI to depict what the man shown on their packaging would look like with a longer or shorter beard.

Using AI helped people on the team review ideas more quickly, and the tool also offered predictions for how target consumers might respond, Markle said.

“It’s not replacing the creative eye of what’s good and what’s appropriate for our business,” Markle said. “Ultimately, we knew we were going to partner with our ad agency. We have an illustrator that’s going to do the final vision.”

Creating quizzes to help learn material

Kenneth Lynch, a special education coach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, teaches developmentally disabled students life skills to help them live independently. He uses AI to develop quizzes as learning materials. For example, when he was working with a student who wanted to pursue automotive work, Lynch uploaded a book of mechanical instructions to an AI tool that generated quizzes for each chapter.

He is more reluctant to trust AI when it comes to soliciting guidance on psychological conditions. “When I look up different types of diagnosis and try to connect comorbid diagnoses together, it really struggles with understanding how those fit together,” Lynch said.

Preparing for meetings and drafting emails

Ravi Pendse, the University of Michigan's chief information officer, has used AI to prepare for meetings by asking the tool to predict what questions he might get asked.

“It has made me a lot more efficient,” Pendse said. “It gives me more time to focus on my own mental health and wellness.”

The University of Michigan also created an AI tutor that professors can tailor to help students with coursework material around-the-clock, he said. But Pendse is mindful to use AI responsibly.

“We all should be thinking about how we ensure that AI does not erode our critical thinking skills, especially those of our children,” Pendse said. “As we grew up, we learned from our mistakes. We wrote bad papers, and we got better.”

One way that Bob Jones, the university's assistant vice president of emerging technology and support services, uses AI is making sure his emails are succinct enough for the intended audience.

“If I'm communicating about a particularly sticky topic, I want to make sure that I’m neutral and thoughtful,” Jones said. “So the idea of really assessing how I’m presenting myself, AI is really good at that.”

Understanding customer needs

The marketing director at SumnerOne, a company that delivers printers, copiers, and IT services, asks her AI tool to help create email campaigns, social media posts and slide decks. Natalie Blythe said she also uses it to help understand her ideal customers.

For example, when aiming to sell printing services to universities, she asked chatGPT, an AI tool created by OpenAI, to create a probable demographic profile of an admissions director at a university. Then she asked it to predict what the director's top five problems might be and to identify ways her company's products could help solve them.

“When it first started up, I was in the camp of, ‘Oh my God, this is the end for us,'” Blythe said about the early days of AI. But rather than just fear it, she dug in and started learning.

“The efficiencies gained out of it have been tremendous," she said.

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Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

At about 8 p.m., crews were called to Pine Crest Lane for the report of a house fire and arrived to find black smoke and heavy flames coming from the home.

Several units responded, with units working for hours to battle the fire and bring it under control. Tankers were used to shuttle water to and from the scene, as well as foam to cover the debris and prevent any remaining hot spots from flaring up.

Officials say the home is a total loss, and the Red Cross will be assisting the family. Fortunately, everyone made it out safely, and no one was hurt.

“Thank you to all the agencies that responded and helped! Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they navigate through this difficult time,” the Concord Volunteer Fire Department said.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.3% from 6.23% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s still down from one year ago, when the rate averaged 6.76%.

The increase ends a three-week slide, bringing the average rate back to where it was two weeks ago.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also moved higher this week. That average rate rose to 5.64% from 5.58% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.92%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.

This week’s uptick in the average rate on a 30-year home loan follows a rise in the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.39% in midday trading on the bond market Thursday, up from 4.34% a week ago. The yield was at just 3.97% in late February, before the war with Iran broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage had slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It's hasn’t fallen below that threshold again in the weeks since the conflict in the Middle East began, sending energy prices soaring and heightening worries about higher inflation.

Bond yields, and mortgage rates, have remained volatile as the conflict drags on.

High oil prices helped push the Federal Reserve to announce Wednesday that it’s continuing to hold off on cuts to interest rates.

The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys.

While lower rates could give the economy a boost, they simultaneously risk worsening inflation, which could in turn lead to higher mortgage rates.

The U.S. housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes were essentially flat last year, stuck at a 30-year low. They have remained sluggish so far this year, declining in January and February and March from a year earlier.

Even with its recent swings, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage remains nearly half a percentage point below what it was a year ago.

Still, the mortgage rate uncertainty has clouded the outlook for the spring homebuying season, traditionally the busiest stretch of the year for the housing market.

A recent measure of pending U.S. home sales, which tracks when a buyer signs a contract to buy a home, showed a mixed picture of the housing market.

Pending home sales rose 1.5% compared to February, but fell 1.1% compared to March last year, the National Association of Realtors reported earlier this week. There’s usually a month or two lag between a contract signing and when the sale is finalized, which makes pending home sales a bellwether for future completed home sales.

“There are some signs of life among buyers, as pending sales have inched up ever so slightly over the past four weeks,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “But the fact remains that we are not going to see rates fall below 6% anytime soon, and the spring housing market is going to be much more subdued than forecasts suggested at the end of last year.”

He just didn’t yet know her name.

“He goes, ‘you know the young girl from ‘House of the Dragon’? The young queen or princess? That’s how I picture it, like a young punk rock girl who is just totally badass and tough,’” Safran told The Associated Press. “I was like, yeah, that sounds fantastic, and we haven’t seen that before.”

Milly Alcock, now 26, had just started to break out playing Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (later portrayed by Emma D’Arcy) in the “Game of Thrones” prequel, when she got a request for a self-tape for the secretive Supergirl project. Alcock had been working in her native Australia since she was a teenager, but her world was suddenly getting bigger very quickly.

A few weeks later, she was summoned for a screen test (her first ever). She boarded a 24-hour flight from Sydney to Atlanta and gave it her best shot.

“I kind of had a feeling, I remember I like got back to my hotel room and I like sat down and I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna, something’s gonna happen,’” Alcock said. “I just had like an intuition that like, this is going to be a very exciting challenge if it goes in my favor.”

‘This is crazy, what have I done?’

Ten days later, Gunn texted her an article in the trade publication Deadline: “‘Supergirl’: New Woman Of Steel Is ‘House Of The Dragon’s’ Milly Alcock.” No phone call. No context. And all she could think was, “This is crazy, what have I done?” A few days later, she was back on that 24-hour flight to film her cameo in “Superman.”

And things have not slowed down. If shooting the film was a marathon of stunts and action and emotion, the promotion of new DC’s second major film is going to be its own non-stop ride.

When Alcock spoke to the AP earlier this month, she had just arrived in Las Vegas from Kyoto, where she was filming another movie, and on just two hours of sleep had to muster the energy to get up on stage in front of thousands of movie theater owners to hype “Supergirl,” which is out June 26.

“It’s a really original and unique take on a superhero movie,” Safran said. “I think it’s just a great movie for audiences. It’s not just for superhero fans.”

‘She’s just that girl’

The character might be less widely known than her famous cousin, but the response to her appearance in “Superman” was encouraging.

“She’s in the ‘Superman’ movie for, you know, 12 seconds, yet one of the things audiences wanted to see ... more of was her,” Safran said. “And Millie in real life, she’s just that girl … she is authentically a badass.”

Perhaps part of the intrigue is that she’s not straightlaced Superman, who got to be raised by loving and gentle parents on earth. Supergirl saw her planet destroyed and everyone she knew killed and had to fend for herself.

Directed by Craig Gillespie, best known for two other films about complicated young women, “I, Tonya” and “Cruella,” this film finds the jaded Kara on an intergalactic odyssey with Krypto the Superdog and a young woman seeking revenge against the murderous Krem of the Yellow Hills.

“Kara surprisingly reminded me a lot of myself, which I never thought I would get from playing like a superhero, from playing someone who isn’t human. There’s a lot humility in her and that kind of made me fall in love with her immediately,” Alcock said. “Sometimes you can get swept up in what other people expect, and then you kind of lose your intrinsic you-ness. And that’s why people hire you in the first place, because of what you bring to something just innately being who you are.”

‘Why would someone have a toy of my face?’

Alcock didn’t grow up a big film fan, but in acting found a lifeline and an outlet to communicate feelings that she struggled to in real life. It helps her exist as a person, she said.

Recently, Alcock has been living in London, where she said she has a great group of friends, none of whom are actors. And she’s adjusting to the reality that her face is going to be everywhere for a bit.

“It’s been kind of disorientating,” she said. “I do this job because it gives me the ability to disappear. So then to like suddenly be so visible and so exposed is a very vulnerable experience. I’m just trying to learn how to deal with that relationship. But I mean, it’s exciting. Of course it’s exciting. But like anything exciting, it’s also terrifying.”

When she was on the “Superman” set, she remembered talking to David Corenswet briefly and realizing that they had very different perspectives about the experience.

“I remember him being like, ‘We’re gonna have action figures, isn’t that cool?’” she said. “And I was like, ‘That’s so weird. Why would someone have a toy of my face?’”

These drones — used widely in the war in Ukraine — are small, hard to track and lethal. Drones killed an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon and injured at least a dozen others in northern Israel on Thursday, two seriously. A soldier and defense contractor were killed in Lebanon earlier this week.

Many drones are susceptible to electronic jamming by air defenses. Jamming can cause a drone to crash or return to its point of origin.

Fiber-optic drones are not piloted via GPS signals or radio control. They have a thin cable spooling out behind them that connects the operator's console directly to the drone, making it impossible to electronically jam.

The drones are not infallible because the wind — or other drones — can cause the cables to tangle.

But, “if you know what you’re doing, it’s absolutely deadly,” said Robert Tollast, a drone expert and researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, explaining how the drone can fly low and creep up on a target.

Experts say militaries must either intercept the drones, which is difficult due to their small size and short flight path, or find a way to snip the nearly invisible cable.

Hezbollah — the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon — announced it has been using the fiber optic drones on Israeli soldiers operating in southern Lebanon or towns on the border.

Here’s a closer look at these weapons.

A new weapon with a long trail

An Israeli military official told AP the fiber optic drones are a relatively new threat during the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah. Hezbollah seems to have turned to them because Israeli air defenses have been successful against larger and more powerful rockets, missiles and other drones, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.

Israel believes the drones are made locally and are easy to produce – requiring little more than an off-the-shelf drone, a small amount of explosives, and transparent wire that is readily available on the consumer market, he said.

He called the drones the biggest threat to troops inside Lebanon but said the Israeli military is working on technological solutions. In the meantime, Israel is taking measures on the ground to defend troops, such as adding nets and cages to military vehicles.

The fiber-optic drones are the latest part of a cat-and-mouse race as Israel’s high-tech defenses race to intercept new threats, especially ones that are less sophisticated.

Ran Kochav, a former head of the Israeli military’s air defense command, said Israel is failing in its attempts to defend against the fiber-optic drones.

“They fly very low and very fast, and they are very small, it’s very difficult to detect them, and even after they’re detected, they are really hard to track,” he said.

Kochav said Israel spent years focusing on strengthening its air defense systems to improve protection against rockets and missiles. But drones were not seen as a top priority.

He said Israel should have been following the advances in fiber-optic drones in the war in Ukraine and assumed that like Russia, other Iranian allies would eventually use them.

A technology race in the war in Ukraine

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Moscow and Kyiv have been engaged in a race to develop new technology.

Russia pummels Ukraine almost nightly with Shahed long-range attack drones — originally from Iran. Although Moscow has made many improvements to the drones, some can still be taken down by electronic jamming.

Fiber-optic drones were developed to get around that problem — although they do not have the same range as a drone that uses a radio link or artificial intelligence to navigate.

In some cases, fiber-optic drones have been recorded with cables extending as far as 31 miles (50 kilometers) said Tollast, the expert in London.

Russia and Ukraine are using many different types of drones “at a phenomenal scale,” he said.

In Ukraine, some fields are coated with drone cables

The fiber-optic drones are in such wide use that footage shows front-line Ukrainian towns coated with shiny, fishing line-like strings, resembling massive spiderwebs shimmering in the sunlight.

Israel has sufficient firepower to intercept drones, but the key is early detection, Kochav said.

He explained that Israel already has suitable technology that tracks changes in light, identifies signals and communications, and can recognize the sound of drone propellers.

But he said these monitoring systems haven’t been widely deployed along the northern border.

Hezbollah has posted videos of the new drone attacks

Over the past weeks, Hezbollah has aired videos through social media platforms and its Al-Manar TV station of attacks with these new drones, especially against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

These attacks have captured public attention. One attack killed one Israeli soldier and wounded six others, some of them seriously, last weekend. Another attack, on Tuesday, killed an Israeli civilian contractor in southern Lebanon.

In the attack that killed the soldier, Hezbollah issued a video taken by the drone until it exploded in the middle of troops gathering near a vehicle. Another drone was fired at the same location as a military helicopter landed to evacuate the wounded but narrowly missed.

Ali Jezzini, a journalist specializing in security and military affairs who closely follows Hezbollah’s capabilities, estimated that some of the drones used by the group cost between $300 and $400 each. He added that they appear to be manufactured locally using 3D printing technology, in addition to readily available electronic components typically used for civilian purposes but capable of dual-use applications.

Hezbollah announced that it began using fiber-optic guided drones for the first time during the round of fighting that began March 2, after using other types of drones for years.

Israel also has a fleet of drones that carry out surveillance and attacks, though not necessarily with the fiber-optic cables, to target Hezbollah militants.

At a northern Israel home, a drone left coils of cable in the backyard

Zevik Glidai, a 78-year-old math teacher and volunteer ambulance driver, discovered coils of the translucent fiber-optic cables surrounding a drone that crashed into his backyard in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona on April 13.

His house is 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Lebanon border. He was sitting at home when he heard a high-pitched shriek and a small crash. His neighbor yelled that the yard was on fire.

The two of them put out the fire with a garden hose but noticed something new: The destroyed drone was surrounded by loops and curls of a white thread.

“We are very worried about these drones because there's no way to shoot it down, because we can’t detect it,” Glidai said.

He said there was no warning siren before the drone crashed, and the bomb squad that responded called it a miracle that nearly 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives failed to detonate.

“They told me, ‘You have a lot of luck,’” said Glidai, who noted that he's lived through several iterations of Hezbollah weapons in his 48 years in Kiryat Shmona. “They picked up all of the pieces that they could pick up, and they left me a few optical fibers as a keepsake.”

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Mroue reported from Beirut; Burrows from London.

Cole Thomas Allen did not enter a plea during his brief appearance in federal court days after authorities say he ran through a magnetometer at the Washington Hilton while holding a long gun and disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.

Allen was injured during Saturday night's attack but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. Prosecutors have said they believe Allen fired his shotgun at least once and that a Secret Service agent fired five shots. They have not publicly confirmed that it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent’s vest.

In court papers pressing for Allen's continued detention, prosecutors wrote Wednesday that Allen took a picture of himself in his hotel room just minutes before the incident, and that he was outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife. In a message that authorities say sheds light on his motive, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions.

Allen’s lawyers agreed during the brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya to keep their client behind bars for now after initially arguing in court papers that Allen should be released.

In a court filing Wednesday, the defense wrote that the government’s case is “based upon inferences drawn about Mr. Allen’s intent that raise more questions than answers" and noted that Allen’s writings never mentioned Trump by name. The defense left the door open to pressing in the future for Allen’s release before trial.

“The government’s evidence of the charged offense –- the attempted assassination of the president –- is thus built entirely upon speculation, even under the most generous reading of its theory,” defense lawyers wrote.

Allen's lawyers alleged that some of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's statements “indicate that the recovered ballistics evidence is inconsistent with aspects of the government’s theory, evidence collected by the government and/or statements made by witnesses.”

The Justice Department, in response, said the evidence shows Allen fired his shotgun at least once in the Secret Service agent's direction. Investigators recovered at least one fragment at the crime scene that is consistent with a buckshot pellet, prosecutors wrote.

"The government is aware of no physical evidence, digital video evidence, or witness statements that are inconsistent with the theory that your client fired his shotgun in the direction" of the officer or that the officer "was indeed shot once in the chest while wearing a ballistic vest," prosecutors wrote.

Allen was charged on Monday with that crime, as well as two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.

Allen, 31, is from Torrance, California. He is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.

“The sport has changed a lot, the world has changed a lot,” Bottas said Thursday, a day after he discussed his own struggles in an essay for “ The Players' Tribune."

“There's better ways for people to communicate and share their issues, or anything from the past. It's definitely a more welcoming environment for everyone in F1, but I think also the whole world.”

Bottas said he was approached by the outlet late last year and began the process of writing the essay titled “Born Crazy” that was released ahead of the rookie Cadillac team making its North American debut this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix. Bottas, who is from Finland, and Sergio Perez of Mexico are the drivers for the team that considers itself the only true American team in the global series.

He said he agreed to open up to the publication in an effort to show the intense personal battles drivers work through in the ultra-competitive racing world.

“I think it's important to highlight that we're all humans and no one is perfect. Everyone has their struggles or their issues,” Bottas said. “Hopefully somebody can learn from other people's mistakes. Part of life is learning about your mistakes.”

Being a wingman broke Bottas

In the piece, Bottas revealed that during his time as a driver for Mercedes he was pushed to the brink of depression and despised F1 when he was relegated to “wingman” for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. He also disclosed an earlier two-year struggle with an eating disorder.

Bottas spent five seasons as Hamilton’s teammate following a 2017 promotion from Williams.

“First season was good,” he told the Players’ Tribune. “I started the 2018 season thinking that I was the best driver on the grid, and that I was going to win the championship.”

But he instead went winless and sacrificed track position often to help Hamilton win the title.

“Do you know how badly I wanted to just say no?” he said. “But I had to be a good teammate. I let him through, and of course he had an incredible season. He was the champion. I was ‘the wingman.’

“To this day, I have complicated feelings about it. I don’t know how to answer when people ask me about it, because Lewis is an incredible driver and a friend. I have no bad blood with Mercedes ... but the whole situation almost made me walk away from the sport."

The situation nearly broke him mentally.

“The old me came back. The negative Valtteri. The obsessive Valtteri. I was reading too many comments on social media, and I started to become very self-loathing," he said in the essay. "Thankfully, I had the tools from my experience in 2014 to understand what was happening, and I had plenty of support.”

Early career eating disorder

The 2014 reference was to Bottas' battle with an eating disorder that “completely consumed” him.

“It was like a game to me. I’d wake up and weigh myself every morning, and when I’d see the number go down, I’d feel a deep satisfaction," he said. "After two months of spiralling, my nerves were shot. I would wake up at 4 a.m. on my own, no alarm. I was like a drug addict, ‘I’ve never felt better!’ Ha. Completely delusional. The actual reason I was waking up so early was that my body was in starvation mode.”

He said he had struggled to find any joy and was “just so angry and negative about everything.” Bottas said his then-wife asked him if he feared the risks of racing, but he'd become so detached that he told her “‘No. If I die, I die.’”

“At that moment, I realized that I genuinely did not care what happened to me anymore," he revealed. "Not long after that, I decided to get some help. I started seeing a psychologist, and I finally admitted out loud that I was unwell. It took me almost two years to feel like myself again.”

His descent into depression began again in 2018 when it became clear he would only ever be in the shadow of Hamilton.

“I was definitely depressed and burnt out. I hated racing. During that winter break before the 2019 season, I did not think that I was going to come back," he said. "That winter break, I made the decision that I was going to retire. Then I went for a walk one day in the forest. I walked in the deep snow for maybe three hours and I walked out of those woods with a completely different mindset.”

Help is out there

Bottas said Thursday he isn't sure what sort of reaction his essay has received because it had only been released the day prior and he has avoided social media. But he hopes the essay shows others there are resources available and the stigma surrounding mental health has changed.

“The whole sport has evolved a lot. Everything is more professional,” Bottas said. “I also think when it comes to coaching, physical coaching, mental coaching, that level also has gone up. There is more support available. There's better packages for drivers when it comes to mental coaches. I think people are less afraid of seeking for help, seeking for support, because these things are now talked about more.”

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

Prices rose at the fastest pace in almost three years last month, U.S. economic growth is steady and layoffs fell last week, according to a slew of economic data released Thursday.

The inflation gauge favored by the Federal Reserve — the Commerce Department's Personal Consumption Expenditures price index — rose 0.7% from February to March and 3.5% from a year earlier. The year-over-year gain was the biggest since May 2023.

No secret what was driving the increase: Gasoline prices shot up 21% in March from February after Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli attacks by closing the Strait of Hormuz and creating the biggest disruption of oil supplies in history.

The same data showed that prices outgrew American incomes — wages, business income and government benefits — for the second straight month in March.

The Commerce Department also reported Thursday that U.S. gross domestic product — the output of goods and services — grew at a steady 2% annual pace from January through March, slower than economists expected, but a rebound from lackluster 0.5% growth during the final three months of 2025. In the October-December quarter, the 43-day federal government shutdown had slashed more than a percentage point off growth.

Business investment is surging because of the AI boom. Excluding housing, business investment surged 10.4% in the first quarter, biggest jump in nearly three years.

From January through March, consumer spending — accounting for 70% of U.S. economic activity — expanded at a 1.6% annual pace. Americans were helped by big tax refunds, the result of President Donald Trump's 2025 tax cuts.

But the boost might not last long. “Rising tax refunds were outpacing the increased burden of gasoline spending two to one in March and most of April,” wrote Michael Pearce, the chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. "With tax refund season winding down and gas prices still climbing, the hit to consumer spending will become more evident from May.''

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped another 7 cents overnight to $4.30. The price on this date last year was $3.18. In each of the past three days, gasoline prices have set new multi-year highs.

Forced to spend more on gasoline, consumers are likely to cut back their spending on other goods and services. Economists are already expecting GDP to take a hit as they do. Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax and advisory firm, has downgraded his forecast for U.S. economic growth this year to 1.7% from the 2.4% he'd expected earlier.

“A year that was set to benefit from tail winds associated with a large tax cut and boom in artificial intelligence-led investment has been partially derailed by the impact of what as of today is an adverse and growing supply shock caused by the war in Iran,” Brusuelas said. “Unfortunately, war and the supply shock that ensued has altered the probable growth path this year.”

The combination of rising prices — and the threat to economic growth — has put the Fed and other central banks in a bind. Should they cut interest rates to help their economies? Or hold off — or even consider raising rates — to combat the threat of inflation?

So far, they are staying put. The Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold at 3.75% Thursday and hinted of hikes to come as policymakers assess the war's economic impact. Likewise, the Fed, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank, with all opting for no change as they assess the economic fallout from the conflict.

Still, U.S. workers enjoy considerable job security. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits — a proxy for layoffs — tumbled last week to the lowest level in more than 50 years.

Companies aren't letting workers go — but they aren't necessarily eager to hire much either. Job growth last year was the weakest outside a recession since 2002. And it's been up and down so far this year — strong in January (160,000 new jobs) and March (178,000) but weak in February when employers slashed 133,000 jobs.

Economists describe “no-hire, no-fire’’ scenario that locks young applicants out of the job market. At the same time, there are growing worries that AI is taking entry-level jobs.

____

AP Business Writer Matt Ott in Washington contributed to this story.

Hegseth battled with Democrats — and some Republicans — a day earlier during a nearly six-hour House Armed Services Committee hearing, where he faced sharp questioning over the war’s costs in dollars, lives and the diminishing stockpiles of critical weapons.

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hear a similar presentation on the Trump administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion. Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, will again stress the need for more drones, missile defense systems and warships.

Here's the latest:

Sen. Ernst lists accomplishments of ousted top Army uniformed officer

Saying she was “disappointed” to see Gen. Randy George’s retirement “hastened,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa noted that the officer “pulled the Army out of its worst recruiting crisis since the Vietnam era” and trimmed “nonessential” Army positions.

George is one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump returned to office. In early April, the Pentagon said George would be “retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately.”

George had held the post of Army chief of staff, which typically runs for four years, since August 2023.

“He had 38 years of honorable service. He achieved the greatest Army recruitment and modernization effort in a generation,” Ernst said. “So I want to thank him for his service.”

Senators question whether the Pentagon has resources to prevent civilian casualties

Senators wanted to know what the Defense Department is doing to prevent deaths of civilians, especially after outdated intelligence contributed to the U.S. striking an elementary school in Iran and killing over 165 people.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand asked Hegseth, “What is your response to targeting that has resulted in the destruction of schools, hospitals, civilian places? Why did you cut by 90% the division that’s supposed to help you not target civilians?”

Hegseth responded that the Pentagon has an “ironclad commitment” to do more than other countries to prevent civilian deaths.

Still, Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican, continued Gillibrand’s line of questioning. He asked Hegseth whether the Pentagon still has the resources necessary to protect civilians.

Hegseth said it has “every resource necessary” and that humans are kept in the loop when AI is involved in military decisions.

Democratic senator grills defense officials on release of Ukraine funding

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, pushed Hegseth and other defense officials for details on how the Pentagon plans to use $400 million that Congress has allotted for Ukraine.

Hegseth told lawmakers a day earlier that the funding had been released. His actions came after Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, penned an op-ed slamming the delay in releasing the funds.

But Shaheen pointed out that the Pentagon has not given Congress details on how it plans to spend the money. Hegseth told her that it would also be used as part of a program to sell military equipment first to NATO allies.

Shaheen shot back that it “was not the intent of Congress in providing that $400 million.”

The Defense Department’s current budget request includes no funding for Ukraine.

Top defense official confirms Russian involvement in Iran war

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, told senators Russian President Vladimir Putin has aided Iran’s war effort.

He declined to go into details, citing the public nature of the hearing, but said, ”There’s definitely some action there.”

The chair of the committee, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, agreed, saying “there’s no question that Vladimir Putin’s Russia is taking serious action to undermine our efforts for success in Iran.”

Hegseth again has harsh words for critics

“As I said yesterday, and I’ll say it again today, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said in his opening statement to the Senate panel.

Defending Trump’s budget request, Hegseth said the president “inherited a defense industrial base that had been hollowed out by years of America last policies, resulting in a diminished capacity to project strength.”

Similar to his Wednesday remarks to a House committee, Gen. Dan Caine said it was his duty as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman “to ensure our civilian leadership has a comprehensive range of military options and the associated risks required to make the nation’s hardest and most complex decisions.”

Man accused of trying to kill Trump at correspondents’ gala agrees to remain jailed for now

Cole Thomas Allen did not enter a plea during his brief appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Moxila Upadhyaya.

Prosecutors allege Allen planned his attack for weeks and tracked Trump’s movements online before he ran through a magnetometer at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night while holding a long gun and disrupted one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital.

Allen was injured during the attack but wasn’t shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. Prosecutors have said they believe Allen fired his shotgun at least once and that a Secret Service agent fired five shots. They have not publicly confirmed that it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent’s vest.

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Chinese foreign minister speaks with Rubio ahead of Trump’s planned China trip

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and called leader-level diplomacy the “guiding star” of the China-U.S. relations, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

The call came just about two weeks before President Trump plans to travel to China for the first time since 2017 and hold talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Wang credited the “strategic leadership” by Xi and Trump for the overall stability in China-U.S. relations and said both sides should cherish it and well prepare for “high-level interactions.”

Wang urged the U.S. side to make the “right choice” over the Taiwan issue, which he said is the most risky in China-U.S. relations. Beijing considers the self-governed island part of Chinese territory and vows to seize it by force if necessary, while Washington opposes use of force in the Taiwan Strait.

Anti-war protester disrupts Hegseth hearing

A protester in a pink shirt disrupted Hegseth’s opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The man stood, unfurled a hand-written sign and yelled, “Pete Hegseth, you’re a war criminal.”

Within seconds, he was removed by Capitol Police officers. Several other people dressed in similar pink shirts have also left the hearing room.

The committee chair, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, continued the hearing by saying he respected First Amendment rights to free speech, but that anyone who disrupts the hearing would be removed.

Top Democrat on military panel gives sweeping critique of Hegseth’s leadership

Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not hold back in his opening statement directed toward Hegseth.

From the war with Iran to Hegseth’s efforts to remake military culture, Reed dressed down the defense secretary’s actions and warned they could do long-term harm.

Reed argued that the war with Iran has left the U.S. in a worse strategic position than when it was started because the Strait of Hormuz is closed and 13 U.S. military members have been killed. Many others have been injured, and equipment has been destroyed.

“The American people’s trust in our military took 250 years to build. You are dismantling it in a fraction of that time,” Reed concluded.

Panel chairman decries ‘axis of aggressors’ in Hegseth Senate hearing

In opening remarks, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi outlined threats to the United States he said were a “growing alliance” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, saying the current moment represents “the most dangerous security environment since World War II.”

Saying Chinese President Xi Jinping led a “growing alliance” among the countries, Wicker said they shared a goal ”to oppose America’s interests and the interests of other like minded, democratic countries across the globe.”

“Ties have never been closer among these four dictators,” Wicker said. “Among these four dictatorships, they support each other’s aggressive endeavors.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’ll sign redistricting bill when he gets it

The Republican Florida governor told reporters Thursday he would not delay signing the new congressional map the GOP-dominated Legislature passed Wednesday at his and President Trump’s urging.

There had been some speculation that DeSantis could hold the bill for as long as possible — as much as two weeks or so depending on when the Legislature adjourns — to delay when the bill’s critics can file lawsuits challenging the measure.

The new map is intended to help Republicans gain as many as four more U.S. House seats in November, making the GOP advantage in Florida up to 24-4.

DeSantis said Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision curtailing the strength of nonwhite voters in redistricting vindicated his decision to call a special session for what he insists is a “race neutral” map.

Hegseth’s Senate hearing is starting

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sitting before senators in what’s expected to be another fiery hearing on the Hill.

The defense secretary’s hearing is ostensibly to discuss the Pentagon’s $1.5 trillion budget request to Congress, but it’s the first time that senators will get to publicly question him since the Iran War began nearly two months ago. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, is also seated beside Hegseth.

The defense secretary also appeared for a House hearing Wednesday and he drew a large crowd of anti-war protesters to the hallways of the House office building where the hearing was held.

On Thursday, things feel a bit more low-key in the Senate, although there are a handful of people in the hearing room wearing pink shirts that state “Peace with Iran.”

Top Chinese and US trade officials speak ahead of planned state visit

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Thursday spoke by video with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, China’s state media reported, ahead of a planned state visit by President Trump to Beijing in mid-May.

The two sides had a “candid, in-depth and constructive” exchange, the state broadcaster China Central Television said. The Chinese side lodged “solemn concerns” over recent restrictive trade measures imposed by the U.S. on China, but the statement didn’t specify the measures.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a China-based oil refinery and 40 shippers involved in transporting Iranian oil. The U.S. Trade Representative Office this week held a hearing on the use of forced labor in foreign goods.

Trump takes another dig at German leader

The president is continuing to pillory German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who’s been increasingly critical of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.

Trump in a social media post said Merz “should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken Country, especially Immigration and Energy” and less time concerning himself with the Iran war.

The latest criticism by Trump of Merz came the day after the U.S. president announced he was reviewing the U.S. military presence in Germany, a NATO ally that hosts several American military installations.

Trump administration appeals order blocking government from cutting vaccine recommendations

U.S. officials are appealing a judge’s order that blocks the government from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every U.S. child.

Government lawyers on Wednesday filed the one-sentence appeal.

It was a delayed response to a March 16 order by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, who blocked an order by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — announced in January — to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.

Murphy’s order also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee. The stay continues while the appeal is considered.

White House is facing a War Powers Resolution deadline

The Trump administration is constrained by the 1973 law, which requires several notification and approval steps meant to keep a commander-in-chief’s military powers in check.

One of its provisions is that military action authorized by the president must end after 60 days unless Congress has explicitly approved it, or has declared war. That 60-day clock runs out Friday.

One White House official said the administration is in “active conversations” with lawmakers on addressing the deadline, but did not elaborate. The official was granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The administration can request a 30-day extension by telling Congress in writing that there’s a continued need for military action. The White House, which has long stressed that the president is working toward a diplomatic option in Iran, hasn’t indicated publicly whether Trump will seek that extension.

— Seung Min Kim

Trump floats a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz

Under the plan, the United States would continue its blockade on Iranian ports, while coordinating with allies to impose higher costs on Iran’s attempts to subvert the free flow of energy, according to a senior administration official.

Trump is weighing multiple diplomatic and policy options to push Iran to end its chokehold on the waterway, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

— Aamer Madhani

US jobless aid filings fall to 189,000 last week despite multiple economic headwinds and Iran war

U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 by to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, came in at 207,500, about 3,500 lower than the previous week.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 18 fell to 1.79 million, a decrease of 23,000.

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US economy grew 2% from January-March, recovering from last fall’s federal shutdown

But the outlook is clouded by the Iran war.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last three months of 2025. The federal government’s spending and investment grew at a 9.3% annual rate in the first quarter, adding more than half a percentage point to growth after lopping off 1.16 percentage points in fourth-quarter 2025.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025. But business investment, likely driven by investments in artificial intelligence, rose at an 8.7% pace.

Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. That has driven energy prices higher, fueling inflation and hurting consumers.

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A key inflation gauge jumps in March as Iran war-driven gas prices squeeze budgets

It’s the latest sign that the Iran war is pushing up the cost of living and delaying any interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

An inflation gauge monitored by the Fed rose 0.7% in March from February, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, the biggest increase in almost three years.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose 0.3% in March from February, and it was 3.2% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is above February’s reading of 3%.

Rising gas prices have caused inflation to move further away from the Fed’s 2% target, which has caused the central bank to keep its key short-term interest rate unchanged after cutting it three times last year. The Fed typically keeps rates elevated — or even raises them — to combat higher inflation.

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New ‘bluster’ from Trump? Germany faces new threat about reduced US military presence in Europe

President Trump has again threatened that the United States could reduce its military presence in Germany, a key NATO ally and the European Union’s largest economy. Europeans have heard this before.

Trump’s social media post on Wednesday followed comments by Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the U.S. was being “ humiliated ” by Tehran as it slow-walks its diplomacy over the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.

Trump has mused for years about reducing America’s military presence in Germany, and has recently repeatedly railed against NATO for the its refusal to assist the U.S. in its two-month-old war.

U.S. allies at NATO have been waiting for the Trump administration to pull troops out since just after it came to office, warning that Europe would have to look after its own security, and that of Ukraine, in the future.

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Full federal appeals court won’t rehear $83 million defamation verdict against Trump

A divided federal appeals court said Wednesday it won’t grant a rare meeting of its active judges to hear an appeal of an $83 million verdict against President Donald Trump for defaming a magazine advice columnist over an encounter three decades ago.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to reject a so-called “en banc” hearing comes several months after Trump appealed to the Supreme Court another jury’s decision to grant $5 million the writer, E. Jean Carroll, after concluding he had sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in 1996 and later defamed her. The high court hasn’t yet decided whether to hear the case.

Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that her client was “eager for this case, originally filed in 2019, to be over so that she can finally obtain justice.”

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Environmental Protection Agency boss backs big budget cuts but Congress will get the final say

Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of abandoning the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment at a congressional hearing Wednesday, slamming agency leadership over a proposal to cut its budget in half.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s appearance before the Senate environment committee was his last of three budget hearings this week where he argued for sharply reduced funding for the agency, which already has seen its staffing reduced to its lowest level in decades under his leadership. During much of the week, the former Republican congressman from New York took an aggressive approach, responding to Democrats in the House and Senate with his own questions and at times accusing them of being unprepared or failing to care about the EPA’s track record.

Zeldin has eliminated major climate change programs, promoted deregulatory efforts he calls the biggest in American history and canceled billions of dollars in Biden-era environmental justice grants to halt what he calls “EPA’s radical diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.”

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Brent crude surges over $120 a barrel on Iran war worries, while world stocks are mixed

The price of Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 a barrel early Thursday as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war.

Brent crude to be delivered in June jumped 3.3% to $121.90 after briefly soaring past $126 per barrel. Brent to be delivered in July rose 1.4% to $112.02.

Benchmark U.S. crude climbed 1.3% to $108.28 per barrel.

Before the war began in late February, Brent crude was trading around $70 per barrel.

There’s no clear path to an end to the war. The U.S. has continued its blockade of Iranian ports while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, pushing oil prices higher. Reports Thursday suggesting a possible escalation by Trump doused hopes for a quick end to the conflict.

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Wind speeds will make it feel a bit cooler than the actual air temperatures, with gusts around the 20-30 MPH range. Hold onto your hats!

Right now, we are quite breezy in the wake of Wednesday’s cold front. The breeziest areas on Thursday will be the NRV, Roanoke, and Highlands Zones.

We are at least in good company with the below-average temperatures. Much of the country has cool and calm weather today thanks to the Zonal Flow of the upper atmosphere.

We stay cool during the day today and for the rest of the week! It will not be until next week that temperatures rebound into the 70s and 80s. Have a great day!

BET announced Thursday that the 31-year-old comedian and digital creator will lead the ceremony, which airs live June 28 from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Druski surpasses Kevin Hart, who previously held the distinction as the BET Award's youngest host when he emceed in 2011.

“I grew up watching the BET Awards,” Druski said in a statement. “To know the comedic legends that hosted before me set the bar so high, I’m just grateful to be a part of the history. But I’m still bringing my brand of comedy to the stage.”

Best known for his viral sketches and improvisational style, Druski has built a massive following across social media, translating that momentum into sold-out tours and high-profile collaborations with artists including Drake and Snoop Dogg, as well as appearances alongside figures like Tom Brady and Timothée Chalamet.

Druski has been named to Forbes’ Under 30 list and Rolling Stone’s Most Influential Creator list, and in 2025 became the first comedian to cover Billboard’s No. 1s issue.

Now in its 25th year, the BET Awards has long served as a major stage celebrating Black achievement across music, film, television and sports, and is known for its performances, tributes and culturally defining moments.

“As one of the most exciting comedic voices of his generation, Druski brings a unique ability to connect with audiences through humor that feels both fresh and deeply rooted in culture,” said Connie Orlando, BET’s executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy.

The show will be produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, with Jesse Collins,Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay serving as executive producers.

In August 2025, Juan Manuel Torres-Reyes was found guilty of several charges, all of which occurred while the victim was just 11 years old. Those offenses include:

• One count of aggravated sexual battery of a minor less than 13 years of age
• One count of indecent liberties of a child
• One count of object sexual penetration of a minor less than 13 years of age

In total, Torres-Reyes was sentenced to 129 years; however, 114 years were suspended, meaning he will serve 15 years of jail time. He has also been ordered to serve 6 years of probation upon release.

Here’s a breakdown of the charges and their respective sentences:

• Object sexual penetration of a minor less than 13 years of age: 99 years, 89 suspended
• Aggravated sexual battery of a minor less than 13 years of age: 20 years, 16 suspended
• Indecent liberties of a child: 10 years, 9 suspended

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected Union Pacific's initial application as incomplete in January because regulators wanted more details about how the deal would affect the competitive balance between the five remaining major freight railroads and the impact on customers. The STB has 30 days to decide whether to accept this application, and then it will move forward into its detailed review of the deal that will likely last more than a year.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the new application makes an even stronger case for the benefits of the merger that he believes would shave a day or two off the delivery time for many shipments because they would no longer have to be handed off between two railroads in the middle of the country. The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad projects that the merger could lead to shifting 2.1 million truckloads off the highway onto trains, and doing that could save shippers $3.5 billion because over long distances, rail is cheaper than trucking.

Critics that include some current major rail shippers like chemical companies and agricultural groups and two of the major competing railroads worry that the shipping rates existing customers pay could soar if Union Pacific gains monopoly power all across the country. Competitors BNSF and CPKC railroads joined a new coalition Wednesday to highlight concerns that the deal could hurt shippers and eventually consumers if it leads to higher rates for companies that have few options besides rail to get their raw materials and deliver their products.

But Vena said CSX and BNSF are already improving their operations to ensure they can compete ,and shippers will benefit from that if the deal is approved. Plus, he pointed out that since BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway it has the financial resources to do whatever is needed because Berkshire is sitting on nearly $400 billion cash.

“The first few years after this, it’s gonna be like one of those old 15-round boxing fights. Prices are gonna be used, the service is going to be used, everything. And I think the customer’s going to be the winner in all this while we knock down, drag it out, to see who can win and grow their market share,” Vena said.

But the STB established a high bar for major railroad mergers like this one around the turn of the century after past rail mergers snarled freight and led to prolonged disruptions while two railroads worked to integrate their networks. Now Union Pacific has to demonstrate that this deal will enhance competition.

Vena said he's confident the railroads can avoid the integration problems of past mergers because they will take it slow while listening to a new board of customers about the impact. Plus this would be a combination of two successful railroads instead of many deals of the past where one thriving railroad took over another nearly bankrupt one in disrepair.

The deal includes a provision that if the STB requires more than $750 million in concessions Union Pacific can consider walking away, but it won't automatically doom the deal, the railroads disclosed Thursday as they submitted a copy of their merger agreement. Norfolk Southern would be entitled to a $2.5 billion breakup fee if the deal falls apart.

Currently, Norfolk Southern and CSX serve the eastern U.S. while Union Pacific and BNSF serve the west, and the two major Canadian rails compete where they can with their tracks crossing Canada and extending into the United States and Mexico.

A merged Union Pacific would likely control nearly 40% of the nation’s freight, but the railroad said that currently BNSF delivers that much of the nation's freight. So the railroads said the deal would shift which railroad dominates the market but wouldn't dramatically change the competitive balance.

Several trade groups have joined with the unions that represent engineers and track maintenance workers and the other railroads to raise concerns about the deal.

“This did not begin with a customer asking for a UP-NS merger to happen,” BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said. “It’s driven by Wall Street on the promise of a big shareholder payout. It will eliminate competition, raise costs for consumers, and destabilize the supply chain that powers the American economy.”

But the biggest rail union and hundreds of shippers have backed the deal that would cut the number of major freight railroads across America down to five.

Union Pacific has promised that every union employee who has a job with either railroad at the time of the merger will have a job for life although the workforce could still shrink through attrition if the number of shipments slows down. But UP sounded an optimistic note Thursday and predicted that more than 1,200 new jobs will be created by the third year after the deal to handle the increased freight.

Previously, the railroads predicted 900 new jobs. But the new traffic data the railroads analyzed from all the major freight railroads convinced executives that more job growth is likely.

Union Pacific also said it will ensure that the merged railroad will never control more than 50% of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis after competitors questioned that. Currently, UP owns nearly 43% of that railroad that operates 170 miles of track and two bridges over the Mississippi River, and Norfolk Southern owns more than 14%. Previously, Union Pacific had suggested temporarily becoming the majority owner of that railroad as part of the transition after the merger.

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The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail earlier this month from Barcelona. Organizers have said more than 70 boats and 1,000 people from around the world would be participating, with more vessels joining the original boats as the flotilla sailed east across the Mediterranean.

According to the ships’ tracker published on the activist group’s website, 22 vessels were intercepted in international waters west of the southern Greek island of Crete, while a further 36 were still sailing midday on Thursday.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X that it was taking about 175 activists from more than 20 boats participating in the flotilla to Israel. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar later wrote on X that the activists would be transferred to Greece in coordination with Greek authorities.

“All participants in the provocative flotilla who were taken off the vessels were taken off unharmed,” Saar wrote.

The flotilla condemned Israel’s interception as “a dangerous and unprecedented escalation.”

“The abduction of civilians in the middle of the Mediterranean, over 600 miles from Gaza, in full view of the world,” the group said in a press release.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the seizure as “an act of piracy” and said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the raid over the phone with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares Bueno.

Spain summoned the Israeli charge d’affaires in Madrid “to convey its strongest condemnation of the detention of the flotilla,” which included Spanish citizens, the ministry said in a statement.

Italy and Germany said they were following developments with “great concern” and called for international law to be respected and for “restraint from irresponsible actions."

In a post on Telegram, Hamas also condemned the interception, accusing Israel of committing a crime without accountability and calling for the release of those detained.

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.

Israel had thwarted previous efforts to break its blockade

The activists' attempt comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled a previous effort by the group to reach Gaza. That attempt involved about 50 vessels and around 500 activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers.

Israel arrested, detained and later deported the participants, who claimed Israeli authorities abused them while in detention. Israeli authorities denied the accusations.

The Israeli action had raised questions about what any nation can legally do to enforce a blockade in international waters. Several world leaders and human rights groups had condemned Israel, saying it violated international law.

Previous efforts to breach the blockade have also failed. In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, which had been participating in an aid flotilla attempting to reach Gaza. Nine Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American on board were killed. The last time an activist boat succeeded in reaching the strip was in 2008.

Activists say Israeli forces boarded and disabled the boats

The Sumud Flotilla described the interception as a “violent raid in international waters.” In a social media post, the group said that “after smashing engines and destroying navigation arrays, the military retreated— intentionally leaving hundreds of civilians stranded on powerless, broken vessels directly in the path of a massive approaching storm.”

It also said the vessels' communications had been jammed, hindering them from signaling for help. Asked about the accusations, the Israeli military declined to comment.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oren Marmorstein said that “early action was required in accordance with international law” due to the large number of vessels in the flotilla. “The operation was carried out in international waters peacefully and without any casualties,” he said.

Marmostein accused the Hamas militant group in Gaza of being the “driving force” behind the flotilla, “with the aim of sabotaging (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump’s peace plan transition to its second phase and intended to divert attention from Hamas’ refusal to disarm.”

Activists in Greece said they planned a protest rally Thursday afternoon outside the Greek foreign ministry in Athens, saying Israel's interception of the boats occurred within the maritime zone that falls under Greece's responsibility for search and rescue operations and that the country's coast guard had not reacted.

Flotilla aims to draw attention to the situation in Gaza

A fragile six month-old ceasefire in Gaza has halted the most intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants in the Palestinian enclave. But despite the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed more than 790 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Overall, the health ministry says 72,300 Palestinians had been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel

The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.

Around 2 million Gaza residents are still living in ruins with shortages of food and medicine, and only limited aid entering through a single, Israeli-controlled border post.

Flotilla organizers have said they hope their latest attempt to reach Gaza will help highlight the living conditions endured by Palestinians in the territory, particularly as global attention has shifted its focus to the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.

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Associated Press writers Natalie Melzer in Mitzpe Hila, Israel, Cinar Kiper in Istanbul and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

But beneath these panels is lush pasture instead of gravel, enjoyed by a small herd of cattle that spends its days munching grass and resting in the shade.

Silicon Ranch, which owns the 40-acre farm in Christiana, outside of Nashville, believes cattle-grazing is the next frontier in so-called agrivoltaics, which mostly has involved growing crops or grazing sheep beneath the panels.

The solar company debuted the project this week and will spend the next year working to demonstrate to farmers that much larger cattle also can thrive at solar sites. If successful, advocates say, that could jump-start new projects to meet the soaring electricity demand driven by rapidly expanding data centers — without contributing climate-warming carbon emissions — and help cattle producers hold onto their land and livelihoods.

“Solar is one of the most powerful tools we have for cutting emissions and ... is cost-competitive with fossil fuels,” said Taylor Bacon, a doctoral student at Colorado State University who has studied ecological outcomes at solar grazing sites. “I think we’re starting to see enough research that, when you do it well, the land use can be more of an opportunity than a downside."

Making room for cattle

Though there are far more cattle than sheep in the U.S., their size poses challenges at solar sites, where both expensive equipment and the animals, which can weigh more than half a ton, must be protected.

Solar panels often pivot to near-vertical angles to capture the sun’s rays, leaving little room underneath for cattle; simply raising the panels is cost-prohibitive because of the amount of steel required. So Silicon Ranch raised the panels a little but also developed software that workers activate to turn the panels close to horizontal when cattle are grazing, giving them room to wander, said Nick de Vries, the company's chief technology officer.

Workers rotate the cattle — currently 10 cows and their calves — between paddocks every few days so panels on the ungrazed portion of the site operate normally, generating a supply of roughly 5 megawatts of electricity for Middle Tennessee Electric, a rural electric co-op.

The hope is that the technology eventually will be adopted more broadly, company officials said.

“We know it works," said de Vries. "But you need to prove it to other people."

What are the benefits for farmers?

For solar companies, agricultural land is generally easier to develop than other types of sites. But many farmers — and communities — will need to be convinced that solar grazing will benefit them because of past practices that destroyed topsoil and took land out of production permanently.

"For many agricultural stakeholders, it is offensive to see high-quality farmland getting graded and piled when that’s a farm family’s legacy,” said Ethan Winter, national smart solar director at American Farmland Trust.

But he sees potential for solar grazing partnerships to help farmers keep their land in production and earn extra income at a time when it's increasingly difficult to earn money farming and ranching alone.

“Agriculture is in a really tough spot right now" including because of trade wars, climate extremes, increased costs and pressure to sell, Winter said. "So maybe this is our moment where we can be helping states meet their energy needs and do that in a way that’s providing new opportunities for farmers.”

Silicon Ranch this year will have almost 15,000 acres of pasture being grazed — mostly by sheep — since launching five years ago, and is working with ranchers, farmers, university researchers and others to adopt best-practices for keeping soils and animals healthy.

What they're finding is that pasture beneath solar panels retains more moisture, making it more drought tolerant, said Anna Clare Monlezun, a rancher and rangeland ecosystem scientist who's working on the Tennessee project. Grazing in the shade leaves animals less prone to heat stress, enabling them to gain more weight and drink less water.

“There are more win-wins than trade-offs,” she said.

Sheep already have proven to be a good fit for solar sites, with more than 130,000 acres grazed as of 2024, a number that certainly has grown, said Kevin Richardson, senior director of the American Solar Grazing Association.

But for cattle, the industry still has to overcome site-design challenges and be able to scale up operations while also developing appropriate economic incentives for ranchers, Richardson said.

“Once we have that, I think we’ll see more solar sites using cattle or multi-species grazing with sheep and cattle,” he said.

Farmers often earn about $1,000 an acre by leasing their land for solar, easily 10 times more than what they historically earned through traditional agriculture, said Winter, from the Farmland Trust. That can help them to diversify operations, pay down debt and buy more land.

“I think you’ll start to hear more interest from farmers who are up against a serious financial wall right now and looking for income diversification opportunities that keep land in production,” Winter said. “We need and want to grow America’s energy capacity but not at the expense of our best farmland or at the expense of agricultural livelihoods.”

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

Annual inflation in the eurozone — the 21 countries that use the shared euro currency — rose to 3% from 2.6% in March, fueled by a 10.9% increase in energy prices, the European Union statistical agency Eurostat reported Thursday. Crude oil is trading above $120 per barrel, up from around $73 before the outbreak of the war on Feb. 28.

Meanwhile, eurozone growth for the first three months of the year disappointed with a marginal increase in economic output of 0.1% over the quarter before.

The war is dealing a huge shock to the global economy because Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which around 20% of the world’s oil formerly passed on its way to customers from producers in the Persian Gulf. The surge in oil prices has been quickly reflected at gas stations and in the price of jet fuel.

Rising inflation has raised concerns it may become built into the economy along with slow or nonexistent growth, a policy conundrum dubbed “stagflation” that leaves central banks like the ECB with few attractive choices. The usual antidote to inflation is for the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate, but that can slow growth by raising credit costs for buying things.

ECB policymakers left their benchmark interest rate unchanged Thursday even though the annual rate of inflation is now clearly above the bank’s target of 2%. The bank’s benchmark rate has been unchanged at 2% since June 2025.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said at a post-decision news conference at the bank's headquarters in Frankfurt that the bank's governing council had debated a rate rise Thursday. She said the council would revisit the bank's stance with new information at the next meeting June 11 without committing to any particular path for rates.

Although some economists have used the term recently, she said the eurozone was not facing stagflation like that afflicting Western economies after the oil shocks of the 1970s.

Lagarde said the situation today was not comparable, with inflation less ingrained and a stronger labor market supporting an economy that is not in recession. She said the term was “something that I park in the '70s... this is not something we're seeing for the moment.”

"We don't apply that flashy term, ‘stagflation,’ to the circumstances that we have.”

Western economies suffered high inflation after twin oil shocks from the 1973 Arab oil embargo against the US and the 1979 Iranian revolution - bad memories revived by the Hormuz closure.

Other central banks are also on pause. The Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve both left rates unchanged at meetings this week, and the Bank of England also held steady Thursday.

The indictment named a number of sitting officials in Sinaloa, including members of Sheinbaum's progressive Morena party, fueling a political firestorm at a time when Sheinbaum has sought to offset U.S. pressures while appeasing her own base. Shortly after, Mexico's government said that it had seen extradition request from the U.S. for 10 citizens, without naming them.

The highest profile official implicated was Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, a top Morena official and close ally of Sheinbaum's mentor and predecessor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Sheinbaum on Thursday said that Mexican prosecutors would investigate the cases and gather their own information to “determine whether there is evidence establishing that the allegations made by U.S. authorities have a legal basis for requesting arrest warrants.”

The president previously said that she had seen no evidence to back up the U.S. allegations.

She added that she was ready to put her foot down if they find “no clear evidence” in their investigation that those charged committed a crime.

“If it is evident that the Justice Department’s charges are politically motivated, let there be absolutely no doubt: under no circumstances will we allow a foreign government to interfere in decisions that are the exclusive prerogative of the Mexican people," Sheinbaum said.

Camara was killed during last weekend's coordinated militant attack in the West African nation, the largest in over a decade.

His death, and the major setback endured by the Malian army and its Russian mercenary allies, risk creating divisions within the junta and could lead it to reconsider its partnership with Moscow, analysts say.

After two days of national mourning, a funeral ceremony for Camara was attended by junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita and broadcast live on national television. The coffin was draped in the green, yellow and red of the Malian flag while large portraits of the former defense minister lined the ceremony hall.

Camara was born in 1979 in Kati, the same garrison town near the capital Bamako where he was killed when a car bomb exploded outside his home on Saturday.

As a field officer, he was deployed to northern Mali in the late 2000s, amid a rise in rebellions by armed groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda. After graduating from a military academy, he went abroad on several training assignments, including at a military academy in Russia.

Malians first became familiar with Camara when, as a colonel, he appeared on national television in August 2020 among a group of five officers who had overthrown President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The officers accused Keita of being propped up by France and not doing enough to contain the rampant militant attacks in the country. They pledged to provide more security.

Following the coup, the new junta turned to Russia as its new security partner, expelling French troops and U.N. peacekeepers.

Camara quickly came to play a central role in establishing Russia as Mali's main security partner. He served as defense minister under both of Mali’s successive military governments — first following the 2020 coup and then reappointed after a second coup in May 2021 which brought Goïta to power.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Germany-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said Camara was the “architect of cooperation with Russia,” proposing the deployment of Russian mercenaries in 2021 and the expulsion of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA.

Camara, who made frequent trips to Moscow, played a key role in the coups and his stewardship of the war effort made him an indispensable figure for the junta despite a deteriorating security situation, according to Laessing.

On Monday, the recently created Africa Corps — a Russian military unit that reports to the defense ministry in Moscow, estimated to have around 2,000 troops in Mali — said its fighters had withdrawn from Kidal, two days after separatists said they had taken the key northern city.

Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank, said Camara's death and a growing frustration from the population and military leadership over the Russian mercenaries inability to curb the insurgencies, could result in the junta reconsidering its partnership with Moscow.

Goita, who met with the Russian ambassador to Mali on Tuesday, “seems open to collaboration with some Western countries, such as the United States,” said Laessing.

Many Americans remember the American Revolution as the American colonies fighting for their independence from the British Empire.

However, there were other conflicts during the revolutions as well. Here in Virginia, the Cherokee wars of 1776 saw battles between the Cherokee Native Americans and settlers in the region.

Much of Southwest Virginia was held by the Cherokee tribe, but settlers were starting to infiltrate land the natives claimed as their own.

“Even though they’re not making their towns here so much, they’re viewing the arrival of settlement filling up the New River Valley and beyond as a threat because it’s getting closer and closer to where their towns are, and they do still claim this land,” historian Walter Bailey said.

Rising tensions led to raids by the Cherokee, but this didn’t stop Virginians from expanding and building forts across the New River Valley and what would eventually be Tennessee.

The Cherokee were compelled to sign a peace treaty, but a faction led by Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe decided to try to put an end to the expansion by making raids on forts and other settlements.

Bailey says that the Cherokee tribe was supported by British loyalists in the colonies. While the Cherokee remained loyal to the British, they didn’t get the same treatment.

“They remained allied to the British side, but they didn’t get, like, say, British troops or even Loyalist troops to join them to defend their homelands,” Bailey said.

After several battles, a brain trust of governors took action, bringing together an army led by William Christian of Christiansburg.

Christian’s offensive forced the Cherokee to surrender and sign a treaty.

“In a treaty that was dictated pretty much in the summer of 1777, called the Avery Treaty, William Christian, William Preston, and Evan Shelby, along with North Carolina commissioners, meet with most of the Cherokee leaders, not Dragging Canoe, but most of them, and they force them to give all this up,” Bailey said.

This treaty opened the door to American expansion, spearheaded by explorers like Daniel Boone.

Literally shaping the way our country looks to this day.

“Part of what was dictated to the Cherokee in the Avery Treaty was a clear path to the Cumberland Gap, an unobstructed access to a new Virginia County that was also established in 1776 from Fincastle County,” Bailey said.

Want to discover more stories that make Virginia unique? Visit the Patchwork 250 page to explore the full quilt of our region’s history, one patch at a time.

Minutes from the Bank of England meeting showed that eight of the nine rate-setters voted to keep rates on hold while one member opted for a quarter-point hike. But there was a clear signal that interest rates could rise in coming months.

“We think this is a reasonable place given the situation of the economy and the unpredictability of events in the Middle East,” said Bank Gov. Andrew Bailey. "Whatever happens, our job is to make sure that inflation gets back to the 2% target after the initial impact of the war on energy prices has passed.”

In an unusual development, the bank published a range of forecasts given the geopolitical uncertainties. It said that in a worst-case scenario where oil and gas prices stay higher for longer, U.K. inflation could rise to as much as 6.2% by early 2027 from 3.3% currently. It also considered several ways that events could unfold with a worst-case scenario leading to multiple rate rises and an increased risk of recession. Before the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28, there had been an expectation in financial markets that the Bank of England would cut rates given that inflation was predicted to fall back toward its 2% target during the spring. The war has since upended the bank’s predictions and wider global economic forecasts as the price of oil and other costs have spiked sharply higher. Energy prices have raced up again over the past few days as traders price in a growing expectation that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed for a long time to come. Brent crude, the international standard, briefly jumped to over $126 a barrel at one point Thursday, its highest level since the aftermath of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Bank of England policymakers will be keeping an eye on whether the inflation spike starts to spread through the economy, by way of higher wages, for example. They will also monitor how the oil price shock hits the economy and whether it leads to a recession, which would keep a lid on price rises.

Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen, said he thinks the recessionary risks will limit any second-round inflation effects.

“But if oil prices continue to move higher, it is hard to see how the Bank avoids having to hike later this year,” he said.

Policymakers will also be alert to any upcoming action from Britain's Labour government to limit the inflation impact on households and businesses. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves, whose hopes over the cost-of-living have been blown off course by the crisis in the Middle East, has said she is ready to provide support when and if needed.

“The war in the Middle East is not our war, but it is one we have to respond to,” said Reeves.

In a three-page letter, prosecutors said they would allow the appeals court judges to consult the material. But they didn’t deposit the documentation for the defense to see in the chancery as ordered, saying it was “irrelevant” to the trial and could harm the Vatican’s interests.

It wasn’t immediately clear how the appeals court would respond. The next hearing is scheduled for June 22.

A vast inquiry

Prosecutors had acquired the material during their sprawling investigation into a 350-million-euro (around $410 million) investment by the Vatican Secretariat of State into a London property. In December 2023, after a two-year trial, a cardinal and eight other people were convicted of several financial charges. But the prosecutors’ overarching theory of a grand scheme to defraud the Holy See was thrown out.

Defense lawyers had argued from the start of the trial that their clients couldn't get a fair trial with key evidence either redacted or withheld entirely by the prosecution. They cited in particular the full interrogations of a key prosecution witness and contents of his sequestered laptops and cellphones.

Prosecutors had argued that the redactions were necessary to preserve the integrity of other, ongoing investigations and refused an initial Oct. 6, 2021 court order to turn over the documentation.

An order to turn over the evidence

Attorney Luigi Panella, defending money manager Enrico Crasso, had argued from the very start of the trial, in July 2021, that the indictment was null because prosecutors had withheld evidence from the defense.

Five years later, the appeals court on March 17 agreed with him and other defense lawyers. The court ordered the prosecutors to deposit in the chancery “all the acts and documents of the investigation in their integral version” by April 30.

In response Thursday, the prosecutors repeated their objection to the court ruling and reasoned that the material was “irrelevant” to the case. They said it “could pose a grave danger” to the public interest, if given over to the defense lawyers. Prosecutors told the judges the material remained in their offices and was available for “consultation” to the judges via USB drive.

Court calls for retrial

The appeals court had determined that the refusal of prosecutors to provide all the evidence to the defense in the first round of the trial had nullified the original indictment. The appeals court declared a partial mistrial and ordered a retrial.

Defense lawyers said the prosecutors’ response to the appeals court order amounted to contempt.

“In what country in the world can it be that the acts (of an investigation) are shown to the judge but not to the defense?” Panella said in a telephone interview. “What concept of ‘fair trial’ can this type of statement represent?”

A request to end the trial

Attorneys Cataldo Intrieri and Massimo Bassi, defending former Vatican official Fabrizio Tirabassi, said that the prosecutors’ response was unprecedented.

“We wonder how a fair judgment can be reached under these conditions,” they said in a statement that urged the court to throw out the trial entirely.

Attorneys Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo, representing Cardinal Angelo Becciu, said that the prosecutors’ response constituted a failure to comply with the court order.

“This is precisely the selective discretion that the court has ruled out: the prosecution cannot unilaterally decide which documents the defense has the right to access,” they said. “The right to defense, the equality of the parties, and the adversarial process require full access to the documents.”

A separate blow to the Vatican

Swiss federal prosecutors shelved an investigation initiated in 2020 after the Vatican Secretariat of State accused Crasso, its former money manager, of embezzlement, fraud and disloyal administration in a complaint filed with Swiss prosecutors. The accusations paralleled those against Crasso in the Vatican tribunal.

Crasso had managed the Secretariat of State’s assets while employed at Credit Suisse Italia and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, before he launched his own company and fund that took over the Vatican accounts.

In a decision dated April 23, Swiss federal prosecutor Annina Scherrer noted that the Vatican tribunal itself had acquitted Crasso and his company and fund of the same charges definitively and shelved the Swiss case.

But in her 31-page ruling, Scherrer noted “with a certain surprise” that her requests to Vatican prosecutors to question some of the key witnesses had been refused after clearly being sent to the Vatican Secretary of State to evaluate. She said that demonstrated the Secretariat of State’s “influence” over the entire Vatican judicial system, which is supposed to be independent.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

In a humorous video posted Thursday on his Instagram account, Banksy showed snippets of how the sculpture was put up in the dead of night. The sculpture appeared to have been erected in the early hours of Wednesday on a plinth on a traffic island in Waterloo Place, near Buckingham Palace.

Before the artist's post, locals and tourists gathered to inspect the statue on the assumption it was Banksy's work because his signature was scrawled at the base of the plinth.

The statue is situated close to those of King Edward VII, who reigned between 1901 and 1910, and legendary nurse Florence Nightingale, as well as the Crimean War Memorial.

Statues are not what Banksy is primarily known for. He is far more famous for his spray-painting on buildings, with his first creations appearing in the early 1990s in his hometown of Bristol in southwest England. He has since gone global and his paintings and installations have sold for millions of dollars at auction. His street art is often targeted by thieves and vandals.

Banksy, who has never publicly revealed his identity, is part of a tradition of street artists who viewed the undercover act of posting their art in public as a subversive form of expression.

Race officials announced the change Thursday, and trainer Brad Cox told The Associated Press that Fulleffort will undergo surgery and is expected to recover and return to racing. Cox said an X-ray revealed fluid in the ankle and called it an easy decision because Fulleffort showed some lameness.

“That’s part of the game,” Cox said. “It was a problem that needed to be addressed."

Fullefort’s exit means jockey Tyler Gaffalione will have to wait for another chance to win the race for the first time. Cox went into the week with three Derby horses and is now down to two: Commandment and Further Ado.

"I love 'em," Cox said. “Both had a great morning. I’m excited about Saturday.”

With Fulleffort out, Ocelli draws in off the also-entered list. Trainer Whit Beckman found out after the colt galloped at Churchill Downs around 7:15 a.m.

“I kind of had the expectation all along that if you’re within a couple spots that you have a chance,” Beckman said. “Especially in this day and age, it just seems there’s always a lot of changes from the time we draw to the time we run. We were kind of quietly confident that things would go our way.”

Beckman has been training Ocelli all along as though the colt would be participating in the Derby. Ocelli is coming off a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Race Track on April 4.

“He’s been training great since we got back here from New York after the Wood,” Beckman said. “Around the barn, he’s a very mature, easy-going horse. Sometimes he could be a little quirky on the track, but it seems like we’re getting a little bit close to perfection every time.”

Ocelli follows Great White into the field, who got in Wednesday when Silent Tactic was scratched because of a foot injury. Like Great White's John Ennis, Beckman was unsure if he'd have a horse in the Derby but was unbothered by the situation.

“The certainty of it to me was more stressful because things can only go wrong,” Beckman said. “In this case, when things can only go right and if something did go wrong, well, it didn’t matter: We weren’t in the race anyway. ... Coming in knowing you could — maybe, maybe not — go, you just kind of let the cards fall and let the universe do its thing.”

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

Watson was found guilty of two counts of election fraud and one count of illegally voting. He was charged more than two years after the election in question. In December 2025, Watson announced his resignation from the council; his full statement is available here.

Watson received a two-year prison sentence for each of the three felony convictions, with the sentences to run concurrently. However, all six years were suspended. He will serve two years of unsupervised probation.

Under Virginia law, each felony election fraud charge could have carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the illegal voting charge carried a maximum of five years.

Sanford, 65, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he was shuttering his campaign just a month after he launched it, a decision inspired by his desire to focus on combating the national debt and deficit.

“What I hope to do is to indeed build a grassroots organization — start small, but I have a fair size circle of friends and folks with whom I have some degree of influence and contacts,” Sanford told the AP, also noting that, with his first grandchild on the way, he realized as he mounted this campaign that he wanted to be able to spend more time with his family.

The pivot comes after Sanford mounted a bid to reclaim his former seat in South Carolina's 1st District. He entered a primary on the last day of candidate filing, when the race already was chock full of other Republican candidates, many of whom had spent months laying the groundwork for their campaigns.

That territory was familiar to Sanford. An outsider with almost no name recognition when he launched his first congressional campaign for the 1994 contest, the real estate investor finished second in the GOP primary before winning the runoff. He served for six years before his outside run at governor, again pushing his way through a crowded primary, then knocking off the last Democrat to hold the office.

Sanford’s eight years as governor were overshadowed by the Appalachian Trail, which became shorthand for his disappearance to go to Argentina to see his lover. Sanford’s wife, family and staff didn’t know where he was.

Beating back both an impeachment inquiry and calls to resign, Sanford held fast, leaving office on his own terms. His wife at the time, Jenny Sanford, moved out of the governor’s mansion in Columbia, relocated with their four sons into the family’s beachfront home near Charleston and later sued him for divorce.

In a 2013 special election, Sanford won back his old congressional seat, beating 15 other candidates in a primary and runoff. He won two more full terms before falling in 2018 to a GOP challenger who had President Donald Trump’s backing.

A year after his primary loss, Sanford reemerged again, launching a long-shot primary challenge to Trump and offering his determination to bring fiscal restraint into the national conversation as a counterpoint to what he described as Trump’s incendiary rhetoric. Just ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Sanford dropped out of the contest.

Sanford, who had appeared at county GOP meetings and candidate forums, said he had been getting "a warm reception” on his recent campaign. But with the experience of knowing that in Congress he wouldn't be able to singularly focus on debt-related issues, he said he felt he would have more impact from the outside.

“There are no guarantees with life, but I think that this has a better chance of elevating that issue, if I worked earnestly on it, than I was going to with the course that I was on with the campaign," Sanford said.

In setting up the new organization, which he said would be centered in South Carolina, Sanford will be able to utilize the more than $1.3 million that had remained in his federal account since he left Congress in 2019. Depleting those resources, Sanford said, is a signal he’s moving away from running for office himself.

But is he done with politics forever? Maybe — and maybe not.

“Look, if there’s ever a guy who would say, ‘Never say never,’ it’s me,” Sanford said. “But I think, realistically, yeah, and it’s recognition of that being the case."

Sanford's decision was first reported by The Post and Courier of Charleston.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

An inflation gauge monitored by the Fed rose 0.7% in March from February, up sharply from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, the biggest increase in almost three years.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation rose 0.3% in March from February, and it was 3.2% higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is above February’s reading of 3%.

The jump in gas prices has pushed inflation further away from the Fed’s 2% target. Outgoing Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled at a news conference Wednesday that the central bank would likely be on hold for months as it evaluates the impact of the Iran war. The Fed has kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged after cutting it three times last year. The central bank typically keeps rates elevated — or even raises them — to combat higher inflation.

At the same time, Thursday's report showed that Americans' incomes — wages, business income, and government benefits — increased 0.6%, a solid increase but slower than the rate of inflation, for the second straight month.

The decline illustrates the other risk created by higher gas prices: The extra costs will likely siphon away spending that would have gone to other products and services, potentially slowing the economy. For now, consumers have been bolstered by healthy tax refunds, which were lifted by last year's tax cut legislation, but much of that benefit is being eaten up by higher prices at the pump.

“A year that was set to benefit from tail winds associated with a large tax cut and boom in artificial intelligence-led investment has been partially derailed by the impact of what as of today is an adverse and growing supply shock caused by the war in Iran,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax and advisory firm. “Unfortunately, war and the supply shock that ensued has altered the probable growth path this year.”

Brusuelas now expects the economy to expand just 1.7% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 2.4%.

Gas prices jumped nearly 21% in March from the previous month, the report said, while grocery prices actually slipped 0.1%. Clothing costs climbed 1% just in March.

The average price of gas nationwide rose to $4.30 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, up from $2.98 before the war began. U.S. oil prices cooled a bit Thursday morning but still topped $105 a barrel, up from about $67 before the war.

Still, the Fed typically pays more attention to core prices, and how much higher energy costs feed through to core inflation in the coming months will be a major factor in how the central bank decides on its next moves.

“We’re very well aware that people are experiencing higher gas prices all over the country now,” Powell said Wednesday. “And that hurts.”

Thursday’s report also showed that consumer spending soared 0.9% last month, with most of the increase reflecting the sharp jump in prices. But it also indicates Americans lifted their spending a bit even after adjusting for inflation, a sign of consumer resilience.

The economy expanded at a modest 2% annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department also said Thursday, up from an expansion of just 0.5% in last year’s final quarter, when growth was held back by the six-week government shutdown. Still, consumer spending growth slowed compared with the final three months of last year.

“Every time I get a paycheck, it’s all already spoken for,” said Jones, a 21-year-old who works at a deli and a nonprofit in Springfield, Massachusetts. Being a homeowner is one of Jones’ dreams, and his inability to save for it frustrates him.

Currently, 65% of working-age renters can’t cover their monthly expenses after paying for housing, according to an analysis from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Nearly half of all renters were cost-burdened by rent in 2024, that means they spent more than a third of their income on housing and utilities, which is based on data from the most recent census.

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EDITORS’ NOTE: The Money Happens series explores challenges and anxieties around money and offers helpful tips for dealing with them. Each episode features a case of an individual experiencing a challenging financial problem, whether it’s student loan or credit card debt, and an expert who can help provide strategies for working through these issues. You can listen to all of the episodes here.

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Anxiety about the possibility of never being able to own a house can make some people give up on organizing their finances altogether, said John Hankins, a certified financial therapist.

Sometimes "anxiety becomes kind of a self-perpetuating cycle,” he said.

If you hope to buy a house in the future but don’t know where to start, here are some expert tips for you:

1. Feel comfortable facing your finances

Getting a handle on your finances is the first step towards planning and achieving a financial goal. If you’re looking to buy a home in the future but that goal feels unattainable, start by figuring out how much money you’re bringing in, how much you’re spending, and where you can cut back to start saving.

For Jones, the anxiety of possibly being evicted from his current apartment because he lives paycheck to paycheck has been a barrier to making future plans for homeownership.

“I’d want to come back to this anxiety, this sadness that stopping him from getting his arms around his finances,” Hankins said.

Don’t let your anxieties stop you from facing your finances. The longer you avoid solving a financial worry, the longer it will take to solve it down the road.

2. Avoid debt if you can, but build a credit history

After watching his parents get into large amounts of debt and have to deal with the consequences, Jones has avoided any type of debt, including student loans and credit cards. But he needs to build a credit history to buy a home in the future.

Learning to find a middle ground between building credit and falling into credit card debt is key, Hankins said.

“Once you have a credit card, it’s a dangerous thing," he said. "So let’s be really understanding how you’re going to manage this so that it doesn’t get out of control."

3. Don’t compare yourself to others

Jones often compares his journey to his parents'. They became homeowners in their mid-twenties while working in the restaurant industry. But that type of comparison isn't helpful, Hankins said.

“It’s not a reflection on you that you haven’t been able to achieve what your parents achieved," Hankins said. “They were operating under a whole different set of rules."

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The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

Former Florida walk-on Olivier Rioux, a 7-foot-9 center from Canada and one of the most recognizable student-athletes in North America, announced Thursday he has signed with UC Irvine. The school in Southern California announced his arrival hours earlier.

“Olivier is a high-character young man whose presence will elevate our team, our university, and our community," UC Irvine coach Russell Turner said in a statement. "He embodies the values that have defined our success at UC Irvine.

"We’ve built a strong relationship with Olivier and his family over the years, dating back to his high school recruitment, and that familiarity gives us tremendous belief in who he is both on and off the court. Olivier’s unique skill set and physical presence align perfectly with the tradition of dominant front court players in our program. We believe he will have an immediate impact and continue to grow within our system, and we are thrilled to have him join the Anteater family.”

Rioux played sparingly in two years with the Gators, redshirting as a true freshman during the team’s national championship season and then getting on the court in mop-up duty this past season. He played 15 total minutes, finishing with seven points, six rebounds and an assist.

He set a Guinness World Record as the world’s tallest teen before he stepped foot on campus. Now 20, he’s looking for a chance to play more as a third-year sophomore.

Rioux became the tallest person to ever play college basketball when he made his debut in a 104-64 victory over North Florida last November. He scored three games later, making a free throw after getting fouled. He also recorded his first rebound.

Rioux is 2 inches (5 centimeters) taller than former NBA giants Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol, and 3 inches taller than popular big men Yao Ming, Tacko Fall and Shawn Bradley.

Florida coach Todd Golden gave Rioux the option of playing sparingly as a true freshman or taking a redshirt season and working on his game. Rioux chose the latter. Nonetheless, he was a walking viral video, from riding his custom-made bike on campus, to ducking under every doorway, to cutting down nets while standing flat-footed during Florida’s NCAA Tournament run.

Golden made it clear before last season that Rioux would only play late in blowouts, the result of having all four frontcourt players returning. But Rioux doubled down on wanting to be at Florida and welcomed the challenge of playing against Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten in practice and behind them in games.

Now he will try to get on the court more often in Southern California.

UC Irvine won the Big West regular-season title last season but lost in the conference tournament and ended up in the NIT.

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Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

She has undergone eight surgeries after suffering a complex left leg fracture — one that nearly led to a leg amputation — in the women’s downhill skiing race on Feb. 8. She needs at least one more to repair a torn ACL in that same knee.

So if the 41-year-old races again — and she’s not ready to make that decision — a return is at least a year and a half away, Vonn told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.

“I just don’t want to jump to any conclusions or even speculate on what I might do,” Vonn said. “I may retire. I may never race again and that would be completely fine, but I’m not in a position emotionally to make that decision at this point.”

A return to retirement was an option after a comeback season

Vonn thinks she would have returned to retirement had she been able to complete a comeback season that rivaled one of the best of her career. She ended a six-year absence from the sport largely to race at Cortina, Italy, one of her favorite courses, and the venue for the Milan Cortina Games.

The winner of three Olympic medals, including a downhill gold in 2010, crashed just 13 seconds into the race and suffered a complex tibia fracture, shocking a star-studded crowd and ending a season in which she led the World Cup downhill standings and hadn’t finished worse than fourth in any race.

She’s returned from an assortment of injuries before — she has a titanium implant in her right knee — but this one was different. The pain was different. The eight surgeries are just one shy of the total she had for all the others combined.

“It’s a much different injury in that way, again, like the severity of the injury and understanding that I could have lost my leg and how bad things were,” Vonn said. “I can deal with a lot of pain, but this was so extreme. It’s not even been in the universe of pain with this injury as what I’ve had before.”

Vonn is making progress in and out of the gym, though not as quickly as she would like. She has moved beyond a wheelchair and now is on crutches — she is weary of both — and next week will be able to begin walking short distances.

‘Tell me I can’t and I'll prove you wrong'

She is able to travel again, making a trip to New York this week to discuss her support for the biopharmaceutical company Invivyd's “Antibodies for Any Body” campaign, and she has an upcoming vacation planned.

Beyond that, the future is hard to see.

Vonn said she hasn't spoken to her doctor about what a return to skiing would look like, saying they both prefer to focus on this phase of her recovery.

“Regardless, nothing would really happen until '27-28 because I still have one more surgery left to take out the metal and to replace my ACL. That still needs to happen,” Vonn said. “Once I get my ACL fixed, then that’s another six months, so I have at least I would say a year and a half ahead of me before I could really be back to 100%, even just training in the gym.”

Vonn knows there could be risks in a return, and family members don't want her to take them. It was only a day after her crash, when she was still in the hospital, that her father said her career would be over if it were up to him. Said Vonn: “He means the best. He forgot the cardinal rule with me is that if you don’t want me to do something, you shouldn’t tell me I can’t. Tell me I can’t and I’ll prove you wrong.”

A risk Vonn has ‘always taken happily,’ but she doesn't ‘want a do-over’

Vonn has never shied from taking chances — she raced in the Olympics a little more than a week after tearing her ACL — no matter how they turned out.

“Downhill skiing is one of the most dangerous sports in the world, and that’s a risk that I’ve always taken happily, and this is the result, and I don’t regret it,” said Vonn, who noted she had done all she could to be fully prepped for the race. “I don’t want a do-over.”

But she will at some point decide if she wants to race again.

For now, Vonn said she's focused simply on getting her leg healthy. Only after that's done can she start thinking about a career that may or may not be over.

“I’m still, like I said, in survival mode that I just want to get through this phase and be able to assess where I am in my life,” said Vonn, whose 84 World Cup wins are second-most among women, trailing only teammate Mikaela Shiffrin (110). "And take count of what I’ve done and take count of what could be and make decisions in a much better place than where I am now.

“I don’t want to make a decision now because I think that would be rash and probably too emotional and I don’t want to make a mistake, you know?”

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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

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AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

According to officials, the strike occurred at approximately 4 a.m., and the interruption to facility operations resulted in a brief localized venting of vapor strictly contained to the site.

In accordance with established emergency safety procedures, all personnel immediately sheltered in place. The RFAAP emergency response team is also actively managing the situation.

While residents in the vicinity may have heard the installation’s shelter-in-place alarms, there is currently no danger to the surrounding off-post community.

The City of Danville Utilities Department will be doing some maintenance on the main water line on Spring Street. Due to this, water service will be shut off from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting.

Passengers will still be able to access bus services at the Transfer Center during this time, but building amenities will not be available. The closure was initially scheduled for Wednesday, April 29, but was delayed due to the weather forecast.

U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 25 fell by 26,000 to 189,000, down from the previous week’s 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s well below the 214,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

According to High Frequency Economics, this week’s number for new jobless aid applications was the fewest since September of 1969.

“There is nothing to worry about in this report. YET!,” HFE’s Chief Economist Carl Weinberg wrote in a note to clients. “At some point, elevated energy costs and prices for materials will cause firms to lay off marginal workers to protect profit margins.”

Despite dwindling layoffs shown in government data, the Iran war, now in its ninth week, has injected a large degree of uncertainty about how it will affect the U.S. and global economies even as Iran and the U.S. remain under a ceasefire agreement.

U.S. financial markets have rebounded near record levels and prices for a barrel of U.S. crude oil remain elevated around $104 per barrel. That’s better than the $112 earlier this month, but still 50% higher than before the war began. Gas prices also much higher since the war began — AAA says the national average Thursday was at $4.30 a gallon —- saddling businesses and consumers with higher costs.

Also Thursday, the government reported that a key inflation measure jumped in March as gas prices soared, the latest sign that the Iran war is driving the cost of living sharply higher.

An inflation gauge monitored by the Federal Reserve rose 0.7% in March from February, up sharply from the previous month, the Commerce Department said. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 3.5%, the biggest increase in almost three years.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation also rose.

This comes at a time when U.S. inflation was already above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. On Wednesday, the Fed opted to leave its benchmark rate where it was, citing economic uncertainty caused by instability in the Middle East and persistently high inflation.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to fuel inflation. Fed officials voted to cut rates three times to close 2025 out of concern for a weakening job market.

More government data released Thursday showed that the U.S. economy expanded at a modest 2% pace from January through March. That’s up from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last three months of 2025, hampered by the 43-day government shutdown.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 new jobs in March, nudging the unemployment rate back down to 4.3%. That followed a surprisingly large loss of 92,000 jobs in February. Revisions also have trimmed 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls, a sign that the labor market remains under strain.

A number of high-profile companies have cut jobs recently, including Morgan Stanley,Block, UPS, Amazon and several other tech companies.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollouts, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to the data firm FactSet.

The American labor market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job. The recent artificial intelligence boom and the investment required to develop it is also making companies reluctant to hire.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, came in at 207,500, about 3,500 lower than the previous week.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 18 fell to 1.79 million, a decrease of 23,000.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded from a lackluster 0.5% expansion the last three months of 2025. The federal government’s spending and investment grew at a 9.3% annual rate in the first quarter, adding more than half a percentage point to growth after lopping off 1.16 percentage points in fourth-quarter 2025.

Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of U.S. economic activity, slowed to 1.6% in the first quarter from 1.9% at the end of 2025. Spending on goods, including food and clothing fell slightly. Spending on services slowed.

But business investment, likely driven by spending in artificial intelligence, rose at an 8.7% pace. A weak housing market continues to weigh on the economy. Residential investment fell at an 8% annual pace — the fifth straight quarterly drop and the biggest since the end of 2022. Excluding housing, nonresidential investment surged 10.4%, biggest jump in nearly three years.

An uptick in imports, which rose at an annual rate of 21.4% from January-March, slashed more than 2.6 percentage points off first-quarter growth.

“This is a split-screen economy,” Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote. “Companies and investors involved in AI are on fire. Meanwhile, middle and moderate income households are struggling with high gas prices ... Consumption is slowing as people are struggling to manage all their bills and growing more concerned about the future.’’

Still, a category within the GDP data that measures the economy’s underlying strength grew at a solid 2.5% clip, accelerating from 1.8% in fourth-quarter 2025. This category includes consumer spending and private investment, but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.

The first quarter included about a month of the clash in Iran. Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. That has driven energy prices higher, fueling inflation and hurting consumers. The Federal Reserve, announcing Wednesday that it was keeping its benchmark interest unchanged, cited “a high level of uncertainty″ arising from the conflict.

Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, did not even bother to forecast first-quarter GDP growth. “The truth is that we do not have any defensible basis for trying to project how these indicators will print,” Weinberg wrote in a commentary Monday. President Donald “Trump’s war with Iran has led to a total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. We do not know how to model the impact of that event, as we have never seen anything quite like it.″

Thursday’s report was the first of three Commerce Department estimates.

The Glade Creek Greenway will cut through Vinyard Park West and stretch for around 0.4 miles. A portion will be located within the Town of Vinton.

Eventually, it will connect to one mile of the greenway already constructed along Glade Creek between Virginia Avenue and Gus Nicks Boulevard.

It will also help people get back outside and offer a different way of getting through the Roanoke Valley.

“This is another segment of the Glade Creek Greenway,” Roanoke County Assistant Director of Planning Megan Cronise said. “The town of Vinton has one mile on the ground so far that connects to the Tinker Creek Greenway, which in turn connects to the Roanoke River Greenway, so this is just another segment to connect our valley-wide greenway network.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will also feature a bench dedication to Brian Epperley, a former Roanoke County Transportation Engineer who spent 25 years with the county and played a major role in designing the greenway. It’ll be held at 150 Vinyard Park Drive.

Nicky Jackson Colaco, Roblox’s vice president and global head of public policy, announced the changes in a press conference in Jakarta, describing them among the strictest that the company has implemented anywhere in the world.

She said the company has introduced tailored, age-based accounts in Indonesia: Roblox Kids for ages 5 to 12 with no chat features and Roblox Select for ages 13 to 15, with chat features limited to parents or approved family and friends.

The rollout involves automatically transitioning the 23 million accounts that identified as belonging to users under 16 by implementing age verification through facial scanning.

“Any user in Indonesia who has not used that tool, who has no facial age estimated, will be automatically placed in a Roblox Kids account and will not have access to chat," the Roblox executive said.

The age verification tool requires players to take a video selfie that will be used to estimate their age. Jackson Colaco said the date would be immediately deleted. “We don't keep anything,” she said.

The number of Roblox users in Indonesia has reached approximately 45 million, with about 23 million of them being children, said Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid.

Roblox was the only gaming platform classified as high-risk by the Indonesian government, and its access restrictions for children differ from those of other social media platforms.

In addition to account categories and interactions based on age, the interactive gaming platform will also categorize the types of games played by age. The government regulations have prompted Roblox to limit usage time in the hope of reducing children’s addiction to the platform.

“To address concerns about addiction, screen time limits are now in place. Parents can set specific times or hours for their children to play games,” Hafid said.

Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation at the end of March banning children younger than 16 from accessing digital platforms that could expose them to addiction, pornography, online scams and cyberbullying.

Seven of the eight platforms classified as high-risk, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, have committed to restricting children’s access to their services.

In addition to restricting access based on age, Indonesia is urging social media companies and digital platforms to report the number of accounts that have been suspended as part of the implementation of government regulations restricting access for children.

Additionally, Front Royal will host a community block party commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, featuring the royal couple’s parade through the city’s town square.

The town is telling spectators to plan ahead and be prepared to walk since there will be road closures and heightened security measures in place.

It’s a moment that’s stopping the town in its tracks and even schools will be closed for the day. Some local told NBC 4 Washington that they aren’t used to their town being in the limelight, but they’re all for it.

“I think the town has been waiting for something like this to happen for years. I think the last big event was Bing Crosby coming here to do a movie opening down in the local theater down here.”

And that was back in 1950, so now it’s all about getting the final preparations squared away for the royalty, but in a way, these residents are no strangers to it.

10 News has obtained exclusive video showing Rich Creek mayor Paul Morrison at the site of Tuesday’s train derailment on the West Virginia border.

In the footage, Morrison, dressed in a plaid shirt, is seen interacting with emergency crews and police officers.

According to information from the New River Valley Regional Jail’s inmate database, Mayor Morrison was arrested at the derailment scene on suspicions of public intoxication. The database shows that a magistrate released him on his own recognizance following the incident.

At this point, neither Mayor Morrison nor his office has made any public comment about the incident or the arrest.

ORIGINAL STORY

The mayor of the small town of Rich Creek was arrested on a charge of being drunk in public.

According to information from the New River Valley Regional Jail’s inmate database, 57-year-old Paul Morrison, the mayor of Rich Creek, was taken into custody by deputies from the Giles County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday. The charge is public intoxication.

A source told 10 News that Mayor Morrison showed up intoxicated at the scene of a train derailment near the West Virginia border. Details about what happened at the site or what led to the arrest have not been released at this time.

Jail records show that a magistrate released Morrison on his own recognizance after the arrest.

Morrison was elected mayor in November through a write-in campaign, winning 77 out of 106 votes cast. Rich Creek is a small community, with a population of about 700 people.

At this point, there’s no word from Morrison or town officials about the incident.

Stay with 10 News as this breaking news story continues to develop.

The scene of this crash has been cleared.

ORIGINAL STORY

If you’re driving northbound on Interstate 81 in Roanoke County, expect delays.

VDOT is reporting a tractor-trailer crash near the 144.7 mile marker. Traffic is backed up for about 2 miles, and the north left shoulder and left lane, as well as the south left shoulder and left lane, are all closed.

There was also another multi-vehicle crash nearby at the 143 mile marker. Authorities say the north right shoulder is closed at this time.

10 News has reached out to Virginia State Police for further details on both incidents.

Stay with 10 News for the latest traffic updates.

It all began on March 15, when South sensed something was terribly wrong. What started as chest pains quickly turned into something far more grave: his heart had stopped beating. Fortunately, first responders with the Lynchburg Fire Department, Capt. Casey Kilgore and firefighters Tony Peeler, Les Powell, Alex Brown, and Ethan Green, didn’t hesitate to jump into action.

Their swift response brought his heart back to life and got him to the hospital, where doctors discovered an artery with a 100% blockage. A stent was implanted, and South was released within 48 hours.

On Wednesday, South returned to the fire department to express his gratitude for the heroic actions that saved his life.

Now, his heart continues to swell with appreciation when he thinks about how the firefighters stepped in during his time of need.

The tax accountant said he “got the same high” on those platforms that he got from gambling. “That was how I relapsed — with Kalshi and Polymarket. I lost a bunch of money.”

The rapid growth of prediction markets has sparked a high-stakes debate that is playing out in courts and legislatures all over the country. Operators of those companies believe they should be regulated like the stock exchange because of federal law and their customer-to-customer structure, while sportsbooks and state officials think they should be supervised the same way as sports gambling platforms.

While that argument continues with no sign of resolution, the clinicians who treat gambling disorders are more concerned about what they are seeing with their patients. In their spaces, when it comes to sports gambling and prediction markets, the end result is virtually the same.

Two gambling addicts who spoke to The Associated Press — the soccer coach and tax accountant — say they had relapses on prediction markets after they took legal action to protect themselves from the allure of sports betting. They are being identified by their occupations because of the sensitivity of their situations. Their stories reflect what experts say they see with some of their clients.

“There may be real differences in how these products are defined or regulated, but in the therapy room, we are often seeing the same cycle of anticipation, action and reaction play out again and again,” said Dr. Cynthia Grant, the vice president of clinical for Birches Health, which operates a national network of providers for treating gambling addiction.

“I sometimes think of it like different doors into the same room. The label on the door may change, but once someone’s inside, the experience can feel very familiar.”

The road from sportsbooks to prediction markets

Sportsbooks and prediction markets offer a lot of similar options. Wagers on games, individual performances and other possibilities. But the format is different.

Sportsbooks have in-house experts who set odds that dictate payouts for winning bets. It's the house versus the gamblers. Traders on predictions markets swap contracts of yes-or-no questions, and profits and losses are dictated by the market. Win a “yes” holding on an event contract where most of the market guessed “no,” and the payout is bigger. Prediction markets generally make money through fees on contracts.

For addicts, they are two paths to the same result.

The soccer coach who spoke to the AP started gambling when he was 16. Small bets against friends in his New York neighborhood, everything from cards to basketball and tennis. When he turned 18, he started going to casinos and making bets at sportsbooks. Amid mounting losses, he turned to prediction markets.

“I would be in all this debt and get a paycheck for $2,000 on a Friday and it would be gone by Saturday or Sunday,” said the coach, 21. “I wouldn’t have money to fill up my gas tank.”

He was struggling with loans and maxed-out credit cards while working and going to college before he stepped away in January to confront his addiction problems, which also included smoking marijuana.

He joined Gamblers Anonymous, and he was told he had to stop associating with people who gamble.

“For a younger crowd, that’s difficult because it’s everywhere,” the coach said. “My friends from childhood — most of them all gamble."

The coach and the tax accountant had formally self-excluded from sportsbooks before they started trading on prediction markets. Self-exclusion programs provide an opportunity for gamblers to ban themselves from gambling facilities and betting apps. They are offered in many states as part of gambling regulations, but there is no widely adopted national system.

The landscape for self-exclusion programs becomes even more fragmented when predictions markets are included. Kalshi started a voluntary opt-out program when it launched a customer protection hub in March 2025, and it's one of several platforms — including Polymarket — collaborating on a national self-exclusion program for prediction markets. But it's not clear if that program would ever overlap with the systems used by state gambling regulators.

The accountant, 33, said his gambling problems started after New York launched legalized mobile sports betting in January 2022. He had “a boatload of debt” in August 2023 when he told his then-fiancée about what was going on with him.

She married him anyway. Looking to save money after the wedding, they moved into a rental house owned by his parents. He self-excluded from sportsbooks. Then, after the couple lost their first pregnancy, the accountant started day-trading before signing up for Kalshi.

“Prediction markets are the same thing packaged in a different way,” the accountant said. “It’s a dangerous loophole. ... How can you do all that and say you’re not a sportsbook?”

Tennis was his go-to sport — he liked the speed of the matches — before he went to rehab in Virginia last year.

He had a relapse in December when he downloaded Polymarket and made a free $10 wager. He was confronted by his wife, who had his email connected to her phone and reached out to his sponsor.

While there has been no substantive research into the effect of prediction markets on sports gambling addiction, the experiences of the coach and the accountant are not uncommon for treatment experts.

“You’re seeing a lot of the same behaviors, whether it’s a prediction market or it’s gambling,” said Jody Bechtold, the CEO of The Better Institute, a Pennsylvania practice that works with people impacted by gambling disorders. “You’re seeing, you know, wagering more and more. Chasing losses, so ‘Oh, today was a bad day, I have to work tomorrow at the prediction markets to get my money back.’ ... The lies, the secrecy, and that it’s impacting everyday life.”

Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana highlighted its programs for responsible trading — such as trading breaks and self-limits — and said it's working on other measures to further facilitate healthy trading behavior.

Compared to casinos, Diana said, Kalshi is “fairer, more transparent, and less predatory.”

"There is no house that wins when customers lose,” she said. "This means that Kalshi doesn’t hook losers and penalize winners.”

A message was left seeking comment from Polymarket.

Event contracts are increasingly popular on prediction markets

Sports have become a major category for prediction markets. Kalshi had more than $2 billion in total trading volume on this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, according to Diana. Michigan’s 69-63 victory over Connecticut in the championship had $10.6 million in volume on Polymarket.

The U.S. market for sports-focused event contracts could grow to approximately $1.1 trillion in annual volume, according to a Bank of America report.

“A year ago, if you said prediction markets, I mean I don’t know what that is, I don’t see it,” said Dr. Timothy Fong, the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program. “Now we’re starting to see it more and more in our patients that come into the clinic. And it’s usually not one, it’s multiple platforms they’re betting on, right? ... When you have something that’s available, that’s accessible, that’s anonymous, is super easy to use, multiple times in a day, of course that’s going to raise the risk of addiction for any human on Earth.”

There are multiple ongoing lawsuits involving states and prediction markets, and the ramifications of the legal dispute are being felt on a variety of levels.

Marlene Warner, the CEO of the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health — a private nonprofit health organization that provides educational programs on gambling along with other services — said the situation with prediction markets “feels a bit like the wild, wild west right now.”

“We’re very used to like going to our state regulator or, you know, seeing a process go through where all of a sudden now you’re like, ‘OK, a piece of legislation has outlined what is appropriate for a licensed sports betting operator to do,’" Warner said. “And then you see the regulation come into place. And so you can track it. But right now, nobody knows kind of what the limits are.”

In most states with legal sports gambling, it is limited to ages 21 and older, while prediction markets are open for 18- to 20-year-olds with some exceptions. Prediction markets also have a presence in states where sports betting is illegal, including Texas and California.

“I don’t know enough frankly, we don’t know enough, nothing’s been studied about them, I can’t tell you whether they’re more less or exactly the same in terms of risk level,” Warner said. “But what I do know is they're in a very gray, unregulated space and that alone makes it difficult.”

Prediction markets fall under the jurisdiction of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has a regulation that prohibits an event contract “that involves, relates to, or references terrorism, assassination, war, gaming, or an activity that is unlawful under any state or federal law.”

CFTC chairman Michael Selig is backing prediction markets in their legal proceedings against several states, asserting the commission's “exclusive jurisdiction over these markets.”

While that argument continues, the soccer coach and tax accountant are rebuilding their lives — while doing their best to stay vigilant with their addictions.

“You have to face this stuff or it just keeps getting worse,” the coach said.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

Wednesday's decision clears the way for Republican-led states to redraw U.S. House districts without regard to race, potentially creating many more GOP-friendly seats.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporters that its members and Democrats would fight the effects of the ruling.

“The Supreme Court has opened the door to a coordinated attack on Black voters across the country,” Clarke said. “This is an outright power grab.”

Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, voters could challenge electoral maps that appeared to dilute the ability of minority communities to elect representatives of their choosing. The expected wave of congressional redistricting by Republican-controlled states after Wednesday's ruling, especially for the 2028 election and beyond, is likely to result in a much smaller Black Caucus.

Changes are coming, but how quickly is unknown

Clarke was joined by over a dozen of the 60 Black Caucus members, including Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Their responses to the court's decision ranged from outrage to defiance to mourning.

It's not clear how many seats will ultimately be affected by the ruling, but redistricting experts predict that more than a dozen now held by minorities could be swept away.

Rep. Troy Carter, one of two Black Democrats from Louisiana, the state at the center of the case, called the ruling “a devastating blow to our democracy, plain and simple.”

Republican leaders in several Southern states already have been discussing how to apply the ruling and create new GOP-friendly congressional maps. In Florida, Republicans wasted no time approving a new U.S. House map, part of which redrew one district created to elect a Black representative.

“I would be surprised if we do not see former slave-holding states moving at lightning speed to target districts that provide Black voters and other voters of color an equal opportunity to elect candidates,” said Kristen Clarke, general counsel for the NAACP and the first Black woman to be assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division.

It's not clear whether state-level voting laws or constitutional prohibitions against racial discrimination will provide any protection, she added.

Republican officials and Black conservatives praised the decision as a victory against race-based mandates. Linda Lee Tarver, of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network, said in a statement civil rights laws were not intended “to institutionalize racial line-drawing as a default feature of our political system.”

Voting Rights Act expanded Black representation

The Congressional Black Caucus was formed in 1971 as court-ordered redistricting under the Voting Rights Act, passed just six years earlier, sent more minorities to Congress.

The number of Black representatives in Congress jumped from nine to 13. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, decided to expand the Democracy Select Committee created in the 1960s by Democratic Rep. Charles Diggs into the more formal Congressional Black Caucus.

The CBC raised its profile in its first year when it boycotted President Richard Nixon's State of the Union address after he refused to meet with the group. Nixon eventually acquiesced. The group created a list of over 60 recommendations to help the Black community, including counteracting racism and building adequate housing. It earned the nickname the “conscience of the Congress.”

“That caucus has had such an important voice in American politics — the things that we’ve been able to achieve together, the creation of equity and access," Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia said during a separate news conference Wednesday. “And I’m afraid that with this ruling, we could see that caucus shrink in a hugely significant way.”

What can Black constituents do

The ruling upset Thomas Johnson when he heard about it while visiting Louisiana's Capitol in Baton Rouge. Johnson, who is Black, is from New Orleans and represented by Carter. He fears Republicans could redraw the state’s congressional map in a way that dismantles predominately Black districts.

“I feel like this is an embarrassing attack upon the minorities, particularly the Black community,” Johnson said. “We have very little (voice) in Congress.”

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist who advises the Black Caucus, said he expects the group will be involved in multiple legal fights for members whose districts will be targeted after the Supreme Court ruling. He also said the ruling makes voter turnout efforts even more important "if we want to change course on some of the things that are likely to happen because of this decision.”

Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell of Alabama, whose state was at the center of a major Voting Rights Act case decided in favor of Black representation nearly three years ago, agreed that the party now needs to focus on getting voters motivated ahead of this year's midterm elections.

“Now more than ever, we need communities across this nation to mobilize — in state legislatures, in the courts and at the ballot box,” Sewell said. "We need to vote like we’ve never voted before." ___ Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam, Matt Brown and Ali Swenson in Washington and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.

Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, was charged April 24 and hasn’t entered a plea, the city-state’s largest English-language newspaper, The Straits Times, said. He allegedly committed the offense at a shopping mall on March 12, and his video spread rapidly when it surfaced, the report said.

The teen was granted court permission Wednesday to travel to Manila from May 2-25 for a school trip required for his graduation, the Straits Times said. He is due back in court on May 29.

Mischief carries a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine, or both, while public nuisance is less severe with up to three months in prison or a fine, or both.

IJooz, the company operating the juice vending machine, filed a police report, and sanitized the dispenser while replacing all 500 straws in the machine. It said it would upgrade its machines to include measures such as individually packaged straws and straw compartments that unlock only after the transaction is completed.

Lawyers for the teen, who is studying in a French business school in Singapore, declined to comment on the case when contacted.

Singapore, a small, densely populated city-state, tightly regulates public behavior and cleanliness. This includes restrictions like limits on chewing gum and strong penalties for littering and vandalism.

A national study by the Media Insight Project finds 36% of U.S. adults say they get news from social media at least once a day. But for people ages 13 to 17, that number rises to 57%.

Similarly, 43% of adults say they get information on national issues and events from influencers or independent content creators at least “sometimes," compared with 57% of teenagers. The project is a collaboration among The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, the American Press Institute and journalism schools at Northwestern University and the University of Maryland.

The new poll points to the pervasiveness of social media in teenagers’ lives and shows how more teens are consuming their news from these platforms or independent content creators, rather than directly from national or local news sources.

While Americans haven't abandoned traditional journalism, they are reevaluating what sources they trust, said Robyn Tomlin, executive director of the American Press Institute.

“Traditional national and local outlets continue to stand out as a trusted source, but people, especially younger audiences, are also building relationships with younger creators they believe are transparent and authentic,” Tomlin said. “That reality has enormous implications for the future of news.”

More teens turn to social media and search for news

Besides social media, teenagers are also more likely to turn to search engines and artificial intelligence chatbots as they hunt for news.

The survey found that about 4 in 10 teens get news daily from search, while about 2 in 10 say that about AI chatbots.

There's little difference among age groups in people who said they get news from digital sites or apps, and television and streaming, the survey found. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults and a similar share of teenagers are getting news from TV at least once a day, with a similar share tuning into digital news sites.

“The idea that television is going away is a misapprehension,” said Tom Rosenstiel, journalism professor at the University of Maryland who worked on the survey. “Watching news through video is not going away. It's changing. The way you see it on YouTube is different than on the ‘CBS Evening News.’”

Many teens approach AI and influencers with some doubts

Despite the fact that many teenagers are getting news from influencers and AI, many have a healthy dose of skepticism.

Though teens are more likely than adults to say they have “a great deal of confidence” in the information they are getting from AI chatbots, relatively few have high confidence in AI’s output. Just 11% of teenagers have a high level of certainty in the information coming from AI, compared with 4% of adults.

Teens are also more confident in their ability to determine whether something was made by a human or AI. About one-third of teens expressed a high level of confidence in their ability to distinguish AI-generated content from human-generated content, compared with about 2 in 10 adults.

When it comes to influencers, there are similar doubts. Only 12% of teenagers also have “a great deal of confidence” in the information they get from independent creators or influencers, whether that’s coming from TV, social media or other sources. That’s higher than the 6% of U.S. adults who say the same, but still very low.

Teens are more engaged with celebrity and gaming news

Not surprisingly, the survey also found that teenagers are more interested in news about celebrities, music, movies, sports and other entertainment. Adults have more interest in political news, business issues or the economy.

For teenagers and adults alike, there’s a significant news fatigue, particularly around political news, Rosenstiel said. Most U.S. adults and teenagers say they “often” or “sometimes” try to avoid news stories about national government and politics, and about 6 in 10 say they try to sidestep news related to President Donald Trump.

“People are tired of the feeling that things are spinning out of control that they’re very judicious in what they’re spending their time on,” Rosenstiel said.

Rosenstiel said many teens also hunt for news and information in different ways. They are much less likely than adults to say they avoid celebrity news or news that is delivered via social media. It’s possible, Rosenstiel added, that the most important journalism for some people is what helps them live their lives, even if it falls outside conventional news sources.

“Part of the problem for traditional journalism," Rosenstiel said, “is the traditional journalism definition of what is real news.”

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Sanders reported from Washington. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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The Media Insight Project survey is an initiative of the American Press Institute, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll of 2,101 Americans included 1,092 U.S. adults ages 18 or older and 1,009 teenagers ages 13 to 17. The poll of adults was conducted Feb. 5-8 and the poll of teens was conducted Feb. 2-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points, and the margin of sampling error for teenagers overall is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

You can join the fun by adding yours here or on our Facebook page.

Whether it’s a line from a sonnet of Shakespeare or any famous poet, a memorable earworm from a song you love or something you yourself wrote, we invite you to join us in taking part in poets.org’s event.

Poetry is meant to travel. However you share it, the goal is simple: put a poem into someone else’s day. This is the 30th year the organization has hosted ‘Poem in Your Pocket Day.’

In Charlottesville, ‘Poem in Your Pocket Day’ has grown into a citywide tradition led by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. Each year, volunteers distribute thousands of poem scrolls across the city—in hospitals, libraries, schools, small businesses, and along the downtown pedestrian mall.

The response is immediate and personal. People return for more poems, share favorites from memory, and carry what they receive with them. It’s a simple idea, multiplied: one poem, passed from hand to hand, until it belongs to a whole community.

Read more about ‘Poem in Your Pocket Day’ by clicking here!

The analysis by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how insurers are paying out less on claims after an accident, natural disaster or other misfortune than they did decades ago. For every $1 collected in premiums, insurers reimbursed 62 cents for claims in 2024, down from an average loss ratio of 80 cents in the 1980s and 1990s.

The analysis wades into a thorny set of economic and political questions as insurance companies are managing the potential risks of climate change when the cost of groceries, gasoline and housing are a frustration for many voters. Insurance companies say they have hiked premiums because of rising prices for homes and autos and the expenses of fixing them.

“The fact that the loss ratios are so low means that the insurance industry is charging too much,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt University think tank and a former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The insurance industry said its current loss ratio reflects the costs for insurers in recent years and the steps deemed necessary for ensuring that insurance funding is stable and solvent.

“Current loss ratios reflect the impact of enormous financial losses over the last several years and the steps insurers have taken (to) maintain and restore financial strength so funds are available to pay future claims," Don Griffin, vice president for policy and research at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, said in an emailed statement. “Loss ratios in the 1990s were driven to nearly unsustainable levels by Hurricane Andrew in particular.”

While President Donald Trump won a second term on the promise to contain inflation, he has also gutted institutions such as the CFPB that sought to find potential savings. Housing costs have been particularly acute. Average mortgage rates remain above 6%, and an executive order by Trump to increase construction of new homes would still take years to bend the curve on housing prices.

When Trump, a Republican, signed the order on housing regulations in March, he emphasized that he was eliminating the heightened standards to protect homes against damage from natural disasters and improving energy efficiency because he said they were increasing construction costs.

“We will slash many of these pointless regulations that do nothing for safety and add lots of costs,” he said at the signing.

Research by the economists Benjamin Keys and Philip Mulder found that average premiums for home insurance climbed an inflation-adjusted 28% between 2017 and 2024 to an annual cost of $2,750. Their research found reasons for the increases: Roughly a third came from higher construction costs, and another 20% came from greater disaster risks. But it also noted the higher costs for financial instruments such as reinsurance, which insurers purchase to protect them from catastrophic financial losses.

The Vanderbilt analysis by contrast looks at the gap between what insurers charge and what they pay out to customers. By returning to the loss ratio of 80 cents paid out for each $1 collected, it estimates that households and businesses could have saved roughly $150 billion from the $1 trillion-plus paid in premiums in 2024.

The analysis includes proposed legislative language for the federal government to set a higher loss ratio for insurers. Currently, state governments primarily regulate insurance, but a federal mandate would be harder for companies to challenge.

The analysis further argues that insurers are using the premiums “to pay for corporate perks, corporate jets, stock-buy backs, excessive executive compensation, excessive dividends, excessive advertising, and excessive agent commissions.”

“Companies are competing against each other, not based on price but just based on brand awareness,” said Shearer, the author of the analysis, arguing that too much money is spent on marketing.

As of Thursday, April 30, the average price for regular gasoline in Virginia is $4.114 per gallon, according to AAA. Diesel is averaging about $5.62 per gallon, while premium gasoline sits at $4.93.

Looking closer at our region, AAA reports that drivers in Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are still paying the most for regular gas, with an average of $4.03 per gallon. Premium is averaging $4.82, and diesel is at $5.55. AAA says drivers in Lynchburg will find the least expensive gas in the area. The average price there for regular gas is $3.99 per gallon, but you’ll pay more for premium gas: $4.79 per gallon.

Statewide, the highest prices are in Washington, D.C., where regular gas averages $4.198 per gallon.

To find out where the lowest fuel prices are near you, visit GasBuddy’s website.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint war against Iran on Feb. 28, the cost of crude oil, the main ingredient in gasoline, has spiked and swung rapidly. That’s because the conflict has caused deep supply chain disruptions and cuts from major oil producers across the Middle East.

Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports here in the United States.

As more people play, the risk of injury rises too.

“It’s not that the sport itself is resulting in more injuries. It’s just more people are playing. It’s still safer than most other sports to play, but it’s just a little bit more engaged in the sense that most people can start playing the sport very easily. It’s very economically feasible. There are many public courts available, and it’s very popular across the entire age spectrum,” said Trishull Kapoor, MD, pain medicine specialist at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Kapoor said some of the most common pickleball injuries include ligament sprains and muscle strains, often involving shoulders, knees, hips, wrists and ankles.

Tendonitis in the elbow is also very common.

So, what can you do to help avoid injuries?

He recommends stretching first, focusing on form and technique, and giving yourself time to recover between games.

If you’re new to the sport, you shouldn’t compete against advanced players.

Finally, Dr. Kapoor said to make sure your shoes are a good fit.

“Not everybody puts the same amount of weight in the same regions of your feet. You have to have the appropriate cushion. The arch of your foot is different in many people, so having support to be able to protect that. Not everybody’s ankles are the same length, or the legs are not the same height. In terms of that mechanism, you need to have appropriate protection, whether wearing an ankle brace, having the appropriate height of the shoe reaching over the ankle itself, having appropriate grip,” he advised.

Dr. Kapoor said if you notice any kind of pain or discomfort while playing, it’s best to stop – otherwise you could make the injury worse.

He adds that if the pain persists for more than a few days, you should get checked out by your physician.

Nipper, a 28-foot (9-meter) tall white dog with black ears has sat conspicuously atop a warehouse for almost seven decades — recreating the famous image of a terrier listening attentively to a phonograph that was long used by electronics and communications company RCA.

Over time, the statue has grown into a source of local pride around this city on the Hudson River. Parents point it out to their kids from the highway. Nipper's image, with his head cocked to one side, appears on items like key chains, ball caps and hoodies.

“When I think of Nipper, I think of Albany. When I think of Albany, I think of Nipper,” said Cody Hitt, who was out with friends recently at a bar right by the statue.

Now that pride is tempered with concern for Nipper's future. After years of litigation, the unused four-story warehouse on which Nipper sits was recently marked by a red placard with white slash — a warning to firefighters and other first responders to use caution when entering.

“It’s definitely not a good thing for Nipper. He is attached to that building, so if something happens to it, it’s going to be kind of hard to take him off,” said Cara Macri, director of preservation services for the Historic Albany Foundation.

The history of Nipper

The flesh-and-blood Nipper lived in late 19th century England and earned his name after trying to bite people's ankles. His owner's brother, Francis Barraud, immortalized the dog posthumously in the painting “His Master’s Voice,” which shows Nipper intrigued by the recorded sound coming from a phonograph horn.

The Gramophone Company in London purchased a version of the image in 1899 and it was registered soon after for use in the United States. The “His Master’s Voice” trademark was acquired in 1929 by the company that became RCA.

Albany's Nipper, with a composite body over a steel frame, was placed by a crane atop the building in the late 1950s to advertise the location of an RCA appliance distributor.

There were many Nipper statues made during his heyday, including a 1958 Nipper statue now at the Maryland Center for History and Culture in Baltimore that's 14 feet (4 meters) high and paired with a larger-than-life phonograph.

But Albany’s is bigger. It stands out in a skyline otherwise notable for a modernist state government complex adjacent to the state Capitol, which features a 44-story office tower and theater shaped like a giant egg.

The beloved dog appears on socks, caps, stickers and shot glasses for sale downtown at the Fort Orange General Store, where store owner Erica Cubello said the items are bestsellers.

“He is kind of like our unofficial mascot here at Fort Orange, as well as the city of Albany,” said Cubello, who was wearing a Nipper hoodie.

The dog statue in Albany

Nipper still looks fresh after all these years. But the building below him has sat unused for at least a decade, with paint chipped off the front exterior.

Nothing ever became of plans announced a decade ago to develop apartments and retail space in the newly purchased building. Foreclosure litigation has been going on for years and city tax documents show an attorney acting as a receiver.

Lawyers involved in the litigation didn't immediately respond to calls for comment.

By 2024, the Historic Albany Foundation put the building on its list of places in peril. In March, the city put the red-and-white caution placard up on the building's entrance. Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill soon after sounded the alarm in a piece headlined: “Nipper has our love, but needs more protection.”

Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs' office said she is working to add Nipper to the city’s list of historic landmarks, which could help protect the dog and the building from damaging changes. Separately, a state board last month nominated the warehouse district that includes Nipper's building for state and national historic registers. That would make the building eligible for state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

There is no serious talk of moving Nipper from his forever home, which would be logistically challenging and expensive.

Besides, where would the roughly four ton (3,600 kilogram) statue go?

“There’s a whole redevelopment downtown. You could put him there. You could put him on the riverfront,” Macri said. “But he’s a big dog.”

York launched his stick and watched it soar like the Schwarbombs routinely hit across the street, only no one was really sure in the moment where it landed.

“I hope everyone's OK,” York said with a laugh. “Definitely don't want a lawsuit. Just honestly blacked out. I didn't know what to do. I was so excited.”

How does one celebrate a Flyers' playoff series victory?

York roared back like he was going to fling a boomerang. Flyers fans blew horns and whistles around the concourse and belted out on repeat the opening “oh oh oh” of the White Stripes' “Seven Nation Army.” Flyers forward Christian Dvorak's celebration hit a little too hard — a cut busted open above his right eye during the victorious on-ice party and blood streamed down his cheek.

Like he went a few rounds in a fight.

More like six grueling games with Sidney Crosby and a Penguins team that has hoisted Stanley Cups and kicked their cross-state rival to the curb so many times over the last 15-plus years that the matchups often felt less like a heated rivalry and the Flyers treated more like a pesky speed bump in a long regular season.

Not this season. Not in Philadelphia.

Not even when the resurgent Penguins threatened to make a run at playoff history and storm back from a 3-0 series deficit and crush the spirit of a Flyers' team that became the NHL’s first to make the playoffs after being 10 points out of contention with 22 or fewer games remaining.

York and goalie Dan Vladar and his 42 saves had other plans.

The Flyers' 1-0 Game 6 overtime victory over the Penguins on Wednesday night served as early validation that general manager Danny Briere was astute in orchestrating an overdue rebuild and the payoff was a first playoff series win in a full NHL season since 2012. The Flyers accelerated their postseason timeline — in large part due to the late-season arrival of teen sensation Porter Martone — and are essentially playing with house money as they gear up for a second-round series with the top-seeded Carolina Hurricanes.

“We played a great series,” Flyers forward Travis Konecny said. “Now we get a chance to play again.”

Flyers coach Rick Tocchet and the rest of the players said to a man when they held a 3-0 series lead that Crosby and the veteran Penguins were too good, too playoff-tested to go down without a fight. Crosby was everywhere in Pittsburgh’s 3-2 victory in Game 5 and had the Penguins believing that, yes, they could become just the fifth team in NHL history to win a series after trailing 3-0.

Vladar, a journeyman turned Olympian voted the team's MVP this season, turned away everything the Penguins threw at him in much of the series. He had his first shutout of the season (with 27 saves) in Game 2, shook off an unspecified arm injury in Game 3 and put the Flyers on his back in Game 6 — getting the better of a fantastic Arturs Silovs — to steady a position long an albatross for the franchise since the Stanley Cup championship days of Bernie Parent.

All Vladar did was shut out the NHL’s third-highest scoring team during the regular season.

“There was never a doubt,” Vladar said. “Good things happen to good people, and we are good people here.”

Vladar also gave a nod to the odds the Flyers faced just to reach this point of the season and pointed out teammates wearing their good-luck gear.

The Flyers celebrated wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Parent's 1970s mask with sleeves that had “3.8 percent” printed on them as a nod to their slim postseason chances a couple months ago.

Vladar — the fifth goalie in franchise history with a series-clinching shutout — also made the fourth-most saves in a series-clinching shutout win over the past 70 years. The only goaltenders with more are Patrick Roy (63 in Game 4 of 1996 Stanley Cup Final), Andrei Vasilevskiy and Carey Price.

“danvladar you are a BAADDDDD man!!” former Phillies World Series champion Jimmy Rollins wrote on social media.

The Flyers were still feeling sky high well after the final horn.

As for York's stick? Well, it did stick the landing and was gleefully grabbed by a man wearing a white Flyers sweatshirt.

He high-fived fans around him and boasted one heck of a postseason souvenir.

The Flyers can only hope there's so much more fun to come in May.

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

Here is a timeline of some significant events in the hostilities between the two:

1982: Israel invades Lebanon in an offensive against the Palestine Liberation Organization and allied groups. Hezbollah is formed, with Iranian backing and based on the Iran's Islamic Revolution model, to fight Israel’s ensuing occupation of southern Lebanon. It launches a guerrilla war against Israel.

1992: Hezbollah leader Abbas Mousawi is killed by an Israeli helicopter attack. His successor is Hassan Nasrallah, who will lead the group for the next three decades.

1996: Israel launches an offensive aiming to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border. Israeli artillery shelling on a United Nations compound housing hundreds of displaced people in Qana kills at least 100 civilians and wounds scores more.

2000: After a long war of attrition, Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon, which is heralded around the Arab world as a major victory for Hezbollah.

2006: Hezbollah fighters ambush an Israeli patrol, killing three Israeli soldiers and taking two hostage in a cross-border raid, sparking a monthlong war between Hezbollah and Israel that ends in a draw. Israeli bombardment razes villages and residential blocks in southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs, a scorched-earth approach that is dubbed the “Dahiyeh Doctrine.”

2008: Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s military chief, is killed when a bomb planted in his car exploded in Damascus. The assassination is blamed on Israel.

2012: Hezbollah enters the Syrian civil war in support of then-President Bashar Assad. In the years that follow, Israel begins periodically carrying out airstrikes in Syria targeting Iranian and Hezbollah facilities and officials or weapons shipments that it said were bound for Hezbollah. Israel still avoided carrying out strikes on Hezbollah on Lebanese territory during this period.

OCT. 8, 2023: One day after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel sparks the war in Gaza, Hezbollah fires missiles across the border. Israel responds with airstrikes and shelling and the two enter into a low-level conflict that initially remains mainly confined to the border area.

SEPT. 17, 2024: Israel launches an attack in Lebanon using remotely-triggered explosive-laden pagers issued to Hezbollah fighters and civilian employees. A day later, a similar attack targets walkie-talkies. The attacks kill dozens of people and maim thousands, most of them Hezbollah members but also including women and children.

SEPT. 27, 2024: Hassan Nasrallah is killed in a series of massive airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs.

NOV. 27, 2024: A U.S.-brokered ceasefire nominally ends the Israel-Hezbollah war. Israel continues to carry out regular strikes in Lebanon that it says aim to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.

MARCH 2, 2026: Two days after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran, triggering a wide-reaching war in the Middle East, Hezbollah launches missiles toward Israel. It says the salvo is in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and for “repeated Israeli aggressions” in Lebanon.

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This story was first published on Apr. 9, 2026. It was updated on Apr. 30, 2026, to correct the date of the start of the most recent conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. It is March 2, 2026, not March 2, 2025.

The 6-3 ruling effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act's requirement that districts be drawn to give minority voters a chance to elect representatives of their choosing. One practical effect of that requirement was the protection of reliably Democratic-voting majority-minority districts, even in solidly red states where lawmakers could otherwise favor the GOP.

With that mandate now largely gone, Republican lawmakers across the country — and especially in the South — have a freer hand to eliminate Democratic-leaning districts and pad the total number of seats they can win to hold the U.S. House. There are more than a dozen such seats in Republican-controlled states.

Shortly after the ruling, Republicans were urging a review of their congressional maps in Louisiana, Tennessee and elsewhere.

Their immediate challenge is that the ruling came down well after filing deadlines for this year's primary elections — and in some cases, after those primary elections have been held. That means ballots are set and in some states early and absentee voting has already begun.

‘No time to waste’

The timing makes it difficult to tear up maps and draw new ones. In Louisiana, where the mandate to draw a second, Democratic-leaning majority-Black House district led to Tuesday's decision, the primary election for federal offices is set for May 16 — and early voting is scheduled to begin Saturday. Nevertheless, the state's governor, attorney general and legislative leaders were meeting to discuss how the state would respond.

Republicans have been scrambling to comply with President Donald Trump's directive to redraw maps to add more winnable House seats to stave off losses in the midterms. In a sign of the pressure for Republicans to take advantage of the opportunity, multiple hopefuls running for governor in GOP primaries called for immediate redraws.

“There is no time to waste," Rick Jackson, a businessman and GOP governor candidate in Georgia, said in urging a redraw there even as voting is underway for the May 19 primary. "Georgia must act now to ensure secure elections in Georgia and counter the Democrats’ national assault on our elections.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, running for the GOP nomination for governor in Tennessee, called for redrawing that state's congressional map to replace its lone, majority-Black Democratic congressional seat with one more winnable for Republicans — even though that state's deadline for candidates to get on the ballot was March 10.

In a social media post, Trump praised the opinion by “brilliant Justice Samuel Alito” for returning “the Voting Rights Act to its Original Intent, which was to protect against intentional Racial Discrimination.”

Primary calendar is the main obstacle to redrawing maps

Democrats have managed to largely counter Republicans' push to draw more winnable seats in the round of mid-decade redistricting that started last year, but there is no clear way they could match the GOP's potential gains from the effective loss of the Voting Rights Act.

“It should not be lost on anyone that the Roberts court makes this decision at a time when Republican leaders across the country are foaming at the mouth to draw the American people out of a meaningful say in our elections,” former Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement, referring to the court's Republican-nominated chief justice, John Roberts. "They want to retain illegitimately obtained power through the use of, among other things, now Supreme Court-sanctioned racial and partisan gerrymandering.”

Only one Republican state has a relatively clear path to gaining seats from the decision in time for the midterms — Florida. GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has called a special session to adopt his map that could give his party four new winnable House seats. DeSantis had been counting on the Supreme Court ruling as it did Wednesday, and his state's primary is not until August.

The Florida Legislature approved the new congressional map Wednesday.

Other states have to confront the unprecedented possibility of revising maps even as voters are casting ballots or the legal process of declaring intent to run for office has concluded.

“I don’t know what the implications are going be for the fall. It's pretty late,” said Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

He said any redistricting decisions in the weeks ahead would be up to governors and legislatures.

Voting Rights Act ‘essentially dead’

In the longer term, the ruling clears the way for a drastic reshaping of the nation's political geography, at least by the time of the next presidential election year in 2028.

“The Voting Rights Act as a means to protect minority voters from vote dilution is essentially dead,” said Jonathan Cervas, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who has worked as the court-appointed special master and mapmaker in multiple Voting Rights Act cases. “It's hard to imagine how this decision does not lead to additional GOP districts into the future.”

Cervas noted the Voting Rights Act isn't necessarily a partisan benefit for Democrats. Its most frequent use comes in local, nonpartisan races for offices such as school board or city council. But Republicans have long complained that Democrats have used the law to get winnable districts for their Black voters in red states that Republican-leaning white voters could never receive in blue states.

“For decades the left has spent hundreds of millions of dollars seeking to divide Americans along racial lines in a cynical pursuit of partisan power masquerading as civil rights,” Adam Kincaid, the National Republican Redistricting Trust’s executive director, said in a statement. “Today’s decision rebukes that divisive and unconstitutional effort.”

Democratic states might want to preserve minority districts

While the Voting Rights Act has helped preserve Democratic-leaning districts, those voters don't vanish just because of Wednesday's ruling. Republicans in some states cannot just eliminate all those districts without spreading enough Democratic voters around to jeopardize their own incumbents.

Likewise, the requirement that Democratic-leaning minority voters be concentrated in certain districts has occasionally hurt Democrats in states such as Michigan, lowering the number of swing districts they might win. The party could partly counter Republican gains by spreading minority voters wider in states it controls.

But there will be political pressure against that from some Black and Hispanic Democrats who want to ensure their communities still command the majority in certain districts. Democratic-controlled states also are more likely to have nonpartisan redistricting commissions that make their congressional maps less partisan and increasingly have adopted state-level versions of the Voting Rights Act to protect sometimes marginalized communities.

That will take time, but it all points to a far less regulated environment for mapmaking in the years to come.

That worries Thomas Johnson, a Black voter in New Orleans who was at the state Capitol to lobby on unrelated legislation Wednesday when the Supreme Court ruling came down. The majority-Black congressional district in which he lives can now be diced up by that state's Republican legislature.

“We are going to do all we can and continue fighting so our voices are heard,” Johnson said. “That’s all we want, to be heard.”

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Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta, Lisa Mascaro in Washington, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contributed to this report.

A dyslexic teenager from a working-class background, Welch struggled with his college entry exams and took a job installing tires after leaving school at age 15. When he lost that gig, he lined up at the Liverpool job center. The job board featured a funeral director's listing — a “great career," he's sure, but “pretty grim" — and an advertisement for a charity event where entrepreneurs could win business grants.

Welch took that one and, less than 24 hours later, found himself inside a church filled with vintage furniture and friendly grandparents. It looked nothing like ABC's “Shark Tank," but he recalls feeling very much like one of the reality show's contestants as he described his proposal to sell cheaper tires to niche customers like his friends who drove souped-up cars.

That was Welch's first interaction with the then-Prince's Trust, which became known as The King's Trust when King Charles III became Britain's ruling monarch in 2023. “It wasn’t a well thought out plan, really,” said Welch, who is now based in Florida. “But they backed me. And they backed my enthusiasm. And they gave me a chance.”

Generations of Brits can tell stories similar to Welch, thanks to The Prince's Trust and The King's Trust, which have been supporting young people launch their careers since 1976, when then-Prince Charles took his Royal Navy severance pay and established the charity at a time of great economic distress for the United Kingdom. In the past 50 years, the King's Trust says it has reached more than 1.3 million young Brits through its education and employment initiatives, creating numerous success stories including those of celebrated actor Idris Elba and noted fashion designer Ozwald Boateng.

As Charles and Queen Camilla continued their first state visit to the U.S. since he became king, they nodded to The King's Trust with a gala Wednesday in New York, as the charity works to deepen its impact in more than two dozen countries including the United States. Attendees included Anna Wintour, Charlotte Tilbury, Donatella Versace, Lionel Richie and Martha Stewart.

At the event, Charles emphasized that “potential and latent talent truly knows no bounds once you help develop it.”

“I won't see the long-distance future,” he told attendees. "But I'm enormously grateful to you all for what you can all do as supporters to help this vital endeavor, to champion the next generation, ensuring their talent and ambition continue to strengthen our societies for many years to come.”

Members of the British Royal Family have traditionally served as patrons of charities, boosting awareness and fundraising for existing organizations in the areas where they rule as nobles. Observers say Charles' lasting interest in young people's employment is evident as he continues lending his title to its expanding work.

Giving young people an opportunity

The trust's programs reach young people through schools and established nonprofit partners. They include Get Hired, which helps young people land their first jobs, and the Development Awards, a grant that helps them afford purchases to advance their careers such as a laptop or professional clothing.

The Enterprise Challenge is an afterschool program where students develop businesses that address a problem in their community.

“What we see every time is that young people want to be helped. They want to be taken seriously,” said Jeremy Green, a trustee of the King’s Trust Group Company and chair of the King’s Trust USA. "And it’s not just giving them money. It’s giving them opportunity.”

LaKenya Sharpe, principal of The Collins Academy High School in the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale, said being taken seriously by such an organization has meant the world to her students. They won the King's Trust US' Enterprise Challenge for launching a business that grows and sells fresh vegetables to stores in their area, which lacked access to stores that sold produce.

The “babies” in her community often feel as if no one pays attention to them, she said.

“This shows that they can achieve anything," Sharpe added. "Their belief now is ‘Oh, other people are watching. Other people are seeing this.’ And they ask ‘How far can this go?’ My answer is, 'It can go as far as you guys take it. Don’t let anything limit you.'”

Highlighting philanthropic ties between the US and UK

Wednesday's gala arrived at a moment of unusual tension between the elected leaders of the two longstanding allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to support the United States’ war in Iran has angered President Donald Trump.

Charles noted the “wonderful opportunity” to celebrate “the enduring cultural bond” between the two countries, whose relationship he said is “rooted in shared creativity, enterprise and values.”

“Reminding us we are truly greater together. That's the point,” Charles told attendees.

The trust’s leaders emphasized they'd been planning anniversary celebrations long before the recent rift. But Charles' emphasis on the country’s deep philanthropic ties could serve as a reminder of their shared interests, said JP Tribe, a senior lecturer in law at the University of Liverpool who has written about royal patronages.

Tribe hoped the gala showed “that both countries have and can continue to engage in very positive public benefit activity that helps the most disadvantaged in our society.”

Expanding in the United States

The King's Trust US has set a goal to reach 1,000 young people in the United States this year.

Their biggest partner in that effort is City Year, the education nonprofit that introduced The Collins Academy to The King’s Trust and sends young adults to help teach in schools nationwide. AmeriCorps members are helping them pilot a version of the “Get Hired” program. They're also relying on the nonprofit Per Scholas and Maryland school districts to test some other programs.

Gore said student participants tend to be very focused on their immediate communities. The goal is to show them they can have an impact where they live.

"Keeping employment in communities and keeping people in communities is actually the key to everyone’s success," Gore said.

Welch said it doesn't require giant investments to make an impact. He received a 500 pound ($677) grant and, perhaps more importantly, a mentor who provided office space for the nascent company that he’d eventually sell for 50 million pounds ($68 million) to Michelin.

He said the blueprint for The King's Trust's expansion to succeed already exists. It's just a matter of building relationships with on-the-ground partners who can reach the people with the most need.

“What we see in Chicago, what we see in Orlando, is really no different -- with obvious local nuances," said Welch, who launched his latest venture the Anglo Atlantic advisory and investment firm. "But it’s not very different to what we see in Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

The Golden Knights take a 3-2 lead into their best-of-seven NHL playoffs series on Friday night in Salt Lake City.

Vegas' Pavel Dorofeyev's six-on-five goal with 52.7 seconds left in regulation forced overtime and gave him the sixth playoff hat trick in franchise history. Dorofeyev had two goals in 13 career playoff games before this one.

“That was a huge game by him,” Golden Knights center Jack Eichel said. “He's a huge part of our team, and it was awesome to see him find the back of the net a few times. It seems like he's been playing pretty well these last few nights and it's great to see him get rewarded.”

Neither team scored in the first overtime, the first time this series either side failed in a period to hit the back of the net.

“I think that was a hell of a game,” Mammoth coach André Tourigny said. “I think both teams played really hard. We were really close. Unfortunately, we gave that six-on-five goal and could not get it done in overtime, but I'm really proud of the way the guys played.”

Also for the Golden Knights, Shea Theodore has a goal and assist and Eichel had two assists. Carter Hart stopped 34 shots.

John Marino, Lawson Crouse and Dylan Guenther scored for the Mammoth and Clayton Keller had two assists. Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves.

Utah rallied in the third period when Guenther tied it at 5:54 on a rush play and Michael Carcone on a two-on-one with 7:18 left.

Both teams have continued to struggle on the power play, combining to go 1 for 10. Vegas ended a scoring drought of 13 power plays when Dorofeyev scored from the right circle to make it 1-1 with 40.2 seconds left in the first period. But the Golden Knights are just 3 for 18 for the series, which is better than Utah's 1-for-14 showing.

Vegas also has two short-handed goals this series, both from Howden that included his shot from the slot to win Game 5. The Golden Knights forced the action that resulted in a faceoff in Utah's zone. Vegas won the faceoff, Mitch Marner dug the puck from the boards and fed Howden for the winner.

“(Marner) did a good job of getting the stick in there and interrupting play,” Howden said. “It just kind of popped out and I just tried to get a shot. After that, just kind of blacked out.”

The Golden Knights twice rallied in the first two periods, and goals 1:38 apart by Dorofeyev and Theodore late in the second put them ahead 3-2. It's the first time Vegas took the lead into the third period in this series, but the Golden Knights were the NHL's best third-period team in the regular season with a plus-47 goal differential.

But both teams have been resilient — and physical.

They combined for 86 hits, each side determined to assert itself. But those also sometimes resulted in unnecessary penalties, with the Mammoth taking three in the first period on an open-ice interference by Nick Schmaltz, a clothesline takedown of Ivan Barbashev by Logan Cooley officially called holding and a boarding minor on Mikhail Sergachev.

The Golden Knights were hardly blameless. Cole Smith picked up a double-minor high-sticking penalty just 11 seconds into third period, but Vegas killed off the four minutes.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

On Thursday, he was awarded $61,000 and a car by the president.

Sawe, the first person to officially break the two-hour barrier in an marathon, was welcomed home by his parents and Sports Minister Salim Mvurya, who hailed the runner's accomplishment at the London Marathon as “a win for Kenya.”

President William Ruto held a more formal welcoming ceremony Thursday, where he described Sawe's win as “a defining moment in the history of human endurance.”

Sawe gave President Ruto an autographed Adidas Adizero shoe worn during Sunday’s marathon. He also autographed a photo of the moment he broke the world record.

Sawe made history on Sunday when he won in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds. He bettered the previous men’s world record by 65 seconds.

On arrival Wednesday at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Sawe told The Associated Press he was proud to have “made a great achievement in life” and was planning to “try and lower the record further.”

He was adorned with a traditional wreath made from twigs to symbolize victory.

Traditional dancers sang his praises as he then climbed into a luxury government vehicle as part of the “heroic welcome” hailed by the sports minister.

Sawe's parents told The AP they knew their son was destined for greatness even as a child. His mother recounted how he sprinted during bath time.

“He would run too fast. So, I would say to myself, this boy will shine for me one day,” Emily Sawe said.

His father recounted some tension watching Sunday’s marathon because of the television lacked a clear signal.

“The moment my son pulled in front, I walked out and didn’t see him finish the race. I watched the replay afterwards. I was so happy, extremely happy. We screamed so much that now it is hard to swallow anything,” Simion Kiplagat Sawe said.

Sabastian Sawe was introduced to professional running by his uncle, Abraham Chepkirwok, who ran the 800 meters for Uganda at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Sawe won the Valencia Marathon in 2024, clocking 2:02:05. He went into Sunday's race in London as the defending champion.

His father says Sawe is disciplined and determined: “Even now, he still says that record was not enough; he wants to lower it further."

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

“I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public,” Powell said in remarks at a press conference after the Fed announced its decision to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged.

Powell’s decision to stay — the first time a Fed chair will remain on the board as a governor since 1948 — denies President Donald Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank’s seven-member governing board with his own appointee. The Senate Banking Committee earlier approved Powell’s successor as chair, Trump appointee Kevin Warsh, on a party-line vote. Powell will continue as a Fed governor, possibly until January 2028. Warsh, if confirmed, will take a seat currently held by Stephen Miran, a previous Trump appointee, whose term ended in January.

Powell's move could make it a bit harder for Warsh to engineer the rate cuts that Trump has demanded, and Warsh advocated for last year, economists say.

“It probably means it will take Warsh a little bit longer to build the consensus he is trying to build,” said David Seif, chief economist for developed markets at Nomura, an investment bank.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on X Friday that her office was ending its probe into the Fed’s extensive building renovations because the Fed’s inspector general would scrutinize them instead. But she added that her office could reopen the investigation if “the facts warrant doing so.” And Pirro had said previously that she would appeal a court ruling that threw out subpoenas her office had issued.

Powell said Wednesday he had been assured by the Justice Department that the appeal wouldn't result in a reopening of the probe unless a separate investigation by the Fed's inspector general finds evidence of criminal activity.

Apparently, that didn't bring Powell the closure he felt is needed.

“I’m waiting for the investigation to be well and truly over with finality and transparency," he said. "I’m waiting for that and I will leave when I think it appropriate to do so.”

The Fed Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the third straight meeting but signaled it could still cut rates in the coming months, moves that attracted the most dissents since October 1992. Three officials dissented in favor of removing the reference to a future cut, while a fourth, Miran, dissented in favor of an immediate rate cut.

The dissents underscore the level of division on the Fed's 12-member rate-setting committee ahead of the end of Powell's term as chair on May 15.

“Developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook,” the Fed said in a statement after its two-day meeting. “Inflation is elevated, in part reflecting the recent increase in global energy prices.”

Trump responded to Powell's decision late Wednesday on his social media website: “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell wants to stay at the Fed because he can’t get a job anywhere else — Nobody wants him,” Trump posted, using his nickname for the Fed chair.

Warsh has promised “regime change” at the central bank and may make sweeping changes to its economic models, communications strategies, and balance sheet. He has argued in favor of rate cuts, as Trump has demanded, but he will likely find it harder to implement them with inflation topping 3%, above the Fed’s target of 2%.

When asked if he believed Warsh would stand up to political pressure from Trump, Powell answered, “He testified very strongly at his hearing, and I take him at his word.”

The three officials who dissented against hinting that the Fed may reduce borrowing costs were Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland; Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Fed; and Lorie Logan, president of the Dallas Fed. The regional Fed bank presidents have historically been more likely to dissent, while the Washington-based governors more often support the chair.

The dissents could renew tension between the Trump administration and the bank presidents, who White House officials have previously criticized.

Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at US Bank, said the dissents demonstrated that Fed policymakers are “very independent" and will likely be on hold for months longer. She has forecast a rate cut in December but now isn't sure. Wall Street investors on average don't expect a reduction until well into next year, according to futures pricing.

Powell's decision to stay on could worsen tensions with the Trump administration and would create what some analysts refer to as a “two Popes” scenario, with a chair and former chair both on the Fed’s board. In that case, divisions among policymakers could increase, if some decided to follow Powell's lead rather than Warsh's.

Powell dismissed the notion that his staying on could cause dissension, saying, “My intention is not to interfere," later adding that, “I’m not looking to be a high profile dissident or anything like that."

Still, Powell said he remained concerned about the Fed's independence from the White House, which he said is essential to its ability to set rates to benefit the public, rather than in response to political pressure. When the Fed raises or cuts its short-term rate, over time it affects the cost of mortgages, auto loans, and business borrowing.

Fed independence remains “at risk,” he said. "We’re having to resort to the courts to enforce our ... ability to make monetary policy without political considerations. We’ve had to do that and we’ve been successful so far, but that’s not over, none of that has concluded yet.”

The unusual situation comes while the economic picture remains unusually murky, putting the Fed in a difficult spot. Inflation has jumped to 3.3%, a two-year high, as the war has sharply raised gas prices. That makes it harder for the central bank to reduce rates. The Fed typically leaves rates unchanged, or even raises them, if inflation is worsening.

At the same time, hiring has ground almost to a halt, leaving those without jobs frustrated by the difficulty of finding new ones. Typically, the Fed cuts rates when the job market is weak, to spur more spending and job gains.

But layoffs also remain low, as employers appear to be following a “ low-hire, low-fire ” strategy. Many Fed officials have suggested that as long as the unemployment rate is low, the central bank doesn't need to cut rates to spur more spending and hiring. Unemployment declined to 4.3% in March, from 4.4%.

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AP Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report.

It will be the first time in nearly two decades — and in Russia’s 4-year-old war in Ukraine — that no military equipment will rumble through Moscow’s Red Square on May 9, the day Russia celebrates its most important secular holiday. The Kremlin has used it to showcase its military might and global clout, and it is a source of patriotic pride.

Victory Day parades on Red Square have involved military equipment and various weaponry every year since 2008. Smaller parades are held elsewhere across the country, including in cities like St. Petersburg.

The ministry cited the “current operational situation” as a reason for excluding military equipment, as well as cadets, from this year’s parade on the 81st anniversary of the victory. Ukraine has launched drone attacks deep inside Russia to counter Moscow’s more than 4-year-old invasion.

While the ministry did not elaborate, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday blamed Ukraine, accusing it of “terrorist activity,” in an apparent reference to the drone strikes. In recent months, attacks have reached locations deep inside Russia, like the Baltic port of Ust-Luga to the north of Moscow, the Samara region near the border with Kazakhstan, and the Perm region in the Ural mountains.

“All measures are being taken to minimize the danger,” he told reporters.

The parade will feature “servicemen from higher military educational institutions of all kinds and certain service branches of the Russian Armed Forces” and a traditional military aircraft flyover, the ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call later Wednesday that he was ready to declare a ceasefire with Ukraine for the Victory Day holiday, according to presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov.

Ushakov said the Trump had supported the idea as the holiday marked “our common victory over fascism” in World War II.

Boosting national pride

World War II remains a rare point of consensus in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule, and the Kremlin has leveraged that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in what it calls the Great Patriotic War in 1941-45, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche.

President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, has turned Victory Day into a key pillar of his tenure and has tried to use it to justify the war in Ukraine.

“Traditionally, the parade of tanks, missile systems and other military hardware across Red Square has been central to these celebrations, providing powerful optics and reinforcing Russia’s image as the heir to Soviet victory in World War II," said Natia Seskuria, associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute.

"Removing this important element weakens the propaganda value of the event, particularly for domestic audiences, as it reduces one of the most visible symbols of Russian power and military prestige,” she told The Associated Press.

Security concerns are the most likely explanation, Seskuria said.

But there also could be practical military considerations, "including the need to preserve equipment, avoid highlighting battlefield losses, and reduce the exposure of valuable military assets,” she said,

"This decision signals a degree of vulnerability rather than strength, because even last year, Russia demonstrated a range of new tanks and drones in front of invited world leaders,” Seskuria added.

An 80th anniversary drew dignitaries

Last year’s parade on the 80th anniversary was the largest since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, and drew the most global leaders to Moscow in a decade, including high-profile guests like Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Fico will attend this year, too, along with other foreign dignitaries, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said Wednesday.

It featured over 11,500 troops and more than 180 military vehicles, including tanks, armored infantry vehicles and artillery used on the battlefield in Ukraine, as well as huge Yars nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles as well as drones carried on military trucks. Fighter jets flew over Red Square, too.

Putin had declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire starting May 7, 2025, and authorities blocked cellphone internet in Moscow for several days to avert Ukrainian drone attacks.

In 2023, the parade was scaled down, with fewer troops and military equipment on display and no flyover.

In the Soviet era, the first Red Square parade marking the defeat of Nazi Germany took place on June 24, 1945. Then it was held on May 9 several times after that, with the last Soviet-era parade taking place in 1990.

After the USSR collapsed, the parades resumed in 1995. That year, troops and veterans marched through Red Square, and a separate parade of military equipment took place at the sprawling Poklonnaya Gora World War II memorial. After that, parades were held every year. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities moved the parade to a later date, and it was held on June 24.

Alperen Sengun had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the fifth-seeded Rockets, who sent the series back to Houston for Game 6 on Friday night with a gritty performance to overcome Austin Reaves' return to the Lakers.

Houston has won two straight even without top scorer Kevin Durant, who has missed four of the series' five games with injuries.

“We put ourselves in a bad position, but we can still make history and come back one game at a time,” Sengun said. “Play at home, come back here, just do the same thing we're doing.”

No team has ever recovered from an 0-3 deficit to win an NBA playoff series, but the Rockets are halfway. Only four of the 159 teams to start a series down 0-3 have ever even forced a Game 7.

LeBron James scored 17 of his 25 points in the second half and added seven assists, but Los Angeles lost its second straight after stealing Game 3 with an improbable rally in the final seconds of regulation.

James’ teams have never blown a 2-0 series lead in his entire 23-year NBA career.

“Listen, it’s one game,” James said. “You give credit where credit is due. They played well the last two games, exceptionally well, and we’ve got to answer the call.”

Reaves had 22 points and six assists in his return from a nine-game injury absence for the Lakers, but they committed 15 mostly atrocious turnovers in their worst performance of the series and only their second loss in 16 home games since February.

Los Angeles awoke for a late 11-1 run and trimmed Houston’s lead to 88-85 on a driving layup by James, but Reed Sheppard hit a jumper before ripping the ball away from James for a dunk with 2:20 to play. The moment looked like redemption for Sheppard, who committed a turnover forced by James that led to the Lakers' last-minute comeback to tie Game 3.

"After what happened in Game 3, we could have very easily shut it down and pouted and quit," said Sheppard, who was ill with congestion and a headache during the day. “That's not what we did. We watched it and we learned from it. We keep fighting and keep giving ourselves a chance to win.”

Deandre Ayton had 18 points and 17 rebounds for Los Angeles, which is still without Luka Doncic. The NBA scoring champion doesn't appear to be close to a return from a strained hamstring.

Strained oblique muscles had sidelined Reaves since April 2, but he had 11 points and six assists in the first half of Game 5. Yet the Rockets coolly carried an advantage into the second half and led 87-74 with 5:55 to play.

Ayton's putback dunk made it 96-93 after James and Reaves both missed open 3-pointers. But Thompson hit one of two free throws, and James badly missed another 3-point attempt that allowed Houston to ice it.

The Rockets shot particularly poorly while losing the series' first two games in Los Angeles, but they've rediscovered their collective touch while running a balanced offense in Durant's absence. Houston has played with the confidence exemplified Tuesday by Smith, who claimed the Rockets were “obviously the better team” despite their 3-1 series deficit.

The Rockets' resilience is also good news for the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, who are resting and awaiting the series winner after sweeping Phoenix.

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

Danylo Tsvok said AI is already helping Ukraine hold territory, while reducing risks to its soldiers as it faces a larger, better-resourced adversary.

“We need to be faster than the enemy in decision-making,” he told The Associated Press, adding that AI is “not only a competitive advantage. It’s about our survival.”

Tsvok, 35, leads the Defense Artificial Intelligence Center, which was established last month by the Defense Ministry. He previously served in the government’s top civilian AI role.

Ukraine and Russia are locked in an intensifying race to deploy increasingly automated systems — from aerial drones to ground and maritime platforms. At the center of that race is the ability to maintain operations under heavy electronic warfare.

Many newer systems are designed to shift toward autonomous functionality, maintaining target focus even under hostile jamming.

Ukraine’s rapidly expanding domestic arms sector now includes more than 2,000 manufacturers and military technology firms. Developers are testing tools that enable coordinated drone swarms, aiming to boost efficiency while easing the burden on human operators.

“We need to understand that the future belongs to autonomous systems,” Tsvok said. “AI makes it possible to automate parts of the kill chain.”

In its more mature form, he said, AI could underpin a networked battlefield in which smart weapons operate in coordination under a unified assessment platform.

“That could happen within three to five years,” he said. “Within that time frame, front lines could be secured by tightly integrated hardware and software systems.”

In the nearer term, he pointed to wider deployment of autonomous interceptors, expanded use of ground-based robotic systems, and an escalation in electronic warfare capabilities.

Some elements are already in place. Unmanned ground platforms are increasingly used in logistics, evacuation and combat roles.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said land drones supported more than 20,000 battlefield missions — including medical evacuations, supply runs and direct combat — over a three-month period this year. Among them, he said, was a successful attack carried out without any human soldiers.

Tsvok insisted the objective is not fully autonomous ‘killer robots,’ but a more coordinated system that accelerates decision-making and integrates more closely with Western partners.

“It’s not about reaching 100% autonomy, it’s about being efficient on the battlefield,” he said.

Ukraine is deepening partnerships with Western allies and Gulf states to secure funding, scale production and embed itself in security alliances, while also opening access to its extensive battlefield data.

Tsvok’s department receives financial support from the U.K. Ministry of Defence — the type of relationship he described as both militarily and politically significant.

“Democracies must develop strong defensive capabilities,” he said. “Without AI, they cannot effectively protect peace. This is not only about Ukraine. It’s about global security.”

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Volodymyr Yurchuk and Vasilisa Stepanenko in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed.

However, the Cavaliers would have been in dire straits Wednesday night without Dennis Schroder.

Schroder scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers came back to beat the Toronto Raptors 125-120 in Game 5 of their first-round series.

“This guy’s played in huge games in the NBA and then on the international scene, so this type of game fits him,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I think it started with him getting to the rim and then that loosened up the jumper for him. And then I thought his defense on (RJ) Barrett really got under him, harassed him. He really was Dennis the Menace tonight.”

Schroder — acquired from the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 1 along with Keon Ellis — finished with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including three 3-pointers, in 21 minutes. This is the 17th time Schroder has scored at least 19 points in a playoff game. He had 20 for Detroit in Game 2 of its first-round series against New York last year.

It was the third-most points Schroder has scored since joining the Cavaliers.

“I love big games, I love the playoffs. You’ve just got to embrace it,” Schroder said. “I’ve been through a lot of big games of my career, and I’ve seen it. I think experience matters, but at the end of the day, the urgency and the energy, you’ve got to have it.”

Schroder’s biggest contribution came before the fourth quarter. The Cavaliers trailed 74-67 at halftime. The 13-year veteran gave a detailed 2-3 minute breakdown in the locker room on what was needed to come back.

“I just wanted to see Cavs basketball, how we played when we first got here. We did a great job even throughout this season when we first got here, but I think we got a little bit away from that,” Schroder said. “We need the big guys. Jarrett (Allen) and Evan Mobley are the key to our team. We’ve got two superstars with Don (Donovan Mitchell) and with Uno (James Harden), but those two big guys, we’ve got to use them.”

Mobley had six of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, both on 3-pointers. His 3 with 10:21 remaining off an assist by Schroder gave Cleveland a 106-103 lead that it would not relinquish.

Schroder added a layup to extend the Cavs’ lead to five points.

“I was just trying to be aggressive. I just wanted to come out and bring the energy, try to help as much as I can to get the W,” Schroder said.

Schroder played the final 16 minutes. Atkinson tried to get Mitchell and Mobley back in during the fourth quarter, but Mitchell said the group on the floor was playing well.

“Sometimes the best offense is just going to stand over there. There’s a trust level that I have, and we all have with this group,” said Mitchell, who had 19 points. “And like I said, it’s the playoffs, man. It doesn’t matter if it’s me, whoever it is, as long as we’re getting quality looks and figuring it out. And that’s what we saw throughout tonight.”

Schroder said he did not realize Mitchell chose to stay on the bench until someone mentioned it after the game.

“ I’m the same way, though. When somebody is balling and even when the coach tells me to get in, I’m letting the guy cook. Whoever cooks, and I appreciate that from Don,” Schroder said. “That means a lot. He is a superstar. Not a lot of superstars do that who I’ve been around.”

Schroder and the Cavaliers will try to close out the series Friday night in Toronto

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

Rookie Jakub Dobes stopped 38 shots to help Montreal move within a victory of advancing for the first time since losing to the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2021.

Brendan Gallagher got his first goal in his first game this series and Kirby Dach also scored for the Canadiens.

“It's obviously exciting,” said Gallagher, who was a healthy scratch the first four games. “It's been a fun series to watch. I tried to follow their lead and find a way to contribute and I did that.”

Game 6 is Friday night in Montreal, where the teams split Games 3 and 4. All five games have been decided by one goal, including overtime in the first three.

Dominic James scored his first career playoff goal and Jake Guentzel also connected for the Lightning. They are one loss from being eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season.

Tampa Bay has lost 10 of its last 12 home games in the postseason despite 460 consecutive sellouts.

“We got no choice now. We got to show up or we're out,” Lightning forward Brayden Point said.

Texier took a long pass from Lane Hutson, skated into the left circle and ripped a shot that bounced off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove and into the net for a 3-2 lead early in the third.

“I'm not a 50-goal scorer,” Texier said. “When I have a chance, I just try to put it on net and sometimes you're lucky it's in and sometimes not.”

The Canadiens jumped ahead three minutes into the game when Gallagher wristed in a rebound after Vasilevskiy kicked away Alex Newhook’s backhander. Gallagher, the 14-year veteran, spent time the first four games giving the young players advice.

“I was happy for him and happy for us,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said about Gallagher. “Really happy the way he's handled everything and not surprised the way he played.”

Seconds after James blasted a slap shot past Dobes on a 2-on-1 breakaway, the Canadiens regained the lead. Dach skated down the left side, went around a defender, lost the puck, kicked it from his skate to his stick in front of the net and put it in.

Dach deactivated his Instagram account after receiving online criticism because his defensive lapse led to the winning goal in overtime in Game 2. He had a goal and an assist in Montreal’s 3-2 overtime win the next game.

Guentzel fired a slap shot between Dobes’ legs on another 2-on-1 breakaway to tie it at 2 late in the second. Guentzel has the best playoff goal-scoring ratio among American-born players in NHL history with 43 goals in 79 games.

The Lightning killed off a four-minute disadvantage after Ryan McDonagh’s double minor for high-sticking in the first period. The Canadiens managed just one shot on net during the power play.

Montreal had better scoring chances on two of Tampa Bay’s power plays in the second period. Vasilevskiy stopped Jake Evans on a short-handed breakaway on one of them. ___

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

Some officials were members of Mexico's progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Some of those politicians called the indictment a political attack on their party.

U.S. federal officials announced the charges in a news release. None of the defendants were in custody, but Mexico's government said shortly afterward that it had received multiple extradition requests from the U.S. without identifying those requested. It did not say how it would respond.

Morena party members indicted

The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state since November 2021.

Charges against Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.

Rocha was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum's mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president's “Hugs, Not Bullets” policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with powerful drug cartels. López Obrador built a political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing Mexican politics.

Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he “categorically and completely rejects” the accusations as baseless and called them an “attack” on Mexico’s ruling party and its leaders.

“It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, ” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.”

Later in the day, he told reporters that he planned to stay in Sinaloa and wasn’t worried.

Ties to Sinaloa Cartel

Some of those named, according to the indictment, have themselves participated in the Sinaloa Cartel's campaign of violence and retribution.

Those charged included a Mexican senator, a Sinaloa state deputy attorney general, a former Sinaloa secretary of public security, a former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police and the mayor of Culiacan.

According to the indictment, the defendants shielded cartel leaders from investigation, arrest, and prosecution, fed the cartel with sensitive law enforcement and military information, directed members of state and local law enforcement agencies to protect drug loads and let the cartel commit brutal drug-related violence without consequence. In return, it said, the defendants received millions of dollars in drug money.

The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel faction known as “Los Chapitos,” which is run by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the ex-cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

Authorities said the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the U.S. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.

“As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release.

The indictment of Rocha, who was born in the same town as “El Chapo,” was particularly notable because the governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2024 involving the Sinaloa Cartel. His name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa Cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction of the cartel and handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. In the letter, the capo said that when he was kidnapped he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha.

In the years since, the cartel's two warring factions have ravaged the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial control.

Among those indicted, at least three officials — Rocha, the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital, and a senator — were affiliated with Sheinbaum’s party, Morena. A number of other officials held positions unaffiliated with Mexican parties.

It's not the first time the U.S. has brought drug trafficking charges against ranking Mexican officials. Genaro García Luna — a former Mexican public security secretary under former President Felipe Calderón — was convicted by a U.S. court and sentenced to 38 years in prison after he was accused of taking bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He denied the allegations and is appealing his conviction.

Another balancing act for Sheinbaum

The indictment unsealed Wednesday come after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson last week said that the U.S. administration would launch an anti-corruption campaign targeting Mexican officials he said were linked to organized crime.

"Corruption not only hinders progress, it distorts it. It increases costs, weakens competition, and erodes the trust upon which markets depend. It is not a problem without victims,” Johnson said.

Sheinbaum responded Monday by saying her government has not seen “any evidence” of the charges of corruption.

“Any investigation in the United States against any person in Mexico must have evidence reviewed by the (Mexican) Attorney General’s Office,” Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum’s government has already detained several local officials across Mexico in its ongoing crackdown against the cartels, fueled by pressure by the Trump administration.

The indictment has once again forced the Mexican leader to walk a political tightrope, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution who specializes in organized crime.

If Sheinbaum doesn’t go after Rocha, it will put strain on relations with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of a free-trade agreement with the U.S. crucial to the Mexican economy, the analyst said. If she does arrest him, “it carries tremendous consequences for her politically” ahead of next year’s midterm elections in Mexico.

“Is she going to move to arrest Gov. Rocha and the other eight indicted politicians and attempt to extradite him to the United States? This is certainly what the United States wants,” Felbab-Brown said.

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This story has been corrected to show the scandal that embroiled Rocha was in 2024, not 2023.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed.

The rookie left fielder's latest saved the game for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Church ended a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates by robbing Nick Gonzales of what would have been a walk-off, two-run homer by making a leaping catch at the left-field wall Wednesday night.

Just four days earlier, Church took a potential tying homer away from Seattle's Mitch Garver in the sixth inning. The 25-year-old also had his first career two-homer game in that 11-9 loss to the Mariners.

On opening day, Church made a dazzling catch at the top of the wall against Tampa Bay's Ryan Vilade. A homer then also would have tied the game.

Gonzales’ drive above the top of the 6-foot wall — 373 feet from home plate — would have been a home run in 27 of the 30 big league ballparks, according to MLB Statcast, all but PNC Park, Baltimore's Camden Yards and Texas' Globe Life Field.

Reliever Riley O'Brien, who got his eighth save thanks to the grab, held his arms over his head with a stunned look toward left as Church casually jogged away from the wall with the ball in his glove.

Church earned a reputation as an elite defender in the minor leagues as an 11th-round draft pick by the Cardinals in 2022. He's on his best stretch at the plate, hitting .281 with four homers in the past eight games.

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

The government established the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion after father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram allegedly opened fire with legally-owned guns at the celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14., 2025. Authorities say their attack was inspired by the Islamic State group.

Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell made 14 recommendations on Thursday in her first interim report, five of which were not made public because they were classified as confidential for national security reasons.

The report also noted there had been a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The United States and Israel’s attack on Iran in February was “likely to have increased the risk of attacks directed at the Australian Jewish community,” it said.

Report proposes new limits on gun ownership and follow-up on gun licenses

The recommendations included that the federal and state governments prioritize implementing nationally consistent gun laws and a gun buyback.

Sajid Naveed was shot dead by police at the crime scene. He was a licensed shooter who legally owned the guns used.

Under new restrictions proposed by the federal government, the Indian-born Australian permanent resident would have been banned from holding a gun license because he was not an Australian citizen.

His son was wounded but survived. Naveed Akram has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder. He has entered no pleas.

The government has also proposed limiting the number of guns someone can own to as few as four and implementing periodic reviews of existing gun licenses.

The new restrictions would be accompanied with a gun buyback scheme to compensate gun owners who must hand in weapons. The government has proposed sharing the cost of the buyback with the six states and two territories. But some states have said they won’t pay.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had agreed to implement all the recommendations that were relevant to federal authorities.

Albanese said he hoped the recommended gun reforms were implemented.

“I certainly hope that that occurs and would continue to engage constructively with state and territory governments to say that this is reform which is necessary,” Albanese told reporters.

Albanese noted that Australia commemorated on Tuesday the 30th anniversary of Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in modern times.

A landmark national firearms agreement virtually banned rapid-fire rifles after a gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state on April 28, 1996.

“The nation is safer because of that,” Albanese said.

Government moves to increase protection of Jewish sites

Albanese noted that despite concluding that risks to Australian Jews were rising, the report found that no urgent changes were required to keep Australians safe.

“There has been a rise in antisemitism. That is a global phenomenon,” Albanese said.

“That is something that has happened right around the world. Governments need to respond to it. We are responding to it,” he added.

The report noted that the government had allocated 102 million Australian dollars ($73 million) to increase security at Jewish sites including synagogues and schools.

The money is administered by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community’s peak organization.

The council’s co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the report was an important part in the process of making Jewish Australians feel safe again.

“We need to get to a point where Jewish Australians at Hanukkah this year … feel safe, that we can gather again, that we won’t be targeted,” Ryvchin told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“It’s going to be a long process to get us to that point. There’s a deep sense of trauma in the community and … a lot of unanswered questions, bit this is an important step in the process,” he added.

Public hearings in the inquiry begin on Monday next week.

The panel of three judges dismissed Brenton Tarrant’s claim that harsh prison conditions prompted him to make an involuntarily admission to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges. His bid to withdraw his guilty pleas and seek a trial was “utterly devoid of merit," they wrote.

The Australian man, who is now 35, killed 51 worshippers and injured dozens more in March 2019 when he drove to two Christchurch mosques and opened fire with semiautomatic weapons during Friday prayers. Tarrant’s guilty pleas in March 2020 brought relief to bereaved families and survivors of the attack, who feared he would use a public trial to air his hateful views.

The dismissal of his appeal appears to end the possibility of Tarrant ever facing a trial, a prospect that lawyers representing some of his victims — who included men, women and children as young as three — said in a statement Thursday had been “unimaginably traumatic.”

The court noted the gunman's bid was made 505 days after the legal deadline for it to be filed. Tarrant had “failed by a considerable margin to adequately explain the extraordinarily long delay” in seeking an appeal, the judgment said.

His claim of mental illness was rejected

At the court's five-day hearing in February, the attacker argued his admissions of guilt were provoked by “irrationality” induced by poor mental health, which led him to desert his racist views for a time. The judges concluded, however, that his claims of mental illness weren’t supported by prison staff, mental health professionals or lawyers who had earlier represented him.

The court added that Tarrant also didn't meet the legal definition of unfitness to plead guilty, a point he had admitted.

“He was not suffering from a mental impairment or any other form of mental incapacity which rendered him unable to voluntarily change his pleas to guilty,” the judges wrote in Thursday's ruling. “He endeavoured to mislead us about his state of mind in a weak attempt to advance an appeal in circumstances where all other evidence demonstrated that he made an informed and totally rational decision to plead guilty.”

The court's decision also revealed that Tarrant sought to abandon his appeal shortly after making his case at the hearing in February. The judges rejected that bid too, writing that the case was “of significant public interest and should be finally determined.”

They suggested that Tarrant “began to form the opinion that the hearing was not proceeding in his favour, and as a result decided to file a notice of abandonment after the hearing concluded.” New Zealand law doesn’t automatically allow an appellant to quit an appeal bid once it’s underway.

Judges say his pleas weren't forced

The shooter's complaints about his prison conditions included that he was kept away from other prisoners without anything to do and was constantly surveilled. The judges, however, said his solitary confinement was necessary because Tarrant was at risk for suicide or self-harm.

“He was monitored because of concerns about his welfare and not to torment him or treat him cruelly,” they wrote.

The shooter “was not coerced or pressured in any way” to plead guilty, the judges said. In fact, they added, Tarrant rejected his lawyers' offer to attempt to negotiate away the terrorism charge because he wanted to be known as a terrorist.

He will remain in jail for life

Tarrant, who has fired the lawyers who were acting for him in February, remains in Auckland Prison, where he was sentenced in August 2020 to spend life in prison without the chance of parole. The judges allowed him to abandon his appeal of that sentence, which was scheduled to be heard later in 2026.

The killer was radicalized online and moved to New Zealand in 2017 with a plan to commit a mass shooting. He amassed a cache of weapons and made a reconnaissance trip to the sites of his planned crimes before the attack.

His previous lawyers told the appeals court in February that Tarrant, an immigrant from Australia, had wanted to argue during a trial that he had been defending New Zealand from immigrants. Such a defense is not available under New Zealand law, a fact that the judges suggested Thursday had influenced his decision to plead guilty.

They wrote that Tarrant hadn't disputed the facts of the case against him, which they described as “overwhelming” and “beyond dispute," or identified any legitimate defense he would have offered at a trial. Evidence included footage of the attack that the gunman filmed himself and livestreamed on the internet, in which he showed his own face, and a document outlining his racist views that he published online before the attacks under his real name.