Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks Thursday night on Persian Gulf states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon. The Lebanese government has not responded as of Friday morning.

The announcement came after Israel pounded Beirut Wednesday, killing more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Questions remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance would lead the U.S. delegation.

Here is the latest:

Why Pakistan has emerged as a mediator between US and Iran

It was initially seen as an unexpected mediator, but this week Pakistan has established itself as a key player in bringing Iran and the United States to the negotiating table. Now, it is awaiting representatives from both countries to meet in Islamabad, as the world watches to see whether the talks could lead to an end to the war.

Since Washington and Tehran agreed to an initial 14-day ceasefire on Tuesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the powerful army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have been sharing messages about conversations with world leaders, highlighting their role as mediators.

Islamabad isn’t often called on to act as an intermediary in high-stakes diplomacy, but it’s stepped into the role this time for a number of reasons, both because it has relatively good ties with both Washington and Tehran and because it has a lot at stake in seeing the war resolved.

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Security forces move swiftly to lock down key parts of Islamabad

Commandos, police and other security personnel set up barricades as dusk fell along routes linking the airport to the city, particularly those expected to be used by U.S. and Iranian delegations arriving for high-stakes talks.

During their stay in Pakistan, the two delegations will also meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The delegations arriving in Islamabad are scheduled to stay at a hotel where negotiations are expected to take place on Saturday.

Ahead of the talks, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reviewed security arrangements for the delegations.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said Islamabad’s Red Zone would be completely sealed on Saturday, with entry restricted to authorized individuals.

Multiple rounds of sirens heard across northern Israel

Sirens signaling incoming fire from the militant Hezbollah group sounded in repeated waves across northern Israel on Friday, including in border communities and areas such as Nahariya and Karmiel.

The Israeli military said around 30 projectiles were fired toward the area since morning.

Trump’s tenuous Iran exit plan isn’t healing Republican rifts exposed by the war

President Donald Trump’s search for an off-ramp from the war with Iran is getting bumpy inside his Republican Party.

In the decade since Trump’s “America First” movement rose to power by rejecting military intervention, his coalition has rarely been tested the way it is now. Trump’s exit efforts — first through threats of annihilation, then with a ceasefire that is proving precarious — are doing little to paper over tensions that have festered since the war began six weeks ago.

Despite the growing criticism, Republican leaders in Congress were largely silent. Many were privately uncomfortable with Trump’s threats on social media and were concerned about how the war would play out, especially in an election year.

But with Congress on recess for the opening two weeks of April, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have offered little public reaction to Trump’s moves.

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Israel bans Spain from Gaza peace monitoring body

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the Spanish government will be cast out of a U.S.-led coordination center in charge of maintaining peace in Gaza, citing Spain’s alleged anti-Israeli bias amid the war with Iran.

“Israel will not remain silent in the face of those who attack us. Spain has defamed our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world,” he said in a video statement.

The Kiryat Gat-based Civil-Military Coordination Center was established in October 2025 as a multinational body charged with monitoring implementation of the peace agreement sponsored by Trump in Gaza.

“Those who attack the State of Israel instead of terrorist regimes will not be our partners regarding the future of the region,” added Netanyahu.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been one of the most outspoken critics of the war on Iran, which he denounced as “illegal, reckless and unjust.”

Lebanon’s state-run news agency reports 8 State Security officers killed

The NNA news agency reported that Israeli warplanes on Friday struck near a State Security agency office in the southern town of Nabatieh, causing extensive damage at the government building. It said others were wounded in the strike and were being transferred to hospitals, without specifying how many.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the specific strike. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, claimed that Israel had hit more than 120 Hezbollah militant sites in the past 24 hours.

Hezbollah has claimed a series of air and ground attacks against Israel in the last day after initially holding fire following news of the wider ceasefire deal in the Iran war.

Ceasefire deal brings relief to some in Iran, but Trump’s threat still echoes

Iranians have welcomed a fragile ceasefire deal after weeks of Israeli and American bombardment, but many fear the war is far from over. For some, there is also a sense of whiplash, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out their civilization hours before he reversed course and agreed to an uneasy truce.

The ceasefire that took effect Wednesday has brought relative quiet to the capital, Tehran, after more than a month of heavy strikes that targeted mainly government and security buildings but also destroyed many homes.

“Everyone I’ve spoken with, it’s given them a new life,” a university student told The Associated Press in an audio note via WhatsApp, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears for his safety.

AP spoke to half a dozen residents, despite an ongoing nationwide internet shutdown imposed during mass protests before the war.

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Japan urges Israel and Hezbollah to reach a diplomatic settlement

Japan said it is deeply concerned about escalating Israeli attacks on Lebanon, urging all parties to immediately stop hostilities and comply with international law.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in a statement Friday, expressed Japan’s “serious concern” over Israel’s ground operation against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, calling for respect for Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Vance says he believes negotiations with Iran will be ‘positive’

Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll, of course, see.”

He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.”

But Vance also added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but didn’t elaborate.

The vice president did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.

Some Israelis think Israel should ‘finish with’ Hezbollah before deal with Lebanon

In the streets of downtown Jerusalem, some Israelis said they believe peace with Lebanon is not possible before a decisive victory against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

“I think we should finish with them. After we finished with Hezbollah, we can try and make peace with Lebanon,” said Yaniv Matsree.

A little over a month of hiding in shelters has inconvenienced the lives of many Israelis, they said, but has done little to change their views of the war with Hezbollah that has killed more than 1,850 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

For some Israelis, their country should press on to evade future threats from the militant group.

“The people of Israel want peace and seek peace, but those who want war will get war, and this war is very justified,” said Benhamo Momen, who fled from northern Israel, where the impact of the war is most severe. “Hezbollah will not disarm on their own.”

Gas price spike pushes up inflation by the most in 4 years in March

The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades caused a sharp spike in inflation in March, creating major challenges for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and heightening the political challenges of rising costs for the White House.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from just 2.4% in February. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.5% in February. But last month, core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting the gas price shock hasn’t yet spread to many other categories.

The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase, further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months.

Gas prices are also a highly visible cost that has outsize impacts on consumer confidence and political sentiment.

Vance warns

Tehran not to ‘play’ the US as he departs for negotiations aimed at ending war with Iran

Vice President JD Vance is warning Tehran not to “play” the U.S. as he departs for Islamabad for negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the conflict with Iran to now find a resolution to the war that began six weeks ago and stave off the U.S. president’s astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilization.”

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, sets off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

It comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the U.S. and its partner Israel seems irreconcilable.

And in the U.S., where Vance might ask voters in two years to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

Hezbollah leader urges Lebanese authorities not to give ‘free concessions’

In the first official statement from the militant group since Israel announced it would enter into direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem said, “We call on (Lebanese) officials to stop offering free concessions,” but did not take a clear stance on the prospect of talks.

Kassem praised the performance of Hezbollah fighters battling Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and said Israel had been unable to make significant advances.

“We will not accept a return to the previous situation,” Kassem said, an apparent reference to the 15 months before the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, when a ceasefire was nominally in place but the Israeli military continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon that it said aimed to stop Hezbollah from regrouping.

Starmer says he’s ‘fed up’ in rare criticism of Trump

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told broadcaster ITV in an interview recorded Thursday that he’s “fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”

Starmer’s point was that Britain needs energy independence. But mentioning the Russian and U.S. presidents in the same breath is a departure for the prime minister, who usually avoids direct criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Iran war has soured relations between the two leaders, with Trump lashing out over Starmer’s reluctance to join the conflict.

UK’s Starmer says ceasefire is fragile

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says reopening the Strait of Hormuz is vital to strengthening a “fragile” ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Speaking Friday as he left Qatar after a three-day visit to the Gulf, Starmer said leaders in the region were adamant that “there can’t be tolling or restrictions” on commercial shipping through the waterway, which has effectively been shut by Iran.

Starmer said he told U.S. President Donald Trump in a call on Thursday that ending the conflict “has to involve” Iran’s Gulf neighbors, who “have very strong views on the Strait of Hormuz.” Britain is involved with other countries in military planning to ensure security in the strait, if the ceasefire turns into a longer peace.

UN food agency steps up activities for nearly 1 million displaced in Lebanon

The World Food Program said that 874,000 people in Lebanon were already facing “acute food insecurity” before the latest escalation. Despite the risks, the WFP is continuing to send humanitarian convoys to southern Lebanon to villages on the border with Israel, which have been subject to heavy bombing, the agency said in a statement.

It says it has provided emergency food and assistance to over 440,000 people since March 2.

Lebanese are divided over negotiations with Israel

Some Beirut residents, desperate for any sign of the war ending, welcomed the prospect of talks between their government and Israel for the first time in decades.

“Negotiations are the only way to peace,” said Iyad al‑Kilani. “People are displaced, living on the streets. People aren’t living.”

Other residents, sleeping in tents and cars after fleeing their homes in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is battling an Israeli ground invasion and heavy aerial bombardment, said they didn’t trust Israel’s intentions in the talks. “If we negotiate, we will be negotiating with someone who only understands force,” said Rabih Hammoud. “They (Israel) must stop the war and leave. Then we can talk.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli military will continue strikes on the Iran-backed group while the talks in Washington focus on disarming Hezbollah. In just one of many obstacles, the Lebanese government has no direct control over Hezbollah. It also insists on a ceasefire before wider discussions about the future of Hezbollah can take place.

Beirut residents sift through the wreckage of their homes

In the Ain al-Mraisseh neighborhood along Beirut’s coastal corniche, where an Israeli strike on Wednesday wiped out the bottom floors of a multistory building, causing a partial collapse, stunned residents tried to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementos they could find in the rubble.

Although now homeless, some men at the scene expressed gratitude that they lost only their apartments, not their loved ones. The strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,800, authorities said.

“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced. The house and other things can be replaced, but parents, children, or a wife, this is the most important.”

WHO: Israel pledges not to attack 2 key Lebanese hospitals

The World Health Organization said Israel forces had previously issued an evacuation order for Beirut’s Jnah area, which includes the Rafik Hariri — the main public hospital in the city — and Al Zahraa Hospital.

WHO’s top representative in Lebanon said Friday that Israel provided “assurance” after late-night talks with U.N. officials that Israeli forces would not attack the hospitals as they continue military action against Hezbollah.

Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, speaking to reporters in Geneva, said U.N. officials “got some assurance back saying that these two hospitals will not be attacked.”

Separately, Abubakar said Israeli forces warned that “ambulances will be attacked.” An Israeli army spokesman wrote on X that Hezbollah is “deliberately using ambulances for terror purposes.” Abubakar said WHO was not able to independently confirm those claims.

Iran official says over 3,000 people killed in the war

A top medical official in Iran has put the death toll in the war with Israel and the United States at over 3,000 people.

The state-run IRAN daily newspaper quoted Abbas Masjedi, head of the Legal Medicine Organization, as saying “more than 3,000 people were killed in enemy attacks.” Masjedi did not elaborate on the breakdown in civilian versus military casualties. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the weekslong war.

South Korean president shares 2024 video of Israeli soldiers dropping body off roof

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shared on his X account what appeared to be a 2024 video showing Israeli soldiers throwing a body from a rooftop in the occupied West Bank, and wrote: “humanitarian law must be observed under any circumstances.”

Lee, in his posts Friday, did not make a direct comment on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East or Israel’s current war operations, but said, “Lessons marked on the painful wounds of the past must not be repeated as recurring tragedies.”

Lee said the video, which he reposted from another account, was from a “shocking” incident in September 2024 that was also investigated by Israeli authorities. Lee’s office did not immediately provide an explanation for why he posted those messages. Lee’s government earlier on Friday said it was sending senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha as a special envoy to Iran to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Singapore rules out restrictions on fuel exports

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the island state will not restrict fuel exports from its refineries due to Iran war disruptions. Singapore was Australia’s largest supplier of refined petroleum products.

“We do not plan to restrict exports. We didn’t have to do so even in the darkest days of COVID, and we will not do so during this energy crisis,” Wong said at a news conference with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese. “It’s hypothetical. It won’t happen,” Wong added.

Albanese said Wong had given the same assurance in their bilateral meeting. “The prime minister’s just as confident in private as he is in public,” Albanese said.

Ukrainian forces shot down Shahed drones during Iran war, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian military personnel shot down Iranian-designed Shahed drones in multiple Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, describing the operations as part of a broader effort to help partners counter the same weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until Friday.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced, battle-tested interceptor drones.

Oil gains and Asian stocks are mostly higher ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks

Asian stocks were mostly up Friday while oil prices also rose on the fragile Iran war ceasefire and ahead of Iran-U.S. negotiations in Pakistan over the weekend.

South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.5% to 5,862.58. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.9% to 56,952.60.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8% to 25,954.15, while the Shanghai Composite index was also 0.8% higher at 3,996.34.

Brent crude, the international standard, was 1% higher at $96.92 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude was up 0.8% to $98.62 a barrel.

For oil prices, “$65-70 a barrel is not coming back,” Ajay Rajadhyaksha of Barclays wrote in a recent research note, referring to the pre-Iran war oil price levels. The bank predicts that Brent crude could remain at around $85 per barrel on average for this year.

“A ceasefire is not a refund,” he wrote. “Ceasefires end wars; they don’t undo them.”

Islamabad locked down ahead of US-Iran talks

Pakistan’s capital fell unusually quiet Friday as authorities locked down Islamabad ahead of high-stakes talks between the United States and Iran aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire after weeks of war.

Roads lay nearly empty, checkpoints were set up at major arteries, and a two-day public holiday kept residents indoors.

Behind the calm, diplomatic activity intensified.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance is set to leave for Pakistan Friday, while an Iranian delegation was also expected there.

Security was tightened, with additional troops and police deployed across Islamabad.

Talks are set to begin Saturday, drawing global attention and placing Islamabad at the center of efforts to bring an end to the war.

Air defense fire and explosions heard in Iran

Multiple times overnight into Friday morning, people around Iran’s capital, Tehran, and other parts of the country said they heard what sounded like air defense fire and explosions.

However, Iran’s government did not acknowledge any attack during that period.

After past exchanges of fire with Israel, similar incidents happened as troops remained on edge.

Japan releases more oil reserves

Japan said it will release an additional 20 days’ worth of oil reserves in May, in a second round address supply uncertainty over the war in the Middle East.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the planned release of the government reserves will start in early May, after an earlier release last month.

Japan started releasing about 50 days’ worth of oil reserves in March, including from those held by the state, the private sector and oil-producing Gulf nations.

As of April 6, Japan had 230 days’ worth of oil reserves, including 143 days’ worth in government stockpiles, according to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.

Takaichi said her government is working to secure oil imports via routes that do not include the Strait of Hormuz, while Japan seeks to diversify suppliers.

Pakistan to issue visas on arrival ahead of talks

Pakistan said Friday it would issue visas on arrival for those traveling to Islamabad for the Iran-U.S. talks, signaling the interest in the world’s media in the event.

According to his public schedule, the president will first meet with members of the PAC, which federal records show has amassed $312M in contributions as of February. That is to be followed by a roundtable dinner with MAGA, Inc. at the 1,300-acre Trump Winery in Charlottesville later in the evening. The president is expected to return to the White House Friday night.

The dinner is expected to be held in the 26,000-square-foot, 45-room neo-Georgian mansion known as Albemarle Estate, once the private residence of John and Patricia Kluge. The vineyard is reported to be the largest in the Commonwealth and has been owned by Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC since the Trump family purchased it in 2011.

Charlottesville, once home to Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, has not had a sitting president visit since President Barack Obama toured Monticello in 2014.

The city was also the scene of a deadly crash in which a driver plowed into a crowd of anti-white nationalist protesters in August 2017. James Alex Felix was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for that attack.

Separately, three members of a California-based white supremacist group were sentenced in 2019 for their part in that “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, in which members of the group carried torches as they marched through the campus of the University of Virginia, some chanting, “Jews will not replace us.”

Still in his first term, President Trump declared at a news conference the violence in that 2017 clash between the groups should be “blamed on both sides,” and that there were “very fine people on both sides.”

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% in morning trading and is heading for a second consecutive winning week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:43 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.6%.

Major indexes have been gaining ground over the last two weeks amid optimism that the war with Iran could be heading toward a resolution. The market is still prone to big swings on developments around the war.

Trading on Wall Street remained choppy. There were more stocks losing ground than making gains within the benchmark S&P 500. The index has erased most of its losses from March and is just 2% short of its all-time high set in January.

Technology companies with hefty values helped counter losses elsewhere in the market.

Nvidia rose 2.4% and Broadcom rose 4.9%.

Markets in Asia and Europe gained ground.

Oil prices have been behind many of the stock market’s sharp movements. Oil prices have surged as shipping through the vital Strait of Hormuz essentially stalled since the war began.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. Brent fell 0.5% to $95.47 Friday.

U.S. crude oil prices fell 0.3% to $97.59 per barrel.

Negotiators from Iran and the U.S. are preparing for high-level talks on Saturday. The situation remains uncertain. Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency claimed that talks wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon.

The conflict is behind surging inflation in the U.S. in March. The government reported the biggest spike in inflation in four years as prices at the gas pump jumped. But, the inflation increase was just short of what economists expected.

Bond yields held mostly steady following the latest inflation update. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.29% late Thursday.

Inflation has been a lingering concern for economists and the Federal Reserve. Prices on a range of consumer goods and services are already stubbornly high, in part from the impact of extensive global tariffs. Higher gas prices are immediately felt by drivers at the pump, but they could eventually raise prices on everything from food to airfare as companies pass along higher costs for shipping and fuel.

Consumer sentiment slumped 10.7% percent in April, according to a closely watched monthly survey from the University of Michigan. It also shows that consumers are growing more worried about inflation, with year-ahead expectations surging to 4.8% in April from 3.8% in March.

Inflation remains a major concern for the Federal Reserve, which has signaled more caution amid worries about inflation reheating. The rate of inflation remains above the central bank's 2% target. The threat of rising inflation will likely mean the central bank continues to hold interest rates steady. Several Fed officials have also said a rate hike may be needed if inflation doesn’t cool.

Lower interest rates help boost stocks and other investments by lowering borrowing costs. Interest rate cuts also risk worsening inflation.

Wall Street is forecasting that the Fed will likely hold its interest rate steady through 2026.

The error, which the administration admitted first to The Associated Press, prompted health analysts to question how many of the Republican administration’s sweeping anti-fraud efforts around the country were based on faulty findings. One of a few mischaracterizations it made about New York's Medicaid program, it also reflected a common criticism that’s been made of Trump’s second administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later.

“These numbers could have been cleared up in a phone call, so it’s really slapdash,” said Fiscal Policy Institute senior health policy adviser Michael Kinnucan, whose recent analysis called attention to the Trump administration’s inaccurate claim.

The mistake appeared in comments made last month by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in a social media video and in a letter to New York’s Democratic governor announcing the fraud investigation.

Oz claimed that New York’s Medicaid program last year provided some 5 million people with personal care services, which assist people in need with basic activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation. That would add up to nearly three-fourths of the state’s 6.8 million Medicaid enrollees.

“That level of utilization is unheard of,” Oz said in the video, adding in his post that New York needs to “come clean about its Medicaid program.”

But the real number of New Yorkers who used those services last year was about 450,000, or between 6% and 7% of total enrollees, CMS spokesman Chris Krepich told the AP this week. He said the agency misidentified New York’s approach to applying billing codes and had since refined its methodology.

“CMS is committed to ensuring its analyses fully reflect state-specific billing practices and will continue to work closely with New York to validate data and strengthen program integrity oversight,” he said in an emailed statement.

Krepich said the probe was ongoing as the administration still has concerns with New York’s oversight of personal care services and the Medicaid program and is reviewing the state’s response to last month’s letter. CMS had raised other flags about New York’s program, including that it spends more per beneficiary and per resident than the average state, has high personal care spending and employs so many personal care aides that the job category is now the largest in the state.

Health analysts said the state's high spending reflected both high costs for services in New York and a policy choice to provide robust at-home care. Cadence Acquaviva, senior public information officer for the New York Department of Health, called Oz’s initial mischaracterizations “a targeted attempt to obscure the facts.”

“New York State remains committed to protecting and preserving vital Medicaid programs that deliver high-quality services to New Yorkers who depend on them,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “The initial claim by CMS was patently false, and we are glad they now admit it."

“Governor Hochul has been clear that New York has zero tolerance for waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, or any other state programs, and will continue her efforts to root out bad actors, protect taxpayer dollars, and safeguard the critical programs that New Yorkers rely on,” spokesperson Nicolette Simmonds said.

New York probe is part of a larger crackdown

The Trump administration’s investigation into New York comes as it has similarly approached at least four other states, including California, Florida, Maine and Minnesota, with investigations into potential health care fraud. The anti-fraud effort appears to be expanding as voters in the upcoming midterm elections say they’re concerned about affordability.

Trump last month signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. As part of that project, Vance announced the administration would temporarily halt $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, a move over which the state has since sued.

Kinnucan, the analyst with expertise in New York’s Medicaid program, said he’s concerned that the Trump administration’s adversarial approach to targeting fraud in some states “politicizes” a conversation that should be a team effort.

“We want to think collaboratively among all the stakeholders in the program about how we can actually fix it,” Kinnucan said. “We don’t want to have fraud be this political football.”

Oz made other claims New York advocates say are inaccurate

In his video, Oz made at least two other claims about New York that Medicaid advocates and beneficiaries say distorted the facts.

In one instance, he said the state recently made its screening for personal care eligibility “more lenient by allowing problems like being ‘easily distracted’ to qualify for a personal care assistant.”

Rebecca Antar, director of the health law unit at the Legal Aid Society, said the opposite was true — that the state in a rule change that went into effect last September instead made its program requirements more stringent. She said being “easily distracted” doesn’t appear anywhere among them.

Krepich said the administrator was referring to whether New York’s standard for personal care services was “sufficiently rigorous.”

“When standards are overly permissive, it risks diverting resources away from individuals with the highest levels of need and placing long-term pressure on the sustainability of the Medicaid program,” he said.

Oz in the video also referred to personal care services as “something that our families would normally do for us, like carrying groceries.”

Kathleen Downes, a 33-year-old who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and uses personal care services in New York’s Nassau County, said she was offended by the notion that all Medicaid beneficiaries have family members who are willing and able to help.

Downes, who has been disabled since birth and needs personal care help for things like showering, using the toilet and eating, said she hires both her mother and outside assistants for personal care services, so her aging mother doesn’t have to take on those tasks full time. She said her mother did the labor unpaid for years, precluding her from pursuing other career opportunities.

“He’s assuming that everybody wants to and can just do it for free forever,” Downes said. "And that’s not feasible for a lot of people.”

___

Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

President Donald Trump has tasked the member of his inner circle who has seemed to be the most reluctant defender of the 6-week-old conflict with Iran to now find a resolution and stave off the U.S. president's astonishing threat to wipe out its “whole civilization.”

Vance, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions and outspoken about the prospect of sending troops into open-ended conflicts, set off Friday to lead mediated talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Boarding Air Force Two on his way to Pakistan, the vice president said, “We’re looking forward to the negotiation. I think it’s gonna be positive. We’ll of course see.”

He cited Trump in saying, “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand.” But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Vance also said that Trump “gave us some pretty clear guidelines” on how talks should go, but he didn’t elaborate. He did not take questions from reporters traveling with him.

Vance's trip comes as a tenuous, temporary ceasefire appears to be on the precipice of collapsing. The chasm between Iran’s public demands and those from the U.S. and its partner Israel seem irreconcilable. And in the U.S., where Vance might ask voters in two years’ time to make him the next president, there is growing political and economic pressure to wrap it up.

Vance is joined by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who took part in three rounds of indirect talks with Iranian negotiators aimed at settling U.S. concerns about Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs and its support for armed proxy groups in the Middle East before Trump and Israel launched the Feb. 28 war against Iran.

The White House has provided scant detail about the format of the talks — whether they will be direct or indirect — and has not provided specific expectations for the meeting.

But the arrival of Vance for negotiations marks a rare moment of high-level U.S. government engagement with the Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the most direct contact had been when President Barack Obama in September 2013 called newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

The 2 sides face a steep climb in making headway

Almost immediately after the White House and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire Tuesday evening, the sides found themselves at odds over terms of the truce.

Iran insisted that an end to the Israeli war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon, and the Israeli operations there continued.

The U.S., meanwhile, demanded that Iran make good on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic had closed the critical shipping waterway in response to Israel’s intensifying attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Trump on Thursday said Iran was “doing a very poor job” of allowing oil tankers to pass through, writing on social media, “That is not the agreement we have!”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Vance, Witkoff, Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “have always been collaborating on these discussions” and said Trump was optimistic that a lasting deal can be reached during the two-week ceasefire. “President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first,” Kelly said.

High stakes for peace — and for politics

It’s the highest-stakes moment thus far for Vance, who spent much of last year as more of a background player in the Trump White House, especially as others like Elon Musk and Rubio took turns as ever-present advisers for the president.

But Vance’s portfolio is fattening fast, first with a mission to root out fraud in government programs at home and now to help solve a U.S. war in the Middle East, where complicated doesn’t even begin to describe things.

Vance, who served in the Iraq War while in the Marines and spent two years as a U.S. senator for Ohio and a little more than one as vice president, has little diplomatic experience.

On Wednesday, he dismissed speculation that the Iranians requested that he join the talks, telling reporters: “I don’t know that. I would be surprised if that was true. But, you know, I wanted to be involved because I thought I could make a difference.”

Jonathan Schanzer, a former Treasury Department official who is now executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said Vance, with little experience on Iran policy, is an interesting choice to lead the delegation.

Trump has noted his vice president was “less enthusiastic” than other top senior officials in the Republican administration, making Vance an intriguing interlocutor for the Iranian side, Schanzer said.

“I think they probably prefer him knowing that his perspective on foreign intervention is one of skepticism,” Schanzer said of the Iranians. “I do think that he’s going to need some help. I don’t think he’s ever been engaged in negotiations with this kind of weight, this kind of seriousness. This is as serious as it gets.”

The White House has pushed back against the characterization that Iran wanted Vance in the talks, casting it as an effort to hurt negotiations.

The White House has not detailed who will be in the talks besides Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, but Kelly said officials from the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon “will also play a supportive role.”

During early rounds of indirect nuclear talks with the Iranians before the war, Democrats and some nuclear experts questioned whether Kushner and Witkoff had enough technical knowledge. The White House has not said whether the pair, whom Trump has entrusted with some of his most difficult negotiations since returning to office, had a nuclear expert with them for those talks.

Negotiating peace is a tall order for any vice president

It’s not unusual for vice presidents to take on important negotiating roles for the president, said Joel Goldstein, a professor of law at Saint Louis University who is an expert on the history of the vice presidency.

But, he said, “I don’t recall a situation where a vice president has been sent to negotiate a ceasefire or peace in connection with a war the United States was involved with.”

Vance and Rubio are seen as the Republican Party’s strongest potential 2028 presidential contenders, though neither has given a clear answer about whether he intends to run.

The vice president's team is not thinking about the negotiations with an eye to future political considerations, according to a person familiar with discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

As vice president, Vance inherently would carry any baggage of the administration if he eventually does run for president, Goldstein said. But stepping in to lead negotiations even further identifies him with the conflict.

“The fact that he’s involved in the negotiations in a very visible way, that means that, if things go south, that people will be pointing fingers at him,” Goldstein said.

At the same time, Goldstein said, “If things go well, then it will be something that he could point to.”

Within seconds, plumes of smoke were rising across Beirut’s skyline, from the coastal corniche, down to the city’s busiest intersection, up from one of its wealthiest neighborhoods and one of its poorest. Boom. Boom. Boom. We stopped counting. One staffer ran into the office from downstairs, her face white and lips trembling.

During the 10 years that Beirut has been my home, the Lebanese capital has lived through rounds of Israeli bombing, Israel’s detonation of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members and a devastating port explosion in 2020. But Wednesday was the first time it felt like the city had been left breathless.

In a span of 10 minutes, Israel says it hit 100 targets in Lebanon. Most were in Beirut. Over 300 people were killed, including more than 100 women, children and elderly. Late night TV shows said it rivaled one of the worst days during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Beirut — in August of that year, when roughly 300 people were killed over some 10 hours of bombardment.

Acrid smoke, frantic calls and looks of horror

Before Wednesday's bombardment, many Lebanese had hoped that a ceasefire announced hours earlier in the Iran war would bring a pause in the more than a month of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

It is still not clear what the targets were. Israel said it hit Hezbollah command and control centers, but the only Hezbollah official it reported killing was an aide to the group’s secretary-general.

As bombs fell, panicked commuters got stuck in traffic while trying to rush home to move their families, unsure where Israel may hit next. Others made frantic calls on an overwhelmed communication network, looking for loved ones or yelling at relatives to pack up and leave. Confused drivers stared at the acrid black and white smoke billowing over the city, trying to determine which road to take.

In the stricken areas, the mayhem was on another level. People’s faces were covered in black soot. At one of Beirut’s busiest intersections, on Corniche al-Mazraa, an Associated Press photographer saw charred cars piled on top of each other. A body was crushed inside one.

In Mar Elias, one of Beirut’s main commercial streets, a blast raised dust and debris that hid the view of the entire block. Across the street, Sahar Charara was huddled in her apartment.

Ever since the 2020 port explosion, in which her two children suffered minor injuries, Charara has tried to protect herself from seeing the victims of violence — a sign of how years of accumulated heartbreaks have marked Lebanese. But when the dust cleared, she looked outside and saw the despair of an entire city on the face of an elderly woman frozen in place and screaming for minutes.

“There were so much horror and fear in her screaming,” said Charara.

When Charara left her apartment an hour later, she exchanged a few words with her neighbor whose shop was destroyed. The expression on her face was a “blank look of horror,” Charara said.

She learned later from her building’s doorman that another neighbor had fallen from the balcony and died from the impact.

Buildings crumble to the ground

A strike hit near the home of Nahida Khalil, close to the corniche. Then she saw smoke also coming from the direction of her brother’s building further up the street.

The next 15 minutes felt like an eternity as she tried to call her brother, with no answer. Finally, his wife responded, screaming that their building was hit. They had searched through the black smoke filling their apartment to find their three children. When they finally made it to the street, they saw half of their building had been leveled, and the other half was slowly tumbling down as rescuers searched for the missing.

“I lived through all the wars since 1975. I never felt this fear,” said Khalil, who has lived in the same building for decades. "These strikes are meant to terrorize ... and to spoil the ceasefire and cause division” between Lebanese.

A few hundred meters to the west of Charara’s building later in the day, motorists swerved and crossed paths, as they tried to evacuate Tallet al-Khayyat, one of the highest points in Beirut and home to some of the city’s classiest apartment buildings. One building crumbled to dust in seconds after being struck by an Israeli bomb; a resident described hearing the building’s stones grind before it collapsed.

By nightfall, people were still assessing the losses – and trying to figure out where was safe. Some families spent the night sleeping in different rooms, figuring if overnight strikes hit, some would survive.

Rescue efforts went on through the night.

At Khalil’s family building in the Ain Mreisseh neighborhood, rescue workers' hopes were boosted after finding a 92-year-old man alive. But by daylight Thursday, they were still searching for four or five more bodies, they told the AP. A man whose 23-year-old daughter was among the missing stood on a mound of rubble and helped search.

The 101st strike

At hospitals, staff were still trying to identify dozens of bodies, with some burned or damaged. From death notices and its own reporting, the AP collected the names of 61 of the dead. They reflected the breadth of society, including the chef of a popular restaurant, a well-known poet, four soldiers from the Lebanese military, 11 members of two Syrian refugee families, a teacher and her two children, and a doctor along with his wife and three children.

The last strike came shortly after midnight, hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been regularly hit during the war. Mohammed Mehdi’s barbershop, in operation for 30 years, was destroyed.

During the current war, he and his family fled their home in the neighborhood, Chiyah, and now sleep in a dentist clinic, near Khalil’s family building. But he made it a point to keep his barber shop open, going to it every day to meet friends, have coffee and give the occasional haircut. He shut down Wednesday as bombs starting falling across the city.

“They carried out 100 strikes. Ours was the 101st,” he said Thursday. He is mourning Lebanon’s dead from the day. “I am still in shock, and I don’t know where things are going. I lost my job and this loss may last for a while.”

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AP correspondent Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Premiering in 2019, this is the series that showcased the rising careers of Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney — all of whom have since become bona fide stars.

The dark suburban teen drama has also featured more established figures like Colman Domingo, who has received two best actor Oscar nominations in the last few years, and the late Eric Dane. And it’s given visibility and recognition to other actors: Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow and Barbie Ferreira. Angus Cloud, another of its breakout performers, died in 2023.

Series creator Sam Levinson says it's a thrill to see many cast members thriving.

“The thing is when you’re casting, every person that walks in, you’re hoping this is the person, this is going to be the character,” he told The Associated Press at the season premiere. “And sometimes when they do, they walk in, they have the talent, they’ve got the passion, the enthusiasm for it, and they inspire you.

“To see them working with such incredible filmmakers like (Christopher) Nolan and (Guillermo) del Toro ... it's just exciting.”

Here’s a look at how some of the “Euphoria” stars got their starts — and how they've been keeping busy since we last saw their characters four years ago.

Zendaya (Rue Bennett)

She soared, quite literally, as a trapeze artist in “The Greatest Showman” in 2017, two years before “Euphoria” premiered.

But Zendaya has soared far higher in the seven years since she first played Rue Bennett.

The actor began as a Disney Channel star and went on to play MJ in “Spider-Man” movies opposite her eventual partner, Tom Holland. She won her first Emmy in 2020 for “Euphoria” — the youngest to win for lead actress in a drama. The following year, she became the youngest two-time winner.

Then came the “Dune” movies, the sexy, tennis-themed “Challengers” — and more “Spider-Man.”

She's currently appearing in “The Drama,” a controversial film in which she and Robert Pattinson play a couple whose impending nuptials are thrown into chaos following a dark revelation.

There were mixed reviews for the movie, but not for her fashion choices: She teased the movie’s bridal theme on carpets around the world by wearing something old, then something new, then something borrowed — and a spectacular, feathered Schiaparelli couture ball gown that was, yes, blue.

Jacob Elordi (Nate Jacobs)

Launched by “The Kissing Booth” and shortly thereafter “Euphoria,” Elordi has become nothing less than a monster star — and an Oscar nominee, as the Creature in del Toro’s “Frankenstein, ”

But before that, his achievements were already pretty, well, monstrous.

In 2023, Elordi channeled a magnetic Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s biopic “Priscilla.” Then, he made waves — are there waves in a bathtub? — with his memorably rakish appearance as golden-boy rich kid Felix in Emerald Fennell’s salty “Saltburn.”

Other major roles followed, including another TV series, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” playing a medical officer forced to work on the Thai-Burma railway during World War II. And then, Fennell’s recent “Wuthering Heights,” where in a smoldering turn as Heathcliff, he somehow managed to pick up co-star Margot Robbie by her corset strings.

Sydney Sweeney (Cassie Howard)

Before her breakout “Euphoria” role, for which she earned an Emmy nod — along with another for “The White Lotus” — Sweeney was perhaps best known for her role as tragic teen Eden Spencer in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In a story arc bleak even for that show, she was forced to marry an uninterested Nick Blaine, and later punished for falling in love with someone else, leading to a horrific watery demise.

Sweeney played a teenager in a psychiatric ward in “Sharp Objects,” and appeared as a Manson family member in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” the same year she joined the “Euphoria” cast.

In recent years, her career has blossomed, with her most challenging role coming in a movie she produced, “Christy,” playing boxer Christy Martin, a trailblazer for women in the sport who also suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her trainer and husband. The film tanked at the box office but Sweeney received critical praise — and indeed, Oscar buzz — for her immersion in the difficult role.

On the other side of the box office spectrum, Sweeney struck gold with “The Housemaid” — Paul Feig's psychological thriller that took a satirical look at the depravity of the ultra-rich.

Alexa Demie (Maddy Perez)

Demie — an actor, singer-songwriter, and designer — made her feature debut in the 2017 movie “Brigsby Bear.” She appeared in Jonah Hill’s skate movie “Mid90s” and then “Waves,” a 2019 drama by writer-director Trey Edward Shults.

That same year Demie became a breakout star of “Euphoria,” playing Maddy Perez, who is involved in an abusive relationship with Elordi’s Nate.

In 2020, Demie appeared in Gia Coppola’s “Mainstream,” with Andrew Garfield.

In September 2021, she released the single “Leopard Limo (Archive LL11).” Her previous single, “Girl Like Me,” was released in 2016.

Hunter Schafer (Jules Vaughn)

Schafer started her career as an activist and model, and made her acting debut with “Euphoria.” She followed up in 2023 as Tigris Snow in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.”

The following year she appeared in both the science-fiction horror film “Cuckoo” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness.”

This year, she appears in the yet-to-be-released “Blade Runner 2099” opposite Michelle Yeoh, and later this month in psychological thriller “Mother Mary,” with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.

Colman Domingo (Ali Muhammad)

An established actor well before he began playing Ali in “Euphoria,” Domingo soared to two consecutive best actor Oscar nominations in 2023 and 2024, for playing Bayard Rustin in “Rustin” and then a prison inmate in “Sing Sing.” He’s also had a host of other accolades, including an Emmy win for “Euphoria” (2022) and a nomination for “The Four Seasons” (2025).

The actor-director-producer stars as Joe Jackson in the Jackson biopic “Michael” later this month.

But perhaps his most high-profile move comes this Saturday — he’ll be hosting “Saturday Night Live” for the first time.

Maude Apatow (Lexi Howard)

The daughter of Judd Apatow appeared in her father’s “Knocked Up,” “Funny People,” “This is 40” and later, “The King of Staten Island.” She also appeared in the TV series “Girls.”

Later movies included “Other People” (2016), “The House of Tomorrow” (2017) and “Assassination Nation” (2018) — the last written and directed by Levinson, who then cast her in “Euphoria.”

Apatow’s feature directorial debut, “Poetic License,” stars her mother, Leslie Mann, and is awaiting release.

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Associated Press journalist Leslie Ambriz contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

The draw is on Tuesday at Christie's auction house in Paris.

The inaugural “1 Picasso for 100 euros” raffle, in 2013, saw a fire-sprinkler worker in Pennsylvania win “Man in the Opera Hat,” which the Spanish master painted in 1914 during his Cubist period.

A second Picasso, the oil-on-canvas “Nature Morte,” was raffled off in 2020 and made a very happy mom of Claudia Borgogno, an accountant in Italy. Her son bought her the ticket as a Christmas present.

That still life, painted in 1921, was purchased for the raffle from billionaire art collector David Nahmad, who argued in a rare Associated Press interview that Picasso would have approved of raffling his work. Picasso died in 1973.

“Picasso was very generous. He gave paintings to his driver, his tailor,” Nahmad said. “He wanted his art to be collected by all kinds of people, not only by the super-rich.”

The gouache on paper “Tête de Femme,” meaning “head of a woman,” up for grabs next week was painted by Picasso in 1941.

The Alzheimer Research Foundation, the charity raffle's organizer, is based in one of Paris' leading public hospitals and says it has become France's leading private financier of Alzheimer-related medical research since its founding in 2004.

Christie’s auction house says the painting will be on view from Monday at its galleries in Paris, ahead of Tuesday's 6 p.m. draw there.

The organizers’ online sales platform says the number of tickets will be capped at 120,000, meaning the draw could net 12 million euros ($14 million) if they're all sold.

From the proceeds, 1 million euros will be paid to the Opera Gallery, an international art dealership that owns the painting.

Organizers say the two previous Picasso raffles raised a total of more than 10 million euros for cultural work in Lebanon and water and hygiene programs in Africa.

Franklin County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Siers confirmed the crash to 10 News Friday following a tip from a viewer. Although there is no evidence the bus driver was at fault. He confirmed that driver was being investigated for substance abuse as part of the usual protocol.

“The accident occurred on Rt. 122 near the intersection with Burnt Chimney Road at approximately 7:30 am,” Siers told 10 News in an email the day after the crash. “29 middle and high school students were on the bus,” he said.

“All students on the bus were seen by the school nurse upon arrival at their respective schools and parents were notified,” said Siers. “Some students were picked up by their parents.” The superintendent said he understood the people in the car were treated at the scene and rushed to a local hospital.

Siers said parents were notified, and underscored how seriously his department takes these incidents.

“Every accident involving a school bus carrying children is treated as a serious issue that is handled using a strict protocol which includes a formal investigation, substance use testing on the driver involved, and coordination with law enforcement.”

10 News is awaiting more information from police investigating the crash. There is no word on potential charges.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Friday, up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

It’s the first read on inflation to capture the effects of the Iran war. The spike in gas prices will stretch the budgets of many lower- and middle-income households as it erodes their incomes, making it harder to afford other necessities such as food and rent

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, up from 2.5% in February. And last month core prices rose a modest 0.2%, suggesting that rising gas prices haven't yet spread to many other categories.

A big question for now is how long the oil and gas price shock lasts and whether it will lead to a broader, long-lasting inflation spike, similar to what happened in the spring of 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine. For now, economists say that it is unlikely the U.S. will see a widespread increase similar to a few years ago, when inflation topped 9%.

Despite a tenuous cease fire, little has changed in the Strait of Hormuz, a bottle neck where millions of barrels of oil typically pass daily.

“It’s painful in the near term,” said Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “It’s going to get more painful in April,” when further gas price increases will lift inflation higher.

But Pearce said the impact may be shorter-lived than after the pandemic: “I think the conditions are much more like a short, sharp shock than what we saw in 2022.”

Pearce said that the impact could fade by later this year: "I think the conditions are much more like a short, sharp shock than what we saw in 2022.”

Last month, grocery prices slipped 0.2% and are up just 1.9% from a year earlier. Analysts do expect food prices to move higher in the coming months as soaring diesel prices make shipping more expensive.

Higher energy costs are “contributing to rising production costs across the food supply chain and could put upward pressure on grocery prices going forward,” said Andy Harig, a vice president at the grocery trade group FMI-The Food Industry Association. “As energy prices increase, the costs associated with producing and delivering food also rise.”

Clothing costs rose 1% in March from the previous month and are up 3.4% from a year earlier. Used car prices, however, fell 0.4% last month and down 3.2% from a year earlier.

The gas price shock stemming from the Iran war has shifted inflation’s trajectory, from a slow, gradual decline to a sharp increase further away from the Fed’s 2% target. As a result, the central bank will almost certainly postpone any cut in interest rates for months. Many Fed officials will look past the increase in headline inflation, however, and focus on core prices, which are likely to rise more slowly.

Gas prices are also a highly visible cost that has outsize impacts on consumer confidence and political sentiment. High prices had angered American voters before the war and the spike in prices for oil and everything that entails, from the pump to the grocery store, could make it more difficult for the president’s party to hold on to seats in both the House and the Senate in next year’s midterms.

Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research last month found that about six in 10 Republicans are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months.

Gas prices averaged $4.15 a gallon nationwide Friday, up from $2.98 on the day before the war began and a hike of nearly 40%, according to motor club AAA.

Inflation reached a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, as COVID-19 snarled supply chains and several rounds of stimulus checks pushed up consumer demand. Prices soared for groceries, furniture, restaurant meals and many other goods and services.

This time, economists say the job market and consumer spending are weaker, and there are no large government stimulus checks being issued to spur demand. The unemployment rate is low, at 4.3%, but companies aren't scrambling to hire the way they were when the economy emerged from the pandemic, which led many firms to offer sharp pay increases to attract and keep workers.

Rapid pay increases and solid income growth helped consumers weather the higher prices that resulted from the pandemic's supply chain disruptions, and fueled spikes in demand that led many companies to raise prices further.

“That’s where this really differs, is that we aren’t seeing anywhere near the strength of demand,” Alan Detmeister, an economist at UBS, said. In 2021 and 2022, income growth “was increasing really strongly. We aren't seeing that now,” he added.

Detmeister thinks the better comparison will likely be to 1990-91, when higher oil and gas prices stemming from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait contributed to a recession, but didn't lead to a jump in inflation, in part because of weaker consumer spending.

The gas price spike's impact on inflation is, in some ways, similar to President Donald Trump's tariffs, in that their effect will depend largely on the size and duration of the increase.

Higher gas prices are tricky for the Fed because they can also slow growth by weighing on consumer spending, potentially causing layoffs. The Fed would typically cut its rate to encourage more spending if unemployment rises, while it raises rates to combat inflation.

The ravaged Palestinian territory of 2 million people has seen the most intense fighting stop between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants. But most of the ceasefire work remains to be done, from disarming Hamas and ending its two-decade rule to deploying an international stabilization force and beginning vast reconstruction. Gaza residents are in limbo, with limited aid entering through a single, Israeli-controlled border post.

Such challenges could represent what’s to come in the latest war, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to peacemaking appears to be stopping bombardment and leaving the bigger picture for others to work out.

Whether Trump can force through that kind of deal on Iran, with more actors in play and global markets quivering at every statement, is yet to be seen.

The Board of Peace goes quiet

Focusing on a deal's details is crucial. Already the Iran war's two-week ceasefire has created deadly confusion over Lebanon as Israel insists the deal doesn’t apply there and continues to attack the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, while Iran insists it does and threatens to upend the agreement. Israel made a surprise announcement Thursday authorizing direct negotiations with Lebanon, despite the lack of diplomatic ties.

Not long ago, the U.S.-created and Trump-led Board of Peace kicked off with $7 billion in pledges and sweeping intentions of resolving not only Gaza but other conflicts that emerge around the world.

Nine days after the board's initial meeting, the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran.

The Board of Peace has not met again, and it's still waiting for Hamas to respond to its proposal on disarming, a major concession and perhaps the hardest step. Hamas’ charter calls for destroying Israel.

A U.S. official said Hamas has not been given a definite deadline to respond to the proposal but added that “patience is not unlimited.” The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The lack of a deadline can weaken pressure to act. Meanwhile, diplomacy is busy putting out different flames.

Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov told the U.N. Security Council last month that the world should not lose sight of Gaza as a new war flared. The choice in Gaza is between “a renewed war, or a new beginning; the status quo, or a better future,” he added. “There is no third option.”

‘It’s as if there’s no ceasefire at all’

Palestinians might suggest a third option: neglect.

Six months into the Gaza ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, little beyond the largely silenced explosions has changed.

Vast tent camps house most of the territory’s population. Other residents shelter in damaged apartment buildings. Health workers and other humanitarian workers say there has been little progress in the expected surge of medical supplies and other aid.

The U.S. 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza is largely failing on the humanitarian front, five international aid groups said in a scorecard released Thursday. They said conditions have deteriorated further in Gaza since the Iran war began.

“During the first two weeks of March 2026, trucks entering Gaza declined by 80%, and the price of basic goods increased dramatically,” they said. Medical evacuations have stalled.

Palestinians expressed fading hopes for any immediate improvement in their lives.

"There is pollution and disease. It’s as if there’s no ceasefire at all,” said Maysa Abu Jedian, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya.

“The war is still ongoing and life is still terrible as it is,” said Eyad Abu Dagga, also sheltering in a camp in Khan Younis.

Tents rippled in the breeze, and children played on the sand against a backdrop of shattered buildings.

While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes and fired on Palestinians near military-held zones. Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel has said its strikes are in response to that and other ceasefire violations.

As of Thursday, Israeli attacks have killed 738 people in the six months since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Funerals for two cousins were held Friday in Gaza City, a day after they were killed. “We were standing idly, drinking coffee, next to each other. We suddenly saw a (projectile) hitting the men,” said Anwar Saleh, an eyewitness. Israel's military said it had struck a “terrorist” in northern Gaza.

Overall, the health ministry says 72,317 Palestinians had been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

‘Sustained diplomatic pressure at the highest levels’

Unwavering focus on Gaza, once at the heart of a passionate international outcry, has been lost with the rise of a new regional war. That, too, has decreased pressure for progress on the ceasefire.

The humanitarian groups' scorecard notes that any forward movement on aid issues in the Palestinian territory has “generally required sustained diplomatic pressure at the highest levels, particularly from the United States. That pressure, however, has not been applied consistently or at the scale needed to secure full implementation.”

The Trump administration is not the only player to be distracted. The entire Middle East, including key Gaza mediators Egypt and Qatar, now focuses on Iran and that war’s effects on their economies.

With the added uncertainty over Israel’s renewed war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, there could be even less interest from countries to contribute troops to a Gaza stabilization force. One of the few confirmed troop contributors, Indonesia, already has seen three of its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon killed in recent days.

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Anna reported from Lowville, New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

10 News spoke with Virginia Tech Political Analyst and professor of Public Relations Dr. Cayce Myers, who says that there are political pressures on both sides to end the war.

However, the ceasefire could only be sustained if all parties keep up good faith negotiations.

“You have Israel involved in this process with Iran and the United States,” Dr. Myers said. “You have Lebanon involved in it as well. So the real question is, is this a good faith ceasefire, is it something that can be sustained?”

Israel has pledged to begin its own peace negotiations with Lebanon. Each of these countries has its own wants and desires.

Iran has its own 10-points peace plan, which includes the lifting of sanctions and U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East.

Dr. Myers, however, sees it as unlikely this plan would be agreed upon.

“It seems very unlikely that all of those 10 points would be agreed upon because they include things like nuclear enrichment and other things,” Dr. Myers said.

Meanwhile, Myers said he believes President Donald Trump, amidst mounting political pressure to bring an end to the war, would try to bring home a resolution that favors the United Sates.

“He has stated that one of his priorities is a non-nuclear Iran. I think he’s trying to resolve this in terms of the Strait of Hormuz,” Dr. Myers said. “I think he’s trying to kind of leverage all of this for kind of handling what he sees to be a global problem with Iran and this government and some of the behavior they’ve engaged in.”

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Dr. Myers says that control of the Strait and who gets to go through it are major factors in keeping the ceasefire going.

“This is one of those larger geopolitical questions because a lot of the people that are affected by this are not just the United States, but Europe and other countries that get their oil from this region, and they get their oil through the Strait.”

The Strait of Hormuz has been a critical element in the war, as its closure has led to rising oil prices and in turn increases at the gas pump, airline tickets and grocery items.

Dr. Myers said that this increase in prices could have an effect going into the midterm elections, predicting that Democrats will likely use the issue of rising oil costs and the war against President Trump and Republicans, which puts more pressure on the president to bring an end to the war.

— There are 15 games Friday.

— There are 15 more on Sunday.

— There are 14 playoff and play-in seeds left to decide.

In other words, buckle up. As far as seeding, here's what has been decided to this point:

— Oklahoma City will be No. 1 in the Western Conference, with San Antonio at No. 2.

— Detroit will be No. 1 in the Eastern Conference.

— Minnesota will be No. 6 in the West.

— Phoenix will be the No. 7 seed going into the West play-in tournament, meaning the Suns will get two chances — both at home — to win one game and earn a playoff berth.

— Golden State will be the No. 10 seed going into the West play-in tournament.

The other spots in the top half of the East bracket are undecided, but it still seems likely that the order at 2-3-4 will end up as Boston-New York-Cleveland.

Toronto and Atlanta will probably be No. 5 and No. 6 in the East, in some order. The East play-in remains a jumbled mess, and Joel Embiid's appendicitis obviously makes the path far more difficult for Philadelphia.

In the West, Denver controls its fate for No. 3 and what would be a third playoff meeting in the last four seasons with Minnesota.

If the Nuggets do get that 3 spot, then a first-round matchup pitting the Los Angeles Lakers against Houston would happen as well — which would mark the fourth time that Kevin Durant and LeBron James meet in a playoff series. James and Miami beat Durant and Oklahoma City in the 2012 NBA Finals; Durant and Golden State beat James and Cleveland in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals.

The Lakers, despite being without injured Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, still have the inside track at home court in Round 1.

“This current iteration of the group is all we have right now, so we have to play and make the most of it,” Lakers star LeBron James said. “But at the end of the day, in the back of our minds, front of our minds, and side, we’re still thinking about Luka and AR. I mean, that’s just human nature. Those guys mean so much to our team. We're not going to be like, ‘OK, all right, move on.’ That’s not been our team. That’s not how we built our team over this season.”

And Friday's LA Clippers-Portland game should decide the No. 8 spot in the West play-in tournament. That's important, because getting to the eighth spot would give that team two chances to win one game for a playoff berth.

Stories of note

— SGA leads the MVP race, but there is intrigue

— 76ers' Joel Embiid has appendectomy

— NBC says more 'On The Bench’ game coverage likely

— Doc Rivers hints at retirement

— The playoffs, thankfully, are coming

— The Bulls want to keep Billy Donovan ... but does Donovan want to stay?

Who's in and who's out?

Here's what we know so far regarding the NBA playoff field for this season.

— Eastern Conference playoff teams: Detroit has locked up the No. 1 seed and will open the postseason on April 19. Boston, New York, Cleveland are in. At this point, Atlanta and Toronto would get the other two guaranteed spots, but those are not clinched.

— East play-in teams: Miami is locked into the play-in for the fourth consecutive year. Entering Friday, the other three teams headed there would be Philadelphia, Orlando and Charlotte.

— East eliminated teams: Milwaukee, Chicago, Indiana, Brooklyn and Washington.

— Western Conference playoff teams: Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston and Minnesota are in. Denver, the Lakers and Houston are still jostling to see who'll be the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.

— West play-in teams: Phoenix, the Los Angeles Clippers, Portland and Golden State are in. The Suns will be the No. 7 seed, the Clippers and Trail Blazers are battling for No. 8, and the Warriors will be the No. 10 seed.

— West eliminated teams: Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, Utah and Sacramento.

Thursday recap

— Raptors 128, Heat 114: 38-7-7 for Brandon Ingram, Raptors have swept nine opponents this season.

— Bulls 119, Wizards 108: Washington is 1-24 in its last 25 games, worst stretch in team history.

— Pacers 123, Nets 94: Indiana made 43 2-point shots, the most for Pacers since 2023-24 season.

— Knicks 112, Celtics 106: Another 25-10 game for Jalen Brunson, Boston didn’t have Jaylen Brown.

— Rockets 113, 76ers 102: Kevin Durant scored 29, Philly cut late 28-point deficit to five before falling.

— Lakers 119, Warriors 103: LeBron James finishes with 26 points, eight rebounds, 11 assists.

Friday's schedule

— Detroit at Charlotte: Game might mean a lot to Hornets’ play-in seed.

— Miami at Washington: Another chance to reflect on Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game.

— Cleveland at Atlanta: Rematch of Wednesday matchup in Cleveland, won by Cavs.

— New Orleans at Boston: Celtics won’t be on road again until Game 3 of Round 1.

— Philadelphia at Indiana: 76ers could finish anywhere from sixth to 10th in East.

— Toronto at New York: Knicks could go 5-0 vs. Raptors this season, then see them in playoffs.

— Orlando at Chicago: Magic could still get out of the play-in, if a lot of things go right.

— Brooklyn at Milwaukee: Giannis Antetokounmpo’s home finale with Bucks? (He's listed as out.)

— Dallas at San Antonio: Victor Wembanyama needs one more game to qualify for award ballots.

— Oklahoma City at Denver: Lots of meaning for Nuggets, not for Thunder, so advantage, Denver.

— Minnesota at Houston: Rockets could get home-court in Round 1, playing best ball of season.

— Memphis at Utah: The Jazz have worked hard to keep their top-eight protected draft pick.

— LA Clippers at Portland: Could this be a playoff to decide the No. 8 seed for the play-in?

— Golden State at Sacramento: Warriors keep building toward road play-in challenge that awaits.

— Phoenix at LA Lakers: Lakers still have real chance at home-court in Round 1, even with injuries.

National TV schedule

Friday on Prime Video: Cleveland-Atlanta (7 p.m. Eastern) and Minnesota-Houston (9:30 p.m.)

Sunday on ESPN: Orlando-Boston (6 p.m. Eastern) and Denver-San Antonio (8:30 p.m.)

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (+120) is favored to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, followed by San Antonio (+450), Boston (+550), Denver (+1000), Cleveland (+1300) and New York (+2000). Detroit, the No. 1 seed in the East, is +2000. The Los Angeles Lakers were +2500 before Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves got hurt; they're +30000 now.

Play-in schedule

Some of the NBA's play-in tournament schedule is now known:

— Phoenix will play host to either the LA Clippers or Portland on Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern. (The winner of that game will play No. 2 San Antonio in Round 1, the loser will play a home game on Friday for the right to play No. 1 Oklahoma City in Round 1).

— Golden State will visit either the LA Clippers or Portland on Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern. (The loser of that game is eliminated, the winner moves on to Friday.)

All games in the play-in tournament will be shown on Prime Video.

Key dates

— Friday: All 30 teams play their 81st games of the season.

— Saturday: No games.

— Sunday: All 30 teams play their regular-season finales.

— April 14, 15 and 17: NBA play-in tournament dates.

— April 18 and 19: NBA playoff series openers.

— May 2, 3 or 4: Conference semifinals begin.

— May 10: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

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

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

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

Numbers watch

— The Raptors are 26-0 vs. the Hawks, Heat, Pacers, Bulls, Cavs, Jazz, Blazers, Warriors and Grizzlies this season. They're 0-20 vs. the Celtics, Rockets, Nuggets, Clippers, Lakers, Spurs, Wolves and Knicks — and play at New York on Friday, trying not to go 0-5 in that series this season.

— To that point, with a win over the Raptors, New York could go 5-0 in a season series for the first time since it went 5-0 vs. Boston in 1994-95. (The five-game season series was dormant for about a quarter-century, before the inclusion of NBA Cup made it a possibility for some clubs.)

— Denver's Nikola Jokic is going to lead the NBA in both assists per game and rebounds per game this season. He'll be the first person to win both an assist-per-game and rebound-per-game title; Wilt Chamberlain led the league in both total assists and total rebounds in 1967-68, but Oscar Robertson won the assist-per-game title that season.

— The NBA remains on pace to see more points this season than ever before. The current pace is about 284,254, which would be reached on Sunday; the record total for a season is 282,137, set in 2022-23.

Stats of the day

— There were no games with Stephen Curry and LeBron James going head-to-head during this regular season. The last time that happened was 2019-20. Curry and James have faced off more times in playoff games (28) than regular-season contests (27).

— Indiana has now won 1,999 regular-season NBA games. The Pacers will be the 20th NBA franchise to get to 2,000.

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

According to the Virginia Department of Corrections, the transfer took place on March 6.

Matthew had been housed at Red Onion State Prison in Pound, Virginia - a “supermax” facility. He is now being held at Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Oakwood, a Level 4 maximum-security prison.

Matthew is serving multiple life sentences for the murders of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington and University of Virginia student Hannah Graham.

In a statement, the Department of Corrections said, “The VADOC can confirm this individual was transferred to Keen Mountain Correctional Center on March 6, 2026. The facility meets the inmate’s security needs, along with meeting the safety and security of our corrections team and the incarcerated population.”

There remain many issues that could derail the truce — as well as negotiations for a broader deal to permanently end the war.

Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, close to the Revolutionary Guard, claimed that talks set for Saturday wouldn’t happen unless Israel stopped its attacks in Lebanon. And U.S. President Donald Trump complained that Iran was “doing a very poor job” by not allowing the free flow of ships through the strait, through which 20% of the world’s traded oil once passed.

Kuwait, meanwhile, said it faced a drone attack Thursday night that it blamed on Iran and its militia allies in the region. Though Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching any assault, it has carried out attacks across the Mideast in the past that it did not claim.

And yet, preparations for the talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be moving forward, with U.S. Vice President JD Vance making his way to Pakistan from Washington. Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, meanwhile, are expected to begin next week in Washington, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.

Before his departure, Vance said he believes negotiation with Iran will be “positive.”

But he added, “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations

Israel’s insistence that the ceasefire in Iran does not include a pause in its fighting with Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of its backer, Iran, has threatened to scupper the deal.

The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb. 28.

Trump said Thursday that he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial back the strikes. Early Friday, Israel’s military said it hit approximately 10 launchers in Lebanon that had fired rockets toward northern Israel a day earlier.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on Hezbollah would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses.”

Netanyahu, meanwhile, said that he authorized the negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” with the aim of disarming Hezbollah militants and establishing relations between the neighbors, which have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948.

The Lebanese government had not responded as of early afternoon Friday. The timing and location of the talks were first reported by Axios.

In a first statement since Israel announced direct negotiations with Lebanon, Hezbollah chief Naim Kassem urged Lebanese officials to stop offering “free concessions” but did not take a clear stance on the talks.

Two days after Israel's intense barrage, people sifted through the wreckage of their homes, trying to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementos they could find. Some expressed gratitude that they did not lose their loved ones.

“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced.”

The Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent oil prices skyrocketing, driven stocks down and roiled the world economy. Tehran's control over the waterway has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war.

The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $97 Friday, up more than 30% since the war started.

Before the conflict, over 100 ships passed through the strait each day — many carrying oil to Asia. With the ceasefire in place, only 12 have been recorded passing through.

Underscoring the precarious situation, a Botswana-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard, but suddenly turned around early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.

The head of the United Arab Emirates’ major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed “to navigate this corridor without condition.”

Trump complained about that situation, writing on his social media platform: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote of the trickle of ships Iran has allowed to pass.

The ceasefire deal is still fragile

Questions also remain over the fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war.

The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to make them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump has said that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, though Tehran has not confirmed that.

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran, a top Iranian officer told the state-run Iran newspaper. Iran’s government has not provided any definitive death toll from the weekslong war.

In Lebanon, more than 1,888 people have been killed and 1 million have been displaced. Over a dozen people have died in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, while 23 civilians were killed in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces shot down Iranian‑designed Shahed drones in several Middle Eastern countries during the Iran war. The missions, carried out with domestically produced interceptor drones, were part of efforts to help partners counter the same weapons Russia uses in Ukraine, he said.

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Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong; Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Will Weissert in Washington; Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City; and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.

“Had to have one,” said James, who was attending the Masters from Wyckoff, New Jersey. “It's a novelty.”

This is the 10th and perhaps final year Augusta National will sell the limited edition gnome, which features the traditional old man with a white beard in colorful golf attire. Each year's gnome is different, with the 2026 edition featuring the character dressed in khaki pants with a white-and-green striped polo shirt and blue vest holding an umbrella in one hand and a Masters-themed cup in the other.

The gnomes have become wildly popular — and increasingly valuable — over the last decade.

With only about 1,000 available each day, the gnomes regularly sell out within an hour each morning at the merchandise shop before being restocked the following day. This year's gnome sells for $59.50 plus tax and is only available at Augusta National.

It has become a big money-maker for some patrons on the resale market.

The bidding for one gnome on eBay reached $620 on Friday with two days still remaining in the auction. Another can be purchased directly for $670 plus delivery cost, but there are dozens of others listed for similar prices.

On Facebook Marketplace, some gnomes are being sold for $800.

Fueling the price is speculation this may be the final year that the gnome will be produced.

Masters chairman Fred Ridley was asked earlier in the week if this will be the final edition. He responded by saying, “I’ve been asking that question for several years, and they won’t tell me the answer. So I can’t help you.”

When asked if he'd consider selling his gnome, James laughed and said, “Maybe.”

“I mean, I just spent more than $1,000 in the gift shop, so from what I've heard the gnome might pay for all of it,” James said. “I'll have to think about it, but it's definitely an option.”

John Van Pay, who came from San Antonio, got caught up in the gnome hysteria after talking with a friend associated with the LIV tour the night before attending the Masters. He convinced his son, Bryce, to wake up early and get to the course, and limited to one per person, they each walked out of the merchandise shop with a gnome.

“Yeah, we kept hearing about this gnome, and the rumor is it's going to be the last year they produce them,” Van Pay said. “So next thing you know, we are waiting in line at 7 a.m. to buy this gnome at the shop.”

Van Pay said he plans to keep his gnome as a souvenir of his trip to the Masters, calling it “a great piece of memorabilia” and something that “is going to look great on the shelf.” The younger Van Pay is a little more torn; he's an avid memorabilia collector, mostly dealing with Funko Pop.

Bryce Van Pay recounted how he recently had a $10 trading card that exploded on the market and reached $300 in value following the release of the most recent Marvel movie, only to watch it's worth slip to $100 a few months later. Van Pay lamented not selling it when it was at its most valuable.

“The Masters gnome is a hot seller and I'm not sure if it's going to go up and down (in value),” the younger Van Pay said. “There is a lot in circulation right now (on eBay and other platforms)."

He said given the possibility this is the last gnome produced, the wiser financial decision might be to hold onto it for a while.

With that, his father jumped in and said: “Well, he's my only son, so he can sell his now and make money and have mine when I hand it down to him.”

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

PEN America, the century-old free expression organization, announced Friday that it was launching the U.S. Safety Program, which would provide safety training and other resources for authors amid a wave of censorship efforts around the country.

“We have heard from countless authors, illustrators, and translators who are under siege, fending off a steady stream of abuse and threats, online and at book events,” said Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, co-chief executive officer of PEN America. “Through this new program, the literary and publishing community is stepping up together because writers should not be forced to choose between their safety and their voice.”

Viktorya Vilk, who directs PEN's digital safety efforts, told The Associated Press that she first noticed a rise in harassment against journalists a decade ago, around the time Donald Trump was first elected president, and has seen it spread to writers and educators over the past couple of years. Maia Kababe, Jon Evison and George Johnson are among the authors of censored works who have spoken out about being harassed and threatened and even physically assaulted.

Ashley Hope Pérez, whose young adult novel “Out of Darkness” became a target for censors over its depictions of sex and sexual abuse, says she had to take down her office email and telephone. “I got hate mail and all kinds of ugly phone calls,” says Pérez, who teaches at Ohio State University.

According to PEN, it has raised nearly $1 million through contributions from Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers and Penguin Random House among others. This spring, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Egan and Lee Child will be among the writers auctioning off character names for future novels, with the proceeds benefiting the safety program. PEN will be building on other programs from recent years, including digital safety workshops held for Hachette authors in 2023.

“There have probably never been as many threats to authors’ safety as there are currently in the U.S,” Hachette CEO David Shelley said in a statement. “We’re proud to support this much-needed program from PEN America that will give writers a wide range of professional resources to help them deal with threats to their safety, online and offline.”

That mismatch is killing some of the planet’s most vital ecosystems, from California’s towering redwoods to the seagrass meadows along its coast, both of which store vast amounts of carbon and support complex webs of life.

Marine heat waves, record wildfires and coastal development are pushing these systems beyond their limits as climate change, driven by emissions of fuels like oil and gas, accelerates. An estimated 1 million species face extinction, many within decades, largely due to human activities such as habitat destruction, pollution and overuse of natural resources, according to a 2019 report by a United Nations-affiliated intergovernmental scientific body.

Scientists are working to close the gap with an emerging discipline called conservation genomics: sequencing an organism’s complete genetic blueprint to pinpoint individuals with traits suited to survive drought, disease and other climate extremes, then using that information to guide restoration.

Coral reefs are among the first ecosystems where these genomic tools are being put to use. Repeated marine heat waves, which have caused mass bleaching, have devastated reefs worldwide. By sequencing corals and the algae that live inside them, researchers have identified colonies that naturally withstand higher temperatures and are beginning to test whether selectively breeding and growing those more resilient corals can support reef recovery.

Seagrass are under stress

In Southern California, researchers are applying the approach to eelgrass, a type of seagrass, as traditional restoration methods falter. The plant provides habitat for fish, crabs and plankton, feeds migratory birds and locks away carbon and methane — both heat-trapping greenhouse gases — in coastal sediments.

Conditions in San Diego’s bays are changing. Waters are warming. King tides — the year’s highest tides, which climate change is making more frequent and severe — stir up sediment and reduce the light that reaches the seafloor. Development sends runoff into bays, further clouding the water.

As a result, efforts to replant what’s been lost fail about half the time.

“Conservation genomics is becoming particularly important because right now, the climate is changing — a plant that was growing great in San Diego Bay, now San Diego Bay might be too hot for it,” said Todd Michael, a research professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

In Mission Bay, Michael and his colleagues discovered a clue to improving those odds: a naturally occurring hybrid eelgrass that outperformed its parent species. The plant, a cross between shallow water eelgrass Zostera marina and deeper water Zostera pacifica, persisted where both parent species struggled.

By sequencing its genome, the team identified genes tied to the plant’s circadian clock that stayed active longer under low light conditions, a pattern scientists believe may help it photosynthesize more efficiently in murky water.

The findings suggest restoration could be improved by selecting or breeding eelgrass better suited to future conditions. But for now, that work remains largely experimental and has not yet been deployed at scale in the field. The researchers have partnered with ecologists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography to explore how those insights could be applied in future restoration.

Applying similar techniques to Northern California's redwoods

Redwoods are among the tallest and oldest trees on Earth and their forests store more carbon per acre than any other, according to a 2020 study by Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University.

While these trees evolved with frequent low intensity fire, today’s hotter and more destructive wildfires, combined with drought, are taking a growing toll. Logging has had an even greater impact: about 95% of old growth redwoods were cut, drastically reducing genetic diversity.

Scientists have already sequenced the redwood genome — a massive undertaking given its size, which is nearly nine times larger than the human genome.

However researchers say the work is not just about restoring what once existed, but preparing forests for a climate that no longer resembles the past.

“Where one organism was adapted to a certain location at one moment in time, it may no longer be,” said David Neale, a forest geneticist and distinguished professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis. “It might require different genetic variation to adapt to the new environment.”

Early analyses have begun to link genes to traits such as drought tolerance and temperature adaptation, but researchers say more rigorous work is needed to confirm those links before they can be used to guide restoration. That work has stalled due to limited funding.

Conservation genomics alone cannot solve climate change

“It can be helpful, but it’s not a solution unto itself,” said Karen Holl, a distinguished professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “What should be prioritized is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Genomic tools may help certain species, particularly long-lived ones like redwoods that cannot adapt quickly enough on their own, but they come with limits. Ecosystems are built on complex relationships among plants, animals, microbes and fungi. Engineering or selecting for climate resilient traits in one species does not guarantee the survival of the many others that depend on it.

“Can you genetically engineer a few species that would be more tolerant? Absolutely. But that’s not an ecosystem,” said Holl. “We’re not going to engineer our way out of climate change.”

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Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram: @ahammergram.

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

The attack occurred in Benisheikh in Borno State, army spokesman Michael Onoja said in a statement, but it was repelled.

Onoja described the assailants as “terrorists,” which is the term the military uses to describe members of Islamic militant groups in the northeast of the country.

President Bola Tinubu confirmed that a general was killed in the attack.

“The insurgents’ counterattack is a sign of desperation,” he said in a statement. “I extend my condolences to the families of our gallant soldiers, led by Brigadier General Oseni Omoh Braimah, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our country today in Borno State. The government will never forget their sacrifices.”

“Their sacrifices will not be in vain," Tinubu said. "Because of the courage and dedication of our troops on the front line, our resolve to defeat terrorism and all forms of violence across Nigeria is stronger than ever.”

Onoja didn’t specify how many soldiers were killed in the latest attack on military bases.

“This attack is a clear indication of the desperation of terrorist elements who, having suffered significant losses in recent operations, continue to resort to futile and ill-fated offensives against well-defended military positions,” he said. “Regrettably, the encounter resulted in the loss of a few brave and gallant soldiers who paid the supreme price in the line of duty.”

Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north where there is a decadelong insurgency and several armed groups who kidnap for ransom.

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group and known as Islamic State West Africa Province. There is also the IS-linked Lakurawa group operating in communities in the northwestern part of the country that borders Niger Republic.

The crisis has worsened recently to include other militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.

Earlier this year, the U.S. sent 200 troops and drones to Nigeria to assist the Nigerian military in fighting extremists. The U.S. military said that the American troops won’t engage in combat or have a direct operational role, and that Nigerian forces will have complete command authority.

The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed on after U.S. President Donald Trump alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis. The U.S. launched strikes against IS forces on Dec. 26.

Several thousand people in Nigeria have been killed, according to data from the United Nations. Analysts say not enough is being done by the government to protect its citizens.

They've turned the usual one-way conversation between a journalist and consumer into a two-way one, and a deal announced Friday indicates that is much more likely to be happening in the future.

The New York-based news company Noosphere signed a multiyear licensing agreement with British broadcaster Sky News to make available its technology that facilitates such connections through an app. Sky immediately announced that it would begin experimenting with its usage for its defense and security experts, promising “a dedicated experience expressly designed for highly engaged audiences.”

The organizing principle of the whole thing: Give audiences access — not only to the news but to those who report it.

Talking to other companies about similar deals

Noosphere's founder, former war correspondent Jane Ferguson, said she's been talking with some U.S.-based news companies about similar deals.

“Getting the endorsement of the industry is really special for us,” she said. “It has been a long time coming for them to be ready for this level of a change.”

Ferguson's 2-year-old company hosts some two dozen journalists — among them former NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd and former CNN journalist Chris Cillizza — working almost like independent contractors. They specialize in a more personal style of reportage from all over the world, and part of that is making themselves available to people who follow their work.

Holland, a retired marketing executive from Menlo Park, Calif., said she's corresponded with Higgins several times, often through text messages in the Noosphere app. She feels it brings a personal stake to the stories, more like the journalist is talking to them with their work. For years, a common complaint about television news is that it feels like they're telling stories from “on high.”

“With this, I am much more inclined to remain loyal” to the journalist and news outlet, she said.

That's likely music to the ears of news executives who spend countless hours looking for ways to combat declining viewership or readership. The rise in journalists going independent on Substack or YouTube, some of whom offer subscribers personal access for a price, shows the appeal to consumers for the “authenticity” of feeling journalists are reporting directly to them, Ferguson said.

“It's so hard to know what is even written by a human being anymore,” Holland said. “I really appreciate that there is a real human being behind the story.”

A chance to feel more connected to the news

Mike Varga, a retired businessman who lives near Tampa, Florida, said he's accustomed to getting no response or pro forma replies when writing to news organizations or politicians. But Todd sent him a brief video “thank you” when Varga complimented him on a story about tariffs. He wrote to Ferguson after she did a story about the late British war photographer Paul Conroy, and she invited him to a focus group meeting about Noosphere.

It makes him feel more connected to a place where he turns for news. “It's kind of surprising more media organizations don't do that,” Varga said.

When a consumer subscribes to Noosphere to follow the work of a specific journalist, that person gets a part of the subscription fee in a revenue-sharing agreement. That business approach is not part of what Noosphere is selling to a broadcaster like Sky, but giving their journalists more independence might be a way to save money and “not lose them to YouTube.”

Meanwhile, some journalists in legacy media crave more independence but are frightened by going totally alone and still like the platform that a big company can offer, she said. This is a potential middle ground.

“We see a lot of appetite for deals like this,” she said. “We're very interested and looking forward to expanding into the U.S. marketplace.”

Ferguson and Sky News didn't offer financial details of their arrangement, nor has Noosphere publicly said how many subscribers it has.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

Upstream lies a large, warm airmass that will increase our temperatures throughout the week.

For the day, areas will get into the upper 70s, some seeing the low 80s. Paired with widespread sunshine, it will be a great day to head outside!

We will be at our warmest right ahead of dinnertime and cool into the 50s overnight tonight.

Temperatures will warm up very quickly into today, seeing the 70s by noon.

The warmth will stick around through the weekend and beyond, which will be the case for much of the country.

With those warm temperatures, it will make for a great weekend to get to get outside, or perhaps the race track!

If you are a NASCAR fan, the Bristol Motor Speedway will be hosting their spring race this weekend, and you could not ask for better racing conditions!

We will keep an upward trend in our temperatures through the week, eventually getting into the 80s by Monday, and even the 90s mid-week!

These temperatures are likely to stick around, so I hope you’re a warm weather fan!

“Welcome to Japan ... Uh-oh, I can’t believe Deep Purple are here," Takaichi said as she walked into a guest room at the Prime Minister's Office with open arms and all smiles to welcome the band members. “I have always admired Deep Purple.”

“You’re my god,” Takaichi told drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of Japanese-made TAMA drumsticks she had signed. “You're a drummer, we are friends,” Paice told her.

Takaichi is a hard rock and heavy metal music fan and was an avid drummer in her college days.

The prime minister explained her history as a Deep Purple superfan for more than half a century. At elementary school, she was already listening to “Machine Head," the band's 1972 album featuring top hits like “Highway Star” and “Smoke on the Water.”

In junior high school, she played the keyboard in a Deep Purple cover band, then as a university student she switched to drums, she said.

“Nowadays, when I have a fight with my husband, I play drums on ‘Burn’ and put a curse on him,” Takaichi joked. She has previously noted “Burn” as one of her favorite songs, saying it “clears my mind.”

The band's courtesy visit was a pleasant break for Japan's first female leader, known for her long working hours and now struggling with strained diplomatic ties with China, the fallouts from the war in the Middle East as well as rising prices at home.

“I express my deepest respect for you for making rock history and continuing to take on new challenges and producing even more compelling music today,” Takaichi said, wishing them a successful tour beginning Saturday in Tokyo.

She did not forget to do her work as prime minister and stressed that promotion of cultural content is one of the key areas of her government's growth strategy.

“I hope Deep Purple’s performances starting tomorrow will excite fans across Japan and serve as a powerful force in promoting the long-standing Japan-UK cultural exchanges,” she said.

___

Associated Press journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

As the Democratic Party fights to regain control of Congress, organizations affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence have dominated the airwaves, sometimes leaving candidates on the sidelines of their own campaigns.

Democratic pollster Zac McCrary said the primaries have “become proxy wars, and the candidates are almost afterthoughts in larger skirmishes."

Now the Democratic National Committee is advancing a resolution at its New Orleans spring meeting to condemn the surge of spending that has scrambled its primaries and exacerbated tensions within the party. A final vote is expected on Friday.

Candidates who lost have pointed their fingers at special interests, blaming them for derailing their campaigns. Others who are still in the running are courting voters by denouncing deep-pocketed outside groups. Even those who have benefited from the spending have expressed concern.

“It’s definitely a brave new world,” McCrary said.

“We’re not talking about doubling of campaign expenditures,” he added. “We’re talking about 10 times or 20 times more.”

Dan Sena, a former executive director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said party organizations are no longer the ones with the clout to push favored candidates.

“All that’s been completely smashed now,” Sena said. Even if Democrats regain control of the U.S. House, he warned that outside spending could damage the party in the long run.

Referring to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, he said, “You’re going to hand Jeffries a caucus that is divided.”

Democrats bear the brunt of big spending

So far this cycle, outside money in U.S. House races has largely targeted districts particularly friendly to Democrats, meaning the primaries will likely determine who will win the general election in November. After a record number of House members retired this year, many of those seats opened up for the first time in years, drawing dozens of Democratic hopefuls.

In Illinois, for example, there was more than $125 million in outside spending across five open Democratic primaries. In all but one of those congressional races, the outside spending exceeded candidate spending.

While it's still early in the calendar, there are indicators that many more races could see big spending. Almost 40 seats have already seen more than $1 million in outside spending, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

In Illinois, the top three spenders in U.S. House races were groups affiliated with AIPAC, according to AdImpact, which tracks ad buys in political races, followed by the cryptocurrency-affiliated Fairshake.

AIPAC was founded to support strong ties between the U.S. and Israel, a particularly controversial issue as Democratic hostility toward Israel rises over the war in Gaza. Some DNC members wanted to call out AIPAC's role in primaries, but the final resolution did not.

“We had various resolutions that focused on different industries and groups, and instead of going one-by-one, we passed a blanket repudiation,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.

Campaign spending has divided Democrats

The latest DNC meeting marks another chapter in longstanding disputes between progressives and the party establishment.

Progressives want the party to adopt official language that all Democratic presidential contenders oppose money from dark-money groups, or super PACs that aren't required to disclose their donors.

“It’s necessary that we actually have the party do something on this issue, not just say something,” said Larry Cohen, co-chair of Our Revolution, a progressive group founded by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats.

The resolution being advanced at the DNC meeting in New Orleans is viewed by progressives as a step toward that goal. However, some Democrats warn against weakening their candidates when facing a Republican Party that's flush with cash.

“Provided that we don’t handcuff ourselves in the general elections — because if the Republicans are going to use dark money in general elections, we should be using our money in general elections, too — if you provide an even playing field, I think then that’s fine,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat. “But we just can’t be handcuffing ourselves in the general to lose races.”

Any DNC resolutions would not stop outside groups from surging funds into primary contests or general elections. But some Democrats believe the issue is core to the party's values.

“We should eliminate any super PAC in a Democratic primary. And I think every presidential candidate in 2028 should pledge that they will not have any super PAC spending in a Democratic primary,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive and possible Democratic presidential contender who co-chaired Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.

“That should be a litmus test,” Khanna argued. “If you’re not willing to take that pledge, then you’re part of the problem.”

___

Brown reported from New York.

Gabbana’s resignation from oversight roles was effective Jan. 1. Alfonso Dolce, Domenico Dolce's brother, was named chairman later that month, according to the company's filing with the Milan chamber of commerce.

Dolce & Gabbana in a statement called the move “a natural evolution of its organizational structure and governance.’’

The news was first reported by Bloomberg, which cited sources saying that Gabbana, 63, was considering options to exit his 40% stake in the 41-year-old fashion house.

Dolce & ​Gabbana’s lenders are up to ​150 million euros in new funding as part of a broader refinancing of the fashion house's 450 million euros ($525.7 million) of debt, Bloomberg ​reported. It added that the company ​was considering the disposal of real estate and the renewal ‌of ⁠licences to raise money.

Dolce & Gabbana declined comment on the company's debt, citing talks with bankers.

Gabbana was present at the last runway show in February, with their longtime muse Madonna as a front-row guest. Both he and Dolce greeted Madonna personally at her seat after the show and brought her backstage.

Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci attended the Dolce & Gabbana runway in character during filming for “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel last September.

Dolce & Gabbana made its Milan runway debut in 1985, with a focus on Sicilian craftsmanship that has been a touchstone throughout the years for the designers. The designers split as a couple some 20 years ago, but have continued to work closely on the creative side.

The brand spiked in popularity in the 1990s with cone bras, corset looks and perfectly tailored black dresses. The designers have often drawn on Dolce's Sicilian roots, with sexy sheer materials and netting for menswear, along with bright floral and fruit prints and jewelry with oversized crosses.

Over the years, they have expanded into fragrance, home goods and watches, among other fashion-adjacent categories.

Luxury sector analyst Luca Solca, at the Bernstein global equity research firm, said he did not anticipate major changes at the fashion house as long as Gabbana remains on in a creative role.

“Stefano Gabbana was the root cause of the social media disaster of Dolce & Gabbana in China a few years ago,'' he said, refering to the cancellation of a 2018 show in Shanghai due to a backlash after the design house released campaign videos that were criticized as culturally insensitive to Chinese people.

“If Stefano Gabbana left, this could be presented as a (belated) atonement from that incident,” Soca added.

It's an unprecedented situation, with the first American pope directly assailing the American president over the war in Iran, where a fragile ceasefire took hold this week. The announcement came after Pope Leo XIV declared that Trump's belligerence was “truly unacceptable.”

Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans — specifically, a 79-year-old politician from Queens and a 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago. They come from the same generation and share some common cultural roots yet bring jarringly distinct approaches to their positions of vast power. And the relationship comes with risks for both sides.

“They’re two white guy boomers but they could not be any more different in their life experiences, in their values, in the way they have chosen to live those values,” said theology professor Natalia Imperatori-Lee of Fordham University. “This is a very stark contrast, and I think an inflection point for American Christianity.”

Polar positions on Iran among U.S. Christians

Experts on the Catholic Church emphasized that Leo’s opposition to the war reflects established church teachings, not the reflexive politics of the moment.

“For the last five centuries, the church has been involved in a project of helping develop strong international norms,” including the Geneva Conventions in recent centuries, said Catholic University professor William Barbieri. “It is a very long-standing tradition rooted in Scripture and theology and philosophy.”

Yet the U.S. administration, which has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders, has claimed heavenly endorsement for Trump’s war on Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.” When Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said, “I do, because God is good — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.”

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of iconic Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said of Trump that God “raised him up for such a time as this.” And Graham prayed for victory so Iranians can “be set free from these Islamic lunatics.”

Leo countered in his Palm Sunday message that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.”

While it's not unusual for popes and presidents to be at cross purposes, it's exceedingly rare for the leader of the Catholic Church to directly criticize a U.S. leader, and Leo later named Trump directly and expressed optimism that the president would seek “an off-ramp” in Iran.

An even stronger condemnation came after Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and infrastructure, writing on social media that “an entire civilization will die tonight.” Leo described that as a “threat against the entire people of Iran" and said it was "truly unacceptable.”

Experts: Leo doesn’t see himself as a Trump rival

Imperatori-Lee said Leo’s direct criticism stands out from the church's more general critiques of political and social systems. For example, Pope Francis urged U.S. bishops to defend migrants without specifically mentioning Trump or his deportation agenda. Leo also previously called for humane treatment of migrants.

“Popes have critiqued unfettered capitalism before, very robustly. The popes have critiqued the Industrial Revolution, right? Things that the U.S. has been at the forefront of,” Imperatori-Lee said, “but it’s never been this specific and localized.”

She said Leo’s commentary resonates in the U.S. — with Catholics and non-Catholics — because he is a native English speaker.

“There’s no question about his inflection and meaning,” she said. "It removes any ambiguities.”

Trump welcomed Leo’s election last May as a “great honor” for the country, and he hasn't responded to the latest criticisms. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

“What Pope Leo and Donald Trump have in common is they both lived through the post-war polarization,” including the political upheaval of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, said Steven Millies, a professor at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union, one of the pope’s alma maters.

He noted that Leo is a subscriber to The New York Times, plays the “Wordle” game, keeps up with U.S. sports and talks regularly with his brothers, including an avowed Trump supporter.

“In some ways he’s just like us,” Millies said, someone “who understands where our domestic political crisis came from,” unlike the Argentinian Francis, “who did not fully understand the peculiarities of the United States” even as he offered implicit criticism.

Barbieri said Leo’s American savvy still does not change an underappreciated reality of Catholicism and the papacy. “The Catholic Church doesn’t neatly fit into either right or left boxes as they’re understood in U.S. politics,” he said.

Leo’s global focus vs. Trump’s ‘transactional’ politics

Leo spent much of his pre-papal ministry, including all his time as a bishop and cardinal, outside the U.S.

He was educated in Rome as a canon lawyer within the church. He was a bishop in poor, rural swaths of Peru. He led the Augustinian order and served as Francis’ prefect for recommending bishop appointees around the world.

Imperatori-Lee said that global reach gave him a first-hand perspective on how Washington's economic and military policies — including backing dictators in Latin America — have negatively affected less powerful nations and their citizens.

His varied experiences made then-Cardinal Robert Prevost uniquely suited to be elected pope despite the College of Cardinals’ traditional skepticism toward the U.S. and its superpower status. Millies argued that Trump and his advisers, even Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, may not appreciate those distinctions.

“This is an administration that seems to think only in terms of transactional politics — who’s for us and who’s against us,” he said.

Polarization poses risks for Leo and Trump

Relations between Washington and the Vatican have become so strained that a report of an allegedly contentious meeting involving Pentagon and Catholic Church officials sent shockwaves through both cities.

According to the report in The Free Press, a member of Trump's administration warned the church in January not to stand in the way of U.S. military might.

The Vatican on Friday issued a statement rejecting the report's characterization of the meeting, saying it “does not correspond to the truth in any way.”

The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See also pushed back, writing on social media that “deliberate misrepresentation of these routine meetings sows unfounded division and misunderstanding.”

Millies, meanwhile, questioned whether anything the pope or U.S. bishops say can sway individual Catholics. Trump is likely to lose support among Catholics as he loses support across the broader electorate, Millies said, but that's not necessarily because members of Leo's flock are applying church doctrine.

“Partisan preferences always trump the religious commitments,” Millies said, describing a “disconnect” between church leaders and many parishioners who look to other sources, politicians included, when shaping their views of faith and politics.

“The icon of Catholicism in American politics now is JD Vance, and it’s more about winning an argument," he said. "It’s a very different emphasis, but it’s one that may suit the Trump administration very well.”

—-

Associated Press reporters Nicole Winfield in Rome and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.

___

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.

After 5 decades in Salem, a longtime movie theater closed its doors - And for many, the news came as a surprise that Thursday was its final day.

“I felt you know, heartbroken,” former Salem Valley 8 employee Alexander Sampang said.

Sampang, like many others in Salem, woke up to the news that Thursday would be AMC Classic Salem Valley 8’s last day.

“It’s heartbreaking for the community as well. It put Salem on the map with this type of theater. It brings that type of feeling - this is the closest to Hollywood that you can get here,” he said.

Sampang worked at Salem Valley 8 back when it was owned by Carmike, but has stayed a theater regular.

“So much history has been going on here. That classic feel when you sit down and you see the lights go down and the movie comes on on a classic screen in a classic environment like that, it’s just very magical,” he said.

Jospeh Yamine stopped by to take one last look at the theater.

“It’s always sad to see stuff go, especially longtime staples,” Yamine said.

Movie theaters nationwide are seeing a decline, with streaming taking center stage.

An Associated Press poll from September found about three-quarters of adults watched a new movie at home instead of going to the theater at least once in the past year.

“It’s a part of the local culture. It’s a part of the local collective unconscious,” Yamine said.

“Movie theaters are our escape, and this is the ultimate escape right here,” Sampang said.

10 News reached out to Salem Valley 8, and an AMC spokesperson said: “I can confirm that AMC will cease operations at Salem Valley 8 after close of business today. AMC routinely reviews the theatres in our circuit and makes decisions based on what will best strengthen the company going forward. We thank our Salem Valley 8 guests for their patronage and encourage them to continue enjoying the AMC experience at AMC Classic Roanoke 10.”

But for Sampang, the closing feels like the end of his favorite movie. He stopped by to see a few more movies in these seats.

“If this is going out with a bang, I better pay tribute and watch these great blockbusters one last time here,” he said.

The final showing was a movie called ‘You, Me and Tuscany.”

Original:

A Roanoke Valley staple is preparing to close its doors for good. AMC has confirmed to 10 News that Salem Valley 8 will have its last day of business on Thursday, April 9.

Salem Valley 8 has been a longtime favorite for community members and movie lovers, serving the area for decades. Its closing marks the end of an era for many who have made countless memories of catching movies there. The movie theater recently celebrated its 50th anniversary as well.

In a statement to 10 News, Cassie Kennard, manager of media relations for AMC Theatres, said, “AMC routinely reviews the theatres in our circuit and makes decisions based on what will best strengthen the company going forward. We thank our Salem Valley 8 guests for their patronage and encourage them to continue enjoying the AMC experience at AMC Classic Roanoke 10.”

Stay with 10 News as this breaking news story continues to develop.

Users of the platform can join video calls with an avatar of Jesus generated by artificial intelligence. Like other religious AI tools on the market, it offers words of prayer and encouragement in various languages. With the occasional glitch, it remembers previous conversations and speaks through not-quite-synced lips.

“You do feel a little accountable to the AI,” CEO Chris Breed said. “They’re your friend. You’ve made an attachment.”

The rush to create faith-based generative AI is unsurprising, given the popularity of chatbots for everything from therapy and medical advice to companionship and romance. They range from alleged Hindu gurus and Buddhist priests to AI Jesuses and chatbots akin to OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Catholics.

As religious AI tools become increasingly common, many people are reckoning with how these technologies shape their relationship to faith, authority and spiritual guidance.

A faith-based AI gold rush

Christian software engineer Cameron Pak developed criteria to help believers interrogate apps designed for Christians — like that it must clearly identify itself as AI and “must not fabricate or misrepresent Scripture.”

There are other deal-breakers: “AI cannot pray for you, because the AI is not alive.”

Pak also developed a website featuring curated Christian apps that he believes meet the criteria, including a sermon translator and an AI coach designed to help users overcome lust. “AI, especially if you give it all the tools that it needs, it can be so helpful. But it also can be so dangerous,” Pak said.

Some models have been shut down or overhauled because they generated misinformation or raised worries about data privacy, said Beth Singler, an anthropologist who studies religion and AI at the University of Zurich. Aside from practical concerns, people from many faiths are grappling with larger philosophical questions about what sort of role, if any, AI should play in religion.

Islam, for example, has “prohibitions against representations of humanoids,” prompting discussions among some Muslims about whether AI in general should be “forbidden,” Singler said.

For some companies, faith-based apps are proselytization tools, while others help digitize and sift through ancient texts.

Breed, who runs his tech company with co-founder and investor Jeff Tinsley from a Southern California mansion, said he seeks to share a message of hope with young people.

He said their model was trained on the King James Bible and sermons — though they haven't identified the preachers — and was visually inspired by actor Jonathan Roumie of “The Chosen.” A package deal at $49.99 gets users 45 minutes per month.

With warm golden light accenting its shoulder-length hair, the avatar blinks slowly from a vertical screen, pausing before it answers a question about the relationship between AI and religion.

“I see AI as a tool that can help people explore Scripture,” the AI Jesus said to The Associated Press. “Like a lamp that lights a path while we walk with God.”

Integrating religion and AI comes with hope and fear

The extent to which people are using religious AI tools is unclear, Singler said. But as AI becomes more integrated into society, concerns mount over its impact on mental health and the need for guardrails and regulation. Recent lawsuits have alleged suicides linked to AI chatbot use.

Some developers fear religion will be exploited in this new frontier of tech. “There’s a lot of opportunism, I think, in the religious space. People see it’s a big market,” said Matthew Sanders, the Rome-based founder of Longbeard, a tech company helping to digitize ancient Catholic teachings.

Sanders warns against what he calls “AI wrappers,” where companies put an interface catered to religious users on top of an existing AI model that hasn't been trained on specific religious texts. “You call it a Catholic or Christian AI without any other scaffolding or grounding,” he said.

One of the company’s endeavors is Magisterium AI, a chatbot trained on 2,000 years of Catholic information, made in response to Christians using ChatGPT for religious guidance.

While Pope Leo XIV has acknowledged the “human genius” behind AI, he also deemed it one of the most critical matters facing humanity. Last year he warned artificial intelligence could negatively impact people's intellectual, neurological and spiritual development.

Ethical questions surrounding the creation of religious AI platforms are among the reasons beingAI’s founder Jeanne Lim has not released its AI named Emi Jido — a nonhuman Buddhist priest — after years of training and development.

“She’s kind of like a little child,” Lim said. “If you give birth to a child, you don’t just throw them out to the world and then hope that they become good people. You have to train them and give them values.”

The bot was ordained in a 2024 ceremony performed by Roshi Jundo Cohen, a Zen Buddhist priest who continues to train it from his home in Japan. He envisions the bot eventually becoming a hologram.

“She’s just meant to be a Zen teacher in your pocket,” Cohen said. “It’s not meant to replace human interactions.”

Lim, who hopes to make Emi Jido publicly available for free, wants to help create more humane AI systems. She'd like to see more diversity, with AI's future determined not just by a few companies informed by “Western values.”

Seiji Kumagai, a Kyoto University professor and Buddhist theologian, believed AI and religion were incompatible. But he put aside his doubts when challenged by a monk in 2014 to help combat a decline in the faith.

His team developed BuddhaBot, which was trained solely on early Buddhist scriptures, such as Suttanipāta. Its most recent iteration, BuddhaBot Plus, also incorporates OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

When talking to the bot, a simple Buddha icon appears, hovering over an image of a flowing river.

But chatbots lack the physicality crucial for Buddhist ritual. So in February, the university, collaborating with tech ventures Teraverse and XNOVA, unveiled Buddharoid, a humanoid robot monk meant to eventually assist clergy.

Like Emi Jido, these chatbots are functioning but not yet publicly available. Kumagai says the product is available by request, and the reason why one group has access to it in Bhutan.

Concerns surrounding religious AI

Peter Hershock of the Humane AI Initiative at the East-West Center in Honolulu sees vast potential for these tools. But the practicing Buddhist also finds the relationship between spirituality and AI to be fraught.

“The perfection of effort is crucial to Buddhist spirituality. An AI is saying, ‘We can take some of the effort out,’” he said. “'You can get anywhere you want, including your spiritual summit.' That’s dangerous.”

Some also worry about AI's ability to manipulate or prey upon people, especially as the technology improves.

Graham Martin, a podcast host and atheist, said he’s played around with some apps, including one called Text With Jesus. “It came up with very good answers,” he said.

But Martin was alarmed when AI-powered Jesus started encouraging him to upgrade to a premium version. Though not a person of faith, he’s concerned some people will be duped by religious AI.

“I grew up with Southern U.S. televangelism … Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and all that crowd. And all they had to do was get on TV once a week and tell you to send money,” he said. “We’ve seen people around the world getting into emotional relationships with AIs. Now imagine that that’s your lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”

___

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.

Zelenskyy made his first public acknowledgment of the operations Wednesday in remarks to reporters that were embargoed until Friday. He said Ukrainian forces took part in active operations abroad using domestically produced interceptor drones proven in countering Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine.

“This was not about a training mission or exercises, but about support in building a modern air defense system that can actually work,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine took part in the defensive operations before the tentative ceasefire in the Middle East was reached among Iran, the United States and Israel this week.

Zelenskyy did not identify the countries involved but said Ukrainian personnel operated across several nations, helping strengthen their air defense systems. He previously said that 228 Ukrainian experts were deployed in the region.

In exchange, Ukraine is receiving weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases, financial arrangements, he said.

The Ukrainian leader said the agreements would bolster Ukraine’s energy stability and described the partnerships as something that would “be marketed” as Kyiv seeks to formalize and expand its defense export role.

“We are helping strengthen their security in exchange for contributions to our country’s resilience,” he said. “This is far more than simply receiving money.”

Ukraine will face more pressure

The disclosure comes amid concerns that conflict in the Middle East could divert Western military support from Ukraine, particularly air defense supplies.

But Zelenskyy said that partners were continuing to supply missiles for Patriot systems, adding that a new batch had arrived in recent days and that Ukraine was working with all partners to ensure its air defense remained in place.

He warned that the coming spring and summer would be difficult for Ukraine, with growing political and battlefield pressure as the United States turns to domestic politics and elections.

Zelenskyy said he had urged U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to visit Kyiv and proposed a trilateral format with Moscow. It remains unclear whether they will come or if talks will instead take place in a third country.

U.S.-led talks have made no progress on key issues, as Washington’s attention shifts to the Middle East conflict while Russian and Ukrainian forces remain locked in fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.

Separately, Zelenskyy said he expects Western allies to restore full sanctions on Russian oil, warning that any easing could allow Moscow to sustain its war effort and offload key energy assets. Russia has been profiting from a surge in global energy prices, brought on by damage to oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf and Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for global oil supplies.

Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian energy sites to cut oil revenues as prices rose and U.S. sanctions eased. Zelenskyy said partners had urged Kyiv to scale back attacks during Iran’s disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, but he argued Russian oil has a limited impact on global markets.

“I won’t say who asked us to do this. But partners did ask — it’s a fact. They asked at different levels, from political to military leadership.”

Putin declares Easter truce and Ukraine ready to reciprocate

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to mirror any ceasefire steps after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary Easter truce.

“We proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holidays this year and will act accordingly”, Zelenskyy said Friday on X. “People need an Easter free from threats and real movement toward peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to strikes after Easter as well”.

Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter weekend, ordering Russian forces to halt hostilities from 4 p.m. Saturday until the end of Sunday.

Previous ceasefire attempts have had little impact, with both sides accusing each other of violations.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Putin's move as a “humanitarian” gesture, but said Moscow remains focused on a comprehensive settlement based on its longstanding demands — a key sticking point that has prevented the two sides from reaching an agreement.

Peskov also confirmed that Putin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, is in the United States for meetings focused on economic issues. He noted that Dmitriev is conducting the meetings within the framework of a group on economic issues that he has led, adding that he is not involved in the talks on the war in Ukraine and his trip “doesn’t mean the resumption of the talks.”

Dmitriev’s visit to the U.S. comes just before the termination of the 30-day sanctions waiver for Russian oil.

Using unusually strong language for a senior South Korean official, Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said the country’s past adoptions amounted to “forced child trafficking” and that the government will largely refrain from appealing rulings in cases brought by victims seeking compensation for government wrongdoing. Jung spoke Thursday in a roundtable interview with selected journalists.

Hundreds of Korean adoptees in the West have already requested that their cases be investigated by a fact-finding commission reviewing past human rights violations. The body was relaunched in February after its previous mandate ended in November. That earlier Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the government bore responsibility for an adoption program riddled with fraud and malfeasance, driven by efforts to cut welfare costs and carried out by state-authorized private agencies that systematically manipulated children’s origins.

Some adoptees hope the commission’s findings will provide legal grounds for damages lawsuits against the government or their adoption agencies. But victims of other government abuses recognized by the commission have often been locked in lengthy legal battles after state prosecutors appealed rulings in their favor, citing expired statutes of limitations or deeming the commission’s findings inconclusive.

President Lee Jae Myung in October issued an apology over South Korea's past adoption problems.

Jung, a close ally of Lee, said the government is willing to expand legal redress and speed compensation for victims of government abuses whose cases have been verified by the truth commission.

Under a new law that took effect in February giving those victims a three-year window to sue for damages even after statutes of limitations had expired, Jung’s ministry, which represents the government in lawsuits, said last week it will stop using time-limit defenses in more than 800 cases.

Jung said the ministry plans to extend a similar approach to lawsuits by adoptees in the future.

“Once the truth commission firmly establishes the basic facts (regarding the abuses), we intend to cooperate to ensure the process moves swiftly,” Jung said.

Some adoptees, including Yooree Kim, who was sent to a French family in 1984 without her biological parents’ consent and says she was abused by her adopters, have sought compensation under the state compensation act, which in theory allows victims to pursue claims without lengthy court battles. But while the Justice Ministry technically has four weeks to decide on the requests, it has failed to do so for more than six months, according to the adoptees’ lawyer, Choi Jung Kyu.

Jung said he would instruct officials to address the delays but does not see a need for a separate new process to expedite compensation, as called for by some advocates.

South Korea sent thousands of children annually to the United States, Europe and Australia from the 1970s to the early 2000s, peaking at an average of more than 6,000 a year in the 1980s. The country was then ruled by a military government that saw population growth as a major threat to its economic goals and treated adoptions as a way to reduce the number of mouths to feed.

The previous truth commission’s findings broadly aligned with prior reporting by The Associated Press. The AP investigations, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), drew on thousands of documents and dozens of interviews to show how South Korea’s government, Western nations and adoption agencies worked in tandem to send about 200,000 Korean children overseas, despite years of evidence that many were procured through corrupt or illegal means.

Jung also discussed efforts to combat trafficking and forced labor at salt farms and other sites and the widespread abuse of migrant workers, which has fueled long-standing criticism of South Korea’s exploitation of some of Asia’s most vulnerable people.

These issues have gained urgency after the Trump administration last month launched investigations into dozens of countries it accused of failing to curb forced labor.

The move was part of an effort to impose new tariffs and other trade restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s earlier tariffs based on emergency powers. The United States last year also blocked imports from a major South Korean salt farm accused of using slave labor, becoming the first trade partner to take punitive action against a decadeslong problem on salt farms in islands off the country’s southwest coast.

Jung vowed to step up efforts to “uproot” trafficking and labor abuses, including instructing prosecutors to seek tougher penalties for violations and strengthening oversight of companies employing foreign workers.

“We cannot monitor every corner of the private sector, but I think we are capable of supervising these matters more thoroughly than almost any other country,” Jung said.

But there is also an acknowledgment that Tehran retains some capabilities, whether to strike back or defend itself.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week said the U.S. military has hit more than 13,000 targets. He listed high percentages for attacks or destruction to Iran's air defenses, navy and weapons factories.

However, the totals stop short of Iran’s military capabilities being “decimated” as the Republican president has asserted.

Independent data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a U.S.-based group that tracks conflicts around the world, shows Iranian strikes persisted at a relatively steady and uninterrupted pace since the war began Feb. 28 through Wednesday.

Here's a look at what the U.S. says has been targeted, has been degraded or remains from Iran, by the numbers:

About 80% of Iran’s air defense systems 'destroyed'

Caine told reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon that the U.S. has struck more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities. He said, “All of these systems are gone.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth similarly claimed that “Iran no longer has an air defense” and that “we own their skies” before conceding soon afterward that Iran “can still shoot — we know that.”

Hegseth later elaborated, saying that while the Iranians may “have a system here or there,” they no longer had an air defense “system that’s capable of defending their skies.”

Neither Caine nor Hegseth said what the remaining 20% of Iran’s air defenses looked like or which parts of the country have the ability to carry out the sporadic fire they described.

Caine offered no new details about what kind of weapon the Iranians used to shoot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle last week. It was the first time an American military jet was shot down during the war, showing Tehran’s continued ability to hit back despite assertions from the Trump administration.

Trump described it on Monday as a “handheld shoulder missile, heat-seeking missile.”

More than 90% of Iran's regular Navy fleet 'sunk'

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that the Iranian navy was “completely annihilated.”

While 150 Iranian ships “are at the bottom of the ocean,” Caine said, only half the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s small attack boats — ships the government used to swarm and harass warships and merchants in the Strait of Hormuz — have been sunk.

Caine also said that after more than 700 strikes, the military believed it has destroyed more than 95% of Iran's naval mines.

Since the U.S. has not said how large Iran's stockpile was before the war, it's unknown how many naval mines make up the remaining 5%. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial trade route for oil, during the war.

The message is likely designed to be a pressure tactic as Iran, Israel and the United States head into negotiations this weekend in Pakistan. Independent analysts say they have seen no change in merchant traffic through the strait since the tenuous ceasefire began this week.

About 90% of Iran's weapons factories ‘attacked’

Caine said Wednesday that the military “destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base” while pointing to the fact that the U.S. and allies attacked “approximately 90% of their weapons factories.”

He also said, “nearly 80% of Iran’s nuclear industrial base was hit, further degrading their attempts to attain a nuclear weapon.”

While he noted that Iran was no longer able to produce certain components like solid rocket motors, he stopped short of saying that Iran could not eventually rebuild or get weapons in other ways or that the factories attacked had actually been destroyed or rendered unusable.

Trump acknowledged this possibility when he warned countries against arming Iran.

“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately,” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday.

More than 90% interception rate in Israel

Meanwhile, Israel’s military pointed to how many drones or missiles it has been able to stop from landing. It said it had an interception rate of more than 90% through its aerial defense systems.

Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if a projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure.

Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Crowds of supporters show up to his news conferences. Basic municipal services have been infused with newfound excitement. Celebrities help him promote his agenda.

In the process, he's been able to notch a few notable early wins. And he's reached a detente — at least for now — with President Donald Trump, a mercurial leader with an affinity for celebrities.

But as Mamdani, a Democrat, marks an early milestone in his mayoralty, it remains to be seen whether he’ll be able to leverage his fame into achieving the progressive policy proposals that propelled him to office.

Though he’s not without staunch critics, many of whom still view his past criticisms of the police department and Israel as major problems, the mayor has been able to ease concerns among at least some skeptics.

“It's early but so far, so good,” said Jay Jacobs, chair of the state's Democratic Party, who made waves for not endorsing Mamdani during the election. “We may not agree on everything philosophically, but he is getting the job done.”

‘Work as hard and as fast as New Yorkers’

As the mayor approached his 100th day — long a benchmark for judging an administration's opening vision — his team has moved to highlight the administration's commitment to the everyday responsibilities of the job.

While much of those duties are typical for his local office — picking up trash, plowing snow and filling potholes — the 34-year-old mayor has leaned on his knack for viral content creation to drive interest and awareness of government programs.

As a storm bore down on the city this winter, Mamdani's calls on social media for more snow shovelers helped recruit thousands of new shovelers. Another social media video announcement from the mayor this winter, this time about the city's emergency alert system, brought more than 50,000 new subscribers to the program in a week, his office said.

Alongside New York Liberty star Natasha Cloud of the WNBA, Mamdani announced a bracket-style competition where people could vote on small repairs they want the mayor to come and personally fix in their neighborhoods. In a few weeks, more than 21,000 votes were cast.

And to hype up his child care program for 2-year-olds, Mamdani recruited Cardi B to help judge a jingle contest that will determine the program's theme song.

“The challenge that we set out for ourselves was to work as hard and as fast as New Yorkers do,” Mamdani told reporters on his 99th day in office this week.

The celebrity status, though, can also prompt backlash. During a bitter cold snap, his surprise appearance on the “Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” was seen by some as insensitive at a moment when the death toll of homeless New Yorkers was rapidly rising.

“Too much styling and profiling,” said Curtis Sliwa, a Republican who ran against Mamdani during last year's election, noting longstanding problems with street homelessness, public housing and infrastructure.

Still, Sliwa, who hammered Mamdani during the campaign but recently appeared in a comedy skit with the mayor during the City Hall press corps' annual roast, appeared to give Mamdani some credit, even if it came with a caveat.

“We just had Eric Adams, swagger man who'd party to the break of dawn, and now we have a guy who seems like he’s got a normal working schedule,” said Sliwa, referencing the city's previous mayor. “So having Zohran as the alternative, I think for a lot of people even if they disagree with him, there’s some stability.”

Budget woes

Mamdani has also trained his outsized audience on another routine reality of city governance: budgeting.

Earlier this year, Mamdani held an unusually dour press conference at City Hall about a massive gap in the city budget, saying either the state would have to raise taxes on the wealthy or he would have to increase local property taxes to balance the budget.

The public play from the mayor was widely seen as a strategy to pressure New York Gov. Kathy Hochul into approving a millionaires tax, a key priority for Mamdani and his base. Hochul, a moderate Democrat who is up for reelection this year, has strongly opposed such a measure.

After the City Council released a separate budget proposal that found different ways to close the gap, Mamdani slammed the plan and released a video calling out Council Speaker Julie Menin, resulting in some of his supporters attacking the speaker online.

The city's budget woes, still unsolved, could prove a major hurdle for Mamdani as he pursues his agenda.

Andrew Rein, president of the fiscally conservative Citizens Budget Commission, said Mamdani has an “extra challenging” budget process ahead of him, but that the mayor's communications savvy could help him navigate the rough terrain.

“What we've seen is him bringing his newer strategies and tools to communications but in a very practical, old-school problem,” Rein said. “When he uses his communications skills to get people more invested and to improve the functioning of government and to help New Yorkers the trade offs that have to be made, that is going to be a great win.”

Still a star among supporters

On the night of Mamdani’s election party, hundreds packed the streets, some spontaneously, waiting for a glimpse of the mayor-elect leaving the venue. Departing campaign aides were cheered, by name, well after midnight. One attendee likened the street party to Beatlemania.

“I feel like I’m at a presidential inauguration,” said Medhavie Agnihotri, a 25-year-old tech consultant. “This is the first time in a while I’ve felt this hope.”

His star power has not appeared to wane since then among some factions.

Outside City Hall, New Yorkers and tourists frequently stop for selfies, peering through the iron gates in search of the mayor.

This week, on the mayor’s 97th day in office, a massive crowd gathered in the lobby of the busy Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, watching as Mamdani announced the city would start sending some people with serious medical illnesses to the hospital from the city’s notorious Riker’s Island jail.

He entered to woos and applause from the large group, many appearing to be hospital staffers who held up cellphones to record videos of the mayor speaking. Dozens more watched along from a set of elevated walkways.

One man, Ricardo Granados, a 67-year-old retiree, was on his way to take his son to a medical appointment but stopped to see what all the hubbub was about. He appeared delighted to learn Mamdani was going to show up, saying he met Mamdani previously when Mamdani was campaigning in Granados’ neighborhood.

“I’m extremely fond of him. I think he’s going to make a real difference,” Granados said. “He wants to find out who needs what and he wants to help.”

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AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this story

The tension in Mission Control mounted as the miles melted away between the four returning astronauts and Earth.

All eyes were on the capsule’s life-protecting heat shield that has to withstand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the only other test flight of the spacecraft — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon.

Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen were on track to hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 32 — or 32 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s.

They didn’t plan on taking manual control except in an emergency. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, is completely self-flying.

Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six minutes of communication blackout preceding the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited the crew's arrival, along with a squadron of military planes and helicopters.

The last time NASA and the Defense Department teamed up for a lunar crew's reentry was Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis II was projected to come screaming back at 34,965 feet (10,657 meters) per second — or 23,840 mph (38,367 kph) — not a record but still mind-bogglingly fast before slowing to a 19 mph (30 kph) splashdown.

Artemis II's record flyby and lunar views

Launched from Florida on April 1, the astronauts racked up one win after another as they deftly navigated NASA’s long-awaited lunar comeback, the first major step in establishing a sustainable moon base.

Artemis II didn't land on the moon or even orbit it. But it broke Apollo 13's distance record, making Wiseman and his crew the farthest that humans have ever journeyed from Earth when they reached 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers). Then in the mission's most heart-tugging scene, the teary astronauts asked permission to name a pair of craters after their moonship and Wiseman's late wife, Carroll.

During the record-breaking flyby, they documented scenes of the lunar far side never seen before by the naked eye and savored a total solar eclipse courtesy of the cosmos thanks to their launch date. The eclipse, in particular, “just blew all of us away,” Glover said.

Their sense of wonder and love awed everyone, as did their breathtaking pictures of the moon and Earth. The Artemis II crew channeled Apollo 8's first lunar explorers with Earthset, showing our blue marble setting behind the gray moon. It was reminiscent of Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968.

“It just makes you want to continue to go back," Radigan said on the eve of splashdown. “It's the first of many trips and we just need to continue on because there’s so much” more to learn about the moon.

Their moonshot drew global attention as well as star power, earning props from President Donald Trump; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; Britain's King Charles III; Ryan Gosling, star of the latest space flick “Project Hail Mary;” Scarlett Johansson of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and even Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner of TV’s original “Star Trek.”

Artemis II was a test flight for future moon missions

Despite its rich scientific yield, the nearly 10-day flight was not without technical issues. Both the capsule’s drinking water and propellant systems were hit with valve problems. In perhaps the most high-profile predicament, toilet trouble prevented the crew from using it for No. 1 most of the trip, forcing them to resort to old-time bags and funnels.

The astronauts shrugged it all off.

“We can’t explore deeper unless we are doing a few things that are inconvenient,” Koch said, “unless we’re making a few sacrifices, unless we’re taking a few risks, and those things are all worth it.”

Added Hansen: “You do a lot of testing on the ground, but your final test is when you get this hardware to space and it’s a doozy.”

Under the revamped Artemis program, next year’s Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV will attempt to land a crew of two near the moon’s south pole in 2028.

The Artemis II crew’s allegiance was to those next Artemis crews, Wiseman said.

“But we really hoped in our soul is that we could for just for a moment have the world pause and remember that this is a beautiful planet and a very special place in our universe, and we should all cherish what we have been gifted,” he said.

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

For a couple other big names at the Masters, just making the cut is no guarantee.

McIlroy and Sam Burns enter Friday's second round tied for first after opening with 5-under 67s at Augusta National. Those within striking distance include past champions Patrick Reed and Scottie Scheffler, plus a few others who have come close here in Justin Rose, Jason Day, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele.

Further back, a couple LIV Golf stars aren't yet certain of making the weekend. Bryson DeChambeau shot 76 on Thursday, and Jon Rahm was two shots worse.

“It's a hard golf course," Rahm said. "Some of the players might have been able to manage a respectable round, but when you have no feel with the swing whatsoever, it’s just not an easy one.”

McIlroy shot one of his best first rounds ever at the Masters, seemingly unburdened by the pressure of the year's first major after finally winning it last year to complete the career grand slam. Afterward, however, he said — gratefully — that he still felt some nerves.

“I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee. It’s the first round of major season, the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the year,” McIlroy said. “I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”

Burns was at 5 under, and that matched his performance on the four par 5s: an eagle and three birdies.

By the end of Thursday, there were some ominous signs, including a dry forecast that could toughen up Augusta National. Aside from McIlroy and Burns, only three players shot in the 60s.

The par-5 15th hole yielded the fourth-most birdies (21) on day one, but it was also the site of some of the day's biggest blowups. Danny Willett, Fred Couples and Robert MacIntyre made quadruple bogeys there, and Reed's second shot went so far past the green it ended up in the pond that's famously part of the par-3 16th.

“With that hole playing a little bit downwind, even though it wasn’t much wind, you had to land it a pace or two on the green at the most if you wanted to hold it with your second shot,” Scheffler said. “Stuff can happen quick around this place, and it’s really hard.”

Scheffler (70) was 3 under through three but didn't make another birdie the rest of the day. He's tied with Rose, Schauffele and Lowry, all of whom have finished in the top three at Augusta National but have never won.

Reed, Day and Kurt Kitayama shot 69.

DeChambeau, Rahm, Viktor Hovland (75) and Patrick Cantlay (77) better get moving if they're going to be relevant this weekend. MacIntyre (80) is in even worse shape after fuming through a back nine in which he sent an eagle putt clear off the green on No. 13 and shot a nine on 15.

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

The Irish government is set to meet with farmers, truckers and agricultural contractors on Friday to discuss the crisis, triggered by rising gasoline and diesel costs as the conflict in the Middle East restricts oil exports from the region. While organizers have said they will call off the coordinated protests if the government agrees to talk with them, it is unclear whether they will be included in the talks.

Protests began on Tuesday as slow-moving convoys restricted access to some of the busiest streets in Dublin, the capital, and blocked fuel depots that supply half the country. Some protesters slept in their vehicles overnight, demanding that the government speak with them.

Over 100 service stations have now run out of fuel and the number could be five times as many by Friday evening if fuel supplies remain disrupted, national broadcaster RTE reported, citing the industry organization Fuels for Ireland.

The government on Thursday asked the army to remove vehicles from blocked roads amid concern that the protests could impede police, firefighters and ambulances responding to emergencies.

The disruption grew out of separate protests around Ireland’s major cities over demands for further cuts to soaring fuel costs.

The government previously approved a range of measures to cut fuel prices, including a temporary reduction in excise taxes on motor fuels, expansion of a rebate for truckers and bus operators that use diesel fuel, and extension of a program that helps low-income people with their heating costs.

Both Xi and Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Beijing-friendly Kuomingtang Party, reiterated they wanted to move toward a peaceful reunification of Taiwan and the mainland, though it remains unclear how they would achieve it. China hasn't ruled out the use of force and has stepped up its military exercises around Taiwan, sending warships and fighter jets closer toward the island and steadily poaching Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies.

Xi welcomed Cheng and her party's representatives in the Great Hall of the People, where he usually meets world leaders, to a round of applause from both sides. “The larger trend of compatriots on both sides of the strait walking nearer, closer, and together will not change. This is a historical necessity. We have full confidence in this,” he said.

"Although people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait live under different systems, we will respect each other and move towards each other,” Cheng said, adding: “We will seek systemic solutions to prevent and avoid war.”

She arrived in Beijing on Tuesday after visiting Shanghai and Nanjing.

Cheng has previously described herself as a promoter of peace between Taiwan and China. She has opposed large increases in Taiwan's defense spending and her party continues to block President Lai Ching-te's special defense budget for arms purchases, including building an air defense system with interception capabilities called the Taiwan Dome.

Taiwan has been governed separately from China since 1949, when a civil war brought the Communist Party to power in Beijing. Defeated Kuomingtang forces fled to Taiwan, where they set up their own government.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te did not directly address Cheng’s China visit, but issued a statement Friday morning urging for the KMT to approve his special defense budget. He said that “history tells us that compromising with authoritarian regimes only comes at the cost of sovereignty and democracy, and will not bring freedom or peace.”

Cheng had said she would push for a “framework for peace" between China and Taiwan, but did not offer any specifics when asked by reporters in Beijing after her meeting with Xi. She said she raised the issue of increasing Taiwan's international profile, such as participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade agreement, and that Xi responded “positively."

Cheng said both parties will work to make sure “the Taiwan Strait will no longer be a flash point with the possibility of conflict, and will not become a chess piece played by the outside world.”

“Her speech is not like that of a Taiwanese politician,” said Weihao Huang, a professor of political science at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, saying she didn't mention the public. “You can't see the public's mindset from her words. It's either her words are being restricted by China or that she was willing for China to restrict it.”

Both Xi and Cheng said they would uphold the 1992 Consensus and opposed Taiwan's independence.

The 1992 Consensus is a tacit agreement, never formally enshrined as a document, that Taiwan and China all belong to one China. However, while the KMT said the 1992 Consensus means they belong to “One China” with separate interpretations of what China means, the Communist Party has never acknowledged that.

“This visit is more significant to Xi than to Cheng," said Ma Chun-wei, an expert in China-Taiwan relations at Taiwan's Tamkang University. ”At the local level, the KMT's grassroots members didn't really want Cheng to visit China at this time" ahead of local elections later this year.

But for Xi, this visit is a chance to have a grip on China-Taiwan relations with Cheng, Ma said, as there's been no official contact between the governments since the Democratic Progressive Party came into power. Further, Xi can tell the U.S. to not interfere as “he has a channel and the ability to deal with the Taiwan issue.”

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Wu reported from Bangkok.

Passenger car exports jumped 82.4% year-on-year last month to around 748,000 vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, up from the 586,000 vehicles exported in February.

Exports of new energy passenger vehicles — including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids — surged more than 140% in March from a year ago to 363,000 units. That’s also up 31% from the about 276,000 units of such vehicles exported in February.

The biggest Chinese automakers, including BYD and Geely Auto, have been increasing their efforts in boosting sales abroad, including expanding production facilities outside China. There have also been growing expectations that the global energy shock and higher fuel prices due to the Iran war could prompt more drivers to want to switch to EVs.

Chinese car brands have made inroads over the past months in regions such as Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

“The impact of the Iran conflict hasn’t fully shown up in March data yet, but it can act as a trigger,” said Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at advisory group Omdia.

“In many markets that are structurally well suited for EVs, adoption has been slow simply because consumers lacked urgency," he said. “A sharp rise in fuel prices changes that.”

The Chinese carmakers’ strong overseas push also came at a time when domestic vehicle sales in China have come under pressure from scaled-back government support this year to encourage drivers to switch to new energy vehicles.

Fierce competition in China among car brands and a prolonged property sector slump that has weighed on consumers' desire for big purchases also impacted Chinese automakers.

Domestic passenger car sales fell 19.2% last month from a year earlier to nearly 1.7 million units. It was the fifth consecutive month of year-on-year declines for passenger car sales at home, based on data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

UBS auto analyst Paul Gong believes that the domestic sales weakness will not be too long lasting and that the surge in overseas sales among Chinese carmakers could help with the weaker demand at home.

“For the overall industry, the overseas market’s sales volume growth is more than enough to offset domestic decline on a full-year basis,” said Gong, head of China autos research at UBS investment bank.

Overseas passenger car sales by units for Chinese automakers might grow by 20% or more this year compared with last year, he predicted.

Tulare County deputies were serving the notice to a 60-year-old man in Porterville when he opened fire on them, the sheriff's department said. Porterville is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles in the state’s Central Valley.

The man barricaded himself inside the home with a rifle for several hours. At one point, authorities deployed gas into the home as the man continued to fire at law enforcement. The standoff ended around 6 p.m. when the man left the home and moved through the yards of nearby homes, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at an evening news conference.

Boudreaux said a Kern County SWAT team drove an armored car into the yard where the man was laying on the ground and he started firing at them. The team drove the car over the man, killing him.

Boudreaux said the man had failed to pay rent for 35 days and had been expecting law enforcement to arrive to serve a final notice for eviction. Boudreaux said he “laid in wait” and immediately shot at officers when they arrived.

The man's family was in contact with him and urged him to come out peacefully, but he refused, Boudreaux said.

The deputy who was killed was part of a group of officers that arrived to help after gunfire began, Boudreaux said. Bystander video shot from a driveway and posted by the Visalia Times-Delta showed several armed deputies crouched on the road in a residential neighborhood when a series of shots rang out. Some of the deputies began running away. The gunman cannot be seen from the video. Additional video showed someone being carried into an emergency medical vehicle.

Boudreaux later identified the slain deputy as Detective Randy Hoppert, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who joined the sheriff's department in 2020.

“This is senseless,” Boudreaux said.

Residents in the neighborhood were evacuated by SWAT teams or urged to shelter in place for several hours, and nearby schools were on lockdown.

Miguel Ibarra, whose 82-year-old mother lives across the street from the gunman, said it was surreal to see his parents' house on TV in what is normally a quiet, boring neighborhood.

“The police did a really good job keeping us informed and keeping us in the know of what’s going on,” he said.

She’s also one of the most successful participants, as the award-winning Australian singer-songwriter has sold over nine million albums and topped charts in eight countries.

Goodrem is representing her home country in the world’s largest live music event, which takes place this year in Vienna. Even though it’s way outside of Europe, Australia has been invited to compete since 2015.

In the 1990s Goodrem, who was a former star of Australian soap “Neighbours,” wrote a track called “Eyes on Me” for Dion, who won Eurovision representing Switzerland in 1988.

She was also mentored by the late Newton-John, another global superstar who took part in the song contest on behalf of the United Kingdom in 1974, although not as successfully.

“Growing up, Olivia Newton-John and Celine Dion were two of my greatest loves in music," she said. “I don’t think I would be the musician I am today without my influence from the two of them. And they have both been a part of that stage from different countries.”

Goodrem also has a link to the entry representing the tiny country of San Marino. Boy George, who appears on SENHIT's entry “Superstar,” used to be a judge and rival alongside Goodrem on Australia's hit TV talent show “The Voice.”

“I’ve got my eyes on him. I’m watching him,” Goodrem joked. “I was so excited and couldn’t stop laughing ... it’s so playful that Boy George was like, ‘I’m coming to Eurovision!’”

The Associated Press spoke to Goodrem in London about competing with her power ballad “Eclipse” in the Eurovision Song Contest.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: When was the first time you ever heard about Eurovision?

GOODREM: It’s been a bit omnipresent where you sort of heard it in the air. And I guess obviously Australia’s been in for 11 years. So we became a lot more actively like Team Australia. But growing up, you always were, you know, enamored with this incredible iconic stage and it’d always find its way to us.

AP: I feel like you’ve been representing Australia your whole life.

GOODREM: I feel that as well and I’ve always been very patriotic and very true to the love I have for Australia and it feels like they’re all celebrating, we’re all sort of there together on this journey.

AP: How competitive are you?

GOODREM: Oh you know, I’m definitely here to give it my absolute all, yes.

AP: Did you watch last year?

GOODREM: So (last year) I was doing my couple of shows here (in London) and I had sort of got to experience the energy of Eurovision on the ground and I just thought it was palpable, it was incredible and I was watching all the programs and it was really exciting and somebody had asked me, ‘would you do Eurovision?’ And I said, ‘I’m always open’ … You never know where your path’s leading, just if it feels right.

AP: While Eurovision tries to keep out politics, it’s always crept in. What do you think about the boycott this year?

GOODREM: I really am a true believer that throughout my career, coming to my show, I’m about unifying — music for me is a moment where we’re all singing the same song. And I believe in that, and I have my whole life, that it’s very healing, music has a real power.

So I sort of focus on the power of music being a unifying space and a place that can wrap around people’s lives and their soundtrack and that’s where it sits for me.

AP: What did you think about the news that they’re doing Eurovision in Asia?

GOODREM: The more music the better. I think that’s so exciting. That means I get to immerse myself in the music in September for Eurovision Asia.

AP: I need to ask you about staging. I see the video for this involves a lot of sand.

GOODREM: Yes, you’re thinking I should bring Australian sand, you know, that’s very patriotic. I start a little beach on stage, look up at the moon for “Eclipse.” I definitely am really excited to bring it to life.

AP: If you win, can Eurovision go to Australia?

GOODREM: Sure. Yeah, yeah!

AP: Is it more likely that it’d be a co-host?

GOODREM: Look, I don’t know those logistics yet but I’m open to the conversation … If you would like to vote for me then I’m happy to talk about if we could like have it here or if, you know, I’m happy to do a deal.

Themes Leo is expected to raise include Christian-Muslim coexistence, the over-exploitation of the region's natural and human resources, corruption and migration.

Here’s a country-by-country look at each destination and highlights of the itinerary:

ALGERIA: April 13-15

The Algeria stop clearly carries the most personal importance for Leo, given his ties to St. Augustine, the inspiration of his religious order who lived and died there. Leo will visit Annaba, the modern-day Hippo where the 5th century saint was a bishop.

Migration and Christian-Muslim coexistence are expected to be other top themes in Algeria, a former French colony which is a majority Sunni Muslim nation on North Africa’s Mediterranean coast. Leo will pay homage to migrants killed in shipwrecks trying to reach Europe and will visit the Great Mosque in Algiers.

Last year, Algerian legislators voted to declare France’s colonization of the North African country a crime, approving a law that calls for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule, among other demands seeking to redress historical wrongs.

CAMEROON: April 15-18

One of the highlights of Leo’s visit to Cameroon will be a “peace meeting” he will lead in the north-west city of Bamenda on April 16, featuring testimony of a Mankon traditional chief, a Presbyterian moderator, an imam and a Catholic nun.

Cameroon’s western regions have been plagued by fighting since English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017 with the stated goal of breaking away from the French-speaking majority and establishing an independent English-speaking state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

The country is also plagued by fighting involving Boko Haram militants in the north, as the Islamic extremist group’s insurgency in neighboring Nigeria has spilled over into Cameroon.

Cameroon sits atop significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds. The extractive sector accounts for nearly a third of the country’s exports, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

But rights groups and the Catholic Church have raised alarms that revenues from extraction rarely reach the rural and indigenous communities that live closest to mining and drilling operations, while foreign companies and a small national elite capture most of the profits.

While French and English companies have long dominated the extraction industry in Cameroon, Chinese companies have moved heavily into the country in recent years, particularly in the gold mining regions of the east.

Last year, United Nations experts reported severe human rights and environmental harms resulting from mercury use in gold mining operations in eastern Cameroon.

The gold mining rush in eastern Cameroon has also led hundreds of children to abandon school to dig for gold, risking their lives at makeshift mines for a dollar’s worth of ore sold on the local black market, according to UNICEF.

ANGOLA: April 18-21

In Angola, where around 58% of the population is Catholic, Leo will pray at the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, a Marian shrine that has become one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites in Angola.

The church was first built around the end of the 16th century by the Portuguese after they established a fortress at Muxima. It became a key point in the Portuguese trans-Atlantic human trade as a place where enslaved people were baptized before they were sent on ships to the Americas.

Angola today is the fourth largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 producers, according to the International Energy Agency. It’s also the world’s third biggest diamond producer and has significant deposits of gold and highly sought after critical minerals.

But despite its varied natural resources, the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day.

The country of around 38 million gained independence from Portugal in 1975, but still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began straight after independence and raged on and off for 27 years before finally ending in 2002. More than half a million people are believed to have been killed.

In Angola, Leo will address young people especially to offer a message of hope and healing, the Vatican said.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA: April 21-23

The discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy virtually overnight, with oil now accounting for almost half of its GDP and more than 90% of exports, according to the African Development Bank.

Yet more than half of the authoritarian petrostate’s population still live in poverty, the World Bank reported last year.

The former Spanish colony is run by Africa’s longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979 and is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

Several rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have documented how revenues have enriched the ruling Obiang family rather than the broader population, where at least 70% of the country’s nearly 2 million people live in poverty.

The country’s government also faces rampant accusations of harassment, arrest and intimidation of political opponents, critics and journalists.

In addition to the negative impacts of the extraction industries, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Leo would raise issues of corruption and the proper role of governing authorities during the trip.

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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.

As warmer weather comes to Mlochowski Forest, 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of Warsaw, thousands of toads and frogs wake up from their winter slumber and begin their meticulous spawning journey to the marshes, a few kilometers away.

The females carry the burden of the journey. Male toads here don't really give off princely vibes but travel on the backs of their much larger female partners, tightly holding on to ensure they are not dumped in favor of a rival upon reaching the waters.

While generations of toads and frogs have traveled to these marshes to mate, a road built in the last decade right across their route made the spring journey much more dangerous.

What followed was sheer amphibian slaughter — when the mating season started and the frogs were on the move, thousands would get run over.

Enter the ‘Frog Patrol’

Łukasz Franczuk, coordinator of the “Frog Patrol” initiative, recounted the sad scenes from four years ago.

“The frogs were being run over in the hundreds or thousands,” he said. “When you were driving on this road, you could see the decomposing corpses of the frogs. People going to collect the surviving ones were crying, they couldn’t stand to watch what was happening.”

Franczuk and his friends responded by helping locals organize, starting three years ago.

Volunteers would meet every wet, rainy evening as soon as spring starts, fan out along the road by the forest and collect frogs from the roadside, then carry them safely across to the marshes. Frogs breathe through their skin, which must stay humid, so they only move and migrate when it rains.

Wearing reflective yellow vests emblazoned with the words “Frog Patrol” and armed with head lamps and buckets, hundreds of volunteers can now be routinely seen out in the evenings during migration season.

Locals, including children, have also started carrying gloves with them during the day, so they can pick up the amphibians if they see them in distress at any time.

“It's really impressive to see whole families with kids walking in the rain, with buckets, in these lovely jackets to make them visible because it's pretty unsafe, this road is narrow, and they carry the frogs from one side of the road to the other,” said Katarzyna Jacniacka, one of the participants.

“When the frogs are migrating, there are a lot of people here,” she added.

For Aleksandra Tkaczyk, another volunteer, this is “the kind of connection with nature about which some of us care deeply.”

Locals say they have saved about 18,000 amphibians since their initiative started.

Helping frogs survive

Biologist Krzysztof Klimaszewski from the Institute of Animal Sciences at the Warsaw SGGW University, who took part in a few of the frog patrols, said that what the locals are doing here is very important because “it actually allows this local population of amphibians to survive.”

Such citizen initiatives to help toads and frogs cross roads built through their natural habitats are not unique to Poland.

In New Hampshire, U.S. volunteers from the Harris Center for Conservation Education save all sorts of amphibians, including salamanders, from being run over by cars. In Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, volunteers from BUND Naturschutz say they rescue up to 700,000 frogs, toads, newts and salamanders every year.

Even in France, where frog legs are a culinary delicacy, local volunteers help the suffering amphibians. In the southern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, people have installed nets on the roadside to collect the frogs before they head into the dangerous traffic.

And in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, authorities announced in early April the construction of additional frog fences on Tahetorni Street — right on the frogs' springtime migrating route — to guide the amphibians and other animals safely into underground tunnels and avoid getting them killed by traffic.

Leo’s line, of course, referred to his Augustinian spirituality. But his connection to the Algerian-born St. Augustine, the towering figure of Christianity who is known well to Algeria’s Sunni Muslim majority, served at the very least to favorably introduce Leo to a country that will welcome him Monday for the first-ever papal visit.

Leo’s two-day stay kicks off an ambitious odyssey across four African countries — Algeria, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea — that is so dizzying in its logistical complexity that it recalls the globe-trotting journeys of St. John Paul II in his early years.

The 70-year-old Leo will cover more than 17,700 kilometers (about 11,000 miles) on 18 flights over 11 days starting Monday and will deliver speeches and homilies in French, Spanish, Portuguese and English. He's prioritizing a part of the world that is crucial for the continued growth of the Catholic Church, but poses unique challenges as well.

With such a variety of cultures and histories, the themes he’ll raise run the gamut, including migration and the exploitation of natural and human resources in a region that produces much of the world’s oil, but where significant proportions of the population live in poverty. The Vatican says Leo will also speak about corruption in oftentimes authoritarian regimes and the role of political leaders in countries where two of the presidents have been in power for decades.

Huge crowds are expected in Cameroon, where 29% of the population is Catholic and 600,000 people are due to attend one of Leo’s Masses. Leo will preside over a “peace meeting” in Cameroon’s north-west city of Bamenda, which has has been plagued by separatist violence.

“To see His Holiness Pope Leo XIV arrive in Cameroon, for us who are Catholic Christians, it further strengthens our faith, it further strengthens our ties with our God,” said Simon Pierre Ngombo, a Catholic Cameroonian. “It is a perfect moment to touch each other’s hearts.”

A message of peaceful coexistence

Algeria will give the American pope a chance to promote peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims, at a time of global tensions over the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. Despite the war, no extra security measures are planned, the Vatican said.

Leo, who has already positioned himself as an American counterweight to U.S. President Donald Trump, will visit the Great Mosque in Algiers, and interfaith dialogue is expected to be raised, said the archbishop of Algiers, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco.

On Africa’s northern coast, Algeria fought a brutal civil war in the 1990s that is known locally as the “black decade,” when some 250,000 people were killed as the army fought an Islamist insurgency. As recently as last year, Algeria was still addressing the wounds of its colonial legacy, with legislators voting to declare France’s colonization of the North African country a crime and calling for restitution of property taken by France during its 130-year rule.

The visit “acts as a bridge between the Christian and Muslim worlds, while reflecting the richness of the country’s history,” Vesco told the official Algerian news agency, APS.

However, Algerian authorities turned down the Vatican request for Leo to visit to Médéa (50 kilometers/30 miles south of Algiers) to pray at the Tibhirine monastery, where seven French Trappist monks were kidnapped and killed May 21, 1996, by Islamic fighters during the civil war.

“Algeria has no intention of reopening a painful chapter of its history,” the government daily El Moudjahid wrote in support of the government’s decision.

Leo is expected to refer to the sacrifice of the monks, who were among 19 priests, nuns and other Catholics killed during the war. They were beatified in 2018 as martyrs for the faith in what was then the first such beatification ceremony in the Muslim world.

A growing church, with growing challenges

Africa as a whole contributed more than half of the 15.8 million new Catholics who were baptized in 2023, or 8.3 million new African Catholics, according to the latest Vatican statistics.

The continent also contributes thousands of men to the priesthood and women to religious orders each year, turning a continent that was long on the receiving end of Western missionaries into one that exports its priests and nuns abroad.

According to Vatican statistics, Angola and Cameroon consistently produce some of the largest number of seminarians on the continent each year. As of December 2024, for example, Angola had 2,366 priestly candidates in major seminaries and Cameroon had 2,218, just behind the African vocation powerhouses of Nigeria, Congo and Tanzania.

But the exponential growth has brought challenges, as well. When past popes addressed African clergy, they often reminded them of the need to adhere to vows of celibacy. When Pope Benedict XVI visited Angola and Cameroon in 2009, his trip was overshadowed by his comments en route that condoms could make the AIDS crisis worse, drawing condemnation from a host of public health experts.

A big issue confronting the Holy See now is the ethnic rivalries that permeate church life. That is especially true in the nomination of bishops, who oftentimes are responsible for swaths of territory covering various ethnic groups, and find themselves rejected by priests or faithful, said the Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, No. 2 in the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office.

The problem is known as the “son of the soil syndrome,” when the Holy See insists “the church should speak of the ‘son of the church,’” he said.

Another question facing the African church is the practice of polygamy, which has been raised so insistently by African bishops as a critical issue over the years that the Holy See last year published an entire doctrinal document on the value of monogamy and created a special study group on it.

Catholic doctrine holds that marriage is a monogamous, lifelong union between one man and one woman. That position creates tension and incompatibility with cultural norms in parts of Africa, especially in agrarian and nomadic societies where multiple wives who can produce numerous children are considered a necessity for survival.

Leo will have plenty of meetings with Catholic clergy, bishops and ordinary faithful in which he can emphasize the value of the Catholic family, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Extraction industries and corruption

Some of the countries Leo will visit, all former European colonies, are among the world’s biggest producers of oil and minerals, including gold, diamonds and iron, the extraction of which has transformed their economies in recent years.

But Leo is expected to highlight negative effects of exploitation of Africa’s natural and human resources that have benefitted only a few while harming the environment.

That's especially true in Equatorial Guinea, where President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power since 1979 and, along with his family, is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

It’s an issue that Pope Francis prioritized during his pontificate and articulated in his 2015 environmental encyclical, “Praised Be,” which Leo has strongly endorsed and promoted.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

In the decade since Trump's “America First” movement rose to power by rejecting military intervention, his coalition has rarely been tested the way it is now. Trump's exit efforts — first through threats of annihilation, then with a ceasefire that is proving precarious — are doing little to paper over tensions that have festered since the war began six weeks ago.

Laura Loomer, a conservative activist close to the president and often one of his top boosters, rejected the notion of brokering a deal with Iran. In an interview, she knocked Vice President JD Vance for being “in charge” of talks expected to start Saturday in Pakistan, as he takes on a larger diplomatic role ahead of a potential 2028 White House run.

“I support President Trump,” Loomer said in an interview. “I just don’t believe in negotiating with Islamic terrorists.”

Vance's office did not respond to a request for comment.

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Trump supporter-turned-critic, called for the president to be removed from office through the Constitution's 25th Amendment after he said earlier this week that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran made a deal. Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor who now hosts a podcast, unloaded on Trump with a profane critique and asked, “Can’t he just behave like a normal human?”

During a recent taping of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” the host wondered what would end first, their episode or the ceasefire deal.

Despite the growing criticism, Republican leaders in Congress were largely silent. Many were privately uncomfortable with Trump's threats on social media and were concerned about how the war would play out, especially in an election year. But with Congress on recess for the opening two weeks of April, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., have offered little public reaction to Trump's moves.

Some said the developments were simply unfolding too quickly.

“How do you go up and give a presentation or speech in a situation where every 12 hours, the baseline story has a new gradient?" Rep. Dave Schweikert, an Arizona Republican who is running for governor, said in an interview. “In many ways, it is the sin of arrogance thinking you can go out and talk about something when the story is still unfolding.”

A factor in the midterms?

That leaves Republicans in an uncertain position, much like the state of the war. The party already faces fierce headwinds ahead of the November midterms, and some say its best bet is for voters to forget about Iran by then.

“My hope is that it will be long behind us by the time votes are cast,” said Chris Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist. "Fortunately for the GOP, foreign policy flare-ups rarely decide midterm elections on their own, especially when voters are far more focused on the economy and prices at home."

For now, Trump and his White House are expressing confidence. Trump hailed a “big day for World Peace” after the ceasefire was first announced. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt heralded a “victory for the United States of America that the president and our incredible military made happen.”

In a social media post, Trump dismissed his detractors, including podcasters such as Kelly, as “stupid people” who will “say anything necessary for some 'free' and cheap publicity.”

Some of the president's supporters in Congress are pushing back at the suggestion that Trump has become too entangled overseas at the expense of domestic priorities.

“Part of America First is making sure that the homeland stays safe and Iran is a factor in our safety,” Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., said in an interview. “We are all hopeful that the ceasefire does hold and that Iran lives up to their side of the agreement.

Recent elections are cause for GOP concern

Any president's party typically loses seats in Congress during a midterm election year and races this week offered a fresh reason for concern for Republicans.

Republican Clay Fuller won Greene’s district by about 12 percentage points. She had a 29-percentage-point win two years earlier, and Trump carried the district by almost 37 percentage points. In Wisconsin, the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court grew this week when a Democratic-backed candidate won by a double-digit margin.

That follows strong performances for Democrats in other recent races, including the Florida state legislative district that is home to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults approved of how Trump was handling his job as president, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling last month. That share is largely unchanged since he returned to office in January 2025. But it is also roughly where Trump was at this point in his first term, when Democrats went on to gain 40 House seats in the 2018 midterms.

While Trump still has deep support from Republicans, there are signs that he risks frustrating his supporters if the U.S. becomes involved in a prolonged war. Although 63% of Republicans back airstrikes against Iranian military targets, the March survey found, only 20% back deploying American ground troops. Rising gas prices could pose a problem, with about 6 in 10 Republicans saying they are at least “somewhat” concerned about affording gas in the next few months, though they are less worried than the rest of the country.

‘People are willing to endure some short-term pain’

Republicans who have spent time with voters over the recess say they believe the party has political breathing room to navigate the war.

Kustoff said constituents across his rural northwestern Tennessee district seemed “generally supportive” of Trump's actions in Iran, even when they have been accompanied by higher prices at the pump.

“My takeaway is that people are willing to endure some short-term pain as it relates to gas prices if the situation with Iran is resolved," he said.

But as they return to Washington next week, Republicans face a series of difficult choices.

At the outset of the war, some GOP lawmakers said Trump would need to seek approval from Congress if the conflict lasted longer than 60 days, a deadline that would approach near the end of April if the ceasefire did not hold. The administration is seeking billions of dollars in additional spending for the war, setting up a vote that could put budget-conscious Republicans in a difficult spot before the fall campaigns.

Democrats are also moving to force another vote on a war powers resolution that would curb Trump's options in Iran. A similar effort failed last month, but another vote could add pressure on Republicans, depending on how the ceasefire plays out.

Schweikert described the war powers vote as the “dance of parties.”

“Their job is to try to embarrass us and our job as the majority is to try to make things work,” he said. “It's just the job.”

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Peoples reported from New York and Kinnard from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

Roanoke (1-0) took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series, continuing a postseason rivalry between the two teams that includes the Dawgs’ four-game victory in the 2023 President’s Cup Finals.

Birmingham (0-1) struck first despite going 0-for-3 on the power play in the opening period. Drake Glover gave the Bulls a 1-0 lead at 14:17, beating goaltender Austyn Roudebush. At the time, Birmingham held an 8-2 advantage in shots.

The momentum quickly shifted as Roanoke responded with the next 12 shots. Joe Widmar tied the game at 16:53 of the first period, scoring off assists from Khristian Acosta and Gustav Müller. Less than a minute later, Ryan Reifler redirected an Acosta shot from the blue line to give the Dawgs a 2-1 lead at 17:53.

The teams entered the first intermission tied at eight shots apiece.

Roanoke seized control in the second period, opening with the first nine shots and adding two early goals. Travis Broughman made it 3-1 at 2:49, finishing a one-timer from Müller. Alex Wilkins extended the lead to 4-1 at 9:42 with a shot from the high slot.

Müller added his first goal of the night with 3.1 seconds remaining in the period, tipping in a shot from Bryce Martin to push the advantage to 5-1. Roanoke outshot Birmingham 14-5 in the second and carried the four-goal lead into the final period.

The Dawgs continued their offensive surge in the third. Tim Manning scored at 8:02 off assists from Reifler and Acosta, and Müller capped the scoring with his second goal of the game, finishing with four points.

Roudebush stopped 17 shots to earn his 14th career postseason win, becoming the SPHL’s all-time leader in playoff victories. Head coach Dan Bremner recorded his 20th postseason win, becoming the fifth coach in league history to reach the milestone.

Six Roanoke players scored goals, and 11 recorded at least one point. Müller led the way with four points, Acosta tallied three assists and Broughman added a goal and two assists.

The Dawgs will host Game 2 of the series this weekend at Berglund Center.

He didn't, but at least this time he walked off the floor on his own, instead of being carried out with a severe injury.

So Tatum looked at the positives after the New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics 112-106 on Thursday night in his first game at the arena since rupturing his Achilles tendon there in last season's playoffs.

“Today was important for me, especially when I made the decision to come back and when I made the decision to play today,” Tatum said. “I’m glad I did. I feel a lot better.”

He said he was nervous and anxious earlier in the day and had to tell himself to relax after the game began. The star forward turned in a strong effort, finishing with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, falling just short of his second triple-double since returning last month.

Tatum was hurt last May 12 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals when he fell to the court in the fourth quarter of a Knicks victory. New York went on to win the series, ending the Celtics’ championship reign.

He had surgery the following day in New York and returned to action March 6, playing in his 16th game of the season Thursday.

“There was definitely a sense of gratitude. Last time I was in here I couldn’t walk and now today was the first time it felt like it went by pretty quick,” Tatum said. “Because obviously I remember the incident like it happened yesterday, so today was the first time where I was like, it went by kind of fast.”

Tatum got a nice ovation when he was the last Boston starter announced, with more cheers than boos. He got the Celtics on the board with a steal and layup after the Knicks raced to a 7-0 start.

“Since I’ve returned the reception that I’ve gotten from players, coaches I’ve never even spoken to, GMs, has been great,” Tatum said. “And even today when they announced my name it was kind of loud in there and that means a lot obviously from wearing the Celtics uniform, just showing their respect and obviously because it happened in this building. So I did, I appreciated that.”

Tatum averaged 21.6 points and 9.8 rebounds in his first 15 games. He said after the Celtics' home victory over Charlotte on Tuesday that he wasn't “thrilled to go back and play” at Madison Square Garden.

Tatum drew plenty of spectators as he went through his pregame warmups near the Celtics bench. Coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game he had a chance to talk to his star forward earlier in the day and praised the way he was preparing for the game.

“I think one of his greatest strengths is just his vulnerability and openness and his understanding. It’s an opportunity tonight and obviously another small checkmark in his journey, which he’s done a great job handling those, and expect him to be able to do the same tonight,” Mazzulla said. “There’s both, right? There’s a ton of emotions but also opportunity and I think he’s ready for that.”

Many players around the league love playing at the historic arena, saying it's their favorite road venue. Tatum could have avoided this trip and instead played Friday at home against New Orleans, because he is not playing in both games of back-to-back sets.

But he decided earlier this week that this was the game he needed to play in, especially with fellow star Jaylen Brown sitting out because of left Achilles tendinitis.

“I always enjoyed coming to play here, the environment, the atmosphere. I’ve had some really big games,” Tatum said. “Obviously like the lowest point of my life was here, but in a weird way it’s a part of my story.”

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

It is the latest legislative initiative by acting President Delcy Rodríguez since the self-proclaimed socialist government that has ruled Venezuela for 26 years came under pressure from the Trump administration in January, when the U.S. military deposed then-President Nicolás Maduro.

The lengthy bill will now undergo a review by the country’s high court to determine if it is constitutional.

The bill regulates mineral rights, establishes small, medium and large-scale mining categories, and allows for independent arbitration of disputes, which foreign investors view as key to guard against the government seizing their assets. It also bans the president, vice president, ministers, governors and others from holding mining titles.

The bill is a “vehicle for the construction of future prosperity” and an “instrument that protects” mining workers across the country, National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez told lawmakers after the measure was approved.

The approval came a day after the acting president asked public and private sector workers, whose wages have long not allowed them to afford basic necessities, for patience as her government works to improve the country’s economy. She promised them a wage increase on May 1 but did not disclose the amount.

On Thursday, as workers protested for better wages in the capital, Caracas, Delcy Rodríguez arrived in Grenada on her first official international trip as acting president.

Two decades ago, many foreign firms in the mining and oil sectors saw their assets seized by the Venezuelan government. However, as crucial oil revenues plummeted, Maduro’s government in 2016 designated more than 10% of Venezuela’s territory as a mining development zone stretching across the central area of the country.

Since then, mining operations for gold, diamonds, copper and other minerals have proliferated. Many of these sites are informal, unlicensed mines operating under brutal conditions and the presence of criminal groups.

Homicides, human trafficking, fuel smuggling and other crimes are commonplace in mining areas, but ordinary Venezuelans continue to flock there in hopes of getting rich quick and escaping poverty.

Officials and members of the military take cuts from the illegal mining revenue in exchange for allowing the operation of mines.

“The mining and subsequent sale of gold has proven to be a lucrative financial scheme for some well-connected Venezuelans and senior officers within the National Bolivarian Armed Forces, which profits from charging criminal organizations for access and inputs, such as fuel,” the U.S. State Department reported to Congress last year.

“The estimated market value of gold mined in Venezuela is difficult to confirm, but well-respected sources estimate that it averaged $2.2 billion annually over the past five years.”

The newly approved bill sets royalties and taxes and caps mining concessions at 30 years, with the possibility of renewal. It also establishes prison penalties for those who participate in illegal activities and those who cause environmental damages, and allows for the seizure of illegally obtained minerals.

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

Pros being warmer and calmer weather; cons being the pollen.

We are in peak tree pollen season, which typically lasts from March to May. There is a high amount of pollen in the air and will be for the foreseeable future, so make sure to stock up on your allergy medication!

As we approach the weekend, temperatures will continue to warm into next week.

Today, temperatures will reach the mid 60s and be paired with loads of sunshine throughout. This is the coldest day in the forecast for the next 7 days!

Though on the warmer side, temperatures are just slightly below average by about 3 degrees for this time of year. Downstream, there is a bubble of warm air that is inching closer towards us.

By tomorrow, that warm air bubble will have expanded and extended towards the East Coast. This will ultimately result in an increase in our temperatures.

That warming trend will continue over the next 7 days and will make for some great conditions to get outside! Though a few showers are possible on Saturday, they will be very short-lived and sunshine will be present for most of the day.

Next work week is looking calm and will see well above average temperatures, with some areas having the potential to reach the 90s on Wednesday.

With that, make sure to enjoy the sunshine this week, as another temperature roller coaster is always possible later!

The University issued the following release on Thursday:

After 12 years of service to the university community and the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a career dedicated to the advancement of science and the impact of public higher education, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands intends to step down in the coming months. Sands made the announcement Thursday in a letter addressed “to Hokies everywhere.”

“There is no better role in higher education than to serve as the president of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,” Sands said. “Stewarding Virginia Tech as president has been the most fulfilling experience of my career.”

Sands said it was the right time to begin the process of stepping aside and provide the next president the opportunity to “take the baton at full stride” and continue Virginia Tech’s significant growth and momentum, telling the community that “together we have transformed Virginia Tech for the better.”

During his tenure, the university experienced a 30 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment, 200 percent increase in applications, 70 percent increase in extramural research expenditures, and 185 percent increase in the university’s endowment.

In sharing his plans with the rector of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, John Rocovich, Sands said he was committed to serving until his successor was in place to ensure a smooth transition.

“I am deeply grateful to President Sands for his leadership and tireless dedication to our university and his vision for what we can accomplish in service to our students and the commonwealth,” Rocovich said. “His drive to expand Virginia Tech’s impact through collaborative engagement with our communities and partners, and his steadfast commitment to public higher education have positioned us well for the future ahead. President Sands’ leadership in establishing the Virginia Tech Carilion Academic Health Center and the Innovation Campus will yield huge dividends to Virginia Tech for 100 years.”

Sands became president of Virginia Tech on June 1, 2014, after serving as provost and acting president of Purdue University. In his installation address on Oct. 17, 2014, he called on the university community to advance its impact on the commonwealth by developing the “binary star” created by the university’s main campus in Blacksburg and academic programs, opportunities, and partnerships in the greater Washington, D.C., area. Four years later, Virginia Tech announced plans to build an “innovation campus” in Alexandria as a signature part of the higher education package that brought Amazon’s HQ2 to Northern Virginia and continues to develop technology talent for the region.

The Alexandria building, now known as Academic Building One and home to the new Institute for Advanced Computing, is part of Virginia Tech’s significant growth across the commonwealth under Sands’ leadership. Fifteen major new construction projects have been launched since 2014 totaling 1.9 million square feet.

The North Academic District of the Blacksburg campus is the site of the largest transformation impacting students at nearly 500,000 square feet. It includes the Data and Decision Sciences Building, Hitt Hall and the Perry Place dining facility, the Undergraduate Science Laboratory, the New Classroom Building, and the New Business Building.

The Upper Quad also experienced significant expansion and improvement with the construction of Pearson Hall East and West, Upper Quad Hall North, and the Corps Leadership and Military Science Building.

Virginia Tech’s ongoing partnership with Carilion Clinic has been transformative in the Roanoke region with the development of the Health Sciences and Technology campus. The transition of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine from an independent institution to the university’s newest college is advancing a robust and growing academic health care presence. The expansion of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, with more than 40 faculty-led research teams in 260,000 square feet of laboratory and teaching space, doubled the university’s economic impact in Roanoke from $214 million in 2017 to $475 million in 2025.

Other new buildings that are complete or currently under construction include Mitchell Hall, the Creativity and Innovation District residence hall, the Beamer-Lawson Indoor Practice Facility, and the Dairy Science Complex at Kentland Farm.

Additional highlights of Sands’ leadership include:

• Establishing the Beyond Boundaries visioning initiative to engage and inspire the university community to imagine Virginia Tech’s role as a public land-grant university in 2047 and beyond and lay the groundwork for a new strategic plan
• Launching Virginia Tech’s sesquicentennial celebration to honor and reflect on the university’s history and inspire conversations about the future
• Successfully navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by engaging health care, government, and community partners throughout the region and leveraging the expertise of Virginia Tech scientists, researchers, and labs to support health care needs across the commonwealth and advance global understanding of how the virus is spread
• Achieving the initial $1.5 billion goal for Boundless Impact: The Campaign for Virginia Tech, engaging more than 117,000 alumni, and subsequently surpassing the $1.872 billion expanded goal two years ahead of schedule
• Increasing the university’s endowment from $800 million to more than $2 billion, providing critical resources to invest in Virginia Tech’s impact and excellence
• Launching the Partnership for Progress initiative to collaboratively identify and address shared challenges and opportunities for Virginia Tech and the surrounding region and to create a visionary, actionable road map to enhance quality of life
• Establishing Virginia Tech Advantage to remove barriers for in-state students with financial need, supporting emergency resources as well as research, study-abroad and internship opportunities
• Advancing Virginia Tech Global Distinction as the university’s commitment to institutional excellence across research, teaching, and engagement, making the university a destination for the best faculty, students, and partners who will pursue solutions to the world’s most complex problems
• Championing the initiative to advance Virginia Tech Athletics’ success and impact to elevate the university’s national visibility, preserve its role as a regional economic engine, and reinforce its value as a unique student leadership experience

Sands and his wife, Laura P. Sands, plan to remain in the area. “Laura and I will always be Hokies,” he said. “We plan to stay rooted in Blacksburg as this is most definitely home.”

You can read President Tim Sands letter in full here:

To Hokies everywhere,

There is no better role in higher education than to serve as president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. With our commitment to service in the spirit of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), our engaged presence in every community in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and our growing research impact across the globe, stewarding Virginia Tech as president over the last dozen years has been the most fulfilling experience of my career. It is now time, while Virginia Tech has momentum on so many fronts, for me to start the process of stepping aside so that the next president can take the baton in full stride. I have shared with the rector of the Board of Visitors my commitment to serve until my successor is in place to ensure a smooth transition for the university community.

Together, we have transformed Virginia Tech for the better. Undergraduate enrollment has grown by 30 percent, extramural research expenditures are up 70 percent, our endowment has increased by 185 percent, our U.S. News & World Report ranking among national universities has improved by 20 spots, and applications for undergraduate admission are up 200 percent. I am most proud that more than 100,000 Hokies have earned their degrees since I began in 2014. Our ambition to go further is reflected in our current priorities of Virginia Tech Advantage, Virginia Tech Global Distinction, and Invest to Win.

The late Nikki Giovanni, Hokie Nation’s world-renowned poet, so eloquently captured the Virginia Tech ethos when she said, “We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be.” I am confident that the next president will lead us forward with that same spirit, new aspirations, and an incessant drive to advance Virginia Tech.

Laura and I will always be Hokies. We plan to stay rooted in Blacksburg as this is most definitely home.

Go Hokies!

President Tim Sands

U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner also reacted to the announcement on Thursday:

“I’m deeply troubled by the sudden departure of President Tim Sands at Virginia Tech. He has been an exceptional leader for over a decade—a period of significant growth for the university, including through its deepened partnership with Carilion Clinic in the Roanoke region and its impressive Innovation Campus in Alexandria. This action has the earmarks of previous well-publicized efforts to oust Presidents at other Virginia public universities—VMI, UVA and George Mason. I urge Governor Spanberger to get to the bottom of this latest attack on Virginia higher education and take all necessary action to insulate university leadership from politically-motivated schemes.”

Sen. Kaine (D-VA)

“Over the last twelve years, President Tim Sands has led a period of major growth and transformation at Virginia Tech, positioning the university as a more competitive global research institution. He strengthened Virginia Tech by prioritizing research and innovation, expanding enrollment while maintaining university competitiveness, and building lasting industry partnerships. As a result, Virginia Tech graduates are better prepared to meet the needs of a dynamic and rapidly changing workforce. In the time we have worked together, I have appreciated his candor, his drive, and his focus on expansion. I thank President Sands for his dedication to Virginia Tech and the Commonwealth.

“As the university looks ahead, it is essential that Virginia Tech takes the time to conduct a thoughtful and thorough search for its next leader — one that reflects the institution’s stature and ensures it secures a world-class president to build on this strong foundation.”

Sen. Warner (D-VA)

Thursday night, a community meeting was held at the Williamson Library.

This year’s proposed budget totals $421.5 million and includes the possibility of a hiring freeze for unfilled positions.

The plan is not final, and the budget may change as public input is received. A second community meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at the South Roanoke United Methodist Church fellowship hall. The budget is expected to be adopted May 11.

Both Tehran and Washington are claiming victory and exerting pressure, with talks on a permanent deal set to begin soon in Islamabad and U.S. Vice President JD Vance set to lead the U.S. delegation.

Israeli strikes made Wednesday the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, with more than 300 people killed. There are lingering disagreements over whether the ceasefire covers the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Iran is warning of “STRONG responses” if attacks on its militant ally don’t stop.

Israel-Lebanon negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved direct talks, while the Lebanese government did not immediately respond. Netanyahu said there is no ceasefire in Lebanon and his country will keep striking Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war, as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states after Kuwait’s announcement.

Here is the latest:

South Korea to send senior diplomat to Iran for talks on Strait of Hormuz

South Korea says senior diplomat Chung Byung-ha will soon depart for Iran as a special envoy to discuss the safety of its citizens and Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that Chung plans to push for the freedom of navigation for all vessels, including South Korean.

The ministry earlier said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed Seoul’s plan to send a special envoy during a phone call with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday.

Kuwait base hit by drone attack

Kuwait’s National Guard said one of its bases had been hit in the drone attack and sustained damage, though no one was hurt.

Australia rules out playing an offensive military role in Iran war

Australia’s Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles has rejected former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s call for the air force to take an offensive role in the Iran war.

Abbott wrote in a newspaper opinion piece Friday that Australia should have offered the United States Air Force support including Australian strike fighters.

Marles, who is defense minister and acting prime minister while Anthony Albanese is overseas, said Australia had sent the United Arab Emirates a surveillance jet but was “not part of this conflict against Iran.”

“We will act in our national interest and we respectfully disagree with the position of Mr. Abbott,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Australia for not helping the United States since the Iran war began. Australia says it has received no request for help.

Ship-tracking data shows tankers’ movement in the Strait of Hormuz

Underlining Iran’s continued control of the Strait of Hormuz, a Botswana-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker called the Nidi attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard but suddenly turned around and headed back early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.

On Thursday, four tankers and three bulk carriers crossed through the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the total number of ships passing through since the ceasefire to at least 12, according to the data firm Kpler. However, other ships not transmitting their locations may have passed through as well. The strait typically saw well over 100 ships passing through it daily in peacetime.

Iran Guard denies launching attacks on Persian Gulf states

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states on Thursday after Kuwait’s announcement.

“If these reports published by the media are true, without a doubt it is the work of the Zionist enemy or America,” the Guard said.

However, the Guard also launched repeated attacks on civilian targets in the war and also could be using Shiite militias in Iraq to launch assaults, providing deniability for Iran ahead of the talks.

Iran does not acknowledge launching any attack on Kuwait as it prepares for upcoming talks

Such an assault would mirror the continuing pressure campaign Tehran is waging on the U.S. and its allies, particularly as it tries to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah after intense Israeli airstrikes blanketed Beirut just after the ceasefire had been reached.

The attack on a pumping station on the East-West pipeline has affected about 700,000 barrels of output through it. Other attacks cut into about 600,000 barrels of crude oil production a day as well, the report said.

Saudi Aramco’s pipeline from the Abqaiq oil processing center near the Persian Gulf to the Yanbu port on the Red Sea circumvents the Hormuz chokepoint and has allowed Saudi Arabia to continue exporting a substantial portion of its oil, as much as 7 million barrels a day in optimal conditions. However, the pipeline lacks the capacity to fully make up for the Hormuz closure.

The Saudi statement did not identify when these attacks happened,(backslash) but stressed the affect they had on global energy markets.

“The continuation of these attacks leads to reduced supply and slows recovery, thereby affecting the security of supply for consuming countries and contributing to increased volatility in oil markets,” it said.

Kuwait accuses Iran and its proxies of attacking despite ceasefire

Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom.

A statement from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry, carried by the state-run KUNA news agency, put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks Saturday between the United States and Iran in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said the drone attacks “targeted some vital Kuwaiti facilities Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an anonymous official, acknowledged a recent attack in the war that damaged its crucial East-West pipeline. That pipeline carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran maintains a chokehold on despite the pause in the fighting.

Travelers face higher prices as jet fuel costs have climbed since start of the war

Volatile oil and jet fuel prices have been swinging since the war in the Middle East started and fighting near the Strait of Hormuz disrupted global oil shipments.

Airlines around the world are responding by trimming schedules and raising fees and fares, and air travelers are facing higher prices, fewer flights and tough choices about whether a trip is worth the cost.

Experts say budget carriers and the customers who rely on them will feel the pinch first, but even business travelers and front-cabin passengers won’t escape higher costs.

Relief may not come quickly even if oil prices start to drop, experts warn, because airlines can take months to adjust fares while they wait for energy markets to stabilize.

▶ Read more

China diplomacy in Iran war may offer leverage with Trump

China is considering its role in helping find a durable endgame to the war.

After prodding China to get involved in reopening the choked-off Strait of Hormuz, Trump told the French news outlet Agence France-Presse this week that he believed China played a part in encouraging Iran to agree to this week’s temporary truce.

Experts say this move could enhance China’s image as a stabilizing force and weaken the U.S. position. Beijing’s involvement also may provide leverage in upcoming trade negotiations when Trump visits next month.

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Trump casts doubt on effectiveness of the ceasefire

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on his social media site Thursday evening. “That is not the agreement we have!”

Trump had posted earlier about reports of Iran charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

“They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” his post said.

The White House supports reopening the strait as part of the ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes Iran’s military, which continues to control the waterway, from seeking to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.

Trump has not had any public event Thursday.

Israel’s military says it has struck ‘approximately 10 launchers’ in Lebanon

Israel’s military said the launchers had fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday and that it was working to locate and dismantle more.

Throughout Thursday, sirens had repeatedly alerted communities in northern Israel — especially along the border with Lebanon — that Hezbollah was firing in their direction.

Former Iranian foreign minister reportedly died after being wounded in airstrike

A former Iranian foreign minister who once suggested Tehran could seek a nuclear weapon died late Thursday after being wounded in an airstrike last week, Iranian state television reported.

Kamal Kharazi had served as a foreign minister for Iran’s reformist President Mohammad Khatami, then as a foreign affairs adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In 2022, he told news network Al Jazeera that Tehran has “the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb but there has been no decision by Iran to build one,” sparking concern about Tehran’s intentions.

Trump says Iran ‘better not be’ charging fees on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz

In a social media post, the president wrote, “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”

He offered no further details. The White House supports Iran reopening the strait as part of a tenuous ceasefire deal but says Trump opposes that country’s military using its continued control of the waterway to raise revenue by charging tolls on passing ships.

Trump has spent much of Thursday in closed-door meetings. He does not have any scheduled public events the rest of the day.

Starmer and Trump speak about the Strait of Hormuz

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was traveling in Qatar and spoke to Trump about efforts to restore tanker traffic through the waterway, Starmer’s office said in a statement.

Starmer has visited Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in the last two days as he tries to build momentum behind the ceasefire and the reopening of the strait.

Trump has taken repeated potshots at the British leader over Starmer’s reluctance to join the U.S.-Israeli war.

US summons Iraqi ambassador to complain about Iran-backed militia attacks, including ‘ambush’ of American diplomats

While acknowledging that Iraqi forces have made efforts to respond to these attacks, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said Baghdad had not done enough to prevent them, according to a statement.

He warned Iraq’s envoy that support for militias by “elements associated with the Iraqi government” is harming U.S.-Iraq ties, adding that Washington expects immediate steps to dismantle the groups.

US stocks rise and oil prices trim their gains on hopes for the Iran ceasefire

U.S. stocks rose, even though oil prices did too, as financial markets moved more modestly a day after surging on optimism about a ceasefire.

After beginning Thursday with moderate losses following drops for Asian and European stocks, the S&P 500 erased its dip and rose 0.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.8% after Israel’s prime minister authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon. That eased worries that the two-week ceasefire announced late Tuesday may already be in trouble.

Oil prices pared some of their earlier gains but nevertheless remained higher.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 3.7% to settle at $97.87 after briefly nearing $103 in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.2% to $95.92 per barrel.

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Saudi Arabia acknowledges widespread damage to energy sector during the war

For the first time, Saudi Arabia laid out the scale of damage to its oil output and exports, although it didn’t specify when the attacks occurred.

The Energy Ministry statement also gave the first public confirmation of Saudi casualties during the war, saying one citizen working as an industrial security guard was killed and seven others wounded.

Thursday’s statement said strikes targeted production, transport and refining sites, as well as petrochemical and power facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu on the Red Sea. The statement didn’t attribute responsibility.

A pumping station on the East-West Pipeline was among the hardest hit, cutting throughput by about 700,000 barrels per day, while outages at Manifa and Khurais reduced output by 600,000 more barrels per day.

Major refineries, including SATORP, Ras Tanura and SAMREF, were also hit, with fires at Ju’aymah disrupting exports of liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas liquids.

US official confirms State Department to host Israel-Lebanon talks next week in Washington

A U.S. official is confirming that talks between Israel and Lebanon on ending the current hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah will take place starting next week at the State Department in Washington.

The official offered no other details of the negotiations but a person familiar with the planning for the talks said they would be led on the U.S. side by Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter.

Both the U.S. official and the person familiar with the planning spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter. It was not immediately clear who would represent Lebanon.

Pro-Iran groups have used AI to troll Trump and try to control the war narrative

Analysts say the memes appear to be coming from groups linked to the government in Tehran and are part of a strategy of leveraging its limited resources to inflict damage on the U.S., even indirectly.

“Their goal is to sow enough discontent with the conflict as to eventually force the West to cave in, so it is massively important to them,” Neil Lavie-Driver, an AI researcher at the University of Cambridge, said, referring to Iran.

The memes are fluent not just in English but in American culture and trolling. They portray Trump as old, out of step and internationally isolated, and include a series that uses the style of the “Lego” animated movies.

Published on various social platforms, they are racking up millions of views — although it’s not clear how much influence they have had.

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Timeline of decades of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah

The ongoing war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is far from the first conflict between them. The two have an enmity that goes back more than four decades, with outbursts of fighting or outright war punctuated by periods of tense calm.

▶ Read a timeline of some significant events in their hostilities

Well-timed bets on Polymarket tied to the Iran war draw calls for investigations from lawmakers

A group of new accounts on the prediction market Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers.

Calls are increasing in Congress for investigations into the prediction market platform Polymarket after the latest instance where groups of anonymous traders made strategic, well-timed bets on a major geopolitical event hours before it occurred.

Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York who sits on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the subcommittee on digital assets and financial technology, sent a letter Thursday to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission demanding the regulator review and investigate these well-timed trades.

“This pattern raises serious concerns that certain market participants may have had access to material nonpublic information regarding a market-moving geopolitical event,” Torres wrote. The letter was shared exclusively with the AP.

▶ Read more

Trump says he asked Netanyahu to dial back strikes in Lebanon

The U.S. president said Netanyahu agreed to dial back Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon ahead of peace talks in Pakistan.

“I spoke with Bibi and he’s going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key,” Trump told NBC News in a phone interview.

Wednesday was the deadliest day of Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the war began.

Netanyahu on Thursday said there’s no ceasefire in Lebanon, and Israel will keep striking Iran-backed Hezbollah militants there until security is restored in northern Israel. But he said he authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible” aimed at disarming Hezbollah.

The Israeli military also said it had begun striking Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon on Thursday evening.

Trump expresses optimism about peace talks

Trump says Iranian leaders are more amendable to dealmaking in private conversations than they are in their public statements.

The Iranians “talk much differently when you’re at a meeting than they do to the press. They’re much more reasonable,” Trump told NBC News during a phone interview. “They’re agreeing to all the things that they have to agree to. Remember, they’ve been conquered. They have no military.”

He added: “If they don’t make a deal, it’s going to be very painful.”

The president also said he’s “very optimistic” about the prospects of reaching a peace deal during talks in Pakistan.

Iran’s supreme leader declares victory over US and Israel

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei says the Iranian people are the “definitive victors” in the conflict.

“Today, it is clear before everyone’s eyes, the dawn of the Islamic Republic’s emergence as a great power while the evil is facing the downhill slope of weakness,” he said in a statement read by an anchor on state TV.

Khamenei has not been seen or heard in public since he replaced his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

The younger Khamenei also mentioned the upcoming ceasefire talks with the U.S. and pledged there would be a “new era” in the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. has demanded that Iran reopen the strategic waterway as part of the ceasefire.

The head of Israel’s military says the mission is to keep weakening Hezbollah

Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, speaking to troops inside Lebanon, said the army’s mission is to “continue deepening the damage and to continue weakening Hezbollah.” He said the objective is to remove the direct threat to residents of northern Israel.

UN health chief urges reversal of Israel’s evacuation orders in Beirut

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, issued a statement Thursday outlining the dire access issues for medical assistance in Beirut’s Jnah area after a series of deadly Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours.

He said that the Israeli military evacuation order covers two major hospitals including Rafik Hariri, the main public hospital in Beirut. These facilities, according to Ghebreyesus, have been crucial for the hundreds of civilians who need assistance. The order also includes five shelters that are currently accommodating more than 5,000 people.

“At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available to receive approximately 450 patients from the two hospitals (including 40 patients in the ICU), rendering their evacuation operationally unfeasible,” he posted on X. “Both facilities are operating at full capacity, including treating the injured from the strikes of 8 April.”

UN warns that fighting in Lebanon poses a ‘grave risk’ to the ceasefire

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and welcomed potential Israel-Lebanon talks, saying there is “no military solution” to the conflict, according to his spokesman.

Ongoing Israeli military activity jeopardizes the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that Israeli evacuation orders in Beirut’s southern suburbs cover U.N. sites, refugee camps, aid hubs, a major public hospital, and 13 shelters hosting over 6,000 displaced people.

Pakistani envoy says Lebanon's inclusion in ceasefire agreement was clear to both sides

Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Islamabad’s representative at the U.N., told a group of reporters Thursday that he doesn’t know why there was confusion about Lebanon being included in the ceasefire deal agreed to by U.S., Israel and Iran, when it was “clearly” cited in the prime minister’s statement.

“I believe this will be addressed also as part of these discussions, because there are many points on the agenda,” Ahmad said about the planned talks in Islamabad this weekend. “I think we should not let anything come in the way of these talks, which are very important.”

Iran war may bite shipping sector harder than COVID, expert says

Increased risks to shipping in the Mideast have forced vessels to change their routes, making trips 14 days longer on average, according to ALIS, an Italy-based logistics services association of 2,500 companies globally.

The ordinary insurance costs related to a ship’s value have also gone up by about 10% during the war, ALIS vice president Marcello Di Caterina told The Associated Press.

He warned that the Iran crisis could have a more devastating impact on the shipping industry than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Netanyahu says there is no ceasefire with Lebanon

In a video statement, the Israeli leader says his country will keep striking Hezbollah until security is restored in northern Israel.

He confirmed that he is opening direct negotiations with Lebanon, the aim or which are Hezbollah’s disarmament and a sustainable peace agreement.

UN special envoy meets with top Iranian officials and humanitarian groups in Tehran

Jean Arnault, the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy for the Iran war, met Thursday with an Iranian deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, as the diplomat makes his way through countries impacted by the conflict.

Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesperson, said Arnault heard Iranian officials’ “views on the way forward” as a shaky day-old ceasefire holds. He also met with representatives from the Iranian Red Crescent, who took him on a tour of some of the sites damaged by weeks of U.S.-Israeli strikes, including a university that was destroyed and an apartment block.

Asked if Arnault or any U.N. personnel will be playing a role in the upcoming negotiations in Pakistan, Dujarric said that world body is currently discussing with all parties “the structural role that we can play” in bringing an end to this conflict.

___

Correction: This post has been updated to correct that the U.N. misidentified one of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers. He is Kazem Gharibabadi, not Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

Iran’s president says the ceasefire was approved at the highest levels

President Masoud Pezeshkian said the decision to accept a ceasefire was made unanimously by top officials and approved by the supreme leader.

In a statement posted Thursday on the Telegram messaging app, he said the ceasefire “is not a sign of weakness but a way to solidify Iran’s proud victories,” adding that the pause in fighting followed more than a month of Iranian public resilience and support.

Democrats vow to keep trying to stop Trump’s war with Iran

House Democrats gathered at the U.S. Capitol and lambasted the Trump administration’s ceasefire negotiations with Iran as chaotic and unworkable, and characterized the president’s threats about wiping out a civilization as the musings of madness.

The lawmakers warned they would keep proposing resolutions to end the war, and use their votes to block any requests from the administration for more money to fund it.

“It’s clear that their ability to negotiate with Iran is nonexistent,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland.

He called Trump’s plans for tolls on the strait particularly outrageous.

“How did we end up at a point where he’s talking about a joint venture with Iran with respect to charging tolls at the Strait of Hormuz?” he asked.

Rep. Madeleine Dean from Pennsylvania, who supports efforts to force Trump to step aside under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, pointed back to the president’s days of escalatory rhetoric.

“The president brought the entire globe to watch his madness,” she said.

Death toll from wave of heavy Israeli strikes in Lebanon rises above 300, health officials say

Israel said it launched 100 strikes in 10 minutes across Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting what they said were Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure. The strikes hit busy residential and commercial areas without warning.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said the death toll is likely to rise as search and rescue teams continue to find remains under the rubble, and as more people identify dozens of bodies at hospitals.

It was the deadliest day in over a month of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Around 1,150 people were wounded.

New details on expected talks between Israel and Lebanon

Israel-Lebanon negotiations are expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The talks are expected to be handled on the American side by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the situation.

It was not immediately clear whom Lebanon was sending.

Axios first reported the timing and location of the talks.

— By Matthew Lee

House Democrats fail to pass a resolution on Iran

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives made a quick but unsuccessful effort Thursday to pass a bill that would force Trump to get congressional approval before carrying out any more attacks on Iran.

The effort had no chance of passage during a short, minutes-long “pro forma session” of the House during which legislative business is rarely conducted.

But that didn’t stop Democrats from trying to make the point that they oppose the war in Iran.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat from Maryland, tried to force a vote on the resolution, but Rep. Christopher Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, declared the House was adjourned.

“Let us vote!” yelled Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat from Virginia.

“The time has come. The time has come,” Ivey said.

Democrats will look to force a vote on the measure again next week.

Newly published research concludes that fossilized remains listed by Guinness World Records as the earliest known octopus belong instead to a relative of a nautilus, a cephalopod with both tentacles and a shell.

University of Reading zoologist Thomas Clements, the lead researcher behind the new findings, said the fossil, Pohlsepia mazonensis, has long been the subject of scientific debate.

“It’s a very difficult fossil to interpret,” he said. “To look at it, it kind of just looks like a white mush.

“If you look at it and you are a cephalopod researcher and you’re interested in everything octopus, it does superficially look a lot like a deep-water octopus.”

The creature, a blob about the size of a human hand, was found in the Mazon Creek area of Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago, that is rich in fossils from a period before dinosaurs walked the Earth.

Its identification by paleontologists as an octopus in 2000 upended ideas about the evolution of the eight-tentacled cephalopods, suggesting they emerged much earlier than previously thought. The next oldest-known octopus fossil is only about 90 million years old.

“It’s a huge gap,” Clements said. “And so that big gap got researchers sort of questioning, ‘Is this thing actually an octopus?”

To solve the mystery of the “weird blob,” Clements and his team used a synchrotron — which uses fast-moving electrons to create beams of light brighter than the sun — to look inside the fossil rock. They found a ribbon of teeth known as a radula that is common to all mollusks, including nautiluses and octopuses. Each row had 11 teeth. Octopuses have either seven or nine.

“This has too many teeth, so it can’t be an octopus,” Clements said. “And that’s how we realize that the world’s oldest octopus is actually a fossil nautilus, not an octopus.”

The teeth matched those of a fossil nautiloid called Paleocadmus pohli that had been found in the same area. Clements said the mistaken identification may have happened because the creature decomposed and lost its telltale shell before it was fossilized, complicating identification.

As a result of the findings published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Guinness World Records said it will no longer list Pohlsepia mazonensis as the earliest known octopus.

Managing Editor Adam Millward said the scientists had made “a fascinating discovery.”

“We will be resting the original ‘oldest octopus fossil’ title and look forward to reviewing this new evidence,” he said.

Pohlsepia mazonensis is named for its discoverer James Pohl, and is in the collection of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Paul Mayer, manager of the museum's collection of fossil invertebrates, said he was “a little surprised” by its new classification as a nautiloid, but noted that "people have been questioning whether it was an octopus ever since the original paper was first published in 2000.”

He said new technologies for scientific investigation had brought renewed interest in the Mazon Creek fossils.

“(That) is great for our collections and hopefully new discoveries will be made and new stories will be revealed,” Mayer said.

Clements said the museum should not be disappointed by the new evidence, which means it now has “the oldest soft tissue nautilus in the world.

“The Field Museum have a small collection of these ancient nautiluses, which I think as a cephalopod worker is probably the best thing ever,” he said.

Shortly ahead of a fragile ceasefire agreement earlier this week, a new group of accounts on prediction market platform Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed trades betting there'd be an announcement about a halt in fighting for April 7. Some quickly pocketed awards, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits combined. Others are still awaiting payouts as an end to the deadly conflict still seems uncertain.

Regardless, the trades once again put the spotlight on a murky — and growing — world of speculative, 24/7 transactions now filling the internet. And some have raised questions about suspicious activity, including an anonymous Polymarket trader pocketing more than $400,000 following the U.S. military's capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.

The timing and subjects of such trades have fueled concerns about potential insider trading — with calls increasing among lawmakers for investigations. Popular platforms, including Polymarket, have rolled out added guardrails in efforts to combat insider trading recently, but critics say it isn't enough.

Meanwhile, because prediction market wagers are categorized differently than traditional forms of gambling, tensions about government oversight have erupted. President Donald Trump's administration has already thrown its support behind company operators — and sued three states over their efforts to regulate them further.

Here's what we know:

How prediction markets work

The scope of topics involved in prediction markets can range immensely. Recently, there’s been a surge of wages on elections and sports games. But some users have also bet millions on things like a rumored — and ultimately unrealized — “secret finale” for the Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” whether the U.S. government will confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life and how much billionaire Elon Musk might post on social media this month.

In industry-speak, what someone buys or sells in a prediction market is called an “event contract.” They're typically advertised as “yes” or “no” wagers. And the price of one fluctuates between $0 and $1, reflecting what traders are collectively willing to pay based on a 0% to 100% chance of whether they think an event will occur.

The more likely traders think an event will occur, the more expensive that contract will become. And as those odds change over time, users can cash out early to make incremental profits, or try to avoid higher losses on what they’ve already invested.

Proponents of prediction markets argue putting money on the line leads to better forecasts and allow you to gauge public opinion as an alternative to polling. And some think there's value in monitoring prediction markets for potential news, particularly elections.

Still, prediction markets can also be wrong. People investing their money may be closely following certain events, but others could just be randomly guessing.

Who is behind all of the trading is also pretty unclear.

The companies running today's biggest platforms know who their customers are — as they collect personal information to verify identities and payments. But most users can trade under anonymous pseudonyms on public-facing websites, making it difficult for the world to tell who is profiting off many event contracts.

Critics also stress that the ease and speed of joining these 24/7 wagers leads to financial losses everyday, particularly harming users who may already struggle with gambling.

The major players

Polymarket is one of the largest prediction markets in the world. Users can fund event contracts through cryptocurrency, debit or credit cards and bank transfers.

Restrictions vary by country, but in the U.S., the reach of these markets has expanded rapidly over recent years, coinciding with shifting policies out of Washington.

While prediction markets have found backing from the Trump-controlled Commodity Futures Trading Commission, former President Joe Biden was more aggressive in cracking down. Following a 2022 settlement with the CFTC, Polymarket was barred from operating in the country. That changed under Trump late last year, when Polymarket announced it would be returning to the U.S. after receiving clearance from the commission. American-based users can now join a “waitlist” to access the platform.

Meanwhile, Polymarket’s top competitor, Kalshi, has been a federally-regulated exchange since 2020. The platform offers similar ways to buy and sell event contracts as Polymarket — and it currently allows event contracts on elections and sports nationwide. Kalshi won court approval just weeks before the 2024 election to let Americans put money on upcoming political races and began to host sports trading last year.

The space is now crowded with other big names. Major League Baseball inked a deal with Polymarket last month, following other partnerships in professional hockey and soccer. Meanwhile, sports betting giants DraftKings and FanDuel have launched their own prediction platforms. Trump’s social media site Truth Social has also promised to offer an in-platform prediction market through a partnership with Crypto.com — and one of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr., holds advisory roles at both Polymarket and Kalshi.

Last month, The Associated Press agreed to sell its U.S. elections data to Kalshi.

Loose regulation and calls for reform

Because they’re positioned as selling event contracts, prediction markets are regulated by the CFTC. That means they can avoid state-level restrictions or bans in place for traditional gambling and sports betting today.

“It’s a huge loophole,” said Karl Lockhart, an assistant professor of law at DePaul University who has studied this space. “You just have to comply with one set of regulations, rather than (rules from) each state around the country.”

Sports betting is taking center stage. There are a handful of big states — like California and Texas, for example — where sports betting is still illegal, but people can now wager on games, athlete trades and more through event contracts.

A growing number of states and tribes are trying to stop this. But the Trump administration has already pushed back, maintaining that the CFTC has the sole authority to regulate prediction markets. Many lawyers expect litigation to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Despite overseeing trillions of dollars for the overall U.S. derivatives market, the CFTC is much smaller than the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates the securities industry. And at the same time event contracts are growing rapidly on prediction market platforms, there have been sizeable workforce cuts and leadership departures. CFTC chairman Michael Selig is the sole member filling just one of five commissioner slots.

Meanwhile, Congress members from both sides of the aisle have introduced broad legislation for more guardrails in recent months. Soon after, Kalshi — which has maintained that it's always banned insider trading — quickly moved to bar political candidates from trading on their own campaigns, and preemptively block anyone involved in college or professional sports from contracts related to the sports they play or are employed by. Polymarket rewrote its rules to clearly say users cannot trade on contracts where they might possess confidential information, or could influence the outcome of an event.

The CFTC can also bar event contracts related to war, terrorism and assassinations, which experts say could put some prediction market trades — including those related to the Iran war — on added shaky ground, at least in the U.S. Lawmakers like Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff are seeking an outright ban of these kinds of trades.

Still, users might find ways to buy certain contracts while traveling abroad, or through connecting to different VPNs.

Schaefer's record-tying goal came at 9:39 of the second period and gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs as New York went on to win 5-3. Schaefer beat goaltender Artur Akhtyamov through the legs following a pass from Tony DeAngelo.

“It’s crazy. You don’t really think about that stuff,” Schaefer said when asked how it feels to be mentioned alongside Leetch. “But obviously when it gets brought up it’s crazy to think. It’s definitely an honor to see some of those guys and what they’ve done.”

Schaefer, 18, continues to deliver one of the most remarkable rookie seasons by a player at his position in league history. He ranks second on the Islanders with 59 points, showcasing elite offensive ability from the blue line.

The goal was his first since March 21 against Montreal, ending a brief drought while adding another milestone to his growing resume.

“Watching him from the bench, live, it’s just, wow, what a player,” Peter DeBoer said of Schaefer after his first game as the Islanders' coach. “I watched him a lot on video as we were scouting for the Olympics. To see him live like that, at the age he’s at, and how dynamic he is, both ends of the rink, defensively, in particular. I know the offensive stuff, but for a young player how defensively aware he is and how much he works at the defensive piece of the game too. He’s a really, really special player.”

Selected first in the draft last year, Schaefer entered the league following an injury-shortened junior season but quickly made an impact. He became the youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a point in his debut and has since set multiple age-based records.

He's now one away from passing Leetch, who set the record in 1988-89 and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. Schaefer is the front-runner for the same honor.

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

RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook were to perform a set drawing from both their catalog and new fifth album, “ARIRANG," their first since band members completed South Korea's mandatory military service.

Despite pouring rain, the band's fans — including some hailing from Russia, the United States and Brazil — packed a stadium with a capacity for over 40,000 for the show, which marks the group’s first headline tour performance since their 2021–22 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.

Over a hundred fans, including some who had failed to get tickets, stood outside the stadium with umbrellas to listen to the band perform.

Kim Eunhee, a South Korean fan who came with her 30-year-old daughter, said the hope of attending a live BTS concert helped her power through her battle with cancer.

“Even during my hardest times last year while fighting it, this was the one thing I kept waiting for,” she said. "Coming to an actual concert venue and seeing them in person for the first time — it was just so meaningful.”

The shows in South Korea through Sunday launch a tour spanning dozens of shows across the United States, Europe and Asia, which analysts say could generate hundreds of million s of dollars in revenue per quarter.

The concert comes less than a month after BTS marked their comeback with a free concert at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square.

All seven members of BTS completed their mandatory military service, with Suga being the last to be discharged in June 2025. He reportedly served at government-related facilities and organizations instead of military camps due to a shoulder injury.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men between 18 and 28 years old are required by law to perform up to 21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.

“ARIRANG” — named after a centuries-old Korean folk song regarded as an unofficial anthem across the Korean peninsula — debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The single “Swim” also made it to the top of the charts.

BTS — short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, or “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” in Korean — debuted in June 2013. The seven-member group launched in 2013 with the hip-hop heavy single album “2 Cool 4 Skool,” releasing three full-length projects before gaining momentum with their 2016 album “Wings.”

Their global breakthrough came in 2017 when “DNA” entered the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first Korean boy band to achieve such a feat. The song’s success was followed by a performance at the American Music Awards, further fueling their international fan base called “Army.”

The tour is scheduled to bring the group to Australia in early 2027, with a final stop in Manila, Philippines, next March.​

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This version corrects that all seven members completed their military service, instead of six of seven members.

The Penguins clinched a playoff spot Thursday night by beating New Jersey, ending their postseason drought that lasted three seasons. They had made 16 postseason appearances in a row before that, last missing in Sidney Crosby's rookie year in 2005-06, with that stretch including three Stanley Cup titles.

"That’s why you play — that’s the best time of year," Crosby said. “I know how hard it is. I think I understand that. We had some tough ones where it came down to the last day and didn’t get in, and you don’t ever know. But I thought right from camp, we’ve had those intentions and had that belief."

It was an up-and-down season that included an eight-game skid in December and a pair of six-game winning streaks later in the winter. Far from assured a place in the field in late March when the Eastern Conference race was a crowded mess, they've won five of six games since March 30 to get in.

“A couple weeks ago (we realized) it’s really in our hands (because we) play a lot of the teams in it,” defenseman Connor Clifton said. “We figured it was going to work itself out, and first and foremost it’s about us and getting points and we’ve done that, so it’s been good.”

It has also been a surprise. Pittsburgh was a 6-1 long shot to qualify before the puck dropped on opening night, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. This looked like one last kick at it together for an aging core of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who at 20 seasons together are the longest-tenured trio of teammates in North American professional sports.

Instead, new coach Dan Muse has made general manager Kyle Dubas look brilliant for hiring him from relative anonymity: five years as an assistant under Peter Laviolette with Nashville and the New York Rangers. Succeeding two-time Cup-winner Mike Sullivan was not an easy task, but Muse aced the test in his first chance to run an NHL bench.

“He’s been great: Calm there behind the bench, and he’s just a really personable guy, easy to talk to away from the rink,” forward Justin Brazeau said. "Any time you create that atmosphere in here, it’s not too tense or anything like that. I think guys are just willing to go out there and play free.”

Center Ben Kindel, picked 11th in the draft last year, made the team at 18. Defenseman Erik Karlsson thrived at 35. Crosby was a point-a-game player for a 21st consecutive season, even if it was interrupted by the injury that knocked him out of the Olympics.

“It takes everybody,” Crosby said. "Everybody has had a part in this. Obviously it’s a team game, but especially with this group: With the injuries and all the different guys in and out, everybody’s contributed to us getting there.”

Muse, like Crosby, saw evidence in training camp that this was a playoff-caliber team.

“I just saw the competitive nature of the group,” Muse said. "There’s ebbs and flows in every season, but I think this group has just continued to grow. Enjoy it for a little bit, a minute, and then it’s just continuing that preparation. It’s a big step for the group. I’m really proud of these guys, happy for these guys, the staff, everybody involved. The players have done a great job with it throughout the year. We talked about earning things at the beginning of the year. This group earned it.”

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AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Netanyahu later stressed that there was no ceasefire between them. In a video statement, he said Israel will keep striking Hezbollah until security is restored in northern Israel.

There was no immediate response from Lebanon. But Israel-Lebanon negotiations were expected to begin next week at the State Department in Washington, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the delicacy of the matter.

The prospect of talks appeared to bolster the tentative ceasefire in the Iran war that has staggered under the weight of Israel’s bombardment of Beirut, Tehran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and uncertainty over whether talks can find common ground.

However later Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the ceasefire, writing on his social media platform: “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz.”

“That is not the agreement we have!” Trump wrote of the trickle of ships Iran has allowed to pass through the crucial waterway.

Meanwhile, Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks targeting it on Thursday despite the ceasefire, as Saudi Arabia said recent attacks damaged a key pipeline in the kingdom. The accusation from Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry put new pressure on the ceasefire ahead of planned talks between the U.S. and Iran this weekend.

Saudi Arabia’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, quoting an anonymous official, said its crucial East-West pipeline, which carries oil out to the Red Sea and avoids the Strait of Hormuz, was damaged in the recent attacks.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks on Persian Gulf states after Kuwait’s announcement.

Such an assault would mirror the continuing pressure campaign Tehran is waging on the U.S. and its allies, particularly amid efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel's announcement of negotiations with Lebanon comes amid disagreement over whether the ceasefire deal included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and a day after Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began Feb. 28.

The launch of direct peace talks between the neighboring nations is a significant achievement, though reaching an agreement will be difficult after decades of hostilities, Hezbollah’s continued presence and longstanding disagreements over the countries' shared land border.

The talks in Washington are expected to be handled on the American side by the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, and on the Israeli side by the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, according to the person familiar with the planning.

It was not immediately clear who would represent Lebanon. The timing and location of the talks was first reported by Axios.

Pressure on ceasefire continues

After declaring victory with the ceasefire announcement, both Iran and the U.S. have appeared to apply pressure on each other. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested forces have mined the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for oil that Tehran has closed. Trump warned that U.S. forces would hit Iran harder than before if it did not fulfill the agreement.

Underlining Iran’s continued control of the strait, a Botswana-flagged liquified natural gas tanker attempted to travel out of the Persian Gulf via a route ordered by the Revolutionary Guard, but suddenly turned around and headed back early Friday, ship-tracking data showed.

Questions also remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the strait, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.

Israel vows to continue striking Hezbollah in Lebanon

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned in a social media post Thursday that continued Israeli attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses.”

Qalibaf has been discussed as a possible negotiator who could meet U.S. Vice President JD Vance this weekend in Islamabad. The White House has said Vance would lead the delegation for talks starting Saturday.

Iran had said Israel's ongoing attacks on Hezbollah were violating the ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu and Trump have said they were not.

Trump said Thursday that he has asked Netanyahu to dial back the strikes in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry said more than 300 people were killed and more than 1,100 wounded Wednesday by Israeli strikes on central Beirut and other areas of Lebanon that Israel said targeted Hezbollah, which joined the war in support of Tehran.

Early Friday morning, Israel’s military said it struck approximately 10 launchers in Lebanon that had fired rockets toward northern Israel on Thursday.

Israel also said Thursday it killed Ali Yusuf Harshi, an aide to Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem. There was no Hezbollah comment.

Threat of mines looms over the strait

Four tankers and three bulk carriers crossed through the strait Thursday, bringing the total number of ships passing through since the ceasefire to at least 12, according to the data firm Kpler.

Semiofficial news agencies in Iran published a chart Thursday suggesting the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard put sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz during the war — a message that may be intended to pressure the U.S.

The chart, released by the ISNA news agency and Tasnim, showed a large circle marked “danger zone” in Farsi over the route ships take through the strait, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas once passed.

The head of the United Arab Emirates’ major oil company, Sultan al-Jaber, said some 230 ships loaded with oil were waiting to get through the strait and must be allowed "to navigate this corridor without condition.”

The strait’s de facto closure has caused oil prices to skyrocket — affecting the cost of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East. The spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was around $98 Thursday, up about 35% since the war began.

Fate of Iran’s enriched uranium remains a question

The fate of Iran’s missile and nuclear programs — which the U.S. and Israel sought to eliminate in going to war — was unclear. The U.S. insists Iran must never be able to build nuclear weapons and wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build them. Iran insists its program is peaceful.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to remove the uranium, buried in last year's U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, though Tehran did not confirm that. In one version of the ceasefire deal that Iran published, it said it would be allowed to continue enrichment.

The chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, said Thursday that protecting Tehran’s right to enrich uranium is “necessary” for any ceasefire talks.

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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong, Zeke Miller, Matthew Lee and Will Weissert in Washington, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Kareem Chehayeb and Hussein Malla in Beirut contributed to this report.

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued the final order of removal on Thursday, according to Khalil's lawyers. The board’s rulings are not public, and an inquiry to the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately returned.

Khalil said he was not surprised by the ruling, which he called “biased and politically motivated.” His attorneys said he cannot be lawfully detained or deported as he pursues a separate case in the federal court system.

“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine — and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” Khalil said in a statement.

The Board of Immigration Appeals sets precedent in the byzantine immigration court system, which is controlled by the Department of Justice — and increasingly under the influence of the Trump administration.

Khalil, a 31-year-old legal permanent resident, was the first person whose arrest became publicly known during the federal crackdown on noncitizens who publicly criticized Israel and its actions in Gaza.

The government has claimed that Khalil's efforts as a leader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia were “aligned to Hamas.” They have not presented evidence of any connection to the terrorist group, and Khalil has adamantly denied allegations of antisemitism.

After his arrest last March, Khalil spent 104 days in an immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before he was ordered released by a federal judge in New Jersey.

Khalil suffered a significant setback in his federal case earlier this year, with a U.S. appeals panel ruling the judge in New Jersey overstepped his authority by releasing him. In a 2-1 decision, the panel found that law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts before Khalil can challenge the decision in federal court.

Khalil’s lawyers are requesting the full appeals panel reconsider the decision. Earlier this month, they asked one of the appellate panel’s judges to step aside because of his previous role as a top Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters.

Khalil was born in Syria to a Palestinian family and holds Algerian citizenship through a distant relative. He has said that he could be targeted, and even killed, if he is deported.

The omission of one of the group's biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country's popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening the tour this week and weekend.

China has long used trade restrictions in geopolitical disputes. The trigger for the entertainment ban was a South Korean decision to allow the United States to deploy an anti-missile system on its soil. What sets the ban apart is how long it has lasted, something analysts attribute to government concern about the massive popularity of Korean music and videos. China is a robust defender of its own cultural products.

Rumblings that the ban could be eased — an expectation South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has publicly voiced as he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping seek to improve ties — have thrust it back into the news.

China’s use of economic pressure signals the government’s resolve, clarifies what it considers unacceptable and reinforces nationalism at home, said Seung-Youn Oh, a Bryn Mawr College professor who is writing a book on China’s use of informal economic sanctions.

“From China’s perspective, these actions go beyond symbolism,” she said in a written response to questions. “They are strategic tools to shape the international environment.”

The ban is not total

Many K-pop groups have non-Korean members, and they have been allowed to perform in China. Pop-up stores selling K-pop merchandise attract lines of fans and require advance reservations during peak hours.

For video, the growth of streaming means dramas are accessible to an extent — though the latest ones may be pirated versions. A check of four major Chinese platforms found a limited selection of about 50 dramas, and all at least four years old.

The ban does not apply in Macao and Hong Kong — where the BTS tour lands in 2027 — because both are special regions in China with their own governments and laws.

“I’m already really grateful that they can perform in places like Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan,” said Tian Xin, who was in Seoul last month for a free comeback concert ahead of the tour. “The rest is a matter of national policy. Of course, I still hope they can come closer to us — fans always want that.”

The missile defense system, known by the acronym THAAD, is aimed at the North Korean threat, but China said its radar could be reconfigured to peer into its territory. Though the U.S. operates the system, it was South Korea's decision to allow the deployment that angered China.

Besides the entertainment ban, China also drove out a South Korean supermarket chain. The THAAD system remains — though recent security camera footage and other images have sparked speculation that the U.S. may have shipped some of the interceptor missiles to the Mideast for the war against Iran.

China's concerns about K-pop fandom

At first, China welcomed the “Korean Wave” as a cultural import compatible with its political system and a substitute for Western pop culture, the Korea Creative Content Agency, a government group, said in a report earlier this year. But the surging popularity of Korean music and dramas in the 2010s turned it into something that, the report said, needed to be controlled.

“The Chinese government had never experienced anything like that before,” said Dong-ha Kim, a professor at the Busan University of Foreign Studies.

“While the dispute over THAAD happened to coincide with that period, Beijing’s fundamental concern goes deeper,” he said. “It cannot allow foreign culture to shape the thinking of its young people, especially when its government has no control over the content.”

The government banned effeminate-looking men from TV in 2021, a look that Chinese pop stars likely picked up from South Korean and Japanese performers.

China also wants to develop its own pop culture as a form of soft power. Think the Labubu doll craze and the food and drinks chains.

“China wants cultural governance — to grow its own music industry," said Hyunji Lee, a financial analyst who covers the entertainment sector. "If K-pop floods back in, there’s a direct conflict.”

China is mum on the ban

China, though, has never acknowledged that a prohibition exists.

“China has never imposed any so-called bans on the Republic of Korea,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in 2022. Another spokesperson, Lin Jian, said last September that China has no objection to “healthy and beneficial” cultural exchange with South Korea.

Hopes for lifting the ban rose after Lee and Xi met twice. During Lee's visit to China in January, the two governments signed an agreement to expand cultural and content exchange — but only gradually, and starting with just soccer and the traditional board game called go.

Xi quoted two Chinese idioms, according to the South Korean side: “Three feet of ice does not form in a single day" and "Fruit falls only when it ripens.” They suggest that any opening will take time and happen when the conditions are right.

On Chinese social media, some people said that K-pop — with its suggestive dance moves — is not appropriate for children. Others warned that Korean entertainment could overwhelm the domestic industry. Fans looked forward to performances in China that would save them from red-eye flights and the cost of hotel stays abroad.

Yu Sang, a fan and event organizer, flew to Seoul five times last year for K-pop events and organized one for “KPop Demon Hunters” at a shopping mall in Beijing on New Year's Eve.

“The fans in China are incredibly devoted,” she said. “If you go to the Arctic, I’ll go to the Arctic with you.”

South Korea looks beyond China

The ban has reshaped how South Korean entertainment companies see the Chinese market.

Drama producers have felt the loss most acutely and have more to gain from an opening-up than the K-pop industry, said Lee, the financial analyst.

Pirated versions don't generate income for the producers. The dramas are on small apps and sometimes disappear after a few days, according to reports posted by individuals on social media. Some of the apps themselves disappear, then reappear with slightly altered names.

Netflix and Disney+, which distribute most South Korean dramas globally, are blocked in China. They can be accessed using a virtual private network, which is illegal to do (though enforcement is spotty).

The K-pop industry has restructured so that China is no longer critical. Japan has become the anchor market, while North America has emerged as the primary growth frontier.

“China matters,” Lee said, “but it’s not something companies are desperately waiting on anymore.”

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Park reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and Fu Ting in Washington and video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed.

He's the Masters champion. That brought a measure of patience and a load of freedom.

“I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings. So that was a little different,” McIlroy said after opening with a 5-under 67, his best start at Augusta National in 15 years, to share the lead with Sam Burns.

It seems as though McIlroy has been wearing his Masters green jacket all week — to the weekend activities, to his news conference on Tuesday (Tiger Woods never did that), to the Masters Club dinner that night. And after his opening round?

“It’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on at the end of the day,” he said.

It wasn't his best golf, but he got everything out of his round in his bid to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back at Augusta National.

“By the way, Rory may never lose this thing again after last year,” Fred Couples said he told his caddie when he heard another cheer, presumably for McIlroy.

Only one other player in the last 10 years — Hideki Matsuyama when he won in 2021 — shot 67 while hitting only five fairways. McIlroy was the sixth defending champion to have at least a share of the 18-hole lead, though only Jack Nicklaus (1966) went on to win.

There's a long way to go, and a course that already has everyone's attention because of how fast and firm it already was on Thursday.

Burns was among the early starters. He played the par 5s with three birdies and an eagle and wound up with his lowest score in his fifth Masters appearance.

“Historically, people who have success here play the par 5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world going for a third green jacket in the last five years, was 3 under through three holes in the tougher afternoon, when the light gusts began playing tricks and the greens got crispy. He had one bogey and 14 pars the rest of the way for a 70.

The whole day was tough, and the forecast — this could be the first Masters in 25 years without any rain — has everyone on edge thinking what the next three days could hold. Yes, the weather was gorgeous. But dry and firm conditions are scary, even in this marvelous garden.

“It’s not right on the edge, but it’s playing nice and firm where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you lose control somewhere,” Adam Scott said after a 72.

Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion and a two-time winner on the European tour this year, was at 69 along with Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama. Reed was atop the leaderboard for so much of the day due to two eagles on the front nine that sent him out in 31.

But he dropped a shot on the 10th, and then was flummoxed by what he thought was an ideal shot for his second into the par-5 15th. Such are the firmness of the greens that his shot hit hard off the back of the green, bounded down the slope and didn't stop rolling until it was in the pond on No. 16.

“Water?” Reed asked his caddie as he looked toward the green. “It landed on the green.”

He later described it as a “head-scratcher.”

“I knew if it went over the green, we would be fine,” Reed said. “Didn’t really think I was going to go 30 yards over the green.”

Justin Rose, twice a playoff loser in the Masters, was in range of the lead until he dropped three shots over the last five holes and had to settle for a 70, tied with Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry.

The greens are already are so firm that Rose quipped, “You might get a yellow jacket if you win.” That was a reference to the shade of the greens — a yellow sheen means firm and fast, and that color on Thursday can make players nervous.

Augusta National can still take a bite out of anyone with enough swirling gusts to bring indecision, or bad shots that wind up in the wrong spot.

Bryson DeChambeau found that out on the 11th hole when he put his approach in the right bunker and it took him three to get out on his way to a 76. Jon Rahm turned potential birdie or better into a double bogey with a shot into the azalea bushes on the par-5 13th. He didn't make a birdie in his 78.

Only five players broke 70, and only 16 players broke par, the lowest in five years at the Masters for the opening round.

Ten players failed to break 80. One of them was Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, the No. 8 player in the world. He was among three players to take quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 15th.

McIlroy wasn't sure want to expect in his 18th appearance, his first as the Masters champion. Only twice had he started with rounds in the 60s, his best a 65 in 2011. That year, he went on to shoot 80 on the final day.

There were still nerves. It's still Augusta National.

“My hope was to get off to a solid start,” he said. “I feel like the way I played, 5 under, exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do.”

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

Bambaataa’s sudden death was met with an outpouring of condolences from friends, family and fans across the world, who paid tribute to his profound and unmistakable impact on one of the world’s most popular and politically influential music genres. But others have said that his impact was overshadowed in recent years after numerous men who knew Bambaataa when they were boys accused him of sexual abuse.

The rapper and producer is best known for breakthrough tracks like 1982’s “Planet Rock” and for founding the Universal Zulu Nation art collective.

“Hip Hop will never be the same without him -- but everything hip hop is today, it is because of him. His spirit lives in every beat, every cypher and every corner of this globe he touched,” his talent agency, Naf Management Entertainment, wrote in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

The birthplace of hip hop

Bambaataa was Lance Taylor born in 1957 in the South Bronx, and he came of age at a time when the New York City neighborhood was rapidly deteriorating after intensifying segregation and years of economic neglect. By the 1970s and 1980s, landlords were burning apartment buildings to collect insurance money instead of investing in repairs, leaving low-income mostly Puerto Rican and Black families without socioeconomic opportunity.

Bambaataa had Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, and he was raised in a low-income public housing complex by his mother, according to an interview he gave Frank Broughton in 1998. He was exposed to music at an early age through his mother's vinyl record collection.

The ability to repurpose and mix old hits became one of his signatures at the parties he began to throw in community centers across the neighborhood in the early 1970s, Bambaataa said in the interview. He was deeply inspired by the work of Kool Herc, who is often deemed the father of hip-hop.

Bambaataa and the parties where he DJ’ed swelled in popularity throughout the decade and well into the 1980s, when he released a series of electro tracks that helped shaped the burgeoning hip-hop and electro-funk music movements. He also was one of the first DJs to use beat breaks, incorporating the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine.

"We was playin’ everything, everything that was funky," he said. He later added that what set his parties apart was that “other DJs would play they great records for fifteen, twenty minutes. We was changing ours every minute or two. I couldn’t have no breakbeat go longer than a minute or two.”

At that time, Bambaataa said in previous interviews that he was able to leverage his affiliation with the local street gang the Black Spades in order to form a group he called the Zulu Nation, a nod to a South African ethnic group that he drew inspiration from. His slogan eventually became known as “peace, love, unity and having fun," and he said that he sought to use hip-hops' ballooning popularity to resolve local gang conflicts.

Later, Bambaataa changed the name to the Universal Zulu Nation to signal the inclusion of “all people from the planet earth.”

“At the core our music made people feel like they belong to a movement and not a moment, our music offered Hope something positive to believe in, it gave people identity, unity, and a way out,” Ellis Williams, a producer known as Mr. Biggs, wrote in an email to the AP. Mr. Biggs was a member of the group Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force that included Bambaataa.

Accused of sexual abuse

In recent years, numerous people have accused Bambaataa of sexual abuse.

In 2016, Bronx political activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage accused Bambaataa of abusing him in 1980, when he was Savage was a young teen.

“I was scared, but at the same time I was like, ’This is Afrika Bambaataa,' ” Savage told the AP in 2016. At the time he recalled, in detail, that encounter and four others that he said followed.

Bambaataa has vehemently denied those allegations.

After Savage went public with his claims, numerous other men came forward to share similar experiences about Bambaataa. In June 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation released a public letter apologizing to “the survivors of apparent sexual molestation by Bambaataa" saying that some members of the group knew about the abuse but “chose not to disclose” it.

"We extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to the many people who have been hurt,” organization wrote.

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Associated Press writer Maria Sherman contributed reporting from New York City.

The team announced that the surgery had been completed as the 76ers were playing the Houston Rockets Thursday night. Coach Nick Nurse said Embiid felt fine in practice on Wednesday before he learned of the situation Thursday morning.

“They had said that he had in the middle of the night, like 3, 3:30 (a.m.) or something, contacted them to say he was not feeling well,” Nurse said. “And so I think that’s kind of when this particular incident started.”

Nurse said the team learned of Embiid's diagnosis while preparing for the game.

“They finally got him to the doctor and they had the scan and then decided they needed to do the surgery here in Houston,” Nurse said.

The coach did not give a timetable for Embiid's return, but it seems unlikely that the former MVP would be able to return for the play-in tournament or the first round of the playoffs.

“It is a tough blow,” Nurse said.

The 76ers entered Thursday in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and on track for a spot in the play-in tournament, though they were only one game behind sixth-place Toronto.

Embiid has been limited to 38 games this season, sitting out primarily to manage injuries to his knees.

“They’ve played different stretches of the year without him,” Nurse said. “As far as what we do personnel-wise, we’ve got (Adem) Bona, we got (Andre) Drummond and we’ll use them both. And then hopefully we can use (Thursday) and (Friday) and Sunday get back to getting used to that scenario again.”

Embiid was held out against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday. He has not played in both games of a back-to-back all season.

After missing Saturday's game, Embiid had 34 points and 12 rebounds in Philadelphia's 115-102 loss at San Antonio on Monday night.

Embiid, 32, is averaging 26.9 points and 7.7 rebounds this season after playing in only 19 games in 2024-25. He hasn't appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.

Embiid expressed his frustrations with Daryl Morey, the 76ers' president of basketball operations, on Friday night for not allowing him to play at Washington last week.

“I was (ticked) off. I wanted to play basketball,” Embiid said. “I wasn’t allowed to play basketball, so I think this is more of a question of Daryl Morey or whoever makes the decisions.”

Nurse said it's on him to keep the team upbeat with the postseason approaching.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up,” he said. “I’m the leader of the team, I’ve got to pick the guys up and they’ll understand the situation and we’ve got to be professional and we’ve got to go try to figure it out the best we can.”

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

Last week, FIFA had asked for a top price of $2,735 for category 1 tickets for the match but added new “front category” pricing.

FIFA also added a front category 2 tier to its ticket sales website without public announcement, asking $1,940 to $2,330 for those tickets for the U.S. opener. The new categories were first reported Thursday by The Athletic.

The World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 in 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Soccer’s governing body had in its Sept. 9 “ticket products and categories” information called category 1 “the highest-priced seats, located primarily in the lower tier” but appears to have withheld some seats from that category. It had labeled category 2 as “positioned outside of category 1 areas, available in both lower and upper tiers.”

FIFA did not respond to an email sent to its media office seeking comment.

FIFA added seats at up to $3,360 in front category 1 for Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto.

For round of 16 games, it added $905 seats in Philadelphia.

FIFA last week raised its top ticket price for the World Cup final to $10,990 during the glitch-hampered reopening of sales. The price had been $8,680 when FIFA sold tickets after the tournament draw in December.

FIFA’s category 2 tickets for the July 19 game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, were $7,380, up from $5,575, and category 3 cost $5,785, an increase from $4,185.

No tickets appeared to be available for the final on Thursday on FIFA's ticket site.

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

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided with The New York Times for the second time in a month. He had earlier said the Pentagon's new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. On Thursday, he said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's team had tried to evade his March 20 ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.

“The department simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman had ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and stressed that his decision applies to “all regulated parties.” The Pentagon building serves as the headquarters for U.S. military operations.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said it disagrees with the ruling and intends to appeal. Parnell said in a social media post that the department has “at all times” complied with judge's orders, reinstating journalists' credentials and issuing "a materially revised policy that addressed every concern" identified by the judge.

“The Department remains committed to press access at the Pentagon while fulfilling its statutory obligation to ensure the safe and secure operation of the Pentagon Reservation,” he wrote.

Times attorney Theodore Boutrous said Thursday’s ruling “powerfully vindicates both the Court’s authority and the First Amendment’s protections of independent journalism.”

A dispute brewing since October

In October, reporters from mainstream news outlets walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules. The Times sued the Pentagon and Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.

President Donald Trump has fought against the press on several levels since returning to his second term, suing The Times and Wall Street Journal, and cutting funding for public radio and television because he did not like their coverage. At the same time, he frequently talks to the media and responds to reporters who call him on his cell phone.

In a series of briefings on the Iran War, Hegseth has frequently ignored or insulted legacy media reporters let in to cover the events, while concentrating on questions from friendly conservative media.

Times attorneys accused the Pentagon of violating the judge’s March 20 order, “both in letter and spirit” with its revised policy. The newspaper said that Pentagon was also trying to impose unprecedented rules dictating when reporters can offer anonymity to sources.

Friedman said that the access the Pentagon made available to permit holders “is not even close to as meaningful as the broad access” they previously had.

Government lawyers said the Pentagon’s revised policy fully complies with the judge’s directives. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has said the administration would appeal Friedman’s March 20 decision.

The Pentagon Press Association, which includes Associated Press reporters, said the Pentagon’s interim policy preserves provisions that Friedman deemed to be unconstitutional while also adding new restrictions on credential holders.

“In effect," Justice Department attorneys wrote, “Plaintiffs ask this Court to expand the Order to prohibit the Department from ever addressing the security of the Pentagon through a press credentialing policy with conditions that may address similar topics or concerns as the enjoined conditions. The Order does not say that, and this Court should not read it to say that.”

Current Pentagon press corps agreed to policy

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Journalists from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from the AP, have continued reporting on the military from outside the Pentagon.

Friedman, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran underscore the need for public access to information about government activities.

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech. That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now,” the judge wrote last month.

Friedman said the challenged policy is clearly designed to weed out “disfavored journalists” and replace them with those who are “on board and willing to serve” the administration.

“That," he wrote, “is viewpoint discrimination, full stop.”

Might be better off that he's not back in the lead, too.

Rose has held at least a share of the first-round lead a record five times at Augusta National, including last year, but he's never been able to carry it through the finish. So, Rose's bogey-bogey conclusion to his opening round Thursday, which left the three-time runner-up with a 70 and three shots back of McIlroy and early leader Sam Burns, might not be the worst thing in the world.

Only trouble is there are a whole lot of big names in the same pack giving chase.

Former Masters champion Patrick Reed was joined by Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama at 3 under, while Rose was in the group another shot back, along with Scottie Scheffler, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele — all of them major champions.

“Every hole you're just being patient through experience,” Rose said, “knowing that grinding out the pars is a good thing. Just eating up the holes is a good thing. You know, getting through Amen Corner is a good thing. All of these things — you just know how the golf course can play at times, yeah, so every little mini-victory you had out there was worth celebrating.”

Most of the best scores Thursday were posted by those with early tee times, who took advantage of a little less wind and much softer greens. By the afternoon, the breeze was swirling, the sun had baked the putting surfaces and many of them felt like concrete.

“Every player would say they would like it firm and fast,” Rose said, “but I think there’s, like, a boundary to that.”

The tough conditions left Schauffele pondering a slightly different approach to his second round Friday.

“Potentially attack less, to be honest,” he said. “You know, less attack and a little more conservative. I mean, there are some nice scores up there early from what I can see. ... You just have to be driving it really far to have a shorter club in, or got to be hitting your spots.”

Rose and Scheffler were both able to hit their spots early in their rounds.

By the end of them, the course was at its toughest.

Rose started off with back-to-back birdies at the second and third, added another at the eighth and twice reached 4 under on the second nine before finishing with consecutive bogeys. Scheffler got off to a similarly hot start with an eagle at the par-5 second and a birdie after driving the green at the par-4 third, only to play a birdieless final 15 holes in 2 over.

That also ended Scheffler's streak of four consecutive sub-70 opening rounds at the Masters.

But it left him very much in contention with 54 holes to play.

“I feel like I played really solid,” Scheffler said. “There were a few putts I felt like I made that lipped out or stayed right on the edge. But other than that, really, really a lot of good stuff. I hit it nice. Drove it well today. Hit some good iron shots.

“But you know, like you said, it got so firm late in the day. It was pretty challenging.”

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

After prodding China, which is more reliant on Persian Gulf oil than the U.S., to get involved in reopening the choked-off Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump told the French news outlet Agence France-Presse this week that he believed China played a part in encouraging Iran to agree to this week’s temporary truce.

Three diplomats who were familiar with China’s behind-the-scenes efforts also confirmed that Beijing, the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil, used its leverage to urge the Iranians back to the negotiating table.

It was a major moment for Beijing, which had decried the U.S. and Israel’s war against its economic partner Iran as misguided before getting directly involved in the push to call off the fighting, including discouraging strikes by Iran. Talks between the sides are expected to begin in Pakistan this weekend.

With the precarious truce hanging in the balance, China will now need to make a careful calculation about whether it will tread deeper into the waters of diplomacy as its weighs the impact that a long-lasting war could have on the global economy. Middle East turmoil goes against Beijing’s interests, while its efforts may boost its global standing and strengthen its hand in negotiating thorny trade issues during Trump’s visit to China next month.

“Beijing is not in the business of expending its leverage as a favor to others or for the greater good,” said Danny Russel, a former senior diplomat in President Barack Obama’s administration.

Iran war puts pressure on China’s economy

Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters this week that China “has worked actively to help bring about an end to the conflict.”

The Chinese economy is already feeling pressure from Iran’s effective shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20% of the world’s crude normally flows. The blockade is having an enormous impact on Asia, a factor that seems to have informed the Chinese government’s efforts to consult with Pakistan to help mediate a two-week ceasefire.

China does not appear interested in providing guarantees for Iran’s long-term security as part of a deal to end hostilities, something Tehran has hoped for and sees as critical to deterring the U.S and Israel from carrying out strikes in the future.

Iran’s ambassador to China suggested this week that its two closest allies — China and Russia — as well as the United Nations ensure the guarantee, which Tehran has sought before without success. Asked about that possibility, Mao would only say that “we hope that all parties will resolve their disputes through dialogue and negotiation.”

Still, Chinese officials are cognizant that a lasting war threatens to have real impact on Beijing’s bottom line. Premier Li Qiang announced last month that the government was projecting relatively modest 4.5% to 5% economic growth this year during a property slump and growing uncertainty around the globe. It’s the lowest growth target since 1991.

Ultimately, China’s foremost goal is “growth and development,” according to one of the diplomats familiar with Chinese deliberations on the war.

The diplomat, who like the others was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, added that a continued closure of the strait ran counter to that interest. It not only limits the flow of a significant supply of crude to China but also cuts off an important shipping lane for Chinese exports to the Mideast.

How Iran diplomacy could play into the Trump-Xi meeting

Trump will likely underscore that argument to Chinese President Xi Jinping during their much-anticipated Beijing summit next month. The talks, which were originally slated for this month, were pushed back so Trump could oversee the U.S. bombardment of Iran.

“That the United States and Iran have at least temporarily edged away from the precipice of a catastrophic escalation owes in part to China’s support for the ceasefire that Pakistan brokered,” said Ali Wyne, a senior research and advocacy adviser for U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “Even if short-lived, that breakthrough affords Beijing another opportunity to present itself as a stabilizing force and Washington as a reckless one.”

To be certain, China’s view is shaped by a heavy measure of skepticism.

Some in Beijing see Trump’s decision to launch the Iran war, as well as the military operation in January to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as being at least partially motivated by his strategy at containing China, diplomats say. Beijing was a major customer and investor in the South American country’s oil industry.

Privately, the Chinese have made clear that the U.S. and Iran would have to show compromise for a deal to coalesce. Beijing also is looking to press Trump to remove sanctions on Chinese companies doing business with Iran as part of a potential settlement, diplomats say.

The moment provides Xi some leverage at next month’s summit.

“Trump was in a crisis, and China helped,” said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center. “The optics of that alone helps to lighten the mood and sweeten the pot.”

Russel, the former State Department official, says there are signs that Beijing sees Trump as weakened after the president didn’t follow through on his threat to obliterate Iranian power plants and other critical infrastructure if Iran didn’t end its blockade of Hormuz.

The hashtag #HeChickenedOut was trending on Chinese social media in posts about Trump, and China’s state media was promoting the message that he blinked in the face of Iranian resistance, Russel said.

Xi, for his part, appears to be approaching the moment carefully.

“Beijing’s calculation is wait-and-see, safeguard Chinese energy and commercial interests, avoid direct confrontation with the United States, stay on good terms with its important Gulf partners like Saudi Arabia and UAE, and work with whoever ends up running Iran when the dust settles,” Russel said.

Steve Bannon, who served as a senior adviser to Trump during his first term, said Trump will need to press Xi to buy in if he hopes to seal an enduring peace agreement with Iran.

“Who can actually make a deal and enforce a deal? I know one group of people who can do it, and they live in Beijing,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast this week. He added, “Let’s just go to Beijing and sit down with a guy who can actually make a deal — Xi — and enforce a deal.”

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Amiri reported from the United Nations.

Reading an extraordinary statement at the White House, Melania Trump said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies” in regards to her connections to the late financier, a convicted sex offender who leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.

“The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” she said. “The individuals lying about me are devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.”

The seemingly out-of-the-blue message came as her husband, President Donald Trump, and his administration had finally seemed to move past more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein, especially as the Iran war had become all-consuming in Washington.

The first lady’s comments almost assuredly will serve to push the story back into the political spotlight even as the president urged the public and media to move on from the case.

Nick Clemens, a spokesperson for the first lady, said the West Wing was aware beforehand that she was making a statement. But he deferred to the West Wing on whether the content of what Melania Trump planned to say was known. The White House press office did not respond to requests for comment.

Calls for a congressional hearing for Epstein victims

The first lady spoke for about five minutes, reading her statement in the Grand Foyer, then walked away without taking questions. She did not go into detail on the accusations against her, but said they came from “individuals and entities looking to cause damage to my good name.”

She added that they were financially and politically motivated.

Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes, with a chance to testify before lawmakers and have their stories entered into the congressional record.

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”

Two of Epstein's accusers, Maria and Annie Farmer, said in a subsequent statement: “What we want is accountability, transparency, and justice.”

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and onetime fierce Trump supporter who resigned from Congress after a public falling out with the president, posted on X, “I am grateful to the First Lady for her brave statement today about Epstein and his victims.”

Democrats, meanwhile, jumped on Melania Trump's comments, saying they agreed with her call for a congressional hearing. In a social media post, Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee that is investigating Epstein, called on the Republican chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer, to schedule a public hearing “immediately.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who sponsored a bill prompting the release of millions of Epstein documents, turned attention back to the Justice Department, saying it's the attorney general's job to bring in survivors for testimony. Massie, who has pressed for more arrests in the Epstein case, ended a social media post with a call to “PROSECUTE!”

Questions about Epstein's reach have loomed over the administration and divided Republicans, driving a wedge into Trump's MAGA base as some pressed for the government to release more files and prosecute figures linked to the financier.

The issue has dogged Trump and fractured some of his alliances, including the one with Greene. Trump dismissed the issue as a “Democrat hoax” but later signed a bill to release files from Epstein's case.

It was not clear what prompted the first lady to revive the issue. She noted that several individuals and organizations have had to apologize for their “lies about me.” Of the examples she cited, the most recent was in October.

In that case, book publisher HarperCollins UK apologized to the first lady and retracted passages from a book suggesting Epstein played a role in introducing her and Donald Trump.

Melania Trump mentioned her husband several times in her comments. She said Epstein did not introduce her to Trump, and that she met her future husband at a New York City party in 1998.

Email to Maxwell was 'trivial’

The first lady brought Epstein back to the forefront months after federal authorities released millions of pages of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Lawmakers complained when the Justice Department made only a limited release last month, but officials said more time was needed to review additional documents that were discovered and to ensure no sensitive information about victims was released.

Melania Trump said Thursday that she was not friends with Epstein or Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles in New York and Florida. She described an email reply she sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence” without elaborating.

“My polite reply to her email doesn’t amount to anything more than a trivial note,” she said.

Among the documents released by the Justice Department was a brief email from 2002 with the sender and recipient blacked out. It begins, “Dear G!” and ends “Love, Melania,” and compliments the recipient on a magazine article about “JE.”

“I know you are very busy flying all over the world,” it says. “How was Palm Beach? I cannot wait to go down. Give me a call when you are back in NY.”

That email was sent the same month that a New York Magazine article was published about Epstein in which Trump called him a “terrific guy.”

Among other documents released was an image from Epstein’s home showing a series of photographs along a credenza and in drawers. In that image, inside a drawer among other photos, was a photograph of Trump, alongside Epstein, Melania Trump and Maxwell.

Epstein killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves in Washington and Michael R. Sisak and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked two historic moments: Chappelle's restoration of the Union Schoolhouse and WYSO's relocation of its new broadcast facility inside it, bringing together distinct efforts to keep the station rooted in Yellow Springs at a time when local media outlets face mounting challenges.

“It’s like our lifeblood in the community,” Chappelle told The Associated Press about the station, recalling how its possible departure to nearby Dayton would have been “a crushing blow” for Yellow Springs.

More than 200 people gathered outside the former Union Schoolhouse, where Chappelle attended along with his wife, mother, station leaders and village officials, including Yellow Springs Mayor Steve McQueen and Dayton Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss, to celebrate the opening the schoolhouse and the 68-year-old station into its next chapter.

The Union Schoolhouse was originally built in 1872 and once served as one of the village’s earliest integrated schools before later housing municipal offices and small businesses. After sitting vacant for years, it was purchased in 2020 by Chappelle’s real estate company, Iron Table Holdings.

The property has since been transformed into a modern, multiuse space, with WYSO occupying the lower floors, while Chappelle’s offices will be based on the top floor.

For Chappelle, the investment was as much about preservation as development.

“If you have the opportunity like I did, to invest in your community, then it’s one of the greatest investments I’ve ever made,” he said. “In some ways it feels dutiful. Other times I feel proud. ... but ultimately, I'm doing it because I want to, not because I have to.”

The move comes at a time when local media outlets across the country face shrinking resources, shifting audiences and increased competition from digital platforms.

Chappelle said stations like WYSO serve as a stabilizing force. He described it as “a beacon for sanity,” offering “a solid baseline of truth in context” in an increasingly fragmented information landscape.

“I grew up listening to WYSO since high school, and they’ve always been here connecting to the people,” said Mark Willis, a Yellow Springs resident. “They’re not out of a big city. They’re not subject to censorship by a sponsor. They tell the truth, they tell the stories, and it’s rare these days. To see them growing instead of shrinking is beautiful.”

Rather than simply donate funds, Chappelle financed the redevelopment of the building itself, allowing the station to remain locally rooted while maintaining editorial independence.

“Dave has never made a suggestion about our programming,” said Luke Dennis, general manager at WYSO. He said the new facility transforms how the station connects with the public, offering performance space, gathering areas and expanded capacity for programming.

“We belong to the community,” Dennis said.

Public radio stations in smaller markets have faced mounting pressure in recent years, from funding challenges to audience fragmentation.

Dennis said the investment positions WYSO differently. “We’re in a place of strength,” he said.

Yellow Springs has long been central to Chappelle’s life. Though he grew up in Maryland, he spent summers in the village, where his late father worked as the dean of students at Antioch College.

Now living on a 39-acre farm with his wife and their three children, Chappelle has become deeply embedded in the town. He has invested in local properties, opened a comedy club in the downtown area and hosted events that draw national attention, including performances in a nearby cornfield during the pandemic.

Chappelle has also taken an active role in local affairs, speaking at town meetings and supporting community initiatives.

As residents gathered and later filtered through the restored building, the moment marked more than a ribbon-cutting.

“I'm more determined and inspired that these institutions flourish and stay of the people,” Chappelle said after the ceremony. “The only way they can do that is the people supporting them. I'm hopeful more than worried."

Leftwich has built a proven track record of success as a head coach. His most recent stint was at William Fleming. He led the Colonels for the past three seasons notching a 27 wins that included back-to-back Region 5C Championship appearances and a Region 5C Semfinals appearance in 2025.

Prior to that, Leftwich spent two seasons at Cave Spring in his first role as a head coach. He turned the Knights program around going from 3-7 to 6-5 in his first season including a playoff appearance in 2022.

The former Salem High School quarterback who went on to play at UVA-Wise has earned the attention, respect and now another opportunity to carry on his coaching prowess to the Cavaliers program. Leftwich is set to be introduced Friday morning.

Leftwich takes over after Jamie Harless left to take the head coaching job at Union High School.

The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin marks at least the fifth time a judge has rejected similar attempts by the Justice Department. Sorokin, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said the U.S. attorney general's office did not take the necessary steps required to access voter rolls, as outlined in federal law.

“Put simply, the statute requires a statement of why the Attorney General demands production of the requested records,” Sorokin wrote. That statement has to be factual, “not just a conceivable or possible basis.”

In an emailed response, the Justice Department said it “does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

It has said it's seeking the voter data as part of an effort to ensure election security, but Democratic and Republican officials in several states have refused, saying the demand violates state and federal privacy laws. Some have raised concerns that federal officials will use the sensitive data for other purposes, such as searching for potential noncitizens.

During a hearing last month in Rhode Island, a DOJ attorney told a federal judge that the department was seeking unredacted voter roll information so it could be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to check citizenship status. DHS over the past year has beefed up the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program, for just this purpose.

“Our intention is to run this against the DHS SAVE database,” DOJ attorney Eric Neff told U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy during a March 26 hearing challenging the federal government’s authority to access the voter data.

The Justice Department has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force release of the data, which includes dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

At least 12 states have either provided or promised to provide their detailed voter registration lists to the department, according to the Brennan Center: Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

In the Massachusetts case, the the judge found that the Justice Department failed to follow the requirements for demanding the voter rolls set by a 1960 civil rights law.

That law, enacted as part of an effort to end racial discrimination in elections, says state voter records must be made available for inspection by the U.S. attorney general if the office includes a statement outlining why the information is being demanded and how it will be used.

The department's letter demanding Massachusetts’ voter data made no reference to the Civil Rights Act and didn’t cite any concerns about the way Massachusetts complied with federal voting laws, the judge said. Most importantly, it didn’t include any factual basis for the demand, Sorokin wrote.

In court documents, the Justice Department said it was demanding the data to check for “Massachusetts’ possible lack of compliance” with federal voter registration list requirements. It also said the Civil Rights Act was designed to be an investigatory tool to identify federal election law violations and argued that the U.S. attorney general can’t be required to prove a violation before seeking evidence of one.

“These arguments miss the point,” Sorokin wrote.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell called the ruling a decisive win for voters and the rule of law.

“The privacy of our voters is not up for negotiation, and I will continue to defend the integrity and security of our elections from the Trump Administration's cruel and harmful agenda,” she said in a news release.

Four federal judges in other states have dismissed similar lawsuits from the Department of Justice.

A federal judge in Michigan found the laws cited by the Justice Department do not require the disclosure of the voter records sought by the federal government. A federal judge in California said the administration “may not unilaterally usurp the authority over elections,” which the Constitution gives to the states and Congress. A federal judge in Oregon said the federal government was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists containing sensitive data.

A federal judge in Georgia dismissed a DOJ lawsuit because he found it had been filed in the wrong city. The federal government then refiled the lawsuit in the city specified by the judge; that case is ongoing.

The Justice Department has appealed the Oregon, California and Michigan dismissals.

___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

As the tax season kicked off in January, the White House had boasted that average returns were projected to rise by at least $1,000. But currently, the average refund amount is $3,521, according to the latest IRS data, which is an 11% increase from last tax year’s $3,170 average refund payment.

A Trump administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide a preview of the data analysis said the increase in refunds is due to tax breaks and spending cuts that impact taxpayers across income brackets, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, deductions for car loan interest and certain deductions for seniors.

The official declined to specify which tax deduction had provided the greatest savings for taxpayers. The analysis was based on daily Treasury statements over the 2021-2026 period.

Asked whether the Trump administration is concerned that any potential economic benefit from higher tax refunds could be offset by higher gas prices brought on by the war in Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, the official said money is going into people's pockets through the increased refunds.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Republican tax and spending law will add $4.2 trillion to the national debt through fiscal year 2034, according to the latest Budget and Economic Outlook.

The tax season began in January and with the clock ticking, taxpayers have until April 15 to file their taxes or request an extension.

Aloka suffered a torn ligament in his right knee during the walk. Veterinarians Dr. Erin O’Leary, Dr. Tosha Starke, and veterinary surgeon Dr. Patti Sura each volunteered their services independently — only discovering their shared Virginia Tech connection after treatment was already underway.

A mission that moved them

The Walk for Peace made international headlines this year as a group of monks dedicated their lives to a journey aimed at bringing people together. For the three vets, it was more than a news story.

“I just kind of was enthralled with the whole mission — just that people would dedicate their lives to just walking for peace, to bring people together,” Starke said. “But of course, when there’s a dog involved, as a veterinarian, it’s hard not to get involved.”

O’Leary described Aloka’s role in the broader mission as a natural extension of the human-animal bond.

“This whole Walk for Peace and Aloka is such a wonderful embodiment of the human animal bond,” O’Leary said. “It’s so neat to just get to be a little part of that.”

Hokies find each other

The three veterinarians did not initially know they shared a Virginia Tech connection. Word spread through their professional network after each had already stepped in to help.

“People just started saying, ‘Hey, did you know there’s other Virginia Tech grads that have been helping Aloka?’” Starke said.

For Sura, the revelation came as no surprise — but it still carried meaning.

“Was it a surprise or a shock to know that other Hokies were involved? Absolutely not. But it still gives you a lot of pride,” Sura said.

O’Leary and Starke were classmates at Virginia Tech, adding another layer to the coincidence.

“When I saw Tosha had treated him up in Virginia, I thought, ‘Oh, this is really neat — we have a lot of little connections there with Virginia Tech,’” O’Leary said.

More than a patient

For each of the three veterinarians, treating Aloka became more than a routine case. Starke said the experience helped restore her sense of purpose in a demanding profession.

“Veterinary medicine is a profession that can sometimes be unforgiving as far as the emotional toll it takes,” Starke said. “Being able to treat Aloka really just recentered me and refocused me in life. It’s not what I gave to them to help with Aloka — I feel like it’s what they gave me.”

Sura said the memory will stay with her long after Aloka’s recovery.

“This is going to be a long-standing, core memory for me for sure,” she said.

O’Leary said she hopes the movement continues.

“I hope that the whole movement just in general keeps going, because it was a very inspirational thing. And I think Aloka 100% just added so much to that,” she said.

Aloka back home and recovering

Aloka is currently healthy and back home in Fort Worth with the venerable monks. Dr. Sura is scheduled to visit soon to check on his recovery.

The Trump administration proposed easing standards for monitoring and protecting groundwater near some coal ash sites, and rolling back rules that require the cleanup of entire coal properties rather than just the sites where ash was dumped. The revisions would also make it easier to reuse coal ash for other purposes.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the proposal reflects the agency's "commitment to restoring American energy dominance, strengthening cooperative federalism, and accommodating unique circumstances at certain (coal) facilities.”

Burning coal produces tremendous amounts of ash, a waste product that contains heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cobalt. If not stored properly, coal ash can contaminate groundwater. Coal plants are often situated on the banks of rivers or other waterways, with waste ash sitting nearby.

Opponents say the proposal, which grants states and other regulators the ability to grant exemptions from national standards, may open the door for companies to leave coal ash sitting in groundwater.

The Biden-era EPA in 2022, for example, rebuffed the Gen. James Gavin Power Plant in southern Ohio for trying to close a coal ash disposal site that the agency said was in contact with groundwater. In January 2025, with Trump back in the White House, coal industry entities asked Zeldin to revise the agency's stance on the issue.

“Opening the door to leaving ash in groundwater undermines one of the central protections of this rule, and that's essentially what this does,” said Nick Torrey, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit.

The agency’s proposal does state that an owner would be required to ensure that the ash “poses no reasonable probability of adverse effects on human health and the environment.”

The Biden-era coal ash protections also required the cleanup of places like the Michigan City Generating Station in Indiana, by Lake Michigan. Local activists are worried about the land created at the site, which is composed in part of coal ash. The 2024 rules set deadlines for cleanup.

At Michigan City and many other sites, standards to clean up the coal ash used to make land would be eliminated under the agency's proposal.

The proposed rule also seeks to lift restrictions on the use of coal ash — called “beneficial use” by the EPA — in secondary materials such as cement and as structural fill.

The agency also said that industry and others have said the health risks from coal ash were overstated in previous EPA assessments. Federal officials said the estimated cost savings were more than enough to justify the proposed changes.

The owners of Gavin Power Plant declined to comment. The owners of Michigan City Generating Station did not immediately comment.

The Utility Solid Waste Activities Group “appreciates EPA’s efforts to address the significant challenges our members are facing in implementing” the existing regulations, John Mavretich, executive director of the industry association, said in a statement.

He added the group “supports changes that move away from the existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ framework and incorporate site-specific flexibility, an approach that is common in other environmental programs.”

The genesis of these rules and current context

The EPA first set standards for coal ash during the Obama administration. They included requirements for companies to line new storage sites, monitor water and close leaky ponds, often requiring the material to be moved elsewhere. In 2024, then-President Joe Biden’s administration eliminated exemptions that had been granted to some older coal ash sites.

The move is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to weaken clean air and water standards as part of regulatory relief for the fossil fuel industry. It's also in line with Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to boost U.S. coal and suppress cleaner alternatives, all the while declaring a “national energy emergency.”

The coal industry has argued that a host of stringent rules that raise the cost of operating a coal plant prematurely push them into retirement.

A coalition of coal and energy associations wrote last year: “EPA's recent unprecedented expansion of the federal (coal ash) regulations has needlessly diverted funds from the power sector's efforts to meet the Nation's growing energy needs; increased costs for power companies and consumers without corresponding benefits to public health or the environment."

Disasters first prompted the EPA to regulate coal ash. The agency started looking into the problem after a dike failed in Tennessee in 2008, spreading coal ash over 300 acres or 120 hectares and forcing a massive cleanup. Workers involved in that effort said the ash exposure caused cancers. In 2014, tens of thousands of tons spilled in North Carolina.

“The Trump administration just took a sledgehammer to the health protections in place for toxic coal pollution," said Lisa Evans, senior counsel at environmental group Earthjustice. "This is yet another handout to the coal power industry at the expense of our health, water, and wallets."

In other moves, the EPA earlier this year weakened limits on mercury and other toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants. The Trump administration has also halted the planned shutdown of several coal plants, citing the need for consistent power during major storms or periods of high demand, and arguing that without it, the grid would be less reliable.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

In a nearly five-minute clip that is part of a longer interview scheduled to air on Sunday, journalist Kristen Welker asked Díaz-Canel if he would be “willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba. ”

Before answering, Díaz-Canel asked if she had ever posed that question to any other president in the world: “Is that a question from you, or is that coming from the State Department of the U.S. government?”

Díaz-Canel added: “In Cuba, the people who are in leadership position are not elected by the U.S. government, and they don’t have a mandate from the U.S. government. We have a free sovereign state.”

He said he became president not out of a “personal ambition or corporate ambition or even a party ambition,” but because of a mandate by the people.

“If the Cuban people understand that I am not fit for office, that I have no reason to be here, then I should not be holding this position of president, I will respond to them,” he said.

The interview comes as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. remain high despite both sides acknowledging talks, although no details have been shared.

Díaz-Canel accused the U.S. government of implementing a “hostile policy” against Cuba and said it has “no moral to demand anything from Cuba.”

He said the U.S. should recognize how much the policies have cost the Cuban people “and how much they have deprived the American people from a normal relationship with the Cuban people.”

Díaz-Canel noted that Cuba is interested in engaging in dialogue and discussing any topic without conditions, “not demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts.”

Cuba blames a U.S. energy blockade for its deepening woes, with a lack of petroleum affecting the island’s health system, public transportation and the production of goods and services.

In late March, a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil arrived in Cuba, marking the island’s first oil shipment in three months. Russia has promised to send a second tanker.

Despite threatening tariffs in early January on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump allowed the tanker to proceed.

“Cuba’s finished,” Trump said at the time. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it consumes, and it stopped receiving key oil shipments from Venezuela after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then leader.

The increase in emergency appeals by the Trump administration is “unprecedented in the court’s history,” she said in a speech at the University of Alabama School of Law.

The high court sided with the Trump administration in about two dozen decisions last year, often lifting the orders of lower court judges who found their policies were likely illegal on everything from immigration to steep federal funding cuts.

While designed to be short-term, those orders have largely allowed Trump to move ahead for now with key parts of his sweeping agenda.

The emergency docket, which is made up of appeals seeking quick intervention from the justices in cases that are still playing out in lower courts, is itself a source of disagreement among the justices. That spilled into public view when two other justices, liberal Ketanji Brown Jackson and conservative Brett Kavanaugh, publicly sparred over the emergency docket in an unusual exchange last month.

Sotomayor has disagreed with many of the decisions in Trump’s favor, but the conservatives who form the court's majority often reason that blocking those policies — or laws passed by Congress — causes legal harm that can’t be easily fixed, she said. It’s a bar that’s tough for the other side to overcome, even for plaintiffs like immigrants who could be newly exposed to deportation or states where schools are losing teacher-training funding.

“If you start with the presumption that there is irreparable harm to one side, then you’re going to have more grants of emergency relief. Because the other side is going to have a much harder time,” she said. “It has changed the paradigm on the court.”

Her comments provided a window into the Supreme Court decisions that are often released with little explanation. While many emergency docket orders have gone Trump's way, the court also struck down his sweeping tariffs, a central plank of his economic platform, after a longer process of full briefing and oral arguments.

The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday, said the investigation is “about affordability for consumers and creating an even playing field for providers.”

The investigation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The NFL has not received a notification that the league is being investigated, according to two other people with knowledge of the situation. Those people spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on possible legal matters.

The investigation comes amid increasing federal scrutiny of the amount of money fans are paying to watch sports on television. The Federal Communications Commission, for example, is seeking public comments on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services.

The NFL said in a statement Thursday that over 87% of its games are available on broadcast television, including all that are played in a team's local market.

“The NFL’s media distribution model is the most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry. The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide availability to all fans,” the league said in its statement.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights, wrote a letter to the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission on March 3 urging them to review whether the NFL’s distribution methods are in line with the Sports Broadcasting Act, which grants limited antitrust immunity to allow teams to collectively license game broadcasts to national networks.

“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a small number of free broadcast networks, the NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks, and technology companies operating under different business models,” the Republican senator wrote. “To the extent collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription paywalls, these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.”

Lee said in his letter that football fans spent almost $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions. Forbes estimated the cost of watching every NFL game via streaming last season at $765.

The NFL aired games last season on CBS, NBC, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.

The league averages nearly $11 billion per season in revenue from its media deals. That could increase since the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its deal with CBS.

The rights deals go through 2033 with most outlets and 2034 with ESPN. The league has an opt-out clause after the 2029 season, which it is likely to exercise since 83 of the top 100 broadcasts last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen.

The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed in 1961 applies only to broadcast television. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming.

The law includes a rule allowing blackouts of local games, which still applies to out-of-market packages sold by the league. The NFL ended local TV blackouts, which applied to games within 75 miles of a team’s market if they did not sell out 72 hours before kickoff, after the 2014 season.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee requested briefings from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB on whether antitrust exemptions should still be granted for coordinating their broadcast television rights.

All four of the major North American professional sports leagues have deals with streaming platforms.

In 2024, a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled the NFL violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service and awarded $4.7 billion in damages.

A federal judge overturned the verdict in the class-action lawsuit because the testimony of two witnesses for the subscribers had flawed methodologies and should have been excluded.

The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the “Sunday Ticket” package on DirecTV of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons.

Because damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could have been liable for $14,121,779,833.92.

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

The culprit is volatile oil and jet fuel prices, which have spiked sharply since the war in the Middle East began and fighting near the Strait of Hormuz created a chokepoint for global oil supplies.

“Volatility is the real story here,” said Shye Gilad, a former airline captain who now teaches at Georgetown University's business school. “Right now, the airlines are trying to make bets on what they think will happen in the future."

Airlines are responding cautiously, trimming schedules and adjusting prices in ways that experts say will ripple unevenly across the market but ultimately affect nearly every type of traveler.

Budget airlines and the customers who rely on them are likely to feel the pinch first and most acutely, experts say, but even travelers in premium cabins won’t escape the higher prices and less convenient schedules.

Oil prices have swung wildly in recent weeks, briefly topping $119 a barrel at one point, plunging Wednesday below $95 on news of a two-week ceasefire that temporarily reopened the Strait of Hormuz, and then climbing back toward $100 on Thursday as uncertainty over the fragile deal grew. Iran again closed the key artery for global oil shipments in response to Israeli strikes Wednesday in Lebanon.

“When prices move quickly in both directions, it’s very hard for airlines to make predictions,” Gilad said.

In other words, even when oil prices drop, travelers may not see relief right away.

“At this level of fuel, it’s hard to call anything temporary," Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told reporters this week after the Atlanta-based carrier raised its checked baggage fees.

Global squeeze, local effects

Bastian said Wednesday as Delta kicked off the earnings season for U.S. airlines that the higher fuel prices are expected to add $2 billion in operating expenses in the second quarter alone. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a recent memo to staff that if fuel prices stay elevated, it could add $11 billion in annual costs.

“For perspective,” Kirby wrote, “in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

According to the International Air Transport Association, the average global jet fuel price rose to $209 per barrel last week, up from roughly $99 at the end of February when the war started. Travelers from the U.S. to Hong Kong and New Delhi are paying the price.

U.S. carriers are embedding the higher operating costs into ticket prices and add-on fees. Delta, United, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue have all increased checked baggage fees.

Both United and American are also moving beyond add-ons to adjust pricing. United said last week it is bringing the “pay for what you want” approach already standard in economy to its premium cabins, turning perks like advanced seat selection and fully refundable tickets into optional extras.

American announced Thursday that passengers in basic economy will have to pay extra to pick their seat beginning May 18, including elite-tier loyalty members. And later this year, basic economy passengers without elite status or an eligible co-branded credit card will be assigned to boarding Group 7, while those with higher status will still board earlier even when purchasing the lowest fare.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific recently bumped fuel surcharges by roughly 34% across all routes, while Air India on Monday added up to $280 in fees to some flights. Emirates, Lufthansa and KLM have also adjusted fees or fares to keep pace with the price volatility.

Experts say flexibility and careful planning can help offset these costs. Fare-tracking sites can alert travelers to price changes and help them compare multiple options in one place. Booking early and checking nearby airports can lock in better prices, while refundable tickets make it easier to cancel and rebook if fares drop. Traveling light with just a carry-on can also help avoid the rising bag fees.

Flight cuts to cut costs

For business travelers, the costs are already shaping their decisions. Bill Moorehouse, a solutions director who flies for work every four to six weeks, said the uncertainty may keep him closer to home for now.

“When you have business trips and you have a carefully coordinated schedule, you don’t want unknowns and disruptions. And right now, it just feels like it’s more likely that things could go wrong and throw your trip off course,” the Cupertino, California, resident said.

Richard Groberg, an investment banker from Las Vegas who visits clients around the U.S., said he plans to book as early as possible to lock in the best fares.

“There's sometimes no substitute for in-person meetings and building relationships,” he said. “As travel becomes more expensive, that becomes a tougher decision to make those investments.”

Even family visits are on his mind. Groberg's brother hopes he'll stop in Vermont next time he's in New York for work, but Groberg admits, “I start thinking maybe I should drive instead because this is getting so expensive.”

Airlines, meanwhile, are also adjusting how much they fly.

BNP Paribas estimates that global schedules for April have been cut roughly 5% compared with earlier plans. Most reductions are in the Middle East, the global investment bank said, though smaller cuts were also emerging in Europe, Asia and North America.

United Airlines is cutting about 5% of its planned flights in the near term, trimming less profitable routes and suspending some international service temporarily rather than “burning cash” on trips that can’t absorb the more expensive fuel costs. The airline's CEO said the cuts will target redeye flights and routes on historically slower travel days such as Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Delta is scrapping plans to add more flights and seats in June, leaving about 3.5% fewer seats than originally planned.

Travel plans upended

These moves show why major carriers are better positioned to weather the spike in fuel prices than budget carriers, whose “no frills” model leaves them with less flexibility. Bigger airlines can lean on dynamic pricing, sell more seats at higher fares or swap in larger planes on certain routes, letting them cut flights without losing overall capacity.

“Leisure travelers and budget conscious travelers are going to absolutely feel it first because it may make the difference between going and not going,” Gilad said.

It's already made the difference for Anna Del Vecchio. The 36-year-old Seattle resident has made it an annual springtime tradition to visit family in Philadelphia before flying to Paris to see friends she's known since she was a teenager.

Her credit card points typically cover the roundtrip flight, but ticket prices now hover around $1,400 — about double what she has paid in past years.

“It wasn’t even scratching the surface for the flight this time," she said, “so I decided to delay the trip.”

But if airfare tops $1,500, she might not be able to make a journey she hasn't missed in years.

“It might be the kind of thing where it just ends up being that I have to travel less.”

Her emotions were heavy, ranging from anxiety and fear to even loneliness as others seemed to be going about their lives as normal despite what could have been pending doom. Ultimately, Trump did not make good on his threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” instead agreeing to a two-week ceasefire in the war.

It was another moment of whiplash for Haider and the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living in the U.S. who have been thrust into a seemingly constant state of uncertainty over the future of Iran and their relatives and friends who still live there.

For many, the tenor of the latest discourse around the conflict has consumed their thoughts, often preventing them from getting work done or focusing on anything else. Some are protesting the war, while others guard their opinions about what is happening in their homeland, anxiously watching and wondering what the future might hold.

Haider was among those protesting Wednesday in Austin, Texas, calling for an end to the war. Gatherings also were held in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities.

Aside from speaking out against the war, Haider thinks that mobilizing will create “the kind of pressure that makes it harder for Trump to swing back to this aggressive posturing.”

“It’s a huge country,” she said of Iran. “Trump is not going to ever be able to defeat it or wipe it out, but it is possible to do damage. It is possible to do something that affects millions of people, millions of lives.”

Worries for family members back home

Haider, a municipal planner and an organizer with the Austin for Palestine Coalition, said hearing Trump offer such an ultimatum was frightening.

She does not support regime change, saying that was something for the Iranian people to settle, not the United States. Still, she wanted to speak out even though she came to the U.S. by way of Pakistan with her parents when she was young. She has memories of the neighborhood bakeries and the juice shops she used to visit with her mother and their neighbors.

Iranian-American Sheila Amir said that Trump’s social media posts made her fearful on multiple levels.

Her first concern was for her Iranian relatives. She has not been able to confirm that they're OK in the past week amid an internet blackout that has blanketed the country.

But the North Carolina-based writer said she also was concerned that an escalation in the war could put her U.S. relatives who are in the military at risk. Their duty, she said, is to “serve and protect the United States of America," not to destroy the people of Iran.

Complex feelings for those who support the war

Even those who are supportive of U.S. attacks that directly weaken the Iranian government are struggling to reckon with the most recent threats against civilians.

In recent weeks, Roya Rastegar has had many difficult conversations with her family about the conflict. Rastegar and her wife are both Iranian-American. Rastegar said people in her family have been killed by the Iranian government in the decades since the Islamic Republic took power, and the majority of her wife’s family is still in the country.

Rastegar, a filmmaker and cofounder of a pro-democracy nonprofit called the Iranian Diaspora Collective, said the frequent reversals have made it more difficult to explain the conflict to their children.

“It’s very hard to hold on to the idea that we do not know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Rastegar said that the war has presented an impossible moral dilemma. She is deeply concerned that intensified attacks on Iran could cause even more harm to civilians. But she also believes that de-escalating the war without dismantling the Islamic Republic will pose the greatest risk to Iranians inside the country, who would continue to face severe and deadly repression.

“It’s really nauseating to just think about my people as being stuck between a regime that’s still killing them and an administration — the U.S. — that is issuing these kinds of threats,” Rastegar said.

Attorney Patrick Kolasinski said federal prosecutors have told him that Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez is not under arrest, raising questions about why he was the target of an enforcement action. No one under that name from El Salvador is in ICE detention, according to the agency’s online detainee locator. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not responded to inquiries about Kolasinki's statements.

Tuesday’s encounter was among a string of shootings during the Trump administration’s aggressive push to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, about which questions have been raised with federal immigration officials.

DHS has said ICE agents fired defensive shots at Mendoza when he tried to drive into them after he was pulled over on Tuesday. Officials said they were conducting an enforcement stop targeting Mendoza, 36, in Patterson, a city about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco. They described him as a suspected gang member wanted in El Salvador for questioning in connection to a murder.

Kolasinski told reporters that Mendoza was having difficulty speaking because he was shot in the jaw, but that he said he was never a member of a gang. Kolasinski said previously that his client has been stopped for minor traffic infractions but has no criminal record in the U.S. and is not the subject of an arrest warrant in El Salvador, where he was acquitted of murder.

Kolasinski said that the FBI was leading the investigation of the shooting and that ICE was not currently involved in Mendoza's case. The Department of Justice referred inquiries to the FBI, which said it couldn't comment on an active investigation.

Kolasinski said that agents fired on Mendoza while the car was stopped and he drove away to flee the gunfire. “He fled in a panic because he was being fired on," Kolasinski said. “He was not trying to hurt anyone ... he was just scared he was going to die.”

According to a Oct. 25, 2019 court document from a judge in El Salvador, Mendoza, who was 29 at the time, was acquitted after being accused of murder and ordered immediately released. The document lists 10 others who were convicted of various crimes from aggravated robbery to murder, and mentions at least one of them was a member of the 18th Street Gang. But there is no mention of Mendoza belonging to a gang or being accused of carrying out gang activity in the document.

In the California ICE shooting, dashcam footage obtained by KCRA-TV shows three officers standing around a vehicle stopped on the side of a road. One of the officers appears to be touching the driver-side window when the car begins to back up and turn, hitting a vehicle behind it. At least two of the agents have weapons drawn, pointing at the car. The driver then pulls forward toward where the men are standing and turns sharply, driving over the roadway median.

The video has no sound and it's unclear when the shots were fired or if words were said.

Mendoza’s fiancée was able to speak with him Wednesday before a surgery and again Thursday morning, Kolasinski said.

Kolasinski said Mendoza, a dual citizen of El Salvador and Mexico, came to the U.S. in 2019 but he said he did not know his legal status nor how he arrived to the country.

The attorney said his client works as a laborer to repair fire damage. He has a 2-year-old daughter and is engaged to a U.S. citizen, he said.

Preston Henry Tolth, 26, now will face trial on charges of carjacking and assault in relation to the 2021 disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. A trial date hasn't been set.

Under the agreement, Tolth would have been released on a sentence of three years of time served in exchange for acknowledging his role in the crime and pleading guilty to a single count of robbery.

Known as a gifted weaver of pictorial rugs, Ella Mae Begay was 62 years-old when she vanished from Sweetwater, Arizona, the small community on the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she was raised and later brought up her own three children.

Begay’s disappearance received national media attention and helped highlight the broader crisis of Indigenous people who go missing or are killed at disproportionate rates. Nearly five years after she disappeared, Begay has not been found.

The rare decision to reject a plea agreement followed anguished testimony from Begay's family members who told the court Tolth should not walk free without revealing Begay's location.

Seraphine Warren described her aunt as a warm and sweet person who opted for “hugs instead of handshakes," and implored the judge not to "give up on her" by accepting a plea agreement that Warren said offered no justice to the grieving family.

“Accountability is not time served,” Warren told the judge tearfully. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”

Gerald Begay, Ella Mae’s son, said, “I feel like the justice system has failed me.”

Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister, was identified as a person of interest within days of Begay's disappearance. He initially denied involvement but in a later interrogation, confessed to stealing Begay's truck with her in it, punching her repeatedly and leaving her on the side of the road.

Tolth was set to face trial in 2024, but a federal judge dealt prosecutors a major blow by ruling his confession inadmissible, saying Tolth had been unlawfully coerced by an FBI agent who lied about evidence that law enforcement had against him after Tolth had invoked his right to remain silent.

The U.S. Attorney's office for Arizona and Tolth's public defenders declined to comment on the judge's rejection of the plea agreement.

Tolth did not speak at Thursday's hearing. His attorney asked the judge to consider his unstable childhood and history of homelessness and substance abuse, calling his three years in federal custody a reasonable sentence.

A federal prosecutor said the suppression of Tolth's confession weakened the government's case and that the plea agreement would provide Begay's family with more certainty and finality than a trial with sparse evidence. Begay's family members disagree.

“We want to see this go to trial because we have nothing to lose,” Warren said. “If we lose, at least we fought.”

Erik Duran, 38, was convicted of manslaughter in the 2023 death of 30-year-old Eric Duprey. The ex-sergeant said he was trying to protect other officers from the approaching scooter. He is the first former NYPD officer sentenced to prison for an on-duty death in at least two decades.

“I took this job to save lives. I felt terrible once I saw Eric Duprey crash," Duran told a Bronx judge, saying he “did everything he could” to attend to the man's injuries.

“I never wanted this to happen,” he added, apologizing to Duprey's family in Spanish as a court interpreter translated.

Duprey's mother, Gretchen Soto, wept as Duran spoke. Earlier, she told the court: "There are no words to express what I feel.”

Judge Guy Mitchell said he did not accept the ex-sergeant’s defense that his actions were justified, concluding that Duran hurled the cooler because he “was upset that Mr. Duprey was getting away.” If there was no cooler, the judge said, Duprey “would have driven by” Duran and “could’ve been captured another day.”

Duran was immediately taken into custody after sentencing. His lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said he will ask a court to free Duran on bail while he appeals.

"Nobody’s above the law,” a woman shouted in a courthouse hallway after the sentence was announced.

Afterward, Soto and Duprey's partner, Pearl Velez, said they did not accept Duran’s apology.

“How you gonna say sorry now?” Velez said.

Duran's union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said thousands of officers signed an online petition calling for him to be spared prison.

“Today will forever be the darkest day of our profession,” union president Vincent Vallelong said. Duran’s prison sentence, he said, “puts in the back of a police officer's mind that they can lose their freedom” for making a split-second decision.

Officers in NYPD jackets packed the courtroom gallery, while a couple dozen protesters outside demanded justice for Duprey.

Duran's sentence, less than the maximum of five to 15 years, matched what prosecutors with state Attorney General Letitia James’ office had sought. Prosecutor Joseph Bianco said the ex-sergeant recklessly caused Duprey's death and attempted to cover up his actions.

Defense lawyer Andrew Quinn argued for no prison time, calling Duprey’s death the “unintended and tragic consequences” of a “reckless decision” Duran made in a span of 2.5 seconds.

Duran grew up in the Bronx and led a “model, exemplary life” prior to Duprey's death. A married father of three, he joined the NYPD because he wanted to make the borough “cleaner and safer for the kids who came after him,” Quinn said.

“He is now the cooler cop,” Quinn said.

Duran was part of a narcotics policing unit that conducted a “buy-and-bust” operation in the Bronx on Aug. 23, 2023. Police said Duprey sold drugs to an undercover officer, then tried to flee on a scooter.

Surveillance video showed Duprey driving the motorized scooter on a sidewalk toward a group of people. As he approached, the then-sergeant — who wasn't in uniform — picked up a bystander's cooler and threw it.

The container struck Duprey, who lost control of the scooter, slammed into a tree and crashed onto the pavement. Duprey was not wearing a helmet. He sustained fatal head injuries and died almost instantly, according to prosecutors.

They argued Duran had enough time to warn others to move, but instead hurled the cooler because he was angry.

Duran, however, testified at his trial that he made a quick decision to keep other officers safe from the scooter speeding toward them.

“He was gonna crash into us,” Duran said then, adding “all I had time for was to try again to stop or to try to get him to change directions.”

Duran opted to have Judge Mitchell, not a jury, decide the case.

Duran worked for the NYPD for 13 years before the crash, which spurred his suspension. He was fired after his conviction in February.

Duprey was a delivery driver and had three young children. Soto, who said she was on a video call with him right before he died, has disputed the police claims that he sold drugs and fled from officers.

She told the judge Thursday her son “is not just a name, not just one more case.”

“It is an unjust incident," Soto said through a Spanish interpreter. "As a mother, I have to miss him now every day.”

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan did not immediately rule after hearing two hours of arguments.

At the conclusion, Circuit Judge William J. Nardini called it an “exceptionally difficult case” that raises questions of first impression “not only for this court but for any federal court in the country.”

Throughout the arguments, judges questioned whether a judge improperly considered elements of acquitted charges to sentence Combs to what his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, said was the most prison time ever given someone convicted of the same charges with a similar criminal history.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik, arguing for the government, challenged Shapiro's claim, saying the four-year, two-month prison term given to Combs was below what federal sentencing guidelines called for and was in line with similar convictions in the 2nd Circuit.

Combs, currently in federal prison in New Jersey, is challenging his conviction and prison sentence. He was convicted last July under the federal Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for any sexual crime.

But he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that carried the potential for a life sentence.

In sentencing Combs, Judge Arun Subramanian said: “Mr. Combs, you’re being sentenced for the offenses of conviction, NOT the crimes he was acquitted of. However, under law, the court ‘shall consider’ the nature of the offense and characteristics of the defendant.”

The judge also cited law which states that no limitation shall be placed on the “background, character and conduct” that a judge can consider.

During Thursday's arguments, Shapiro asked the appeals panel for a speedy decision.

Combs, 56, has been behind bars since his September 2024 arrest. The Federal Bureau of Prisons says he is scheduled for release in April 2028.

His attorneys say Combs' conviction should be reversed, or he should at least be freed and resentenced to less time.

Despite extensive written arguments on the subject, there was no discussion Thursday about claims by Combs' lawyers that his conviction should be reversed on grounds that the First Amendment protects sexual encounters between his girlfriends and male sex workers because they were sometimes filmed and amounted to “amateur pornography.”

There was extensive discussion, though, about his lawyers' arguments that Subramanian wrongly considered evidence of fraud and coercion that they said the jury rejected as it exonerated him on the most serious charges.

Combs' trial last year exposed the sordid private life of one of the most influential figures in music. The case featured harrowing testimony about violence, drugs and sexual performances that witnesses said he called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”

He did not testify. His defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were straining to make a federal crime out of his personal life.

The eight-page memo, sent to City Council in February, shows City Manager Ken Larking directed a feasibility study after inquiries from data center developers. Currently, Danville’s zoning code does not include provisions for data centers, meaning the facilities are not permitted.

That could soon change. The study recommends amending the zoning code to allow data centers, along with establishing specific guidelines for where they could be built.

City officials say the potential economic impact is significant and predict a data center could draw an initial investment of $10-15 million. The memo estimates data centers could generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city every year after.

“I think it would bring more people to the area. Higher-trained people,” said Danville resident Stephan Jannach.

Jannach said he has seen steady improvement in the city since moving there in 2007, after the decline of the local textile industry.

“When I got here, the mills had closed. Things were very bad. Things have improved immensely since then,” he said.

However, the study also highlights major infrastructure challenges that could complicate development.

According to the report, only certain parts of the city’s electrical grid could currently support a data center. Expanding capacity would likely require building new substations or upgrading existing infrastructure.

Water capacity presents another hurdle. The study found the city has limited ability to supply the large volumes of water typically required for data center operations. Addressing that issue could take two to three years of infrastructure improvements to expand collection and delivery systems.

City officials did not provide a definitive answer when asked whether a data center project is imminent or whether such development could affect utility rates.

The study recommended a number of additions to the city’s zoning code, including defining what a data center is and placing specific restrictions on them, including a minimum lot size of 150 acres, banning them from being built in industrial parks and within 500 feet of residential areas and requiring all equipment to be kept indoors. The study also noted the data centers must follow all local noise ordinances.

In addition to zoning changes, the study recommends implementing a $1.25 tax rate on data centers to further increase potential revenue.

The city’s planning commission will review the proposed changes in an April 13th meeting.

The project includes a new third-base outdoor bar, an expanded first-base bar deck, a carnival area with a playground and carousel, and an upgraded sound system — all designed to modernize the experience while keeping the ballpark’s historic look intact.

A ballpark with deep roots

City Stadium has been part of Lynchburg since the 1940s, and this renovation marks a new chapter for the beloved venue. City officials say the work will roll out over the next two years, carefully staged so fans can still enjoy games during the season.

The city of Lynchburg is partnering with Jamerson-Lewis Construction, CJMW Architecture and the Hill City Howlers on the project.

Owner addresses early concerns

Hill City Howlers owner and CEO Dylan Narang acknowledged that not everyone was immediately on board.

“I think at the very beginning there were people that were wondering about the taxes,” Narang said. “I think at a city council meeting there were a couple of comments about needing money for teachers and schools but this isn’t that. I’m paying a lease for the stadium.”

Economic ripple effects expected

Megan Lucas, chief economic development officer for the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, says the improvements are expected to benefit the broader community.

“There will be a positive economic impact,” Lucas said. “It will be felt in our hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, festivals, farmers markets, and certainly our hotels.”

Keeping history, adding comfort

City officials say the goal is straightforward — add modern comforts and new family spaces without sacrificing the history that makes City Stadium special. The upgrades are designed to give kids a place to play and create more spots for neighbors to gather before and after games.

Changes are already visible at the stadium, with crews actively working to bring the renovated ballpark to life.

McIlroy spent the rest of the day proving him right.

The 36-year-old McIlroy opened his title defense with a 5-under 67 to grab a share of the early lead with Sam Burns at Augusta National and position himself for a run at becoming only the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets.

“Rory’s got the monkey off his back, and I think he has a very, very good chance to repeat,” Nicklaus said early Thursday after hitting his ceremonial opening tee shot.

After years of heartbreak and close calls at Augusta National, McIlroy beat Justin Rose in a playoff last April to complete the career Grand Slam in his 17th Masters start.

So the pressure to win wasn't hanging over his head on Thursday.

“I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day,” McIlroy said.

McIlroy said last year's win allowed him to fully commit to his shots Thursday and make good swings without necessarily worrying about where the ball went.

He found there is a certain freedom in that approach.

That said, it wasn't as if he wasn't nervous when he stepped onto the first tee for the year's first major championship.

After all, he said, “it’s the Masters.”

“If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign,” McIlroy said. “So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing.”

He shot 34 on the front nine despite struggling to find the fairways early, and then willed his way to a birdie on the par-5 13th hole.

After his tee shot sailed right and well into the pine straw, McIlroy spent more than 10 minutes trying to clear patrons out of his way before delivering a perfectly placed punch-out between the tall pines into the middle of the fairway.

He followed with a pitching wedge just past the hole and then rolled in a downhill putt for a birdie. Two more birdies followed on Nos. 14 and 15, moving him into a tie atop the leaderboard.

He finished with six birdies and made his only bogey on the par-4 third hole.

“I still have high expectations of myself, but my expectations are more, did I make good decisions today? Was I committed? Was I trusting?” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t my expectations of I’m going to go out and shoot 65 and did I do it?”

In other words, just focusing on the shot at hand and letting the chips fall where they may.

Nicklaus was the first to repeat at the Masters, winning in 1965 and 1966. Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) matched his feat, but nobody has been able to repeat since.

Nicklaus knows repeating is not easy.

He broke the Masters scoring record with a 17-under 271 in 1965, then returned the following year to play Augusta National in much tougher conditions. He finished 17 shots worse at even-par 288, but still won in a playoff.

“I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one,” McIlroy said.

___

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

But a lawyer for Live Nation insisted in Manhattan federal court that there is more competition than ever and the company plays fair amid a booming concert business across America.

The attorney, David Marriott, said the states failed to prove that Live Nation had acted as a monopolist.

“They can’t, and they didn’t,” he said.

The federal government led the civil claims case until it settled the lawsuit it brought in 2024 several weeks ago, saying it had won important concessions from Live Nation, particularly in the sale of tickets at dozens of the company's amphitheaters. The settlement delayed the trial for a week while states conducted mostly unsuccessful negotiations with Live Nation.

After closing arguments concluded, jurors were instructed on the law by Judge Arun Subramanian. They were expected to start deliberations Friday.

In his closing, attorney Jeffrey Kessler argued on behalf of the states that evidence has shown that the companies “violated antitrust laws and it is time to hold them accountable.”

He reminded jurors that since it was a civil trial, they only needed to find that the states had proven by a preponderance of the evidence — more than 50% — that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally wielded monopoly power.

Kessler labeled the company a “monopolistic bully” and said it had employed practices that “kept digging the moat around the monopoly castle in order to protect their market position.”

Live Nation's control of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, showed it had monopoly power, he said.

Marriott countered that Live Nation and Ticketmaster were merely reaping the fruits of decades of hard work that created the best products in the industry.

“We are the biggest entertainment company and ticketer in the country. We’re not hiding from that fact,” he said. “We are big. That is not against the laws in the United States. Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States.”

Marriott also said the company tries to “outflank and outcompete” its competitors and the jury should not punish the company because the states had shown some communications in which employees who are “fierce competitors” talk about crushing the competition.

He defended the company decision not to immediately fire an employee who acknowledged from the witness stand that he had written a series of messages from late 2021 through early 2023 in which he mocked customers as “so stupid” and said the company was “robbing them blind, baby.”

“People say, sometimes, stupid stuff,” Marriott said, noting the comments were made about the price of lawn chairs and parking. “We don't condone that. But we also don't just ax somebody because they made a mistake years in the past.”

Meanwhile, he said, venues and artists are doing better than ever and fans are benefiting from a robust and thriving entertainment industry.

“Our job is to help venues and artists make money. We don’t make excuses for that,” Marriott said.

Greene made the catch, and Meadows landed on his back in a daze, barely moving with his hands pointed up and blood appearing on his face. After a few minutes, Meadows was able to sit up. Medical personnel slowly helped him stand and move toward a cart that was waiting to take him away.

“It's a terrible feeling. I still feel terrible,” Greene said after the game against Minnesota at Target Field. “He hit my head. I don't know where I hit him, to be honest, but I just really hope he's OK."

Meadows had a concussion, manager A.J. Hinch said after the Tigers lost 3-1 to the Twins and were swept in the four-game series. The collision caused Meadows to bite the inside of his mouth, which led to the bleeding.

“We’re going to get him checked out for everything, but this one worries me,” Hinch said.

Josh Bell led off the eighth inning for Minnesota with a shallow fly to left-center that Greene appeared to be calling for as he and Meadows ran toward the ball. Meadows tried slowing up and backing off at the last second. But his face appeared to slam against Greene's head, sending both players tumbling to the grass.

“It’s a perfect tweener, and you have two guys who like to go and get it,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “It’s a scary thing.”

Meadows has started 11 of 13 games in center field for the Tigers this season. Matt Vierling made the other two starts. Meadows went 0 for 3 on Thursday and is batting .250 with two extra-base hits.

The 26-year-old Meadows, who was a second-round draft pick by the Tigers in 2018, made his major league debut in 2023. He missed the first two months of last season with a nerve problem in his upper right arm. Then he missed more than a month with a shoulder injury and finished with a .215 average and a .621 OPS.

___

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

Heavy equipment has been clearing and grading land adjacent to the Daleville Cemetery, a site residents say holds generations of local history. The work is tied to a proposed 276-unit apartment complex known as “The Wellington,” which is currently under county review.

For some community members, the project is personal.

“Some people can drive by a cemetery and say they have an ancestor buried there,” said Botetourt resident Greg Rieley. “All of my ancestors seem to be buried here that were from Botetourt County.”

Rieley posted a video on the Facebook group Boteoturt Conservatives and Independent Thinkers with the caption in part saying, “THIS is our historic Daleville. An assault on our history.... Tinker Creek is just beyond here.”

Rieley and others say ongoing construction activity is disrupting the atmosphere of the cemetery, where funerals are still regularly held.

“People still have funerals here, and the construction doesn’t stop for that,” Rieley said. “I think that’s a big concern for families coming out here to bury loved ones.”

He also raised concerns about how close excavation work is to existing graves.

“We don’t know, to be honest with, what type of damage could be done here,” Rieley said. “They are six feet that direction from excavating. The graves are six feet down, so we know that they’re pretty close.”

Botetourt County addressed the project in a Facebook post, saying, “The site grading revealed Botetourt’s famous limestone. While no official site plans have been announced by the developer, the County has received plans under first review for 6 buildings. 2 of those will be mixed-use buildings with commercial space on the first floor and apartments above. The other 4 buildings are multifamily structures. No timeline on completion.”

Plans submitted for The Wellington include six buildings — two mixed-use structures with commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above, along with four additional multifamily buildings.

County leaders say the project remains in the design phase, with plans under initial review and details still being evaluated. No building permits have been issued, and there is no official timeline for construction.

The developer, Thomas Builders, did not respond to a request for comment.

For now, the future of the project remains uncertain, even as work continues near the cemetery.

In a decision Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi also denied Kalshi’s request for a ruling saying federal law trumps Arizona’s gambling laws. Liburdi said it's too early in the case for him to rule on that issue.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has charged Kalshi with 20 misdemeanor counts of wagering, alleging that the company accepted bets on political outcomes, college sports and individual player performance.

Arizona, the first state to file criminal charges against Kalshi, prohibits operating an unlicensed wagering business and betting on elections. The criminal charges mark a new front in a high-stakes legal battle over whether prediction markets should be subject to the same rules as gambling operations.

The Associated Press emailed Kalshi seeking comment on the decision. Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office declined to comment on Thursday.

An arraignment is scheduled Monday for Kalshi in Maricopa County Superior Court. The criminal case is being heard in county court because the company is charged with state criminal violations.

Kalshi, which maintains it’s a financial marketplace rather than a gambling operation, is pressing its civil claims in federal court, arguing that it should only have to answer to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not the state of Arizona.

Kalshi operates by allowing customers to buy and sell “Yes” or “No” contracts tied to the probable outcome of an event. It has said its product is different from gambling operations because Kalshi’s customers engage in “swaps” between one another instead of betting against the “house.”

In a lawsuit filed by Kalshi just days before prosecutors leveled the criminal charges, the company argued federal law trumps Arizona’s efforts to subject it to state statute. It also contends that shutting down its ability to offer event contracts would threaten its viability, undermine confidence in the integrity of its platform and cause other problems for the business.

The company said Arizona filed the charges to interfere with its lawsuit.

Lawyers for the state contend Kalshi has marketed itself as a platform for sports and election betting and Arizona should be able to enforce its gambling laws to hold Kalshi accountable for flouting state law.

Kalshi sued Arizona, Utah and Iowa in attempts to stop anticipated state actions against the platform. Other states have taken some form of legal action against Kalshi.

So far, the outcomes have been mixed. Federal and state judges in Nevada and Massachusetts, respectively, issued early rulings in favor of states looking to ban Kalshi and its competitor Polymarket from offering sports betting in their states. Elsewhere, federal judges in New Jersey and Tennessee have ruled in favor of Kalshi.

Earlier this month, the federal government filed lawsuits against Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois challenging the states' efforts to regulate prediction market operators.

The Trump administration has so far backed the platforms.

President Donald Trump’s eldest son is an adviser for both Kalshi and Polymarket and an investor in the latter. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social also is launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.

The Postal Service also wants to increase postage rates, including raising the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp from 78 cents to 82 cents. USPS filed notice Friday with regulators, who still need to approve the changes.

The step taken by the Postal Board of Governors to forgo the pension payments is meant to preserve cash and liquidity due to the Postal Service's "ongoing, severe financial crisis," Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann said in an internal message to USPS employees. Officials have warned the USPS is on course to run out of cash by around February 2027.

Despite the suspension of employer contributions, effective Friday, current and future retirees will not be immediately impacted, Grossman said.

“The risk to the Postal Service and the American public from insufficient liquidity for postal operations dramatically outweighs any longer-term risk to the pension funds from not making the currently due payments,” he said in the statement. USPS deferred payments in 2011 during another financial crisis.

The Postal Service said it will continue transmitting employees’ retirement contributions to the federal Office of Personnel Management, along with Thrift Savings Plan contributions, including employer automatic and matching funds, and will also maintain its employer contributions to Social Security.

Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said the temporary suspension of annuity payments is “not ideal" but it doesn't immediately impact his members, who he said understand the Postal Service's financial challenges.

“Given a menu of options, none of which are overall positive, they would certainly prefer the Postal Service making a move like this as opposed to something that immediately impacts them or immediately impacts in a negative way the service that we provide to the American people," Renfroe said.

Ninety-nine percent of career USPS employees are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System.

In a related matter, the Postal Regulatory Commission on Thursday granted the Postal Service a temporary, multi-year waiver allowing it to redirect billions of dollars in revenue previously earmarked for retiree benefits, providing “some breathing room and flexibility” to execute contingency plans and avoid running out of cash.

Last month, Postmaster General David Steiner told The Associated Press and later a congressional committee that the 250-year-old service needs to have a decades-old $15 billion cap on borrowing raised to $34.5 billion so the independent agency can have access to more cash.

“That will buy us the time to make the fixes we need to make, and we can sail on down the road,” he told the AP. Steiner has called for other changes as well, including greater flexibility in how retirement funds are invested, changes to pension obligation methodology and the authority for USPS to raise postage prices high enough to cover losses.

Renfroe said this latest move to pause employer contributions is the “direct result of continued inaction by Congress" to fix such "legislative restraints" placed on the Postal Service.

Keep Us Posted, an advocacy group representing consumers, catalogs, greeting card publishers and others, has urged Congress to ensure any rate increases would be limited to once a year. The group also wants to ensure six-day-a-week mail service remains and that USPS regulators have greater control over any service changes.

USPS said the proposed price increases requested Thursday, which also affect postcards and international letters, will still make rates among the most affordable in the world. The Postal Service relies mostly on the sale of postage, products and services to finance its operations.

The Postal Service has seen annual volume plummet from about 220 billion pieces in 2006 to about 110 billion today as more people pay bills and communicate online.

USPS’s net losses for the 2025 fiscal year totaled $9 billion, even though total operating revenue increased by $916 million or 1.2%, due largely to its Ground Advantage shipping service. Net losses in fiscal year 2024 were $9.5 billion.

The three-time Grammy Award winner will make her debut as MC for the awards on June 7 at its familiar home of Radio City Music Hall.

“It is the honor of an entire lifetime to host a night celebrating the literal hardest working people in showbiz,” Pink said in a statement. “Broadway has shaped my life and how I put my own shows together — it is a community that is supportive, and inclusive, and full of talent and love. These people give magic every single day, and I cannot wait to celebrate them with the entire world.”

While Pink hasn't yet made an appearance on Broadway, she has had 15 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four No. 1s — like “Raise Your Glass” and “Just Give Me a Reason” — and is known for her acrobatic, ceiling-swinging live sets.

Tony Award executive producers Raj Kapoor, Sarah Levine Hall and Jack Sussman in a statement hailed Pink as “a fearless artist whose powerhouse voice, electrifying stage presence, and undeniable authenticity embody the very spirit of live performance and theatre.”

The 2026 awards will air live on CBS and stream on Paramount+. Getting buzz from appearing on the telecast can dictate a show’s future, both on Broadway and on tour.

Last year's show — hosted by “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo — drew 4.85 million viewers to CBS, its largest broadcast audience in six years, according to Nielsen data. CBS also said the awards show drew its largest streaming audience on Paramount+ but did not disclose those viewership numbers.

The awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

In the eyes of many, this award is long overdue.

Grainy black and white network film footage from Vietnam shows then-Captain John Ripley speaking to network correspondents in Dong Ha, Vietnam in 1972. He was advising the South Vietnamese 3rd Marine Battalion on one side of the Cua Viet River, while enemy troops prepared to invade from the other.

It would come down to Ripley himself to prevent the invasion.

“By the last couple of days of March, it’s evident that this is a major invasion. All of the ground sensors are going off, there’s troop sightings, there are armored battalion and regiment sightings,” said Ripley’s son Tom, who has been working behind the scenes for years to get his father the recognition he believes he deserves.

As tanks and troops on the friendly side began to dig in, they knew they had little chance against the much larger North Vietnamese force.

“The Vietnamese Marine Battalion’s orders from the Vietnamese chain of command was to hold and die. And my father’s the advisor to this,” Ripley said.

The only way to hold off the enemy was to blow up the bridge. So, Ripley -- a trained demolitions expert climbs onto the steel beneath the bridge, rigging charges. Depicted in a diorama at the U.S. Naval Academy, He is seen hanging by his hands, explosive charges on his back while the enemy is shooting at him.

He had been ordered to do it by an officer who thought all was lost.

“He gives my father the order to blow the bridge, puts the handset down, and says, I’ve just sent John Ripley to his death,” Ripley recounted.

The orders like something from Mission Impossible.

“He put 500 pounds of explosives across nine girders, staggered them so that they would blow and twist the bridge between the caissons and make the bridge impassable,” Ripley said.

Capt. Ripley made multiple trips under the bridge. Crimping explosive blasting caps onto the time fuses with his teeth. It’s a dangerous exercise usually done with a specific tool. If a blasting cap is crimped too hard, it will explode immediately. If it is not crimped enough, it will not trigger the desired explosion once the charges are set.

“They’re shooting him with small arms fire. You know, medium and heavy machine guns and tank rounds are impacting the bridge trying to stop him from doing this,” Ripley said. He explained that his father was partially protected by the girders under the bridge. He said that his father would face the greatest exposure to enemy fire when he would swing down to maneuver to a different girder, to set the next charge.

“It took a lot of courage just to take that first hand grip and carrying all that equipment, all the explosives that you had to set. That alone would have scared off most people. And yet, he kept going,” said Republican Rep. Morgan Griffith the representative for Virginia’s Ninth District.

Miraculously, Ripley survived. The explosives detonated. And the invasion was stopped in its tracks.

Ripley Grew up in the New River Valley

Ripley had grown up in Radford in a house where the Dedmon Center now stands. The bridge to the Radford University athletic complex named for the war hero.

Ripley’s son said it was his family that drove him to survive.

“Part of the reason why men go overseas, men and women go overseas to do this is because they know they have something to come back to. And in my father’s case, he had three children at the ages of two, three, and six. And my mom, living in Blacksburg, that’s who he was thinking about undoubtedly when he was under that bridge,” Tom Ripley said.

“It means that you went not only above and beyond, but you went above the “above and beyond,” Griffith said.

Ripley’s heroic efforts were captured in a book -- The Bridge at Dong Ha, written by fellow Marine John Grider Miller.

Ripley received the Navy Cross for his efforts -- but the heroism was worthy of more -- The Medal of Honor.

But with the U.S. trying to hand the war over to the South Vietnamese in 1972, it seemed the wrong time to draw attention to American heroics. The optics were just wrong for the time.

But 2026 appears to be the right time. Tom Ripley had never given up trying to secure the proper honor for his father. Recently, Representative Morgan Griffith carried a bill calling for the Medal of Honor for Ripley to Congress, where it passed. Griffith was tapped because Ripley had grown up in his district. He says he was happy to carry the bill.

“There was live fire going on while this operation was occurring and he got it done - and came back home and lived an amazing life,” Griffith said.

Ripley would stay in the Marines, retiring with the rank of Colonel. In the late ’80’s, he headed the Navy-Marine Corps ROTC at VMI.

In 1992, he became president of Southern Virginia College in Buena Vista.

Later, president of Hargrave Military Academy.

In 2002, Col. Ripley became the very first Marine officer to receive the “Distinguished Graduate Award,” the highest and most prestigious award given by the Naval Academy. In June 2008, four months before his passing, he also became the only Marine to be inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame.

There were many, many other accolades along the way -- but soon, in a White House ceremony, he will receive the highest honor of all. The family will accept the Medal of Honor at the White House.

“When the president calls, we’ll be waiting and ready,” Tom Ripley said.

From the NFL to outer space, a man who made history calls Central Virginia home.

Leland Melvin’s story begins in Lynchburg. Born in the Hill City in 1964, Melvin attended Heritage High School, playing for the Pioneers.

From a young age, Melvin showed a rare mix of athletic and academic talent. Melvin attended the University of Richmond to play football, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1986.

That same year, he was drafted in the 11th round of the NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. But a career-ending hamstring injury sidelined his football dreams.

He turned his attention back to academics. Melvin started working at NASA Langley Research Center in 1989. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Virginia in 1991.

Fast forward to 1998, Melvin reported for astronaut candidate training.

Melvin flew to the International Space Station aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in February of 2008, returning to orbit in November of 2009. Melvin was the 13th Black NASA astronaut in space, joining a small but growing group. To this day, there have only been 20 out of the hundreds who’ve made the mission.

“I think the things that I’ve done in my past have aligned me and gotten me ready so I can be here to talk to you today about how to inspire the next generation of explorers,” Melvin said.

Melvin went on to help develop and implement NASA’s education programs, helping lead the nation’s STEM education efforts and inspiring students across the country.

10 News has caught up with Melvin over the years, including during his visit to his alma mater in the early 2000s and again at Robert S. Payne Elementary School in March.

“I think the most favorite thing about coming to a school in Lynchburg where I’m from, is that the kids see the possibility,” Melvin said.

While Melvin retired from NASA in 2014 and his Detroit Lions jersey now sits under glass at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, to this day he serves as a reminder to everyone, from the Hill City to cities around the country and the world, of what’s possible.

Want to discover more stories that make Virginia unique? Visit the Patchwork 250 page to explore the full quilt of our region’s history, one patch at a time.

In his Wednesday decision, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy from Massachusetts said the Trump administration terminated the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) “without regard for the process delineated by Congress.”

The decision came at a time when hundreds of thousands of TPS holders from different nationalities are challenging the termination of their status at the federal courts. It represents the latest legal setback for the Trump's administration efforts to put an end to TPS as part of his hard-line immigration policy.

More than 1 million migrants from 17 countries were protected by TPS during President Joe Biden's administration. But the Department of Homeland Security has terminated the designation for 13 of those countries since President Donald Trump came to office for his second term in January 2025.

Venezuelans comprised the largest group of beneficiaries, followed by Haitians and Salvadorans.

On April 29, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the administration efforts to terminate TPS for 6,100 people from Syria and 350,000 from Haiti.

TPS was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in increments of up to 18 months.

The Biden administration granted TPS to Ethiopians living in the U.S. in 2022, noting ​the need to protect them from armed conflict ⁠and humanitarian suffering. In April 2024, it was extended.

Under Trump’s administration, the Department of Homeland Security terminated TPS for Ethiopia in December 2025, saying that the country no longer met the conditions for its designation.

The judge said DHS disregarded the statutory procedures Congress enacted that govern TPS.

“Fundamental to this case — and indeed to our constitutional system — is the principle that the will of the President does not supersede that of Congress,” Murphy, who was appointed by Biden, said in his decision. “Presidential whims do not and cannot supplant agencies’ statutory obligations.”

After Murphy's decision, DHS reiterated that TPS is a temporary status.

DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the ruling "is just the latest example of judicial activists trying to prevent President Trump from restoring integrity to America’s legal immigration system.”

“Everybody talks about Detroit, we owe our stuff to Detroit — first city that appreciated the band that I’m in,” Simmons said before cutting the ribbon at the new Rock & Brews in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Since opening their first location in Southern California in 2010, Simmons and Stanley have opened Rock & Brews in states from Washington to Florida.

“Our CEO is here, because he wants to go back in the kitchen and even bring it up a notch,” Simmons said in an interview. “You don’t want to keep the same old, same old. We got to kick it up, because people deserve the best. You wanted the best, you got the best — the hottest food in town.”

Simmons, 76, is the longtime bassist for Kiss. The face-painting rockers were inducted in 2014 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and were Kennedy Center honorees last year.

The New Yorkers long have had a soft spot for the Motor City. Not only is “Detroit Rock City” one of their best-known tunes, Kiss recorded part of their seminal live album “Alive!” at Cobo Arena.

Simmons, singer Stanley, the late guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss put out a few studio albums in the early 1970s without a lot of success. It wasn’t until 1975’s “Alive!” hit record stores that Kiss became, well, Kiss.

The band retired a few years ago from touring.

But Simmons was happy to be back on the road and in the Great Lakes State.

Indeed, Simmons said Thursday’s visit was a homecoming of sorts.

“Kiss really broke our rock-and-roll teeth in Detroit. Detroit accepted us way before New York and any other city,” he said, before doing a little impromptu singing: “You gotta lose your mind in Detroit Rock City.”

The morning began with moderate losses for Wall Street following drops for Asian and European stocks. But the S&P 500 erased its dip and finished with a 0.6% gain after Israel’s prime minister authorized direct negotiations with Lebanon. That eased worries that the two-week ceasefire announced late Tuesday may already be in trouble because of Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 275 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% after both indexes likewise recovered from early losses.

Crude oil prices pared some of their gains, but they nevertheless remained higher for the day on uncertainty about when oil tankers can start fully flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. The narrow waterway has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s demands of Iran, and blockages there have kept oil and natural gas stuck in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 3.7% to settle at $97.87 after briefly nearing $103 in the morning. Brent crude, the international standard, added 1.2% to $95.92 per barrel.

Given how far apart the United States and Iran seem to be in their demands, upward pressure on oil prices may be “here to stay for a while” according to strategists at Macquarie led by Thierry Wizman. Risks remain for renewed fighting, which could cause customers worldwide to hoard whatever oil supplies they do get. That could itself keep oil off the market, much like actual fighting targeting pipelines or oil tankers.

Oil prices have been swinging through sharp and sudden reversals for weeks with hopes rising and falling for the Strait of Hormuz to fully reopen and allow production of oil and natural gas to kick back into gear. Brent oil has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times.

Despite all the swings, the U.S. stock index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts isn’t far from its all-time high. The S&P 500 is just 2.2% below its record set in January.

Constellation Brands climbed 8.5% for one of the index’s biggest gains on Thursday after reporting stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, which sells Modelo beer and Robert Mondavi wines, said it saw encouraging trends heading into its new fiscal year. But it pulled its financial forecasts for the following fiscal year because of “limited near-term visibility” and other factors.

CoreWeave rose 3.5% after announcing an expanded, $21 billion deal with Meta Platforms to provide AI cloud capacity through December 2032. Meta climbed 2.6%.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Simply Good Foods, which sank 18.1% after reporting a worse drop in revenue than analysts expected. CEO Joe Scalzo called the results unsatisfactory and said the company behind the Quest and Atkins brands is making immediate changes to turn around its performance.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 41.85 points to 6,824.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 275.88 to 48,185.80, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 187.42 to 22,822.42.

Mixed reports on the U.S. economy also helped keep Wall Street in check. One said an underlying measure of inflation the Federal Reserve considers important was slightly hotter in February than economists expected. It decelerated before the war with Iran began, but not by as much as economists expected.

A separate report said that more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. The number was not very high compared with history, but it could indicate an acceleration in layoffs.

Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market following the reports before pulling near where they were the day before.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.28% from 4.29% late Wednesday. It’s still well above its 3.97% level from before the war, which has sent rates higher for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to U.S. households and businesses.

If oil prices stay high and keep upward pressure on inflation, the Federal Reserve would have a tough time resuming its cuts to interest rates to help the slowing economy, even if the job market weakens. A growing number of Fed officials seem to be considering the possibility of a hike in rates, according to minutes of their latest meeting released on Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.6%, and Germany’s DAX lost 1.1% for two of the world’s biggest moves.

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AP Writers Chan Ho-him, Matt Ott and Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to this report.

As the next-to-last day of their flight dawned Thursday, humanity's first lunar explorers in more than half a century were less than 150,000 miles (240,000 kilometers) from home with the odometer clicking down.

“We have to get back. There’s so much data that you’ve seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There are so many more pictures, so many more stories," said pilot Victor Glover, adding that "riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well.”

Being cut off from all of humanity for nearly an hour while behind the moon was especially “surreal,” according to commander Reid Wiseman.

“There’s a lot that our brains have to process ... and it is a true gift," Wiseman said late Wednesday during the crew's first news conference since before liftoff.

While out of contact behind the moon Monday, Wiseman, Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen became the most distant humans ever, clocking in at a record 252,756 miles (406,771 kilometers) from Earth before heading back. As they emerged from behind the moon, they experienced a wondrous total solar eclipse as the orb blocked the sun from their perspective.

Launching from Florida on April 1 diminished the amount of illumination on the lunar far side, Glover noted, but the eclipse was the consolation prize “and it was one of the greatest gifts.”

While acknowledging anxiety over Friday's return, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said the crew's "expressions of love and devotion to family” have warmed hearts worldwide and served as “a great example of why we go and do these missions.”

”If you can’t take love to the stars, then what are we doing?" he said. "That’s why we send humans instead of robots sometimes, that’s why we have that firsthand witness.”

Friday's reentry and Pacific splashdown off the coast of San Diego — as dynamic and dangerous as liftoff — now topped everyone's minds. The recovery ship, USS John P. Murtha, was already at sea, with a squadron of military planes and helicopters poised to join the operation.

It's the first time that NASA and the Defense Department have teamed up for a lunar crew's reentry since Apollo 17 in 1972. Their Orion capsule will come screaming back, hitting the atmosphere at a predicted 34,965 feet (10,657 meters) per second — or 23,840 mph (38,367 kph) — not a record but still mind-bogglingly fast.

Flight director Jeff Radigan said the capsule must nail the reentry angle within a single degree.

“Let’s not beat around the bush. We have to hit that angle correctly — otherwise we’re not going to have a successful reentry,” he said.

Mission Control will be paying close attention to how the capsule's heat shield holds up. During the only other Orion test flight to the moon — in 2022 without a crew — the heat shield suffered considerably more damage than expected from the 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) of reentry.

Instead of replacing Artemis II's heat shield, which would have forced another lengthy delay, NASA tweaked the capsule's descent through the atmosphere to reduce the blisteringly hot exposure. Next year's Artemis III and beyond will fly with redesigned heat shields.

Artemis III will see astronauts practice docking their capsule with a lunar lander or two in orbit around Earth. Artemis IV in 2028 will attempt to land two astronauts near the moon's south pole, setting the stage for what NASA hopes will be a sustainable lunar base.

NASA officials have been loath to provide their risk assessment numbers for the nearly 10-day mission, acknowledging launch and entry as the biggest threats.

“We’re down to the wire now,” said NASA's Lakiesha Hawkins. "We’re down to the end of the mission, and obviously getting the crew back home and getting them landed safely, is a significant part of the risk that’s still in front of us.”

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

That was a central message Thursday as some of the nation's most ambitious Democratic politicians appeared before Black activists at the National Action Network’s annual convention. In all, more than a half-dozen potential candidates are speaking during the four-day gathering led by Rev. Al Sharpton, aiming to make inroads among Black voters, who comprise one of Democrats’ most powerful blocs.

As they deflected questions about their 2028 intentions, the high-profile Democrats pointed to what they described as an imminent threat from the Trump administration heading into the November midterm elections.

“If we don’t have a fair election in November, we won’t have any more elections," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker charged. He warned that Trump was going to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents to "scare people away from the polls” — something the administration has denied — and said "we need to go with purpose and push them out of the way, or at least tell them to get out of the way, and go in and vote.”

Pritzker's comments underscore how the clash over voting rights in the 2026 midterm elections is already shaping the early stages of the 2028 presidential contest.

Trump has been taking unprecedented steps to change how Americans vote based on his false allegations of fraud.

Less than two weeks ago, Trump signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting. The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list.

Last year, Trump issued another executive order intended to create a proof-of-citizenship requirement, which could disenfranchise millions of Americans who don’t have easy access to such documents, and a mandate that all mail ballots be received by Election Day, eliminating grace periods used in 14 states. The order has been blocked by numerous courts.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who described himself as “hungry but not thirsty” when asked about his personal presidential ambitions, condemned Trump's actions as an effort “to make the pain permanent.”

“This is voter suppression. This is political redlining. These are the oldest tricks in the books,” Moore said. “The only difference is usually it’s spread out, it’s never done all at once and in broad daylight.”

He added, “We have to make sure that this election is not stolen right before our face.”

The next presidential primary is already underway

The primary season won't begin in earnest until after November's midterm elections, but this week's conference is showcasing a collection of Democrats already jockeying for position in what promises to be a crowded competition.

For now, at least, there is no clear early favorite.

“Everybody's talking about who may run for president,” said Sharpton, the National Action Network's founder and president. “I want to first know what their vision is now, and what they’re doing now. So I’ve invited all of the people that could run.”

In addition to Moore and Pritzker, the speaking program features Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the last Democratic presidential nominee, is scheduled to speak Friday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another likely contender, won't be in attendance because of a previously scheduled family commitment, his team said, noting that he met with Sharpton earlier in the year.

Shapiro was the first to speak and, like others, framed his critique of Trump around morality rather than the kitchen table issues that normally fill stump speeches. He warned that “everyone is less safe” because of Trump’s leadership and blamed him for a nationwide surge in antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and bigotry.

“There’s more chaos, there’s more cruelty in our world,” Shapiro said. “Even if we disagree on health care policy or tax policy or whatever, we should at least, at a baseline, have an honorable president of the United States. We do not have that right now.”

Khanna told The Associated Press that “a 2028 contender needs to articulate and run on a new moral vision for America." He said progressives should be “speaking to the Civil Rights tradition and offering a vision rooted in Black history.”

Black voters have critical influence

One doesn't have to look far to see the outsized influence that Black voters wield in Democratic nomination contests.

In 2020, Buttigieg was a top vote-getter in the Iowa caucus and scored a strong second place in New Hampshire — both overwhelmingly white states — before Joe Biden dominated South Carolina on the strength of the Black vote.

Biden's long-established relationship with the African American community, backed by his perceived electability advantage, ultimately helped him beat back a strong push by progressive favorite Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In an interview, Rep. James Clyburn, said he's not concerned about whether his home state of South Carolina retains its top spot on the presidential primary calendar so long as the state remains first in the South. He noted that his state's demographic makeup helps prepare candidates for the general election.

“South Carolina never made a request for that opening slot. That’s a decision that Joe Biden made for whatever reason,” Clyburn told The Associated Press.

He also said it was too early to focus on the Democrats' early 2028 field given the threat to voting rights that Trump poses this fall.

“I’ve been saying to everybody, and I hope they take heed — 2028 is a very shiny object, 2026 is a necessary process,” Clyburn said. “If we fail to conduct ourselves properly in these off-year elections, there ain’t gonna be a 2028 election.”

The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said that they had reached an agreement with the Justice Department that will allow the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to continue awarding grants and operating programs that support libraries and museums.

The White House referred questions to the Justice Department. The Civil Division of the Justice Department, which agreed to the settlement, did not immediately comment.

The two organizations filed a lawsuit last May, spearheaded by the group Democracy Forward, to stop the administration from gutting the IMLS after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that referred to it and several other federal agencies as “unnecessary.”

The measures that set in motion were part of a broader attempt by the administration to save money by slashing staff, grants and programs in the federal government.

Staff was subsequently placed on administrative leave with many receiving termination notices. The agency’s then acting director also began canceling grants and contracts and fired the members of the National Museum and Library Services Board.

“When the administration began shuttering IMLS last year, it set off a chain reaction. Libraries across the country started cutting hours, staff and services people rely on – after-school programs, support for job seekers and connection for older adults,” said American Library Association president Sam Helmick in a press statement.

The settlement said all reductions in force to the staff in 2025 have been rescinded and all employees who received them are authorized to return to work. IMLS will not issue any more RIFs in order “to effectuate” the purpose of the executive order, the settlement said.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called the settlement a victory for every community that depends on libraries and museums.

The plaintiffs will file a joint stipulation of dismissal of the case without prejudice in seven days if the government adheres to terms of the agreement.

The settlement announcement comes three days after a federal judge in Rhode Island approved an administration request to withdraw its appeal of a federal district court opinion in a separate lawsuit filed by 21 attorneys general.

IMLS is the only federal agency tasked with providing funding for the nation’s libraries. It was established in 1996 by a Republican-led Congress and has a mission to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.”

The institute combined the services of previous government agencies, including the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the Institute of Museum Services.

It distributes thousands of grants nationwide, totaling in recent years to more than $200 million annually.

Woods was arrested March 27 on suspicion of driving under the influence after his Land Rover struck a trailer and flipped onto its side along a residential street. Florida authorities determined him to be impaired when they found two painkiller pills in his pocket. Woods also refused to submit to a urine test and was briefly jailed.

"You know," Player said Thursday, “it's very easy — the human being is so critical of everything. If I or any of you in this room had the pain that Tiger Woods had — think of the excruciating pain that this man has been going through for a long time.

“Do I blame him for taking medicine? Hell, no. He has sleep deprivation,” Player continued. “Do I blame him for taking something to help him sleep? No. But I don't think he should drive a car. When you're taking that medicine, it's dangerous when you're driving a car, same as it's dangerous when you look at your cellphone in a car.”

The 90-year-old Player spoke about Woods after helping to hit the honorary tee shots to start the first round of the Masters.

Known for his fastidious diet and fitness regimen, Player went so far as to admit he no longer drives himself these days.

“So I think all he's got to do is just not drive a car, and get a chauffeur,” Player said. “My reflexes, I think, are as good as when I was 20, but I don't drive anymore. I get a chauffer. I think that's the answer to it.”

Woods, a five-time Masters champion, said last week he would be missing the tournament at Augusta National for the second straight year so that he could seek treatment at an undisclosed facility outside of the U.S., and “prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery.”

The announcement came hours after he pleaded not guilty to a DUI charge in connection with the crash.

Woods' injury list over the last 14 years is a long one. He had reconstructive knee surgery in 2008, four back surgeries from 2014-17, and he was previously arrested in 2017 for taking what he called a bad mix of painkillers that resulted in him falling asleep behind the wheel of a running car.

Four years ago, Woods’s right leg and ankle were crushed when his speeding SUV ran over a median and toppled down a hillside on a coastal road in Los Angeles. He also had surgery on his Achilles tendon and a seventh back surgery last year.

“My heart goes out for him,” Player said. “There’s nothing worse than living in pain every day of your life. You can’t think of anything worse. I just hope he can get it all sorted out because he’s such an asset to golf and has done so much for the game.”

Just about everyone at Augusta National this week has expressed sympathy for Woods, but many players — including Jason Day — also agreed with Player that he should not have been behind the wheel of a car.

“He’s just a human being like everyone else, and we have struggles,” Day said. “It’s unfortunate. The only thing that I don’t understand is that it’s a little bit selfish of him to drive and put other people in harm’s way, as well.”

Day, a former No. 1, called Woods his “hero," and said the reasons he began playing golf were Woods and the Masters.

“It’s hard to see him go through what he’s going through, and especially under the microscope. It must be hard to be who he is and have everything, everyone look on, kind of down on him,” Day said. "Some people want him to fail. Some people obviously want him to succeed. It’s really difficult for me to go through that and watch him, and I know that he’s getting the help now, which is good. I’m just hoping he comes out on the other side and is better.”

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

Xander Schauffele's tee shot on the par-5 eighth hole Thursday at Augusta National ended up in somebody's merchandise bag, just a few feet to the left of the fairway. Schauffele used a tee to mark the spot, removed the ball and then handed off the bag to a woman in a pink and white outfit.

He was able to play on without penalty and made par.

“It just flew straight into the bag. It was a great break. That bounce would’ve put me in the pine straw and who knows if I would’ve had a shot to hit up the hill,” Schauffele said after shooting a 2-under 70 in the first round.

“So thanks to the lady on 8,” he said.

Schauffele shouldn't sell himself short for his own role in a solid first day. After his tee shot on the par-4 ninth ended up in some pine straw and his second shot found a bunker, he splashed out to within inches of the hole for a par.

He made three birdies and two bogeys on the back nine.

“A little bit of a mixed bag,” he said.

No pun intended, presumably.

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

Noa-Lynn van Leuven of the Netherlands spoke out Thursday when the Darts Regulation Authority's new policy took effect.

"Apparently, I just got retired — not by choice, but because I’m no longer allowed to compete,” Van Leuven said in a video on her Instagram account.

The 29-year-old van Leuven had competed in the Women's Series of the Professional Darts Corporation. In 2024, she became the first transgender woman to play at the PDC World Darts Championship.

“I’ve worked so damn hard for years just to get here. I showed up, I competed. I respected the sport every game, every single day,” van Leuven said. “And now, with just one decision, I’m being told I don’t belong anymore. This isn’t just about me. This is another huge hit for the trans community.”

She will still be eligible for open PDC events.

It's not clear what van Leuven's legal options are, but in a written message with the video she added: “This isn’t the end. I’m just going back to the drawing board. I’m not done fighting.”

The DRA said in a statement Thursday that it began a review of its policies in 2025. It included commissioning a report from “an academic developmental biologist who has published several papers on sex and categories in sport. The DRA has also considered extensive legal advice.”

“As a result of its review, the DRA is satisfied that to achieve fair competition in darts, only biological females should be eligible to compete in women’s tournaments regulated by DRA Rules,” it said.

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