Balogun, the American leader with three goals, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday.

A red card triggers an automatic one-game suspension but American players learned of Balogun's availability when social media posts started popping up during the 10-minute bus ride Sunday from their hotel to training at the University of Washington's Husky Soccer Stadium.

“I think a lot of us thought it was AI at first,'” defender Chris Richards said. “We weren’t sure if it was true or not.”

Trump praised FIFA’s decision. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has repeatedly made efforts to grow close to Trump, even awarding him a FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw.

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a social media post.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished.”

“The decision is in direct contradiction with the provisions of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Competition Regulations,” it said in a statement. “In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options.”

Balogun’s red card and suspension for the round of 16 match had been one of the most controversial and consequential decisions of the World Cup.

“If you look at the foul, it was just zero intent at all,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said. “I felt like there was much worse ones that went on this tournament.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation learned of the decision in a message sent by FIFA in its portal at 10:31 a.m. EDT.

“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA announced. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

Balogun's three goals included one to give the U.S. the lead against Bosnia. He has matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

A 25-year-old who plays for Monaco, Balogun scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season. He has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London and in 2023 opted to change his national team affiliation from England, which he had represented at the under-21 level.

“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” Richards said.

The host U.S. is seeking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. The Americans lost in the round of 16 to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t qualify for the 2018 tournament.

The USSF said it will not make Balogun available for comment Sunday, but Balogun posted on social media a picture of himself in front of U.S. fans and overlaid with music of Michael Jackson's pop single “Bad.”

On Friday, Balogun said he thought a yellow card instead of red “would have been fair."

FIFA said its decision relied on Article 27 of disciplinary committee rules.

"The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure. By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years," the rule states.

FIFA in November deferred the final two games of a three-match ban for Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo for a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, allowing him to play at the start of the World Cup.

Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi and Ecuadoran midfielder Moisés Caicedo in April had one-game bans deferred for red cards in qualifiers, also allowing them to be available for World Cup openers.

Brazil’s Garrincha was ejected from a 1962 semifinal but allowed to play in the final against Chile after political pressure.

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson and AP Sports Writer Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

McMorrow’s exit comes after many Democrats increasingly viewed her as a long shot for the nomination. It also creates a fresh dynamic in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, forcing Democratic voters into a direct choice between Stevens, a mainstream congresswoman backed by much of the party establishment, and El-Sayed, supported by many progressive movement leaders.

The binary choice will be on full display Tuesday, when Stevens and El-Sayed are set to face off in a televised debate. During a May debate, El-Sayed repeatedly went on the offensive against Stevens, who mostly declined to engage directly with him.

McMorrow’s departure could also prompt influential Democrats who had stayed on the sidelines of the Aug. 4 election, due to relationships with McMorrow, to wade into the race because of concerns about El-Sayed’s electability in a general election.

The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one that the party must hold if it hopes to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections. The primary winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024.

McMorrow did not explain her decision, which comes after ballots have already been sent out. She did not say whether she make an endorsement in the race.

“Today, I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate,” McMorrow wrote.

“And I’m doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude," she said. “For our thousands of volunteers, for everyone who donated what you could — building a campaign with zero corporate PAC dollars. For my staff, who built this team up from nothing. I thank you.”

While McMorrow did not elaborate on her decision to exit the race, a person with direct knowledge said the biggest factor was the recent influx of outside spending boosting Stevens. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has poured millions into ads supporting Stevens, leaving both McMorrow and El-Sayed struggling to keep pace. The person, who would only speak on condition of anonymity, said McMorrow has no plans to endorse either remaining candidate at this point.

McMorrow's rivals reacted quickly to her announcement.

El-Sayed appealed to McMorrow supporters to join “our movement” and accused “party insiders” of “bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate.” In a post on X, he said, “We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.” Stevens described herself as “the strongest Democrat to defeat Mike Rogers this November” and said in a statement that she looked forward to working with McMorrow “to build a stronger Michigan for everyone.”

The race has increasingly split Democrats along ideological lines, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer backing Stevens and El-Sayed drawing the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and allies such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., although El-Sayed identifies as a progressive rather than a democratic socialist.

Michigan has one of the largest Arab American populations in the country.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced on Facebook that she was endorsing Stevens soon after McMorrow dropped out.

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Peoples reported from New York.

City Dogs Roanoke has released the following statement:

To our City Dogs families,

We are aware of the public announcement regarding our facility and understand that many of you have questions and concerns.

Our first priority has always been the safety and well-being of the dogs entrusted to our care. We are cooperating with the authorities and are working through the situation as quickly and responsibly as possible.

If you have been instructed to pick up your dog, please know that we will do everything we can to make the process as smooth as possible.

Because of the current situation, we are unable to comment on the specific allegations at this time. We appreciate your patience, understanding, and the support so many of you have shown us over the years.

Please know that all the dogs in our care are safe and are being well taken care of.

Thank you,

Lynda Knezovich, Owner, City Dogs Boarding & Playcare

The Roanoke Police Department is asking people with dogs currently at City Dogs to pick them up as soon as possible.

Police said the request is due to an active investigation being conducted by the department’s Animal Protection and Services Unit.

City Dogs is located at 801 Norfolk Ave. SW in Roanoke. The business can be reached at 540-206-3299.

No other details about the investigation have been released. We will continue to update as we learn more.

Sabalenka had beaten Osaka in all three of her previous matches with Osaka this year — including at the same stage of the French Open last month.

But this time Sabalenka couldn’t handle Osaka’s pace and flat groundstrokes, which had an even bigger impact than usual as her balls flew through the air faster on the warmest day of the tournament so far.

The temperature during the match reached 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit).

“She overpowered me,” Sabalenka said. “I felt like it was incredible level from her."

Besides Paris, Sabalenka also beat Osaka in Indian Wells, California, and Madrid this year.

“That really sucked,” Osaka said. “So I wanted to like turn it over and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to do that.”

When it was over, Osaka performed a few fist pumps, let out a brief smile and then placed her racket over her head and spun around in delight to celebrate her first career win on Centre Court.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court," Osaka said. "And to do it here, it really means a lot.”

It was Osaka’s first win over a No. 1 player since beating Ash Barty in Beijing in 2019. That was before Osaka, a former No. 1 herself, took breaks from the tour to manage her mental health in 2021 and for maternity leave that resulted in her missing all of 2023.

Osaka unleashed so much power that, during one point early in the second set, she practically pushed Sabalenka down to the ground.

When Sabalenka netted a backhand on Osaka's second match point, she smacked a ball high into the air: “I hit it outside of the stadium, I believe,” Sabalenka said.

During her on-court interview, Osaka said her mom’s Japanese cooking was “powering” her victories.

“So mom, I would really appreciate another meal tonight,” Osaka said, as her mom watching in the stands responded by forming a heart with her hands.

It’s the second straight Grand Slam in which Sabalenka has failed to reach the latter stages, after a stunning meltdown against Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarterfinals last month, after which Sabalenka said she “just want to quit tennis.”

This time, Sabalenka said she wanted to go “get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape.”

Sabalenka and Osaka have each won four Grand Slam titles and all of their major trophies have come on hard courts — at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.

Osaka is coming off the first grass-court final of her career, although she retired from the championship match in Bad Homburg, Germany, last weekend because of a foot injury.

Osaka will next face Karolina Muchova, who beat 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Before the match, Osaka came out in the white kimono she’s been wearing for her walk-ons at Wimbledon — which was inspired by a character in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Toward the end of the first set, one of Sabalenka’s coaches came down from the stands with four freshly strung rackets for her — presumably at a higher tension to better control Osaka’s pace.

Osaka set the tone early on with an inside-out backhand winner on her first break point to take a 2-1 lead in the opening set.

Then in the second-set tiebreaker, a series of errors from Sabalenka put Osaka in command.

Osaka saved the only two break points she faced and put 87% of her first serves in play — compared to 69% for Sabalenka.

“I didn’t play my best, and she played probably her best. Sometimes that happens,” Sabalenka said. “Sometimes you can go out there and do everything you can and still lose the match."

Osaka also led 8-5 in aces and 21-15 in winners in the match, which lasted less than 1 ½ hours.

“What could I do if the person is acing and hitting the lines, just going for her shots without any fear?" Sabalenka said. "She was just going for it.

“Level-wise, today,” Sabalenka added, “I wasn’t world No. 1.”

New women’s champion

Krejcikova’s loss ensures a new women’s champion at Wimbledon for the ninth straight time. She was the only former champion left in the women’s draw after Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Serena Williams all went out earlier.

No woman has won multiple Wimbledon titles since Williams won her seventh in 2016.

No. 4 Jessica Pegula also advanced by beating fellow American Iva Jovic 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic edges Federer

Earlier on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic beat 132nd-ranked qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for his 106th match victory at the All England Club.

That puts Djokovic one ahead of Roger Federer atop the all-time list for men’s match wins at Wimbledon, although he still trails Martina Navratilova’s 120.

Djokovic will next play the winner between third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 22 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

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

Crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” as they called for revenge over the Feb. 28 attack that killed the 86-year-old supreme leader and other top officials, triggering the war. Some hard-liners called for the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel had targeted top leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position. It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

The U.S. is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.

Ziba Naderi, a nurse attending the funeral Sunday, said Iran needed to heed Mojtaba Khamenei's commands. “I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do,” she said. “And we must listen to him.”

Top officials appear as the crowd size swells

Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at Tehran's Grand Mosalla for the late Khamenei and his family members killed in the strike.

On hand were Khamenei’s other sons, Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who had not been seen since the war. Revolutionary Guard head Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who was photographed for the first time since the war on Thursday, could be seen in the crowd by Associated Press journalists, flanked by plainclothes security forces and wearing a black baseball cap.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — who has led the negotiations with the U.S. — and Esmail Qaani, who leads the elite Quds Force of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also attended.

The crowd had grown from the day before. Mourners dressed in black carried banners and flags honoring Khamenei.

Some mention Trump by name as mourners call for revenge

Posters and graffiti at the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Why is the biggest bastard in the world still alive?” Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who emceed the event before the prayers, said to the crowd over loudspeakers, referring to Trump. “The world is no longer a good place” for Trump, he added as the crowd cheered.

“I came here to shout and seek revenge,” said Gholamreza Sabooni, a 29-year-old man who works in a grocery. “They killed our imam. We should kill their leader, Trump.”

The U.S. president was giving a speech at the same time across the world in Washington, D.C., for the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

“We’ve had tremendous success,” Trump said about the U.S. military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”

U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. The threats stem from Trump ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who had led the Quds Force. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran's crosshairs.

Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran's civilization during the war, among other threats.

Funeral postpones talks with US

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq, with authorities planning to drive his casket and others through the streets of Tehran on Monday. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s place of birth.

Authorities offered no attendance count for the event Saturday and Sunday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including Iran's nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The U.S. assisted 70 transits of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday, a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday. It called traffic steady along routes near Oman and Iran but still below prewar levels. The threat level remained “substantial” and mine clearance and surveying work continued.

“Our foreign policy should not be shaped in a way that allows our martyred leader’s blood to be dishonored,” mourner Mohammad Reza Sharifi said. He said he expected a “serious response” from Iran's government.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed.

Robinson, who last week agreed to leave the Knicks and sign with the Boston Celtics, wrote a Facebook post Sunday that addressed the injury and other mental health concerns he had during the season.

His injury emerged after the Knicks eliminated Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals and was strange because coach Mike Brown said it didn't happen on the court. It was originally called a broken bone in his hand.

But Robinson clarified Sunday that it was an injury to his knuckle after he returned from the Knicks' victory in Game 4 and learned one of his brothers had been hurt in a serious car crash.

“Upon returning to New York, I received an unexpected phone call, and my family members contacted me, informing me that my youngest brother had been involved in a car accident,” Robinson wrote.

“As the eldest sibling, I felt a deep sense of concern, and I immediately went into panic mode. I began returning calls and texts, and when I FaceTimed my brother, I thought he was deceased. He was wearing a neck brace, unresponsive, and not speaking. I broke down in tears, feeling like a failure for not being able to protect my siblings. Being 910 miles away, I felt helpless. In a moment of frustration, I banged my hand on my truck.”

Robinson has a fondness for trucks — one of his was in the Knicks' championship parade — but said his family was most important to him and referenced challenges that he faced last season while helping lead the Knicks to their first NBA title in 53 years.

“Before judging someone, it is essential to understand their circumstances, which may not be publicly known. Life is unpredictable, and it is how we respond to challenges that truly matters,” Robinson wrote, adding that he consulted with doctors.

“So at the end of the day I battled with so much throughout this season even made a huge sacrifice to not see my daughter as much this season because I needed to focus and lock in so she can have a better future than I did.”

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

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — collectively known as OPEC+ — announced on Sunday that seven countries would expand oil production by a combined total of 188,000 barrels per day in August. It was the fifth consecutive month OPEC+ agreed to raise oil outputs.

The participating countries in Sunday's decision are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

“The countries will continue to monitor and assess market conditions, and in their continuous efforts to support market stability, they reaffirmed the importance of adopting a cautious approach,” the group of oil producers said in a statement.

In the last month, market optimism caused crude oil prices to tumble before and after the U.S. and Iran reached an interim deal to end their fighting. As part of a broader memorandum of understanding, Iran agreed to allow ships to pass unimpeded through the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. agreed to end its blockade of Iran's ports.

More and more commercial vessels have since transited the strait, which before the war was a conduit for roughly a fifth of the world's oil. But ship traffic remains below pre-war levels, and tensions over the waterway continue. Iran’s joint military command warned as recently as Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the strait must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response."

Oil prices have continued to decline while negotiators for Iran and the U.S. try to reach a final peace agreement. Brent crude, the international benchmark, closed at under $72 a barrel on Friday. That's close to what it cost before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late Feburary — and far below soaring prices that in March climbed to nearly $120 per barrel.

The war created an energy crisis in much of the world. With most shipping blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, the limited production hikes pledged by OPEC+ in previous months could not counteract the impact on global oil supplies.

Early in the war, many major oil producers across the Middle East had to cut production because their crude had no where to go. S&P Global Energy said in a recent estimate that it did not expect Gulf oil production to rebound fully until at least the first quarter of 2027.

Energy experts have repeatedly warned that fuel prices and the cost of consumer good were likely to stay elevated long past the conflict's end.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters while previewing the upcoming summit in Ankara, where Trump also plans to meet with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Before returning to the United States on Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to have a news conference, Kelly said.

Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy comes as Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its fifth year. Both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Trump on Saturday, congratulating him on the July Fourth commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Zelenskyy said in a statement on X after his call that he and Trump spoke about the situation on the front lines of the war, where analysts say Russian advances have sputtered. Ukraine, has stepped up its attacks on Moscow and demonstrated its ability to strike deeper into Russia.

The Ukrainian leader said there is “a real prospect of ending this war,” and that conversation would continue at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that in Putin’s call with Trump, the Republican president reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine.

A senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity on Sunday to describe the administration’s approach said Trump feels a sense of urgency to bring the war to an end and will speak to Zelenskyy about how to do that. Trump is expected to follow up with Putin after his meeting with Zelenskyy in Ankara, the official said.

U.S. officials did not provide any details about the goals for Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa.

As Trump has grown frustrated with Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has complicated negotiations in the Iran war, the U.S. leader has repeatedly stunned many in the region by suggesting that Syria instead fight Hezbollah.

Al-Sharaa, who led an Islamic insurgent group and whose rebel forces ousted Bashar Assad as Syria's president, has said he has no interest in doing so. He has suggested Trump's comments were misconstrued, even as Trump has repeated them.

Like President Donald Trump, Burgum said he was 100% sure that vandals caused the damage to the century-old Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Trump has charged that a 350-foot gash was cut into the pool's liner in the midst of recent renovations, while Burgum described it as multiple cuts adding up to that figure. He also said the pool would have to be at least partially drained in the coming week to finish the repairs.

The repairs will not be opened up to new contractors, he said.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum told CNN's “State of the Union." ”Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony ... just like damaging any other government property could. But the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well."

Trump this spring pledged to beautify the Reflecting Pool before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations on July Fourth. Water was drained and the Republican president directed that the bottom be painted a color he called “American flag blue.” But after the site was restored, the water was plagued by an algae bloom for more than a week, and pieces of the new coating have appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, but Burgum said that was due to a safety issue related to the fireworks.

The evolving debate over the Reflecting Pool has inflamed the broader fight over Trump's aggressive push to overhaul Washington landmarks, including the White House, nearly two years into his final term in office.

Authorities have arrested more than a half dozen people in relation to Reflecting Pool damage, including former Olympian David Hearn, who was indicted last week on a felony of property destruction.

The top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, said Hearn ripped up recently installed sealant on the pool in “a deliberate act” that caused more than $1,000 in damage. She accused him of “forcefully and violently” pulling up the bottom liner “with both hands” and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.

Hearn's lawyers, Democracy Defenders Fund co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said the charges were “outrageous and should be alarming to every American.” Eisen and Dohrmann construed the case as representative of “the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.”

Burgum was asked and did not answer directly whether there was photographic evidence of vandals cutting the pool's liner. He was also asked whether Hearn should face a 10-year prison sentence, which is the maximum legal penalty for his charge.

“Just because you were a former something doesn’t exclude you from the law today,” Burgum told CNN. “The courts will decide.”

Meanwhile, questions loom over the no-bid contracts for the project that were awarded to vendors with prior ties to Trump.

Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

About 10 Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project.

“Taxpayers deserve a full explanation of how these failures occurred and who will be held accountable for correcting them,″ said a letter signed last month by six senators.

Burgum also appeared on ABC's “This Week.”

But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week’s summit in Turkey.

Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against NATO allies for spending too small a fraction of their national budgets on defense. But those problems were addressed at their summit last year, when U.S. allies committed to invest as much as America, in gross domestic product terms.

NATO's real problem now is turning that money into military capabilities, particularly as European countries worry about a possible attack from Russia.

Still, Rutte tried to put to bed any lingering concerns at a White House meeting last month, with a new pitch using a chart labeled the “The Trump Trillion” in gold letters — showing $1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017.

But Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.

“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I just want loyalty.”

Trump suggested he might have skipped the upcoming summit entirely were it not being hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It’s a sign that even Erdogan and Rutte — foreign leaders Trump seems to hold in rare esteem — will have their work cut out for them in keeping the summit on track.

Rutte set a new marker for flattery at the White House

Historically, the prime tasks of NATO’s top civilian official — always a European, never an American — have been to encourage consensus in an organization that makes its decisions unanimously, and to speak on behalf of all 32 member countries.

But during both of Trump’s terms, Rutte and his predecessor at the helm of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, have dedicated a huge amount of energy just to keep the United States inside their alliance.

Trump has threatened to leave NATO, dallied with pulling U.S. troops out of Europe and vowed to take over the island of Greenland — a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark. He has cast doubt over whether he would defend another member not spending enough on their military, eroding trust.

Rutte’s approach has been heavy on flattery. Last month’s carefully choreographed pitch in the Oval Office — with props redolent of an American flag — laid down a new marker, even for a man heavily criticized for likening Trump to a “daddy.”

The charts showed tens of thousands of U.S. jobs were being created and a backlog of $300 billion in European orders for military equipment — all thanks to the “leader of the free world,” Rutte said.

He pushed back, gently, on Trump’s complaints that NATO did not support the U.S. against Iran, noting that up to 5,000 U.S. planes took off from bases in Europe before an April ceasefire.

Trump has threatened to pull forces from Europe at a moment of peril

NATO cannot function without its biggest and most powerful ally. Europe is being pushed to fend for itself even as Russia, the historical reason for the alliance, poses a greater threat.

Last month, the Pentagon surprised its NATO allies by announcing that it was scaling back the number of troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if one of them came under attack. Trump has also sent conflicting messages about whether U.S. troop numbers would be lowered or increased.

The cutbacks and mixed messaging has undermined unity at the alliance, just as Russia has been probing Europe's defenses with drone flights near military bases across multiple countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

Flattery worked last year, but now there are new challenges

Each summit is meant to showcase the commitment to collective security — the all-for-one, one-for-all pledge enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s treaty. It’s only been invoked once, when allies came to America’s aid after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The last NATO summit was held in The Hague, the hometown of Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister. The Dutch royal family hosted dinner, and Trump stayed overnight at the king’s palace.

Rutte got the allies behind a major defense spending pledge, and Trump left a happy man, calling his NATO partners a “nice group of people.”

This year, the summit will be hosted by Erdogan, another key NATO member with an independent streak. His close ties to Trump may keep the American president at the table, but it’s unlikely to mend the rifts.

Rutte has tried to convince Trump that his European partners are spending so much more that America can safely turn its attention to security challenges posed by China while they handle the war in Ukraine.

But Trump wants more now, and his demand for “loyalty” is hard to capture on any chart.

Rutte’s predecessor, Stoltenberg, has written in his memoir about chairing a 2018 summit that Trump nearly upended.

“If an American president says he no longer wishes to defend the other allies and leaves a NATO summit in protest, then the NATO treaty and its security guarantee aren’t worth very much,” Stoltenberg wrote.

Leclerc surged past Antonelli at the start as the Mercedes driver dropped to third but the Italian was chasing Leclerc down in the final laps when he reported a steering problem. Leclerc took a landmark 250th victory for Ferrari under the safety car brought out by a spectacular spin into the gravel from third by Max Verstappen.

“Finally!” Leclerc said over the radio after taking the win. “This one felt particularly good, even if I wished it was a more normal ending.”

Leclerc leaped out of his car and ran to a crowd of Ferrari staff who surged forward to embrace him, toppling a crowd barrier onto their driver. Leclerc’s last F1 victory was at the United States Grand Prix in October 2024.

Antonelli's race falls apart

After Antonelli reported issues with his car, he came into the pits but that didn't help and he started dropping back through the field. Later, Verstappen's spin shook up the race again.

Antonelli's Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell went on to second to deny Ferrari a one-two finish, staying out on old tires when Lewis Hamilton came into the pits under the safety car.

Hamilton had fresh tires but couldn't use them because the race ended up finishing behind that safety car. He was third.

Hamilton held onto third after getting only a reprimand in a post-race investigation into allegedly infringing yellow-flag conditions. He said he was distracted by looking in his mirrors for Verstappen, not realizing he had gone off, and didn't notice the flag.

Antonelli was ninth across the line after ignoring the team’s pleas to retire the car so he could fight for the final points places. He ended up outside the points anyway. The Italian dropped to 16th with a time penalty for going off-track as he wrangled his damaged car around the corners.

Mercedes has dominated the 2026 season so far but reliability is becoming its weak spot.

Antonelli has now missed the points twice in three Grand Prix races after car trouble also derailed him when Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and Russell had a dramatic car failure in Canada in May.

The lack of racing at the finish was a disappointment to fans, especially after a graphic was wrongly displayed indicating the safety car would come in, leaving a one-lap sprint to the finish.

Russell gets title boost despite lack of pace

Second place for Russell revives his title chances even though the British driver had struggled for competitive pace all weekend. Antonelli's lead shrinks from 43 points over Russell to 25, the value of a single race win.

Russell had been fourth in the sprint, fourth in qualifying and was battling Verstappen for fourth in the race before the late drama.

“If I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better,” he said. “I need to be better.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports Germany the team believed Antonelli's car was damaged when he hit a curb on what he called a bittersweet day for the team.

Verstappen crash echoes Austria incident

When he saw a replay of Verstappen's crash post-race, Russell called the crash “weird” and questioned whether there'd been a problem with the rear wing on the four-time champions car.

If so, it would be the second time in just over a week that's happened to Verstappen, who was thrown into a barrier when his wing broke in qualifying in Austria.

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren after his teammate Oscar Piastri's race was ruined by early damage, while Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull.

The Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad were sixth and seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth for Audi. The two Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, ended up ninth and 10th thanks to Antonelli's penalty.

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

The report released late on Independence Day by the White House Domestic Policy Council comes in the midst of Trump’s aggressive campaign to overhaul some of Washington's most sacred cultural and historic institutions. Trump in March revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targeted funding for programs that advanced “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” as he continued a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.

"The Smithsonian Institution, and the National Museum of American History in particular, under its current leadership and current interpretive ideology, cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic,” according to the report by the council, which is led by a former top Trump speechwriter.

The authors added: “As this report shows, confirmed in the words of Museum leadership, this ideological capture has moved the Museum’s mission away from straightforward historical education and scholarship toward an extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.”

The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.

Historian Lonnie Bunch, the Smithsonian's current secretary, is the first African American to lead the institution. In an unrelated interview that aired Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Bunch said “the notion of being a more perfect union, not the perfect union, is really what motivates me.”

“I think what I want people to understand is that there is a responsibility to continue to make those aspirations available, accessible, meaningful to a whole range of people,” Bunch said. “And that, in essence, America’s greatest strength, it’s not running away from its history, but it’s understanding how that history shaped us and continues to shape us.”

Historian Anthea M. Hartig is the first woman to serve as director of National Museum of American History.

Trump's escalating effort to force changes at the Smithsonian marks the Republican president's latest move to transform cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, and his handpicked board voted to add his name to the building, only to have a federal judge later order the signage to be removed.

The administration also forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.

Trump has also imposed changes on historical sites beyond Washington, including in Philadelphia, where the administration won a court ruling last week allowing it to reinstall interpretive panels that critics say whitewash the history of slavery at the site of President George Washington’s home. Advocates, academics and officials have been concerned for months that the version that complies with Trump’s order could give a history that plays down the pain in the nation’s past in favor of a more triumphant view.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., accused Trump and his allies of trying to “rewrite history."

“There’s not one individual narrative that a president gets about our history,” Shapiro, a potential presidential prospect, said in an interview that aired Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.” “And any president should want to make sure that that full history is shared, that the American people are able to draw their own conclusions.”

Shapiro added, “If we understand where we came from, we’re going to have a better path forward."

Trump's Domestic Policy Council does not necessarily agree.

The National Museum of American History "confronts visitors with materials intended to undermine faith in American institutions and the longstanding shared ideals of the American people,” the council's report said. “We must be committed to restoring truth and sanity in how American history is presented and taught.”

In seeking to fulfill Trump's order, which he called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the review concluded by finding that the museum “by the intention and at the direction of current Museum and Smithsonian leadership, has become subject to institutional capture by a radical, activist ideology that is fundamentally opposed to telling the noble, honest story of the great country we know and love.”

According to the sheriff’s office, deputies hold active warrants for Lawrence William Richardson, whose last known address is in the 2300 block of Otey Street in Lynchburg.

Authorities said Richardson was reportedly involved in an attempted armed robbery on Oak Grove Drive in Madison Heights just before 8 a.m. Sunday, July 5. After the incident, investigators said he fled the scene on foot and is believed to be to the City of Lynchburg.

The sheriff’s office said Richardson should be considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information about the incident or Richardson’s whereabouts is asked to contact Investigator C. Tomlin with the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office at 434-946-9373.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Central Virginia Crime Stoppers by calling 888-798-5900, online through P3 Tips, by using the P3 Tips mobile app or by texting CVCS to 738477 to receive a link to an anonymous tip form.

One of the victims, a 21-year-old woman, was in critical condition while the others were described as being stable and expected to survive, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday.

The shooting broke out Saturday night in the courtyard of an apartment building about a block from the famed Coney Island boardwalk and not far from the site of the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest held earlier on the holiday.

The police commissioner said a suspect wearing a black mask fired into the courtyard where a family had gathered for a cookout. The shooter fled but police did recover a gun, Tisch said.

The four children shot are ages 6, 7, 12 and 14, Tisch said. There were no reports of any earlier disturbances at the gathering, she said.

“Minions & Monsters,” the seventh film in the “Despicable Me” franchise, earned $36.4 million at the holiday weekend box office, according to studio estimates for North America. “Toy Story 5,” a juggernaut that last week beat “Supergirl,” earned an estimated $31 million.

The Minions movie, which has the devious henchlings seeking movie glory in Hollywood's Golden Age, opened on Wednesday and earned an estimated $61.4 million in its first five days, according to studio estimates. The Minions are a popular franchise globally and “Minions & Monsters” has earned $160 million worldwide in its debut week.

Audiences looking for patriotic fare amid the United States' 250th birthday celebration had “Young Washington” to consider; it opened in third place with nearly $21 million. The movie focuses on George Washington's service during the French and Indian War.

That left “Supergirl” in fourth with just under $10 million at the box office, a steep 74% drop from its disappointing opening weekend.

The weekend box office was down year-over-year about 24%, according to figures compiled by Rentrak, though this summer is up from 2025 by nearly 12%. That's due in part thanks to the low-budget Gen-Z sensations “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” which took the sixth and seventh spots, behind Steven Spielberg's “Disclosure Day.”

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

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

1. “Minions & Monsters,” $36.4 million.

2. “Toy Story 5,” $31 million.

3. “Young Washington,” $20.8 million.

4. “Supergirl,” $9.6 million.

5. “Disclosure Day,” $6 million.

6. “Obsession,” $5.3 million.

7. “Backrooms,” $3.3 million.

8. “Jackass: Best and Last,” $2.7 million.

9. “Scary Movie,” $1.1 million.

10. “The Invite,” $800,708.

Authorities urged residents in parts of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, to remain indoors and shut their windows and doors due to toxic smoke from a burning recycling plant that was engulfed by a wildfire.

Another major wildfire broke out Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens. The fire department said 210 firefighters, backed up by volunteers, specialized teams and 29 aircraft, including water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed to battle the blaze burning through pine forest in the Mandra area. Authorities were racing to contain the blaze before nightfall, when aircraft can no longer perform firefighting operations.

In central Portugal’s Vouzela area, more than 1,200 firefighters backed up by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft tried to put out a blaze that broke out Thursday, according to the Civil Protection authority. The wildfire had burned across an area of 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) by Sunday, information from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite mapping agency showed.

The EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid said that Spain sent 120 firefighters and 45 vehicles as reinforcements to Portugal on Friday, while three firefighting aircraft from Italy and Spain were also dispatched to help.

By Sunday afternoon, the fire appeared to be abating somewhat, with Portuguese media quoting officials as saying it no longer had major active fronts but that some hot spots remained.

In Spain, a wildfire burning since Friday in the northeastern Girona region had burned nearly 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres), the EFE news agency said. Catalan Fire Service head of operations Eduard Martinez said the blaze had a perimeter of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and firefighters may not be able to bring it under control on Sunday, EFE said.

Toxic smoke from wildfire in northern Greece

On the other side of southern Europe, in Greece, a fast-moving blaze at a recycling plant broke out Saturday evening near the Oraiokastro suburb of Thessaloniki, triggering evacuation alerts for three suburbs and a facility housing 157 people with disabilities.

Strong winds fanned the flames, and around 160 firefighters were deployed to battle the flames through the night until water-dropping aircraft could take off at dawn, the fire department said.

Oraiokastro Mayor Pandelis Tsakiris said on Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that several businesses and homes were damaged but a clearer picture would emerge after authorities conduct a full evaluation.

A 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of having started the blaze through negligence by generating sparks with his vehicle that set vegetation near the road alight, the fire department said. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Sunday.

The fire came days after another wildfire in a nearby area killed a 12-year-old boy and his father.

Most fires in Greece caused by negligence, fire department says

Fire department spokesman Brig. Ioannis Artopoios, speaking on ERT TV on Sunday, said that about 85% of wildfires in Greece were caused by negligence, including through sparks generated through the use of agriculture machinery, discarded cigarettes and the use of outdoor barbecues. “This means most of them could have been avoided,” he said.

Greece suffers frequent, often devastating, wildfires during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023, which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece, was the largest wildfire recorded in the EU.

The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating an array of four satellites, launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.

So far this summer, Greece has been spared the heatwaves that have scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks. But it has still seen dozens of blazes across the country, both on the mainland and the country's islands.

New Jersey officials said Saturday that they began seeing what they believe are heat-related deaths as early as Thursday with most occurring in the central and northern parts of the state.

“Unfortunately, many of these individuals were found in homes without air conditioning,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington told reporters Saturday. "A few were outside their residences, some on the street and some even in parked cars.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the current weather “the hottest stretch we’ve seen in over 14 years.”

“The heat's hitting all of us, not just seniors, not just with underlying health conditions, people of all ages,” Sherrill said.

On Thursday, LaGuardia Airport in New York set a new record high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), topping the previous record of 101 F (38.3 C) set in 1966, according to Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.

Trenton, New Jersey, reached 101 F, which broke the record of 100 F (37.7 C) set in 1901. Newark’s high Thursday was 105 F (40.5 C).

Atlantic City, New Jersey, hit 103 F (39.4 C) on Thursday, breaking the city’s record of 100 F set in 1966, Jackson said. Atlantic City reached 105 F on Friday and 106 F (41.1 C) on Saturday.

Heat domes can be dangerous and combine very high temperatures with high moisture, Jackson said.

“In a lot of cases they also had direct sunshine,” he said. “It was relentless. It was multiple days. It was not as cool overnight, as well. The low Friday morning in Atlantic City was 80. The body can't recover as well. You just have that multiple day buildup and too much added stress on the body.”

But even as the heat moved to the east, lowering temperatures a bit, severe storms blew in with heavy winds that toppled utility poles and split trees, causing their boles and branches to fall onto power lines.

About 900,000 utility customers in parts of the central, eastern and southern United States were without electricity early Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.com.

More than 223,000 customers in Michigan and close to 170,000 in Pennsylvania had lost power.

PPL Electric reported 121,417 without power Sunday morning, including about 47,000 in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area.

Central Hudson in New York State reported that it had more than 430 reported downed wires on Sunday. The utility said about 50,000 customers were affected by the storm and that about 650 still were without power Sunday.

Amanda Vesper was putting her children to bed Friday evening when the first storm rolled through the Detroit area, knocking out her power.

“It didn't seem that awful. It got quite windy,” said Vesper, 40, of Commerce Township.

As of late Sunday morning, the electricity still was out.

“We've been going back and forth between a hotel and our home because we have dogs there,” she said. “We really can't stay there. I have a small child with autism. Our well runs on an electric pump.”

The outage also ruined the family's July 4 celebration.

“We had planned on having company over at the house, but had to cancel,” Vesper said. “I went grocery shopping. I'm hoping my freezer holds.”

Jackson, with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sunday will see heavy thunderstorms in and around the Cleveland area. Those storms then will shift eastward and move into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — where chances exist for flash flooding, he added.

As of 12:16 a.m. this morning, the missing girl was located.

Authorities are asking for the public’s help in locating a missing 14-year-old girl who was last seen Friday night in northwest Roanoke.

According to a Star City Alert issued by local authorities, the missing teen is a 14-year-old Black female who is autistic. She was last seen around 9 p.m. in the area of Springhill Drive NW.

Police said she has a scar near her right eye and was wearing a black shirt with a cat on the front, black leggings, pink socks and black Crocs. Her hair was reportedly styled in a ponytail when she was last seen.

Anyone who sees the girl or has information about her whereabouts is asked to call 911 immediately.

No additional details were immediately available.

The five-day preliminary hearing that starts Monday will be the first time members of Kirk's family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a text message confession to his partner and left a note saying he had an opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices “and I’m going to take it.”

He has not entered a plea in the case, however.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence.

Months of legal jostling leading up to the hearing centered largely on media access. Beginning Monday, the focus shifts to whether there is enough evidence for a trial and if the death penalty is warranted, said Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and former federal judge.

Cassell said evidence made public to date in court filings suggests prosecutors have “an overwhelming case.”

“This seems like the proverbial slam dunk at this stage of the case, where the only issue is whether there is a sound basis for moving forward with a trial on the merits,” he said.

A death sentence is an option in Utah only when a crime has aggravating circumstances. Prosecutors will argue in Robinson's case that Kirk’s shooting endangered others in attendance.

The proceeding will resemble a minitrial, with prosecutors planning to offer DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk's killing. They are not required to present all their evidence and can use secondhand information, or hearsay.

After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.

Reporters and the public will be allowed to attend after Graf denied a defense request to restrict access.

Kirk’s killing drew backlash from his Republican allies, including President Donald Trump, who first announced Robinson’s arrest in a Sept. 12 interview on Fox News and said, “I hope he gets the death penalty.”

This week prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle.

Robinson’s parents had confronted him after authorities released a surveillance photo of the suspect and details about the rifle, authorities have said. His parents convinced him to meet with a family friend, who is a retired sheriff’s deputy, who reportedly helped arrange for Robinson to turn himself in.

Prosecutors have said Robinson left a note for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” They also said he wrote to his roommate in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block prosecutors from using recorded statements from Robinson’s roommate during the hearing. The defense wanted the roommate to testify in person so Robinson could exercise his right challenge the credibility of witnesses against him. Graf said the time for challenging witnesses would come later.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

His widow, Erika Kirk, who took the helm of the organization after his death, pushed to maintain public access to Robinson’s prosecution when defense attorneys sought to exclude cameras from the courtroom. She forgave Robinson during her husband’s memorial service.

She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband's parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

We are starting this morning with some sunshine and comfortable temperatures in the 70s before heat quickly builds throughout the afernoon. Highs reach the mid 90s with scattered showers and thunderstroms developing around lunchtime and continuning through the afternoon.

Heat remains a concern across the region today, with major, moderate, and minor heat risk levels in place across southwest Virginia. The greatest impacts are expected east of the Roanoke Valley and into Southside. Stay hydrated, take frequent breaks, and limit prolongued outdoor activity during this aftrnoon.

Most of southwest Virginia is under a level 1 out of 5 Marginal Risk for severe weather this afternoon and evening. While storms will be scattered, a few could produce damaging wind gusts, lightning, and locally heavy rainfall.

Storms begin to kick off this afternoon around 2PM to 3PM as daytime heating peaks, with scattered showers and thunderstorms moving aocrss the region through the afternoon. Not everyone will see rain, but some storms that develop today could become strong with heavy downpours and gusty winds.

An active weather pattern continues through much of the week with daily chances for afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms. Temperatures will gradually become more seasonable, but highs will stay around 90 degrees for much of the upcoming week.

Armed with loudspeakers, horns and fireworks, the crowd gathered outside the JW Marriott hotel in Santa Fe, in the western part of Mexico City and did its best to disturb the guests.

Earlier in the week, “El Tri” supporters deployed the same tactics before a crucial match against Ecuador — Mexico won 2–0 — prompting the Ecuadorian football federation to file a formal complaint with organizers.

England manager Thomas Tuchel anticipated the disruption but downplayed its potential impact.

“We have a 6 p.m. (Sunday) kickoff, so if we miss some hours of sleep, we’ll make them up in the late morning,” Tuchel said on Saturday.

These late-night hotel “serenades” are an entrenched and polarizing tradition in Latin American football. While they began as a passionate display of support for the home team, they have increasingly evolved into a psychological weapon designed to deprive opponents of sleep.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Stoned Climbers festival, which took place last week in the Zhytomyr region, is Ukraine’s biggest outdoors event combining climbing and live music. Like many public events in wartime Ukraine, the festival blended ordinary leisure with reminders that the war is never far away.

Visitors received multiple air raid alert notifications on their phones throughout the weekend. Soldiers on leave quietly blended into the crowd, while organizers directed all profits from this year’s festival to a fundraising initiative supporting Ukraine’s Azov Brigade. Unlike last year, however, no Russian drones or missiles crossed the sky above the campsite on their way toward Kyiv.

The volunteer-run festival was launched in 2023 by about 15 friends who had spent more than a year climbing together after becoming fascinated by Yosemite’s climbing culture.

The U.S. national park has long been regarded as one of the birthplaces of modern rock climbing, where climbers built a counterculture around sleeping in tents, living out of vans and spending months on the granite walls of the valley.

“We realized climbing could be much more than just a sport,” said festival co-founder Dmytro Isaienko, 39. “It’s about a specific way of life — in nature, camping, on the rocks.”

Isaienko and his friends wanted to challenge the perception that climbing was reserved for elite athletes. Their first festival attracted about 150 visitors. This summer, attendance grew to more than 500, most of them beginners or amateur climbers.

Organizing the festival during wartime has given it a broader purpose, Isaienko said. He believes creating places where people can gather, learn new skills and spend time together has become a way of sustaining one’s well-being through a prolonged war.

“You need to get away from the war for a while,” he said. “Leave Kyiv and come spend some time here together, a little longer than usual.”

A climbing community grows even as war grinds on

On the rocks below, instructors help complete beginners fasten their harnesses, chalk their hands and search for the next hold on the granite wall. Whenever someone reaches the top of the 25-meter (82-feet) cliff — often for the first time — spectators, instructors and climbers break into applause.

Among the festival’s newcomers was 21-year-old Liliia Karpach, who traveled from Ukraine’s western Lviv region for her first Stoned Climbers festival.

“I decided to come because it had been a very long time since I’d climbed on real rocks,” she said. “I also wanted to meet the community in person and get to know new people.”

She said climbing is mental as well as physical exercise, and hopes others will give it a try.

“If you’re really nervous about coming on your own, invite some friends,” she said. “Even if neither of you knows how to climb, you’ll have a good time together.”

Helping first-time climbers gain that confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of the festival for instructor Andrii Lamei, 24.

While belaying a young woman during her first climb, he calmly talked her through the most difficult part of the ascent. As she climbed higher, her movements became more confident. After reaching the top, Lamei encouraged her to pause before descending.

“Look around,” he shouted. “Enjoy the moment. You made it.”

“Climbing helps you work with stress,” Lamei said. “It helps you manage stressful situations in everyday life.”

He dreams of climbing outside Ukraine one day but, like most Ukrainian men, he cannot leave the country while wartime travel restrictions remain in place.

“I want to go across the border to visit Yosemite, to visit Norway's mountains, but I can’t,” he said. “But maybe this is how I’m forced to enjoy what I have here.”

For Isaienko, that is precisely why festivals like Stoned Climbers matter.

While many Ukrainians have put parts of their lives on hold during the war, he hopes the community taking shape around the cliffs shows that new traditions can still emerge.

“This is a festival for everyone,” he said. “Including people who have never tried climbing before.”

And each time another first-time climber reaches the top, the applause rising from the rocks below suggests that, little by little, that community is growing.

Wildfires have spread across the West fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow, forcing residents from their homes as crews work to tamp down the flames.

Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were killed Saturday, June 27, and two others sustained burn injuries when they were overcome by flames from fast-moving fires in Mesa County. They deployed emergency protective shelters, which are considered a “last resort” for firefighters when there is no other way out.

They were assigned to a Helitack crew that can be dropped into remote areas by helicopters and whose mission is to prevent new fires from growing into out-of-control blazes.

Their deaths came almost 13 years to the day since an elite crew of 19 wildland firefighters died when they were trapped in a steep canyon in Yarnell, Arizona.

A memorial service will be held for the three firefighters at 11 a.m. Sunday at Las Colonias Park Amphitheater in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Emily Barker

Barker, 38, had so much spirit, and the people around her always strived to be a better person by her presence, said Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch, a friend and former roommate.

Barker was from Clinton, Michigan, and liked hiking, skiing, dirt biking and playing hockey. She loved firefighting.

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to work,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said. She added that her friend was an expert who helped pave the way for many women in the industry.

She said she is hopeful that Barker’s death opens people’s eyes to the hard work firefighters are putting in day in and day out.

“I just hope that Emily knows the impact that she left on everybody else, and how many people really truly love her,” she said.

Nick Hutcherson

Hutcherson, 27, served in the U.S. Navy and had plans to become a physical therapy doctor, according to the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona where he was assigned. He was also an active member of the Northern Arizona Deaf and American Sign Language community and was a dedicated Muay Thai practitioner who trained at Southside Combat Academy in Flagstaff.

Hutcherson was from Glendale, Arizona.

The Kaibab National Forest said it is heartbroken over his death. Hutcherson exemplified the agency's commitment to serving the public and the courage wildland firefighters bring to the job, it said.

The combat academy described Hutcherson as a warrior and said it is forever grateful to have known him and to have fought alongside him.

“We lost a good one,” read a social media post. “If you met Nick, you loved Nick. He was such a gentle and genuine soul. We are still in disbelief.”

Sydney Watson

Watson, 27, was from Warrior, Alabama, and graduated from the University of Tennessee Southern, according to the university.

A former pitcher on the softball team and “a quiet, composed leader,” Watson was assigned to the U.S. Wildland Fire Service Rifle Helitack crew, the university said in a statement.

In 2023, Watson participated in a program in North Carolina organized by the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges, the collaborative group wrote in a statement.

In her application for the program, she said she wanted to see more women on the fire line and to work with and learn from other women in the fire industry, the statement said.

“It’s hard for people outside of the firefighting world to understand why we do what we do. We do it because we love it. Sydney loved it,” the group wrote.

Hussam Abu Safiya who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war.

He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help before he was arrested in December 2024. He has not been charged.

The Israeli military said Abu Safiya, 53, was being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. Staff and international aid groups that worked with him deny the claims.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said Abu Safiya appeared extremely weak and struggled to sit upright during a visit on July 2. Odeh said he had recent head injuries around his eyes, ears and neck and experienced difficulty breathing.

Odeh and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said they have petitioned to have Abu Safiya transferred to another facility.

Abu Safiya faced physical and psychological abuse and was kept in solitary confinement for extended periods, Odeh said following an appearance before Israel’s Supreme Court last month challenging his continued detainment without charge.

Abu Safiya appeared briefly by video during that hearing, looking pale and gaunt and with lash-like marks on both arms.

Israel’s Prison Service called the allegations “false and entirely without factual basis.” The prison service declined to discuss the case directly, citing privacy concerns, but said all prisoners and detainees are held in accordance with the law and receive medical care based on Ministry of Health guidelines.

“The Israel Prison Service rejects allegations of abuse, torture, starvation, or denial of medical treatment,” the prison service said.

Israel has faced severe criticism over its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the start of its war with Hamas in October 2023. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have alleged systematic patterns of abuse.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli detention surged after the start of the war and thousands remain in detention. The Associated Press has previously reported on the dire conditions in prisons.

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, after the Gaza-based militant group led an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage. Since then, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Speaking in Washington after storms prompted a roughly two-hour evacuation of the National Mall, Trump honored veterans, including several from World War II and one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat in Vietnam. They appeared before flags that symbolized some of the most significant and challenging moments in American history, from the one that was draped over Abraham Lincoln's casket to the one that flew on the plane piloted by the Wright Brothers.

Yet Trump also leaned into partisan territory unusual for an Independence Day address, which presidents typically use as a moment to unify the country. Instead, he stumped again for the SAVE America Act, an elections bill that's encountering challenges even from Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress. He highlighted his support for the Second Amendment and revived denunciations of communism, which are becoming an increasingly central part of Trump's message ahead of the November midterms.

The speech capped a holiday that Trump has gone to great lengths to shape to his own tastes. He was introduced by two musical performers who often appear at his trademark rallies, including Lee Greenwood, who performed “God Bless the USA.” The event organizers were largely aligned with the White House, supplanting a bipartisan organization that was launched by Congress a decade ago.

“We will always be on top,” Trump said. "We will never let our country fall. We will always be the best.”

Trump didn’t talk about himself as much as he does during his normal rally speeches. Still, he still found time to include a joke about seeking a third presidential term and about World War II’s “greatest generation.”

“They are the greatest generation,” Trump said. “I hate to admit that, but they are.”

Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own. Organizers of celebrations months in the making had to adjust or cancel activities entirely as much of the East Coast sweltered under heat that approached and in many cases surpassed triple digits.

Heat is defining the big weekend in many places

Severe weather prompted the cancellation of celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut, along with Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Spectators at Boston’s fireworks and concert were told to briefly seek shelter before events later resumed. An evacuation was also ordered in Philadelphia. New York and Pittsburgh moved forward with fireworks but shifted the time to accommodate the shifting weather.

The disruption was particularly acute in Washington, where signs at the Great American State Fair posted an alert shortly after 7 p.m. ET encouraging participants to leave the area. Crowds gathered in museums, subway stations and federal buildings near the Mall. At the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center they waited in chairs and sat on the floor to cool off in the air conditioning.

Crowds were building in the area several hours before the evacuation. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd.

“If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American,” she said.

David Koshko, 42, and his wife, Jennifer Koshko, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, came to Washington for a baseball game but planned to stay for the city’s fireworks show. After baking in the heat for hours during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ win over the Washington Nationals, they took a break in the shade of an overpass near the National Mall to plot their next stop.

“Just to be a part of the 250 years (anniversary) is an amazing thing,” said David Koshko, a commercial driver and veteran of the Marine Corps reserves.

In Philadelphia, fireworks began to crack as early as midday in the birthplace of the nation near the site where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Hundreds of visitors were gathering at Independence Hall in the sweltering heat to await the celebrations coinciding with the France-Paraguay World Cup knockout game at Philadelphia Stadium, which began with commemorations of the holiday.

“It’s one big party in here,” Carlos Alban, who traveled to Philadelphia from Chicago to watch the match, said as he arrived at the stadium, adding that he spotted a fan in the parking lot dressed as one of the Founding Fathers.

In New York, tall ships, with their masts, rigging and white sails outlined against a blue sky, made a procession around the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River, recalling the fanfare around America’s 200th anniversary in 1976.

The 43 ships were followed by a display of aerial might with a stealth bomber and the Navy's Blue Angels. Patrouille de France, the French Air Force's acrobatic teams, flew over New York Harbor with their red, white and blue trails, evoking images of the American flag.

“We got up early and just rode our bikes about a mile down here to come see the scene,” said Oona Moore, a Jersey City, New Jersey, resident who took in the New York festivities. “We saw the tall ships and we saw the planes, you know, all different manner of military aircraft. I’ve never seen it so close and in the sky at the same time.”

At George Washington's Mount Vernon, people took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. They stood with eyes closed and hands over hearts for the national anthem.

In Phoenix, Steven Dortch, 25, and his brother JayLn Dortch, 23, gathered at Granada Park to try to forge a new July 4 cookout tradition. JayLn Dortch said young people in the U.S. give him hope by thinking for themselves and not taking the words from older people at face value.

He said the country needs to keep in mind the everyday, hardworking people who “keep America going.”

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the last name of a holiday visitor to Washington. It is Jennifer Koshko, not Koskho.

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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, Emily Wang in New York, Luis Andres Henao in Philadelphia, Kristie Rieken in Houston, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Safiyah Riddle in Los Angeles and Jesse Bedayn, Anna Johnson, Will Weissert and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.

Two others were injured in the attack on northern Crimea, including one in a serious condition, the Russia-installed regional Gov. Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram. He did not give details of the attack.

In recent weeks Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on key infrastructure targets in Crimea as Kyiv’s military seeks to isolate the vital Russian-held peninsula in the latest stage of the war.

The peninsula was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine’s increasing use of long-range strikes has highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and put added pressure on the Kremlin while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt, Western analysts and officials say.

The latest attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump on ending the war.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said he called to congratulate Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and that the two leaders discussed the situation along the front line.

“There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America’s determination will be crucial. We agreed to continue the conversation in person during the NATO summit in Ankara,” he said late Saturday.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump discussed the conflict in Ukraine in a “constructive” phone call on Saturday.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence during the call that lasted nearly an hour and half, their fourth conversation so far this year.

Ushakov said that Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine, while Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will continue mediation efforts and stand ready to visit Moscow.

The Kremlin adviser said Putin once again emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”

At the same time, Putin charged that Kyiv and its European allies are “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” arguing that “the European ‘party of war’ proceeds from a flawed perception of the overall situation and the state of things along the line of contact,” Ushakov said.

He added that Putin told Trump about the “real situation on the battlefield, where Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one settlement after another.”

The Russian leader specifically mentioned the capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostyantynivka, describing it as a key step toward the “liberation” of the entire Donetsk region.

Kyiv has denied the Russian claim of capturing Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s General Staff reiterated that the embattled city remains under Ukrainian control in a statement on Telegram on Sunday, a day after Zelenskyy said that Russia's claim to have taken control was “just another Russian lie.”

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Two villagers died in a mountain flash flood Saturday evening in the eastern part of China's Inner Mongolia region, the official Xinhua News Agency said. One drowned while herding cattle and the other fell into water while driving a cattle herd away, the report said.

Three other people died the same day in neighboring Liaoning province's Fushun city, about 390 kilometers (240 miles) to the southeast, Xinhua said. It did not provide details on how they died.

A heavy rainstorm battered Fushun for several hours early Saturday with rainfall of up to 32.9 centimeters (13 inches) in one area, according to state media reports. Video posted online showed streets turned into lakes. About 3,600 residents were relocated to safer areas.

In southern China, Tropical Storm Maysak headed north into the Guangxi region on Sunday after making landfall the previous night with winds of 101 kilometers (63 miles) per hour in neighboring Vietnam's Quang Ninh province. It weakened from severe tropical storm to tropical storm strength as it moved inland.

Rivers overflowed in Guangxi's Fangchenggang city, submerging cars up to their roofs, footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed. Rescuers used inflatable boats to reach trapped people. Residents described it as the most severe flooding in two decades, according to a China News Service report.

In Vietnam, the storm knocked down trees and ripped metal roofs off buildings in the town of Mong Cai on Saturday evening, Vietnamese state media said. Crews used chainsaws and heavy machinery to clear debris and reopen roads after the winds subsided.

Maysak also uprooted trees in Dongxing, a city that borders Vietnam. The tropical storm dumped rain on China's Hainan island last week before crossing water and making landfall again in Vietnam.

The game at the iconic North Side ballpark was delayed by fog for 15 minutes after the sixth inning. The Cardinals led 2-0 when play was stopped, then went on to win their third straight.

The crowd of 38,872 joined in singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as the delay began. The early 1970s hit song has re-emerged during the World Cup soccer tournament, with U.S. players joining tens of thousands of fans in singing it at the end of matches.

The rare Saturday night game at Wrigley started an hour late due to rain, then fog billowed in from the north starting in the second inning and got denser.

The visibility became so poor that players said they would lose sight of the ball. They struggled and called out tracking fly balls, but there were no misplays.

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. "I've never seen anything like that so, I’ll just leave it at that. It was reminiscent of when like I was kid playing rec ball, soccer and stuff like that. Yes, you could see the ball hitting the bat, then not so much."

Crow-Armstrong, a Gold Glove winner last season, somehow caught Masyn Winn's deep fly for the second out of the sixth. He drifted to the edge of the warning track, then dropped to one knee to do it.

“I don't know how he saw my ball, to be honest with you,” Winn said. “When the ball was getting above the lights, I just thought it disappeared. I was crazy to me.”

Winn, the Cardinals shortstop, said he had a tough time seeing on the field.

“Right when they hit it, you could see kind of the direction of where the ball was going” Winn said. "And you know, as soon as it touched, like light level, it was gone. It was weird.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh this is pretty damn cool.' It felt like this was a sick game to play on July 4. But by the end of it, I was, like, ‘This is crazy.’ Nobody could see anything.”

Winn said Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbar told him he couldn't see the hitters. Nootbar went on to catch Dansby Swanson's drive against the wall for the final out of the seventh after the fog subsided.

Nootbar said he thought Swanson's ball was headed to the stands for a two-run homer, but the wind that had pushed the fog into the ballpark kept Swanson's fly inside as well.

“I'm glad they didn't put more balls in the air, because we probably would have been in some trouble,” Winn said.

The umpires conferred with St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol and Chicago’s Craig Counsell after the sixth. Then the delay was announced on video boards as the result of “weather in the area.”

Marmol said it was the right call.

“There was a point there where no one on the field could see where the ball in play was,” Marmol said. "Thankfully we got a groundball to short with some punch-outs involved, because it would have been very circus-like otherwise.

“So good job pausing the game, letting (the fog) go through and then continuing, because that was different.”

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Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri arrived in Los Angeles and “is finally reunited with his family,” Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation wrote on X.

He and 17 other leaders of the underground Zion Church were detained in October in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades, raising worries over an escalation in the government’s curtailing of religious freedom.

A family statement said Jin's release happened very quickly. It thanked Trump and said they know the release could not have happened without Xi’s direct intervention.

“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the statement said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jin’s case gained attention after Trump, on the way home from a state visit to Beijing in May, said he raised with Xi the detentions of both the pastor and that of imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai.

“He said he’s gonna strongly consider the pastor,” Trump told reporters on his flight. But, he said, Xi told him that Lai's case “would be a tough one.”

The 78-year-old Lai, a former clothing magnate and publisher of a Hong Kong tabloid critical of Beijing, received a 20-year sentence in February.

Activists welcomed Jin's release but also remembered other church leaders still being held.

“At least 8 members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” Maya Wang from Human Rights Watch wrote on X. “They should all be freed.”

The Zion Church is among the largest underground or house churches in China that are unregistered with authorities. They defy a requirement that believers worship only in registered congregations.

The ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, views organized religion as a potential threat to its hold on power. Under Xi, Chinese authorities have pushed to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the party.

“My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere,” his daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States, told a congressional committee in November.

Jin brought his family to the U.S. after authorities targeted Zion Church in 2018 but decided to go back despite the risks. His daughter said last fall that she hadn't seen her father in six years.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

The 36-year-old Gray allowed a run and four hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking two, to improve to 10-1 with a 2.61 ERA — the second-best mark in the American League. He has six straight quality starts since May 30, going 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA.

But when All-Star rosters were announced Saturday, fellow starter Ranger Suarez and closer Aroldis Chapman were Boston’s only picks for the AL team.

“I was disappointed, a little bummed, for sure,” Gray said. “I’m just being honest, you know? I’m happy for Ranger, and I’m happy for Chappy, for sure. They’re very well-deserving. But a little selfishly, yeah, I was disappointed.”

Gray carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning of his previous start, a 7 1/3 inning, one-hit, nine-strikeout, 97-pitch effort in a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees last Sunday.

Interim manager Chad Tracy thinks there is a good chance that Gray will be added to the AL roster.

“When the All-Star Game happens, there’s so much roster fluctuation — it happens every year with pitchers who can’t go, people are hurt, people back out,” Tracy said. “Things happen, so I’m still holding out hope for a couple more guys on the team who I feel are deserving.”

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Prosecutors will lay out their evidence against Tyler Robinson in a five-day preliminary hearing. When it is over, the judge will decide whether the case will proceed to trial, with the death penalty as a possible punishment if he is convicted.

Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents are expected to be in the Utah courtroom, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Robinson has not entered a plea.

Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was a top podcaster and ally of President Donald Trump. He led an effort to remake the Republican Party’s get-out-the-vote effort in the 2024 election.

Here are moments leading up to Kirk’s event, his death and the charges filed against Robinson. All times are local.

Aug. 29

Ahead of Kirk's visit to Utah Valley University, a change.org petition is started titled “Prevent Charlie Kirk from speaking at Utah Valley University.”

Sept. 3

Utah Valley University releases a statement affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue.”

Sept. 10

Approximately 11:51 a.m.: School surveillance cameras capture the suspected shooter walking onto campus, according to charging documents.

Noon: Kirk kicks off his event in the Fountain Courtyard of the university's Orem Campus.

Approximately 12:20 p.m.: Kirk is taking questions from an audience member about gun violence when a shot rings out. Authorities say the shot came from a distant roof.

12:23 p.m.: A Utah Valley University police officer states, “Alpha 34, we have shots fired. Charlie Kirk is down,” according to a broadcast recording from the department's dispatch line made available by OpenMHz. Shortly afterward a different officer notes that there has been gunfire, and Kirk is “on his way to the ambulance. He’s on his way to the hospital.”

12:39 p.m.: FBI agents arrive on the scene, according to FBI Director Kash Patel.

Around this time, videos begin to appear on social media that show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans ”The American Comeback” and ”Prove Me Wrong.” A single shot rings out, and Kirk reaches up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away.

12:47 p.m.: Utah Valley University issues an alert that says a “single shot” was fired. It also says the suspect is in custody.

2:40 p.m.: Trump announces on social media that Kirk has died.

2:45 p.m.: Orem Mayor Dave Young says the suspected shooter remains at large.

4:21 p.m.: Patel says on social media that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.”

4:30 p.m.: During a news conference, authorities confirm Kirk was brought to Timpanogos Regional Hospital and died there. They say no one is in custody.

5:59 p.m.: Patel posts on social media: “The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency.”

Exact time unknown: Robinson sends a text to his roommate that says, “look under my keyboard.” Under it is a note that says, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” according to charging documents.

Robinson and his partner continue to text, with his partner appearing to be shocked, according to court documents, asking Robinson “why he did it and how long he’d been planning it.” In another moment of the exchange, which was released by authorities and did not include timestamps, Robinson writes about potentially trying to retrieve his rifle but says a law enforcement car is nearby.

Sept. 11

7:55 p.m.: The FBI says it is looking for a “person of interest” and releases a series of photos showing the person wearing a hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeve black shirt and a backpack.

Police release video of the person racing across the roof of the building from where authorities say the shot was fired, dropping down to the ground and walking off campus.

Exact time unknown: Robinson’s mother recognizes him when authorities release a picture of the suspect, and his parents confront him, according to charging documents.

The family arranges for him to meet with a family friend — a retired sheriff’s deputy.

8:02 p.m.: Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby receives a call from the retired deputy who says he knows the shooter’s identity and is working with the family to try to convince Robinson to come in voluntarily.

Around 9 p.m.: Robinson appears quiet and somber when he turns himself in with his parents at the Washington County Sheriff’s office, Brooksby said. Robinson had agreed to surrender as long as it was done peacefully.

Sept. 12

8:05 a.m.: Authorities announce that Robinson is in custody in Kirk's shooting. He is booked into Utah County Jail.

Around 10:20 a.m.: A probable cause statement outlines the evidence gathered against Robinson, who was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a weapon causing serious bodily injury and obstruction of justice. All are state felony charges, and aggravated murder carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Sept. 15

Patel reveals on the Fox News show “Fox & Friends" that DNA on a towel wrapped around a rifle found near where Kirk was assassinated is a match to Robinson.

Sept. 16

Around noon: Prosecutors announce that Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and obstructing justice. He is also charged with witness tampering because he allegedly told his partner to delete their text messages and to stay silent if questioned by police, according to Gray, the Utah County attorney.

Around 3 p.m.: Robinson appears briefly before a judge by video from jail. He nods slightly at times but mostly stares straight ahead as the judge reads the charges against him aloud and says he will appoint a defense attorney.

Sept. 17

Students return for the first day of classes since the shooting. Care stations offering stuffed animals, candy and connections to counseling dot the campus.

On June 22, 1986, during the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Argentina defeated England 2-1 en route to lifting the trophy.

That match remains etched in the memory of soccer fans worldwide, defined by the late Diego Maradona scoring two of the most famous — and contrasting — goals in the history of the sport: the Hand of God and the Goal of the Century.

In the first one, Maradona punched a loose ball past an advancing Peter Shilton with his left hand. Minutes later, the Argentina great controlled the ball in his own half and danced past half the England team to score what some consider to be the greatest World Cup goal in history.

“Everyone remembers that match; they are iconic goals — well, there were two iconic goals in this stadium,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said Saturday, a day before England was to meet Mexico in the Round of 16.

To commemorate Maradona’s feats, the stadium’s owners installed a plaque in one of the tunnels leading to the pitch. Tourists from all over — but especially Argentines — flock to take photos with it during regular tours of the venue when it's not hosting the World Cup.

“It’s something that still hurts; the wound is open, but we aren’t here for revenge,” Tuchel said.

England faces a different foe in a different era

Tuchel, who is coaching England in the World Cup for the first time, downplayed the historical baggage.

“It’s the same stadium, but not the same opponent — and even if it were, looking for revenge wouldn’t make sense,” Tuchel said. “We are here to write a new chapter.”

Forty years after that heartbreaking match, the narrative has shifted. This time, England’s adversary isn’t Argentina, but the host country.

Mexico will be backed by an raucous home crowd and will also look to take advantage of Estadio Azteca's altitude — more than 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level.

“It will take a lot of courage to put out a top performance against Mexico. But we have a brave team,” Tuchel said. “We have an experienced team and at the same time a young team who is ready to take these challenges.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout earned his 12th All-Star selection and first since 2023 based on the second round of fan balloting announced Saturday by Major League Baseball. Trout, who grew up near Philadelphia in Millville, New Jersey, was voted by fans to start for the 11th time and hopes to return from a strained right hamstring sustained June 17.

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., among four All-Stars from the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays, said he will skip the July 14 game at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park to rest a bad back that has bothered him for much of the season.

“Those four days will be great,” Guerrero said through a translator, “to come back strong in the second half.”

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, elected to his eighth start, will miss the game because of a broken rib that has sidelined him since May.

Skenes, the NL starter in the last two All-Star Games, is scheduled to pitch for Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Sunday. The 24-year-old right-hander is 0-6 in his last nine starts, dropping to 6-8 with a 3.62 ERA for the season. He was voted in by players, as was Misiorowski.

“To be honest, probably a little surprised,” Skenes said of his selection.

Misiorowski, averaging 100.4 mph with his fastball and leading the major leagues with a 1.47 ERA, was an All-Star last year after just five big league games.

“This year I think I proved that it wasn’t a fluke thing and that I do belong. It’s really cool,” he said before Saturday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He also is scheduled to start Sunday.

“We’re looking for September, October,” he said Friday. “It sucks — obviously I want to throw in a game like that — but so be it.”

Ohtani, a three-time, two-way All-Star and six-time pick overall, is unlikely to pitch in the game because of a right biceps issue that will push his last prebreak start to next weekend, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Freddie Freeman became a 10-time All-Star when the LA first baseman was announced Sunday with Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy and outfielder Andy Pages as winners in the second phase on fan voting, which ran from June 29 to Thursday. They joined Ohtani, who won the NL designated hitter spot by finishing with the most votes in the initial round of fan selection announced June 25.

In the closest race, Pages edged Atlanta's Michael Harris II by fewer than 5,000 votes for the third NL outfield spot.

Four Dodgers were elected to start for the first time since Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Reggie Smith in 1980. World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto was picked for the NL pitching staff by Major League Baseball with one of its six selections, giving the Dodgers five or more All-Stars for the seventh straight time.

Twenty-six first-time All-Stars were among the 64 players picked including four rookies: Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana, Detroit shortstop Kevin McGonigle, Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick and Cincinnati third baseman Sal Stewart.

McGonigle is the youngest player at 21 and Boston closer Aroldis Chapman at 38 is the oldest.

Atlanta and the host Phillies each have five All-Stars.

Philadelphia outfielder Brandon Marsh was elected to start and will be joined by four fellow Phillies: first baseman Bryce Harper, DH Kyle Schwarber, reliever Jhoan Duran and left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Harper was a legend pick added by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin and second baseman Ozzie Albies were voted in as starters and will be joined by left-hander Chris Sale, a 10-time All-Star, and closer Raisel Iglesias.

Toronto has four, with Guerrero joined by second baseman Ernie Clement, who led AL players in the first phase of voting from June 3-25, and pitchers Dylan Cease and Louis Varland.

“Our fan support is unlike any other team, obviously, because of the country backing you,” said Toronto's John Schneider, the AL manager. “Not just Canada — I think a lot of baseball people really recognized how those guys play the game.”

Elected AL starters also include Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers; Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.; Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero; Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez; and the New York Yankees' Judge and Minnesota's Byron Buxton in the outfield.

Guerrero will be replaced in the starting lineup by the Athletics' Nick Kurtz and Judge by Yankees teammate Cody Bellinger. Replacements are based on player, manager and coach voting.

Bellinger earned his third All-Star selection but first since 2019.

“That’s going to be cool. Last time I had no kids or family or anything," he said.

NL starters also include New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto and Washington shortstop CJ Abrams.

MLB had in previous years announced starters first, then pitchers and reserves several days later.

Other AL pitchers elected by players include Boston's Chapman, Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen, Minnesota's Joe Ryan, Yankees' Cam Schlittler, Cleveland's Cade Smith. Other NL pitchers voted in by players include Cincinnati's Chase Burns and San Diego's Mason Miller.

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AP freelance writers Larry Fleisher and Patrick Stevens contributed to this report.

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Mexico boasts an incredible record in official matches at Estadio Azteca. Since the venue opened in 1966, the national team has suffered just two defeats there, the latter of which was over a decade ago against Honduras in September 2013.

“The stadium is a monster; that explains the high number of wins and draws, and the few losses — which were just accidents,” said Hugo Sánchez, the striker who played in the 1986 World Cup and now works as an ESPN analyst. “We approach this with optimism because we know it’s England, but if we play the way we did against Ecuador, we can beat them.”

The numbers back up the myth. Across the 1970, 1986, and current World Cups on home soil, Mexico has played 10 matches at Azteca, winning eight and drawing two. In this tournament alone, El Tri has secured three home wins without conceding a goal: 2-0 against South Africa and 3-0 against Czech Republic in the group stage, and 2-0 against Ecuador in the Round of 32. Mexico also defeated South Korea 1-0 in Guadalajara in the group stage.

It's the first time Mexico has started a World Cup by winning four consecutive matches.

“We have played three World Cups in Mexico; it is hard for me to say if it is (the biggest match). In 1970 we played Italy for the semifinals, in '86 we played Germany also for the semifinals,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said Saturday. “There have been several important matches in history and tomorrow is certainly one of them.”

Breaking the curse

These results have ignited the hopes of millions of Mexicans, many of whom weren’t even born the last time the nation reached the quarterfinals. After achieving that feat in 1986, Mexico’s World Cup history became a psychological hurdle: It missed the 1990 tournament, followed by seven consecutive, agonizing Round of 16 exits before failing to escape the group stage four years ago in Qatar.

“I’m one of those who couldn’t make it through; it happened to me in South Africa and Korea,” said Aguirre, who coached El Tri during those campaigns. “It’s deeply painful because you play a great group stage, only to be knocked out for a variety of reasons.”

Mexico's eliminations comprise a catalog of heartbreaks, including a penalty shootout loss to Bulgaria in 1994 when Aguirre was an assistant coach under Miguel Mejía Barón and defeats in 1998 and 2014 to Germany and the Netherlands when El Tri squandered late leads in the final minutes.

“We will be facing a top-four team in the world according to FIFA, a world champion in '66 and one country with a great league,” Aguirre said. “In order to beat them, we need to do a nearly perfect match and to be better than what we’ve been so far.”

Now, the script could flip. At Azteca — which sits 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level — Mexico will rely heavily on the altitude and the backing of a ferocious home crowd, as it did in the group stage.

“England is one of the great national teams in the history of football, with outstanding players. We all agreed that we wanted a match like this,” midfielder Alvaro Fidalgo said Saturday. “We are in great form, the Azteca is an intimidating venue, and ultimately, it’s a World Cup Round of 16 match. That’s never easy for anyone.”

The English challenge

England enters the knockout stage fresh off a 2-1 victory over Congo, powered by a pair of goals from star striker Harry Kane. Kane headlines an elite English squad that reached the quarterfinals at the last World Cup before falling to eventual finalist France.

A victory for the Three Lions would send them to the quarterfinals for the sixth time in their history — and the third consecutive time — keeping alive the dream of a title that has eluded them since 1966.

On paper, England holds the clear advantage in talent, led by Premier League standouts, whereas Mexico’s spearhead is Julián Quiñones, the top scorer in the Saudi League.

“We have very experienced players who play in the toughest leagues and the biggest clubs in the world. We all know these games from Champions League matches where you play up against, against the energy of a stadium and that we are prepared for that,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said Saturday. “We are prepared for strong start of the Mexican team. I guess they will they will try to give us a taste of intensity.”

However, the playing conditions could serve as the ultimate equalizer.

England arrived in the northern part of Mexico City on Friday night, a mere two days before kickoff. Sports scientists and altitude experts generally recommend two options for high-altitude competition: Arrive weeks in advance for full acclimatization or fly in as close as possible to kickoff. By choosing a 48-hour window, England has entered the dead zone experts warn against.

“We feel it. Even if we don’t train, we feel it. I felt a slight headache. And in the hotel room through the day, didn’t sleep as well as the days before, but nothing that you cannot handle,” Tuchel said. “It’s just what it is. We cannot physically adapt. It’s just impossible. But we are here one day before to experience it, at least to not have all the first time experience in the warm-up.”

To compound the strain, passionate Mexican fans are already plotting psychological warfare. Hundreds are expected to converge on England’s hotel to disrupt players' sleep — a tactic deployed against Ecuador, when fans used loudspeakers, drums and revving motorcycles into the early-morning hours.

England is attempting to remain unfazed.

“We had no issues last night. I think FIFA took care of the situation. And we have security around the hotel, so we expect a good night of sleep,” Tuchel said. “I don’t want to talk about problems that don’t exist yet.”

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Mbappé stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, beating Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the 70th minute to break a scoreless tie. France's captain was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review.

“I've said from the first day that he had the spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts,” France coach Didier Deschamps said after Les Bleus won 1-0. “He’s a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group.”

It was the seventh goal of this tournament for Mbappé, matching Messi in the race for the Golden Boot for the World Cup's top scorer. Mbappé won that award four years ago in Qatar, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups. On Saturday, he endured against perhaps the most physical opponent he's faced in this tournament.

Tempers flared in the first half when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

After Mbappé ignored Gill's attempt at a postgame handshake, the goalkeeper threw a ball at the France star's back.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be. We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it,” Mbappé said in French. “We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready. Even at that kind of game, we were better than them. That’s their style of football. There’s no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to beat us that way, but we won.”

And the victory cleared the way for Mbappé to continue chasing Messi's career goals mark.

Messi scored his 20th career World Cup goal in Argentina's 3-2 win over Cape Verde on Friday night. The 39-year-old great also has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games.

Norway's Erling Haaland and England's Harry Kane are next in the Golden Boot race with five goals each.

If there’s a tie in the Golden Boot standings when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the first tiebreaker and fewest minutes played as the second tiebreaker. Mbappé has a 2-0 lead over Messi in assists.

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After the final whistle, Mbappé kept on walking and left Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill hanging as Gill extended his right hand in a show of sportsmanship.

In response, Gill thew the ball right at the No. 10 on Mbappé's jersey.

Mbappé got the last laugh as he scored his 19th career World Cup goal, and France survived stifling heat to beat Paraguay 1-0 on Saturday, sending Les Bleus into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be,” Mbappé said in French. “We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready.”

France advanced to play Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. France beat Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

With an extreme heat warning in effect throughout the match as temperatures hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Mbappé finally broke through against a physical, defensive-minded Paraguay side when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.

That was enough for Les Bleus, whose red, white and blue-clad fans looked plenty patriotic on July Fourth in the city where the United States was founded exactly 250 years earlier.

Mbappé was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review. Then he stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, one behind career record holder Lionel Messi of Argentina. Mbappé and Messi each have seven goals in this tournament to top the Golden Boot race.

Mbappé won that award four years ago, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé — who frequently trash-talked the Paraguayans in Spanish — is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups.

Mbappé botched a breakaway attempt in the second half, and Manu Koné had his top-corner shot knocked away by Gill after he was wiped out in the netting by Ousmane Dembélé only moments earlier.

Gill also stopped two strong attempts by Mbappé in second-half stoppage time.

The 26-year-old Gill had bested German great Manuel Neuer in a penalty shootout in the previous round. He then lost his cool after the loss to France when he chucked the ball at Mbappé.

“I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn’t pay me any attention, I lost my temper,” Gill said. “But anyway, that was all I did; I calmed down afterward.”

For the criticism that hydration breaks have watered down the pace of play at the World Cup, they were never more needed for the players than in the midst of a miserable heat wave. Sprinklers showered the Kentucky bluegrass field during the breaks and at halftime.

“Given our style of play, it was harder to give high intensity,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

More than in any of the five other World Cup games played before 68,000-plus fans at Lincoln Financial Field, spectators fled for the concourse at halftime, seeking shade and refuge from the sun.

Maybe they were looking for some action of any kind.

Les Bleus scored 13 goals in the first five games of the tournament but were stymied in the first half by a Paraguay team trying to turn the match into a rock fight. Tempers flared when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

Paraguay advanced by beating Germany in a penalty shootout on Monday, the biggest upset of this World Cup. But after a gritty effort by La Albirroja, it's France that's moving on.

After defeating Croatia for the 2018 title, France lost to Argentina on penalty kicks in the 2022 final. Les Bleus are 5-0 in this year’s tournament, outscoring opponents 14-2.

“As I said to the players, we’ve had easy games so far, so it is good to have a tough one,” Deschamps said.

The city soaked in the moment as the 250th anniversary of American independence was celebrated. More fans honored America — draped in flags or wearing Uncle Sam hats as they tailgated in the parking lot — than at any of the other games in Philadelphia, and Idina Menzel, The Roots and DJ Jazzy Jeff all performed.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 win over Canada in the Round of 16 Saturday to make the country the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.

“We are no longer a surprise,” Ouahbi said through an interpreter. “Now when people talk about Morocco we’re a major contender and it’s a great source of pride. I think it’s only the beginning and I hope we continue to have runs like this.”

And despite already making history in this World Cup, Morocco has much higher goals.

“We want to keep going,” Ouahbi said. “We don’t want to stop.”

It’s Morocco’s second straight appearance in the final eight after becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in 2022.

“We are so proud to represent Africa because it’s a continent with a lot of talent and Africa deserves to be in the best level in football,” goalkeeper Yassine Bounou said.

Neither team was able to break through until Ounahi took a free kick from Achraf Hakimi and made a right-footed shot through traffic from outside the box to the bottom right corner to put Morocco on top 1-0 in the 50th minute.

Ounahi made it 2-0 on a right-footed shot from the middle of the box off a pass from Brahim Díaz in the 82nd minute.

Soufiane Rahimi added a goal in the final minute of stoppage time.

Morocco will meet France, which beat Paraguay later Saturday, on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The loss ends a historic run for World Cup co-host Canada, which won its first-ever knockout round game, beating South Africa 1-0 to reach Saturday’s match. The country was playing in the World Cup for just the third time and the run enchanted a nation that is normally far more interested in hockey than the pitch.

Canada coach Jesse Marsch shared his postgame message to the team.

“I told them that I was proud of them and I challenged them to understand that we can play like this all the time against the best teams in the world,” he said. “We can be better on the day. And then the challenge is, can we hold that standard for 90 minutes?”

Morocco, No. 7 in the FIFA rankings entering the tournament, dispatched the Netherlands in a penalty shootout to reach the Round of 16 and send the country to its earliest World Cup exit.

Marsch lauded how his team performed against a squad of Morocco's caliber and how Canada controlled the match for much of the day.

“The way we pushed, the way we were in the match, the quality we showed, the overall impact in the match, we were better,” he said. “We were better than the No. 7 team in the world today.”

Ouahbi had a strong response when told of those comments.

“In terms of intensity they were good,” he said. “They were good for 98 minutes. Were they better? It’s hard to say. It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-nil.”

Canada had a couple of chances to score late. Jonathan David had a free kick from outside the box in the 78th minute, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Just after that, Tajon Buchanan’s shot from about 30 yards was stopped with a diving save from Bounou. Bounou, who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents, had three saves.

The victory set off a huge celebration for Morocco's fans back home.

Within minutes, thousands poured into the streets of Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city. Horns echoed as supporters climbed onto car roofs, waving flags and chanting.

Traffic ground to a halt along the Corniche Boulevard, one of the city’s main avenues, where ecstatic Atlas Lions supporters danced, set off fireworks and waved flares. Other major boulevards across Casablanca were also jammed with jubilant fans.

Canada reached the Round of 16 despite missing star Alphonso Davies for the majority of the tournament because of a hamstring injury. The Bayern Munich player logged only 15 minutes as a substitute in the victory over South Africa but wasn't available Saturday.

“His hamstring didn’t feel right,” Marsch said. “We were hoping that by the time he woke up this morning that he would feel better, but he didn’t.”

This game was a rematch from the last World Cup when Morocco beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage. Morocco went on to finish fourth.

It was an extremely physical match with eight yellow cards being issued. Both teams received four.

Hakimi and Canada’s Richie Laryea received yellow cards in the 40th minute. Hakimi shoved Laryea to the ground and then Laryea pushed him and a minor scuffle ensued.

Morocco midfielder Ismael Saibari left with an injury in the 22nd minute.

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Associated Press writer Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff's deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.

Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff's office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers.

Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff's office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.

A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse.

As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.

That same year he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer at the couple's San Francisco home.

The sun beat down and the well-dressed crowd was a flutter of paddle fans stamped with American flags. Their families clung to the shade of the trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck through her ponytail.

“Well, good morning, everybody,” said Anne Neal Petri, the regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

“Good morning!” an excited crowd returned.

“And Happy Birthday, United States of America!” exclaimed Petri.

There were 150 people from 50 globe-spanning countries sitting in front of the small stage as they prepared to be sworn in as U.S. citizens on the July Fourth holiday and America's 250th birthday. Among them was U.S. Marine Sgt. Diakaria Sangare from Guinea, who attended in his pressed Dress Blue uniform with three medals pinned to his left breast.

Sangare had served two deployments, and, like all assembled, had gone through the long citizenship process: The test, interviews, green cards and biometrics. Others in the crowd, it was said, came from countries bathed in violence. Some fled persecution.

After a speech about Washington, the crowd was asked to rise for the national anthem.

They did. Their hats came off and their hands covered their hearts. The paddle fans calmed.

The singer belted the words: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” — as Sangare held his right hand in a rigid salute, his face sober.

As the song concluded, the soon-to-be citizens clapped and returned to their seats, while another speaker asked them to stand and remain standing when their country was called.

“Albania.”

A woman in the front row with long black hair rose with a broad grin, a small U.S. flag in her hand.

“Bangladesh.”

A man in a black shirt stood. The Albanian woman, looking back, beamed at him.

It went on for 50 countries, through China and El Salvador and Iraq and Mongolia, as people stood, sometimes smiling, sometimes sedate.

At “Morocco,” a man in the back thrusts his fists in the air in support. A young boy looked up at him and then did the same, a little flag in his fist.

Then the crowd, with hands raised, recited an Oath of Allegiance, not so different from the oath Washington signed in 1778.

“Congratulations,” they were told. “You just became U.S. citizens.”

There was applause and laughter, then the Pledge of Allegiance. Sangare, his hand now over his heart, closed his eyes for a moment.

Nearby stood a tulip poplar tree, planted at Washington’s direction 250 years ago, that had lived through America's history.

The next speaker, historian Douglas Bradburn, pointed it out in his speech before the day's special guest.

“All the stories that are part of you, now become American stories,” said Bradburn. “When people ask me what are American people like, I now can talk about you, and your stories.”

“The second side of that is that, now, all America’s stories, and our history, are your stories. The father of your country is George Washington.”

The first president, it turned out, was the next speaker.

As he was introduced, the re-enactor stood by a massive draped American flag, a sword scabbard on his hip. Then he donned the stage, doffed his cap to the audience, and began to speak.

“Today the name of ‘American’ belongs to you every bit as much as it does to me,” he said. He spoke to their arduous journeys to this point and their histories, now merged with America.

“So, my fellow Americans, to you, I say simply: ‘Welcome home’.”

Afterward, Sangare, the U.S. Marine, posed for a portrait, hands clasped in front of him, holding the American flag paddle fan, his Marine cap slightly askew.

“I just became a United States citizen,” he said, his emotions pushing out in an earnest smile.

____ Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.

Much of the region saw some storms and showers roll through, some of which were relatively strong with winds and hail. A majority of us are finished with the rain, but a few more pop-up storms are possible; including some ongoing rain in the Lynchburg region.

Due to this system, temperatures have dropped drastically; in fact, some areas saw over a 20 degree drop.

That being said, we have decided to clear our Weather Authority Alert Day. Keep in mind, tomorrow will still be hot with highs in the 90s, but the heat indices will be cooler than previous days.

All-in-all, enjoy the rest of your Independence Day, and remember to stay hydrated!

Saturday Morning Update

A Weather Authority Alert Day remains in effect as dangerous heat continues across the region. Heat index values climb above 100 degrees for many locations, with parts of the piedont approching 110 degrees. Limit time outdoors, apply sunscreen frequently, stay hydrated, and take frequent breaks in shade or air conditioning.

A slight risk for severe weather is in place today as scattered thunderstorms develop during the afternoon and evening. Most storms will be hit-or-miss with the majority of more concentrated storm potential to our noth. Though, since yesterday, our storm potential has appeared to decrease.

Futurecast shows isolated storms beginning around 2PM before tapering off into the evening. Not everyone will see rain, but any storm that develops could bring gusty winds with some downpours.

Most firework displays this evening should stay dry, but temperatures will remain very warm even after sunset. It’s still expected to be in the mid 90s around 7PM before slowly falling into the upper 80s by 9PM, so continue practicing heat safety if you’ll be celebrating outdoors.

Extreme heat remains the biggest weather story heading into the holiday weekend. Much of our region will experience a major to extreme heat risk, meaning prolonged time outdoors can quickly lead to heat related health risks without proper percautions. Reflief is on the way! Temperatures gradually trend closer to normal early next week.

Friday Morning Update

Our Extreme Heat Warning has now been extended into Pittsylvania, Halifax, Charlotte, Appomattox and Campbell counties. This warning, along with the heat advisory is in effect from 11AM to 8 PM tonight.

The reason that portions of Lynchburg and Southside Zones are now included in this warning is the heat index value reaching above the 110 degree mark. Below are the peak heat index values that we will reach in each zone today.

It will be the hottest day of the year so far, please be sure to pack extra bottles of water and take breaks if you are outdoors for a long period of time.

Tomorrow we need to stay weather aware not just for the heat, but also for the chance of strong to severe thunderstorms. Nearly the entirety of the viewing area is in a slight risk zone tomorrow. Any storms that develop could produce damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

Futurecast shows the storms becoming widely scattered from noon to 2 PM across all of our zones. This is typical each 4th of July just due to the nature of the summertime forecast, however these storms coupled with the heat give us an extra reason to have our eyes to the skies tomorrow afternoon.

By 8:30-9:30 tomorrow evening we clear out the bulk of the precip, which is great news for everyone heading out for fireworks around dusk!

Stay cool the next couple of days and be sure to download the Weather Authority mobile app for updates sent directly to your phone.

Thursday Morning Update

Heat alerts have been expanded. As of Thursday morning at 10 AM, the heat advisory is now expanded to the Lynchburg and Southside Zones, and portions of the NRV.

Nelson County is the only area within our viewing area under a Extreme Heat Warning where heat indices will reach up to 110 degrees.

Today will likely be record breaking for not just us here in Southwest Virginia, but into portions of New England and the Great Lakes region.

Yesterday we broke Roanoke’s previously held record of 99 degrees set back in 1954, hitting 100 degrees during peak daytime heating.

Try to stay cool today and remember to stay hydrated!

Wednesday Morning Update

Day 2 of our heat wave today and we already have alerts in place! A Heat Advisory will go into effect by 11 AM Wednesday morning and expire by 8 PM. This advisory includes the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg and Southside Zones. Nelson county is the only area within our viewing area, as of this morning, that has a Extreme Heat Watch in place for that same time frame.

Be sure to stay inside if possible today, and if you are outdoors for long periods of time take frequent breaks and stay hydrated.

We will likely tie or break records for most of our area in Southwest and Southside Virginia.

While this Weather Authority Alert Day seems to be for “boring weather” because there is no major storm system, this heat wave is just as important and dangerous as a big storm system. Heat illness can come on quickly without noticing. It is important not just to stay weather aware, but to check in on your elderly neighbors during the heat wave.

We are not looking to see a break from the heat anytime soon. The latest outlook from the Climate Prediction Center shows above average temperatures expected through Mid-July. If we stay above 90 degrees during this stretch, we may see this heat wave lasting through mid July.

Try to stay cool and hydrated today!

Tuesday Morning Update

Tuesday kicks off our heat wave, but when we take a look at heat stress over the next couple of days, today is just the start of a long term pattern.

The heat dome that is building over the east is more focused into the Southeast.

Here in Southwest Virginia we have much higher heat stress Wednesday.

You’ll want to pack the extra water bottle and plan breaks if you are outdoors for a long period of time as the heat stress increases the next several days.

Wednesday, it will easily feel like we are reaching the triple digits, even though our air temperatures only reach the upper 90s. This is because of the combined heat and humidity bringing the heat index values into the triple digits. We will keep the dangerous heat index values around for the latter half of the week and into the Fourth of July weekend as well.

Futurecast shows the high pressure building in the heat dome will stick around for the next couple of days. While we have a chance of a stray shower or thunderstorm in the mountains this afternoon, most of us will stay hot and dry as this high pressure dominates the area.

Please stay weather aware the next couple of days and be safe out in the heat!

Monday Afternoon Update

A Weather Authority Alert day has been issued for the beginning of July due to an expected heat wave that could result in record-breaking temperatures.

A high-pressure system has already formed to our southwest and is already providing above-average temperatures for much of the eastern United States.

That high pressure will hold its position over the next few days, continuing to pull in warm, moist air from the Gulf.

The forecast is currently toeing the line with high temperature records and has the capability to surpass those numbers.

As of now, it seems like the skies will be relatively cloudy over the next few days, meaning it will be hard to break those records; that being said, it is still possible.

Dew points are going to be high, in the upper 60s to low 70s all around. This will mean that it will be exceptionally muggy, raising the heat index into the triple digits for some.

This heat wave has the potential to result in heat-related illnesses, ranging from heat cramps to even a life-threatening heat stroke. It is imperative that you stay hydrated, dress properly, and avoid strenuous activity.

As always, we will keep you updated on this week’s forecast, so stay tuned with your Local Weather Authority!

Instead, she used one that also doubled as a basketball court.

“There would be the basketball hoops, so I couldn’t really step back a lot because then I would hit the basketball hoop,” Eala said.

The 21-year-old Eala found Centre Court at Wimbledon a bit more accommodating Saturday when she beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-6 (9), 6-2 in the third round at the grass-court major and made some history in the process.

Eala is the first Filipino player, male or female, to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

The left-handed Eala dropped to her knees and rolled onto her back after hitting a forehand winner on her third match point.

“It’s incredible to have my countrymen cheering me on and knowing that we’re all in this together,” she said in an on-court interview as she looked around at the Philippines flags.

“This goes out to them, this goes out to my family, this goes out to all the little girls with ruffled socks and chubby cheeks. It means the world,” said the 29th-seeded Eala, who saved two set points in the first-set tiebreaker.

The third-seeded Swiatek earned her first Wimbledon women’s title a year ago when she beat Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

“I felt like Alexandra was more brave in important moments,” Swiatek said Saturday. “In the tiebreak we both had many chances to close the set earlier, and it didn’t go my way.”

Eala, who has trained in Mallorca at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy, gained worldwide support last year on her breakthrough run to the Miami Open semifinals, which included an upset of Swiatek.

She next faces 13th-seeded Jasmine Paolini for a spot in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

2022 champion Rybakina also out

Shortly before Swiatek's exit, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was upset in the third round by Elise Mertens 7-6 (4), 6-1.

At No. 2, Rybakina is the highest seed on the women’s side to be eliminated. Her loss ensures that Aryna Sabalenka — who faces Naomi Osaka in the fourth round on Sunday — will keep her No. 1 ranking after the tournament.

Belgium’s Mertens is the No. 25 seed at Wimbledon, where she’s won two doubles titles. She will next face 21st-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.

Keys, Fritz shine on 4th of July

In another upset, Madison Keys rallied to oust the sixth-seeded Anisimova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an all-American contest on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

The 26th-seeded Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, was asked how she'll celebrate the U.S. holiday.

“I have no plans,” she told the Centre Court crowd after her victory. “When you're not in the States, it's just kind of another day.”

Keys will next play ninth-seeded Linda Noskova.

Ashlyn Krueger, another American, has come through qualifying to reach the fourth round. She beat Ukraine's Daria Snigur 6-3, 6-2 and will face another Ukrainian — 12th-seeded Marta Kostyuk — for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The only American man to reach the last 16 is Taylor Fritz, who beat Lorenzo Sonego 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on No. 2 Court. The sixth-seeded Fritz next faces Alexander Bublik, who beat American Frances Tiafoe in five sets.

Grigor Dimitrov outlasted Matteo Berrettini in another five-setter to set up a fourth-round match against fellow wild card Arthur Fery — the last British player left in either men's or women's singles.

French Open champion Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed, got past American Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to set up a fourth-round match against 13th-seeded Jiri Lehecka.

Ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli — the runner-up at Roland Garros — overcame a slow start against Karen Khachanov to win 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 and will face No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur in the fourth round.

Cobolli said he felt ill during the first set because he ate “a little bit too close from the match. Just wasn’t fine. I try to vomit in the first set. They give me some pills that helped me a lot.”

Serena and Venus withdraw from doubles

Serena Williams withdrew from her doubles match with sister Venus due to a right knee injury. The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier this week.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said in an Instagram post that she was “heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles.”

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

The morning celebration featured live music, food trucks, vendors, games and activities for families.

Because of the heat, organizers adjusted some events, including turning the Stars, Stripes and Wagging Tails dog parade into a costume contest.

“We are just celebrating the Fourth, celebrating the town that Christiansburg is in,” said Christina Bolt, Director of Public Relations for the Town of Christiansburg.

The celebration also included patriotic displays and a flag-raising ceremony.

The day’s festivities are set to conclude with a fireworks show, which is scheduled to begin around 9:15 p.m.

The run is one of the BGCSWVA’s largest annual fundraisers, providing money for after-school programs, summer camps mentorships, meals and safe spaces for kids across the region.

“We have 800 kids across our area, and we know that in the summertime they need a place to be,” BGCSWVA CEO Rebekah Meadows said. “We know after school they need a safe place to be. We want to make sure they have every opportunity to explore the things they’re interested in and build their great future.”

The heat was certainly a factor at all times.

Before the race, runners stretched and did their best to stay in the shade. During the race, volunteers handed out drinks of water. After the race, cold towels were provided along while snacks were handed out from different stations at all times.

After crossing the finish line though, everyone felt a mixture of elation and relief this Fourth of July.

“I did get really tired I had to stop a few times because I felt like trash, Rowan Hicks said. ”It feels super good to be relaxed."

While the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with rallies, parties and fireworks, the U.S.-born pope traveled to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to pray at a migrant cemetery and celebrate a solemn Mass for the island's residents and newest arrivals. Later on Saturday, he got into the July 4 spirit with a visit to the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, a rarity for popes who usually don't call on ambassadors. The U.S. Embassy said Burch gave Leo a commemorative baseball, an apple pie and a U.S. World Cup jersey.

Leo confirmed he was rooting for the U.S. team, the Embassy wrote on X, adding that the two discussed “American efforts to pursue peace, religious freedom and the need for moral clarity and courage around the world.”

A treeless strip of rock 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long, Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the main port of entry into Europe for hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed by boat from Libya or Tunisia, often smuggled by human traffickers.

Leo met with some migrants at the port and then walked alone onto the jagged jetty rocks, the wind whipping his cassock and blowing his zucchetto skullcap off as he looked out to the sea. He then blessed a plaque dedicating the dock to Pope Francis, who visited in 2013, before celebrating Mass on land.

“This is a place where gestures speak louder than words,” Leo said. “But for gestures to be human, they need a heart.”

In making the visit on this particular Saturday, Leo was sending a powerfully symbolic message to the United States and Europe of the Christian obligation to uphold the dignity of every human being, migrants and the most vulnerable especially, while reminding the United States that it was founded by immigrants.

In a letter sent to Americans on the July 4 anniversary, Leo insisted that protecting the unborn and all human life also means “welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning.”

“To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person,” Leo wrote.

A tiny island becomes Ground Zero for European migration

In recent years, Lampedusa has become Ground Zero of Europe’s migration debate as the continent struggles to police its borders while honoring its legal obligations to welcome refugees fleeing conflict, climate change and poverty.

In his homily, Leo thanked the residents of Lampedusa for the “miracle of compassion” they have shown in welcoming migrants and urged Europe to rise to the challenge of the moment and assume its responsibility.

“Indeed, before any intellectual consideration or ideological conviction, the encounter with those who lie before us, stripped of everything, calls us to be close to them,” Leo said, wearing vestments decorated with images of waves.

Preaching from “this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea,” Leo urged European leaders to address the migration phenomenon in a comprehensive way, integrating immediate relief with a long-term strategies to receive, protect, support and integrate migrants while developing their home countries so no one is forced to migrate.

“Here you have seen not just one, but thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead,” he said.

Others have died making the voyage, he said, “yet we feel their presence, which challenges us no less than that of those who have landed in need of attention and aid.”

The number of migrants arriving in Italy so far this year is significantly lower than in recent years, with the Interior Ministry reporting 14,464 arrivals as of Friday compared with 30,598 in the same period last year and 26,202 in 2024.

At the same time, the International Organization of Migration has recorded more than 35,000 missing migrants in the Mediterranean since 2014, though the actual number of dead is believed to be far higher given the untold number of “invisible” shipwrecks that are never recorded.

Leo has strongly emphasized the need to uphold the dignity of migrants, especially amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation program in his native Chicago. But he has also directed his message to Europe’s Christian leaders.

Last month, Leo visited another European migration hot spot, in Spain’s Canary Islands, to shame leaders who turn migrants away indifferently while also warning people smugglers they will face God’s wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants.

Leo honors the dignity of the dead and recalls Francis

After arriving in Lampedusa by plane, Leo paid homage to the dead at the island’s migrant cemetery, laying a wreath of yellow and white flowers on their graves, marked by simple crosses made from the splintered wood of shipwrecked boats.

The gestures send a “strong message” of solidarity, said Tareke Brhane, a migrant from Eritrea and president of the Oct. 3 Committee, a nonprofit founded by relatives of victims of a 2013 shipwreck in Lampedusa that left 368 people dead.

“It is a strong sign for our battle with Italy and with Europe in order to register the deaths, because as of today we still do not have a registry (of those deceased),” he told The Associated Press.

Leo’s visit both honors the dead and “gives a message to the relatives, so many of them still waiting and suffering,” he said.

With his visit, Leo followed in the footsteps of Francis, who made the plight of migrants and refugees a priority of his pontificate. For the Catholic Church, welcoming and accompanying people fleeing hardship is part of the Gospel-mandated call to “welcome the stranger.”

Francis traveled to Lampedusa in July 2013, on his first trip outside Rome after his election. He tossed a wreath into the sea in memory of migrants who had died and denounced the “globalization of indifference” that the world shows migrants.

Salvatore Sortino, the IOM’s head of mission for Italy and Malta, said despite the decrease in arrivals, the number of dead had increased proportionally, “in the sense that the diminishing numbers of arrivals hasn’t resulted in a lower number of deaths at sea.”

“That speaks about the vulnerability that remains,” he said. “So the visit of the pope here, where all this happens, I think is a very important reminder of that element.”

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Winfield reported from Rome.

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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.

Why this photo?

As we enter the final rounds of the World Cup, The Associated Press has five photographers covering every match. Four are in different spots around the pitch at field level and one in an overhead position, called the “tribune.” That was me for Friday night’s game between Colombia and Ghana. During halftime an announcement was made for fans to scan a QR code shown on the stadium screens to take part in a light show. Since I also cover the Kansas City Chiefs there, and they do that occasionally, I knew what was coming. The stadium lights would flash on and off with music playing, and fans’ smartphones would also turn on and off.

⁠How I made this photo

I’m normally shooting a telephoto lens at either 400mm or 560mm for action, but have a second camera with a wide-angle lens for overall photos. Once they made that announcement, I grabbed the second camera, changed the settings for less light and waited for the right moment. With action I’m always shooting at over 1/1000 second to stop action, but for this I dropped the shutter speed to 1/80 second and braced the camera on the railing in front of me.

⁠Why it works

It’s rare for the lights to be off in a stadium during a night game, so that, paired with the tens of thousands of smartphone lights, created a scene few people ever see. For most of the light show, though, the stadium lights were just changing in brightness. There were only two brief moments the lights were completely off, and I waited for those. In photography, different is good, so I try to keep that in mind with every assignment I do. And this was very different.

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The Rangers partnered with Budweiser on Saturday to set a Guinness World Record for the largest-ever glass of beer. A 12-foot tall, 600-gallon glass beer stein was filled in a plaza outside Globe Life Field before the team's July 4 game against Detroit.

It took nearly two hours to fill the stein before the new record was certified by a Guinness adjudicator who was present for the record.

That broke the previous world record of 550 gallons that was set in 2014 by by Stod Fold Brewing Company, which is based in Halifax in the United Kingdom. That total had significance to that year's Tour de France bicycle race.

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According to Roanoke City Animal Control, officers responded around 5:30 p.m. July 3 to the 4800 block of Valley View Boulevard.

Animal Control officers determined the dogs were experiencing a medical emergency because of the conditions inside the vehicle, according to authorities. Officers gained access to the vehicle, safely removed the dogs and took them to a local veterinarian for evaluation and treatment.

After consulting with the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Animal Control officers obtained one felony animal cruelty warrant and one misdemeanor animal cruelty warrant against 23-year-old Marlin Avetay Jalaney Jamison, of Roanoke.

Roanoke City Animal Control is reminding pet owners that temperatures inside parked vehicles can rise rapidly, even with windows cracked, creating dangerous and potentially life-threatening conditions for pets.

Authorities ask anyone who sees an animal in distress inside a vehicle to call 911.

Dozens of people were there, cheering for them.

After a loss, no less.

Let that be the first sign of how things are going to be very different in many respects for the team, at least for the foreseeable future. Such is the case when a club goes from unheralded — and practically unheard of — to taking Lionel Messi and Argentina to the brink of elimination on soccer's biggest stage, before falling 3-2 in a match that went to extra time.

“It's time to rest and think about the future,” Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha said. “But I am very, very proud of the team's work, and I hope that in the future we can achieve great things.”

In other words, he hopes seeds were planted.

Cape Verde went 0-1-3 in its four matches at its inaugural World Cup, which won't look great on paper. More than two-thirds of the 48 teams in this tournament won at least one game; Cape Verde wasn't one of them.

But the record simply doesn't tell the whole story.

It played Spain to a scoreless draw to open the group stage, making the chance of advancing to the knockout stage very real. There were two more ties in group play — a 2-2 tie against Uruguay that put Cape Verde on the brink of advancing, then a 0-0 tie against Saudi Arabia that was good enough to get the round of 32 trip secured.

Argentina's players and coaches, to their credit, insisted they did not expect a cakewalk past Cape Verde. And when the match was over, Messi — generally considered to be the greatest player of all time — had nothing but compliments for the underdog opponent.

“Some people thought the match was going to be straightforward, but that couldn’t have been further from reality,” Messi said after Friday's match. “They pressed us really well. There are no handouts in knockout football. They’d already performed well against Spain and Uruguay, so we knew it was going to be difficult.”

For Argentina, getting the win was indeed difficult.

For Cape Verde, coming to grips that the ride ends here was also difficult.

That said, when they walked through that hotel lobby, it was like the return of conquering heroes. Bubista, the team's coach, shook his fist in celebration. Many players couldn't stop smiling. Vozinha shook some hands and posed for a few photos.

They were celebrities. Rock stars, almost. The score didn't matter. The totality of three weeks that put Cape Verde on soccer's map did matter.

“I can only thank our team for their effort and for showing so much heart on that pitch,” Bubista said. “And I think everyone should thank them for what they did for this tournament.”

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The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again. The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks appear to be on hold until it is over.

During the ceremony, Iran's top negotiator warned France and the U.K. over their comments about potentially launching joint patrols in the waterway, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime.

Mourners wept at the sight of Khamenei's coffin alongside those of his family members also killed in the airstrike, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” Some carried banners and flags. Billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.

“Imam Khamenei was our heart, our father, our everything,” mourner Masoumeh Mohammadi said. “I still can’t believe they martyred him. We will not rest until we avenge his death.”

Coffins on display at Grand Mosalla

An outdoor stage at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah, or congregation hall, at his compound in downtown Tehran. There was a chair like the one he once sat in while giving his sermons, complete with a microphone on a stand and a table next to it. Above it hung an image of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989.

Khomeini's funeral saw chaotic scenes as millions thronged his mourning ceremony and trip to the cemetery. Khamenei's death was only the second time Iran has lost a supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Saturday, volunteers sprayed cooling water on crowds in the summer heat. Men and women congregated separately inside the Grand Mosalla after being checked by metal detectors and body searches. Police with assault rifles stood guard on surrounding streets. Many people stayed outside in the street, lounging under the shade of trees because the city had shut down.

The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath Khamenei's, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The dead included the wife of Mojtaba Khamenei, whose possible appearance at the funeral remained unclear. He reportedly was wounded in the attack that killed his father and has not been seen publicly since the war began.

“We attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,” said one mourner, Ali Kazemi.

As sunset approached, the streams of people continued. “Authorities advised not to rush to the sites,” said a later visitor, Mohammad Barati. Mourners had also been advised not to stay too long, to allow others to come.

Funeral starts as US marks its 250th anniversary

Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!” The refrain has been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis. They also cried: “Death to Israel!”

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”

The U.S. president was not forgotten in Tehran. In the crowd in Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag that read: “#KillTrump.”

As the ceremony went on, Iran's chief negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi criticized a joint statement overnight from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron which suggested their militaries stood ready to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has suggested it wants to charge vessels passing through the strait, upending decades of it being widely considered an international waterway.

“The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states — the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. “This is a serious warning.”

Khamenei to be buried in Mashhad

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei's place of birth.

Authorities offered no immediate attendance count for the event Saturday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

On Sunday, a prayer for the dead is planned at the Grand Mosalla. On Monday, Khamenei's body and those of his family will be taken through the streets of Tehran, which likely will draw large crowds.

“I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“My heart and soul are with them,” he said in an emotional postgame interview.

Egypt won its debut in the elimination round of the World Cup by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 Friday.

The victory comes in Egypt’s fourth World Cup.

A video of Hassan on social media shows him walking around the pitch holding the flag as people chanted “Free, free Palestine!" The video went viral.

“It was the most significant scene,” Yahia Qalash, former head of Egypt’s Journalists’ Union, said of Hassan’s move. “It was a telling scene in an exceptional moment.”

The fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain after a war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliation has killed a total of 73,066 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has sparked pro-Palestinian protests around the world, with some athletes also expressing solidarity.

Earlier this year, Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during celebrations of the Spanish league title. The act caused backlash from Israel's defense minister, who criticized Barcelona’s teenage star and said his action “incites hate.”

Hassan is not known to be religious or connected to any political group. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was adored by the youth, a street footballer who played in the slums.

He said Friday he was dedicating the game to the “good and noble” Egyptian and Palestinian people.

Asked about the Palestinian flag, FIFA said it is permitted to display it at the World Cup. There was no indication of any action being taken against Hassan.

“Flags representing all 211 FIFA Member Associations are permitted at FIFA tournaments, and supporters are welcome to display them in accordance with stadium regulations and the FIFA Stadium Code of Conduct," the governing body told The Associated Press in a statement.

The Palestine Football Association is one of FIFA's member organizations.

In other contexts, FIFA has previously sought to restrict what it sees as political statements on the pitch.

During the Qatar World Cup in 2022, some European teams were prevented from wearing armbands in support of the “One Love” campaign, an international anti-discrimination initiative.

During Iran's matches in this World Cup, some Iranian Americans in Los Angeles sought to display the country's pre-revolutionary flag and block a FIFA ban on that flag. They lost in court, and the ban was upheld.

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Rennae Stubbs, one of Williams' coaches, pin-pointed a moment about an hour into the 44-year-old's defeat to an opponent less than half her age earlier this week at Wimbledon.

“I noticed in the middle of the second set her take a big sort of deep breath and I actually turned around to Venus and said, ‘Oh I think she just relaxed,’” Stubbs said, referring to Serena's older sister.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Stubbs also revealed that she first started coaching Williams again in March and immediately noticed that the 23-time Grand Slam champion could still play.

Williams was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

While the result on the court was a loss, the reaction in the locker room from other players and coaches was a resounding victory, according to Stubbs.

“They know what it would be like to be in that position of not playing a match for close to four years, going on Centre Court at Wimbledon, knowing there’s how many millions of people around the world watching this match,” Stubbs said. “There’s 15,000 people in Centre Court. They expect good tennis. They expect you to not embarrass yourself. So all the players know, to a small degree, what it must be like.”

The match set ratings records on ESPN and Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are among the players who have publicly complimented Williams for her performance.

Williams injured her right knee toward the end of the first set against Joint and withdrew from her doubles match with Venus on Saturday.

An Instagram update from Serena included images of four syringes that she said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

“The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again,” Serena said. “The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles.”

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

Right attitude

Serena became known for her emotional outbursts and run-ins with chair umpires and linesjudges toward the end of her career.

So Stubbs was concerned about her on-court behavior during her comeback.

But Williams maintained her composure from start to finish.

“That was sort of like the one sort of thing that I asked, is that she try and — as hard as it was going to be — to control her emotions and her nerves and all that sort of stuff,” Stubbs said. “I don’t think people even remotely can quantify the amount of pressure that was on her to walk out there and do what she did.”

Negative reactions

Stubbs was disappointed, though, to see negative reactions to Williams’ return on social media. She was also criticized for skipping her post-match duties – since the injury was not announced until a day later.

Stubbs herself was also criticized on social media.

“I just don’t understand why people feel the need to tear somebody down,” Stubbs said. “What she’s doing out there is trying to play a sport she loves. That’s what it’s about. Show the kids, be out there, enjoy it and give the people another look at playing. … What is wrong on with a seven-time Wimbledon champion — a 23-time Grand Slam champion — wanting to play another time at Wimbledon? God let her.”

Williams planned to play more

While Williams played two doubles matches before Wimbledon, she hadn’t played singles since the 2022 U.S. Open.

“Ideally would we have loved to have had warm-up matches? Yes,” Stubbs said. “And for anyone to insinuate that she didn’t want to do that is crazy.”

The problem was that Williams wanted to get the feeling of being back on the court first in two doubles tournaments. But after winning in the first round at Queen’s Club with partner Victoria Mboko, the pair had to withdraw when Mboko was injured playing singles.

Then Williams and partner Karolina Muchova lost in the first round at the Berlin Open.

“I would venture to say that if she’d had four or five more doubles matches, she would have even been better because she would’ve had that experience of feeling the big points and hitting the big returns on break point and hitting the serves big,” Stubbs said.

Closed roof

Because the match started late in the day and there were concerns about darkness, the roof over Centre Court was closed for the match.

“She was hitting the ball so well in practice and moving really well and the conditions were very different indoors,” Stubbs said. “They were heavy. Her ball wasn’t shooting through the court like it was outside.”

Despite being away for so long, Williams still hit serves beyond 120 mph and showed off her heavy groundstrokes that landed within inches of the baseline.

The only real issue was her movement.

“When you’re great, you’re great,” Stubbs said. “When you have great timing, you always have great timing. I saw that from the moment I stepped back on court with her. I was like, ‘Well, you never lost that.’

"And then it’s just getting the movement going and getting the body going and all that sort of stuff again and at a certain age you also have to monitor the workload. So what I saw out there didn’t surprise me at all, because I had been seeing it for months: The capacity to hit the ball as well as she’s always hit the ball.”

Gang back together

Stubbs, an Australian who won six Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, also coached Williams in her previous farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Now based in New York, Stubbs first went down to Florida to start coaching Williams again in March.

“She was already hitting before that, but that’s when she was like, ‘OK, I need the eyeballs I trust on me,’” Stubbs said.

Serena also brought back her longtime hitting partner, Jarmere Jenkins, who co-coaches her with Stubbs.

“I’ve known Serena since she was a kid,” Stubbs said. “Jarmere knows her very, very well. Derick (Pierson), her fitness guy, is one of her best friends.”

What’s next

While Williams indicated in her injury post that she would play again, her team is still awaiting details.

“She’s not just going to do a one-off,” Stubbs said. “I think she would like to play more but that is 100% her decision. ... I’m sure she’ll re-evaluate and reassess how she wants go forward and then we’ll be there for her either way.”

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

Saturday marked the 18th time Chestnut, 42, won the so-called Mustard Belt in just 21 appearances at the internationally televised Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. He beat out 13 competitors who came from around the country and world, trekking from the Czech Republic, Australia and South Korea.

“It's a dream, it's electric, there's no place better on Earth,” Chestnut said breathlessly in an interview immediately after the showdown, donning a bulky, bejeweled necklace bearing the name of the sports betting company “Polymarket” around his neck. In a video posted on Instagram before the competition, Chestnut called competitive hot dog eating “the most patriotic sport we've got.”

Chestnut handily defeated the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who ate 50 hot dogs, but fell short of his own 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns — or approximately 7.6 hot dogs per minute.

Defending champion in the women’s division, the 40-year-old Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won the bright pink Mustard Belt for the 12th time, downing 38.75 dogs. In 2024, she ate a record 51 links.

After competing, Sudo joined the crowd to watch her husband — who proposed to her in 2021 immediately after downing 50 boiled eggs in just over 3 minutes to set a world record — compete in the men's event.

Both champions said that the heatwave that scorched New York on Saturday — bringing temperatures in Brooklyn to roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) during the competition — made that much more difficult. On top of that, ESPN announcers said the humidity changed the consistency of the buns.

“I just said I would have to rely on muscle memory, and the crowd really carried me through to another belt today,” Sudo said.

A large crowd braved the heat to watch the event, wearing foam hot dogs on their heads and standing outside the original Nathan’s Famous restaurant that has been in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. The superfans who stood closest to the stage wore ponchos as protection in case a competitor threw up.

There was briefly some concern earlier this year that Chestnut wouldn't be able to participate in the 2026 competition after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a man in an Indiana bar. He was put on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery, but is allowed to travel outside Indiana. Hot dog contest organizer Major League Eating said the criminal case didn’t affect Chestnut’s eligibility for the competition.

Despite his continued reign, Chestnut told an ESPN interviewer after the game that he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to top his previous record.

“Dang, I got so much room left,” said Chestnut, who announcers referred to as the “Michelangelo of Mastication."

Sunday's round of 16 matchup against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium will present challenges above and beyond what the Three Lions have faced so far. The altitude, the hostile atmosphere, plus whatever extra gamesmanship might await — it's all part of the experience of taking on El Tri in Mexico City.

It's also gripping theatre.

There's nothing quite like a big World Cup match involving the host nation, and when that team has a famously impressive home record — which Mexico certainly does at the Azteca — there's a real intimidation factor. Six times the men's tournament has been won by the country playing at home, most recently in 1998. But there is hope for England. Some of the most famous matches in World Cup history were games the home team actually lost.

Here's a look at home field advantage through the years:

Italy, 1934

The first two World Cups were won by the hosts — Uruguay in 1930 and then Italy in 1934. The latter gained infamy because of Benito Mussolini's use of the tournament as a political tool — and perhaps his impact on the officiating?

“The fascist regime made a political abuse of the event,” Italian writer Marco Impiglia said nearly 80 years later. “It was a questionable win and it raised many doubts at the time.”

It should be acknowledged that four years later, Italy became the first team to win a World Cup away from home, prevailing in France.

Brazil, 1950

The Brazilian men have won a record five World Cups, but have never triumphed at home. The hosts needed only a draw against Uruguay to take the title in 1950 — there was a final group stage instead of a singular title game — but with maybe 200,000 on hand at Rio’s Maracana Stadium, the Brazilians went down to an unthinkable 2-1 defeat.

Alcides Ghiggia, who scored the winning goal, once said only three people had silenced the Maracana: “The Pope, Frank Sinatra and me.”

That 1950 loss hovered over the proceedings when Brazil hosted again in 2014 — and the team's semifinal loss to Germany may have been even more embarrassing. At least that time, the suspense was removed early when the visitors scored a flurry of first-half goals on their way to a 7-1 rout.

England, 1966

England's lone World Cup championship came on home soil, and not without controversy. In the final against West Germany at Wembley Stadium, Geoff Hurst's shot in extra time bounced down off the crossbar. Did it go in or not? Goal-line technology was still decades away.

Officials awarded the goal, which put England up 3-2. Hurst later scored again to complete a hat trick, and the final score was 4-2.

Argentina, 1978

The Netherlands lost back-to-back finals in 1974 and 1978 — both times losing to the host country. In 1974, the Dutch scored early, but lost 2-1 to West Germany. Four years later, they had to take on Argentina in front of a frenzied crowd in Buenos Aires. The Argentines took the field several minutes after the Dutch, leaving the visitors by themselves in front of the hostile fans. Then there was a row over whether Rene van de Kerkhof would be able to play with a cast on. Argentina eventually won 3-1 in extra time.

The Dutch nearly faced Brazil in that final. Argentina needed at least four goals against Peru in its final match in its second-round group to make the final. The Argentines won 6-0, leading to plenty of conspiracy theories.

Italy, 1990

Sometimes, it's not all that clear who the home team really is. At least that's what Diego Maradona was hoping when Argentina prepared to face Italy in the 1990 semifinal in Naples. A club star for Napoli, Maradona was beloved there, but would the local fans really cheer for him and Argentina against their own country? Maradona certainly tried to stoke divisions between northern and southern Italy.

“After so much racism, only now they scurry to remember that Naples is part of Italy," Maradona told Corriere dello Sport. ”Now that they have slapped the Neapolitans in every possible way, someone tells them they are Italians, that only Italy counts. It is incredible, absurd, offensive."

Ultimately, fans cheered for Italy, but Argentina became the first team all tournament to score against the Italians, forging a 1-1 draw. Then Argentina won the penalty shootout to eliminate the Azzurri. In the final in Rome, Argentina received an unpleasant reception and lost to West Germany.

France, 1998

The most recent host country to win the title was France, which had never gone all the way until 1998. The French hadn't even qualified for the 1990 or 1994 World Cups, but at home they reached the final, where they denied Brazil a repeat championship.

South Korea, 2002

The 2002 World Cup was co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, with the latter making a remarkable run to the semifinals. Italy and Spain saw little to celebrate about the Korean breakthrough.

After the Italians lost to South Korea in extra time in the round of 16, FIFA said it received hundreds of thousands of emails from Italy fans furious about the officiating. In the quarterfinals, South Korea beat Spain on penalties after the Spaniards had multiple goals disallowed.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter denied any conspiracy, but acknowledged some bad calls.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The tragedy in Wisconsin’s Walworth County in a part of Southern Wisconsin that has long served as a favorite vacation getaway for residents of the Chicago area came with a storm that downed trees, ruptured power lines and made transportation treacherous and complicated across multiple states.

It was a trio of calamities that repeated itself each time storms doused a region. After a similarly vicious storm struck the New York area late Friday, hundreds of thousands of utility customers were left without power, trains to New Jersey were canceled and thousands of trees were damaged or uprooted.

Combined with the Midwest storms, nearly 1 million residents were left powerless. By noon Saturday, about 750,000 utility customers were powerless in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and New Jersey.

But the Wisconsin deaths stood out for how quickly the extreme weather could turn a holiday weekend pleasure outing into a nightmare.

As the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency investigated the Geneva Lake tragedy, the city's police department issued a statement blaming it on a “sudden and severe storm” that rapidly produced hazards for boats.

It said a privately owned recreational motorboat carrying 10 occupants, including four children, tried to race to safety before it was overwhelmed by severe wind and waves. As it took on water, it eventually capsized and sank, the release said.

Six adults and a child were rescued from the water, but three children recovered from the lake after an intensive search were unresponsive to exhaustive lifesaving measures administered as soon as they were found, police said.

Officials confirmed that all four children on board were wearing life jackets, police added.

After the storm, Lake Geneva Mayor Todd Krause declared an emergency and said one person suffered minor injuries after being struck by a falling tree while downed power lines and trees blocked some streets.

The storms that rolled through the Midwest and Northeast on Friday led multiple cities to cancel holiday festivals and reschedule fireworks displays. Mayor Frank Velez in Belleville, New Jersey, rescheduled them for next year, telling residents: “While we’re disappointed we couldn’t celebrate together tonight, your safety will always come first."

By noon on July Fourth, temperatures across parts of the Northeast were already soaring back toward triple digits, resuming conditions likely to be relieved by the storms predicted to follow, leaving temperatures much lower for the start of a new week.

Roanoke County officials said as of noon on Saturday that the fire has been 100% contained. Remnants within the containment area will continue to burn and those in the area are advised that they will see smoke for the next several days unless it rains.

In total, approximately 100 acres burned while around 25 personnel from Roanoke County Fire & Rescue and the Department of Forestry were working this fire. The Department of Forestry will continue to investigate, but currently it isn’t believed that the cause of the fire was intentional.

No injuries or medical issues were connected with the fire. Roanoke County officials say this will be their final update unless there is a significant change.

9 p.m. Update:

Roanoke County officials said Friday night that approximately 100 acres have burned, but crews have contained 80% of the fire.

Officials say that people may see heavy smoke into Saturday. The cause of the fire is still unknown, but it is not believed to be intentional; no structures are affected.

3 p.m. Update:

Roanoke County officials said that the fire has grown to approximately 10 acres in a heavily wooded area, producing heavy smoke. Fire and Rescue personnel from three stations are on the scene, including the Department of Forestry.

Officials say no structures are threatened and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

10 News will continue to update this story with information as it becomes available.

Original:

Roanoke County Fire and Rescue crews are responding to a brush fire to the Havens Wildlife Management area in the Fort Lewis area for a brush fire, according to officials.

Roanoke County officials say there are no structures in the area and no threat to the public at this time.

An estimated 1-2 acres have burned and it will likely grow in size. There is a lot of thick brush in the area, which will produce heavy smoke. Currently, the cause of the fire is unknown.

The Department of Forestry has been contacted, and crews are working to put in a containment line around the fire.

Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a fuel crisis and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its all-out invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year.

Gov. Alexander Beglov said the city’s Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across Russia's second-largest city and the surrounding region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St. Petersburg.

“The Ukrainian defense forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt — an important military target,” he said in a post on Telegram.

St. Petersburg’s Kirovsky district was previously hit in June, ahead of Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, has suffered particularly from heavy strikes, causing local authorities to suspend gasoline sales to civilians. A Ukrainian attack on Saturday killed one person and injured two more, including a 10-year-old child, the Moscow-installed Gov. Sergei Aksyonov said.

Ukrainian attacks bring the war home

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shrugged off Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s energy facilities as “not critical,” and insisted the war will continue until his goals are met.

He has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, although analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been stymied in recent months.

On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the war in Ukraine and received a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka, after weeks of intense street battles. He hailed it as a key step toward capturing the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the key remaining strongholds in the so-called “forest belt” of heavily fortified cities in the Donetsk region that remain in Ukraine’s hands.

The capture of Kostyantynivka, a big transport and industrial hub, is of “major strategic importance,” Putin, clad in military fatigues, said in televised comments.

In a briefing Saturday, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said that Ukrainian troops had been pushed back several kilometers (miles) and that fighting was taking place on the outskirts of the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka.

“The city is now under our full control. Units of the Southern Army Group are completing the clearance of city blocks, rooting out small groups and individual Ukrainian fighters who may still be hiding in basements and ruins,” he said.

Zelenskyy denied that Russia took control of the city. “It is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story,” he wrote on social media Saturday. “If Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war. But the fact is, he won’t cross the front line — reality is very different from Putin’s words.”

But the Kremlin quickly dismissed Zelenskyy's offer, with Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda on Saturday evening that Putin would meet the Ukrainian leader in Moscow once Kyiv was ready to make "important, consequential decisions.”

Putin appears to believe his government can keep the fuel crisis from eroding his authority and support for the war he launched more than four years ago. At the very least, the attacks have brought the war home even more poignantly for millions of Russians, shattering Putin’s narrative of the conflict as something that doesn’t affect the lives of ordinary people in his country.

The border city of Belgorod, which Ukrainian drone strikes have also repeatedly targeted, was left almost completely without power on Saturday due to overnight attacks, local media reported.

Meanwhile, eight people were wounded after a Russian attack struck residential buildings in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, including two children, local authorities said on Saturday.

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

Still in need of plans? No worries - we’ve got you covered! We’re working for you to break down all the Fourth of July festivities that’ll help you celebrate the USA with a bang. If we missed any events, feel free to submit a Help Center ticket to let us know.

HIGHLANDS

• July 4 at 6:30 p.m: Independence Day Celebration: Concert & Fireworks (fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.); 101 Maury River Drive in Buena Vista

ROANOKE VALLEY

• July 2 at 5 p.m: Rotary Independence Festival and Mullet Competition at the Franklin County High School Football Field
• July 3 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m: Roanoke Freedom Festival: Celebrating 250 Years of Liberty at River’s Edge Park - North (fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.)
• July 3 and 4: Buchanan Community Carnival at Buchanan Town Park (fireworks at 10 p.m.)
• July 4: Four on the Fourth 4-Miler at 204 W. Lee Avenue
• July 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m: Craig County Independence Day Parade and Celebration on Main Street in New Castle.
• July 4 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m: Salem Fair 250 Celebration and Fireworks - Fireworks display from Williamsburg begins at 8 p.m., and the annual Salem Fair fireworks show begins around 9:30 p.m.
• July 4 at 5 p.m.: Buchanan Fourth of July Parade
• July 4 from 6 p.m.: Town of Vinton Fourth of July Celebration on the front lawn of the Vinton War Memorial (fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.)
• July 4: 24th Annual Smith Mountain Lake Fireworks and Saunders Volunteer Fire Co Fundraiser
• July 5: Fincastle Celebration and Fireworks at Breckenridge Elementary School (fireworks begin at approximately 9 p.m.)

NEW RIVER VALLEY

• July 2 from 7 to 11 p.m: Fireworks at Mitchell’s Point Marina
• July 2 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m: Independence Day Celebration at Mountain Lake Lodge
• July 3 at 3 p.m: Independence Day Parade in downtown Pulaski
• July 3 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m: Radford Spirit of America
• July 3 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m: Olde Mill Golf Resort’s Independence Celebration and Classic Car Cruise-In
• July 3 at 6: Independence Day Celebration at Floyd County High School
• July 3-5: Rural Retreat Liberty at the Lake
• July 4: Independence Parade and Festival - Parade at 11 a.m., festival 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Town Park/1908 Courthouse in Grayson County
• July 4: Carroll Wellness Center’s 4th of July Freedom Run & 1-Mile Fun Run/Walk
• July 4: Christiansburg Fourth of July Celebration and Fireworks at Christiansburg Huckleberry Park (Festival from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and fireworks at 9:15 p.m.)
• July 4 from 2 to 7 p.m: July 4th America 250th Celebration Cruise In - downtown Wytheville
• July 4 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m: Downtown Wytheville July Fourth Celebration and Street Festival
• July 4 at 4 p.m: Town of Hillsville Independence Day Parade
• July 4 from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m: Red Hill Independence Day Celebration at 1250 Red Hill Road in Brookneal
• July 4 at 6:30 p.m: Lovingston Fourth of July Parade
• July 4 from 9:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m: Lovingston fireworks at Nelson County Middle School
• July 5 at 3:30 p.m: Ivanhoe Jubilee Park/Show Grounds Red, White & Blue Barrel Race

LYNCHBURG

• July 3: Fireworks on the Riverfront; fireworks begin at approximately 9 p.m.
• July 3 from 8 p.m to 10:30 p.m: America’s 250th in Appomattox at Appomattox County High
• July 3 from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m: Freedom Fest at City View Venues
• July 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m: Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest Independence Day Celebration
• July 4 at 6:30 p.m: Hill City Howlers America’s 250th Independence Day Celebration at Lynchburg City Stadium

SOUTHSIDE

• July 4: SoSO Brew Fest 5K & Block Party in downtown South Boston
• July 4 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m: Galax Independence Day Celebration - fireworks at 10 p.m. at Felts Park
• July 4: Danville Celebrates Fourth of July

The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier in the week — in a three-set loss.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles. Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside (at)venuswilliams once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete,” Serena said in an Instagram post.

The post included images of four syringes that Serena said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

The Williams sisters — Venus is 46 — were scheduled to play Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra. It was the only first-round doubles match that wasn't scheduled earlier in the week, having been pushed back to give Serena more time to recover.

Serena was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

Venus played in the mixed doubles tournament on Friday together with Kevin Krawietz, losing in straight sets to Tereza Mihalikova and Lloyd Glasspool.

The Williams sisters are six-time champions as partners in women's doubles at Wimbledon.

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

The couple did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen, instead having Swift’s younger brother Austin Swift serve as her man of honor with Kelce’s big brother and podcast co-host Jason Kelce his best man, Swift's publicist Tree Paine said in an email.

The bride and groom’s outfits came from Christian Dior Haute Couture and its designer Jonathan Anderson with shoes custom-made by Christian Louboutin. She wore Cartier jewelry.

An almost-royal wedding

The long anticipated union of sports and song brought hype to new heights at a venue made more for historic NBA games and bucket-list concerts. The Kansas City Chiefs' superstar tight end and the music megastar married as fans and spectators gathered outside in blistering heat, eager to be part of the occasion, even though the event was almost entirely hidden.

Actors Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke; models Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss; comic Chris Rock; director Steven Spielberg; singer Camila Cabello and author Jenny Han were among the guests from the world of arts and entertainment. Kelce's coach Andy Reid and Chiefs teammates including running back Kareem Hunt were among the sports figures in the arena, along with retired NFL superstar Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks receiver and recent Super Bowl champ Cooper Kupp, New York Giants receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and ESPN personalities Joe Buck and Stephen A. Smith.

In a culture obsessed with famous couplings it may have been the apex celebrity wedding, with perhaps only royal unions getting more attention. Holding such a ceremony in a huge, iconic space that sits at the center of the U.S. media universe while keeping all the details secret made for a surreal scene, but it was a mix of hype and hush that is not out of character for Swift.

A shrouded ceremony headed by Happy Gilmore

An Associated Press camera outside the arena showed a long line of black SUVs dropping off wedding-goers in tuxedos and evening gowns, surrounded by New Yorkers in shorts and Swifties amassing for the occasion. Rain briefly cut the heat shortly after the marriage was announced.

There was a seemingly total lack of social media posts from guests once they had entered the arena, with phones apparently banned.

However, on Saturday, hosts of Good Morning America who had been invited to the wedding, confirmed that Nicks performed and described the space as “intimate.”

“As intimate as it could possibly be given it was Madison Square Garden. Really this garden inside the garden, just so beautiful,” said George Stephanopoulos. “It's hard to imagine a place that big and a wedding with such stars could feel so personal and so intimate.”

Robin Roberts added that both Swift and Kelce wrote their own vows.

Weddings have been a constant subject in Swift’s songs since she was a teenager, and her actually walking the aisle for the first time at age 36 added to the drama. It was also the first marriage for the 36-year-old three-time Super Bowl champ Kelce, who could have been one of the jock characters in Swift's early hits.

Sandler, star of “The Wedding Singer” and many other hit comedies, can’t have been high on anyone’s betting list for who would marry the couple, though he’s become an increasingly warm and paternal cultural figure with age. The email announcing the marriage described him as “a friend” of the couple. Kelce was one of the many athletes who appeared in “Happy Gilmore 2,” Sandler's 2025 sequel to one of his first hits, and Sandler appeared last year on the Kelce brothers' “New Heights” podcast.

Welcome to New York — Taylor's version

The Swift-Kelce relationship has thrilled and fascinated millions around the world — particularly the Swifties, the pop star’s enormous and ardent fan base — ever since the pair first started dating in 2023 after he showed up at her Eras Tour concert at the Chiefs stadium.

Happy fans mixed with frazzled tourists outside the arena.

Lori Powers, who lives an hour north of Manhattan and rode the train in to be near the nuptials, said Swift's “music is the soundtrack behind so many amazing moments in my life. Relationships, friends, like my husband and my kids.”

She stood outside the arena before the marriage was announced with her friend Cecily Hall.

“Just being here and witnessing all the energy and the excitement, it’s so much fun,” Hall said. “The combination of sports and music makes perfect sense as to why they’re at Madison Square Garden today.”

___

This story corrects that it was Robin Roberts who said the couple wrote their own vows.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles. AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Associated Press video journalist Emily Wang Fujiyama contributed from New York.

Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for ​the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), said in a Facebook post that the town of Anefis was being targeted by the separatists.

Mohamed Cissé, a resident of Gao, told The Associated Press that the army is going door to door searching for attackers who are still in the city.

“For the moment, the calm has returned. But I learned that the attackers are still in a part of the city, so I stay inside the house with the family,” said Ousmane Maiga, another resident.

In a later statement, the Malian army claimed that “the situation is completely under control.” It added that in Sévaré, “20 terrorists on motorcycles and equipped vehicles were neutralized.”

But Rawani Ahmed Bouya, a member of the FLA and head of the National Office of the Azawad diaspora, told the AP that Anefis was under FLA control and that the fighting was almost over. His claim could not independently verified.

In late April, a coordinated attack by the FLA and the regional al-Qaida affiliate JNIM killed the defense minister in his home and took control of several key towns in the north of the country.

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group think tank, said that while the latest attacks are “nothing comparable” to those in April, reports of attacks across the border in Burkina Faso as well as across Mali could indicate an attempt to divert the attention of the army to secure more limited gains in northern Mali.

Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said the targeting of Anefis was strategic because any Malian attempt to reverse the territorial gains from April would have been staged in Anefis.

Mali has previously faced insurgencies by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the country’s north. The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.

Along with Mali, neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso have also been battling al-Qaida and IS affiliates.

Following military coups, the juntas in the three countries turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened with a record number of militant attacks. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

—-

Wilson McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, sought to show unity as it voted to extend the terms of Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, who have headed it for four years as co-leaders and ran unopposed Saturday. Weidel was reelected with 81% of the vote, while Chrupalla earned 70%. German parties elect their leaders every two years.

The demonstrations outside the convention in the eastern city of Erfurt reflected how AfD has divided Germany even while becoming the biggest opposition party nationally and the strongest political force in Germany’s formerly communist east.

Saturday's event was able to start on time despite the protests, which party officials hailed their “fundamental, legally guaranteed right to hold party conventions.”

“There are no peaceful seated blockades. There are no democratic roadblocks. Nor are there any gangs of thugs who deserve the harmless label ‘civil society.’ These troublemakers are the last resort of our political rivals,” Chrupalla said.

The weekend convention drew additional controversy by coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of a Nazi Party meeting held nearby that consolidated Adolf Hitler’s power over the fascist movement. Historians and political opponents say the timing carries powerful symbolism, an accusation the AfD rejects.

AfD fights ‘firewall’ as its support rises

AfD achieved second place in the February 2025 national election with 20.8% of the vote, the best showing by a far-right party since World War II. Since then support has risen to first among the nation's political parties.

Despite the growing support, some want to see the party banned and protesters this weekend are likely to underline those calls. But Germany’s supreme court previously has set a very high bar for banning parties.

Although Weidel said recently that “2026 is a year of destiny for AfD,” mainstream parties say they won’t work with AfD in a stance often referred to as a “firewall” against far-right parties.

Police said some 31,000 people attended Saturday's protest rallies, German news agency dpa reported. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with protesters holding signs such as "Stop AfD Nazis” and "For Diversity, Against Nazis.”

Lena Raupach, spokesperson for widersetzen, an anti-fascist alliance whose name translates to “resist,” said the group had hoped to block the convention.

“The AfD pursues fascist policies: It wants mass deportations and terror on the streets. At the same time, however, it doesn’t solve a single real problem," she said. “It pursues policies that benefit the rich, not ordinary citizens. And we at widersetzen want a society in which all people have equal opportunities and equal security. We want a society based on solidarity.”

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, announced last year that it had classified AfD as a proven right-wing extremist group, but suspended the designation after a legal challenge. In February, a Cologne court said the agency can’t use the designation while the court evaluates the party’s lawsuit.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and argues the agency is being used as a political instrument by mainstream parties.

Upcoming state election could bring a major win

AfD is capitalizing on the unpopularity of a government that is trying to reform the sluggish economy. The party has become adept at harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its signature theme of curbing migration, which powered its rise in the mid-2010s.

AfD hopes to win 40% or more of the vote in a Sept. 6 state election in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt. That could put the party on course for an absolute majority or in a position where it might try to attract defectors from other parties, paving the way for its first state governor.

“We will win. Maybe we’ll be able to govern alone soon,” Chrupalla said. “That would send the right message to the enemies of democracy out there who wanted to prevent our party convention from taking place.”

The party, which has long called for lifting sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine, also has supported the general approach of U.S. President Donald Trump while criticizing the war in Iran launched by the Trump administration and Israel.

Björn Höcke, one of the party’s regional leaders, repeatedly said in his speech Saturday that AfD wants to make Germany great again, a reference to Trump's MAGA platform, and at least one attendee wore a hat with a “Make Germany Great Again” logo.

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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Philipp Reissfelder in Berlin contributed to this report.

“When drowning occurs, seconds matter,” said Dr. Rohit Shenoi, the lead author of a recent American Academy of Pediatrics warning. “Quick rescue and resuscitation can mean the difference between life, death and lifelong disability.”

About 4,000 to 5,000 Americans drown each year. Most are adults who die in natural bodies of water, such as lakes, ponds or oceans.

But statistically speaking, drowning is a much larger danger to children. It’s the No. 1 cause of death for kids ages 1 to 4, and one of the top killers of children ages 5 to 14. The drowning rate is higher for white kids in the younger group, but much higher for Black, American Indian and Alaska Native children in the older group.

Drownings of very young children sometimes occur in bathtubs. But most, like Stewie Leonard's, occur in swimming pools.

A family tragedy leads to a foundation for water safety

The Stew Leonard’s grocery chain offers a Disney-like shopping experience, featuring food-promoting animatronic characters like a dancing banana, a mooing cow and singing avocados. But several of its stores also have an animatronic creature that seems out of place: a life-jacketed duck named Stewie who sings about how not to drown.

The duck is named for the son of Stew Leonard, the grocery chain’s chief executive. The boy was 21 months old when he drowned during a family vacation on the island of St. Martin in 1989.

More than a dozen adults and kids had gathered at a birthday party for Stewie's older sister, who was turning 3. Stew Leonard was outside hanging balloons and his wife was inside baking a cake.

“I saw Stewie outside and I assumed that he (Leonard) was watching him,” said his wife, Kim, noting that other relatives also were in the area of the pool.

“We never communicated with each other; ‘You’ve got him?’” said Kim Leonard, now 65. “When everyone’s watching, nobody’s watching.”

“There were a couple of balloons floating in the water,” Leonard, 71, recalled. “And you know after a few minutes, sort of everybody was like, ‘Where’s Stewie?’ Unfortunately I was the one who found him. He was face down in the pool.”

His death led the couple to start a foundation that pays for children’s swimming lessons and promotes drowning prevention.

Why are more kids drowning?

Unintentional child drowning deaths in the U.S. fell from around 2,000 a year in the 1980s to below 1,000 a year by the early 2000s, thanks in part to public awareness campaigns, expanded access to swimming lessons, and adoption of pool fencing laws. Between 2000 and 2019, health officials saw a 38% drop.

But then the trend reversed, with the number of child drowning deaths rising from 756 in 2019 to 865 in 2024, the most recent year for which complete data is available. The bulk of them were children younger than 5. The child drowning death rate also increased slightly, from 1.1 to 1.2 per 100,000 children.

What happened?

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted swimming lessons and lifeguard training programs, and contributed to a national lifeguard shortage. Meanwhile, some data suggests an increase in swimming pool construction and increases in unsupervised swimming, said Tessa Clemens, the CDC Foundation’s senior director for drowning prevention initiatives.

Kym Roberts studies drownings in Australia — where child drownings have been either level or decreasing in recent years. She said “drowning in young children is often associated with falls into water and lapses in direct supervision.”

Some possible good news: Preliminary U.S. data for last year suggests child drownings declined. But it's not clear whether that's the start of a trend, and the deaths still remain higher compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, Clemens said.

Pediatricians push for standards and regulations

Inventors have recognized a need for child water safety measures, and recent years have seen the emergence of immersion alarms that sound if the wristband a child is wearing goes underwater. But manufacturers of such devices note they can serve as an extra warning system, but should not be considered a primary way to keep children safe.

The federal government's top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, laid off Clemens and the rest of the staff of its drowning prevention program last year. But new guidance and drowning prevention support continues to come out of other organizations, including the CDC Foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A CDC Foundation program has paid for basic swimming and water safety skills training for over 35,000 students since 2024. The program operates in 11 states with higher drowning rates: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma and Texas.

Ways to prevent drowning

The AAP says research shows that policies can make a difference, including lifeguard standards, life jacket regulations and requirements that swimming pools be completely surrounded by fences with self-closing, self-latching gates.

Stew Leonard emphasizes two other approaches — swimming lessons for young kids and complete focus by caregivers when young children are around water.

“I mean, I love ballet. I love karate. I love tennis lessons. You know, all the activities that kids can do,” he said. “But the only thing you can do to save their life is put them in swimming lessons.”

His foundation has funded over 250,000 swimming lessons for children and opened two swimming schools — one of them across the street from his company's headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Also, “shut your cellphones off when you're around the pool, watching the kids. Don't sit there reading a book. Don't sit there talking to your friends, neglecting your child that's near the water,” he said.

“This happens in the blink of an eye.”

___

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

The reported boost to domestic tourism, though anecdotal, comes as higher airfares and gasoline prices have made vacations more expensive. The FIFA World Cup soccer tournament and celebrations of the nation's 250th birthday have given some U.S. residents additional incentives to create summer memories without going far.

Motor club federation AAA estimated that 72.2 million Americans would travel at least 50 miles from home between June 27 and this Sunday. That's 0.5% more than the number who got away during last year's July Fourth travel period, but the forecasted increase is almost all due to people taking cruises, buses and trains; AAA expects no change in the number driving or flying to their destinations.

A meaningful reduction in summer globetrotting might have an upside for businesses that depend on tourists, said Tarik Dogru, an associate professor at Florida State University's Dedman College of Hospitality. Fewer U.S. residents heading abroad or flying across the country means more of their vacation budgets are staying local too, Dogru said.

“The current economic and tourism dynamics are likely to redirect spending toward small businesses, such as regional restaurants, local attractions, Airbnb hosts, and roadside businesses along drive routes that serve budget-conscious and close-to-home travel,” he said.

If the trend holds through the summer and the rest of the year, it could reduce a travel and tourism trade deficit the United States has run since the COVID-19 pandemic. Each year since 2020, Americans spent more on foreign travel than international visitors spent on travel-related goods and services in the U.S., according to the National Travel and Tourism Office.

Morgan Kain, a teacher in Baltimore, said her family is among the ones keeping their travel bugs in check for financial reasons. Kain, her husband and three children usually take multiple trips each summer, including a weeklong stay at a Virginia lake house. Last year, they spent six weeks traveling around Italy.

“This summer, we’re still doing a couple overnights and the lake house, but nothing else,” Kain said. “Things are crazy expensive, from travel costs to food costs to gas.”

Vacationers are taking trips within driving distance

Despite gasoline costing more than it did a year ago, 85% of Independence Day week travelers were expected to drive to their destinations, AAA said, noting that car trips still are cheaper than flights for the most part.

Around Lake Tahoe, which straddles California and Nevada, several businesses reported spotting more visitors driving in from cities along the West Coast.

Ron Williams, who owns Tahoe Sports, said he worried at the beginning of the season that customers might not show up to rent boats and Jet Skis due to economic concerns. Like the gasoline that powers cars, the price of boat fuel went up during the Iran war.

But Williams so far is “pleasantly surprised with how well the business is doing across the board.” His future bookings are 10% higher compared to the same time last year, he said.

“I think people are probably sticking close to home, and being in Lake Tahoe, we have such a huge drive-up market,” Williams said.

Increased demand for the three Lake Tahoe area rental properties that Jerry Bindel manages for Pyramid Global Hospitality also came as a relief. Ski season bookings petered out along with the snow during an unusually warm winter, but “we just saw that flip” with the arrival of hiking and boating weather, he said.

Bindel, an area general director for the property management company, said he spotted a possible sign of Tahoe visitors watching their spending: more of them skipping restaurants and using the kitchens in their rental units or outdoor barbecue grills to prepare their own food.

“We’re seeing a lot of additional use on those items this summer,” he said.

Locals still want to have memorable summer experiences

In Asheville, North Carolina, small business owners have hoped tourism would rebound since Hurricane Helene and flooding from days of torrential rain caused widespread destruction to the city's landscape, buildings and infrastructure in September 2024.

Aubrey Anderson, who owns a river tubing outfitter in Asheville, reduced her summer staff from 100 people to 25 after Helene. After reservations picked up earlier this year and she noticed “a lot new people coming into town,” Anderson felt encouraged enough to hire 50 workers for Zen Tubing's current season.

The unfamiliar faces include day-trippers driving in from South Carolina, Tennessee and other parts of North Carolina to spend several hours floating down the French Broad River for around $30 per person, Anderson said. After tubing, customers from around the region often grab a meal, stop at a brewery, shop or visit other local attractions before heading home, which is “a win for Asheville as a whole,” she said.

“We’re definitely seeing a lot of locals, so to speak," Anderson said. “People are maybe skipping the long drive to the beach this year, and they’re kind of doing just something close by so that they can save a little money and still enjoy a family outing.”

Factory tours offered by French Broad Chocolate have surged this summer, according to Jael Skeffington, the Asheville chocolate maker's CEO and co-founder. Tour-takers often stop in the on-site cafe for ice cream or coffee and buy a box of chocolate bars or bonbons before they leave, she said.

“So it’s good for business, but it also seems to be what people are looking for is something to do, not just something to eat — something to experience." Skeffington said.

Cities are getting a World Cup boost

Soccer enthusiasts have poured into Kansas City, Missouri, just like other North American cities hosting World Cup matches.

Made in KC, a chain of four cafes and 11 shops that sells locally made sauces, Kansas City-themed gifts and T-shirts for fans of the city’s professional sports teams, has gotten “really noticeable spikes of traffic” at all its locations during the tournament, co-owner Keith Bradley said. World Cup-related merchandise, including $40 hats featuring the team colors of this year’s competitors, have been a big hit, he said.

American tourists from other Midwestern cities — Des Moines and Omaha both are within a three-hour drive from Kansas City — seem to outnumber U.S. visitors from farther away, Bradley noted.

“We have a couple locations that are in tourist parts of Kansas City. ... But then we also have little shops that are just in suburban neighborhoods in Kansas City, and those have also seen World Cup traffic of people going to watch parties, people coming in town to go to the games, and then tourists just exploring Kansas City on their own.”

Mollie Lothman, co-owner of McLain’s Bakery, a family-owned cafe with five locations, said she thinks the cost of food and lodging in Kansas City compared to bigger or better known host cities has helped.

“We’re one of the smaller markets who got the World Cup in Kansas City, but we’re also probably one of least expensive markets, in terms of family budgeting, to try to come and experience the World Cup," Lothman said. “So I think that’s been a huge draw for people."

His hopes of a second consecutive World Cup title also lived on — and that accomplishment was anything but easy.

Messi’s goal in the 29th minute was the 20th of his World Cup career, extending his record and moving him two ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappé on the all-time list. It was the opener of what became a wild night, with Argentina escaping with a 3-2 win over Cape Verde in extra time against a huge underdog.

Messi was pictured later at his media conference with a large bump on his head after apparently being hit with a knee during a collision with a Cape Verde player.

“It hurts a little but I’m good," he was quoted in comments translated from Spanish about the goose-egg over his right eye. A FIFA post on X showed a definite welt.

Messi — who now has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games going back to Argentina's run to the 2022 title — seemed relieved after the match, and lauded Cape Verde’s defense.

“We did good things,” Messi said in his native Spanish, “and we have to correct the bad things.”

Messi has seven goals in this World Cup — one more than Mbappé in the race for the Golden Boot as the top scorer of the tournament — and has scored 12 times during his eight-game World Cup streak. He has been great, and Argentina has needed him to be great.

“For me, it represents a lot to be friends with him,” said Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s teammate with Argentina and Inter Miami. “For me, friendship is one of the most important things that we all have and I consider myself fortunate to be there, to share these moments with him.”

And there has been no shortage of moments.

Messi had the game's first good chance Friday, his all-world left foot sending a shot skidding across the goal mouth but outside of the right post in the 15th minute. After getting taken down, he had a 25-yard free kick three minutes later that was easily gobbled up by Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha.

But the momentum was shifting, and before long, Messi broke through for a 1-0 lead. He timed his run perfectly on a ball played into the box by defender Lisandro Martinez to stay onside, controlled the pass and then lifted a shot over Vozinha's left shoulder from close range for his 124th international goal. Only Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 146, has more.

Messi stretched his arms and pointed to Martinez, saluting the pass, before teammates mobbed him in celebration.

Argentina was a huge favorite — some sportsbooks had the defending champions at minus-3500 to win, meaning bettors would have to wager $3,500 to profit $100 — and the Messi goal probably had some thinking the scoring dam was about to break.

It wasn't.

Cape Verde scored to knot the game at 1-1 and 2-2, and Messi set up the eventual winner with a corner kick that bounced off some heads and into the net midway through the second half of extra time.

“As this team has demonstrated many times, and as I’ve said many times, it competes,” Messi said. “And we competed to the end.”

The Golden Boot race may go down to the end as well, with the four leaders now all safely into the Round of 16.

Messi and Mbappé are far from the only contenders in the Golden Boot race: Norway’s Erling Haaland and England’s Harry Kane each had five goals entering Friday, while four players — France’s Ousmane Dembele, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior and Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr — had four. Sarr is out of the running since Senegal has been eliminated.

Norway, England and France have advanced to the Round of 16; Argentina and Messi, the Inter Miami star who is widely considered the greatest player ever, now join them — barely.

“Our team did everything we could to win the game,” Cape Verde goalie Vozinha said.

Messi has never won the Golden Boot. He finished second with seven goals — one behind Mbappé — while leading Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, and he tied for third with four goals in 2014.

If there’s a tie atop the goal list when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the first tiebreaker and fewest minutes played as the second tiebreaker. Entering Friday, that meant Mbappé would have had the edge over Messi based on his 2-0 lead in assists.

But for now, Messi leads the scoring race. Most important, he's still in the race for another World Cup title.

“I hope you now realize, there is no easy opponent," Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.

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The two-way superstar was hitless in three at-bats before being lifted as a precaution. On the mound, Ohtani allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out nine and threw a season-high 110 pitches before Los Angeles rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Ohtani said he felt the biceps issue during his at-bat in the sixth, when he flied out to right field.

“It’s the same location that I felt a couple months ago,” he said through a translator. "It went away pretty relatively quickly, so I expect that to happen again.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani would be given Saturday off to recover and receive treatment.

“He's a quick healer and finds a way to get back,” said Roberts, who added that Ohtani's previous biceps issue was "so benign that I didn't hear about it until tonight.”

Ohtani has primarily been starting on the mound every Wednesday, but the team pushed him back to Friday this week to manage his workload.

Asked if that meant Ohtani was unlikely to pitch in the All-Star Game, Roberts said before the game: “I haven't formally said it, but if you just kind of do the math, it would be hard to imagine. But I don’t have to make that decision quite yet.”

Roberts will manage the National League All-Stars in Philadelphia.

He said the possibility of Ohtani skipping his last pitching start before the All-Star break should “be on the table.”

Ohtani is already penciled into the All-Star starting lineup as the NL designated hitter because he was the overall leader with 3,341,257 votes after the first phase of fan balloting.

The right-hander is a strong candidate to be selected to the NL pitching staff as well, but Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez seems most likely to start in his home ballpark. Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski leads the majors with a 1.45 ERA but is on turn to pitch for the Brewers two days before the All-Star Game, which would make him unavailable against the American League.

Ohtani's ERA rose to 1.79 from 1.58 after his start Friday.

The Dodgers wanted Ohtani to get additional rest during a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. If he makes his final scheduled start before the All-Star Game on July 10, that would give his arm only three days of rest prior to the Midsummer Showcase.

“Shohei hasn’t had his best stuff recently and that’s the truth,” Roberts said. “The fastball command hasn’t been what it was earlier in the season, the sweeper hasn’t been the same.”

Ohtani has been bothered by left knee soreness and has a blister on the middle finger of his right hand.

“He feels good, the body feels good,” Roberts said before Friday's game. “The knee feels as good as it’s felt in quite some time, so that’s encouraging.”

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The Boston Red Sox's 38-year-old left-hander didn't do it with one of the triple-digit fastballs that have made him one of the most imposing pitchers of his generation and one of the most accomplished relievers in baseball history.

Instead, his high pitch to the Angels' Denzer Guzman was clocked at a mere 98.6 mph — and Guzman still couldn't get around in time.

“I feel very happy, very proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish,” Chapman said through an interpreter. “I just feel very satisfied right now.”

The strikeout was the 1,364th in Chapman's 17-year career. It broke the record long held by Hoyt Wilhelm, the Hall of Famer whose 21-year career ended back in 1972, just five days shy of his 50th birthday.

Chapman paused and soaked in the moment only briefly after fanning Guzman, aware of the significance of the strikeout while also knowing he still had to get two more outs. He promptly gave up two hits, but escaped the jam with a double-play grounder to secure Boston's 5-2 win over Los Angeles and his 383rd career save.

The Red Sox celebrated Chapman’s achievement in their Angel Stadium clubhouse, showing a video retrospective of Chapman’s career to his younger teammates — everything from his debut with Cincinnati in 2010 to his two World Series championships with the Cubs and Rangers.

“It’s cool. We’ve been waiting for that one,” Boston interim manager Chad Tracy said. “What a career he’s had. The cool thing is watching the video, and you’re seeing him at a young age throwing 102, and he’s still doing it. It’s just incredible.”

In his 889th major league appearance — all of them in relief — Chapman saved a deserved victory for Red Sox rookie Jake Bennett, who was making his seventh appearance.

“It’s incredible,” said Bennett, who tired in the eighth. “It’s incredible to even just be a part of a team that it happens on.”

Chapman hadn’t pitched since he tied the strikeout record last Sunday while blowing a save against the Yankees, with whom he spent parts of seven seasons before an acrimonious split four years ago. He has pitched for seven teams since he defected from Cuba in 2009, earning eight All-Star selections and moving up to 10th on the majors' career saves list.

This record spanned across a half-century of baseball history and a fundamental change in the way pitchers are used.

Among the 14 pitchers in major league history who have recorded 1,000 strikeouts as a reliever, only Lindy McDaniel was a contemporary of Wilhelm, a World War II veteran and a pioneer in relief pitching. The crafty knuckleballer was among the first pitchers to be used regularly as what's now known as a high-leverage reliever, coming into close games and tight situations regardless of whether the starter was tired or not.

Chapman has spent his entire career in those tight spots, and he has usually excelled when healthy, often with a fastball that has topped 105 mph at times during his career.

He has even been in a renaissance since joining the Red Sox before last season. After earning AL Reliever of the Year honors in 2025 with a minuscule 1.17 ERA, he has 17 saves in 19 chances this season, still taking high-leverage assignments and usually succeeding.

“I was just focused on doing the job, day in and day out over the course of the last few weeks, getting to this point where I had the opportunity to break the record,” Chapman said. “I had some highs and some lows, but I've just tried to stay positive throughout.”

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That plan also went by the wayside when Jhon Córdoba appeared to hurt his groin.

Forced into making a rare early move, Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo sent Luis Suárez onto the field, and he promptly delivered a sharp cross that Jhon Arias flicked into the net, resulting in the only goal on a sweltering night at Arrowhead Stadium and sending Los Cafeteros into the Round of 16 at the World Cup with a 1-0 victory over the Black Stars.

“I think football is a team sport,” Lorenzo said. “Ultimately you do have little groups in certain areas, but you have to have a unit — a whole — and I think our squad has been working on that from the very onset. That was the goal from the very beginning.”

The early goal was a good omen: Colombia has won 11 consecutive World Cup matches when scoring first. Now, it will play Switzerland on Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia, for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“We have won absolutely nothing,” Colombia star Luis Díaz said. “These games are very difficult. Every game we've seen has been tight. The good thing and the positive thing is that we're playing very well, we feel comfortable, we are being a family, we are working as a team, and that will work for what is coming.”

Los Cafeteros thought they had doubled their lead in the 56th minute, when Díaz found the back of the net only to see the offside flag raised, and the fleet-footed Colombia forward had a point-blank shot saved by Lawrence Ati Zigi a few minutes later.

Zigi wound up making seven saves to keep Ghana in the game.

“Sometimes it happens in football,” Ghana defender Jerome Opoku said, “that it doesn’t go your way.”

It was 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 Celsius) with a heat index of 96 when the game kicked off at 8:30 p.m. local time, the late start intentional due to the expected heat of Midwestern summers. The hydration breaks that have been controversial in so many matches suddenly became a blessing as players from both sides fought through dehydration and cramps.

Ghana was one of a record nine teams from Africa to escape the group stage of the World Cup. And while many gave fits to some of the tournament favorites — hello, Cape Verde against Argentina — only Morocco and Egypt were able to reach the Round of 16.

“It's always great to get out of your group,” Opoku said. “Obviously we wanted to go further.”

Colombia had breezed through the group stage, conceding only a single goal in wins over Uzbekistan and Congo and a draw with Portugal. In fact, Los Cafeteros had been so impressive that Spain coach Luis de la Fuente — whose own team is considered among the tournament favorites — tapped them as “a candidate to win the World Cup.”

Their fans certainly believe in them.

The home of the NFL’s Chiefs has three levels of seats with a band of yellow ones sandwiched between red. Yet the entire bowl of the stadium just east of downtown Kansas City was awash in the vibrant yellow of Colombia some 2 hours before kickoff.

Ghana knew it would be an underdog. Yet the team that failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations last year for the first time in nearly two decades had already answered plenty of critics by surviving a difficult group topped by England and Croatia.

The question as it faced Colombia: Could Ghana mount enough offense?

As expected, Los Cafeteros dominated the ball — the Black Stars had possessed it just 36.1% of the time in the group stage, second-least of any team that advanced, and those offensive issues continued against Colombia. Even when Ghana managed to put together an attack, Colombia was there to quickly counter with the speed of Suárez, Díaz and its midfielders.

Ghana wound up taking eight shots against Colombia. None of them were on goal.

“Intense game. Tough game for both teams, I guess, as I expected,” Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said. “Colombia started the game as we expected, full speed, a lot of intensity, passing. We tried to answer and stop them, but unfortunately the goal came too early for us.”

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“Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty,” he said from Mount Rushmore. “It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor or even 9/11."

While the language was similar to several other speeches Trump has given in recent days, it was notable for being delivered in a national park that commemorates some of America's most prominent presidents. And it swerved from the typically apolitical, unifying speeches past presidents like Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan have delivered during earlier high-profile Independence Day celebrations.

Indeed, Trump's language evoked the Red Scare of the 1950s, when alleged communists were persecuted and blacklisted from jobs across America, from Washington to Hollywood.

In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, delivered his own address that cast America as a nation of contradictions “working each day towards the perfection in which it was conceived.”

The president's speech capped an Independence Day eve that was otherwise most notable for a brutal heat wave the gripped much of the eastern portion of the country. Officials have warned those celebrating the holiday to stay hydrated and take air-conditioned breaks as needed.

Philadelphia canceled its Salute to Independence parade Friday. The Great American State Fair in Washington shut down in the early afternoon before reopening at 5 p.m. The Capitol Fourth concert, a mainstay of the holiday in Washington, opened its gates a little later than normal but ultimately moved forward with appearances from Patti LaBelle, Trace Adkins, members of the Artemis II space mission and fireworks over George Washington’s Mount Vernon. An Independence Day parade scheduled for Saturday in Washington was canceled.

Looking for a place to cool off

By early afternoon Friday in Washington, hundreds of people were roaming the grounds of the National Mall, home to The Great American State Fair. They snapped photos of the flyovers and tried to cool off inside tents that offered $9 lemonades and $23 turkey legs. Many were dressed in patriotic colors, their faces glistening with sweat.

Glenn Brooks, who was pardoned by Trump for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said he was “thankful to be participating in this grand event.”

The activity culminates in the main event Saturday, when fireworks will erupt in communities across the U.S., along with backyard cookouts and block parties. Trump will deliver another speech at the National Mall in Washington before what is being billed as a historically massive fireworks show.

As the rest of the country struggled under stifling heat, the Pacific Northwest enjoyed temperatures in the 60s with even a few light showers.

World Cup soccer fans in Seattle were staying cool Friday as they got psyched up for Monday’s big game between the U.S. and Belgium. In the nearby suburb of Issaquah, Megan Kurowski, 31, brought her two dogs to the dog park so they could get some exercise before she went to work.

Kurowski said she was feeling positive about America’s 250th anniversary and was planning a possible paddleboard to watch the fireworks.

“Everyone’s just, from what it seems, been pretty excited about celebrating 250 years,” she said.

The holiday is unfolding at a unique time in the U.S. The anniversary has served as an opportunity for the country to reflect on its history while also reminding it of the political polarization of the moment.

On a holiday of unity, there is an undercurrent of division

In New York, Mamdani, a Democrat, did not mention Trump by name, but parts of his speech appeared aimed at the president’s divisive rhetoric.

“For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best,” Mamdani said in an apparent reference to a common criticism from Trump. “Those ideals upon which our nation was built — they are strong enough to endure any authoritarian regime, but only if we reach for them."

Freedom 250, an organization aligned with the White House, has come to rival America250, a bipartisan group founded by Congress a decade ago. Freedom 250 has organized much of the activity in Washington, including the Great American State Fair. America250 is behind the ball drops unfolding in many cities, including New York, and will host a concert in Los Angeles on Saturday.

About 4 in 10 U.S. adults feel “proud” about the country’s 250th anniversary, according to an April survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Roughly 3 in 10 said “excited” describes their emotions.

Ahead of the holiday, auto technician Joe Fuqua-Bejarano in Topeka, Kansas, sized up “what makes us awesome” as a people. It is clearly not the politics, in his view, but rather resilience.

“We’ve just all got to find unity somewhere, whether that’s in laughter or perseverance, and keep everybody cool,” he said from the fireworks stand where he is doing a booming business as a side hustle.

Christina Zhou, a 25-year-old research assistant from Cambridge, Massachusetts, said she would aim to “think about just things that are happening locally.”

“It feels a little bit more like within our own personal control," she said.

Jerry Chin of Newcastle, Washington, said he wasn’t aware that the U.S. was celebrating its 250th anniversary and planned to stay low-key around the holiday. He and his wife generally skip the fireworks and instead stay home with their fearful dogs to keep them calm.

“America’s a great place, but there are some concerns,” he said. Chin, 55, and his wife worry about healthcare and issues around staying healthy, but they also stress about politics.

“We’re Democrats, so kind of given up hope,” he said. “Just feel that it is the way it is. I don’t know if there could be change.”

At the National Archives in Washington, visitors made their way through the Rotunda to look at the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- and to escape the heat outside.

Michael Dresdner, 60, traveled from West Orange, New Jersey, with his wife, Cindi, 57, and about two dozen other people to be part of the America 250 celebrations. He said their group of travelers included people on both sides of the political aisle -- and that is what gave him hope for the future of American democracy.

“We are all here, and we all love America,” he said.

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Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Anthony Izaguirre in New York, John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Michael Casey in Cambridge, Mass., and Calvin Woodward, Didi Tang, Gary Fields and Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.

Hossam Abdelmaguid scored the deciding goal in a shootout, and Egypt won its debut in the elimination round of the World Cup by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 Friday.

Australia goalkeeper Mathew Ryan didn't stop any of Egypt's four shots after replacing starter Patrick Beach late in extra time.

The victory comes in Egypt's fourth World Cup, the first one with an expanded field of 48. Australia is now 0-3 in the knockout round.

Egypt will next face defending champion Argentina, which beat Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time Friday night, in the round of 16 on Tuesday in Atlanta.

“Me feeling today is that it's incredible,” said Salah, the 34-year-old former Liverpool player who is one behind national team coach Hossam Hassan's Egyptian record of 69 international goals. “I always like seeing the boys happy and enjoying the moment. Nothing can match that. So today was one of the best days of my life.”

Harry Souttar opened the shootout by missing high for Australia, and 18-year-old Lucas Herrington hit the crossbar with the fourth attempt to set up Abdelmaguid’s clincher for the Pharaohs.

The 25-year-old Abdelmaguid, who doesn't have an international goal in 15 appearances, went low left as Ryan dived to the defender's right, setting off a raucous celebration among 70,244 fans at the sold-out home of the Dallas Cowboys, plenty of them wearing Egyptian red.

Egypt didn't even have a victory in the World Cup before beating New Zealand 3-1 in the group stage less than two weeks ago.

“I was only thinking about the Egyptian fans,” Hassan said through an interpreter. “During the entire time and during the penalty shootout, I was just praying, ‘God, please make the Egyptian people happy.’ Even before the penalty shootout, to be honest.”

Egypt’s other shootout scorers were Mahmoud Saber, Ramy Rabia and Salah, who played every minute of regulation and extra time despite a hamstring injury sustained in the team's group finale.

Jackson Irvine and Awer Mabil scored in the shootout for Australia.

“When I went to the players and talked to them, I wanted to take some pressure off,” Hassan said. “Do not look at the pressure. Just let everything out, don’t think about anything. Think about your penalty kick. Don’t even think about the goalkeeper. Just think about your kick.”

Emam Ashour gave Egypt the lead in regulation by scoring in the 13th minute with a header that beat Beach just inside the near post. Australia evened the match in the 55th when Egypt defender Mohamed Hany became the first player to score two own-goals in the same World Cup.

The own-goal came when Aiden O’Neill took a free kick from left of the penalty area and Hany headed the ball past goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir for a spot in World Cup infamy. His other own-goal came in a 1-1 draw with Belgium in the group stage.

Less than 10 minutes earlier, Hany was down near the same spot after colliding with Connor Metcalfe on the Australia midfielder’s header attempt. Medical personnel tended to Hany with a stretcher waiting nearby, but he was helped up and stayed on after what appeared to be a concussion check.

Australia’s only scoring in World Cup knockout rounds has been two own-goals. The Socceroos lost to Italy 1-0 in 2006 and lost to Argentina 2-1 four years ago in Qatar. The goal against Argentina was an own-goal.

“It hurts when you get that close,” Australia coach Tony Popovic said. “Unfortunately, we bow out in a penalty shootout, so it’s difficult to take right now.”

Omar Marmoush had a great chance to give Egypt a two-goal lead in the opening seconds of the second half, but he sent a shot wide.

The late goalkeeper switch to the 34-year-old Ryan, for his 105th international appearance, came despite several strong saves from the 22-year-old Beach, who was playing in only his sixth game for the Socceroos.

Beach made a sprawling save on a header from Rabia in the waning moments of regulation, and seconds later had a much easier stop on Salah’s shot.

Egypt had one more chance before the end of regulation, but Haissem Hassan was turned away by Souttar, who deflected the shot with his knee.

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He got that — and so much more.

Cape Verde didn’t win a match at the World Cup, and somehow, that didn’t seem to matter. The African team's debut on this stage was unforgettable, thanks largely to the 40-year-old goalkeeper who nearly engineered a soccer story that would have been counted among the greatest upsets in sports history.

Cape Verde’s magical ride ended Friday in the Round of 32, with the Blue Sharks falling to Lionel Messi and defending World Cup champion Argentina — as most expected. Final score: Champions 3, Cinderellas 2, in extra time — as probably very few expected.

“We have dignified Cape Verde as a national team in most parts of the world,” Vozinha said in Portuguese. “Today, we fought on an equal footing against Argentina.”

Fight, the Blue Sharks did. But the journey still ended. There was a scoreless draw against Spain to open the tournament, with Vozinha leading the way, which led to the captivating tale surrounding the global collaborative effort it took to get his mother to the U.S. to watch matches in the group stage. There were two more dramatic draws that were good enough for Cape Verde to reach the knockout round.

It took a goal from Messi, then a corner kick from the legend midway through the second half of extra time that set up what became the game-winning tally, to save mighty Argentina. The match lasted more than 2½ hours in real time after the David-vs.-Goliath showdown started. Goliath was pushed to the brink, with Vozinha standing tall against the team that entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the world — and the player regarded by many as the best ever — time and again.

“He's a quality, quality goalkeeper,” said Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes, who was recruited to the team with a LinkedIn message — another made-for-Hollywood story for this squad. “Probably hasn't gotten the recognition he deserves before this. ... He's a legend in Cape Verdean football.”

There were no fewer than four elite saves by Vozinha against Messi alone in the final 60 minutes:

— A point-blank stop in the 63rd minute after Messi tried to power a right-footed shot past the keeper, who came off his line to cut down the angle and absorbed the shot with his body. “Not many people stop Lionel Messi from three or four yards out,” Lopes said.

— A free kick from Messi in the 73rd seemed destined to curl into the right side of the net; Vozinha got just enough of an outstretched gloved hand on that one to knock it away to preserve what was then a 1-1 score.

— Messi went low with a free kick in stoppage time; Vozinha managed to see the ball through a wall of bodies and dropped to his knees to make a save.

— Late in the first 15-minute extra time period, Messi collected a deflected ball at the top of the penalty area and fired. Vozinha dove to his left, punching that one aside as well.

He did all he could. Everyone in his country's colors did. It was almost enough.

“Argentina is a world champion and they have one of the best players in the world, so that in itself speaks of the challenge it was for our team to overcome them,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said. “Above that, there’s the fact that we’re here for the first time. ... We want to evolve so that we can have more opportunities to face the so-called big dogs of the tournament.”

Cape Verde, the smallest nation in terms of land area to make the World Cup, with a population about 1% the size of Argentina's, will get $11 million from FIFA for making it this far in the tournament.

Of course, the Blue Sharks got a lot more than money. They became known on soccer's biggest stage, with fans from around the world reaching out during the World Cup run to say they had earned their support.

“Nobody has to ask where Cape Verde is now,” Lopes said. “They know where we are.”

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A thrilling, unforgettable World Cup match with underdog Cape Verde was over — and the defending champions survived after being pushed to the brink.

Cape Verde equalized in regulation and again in extra time, but the Blue Sharks could not respond to Argentina's third goal, and La Albiceleste advanced to the Round of 16 with a 3-2 victory on Friday.

Even in defeat, the performance by Cape Verde — a tiny island nation off the western coast of Africa — will stand as one of the most remarkable stories of this, or any, World Cup.

“I have to give credit to our opponents,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “The truth is, when people say there’s no such thing as an easy opponent, today (Cape Verde) proved they’re a great team.”

The go-ahead score for Argentina was credited as an own-goal after Cristian Romero's header deflected off Cape Verde's Diney Borges in the 111th minute. Messi scored early in regulation, his record-extending 20th career World Cup goal. Lisandro Martinez scored in the 92nd to put Argentina ahead 2-1.

Sidny Lopes Cabral and Deroy Duarte scored for Cape Verde — both equalizers that stunned the pro-Argentina crowd in South Florida. Cabral's goal — a curling, right-footed strike past goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez in the 103rd minute — made an already wild game even more incredible, tying it at 2-all and raising the possibility of Messi facing standout Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha in a penalty shootout.

Argentina pushed back in front eight minutes later, held on from there and advanced to face Egypt — which beat Australia in a shootout earlier Friday — in Atlanta on Tuesday.

“As this team has demonstrated many times, and as I’ve said many times, it competes,” Messi said in Spanish. “And we competed to the end.”

Cape Verde’s memorable World Cup debut had been a stunning run that few outside the country of 525,000 could have predicted. Behind the stellar play of the 40-year-old Vozinha, Cape Verde became the smallest country to reach the knockout round, securing surprising draws against former champions Spain and Uruguay and another against Saudi Arabia.

Vozinha had 10 saves against Argentina, including five against Messi.

“We dignify what our country is. We drew twice against the world champions, we took it to extra time,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said. “More than anything, it’s being proud of our players who were dignified in the World Cup. We showed our identity.”

Messi added another brilliant goal to his resume, sneaking behind the Cape Verde defense on a well-timed run as Martinez lofted a pass toward him, taking a quick touch and hammering a finish into the roof of the net for a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute.

The Argentina captain has seven goals in this tournament — one more France’s Kylian Mbappé in the Golden Boot race as the top scorer in this year’s World Cup — and extended his World cup record, moving two goals ahead of Mbappé on the career list. He has 12 goals during his record eight-match scoring streak.

Messi had the game's first chance that he sent skidding across the goal mouth but outside of the right post in the 15th minute. After getting taken down, he had a 25-yard free kick three minutes later that was easily gobbled up by Vozinha, who came up with a marvelous save nearly every time his team needed one.

“We came so close, we pushed them right to the end,” Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes said. “But in the end, it wasn’t to be. Disappointed ... but I think we showed great character today, a great quality to get back into the game twice. They’re the world champions for a reason.”

Bubista and players remained on the pitch well after the final whistle. Some sat with their heads nestled in their chests. Other shared tearful embraces before waving to their small crowd of supporters, reality sinking in at the end of a ride that almost no one outside of their fearless island could have predicted.

“We showed that we may be a small country,” Bubista said, “but we can play against some of the best teams in the world.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Trout has been out since June 17, when he strained his right hamstring while running the bases against Arizona. He performed his normal pregame routine Friday before the Angels opened a series against the Boston Red Sox, and he expects to hit on the field this weekend.

Trout said he is optimistic about playing early next week, and manager Kurt Suzuki didn't disagree.

“He looks good," Suzuki said. “I saw him today when I first came in. He was working out. He was obviously on the road trip, doing his thing. He’s getting really close. Really, really close.”

The 34-year-old Trout hasn't been officially selected for the All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, but the two-time All-Star Game MVP is expected to be elected to the AL's starting outfield in what would be his 12th All-Star nod.

The honor would be particularly special this year for Trout, who grew up 40 miles from Philadelphia in Millville, New Jersey.

The three-time AL MVP hasn't participated in the All-Star festivities since 2019. He wasn't able to play due to injury after being selected from 2021-23, and he injured his knee early in the 2024 season before not being selected last year.

Trout has bounced back and stayed mostly healthy for the last-place Angels this season, posting a team-leading .866 OPS with 17 homers and 36 RBIs in 74 games.

He said last week that he probably wouldn't participate in the Home Run Derby as he tries to stay healthy.

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

The acts of clemency come as Trump has issued a slew of pardons in his second term, particularly for allies, public figures and those seen as politically aligned.

His use of the presidency’s sweeping ability to unilaterally grant pardons and commute sentences is among the ways the Republican’s return to office has featured an expansive use of executive power.

Trump earlier on Friday announced some of the pardons on social media, without identifying any of the recipients by name.

“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.

“I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!” he said.

In a list provided Friday evening by the White House, Trump pardoned 11 people, including nine who faced charges related to violations of the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on vehicles or selling devices that enabled emissions systems to be bypassed.

The pardons come after Trump on Monday signed a memo telling the Environmental Protection Agency that Americans can fix their own vehicles as they see fit. As he signed the memo, Trump referenced a diesel mechanic he pardoned last year who disabled emissions monitoring systems.

The memo also addressed aftermarket auto parts and would supersede the ability of the California Air Resources Board to evaluate parts that affect vehicle emissions.

The White House, in releasing the list of those pardoned, described Trump having “relieved consumers from these regulatory burdens.”

Beyond the emissions-related pardons, Trump on Friday also issued a pardon for Adam Kidan, a former business partner of Abramoff.

Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy related to the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, and in 2006 he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

The case was part of a broader investigation of the early 2000s lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, Capitol Hill, the Interior Department and members of President George W. Bush’s administration.

After leaving prison in 2009, Kidan began working at a staffing agency, went on to found a staffing business, Chartwell Staffing Solutions, and now serves as president of Empire Workforce Solutions, the White House said.

In March, the newspaper Newsday reported that Kidan was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate.

A message sent to Kidan’s business seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday evening.

Trump on Friday also pardoned ranch owner Jack Harvard, citing an “upstanding record” post-conviction and praising him for allowing the U.S. military and NATO troops to train on his land free of charge.

The White House did not immediately release additional details about Harvard, including his conviction.

As the country rapidly approaches the Fourth of July, many people are going out to buy fireworks so they can take part in some patriotic festivities.

However, you need to be careful when handling those fireworks in the summer heat before those fireworks blow up in your face... literally.

Fireworks can be kept in your car for a short period of time, but they shouldn’t be a permanent storage option.

“I would recommend putting it in a shaded and cool area, maybe your garage or somewhere just not directly in the sunlight or near any lighters or lighter fluid, anything that might be sitting in the sun,” Karston Rindorf - who has owned a TNT Fireworks stand for over 15 years - said.

Fireworks also remain hot even after they’ve been used. Keeping a hose or a bucket of cold water to let them soak in is a good way to prevent any fires from springing up.

You should also give it a few minutes before picking up a used firework.

“Whenever you finish up with your fireworks, give it some time to cool down,” Rindorf said. “Don’t throw it in a bag and throw it around any wood piles or any dry grass; I’d definitely give it time to cool down.”

Make sure you know which fireworks are legal, such as fireworks that stay on the ground, like pinwheels, fountains and sparklers.

FIFA had been looking at the possibility of starting the round of 16 game at the Azteca Stadium earlier than the scheduled 6 p.m. local time (8 p.m. EDT), a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

But a Mexican federation official told the AP that after deliberation FIFA decided the match would remain unchanged.

That person also spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Among the reasons for exploring the change was because of possible disruption caused by flooding.

Mexico coach Javier Aguirre criticized the proposed change earlier Friday.

“It’s a kick in the gut; now we must change everything. It’s not that all the work goes down the drain — though it’s close — because you’re having to scrap six hours of scheduled planning. I don’t like it at all,” Aguirre told Radio Formula. “Obviously, we’ll abide by what FIFA says, but neither my players nor I are happy about it.”

Rescheduling the match also could have affected England’s preparations. The Three Lions are scheduled to arrive late Friday and will hold their Saturday training session at the grounds of UNAM Pumas in the southern part of the capital, leaving them with significantly less time to acclimate to Mexico City’s high elevation.

The Azteca Stadium sits at more than 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level. For elite athletes to perform at their peak at high altitude, a period of adaption is required to reduce fatigue caused by lower atmospheric pressure and reduced oxygen availability, experts say. Sports scientists generally recommend an extended acclimation period of at least two weeks, or the “fly-in, fly-out” method of arriving as close to game time as possible before acute symptoms set in.

England coach Thomas Tuchel has already spoken about the difficulties his team faces in Mexico City.

“My understanding is that we cannot adapt to the altitude. That is just a huge advantage that Mexico will have,” Tuchel said this week. “It just takes too much time.”

The game will be Mexico City's fifth and final match of this year's World Cup.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Larson has a successful history on the bumpy asphalt of Chicagoland, a D-shaped oval circuit. He has four top-five finishes in six Cup Series starts at the speedway about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. His 6.17 average finish is tops in track history among drivers with multiple starts.

Sunday's eero 400 is the first Cup Series race at Chicagoland since 2019, but Larson participated in two days of testing at the track in April. He had one of the fastest cars in practice on Friday.

“I felt like we learned a lot about our race car at the test that has benefited the four of us as we’ve moved on from it,” Larson said, referring to fellow Hendrick drivers Chase Elliott, William Byron and Alex Bowman. “So yeah, I think just extra laps here gives some confidence, but everybody’s so good, they’re going to get the speed fast.”

The 33-year-old Larson is looking to stop a 42-race drought dating to his win at Kansas in May 2025. It looks as if the two-time Cup Series champion is rounding into form midway through the season, posting top-five finishes in five of his last six races, including fourth at Sonoma last weekend.

Larson was second in the previous two Cup races at Chicagoland, losing to Bowman in 2019 and Kyle Busch in a memorable finish in 2018. When it comes to NASCAR’s top series, he remains in search of his first win at the speedway.

Larson rewatched his last-lap duel with Busch before he tested at the track in April, and he watched the highlights again ahead of his return this weekend.

Busch died in May at age 41, and Larson said watching the end of the race has a different meaning for him now.

“It was a really neat battle and it’s always fun to be a part of battles that still to this day get replayed, and I’ve been a part of a few,” Larson said. “So yeah, just wish he was here for obvious reasons and we could have another battle.”

Larson is taking on Byron this weekend in one of the most intriguing matchups for the second round of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament receives $1 million.

There were no signs of any awkwardness as Larson and Byron discussed their own duel within the race on Friday.

“It would be fun to go heads up with William but it’s really not something that you’re too focused on in the race,” Larson said. “I think you’re always just kind of focused on winning and if you win, I mean that takes care of it. Yeah, as it gets closer to the race, I think you pay a little bit of attention to it, but I'm just trying to do a good job."

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

The annual competition begins Aug. 1 and runs through Aug. 31. Participants can earn points by visiting designated locations across the region, completing outdoor activities and uploading photos to the Blue Ridge Games category on WSLS’s Pin It platform.

To participate, players must register online. Registration is available through a free WSLS Insider membership.

This year’s format combines several categories into a single competition. In previous years, activities were divided into separate categories, but organizers have consolidated them into one large scavenger hunt designed to encourage exploration throughout the Blue Ridge region.

Participants can earn points by visiting landmarks, completing outdoor recreation challenges and stopping at participating businesses.

Several well-known attractions are worth 50 points each, including the Roanoke Star, Hotel Roanoke and Taubman Museum of Art. Players can earn points by taking photos at those locations and submitting them online.

Participating Dunkin locations across the region are also included in the competition. A photo taken outside a Dunkin location is worth 50 points. Participants can earn an additional 50 bonus points by taking a photo inside the store.

Outdoor recreation challenges offer even more opportunities to score. Water sports, hiking and biking activities are worth 100 points each.

Water recreation locations include Carvins Cove Natural Reserve and the Roanoke River.

Hiking challenges feature trails and parks such as the Mill Mountain Greenway, Explore Park and Carvins Cove.

Cyclists can earn points by completing biking challenges along the Roanoke River Greenway.

Participants earn points by visiting challenge locations, taking photos and uploading them to our Pin It platform. Each completed challenge adds to a participant’s overall score.

At the end of the competition, the participants with the highest point totals will win cash prizes.

Organizers say the games are designed not only to create friendly competition but also to encourage people to discover new destinations, spend time outdoors and experience the communities and attractions that make up the Blue Ridge region.

How to participate

• Register through a free WSLS Insider account.
• Visit designated challenge locations beginning Aug. 1.
• Take photos at challenge sites.
• Upload photos to the Blue Ridge Games category on WSLS.com’s Pin It platform.
• Earn points throughout August for a chance to win cash prizes.

Key dates

• Registration: Open now
• Blue Ridge Games begin: Aug. 1
• Blue Ridge Games end: Aug. 31

Resources

• Blue Ridge Games Page
• Registration and challenges
• Photo submissions on Pin It

The Aspen Acres fire is one of about 40 uncontained large blazes burning mostly in the West, fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places.

Fire personnel were scooping water from the Pueblo Reservoir to fight the Aspen Acres fire, which had expanded to about 115 square miles (297 square kilometers) by Friday afternoon with zero containment.

All of Colorado City, an unincorporated community of about 2,200, was ordered evacuated as well as the towns of Beulah, Rye and San Isabel, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.

About 50 National Guard soldiers were being sent in Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads in Custer and Pueblo counties.

Guard members would also help State Park Rangers as they bring on additional boats to keep boaters clear of water-scooping operations.

Fire crews on the western side of the Rocky Mountains had contained about 65% of the Snyder Fire on the Colorado/Utah border, where three members of a helitack team were killed and two others injured last weekend when they were overcome by flames.

The Cottonwood fire in southwestern Utah had grown to about 147 square miles (380 square kilometers) by Friday while the Babylon fire in the southeast corner of the state was up to 133 square miles (344 square kilometers).

Balogun was sent off Wednesday for stepping on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemovic.

Before practice at Husky Soccer Stadium, Balogun said a yellow card for the illegal tackle would have been fairer.

“There’s nowhere else to put your leg. It’s going to be unavoidable,” Balogun said. “So, I’ve seen many different opinions and takes. But, for me personally, I think a yellow card would have been fair. It’s something that’s happened, so we have to move forward and I have to accept it.”

Balogun has to serve an automatic one-game suspension and will miss Monday’s Round of 16 game against Belgium. There is no appeal process for a red-card suspension unless FIFA assesses a penalty of more than one game, which was not the case with Balogun. He will be eligible to return for the quarterfinals should the Americans advance.

Balogun has three goals in the tournament, including one to give the U.S. the lead against Bosnia. He has matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

The 25-year-old striker celebrated his goal against Bosnia with the “Silencer” move used by the NBA’s LeBron James, which the league’s career scoring leader also celebrated on social media. Balogun, who became the first U.S. player to score two goals in a World Cup match since 1930, said he has experienced a “roller coaster” of emotions as of late.

“Been upset, I’ve been happy. It’s been surreal, to be honest,” Balogun said. “But for me, I think it was just important to stay calm. I never want to react out of anger and out of emotion. There’s still lots of people who are inspiring little kids, boys and girls who are watching. We have to show them the correct way to handle things, even when you think it’s unjust.”

It's not yet clear who U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino will select to replace Balogun in the starting lineup. Ricardo Pepi and Haji Wright are the most likely candidates.

When Christian Pulisic sat out the 2-0 win against Australia in group play because of a calf injury, Pepi started in his place.

“When you miss a player like Balo, things change a little bit, but we’ve been flexible,” teammate Tyler Adams said. “Guys have shown that they’re ready to play. If it’s Pepi, if it’s Haji, we go a different direction. It should be an exciting opportunity for whoever has to step up.”

Belgium is aware of the Americans' offensive capabilities outside of Balogun. Pulisic has 33 goals in 89 international appearances, fifth most in U.S. history. Five players other than Balogun have scored for the U.S. in the tournament.

“They have a lot of danger in the team,” Belgium defender Maxim De Cuyper said. “Lot of quality. I don’t want to say too much, which qualities are the best. But, I think they grew a lot in this tournament. You see they are in good flow. They play at home, I think it’s very dangerous for us. So, we will be prepared.”

To be without Balogun for one of the most significant matches in U.S. history is still a significant blow. A victory on home soil would secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the World Cup for only the second time for the Americans. The first was in 2002.

“I love seeing how engaged the country is in our journey and what they’re doing,” Balogun said. “So, my role is just to continue supporting everybody, to keep morale high. And, I’m sure for the game against Belgium we can really create a great atmosphere to win.”

Injury notes

Midfielder Cristian Roldan trained on his own again as he continues to rehab a quad injury. Defender Mark McKenzie trained in full after dealing with a foot injury that sidelined him for the Bosnia match.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.

The couple are "literally the king and queen of America,” said Kristen Donohue, who stopped by the area surrounding Madison Square Garden Thursday with a fellow Swiftie co-worker on their lunch break.

A law enforcement official briefed on the security plans confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday that Swift and Kelce will have their wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday night with a smaller rehearsal dinner planned for Thursday night.

The couple themselves have been mum on the wedding details. Neither has confirmed the festivities will happen on the bustling and hot weekend that coincides with World Cup matches and Fourth of July celebrations. A representative for Swift has not responded to multiple inquiries, including on Thursday.

About 100 guests began arriving at the famed venue at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday — when temperatures were still near the triple digits. The event was for a “pre party celebration,” according to a copy of a city permit obtained by The AP. Heavy security was in place as black sport utility vehicles drove into a large tent to drop off passengers, who then walked through a tented area into the arena.

Several fans stopped by in passing or even made trips to midtown Manhattan expressly to scope out the scene hours before those expected arrivals.

Crews have been seen unloading equipment from trucks this week — much of it covered or obscured — and barricades have been placed near the perimeter of the arena. The aesthetic details of what will happen beyond the loading docks have been shrouded in mystery.

Madison Square Garden sits next to New York Penn Station, one of the nation’s busiest transportation hubs, so it is naturally a lively area on any day. But Thursday afternoon, people lingered longer than usual as they passed through, and there was an increased police presence in the area.

Rachel Latchford and Linda Solano, nurses in a hospital in central Pennsylvania, made the trip to New York to see a Broadway show this weekend, but they said they had to go “see what all the buzz is about," Latchford said. “We’re going to the wedding, baby,” Solano joked on a FaceTime call with a friend.

Latchford acknowledged the heavy police presence, but she said she felt “very protected” and added that “there's been police all over the city this week with Fourth of July.”

A large tent was erected Thursday on 31st Street outside of an entrance to the arena. Tarps were hung to cover the walkway, so the couple and their guests will presumably be blocked from view as they enter and exit. In one spot where glass windows offered a peak inside, pink curtains were hung around 5 p.m., completely obscuring any of the exclusive happenings indoors.

By 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 31st Street was completely closed off to pedestrians between 7th and 8th avenues. Some disappointed fans lingered near the barricades and boundaries police had set up and were enforcing. They were still hoping to see anything from their limited vantage point.

While many there earlier on Thursday were keeping their eyes peeled for any decor, florals or anything that could give them a sense of what and who might be inside the arena this weekend, much of the motivation to be there for fans was purely out of excitement for Swift herself.

“She's just so important in everyone's life,” said Alyssa Heinen, who was outside the arena Thursday afternoon. “We grew up with Taylor Swift, and just seeing her now find love — I feel like it's inspiring to so many women. It's so nice to see her so happy.”

“When they started dating, it was super exciting and cute and adorable,” said Brittany McCusker, who was with her colleague Donohue on their scouting mission. “It’s really amazing that they don’t have to broadcast anything, they can have it super private. I really respect that, but it’s a bummer that we don’t get to see it too.”

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Associated Press journalist Ted Shaffrey contributed.

The Festival of Balloons is set to take off starting at 2 p.m. Saturday. Organizers expect roughly 20 balloons for this year’s event, which will be part of dozens of activities including tethered balloon rides, entertainment for kids, music and food galore.

Despite the heat, organizers say preparation will help you enjoy a wonderful time at the festival.

“We’re going to have plenty of water on hand; all of our vendors are going to be selling drinks and water.... Come out, bring your chairs; we’re going to have tents that are going to be set up to keep you out of the direct sunlight. It’s going to be a great time for everyone.” Robert Foresman, Balloons over Rockbridge Board Director, said.

Proceeds from the festival go to local charities, including the Mary Carroll Moore Scholarship and Lampstand.

Area leaders are encouraging voluntary water conservation to bridge the gap until the situation improves.

Rockbridge County leaders are gauging the Maury River to get an idea of water levels and say it is about a foot and a half lower on average for the year. The summer season has also produced minimal rain chances to improve this trend.

“Over the last 8 years, we have not seen it this low, but there has been times in the past where it has been lower than this, but I think you’ve got to go back to that early 2000s drought that had significant impacts on all of Virginia as well,” Jordan Combs, Maury Service Authority Executive Director, said.

Some methods Combs says to consider are watering lawns early in the morning or later in the evening every other day and holding off on car washes.

Friedman, a dedicated public servant, was highly respected in Lexington and surrounding communities, having served as the mayor of Lexington for nearly a decade.

Carroll said Friedman passed away with loved ones by his side.

“Lexington has lost a great man and a great leader,” Carroll told 10 News.

This comes after the Lexington City Council cancelled its regularly scheduled and public meeting on Thursday.

Stay with 10 News as this breaking news story continues to develop.

State television showed people rallying at night in various Iranian cities, chanting slogans in support of the country's theocracy and against America and Israel.

The government expects to see millions flood the streets of the capital beginning Saturday in scenes reminiscent of the burial of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.

That could provide a boost for Iran's government, particularly as it tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the United States over a permanent end to the war, and as concern still lingers that Israel could attack yet again.

Despite that, a powerful general who leads Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard emerged publicly for the first time in months for the funeral. Other top government officials will also likely will be on hand alongside foreign dignitaries in a show of strength by Iran.

“As long as these people, who are chosen (by God), are on the field, we will definitely continue the same ‘no to humiliation’ policy that was founded by the Islamic Republic,” said Mohammad Hossein Rezaei, a volunteer preparing for the funeral Friday.

“We will continue our policy of pursuing independence, and decisions will be made inside the country, and the people will decide their own fate,” he said.

Caskets displayed in Tehran

Khamenei's flag-draped coffin sat at Tehran's Grand Mosalla alongside family members killed in the Israeli airstrike that came in the first moments of the war on Feb. 28.

The dead being honored include a son-in-law, his eldest daughter, a 14-month-old granddaughter and the wife of Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the previous leader who remains in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the attack.

Religious leaders and foreign dignitaries walked up to Khamenei’s casket as a military band played or a man sang prayers. Iran's Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian, key leaders in the country's civilian government, all paid their respects.

Video published by Iranian state media showed an earlier mourning ceremony Thursday night for Khamenei. The black-clad mourners, whom state media identified as coming from families of those who lost loved ones in the 12-day war in 2025 and the recent Iran war, threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing.

Later, state media showed images of Khamenei’s casket draped by a red flag with white calligraphy reading “Ya Hussein,” a Shiite expression in remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. It had been flying over the Imam Hussein golden-domed shrine in Karbala, Iraq. The flag also traditionally symbolizes both the spilled blood of someone unjustly killed and a call for vengeance.

Top general appears for first time in months

Photos published online by Iranian state media showed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi attending a meeting Thursday about the funeral of Khamenei, then sitting alongside his casket as Iran's theocracy held a smaller service for him Thursday night near the supreme leader's former home in downtown Tehran.

“They must know that the pure blood of our martyred imam will mark another turning point in the victories of beloved Islam across the global arena,” Vahidi told state television in comments aired Friday. “They will take to their graves the wish to see this nation surrender. This nation will rise higher day by day through this pure blood.”

Vahidi has become a major player in formulating Iran’s tough stance in negotiating a possible permanent end to the war with the United States, experts say. He had not been seen publicly since Feb. 8, weeks before the Iran war began. Israel killed top leaders in Iran’s military and government during the war, and has threatened the life of the new supreme leader as well. Vahidi is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with the younger Khamenei.

It remains unclear whether Khamenei will appear at his father's funeral. His father appeared in 1989 at Khomeini's funeral, weeping visibly, as he began his journey to lead Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.

Israel's repeated threats to kill Khamenei drew a warning from Iran's joint military command Thursday, which told Israel and the U.S. “to avoid any miscalculation" over the coming days.

Funeral to go on for days

Beginning Saturday, Iran will hold the dayslong funeral for Khamenei and his body will be transported to cities in both Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei.

In Tehran, images of the late Khamenei's fist could be seen in banners and in a giant statue in Enghelab Square, framed by what appeared to be ballistic missiles flying through the air. In his first message to the nation, read by a state television anchor, Mojtaba Khamenei said he saw his father’s body after his death with raised, clenched fist.

The banners read in Arabic, English and Farsi: “We must rise.”

“This fist is the clenched fist of all us Muslims,” taxi driver Jafar Javadi said. “The leader’s fist is a sign all our fists are clenched and they (the enemies) will be destroyed with these fists, God willing. We will continue chanting death to America and death to Israel with the same clenched fist.”

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

The Flyers tendered the five-year, $90 million offer sheet to Carlsson on Friday, which would require four of the Flyers first-round draft picks in each of the next four seasons as compensation.

The Anaheim Ducks have seven days to exercise their right of first refusal on the player, per the NHL collective bargaining agreement.

The Ducks announced they would not make an immediate decision. General manager Pat Verbeek will not comment until the process is complete.

The offer sheet comes 14 years after the Flyers, under previous management, offer-sheeting Nashville defenseman Shea Weber for $110 million over 14 years, which the Predators matched.

The 21-year-old Carlsson had 29 goals, 38 assists for 67 points in 70 games last season with the Ducks. He added 11 points in 12 playoff games to help lead Anaheim to the second round.

A native of Karlstad, Sweden, Carlsson has 141 points (61 goals, 80 assists) in 201 regular-season games with the Ducks. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound center was selected by Anaheim second overall in the 2023 draft.

The Minnesota Wild in September signed Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million extension, giving him the richest contract in NHL history.

Kaprizov will count $17 million against the salary cap beginning next season, through 2034. That’s the highest annual average salary of any player since the league’s cap era began in 2005, surpassing Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl at $112 million over eight years, a $14 million annual average. Alex Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124 million contract signed with Washington in 2008 was previously the highest total value.

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

Victims reported waking up to find their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards emptied just hours after their monthly benefits were deposited. Transaction records reviewed by 10 News showed purchases made in locations including Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New Jersey.

“It’s like they’re just throwing us off, like we’re nothing,” Danville resident Briana Williams said. “It’s not right. It’s not fair because it’s no fault of ours.”

Williams said the stolen benefits represented one of her family’s only source of food assistance.

“Someone took our only comfort of knowing we could feed our kids,” she said. “I know my baby’s going to be able to eat tonight or have breakfast in the morning. Now parents and grandparents and people are just worrying day after day after day for this entire month.”

The thefts come as recipients have few options for recovering their lost benefits.

An executive order that took effect in late 2024 ended a temporary program that allowed states to use federal funds to replace SNAP benefits stolen through card skimming, cloning and other forms of electronic theft. As a result, Virginia does not currently have a state-funded program to reimburse recipients whose benefits are stolen.

That means affected households generally must wait until their next monthly SNAP allotment unless they can find help from charitable organizations or other community resources.

Finding emergency food assistance over the Independence Day holiday weekend proved difficult. Multiple organizations contacted by 10 News were either closed for the holiday or did not answer their phones. Virginia 211, which connects callers with food, housing and utility assistance, said available emergency resources were limited and suggested reaching out to friends or family for help.

“We shouldn’t have to be the ones suffering when we have nothing else in place to help us,” Williams said.

In a statement, the Danville Department of Social Services urged anyone who believes their SNAP benefits were stolen to report the incident immediately and request a replacement EBT card.

“Any SNAP recipient who believes their benefits were stolen should contact their local social services department immediately to report the incident and request a replacement EBT card,” the department said. “To help prevent future theft, all SNAP recipients are strongly encouraged to use the Lock/Unlock feature available through their EBT account. Locking an EBT card when it is not being used is one of the most effective ways to prevent unauthorized transactions and protect benefits from ongoing scam activity.”

Food resources for Danville residents

Residents needing food assistance after the holiday weekend may be able to access the following resources:

• House of Hope (open this weekend): Serving free meals throughout the holiday weekend on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Danville Department of Social Services: Report stolen SNAP benefits, request a replacement EBT card and receive guidance on available assistance.
• Virginia 211: Call 2-1-1 or visit Virginia 211 to search for food pantries, meal sites and other emergency assistance programs operating after the holiday weekend.
• God’s Storehouse: Provides emergency food assistance during regular operating hours.
• Salvation Army of Danville: May provide emergency food assistance and referrals based on availability.

NFL players and other prominent sports figures made up part of the star-studded crowd for Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Kareem Hunt was one of Kelce's many current or former Kansas City Chiefs teammates spotted in New York ahead of the wedding, which was expected to also be attended by Kelce's retired Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl-winning brother Jason, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle and others from football, golf and beyond.

Soccer even had a presence, albeit in the form of “Ted Lasso” actor Jason Sudeikis, himself a big Chiefs fan.

The wedding is taking place at the home arena of the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s Rangers. Swift attended Game 4 of the NBA Finals there, sitting courtside as the Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback at that stage of the playoffs in league history by rallying from down 29 to beat San Antonio.

MSG has been the site of some iconic sports moments since the current version opened at this location atop Penn Station in 1968.

The Knicks won their first NBA title there in 1970, when Willis Reed famously returned from injury to spark their Game 7 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali there in the first of the legends' three boxing matches against each other, the “Fight of the Century,” in 1971. Ali won the rematch in '74.

The Rangers ended their 54-year championship drought at the Garden in 1994, defeating the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup.

Kelce is a three-time Super Bowl champion with Kansas City and a four-time AP All-Pro selection at his position. Jason was a seven-time All-Pro center who helped Philadelphia win the Super Bowl in the 2017 season.

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

The four-time Grand Slam champion reached the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time Friday in a tidy 6-1, 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina on No. 1 Court.

An on-court interviewer then asked Osaka about her daughter Shai's third birthday on Thursday, as the Japanese player had said they would celebrate by going to a nearby park. But apparently that didn't work out as planned.

“I don’t think I should be telling you this, but she was kind of bad yesterday,” a smiling Osaka began. “We tried to take her to the park but then she needed to go to timeout, so we’re going to try to take her to the park again today.”

As fans chuckled, Osaka added: "It was an awesome birthday. She blew out her candles. She made a wish — I hope her wish is to behave better. Today’s a new day for her.”

Osaka will next face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

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The signs would be in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. A message seeking comment was left Friday with the National Park Service.

The new educational panels were designed to replace ones put up in 2010 that told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation's capital.

Their removal stemmed from Trump's 2025 executive order calling for federally owned or controlled historic sites not to display information to “disparage Americans past or living” and to focus on the “greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

Friday's ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit of Appeals, which is based in a courthouse across an intersection from the President's House site, was a technical one to allow implementation of a ruling made last month.

That ruling — by one judge Trump nominated, one nominated by former President George W. Bush and one chosen by former President Barack Obama — said a lower court was wrong to force the federal government to take down its new panels.

The government asked Thursday for the go-ahead to put them back up, saying that the panels were ready to install and that they should go up “without further delay.” The administration has said in court filings that its information also discusses slavery.

Advocates, academics and officials have been concerned for months that the version that complies with Trump’s order could give a history that downplays the pain in the nation’s past in favor of a more triumphant view.

A government website with images of the new panels shows they would still have information on enslaved people who lived in the home, plus details on the abolitionist movement, how the Constitution treated slavery, the end of slavery in Pennsylvania and how Washington and his successor, John Adams, viewed and treated slavery, as well as information about the 20th century Civil Rights movement. The replacement panels do not include some of detail in the earlier ones, such as a map of slave trade routes and a timeline on slavery. They also avoid critical headlines such as “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”

The City of Philadelphia, which sued over removal of the previous information, is trying to put the brakes on the new installation. The city on Friday asked the appeals court to recall its order from earlier in the day — at least long enough to allow the city to respond to the request Trump's administration made on Thursday.

Philadelphia said in its filing that it would be hurt if the new panels go back up: “The President’s House is a site of exceptional importance to Philadelphia and the Nation, developed through years of federal-local collaboration to tell a historically significant and long-suppressed story.”

About half the previous panels were reinstalled earlier this year before a court ordered that work to stop.

He has shrugged off the setback for one of the world’s leading oil-producing nations as “not critical,” dismissed ceasefire proposals and insisted the war will continue until his goals are met.

Putin has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, although analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been stymied in recent months. The Russian leader appears to believe his government can keep the fuel crisis from eroding his authority and support for the war he launched more than four years ago.

The Russian military unleashed a massive 11-hour barrage on the Ukrainian capital overnight into Thursday morning that killed at least 30 people. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Here's a deeper look at the latest exchange of strikes and Putin’s refusal to halt the fighting:

Gas shortages worsen in Russia as more oil facilities are hit

There have been more than 50 reported Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other energy facilities in Russia and occupied Crimea since March — a barrage Ukrainian leaders have said is intended to pressure Moscow to end the war.

At the very least, the attacks have brought the war home even more poignantly for millions of Russians, shattering Putin’s narrative of the conflict as something that doesn’t affect the lives of ordinary people in his country.

An estimated one-third of Russia’s refining capacity has been cut off, according to Chris Weafer, CEO of the consultancy Macro-Advisory. The attacks have inflicted lasting damage that will be costly to fix.

Despite significant air defenses protecting Russia's capital, a top refinery in Moscow has been hit twice. The second strike on June 18 set it ablaze, damaging key equipment that will reportedly take until the end of the year to repair.

With gasoline production in Russia reduced by roughly 17% to 850,000 barrels a day, according to government statistics, rationing has been introduced in many regions, and motorists have had to wait in line for hours to refuel.

In an effort to ease the fuel deficit, the government has allowed production of lower quality gasoline with higher sulfur content through the year's end.

Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, has faced the worst fuel shortages. Gasoline sales to individuals have been periodically halted there altogether.

Putin downplays the impact of Ukrainian strikes

Putin chaired a meeting of government officials last weekend to discuss the fuel shortages.

In televised statements, he acknowledged the country was going through a “difficult period.” He pledged to accelerate repairs of energy facilities and said Russia would consider importing gasoline to help make up for what he described as “temporary” shortages. He also said Russia's arms industry will boost production of air defense systems to fend off future Ukrainian attacks.

Putin portrayed the Ukrainian strikes as an attempt to divide Russian society, halt Moscow's offensive and try to force the Kremlin into negotiations on “terms advantageous to our adversary.”

“We will not give them that chance,” he said.

While Putin said Ukraine's long-range strikes on Russian oil facilities “have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front,” Western military analysts say midrange strikes on the Russian army in recent months have hampered military logistics and slowed the tempo of its advance, leaving the battlefield in a stalemate.

On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the action in Ukraine to receive a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka after weeks of intense street battles. He hailed it as a key step toward capturing the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the key remaining strongholds in the so-called “forest belt” of heavily fortified cities in the Donetsk region that remain in Ukraine's hands.

The capture of Kostyantynivka, a big transport and industrial hub, is of “major strategic importance,” Putin, clad in military fatigues, said in televised comments.

There has been no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials on the Russian claim. Earlier Friday, the Ukrainian military's General Staff reported repelling 24 Russian assaults near Kostyantynivka and other settlements.

Putin also warned Friday that “the more strikes Kyiv launches on our civilian facilities ... the bigger security zone we will need to create” in Ukraine.

He issued another threat to Ukraine's Western allies, saying that Russia will look into the details of their “engagement in hostilities,” adding that "we will need this analysis for making possible responsible decisions in the future."

Putin dismisses Ukraine's ceasefire offers

The Russian president has responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's offer to meet by challenging him to come to Moscow, a non-starter to Ukraine.

Putin has rejected a truce that Kyiv and its Western allies have proposed. He says it would only give Ukrainian forces time to rest and regroup.

He has made any ceasefire conditional on Ukraine's withdrawal from the part of the Donetsk region it still controls, a demand rejected by Ukraine. Putin has said that a final peace deal must oblige Ukraine to abandon its bid to join NATO, reduce its military and protect Russian language and culture.

In last Sunday's interview, Putin claimed that Ukraine had offered to limit the fighting to the four regions that Russia annexed but never fully captured: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He said he rejected the proposal because it would free up Ukrainian forces from other areas where Russian troops have made inroads and let them focus on fending off the Russian attacks in the four southeastern regions.

“Faced with a catastrophic shortage of personnel, the armed forces of Ukraine apparently believe this could be their salvation,” Putin said. “Saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans.”

The Kremlin said the offer was made via confidential channels; Ukrainian officials have not publicly discussed any such proposal.

Putin also dismissed a Ukrainian proposal to mutually halt strikes deep into each other's territory. Russian attacks deep into Ukraine are “much more powerful, sensitive and, frankly speaking, destructive,” he said.

In Thursday's deadly barrage on Kyiv, Russia once again hit residential areas even as it claimed to be targeting military sites. By contrast, the vast majority of Ukrainian strikes in Russia have hit oil facilities, weapons factories and other military targets.

A United Nations tally says more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have died in the war.

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

Fujimori, 51, the daughter of a disgraced former president, was running for the presidency for the fourth time. She will be Peru’s ninth president in 10 years when she takes office later this month.

Fujimori’s victory, along with that of Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia and José Antonio Kast in Chile, confirms a regional shift toward the conservative wing, a stark contrast from the panorama of a few decades ago when left-wing leaders such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela or the current Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva emerged.

The election win was certified Friday by the country's top election authority. Figures released by election officials earlier in the week showed that with 100% of ballots tallied, Fujimori received 9,223,000 votes, or 50.135% of the total, while nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez earned over 9,173,000 votes, or 49.865%.

Fujimori and Sánchez made it to the June 7 runoff election after defeating 33 other candidates in an April vote.

Voters were primarily concerned with increasing levels of crime, especially extortion by violent organized crime gangs, and Fujimori pledged to combat crime with an iron fist.

Fujimori said on social media Friday that “each day of this process of transition is an opportunity to listen, discuss and arrive prepared for the start of a new government.”

The winner is the daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, the former president whose government in the 1990s defeated the Shining Path extremist rebel group but also took an authoritarian turn. He was convicted in 2009 of human rights abuses in the fight against the rebels, and later of corruption charges.

Keiko Fujimori promised to build four prisons and another similar to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center known as the CECOT, and to force prisoners to work in the prisons. She also announced plans to militarize the borders to curb crime and deport undocumented migrants.

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

A day after Rodríguez angrily defended the competence of her government's relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, issued her own appeal.

Machado on Friday argued that the government's quake response exposed its critical weaknesses and that she should return to Venezuela to help "the transition process, especially after the tragedy.”

"My presence stabilizes the situation; it is part of the organizing forces that the country needs at a time when the total absence of the state has become evident," Machado said, referring to widespread criticism of the government’s earthquake response as slow and disorganized. “The country needs figures it can trust.” She spoke to reporters from Panama.

The quakes have killed 2,645 people and injured over 12,500 others, according tallies released Friday by the government. Machado's opposition movement has set up an online database to locate the missing — a list of 36,000 people as of Friday. The party has mobilized volunteers to collect donations in Venezuela and solicited aid from the country's vast diaspora.

Machado was barred from running in a 2024 presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory. Vote tallies that the opposition collected from voting machines used in the election showed that the candidate Machado endorsed, Edmundo González, beat Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The US praises Rodríguez, blocks Machado

When the earthquakes hit, Machado saw an opening to return home for the first time after fleeing in December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Ever since the United States captured Maduro in a brazen military operation in January, Machado has been seeking a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has thrown its support behind Rodríguez since Maduro's ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms of the country’s lucrative oil sector.

Two senior U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic discussions, told The Associated Press that the Trump administration has grown frustrated with Machado and dissuaded her from returning to Venezuela in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

One official said that Machado had sought assistance from Washington for ferrying her to Venezuela from the Caribbean island of Curaçao and also from Panama.

The second official said the U.S. suspected she wanted to return to lead protests against Rodríguez and push for political change at a time when the focus should be on quake recovery. This official added that the Trump administration could not prevent Machado's return but was not in a position to facilitate it.

Earthquake fallout becomes political

Upon learning of Machado’s plans, Rodríguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas, the U.S. official said. Those canceled flights were set to bring hundreds of relief workers to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, the official said.

Seemingly concerned that anger over the earthquake response could jeopardize her leadership, Rodríguez on Thursday blamed any criticism of the government on what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories."

She claimed that rescue crews deployed immediately with adequate equipment to disaster zones — contrary to complaints by residents that they were left alone to search for their loved ones without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours.

“Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable,” she said. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately.”

Rodríguez went on to say that thousands of civil and military rescue workers as well as 11 international field hospitals had been deployed to quake-affected areas, adding that the government had approved the creation of a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday, state-run media broadcast her visiting Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard pried from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble, in his hospital bed. His dramatic rescue Thursday served as a rare bright spot in the days since the earthquakes.

Unclear what happens when mandate expires

Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — which was Rodríguez’s former role under Maduro — for up to 90 days, after which they can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

On Friday, that 180-day interim period expired. There was no immediate comment from authorities on what, if anything, they would do in response to the expiration of Rodríguez’s mandate.

The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.

A humanitarian crisis brews

International organizations and governments, including the U.S., have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency relief aid to stave off a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela. With infrastructure and sewer systems damaged, aid workers are scrambling to prevent the spread of disease through contaminated water.

But nine days after the quakes, the scale of human suffering is still coming into focus.

“We know that there are still dead bodies under the collapsed buildings, and it's difficult to give a number on this, but several thousands for sure,” said Andreas Spaett, the Venezuela country coordinator for international aid group Doctors Without Borders. “I do believe this is one of the major natural catastrophes in the history of humanity.”

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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

The Frenchman did — and 39-year-old Djokovic dove to hit a backhand volley winner on match point for a 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (4) record-equaling victory in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday.

Djokovic's 105th match win at the All England Club ties Roger Federer on the men's list for most singles match victories. Martina Navratilova won 120 singles matches at Wimbledon.

By next weekend, Djokovic would love to equal Federer's men's record of eight singles titles, but reaching the fourth round will have to suffice for now.

“Today, I was quite stressed out, more tension than usual,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “I knew it was going to be a very challenging match for me.”

The 24-time Grand Slam champion overcame a blip — dropping the third set in 18 minutes — and held his nerve in the fourth-set tiebreaker by hitting back-to-back aces before Rinderknech's forehand went wide to set up match point.

“I saw him slip and kind of fall down. And I was just like ‘please stay down’ for that last shot,” said Djokovic, who had repeatedly punched his left thigh after losing the third set.

Joining Federer on 105 singles match wins is “a huge honor and privilege,” Djokovic added. “I propose a matchup for me and Roger for 106.”

Djokovic will face Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin in the fourth round. Safiullin, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist in 2023, beat Brazilian rising star João Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Sinner finds his groove

Defending champion Jannik Sinner beat Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 on No. 1 Court to advance to the fourth round.

The Italian, hoping to put his French Open meltdown in the rearview mirror, finished off Brooksby in two-plus hours after his opening-round five-setter was followed by a second-round win over Nuno Borges in straight sets but with two tiebreakers.

“I'm trying to find my way in. Felt better today, which was my main goal,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said. “Trying to move better. Return today was a little bit better. All things considered, was a small step forward.”

Sinner will next face Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki, who stunned 23rd-seeded Rafael Jodar of Spain 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the fourth round at a Grand Slam for the first time. Mochizuki, ranked No. 151, won the Wimbledon boys' title in 2019.

Also, third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime beat American qualifier Michael Zheng 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1 in the Canadian's Centre Court debut. Jan-Lennard Struff upended eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Sabalenka vs. Osaka in 4th round

No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Naomi Osaka meet for a spot in the quarterfinals after both players won in straight sets.

Sabalenka beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court and declared herself ready for the 14th-seeded Osaka in what will be a battle of four-time Grand Slam champions.

“She's (a) very aggressive player, serving well,” Sabalenka said. “I watched a couple of her matches. ... I’m ready to go out there and to bring the fight and to do anything it takes to get through this difficult match.”

Osaka eliminated Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3 on No. 1 Court. Osaka is into the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time.

Coco Gauff got past fellow American Claire Liu 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 after having three match points at 5-4 in the second set. Gauff will next face 11th-seeded Belinda Bencic.

Other winners in the women’s draw included fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula, 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova, and 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.

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

All told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, to give to U.S. President Donald Trump.

“A very special thank you to my friends from Antwerp for the magnificent Freedom 250 ring,” Trump said in a prerecorded video message during an event marking America’s 250th birthday in Brussels.

Isidore Mörsel, president of the Antwerp World Diamond Center, or AWDC, gifted the ring on behalf of the centuries-old diamond community in the Belgian port city, a central node in the worldwide trade of the precious stones that found itself struggling last year under the weight of Trump’s sweeping trade war.

“May this ring serve as a lasting reminder that true partnership, like the finest natural diamonds, are formed under pressure, endure the test of time, and shine brightest when built on trust,” Mörsel said. The ring's interior is engraved with the phrase “Crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump.”

In dollar terms, the ring’s value pales beside gifts like the $400 million plane donated by Qatar that Trump ordered converted into a new Air Force One. But it’s a glitzy window into the role that ostentatious – and almost always gilded — gifts are playing by those seeking to curry favor with the U.S. president.

A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said Thursday that the ring has not been presented to Trump yet.

The ring is latest in Trump's historic break with White House custom

The gift comes months after Belgium’s diamond industry won the removal of U.S. tariffs on diamond imports. In September, AWDC said it had “succeeded in securing a zero percent import tariff” on Antwerp’s annual export of more than $2 billion of polished diamonds to the U.S. A spokesperson for the group said on Thursday that the AWDC provided “input” to the European Commission as it negotiated with Trump on a broad deal on tariffs in 2025, but did not itself lobby the administration.

U.S. presidents have considerable discretion to accept gifts from domestic and foreign sources and may determine themselves whether a gift was meant for them personally or the nation. The exception is those from foreign governments, which are prohibited by the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution without congressional assent, though presidents could use personal funds to reimburse the Treasury for the full value of an official gift if they wish to retain it.

Personal gifts are also supposed to be registered on the president’s annual financial disclosure. Trump’s 2025 disclosure, released this week, revealed a $250,000 gift of a sculpture depicting his triumphal gesture after surviving a 2024 assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and tickets to 10 sporting events, including 10 to the upcoming World Cup final in New Jersey from FIFA’s Gianni Infantino, valued at a collective $15,000.

Four U.S. ethics experts told The Associated Press that Trump has broken with decades-old custom in the White House to avoid accepting such gifts.

The ring's value estimated at $25,000-$35,000

To forge the ring, the AWDC turned to David Gotlib, an Antwerp-based high-end jeweler whose cufflinks can sell for more than 15,000 euros ($17,000).

Neither AWDC nor Gotlib would provide a valuation of the ring, but two independent jewelers told AP they estimated the value at between $25,000 and $35,000.

Paris- and London-based jewelry consultant Alexander Levinson calculated the cost at $25,928, while David Saad, a third-generation luxury jeweler in Canada, priced the ring between $33,000 and $35,000. Both said half the cost was in materials, half in labor.

After the ring was presented on a star-spangled stage in Brussels, musician Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of FBI Director Kash Patel, sang the U.S. national anthem to more than 8,000 people drinking Budweiser and bourbon from Tennessee and Kentucky.

Ambassador White said he raised more than $5.5 million for the 250th anniversary event from corporate sponsors like defense industry titans Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, tech firms like Intel, Google and Meta, as well as the European chocolate companies Leonidas and Ferrero. AWDC said it contributed funds, too.

“The media was asking, ‘Why does it have to be so big?’” White said of the event. “Because we are the United States of America!”

The ambassador posted on social media Friday that after he gives the ring to Trump, it will be displayed in the Oval Office.

In Trump's appearance on Vance's “Storytime with the Second Lady,” podcast, which was posted online Friday, the president read “Presidents Play!” a children's book from the White House Historical Association that features illustrations of the presidents enjoying sports and using the White House and its grounds for recreation.

Trump pretaped the appearance in mid-June in the White House's Oval Office, where the abundant gold accents he added were supplemented for the occasion with a bald eagle stuffed animal, tables made up of stacks of oversized books and a globe made out of Legos.

When Vance asked Trump if he has much time to read for fun while serving as president, he replied that he ends up mostly reading newspapers.

“I usually read stories about myself,” Trump said.

As Trump turned through the children's book, he made observations about past presidents, cracked some jokes, and threw in a plug for the extensive ballroom he's building on the White House grounds.

He described Lyndon Johnson as a “tough cookie,” Ronald Reagan as a “high-quality person” and “like your father was president,” and John F. Kennedy as “the second-most good-looking president.” Left unsaid was who Trump felt was the best-looking president.

Richard Nixon, the only president to resign the office after he became embroiled in the Watergate scandal, “got himself into trouble, I guess.” Herbert Hoover, who was president during the Great Depression, was depicted in the book playing a game he made up called “Hoover Ball.”

“That worked out better for him than the economy,” Trump quipped.

Barack Obama, who has been a longtime object of Trump's derision, was illustrated playing basketball.

Trump, calling him “Barack Hussein Obama,” said he doubted Obama was a good basketball player. He then shared that Obama's favorite sport is golf, but added, “He won’t be in the Masters anytime soon," referring to the professional golf tournament.

When he reached a page with a drawing of Bill Clinton running on the jogging track the former president installed at the White House, Trump remarked, “I don’t think I’ll ever do that.”

But he added that he likes Clinton “a lot.”

Trump mused about riding a horse after seeing a picture of Abraham Lincoln riding one.

“That's great. I'd like to ride horses, too,” Trump said. “In fact, it gives me an idea, but when you fall off a horse... I've seen too many things happen. Falling off horses is not good.”

The solution he suggested was “A nice old horse that's extremely slow, lazy” and that he would “maybe ride it.”

A picture of John Quincy Adams swimming in what was then the Tiber Creek that ran past the South Lawn of the White House prompted Trump to remark, “I think we’re building a beautiful ballroom on top of it.”

Some of the other presidents' physical activity prompted some reflection on his own physique.

When he saw Gerald Ford swimming in a pool, Trump said: “I don’t know if I look good in a bathing suit. I haven’t had a bathing suit in a long time.”

William Howard Taft, who was known for his girth, “was our heaviest president,” Trump said.

“I have to be careful because I don’t want to supersede his record,” Trump said. “And a thing like that would be possible if I allowed it to happen. For all of you out there watching, keep yourself in good shape.”

In addition to encouraging young viewers to stay in shape, Trump offered a somewhat cloudy message when the second lady asked him for his advice to children on why they should celebrate the country on July 4th.

“We have a great country,” Trump said. “We have a country that, it’s on a little bit of a ledge right now. It can go one way or another, you understand that. But we’re going to make it go the other. And we're going to make America greater than ever before.”

Officials say that the carnival ride promotion of $25 that was valid between the hours of noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday will now be sold between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m. on Saturday and will be valid until the close of the fair on July 4 at 10 p.m.

The ride promotion for Sunday that needed to be purchased before 4 p.m. will now be available for purchase between 4 and 5 p.m. on Sunday. This ride offer will be valid until the closing at 10 p.m.

Now Heliovaara, the No. 1 ranked doubles player in the world, is among those fearing for the future of the format.

Doubles players are up in arms after being told by the ATP Tour this week that prize money and tournament sizes will decrease significantly starting in 2028.

“There has been instances in the past where the future of doubles was very (uncertain),” Heliovaara, the 2024 Wimbledon doubles champion, told The Associated Press at the All England Club on Friday. "This is one of the key moments again.”

Leading doubles players issued a statement Friday condemning the ATP's plans, saying they are not “a carnival sideshow” and that it will be impossible for anyone outside the top 30 in the doubles rankings to make a living if the new proposals are adopted.

The statement came after doubles players met with ATP officials at Wimbledon this week to discuss the future of a format that is struggling to draw an audience.

“The ATP is proposing to slash doubles draws, gut doubles prize money, and hand Challenger entry to singles players ahead of specialists who have built their careers in this discipline,” the players' statement said.

They said the proposal would give doubles players just 10% of the prize money at ATP tournaments — down from 20% — while halving the size of the doubles fields.

At the premier Masters tournaments, that would cut the doubles draw to 16 teams, while at the smaller ATP 500 and 250 events it would consist of just eight teams.

“Do the math on what that means for anyone outside the top 30: it will be impossible to make a living,” the statement added.

“This is not a minor adjustment. It is a plan to end doubles as a viable profession, dressed up as a cost-saving measure — and it is being pushed through with almost no transparency and almost no consultation with the players whose careers and livelihoods are on the line.”

Asked about the statement, the ATP said it was “assessing the doubles product, draw sizes and player compensation distribution with the aim of creating a more sustainable long-term model while maintaining doubles’ important role on the tour.”

It added that changing the doubles model could help increase early round singles prize money, “helping more players at the highest level to better meet the costs of competing on tour and build sustainable professional careers.”

The proposal does not affect Grand Slam tournaments. At Wimbledon, there are 64 doubles teams in both the men's and women's draw and winning pairs split 760,000 pounds (about $1 million), compared to 3.6 million pounds ($4.8 million) for the singles champions.

Doubles has always taken a back seat to singles tournaments when it comes to popularity and TV audiences, and the format has already faced several changes in recent years. In 2023, Wimbledon joined the other Grand Slam tournaments in shortening matches from five to three sets.

The U.S. Open last year introduced a new mixed doubles format that was played before the singles tournament started, in order to draw top names like Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka. That was criticized by traditional doubles players, however, as it largely excluded them in favor of attracting more famous singles specialists.

Heliovaara said one of the problems for doubles is that most of the well-known singles players have almost completely abandoned the format.

“We are losing the singles stars from the doubles game, and we have not been very good at making the doubles stars known to a global audience,” the Finnish player said.

The women's doubles at Wimbledon received a boost when Serena and Venus Williams accepted a wild-card entry. They are set to play on Saturday after doubt caused by Serena tweaking her knee during her first-round singles in her first appearance at the All England Club in four years.

Heliovaara did not take part in the meetings with the ATP this week, but has previously been part of a player council that tried to find solutions to the problems facing doubles.

“It was very difficult to find answers," he acknowledged. "But I still believe someone might have them. But it’s a very money-driven world.”

The men's players said part of the problem in attracting an audience was due to the ATP's “lackluster marketing of doubles, failure to exploit broadcast and other commercial partnerships, and poor event staging and promotion.”

“Doubles is not an afterthought we fell into,” the players' statement said. “It has always been part of this sport’s identity, not a discount version of it.”

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

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the voting. It's unclear why so many players didn't cast their votes. However, the Los Angeles Sparks were one of the teams that didn’t have all of its players vote due to some operational errors.

“Players were sent ballots via email,” the Sparks said in a statement. “Some players indicated that they didn’t receive the email or weren’t aware of it until after the voting period had closed. That’s something we take responsibility for as an organization, and we’ll have a more robust process going forward.”

Fan vote accounts for 50% of the overall vote while players and a media panel each are 25%. It's been that way since 2017.

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said her team has never had an issue getting players to submit their ballots.

“We always vote. But I do think especially if they’re weighed as much as they are, like teams should be making sure that their players are voting like it is important. There should never just be a team that like, doesn’t get the ballot. ...That’s something that every player should be getting the opportunity. And if the player doesn’t want to vote, then that’s on them.”

The league announced the All-Star starters on Thursday.

ESPN was the first to report the lack of ballots.

Like the media, each player is given a link to a voting site as well as an individual username and password. Those are supplied by the league to the teams who distribute them to the players.

Sparks guard Kelsey Plum was lower in the player balloting than she was from the media and fans. She is second in the WNBA in scoring, but has only played in a dozen games because of injuries. She was 12th among players votes after ranking sixth by the fans and fifth by media.

She finished seventh in the voting overall for the guards. Even if the Sparks had all voted, it wouldn't have been a guarantee that Plum moved up to the top four spots. In the past, players have said that they have either voted for their entire team on the ballot or for friends or college teammates which has led to some skewed results. Some do take it seriously and pick who they think are the best players.

All-Star starter Caitlin Clark was right in front of the player balloting finishing in 11th. She was picked as an All-Star starter as she was second in the fan vote and third in the media rankings.

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

“We saw a lot of bodies that had not yet been identified,” López said.

The rush is on across La Guaira, the state on Venezuela’s northern coast hardest hit by the powerful back-to-back June 24 earthquakes, to identify loved ones before it’s too late. With at least 2,295 people killed, Venezuela is overwhelmed with bodies that officials are struggling to collect, identify and preserve for loved ones to claim. Thousands are still missing.

José Antonio Toledo, López's 25-year-old son-in-law, was found under the building where he was working as a security guard when the quakes struck. Crews took his body to a local hospital, where staff turned them away because there was no space. The body was sent to another facility and eventually transferred to an open parking lot.

A forensic doctor helped the family find him days later, on Saturday. But once they identified his body, they didn’t know what to do with it because they couldn’t afford the $450 that a funeral home was charging.

At almost midnight on Saturday, López got word that the mayor’s office was offering them a free space at a local cemetery, but they had to move quickly to not lose the spot. An hour later, López and her daughter trudged up a hill leading to the cemetery and buried Toledo.

“He was an exemplary person, a boy who liked helping people,” López said.

They saved him from a mass grave that many fear is coming as they search for the bodies of their loved ones.

The number of bodies found is expected to soar

Forensic technician Joel Mirabal has worked for seven days straight since the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck.

The 45-year-old estimates that in 60% to 70% of cases, there’s a relative or neighbor available to identify a body when he comes to pick it up. Even so, it’s a struggle, he said, with many relying on tattoos, scars or familiar clothing.

“They don’t look even 10% like what they were in real life,” he said of the victims.

If a body cannot be identified, it goes to forensic specialists working at La Guaira seaport. Private companies have donated large cooling containers to help preserve the bodies, but the number of dead keeps growing.

“Obviously, mass graves will have to be created,” Mirabal said. “The collapse is massive, and the bodies are buried under many layers of debris.”

Mirabal said he and other forensic technicians anticipate spending up to three months collecting bodies.

They drive around the affected areas every day, led by rescue crews and civilians who have recovered or spotted bodies.

“Many of the rescues are carried out by the people,” he said of the thousands of ordinary Venezuelans who have pitched in for the recovery effort.

A dog trainer by profession who once helped the government locate drugs and missing people, Mirabal finds solace in the 12 dogs waiting for him at home, not counting the puppies. One of his favorites is Mila, a young black Dutch Shepherd who lay by his side on Thursday as he rested.

“It’s not easy at all to witness the suffering and tragedy of your fellow human beings,” he said.

Venezuelans wait in line to try to identify loved ones

Over the weekend, crews took dozens of bodies recovered from flattened buildings to a government-run health care facility in the city of La Guaira. They were left on a sweltering parking lot until families identified them, with funeral home workers estimating that more than 200 bodies were kept there at one point.

On Thursday, those who lost loved ones waited outside La Guaira seaport to identify bodies that authorities continue to pick up across the coastal state. Cars, including trucks and vans from funeral homes, formed a line outside a makeshift morgue.

Among those waiting was Robert Rodríguez. He sat on a concrete block, crestfallen, his legs dangling, waiting for his daughter to identify the body of his son-in-law. Rafael Alvarado died trapped inside a grocery store where he worked at the deli counter.

“He was her best friend,” Rodríguez said, referring to the couple as tears soaked his blue face mask.

Rodríguez said the family found Alvarado in the rubble on Wednesday, his body freed and transported to the port on Thursday.

“I saw his shoes and knew it was him,” Rodríguez said, adding that he warned his daughter. “I told her, ‘Prepare yourself.’”

He said the family plans to cremate Alvarado and scatter his ashes on Isla de Margarita, the Venezuelan island that was his home.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.