Iran has not withdrawn from the World Cup, and the team is preparing to play in the U.S. despite the war in the Middle East. FIFA has insisted its group stage games near Los Angeles and in Seattle will go ahead as planned in June.

The Financial Times reported that Paolo Zampolli, the U.S. special envoy for global partnerships, had suggested the swap to President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

In a phone interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Zampolli emphasized that “my request is not a political request." The ask, which was made to Trump and Infantino on Wednesday, was meant as a contingency plan in case Iran could not participate in the soccer tournament at the last minute.

“I had a dream,” Zampolli told the AP. “My request was for the Italian people and the American-Italian people.”

He said in the FT interview that, with four titles, the Italian national team's appearance in the World Cup would be justified.

Italian officials pushed back hard at the suggestion, with Sports Minister Andrea Abodi saying Thursday that “first of all, it's not possible. Secondly, it's not a good idea.”

Luciano Buonfiglio, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all sports in Italy, also dismissed the idea.

“I would feel offended,” Buonfiglio said. “You need to deserve to go to the World Cup.”

Italy’s Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti called the suggested swap “shameful.”

While Iran was among the first teams to qualify for the World Cup, Italy missed out for the third consecutive tournament, resulting in the resignations of its national team coach and soccer federation president.

Zampolli has long been a part of the Trump family orbit, having introduced then-Melania Knauss to Donald Trump at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. He regularly posts on social media about his meetings with Infantino, calling him the “King of Soccer.” Trump last year appointed him as special representative for global partnerships.

In March, The New York Times reported that Zampolli had reached out to a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, informing him that the mother of his child was in the country illegally as the two were locked in a custody dispute. She was ultimately deported.

The White House did not return a request for comment. Its World Cup task force, housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said it had no comment. FIFA also would not comment.

The Iranian embassy in Rome denounced Zampolli’s remarks in a comment on X.

“Football belongs to the people, not to politicians,” the embassy said. “Italy earned its soccer prowess on the field, not thanks to political maneuvers. The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup shows only the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the United States, which fears even the presence of 11 young Iranians on the field of play.”

Iran’s status at the World Cup, which starts in June, has been a source of debate and concern since the U.S. and Israel launched military attacks on the country in February.

Trump in March discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, citing safety concerns.

FIFA has consistently said Iran will stick to the World Cup schedule decided last December, and refused to negotiate any suggestion of moving the team’s games to co-host Mexico.

An Iranian government spokesperson said Wednesday that the men’s national team is preparing for “proud and successful participation” in its World Cup games in the U.S.

Iran earned one of eight guaranteed World Cup places allocated to the Asian Football Confederation. Should Iran pull out, in theory the replacement should be the United Arab Emirates, the highest-ranked Asian team that didn’t qualify.

One possible element of uncertainty is the language of the World Cup tournament rules.

FIFA wrote that it can decide to replace a withdrawn team “with another association,” though without specifying the replacement must come from the same continental confederation.

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Dunbar reported from Geneva and Kim reported from Washington.

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

In a social media post Thursday morning, he said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway. The move intensified the U.S.-Iran standoff in the Persian Gulf and raised questions about efforts to end the war.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil, the Majestic X, in the Indian Ocean, deepening confusion over efforts to end the war. The seizure comes after a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.

Here is the latest:

Israel appoints envoy to Christian world

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has appointed George Deek as special envoy to the Christian world in a bid to strengthen ties with Christian communities, according to a government statement.

Deek, a veteran diplomat and former ambassador to Azerbaijan, is a member of Israel’s Arab Christian community.

Saar said Israel attaches “great importance” to its relations with Christians worldwide.

The appointment comes after a pair of incidents that strained relations with the Christian world. Last month, Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, citing the war with Iran. And an Israeli soldier set off a global firestorm by smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. Two soldiers have been sentenced to jail for their roles in the incident.

Pope urges US and Iran to return to peace talks, condemns capital punishment

After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.

He called for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.

He said the question wasn’t whether the Iran regime should change or not. “The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”

He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.

“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” he told reporters aboard his plane. “I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.”

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Trump likes a naval blockade. But Iran presents big differences from Venezuela and Cuba

President Donald Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.

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Palestinians mourn another death in historically violent year in the occupied West Bank

A 25-year-old father of twins was shot by Israeli settlers in a village home to a large Palestinian-American population, sparking an outpouring of grief at his funeral Thursday.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Health said Awda Awawdeh died from gunshot wounds after what witnesses described as a clash with settlers attempting to steal Palestinian livestock.

“Young men from our town gathered and came to confront them. The settlers fired at them, and the young man Awda Awawdeh was hit and injured on his side with a live bullet,” said Ziad Manasrah, a local paramedic who helped transport Awawdeh from the town of Deir Dibwan to the hospital.

Awawdeh is the 11th Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers in 2026, surpassing the nine killed in 2025.

“The daily killings in the West Bank are not incidental, but an integral part of a systematic process of ethnic cleansing. The Israeli system does not halt this violence deliberately because it serves its political goal: the suppression and dispossession of Palestinians from their land,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Lebanese cabinet discusses potential move to join the ICC

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said ministers on Thursday discussed joining the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, for “a specific period.”

The move would mark a significant shift for Lebanon, which is not a member of the court. Mitri said the move would enable the ICC to “look into war crimes and humanitarian crimes which were committed on Lebanese territory.”

Lebanon has accused Israel of war crimes and and repeated breaches of international law during the latest war with Hezbollah.

Iran’s judiciary chief touts the country’s show of force in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, said on X that the country’s armed forces were demonstrating strength in the Strait of Hormuz, citing what he described as a Revolutionary Guard “mosquito fleet” of speedboats and underwater drones, along with action against three ships in the waterway.

He wrote that “the IRGC’s mosquito fleet, with speedboats and drones, lies in wait from the sea caves of Faror Island for the American aggressor warships, ready to saturate their air defenses and bring utter ruin upon the invaders.”

He called the display “a source of pride” and warned against U.S. naval presence.

Israeli defense minister says Israel is ready to resume war with Iran

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Thursday that Israel is prepared to resume war with Iran and is awaiting a “green light” from the United States, according to a statement following a security assessment.

“We are waiting for a green light from the United States,” Katz said, adding that the military is ready for both defensive and offensive operations and “targets are marked.”

Israelis express mixed views on Lebanon talks

Residents in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv expressed mixed views on talks between Israel and Lebanon, with opinions ranging from calls for diplomacy to deep skepticism over Hezbollah’s role.

“I always believe that you can talk, but you have to be prepared for war,” said Ben Kurtzer, a Jerusalem resident.

Others were more skeptical. “Who is there to talk to?” said Yardena Sharon.

Some drew a distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah.

“We do not want to be hostile with the state of Lebanon; we have no hostility towards them. I think there are, undoubtedly, wonderful people there, people who seek peace, just as we seek peace,” said Matan Moalem, a Jerusalem resident. “Hezbollah needs to be eliminated once and for all, to take control of the entire area that constantly threatens Israel, firing in our direction and always seeking to eliminate and kill us.”

In Tel Aviv, others emphasized diplomacy. “Force without brains is worth nothing. In the end, only agreements bring peace and security, only agreements,” said Daron Sabani.

Images of new crucifix in southern Lebanon convey ‘message of hope, dialogue and peace,’ Meloni says

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday thanked Italian peacekeepers serving in southern Lebanon for donating a new crucifix to the village of Debel after the original was destroyed by an Israeli soldier in an incident that drew international criticism.

Meloni said images showing the crucifix being delivered and placed in the same spot as the one destroyed days earlier conveyed “a message of hope, dialogue and peace.”

Israel’s military said Tuesday it had replaced the crucifix and shared a photograph of the new one on social media. The replacement appeared smaller and more ornate than the original, which had been smashed by a soldier.

The Israeli military said two soldiers involved in the episode will be held for a month in military detention.

Ukraine’s president discloses details of security agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a CNN interview that his country signed a “Drone Deal” with the three Gulf countries, aiming to help them manufacture much cheaper drones and drone interceptors.

Zelenskyy toured the Gulf countries late May, but there was no immediate word on the details of the signed agreements between Ukraine and the Gulf countries.

” A (low-cost, Iranian-designed Shahed drone) can cost from 80 to 130 thousand dollars. It will be destroyed not with a missile worth 3-4 million dollars, but with an interceptor costing 10 thousand dollars,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding that he wants to help Gulf countries defend themselves.

Speaking earlier this month, Zelenskyy said that in exchange for its drone expertise, Ukraine would get air defense weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases, financial help. Ukrainian officials haven’t published details of the final deal.

‘Stable ceasefire and assurances’ needed for transit in the Strait of Hormuz

The chief safety and security officer in BIMCO, the world’s largest international shipping association, said Thursday that shipping companies need assurances from both Iran and the U.S. to transit the vital waterway.

Mine clearance efforts are also needed as they pose a “particular concern,” Jakob Larsen said in a statement, adding that the process of mine clearance could take up to several weeks.

Hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz remains fully closed Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff continues to intensify in the Persian Gulf.

Mourners bid farewell to a prominent Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike

Dozens gathered in the southern village of al-Tiri as the coffin of journalist Amal Khalil, draped in the Lebanese flag with a press helmet placed on top, was carried through the crowd. People wept as mourners chanted “Death for Israel.”

Khalil, a reporter for the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper, was killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike on a house where she had taken cover while reporting on the Israel-Hezbollah war. Her body was retrieved from the rubble hours later. The Israeli military said the incident is still under review.

“This is not the first time that the Israelis have threatened Amal,” said her brother, Ali Khalil. “Three strikes within two hours or an hour and half is evidence that the Israelis intend to assassinate Amal Khalil.”

Amal had said in media interviews that she received threatening messages from an Israeli phone number. However, it wasn’t clear whether they came from the Israeli military, an Israeli official or individuals.

France is ready to host a Lebanon conference

The president of France says he’s willing to host a conference on supporting Lebanon’s army and helping rebuild the country’s battered south.

French President Emmanuel Macron said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday that the conference would take place when Lebanon deems it appropriate.

The conference would also aim to release additional European funding. Macron said he and Christodoulides support the idea of a European Union partnership agreement with Lebanon.

India says it’s ‘worried’ for its seafarers after vessels come under fire in Strait of Hormuz

India’s shipping ministry said Thursday it’s “worried about Indian seafarers” in the Strait of Hormuz after reports of vessels coming under fire in the region, though none have been injured.

Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary at the Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said two foreign-flagged vessels that came under fire had 22 Indian sailors on board.

“None of the Indian seafarer have been injured in the firing,” he said.

The ministry said at least 2,680 Indian sailors have been evacuated since the conflict began.

US stocks edge back from their records and oil prices yo-yo

The U.S. stock market is edging back from its all-time high following mixed profit reports from Tesla and other big companies. Oil prices are yo-yoing on continued uncertainty about what will happen next in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% in the early going Thursday following a big rally that erased all its losses because of the war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 193 points, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.4%.

Oil prices wavered as uncertainty continues about what will happen with the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude rose 0.5% to $102.43 a barrel.

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Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli positions in southern Lebanon

The group said in a statement that it targeted Israeli soldiers in the southern village of Taybeh and downed a drone in Majdal Zone on Thursday. Earlier, the Israeli army said it intercepted an “aerial target” in southern Lebanon.

The group reiterated that its attacks, which resumed Tuesday, were in retaliation for Israeli violations of the 10-day ceasefire that took effect Friday. The Israeli army has been launching near-daily strikes on southern Lebanon since the ceasefire.

Israel has also been accusing Hezbollah of breaching the ceasefire.

Trump claims leadership rift is confounding Iran

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!,” Trump said in a social media post. “The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), is CRAZY!”

Trump has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging his decision to kill several top leaders has come with some complications.

He announced earlier this week that he was extending the truce to give the battered Iranian leadership more time to come with a “unified proposal” on ending the war.

Next UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon could be smaller than the current one

The head of the U.N.’s peacekeeping operations says he expects the possible replacement for its force in southern Lebanon will “probably be smaller” than the current one that’s been in place for nearly a half-century.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the UNIFIL operation, which has inhabited a tense zone where militants from Hezbollah and Israeli forces have battled repeatedly, has recently faced pressure from funding cuts.

The force’s mandate ends at the end of the year. U.N. officials are facing a June 1 deadline to present a proposal for the force that could replace it.

Trump threats against Iran are a boon for prediction markets, including some backed by his son

Will President Trump send troops into Iran? Will he rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself? Will he post again praising Allah?

No one knows the answers, but online betting companies that allow people to wager on Trump policies and statements are profiting — including some backed by his oldest son.

Prediction markets love the president’s unpredictability, his need to keep people guessing about his next move or social media post, leading to more wagers in these betting venues and more fees for them. That includes Polymarket, a company Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in, and Kalshi, a company he advises.

These sites have to come up with new betting lines on current events everyday, and Trump Jr.’s famously fickle father has proven to be a rich source of will-he-or-won’t-he questions.

When a wagering event on Polymarket asked whether Trump was likely to send troops into Iran, nearly 100,000 bets were placed April 8, leading to the biggest trading day of the year up to then.

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Trump orders the US military to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. president in a morning social media posting also said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”

Trump likes a naval blockade. But Iran presents big differences from Venezuela and Cuba

President Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat — beyond those posed by the adversaries in America’s own hemisphere — and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks — especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year — could force Trump’s Republican administration to end its blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.

“It’s really a question now of which country, the U.S. or Iran, has a greater pain tolerance,” said Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Three killed inside vehicle in central Gaza Strip

An Israeli drone strike killed three men inside a car Thursday in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.

Those killed were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Two of them were inside the vehicle targeted on Salah al-Din Street near Maghazi camp, while a third was nearby, hospital director Raed Hussein told The Associated Press. Three others were injured.

The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire has held since October, but renewed strikes have killed 791 people and wounded 2,235, according to the latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll.

US military seizes oil tanker associated with Iran

The U.S. military seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil.

The U.S. Defense Department said it seized the oil tanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Defense Department said.

The seizure comes after Iran attacked three cargo ships Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them.

The Defense Department released footage of the seizure of the vessel, showing U.S. troops on the deck of the vessel.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The Majestic X is a Guyana-flagged oil tanker. It previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of American sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“Iran relies upon a sprawling network of tankers and ship management firms in multiple jurisdictions to transport its petroleum to overseas customers — using tactics such as false documentation, manipulation of vessel tracking systems, and constant changes to the names and flags of vessels,” the Treasury said at the time.

There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.

Since the start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait, through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.

Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

After the attacks Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel that American officials that Iran’s seizure of the ships didn’t violate truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels.”

However, the ceasefire has been strained by dueling American attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in Islamabad, where Pakistani officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

Iran’s exiled crown prince splattered with red liquid

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid Thursday as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin.

He waved to supporters in the aftermath and got into a car that drove away.

The alleged perpetrator was immediately detained by police.

Pahlavi has been in exile for nearly 50 years.

His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Walker, in his 14th major league season, exited the Phillies clubhouse a couple of hours before Thursday’s contest. He's in the final year of a four-year, $72 million contract.

The Phillies had optioned right-hander Alan Rangel to Lehigh Valley following Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to Chicago, their eighth straight.

The 33-year-old Walker was an All-Star with the New York Mets in 2021 and peaked with a 15-6 record and 4.38 ERA with Philadelphia in 2023. But he’s slid ever since, starting 2026 at 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in five games, and has a combined 9-19 record with a 5.67 ERA over the past three seasons.

Walker gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits in four innings of bulk relief and took the loss at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. With ace Zack Wheeler set to return on Saturday, Walker was bumped out of the Phillies rotation.

Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said the team tried to trade Walker’s contract “various times,” but found no takers.

“We know and he knows that he gave every effort that he possibly could to try to get people out and it just wasn’t working,” Dombrowski added. “Maybe a change of scenery will help him."

Manager Rob Thomson said: “It's just all performance based. I hope that people understand."

“We had a really good year out of him the first year (2023) with the 15 wins,” Thomson added. “With the injuries we had last year, this guy took down 125 innings and basically helped us get to the playoffs.”

Thomson praised Walker's presence and work ethic.

“He's one of the best teammates and one of the best people I've been around," Thomson said. “This guys a pro, performance aside.

“He tried everything, being the opener and trying to get some velo back, which he did. It didn't work out, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on his part.”

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This story has been corrected to show that Walker pitched in relief on Wednesday, not as the starter.

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

For longtime Winter Garden resident Suzanne Knoblich, the theatre has been a cornerstone of family life for years.

“I’ve lived here for 10 years, and I’ve had kids who were part of the Winter Garden camp when they used to have summer camp and then part of some of the productions and have always come and supported and been to a lot of their shows and things,” she said.

[WATCH: Garden Theatre in Winter Garden shuts down without warning]

The theatre’s sudden closure left Knoblich and many others stunned after the former operator dissolved due to financial issues.

“It was shocking. You had no idea. I had no idea that they were in trouble or that anything was going on. And I was just like, why? Because I had seen the list of the shows and thought, ‘oh, we’ll go see that one and that one and that one,’” she said.

Winter Garden previously approved a plan to revive the venue, which includes plays, movies, concerts, camps and one-off performances tied to downtown festivities. Under the new agreement, city-led programming would have priority access, and the city would sign off on all productions, a move aimed at keeping the theatre’s family-friendly atmosphere intact.

Commissioners are expected to select DNA Event Creative as the theatre’s new presenting partner. The company declined to discuss its plans ahead of the city commission meeting but indicated it would speak publicly once a decision was made. If approved, DNA Event Creative would take over the theatre immediately.

[WATCH: Winter Garden proposes new plan for historic Garden Theatre]

For residents like Melissa Button, the news is a welcome development.

“I’m always looking for something to do. So, a community production, I mean, they’re bringing in so many different things. And it’s nice to have culture in an area and expose people to things that they probably wouldn’t be exposed to normally,” Button said.

As of Thursday, long-range forecasts are beginning to lock onto a pattern change that would build a large dome of high pressure over the Caribbean late April and into the first weekend of May.

If this setup strengthens and expands north, it would help drive hotter air into Florida, allowing temperatures to climb quickly.

We are now seeing both the European and the GFS signaling the big warm-up with highs climbing into the mid to upper 90s during a time when 85 degrees is the average.

There are some differences between the two models in exactly how hot it could be.

While the EURO model keeps highs 10-12 degrees above the normal in the mid 90s, the GFS goes even further, pushing 100 degrees.

Orlando has only hit 90 degrees three times so far this year, which makes the potential for several mid to upper 90-degree days stand out even more if this pattern develops.

It is important to remember this is still a long-range outlook, and details can change over the next several days as we get closer. The exact strength and position of that high pressure will determine just how hot it gets locally.

Be sure to check back with News 6 for updates.

New analyses of fossilized jaws reveal that massive, kraken-like octopuses once hunted alongside other marine predators. They boasted eight arms and long bodies that extended more than 60 feet (18 meters), rivaling other carnivorous marine reptiles.

“These krakens must have been a fearsome sight to behold,” University of Alabama paleontologist Adiel Klompmaker said in an email. He had no role in the new research.

Dinosaur fans know that late Cretaceous-era waters were ruled by sharp-toothed sharks and sea reptiles known as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.

Why do octopuses get left out of the mix? Scientists have studied giant octopus relatives that roamed when dinosaurs were around, and researched some small octopuses that drilled into clams. But since their soft bodies don't preserve well, it's hard to figure out exactly how big the creatures got.

There's also a perception that squishy invertebrates — creatures without backbones — weren't formidable enough to join the ranks of top predators. But octopus' beaks made of stiffened chitin are tough enough to crush shelled and bony critters.

In the new study, researchers studied the jaws of 15 ancient octopus fossils that were previously found in Japan and Canada's Vancouver Island. They also identified 12 more jaws from Japan using a technique they created called digital fossil mining, which closely scans rocks in cross-sections to reveal fossils hiding inside.

They compared the jaws to that of modern-day octopuses to estimate how large the creatures may have been, and determined that the ancient octopuses ranged from 23 to 62 feet (7 to 19 meters) in length. The largest jaw was substantially bigger than that of any modern octopus, said co-author and paleontologist Yasuhiro Iba with Hokkaido University in an email.

They also found that the largest creatures' jaws had significant wear and tear including scratches, chips and rounded edges, suggesting that “the animals repeatedly crushed hard prey such as shells and bones,” said Iba.

The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.

Without access to the octopuses' stomach contents, it's hard to know for sure what they were eating or whether they truly competed with other top predators for their meals. They could have snacked on fish or snails, snatching prey with flexible arms and breaking it apart with their beaks.

Looking for octopus fossils in other places might help scientists get a clearer idea of how they factor into ancient food webs, said paleontologist Neil Landman with the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

“It's a big old planet,” said Landman, who wasn't involved with the new research. “So we have lots to look at to piece together the marine ecosystem through time.”

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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.

Per a preliminary vote count on Thursday, the overwhelming majority of Warner Bros. Discovery stakeholders voted in support of selling the entire business to Paramount for $31 a share, the company said. Including debt, the deal is valued at nearly $111 billion based on Warner's current outstanding shares.

Skydance-owned Paramount wants to buy all of Warner. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof with CBS, “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service. A greenlight from company shareholders increases the likelihood of that becoming a reality.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement that stockholder approval marks “another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction.” Paramount added that it looks forward to closing in the coming months, and “realizing the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company.”

It's not a done deal quite yet. The acquisition still faces ongoing regulatory reviews. Many critics have decried further consolidation in an industry already controlled by just a few major players, and are calling for the merger to be blocked — if not from the Trump administration, which so far seems unlikely, perhaps at the state level or through other court fights both in the U.S. and abroad.

Meanwhile, Warner shareholders rejected a separate measure Thursday outlining post-merger payments for company executives.

The takeover fight

Paramount’s quest for Warner has been far from smooth sailing. And Warner leadership wasn’t always eager to enter this particular marriage.

Late last year, Warner rebuffed Paramount’s overtures to instead strike a $72 billion studio and streaming deal with Netflix. Paramount, meanwhile, went directly to shareholders with a hostile bid to take over the whole company, including the cable business that Netflix did not want. All three companies spent months fighting publicly over who had the better offer on the table. Warner’s board repeatedly backed Netflix’s bid. But eventually, Paramount offered more money and Netflix abruptly bowed out of the race.

That corporate drama may now be over, but implications of a potential Warner sale remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers.

Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment called Warner shareholders' vote to advance the merger a “serious setback” on Thursday — but maintained the fight wasn't over. “A handful of powerful decision-makers should not be allowed to quietly reshape American media, culture, and creative life without accountability,” the advocacy group said in a statement, while pointing to other efforts to challenge consolidation.

Some have called on states, rather than the federal government, to fight the deal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been particularly vocal about the transaction, and said his state is investigating it.

"State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight," Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a longtime antitrust hawk, wrote on social media Thursday.

What would come under the same roof

The merger would bring together two of Hollywood’s five remaining legacy studios. It would also join two major streaming platforms (Paramount+ and HBO Max) and two big names in America's TV news landscape (CBS and CNN ) — as well as a heap of other brands and entertainment networks.

Company executives argue this will be good news for consumers, who they say will have access to bigger content libraries, particularly if HBO Max and Paramount+ become one streaming service. And Paramount CEO David Ellison has tried to assure filmmakers with a 45-day theatrical window guarantee and goal to release 30 movies a year between Paramount and Warner, which he's said will remain stand-alone operations under a combined company.

“I love cinema and I love film,” Ellison said at CinemaCon last week. "You can count on our complete commitment.”

But the new owner will also be looking to cut costs. Regulatory filings have already indicated that would include layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. And critics are skeptical about consumer benefits — warning of higher prices that could arise when it comes to streaming, and potentially less diversity in content down the road.

Then there’s the news. Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, CBS has already seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief. If the Warner takeover goes through, many are expecting similar changes at CNN, a network that has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump.

Political implications

Other questions of political influence have piled up. The Justice Department and company leadership have maintained that politics will not play a role in the regulatory process — but Trump himself has publicly waded into Warner’s future at times, despite backpedaling on what he once suggested his personal role would be.

The Republican president also has a close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting billions of dollars on the table to back the bid for his son’s company.

Support for Paramount’s proposed buyout is falling largely along party lines in Washington. Democratic senators held a “spotlight” hearing on the merger last week, and have been more outspoken about antitrust concerns spanning from a potential Paramount-Warner combo. In contrast, lawmakers from both sides questioned Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner’s chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell in February, calling on regulators to heavily scrutinize that deal at the time.

Meanwhile, Paramount has secured money from several sovereign investment funds — including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as well as funds from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, per regulatory filings. But such investors will not have voting rights in a future Paramount-Warner combo, the filings noted. Paramount has not publicly specified how much they’re contributing.

Other countries, including European regulators, also looking the deal — and again, states may try to challenge it too. Labor unions and other entities could also wade in.

Shares of Paramount Skydance fell nearly 6% on after Thursday's vote, and Warner Bros. Discovery's stock slipped slightly as well.

“Mr. Pearce Jr. will be entering a six-month diversion program. Upon completion of the six months without violation, the state will dismiss all felony and misdemeanor charges,” one of Pearce’s attorneys, Jacob Nunez, said Thursday in a statement provided to The Associated Press.

“James is focused on moving forward, rejoining his teammates and the Atlanta Falcons organization as a whole, performing at the highest level, and continuing to be a team player on and off the field,” Nunez and another attorney, Yale Sanford, said in another statement.

The Falcons did not immediately respond to an inquiry about Pearce's status with the team.

Atlanta's WSB-TV first reported the agreement for Pearce to enter the intervention program.

The resolution came on the opening day of the NFL draft, one year after the Falcons made Pearce the No. 26 pick in the 2025 draft. Pearce led Atlanta with 10 1/2 sacks. His 45 quarterback pressures set a Falcons rookie record.

The felony charges, however, have left his status with the team uncertain. First-year coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed on April 8 Pearce was not at the practice facility for the start of the team's voluntary offseason program.

General manager Ian Cunningham said Monday there was no update on Pearce. “Everything is status quo,” Cunningham said.

On March 13, the Florida State Attorney’s Office in Miami-Dade County filed charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing and eluding police and resisting an officer with violence. A fourth charge of stalking was brought as a misdemeanor.

An additional charge of aggravated battery of an officer was dropped.

According to the police account, Jackson told authorities she attempted to drive away from Pearce and was driving toward the Doral police station to seek help when Pearce “intentionally collided into the rear of her vehicle with his SUV” before police arrived.

Pearce allegedly refused an initial order from police to “get on the floor,” according to details of the arrest in an affidavit. The police account said Pearce then drove away and hit a police officer’s left knee with his vehicle “intentionally in an attempt to evade arrest.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

In rounds of calls immediately following the indictment, civil rights leaders discussed how to support the SPLC, a Montgomery, Alabama-based civil rights group founded in 1971 that has tracked white supremacist groups and been outspoken on voting rights, immigration and policing. Organizers on one call agreed that winning in the court of public opinion would be crucial as judicial proceedings began, leading to dozens of public statements of support and planned rallies.

And legal advisors to civil rights groups urged organizers to prepare themselves for similar criminal indictments, protracted legal action that may exhaust their resources and audits of their staff and internal documents.

The flurry of behind-the-scenes coordination represented a marked escalation and mobilization of plans for activist groups that have been at odds with the Justice Department since President Donald Trump's return to the White House last year. Organizers say they are prepared to back the SPLC in its legal fight.

“It’s a blatantly obvious attack on civil rights and civil liberties to whitewash the foot soldiers of the great replacement theory and other extremists. This coalition isn’t going silent,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of hundreds of civil rights groups.

Without addressing the indictment, a coalition of more than 100 activist groups on Tuesday published a letter vowing solidarity with groups that are “unjustly targeted” by the federal government. SPLC was a signatory to the pact.

“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the coalition declared. “We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power.”

DOJ alleges criminal conduct in SPLC's longtime informant network

The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, which rose to prominence for its work prosecuting and tracking hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, violated federal law through its network of paid informants in extremist groups. The DOJ claims the payments funded hate groups and misled the SPLC’s donors.

The SPLC now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought in the federal court in Alabama, where the organization is based.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press conference announcing the charges. Blanche promised the department “will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable.”

Longtime civil rights activists found the claims to be a disingenuous and partisan move that may empower extremist groups.

“The indictment is nakedly political and represents the Justice Department turning on itself,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. “It places the Justice Department in the posture of, in effect, defending white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others.”

Advocates also view the indictment as part of the administration's broader upending of civil rights law and the Justice Department's prosecution of Trump's political opponents.

The SPLC in recent years became a bogeyman among conservatives who resented that the watchdog designated several rightwing organizations that engage in Republican politics as hateful or extremist.

In October, FBI Director Kash Patel cancelled the agency’s longtime anti-extremism partnerships with the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism. Patel at the time called the SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”

The Justice Department and SPLC did not respond to requests for comment.

Indictment represents marked shift for civil rights work

Advocates dispute the DOJ's characterization of the SPLC's work, which civil rights activists credit to combating extremist groups across the country.

“The problem is that the indictment essentially claims that it was a fraud on SPLC’s donors to use their funds to fight the Klan, the Neo Nazis and other white supremacist groups, when that is exactly why people gave to the organization,” said Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a legal group that works with organizations in legal disputes with the Trump administration.

Eisen added: “The notion that there’s something wrong with using informants and protecting their identities to prevent white supremacist violence is belied by the fact that that is not only what the SPLC did, but it is also the stock and trade of the FBI itself.”

Civil rights organizations are now preparing for further legal action against other organizations that disagree with or actively oppose the Trump administration. Organizations have reviewed their document retention, tax compliance and auditing policies over the last year to safeguard against any probes or lawsuits.

Some civil rights organizations have also floated creating new organizational structures that may better withstand legal scrutiny. On another recent call, activists floated restructuring some groups into for-profit entities, or potentially crafting new financial conduits for donors to give through to ensure that staff could receive pay if an organization's assets were seized or frozen.

The preparations represent a marked shift for many civil rights leaders, who in recent years counted the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations as a reliable ally in key civil rights battles.

“What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that do not agree with its political thought,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who said the Justice Department has been “weaponized by dangerous forces."

But for other leaders, the SPLC indictment raised the specter of a return to a previous era, when the Justice Department monitored — and at times prosecuted — civil rights leaders to disrupt their activities.

“We're not backing down, but we are clear-eyed. Everyone could be in some form of jeopardy if you're in the crosshairs of this administration,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group suing the Trump administration over executive orders addressing birthright citizenship and mail-in voting.

“That's what they’re looking for; they want this to have a chilling effect," Proaño said.

Trump’s return to the presidency was fueled by a wide-ranging coalition that built on his loyal base of supporters. Now that Trump has been in the White House for more than a year, the survey of more than 2,500 U.S. adults from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that many key groups — including Hispanic adults, younger adults and men — are increasingly dissatisfied with his presidency.

The poll was conducted from April 16 through Monday, as oil prices fluctuated and Americans spent more at the gas pump.

It’s a particularly bad moment for Trump, a Republican whose economic approval slumped over the past month as the Iran war drives prices higher. But AP-NORC polls show that discontent has been building among critical segments of the population over the past year.

Trump's overall approval among Hispanic adults has fallen 16 percentage points since March 2025, and his support has declined by 9 percentage points among men.

And while Trump’s base is still largely behind him — most Republicans approve of his performance — there are signs that his second term may not be living up to their expectations.

Here’s what polling shows about Trump’s current status with four important groups:

Hispanic adults

Hispanic Americans have grown increasingly discontented with Trump over the past year.

About one-quarter of Hispanic adults approve of how he’s handling the presidency in the new poll, down from about 4 in 10 in March 2025.

That decline has been visible since late last year — suggesting that it’s not just the war in Iran or recent spikes in gas prices that are leaving this group unhappy.

Trump’s restrictive immigration approach may be playing a role. Only about one-quarter of Hispanics approve of his handling of immigration, down from 36% at the beginning of his term.

His immigration tactics appear to be particularly unpopular among younger Hispanics — a group with which he made gains in 2024. Only 18% of younger Hispanic adults approve of his performance on immigration, compared with 40% of Americans overall.

There is also broad discontent about the state of the U.S. economy among Hispanics. Only about one-quarter of Hispanic adults approve of how Trump is handling that issue, and about 2 in 10 say they approve of his approach to the cost of living. Few Hispanic adults, about 2 in 10, describe the nation’s economy as “good.”

Young adults

Trump’s overall approval with Americans under age 45 has slid over the past year, falling from 39% in March 2025 to 28% in the latest poll.

Younger women have a particularly dim view of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Only about 2 in 10 women under age 45 approve of how Trump is handling the economy, including only 7% of younger Hispanic women who approve of his economic approach. More young men, about 3 in 10, approve of him on this issue.

Trump’s struggles among young adults extend to other groups, too. Only about one-third of white adults under age 45 approve of his overall performance, compared with 45% of white adults age 45 or older.

A downtick among men

Trump made broad appeals to men throughout his 2024 campaign, and most male voters backed Trump in the presidential election over Democrat Kamala Harris. In particular, he made slight but significant gains with Black and Hispanic men, who were drawn by his vows to revitalize the economy.

Since he reentered office, though, American men have become slightly less likely to approve of his performance, declining from 47% at the start of his second term to 38% in the most recent poll.

There are signs that Black men, in particular, aren’t seeing Trump’s economic promises pan out. Black men are more likely than white or Hispanic men to disapprove of Trump’s approach to the presidency, as well as his approach to the economy, the cost of living and Iran. Only about 1 in 10 Black men say they approve of how Trump is handling the cost of living, and roughly 2 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the economy.

Hispanic men, too, have a relatively dim view of Trump’s overall performance. About 3 in 10 approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, regardless of their age. That support is stronger among white men, with about half approving of Trump.

While young Republicans are frustrated, MAGA still backs Trump

Trump has benefited from Republicans’ loyalty for years, but there are recent signs of frustration even within his base.

Roughly two-thirds of Republicans approve of Trump’s job performance. That is down slightly from 82% near the start of his second term and is generally in line with the GOP low point from his first term.

But only about half of Republicans overall approve of Trump’s approach to the cost of living, and a majority of Republicans under age 45 disapprove of him on that issue.

Trump is still buoyed by the support of his MAGA base, even as he faces backlash from conservative media figures on some of his recent actions in Iran.

About 9 in 10 MAGA Republicans — those who consider themselves supporters of the “Make America Great Again” movement — approve of Trump’s job performance, and a similar share approve of his handling of Iran.

It's a good sign for Trump that his most robust supporters are still in his corner, but not all Republicans identify with MAGA. About half of Republicans, 54%, say they consider themselves MAGA supporters.

Among non-MAGA Republicans, Trump's approval is much lower, at 44%.

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The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The review from the inspector general's office will focus on how the department collected, reviewed and redacted materials in preparation for their release, as well as its process for addressing concerns that arose after the files were made public, when Epstein survivors complained that personal information about them had been disclosed.

The audit will revisit the department's staggered and uneven release of millions of records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a process that exposed it to accusations that it was attempting to protect President Donald Trump, who decades ago was friendly with the financier. It marks the first significant effort, since Trump took office for a second time, by the watchdog to scrutinize the actions of a department that has been riven by tumult, including mass firings of employees and allegations of politicization of investigations.

The records were released starting late last year in compliance with a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump, who bowed to political pressure from his own party after initially resisting efforts to disclose additional files. That law required the release within 30 days of records related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in a jail in 2019, and also allowed for redactions of information about survivors.

But problems with the department's process soon emerged.

Officials released only a fraction of records within the 30-day deadline, later disclosing they would need several more weeks because of the abrupt discovery of a massive group of records tied to the case.

In late January, the department released what it said were 3 million records, but subsequently withdrew several thousand documents after lawyers told a judge that the lives of nearly 100 abuse survivors had been “turned upside down” by careless redactions. The exposed materials include nude photos, with faces visible, as well as names, email addresses and other identifying information that was either unredacted or not fully obscured.

The department blamed it on “technical or human error.”

In March, the department released additional files involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against the Republican president that it said had been mistakenly withheld during an earlier review.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

The 21-year-old whose legal name is David Burke appeared in a small Los Angeles courtroom in orange jail clothes sitting next to his attorneys, exactly one year after authorities say Rivas Hernandez, a 14-year-old from Lake Elsinore, California, was last known to be alive.

Burke was brought into court wearing handcuffs that were removed when he sat. He spoke only to say “yes, ma'am” to a procedural question from Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo, who set the four-to-five-day preliminary evidentiary hearing to start May 1. She will determine whether there is probably cause to send Burke to trial.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said the prosecution has voluminous evidence that will take time to share, including child sex abuse images taken from Burke's phone with a warrant that must be handled sensitively.

“I cannot turn that type of materials over,” Silverman said.

But she said the prosecution is fine with working on an incredibly tight timeline for the hearing, which usually comes many months after defendants are arrested and charged.

“We'll be ready,” she said.

“Today it’s been exactly one year since the death of Celeste,” the prosecutor said. “We're eager to set this case for trial.”

Burke was arrested on April 16 and pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body.

His lawyers spoke only about the exchange of evidence at Thursday's hearing and declined comment outside court. But at his Monday arraignment, defense attorney Blair Berk told a judge, “We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez.”

In a rare move, the singer is exercising his right in California to have the preliminary evidence hearing within 10 court days of his arraignment. It’s not entirely clear why his lawyers are pursuing the strategy. Berk said in court Monday that with all the secret evidence gathered in the case, they simply want it seen.

The body of Rivas Hernandez, with the head and arms cut off, was found in two bags in a seemingly abandoned Tesla registered to Burke that was towed from the Hollywood Hills while he was on tour.

In an autopsy report unsealed Wednesday, the LA County Medical Examiner determined that she died from two penetrating wounds to her upper body. The decomposing body made the examination difficult. Investigators did not determine how she got the wounds, and no weapon was recovered, the report said.

Prosecutors allege Burke had been sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez for at least a year starting when she was 13; killed her on or around April 23, 2025, after she threatened to report the relationship; and dismembered her body about two weeks later.

Silverman said the evidence includes the contents of his phone and iCloud accounts, items seized from many search warrants and a huge amount of forensic material. And it includes witness testimony given to three different grand juries, whose existence she confirmed for the first time publicly Thursday.

Silverman said the grand juries, which have subpoena power, were called only for investigative reasons. Defense attorneys and court observers have questioned why no grand jury indictment was issued against Burke before his arrest.

“It's been an informative hearing,” Berk, the defense attorney, told the judge.

The girl's parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, made their first public statement in the case on Tuesday, calling their daughter “a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance” and saying “All we want is justice for Celeste.”

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among young fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023. His debut full-length album, “Withered,” was released in 2025.

Leo also asserted that countries have the right to control their borders but mustn’t treat migrants worse than “animals,” and lamented that the church’s morality teaching is often reduced to sexual issues.

On Iran, capital punishment and peace

After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.

He called for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.

He said the question wasn’t whether the Iran regime should change or not. “The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”

He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.

“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” he told reporters aboard his plane. “I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.”

Asked if he condemned Iran’s recent executions, Leo said he condemned “all actions that are unjust” and included capital punishment in the list.

“I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe human life is to be respected and that all people from conception to natural (death), their lives should be respected and protected.

“So when a regime, when a country takes decisions which take away the lives of other people unjustly, then obviously that is something that should be condemned,” he said.

Pope Francis changed the church’s social teaching to declare capital punishment immoral in all cases.

On migration and the rights of states

Leo affirmed the right of countries to impose immigration controls on their borders and acknowledged that uncontrolled migration had created situations “that are sometimes more unjust in the place where they arrive than from where they left.”

“I personally believe that a state has the right to impose rules for its frontiers,” he said. “But saying this, I ask: ‘What are we doing in the wealthier countries to change the situation in poorer countries’ to provide opportunities so that people aren’t compelled to leave?”

Regardless, he said migrants are human beings and deserve to be respected in their human dignity and not be treated “worse than house pets, animals.”

On LGBTQ+ blessings and morality

Leo was asked about the recent invitation by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, for the priests and pastoral workers in his archdioceses to adopt a set of guidelines formalizing and ritualizing blessings of same-sex couples.

The guidelines were approved last year by a controversial German church governing body made up of the German bishops’ conference and a Catholic lay group that has been working to have a greater say in church decision-making.

The Vatican in 2023 allowed for such blessings, but it made clear that they were not to be formalized or ritualized. The Vatican allowed them to be offered spontaneously and informally, as a priest gives a final blessing to all people at the end of Mass.

Leo said the Holy See had made clear to German bishops that “we do not agree with the formalized blessing” of gay couples or couples in other “irregular situations.”

The Vatican’s 2023 declaration allowing an informal blessing, promulgated with virtually no consultation outside the Vatican, sharply divided the church, with African bishops delivering a continent-wide dissent and refusing to implement it. Homosexual activity is criminalized in several African countries.

Asked how he would handle keeping the church unified over such a divisive issue, Leo spoke broadly about how culture war questions of sexual morality had dominated church discourse, particularly in the West, far too much.

“I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters,” he said. “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.

“And in reality, I believe that there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion that would all take priority before that particular issue.”

The comment was significant because it suggested that even though he is American, Leo believes the church in the U.S. and the West has excessively reduced its moral teachings to revolve only around sex at the expense of other pressing issues.

A pope who keeps on eye on how he’s being covered

History’s first U.S. pope showed himself keenly aware of how his Africa trip had been reported and interpreted, including about his sometimes tame public addresses to African leaders who are accused of corruption or authoritarianism.

With a few notable exceptions, Leo kept his political remarks to the leaders largely diplomatic, using a language of encouragement and subtle messaging rather than headline-grabbing condemnations.

He also allowed some of the circumstances of his visit to speak louder than his words: a choreographed song and dance routine by prisoners in a country known for gross human rights abuses, or the extravagant luxury of a president’s hometown in a country where more than half the population lives in poverty.

Leo insisted that his primary reason for visiting Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea was as a pastor, to accompany his flock in their faith.

He added that the Holy See can sometimes achieve more behind the scenes via its diplomatic work, including through the release of political prisoners, than with “great proclamations criticizing, judging or condemning.”

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Associated Press writer Monika Pronczuk contributed to this report.

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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 S&P 500 fell 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 377 points, or 0.8%, as of 1:36 p.m. Eastern, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower after setting its own record. It's a stumble for Wall Street following a weekslong rally that erased all its losses because of the war and then carried it to records.

Tesla dragged on the market and fell 3.4% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors may be focusing instead on Tesla’s increased forecast for spending this year, as it builds factories to make robots and other products.

“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital expenditures,” Elon Musk told investors late Wednesday, “but I think well justified for a substantially increased future revenue stream.”

ServiceNow dropped even more, 17.9%, even though its results for the latest quarter matched analysts’ expectations. The company has been under pressure, along with much of the broad software industry, because of worries that rivals powered by artificial-intelligence technology could undercut its business.

But Texas Instruments helped offset those losses after breezing past analysts' expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO Haviv Ilan said the semiconductor company is benefiting from growth led by industrial and data center customers, and it gave forecasts for profit and revenue in the spring that cleared analysts' estimates.

The 19% leap for Texas Instrument's stock was the strongest single force pushing upward on the S&P 500.

In the oil market, prices turned higher as uncertainty continues about what will happen with the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire is still in place between the United States and Iran, but oil tankers aren’t able to get through the narrow waterway off Iran's coast to exit the Persian Gulf and reach customers.

The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up the standoff a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the strait. President Donald Trump also said Thursday he ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats that deploy mines to gum up traffic in the strait.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, for delivery in June rose 3.4% to $105.42 after bouncing between roughly $101 and $106 overnight. It’s unclear whether U.S.-Iran peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.

More expensive oil has hurt airlines in particular because of the industry's already big fuel bills, and stocks diverged in the industry following the latest profit reports.

American Airlines Group rose 1.5% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Even though winter storms hurt its revenue during the first three months of the year, American said demand was strong for flights, and it saw the nine best weeks for revenue intake in its 100-year history.

Southwest Airlines, though, lost 4.8% after reporting weaker quarterly results than analysts expected. It said it would not give an updated forecast for profit this year because of “the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.”

Also on the losing end of Wall Street was IBM, which sank 9.3% despite reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts said investors were focusing on potentially discouraging numbers underneath the surface, including decelerating growth in trends for its software business.

Warner Bros. Discovery fell 0.7% and Paramount Skydance fell 5.8%. An overwhelming majority of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved selling the business to Paramount.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.7% for two of the bigger losses.

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% after the government reported better-than-expected economic growth for the start of the year, boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in the AI boom. Semiconductor supplier SK Hynix said its revenue for the latest quarter jumped more than analysts expected largely because of AI-related demand.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.34% from 4.30% late Wednesday.

A report in the morning said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the number is still at a historically healthy level. A separate, preliminary report on U.S. business output from S&P Global also suggested growth is improving a bit from its near-stagnation seen in March.

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

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

“My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list,” he said.

Since the new law took effect Dec. 15, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said his practice is “pretty much flooded with this.”

“We’ve kind of shifted a lot of other work away in order to push these cases through,” he said.

Immigration attorney Amandeep Hayer said his Vancouver, British Columbia-area practice went from about 200 citizenship cases a year to more than 20 consultations per day.

How the new law works

Canada has been changing its citizenship laws for decades, whether to update historic interpretations of law or to address discrimination issues.

Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. But the new law opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor — a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.

Those born on or after Dec. 15 need to show that their Canadian parent lived in Canada for 1,095 days.

Under the new law, descendants of Canadians are already considered citizens but must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Hayer estimated that there are millions of Americans who are Canadian descendants.

“You are Canadian, and you’re considered to be one your whole life,” said Hayer, who advocated for the new law in parliament. “That’s really what you’re applying for, the recognition of a right you already have vested.”

“The best way I can put it is like, if a baby’s born tomorrow in Canada, the baby’s Canadian even though they don’t have the birth certificate,” he said.

Americans interested in dual citizenship

American applicants have different motivations, but many say President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and other topics have led them to seek dual citizenship.

Michelle Cunha, of Bedford, Massachusetts, said she decided to move to Canada after reflecting on decades of political activism and deciding she had “nothing left to give.”

“I put in my best effort for 30 years. I have done everything that I possibly can to make the United States what it promises the world to be, a place of freedom, a place of equality,” Cunha said. “But clearly we’re not there and we’re not going to get there anytime soon.”

Troy Hicks, who had a great-grandfather born in Canada, said he was spurred by an international trip.

“I recently went to Australia and you know, first words out of the first person I talked to in Australia was basically an expletive about Trump and the U.S.,” said Hicks, of Pahrump, Nevada. “It was just like, whoa, I walked off a 20-hour flight and literally the first words of somebody’s mouth to me were that. ... So the idea of doing that with a Canadian passport just seemed easier, better, more palatable.”

Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, said she was motivated by the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which hit home when her teenage nephew encountered federal officers near his high school in St. Paul. Sullivan, whose grandmother was Canadian, said she sees citizenship in Canada as an option in case things in the U.S. “really go south.”

“When I first heard about the bill, I couldn’t believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap,” Sullivan said. “There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed.”

How much will Canadian citizenship cost?

For those with documentation ready at hand, the proof of citizenship application fee is a relatively inexpensive 75 Canadian dollars ($55).

But costs will climb for those seeking help from an attorney or genealogist to locate records like birth, death and marriage certificates that can establish the lineage to a Canadian ancestor.

Cunha said she used an attorney and estimates the cost will be about $6,500.

However, Mary Mangan, of Somerville, Massachusetts, filed her application in January using advice from online forums.

“There are some situations where a lawyer might be the right thing, but for many people, I would guess 90% of people can probably do this on their own,” Mangan said.

The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office, which processes applications, says processing times for a certificate is around 10 months, with more 56,000 people awaiting a decision.

The agency said that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, though not all were Americans. Last year, 24,500 Americans gained dual U.S.-Canada citizenship.

What's the reaction in Canada?

Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Canadians are generally a “welcoming people.”

Hampson said some also worry a surge of interest from Americans could delay efforts by refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing vulnerable situations.

“I think where people start looking askance is someone who’s never been to Canada, who has very thin ties. They can get a passport, becoming Canadians of convenience. People don’t like that,” he said.

News 6 anchor Lisa Bell recently met Moriah, a 7-year-old golden retriever with a big job: helping survivors at Harbor House begin to feel safe again.

Moriah recently stopped by the News 6 newsroom, instantly lifting spirits with gentle tail wags and warm, reassuring attention. But her mission goes far beyond a friendly hello. She regularly brings comfort directly to people navigating trauma.

Moriah’s handler, Greg Register, says her work is the result of extensive preparation.

“She started training at eight weeks old,” said Register. “They go for 2,000-plus hours with different handlers.”

Moriah is one of about 130 comfort working dogs nationwide, provided through.

What makes Moriah different from many working dogs is right on her harness. Instead of “Do not pet,” it reads: “Please pet me.”

“She’s trained literally for anybody, anywhere, anytime,” said Register. “We’ve had 20 kids basically crawling on her, and she just doesn’t move. So they’re trained to be puddles of love, and they are there just to be present. To give you a moment of peace.”

At least once a month, Moriah and another Comfort Working Dog named Peace visit Harbor House. Their presence can help ease anxiety, calm fears, and remind survivors that they are not alone.

Register says it’s common to see kids arrive fearful and withdrawn, then transform during the visit.

“We’re not here to fix anything, we’re not here to solve your issues, we’re just here to have a bridge, a moment of peace, a moment of comfort,” said Register. “(Harbor House) is just such a unique place because you never know which families are going to be there, you never know the age groups you’re going to see, and it’s always just a time of reflection... Many times there’ll be kids in the corner that are very, very scared of the dogs, and you can see they’re going through some trauma. And then, by the time we’re there for an hour, 99% of them have already transposed, they’re playing with the dog. You can just see a change in their attitude, a change their system. And it’s just an amazing revelation to see why you’re there.”

Pedro Enrique Da Silva was first arrested on Jan. 14 on charges of written solicitation of a minor, sexual offenses as an authority figure, and distribution of obscene materials — all stemming from alleged inappropriate communications with a 17-year-old student while he was serving as a school resource officer at Seminole High School.

The new accusations surfaced after Da Silva’s January arrest, when a female Facebook profile commented on the Sanford Police Department’s social media post announcing the arrest, suggesting Da Silva had been talking to other students at the high school, according to the affidavit.

After reviewing surveillance footage at Seminole High School, police interviewed the second student on Jan. 26, where she told investigators that sometime before winter break 2025, Da Silva called her into his office after she got in trouble at school. The student said Da Silva asked her age, her birthday, and what she was doing to celebrate — then offered to buy alcohol so the two could “get drunk” together, the affidavit states.

The student told police Da Silva asked if she “wanted to do anything with him in the office” and that “he could lock the door so no one would see what was happening.” She told investigators the encounter made her uncomfortable, but she was eventually allowed to return to class, the affidavit states.

The student told investigators that as Da Silva escorted her back to class, he took her phone from her to add his personal phone number to her contacts. She said he also attempted to look through her photo album before she took the phone back. During the walk, she said Da Silva told her “she didn’t have to wait until her 18th birthday for them to do things together,” the affidavit states.

The student told investigators that the two then boarded an elevator together she could reach her second-floor class. According to the affidavit, the student said Da Silva stood behind her in the elevator and told her “he wanted to touch her” — then grabbed her from behind.

The student also described two separate occasions inside Da Silva’s school office when she said he showed her nude images of himself from his cellphone.

She described one image as a male from the waist down wearing boxer shorts with a visible imprint, and said she recognized the person in the photo as Da Silva because of tattoos on his leg, according to the affidavit.

Pedro Enrique Da Silva, 36, faces additional charges of sexual offense by an authority figure and showing obscene material to a minor. He is set to have a first appearance at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the U.S. military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted, adding that U.S. minesweepers "are clearing the Strait right now.”

“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” he added.

Meanwhile, it was still unclear when, or if, the two sides would meet again in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where mediators are trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

Negotiations initially planned for this week have not happened. Iran insists it will not attend until the U.S. ends its blockade on Iranian ports and ships. America insists it will not take part until Tehran opens the strait to international traffic.

Footage shows US forces on deck of tanker

The Defense Department released video footage earlier Thursday of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

The footage emerged a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in an assault that raised new concerns about the safety of shipping through the waterway.

The powerful head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said three “violating ships” in the strait were “subject to enforcement” on Wednesday.

“The show of strength by the armed forces of Islamic Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is a source of pride,” he wrote Thursday on X, claiming that the Americans “lack the courage” to approach the strait.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, which was seized earlier by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

There was no immediate response from Iran about the seizure.

Trump claims leadership rift in Iran

Trump this week extended a ceasefire to give the battered Iranian leadership more time to come up with a “unified proposal” on ending the war, while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.

In a separate post Thursday, Trump claimed a leadership rift between moderates and hardliners was confounding Iran.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said.

The president has repeatedly said over the course of the ceasefire that began on April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging that his decision to kill several top leaders has come with complications.

Lebanon and Israel to hold second round of talks

Elsewhere on the diplomatic track, Lebanon and Israel were set to hold a second round of talks in Washington to discuss the possibility of extending a truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah started two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran, after the Tehran-backed militants fired rockets into northern Israel.

In a new show of the fragility of the ceasefire that went into effect Friday in Lebanon, Hezbollah said it attacked Israeli positions in southern Lebanon, targeting Israeli soldiers in the village of Taybeh.

Each side has accused the other of breaching the 10-day truce.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has choked off nearly all exports through the strait with no end in sight.

On Thursday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin. The person believed responsible was immediately detained by police.

During the event, Pahlavi criticized the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, arguing that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”

Pahlavi, 65, has been in exile for nearly 50 years. His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Threats to shipping persist

Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

Jakob Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners, said in a note Thursday that most shipping companies need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the strait is safe for transit.

The threat of mines, he wrote, was a “particular concern” if traffic might return to normal levels one day.

The ceasefire has been strained by the dueling U.S. attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels.

The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned that the effects on businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.

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Madhani reported from Washington, and Keaten reported from Geneva.

The meeting between Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter is the second between the two diplomats, days after they held the first such direct talks between the two countries in three decades.

The U.S. will be represented in the talks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, State Department Counsellor Michael Needham, Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, according to the State Department. Huckabee did not participate in the first round.

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that Hamadeh will put forward an extension of the 10-day ceasefire that went into effect last Friday. She also will ask for an end to Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, Aoun said in comments released by his office.

Preparations are being made for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

“We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” Saar said during Independence Day remarks to Israel’s ambassadors and diplomatic corps in which he also described the neighboring country as a “failed state.”

“The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”

The latest war started after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion in which it captured dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Israel’s military currently occupies a buffer zone stretching as much as 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. Israel says it aims to remove the threat of short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles being fired toward northern Israel.

Despite Hezbollah’s outright rejection, the talks are a major step for two countries with no diplomatic relations that officially have been at war since Israel’s inception in 1948.

The Lebanese government hopes the talks will pave the way to a permanent end to the war. While Iran has set ending the wars in Lebanon and the region as a condition for talks with the U.S., Lebanon insists on representing itself.

Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, told The Associated Press that the group will not abide by any agreements made during the direct talks, which it opposes.

Since the ceasefire went into effect last week, there have been multiple violations by both side sides.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children, and displaced over 1 million people.

Last week’s talks were the first between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Both countries have relied on indirect communication, often brokered by the U.S. or UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s top political authorities, critical of Hezbollah’s decision to fire rockets toward Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, quickly proposed direct talks in a bid to stop the escalation, hoping Israel would not launch its ground invasion.

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Abby Sewell in Beirut and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at about 30 locations mostly in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A total of 43 people, including those already in custody, have been indicted on charges that include murder, kidnapping, extortion, running an illegal gambling operation and drug trafficking, prosecutors said.

Officers seized 120 pounds (54 kilos) of methamphetamine, more than eight pounds (four kilos) of fentanyl, along with 25 firearms and more than $30,000 in cash, officials said.

“The stuff that we’re taking off the streets is very, very dangerous. These guys have no regard for human life. They’re about making money,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference.

The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system.

The indictment alleges one leader who was incarcerated used contraband cellphones to oversee the Mexican Mafia's criminal activities from his state prison cell from June 2024 to April 2026. He directed street gang members to kidnap and assault people, according to court documents. The gang also allegedly sold drugs including fentanyl, meth, heroin and cocaine.

“It ran illegal gambling businesses within commercial strip malls and private residences,” the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. “The gang collected extortionate taxes and provided security, including the use of violence, to protect the illegal gambling businesses.”

The gang is also suspected of a murder at a “gang-controlled” motel in Anaheim, according to the indictment.

The defendants will begin making their initial appearances Thursday afternoon in federal court in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Officials plan to unveil the marker Thursday in Ellerbe, North Carolina, a community of about 1,000 people where the wrestler born Andre Rene Roussimoff lived on a ranch just outside town.

Roussimoff was billed at 7-foot-4 (2.24 meters) and 520 pounds (236 kilograms) during his time wrestling for the WWE in the 1970s and 1980s.

A larger than life villain, Roussimoff was touted as unbeatable until he faced Hulk Hogan in a match in 1987 at WrestleMania III that launched the once regional wrestling company into a nationwide entertainment force.

Later that year, Roussimoff appeared on film as the giant Fezzik in “The Princess Bride.” Fezzik was the gentle-hearted muscle for the antagonist and needed rhymes to remember his instructions.

Roussimoff was born in France. But as he wrestled around the U.S. South he fell in love with the region, buying his North Carolina ranch and raising cattle on his land about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Charlotte.

He became a critical part of the Ellerbe community. In 1990, he taped TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size-26 cowboy boots are kept at a museum.

Roussimoff died in 1993 at age 46 in France where he was visiting for his father’s funeral. They had a service for him there, but his body was cremated and his ashes spread at his beloved ranch.

The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 73 and Old NC Highway 220 simply says “Andre The Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.23% from 6.3% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.81%.

The average rate is now at its lowest level since March 19, when it was 6.22%.

Meanwhile, borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also eased this week. That average rate dropped to 5.58% from 5.65% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.94%, Freddie Mac said.

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

Rates have been declining of late, echoing some easing in the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.30% in midday trading on the bond market Thursday, down slightly from 4.32% a week ago. The yield was at just 3.97% in late February, before the war with Iran broke out.

As recently as late February, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage slipped just under 6% for the first time since late 2022. It started climbing last month as the war with Iran sent energy prices soaring, heightening worries about higher inflation.

Bond yields, and mortgage rates, have been volatile in the weeks since as the conflict drags on despite attempts by the U.S. and Iran to negotiate a ceasefire.

The war has ratcheted up worries over higher inflation and the trajectory of the economy at a time when consumers are feeling less confident about the job market. That, plus the volatility in mortgage rates, has clouded the outlook for the spring homebuying season.

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

“Looking ahead, mortgage rates will likely continue to be volatile throughout the spring,” Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS, said in an email. “For the market to regain full momentum, we will need to see more than just a temporary dip in rates. Rather, we need sustained stability in the global energy market and a clearer sign that domestic inflation is back on a downward trajectory.”

Authorities in several states did not name the event, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as Jazz Fest, runs from Thursday through May 3. The gathering attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said.

Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted for “terroristic threats,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office in Florida posted online Thursday. Federal authorities told the sheriffs office that Gillum was in the Florida Panhandle “heading to do a mass shooting at a large festival in Louisiana.” The sheriffs office did not name the federal agency, and the FBI office in New Orleans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Okaloosa sheriff’s office said Gillum was arrested without incident Wednesday night at a hotel in Destin, and posted a photo of him being led away in handcuffs. Deputies recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition from the hotel room, the statement said.

Gillum was arrested as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges there, the sheriff’s office said. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer. The Associated Press left a message at phone numbers listed for him.

Gillum’s family reported him missing on Tuesday and he had a history of self-harm, according to Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. Gillum’s family told law enforcement he had a gun and “expressed recent threats to harm ‘Black people,’” according to a bulletin from police in Burlington, North Carolina.

Lyons said Gillum crossed state lines before his agency could prepare the paperwork to involuntarily commit him to psychiatric treatment. Lyons said that there were no criminal grounds to detain Gillum despite his comments about Black people “because there was no victim.”

“But we felt that there was definitely something there that needed to be shared, so that’s what we did,” Lyons said.

Gillum was located and stopped by law enforcement in Oklaloosa County on Wednesday, according to Lyons and the Burlington police bulletin.

However, Gillum “did not present any grounds for involuntary commitment or criminal charges” and was allowed to continue on his way, the bulletin stated. Gillum told officers that he was “enroute to New Orleans,” the report added.

Okaloosa deputies were initially asked to make a “welfare check” on Gillum Wednesday morning and were “not aware” of any threats he had made, sheriff spokesperson Michele Nicholson said. Later that day, after the sheriff's office learned Gillum was being investigated, deputies surveilled him until a signed warrant arrived from Louisiana, she added.

Gillum had been hired as a detention officer by the sheriff’s office in Orange County, North Carolina, in October 2023 but he left in July 2024, department spokesperson Alicia L. Stemper said.

“We hired him again as a deputy on Jan. 13, 2025,” she said in an email. “He resigned his position on Sept. 21, 2025, and we terminated him accordingly.”

Gillum also served as a sworn police officer for Chapel Hill from 2004 until his resignation in 2019, town communications manager Alex Carrasquillo said.

“He returned as a non-sworn employee in 2024 before leaving for another job by the end of that year,” Carrasquillo said in an email.

Louisiana State Police spokesperson Trooper Danny Berrincha said the agency is still investigating the episode with the FBI.

“At this time, there are no known direct threats to any festivals in Louisiana,” he added.

In a statement, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival said it works closely with law enforcement and applauded their efforts, saying ”we look forward to another safe and joyful Jazz Fest.”

————

Mustian reported from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and McCormack from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writer Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contributed.

The fires that spread this week during an extreme drought in Georgia and Florida have blanketed cities hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in smoke, leading to more air quality warnings Thursday across the Southeast.

Driven by strong winds and low humidity, the two biggest fires in southern Georgia have spread rapidly over the past two days and destroyed more than 50 homes in rural areas. But the growing threat led to more evacuations and school closings on Wednesday.

“I don’t know if I have a house standing or not,” said Denise Stephens, who was forced to evacuate because of the fast-moving Brantley County fire near Georgia's coast. "I know what it’s taken from other people, but I don’t know what I have left standing.”

The weather forecast Thursday appeared to warn of another high-risk day, with shifting winds that could send embers flying in all directions a major concern.

Fires were continuing to pop up across Georgia. Fire crews responded to 34 new and relatively small blazes on Wednesday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said. In Florida, firefighters were battling more than 130 wildfires, mostly in the state’s northern half.

Georgia officials say the wildfires are being fueled in part by fallen trees and limbs still on the ground since Hurricane Helene crossed the state’s southern region in September 2024.

“There’s a ton of old Hurricane Helene debris down in the woods,” said Seth Hawkins, a Georgia Forestry Commission spokesperson. “It’s laying around and it’s just a tinderbox out there.”

It was not known yet how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia and northern Florida are both extremely dry.

In Georgia, the Brantley County fire has caused much of the structural damage across 7 square miles (18 kilometers) but remained stable overnight, the sheriff’s office said Thursday.

“While this stability is encouraging, wind conditions remain unpredictable and could cause conditions to change rapidly,” according to the update, which said the blaze is about 15% contained.

Georgia's largest fire is burning in a mostly rural area of east of Valdosta and has continued to explode in size, covering 47 square miles (121 square kilometers) — twice the size of Manhattan.

Smoke from the wildfires was drifting across a large area of the Southeast, making the air unhealthy on Thursday for children and those with lung or heart problems in cities as far as Columbia, South Carolina. A haze hung over Atlanta’s skyline a day earlier and there was a smoky smell across the metro area.

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Associated Press writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration's animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump's second term.

It's another layer of complexity for the so-called “nerd prom,” given the name for the sight of reporters in tuxes. Some people are already squeaming about journalists toasting and laughing with people they regularly cover.

“This is sort of a critical moment for these dinners and it will be interesting to see what happens going forward,” said Lisa Stark, a former ABC News reporter.

Petition asks journalists to ‘speak forcefully’ on freedom of press

She and longtime colleague Ian Cameron have circulated a petition urging journalists who attend Saturday to “speak forcefully” in defense of the press with Trump in attendance. Dan Rather and former ABC White House reporter Sam Donaldson are among more than 350 former journalists to sign. Reporters have talked about a visible protest like lapel pins touting the First Amendment.

Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, was the first president to attend the dinner. Chief executives usually appear, requiring them in recent years to appear to be good sports as comics like Stephen Colbert, Colin Jost and Trevor Noah make jokes about them. Trump attended in 2011, glaring from the audience at President Barack Obama's barbs about him. This will be the first year he attends as president, however.

“The only thing more insulting for the press than Trump not coming is Trump coming,” Kelly McBride, NPR ombudsman and head of the Poynter Institute's ethics and leadership center, wrote last week.

“This man mocks you, sues you, and targets you for prosecution,” former AP White House reporter Ron Fournier wrote on Substack. He detailed a list on Trump's actions against the press, finishing with: “and you're having dinner with him?” The top editor at HuffPost — a news website clearly hostile to Trump — said its journalists wouldn't attend Saturday as a protest.

The president of the WHCA, CBS News' Weijia Jiang, had no immediate comment. But Todd Gilman, a former White House bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News and now a journalism professor for Arizona State University, suggested it wasn't the press' role to make news itself by snubbing Trump. The president will make news either way depending on what he says there, he said.

There's a misperception, Gilman said, that the correspondents are honoring Trump by having him at the dinner.

Some potential uncomfortable moments

Meanwhile, CBS owners Paramount are reportedly hosting a dinner to honor Trump Thursday at the Institute of Peace, which was renamed for Trump last year. Paramount is awaiting government approval of its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

The president, if he chooses to stay at the correspondents dinner Saturday, will also face some uncomfortable moments as the WHCD gives awards to journalists he has criticized, like CNN's Kaitlan Collins. The Wall Street Journal is being honored for its story about Trump's birthday message to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — for which the president sued the newspaper. The AP, which is battling Trump in court over access, is also being honored.

Debate over the appearance of partying with the president and his staff isn't new. The New York Times stopped attending the event in 2011 for that reason. The Atlantic magazine wrote about the “slow, awkward death” of the correspondents dinner in 2018.

Correspondents should acknowledge that “a red-carpet schmoozefest with the powerful sources they cover was never a good idea,” McBride wrote. News organizations will also be watched this weekend for administration officials sitting at their tables as guests, such as CBS News reportedly inviting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Many journalists who have attended, however, said the opportunity to have personal interactions with people they cover can help them later in their jobs. Gilman has brought ambassadors from Mexico as guests— an important contact for a reporter at a Texas newspaper. NPR journalist Eric Deggans wrote on Substack that he got an interview with media mogul Byron Allen after making a connection at the WHCD dinner.

“Even if you're not sitting with an administration official, you have the opportunity to walk up to someone, say hi, break the ice and give them a business card,” Gilman said. “It puts a face to the name, so maybe they'll return your call the next time.”

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

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson stopped short Thursday of saying Wembanyama will play in Game 3. Wembanyama is “progressing,” Johnson said, but his status against the Trail Blazers remains uncertain.

“He looks good,” Johnson said, noting that the Spurs hadn't even started discussions on when Wembanyama can play again.

Wembanyama was at the team's practice facility for a second consecutive day Thursday, walking around in a black hoodie and gray sweatpants. He even got a few shots up, teammate Julian Champagnie said.

“He was only around for a little bit this morning,” Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said Thursday. “Obviously, we just want him to be healthy.”

Wembanyama — the league's first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and one of three finalists for the Most Valuable Player award — suffered a concussion in the Spurs' Game 2 loss to Portland on Tuesday night, leaving the game in the second quarter.

Game 3 of the series — tied at a game apiece — is Friday in Portland, followed by Game 4 there on Sunday. The Spurs were scheduled to fly to Portland on Thursday afternoon.

There are very specific steps that players have to clear before being removed from the league's concussion protocol. Players begin the return-to-play process with light exertion — such as riding a stationary bike, jogging, agility work and non-contact basketball drills — and each step is followed by another neurological examination.

Wembanyama's results will also be compared to his baseline neurological evaluation — which players undergo prior to each season — before doctors permit him to move forward in the return-to-play plan.

“It's pretty straightforward,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we hope he'll be back at some point. But we'll allow the protocol to play out. And again, there's nothing more important than his health.”

Any extended absence by Wembanyama would be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league’s second-best record behind the versatile 7-foot-4 center from France. They were 12-6 in the regular season without Wembanyama.

Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game this season. He was also with his teammates on Wednesday evening, when they all donned cowboy hats and surprised teammate Keldon Johnson after he was announced as the league's Sixth Man of the Year.

“We know that he's chomping at the bit to get back on the court and be with his guys,” Johnson said.

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

The deal involves Regeneron lowering the prices of current and future drugs on Medicaid and selling a cholesterol drug called Praluent for $225 on the White House's discounted drug website TrumpRx, according to the agreement first outlined by NOTUS and confirmed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The deal comes as the Trump administration has been touting efforts to provide economic relief ahead of November's midterm elections, with Americans saying high costs for health care, gas, groceries and other basic needs are straining their budgets.

It's one of many so-called most-favored-nation deals the Trump administration has made with drug companies to bring U.S. pharmaceutical prices to the same level as other developed nations. Last July, Trump publicly sent letters to executives at 17 major pharmaceutical companies about the issue. Regeneron is the final one of those companies to strike a deal with his administration.

As part of the deal, Regeneron has also committed to spending nearly $10 billion to bring pharmaceutical production to the United States, NOTUS reported. Trump’s deals have historically offered companies relief on his tariffs if they make such commitments.

Even as Trump and his Department of Health and Human Services have touted his drug-pricing deals as transformative, the details of the agreements have so far not been made public.

Pressed by members of Congress to share the contracts this week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his team would share whatever details it could that didn't include proprietary information or trade secrets. Trump and Kennedy have urged Congress to codify the deals into law.

Drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Patients on Medicaid, the state and federally funded program for people with low incomes, already pay a nominal co-payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs.

In an arrest report, troopers said they began receiving multiple reports of a hit-and-run crash involving a pickup truck along the highway around 4:30 p.m.

Per a witness, the crash happened in the eastbound lane near mile marker 105 in Seminole County, with the truck striking a guardrail.

“(The witness) stated the Silverado lost its front left wheel, then continued driving,” the report reads.

[RELATED: Driver arrested after I-4 crash leaves 3 dead in Central Florida]

Troopers reported that the driver — later identified as Eric Drewry, 47 — eventually made his way to South Shell Road, driving through a construction barricade and getting stuck in the sand near a large retention pond.

Yet another witness reportedly followed the truck, claiming that it did “donuts and other reckless maneuvers” as it fled the crash scene before becoming stuck, troopers added.

Upon arrival at the truck, deputies also learned that Drewry had attacked a law enforcement officer who’d tried to detain him, the report reveals.

“When I questioned him about the crash, he said, ‘What crash?’ and later that he wasn’t driving,” the arrest report continues.

[BELOW: Central Florida substitute teacher caught acting ‘erratically,’ deputies say]

Troopers further noted that Drewry had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and was unable to recall basic details about what had just happened — all indicators that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

As a result, Drewry was ultimately taken into custody and now faces the following charges:

• Refusal to submit to DUI testing
• Leaving the scene of a crash with unattended property damage
• DUI involving property damage

The shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. by former Franklin County Deputy Jason Meade, who is white, led to protests in Columbus and lingering questions, in part because the sheriff’s office didn’t equip its deputies with body cameras or dash cameras.

Meade faced the same charges at his first trial. The judge in that case declared a mistrial in 2024 after the jury couldn't agree on a verdict.

Attorney Howard Merkle, a special prosecutor for the case, recounted events that he said led up to the shooting, and urged jurors to consider the evidence he said proves Meade’s use of force was unreasonable.

“The evidence will show that on December 4, 2020, the defendant shot Casey Goodson Jr. six times in the back, killing him,” he said.

“At the time, Casey had entered his house, was carrying a bag of Subways and was listening to YouTube music on his AirPods,” Merkle said.

Meade testified in the first trial that Goodson waved a gun at him as the two drove past each other and that he pursued Goodson because he feared for his life and the lives of others. He said he eventually fired as Goodson entered his grandmother’s home because the 23-year-old man turned toward him with a gun.

Defense attorney Kaitlyn Stephens said the now-retired deputy feared for his life in the confrontation with Goodson, and said officers do “not have to wait to be shot at in order to protect themselves.”

“The evidence will show that Jason Meade was justified, a justified tragedy,” she said.

Meade had been searching unsuccessfully for a fugitive that day as part of his work for a U.S. Marshals Service task force. Goodson was not the subject of the fugitive search, and the Marshals have said Meade wasn’t performing a mission for them at the time.

Goodson’s family and prosecutors have said Goodson was holding a sandwich bag in one hand and his keys in the other, having unlocked the front door, when he was fatally shot. They did not dispute that Goodson may have been carrying a gun, which he had a license to carry, but prosecutors have noted that Meade has been the only person to testify that Goodson was holding a gun.

Goodson’s weapon was found on his grandmother’s kitchen floor with the safety mechanism engaged.

Jurors in the previous trial deadlocked after one was dismissed during testimony and replaced by an alternate and three others were dismissed and replaced during deliberations, forcing the panel to restart deliberations multiple times. Court officials did not say why the jurors were removed.

The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it's regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to researching cannabis.

The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late June.

Trump told his administration in December to work as quickly as possible to reclassify marijuana. On Saturday, as the Republican president signed an unrelated executive order about psychedelics, he seemed to express frustration that it was taking so long.

Blanche said Thursday that the Department of Justice was “delivering on President Trump’s promise” to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” he said in a statement.

What the marijuana reclassification order does

Blanche's action Iargely legitimizes medical marijuana programs in the 40 states that have adopted them. It sets up an expedited system for state-licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors to register with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It makes clear that cannabis researchers won't be penalized for obtaining state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use in their work, and it grants state-licensed medical marijuana companies a windfall by allowing them, for the first time, to deduct business expenses on their federal taxes.

Any marijuana-derived medicine approved by the Food and Drug Administration is similarly listed in Schedule III, it said.

Since 2015, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from using its resources to shut down state-licensed medical marijuana systems. But the order nevertheless represents a major policy shift for the U.S. government, which has continued its longstanding marijuana prohibition — dating to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 — even as nearly all the states have approved cannabis use in some form.

Two dozen states plus Washington, D.C., have authorized adult recreational use of marijuana, 40 have medical marijuana systems, and eight others allow low-THC cannabis or CBD oil for medical use. Only Idaho and Kansas ban marijuana outright.

The regulation of medical marijuana has come a long way since California became the first state to adopt it in 1996, Blanche wrote.

“Today the vast majority of States maintain comprehensive licensing frameworks governing cultivation, processing, distribution, and dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes,” Blanche wrote. “Taken as a whole, they demonstrate a sustained capacity to achieve the public-interest objectives ... including protecting public health and safety and preventing the diversion of controlled substances into illicit channels.”

The president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, Michael Bronstein, called it “the most significant federal advancement in cannabis policy in over 50 years."

“This action recognizes what Americans have long known, cannabis is medicine,” he said in a written statement.

Critic calls the order ‘a tax break to Big Weed’

The Trump administration’s decision drew derision from marijuana legalization opponent Kevin Sabet, the chief executive of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Sabet said that while marijuana research is necessary, "there are many ways to increase our knowledge without giving a tax break to Big Weed and sending a confusing message about marijuana’s harms to the American public.”

“With this move, we are now confronted with the most pro-drug administration in our history,” Sabet said in a text message. “Policy is now being dictated by marijuana CEOs, psychedelics investors, and podcasters in active addiction."

Marijuana or marijuana-derived products that are not distributed through a state medical marijuana program will continue to be classified in Schedule I.

Schedule III drugs are defined as having moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Some critics of the industry have suggested that legalization in the states has led to stronger and stronger cannabis products, which need to be researched rather than categorized less strictly than before.

The efforts to reclassify marijuana

The Justice Department under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had proposed to reclassify marijuana, eliciting nearly 43,000 formal public comments. The DEA was still in the review process when Trump succeeded Biden, and Trump ordered that process to move along as quickly as legally possible.

Blanche's order sidestepped the review process by relying on a provision of federal law that allows the attorney general to determine the appropriate classification for drugs that the U.S. must regulate pursuant to an international treaty.

It was unclear how the order might affect operations in states where licensed recreational marijuana shops also sell to medical patients. In Washington state, which in 2012 became one of the first states to legalize the adult use of marijuana, 302 of 460 licensed stores have endorsements allowing them to sell tax-free cannabis products to registered patients.

Many Republicans oppose loosening marijuana restrictions. More than 20 Republican senators, several of them staunch Trump allies, signed a letter last year urging the president to keep the current standards.

Trump has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl, a feature of his second term, ordering U.S. military attacks on Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying drugs. He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.

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This story has been corrected to show the spelling in the name of the 1937 law was Marihuana, not Marijuana.

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Johnson reported from Seattle.

Volusia County deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers responded to multiple reports of hit-and-run crashes on Wednesday involving a reckless driver on I-4, beginning in Seminole County. Witnesses reported the suspect vehicle struck a guardrail, lost a front wheel and kept going.

[WATCH: Pickup truck seen driving with 3 wheels after reports of hit-and-runs]

Deputies say the driver eventually exited I-4 and became stuck at a construction site off Shell Road in DeBary. Deputies then detained the driver, identified as Eric Drewry, 47.

Drewry appeared to be under the influence at the time of his arrest, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities say he resisted deputies and kicked one while being escorted into the back of a patrol vehicle.

According to the police report, when a trooper questioned Drewry about the crash, he replied, “What crash?”

During transport to the hospital, Drewry reportedly asked deputies multiple times to release him in exchange for $2,000.

Drewry was charged with resisting law enforcement and battery on a law enforcement officer, DUI, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage, and refusal to submit to DUI testing.

The next moment, Rivera was shot.

These moments are detailed in a newly released video from Rivera’s own bodycam. WARNING: Video may be disturbing.

Luis Diaz Polanco is facing charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer for the March 2 shooting.

“There is no doubt in my mind he had every intention when those deputies knocked on that door to kill them,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6.

[WATCH: Volusia deputy shooting suspect’s confession shows mental state, events leading to attack]

Rivera and a trainee working with him arrived at Polanco’s home to question him about a vandalism call earlier in the day. In transcripts obtained by News 6 Polanco told deputies that his day had started badly and he had gotten the gun to threaten a friend of his mother’s that he had argued with. He also was not taking his medication for schizophrenia.

“We did have information that he was violent and that information was from his mother, that ‘Hey I don’t know what happened but he’s violent and sometimes he doesn’t take his meds,’ and that’s what gets us to that address,” Chitwood said.

Rivera’s bodycam shows the moment the gunman steps out of the house and fires.

Rivera turns around to run and says, “oh sh**, no!” Then the video ends.

Originally, it was believed Rivera was shot twice, with one bullet ricocheting off his bodycam and hitting him in the shoulder. Now it’s believed he was hit three times -- in the body camera, in the arm, and in the thigh.

[WATCH: Bodycam takes direct hit as Volusia deputy is shot twice during battery investigation, sheriff says]

Rivera is recovering from the incident. He had some complications that required a second trip to the hospital in March, but the sheriff’s office said he was OK.

Polanco has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is scheduled to return to court next month.

“We all know what happened,” Chitwood said. “Now obviously it goes into a courtroom, which is different than out here, but we know what happened and we’re pretty confident the facts are so strong here that we know where this is going.”

I went out in Brevard County looking for the Florida Scrub-Jay a bird that’s basically Florida’s hometown celebrity, except it refuses to tour. Because it literally can’t. The Florida Scrub-Jay lives nowhere else on Earth.

And of course, the day I’m chasing it around, the weather decided to be dramatic. We got soaked while filming. My camera got soaked. I got soaked. The scrub got soaked. The scrub-jay? Completely unbothered.

Meet the Florida Scrub-Jay (Florida’s Endemic Loudmouth)

The Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) is a blue-and-gray songbird and the only bird species found exclusively in Florida. That “only in Florida” detail is what makes it so special and also what makes it vulnerable. If their habitat disappears here, they don’t have a backup plan somewhere else.

Scrub-jays are known for being bold and curious, and they often live in family groups. In many cases, younger birds stick around and help parents raise the next round of chicks kind of like a built-in support system, but with feathers and way more yelling.

The Habitat: Florida Scrub (Not a “Scrub,” an Ecosystem)

Florida Scrub-Jays depend on Florida scrub habitat think sandy soil, low-growing oak shrubs, palmettos, and open patches of sand. It’s not lush, it’s not shady, and it’s definitely not the kind of place you’d pick for a picnic in sideways rain.

But for scrub-jays, this habitat is the whole deal.

Here’s the catch: scrub habitat can’t be just anything that looks wild. It needs to stay in a “just right” stage not too tall, not too dense, with enough open space for scrub-jays to forage and keep an eye out.

Historically, periodic wildfire helped keep scrub ecosystems in that sweet spot. Without disturbance (like fire), scrub can become overgrown, and that can make it harder for scrub-jays to thrive.

Why the Florida Scrub-Jay Is Threatened

The Florida Scrub-Jay is listed as Threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

The main pressures are:

• Habitat loss and fragmentation (development breaks scrub into smaller, isolated pieces)
• Habitat degradation (scrub growing too tall and dense when natural processes like fire are suppressed)

When you’re a species that only lives in one state and you require one specific habitat type those problems hit harder.

Behavior: Smart, Social, and (Sometimes) a Food Hoarder

One of the coolest scrub-jay behaviors is caching they stash food (especially acorns) and return to it later. That matters because caching doesn’t just help the bird; it can also help the ecosystem. Forgotten acorns can sprout, contributing to plant growth over time.

They’re also non-migratory, meaning they don’t fly south for the winter or bounce between seasonal ranges. They’re tied to their home scrub, year-round.

Photographing the Scrub-Jay in Brevard County (In Weather That Hated Us)

Filming in Brevard County scrub on a cold, wet, windy day is less “nature documentary” and more “outdoor punishment hobby.”

But the payoff is that moment when the scrub-jay shows up blue feathers popping against a gray sky, perched low in the scrub, doing what it’s always done here: surviving in a habitat that looks simple until you realize how rare it actually is.

The bird doesn’t care that you’re soaked. The bird doesn’t care that your lens cloth is losing the battle. The bird is just… a Florida Scrub-Jay. Endemic. Tough. Right at home.

Why It Matters

Florida scrub is one of the most unique ecosystems in the state, and the Florida Scrub-Jay is one of its most recognizable ambassadors. Protecting scrub habitat through land conservation, restoration, and responsible habitat management helps keep this species on the landscape for future generations.

Because “found only in Florida” is an awesome fact unless we turn it into a warning label.

The BYU forward — widely expected to be a top candidate to be the No. 1 pick — made the announcement Thursday. Dybantsa led the nation by averaging 25.5 points per game in his lone college season, along with 6.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

He's the first player to have a season with all those averages and be named a consensus All-American since Larry Bird did it for Indiana State in 1978-79.

“Now the work starts again, all over again," Dybantsa said. “I've had a lot of NBA players tell me that it kind of restarts once you get there. I'm just looking forward to that next step, being a rookie and learning from all the vets.”

Dybantsa made the announcement at the Davis School in his hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts — the home of boxing greats Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler, among others.

“It's the city of champions,” Dybantsa said. “I just want to be considered like one of those champions.”

Dybantsa attended the Davis School until fifth grade and said he still values the lessons instilled in him there, including the importance of education. That's part of the reason why, even though he's going to the NBA, Dybantsa said he will simultaneously remain in school and continue working toward a mass communications degree at BYU.

“My mom wanted me to stay in college to graduate,” Dybantsa said. “But I told my mother that I'm going to declare for the draft and also finish and get my degree online. I'll probably finish within the next four years.”

The draft order will not be known until the lottery on May 10, where Washington, Indiana and Brooklyn all have the best odds — 14% each — of winning and landing the chance to pick No. 1 overall. When asked what team he would like to play for in the NBA, Dybantsa gave an immediate answer.

"Whatever team drafts me, bro," Dybantsa said.

He's not lacking for confidence and hopes to give another speech in Massachusetts — the home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame — when his playing career is over.

“The next speech — the next big, big speech — I should have is the Hall of Fame speech,” Dybantsa said. “So, we should be good.”

___

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

The EU also approved a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine. The measures were prepared early this year and had been set to be announced in February to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict, but Hungary and Slovakia opposed the move.

Hungary and Slovakia have been locked in a feud with Ukraine since Russian oil deliveries to the two EU countries were halted in January after a pipeline was damaged. Ukrainian officials blamed the damage on Russian drone attacks. Both countries confirmed Thursday that deliveries have resumed.

Ukraine desperately needs the loan package to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay. Hungary angered its EU partners by reneging on a December deal to provide the funds. The loans are expected to be available in coming weeks and months.

“Promised, delivered, implemented,” European Council President António Costa posted on social media. A few hours later, as he arrived to chair a summit of EU leaders in Cyprus, Costa told reporters that the priority now must be to advance Ukraine's quest to join the bloc.

Standing alongside him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his European partners for their support. “We will work to make sure the funds are delivered as soon as possible,” he said. “This will strengthen, of course first of all our army, Ukrainian forces, and allow us to boost production.”

Pipeline breakthrough

The political greenlight for the loan package came after Russian oil began flowing to Hungary and Slovakia again through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine. Populist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico welcomed that development as “good news.”

“Let’s hope a serious relation between Ukraine and the European Union has been established,” Fico said.

Hungarian energy group MOL said it had “received crude oil at the Fényeslitke and Budkovce pumping stations earlier Thursday. Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline system have thus resumed to Hungary and Slovakia after a hiatus of nearly three months.”

Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil which have helped to fund Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year. But unlike the rest of the European Union, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was recently defeated in an election, had accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying repairs — an allegation that Zelenskyy denied.

Fico said Thursday he still didn’t believe the pipeline was damaged at all and alleged that the pipeline and oil “were used in the current geopolitical battle.”

Another EU voting hijack

The row has raised yet more troubling questions about decision-making in the EU, which can often be held hostage to national interests when unanimous votes are required. Several top officials have in recent months called for more majority voting.

The 27-nation bloc had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.

In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

But Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of the April 12 election that he lost in a landslide.

More sanctions on Russia

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia to undermine its war effort, but Hungary and Slovakia were also blocking those measures over the oil feud.

More than 40 ships believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil were targeted.

Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.

A number of banks were targeted, and a ban was imposed on Europeans using Russian crypto currency.

Asset freezes were slapped on around 60 more “entities” — often companies, government agencies, banks or other organizations — adding to a growing list of more than 2,600 Russian officials and entities already under sanctions, including Putin, his political associates, oligarchs, and dozens of lawmakers.

___

Spike reported from Budapest. Janicek reported from Prague.

That idea is guiding a community effort to support domestic violence survivors by caring for the animals they love most.

For many survivors, pets provide comfort, stability, and unconditional love during a difficult time. Fear of leaving those pets behind can prevent people from escaping abusive situations.

VCA Piedmont Animal Hospital has partnered with Harbor House of Central Florida since 2017 to care for pets staying at the organization’s Paws for Peace Kennel.

The goal is to provide medical care without judgment or financial burden.

“I feel like us helping the pets gives these women one less thing to worry about,” said Dr. Maureen Burton with VCA Piedmont Animal Hospital.

The hospital provides routine and preventive care, including heartworm treatment, parasite control, and physical exams, helping ensure pets remain healthy while their owners focus on rebuilding their lives.

“These pets are their only comfort in this difficult situation,” Burton said. “To be able to take that pet with them is key for them to continue on.”

When pets need urgent care, the Veterinary Emergency Clinic of Central Florida steps in. The 24/7 emergency facility provides services such as X-rays, bloodwork, and surgery, treating conditions ranging from pneumonia to emergency cesarean sections.

“We’re here for the community to help those cases that the regular vet can’t handle,” said Megan Devoe, the clinic’s public relations director.

Devoe said the work is rooted in the human-animal bond.

“Not to be able to take the one thing, one loving thing that’s been with them through thick and thin, that is devastating,” she said.

Once pets recover, Mother Fluffers, a mobile dog grooming service, offers free grooming to help them look and feel their best.

“Our logo is ‘we give a fluff,’ so we care about the animals. We care about the pet parents,” said owner Amy Makris.

Makris said the service often creates opportunities to build trust with survivors.

“It’s really special that they trust us and that they’re willing to open up to us,” she said.

A fresh cut and clean coat can provide a sense of renewal for both pets and their owners.

“Even if it’s just for one day, they’re going to be OK,” Makris said.

The Paws for Peace Kennel provides a safe place for pets while survivors work to rebuild their lives. Through partnerships with veterinary and grooming services, the program ensures animals receive the care they need.

Organizers said the goal is to make sure survivors do not have to choose between their safety and their pets, helping both move forward together.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a new partnership Thursday at Tohopekaliga High School that allows parents to apply for Florida’s Voluntary Pre-K program and the Florida Prepaid college savings program simultaneously, with a $100 incentive to get them started.

Florida’s VPK program has been available for more than two decades. More than 3.1 million children have attended pre-K for free through the program.

Now, when families apply for VPK, they can also apply for Florida Prepaid, the state’s college savings program that allows families to lock in future college tuition rates.

“We developed a seamless application process that allows families to apply for VPK and, at the same time, open a Florida investment 529 account plan account,” DeSantis said. “Now, when they do that, they get $100 seeded to their account.”

In addition to the $100 in seed money, participating families will also be eligible for monthly raffles for an additional $1,000 deposited directly into their college savings account.

The governor said the two programs were linked several months ago, and more than 13,000 families are already participating.

Welcome to Rockville producer, Danny Wimmer Presents, is releasing the set times for 160+ bands spanning all rock genres on 5 stages.

The performances will be topped by these bands:

Thursday, May 7: Guns N’ Roses, Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, Staind

Friday, May 8: Foo Fighters, Turnstile, The Offspring, Parkway Drive

Saturday, May 9: Bring Me The Horizon, Breaking Benjamin, Motionless in White, Lamb of God

Sunday, May 10: My Chemical Romance, A Day To Remember, Rise Against, Yellowcard

This year, the concert will have extra shade, and one of the stages will even be tented with 15,000 square feet of coverage. Some of the bands scheduled to perform inside the new Garage Stage include Mayday Parade, We The Kings, and State Champs.

There will also be a brand new zone near the Apex Stage called The Pit Stops. Fans will be able to see artist interviews, special performances, and 2026 festival merch.

Click here to see the complete lineup and set time of bands, ticket information, and special events.

Pets are often used as a tool of control in abusive relationships, with abusers threatening or harming animals to keep victims from leaving. That fear can keep survivors trapped, worried their beloved pets could be abused, or worse, if they go.

That’s why pet-friendly shelters are so critical. Yet nationwide, only about 17 percent of domestic violence shelters allow animals on-site. Harbor House of Central Florida is one of the few that does, thanks in part to its Paws for Peace Kennel.

But maintaining a program like that takes support, and that’s where nonprofits like Protecting Paws for Life step in.

“Protecting Paws for Life was founded to help domestic violence shelters become and maintain pet-friendly environments,” said founder Andria Gibbon. “We support organizations that either want to take pets or already do, and we provide support services for them.”

One of the biggest challenges shelters face is cost. From building and maintaining kennel space to providing food and medical care, expenses can add up quickly.

“Budget is a big thing,” Gibbon said. “We provide all the pet supplies they could need on a monthly basis, and we also help with basic wellness care, like vaccines, because that can be another cost.”

The nonprofit operates entirely on private donations, organizing regular drives and storing supplies in a dedicated unit to distribute to shelters in need.

For Gibbon, the mission is deeply personal. Coming from the animal rescue world, she said one of the hardest things to witness is when owners are forced to surrender their pets, not by choice, but by circumstance.

“You can feel the pain in the owner, and you see it in the pet,” she said. “It’s not someone giving up their dog because they don’t want it. It’s truly painful. My mission has always been to help keep families together.”

That support goes beyond supplies. Gibbon, a certified dog trainer, and her team also work directly with survivors and their pets, helping them navigate behavioral challenges that can stem from trauma.

“Dogs react to trauma very similarly to children,” she explained. “People may think it’s just obedience issues, but really, they’re processing what they’ve been through.”

That trauma can come from witnessing violence, experiencing abuse themselves, or simply living in a high-stress environment. Understanding that, Gibbon said, is key to helping both pets and their owners heal.

For her, the most rewarding part of the work is connecting directly with survivors.

“They’re so focused on just getting through each day,” she said. “Being able to support them and help them care for their animals, it just fills my heart completely.”

Through partnerships like the one with Harbor House, organizations like Protecting Paws for Life are helping remove one more barrier to safety, ensuring survivors don’t have to choose between their own well-being and the animals they love.;

The European Commission has informed the Biennale foundation of the funding cut over three years, and the Biennale has 30 days to defend its decision to include Russia for the first time since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. spokesperson Thomas Regnier said Thursday. The commission had previously announced its intention to do so.

“We are strongly condemning the fact that the Fondazione di Biennale has allowed for the Russian Pavilion to open again,’’ Regnier said.

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

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

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

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

The Biennale contemporary art exhibition is the world's oldest and most important, comprising a main exhibition alongside national pavilions, which are curated separately by the participating nations. For this edition, 99 countries will present national pavilions, 29 of those in the Giardini and the rest spread through the Arsenale and across the city.

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

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Cook reported from Brussels.

Tilson Thomas had surgery for a brain tumor in 2021 and resumed his career, then said in February 2025 the tumor had returned. He conducted his final concert with the San Francisco Symphony in April 2025 and died at his home in San Francisco, spokesperson Connie Shuman said.

Tilson Thomas received 39 Grammy Award nominations, winning 12, and was among the Kennedy Center Honors recipients in 2019.

“It’s meant to have various intriguing and alluring, questioning things that you hear on first hearing,” he said of classical music during a 2004 interview with The Associated Press. “But by its very nature it’s holding a lot of other secrets or a lot of other perspectives much closer to its chest, which only with repeated hearing you start realizing are there.”

Tilson Thomas was born in Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 1944, to a family steeped in the arts. His father, Ted, was a producer at New York’s Mercury Theater Company, then worked in Los Angeles in the movie and television industry. His mother, Roberta, headed research for Columbia Pictures. His grandparents, Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky, were pioneers in American Yiddish theater.

He played piano at a young age and attended the University of Southern California. By the time he received a degree in 1967, he had worked with Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

“I don’t fling the word genius around lightly, but I fling it around about Michael. He reminds me of me at that age, except that he knows more than I did,” conductor Leonard Bernstein told The New York Times Magazine for a 1971 profile. “Not only music, but things like the functions of the brain, cerebrology, physics, biochemistry.”

Tilson Thomas was the co-music director and then music director of California’s Ojai Festival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was an assistant at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival in 1966, won the Koussevitzky Prize at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1968 and became a Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor in 1969.

Tilson Thomas made his New York debut at Lincoln Center’s Philharmonic Hall on Oct. 22, 1969, as a mid-concert replacement for an ailing William Steinberg. Tilson Thomas led Robert Starer’s Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, and Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel.”

“A tall, thin young man, he came on stage with an air of immense confidence and authority, and showed that his confidence was not misplaced,” critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote in the Times. “He takes naturally to this music, as might be expected of a Tanglewood graduate and a pupil of Pierre Boulez.”

Tilson Thomas became the BSO’s principal guest conductor from 1972-1974 and was music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971-79 and a principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1981-85.

He helped found Miami’s New World Symphony in 1987 and served as artistic director until 2021. He was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1988-95 and music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1995-2020.

Tilson Thomas’ compositions include “Grace” (1988), “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” (2015-16) and “Meditations on Rilke” (2019).

His husband, Joshua Robison, died Feb. 22 while recovering from a fall suffered last August. They met while playing in the orchestra of North Hollywood Junior High School (since renamed Walter Reed Middle School), became partners in 1976 and married in 2014.

In announcing his final concert would take place in San Francisco on April 26, 2025, in a belated 80th birthday celebration, Thomas issued a statement acknowledging his mortality.

“At that point we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap,’” he said. “A coda is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion. A coda can vary greatly in length. My life’s coda is generous and rich.”

Over 400 nuclear reactors are operational in 31 countries, while about 70 more are under construction. Nuclear power accounts for producing about 10% of the world’s electricity, equivalent to about a quarter of all sources of low-carbon power.

Nuclear reactors have seen steady improvements, adding more safety features and making them cheaper to build and operate.

While Chernobyl and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan diminished the appetite for such power sources, it was clear years ago that there probably would be a revival, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

With the war in the Middle East, “I am 100% sure nuclear is coming back,” he added.

“It’s seen as a secure electricity generation system, and we will see that the comeback of nuclear will be very strong, both in (the) Americas, in Europe and in Asia,” Birol told The Associated Press.

Nuclear energy reliance stays strong

The United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, with 94 operational reactors accounting for about 30% of global generation of nuclear electricity. And it is increasing efforts to develop nuclear energy capacity with a goal to quadruple it by 2050.

“The world cannot power its industries, meet the demands of artificial intelligence, or secure its energy future without nuclear power,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas DiNanno said last month.

China operates 61 nuclear reactors and is leading the world in building new units, with nearly 40 under construction with a goal to surpass the U.S. and become the global leader in nuclear capacity.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has acknowledged that it was Europe’s “strategic mistake” to cut nuclear energy and outlined new initiatives to encourage building power plants.

Russia, meanwhile, has taken a strong lead in exporting its nuclear know-how, building 20 reactors worldwide.

Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, while Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. The accident contaminated nearby areas and spewed radiation across Europe.

Ukraine still relies heavily on nuclear plants to generate about half of its electricity. Those plants have played a vital role after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022. Moscow's forces have captured Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Kyiv accused Russia of a drone attack on the protective containment structure covering the damaged Chernobyl reactor.

Japan has restarted 15 reactors after reviewing the lessons of the earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima plant, and 10 more are in the process of getting approval to restart.

South Africa has the only nuclear power plant on the African continent, although Russia is building one in Egypt, and several other African nations are exploring the technology.

“The momentum we are seeing today is the result of a growing recognition that reliable, low-carbon electricity will be essential to meet the world’s rising energy demand,” said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

EU eyes nuclear expansion

Europe sought to wean itself off Russian energy after the Ukraine conflict, but its dependence on hydrocarbons was underlined by the war in the Middle East.

The European Commission has shifted its perception of nuclear energy and views it as part of clean energy, along with wind and solar power, to achieve climate goals.

In 1990, nuclear energy accounted for about a third of Europe’s electricity; now it's only about 15%, and von der Leyen has acknowledged that its reliance on imported fossil fuels puts it at a disadvantage.

“I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power,” she said recently. “In the last years, we see a global revival of nuclear energy. And Europe wants to be part of it.”

The EU is considering the development of Small Modular Reactors. Expected to become operational in the early 2030s, they are seen as cheaper and faster to build and more flexible than traditional reactors.

France and a few other EU members, including Sweden and Finland, have spearheaded nuclear power. On the other hand, Germany, Austria and Italy are among the EU members that outlawed its use.

In a major policy reversal last year, Belgium repealed a law that demanded the closure of its reactors and extended their lifespan. Spain, meanwhile, still plans to phase out its nuclear capacity and shut down its seven operational reactors between 2027 and 2035.

France remains a nuclear powerhouse

With 57 reactors at 19 plants, France relies on nuclear power for nearly 70% of its electricity.

Successive governments have backed nuclear power as central to France’s energy independence, undeterred by the Chernobyl disaster. In 2022, President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to build six new pressurized water reactors, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support the transition to low-carbon energy.

The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the gas supply crunch triggered by the conflict in Ukraine, “revealed the limits of deploying renewable electricity and Europe’s dependence on gas,” said Nicolas Goldberg, a partner at Paris-based Colombus Consulting.

“France has therefore been reinforced in its strategy of maintaining its existing nuclear plants, which means extending their lifespan as much as possible,” he said.

Germany stands firm in phasing it out

Decades of anti-nuclear protests in Germany, stoked by past accidents, had pressured successive governments to end using a technology that critics saw as unsafe and unsustainable. Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors in 2023, the final step in plans that had been drawn up by governments of various political stripes over two decades.

A significant nuclear revival in Europe’s biggest economy still looks far-fetched, despite recent talk among some in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right bloc about being open to a possible future generation of small modular reactors.

“The decision is irreversible — I regret it, but that’s how it is,” Merz said, noting the plant operators's "consistent answer was: ’We are too far along with demolition.'”

Russian domestic nuclear expansion and exporting reactors

Russia has aggressively expanded its nuclear power capacity both domestically and internationally.

It has 34 operational reactors, including eight Chernobyl-type RBMK reactors, known as the light water graphite reactors, which account for about a quarter of all nuclear power generation. They have seen extensive modernizations, adding safety features to fix the inherent design flaw that, coupled with human error, triggered the Chernobyl disaster.

Key projects under construction include new units at the Kursk, Leningrad and Smolensk sites, a prospective plant in the Far East, and prospective floating nuclear units.

Russia also is building 20 reactors in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and has signed contracts to launch construction in several other countries.

Russia has built the first nuclear reactor for neighboring ally Belarus, which has seen a third of its territory contaminated from the Chernobyl accident.

“Belarusian authorities are using the changed context and the so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ to claim that we are acting like everyone else in the world, rather than solving the problems of Belarusians in the contaminated territories,” said Irina Sukhiy, founder of the Belarus ecological group Green Network.

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John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

The Hall of Fame pitcher was honored Thursday with an annual distinction that “recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has demonstrated outstanding character and has made significant contributions to the game."

Willie Mays won the inaugural award in 2021, followed by Vin Scully (2022), Joe Torre (2023), Dusty Baker (2024) and Bob Costas (2025).

“It’s a great honor to be recognized along with the previous award winners,” the 90-year-old Koufax said in a news release. “I thank the distinguished panel.”

Koufax made his major league debut for his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955, when they won the franchise's first World Series championship. After the team moved to Los Angeles, he became one of baseball's most dominant pitchers during the 1960s.

The left-hander won three Cy Young Awards, an MVP trophy and five consecutive National League ERA titles. He had three 25-win seasons, leading the majors each time, and made seven All-Star teams from 1961-66.

Koufax threw four no-hitters, including a perfect game, and was the World Series MVP twice, after leading the Dodgers to crowns in 1963 and '65. He also was a member of Los Angeles' championship squad in 1959.

After retiring at age 30 following the 1966 season because of traumatic arthritis in his pitching elbow, Koufax became the youngest player inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Later that season, the Dodgers retired his uniform No. 32. He was named to MLB’s All-Century Team in 1999.

“The name Sandy Koufax has become a synonym for ‘great pitcher,’” Baseball Digest publisher David Fagley said. “It’s hard to believe it has been 60 years since he last pitched so brilliantly for the Dodgers but, since his retirement, Sandy has been a remarkable representative of our national game, a symbol of class and dignity.”

Koufax was selected to receive the award in voting by a 21-member panel of longtime MLB participants and observers, including writers, broadcasters, former players and executives.

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

U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez formally endorsed the three-year agreement during a joint visit to the Dunkirk region.

Mahmood praised the new deal as providing “the right mix of skills and capabilities that we know will work on the beaches in order to reduce the crossings.”

Nuñez said that it will help in “combating illegal immigration networks, human trafficking networks, which are obviously extremely harmful.”

Under the agreement, the U.K. will provide 500 million pounds ($675 million) to strengthen measures in northern France, with an additional 160 million pounds ($216 million) depending on the success of new tactics to curb Channel crossings. If those efforts fail, the additional funding will be halted after one year, the U.K. Home Office said.

The plan aims at increasing the number of officers deployed on the ground from 907 now to 1,392 for the 2026—2029 period, along with the creation of an additional police unit dedicated to combating irregular migration, funded by France, the French Interior Ministry said.

It will also include the deployment of new technologies aimed at reducing departures of “taxi boats,” the term authorities use for small motorized vessels that are typically inflatable and used by smugglers to pick up migrants along long stretches of the northern French coast.

Unlike boats that migrants carry into the water themselves, “taxi boats” typically set off largely empty from secluded coastal areas and pick up migrants at prearranged meeting points on beaches.

The deal also expands surveillance capabilities through drones, helicopters and electronic monitoring, to better prevent crossing attempts.

U.K. pushes tougher migration policies

“Our work with the French has already stopped tens of thousands of crossings and this government has deported or returned nearly 60,000 people with no right to be here,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

Since taking office nearly two years ago, Starmer’s center-left Labour government has pushed through a series of policies that it hopes will sharply reduce immigration.

Small boat crossings have become a potent political issue in the U.K. over recent years. Anger at the seeming inability of successive governments to get a handle on the issue has been behind a series of demonstrations and riots over the past few years and fueled the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party, which has been leading in opinion polls for more than a year and is predicted to make sweeping gains in a raft of elections on May 7.

Under the measures adopted, the government now has powers to seize the assets of people smugglers, beefed up U.K. border surveillance and increased law enforcement cooperation with France and other countries to disrupt the journey.

It’s unclear whether the policies are working.

Summer surge will test policies

So far this year, more than 6,000 migrants have reached the U.K. after crossing the Channel, down 36% from the same period last year, a drop that may partly reflect more unsettled weather.

The real evidence will emerge over the coming months as the weather turns warmer and the Channel turns less choppy. In 2025, a total of 41,472 people made the crossing that way — the second-highest annual figure since records began in 2018, after a peak of 45,755 in 2022.

Police operations led to the arrest of 480 smugglers last year, the French Interior Ministry said.

A large share of the resources provided under the new deal will be deployed from the early summer.

Nicolas Laroye, representative of the police union UNSA in the Dunkirk region, said that additional staffing and increased capabilities will support police efforts in their complex mission to monitor more than 200 kilometers (around 125 miles) of coast along the Channel.

British-financed measures in recent years had a major impact on the ground, Laroye said.

“We’re intercepting many people before they go on the beaches to prevent them to get on boats,” he said.

Drones especially have become a key tool to monitor the vast stretches of sand dunes where migrants hide overnight before crossing attempts, he said.

Critics warn policy fails to address root causes

Earlier this month, two men and two women died as they were trying to board an inflatable boat off the coast of northern France. British authorities arrested a man from Sudan on Friday on suspicion of endangering life in that case.

The week before, two other people died in similar circumstances off the coast north of Calais.

Critics say that the new deal, which builds on the Sandhurst Treaty, first signed in 2018 and renewed in 2023, isn't addressing the underlying issue.

“Policing alone will not prevent desperate people from turning to dangerous small boats in the first place,” said Imran Hussain from the Refugee Council, a U.K. charity that aims to promote the rights of refugees.

Campaign groups for migrant rights have long warned that increasingly vigorous efforts by French police to prevent boat departures from beaches, including using knives to hack and puncture inflatable boats to render them unusable, are encouraging the use of “taxi boats,” which increases the risks of drownings, injuries and the need for rescues.

Before this month's deaths, migrant aid group Utopia 56 said that at least 162 people have died at the French-U.K. border over the past three years.

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Pan Pylas contributed to this report from London.

The shooting happened around 9:30 a.m. on the 200 block of East 13th Street.

Responding deputies say they found a man in his 50s who had been shot by a known suspect.

Authorities say the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says detectives are investigating the shooting incident and actively looking for the suspect.

The construction often requires archaeological surveys before the paving starts, and some of the latest discoveries have emerged along the BR-156 highway in Brazil's northern state of Amapa. Among the findings so far from nine dig sites: pottery vases that may be funerary urns, as well as small artifacts that resemble human faces.

“What we now about the region’s past is also tied to the opening created by these projects, which gives our relationship with them a somewhat ambivalent character,” said Lúcio Flávio Costa Leite, who manages the Archaeological Research Center at Amapa’s Institute for Scientific and Technological Research. “At the same time, the knowledge we gain about these sites leads us to pay closer attention to these regions, including by adopting permanent protection measures.”

Scientists say recent research has reinforced understanding of the region's past not as a human desert, but rather as a landscape shaped by interconnected societies long before Columbus arrived. The material found along BR-156, for example, included pottery in multiple styles and techniques that reflected influences from communities ranging from Brazil’s Para state to the Caribbean.

It's been cleaned and analyzed by a team working for the National Department of Transport Infrastructure. One of the archaeologists, Manoel Fabiano da Silva Santos, said the layers of the Amazon soil he excavated are a historic timeline.

In the upper layers, he found items such as Portuguese porcelain and nails linked to European occupation.

“Digging deeper, we uncovered pottery and ceramics associated with earlier Indigenous presence, marking the site’s transition before and after the arrival of colonizers,” Santos said.

The artifacts will eventually go to Amapa's state collection, overseen by Costa Leite, which includes about 530,000 pieces. The oldest piece is around 6,140 years old, confirming a long human presence across Amapa, he said.

The artifacts offer insight into how ancient Indigenous societies lived, died and interacted with the rainforest.

“Here is something I often debate with my students -- we usually think of technology as computers and microchips,” Costa Leite said, walking through shelves of ancient pottery. “But all of this required careful reading of the landscape and deliberate choices of materials.”

Indigenous design behind an intriguing monument

One of the most impressive historic areas in Amapa is in the city of Calcoene, where a 1,000‑year‑old stone monument made up of 127 carved monoliths arranged in a circle about 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter, set in open grassland amid the rainforest and bordered by a slow river.

Some have dubbed the Archaeological Park of the Solstice the “Stonehenge of the Amazon” for its resemblance to the British monument. Researchers found that the stones were positioned so that during the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere they marked the exact point where the sun rises, said archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral, a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais who was part of the team that began digging at the site some two decades ago.

“It’s hard to say exactly what all the stones mean, but what we do know is that they are not from the site itself. They were brought from other nearby locations,” she said.

Subsequent research and excavations found the site also served as a burial ground. Radiocarbon dating showed it was occupied for hundreds of years, beginning around 1,100 years ago, she said.

The site, discovered by scientists in 2005, can be visited with prior approval from Amapa’s Institute for Scientific and Technological Research. At the same time, the site is going through the process to become a national park, which will allow more people to visit.

Such archaeological sites are protected by Brazilian law, which prohibits them being altered. That adds a layer of protection for surrounding rainforest.

Ancient roads point to connected Amazon societies

Modern archaeological and historical ecology research shows that Indigenous peoples not only lived in the Amazon for centuries but also shaped it. They managed and cultivated the landscape through long‑term, sustainable practices, said Eduardo Neves, an archaeologist professor at the University of Sao Paulo.

Neves has studied the Amazon rainforest for more than 30 years and, since 2023, has led the Amazon Revealed project, which uses satellite scans to identify archaeological sites hidden beneath the forest canopy.

Scans have revealed roads linking archaeological sites and buried patterns in the rainforest that point to repeated occupation and deliberate landscape modification. Together, Neves said, the features suggest large settlements.

Archaeologists had long suspected such connections, Neves added, but technology has made it possible to see their broader geographic reach. The scans show networks of roads connecting clusters of settlements across the forest, most clearly in southern Amazonas state and Acre.

“When people think of an Indigenous tribe, they often imagine a small village isolated in the middle of the forest. But evidence shows a high degree of interconnectivity linking different settlements,” Neves said.

“Amapa is a key piece that helps us see how dynamic and active these populations were, and how they maintained networks of exchange that have been in place for millennia,” Cabral said.

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Felipe Campos Mello contributed reporting.

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The Paris Entertainment Company, which operates the Adidas Arena and Accor Arena in the French capital, told The Associated Press on Thursday it has submitted a bid to host ice hockey during the 2030 Winter Games to be held in France.

Both venues were used during the 2024 Paris Summer Games and could serve as alternative solutions because the new Nice mayor, Eric Ciotti, opposes ice hockey events at Nice soccer stadium, the Allianz Arena, which would be converted into a temporary hockey rink.

Like the Milan Cortina Olympics, the French Alps has split snow sports in storied mountain resorts and skating in a snow-free city, the French Riviera resort Nice. The final venues will be confirmed in June when the IOC decides the list of sports and events.

Ciotti, a former conservative allied with the National Rally of Marine Le Pen, was elected in March.

Asked about the ice hockey deadlock in Nice, sports minister Marina Ferrari said on Thursday she was working with 2030 Games organizers to determine whether alternative solutions were available in Nice or elsewhere.

“Our responsibility now is to begin preparing alternative scenarios in case we encounter difficulties,” she said. “At this point we are exploring all options, I could not be clearer.”

The 2030 French Alps Olympics has been hit by turmoil in recent months. Tensions have multiplied against a backdrop of resignations, culminating in open conflict between Edgar Grospiron, the former Olympic champion freestyle skier who leads the organizing committee, and chief executive officer Cyril Linette.

Their feud and other problems have weakened the project, and Linette's departure was acknowledged in February. That followed the resignations of chief operating officer Anne Murac, communications director Arthur Richer, and the departure of Bertrand Méheut, who was in charge of the remuneration committee.

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Jeroen Coombs, 32, faces two charges for which prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.

Coombs has pleaded not guilty. He is also now charged with sexual battery on a child under the age of 12, on top of existing charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. It is unclear whether the new sexual battery charge involves the toddler or another child.

According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Paisley Brown was found unresponsive at a Marion County home in February. She was transported to a hospital, where she later died.

Brown had been left home alone with Coombs and later admitted to hitting the girl several times, deputies said.

Paisley’s mother, Jennifer Kendrick, was also arrested and is facing charges. Investigators say Kendrick knew about the abuse and did not attempt to stop it.

U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 18 rose by 6,000 to 214,000, up from the previous week’s 208,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s slightly more than the 210,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

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

The Iran war, now in its eighth week, has injected a large degree of uncertainty about how it will affect the U.S. and global economies even as Iran and the U.S. remain under a ceasefire agreement.

U.S. financial markets have rebounded to record levels and prices for a barrel of U.S. crude oil have settled in around $94 per barrel. That’s better than the $112 earlier this month, but still 40% higher than before the war began. Gas prices also remain elevated, saddling businesses and consumers with higher costs.

The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades sent consumer prices up 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department recently reported. That’s up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

This comes at a time when U.S. inflation was already above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, further diminishing the chances of an interest rate cut by central bank officials any time soon. Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to fuel inflation.

Fed officials voted to cut rates three times to close 2025 out of concern for a weakening job market but have held off lowering rates further this year. The Fed meets next week to decide on rates.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 new jobs in March, nudging the unemployment rate back down to 4.3%. That followed a surprisingly large loss of 92,000 jobs in February. Revisions also have trimmed 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls, a sign that the labor market remains under strain.

A number of high-profile companies have cut jobs recently, including Morgan Stanley,Block, UPSand Amazon.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollouts, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to the data firm FactSet.

The American labor market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, inched up by 750 to 210,750.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 11 rose by 12,000 to 1.82 million.

That's because shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday voted to sell the entire business to the company that owns CBS, along with blockbusters like “Top Gun." Based on a preliminary count, Warner shareholders overwhelmingly agreed to the proposed $81 billion buyout — valued at nearly $111 billion including debt, based on Warner’s current outstanding shares.

While the deal still faces regulatory review, the megamerger would vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape, further consolidating power in an industry already run by just a handful of major players. Paramount itself was acquired by Skydance just last year.

Here's what a Paramount-Warner combo could look like for streaming, movies, news and more.

Streaming

Paramount Skydance would own both Paramount+ and, with the sale approved by shareholders Thursday, Warner's HBO Max. Company executives have said that they would combine these streamers into one platform.

What that combined service would look like (or be named) is unclear. But Paramount CEO David Ellison suggested that HBO could still have some level of independence, at least production-wise.

“Our view point is, HBO should stay HBO,” Ellison said during a conference call last month. “They built a phenomenal brand, they are a leader in this space and we just want them to continue doing more of it. But by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience than we can do standalone.”

Warner and its HBO streaming platform have a powerful lineup that includes “The Pitt,” “Game of Thrones” and “Sex and the City." And beyond “Harry Potter,” Warner's library lists blockbuster films such as “Sinners,” “Barbie” and "Superman" (the company also owns DC Studios). Titles like “Top Gun," "Titanic,” “The Godfather" and “Yellowstone" fill Paramount's catalog.

In the U.S., according to streaming guide JustWatch, HBO Max controlled about 12% of on-demand subscriptions in the first quarter of this year — compared to 3% for Paramount+. Combining those two services would still fall slightly below Prime Video's 17% market share, and the 19% of the market commanded by Netflix. Disney owns about 27% of the market between Hulu and Disney+.

Beyond HBO Max, Paramount would also acquire Warner’s smaller Discovery+ streamer. And apart from Paramount+, Paramount owns Pluto TV and BET+, too.

Critics are skeptical of consumer benefits touted by Paramount. While company executives have continued to laud larger content libraries and the potential for Paramount to better compete with bigger rivals, a combination with Warner Bros. would mean fewer platform choices when it comes to streaming overall. Critics warn that could actually mean higher prices at a time when the price of almost all subscriptions continues to tick higher.

Moviemaking and theatrical releases

Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of Hollywood’s oldest studios. A merger would mean fewer companies control legacy film production.

Ellison has said the combined company to grow a slate to more than 30 movies a year, keeping Paramount and Warner Bros. as stand-alone operations. And in a star-studded CinemaCon appearance last week, he promised a 45-day exclusive window for films in theaters, pledging a “complete commitment” to the industry.

Still, others are wary about what further consolidation could mean for jobs and which projects are greenlit down the road. Regulatory filings have indicated that the new ownership will be looking for ways to cut costs — including layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. Paramount is taking on billions of dollars in debt to finance the deal.

Warner Bros. just had a banner year of both major blockbusters and critical successes. The studio racked up 30 Oscar nominations thanks to “Sinners,” “Weapons,” and “One Battle After Another” (which took home the top best picture slot). Paramount received zero. And in 2025, Warner Bros. movies — including “A Minecraft Movie,” “Superman” and “Sinners” — accounted for 21% of the domestic box office. Paramount’s market share was only 6%, driven largely by “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning."

The industry has already experienced a sizeable consolidation. Almost 10 years ago, Hollywood’s big six became the big five when Disney bought most of 20th Century Fox. And if the Warner sale goes through, a new “big four” era would be underway — with a bigger Paramount standing alongside Disney, Universal and Sony.

News

CNN would come under the same roof as Paramount-owned CBS. That would bring together two of America’s biggest names in television news, although whether CNN would continue to operate as a separate brand from CBS has yet to be confirmed.

Regardless, there is a lot of anxiety about Paramount taking control of CNN — a network that has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump and his allies. Critics point to Trump’s close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the bid by his son’s company.

Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, CBS has already seen significant shifts in editorial leadership. It's taken steps to appeal to more conservative viewers in its news operations, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. If the company’s proposed Warner takeover is successful, many expect similar changes at CNN.

Some officials in the Trump administration have also made their opinions very clear about CNN's future ownership. In March, the White House attacked CNN for its coverage of the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran — and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters that "the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

Ellison has said that editorial independence “will absolutely be maintained” under Paramount ownership. “It’s maintained at CBS. It’ll be maintained at CNN,” Ellison told CNBC's “Squawk on the Street” in March, while noting that his company wants to speak to “the 70%” of viewers who he said identify as center-left or center-right.

The acting head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division has also said that its regulatory review will not be political. Still, critics are skeptical — particularly following Skydance's acquisition of Paramount in August. That merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission just weeks after the company agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing at CBS' “60 Minutes” program. The president has continued to publicly lash out at “60 Minutes” programming since.

Other TV and cable networks

CNN is just one of the cable operations that Warner is selling. And the proposed merger would make Paramount's TV footprint even bigger.

The company also owns Discovery, TNT, TBS, Food Network, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet, among other networks — all of which would come under Paramount ownership if the deal goes through. Meanwhile, Paramount already has its own sizeable broadcast lineup. Beyond CBS, that includes Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime and more.

Barcelona said 18-year-old Yamal will miss the remaining six La Liga games for the leaders as he follows a “conservative treatment” process to heal a muscle injury in his left leg that he picked up on Wednesday while converting a penalty in a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo.

The club added in a statement that its doctors “foresee that (Yamal) will be available for the World Cup.”

Yamal is supposed to make his World Cup debut this summer. Spain's campaign starts against Cape Verde on June 15 in Atlanta.

“This injury sidelines me just when I most wanted to be on the field,” Yamal wrote in an Instagram post. “It hurts that I won't be fighting alongside my teammates. But I believe in them and know that they will give it their all in every game.”

Yamal has emerged as one of the world’s top players since making his Barcelona debut at a record-breaking 15 years old. He helped to lead Spain to the 2024 European Championship and is a major reason why Luis de la Fuente’s team is among the favorites this summer thanks to his dribbling, creativity and ability to both score and set up teammates.

Yamal went down after he scored the winner against Celta in the 40th minute and immediately looked to the bench to signal he was hurt. He dropped to the ground as his teammates arrived to celebrate, then appeared to grab the back of his left leg.

Yamal left the field on his own after being attended by doctors. He talked briefly with coach Hansi Flick on the sidelines before walking into the locker room tunnel by himself.

Barcelona leads Real Madrid by nine points with two more rounds before they meet at Camp Nou on May 10.

Barcelona will start its run-in without Yamal on Saturday when it visits Getafe. Flick could replace Yamal on the right side with winger Roony Bardghji or mix up his front line and play with an extra midfielder.

Yamal leads Barcelona in scoring (24) and assists (18) across all competitions.

“This is not over. This is just a pause,” Yamal wrote in his social media post. “I will come back stronger and more motivated than ever and next season will be even better.”

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

A three-judge panel found unanimously there were “substantial grounds” to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later when he was president.

Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in the Philippines last year and flown to the Hague, where the global court is located. He denies the charges against him.

In their 50-page decision, judges found that the evidence shows that Duterte, 81, “developed, disseminated and implemented” a policy “to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals.”

According to prosecutors, police and hit squad members carried out dozens of murders at Duterte’s behest starting in 2011, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

“For some, killing reached the level of a perverse form of competition,” deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court in pretrial hearings in February.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

Prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision “represents a significant milestone” in their effort to bring accountability.

Duterte's lead defense lawyer Nick Kaufman told The Associated Press he was disappointed in the decision, saying it “is based on the uncorroborated statements of vicious self-confessed murderers acting as cooperating witnesses.”

A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set.

Duterte has not been present in the courtroom for any hearings, having waived his right to appear. Last month judges found he was fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about his health.

In the Philippines, families of slain victims in the brutal anti-drugs crackdown rejoiced over the decision, saying it will bring them closer to justice and toward a closure of a tragic chapter in their lives.

“This is for all the victims, who were not even given the chance to be recognized as victims because their stories were twisted in police reports, investigations and findings,” said Randy delos Santos, whose nephew, Kian delos Santos, was gunned down in an alley in August 2017 by three police officers.

“Unlike Kian, most other victims were nameless, voiceless and were just numbers and statistics whose horrific stories were never heard. Now the ICC will give their stories a chance to be told,” delos Santos told The Associated Press.

Human rights groups also praised the decision.

“Duterte’s trial will send a powerful message that no one responsible for grave crimes is above the law, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, and that justice will eventually catch up with them,” Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said.

ICC prosecutors said in 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at avoiding accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

On Tuesday, appeals judges rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippine withdrawal.

In October, judges disqualified the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan from the case, citing a “reasonable appearance of bias” because he represented victims of Duterte’s alleged crimes before he took office at the ICC. Khan had already stepped back from his duties pending the outcome of an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

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Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.

No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war. Another Trump loyalist is taking over as acting head of the Navy: Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy combat veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House in Virginia.

Phelan’s departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and defense leaders since taking office last year.

The firings began in February 2025, when Hegseth removed military leaders, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Slife, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force. Trump also fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Showing how sudden the latest move was, Phelan had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals on Tuesday at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington and spoke with reporters about his agenda. He also hosted the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee to discuss the Navy’s budget request and efforts to build more ships, according to a social media post from his office.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X that Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately."

John Phelan had been a major Trump donor

Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024. He was seen as an outsider being brought in to shake up the Navy.

Phelan was a major donor to Trump’s campaign and had founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. According to his biography, Phelan’s primary exposure to the military came from an advisory position he held on the Spirit of America, a nonprofit that supported the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Taiwan.

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Phelan’s office for comment. The White House did not answer questions and instead responded by sending a link to Parnell’s statement.

Phelan is leaving during a busy time for the Navy. It has three aircraft carriers deployed in or heading to the Middle East, while the Trump administration says all the armed forces are poised to resume combat operations against Iran should the ceasefire expire.

The Navy also has maintained a heavy presence in the Caribbean, where it has been part of a campaign of strikes against alleged drug boats. It also played a major role in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

Hung Cao, new acting Navy secretary, ran unsuccessful bids for Congress

Taking over as acting secretary is Cao, who ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump’s endorsement in the crowded Republican primary and gave a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Cao's biography includes fleeing Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared Vietnam’s communist regime during the Cold War to the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.

During his one debate with Kaine, Cao criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates for service members as well as the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said from the debate stage. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars.”

Trump and Hegseth have railed against DEI in the military, banning the efforts and firing people accused of supporting such programs.

When he ran for Congress in Virginia in 2022, Cao expressed opposition to aid for Ukraine during a debate against his Democratic opponent.

“My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. ... But right now we’re borrowing $55 billion from China to pay for the war in Ukraine. Not only that, we’re depleting our national strategic reserves,” Cao said.

Cao graduated from the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, before attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

He was commissioned as a special operations officer and went on to serve with SEAL teams and special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring at the rank of captain, according to his Senate campaign biography.

Cao also earned a master's degree in physics and had fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Since becoming Navy undersecretary, Cao has championed returning to duty service members that refused a Biden-era mandate to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies arrested 19-year-old Brian Reardon and 15-year-old Kobe James Bedat after Volusia Sheriff’s Office detectives obtained arrest warrants for third-degree felony murder.

The investigation began on Christmas Day, when deputies responded to the 2000 block of El Campo Avenue in Deltona around 9 p.m. Upon arrival, they found Brendan Watkins with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said.

According to the sheriff’s office, Reardon and Bedat knew Watkins through online gaming and traveled from the Tampa area to Deltona to trade an AR-style rifle — one that was later determined to be stolen. Detectives say Watkins attempted to rob the two, which led to Bedat shooting Watkins.

“This investigation is a long way from over. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the burglary in which the AR-15 that they were going to sell was stolen,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood. “And then there are some other things going on there, as how does a 19-year-old or 15-year-old get their hands on firearms, and family members over there in Hillsborough County provided firearms to those kids to come over here to the murder?”

Surveillance footage captured the pair arriving in an SUV, followed by a verbal confrontation and muzzle flashes before Watkins fell to the ground, the sheriff’s office said.

A 17-year-old who was with Watkins at the time discarded a rifle in a neighbor’s yard during the incident. That individual was subsequently charged with violation of probation, violation of curfew, and possession of a firearm.

Deputies said Bedat will be charged as an adult

The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad said Thursday that it earned $1.7 billion, or $2.87 per share, but it estimated that merger-related costs weighed down the results by 6 cents per share. That's still up from last year's $1.63 billion, or $2.70 per share. And the results topped the $2.86 per share that the analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the railroad continued to get more efficient during the quarter as it benefited higher rates even as it prepared its case for the merger. Vena said he's even more convinced now that creating the nation's first transcontinental railroad would be good for customers and the country because Union Pacific will be able to deliver goods more quickly at a lower cost.

“Service is going to be better. We provide more opportunity. We take trucks off of the highway and our employees are guaranteed jobs,” Vena said. “I think we’re more convicted now that this is good for country and good for Union Pacific. And financially, it is good for our shareholders.”

The railroad’s revenue grew 3% to $6.22 billion even though it hauled about 1% fewer shipments. That’s because the rates it charges continued to increase and the railroad benefited from fuel surcharge fees.

Union Pacific’s expenses also grew 3% to $3.76 billion.

The railroad affirmed its outlook for midsingle digit growth in its earnings per share this year in line with its long-term plan. It plans to invest $3.3 billion in its operation.

Union Pacific plans to resubmit its application to acquire Norfolk Southern next week. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected the railroad's first request to approve the $85 billion merger because the regulators wanted more information. The STB hasn't yet decided whether the deal that would cut the number of major freight railroads down to five will enhance competition.

The deal has divided labor and the shippers who rely on both railroads. UP is already one of the biggest railroads and it serves the western United States. The nation's largest rail union and a number of the smaller ones supported the merger after Union Pacific promised that their workers would have jobs for life, but two of the other largest unions that represent engineers and track maintenance workers oppose it.

The railroads' customers are also split with trade groups representing chemical makers and agricultural businesses expressing concerns, but hundreds of other businesses lining up behind it. President Donald Trump has also said the deal sounds good to him.

Vena has argued that creating a railroad that stretches from coast to coast would be good for the economy because without the need for a hand-off between railroads in the middle of the country rail shipments would move faster, meaning it could better compete against trucking.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran's ports and coastline, experts say.

“It’s really a question now of which country, the U.S. or Iran, has a greater pain tolerance,” said Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Iran presents ‘major differences’ from other blockades

The effectiveness of Trump's use of the world’s most powerful navy to block the trade of Iran's sanctioned oil and other goods is very much up for debate. But it certainly appears to be intensifying as the war grinds on.

The U.S. military on Thursday announced the seizure of another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, a day after Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial waterway.

Trump also announced he has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats laying sea mines in the strait.

But the situation in Iran is not exactly analogous to what is playing out with the U.S. operations in Venezuela and Cuba.

Some experts say Trump’s success in Venezuela likely had more to do with the U.S. military raid that captured leader Nicolás Maduro than American warships seizing sanctioned oil tankers to enforce U.S. control over the South American country.

A U.S. oil embargo on Cuba, meanwhile, has caused the island’s most severe economic crisis in decades. While U.S. and Cuban officials have met recently on the island for rare talks, the financial strangulation has failed to produce the Trump administration’s stated goal of leadership change.

“I do think that the success of the Maduro mission in Venezuela has probably emboldened the president,” said Todd Huntley, director of Georgetown University’s National Security Law Program.

That does not make the situations in Venezuela and Iran similar — geographically, militarily or politically. “There are some major differences,” said Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general.

While the blockade against Iran has delivered a severe blow to its economy, including stopping freighters from importing various supplies, the country has still been able to move some of its sanctioned oil, ship tracking companies say.

Iran has rejected Trump’s demands to reopen the strait, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, and it has been firing on ships again this week. Stalled shipments through the strait have sent gasoline prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products, creating a political problem for Trump before the November's elections.

“Blockades are usually just one tool of a mechanism used in a conflict,” said Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina. “They can be important. But it’s only one element. And I don’t think it’s going to be enough to convince the Iranians.”

Effectiveness of US blockade called into question

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, claimed last week that “no ship has evaded U.S. forces." The command overseeing the Middle East said it has directed 31 ships to turn around or return to port as of Wednesday.

Merchant shipping groups are skeptical.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence said “a steady flow of shadow fleet traffic” has passed in and out of the Persian Gulf, including 11 tankers with Iranian cargo that have left the Gulf of Oman outside the strait since April 13.

The maritime intelligence firm Windward said this week that Iranian traffic continues to flow “via deception."

Iranian ships have several ways to sneak through the blockade, including spoofing their location tracking data or traveling through Pakistani territorial waters, Mercogliano said. He also noted that the sheer volume of shipping traffic the military needs to screen is a challenging task.

Blockades require patience to work

The last time the U.S. mounted a blockade similar to the one focused on Iranian ships was during the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s, against Cuba, Huntley said.

“And it wasn't even called a blockade,” he said. “We called it quarantine.”

Some naval blockades over the course of history have had an impact, such as Britain's blockade on Germany during World War I. "But they tend to be very long-term impacts, whereas Trump is looking for short-term, quick results,” according to Boot, the military historian.

He said Trump probably saw the blockade on sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela as playing a large role in the success of leadership changes in that country. But Boot said it had more to do with the U.S. ousting Maduro and the subsequent cooperation from his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who is now the acting president.

“There is no Delcy Rodríguez in Cuba or Iran,” Boot said. “I think his success in Venezuela led him astray, thinking that this was a template that could be replicated elsewhere. He sees it as a huge success at little cost. And, in fact, it turns out to be a unique set of circumstances.”

This year’s main competition with 35 competing countries is scheduled to be held May 12-16 in Vienna.

Slovenia along with a handful of other countries — Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain — are boycotting because Israel was allowed to take part.

“We will not be broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest," Ksenija Horvat, RTV Slovenia director told The Associated Press. "We will be airing the film series ‘Voices of Palestine,’ featuring Palestinian documentaries and feature films.”

Organizers of the song competition decided in December to allow Israel to compete, which prompted the walkout of Slovenia and other countries. Slovenia has been a vocal critic of Israel over its conduct of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

The Eurovision contest strives to put pop music before politics but has repeatedly been embroiled in world events. Russia was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It also has been roiled by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, stirring protests outside the venues and forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

Gyllenhaal, who most recently directed “The Bride!”, brought her directorial debut “The Lost Daughter” to the festival in 2021. Her adaptation of Elena Ferrante's novel, starring Jessie Buckley, Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson, won the festival’s screenplay award that year.

“Maggie Gyllenhaal embodies an artistic path of uncommon consistency, constructed over time with intelligence and courage,” festival director Alberto Barbera said in a statement. “Having her as the president of our jury means being able to rely on an authoritative and independent voice.”

The jury, which will eventually be filled out with others in the international film community, is responsible for watching all the competition titles and assigning prizes, including the Golden Lion. Last year, Jim Jarmusch’s “Father Mother Sister Brother” was awarded the top prize by the Alexander Payne-led jury over the likes of Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,”Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” and Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.”

“Venice has always supported truthful, singular voices and I am honored to play a part in continuing that brave and necessary tradition,” Gyllenhaal said in a statement. “I will not be standing in judgement, but in curiosity, admiration and excitement.”

The 83rd edition of the festival runs from Sept. 2 through Sept. 12. Organizers typically announce the slate in late July.

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For more coverage of the Venice Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/venice-film-festival

Now, it’s time to say thank you and honor those special educators who have made a difference in so many lives.

[READ: Official rules for Educator of the Week]

Do you know an educator who has inspired you, your child or your community? Here’s your chance to show your appreciation by nominating them for the Educator of the Week spotlight!

Each week, we celebrate outstanding teachers who go above and beyond with our Educator of the Week spotlight. These local heroes deserve recognition for their dedication and hard work.

Submit your nomination by using the form below.

Tell us about the educator who has made a difference in your life or the lives of others.

Be sure to tune in every Thursday morning to see the latest honoree and learn about the inspiring educators making a positive impact in our community.

Let’s come together to celebrate and thank our teachers.

Nominate an educator now and help us give them the recognition they deserve!

MEET THE WINNERS!

Lucia Belliveau: Educator of the Week (9/18/25)

Lindsey Stillwell: Educator of the Week (9/25/25)

Jennifer Celentano: Educator of the Week (10/2/25)

Emalee Rowlands: Educator of the Week (10/9/25)

Jenny Henley: Educator of the Week (10/23/25)

Jennifer Downs: Educator of the Week (10/30/25)

Jaquelyn Rifenburg: Educator of the Week (11/6/25)

Carrie Crowe: Educator of the Week (11/13/25)

Christina Nugin: Educator of the Week (11/20/25)

Derek Antoniazzi: Educator of the Week (11/27/25)

Carol Unterreiner: Educator of the Week (12/4/25)

Jacmely Savignon: Educator of the Week (12/11/25)

Lydia Hernandez: Educator of the Week (12/18/25)

Marie Eid: Educator of the Week (1/8/26)

Melissa Greenhill: Educator of the Week (1/15/26)

Dorothy Gemarino: Educator of the Week (1/22/26)

Kerida Partchment-Fuller: Educator of the Week (1/29/26)

Marie Fields: Educator of the Week (2/5/26)

Jamoa Smith: Educator of the Week (2/12/26)

Danielle Mosely: Educator of the Week (2/19/26)

Deirdre Cardona: Educator of the Week (2/26/26)

Quincy Smith: Educator of the Week (3/5/26)

Mareka Lovett: Educator of the Week (3/12/26)

Ana Camunas: Educator of the Week (4/2/26)

Christine Darbin: Educator of the Week (4/9/26)

Karen Rodier: Educator of the Week (4/16/26)

Chanin Goetz: Educator of the Week (4/23/26)

Thousands of people were injured in the violence, with more than 800 people having gunshot wounds.

The commission chairman, Mohamed Chande Othman, said that the number of deaths was likely to be higher, because some families buried their loved ones without taking their bodies to morgues.

Tanzania experienced postelection violence on Oct. 29, after young people took to the streets, accusing the government of silencing the opposition, as the country’s main opposition party leader remained in prison for treason and the presidential candidate for the second-largest opposition party was barred from running.

The internet was shut down in the country for days, a move that President Samia Suluhu Hassan later apologized to the diplomatic community for and promised would never happen again.

Hassan was seeking a second term in office after serving out the term of her predecessor, John Magufuli, after he died in office. Hassan won with 97% of the vote, and some international observers said the election fell short of a free and fair vote.

Othman recommended that a further investigation be conducted on the use of firearms, as some of the witnesses told the commission that their loved ones were shot while sitting inside their houses.

Since the violence, 245 people remain unaccounted for, and 39 families reported having seen the bodies of their loved ones in morgues before they later disappeared.

The commission ruled out the presence of mass graves, as alleged by human rights groups.

The commission concluded that the demonstrations weren't peaceful but were “acts of violence” based on their contravention of laws requiring a 48-hour police notice and because it was an election day, thus denying some citizens the right to vote.

Othman said that the protests were planned and coordinated by people who had been recruited and trained, and violence occurred simultaneously in various locations to confuse the police.

Her nails are down to the quick, except for her thumbs, which feature inch-long talons covered in fancy silver swirls.

Unable to afford a new set of nails as Cuba’s economic crises grind on, the 56-year-old cafeteria worker opted instead to do her lashes, a cheaper alternative she hoped would draw people’s attention upward.

Severe shortages of water, power and money combined with a U.S energy blockade has deepened poverty and increased hunger across the island as severe blackouts persist. Even those who are more affluent are now eliminating long-established and often beloved routines as they adapt to increasingly dire realities.

“The Cuban woman likes to look beautiful — to do her hair, do her nails, do her feet — and wear perfume,” Zamora said. “I don’t look how I would like to look.”

Changes in beauty routines

Melina Colás knows the feeling.

The young manicurist who works in Havana recently got long braids to celebrate her birthday but quickly realized it’s a difficult style to maintain given chronic water shortages.

She used to wear her hair long and straightened but has decided to cut it and wear it natural, even though she thinks it would not suit what she called her short stature and round face.

“Before, you could do whatever you wanted,” she said of hairstyles when water was readily available. “Not now.”

Colás also has tweaked things at the salon where she works.

She has learned patience, aware clients show up late because public transportation is scarce.

And she now relies on a mix of water and vinegar in a spray bottle to offset water shortages – a concoction she said also helps soften clients’ cuticles and staves off a growing number of fungus cases because time between manicure appointments is growing longer for many.

“Some cases are critical,” Colás said.

She also lamented how the island’s economic crisis and shrinking budgets have led to a drop in customers, a trend that hairstylist Betty Ramírez Aldana, 50, also has noticed.

“It really came as a shock to me, because I’ve lost a lot of clients,” he said on a recent afternoon at a makeshift hair salon with bubblegum pink walls. “Normally by now I’d have five, six, eight clients. Look at the hour. And no one has showed up.”

The hair salon where he works recently spent three weeks without water, since electricity powers many pump stations on the island and severe outages are commonplace. He no longer can provide certain hair straightening treatments, so he offers clients options including flattering cuts.

“A lot of them have opted to embrace their natural curly hair,” he said.

An increasing number of women also have been forced to grow out their roots given a lack of gasoline and public transportation, coupled with withering budgets, Ramírez said.

Those who can afford it call him for home visits, with the original customer likely joined “by her aunt and the upstairs neighbor. I don’t serve one, I serve two or three,” he said.

A demand to lift the US energy blockade

Beauty aside, Cubans also are agonizing over being forced to cut corners on basic hygiene: some say they are washing their hair only twice a month, and clothes stay dirtier longer.

Antonia Isalgués Barrién, 60, who works for a state-run company running boats from eastern Havana to the heart of the capital, said she hangs her clothes outside every day after working on a boat because she doesn’t have water to wash them.

“It’s very hot here in Cuba; you sweat a lot,” she said, recalling how she used to wash clothes nearly daily. “I’ve never been forced to hang clothes in the fresh air… and then put them on again.”

Isalgués said she has noticed a surge in the number of passengers as a growing number of gas stations close and only a handful of public buses remain in circulation.

Cuba had spent three months without fuel shipments until a Russian tanker arrived in late March with 730,000 barrels of oil. It is expected to last only nine or 10 days.

Iván de los Ángeles Arias, a 44-year-old boat pilot, often boards the boat for a five-minute ride across the Bay of Havana, keeping his car at home for emergency use only.

“That’s the reality we’re forced to live,” he said. “You deal with it as best you can.”

U.S. diplomats flew to Cuba earlier this month to meet with top government officials for the first time since 2016 as tensions remain high between the two countries.

Cuba’s government has said that the elimination of the U.S. energy embargo was a top priority for its delegation, calling it an “act of economic coercion” and “unjustified punishment.”

In late January, just weeks after the U.S. invaded Venezuela in a move that halted critical oil shipments to Cuba, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, which produces only 40% to meet its needs.

The U.S. has called for an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners and liberalization of the island’s imploding economy as part of several conditions to lift its sanctions on Cuba.

Arias, the boat pilot, said he didn’t think the talks will change anything for him.

“I have no hope,” he said. “That means nothing if living conditions remain the same.”

In practice, he thinks one side has gained an advantage.

And it's not the guys throwing the baseball.

“It's what (MLB) wanted — people on base,” Sewald said. “Tough time to be a pitcher. Balls flying everywhere, you've got a smaller strike zone. But you just go out there and do the best you can."

So ... is Sewald right? It depends on which numbers you want to use, but it sure seems like the strike zone has shrunk.

Walks have skyrocketed to near historic highs through the season's first month. There's no direct evidence ABS is the reason for the increase, but as D-backs catcher James McCann said: “Of course it is. What other rules have changed?”

MLB players have drawn a walk in 9.8% of plate appearances this season through Wednesday's games, which would be the highest rate since 1950. The rate is likely to come down as the season progresses — pitchers usually have more trouble finding the zone during widespread chilly conditions in northern cities during March and April.

But even adjusted for the time of year, walks have made a massive jump from last season.

Everyone knew the strike zone would change. MLB had to re-write its definition of the zone to accommodate the shift to robot umpires. The Official Baseball Rules long described a zone stretching from the midpoint of the hitter's torso down to the “hollow beneath the kneecap.” The new zone is more precise. It starts at 27% of a batter's standing height and stretches to 53.5%. The ABS zone is 17 inches wide, matching the width of home plate. All pitches are measured at the midpoint of the plate.

The spike in walks doesn't tell the whole story about who is benefiting during the ABS era. MLB's league-wide batting average is down slightly to .240 through Wednesday, a few ticks below the .242 rate through last year's games in March and April. That pokes a hole in Sewald's claim that there are “balls flying everywhere.”

The difference in opinion is fascinating as MLB players digest the new rules and new data.

New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger isn't putting too much stock in the early numbers. He said hitters and pitchers are always playing a cat-and-mouse game, and there will eventually be equilibrium.

“I think there’s always an adjustment to something new,” the 2019 National League MVP said. “It’s also such a short sample size. It’s (20-25) games into the season, so numbers skyrocket both ways early on.”

McCann's not so sure. The veteran catcher said a smaller strike zone will inevitably lead to more walks.

“I think it's tighter in general,” McCann said. “Umpires are getting instant feedback on what's a strike or a ball and everything's becoming much more uniform. That's what the guys who had used it in the minor leagues told me was going to happen before the season started, and they were exactly right.”

Chicago Cubs star infielder Nico Hoerner had a slightly different take — arguing that hitters might be benefiting in the short-term by laying off pitches at the top of the strike zone — but that all adjustments have an expiration date.

“Getting on base has been emphasized for a long time,” Hoerner said. “Walking is incredibly valuable as a hitter. A lot of pitchers — their approach is to avoid slug at all cost. Sometimes that involves throwing less strikes. But I'm sure there will be a back and forth, just like every trend in baseball.”

If recent history is any indication, MLB rule changes can cause a lasting effect. There was a nearly 50% increase in stolen bases from 2022 to 2023 after a rules package introduced a pitch clock and limits on how many times a pitcher could make pickoff throws.

Stolen bases have remained high in the subsequent years — even after teams adjusted to the new rules.

And when MLB lowered the mound in 1969, the walk rate jumped from 7.6% to 9.1%. It dipped slightly after that but didn't return below 8% again until 2013.

Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough believes the ABS issue is a different animal. He's watching the trends and doesn't believe the higher walk rate is here to stay.

Who knows? The next five months will tell the tale.

“I think that we’ll get to a point where it gets close and stabilizes to what it’s been, where relievers are walking around 10%. Starters are going to be more around 8%,” McCullough said. “My hypothesis sitting here now early in the year is that by the time the season ends, (walk rates) will look very much like they have, say the last several seasons.”

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AP Baseball Writer Jay Cohen, AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames and AP freelancer Larry Fleshier contributed to this story.

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

Gates, who founded Microsoft, reportedly spoke “candidly” about his relationship to Epstein in a February town hall meeting of the influential foundation he started with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. But the external probe marks the nonprofit's plainest attempt yet to address associations that have cast a pall over its efforts to end preventable maternal and child deaths and control infectious diseases.

The Gates Foundation said in a statement that CEO Mark Suzman, with support from Gates, commissioned an external review in March to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein and look at current policies for vetting and developing new partnerships. The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the staff memo detailing the review.

The philanthropic giant has already undergone a period of change. The Gates Foundation shared plans in January to cap operating costs and incrementally cut as many as 500 positions, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030. The move follows last year’s announcement that the foundation would close in 2045, earlier than previously expected.

The Justice Department's files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they held meetings, and photos of Gates at events also attended by Epstein. Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding their connection, denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claims they met only to discuss philanthropy.

The foundation acknowledged in a February statement that “a small number” of employees met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development." They never created a fund together and the foundation made no payments to Epstein, according to the previous release.

“The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way,” the statement read.

The files' disclosures are being closely followed by one of the Gates Foundation's earliest and most ardent supporters. Investor Warren Buffett, who donates a portion of his annual Berkshire Hathaway shares to the nonprofit, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” last month that it's clear “there was a lot I didn't know."

Buffett, who resigned as the foundation's trustee in 2021, has completed his donation every year around the end of June. But he said he will “wait and see what unfolds” in the Justice Department's documents and congressional hearings on their contents. He noted the foundation is “sitting” on a large endowment, which totals $86 billion, and said Gates has “plenty of his own money.”

“So, in any event, I’ll just wait and see. And there’s three and a half million, or whatever it is pages – I mean, it is astounding,” Buffett said of the Epstein files.

A Gates Foundation spokesperson described Buffett as “an extraordinarily generous partner” for nearly two decades in a statement Wednesday to the Associated Press.

“We are deeply grateful for his support, which has enabled us to accelerate progress on some of the world’s toughest challenges that would not otherwise have been possible,” the spokesperson said.

The Gates Foundation expects its board and management will receive an update on the Epstein review this summer. The third-party investigators have not been publicly named.

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The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and statehouses from Melinda French Gates’ organization, Pivotal Ventures. ___

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

“As I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them. In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend,” Vrabel told ESPN on Wednesday night. “This is something that I have given a lot of thought to and is something I would advise a player to do if I was counseling them.

“I have always wanted to lead by example, and I believe this is what I have to do to be the best husband, father and coach that I possibly can be. This is not an easy thing for me to admit, but it is one that I know will make me a better person. I appreciate the support that everyone has given me and promise a stronger resolve as a result.”

The Patriots confirmed Vrabel will miss the third day of the draft.

The photos of Vrabel and Russini at a Sedona resort were taken before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post, which published the photos this month.

The NFL said last weekend that it is not investigating Vrabel’s behavior.

Vrabel addressed the matter for the first time on Tuesday, telling reporters he’s had “ difficult conversations with people I care about.”

Vrabel and Russini, who are both married, released written statements to the Post after the publication of the story downplaying what the photos depict. But Russini resigned from The Athletic less than a week later, after the Post’s report prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

Vrabel said he addressed players about the matter on Monday after they arrived for the start of the voluntary workout program. Two Patriots players were scheduled to be made available to reporters on Tuesday, but Vrabel said he wanted to speak before they did. He also said he didn’t want the interest in the Post photos to take attention away from the NFL draft, which begins Thursday.

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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

The Defense Department released video footage of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” a Pentagon statement said.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.

It comes a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in a move that intensified its assault on shipping in the key waterway through which 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. There was no immediate sign whether peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait with no end in sight.

On Thursday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin. The alleged perpetrator was immediately detained by police.

During the event, Pahlavi criticized the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, arguing that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”

Pahlavi, 65, has been in exile for nearly 50 years. His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

The ceasefire has been strained by dueling U.S. attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned the impact to businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.

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Keaten reported from Geneva.

No one knows the answers, but online betting companies that allow people to wager on Trump policies and statements are profiting — including some backed by his oldest son.

Prediction markets love the president's unpredictability, his need to keep people guessing about his next move or social media post, leading to more wagers in these betting venues and more fees for them. That includes Polymarket, a company Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in, and Kalshi, a company he advises.

These sites have to come up with new betting lines on current events everyday, and Trump Jr.'s famously fickle father has proven to be a rich source of will-he-or-won't-he questions.

When a wagering event on Polymarket asked whether Trump was likely to send troops into Iran, nearly 100,000 bets were placed on April 8, leading to the biggest trading day of the year up to then.

And Trump's policies and social media comments generate bets beyond the war-related ones: Who will Trump back to run Venezuela? Will his insults of Pope Leo XIV continue? Will he seize Greenland?

“Trump is the guy. He makes the market possible,” said Kwok Ping Tsang, a Virginia Tech economist who has studied Polymarket. “He’s so unpredictable.”

Sports wagers make up the largest portion of the volume on prediction markets, but politics runs a close second, according to crypto analysis firm Dune.

People are also betting “Yes” or “No” on all kinds of other things — the price of gold, the winner of “Survivor,” even the weather. The cost of the wager, in cents per dollar, reflects the number of people making the same bet, with a price of 49 cents for “Yes,” for instance, reflecting 49% odds.

The betting has drawn bipartisan criticism for inviting insider trading but the president seems to be a big fan, applying a light regulatory touch and helping the industry expand. His family company, the Trump Organization, is even working on opening its own prediction market, called Truth Predict.

One of the biggest fee generators lately has been Trump's approach to the Iran war, notably his Truth Social post on April 5 demanding the country “Open the F—- Strait."

Trading on Polymarket soared with “Yes” or “No” wagers on whether an invasion was imminent, according to Dune, only to be surpassed on April 7 by betting on another question — Will there be a ceasefire? — when Trump posted ominously that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”

In total, 413 million bets on the Iran war were made risking more than $100 million from Sunday, April 5, through Wednesday, April 8, the day after Trump announced a ceasefire, according to Dune.

In a report after the surge, Dune called Trump an “unpredictability machine” and marveled at how his “governing-by-tweet” style sends trading volumes soaring.

Asked whether the president's son should be profiting from a business benefitting from his father's actions, a Trump Jr. spokesman called the question “fact-free Democratic propaganda.”

“Don does not interface with the federal government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises and has no influence or involvement with administration policies relating to prediction markets," said the spokesman, Andrew Surabian.

Polymarket didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The betting venues have jumped in popularity since Trump was reelected in November 2024 in part because they correctly predicted, unlike many pundits, that he would win decisively.

Since then the Trump administration has sued states trying to ban prediction markets under no-gambling laws. The head of the industry's chief regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has even promoted the business publicly, calling the online bets in a Wall Street Journal op-ed “exciting products.”

Benefiting particularly has been Polymarket, which was banned from operating anywhere in the U.S. in 2022 after the Biden administration fined it for running an unregistered exchange. It recently got permission to return, and its value has soared.

The company is now worth $9.6 billion, according to research firm PitchBook, a nearly tenfold increase in eight months since a venture capital fund in which Trump Jr. is a partner last invested.

Just how much Trump Jr. is benefiting from the increase in value is unclear because Polymarket is private and doesn't release ownership stakes. Kalshi, which took on Trump Jr. as an adviser last year, is also private.

As for profiting off turmoil and war, Trump Jr. has other possible ways besides the prediction markets.

Through his venture capital fund he also owns pieces of aerospace, defense and technology companies seeking Pentagon contracts and other federal agency dollars. Separately, he and his brother, Eric, just struck a deal giving them stakes in a military drone maker not just selling to the U.S. forces but also pitching to Gulf countries under Iranian attack and beholden to their father for U.S. military protection in a war he started.

Asked last month about the drone company potentially profiting off his father's position as president, Eric Trump sent The Associated Press a statement saying, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in.”

Critics in Congress, virtually all Democrats, have decried what they believe is blatant profiting off the presidency, and are waiting for the midterms to do something about it, possibly voting for impeachment.

But whether that happens is anyone's guess — or to be more specific, tens of thousands of guesses.

In Polymarket trading, those betting that Trump would get impeached by the end of his term were putting the chances at 13% at the start of the year. But that has changed dramatically after his “civilization wipe out” threat and calls from Democrats to oust him from office.

By Tuesday, the odds had jumped to 66%.

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AP reporters Ken Sweet in New York and Christopher Keller in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this story.

“Of course, we are hitting what is painful for Russia, and it is very painful,” Zelenskyy said in voice messages to reporters. He said that Russian losses in the strikes have reached tens of billions of dollars.

It wasn't possible to independently verify Zelenskyy’s comments, but Russian officials have reported that attacks have struck infrastructure in regions more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) inside Russia.

While Russia presses its all-out invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine is using its domestically developed drone and missile technology to strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian military also uses American-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's territory.

“We see that the Russians do not want to stop — they are hitting our energy sector and our people. We will respond,” Zelenskyy said.

Prince Harry praises Ukraine's resistance

Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s bigger army drew renewed praise from Prince Harry, who arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for his third visit in a year.

Ukrainians have demonstrated “strength not just in bravery and capability, but in unity, in trust,” he said in a speech to a Kyiv security conference

Ukraine “continues to hold together, and hold together you must,” he said.

The Duke of Sussex stepped off a train in Kyiv’s main station after an overnight journey from Poland, which is the only way to travel to the Ukrainian capital.

It wasn’t clear whether Harry would meet with Zelenskyy, who was due to attend a summit of European Union leaders in Cyprus on Thursday evening.

Russian firefighters tackle huge drone strike blaze

Hours before Harry arrived, three people were killed and 10 were wounded in a Russian drone attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of the regional military administration.

A 13-story building and an administrative building were damaged in the strike, Hanzha said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defenses, meanwhile, intercepted 154 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the annexed Crimea Peninsula, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Authorities in the Krasnodar region on Russia's Black Sea coast said that 276 firefighters at the Black Sea port of Tuapse were fighting for a third straight day a huge blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week.

Toxic material from the fire fell with rain, covering several districts of Tuapse with a black layer of dirt, the region’s emergency headquarters reported. The concentration in the air of chemicals from the fire surpassed admissible levels, officials said, and authorities advised residents to stay indoors.

Ukraine targets more Russian oil facilities

For the second consecutive night, Russia’s Samara region also was targeted. In the Samara city of Novokuybyshevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, a drone attack on an unspecified industrial facility killed one person, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.

Drone debris also fell on a roof of a residential building in the city of Samara, wounding a number of people, Fedorishchev said. One person was hospitalized.

Unconfirmed media reports said that a petrochemical plant in Novokuybyshevsk owned by the Rosneft oil and gas company came under attack.

Ukrainian forces also struck Russian oil infrastructure in the Samara region and a pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region that transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan, said Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

An oil refinery in the Samara region and an oil pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region were hit, he said. The pipeline transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan. He didn’t offer more details about the strikes.

Also, units of Ukraine’s Security Service struck the Gorky oil pumping station in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, said a senior official from the agency, which goes by the abbreviation SBU.

The nighttime drone attack damaged three oil tanks and caused a large fire, the official said. The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The operation of main pipelines is disrupted, the efficiency of processing at refineries decreases, and transportation costs increase. As a result, this directly affects the revenues of the Russian budget, which are used to finance the war against Ukraine,” the official said.

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

The Valencia College Criminal Justice Training Center hosted its own memorial service, honoring former recruits who trained in their program and later lost their lives in the line of duty. Over the years, 10 of their own have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving right here in our community.

Let that sink in for a second.

These aren’t just names on a wall. These are men and women who once sat in those same classrooms, went through the same training, and walked the same halls as the recruits who are coming up right now.

I’ll be honest, in all my years around law enforcement, I’ve never seen a criminal justice center host something like this. And to me, that says everything about the passion and dedication they have, not just to training future officers, but to staying connected to them long after they graduate.

It was an absolute honor to be asked to serve as the keynote speaker for this event. Moments like this remind me why I do what I do; it’s never just about traffic. It’s about people, service, and remembering those who gave everything.

For the recruits in the room, it was real. A reminder of the responsibility that comes with the badge. For the instructors, you could feel the pride and the heartbreak, knowing the impact they’ve had on every class that’s come through.

And for me, it was a chance to take you behind the scenes of something that doesn’t get seen very often, a place where training meets tradition, and where those who are lost are never forgotten.

Hope you take a moment to watch this one. It means a little more.

The NFL draft is here in the Steel City.

A total of 257 players will live out a dream and hear their name called over the course of the next three days, culminating a long journey that required a ton of hard of work and plenty of sacrifice.

The first round kicks off Thursday night when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell takes the stage inside the main theater outside Acrisure Stadium and announces the Las Vegas Raiders’ selection with the No. 1 pick. Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner who quarterbacked Indiana to its first national title, is the consensus favorite for the Raiders. It would be a downright stunner if he’s not headed to Las Vegas.

The poised and polished Mendoza will get a chance to learn from Kirk Cousins and play for part-owner Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion who is ready to impart some of his wisdom.

While 16 other players will enjoy the on-site festivities and have the opportunity to give Goodell a giant hug on stage, Mendoza is spending the night with his family in Miami. His mother, Elsa Mendoza, has multiple sclerosis so traveling is difficult.

“I’ve done so much traveling this year, it’s a lot easier for my mom and her health is at the forefront,” Mendoza said. “We need to hop on a plane the next day for whatever team drafts me and to be there with the village that’s poured into me — friends, family, coaches, mentors — to be there with all of them and to share the start of this NFL journey, it’s going to create the best memory for our family.”

Mendoza would be the fifth No. 1 pick in the last nine in-person drafts - 2020 was held virtually - to skip the spectacle and celebrate privately with family and friends. Travon Walker (2022), Trevor Lawrence (2021), Baker Mayfield (2018) and Myles Garrett (2017) were the others.

The biggest question is who goes No. 2 to the New York Jets. Will it be Ohio State’s Arvell Reese or Texas Tech’s David Bailey? They’re considered the two best edge rushers in the draft. Or will the Jets pull off a surprise?

After Mendoza, it could be a while until another quarterback is selected. Alabama’s Ty Simpson is expected to be the next one. He’s among the group of players in attendance and there’s a chance he might have to wait until Round 2 on Friday night.

“I can't control how people think,” Simpson said Wednesday. “All I can control is how I play and how much of a player I can be so wherever I go, whoever gets me, I'm gonna make sure that's what I do wherever that is.”

The first round should be about an hour faster than it's been because the time between picks was shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes.

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

DeBoer is getting a $2 million raise — up to $12.5 million — and a two-year contract extension after leading the Crimson Tide to the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, where Alabama lost to eventual national champion Indiana.

Oats is getting a $1.2 million raise — up to $7.2 million — and a two-year contract extension after leading Alabama to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, where the Crimson Tide lost to eventual national champion Michigan. Oats' new deal had been agreed to earlier this month.

Alabama announced both deals Wednesday during a board of trustees meeting.

DeBoer had been scheduled to make $10.5 million during 2026. His salary was set to increase $250,000 annually. He is now under contract through the 2033 season.

Oats had been scheduled to make $6.02 million in 2026-27. He made $5.5 million this past season. He is now under contract through the 2032 season.

DeBoer, courted by Michigan to replace fired coach Sherrone Moore, now has a $10 million buyout through January 2027. It drops to $8 million the following year and $6 million through January 2029.

“We are excited about the opportunity to continue our time in Tuscaloosa with this contract extension,” DeBoer said in a statement. "This university has become a special place to us, and I look forward to working to ensure that Alabama football remains at the forefront of college football.

"This program has a long history of success and an unmatched tradition that I was eager to be a part of two years ago, and I cannot wait to keep coaching our guys and bring more championships to Alabama.”

DeBoer is entering his third season in Tuscaloosa since replacing legendary coach Nick Saban. The Tide are 20-8 in his tenure, with a Southeastern Conference title game appearance and a first-round CFP victory over Oklahoma.

But he also has blowout losses to Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Georgia in the SEC title game on his Alabama resume as well as regular-season upsets to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Florida State.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Nearly a year after his death in South Africa, Lungu’s remains are still unburied, the subject of a macabre fight between his family and the longtime rival who succeeded him.

In a statement Wednesday, Zambia's attorney general said the government had custody of Lungu's remains after a South African court ordered the body be released to them. It said the body had been moved from a private funeral home in the South African capital, Pretoria, to another facility run by the South African government.

A separate urgent order then ruled that the body be returned to the funeral home where it had been since Lungu's death last June.

That order, though, said a date of May 21 had been set for the body to ultimately be handed over to the Zambian government. It wasn't clear Thursday where the body was and if it had been returned to the family.

The bizarre battle revolves around Lungu's relationship with current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. The two were bitter political rivals and the animosity has continued after Lungu's death.

Hichilema's government has said Lungu should have a state funeral at home and be buried at a cemetery set aside for Zambian leaders. Lungu's family claims that he made clear that one of his last wishes was that Hichilema should not go anywhere near his body and not preside over his funeral.

In June last year, the Zambian government succeeded in getting a court order to stop his funeral service in South Africa as it was taking place, forcing family members to leave the church ceremony and travel to a courthouse.

Lungu, who was Zambia’s leader from 2015 to 2021, died of an undisclosed illness in a South African hospital on June 5. He was 68.

When Lungu was president in 2017, Hichilema was arrested, charged with treason and detained for four months, only to be released and the charge dropped after international condemnation.

Lungu lost to Hichilema in a 2021 election, and claimed years later that his movements were being restricted by Zambian police and that he had been effectively placed under house arrest by authorities to prevent any political comeback. Hichilema's government denied the allegations.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. AP writer Jacob Zimba in Lusaka, Zambia, contributed to this report.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

He was one of the key negotiators of the agreement reached in late 2024 that provisionally comes into force May 1.

“In a moment that the world much needed it, at a time of protectionism, a tough world, this gives a message that it is possible to open markets,” Alckmin said Wednesday during an interview with media, including The Associated Press, at the presidential palace in Brasilia. “It is the biggest deal between trade blocs in the world. A market of $22 trillion and 720 million people.”

Fierce opposition by farmers and environmentalists delayed the deal in December. It then hit another wall after EU lawmakers sent the deal to the bloc’s judiciary. The EU executive responded by saying it would provisionally enact the deal, which sidesteps the European Parliament. After the trade deal is implemented, it will be halted if the European Court of Justice rules against it.

Alckmin said not finishing the deal with the EU would have meant staying behind while other competitors accomplished other agreements.

“It is a win-win. The societies of the Mercosur countries win, and so the 27 countries of the EU,” added Alckmin, who expects a boost in Brazilian exports to the EU of about 13% per year.

The trans-Atlantic trade deal was signed Jan. 17. The European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen repeatedly paid tribute to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration for its efforts in making the deal happen despite opposition in Europe. Brazil is by far the largest economy of Mercosur, with a gross domestic product estimated at more than $2.3 trillion in 2025.

Alckmin confirmed other potential deals with the United Arab Emirates and Canada are being negotiated.

Change of mind and time

Two decades ago, Alckmin and Lula were on opposite camps in almost every issue, including the negotiations for a deal between the EU and the bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. While the man who was then governor of the powerful Sao Paulo state advocated for a pact with European nations, Lula did not.

Fast forward to 2022, the two gathered forces to unseat then-President Jair Bolsonaro, who they deemed to be a risk to Brazil's democracy. Both gravitated toward the political center. Lula made Alckmin his trade and industry minister, one of the government's key negotiators in any front.

Lula's win in 2022 for a third nonconsecutive term and his bid for reelection this year did not assure the Mercosur-EU trade deal was going ahead, but the conversations gained a new momentum after U.S. President Donald Trump took office last year and imposed tariffs against several countries, including Brazil.

French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the critics of the deal, has demanded safeguards to monitor and stop large economic disruption in the EU, increased regulations in the Mercosur nations like pesticide restrictions, and more inspections of imports at EU ports.

Alckmin rejected the accusation that Mercosur countries have less concerns about environmental preservations, as some EU farmers have said.

“If there’s one country that is a role model of environmental preservation, that is Brazil … Brazil reduced deforestation in 50%,” Alckmin said.

“So no one is too scared in either side, if there’s an import boom any of the two (blocs) can ask for safeguards,” he added.

The full implementation of the deal might take up to 12 years, which Alckmin sees as key for Mercosur companies to improve productivity and quality of thousands of products. He said the fruit, beef and sugar industries of the South American bloc will be among the first to benefit but many more will over time.

“It is better to do it gradually than not do it at all,” Alckmin said. “This was a very well-built deal.”

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

“They were demolishing it gradually until they reached the main square and now, as you can see, there are no more houses,” said Hassan Sweidan, a resident of a neighboring village looking across at Beit Lif — about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Lebanon’s border with Israel — from a nearby hill.

Since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been leveling neighborhoods in towns and villages near the Lebanese-Israeli border. The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group.

But in many cases, like Beit Lif, the demolition is almost complete. The wide scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents increasingly worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Because of security concerns and limited access, neither U.N. peacekeepers nor Lebanese officials have been able to conduct a detailed survey of the villages where demolitions are taking place. But observers have described entire residential neighborhoods in multiple villages being systematically destroyed.

The demolitions mirror what has happened in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli bulldozers and controlled explosions have almost entirely razed the city of Rafah and other towns under Israeli control. There, Israel says it is removing structures used by Hamas.

Lebanese officials plan to raise the issue of widespread demolitions on Thursday when they hold ceasefire talks with their Israeli counterparts in Washington — part of the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades.

A 10-day ceasefire is shaky

On March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran, Hezbollah entered the fray by firing missiles into northern Israel. The group had been under pressure by the Lebanese government to disarm following its previous war with Israel in 2024, but refused to do so.

Israel responded with an intense bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon that prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee the southern part of the country. The fighting has killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children.

The fighting was mostly halted by a 10-day ceasefire that began Friday. But both sides have carried out strikes since then. Hezbollah has justified its attacks in part by pointing to the Israeli military’s destruction of houses.

Israeli officials have said they intend to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, and the military has issued maps of a “forward defense line” that extends several miles into Lebanon and encompasses dozens of villages whose residents have not been allowed to return.

Following the announcement of the ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said this area had been "cleared of terrorists and weapons and is empty of citizens, and will continue to be cleared of terrorists' infrastructure, including the destruction of houses in Lebanese villages that border (Israel) and have become terrorists outposts in every sense.”

‘There are no more houses’

After the ceasefire went into effect, Sweidan returned to check on his home in the southern Lebanese village of Yater. It is still intact.

Because Sweidan's village overlooks neighboring Beit Lif, he has been able to observe Israeli army operations there. Despite damage from Israeli airstrikes during the war, most of Beit Lif was still standing on the first day of the ceasefire, he said.

But on the second day, Israeli forces arrived with bulldozers, jackhammers and tanks.

“We would come each day to see how much of the village was demolished," he said.

Tilak Pokharel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said that peacekeepers “have observed demolitions taking place in several areas” since the truce.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the target of the demolition work is Hezbollah, not Lebanon or its civilians, and that it "operates in accordance with international law and does not destroy civilian property unless required by imperative military necessity.”

New demolitions come on top of existing destruction

There was already widespread destruction in border areas after the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024. Some homeowners could afford repairs, but there was no large-scale reconstruction.

Demolition also took place during the most recent war. Photographs taken on April 12 by AP from the towns of Menara and Misgav Am in northern Israel show excavators and bulldozers destroying homes on the Lebanese side of the border.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday that Israeli bulldozers were destroying neighborhoods, roads and infrastructure in the town of Khiam, a battleground in the Israel-Hezbollah fighting, “in a scene that suggests an attempt to completely erase the town’s identity.”

The news agency also reported “systematic bombing operations" Wednesday affecting residential neighborhoods in the city of Bint Jbeil — another flashpoint in the fighting — and in the villages of Beit Lif, Shamaa, Tair Harfa and Hanine.

Hezbollah said Tuesday it had launched drone and rocket attacks, the first since the ceasefire, in response to Israeli “attacks on civilians and the destruction of their homes and villages in southern Lebanon.”

As Lebanese officials scramble to keep the ceasefire in place, President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that “halting Israel’s demolition operations in southern villages and towns” is something Lebanese ambassadors in the United States will raise with their Israeli counterparts during ceasefire talks on Thursday.

The talks were expected to focus on a potential extension of the 10-day truce and establishing a framework for future talks aimed at a lasting a peace between the two countries.

___

This story has been updated to correct that UNIFIL is a U.N. peacekeeping force, not a U.S. peacekeeping force.

___

Associated Press journalists Malak Harb in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.

The Association of International Footballers (AIF) was founded in Madrid by David Aganzo, president of the new group that claims it will represent nearly 30,000 players. Aganzo also leads the players' association in Spain (AFE) and was ousted as FIFPRO president in 2024.

Aganzo and other officials twice last year met with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in what was widely seen as a challenge by the world soccer body to Netherlands-based FIFPRO's mandate to represent players worldwide.

FIFA is the subject of a formal complaint made 18 months ago to the European Commission in Brussels by FIFPRO's European division and the European Leagues group. The filing challenges the quality of FIFA's governance and consultation with stakeholders.

FIFA said on Thursday it was made aware of the creation of AIF and remained "committed to open and constructive engagement with football stakeholders that uphold core principles, including representativeness.”

FIFPRO criticized the new group.

“FIFPRO recognises the strong work over several decades of AFE for men’s football players in Spain,” it said in a statement. “However, the concept announced in Madrid by its current president appears nothing more than a speculative attempt to boost his own standing through a group which lacks the fundamental legitimacy to represent professional footballers globally.”

FIFPRO said the new concept was “driven by personal motives rather than a mandate from players around the world.”

Aganzo said the new model for a players' union was needed in part because players' voices were not being heard through FIFPRO. The new group said women's players also needed stronger representation.

“Soccer players need a stronger voice,” Aganzo said. “They don't have the possibility to make decisions. AIF has been created to fight for them.”

FIFPRO said Aganzo "has engaged with groups that fail to meet basic standards of player representation," which it said must “be responsible and sustainable, built from the players up, through collective structures that ensure independence, legitimacy and accountability.”

“Such an approach to player representation is not in the best interests of professional footballers.”

FIFPRO claims its role is based on a mandate from 70 national player associations representing more than 60,000 footballers and is formally recognised by the European Union and international football governing bodies and stakeholders.

AIF will be governed by members from unions in Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland.

___

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

Lenzi is selling her Sanford home to fund her retirement. Back in February, she had someone repair a crack in her driveway. Then, weeks later, she got a call from a colleague with alarming news.

“She said, ‘Luzi, there is a mountain in front of your house and your driveway is gone,’” Lenzi recalled.

A second crew had shown up, ripped out the entire driveway, and left behind piles of gravel. The concrete was gone.

“Oh my God, what happened - that’s what I did,” Lenzi said, describing the moment she saw the damage.

“It’s awful,” she said. “It’s a pile of junk.”

[COVERING SANFORD: Sanford weighs future of downtown properties after exiting Heritage Park deal]

Lenzi was clear: she never authorized the work.

“I didn’t hire them. I didn’t need to have my driveway redone,” she said.

Lenzi filed a police report. Officers tracked down the crew after workers left a business card with a neighbor.

News 6 called the company. The man who answered said a contractor had hired him to do the job - and that the contractor told him to stop working after a check bounced.

We then called the contractor. The woman who answered said the company is cooperating with police and that the matter is under a pending investigation.

News 6 is not naming the contractor because law enforcement has not confirmed whether the company is a victim in the case.

According to the Sanford Police Department, “the case remains under investigation as it involves a number of contracts and financial transactions,” and that “investigations of this nature normally take longer to investigate due to their nature and having to wait an extended time to receive information from companies.”

[COVERING SANFORD: Sanford closes dog park to treat invasive caterpillars]

It remains unclear who hired the contractor to work on Lenzi’s driveway in the first place.

In the meantime, Lenzi is left to fix her driveway - again. The repairs are expected to cost around $5,000.

She has a message for those responsible.

“All I want you to do is to repair what you broke,” Lenzi said.

She's followed by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. That comes as no surprise: In 2025 the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was named the streaming giant's most played artist of the year for a fourth time, dethroning Swift.

It's a been bit of a cat-and-mouse game for the two: She claimed the top spot the previous two years; he did the same from 2020 to 2023.

Drake is Spotify's third most streamed artist of all time, followed by The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Eminem, Kanye West, Travis Scott, BTS, Post Malone, Bruno Mars, J Balvin, Rihanna, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Future and Juice WRLD, in that order.

Spotify did not provide insight into its data collection methodology when asked about it by The Associated Press.

In addition to naming its most streamed artists globally, Spotify compiled its most streamed albums, songs, podcasts and audiobooks to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Streaming accounts for most of the money generated by the music industry — 82% in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Spotify, a Sweden-based company founded in April 2006, is the largest platform of all. It accounts for over 31% of the total market share, with a reported 751 million users and 290 million subscribers in more than 184 markets.

Spotify's most streamed albums of all time

1. Bad Bunny's “Un Verano Sin Ti”

2. The Weeknd's “Starboy”

3. Ed Sheeran's “÷ (Deluxe)”

4. Olivia Rodrigo's “SOUR”

5. The Weeknd's “After Hours”

6. SZA's “SOS”

7. Post Malone's “Hollywood’s Bleeding”

8. Taylor Swift's “Lover”

9. Arctic Monkeys' “AM”

10. Billie Eilish's “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”

11. Dua Lipa's “Future Nostalgia”

12. Post Malone's “Beerbongs & Bentleys”

13. XXXTENTACION's “?”

14. Karol G's “Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season)”

15. Bad Bunny's “YHLQMDLG”

16. Bruno Mars' “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”

17. Drake's “Views”

18. Taylor Swift's “Midnights”

19. Drake's “Scorpion”

20. The Weeknd's “Beauty Behind The Madness”

Spotify's most streamed songs of all time

1. The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights”

2. Ed Sheeran's “Shape of You”

3. The Neighbourhood's “Sweater Weather”

4. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk's “Starboy”

5. Harry Styles' “As It Was”

6. Lewis Capaldi's “Someone You Loved”

7. Post Malone and Swae Lee's “Sunflower — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

8. Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla's “One Dance”

9. Ed Sheeran's “Perfect”

10. The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber's “Stay”

11. Imagine Dragons' “Believer”

12. Arctic Monkeys' “I Wanna Be Yours”

13. Glass Animals' “Heat Waves”

14. Billie Eilish and Khalid's “Lovely”

15. Coldplay's “Yellow”

16. Lord Huron's “The Night We Met”

17. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey's “Closer”

18. Billie Eilish's “Birds of a Feather”

19. Vance Joy's “Riptide”

20. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' “Die With A Smile”

Skies will stay partly sunny on Thursday, and while most of the area will remain mostly dry, a few passing showers or sprinkles can’t be ruled out.

Rain chances stay low at just 10 to 20 percent, with the best chance for a brief shower shifting inland later this afternoon as the sea breeze pushes west. High temperatures will reach the upper 70s to around 80 degrees at the beaches, while inland areas will warm into the low 80s.

WEEKEND

Heading into the weekend and early next week, the weather pattern turns warmer and a little more unsettled. Daily sea breezes will develop each afternoon, helping spark isolated to scattered thunderstorms from Friday through Monday. The highest chance for storms may come Sunday (30-40%) as moisture increases across the region.

Temperatures will continue to climb quickly with highs running into the upper 80s to near 90 by the weekend.

FIRE THREAT

While the addition of rain is much-needed, it also poses a concern for potential new fires if thunderstorms develop, as lightning could ignite dry vegetation.

The senators this week introduced what they're calling the Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act, which would make the supermarket staple an eligible purchase under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

“America’s best (and delicious) affordability play is Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken,” said Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who joined Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia and others in sponsoring the bill. “It’s one of my family’s favorites, and I’m proud to join this bill with Sen. Justice for all to try. SNAP funds would be well spent to feed our nation’s families who need it.”

The SNAP program provides a monthly stipend for low-income families to buy groceries, but it doesn't pay for hot prepared foods. The exclusion, which dates back decades, was meant to promote home cooking. But critics say it's outdated and penalizes families that are already struggling to make ends meet, excluding convenient and nutritious options.

Lawmakers at the state and federal level have long debated which foods should be eligible for SNAP benefits. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pressed states to exclude junk food such as soda and candy. Twenty-two states, mostly led by Republicans, have requested or been granted permission to ban certain foods.

SNAP is a major piece of the U.S. social safety net used by nearly 42 million, or about 1 in 8, Americans to help buy groceries. On average, the monthly benefit per household is about $350, and the average benefit per person is about $190.

Besides Fetterman and Justice, the senators introducing the bill are Republican Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado. Republican Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas has pushed for similar legislation in the House.

“We have to give people the option to put a healthy, protein-dense choice on the table that actually tastes good and doesn’t take an hour and a half to cook,” Justice said in a statement.

And that’s not all.

Baggage fees are also going up, and fuel surcharges are making an ugly comeback. Those moves come as a direct result of the war in the Middle East, as the cost of aviation fuel has almost doubled since the war began on February 28, 2026.

Jet fuel is one of the biggest expenses for an airline, second only to labor. And when fuel prices go up, airlines must adjust (and adjust quickly):

• Last week, Qantas announced ticket prices would go up to offset rising fuel costs. The airline said they expect their 2026 fuel bill to jump to over $3 billion (AUD), up from their projected $2.2 billion (AUD). Qantas is also cutting unprofitable domestic and international routes.  
• Air New Zealand said last month it was shedding 1,100 flights (about 5% of its routes) over a two-month period. Fares are up between $10 and $20 domestically and $90 for some long-haul flights.
• Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific tacked on fuel surcharges not once, but twice in a 30-day period. Roundtrips between Hong Kong and Singapore now cost an extra $127, and a ticket from Sydney to London recently carried a whopping $800 fuel surcharge added on.
• Norwegian low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways has eliminated international service on three routes: Los Angeles and London, Los Angeles and Paris, and Los Angeles and Rome.
• Spanish discount airline Volotea added a €9 per seat fuel charge after customers had already bought their tickets. Backlash to the move has been intense; Volotea however, says terms are explained in the airline’s “Fair Travel Promise” which does indicate the final price of a ticket “is calculated based on variations in fuel market prices compared to a reference average price.”

Interestingly, the airline states the policy is a two-way street, and passengers could see a refund if fuel prices drop.

• KLM cancelled more than 150 flights in the last month as a direct result of rising fuel prices. The airline stressed they didn’t have a fuel shortage; the cuts were strictly to save money. Those 150 flights represent about 1% of the airline’s entire schedule.

Are airlines running out of fuel?

An interesting point to drill down on in KLM’s announcement is this: the mention of a ,. Though KLM stated they have enough fuel for their operations, other airlines (and regions) may not be as fortunate.

Last week, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, stated there could be significant flight cancellations soon if oil supplies from the Middle East weren’t restored. Specifically, Birol told the Associated Press that Europe had “maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,” and added that the shortage is “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced.” A similar warning from the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) was even more dire, saying the region could begin feeling the effects of jet fuel shortages within about three weeks.

Europe produces most of its own jet fuel, but about a third is imported. Most of those imports (about 75% or roughly 375,000 barrels a day) came from the Middle East. Though Europe has about six weeks of jet fuel on hand, most major hubs have only about 8 to 10 days of fuel on hand. ACI Europe estimates that over 200,000 barrels of jet fuel make their way to Europe from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia every day. Since the war began, ACI reports that “no significant cargoes have reached Europe.”

Things in the U.S. and Canada are different.

A sidebar explainer on the U.S. and our oil

The U.S. exports more oil and refined fuels than it imports. In fact, we are the biggest oil producer in the world (surprise!) and one of the world’s largest exporters.

• In 2026, the U.S. is producing, on average, 13.5 million barrels of oil a day
• Since the war began, we have beenis exporting about 5 million barrels of oil per day

Logically, you might think that if we have so much oil, it doesn’t matter what goes on overseas – we can keep everything here internal and not be influenced by outside conflicts.

The funny thing about logic? Sometimes, it’s not logical. Two factors trip us up.

First, it’s about the type of oil, not the amount.

The U.S. has lots of oil, just not the right kind. Years ago, a majority of our refineries were set up to process what’s known as heavy crude oil, oil usually imported from Canada (surprise number 2!) with a small share coming from the Middle East.

The U.S. does produce some heavy crude, but most of our oil is ,pumped from shale fields in places like Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota is light sweet crude. Light sweet crude can be refined into gasoline and jet fuel (kerosene), but as stated, most of our refineries are set up for the other type of oil, heavy crude.

Second, we don’t set our own prices.

Oil is traded on the global market, not on a local market. That means no matter where the oil is produced, the price is set for the whole world, not just a region. So, though the U.S. may import most of our heavy crude oil from Canada – and not the Middle East – we don’t really have as much control of the price,back-and-forth even though that oil doesn’t pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

To bring this back to the airlines: in Europe, it’s a supply problem. In the U.S., it’s a price problem.

How are U.S. airlines responding?

In January of 2026, U.S. airlines were paying on average about $2.36 per gallon for jet fuel. Today, those prices are hovering closer to $3.80 to $4.00 per gallon. That means jet fuel costs have jumped by roughly 60 to 90 percent in just a few weeks, depending on the market. For that same month, U.S. airlines burned through 1.44 billion gallons of jet fuel (about 46-50 million gallons a day).

Cost? About $3.4 billion for airlines just on fuel alone.

For North American carriers, effects from the conflict in the Middle East and the back-and-forth, uncertainty of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are also being felt:

• Delta Air Lines is in a better position than most because it is the only airline in the world that owns an oil refinery. Delta bought the Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania back in 2012 (a move that seemed unusual at the time, but today, who doesn’t want their own fuel refinery and depot?).

Nonetheless, on April 14th, Delta raised first checked bag fees from $35 to $45. Second,reinstated checked bag fees are also up $10; a third checked bag on Delta will now cost an extra $50! Delta’s CEO also acknowledged the carrier had raised some fares.

• United Airlines is cutting about 5% of its flights over the next two quarters. At a little over 10,000 flights each day, that works out to roughly 500 flights a day. CEO Scott Kirby said the rise in aviation fuel prices would cost the airline an extra $11 billion this year. Kirby added: “For perspective, in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

United also joined the ranks of Delta (and JetBlue) in hiking its checked bag fees.

• Air Canada made a stunning announcement last week, cancelling all of its flights between JFK/Montreal and JFK/Toronto. The suspension starts June 1st – Air Canada says those services should be reinstated by October. Air Canada will continue flights to and from Montreal and Toronto through two other New York area airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty. The carrier also suspended its Salt Lake City/Toronto flights starting June 30th.    
• Like other U.S. carriers, Southwest Airlines raised its new checked bag fees by $10 in early April ($45 for the first bag and $55 for the second). Southwest ended its Bags Fly Free program in May of 2025. Notably, Southwest hasn’t dramatically raised ticket prices, despite the rise in jet fuel prices.

Decades ago, Southwest had a policy of buying its fuel ahead of time (known as fuel hedging) – for years, it was a successful way to maintain some control over volatile fuel prices. The strategy helped SWA weather previous rises in fuel costs, but in some quarters, hedging also hurt the company when the cost of aviation fuel plummeted, and the airline overpaid. Southwest dropped its fuel hedging policy last year, though it still has some hedging contracts in place through 2027.

• Spirit Airlines, however, might be one of the most vulnerable U.S. carriers. Last week, rumors were swirling that the airline was on the precipice of shutting down. Spirit is still in the midst of its second bankruptcy and is operating on razor-thin margins – the sudden spike in fuel prices caught the carrier off-guard. This week, it was revealed that the ultra-low-cost carrier was seeking emergency funding from the government to avoid liquidation.

With fuel costs rising this fast, airlines aren’t the only ones adjusting – travelers may need to as well.

Airline tickets: buy now or buy later?

Buy now. But pay more now.

Here’s the logic: airfare prices are constantly changing, and in a volatile market, waiting can mean paying more. But, if you buy now, be careful what you choose because not all tickets are created equal:

• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually non-changeable
• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually non-refundable
• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually not eligible for price drop credits

Instead, look for tickets that give you some flexibility if prices drop after you’ve already booked.

• Main Cabin Economy
• Premium Economy
• Business Class
• First Class

Those last two can get pricey – but the sweet spot for most travelers is main cabin or premium economy. On most major U.S. airlines, those tickets let you change or cancel your flight – often for a credit, and sometimes a refund.

And don’t forget that the Department of Transportation requires airlines to give you a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of booking, as long as the ticket was purchased at least seven days before departure.

To wrap it all up – remember that it’s not just about when you buy – it’s about what you buy. Because in a global market like this, what happens halfway around the world doesn’t stay there: it shows up in the price of your next flight.

Holding signs and waving banners, the workers gathered at a factory compound amid a heavy police presence, shouting “make compensation transparent and remove maximum limits on bonuses!” Union officials said about 40,000 members participated in the protest. Police did not immediately provide a crowd estimate.

The rally came hours after Samsung’s cross-town rival, SK Hynix, posted an all time high in quarterly revenue and operating profit for the January-March quarter. It attributed the jump to expanding global investments in data centers and other AI infrastructure that drove up the demands for its memory chips.

Samsung, which together with SK Hynix produces about two-thirds of global memory chips, forecast earlier this month that its first-quarter operating profit would reach a record 57.2 trillion won ($38.6 billion). That would be higher than the 37.6 trillion won ($25.4 billion) posted by SK Hynix on Thursday, although Samsung has a more diverse lineup of businesses, including smartphones and consumer electronics.

Samsung’s union, which represents about 74,000 workers, says the company has failed to offer adequate compensation despite its strong performance. It has rejected the management’s proposal for bonuses of restricted stock and has called for removing caps on bonuses.

The union has threatened to stage an 18-day walkout starting May 21 if negotiations with management fail, and claims that such action would cost the company more than 1 trillion won ($676 million) a day.

“We won’t stop this fight until our fair demands are met,” Choi Seung-ho, a union leader, said through a loudspeaker from atop a crane-mounted structure.

While semiconductor makers have benefited from the AI boom, the war in the Middle East has clouded the outlook, disrupting supplies of key materials such as helium that are crucial to chipmaking and pushing up energy costs.

In a conference call Thursday, Woo Hyun Kim, SK Hynix’s chief financial officer, said the company is closely monitoring the conflict but does not expect a meaningful impact on production, saying it has been diversifying its sourcing of helium and bromine beyond the Middle East and has sufficient inventory.

———

Kim Tong-hyung reported from Seoul, South Korea. AP writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to the report from Seoul.

Remote working has been made possible by reliable high speed internet and turbocharged by the pandemic. For some remote workers, that includes working from somewhere other than their home, perhaps because their company doesn't have a physical location in their area, or because they don't have an ideal home office setup.

Working in public, however, doesn't come without privacy and security risks. Here's a quick reminder of precautions to take:

Read the rulebook

Hybrid or fully remote working is the norm for many jobs, so it's a good idea to check for guidance from your employer on what's expected when working away from the office.

Many companies and organizations have internal guidelines including best practices for working in public, or even offer privacy and confidentiality training for staff.

Some discourage working in crowded public places like coffee shops because of data privacy risks. The British government spells it out in guidance for staff working with classified documents. “These environments can present additional risks, including being more freely accessible to people without the appropriate clearance and need-to-know.”

If you're planning to travel and work, some employers might also have rules forbidding staff from working from certain countries.

Think visually

Cafes and co-working spaces are often busy with strangers, most of whom will be minding their own business. But it's still a good idea not to leave yourself exposed.

Try to find a secluded place to sit to prevent others from seeing what's on your screen, even if it's by accident. It's harder for someone to “shoulder surf” if you've got your back to a wall.

To make it even harder for prying eyes, get a screen privacy filter. This is a thin film that has tiny louvres to prevent anyone from seeing your screen when looking at it from an angle.

Be wary of the Wi-Fi

It's so tempting to log on to that free Wi-Fi network in the airport lounge or hotel lobby so you can check your email. But cybersecurity experts advise against it because the risks are high.

Avoid a public Wi-Fi network that doesn't need a password, because any data sent over it is vulnerable to theft or manipulation, the National Security Agency warns.

Even if a Wi-Fi network requires a password, that doesn't mean the data will be encrypted, the NSA says in a cybersecurity tip sheet.

The agency warns about a number of cybersecurity risks involving public Wi-Fi. One possible danger is a rogue network that tricks people into joining.

“A malicious actor can set up a fake access point, also known as an evil twin, to mimic the nearby expected public Wi-Fi, resulting in that actor having access to all data sent over the network,” the NSA says.

Instead, use a mobile hotspot, which is more secure because it uses your cellphone signal to create a mini wireless network. Most iPhones or Android phones can do this.

For even more security, use a VPN, or virtual private network. This is software that encrypts data traffic and routes it through private tunnels to secure servers to prevent anyone from being able to read it. Companies usually provide them for staff. If not, you can sign up for one yourself.

Don't forget the obvious measures

There are other common-sense measures you can take in public.

Beware of your surroundings. Sitting in a public place with a laptop in plain sight could make it an attractive target for thieves. If you need to leave your spot to go to the restroom, take your devices with you.

Avoid having private conversations in public. If you're on a noisy train car or in a busy hotel lobby talking on a Zoom call about a sensitive project, it might be tempting to raise your voice to make sure you're being heard. But you can never be sure if anyone is eavesdropping.

"In public areas be aware of whether you can be overheard by any unauthorized individuals, such as members of the public, or smart listening devices," the British government's guidance warns.

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Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

It's the first time in a generation that California has a wide-open contest for the heavily Democratic state's highest office, with more than 50 names on the ballot. Mail ballots are scheduled to go to voters early next month in advance of the June 2 primary election.

It was mostly a mannerly exchange. There were few instances of candidates talking over or interrupting each other, indicating they were eager to make a positive impression with voters who might be seeing them for the first time.

The debate brought together the two leading Republicans, conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, and four Democrats including former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Over 90 minutes, candidates fielded questions on housing and wildfire insurance, social media and gas taxes, while bickering over professional experience, individual wealth and the direction of the nation's most populous state. Democrats made clear they would fight President Donald Trump in a state known as the home of the so-called Trump resistance, while Republicans said ruling Democrats are to blame for the state's woes.

“Donald Trump is trying to punish California every way he can,” Steyer said.

Homeless policy displays sharp partisan divide

California has more people living on the street than any other state and Democrats generally credited outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for his efforts to deal with the long-running crisis. But Republicans said the state has spent billions of taxpayer dollars with little evidence of progress.

“Everything has taken us in the wrong direction,” Hilton said.

Bianco called the state's record on homelessness a “dismal failure.”

Social media use for kids at issue

Candidates were asked if the state should ban social media use for children under 16 years old and their answers didn't fall neatly on party lines.

Steyer and Becerra said they support such a ban. Hilton said there should be a social norm to keep smartphones away from children under 16. Porter said she doesn't support a ban at that age but may support a different age ban, noting two of her teenage children use social media in different ways. Bianco and Mahan said it should be left to parents, with Mahan saying he supports parental consent for kids under 16 and cellphones should be banned in schools.

There also were some sharp exchanges and candidates sought to distinguish themselves from rivals.

A billionaire faces questions

References to Steyer's wealth and previous business dealings came up repeatedly.

“The only housing Tom Steyer’s built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers,” Mahan said, echoing criticism that Steyer, a hedge fund founder turned liberal activist, invested in private prisons that today house people picked up in federal immigration raids.

Steyer responded that he and his wife have financed thousands of low-income housing units.

Steyer has been vastly outspending his rivals in advertising and was asked about being the only billionaire in the race. He noted major corporations including utility companies are spending millions against him.

“I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires,” Steyer added. “I’m the billionaire who's taking on the electric monopoly and trying to break up their power. I’m the billionaire who wants to tax the oil companies and make polluters pay.”

California's unique primary rules fuel uncertainty

The candidates were all on stage together because California puts all candidates on the same ballot regardless of party, and the two with the most votes go to the November general election. Democrats have been fretting their crowded field could result in two Republicans advancing, a result that would be a historic calamity for Democrats.

The campaign has just come through an unstable period, with U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell — one of the leading Democrats — leaving the race and Congress following sexual assault allegations that he denies.

Becerra and Mahan were late additions to the debate lineup after Swalwell exited the race. Both candidates in the reordered contest have been getting fresh attention, and endorsements. Becerra was the only candidate who declined to speak to reporters after the debate.

Porter, who became a social media celebrity by brandishing a whiteboard at congressional hearings while grilling CEOs, could become the state's first woman governor. Steyer, who in 2020 ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign, is known for his involvement in climate issues. Becerra served in the Biden administration and as a state attorney general, a congressman and a state legislator, and would be the state's first Hispanic governor in modern history. Mahan says he has made gains against homelessness and crime while leading Northern California's largest city.

California takes center stage

Democrats have dominated government in the nation's most populous state for years. Republicans haven't won a statewide election in two decades, and Hilton and Bianco faulted Sacramento's one-sided politics for the state's troubles.

Bianco said Democratic policies were driving up the cost of living.

Hilton, while discussing the state's notoriously high tax rates, said, “All the Democrats here are part of this system that obviously isn’t working.”

Nexstar Media Group hosted the debate that aired on its local channels, as well as NewsNation, and streamed online via The Hill. ___

Sophie Austin and Trân Nguyễn contributed from Sacramento, California.

Comet 3I/Atlas is only the third interstellar visitor to be confirmed and quite possibly the oldest. Scientists estimate it could be up to 11 billion years old, more than twice as old as the sun.

A team led by the University of Michigan used the ALMA observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert to examine the comet last fall. The errant but harmless iceball was discovered last summer, giving NASA and the European Space Agency plenty of time to aim multiple space telescopes at it as it zoomed past Mars in October and made its closest approach to Earth in December. It's now well past Jupiter on its way out of our solar system for good, still visible only to the professionals.

In the study, scientists said they detected extremely high amounts of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, in the comet's water. That suggests that the comet originated in a place considerably colder — before the star of this solar system even formed — than our own cosmic neighborhood, said the University of Michigan's Teresa Paneque-Carreno.

While our sun may have been surrounded by other newborn stars as it was forming, she noted, this comet's home star could have been more of a loner, leading to less heating and colder conditions.

The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.

The comet's precise place of origin is still unknown. Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope put the size of its nucleus somewhere between a quarter-mile and 3.5 miles (440 meters and 5.6 kilometers). It's hurtling away at 137,000 mph (220,000 kph).

Linking all these “puzzle pieces together may give an idea to how the planet-forming conditions were at these early times,” Paneque-Carreno said in an email.

The first known interstellar object to stray into our celestial backyard — Oumuamua — was discovered by a telescope in Hawaii in 2017. Comet 2I/Borisov followed in 2019, named for the Crimean amateur astronomer who first spotted it.

___

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.

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened Tuesday night around 9 p.m. at the Fountain of Millenia complex in building 12.

Clem Newman said that at some point while walking his dog a juvenile got a little close to the dog, and the dog jumped at the young man.

Authorities said Newman claims that same juvenile went and told two men he apparently knew he’d actually been bitten by the dog. Newman also told authorities those two men, one claiming to be the child’s father, identified as Akaeem Mason, approached Newman, beating him and his dog repeatedly.

Authorities said that later that night, they canvassed the area for whom Newman described, eventually finding Mason, who confirmed he’d approached Newman after being told Newman’s dog bit his child.

Newman was taken into custody and has since bonded out of jail. He’s been charged with battery and animal abuse. At this time, there’s no word on a second arrest.

News 6 is working to learn how both the dog and his owner are doing.

Iran’s ability and willingness to go to the World Cup across north America starting June 11 has been unclear since the U.S. and Israel launched military attacks Feb. 28.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports made an announcement about the full preparedness of our national soccer team for presence in the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., by the order of the minister,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohejerani told Iran’s state TV on Wednesday.

FIFA has consistently said Iran will stick to the World Cup game schedule decided last December, and refused to negotiate any suggestion of playing the team’s games in Mexico.

Progress was made March 31 when FIFA President Gianni Infantino went to meet Iranian soccer leaders and players in Turkey where the team had two warmup games.

Though the Iranian soccer league has shut down during the war, the team’s official Instagram account posted photos this week of a practice in Tehran.

Mohejerani added Wednesday “the necessary arrangements that these dear ones need for the team’s proud and successful participation, (have been made).”

Infantino promised the Iranian team three weeks ago he would help find a training camp outside of the country for the team to prepare for the World Cup. That could also be in Turkey, where Iran played warmup games last month in Antalya against Nigeria and Costa Rica.

FIFA did not immediately confirm details Wednesday of a possible camp being organized.

Iran is scheduled to play two group-stage games at the Los Angeles Rams’ stadium in Inglewood — against New Zealand and Belgium — then face Egypt in Seattle.

The team is due to arrive at its training camp in Tucson, Arizona no later than June 10, which is at least five days before its first game as required by FIFA’s World Cup rules.

A key issue to be resolved is the U.S. government giving entry visas to the Iranian delegation including soccer federation president Mehdi Taj. He is a vice president of the Asian soccer body who was barred from attending the World Cup draw in December in Washington D.C., where Infantino presented U.S. President Donald Trump with the specially created FIFA Peace Prize.

Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the 48-nation tournament that runs through July 19.

___

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

In an article on Tuesday, Axios claimed that Trump told confidants DeSantis was “begging” to be attorney general.

“DeSantis also has expressed interest in being secretary of defense and even a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, according to six sources briefed on the discussions,” the article reads.

Regardless, DeSantis has less than a year left in his term as governor, and there’s been plenty of speculation about what he plans to do next.

[BELOW: Is Ron DeSantis joining Trump’s administration?]

In an interview last month, DeSantis considered the possibility of running for the presidency yet again.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I think that in ‘24, like, in Iowa, the people that voted for Trump, if he wasn’t running, I would’ve gotten like 90% of those people. They were conservative voters, right? They didn’t want the non-conservative — they wanted me. But the timing didn’t work out, obviously."

DeSantis threw his hat in for president during the 2024 election cycle, running against President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

But his campaign faced significant hurdles from the get-go, and he ultimately bowed out to endorse Trump instead.

[BELOW: Trump-DeSantis rivalry grows intense, personal and crude during Republican primary race]

That said, DeSantis and Trump clashed often during their roughly eight-month election standoff, with Trump nicknaming the governor “DeSanctimonious” and DeSantis responding in kind by calling Trump “juvenile.”

But over two years later, Trump may be considering taking DeSantis into his fold.

That’s according to NewsNation White House Correspondent Libbey Dean, who discussed her recent conversation with Trump regarding DeSantis.

When asked by Dean whether there might be a role in Trump’s administration for DeSantis after the latter’s term as governor, Trump reportedly said he wouldn’t rule it out.

“I don’t know, but I’d certainly consider it,” Trump was quoted as saying. “I think he’s good, doing a good job.”

Florida news: President Trump says he'd consider a role for Ron DeSantis in the administration once he's done serving as Florida's governor in Jan 2027.

Q: Do you foresee a role for Ron DeSantis in the administration once he’s done serving as governor?

Trump: “I don’t know but…

— Libbey Dean (@LibbeyDean_) March 24, 2026

It wouldn’t be the first time that Trump has given out positions in his administration to former political rivals.

For example, he made former Sen. Marco Rubio the current secretary of state, and Ben Carson his HUD secretary during Trump’s prior term in office.

DeSantis’ term as governor is set to end on Jan. 5, 2027.

These records show that the reported eateries experienced violations like pests, storage violations and more.

[BELOW: Over 100 roaches, hundreds of droppings found at Orlando Chinese restaurant]

Furthermore, inspectors noted that roaches and other pests were prominent issues for many of these locations.

However, most of the closed restaurants were eventually allowed to reopen after meeting inspection standards.

The full list of Central Florida eateries required to close last week is as follows:

DAYTONA BEACH

• 35 Bistro and Wine Bar — 740 Main Street
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 30 rodent droppings found on premises
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

HAINES CITY

• Taqueria Don Gonzalo — 103 U.S. Hwy. 17-92 N.
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Nearly 60 dead roaches found on premises
    • Seven live roaches found on premises
    • Raw beef kept over unwashed produce in reach-in cooler
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

MERRITT ISLAND

• Tasty K-Pot — 325 E. Merritt Island Causeway
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 50 rodent droppings found on premises
    • Time/temperature violations for cooked noodles, cream cheese, krab, and cut cabbage
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

ORLANDO

• Ayiti Breeze Bar & Grill — 701 W. Lancaster Road
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Around 30 live roaches found on premises
    • Sewage kept backing up through floor drains, with employees mopping water as it came out
    • Time/temperature violations for black rice and cabbage
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Follow-up inspection required as of April 17

SATELLITE BEACH

• Banana River Café — 1301 S. Patrick Drive
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 60 small, flying insects found on premises
    • Server handled soiled dishes or utensils before picking up plated food, served food, or prepared a beverage without washing hands
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

ST. PETERSBURG

• Red Lobster — 6151 34 Street N.
• • Closed on April 13
  • • Four dead roaches found on premises
    • Eight live roaches found on premises
  • Met inspection standards on April 14

TAMPA

• Piccola Italia Bistro — 2140 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
• • Closed on April 14
  • • Seven dead roaches found on floor by water heater in kitchen
    • Two more dead roaches found behind refrigerator at cook line
    • Around 30 lives roaches found on wall and floor behind water heater in kitchen
  • Met inspection standards on April 15

He signed one of these bills — SB 1134 — during a news conference in Jacksonville on Wednesday, explaining that it will get rid of DEI programs at the local level.

More specifically, the law prohibits local governments from funding, promoting or implementing any DEI initiatives.

When asked to define DEI — “diversity, equity and inclusion” — DeSantis stated the following:

“I would say it’s an ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups. I would think with DEI, the disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be White males, and I think they’ve been discriminated against.

And it’s like, a lot of people would be like, ‘Oh, that’s fine, that’s fine.’ No, that’s not fine. It’s wrong. So you do that, but you also see with some of these universities that have done it, you’ve seen discrimination against Asian American students.

They’re picking winners and losers, and I think the proper approach is to treat people based on merit and not try to divvy them up into various different groups."

Ron DeSantis

SB 1134 is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, though it’s not the only new law passed this week.

Below is the full list of bills DeSantis signed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

SB 118 — R.V. Park Assessments

Senate Bill 118 revises how special assessments may be levied against R.V. parks.

The bill does this by prohibiting local governments from levying special assessments against areas over 400 square feet for each R.V. parking space or campsite.

The law took effect upon being signed.

HB 441 — Conservation Lands

House Bill 441 requires that when a water management district considers selling conservation lands, the governing board publish the following information at least 30 days before meeting:

• The district-owned parcels of land for sale or proposed for exchange
• The privately owned parcels proposed for exchange
• The portions of those parcels that will be preserved in a permanent conservation easement
• A statement from the district explaining why those lands are no longer needed for conservation purposes

The law takes effect on July 1.

SB 488 — Transportation

Senate Bill 488 amends various provisions related to topics like motor vehicle registration, licensing and tax-related requirements. These new rules include the following:

• Creates penalties for counterfeiting or illegally altering fuel tax licenses and the related permits
• Revises penalties and interest calculations for delinquent tax payments
• Provides penalties for specific offenses related to the misuse of motor fuel-tax related documents and establishes detailed requirements for recordkeeping by motor carriers
• Increases the amount of estimated damage resulting from a crash that is required to be reported to law enforcement from $500 to $2,000

The law takes effect on Oct. 1.

SB 490 — Public Records (FLHSMV)

Senate Bill 490 expands a public records exemption for email addresses collected by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

This expansion includes email addresses that are used to provide customers with general notifications.

The law takes effect on Oct. 1.

SB 1134 — DEI Policy Ban

Senate Bill 1134 prohibits local governments from funding, promoting, or enacting any DEI policies, initiatives, and programs.

The law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

HB 1137 — Alcoholic Beverage Taxes

House Bill 1137 allows alcoholic beverage distributors to take a deduction from alcoholic beverage excise taxes for standard product losses, including breakage, spoilage, evaporation, and expiration.

The law took effect upon being signed.

HB 1217 — Greenhouse Gases

House Bill 1217 prohibits the state and local governments from adopting or enforcing net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policies, including carbon taxes.

The law takes effect on July 1.

That legislation — SB 488 — actually plays off a similar license plate law from last year, which prohibited alterations to license plates.

This applies to any of the following situations:

• Mutilating or defacing a registered license plate
• Changing the plate’s color
• Applying reflective material, spray, covering or anything else that can obscure the plate
• Attaching an illuminated device that can prevent someone from reading the plate

However, the 2025 law sparked controversy when it also banned people from owning a “license plate obscuring device.”

According to state law, drivers aren’t allowed to add a device to their license plates that obscures the license plate number or the decal in the top right-hand corner.

But many took the law to mean that they couldn’t have a frame that covers the top or bottom of the plate, with the confusion even leading to arrests in some cases.

While the state has tried to clarify these rules, SB 488 explicitly states that it is not against the law to have a license plate frame so long as the identifying information isn’t hidden.

[RELATED: How the state of Florida is trying to clear up confusion of new license plate frame law]

SB 488 takes effect in full on Oct. 1, though it doesn’t change much else about last year’s license plate law.

That said, you can check out the full list of new laws approved so far this year by clicking here.

The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes.

“We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and a long, open-ended series of amendment votes at the beginning and the end of the process.

The Senate held the first series of votes through the night, starting Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning, with Democrats proposing amendments to lower health care expenses and other costs in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement.

“Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The Senate adopted the final resolution 50-48, just past 3:30 a.m.

A lengthy effort to reopen Homeland Security

Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure.

The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House say they won’t take that bill up until the Senate shows progress toward funding ICE and Border Patrol, as well.

The $70 billion budget resolution would fund the two agencies for three years, through the rest of Trump’s term. Thune and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and get it to Trump’s desk in the coming weeks, along with the rest of Homeland Security Department funding that has already passed the Senate.

But that could prove difficult as many in the party see the budget bill as the last real chance this year to enact their priorities. Republicans in both the Senate and House have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and Trump’s proof of citizenship voting bill, called the SAVE America Act.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly held up the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other legislation.

“This is the last train leaving the station,” Kennedy said, predicting they would not be able to pass any other major bills ahead of November's midterm elections. But he withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed.

Democrats say reform needed at ICE and Border Patrol after shootings

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 in January, 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 DHS funding lapsed with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

In March, the Senate passed the legislation by voice vote that would separate out ICE and Border Patrol and fund the rest of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration as security lines grew long at some airports. But Republicans in the House refused to consider it, saying they wouldn’t support any bill that didn’t include money for immigration enforcement.

Congress then left town for a two-week recess, leaving the issue unresolved. Trump has used executive orders to pay some department salaries in the meantime, but the future of those paychecks is uncertain.

Potential roadblocks in the House

During the recess, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that they would pursue a two-track approach — pass the Senate bill that includes most of the department’s funding through regular order and use the party-line bill to pass ICE and CBP funding.

Weeks later, though, Johnson has still not said when the House will take up the Senate’s legislation that would fund the rest of the department. And it is unclear if members of his GOP conference will unite behind the narrowed budget bill as some House Republicans have argued, like Sen. Kennedy, that they should add other priorities to the legislation.

Johnson said this week that the sequencing of the two bills is important. House lawmakers don’t want to see the rest of the department funded without ICE and Border Patrol, he said.

But Thune warned after the Senate vote that other parts of the Homeland Security Department may run out of money before they are able to finish the winding budget process and fund those two agencies. He said he hopes the adoption of the budget resolution is a signal to the House that “we're going to be following through."

“We'll see what they can do with it," Thune said. “And if they can't, I guess we will go to the next plan.”

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity.

Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, in a gun attack. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack.

The bill will force social media platforms to install age‑verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must now accept the bill within 15 days for it to pass into law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need for to mitigate the online risks to children’s safety and privacy.

“We are living in a period where some digital sharing applications are corrupting our children's minds and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools,” he said in a televised address Monday.

The main opposition party — the Republican People’s Party, or CHP — has criticized the proposal, saying children should be protected “not with bans but with rights-based policies.”

Under the law, digital platforms — such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others — would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children’s access.

Online game companies will also be required to appoint a representative in Turkey to ensure they abide by the new regulations. Potential penalties include internet bandwidth reductions and fines imposed by Turkey’s communications watchdog.

The Turkish government has a recent record of restricting online platforms as they have grown as a means of expressing dissent. Online communications were widely restricted during last year’s protests in support of Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Restrictions on social media access for children under 16 first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children.

Last month, Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation banning children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.

Some other countries — including Spain, France and the United Kingdom — are also taking or considering measures to restrict children’s access to social media amid growing concern that they are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content.

China’s profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years, thanks to active efforts from its diplomats. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe.

With the Iran war, Beijing is not an official mediator, but all parties — including Washington and Tehran — say it has played an important role in trying to de-escalate the conflict.

Experts say Beijing's strategies for diplomacy in multiple conflicts have looked similar and have had mixed success in influencing negotiations, but the efforts come at an opportune time, as U.S. actions under President Donald Trump have increased tensions with traditional diplomatic allies.

In the Iran war, experts say, China's close economic and political ties to Tehran put it in a unique position of influence as the conflict hurts the global energy supply, especially in Asia.

Trump says China encouraged Iran to negotiate ceasefire

Trump has said he believes China helped encourage Iran to negotiate the fragile ceasefire that he has now extended.

Diplomats told The Associated Press that Beijing, the biggest purchaser of sanctioned Iranian oil, used its leverage to urge the Iranians back to the negotiating table for historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan earlier this month.

Beijing has not confirmed that account, likely because it does not want to be seen as part of a U.S.-led security framework, said Yaqi Li, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Still, some saw it as a major moment for Beijing, which has criticized the U.S.' and Israel’s war against Iran.

After the war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with counterparts including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. As of mid-April, he had 30 phone calls with various parties about the war, according to a tally of his calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wang also hosted his counterpart from close ally Pakistan, which has been acting as the main mediator in the latest talks, to present a five-point proposal calling for an end to hostilities and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent days has been uncharacteristically outspoken, warning last week against “the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.” This week, he called for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen.

China leans on its role as an economic power

George Chen, a partner at The Asia Group consultancy, said China’s role in the Iran situation is irreplaceable. As Tehran's biggest oil buyer, its advice carries weight. China is also one of the few countries that has showed sympathy for Iran's situation at the United Nations, he said.

Further, Iran’s ballistic missile program was built with Chinese technology, and China sells dual-use industrial components that can be used for missile production, according to the U.S. government.

Although China isn’t as immediately influential as Pakistan or key Arab Gulf states in active mediation, it occupies a unique position as the key economic partner for many of those countries.

Tuvia Gering, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said China is uniquely positioned to offer economic incentives that matter to Tehran, especially after the war ends, as Beijing can promise investment in reconstruction and commercial relief in ways few others can.

“It could be one of the few actors capable of giving Tehran both political cover and material incentives to accept constraints and stick to them,” he said.

China's role as a global mediator is growing

One of China's biggest diplomatic wins in recent years came in 2023, when it was among the parties bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran together to restart official engagement.

It was widely seen as a major geopolitical breakthrough that reduced the risk of direct and proxy conflict, said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies in Indonesia.

But China is choosing when to play a role cautiously, he said, noting that Saudi Arabia and Iran had preexisting incentives to reengage diplomatically. “Its mediation tends to be opportunistic and low-risk, often occurring when conditions are already conducive to agreement," he said.

Beijing also was active during the recent conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, hosting multiple meetings between them and attending initial ceasefire talks alongside the U.S. in Malaysia. When fighting started again in December, China and the U.S. helped broker another ceasefire.

Beijing also has issued peace proposals for the war in Ukraine, hosting the Ukrainian foreign minister at one point, even though it maintains what it calls a “no-limits” friendship with Russia.

Beijing's role remains carefully worded

China's diplomatic efforts tend to follow a pattern, experts say, with Beijing reiterating calls to respect the U.N. charter and national sovereignty.

With the Iran war, Xi last week called for “upholding the principles of peaceful coexistence, upholding national sovereignty, upholding the rule of international law, and coordinating development and security.”

“A lot of the points are remarkably consistent,” said Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University.

In conflicts further afield, the stakes for Beijing can be low but benefits can be high as the world tries to come to terms with the Trump administration’s approach to negotiating, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of international relations at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said.

“What the U.S. is doing is deeply damaging, and everyone suffers from it ... and China is displaying global leadership and exerting its global role by speaking to the rules-based international system,” he said. “It’s an inescapable contrast.”

___

Leung reported from Hong Kong.

The latest war in the Middle East has far-reaching effects, including on countries ravaged by conflicts of their own.

After three years of war in Sudan, a public health clinic in Qoz Nafisa village in Khartoum state is struggling to support thousands of people like the 61-year-old Awad.

He said he has been spacing out his medicine for glaucoma, worried he won't be able to find more or afford it when he does. Money was already an issue because of the war at home, he said.

“Now we have the problem of the war in the Middle East. It's just made things worse," he said.

Aid groups say the Iran war has cut off vital shipping routes, upending their ability to get food and medicine to millions of people around the world in need. The standoff between the United States and Iran has essentially shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and other routes from strategic hubs such as Dubai also have been impacted.

Transport costs have spiked with higher fuel and insurance rates, further straining the ability to deliver supplies. The United Nations says there's been up to a 20% cost increase on shipments, along with delays, as goods are rerouted.

The International Rescue Committee, which supports the clinic where Awad gets some of his medicines, said about $130,000 worth of pharmaceuticals intended for Sudan was stranded in Dubai for weeks and only now is making its way there.

The IRC says medicines and supplies such as antibiotics, painkillers and stethoscopes that were supposed to be flown from the United Arab Emirates to Port Sudan were instead transported by road to neighboring Oman and then flown out.

U.S. President Donald Trump this week extended the fragile ceasefire with Iran, but aid groups worry little will change.

“There’s still a real lag in the system. Shipments remain blocked or delayed, and that’s deeply worrying," said Madiha Raza, associate director for global public affairs and communications for IRC.

Sudan has widely been described as facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and Raza said any delay in delivering food, medicine and fuel has devastating consequences.

For the roughly 5,000 people who rely on the public health clinic that the IRC supports in Qoz Nafisa, some now must search at other clinics and spend their own money, which they often don't have.

During a visit by AP journalists on Wednesday, clinic staff said that since the war with Iran began at the end of February they've been struggling to meet demand.

A member of the military media accompanied The Associated Press during the visit for safety reasons. The AP retains full editorial control of its content.

Dr. Amira Sidig, the center's medical director, said the last shipment from the IRC was in December. Ones expected in February and April have not arrived.

Sudan's health ministry tries to fill the gap, but it only accounts for half of what's needed, Sidig said.

“It’s never enough because they also have a shortage, and we’re again out of stock quickly,” she said.

For several days this month, the clinic had no malaria treatment to give the 50% of patients who come in with the disease, Sidig said.

Ahmed Ibrahim, who works at the clinic, said patients are getting frustrated.

“When people come to the window, they say, ‘Why are you here and there is no medicine?’"

———- 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.

Matt Duchene tied it for Dallas on a power play midway through the third period, seconds after his backcheck on Matt Boldy averted a short-handed goal that would’ve put Minnesota up by two.

After the Wild failed to convert two overtime power plays, finishing 1 for 7 with the man advantage, the Stars took advantage of their opportunity after Danila Yurov’s delay-of-game penalty. Miro Heiskanen's shot was knocked in by Johnston for his third goal in three games — and his sixth winning goal in four career postseasons.

“It’s kind of a little blurry, but just trying to get to the net and just trying to get my stick on the puck,” said Johnston, who had a career-high 45 goals during the regular season.

The game ended at 12:54 a.m.

Radek Faksa had a close-range chance in the second overtime he poked behind Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt, but the puck skidded straight across the crease.

Wallstedt polished off the first Stars' power play by snapping his glove around Mikko Rantanen’s shot and smothering Esa Lindell’s bad-angle attempt. Johnston then spoiled a brilliant 32-save performance by Wallstedt with his deflection.

“We definitely played well enough to win," Wallstedt said. "It’s small margins. It’s a ‘D’ shot that double tips and hits twice and goes over my shoulder. Yeah, it’s bounces, but that’s what it is.”

Seconds after the audible thump from Stars goalie Jake Oettinger’s blocker save on Brock Faber’s slap shot, the Wild had another prime opportunity to win it in the first overtime when Hughes drew a tripping penalty on Sam Steel. But even with Faksa playing most of that penalty kill without a stick, the Wild failed to generate much pressure. Jamie Benn’s holding penalty on Nick Foligno gave them another try to crack Oettinger, who finished with 28 saves.

“I had my head down, looking out of one eye, just like, ’Good Lord, get through this,'” Duchene said.

The Wild killed four penalties between Rantanen’s power play tip-in just 1:25 into the game and Duchene’s crowd-quieting snap shot that slipped between defenseman Jared Spurgeon and the near post. That included 40 seconds of a 5-on-3 after Boldy’s delay-of-game penalty late in the second period.

As soon as he left the box, Spurgeon saw an opening to start a rush that Michael McCarron finished with his first goal in the NHL playoffs to give the Wild a 3-2 lead.

Jason Robertson scored after a slick stretch pass by Duchene to put the Stars up 2-0 in the first period.

Marcus Johansson scored on a power play to start the rally less than five minutes later, and Joel Eriksson Ek had the tying goal in the second after a brilliant setup by Boldy. The U.S. Olympian, who had a career-high 42 goals during the regular season, weaved through four Stars skaters and drew a crowd behind the net before zipping the puck back into the slot for Eriksson Ek to knock in.

Entering these playoffs, the winner of Game 3 after a split of the first two games in a best-of-seven went on to win the series nearly two-thirds of the time (245 of 369) in NHL history.

The Wild, who have not advanced in the postseason since 2015, fell on the flip side of that ratio in each of their last three appearances. They won Game 3 to go up 2-1 on Vegas last year, on Dallas in 2023 and on St. Louis in 2022, before being eliminated with three straight losses every time.

This was the third time in Wild history they reached double overtime, including a 3-2 win at Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series with the Stars in 2023.

The Wild, who have a 4-14 series record in their underwhelming playoff history, have lost 17 of their last 23 postseason home games.

“Whether we won tonight or lost tonight, this series isn’t over,” Hughes said. “It’s a really good hockey game. We had our looks. They had their looks. Just leave it at that.”

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

“I've run out of things to say,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Obviously, he continues to put himself in a really good spot to take good swings on good pitches. He's making great swing decisions, making a ton of contact and when he hits it, he hits it really hard.”

He added: “Even the singles he's hitting are hard. The damage is incredible and it's impressive to watch.”

He is the 13th rookie in big-league history to go deep in five straight, according to MLB.com. The Japanese first baseman also tied the team's franchise record, a mark shared by A.J. Pierzynski (2012), Paul Konerko (2011), Carlos Lee (2003), Frank Thomas (twice in 1994), Ron Kittle (1983) and Greg Luzinski (1983).

Murakami's two-run homer came off Diamondbacks reliever Ryan Thompson in the seventh, cutting Arizona's lead to 10-7. His 10 homers are second in the big leagues behind Houston's Yordan Alvarez, who has 11.

Murakami’s 10 homers, eight coming on the road, are the most in MLB history by a Japanese-born player in his first 24 career games.

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

Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia’s coast, while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades.

It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state's forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time in its history. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain since the beginning of September — almost 15 inches (38 centimeters) below normal, the National Weather Service said.

The fires spread so quickly in that area that residents received no warnings or alerts.

“I wish that I had knew something more,” said Brianna Elliott, who left home Tuesday only to find her route back blocked by the fires 90 minutes later. “I would have turned around in that moment and gone home and got my animals before anything.”

She now fears that her home and her dogs are gone.

Georgia’s two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 53 square miles (137.3 square kilometers), and crews responded Wednesday to 34 smaller fires newly burning across the state, the state's forestry commission said.

Dry timber feeds Georgia fires

The fast-moving Brantley County fire threatened roughly 1,000 homes Wednesday after destroying dozens a day earlier.

That fire grew by roughly six times in just a half day Tuesday, said Joey Cason, the county manager. There were fires erupting “in the backyard and people taking off in the front yard,” he said Wednesday.

So far no major injuries have been reported, Cason said.

The rural county is roughly midway between Georgia's coastal beaches and the Okefenokee Swamp, dotted with livestock and fruit farms as well as thick stands of planted pines grown for timber.

Crews worked to create fire breaks and stop the flames from reaching populated areas. The biggest concern was gusting winds that could easily spread embers.

Authorities said rain is desperately needed. The area with the worst fires was in exceptional or extreme drought, the most dire levels, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“If you could start praying for that right now, we’d be grateful,” Cason said.

Pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires, said Seth Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission, and swampy lowlands with thick layers of leaves and woody debris are “super flammable” when they dry out.

The commission's 30-day burn ban is for the southern part of the state.

FEMA announced the approval of grants for Georgia and Florida to battle the blazes.

More residents told to evacuate

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state's counties.

More people were told to evacuate from Brantley County on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations previously. Another large fire that started in nearby Clinch County also prompted evacuations.

Mike Reardon and his wife packed family photos and their dog, Molly Rose, along with new e-bikes before leaving their Brantley County home.

The fire was about a mile away, and a shift in the wind would put flames “in our backyard in a matter of minutes,” he said.

The couple just built the home two years ago.

“It’s more than our house. It’s land that my dad bought years ago,” Liz Reardon said, fighting back tears. “It’s the most beautiful place in the world to me.”

Florida sees its worst wildfire season in decades

In Florida, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles (101 square kilometers), mostly in the state’s northern half.

“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years, or it’s turning out to be that way,” state Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”

Smoke blows into Atlanta and Jacksonville

The National Weather Service said a dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds would keep the fire danger elevated Wednesday.

Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. The air quality in parts of south Georgia declined to the unhealthy category, meaning all people there might feel health effects.

Smoky conditions were expected to linger throughout the Atlanta area, according to the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency. The worst fires were more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of the city.

Smoke from Georgia fires also spread into South Carolina, according to its forestry commission.

The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.

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Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed in the southern village of al-Tiri.

Khalil had been covering the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group that resumed in early March, in the shadow of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. She took cover in the house in al-Tiri after an earlier Israeli airstrike hit near the car she was traveling in with another colleague.

The Lebanese health ministry said the first strike killed two people. A second Israeli strike then hit the house in al-Tiri where Khalil and her colleague Zeinab Faraj had taken cover.

At first, rescue workers were able to get to Faraj, who was seriously wounded, and retrieve the bodies of two killed in the first airstrike. But they were fired on by Israeli forces so they were forced to halt attempts to reach Khalil, the ministry said.

Khalil remained under the rubble for hours before the Lebanese army, civil defense and the Lebanese Red Cross were able to get to the scene hours later. Khalil's body was retrieved shortly before midnight, at least six hours after the strike.

Israel’s military said individuals in the village had violated the ceasefire, endangering its troops. Israel denied that it targets journalists or that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area. It said the incident was under review.

"Killing of journalists is a crime and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law,” said Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos.

Khalil's death comes on the eve of the second round of direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington on extending the ceasefire that went into effect last Friday.

Khalil, who was from southern Lebanon, had been covering the area since 2006 for al-Akhbar. Her latest reporting was about Israeli demolitions of Lebanese homes in villages where Israeli troops are now positioned inside Lebanon.

Her death brings to nine the number of journalists killed in Lebanon so far this year. At least 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and more than 1 million displaced since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders called for international pressure on the Israeli army to allow Khalil's rescue. Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its “outrage” at the apparent targeting of the two journalists and warned the obstruction of rescue efforts “may amount to a war crime.”

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun asked the Lebanese Red Cross to coordinate with the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation" as quickly as possible.

In late March, an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed three journalists covering the war. Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said its longtime correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed. Israel’s military said it had targeted Shoeib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative, without providing evidence.

Also killed in the same strike was reporter Fatima Ftouni, who worked for the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV along with her brother Mohammed Ftouni, a video journalist.

Days earlier, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Hezbollah’s at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points in the series-opening win on Sunday, going 5 for 18 from the field. He bounced back in Game 2 with 13-for-25 shooting after being presented the NBA Clutch Player of the Year trophy before the game.

Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams each added 19 points for Oklahoma City, though Williams left the game in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury and did not return. Williams, an All-Star in 2024-25, missed 30 games this season with a right hamstring injury after missing the first 19 games of the season following surgery on his right wrist.

Five higher-seeded teams had lost home games in the first week of the playoffs before Wednesday, including the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference, Detroit, Boston and New York, and the No. 2 and 3 seeds in the West, San Antonio and Denver. Oklahoma City avoided that fate by shooting 47.3% from the field and forcing 21 turnovers.

Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 30 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Devin Booker scored 22 points and Jalen Green added 21 for Phoenix, which will host Game 3 on Saturday.

The Thunder led 65-57 at halftime. Williams made his first six field goals and had 19 points at the break, while Gilgeous-Alexander had 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

The action picked up early in the second half as Brooks and Oklahoma City's Lu Dort — both members of Canada's national team — got double technical fouls after a brief skirmish following a made free throw.

Holmgren started the second half hot. He scored eight points in just over four minutes to help the Thunder go up 77-63 and force a Phoenix timeout. Oklahoma City extended the lead to 100-77 at the end of the third quarter.

Oklahoma City pushed the lead to 26 points early in the fourth quarter before Phoenix made a final push. Booker made a pull-up jumper and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but he rebounded and made a mid-range jumper to cut Oklahoma City's lead to 110-97 with five minutes to play. The Suns got no closer than 10 points.

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

It's something only Ohtani could achieve, but the two-way superstar could be having games like that a little bit less often.

“I’m focused, as a leadoff hitter, to get on base. As long as I feel good overall, the result will follow," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "It hasn’t been the case (lately).”

Before Wednesday's loss to San Francisco, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made it clear he's committed to Ohtani's health and keeping him fresh to perform both on the mound and at the plate for the long haul.

And that may look different by the day or week, depending how Ohtani is feeling.

“I'll always let the manager make that final decision and I'm always going to be prepared when I'm starting that I'm hitting,” Ohtani said. “But if it makes sense as a team to occasionally put a guy in as a DH or hit later that's fine as well. I wouldn't want to same more aside from that.”

For some games, that could mean Ohtani pitches but doesn't bat as the designated hitter — and Roberts plans to keep his options open.

Ohtani was solid on the mound again for the Dodgers in a 3-0 loss to the Giants, allowing no earned runs for the third time in four starts this season. A week earlier, Ohtani was held out of the lineup while pitching for the first time since 2021 because he was still sore from getting hit by a pitch.

Ohtani batted in his customary leadoff spot and went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, hitting a fly ball to left in his last at-bat. That ended an on-base streak that matched Shawn Green for the second-longest in Dodgers history. Duke Snider owns the team record at 58 games from May 13-July 11, 1954. Ohtani’s streak was the longest in the majors since Orlando Cabrera reached base in 63 straight from April 25-July 6, 2006.

“The season’s not over, and I could start another streak and that would be great," Ohtani said. "We’ll see how it goes.”

The 31-year-old Ohtani saw his batting average drop from .271 to .258. He has allowed one earned run over 24 innings for an ERA of 0.38 and a 2-0 record, surrendering 15 hits with 25 strikeouts and six walks.

“I think if you look at the overall numbers it's certainly something. I still feel really good about putting his name in the lineup,” Roberts said. “I know the last start I chose not to have him hit and just pitch. I am open to it. We'll see. It's something that we've certainly flagged, and also you have to look at what's the option. In years past or last year, you've got to kind of weigh, who's a different option?”

Catcher Dalton Rushing has become a capable fill-in at DH. He's hitting .414 with seven homers and 13 RBIs.

The two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers have dropped four of five. They lost 3-1 in Tuesday night's series opener at rival San Francisco.

Roberts had yet to decide whether Ohtani would play the series finale Thursday. He said beforehand he had no qualms about giving Ohtani five at-bats on a day he’s pitching but would consider moving him down in the batting order if that makes sense.

“I think everything should be on the table,” Roberts said.

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

Juan Soto went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in his return from a strained right calf, but shortstop Francisco Lindor was removed with left calf tightness after laboring around the bases while scoring from first on Francisco Alvarez's go-ahead double in the fourth.

Byron Buxton tied it 2-all with a leadoff homer in the sixth against Clay Holmes, his second longball in two nights.

Brett Baty, who came off the bench to replace Lindor in the lineup, drew his second walk of the game with two outs in the eighth against Taylor Rogers (0-1). Alvarez coaxed a nine-pitch walk from Justin Topa before Vientos dumped an RBI single into shallow right field.

In the sixth, Vientos blatantly ran through a stop sign rounding third and was easily thrown out at home plate for the final out of the inning.

Luke Weaver (2-0) retired Luke Keaschall with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth and struck out three batters in a one-hit ninth to secure New York's first victory since April 7 at home against Arizona.

The 12-game skid was the team's longest since August 2002.

Connor Prielipp, the Twins' top pitching prospect, needed 82 pitches to get through four innings in his major league debut. But the 25-year-old left-hander showcased a good slider and limited a slumping New York lineup to two runs and four hits with six strikeouts and no walks.

Holmes allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.

Batting cleanup, Lindor drove in a run by legging out an infield single with two outs in the first. Victor Caratini's sacrifice fly tied the score in the fourth.

Up next

All-Star right-hander Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.29 ERA) pitches Thursday night for Minnesota in the series finale against RHP Christian Scott, who will be called up from Triple-A Syracuse to make his first major league start since Tommy John surgery in 2024.

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