In its announcement Thursday, S&P Dow Jones Indices said its index committee weighed responses received from a “wide range of market participants,” but ultimately decided not to make any changes to its criteria for determining when a company should be added to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, or S&P SmallCap 600 indexes.

Some of the criteria for inclusion include headquarters in the United States, listing on NYSE or Nasdaq and profitability over the past year.

S&P also requires companies that complete IPOs to be traded on an “eligible exchange” for at least 12 months before they can be considered for inclusion into an index. The committee weighed shortening that requirement to six months, but opted not to do so.

The committee also decided against creating exceptions to its guidelines solely based on market capitalization, or how the stock market gauges a company’s value.

The move by S&P comes as other major U.S. index operators have taken steps to add very large companies soon after they make their stock market debut.

In March, Nasdaq announced new guidelines that allow for expediting the addition of large companies fresh off their initial public offerings into its benchmark Nasdaq 100 Index.

Nasdaq's guideline change is meant to ensure that the index, which tracks the 100 largest, non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq, accurately reflects the market sooner, rather than possibly months after a very large company goes public.

In its decision, S&P noted that there may be trade-offs in sticking to its guidelines for index eligibility, but said its current approach provides its indexes “substantial market coverage and sector balance.”

Many pension plans and mutual funds use S&P and Nasdaq indexes as an investing benchmark.

The moves by S&P and Nasdaq come as several of the biggest artificial intelligence companies in the U.S. are setting the stage for blockbuster IPOs this year.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to go public this month with plans to raise up to $75 billion, which would make it the largest-ever stock market debut.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, announced Monday its plans for a proposed IPO, while OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, is planning an IPO as soon as this fall.

The pressure has been on Alexander Zverev to finally win an elusive Grand Slam title and now the second-seeded German is only one victory away from raising the French Open trophy.

Zverev reached the fourth major final of his career after beating 20-year-old Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the Roland Garros semifinals on Friday.

In Sunday’s final, Zverev will face 14th-ranked Flavio Cobolli.

Cobolli advanced when 104th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi withdrew before their all-Italian semifinal due to a virus.

Arnaldi spent 19 hours, 42 minutes on court to reach the semifinal — more than anyone at a Grand Slam since 1991. He said he was vomiting overnight.

“I tried to get ready ... but every time I get up I feel dizzy,” Arnaldi said. “I can’t move and I can’t eat and I can’t drink. So there was really no way that I will be able to play.”

Zverev has been an overwhelming favorite for the title ever since the top-ranked Sinner struggled in the first week’s heat wave and wasted a two set and 5-1 lead against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.

Alcaraz, the two-time reigning champion, withdrew before the tournament with an injured right wrist.

The 27th-ranked Mensik, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, struggled with five double faults.

Mensik overcame post-match cramps that landed him in a wheelchair last week, got past Andrey Rublev in five sets, and beat rising Brazilian João Fonseca in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

“He beat so many unbelievable players. I knew it was going to be the toughest challenge that I had so far. And I managed. I won. I’m happy,” Zverev said.

It will be Zverev’s second French Open final, having wasted a lead of two sets to one against Alcaraz in the 2024 championship match.

Zverev had an even bigger advantage — two sets to none — in the 2020 U.S. Open final and lost that one, too, to Dominic Thiem. He was also beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final.

Wind and mishits

Despite overcast and windy conditions at the start, the roof was open on Court Philippe-Chatrier and both players struggled with mishits early on.

Mensik relied often on serve-and-volley tactics while Zverev was more solid from the baseline of the red clay court.

Mensik double-faulted twice late in the first set, leading to the first break.

Zverev broke again early in the second after running down a drop shot from Mensik and then went ahead 5-2 when Mensik double-faulted again.

Mensik's medical timeout

Early in the third, Mensik had his neck treated by a trainer and then left the court for a medical timeout.

When play resumed, Zverev moved Mensik off the court with well-angled shots and the Czech player threw his racket in desperation at a ball he knew he couldn’t reach.

There were more shouts for “Sascha” — Zverev’s nickname — but the crowd attempted to help Mensik back into the match with chants of “Let’s go, Mensik, Let’s go.”

When Mensik produced two well-executed drop shots to finally break Zverev’s serve and take a 4-2 lead in the third, he pumped his fist as the crowd came to life.

It was just the second set that Zverev dropped in the tournament.

“He started playing amazing the third set,” Zverev said. “This is best-of-five-set matches: You know things (are) going to happen. Opponents are going to play better. You have to deal with it. You have to manage it. I did. And I hope to play another great match on Sunday.”

When Mensik rushed the net after a slice serve to the deuce court midway through the fourth set and Zverev used his long wingspan to produce a looping cross-court return that dipped over the net beyond his reach, Mensik just smiled — perhaps realizing in that moment that Zverev simply had too much game for him.

Abuse allegations

Moments after Zverev’s last Grand Slam final in Australia in 2025, a person in the stadium yelled out the names of two of his ex-girlfriends who accused him of physical abuse.

One case was resolved following an agreement between German prosecutors, lawyers for Zverev and his former partner. The ATP Tour investigated another case and concluded there was insufficient evidence.

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

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse.

Judge Penney Azcarate called Banfield’s actions evil and calculated.

“The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” she said in handing down the sentence, which is mandatory in Virginia for an aggravated murder conviction. The scheme involved “luring a completely innocent man into your deadly trap; continuing on after the murders without a care; and not once — not once — thinking of the impact” on the Banfields' 4-year-old daughter. Brendan Banfield “took everything from her,” Azcarate said.

In addition to murder, jurors in February convicted Banfield of child endangerment because the couple’s daughter was home during the killings. Azcarate sentenced Banfield to an additional five years on that charge and three more years on a firearms charge.

Speaking at his sentencing, Banfield continued to proclaim his innocence, saying it would have been impossible for him to have committed the murders. Banfield said he loved his wife and, although he had affairs, he never intended to leave her.

Azcarate was unmoved, citing his lack of remorse as one of the reasons she felt no hesitation in ordering him to remain behind bars for life.

Speaking at Friday's hearing, Christine Banfield’s older sister, Danielle Hocker, spoke of their close relationship and described her sister as kind, caring, reliable and selfless. She said they grew up chasing fireflies and sleeping next to each other on the floor in sleeping bags.

“When she was born, 'I' became ‘we’,” Hocker told the court. “I haven’t stopped saying ‘we’ when I speak about my childhood after her death, except now when I do, it takes my breath away — a pause filled with love that has nowhere to go.”

During Brendan Banfield's trial, Magalhães testified that he had told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, but he needed to “get rid of” his wife first. He didn’t want a divorce because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter, said Magalhães, who was 21 when she started working for the Banfields in 2021.

Magalhães had also testified that she and Brendan Banfield staged the scene at the home in Herndon, Virginia, to look as if they had shot a violent intruder. The pair had pretended to be Christine Banfield on a fetish website to lure Ryan to their house for a sexual encounter involving a knife.

On the day of the killings, Magalhães said she waited in a car outside the house with the daughter. When Ryan arrived, she called Brendan Banfield, who was waiting at a nearby McDonald's. The pair took the child to the basement and then went to the bedroom, where they encountered Ryan. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine Banfield with the knife Ryan had brought. When Magalhães saw Ryan moving, she fired a second shot that killed him.

On Friday, Banfield emphasized that there was dissent within the police department over the theory that he had impersonated his wife on social media, saying it would have been impossible for him to send some of the messages.

Some media have dubbed the case the “au pair affair.” Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter after agreeing to testify against Brendan Banfield. Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in prison after Banfield's trial.

The drone that self-detonated in the port of Constanta exploded at around 10:30 a.m., after the area had been secured and isolated by the Romanian Intelligence Service, coast guard and the Defense Ministry, authorities said.

“Immediately after identifying the drone, the Ministry of Defense contacted its Ukrainian counterparts, who confirmed that they had lost control of the operation of four drones,” the Romanian government said in a statement. “The other three drones self-detonated — two offshore and the third outside the port.”

“Confirmation of these events came from both the Ukrainian side and from data obtained by the Romanian authorities,” it added.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in a statement online that the Ukrainian forces “lost control of the assets as a result of electronic warfare actions by Russia," likely jamming, and that the drone's incursion into “Romanian sovereign space is a direct consequence of the war waged by Russia” against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Navy confirmed in a statement that it had lost control of an unmanned naval boat “while performing tasks in the Black Sea operational zone,” and that its military was in contact with Romanian authorities "to prevent losses among the civilian population.

The incident took place a week after a Russian aerial drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine went astray and struck an apartment building in Romania’s eastern Danube port city of Galati, injuring two people in the NATO member country.

Raed Arafat, the head of Romania's Department for Emergency Situations, told a news conference Friday morning that helicopters had been deployed to search for more drones and that the authorities had issued text message alerts to residents.

“There is a possibility that there may be other drones,” he said. “We are not panicking. These are preventive measures. If there are other drones, we want to make sure there is not another explosion in an area where people are not evacuated.”

After the port explosion, more than 1,300 people were evacuated from several Black Sea beaches and the routes leading to them were temporarily blocked. Just before 3 p.m., the emergency authorities announced they had suspended evacuation measures.

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest accused Romania on Friday of intentionally releasing “incomplete information” regarding the drone's origin, and said “three other similar drones” belonging to Ukraine were drifting toward Romanian territorial waters.

“These are Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles, used by the Kyiv regime to commit terrorist acts against civilian ships and to create threats to the safety of navigation in the Black Sea,” the embassy said. “Any attempts to associate, directly or indirectly, these drones with Russia and to assign it responsibility for the incident are without any reason.”

The recent incidents in Romania are some of the latest in a series of drone incursions — from both Russia and Ukraine — to hit NATO members since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A month ago, Greece made a formal complaint to the Ukrainian government after a military sea drone carrying explosives was discovered off a Greek island. Greece determined that it was Ukrainian-built. Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias called it “an extremely serious issue," and the complaint was forwarded to both NATO and the EU.

Romanian forces destroyed another maritime drone in the Black Sea on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the war next door, the Defense Ministry said that the Romanian navy has neutralized nine of the 156 sea mines in the Black Sea basin.

For its part, the European Union was giving “full solidarity and support to Romania,” European Council President António Costa said Friday.

“The EU condemns the repeated violations of airspace of Member States and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the security of all Member States,” he said in an online statement Friday. “This is the third significant security incident in Romania in recent weeks. These incidents are a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

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McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England. Associated Press writers Sam McNeil in Brussels and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

Without directly saying the idea was to replace Pride, the governors of Indiana and Tennessee rebranded June as Nuclear Family Month to celebrate units made up of “one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children.”

In Alabama, it's Strong Families Month, intended to coincide with Father's Day. Gov. Kay Ivey's proclamation says fathers are “the head of the household” and “homes led by a father and mother provide children with the structure and discipline necessary to succeed throughout life.”

The governors of Utah and Arkansas deemed it Fidelity Month, which emphasizes fidelity to faith, country and family — without comment on how those families might be comprised.

Last week, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' X account posted a link to an article about her proclamation that declared, “Another Red State is Counter-Programming Pride Month.”

She and the other governors haven’t answered questions from The Associated Press about why their proclamations are all set in June.

Family focus for June has come on strong this year

Republican lawmakers in at least four other GOP-controlled states have introduced legislation this year calling for June to be Fidelity Month.

An organization pushing that concept was founded by Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor of jurisprudence who has long been a leader on conservative thought. His group did not respond to interview requests.

He told the National Catholic Register about the idea in 2023, saying “nobody gets a monopoly on a particular day or a particular month.”

June Pride celebrations, which often include parades, festivals and performances, began in 1970 to mark the first anniversary of the violent police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar, and have since expanded to cities worldwide.

“You can call it whatever you want, but one thing you’re not going to do is take away our pride or take away our joy," said Jordan Braxton co-president of USA Prides.

Every Democratic president since Bill Clinton in 1999 has signed a Pride proclamation each year — and no Republican president has.

Last year, President Donald Trump’s Education Department began declaring June to be Title IX Month – and using it to open investigations into schools that allow transgender students to use the bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identities.

One of the few GOP governors who has proclaimed Pride is Utah's Spencer Cox, who did so in 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2024, he deemed June a “Month of Bridge Building” before switching to Fidelity Month this year.

A poll released this week found that a two decade-long increase in acceptance of same-sex marriages and relationships has flattened — largely because more Republicans oppose them.

Conservatives say they're ‘reclaiming the culture’

Last year, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, introduced a resolution to make June Family Month — and to unrecognize Pride Month, saying “Americans are inundated with perverse Pride Month displays and events throughout the month of June that denigrate the nuclear family.” It never got a vote.

Some backers view the state measures as an opportunity for a cultural reset.

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, said in an interview that it's good to have the conservative recognitions because Pride celebrations “were going so far as to make it difficult to celebrate traditional marriage."

The resolution approved by Tennessee’s Legislature and governor does not mention Pride Month specifically, while saying the “nuclear family is under attack in our beloved State and nation.”

But Lakie Derrick, a conservative activist who authored the measure with a friend, said she did indeed target it to June to counter Pride Month, which she said “goes against” American values.

“We’re just reclaiming the culture, and there’s no better month to do that than in a month where the culture says we’re gonna celebrate something so opposite to what we know to be right,” Derrick said.

Marina Lowe, who leads legal and legislative affairs for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equality Utah, said that Pride Month is not the antithesis of other values-based recognitions. Many LGBTQ+ people also value faith and family, she said, so “I don’t think that these positions need to be in conflict with one another.”

In Wenatchee, Washington, a school’s Turning Point USA chapter was able to get Family Month banners posted on light poles that in the past had displayed rainbow flags during June. A local gay rights group, Out NCW, struck back by buying two billboards and passing out yard signs supporting Pride, its president, AJ Soto, said.

For some, this is why Pride Month exists

Josh Coleman, president of Central Alabama Pride, which has 42 events planned over two weeks, said the celebrations, which culminate with a parade on June 13 and festival June 14, won't be affected by the proclamation.

“It's not lost upon LGBTQ people when elected leaders don't recognize or value the visibility of the community,” he said. “That's why Pride started in the first place — to make sure the community had a community.”

Alex Richardson, chair of the board of directors at Indy Pride in Indianapolis, said he sees the governor's proclamation there as a “swipe.” But he also believes the events there this month are celebrating some of the things the governor supports.

“Sure, the governor's right, the nuclear family is worth celebrating,” Richardson said. “But I think so is the grandmother who raises her grandchildren, or the chosen family that shows up when a biological family can't, or won't, ... or the weird blended households that are held together by love and effort.”

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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Mulvihill from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

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This story has been updated to correct ‘blended family’ to ‘biological family’ in a quote by Alex Richardson.

The company behind the Claude chatbot said in a blog post Thursday that as cutting-edge AI gets increasingly faster at carrying out tasks, “it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause” its development.

Anthropic said its internal research institute plans to explore the issue in collaboration with others and “take actions" to help build the systems for a credible slowdown or pause, without being more specific.

Anthropic rival OpenAI argued for a different approach in a report published Wednesday, saying that “democratic governments — not private companies acting alone — must ultimately determine the rules, safeguards, and accountability mechanisms.”

“Our view is that decisions about the pace of AI innovation should not be left to any one lab, company, or special interest group,” it said.

AI models are getting faster, with rapid increases in how quickly they can carry out software tasks like coding on their own, Anthropic said in its post. Based on current trends and given enough computing power, an AI system could be able to design and develop its own successor, in what is known as “recursive self-improvement.”

Self-building AI would be a major technological milestone that would bring benefits in science, healthcare and other areas, Anthropic said, but it “also might increase the risks of humans losing control over AI systems.”

Some tech industry figures have long warned of such a scenario.

Anthropic’s post comes after a different warning this week from a team of researchers at the University of Toronto who showed how AI tools could be used to create a new kind of AI “worm” that adapts its hacking strategy as it spreads from device to device and takes over a vast computing network.

“I think it’s really important that people understand that it’s not just the biggest, most powerful language models that pose the security concerns,” lead researcher Nicolas Papernot said in an interview.

The authors of the Anthropic post, company co-founder Jack Clark and Marina Favaro, head of its research institute, said the pause would be used to enable “societal structures and alignment research" to keep up with AI advances. Alignment is industry shorthand for making sure the technology matches human values and intentions.

The proposed coordination would let advanced AI labs verify that global rivals have actually stopped or slowed their work, “and that a bad actor could not use the auspices of a coordinated slowdown to jump ahead in secret.”

The company said a coordinated global mechanism is needed because without it a slowdown in AI development could let the “least cautious” players catch up and add to pressure on companies and governments as they make tough choices about AI safety.

Anthropic's post comes as the company and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI race to sell shares on the stock market, in an IPO that could value Anthropic at nearly a trillion dollars.

Papernot notified Canadian cybersecurity authorities prior to releasing his report, which shows how researchers developed the worm in a laboratory by using an “open-source” AI tool that is easy for software developers to cheaply access and modify.

“In the past, cyber attackers would focus on targets that are very high value,” he said. “Banking systems, hospitals, electricity grids, water treatment systems, schools.”

Papernot agreed that there should be more collaboration between companies, government agencies and academic researchers to develop countermeasures as AI-powered hacking tools supercharge the search for computer vulnerabilities.

“That old laptop you have in your basement that you don’t check on regularly doesn’t seem like a very high-value target, but It can be used as a launch pad to attack these higher-value targets,” he said. “Anything connected to the internet is now at risk because of how low the cost has become to mount these cyberattacks.”

NATO allies were bewildered in May when Trump said he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number pulled from Europe, following a spat with Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war. The Trump administration says troop reductions in Europe have long been planned and coordinated with allies.

The Republican president announced on social media two weeks ago that he was sending troops to Poland — the same day the Pentagon had officially ordered the cancellation of a rotation of soldiers heading there, one of the defense officials said.

The unit's equipment was already on the way. Sending it cost the military $32 million, said U.S. Transportation Command, the military agency largely responsible for moving troops and gear across the globe.

The abrupt changes are forcing the military to “retroactively engineer” a policy in line with the president’s latest pronouncement, the official said. Both officials were briefed on the decisions and, along with others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

The uncertainty is not only rattling European allies worried about the message being sent to Russia, but it also risks hurting morale among American troops — some of whom had their rotations canceled shortly before departure — and comes as the Army budget is already strained.

Changes to troop deployments to Poland add up

The rotational deployment to Poland of 4,000 troops from the Army’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based in Fort Hood, Texas, was canceled in a memo sent to the military at the beginning of May. European allies found out mid-month.

Some of those troops were told shortly before traveling not to get on a flight to Poland, while those who had been sent ahead — initially around 1,000 troops — are still waiting for confirmation they are being sent back, a U.S. military official said.

The military also is still waiting for details from the Pentagon on how to satisfy Trump's order to send 5,000 troops to Poland, that official said. The working assumption is that they will come from units already in Europe, rather than an additional deployment from the U.S., the official said.

U.S. Transportation Command had chartered a ship to take the team's equipment from Texas to Poland and transport a departing unit's gear back to America. The incoming team's portion of the cost was $32 million, including chartering the ship and loading and unloading the gear.

Because the ship was chartered to take one unit to Europe and bring another back, it is hard to say if that amount would have been saved had the decision to halt the deployment been made before the new team had already begun moving overseas.

However, the military official said the unscheduled move of personnel and equipment back from Europe is most likely not a cost the Pentagon budgeted for and would be an additional expense.

Total costs of canceling the rotation are hard to quantify because of many factors, said Joe Costa, a former senior Pentagon official who now focuses on challenges faced by the U.S. military as director of the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program.

They most likely stem from returning equipment and troops sent ahead of the deployment and would probably be on the low end of the rotation’s overall cost, Costa said. The greater impact is on the readiness of troops who were trained for one mission and may be deployed on another, he said.

U.S. military contracts with private companies to transport troops and equipment contain cancellation clauses that often add extra fees if a deployment is called off, said John Deni, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council who has studied such costs.

“The question is what additional costs were incurred by deciding to send them back prematurely, changing the arrangements, changing the plan?” said Deni, a former U.S. military adviser and planner who focused on forces in Europe.

It is not clear if the Pentagon can recoup those costs or those associated with moving the unit to Europe. The Defense Department did not answer questions about the costs of changing the deployment plans, and the White House referred a request for comment to the department.

Pentagon officials have repeatedly said they planned to lower troop levels to have Europe shoulder more of its own defense and that the decision was part of a “comprehensive, multilayered process.”

Last month's memo also led to the cancellation of a deployment to Germany of a battalion trained in firing long-range rockets and missiles.

Pulling troops stationed in Germany would be more expensive

When Trump first threatened to remove 5,000 troops from Europe, Pentagon officials initially suggested pulling back the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is based permanently in Germany, the defense official said.

Instead, officials decided to cancel the rotation of the other unit to Poland. Then Trump threw that plan into confusion as well.

Pulling the troops stationed in Germany could cost in the low billions because there is no dedicated space and infrastructure in the U.S. to accommodate them and their families, Costa said.

“The other option is basically breaking up the unit,” Costa said. “They move the equipment in different places. They move the people to different places. That carries significant readiness costs because now you’re artificially jamming pieces of units into places where they don’t necessarily belong.”

Pulling or pausing deployments also can hurt morale among soldiers and families because they plan for them months and years in advance, Deni said. The uncertainty can be disruptive.

"That’s often the last thing you want to do to military families,” Deni said.

It is still unclear what will happen to U.S. troops stationed in Europe, the two officials said. Options include moving military units assigned to Germany to Poland, but that could take several years and cost more, the military official said.

Troop changes happen during an Army budget shortfall

The moves come as the Army is facing a budget shortfall, which the service's top uniformed officer, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, recently acknowledged to Congress.

Estimates put the deficit somewhere between $2 billion and $6 billion, according to an Army official who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive defense matters. One impact has been cutting training courses for soldiers nationwide, which ABC News earlier reported.

In a statement, the Army said it has issued guidance to its commands to “make tough and sound resource decisions that optimize and prioritize resources toward their most critical requirements, to include major training and readiness events.”

The Army official also noted that the service has been tasked with missions like the National Guard deployment in Washington, a bolstered presence along the U.S.-Mexico border and its part in the Iran war — all of which have strained its budget.

The Department of Homeland Security expects to reimburse the Army for its role in the border mission.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told lawmakers at a May 15 hearing that he was “optimistic” there would progress on those payments “within a week or two.” But to date, the Army has not been reimbursed.

“We want those backfilled payments," Driscoll said then.

The U.S. military in Europe also is scaling back support for non-combat related training and ruthlessly prioritizing critical functions, the military official said.

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Burrows reported from London.

Thursday's letter, the first public message Zelenskyy has written directly to Putin since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, was a sweeping critique of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power as well as some taunts about his age.

Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish.”

“Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?” Putin said at a question-and-answer session at his annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “I think it’s the second.”

Putin added that a Russian businessman whom he didn’t identify traveled to Kyiv last month and met with Zelenskyy to hear his offer of a personal meeting.

However, Putin said that he sees “no point” in such a meeting, especially after a May 22 drone attack by Ukraine on a college dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region that Moscow said killed 21 and wounded scores of others.

In response to Zelenskyy’s barbs about his age and long stay in power, the 73-year-old Putin pointed at other global leaders who are older, adding that “the main thing isn’t age; the main thing is the ability to work.”

He also mocked Zelenskyy's rocky Oval Office meeting in 2025 and thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for “educating” Zelenskyy “before the eyes of the whole world” and teaching him a proper dress code.

“There is still a lot to be done,” he said.

Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to simply wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the fighting in Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said Thursday it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.

Putin has previously offered for Zelenskyy to come to Moscow for talks, an offer that the Ukrainian leader pointedly rejected. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.

On Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelenskyy’s push for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce.

Putin said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his last year’s summit with Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict.

“Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops,” he said. “But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”

Asked about Iran, Putin voiced hope for an eventual deal to secure lasting peace. He shrugged off claims that Moscow provided Iran with satellite images, saying that Tehran could use widely available commercial ones.

"As for weapons, Iran hasn’t asked us for them and we haven’t supplied any weapons to Iran,” he said, adding that Russia stands ready to take enriched uranium for storage as part of a potential peace deal, and that Moscow has stayed in contact with Iran, the U.S. and Israel.

Global turbulence

In a speech earlier Friday at the forum, Putin said developing countries have gained an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of output by Western countries has shrunk.

He accused the West of undermining the global economy and finances with unilateral sanctions. By freezing Russian assets abroad through sanctions, Western nations eroded trust in their own currencies, he said.

“The sanctions and blocking of Russia’s sovereign reserves have irreversibly impacted the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,” he said. “Just like Russia, any other country could lose access to their legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as Western financial and payment systems.”

He alleged that high state debt had helped undermine global trust in Western institutions.

“The roots of the current global turbulence lie in the transition from a vertical, hierarchical model, which served the interests of a small number of states, to a more complex, distributed and multipolar one,” Putin said. “Russia views global changes not only as a threat but also as immense opportunities. And to capitalize on them, we aim to act swiftly and pragmatically.”

The Russian leader said the world needed a “modern, flexible and responsible financial architecture — free from risks, bans and barriers.”

Putin stresses Russia's macroeconomic stability

Putin played down Russia’s economic slowdown and sought to emphasize its macroeconomic stability. He noted that Russia’s state debt is a fraction of that in Western countries and its budget deficit is considerably smaller, compared with the West.

The forum comes at a time when Russia’s economic outlook has clouded amid the conflict in Ukraine. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

On Thursday, Putin told heads of international media on the forum's sidelines that it was an exaggeration to say Russia's economy was struggling. He noted that his government had taken deliberate steps to cool the economy to keep inflation under control.

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also gave speeches Friday. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Cook was singled out in the audience during a question-and-answer session following Putin's speech. Cook praised the beauty of St. Petersburg and Putin thanked him for the remarks about his hometown and asked to convey his greetings to Trump.

Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin declared that Russia was “calmly and resolutely” moving to reach its goals in Ukraine. He acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia and vowed to build up defenses.

“They do inflict a certain damage,” he said. “For us, it means only one thing: we need to strengthen our security, strengthen air defenses, and we will do that.”

Head’s daughters, actors Emily and Daisy Head, told the Press Association news agency that the actor passed away due to complications from pneumonia.

The stage and TV performer became well known to British audiences in the 1980s as one half of a will-they, won’t-they romantic couple in a series of ads for Nescafe Gold Blend instant coffee. The ads were later re-shot for a U.S. audience for Taster's Choice.

Head achieved wider fame as librarian Rupert Giles, mentor to the title character in the cult-favorite supernatural series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which ran from 1997 to 2003.

He most recently played Rupert Mannion, the villainous ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca, in “Ted Lasso.”

“Our grief is far greater than the hole he has left behind, but we know his legacy will live on, in the shows he was a part of, and in the audiences that love them,” his daughters said. “How lucky we are to know we are able to watch him doing what he loved, even when he is no longer with us.”

Head was born in London on Feb. 20, 1954 to Seafield Head, a documentary filmmaker, and Helen Shingler, an actor. His older brother, Murray, is also an actor.

Other notable roles included playing Geoffrey Howe, the deputy to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, played by Meryl Streep, in the Oscar-winning “The Iron Lady.”

Head portrayed a prime minister himself in the sketch comedy show “Little Britain,” as well as King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur, in the “Merlin” TV series. He also appeared in “Motherland," Manchild,” and “Silent Witness,” along with acting in many plays, musicals, and recording music as a singer.

He was predeceased by his longtime partner, animal welfare activist Sarah Fisher, 61, in 2025.

Joseph Magnano, 23, did not speak at Superior Court in Hartford but later hugged officers outside the courtroom. Many displayed badges over their street clothes.

Magnano was fired by the Hartford mayor after the fatal shooting of Steven Jones on Feb. 27. The shooting drew wide public outcry and questions about the police department’s policies when responding to people in mental distress.

The president of the local police union continued to defend Magnano while speaking to reporters Friday.

“They told him he was a criminal for doing what he was trained to do,” James Rutkauski said.

Jones, 55, who had a history of mental illness, was holding a large knife on a city street when officers arrived on that winter day.

Police body camera video shows three officers, over several minutes, repeatedly telling Jones to drop a knife. The officers also tell him they’re there to help.

“Steve, you’re OK. We’re going to make sure you’re OK,” Officer James Prignano says. “Just drop the knife. We’re going to go talk to somebody, OK?”

Jones can’t be heard saying anything in the videos.

About 12 minutes after the 911 call, Magnano arrives, draws his pistol and shouts at Jones to drop the knife, telling him, “You’re going to get shot.” A woman is heard screaming, “Don’t shoot him!”

The videos show Prignano motioning at Magnano, appearing to tell him to back away. As Jones slowly walks toward Magnano, the officer gives a final warning before shooting at him nine times. Jones died four days later.

Connecticut Inspector General Eliot Prescott said an investigation found Jones was not an imminent threat.

In his own incident report, Magnano said he was “fearful of Jones making a sudden lunge towards either an officer or citizen.”

Jones’ relatives did not attend the hearing but local NAACP officials were present Friday.

“They take an oath to protect and serve,” Corrie Betts, president of the Greater Hartford NAACP branch, said of police. “So when they’re called to a mental health call and an individual ends up dead, is that protecting and serving?”

The comments by the country's leaders came as the Israeli military struck multiple parts of southern Lebanon and issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has sheltered thousands of people displaced by the three-month war. The strikes killed nine people in six locations in southern Lebanon, the state news agency reported.

Addressing a statement issued a day earlier by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said: “It’s not your job to interfere into our country. I reject the statement totally because our people (are) being killed, our houses being destroyed.”

Iran, he told CNN, is “using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the United States.”

In separate remarks, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called on the Lebanese people to put the interest of their country first, saying that Lebanon "should not remain a battlefield for others.” He added that Iran should stop dealing with southern Lebanon and its people as “a bargaining chip to improve the conditions of its negotiations.”

Latest ceasefire seeks to pull Lebanon away from Iran

Iran has demanded that any lasting truce should extend to Lebanon. The Revolutionary Guard statement said “there will be no calm in the region if the Zionists don’t withdraw from occupied Lebanese territories.”

The ceasefire deal has also been rejected by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. The Lebanese government accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities.

The U.S.-brokered agreement that was reached Wednesday in Washington sought to pull Lebanon away from Iran with a statement that any agreement to cease hostilities must be reached directly through Lebanon and Israel “and not through any separate track.”

Aoun said Hezbollah should also understand that negotiations and diplomacy are the only way “to save what’s left” of Lebanon.

Speaking at a meeting at government headquarters in Beirut, Salam said: “Let me be clear in front of you. The people of south Lebanon are not part of the war between Iran and America.”

Meanwhile, the new evacuation warnings forced hundreds of Lebanese families to flee the village of Anqoun and the area of Aarnaya, on the edge of the predominantly Christian community of Maghdoucheh, near the southern port city of Sidon. Elsewhere, people began to return to their homes to survey the aftermath of fighting between Israeli forces and the Hezbollah militant group.

Some villages are in ruins

Wide parts of the south have already been devastated by the war. An Associated Press team traveling in the south Friday saw multiple villages in ruins, including Dibbine, near Marjayoun town, from which Israeli troops withdrew a day earlier.

It was the first time Israeli troops pulled out of an area in southern Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in early March. U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops were at an entrance of Dibbine, clearing rubble and opening roads.

The Lebanese army set up barbed wire at one of the entrances, preventing some residents from returning.

At least one family arrived to search the rubble of its home along the road leading to the village, while the owner of a petrol station in Dibbine looked at his destroyed property and called village residents to report on the destruction he saw from behind the barbed wire.

Shrapnel and pieces of missiles were seen in the rubble of homes lining the road into Dibbine. Israeli troops entered the village weeks ago for the first time and were engaged in heavy clashes with Hezbollah fighters in the area. The troops returned this week, before withdrawing Thursday.

The road to Dibbine was dotted with villages entirely emptied of residents and destroyed by Israeli strikes, including Khiam. But no Israeli troops were visible from the road.

Nearby Christian villages were largely untouched, and many of their residents decided to stay. The strategic Beaufort castle, recently captured by Israel, appeared in the distance, with a flag of the Israeli Golani Brigade. Smoke from strikes around the nearby Nabatiyeh city billowed above.

Nearly three hours after Friday’s evacuation warnings were issued by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Israeli warplanes struck the Lebanese villages, including Anqoun. About 2,500 people displaced by the fighting were sheltering in Anqoun, the Lebanese news agency NNA reported.

Israel had warned Lebanese residents against returning to villages in the south, saying the area is still a combat zone.

Parliament speaker makes first comments since ceasefire deal

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a strong ally of Hezbollah who has been acting as a mediator on behalf of the group, echoed the militants' demands for a broad Israeli withdrawal. In his first comments since the agreement was announced Wednesday in Washington, Berri said that he accepts Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the areas south of the Litani River as long as it coincides with the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

The river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border with Israel, forms the boundary of a 2006 U.N.-established buffer zone in which Hezbollah is banned. Israeli troops have pushed far past the river into southern Lebanon.

Berri added in a written statement that the ceasefire should be “complete and comprehensive,” without any exceptions for land, sea or air, and “without bulldozing and demolishing everything that exists.” He was referring to wide areas that have been demolished by Israeli troops.

US forces board tanker linked to Iran

The war in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south since March 2, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a globally important conduit for oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other commodities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.

In Iran-related developments, American forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to the Islamic Republic in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military said Friday.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X that the forces boarded the MT Davina, without offering details. U.S. forces around the world have sought to prevent Iran from profiting off its oil and other goods. They have been directed to stop ships tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government.

The U.S. Navy has imposed a blockade of Iran’s ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to open the strait and accept a deal to extend a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing further into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

The 10 to 10 forecast shows a quick warm-up into the 90s Friday afternoon, so if you do have to be outside for long periods of time, be sure to pack the extra bottle of water and sunscreen! We will stay dry all day thanks to high pressure influencing the region, but that will change for the second half of the weekend and part of next week.

If you have outdoor weekend plans, Saturday will be the better day to get those done! As a cold front moves into the region Sunday afternoon, the chance of showers and storms will be back in the picture. Have a great weekend!

The jury found both Rebecca Grossman and Scott Erickson, a former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, negligent in the deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander.

The damages awarded Wednesday were for wrongful death and emotional distress. The trial judge will ultimately determine how much each defendant has to pay.

Court was scheduled to resume Friday as jurors must still decide whether to award punitive damages to the boys' parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander.

Grossman was sentenced in 2024 to serve 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in a separate criminal trial. She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and the wife of a prominent burn doctor.

The boys' parents also filed lawsuits in civil court against both Grossman and Erickson, who was driving ahead of her when the Iskander brothers were killed. That trial began in April.

The deadly crash occurred on the evening of Sept. 29, 2020, in Westlake Village, a city on the western edge of Los Angeles County.

Brian Panish, the Iskander family's attorney, argued that Grossman and Erickson were both driving recklessly after drinking margaritas together. The two were dating at a time when Grossman and her husband were separated.

Panish said Grossman was driving 73 mph (117 kph) when her car struck the boys in a crosswalk on a road where the posted speed limit was 45 mph (72 kph).

He said Grossman was following Erickson, who was also speeding and narrowly missed the family.

“This was a totally preventable collision," Panish told the jury in closing arguments Wednesday. “They went out for a walk and they never came home.”

Grossman's attorney, Esther Holm, denied that her client was intoxicated. She said Grossman was distracted when she saw the boys' mother dive out of the way of Erickson's vehicle.

“Ms. Grossman was not driving impaired," Holm told the jury. “She did not see the children, as her attention was diverted by Ms. Iskander.”

Erickson's attorney, Jeff Braun, called the boys' deaths a tragedy but emphasized that the vehicle he was driving "made no contact with the children.”

Employers added 172,000 jobs in May — roughly double what forecasters had expected — and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%. The Labor Department reported Friday that job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April. The unemployment rate stayed at a low 4.3%.

Also, the Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday morning, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

Here's the latest:

Rubio meets top Philippine diplomat over the South China Sea and other issues

Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed the strength of the two countries’ alliance to Philippine Foreign Minister Theresa Lazaro during Friday’s meeting in Washington.

A State Department statement said their discussion included economic priorities and the South China Sea, where Beijing has been aggressive in its territorial claims over disputed islands and atolls.

The South China Sea is a vital global trade route with rich undersea deposits of gas and oil.

In particular, Beijing and Manila have clashed over Scarborough Shoal, which China prefers to call Huangyan Dao.

On Sunday, the Chinese naval and air forces conducted “readiness patrols” near the shoal, after Philippine and U.S. forces conducted a five-day drill in the same waters.

Treasury warns banks of ‘red flags’ tied to customers in the US illegally

The Treasury Department’s financial crimes arm wants banks to help identify payroll schemes tied to people living in the country illegally, as part of the Trump administration’s latest measure to clamp down on immigration.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known as FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

This comes after President Trump in May signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.

The order directs bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. However, the order is less aggressive than banks had previously expected, as earlier reports suggested the White House was drafting an order that would make collecting customers’ citizenship information mandatory.

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Democratic Wisconsin senator says Trump’s stop in the swing state shows he’s nervous

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says President Trump’s visit to a rural swing district in Wisconsin shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms.

The stop on Friday for a farmer-focused round table in Chippewa Falls marks the first time Trump has visited Wisconsin in his second term. It comes just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

“They know they’re in trouble,” Baldwin said of Republicans. “They know across the country they’re in trouble.”

Baldwin says Trump’s visit is “not going to do the job in convincing our farmers they are doing better than they’re doing. They know the reality.”

Trump is scheduled to be joined by Van Orden, one of his most vocal supporters. Democrats have targeted that district this year.

US boards an oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean

American forces have boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military said Friday as the U.S. pushes to prevent the Islamic Republic from profiting off its oil and other goods.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X that the U.S. forces boarded the MT Davina. The post lacked further details, but U.S. forces around the world have been directed to stop ships tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is enforcing a blockade of Iran’s ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal to extend a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

US set to hold latest oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Trump administration’s push to expand oil and gas development in Alaska faces a new test Friday, with the latest lease sale set for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opponents of drilling in the refuge’s coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s Arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

A coalition of conservation groups this spring sent a letter to leaders of 11 petroleum companies including major ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, both major players in Alaska, urging them to not participate in the sale. The letter cited ongoing litigation over the leasing program, dating to President Trump’s first term, and warned of “financial, operational and reputational risks.”

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Trump looms large over upcoming primary elections in Washington, DC

The last time Washington, D.C., residents chose a new delegate to Congress and a new mayor in the same election, gas was $1.33 a gallon and George H.W. Bush was president.

This fall they’ll do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

As the city heads toward pivotal primaries this month to pick candidates for those roles, President Trump’s influence on the nation’s capital is shaping up as a major campaign issue. The fresh slate of candidates is weighing how best to approach Trump’s Republican administration and congressional control over the heavily Democratic city’s affairs.

“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”

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Trump says he will attend NBA Finals game in New York to root for his hometown Knicks

Trump, a longtime New York Knicks fan, said he plans to attend an NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden next week at the invitation of the team’s owner.

Describing himself as a “big fan” of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me, I’m going,” Trump said of Dolan’s invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn’t rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. “Maybe I’ll do both.”

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

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Water begins refilling Reflecting Pool after Trump’s renovation to repaint it ‘American flag blue’

Water began refilling the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Thursday, Trump announced from the Oval Office.

Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

“That’s clean, beautiful water,” the president said.

Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump also announced a plan to build a “promenade” that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.

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Trump says Pulte won’t be his nominee for director of national intelligence

Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his “permanent” choice for the critical security post.

The Republican president’s disclosure that he was ruling out installing Pulte in the position full-time came after bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte’s lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, something that lawmakers indicated was unlikely if Pulte were the nominee.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office after an event on coal. He called Pulte a “very smart guy” and said he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

Senate OKs $70B immigration bill after rejecting efforts to permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund

The Senate passed legislation to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term, after Democrats had blocked the money for months. The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund for allies who believe they’ve been politically persecuted.

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Deputy Logan Utt was tragically killed in the line of duty on May 29 during a home welfare check.

[RELATED: Funeral service, candlelight vigil announced for fallen Carroll County deputy]

The sheriff’s office said the blue light bulbs will be handed out starting Monday, June 8, at Lowe’s locations in Galax and Mount Airy, North Carolina.

“We are grateful for the continued support shown to Deputy Utt’s family, friends, and the entire law enforcement community during this difficult time,” the sheriff’s office said. “Please help us shine blue in remembrance of Logan and continue to keep his loved ones in your prayers.”

The defendant, David J. Rush, has both the means and motive to flee while the case against him is pending, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick ruled, citing Rush's professional experience.

“He's in a different position than most people to flee and avoid detection by law enforcement,” Fitzpatrick said.

Rush is charged with fraudulently claiming tens of thousands of dollars in compensation for military leave after he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2015. He was arrested last month after investigators searched his home and seized more than 300 gold bars, roughly $2 million in U.S. currency and about 35 luxury watches, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.

Rush's attorney, Jessica Carmichael, noted that Rush isn't charged with any crimes related to the discovery of the gold bars, which she referred to as “basically a non-issue” and “nothing more than a sensational tidbit.” She said Rush properly obtained the gold bars and kept them locked in a safe in his basement.

“Mr. Rush never claimed they were his,” she said.

Between last November and March, Rush requested and received a “significant quantity" of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for "work-related expenses,” according to the FBI affidavit. Justice Department prosecutor Gavin Tisdale said Rush wasn't supposed to have the gold bars at his home.

“That's the issue — his skirting of rules and regulations,” he said.

Tisdale briefly summarized the case against Rush in open court after a portion of the hearing was sealed from the public. The evidence against Rush “grows stronger by the day,” Tisdale told the magistrate.

“Mr. Rush simply cannot be trusted to abide by this court's conditions,” he said.

Rush enlisted in the Navy in 1997 and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserves as a lieutenant in 2015, according to the affidavit.

Authorities claim Rush lied about his education and military background on job applications, falsely claiming to be a former Navy pilot who graduated with a bachelor's degree from Clemson University in South Carolina and a master's degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Investigators determined that he didn't serve as a Navy pilot and didn't attend either school.

Berlin Open organizers said Williams will compete in doubles at the grass-court event starting on June 13. Her partner and the date of her first match will be announced later.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion stepped away from tennis in 2022. She has yet to say whether she plans to play at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open.

She will make her eagerly anticipated return to professional tennis playing doubles alongside Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club next week. Berlin is the week after. Wimbledon is two weeks after that.

“Every tournament I add to my schedule right now feels special, and Berlin is no exception," she said. "I’m excited to compete in front of the German fans and continue building momentum throughout the grass-court season.”

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

Employers added 172,000 jobs in May – roughly double what forecasters had expected – and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April.

Hiring has bounced back this year from a miserable 2025, showing resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and painfully high energy prices since the Iran war started in late February.

The job gains are broad-based. Local governments added 55,000 workers, restaurants and bars 48,000, healthcare companies 35,000.

In another sign of job market strength, Labor Department revisions added a combined 93,000 jobs in March and April. Job growth averaged 188,000 a month from March through May, marking the best three months of hiring since early 2024.

“The hiring recession is over. American firms are hiring again,’’ said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. "The job rebound is happening in almost every industry ... This is encouraging news for job seekers and for the U.S. economy. The labor market has stabilized and is showing early signs of a genuine rebound.’’

With just five months to go before consequential midterm elections in the U.S., Americans have grown increasingly frustrated by rising costs, and it’s unclear if the strong job numbers this year will change their gloomy view of the economy.

Inflation data last week showed that in addition to gasoline, prices for groceries, clothing and electricity are also on the rise, indicating that inflation may be growing more entrenched.

Polls show that Trump’s approval rating on the economy is falling sharply after being reelected largely on the promise of taming inflation.

And despite the pickup in hiring, wage gains were modest. Average hourly wages rose 0.3% from April and 3.4% from May 2025.

Many young people are still finding it tough to catch a break on a job, and workers who have been laid off have struggled to find another. Nearly 28% of the unemployed in April had been jobless for more than six months, the largest share since December 2021.

But the labor market is clearly improving. Last year, employers added just 9,700 jobs a month, the fewest outside of a recession since 2002. Hiring has rebounded, averaging 114,000 new jobs a month so far this year.

Friday's report "really is a positive surprise, particularly given the headwinds from the Iran conflict, which clearly led to much higher energy prices and which are going to act to slow economic activity to some degree,’’ said Ryan Nunn, research director at Yale University’s Budget Lab.

The economy, Nunn said, has been boosted by a surge in investment in artificial intelligence. Also helping are lower tariff rates since President Donald Trump has effectively lowered the massive import taxes he imposed last year – and the Supreme Court in February struck down his most sweeping levies, setting the stage for businesses to get back money they'd paid.

Big tax refunds — the product of Trump’s 2025 tax cuts — have given the economy a lift, offsetting the impact of higher energy prices. But the refunds have mostly been pocketed, and gasoline prices have remained above $4 per gallon since March.

U.S. financial markets retreated after the jobs data was released Friday. Healthy hiring has raised the odds that the Fed's next move will be an interest rate increase, a sharp change from the start of the year when central bank officials had still penciled in two rate cuts for 2026.

Wall Street now expects a rate hike in December, which would be sharply at odds with Trump’s repeated demands for a cut. An increase by the Fed could lead, over time, to higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

“Higher rates are coming, particularly when inflation is above target and clearly moving in the wrong direction,” said Dario Perkins, an economist at TS Lombard. “The only question is when.”

Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, which operates 12 grocery stores across New York and New Jersey, is on a hiring spree. President Mike Nelson announced last fall that he wanted to add 1,000 workers over the next year, pushing the company's payroll over 3,500.

Nelson says his problem is finding skilled workers.

“We’re looking for a butcher who can cut meat in the store and engage with our customers and give them cooking ideas and speak to them about what makes the product special,” he said. “You don’t find that everywhere now.”

Like other grocery stores, Uncle Giuseppe’s has benefited as Americans cut back on dinners out as the cost of living marches higher. The company is marketing specials to lure inflation-scarred shoppers, like a $39.99 chicken Parmesan and pasta meal for a family of four that includes a loaf of bread and a salad.

Michael Wieder, the co-founder of the baby products maker Lalo, is also hiring a few new workers.

Wieder is feeling optimistic because he expects $2 million in tariff refunds after the trade policies of President Trump were shot down by the courts. He is planning to use that money for hiring, but gotten less than $50,000 back to date.

He has roughly 20 employees who work in marketing, operations, customer service and other areas for his New York company. He said he's looking for applicants that will embrace artificial intelligence. Lalo has already been using AI tools in areas like marketing and plans to launch an AI tool on Monday that helps parents potty train their children.

“We’re evaluating the type of people we hire in this rapidly changing environment,” he said.

_____

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York.

The S&P 500 fell 1.6% and is headed for its first losing week in the last 10 and its biggest one-day drop since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 373 points, or 0.7%, as of 12:11 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.6%.

Tech stocks dragged the broader market lower as companies that had powered the S&P 500 to a series of records the past two months saw losses. Nvidia fell 4.6% and Broadcom fell 5.9%. Stocks within the S&P 500 were close to evenly split between gainers and losers. But, many of the bigger tech stocks have pricey values that tend to have an outsized influence on the broader market.

Meanwhile, bond yields jumped after a report showed the U.S. added a surprising 172,000 jobs in May, according to the Labor Department. It is the latest report showing that employment remains solid, despite the squeeze inflation is putting on businesses and consumers.

The latest reading on employment comes two weeks before Kevin Warsh heads his first policy meeting as chair of the Fed. Policymakers are widely expected to keep rates steady at the June 16-17 meeting despite pressure from President Donald Trump to lower borrowing costs. Longer-term, the market sees a better than 60% chance the Fed will push rates higher by the end of the year, according to CME FedWatch, and little to no chance of a cut.

“Any hopes of a Fed rate cut have effectively been eliminated with this morning’s strong jobs report,” said Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, in a research note.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.54% from 4.50% just before the report was released. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks the Fed’s actions, jumped to 4.16% from 4.04% just prior to the report.

The Fed has been holding interest rates steady as it tries to gauge the ongoing impact from rising inflation. Prices were already ticking higher from the impact of tariffs. The U.S. war with Iran has essentially blocked crude oil shipments from moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.6% to $93.50. It was about $70 per barrel before the war. The surge in oil prices prompted a jump in gasoline prices. That has fueled a broader rise in inflation as prices for anything being shipped move higher and threaten to slow economic growth.

A measure of inflation preferred by the Fed showed that prices rose 3.8% overall in April. That marked the biggest increase in two years.

Wall Street has been anticipating that negotiations to end the war will eventually be successful. American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalized.

The latest round of corporate earnings is coming to a close. Lululemon slumped 9.2% after trimming its revenue and profit forecasts.

Most reports from companies have been surprisingly good and helped Wall Street on its record run. Encouraging profits and forecasts helped overshadow lingering worries about the direction of the economy amid tariffs and high energy costs because of the U.S. war with Iran.

With earnings now in the background, analysts have been warning that the tech companies benefitting from interest in artificial intelligence may have become too expensive. That could result in a slowdown for a market that has surged in 2026, with the S&P 500 up more than 9% for the year.

Markets were mixed in Europe after markets in Asia fell.

Paul Quinn, 52, was found guilty in April following a six-week trial at Manchester Crown Court on two counts of rape, one count of choking with intent, and one count of grievous bodily harm. Quinn’s sentence comprises 21 years in custody with an extended license of three years when he will be let out of prison but subject to release conditions. He will be eligible for parole in 14 years.

“You sat back and enjoyed your liberty at the expense of an innocent man,” Justice Robert Bright told Quinn at Friday’s sentencing hearing.

Quinn was aged 29 at the time of the rape but had been a sex offender from the age of 12.

Andrew Malkinson, 60, had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in July 2023 after DNA evidence linked Quinn to the crime. Malkinson spent 17 years behind bars for the brutal 2003 attack on a 33-year-old woman in Greater Manchester, who had picked him out from a police lineup.

Malkinson, who was working as a security guard at a local shopping center at the time of the attack, was found guilty in 2004 and sentenced to a life sentence, with a minimum term of seven years. He always maintained his innocence and as a result served ten years more in jail than the minimum sanctioned by the judge in the case. He was eventually released from prison in 2020, but his name remained on Britain’s sex offenders register.

Malkinson voiced his fury at the fact that Quinn did not get a life sentence.

“I hope that this man does not get parole and that he serves longer than me," he said in a statement released through Appeal, a U.K. charity that campaigns against wrongful convictions. “Anything less is not justice.”

Advancements in genetic technology allowed Malkinson’s legal team and Appeal to find Quinn’s DNA on fragments of the victim’s clothing.

Malkinson is seeking recompense from British authorities for the time he spent in prison and has mulled whether the victim had been unduly pressured by police during the lineup.

“While Andy is relieved this chapter of his ordeal is now closed, it is not the end of this matter as far as he is concerned,” said Toby Wilton, of law firm Hickman & Rose, which represents Malkinson.

Fallout from the case continues, with a public inquiry now underway after a 2024 review found failings that could have exonerated Malkinson a decade before he was eventually released.

Five former Greater Manchester Police officers, and one currently serving with the force, are under investigation while two top officials at the body that assesses potential miscarriages of justice have resigned.

The police force has since apologized to Malkinson.

“We know this outcome has come two decades too late for those impacted by this case," said Detective Chief Superintendent Rebecca McKendrick, the senior investigating officer on the case. “However, we will not allow time to be a barrier to justice for anyone who has further information about Paul Quinn and any further potential sexual offending.”

Leaders from across the EU were joined by their Western Balkan counterparts in Montenegro's Adriatic Sea coastal town of Tivat, where they discussed the bloc's enlargement into a region seen as a key area in countering security and economic threats posed by Russia and China.

The summit brought together leaders including President Emmanuel Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the heads of Balkan candidate countries.

High on the agenda was Montenegro's EU accession, a process that is approaching its final stages and which von der Leyen said Friday was “within reach."

“If I had to sum up this summit in two words, they would be determination and confidence,” von der Leyen told a news conference. “Confidence that our union will grow in the years ahead.”

The EU has already formed a working group to draft an accession treaty for Montenegro, whose president, Jakov Milatovic, said the summit had given him “even greater confidence” that his country will fulfill its aim of joining the EU by 2028.

"This goal is realistic and achievable. It is strongly supported by all our European partners,” Milatovic said.

Enlargement to boost economy and defense

Adding members to the EU — which can bring the bloc more single market economic benefits and stronger security capabilities — has gained urgency in recent years as the continent faces a series of challenges, such as lopsided trade with China, migration pressures, the war in Ukraine and increasing hybrid threats from Russia.

With the Trump administration viewed as less committed to its NATO allies, EU countries have also pushed to boost their military capabilities to ward off future threats without the potential backing of the U.S..

Against that backdrop, von der Leyen on Friday described EU expansion into the Western Balkans as “a geostrategic imperative,” but that candidate nations are still expected to carry out reforms such as tackling corruption and shoring up democratic institutions — steps viewed as benefiting both the candidate nations and the EU as a whole.

Yet the lengthy process of carrying out such reforms and advancing the process of membership has frustrated some candidate countries, leading to some calls to find ways to accelerate the procedure.

Von der Leyen also emphasized that EU membership would be “merits-based, but merits-based does not mean slow, it means fair and predictable.” She added that the bloc seeks to "reward reforms with real integration.”

European Council President Antonio Costa, who hosted the Tivat summit, said the EU was “considering new ideas to streamline and accelerate the process” to increase trust in the EU and "increase the motivation of the Western Balkan partners.”

Many now aspire to join the bloc

Montenegro, a small, mountainous country that was once a part of Yugoslavia and which this week marked the 20th anniversary of its independence from a union with neighboring Serbia, is considered the front-runner among the region’s other candidate countries of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

After joining NATO in 2017, the country of 623,000 people is now set on fulfilling its ambitious agenda of becoming the the EU's 28th member. The motto “28 by 28” has even been inscribed on one of the planes of Montenegro’s national airline.

EU candidate countries must bring their laws into line in 35 policy areas or “chapters,” ranging from justice standards to farm and fishing rules. All 27 EU members must agree before each chapter can be opened, and then again for it to be closed.

Ukraine and Moldova are also among about 10 countries aspiring to join the bloc, while Iceland will hold a referendum in August on whether to apply.

Serbia's populist leader, Aleksandar Vucic, said Friday that he had high hopes for the summit and accession paths for Balkan countries after recently meeting with EU leaders like Merz and Macron.

“We will see a lot of progress of Western Balkan countries in the future. Of course, we need to do a lot of reforms," he said. "We are on our EU path.”

New rules to avoid growing pains

The gathering in Tivat was the first to bring together EU leaders since the stunning defeat in April of Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s former Russia-friendly prime minister who, during his 16-year rule, flouted the EU’s standards on democracy and the rule of law and forged close ties with other autocrats.

Orbán's successor, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, did not attend the summit, which would have been his first since winning the election. The press department for his center-right Tisza party did not respond to a request for comment.

With the painful experience of Orbán’s democratic backsliding and historic use of the veto in the European Council, the EU is devising new ways to use financial penalties or restricted access to the single market to pressure incoming nations to carry out reforms and adapt to the bloc's standards, said Faruk Bašić, a researcher at the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics.

“The EU is trying to find a way how to admit a country that isn’t fully ready to be admitted without losing the ability to hold it accountable after the fact,” he said, pointing to Ukraine’s accession bid as well as nations in the Western Balkans like Serbia and Kosovo.

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McNeil reported from Brussels.

His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

But in the past year, Kim has likewise been trying to improve ties with China, the North’s biggest trading partner and provider of aid.

“As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia,” said William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, Chinese and North Korean state media said in brief dispatches. His last visit was in June 2019.

The trip will serve to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and stability, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

“The traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK have continued to develop in a sound and stable manner, bringing tangible benefits to both countries and their peoples,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said, using the abbreviation for North Korea's full name.

The trip is coming just a few weeks after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the United States, which opposes it. The U.N. has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.

The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce the material for nuclear bombs. It is believed to be a uranium enrichment plant, though North Korea has not confirmed that.

During a visit to the plant, Kim announced plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” Experts say the plant’s disclosure implies that Kim was eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.

The experts say Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear state so he can demand the lifting of the sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the U.S. to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his country's nuclear capability.

Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the U.S. must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.

Analysts will be watching to see what if anything China says during Xi's visit about calls for North Korea’s denuclearization.

Xi and Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Putin.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have previously frustrated efforts by the U.S. and others to toughen international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.

At their meeting in Beijing last month, Putin and Xi expressed their opposition to “foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure and other methods of creating threats to the security” of North Korea, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Kim has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries locked in confrontation with the United States.

The trip abroad is a relatively rare one for Xi, who has curtailed his international travel sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last overseas visit was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he met Trump.

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Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu contributed from Taipei, Taiwan.

The tickets were “allocated at no charge (0 USD) due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process,” FIFA said in a statement Thursday.

“FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused,” soccer's ruling body said. “The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount.”

It is the latest glitch in an often controversial World Cup ticketing program that the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey are investigating for possible violations of consumer protection laws.

The mispriced tickets were sold through the official World Cup site on May 21, FIFA said in an email message to buyers.

That date was more than three months after FIFA President Gianni Infantino said all 104 World Cup games had sold out.

Tickets are still being sold by FIFA for games at the World Cup, which opens next Thursday in Mexico City. It is unclear if seats for games in less demand will drop in price under FIFA’s surge pricing model that has been controversial for fans.

FIFA also is operating its own resale platform — and taking 15% commission from both buyers and sellers — in order to cut out ticket dealers from the market. However, sales platforms such as Seat Geek were offering widespread availability Friday for many games.

Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are wildly more expensive than any previous edition, which FIFA has justified as helping earn billions of dollars it will give to member federations for developing the game globally.

FIFA took control of pricing and selling tickets as part of bringing World Cup operations in-house. The long-time model at previous editions was working with host nations’ local organizing committees.

When the soccer federations of the United States, Canada and Mexico won hosting rights in 2018, they promised to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets at $21 each for group-stage games.

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

Marie has denied the allegations and cannot be prosecuted over Otis' case because of France’s statute of limitations. But the complaint could allow other women, whether their cases are time-barred or not, to join the proceedings, Otis’ lawyer, Mathias Darmon, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The complaint, seen by the AP, alleges rape of a minor and human trafficking.

Sent to Paris in 1986 by Elite Model agency, Otis, who was then 17, was housed in Marie’s apartment, “mistakenly believing that he wanted to support her modeling career,” according to the complaint. “While living in the apartment, she alleges that she was raped on multiple occasions by the accused, who subsequently arranged for her to be provided to other wealthy men across Europe.”

Otis was never paid for her modeling work, the complaint said.

“The goal is to give other victims the opportunity to find the courage to join our complaint,” Darmon said. “We are opening the door for all those affected by this internationally significant case to come forward and have their voices heard.”

Otis, 58, became a supermodel in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing on the covers of Elle, Vogue and Vanity Fair and featuring in the Pirelli calendar.

Marie, a 76 year-old French national, supervised operations at Elite from 1985 to 2010, during a period when the agency dominated the modeling industry. He helped launch the careers of some of the world’s best-known supermodels.

French broadcaster France Info reported Friday that Otis said she wanted to “denounce an entire system of sexual abuse of models that lasted for years in the fashion industry,” drawing parallels to the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

A complaint previously filed in 2021 by Otis and several other former models alleging rape and sexual assault by Marie in the 1980s was dismissed because the claims were beyond the statute of limitations.

Under French law, victims who were minors at the time of alleged sexual abuse can file a criminal complaint until 30 years after reaching adulthood, allowing them to do so until age 48.

“There were two who were chained,” said nursing home worker Danuja Chathuranga. “You only have to take your eyes away for one moment, they run away. One of them had gone one day with the chair he was tied (to) and was found entangled in a barbed wire fence. Another with sores in (their) legs was brought back from a muddy field.”

“Our intention was not to harm them. They were patients taking psychiatric treatment. If they run away or fall into a pit, well or get run over by a vehicle, we have to take that responsibility,” he added.

His comments came amid growing public outrage over the treatment allegedly meted out to the residents at the home in in Anguruwatota where 13 people are now known to have died in the blaze which started late Wednesday.

The nursing home for people with mental health conditions lay abandoned on Friday. Glasses cases, medicines and reclining chairs lay strewn around the burned-out shell in the small town about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southeast of the capital, Colombo.

The surviving residents have been moved to a nearby nursing home.

Video footage by The Associated Press showed the building gutted with its charred furniture and equipment. Bodies lay nearby.

Local television channels showed image of firefighters, police and residents trying to contain the raging fire. Police and soldiers put those rescued on buses to be taken to a safe location.

According to police, 71 people were staying at the home at the time of the fire, of which 50 were rescued by neighbors, firefighters and police. Seven other remain in hospital.

Chathuranga said it is thought the fire was caused by an electric short circuit in a wiring attached to a water pump.

“The fire initially caught a pile of mattresses and pillows and then quickly spread across the house,” he said, adding that the majority of the residents were rescued, but 10 people were caught in the fire and burned to death. Three others have since died in hospital.

The director of the home has been arrested on suspicion of causing deaths through negligence. He appeared before a court on Thursday and was ordered to be detained for a week pending an investigation.

Chathura Mihudum, director of Sri Lanka's National Secretariat for Elders, said the facility was not registered as a nursing home and had been warned to follow laws and guidelines. He said it was overcrowded, with enough beds for about 15 people in a space where 71 people were living.

Government officials had previously visited the institution and had instructed the management to follow laws, he said, without elaborating.

Amala Rajapaksa, an administrator at the nursing home, said the institution was in the process of being registered as requested by government officials.

The move rescinds a 2021 policy implemented by the Biden administration that required ICE to report to Congress and investigate deaths of detainees that occur within 30 days of their release.

The goal of the 2021 policy was to ensure that ICE could not avoid accountability for deaths by releasing severely ill people from custody. Detainees who were brain-dead or suffering from infection, for instance, have died shortly after ICE released them in the past.

Two health experts who have investigated ICE custody deaths criticized the change Friday.

“Tracking deaths immediately after custody is a standard approach that allows health systems in jails, prisons and immigration detention to learn about gaps in care that may occur before a person leaves a facility,” said Dr. Homer Venters, former chief medical officer of the New York City jail system. “Eliminating reporting of these deaths represents a willful act of ignoring the most serious health outcome that can reflect inadequacies in care or help track outbreaks."

ICE detainees also routinely die at hospitals where they are taken for treatment after their conditions deteriorate inside detention facilities, records show. Those detainees, however, have generally been considered to remain in ICE custody.

The Washington Post first reported the policy change Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, later confirmed the move in a statement that framed it as “common sense.”

“Under this updated policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths that may occur,” the statement said.

The statement said ICE remained committed to transparency and that the revised policy includes procedures for “timely notification, review and reporting of deaths occurring in ICE custody.” ICE did not immediately release its full updated policy.

The decision to limit death reporting comes as a greater number of ICE detainees have been dying. At least 18 detainees have died since Jan. 1, which is on pace to surpass last year’s death toll, which was the highest in two decades. Detainees are dying by suicide at an unprecedented pace, and experts say many other deaths from natural causes likely would have been preventable with timely medical care.

Dr. Sanjay Basu, a University of California-San Francisco epidemiologist who recently published an analysis of more than 270 ICE custody deaths, said the policy change will “make the mortality statistics appear lower without any actual improvement in care.”

“The period immediately following release is when deaths attributable to inadequate care during confinement become apparent,” he said. “Missed diagnoses, interrupted medications, untreated infections, and decompensating chronic conditions don’t always kill someone while they’re still in the building.”

As of early April, ICE was holding more than 60,000 detainees across its national network of detention facilities, up from around 40,000 at the start of President Donald Trump's second term. ICE denies allegations that detainees suffer from medical neglect, saying they receive comprehensive health care services.

Before announcing Thursday’s policy change, DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis told the AP on Tuesday that no detainees died in its custody in May. That was the first month without a detainee death since November. At the time, Bis did not address AP questions about whether any death reporting policies had changed.

“As we have repeatedly stated, deaths in ICE custody are exceedingly rare,” she said then.

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Associated Press reporter Michael Biesecker in Washington, D.C., contributed.

The five astronauts moved into the SpaceX capsule that is docked at the station while cosmonauts worked to fix the leak, which is on the Russian side of the orbiting laboratory.

The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said via X.

The crew left the capsule and returned to regular operations after repair work was paused.

That part of the space station has suffered from cracks and leaks over the years. NASA said Roscosmos decided to do a more extensive repair after fresh problems were found.

The space agencies have been working to determine the cause of the cracks.

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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.

At least 63 people have died from 397 confirmed cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Yet the outbreak has been challenged by skepticism, attacks on health workers and misinformation.

Vérité Johnson, a journalist and editorial secretary at the Radio Télévision Mont Bleu station in Bunia, the capital city of the eastern Ituri province where the outbreak is concentrated, decided to produce a new program to combat rumors.

The radio show has emerged as a vital tool to win over some residents who have been unaware or skeptical about the facts of Bundibugyo.

WHO chief says misinformation almost as dangerous as the virus

The 45-minute program runs daily at 10 a.m., reminding people of the dangers of Ebola and regularly featuring health specialists who provide updates and answer questions. The show’s jingles about the virus play intermittently throughout the day and residents are able to call in with questions.

“So far, there’s still a layer of resistance within the population, and that’s where the media plays an important role,” Johnson said.

“Misinformation is almost as dangerous as the virus itself and spreads just as fast. Earning and keeping the trust of communities is at the heart of everything we do,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday as WHO and the Africa CDC launched an Ebola response plan with partners.

Tedros said the new plan aims to raise $518 million to “stop the outbreak where it is, support countries that are responding today and ensure that neighboring countries are ready to detect and act quickly if cases appear.”

Resistance to protocols during public health emergencies is common in Congo, which is battling its 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976. There currently is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which has added another layer of fear.

Widespread rumors, often arising from fear and misinformation, discourage residents from adhering to health warnings or seeking medical help during an outbreak, health officials say.

Mistrust among residents leads to delays in seeking care

Many residents remain distrustful of health authorities, with some alleging that officials are profiting from the outbreak.

“I can never take the vaccine, I prefer to die because if the vaccine arrives, it can scare us even more," said Samson Gerson, a 52-year-old Bunia resident and father of seven children.

Analysts say some people in Congo have been receptive to disinformation due to mistrust of the healthcare system and because some local officials have not become actively involved in containing the disease.

“What is key is to involve the local actors at all levels. If we try to impose what we think is right to the community, we are running towards failure,” said Basile Rambaud, emergency programs director for Mercy Corps in Congo. “If people do not trust the response, they end up delaying to seek care, rejecting protective measures, or avoiding working with health teams, giving the virus more time to spread.”

Ituri province residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers, demanding the bodies of deceased patients. Some people who are believed to have Ebola left the centers during the attacks and health workers could not account for their whereabouts.

“We don’t even know what the body of a person who died of Ebola looks like, but we just see images and montages on our phone,” said Bunia resident Chantal Francine, who expressed doubts over the reported deaths.

Full scale of the outbreak is unknown

The virus has rapidly spread from an initial three health zones to 24, according to WHO chief Tedros.

Experts and WHO officials have warned the numbers might not reflect the true scale of the epidemic as weeks of testing for the wrong type caused a delay in containing the virus.

The outbreak has been worsened by an ongoing armed conflict between Congo's government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, as well as attacks by the Islamic State-affiliated group the Allied Democratic Force, which killed 16 people in Beni territory in North Kivu on Tuesday.

The attacks by both groups have caused massive displacement of people living in the conflict areas, officials said.

Despite the growing Bundibugyo outbreak and the conditions that are enabling the disease to spread, Johnson said Radio Télévision Mont Bleu continues providing residents with vital facts.

“Everyone is free to think what they want, but the information remains the same. The epidemic is here,” Johnson said.

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Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term, after Democrats blocked the money for months. The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund for allies who believe they've been politically persecuted.

Republicans cleared the last major hurdle overnight when they defeated an amendment proposed by one of their own members, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, that would have redirected payments from the settlement to members of law enforcement who were injured when a mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The amendments were a test of party unity that complicated what should have been an easy vote for Republicans who wanted to keep the focus on immigration enforcement in an election year. Instead, they spent almost a full day haggling among themselves over whether to block the settlement fund, even after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had said earlier this week that it would not go forward.

“This would have been done several hours ago if we weren’t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before midnight.

Thune himself has criticized the fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns and has angered many of his GOP colleagues. But he has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage in the House.

Still, a group of Republican senators pushed all day and into the night to block the fund’s payouts through legislation. That effort came after Trump, who has been at odds with the Senate in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the fund’s future on Wednesday when he told reporters that it is “very important” and said “I don’t know” whether it is dead or on hold.

The final 52-47 vote on the bill was nearly party line, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republican to oppose it. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado missed the vote.

Senators push back multiple attempts to ban settlement fund

The first vote on Thursday morning, a Democratic effort to ban the settlement fund, was held open for several hours while Cassidy and two other Republican senators decided whether to support it. The Democratic motion was narrowly defeated when Cassidy eventually voted against it and the two other senators — Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, both of whom are up for reelection this year — voted for it.

The Senate then rejected a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also have banned the settlement fund but would have moved the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.

Tillis said the fund is a political liability for the party.

“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis said. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with.”

Cassidy's amendment to compensate the injured police officers was a pointed rebuke, as payouts from Trump's fund could have potentially gone to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Cassidy lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed a primary opponent.

He said that, despite Blanche's comments, the fund is still part of an active settlement and “absolutely can be used.”

The Senate rejected several other Democratic efforts to try to block or limit the fund, including amendments to ban payments to Jan. 6 defendants who injured law enforcement officers.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are now “leaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump’s personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip.”

ICE and Border Patrol money has been delayed for months

Enactment of the bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January.

Senate Republicans used a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it took weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump’s ballroom that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.

Democrats say any funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Congress eventually funded the rest of DHS at the end of April with Democratic support, but ICE and Border Patrol have remained without regular funding.

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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

His Vegas Golden Knights appeared to score with five minutes left in regulation, but referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, citing goaltender interference. Hebert announced that he and the other on-ice officials thought Ivan Barbashev pushed Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen to knock the puck into the net.

Tortorella after some deliberation decided to challenge the play, and it did not take long for officials and the on-site NHL situation room to stick with the call on the ice of no goal. The Hurricanes scored on the ensuing power play 25 seconds later and went on to win 4-3 in overtime to tie the series.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

The next morning, he expressed no regrets.

“That’s been explained by the league, and I stand behind my decision," Tortorella said Friday.

It was purely a video review of goalie interference and had nothing to do with whether the whistle was blown before the puck crossed the goal line.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” Stephen Walkom, executive vice president and director of officiating, told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

Mark Jankowski had just tied it for the Hurricanes a few shifts earlier after Logan Stankoven started the comeback from down 2-0. On the opposing bench, Carolina players and coach Rod Brind'Amour were not sure how the review was going to go.

“Obviously, you’re hoping for the best,” center Sebastian Aho said. “You can’t really control it. I didn’t have a really good view of it, so I had no clue. So, I was just hoping for the best.”

Brind'Amour decided not to challenge for goalie interference in Game 1 on Tuesday night because there were too many variables at play. His thinking turned out to be right again.

“It happened to us in I guess the first game: When it’s called a goal or no goal on the ice, it better be 100% to challenge it,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s the rule we go by. So, they called no goal on the ice, so that’s kind of how I think it worked out. I don’t know. I don’t know what the explanation is. It looked like he had it covered, and then all of a sudden it was in the net. I don’t know. I haven’t really looked at it. I was just happy that it went our way.”

Andersen went full extension to make a paddle save to deny Barbashev on the initial shot. A scrum ensued around the crease, with players diving at the puck hoping to knock it in or keep it out.

“To me, it felt like a no goal,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "Obviously, I’m on the other side, but I’m sure they have a different opinion. My gut was like, ‘Man, there’s no way.’ What an incredible effort by Freddie just staying with that one and finding a way to get a piece of that. I was flopping everywhere. I didn’t know what was going on. Freddie just stuck with it. The guy’s an absolute animal. That was a pretty crazy play and obviously a game-changer for us.”

The punishment for a failed coach's challenge is a two-minute minor penalty. Vegas was 4 for 4 on the penalty kill against Carolina's power play to that point in the series.

“I’m not sure how they go about their thought process, Brind'Amour said. “They’ve obviously killed all the penalties. That’s a big one.”

Staal made sure the Golden Knights didn't kill this one, tipping defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's point shot in for the Hurricanes' eighth power-play goal of the playoffs. Seth Jarvis made it nine when he scored in overtime, though it may have never gotten to that point had Tortorella not challenged.

“You’d like to make them pay every time," Aho said. "It’s a big swing because the other option is going down a goal. But other than that, every time you get a power play, you’re trying to score. So, it’s not that different, but obviously it was a big swing.”

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

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known a FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

This comes after President Donald Trump in May signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.

The order directs bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. However, the order is less aggressive than banks had previously expected, as earlier reports suggested the White House was drafting an order that would make collecting customers’ citizenship information mandatory.

Still, without encouraging a blanket debanking of broad segments of the population, the order and latest advisory acts to discourage people in the U.S. illegally from interacting with the larger U.S. financial system.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the Trump administration "will not allow illegal aliens to abuse financial institutions to steal billions of dollars from hardworking American taxpayers.”

“Schemes to pay unlawful workers often rely upon access to the U.S. financial system, including U.S. banks," he said.

Since banks have never collected any information about their customers’ citizenship or immigration status, there are no reliable public figures on how much risk these customers pose to the financial system.

The banking industry had been aggressively lobbying for months to stop the White House from issuing an executive order that would have made collecting customers’ citizenship status mandatory, arguing it would be expensive and require vast amounts of paperwork. Since the order only offered guidance to the banks instead of a mandate, it appears the banks were able to win over the White House.

The advisory calls on financial institutions to be alert for more than a dozen so-called '"red flags" that indicate an individual is in the U.S. illegally.

——-

Sweet reported from New York.

Coach John Tortorella had no update on McNabb on Friday other than to confirm the 35-year-old was traveling home with the team. Game 3 is Saturday in Las Vegas.

McNabb left Thursday night's game after taking an 87.3 mph slap shot from Nikolaj Ehlers square in the face just past the midway point of the first period. McNabb dropped his stick, went down to the ice and grabbed his nose as he skated immediately off and down the tunnel.

“It’s a scary play," forward Brett Howden said. ”You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right."

Vegas went the rest of the way with just five defensemen. McNabb’s exit had a domino effect that led those guys to playing more minutes than usual, and in particular Jeremy Lauzon was on the ice for all four Carolina goals, with one shot banking in off him, another partially the result of him losing a one-on-one battle with William Carrier and Seth Jarvis' overtime winner going past him.

“You lose a guy like Nabber who logs heavy minutes, such a good teammate, plays the game so hard, it’s tough," captain Mark Stone said. "They battled as hard as they could.”

McNabb was coming off the first three-assist performance of his NHL career in Game 1. He is one of three original Golden Knights players who have been around for the franchise's entire nine-year existence and are in the final for a third time.

“He’s a vital part of this team," said center William Karlsson, who also has been around since the beginning. “He’s been here for a long time and has been vital every year. I think he is extremely good defensively, helps us out in PK situations and stuff like that. Of course, tough to not have him for the remainder of that game.”

The Golden Knights had their optimum, healthy lineup back for the series opener when Lauzon returned from his puck-to-the-head injury that had sidelined him since the second round. That did not last long.

Either Ben Hutton, a left-handed shooter, or Kaedan Korczak, who was playing in place of Lauzon, figures to play in Game 3 on Saturday if McNabb is unavailable.

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

Here's everything you need to know about “I Knew It, I Knew You.”

Taylor Swift goes country ... again

Swift doesn't sing with a familiar twang on “I Knew It, I Knew You,” but no matter — the song features some elements inextricable from the country genre: Live instrumentation, plucky banjo and harmonica that opens the track.

Most view Swift's last official foray into the country music genre to be 2012's “Red,” though the album is much more of a crossover experiment. It would be more astute to label “Speak Now” as her last true-blue, full-length, country music release — and that was more than 15 years ago.

Additionally: “I Knew It, I Knew You” is also Swift's first original material since “The Life of a Showgirl” was released in October.

The song is also co-produced by Jack Antonoff, her former, frequent collaborator. Swift started working with Antonoff on 2014's “1989” through 2024's “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Notably, the pair started their long collaboration after Swift's country era, perhaps with the rare exception of “Betty” from her 2020 “Folklore” album.

“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time. Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once,” Swift wrote on social media Friday, referencing the beloved cowgirl character. “And being a ‘Toy Story’ kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”

The ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ rollout

Last weekend, billboards with the initials “TS,” stylized like the “Toy Story” logo, appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City and London — fitting, as “TS” works both for the beloved franchise and the musician.

On Monday, Swift confirmed the song was forthcoming, writing on Instagram, “I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5-year-old kid watching the first Toy Story movie. I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?”

She also shared that preorders for three CD single versions of the track were available on her site. They quickly sold out: One features the song as it appears in the film, another is an acoustic version and the last is a piano version.

“It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song. Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable,” “Toy Story 5” director and writer Andrew Stanton said in a press statement at the time. “The song is so deeply connected to ‘Toy Story.’ So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.”

Is Taylor Swift headed to the Oscars?

Some fans online have begun speculating: Could this be an Oscar contender in the original song category?

Quite possibly, if it adheres to all relevant rules and regulations! For 2027 Academy Awards consideration, a feature film — and its song submissions — must have a qualifying theatrical release between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 this year. “Toy Story 5” will be released in theaters worldwide on June 19, so it qualifies there.

It also depends on when “I Knew It, I Knew You” is placed in “Toy Story 5.” There's a new rule this year: If the song plays over the end credits, it must also overlap with the last 15 seconds of the film before the credits actually begin.

At any rate, if Swift's song is submitted — and if she were to win — she'd be just that much closer to an EGOT. She has 14 Grammys and an Emmy. An Oscar would mean she'd only need a Tony. Could Broadway be next?

This time, however, it's different for some superfans, who say organizers have made this summer’s World Cup the least welcoming one they have experienced. Ticket prices, expensive cross-country travel and concerns about entering the U.S. have prompted some of them to stay home.

London-based IT worker Mike Wilson has been to four World Cups over the past 20 years. This summer, he'll be staying in Europe and watching part of the tournament from a Portuguese beach.

Argentine doctor Emiliano Becerra likes to follow his team through every step of the elimination round. This time he’ll attend two early matches and then fly home.

Dutch-born finance manager Peter Bergakker flew to South Africa to watch the Netherlands play in the 2010 World Cup final. But no matter how far the "Oranje" advance this summer, he said he won’t travel to the U.S.

Exactly how many fans are staying away is unclear, but the warning signs are there.

Hotel bookings have been lighter than expected in many U.S. host cities. Meanwhile, the president of the travel agency association in soccer-mad Uruguay said they have arranged tour packages for about 3,000 fans, significantly fewer than attended recent World Cups.

A financially inaccessible tournament

The number of fans able to travel and take weeks off of work to cheer on their team during the World Cup understandably skews to the wealthy. But previous tournaments have remained accessible for fans who, in some cases, would save for years for their flights and match tickets.

Four years ago, lower-tier Category 3 tickets to group stage matches were $69. This year, FIFA has been selling them for as much as $265.

The last two tournaments in Russia and Qatar offered match-going fans free transportation between host cities, though many matches were much closer than the vast area covered by the 16 stadiums hosting matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

And while fans there were not permitted by FIFA to sell their tickets on the official resale site for above face value, the sports governing body has taken a different approach this time — encouraging fans to resell tickets for as high as they want, with FIFA pocketing 30% in fees along the way. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment Thursday but has previously defended ticket prices as a reflection of “record-breaking” demand.

Tomonori Akutsu, who lives outside Tokyo, said if he had realized how expensive this tournament would be when he started making plans, he might have reconsidered attending his sixth straight World Cup.

Without question, he believes, the U.S. has been the worst host, and tournament organizers have demonstrated a “complete lack of hospitality in every aspect,” citing things like ticket prices, an inflated resale market, expensive hotel prices and fan festivals that cost money to attend.

“Simply, my impression is ‘this is America,’ the ultimate capitalism,” Akutsu said.

Becerra, of Argentina, spent $1,100 to see Argentina defeat France in the 2022 final in Qatar. For the past three World Cups, he followed Argentina through the knockout stages.

Not this time.

This year, he paid even more — $1,200 — for a resale ticket to see Argentina’s match against low-ranked Jordan in Dallas.

“It’s absolutely crazy – it’s just a group stage match,” said Becerra, a 64-year-old ophthalmologist who lives in Neuquén, in northern Patagonia.

Becerra will head home before the knockout stage begins. The prices, he said, are “just not possible for me.”

Will ticket prices cost the World Cup some of its culture?

Wilson, the IT specialist from England, said he and his friends opted to skip this summer's tournament because they couldn’t justify spending the prices they were seeing.

Wilson had never spent more than $200 for any World Cup match, a price that, on the resale market, barely buys a nosebleed seat at a group stage match between two obscure teams. Instead, he and his friends have booked a Portugal getaway.

For Wilson, the World Cup is more about the atmosphere than the matches.

“That’s the great thing about these tournaments: You’re sitting at a hostel, chatting with U.S. fans, and then you go to a bar up the road and there are loads of Chileans who have just taken over the place," Wilson said, recalling a memorable night in Johannesburg in 2010. "It’s stuff like that which makes the World Cup. But now they’ve just priced everyone out.”

Mark Doidge, a sociologist at England’s Loughborough University, said World Cups have long been defined by their traveling supporters, pointing to Colombia's famous “Birdman” and the sea of St. George’s crosses at every England match. Rising costs, he said, risk losing exactly those fans.

“Most of those buying expensive tickets are not those passionate fans, but wealthy people paying for an experience,” he said.

Expensive World Cup won’t deter some ardent fans

There is at least one group of supporters that appears determined to come regardless of the cost: the Scots, who are eager to see their team compete in their first World Cup in 28 years.

Campbell Lewis and his friends began booking refundable accommodations across the U.S. as soon as Scotland qualified last year before prices rose.

With tens of thousands of Scottish fans expected to attend, tickets for their team's matches have proven harder to obtain.

But after prices began to drop in recent weeks, Lewis bought two tickets for Scotland’s second match for him and his 10-year-old son. He and his friends are still waiting until the final days to get tickets to the team's opener against Haiti, though. As of Thursday, the cheapest resale ticket for that match outside Boston exceeded $600.

“For a lot of Scottish people of my generation, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “We were all kids the last time we qualified. And even though the prices have gotten out of hand, there’s just this determination that we want to go.”

Fans have concerns about traveling to the U.S.

U.S. entry requirements may also be limiting international visitors.

Unlike Russia in 2018, which waived visa requirements for ticketholders, and Qatar in 2022, which streamlined entry for fans, many traveling to the U.S. still face strict visa requirements. Until the U.S. reversed course last month, ticket-holding fans from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia were even going to have to pay as much as $15,000 in bonds to enter the country.

Carlos Pera, president of Uruguay’s travel agency association, recently told Uruguay's Subrayado that U.S. visa requirements were among the reasons fewer Uruguayans are making the trip this year.

U.S. officials have pushed back on concerns about visitors encountering an unwelcome environment, and the White House’s World Cup task force has highlighted efforts to prioritize visa interviews for fans with tickets. Andrew Giuliani, who leads the task force, dismissed concerns Thursday that traditional traveling supporters may be staying away.

“We want superfans and first-time visitors alike to know: America welcomes you to what will be the greatest World Cup yet,” he said in a statement.

For some fans, however, the concern goes beyond visas and cost.

Bergakker, a 48-year-old Dutch financial controller who lives near Heidelberg, Germany, said President Donald Trump’s “hostile” approach toward European allies has changed his view of traveling to the U.S.

Bergakker has attended two World Cups and four European Championships and said he is extremely susceptible to “Oranjekoorts” — the orange fever that grips Dutch fans as a tournament progresses.

A deep Netherlands run usually would be all it takes to get him on a plane, no matter the price of tickets. But Bergakker said he worries his criticism of Trump on social media could lead to problems at the border, a concern the White House rejected. A spokesperson said Thursday that a Customs and Border Protection proposal to scrutinize World Cup visitors’ social media accounts was never enacted.

Still, Bergakker said that as long as Trump is president, "this Oranje fan won’t be visiting.”

___

Rico reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporters Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.

The stars were stars.

The finals, though, tends to get won by the sum of the other parts.

Game 2 of the title series is Friday night in San Antonio, with the Spurs hoping to pull into a tie before the series heads to New York — and the Knicks aiming at becoming the first team since Houston in 1995 to start the NBA Finals with two road wins.

Tipoff is at 8:42 p.m. EDT and the game will be aired on ABC. The Spurs are 6.5-point favorites.

New York got 30 points from Brunson in the Game 1 win, in which the Knicks rallied from 14 points down in the third quarter and closed the game on an 11-0 run. And while Brunson got tons of credit, the Knicks pointed to other efforts, like the one from Josh Hart.

He had three points. That's not what mattered. It was everything else — 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals. The only other player to have that many rebounds, assists and steals in a finals game since all those stats began being tracked was Larry Bird in 1986.

“His energy is just relentless. It doesn’t stop,” Brunson said of Hart, his former Villanova teammate. “I mean, he eats candy all the time. That tells you who he is. He’s a big kid with an absurd amount of energy.”

The Knicks are trying to win their 13th consecutive playoff game, which would be the second-longest single-season streak in NBA history. Golden State won 15 consecutive playoff games in 2017.

“We know it’s a long series,” Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said. “Obviously you want to win every game that you have on your home court, but it’s not the way it happens every day. We try to go in and fix the things we need to fix. Obviously, we want a different outcome.”

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

Anthony J. Moore, 53, was driving a route in Aiken County, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Georgia border, last Friday when a woman ran directly into his path with her hands cuffed behind her back.

The video, which has no sound, shows the drama unfold: The woman passes in front of the truck, and a man in a Cadillac that had been on the side of the road swerves in front of the truck before taking off. The woman then runs down the road, and the man drives off.

“I just see it as a divine assignment from God, because had not I been there with the dashcam ... they probably wouldn’t have caught the footage that needed to be catched,” Moore told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It was another assignment from God, a special assignment from God. That a life needed to be saved.”

Authorities arrested Jonathan Willard, 39, of New Ellenton, on one count each of kidnapping and impersonation of a law enforcement officer. He was being held Thursday at the Aiken County Detention Center.

According to an incident report from the Aiken County Sheriff's Department, the woman was taking a walk when a man in a green Cadillac “came from behind her and told her he was with the police.” She said he took her phone and Social Security card, put her in handcuffs and placed her in the back seat of the car.

The woman told police that the man pulled over by a gated property and got out. She said she tried to open the rear doors, but they were locked.

As the man rummaged through the trunk, she said, she climbed over the seat and escaped through the open driver's side door.

Moore was driving south of Aiken when he saw the woman running toward him.

“I let my window down and she said, ‘Please help me. He’s trying to kidnap me,’” Moore said.

As the woman swerved, Moore said, the man chasing her pulled up beside him and showed “what looks to be a badge.”

“And he said, ‘I’m with law enforcement, and she jumped out of my car,’” Moore recounted. The man then left in the Cadillac.

Bystanders called 911, helped get the cuffs off the woman and gave her water. Moore said she told him that she had just graduated the day before, and that the man had also taken her diploma.

She asked Moore if he would accompany her back to the spot where she escaped, to see if the man had might have dumped her belongings. He said they found nothing.

The Aiken County Solicitor’s Office said Willard had not yet been assigned a defense attorney and no court dates had been scheduled. The AP called the jail to speak with Willard, but the request was denied.

Moore is pastor of Amazing Grace Ministries in Denmark, South Carolina. Moore is also a 27-year Army veteran, said his wife, Betty, an associate pastor at the church.

“When I learned that he was caught the next day I was relieved of a lot of things that he didn’t get away,” he said, “to go try that again someplace else.”

There’s barely time to rejoice. As Kemp raises his trophy for a picture, the charter boat’s captain rushes over and then drives a knifelike tool into the fish’s gas-filled bladder. The procedure, required by federal law, is intended to improve the fish’s chances of survival after release.

“Send it overboard,” orders the captain. And with that, Kemp's hopes of bringing the fish home to eat was lost.

Recreational fishermen like Kemp are pitched against commercial fishermen and environmentalists in a legal dispute that has halted what was expected to be the longest snapper season in years, reflecting broader tensions over the Trump administration's efforts to loosen fishing rules and deregulate the seas.

As part of those efforts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in May exempted states from some restrictions under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the landmark law that guides fisheries management. But the decision was halted at the last minute by a federal judge in Washington who blocked the plan.

The Atlantic red snapper is known for both its fighting ability and popularity at the dinner table. After decades of overfishing, regulators in 2010 restricted recreational fishing to only a handful of days each year — when not banned altogether.

Starting last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led a charge with officials in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina to take over management of the recreational Atlantic snapper fishery, casting the effort as guaranteeing anglers’ “God-given right to fish.”

In May, NOAA issued special permits exempting the states from some legal requirements to protect fish. Instead of imposing wholesale fishing bans on bottom fishing each winter, as NOAA had proposed last year, the agency set up an Atlantic snapper season in four states ranging from 39 to 62 days, allowing anglers to keep one fish per day.

“We were excited,” said Kemp, who booked a charter to coincide with the season’s opening day.

Court battle pits recreational anglers against commercial fishermen

The conflict landed in court just before the season was about to begin May 22, and U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued an injunction based in part on environmental concerns. He relied on estimates from the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy suggesting recreational catches could reach up to 485,000 in Florida alone during the expanded season — 20 times the number of landed catch allowed.

Kemp learned about the judge's order from a text message sent by a friend while driving to the marina.

“Originally we thought it was a joke, given the severity,” said Kemp.

The ruling sparked immediate backlash. Florida wildlife officials denounced the decision as the work of a “rogue federal judge,” while some fishermen involved in the lawsuit reported receiving threats after DeSantis falsely accused them of trying to commandeer the quota all for themselves.

One of the plaintiffs, North Carolina fisherman Jeff Oden, said commercial fishermen are struggling to survive amid rising costs and competition from imported seafood. He worries that expanded recreational harvests could leave too few snapper available when the commercial season begins later this year.

“We’re vanishing,” Oden said. “You as a consumer, you’re the loser.”

Stock is rebounding but scientists urge caution

The dispute stems in part from disagreements over the health of the fishery. NOAA estimates that roughly one-quarter of released red snapper die, despite techniques designed to improve their survival like puncturing the bladder to reduce gases that build up in their bladder when pulled up, hindering them from returning to the ocean’s depths where they live.

Yet many fishermen argue the stock is thriving. Kemp’s group hooked about a dozen fish within 40 minutes of arriving to a reef off Florida’s coast.

“To be completely honest, we have never seen an unhealthy stock,” said Haley Stephens, who with her husband operates the Sea Spirit, a charter boat in Ponce Inlet, Florida.

Scientists counter that the abundance of younger fish is misleading and point to biological sampling that indicates most fish being caught haven’t reached the peak of their reproductive maturity.

“It’s tricky because this is a rebuilding fish stock,” said Meredith Moore, a program director at Ocean Conservancy. “So people out in the water are seeing more of the fish than they have seen in a long time, and so that gives them the sense that everything is great.”

NOAA declined to comment on the snapper dispute, citing ongoing litigation. However, it said that it is working with fisheries managers across the country “to better prioritize work around existing resources, explore efficiencies, and streamline operations” in accordance with the “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” executive order signed last year by President Donald Trump.

The judge, in his ruling, faulted Florida and the other states for declining to provide their own harvest projections. Officials, however, argued that existing federal estimates were unreliable and would eventually be replaced with improved state-collected data.

Oden said he understands the frustrations of recreational anglers but believes everyone must share the burden of conservation.

“There’s only so many fish to go around,” he said.

___

Wieffering reported from Washington. Serginho Roosblad contributed from Washington.

—-

The Associated Press 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.

It’ll take place from Sept. 12-20, with restaurants from all across the region expected to participate. Last year, nearly 80 restaurants got involved, including ones in the City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, the Town of Vinton, the City of Salem, Botetourt County and Franklin County.

The event is designed to support businesses, attract new customers and strengthen the local economy.

“VBR Restaurant Week is such a special moment for our community. It’s a chance to celebrate the incredible talent of our local chefs and enjoy the thoughtful, limited-time menus they’ve crafted with so much care. Our independent restaurants truly are the heartbeat of Salem, and this week offers the perfect invitation to explore somewhere new or experience a fresh twist on a longtime favorite. I hope you’ll take part and show support for the businesses that make our town vibrant, welcoming, and delicious,” said City of Salem Mayor Renee Turk.

“We’re thrilled to partner with our neighboring municipalities to highlight the region’s vibrant culinary scene as we welcome the summer season,” said City of Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb. “With a wealth of food enthusiasts and talented chefs offering diverse cuisine, VBR Restaurant Week promises to be an exciting and enjoyable experience for both residents and visitors.”

For restaurants interested in participating, click here for further information.

The filing asks the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the main human rights body of the African Union, to order Equatorial Guinea to immediately halt any further deportations, transfers or removals and improve detention conditions. It also asks the body to grant compensation to people who already have been returned to their home countries.

The case is being brought by several rights groups, including the Global Strategic Litigation Council coalition, on behalf of 14 African migrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea between November 2025 and April 2026.

Advocates call it a landmark case

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights can issue decisions and urgent measures, as well as refer cases to the Africa Court on Human and Peoples' Rights but these orders are not binding. Nonetheless, advocates say this is a landmark case that could exercise pressure on governments of African countries who have taken in deportees from the U.S.

It is the first of its kind in the region involving people who had legal protection from removal but were still sent to countries where they face persecution, said Beatrice Njeri, the Global Strategic Litigation Council's regional litigator for Africa.

In March, the commission had already allowed a suit challenging the unlawful and prolonged detention of third country deportees in the African kingdom of Eswatini to proceed.

A month later, Eswatini’s Supreme Court ruled that four of the men sent there could finally meet with a lawyer after they were denied in-person legal counsel for nine months while held at a maximum-security prison.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, all part of the broad U.S. crackdown on immigration. Immigration lawyers said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.

Equatorial Guinea is one of at least eight other African nations that the U.S. has struck third-country deportation deals with.

Deportees returned to countries where they face persecution

Last week, Equatorial Guinea authorities transferred six deportees to their country of origin in eastern Africa, which lawyers say amount to “chain refoulement,” the indirect return of people to places where they face persecution, despite legal protections by courts in the United States.

The lawyers said the migrants face political, religious and ethnic persecution in their home countries, as well as violence based on sexual orientation. Some had previously been arrested or detained by police or military there, and many had experienced torture and sexual violence. All had previously been protected by U.S. immigration judges from being sent back to their home countries under federal immigration law.

Upon arrival in their home country, two of the deportees later fled to another country and have gone into hiding.

Three others were returned to Equatorial Guinea after their country of origin refused to admit them because they lacked valid travel documents and had not been notified of their arrival.

The migrants were then sent back to Equatorial Guinea, where they remain in legal limbo.

“They have effectively been rendered stateless,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council, describing the process as a “a cycle of hell.”

Equatorial Guinea is a key U.S. partner despite rights concerns

Under an opaque $7.5 million deal with Washington, at least 32 people were deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea, which the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen, has called “one of the most corrupt governments in the world.”

The Associated Press reported on the conditions of deportees who were forced back to their home countries. It also got exclusive access to a hotel turned into a prison for asylum seekers deported from the United States by Equatorial Guinea’s all-powerful president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa thanks to its oil resources. It is also rife with corruption and human rights abuses, according to U.S. officials.

There are virtually no critical voices in Equatorial Guinea, where the government has been accused by rights groups and the U.S. State Department of detaining, torturing and even killing those that dare to speak out.

The country's largest foreign investors are U.S. businesses, and its military receives funding for training from the U.S. government.

Halsey currently serves as principal of Eagle Rock Elementary School and is credited with leading school improvement efforts that targeted literacy, student achievement, staff development, and school culture.

The school district says that under her leadership, Eagle Rock Elementary earned consecutive Virginia Department of Education Highest Achievement Awards during the 2023-24 and 2024-26 school years.

“Kara is an exceptional leader who has consistently demonstrated a commitment to student success, instructional excellence, and building strong relationships with students, staff, families, and the community,” said Dr. Janet Womack, Superintendent of Botetourt County Public Schools. “Her leadership experience, passion for learning, and understanding of our school division make her an outstanding choice to lead Read Mountain Middle School.”

Halsey earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Hollins University and a Master of Science in Educational Leadership from Radford University. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education through Radford University.

Before becoming principal of Eagle Rock Elementary School, she taught English at Read Mountain Middle School, served on the school’s leadership team and taught at Salem High School.

“I am honored and excited to serve as the next principal of Read Mountain Middle School,” said Halsey. “This school has always held a special place in my heart, and I look forward to partnering with our students, staff, families, and community as we continue to build on the school’s many strengths.”

The victims, all Nigeriens, were returning home from a religious festival in Mali when the truck stopped running more than 80 kilometers (49 miles) west of Assamaka, near the borders with Mali and Algeria, Niger's Agadez region governorate said in an online post late Thursday.

Two men survived after trekking more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) to a water source and then continuing to Assamaka, where they alerted authorities, the governorate said.

A delegation sent to the scene by the Agadez Region Governor Gen. Ibra Boulama Issa learned the truck had traveled for several days from the Malian town of Talhandek about 300 kilometers (187 miles) from the Nigerien border.

It was not immediately clear what led to the breakdown or how long the passengers waited.

“On the spot, the findings were particularly disturbing. Dozens of lifeless bodies were found under the immobile truck and in its surroundings,” the Agadez governorate said.

Photos published by the governorate showed bodies in the desert with pieces of clothing and other belongings scattered around.

“Deprived of water and unable to repair the vehicle despite the efforts of the driver, his apprentice and passengers, travelers found themselves trapped in the heart of a hostile environment where extreme temperatures and lack of supply points make survival extremely difficult,” the governorate said.

The 49 victims were buried in mass graves at the scene in what officials called a “particularly delicate and emotionally exhausting task” for the survivors.

This fall they will do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

As the city heads toward pivotal primaries this month to pick candidates for those roles, President Donald Trump's influence on the nation's capital is shaping up as a major campaign issue. The fresh slate of candidates is weighing how best to approach Trump's Republican administration and congressional control over the heavily Democratic city's affairs.

“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”

Since Trump returned to office last year, the National Guard is on an open-ended deployment as part of what he calls a crime-fighting mission. He is putting his personal imprint on the city’s storied landmarks. And major cuts to the federal workforce have compounded economic pressures on the capital, which has one of the country’s highest unemployment rates.

The city has long had a unique, if fraught, relationship with the federal government: While residents can vote for their local leaders, they are limited by Washington’s status as a federal district in how much influence they can actually have on the city’s affairs. That limited autonomy has been further squeezed under Trump and his federal law enforcement takeover, launched last year.

This fall, current council members Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are the frontrunners vying to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser, elected in 2014. The leading candidates in the race to succeed long-serving congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton are Robert White Jr. and Brooke Pinto, also D.C. council members.

On June 16, primaries will be held for those roles, which in an overwhelmingly Democratic city usually dictate who will take the top spot come November.

Washington, and its elected officials, have limited autonomy

Washington, unlike other cities, does not control its fate.

What choices voters have is through a limited home rule agreement passed by Congress in 1973 that allowed residents to elect their local government leaders.

But Congress retains control over local affairs, including the approval of the budget and laws passed by the city council. Congressional members elected by voters from thousands of miles away routinely introduce measures to impact city affairs.

That has meant local leaders must balance pressures from their constituents with the demands of Congress and the administration — an act Bowser was forced to perform repeatedly.

During Trump's first term, she ordered the painting and naming of Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House, in 2020. Just months after Trump’s inauguration to his second term, she agreed to remove it in response to pressure from congressional Republicans.

That act, the decimation of the federal workforce by the Department of Government Efficiency and the surge by federal law enforcement and the National Guard into the city have emerged as central themes in the election season. Right now, about 3,500 troops are in the city — a number authorities say will climb to 5,000 as the country's 250th anniversary celebrations approach.

Trump has routinely said his intervention has made Washington “one of the safest" and most beautiful cities in the country, enjoying a historic drop in crime.

Candidates campaign on promise of resistance to Trump

George told The Associated Press that her top priority is addressing “the affordability crisis here in D.C., which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”

McDuffie said his top priority is public safety as crime continues to be an issue. He has said he would add 1,000 police officers over four years, fully staff the 911 call center after years of chronic staffing shortages and take a public health approach to violence reduction.

“We cannot have an affordable city," he said, “without public safety as its foundation.”

Both said they would bolster the city’s legal defenses against federal overreach and said Bowser should have been less cooperative with federal authorities as they targeted members of the city's immigrant communities.

Alex Dodd, co-founder of Free DC, an activist group supporting city independence, said the organization endorsed George because of her willingness to be more aggressive in opposing Trump and congressional Republicans.

“When our leaders comply with this administration before being forced, they are giving this regime an enormous advantage,” he said.

Pat Wheeler, a native Washingtonian and communications consultant who served as a department head at Morgan State University, applauded Bowser for cooperating with the Trump administration on some aspects. She noted failure to do so could have sparked retribution and a loss of what little control city officials have.

“Trump can snap his finger and the whole Republican Congress will say, ‘Let’s put a federal control board over the mayor,’” she said.

Affordability and social issues also concerns

The D.C. delegate position is a nonvoting one, but it grants the nearly 700,000 people of the district, who have no other representation in Congress, a voice through speechmaking on the House floor and bill introduction.

But critics said the 88-year-old Norton was diminished during the second Trump administration and not visible enough in the fight against administration and congressional overreach on the city’s autonomy. She filed paperwork to end her campaign for reelection in January.

Norton, who has served 18 terms, has had a storied career. She and her predecessor, Walter Fauntroy Jr., both had national standing coming out of the civil rights era.

“Eleanor Holmes Norton is maybe one of the last major political figures who comes out of the civil rights movement,” said Matt Dallek, a political historian at The George Washington University. "It’s a real passing of the torch.”

The campaigns of candidates running to replace her have centered on local control, Trump and affordability. Frontrunners and council members Pinto and White have also engaged in personal skirmishes questioning the origins of campaign contributions and connections to Republicans.

Pinto told the AP her top priority for the city is self-governance, something that has “never been a true reality for the people of D.C.”

She said affordability for the middle-class and working families is another concern.

White's campaign has said he's “not willing to continue to see our tax dollars used to allow DC police to cooperate and conspire with federal agents to trample our constitutional rights and to terrorize our communities.”

Brenda Manley, a longtime resident of Ward 7, an area with a storied Black history across the Anacostia River, said the city was well managed despite the tensions with Trump. But she said she hoped all the candidates would spend more time on the campaign focusing on programs that are beneficial to all residents, like a tuition grant program championed by Norton or major strides made in education during Bowser's tenure.

“Those type of programs matter,” Manley said.

“The pool is kept clean by a lot of chemicals. You have chlorine in the pool and it does a great job of keeping bacteria out and making the water look crisp and clear, but it’s also very drying to your hair and to your skin,” said Jennifer Lucas, MD, dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Lucas said there are some things you can do to help keep your hair from drying out, such as getting it wet before you jump in the water.

This will keep your hair from absorbing too much of the chlorine.

You could also apply a protective hair mask or wear a swim cap instead.

When you’re done swimming, be sure to rinse off immediately.

Dr. Lucas said you could use a clarifying shampoo and moisturizing conditioner to help rehydrate.

As for protecting your skin, she recommends wearing sunscreen.

“Anything you physically put on your skin, just like your hair, is going to prevent the water from being absorbed. So, you can have moisturizer on your skin. But what you should be putting on is your sunscreen. If you get that good application of sunscreen, not only is that a barrier to the sun, but it’s also a barrier to that chlorine,” she said.

Hot tubs can also dry out your skin and hair, so be sure to keep that in mind if you’re planning to use one this summer.

Dawa Sherpa was found Thursday crawling in the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above Everest base camp, a week after he went missing. The 57-year-old was flown to a Kathmandu and reunited with his family. He was being treated for frostbite, dehydration and problems in his thighs but was stable and recovering, HAMS Hospital said in a statement.

His family said they were upset that the search had not begun earlier and filed a police case against Dawa's employer, the Kathmandu-based Himalayan Traverse company, and a complaint at the Department of Tourism, which handles mountaineering in Nepal.

“Action needs to be taken by the mountaineering department. It was negligence of the company that resulted in so much delay in starting rescue,” Dawa's nephew, Karma Gelje Sherpa, said. “If he had been a foreign climber, rescue would definitely have been organized much faster and prompt, but he happened to be an old Nepali.”

Himalayan Traverse could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Dawa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though two other foreign climbers who were with him did. They were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.

Dawa's last location was a spot called Yellow Band above the Camp 3, which is located at 7,200 meters (23,622 feet). The base camp is at 5,300 meters (17,388 feet).

Dawa was last seen with British climber Chris Thrall and a Polish climber identified by local media as Mariusz Chmielewski. Thrall said in his Instagram post that he had to help the Polish climber down the mountain because he was in bad shape and had frostbites.

“He (Dawa) had been in death zone for 19 hours and at that point, a decision was made that we needed to descent through the Icefall,” he said earlier this week, explaining why he did not go up the mountain to look for Dawa.

When helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.

It was not clear why the men were on the mountain when authorities had removed the ladders on the path on May 29.

Dawa's family had already given up hope and they were on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.

The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after climbers have left.

In Virginia, as of Friday, June 5, the average for regular gas is $4.04, the AAA reports. Premium averages $4.93 per gallon, while diesel averages $5.23 per gallon.

Taking a closer look at our region, here’s a look at the average price of gas for localities in our area:

• Lynchburg:
• • Regular: $3.95
  • Mid: $4.46
  • Premium: $4.82
  • Diesel: $5.26
• Roanoke:
• • Regular: $3.98
  • Mid: $4.47
  • Premium: $4.87
  • Diesel: $5.24
• Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford (New River Valley area)
• • Regular: $4.02
  • Mid: $4.49
  • Premium: $4.899
  • Diesel: $5.17

Count on 10 News to bring you the latest price at the pump every morning.

To find out where the lowest fuel prices are near you, visit GasBuddy’s website.

Since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint war against Iran on Feb. 28, the cost of crude oil, the main ingredient in gasoline, has spiked and swung rapidly. That’s because the conflict has caused deep supply chain disruptions and cuts from major oil producers across the Middle East.

One thing they are unlikely to debate is the politics of many Southern Baptists, the vanguard of broader white conservative evangelical support for President Donald Trump.

Officials for the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, say more than 11,000 church representatives have preregistered for the two-day meeting in Orlando.

Revisiting a ban on churches with women pastors

In the previous three annual meetings, a majority of representatives voted to amend the SBC constitution to ban churches with women in any pastoral role. But the measures failed to get a two-thirds supermajority in two consecutive years that is required to pass an amendment.

The denomination’s statement of belief, the Baptist Faith and Message, declares that the office of pastor is limited to men. While nonbinding on churches, this has prompted the SBC to expel some churches with women in leading pastoral roles. Now the focus is those who preach or serve in subordinate pastoral roles.

This year, an amendment proposed by Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, would exclude any church that acts “to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.”

Mohler noted the debate has consumed too much time and attention. “Clarity in the constitution would settle that,” he said.

The outgoing SBC president, Clint Pressley, supports the amendment, as do both candidates running to succeed him.

Another nonbinding resolution with similar language will be considered. It requires only a simple majority to pass.

As an association of independent congregations, the SBC can’t tell them what to do. But it can expel any church deemed not to be in “friendly cooperation.” The convention has ousted churches in recent years that appointed women to top pastoral positions or asserted the right to do so. But the status of churches with female assistant pastors is still debated.

On his own podcast, Mohler recently said it would even be a “problem” for a church podcast to include a woman answering questions about that week’s sermon.

Array of issues queued up for debate

That view drew pushback online, including from prominent Bible teacher Beth Moore, who left the SBC after she faced criticism for advocating for victims of sexual abuse and criticizing evangelical support for Trump despite such things as his crude sexual boasts.

“How in heaven’s name a woman discussing a sermon on a podcast could be objectionable to some is beyond me and what I believe to be beyond scripture,” she posted on X.

She added later: “Which has been the greater problem: women trying to become your senior pastors or pastors misusing or abusing women?”

Amy Sims, associate pastor of preschool and children at Sugarland Baptist Church in Sugarland, Texas, described a now-yearly contrast of preparing for vacation Bible school just as Southern Baptists are debating women's ministry.

“I preach. I teach. I disciple children and families,” she wrote on the independent site Baptist News Global. “I walk with parents through crises. I visit hospitals. I help lead people to faith in Christ. I perform baptisms. ... I serve now at a church that is beautifully supportive of my work and calling as a woman and pastor.”

Every June, Sims added, "there are those who seem determined to remind me they do not believe God could have called me to do the very work I am doing.”

Even as the convention's membership shrinks, the annual meeting serves as a bellwether for religious and political trends among evangelicals. And as is typical, the biggest attention will be on whether the already-conservative SBC decides to move further rightward.

The upcoming meeting follows the release of internal statistics showing a continuation of a nearly two-decade-long decline in membership. It’s down to 12.3 million, the lowest since 1973.

Southern Baptists have, however, seen a bump in baptisms. They consider this a key spiritual vital sign because it measures conversions, though the increase is not enough to stem the overall decline.

Southern Baptists will consider other policy statements. One proposed resolution calls for humane treatment of immigrants and rejecting nativistic and dehumanizing rhetoric while also affirming the government's responsibility for immigration enforcement.

Another denounces antisemitic violence and conspiracy theories, notably those arising since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. At the same time, the resolution affirms Southern Baptists' hope for Jews' conversion to Christianity.

In 1996, an SBC resolution called for the evangelization of Jews, prompting major Jewish leaders to call it a setback for interfaith relations.

Baptists' long ties to conservative politics

Beyond denominational politics, the majority-white SBC is a core part of the wider, predominately white evangelical constituency that has coalesced behind Trump. Prominent Southern Baptists say they see little change in that.

They like Trump’s official policy recognizing only two, biologically determined genders, though they worry about his administration’s moderation on abortion. Baptist leaders have largely supported his war against Iran, but were quick to move on from Trump’s posting in April of a social media meme they deemed to be blasphemous.

Trump won the support of about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters in 2020 and 2024, according to AP VoteCast, a large voter survey.

About two-thirds of white born-again Protestants approved of Trump’s overall performance in April, compared to about one-third of U.S. adults overall. That’s according to survey findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Mohler said evangelicals were widely appalled at the Trump social-media meme depicting himself as a healing savior.

“You had the vast majority of evangelicals saying this is fundamentally wrong,” Mohler said. But that's “within the context of the fact that overwhelmingly evangelicals supported President Trump as president."

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the large First Baptist Church in Dallas and a longtime Trump supporter, said he appreciated that the president “had enough sensitivity to remove” the meme after the backlash.

Emphasizing that he was speaking for himself and not his church or the SBC, Jeffress added that he supported Trump's creation of a Religious Liberty Commission, where Jeffress testified about what he contended was unfair scrutiny of his church by the IRS.

Jeffress also supported Trump's decision to go to war against Iran, saying a president has “not only the right but the God-given duty to protect our nation.”

Mohler agreed, but sought to temper expectations. He said he supported past wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but now realizes that some of their objectives, such as nation-building, were not realistic. A just war needs “limited and honest aims,” he said.

Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, has criticized fellow Southern Baptist leaders for both their political slant and their gender focus.

The Black pastor posted on X that the SBC and its theologians have been wrong about issues ranging from slavery and segregation to the mistreatment of sexual-abuse survivors.

“And now they expect us to just blindly trust them on gender theology and women in ministry issues?" McKissic wrote.

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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.

The ratification was widely expected and a walkout never seemed to be in the cards during drama-free negotiations, but the vote assures there will be no repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry.

More than 90% of votes from members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved of the agreement, with about 19% of eligible voters casting ballots.

Like the Writers Guild of America, whose members approved their own contract on April 24, the actors’ new deal is for four years instead of the usual three, providing an extra layer of labor stability in the industry.

Actor Sean Astin, president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the contract “delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members’ benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today.”

The contract says AI performers must bring “significant additional value” over a live actor or a digital capture of them if producers are to use them. Union leaders say this and other provisions will keep use of AI actors minimal.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for a coalition of Hollywood’s major studios, streamers and production companies, congratulated the union on the ratification.

“SAG-AFTRA’s leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions,” the alliance said in a statement.

AMPTP negotiators have been in contract talks with the Directors Guild of America since May 11. The negotiations are the first under new DGA president Christopher Nolan. That contract is set to expire June 30.

Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal were facing off in the Champions League final, and by 9:20 a.m. — less than a half hour into the game — the patrons inside this crowded bar had already purchased $1,300 in alcohol.

“It’s just a better vibe when you’re a little buzzed,” said Madeline Guillen, 28, who was drinking a mimosa with friends. “That’s a big thing about sports. I think sports and drinking go hand-in-hand.”

Drinking alcohol while watching sports is common in many countries, and millions of soccer fans will be doing so this summer during the FIFA World Cup games in Mexico, Canada and the United States. But imbibing boozy drinks during what could be a sizzling June and July has some experts worried. They say mixing alcohol with extreme heat poses extra risks, especially people drinking excessively who may not be hydrating enough, staying cool, or have underlying health conditions.

Here's what to know about the science of extreme heat and drinking alcohol, plus tips from experts if you’re going to be drinking while watching soccer on a hot summer's day.

When summer, sports and booze collide

Climate change, caused by burning coal, oil and gas, is making heat deadlier worldwide, especially in the summer, and that's raising worries about soccer players and fans suffering heat stress during the games. Heat also influences how people drink alcohol and whether they end up in the hospital.

Various studies from around the world show that drinking alcohol peaks in the summer, and that people living in hotter climates are more likely to binge drink, according to a study from Mexico.

There is also sometimes a “hedonic effect” where people drink to ease the discomfort of feeling hot, said Nathan Morris, assistant professor in thermoregulation at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. “We drink alcohol, we feel good, and so it masks that normal drive to do something to cool yourself down,” which can lead to heat stress.

“Maybe we stay out in the heat longer. Maybe we drink less cold water. Maybe we’re less likely to use a fan or seek an air conditioned space,” he added. “I think that might be where we’re seeing more of the strain on the body.”

International research has also established links between heavy drinking and sports spectators. One paper from Australia found that participants self-reported consuming an average of five drinks in just over two hours while watching Australian football games. In a 2023 study, researchers found that higher temperatures resulted in more alcohol-related hospital visits in New York state.

Heat and alcohol, a riskier mix

Heat exhaustion happens when your body loses too much water and salt from excessive sweating. When the body can no longer cool itself, heat stroke occurs, which can cause confusion, loss of consciousness and even death. Heat combined with humidity — the kind of weather in host cities like Miami, Houston and Monterrey, Mexico — makes it harder for sweat to evaporate to cool the body.

Alcohol primarily affects the central nervous system — your body's master processing center responsible for your thoughts, feelings and movements. It can cause headaches, vomiting, dizziness, a loss of coordination and balance. It also makes you pee more.

When you combine fluid loss from sweating on a hot day with increased urination from drinking alcohol, it can lead to dehydration, which can make you feel the effects of drinking faster, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Additionally, studies show drinking on a hot day makes it less likely you'll wear sunscreen, and that alcohol reduces the amount of heat exposure needed to get sunburnt.

“If you put together hot weather, summer, crowd, during the World Cup, people are sweating more, so they’re losing liquids from their body," said Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, physician and scientist with the National Institutes of Health. “On top of that, you drink excessive amount of alcohol that is leading you to more urination."

When high temperatures are combined with drinking, it can have a “synergistic effect" that can cause symptoms including thirst, headaches and dizziness, he said.

Fabiano Amorim, associate professor at the University of New Mexico, has studied the effects of alcohol in hot environments among construction workers. He and other researchers found that if workers drank the night before, health markers including blood pressure, core and skin temperatures and heart rate were elevated, and their urine and sweat production were lower at work the next day.

“Alcohol on the previous night effects your ability to deal with heat and stresses your kidneys ... putting you in a higher risk of heat-related illness,” he said. Although World Cup fans won't be physically exerting themselves like construction workers, their findings still apply, Amorim said. Spectators could be in crowded places with limited air flow or exposed to the sun for hours.

“People are going to accumulate days of drinking,” he said. “They want to have fun, they come from one game to the other, they watch games, etc. It means there is a cumulative effect from one day to the other.”

The elderly, people with alcohol disorders, heart conditions and other chronic health issues are among the most vulnerable.

Tips for drinking safely when it's sizzling out

The best way to mitigate risks is to not drink at all, said Leggio. But if you're going to, eat a meal before, drink plenty of water, pick drinks with low concentrations of alcohol, and imbibe in moderation.

Before taking your first sip, Morris suggests taking regular precautions such as putting on a hat and sunscreen and ensuring you have other cold, non-alcoholic beverages at hand. Also, have a friend with you who can jump into action if you start feeling unwell. “Buddy systems are always really important with heat stress," he said.

Amorim recommends seeking shade, which can reduce heat stress on the human body between 25% and 35% throughout the day and can be 20 F to 45 F (11 C to 25 C) cooler than surfaces without it. He echoed to drink plenty of water and apply some on your skin to help cool you off. Eating cold slushies and popsicles are a good idea, too.

Leggio suggests being aware of early signals from your body.

“Feeling dizzy, feeling a little confused, having blurred vision, not being able to see well in your surrounding," he said. “And if you do feel any of these symptoms, ask for help right away.”

Medical staff will be stationed throughout the stadiums and at Fan Festivals.

Back at the bar in Los Angeles, Daniel Tran, 41, was calming his nerves with a cold beer Saturday morning while rooting for Arsenal. He plans to attend several World Cup games and Fan Festivals in L.A.

“If it's a really hot day, I’ll try to either hydrate the night before, make sure I get electrolytes, and also maybe not drink as much," he said, adding: “Pace yourself.”

There will be 104 games, after all.

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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 music stars will perform Dai Dai, the official song for the tournament, ahead of the opening game between co-host Mexico and South Africa on Thursday.

FIFA has planned opening ceremonies for each host nation, with curtain-raisers ahead of games in the United States and Canada as well.

World soccer’s governing body has revealed the line-up for the show in Mexico, which also includes Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla. It said more artists would be announced for the ceremonies in the U.S. and Canada.

Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé headline in Toronto on June 12 ahead of Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Later that day Katy Perry, global pop star LISA, Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema, Brazilian pop artist Anitta, and hip-hop artist Future are performing in Los Angeles before the U.S. faces Paraguay.

The trio of shows is being created by Italian producer Marco Balich, who was behind the spectacular opening ceremony for this year’s Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Each show will be held about 90 minutes before kickoff.

Shakira is also among headliners performing at a Super Bowl-style halftime show for the World Cup final along with Madonna and boy band BTS.

Diana Ross performed at the opening ceremony in Chicago when the World Cup was last held in the U.S. in 1994 and famously missed a penalty kick as part of the show.

The song Dai Dai aims to raise $100 million in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.

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

It was somehow an even crazier finish than the series opener 48 hours earlier, when Vegas' Tomas Hertl scored the winner with 3:24 left. It's all tied up after the Hurricanes overcame a multigoal deficit in thrilling fashion.

Here is how it happened:

10:20 left in regulation

Down 2-0 after having almost nothing going offensively for the first two periods and much of the first half of the third, the Hurricanes hemmed the Golden Knights in their own end, getting three shots on net and testing goalie Carter Hart. Vegas iced the puck, and the crowd could sense the home team was buzzing.

"The building got going," captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

9:40 left

Logan Stankoven, who has been one of the Hurricanes' best players all postseason, took it upon himself to make a difference. He stole the puck from Rasmus Andersson behind the net, skated toward the crease and banked the puck in off defender Jeremy Lauzon.

“It’s tough to find goals,” Staal said. “We got a bounce. That’s kind of all it took.”

7:14 left

The momentum turned quickly, and the fourth line kept it going. William Carrier somehow stayed onside, and while getting tangled up with Lauzon, passed the puck to streaking linemate Mark Jankowski, who fired a shot past Hart to tie it.

“I didn’t have a lot of time, honestly," said Jankowski, who scored his first of the playoffs after having two called off. "Just got it on my stick, got my head up and just tried to give my best shot possible. Didn’t have a lot of thought behind it, honestly. Instinct half kicked in there.”

5:00 left

With Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev, a two-time Cup champion, around the net with room to maneuver, Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen stretched across the crease to get the paddle of his stick on the puck and keep it out. Players converged, and puck eventually went in the net and referee Jean Hebert immediately waved it off, announcing it was goalie interference because Andersen was pushed.

Golden Knights coach John Tortorella challenged that it was not. Officials and the NHL's on-site situation room quickly confirmed the call on the ice, putting the Hurricanes on the power play.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

4:35 left

Carolina's power play was 0 for 4 in the series to that point and 7 for 60 in the playoffs. Shayne Gostisbehere took a shot from the point, Staal redirected it in from just in front of Hart and Carolina had the lead for the first time all game.

"Just shooting pucks and finding ways to get it to the net," Staal said. “Just finding ways to get a good, quality shot.”

3:29 left

Jackson Blake interfered with Barbashev, putting Vegas on the power play. The Hurricanes' penalty kill got the job done, improving to 56 for 60, a 93.3% success rate.

1:21 left

Mere seconds after the power play expired and with Hart on the bench, pulled for an extra skater, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone tied it. The puck went off him, and Carolina's Jaccob Slavin knocked the puck into his own net.

3:56 into overtime

Hertl tripped Staal 3:17 into overtime, putting the Hurricanes back on the power play.

Gostisbehere found Seth Jarvis, who had struggled so much coach Rod Brind'Amour moved him down to the the third line. Jarvis ripped a one-timer past Hart to give his team a 4-3 win.

“It’s huge,” Jarvis said. “To be able to contribute to win and help the team out like that is nice, get the power play going even more after Jordo, follow his lead. Just keep this wave rolling now.”

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

They're the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco.

On game nights, they're called the Spurs Nuns.

New York has Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan among its superfans; San Antonio has a group of nuns who wear Spurs jerseys over their habits. It's a relationship that goes back at least 20 years or so, and to the sisters it makes perfect sense.

“We’re serving the poor and the young," said Sr. Bernadette Mota, the director of the department of mission advancement for the Salesian Sisters. "And in order to reach the young where they’re at, you have to love what they love and then they’ll love who you love. So, we have that affinity with the Spurs because it gives us an avenue to do our mission with the young people that we serve.”

This tale started in a most unique way.

As the story goes, a couple decades ago, some of the retired sisters — who happened to be native Texans and big Spurs fans — would watch the games on television or listen on the radio, some even doing so while hospitalized. They would cheer for all the players, and for coach Gregg Popovich. But Popovich would sometimes seem a bit angry on the sidelines, prompting some of the sisters to reach out with letters.

“They would write to Coach Popovich and let him know when they thought he was he doing great and let him know when he lost his temper — but they were really supporting him," Mota said. "He's the one that actually responded back to them, thanking them for their support for him and for the Spurs. It was really just a very organic conversation that started all of this.”

Yes, it's true: The nuns would scold Pop for bad behavior.

“They would, in a nice way, in a very nice way," Mota said. “They’d be like, ‘Coach, you lost your temper there, come on, we’re praying for you, you can do better.’”

Popovich and the Spurs have kept a relationship with the sisters since. Popovich's late wife Erin, who died in 2018, also had close ties to the sisters and their work. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship; the Spurs love having the sisters at games, and the story of what the nuns do when they're not watching basketball has led to many people offering to help their mission.

“We’ve had a number of individual people reach out and they’ve been donating anywhere from $10 to $100 and we’ve had a few ones who have larger capacity reach out, too," Mota said. “All of this is divine providence, God’s gift, because we’re actually very much in need. Our mission, we rely on the generosity of people who are our partners and collaborators in our mission.”

The sisters aren't the only fan group that the Spurs have embraced. This season also brought the Jackals — a group that was envisioned by Wembanyama with hopes of simulating what happens in European soccer matches, with organized chants, drumming and the like throughout the game.

The nuns pray. The Jackals chant “Olé, Olé, Olé.”

Different approach, same intentions.

“I’ve known for years that the Spurs community had this strength in them,” Wembanyama said. “Now to finally see it being channeled into something organized and efficient and effective, it’s a great joy.”

Joy. That's the word the sisters use as well.

It was certainly noted by those around the Spurs that the sisters gave Luke Kornet a special blessing during the Western Conference finals and he came up with an incredible chasedown block midway through the fourth quarter of Game 7 in Oklahoma City, helping to ensure that San Antonio would win that game and earn this finals trip.

Divine intervention? Maybe.

It's also not lost on the sisters that Pope Leo XIV's prayer intention for June is on the value of sports and how they can promote peace and respect across the globe.

“I don’t know if his people who helped him out in terms of creating prayer intentions were also in tune with what’s going on with the sisters and the San Antonio Spurs," Mota said. "Maybe, maybe not. I have no idea. But I just thought it was pretty awesome that his prayer intention for June is for sports.”

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

On June 10, 1963, when myriads of peaceful protesters descended on the streets of Danville, they didn’t know they were walking in the footsteps of history and paving the way for equality. While they might not have realized they were taking part in a major turning point, there was one thing they were certain of: it was time for a change.

More than 60 years later, 10 News sat down with those who lived through the monumental events of Bloody Monday, a peaceful protest in Danville that turned violent.

Dorothy Batson was young when she joined the civil rights movement in Danville. Despite her age, she says fear never kept her from marching.

“Bloody Monday is probably the only time that I really felt scared,” Batson recalled. “We were taught how to protect ourselves from the firehose and dogs.”

In 1963, Danville, like much of the country, was deeply segregated. Black citizens were fighting for basic rights, including the right to peacefully protest.

“You always hear about the Mississippis, and Alabamas, and Georgias. But the movement took place all over the South, and Danville was no different,” Batson said.

According to historian Karice Luck Brimmer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Danville four times that year. But on June 10, it was local leaders who stood at the front of the movement.

“They unleashed the dogs and the firehoses, and these freshly doctored up billy clubs,” Brimmer said.

Batson was at the center of it all. She remembers gathering at the jail to pray and sing for those who had been arrested when police turned violent.

“I was injured running down the stairs trying to get away,” she said.

She told us others faced even worse.

Funeral homes offered hearses to transport the injured to the hospital.

“There were people who were bleeding. There was one woman who was so severely beaten she had to be taken to a special hospital,” Batson said.

Dottie Zellner, who worked with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and was documenting the events in Danville, described her own experience in 2020: “When I was on the ground, that’s what made it even more strange. To this day, I think about that. I mean, I was already on the ground, I was clearly not armed. I weighed 106 pounds. And I was on my way up to my feet when (the policeman) hit me over the head. So it was an act of gratuitous cruelty.”

Brimmer noted that Danville police had even deputized white business owners along Main Street.

“Anyone could beat you that day, legally, that was deputized by the Danville Police Department,” she said.

The events of Bloody Monday drew national attention, just months before the March on Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Danville in July.

“One of the things that stood out was that Danville had one of the most brutal police forces he had ever seen,” Brimmer said.

For Batson, the memories are still vivid, but she says she’s grateful for the progress that has been made.

“I’m grateful to God that I’m still alive to see some of the changes.”

Still, she believes there is more work to be done.

“We all are human. I bleed just like any other human.”

As Danville reflects on its past, the legacy of Bloody Monday serves as a reminder of the courage and resilience of those who fought for justice—and the ongoing journey toward equality.

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.

These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world's deadliest migration routes. Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries.

Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support — and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left.

“Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’"

Among them is Eslim Jallow, 27. Dreaming of a more prosperous future, Jallow and his younger brother left Gambia and landed in the Canary Islands in 2023. At first, Jallow struggled to adapt, but he quickly learned Spanish, took courses and now earns a living as a programmer and web developer in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

“Perhaps the pope will change the way in which people here look at immigrants,” Jallow said. “Immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, not ignored.”

Like most migrants arriving in the islands, he isn’t Catholic. But he feels that Leo “speaks for us, he reminds the world we are also human beings.”

The Catholic Church’s ministry to migrants

Advocating for migrants globally was a priority for Pope Francis. He went to Lampedusa in 2013 on his first pastoral visit outside Rome and, three years later on the Greek island of Lesbos, he brought back with him a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees.

Under Leo, the Catholic Church has continued to call for their humane treatment around the world, including decrying mass deportations in his home country, the United States.

“Pope Leo is signaling how important immigration is to him by doing these two trips early in his papacy,” said Michele Pistone, a Villanova University professor who leads its new center on immigration.

In the Canaries, Leo is expected at the port of Arguineguín, on the island of Gran Canaria, on June 11 to pay homage to thousands of migrants who died or disappeared en route. The next day, he will meet migrants at a camp on the island of Tenerife.

The archipelago has been the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis that in 2024 saw the arrival of nearly 47,000 migrants from North and West Africa, including several thousand unaccompanied minors.

Like Jallow, half of them landed in El Hierro island — nearly triple its population, said the Most Rev. Eloy Santiago, bishop of Tenerife, whose diocese includes that smaller island. Its resources were strained to a breaking point, even though most migrants only stayed a few days.

“If a boat arrives, the couple of local doctors have to go out running to take care of them, and then the local residents who had their medical appointments can’t have them,” Santiago said.

Catholic organizations are among those that aid migrants from the moment they step out of rickety, overcrowded boats.

Arrivals have slowed dramatically this year, in part due to stricter controls along the African coast. But the most challenging task remains — how to help those who arrived as minors, were entrusted to state care, and are thrown out into the streets when they turn 18, often with no job prospects and no support.

Caya Suárez, secretary-general for the Catholic charity Caritas in the Canaries, has seen firsthand how migrants coming of age on the islands are the most vulnerable.

“That’s a very bad moment, even though they’d been waiting for it with hope, because they see they are still stuck without alternatives,” she said.

Caritas tries to help the young adults find housing and jobs, she added. It’s also relocated a few young migrants to Madrid, a small village in the largely rural region of Galicia, and elsewhere on the mainland, with the help of parishes there even as the governments of other Spanish regions have been reluctant to take on underage migrants.

Spain’s migrant amnesty and continuing challenges

Many residents in the Canaries feel like they’ve been abandoned to cope with an unsolvable problem — how to stretch even farther resources for migrants who thought they’d be within reach of economic prosperity and free to travel across the European Union, and instead end up on the street, struggling to send remittances home but also to leave.

Compounded with the perception that national and European political institutions tend to see it as an exclusively “island problem,” the situation is generating a growing malaise even among generous islanders who have long been accustomed to migration to and from Latin America, the Canaries’ bishops said.

“The pope’s word can help so that in the middle of this fatigue, people can buck up again because they see they are supported,” said Santiago, who was born and ordained a priest on the islands.

At the national level, Spain’s Catholic Church also backed a new measure giving temporary residency permits to potentially more than half a million foreigners in the country illegally, many from Latin America.

They often work in hospitality, agriculture and eldercare, boosting the economy, according to the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — and to the church.

“In the matter of immigration, the church’s position gets into a head-on collision with the position of the right,” said Pablo Simón, a political science professor at University Carlos III in Madrid.

That has created a rift between the church and far-right parties, like Vox in Spain, which has criticized the church on immigration, despite often couching its anti-migrant rhetoric in religious terms.

Days before she is expected to meet Leo, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the firebrand Popular Party conservative regional leader of Madrid, described the migrant legalization push as “importing mass poverty.”

The Rev. Fernando Redondo, who leads the migration department of the Spanish bishops’ conference, said the church’s stance is in line with the Christian mandate to welcome the stranger. But he added it needs better understanding among the many faithful who believe migrants come to steal jobs or live off welfare.

“We have a big challenge, which is raising awareness among our faithful … that from the viewpoint of faith, to welcome a migrant person is to welcome Christ himself,” Redondo said. “Then, of course, there needs to be ways, proper social and political ways, so that migration doesn’t become a total mess.”

Hoping for words of reconciliation in the Canary Islands

In the Canaries, ordinary people have been on the front lines of that often life-endangering chaos — fishermen who hand out drinking water to migrants on ramshackle rafts, sunbathers who run into the sea to help landing migrants, the volunteers who greet them in more than a dozen languages.

But they have also seen that integration can work, as in a small mountain village that was emptying out until a center for three dozen migrant children was opened, creating jobs and filling up the school — and the local church’s annual feast day procession.

That’s why many look forward to Leo bringing a simple but crucial message of reconciliation that focuses on the people impacted, not on the politics.

“The pope doesn’t support this slogan of ‘let’s go, open doors for the whole world here.’ Nobody supports that,” Mazuelos said. “When here comes a gentleman in a wooden boat after five days in the Atlantic, what are we supposed to do, kick him back? We’ve got to find a way to welcome him.”

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Dell'Orto reported from Minneapolis.

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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.

It also disclosed that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled palace properties paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.

The National Audit Office report said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received income from renting out the cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, his home near Windsor Castle for more than 20 years. A lease for Royal Lodge signed in 2003 shows he paid only a nominal fee known as a “peppercorn rent” for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.

The amount of income was not included in the report, an omission that Margaret Hodge, a Labour member of the House of Lords and former head of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, said was concerning.

“It’s shocking that the National Audit Office was not able to establish how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he let,” she said.

The audit office review was carried out at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and evicted from Royal Lodge by his brother, the king, following revelations about his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this year to the king’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England.

In February, the former prince, 66, was arrested and questioned by police about allegations of misconduct in public office. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and has not been charged.

The royals' housing arrangements

The audit office report shows that 11 working royals receive free housing within palaces in return for their official duties. They include the king and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, and the king’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.

William and Kate also have a family home near Windsor, for which they pay rent of 307,200 pounds (about $413,000) a year.

The rents on Eugenie’s cottage in Kensington Palace and Beatrice’s apartment in St. James’s Palace are set at a portion of open-market value that has ranged in recent years between 50% and 68%. Both rents are paid out of the Privy Purse, the monarch’s private funds.

The pair are not considered “working” royals who carry out public duties, and both have outside jobs.

Buckingham Palace said the audit office report “is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points regarding royal properties.”

Critics of the monarchy cited the findings as evidence the royal family does not pay its way.

“It shows an absolute total contempt for the taxpayer, not only that Andrew was able to have a peppercorn rent for a gigantic property, but then to make potentially millions on the side from subletting properties,” said former Liberal Democrat lawmaker Norman Baker, a longtime critic of royal finances.

The prince's links to Epstein

Mountbatten-Windsor has featured in millions of pages of documents about Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January, showing how the wealthy financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women and girls.

British police are looking into claims that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade information to the disgraced financier when he served as U.K. trade envoy from 2001 to 2011. Detectives say they may broaden their investigation to include allegations of sexual misconduct and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Mountbatten-Windsor has rarely been seen in public since he moved to the Sandringham Estate, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London. He was photographed Thursday in a car with a large bruise on his face.

The Times of London said, without citing sources, that the bruise was the result of a “nonserious medical condition.”

Here’s a look at all the delicious freebies and sweet deals happening across our region.

Krispy Kreme

• Stop by a Krispy Kreme near you and get a free doughnut of your choice, no purchase necessary.
• Double up the sweetness: On Friday, June 5, you can buy any regular-priced dozen and get an Original Glazed Dozen for just $2.

Duck Donuts

• Got a sweet tooth? Well, Duck Donuts is looking extra sweet! On June 5, they will be celebrating National Donut Day with a free classic donut. It will be available at participating shops only while supplies last.

Dunkin’

• On June 5, you can get a free donut from Dunkin’ with any beverage purchase

7-Eleven

• On June 5, 7-Eleven is sprinkling a little more joy into the day by offering customers classic glazed donuts for just 50 cents each, available for 7Rewards and Speedy Rewards members.

Throughout the Free Fishing Days weekend, there will be several events taking place across the state. Staff and volunteers will be on hand with rods, reels, terminal tackle and bait. All events are free, and no registration is required.

In our region, a Free Fishing Day event will be held on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Carvins Cove Reservoir in Roanoke.

No fishing license of any kind will be required for recreational fishing during Free Fishing Days, whether you’re casting in fresh or saltwater. DWR access permits will also not be needed.

If you’re bringing the kids along, don’t forget about the 2026 Kids ‘n Fishing Photo Contest, which is already underway. This year’s theme is “kids enjoying fishing.” Children who submit the first, second and third-place photographs in each category will receive a variety of fishing-related prizes.

To learn more, click here.

An estimated 60,000-70,000 Bosnians live in St. Louis, with many arriving in the early 1990s during the Bosnian War and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia faces Panama on Saturday in an international friendly at St. Louis' Energizer Park and plays World Cup group matches in Toronto (vs. Canada), Los Angeles ( vs. Switzerland) and Seattle (vs. Qatar).

“We should be able to create an atmosphere like a home match,” said Elvir Kafedžić, a Bosnia-born St. Louisan and an assistant coach for the city’s MLS team, St. Louis City SC.

He was only 9 1-2 when he fled Bosnia in 1992 with his mother and brothers to escape the war.

“Unfortunately, I remember a lot of it,” said Kafedžić, whose story mirrors many who rebuilt in St. Louis after meandering across Europe.

“We kind of tumbled through some different countries like Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Sweden and wound up in Germany," Kafedžić explained.

That ended when Germany stopped granting temporary protection to Bosnians in the late 1990s.

“We didn’t have anywhere to go back to in Bosnia. And we already had some relatives living in St. Louis. So in 1999 we made the move with my mom and two older brothers."

Bosnia defeated Italy

Bosnia qualified for the World Cup two months ago, defeating four-time World Cup champion Italy 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The deciding penalty was converted by Esmir Bajraktarević, a Bosnian-American from Appleton, Wisconsin.

“That day you could see cars flying Bosnian flags in the streets,” Kafedžić said of the St. Louis scene. “All the restaurants, all the coffee shops were packed wall-to-wall with strangers hugging each other. For me, this goes beyond soccer. This shows who we are, the pride, where we come from and how deeply we’re connected to our roots.”

Bosnia's World Cup team is led by 40-year-old captain Edin Džeko and 18-year-old winger Kerim Alajbegović. Džeko has scored at least 50 goals playing in the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, and the German Bundesliga.

Bosnia’s only other World Cup appearance was at Brazil in 2014, where it was narrowly eliminated in the group stage. The team’s first World Cup goal was scored by Vedad Ibišević in a 2-1 loss to Argentina.

Ibišević played high school soccer in St. Louis, starred at Saint Louis University and followed up with a successful professional career, primarily in the Bundesliga.

“Little Bosnia” in St. Louis

St. Louis surfaced as a destination for Bosnian refugees because it offered jobs, reasonable housing prices and had a small community in place.

“We all came looking for a better life because everything was taken away from us at home,” Kafedžić said. “You can’t put in words how thankful we are.”

A swath of the city’s South Side is known as “Little Bosnia,” anchored by rows of tidy red-brick houses, bars, cafes and bakeries and a replica wood fountain that mimics one in the capital Sarajevo, known as the Sebilj.

“It represents Sarajevo in the heart,” said Jasmina Silić, working across the street from the monument at the Skala Bar on Gravois Avenue, the fulcrum of the community.

A reminder of the war

Skala is located just a few doors away from the “Association of Survivors of the Srebrenica Genocide,” a constant reminder of the war and the ethnic cleansing committed by Bosnian Serb forces.

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims died in Srebrenica, which was declared a genocide by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and others. It’s estimated that 104,000 died from the war, 2 million were displaced, and 83% of the civilian deaths were Bosnian Muslims.

Bosnian imprint

Bosnia's influence is all over St. Louis, a metropolitan area of almost 3 million on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The best-selling food at St. Louis’ MLS stadium is Bosnian fare from a restaurant called the “Balkan Treat Box.” Saint Louis University houses the Center for Bosnian Studies, and several books document the diaspora including “Bosnian St. Louis: Between Two Worlds” by Patrick McCarthy and Akif Cogo.

It tells of tragedy, resilience and the community’s ties to Europe.

“One woman in St. Louis still carries the keys to her house in Bosnia,” they wrote. “Another man describes his feelings toward Bosnia as a divorce he did not want from a woman he still loves.”

Bosnia was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation before the war, predominantly Muslim but with a large number of Croatian Roman Catholics and Serbian Orthodox Christians.

The mix binds the World Cup team, a symbol of pride and reconciliation.

“A lot of people from here go to Bosnia every year to see families,” said Silić, speaking at the Skala Bar. ”The team represents unity because it’s all three religions and everybody is one like it used to be when it was still Yugoslavia.”

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

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the drone strikes. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin also said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

Zelenskyy proposes talks

Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Putin. Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the U.S. to return its attention to Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin hadn’t seen the letter yet and repeated his statement that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wants talks. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.

Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could mediate Russia-Ukraine peace talks because “mediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?”

Any potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides, Putin said.

“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?” he said.

Putin's battlefield update

Commenting on Russia's use of its Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, Putin said it was fired at targets that allowed it to test its capability and precision before using it against objectives closer to residential areas.

“We hit the area where it was convenient to see the results,” he said. “It was important for making a decision on the future on the full-format use of the Oreshnik on designated targets, including those in populated areas.”

Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.

Putin declared that the “patriotism and will of the Russian people” will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.

“Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said.

Putin said he has accepted Trump’s compromise proposals from the Alaska summit, saying they could “serve as a basis of agreements between Russia and Ukraine and put an end to the conflict."

Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce, he said.

“There is no need to suspend the hostilities to start negotiations,” he said. “Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops. But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”

Putin dismisses sabotage accusations

Asked about an AP investigation tracking 191 incidents across Europe, including sabotage, cyberattacks, attempted assassination and other activity that Western officials say are part of a Russian-masterminded campaign, Putin replied there was no detailed proof of Moscow's involvement.

“What are the specific facts? What has been proven?” he said, adding that the accusations showed that Europe was not ready to talk to Russia as an equal partner.

“This only shows that certain political figures in the West are trying to carry out aggressive plans against the Russian Federation,” he said.

Asked whether Russia could contribute to a settlement of the war in Iran, Putin responded that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran for storage remains on the table. He noted Russia did so as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, "and we are ready to do it now.”

His future as president

Putin, 73, who has held power in Russia for over a quarter-century, was asked if he planned to run for another term that would keep him in office until 2036, when he'll be 83. He laughed and said he’s “not even thinking about it.”

“Only God knows if any of us will be healthy enough ... to survive until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, much less solve the problems we face and achieve the goals we set for ourselves,” he said.

In 2020, Putin ordered amendments to the Russian Constitution that essentially reset his term limits, keeping him in power.

Drone attacks on St. Petersburg

Wednesday's drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a plume of black smoke above Russia’s second-largest city — an embarrassing blow to Putin's efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

It also underscored Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.

Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.

Peskov said Russia’s forces were carrying out “systematic” strikes on Kyiv. On Tuesday, Russia launched deadly attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Russia's version of Davos

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also are present. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from military spending has fizzled. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

Asked at the media session if Russia’s economy was struggling because of the military action, Putin paraphrased Mark Twain that “rumors of my death are highly exaggerated.”

He said the economy was growing but admitted that inflation was a concern.

“We’ve deliberately taken steps to cool the economy,” Putin said of Russia’s Central Bank putting the country’s key interest rate at 14.5%, which he called “a difficult decision.”

“You can say we’ve cooled off, or you can say we haven’t done everything yet, but these are deliberate steps. We don’t want inflation — hyperinflation — to reach 60-80%, as it is some countries,” he said. “We’re fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole.”

Opponents of drilling in the refuge's coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

A coalition of conservation groups this spring sent a letter to leaders of 11 petroleum companies including major ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, both major players in Alaska, urging them to not participate in the sale. The letter cited ongoing litigation over the leasing program, dating to President Donald Trump's first term, and warned of “financial, operational and reputational risks.”

The letters, signed by groups including The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and Earthjustice, called the refuge a crown jewel in the country's public lands system and said there is strong support for protecting it, “making any action there especially visible and consequential.”

A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips Alaska, Megan Olson, said the company doesn't discuss its lease sale plans. A Hilcorp spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has taken a keen interest in Alaska, and his tax and spending bill passed by Congress last year included provisions mandating lease sales in three regions of the state. In addition to the refuge's coastal plain, leases have also been offered in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and in Cook Inlet, an aging basin that's provided natural gas for Alaska's most populous region for decades.

There were no takers in the Cook Inlet auction in March. But there were hundreds of bids, including from major oil companies, for what was the first sale since 2019 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — despite pending litigation challenging the leasing program. The Trump administration has moved to open more lands to drilling in the reserve and roll back protections there. The petroleum reserve is where ConocoPhillips Alaska is developing the large Willow oil project.

On Alaska's vast, petroleum-rich North Slope, the major oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk lie between the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, currently holds leases in the refuge but there is no active drilling. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil.

The coastal plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, features rolling hills and tundra and provides habitat for wildlife including musk oxen and migratory birds. It is considered sacred by the Gwich'in, because the caribou herd they rely upon calve there. Leaders from Gwich’in villages near the refuge have vowed to continue fighting to prevent drilling there.

But some Alaska Native communities have embraced development and see it as essential to the regional economy.

Nagruk Harcharek, president and CEO of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group whose members include leaders from Alaska Native communities on the North Slope, said there’s a long history of balancing development with culturally important practices, such as subsistence hunting. Responsible development is a key part of self-determination, particularly for residents in Kaktovik, the only community within the refuge, who support drilling, he said.

Kaktovik residents hunt and fish on the coastal plain and “will be a big part of whatever project moves forward in making sure that all of those resources are protected and that their people are taken care of," he said.

The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South Wales state, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world’s biggest cockroaches, measuring 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) in length. Photos released by the department showed a shiny, brown invertebrate larger than a person’s finger.

It's much bigger than the country's common Australian cockroach, which measures between 0.9 and 1.4 inches (2.3 and 3.6 centimeters) long. Cockroaches flourish in Australia due to its sub-tropical climates and the country is home to hundreds of species.

Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the larger exotic species were likely being sold as as a cost-effective reptile food because their large size meant fewer insects were needed. Officials urged pet owners to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead.

Both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches are illegal to import into Australia. They can’t be legally kept, bred or sold no matter how they were obtained, the department said in a statement.

Australia has strict biosecurity controls at its borders to protect its agriculture and horticulture sectors and native wildlife from pest infestations. Those smuggling in undeclared or illegal animal, insect or plant material can be fined thousands of dollars.

Exotic cockroaches “have not been subject to an environmental risk assessment” and they could spread disease or harm native wildlife, the statement said. Officials warned of prosecutions against those caught with the invertebrates.

A spokesperson said charges weren’t laid against the Bathurst breeder. The cockroaches seized would be euthanized, the department said.

“Somebody had to step up and make a play,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said simply.

A shocking third-period comeback changed everything, both in getting the Hurricanes back in the Stanley Cup Final and setting the stage for Jarvis and that power-play unit to get a needed breakthrough moment.

Jarvis blasted a one-timer past Carter Hart on a power play at 3:56 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes past the Vegas Golden Knights. 4-3 on Thursday night. That ended a night that saw Carolina trail 2-0 entering the third period after looking outmatched through the second, rally with three unanswered goals, then regroup after giving up a tying goal late to force the OT.

Just as importantly, the Hurricanes went from staring at an 0-2 series deficit after losing twice at home to heading West for Game 3 on Saturday in a tied series after an abrupt turn of fortune.

The time was coming, the Hurricanes kept insisting, when their top-line guys and the power play would make big plays.

Turns out, they were right.

“This is exciting, this is what playoff hockey is all about," said Jarvis, who admitted the winning score was a “huge” weight off his shoulders. "It's tight games and momentum swings and you never really know what's going to happen next.”

Unexpected comeback

Indeed, Vegas' roster filled with Cup winners from 2023 looked every bit in control of this one. Yet the Hurricanes pulled off a comeback that will earn a spot in franchise lore alongside moments like the 2002 “Molson Miracle” at Montreal — when they rallied from a 3-0 hole entering the third before winning in 4-3 OT in Round 2 — or the 2009 first-round shocker at New Jersey when the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds for another 4-3 win in Game 7.

It started with a tough effort by Logan Stankoven to beat Rasmus Andersson for a puck along the boards before coming behind the net to throw one off the skate of Jeremy Lauzon in the crease to slip by Hart for a life-infusing score at the 10:20 mark.

Mark Jankowski followed, coming when linemate William Carrier kept the entry alive while tussling with Lauzon and fed him for a score. This one stuck, coming after Jankowski had an overtime winner waved off in Game 2 of the first-round series against Ottawa and a second goal later waved off against Philadelphia for a goaltender-interference review on Carrier.

“It's nice to sit on the bench and look over and see they're not challenging it,” Jankowski said.

Even more surprising, the power play carried the Hurricanes home.

Jarvis, power play come through in clutch

Carolina's power play entered the night just 7 of 58 (12.1%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season at 24.9%. But, that unit struck twice to change everything on Thursday night, first with captain Jordan Staal redirecting Shayne Gostisbehere's shot to beat Carter Hart from the top of the crease for a 3-2 lead with the man advantage.

Then, after Vegas got a tying goal off Mark Stone's skate with 1:21 left in regulation — coming when Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin knocking a loose rebound past Frederik Andersen into the net while clear the crease — Carolina came up with a rousing response in OT.

The fact it was Jarvis who got it only magnified the scope of the moment. The winning blast marked only the fourth goal of the playoffs for Jarvis, a top-line forward who led the team with 32 regular-season goals and played for Canada's silver-medalist team at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Brind'Amour had said multiple times in recent weeks that the Sebastian Aho-centered line featuring Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov had largely played other top lines to even. The Hurricanes had rolled to a 12-1 record through the Eastern Conference playoffs while the Stankoven-centered second line or the third line featuring open-ice speedster Nikolaj Ehlers carried the scoring.

But Brind'Amour cautioned Wednesday: “We need them to get going.”

And after Vegas went ahead 2-0 on Brett Howden's second terrific individual effort, Brind'Amour swapped Jarvis with Jordan Martinook midway through the second period to put Jarvis alongside Ehlers and Staal — a move that led to an immediate goal for Jarvis in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Flyers.

This time, Jarvis buried the shot from the left circle off a feed from Gostisbehere up top. A crowd buzzing since the start of the third-period comeback erupted, with Jarvis skating toward the blue line and dropping to one knee to slide across the ice.

The win improved Carolina to 6-0 in overtime during the playoffs. That includes all four Game 2s in this postseason at home.

“It was desperation," Stankoven said. "I think we needed to try to get that split tonight."

___

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

Jarvis’ heroics 3:56 into OT came after a thrilling third period that included four goals being scored and another getting called off because of goaltender interference. Carolina became the first team since 1994 to win a Cup final game when trailing by multiple goals in the final 10 minutes.

“It was lot,” said Jarvis, who scored for just the fourth time this playoffs. “We did a great job controlling our emotions. We never got too high, never got too low. Just kept responding, and that’s what I love about this group is we always bounce back.”

Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas. There is now a guarantee the series will return to Raleigh for a Game 5 next week.

That did not look anything close to certain when Hurricanes had almost nothing going for the first 45 minutes, falling behind by two goals as the Golden Knights took advantage of a couple of scoring chances and locked down defensively. A couple of strong shifts in the offensive zone just before the midway point of the third brought the crowd back to life because the Hurricanes were buzzing.

“The building is a tough building to play in when it gets going,” captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

Logan Stankoven, one of the team's best players this spring, provided he. Stankoven made a terrific individual effort to get them on the board, taking the puck away from Rasmus Andersson, going to the net and banking a shot off Jeremy Lauzon and in with 9:40 remaining in regulation.

Less than three minutes later, Mark Jankowski fired a shot past Carter Hart to tie it, flipping the script from Game 1, when Vegas erased a multigoal deficit and won. This is the first time each of the first two games of a Cup final featured a team falling behind by more than a goal and winning.

“Stanky did a great job getting it going and Janks with a great shot, and it just carried on from there,” Jarvis said.

A big decision by Vegas coach John Tortorella with five minutes left paved the way for it to happen.

Frederik Andersen initially went full extension to deny Ivan Barbashev with the paddle of his stick, and a scrum ensued in the crease that ended with the puck eventually in the net. Referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, saying Andersen was pushed into the net and ruling it was goaltender interference.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

Tortorella after some deliberation opted to use his coach’s challenge, and the on-ice officials in consultation with the NHL’s situation room confirmed the call on the ice stood.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” executive vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

The punishment for a failed challenge is a 2-minute minor penalty. The Hurricanes went on the power play, where they had been so ineffective all night and most of the playoffs.

Not this time. Staal redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot in on the power play. with 4:35 left in regulation.

The Hurricanes killed off a penalty in the intervening time before allowing Stone to tie it with 1:21 left at 6 on 5 with Hart pulled for an extra skater. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin actually knocked the puck into his own net on the play.

Eearly in overtime, Tomas Hertl tripped Staal to put Carolina back on the power play. That allowed Jarvis to score just Carolina’s ninth power play goal of the playoffs.

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Jarvis said. “Our power play found our groove tonight. It started with Jordo in the third, and there just making the right plays, playing smart and being aggressive and it worked out.”

Instead of Vegas going home looking to move to the verge of a second championship in nine years of existence, the series is all square, despite Hart making some big saves and Brett Howden scoring his playoff-leading 12th and 13th goals.

Asked what changed, a tight-lipped Tortorella said: “I have my thoughts. I’m not discussing it here.”

___

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

Late in the first half, Riley Guzo scored the first goal of the game after a scramble took place in front of the net. From there, Cave Spring scored two more goals in the second half for the 3-0 region championship win. It proved to be the third consecutive for the Knights program.

Other girls soccer regional championships:

-Region 2C: Nelson Co. def. Glenvar, 3-0

-Region 3C: Western Albemarle def. LCA, 5-1

Boys soccer regional championships:

-Region 1B: Altavista def. Luray, 1-0

-Region 2C: Glenvar def. Appomattox Co., 2-0

-Region 3C: LCA def. Rocktown, 3-3 (PK’s)

-Region 3D: Christiansburg def. Lord Botetourt, 6-0

The Raiders flexed a balanced attack in the circle and at the plate, notably yielding good results from bunting.

Other softball region championship results:

-Region 1B: Buffalo Gap def. William Campbell, 8-6

-Region 3C: Broadway def. Rustburg, 2-1

-Region 3D: Abingdon def. Staunton River, 12-5

Baseball region championship results:

-Region 2C: Patrick Co. def. Dan River, 10-4

-Region 3D: Hidden Valley def. Abingdon, 7-3

The “60 Minutes” correspondent’s searing rebuke of CBS management this week, in which he questioned his bosses’ credentials and motives, may have ended in his firing, but amounted to the sort of mouthing-off that workplace peons typically only fantasize about.

“That’s the American dream — to be able to tell off your boss and walk out the door,” says Zach Tyra, a 40-year-old data analyst from Jones, Oklahoma, who found a kindred spirit in the newsman, recalling his own experience with a former boss he said was clueless. “I couldn’t do what Scott Pelley did because I didn’t have the safety net or the resources or the network that he has. I couldn’t tell my boss to stick it. I just had to sit there and eat it.”

Pelley's message may have been delivered in the measured baritone of someone polished by decades on the airwaves. But his backtalk stirred many who’ve felt the simmering rage of feeling a clueless boss was turning their days into a nightmare.

“It’s also kind of weird, like, Pelley isn’t some blue-collar hero. There’s a wide gap between, like, Pelley and your local everyday guy down at the hardware store,” Tyra says. “But I think everyone can relate to standing up for what they believe.”

A staff meeting that went deeply awry

Pelley's dressing-down came in a Monday staff meeting with the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Nick Bilton, brought aboard by Bari Weiss, who became CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October. The correspondent reportedly grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, accusing management of “murdering” the program, a revered cornerstone of TV journalism and a mainstay of Sunday nights for nearly six decades.

“She has no qualifications for her job,” Pelley said of Weiss, according to the media news site Status, which reported he then turned his ire at Bilton. “You have slender qualifications for this job.”

In firing Pelley, Bilton called his outburst an “ambush” of “remarkable incivility and contempt.” But, with Pelley becoming a proxy for the American worker, others cheered.

Parry Headrick, who runs a public relations firm in Boston, was immediately transported to his days as a young reporter at a small newspaper, where he had been carefully chronicling the trials of people who fell ill from what was believed to be exposure to toxic waste.

He had earned the trust of one family only to find editors plastered a headline on the story that reduced the sick child to a “toxic boy” and caused Headrick to lose all faith in his bosses. He screamed at the paper’s publisher and editor-in-chief before quitting.

“I lost my goddamn mind when they did that. And the story with Pelley resonated so hard specifically because of that,” says 57-year-old Headrick, who thinks many people can see Pelley’s point of view. “There exists in most Americans the desire to speak truth to power.”

That such an outburst arose in the news business may be no surprise; journalists pride themselves as a truth-to-power, voice-for-the-voiceless bunch. Staff meetings with reporters sassing editors are common, and in newsrooms everywhere, managers have been subjected to the type of tough questions they pay their people to ask others.

The threshold for dismissal varies from place to place

The line separating acceptable discourse with fireable offense is as different in each workplace as the settings themselves, whether a dive bar or diocesan chancery.

“In the real world, there are layers of politeness and cordiality that don’t really exist in journalism,” says Headrick, who cheered Pelley “pushing back on something larger.”

Clare Haynes had a middle-management role at a nonprofit when she had her Pelley moment two decades ago. She was three weeks into a job where she thought she’d been brought aboard to institute changes that would achieve an innovative work culture. But every suggestion she made was dismissed. Her boss said his boss wouldn’t buy the idea.

“Are you saying you’re too weak to ask?” she snapped. His mouth fell open. He stared at her silently for a full minute.

Haynes survived, lasting three more years at the firm, but things were never the same.

“I didn’t lose my job, but I paid the price, being seen as maverick,” says 55-year-old Haynes, of Royal Leamington Spa, England, who now runs a coaching firm that trains executives how to handle difficult workplace conversations.

Johan Konst was working at a Swedish media company when he felt pushed to the limit seven years ago. After years of high-stress, hard-selling days pushing advertising he didn’t believe in, he finally said his piece, delivering a blunt, profanity-dotted message to his boss.

He was promptly shown the door.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” says 34-year-old Konst, of Amsterdam, who walked away with a nice severance check. “At some point, this had to happen.”

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The House of Mirth,” “The Custom of the Country” and other probing stories of New York society was living in Paris at the time and soon set out to help those imperiled by the clash between Allied and German forces. She set up a workroom for seamstresses and others who had lost their jobs, established hostels that aided thousands of refugees and even reported from the trenches for a series of dispatches that ran in the American periodical Scribner's Magazine.

But Wharton eventually — and inevitably — channeled her observations and experiences into fiction. She worked on a novel published after the war, “A Son at the Front,” and attempted a story about an affluent couple in the French countryside who decide that the war is going well enough that they can resume the social gatherings of the past. “The Men Who Saved the World” — unfinished and never before published — appears Friday in the new issue of The Strand Magazine, which has released rare works by Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and many others.

“The boom of guns can be heard in the distance. A few young soldiers sit among the guests. And the hostess wants to know whether they might have dancing,” Strand Managing Editor Andrew Gulli writes in a brief introduction. “Wharton asks a question that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago: what is the cost of refusing to see the horrors beyond the softly curtained windows — and who pays it?”

Wharton had long scrutinized the rich from the inside. Born into a wealthy New York City family in 1862, she knew firsthand the manners and codes and traditions that she picked apart in her best known work. In “The Men Who Saved the World,” believed to be written in 1918, she shifts the narrative from the New York drawing rooms of her early fiction to a French chateau within miles of a battlefield.

The author had a deep affinity for France and French culture, which she regarded as “one of the greatest cultures in the world, perhaps the greatest culture,” Wharton scholar Julie Olin-Ammentorp wrote in an email, adding that she was unsure why the author never finished “The Men Who Saved the World.” The German attack stirred Wharton's conscience, and her imagination.

“The Men Who Saved the World” dramatizes the separation between civilian and military life, and what happens when they merge. It's told through the perspective of a young American nurse, Milly Arden, a guest at the home of Fred and Madge Upshall, who are preparing a dinner party in the same setting where they had once permitted an army surgeon to perform amputations. Arden finds herself seated next to a war hero, Capt. Sherman Wake, regarded by Mrs. Upshall as one of the “real people.” Capt. Wake proves eager to discuss the “catastrophic horror and waste” he has seen nearby.

“You hear the guns pretty distinctly here,” Wake tells Arden. "They must make the windows rattle when everything’s quiet, don’t they?”

“Yes, they do,” she responded, looking out on an orchid “which the cannonade had displaced just before dinner.”

Last weekend, his campaign wrestled with stories about sexually explicit messages that Platner sent to several women while he was married. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends. Some viewed him positively but others described him as volatile and insulting.

One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner called that allegation untrue.

But with Maine's primary around the corner Tuesday and Democrats desperate to rally behind a candidate who can defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November, there's been little sign of voters or political allies backing away from Platner, who has pitched himself as an imperfect person who has redeemed himself.

Some dismissed news of the text messages as a private matter, one that should be addressed solely by the married couple. Others argue that the need for Democrats to take back control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans is too important to cast aside imperfect candidates.

Yet they're also wrestling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Platner could come out ahead of the November election.

“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, chair of Maine’s Piscataquis County Democrats. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. Then what do we do?”

Key to the Senate

Platner is key to Democrats hopes' to take back the U.S. Senate this year. Yet he's been bedeviled by near-constant controversies involving his disclosure of a since-covered tattoo of a Nazi symbol, his history of inflammatory online comments and the texting revelations.

Nevertheless, Platner's most prominent supporters have continued to back the candidate, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego. Platner is scheduled to appear in Bar Harbor Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for U.S. House and governor, as a part of a “get out the vote” rally in the coastal resort town.

The event is taking place just days ahead of the state's June 9 primary election, where Platner is expected to secure the Democratic nomination. His top opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.

He'll do so under reignited scrutiny amid reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren’t a liability to the campaign. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

Genevieve McDonald, a former campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Shortly after the news came out, Platner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts but dubbed the broader coverage as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Voters worry that more scandals lurk

Gertner's emotional comments about working on her marriage have resonated with some women, who say they are shocked that a former campaign aide would betray someone's trust and the issue should remain between the couple.

“It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” said Joanne Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I would hope that people wouldn’t judge any one person on their own private marriage.”

Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, described Gertner's honesty about trying to work on their mental health and marriage as admirable.

“That is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “That is integrity. Personal growth is not a disqualification from public life. For many of us, it is precisely what made us worthy of it.”

However, Tate conceded that her mind wasn’t fully at ease. With the public still learning about Platner’s past, there is a chance something could emerge as a dealbreaker for voters.

“Of course, there is that concern as there would be in any race with somebody we don’t know all the dramas and the journeys they’ve been on," she wrote. "Something could come out that would be disqualifying.”

Past controversies simmer

This isn’t the first time Platner has faced questions about his past. He had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he had covered up after starting his campaign.

Platner has said he didn't realize the meaning of the tattoo. However, a former girlfriend told the Times he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner has never held elected office and has fashioned a straight-talking, progressive, populist-style campaign focusing on issues such as income inequality, lack of health care accessibility and the rising cost of housing. In return, he's attracted thousands at his rallies and campaign events and collected millions in campaign funds to further boost his messaging.

“People want somebody new,” said Paige Zeigler, a former Maine Democratic lawmaker and head of the Waldo County Democrats, on why Platner's staying power has remained strong. “They want somebody that they feel that they can embrace. And Platner is riding that wave.” ___

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

We’ll get into the mid to upper 80s today, potentially hitting 90 in the Southside! With the abundance of sunshine, we’ll end up with temperatures rising quite quickly.

That leads to tomorrow, where highs will rocket into the low 90s throughout the state. While usually we deal with oppressive humidity when temperatures get this high, that isn’t the case this go around. Humidity values are relatively low, meaning it’ll feel dry and hot.

Going into the weekend, the 90s continue, but the rain shower and storm chances arrive as well on Sunday. These chances arrive after about 2 PM Sunday, and will resume on Monday.

Enjoy this summer feel!

The 29-year-old Kupcho has four career LPGA Tour wins, but just one since 2022, when she earned her only major victory in The Chevron Championship at Mission Hills. She missed the cuts of her three previous U.S. Open starts, but charged ahead at Riviera with three straight birdies in her afternoon group before adding back-to-back birdies after the turn.

“I just really, really like the golf course,” Kupcho said. “It’s kind of a ball-striker’s paradise. Just hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green and make the putts.”

Play began under a heavy cloud cover at the 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades just two miles from the ocean, but the sun broke through around lunchtime as wind picked up. The conditions weren’t oppressive at any point, but the players realized Riviera’s setup presents a formidable challenge in any weather, and the scores reflected it.

The entire field managed just one eagle in the first round — Allisen Corpuz holed out from 86 yards on the 17th.

Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan's Hinako Shibuno joined South Korea's Hyunjo Yoo, Ina Yoon and Minji Kang in the group at 68. Lopez made five birdies in her first eight holes and was the only player to get to 6 under, but she fell back with three bogeys.

Kupcho gained 4.27 strokes on her approach shots to lead the field in the first round, highlighted by a gorgeous 133-yard shot inside a foot on the second hole. She doesn't normally do extensive pre-tournament research on courses despite the encouragement of her parents, but she came down to Riviera on a scouting trip when the LPGA Tour stopped 13 miles away in Tarzana two months ago.

“When I showed up this week, it was just like I knew where everything was,” Kupcho said. “I knew what I was doing. So I think it actually helped. Parents are always right, right?”

The 33-year-old Kim has played pretty well in sprawling Los Angeles this season: At that JM Eagle LA Championship held at El Caballero in April, she led after the second and third rounds — leading by eight strokes at one point — before blowing a three-stroke lead over the final eight holes and losing a playoff to Australia’s Hannah Green.

“This course is really famous in the world, so I’m very happy to play here this week,” said Kim, who also got a head start on Riviera in practice last weekend. “Also, the course is not easy. Every hole is putting me to the test.”

Kim birdied her first two holes, but her round didn’t pick up steam until the final four holes, when she made three consecutive birdies — including two exceptional approach shots and a 29-foot birdie putt — before drilling another 29-foot par putt to end it.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda made a rough start at 2 over, struggling off the tee. She also couldn't get used to a new pair of shoes sent to her this week Nike and LeBron James, a Korda fan who is becoming an avid golfer himself.

Korda started the day in the new shoes, but changed playing the first six holes — although she said they didn't affect her play.

“It wasn’t a great day,” Korda said. “I hit it really good Monday through Wednesday, so I have honestly no idea where this came from. So I’m going to go to the range.”

Aphrodite Deng, a 16-year-old amateur, was in contention for the lead before playing two late holes at 3 over and carding a 70.

Deng was born in Canada to Chinese parents before growing up in New Jersey and eventually settling in Florida. A competitive child figure skater for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Deng took up golf only seven years ago, but won the U.S. Girls’ Junior last year.

___

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

The three-time AL MVP was out of the lineup earlier in the day for a third straight game and the Yankees were awaiting clarity about what they said was a bone bruise in one of the slugger’s right ribs that is causing right shoulder pain.

The team later announced Judge was diagnosed with the stress fracture of the first rib on his right side and will need to rest and have limited activity. He'll be re-evaluated after having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

After avoiding a three-game sweep with a 2-1 victory over Cleveland on Thursday, manager Aaron Boone said the team was awaiting the findings of Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“Look, it’s a lot of smart people in a specialized area and (the) guy’s several states aways,” Boone said. “We just got to be patient.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday morning and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The bruise was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on the team’s off day on Monday.

“I’m obviously not a doctor, I don’t know how it all works, but there’s a lot of people involved in trying to make sure we get the right diagnosis,” Boone said Thursday morning.

Judge was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn't miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

He is hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

Judge won the batting title last season when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

When Judge was hurt last season, Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 of New York’s first 59 games in right field. Rookie Spencer Jones made four starts in right field before getting sent down May 22 and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

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

Join Jack and John as they take a road trip through the NRV and highlight major stories impacting the region.

At 10 News, community journalism means meeting you where you are, listening, learning, and, most importantly, bringing into focus what matters most to you today.

We are always working for you to share the stories that matter, highlight issues that affect your everyday life, and be a voice for the voiceless. After all, your stories matter, so let’s put them in focus together.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espín, the sole son of former Cuban President Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín. He served as an adviser to Cuba’s Defense and National Security Commission and was present when Raúl Castro greeted then-U.S. President Barack Obama in Havana during a historic March 2016 meeting. Castro Espín's son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, also was listed.

The new penalties come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba since ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

The threats took on additional weight after the U.S. announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro last month. Thursday's penalties, which follow Trump signing an executive order expanding sanctions against the island, freeze individuals’ property and bank accounts in the U.S. But it’s unclear how intertwined their finances are with the U.S. financial system.

It’s “pretty unlikely” Cuba’s president and others have assets in the U.S., said Richard Feinberg, former U.S. national security adviser on Latin America and professor emeritus of international political economy at the University of California, San Diego.

He said the sanctions “could be seen as preliminary to an intervention or increasing pressure on the regime to cut a deal,” adding that the rhetoric of Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio “could take you in either direction.”

Díaz-Canel accused Trump of making “new threatening statements against Cuba” and said “these measures are aimed at reinforcing the blockade and escalating the conflict between Cuba and the United States.”

“This political blindness adds to the coercive measures applied in recent weeks against our country, designed to harm the Cuban people,” he wrote on X. “The aggression and perversion of the U.S. government will clash with our resolve to confront the worst-case scenarios and resist the imperial onslaught.”

Trump says about Cuba, 'We’re going to handle that'

Asked Thursday if his sanctions were meant to accelerate Cuba’s collapse, Trump said, “We just want them to be a nicely run country.”

“The country is starving and it’s got no energy, it’s got no oil, it’s got no money, it’s got nothing. It’s got a beautiful piece of land. You could have beautiful resorts,” Trump told reporters at an unrelated event in the Oval Office.

Asked whether Cuba is close to collapsing, he said, “It’s sort of collapsed” and added that “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran.

“I like to do one thing at a time,” Trump said.

Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging to conduct a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hardline against Cuba’s socialist leadership, has said Trump’s preference is to reach a deal but has said he is doubtful the U.S. can find a diplomatic resolution with the current government.

Those “designated today direct or fund the regime and its efforts to mobilize its radical revolutionary movements in the United States and around the world,” Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio has defended the Trump administration’s decision to slap escalating sanctions on Havana, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Cuba's top diplomat condemns new sanctions as ‘creating a scenario of conflict’

In addition to Diaz-Canel, Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s minister of foreign affairs, said “the vile inclusion” of Díaz-Canel and others, including Cuban institutions and civil society organizations, “is the latest example of the U.S. interventionist plan to portray Cuba as a threat to U.S. national security."

“Every U.S. action aimed at creating a scenario of conflict between the two countries is destined to fail,” he wrote on X. “Every threat against Cuba’s independence and sovereignty will be met with even greater unity and determination from our people.”

The new sanctions, which freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions or any that come into U.S. jurisdictions, also apply to non-American entities that might do business with them.

In addition to the individuals, the sanctions also target Cuba's defense ministry; its Institute for the Friendship with the Peoples, which promotes people-to-people talks; Amistur Cuba, an arm of the institute that oversees specialized tourism on the island; and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

Cuba's president, Castro relatives and others are on the list

Díaz-Canel was handpicked in 2018 to succeed Raúl Castro and was the first person in decades to lead Cuba without bearing the name Castro.

Under him, the island plunged into the worst economic and energy crisis in recent history, a situation worsened by heightened sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

Díaz-Canel's wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, also appeared on the sanctions list. She does not hold the title of first lady, a title abolished during the revolution, but in practice she acts as such, receiving other spouses such as Queen Letizia of Spain and accompanying her husband on official trips.

Her son Miguel Anido Cuesta, who is Díaz-Canel's stepson, also faces sanctions.

Lis Cuesta Peraza wrote on X late Thursday that “it is almost an honor to be on this ‘list.’ They never tire of ridicule and political stupidity.”

The new action boosts pressure on the Cuban government but is far from the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The U.S. hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and, more recently, targeted Maduro and his wife with sanctions.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AP writer Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report. Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Dawa Sherpa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.

Dawa was located by a cleaning crew Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which coordinated the search.

He was quickly carried down to safety and given food and water. A rescue helicopter flew him to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter, who already had begun funeral rituals for him, were waiting.

"We first heard that he was still alive on the local news and from a person we know who called with the news that ... he is being brought down," said his wife, Damu Sherpa.

Though Dawa had been missing since last week, there was a delay in organizing a search team. No reasons were given for the delay, but when helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.

His family had given up hope. Dawa’s teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said they were on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.

“When we first heard about it (the rescue), we could not be sure if that person was indeed our father,” Mendo Lhamu said. “So to be certain we asked for photos to be sent and then only we were sure and very happy.”

The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after climbers have left.

Dawa was last seen at spot called Yellow Band above the Camp 3, which is located at 7,200 meters (23,622 feet). The base camp is at 5,300 meters (17,388 feet).

Dawa, 52, works for a small Kathmandu-based company called Himalayan Traverse, and he was guiding a Polish climber. He comes from the town of Okhaldhunga, south of Everest.

Nepal's mountaineering community has hailed Dawa's survival as miraculous.

“This is nothing short of a miracle surviving so many days on the mountains facing such harsh condition,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a leading figure in the community.

“Sherpas are built tough growing up in the mountains,” Ang Tshering said. “If there was someone else in his place they might not have survived.”

Members of the Sherpa community were mostly yak herders and traders living deep within the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders in the 1950s. Their stamina and familiarity with the mountains quickly made them sought-after guides and porters, eventually allowing them to dominate the Himalyan climbing business.

More than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this May, which was the busiest climbing season ever on the world's highest mountain. It began late because of a massive ice block on the route just above the base camp that took about two weeks to clear.

The 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) high peak was first climbed on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

But Republicans still faced a gauntlet of amendments before the bill could advance, a test of party unity that could go late into the night. The biggest threat to the bill could be another amendment to ban the settlement fund — this time from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his primary opponent.

“I feel optimistic that we’ll get there in the end," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday evening, while acknowledging he was not sure how the votes would turn out.

Thune has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked since early this year, and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage.

If an amendment limiting the settlement were to pass, Thune said, it would be “problematic” when they send the bill to the House. It could also mean a White House veto of the immigration spending bill, which has otherwise unified Trump and Republicans.

The last time the Senate abruptly changed a Homeland Security funding package, in March, the House simply refused to accept it and left town.

Settlement fund roils Senate GOP conference

Still, the judgment fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, has angered many Republican senators.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said this week that the fund would not move forward. But Trump, who has been at odds with Senate Republicans in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the settlement’s future Wednesday afternoon — just after the Senate had voted to start debate on the immigration bill — when he told reporters that the settlement is “very important” and said “I don’t know” whether it is dead or on hold.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” he said.

The Democratic effort to ban the fund, the first vote of the day, was held open for around three hours as Cassidy, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska withheld their votes. In the end, Cassidy voted against the Democratic motion and the two other GOP senators — both of whom are up for reelection this year — voted for it.

Senators defeated a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also ban the settlement fund but would move the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.

Tillis said the settlement fund, some of which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is a political liability for the party.

“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis said. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with."

Amendments will be offered late into the night

It was unclear how Republicans would vote on additional amendments.

Cassidy, who had been in discussions all day with the Senate parliamentarian, said he still planned to offer an amendment to ban payouts from the settlement. He told reporters he may also offer an amendment to block a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.

Several Republican senators said they supported the idea but would have to see the final language before they decide. Sen. John Cornyn, who also lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his opponent, said he agrees with the “thrust of it” but would wait to see the amendment. Republican Sen. John Curtis said the same.

Thune said it wasn't yet certain whether the final bill could pass without some sort of prohibition on the settlement.

“We’re going to find out soon enough,” he said Thursday evening.

Democrats planned other votes through the night, including on Trump's tariffs, his war with Iran and his immigration enforcement campaign.

“Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

ICE and Border Patrol money has been long fight

Passage of the roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.

Senate Republicans are using a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it has taken weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.

Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Congress eventually funded the rest of the Homeland Security Department at the end of April with Democratic support. But ICE and Border Patrol remained without regular funding, and Republicans launched a new effort to pass three years of funding for those agencies with no Democratic votes.

The ruling came weeks before Aaron Spencer, who will be on the November ballot, had been set to face a jury on a second-degree murder charge. He won a March primary over the local three-term sheriff whose office had arrested Spencer in Lonoke County, which has roughly 76,000 residents and is heavily Republican.

Spencer’s attorneys do not deny that he shot and killed Michael Fosler in 2024, saying he did so to protect his child. Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. granted a motion by Spencer's attorney to dismiss the charge over a dash camera memory card that may have captured the shooting and was lost by law enforcement.

“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” Wilson wrote.

At the time of the shooting, Fosler, 67, was out on bond after being charged with dozens of sexual offenses against Spencer’s then-13-year-old daughter.

Court documents show on the night of the shooting, Spencer had woken up to find his daughter missing, and later found the girl in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving. Spencer forced Fosler’s truck off the road and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man.

Prosecutors said Spencer planned the killing and that he could have called police while pursuing Fosler. But Spencer pleaded not guilty and maintained he acted to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said she is thankful for the court’s decision.

“No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror,” she said in a statement. “This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

Spencer said he is grateful this chapter is over and that his focus is now on his family and returning to normal life.

“There’s still work to do in Lonoke County, and I’m more committed to it than ever,” he said in a statement. “Together we can build a safer and stronger Lonoke County.”

Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham did not return messages Thursday seeking comment on the decision.

The Associated Press typically does not identify sex abuse victims, but Spencer has made his daughter’s experience with the criminal justice system a central part of his campaign for sheriff, pledging to establish a dedicated team to combat sex crimes against children.

Spencer's attorneys filed the motion seeking to have the case dismissed, contending that video and audio of the dash camera from Fosler's truck may have contained evidence that would have cleared Spencer of any wrongdoing. According to court records, a detective with the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office removed the dash camera from the truck when responding to the scene of the shooting.

But the camera's internal settings were not preserved and the battery of the camera was allowed to drain, and as a result the camera went back to its default settings. When the camera was sent to the attorney general's office for a forensic exam, the memory card that was in it when it was collected from the truck was missing. The detective who collected the camera later admitted that it was not logged into evidence right away, but was instead stored in his personal office rather than the evidence room, according to court records.

Wilson replaced the original judge handling the murder case in January after the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Judge Barbara Elmore from the case, finding she had issued an overly broad gag order that violated Spencer's First Amendment rights.

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

It’s not surprising that those have yet to be resolved, along with several closely contested congressional races, because the state routinely takes days, or even weeks, to fully tally races. Nor is it unusual for President Donald Trump to complain about the pace of the count and allege fraud, as he did Thursday. It’s something he’s done repeatedly in the past.

What was unusual was that Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating the count: “Why the vote counting DELAY???,” the president posted on his social media account.

He suggested that the state's Democrats were somehow cheating so two candidates he favors — Republican Steve Hilton in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt in the nonpartisan mayor's race — would be bumped from the top two slots and therefore ineligible for the November general election.

“You see what’s happening in California, they’re rigging the election," he told reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday.

Trump's posts prompted a response from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose press office posted a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed, drawing out the count.

“For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” Newsom’s office posted.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on whether it was investigating the ballot counting.

Slow count is designed to ensure accuracy, but opens door to election lies

The law in California practically mandates a drawn-out count. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter — some 23 million of them — and the state has permissive rules for returning them. They will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.

Only after the polls have closed and most of the country has gone to sleep can local election workers begin the lengthy process of verifying the legitimacy of the late-arriving mail ballots and then start to tabulate them.

If a voter’s signature on the ballot envelope doesn't match what's on file, election officials are required to give those voters a chance to come in and prove their identity so the ballot will count, delaying a final tally further.

“We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don’t),” wrote Stephen Richer, a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the social platform X. “But that doesn’t make it fraud.”

Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the vote count to be completed within 13 days, rather than the previous 30 days. To get an extension, counties must inform the Secretary of State's Office of the reason for the delay.

That's not quick enough for the president: “The Dumocrats are at it again!” the president wrote on his social media platform. “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

In a video posted on X, Hilton slammed the state’s counting as “just another shambles brought to you by California Democrats.” Notably, he said that so far his campaign has seen nothing to indicate it will need to go to court. He urged his supporters to take advantage of the state, allowing voters to fix any issues with their mail ballots — one of the steps that drags out the count.

State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who wrote the bill to accelerate ballot counting, said Trump’s comments about the counting process were disappointing and “a lie.”

“While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.

Many Democratic voters waited until the last minute to cast their ballots

Some experts warned that the count from Tuesday's primary might take even longer than after previous elections.

“What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots,” said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.

The state's millions of Democrats this year were exceptionally slow to send in their ballots, apparently waiting until the last minute to make a selection in the ever-evolving governor's race. The state operates a primary in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election, and Democrats had been fretting for months that having so many Democrats in the race would splinter the vote, allowing two Republicans to claim the top two spots.

Democratic voters appeared to wait until the end to see which of their candidates was emerging as a favorite. The high number of late ballots will likely make the delay in getting final counts even greater.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued a statement Thursday saying the state's priority was ensuring the tally is done correctly. “Accuracy comes before speed,” she said.

While millions of ballots have been counted by now, it's the uncounted ones that loom largest for close races.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation's closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes, so there's often no way to determine a winner until the weekslong ballot count has concluded. In 2024, one House race wasn't called until December.

Things get even more complicated in a primary election, such as Tuesday's. That's because the news isn't just the top vote-getter but also the second-place finisher. To know the true outcome of any race, enough votes need to be tallied to know for certain who finished in first and second.

Later ballots skew toward Democrats, feeding conspiracy theories

Another side effect of the enormous crush of late mail ballots that get tallied last is that the final vote gets more and more Democratic. That’s because Republicans are more likely to return their ballots early or vote in person on Election Day. Those ballots get counted first.

The gradual shift in the vote toward Democrats as ballot counting continues has sparked all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Republicans have long complained about the California count, even though the GOP did well in close House races in the state in 2024. The Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day and the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the issue sometime this month.

But worries about the California vote count aren't only a partisan issue. Voting advocates have urged state lawmakers to better fund local election offices so they can process the avalanche of late-arriving ballots faster.

“The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker,” Hasen said.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed to this report.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran or whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities.”

The IAEA warned that it was “unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities” that it has under the Safeguards Agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, adding that it is “indispensable and urgent” for Tehran to implement its obligations under that Treaty.

The only nuclear facility inspected in Iran by IAEA inspectors since the last report in February has been the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which was visited on June 1-3. The reactor currently running at Bushehr uses uranium from Russia enriched to 4.5%, a low level needed for power generation in such plants.

The confidential report come as tensions have flared in the Middle East.

Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport on Wednesday, killing one person, wounding dozens of others and briefly closing the airfield — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S. that test a fragile ceasefire.

According to the IAEA, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent AP interview. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Such highly enriched nuclear material should normally be verified every month, according to the IAEA’s guidelines.

The report said Grossi reiterates his "full support to the negotiations underway aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution to issues related to Iran’s nuclear programme, and his readiness … to support an eventual agreement.”

Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the war, now in its fourth month. They are increasingly strained by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas and related products like fertilizer — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

Crewmembers on the May 3 flight from Venice, Italy, also recalled hearing a loud “thump” and feeling a “mild jolt” just before touchdown at Newark Liberty International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board stated in its initial report.

The first officer recalled saying “you are still slow and a little low" as the plane descended, according to the report. He then recalled looking back outside and thinking the plane was low, but just about to touch down.

The report provides the first description of the events from the crew inside the plane, but it doesn’t identify a specific reason why the plane came in so low, or make recommendations about how to prevent similar incidents. That is not expected until the NTSB releases its final report, likely sometime next year.

But the report clarifies for the first time that it was debris from the light pole, and not the plane itself, that hit a truck traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike. Law enforcement officials initially said the plane had hit the top of a bakery truck, causing minor injuries to the driver.

The report says the truck’s windshield was damaged and its trailer punctured, but that there was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer.

The Boeing 767 was able to land safely, though it sustained “substantial” damage to its fuselage and one of its landing tires had evidence of slash marks, according to the NTSB report. None of the more than 200 people aboard the plane were hurt.

Regular drivers on that stretch of Interstate 95 near the Newark airport are likely used to seeing planes coming in low as they cross the highway in preparation for landing.

Dashboard camera video from inside the truck showed the moment of impact. The driver is seen singing happily to himself, then glancing out his window with a slight look of concern as the sound of the jet’s whining engines begins on the recording. A moment later, part of the plane zooms into view out the driver’s side window.

The NTSB report suggests the pilot intentionally took a shallow approach to the runway that was below the established flight path, said D. Blake Stringer, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University.

“It’s not surprising that the airplane clipped infrastructure near the runway,” he said. “If a pilot can’t fly the intended flight path, the general recommendation is to steepen the angle of descent, not shallow it out.”

Steve Arroyo, a retired United Airlines captain and safety expert, said the pilots don’t appear to have properly prepared for their designated runway’s unique landing requirements, even though they could have made or requested more time.

“They were already below where they should have been before they even crossed over the New Jersey Turnpike," he said.

The plane’s runway assignment changed three times before landing, the report states. The tarmac it ultimately landed on is the shortest runway at the airport and is generally only used when there are strong winds like there were that afternoon.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said those strong winds also appeared to be challenging for the pilot. An air traffic controller told the pilots at the time winds were gusting up to 31 mph (50 kph).

At one point shortly before landing, the pilot told investigators that he “got fast” as he turned the airplane into the headwind, the report states. The pilot pulled the power levers back to compensate as wind gusts produced “moderate turbulence.”

United Airlines declined to comment.

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Associated Press transportation reporter Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska contributed to this story.

An attorney for Karmelo Anthony said his client did not instigate the fight with Austin Metcalf, telling the jury at the start of a packed murder trial near Dallas that it was instead an act of self-defense.

Anthony pleaded not guilty over last year's stabbing, which stunned an affluent suburb where the pair attended school. The death last year quickly drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony, now 19, is Black, while the Metcalf was white.

According to an arrest report, Anthony told police he was protecting himself when the two got into a confrontation during the meet in Frisco, a fast-growing city is dotted by dozens of modern-looking school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.

But prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors it was a “senseless murder” and not a case of self-defense. He called it a “sneak, surprise attack” and said Anthony “knows he goaded the murder.”

“He didn’t want a fight,” Wirskye said of Metcalf.

The jury was seated this week under increased courthouse security and a Collin County judge set strict rules over the proceedings, including prohibiting attorneys from discussing the case publicly. Dozens of people lined up to get a seat in the courtroom Thursday.

The stabbing happened on a rainy morning in April 2025. Witnesses told police the confrontation began when Anthony sat under a tent belonging to Metcalf's team, according to an arrest report. The teens went to different schools in Frisco.

When Metcalf told Anthony that he needed to move, Anthony reached inside his bag and allegedly replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” the report said.

A short time later, Metcalf allegedly grabbed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest, the report said.

Robert Starr, a track coach at Memorial High School, where Metcalf was a student and athlete, explained to jurors that a tent at a track competition “marks your spot” and is similar to a team bench in other sports.

“You just don’t go into someone else’s tent uninvited,” Starr testified.

In his opening remarks, defense attorney Mike Howard said it was Metcalf who made the first contact.

“In that split second, Melo has a decision to make: how and when to act,” Howard said.

"Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself. ... He reacts in a split second of fear, chaos,” Howard said.

Starr told the jury that he rushed to the tent when he saw commotion.

“I see Austin on the ground and his face is purple, and he has a big hole in his chest,” the coach said, choking up in the witness chair.

Another area track coach, Vincent Hooper, testified that he put his arm around Anthony and asked what had happened.

Anthony replied that he stabbed someone who had "put his hands on me,” Hooper recalled.

Anthony faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.

The parents of both teens have said they were good students who planned to go to college. Metcalf's father has condemned those who seized on the race of the teenagers after the killing.

“This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened,” Jeff Metcalf said on Fox News' “America Reports.”

“This is a human being thing,” he said. “This person made a bad choice and it affected both his family and my family forever.”

Authorities have also issued warnings about online discussions surrounding the killing. Frisco Police Chief David Shilson urged people last year to beware of posts spreading “misinformation, hate, fear, and division."

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Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed.

The “Stadium Code of Conduct” update was criticized Thursday by an English fan group, which argued FIFA had given assurances on carrying empty plastic bottles to fill with freely available water at a tournament where heat and extreme weather are expected to be a factor.

“Naturally, the immediate thought from supporters is this is just the latest money grab,” the Free Lions fan group said in a statement.

Water, sodas and juices sold at World Cup stadiums are supplied exclusively by long-time FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola when the tournament starts next Thursday.

Andrew Giuliani, who is the executive director of the White House Task Force for this year's World Cup, said conversations are ongoing with FIFA about the decision.

“Certainly understanding that fans with bottles — if anything is frozen there, they can throw that, utilize it as a weapon,” Giuliani said to a group of reporters, including The Associated Press, Thursday at a World Cup kickoff event in Miami. “That’s something, frankly, that we are still in discussions with FIFA about. They made their announcement yesterday, so I don’t want to comment on it just yet.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was also at the event in Miami beach Thursday evening but did not take questions from reporters.

Giuliani added there is a balance between preparing for hot temperatures and monitoring security risks.

“Understanding these games are going to be very hot. We want to make sure that fans have access to water, so that way they can be hydrated,” he said. “We also want to make sure that everybody is safe and that people can't bring a weapon in there. So those conversations are still ongoing.”

FIFA’s stadium rules had stated that fans could bring in a transparent, reusable bottle up to one liter, or 33.8 oz. capacity.

The latest document dated Tuesday now states “for the avoidance of doubt, reusable water bottles may not be brought into the stadium.”

“In all of our discussions,” the England fans’ group said, “free water availability in stadiums was a key one and we were assured by FIFA that this would be the case.”

In a statement Thursday, the world soccer body said the decision to prohibit bottles — which could be thrown — was "to prevent risk and injury to players and attendees.”

“FIFA is committed to protecting the health and safety of all players, referees, fans, volunteers, and staff,” it said.

FIFA said some of the 16 stadiums had already prohibited fans from bringing water bottles, so the policy would apply across them all.

With temperatures at 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and above expected in many of the U.S., Mexican and Canadian cities hosting the 104 games, FIFA said “heat mitigation” for fans approaching stadiums would include “misting stations, fans, hydration stations, cooling tents, and more.”

“Inside the stadium footprint, pricing for water bottles for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will remain consistent with other events held at each stadium,” the soccer body said.

FIFA has reacted to expected heat in some outdoor stadiums by enforcing three-minute drinks breaks midway through each half at all games. Critics have said turning all games into four quarters was to create more breaks for broadcasters to sell advertising.

“For all of the effort they are going to with ‘drinks breaks’ for the players, this is such a strange, late change,” the Free Lions fan group said of the water bottle ban.

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AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames in Miami Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

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

No official casualty figures were immediately available from the clashes that prompted calls for restraint from the United Nations and the United States as the government and opposition traded blame for the violence.

Residents reported heavy gunfire and explosions as fighting broke out in several neighborhoods Wednesday.

“We heard heavy weapons fire, and people were fleeing their homes,” said Abdullahi Mohamed, who lives in the city's Howlwadaag district. “Many families left the area looking for safer places.”

The clashes underscore growing political tensions as disputes over Somalia's elections and the constitution have increasingly strained relations between the government and opposition leaders. Somalia is also fighting al-Shabab militants while seeking to strengthen state institutions with support from international partners.

Several buildings were hit by heavy gunfire and mortar shells during the clashes, with some catching fire.

Gunfire subsided on Thursday afternoon following mediation efforts led by the director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, who visited the area and held talks with former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. The discussions reportedly led to an agreement to halt the fighting.

Khaire was later seen leaving his house alongside the intelligence chief. During a briefing with journalists, Benadir Regional Police Commissioner Mahdi Omar said that an arms recovery operation at Khaire’s residence had uncovered heavy machine guns. He added that the operation resulted in casualties but did not provide details on the number of people killed or injured.

Opposition figures say the rally planned for later Thursday was intended to protest what they call constitutional violations and efforts by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to extend his tenure. The government has rejected those allegations.

On Thursday morning, there were signs of mobilization on the streets, but a heavy security presence remained in place with police patrolling major roads.

Mogadishu police said the violence stemmed from “organized attacks” carried out by armed militias.

“The incidents were not the organization of peaceful public demonstrations, but rather coordinated armed acts that directly threatened the security, order and stability of the capital,” the police said in a statement.

State security forces repelled attacks on their positions and launched investigations to identify those responsible for organizing, financing and carrying out the violence, police said.

Opposition leaders accused security forces of attacking residences linked to former Prime Minister Khaire and former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

“We are under attack,” Khaire said in a statement. “For the second time in less than 24 hours, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has directed armed forces against our peaceful gatherings.”

Traditional elders, politicians, and community leaders were meeting at Khaire's residence when the attack occurred, he said. The government disputed that account.

The U.N. expressed alarm over the clashes. Secretary-General António Guterres said the violence resulted in deaths, injuries to civilians, and damage to critical infrastructure.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns all acts of violence and incitement to violence undertaken for political advantage,” he said in a statement. Guterres also called on all parties to exercise restraint, protect civilians and resolve political differences through dialogue.

The U.S. also voiced concern over the fighting. The U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu described the violence as “reckless” and urged Somali leaders to seek a peaceful resolution.

“Somali leaders on all sides have a responsibility to preserve stability and resolve differences through peaceful means,” the embassy said. “Actions taken in the coming hours and days may have lasting consequences for Somalia’s security, unity, and future.”

Khaire accused Mohamud of deploying state security forces against political opponents and alleged that troops trained and equipped by international partners to fight the al-Shabab extremist group had been used against opposition figures.

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Nine people were killed in at least four separate strikes overnight in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The hospital said the victims included two women and two children.

Another strike in Gaza City on Thursday evening killed at least one person and wounded another, according to Saraya Field Hospital, which is operated by the Red Crescent.

Footage of one of the strikes showed a massive hole in an upper floor in what appeared to be a residential apartment building. The blast blew holes through interior walls and scattered blood-stained belongings across the room and into the street.

“They say the war has stopped, but the war has not stopped,” said Walid Shbeir, the uncle of one of the men killed in the strikes, as relatives mourned the victims at Shifa Hospital. “Every night there is killing, and we have martyrs. Every night, in the morning, in the evening, and at night, this killing is continuous for us.”

Israel's military said the overnight strikes in northern Gaza killed four Hamas militants, which it described as senior members of an apparatus responsible for protecting Hamas leaders and providing them with intelligence assessments. The military said steps were taken before the strikes to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.

It was not clear what the evening strike was targeting, and the military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on it.

Last week, Israel killed the top Hamas military leader, two weeks after strikes that killed his predecessor.

More than 900 Palestinians killed since ceasefire began

The fatalities were the latest in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the fragile ceasefire has seen almost daily Israeli fire.

Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently opened fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing 936 people since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is generally seen as reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to violations of the truce or threats to its troops. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 2023 attack that killed some 1,200 people, with 251 others taken hostage.

Flotilla says 11 activists detained in Libya

At least 11 international activists attempting to bring attention to Israel's blockade of Gaza have been detained in Libya for more than a week while trying to reach the territory by land, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Libyan media reports said the activists were detained in connection with illegal entry and lack of permits. The Global Sumud organizers said the participants all had valid visas.

The organization's maritime flotilla, consisting of dozens of boats, was intercepted last month before reaching Gaza. Hundreds of activists were deported via Israel and Greece. Israel accused the flotilla of being a “PR stunt” carrying very little amounts of aid.

More than 200 health workers and activists have been attempting a separate route overland to reach Gaza. They left Mauritania on May 15 and have been heading towards Egypt to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Global Sumud said a Tunisian national was arrested on May 19 around 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Libya-Tunisia border while returning home. Another 10 people were detained on May 24 while trying to negotiate safe passage for their convoy at a checkpoint near Sitre, in Libya, along the Mediterranean coast less than halfway between Tunisia and Egypt.

The organization, which has condemned the detentions as “unlawful” and “arbitrary,” said Libya first announced it was holding the activists — who hail from Tunisia, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, the U.S., Uruguay, Poland, and Spain — on May 25. Their detention was extended on Tuesday by another 10 days. __ Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman and Natalie Melzer contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure of French culture and an artist devoted to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” the French presidency said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife “pay tribute to a remarkable artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable,” the statement said.

News broadcaster BFM TV and other French media reported Satrapi “died of sadness” a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish film producer and actor Mattias Ripa, according to a statement from people close to the artist.

The French Academy of Fine Arts, of which she was a member, expressed its deep sadness in a social media statement, paying tribute to “a passionate advocate for cinema and film education” who earlier this year created a foundation to help international students come to Paris to study film.

Satrapi is best known for her monochrome autobiographical comic book and film “Persepolis,” a coming-of-age tale set against the Islamic Revolution in her native Iran.

“Persepolis” won the Film Critics Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and the César award for best adapted screenplay in 2008, in addition to being nominated for best animated feature at the 2008 Oscars.

The film, which details her life in Tehran as the willful daughter of intellectual Marxists, is a reminder that Iranians are just like everyone else, Satrapi told The Associated Press in a 2007 interview in Cannes.

“What we wanted to say is, if these people scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories," she said.

Iranian authorities at the time protested the movie’s inclusion at Cannes, sending a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran.

Satrapi was born on Nov. 22, 1969, in Rasht, Iran, but her parents sent her to Vienna in 1983 to finish her studies because of the extremism in their country following the 1979 Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

But Satrapi, who found Austria hostile and who desperately missed her parents, returned to Iran in 1989 to attend Tehran University, where she earned a degree in visual communications.

By the time she graduated, Satrapi decided she finally was ready to leave Iran and accept the opportunities her parents had been so desperate to give her a decade before. In 1994, she moved to France. She studied in Strasbourg and later moved to Paris.

Her graphic novels also include “Broderies” (“Embroideries”) and “Poulet aux prunes” (“Chicken with plums”), which also was adapted into a film. As a filmmaker, she has directed several works including “La Bande des Jotas” (“The Gang of Jotas”) and “Radioactive” (“Madame Curie”), a biography about the Polish physicist Marie Curie.

Satrapi in 2023 coordinated the book “Femme, vie, liberté” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”) together with a group of artists and academics to illustrate the revolts that occurred in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” The work denounces the repression and lack of human rights that Iranian society, especially women, suffers at the hands of the Iranian regime, the foundation said.

Satrapi was elected member of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2024. She also was offered France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, that same year but declined it, arguing France was not doing enough to support Iranian people fighting for democracy.

“Supporting the women’s revolution in Iran cannot be reduced to photos or speeches,” she wrote in a January 2025 letter to French authorities. “When people are fighting for democracy, we should support them.”

In 2024, Satrapi won the Princess of Asturias Foundation award in Spain for communication and humanities. The organization said she was “an essential voice in the defense of human rights and freedom.” The judges described her as “a symbol of civic engagement led by women."

Satrapi's husband died in April 2025 at 53. On her Instagram page, only one message was left in a series of posts: “Because I have lost the love of my life.”

Nearly 5 million, actually. New social media followers, that is.

The New Zealand defender met the influencer and content creator from Argentina on Wednesday after Scarsini — known as “El Scarso” — asked his fans last week to help kick up support for the soccer standout while calling him the “least-known” player at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico based on his small social media following.

Well, since that request, the 32-year-old Payne went from just under 5,000 followers on Instagram to more than 5 million, making him a viral sensation.

Scarsini watched Payne's New Zealand squad — known as the All Whites — lose 4-0 to Haiti in a friendly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday night. The next morning, the social media influencer met Payne at the team hotel in Boca Raton.

“My friend!” Scarsini shouted as he walked through a door and saw Payne. “How are you?”

“I'm good, bro, yourself?” asked a smiling Payne as he gave him a big hug. “Lovely to meet you.”

Payne also said, “Cómo estás?” — Spanish for “How are you?” — and then jokingly told Scarsini that's basically the extent of his Spanish vocabulary.

Payne thanked Scarsini “for everything” and described the entire experience as “very crazy.”

“I didn't know what to feel, you know, because it's so foreign to me," Payne said. "Still processing, but it's amazing. And I appreciate you doing it for me, you know?”

Scarsini asked Payne what it's like to have this huge boost in fame happen just before the World Cup begins.

“It’s obviously good for myself and New Zealand football, too," Payne said. "It puts a light on us, which is a positive thing, but at the same time, for me, I don’t change. I’m still the person I am. I just keep trying to do what I do, which is play football and trying to perform for my country.”

Scarsini said Payne should visit him in Argentina someday, and he would also one day go to New Zealand. Payne then gave him an All Whites jersey with his No. 2 on it and signed it before the two posed for photos and hugged again.

New Zealand opens its Group G play at the World Cup against Iran on June 15 in Inglewood, California. Belgium and Egypt are also in the group. New Zealand, playing at the World Cup for the third time after qualifying in 1982 and 2010, has yet to win a match.

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AP Sports Writer Steve McMorran in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

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

Lyndsey Fifield told The New York Times that Platner, a Democrat, never hit or punched her, but the incidents left her shaken and afraid. Fifield, a conservative activist, told the Times she dated Platner for about two years, starting in 2013 when he was a student at George Washington University following his military service.

Her claims were published as part of a Times report on Platner's relationships with previous girlfriends, some of whom viewed him positively and others who described him as sometimes insulting, volatile or unfaithful.

Another woman, Jenny Racicot, who said she dated Platner on and off between 2019 and 2021, also told The Times about behavior that upset her. She said Platner once came to her house drunk in 2021 after she asked him not to come over. Racicot, a Maine Democrat, said his behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran who is favored to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary, denied being violent in a statement to the Associated Press. The Times said in its report that he declined to be interviewed for their story.

“Throughout this campaign, I’ve been open about what was a very dark period of my life where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” the statement said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.”

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Fifield and Racicot were not successful.

Platner, 41, has filled theaters around Maine with his booming voice and progressive politics. He has no experience in elected office, but has fashioned a campaign focused on working-class issues such as the high costs of housing and healthcare. His anticipated run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November is key to Democrats' hopes to take back the Senate.

Fifield said that when they drank and argued, he could be rough, including one episode where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn't get out.

“It hurt,” she told the paper, adding: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

In an appearance on MS NOW Thursday evening, Platner told host Chris Hayes that Fifield’s account of being pushed into a room is false. He said the accusations were coming from someone who was “politically motivated.”

“There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months,” Platner said. “But those serious allegations are just not true.”

Fifield insisted in her interview with the Times that her allegations were not politically motivated.

Days ago, Platner had to confront public revelations that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.

Platner has also had to answer questions about a skull tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn’t realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. He later had it covered up with a different design. Platner has said he didn’t realize the meaning of the tattoo.

However, Fifield told the Times that he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

Platner, in his MS NOW interview, again denied knowing the meaning of his tattoo.

High-profile backers of Platner, including independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, stood by the candidate in the wake of those allegations. No prominent Democrats immediately came forward Thursday to rescind endorsements of Platner.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who is scheduled to appear at a campaign event with Platner in Maine on Friday, called the behavior described in the Times as “wrong and toxic,” but added, "Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. The people of Maine deserve a senator who is going to stand up to the billionaire class, against genocide, and for the working class.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's past posts on the social media site Reddit, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner’s campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds.

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Associated Press writers Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, and Joey Cappelletti in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine's defense through loans.

The 226-195 vote is a sign of impatience with President Donald Trump's approach to the war and represents the House's second major foreign policy break with Trump this week. The day before, the House, for the first time, approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran.

Supporters were able to force action on the Ukraine bill by gathering 218 signatures on a discharge petition, a legislative tool that allows a majority of the House to effectively bypass leadership.

Once rarely successful, House members have used the petition tool this Congress to pass bills on releasing the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein and to extend health care subsidies to many of those who get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, though the latter measure faltered in the Senate.

Meeks said the question before the House was simple. Would it help Ukraine negotiate from a position of strength or help Russia outlast American resolve?

“We all want this war to end,” Meeks said. “The question is how. Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? That is what Vladimir Putin is counting on. Or will this body live up to the commitments we've made since the start of this war?”

The vast majority of Republicans opposed the measure. Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he is a steadfast supporter of Ukraine. However, the Arkansas Republican said the House was confronted with a flawed, outdated measure that actually calls for less funding for Ukraine security assistance compared to what Congress had agreed to as part of this year's defense policy. Another section could lead to a decrease in defense spending by some NATO members, he warned.

Rep. Brian Mast, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he believed the bill was “a cudgel to fight against President Trump.”

“This bill, in my opinion, is an unserious bill that was crafted basically a year-and-a-half ago,” Mast, R-Fla., said.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., broke with most of his Republican colleagues in voicing support for the measure.

“Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil? That’s what this is about tonight,” he said.

In the end, 18 Republicans, 207 Democrats and one independent voted for the bill. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar joined with 194 Republicans in voting against it.

Lawmakers want to send a message

Supporters are hopeful that the House's passage of the Ukraine bill would put pressure on the Senate to do the same. But they also know the Senate likely won’t go along unless Trump endorses the bill.

“It's probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it's going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who signed the discharge petition and voted for the bill. “It's going to send a great message to the soldiers of Ukraine.”

He said the vote would also send a message to Putin that “we do have a pulse here, that we do care about Ukraine and that we are going to utilize our authority to help them.”

As the war has dragged on, it's gotten more difficult for supporters of Ukraine in Congress to provide additional financial support to help Ukraine defend itself.

The U.S. has approved some $195 billion for the Ukraine response, according to the latest quarterly inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, with roughly a quarter of that going to replenish weapons stockpiles for the U.S. military. The last major legislation designed to bolster the Ukraine response occurred in April 2024, though modest amounts have since been included in annual appropriations bills.

Republican leaders tried to stop the bill

Republican leaders urged their members to oppose the legislation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said there are good-faith negotiations between members of Congress and the White House to boost Ukraine. He described the negotiations as complicated.

“I think they are going to yield positive results, but you set that back if you pass legislation that doesn't go as far as the negotiations are going,” Scalise said.

The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight. In recent days, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range missile strikes.

U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington’s attention. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Putin refused.

Action in the Senate on Ukraine has revolved around a bill that would impose sweeping tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. But the bill has languished.

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Associated Press congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Thomas Pauken II is set to be sentenced Sept. 1 in a U.S. District Court and he faces up to 10 years in jail, the department said. He writes under the name Tom McGregor to distance himself from his father with the same name, who was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.

It is the latest in a string of cases that the federal government has brought against people suspected of working for the Chinese government without proper disclosure.

Eileen Wang, a former mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed in May to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, including sharing articles favorable to Beijing.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York governors, was accused of selling her influence to the Chinese government. Sun pleaded not guilty to charges that she failed to register as an agent of a foreign government, conspired with her husband to launder money and helped people commit visa fraud to enter the U.S. illegally. A December trial ended in a mistrial when a federal jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Charles Burnham, Pauken’s defense lawyer, said in a statement that, by his guilty plea, Pauken “has accepted responsibility for working as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without first completing certain required U.S. Government forms.”

Burnham said Pauken had hoped his work would “promote peaceful relations and advance the cause of religious freedom in China.”

Pauken was arrested in February after arriving in Washington from China. He met with someone who had sought a job in the Trump administration to provide that person with a SIM card and offer $10,000 to write reports to be read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the affidavit.

He appeared to see himself as a middleman between Chinese agents and “human resources" who could provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit. His lawyer didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Since at least 2019, Pauken had been working with Chinese agents, including “Cathy,” who he believed to be working for China's security apparatus. Between 2019 and 2025, Pauken received $100,000 for the reports he provided to Cathy, in addition to paid trips to the U.S., the affidavit says. Cathy told him the reports were to be read by Xi.

Pauken was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents when he returned to the U.S. in January 2025. In interviews with CBP and FBI agents, Pauken said he was meeting a person who was seeking a job in the Trump administration and would provide that person with a Samsung phone and a laptop computer. He said he was “80% sure” that person, if hired by the new administration, would provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit.

U.S. agents let Pauken go and instructed him to carry on with his plans. Pauken's contact said in an interview that Pauken asked for open-source information but also indicated his clients in China frequently asked for more secretive information. That person indicated having no intention of working with Pauken, the affidavit said.

A year later, Pauken returned to the U.S. to make another pitch to this person, with whom Pauken had reconnected over a possible commercial oil deal, according to the affidavit. They met at a Washington restaurant on Feb. 23 and again two days later at a hotel, where the FBI monitored the meeting.

Pauken gave the person a SIM card and proposed the $10,000 bonus for providing Cathy with weekly reports that would “influence policy and be read by Xi Jinping,” the affidavit says.

Database checks showed that Pauken did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or notify the U.S. attorney general that he was acting as an agent for China, the affidavit says.

The Justice Department said Pauken also sold reports to a group of Chinese individuals from the central city of Wuhan, who sought information about technology and the Justice Department and wanted Pauken to find an expert to help them engage in cyberespionage.

Police told relatives of the victims they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing on the anniversary of the crackdown 37 years ago, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retribution.

Relatives from a group called Tiananmen Mothers visited the graves for more than 30 years, reading memorial statements while police kept watch, Amnesty International said.

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in 1989 as troops advanced through crowds that were trying to stop the military from reaching the protesters on Tiananmen Square, a vast plaza in the center of the Chinese capital. The decision by the Communist Party leadership to send in the military was a pivotal moment in China's modern history, determining that the market reform that transformed the country into the world's second largest economy would not be coupled with political liberalization.

Rubio says censorship can't erase the past

In Hong Kong, police stepped up security Thursday at or near a park where a massive candlelight vigil lit up the night every year until a clampdown following major anti-government protests in 2019. A handful of people showed up in the evening. Officers allowed some to go freely — including a man holding flowers and an activist who said she bowed 37 times.

Police said in a statement that seven people were stopped and searched on suspicion of being disorderly in public as of 11:30 p.m. They were taken away for further investigation before being allowed to leave, police said, without naming them.

Activist Chan Po-ying, who held a yellow paper flower, was among those taken away by police vans as journalists watched.

The U.S., the EU and Britain posted messages on social media marking the anniversary. “No amount of censorship can erase the past,” a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio read. “Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday.” Rows of electronic candles lit up the windows of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed Rubio's words as a smear on her nation’s political system. “We urge the U.S. side to ... stop using so-called democracy and human rights as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” she said.

The chairs of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China also issued a statement, saying the Chinese Communist Party “can censor history; it cannot silence memory.”

On Thursday, a number of U.S. lawmakers, former student leaders from the 1989 movement and their supporters gathered on the U.S. Capitol Hill to commemorate the anniversary. Among them was Arthur Liu, father of the Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu and a former student leader. He urged the public to remember the movement and not to forget those who are still in jail for their pro-democracy activism stemming from the Tiananmen days.

Tiananmen Mothers calls crackdown a crime

Tiananmen Mothers issued an annual appeal for justice ahead of this year's anniversary. The statement, signed by 107 people, demanded full disclosure of what happened, compensation for the victims and their families and the pursuit of legal accountability for those responsible.

“The sacrifice of our family members is an indelible pain etched in our hearts. Our tears have run dry, grief is buried deep within, what remains is eternal remembrance of our family members and hatred for the crime of massacring the people,” Zhang Xianling, a member of the group, said in a video message posted on Facebook — which is blocked in China.

Amnesty said it is deeply troubling that China's suppression of the commemoration appears to be escalating. “Banning the relatives of people killed in the Tiananmen crackdown from visiting their loved ones’ graves is a heartless act by the Chinese authorities," Sarah Brooks, the organization's deputy director for Asia, said in a statement.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

Hong Kong has banned an annual vigil

Authorities in Hong Kong have banned the vigil since 2020, at first citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Simon Ng, a past participant, walked around the nearby Causeway Bay shopping district to mark the anniversary. “There are some things I can neither forget nor let go, so I have to come and take a walk,” he said.

Three of the organizers of the vigil have been charged under a 2020 national security law. One pleaded guilty, which may result in a lesser sentence. The other two have been tried and are awaiting a verdict.

One of them, lawyer Chow Hang-tung, said in an online post published last weekend that she would go on a 37-hour hunger strike in prison. “Behind the glitter of power and dictatorship lies the blood and broken dreams of ordinary people. For in amnesia lies the demise of democracy,” she wrote.

Derek Chu, a former district councilor, said on Instagram that he visited Chow on Thursday and told her he would also stop eating for 37 hours in support. He added that a shop he runs is giving out LED candles that can be used to remember the victims.

An annual vigil was held in Taiwan, but a driving thunderstorm reduced turnout to about 200 people. China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory, sanctioned four New Zealand lawmakers on Thursday to protest their recent visit to Taiwan.

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Leung reported from Hong Kong. AP video journalist Taijing Wu in Taipei, Taiwan and reporter Didi Tang in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.

Meanwhile, former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Here's the latest:

Trump reveals lineup for 250th anniversary rally after other acts backed out

The president said he’ll be joined by Lee Greenwood, Christopher Macchio and U.S. military bands for a June 24 event that he described as “A Rally to end all Rallies!” Trump announced it on social media Thursday, a week after several musical acts backed out of a Trump-linked concert celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary. After some acts said they were misled about the theme, Trump decided to headline it himself. “We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home,” Trump said Thursday. “All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played.” The show will include “all of your favorite Hits,” Trump added, “PLUS a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as, President DONALD J. TRUMP!”

Cuba’s foreign affairs minister blasts new US sanctions

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s minister of foreign affairs, condemned the new sanctions Thursday on X.

He said “the vile inclusion” of Díaz-Canel and others, including Cuban institutions and civil society organizations, “is the latest example of the US interventionist plan to portray Cuba as a threat to US national security.”

“Every US action aimed at creating a scenario of conflict between the two countries is destined to fail,” he wrote. “Every threat against Cuba’s independence and sovereignty will be met with even greater unity and determination from our people.”

Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time, AP finds

Eight years after Trump’s forcible border separations came to an official halt following global outrage, an Associated Press investigation has found that the government has re-separated dozens of children from their families, despite a landmark legal settlement meant to keep them together.

Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again.

In some cases, immigration officials conducting interior arrests deported people despite discovering they were legally off limits for removal, according to emails obtained by AP.

▶ Read more of AP’s investigation

Planning commission seeks more details on Trump’s planned arch

The National Capital Planning Commission wants more details on President Donald Trump’s proposal for a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C.

The commission voted Thursday to seek additional information on the planned structure’s impact on air navigation and traffic around the area between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery where the 250-foot arch is planned.

Public comments mostly expressed concerns about its scale and impact on the skyline. One critic called it a “vanity project.”

The arch would feature inscriptions and a public observation deck. Trump claims it can be funded with private donations.

Kennedy Center begins process of removing Trump references after judge said it was illegally added

The Kennedy Center is beginning the process of removing references to President Donald Trump a week after a federal judge ruled that his name had been illegally added to the performing arts center.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement to The Associated Press that “we are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”

In a Thursday memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel, the institution’s lawyers said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.”

The changes, the memo said, must be completed by June 12.

A federal judge ruled May 29 that Trump’s name had been illegally added to the venue, also blocking the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July.

Hours later, Trump said he was backing away from the revamp and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president’s second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

US imposes sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in latest move to pressure leadership

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel, along with four other individuals, according to a filing Thursday on the U.S. Treasury Department website.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of former President Raúl Castro.

The sanctions come after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island.

The new sanctions boost pressure on the Cuban government but are far from the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The U.S. hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and more recently targeted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife with sanctions.

Trump says he’s going to NBA Finals to root for the Knicks

Calling himself a “big fan” of the New York Knicks and owner James Dolan, the president — born in Queens — said he’ll be attending at least one game at Madison Square Garden.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me. I’m going,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event on Thursday.

Trump said he watched the beginning and end of the Knicks’ Game 1 win over the San Antonio Spurs, though he missed the middle “because I talked to generals all night long.”

A sports enthusiast, Trump said he was amazed by the play of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Asked if he would be attending Game 3, scheduled for Monday, or Game 4, Trump said: “Monday, could be Monday. Maybe I’ll do both.”

Trump says Biden was ‘the same guy’ as ever when they met in Oval Office after 2024 election

The Republican president frequently attacks his predecessor, but he hedged on Thursday when asked whether he noticed any cognitive decline while talking with former President Joe Biden.

“No, it was the same guy,” Trump said. “He was fine as far as I was concerned.”

Recalling a 2024 presidential debate that raised concerns about Biden’s health, Trump took credit for what he described as a strong performance.

“Something happened during the debate,” Trump said. “It could have been me. You know, I thought I had a very good debate.”

Biden made an appearance in New York this week at a tour stop for Jill Biden’s new memoir.

Trump says he was only kidding about keeping UFC cage at the White House

The president, speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, said a UFC octagon being built on the South Lawn will come down after the June 14 bout. He said his previous comment was made “jokingly,” and he expressed dismay that some people believed it.

It comes two days after Trump released a video on social media comparing the cage to Paris’ Eiffel Tower, which was built to be temporary for the 1889 World’s Fair but became permanent. In the video, Trump drew a parallel with the octagon, saying, “Maybe we’ll never ever take it down.”

Trump urged to stop Israel from annexing and encroaching on territory for a Palestinian state

Arab and Islamic countries are urging the U.N. Security Council, especially the United States, and the international community to act to end Israel’s annexation campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told reporters Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already has Israeli forces occupying 60% of Gaza, and wants 70%. And he said Israeli construction plans will separate the northern and southern West Bank, and sever east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital, delivering “a deadly blow to the two-state solution.”

Mansour said Trump has told Netanyahu there must be “no annexation,” stressing, “he has the tools to stop Netanyahu in his tracks.”

Mansour was surrounded by many ambassadors from the U.N.’s 22-member Arab Group and 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation who support Security Council action against Israeli annexation.

Trump said it ‘would be great’ if Putin and Zelenskyy met

The president, when asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting a meeting with Putin, said he was glad to hear they were discussing a meeting and said, “They should get it done.”

Trump said he wouldn’t say what compromises he requested Putin make to settle the war, but said, “They’re going to both make compromises. I suggested those compromises.”

Trump says that Pulte won’t be the ‘permanent’ director of national intelligence

The president’s pick of Bill Pulte to be the acting director of national intelligence has triggered pushback from some Republican and Democratic senators.

But Trump stressed in response to an Oval Office question that Pulte, who currently serves as Federal Housing Finance Agency director, would not be nominated to the position of coordinating 18 federal agencies involved in national security issues.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said.

The president said that Pulte is “a very smart guy” and he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

But Trump said other candidates were being considered to be nominated for the Senate confirmed post.

“We’re interviewing people right now,” Trump said.

Trump’s track record hasn’t been great for jobs mining coal

The U.S. president bragged at an Oval Office event to back the coal industry that his policies are putting coal miners back to work, but the numbers tell the exact opposite story.

“They’re all going back to work,” Trump claimed.

Since Trump became president in 2025, the U.S. has lost 1,800 coal mining jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The job losses translate into more than 4% of the coal mining workforce. Employment in the coal mining sector was hurt by the pandemic and rebounded during much of the term of former President Joe Biden. Coal mining jobs began to decline in late 2024 and the losses have been sustained during Trump’s second term.

Rubio assures Kuwait of US support in meeting with FM after Iranian strike on airport

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has assured Kuwait of U.S. support for the country a day after Iran launched a retaliatory airstrike on Kuwait’s international airport.

In a meeting on Thursday with Kuwait’s foreign minister, Rubio “reiterated the commitment of the United States to Kuwait’s security, to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, and restoration of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz,” the State Department said in a statement.

Rubio “also condemned Iran’s outrageous and unacceptable attacks targeting Kuwait International Airport and other parts of the country and expressed condolences for those killed and injured in that attack,” it said.

Trump does show-and-tell with Reflecting Pool

The president kicked off an event at the White House about coal by showing off what he said was “nice clean water” filling up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after the renovation he directed.

The president held up for reporters images of the refinished pool and a poster boasting of the length of the basin. He then had an aide play a video on a small laptop screen showing water bubbling back into the drained pool.

“The water is pouring in as we speak,” Trump said.

Trump says Reflecting Pool work is done and it’s set to be filled with water

The president’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is done, and it’s set to be filled with water any day now, his administration says.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed on Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing it’s set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump announced the project in April, inspired by a friend’s complaint. The cost is estimated at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show at least $14.8 million worth of contracts has been awarded for the project.

Critics argue the Republican president is focusing too much on personal projects.

A nonprofit filed a lawsuit to stop work at the “dark grey” pool, claiming the new paint color suggested a “theme park.” The pool was built in the 1920s and is an iconic Washington site.

▶ Read more

House poised to pass Ukraine aid over the objections of Republican leaders

The House is on course to pass legislation that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy despite opposition from Republican leaders who warn the bill will undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.

The vote Thursday could generate the House’s second major foreign policy break this week with Trump. It comes one day after the House for the first time approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting the U.S. military action against Iran.

▶ Read more

Some Republican governors are rebranding June with conservative alternatives to Pride

June is widely recognized as Pride Month, but a handful of Republican governors have bestowed alternative titles that both supporters and opponents view as counterprogramming.

Without directly saying the idea was to replace Pride, the governors of Indiana and Tennessee rebranded June as Nuclear Family Month to celebrate units made up of “one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children.”

In Alabama, it’s Strong Families Month, intended to coincide with Father’s Day.

The governors of Utah and Arkansas deemed it Fidelity Month, which emphasizes fidelity to faith, country and family — without comment on how those families might be comprised.

Pride organizations say the efforts to rename the month won’t affect their parades and other celebrations. The festivities were born out of protest more than 50 years ago, and organizers say that remains essential to their purpose.

▶ Read more

Trump expected to announce $700 million in new support for struggling coal industry

The president is again seeking to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry, with an announcement expected Thursday to spend nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports.

A White House official said the administration will use authority under a Cold War-era national defense law to support 13 coal plants across the country and help build coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia.

If built, the plants would be the first new U.S. coal plants since 2013. The money will also help restart a coal-fired power plant in Maryland and support construction of a long-delayed coal export terminal in Oakland, California.

Environmentalists said the plan would “put polluters first” and jeopardize Americans’ health.

▶ Read more

American Airlines temporarily suspends some of its summer routes due to steep jet fuel costs

American Airlines is temporarily suspending some of its routes this summer, as steep jet fuel costs continue to strain carriers’ budgets amid the war with Iran.

In a statement, American said it had adjusted service for “select routes” in August and September — and that affected travelers would be offered alternative arrangements or refunds. The Texas-based airline cited elevated fuel costs, and maintained that these changes were in line with wider industry trends.

American also said that it was not cutting any of its routes indefinitely and that it was proud to “offer an industry-leading network with more flights than any other U.S. airline.”

Still, the summer suspensions could cause more headaches for travelers already facing fewer flights options and higher price tags across their budgets. Airlines around the world have canceled numerous flights or similarly trimmed schedules through the coming months — and many have are also hiking fees or cutting other perks in efforts to save money.

▶ Read more

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Thursday in a case about the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.

The 8-1 decision upheld one of the Federal Communications Commission’s key tools, though the companies also won a concession from the Republican administration that could shift the regulatory landscape.

The appeal from telecommunications giants Verizon and AT&T challenged a combined $100 million in penalties imposed after the agency determined the companies had failed to safeguard customer location data.

The companies argued that the FCC’s process was unconstitutional because it gave them little opportunity to tell their side of the story in front of a jury.

The administration defended the fines as an essential regulatory tool. But the government also said companies did not have to pay the penalties right away, a regulatory shift in the company’s favor.

The Supreme Court agreed.

▶ Read more

Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case: AP source

The former Trump administration national security adviser has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or sharing diary-like notes with family members that officials said contained classified information as he was preparing a memoir of his time in government.

Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that hadn’t been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.

A rearraignment, which typically signals a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

▶ Read more

— Eric Tucker

Senate begins voting on bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol as Democrats try to derail it

The Senate is beginning a long series of votes Thursday on legislation to fund President Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies, moving toward passage of a three-year fix as Democrats have blocked the money for months in protest.

The roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.

First, though, Republicans must beat back a potential gauntlet of amendments Democrats plan to offer, including to try and permanently ban Trump’s $1.776 billion settlement fund for allies who he believes have been politically persecuted. Democrats have said their first amendment Thursday morning will be to eliminate the fund and send the immigration spending bill back to committee.

▶ Read more

US jobless aid filings, a proxy for layoffs, hit highest level since Iran war began in February

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid hit their highest level in four months last week, but layoffs remain historically low despite ongoing economic uncertainty brought on by the war in Iran.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 30 increased by 13,000 to 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most since early February, before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, but still a historically low level. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 211,000 new applications.

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

Despite historically low layoffs, the labor market seems to be mired in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state. That’s kept the unemployment rate low at 4.3%, but left many of those out of work struggling to find new employment.

▶ Read more

Trump officials went after dozens of colleges. Now they’re rewriting the rules for all of academia

A year ago, the White House was unleashing a blitz on higher education. At one campus after another, Trump officials opened investigations and cut federal funding unless schools fell in line with the Republican president’s political agenda.

Now, after a campaign that put dozens of universities under investigation, Trump’s administration is taking a wider approach, moving to rewrite the federal rules that govern all of higher education. Demands that were being pressed on individual schools are being written into the fine print for thousands of U.S. universities.

“We’re coming over the higher education system and course correcting,” Nicholas Kent, undersecretary for the Education Department, said in an Associated Press interview. Unlike investigations that target individual campuses, he said the new tactic has power “to affect 6,000 institutions.”

The shift comes after federal judges blocked Trump’s administration from making crippling cuts at Harvard and the University of California, Los Angeles. It also follows a mass exodus in civil rights lawyers who traditionally guide investigations against universities. Still, Trump hasn’t backed down from his campaign to end what he calls “wokeness” run amok in academia.

▶ Read more

Buffalo named Donald Trump for his golden locks is a sensation at a Bangladesh zoo

With his shock of golden hair and trim 700-kilogram (1,500-pound) build, Donald Trump has been drawing crowds from across Bangladesh since he arrived at the national zoo last week.

The rare albino buffalo became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blond tuft of hair resembled the distinctive locks of the U.S. president. After a video of the pale horned mammal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm outside Dhaka to see him for themselves.

The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim festival of sacrifice. But citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo in the capital, where large crowds are now braving sweltering heat to see him.

“There is a resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color,” said Mohammed Nasim, a student in Dhaka. “And just as Donald Trump has a distinctive personality and lifestyle, this buffalo, after going viral, is now living a similar kind of life, enjoying a lot of attention and special treatment.”

▶ Read more

Trump slams the 4 Republicans who voted in favor of war powers resolution

The president says the symbolic House vote approving a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, was “meaningless.”

Still, Trump is livid that four House Republicans joined the Democrats in supporting the resolution.

“The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump said in a post on his social media site. “They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story - They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits

Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

“There’s continuing litigation, and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

It was a frustrating answer for Democratic lawmakers looking to get answers from Bessent at a hearing ostensibly focused on the Treasury Department’s budget and came a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seemed to indicate that the portion of the settlement dealing with the IRS audit immunity would still be in effect for the Republican president.

After several failed attempts to get Bessent to answer, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said, “It’s been very clear you’re dodging this and you’re trying to use it as an excuse. It’s just outrageous on behalf of the American public.”

▶ Read more

Trump says he'll nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, tapping his former personal lawyer who has aggressively pursued the Republican president’s agenda while leading the Justice Department in an acting role.

Trump said at a dinner at the White House that he plans to nominate Blanche formally on Thursday, according to a video of the event posted on social media by a White House aide.

“We are going to make him permanent attorney general,” Trump said at the Rose Garden event.

Blanche was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general and was elevated after Bondi’s ousting over her failed efforts to prosecute Trump’s perceived political opponents. Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent post but made clear through splashy moves since taking the reins his intent on proving his loyalty to Trump.

▶ Read more

What left the Knicks star nearly stumped was determining what he would deem worthy of spending $7,500 to go see.

“That’s a good question,” Brunson said Thursday. He paused for a few seconds before delivering his answer: “A live Michael Jackson performance.”

Thriller, indeed.

From Bay Ridge to the Bronx and beyond, the Big Apple has gone nuts for the Knicks.

The team is not only in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, New York is riding a 12-0 roll after rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit in a 105-95 win at San Antonio in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio before the series shifts to New York on Monday.

It seems as if the entire city is on board. There were the thousands who filled Madison Square Garden to watch the game on the big screen, only to be matched by the thousands more celebrating outside in the shadow of the Empire State Building lit up in the Knicks' blue and orange.

The MTA — the city's transit authority — got into the spirit by painting several subway stops around the arena in Knicks colors. And Mayor Zohran Mamdani even signed an executive order temporarily lifting children's bedtime hours.

“Knicks in Four!” chants erupted shortly after midnight, as fans climbed light posts and even on an ambulance outside of MSG.

Similar scenes were captured at a free watch party in Central Park, and across the five boroughs.

At a bar in Brooklyn, fans spilled out onto the outside sidewalk to watch the game on the TV inside. At a pizzeria a few doors down, fans gathered around a flat screen TV someone erected in the trunk of a car.

All of this for a chance to be a part of what could be history 53 years in the making, since Willis Reed and company last brought an NBA title to what was and evidently remains a basketball-mad metropolis. The buzz in the city has overwhelmed much talk of the World Cup, which opens in a week.

“Honestly, I just feel grateful to be here and experience the New York Knicks, doing what we haven’t done in a long time,” Owen Odigie said, celebrating the Game 1 win inside Madison Square Garden. “It’s special. It’s beautiful.”

Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns could feel the Big Apple energy some 1,800 miles away in San Antonio following Game 1.

“You feel the energy in the city, the grit, the grind, the hard work you’ve got to put in to make it in the city,” said Towns, who hails from New Jersey. “I think we reflect all our fans ... when we step on that court with a Knicks jersey.”

Knicks fans even made their presence felt in San Antonio, beyond the familiar celebrities of Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and more. The crowd in San Antonio was made up of an estimated 20% Knicks fans, some of whom made their voices heard in yelling, “Let’s go, Knicks,” during the national anthem.

In reality, given the soaring prices at home, it was reasonably cheaper for Knicks fans to make the trip to San Antonio, even when taking into account flight and lodging costs. Tickets for Game 1 started at around $750 on the secondary market.

Spurs guard Julian Champagnie — a native New Yorker — wasn’t surprised to see the Knicks contingent.

“I kind of expected that,” Champagnie said. “I’m from New York. I know how New York fans travel and stuff like that, so I kind of expected that.”

Towns said he couldn't be more appreciative of the love being shown by Knicks fans. But he said he also prays for the New York police officers tasked with keeping people safe amid the frenzy.

“All those men and women out there that are not only protecting everybody ... they are huge fans of the Knicks and support the Knicks fans in their ability to show how much they love the Knicks and being as lenient as possible without causing chaos,” Towns said. "So, shout-out to the men and women of the NYPD.”

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Wawrow reported from Buffalo, New York, and Reynolds from San Antonio.

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

Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

“That's clean, beautiful water,” the president said.

Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump also announced a plan to build a “promenade” that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac RIver.

“They want to call it the ‘Trump Promenade’ but I don’t know if I want to do that, but it’s going to be beautiful,” Trump said.

Trump has put the cost of the work on the pool at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million worth of contracts have been awarded for the project. The president announced the work in April during an unrelated Oval Office appearance, saying he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting.

The project is another way for Trump to leave his mark on the city, following the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a large ballroom and plans to build an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there in 1963.

The basin held about 6.5 million gallons of water — roughly as much as 10 Olympic-size swimming pools — before a 2012 renovation, according to the National Park Service. Under that earlier renovation, the pool was reengineered with a circulation and filtration system so that instead of using the city’s drinking water, it draws river water from the nearby Tidal Basin. Washington and its surrounding states are facing drought conditions.

Critics have said Trump, a Republican, is spending too much time and attention on his pet projects and not enough on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living, in the run-up to the November elections. Others have said he wants the reflecting pool to look more like a swimming pool.

Last month, a Washington-based nonprofit called the Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a suit asking a judge to force the Trump administration to stop work on the “dark grey” Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the new paint color suggested a “theme park.”

An order in the case hasn't come yet, and on Wednesday the Trump administration notified the court the work was complete, with the basin set to be filled by Sunday.

A message seeking information from the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, wasn't immediately answered.

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Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.

Wyndham Clark, coming off a victory in the Byron Nelson, U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood and the Ryan Gerard were each at 5-under 67, among only 22 players who broke par at Muirfield Village.

Scheffler was poised to be among them until a bad wedge led to a careless bogey on the 14th, and what he thought was a great shot on the 16th bounced into the water for double bogey.

He walked 96 yards to the drop area with his palms upward when they weren't slapping his thigh, all the while seeking answers from caddie Ted Scott that neither of them had. “I don't think you understand how frustrating that is," he said to Scott, who replied quietly with the obvious answer. “I do,” the caddie said.

Six of the seven players who broke 70 started before 10 a.m. and missed out on the swirling wind on a hot, clear day that made the greens even firmer than they already were.

The exception was Gerard, who had quite the wild ride. He had a 3 on a par 5 and followed that with a 5 on a par 3. He had five straight birdies on the back nine and only five pars on his scorecard for the entire round. It added to a 67, which was all that mattered.

“The small misses often lead to big punishments at this golf course,” Gerard said “I don’t think we aimed at a flag stick on the back nine and shot 5 under. You’re picking small targets around either the edge of a bunker or a rake or some guy wearing a bright-colored shirt in the background or a TV tower or whatever it might be.”

Fleetwood's 67 was his lowest round in his fifth time playing the Memorial, and this wasn't the way he would have drawn it up. He was solid off the tee, not so much from the fairway. Fleetwood hit only seven greens and still played bogey-free.

“I got the most out of the round, totally. I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. ... Shot 5 under, so it couldn't have been that bad. I was just getting a little frustrated at the end not being able to execute the iron shots that I wanted to.”

Nick Taylor wasted a good start with a double bogey on the par-5 seventh and a bogey on the next hole, only to played bogey-free on the tough back nine and finishing with one of only seven birdies on the the 18th hole.

Justin Rose and Sam Burns were at 69.

Scheffler provided the entertainment, even it didn't feel all that entertaining to him. He had changed clubs on the ninth, took the longer one and still was short. He changed clubs three times from the fairway on the par-5 11th and came up short. And then the water ball on the 16th was the capper.

What followed was a stream of frustrating lines: “I never thought that was in the water. ... I don't know what to do. ... I absolutely flushed a 7-iron and we get the wind wrong and I'm in the water. ... I'm hitting good shots and dropping from hazards.”

So when he was asked after signing for his 73 if he had any fun at any point, Scheffler gave a half-laugh as he rubbed his chin and said, “Not that I can recall at the moment.”

The 17th was kind of fun. From a fairway bunker, 182 yards to a tucked pin in the front right, Scheffler hit 7-iron to the collar 15 feet away and chipped in for birdie.

“See, that's the thing that can be so frustrating about golf,” Scheffler said. "I striped one on the hole before that and I end up in the water. That one I kind of hit thin, and you get a good bounce and I end up on the fringe and I chip in.

“Yeah, what a game,” he said. “I felt like I didn't get anything out of the round, all of a sudden you get a lucky bounce and you're like, ‘OK, well, I'm going to try to smile.' It's still hard.”

He did smile as he headed to the wind, late enough in the afternoon the wind was starting to calm. He also realized his score wasn't all that bad compared with other players from the afternoon.

It was tough all over for just about everyone. Patrick Cantlay was 3 over through holes and recovered for a 70. Rory McIlroy overcame an early double bogey to go 3 under the rest of the way for a 71. Aaron Rai played alongside Scheffler in his first start since winning the PGA Championship and shot 73.

___

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

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Bristol County Superior Court argues that Read's acquittal last June revealed “an embedded culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.” It alleges that the town and the police department were negligent in the hiring, training and supervision of officers and seeks damages for legal fees, lost income, emotional distress and reputational harm, among other claims.

The complaint reproduces dozens of text messages, recordings and other communications attributed to former state trooper Michael Proctor and former Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode. Among them are messages in which Proctor referred to Read as a “whack job” and wrote that he hoped she would kill herself. The lawsuit also cites messages that it says included use of the n-word and, in one instance, a comment by Proctor that “Hitler was really on to something.”

Read's lawyers argue that those materials show both men were unfit to participate in the investigation and that their conduct reflected broader failures in oversight by state and local law enforcement.

In a statement on Thursday, State Police Superintendent Col. Geoffrey Noble called Proctor’s messages “racist, sexist and abhorrent” and said they supported his decision to fire the former trooper. Noble said the comments did not reflect the values of the department and pointed to changes that have been made since he became superintendent. He also noted that the investigation predated his tenure.

“These disturbing messages are entirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and certainly with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper," Noble said, adding that agency officials are, "keenly aware of the ways in which this misconduct harmed the public trust on which our mission depends.”

The town of Canton said it learned of the lawsuit through news reports and a press release from Read’s legal team and had not yet been served with the complaint. The town said it had “the utmost faith and confidence” in Police Chief Michael Daniels and disputed what it described as “broad stroke characterizations” of Canton police officers contained in the lawsuit. Officials said the department has implemented recommendations from an outside audit and is modernizing the agency.

Proctor’s attorney, Matt Hamel, told NBC10 Boston that focusing on “anything other than Ms. Read’s own conduct” was “telling and predictable” and said “anything Mr. Proctor did or said in his personal life, years before Officer O’Keefe was killed, had no bearing whatsoever on the investigation of Karen Read.”

Read walked out of court a free woman about a year ago after more than three years and two trials over the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found on the suburban lawn of a fellow officer’s home after a night of heavy drinking during a snowstorm.

Prosecutors said Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV on the January 2022 night of a party, leaving him to die in a blizzard. Read faced charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. The jury acquitted her of those charges, but convicted her of a lesser charge for drunken driving.

Her lawyers successfully defended her, painting a sinister picture of police misconduct and theorizing that O’Keefe was in fact killed by colleagues who then covered it up.

The trial centered in part on lead investigator Michael Proctor, whom defense attorneys described as biased against Read from the beginning. The Massachusetts State Police trial board found Proctor guilty of sending crude and defamatory text messages about Read while leading the investigation into her. He was fired and became a central figure for Read supporters who believe the investigation was tainted.

Goode was placed on leave in November 2025 when the town was notified about allegations of misconduct. He resigned earlier this week, according to news outlets.

The Montvale School Preservation Foundation is working to convert the former Montvale Elementary School into a community hub featuring retail space, basic health services, a community kitchen, classes and space for small businesses. The project is gaining momentum, but organizers say about $5 million is still needed to complete the work.

A personal mission

For Thomas Bolick, the effort is deeply personal. A Montvale Elementary alumnus who attended the school’s final class, Bolick said preserving the building means preserving a piece of himself.

“I feel honored to have the foundation to try to preserve it because it’s been a part of me,” Bolick said.

Funding slowly takes shape

Roni Sutton, president of the Montvale School Preservation Foundation, said early grant funding is already being put to work — starting with assessing the building’s condition.

“Our first grant was in the amount of $50,000. The county matched that with $45,000 and that money is being used to assess mold and led,” Sutton said.

A significant financial boost recently came from the federal level. Sutton said the foundation received a seven-figure commitment that will go directly toward one of the building’s most urgent needs.

“We have received a $1 million grant from Senator Mark Warner’s office which will be disbursed some time in the fall, and we will begin taking bids to repair the roof with that money,” Sutton said.

What comes next

Donations and grants are slowly closing the funding gap, Sutton said, though the full scope of the project remains a multi-year effort. The community hub is expected to be completed within the next three to five years.

Virginia Fresh Match, a network of more than 150 farmers markets, farm stands, grocery stores and mobile markets across the state, doubles the value of SNAP and SUN Bucks benefits spent on produce.

The program comes as many families continue to struggle with food costs year-round.

According to a survey conducted by No Kid Hungry Virginia, families said they want to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables, better cuts of meat and less processed food, but often face financial barriers.

“Families said they want to be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. They want to be eating better cuts of meat. They want to be eating less processed food. They want to be shopping organic at the farmer’s market,” said Sarah Steely, director of No Kid Hungry Virginia.

Virginia Fresh Match aims to make those healthier options more accessible.

“It increases your purchasing power, and it maybe puts some of those fruits and vegetables that you maybe might not otherwise be open to trying — some new things — within reach,” said Jess McClelland, communications manager for Virginia Fresh Match. “It’s not as challenging of a choice. And it makes it just a little bit more affordable and accessible to eat really nutritious, delicious foods.”

The program can be used at participating locations throughout the Roanoke region, including the Roanoke Co+op, Market on Melrose, Grandin Village Farmers Market and Lick Run Farm Stand.

At farmers markets, shoppers can receive a dollar-for-dollar match on produce purchases. For example, someone who spends $10 in SNAP or SUN Bucks benefits receives an additional $10 to spend on fruits and vegetables.

At participating grocery stores, farm stands and mobile markets, customers receive 50% off eligible produce purchases when using SNAP or SUN Bucks benefits.

Virginia Fresh Match says the program benefits both families and local agriculture.

“Having that extra customer base, every sale helps,” McClelland said. “It’s really tough out here for farmers right now. There’s rising costs for everything from food to fertilizer.”

According to Virginia Fresh Match, more than 1,100 local farmers earned income through the program in 2025.

The organization also reported a record year in 2025, with more than $2.2 million in SNAP and nutrition incentives redeemed at participating locations — a 15% increase from 2024.

Using economic multiplier estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Virginia Fresh Match estimates the program generated more than $4.1 million in economic activity for local communities last year, many of them in rural and underserved areas where access to fresh food can be limited.

Over the past five years, the program says it has provided the equivalent of more than 2 million meals, averaging more than 7,700 meals per week.

SNAP remains the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, with about 10% of Virginians relying on benefits to help meet their food needs, according to the Food Research and Action Center.

“Our goal is to make it more affordable for families to afford fresh fruits and vegetables, and to put really nutritious, delicious local food on the table,” McClelland said.

More Information

• Virginia Fresh Match: VirginiaFreshMatch.org
• Virginia SUN Bucks: VirginiaSunBucks.com
• Feeding Southwest Virginia Mobile Marketplace: FeedingSWVA.org
• Need help finding a location? Email info@virginiafreshmatch.org with your ZIP code.

Here are some places in the area that partner with Virginia Fresh Match:

BLUE RIDGE REGION

Blacksburg Farmers Market

Address: 108 W. Roanoke St., Blacksburg

Hours:

• April-October: Wednesdays 2-6 p.m. & Saturdays 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
• November-December: Saturdays 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
• January-March: Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Downtown Roanoke City Market

Address: 213 Market St., Roanoke

Hours: Daily, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Feeding Southwest Virginia Mobile Marketplace

Address: Various locations

Hours: Vary by location. Check schedule online.

Eats Natural Foods

Address: 708 N. Main St. #A, Blacksburg

Hours:

• Monday-Friday: 9 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

Floyd Farmers Market

Address: 203 S. Locust St., Floyd

Hours:

• December-April: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• April-December: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Forest Farmers Market

Address: 15583 Forest Rd., Forest

Hours: April-October Saturdays, 8 a.m.-noon

Glade Road Growing Farm

Address: 2351 Glade Rd., Blacksburg

Hours:

• Online market open daily
• Orders placed by noon available next day by 8 a.m.
• Local delivery Tuesdays and Fridays in Blacksburg

Grandin Village Farmers Market

Address: 2080 Westover Ave. SW, Roanoke

Hours:

• April-November: Saturdays 8 a.m.-noon
• December-March: Third Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

LEAP Community Store

Address: 1027 Patterson Ave. SW, Roanoke

Hours:

• Tuesday: 3-6 p.m.
• Wednesday-Friday: Noon-7 p.m.

Lick Run Farmstand

Address: 1626 10th St., Roanoke

Hours: Fourth Friday of each month, April-October, 5-7 p.m.

Lynchburg Community Farmers Market

Address: 1219 Main St., Lynchburg

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m.

Lynchburg Grows

Address: 1339 Englewood St., Lynchburg

Hours:

• Farm Store Thursdays: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Weekly vegetable shares available March-November

Market on Melrose

Address: 2502 Melrose Ave. NW, Roanoke

Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.-8 p.m.

Martin’s Ponderosa Farmstand

Address: 6927 Snow Creek Rd., Penhook

Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 1-5 p.m.

Redwood Community Farmers Market

Address: 3421 Old Franklin Turnpike, Glade Hill

Hours:

• Monday-Friday: 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Saturday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Sunday: 1-4 p.m.

West End Farmers Market

Address: 1027 Patterson Ave. SW, Roanoke

Hours: Tuesdays, 3-6 p.m.

Roanoke Co+op Grandin

Address: 1319 Grandin Rd. SW, Roanoke

Hours: Daily, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

Roanoke Co+op Market Square

Address: 1 Market Square SE, Unit 115, Roanoke

Hours:

• Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
• Sunday: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Salem Farmers Market

Address: 3 E. Main St., Salem

Hours:

• January-March: Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon
• April-December: Saturdays 8 a.m.-noon
• June-September: Wednesdays 3-6 p.m.

Bedford Farmers Market

Address: 220 W. Washington St., Bedford

Hours: May-October Fridays, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Dorothy Cundiff Rocky Mount Farmers Market

Address: 435 Franklin St., Rocky Mount

Hours:

• April-December: Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• June-September: Tuesdays 3-7 p.m.

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

Abingdon Farmers Market

Address: 100 Remsburg Dr., Abingdon

Hours:

• January-March: First and third Saturdays, 10 a.m.-noon
• April-October: Tuesdays 3-6 p.m. & Saturdays 8 a.m.-noon
• November-December: Saturdays 10 a.m.-noon

Marion Regional Farmers Market

Address: Corner of E. Cherry St. and S. Chestnut St., Marion

Hours:

• May-October: Saturdays 8 a.m.-noon
• January-April: Second Saturday, 10 a.m.-noon

Independence Farmers Market

Address: 100 E. Main St., Independence

Hours:

• May-Oct. 9: Fridays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Fourth Friday monthly: 3-7 p.m.
• Online ordering available year-round

Galax Farmers Market

Address: 206 N. Main St., Galax

Hours:

• May-October: Thursdays 3-7 p.m.
• Saturdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Bland County Farmers Market

Address: 591 Main St., Bland

Hours: May-October Saturdays, 9 a.m.-noon

Feeding Southwest Virginia Mobile Marketplace

Address: Multiple Southwest Virginia locations

Hours: Vary by location

Town of Hillsville Farmers Market

Address: 540 Pine St., Hillsville

Hours: May-October Thursdays, 3-7 p.m.

Norton Friends and Farmers Market

Address: 115 8th St. SW, Norton

Hours: June-September Tuesdays, 4-6 p.m.

Wytheville Farmers Market

Address: 10 W. Spring St., Wytheville

Hours:

• May-October: Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
• November-April: Second and fourth Saturdays, 10 a.m.-noon

Henry’s Produce & Market

Address: 209 Duff Patt Highway, Duffield

Hours: Daily, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA

Pamplin Community Farmers Market

Address: 126 Main St., Pamplin

Hours: Vary seasonally. Check website.

Junction City Farm

Address: 7384 Hungarytown Rd., Blackstone

Hours: Farm share pickup Tuesdays and Thursdays

Junction City Farm at Blackstone Farmers Market

Address: 103 N. Main St., Blackstone

Hours: May-November Saturdays, 8 a.m.-noon

Halifax Farmers Market

Address: 209 S. Main St., Halifax

Hours: March-December Saturdays, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

South Boston Farmers Market

Address: 300 Broad St., South Boston

Hours:

• March-December: Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
• May-September: Wednesdays 3-7 p.m.

Uptown Martinsville Farmers Market

Address: 65 W. Main St., Martinsville

Hours:

• May-November: Saturdays 8 a.m.-noon
• July-September: Wednesdays 8 a.m.-noon

The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified information, including diary-like notes from his time in government that officials say he shared with family members as he was preparing a memoir about his career.

Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that had not been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement could also allow him to avoid time behind bars. The punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.

The case against Bolton, filed weeks after prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, unfolded against the backdrop of concerns that the Justice Department is using its law enforcement powers to pursue perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump. The investigation burst into public view last August when FBI agents served search warrants at his Maryland home and Washington office, but it had been well underway by the time Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Wrote book critical of Trump

Bolton, 77, is a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power. He served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before being pushed out in 2019 and publishing a critical book that portrayed the Republican president as deeply misinformed and painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership and decision-making.

Trump's administration fought unsuccessfully to block the publication of “The Room Where it Happened” on the grounds that the book contained classified information that could harm national security if exposed. Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer had classified information.

The indictment he faced focused on notes shared with his wife and daughter rather than the substance of the book itself.

Bolton had initially pleaded not guilty and, in a statement released after his indictment, described the charges as part of an “intensive effort” by Trump “to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”

A re-arraignment, which can signal a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The indictment's 18 counts carried a threat of a substantial prison sentence in the event of conviction, but the plea will avert that possibility.

Accused of sharing classified material with family members

Court documents alleged that he shared “diary-like” entries with information classified as high as top secret that he had learned from meetings with other U.S. government officials, from intelligence briefings or talks with foreign leaders. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of his relatives wrote, “Shhhhh,” prosecutors said.

The indictment said that among the material shared was information about foreign adversaries that in some cases revealed details about sources and methods used by the U.S. government to collect intelligence. One document related to a foreign adversary’s plans for a missile launch, while another detailed U.S. government plans for covert action and included intelligence blaming an adversary for an attack, court papers say.

Bolton's government service long predated the Trump administration. He had also served in the Justice Department during President Ronald Reagan’s administration and was a State Department point person on arms control during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Bolton was nominated by Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the strong supporter of the Iraq War was unable to win Senate confirmation. He resigned after serving 17 months through a recess appointment that allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate approval.

Fired after foreign policy clashes with Trump

In 2018, Bolton was appointed to serve as Trump’s third national security adviser. His brief tenure was characterized by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine.

Those rifts ultimately led to Bolton’s departure, with Trump announcing on social media in September 2019 that he had accepted Bolton’s resignation.

Bolton subsequently criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, including by alleging that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine to that country’s willingness to conduct investigations into Joe Biden, who was soon to be Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2020 presidential election, and members of the Biden family.

Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a “washed-up guy” and a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”

_____

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

That’s why a Roanoke doctor is bringing free training and automated external defibrillators to the neighborhoods that need them most. Dr. Jack Perkins, an emergency medicine physician, founded the Compress and Shock Foundation, an organization focused on teaching the public CPR and how to use a defibrillator.

“As an emergency medicine physician, unfortunately, we really only see two outcomes from cardiac arrest. One outcome is that person has regained a pulse and they’re now alive when they’re brought into the emergency department, and we take their second phase of resuscitation. Unfortunately, the large majority of outcomes is the emergency medicine physician is informing that person’s family that their loved one has died. And that leaves the emergency medicine physician with a lot of questions of what could have happened if somebody had done bystander CPR,” Dr. Perkins said.

This Saturday, the Compress and Shock Foundation will hold free EKG screenings and CPR education classes at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Roanoke and other locations across Southwest Virginia. The organization is also donating an AED to the church to help save lives in the event of a cardiac emergency.

In addition to Roanoke, the Shock and Compress foundation is holding free clinics at locations in Lexington, Rocky Mount, Chesterfield and Alexandira among others.

Registration details for an event near you can be found on the Compress and Shock website.

According to officials, deputies responded to the 100 block of Bunker Hill Mill Road for the report of an altercation between two men Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. The caller reported that one of the men produced a gun and fired it at the other man and fled.

Upon arrival, deputies determined that Christopher Andrew “Drew” Tolley, a 32-year-old from Lexington, allegedly assaulted and battered the victim before producing a gun and firing it.

Investigators obtained and executed a search warrant for the crime scene, utilized a Leica 3D laser scanner, conducted a bullet trajectory investigation, and collected forensic evidence.

According to RCOSO, Leica 3D laser scanning technology allows investigators to create a “forensic digital twin” of a crime scene by capturing millions of spatial data points along with high-definition imagery.

While the crime scene investigation was underway, deputies began to work to locate Tolley. The investigation led deputies to believe he was in Augusta County.

Through a coordinated effort with the Augusta Co. Sheriff’s Office, Tolley was taken into custody without incident and charged with the following:

• Assault and Battery
• Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony
• Discharging a Firearm at or Within an Occupied Dwelling
• Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon

“This kind of violence has no place in Rockbridge County. When someone chooses to bring a firearm into a dispute, they’re putting lives at risk, and we’re going to respond quickly and hold them accountable. I’m proud of the work our deputies and investigators did on this case and the strong partnership we have with the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. That teamwork allowed us to locate and take this individual into custody safely and without further incident,” Sheriff Tony McFaddin said.

Tolley is currently being held without bond, and the investigation remains active and ongoing; the sheriff’s office said that additional charges are possible.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% for its 10th gain in the last 11 days, a day after dropping from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 874 points, or 1.7%, to a record, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.

Stocks got a lift from a 2.8% drop for the price of Brent crude oil to $95.03 per barrel. That gave back a chunk of its rise from this week caused by the latest flare-ups of fighting between Iran and the United States and its allies.

The expectation on Wall Street seems to be that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would hopefully improve the flow of crude, lower oil’s price and remove some of the upward pressure on inflation that’s hurting the world. Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, helped launch the S&P 500 on a nine-day winning streak that ended Wednesday, a day short of its longest run in three decades.

Stocks of smaller companies helped lead the way, and the Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 1.4%. They can reap the biggest benefits of falling interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.47% from 4.49% late Wednesday as oil prices sank.

Lower yields can make it less expensive for companies to borrow cash, which many smaller companies need to do to grow.

Banks also helped lead the market, including gains of 5% for Goldman Sachs, 4.7% for Fifth Third Bancorp and 4.4% for U.S. Bancorp.

They helped to more than make up for losses by some AI stocks, which took a sudden back seat after dominating the market.

Broadcom sank 12.6%, even though both profit and revenue for the chip company surpassed analysts’ expectations. CEO Hock Tan said its AI semiconductor revenue more than doubled to $10.8 billion during the quarter and that demand is only getting bigger. He is forecasting AI semiconductor growth to top 200% in the current quarter.

Investors, though, may have wanted even more after Broadcom’s stock came into the day with a 38.5% surge for the year so far. That towered over the already strong 10.3% rise for the S&P 500 index, and Broadcom has grown to become one of Wall Street’s largest and most influential stocks.

Analysts have been saying AI stocks may have run too high, becoming too expensive, and that the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.

Other AI winners likewise gave back some of their big gains. Micron Technology, the latest company to see its total value top $1 trillion because of AI euphoria, fell 7.7%.

CrowdStrike Holdings dropped 3.8% even though the cybersecurity company’s profit and revenue for the latest quarter topped analysts’ expectations. CEO George Kurtz said the latest quarter was when “the worlds of cybersecurity and frontier AI collided,” and the company said it’s splitting its stock to make its share price more affordable.

But its stock came into the day with a 59.5% surge for the year so far. And analysts said it beat forecasts for some financial measures by less than it usually does.

Outside of tech, PVH Corp., the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, tumbled 20.2% even though it also beat Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets. CEO Stefan Larsson warned that it’s feeling “the prolonged effects of the Middle East conflict, which is putting pressure on” customers in the region.

All told, the S&P 500 climbed 30.63 points to 7,584.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 874.86 to 51,561.93, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 23.02 to 26,830.96.

Reports on the U.S. economy, meanwhile, came in mixed. One said that slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could indicate a slowdown in the relatively solid U.S. job market.

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

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% for some of the larger losses.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

“You all had the opportunity to honor fallen soldiers or children who lost their lives,” said Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend and who was visibly emotional through “tears of outrage.” “Instead, you took precious time to purposefully hurt everyone who loved Floyd. And every other family who has lost a loved one to the police. ”

Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria worker who was shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer in 2016, echoed what Ross said, calling the act “the most hurtful thing you can do.”

“You give a moment of silence to a murderer? Come on," Castile said.

The two women were among those who spoke at a news conference organized by Twin Cities Coalition For Justice.

What happened in Minnesota over the weekend

The Minnesota Republican Party nominating convention held a moment of silence last weekend for Chauvin.

When the action became public knowledge, it triggered intense backlash.

Racial justice groups, civil rights advocates and Democratic public officials swiftly condemned party officials, accusing them of blindly supporting law enforcement and disrespecting Floyd and his family.

Chauvin has been in federal prison since 2021, after he was convicted of murdering Floyd six years ago. Cellphone video of Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd's neck for over 9 minutes despite Floyd's pleas of “I can't breathe" sparked the numerous racial reckoning protests that dominated the latter half of 2020.

On the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death, people knelt in a moment of silence at the site, symbolizing the 9 minutes and 29 seconds Floyd was pinned down.

A delegate at the Minnesota GOP gathering in Duluth on Saturday proposed acknowledging Chauvin, according to reports from local news outlets. It occurred days after the sixth anniversary of Floyd's death.

“The moment of silent prayer was a spontaneous motion brought forward from the convention floor. It was not part of the official convention program, it was not proposed by Convention Chairman Danny Nadeau, and it was not a statement from party leadership,” the Minnesota Republican Party said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota GOP did not immediately return an email Thursday seeking additional comment.

The impact of honoring a police officer — and not the person killed

Castile said it didn't matter if only one person participated, it was still hurtful.

“I am proud of the ones who did not do the moment of silence,” she said. “Those that did, they should be reprimanded in some fashion.”

Ross urged those Republicans who did not take part to hold their peers accountable.

“I’m speaking to the few of you that thought it was wrong. Please stand up," Ross said. “You are public servants.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the state's prosecution of Chauvin, said in a statement this week he was “heartbroken and frankly shocked" by the prayer.

“This decision dishonors the memory of George Floyd and wounds his loved ones all over again. As the lead prosecutor whose team presented this case to a jury of twelve Minnesotans and then prevailed at every step of the appeals process, I am deeply troubled by what this says about the state of our politics," Ellison said.

Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, the attorneys who represented Floyd's family in a wrongful death lawsuit, were left “sickened by this lack of respect." They also demanded the Minnesota GOP retract their moment of silence and apologize to Floyd's family.

“The audacity of the Minnesota Republican Party to honor an individual who has both been convicted by a jury of his peers for the murder of a fellow human being, while at the same time (violating) a professional oath to protect and serve his community, is disgusting,” they said in a statement.

Reached via text message on Thursday, Floyd’s New York-based brother, Terrence Floyd, said he was “glad to see people are still fighting with us for complete justice.”

How some conservatives support police officers

The moment of silence for Chauvin fits a pattern of flashpoints when conservatives reacted to police violence with “back the blue” initiatives. Long before 2020, when George Floyd's murder catalyzed the largest racial justice demonstrations since the Civil Rights Movement, some officers were symbols of “law and order” or anti-Black Lives Matter sentiment.

For example in 2014, after Darren Wilson — the former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who is white — fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was Black, a GoFundMe website raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the officer’s family and legal defense. The amount dwarfed the total raised for Brown’s family. Wilson ultimately did not face criminal charges or federal civil rights offenses.

Officers in the high-profile cases in which police killed Laquan McDonald in Chicago and Eric Garner in New York also drew sizable support from law enforcement unions that recast the criminal prosecution or discipline of officers as unjust and politically motivated.

Although legal outcomes vary a lot in these cases, most prominent examples of support for officers charged in killings do not result in overturned convictions.

___ Associated Press editor Aaron Morrison in New York City contributed to this report.