Energy Secretary Chris Wright had urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to act in an effort to help the United States better compete with China for superiority in the fast-growing AI sector. Tech companies and data center developers have welcomed the chances for faster connections to the country's power supply.

But utilities, states and regional grid operators worried that the Republican administration’s plan would remove their authority to manage the process. Clean energy advocates want the agency to advance, rather than undermine, state-level efforts to require the use of renewable energies.

The commission's actions come as a backlash grows against data centers over fears about rising electricity prices and concerns about the massive amounts of energy and water they use, polluting communities across the country and straining water resources and the electric grid.

Unanimous vote and affordability

FERC members voted unanimously to direct six regional grid operators to ensure that AI data centers and other large power users are “able to connect to the transmission system in a timely and orderly manner.”

Laura Swett, an appointee of President Donald Trump who chairs the commission, called the vote historic and said it would push the country’s electricity market into the future while also protecting ratepayers from shouldering the costs of connecting big power users to the grid.

“I know that Americans across the country are concerned about affordability, and so are we,” Swett said, referring to the five-member commission.

“Many Americans are increasingly concerned about the interconnection of large (power) loads, and data centers will increase their bills in that stress," Swett said. "As chairman, I am taking extremely seriously the mission that Congress has entrusted us to ensure that rates are reasonable and that Americans pay their fair share or less.”

Data centers would pay the full cost of any grid upgrades needed for their connection, under the commission order. But that order can do little to address the tightening energy supplies that are driving up electricity bills in some areas and raising warnings of blackouts as the construction of data centers outpaces the speed of new power plants coming online to serve them.

The vote comes eight months after Wright asked the independent agency to take more control over ensuring that the vast network of massive computing warehouses needed to power AI are connected quickly to high-voltage transmission lines.

The six regional grid operators under the order serve 200 million Americans, or two-thirds of FERC's jurisdiction. FERC, meanwhile, invited utilities that handle their regional transmission systems to also participate.

A search for power

Tech giants are scrambling to find enough power for their data centers and report that, in some places, it will take years to connect to the electric grid.

Besides power bottlenecks, the tech industry is running into widespread opposition from communities Residents do not want to live next to or near a data center, citing fears about rising electricity prices, pollution and water consumption. There have been protests over losing open space, farmland or rural character.

More than 4,000 data centers now operate in the U.S., according to one estimate, with an additional 3,000 planned or under construction, including some that consume more energy than a small city. Such facilities have ballooned in size to accommodate the demands of AI.

Trump has tried to deflect public concerns about AI, seeing the fast-evolving technology as crucial for the U.S. to attract foreign investment and maintain its economic and military prowess. Trump signed an executive order this month that establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release.

In December, FERC took an earlier step to help data center operators get electricity quickly, voting to allow tech companies to effectively plug a data center directly into a power plant.

Power demands from data centers

Companies such as xAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, OpenAI and Amazon have signed Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in which they agreed to build or buy new sources of power generation for their data centers and cover the expense of infrastructure upgrades.

They also committed to making backup generation available to prevent blackouts in times of emergency, and to hire locally for their data center build out.

Rob Gramlich, a Washington-based energy consultant, said the order leaves states in control of retail electric rates, terms and conditions. But, he said, they should quickly develop rules to accommodate large power users and prevent cost shifts to residential and business customers.

FERC could assert broader jurisdiction over interconnection of large power users if states do not act quickly, Gramlich said.

Data from the Electric Power Research Institute shows that data centers now account for about 5% of U.S. electricity demand, but could triple by 2035. In Virginia, data centers account more than 25% of overall demand and could rise to more than 40% by 2030.

Tech companies have continued to raise their spending on data centers, but there is evidence that construction is lagging.

A J.P. Morgan report last month said that, based on satellite images, over 60% of data center capacity planned for completion in 2027 hasn’t begun construction, and another 7% is delayed. It said the culprits are typically related to permitting and delays in getting gas turbines, transformers and skilled labor.

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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pa.

The review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally. U.S. officials and senior military officers had promised to coordinate closely with the Europeans as America draws down.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have sent conflicting signals about whether America is reducing or increasing its military footprint in Europe, as well as threatening to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark. Just weeks ago, the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide as much military support should any NATO member come under attack.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told his NATO counterparts. “It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said the allies have long been aware of U.S. plans to pull troops from Europe at some point and that they must take care of their own security.

“We know that we must do more and we are doing it,” Merz said.

Public dressing down over bases, gender and migration

In a fiery speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. The review would also assess whether the U.S. has full access and overflight “when we need it.”

While defense ministers and military officers sat in silence, Hegseth railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.

“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth's comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.

It does not augur well for a summit of NATO leaders in Turkey on July 7-8.

A rare and short visit to NATO

It was a rare visit to NATO by Hegseth, his first this year after skipping a meeting in February. The Pentagon chief did not stay long, leaving well before the gathering was over and hours before Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for more weapons for his country.

Speaking to reporters at Brussels airport before flying home, Hegseth said, “It was great to hear country after country say, ‘We’re going to meet our target. We’re going to meet our target.’ There are still a few outliers, and we will be clear with them as we do this review.”

NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should it clash with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Under NATO’s collective security guarantee – Article 5 of its founding treaty – the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5.

US nuclear weapons will stay

The U.S. has by far NATO’s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO’s deterrence. To underscore that point, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after Thursday’s meeting.

In the statement, it “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO’s extended deterrence architecture.”

The ministers “agreed to continue enhancing NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO’s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.”

Rutte played down the impact of the U.S. decision, saying that the NATO Force Model – the system for organizing what forces member countries will provide commanders in times of peace, crisis or conflict – is just “a planning tool,” and not a reflection of what would actually happen.

“If war breaks out, we will all max out what we need to do to make sure we can fight the war,” Rutte told reporters. “In the planning phase, it is important to know what we can count on. What is in theory there.”

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bono, Marc Anthony and Common were all slated to perform at the dedication ceremony. The Roots served as the house band.

Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters shared the stage with former presidents Joe Biden, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton along with former first ladies Jill Biden, Laura Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Former Vice President Kamala Harris was also in attendance.

“Eight years in the crucible and not once did you melt in the heat,” Michelle Obama said, speaking directly to her husband during her turn at the podium. “Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence. Your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage. Your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency. Your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber. And to do it all as a first.”

She ticked off highlights from her husband's eight years in office, including “standing up for marriage equality” and “listening to science.”

“And you did it all with such grace and class and cool,” she said. “You made the hardest job in the world look like a walk in this beautiful park.”

Jennifer Hudson sang the national anthem and Christina Aguilera delivered a rousing rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, joined by Chicago teenagers in the nonprofit Guitars Over Guns program, sang an original song called “Better Believe,” written just for the dedication.

John Legend sang “Someday We’ll All Be Free” and was joined by the rapper Common and Uniting Voices Chicago for their Academy Award-winning song “Glory.”

The invite-only celebration was livestreamed and kicks off a weekend of events centered around the Obama Presidential Center, which opens to the general public on Juneteenth.

President Donald Trump was not in attendance. He called the $850 million center a “total disaster” in a social media post in February.

Those at the event included California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate; civil rights leaders Andrew Young and Al Sharpton; Oprah Winfrey; comedians David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert; actor Tom Hanks; tennis legend Billie Jean King and Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts.

Former world leaders in attendance included former Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Thousands more watched from a nearby park.

“This is not a monument to the Obamas," said Valerie Jarrett, the Obama Foundation’s chief executive and former Obama top adviser. "This is a tribute to all those who made this journey possible.”

Martin Nesbitt, chair of the Obama Foundation board, wore a tan suit in a joking nod toward the outfit Obama wore in 2014, drawing criticism over his fashion choice.

General admission tickets for the center are sold out through the end of October. But tens of thousands of people have already been offered a sneak peek of the nearly 20-acre campus on Chicago's South Side in Jackson Park.

The center, located near where Obama lived and began his political career, is expected to attract more than 1 million visitors annually. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.

The campus includes a towering museum that covers the political and personal realms of the nation’s first Black president and first lady, while public spaces include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground and athletic center, basketball courts and a picnic area with grills.

The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot tall concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”

He’s intent on becoming the best. He already may be there.

The 24-year-old is hitting unprecedented velocities for a starter in MLB's pitch-tracking era that began in 2008. Over the last month, he's dominated unlike any pitcher in the last century.

Misiorowski has allowed just one run over his last eight starts heading into his Friday matchup with the Atlanta Braves. He says he can’t come up with a specific moment or decision that sparked this surge.

“It’s more that it finally clicked,” said Misiorowski, who is 8-2 with a 1.34 ERA and 131 strikeouts to lead the majors in the latter two categories. “Everything started settling in and feeling good.”

The fact Misiorowski used the word “finally” to describe an emergence in his first full major league season underscores his exacting standards.

Misiorowski's rise has Brewers manager Pat Murphy comparing him to Forrest Gump, which prompted a social media post by the pitcher his own face over the Tom Hanks movie character’s body.

“It’s for sure meant to be a compliment for a guy who didn’t put in limits on himself and his naiveté,” Murphy said. “It was a factor in a positive way, where he went out and achieved whatever he set his mind to, and didn’t let the outside forces, weren’t even aware of the outside forces, and didn’t let anything hold him back.”

Misiorowski was selected to the All-Star Game last season after only five starts. He struggled late last year before producing a 1.50 postseason ERA during Milwaukee’s run to the NL Championship Series. Now he’s a Cy Young Award favorite.

Misiorowski is more than just a hard thrower

The eye-popping numbers most associated with Misiorowski come from the radar gun. He reached 104.5 mph — the fastest velocity by any starter in the pitch tracking era — and got to 100 mph on a record 58 pitches during the Brewers’ 6-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

He's thrown 460 pitches at least 100 mph this season, already surpassing the record for a starter set by Cincinnati's Hunter Greene with 337 such pitches in 2022.

But his most impressive statistics have more to do with results than velocity.

According to MLB.com, Misiorowski’s 0.17 ERA since May 1 is the best in an eight-start stretch for any pitcher since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913. Against Philadelphia, he became the third pitcher since 1900 to throw a shutout while striking out 15 and allowing no more than one baserunner.

Opponents are batting just .140 against Misiorowski this season. SportRadar says no starting pitcher has allowed an opponent batting average of .166 or below over a full non-pandemic season since at least 1910. Boston’s Pedro Martinez had batters hitting .167 against him in 2000. Opponents hit .168 against Cleveland’s Luis Tiant in 1968.

Misiorowski’s development into a complete pitcher should come as no surprise, considering who he grew up watching.

The pitchers Miz admires most aren't necessarily smoke throwers

The list of pitchers he admired growing up includes Adam Wainwright, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale. While Sale is a hard thrower and Kershaw also had outstanding velocity early in his career, Wainwright and Greinke succeeded without overpowering fastballs.

They had one thing in common.

“Every game, you felt like they could trust them to get a win,” Misiorowski said. “That was the big thing. You looked at those guys and they were going out there and going to perform for seven or eight innings to secure the team a win.”

His appreciation for baseball history includes a baseball card collection he says numbers in the thousands, though he probably owns even more Pokemon cards.

“Since I was a kid, my dad got me into it,” Misiorowski said of his baseball card collection. “It’s huge right now. I think I need to downsize it a little bit, but it’s fun.”

His enthusiasm shows on the mound and in his work ethic. He devoted the offseason to upgrading his leg strength to withstand the rigors of a full season and results are showing in his improved endurance and command.

“He could rest on his laurels. ‘Hey, I was an All-Star in my first year. I pitched in the playoffs. I pitched well. I can do it. I’m fine. I’ll be all right,’“ Murphy said. “Or you can say, ‘I’m going home. I’m going to get stronger. I’m going to do whatever I can do to come back and dominate.’ That’s what he’s done.”

He's stabilizing an injury-riddled rotation

Misiorowski’s growth has helped the Brewers overcome numerous pitching injuries to build a comfortable NL Central lead. With Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison (8-1, 2.47) leading the rotation, the Brewers rank fourth in the majors in ERA.

Over his last eight starts, Misiorowski has struck out 80 while allowing nine walks and 14 hits over 54 1/3 innings. The only extra-base hit he’s allowed over his last nine starts was a double by Houston’s Isaac Paredes on May 31.

The low walk totals are notable after Misiorowski battled control issues as a rookie. He walked 31 batters in 66 innings last year, but now constantly gets ahead of hitters.

“He’s winning the 0-0 and the 1-1 (counts) a lot,” pitching coach Chris Hook said. “When he doesn’t, it stands out to be like, ‘Oh, God, he didn’t win the 0-0. He didn’t win the 1-1.’ Like that’s weird, for him to go to a two-ball count.”

Once hitters fall behind in the count, they have little chance.

After facing him for the first time last month, New York Yankees slugger and three-time MVP Aaron Judge noted that “he’s almost basically releasing it in the catcher’s glove” due to the extension Misiorowski gets with his 6-foot-7 frame.

MLB Network analyst and two-time All-Star pitcher Ryan Dempster says Misiorowski reminds him of 6-10 Hall of Fame lefty Randy Johnson in that regard because their hands seem right in front of the plate to the batter when they let go of the ball.

“You can tell yourself to swing, but your brain doesn’t quite compute until it’s out of the hand,” Dempster said. “By the time it’s out of his hand, it’s already on you. I haven’t seen a fastball like this since Kerry Wood.”

Wood’s career was derailed by injuries, leading to worries of hard throwers being susceptible to blowing out pitching arms. Dempster notes Misiorowski is playing in an era with lower pitch counts. Misiorowski also produces elite velocity without overthrowing.

“He sure is repeating his delivery, and when you repeat your delivery, you tend to stay healthy,” Dempster said. “Guys who don’t repeat deliveries and get out of whack and something’s a little off, they struggle with that. I really think he will stay healthy, just me personally.”

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AP freelance writers Jack Albright and Rich Rovito contributed to this report.

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

The unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge wrongly interpreted Philadelphia's contract claims involving Independence National Historical Park, saying the city merely having standing to sue did not mean its arguments had merit. The panel also praised the plans for the replacement installation, writing that they were, “full of historical context,” despite objections from historians and city officials that the content appears whitewashed.

The ruling comes a week after a Massachusetts federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore sites changed under an executive order calling for the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks to not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” The federal government has asked for a stay on that ruling while it appeals.

It was unclear how the Massachusetts ruling would affect the restoration or replacement of the panels at the President's House Site. About half the large panels at the outdoor exhibit had been restored before a February pause in the work.

Phone and email messages left for attorneys representing the city were not returned early Thursday. Messages to spokespeople for the Department of Interior and the National Park Service also were not returned.

The city of Philadelphia sued in January after the National Park Service, in response to President Donald Trump's executive order, removed the explanatory panels from the President’s House Site, where George and Martha Washington lived with nine of their slaves in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.

The city had worked in tandem with the federal government, historians and private partners to create the exhibit in the early 2000s — as part of a longstanding cooperation agreement over the downtown historical park — and contributed $1.5 million toward its creation.

The city argued that federal government must consult with the city before making changes to the President's House Site. Justice Department lawyers argued the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties.

In its ruling Thursday, the appeals panel said the maintenance portion of the contract between the city and the federal government could not be interpreted to mean the site would remain as it was when it was completed.

“The duty to ‘maintain’ is better understood as a general management obligation that accompanies ownership, not a promise that the exhibits will forever remain in place regardless of the owner’s wishes,” the opinion said.

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Casey contributed from Boston.

The Midwest, meanwhile, was also dealing with damage after a strong line of storms tore through parts of Illinois, Indiana and northern Kentucky on Wednesday, bringing possible tornadoes and leaving scores of homes without electricity.

Arthur, the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin, was downgraded to a low pressure area along the upper Texas coast Wednesday night. It will continue to weaken as it moves inland into parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, while still dumping heavy rain, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The National Weather Service said rain was falling on southern Louisiana and Mississippi at a rate of 3 inches (8 centimeters) per hour in some places Thursday. TV reports and social media posts showed flooded streets in many areas. Several tornado warnings were posted Thursday morning for southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were without power.

Arthur's remnants were expected to bring 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) or more of rain to the Gulf states over the course of Thursday and Friday, the weather service said. Parts of Texas saw flash flooding on Wednesday. The region also was hit with heavy rain earlier in the week.

The storm on Thursday left a trail of downed trees, flooded roadways and building damage, as well as several tornado sightings, most heavily concentrated in southeastern Louisiana.

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing her community’s relatively minor damage and the city’s efforts to clean up. Ahead of the storm, police prepared boats and set up barricades in known flood areas while collection points for residents to fill sandbags sprung up around Louisiana.

In the Midwest, there were numerous reports of damage from tornadoes and strong winds, but no immediate reports of deaths or life-threatening injuries. More than 130,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday afternoon in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, according to poweroutage.us.

A tornado was reported near Effingham, Illinois, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Springfield, shortly Wednesday evening. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said.

“A tornado caused significant damage in areas north of the City of Effingham, impacting homes, roadways, utilities, and other property throughout portions of Effingham County,” Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum said in a statement.

Yochum said firefighters responded to damaged homes, collapsed structures, car crashes, downed power lines, gas leaks and blocked roads.

An automobile museum and auto parts complex in Effingham reported on Facebook that it sustained “catastrophic” damage, but that no one was injured.

About 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Effingham in Blue Mound, Marla Washburn and her husband, Todd, hunkered down in their basement as a suspected tornado tore through their neighborhood. They could hear debris smacking into their house, which sustained damage to the roof, windows and front door frame while parts of trees in their yard were sheered off.

“The whole house shook," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “The roof from the school across the street from us blew off and slammed into our house. And now it’s littered all across my backyard.”

She said the scene in the neighborhood was like Armageddon.

“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but we’re OK," she said. “There’s just stuff everywhere. And you look at it and you go, ‘I don’t even know where to start to clean up.’"

Also north of Effingham, the weather service reported that a tractor trailer flipped over in high winds on Interstate 57 north of Effingham, injuring the driver.

Damage from strong winds and a possible tornado were also reported in Florence, Kentucky, near Cincinnati, with local news video and photos showing roofs and siding ripped off buildings, as well as downed trees and power lines.

The weather service said it received numerous reports of wind damage across a wide swath, from Iowa and Missouri to Ohio and West Virginia. Tornadoes also were rep

The strong storms were expected to move through the central Appalachians to New England on Thursday, the weather service said.

The warnings were followed by sweeping airstrikes on the city, which Israel said targeted the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

What Kaour found back in Tyre, shattered his hopes — his dream family apartment overlooking the shimmering Mediterranean Sea was a heap of rubble and shattered glass.

His return coincided with the announcement of an agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East. The deal also calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, but it's unclear what that means in practice.

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Later Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon as long as "Israel’s security needs require it.” The remarks were his first comment since the U.S.-Iran deal was signed.

For its part, Hezbollah has said that it's committed to resisting Israel. Fighting between the two sides, which was still underway on Wednesday in villages and towns of southern Lebanon, could derail the deal.

Many hope the US-Iran deal signals better times

For residents in the south of crisis-battered Lebanon, hopes of better times are mixed with skepticism —there had been too many ceasefire announcements that had failed to halt the fighting.

Kaour lives in Germany, but spends most of the summer in Tyre. Last month, when an Israeli strike hit their street without warning, he was a abroad with his family.

When he returned, he saw his building, with a popular sweets shop and an electronics store on the ground floor, was still standing, unlike surrounding structures — buildings that were all leveled to the ground.

But the walls and the windows of his apartment had been blasted out. He was relieved his family had not been there, he said. They all survived.

“I’m hopeful for peace, and God willing this is the end of the war, and everyone can go back to their homes," he said. “We are living abroad, but our minds are here in our country.”

Outside, the street filled quickly with people trying to clear the rubble.

Kaour's neighbor one floor above, Samih Haidar had also just returned and found his door bolted by wooden boards.

He tried to kick them down, but failed, then anxiously waited as two men who had been clearing rubble on another floor came and unscrewed the bolts.

Through a gap, Haidar climbed in. He didn't know what to expect — he had rented the apartment out to a family displaced from another area in the south, people who were close to a trusted friend of his.

Then his anxiety turned into shock: broken furniture, shattered glass, rubble and a burned out kitchen. Neighbors told him the kitchen caught fire after the strike. He slowly walked through each room, quietly filming with his phone. He doesn't know what became of the family — displaced from Tyre like scores of others, he presumed.

He wants to hope, he said.

“We want things to work out and live in safety, so there can be stability for us and everyone else,” Haidar said.

Morning strikes pierce a tenuous ceasefire

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported several Israeli drone strikes on Thursday morning in the country's south, including one on a car in the town of Kfar Tebnit that killed one person and critically wounded another.

Israel did not comment on the strikes.

To the north, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, displaced families huddled along the waterfront in Beirut, Lebanon's capital. Most of them have sleeping in tents for months, living day-to-day in limbo. For others, it's a bench or a mattress on the ground.

Many said they're not convinced that the U.S.-Iran deal will hold or that they will be able to return to their homes — if they still have homes to return to. In the border area close to Israel, many Lebanese villages have been almost completely demolished.

“I haven’t felt relieved at all,” said Mohammed Ashmar, displaced from the border village of Deir Seryan, holding a cup of coffee and sitting near his tent on the waterfront. “Until I get back to my home ... I won’t be convinced of anything.”

The Israel-Hezbollah war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon, and killed nearly 3,900, according to Lebanese officials. About 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

In his remarks Thursday, Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s military will stay in southern Lebanon, where it has occupied up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border. Israel must “maintain a security zone in southern Lebanon, and it requires that we must not leave there as long as Israel’s security needs require it,” he said.

Speaking during a visit by foreign dignitaries on Thursday, Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the country faces urgent humanitarian needs but also the daunting task of planning for the return of displaced families and reconstruction of the destroyed areas.

“The Lebanese people deserve peace," she said. "They deserve to return safely to their homes, rebuild their communities, and look to the future with confidence and hope."

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Associated Press journalists Fadi Tawil in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

The league launched an investigation at the request of the NHL Players’ Association in light of the Edmonton Oilers’ interest in hiring Babcock. The league in a statement said even in the least favorable light, there was no basis to restrict Babcock’s employment.

It was not immediately clear if or when the Oilers would name Babcock coach. They have been looking for a replacement since firing Kris Knoblauch following a first-round playoff exit that came after back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final.

Babcock, 63, has not coached in the NHL since 2019, when he was fired by Toronto 23 games into his fifth season in charge. The Blue Jackets hired him on July 1, 2023, and Babcock resigned in September after his requests for personal photos from players in an attempt to get to know them drew criticism as an invasion of privacy.

A statement from the NHLPA called the allegations very concerning and said, "Moving forward, we expect that Mr. Babcock will uphold the high standards required of NHL head coaches.”

The NHL dropped its planned investigation at the time because Babcock stepped down. It got underway this week after the final ended

Babcock coached Detroit to the Stanley Cup in 2008 and has made two other trips to the final, along with guiding Canada to Olympic gold medals in 2010 and ’14.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it didn’t sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.

Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.

The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumored to have died in the past — only to have the group confirm it was still alive.

That is no longer the case.

“The tree’s failure to produce leaves this year is heartbreaking for everyone,” Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing the death.

The tree is said to have sheltered Robin Hood, the legendary 13th-century bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and took refuge in the forest when being pursued by the sheriff of Nottingham.

It got its name after being mentioned in a book on oaks by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790 that led to the first wave of fans who flocked to the forest.

It's impossible to say what killed the tree, but the footprints of millions contributed to its downfall, along with intervention to shore up its massive limbs using cables and poles. Climate change that has brought heat waves and drought was also blamed.

Tree experts found the root system strangled and starved.

“Ancient trees like the Major Oak are the ‘conservation white rhinos of the U.K.’ but their decline is far less visible,” said Ed Pyne, of the Woodland Trust. “Saving them is vital to the health of the world we live in and yet most disappear quietly, without the recognition or care given to the Major Oak.”

In addition to its place in folklore, the forest is known for Sherwood oaks that floated the ships of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson’s Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and as timbers in the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The Major Oak was spared from the saw and has been protected by a fence since the 1970s.

“The Major Oak will continue to stand at the heart of Sherwood as a natural monument for visitors to come and see, living on in the legend of Robin Hood and continuing to provide as much support to the forest’s ecosystem in death as in life,” Drake said.

Although the official certification of the primary race is continuing, McDuffie said in a statement that “it is clear that the voters have chosen a different path.” The former member of the D.C. council said he had contacted Lewis George and congratulated her. He thanked his supporters and urged them to continue working for the city.

"The campaign may be over, but the work of building a safer, more affordable, more prosperous city continues.”

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race. Lewis George had a little less than 53% of the vote Thursday morning, which is just a few percentage points above the 50% threshold to avoid ranked choice voting.

The city is scheduled to release preliminary ranked choice voting results on Sunday. AP will call the race before then if it is clear that the ranked choice process will be avoided.

Lewis George has pledged to aggressively stand up to federal intervention into Washington, D.C.’s, affairs, setting up a potential showdown with President Donald Trump over his administration's moves to challenge the city’s limited autonomy.

If the results stand, Lewis George is likely to win November’s general election in the heavily Democratic city. The winner in the general election will replace Muriel Bowser, who decided not to run again after three terms.

Lewis George would join Robert White Jr., who won the Democratic primary for the district’s delegate to Congress, as the top local officials who likely will contend with the federal government’s intentions for the city. They each campaigned on a promise to take a harder line than their predecessors against the Trump administration’s moves on the district, including its deployment of the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime.

“As mayor, I will work with anyone who makes D.C. safer,” Lewis George told a crowd of cheering supporters Tuesday night, “but I will also stand up to Trump.”

Washington has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

Trump further encroached on that autonomy last year when he briefly federalized the city’s police force and deployed an ongoing law enforcement surge that included the National Guard. His efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. And he has been reshaping the city by renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist and a member of the D.C. Council, has already come under fire from Trump, who last week threatened to place the city under federal control if she won.

“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.

Lewis George, 38, and a third generation Washingtonian, has vowed to overrule an executive order by the city’s police chief permitting local law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Lewis George argued the order “hurt the trust of our community.”

She also pledged to use any levers available to her through the city’s home rule compact to resist what she called authoritarian infringements on the district’s local governance.

“We have legal tools we can use to fight back,” she told the AP in an interview before the vote. “And we know that when we have gone to court, we’ve won.”

Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 18-term, 89-year-old delegate to Congress, meanwhile, faced mounting concern from critics who said she wasn’t forcefully pushing back on the Trump administration’s moves against the city.

But that wasn't the only memorable moment Macron had this week at a G7 summit where the experience and networks he has built over nearly 10 years as president bore fruit.

Perhaps the most remarkable feat was getting Trump to more forcefully back Ukraine in its war with Russia — a win for European leaders and for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following his diplomatic disaster at the White House in March 2025.

“Bravo,” Macron said after Trump signed the Iran war agreement. The signing came as a surprise to most of the officials and other guests at the Versailles Palace dinner, and they responded with a round of applause.

Macron had said the dinner was intended as a celebration of French-American friendship. The unannounced signing ceremony transformed it into a symbolic finale to Macron’s weeklong effort to get Trump more aligned with Europe — perhaps his last big achievements before the end of his term next spring.

Macron used Versailles as an ‘instrument of influence’

Macron had presented Versailles as an “instrument of influence” and suggested the invitation could help keep Trump engaged through the end of the G7 summit held in Evian. Trump left last year’s gathering in Canada before it had concluded.

The Palace of Versailles, which Trump praised as “not gold leaf,” has been a venue for French leaders to honor visiting guests for more than three centuries.

After the signing, Macron praised the Iran agreement as one that “allows for putting an end to the conflict, that allows peace, that allows the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz" and will likely result in lower oil prices.

Macron, who was not involved in the Iran war negotiations, cannot claim success for Trump deciding to sign the deal. But he secured the historic location, helping to put Europe back into the frame of a war that the U.S. and Israel jointly launched without consulting Western allies.

French Economy Minister Roland Lescure, who attended the dinner, described the signing as largely improvised.

Trump said in his remarks that he was going to sign the agreement, Lescure said. Asked whether Macron knew in advance, Lescure said he believed Trump had informed the French president shortly beforehand.

“But for us, ministers in the French government, it was a surprise,” he told French radio RTL.

Trump received backing from European leaders

Trump arrived in France facing pressure at home over Iran, including criticism from some allies about his handling of the conflict and the emerging agreement. Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies and a longtime Iran hawk, had expressed skepticism.

As negotiations with Iran advanced, Trump sought backing from leaders at the G7 meeting, according to a European diplomat briefed on the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The G7 includes the U.S., France, the U.K., Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.

“We certainly gave him some reassurance on the Middle East,” the European diplomat said. “And President Trump, for his part, delivered for us on Ukraine.”

The G7 statement on geopolitical issues referred to a “breakthrough” in the Middle East and mentioned Trump by name three times, praising what it called his “strong leadership.”

Trump has had friction with Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over failing to consult them before the decision to go to war. He has pushed back on the four members of NATO for their lack of support for the U.S. in the conflict.

Macron, whose bumpy relations with Trump started with an awkwardly long handshake nearly a decade ago, prepared for the G7 summit for months via frequent phone calls focusing on both Iran and Ukraine.

Trump met on the sidelines of the summit with Zelenskyy, who showed Trump photos of the damage caused by Russian bombing of the Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv.

Americans and Europeans align views to support Ukraine

Macron has at times expressed caution about Trump’s shifting positions, particularly regarding Russia and President Vladimir Putin. But European officials argued that this week’s written commitments represented a more durable position because the language had been approved by Trump himself.

“America is with us on Ukraine. That is very important,” Macron said after Trump joined a three-way phone call with Zelenskyy from Versailles.

G7 leaders agreed in a joint statement to increase deliveries of air-defense systems and long-range weapons for Ukraine. They also pledged to increase pressure on Russia through stronger sanctions, including measures targeting the country’s oil and gas sectors.

Macron also used the summit to raise Lebanon’s future with Trump. France has longstanding historical ties to Lebanon and has sought to keep support for Lebanese sovereignty high on the international agenda. During discussions in Evian, Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for Lebanon while criticizing Israel and describing tensions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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AP reporters Angela Charlton and Thomas Adamson in Paris contributed to the story

“It makes everything worth it,” Brunson, the team captain and finals MVP, said. “I can’t put it into words.”

Confetti in the Knicks’ blue and orange swirled through the air. Massive cheers of “Let’s go, Knicks!” erupted as the trophy float got close to City Hall, the ticker-tape parade’s finish line, where players are expected to get keys to the city.

OG Anunoby, who scored the go-ahead basket in Game 4 of the finals on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds left, left his parade float to interact with fans, holding the NBA Cup in-season championship trophy in one hand and a bottle of Patron tequila in the other.

Film director Spike Lee, perhaps the team’s most iconic fan, was on a float with Brunson, savoring the moment. “I’ve never been to a parade — ever — and I’m glad it’s this one,” Lee said.

The MVP’s mom, Sandra Brunson, wore a shirt with photos of Jalen and husband Rick, who played for the Knicks. She echoed her son’s words, saying: “It was all worth it.”

Karl-Anthony Towns hoisted the Eastern Conference championship trophy and a cigar on top of a parade bus, alongside a dancing Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a huge Knicks fan. On a nearby float with other alumni, Carmelo Anthony had a victory cigar of his own.

“The whole city won,” Anthony said. “New Yorkers are, as they say, ‘lit’ right now.”

Knicks fans turn out in force

People streamed into the area on crammed subways, looking to get as close as they could or find any elevated spot to catch a glimpse.

Several blocks from the parade route, fans stood shoulder to shoulder — sometimes on each other’s shoulders — or climbed traffic lights, sanitation trucks or Knicks-colored buckets they’d brought from home. Far away on the Brooklyn Bridge, people gathered just to hear the loudspeakers.

“I had to be here today,” said Shareefa Wallace, 34, who got up at 3 a.m. to make her way from suburban Long Island. She grew up in the city going to Knicks games, and she sported the souvenir jersey of one of the legends from that era, Patrick Ewing.

‘The New York vibe’

Nearby bars and delis filled with fans, some wishing they’d arrived at dawn. But many seemed at peace with the fact that they would only experience the parade from a distance.

“We’re fine with the fray, we just want to be with the New York energy and the New York vibe,” said Jean Strong, who came to the parade from Harlem with his nephew and sister.

Terrell Emerson, a chef who grew up in Queens before leaving New York, said he drove from Maryland with his daughter Madison – named in honor of the Knicks' home arena, Madison Square Garden.

Madison, beaming, held a handwritten sign announcing she’d skipped her fifth-grade graduation to be there.

Stars and Knicks legends

Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier — a member of the ’70s champion teams — led off the parade, riding along in style in a convertible and wearing his NBA title rings. Frazier had late teammates and coaches on his mind.

“They would be amazed at what has happened to the Knicks and how they’ve really captivated the city this year,” Frazier said. “This has exceeded any expectations I ever thought that we’d have.”

Knicks play-by-play announcer Mike Breen was set to emcee the City Hall ceremony. Ben Stiller captured photos and videos from a parade vehicle.

Alicia Keys, the singer who collaborated with Jay-Z on the New York-loving 2009 hit “Empire State of Mind,” has been tapped to perform.

“How could I not?” Keys said Wednesday in a social media video that featured her on the phone with Knicks forward OG Anunoby.

A parade decades in the making

The mere fact that the parade is happening is historic in itself. Although the Knicks won the championship twice in the 1970s, the city didn’t host a parade for them either time. Then-Mayor John Lindsay had cut down on ticker-tape extravaganzas for financial and other reasons, and he instead honored the Knicks at a 1970 reception at the mayoral mansion and a jam-packed 1973 ceremony outside City Hall.

This time, the city is going all out. A police officer could be seen holding a sign reading, “This is really happening.”

And a massive security operation

Police plan to deploy 10,000 officers to secure the event, which follows ebullient but sometimes chaotic street celebrations and some violence during the Knicks' run to victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

At one point before the parade, a small group of people were crushed against a barrier near Fulton Street, a key subway hub, pinned between a swelling crowd and a group of police officers shoving the barrier to keep fans penned in.

Some 650 sanitation workers were assigned to clean up what could be tens of thousands of pounds (kilograms) of debris, if recent history is any guide.

Why does New York throw ticker-tape parades?

Ticker-tape parades derive their name from the narrow strips of paper used by telegraph-era “stock ticker” machines. New York brokerage firm workers took to tossing the paper out their office windows during parades in the late 19th century, adding a swirling aerial spectacle to the festivities.

Over the years, especially up to the mid-1960s, the city rolled out ticker-tape parades to honor visiting foreign leaders, mark historic anniversaries and hail feats in aviation, war, sports, music, space travel and more.

The Knicks' parade is the 210th, coming after a ticker-tape bash for the WNBA's New York Liberty in 2024.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Julie Walker and Stephen Whyno in New York and AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in Southampton, New York, contributed.

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies were crossing the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.

The strait is a critical passageway for the world’s oil and natural gas. Before the war, the waterway off Iran's coast carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. Its closure during the war has created a historic energy crisis.

Lloyd’s List did not say how many ships were transiting through or had passed through the strait as of Thursday. It said tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK had passed through the strait. Two Iran-flagged, National Iranian Tanker Company-owned, sanctioned crude oil tankers entered the strait, according to Lloyd’s List.

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the U.S. Navy lifted its blockade of the strait to allow some ships through Iranian ports.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X that a Italian merchant ship owned by the Grimaldi Group was among the first vessels to transit the strait after the agreement’s signing.

Maritime data and tracking company Kpler said it observed six verified ship crossings on Wednesday and another 11 on Thursday.

Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the Strait of Hormuz was still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared. But ships have been passing through the smaller northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the southern route, which goes through Omani waters.

“Those two routes now seem to be fully open,” Belcher said.

However, it will take weeks or months to fully reopen the strait, and the two alternative routes don't have a much capacity as the central passage in the Strait of Hormuz.

“This is like a highway where the road in the middle is closed and you’re using that hard shoulder,” Belcher said. “That’s now being used as the main route. We need to get back to having the highway open.”

Lloyd’s List estimated that 550 merchant ships will need to prepare to exit the Persian Gulf, including 160 tankers, 200 bulk carriers, 60 container ships and 10 vehicle carriers.

Moderna is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval of its new shot, dubbed mFlusiva, as an option for people 50 and older. The FDA advisory committee meeting is a step toward a final decision ahead of the winter flu season.

Tens of thousands of Americans die from influenza every year, and older adults are among the most vulnerable. There are various types of flu vaccines already available in the U.S., including three specifically recommended for people 65 and older. But vaccines made with the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology are faster to manufacture than other types — something experts say might help if the shape-shifting flu virus mutates in a way that requires suddenly brewing new doses to match.

In a study of 40,000 people age 50 and older, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine reduced flu cases by about 27% compared to those given another routinely used vaccine brand. Ahead of the meeting, FDA published a favorable review of that data and reported no safety concerns.

Moderna is seeking full approval for the vaccine’s use in the 50- to 64-year-old population — along with authorization for use in those 65 and older while it conducts additional testing. If the vaccine is cleared for use, Moderna plans a follow-up study of 400,000 people 65 and older, half given the mRNA version and the rest given today’s senior-targeted flu vaccines.

Moderna’s Dr. Rituparna Das told panelists that the company’s ability to quickly manufacture mRNA vaccines that closely match the latest flu strains could prevent thousands of hospitalizations in older Americans.

Severe flu cases in the U.S. generally rise in years when the flu shot doesn’t closely match the circulating virus. Moderna officials said flu strains for the fall vaccines now are chosen in February -- several months sooner than the yearly recipe update for COVID-19 shots that mostly are mRNA-based — and there can be a mismatch if the flu virus mutates after the recipe is made.

At the meeting, FDA vaccine reviewer Dr. Timothy Brennan suggested the agency was open to approving the vaccine for seniors ahead of the coming flu season, despite gaps in data.

Earlier this year, Moderna’s data was at the center of a highly unusual public dispute as a then-top FDA official blocked the company’s application for its first-of-its-kind shot.

The embattled vaccine chief at the time, Dr. Vinay Prasad, said the company should have compared its shot to a high-dose flu vaccine recommended for seniors rather than a standard-dose brand. It was a sign of FDA’s heightened vaccine scrutiny under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Moderna challenged that decision, noting that FDA staff had approved that main study’s design and citing a separate, smaller study comparing the mRNA shot with a high-dose vaccine for seniors. Days after the spat, the FDA accepted Moderna’s application.

The expert panel also will assess that smaller study, which found Moderna’s shot generated flu-fighting antibodies similarly to a high-dose senior shot. The FDA’s initial review noted the new vaccine lacks data on very frail older adults and those with weak immune systems.

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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.

Romanch Mahajan, 18, jumped out of the carriage after his mother fell out and hit his head on the ground, his father, Deepak Mahajan, told The New York Times.

“He was screaming, ‘Mom!'” the young man’s father told the newspaper. Mahajan said he, his wife and younger son escaped with minor injuries, though their carriage clipped another horse-drawn vehicle and toppled over.

The family arrived in New York from India on Monday, the same day Romanch learned he had been accepted to a university in Jaipur. They had spent the day visiting many of the city’s popular tourist attractions and were unwinding on a carriage ride when the driver got off to photograph them. Moments later, the accident occurred.

“This incident should be taken very seriously,” Mahajan said. “It took my son's dream away.”

The company that owns the carriage involved in the fatal crash has also suspended the driver indefinitely, and the horse will be retired from the business, according to the union representing the industry.

“We’re absolutely gutted and stunned by this tragedy. We’ve never had a fatal accident like this before,” said Alexander Kemp, a vice president with the Transport Workers Union Local 100, the labor union representing carriage drivers and owners. “We have shuttered the stables and ceased operations today while we have extensive internal discussions of safety protocols and how they can be improved.”

The Central Park Conservancy, which manages the 850-acre park, confirmed that Mahajan's death is believed to be the first human fatality involving a horse carriage since they were introduced in Central Park more than 150 years ago.

The organization also called for the industry to be suspended until more protections could be put in place, noting that there have now been eight horse-related incidents in Central Park over the past 13 months.

“If any other activity in the Park posed a comparable risk to visitors, it would be suspended immediately while steps were taken to address those dangers,” the organization said in a statement Thursday.

The influential nonprofit revived the pitched debate over the carriages when it weighed in on the issue for the first time last year, throwing its support behind a long-simmering bill that would ban horse carriages and help drivers transition into new jobs.

The organization argued that the carriages are a public safety hazard in the increasingly crowded park, noting that other U.S. cities, including Chicago and San Antonio, have also recently done away with the nostalgic rides.

New York City leaders, meanwhile, vowed to work to put an end to the 150-year-old industry in the wake of Mahajan’s death.

City Council leaders said they’d hold a hearing next month on Ryder's Law, the bill backed by the conservancy.

“The time to act is now,” Council Speaker Julie Menin posted on the social platform X.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani also reiterated his support for ending the industry, a position he campaigned on last year. He said he’d work with the council, the industry and animal welfare advocates and to “deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all.”

Horse carriages, which cost about $72 for the first 20 minutes, were not running Thursday in the park, which sees millions of visitors every year.

The Transport Workers Union has opposed past efforts to wind down the industry. But on Thursday, it backed legislation introduced last week that would establish hitching posts throughout the park so drivers could safely tether and secure their horses, including at popular tourist photo stops.

The industry has long been seen as a quaint attraction that offers tourists a romantic remnant of a bygone New York, while providing hundreds of jobs to drivers, along with many farm and racing horses. Opponents, though, complain the rides are both inhumane to horses and a danger to people.

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Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

The justices decided unanimously in favor of Ali Danial Hemani, a Texas man who argued that a law barring guns from anyone who regularly uses illegal drugs violates the Second Amendment.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that his opinion narrowly limits the government's power to take guns away from drug users who are not considered dangerous. Hemani, who was not charged with any other crimes or accused of using the weapon under the influence, is thankful he “finally has closure,” lawyer Zachary Newland said.

The decision is a loss for President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, which had defended the 1968 law despite arguing against other gun restrictions. Its core argument “fails under every measure,” Gorsuch wrote.

The law was originally meant to keep guns away from dangerous people, but millions of people now use marijuana, Gorsuch wrote. It is broadly legal in about half the states and has gained widespread use for health purposes.

“Whatever one thinks of these developments, the federal government has not just tolerated them; it helped fuel them,” Gorsuch wrote. “All of which leaves it awkwardly positioned to suggest that the millions of Americans who now regularly use marijuana are categorically and unusually dangerous.”

The law was also used in a case against Hunter Biden, who was convicted in Wilmington, Delaware, of buying a gun while addicted to cocaine in 2018. He was later pardoned by his father, Democratic President Joe Biden.

Someone addicted to an illegal drug could potentially still be prosecuted after Thursday’s decision.

“We do not address efforts to ban addicts, or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” Gorsuch wrote. Prosecutors could charge a marijuana user if they had evidence the person was dangerous, he said.

Recreational use remains illegal on a federal level even after the Trump administration reclassified medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug in April.

The case made for some unusual political alliances.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Rifle Association supported Hemani’s case, as did cannabis legalization groups such as NORML. On the other side were gun safety groups including Everytown that usually oppose the administration on Second Amendment issues.

The ACLU applauded the ruling, saying that nearly half of Americans have reported using marijuana at some point in their lives.

“The court has sent a strong message that the government cannot criminalize the conduct of large numbers of people by making categorical and unfounded assumptions about whether they are dangerous,” said Cecillia Wang, legal director at the ACLU.

The Second Amendment Foundation called it a “major victory for gun owners.”

The group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legalization of the drug, condemned the court's decision.

“While the justices in this case appear to be most concerned with historical battles over Second Amendment rights, public health and safety are the collateral damage in this decision,” said CEO Kevin Sabet.

Gun control groups were more muted, with Everytown saying that the decision still recognizes that “drugs and guns can make for a dangerous mix.”

It is rare to see standalone criminal charges filed against people accused solely of owning guns and using drugs. The charge is more often filed against people also accused of other crimes.

The opinion is the latest in a series of firearm cases to reach the Supreme Court since its landmark ruling expanding gun rights in 2022 led to a wave of challenges around the country.

Since then, the high court has upheld a law aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence and strict regulations on ghost gun kits but has struck down a ban on bump stocks, an accessory that enables rapid fire. The justices are also considering a second firearm case this term over strict regulations on carrying guns in Hawaii.

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

Some experts have warned that this summer's World Cup — co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada — could be the hottest in the tournament's history. In response to concerns about extreme heat, FIFA implemented three-minute hydration breaks midway through each half regardless of temperatures. But some critics say they're interrupting the game's flow and give coaches a chance to shift momentum in their team’s favor, while some scientists have said the breaks are too short to make a significant impact on cooling and rehydration when conditions are sizzling.

“When we look at the three minute hydration breaks, we're really looking at this as a way to mitigate anything that could potentially lead to an incident or an emergency,” said Joshua L. DeVincenzo, assistant director of applied research services at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

Here's a look at the heat risks players face and what the hydration breaks can do:

FIFA's mandatory breaks, regardless of temperatures

This World Cup is the first to implement mandatory three-minute cooling breaks midway through each half, regardless of temperatures or whether stadiums are enclosed and/or air conditioned.

The governing body said it was to “ensure equal conditions for all teams, in all matches,” and the rules draw upon the experiences of past tournaments, including the FIFA Club World Cup in the U.S. last summer where temperatures soared into the 90s F (mid-30s C) and above in many areas.

Some coaches said the breaks make sense when temperatures are extreme, but they questioned whether they were necessary at every match. The pauses have also been criticized for interrupting the spectacle for fans, with broadcasters using them to take commercial breaks.

Even highly-trained, elite athletes can get heat stress

Athletes pushing themselves physically in hot and humid conditions risk getting what's called exertional heat illness. It happens when the body’s temperature gets too hot and is accompanied by significant strain on the heart, nerves, muscles and central nervous systems.

Common symptoms include muscle cramps, extreme fatigue, impaired performance, headache, irritability, nausea, dizziness, cramping and dehydration.

When internal body temperature exceeds 105 F (40.5 C), athletes might feel confused, aggressive or lose consciousness, said Yuri Hosokawa, associate professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences in Japan’s Waseda University, in an email, “all of which are characteristic signs of exertional heat stroke and require immediate medical attention.” She co-signed a letter to FIFA in May urging stricter heat guidelines for player safety, including that cooling breaks be at least six minutes.

Exertional heat stroke while playing a sport is among the leading causes of death in athletes.

Dehydration also exacerbates the risk. Athletes in the heat can sweat 1 to 2 liters (50 to 67 ounces) an hour, and most drink less liquids than they expel. Losing as little as 2% of one's body weight to dehydration can impair physical performance.

Ryan Calsbeek, professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth College, said the human body performs better when it’s warmer, but there’s a critical threshold above which that improvement in performance not only stops, but precipitously drops off.

“Your body starts to really fall apart, you lose the ability to cool off fast enough,” he said. “And the physiological mechanisms just break down.” That happens when the wet bulb globe temperature, which includes temperature, humidity, cloud cover and wind, reads above about 95 F (35 C), though some people will be more heat tolerant than others.

The increased confusion from extreme heat could impact an athlete’s ability to make strategic decisions, he said.

“It’s these marginal differences in performance that I think can determine the outcome of a match,” Calsbeek said. “If you have individuals that do better in extreme conditions, whether it’s extreme heat or high altitude or whatever the case may be, those small differences could play a critical, pivotal role in determining the outcome.”

Hydration breaks should be longer, some experts say

The three-minute mandatory hydration breaks are meant to protect players, and referees, from extreme heat illness and help them maintain their physical performance.

In that time, players can cool off and replenish lost water and salt from sweating, but how effective it is depends on how aggressive the cooling methods are.

That could mean putting wet, cold towels on the exposed parts of a player's body, such as the neck, head, back and arms. If done well, that could reduce their body temperature by about 0.22 F (0.12 C) per minute, said Douglas Casa, CEO of the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute who also co-signed the letter to FIFA.

“Some people can tolerate a little more fluids comfortably and then do intense exercise. Some people can’t because it sloshes around in their stomach and they don’t feel super comfortable, so they might not drink as much in such a short period of time,” he added.

In a 2024 study looking at the efficacy of FIFA's cooling breaks, researchers found that three minutes lowered athletes' core temperate by about 0.72 F (0.4 C ) during simulated soccer running in a heat chamber and improved the way they felt. But this happened in ideal conditions where they drank 350 to 400 milliliters of cold water and draped a cold towel on their shoulders.

“Often, we see players only take a few sips of water during these breaks and not use the ice-towels. This makes a big difference as we also tested a condition where only a break was taken, without fluids being consumed and the ice-towel draped over the shoulders, and saw that there was little effect,” said Julien Périard in an email, a study co-author and director of the University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise who also signed the letter.

That's why it's important the three minutes be well planned, but “even in ideal settings, the breaks can slightly help but will not eliminate the risk of heat illness in response to a rise in core temperature,” he said.

Casa said the time dictates the volume of impact, whether from fluid or cooling, and “that’s why we’re suggesting doing something like five or six minutes, because it just makes such a big impact when you’re dealing with a change of that magnitude.”

But how much time a player needs to recover also varies. “Depending on your body, you might need more or less time. But those kinds of breaks are crucial so that your body isn’t just being forced to keep trying to play catch up... to keep trying to cool you down without any kind of rest or a break,” said Bharat Venkat, director of the Heat Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles.

As our planet gets hotter, mandating hydration breaks and changing where, when and how sports are played will be necessary.

“No matter what sport you play, there’s going to be adjustments that have to be made in the face of climate change, ” he said.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion. Some areas have reported fuel shortages.

The attack by dozens of drones came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had held “an important coordination call” with the presidents of the United States and France and had won key pledges of further support from this week's G7 summit.

“If Ukraine is going to burn, your Moscow will burn too," Zelenskyy said, adding that the attack was part of Kyiv's effort to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. "It is time to end the aggression, time to end this war.”

Ukrainian attack embarrasses Putin again

The Moscow attack was the latest embarrassment for Putin. Ukrainian drones attacked his hometown of St. Petersburg earlier this month as he welcomed foreign VIPs to his showcase economic forum in the city.

Putin on Thursday was in Kazan, some 700 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow, hosting leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the regional bloc.

Russia’s state-controlled TV channels only briefly mentioned the attack on Moscow. Pro-Kremlin newspapers reported it, with some praising the performance of air defenses while noting that the strike highlighted the need to further strengthen the defensive shield around the capital.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of Russia’s parliament, warned that Moscow would respond by ramping up its strikes.

“Their action will lead to our counteraction and launching harsher blows, with more powerful weapons,” Volodin said in televised remarks.

Some Russian hawks urged the Kremlin to respond with nuclear weapons. Nationalist Konstantin Malofeyev criticized the military for “fighting at half-strength in a gentlemanlike way.”

“War means victory at any cost,” Malofeyev wrote on his Telegram channel, suggesting the use of “the nuclear weapons that our ancestors created and stockpiled while mobilizing the entire country’s strength precisely for this purpose -– to win."

Fires rage at Moscow refinery

Thick, black smoke and occasional flames spewed from the Moscow Oil Refinery amid its red-and-white smokestacks on the southeastern edge of the city, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Kremlin. Sooty, black rain fell on cars, according to local video.

“One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’" Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. "I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

The refinery is one of Russia’s biggest, according to its website, producing more than a third of the Moscow region's fuel. It was last attacked by Ukraine on Tuesday, but officials said that fire was swiftly put out.

Thursday's fire at the refinery was “largely contained,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said hours afterward, adding that remaining hotspots were being extinguished.

As Ukraine pressed its strikes on Russia's energy infrastructure, fuel supplies appeared to be under strain. Gas station chains in multiple regions have introduced restrictions on what drivers could buy. Russian independent news outlet Agentstvo reported that one out of every four gas stations has introduced some kind of restrictions.

Authorities in the capital said in a statement hours after the attack that “supplies of oil products to Moscow and the work of all gas stations in the city continue as normal.”

The attack also temporarily halted flights from four Moscow airports, transport and aviation authorities said. The Russian business daily Kommersant counted more than 500 delayed or canceled flights at the airports, based on their online flight information.

In the greater Moscow region, a drone hit a residential building in the town of Zhukovsky, according to Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. Buildings elsewhere were damaged by drone debris, injuring 17 people, including two children, he added.

Ukraine seeks more help from NATO, EU

“Russia is on the back foot: militarily, economically and politically,” ‪EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas‬ said on X after meeting Thursday with Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. “Now is the time to provide Ukraine with even greater support and to exert even more pressure on Russia to end the war.”

Zelenskyy held talks Thursday in Brussels with NATO and European Union leaders, and the German and Ukrainian defense ministers signed an agreement to jointly develop an air defense system to counter ballistic missiles. Zelenskyy described it as the start of an “anti-ballistic missile coalition” and invited others to join.

Russia has relentlessly struck Ukraine with those types of missiles, which air defenses struggle to counter.

Russia says it downed over 500 Ukrainian drones

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight shot down 555 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, with almost 200 intercepted as they approached Moscow. That was roughly double the number of drones that Russia launched at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

“If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” Zelenskyy said in a voice message to a group chat with journalists.

He has accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump, but Putin has refused, and U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled.

Ukraine disrupts Russian supply lines

Along with pledges of more diplomatic and military help at the G7 summit, Ukraine recently has gained momentum on the battlefield against Russia’s bigger army, thanks to its high-tech drones, Western officials and analysts say. Longer-range drones are choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine, in addition to disrupting oil production.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the G7 summit was “very important for Ukraine” because its supporters — crucially including the U.S. — vowed to help it, although he provided no details. The U.S. under Trump has cut back assistance to Ukraine, leaving the Europeans as the biggest suppliers of military and financial aid. Trump and Zelenskyy have had a sometimes strained relationship.

“America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important,” Macron said as he and Trump left the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

In other developments Thursday, Russia struck the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine with two glide bombs that killed a 64-year-old man who was fishing in a river, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration. A Russian strike on the central city of Dnipro killed one man and wounded nine, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The James River Batteau Festival is returning to Lynchburg this week, offering more than just a scenic float down the river. This annual event is a living tribute to a pivotal piece of Virginia’s history, dating back to the 1700s, when the James River served as one of the state’s main trade routes.

A Glimpse Into Virginia’s River Past

Long before highways and railroads crisscrossed the Commonwealth, the James River was the lifeblood of Virginia’s economy. The boats that powered this trade were called batteaux, shallow, flat-bottomed vessels specially designed to navigate the rocky, shallow waters of the James.

“Batteaux are the semi trucks of the early James River,” explained Dan Tucker, chairman of the James River Batteau Festival Board.

Without engines, crews would use long poles to push off the river bottom, guiding these boats as they carried goods, especially tobacco, downriver to Richmond.

The batteau was invented by brothers Anthony and Benjamin Rucker in the 1700s. Their design helped connect Central Virginia’s tobacco growers to larger markets, fueling economic growth throughout the region.

Stories of the River: The People Behind the Batteaux

But the story of the batteau is also a story of the people who powered them. Tucker notes that many of these boats were operated by both enslaved and free Black boatmen. Recent research has even suggested that the James River may have served as a route for freedom seekers escaping slavery.

One remarkable story is that of Frank Padgett, an enslaved man who used a batteau to rescue people during a flood near Balcony Falls. Padgett lost his life during his final rescue mission, and his bravery is commemorated by several historical markers, including a stone monument in Glasgow’s Centennial Park.

Reviving a Lost Tradition

By the 1840s, the rise of canals, railroads, and other forms of transportation led to the decline of the batteau. But in the early 1980s, history resurfaced when construction crews in downtown Richmond uncovered old boats in the canal basin. These discoveries inspired the creation of modern replicas and, eventually, the James River Batteau Festival.

Today, more than four decades later, crews still launch from Lynchburg to recreate the historic journey down the James River.

“It is an excellent event to get out on the water and enjoy a unique local history to Central Virginia,” Tucker said.

A Living History on the Water

For Tucker and many participants, the festival is more than just a celebration; it’s a chance to see a piece of Virginia’s past come alive once again. As the batteaux glide down the river, they carry with them the stories, struggles, and triumphs of generations past.

Festival Details

The James River Batteau Festival launch party kicks off June 19 at Percival’s Island, with the batteaux launching the next day. Both events are free and open to the public, offering a unique opportunity to witness history in motion and connect with Virginia’s river heritage.

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.

The S&P 500 rose 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 169 points, or 0.3%, as of 12:31 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.4%. Every major index is on track for weekly gains. U.S. markets will be closed Friday for Juneteenth.

The gains are helping to cut losses from a day earlier that were driven by anticipation that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates this year in an effort to fight inflation. Bond yields are pulling back. That, along with falling oil prices, is relieving much of the pressure on stocks.

The gains were broad and being led by technology stocks. Intel surged 9.9% after President Donald Trump announced that the semiconductor giant will make chips for Apple in the U.S. Other big semiconductor companies gained ground. Nvidia rose 2.7% and Micron Technology surged 7.6%.

On the losing end, SpaceX fell for the second straight day since its ballyhooed debut on the U.S. stock market last week. The Elon Musk-led rocket maker and AI company was down 10.1% following a 4.9% loss Wednesday.

Crude oil prices continued to fall after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 2% to $77.96 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 2.3% to $74.23 per barrel.

Easing oil prices are relieving pressure on companies that rely heavily on fuel. Airlines had some of the bigger gains. American Airlines rose 3.6% and United Airlines rose 2.7%. Cruise line company Carnival jumped 3.8%.

Energy companies, though, lost ground on falling oil prices. Exxon Mobil fell 2.8% and Chevron fell 2.6%.

Prices for crude oil are still above roughly $70 per barrel from before the war, but are well below the $100-plus price from a few weeks ago.

Higher oil prices had been weighing on markets throughout the U.S. war with Iran. The current deal between the nations waives sanctions against Iran and allows it to sell its oil freely. It also opens up the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil supply is shipped.

“While investors are welcoming the agreement as a constructive step for geopolitical risk, uncertainty remains elevated around potential flare-ups, the pace of shipping normalization, control of the waterway, the cost of access, and the path forward for Iran’s nuclear program.” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial, in a research note.

Rising energy costs have been putting more pressure on already hot inflation. The average price of gasoline in the U.S. has dipped below $4 a gallon, but is still 25% higher from a year ago. Prices have been rising for a wide range of goods because of higher shipping costs.

Hotter inflation prompted the Federal Reserve to shift course from cutting its benchmark interest rate to likely raising rates by the end of the year. Lower interest rates can boost the economy by making borrowing easier for businesses and households, but it also tends to stoke inflation.

The Fed has been trying to balance its job of curbing inflation while supporting employment growth. The jobs market has remained relatively strong amid rising inflation, with low unemployment and solid job growth.

The central bank closed its two-day meeting on Wednesday by maintaining its benchmark interest rate at its current level. But it signaled that it might raise the rate at least once by December.

“This shift in the risk distribution helps explain why around half of the committee thought that an interest-rate hike this year might be needed,” said James McCann, senior economist at Edward Jones, in a research note.

The Fed's stronger signal for an eventual rate hike prompted a jump in bond yields on Wednesday, but they eased on Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.44% from 4.49% late Wednesday. The yield on 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks action by the Fed, fell to 4.16% from 4.20% late Wednesday.

Markets were mixed in Europe and Asia.

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Senior Producer Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

This afternoon as pop up showers and storms move int the region, a few could be strong to severe. Be sure to stay weather aware and download our Weather Authority Mobile App for those weather alerts to be sent directly to your phone.

The threats this afternoon include damaging wind gusts and small hail. Our wind gusts will peak around 10 AM - 4 PM. We have the potential with a few of these storms to see wind gusts reaching up to 60 MPH.

The severe risk today stretches for the entirety of the viewing area. Most of the area is included in the Slight Risk, with southern Southside and NRV in the Marginal Risk zone.

Futurecast shows exactly how isolated these storms will be this afternoon, but this evening we will have the better chance for widespread showers. Don’t forget the umbrella as you are stepping outside. You’ll need it for later in the day!

We settle things down tomorrow morning, with only a few showers remaining around 7 AM Friday. For the remainder of the day Friday we stay dry and continue the trend all day Saturday, it will be a great day if you have any outdoor Father’s Day weekend plans!

The City of Roanoke’s Parks and Recreation Department says the change is part of ongoing efforts to make the pool experience safer and more enjoyable for everyone.

To help guests adjust to the new policy, staff will be handing out 300 free clear bags at both pool locations while supplies last. Once those are gone, clear bags will be available for purchase on-site for $5 each. Poolgoers are encouraged to bring their own clear bags if possible, which should help speed up the entry process.

“The policy is designed to improve safety, reduce bag check wait times at entry points and create a more welcoming environment for pool visitors and staff,” the City of Roanoke said in a press release.

For more details about the new clear bag policy and other pool guidelines, you can visit playroanoke.com/pool-safety-guidelines

The document, which has not yet been made public, will be submitted Thursday to Cuba’s National Assembly. It envisions expanding opportunities for private enterprise, greater autonomy for municipalities and state-owned companies and measures to attract additional foreign investment, including from Cubans abroad.

In recent days, residents in several Havana neighborhoods staged protests, banging pots and pans as power outages spread across the island.

“Cuba resists heroically and creatively, but has endured for too long a barbaric, undeserved and unbearable punishment, to which is now added the threat of military aggression,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said late Wednesday in the closing speech of the Communist Party session. The speech was published Thursday.

Díaz-Canel said the emergency plan and the policy document prepared by the Communist Party’s Central Committee were shaped by the experiences of China and Vietnam, two communist countries that have introduced market-oriented economic reforms while maintaining one-party rule.

The document will be submitted to the National Assembly for debate during a special session that, like the recent party meeting, was convened without prior public notice.

The announcement comes after months of increasing pressure from the U.S. and high-level talks between the two countries that have included Raúl Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. The U.S. has levied numerous sanctions against Cuba and has indicted Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 downing of two civilian planes operated by Miami exiles.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said at a White House press briefing that the administration is watching the island's actions to determine how to respond.

“We’re going to see what they do. And obviously, if they do one thing, we’re going to do something,” Vance said. "If they make smart decisions, we’re going to have a much better relationship with that island.”

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Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this story.

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

The news emerged as Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks since Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, Russian officials said Thursday. A major oil refinery was hit for a second time in a week and commercial flights at Moscow airports were disrupted.

Against the backdrop of conflict, and despite reservations among some European leaders, the EU has been quietly seeking to reopen communications with Moscow even as it doubles down on its support for Kyiv. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has tried to cut out Europe and Kyiv and negotiate Ukraine’s future with Washington.

“⁠In the past few weeks, brief contacts were made at diplomatic level to open communication channels, but nothing was discussed on substance,” an EU official with knowledge of the approach said on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive move. A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter, confirmed the Russia outreach is taking place but declined to comment further.

“In any future scenario, the EU has specific interests that will need to be defended, therefore it is important to have established diplomatic channels with Russia. The EU is not a mediator. It supports Ukraine in its efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace,” the first official added.

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

Putin has repeatedly said Europe cannot play any kind of mediation role in settling the conflict but has not ruled out speaking to the EU.

“We have never refused contacts with representatives of the European Union in any format,” he said earlier this month. “We are not rejecting contacts. If they want to talk, they know how to reach us. They can pick up the phone and call. If they want to come, they are welcome to do so. It is not Russia that is refusing engagement.”

The officials said European Council President Antonio Costa “has been coordinating closely with European leaders on possible engagement with Russia and the issues to be discussed when the right moment comes.”

News of the moves came as EU leaders met in Brussels for their summer summit, where Ukraine was high on the agenda. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to address the 27 leaders, who are seeking closer ties with Kyiv.

Leaders of EU countries in the Baltics expressed skepticism about the initiative.

"There has to be someone on the other side willing for peace,'' Latvia’s new Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said. Otherwise, "there's no point for contact.''

Luxemburg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden said that if Europe wants a voice in Ukraine's future, "at some point in time, yes, we need to sit at the table.”

The EU leaders overwhelmingly urged support for Ukraine as they arrived for the summit. On Monday, Ukraine officially opened negotiations to join the EU, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

The EU outreach to Russia also closely follows this week's meeting of the world's seven leading industrialized nations in the French spa town of Evian-Les-Bains, where Europeans managed to get Trump to join G7 leaders in offering “unwavering support for Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy said his country won key pledges of further support from world leaders attending the G7 summit in France, including the United States.

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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

Vance made the announcement at a White House press briefing, where he said more oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. The Republican vice president said more than 12.5 million barrels went through the shipping channel Wednesday night.

“So we’re also honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side,” Vance said, citing it as an immediate benefit of the deal as he downplayed criticism that the agreement tilts in favor of Iran.

And in an extraordinary rebuke, he warned U.S. critics in Israel against “attacking the only powerful ally” it has left. He lashed out at members of the Israeli government, warning them that “Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time.”

Vance said he plans to travel to Switzerland for talks on the Iran deal but he doesn’t know when that will happen. He had been expected to lead talks on implementing the agreement with Iran aimed at diluting its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and restarting oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Tuesday, two oil tankers left Iran and crossed the U.S. military blockade without being stopped. A merchant shipping tracking website said the ships were carrying a combined total of 3.8 million barrels of Iranian crude oil.

Meanwhile, Iranian state media said that shipping has “normalized” at Iran’s southern ports but added that the Strait of Hormuz remains supervised and under the control of the Iranian military and transiting through the vital waterway still requires coordination.

Major shipowners have begun moving vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the agreement was signed, according to maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence — though they did not give data on how many ships have passed through the strait as of Thursday.

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor in chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies are transiting the strait after effectively being marooned there since February.

Tankers controlled by major ship owners Grimaldi Group, Cosco, Knutsen and NYK have passed through the strait. And two Iran-flagged, National Iranian Tanker Company-owned, sanctioned crude oil tankers have entered the strait, according to Lloyd’s List.

Phillip Belcher, marine director of Intertanko, a trade group for global independent tanker owners, said the main central route of the Strait of Hormuz is still closed and has an estimated 80 mines that need to be cleared.

But ships have been passing through the smaller Northern route, which goes through Iranian waters, and the Southern route, which goes through Omani waters.

The agreement calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks. It appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

It states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision. It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously. But beyond stating that the U.S. and Iran will negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, other commitments still need to be worked out.

Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas whose closure created a historic energy crisis.

A military judge at Fort Stewart handed down his verdict in the court-martial of Sgt. Quornelius Radford, local news outlets reported. Army prosecutors accused Radford of targeting leaders of his supply unit when he opened fire with a personal handgun last August.

Radford, 29, wounded four fellow soldiers and his then-fiancé, Raekwon Smith, who testified during the two-day trial that he had followed Radford onto Fort Stewart fearing the soldier was suicidal. Smith said Radford shot him in the torso before entering his unit's office building and shooting others.

Radford admitted to carrying out the shootings in March when he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence. But he insisted he never intended to kill anyone, and Army prosecutors pressed ahead with trying Radford on charges of attempted murder.

Trial witnesses described how Radford walked to two offices and a conference room as he shot four soldiers, but he told others he encountered to leave, WSAV-TV reported. He was apprehended by military police after being restrained and disarmed by fellow soldiers.

A radiologist who examined X-rays of the soldiers' injuries testified one was shot in the face and another in the chest, while bullets stuck other victims in the back and abdomen. Dr. Morgan Williamson said any of those wounds could have been fatal, WTOC-TV reported.

Prosecutors argued that Radford knew from his military firearms training never to shoot at anyone unless he meant to kill them.

Defense attorneys said Radford was suicidal and opened fire to provoke a showdown with police, hoping they would kill him.

“Radford only wanted one person to die that day, himself,” said Lt. Col. Dylan Mack, one of Radford's Army lawyers.

Radford opted for his trial to be decided by a military judge rather than a jury of soldiers. The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Monday. Under military law, attempted murder carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

The largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. It is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Savannah.

Radford served as a supply sergeant in the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade. Army records show he enlisted in 2018.

Merlin Lu admitted to a TV station this week that he was responsible for the cross burning in Grant Park on June 9. But he insisted that he was protesting President Donald Trump and was not using the cross as a historical symbol of hate and intimidation against Black people.

Lu has been charged with four felonies and four misdemeanors, including a hate crime and burning a cross to intimidate, police said in a statement released Wednesday night.

“I understand why it was interpreted that way, and I apologize for that, but no, the intent was not there,” Lu told WMAQ-TV before his arrest.

It was not immediately known Thursday if Lu has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. He was scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” Lu told the TV station. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”

Lu said he was protesting the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who support Trump.

Someone put a large, multicolored, glass fiber heart with the word, “resilient,” in the place where the burning cross stood in the park.

Lu's LinkedIn page says he has attended college in Indiana and Chicago and was studying chemistry.

The bipartisan Protect College Sports Act aims to regulate payments to players, limit them to one free transfer over their careers and create a rule to restrict coaches from changing jobs during a season. It advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on a 19-9 vote Thursday and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

The legislation is the product of months of negotiations between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee, and comes as lawmakers in both chambers of Congress are grappling with whether it's time for them to intervene in college sports.

“The greatest risk facing college athletics today is not any single controversy, court decision, or headline. The greatest threat to college sports is inaction,” Cruz said in opening remarks.

Bill moves forward without Big Ten and SEC support

The committee vote advancing the bill — which included Senate Majority Leader John Thune voting in favor — followed endorsements from several athletic conferences, the NFL and its players union, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The Olympic committee backed the revised measure after lawmakers added additional protections for women’s and Olympic sports.

Yet the two most powerful conferences in college sports — the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten Conference — are not supporting it. In a joint statement released Thursday morning, the two conferences wrote that “revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.”

“What we did today was say we’re not going to let the most powerful, richest conferences dictate to the rest of America what’s going to happen to 500,000 athletes,” Cantwell said after the committee vote.

Earlier this month, the Congressional Black Caucus also urged the Senate to suspend action on the bill in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that effectively disabled a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. Democratic Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, a member of the CBC, voted against the legislation Thursday.

Support and opposition for the bill does not fall neatly along party lines, reflecting the national reach of SEC and Big Ten schools and broader divisions in Congress.

While President Donald Trump has backed the bill, multiple Republicans opposed the legislation Thursday, while several Democrat supported it.

Some of the senators who voted against the bill represent states that are home to prominent SEC and Big Ten programs, including Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, and Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

"We still are trying to get some changes that the Big Ten would like to see,” Peters told The Associated Press late Wednesday.

A long road ahead

Clearing the committee is just the first step in a long process.

Passage through the Senate is far from guaranteed, as leaders already have a packed schedule and a dwindling number of legislative days left before the November election. The bill would need to clear a 60-vote threshold in the 53-47 Republican-controlled chamber.

The bill will also still need to clear the House. Earlier this year, House Republican leadership had been working toward a vote on its own college sports bill, known as the SCORE Act, before the Congressional Black Caucus announced its unanimous opposition.

Still, supporters on Thursday touted the committee action as a massive step forward.

“Today we are proving that we are resilient in keeping this product moving,” Cantwell said.

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AP National Writer Eddie Pells in Southampton, N.Y., contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP's coverage of college sports at https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.47% from 6.52% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.81%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also came down this week. That average rate fell to 5.81% from 5.84% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.96%, 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. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, officials at the U.S. central bank left the benchmark interest rate where it was on Wednesday. It was the first meeting with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who replaced Jerome Powell after his eight-year run as the U.S. central bank’s leader.

A number of Fed policymakers said they are actually willing to consider at least one interest rate hike this year.

Rates have been mostly trending higher since the conflict between the U.S. and Iran began in late February, disrupting the flow of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That’s sent oil prices sharply higher, helping drive up inflation, bond yields and mortgage rates.

However, earlier this week, the U.S. and Iran came to a tentative agreement to end the war and allow Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil freely.

That sent the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note down from 4.53% last week to 4.44% Thursday. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war 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 since. Two weeks ago, it climbed to 6.53%, its highest level since Aug. 28.

While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their mostly upward trajectory and uncertainty over how much higher they may go has kept many would-be homebuyers on the sideline.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes declined in the first three months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a nationwide housing slump that dates back to 2022 when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales were essentially flat in April, but accelerated in May to their fastest pace since December.

Still, sales of existing U.S. homes continue to hovering close to a 4-million annual pace, far short of the historic norm that is closer to 5.2-million.

Though mortgage applications fell according to the most recent Mortgage Bankers Association survey, they jumped 10.8% the week before.

Pending home sales also rose last month, an encouraging sign for the housing market heading into the second half of the year after a lackluster spring homebuying season.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, said Wednesday night that petitioners have collected more than the roughly 875,000 signatures needed to place the proposed tax before voters. It will qualify June 25 unless proponents pull the measure.

The proposal, backed by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion and who were living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The goal is to generate $100 billion in revenue, mainly to fund the state’s Medicaid system with some money going to food assistance and education programs.

States have been debating how to respond to the major tax breaks and spending cuts legislation President Donald Trump signed last year. The proposal has already divided Democrats and major labor unions and triggered an expensive campaign to defeat it. The proposed tax is backed by prominent progressives including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The measure has faced staunch pushback from Silicon Valley tech moguls as well as Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and prominent players in Sacramento. They include the California Medical Association and California School Boards Association, which helped launch a committee this week to oppose it. Newsom also opposed a ballot measure in 2022 to increase taxes on the wealthy, which would have funded programs that help people buy electric cars or install more chargers. Voters rejected it.

Critics say the measure would decrease state revenue over time by pushing the ultrawealthy to leave, taking the money they would contribute in income taxes with them. That would deal a huge blow to a state that relies on its top 1% of earners for nearly half of its personal income tax revenue.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the proposal would generate tens of billions of dollars in the first few years, but that income tax revenues could subsequently decline by hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Since the proposal was announced in October, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated $82 million to a political committee called “Building a Better California” that backs a variety of initiatives designed to blunt the billionaire tax proposal. It has raised more than $118 million, counting Brin’s contributions, from fewer than a dozen donors.

State lawmakers passed budget bills this week that aim to raise revenue in other ways, including by extending a tax on healthcare providers. Newsom and legislative leaders agree to this approach, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón said.

“The budget, as approved by the Legislature and now being negotiated with the Governor, does not include the billionaire’s tax,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Instead, it reflects additional revenues to address our long-term structural deficit.”

Security forces were deployed to repel the attack after the gunmen breached the airport security, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Several hours after the attack, Niger's National Civil Aviation Agency said that activities at the airport were continuing as normal. The Nigerien government did not immediately release any statement about the events.

An Associated Press journalist said soldiers were searching people on the road to the airport in the aftermath of the gunfire.

It was the second attack at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey this year, after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a similar attack in January that targeted Niger's drone assets.

Niger, led by a military junta since a 2023 coup, has struggled to contain deadly jihadi violence that has battered parts of Africa’s Sahel region, including neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali that are also run by military juntas.

The airport is a strategic hub that hosts a Nigerien air force base as well as the headquarters of the Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali joint military force.

The military has beefed up the airport security following the January attack, but jihadis in Niger and the wider region continue to pose serious threats, analysts say.

"The symbolism of the airport as headquarters for AES will drive intent by militants to target it,” said Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analyst at Control Risks, referring to the regional Alliance of Sahel States.

The killing is the latest act which Polish authorities believe could be part of a campaign of Russian sabotage aimed at sowing fear and demoralizing Ukraine's closest allies. Poland, a NATO and European Union member, has in recent years become a place of refuge for political dissidents from Russia and Belarus, as well as Ukrainian war refugees.

“Early this morning, police apprehended a suspect in the murder of a Russian man — a murder that shocked all of Poland,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński told a news conference in Warsaw.

He said the suspect is a 36-year-old man who carried a passport belonging to the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia with links to organized crime and crimes committed in Poland dating to 2022. The arrest took place in a hostel housing foreigners in Piastów, near Warsaw, he said.

Robert Kuzovkov, a 44-year-old known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed on Monday morning near his home in the eastern Polish city of Biala Podlaska, near the border with Belarus. Prosecutors said the perpetrator fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing.

Kuzovkov, who died of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back, had painted unflattering caricatures of Putin, Kadyrov and other high-ranking Russian officials. One depicts Putin being cradled in the arms of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He had refused offers of protection by Polish authorities.

Polish officials said Russia was under suspicion due to the profile of the victim and the way he was killed, though they stressed that they are still investigating.

“We are treating this case very, very seriously because, frankly, there is reason to suspect that there may have been people who commissioned this potential assassin,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in Brussels, where he arrived for a summit on Thursday.

“I do not need to convince anyone that this concern involves the possibility of state-sponsored terrorism. This would not be the first such case in Europe, as Europe has seen incidents of this kind before. However, in Poland it would be the first case of a politically motivated assassination carried out on behalf of a foreign state.”

Since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania.

Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.

Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives as the prime suspects.

Here, The Associated Press runs you through some of the more compelling — and controversial — backstories from the kit designs on show in soccer’s biggest event, currently taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Cape Verde's flight paths

For its World Cup debut, the smallest nation by population at the tournament is paying homage to the roughly 525,000 inhabitants who live on 10 volcanic islands off the coast of Africa. A geometric, triangular print across its blue (home) and white (away) jerseys represents the network of flight paths that connect the islands. The idea is that the people of Cape Verde are united behind the players at the World Cup — and that togetherness showed as the team held firm to seal an unlikely 0-0 draw with heavily favored Spain in their first match.

Belgium's surrealism

“This is not a jersey,” reads a message on the collar of Belgium's multicolor away shirt. No, the Belgians aren't losing their minds. It's just a nod to the European nation's surrealist heritage — and notably the work of its master in this artistic movement from the early 20th century. Throughout his career, Belgian artist René Magritte questioned the enigmatic relationship of mind and eye, reality and language, writing under “The Treachery of Images” — his iconic painting of a pipe — the words: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe).” The light-blue jersey features pink patterns and black detailing, incorporating soccer-inspired motifs such as pitch lines and a ball. “True to the surrealism theme, the kit sparks the imagination and invites conversation,” the Belgian federation says.

Haiti's battle scene

The original jersey submitted by this Caribbean nation — another World Cup debutant — included a depiction of the final battle of the Haitian War of Independence in 1803 on its front. In the words of Colombian sportswear manufacturer Saeta, it was a “tribute to the men and women who contribute every day to Haiti’s future.” It didn't go down too well with FIFA, which rejected the image during its approval process, deeming it too political. So an updated blue soccer kit was needed, one that no longer includes the battle artwork.

Argentina's swirling paint technique

The defending World Cup champion is mixing sporting heritage with artistic expression in its jerseys. The home kit — worn by Lionel Messi for his hat trick against Algeria on Tuesday — features three shades of blue on its stripes, an homage to the South American nation's World Cup-winning uniforms from 1978, 1986 and 2022. As for its dark blue away jersey, that's inspired by a traditional painting technique from capital city Buenos Aires — filete porteño — that's used for ornamental design, combining brilliant, swirling colors with specific lettering styles.

France's American connection

France arrived for the World Cup with an away kit that honors a gift the nation famously gave to the United States: the Statue of Liberty. The jersey has a green hue that resembles the oxidized color of the iconic sculpture designed by a Frenchman — Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi — and given to the United States in 1886 as a symbol of French-American friendship. On the jersey is a logo in copper — the original color of the statue — with the words “Nos différences nous unissent” (Our differences unite us).

Iran's endangered Asiatic cheetah

The most striking imagery on Iran's home (white) and away (red) kits is an Asiatic cheetah low across the front. There also are cheetah spots on the sleeves up to the shoulder. The Asiatic cheetah, an equally fast cousin of the African cat, is one of the world’s critically endangered species — one that Iran has long tried to save. There were as many as 400 in the 1990s but the numbers have dwindled to less than an estimated 70 remaining in Iran.

Norway's runic font

Norway's kit might be the sharpest at the World Cup — literally. The font used for the names and numbers of players is inspired by runic writing — characters in several Germanic alphabets used in northern Europe from ancient times until the adoption of the Latin alphabet. The writing is pointy, geometric and easily visible, representing the Norwegian team's desire to embrace its centuries-old history. Flanking the large blue cross across the chest are Viking art patterns in an Urnes style.

Colombia's yellow butterflies

Look closely at Colombia's typically vibrant yellow jersey and you'll notice a burst of butterfly patterns. That's an homage to the classic novel by the nation's Nobel Prize-winning author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” and the stories that made him literature’s best-known practitioner of magical realism — the blending of the everyday with fantastical elements such as a man trailed by a cloud of yellow butterflies.

Mexico's Aztec calendar

Mexico's home jersey brings back the Aztec calendar design that was popular in the 1990s. In the run-up to the World Cup, the team visited the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and posed for a photo with the uniforms in front of the Aztec “Piedra de Sol” or Stone of the Sun, best known as the Aztec calendar.

Saudi Arabia's architecture

Dotted across Saudi Arabia's dark green home jersey are symmetrical lavender squares or diamond shapes, a tribute to doorway decoration — namely geometric, triangular architecture — commonly seen in homes in the kingdom. Wild lavender flowers fill Saudi's desert landscapes in springtime, so purple is a celebrated color in the nation and regarded as a symbol of generosity.

Brazil's Amazonian frogs

What might immediately jump out when looking at Brazil's navy blue-and-black away jersey made by Nike is a yellow “Jumpman” logo synonymous with Michael Jordan-promoted sportswear. However, more closely linked to Brazilian culture is the color of the kit, inspired by the skin of the poison dart frog found in the Amazon. It's a nod to the danger posed by Brazil, the record five-time world champion.

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Associated Press writer Luis Andres Henao contributed to this report.

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

The event will begin at noon in the Building 5 Auditorium at the Salem VA Medical Center.

The History Walk/Roll and Ceremony aims to honor the men and women who have protected and strengthened the nation for two and a half centuries. The event will feature historical displays outlining the history of the United States and the key role veterans have played in serving the country. The celebration will conclude with a ceremony featuring patriotic music from the 29th Infantry Division Band, a presentation of colors, and remarks.

Additionally, Delta Dental’s Party in Elmwood, featuring Too Much Sylvia, has been postponed to a later date due to safety concerns. A new date has not yet been announced.

With 894 confirmed cases so far, the current outbreak is three times worse than a previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, which had 281 cases at the same point, said Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at Africa CDC.

The latest number of cases is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed on May 15, weeks after it was suspected to have begun. The number of cases has increased 38% since last week and is now in 32 health zones across eastern Congo, said Mankoula.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccines or treatments and was not tested for in the early days. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

So far 74 patients have recovered from the disease across eastern Congo and Uganda. Experimental treatments like monoclonal antibodies are being developed for Bundibugyo.

The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda, where 19 confirmed cases have been reported and two people have died.

Contact tracing remains an issue due to the area's remoteness and ongoing insecurity in Ituri province, Dr. Mankoula said.

“For those 800 confirmed cases, we should have between 17,000 to 35,000 contacts that should be in our contact list,” said Mankoula. Currently only around 4,000 contacts have been tracked and are being evaluated, less than 15%.

“We are still far from controlling the situation of this outbreak,” said Mankoula.

Nearly a million people have been displaced by years of conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.

Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of miners who regularly move among remote sites in the mineral-rich region.

Of the over $900 million pledged to fight the outbreak, only $90 million has been released to help fight the outbreak, further complicating the ongoing crisis, according to Mankoula.

Africa CDC estimates it needs 540 personnel to fight the outbreak and so far they only have 84.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed those new pledges will be fast tracked, and we’ll be following up with different member states and different partners about their commitment to turn those pledges into actual money released to their affected countries or partners,” said Mankoula.

Supporters and opponents alike view the effort as a major litmus test for tapping the AI-powered software on a U.S. public transportation system, positioning Kansas City as the latest epicenter of a fierce debate over whether the safety benefits of artificial intelligence are worth the privacy costs.

“The idea of running face recognition on a camera that is pointed on live spaces in public is a line that until recently has never really been crossed in the last 25 years,” said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst for the Project on Speech, Privacy and Technology at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The state of Missouri declined to help fund the project as expected due to concerns with the facial recognition component. Still, the city is pushing ahead with local and federal money, said Tyler Means, chief mobility and strategy officer at the Kansas City Transportation Authority.

“Privacy is always a tricky thing,” Means said. “We’ve always had cameras on our buses. It’s just new technology. I think in time it’ll smooth over and people will realize, ‘Well, it didn’t really feel any different.’”

Cameras that recognize a face

SafeSpace Global, the Knoxville, Tennessee-based company partnering with Kansas City to run the cameras, started using live facial recognition years ago to alert nursing homes when residents left the building, then brought the technology to correctional institutions and schools. Kansas City’s buses represent the company’s inaugural venture in transportation.

Images captured by cameras aboard the buses would immediately be checked against any active alerts, generated when a missing person, banned rider or someone on a law enforcement watch list designated by the transportation authority is identified.

If no match or safety issue is detected, the facial data won't be retained. After the buses return to the depot, the transportation authority would archive the regular video footage on a local server for up to five years.

“It’s not sitting there filming all the time,” SafeSpace Global CEO Scott Boruff said. “It just captures the face and goes away.”

But Stanley with the ACLU warned that it's nearly impossible to limit the scope of a surveillance project when artificial intelligence is involved.

“It may be used for a very narrow watch list today, but there are very good reasons to think it’ll expand over time,” he said.

Backers of the effort point out that security cameras are already found nearly everywhere — even on Kansas City's buses — and some law enforcement agencies have used facial recognition software to identify suspects spotted on video.

Cameras with other types of AI-powered software have been installed on public buses and school buses in other cities to read the license plates of nearby vehicles and ticket the ones spotted committing infractions such as illegally parking in a bus lane. Privacy advocates are concerned about those devices as well, but they're particularly alarmed by cameras that could actively record faces even when no crime is committed.

“City residents should not be guinea pigs for transit systems to test Silicon Valley’s latest unproven, biased surveillance tech,” said Will Owen, communications director for the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

Lessons from elsewhere

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, police in Tampa, Florida, used facial recognition cameras in the Ybor City neighborhood to search for crime suspects, but there was immediate opposition and the program was soon abandoned, Stanley said.

More recently, New Orleans police secretly relied on facial recognition surveillance cameras run by a private company despite a city ordinance prohibiting the technology, The Washington Post reported last year. Although the program was believed to have been paused, Stanley wrote a report for the ACLU last month that found it was still operating in some capacity, citing emails an activist obtained through an open records request.

Detroit partnered with some gas stations and liquor stores in 2016 to install high-definition cameras that relayed live feeds of violent crimes directly to the police department. But after a New York Times investigation found footage was paired with facial recognition software to make arrests, some of the accused filed successful lawsuits claiming they were wrongly targeted due to faulty technology that misidentified Black suspects.

James Craig, the police chief at the time, said officials felt the backlash and changed the rules over how facial recognition could be used without scrapping the program entirely. But he still advocates for the technology, provided it’s used correctly, and says it would be a shame for cities to abandon one of their best tools for securing the streets.

“If the police department or the city doesn’t have the insights to build in strong policies, transparent policies and accountability, the knee jerk reaction is, ‘Well, let’s just ban it,’” Craig said.

KC delays rollout, eyes ‘bigger’ plan

The cameras were expected to be installed on Kansas City's buses this spring, but organizers halted the effort just before launch, derailing hopes that they would be up and running in time for the World Cup matches the city began hosting this week.

The delay was partly technical — a need to upgrade Wi-Fi routers to support both the cameras and a new fare collection system on the buses — and partly financial due to state government funding falling through, illustrating the headwinds U.S. cities often encounter when seeking to deploy facial recognition.

Despite the delays, Means said he's confident the program will launch this year and “a little bit bigger” than initially planned, with potentially as many as 30 buses instead of the nine that had been planned under the pilot.

Boruff, the SafeSpace Global CEO, said the company is ready to start installing the Kansas City cameras as soon as the money comes through, although it'll likely take three to four months to configure the software for the city's specific needs.

Ryana Parks-Shaw, a City Council member serving as mayor pro tem, said she's not disappointed that the rollout has been delayed.

“I think they need to take their time and do it right,” Parks-Shaw said. “I believe that any use of this kind of technology must be approached carefully, transparently and with clear guardrails.”

As for securing buses during the World Cup without the facial recognition cameras, Means said the reconfigured plan includes up to 40 more officers patrolling stops and transit centers.

“We're kind of going old school to address what we hoped the technology would do,” he said.

The law, which took effect Jan. 1, 2026, prohibits state-regulated health insurance plans from charging copays, coinsurance or deductibles for diagnostic and supplemental breast imaging, including diagnostic mammograms, ultrasounds and breast MRIs.

Lynchburg patient surprised by $300 bill

Debbie Farrago of Lynchburg said she had a routine mammogram and was told at the front desk that a follow-up ultrasound would be covered at no cost.

Weeks later, a bill for more than $300 arrived.

“Then two weeks later, I get my bill from Centra, and I’m billed for my deductible. And I said, ‘Hey, you know, why am I getting billed this when they told me at the desk I shouldn’t?’” Farrago said.

It took her months and hours of phone calls to get the charge removed.

“Why is it not being filed, and why do we even have to go through this first of all?” she said.

Farrago said she worries others are quietly absorbing costs they were never required to pay.

“I think a lot of people might not even know. So, they would just pay it,” she said.

Not all insurance plans are covered

The Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, which helped advocate for the legislation, says the new law comes with an important caveat — it does not apply to every insurance plan.

The law covers only state-regulated health insurance plans, which most commonly means plans purchased through the Virginia Marketplace. Patients who receive health insurance through an employer are likely not covered, as federal, out-of-state and employer-sponsored self-insured plans are not required to comply with Virginia state insurance laws.

“VBCF knew there would be a learning curve in terms of awareness of the new breast imaging law,” the organization said in a statement.

To help patients navigate the new rules, the foundation created an online resource page with detailed information about the law and guidance on whether it applies to a specific plan.

What patients should do

The Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation recommends that patients take the following steps:

• Before your appointment: Call your insurance provider and confirm whether you have a state-regulated health care plan covered under the new law.
• If you receive a bill: Do not pay immediately. Contact your insurance plan first, point out that you believe your plan is covered by the new law and file an appeal if necessary.
• If asked to pay upfront: It is acceptable to ask the provider to bill your insurance company first or send a bill later. Providers may not yet be aware of the new law.
• If all else fails: If you have exhausted all options with your insurer and believe your plan is covered, the Virginia Bureau of Insurance may be able to help resolve the situation. The number is 804-371-9631.

Farrago said her experience reinforced the importance of pushing back.

“Reach out for help to organizations that can help you out with it and be your own best advocate for sure,” she said.

Farrago’s case was not an isolated one, according to the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation, which says many patients have already paid bills they were never required to pay.

Ivory Coast faces Germany on Saturday in Toronto.

The federation said Wahi, who is under investigation in France, will not be able to travel with the squad because “the necessary administrative authorizations for his entry into Canadian territory could not be obtained at this stage.”

Wahi started in attack for Ivory Coast when it beat Ecuador 1-0 in its opening game in Philadelphia on Monday. He will remain in the United States pending the team’s return, the federation said.

The French soccer league said on Wednesday that an “unusual amount of bets” were placed internationally on Wahi receiving a yellow card during a Ligue 1 game with Nice in May. The French league was alerted by partners monitoring betting markets about suspicious betting activity at international level concerning Nice’s home game against Metz on May 17, which ended 0-0, and in which Wahi was shown a yellow card.

The French league (LFP) said it passed this information to relevant police and gambling authorities, as well as the French Football Federation.

Asked whether Wahi was questioned by police, the Marseille prosecutor's office told the Associated Press that “a 23-year-old professional football player, competing in France’s Ligue 1 championship, was arrested on May 29, 2026, as part of their investigation."

The office added “the investigation concerns alleged offenses of organized fraud, organized sports corruption, receiving stolen goods, and money laundering.” The player was questioned while in police custody and was released without being detained. The office added the investigation was ongoing.

Wahi’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF) said it has not been officially notified “of any judicial or administrative proceedings” concerning Wahi.

“During this particularly delicate period, the FIF offers its full support to the player and reaffirms its confidence in him,” it said. “Elye Wahi remains an important member of the Ivory Coast national team.”

May 17 was the last round of the Ligue 1 season. Less than two weeks later, Wahi helped struggling Nice stay in Ligue 1 when he scored twice in a 4-1 win over Saint-Etienne in the second leg of their promotion-relegation playoff.

The 23-year-old Wahi had joined Nice on loan from German club Eintracht Frankfurt in January and scored nine goals in 18 games overall, helping Nice reach the French Cup final.

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

For Blanca Nubia Monroy, it’s a black-and-white scale of justice tattooed on her forearm, identical to the one used to identify her 19-year-old son's body after he was kidnapped and killed by Colombian soldiers in 2008.

For Sigifredo López, it's flashbacks from the seven years he was held captive by guerrillas in the South American country's dense jungles and the trauma of surviving after his companions were massacred in 2007.

Both have radically different views of who should win Colombia’s presidency on Sunday, with Monroy throwing her support behind peace activist Iván Cepeda and López backing Trump-endorsed Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised a scourge on crime.

But their fear is the same: Returning to a more violent past.

“It all takes a toll, both physically and emotionally,” said López. “Emotionally, there’s the fear that still simmers deep down, something you don’t openly express, the fear that everything we’ve already lived through could happen again.”

Polarization ‘brewing for decades’

In Colombia’s most polarized presidential election in years, voters will choose between de la Espriella and Cepeda – two candidates with sharply different visions for how to find peace in a country long marked by war.

The armed struggle between Marxist guerrillas, Colombian military forces and right-wing paramilitaries has resulted in more than 10 million people — one in five Colombians — becoming victims of conflict, according to a government registry documenting killings, kidnappings, forced displacement and more.

The trauma of war and the fight for peace are embedded in Colombian politics. Despite a 2016 peace pact with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, conflict rages in many parts of the Andean nation, becoming a defining theme in Sunday's vote.

Polarization within Colombian society over how to handle violence has “been brewing for decades,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, Bogotá-based deputy Latin America director of International Crisis Group.

“Increasingly on both sides, there's an us and a them. That's very dangerous in a country like Colombia with a long history of political violence. ... The spark could light at any moment."

On one side is Cepeda, who has pledged to continue Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” agenda of negotiating peace pacts with a range of criminal groups, from drug mafias to insurgent fighters. That strategy sought to rewire how Colombia deals with conflict, but has largely failed, stoking a rebuke as armed groups have taken advantage of ceasefires to grow in strength.

On the other is de la Espriella, a lawyer who has promised an all-out offensive on crime, echoing El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs. While Bukele’s crackdown has drawn attention across the region for sharply cutting homicide rates, it also fueled allegations of human rights abuses.

Fears of state violence

The 67-year-old Monroy is reminded of the civilian toll from past military offensives every time she thinks of her son, Julián Oviedo Monroy, or looks at the tattoo on her arm.

Her son, who had dreamed of joining Colombia’s military to lift his family out of poverty, disappeared in 2008 along with other poor young men on the fringes of Bogotá. Months later, his body was unearthed in a clandestine grave in the conflict-torn northeast. His body was identified by his tattoo.

“It’s like still having him here,” she said, looking down at the tattoo she got as an homage to her son and his photo that she keeps in her wallet.

Monroy's son became one of 6,402 victims in one of the worst atrocities of Colombia’s conflict. Colombian military officers carried out extrajudicial executions against civilians in a scandal known as “false positives” carried out largely between 2002–2008 under ex-President Álvaro Uribe. Officials then falsely said the murdered civilians were enemy combatants killed in the war with FARC rebels.

Around a dozen high-ranking security officers later acknowledged they killed Monroy's son and asked for forgiveness in a peace tribunal established after the 2016 peace pact to unearth the ugly truths of the war — a court that de la Espriella has promised to dismantle.

Monroy criticized the mounting violence under incumbent president Petro, saying Cepeda would have to come down with a heavier hand on criminal groups.

But what outweighed her criticism was fear of the military campaign promised by de la Espriella, who has vowed to wipe out “anyone who I’ve declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats.”

“God willing, this man doesn’t come to power, because ‘false positives’ will become a reality again,” she said of de la Espriella.

‘Colombia is being kidnapped’

For López, 62, the fear is returning to the “hell” he lived in for seven years from 2002-2009 when he was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held captive in the jungles they controlled.

López was working as a local assemblyman in western Colombia at a time when the rebels had declared politicians military targets. They kidnapped him and 11 other lawmakers.

López was being held in solitary confinement in 2007 when his companions were massacred by rebels. He heard the gunshots echo over the rebel camp, a memory that haunts him. The case turned López into a symbol — a survivor of the FARC's kidnapping of over 21,000 people over five decades of conflict.

Now in Cali, the city where he was kidnapped, he lives with a state-appointed security detail because of threats against his life. He's watched with fear over the past four years as violence has mounted. Because of that, López, a self-declared leftist, said de la Espriella has his support.

“Colombia is being kidnapped,” López said. “I’m with Abelardo because his priority is to restore safety to Colombians. He understands ‘total peace’ isn’t won by negotiating with criminals, but by exercising the legitimate force of the state.”

Under current president Petro, armed groups have used weapons like drones to wage war, bombings have racked up a civilian toll and one presidential candidate was assassinated in June 2025. In May, the International Red Cross said the impact of armed conflict on civilians in Colombia over the past year had reached the worst point in a decade.

This week, the country's largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announced a temporary ceasefire in order to not interfere in Colombia's elections. Other criminal groups made no such promises.

With the wave of violence, López said, “victims are being revictimized."

Just as Monroy fears what could come from a sharp swerve to the right, López worries about what could happen if Colombia continues on its current path.

“My fear is for the new generation, that the same thing that happened to me could happen to them if the country keeps being handed over to guerrillas and organized crime,” López said.

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

But how much is actually in there per serving?

The label usually does not tell you.

A new Consumer Reports investigation found concerning levels of certain additives and contaminants in some widely sold foods and drinks.

They’re pantry staples in many homes: chips, pudding, soft drinks, and other processed foods.

Many use additives to enhance color, sweetness, texture, or preservation.

But a Consumer Reports investigation reveals one important thing shoppers usually cannot see on the label: the amount.

“Companies in the U.S. are not required to disclose the amount of a specific additive or contaminant that’s actually in their products,” said Consumer Reports Investigative Reporter Paris Martineau.

And CR says that matters because, with some substances, the dose can make a difference, especially when people eat the same foods again and again.

Consumer Reports partnered with Yuka, a product transparency app, to test 40 popular processed foods and drinks for food additives and contaminants linked to potential health concerns at certain exposure levels.

“What we found is that one quarter of the products we tested contained concerning amounts of additives,” Martineau explained.

When contaminants were added to the mix, that rose to more than one-third of the products tested.

Consumer Reports contacted the FDA about its findings. The agency declined to comment on the specific findings of this investigation but stated that it has launched a stronger post-market review process for chemicals and additives already on the market.

CR also contacted the makers of the flagged products. Some said their products meet U.S. regulatory standards. Others said they’re working to remove certain artificial colors or titanium dioxide from some products.

For shoppers, CR recommends reading ingredient labels carefully, especially on brightly colored or highly processed foods.

And limit how often you eat the products CR flagged as concerning.

“The best thing consumers can do is kind of scrutinize the foods that they eat,” Martineau said.

While extremely rare, an infectious disease expert explains what it is.

“Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba. It’s a free-living organism that lives in fresh water such as lakes and rivers. It can also live in poorly kept pools and water systems,” said Lyssette Cardona, MD, an infectious disease specialist with Cleveland Clinic Florida.

Dr. Cardona explained that the brain-eating amoeba thrives in warm fresh water – that’s why cases tend to make headlines over the summer.

If water with the amoeba enters the nose and reaches the brain, it can cause an often-deadly infection that destroys brain tissue.

While infections are rare and the amoeba is not found in all water with these conditions, it’s best to take precautions.

These include holding your nose when jumping into fresh water and avoiding putting your head underwater in hot springs.

Dr. Cardona said it’s also important to know the signs of possible infection.

“The symptoms of meningoencephalitis are usually fever, headaches, nausea, vomiting and confusion. If it progresses without awareness, you can have hallucinations and seizures with the increased brain swelling,” Dr. Cardona said.

Early treatment is critical, and Dr. Cardona urges that people seek medical care right away if symptoms develop after possible exposure.

Fourteen players managed to post scores — no birdies among them — before the horn sounded to stop because of low visibility. They were kept on the course for 15 minutes, and when it didn't get any better, they were brought back in.

The first round finally resumed after a two-hour delay. It was the first time the opening round of the U.S. Open was delayed by fog since 2021 at Torrey Pines in San Diego, which is notorious for its “June Gloom.” That one lasted 90 minutes and the first round was not complete until the next morning. That will be the case again at Shinnecock Hills.

The problem was evident at the start. James Nicholas was to hit the opening tee shot, and he walked over to the starter to ask if they were still on time.

“I just wanted to make sure,” Nicholas said. “I can't see the fairway.”

The fairways are wide enough — an average width of 48 yards this year — that no one had any trouble finding their golf balls. But when the par-3 11th green and some landing areas were hard to see, officials had no choice.

Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player who is trying to complete the career Grand Slam with a U.S. Open title, and Rory McIlroy were among those on the range ahead of their morning tee times.

The USGA prepared the course for the anticipation of strong wind, with gusts potentially approaching 40 mph. The wind Thursday morning wasn't strong enough to move the fog.

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

Now that the department is offloading civil rights enforcement and special education, some parents and advocates warn a process that has largely been stalled since President Donald Trump took office will see only more chaos and roadblocks.

“It’s to the point I don’t even check in anymore with the attorney,” said Nicole May, an Ohio mother. May filed a complaint in spring 2024 with the department’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging her teenage daughter was bullied over her hearing aids and was getting in trouble in class because she couldn’t hear her teachers. More than two years later, the case lacks a resolution.

Under the changes announced Tuesday, the Department of Justice will take over civil rights enforcement in schools, and the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. The moves help fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to dismantle the Education Department. Linda McMahon, the education secretary, pitched the changes as a way to get more help to families of kids with disabilities.

Advocates said special education doesn’t belong in a health department, which usually treats disabilities as conditions to manage, instead of differences in how children learn. The top Republican on the Senate education committee agreed, saying he’d pursue legislation to keep special education out of Health and Human Services.

Some families already are taking discrimination cases elsewhere

For many, though, the response to the announcement was a sigh of resignation.

The Education Department’s civil rights office had long been the last resort for parents who believe their child is facing discrimination at school, with a mandate to review all complaints. Under Trump, the backlog of cases has ballooned, and resolutions have dwindled. Increasingly, attorneys say they are turning elsewhere to try to obtain justice for children.

The reaction is a marked change from a year ago, when parents and attorneys were in a panic as Education Department staff and attorneys were slashed.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services has shrunk by roughly a third since 2024, and the Office for Civil Rights is roughly 40% smaller. Meanwhile, in the Department of Justice, the Education Opportunities Section has shrunk by half, according to estimates provided by Justice Connection, a network of department alumni.

“I think a lot of people are mad, but they are like, ‘What are we going to do?’” said Emily Harvey, the co-legal director at Disability Justice, formerly Disability Law Colorado, who has watched her cases languish.

When Trump took office, she had a federal complaint pending, alleging some Colorado schools were illegally rejecting enrollment from kids outside their neighborhood boundaries because they had disabilities. Harvey also has a case pending at the Department of Justice, alleging a district south of Denver restrained and secluded disabled students hundreds of times, even though the practice is supposed to be reserved for emergencies.

“I feel like they’re probably collecting dust on a virtual shelf somewhere,” Harvey said.

In response to the federal backlog, she helped to push for a new state law that expands the types of civil rights cases Colorado education officials can pursue.

States across the U.S. already investigate various special education complaints, including when parents allege schools aren’t following a child’s individualized education program. But the Colorado legislation, signed into law in May, allows the state to pursue the types of cases typically handled at the federal level, such as those involving allegations of discrimination and harassment.

Harvey said she didn’t think the federal civil rights office was ever perfect. “But I think it’s become even less help for people who are trying to resolve issues,” said Harvey, who worked as an Education Department civil rights attorney in 2020 and 2021.

Boston-area special education advocate Craig Haller said he’s heard nothing on a complaint he filed early last year with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. Ever since the Trump administration started dismantling the department, he has leaned more on Massachusetts’s state system for resolving special education matters.

He recently used that system to help a student whose high school didn’t take into account his special education plan when it suspended him.

“I got it fixed for my client,” Haller said. But without the federal Office for Civil Rights, “I can’t get it fixed systematically.”

Department workers say the dismantling has made their jobs harder

While only Congress can close the Education Department, McMahon, a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has signed 10 additional agreements to give department functions to other federal agencies.

So far, those agreements have not reduced the number of employees working on specific programs. But the union that represents department workers says staff have run into issues with equipment and access at their new postings.

“It’s hard to describe how inefficient the implementation of the (agreements) has been,” said Rachel Gittleman, the union’s president.

The Education Department said Wednesday the latest agreements will help the Office for Civil Rights run “more effectively and efficiently.”

“Compliance and enforcement of federal civil rights laws will remain a priority,” the department said in a written statement.

Taken together, the fracturing of programs, enforcement and oversight for disabled students across multiple agencies raised questions of what would fall through the cracks, special education advocates said.

Robyn Linscott, who directs education and family policy at The Arc of the United States, a major disability rights group, recalled attending a three-hour listening session the Education Department hosted in January. Families, educators and advocates described barriers to accessing proper support and services. Although they acknowledged breaks in the system, not a single parent advocated for moving oversight of special education to Health and Human Services.

Still, she isn’t surprised the Trump administration moved the program anyway.

“It has only been 24 hours, but I think we anticipated this move for over a year,” she said on Wednesday.

In Congress, senators from both sides of the aisle said they would try to stop the move to put special education in Health and Human Services.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he would “publicly commit” to working with his Democratic colleague, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, on legislative action that would push the administration to change course. Cassidy, who lost a primary election this spring and has less than six months left in his Senate term, has personal knowledge of the education challenges faced by kids with disabilities: His wife co-founded a network of charter schools for students with dyslexia.

If special education is moved, he said Wednesday, it should go to the Labor Department. That agency, he said, is better positioned to support people with disabilities as they learn and work.

Ultimately, what matters to parents is whether they can get the services their children need, said Rob Harris, an IEP advocate in Colorado. Families spend an inordinate amount of time navigating systems that should be working together to serve children, but often aren’t. Harris has navigated those systems himself: His 19-year-old daughter is blind.

“Families don’t experience the government through organizational charts,” Harris said. “We experience it through the services our children receive.”

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Associated Press writers Bianca Vázquez Toness and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’ education 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.

Instead, the rollout of Vance’s second book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” has been largely crowded out by something else he’s put his name on: the tentative deal to end the Iran war.

The Republican vice president has embraced the role of chief defender of the agreement he and President Donald Trump signed with Tehran, giving a series of interviews touting the memorandum of understanding as a success and releasing a video championing it.

It’s a striking emergence for a politician who was known for his skepticism of foreign military interventions and who seemed reluctant to speak on the conflict when Trump launched it in late February.

The vice president is poised to yoke himself further to the conflict’s outcome on Friday, when he’s expected to travel to Switzerland to kick off a new phase of negotiations with Iran. He was originally expected to attend a formal signing ceremony for the deal, but Trump formally signed it on Wednesday instead.

Vance becoming a hype man for the agreement seems to be an all-in gamble that, should he decide to seek the White House in 2028, voters will reward him for being the face of ending an unpopular conflict.

It’s also setting Vance up as the presumptive fall guy should the deal with Iran falter.

Trump joked about such a possibility on Wednesday.

“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said.

Officials release text of the deal after backlash

The White House in a statement called Vance the president's “right-hand man and an invaluable member of the President’s talented national security team.”

"That’s why the Vice President was trusted to lead these negotiations alongside Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. "What President Trump and his team achieved on the battlefield and at the negotiating table is nothing short of remarkable and will strengthen American security for years to come.”

But backlash, including from conservatives, began growing this week after the U.S. digitally signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran on Sunday.

Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for the vice president, said in a statement: “It’s unfortunate that some Republicans are attempting to undermine the President’s efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East and ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”

Officials gave shifting answers about when they would release the text, but leaked copies of a draft were quickly met with anger and skepticism from Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers, as well as Israel and pro-Israel advocates. Their criticisms included concerns that the deal, meant to open a two-month negotiating period, seemed to offer Iran wins up front while guaranteeing little in return, and that Trump’s stated reason for launching the conflict, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, remains unresolved.

Vance has reiterated that Iran must meet its obligations.

“If they don’t behave properly, they don’t get any of the benefits of this bargain,” he said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends."

In response to the backlash and mounting questions, the U.S. on Wednesday provided the text of the agreement to journalists.

The agreement states that Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision. It also states that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously. But beyond stating that the U.S. and Iran will negotiate over Iran's nuclear program, other commitments still need to be worked out.

Criticism on the right persisted after the text was released.

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson, a hawk who has defended the war, said Wednesday: “This is an American surrender.”

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, criticized the agreement and said to reporters, “I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”

Trump's ‘Operation Epic Fury’ has angered wings of his movement

The conflict, which has stretched into its fourth month, has cleaved Trump’s broad Make America Great Again coalition and angered both those who favored a harder line against Iran and those drawn to Trump’s “America First” foreign policy underscored by a message of “no new wars.”

Critics, including Republicans, have already started pointing fingers in Vance's direction, questioning whether the deal resembles the 2015 nuclear agreement struck by Democratic President Barack Obama and whether this new agreement achieves Trump’s stated objectives for launching the war.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally and Iran hawk, had been skeptical of the agreement and referred to Vance on social media as “the architect of the deal."

After the agreement was released, Graham issued a tepid statement of support, saying, “Whether or not the United States can reach an acceptable, verifiable deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program and other issues is yet to be determined, but I see little downside to trying.”

Ben Domenech, The Daily Wire’s opinion editor, said on Fox News that everything he was hearing about the deal “seems bad” and appeared to cast blame on Vance by alluding to his first book, “Hillbilly Elegy."

“Are we going to backslide into being some kind of ‘hillbilly Obama’ kind of GOP?” Domenech said.

GOP allies say Vance can navigate the politics

The Trump administration has not offered formal briefings to Congress on the details of the memorandum, but Vance has quietly started doing outreach to some Republican senators on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, a close ally of Vance's, said the vice president would be able to assuage even critics within his own party who are skeptical of the deal because “JD is just the president’s messenger, and the president’s going to prove them all wrong.”

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the deal “certainly adds to the national security and geopolitical chops” of Vance, who spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio before ascending to the vice presidency.

But Cramer acknowledged the risks if the agreement goes awry.

“I guess the nice thing is, if you’re not the No. 1 person, you can take credit and avoid risk, avoid the criticism, but probably not so easily,” Cramer said.

Vance argues Iran is not a quagmire like the Iraq war

In interviews this week, Vance has sought to speak directly to the skeptics in his party, a preview of the difficult explanations he may be pressed to make as a candidate on the war.

On Megyn Kelly's show, the vice president said the critics “believe Iranian propaganda” about the deal. But he acknowledged some of the frustrations on the hawkish right while trying to reassure the anti-interventionists that the Iran conflict isn't the war in Iraq, where he served as a Marine.

“We were never going to get the quagmire that a lot of people were worrying about because Donald Trump is just not George W. Bush,” he said.

Democrats have stressed that even as Vance becomes the face of the Iran deal, the fate of any administration official who harbors presidential aspirations — particularly hawkish Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has largely been quiet in the agreement's final phases — will be tied to its outcome.

“I think any member of this administration is going to rise or fall on the basis of the Iran war and the handling of the economy, and I don’t think there are exceptions,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.

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Associated Press writer Will Weissert contributed to this report.

A century of broken treaties already had spawned distrust of the federal government, and widespread forced assimilation was accelerating. With shifting cultural and social circumstances came declining populations. Survival was hanging in the balance.

Renowned for their masterful beadwork, Lakota women had a strategy.

Incorporating symbols of American patriotism into their work was more than a simple embrace of the stars and stripes. It was an act of quiet resistance that provided an avenue for conserving their values as U.S. policies unraveled their communities.

So with America's 250th birthday come mixed emotions rooted in pain, pride and even patriotism. Museum displays of elaborate beadwork are providing a window into that past, while paintings by contemporary Native artists offer critiques on more modern political struggles.

It's a milestone marking resilience — and a fresh opportunity to look at the nation's history through an unexpected, and perhaps less varnished, lens.

Native Americans and the US have a unique relationship

Curators and tribal scholars say the Native experience cannot be overlooked or minimized when talking about the complex tapestry that is America.

“The United States could not exist without Native history having been here first,” said Aaron Carapella, who is of Cherokee descent and creates maps of Indigenous territories. “There’s so many influences that Native people embedded into the fabric of what we call America.”

A student of history, Carapella finds it unlikely that most of the Founding Fathers would have expected tribes to persist as sovereign entities. Rather, they thought tribes would be absorbed into American society.

Implementation of laws like the 1830 Indian Removal Act signed by President Andrew Jackson and the 1887 Dawes Act enacted by President Grover Cleveland led to forced relocations through brutal journeys like the Trail of Tears. Land grabs resulted when millions of acres of tribal landholdings were broken up.

Bounties in Minnesota and the Southwest along with militias in California further eroded tribal territories. Then came the boarding schools, where Native children were sent in an effort to erase their connections to culture, language and religion.

It's not ancient history. Tribal leaders say their people are still living with the effects of those policies.

Today, there are 575 tribes with inherent sovereignty recognized by the U.S, with the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina joining the list in December. The government-to-government relationships are unlike arrangements many other countries have with Indigenous populations.

N. Bruce Duthu, chair of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Dartmouth College and a member of the United Houma Nation, has taught and lectured around the globe. He said it’s hard for Indigenous leaders in Bolivia and elsewhere to believe that tribes in the U.S. have been able to build power over the last half-century. It’s an ongoing fight, but Duthu points to successful efforts to influence environmental policies and pass major legislation to hold non-tribal citizens accountable for crimes committed in Indian Country.

“The U.S. is routinely at the top of the heap in terms of a country that, despite all the flaws, at least now in the last 50 years or so, seems to have gotten it right,” he said.

There's a deep history of influence

Native influences span from the notions of democracy shared with the Founding Fathers to the warrior ethos exhibited by the fierceness with which tribal nations fought to protect their land — from other tribes, foreign nations and the federal government.

It's not unlike the patriotism many Americans feel today. And for some Native Americans, it's a fundamental part of who they are; they have one of the highest per-capita rates of military service in the country.

At the center of the “Stars, Stripes and First Americans” exhibit at New Mexico’s Museum of Indian Arts and Culture is a painting by Kee Yazzie titled Diné Code Talker. The brushstrokes pay homage to the Navajo Code Talkers, who used their language to create an unbreakable code that played a critical role in U.S. victories during World War II.

Danyelle Means, the museum's executive director and a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, said other tribes also had code talkers. That included the Choctaw Nation and Comanche, Kiowa, Hopi, Muscogee, Sioux and Seminole recruits.

“Veterans are a huge part of celebration and ceremony within Native communities and are often revered and have their own societies within these communities,” Means said. “So it is something — that aspect of the U.S. and being a warrior for this country — that is very deep-seated in so many Native communities.”

Influence has permeated art and culture

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., is commemorating the 250th with an installation of two dresses that highlight heritage and Native American servicewomen.

Made a century apart, one is a Lakota beaded dress likely made for a July Fourth celebration and the other is a modern jingle dress worn by members of the Native American Women Warriors that includes a patch honoring Lori Piestewa, who is believed to be the first Native woman killed in combat on foreign soil. The Hopi soldier died from injuries following an ambush in Iraq in 2003.

Those military operations came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Navajo artist Pauline Thomas called it a scary time, knowing that more Native soldiers would be heading off to war. The 73-year-old created a weaving following 9/11 that is now part of the exhibition in New Mexico.

For Thomas, her weavings mark moments in time, but they're also a way for Navajo customs to live on. Her 12-year-old granddaughter already is winning blue ribbons for her weavings.

“I think it’s very, very important,” Thomas said from her hometown of Naschitti on the Navajo Nation. “I don’t want my people to lose their culture. I want them to learn more about their ancestors, where they came from.”

The way forward has many paths

Jami Powell, curator of Indigenous art at Dartmouth College's Hood Museum of Art, uses the phrase “colonial entanglements” to describe the complexity of U.S.-tribal relations. She tells her students that things aren't always black and white.

“And it is OK to have feelings of ambivalence around these issues and the difficult histories that led to this current moment,” said Powell, a citizen of the Osage Nation.

The Hood Museum is displaying the work of Native artists as part of its 250th commemoration. Both subversive and pointed, the pieces broaden the conversation and get visitors thinking about the next two centuries, Powell said.

Ensuring Native youth have a voice in that future is a driving force for Tracy Canard Goodluck, executive director of the Center for Native American Youth.

A member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and of Mvskoke Creek heritage, Goodluck said the power of those voices rang loud and clear in essays submitted for a recent competition focused on the 250th. They touched on sovereignty, self-determination and maintaining a connection with land and culture.

“They know who they are, where they come from, their identity, their culture, their history,” Goodluck says, “and we need to create pathways for them to be able to share that with everyone.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 13 dropped by 4,000 to 226,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s in line with the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

Despite concerns that the conflict in the Middle East would further squeeze a flagging labor market, hiring has picked up in recent months following a miserable 2025 that saw fewer than 200,000 job gains. For comparison, about 1.5 million jobs were added in 2024.

U.S. employers delivered a surprising 172,000 new jobs in May and the economy is averaging 188,000 job gains in the three months since the Iran war began in late February. That’s the best three months of hiring since early 2024. The unemployment rate remains historically low at 4.3%.

Job openings also rose in April as employers posted 7.6 million vacancies, up from 6.9 million in March and the most since May 2024.

The government reported last week that rising gas prices — triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern border — pushed U.S. consumer inflation in May to 4.2%, its highest level in three years. Despite recent declines, prices for oil and gas remain elevated, which can squeeze consumers’ budgets and make businesses think twice about hiring.

Earlier this week, Iran and the U.S. agreed to a deal to end the war and allow Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil without restrictions.

With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, officials at the U.S. central bank left the benchmark interest rate where it was on Wednesday. It was the first meeting with new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who replaced Jerome Powell after his eight-year run as the U.S. central bank’s leader.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to stoke inflation, leading a number of Fed policymakers to say they are actually willing to consider at least one interest rate hike this year. That could potentially help bring inflation down, but higher borrowing costs generally make businesses more reluctant to hire.

Optimism over artificial intelligence has also injected a degree of uncertainty about the job market due to the investment required to develop it and because the powerful technology could alter or even replace some jobs.

Among the companies that have cut jobs recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.

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 tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 4,000 to 223,250.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending June 6 rose by 24,000 to 1.81 million, slightly more than analysts predicted.

It is the first time since March that the average cost for a regular gallon has been that low. Prices fell overnight after President Donald Trump signed an agreement with Iran that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country.

Gas prices are at $3.999 on average in the U.S., according to motor club AAA. The drop below $4 follows a 15% decline in the price of U.S. crude this month.

But fluctuations in gas prices remain across the country. In California, gas prices are averaging $5.64 per gallon, while in South Carolina it’s $3.58 per gallon.

The agreement between the U.S. and Iran calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks. It appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

Oil prices fell Monday to about $80 for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude. That compares to $67 per barrel before the war and the price of over $120 a barrel reached earlier in the conflict.

Even as gas prices start to decline, it is anticipated to take weeks or months for oil to start flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again.

Before the war, the strait carried a fifth of the world’s crude oil. Now, it will take time for hundreds of ships trapped in the Persian Gulf to exit through the narrow strait. And Gulf oil producers that throttled back production will need time to get the oil moving again. Analysts also say ship captains may take their time to decide if passage is safe and that the threat of attack from Iran has truly receded.

In addition, refineries typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products.

Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz disrupted not only supplies of crude and refined fuel but also the supply chains for fertilizer, food and even footwear. Businesses expect higher costs to linger, which means their customers might need to prepare for that too.

In the era of Jim Crow laws, finding work as an African American in Virginia was a challenge, especially for those in the medical field. Black doctors faced significant barriers, with few organizations willing to accept them as members or support their professional growth.

“When you had Black individuals becoming doctors, there was really no organization for them to go to that would accept them, accept their membership,” Charisse Hairston, executive director of the FAHI Museum, explained.

That changed with the founding of the Magic City Medical Society. Co-founded by Roanoke-based doctors Isaac Burrell and Percy Corbin, though some sources credit James H. Roberts, the society brought together physicians, dentists and nurses. Their mission was clear: to build a healthcare system for Black people in the Appalachian region and lay the groundwork for what would become Burrell Memorial Hospital. The society also included a women’s auxiliary unit, expanding its reach and impact.

Hairston describes the society as a close-knit network: “These doctors formed a brotherhood that basically consisted of doctors from Roanoke, Lynchburg, Martinsville.”

The Magic City Medical Society didn’t just offer professional camaraderie. It changed the course of medical history in Southwest Virginia, opening doors for more people to pursue their dreams of helping others.

“You could have that brotherhood, that sisterhood, and that encouraged you to complete your program, and then it gave you a network of individuals, and they could help you get started professionally,” Hairston said.

This support system meant more hospitals could be established to serve the Black community. One notable example is Dr. Dana Baldwin’s St. Mary’s Hospital.

“He was able, through that society, to attract other doctors to come to the area,” Hairston shared. “These were not just any doctors; these were doctors and pharmacists who were sought out in the nation.”

As access to medical care expanded, so did the city itself. The society’s influence reached beyond hospitals, with one doctor even helping to establish churches in the community, all in the name of making Southwest Virginia a better place to live.

“It meant access to good medical care. It meant having hospitals and facilities that you could go to and be properly treated,” Hairston said.

While both society and the medical field have evolved over the decades, the roots of change planted by the Magic City Medical Society remain deeply woven into the fabric of Southwest Virginia.

Their legacy is a testament to the power of community, determination and the pursuit of equality, ensuring that everyone, regardless of race, could receive the care and support they needed.

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.

Voters in the Makerfield district of northwest England are electing a new lawmaker, and the leading contender is Andy Burnham of the governing Labour Party, the current mayor of Greater Manchester and oddsmakers’ favorite to be the next prime minister.

If Burnham defeats a candidate from the anti-immigration party Reform UK and wins the seat for Labour, he’s almost certain to challenge the embattled Starmer for leadership of the party, and the country.

Burnham has pledged that “if people put their trust in me, I will change politics” — a big promise for a politician who, if he wins, will be just one of 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons.

But the scores of journalists from around the world who have flocked to Makerfield during the campaign are evidence that this is no normal by-election.

In an election-day video, Burnham said he would take the fight for change “as high as I can possibly take it.”

Polls close at 10 p.m. (2100GMT), with results due early Friday.

Starmer struggles since landslide win

About 75,000 people are eligible to vote in Makerfield, a constituency that encompasses several towns and villages on the edge of Greater Manchester, 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London.

They hold in their hands the fate of Starmer, whose popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

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

A dismal performance in May’s local elections spurred scores of Labour lawmakers to demand Starmer’s resignation. He has refused to budge, but senior colleagues are trying to force a change. Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary in May, saying that “where we need vision, we have a vacuum.”

Then Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election and give Burnham the chance to return to Parliament.

Britain’s parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leader midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a national election. Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they have backing from a fifth of the party’s House of Commons lawmakers — a number that stands at 81.

Streeting said Tuesday that he hopes Starmer will agree to step down, but that if he doesn’t, “there will need to be a contest, and I would be prepared to do that.”

A Burnham victory will pile pressure on Starmer to quit

Streeting is an assured communicator with a base of support among parliamentary colleagues, but Burnham is considered the more likely successor.

The 56-year-old politician nicknamed the “King of the North” has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. Burnham is pledging to repeat his signature brand of “Manchesterism” on a national scale.

“It’s not right, the way the country has been run,” Burnham said on the campaign trail last week, claiming “London-centric politics” has failed other regions of the U.K.

Starmer, meanwhile, has tried to keep calm and carry on, insisting during a G7 summit in France this week that he has no intention of leaving his post.

“I will fight if there’s a challenge,” he said. “We won a significant general election result in 2024, with a mandate to bring about change. I’m not going to walk away from that.”

Starmer suggested that he could offer Burnham a Cabinet post if he wins, telling Sky News on Wednesday that “I want him to have a big role in government.” Allies of Burnham indicated that he wasn’t interested.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said that if Burnham wins convincingly, “the pressure on Starmer will be very hard to resist.

“Starmer can say all that he likes that he wants to carry on,” Ford said. “But if the entire Cabinet turns around and says, ‘We’re not going to serve under you and we think you should go,’ then either he’ll go with dignity or go without dignity, but he’ll end up having to go quite quickly.”

Reform UK poses a challenge to Labour

Burnham’s victory isn't a given. The Makerfield area has elected Labour lawmakers for more than a century, but Reform UK has rapidly gained ground in post-industrial northern England, winning big in local elections last month.

Reform candidate Rob Kenyon, a local plumber, is hoping to tap into concerns about immigration — frequently expressed by voters despite relatively low numbers of immigrants in Makerfield. But Reform faces a challenge from Restore, an even more hard-line, anti-immigration and ethnonationalist party to its right.

A Burnham victory would be bad news for Starmer. But Ford said that a Reform win in Makerfield would spell “Gotterdammerung, apocalypse, disaster, chaos” for the Labour Party.

“Andy Burnham is miles more popular than every other (leadership) candidate available. Miles better known, miles better liked,” he said.

“If Reform take him out, then simultaneously you have a situation where the Reform threat looks much graver, and the best person available to combat the Reform threat has failed.”

Thursday’s decision was widely anticipated after figures showed inflation did not rise as had been expected in May, holding steady instead at 2.8%.

Though that remains above the bank’s target of 2%, it raised hopes that the upward pressure on prices emanating from the spike in oil and gas prices after the start of the Iran war on Feb. 28 may have been less than anticipated.

Economists think rate-setters will opt against hiking rates over coming months, but only if the recent fall in energy prices is sustained. The pressure on central banks since the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf has been to raise rates. The European Central Bank hiked last week while on Wednesday, half of the policymakers at the U.S. Federal Reserve said that they could support a rate hike later this year.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor, said the recent decline in oil prices has been “encouraging” while noting they are still higher than before the war, a steer to markets that higher U.K. borrowing costs are possible.

“Whatever happens in the future, the higher energy prices of the past four months mean there’s already some inflationary pressure in the pipeline,” he said. “The Bank’s job is to make sure that doesn’t turn into sustained inflation above our 2% target.”

Two of the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee remain concerned enough about those pipeline pressures that they voted for a quarter-point increase.

Because of the recent pullback in oil and gas prices, the bank has trimmed its forecast for inflation in the final quarter of the year to 3.25%. The hope is that inflation then starts to drop next year, freeing up the bank to cut rates, allowing mortgage lenders to offer cheaper home loans.

“If energy prices continue to moderate then the debate could once again turn again to rate cuts, but that might have to wait until next year,” said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen.

A $14-billion arms sale package to Taiwan is still in limbo after President Donald Trump returned from Beijing in May and said he had discussed the proposal “in great detail” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, heightening anxieties in Taiwan and raising concerns among lawmakers on the Capitol Hill.

“We need those arms for defensive purposes,” Alexander Yui Tah-ray, who heads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S., told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in Washington. “We're trying to increase our defense expenditure. We try to increase our ability to defend ourselves better and survive times of crisis.”

The United States, like most countries, does not officially recognize Taiwan as a country. China prohibits any state it has diplomatic relations with from having formal ties with Taipei. But the U.S. is the island's strongest informal backer and arms provider.

Yui, while not formally an ambassador to the U.S., acts as Taiwan's top envoy in Washington.

The Trump administration has not moved forward with the $14 billion weapons sale proposal approved by senior lawmakers earlier this year. Trump has described the sale as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

Washington is obligated by domestic law to provide Taiwan with sufficient hardware to deter aggression from China, which claims sovereignty over the island and vows to seize it, by force if necessary, to achieve what it considers to be unification. Beijing has always opposed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which has never been under China's communist rule.

Taiwanese diplomat says the island won't wait for ‘the U.S. cavalry’

Yui said Taiwan is aware that it must defend its territory.

“This is our responsibility, so we will not wait and depend for the U.S. cavalry to come and save us,” he said. “That’s why we’re willing to acquire, to buy U.S. equipment and arms to make ourselves stronger.”

Yui said the weapons sales need to be “commensurate” to the threat level, which is “actually pretty high” from China.

“First and foremost, we’re not the aggressors. It is the People's Republic of China who is sending all the planes and ships,” he said. “They're the ones huffing and puffing. They are the ones who’s trying to annihilate our freedom and democracy in Taiwan.”

China sends warships and military aircraft near Taiwan almost daily and has conducted major military exercises around the island in recent years.

Beijing sees the island as a core interest and has criticized those supporting Taiwanese independence for causing instability in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan diplomat sees no change in the US position toward the island

Yui stressed that there had been no changes to the U.S. position on Taiwan and that the Taiwanese government will respect the Trump administration's “tempo” in making announcements.

The arms sale has broad support in Congress, with lawmakers raising concerns to Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a hearing this month. Rubio affirmed that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed and that Washington does not “consult with the Chinese on these arms deals.”

“We’re aware of their position. They talk about it all the time,” Rubio said of Beijing. “They are not negotiated, and they are not consulted.”

Rubio said the proposal was not held up but under review and that the administration had other factors to weigh.

“It includes the availability of the stocks in the short term,” Rubio said of U.S. weapons stockpiles, which have been drawn down during the Iran war. “We have to balance that with our own procurement process.”

The administration did approve a separate $11 billion arms sale package to Taiwan in December that included high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers.

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Thursday told reporters his administration maintains close contact with the U.S.

"We hope the arms purchase from the U.S. can be approved as soon as possible," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called it “a dead end” for the Taiwanese government to seek independence by relying on the U.S. and through military means. "China’s opposition to American arms sales to Taiwan is consistent and clear," he said.

Yui is navigating the second Trump presidency

Yui arrived in Washington in late 2023 during Joe Biden's presidency. Biden had said several times that he would send troops to the island if Beijing attacked.

Now, Yui is navigating the caprices of the second Trump administration, which has struck a more conciliatory tone with Beijing following an intense trade war marked by tit-for-tat tariffs.

As much as Trump has raised eyebrows by ignoring a Reagan-era promise not to agree to prior consultation with Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan, he also said he could call Taiwan's President Lai, breaking a decades-long practice that no sitting U.S. president has directly spoken with the leader of the island.

In its national defense strategy published in January, the Pentagon said it seeks to deter China through strength, not confrontation. It says the U.S. “will build, posture, and sustain a strong denial defense” along a strategic line of islands, including Taiwan, to keep China out of the wider Pacific Ocean.

Yui ascribed what appears to be mixed messages to Trump's outside-of-the-box style but expressed confidence in Taiwan-U.S. relations.

“It's important to look at the actions, what is happening, not just the rhetoric,” Yui said. “The big stick is still there.”

___

Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan contributed to this report.

The two-day meeting, being held in Kazan, is set to consider ways to expand Russia’s “strategic partnership” with ASEAN nations that include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Vietnam, according to Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov.

The regional bloc has maintained relations with Moscow as a “dialogue partner” and engaged Russian officials in annual top-level meetings, he said. The summit in Kazan, on the Volga River, marks the 35th anniversary of Russia-ASEAN relations.

In a message greeting participants in a business forum held on the sidelines of the summit, Putin said he was confident that it will “create new opportunities for expanding mutually beneficial trade, investment, and industrial cooperation, while also strengthening direct dialogue between our business communities.”

Ushakov said the agenda includes exchanging views on global and regional issues and reviewing efforts to develop Russia-ASEAN ties. He emphasized that the participants are set to underline their adherence to “forming a just and democratic multipolar world order based on the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.”

Ushakov praised what he described as “fruitful, equal and constructive dialogue” between Russia and ASEAN.

He told reporters that Putin would have bilateral meetings with ASEAN leaders during the summit, which he will co-chair with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose country holds the association’s rotating presidency.

Opening a bilateral meeting with Marcos, Putin noted their countries' “mutually beneficial cooperation built on good traditions, mutual respect and consideration of each other’s legitimate interests.”

Marcos thanked Putin for organizing the Russia-ASEAN meeting in Kazan and invited him to the ASEAN summit in Manila in November.

Putin also met with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Russia and ASEAN nations "jointly stand for forming a just world order, defend the principles of sovereign equality of states, (of) non-interference into internal affairs,” Putin said at a formal reception for heads of delegations Wednesday evening.

“All our states follow their own models of development and don't impose their views on anyone. And this is, indeed, our strength," he said. “Russia is ready for continuing active joint work with ASEAN member states with the goal of strengthening strategic partnership, in the interests of ensuring security, well-being and prosperity of our countries and peoples, as well as the Eurasian region as a whole.”

Another bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit was with Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who met in Moscow on Tuesday with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Putin praised Russia's ties with Turkey as “developing steadily,” with contacts between the countries being “truly friendly and being filled with new meaning.” Fidan said the two had multiple issues to discuss.

Some of ASEAN’s diverse member countries, including the Philippines, are seen to be aligned with the United States, while others have heavy trade and security engagements with China and Russia.

Several ASEAN members, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, have either imported Russian crude oil or expressed interest in purchasing it after global fuel prices soared in the wake of the war in Iran.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the first woman to lead the church and the person seen as the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, issued the apology as the church released a report on conditions at the homes from 1949 to 1976.

Many women and girls were forced to do menial labor as a form of “correction’’ for having children out of wedlock, and their babies were sometimes described as commodities available to meet the demand for adoption, the report found.

“We are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced — and still carried — by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England,’’ Mullally said. “We have heard firsthand the accounts of mothers who were separated from their babies in circumstances where they had very few meaningful choices.”

During the period covered by the report, about 185,000 children born to unmarried mothers were put up for adoption in England and Wales. It was a time when a “culture of shame, stigma and secrecy” surrounded unmarried mothers and their children, even as attitudes about sex and marriage were beginning to change, the report said.

While church policies emphasized that unmarried women had the right to keep their children and the children had a right to remain with their mothers, staff often ignored this guidance and worked closely with adoption agencies, researchers found.

The guidance “sat alongside language which expressed dehumanizing and dismissive attitudes, falling short of what would be expected towards anyone in the church’s care, not least people who were rendered especially vulnerable by their circumstances,” the report said.

The organization, founded by former President George H.W. Bush to encourage service, is set to unveil plans to improve that connection at its annual conference in Washington on June 22.

Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of Points of Light, told The Associated Press that the group’s National Volunteer Strategy initiative is the first phase in its $100 million plan to double the number of U.S. volunteers to 150 million by 2035.

“We believe that volunteering changes everything,” Sirangelo said in an interview. “It changes the people who serve. It uplifts the community. And we know that collectively it can change our society.”

The National Volunteer Strategy is Points of Light’s contribution to “building bridges, deepening empathy, and putting us on a path for having a more civil society where we can get along in a pluralistic environment,” she added.

The strategy – which includes investments in infrastructure and building standards for both volunteers and nonprofits – comes at a complicated time for volunteerism and the broader nonprofit sector. President Donald Trump’s administration gutted AmeriCorps, the federal agency for national service and volunteerism, in 2025, eliminating thousands of jobs and leaving nonprofits scrambling to replace the lost workers and funding.

Those cuts aggravated a decline in volunteerism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that created a shortage of workers at many charities that have seen an uptick in demand. Though volunteers began to return in 2023, the most recent year the U.S. Census Bureau has released data for, the 28% of the population who donated their time is still below pre-pandemic levels.

Interest in volunteering is rebounding

Sirangelo said that rebound is a sign that the timing is right to roll out a significant strategy to foster more volunteerism. “So many people in the industry have applauded the effort and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for this for years’,” she said. “There has been enthusiastic engagement.”

Cathy Scott, UPS vice president for social impact and The UPS Foundation, said that she is excited about Points of Light’s plans, in part because her foundation has seen its own strategy to increase volunteerism succeed.

In 2011, The UPS Foundation set an ambitious goal for company workers to volunteer 30 million hours by 2030. UPS accomplished that goal in April — four years ahead of schedule.

Through its work with Points of Light, UPS was able to quantify how volunteering helped increase employee retention and employee pride in themselves and the company, Scott said. “We know that volunteerism increases well-being,” she said. “And we know that doing good is good for business.”

The idea that Points of Light’s volunteer strategy would help spread that kind of success to other companies and communities is something UPS wanted to support.

“We’re finding that (volunteerism) is bringing employees out of loneliness,” Scott said. “It’s creating additional professional networks. It is increasing skill development and talent development. It’s giving them a purpose… And people want to be part of a purpose and also find their own purpose.”

‘Listening tour’ yields new volunteer strategy

Points of Light developed its National Volunteer Strategy after a yearlong “listening tour” that included two national surveys, 23 roundtables with leaders from corporate, cultural, faith and governmental groups, and input from a 40-member advisory council.

What they learned, Sirangelo said, was that interest in volunteerism was strong, but the nonprofit infrastructure to bring those interested into the groups that need them and engage them with the work and the mission was lacking. To strengthen that infrastructure, Points of Light plans to support the millions of volunteer managers at the nation’s nonprofits.

“We will invest in them and their continued growth with tools and resources that help them be effective at building those transformative volunteer experiences,” she said, adding that nonprofit managers are essential to ensuring “volunteers are available to achieve what we need in hunger, youth development, the environment and other big nonprofit issues.”

Another part of that support is creating a sort of canon for volunteerism so that both volunteers and nonprofits better understand what to expect from each other and can have clearer common goals.

Sirangelo is quick to point out that the National Volunteer Strategy is the launch of the process to double U.S. volunteerism, not the final goal. One area that remains to be developed is the strategy to better engage Gen Z and younger people who have not embraced traditional volunteering in the way previous generations have.

Engaging young people is essential to overall growth

That’s not to say young people are not as generous or as interested in volunteering.

Alex Edgar, youth engagement manager at the history education nonprofit Made by Us and a member of the Points of Light board of directors, said young people don’t often get the credit for their volunteer work and that no strategy for the future of volunteerism would be complete without engaging that group.

“There is a hunger for (nonprofits) to have more youth-focused things, but oftentimes these local volunteer action centers don’t have the staff or resources or best practices honestly to do that well,” said Edgar, 22, who is also the co-founder of Youth250 at Made By Us, which is connecting young people to the country’s upcoming 250th anniversary. “There is interest, there is energy around bringing young people in, in part, because people see how disconnected they are, how much they distrust our institutions."

Edgar is hopeful Points of Light can help create a framework that shows young people the career pathways available to them in the nonprofit sector. “It is going to be incredibly beneficial for young people who are interested in service, but may not really see much of a ecosystem out there right now, especially given the changes in funding,” he said.

There are plenty of economic and cultural barriers to overcome before young people can volunteer more, experts say. And Edgar says no strategy can address all of them.

“For so many young people, we’re not 100% there yet in terms of showing them, ‘This is for you. This is something that we can do with you’,” he said. “But we have to start somewhere.”

_____

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.

As of Thursday, June 18, the average price of regular gas per gallon in Virginia is $3.74, according to AAA. Premium averages $4.64 per gallon, while diesel averages $4.98 per gallon.

Taking a closer look at our region, here’s a look at the average price of gas for localities in our area:

• Lynchburg:
• • Regular: $3.64
  • Mid: $4.18
  • Premium: $4.57
  • Diesel: $5.02
• Roanoke:
• • Regular: $3.74
  • Mid: $4.25
  • Premium: $4.66
  • Diesel: $5
• Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford (New River Valley area)
• • Regular: $3.75
  • Mid: $4.22
  • Premium: $4.62
  • Diesel: $4.91

Count on 10 News to bring you the latest price at the pump every morning.

To find out where the lowest fuel prices are near you, visit GasBuddy’s website.

The initial deal to end the war takes “immediate effect” after leaders from both countries signed it, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate the agreement, said online.

The agreement calls for a permanent end to hostilities and starts a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal on the future of Iran's nuclear program, though Trump left the door open to resume attacks. It appears to offer Iran several benefits up front while extracting little in return.

The deal has been shrouded in secrecy and confusion for days. U.S. officials refused to disclose the terms even after saying Trump and Vice President JD Vance digitally signed it over the weekend. Trump signed a physical copy Wednesday while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at Versailles, the palace where many historic agreements have been signed over the centuries, ending wars or territorial disputes.

The White House had planned a signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland, but its fate is now uncertain, with conflicting information from the U.S., Iran and Pakistan.

“It’s signed,” Trump said as he left the dinner at Versailles, which followed his trip to the Group of Seven summit in France.

In a video posted online by a White House aide, Trump was seen seated at a table next to Macron signing a paper copy of the agreement. Trump then handed the document and pen to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as people in the room applauded.

“This was not easy,” Trump said right before he signed it, according to a video posted to social media by Macron.

In Tehran, a stone-faced President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the deal on behalf of Iran, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, which posted an image of him holding up the deal with his signature and Trump’s.

Text of the agreement still has not been formally released by the Americans. U.S. officials dictated draft language to journalists after days of secrecy, speaking on condition of anonymity. Iranian state media has released text that largely tracked what the U.S. put out.

The deal will stop the fighting and start more negotiations

Much of the agreement would restore the status quo before the war, including ending hostilities, restarting talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas whose closure created a historic energy crisis.

The agreement opens the strait without tolls for two months, but does not preclude fees in the future, according to the drafts from both countries.

In return, the U.S. will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran.

The deal also affirms a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s invasion against the Hezbollah militant group. That is one of the most delicate parts of the agreement because Israel has maintained it will continue to defend itself and to occupy vast swaths of Lebanon. Iran has said Israel must withdraw under the deal, a condition Israel has already rejected.

The U.S. and Israel went to war Feb. 28 in part to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. Trump has cited various goals for the war, including at times vowing it would end Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and its support for Hezbollah and other proxy groups. He also suggested it could lead to toppling the Iranian government.

The interim deal falls short of all those goals, but Trump hailed it as “very strong.”

He also opened the door to abandoning it: “It’s a memorandum of understanding, and if I don’t like it, we’ll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs.”

The U.S. agreement to immediately allow Iran to sell its oil freely and the offer to eventually lift all sanctions are major concessions that go beyond the terms of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Trump withdrew America from that Obama-era pact in his first term, declaring it the “worst deal ever.”

Iran maintains its nuclear program is peaceful, though it is the only country to enrich uranium to 60% purity without a weapons program, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The interim deal calls for the IAEA to monitor the “downblending” of that uranium in Iran, without elaborating.

The accord likely will draw intense opposition in Washington, and it appears to be a major setback for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has come under criticism at home from the media, his opponents and even some allies as details emerge.

Under the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump pulled out of, Iran also agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program and promised never to build an atomic weapon in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Major concessions have been offered to Iran

Some concessions to Iran — including the full lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets — would happen gradually and be linked to progress in the nuclear talks, according to Pakistani officials. They outlined some of the deal’s major points on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

But in the meantime, the U.S. will issue waivers to sanctions that allow Iran to sell oil freely.

The Islamic Republic's oil export revenues in 2024 were more than $46 billion. Its main buyer of oil, China, is believed to have bought at below-market prices because of its willingness to ignore the sanctions.

Granting oil waivers at the start of the 60-day talks strips the U.S. of a major point of leverage. Only at the conclusion of the overall deal in 2015 were sanctions on Iran's oil lifted.

The interim deal also opens the door to ending all sanctions Iran faces from the U.S. and at the U.N. — including those over Tehran’s weapons programs and human rights abuses — though it says the schedule for that will be worked out later. Still, that far surpasses the 2015 deal, which only lifted some sanctions in exchange for Iran drastically reducing its enrichment and stockpile of uranium.

The accord would also provide Iran with at least $300 billion to rebuild — an extraordinary figure and another major benefit for Iran. The money also appears dependent on the progress of further negotiations.

Vance has said Gulf Arab nations would invest that amount. But Gulf countries would likely be reluctant to help Iran after Iranian attacks in the war destroyed oil facilities and other sites in their territory.

Trump reiterated Wednesday that the U.S. would not contribute and said it was up to other countries if they wanted to invest.

The pact would provide relief to the global economy

The initial deal provides a major win for the global economy — the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed before the war began. Since then, Iranian attacks on shipping and the threat to vessels effectively shut the strait.

The strait's closure drove up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Iran let through some vessels that paid tolls, something never done before in the strait, which has long been considered an international waterway. The U.S. later provided military support to get other tankers out, but traffic was nowhere near levels before the war.

The deal also says the U.S. will lift a blockade imposed on Iranian ports and that the strait will return to its prewar traffic levels in 30 days, while acknowledging Iranian mines may need to be destroyed.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Magdy reported from Cairo and Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Evian-les-Bains, France, Darlene Superville in Geneva, Angela Charlton in Paris and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this story.

The Sydney-based airline on Thursday unveiled the first of its specially-modified Airbus A350-1000 jets that will regularly make the 17,015-kilometer (10,573-mile) journey from October next year. The flights between cities on opposite sides of the world are expected to take between 19 and 22 hours.

The current longest regularly scheduled direct flight is Singapore Airlines’ route between its city-state base and New York City. The distance of 15,349 kilometers (9,537 miles) is flown in under 19 hours.

A significant difference in passenger comfort between the airlines is that Singapore’s Flight SQ24 doesn’t fly economy passengers.

While a standard Airbus A350-1000 can carry up to 480 passengers, Qantas ’ customized version A350-1000ULR will carry only 238, with 140 of those in what is colloquially termed “cattle class” on flights between London and Sydney.

The farthest an economy passenger can currently fly on a direct flight in the world is with Qantas between London and Perth on Australia’s west coast. That’s a distance of 14,499 kilometers (9,009 miles) flown 16 and 18 hours. Sydney is on Australia’s east coast.

Sharon Petersen, chief executive officer of AirlineRatings, an Australia-based website that ranks airlines around the world on their products and safety, said Qantas economy seats between London and Sydney would have more leg room than most long haul airlines.

Economy passengers would also have access to a so-called Wellbeing Zone between economy and premium economy cabins where they could stretch their limbs and help themselves to drinks and snacks.

Qantas has said passengers will pay more for direct flights when tickets go on sale in February than they do for flights that make a stop in Singapore. Qantas says the direct flights will save up to four hours of travel time.

Petersen said flying business class direct was a great option for passengers who could potentially sleep for eight hours without the interruption of disembarking at Singapore.

But she would prefer to break up the journey than fly 22 hours in economy.

“The reason for that is 22 hours is really daunting. If you get sat next to someone who’s smelly, is perhaps really unwell and coughing, perhaps there’s a baby sitting next to you that’s having an uncomfortable flight or an oversized passenger who really needs two seats,” Petersen said.

She regards two shorter flights as a safer option in economy.

“If you’ve got it wrong on one flight, you might be okay on the next. You get a break,” she said.

Petersen said the smaller passenger configuration of Qantas’ A350-1000ULR was to enhance comfort and to compensate for an additional tank carrying 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) of fuel.

Such long haul flights rely on premium passengers to make profits, she said.

“Because the flight is so long, they can’t rely on cargo because of the weight. So it really is a passenger-heavy aircraft and a premium passenger-heavy aircraft at that to get the profit margin,” Petersen said.

Once the Sydney-London direct route was established, Qantas said its next ultralong-haul direct service will be Sydney-New York, a shorter distance of 16,013 kilometers (9,950 miles).

For Emmanuel Macron, that was precisely the point.

On Wednesday night, the French president threw open Louis XIV’s palace to his U.S. counterpart for a private reception, show and dinner marking America’s 250th birthday. At a turbulent moment for the trans-Atlantic alliance, it could help Macron keep a personal channel open as the two navigate differences over Iran, Ukraine and tariffs.

It already kept Trump from leaving a Group of Seven summit early, as he did last year in Canada.

“I’m a fan of beautiful places,” he told reporters, saying he had planned to leave earlier until “a very nice man” invited him to dinner.

After posing in front of Versailles' golden doors, Trump enjoyed a private tour of the chateau's glittering interior. And in a surprise move over a dinner of lobster, caviar and vanilla ice cream, he signed a memorandum on ending the war in Iran at a venue steeped in historical symbolism.

Versailles is perhaps the biggest soft-power flex available to a French president: the Hall of Mirrors, the gardens of the Sun King and several centuries of carefully polished national grandeur.

“Versailles is a diplomatic tool and an instrument of influence,” Macron said Wednesday, likening diplomacy to soccer. “Whether I’m playing at home or away, my goal is to score goals. And when I host other teams, I try to give them a nice welcome.”

France holds little economic or military sway over Washington, so pageantry is one of its few levers — even as its use elsewhere has brought mixed results at best.

Soft power built from stone

Macron and Trump have often clashed over policy.

Their relationship has endured partly because Macron understands the power of personal attention, dramatic settings and a well-timed invitation.

Their first meeting in 2017 produced a white-knuckled handshake that instantly became a symbol of their competitive rapport.

Months later came dinner inside the Eiffel Tower and a place of honor at France’s Bastille Day parade.

Versailles raises the stakes, allowing a French president to wrap a modern political encounter in the scale and authority of national history.

“It is soft-power flex based on hard buildings,” said Denis Lacorne, professor of American studies at Sciences Po.

Macron has used the palace before, receiving Russian President Vladimir Putin there in 2017 and later hosting King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a state dinner.

Versailles has been a favored setting for French leaders to honor foreign guests for over three centuries, the palace told The Associated Press. It remains “a place in the service of French diplomacy.”

With Trump, the setting carries added resonance.

The former real estate developer has long treated architecture as a statement of status, success and power. In his second term, he has sought to erect a legacy in stone — with plans for a new White House ballroom and a 250-foot (76-meter) triumphal arch resembling Paris’ Arc de Triomphe.

The real deal — and 357 mirrors

The evening included a Hall of Mirrors visit and fountain display.

The Hall of Mirrors was once a feat of technology: 357 mirrors set in 17 arches along a 73-meter (240-foot) gallery, showing French manufacturers could rival Venice’s celebrated glassmakers.

They were also built to multiply a king. Every royal entrance ricocheted across the glass, and a modern guest gets the same treatment.

“You will be reflected many, many times, from one mirror to another,” Lacorne said.

For a president who has spent his second term turning the Oval Office gold, the appeal is clear, he added.

Trump arrives, in a sense, at a building he has quoted for years: He has said he modeled Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom after Versailles.

Others have sought to flatter a visiting Trump

Trump remembers spectacle, and often brings it home.

The 2017 Bastille Day parade saw tanks, horses and marching bands fill the Champs-Élysées as fighter jets trailing red, white and blue smoke soared overhead.

Trump called it “one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen.”

“We’re going to have to try and top it,” he said back in Washington, where he began pressing for a military parade. In 2025, he finally presided over a large Army anniversary parade through the capital.

China employed dazzle diplomacy when it hosted Trump for a “state visit plus” in 2017, including a rare tour of its Forbidden City, an experience once reserved for emperors.

Britain offered its own version last September, greeting Trump’s second state visit with mounted troops, a carriage procession and a Windsor Castle banquet.

The gleam is the easy part

The diplomatic pomp has clearly flattered Trump, who called the Windsor banquet one of the highest honors of his life.

But it seems to have won few concessions.

The early Macron-Trump “bromance” has hardened into something rougher and more transactional.

Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 100% on French wine and Champagne amid a broader trade fight. France opposed the U.S. war against Iran, even as Macron pressed Washington to keep backing Ukraine.

At home, the dinner has drawn criticism.

“We must learn once and for all to live without Trump,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the veteran far-left leader.

Versailles hands Macron some advantages, experts say: centuries of diplomatic history, a setting built for Trump’s taste for ceremony, and a palace already familiar to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who visit each year.

History counsels caution. Ronald Reagan dined beneath the same mirrors on the sidelines of the 1982 G7, and central disagreements outlasted the splendor.

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Angela Charlton in Paris and Michel Euler in Versailles contributed.

Los Angeles firefighters responded around 2:30 p.m. to the blaze, which was sending large plumes of dark smoke into the air in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. Local news stations showed smoke billowing from the burning roof of the warehouse, which was covered in solar panels.

Officials issued an alert to the area shortly after, warning of “hazardous materials nearby.” Residents were told to close all windows, doors and vents, turn off air conditioning and bring people and pets to an inside room.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Jennifer Middleton said there was previous concern over the fire burning an ammonia line, but that danger had “dissipated.” The roof blaze had been extinguished by late afternoon and firefighters were entering the building to assess the interior, Middleton said.

The building at the address is listed online as a cold storage warehouse owned by Lineage Logistics for the transport of frozen or other temperature-controlled goods. It contains 491,000 square feet (45,600 square meters) of warehouse space, according to its website. The company did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

“A lot of things came to me from the past,” Díaz said after Colombia beat Uzbekistan 3-1 on Wednesday night. “I worked for this. I fought to be here at this moment.”

First, Colombia failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Then his parents were kidnapped.

In late 2023, Luis Manuel “Mane” Díaz and his wife, Cilenis Marulanda, were captured by armed guerillas at the Colombia-Venezuela border. Marulanda was quickly rescued, but Mane Díaz was not.

Luis Díaz, playing for Liverpool at the time, missed two games to return home to Barrancas and advocate for his father’s freedom. Upon his return to the club, he scored and revealed an undershirt with the words “Freedom for Papa” printed in Spanish.

The gesture garnered international support and increased pressure on the Colombian government to act. Mane was released after being held for 12 days, and father and son had an emotional embrace when they reunited.

This week, Díaz’s father posted a viral video of himself praying over his son’s jersey ahead of his first World Cup game.

Díaz, who now plays for Bayern Munich, scored the go-ahead goal shortly after Uzbekistan equalized to lift Colombia to its first World Cup victory since 2018 while his father watched from the stands.

“I think there was always something that kept us from being at ease,” Díaz said. “I think that today, I am at my best.”

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Jack Little is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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

Luis Díaz had a goal and an assist in his debut on soccer's biggest stage, sparking Colombia to a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan on Wednesday night.

“That’s what we came here to do. It’s very important to win this first game. We controlled the first half, but they played better in the second,” said Díaz, who plays for Bayern Munich. “We must improve.”

Daniel Muñoz, also playing in his first World Cup, opened the scoring in the 40th minute after a pass from Díaz, who scored the tiebreaking goal in the 65th when his strike from close range deflected off the hands of diving goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov and trickled across the line.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough match,” Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo said.

Fayzullaev Abbosbek scored in the 60th minute for Uzbekistan, which made its World Cup debut in front of a heavily pro-Colombia crowd of 80,824 at Estadio Azteca.

“It is a wonderful joy, but emotionally, I think it weighed on some of the players who suffered physically,” Lorenzo said. “It has to do with the emotional burden generated by the opening match and the setting in which we played — especially since we were expected to take the initiative and were under pressure to win.”

With the White Wolves' defeat, three of the four debuting teams at this year's World Cup lost their first match. Cape Verde played Spain to a draw, while Curaçao and Jordan lost.

“For a small team like ours, to lose 3-1 is too much,” said Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro, an Italian who took over the team in October 2025. “We have good quality for an Asian team, but we need to grow. It was a good experience.”

Jaminton Campaz added a goal in second-half stoppage time for the Colombians, who are ranked 13th in the world and were heavy favorites over 50th-ranked Uzbekistan. Colombia's best World Cup finish was a run to the quarterfinals in Brazil in 2014.

“We needed to hit the ground running. Now we can enjoy the rest of the night,” midfielder Gustavo Puerta said.

Colombia moved atop Group K, ahead of Portugal and Congo, who played to a surprising 1-1 draw earlier Wednesday.

The Colombians will face Congo next Thursday at Guadalajara, Mexico, while Uzbekistan will take on Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal at Houston.

“We are going to play against a tough team that played great against one of the best teams in the world. It is going to be hard,” Lorenzo said.

Colombia finished third in South American qualifying behind Argentina and Ecuador. Uzbekistan was second in its Asian qualifying group behind Iran.

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

Always a darling of the far left, he has earned praise from both President Donald Trump and former Democratic critics like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. He has emerged as the face of the region's sports renaissance. And days before New York's primary elections, Mamdani is testing the limits of his newfound political muscle in a bid to reshape the Democratic Party — in his state capital and in Washington — even if it means challenging his own party's leadership.

Mamdani will join Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. at a get-out-the-vote rally in Brooklyn on Thursday. The event is designed to elevate a slate of candidates aligned with Mamdani's values, including two running against Democratic incumbents in Tuesday's primary.

“He’s seeing that opportunity — that we can radically change the Democratic Party,” said Faiz Shakir, a senior adviser to Sanders and a friend of Mamdani's. “Like Bernie, he's not saying I'm doing this out of spite against you, dear leadership. He's saying, I am supporting these candidates who have a better vision, and I am prepared to lose if it has to be the case.”

The Mamdani slate

Establishment Democrats are not pleased with the mayor's decisions.

Mamdani endorsed political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in New York's 13th District, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

He is also backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running against incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York's 10th District. And in New York's 7th, he's supporting democratic socialist state Assembly Member Claire Valdez against outgoing Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s handpicked successor.

The Mamdani slate, in addition to several state Assembly candidates, will be featured at Thursday's rally.

Valdez says the election is about advancing the political movement Mamdani ignited on his way to City Hall.

“Right now there’s really mass dissatisfaction with the way the party leadership has been operating and not standing up strongly enough to Trump,” she told The Associated Press, contrasting the malaise to the way the mayor energized voters last year.

She said she hopes to “bring a partner to Zohran to Washington.”

Valdez's primary opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, said he feels like the underdog in the race, even though he was endorsed by the outgoing incumbent. He said Mamdani “has a celebrity status that we haven’t seen the likes of since I’ve been alive.”

“He’s going to be our champion for the foreseeable future and he’s doing a great job, and when he says that he’s endorsing someone, it matters,” Reynoso said in an interview. “I believe that this community has seen me work, they know I’m a progressive champion, and in any other circumstance I would be a favorite to win this race, but I’m not because he has tipped the scale.”

The candidates are largely aligned on the biggest issues, although there are modest differences.

Israel’s war with Gaza has featured heavily among the Mamdani slate, with Lander, Valdez and Avila Chevalier casting their Democratic opponents as too soft on Israel. They're echoing the mayor’s steadfast criticism of the country’s leaders and harnessing what they believe could be a driving force in this year’s elections.

The mayor’s candidates have also sought to replicate much of the platform that sent him to City Hall, focusing on the city’s high cost of living and framing themselves as fresh faces not beholden to powerful business interests.

The view from Washington

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are pleasantly surprised that Mamdani has become less of a political liability for the party in swing district seats than they once feared.

But Mamdani’s endorsements have aggravated intraparty fissures, especially among moderates who worry that Mamdani's far-left brand may eventually tarnish the entire party.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a fellow New Yorker, has tried to push back against the Mamdani-backed democratic socialist challengers, endorsing and campaigning for the embattled incumbents in a proxy fight with the mayor.

But Jeffries and Mamdani have opted to wrestle only in primaries rather than bicker publicly and feed into GOP narratives of Democratic disarray.

“Democrats must understand, and both the leader and Mamdani appreciate this, how to yell in areas where we agree and whisper in areas where we diverge,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist who works with House Democrats.

For now, Jeffries' allies acknowledge that Mamdani has energized Democratic voters and may be able to reach some Americans who have checked out of the political process. They also prefer that Mamdani is hyper-focused on New York City’s governance rather than traveling across the country nationally.

Republicans, however, have plans to elevate Mamdani's profile whether Washington Democrats want them to or not.

The GOP hasn't made Mamdani a central feature of its broader national messaging as it once threatened, but Republican operatives have sought to link Mamdani to Democratic House candidates in swing districts across California, Colorado and Wisconsin. They also believe the specter of the New York City mayor will loom large in pivotal House races in New York and New Jersey.

The Republican bet is that vulnerable Democrats cannot afford to break with Mamdani too cleanly for fear of alienating progressive voters, even as they cast him as a radical.

“Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as it comes,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm. “And during a time when Democrats don’t have a leader or a message, he’s exactly the kind of bogeyman we can use against Democrats to truly show who is leading their party and the crazy policies they all support.”

Meanwhile, Sanders' adviser Shakir encouraged the Republicans to try. He noted that Sanders mentions Mamdani in almost every speech as he tours the nation rallying voters ahead of the midterms.

“The crowd just goes nuts,” Shakir said. “He certainly is not a political liability.”

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Brown reported in Washington.

The phenomenon is particularly notable among Western European teams, which for most of soccer’s history were overwhelmingly white and Christian. As those societies have increasingly diversified, so have the national team rosters — featuring Christian and Muslim players who are open about their faith.

England’s national squad, for the first time, includes a Muslim player. France’s roster has multiple players from Protestant, Catholic and Muslim backgrounds. Spain’s emerging superstar, 18-year-old Lamine Yamal, is a practicing Muslim. So is Sweden’s Yasin Ayari, who prostrated himself on the field to thank God after the first of his two goals in a victory Sunday over Tunisia — his father’s homeland.

All four of those nations — like several others in Europe — have experienced political polarization related to the arrival of large numbers of Muslim immigrants. Does the diversity of the World Cup teams send a potentially helpful message?

“Absolutely,” said Eboo Patel, who — as president of Interfaith America — advocates for religious pluralism and cooperation. “It is symbolic yet also substantive.”

He evoked the images of Christian players crossing themselves, and Muslim players cupping their hands in prayer. Their message, Patel said, is, “My identity really matters to me and it makes me a better soccer player.”

“They score, they each say their respective prayers, and then they’re hugging each other,” he added. “You’re cooperating to build a community and a team. … It’s not a contrived television ad or a condescending afterschool special. It’s the way you build an excellent soccer team.”

These are some of the World Cup players whose openness about their faith has drawn attention:

Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

By far the best known of Egypt’s players, Salah is a Sunni Muslim who practices his faith openly, on and off the field. After scoring goals, he often prostrates himself to give thanks to God. His positive impact has been tangible: After he joined Liverpool in the Premier League, researchers reported that anti-Muslim tweets by fans dropped by half.

Luka Modrić (Croatia)

Playing in his fifth World Cup, Modrić, 40, is set to surpass 200 international appearances during the tournament. A Catholic, Modrić has often worn shin guards depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary. A few days before he and his teammates traveled to the United States, they gathered to celebrate Mass at a chapel in the Croatian town of Icici.

Djed Spence (England)

Although the Football Association has not kept records of players' religions, the BBC — among other news outlets — has identified Spence as the first Muslim to play for the senior England team. A fullback with Tottenham, Spence played six times for England’s under-21 squad. “It’s good to make history and hopefully inspire young kids around the world that they can make it as well,” Spence told the BBC. “They can do what I am doing.”

Lamine Yamal (Spain)

Yamal, a Muslim whose father is Moroccan, attracted headlines worldwide when he waved the Palestinian flag during Barcelona’s celebrations after it won the Spanish league in May. Barcelona coach Hansi Flick questioned the decision at the time; Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, later criticized Yamal by saying he was inciting “hate.”

Marc Guéhi (England)

The son of a Christian minister in London, Guéhi, 25, is playing his first season with Manchester City and was selected to be one of England’s defenders for the World Cup. While captain at his previous club Crystal Palace, Guéhi defied the Football Association’s rules by writing religious messages on his uniform during a Premier League campaign celebrating LGBTQ+ inclusion. Guéhi avoided punishment, though the FA prohibits players from displaying religious messages.

Aimar Sher (Iraq)

Religious minorities have long faced persecution in Iraq. Yet this year’s World Cup team includes Kurds, Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, and several Christians — notable since Iraq’s Christian population is estimated to have fallen from 1.5 million in 2003 to about 150,000 now. One of those Christians, midfielder Aimar Sher, has eagerly shared his faith, posting photos on social media of him wearing an “I Belong to Jesus” T-shirt.

Christian Pulisic (US)

U.S. forward Pulisic has spoken openly about his Christian faith and often wears a cross necklace given by his mother. He has led team Bible studies; his Instagram posts have included photos of the Bible, showing passages he has underlined. Several of Pulisic’s teammates also are open about their Christian faith, including Weston McKennie and goalkeeper Matt Freese. McKennie’s Instagram bio contains just four words: “All glory to God.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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

On Wednesday, it was the youngsters’ turn to take the spotlight at the draft.

In being selected first overall by the Vancouver Goldeneyes, U.S. national team and Wisconsin defender Caroline Harvey kicked off a parade of 14 2026 Olympians — five of them Americans — taking downtown Detroit's Fox Theater stage during the six-round event.

The draft class was regarded as the league’s deepest and most talented and was one of the reasons behind the PWHL adding four new markets, growing to 12 teams entering its fourth season. It's also why Harvey experienced nerves before finally hearing her name called.

“There’s always this, you have no idea until you officially hear it,” said Harvey, who kicked off the day being named the International Ice Hockey Federation's female player of the year.

“This draft class is just so deep and so many phenomenal players. Anyone could get picked at any time,” she added. “It’s just a surreal feeling, and I had no idea. I mean it could have been anyone. But I’m grateful to have my name called.”

Draft features tears and cheers

The draft was held in one of the PWHL’s new markets and featured its share of tears and cheers.

Seated next to Harvey, Laila Edwards grew emotional while congratulating her longtime friend and teammate upon being selected.

“It caught me off guard. After I gave her a hug I started crying, and I couldn’t stop,” said Edwards, who was chosen fourth by San Jose. The 22-year-old Edwards is from Cleveland, and became the first Black player selected in the first round of the PWHL draft.

As for the cheers, they rang out any time Detroit or Knight — the expansion team’s star addition — were mentioned. And the biggest roar in the packed theater was heard when Detroit finally made its first selection in the second round by choosing Switzerland Olympic goalie Andrea Brandli.

The 29-year-old Brandli’s selection was key for Detroit, with GM Manon Rheaume — a former goalie — growing nervous because she had had yet to fill the position.

As for the welcome she received, Rheaume said: “I got like emotional walking there ... And I think everybody felt it, every player that was getting drafted.”

This was the atmosphere the PWHL has become accustomed to generating while growing its brand in the wake of the Americans’ thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the Olympic final. The win created a surge of attention for women's hockey in North America, with Knight and gold medal-clinching goal-scorer Megan Keller appearing on Saturday Night Live.

“Milan was just one of those amazing things that keeps happening to us,” PWHL executive board member Stan Kasten told The Associated Press. “You see what the city of Detroit is going to do for this team, right? We just think the more people that get exposed, the more fans we make.”

Americans fill top 5 selections

On Wednesday, Americans swept the top five picks and made up nine of 12 first-round selections, with the 23-year-old Harvey continuing to cement her reputation as her generation’s most accomplished player.

She’s a two-time Olympian and was the tournament MVP in Milan. At Wisconsin, she won three NCAA titles and capped her four-year career winning the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as college hockey’s MVP.

From Pelham, New Hampshire, Harvey is the second American player to go No. 1 after Minnesota chose Taylor Heise in the league’s inaugural draft in 2023.

“She’s actually just at the start of her career, which is crazy, and she’s coming in with all these accolades,” Goldeneyes GM Cara Gardner Morey said, before emphasizing the priority PWHL teams place on defense. “To have one of the best ones in the country, in North America, probably in the world right now is pretty special.”

Fellow U.S. Olympians followed with Minnesota forward Abbey Murphy chosen second by Seattle, Penn State forward Tessa Janecke going third to Las Vegas. After Edwards went fourth, Wisconsin forward Kirsten Simms rounded them out, going eighth to Toronto.

“It’s a little bittersweet,” Simms said of watching many of her Badgers’ teammates go their separate ways. “I’m just happy for all of them. They’re unbelievable players and unbelievable people and so every team is super lucky. But, obviously, I’m gonna miss them.”

Finland national team defender Nelli Laitinen was the first European player selected, going No. 6 to Hamilton. The first Canadian selected was Ohio State defender Sara Swiderski, who went ninth overall to Minnesota.

Overall, 31 Americans and 30 Canadians were among the 72 players selected with Finland having four.

Las Vegas lands 3 of top 13 selections

Las Vegas finished having three picks among the top 13. Janecke was selected with the pick Las Vegas acquired in trading Knight to Detroit. Las Vegas then used its fifth pick to select Wisconsin's Lacey Eden, women's college hockey's leading scorer last season. The team then traded forward Abby Boreen back to Vancouver to acquire the Goldeneyes' first pick of the second round and select Princeton forward Issy Wunder.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

From a distance, Ivan Franco thought it must be a car. But as he approached in his tow truck, he saw it was a plane — broken in half, its fuselage resting on its side, bright fire beginning to rise above. He stopped and rifled through the rescue kit his company keeps in the truck, grabbing a sledgehammer as well as three fire extinguishers, which he handed off to police officers.

“At that moment, you don’t think much about what to do, because I knew the plane could explode since it was on fire,” Franco told The Associated Press in Spanish. “My idea was to try to break the windows because the pilots hadn’t come out yet.”

Franco was one of several motorists who happened across the crash in Laredo, Texas, late Tuesday night and rushed to help — putting their own lives in danger to help those on board escape as smoke filled the cabin.

Passersby helped save lives

Police were also on the scene quickly, and their teamwork with the good Samaritans undoubtedly saved lives, officials said.

“The officers and the good Samaritans that went to the scene, our firefighters that responded — I do also want to commend each and every one of them,” Laredo Police Chief Mike Rodriguez said during a news conference Wednesday. He said he asked his staff to track down all the civilians who helped.

The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement. The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement that it was cooperating with authorities.

The crash occurred after its pilots reported mechanical problems while requesting an emergency landing at a nearby airport. The fuselage came to rest across a concrete barrier, while its tail broke off and fell to a lower section of roadway.

One person was killed: Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors. Three teenage passengers and two pilots survived, as did a person in a truck struck by the plane as it crashed. Authorities have not released more detail about the passengers' connections to one another.

Investigators combed through wreckage Wednesday for clues to the cause.

It was the third significant aviation accident in as many days in the U.S. A B-52 crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.

‘It looked like part of a movie’

Among the motorists who stopped in Laredo was Zayra Garza, an esthetician who was driving her co-workers home when she saw the wreckage. She recorded video as her husband ran to help.

“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” Garza said. Most worrisome was the fire: “I was concerned that it could have just exploded at any time.”

Garza saw people leave their cars to try to smash the cockpit glass. Her video shows the aircraft's door popping open slightly from inside as a voice cries “Help! Help! Help!” The rescuers strain to lift the door farther open as the three teenagers dart out, followed quickly by one pilot and then by another.

Franco, a 23-year-old from Laredo, frantically swung the sledgehammer through heavy smoke. Others struck at the window with a shovel and tools from their own vehicles.

Cockpit windows are designed not to shatter

They accomplished little more than spiderwebbing the cockpit window with small cracks: Airplane windshields have multiple layers of glass and are designed to remain structurally sound even if the outer layer shatters. The windows must be able to withstand a bird strike at cruising speed and hold up to extreme pressure differences at high altitudes.

“They are basically bulletproof,” said retired airline pilot John Cox, who is CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

Police officers tried to remove the final person inside — Baer — as the smoke grew thicker. Officers doubled over coughing after turning away from the smoke.

Eventually firefighters with oxygen masks were able to get inside.

Firefighters also removed a dog from the plane that was suffering from smoke inhalation. The dog was turned over to animal control and was expected to survive, said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the Laredo Police Department.

Five officers were treated for smoke inhalation; the five people who survived the crash were also released from a hospital.

As the plane crashed on the northbound lanes of the highway, its wing hit a truck traveling southbound. The driver of that vehicle also survived, Baeza said.

There has been an outpouring of support on social media for those who stopped to help, heralding their bravery and selflessness.

Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño called it “nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” thanks in part to the late hour when the crash occurred and the quick action of first responders.

Franco said that as he tried to help, all he could think of was getting people out of the plane. But to do it, he had to conquer another feeling.

“You’re in constant fear," he said. "You don’t know what situation you’re in.”

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Johnson and Golden reported from Seattle. Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. AP journalists Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

The Spokane County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday that its forensic unit found what appeared to be human remains inside a home destroyed in the fire. A family member had requested a wellness check at the home because one of the residents had refused to evacuate and could not be reached, officials said in a news release. They were working to confirm whether authorities found human remains, and if so, identify who they were and how they died.

Authorities have not reported any injuries.

Many people living in the densely populated neighborhoods had to flee on a moment's notice — sometimes after an officer knocked on their door — leaving behind belongings and in some cases, critical medications, Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said during a news conference.

People were being escorted Wednesday by an officer to their homes one-by-one to access those essential needs, but then they were taken back out, Nowels said.

The evacuation order for the 1,500 residents remained in effect Wednesday, said Chandra Fox, deputy director for Spokane County Emergency Management.

“Our concern is for increased winds Wednesday afternoon,” Fox said.

The blaze started just after noon on Tuesday and quickly moved up a hill, said fire district spokesman Robert Gray. Winds then shifted, sending flames into a neighborhood, Gray said. Spokane is about 280 miles (450 kilometers) east of Seattle near the border with Idaho.

John Leavell, battalion chief with the Spokane Valley Fire Department, was one of the first people to spot the fire. He said he was driving near Interstate 90 when he saw a column of smoke.

“As I approached it, I thought this is going to be a big event — this is going fast,” he said. “It looked like waves of fire going up the hill.”

He pulled into a driveway and found a house fully engulfed in flames, so he contacted surrounding agencies and the local fire district took over while his crew started building fire lines, he said. Leavell said he didn't know if they fire began at the house or quickly consumed it. The cause is still under investigation.

Fire crews from Washington state and Idaho attacked the fire from the ground and air, but it quickly grew to 225 acres (.35 square miles). It was 10% contained Wednesday morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Avista turned off power for the area as the fire progressed for the safety of firefighters. It remained off Wednesday in some areas.

The weather was working in the firefighters’ favor.

Winds were lighter on Wednesday and were expected to decrease after sunset, according to Rachael Fewkes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane. The temperature also dropped a few degrees from the mid-80s on Tuesday to a high of 80 on Wednesday, she said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that they authorized the use of Fire Management Assistance Grant funds to help with firefighting costs for the Spokane blaze. The regional FEMA director said the fire had the potential to constitute a major disaster. Besides threatening homes, it also threatened a school, power lines, parks, businesses and wildlife.

FEMA said this was the first fire grant awarded this season to fight a Washington wildfire.

More than 32,000 fires have burned more than 3,900 square miles (10,100 square kilometers) so far this year in the United States, according to the fire center, which coordinates the mobilization of large-scale firefighting efforts.

That’s significantly higher than the 10-year average of just under 24,000 fires burning about 2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers) by early June, according to the fire center, even though fire activity has been relatively light in recent weeks.

Weather and fuel models that predict conditions like wind, lightning and how likely plants and other materials are to burn also show an increased danger of fires in multiple areas across the U.S. in coming weeks, according to the fire center. Some regions with critical conditions for fire include portions of California, and the Southwest, Great Basin and Rocky Mountain areas.

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Bellisle reported from Seattle. Associated Press journalists Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed reporting.

Harry Kane scored twice to equal the English record for World Cup goals, and Jude Bellingham put England in front for good two minutes into the second half of a 4-2 victory over Croatia on Wednesday.

Martin Baturina and Petar Musa answered each of Kane's first-half goals in a rematch of a 2018 semifinal won by Croatia. Musa's goal came on the final play before the whistle ending the first half.

The even score didn't last long once play resumed.

Bellingham took a long pass from Elliot Anderson and stayed clear of the defender the rest of the way, sending a shot past Dominik Livakovic and in off the far post. Marcus Rashford padded the lead in the 85th minute.

“He just told us to let the shackles off,” Kane said of coach Thomas Tuchel's halftime message after Croatia pulled even so late before the break. “The way we conceded that second goal is not the team we want to be. He finally just said, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? We lose the match, first group game, we get on with it.’ We move on. Just go and kind of show the world who we can be.”

Kane, who won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup in Russia by scoring six times, is up to 10 World Cup goals, tying Gary Lineker's mark from the 1986 and 1990 tournaments.

The 32-year-old's first goal came on his second chance on a penalty kick after Livakovic's save on the first try was nullified by a video review that showed both his feet off the goal line as Kane was striking the ball.

Kane went the same way toward the right post with the second attempt, while Livakovic lunged the other direction, to his right.

The penalty was called when Luka Modric, the 40-year-old midfielder who extended his Croatian record by appearing in his fifth World Cup, kicked Noni Madueke in the thigh.

Kane matched Lineker's mark when the Bayern Munich striker easily beat Livakovic with a powerful header off a corner kick from Declan Rice. Kane has 81 international goals.

“We scored two goals that were good actions and good situations, but they were too little,” Croatia coach Zlatco Dalic said through an interpreter. “England was very difficult, (we) also have to be strong on the defensive side.”

Bellingham almost immediately had another great scoring chance after the Real Madrid player's seventh international goal. Livakovic made that save and about a half-dozen more in a matter of minutes during a frenetic English attack.

“We could have scored probably three goals in that 20-minute spell coming out (after halftime),” Kane said. “In the end, we just had too much for a great team that will probably go far in the tournament themselves.”

Musa scored the first World Cup goal for an active player from Dallas of Major League Soccer, which plays its home games about 40 miles from AT&T Stadium.

The retractable-roof venue that is home to the NFL's Dallas Cowboys is giving World Cup fans an air-conditioned reprieve from the muggy Texas heat, this time for white-clad English fans and Croatian supporters who were mostly wearing their country's familiar red-and-white checkered uniforms, not the blue kits the players had on.

Musa tracked a header from Ivan Perisic and put a one-timer past Jordan Pickford, who was also beaten in the 36th minute by Baturina. That shot into the left corner ticked off Pickford's hand.

Bukayo Saka's pass left plenty of room for Rashford as the Barcelona player entered the penalty area, faked a shot with his left foot and scored his 19th international goal with his right.

“I loved the second half, all of it,” Tuchel said. “I encouraged them to go for it. To play with more courage, to be brave, to be ourselves. And like I said, I loved their reaction.”

England next plays Ghana in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in Group L on Tuesday, the same day Croatia plays Panama in Toronto.

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

Then, in 2025, she slipped a disk in her back, requiring medication and physical therapy. Suddenly, the medical bills were so overwhelming that Weaver, an adult learner working toward a leadership degree on the side, had to delay graduation by a year.

“I had to start calculating, am I going to be able to afford to pay my tuition, as well as my books, as well as my living expenses, and continue to care for my family?” the 43-year-old in Sanford, Florida, said in an interview. “It makes you feel powerless as a consumer.”

Weaver’s experience is familiar to a growing number of Americans, according to new data from the West Health-Gallup Affordability Index, which shows only about half of U.S. adults could afford their healthcare and had access to quality care last year. Concerns about affording healthcare in the year ahead were at a record high since tracking began in 2021, signaling that many were feeling anxious about rising healthcare costs as 2025 ended.

The new findings published Thursday draw on a survey conducted from October to December 2025 — before major recent changes to health policy, like Congress’ Medicaid cuts or its decision not to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, took effect. It demonstrates how the country's fraught healthcare system is increasingly straining Americans at a time when inflation is driving high costs and affordability concerns are top of mind as midterm elections approach.

Americans are worried they won’t be able to pay for care

The index used the responses from multiple questions to place Americans into three categories depending on their access to quality care and ability to pay for care and medicine. In the new data, 49% of U.S. adults were considered “cost secure,” meaning that they had access both to high-quality, affordable care and they had recently been able to afford the care and medicine they needed. In 2021, when the measurement began, 56% of U.S. adults were “cost secure.” That rose to 61% in 2022 but has been falling ever since.

In the survey, about three-quarters of U.S. adults said healthcare costs were a “major” or “minor” financial burden for them and their family. Only about 3 in 10 said they’re not a burden.

Meanwhile, about half of respondents were “extremely concerned” or “concerned” that their household would be unable to pay for needed healthcare services in 2026, up from 42% who said that in 2022.

Inger Perez, 59, from Encino, Texas, is one of those worried Americans. She has a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer. She said she did blood work recently, and while she wants to know the results, she’s bracing herself for what they could show.

“I literally was crying last night because I’m nervous about what I’m going to find out and how much care that is and how much money that is,” she said in an interview. “I’m terrified that I’ll start a plan of treatment but won’t be able to afford to keep up with it.”

More than half of survey respondents said the cost of healthcare contributes “a lot” or “some” to stress to their daily lives. That’s compared to about 3 in 10 who said these costs contribute “very little stress” and about 2 in 10 who said they contribute “no stress at all.”

Perez said she is also frustrated by the quality of the care she receives, in part because she lives in a rural area about an hour from a doctor’s office. To fit her budget, she had to choose a lower-cost Affordable Care Act marketplace plan with a limited network of covered providers, creating another obstacle to finding good care.

Healthcare affordability is declining across demographics

Younger adults, older adults and women were among several groups of Americans that saw drops in healthcare affordability and access in 2025, according to the findings.

Among Americans under 30, only about one-third were categorized as “cost secure,” down from 46% in 2021. Women were already less likely to be “cost secure” than men, but the gap widened last year. About 57% of men were “cost secure” in the 2025 survey — down from a high of 67% in 2022 — compared to 42% of women.

Older Americans, most of whom are covered by the government's Medicare health insurance program, are generally more likely to be “cost secure.” However, this group saw meaningful decreases as well, falling from 73% in 2021 to 61% in 2025.

Patients make sacrifices to pay the bills

Several survey respondents who talked to The Associated Press discussed things they have had to give up to pay their health bills.

About 2 in 10 U.S. adults in the 2025 poll said there had been a time in the prior three months when they or a member of their household was unable to pay for medicine or drugs that a doctor had prescribed because of costs. About 3 in 10 said they or someone in their household did not seek treatment for a health problem because of the expense.

One dad in Arizona, 55-year-old Xavier Chapa, said his 50-year-old wife has been fighting her insurance company over a preventive colonoscopy that her doctor had recommended.

He said the company verbally assured her it would be covered, but didn’t honor that after the procedure was completed.

The looming $3,000 bill means they've had to cut back their 8-year-old son’s summer camp schedule from full-day to half-day programs, along with trimming their budget elsewhere.

“It’s a lot to deal with,” said Chapa, who moved back to the U.S. from Europe three years ago. “What point does it serve if you're living in this country and having to pay such a high price and you can't get some of the basic things?"

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Swenson reported from New York.

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The West Health-Gallup Center poll of 5,660 adults was conducted Oct. 27-Dec. 22, 2025 using a sample drawn from Gallup's probability-based Gallup Panel. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin and it's expected to keep weakening as it moves inland over southeastern Texas and western Louisiana, then cross the southeast Thursday through Friday. Maximum sustained winds were around 35 mph (55 kph).

All coastal watches and warnings were discontinued Wednesday night, but flooding was likely through Friday over parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said.

In Louisiana and Mississippi, some communities had set up locations for residents to collect sandbags and cleared debris from drainage systems.

“The main threat from Arthur is going to be a prolonged, multiday, heavy rainfall event that could produce dangerous to life-threatening flash flooding,” National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said.

The storm spun off the Texas coast on the same day a World Cup match took place in Houston but did not disrupt the contest, which was played indoors. Heavy storms in the Houston area earlier in the week had canceled outdoor watch parties and fan events.

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said police were preparing boats and setting up barricades in known flood areas. Collection points for residents to fill sandbags also sprung up around the state.

“We both decided we got so much rain yesterday at our house that it was probably a good idea just to pick up a few bags," said Luke Barwick, who filled sandbags at a collection center in Covington, Louisiana.

After being inundated with heavy rain earlier this week, parts of central and south Mississippi braced for a second wave of potential flooding.

Officials in Picayune, Mississippi, located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of New Orleans, declared a state of emergency Tuesday after downpours brought nearly 7 inches of rain in six hours. On Wednesday, city officials gave out thousands of sandbags and put emergency responders on standby.

Arthur is expected to produce rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters), with isolated higher totals near 20 inches (50 centimeters).

Swells generated by Arthur are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions along the northwestern Gulf Coast for the next couple of days, forecasters said. Tornadoes were possible through Thursday.

Arthur formed as some areas along the Texas coast had already been drenched by bands of heavy storms that caused flooding and high waters. Near Houston, a 15-year-old drowned Tuesday after entering the water of a retention pond while playing near a construction zone, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. ___ Fischer reported from Miami. Associated Press writer Sophia Bates in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.

Today we will stay calm with a light breeze and few clouds. It could not be a better day for any and all outdoor plans!

Temperatures are on a slow rise this morning, currently sitting in the 60s and 70s, we will eventually see highs reach into the upper 80s.

Winds will gust around 15-20 MPH this afternoon, peaking around 2-4 PM.

We could not ask for a calmer & better weather day! Unfortunately this will change tomorrow with the arrival of our next weather-maker.

A cold front will cross into the area and bring the chance for a few stronger storms, with the main threats being damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

Non-severe storms will pop up Friday before we dry out just in time for Father’s Day weekend! Have a great day!

The event gave residents an opportunity to ask questions directly to Google representatives and county officials about the project, which would be built at the Greenfield site in Daleville. Topics discussed included water usage, electric infrastructure, economic development, jobs and the long-term impact of the project on the Roanoke Valley.

Outside the school, protesters lined the roadway carrying signs and chanting opposition to the project. Many said they remain concerned about water consumption, transparency surrounding negotiations and the pace of data center development across Virginia.

“We’re here for this Google fair. We’re calling it a Google unfair because this all feels very unfair,” said Chloe Johnson, one of the protestors.

The open house marks the latest chapter in a debate that has divided residents since Google announced plans for a data center campus at Greenfield. Supporters argue the project will bring jobs, tax revenue and infrastructure investments, while opponents question whether the region has the water and electrical capacity to support large-scale data center growth.

Several protesters said they believe local residents were not adequately involved in early discussions about the project.

“A lot of us coming together really, we need to have our voices heard,” said Misty Dawn Vickers of the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance. “These deals were done behind back doors without any public input, without any public consideration, without the consideration of our children and their future.”

Water remained one of the most frequently discussed topics throughout the evening.

Johnson said opponents are seeking more information about how future water needs will be met as the region continues to experience drought conditions.

“We don’t get a lot of information on the regional water plan, for instance,” Johnson said. “This is an industry that’s coming in and is using so much water.”

Google representatives said the company is still in the early design phase and continues to work with the Western Virginia Water Authority on water planning and infrastructure needs.

Clay Allsop, Google’s regional public affairs manager, said the Greenfield site was selected because it was already zoned for a compatible industrial use and met Google’s business and workforce requirements.

Allsop emphasized the company’s commitment to becoming a long-term community partner.

“It’s very important to us to be a part of the community that gives back and invests in the community and creates a relationship with the community that’s long-term positive for everybody,” Allsop said.

Google officials also highlighted the project’s potential economic impact. The company estimates construction could create roughly 1,000 jobs over a two- to three-year period. Once operational, similar-sized Google data center campuses employ approximately 400 workers.

The company says Botetourt County has already received $18 million connected to the project, funding that county leaders have said is being used to accelerate purchases and projects, including fire trucks, ambulances, parks and recreation improvements and other community needs.

Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe said the project could have a transformative effect on the county’s future.

“We will end up seeing millions and millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars come into the community as a result,” Larrowe said.

Larrowe also defended agreements involving water and utility service, saying local authorities would not move forward if they believed existing residents would be negatively impacted.

Among those attending the protest was congressional candidate Beth Macy, who said she supports a moratorium on additional data center development until more questions are answered about infrastructure, electricity and water.

“There’s just so many questions,” Macy said. “Until we know more, I don’t think we should be adding any more data centers to Virginia.”

Google says it will pay for infrastructure needed to serve the project and has committed across its operations to replenish more water than it consumes. Company officials said community feedback gathered during the open house will help shape ongoing conversations as planning and permitting continue.

While supporters point to jobs, tax revenue and economic growth, opponents say concerns about water resources, environmental impacts and government transparency remain unresolved.

With additional permitting and infrastructure planning still ahead, the debate over Google’s proposed Botetourt County data center appears far from settled.

Resources

For more information about the project and related infrastructure plans:

Botetourt County Google Information Center: https://www.botetourtva.gov/google

Western Virginia Water Authority: https://www.westernvawater.org

Botetourt County Data Center Information Site: https://botetourtcountydatacenter.com

AEP Daleville Area Transmission Project: https://www.aeptransmission.com/Virginia/DalevilleArea

Before the Yankees played the Chicago White Sox, Brunson and Hart were met with a standing ovation and loud cheers from fans as they took the field to a montage of highlights from the title run.

Standing in front of the mound and wearing Yankees pinstripes, Brunson made his toss to backup catcher J.C. Escarra while Hart threw to utilityman Max Schuemann.

“That was cool," outfielder Cody Bellinger said after New York's 10-5 victory. "Obviously, we’re all super tuned-in to the series and to the postseason. I saw them pregame and what they were able to accomplish is pretty amazing.”

Brunson and Hart were honored after the Knicks made appearances on NBC’s “The Today Show” and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” on Monday. Brunson and Hart along with starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby also appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday.

The ceremony occurred a day before the Knicks will be honored with a massive ticker-tape parade in lower Manhattan. Mayor Zohran Mamdani predicted Thursday’s celebration could be “the largest parade in New York City history."

“Oh, I think’s it been awesome,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “What a fun team to get behind and just the story of that team and how it’s kind of come together over the last couple of years and just a lot of grit, a lot of mental fortitude and to see the fanbase and then some galvanized around that club has been a lot of fun to witness.”

The parade will be the first for the Knicks, who won their first two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973. After those titles, then-Mayor John Lindsay celebrated the team at the mayoral mansion and City Hall.

Brunson threw out a first pitch for the second time since joining the Knicks. He also did it before a Mets-Yankees game in July 2024 shortly after signing a four-year, $156.5 million contract to stay with the Knicks.

Brunson averaged 32.6 points in New York’s five-game victory over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals and won MVP honors. He led the Knicks to a 94-90 victory in the clinching Game 5 by scoring 45 points.

Hart is a great-nephew of former Yankees catcher Elston Howard, whose No. 32 jersey is retired by the team. Howard is also honored with a plaque in Monument Park.

The Knicks finished 16-3 in the postseason, an .842 winning percentage that matched the 2024 Boston Celtics for second-best since the format changed to best-of-seven series in all NBA playoff rounds beginning in 2003. The 2017 Golden State Warriors went 16-1.

New York won 13 consecutive postseason games, second to Golden State's 15 in a row in 2017, and set records by winning nine straight road games and outscoring their postseason opponents by 283 points.

Brunson and the Knicks also pulled off several big comebacks on the way to their title.

“It’s just been a captivating run that they’ve been on and with a group that’s now been together for a couple of years and then on top of the 53 years since a championship, it’s been a great story and a fan base that has come to know several of these guys as they’ve kind of climbed that ladder to ultimately winning a championship,” Boone said. “So I think it’ll be one of the historic teams that we talk about when it comes to the NBA.”

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

Many view the onset of hemorrhagic fever as a spiritual affliction and seek out herbs and prayers instead of going to the hospital. This is the case now in Congo, which is suffering its seventeenth outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the virus was first identified in the rich Congo Basin ecosystem.

Five decades later, the virus continues to mystify many of the sick in Africa while turning religious leaders into first responders in a deadly emergency. The current outbreak’s victims include health workers without protective gear as well as pastors and worshippers who gathered while Ebola was spreading, according to humanitarian workers and others who spoke to The Associated Press.

Ebola spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. The current outbreak is particularly worrisome in a region where many are distrustful of health workers and refuse to seek medical care.

In Bunia, a town in Ituri province that is the outbreak's epicenter, misinformation about Ebola has made it harder for health workers to respond to the outbreak that has so far killed at least 181 people. One rumor suggests that Ebola is spread by malicious people who drop magical charms tied to dollar bills down pit latrines.

“Some people still describe Ebola as something mysterious, spiritual, or brought by outsiders, rather than a disease that needs medical care,” said Onesphore Bangenza of the aid group Mercy Corps, speaking from Bunia. “When people do not trust the health system, they often go first to traditional healers, faith leaders, or people they already know. The danger is that many only reach the hospital when they are already very sick.”

Uncommon type of Ebola causing the outbreak

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola that has no approved medicines or vaccines to combat it. It is occurring in a remote area of Congo that also faces armed violence by rebel groups as well as displacement. Ebola intensifies the suffering, with its terrifying symptoms that evoke a modern-day plague.

The outbreak was confirmed on May 15. Some experts believe infections may have been occurring in February, but health officials initially tested for a different kind of virus that causes Ebola disease.

The World Health Organization quickly declared the event a public health emergency of international concern. The U.S. government has imposed a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.

With so many people in afflicted communities seeking spiritual answers to the outbreak, humanitarian workers are urging religious leaders to get involved in combating Ebola.

In a video widely shared among people in Ituri, a catechist leader recently cured of the disease in the Ebola hot spot of Mongbwalu spoke candidly of the mistake that could have cost him his life.

“I don’t usually rush to the hospital, so I decided to go to the fields,” Deogratias Kasereka said, before explaining how his children compelled him to seek medical treatment.

His symptoms had included muscle weakness and headaches, and he “felt very hot.” Ebola in later stages also can bring about internal and external bleeding.

The symptoms are so disturbing — and sometimes shameful — that some victims prefer the privacy of a traditional healer’s shrine, said Vincent Isimbwa, an elder among Seventh-day Adventists in a remote community of Ugandans that faced the first-ever outbreak of Bundibugyo in 2007.

“They faced it so rough,” said Isimbwa. “The challenge with Ebola is that it is so bad that some people can believe that there are supernatural powers behind it.”

That outbreak of Ebola killed at least 36 people and left the community terribly scarred. Many here also regret that the Bundibugyo virus is named for their district, the mountainous homeland of roughly 200,000 people mostly living as farmers.

Mistrust and medical limitations drive sick people to healers

In Bundibugyo two decades later, the Ugandan nurse whose sample of blood confirmed the 2007 outbreak said his symptoms confused those who examined him in the early days of the outbreak. Some thought Samuel Kuule had a case of food poisoning. While others afflicted may have gone to see healers, described pejoratively as witch doctors, he was nursed in a narrow hospital room by caregivers including his pregnant wife, who was never infected.

Kuule recalled that his symptoms — peeling skin, bloodshot eyes and severe headache — terrified him without shaking his Seventh-day Adventist faith, unlike some others who may have felt they were being bewitched.

“For those who are weak in faith, they may (think) that they are being bewitched,” he said. “Maybe they can believe it.”

Some locals recalled that an early victim of the 2007 outbreak was a woman stretchered down the mountains and into the shrine of a traditional healer, an older man who survived but lost three sons to Ebola. Speaking through his presumptive heir, Amon Balinda, the healer said he switched his service from benediction and prayer to the prescription of herbs after he was told Ebola was spreading.

“For us in African traditional societies, in most cases when you fall sick and you go to the hospitals and they give you some injections and there is no improvement, there and then you switch to your neighbor, or anybody, and say maybe he is the one bewitching you,” he said. “Then you decide to go to the witch doctor.”

In fact, Ebola outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, experts say.

The WHO is urging early testing for Ebola, in addition to isolating contacts in the current outbreak.

That's challenging in communities with deep religious faith, Christian but especially traditional. People insist on burying the dead according to established custom, because to do otherwise may deprive the dead of an afterlife. Pastors who stake their authority on the ability to heal the sick are expected to perform. Traditional healers face similar hopes.

This is why Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni rebuked religious leaders in a recent televised speech, saying there was no need to touch the sick in the time of Ebola. He said that Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO chief, told him while visiting Uganda that many victims in Congo are religious people.

“The pastors, the pastors, the pastors,” Museveni said, squinting in apparent disappointment. “The people of God — they are the ones who touch patients. … God is not deaf. You can pray without touching.”

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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.

With a budget of $71.5 million, construction began right after a groundbreaking ceremony for the Amtrak rail extension into the New River Valley last year.

Now, new renderings show off a new parking lot along with an elevated platform to help with accessibility.

“They don’t have to drag their suitcases up the stairs into the train. They can just walk right on board,” Karina Romero, Communications Manager of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. “It’s also great for accessibility, for those that may have issues with the stairs. They’ll be able to just walk on board the train.”

Another update is on what Romero calls a Radford layover facility.

“Because Christiansburg is going to be at the end of the line for the Roanoke route, we’re going to be turning the trains there every day,” Romero said. “So when we turn them, we have to clean them, prepare them, put food in the cafe car, get ready to depart the next day. So those trains will lay over there at Radford.”

The hope is that with the new train station, it makes some locations easier to get to.

“This Amtrak Virginia route actually will go from the New River Valley all the way up to Washington, making stops along the way: Charlottesville, Culpeper, Alexandria, into Washington, D.C. Then the train will continue on to the Northeast Corridor,” Romero said. “So you’ll be able to take the same train and the same seat from Christiansburg all the way to Boston if you want to.”

Meanwhile, New River Valley drivers will have a new way to get around while clearing up the roads for those who are behind the wheel.

“We know our trains don’t go everywhere, but if we give those who can’t take the train the option of taking the train, that will lessen the traffic for those people who do have to drive,” Romero said."

The expectation is that the train station will be ready by late 2027.

“There are no words I can say," said Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect who lived a secret life of violence for years before admitting he killed eight women. “The words I would say would have no meaning.”

The sentencing capped an extraordinary investigation that solved one of New York’s most perplexing mysteries. The seemingly unconnected and largely overlooked disappearances of young women became the focus of true-crime documentaries, books and podcasts after police began discovering the victims’ skeletal remains in the sandy scrub along a coastal parkway.

Heuermann, 62, will have no possibility of parole.

“A million years isn’t enough,” Violet Swager, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said. “Nothing will ever make this right.”

Judge calls Heuermann ‘despicable’

As a series of victims' kin spoke, Heuermann sat with his hands on the defense table, looking straight ahead and lightly tapping his fingers.

Then Amanda Funderburg, victim Melissa Barthelemy's sister, commanded Heuermann to look at her. He glanced in her direction, but his eyes were slightly downcast.

“I hope you suffer,” Funderburg said as she recounted a taunting phone call she received from him days after Barthelemy disappeared. Funderburg was 15 years old.

JoAnn Mack, the mother of victim Valerie Mack, told the killer that her daughter “had dreams, and you took them all away from her.”

“Justice has been done, but it can’t replace what has been taken,” Mack said.

Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Barthelemy, Mack, Taylor, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Sandra Costilla.

Heuermann also admitted in court to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, though he was never charged in her death. He said he strangled his victims, many of them sex workers, and dismembered some of their bodies.

“Are you at least a little bit sorry for that?” Judge Timothy Mazzei asked Wednesday in an indignant voice.

Heuermann nodded and said “Yes, I am.”

“You are disgusting — a despicable man, if you are a man at all,” the judge said, his voice rising. “And you are a coward.”

As Heuermann was led away in handcuffs, spectators in the packed courtroom jeered.

Victims' families recount a confounding loss

Liliana Waterman, who was 3 when her mom vanished, said she has been waiting her entire life to confront her mother’s killer.

“She can finally rest in peace,” Waterman said outside the courthouse. “He can’t hurt anybody else.”

Most of the women disappeared between 2000 and 2010 and their remains were all found on Long Island. Most were along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Costilla’s remains were found in 1993 in the Hamptons, while Vergata’s remains were found in 1996 on Fire Island.

Brainard-Barnes’ two children, who were 7 and 1 when she disappeared in 2007, underscored Wednesday how her absence shaped their lives and how she never got to know the adults they became.

Her sister, Melissa Cann, sobbed deeply as she described wondering for decades if she could have done more to protect Brainard-Barnes. But, she said, that guilt is “not mine to carry. It is for Rex and Rex alone.”

Heuermann’s ex-wife and two adult children said they did not attend the sentencing out of respect for the victim’s families.

How the Gilgo Beach serial killer was caught

The case spilled into view in 2010, when investigators started to find remains along Ocean Parkway while looking into the disappearance of another sex worker, Shannan Gilbert, whose death was ultimately ruled an accidental drowning.

The case went cold until 2022, when detectives linked Heuermann to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010.

Eventually, they matched DNA from a pizza crust Heuermann discarded in a Manhattan trash can to genetic material extracted from highly degraded hair fragments found on the women’s remains.

Investigators amassed other evidence, including cellphone and tracking data showing Heuermann arranged meetings with some victims shortly before their disappearances.

After Heuermann's 2023 arrest, prosecutors recovered what they described as a “blueprint” for the killings from his computer files. Among the documents was a series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean the bodies and destroy evidence.

Life behind bars

Heuermann will soon be transferred to a state prison after having spent the past three years alone in a segregated cell at the Suffolk County jail, reading crime novels and striking up a brief correspondence with the infamous “Happy Face Killer.”

Calling him “a monster,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declared there was nothing Heuermann could say to mitigate his deeds.

“There is no doubt this defendant is sorry,” Tierney said. “He is sorry he got caught.”

Defense lawyer Michael Brown said Heuermann has shed tears, and there may be “some sincerity in his expressions of remorse.” His client appeared “as normal as they come” during their interactions, Brown said, in stark contrast with his crimes.

“He’s somewhat of a charismatic figure when you talk to him,” Brown said.

As part of his guilty plea, Heuermann has agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit to help catch other serial killers.

___

Peltz reported from New York.

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This story has been corrected to show that the cousin of victim Jessica Taylor who is quoted in the story was Violet Swager, not Jasmine Robinson, who spoke after her.

The agreement calls for Tehran to, at a minimum, dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and would waive but not permanently end sanctions on the country, according to U.S. officials who read the language of the memorandum on ending the war to journalists after days of secrecy.

The agreement would also open the Strait of Hormuz toll-free for two months and affirm a commitment to Lebanon’s territorial integrity in the face of Israel’s invasion against the Hezbollah militant group.

President Donald Trump meanwhile, is wrapping up his time with world leaders in France for the Group of Seven summit. Trump’s last stop in France was a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris.

Here is the latest:

Pakistan’s leader deletes post on US-Iran deal, then reposts it without a reference to Friday signing ceremony

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan had written on X that there would still be a formal signing ceremony on Friday after both sides already signed a memorandum of agreement.

Sharif briefly removed the post a short time later, however. Then, he reposted most of the same text but removed a reference to Friday’s ceremony.

That could cast doubt on whether the ceremony will happen.

Trump said he signed the agreement at the Palace of Versailles and U.S. officials had been planning for a meeting on Friday in Switzerland — but with Trump having now signed the document it wasn’t clear if that would still be necessary.

Pakistan says the deal to end the war in Iran is taking ‘immediate effect’ after both sides have signed it

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said leaders of both the U.S. and Iran had signed the agreement and endorsed him as a mediator. He said there will still be a formal signing ceremony on Friday.

He said in a post on X that the deal “shall enter into force with immediate effect and as a first step, Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the United States of America will immediately lift the naval blockade.”

Sharif said Pakistan and co-mediator Qatar will still host an official signing ceremony on Friday in Switzerland. His post came shortly after Trump said he’d signed the agreement during a dinner at the Palace of Versailles.

US official says US and Iran presidents have signed agreement

Though officials had said Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance had digitally signed the agreement Sunday and that a ceremonial signing would be held Friday in Switzerland, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details about the agreement said Trump signed the deal while at Versailles on Wednesday.

The U.S. official said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also signed it Wednesday, though Iran did not immediately comment. It wasn’t immediately clear if that act started a 60-day negotiating clock to reach a final deal. It was also not clear how Trump’s signing of the deal at Versailles differed from his digital signing on Sunday.

Trump tells reporters he signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran

“It’s signed,” Trump said as he left Versailles.

“I signed it in Versailles,” Trump said. “Just signed it.”

White House says Trump signed agreement on ending war in Iran

The White House said Trump signed a memorandum of understanding on ending the war in Iran while at Versailles, though cameras weren’t present for that.

Many historic treaties have been signed at Versailles over the centuries, ending wars or territorial disputes. The most infamous was that sealed in 1919 officially ending World War I — whose harsh terms imposed on Germany are blamed by some historians for laying the groundwork for World War II.

The gilt doors of Versailles

Trump walked through the palace’s courtyard and met his hosts, posing for photographers in front of the famed golden doors.

“Versailles is not gold leaf — Versailles is the real deal,” Trump had explained to reporters earlier about why he said yes to the late dinner outside Paris after the G7.

Earlier, Macron had told reporters that “Versailles is a diplomatic tool and an instrument of influence.”

GOP senator calls Iran deal ‘worst foreign policy blunder in decades’

“Reagan is rolling over in his grave,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in a post, referring to the former president.

“Iran’s nuclear ambitions were not curbed, and they have learned that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works and will undoubtedly leverage it in the future,” the Republican said.

“Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive,” Cassidy said. “Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped.”

Cassidy, who lost his primary reelection bid after Trump endorsed his challenger, has been among the rare Republicans willing to criticize the president.

“This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” he posted.

Cruz says Trump is getting ‘bad advice’ on Iran

The Texas Republican, a leading hawk on Iran, heavily criticized the draft of the memorandum of agreement between the U.S. and Tehran shortly after it was released to journalists.

“Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea,” Cruz told reporters. “I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”

Cruz was also critical of how the agreement addresses the issue of tolls through the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. draft secures toll-free passage through the vital waterway for 60 days, but it doesn’t preclude fees in the future.

“Setting up Iran to be in charge of the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity and to charge tolls is not in America’s interest,” Cruz said. “In my view, the Ayatollah should not reap a single penny from the free transit of the seas.”

Energy experts say deal to reopen Strait of Hormuz is welcomed, given low oil reserves

The tentative deal for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil without restrictions will help ease supply shortages in the short term, energy experts said.

“The oil market welcomes more supply from Iran or anywhere else right now,” said Jim Krane, energy research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “Stocks are running low.”

But in the long term, there’s the chance that too much oil will come to market, Krane said, adding, “reopening the strait has come alongside investment in more oil production elsewhere, especially in the U.S. and Latin America.”

The global supply glut of crude oil that existed pre-war could return in 2027 if the peace deal holds, according to research firm Clearview Energy Partners. A report released by the International Energy Agency on Wednesday estimates a global shortfall of 0.9 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day for 2026, which is more optimistic than other recent estimates, according to Clearview.

Senate Republican leader says MOU leaves more questions

Sen. John Thune said he doesn’t think the document that’s now been released is the final product.

“My understanding is, it’s a framework, it’s an MOU, and probably have more to come in terms of any final agreement,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol.

Congress has not yet been briefed on the emerging deal.

“I don’t think probably what you’re seeing right now represents what a final deal will look like,” he said. “I think that sounds like it’s still going to be negotiated.”

He said there are “a bunch of things” senators will have questions about.

Trump says he’s looking forward to having a ‘good time’ at Versailles

“We had an amazing day and now we’re going to Versailles for dinner with some of Europe’s great people,” he told reporters after Air Force One landed in Paris but before the drive to Versailles.

“I think we’re going to have a good time,” Trump said.

Trump arrives in Paris before Versailles dinner with Macron

Official says US or Iran could walk away at any time until they reach a final deal

The second official said the signed memorandum of understanding is final and has not been changed since it was signed electronically on Sunday. But the official said either side could walk away at any time until they reach a final deal, which they will attempt to do over 60 days.

The official referred to the plans to work with Iran to reach a final deal as a “gentleman’s agreement” and said they would find out in talks starting this weekend whether they can continue moving forward.

If talks with Iran do not seem to be working, then the U.S. could pull the plug on the effort to negotiate and return to “tightening the screws on them very, very aggressively,” the official said.

Oxfam’s withering view of the G7 gathering

A statement from the campaign group calls it the “summit of omissions” that was “defined as much by what was left off the agenda as by what was discussed.”

“Climate change, gender inequality and human rights were conspicuously sidelined to secure President Trump’s attendance. Silence became a strategy,” it said.

But the statement welcomed the G7 leaders’ call for a strong and coordinated response to the Ebola outbreak in Congo.

Trump says US isn’t giving Iran money but suggests frozen assets will be returned

He has repeatedly denied that the U.S. is sending money to Iran as part of a deal, but he said Iranian assets frozen during the war should be returned.

“It’s not our money, it’s their money, and we froze it,” Trump said. “At a certain point in time, I guess we’re going to have to give it back.”

Trump said he considered keeping the frozen assets for the U.S., but said it would hurt the strength of the U.S. dollar. “If we didn’t give it back, nobody would ever invest in the dollar again,” he said.

Trump jokes that if the Iran deal is a failure, he’s blaming Vance

Asked about the possibility of blaming the vice president if the deal with Iran doesn’t work out, Trump replied, “I like that idea, sure.”

“This way, if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” the president continued. Then, striking a more playful tone, he added, “You better be careful, JD.”

Vance has become a leading administration voice promoting the initial agreement to end the war in Iran, even as Trump has occasionally contradicted facets of the agreement that Vance has announced publicly.

The vice president is expected to be part of the U.S. delegation signing the agreement Friday in Switzerland. But Trump joked of Vance, “He’s gonna turn his plane around and get the hell out of here.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry suggests deal with US may be signed by Presidents Trump and Pezeshkian

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday night suggested that Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian could sign the deal with the United States.

Such a signing ceremony would represent a major step for the two countries, which saw diplomatic relations break off in 1980 over the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, quoted by Iranian state television, made the comment.

Pezeshkian became president on a promise of seeking better relations with the West. However, he’s been sidelined for months after Iran’s mass killing of protesters in January and in the war as hard-liners broadly have taken over the levers of the country’s theocracy.

US officials read memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy; Iran has not released text

Senior U.S. officials have dictated the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists after days of secrecy.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to read the draft, which Iran has not released, ahead of a formal signing ceremony set for Friday.

According to the officials, the draft agreement includes a new ‘minimum’ standard for downblending of highly enriched Iranian uranium. Also, it has provisions to ensure the ‘territorial integrity’ of Lebanon after Israel’s latest attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.

In return, the U.S. will move to waive, but not eliminate, some wide-ranging sanctions against Iran once the deal is signed.

The U.S. draft of the agreement also only secures toll-free passage of the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, and it doesn’t preclude fees in the future, the officials said.

If Iran violates agreement, Trump says US will ‘bomb the hell out of them’

Asked how the terms of an agreement would be enforced, Trump said the threat of further bombings would be enough.

“What else am I going to do? Am I going to say, ‘I’m going to take you to court?’” Trump said. “You know, we’re going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement.”

Trump said he doesn’t think Iran will veer from the deal and said he does not want to resume attacks. But he added that “bad things happen in war — war is a nasty place.”

Trump indicates he doesn’t plan to hold US officials accountable for bombing of Iran school

Asked whether he’d hold anyone in his administration accountable for the deadly missile strike on an elementary school in Iran that killed over 165 people, the president suggested that no, he would not.

Trump said it was an odd question given that the bombing had happened so long ago, during the opening days of the war in Iran.

He also said that all war is nasty and that, in this case, mistakes might have been made, but that “Nobody did it on purpose.”

Trump also said, though, that the Department of Defense is still investigating the bombing.

During a subsequent question, he returned to the school bombing, repeating the sentiment that war was nasty: “Bad things happen in war.”

Trump hints at diplomatic visit from Lebanon, offers sympathy amid Israeli strikes

It wasn’t immediately clear who would be visiting from Lebanon — Trump first said the president and then the prime minister would be coming to Washington “over the next week or two.”

Trump repeatedly expressed sympathy for Lebanon while criticizing Israel, calling it a source of tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I say, ‘You can do a little softer touch, Bibi. You don’t have to knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that’s from Hezbollah,’” Trump said.

Trump said he feels bad for Lebanon, adding that it was “a great culture.”

“It was an incredible culture, maybe the highest in the Middle East, for years and years, centuries,” Trump said. “And for the last 50, 60 years, they have been just trashed.”

Trump offers lengthy – and very meandering – opening comments

The president began the press conference by speaking for around 40 straight minutes – offering a steady, stream-of-consciousness-style monologue that covered everything from Iran and Ukraine to drug dealers hiding fentanyl in hubcaps.

Trump talked about not wanting to crash the U.S. economy during the Iran war and said he thought Russia and Ukraine might make a deal to end that war.

He boasted about securing the U.S.-Mexico border but said that Mexico “has lost control of that country” and suggested that smuggling cartels – which he said hid drugs in cars and car parts to move them over the U.S.-Mexico border – had Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum “scared.”

Trump also talked about reaching a possible nuclear accord internationally, even as he suggested that he’d avoided “a nuclear holocaust.” And he said he was looking forward to admiring the golden finishes of the Palace of Versailles when he went to dinner there later Wednesday.

Trump thanks China, Russia for staying ‘neutral’

As he wrapped up his meandering opener during his press conference, the president noted that the leaders of China and Russia - often allies with Iran - largely stayed out of the conflict.

“They could’ve made it much more difficult for us,” Trump said.

China, in particular, had weapons that could “knock down airplanes,” he said.

“I said. ‘I would really appreciate your not giving or selling any of that stuff to Iran,’” Trump continued. “And you know what? For the most part, he didn’t.”

Trump again denies $300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, traces it to Vance statement

“JD made a statement. It was a perfect statement, and they reported it in a very strange way. But that’s because that’s why it’s fake news, I guess,” Trump said.

He emphasized that the U.S. is “not investing any money” even though he said Tehran will need aid to recover.

Trump says an Iran deal will be signed ‘shortly’ and that a copy has been sent to Israel

Amid conflicting messages from Trump and top administration officials about whether an initial deal to end the war in Iran had already been signed, Trump said the agreement could be signed “maybe tomorrow” or the next day, meaning Thursday or Friday.

Trump recalled his years as a developer and said, “My whole life is all about deals,” and that sometimes “Crazy things happen with deals.”

But he added, “We are going to most likely sign a deal.” He said Iran wants “to sign a deal, and they’ve been acting very appropriately.”

Exactly what the deal entails is a matter of confusion since Trump and his administration have refuted publicly reported details without providing concrete details, they say are correct.

Trump also said a copy of the deal would be released and that the U.S. sent a copy to Israel.

Trump shifts tone on US allies, praises their support for Iran agreement

After complaining for months that U.S. allies were doing too little to help the U.S. in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Trump on Wednesday quickly shifted to praise for their support of a deal.

“The past two days have provided a chance to discuss the details of this historic agreement with many of our closest friends and allies, including the G7 nations and many presidents and prime ministers,” Trump said in remarks at the summit.

It comes after U.S. allies issued a statement welcoming the framework of a deal to extend the U.S.-Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said, “They all put out statements saying they love this deal, because they want to see it over.”

Trump says negotiating an end to the Iran war buoyed the stock market

The president suggested that fears of a weakening U.S. economy were a big driver for the administration’s work to negotiate an initial deal to end the Iran war.

“Every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship,” Trump said. “The stock market is more brilliant than anybody there is.”

Trump also said that the “one thing I didn’t want to see is, I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe.” He said that “could have happened” if the war had continued.

“The one president I did not want to be was the late, great Herbert Hoover,” Trump said, referring to the president whose policies helped exacerbate the Great Depression.

Macron defends red carpet treatment for Trump

French President Emmanuel Macron defended his decision to roll out the red carpet for Trump, including a dinner at the Palace of Versailles later Wednesday.

“Versailles is a diplomatic tool and an instrument of influence,” Macron said.

Using a soccer analogy, Macron said he approaches diplomacy like the French national team: “Whether I’m playing at home or away, my goal is to score goals. And when I host other teams, I try to give them a nice welcome.”

Macron says he has always trusted Trump

Macron said he has “always trusted President Trump” because they both have “always spoken frankly.”

That applies on U.S. tariffs issues, Macron said, after Trump threatened 100% tariff on French wines unless a European digital tax is dropped. Macron is still seeking a compromise that would avoid U.S. tariffs from taking effect.

“Partners should never impose tariffs on one another or create instability,” Macron said.

Macron says US limit on cutting-edge Anthropic AI is a ‘bad thing’

The French leader is taking aim at a Trump administration directive preventing the use of Anthropic’s latest artificial intelligence models by foreign nationals.

He said it is “a good thing” that U.S. officials recognize that cutting-edge AI models could be dangerous. “What do they fear? That these models could be used by others to attack them or attack us,” he said.

But the “very strong decision” from the Trump administration is also “a bad thing,” he said. “The reaction is in some regards strictly nationalist.”

Anthropic said it has taken its latest artificial intelligence models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline to comply with the directive. The AI giant said it did not believe the steps taken by the government were warranted by the concern it flagged about a potential security issue.

Macron describes ‘an Evian moment’ on Ukraine

Macron said the summit, attended by Zelenskyy, helped convince Trump that Russia currently has no serious intention of negotiating peace.

It’s too early to say whether there would be a clear “before” and “after” the Evian summit, Macron said — future developments will determine its impact.

“But there was an Evian moment, certainly on Ukraine,” he said.

Macron warns of the risks of artificial intelligence

G7 leaders discussed the revolutionary technology on Wednesday, the summit’s last day.

The French leader, the summit host, called for regulation.

“No one — neither political leaders nor business leaders — can any longer ignore the impact of AI on our democracies, on our societies. That is why the possibility and the necessity of regulation have now become imperative,” he said.

The enclave has seen near-daily strikes, as well as shelling and gunfire along the boundary that divides Gaza into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones. The most recent deaths were recorded after a series of Israeli drone strikes in the past few days on towns and refugee camps in central Gaza and Gaza City.

Also Wednesday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinians and wounded six others in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, health officials at Nasser Hospital said. The Israeli military acknowledged carrying out the strike and said the target was a “terrorist,” but didn't elaborate. Families at the hospital said the strike targeted a group of people near the beach in the sprawling tent camp of Muwasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians live.

Israel has said it is continuing to operate against Hamas and allied militants in Gaza and has expanded the amount of territory it controls inside the strip. Both sides have accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

In a separate statement Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it killed two militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in strikes over the weekend.

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Sunday said the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war had surpassed 73,000 in Gaza. The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage, on Oct. 7, 2023. In response, Israeli leaders promised a punishing offensive on the Gaza Strip to annihilate Hamas and free the hostages.

The 18-year-old was riding in the horse-drawn carriage with three other passengers when the accident happened just before 3 p.m., according to the New York Police Department. At least two passengers were sent flying out of the careening cab.

The teenager was initially hospitalized in critical condition. The other passengers refused medical treatment.

A representative for the Transport Workers Union, which represents carriage industry employees, said the driver had dismounted to take a photograph of his passengers, which they are not supposed to do.

The horse had been in the park for only six weeks, according to Alexander Kemp, the administrative vice president of the union's local chapter. He said he wants a full investigation.

“Safety in the park has been a growing concern among many, and improvements are needed to be made with respect to all vehicles, including e-bicycles, delivery vehicles, pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages," he said in a statement.

Video showed the horse sprinting through the park as two people appeared to jump from the four-wheeled carriage. A second video shows the cab toppling over after clipping the wheels of another carriage on the park's busy loop.

It's a fraught moment for Central Park's 150-year-old horse-drawn carriage industry. The industry has long been seen as a quaint attraction that offers tourists a romantic remnant of a bygone New York, while providing hundreds of jobs to drivers, along with many farm and racing horses. But they are now facing the growing threat of a ban from opponents who say the rides are both inhumane to horses and a danger to city residents.

Wednesday's event follows several recent horse-related problems in the park, including the fatal collapse of a horse last week.

The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit which operates the park and came out last summer in support of banning horse-drawn carriages, said the back-to-back events should bring an end to the industry.

“A young man came to enjoy our park and lost his life,” the group said in a statement. “That is not an acceptable cost of an antiquated industry operating in the middle of one of the most heavily used public spaces in America.”

Central Park is nearly 850 acres and attracts millions of people every year.

Authorities raided the home of Omnia Swaydan in Damanhour, Beheira province, around 6 p.m. local time on Tuesday while she was alone and ordered her to turn off her phone before taking her into custody, according to Asmaa Naeim, a lawyer following her case.

Swaydan appeared Wednesday afternoon at the prosecutor’s office in Alexandria for questioning, Naeim told The Associated Press.

She was questioned on charges of spreading false news and “misusing” social media, according to lawyer Mohamed Ramadan, who attended her interrogation. On Facebook, late Wednesday afternoon, he said she was released on 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($401) bail.

Ramadan didn't immediately respond to requests for further comment. Naeim said that Swaydan's case is ongoing and that she could be brought again for questioning at any point or face charges to which she might face trial and imprisonment.

The arrest came after Swaydan on Monday posted harrowing details of abuses and violations that happened in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of al-Shatabi Hospital, which is a university hospital in Alexandria.

Her post on Facebook detailed incidents she saw that involved women who experienced sexual assault, violence, verbal abuses and intentional medical malpractice and negligence at the hands of doctors and nurses.

On Tuesday, before her arrest, she edited the post to say that she had shared the testimony to encourage a serious review of working conditions and medical practices in the ward, while calling for protections for women, patients and junior doctors.

In response to Swaydan’s post, the Doctors’ Syndicate said in a statement Tuesday that it had not received any official complaints regarding the incidents she described and urged anyone with claims to file formal reports with the syndicate, relevant regulatory bodies, the hospital administration, Alexandria University, or the public prosecutor. The following day, the syndicate said its Alexandria branch was closely monitoring developments surrounding the allegations at al-Shatabi Hospital.

Alexandria University released a statement saying it is reviewing and investigating the allegations of misconduct in the affiliated university hospital.

Egyptian human rights groups, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, condemned Swaydan’s arrest. Lobna Darwish, head of the group's women’s rights and gender program, said the allegations were not unique to al-Shatabi Hospital.

Darwish told The Associated Press that obstetric violence has long been common at hospitals offering free or low-cost medical services and even across some private medical facilities.

“Unfortunately, the state treats anything that sparks public concern as a security matter,” she said. “The fact that there are many testimonies appearing online from women who have experienced obstetric violence and abuse while giving birth naturally is an indication that we have a real crisis.”

Swaydan's testimony sparked online outrage among Egyptians, including women who came forward with similar abuses they or their family members faced at al-Shatabi Hospital and at public hospitals across the country.

The accounts that followed Swaydan’s post included one woman’s testimony that her sister died after a surgical error during childbirth led to complications that were mishandled by medical staff. Another woman shared a video testimony saying her daughter died following a tracheostomy procedure due to poor hygiene and neglect postsurgery at the hospital.

The Associated Press couldn't immediately verify those claims.

Cezary Tomczyk, Poland's deputy defense minister, spoke to The Associated Press a day after the Polish government approved steps to allow such a U.S. permanent base in Poland, on NATO's eastern flank. He said the government's resolution about the base Tuesday is an invitation to the Americans.

“The Americans are interested in the Polish offer to place a permanent base here,” because it would be financed by both countries, Tomczyk said in an interview at the Defense Ministry in Warsaw.

When asked about the remarks, U.S. Defense Department officials in Washington said they had nothing new to announce.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poles are doing everything in their power to have such a permanent base but that “the decision will always be on the side of the Americans.”

Around 10,000 U.S. troops are typically stationed in Poland, the majority on a rotational basis.

The Polish government is hoping that thousands of U.S. troops be stationed permanently, as the U.S. rethinks its military presence in Europe, both in personnel and weaponry.

In May, the U.S. suddenly halted the deployment of 4,000 soldiers to Poland despite the Trump administration considering the country a “model ally” for reaching its NATO target for spending on defense.

U.S. President Donald Trump previously had threatened to pull troops out of Germany. That was attributed to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticizing the U.S. on Iran, but the reduction of troops in Poland caused widespread confusion on both sides of the Atlantic.

Tomczyk was part of a Polish team immediately dispatched to Washington for talks. He was still in the U.S. capital when Trump wrote on social media that U.S. would send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland.

Since then, the U.S. has confirmed that it is reorganizing its troop presence in Europe but has given no further clarity about which troops are going where. However, multiple statements from Polish defense officials since then indicate they believe Poland has a chance to see an increase in permanent U.S. troops.

“Sometimes a rotating model can change into a permanent model and this is always much better," Defense Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz said in mid-May.

Asked whether the Polish resolution came because the U.S. side signaled clear interest in having a permanent base in Poland, Tomczyk said Poland and the U.S. are “in a working dialogue” and that “the next step, after the two sides confirmed they are interested in this, is the official offer from the Polish state.”

“We can’t tell fortune from tea leaves," Tomczyk said. "But we are a serious state which is presenting a serious offer to the Americans, in connection with the dialogue we are having with the Americans.”

Dreesen died at his home in Los Angeles, according to publicist Lori De Waal. A cause of death was not provided.

After meeting in Chicago, Dreesen and Reid, who was Black, formed “Tim and Tom” in 1969. Against a backdrop of simmering racial tension, they used humor to address social issues and promote understanding between audiences of different backgrounds. They worked together until the mid-1970s. Reid went on to solo success playing DJ Venus Flytrap on the popular TV sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” where Dreesen was a guest star.

“When I was a kid I found an album he and his comedy partner did called Tim and Tom and took it home and played it and it was one of the albums that changed the course of my life. So great,” comedian and filmmaker Mike Binder wrote on X.

After splitting with Reid, Dreesen honed a solo comedy act, making over 500 national TV appearances, including 60 visits to “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." He also was a frequent guest and sometime guest host on “The Late Show with David Letterman." Their friendship dated to the early 1970s when both worked at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood, California.

Dreesen's final TV appearance came last week on “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen,” which replaced Stephen Colbert's canceled CBS late-night show.

Dreesen was Sinatra's opening act for 14 years and became close with the entertainer.

“If he loved you, he worshipped the ground you walked on,” Dreesen told The Desert Sun newspaper in 2014. ”In a lot of ways, he was like a father to me. I didn’t have a father that really cared that much where I was and what I did. But Frank would give me advice and counsel, and then he was a buddy in a lot of ways. I thought the world of him."

Dressen also toured with Sinatra's fellow Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr., as well as Liza Minnelli, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and Tony Orlando.

“He was one of the most brilliant comedians of all time. Tonight, he'll once again be opening for Dean, Frank and Sammy,” Deana Martin, a daughter of Dean Martin, posted on X.

In 2008, he co-wrote the book “Tim and Tom: An American Comedy Act in Black and White” and in 2020 he authored his memoir.

Dreesen acted in such TV shows as “Columbo,” “Murder, She Wrote," and “Touched by an Angel.” His film roles included “Spaceballs,” “Man on the Moon” and “Trouble With the Curve,” as well as the HBO movies “The Rat Pack” and “Lansky.”

Dreesen was active in charitable work, motivational speaking and veterans’ causes, including serving as ambassador for the Gary Sinise Foundation.

"America lost one of our great comedians and patriots, and I lost a dear friend,” Sinise posted on X.

He was born on Sept. 11, 1939, in Chicago and raised as one of eight children in suburban Harvey. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 and after getting out in 1960 he returned home to work a series of jobs, including selling insurance.

Dreesen is survived by daughters Amy and Jennifer from his marriage to Maryellen Subock, which ended in divorce in 1984, as well as seven grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his son Tommy.

A team from the British firm Wessex Archaeology said the structure would have consisted of two wooden poles 120 meters (394 feet) apart and aligned to point directly at the rising sun during the summer solstice and the setting sun at the winter solstice.

Researchers said the discovery predated Stonehenge by around 500 years.

The team was led by archaeologist Phil Harding, who is well known in the U.K. through his many years of excavations for Channel 4 TV series “Time Team.”

Harding, 76, said the site, which also turned up a treasure trove of finds including pottery, animal bones and a rare disc-shaped knife, was likely to have been a focus for major religious gatherings.

“Opportunities like this probably only come once in a career, in a lifetime,” Harding said. “I’m probably towards the end of my career now, but thank God I’m still in archaeology long enough to be part of this discovery, because it’s certainly the highlight of my career.”

The findings were released ahead of the summer solstice, which falls this year on Sunday, when thousands head to Stonehenge each year to celebrate the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Stonehenge is a symbol of British culture and history and remains one of the country’s biggest tourist draws. The World Heritage Site was built on the flat lands of Salisbury Plain in stages starting 5,000 years ago, with the unique stone circle erected in the late Neolithic period about 2,500 B.C.

The site’s meaning has been the subject of vigorous debate. The most generally accepted interpretation is that it was a temple aligned with movements of the sun — lining up perfectly with the summer and winter solstices.

Researchers who found the structure near Stonehenge carried out the dig at Bulford, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the main stone circle, as part of archaeological work to support the British defense ministry's program to accommodate troops who have been withdrawn in recent years from Germany, where the army had a big footprint for decades. The area around Stonehenge is one of the largest military training grounds and in the U.K. and Bulford is home to a barracks.

The original excavation took place between 2015 and 2017, with the findings requiring many years of analyses and tests.

English Heritage said other theories about Stonehenge include that it was a coronation place for Danish kings, a druid temple, a cult center for healing, or an astronomical computer for predicting eclipses and solar events.

Whatever the explanation, thousands of people, many dressed as druids and pagans, will gather at the site on Sunday to see the sun rise.

“What few will realize is that 5,000 years ago on a nearby hillside overlooking modern day Bulford, people were doing the exact same thing — revering and celebrating the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day,” said Harding.

Notable dates include games on Black Friday, New Year’s Eve as well as News Years Day. This upcoming season, the SPHL has expanded to a 60-game schedule with each team playing 30 home games and 30 road games.

In addition to the expansion of games, two new teams have joined the SPHL in the Athens Rock Lobsters and the Pee Dee Ice Cats.

Roanoke’s regular season opener is set for Friday, October 16 at 7:05 p.m. Single game tickets go on sale September 16 at 10:00 a.m.

A two-time first-team all-state selection, Nye led Rockbridge County to the state semifinals with a standout junior season. The 5-foot-7 midfielder recorded 61 goals and 65 assists for 126 points. She also collected 47 ground balls, caused 65 turnovers and won 220 draw controls.

For her career, Nye has totaled 323 points, including 174 goals and 149 assists. She also has 151 ground balls, 186 caused turnovers and 598 draw controls.

Among her season highs were 18 draw controls against Loudoun Valley, seven assists against E.C. Glass and nine caused turnovers against Blacksburg.

Nye, the Region Player of the Year each of the past two seasons, has committed to play lacrosse at James Madison University.

The Bruins have tapped a familiar face to the program as their next head coach.

Blacksburg has called upon their former strength and conditioning coach Phillip Reese as the newest head coach of Bruins football. Reese was introduced via press conference Wednesday morning.

Bruins football is in position to make a big turn around. After five seasons under the .500 mark, Blacksburg finally returned to their winning ways in the 2025 campaign, securing a playoff spot. Reese’s philosophy for getting back on top - get to the finish line.

“I think it’s about fighting adversity, overcoming challenges,” said Reese. “Football will never be easy. The progression is never linear. You’re going to have ups and downs. So, teaching the kids to be able to go through four quarters of football, playing our brand, playing at a high intensity and then finishing at the end. That is something I look to bring here. We lost a lot of close games last year. So the goal will be to finish those games and kind of flip those outcomes.”

The Bruins will have a chance to begin the Phillip Reese era off on the right note when they take on James River on September 4th.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP) said in a new joint report that conditions are expected to deteriorate between June and November 2026, with around 266 million people already facing high levels of acute food insecurity, and called for urgent action.

“The warnings in this report cannot be ignored,” said WFP Acting Executive Director Carl Skau. “Without action now, millions more are expected to face worsening levels of hunger in the months ahead, pushing some closer to famine.”

Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and the Gaza Strip remain the hot spots of greatest concern, the report said, while Nigeria and Somalia have been newly added to that category as conditions worsen and famine risks rise. Seven other countries are also on the hotspot list — Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, Mali and new additions Lebanon and Madagascar.

The agencies said conflict and violence are the main drivers of hunger in nearly all the hotspots, compounded by economic shocks, deep cuts to humanitarian funding and the expected impact of an El Niño weather pattern, which could bring droughts and floods to vulnerable regions. They warned that additional pressures, including spillover effects from the Middle East conflict and an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, are worsening the outlook by disrupting markets, livelihoods and aid access.

Funding for food assistance and related programs has dropped sharply — by about 59% since 2022 — even as needs have surged, the report said.

There was a piece of good news on funding Tuesday: The United States pledged $800 million to WFP which the agency said will help more that 38 million people in at least 37 countries at “a moment of unprecedented global need driving hunger to record levels.”

But WFP's more than $10 billion appeal for 2026 still remains severely underfunded.

For years, the U.S. Agency for International Development had been the backbone of humanitarian aid around the globe. But last year, the Trump administration abolished the agency, cutting $60 billion in overall assistance. Under a reset in December, the U.S. has restored funding to WFP and just announced $218 million in assistance to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.

WFP’s Skau called the new U.S. donation “a lifeline to reach people on the brink of famine, provide nutritional support to mothers and children and position food to prevent millions from slipping further into extreme hunger.”

Assessing the global hotspots, the report said that conditions in the Gaza Strip have improved since an October 2025 ceasefire but remain fragile. About 1.6 million people — roughly 77% of the population analyzed — were acutely food insecure earlier this year and in need of urgent assistance, including more than half a million in emergency levels and a smaller number facing catastrophic conditions.

Yemen remains “one of the world’s worst food security crises,” hosting the largest population facing emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, it said.

And the threat of famine between now and November looms over people in Nigeria’s Borno state and Somalia’s Burhakaba district as well as in South Sudan’s Jonglei and Upper Nile states, and in Sudan’s North Darfur, South Darfur and South Kordofan regions.

The FAO and the WFP called for swift, coordinated international action to scale up aid, protect livelihoods and prevent further deterioration, warning that without swift intervention, millions more could face catastrophic hunger in the months ahead.

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Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations

Joshua Baer, 50, described himself as an “Austinpreneur,” a reference to the state capital and his enthusiasm for getting people into business. He founded Capital Factory, which has grown into an important Austin-based venture capital firm supporting a range of technology startup companies, from robots to autonomous ships.

Baer’s LinkedIn page shows him wearing a black T-shirt and pointing at the message: “I help people quit jobs.” His email had a similar handle. Capital Factory's downtown headquarters is among the offices of tech giants like Google.

“Whether you’re in technology or not, there’s a hole in the heart of Austin today,” Thom Singer, CEO of the Austin Technology Council, which promotes the local tech industry, said of Baer’s death.

Baer listed his life strategy as, “Plant lots of seeds. Water everyone's. Repeat.” And people noticed: The Austin mayor in 2023 gave him a key to the city, a symbol of civic honor.

Bryan Chambers, co-founder and president of Capital Factory, said his business partner was a “true super connector.”

Baer was aboard a business jet that crashed Tuesday on a highway in Laredo, Texas, after the pilots reported mechanical problems and requested to make an emergency landing at an airport. His LinkedIn profile said he had a wife and three children. It wasn't known whether three young people who survived the crash were family members.

After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he created an email marketing business, Baer moved to Austin in 1996 to work as a software developer at Trilogy Inc. He started Capital Factory in 2009 and regularly held business chats with people at a coffee shop.

“My hobby is startups,” Baer told the Austin American-Statesman in 2012. “I don’t watch sports or anything like that. So this is what I do. ... I want to be an investor in every great tech company that comes out of Austin. That’s probably unrealistic, but I’m going to try anyway.”

Baer often spoke to high school students and had the title of “entrepreneur in residence” at the University of Texas.

“He was passionate that technology could change the world and make people's lives efficient and better,” Singer said. “And if entrepreneurs did it right, they could make money and help their communities. He believed in those two things.”

Texas U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn said they were saddened by Baer’s death. Cornyn wrote on X that Baer was an “innovative & creative leader in Austin’s entrepreneurial culture.”

The latest deal brings the total amount spent on these agreements to nearly $2.6 billion.

Chicago-based Invenergy has agreed to end its four offshore wind leases that were very early in development in exchange for reimbursements of lease fees totaling $765 million. The company had already canceled the largest of the four in November, Leading Light Wind off New Jersey's coast. The others are off the coasts of Maine and California. It will invest that money in natural gas and geothermal ventures that can be built more quickly instead.

By buying back leases, the Republican administration is stopping offshore wind farms that President Donald Trump does not support, and redirecting the money to fossil fuel projects that he does. It adopted this strategy after federal courts thwarted Trump’s efforts to stop offshore wind development through executive action. Trump has frequently talked about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

“Under President Trump, companies are shifting investment back toward dependable, secure energy infrastructure that can power our economy and lower utility costs,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "We applaud Invenergy for recognizing the importance of baseload power and investing in energy solutions that deliver real benefits to American consumers.”

Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, said these buyouts are not one-for-one ‘swaps’ for another kind of energy, since the replacement projects won't deliver power to the same states as the offshore wind farms would have.

“Replacing coastal offshore wind with geothermal or natural gas infrastructure in another region does nothing to address rising ratepayer affordability concerns, reliability challenges or potential gaps in power supply in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic,” she said in a statement.

Eight offshore wind projects have been stopped

Under the first deal announced in March, French company TotalEnergies is getting nearly $1 billion — essentially a refund of its two offshore wind leases — if it invests the money in fossil fuels instead. Those leases were off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. New York is leading a lawsuit challenging the TotalEnergies agreement and Democrats in Congress are investigating it.

Golden State Wind and Bluepoint Wind agreed in April to end their leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million, provided they invest equally in fossil fuels. California is investigating the deal that ended Golden State Wind, a floating offshore wind farm proposed off the state’s central coast. Bluepoint Wind was an offshore wind farm in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.

Invenergy is North America’s largest privately held independent power producer. It has four offshore leases: a large lease area for Leading Light Wind, which would have used traditional turbines that affix to the seafloor; two leases for projects with floating turbines in the Gulf of Maine; and a lease for a floating project off California’s central coast.

Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills called the buybacks legally questionable, an egregious waste of taxpayer money, and “a shortsighted decision that will hurt our ability to reduce our reliance on expensive fossil fuels.”

Invenergy says it's focused on energy projects that can move forward today

For Invenergy, the deal offered a way to move forward with energy projects that could bring power to the grid more quickly for its customers than the dormant offshore wind leases. Trump has erected roadblocks for permitting wind energy, while trying to speed up fossil fuel development.

The company left the door open to reentering the offshore wind industry in the future. Daniel Runyan, senior vice president for development at Invenergy, said in a statement that at a time of unprecedented energy demand, they "will deploy additional capital into projects that can be delivered on a commercially reasonable timeline and meet customer demand while continuing to evaluate opportunities as market conditions evolve.”

Leading Light Wind was targeted for as much as 2.4 gigawatts to power more than 1 million homes. Invenergy told the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in November it was canceling Leading Light Wind because of challenges with the supply chain, equipment and vendors, and changing regulatory requirements.

The floating projects were so early in development that Invenergy hadn't yet calculated how much power those sites could provide.

Invenergy, a major player in the natural gas sector, has 14 operational natural gas facilities. It’s expanding into geothermal energy, with 45 leases totaling 144,000 acres in Nevada, Idaho, California, Utah and New Mexico. Invenergy plans to use the $765 million from the agreement for natural gas facilities in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, and geothermal development in the West. It was not refunded interest paid on the offshore wind lease payments or incremental development costs.

Invenergy has a large portfolio of projects other than offshore wind that produce electricity without warming the planet. That includes about 125 land-based wind farms operating and in construction, more than 60 solar and nearly 30 battery storage projects developed, and many more that it's actively planning and building. Geothermal energy uses the Earth’s heat to make electricity cleanly, too.

In a related development Wednesday, the Interior Department appealed a ruling that struck down several Trump administration actions slowing down clean energy development, including a requirement that Burgum personally approve all solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters.

The Trump administration canceled a $4.9 billion federal loan guarantee last year for Invenergy’s planned Grain Belt Express, a new high-voltage transmission line for delivering solar and wind-generated electricity from the Midwest to the eastern U.S. But the company indicated that the project would go forward anyway.

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Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle in Scarborough, Maine, contributed to this report.

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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.

The fiery crash late Tuesday in Laredo near the Mexican border sent bystanders racing from their cars to help police rescue passengers and crew from the burning aircraft. The crash killed Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors, the president of Baer's company said.

Video from the frantic scene showed someone trying to smash the cockpit glass with a sledgehammer, while others used makeshift levers as they worked to open the plane's door. Local officials said a firefighter entered the smoke-filled jet to extract one person still inside after the rest had escaped.

“While the loss of life is deeply regrettable, it is nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño said during a news conference Wednesday.

Two pilots and three teenagers survived the crash and have since been released from the hospital, according to the Laredo Police Department. A dog on board that suffered from smoke inhalation was also expected to survive, said Jose Baeza, an investigator with the police department.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating along with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Laredo Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez Jr. said investigators working to reconstruct the crash were at the crash site Wednesday.

Crash victim worked to help entrepreneurs launch startups

Baer, 50, was known as a central figure in Austin’s turbocharged evolution as a tech hub. He was the founder and chief executive of Capital Factory, which helps entrepreneurs connect with investors and others to launch their businesses.

“The number of lives Josh impacted in Austin, across Texas, and throughout the technology community is impossible to measure,” Capital Factory President Bryan Chambers said in a post on LinkedIn.

Capital Factory executives did not immediately return phone messages Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Baer lived in Austin with his wife and three children, according to his LinkedIn page. He recently taught a student entrepreneur class at the University of Texas at Austin.

“I help people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs,” Baer said on his LinkedIn page.

Pilots reported low fuel and power loss, airport director says

The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement.

The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement it was cooperating with authorities.

The jet went down at about 10 p.m. Tuesday on the Loop 20 highway, just a few minutes after its pilots radioed the local airport seeking to make an emergency landing. Their call to air traffic controllers “mentioned low fuel and a power outage,” Laredo International Airport Director Gilberto Sanchez said.

“They had mechanical issues and they lost communication with the tower,” Sanchez said Wednesday.

Dashcam video posted on social media showed the aircraft careening down the highway and knocking down a light post before stopping near the airport. The jet also barreled into a car, sending one motorist to a hospital in stable condition, Baeza said.

Five officers treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation have since been released, according to Rodriguez.

Experts wonder if jet lost engine power, had fuel leak

NetJets, started as a private jet charter service in 1964, had never had a fatal crash before Tuesday. Aviation safety experts interviewed Wednesday praised the company's safety record.

It shouldn't take investigators long to get a good idea of what caused the crash, in part because both pilots survived, former NTSB investigator Alan Diehl said.

The flight’s final minutes suggest the plane may have lost power to both engines and been attempting to glide into the Laredo airport, said Jeff Guzzetti, a former FAA and NTSB investigator.

“I think they just ran out of altitude and airspeed toward the end there,” Guzzetti said.

Aviation safety expert Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the Transportation Department, wondered if the jet had a fuel leak based on the pilots reporting they were running low. The jet has a range of 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers), roughly three times the distance of their planned flight to Austin.

Ultimately, Schiavo said, a lack of fuel may have prevented more death and destruction.

“Luckily, the plane didn’t explode in a fireball,” she said.

The Texas crash was the third significant aviation accident in as many days. A B-52 bomber crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.

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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut; Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska; and Golden reported from Seattle. AP journalists Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

The South Florida Detention Center has been praised by President Donald Trump. But its conditions have been harshly criticized by l awyers, families and human rights groups, who have persistently denounced the mistreatment of detainees since the center opened 11 months ago, during the Atlantic hurricane season.

DHS said that all detainees at the Florida state-run facility had been transferred but did not specify how many or where they were taken. Nor did it say whether the facility would close permanently or only temporarily.

"For the safety of the illegal alien detainees, we transferred them to other facilities,” department spokesperson Lauren Bis said in an emailed statement.

The hurricane season spans six months, from June through November. The detention facility opened on July 3, 2025, one month after the start of that year’s hurricane season, which concluded without any storms making landfall in Florida. It has been operating since then.

Shortly after ICE announcement, the National Hurricane Center reported on Wednesday that the first tropical storm o f the 2026 hurricane season had formed off the Texas coast.

Detainees at the facility have talked about their difficulty accessing lawyers, and have described poor physical conditions, including worms in the food, toilets that don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.

Surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades, "Alligator Alcatraz” was built by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in a matter of days, and Trump toured it on July 1, 2025, just two days before it was opened.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management, the main state agency responsible for its operation, did not immediately respond to an information request from The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Since the facility opened, immigration advocates said the tents were never safe or humane to hold people. Federal and state officials, nonetheless, had said that it was prepared to withstand hurricanes.

“Transferring people out of this cruel facility is an important step, but it does not erase the harm that has already been done,” said Amy Godshall, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who filed a lawsuit against the state and the federal government alleging a lack of access to legal representation for detainees. “The state and federal government must permanently close this facility and commit to never detaining people there again.”

DeSantis said in May that South Florida Detention Facility always was meant to be temporary. He said the facility had processed and deported 22,000 detainees since its opening.

Hurricane season is an excuse, activists say

Immigration advocates and lawyers said the hurricane season is an excuse, not the real reason why the detainees have been transferred.

“That’s a nonsense excuse because they opened in the middle of the worst part of hurricane season last year,” said Arianne Betancourt, a community advocate at the non-governmental group The Workers Circle who has spent months connecting dozens of detainees with pro-bono attorneys.

Betancourt and other advocates and attorneys said they noticed an increase in the transfer of detainees to other facilities over the past two weeks, during which time they lost contact with dozens of detainees.

Katie Blankenship, an immigration attorney at Sanctuary of the South, said all 50 clients that she and other attorneys have been providing free advice during the past 20 days have been moved from “Alligator Alcatraz” to other facilities in South Florida, California, Arizona, Louisiana and Texas.

“They are all gone,” Blankenship said. “They have been moved and disappeared into the system and are unavailable to family or counsel, typically for a period of about a week."

She noted that she hasn’t received any official notice about the transfers, but instead found out because her clients did not appear at hearings or did not show up at calls. When she tried to find out what had happened to them, she located them using the official detainee search tool and saw that they had been transferred to other facilities, Blankenship said.

Families left to pick up pieces

Renata Bozzetto, deputy director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said that even if the facility is closed, the harm will not end.

“Many of the people detained there will be transferred to other detention facilities, while their families continue to face uncertainty and hardship,’’ Bozzetto said. “When this detention camp closes, many corporations and contractors will have walked away with millions in profits, while immigrant families are left to pick up the pieces.”

Karthikeyan Deenadayalan was charged in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Monday with one count of violating the federal Port and Waterways Safety Act. Deenadayalan’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Prosecutors also filed notice of a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the court, but did not provide details about the terms of that deal. Deferred prosecution agreements are typically used when a defendant has agreed to meet certain conditions — such as providing testimony, or paying restitution — in exchange for the charges against them being dropped.

Prosecutors say in court documents that Deenadayalan was the chief engineer of the container ship when it was in the Port of Baltimore in the days before the deadly bridge collision, and that Deenadayalan willfully failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard that an improper fuel pump without a backup system was being used to power two of the ship's generators.

The Dali, bound for Sri Lanka, lost power twice in a four-minute span as it moved to sea from the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge in the early hours of March 26, 2024. Investigators say a loose wire in a switchboard likely caused the first power loss that led to its steering failure.

But after regaining power, the ship found itself in trouble again, prosecutors say, because the fuel pump used on the two generators was not designed to automatically restart after the first blackout. That caused a second blackout to occur, and the vessel crashed into a supporting column of the bridge, killing six construction workers who had been filling potholes on the structure. The toll bridge first opened in 1977 and is traveled by millions of cars every day.

The Singapore-based ship operator and another employee were indicted on criminal charges in May, accused of relying on the improper pump and then lying about it to investigators. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd. and Chennai, India-based Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd. and the ship's former technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, are charged with conspiracy, misconduct causing death, failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition, obstructing the National Transportation Safety Board and making false statements.

A trial in the case against the ship's operator and the technical superintendent has been scheduled for October 2027.

After the indictment, Synergy Marine expressed disappointment and accused the U.S. Justice Department of turning an accident into a crime. Nair’s lawyer, David Gerger, had a similar response, saying in May that his client “thinks about this accident every day, but he certainly did not cause it.”

In April, a $2.25 billion settlement was announced between the state of Maryland, Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean Private Limited, the Singapore-based ship owner. Grace Ocean hasn’t been charged with any crimes related to the collapse.

Earlier this month, a federal judge agreed to postpone a civil trial over the collapse after a flurry of last-minute settlements resolved most of the remaining claims, including deals resolving all pending claims over the deaths of six construction workers.

Virtually all of the unresolved claims are alleging economic losses by businesses and local governments. None of the remaining parties were asking to start the trial as scheduled this week.

The aborted effort to reduce nonwhite voters' representation contrasts with other Southern states where Republican majorities moved quickly to redraw congressional boundaries ahead of the November midterms, partly in response to President Donald Trump's pleas to shore up the GOP's fragile House majority.

Civil rights activists and Democrats, especially Black and other nonwhite lawmakers, celebrated the development and claimed victory after exerting weeks of pressure and gathering hundreds of citizens at the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday ahead of the session.

“Today showed that ordinary people don't need to wait until November to make their voices heard and protect our democracy,” said U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, the state's first Black senator who returned to Atlanta from Washington to be at the Capitol. “We can stand up and speak right now.”

Kemp had not asked his fellow Republicans to reopen Georgia districts ahead of November. Instead, he wanted them to redraw congressional boundaries for the 2028 election. But the governor, in the final months of his second term, also called on lawmakers to redraw their own districts — a move that would have made Georgia the first state to apply the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais decision to its legislature.

State House Speaker Jon Burns sent Kemp a letter hours before Wednesday's special session was set to begin, informing him that legislators would not consider redistricting at all during the session. He announced the decision publicly shortly after, as demonstrators filled the Capitol with chants of “Black voters matter!”

Kemp said he believes Georgia's current districts are unconstitutional, and he sees no reason to delay redistricting.

“Legislative districting, however, is the responsibility of the General Assembly, and it is within their discretion to defer the issue until a later date,” Kemp said in a statement.

Burns said lawmakers want to take their time after the Callais decision, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander and laid the groundwork for legislatures to reduce the number of districts where Black and other nonwhite voters hold most sway.

The speaker said it was more important for lawmakers to focus on economic matters rather than “partisan games.” He also cited pending litigation over existing Georgia districts and the need to understand the full ramifications for how race can or cannot be used in redistricting.

Privately, Republicans had expressed concerns that a rushed process that diminished Black and other minority voters’ political power could cause a backlash. And they worried that redrawn districts could unintentionally create more competitive jurisdictions that Democrats could win, especially around Atlanta.

Still, Georgia Republicans did not rule out revisiting redistricting later this year.

Conservative justices gave the green light

Before Callais, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was understood to require maps — for Congress, state legislatures and local legislative bodies — that gave historically marginalized minorities a reasonable chance to select candidates of their choice. Nationally, those so-called “opportunity districts” have disproportionately elected Black and other nonwhite representatives.

About one-third of Georgia’s 180 state representatives are Black. Latino, Asian and other minorities bring the total nonwhite share to about 40% — roughly reflecting the state’s overall population. Georgia’s U.S. House delegation has five districts out of 14 total where the electorate is majority or plurality nonwhite. All elected Black Democrats in 2024.

With the Callais ruling, a conservative majority of justices concluded that jurisdictions drawn with racial makeup in mind violate the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause. Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion declared that apportionment should be “race neutral.”

Alito's stated reasoning did not hinge on party interests, and federal courts have said partisan gerrymandering is constitutionally permissible. But in Southern states, party loyalty dovetails considerably with race and ethnicity. So the decision has allowed Republicans to redraw maps to boost GOP districts by redistributing nonwhite voters who tend to support Democrats.

Many civil rights activists argue that makes it impossible for Southern legislatures to be genuinely “race neutral” when drawing boundaries.

Democrats and activists opposed the special session

Minority voting rights are especially salient in Georgia, where the Capitol complex includes a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and sits blocks from where the assassinated civil rights icon lived, preached and led the movement that yielded the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Warnock, who is also minister at the Atlanta church where King once preached, invoked the civil rights icon as he led demonstrators who criticized the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Callais that it was discriminatory to draw districts to allow minority voters a chance to elect their preferred representatives.

The senator compared the possibility of scaling back nonwhite representation to the long Jim Crow history of poll taxes and literacy tests. White conservatives in the South once called those policies “race neutral,” too, Warnock noted.

Speaking before Burns’ announcement, Warnock lamented that some white Republicans who might consider redrawing district lines — or already have in other states — also praise King on his federal holiday each year.

“If you want to redraw maps and you have the power to do it, I guess you can do it,” he said. “But keep Dr. King’s name out of your mouth.”

Trump started the fight before the Supreme Court decision

Nationally, a partisan redistricting battle started last year when Trump urged Republican-controlled states to gerrymander their congressional maps. Texas answered the call first.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in Sacramento answered with their own gerrymander that voters later approved. A succession of states followed. The outcome would have been close to even had the Virginia Supreme Court, controlled by conservatives, not struck down new Democratic-drawn maps approved voters. All told, Republicans think they could notch a net gain of 10 seats across the multiple states.

That still may not be enough for the GOP to hold a congressional majority, given Trump's lagging approval ratings. But it could mitigate Democratic gains and set Republicans up well for 2028 and beyond.

The organization recently closed its standalone women’s shelter and moved those services into its main facility, a decision Executive Director Matthew Fowler said was necessary to maintain long-term sustainability.

“There has been a tremendous amount of dollars that we no longer have,” Fowler said. “And so now we have to make some adjustments.”

House of Hope has relied heavily on state and federal grants in recent years, with Fowler estimating that government funding accounted for roughly 40% of the organization’s budget. As some of those funding sources have declined and inflation has driven up operating costs, the nonprofit has been forced to look for ways to reduce expenses.

The women’s shelter was originally established to provide a separate space for female clients but maintaining a second facility significantly increased costs, Fowler said.

“When we established that particular part of the shelter, it basically doubled our budget because we had to add staff and then also with utilities and other expenses that go along with managing the facility,” Fowler said.

By consolidating services into one location, House of Hope has been able to reduce expenditures by about 40%, according to Fowler.

“It has allowed us to be able to cut expenditures by 40% and also has allowed us to be able to not have to worry about the upkeep in terms of the facility itself, the utilities and those type things,” he said.

Fowler said women staying at the shelter will continue to have separate accommodations and safety measures despite the move. The organization is now working to diversify its revenue streams and become less dependent on government grants.

“It’s about sustainability for us,” Fowler said. “For our organization, we really don’t have the time to be invested in trying to figure out how we tap into this fund or that fund because that takes away from the reality of us helping people.”

Among those helped by House of Hope is Thomas McIntyre Jr., who credits the organization with helping him overcome addiction after the death of his wife.

“When my late wife passed away, I went through a bad addiction issue,” McIntyre said. “House of Hope helped me in so many ways that nobody else could. It helped me get clean and keep on with my sobriety.”

Asked where he believes he would be without the nonprofit’s assistance, McIntyre said, “I probably would have been ripping and running again.”

Despite the financial challenges, Fowler said House of Hope remains committed to serving the community and is asking residents and donors to support its mission.

“Behind every dollar is a story, and it’s a real individual,” Fowler said. “We’re not closing our doors. That’s why this is a call to action.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman issued a similar plea at the Group of Seven summit of major industrialized nations in France, saying an "international forum" is needed for countries to draw up AI guardrails. He said the task of AI safety should not be left to tech companies.

Overshadowing the discussion on AI was President Donald Trump's administration's directive last week, preventing foreign nationals from using Anthropic’s newest and most powerful artificial intelligence models.

Macron said it was a “good thing” that U.S. officials recognize that so-called frontier AI models could be dangerous, but he also criticized it as a “strictly nationalist” reaction.

The remarks followed a G7 working lunch that brought together AI industry figures, including leaders of three of the most powerful AI companies — Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — on the theme of “ensuring a safe, rapid and effective deployment of artificial intelligence.”

Trump's feud with Anthropic has unsettled many outside the US

Ahead of the meeting, the White House’s dispute with Anthropic fueled distrust in Europe about American dominance of AI and tech ecosystems.

The company was forced on Friday to take its latest artificial intelligence models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline to comply with the directive. The AI giant said it did not believe the steps taken by the government were warranted by the concern it flagged about a potential security issue.

When asked by a reporter whether France and other G7 countries had asked Trump to permit access to Anthropic's latest AI models, Macron said he made a forceful plea for the U.S. not to keep cutting-edge AI to itself.

Macron warned of a possible drop in value for U.S. firms pioneering the disruptive technology if they switch off access like a light switch. Macron backed his appeal for partnership among key democracies with an insurance policy: France, he said, will boost funding for its own AI industry, so it’s not left behind if international cooperation breaks down.

Democratic countries ultimately want to prevent authoritarian regimes from getting access to advanced AI systems, Macron said.

"So let us move forward together," he said. “Our relevant agencies must first cooperate so that, in the areas of security and cybersecurity, we have a smooth government-to-government relationship."

Altman said in his lunch speech, attended by the G7 leaders and more than a dozen AI bosses, that the technology's future must be shaped by people, democratic institutions and society as a whole, "not just by the companies building the most capable systems.”

“We need an international forum for discussion that establishes globally accepted standards for testing, provides expert and impartial analysis of capabilities and risks, and serves as a venue for cooperation among nations," he said.

Europeans have sought checks on American AI dominance

Even before the Anthropic episode, there was growing distrust of American companies dominating AI and other tech ecosystems. In Brussels, the European Commission unveiled a tech sovereignty package this month with plans to boost homegrown AI, and at the Vatican, the pope last month called for robust regulation of artificial intelligence.

Trump's intervention with Anthropic highlighted how Europe, Canada or other countries “can be put in an extremely vulnerable position” if they are cut off from advanced AI models, said Zach Meyers, director of research at CERRE, a Brussels-based think tank.

“There is a general anxiety about the state of Europe, the fact that we’re relying on other countries for quite important strategic infrastructure and a desire to do something about it, whatever that is,” Meyers said.

At the G7, Aidan Gomez, CEO of Canada’s Cohere AI, said a “number of proposals” were discussed on working together on AI governance and regulation.

“I think the consensus was we need something,” he told The Associated Press.

He said he told the gathering that democracies should focus their efforts on making sure the G7 “doesn’t just produce the most capable AI, but also the second most capable AI," a reference to the U.S. and China being the world's only two major AI powers.

Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, also attended the meeting, along with the heads of smaller AI labs, including France’s Mistral, Germany’s Black Forest Labs, Italy’s Domyn, Sakana AI of Japan and United Kingdom-based Synthesia.

The G7 comprises France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK. Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea were among guest nations invited to participate in some discussions.

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Chan reported from London.

The eight-day event highlights authentic merchant boat replicas, which were key in the beginning stages of Virginia’s economic prosperity.

Beginning on the Lynchburg waterfront, the festival moves along a 200-year-old route, stopping each day at historic towns and communities.

“My hope is that they are going to take away: an appreciation for a history that is vital to our development as a country that not that many people know about; they’re gonna take away some of the history lessons of the enslaved people and the freed people who were running these boats - and they’re also, my biggest hope, is that they are gonna come away with an appreciation of the river and the ecology around it.”

Daniel Tucker, Chairman

It all begins this Saturday and the journey will end up in the Richmond area at Maiden’s Landing June 27.

The airfield where the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday remained closed but other base operations have resumed, according to a base spokesperson. No cause has been determined. Officials said it could take six months to complete the investigation.

The victims were identified as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53; Retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34; Maj. Robert Dee, 40; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35; Jeromy Smith, 32; and Christopher Rischar, 41.

“They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates," Col. Thomas Tauer, commander of the 412th Test Wing at Edwards, said in a statement.

Watson, a weapons systems officer, and Middleton, a pilot, were Boeing employees and the company said their loss "is deeply felt across our teams, and our hearts remain with their families, loved ones and those who worked with them.”

Engineer remembered for his passion for flight

Rischar was a flight test engineer with government contractor JT4 who had worked at Edwards for 10 years, said his wife, Rebecca Rischar. She said he loved going to airplane museums and showing their two children, 15 and 14, different types of aircraft and how they functioned.

She recalled how her husband’s father, who also works at the base and had seen the crash, called her to ask if Christopher had been flying.

“I knew he was on that flight,” she said Wednesday. “It was routine, and if the plane went up, he was going up with it.”

Rebecca and Christopher met at a church youth group while attending the same high school in nearby Lancaster and had celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in April. He had just started helping their teenage daughter learn how to drive.

“Our marriage is not just for this life here on Earth but for eternity, so we are sealed together,” she told The Associated Press.

Bomber was part of a test program

The B-52 that crashed Monday was taking part in a test mission as part of a program aimed at making the 65-year-old bomber fleet operable through at least 2050. The bomber had arrived at Edwards in December after having a modernized radar installed at Boeing’s facility in San Antonio, an Air Force press release said at the time.

The plan was to use the bomber as a testbed throughout 2026 to help military officials decide whether to proceed with the B-52 Radar Modernization Program, the Air Force said.

For almost a decade before the plane served as a testing platform, it was based in Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, where the bomber was the flagship of the 307th Bomb Wing.

Its pilot, Col. Bruce Cox — an alumni of Texas A&M -- dubbed the bomber “The Spirit of Aggieland.” An Air Force press release from 2015 said that the bomber was “dedicated to former and future cadets that graduated from Texas A&M; University’s Corps of Cadets Program.”

Cox would go on to take his final flight aboard the bomber in 2017 before retirement, according to the unit’s Facebook page.

The crash came quickly

The aircraft took off shortly before noon on a clear day, heading southwest into the prevailing winds. It flew straight and crashed on the same 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway. The compact wreckage indicates the plane dropped sharply.

Aviation safety experts have said their first thoughts about what might have caused the crash were about a malfunction in the flight controls or engines, but it is much too early to know. Investigators will consider several factors, including the age and maintenance of the plane.

Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down at the base in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles (161 km) northeast of Los Angeles.

Lauren Smith told Eyewitness News KBAK-CBS and FOX58 that her husband, Jeromy Smith, was a flight test engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense and died doing what he loved.

“It is such a horrible hurt, and I’m still processing everything that happened,” she said Tuesday.

The B-52, a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955, is designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. It has been used in conflicts involving the U.S. military from Vietnam to Iran. .

Edwards is home to the 412th Test Wing, which conducts regular developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their life span. Test missions take place at Edwards daily, officials said.

The base is where Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached a speed of Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier in 1947.

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Rush reported from Portland, Oregon, and Toropin from Washington, D.C. Associated Press journalist Josh Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska.

The unexpectedly aggressive tilt toward higher rates would disappoint President Trump and suggests heightened concerns about persistent inflation among Fed officials.

In an unusually short statement after their two-day meeting, the officials dropped language that had suggested their next move would be to cut the key rate. The brief statement reflects the influence of new chair Kevin Warsh, who was appointed by Trump. Warsh has previously criticized the Fed for commenting too broadly on the economy.

Still, Warsh's 18 colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee sent a clear message in a set of quarterly projections released Wednesday: Nine signaled they supported higher rates this year, with six of those supporting two or more quarter-point increases.

It’s a sharp change from March, when no policymakers penciled in a hike and the committee as a whole forecast one cut in 2026. The change is an acknowledgement that inflation is at its highest level in three years and many officials have said in recent speeches that if inflation doesn’t decline, higher rates may be necessary in the coming months.

Warsh, in his first news conference as chair, also underscored the Fed's determination to bring inflation down to the central bank's 2% target, suggesting he will take a hawkish approach as chair. “Hawks” typically support higher rates to quell inflation, while “doves” often support lower rates to boost hiring.

“We’ve missed (on inflation) for five years and we’re going to fix that,” he said. “When we deliver on our price stability objectives, which we will, the American people will feel as though the hardships that they’ve been living through ... are in the rear view mirror.”

Warsh had supported rate cuts last year while under consideration to be Trump's pick as Fed chair to replace Jerome Powell. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump repeatedly attacked Powell for not cutting rates more deeply.

Warsh did not hint whether he was leaning toward hiking rates, but economists saw his message at the press conference as hawkish.

“The risk that they might need to raise rates has clearly risen given what we got today,” Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said.

Financial markets agreed. Stock prices fell sharply after the Fed issued its statement and Warsh spoke. Bond yields rose.

Trump, for his part, appeared to accept the Fed's decision.

“We have a very good guy over there now so I’m guided by what he wants to do,” Trump said in France, where he attended a meeting of leaders from the world's seven largest economies.

All told, another eight officials signaled they would support keeping the rate unchanged, and one penciled in a cut. Warsh did not submit a forecast for how the Fed might change its key rate.

In another shift, the Fed's post-meeting statement contained no hints about its next moves, or what economists refer to as “forward guidance.” Previous Fed chairs, starting with Ben Bernanke, saw such guidance as a benefit to the Fed, because it prodded financial markets to move rates either higher or lower, depending on what the Fed preferred.

Warsh told reporters at a press conference that guidance was not “well suited to the current policy conjuncture." He has previously criticized forward guidance, as well as the quarterly projections, for potentially locking the Fed into a specific rate path.

Warsh also said he is forming five task forces to examine such areas as how the Fed communicates, the sources of data it uses in making policy decisions, and the frameworks it uses to evaluate inflation, all with the goal of making sure the Fed is “clear-eyed and focused on the future.”

Diane Swonk, chief economist at accounting firm KPMG, said the use of the task forces indicates Warsh is not looking to impose changes on the rest of the Fed, but instead is seeking consensus.

“He wants buy in,” she said. "He’s not trying to change it by command.”

If the Iran war is resolved, gas prices will likely continue to decline and inflation may cool in the coming months. But prices of many goods and services — such as clothes, dental care, and child care — were rising before the Iran war, and inflation has been above the Fed’s 2% target for five years, suggesting that there may still be inflationary pressures in the economy.

Warsh also faces a sharply different economic environment than when he appeared to campaign for the job of Fed chair last year. Back then, he was outspoken in favor of lower interest rates, as Trump has demanded. He pointed to the development of AI as a technology that could vastly expand the economy's ability to produce goods and services cheaply, which would over time bring down inflation.

Even then, many economists were skeptical of his claim. At least in the short run, analysts note that soaring investment in semiconductors and computing equipment is contributing to higher inflation.

Indeed, since the Iran war began Feb. 28, inflation has accelerated to a three-year high of 4.2%, lifted mostly by costlier gas stemming from the Iran war. The Fed typically fights higher inflation by raising its key interest rate to cool spending and growth.

Trump has announced a peace agreement that could bring the three-month conflict to an end, but it's not clear if peace will hold. And even if oil flows freely out of the Middle East again, it could take months for prices of gas, groceries, and items such as airline fares, to cool.

At the same time, hiring has picked up in recent months, removing a key rationale for cutting rates. In January, the Fed forecast that it would reduce rates twice this year, as part of its quarterly economic projections. A big reason for those potential cuts is that employers were shedding jobs and policymakers worried that the unemployment rate would rise. The central bank typically cuts its key rate to spur economic growth and hiring.

But earlier this month a government report showed that hiring jumped in May, when employers added 172,000 jobs, the third straight month of solid job gains.

The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s attorney announced that Dance was sentenced to a total of 20 years to serve for the 2021 murder of Erica Boykin:

• Second Degree Murder, 40 years with 23 years suspended
• Use of a firearm, 3 years to serve
• Discharge of Firearm in Public with Serious Injury, 5 years with 5 years suspended.

Dance has also been ordered to submit to 2 years of supervised probation upon his release from incarceration, and must maintain good behavior for 40 years.

Feb. 20, 2026 UPDATE:

The Lynchburg Commonwealth’s attorney announced that Dance pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a murder and discharging a firearm in public, resulting in injury, in court on Friday.

Sentencing is set for June 17 at 1:30 p.m. After consultation with the mother of Boykin, the Commonwealth made an agreement to nolle prosequi one charge of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon and agreed to cap the sentencing argument at 20 years to serve for guilty pleas to Second Degree Murder and the other firearm offenses.

Original story:

A 23-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder, among other charges, in a deadly shooting in the parking lot of a Lynchburg Family Dollar in 2021.

Markeem Dance of Lynchburg was arrested in connection with the homicide of 23-year-old Erica Boykin.

Boykin was shot just before 6 p.m. on June 14, 2021 in the parking lot of the Family Dollar on Fort Avenue.

Dance was arrested on the following charges:

• Second-degree murder
• Use of a firearm in the commission of a felony
• Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
• Shooting within city limits - causing bodily injuries

Authorities said Dance was already in custody on unrelated charges. He is one of three suspects charged in connection with a shooting at Timbers Apartments in Lynchburg last week.

Dance is at Blue Ridge Regional Jail where he is being held without bond.

Anyone with information about the homicide incident is asked to contact Det. Miller at (434) 455-6160 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 798-5900. Enter a tip online at http://p3tips.com or use the P3 app on a mobile device.

Police said this remains an ongoing investigation.

The suit alleges the group, known widely as WPATH, made deceptive claims about gender-affirming care for minors and its members profited off the claims. Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas filed along with the FTC.

“Parents have a right to make informed decisions about their children’s health,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said on X. “The FTC will not allow parents and children to be deceived by medical organizations and providers who are prioritizing profit over children’s health and safety.”

The suit also alleges the group didn't disclose the side effects of certain pediatric medical transition services, including those related to hormone treatments, and doctors then repeated to consumers "false, misleading or unsubstantiated statements about safety and efficacy found in WPATH guidelines.”

It asks a federal judge to block WPATH from “future violations of the FTC Act” and other laws, and to award civil penalties and other financial awards to each of the states.

In a statement WPATH said its guidelines call for care that is tailored to individual patients, rather than a “one size fits all” approach.

“Transgender and gender-diverse patients deserve the highest level of care from their medical professionals," the group said, saying its standards are "designed to promote this through open dialogue and clear communication.”

Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University, said the lawsuit represented a “significant expansion” of the FTC’s past approach to healthcare enforcement.

He said the agency is using consumer protection law to challenge a medical association’s standards of care, and the FTC “has rarely, if ever, focused on the scientific justifications for clinical medical guidelines."

“This strikes me as especially concerning given the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to use transgender health as a cultural and political issue,” Gostin said. “The FTC would be highly unlikely to second-guess clinical guidelines in areas that do not align with its political agenda."

Leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services applauded the FTC's move, pointing to an HHS review that questioned WPATH standards. That report was sharply criticized by major medical groups and those who treat transgender young people as inaccurate.

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. involves developing a plan with medical experts and family members that includes supportive talk therapy and can — but does not always — involve puberty blockers or hormone treatment. Many U.S. adolescents with gender dysphoria may decide not to proceed with medications or surgeries.

WPATH has established widely accepted medical standards for gender-affirming care for more than 50 years, the organization’s website notes, based on “established scientific standards, expert consensus and patient-centered values.” The group does not directly provide medical care to patients.

The suit comes following an investigation by the agency into WPATH. The group sued to block the probe, alleging the agency was violating its First Amendment rights. A federal judge in May ruled in favor of WPATH to temporarily block the probe from continuing.

The FTC also launched investigations into the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society over their guidelines on gender-affirming care. Both of those groups also sued.

WPATH noted in a statement that a federal court has already ruled against the FTC over this effort when it blocked the investigation.

"WPATH is in a strong position to prove that the FTC is acting out of pure retaliation as part of the federal government’s relentless and targeted campaign to undermine gender-affirming care by attacking the First Amendment rights and the independence of professional medical organizations,” the statement said. “We expect the same result when we oppose this latest attack on WPATH and its mission to promote evidence-informed care and guidance for doctors and their patients.”

Fewer than 1 in 1,000 adolescents in the U.S. received gender-affirming medication — puberty blockers or hormones — according to a five-year study of those on commercial insurance released this year. About 1,200 patients underwent gender-affirming surgeries in one recent year, according to another study.

While the nation's largest professional organization for plastic surgeons in February recommended that gender-affirming surgeries be delayed until patients turn 19, most other major groups have stood by their guidelines to act on a case-by-case basis and use caution when considering surgery for minors.

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The story has been corrected to show that the proper name of the organization is the American Academy of Pediatrics rather than the American Association of Pediatrics.

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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.

Jamaica's National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang confirmed Tuesday that the country has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to accept up to 25 people from countries other than Jamaica every two weeks.

The deportees, said Chang, will not be placed in detention, though details of where they would be housed have yet to be determined. Compensation for accepting them is still being hashed out.

If the agreement is finalized, Jamaica would join Mexico, El Salvador, Uganda and a number of other countries that have agreed to accept third-country migrants deported from the U.S.

The move is already getting pushback from the Opposition People’s National Party, or PNP, which accused the Jamaican government of keeping the negotiations from the public.

The PNP argued that accepting the migrants places Jamaica’s internal security, international standing, and fragile social infrastructure at severe risk.

“Jamaicans deserve to know whether discussions have taken place and whether any commitments or understandings have been reached,” Donna Scott Mottley, a spokesperson for the opposition, said in a statement.

“Jamaica, like other sovereign nations, is obligated under international laws to accept the return of its own citizens,” Chang stated. “However, this new arrangement does not mean third-country nationals are being dumped on our shores. This is a structured, managed process to transit individuals through Jamaica to their final destination,” he added, drawing a hard line between repatriating Jamaican nationals and processing foreign citizens.

A U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that the administration is “utilizing all lawful options” to carry out deportations.

While a U.S. federal district court ultimately struck down the third-country removal policy as unlawful in February 2026 — ruling that the U.S. cannot dump migrants in undesignated nations without proper notice — the policy is still being enforced pending appellate action.

Widening rift in Caribbean

As part of its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has used a series of secretive agreements to deport more than 19,000 people to third countries, according to the group Third Country Deportation Watch, with some ending up in nations they had never even heard of.

Most deportees have been sent to Mexico, the group says, but over 1,500 have been scattered to more than 20 other nations, many of them poorer countries in Latin America and Africa looking for ways to curry favor with the U.S.

The diplomatic rift in Kingston mirrors a broader fragmentation across the Caribbean, where several governments have quietly entered into varying agreements with the U.S. to avoid crippling travel restrictions or economic penalties.

The Dominican Republic signed a non-binding agreement to temporarily hold a limited number of non-criminal third-country nationals, while explicitly barring unaccompanied minors and nationals from neighboring Haiti, a deal that also met with heavy criticism.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit defended a similar agreement as a “pragmatic step” to preserve vital bilateral relations with Washington, though stipulating violent offenders would be rejected.

Antigua and Barbuda adopted a highly restrictive case-by-case posture. Prime Minister Gaston Browne confirmed a framework capping total acceptances at a maximum of 10 non-criminal individuals.

Guyana is leveraging negotiations to solve its massive oil-boom labor deficit, exploring a U.S.-bankrolled framework to accept skilled, non-criminal migrants to fill an estimated 80,000-worker shortage.

For critics and human rights advocates, the legal and humanitarian risks of these third-country agreements are evident in the case of Orville Etoria, a Jamaican citizen who was deported from the U.S.

Etoria, who had lived in the U.S. for nearly 50 years after arriving as a child in 1976, had his green card revoked following a criminal conviction. Instead of being repatriated to Jamaica, Etoria was sent to Eswatini in July 2025. Upon arrival, Etoria and four other third-country nationals were stripped of due process and indefinitely detained at the Matsapha Correctional Complex, a maximum-security prison. After two months of intense diplomatic intervention from the Jamaican government, Etoria was repatriated back to Jamaica.

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