Roughly one in five inmates in Florida jails is being treated for mental illness. And when some defendants are ruled incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of insanity, the law often requires treatment rather than incarceration. But with limited space in state-run mental health facilities, some are ultimately released back into the community under supervision.

A review of court records reveals how that system is playing out in real cases. One of the most troubling examples is the case of Ahmad Bojeh. In 2021, Bojeh was accused of randomly shooting at people outside a Wawa convenience store. He was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and released with conditions for treatment and monitoring.

[WATCH: Competency evaluation ordered for man charged with killing 3 tourists in Osceola County]

Five years later, investigators say Bojeh is now accused of killing three tourists at a short-term rental near his parents’ home in Kissimmee. According to investigators, he admitted he had stopped taking his prescribed medication.

Cases like Bojeh’s raise difficult questions about how decisions are made when mentally ill defendants are released. Retired Chief Judge Belvin Perry—known for presiding over the Casey Anthony trial—says judges rely heavily on expert evaluations when determining whether someone poses a danger to themselves or others.

“If they present a danger… the court keeps them in confinement,” Perry said. “If they are not, then the court must determine whether there is a less restrictive alternative.”

In other words, if medical experts determine a defendant is not a current threat, courts are often legally required to consider releasing them into the community with treatment conditions.

But critics say the system is under strain.

[WATCH: Tristin Murphy Act aims to get people into mental health treatment]

Public Defender Melissa Vickers points to a statewide shortage of forensic mental health beds as a key issue. Under Florida law, the Department of Children and Families is supposed to place certain defendants in a state hospital within 15 days. In reality, Vickers says wait times can stretch much longer.

“What we’re seeing is longer and longer wait times,” Vickers said. “It could be four to five months that people are staying in jail.”

Data from the Florida Department of Children and Families shows forensic mental health facilities are operating at about 98% capacity, with waitlists growing by roughly 6% each year.

That pressure can create difficult trade-offs. According to Perry, when beds are limited, patients who show improvement may be released sooner than expected to make room for others in need of treatment.

“And so this is what happens,” Perry said. “If somebody reaches a certain level of treatment, then they’re rushed out… to make room for someone else.”

A deeper look at court records shows people who have been released with mental health issues.

In 2016, investigators say Shantelle Bennett shot another woman in the chest. She was later declared incompetent to stand trial and released for treatment in the community.

In another case, Jorge Diaz-Vega, a former Disney employee accused of secretly recording a 14-year-old girl at work, was also ruled incompetent and released. His case involved non-violent charges but still highlights how defendants can be diverted out of the traditional court system due to mental health findings.

Taken together, these cases point to a system balancing legal standards, medical opinions, and limited resources—often under intense pressure.

Perry offered a blunt assessment: “The whole system is built on a house of cards… and the only time something gets corrected is when there’s a tragedy.”

With demand for mental health services continuing to rise, and capacity struggling to keep up, the question facing Florida’s courts is becoming more urgent: how to protect both public safety and the rights of defendants in a system stretched to its limits.

Members of the National Science Board received an email on Friday sent from the Presidential Personnel Office “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump" stating that their position was “terminated, effective immediately.”

“I wasn’t entirely surprised, to be honest,” said dismissed board member Keivan Stassun in an email. Stassun, who works at Vanderbilt University, added that the decision was “enormously disappointing.”

The National Science Board was created in 1950 to advise the president and Congress on science and engineering policy, approve major funding awards and guide NSF’s future.

It's typically made up of 25 members appointed by the president who serve staggered, six-year terms. The fired scientists hail from academia and industry and specialize in areas including astronomy, math, chemistry and aerospace engineering.

Every member of the current 22-person board was let go, according to terminated member Yolanda Gil. The board had planned to meet in person next week and was finalizing a report on the state of U.S. science, Gil said in an email.

“I think this is one more indication of the sweeping changes that the administration has in mind for the NSF,” said Gil, who works at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California.

Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said in a statement the move was “a dangerous attack on the institutions and expertise that drive American innovation and discovery."

The Trump administration tried to cut the science foundation's $9 billion budget by more than half last year. Congress maintained NSF's funding, but a similar slash is once again on the table for the coming year.

Without an advisory board in the way this time, Stassun said, such cuts may be easier to execute.

It could “eviscerate investments in fundamental research and in the training of the next generation of scientists and engineers for our nation," Stassun said.

The science foundation's headquarters was also relocated to a smaller building. Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would be moving into the NSF's former base in Alexandria, Virginia.

The National Science Foundation directed a request for comment to the White House. In an emailed statement, the White House said the powers given to the National Science Board when it was created may need to be updated. The science foundation's work “continues uninterrupted,” the statement said.

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

The case came before the justices after a tidal wave of litigation that included some multibillion-dollar verdicts against the global agrochemical manufacturer Bayer, which owns Roundup maker Monsanto.

Several justices seemed sympathetic to the company’s argument that it can’t be sued under state law because federal regulators have found Roundup likely doesn’t cause cancer. Others, though, grilled attorneys about whether that wrongly stops states from responding to changing research.

Roundup maker Monsanto is backed by the Trump administration, a legal position that's at odds with some allies in the Make America Healthy Again movement who want to rein in pesticide use.

The case before the court was filed by a Missouri man named John Durnell. His lawsuit said he developed a cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after more than 20 years of serving as the neighborhood association’s “spray guy,” using Roundup on parks in his historic St. Louis community.

A jury agreed that the company failed to warn him about possible cancer dangers and awarded him $1.25 million. It's one of thousands of similar cases, including some multibillion-dollar damage awards.

There's still fierce debate about cancer and Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as “probably carcinogenic" in 2015, but the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that it's not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

The agency approved a label without a cancer warning, and Bayer argues that it’s required to follow those federal standards — not the state laws that Durnell and others have sued under.

EPA reviews its labeling determinations every 15 years, which can be a relatively long period in terms of scientific advancement, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether waiting for EPA review ties the hands of state courts. “Throughout that long process, in response to information that suggests there is a risk that’s not on the label, the states cannot do anything?” he questioned.

Durnell's lawyers, on the other hand, say that federal law doesn't stop Bayer from putting a warning about possible cancer risk on its products under state law.

But Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan both seemed concerned that facing liability under a thicket of different state laws could make it tough for companies and undermine the purpose of federal regulations. “Do you think it’s uniformity when each state can require different things?” Kavanaugh said.

Bayer disputes the cancer claims but has set aside $16 billion to settle cases, and proposed a major settlement earlier this year. At the same time, it has tried to persuade states to pass laws barring new cases, and a few have agreed.

The company has faced more than 100,000 Roundup claims, mostly from home users. It has stopped using glyphosate in Roundup sold in the U.S. residential lawn and garden market. The company has said it might have to consider pulling glyphosate from U.S. agricultural markets if the lawsuits persist.

American Farm Bureau Federation said in court documents that removing it from the market would have an "immediate, devastating risk to America's food supply" at time when the industry is already under pressure.

Environmental groups say Bayer wants to keep juries out of the lawsuits because of its state court losses.

Meanwhile, pesticides have created a rift between the administration and members of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's MAHA movement, who were also frustrated with an executive order aimed at boosting glyphosate’s production.

Kennedy himself has said repeatedly that glyphosate causes cancer, even as he says he recognizes the executive order was necessary for food supply and national security reasons.

Dozens of MAHA activists and supporters on Monday gathered outside the Supreme Court for what they called a “People vs. Poison” rally to decry Monsanto’s efforts to shield itself from lawsuits.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by the end of June.

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Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court Monday to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain jailed pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the assassination count alone.

An FBI affidavit filed in the case reveals additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen on April 6 reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from California last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved through the weekend.

The event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man, armed with a shotgun and pistol, tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.

“Violence has no place in civic life,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a news conference. “We will ensure accountability is swift and certain.”

Allen was injured but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say. The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not directly say that Allen was responsible for shooting the officer.

Suspect's email sheds light on motive

The shooting resulted in the cancellation of the dinner, the first Trump had attended as president.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the night was supposed to be one of joy but instead was “hijacked by a crazed anti-Trump individual who traveled across the country to assassinate the president and as many administration officials as possible.”

Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.

In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin,” alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.

A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor's request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention hearing set for Thursday.

Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Texira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.

“He also is presumed innocent at this time," she said.

The Associated Press called multiple phone numbers listed for Allen and relatives in public records, and there was no answer when a reporter knocked on the door of his home.

Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.

Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.

A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.

Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.

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Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

A shooting at a Washington dinner attended by President Donald Trump on Saturday sparked a last-minute security review of the four-day state visit, intended to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary, and the U.S.-U.K. “special relationship.”

Buckingham Palace said the king “is greatly relieved to hear that the president, first lady and all guests have been unharmed.”

Trump and first lady Melania Trump greeted Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House South Portico. The couples were to chat over tea in the Green Room before they go outside to see a new beehive in the shape of the White House that the first lady had installed last week.

Charles and Camilla both support beekeeping. He keeps at least three beehives at his private residence in England as part of his support for the environment and sustainability.

Trump praises the king but derides Starmer

A rift between the U.K. government and Trump over issues including the Iran war had already raised the political stakes for the British monarch's visit.

In recent weeks, Trump has lambasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his unwillingness to join U.S. military attacks on Iran, dismissing Britain’s leader as “not Winston Churchill,” the World War II prime minister who coined the phrase “special relationship” for the U.K.-U.S. bond.

It's part of a wider rift between Trump and the United States’ NATO allies, whom he has called “cowards” and “useless” for not joining action against Iran. A leaked Pentagon email suggested the U.S. could reassess support for the U.K.'s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the south Atlantic. Britain and Argentina fought a 1982 war over the islands, also known as the Islas Malvinas.

The president insists the political chill won’t affect the royal visit. Charles “has nothing to do with that,” Trump said in March, meaning NATO.

The president has spoken in glowing terms about Charles, repeatedly referring to the monarch as his “friend” and a “great guy.”

He also continues to mention his “amazing” trip to the U.K. in September with first lady Melania Trump for an unprecedented second state visit. Starmer hand-delivered the invitation from the king in the Oval Office five weeks after Trump returned to office, in a very public attempt to woo the Republican president.

The U.K. royal family laid on pomp and pageantry for the Trumps, with scarlet-clad guardsmen, brass bands and a sumptuous banquet at Windsor Castle.

“President Trump has always had great respect for King Charles, and their relationship was further strengthened by the president’s historic visit to the United Kingdom last year,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told The Associated Press. “The president looks forward to a special visit by Their Majesties, which will include a beautiful state dinner and multiple events throughout the week.”

Trump, meanwhile, told the BBC that the king’s visit could “absolutely” help repair the trans-Atlantic relationship.

“He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes,” the president said.

Some have called for the trip to be canceled

Kristofer Allerfeldt, a University of Exeter professor specializing in American history, said the two governments have very different objectives for the trip.

He said that for Charles, the trip is about “reinforcing long-term ties, showcasing the monarchy’s soft power and reminding the world that Britain still carries diplomatic weight.”

For Trump, it’s more about “a media event,” with emphasis on the optics of a visit that resembles a meeting of “two gilded monarchs.”

Some U.K. politicians worry that the trip is fraught with opportunities for embarrassment. Trump’s recent broadsides at Pope Leo XIV have heightened those concerns.

Ed Davey, leader of the U.K. centrist opposition Liberal Democrats party, earlier this month called Trump “a dangerous and corrupt gangster” and implored the government to cancel the trip.

“I really fear for what Trump might say or do while our king is forced to stand by his side,” Davey said in the House of Commons. “We cannot put His Majesty in that position.”

Starmer defended the visit, saying “the monarchy, through the bonds that it builds, is often able to reach through the decades” and bolster important relationships.

Andrew and Epstein cast a shadow

Raising the stakes is the shadow of the king’s younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has been stripped of his royal title of Prince Andrew, exiled from public life and put under police investigation over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. He has denied committing any crimes.

Epstein victims have urged the king to meet with them and other sexual abuse survivors. It's unlikely he will do so.

Charles has visited the U.S. 19 times, but this is his first state visit to the country since becoming king in 2022. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made four state visits to the U.S.

The king, who is 77 and was diagnosed in early 2024 with an undisclosed form of cancer, will spend four days in the U.S. accompanied by Queen Camilla.

In Washington, the king and queen will have a private tea with the Trumps and attend a garden party and a formal White House state dinner. The president and the king will also have a one-on-one meeting.

The royal couple will also visit the Sept. 11 memorial in New York and attend a 250th birthday block party in Virginia, where Charles will also meet Indigenous leaders involved in nature conservation — a favorite cause of the environmentalist king.

Three centuries after Britain’s kings and queens gave up any real political power, the royals remain symbols of soft power, deployed by elected governments to smooth international relationships and send messages about what the U.K. considers important.

A key moment will be the king’s speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. It’s only the second time, after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, that a U.K. monarch has addressed a joint meeting of both houses.

Elizabeth praised liberalism on that trip, spoke against the idea that “power grows from the barrel of a gun” and praised the “rich ethnic and cultural diversity of both our societies.”

The king’s treasured causes, including the environment and harmony among religious faiths, are in contrast to Trump’s. He's unlikely to accentuate differences, but Allerfeldt said that, in the monarch’s subtle way, the king could use his speech to send a message.

“He does have an unorthodox way of looking at the world, and I think maybe he can actually have something valid to say when he addresses Congress,” Allerfeldt said.

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Jill Lawless reported from London.

That’s according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company that provides insight into changing behaviors across music listenership.

A blockbuster was the cause: “Michael,” the big-budget Michael Jackson biopic released Friday, earned $97 million in U.S. and Canada theaters its opening weekend, according to studio estimates. A few weeks prior, estimates for “Michael” were closer to $50 million. Last week, the studio estimated closer to $70 million.

As a result of the movie's incredible popularity, Jackson received 31.7 million streams on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 in the U.S. and 16.3 million streams the previous weekend, Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18. That's a 95% increase.

But before Michael Jackson was Michael Jackson, he was the youngest member of The Jackson 5. The classic boy group also received a huge jump in streams. The group earned 2.4 million streams on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 compared to 1.3 million streams the previous weekend, Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18. That’s an 85% increase.

Jackson also saw a boost in plays on Apple Music. According to the streaming giant, on Monday, Jackson had eight songs on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 Global Chart. “Billie Jean” led the pack at number 11.

And Shazam found that Jackson streams were 140% higher in volume last weekend, April 24 through April 26, than the previous weekend. As a result, there are currently seven Jackson songs on Shazam’s global top 200.

“Michael” is a box office smash despite negative reviews from critics. In his review, The Associated Press' Jake Coyle awarded the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, describing it as “a kind of fantasy film, one that relives the extraordinary highs of Michael Jackson while turning a blind eye to the lows.”

Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have agreed to end their offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million. Both companies have decided not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States, the Interior Department announced Monday.

Bluepoint Wind is an offshore wind project in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind is a floating offshore wind project proposed off California’s central coast.

Interior said it's following the model of its recent deal with the French energy company TotalEnergies, which is getting a $1 billion payout to walk away from projects off the coasts of North Carolina and New York. TotalEnergies agreed in March to what’s essentially a refund of its leases, and will invest the money in fossil fuel projects instead.

The deals come after the administration's efforts to block offshore wind have been thwarted by the courts. A federal judge vacated Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects in December, declaring it unlawful as she sided with state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., who challenged the order.

Two weeks later, the administration ordered that construction stop on five major East Coast offshore wind projects, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government didn’t show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt.

Environmental groups and Democrats have questioned the legality of the TotalEnergies deal and said it could be harmful to the U.S. economy and environment.

Both Bluepoint and Golden State are co-owned by Ocean Winds, a joint venture of EDP Renewables and global energy giant Engie. Bluepoint's lease cost $765 million, while Golden State Wind will be eligible to recover approximately $120 million in lease fees, Interior said.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said companies were sold a product that was only viable when propped up by massive taxpayer subsidies when they bid for these offshore wind leases in 2022, under former President Joe Biden.

“Now that hardworking Americans are no longer footing the bill for expensive, unreliable, intermittent energy projects, companies are once again investing in affordable, reliable, secure energy infrastructure,” Burgum said in a statement. “We welcome each of the projects’ willingness to actually support baseload power and lower utility bills for American families.”

Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind were slated to be major offshore wind projects, each capable of powering more than 1 million homes when complete and helping the states of New Jersey, New York and California meet their clean energy goals.

Bluepoint Wind is a partnership between Ocean Winds and Global Infrastructure Partners. Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of investment giant BlackRock, has committed to invest up to $765 million into a U.S.-based liquefied natural gas facility. Interior said it would cancel the offshore wind lease and reimburse the company for the amount invested in the LNG project.

Golden State Wind is a joint venture by Ocean Winds and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Under its agreement, Golden State Wind can recover about $120 million in lease fees after the same amount is invested in oil and gas assets, infrastructure or projects along the Gulf Coast, Interior said.

The companies said they appreciated the constructive engagement with the administration.

Michael Brown, CEO of Ocean Winds North America, said the deal provided “clarity” for the company and its investors. "Our priority remains disciplined capital allocation and delivering reliable energy solutions that create long-term value for ratepayers, partners and shareholders,” he said.

In his second term, Trump has gone all in on fossil fuels, which he says will lower costs for families, increase reliability and help the U.S. maintain global leadership in artificial intelligence.

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McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Although the rain helped the firefighting efforts, it wasn't “nearly enough to put the fires out" and crews responded to 10 new blazes throughout the drought-stricken state Sunday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said Monday.

Blackened trees and charred palmetto fronds lined the shoulders of U.S. 82 on Monday in Brantley County, where Georgia's second-largest blaze, the Highway 82 Fire, has been tearing through the forest. Smoke poured from the ground in several spots beside the highway — a sign that fire still smoldered beneath the dirt.

Residents like Anna Beaver, who had to evacuate her home in the small community of Atkinson, are doing what they can to help each other. Beaver has been spending her time accepting and sorting donated clothing at her church, Southside Baptist Church in Nahunta, a community of about 1,000 people that is the Brantley County seat. The church has been offering shelter, food, diapers and other supplies to people displaced by the fire.

“My heart hurts for everyone who has lost their homes, and I just want to help any way I can,” she said.

Danielle and David Grantham have been hunkering down at their home in the Atkinson area. They live in a neighborhood that was under an evacuation order Monday, so they wouldn't be allowed back in if they left, and have been accepting donations of pet food and other supplies from friends.

“We haven’t left just because we’re trying to help other people out,” Danielle Grantham said.

All across Brantley County on Monday, there was praise for the efforts of firefighters and other emergency responders.

In the small community of Waynesville, a charred cinderblock shed stood near a wood-sided home that appeared unscathed. The house has been vacant and is being sold. Larry Ferrell, a carpenter hired to perform maintenance and repairs on the home before the owner closes with a buyer, returned there to work Monday.

“The firefighters got in here and saved it,” Ferrell said.

Georgia's biggest blaze, the Pineland Road Fire, has scorched more than 50 square miles (130 square kilometers) and at least 35 homes in a sparsely populated and heavily wooded part of the state about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Florida, which is also dealing with wildfires. The area has been full of highly combustible dead trees and other vegetation since Hurricane Helene carved a destructive path northward in September of 2024.

About 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the northeast, the Highway 82 Fire has been burning since April 20. It has destroyed at least 87 homes and torched more than 35 square miles (90 square kilometers), according to figures released Monday. It is only 6% contained.

“The fire basically doubled last night in size,” Brantley County Manager Joey Cason said in a Facebook post Sunday. “It is a dynamic fire event that will be impacted by the wind.”

Authorities believe the Highway 82 blaze was sparked by a foil balloon hitting live power lines. That created an electrical arc that ignited combustible material on the ground. They think the Pineland Road fire was started by sparks from a welding operation.

An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast. Firefighters have been battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida alone. Scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees and other vegetation.

No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia. But in northern Florida, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews died Thursday evening after he suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire.

Florida's blazes are smaller than Georgia’s two biggest, but the 139 Fire has burned 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) of the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty County, southwest of Tallahassee, since March 17. No structures have been lost in that fire, and no serious injuries have been reported, federal authorities said.

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Martin reported from Atlanta.

The trial, which started Monday with jury selection, centers on the 2015 birth of ChatGPT maker OpenAI as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion.

The trial's outcome could sway the balance of power in AI — breakthrough technology that is increasingly being feared as a potential job killer and an existential threat to humanity's survival.

Those perceived risks are among the reasons that Musk, the world's richest person, cites for filing an August 2024 lawsuit that will now be decided by a jury and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.

The civil lawsuit accuses Altman, OpenAI's CEO, and his top lieutenant, Greg Brockman, of double-crossing Musk by straying from the San Francisco company's founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology. The lawsuit alleges they shifted into a moneymaking mode behind his back.

OpenAI has brushed off Musk's allegations as an unfounded case of sour grapes that's aimed at undercutting its rapid growth and bolstering Musk's own xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.

Gonzalez Rogers questioned potential jurors Monday about their views on Musk, Altman and artificial intelligence. Some jurors said they had negative views of Musk, but most said they would still be able to treat him fairly and focus on the facts of the case.

Trial promises clashing testimony from two tech titans

Musk, who invested about $38 million in OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017, initially was seeking more than $100 billion in damages.

But any damages now are likely to be much smaller after a series of pre-trial rulings that went against Musk. Musk has since abandoned a bid for damages for himself and instead is seeking an unspecified amount of money to be paid to fund the altruistic efforts of OpenAI's charitable arm. The money would be paid primarily by OpenAI's for-profit operations, and Microsoft, which became the company's biggest investor after Musk cut off his funding.

Musk's lawsuit also seeks Altman's ouster from OpenAI's board. Musk's decision to stop funding the company contributed to a bitter falling out between the former allies. Musk says he was responding to deceptive conduct that OpenAI's board picked up on when it fired Altman as CEO in 2023 before he got his job back days later.

But the trial also carries risks for Musk, who last month was held liable by another jury for defrauding investors during his $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022. Any damaging details about Musk and his business tactics could be particularly hurtful now because his rocket ship maker, SpaceX, plans to go public this summer in an initial public offering that could make him the world's first trillionaire.

However it turns out, the trial is expected to provide riveting theater, with contrasting testimony from two of technology's most influential and polarizing figures in the 54-year-old Musk and the 41-year-old Altman.

“Part of this is about whether a jury believes the people who will testify and whether they are credible,” Gonzalez Rogers said during a court hearing earlier this year while explaining why she believe the case merited a trial. The judge will make the final decision on the case, with the jury serving in an advisory role.

Evidence has included glimpses of the AI race's early days

Musk, whose estimated fortune stands at about $780 billion, has long been hailed as a visionary for his roles creating digital payment pioneer PayPal, electric automaker Tesla and rocket ship maker SpaceX. But he has also provoked backlashes with his social media commentary, unfulfilled promises about Tesla's self-driving technology and his cost-cutting role last year in President Donald Trump's administration.

Some of Musk's erratic behavior has been tied to allegations of taking hallucinogenic drugs, but Gonzalez Rogers ruled that he can't be asked during the trial about his suspected use of ketamine. But the judge is allowing Musk to be questioned about his attendance at the 2017 Burning Man festival in Nevada, a free-wheeling celebration known for widespread drug use. The judge is also allowing Musk to be questioned about his relationship with former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, the mother of several of his children.

Altman, currently sitting on a roughly $3 billion fortune, didn't emerge in the public consciousness until the late 2022 release of ChatGPT. The tech boom triggered by that conversational chatbot has led some to liken Altman to a 21st-century version of the nuclear bomb inventor, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Although Altman was initially hailed as trailblazer he is now facing blowback amid worries about AI's potential dangers. Earlier this month, the New Yorker magazine published a profile that painted him as an unscrupulous executive. Days later, a 20-year-old man worried about AI's effect on humanity was arrested on attempted murder charges after throwing a Molotov cocktail at Altman's San Francisco home.

The dueling testimonies of Altman and Musk are expected to open a window into some of the thinking that helped trigger the AI race, as well as the unraveling of their friendship. The kinship was forged in 2015 when they agreed to build AI in a more responsible and safer way than the profit-driven companies controlled by Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, according to evidence submitted ahead of the trial.

Details of the bitter break between the two men were captured in a February 2023 email exchange that surfaced as part of the evidence leading up to the trial.

After letting Musk know “you're my hero,” Altman tells him: “I am tremendously thankful for everything you’ve done to help —I don't think OpenAI would have happened without you — and it really (expletive) hurts when you publicly attack OpenAI.”

Musk's response: “I hear you and it is certainly not my intention to be hurtful, for which I apologize, but the fate of civilization is at stake.”

A Cape Cod seafood company has donated a rare two-colored lobster to a science center, sparing the critter from the kettle because of its remarkable coloration. The lobster found is the typical brown color on one side and bright orange on the other, and the two-toned pattern goes all the way from its head to its tail.

Representatives for Wellfleet Shellfish Company in Eastham, Massachusetts, said Monday they have been fielding inquiries about the crustacean for days. The company gifted the lobster to Woods Hole Science Aquarium in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and it will be put on public display when the aquarium reopens, the company said.

“The lobster is now with Woods Hole Science Aquarium’s animals currently being housed in holding tanks at the Marine Biological Laboratory during the aquarium’s construction period. When the aquarium reopens, the lobster will be on display, offering visitors a rare look at one of the ocean’s most striking natural anomalies,” the shellfish company said in a statement.

Fishermen caught the lobster off Cape Cod on April 16. Oddly colored lobsters often make their way to New England's docks over the course of the spring and summer, but the two-colored specimen is rarer than most.

The American lobster is usually a mottled brown, but they can experience color abnormalities due to gene mutations that affect the proteins that bind to their pigments. Some are blue or orange, some are spotted calico and others are so brightly color they're called “cotton candy” lobsters.

A two-colored lobster can occur because two lobster eggs fused and grew as one animal, marine sciences professor Markus Frederich of the University of New England in Maine told The Associated Press in 2024. There are estimates about the rarity of different lobster colors, though Frederich has also cautioned that such figures are approximations.

On Cape Cod, Wellfleet Shellfish Company said it's treating the two-colored lobster as a “remarkable and exciting find.”

Chase Academy, a nonprofit school serving autistic and neurodivergent children and young adults across Volusia County, has operated out of South Daytona Plaza for more than 15 years. With 73 students and 30 staff members depending on the school, founder Miriam Lundell says the sudden displacement couldn’t come at a worse time — and the funds to relocate simply aren’t there.

“We have just sunk tens of thousands of dollars into making this facility what it looks like today and we wouldn’t willingly leave it,” Lundell said.

[WATCH: Volusia County School Board set to vote on potential pay raise for teachers]

Lundell says her team had been preparing to expand at its current location, not uproot entirely. The financial reality of an unplanned move, she says, is far more daunting than a budgeted expansion.

“We haven’t been raising funds for a year to get it customized again. We do have some savings that we planned for the expansion, but an expansion is nothing financially compared to starting over,” Lundell said.

Lundell says she was blindsided when she learned the landlord would not be renewing the school’s lease. Legally, she says, the landlord was not required to provide much more notice. A new company, Pinnacle Leasing and Management Group, took over South Daytona Plaza about two years ago.

“They think, well, one spot is as good as another spot, who cares if you have to get up and move, but when you’re a nonprofit that is an expensive and normally highly planned expedition,” Lundell said.

News 6 reached out to Pinnacle Leasing and Management Group to ask for comment or explanation, but did not receive a response.

Lundell says the disconnect is partly geographic — the new ownership is based out of state and may not fully grasp the school’s role in the community.

“It’s very hard because they’re out of state. They don’t know us, they don’t understand the impact this school has on the county,” Lundell said.

The landlord has allowed Chase Academy to remain through mid-June to finish the school year. But beyond that, Lundell says the school’s future is uncertain.

The shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner attended by President Donald Trump on Saturday night played out in front of some of the nation's most powerful reporters and editors who snapped into action in real time to provide detailed accounts from the scene.

What resulted was a steady stream of facts from myriad reputable media outlets — hardly an information vacuum. Despite this, unfounded conspiracy theories from both the left and the right proliferated, chief among them that the shooting was staged. Some spread in spite of the facts, while others used real information to create false narratives.

Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies conspiracy theories, said a lack of trust in institutions and an inability to sort fact from fiction create a “textbook recipe” for such rumors. But, she said, even when an abundance of information is available the entertainment value of conspiracy theories can still prevail.

“The thing about conspiracy theories that makes people enjoy them, even if they're not politically extreme, is that you get to go looking for breadcrumbs,” she said. “It's a way to feel smart and accepted when you come up with a nugget to contribute and people like it.”

Live reporting both helped and impeded

Some possible avenues of speculation were shut down before they could begin because of the live reporting being presented — and corroborated in real time — by hundreds of professional journalists at once. Plenty still made it through.

One prevailing (and unfounded) theory: The shooting was somehow staged, perhaps as a distraction from issues such as the Iran war, or as a push for the completion of Trump's White House ballroom. The latter has been tethered to the facts that Trump pointed to the incident as evidence his ballroom is needed and that the president's Justice Department is using it to try to pressure preservationists into dropping a lawsuit over the $400 million project.

Others speculated without credible evidence that the Israeli government or military played a role — an allegation often used as an antisemitic trope. And press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an interview with Fox News before the dinner began that “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room" — a metaphorical reference to Trump’s planned speech that was used as evidence she had prior knowledge about the shooting.

Some connected it to Butler shooting

Many found parallels between what happened at the correspondents' dinner and during the attempted assassination of Trump in July 2024 during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, such as the fact that after both shootings there was a delay before the president was removed from the scene. Some cited video of Vice President JD Vance being escorted out of the room first as evidence that Trump and the Secret Service knew the shooting was going to happen.

Emily Vraga, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies political misinformation, said that sometimes more information is not necessarily better, especially in such a polarized time when people can pick and choose the facts they like and assemble their own narrative puzzles.

“We just can't process that much information,” she explained. “And so when there is just this flood of information and it's contradictory and ever-changing as new information comes in, that can actually reinforce this tendency to go to a simplified, understandable narrative. And that narrative can include conspiracy theories.”

She added, “Meaning doesn't have to be tied to reality."

The S&P 500 inched 0.1% higher to its latest all-time high, a downshift following weeks of big gains driven by strong corporate profit reports and hopes that the economy can avoid a worst-case scenario because of the war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 62 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to its own record.

The moves were stronger in the oil market, where prices climbed more than 2.5% as tankers find the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed. That’s keeping crude stuck in the Middle East and away from customers worldwide, including oil produced by Iran that’s being blockaded by the U.S. Navy.

Iran has offered to reopen the strait if the United States ends its blockade, while proposing that discussions on the larger question of its nuclear program would come in a later phase. But U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan.

Over the weekend, Trump told U.S. envoys not to go to Pakistan, which has been playing a crucial mediating role. By saying the Iranians could call Washington with any proposal, Trump appeared to signal he’s content to try to continue to squeeze Iran with the blockade.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June climbed 2.8% to settle at $108.23. Brent to be delivered in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the oil market, rose 2.6% to $101.69 per barrel.

Brent prices were at only about $70 per barrel before the war and have briefly shot to nearly $120 a couple times when fears about the war have hit their heights.

Even with more expensive fuel bills, most big U.S. companies have nevertheless been reporting profit growth for the start of 2026 that’s even stronger than analysts expected. That in turn has helped the S&P 500 jump 13% since hitting a low in late March.

This upcoming week could be a blockbuster for the market, with several of Wall Street’s most influential stocks scheduled to deliver their profit reports. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are all scheduled to report on Wednesday alone. Apple will report on Thursday.

Verizon Communications joined the list of companies topping analysts’ expectations on Monday, and its stock rose 1.5% after the company said it added more postpaid phone customers than it lost during a first quarter for the first time since 2013. It also raised its forecast for profit growth this year, even though its revenue for the first quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Domino’s Pizza helped drag on the market and fell 8.8% after it reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 8.83 points to 7,137.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 62.92 to 49,167.79, and the Nasdaq composite rose 50.50 to 24,887.10.

In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher following the rise in oil prices. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.33% from 4.31% late Friday.

The Federal Reserve will announce its latest move on short-term interest rates Wednesday, and the consensus expectation among traders is that it will hold the federal funds rate steady. Lower rates would give the economy a boost, but they would also threaten to worsen inflation when oil is more expensive and tariffs are threatening to raise prices for all kinds of other products.

Wednesday will likely be the final meeting where Chair Jerome Powell will lead the Fed. His term as chair is scheduled to expire next month, and Trump has already named a nominee to replace him, Kevin Warsh.

The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England will also be announcing their own interest-rate decisions this week.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4% for two of the world’s bigger moves.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: a TV adaptation of Isabel Allende’s beloved novel “The House of the Spirits” on Prime Video, the anime hit “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” on Crunchyroll and two Matthew Rhys projects — the movie thriller “Hallow Road” and the Apple TV horror comedy “Widow’s Bay.”

New movies to stream from April 27-May 3

— Emerald Fennell’s loose adaptation of Emily Brontë’s“Wuthering Heights” is on its way to heat up the small screen, streaming on HBO Max on May 1. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi play Catherine and Heathcliff in the hyper stylized film which lets its tortured characters do something about all that pent up lust. In my review for The Associated Press, I wrote “There are myriad pleasures to be had in the bold, absurd pageantry and devilish scheming. Yet for all the big swings, Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ amounts to something oddly shallow and blunt: garish and stylized fan fiction with the scope and budget of an old-school Hollywood epic.”

— Newly minted Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan voices a tiny woodland creature who switches bodies with his sworn enemy, a majestic bird (voiced by Juno Temple) in “Swapped,” streaming on Netflix on Friday, May 1. “Tangled” filmmaker Nathan Greno directs the movie, which also features the voices of Cedric the Entertainer and Tracy Morgan. If it sounds a bit like “Hoppers,” remember, that was an “Avatar” situation. This is “Freaky Friday.”

— The anime hit “Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc” will be streaming on Crunchyroll on Thursday. Tatsuya Yoshihara directed the film, based on the manga series by Tatsuki Fujimoto about a teenager who was murdered by the Yakuza and reborn with a unique ability: transforming body parts into chainsaws, which he uses to help fight devils now. It’s also a romance! And rated R.

— “Conbody vs Everybody,” about an ex-con attempting to rebuild his life in New York, might not technically be a movie (OK, it’s a five-part docuseries), but it’s from the great Debra Granik (“Winter’s Bone” and “Leave No Trace” ) and it’s debuting exclusive on the Criterion Channel on Friday, May 1. Filmed over eight years, Granik chronicles Coss Marte’s journey to building a New York gym that employs formerly incarcerated people.

—And finally, in the eerie “Hallow Road,” streaming on Hulu on Saturday, May 2, Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys play parents rushing to help their daughter after an accident late one night. I wrote in my review for The Associated Press that “it’s an effectively minimalistic thriller that leaves much room for interpretation and debate.”

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

New music to stream from April 27-May 3

— Hold her beer, Sabrina Carpenter. It’s time. Kacey Musgraves has returned to corner the market on too-clever, comedic country-pop songs about arousal. Such is the case of Musgraves’ “Dry Spell,” the first single from her highly-anticipated seventh studio album, “Middle of Nowhere,” out Friday, May 1. But a one trick pony she is not. The release was inspired by her home state of Texas, as evidenced by a song she premiered at Coachella earlier this month: “Uncertain, TX,” which on the album features the patron saint of the Lone Star State, Willie Nelson. Yeehaw and carry on.

— Many might know the Irish-language, Belfast-based hip-hop trio Kneecap from the headlines they inspire: From criticism for their political statements, which previously saw them banned in Canada and Hungary — they’ve accused critics of trying to silence them because of their support for the Palestinian cause throughout the war in Gaza — to their BAFTA award-winning self-titled biopic. But Kneecap is a hip-hop group with a DIY ethos, and a hip-hop group with a DIY ethos they remain. On Friday, May 1, listeners will be able to form their own opinions: They’ll release another new album, titled “FENIAN,” a reference to the 19th-century Irish revolutionaries dedicated to independence from British colonial rule. It opens with “Éire go Deo,” a rallying cry for the protection of the Irish language, and builds in intensity from there.

— Even if you haven’t heard of them, you’ve heard them — or the results of their legacy. American Football, like the cult classic film version of a rock band, have been undeniably influential in independent music circles for the last three decades. That’s namely for their role as progenitors of a very distinct guitar sound often referred to as “twinkly,” or with the genre term “Midwest emo.” It is an immediately recognizable sound, defined by it's characteristics: An unusual, complex time signature, intricate fingerpicking and tapping but with a clean tone, no distortion, generous reverb and so on. If that’s too technical an explanation, just press play on their latest album, “LP4.” It’s not too late to become obsessed. And “No Feeling,” which features Brendan Yates of the Grammy-award winning Turnstile, is not a bad place to begin.

— A new high-concept album from Tori Amos? Why not! On Friday, May 1, she’ll release “In Times of Dragons,” a 17-track release that sees the singer performing an alternative universe version of herself as she “continues her flight from a dangerous and powerful billionaire husband,” according to the record’s official press materials. It’s allegorical and political, to be sure, and she’s not going it alone. She’s joined by the “Gasoline Girls” — there’s power in numbers — which is also a jaunty piano number about not giving up the good fight.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

New series to stream from April 27-May 3

— Roku has a new program for younger first time home buyers. “This First House ” follows millennial and Gen Z families as they go through the daunting process of buying a home. They’re guided by renovation experts Zack and Camille Dettmore. The show is a spinoff of the PBS staple “This Old House.” It hits The Roku Channel on Monday.

— The TV adaptation of Isabel Allende’ s beloved novel “The House of the Spirits” debuts on Prime Video on Wednesday. The Spanish-language series follows the trials and tribulations of a multi-generational Latin family. The cast includes Alfonso Herrera, Dolores Fonzi and Nicole Wallace with Allende and Eva Longoria among executive producers.

— Matthew Rhys plays the mayor of a small coastal town that’s more creepy than charming in a new horror comedy for Apple TV called “Widow’s Bay.” He wants to make the island a tourist destination but the locals aren’t on board. The reason? They think it’s haunted. The series launches Wednesday.

— If you don’t scroll through real estate websites fantasizing about your dream home then what do you do with your downtime? HGTV’s “Zillow Gone Wild” is hosted by Jack McBrayer and takes you on a tour of some of these outrageous houses. A new season begins streaming Saturday, May 2 on HBO Max.

— Alicia Rancilio

New video games to play from April 27-May 3

— Artemis II made space travel look fun, but things get scarier the farther you get from Earth. Take Carcosa, the setting of Sony’s Saros. Not only is it filled with hostile life-forms, but the planet itself is a shape-shifter — meaning its geography changes with each new mission. Fortunately, you have an arsenal of high-tech weapons as well as a nifty shield that absorbs alien projectiles and sends them back as missiles. Housemarque, the Finnish studio that helped launch the PlayStation 5 with 2021’s Returnal, calls it “bullet ballet, evolved.” Start dancing Thursday on PS5.

— Aphelion hits a little closer to home. It takes place on Persephone, a frozen planet on the edge of our solar system. Two astronauts are separated after their spacecraft crashes, and they have to use their exploratory skills and sharp observation to figure out what went wrong and find each other. French developer Don’t Nod says it collaborated with the European Space Agency to create “a realistic depiction of near-future space exploration” — but don’t relax too much, because there’s a hostile life form on your trail here too. Break the ice Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S or PC.

— Lou Kesten

With his last legal option exhausted, Householder will return to his efforts to seek a presidential pardon, his attorney said.

The high court's ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May. Householder and Borges had appealed to justices after the lower court denied their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges.

Householder's lawyer, Scott Pullins, said in a statement that it was “a sad day” for the Borges and Householder families and "even a sadder day for free speech and the rule of law.”

“Lower courts have asked for years for the Supreme Court to clarify its rulings and they have once again declined to do so,” Pullins said. "We will now return to our efforts to release Speaker Householder from his unjust, excessive incarnation via executive action.”

Pullins had floated the idea of Householder seeking a pardon earlier, then backed off.

The Department of Justice secured Householder's and Borges' convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial.

Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme illicitly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.

Borges, 53, got a five-year sentence for helping undermine the repeal effort. A former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, he was released to a halfway house in Cincinnati in October, from which he's to be released Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

The remark about the president's wife was part of a routine on Thursday's “Jimmy Kimmel Live” where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation's political leadership had gathered.

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband.

There was no immediate comment from ABC.

Trump has long been on receiving end of Kimmel's routines

Kimmel has long targeted the president in his comedy, and he doubled down after a run-in with the administration last fall. Kimmel was suspended by ABC and some of the network's affiliates said they would take him off the air following a comment made about assassinated conservative leader Charlie Kirk, moves encouraged by Trump's FCC chairman, Brendan Carr. ABC and the stations later brought Kimmel back.

Dressed in a tux and standing behind a podium Thursday, Kimmel pretended to deliver a comic routine for the WHCA dinner. His speech had false “cutaways” to the Trumps and others, taken from video clips.

He noted Melania in the “audience,” saying, “Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”

“I appreciate that so many people are incensed by Kimmel’s despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale,” the president said on his Truth Social platform. “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired” by ABC and its parent Walt Disney Co., he said.

His wife said Kimmel's “hateful and violent rhetoric” is intended to divide the country. “A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him," Melania Trump wrote. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand.”

White House press secretary also weighs in

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was part of a campaign of rhetoric from Democrats and some in the media that “has helped to legitimize this violence.”

“Who in their right mind says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband?” Leavitt said. There was no indication that Kimmel was referring to violence.

During his routine, Kimmel noted Melania Trump's birthday Sunday, saying, “She's planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does — looking out a window and whispering, ‘What have I done?’”

He also said: “Before we go any further, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein.”

Cole Tomas Allen, the California man arrested after charged with attempting to rush into the correspondents' dinner on Saturday, was charged with the attempted assassination of the president.

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Associated Press correspondent Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report. 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.

The boundary-breaking Colombian singer and pop star has not commented on the death of the worker.

According to police, Gabriel de Jesus Firmino died on Sunday after being crushed by two stage elevators when the equipment was activated by another worker. Investigator Ângelo Lages told journalists that the Brazilian company that operates the stage is under investigation for alleged non-compliance with workplace safety regulations.

Shakira, who spent the last year on her first global tour since 2018, where she has made history, is to give a free concert on Saturday evening at the Copacabana. Last year, Lady Gaga gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach for the biggest show of her career.

Many beachgoers said they were sorry for the worker's death and that hey think the concert should still go on as planned.

"It is a sad thing that this happened,” said Anita Costa, a 41-year-old singer, as she strolled near the stage on Monday morning. “But the concert should go on.”

Concert organizers expressed support and solidarity with the company in charge of the stage construction, its “staff and the family of the victim” of the tragic accident.

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

She had spent three daystelling a jury that the ex-movie mogul raped her, explaining why she continued a relationship with him afterward and discussing other deeply personal aspects of her life, once sobbing so hard that court ended early. Weinstein had then been convicted, in a 2020 verdict seen as a victory for the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct.

Yet six years later, Mann again walked to a witness stand, passing Weinstein in court on Monday, and beginning — for a third time — to give a jury her account of what happened between them.

Mann testified that she met Weinstein at an acquaintance’s engagement party around the beginning of 2013. She said he was wearing a tuxedo and “looked very jolly, so I went up and introduced myself to him.”

Mann was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into acting, she said. Later that evening, she said, she ran into Weinstein again. She testified that he boasted about his moviemaking prowess and his ability to spot talent.

“He said I was really pretty, prettier than Natalie Portman,” Mann testified, echoing her prior testimony. She added that she ended up giving Weinstein her phone number, thinking she’d make a professional — not romantic — connection.

“He was interested in my look. I thought I just got discovered,” she said.

Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone. He watched from his wheelchair at the defense table as Mann testified, occasionally leaning over to talk with his lawyer. Mann only looked at Weinstein when asked to point him out in the courtroom.

Mann’s allegation of a 2013 rape in a Manhattan hotel is again up for consideration because of a series of legal switchbacks. First, Weinstein's 2020 conviction was overturned for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Then a jury failed to decide her part of a retrial that involved multiple accusers and allegations last year, leaving only her rape charge to be tried again.

“I am ready, willing and able to endure this as many times as it takes for justice and accountability to be served,” Mann said in a statement at the time.

That determination now stands to be tested.

Mann could face days of questioning by prosecutors and Weinstein's new lawyers. Like their predecessors, they have portrayed Mann as a canny wannabe who got involved with a Hollywood heavy-hitter, had entirely consensual sex with him, enjoyed his connections and invitations, then turned on him after news reports about other women’s claims about Weinstein. The 2017 reporting catalyzed the #MeToo movement.

Mann, 40, grew up in a small town in Washington state and trained as a hairstylist, but she yearned to pursue acting and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She was sometimes so broke that she lived in her car, but she had done some commercial and film work before she met Weinstein.

Thrilled that the Oscar-winning producer expressed interest in her career, Mann accepted invitations to get together, starting with a shopping trip for books about cinema, she testified. Within a couple months, she has said, Weinstein started making sexual overtures that she didn't invite but accepted.

She has said she embarked, with jumbled feelings, on a relationship with the then-married mogul. Sometimes she appreciated his encouragement, other times she resented his sexual demands, and she was always cognizant of his career-making power.

In March 2013, Mann and a friend traveled to New York, and she arranged to meet Weinstein for breakfast with her pals. She testified at prior trials that he got her alone in a hotel room, slammed the door shut when she tried to leave and ultimately raped her, though she told him “I don't want to do this” and “no.”

Afterward, Mann kept seeing and having what she has said were largely consensual sexual encounters with Weinstein. At points over the next roughly four years, she emailed him “miss you,” “there is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you” and “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

Weinstein's lawyers have argued that the messages show there was nothing but a caring relationship. Mann has said she was trying to manage a complicated dynamic with a volatile man.

The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.

Bueckers made a statement before taking questions from reporters during media day for the Wings on Monday at the University of Texas at Arlington, where the WNBA team plays home games.

The statement from Bueckers came 11 days after the Wings wouldn't let Fudd answer a question about her relationship with her former UConn teammate during Fudd's introductory news conference in Dallas.

The two went public with their relationship last year, after winning a national championship together in Bueckers' final season at UConn, and haven't addressed the status of that relationship since the draft.

“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers said. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us. But as media members, I understand you guys have a job to do. And you guys have to ask questions about the basketball aspect of it. So that’s what I’ll be addressing today.”

Bueckers, the reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, said the Wings drafting Fudd had nothing to do with her. After winning a title with Bueckers, Fudd's UConn team lost to South Carolina in the Final Four this month.

“Me and Azzi have always been the utmost professionals,” Bueckers said. “We’ve always conducted ourselves as such. And we’ve never let anything that happens off the court carry onto the court.”

Fudd met with reporters about two hours before Bueckers did on media day and wasn't asked about the relationship.

Bueckers was a three-time Associated Press All-American at UConn, and Fudd joined that list last season. They were together for three seasons with the Huskies.

“Me and Azzi are not new to this,” Bueckers said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time. We have countless reps at it. We have a lot of experience with it. So we will continue to use that experience to show up and be professionals, great teammates, great leaders, the hardest workers and continue to show up and do our job and help the Dallas Wings win basketball games.”

When Fudd was introduced, Wings general manager Curt Miller said the club didn't hesitate on a decision that added to an already elite backcourt with Bueckers and four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.

“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention, on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.”

Bueckers was a runaway winner for the rookie award after averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. But the Wings tied for last place in the WNBA, and their 34 losses were twice as many as Bueckers experienced in four seasons combined at UConn. It was the 13th losing record in the past 16 seasons for the franchise.

“The way she goes about things, she always sees it as a challenge, as an opportunity to grow,” Fudd said earlier this month. “So last year it was, she’s not used to losing, but how can she take those losses, continue to grow, continue to be a great leader, make everyone around her better. So if I can adopt anything from her, that’s definitely one of the things that I want to kind of use for myself.”

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

Lawmakers heard an emotional and sweeping review of a camp “obedience” culture that paired poorly trained teenage counselors with the youngest campers; was complacent about flood warnings; had poor communications; and critically delayed evacuation efforts.

“There was never any real training, no drills of any kind,” for counselors or campers of what do to or where to go in a flood threat, a special legislative committee's investigator, Casey Garrett, said. She was addressing the committee's first hearing on the July Fourth flood that swept through the all-girls Christian camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Twenty-five campers and two teenage counselors were killed. Camp owner Richard Eastland was also killed as he desperately tried to evacuate girls to higher ground.

Garrett noted that most of the victims were under age 10, some attending camp for the first time, and that the counselors in the hardest hit cabins were among the youngest and most inexperienced at the camp.

Many of the grim details had already been made public through hearings, media reports and interviews, but the state report — including interviews with about 150 people including campers, counselors, the Eastland family and victims' families — presented them in a stark, streamlined review.

“The fate of those girls was set before any drop of rain fell." Sen. Charles Perry said during the hearing.

He continued: "The things that were common sense and the things that should have been done, didn’t get done.”

Families of the victims pack the hearing

Dozens of victim family members filled the committee room Monday. Some sobbed or walked out when photos of the victims and the destroyed camp site were displayed, or when they heard their loved ones' names read aloud.

The report noted some harrowing survivor accounts, including of a girl who was swept more than 6 miles downriver. She told investigators she was sucked underwater several times before she washed up on a debris pile and fell asleep. She was rescued the next morning by two women who heard her cries for help.

One girl recalled how the floodwater in her cabin rose so high that her chin touched the ceiling, Garrett said. One counselor told investigators she pushed girls underwater to get them through the door of a flooded cabin.

The committee saw video of water rushing into a building through cracks in the door. In cellphone video shot by a stranded camper, a girl can be heard yelling “Help!” in the dark, raging floodwaters.

Garrett played an interview with a counselor who said she climbed atop a two-story recreation hall with about 100 campers. She described their terror as rising floodwaters closed in on them.

Campers and counselors had no emergency training

Garrett, a Houston attorney who also helped with the Legislature's report on the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, several times noted the lack of emergency training for the teenage counselors and child campers.

There was no detailed evacuation plan, he said, and the only instruction for the girls in low-lying areas of the camp was a one-paragraph directive that told them to “stay in their cabins unless told otherwise by the office. All cabins are constructed on high, safe locations.” State inspectors approved that plan two days before the flood.

Eventually, some counselors took matters into their own hands and pushed girls through cabin windows to scramble up a hill.

“It wasn’t a plan. It wasn’t a safe plan, It was an option taken, thank God,” Garrett said. "It was very ad hoc.”

Camp Mystic’s owners are seeking permission to reopen in late May and have said they will only use parts of the camp that didn’t flood. They expect nearly 900 girls on campus this summer. The plans to reopen have angered victims’ families, and some prominent state officials have called for state regulators to deny or delay renewal of its license, which is under review.

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed new measures to demand more detailed planning and training, and the installation of emergency warning systems. The Legislature doesn’t meet again until January 2027 and the panel does not control the review of Camp Mystic's license.

Investigator describes the camp's formidable owner

Some counselors told investigators they feared getting into trouble if they were to take children to higher ground or out into the storm without explicit instructions.

Garrett described the camp's “obedience-encouraged” culture dominated by Eastland, the campus patriarch. Some members of the Eastland family and camp staff referred to him as “The General” and “The Eagle.”

“He ruled,” his wife Tweety told investigators. Several Eastland family members attended the hearing.

“He was running the show over there … You just really didn’t cross him,” Garrett said.

The camp relied almost exclusively on Eastland for how to act in a flood emergency. The owner's son, Edward Eastland, testified in a lawsuit last week that any detailed flood evacuation plan was simply inside his father's head.

Richard Eastland and several girls were was found dead in his vehicle after he tried to drive them to safety. Edward Eastland was swept by the floodwaters into a tree. Camp security officer Glenn Juenke survived although he was trapped in a flooded cabin with campers.

Garrett described Richard Eastland as a popular camp leader who taught generations of girls how to fish. He had a knack for comforting young campers who were nervous about their first time away from home.

“We do know Dick Eastland loved every little girl who came to Camp Mystic,” Garrett said.

The new map, if approved by lawmakers in a special session that starts Tuesday, could flip a handful of districts from Democrats to Republicans, helping the GOP retain control of the U.S. House in November.

DeSantis released the map to Fox News first on Monday before the plan was formally sent to the Legislature.

[INTERACTIVE: Slide the middle bar to see how the district map would change if approved]

House and Senate committees will review the proposal Tuesday ahead of a likely floor vote Wednesday.

In a memo to lawmakers, DeSantis’ general counsel, David Axelman, stated the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to knock down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that allows districts to be drawn based on race to address historic discrimination. A ruling in a redistricting case out of Louisiana that was heard in October is still pending.

Florida voters, though, approved the Fair Districts amendments in 2010, which prohibit drawing districts to diminish the voting power of minorities or to favor a particular party. Because the Florida Supreme Court in 2025 struck down the part of the Fair District amendment (FDA) that allows districts to be drawn for racial reasons, Axelman claims all of the amendment should be null and void, allowing for partisan gerrymandering.

“The race-based requirements of the FDA also cannot be severed from the other requirements of the FDA. The FDA was sold to the voters as a package,” Axelman wrote. “There was no severability provision included in the FDA when it was presented to the voters. And because one part is unconstitutional, there’s little reason to think that voters would have approved the remaining parts by themselves.”

[WATCH: DeSantis calls Florida lawmakers back to work for special session]

The Legislature might have a different view of the legal landscape. When DeSantis first called the special session in January he set the date for April 20, but earlier this month he pushed the start back by one week.

At the time Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, issued a memo to members reminding them of the state constitution’s prohibition against partisan gerrymandering.

“Florida’s Constitution includes strict guidelines for what information the Legislature can and cannot consider when drawing new congressional districts,” Albritton wrote. “Regardless of the forum or format, we can only consider thoughts and feedback in keeping with constitutional standards. Senators should take care to insulate themselves from partisan-funded organizations and other interests that may intentionally or unintentionally attempt to inappropriately influence redistricting."

Democratic lawmakers decried the new map as a blatant partisan power grab.

“The fact that the Governor shared his illegally rigged Congressional map with (Fox News) before sharing it with state senators voting on them TOMORROW shows how partisan and illegitimate this process is,” state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, posted on X.

The map was drawn by DeSantis staffers over the last week.

President Donald Trump kicked off a redistricting arms race when he pushed Republican-controlled states to redraw their maps ahead of the midterm elections. GOP-heavy Texas was the first state to do so, and Democrats in California responded. Some states, such as Indiana and Maryland, have rejected the mapmaking mania, but Virginia voters last week approved a new map tilted toward Democrats.

That left Florida as the potentially last chance for Republicans to slant the midterm landscape to their favor in hopes of salvaging their narrow advantage in the U.S. House. There are currently 217 Republicans, 212 Democrats, one independent and five vacancies in the chamber.

DeSantis has also pointed to a faulty 2020 census that added one more congressional district to Florida’s delegation, but DeSantis claims the state should have been given another. Also, Florida has added 2 million people since the 2020 census and the districts are now lopsided.

But Florida has had rampant growth in its recent history and hasn’t conducted mid-decade redistricting, and DeSantis hasn’t suggested redrawing the legislative districts, just the U.S. House districts.

The new maps, if passed and signed into law, are likely destined for the courts, but even with DeSantis having appointed six out of the seven members of the Florida Supreme Court, it’s unclear whether the new districts would get knocked down.

Under current precedent, courts have leaned on the Purcell principle, which holds that courts shouldn’t make changes to election laws close to an election. But unlike after a new census, Florida already has a district map upheld by the courts if the new map is struck down.

“In 2022, you needed a map. Florida had added a new congressional district, the old map was invalid,” Democratic redistricting consultant Mat Isbell said. “We have a valid map that we’re currently using.”

Some 38 passengers were taken to hospitals for treatment, state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia said in a statement.

The Argo Bromo Anggrek long-distance train crashed into the rear car of a commuter train that was stopped at Bekasi Timur Station. The car had been designated for women only, a common accommodation to help avoid harassment. Rescue teams worked to reach five passengers trapped in the damaged commuter train car.

All 240 passengers on the Argo Bromo Anggrek train were safe, officials said.

Police were investigating the cause of the accident, Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri told reporters at the scene.

Local television footage and videos on social media showed passengers at the station panicking, while dozens of people rushed to the station for news of family members.

The state-owned railway company apologized to customers.

Accidents are common on Indonesia’s aging railroad network. In January 2024, two trains collided in West Java province, killing at least four people,

In October 2013, a passenger train slammed into a minibus at an unguarded crossing in West Java, killing 13 people. In 2010, a train from Jakarta plowed into the rear of a train that was sitting at a station in Central Java province, killing 36.

The events — one in each of the city's five boroughs — will include watch parties for the matches and other festivities. They will be staged at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, a shopping center near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and a minor league baseball stadium in Staten Island.

A separate fan event planned for Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, where the New York Red Bulls play, will cost $10.

World Cup matches will be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where just getting to and from the matches on public transit could cost $150.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a noted soccer devotee, announced the free events alongside New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat.

"Every fan should be able to watch the greatest tournament on earth without dipping into their savings," Mamdani said.

Similar fan events are being planned for other U.S. host cities.

It’s the third time in less than two years that a gunman has come uncomfortably close to Trump, renewing the central tension over how to accommodate the public-facing demands of the president's office while minimizing the risk of an attack.

Saturday’s episode, in which a man armed with guns and knives tried to storm the Washington hotel ballroom where the president was set to address the White House Correspondents’ Association, comes ahead of Trump’s expected participation in a stretch of large, high-profile events indoors and outdoors in the months ahead. Among them, he’s set to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, oversee the U.S. co-hosting the World Cup and lead rallies meant to galvanize support for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will hold a meeting this week with officials from the White House operations team, the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss security protocol at events with the president, according to a senior White House official. The meeting will examine security steps that were successful on Saturday while “exploring additional options” for future events, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to confirm private discussions.

Separately, a person familiar with the matter said the U.S. Secret Service was already reevaluating its security footing for the upcoming events. The agency’s posture was already elevated due to the extraordinary number of threats facing Trump — including two back-to-back assassination attempts in 2024 — and the realities of recent events such as the U.S.-Iran war.

“I can’t imagine that there’s any profession that is more dangerous,” Trump said of the presidency Saturday night from the White House.

Inside the Secret Service, agents on protective intelligence and threat assessment teams are also reexamining threats made against Trump in recent months. Copycat violence can follow high-profile attacks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security planning.

The White House and Buckingham Palace said King Charles and Queen Camilla’s state visit Monday is going ahead as planned. Still, organizing around large-scale events deeper in the future — including the UFC bout on the White House lawn marking Trump’s 80th birthday in June, World Cup matches and the IndyCar race past the White House — could get more complicated.

An inherent tension in presidential protection is exposed

Lawmakers, event attendees and some allies of the president saw fault in the correspondents’ dinner security planning, questioning why someone like the shooter could reserve a room at the hotel to sneak in weapons around the outermost layer of security.

Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman emeritus of the House Homeland Security Committee, said security protocols for Trump and Vice President JD Vance may need altering.

“I think the Secret Service needs to reconsider having both the president and vice president together at something like that,” McCaul told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Kari Lake, a former unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arizona and Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, complained about not having to show a photo ID to match her ticket to the event when entering the hotel for the correspondents’ dinner. “I can’t believe how lax the security was,” Lake wrote on X.

The Secret Service is charged only with the safety of its protectees, not of the event itself, and the agency immediately celebrated its response, drawing a high-profile endorsement from Trump himself.

“Our multilayered protection works,” director Sean Curran said Saturday.

“Those guys did a good job last night. They did a really good job,” echoed Trump on Sunday in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes.”

Garrett Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself — While the Rest of Us Die,” wrote in an analysis of the multiple layers of security around Trump during the dinner, “Seems like the system basically working as designed, amid the always necessary trade-offs of security in a free society.”

Retired Secret Service Agent Thomas D. Quinn, who helped pioneer Secret Service counterassault teams, posted on X that “the Secret Service security plan for the WHCD worked and the assailant was stopped.” He continued, “As long as we are a free people in a freedom loving Nation, the Secret Service responsibilities will continue to be immense.”

More security changes ahead

Ronald Kessler, author of “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect,” said authorities are likely to consider placing bulletproof glass around where Trump speaks outside and inside — not unlike after the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt during the heat of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Attendees, Kessler said, will likely be more thoroughly screened going forward — exacerbating lines at entrances that can already take hours to clear. An example of what might happen came last fall, when Trump attended the men’s final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and triggered massive security lines.

Such events underscore the complicated security questions surrounding presidential protection in a country where citizens expect their leaders to move through public spaces, hold rallies, attend events and appear before crowds.

“Presidents don’t like to have too much protection,” Kessler said. “I think, by their nature, they’re very outgoing. They want to meet people. They don’t want to be accused of being prisoners of the White House. And so, they’ll try to get around some of these improvements.”

Presidents can have love-hate relationships with security details

The Secret Service took over full-time responsibility for protecting the president during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, who came to office after an assassin killed William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt found the constant security presence tiresome, however, and would sometimes slip away for unprotected hikes or horseback rides in Washington’s Rock Creek Park, according to the White House Historical Association.

Security personnel wanted President Ronald Reagan to exit the building where Saturday night’s shooting occurred, the Washington Hilton, through a covered garage in 1981, Kessler said. Reagan’s staff worried the optics would be bad, however, and the president was shot as he left an open-air exit, ultimately surviving.

After shots were fired Saturday, Secret Service agents surrounded Trump, who appeared to slip slightly as he was whisked away. Another team moved Vance so quickly it seemed as if it might haul him out while still seated in a banquet chair.

Trump told “60 Minutes” on Sunday that he “wasn’t making it easy” for the Secret Service by being “a little bit me.”

“I wanted to see what was happening,” the president said Sunday. “And by that time we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem — different kind of a problem — bad one.”

“I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said: ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute. Lemme see. Wait a minute,’” Trump said. He said he started walking out but: “They said, 'Please go down. Please go down on the floor.′ So I went down, and the first lady went down also.”

Trump repeatedly praised the Secret Service and his detail, and he has pushed the correspondents’ association to reschedule the dinner. He said it would have “even more security.”

“And they’ll have bigger perimeter security,” he said. "It’ll be fine.”

___

Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Mike Balsamo in New York contributed.

The digital portrait represents a man whose remains, along with those of another person, were discovered as they attempted to flee the city toward the coast of what is now Italy during the volcanic eruption. Researchers believe the man died early in the disaster, during a heavy fall of volcanic debris.

The reconstruction was developed by the Pompeii Archaeological Park, which announced on its website that it was done in collaboration with the University of Padua and based on archaeological survey data from excavations near the Porta Stabia necropolis, just outside the walls of the ancient city.

The announcement shows the AI-generated illustration of what the man could have looked like. He is shown running along a rough, debris-covered road, holding a large, shallow bowl over his head and using it as a shield while Mount Vesuvius is seen erupting in the background.

Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage site near Naples, was buried under ash and pumice when the Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago, preserving the city and the remains of thousands of its inhabitants in remarkable detail.

Archaeologists found the man holding a terracotta mortar, which they interpreted as an improvised attempt to shield his head from falling small volcanic stones that rained down during the eruption.

Ancient accounts — including those of Roman writer Pliny the Younger — describe Pompeii's residents using objects to protect themselves as ash and debris blanketed the city.

The man was also carrying an oil lamp, a small iron ring and 10 bronze coins, personal objects that offer insight into his final moments as well as into daily life in Pompeii before the catastrophe.

The digital portrait was created using AI and photo-editing techniques designed to translate skeletal and archaeological data into a realistic human likeness.

“The vastness of archaeological data is now such that only with the help of artificial intelligence will we be able to adequately protect and enhance them. If used well, AI can contribute to a renewal of classical studies,” Pompeii park director Gabriel Zuchtriegel said in a statement.

The project aims to make archaeological research more accessible and emotionally engaging for the public while maintaining a scientific foundation, researchers said.

Phoenix resident Guillermo Sainz Gurrola was also fined $1,000 and will serve probation for three counts of solicitation of registration, which prosecutors described as offering financial incentives to canvassers who met quotas.

The attorney general's office said charges of forgery, unsworn falsification, public records tampering and violations of state elections and voter registration laws remain pending against six canvassers. One is also facing an identity theft charge.

Sainz Gurrola's defense attorney, Timothy M. Stengel, declined comment but said his client apologized in court. Authorities had previously identified him as Guillermo Sainz, but Stengel and the online court docket gave his name as Guillermo Sainz Gurrola.

Stengel said the plea on Monday involved registration drives in Lancaster, Berks and York counties.

In a court affidavit filed with the criminal charges, investigators said Sainz Gurrola, an employee of Field+Media Corps, “instituted unlawful financial incentives and pressures in his push to meet company goals to maintain funding which in turn spurred some canvassers to create and submit fake forms to earn more money.”

Field+Media was funded by Everybody Votes, which has worked to improve voter registration rates in communities of color. The court affidavit said Everybody Votes had fully cooperated with the investigation and that its contract with Field+Media prohibited payments on a per-registration basis.

Sainz Gurrola managed Pennsylvania operations from May to October 2024.

The investigation began in the weeks before the general election when election workers in Lancaster County flagged voter registration forms for potential fraud. Investigators said they appeared to contain false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses and other problematic details.

In the homestretch of the presidential contest, then-candidate Donald Trump seized on the case, declaring there had been “cheating” involving “2,600” votes. The actual issue in Lancaster was about 2,500 suspected fraudulent voter registration forms, not ballots or votes.

U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer, which was passed to the Americans by Pakistan and would leave unresolved the disagreements that led the U.S. and Israel to go to war on Feb. 28.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s national security team met Monday and was discussing Iran’s proposal. But she offered no detail about the discussion or how the proposal was received. She said Trump would address it later.

With a fragile ceasefire in place, the U.S. and Iran are locked in a standoff over the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passes in peacetime. The U.S blockade is designed to prevent Iran from selling its oil, depriving it of crucial revenue while also potentially creating a situation where Tehran has to shut off production because it has nowhere to store oil.

The strait’s closure, meanwhile, has put pressure on Trump, as oil and gasoline prices have skyrocketed ahead of crucial midterm elections, and it has pressured his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas.

Renewed demands to end blockade

Frustration among many nations is mounting, with renewed demands Monday to end the blockade that has had far-reaching effects throughout the world economy, including raising the price of fertilizer, food and other basic goods.

The Iranian proposal would push negotiations on the country's nuclear program to a later date. Trump said one of the major reasons he went to war was to deny Iran the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

The two officials with knowledge of the proposal spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations between Iranian and Pakistani officials this weekend. Iran's proposal was first reported by the Axios news outlet.

The offer emerged as Iran’s foreign minister visited Russia, which has long been a key backer of Tehran. It’s unclear what, if any, assistance Moscow might offer now.

Iran’s ability to choke off traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, has proved one of its biggest strategic advantages in a war that has often boiled down to which side can take more pain.

Oil prices have risen steadily since the war began, and tankers full of crude became stranded in the Gulf, unable to safely pass through the strait to reach global distribution points.

On Monday, the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at around $109 per barrel, about 50% higher than when the war began.

Dozens of nations push for reopening of strait

Dozens of nations repeated calls to open the critical waterway in a joint statement led by Bahrain.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Monday that the humanitarian toll is mounting.

“These pressures are cascading into empty fuel tanks, empty shelves — and empty plates,” he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the U.S. for going into the war with what he said was no strategy. “The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: It’s not just about getting in. You also have to get out,” Merz said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot blasted all sides. He said the crisis began after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran without clear goals "in a manner that flouts international law.”

But he said Iran is responsible for closing the passageway. “Straits are the arteries of the world. They are not the property of any individual. They are not for sale, therefore, they cannot be impeded by any obstacles, tolls, nor bribery,” he said.

Top Iranian diplomat meets Putin in Russia

Trump last week indefinitely extended the ceasefire the U.S. and Iran agreed to on April 7 that has largely halted fighting. But a permanent settlement remains elusive.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said. Putin praised the Iranian people as “bravely and heroically fighting for their sovereignty,” and he said Russia would do everything possible to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.

Araghchi told a Russian state TV reporter that the U.S. and its leaders “have achieved none of their goals” in the war. “That’s why they ask for negotiation,” he said. “We are now considering it.”

Iran’s top diplomat said Iran and Russia “are strategic partners” and that their “cooperation would continue.”

The meeting came as Pakistan has been seeking to revive stalled talks between Iran and the U.S., and negotiations had been expected in Islamabad over the weekend. Instead, Trump called off a trip by his envoys and suggested the talks could take place by phone instead.

Iran wants to persuade Oman, which shares the strait with Iran, to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels passing through the strait, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Oman’s response was not immediately clear.

The official, who is involved in mediation efforts, also said Iran insisted on ending the U.S. blockade before new talks and that Pakistan-led mediators are trying to bridge significant gaps between the countries.

Trump says Iran offered a ‘much better’ proposal

Trump told journalists Saturday that after he called off a trip by his envoys to Pakistan, Iran sent a “much better” proposal.

He did not elaborate but stressed that one of his conditions is that Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon.” Iran insists its program is peaceful, but the U.S. wants to remove Tehran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could be used to build a bomb, should Tehran choose to pursue one.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,521 people in Lebanon, where fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group resumed two days after the Iran war started. Another 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been extended by three weeks. Despite the truce, both sides continue to strike each other.

Hezbollah has not participated in the Washington-brokered diplomacy.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece. Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri in New York and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Felix, a mother of two, told Time Magazine she thought about coming back some four years after calling it quits and decided: “Let’s go after the thing. Let’s be vulnerable.”

“You know, at this age, I should probably be staying home and taking care of my kids, doing all that. And just, why not? Let’s flip it on its head," she said.

Felix has won 11 Olympic medals — the most by any woman in track — and has a record 20 medals from world championships.

She is a seven-time Olympic champion, with six in the relays and her lone individual gold coming in the 200 meters at the 2012 London Games.

Before retiring in 2022, she became an outspoken advocate for athletes who become mothers and want to keep their careers going.

Felix, who landed a spot on the IOC Athletes' Commission in retirement, has two kids — 7-year-old Camryn and 2-year old Trey.

She said she expects to start full-time training with her coach, Bobby Kersee, in October with the goal of competing in 2027. The Olympics will be in her hometown a year later.

“I totally get the person who sticks around too long and you’re like, ‘What are they doing?’” Felix said. “I know, at 40, I am not at my peak. I have no illusions about that. I’m very clear in what it is and what I want to see. And so I hope it’s seen that way.”

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Bruce Burtoff, 77, was jailed for contempt of court March 4 because he refused to identify two of his clients who anonymously sued their HOA using the pseudonyms Jane Doe and Joe Doe, court records show.

Burtoff, who is asking an appeals court to overturn the civil contempt order, argues that disclosing the plaintiffs’ identities would violate a Florida Bar rule related to the protection of confidential attorney-client information.

The HOA disputes that attorney-client privilege prevents Burtoff from revealing identifying information about Jane Doe and Joe Doe.

[WATCH: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis talks tax cuts for gas and homeowners]

Burtoff remains incarcerated at the Orange County jail as the appellate process is underway. The contempt order states he can be released at any time if he discloses the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the anonymous plaintiffs.

“I’m very disappointed and near tears,” said Lynn Sandford, the only plaintiff to identify herself in the lawsuit. “His incarceration is one of the most unfair, no justice situations I’ve ever witnessed.”

Sandford and the two anonymous plaintiffs sued the North Shore at Lake Hart Homeowner’s Association in 2020, alleging mismanagement of the 1,049-home community in southeast Orange County.

Eight current and former HOA board members and officers were also named as defendants.

“Plaintiffs Jane Doe and Joe Doe request anonymity for fear of reprisal, retribution and retaliation against them by the Defendants,” the complaint stated.

Sandford, who is currently being sued for slander by the HOA’s president and previously reached a confidential settlement in a separate slander lawsuit filed by the HOA, believes her neighbors are afraid of publicly criticizing the association.

“Folks don’t want to speak out with their name on it,” said Sandford, who claims she does not know the identities of her fellow plaintiffs.

Sandford and the Does were originally represented in their lawsuit by Burtoff, who also lives in the North Shore at Lake Hart community.

But in early 2023, Burtoff filed notices in court indicating he was withdrawing as the attorney for Jane Doe and Joe Doe due to “irreconcilable differences.”

[WATCH: American flag sparks lawsuit between HOA and Volusia County homeowner]

Although Burtoff no longer intended to represent the Does, the attorney told a judge he would continue to accept legal correspondence on their behalf and forward it to them to preserve their “confidences.”

The HOA immediately filed a motion demanding Burtoff disclose the anonymous plaintiffs’ identities.

“Defendants have a right to, and must obtain, the identities and contact information for Jane and Joe Doe, especially if their counsel withdraws and they are proceeding in this matter pro se [on their own behalf],” the HOA’s attorney wrote.

Before a judge ruled on the parties’ requests, the lawsuit filed by Sandford and the Does was dismissed with prejudice, so it cannot be re-filed.

Five previous versions of the lawsuit had also been thrown out, court records show.

In his dismissal order, Circuit Court Judge Emerson Thompson described the residents’ complaint as “incoherent.”

“(The complaint) does not clearly allege which board members acted improperly during a particular period of time,” Thompson wrote. “Nor does the complaint specify who the board members were when an alleged unauthorized act occurred or what the act was as it relates to specific board members.”

The very next day, the HOA’s lawyer filed an affidavit seeking attorney’s fees and costs from the three plaintiffs.

At the time of the October 2023 filing, the HOA claimed it had incurred more than $116,200 in legal expenses defending the lawsuit.

Those legal costs had grown to more than $300,000 by the following year, according to a newsletter on the HOA’s website. The final amount will be determined at a future court hearing, records show.

“Defendants will be severely prejudiced without the identities and contact information for Jane Doe and Joe Doe, particularly as to their respective liability for attorneys’ fees and costs arising out of this matter,” the HOA’s lawyer wrote in a subsequent motion seeking to compel disclosure of the plaintiffs’ names.

Burtoff initially argued in court papers that he was not obligated to identify the Does since they had been quietly dropped as plaintiffs more than a year earlier, when an amended complaint was filed under only Sandford’s name.

The attorney also said he could not disclose the names due to “attorney-client privilege,” court records show.

“Neither (the HOA nor its attorney) can articulate a single reason why they need this information now,” Burtoff wrote in response to the HOA’s request for the identity of the Does. “There is no imminent danger of death or bodily harm nor an endangered child, simply nothing except (the HOA and its attorney’s) efforts to harass and intimidate Plaintiff Sandford (and) harass this attorney.”

In early 2024, a judge temporarily denied the HOA’s request to compel Burtoff to identify the anonymous plaintiffs because Sanford had appealed the dismissal of her lawsuit.

Nearly two years later, after an appeals court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal order, the HOA resumed its quest to collect attorney’s fees from Sandford and the Does.

Circuit Court Judge John Jordan instructed Jane Doe and Joe Doe to personally appear in court with valid personal identification on January 27, 2026.

After the Does failed to show up, Jordan ordered Burtoff to disclose the names, addresses and phone numbers of his anonymous clients by February 3.

Burtoff did not comply, records indicate, prompting the HOA to ask the judge to find the attorney and his three clients in contempt.

“Burtoff’s complete and utter disregard of this Court’s directives and orders and his obligations have wasted this Court’s precious time and resources, have caused the Association to incur unnecessary attorneys’ fees and expenses, and have prejudiced the Association’s ability to obtain and collect an award of attorney’s fees and costs,” HOA attorney Todd M. Hoepker wrote in a motion for contempt.

The HOA requested a Feb. 11 court hearing to address its contempt request.

Burtoff immediately filed an objection, claiming he was “out of the country” and would “not be able to attend” the hearing.

Court records show Burtoff had notified the judge one month earlier, on January 6, that he would be “out of the jurisdiction” that week with “limited access to email or phone.”

Burtoff later explained that he was on a cruise with his wife in the U.S. Virgin Islands, records indicate.

The HOA, which has accused Burtoff of “abusing” his court availability schedule, noted that Burtoff filed legal papers during the same period he claimed to be out of the country.

Jordan held a contempt hearing Feb. 11, despite Burtoff’s pre-announced absence.

Burtoff, Sandford and the Does did not appear, records show.

During the hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes, Jordan granted the HOA’s motion for civil contempt against the attorney and his three clients.

“Burtoff has shown a willful and contumacious disregard of the (orders) and directives of the Court and therefore the imposition of civil coercive sanctions is necessary and appropriate to ensure compliance with the Court’s orders and directives,” Jordan wrote in an order commanding law enforcement to take the attorney into custody.

The order noted that Burtoff could be released from jail “at any time” if he disclosed the names, addresses and telephone numbers of Jane and Joe Doe.

Jordan also ordered Burtoff to pay a $500 daily fine to the HOA until he complied with the conditions.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has been unable to take Joe Doe and Jane Doe into custody since the agency requires names to be listed on court papers, records show.

Although the judge found Sandford in civil contempt, records show Jordan later vacated the order after Sandford testified under oath that she did not know the identities of the Does.

Deputies took Burtoff into custody on March 4 when the attorney appeared in Jordan’s courtroom for a hearing in the case, records show. Burtoff was booked into the Orange County jail later that afternoon.

Two weeks later, while Burtoff remained incarcerated, Sanford filed a motion on her own behalf seeking to disqualify Jordan from the case.

Sandford’s motion noted the judge’s decision to hold the contempt hearing despite Burtoff’s documented unavailability that day.

Jordan granted the motion to disqualify himself and the case was re-assigned to another circuit court judge, records show.

“Even when the allegations may be misstated, judges should not try to defend the honor or reputation of the Court when reviewing and ruling upon motions for disqualification,” Jordan wrote.

Later that week, a state commission announced that Jordan admitted to violating Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct in two unrelated cases and had agreed to a public reprimand.

Burtoff is now asking the Sixth District Court of Appeal to quash Jordan’s contempt order and release him from jail.

“Immediate intervention is required to restore his liberty,” Burtoff’s attorney Richard Parker wrote in an emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus. “Petitioner’s only recourse is to request relief from this Court.”

Burtoff’s petition cites a Florida Bar rule that allows attorneys to exhaust all appeals before being forced to reveal confidential client information.

The HOA called Burtoff’s narrative “false and misleading.”

“The petition attempts to portray Burtoff as an innocent lawyer,” the HOA wrote in response. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Burtoff blatantly disobeyed every warning, directive and order requiring disclosure of the true identities of Jane Doe and Joe Doe.”

At the time of this publication, the appeals court had not yet indicated when it might rule on Burtoff’s petition.

“The priority is to get Mr. Burtoff out of jail,” Sandford told News 6. “There’s no justice here.”

Rebel groups have staged 26 attacks with explosives and drones since Friday, including a deadly blast Saturday on a highway between the cities of Cali and Popayan, according to Colombia’s defense ministry. The death toll in that explosion rose to 21 people on Monday.

Violence in the region is nothing new. Illegal groups have sought to control the area for decades, deeming it strategic for illicit activities, such as illegal mining and drug trafficking, including the cultivation of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine.

Authorities blamed a group known as the FARC-EMC for the lethal explosion, near a tunnel on the Pan-American Highway. The group is led by Nestor Vera — commonly known as Iván Mordisco — a former member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym FARC, who refused to join a 2016 peace deal with the nation’s government.

Sergio Guzmán, a political risk analyst in Colombia's capital, Bogota, said that Mordisco’s group could be trying to demonstrate that it has the capabilities to do serious damage, and is seeking to “establish its credibility” with Colombia’s next government as it positions itself for future negotiations.

“Part of what they are doing is establishing leverage towards the future,” Guzmán said.

Under President Gustavo Petro, a former member of a guerrilla group, the Colombian government has attempted to stage peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups through a strategy known as " total peace."

The government has offered ceasefires to various groups in an effort to promote peace negotiations, but analysts say the strategy has failed, because these groups used the ceasefires to regroup, rearm and strengthen their grip over communities.

Groups like the FARC-EMC have been known to tax residents in areas under their control, and also forcibly recruit youth into their ranks.

“The government’s peace policy has been naïve,” said Javier Garay, a political science professor at Colombia’s Externado University. “They thought that if they had a condescending attitude towards these groups they would receive a positive response.”

In late 2023, the FARC-EMC entered peace talks with the Colombian government. But a faction led by Mordisco abandoned the talks in April 2024, and has been fighting the Colombian government since then.

Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that Mordisco’s group is particularly strong in the provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, where it's fighting for control of drug trafficking routes and illegal gold mines.

For the past two years, Mordisco’s group has also used drone attacks and car bombs, to respond to an offensive from the Colombian military in the Micay Canyon, a remote area covered with coca fields that is under the FARC-EMC’s grip.

Dickinson said that the latest attacks in southwest Colombia are one way for the group to show that it can sustain its “asymmetrical war” against the government.

Colombia’s defense minister on Sunday said that kidnappings and lockdowns enforced by rebel groups on communities had decreased in Cauca over the past year because of the government's actions.

But the government’s total peace strategy has come under fire from the opposition, whose candidates are hoping to benefit from the nation’s security woes, as they promise to take a tougher stance on crime.

Petro is barred by Colombia’s constitution from running for another term. But his party’s candidate, Iván Cepeda, has promised to continue peace talks with rebel groups.

Cepeda said on X that he rejected the recent attacks in southwest Colombia, and urged authorities to investigate whether they were part of an effort to interfere with the election.

“It is worrying that these terrorist actions are happening in a region where there is ample support for our political project,” Cepeda said.

Voters in Colombia will head to the polls on May 31 to choose from 14 different presidential candidates, including Cepeda, and conservatives Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia.

While Cepeda favors the continuation of Petro’s “total peace” strategy, his conservative rivals have said that they favor confronting rebel groups and putting more military pressure on them before resuming peace talks.

Guzmán said that while this weekend’s attacks “deepen the discomfort” with the security situation in Colombia — where a presidential candidate was killed last year — both sides will try to profit from this new wave of violence.

“Government supporters will use the attacks as an opportunity to say that that this is exactly why we need to reach urgent agreements with (rebel) groups,” Guzmán said. “Detractors will say this is why we need to more aggressively attack them.”

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

Winfrey's production company, Harpo Entertainment, struck a multiyear deal to give Amazon-owned Wondery exclusive distributing and advertising rights to “The Oprah Podcast," the companies announced Monday. Under the agreement, Winfrey's podcast will expand to two new episodes a week starting this summer — and Wondrey will distribute the show's audio and video across Amazon platforms.

Under the deal, Amazon has also obtained rights to the library of the widely-watched “The Oprah Winfrey Show” — which ran from 1986 to 2011 — as well as the talk show host's book club and "Favorite Things" franchises.

No financial terms of the agreement were immediately shared.

Winfrey's podcast joins a lineup of other celebrity-led shows now at Amazon. In 2024, for example, Wondrey similarly reached an exclusive distribution and advertising deal for “New Heights” — a podcast from Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce.

Winfrey launched “The Oprah Podcast” in December 2024. In a prepared statement Monday, Winfrey said that hosting the show “allows me to continue the work I feel called to do – opening the door for conversations that matter.” She added that expanding its reach “is an opportunity I embrace.”

Wondery will begin distributing “The Oprah Podcast” across Amazon services like Prime Video, Amazon Music, Fire TV Channels and Audible in July, according to Monday's announcement. Winfrey's podcast will also continue to be available on YouTube and other popular platforms.

The strikes were the first violent incident since Chinese-mediated peace talks between the two sides earlier this month.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that has killed hundreds of people since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Islamabad had declared it was in open war with Afghanistan, in an escalation of violence that alarmed the international community.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting dismissed Afghan media reports and official statements about the strikes on the university as “a blatant lie.”

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

Afghan and Pakistani officials met in Urumqi in western China in early April, and had agreed not to escalate their conflict and “explore a comprehensive solution,” China’s government had said after mediating the talks.

Monday’s strikes marked the first major attack since the talks, highlighting the tenuous nature of peace efforts mediated by the international community. Apart from China, other nations that have been involved in mediation between the two sides at various times include Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The fighting largely subsided in March, after the two sides declared a temporary truce for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The truce followed a deadly Pakistani airstrike on March 17 on a drug treatment facility in the Afghan capital, Kabul, that Afghanistan said killed more than 400 civilians. Pakistan denied targeting civilian facilities and disputed the death toll.

Still, sporadic cross-border fighting had continued even while delegations from the two sides were attending the talks in Urumqi.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Monday’s mortar and missile attack struck the city of Asadabad, the capital of Kunar Province, as well as various areas in another district in the province on Monday afternoon.

Kunar Information and Culture Director Najibullah Hanafi said the death toll stood at seven, with 85 people wounded.

Fitrat said the wounded included women, children and students at the Sayed Jamaluddin Afghani University, and described the attacks as "an unforgivable war crime, barbarity, and provocative act.”

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education said about 30 students and professors were injured in the strike on the university, which it said had caused extensive damage to the facility’s buildings and grounds.

In a statement, Pakistan's information ministry said that “Pakistan’s targeting is precise and intelligence based. No strike has been carried out on Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan University. The claims are frivolous and fake.”

On Saturday, Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaqi described the recent negotiations in China as “positive.”

“You are all aware of our recent problems with Pakistan. The latest negotiations were held in Urumqi under the mediation of China, and these negotiations were positive,” he said during a graduation ceremony at the foreign ministry’s Diplomacy Institute.

The issues between the two countries “are very sensitive between neighbors and between two Islamic neighboring countries and should not be treated irresponsibly,” he added.

Earlier this month, the United Nations’ office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan said the conflict had displaced 94,000 people overall.

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Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece contributed to this report.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina spoke about the takedown in a news conference on Monday.

“It’s always a good day in law enforcement when we’re able to take down a drug trafficking organization that was responsible for bringing hundreds of kilos of cocaine to [the] Central Florida area,” Mina said.

The operation dubbed “It’s a Trap,” targeted a group of traffickers who Mina said imported cocaine from Puerto Rico and shipped it to Central Florida through various parcel delivery services. Once the drugs arrived, traffickers distributed the cocaine using vehicles equipped with hidden compartments — commonly referred to as “traps” — to supply customers and dealers throughout the region.

The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI) began the investigation last August after receiving a tip from a confidential informant.

Two of the group’s top members, identified as ringleaders, are family members, according to law enforcement officials. The organization had no formal name and operated collaboratively, officials said. At least one suspect remains at large, and additional arrests in Puerto Rico are anticipated.

Officials said the investigation did not uncover any fentanyl or other illicit substances — cocaine was the only drug tied to the operation.

Investigators are still determining whether any of the nearly 30 seized firearms are connected to other crimes in the area.

Jay Bryant pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he helped other people get into a recording studio to ambush the DJ, born Jason Mizell.

“I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell,” Bryant told a federal magistrate. “I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime.”

Bryant’s admission brings some closure — but also adds complexity — to a knotty case.

Bryant didn’t name the other people with whom he acted. But a jury in 2024 convicted two other men, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, yet a judge subsequently cleared Jordan.

Washington has also challenged his conviction. His lawyer, Susan Kellman, noted Monday that evidence against Bryant included his DNA on a hat at the crime scene and witness testimony that Bryant once claimed he fired the gun himself. Jordan's lawyers declined to comment.

Bryant, 52, is expected to face a sentence somewhere between 15 and 20 years in prison for killing plus unrelated drug and gun charges to which he pleaded guilty earlier. No sentencing date has been set.

He gave a thumbs-up to someone in the audience before leaving court. The person declined to comment afterward, as did Bryant's attorneys.

Prosecutors had no immediate comment.

Mizell handled the turntables in Run-DMC, a pathbreaking trio he formed with friends Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run.

With such 1980s hits as “It’s Tricky,” “My Adidas,” and a version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” they helped rap climb the ladder from an urban genre into mainstream popularity. Run-DMC was the first rap group with gold- and platinum-selling albums, a Rolling Stone cover, and a video on MTV. The trio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Mizell also mentored other hip-hop artists, including a young 50 Cent.

At 37, Mizell was gunned down in his studio in the Queens neighborhood where he’d grown up. His October 2002 death followed the late 1990s killings of two other hip-hop greats, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Authorities struggled with all three cases for years.

Jordan and Washington — Mizell’s godson and old friend, respectively — were arrested in 2020. Prosecutors said the men were bitter about losing out on a piece of a failed cocaine deal that Mizell had tried to line up. Though Run-DMC was known for its anti-drug message, prosecutors and a trial witness said the DJ moonlighted in the cocaine trade in his later years to cover his bills and keep being generous to friends after music money dried up somewhat.

According to prosecutors and trial witnesses, Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door during the shooting and ordered one of Mizell’s aides to get on the ground. Both men denied the allegations. Jordan’s attorneys said he was at his girlfriend’s home when the DJ was shot, and Washington’s lawyers said he had no incentive to kill the famous friend who helped him financially.

Nearly three years after their arrests, prosecutors abruptly brought Bryant into their picture of the killing.

Saying that Bryant’s DNA had been found on a hat in the studio and that he’d been seen entering the building, prosecutors added him to the murder indictment. He was already jailed on the drug and gun case.

Bryant knew someone in common with Jordan and Washington, according to testimony at their trial. But unlike them, Bryant had little, if any, connection to Mizell.

Bryant said in court Monday that he was connected with people who were involved in a cocaine deal with the DJ and that he "helped them kill Jason Mizell by helping them gain entry to the recording studio.”

Bryant’s uncle has said his nephew told him he shot Mizell after the artist reached for a gun. But no one else testified that Bryant even entered the studio.

Instead, prosecutors contended that Bryant was enlisted to make his way into the studio building and open a back fire door, allowing Washington and Jordan to walk in without buzzing up and alerting Mizell they were coming.

While neither Jordan’s nor Washington’s DNA was on the cap, then-prosecutor Artie McConnell suggested one of them had accidentally left it behind, and that Bryant had simply touched it at some point beforehand.

The proposal, backed by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion and who were living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The goal is to generate $100 billion in revenue, which would largely be used to offset federal funding cuts to healthcare for low-income people.

“California’s health is at stake,” said Liz Perlman, executive director of a chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major labor union. “Hospitals are closing and people will die. Why? So billionaires can get another tax cut that they don’t need.”

The California Secretary of State still has to verify the signatures and officially place the measure on the ballot. Backers say they collected more than 1.5 million signatures, well over the roughly 875,000 they needed.

If the measure goes before voters in November, it could prompt one of the costliest ballot fights ever and will draw national attention as a litmus test for voter attitudes on raising taxes on the rich. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has already traveled to California to campaign for the idea.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Silicon Valley tech moguls are adamantly opposed. They warn it will drive California's wealthiest residents out of the state. Nearly half of California's personal income tax revenue comes from the top 1% of earners. Some have already purchased properties out of state in case it passes.

“After playing with matches since October the SEIU has succeeded in lighting a ‘Tax the Rich’ wildfire by getting enough signatures,” said David Lesperance, a tax consultant who's advised some of his wealthy clients who left California because of the proposal. “The many billionaire targets of their efforts have already responded by executing fire escape plans by relocating to other states.”

Brian Brokaw, a longtime Newsom adviser who is leading a political committee opposing the tax, said the measure was poorly constructed and would deal a huge blow to the state’s budget.

“Enacting a so-called wealth tax in just one state wouldn’t target a small group -- it would impact all 40 million Californians,” he said in a statement. “This proposal trades a short-term revenue bump for long-term losses.”

At least 25 billionaires listed among Forbes magazine’s 2025 rankings of the world’s 500 wealthiest people either lived in California or had some significant ties to the state, based on a review by The Associated Press. But determining whether they were full-time residents or just frequent visitors could turn into a matter of dispute, since many of them own property elsewhere.

The big tax and spending cuts law President Donald Trump signed last year will cut more than $1 trillion nationwide over a decade from Medicaid and federal food assistance.

OpenAI relied exclusively on Microsoft's investments in cloud computing services to build the technology that helped make ChatGPT a household name. Microsoft, in turn, relied on OpenAI's technology to build its own AI assistant Copilot.

But the partnership has evolved as San Francisco-based OpenAI, founded as a nonprofit, has shifted to a capitalistic enterprise on a path toward an initial public offering on Wall Street and has balanced its reliance on Microsoft with other cloud partners like Amazon, Google and Oracle.

OpenAI said Monday it will continue to pay Microsoft a share of its revenue through 2030.

The two companies said Microsoft remains the primary cloud computing partner for OpenAI, and products made by the AI company will ship first on Microsoft's cloud platform, called Azure, “unless Microsoft cannot and chooses not to support the necessary capabilities.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy described it as a “very interesting announcement” in a social media post Monday and said that Amazon will soon be making OpenAI’s models “available directly" on Amazon's AI platform called Bedrock.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors Monday that the new agreement “puts OpenAI on a strong path forward to going public through IPO given its clearer opportunity in the cloud environment while reducing significant barriers from its original partnership with Microsoft.”

Ives said it's also important for Microsoft as it “looks to develop tech independence from OpenAI” in advancing Copilot's capabilities and partnering with other AI providers such as OpenAI rival Anthropic, maker of the chatbot Claude.

Backyard poultry include birds like chicken, ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys. The animals can carry germs, including salmonella, that make people sick.

Illnesses were reported from Feb. 26 to March 31 and include 13 people who were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sick people range in age from 1 to 78, but more than 40% are children younger than 5, the CDC said last week.

Sick people have been reported in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and West Virginia. But more illnesses in more states could be possible, CDC officials added.

Of sick people interviewed, nearly 80% reported contact with backyard poultry. Of people interviewed who owned backyard poultry, more than 90% had obtained the animals since January. People got the poultry from various places, including agricultural retail stores. Health officials are investigating the sources of the animals.

Bacteria from samples from 34 people showed they might be resistant to at least one drug used to treat salmonella infections. Of those, some also showed they might be resistant to four other common antibiotics. Infections that are unable to be treated with antibiotics can result in serious illness or death.

The CDC has investigated multiple salmonella outbreaks involving backyard poultry in recent years. In 2025, an outbreak sickened more than 500 people in 48 states, with 125 people hospitalized and two deaths.

Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are most likely to get sick from these germs. The best way to prevent illness is to wash hands after handling poultry, their food or items in their environment. People should avoid kissing or snuggling with backyard birds, the CDC says.

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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.

Edwards had an MRI exam that confirmed the absence of structural damage, a relief to the Timberwolves after Edwards' injury occurred in the second quarter of their Game 4 victory over the Nuggets. Still, his availability for the second round if they advance will be in question. The team called his status week to week, so Edwards would likely miss at least the beginning of the next series before he's cleared to return.

“With the two injuries we had in one game, it was as positive as you can get it,” guard Mike Conley told reporters after the team's pregame shootaround in Denver. ”Obviously we want him to get healthy. We want him to be recovered as quickly as he can, but his health is No. 1. He knows his body. When his body’s ready, he’s going to fight through it. We know if we can get out of the series, we’ll get him back."

Minnesota, which took a 3-1 lead on Denver in the series into Game 5, lost their other starting guard, Donte DiVincenzo, for the rest of the postseason and much of next season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon he suffered in the opening minutes of Game 4.

Edwards averaged 28.8 points in the regular season, third best in the NBA behind Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He missed 21 games this season, by far the most of his career, mostly to a right knee injury.

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

Under the state’s “dangerous excessive speeding” law, motorists accused of exceeding the posted speed limit by 50 miles per hour or threatening people or property by driving faster than 100 miles per hour can be immediately arrested.

First-time violators convicted of the misdemeanor offense face up to 30 days in jail or a $500 fine. Repeat offenders can face up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and revoked driving privileges.

Accused ‘Super Speeder’ sentenced to jail

Three weeks after the law took effect on July 1, Seminole County deputies arrested Jose Luis Sermeno Herrera for allegedly driving 120 mph on the 417 expressway near Lake Mary. The posted speed limit is 70 mph.

Sermeno Herrera, 21, pleaded no contest to dangerous excessive speeding in October, court records show.

A judge sentenced Sermeno Herrera to 20 days in the Seminole County jail with credit for the two days he was incarcerated after his arrest, records indicate, with an additional 10 days suspended if he turned himself into the jail on time. He was also issued $586 in court costs and fines.

Sermeno Herrera, who did not respond to a voicemail left by News 6 offering him an opportunity to comment on his plea, could have requested a jury trial.

Jury finds driver ‘not guilty’ of dangerous excessive speeding

Layton Jaynes took his case to a jury and was found “not guilty” of dangerous excessive speeding two months after Orange County deputies handcuffed him and took him to jail, court records show.

Jaynes, 32, was arrested in October after a deputy claimed radar and laser devices detected Jaynes’ Porsche travelling 117 mph on Epcot Center Drive at Walt Disney World.

Jaynes acknowledged speeding but claimed he was only driving about 80 mph as he headed to a work meeting at a Disney area hotel.

Jaynes’ attorney, Ashley Parker, originally planned to argue at trial that the deputy obtained an inaccurate reading of the Porsche’s speed because he bounced the laser off a reflection on the patrol car’s side mirror, a transcript of the trial shows.

But shortly after jurors heard opening statements, Parker convinced the judge to bar any mention of radar and laser evidence because prosecutors did not properly introduce the devices’ calibration records.

Without that evidence, Deputy Andrew Nunez could only testify about seeing Jaynes’ Porsche in his mirror.

“I visually estimated the defendant’s vehicle being 120 miles per hour,” Nunez told the jury.

On cross-examination, Nunez said he observed Jaynes’ Porsche for “a couple seconds”.

A short time later, the jury acquitted Jaynes of dangerous excessive speeding, records show.

Jaynes declined to comment on this story, and his attorney did not respond to an email from News 6 offering an opportunity to comment.

[WATCH: Olympian sprinter pulled over for ‘super speeding’ in Florida]

Drivers avoid additional jail time with pleas

While “not guilty” verdicts are rare, court records reviewed by News 6 indicate some accused “Super Speeders” have avoided additional jail time after entering into plea agreements with prosecutors.

• A man deputies said was driving 144 mph through Walt Disney World on his motorcycle in October pleaded no contest to dangerous excessive speeding.   Court records show a judge sentenced him to 6 months of probation, 50 hours of community service, an 8-hour defensive driving class, and $826 in fines and court costs.   The judge withheld adjudication, so a criminal conviction will not appear on his record.
• A driver with a learner’s permit arrested for allegedly driving 119 mph on Florida’s Turnpike in August pleaded no contest to unlawful speed, an infraction, in exchange for prosecutors dropping the misdemeanor charge.   A judge ordered him to take an aggressive driving class and issued a $533 fine, records show.
• A motorist arrested on I-4 in July for allegedly driving 135 mph pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was issued $1,056 in fines and court costs, records indicate. A judge withheld adjudication.
• A driver who was allegedly speeding 120 mph on I-4 in July later pleaded no contest to dangerous excessive speeding.   Court records show a judge withheld adjudication but ordered him to take an advanced driver improvement course and pay $831 in fines and court costs.

Most ‘Super Speeder’ cases still being prosecuted

Hundreds of drivers statewide have been arrested for dangerous excessive speeding since the law took effect July 1, but only a fraction of those cases have been resolved.

Jordan Vactor, who was arrested by Orange County deputies in August for allegedly driving 140 mph on the 417 Expressway, is still trying to fight the criminal charge in court.

“I’ve never been arrested in my life, so that was such a scary time for me,” Vactor told News 6. “I didn’t realize the law was that serious.”

Vactor, 43, admits he was speeding that day but denies driving 100 mph or faster.

Vactor claims he recently obtained evidence proving his Mercedes-Benz AMG E53 has a maximum speed of 130 mph.

“(The deputy) said I was doing 140 (mph), and the car isn’t capable of doing that,” Vactor told News 6. “I’m hoping and praying that the judge will be able to see the information I have.”

He devised a unique way to greet NASCAR Nation after the first Cup Series win of his career.

During a daring victory lap that bordered on dangerous, Hocevar piloted his No. 77 Chevrolet while hanging out the window. He enthusiastically slammed the car's roof and saluted the crowd as he rolled down the Talladega Superspeedway frontstretch and performed a burnout.

“I thought, ‘Man, I have really long legs, and I wonder if I can hit the throttle and sit on the door and ride,’” Hocevar said. “I just wanted them to get as loud as possible. I felt like they would if they could see me seeing them. Hopefully, it was cool.”

Based on the cheers, the thousands in attendance loved the celebration.

Led by its new executive management team, NASCAR was just as eager to christen its newest star at the Alabama track known as the biggest party venue on the circuit.

A 23-year-old who embraces the quintessential Gen Z hallmarks of digital outreach and gaming, Hocevar also has an unvarnished and unapologetically aggressive side that has encouraged comparisons with Dale Earnhardt.

Just like “The Intimidator,” NASCAR broadcasters have affixed the Spire Motorsports driver with a nickname — “Hurricane Hocevar” — reflecting his willingness to stir up trouble as he relentlessly chases victories.

The day after being introduced as the first CEO in NASCAR’s 78-year history outside of the founding France family, Steve O’Donnell sat through Hocevar’s first news conference as a Cup Series winner Sunday and gave a thumbs up to the Portage, Michigan, native for “the coolest celebration I’ve ever seen.”

O’Donnell said his main goal is to bring fun back to NASCAR, whose popularity has eroded from a peak driven by charismatic personalities. Coming off a rough year that ended with settling a taxing lawsuit amid difficult testimony by Jim France (who turned over the CEO position to O’Donnell as nephew Ben Kennedy was named COO), NASCAR launched a “Hell Yeah” marketing campaign intended to emphasize its roots in moonshine running and rabble-rousing.

Hocevar seems the relatable star to carry that message while bridging the gap to a 21st-century audience.

“He’s one of those guys we’re going to rely on as a sport,” O’Donnell said on the “Inside the Race” podcast Sunday night after Hocevar’s win. “What we just watched, the excitement and enthusiasm, that emotion is what fans want to see. They want to embrace a guy like Carson Hocevar, who is not only winning but looks like they’re enjoying themselves.”

Hocevar often hangs out in the grandstands and pits during lower-tier races. On Saturday at Talladega, he cheered wildly from the pits as Garrett Mitchell, a popular YouTube automotive influencer known as “Cleetus McFarland,” nearly won an ARCA race.

“A lot of race fans, they probably always dream of racing,” Hocevar said. “Maybe they vicariously get to drive through me. I’m online a lot and in the stands. I’m not playing a character. I’m not acting for anybody.”

Hocevar said the idea for his Talladega celebration came from his win last November in “The 2.4 Hours of LeMullets,” an event at Cleetus McFarland’s Freedom Factory in Bradenton, Florida, that features souped-up Crown Victorias that once were police vehicles.

This isn’t quite the way Earnhardt would have done it, even if the victory lap evoked an iconic image of him leaning out of his cockpit to clean his windshield as the late seven-time champion drove under caution in a 1986 race.

Hocevar said the mimicry was unintentional, and he has resisted attempts to brand him as a successor to any NASCAR superstar.

“There’s no mold for Carson Hocevar,” said Luke Lambert, Hocevar’s crew chief. “Nobody had a focus group to decide what a driver should look like and came up with Carson Hocevar. He is unapologetically himself. I’ve never met anybody that’s exactly like him.”

When he hired Hocevar straight out of the Camping World Truck Series three years ago, Spire Motorsports co-owner Jeff Dickerson believed the team had “a star in the making.” Dickerson noted the juxtaposition of Cup champions who can’t stand Hocevar (who has feuded with Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney) with the fans who love him.

“This kid knows how to stand on the gas,” Dickerson said. “He has probably the most irrational confidence of a driver I’ve ever seen.”

The brashness is natural for Hocevar, who enjoys quoting the comedy film “Talladega Nights” while wearing a goofy firesuit designed to make him look like a cowboy with a big belt buckle and jeans. Smiling widely and sporting a black 10-gallon hat, he gleefully relished the thought of his Talladega ride going viral.

“I”m going to be on my phone all night just watching this stuff,” he said.

Team shake-up

A day after Kyle Busch delivered the first top 10 this season for Richard Childress Racing, the team announced a new crew chief for the two-time Cup Series champion.

Taking the reins of the No. 8 Chevrolet starting at Texas Motor Speedway, Andy Street was reassigned from the role of RCR performance director to replace Jim Pohlman, who will move into a leadership position. Pohlman was the crew chief for only 10 races with Busch, who is mired in the worst slump of his two-decade career and ranked 27th in the points standings.

“This move is about putting our people in the best position to succeed,” team owner Richard Childress said in a release. “We have strong talent across this organization, and we’re focused on having each person in the right position to help deliver the results we expect.”

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

The crash happened near mile marker 83, not far from the Colonial Drive exit.

Firefighters said two people were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Details of what led up to the crash were not immediately given. Traffic camera footage in the area shows Orlando police on scene and the flipped vehicle.

U.S. President Donald Trump seems unlikely to accept the offer. The existing ceasefire keeps the U.S. and Iran in a fragile standoff over the strait.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Russia Monday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin as part of a trip that included two stops in Pakistan, where leaders are scrambling to reignite stalled talks between Tehran and Washington.

Airlines worldwide have begun canceling flights as the war in the Middle East strains jet fuel supplies and pushes up oil prices. Here’s what to know if your flight is canceled.

Here is the latest:

Netanyahu says Hezbollah is down to about 10% of its arsenal

Meeting with army commanders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah’s ability to fire into Israel has been sharply degraded, estimating the group retains about 10% of its arsenal. He did not clarify whether that figure refers to the Lebanese militant group’s stockpile from before the current war, or since the Gaza war began back in 2023.

Iran-backed Hezbollah is believed to still have tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones despite decades of efforts by Israel, U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon’s government to disarm it. Despite Israeli pressure, it’s unclear whether Lebanese authorities have the capacity or political will to disarm Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said Israeli forces’ occupation of parts of southern Lebanon — which he described as a “security zone” — has made northern Israel safer. He said deals brokered with the U.S. and Lebanon gave Israel a “freedom of action” to counter threats inside that country. Beirut has not acknowledged any such right, and Hezbollah says it will keep firing as long as Israel does.

Trump national security team met and discussed Iranian proposal on Strait of Hormuz

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s national security team met Monday and was discussing Iran’s proposal on reopening the key waterway. But she offered no detail on what came of the discussion and how the proposal was being received. She instead said that Trump would address it later.

Israel cancels major holiday gatherings over fears of a Hezbollah attack

Typically, around 100,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews would gather next week on Mount Meron in northern Israel to celebrate the Lag BaOmer holiday.

However, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the large festival will replaced with a smaller symbolic ceremony, citing concerns about the gathering being attacked by Hezbollah. Similar restrictions were imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and previous wars.

Mount Meron is only about 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the border with Lebanon. People normally light bonfires, dance and have large meals there in honor Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd-century sage and mystic who is believed to be buried on the mountain.

Across Israel, even in secular areas, people often celebrate Lag BaOmer with barbecues and bonfires in parks and forests.

US and Iranian officials clash during a UN nuclear weapons conference

Officials from the United States and Iran clashed over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions at the opening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review, a dispute almost certain to continue during the four-week meeting.

At issue was the election of Iran as one of 34 vice-presidents of the conference. Iran was a candidate of the Nonaligned Movement, comprising 121 mainly developing countries.

The United States was backed by Australia and the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, France and Germany also expressed “concern.” Russia objected to singling out Iran.

The U.S. representative, whose name was not immediately available, said the Trump administration was “deeply shocked” that a country that has demonstrated “contempt” for the treaty is now a vice-president.

Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. in Vienna, Reza Najafi, categorically rejected the U.S. statement, calling the allegations “baseless and politically motivated.”

Iran’s top diplomat says the US wants to negotiate because it failed to achieve its war aims

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a Russian state TV reporter on Monday that despite the U.S. being a superpower, its leaders “have achieved none of their goals” in the war against his country.

“That’s why they ask for negotiation,” Iran’s top diplomat said. “We are now considering it.”

Araghchi was in St. Petersburg on Monday, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top officials.

Asked by another reporter about Russia’s support, the minister said only that “Iran and Russia are strategic partners,” and that the two counties “have always supported” each other. “Our cooperation would continue,” Araghchi said.

French FM says international waterways are ‘not for sale’ while blaming the US, Israel and Iran for Hormuz crisis

At a U.N. Security Council meeting on maritime security, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the energy and humanitarian crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz began after “operations launched by the United States and Israel without a clearly set of goal, which were conducted in a manner that flouts international law.”

But Barrot added that Iran now holds responsibility for what it is doing with the critical waterway.

“Straits are the arteries of the world. They are not the property of any individual. They are not for sale, therefore, they cannot be impeded by any obstacles, tolls, nor bribery, neither by Iran, nor by any other party, and under no pretext,” he said.

UN officials and dozens of countries call for immediate action in releasing Iran’s hold over the Strait of Hormuz

In a joint statement led by Bahrain, dozens of countries reiterated their weekslong “call for the urgent and unimpeded opening” of the critical waterway as negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain stalled.

Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, told the Security Council on Monday that given the impasse in the negotiations, the world body should support an emergency framework in the meantime put forth by the International Maritime Organization.

The U.N. chief warned about the consequences of waiting to address the “worst supply chain disruption since COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.”

“These pressures are cascading into empty fuel tanks, empty shelves — and empty plates,” he told the 15-member council. “The humanitarian toll is mounting.”

UK doesn’t support US blockade of Iranian ports, deputy minister says

Stephen Doughty, minister of state for Europe and North America, said that while the U.K. doesn’t support the U.S. blockade, it supports working with the United States and others to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — where he said the Iran is holding “the rest of the world to ransom.”

Maritime traffic must flow safely and unimpeded through the strait, he said, “and that includes no tolls, no security risk and, of course, adherence to the international laws on freedom of navigation.”

Diplomacy is crucial, Doughty told a small group of U.N. reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting Monday on the safety of navigation in the critical waterway, through which around 20% of the world’s crude oil normally passes.

He said de-escalation and a ceasefire are also crucial, stressing that Iran can’t be allowed to block the strait, attack its Gulf neighbors and civilian infrastructure, and develop nuclear weapons.

Rubio says a purported Iranian offer on the Strait of Hormuz is not acceptable

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a purported offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions is not acceptable to the United States or others.

Speaking in a Monday interview with Fox News, Rubio said Iran has a different view of the strategic waterway than most of the rest of the world.

“What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,” Rubio said.

“That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use

Lebanon’s Health Ministry raises death toll there to 2,521

The ministry added Monday that 7,804 people were wounded since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war started March 2.

Despite a ceasefire that’s been in place since April 17, there have been repeated violations by both sides.

Merz says the American nation ‘is being humiliated’ by the Iranian leadership

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticized the U.S. for going into the Iran war without any strategy, saying this also makes it harder to end the conflict.

“The problem with conflicts like these is always the same: it’s not just about getting in; you also have to get out. We saw that all too painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” the chancellor said while speaking Monday to students in Marsberg in the Sauerland region of Germany.

The lack of U.S. strategy and the fact that the Iranians are stronger than previously thought made it hard to end the conflict now, he said.

“Especially since the Iranians are negotiating very skillfully — or rather, very skillfully not negotiating,” he added. “And then letting the Americans travel to Islamabad, only to send them back without any results. An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards.”

Germany, he said, maintains its offer to send minesweepers in order to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting is over.

Pakistan clears transit of third-country goods to Iran

Pakistan has cleared the way for Iran to import goods from third countries through its territory by opening new transit routes.

According to a government notification issued Saturday, six routes have been designated linking ports including Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar with key border crossings in southwestern Balochistan province.

The notification was issued during a visit to Islamabad by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met Pakistani officials for talks amid tensions between the United States and Iran.

The order took immediate effect.

Analysts said Monday the new policy allows cargo bound for Iran to move across Pakistan swiftly without facing delays due to bureaucratic hurdles. They said it could also help Pakistan strengthen its role as a regional transit route and improve connectivity with Iran and beyond the region in future.

Iran turns to the Caspian Sea for food with Persian Gulf routes choked by the US blockade

With the United States trying to squeeze Iran by blockading goods from entering or exiting its ports, food suppliers are rerouting imports via the Caspian Sea to ensure food keeps getting into the country.

The head of the Association of Iran’s Food Industries said Monday that alternative import routes are being “incorporated into the supply chain for essential goods.”

“At present, there is no problem with the country’s food security, but maintaining this situation requires careful planning,” Mohammad Reza Mortazavi said, according to the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The Caspian is the world’s largest inland body of water and its southern coastline stretches more than 430 miles (700 kilometers) in northern Iran. Iran is a net importer of food staples like grain and cooking oil.

US stocks are mixed as their record-breaking rally slows, while oil prices rise

The U.S. stock market’s record-breaking rally is slowing Monday after uncertainty rose over the weekend about what will happen next in the Iran war, while oil prices are rising.

The S&P 500 edged down by less than 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high driven by strong profit reports from U.S. companies and hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the economy because of their war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq was 0.3% lower after setting its own record.

The moves were stronger in the oil market, where prices climbed more than 1.5% as tankers still find the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed. That’s keeping crude stuck in the Middle East and away from customers worldwide, including crude produced by Iran that’s being blockaded by the U.S. Navy.

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Israeli military videos show weapons discovered and homes leveled as fighting in Lebanon grinds on

It released videos Monday showing troops operating in Lebanon, including coordinated explosions in unnamed villages, toppling homes it said were infrastructure used by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Footage also showed a brigade discovering a cache of rifles and missile launchers stashed in a children’s room, which it said were hidden beneath toys, beds and elsewhere in kids’ rooms.

Despite a ceasefire nominally in place in Lebanon, both Israel and Hezbollah continue to strike each other, while Israeli forces occupy a buffer zone in Lebanon and have been demolishing neighborhoods in towns and villages in that area.

The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group, but the wide scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents increasingly worried that displaced people will have nowhere to return.

Bahrain strips 69 people of citizenship

The island kingdom’s interior ministry said it revoked citizenship rights “of those who expressed sympathy and praise for Iran’s hostile and criminal acts.” It noted the move also applied to the families of individuals accused.

Bahrain is among several countries in the region that tightly controlled information about Iranian strikes during the war, arresting residents and foreigners who filmed them. The Sunni-ruled monarchy, like Iran, has a majority Shiite population and saw pro-Iran demonstrations early in the conflict. Authorities arrested protesters and those who filmed demonstrations en masse, charging dozens with misusing social media, inciting hatred or treason, an offense that can carry the death penalty.

The country is also one of several in the Gulf with laws allowing courts to strip citizenship from people convicted of certain crimes, potentially rendering them stateless. Such measures in Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have drawn criticism from rights groups, which say the laws are tools of repression, used to squash and punish dissent.

For ships stuck in the Gulf, crew changes are difficult

Fleet Management Limited usually communicates multiple times a day with dozens of stranded ships that are staffed by more than 400 seafarers, its CEO Capt. Rajalingam Subramaniam said.

Stock checks are regularly maintained for food supply, and pickups have been arranged to ensure availability by moving vessels to the nearest points where they can pick up fresh and dry provisions, he said.

Some crew changes were still happening, but in limited numbers. “Who wants to go on the ship?” Subramaniam said. “The inbound crew has the right to refuse and we respect (that).”

Most of the stranded mariners have been in the Gulf since the war began. “(For) mariners who did not sign up to be in warlike area, they also (need) to be respected so that they do not become the unintended collateral,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

The meeting happened Monday in Saint Petersburg, Russian state news agency Tass said.

Putin praised the Iranian people as bravely fighting for their sovereignty and said Russia would do everything possible in the interest of Iran and other countries in the region to bring peace to the Middle East, Tass reported.

Tired and worried, seafarers have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for weeks

Around 20,000 seafarers on hundreds of vessels, including oil and gas tankers and cargo ships, have been stuck in the Gulf, unable to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Normally about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits the waterway.

Roughly 80 vessels passed through the strait in the week of April 13-19, according to the maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence, compared to approximately 130 or more transits per day before the war. Dozens of ships have come under attack since the war started, and the U.N. says at least 10 seafarers were killed.

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump last week extended the ceasefire indefinitely, the U.S. kept the blockade of Iranian ports. In response, Iran fired on ships in the strait and seized two.

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Israel and Iran spent less on defense in 2025 than 2024, tracker says

Military spending in the Middle East plateaued in 2025, even as it climbed in other parts of the world, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The think tank, which goes by the acronym SIPRI, said regionwide spending increased 0.1% but actually fell in both Israel and Iran.

Israel’s military spending fell 4.9% to $48.3 billion, reflecting a less intense year of fighting than in 2024 after it entered ceasefires in Lebanon in November 2024 and in Gaza in October 2025. Even as large-scale combat subsided, Israel continued carrying out lethal strikes and maintained a ground presence in both. Spending remains sharply elevated — up 97% compared with 2022 — and the war has strained public finances, with Israel reporting wider deficits and increased borrowing since it began.

Iran’s spending fell 5.6% to $7.4 billion. SIPRI attributed that to inflation and broader economic strain, though researchers warned that government reports are likely understated.

“Iran also uses off-budget oil revenues to finance its military, including the production of missiles and drones,” SIPRI researcher Zubaida Karim said.

Lebanon president blasts Hezbollah for rejecting talks

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun blasted militant group Hezbollah on Monday over its rejection of direct talks with Israel.

Lebanon’s decision to hold negotiations with Israel is not “treason,” Aoun said in a statement, adding that treason is when “someone takes the country to war to achieve foreign interests.”

Harshly criticizing Hezbollah without naming it, Aoun asked whether there was a “national accord” when the Iran-backed group took Lebanon to war last month.

Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. The fighting has killed over 2,500 people, wounded more than 7,000 and displaced over 1 million people.

Aoun asked how long people in south Lebanon will pay for the wars of other nations or groups, “the latest of which was the war for backing up Gaza and the war for backing up Iran.”

“I totally reject this war” when the goal is to benefit others, he said.

Aoun said he wants to end the state of war with Israel in the manner of the 1949 Armistice Agreements that brought calm along the border for years without normalizing relations.

“Was the armistice agreement humiliation? I will not accept reaching a humiliating deal,” Aoun said.

French airline Transavia cancels flights over fuel costs

Transavia France said late Sunday it is canceling some flights in May and June because of rising fuel costs.

The low-cost airline, part of the Air France-KLM group, said in a statement “the current geopolitical context in the Middle East and its repercussions on the price of aviation fuel” forced the cancellations.

French media reported the cancellations represented less than 2% of the company’s May and June flight program.

Transavia said affected passengers would be able to choose between a voucher, full refund or free rebooking, which will be offered within 24 hours for the majority of canceled flights.

China opposes US sanction on oil refinery

China said Monday it opposed a decision by the United States to sanction one of its refineries for purchasing Iranian crude oil shipments.

The U.S. announced Friday it would sanction Hengli Petrochemicals in China’s northeastern port city of Dalian.

The measure blocks the company and others that transport Iranian oil from accessing the U.S. financial system.

Hengli Petrochemicals is among dozens of Chinese buyers of Iran’s oil. China is Iran’s largest overall oil customer.

“China always opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that lack a basis in international law and urges the U.S. to stop its wrong practices of abusing sanctions and exercising long-arm jurisdiction,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said.

“We will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies,” Lin said.

World’s largest condom company raising prices due to strait closure

Karex, the world’s largest manufacturer of condoms, said it has raised prices by up to 30% to cope with escalating costs due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a vital channel for petrochemical supplies.

CEO Goh Miah Kiat said the company has little choice but to pass higher costs to customers for condoms, personal lubricants, probe covers and catheters as raw materials, logistics and production expenses surge.

Karex produces 5 billion condoms annually, or about a fifth of global market share, with its biggest market in the United States, according to company data.

The Malaysian firm believes demand will rise at least 30% this year as “people use more condoms during periods of economic uncertainty,” Goh said.

Karex faces rising costs for nitrile latex, silicone oil and lubricant materials, natural rubber latex and aluminum foil packaging, Goh said, adding that freight costs and supplier delays have forced Karex to hold larger inventories of key materials.

Iran offers proposal to US to reopen Strait of Hormuz without nuclear agreement

Iran is offering to end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz without addressing its nuclear program, two regional officials with knowledge of the proposal said Monday.

Iran also wants the United States to end its blockade of the country as part of its proposal, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

The new proposal, passed onto the U.S. by Pakistan, is not likely to receive the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, who wants to end Iran’s atomic program as part of an overall deal including the Strait of Hormuz to make the ceasefire permanent.

“We have all the cards. If they want to talk, they can come to us, or they can call us,” Trump told Fox News Channel on Sunday.

Axios first reported Iran’s proposal.

— By Samy Magdy

Iran’s foreign minister says Russia trip an opportunity to coordinate after war

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that his trip to Russia offered an opportunity to coordinate with Moscow after the war with Israel and the United States.

Araghchi made the comments in a pretaped interview posted by the state-run IRNA news agency.

“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” he said.

Araghchi said it was America’s approach that “caused the negotiations to be delayed” that had been planned in Islamabad.

“The previous one, despite the progress that had been made, could not achieve its goals,” he said, blaming what he called Washington’s “excessive demands.”

Trump has questioned who is in charge in Iran at the moment and said confusion within its theocracy made it difficult to reach a deal.

Iran’s foreign minister arrives in Russia

Iran’s top diplomat arrived Monday in Russia ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The state-run IRNA news agency said Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg for his meeting with Putin.

Araghchi has visited Islamabad twice and Muscat, Oman, on the foreign trip as negotiations with the U.S. appear stalled over the Iran war.

At a meeting on Monday, commissioners will vote on spending more than half a million dollars on the reconfiguration of electrical services at the North Water Reclamation Facility on N. Poplar Avenue.

The project is being considered a few months after workers fixed a problem at the plant that caused a foul odor to drift into downtown for months.

In December, the city announced the installation of a permanent component to remedy the smelly situation.

“I saw them when they brought the part in on a truck. After that, a day or so, I didn’t smell the scent,” Sanford resident Jwan Ashford said.

According to the city manager, the proposed work is needed to meet necessary electrical requirements.

On the west side of the plant, breakers would be installed, along with automated transfer switches, which are needed to automatically transfer to generator backup when power is lost.

Similar work would happen on the east side of the facility, where there would be two separate power shutdowns to minimize impact on plant operations.

The electrical repairs would be performed by Eau Gallie Electric, Inc. at an estimated cost of $502,728.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on funding for the proposal during a meeting on Monday at 7 p.m.

Investigators said Alejandro Jacomino Gonzalez was last seen on April 17 at the Brevard County Rest Area on Interstate 95 south in Grant-Valkaria.

Gonzalez disappeared while transporting vehicles from the Port of Brunswick, Georgia, to Miami, the FBI said. The truck and some of the cars have been recovered, but Gonzalez is still missing.

The FBI is focusing its search on the off ramp at the rest stop that gets back onto I-95 South. They are looking for any videos or photographs from the time of Gonzalez’s disappearance to help in the investigation.

Jeffrey Simpson has been a truck driver more than 40 years. He says the situation is shocking.

“I don’t normally worry about where I park or being confronted by people - I never have been in almost 40 years,” said Simpson. “But things are getting worse as time goes on. You know, people are getting broke into their trucks. The freight’s getting stolen, you know, kidnapping people. So, maybe a little more cautious if somebody knocks on the door. But I’ve always been cautious about that. You don’t just pull your curtain open and let somebody see you.”

The FBI is urging anyone with information to call 1-800-CALL FBI or submit tips online.

The public is also encouraged to share any videos or photographs taken in the early morning hours on April 17 at the Brevard County Rest Area in Grant-Valkaria.

The justices heard nearly two hours of arguments in an appeal from Okello Chatrie, who pleaded guilty to robbing a bank in a suburb of Richmond, Virginia.

Chatrie eluded the police until they turned to the geofence warrant, a powerful technological tool that erected a virtual fence and allowed them to locate cellphones that were near the bank around the time it was robbed in May 2019.

The justices did not appear to embrace arguments offered by Adam Unikowsky, Chatrie's lawyer, that geofence warrants are too general to comply with the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the warrant that led to Chatrie's identification as a suspect did not seem to be general. “This isn't that. It identifies a place, a crime, a timeframe,” Sotomayor said.

The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld Chatrie's conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants “are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

The case is the court's latest contemplation of how a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 applies to technology the nation’s founders count not have envisioned.

The justices seemed eager to avoid a broad ruling. They could limit the time and geographic area covered by such warrants, and they might even decline to say whether what police did in Chatrie's case even amounted to a search that requires a warrant.

Instead the court might rule that, assuming a warrant is required, police can constitutionally conduct geofence searches.

A ruling for Chatrie, who is serving a prison term of nearly 12 years, might not ultimately help him. Even the federal judge who ruled that the search violated Chatrie’s rights allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

Ross died at home Sunday, according to the singer's daughter, Nedra K. Ross, and the Ronettes' official Instagram account. “Nedra’s voice, style and spirit helped define a sound that would change music. Her contribution to the group’s story and their defining influence will live forever,” a statement read.

The Ronettes’ sexy look and powerful voices — plus songwriting and producing help from Phil Spector — turned them into one of the premier acts of the girl-group era, touring England with The Rolling Stones and befriending the Beatles.

“Show business is a thing that can be great, but it can be bad, too,” Ross said during her acceptance speech to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. “For us, we had a family that gave us a core to help stabilize us in a very difficult crazy world. It was a fun time. I thank God truly for it.”

Ross, born and raised in New York City, together with sisters Veronica “Ronnie” and Estelle Bennett, released their debut album in 1964, “Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, Featuring Veronica.” Five of its 12 tracks had made it to the U.S. Billboard charts, and it was listed in Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time. It was the only studio album for the trio.

They also did a memorable version of “Sleigh Ride” that appeared on Spector’s “A Christmas Gift for You” album and was recently highlighted in the “Roofman” soundtrack and on “The Bear.” But their string of hits had tailed off by the time they split around 1967.

In March 1963, Estelle Bennett managed to arrange an audition in front of Phil Spector, known for his big, brass-and-drum style dubbed the “wall of sound.” They were signed to Philles Records in 1963. After being signed, they sang backup for other acts until Spector had the group record “Be My Baby” and “Baby I Love You.”

Martin Scorsese used “Be My Baby” to open his 1973 film “Mean Streets,” and the song appears in the title sequence of “Dirty Dancing” and the closing credits of “Baby Mama.” It also appeared on TV in everything from “Moonlighting” and “The Wonder Years” to “How I Met Your Mother” and “Money Heist.”

When the Ronettes were inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones remembered opening for the trio in England in the mid-1960s. “They could sing all their way right through a wall of sound,” Richards said. “They didn’t need anything. They touched my heart right there and then and they touch it still.”

After the Ronettes disbanded, Ross turned to Christian music, including the album “Full Circle” in 1978. Ross was married to DJ and television personality Scott Ross from 1967 until his death in 2023.

For nearly 15 years, the women waged a lengthy, and ultimately unsuccessful, court battle with Spector over royalties. A judge ordered Spector to pay $2.6 million in past royalties and interest, but New York State’s highest court threw out that ruling on appeal in 2002.

Ronnie Spector died at 78 in 2022. Bennett died at 67 in 2009. Ross is survived by four children.

Around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, police officers responded to a home on S. Warfield Ave. after a caller reported hearing an argument between a man and a woman, followed by a single gunshot. Officers arrived to find a woman with a gunshot wound to the neck lying in the driveway. She was airlifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to an arrest report.

Officers then spotted Robert Anthony Morgan, 40, crawling under a garage door and jumping into a backyard pool before pulling him from the water and detaining him, police said.

The victim’s mother told investigators there is an extensive history of domestic abuse between Morgan and the victim. She said she witnessed Morgan dragging the victim back onto the property after the shooting, and that when she asked whether he had called for an ambulance, Morgan replied, “She’s fine.” She also told police that Morgan threatened to shoot her if she contacted law enforcement, the arrest report states.

[RELATED: How to find help for domestic violence survivors in Central Florida’s counties]

Morgan, who police said is a convicted felon, was booked into the Sumter County Jail and charged with attempted felony murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and discharging a firearm in public or on residential property.

Morgan made a first appearance on Monday and is currently being held on no bond.

If you need help getting out of an abusive situation, or getting help for someone you care about, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788. You can also go to the hotline website and chat with a representative.

The new districts, which could net Democrats four additional seats, won narrow voter approval last week. But a Republican legal challenge contends the General Assembly violated procedural rules by placing the constitutional amendment before voters to authorize the mid-decade redistricting. If the court agrees that lawmakers broke the rules, it could invalidate the amendment and render last week's statewide vote meaningless.

The Virginia court proceedings mark the latest twist in a national redistricting battle between Republicans and Democrats seeking an advantage in a November midterm election that will determine whether Republicans maintain their narrow majority in the U.S. House.

President Donald Trump kicked off a tit-for-tat round of gerrymandering last summer when he urged Texas Republicans to redraw districts to their favor in an attempt to win several additional House seats. That set off a chain reaction of similar moves in other states, leading to the voter approval last week of Virginia's new map.

Next up is Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed a congressional redistricting plan that could essentially cancel out Virginia's changes by giving Republicans an improved chance of winning additional seats. The redistricting is on the agenda for a special session of the GOP-controlled Legislature beginning Tuesday.

Virginia arguments focus on what counts as an 'election'

During Monday's arguments, the Virginia Supreme Court focused on whether the new congressional districts should be invalidated because of the process used by lawmakers. The justices issued no immediate ruling.

Because the state’s redistricting commission was established by a voter-approved constitutional amendment, lawmakers had to propose an amendment to redraw the districts. That required approval of a resolution in two separate legislative sessions, with a state election sandwiched in between, to place the amendment on the ballot.

The legislature's first vote occurred last October — while early voting was underway but before it concluded on the day of the general election. Judicial questioning focused on whether that was too late, because early voting already had begun.

Attorney Matthew Seligman, who defended the legislature, argued that the “election” should be defined narrowly to mean the Tuesday of the general election. In that case, the legislature's first vote on the redistricting amendment occurred before the election and was constitutional, he told judges.

But an attorney arguing for the plaintiffs, Thomas McCarthy, said “election” means the entire period during which people can cast ballots, which lasts several weeks in Virginia. If that's the case, then the legislature's initial endorsement of the redistricting amendment came too late to comply with the state constitution, he said.

Attorneys argue over the rights of voters

The purpose of Virginia's two-step amendment process, with an intervening election, is so voters can know whether legislative candidates support or oppose a proposed constitutional amendment, McCarthy said.

He pointed to the case of Democratic voter Camilla Simon, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit alongside Republican state lawmakers, who cast an early vote last fall for Democratic Del. Rodney Willett. After she voted, Willett sponsored the Democratic redistricting amendment, and Simon wished she could have undone her vote, McCarthy said.

“None of these voters had any idea this was coming, and that’s not how this process is supposed to work,” McCarthy told the justices.

Those defending the Democratic redistricting plan also contend that the voters' will should be respected.

The people voted to ratify the constitutional amendment, “and the challengers are asking to overturn that democratic result,” Seligman told reporters after the arguments.

Nationwide redistricting battle has no clear winner so far

So far, the two major parties have battled to a near draw in the states that have redrawn their congressional maps for this year's midterms.

Republicans think they could win up to nine more seats under revised districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats think they could win as many as 10 additional seats under new districts in California, Utah and Virginia. But legal challenges remain in both Virginia and Missouri.

Virginia currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Democrats and five Republicans who were elected from districts imposed by a court after a bipartisan redistricting commission failed to agree on a map after the 2020 census. The new districts, which won voter approval last Tuesday, could give Democrats an improved chance to win 10 districts.

Some candidates already have begun campaigning based on the new districts in advance of the state's Aug. 4 primary election.

More court battles could remain in Virginia

In January, a judge in rural Tazewell County, in southwestern Virginia, ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session last fall. Circuit Judge Jack Hurley Jr. also ruled that lawmakers failed to initially approve the amendment before the public began voting in last year’s general election and that the state had failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result, he said, the amendment is invalid and void.

The Virginia Supreme Court placed Hurley's order on hold and allowed the redistricting vote to proceed before hearing arguments on the case.

During Monday's arguments, justices also raised questions about the ability of lawmakers to expand the agenda for their special session and whether the three-month public notice requirement was important enough to thwart a voter-approved amendment.

Republicans have filed at least two additional legal challenges, which also are winding their way through the courts.

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Richmond and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

During an emotional hearing in a Queens courtroom packed by uniformed police officers and Officer Jonathan Diller’s family, the judge said Guy Rivera “most certainly will” die in a prison cell.

“Your sentence to me was determined the second you pulled that trigger,” Judge Michael Aloise told Rivera. “It took me five minutes to calculate the numbers. It’s going to take you a lifetime to calculate the damage you caused.”

A jury found Rivera guilty earlier this month of aggravated manslaughter and other charges in Diller's killing, but acquitted the 36-year-old Queens resident of murder.

The shooting happened on March 25, 2024, when Diller and other officers were on patrol in the Far Rockaway section of Queens. Authorities say one of the officers spotted a suspicious object bulging from Rivera’s hoodie as he and another man walked to a parked car and got in.

Police say the officers were questioning the driver when Rivera, who was in the passenger’s seat, suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Diller. The bullet struck the officer below his bulletproof vest, mortally wounding him. Another officer then shot and wounded Rivera.

At the time, Diller was the first NYPD officer to be killed in the line of duty in two years. The 31-year-old’s wake and funeral in his hometown on Long Island drew thousands of people, including President Donald Trump, and the case briefly became a focal point during his 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House on a message of “law and order.”

The Republican president hailed Diller an “unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer” in a March 2025 speech to a joint session of Congress.

Prosecutors had argued that Rivera was deserving of life behind bars because he was a “persistent felon” with prior criminal convictions who had made a “calculated, deliberate and evil choice” to inflict violence.

“This was not an accident,” Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski said. “We ask that you honor Jonathan’s life. We ask that you honor his sacrifice."

Rivera's lawyer, Jamal Johnson, argued, as he did during the three-week trial, that Rivera was “not a murderer” because he did not intend to kill Diller.

He maintained the gun accidentally discharged as officers pulled the firearm from Rivera’s pocket. He pleaded with the judge not to issue a “sensational” sentence and complained that Rivera did not receive a fair trial.

Johnson, in a statement after the court hearing, said he intended to appeal his client's conviction.

“The fact that the court stated it had already made up its mind about sentencing well before the trial was conducted reveals the bias and uphill battle the defense faced throughout this case,” he said.

The second suspect, Lindy Jones, is due back in court Tuesday as he awaits trial on weapons charges.

On Monday, Rivera declined to address the court but members of Diller's family delivered tearful remarks.

Stephanie Diller, the officer's wife, said she and the couple's young son had been given a life sentence without their husband and father, so Rivera should also be given one.

“You took my husband and the life we were building,” she said speaking directly to Rivera through tears. “In a single moment, everything that was my life was gone.”

Fran Diller, the officer's mother, said she is haunted by her son's death every day.

“He had a future so incredibly bright,” she said. “My world has been completely shattered. Everything feels empty without him. All I feel is unbearable ache."

Patrick Hendry, president of the police officers’ union, said after the hearing that the manslaughter verdict “did not send the right message” to police officers but that the sentence had.

“He should never ever walk the streets again, and he won't,” Hendry said of Rivera.

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

Texas Tech and Sorsby announced the move in a statement released on Monday.

The school said it is “committed to supporting Brendan through his recovery process and to ensure his long-term health and well-being.”

Sorsby was one of the biggest names in this year’s transfer portal. He transferred from Cincinnati, which then announced on Feb. 26 it would sue the quarterback for breaching his name, image and likeness contract.

According to the lawsuit, Sorsby signed an NIL agreement in July 2025 covering the 2025 and ’26 seasons and that there would be a $1 million buyout if he transferred, payable within 30 days. Sorsby announced on Dec. 15 that he was entering the transfer portal and announced on Jan. 4 that he would play for Texas Tech.

Sorsby received the most lucrative deal of the portal period — a reported $5 million — to return to his home state for his final season.

It was not immediately known how Monday’s announcement could impact Sorsby’s availability for the season.

“We love Brendan and support his decision to seek professional help,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said in a statement released by the school. “Taking this step requires courage, and our primary focus is on him as a person. Our program is behind Brendan as he prioritizes his health.”

In the statement, Texas Tech said its “primary focus remains on fostering an environment where student-athletes feel empowered to prioritize their mental health and seek professional assistance.”

The school said it would have no further comment on Sorsby’s status “to protect the integrity of the recovery process.”

Sorsby began his career at Indiana before transferring to Cincinnati. In 35 career games, including 31 starts, he has passed for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns, along with 1,295 rushing yards and 22 TDs.

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The activists, all of whom were Kazakh nationals, protested near the border with China in November, burning Chinese flags and portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and calling for the release of a Kazakh citizen detained in Xinjiang last year.

Eleven activists were sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting discord,” while the other eight were given restrictions on their movement. Shinquat Baizhan, a lawyer representing the activists, confirmed the sentences, which were also reported in local media.

Though Kazakhs speaking out against China’s policies in Xinjiang have long faced pressure, advocacy groups say this is the first time such a large group of Xinjiang activists has been imprisoned in the country.

“This is unprecedented,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It signals that Kazakhstan is willing to sacrifice freedom of its people to maintain good relations with Beijing.”

The Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown in Xinjiang starting in 2017, sweeping a million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim ethnicities into prisons and internment camps. Though many have since been released, the region remains under tight control, with strict limitations on religious and cultural practices.

Xinjiang has long been a touchy issue in neighboring Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country of 20 million people that relies on China as a major trading partner. The Kazakh government opened criminal investigations targeting the protesters after receiving a diplomatic note from the Chinese consulate in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Uluyol said.

The note, which The Associated Press obtained and reviewed, called the protest “an open provocation against the national dignity of the People’s Republic of China and an insult to the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese leader.”

In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the sentencing an “internal affair” and praised Kazakhstan as a “friendly neighbor” that is “familiar with China’s policies on governing Xinjiang."

The Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.

The protesters were members of Atajurt, an organization that advocates for the rights of Chinese-born Kazakhs facing repression in China. Xinjiang is home to over a million ethnic Kazakhs, thousands of whom were detained and many more who face restrictions on their movement to this day.

Atajurt has long faced pressure from the Kazakh government, an authoritarian state with little tolerance for dissent. Authorities arrested Atajurt’s founder Serikzhan Bilash in 2019, releasing him into exile after extracting a promise not to engage in political activities.

But the Kazakh government remained tolerant of the organization’s activities to a certain extent, mindful of widespread sympathy in Kazakhstan toward the Chinese-born Kazakh population,

That appears to have changed, Uluyol said, as Kazakhstan has edged closer to China and authorities in Kazakhstan show less tolerance for groups protesting Beijing's policies.

Bilash, Atajurt’s founder, says the arrests would have widespread ramifications. The group's work included providing financial support for the relatives of people who were detained in Xinjiang, writing letters supporting them to embassies and the United Nations, and taping hundreds of testimonies by people looking for missing loved ones.

“The world will lose more than just a human rights organization; it will lose the biggest window into the humanitarian disaster in neighboring Xinjiang,” said Bilash, who is now living in exile in the United States.

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This story has been corrected to show that the Chinese diplomatic note said that the protest was an insult to the “Chinese leader," not the “Chinese people."

In a one-line statement, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planning agency, said it was prohibiting the foreign acquisition of Manus and had required all the parties to withdraw from the deal. It did not specifically name Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

Manus, which has Chinese roots but is based in Singapore, provides a general-purpose AI agent that can autonomously carry out sophisticated tasks like coding an app, doing market research or preparing quarterly budgets.

The decision was made by the commission’s Office of the Working Mechanism for Security Review of Foreign Investment in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations, the statement said. It came after Chinese authorities said they were looking into the deal earlier this year.

The commission did not elaborate on the reasons for the ban. The announcement came less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump's planned visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, on Monday said in a statement that the Trump administration “will continue defending America’s leading and innovative technology sector against undue foreign interference of any sort.”

Meta announced in December that it was acquiring Manus, in a rare case of a major U.S. tech group buying an AI company with strong links to China. Its deal with Manus was expected to help expand AI offerings across Meta’s platforms.

Meta had said there would be “no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus” and that Manus would discontinue its services and operations in China. But China said in January that it would investigate whether the acquisition would be consistent with its laws and regulations.

China’s commerce ministry said at the time that any enterprises engaging in outward investment, technology exports, data transfers and cross-border acquisitions must comply with Chinese law. Meta had said most of Manus’ employees were based in Singapore.

Before the deal, Manus’ parent was Singapore-based Butterfly Effect Pte, but the AI startup traces its roots back to Beijing-registered entities with similar names that were established several years earlier.

Manus did not respond to a request for comment. Its website says the company “is now part of Meta," indicating that the deal had already been completed.

Meta said on Monday that the Manus transaction “complied fully with applicable law.”

“We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry,” the California-based company said in a statement.

Analysts said the decision is a sign that China’s communist leaders are tightening scrutiny of the AI industry amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry with the U.S. over the technology.

“China is showing the world that it is willing to play hardball when it comes to AI talents and capabilities, which the country views as a core national security asset,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia. “It is strongly indicative of what Chinese authorities may do going forward regarding acquisitions involving Chinese deep-tech companies.”

Beijing’s acquisition ban could deter similar acquisition plans by U.S. tech giants going forward, he said. “In the context of rivalry, it mirrors U.S. export controls, entity lists, and investment curbs on China,” said Su.

Meta’s interest in Manus reflects a broader tech industry race to lead in the development of AI agents that can go beyond a chatbot’s capabilities to take computer-based actions on people’s behalf.

Meta last month acquired Moltbook after it attracted viral attention as a social network built for AI agents to make posts and interact with each other. That was after OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, formerly called Moltbot and the technology upon which Moltbook was built.

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Chan reported from London. AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and writer Didi Tang in Washington contributed to this report.

On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody faces three challengers as she launches her campaign for a full term in office: Chris Gleason, Neelam Perry and Ernest Rivera. The former Florida attorney general was appointed to fill Marco Rubio’s term when he left the Senate to become secretary of state.

You can find the candidate’s campaign sites below:

• Sen. Ashley Moody
• Chris Gleason
• Neelam Perry
• Ernest Rivera

On the Democratic side, Lt. Col. Alex Vindman and State Rep. Angie Nixon of Jacksonville will face each other in the August primary.

You can find the candidate’s campaign websites below:

• Alex Vindman
• Angie Nixon

Vindman’s first statewide tour brought him to Orlando Friday.

Vindman is a political newcomer, but not a stranger to politics. The former national security official testified against President Donald Trump during his first impeachment trial, after reporting that the president had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the Biden family.

An immigrant whose family fled the Soviet Union in the 70s, Vindman served in the Army and rose through the ranks. After retiring, he came to Florida, calling the state the first home he had chosen for himself. He says affordability issues compelled him to run for political office.

News 6 sat down with Vindman to talk about how he would approach affordability if elected to the Senate. We also talked about immigration policy, health care in the U.S., and more.

You can watch the full interview in the player above, and read the interview below. Stay with News 6 throughout election season. We hope to interview all of the candidates about the issues that matter to you.

NEWS 6: You’re a foreign policy guy. That’s what you’re known for. So, how do you tell Floridians that you can help them on affordability?

ALEX VINDMAN: I‘m a soldier. Twenty-four years in the military, served this country overseas in the national security and defense roles. It’s, in a lot of ways, this is a simple continuation of my public service. This as a elected officeholder representing 23 million Floridians, except the folks that are struggling with regards to making ends meet, simply come here with this promise of a beautiful place. Warm communities, good people. And now they’re being crushed by costs. And it’s not. It’s these things don’t just come out of nowhere. It’s the fact that the system seems increasingly fixed, increasingly unfair, benefiting the ultra wealthy, benefiting the corporations, some of that delivered through the handmaidens of the career politicians, rather than folks that are fighting for individuals. And I think to me, what’s clear is people don’t want that. They want somebody that they know will be a fighter in their corner that will be able to deliver on 24 things that are forefront of mind, like cost solutions to homeowners’ insurance crisis, solutions to skyrocketing costs. A lot of that driven by tariffs and so forth.

NEWS 6: We’re talking about Florida, I mean, yes, the rest of the country has affordability issues, but you’re talking about going to the federal office. So what can the Senate do to address these affordability issues?

VINDMAN: One of the biggest things is that the Senate needs to fundamentally do its job. We have politicians on both sides, Democrat and Republican, that have given up their responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government, ceded their authorities, and they have a clear role. The Senate is supposed to, and the House, are supposed to confirm laws. They’re supposed to make sure that when there’s an overreach — one of the major cost drivers is everything has gone up because of tariffs, because the Senate and the House would do their job, if Ashley Moody were to do her job, she would make sure that she is fighting for ordinary people instead of being an automatic yes vote for this entire agenda that’s driving up costs and is inherently corrupt.

So the big thing is getting control over the power of the purse, over tariff policies, and then looking at solutions around — insurance, would be a big one. Health care. Another huge one. It’s gone up under Ashley Moody. She voted to cut Affordable Care Act subsidies and pass those costs on to ordinary people. She voted to cut Medicaid and those passed on to ordinary people. She voted for the billionaire class tax cuts instead of ordinary people.

NEWS 6: Speaking about health care and affordability, what specific health care policies would you support if you got into the Senate and there was a Senate majority for the Democrats, do you support universal health, do you support — obviously, you support Affordable Care Act subsidies, what else?

VINDMAN: We are the richest country in the world. We should be expanding health care access, not shrinking it. That’s exactly what’s happened under Ashley Moody’s tenure. She has been happy to slash the basic things that folks need. I was in Marion County. I was talking to a woman that was struggling with the fact that Affordable Care Act subsidies were cut, and she has to make a decision between whether she provides health care for herself or her daughter, 11-year old-daughter. I can tell you, when I was 11 years old, I had a broken arm. My twin brother had a broken leg. You can’t skimp on that. And then trading that off versus putting fuel in the car or taking public service, public transportation, which isn’t all that great in the state to get to work. So there are lots of problems to fix, but reversing the kind of catastrophic, catastrophic decisions that have been crushing health care and then expanding health care is a basic necessity here.

NEWS 6: But this is Florida, I mean, people come to Florida, you came to Florida, you know — Ashley Moody called you a carpetbagger — so many people come to Florida. Didn’t you come to Florida for affordability, aren’t we more affordable than New York?

VINDMAN: So this is exactly it. The promise of Florida is not the reality for Florida under Ashley Moody. While she’s taking, while she’s engaging in stock trading to the tune of millions, taking money from Big Pharma while she’s giving passes to the big insurance companies that are driving up costs. Things have gotten a lot more expensive. My dad, he moved down sick about six months after me. He’s 94, and my mom, 79 this year, and she’s paying half the rent in order to be able to survive and enjoy their retirement years in Florida. So the direction that the state has taken under Ashley Moody’s tenure, I think it’s driven, driving that crisis.

I think about my own specific situation that I see reflected in a lot of other Floridians. My daughter is 15, she’s a ninth grader, and she goes off to the university. The question is, does she choose to stay here? Do we have the jobs for her to keep her here? Does she have, you know, the promise of a bright future, which is a promise that we make to Floridians when they come here, or the one, the ones that grow up here, that they have someplace with jobs and affordable housing. You know, she’s going to be looking to rent — 37% of rent, monthly income, goes towards rent — 37%.

NEWS 6: But again, are those issues that can be solved at the federal level?

VINDMAN: Of course, we can.

NEWS 6: How?

VINDMAN: One of the basic things that we need to do is, if we think about the fact that Florida is the fourth wealthiest state in the union, our tax, our federal tax dollars will get spread across the entire 50 states. We spread the wealth. We should figure out ways to spread the risk and make sure that we brace the insurance companies, large insurance companies, so they stay here, that we have a functioning market, a competitive market that allows prices to stay reasonable. Part of the story is that we’ve had a flight of big insurance companies.

NEWS 6: You just mentioned billionaires, but what are you going to — what do you want to do?

VINDMAN: What I would like for the billionaires to do. Well, I welcome them all, but they need to pay their fair share of taxes. We can’t have a situation in which the burdens are being borne by working people, and I’d like to love for them to come here and spend their money here. But I’d love it even more if they come here and they bring business. They bring in the industries of the 21st century here to Florida, not fleeing here for tax shelters; they buy their homes here. I want their headquarters here to provide 21st-century jobs for the people of Florida, so that our young people can have high-tech jobs, biomedical jobs, all those great things. But we need to make investments in education. We need to make investments in affordability, housing affordability, health care, to make sure the whole package, the whole environment, is ripe for folks to stay here.

NEWS 6: So aside from insurance, how else would you handle housing affordability at the federal level?

VINDMAN: So we talked about the tariffs that are crushing people. We talked about health care, that we need to reverse course on Affordable Care Act subsidies and Medicaid cuts, and the fact that we need to expand health care access. We talked about insurance, making sure that we have a functioning insurance market that we can brace and share the wealth, we should share the risk. Those are concrete, major activities that the federal government can be involved in.

NEWS 6: Do you think the federal government should be dealing with, say, businesses that are buying up rental properties? Or should they be meddling in the real estate market at all?

VINDMAN: You know, one of the things I would be looking for is partners in the state of Florida, you know, these are issues that are crushing Floridians, the folks that have come here, as well as the folks that were born here that are being priced out. So I’m looking for solutions regardless of parties that will help deliver affordable housing, expanded services, more jobs, fruitful environment for small business. I’m looking for all comers. This is not ideological. This is very practical to deliver for the people in Florida.

NEWS 6: Speaking of looking for solutions, today you’re at a Hispanic roundtable. While polls show Hispanics tend to have buyer’s remorse with this administration, we know in Florida, they tend to support policies in this administration. How are you going to convince them that they should vote for a Democrat instead?

VINDMAN: I think what they’re voting for is an independent-minded veteran that has served his country throughout my career, somebody that is not ideologically driven, that is more oriented on being a fighter for ordinary people. I think that’s the case that I’m making. The other part of this is that, I mean, the environment that we’re looking at today, the electoral environment today, is one ripe for a change of direction. People completely believe that the state and the country are heading in the wrong direction, and they’re looking for change. Candidates, folks that are going to change course, especially in the Hispanic community, make sure that we don’t have federal authorities putting what amount to paramilitaries into the city to abuse the population. So I think that the message I take to defend communities, you have somebody that’s going to look out for your interests, not ideologically driven, but to all Floridians, it’s about costs. It’s about corruption. Pick your fighter.

NEWS 6: You say you’re an independent-minded fighter? Where would you break with Democrats in the Senate on issues? What issues do you think Democrats may spend too much time on?

VINDMAN: For me, anything that’s not focused on corruption, anything that’s not focused on cost, becomes less relevant. Now, you won’t catch me in a situation where I’m going to equivocate about individual rights and liberties. But what I’m working on is accountability, corruption and costs.

NEWS 6: This is kind of foreign policy-related, but our current border policy, our current immigration policy — do you think it’s good for our standing in the world, as a country?

VINDMAN: I think that the policy under this administration has been cruel. At the same time, as a national security veteran, I am very, very much focused on making sure that we have good, tight control of our borders and understand who is coming into this country, that’s a basic sovereign responsibility. What’s going on under this administration? Separating families, mass detentions, that’s unacceptable. But we need to make sure we have good control of our borders.

NEWS 6: So what would that look like in your mind?

VINDMAN: Making sure that we are applying technological tools to make sure that we can track those in borders, make sure that the border security is pretty firm. We’ve made some strides in regards of technological monitoring of the borders. But frankly, also for me, it’s quite important as a refugee and an immigrant to this country, my family came here in 1979 when I was three years old, that we get a hold of our immigration policy and execute immigration reform that allows the best and brightest that still continue in this country, that figures out a path to account for millions of folks in this country, a reasonable path to legal status.

NEWS 6: OK, final question, where do you stand on statehood for Puerto Rico?

VINDMAN: I think I’m fundamentally a believer in the fact that members of our society should have a voice. So I’m all for giving rights, votes, I mean, Puerto Ricans are American citizens. Why wouldn’t we go ahead and pursue statehood for Puerto Rico? In every context you will see me side with giving folks in a functioning democracy, giving folks a voice in the how the system, how the government is run. I think that is a strong advocate for Puerto Rico and statehood. And finally, making sure that we make it as easy as possible for legal votes to be cast, no infringements on legal voting. And that’s the trend lines that we’ve seen from state and federal government to infringe and make it hard for people. That’s wrong.

Rapid development has been shrinking the jungle habitat of the critically endangered species, and fatal conflicts with people have been increasing.

The fleeting scene, captured by a motion‑sensitive camera, showed a young Sumatran orangutan pause at the forest’s edge, grip a rope with deliberate care and step out into open air. Halfway across, it stopped, casting a glance down at the road below. Moments later, it crossed.

Conservationists said that it marks the first documented case of an Sumatra orangutan using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road that had divided its habitat.

“This was the moment we had been waiting for,” Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of Indonesian conservation group Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, or TaHuKah, told The Associated Press. “We are very grateful that the canopy here provides benefits for orangutan conservation efforts."

He said that the bridge spans the Lagan–Pagindar road in Pakpak Bharat district, a vital corridor connecting remote villages to schools, healthcare and government services. But the road also cuts directly through prime orangutan habitat, splitting an estimated 350 orangutans into two isolated forest areas: the Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and the Sikulaping Protection Forest.

When the road was upgraded in 2024, the gap in the forest canopy widened, eliminating natural crossings for tree‑dwelling wildlife.

“Development was necessary for people,” Siregar said. “But without intervention, it would have left orangutans trapped on either side.”

TaHuKah, working with the Sumatran Orangutan Society, or SOS, and local and national government agencies, proposed a simple solution: rope bridges suspended between trees, allowing arboreal animals to cross above traffic.

Five canopy bridges were installed each with a camera trap, carefully positioned after surveys of orangutan nests, forest cover and animal movement. The structures were designed to support the orangutan’s weight — no small feat for the world’s largest tree‑dwelling mammal.

The program is closely monitored, with camera traps on every bridge and regular patrols to prevent forest encroachment. Conservationists hope more orangutans will follow the first pioneer.

They waited two years for the first orangutan to cross the bridge. Before the accomplishment, only smaller animals used it. Camera traps recorded squirrels, langur monkeys and macaques, followed by gibbons — a promising sign.

The orangutan’s approach was slower, building nests near the bridge, lingering at its edges and testing the ropes over time.

“They observe,” Siregar said. “They don’t rush. They watch, they try, they retreat. Only when they’re certain it’s safe do they move.”

Then, one day, he crossed fully — a first not just for Sumatra, but for the species globally on a public road, conservations say.

Similar bridges have been used by orangutans elsewhere, but usually over rivers or on private industrial forest road. Conservationists say public roads — noisy, busy and unpredictable — pose a far greater challenge.

For orangutans, the stakes are high. Isolation leads to inbreeding, genetic weakening and eventual population collapse. Restoring connectivity gives them a chance to survive.

Once widespread across southern Asia, the animal now only survives on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Fewer than 14,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild, alongside just 800 Tapanuli orangutans and about 104,700 Bornean orangutans, according to conservation groups

“These bridges allow orangutans to move, to mix, to maintain healthy populations,” Siregar said. “It reduces the risk of extinction.”

The 29-year-old Kenyan pulled off the feat that was long considered unthinkable when winning the London Marathon on Sunday in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds.

There have been a slew of high-profile doping cases involving Kenyan runners in recent years, notably women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepng’etich getting a three-year ban in October.

So, in agreement with his coaches and management team, Sawe said he volunteered to undergo “multiple” doping tests to dispel any suspicion around his own performances, including victories at last year’s marathons in Berlin and London.

“Doping has become a cancer in my country,” Sawe told reporters on Monday.

Sawe said he and his team decided to implement the stringent testing regime because the possibility of people looking at his results “with a lot of doubts was not good,” and he wanted to “show the world that we can run clean and also run fast.”

The BBC, which holds the broadcast rights for the London Marathon, reported that Adidas provided $50,000 to the Athletics Integrity Unit, track and field’s anti-doping body, to frequently test Sawe over a 12-month period, including 25 out-of-competition tests leading up to the Berlin Marathon in September and a similar number ahead of the London race.

The Athletics Integrity Unit didn't immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment on Sawe's testing regime.

Sawe is urging other runners to volunteer for more doping tests.

“Everyone will feel comfortable running with his fellow athlete because there will be no doubt thinking (that) someone is using what he’s using," he said. “And so, it’s important to run clean and to show the world (that) talent, with hard work, discipline and patience,” can lead to big achievements.

Sawe also credited his footwear for helping him break the marathon record by an astonishing 65 seconds in Sunday’s race.

He wore an Adidas shoe that weighed less than half the weight of an average running shoe. After the race, he held up the shoe, which had his winning time written next to it.

“The shoe is very nice, very light, comfortable and so supportive,” he said, “and is pushing (me) forward.”

Sawe was already a superstar in marathon running but has suddenly become a global sensation, something the softly spoken Kenyan is going to have to get used to.

“Being in the history books is not something easy,” he said. “So it means a lot to me in my life and I’m so happy.”

Sawe said he kept things simple after his world-record run.

“I just celebrated in style — I just relaxed and slept well and woke up,” he said.

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Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

On Sunday, the state passed the threshold of 42 days with no new outbreak-related cases. In the end, 997 people were sickened by the vaccine-preventable disease since October and at least 21 of them were hospitalized, based on voluntary reports to the state. State health officials estimate the outbreak response cost $2.1 million.

“The outbreak was predominantly contained to one area of one county and never went statewide, thanks to timely investigations, identification of those exposed, and people’s willingness to stay home,” said Dr. Edward Simmer, interim director of the South Carolina Department of Public Health.

Measles is one of the most contagious viruses known to medicine. Most recover after a high fever, cough, runny nose and a telltale rash. But some, including very young children and people with weak immune systems, can get pneumonia, brain swelling or even die. Measles can also cause health problems later in life for those who recover. The vaccine is safe and 97% effective after two doses.

Outbreak spurred some to get vaccinated

Centered in northwestern Spartanburg County, the measles outbreak was the fastest-growing the U.S. has seen in decades, state health officials said. Public health officials confirmed more than 650 cases in January alone, and the outbreak quickly eclipsed the 2025 outbreak in West Texas that sickened at least 762 people and killed two school-age children.

But a sooner-than-predicted decline in cases came as welcome news to doctors and health workers. A few things may have helped, Dr. Brannon Traxler, chief medical officer for the state health department, said last week. To some extent, it's possible that the outbreak waned as more people got sick, she said, but more people also got vaccinated.

While uptake was slow to begin with, public health workers, doctors' offices and pharmacies administered nearly 82,000 measles vaccines from October to March. That was an increase of more than 30% from the same time period a year prior. Spartanburg County saw a 94% increase in vaccinations.

The public health department also worked to contain the spread, sending nearly 2,300 quarantine letters, making more than 1,670 case investigation calls and working across seven school districts to quarantine 874 students.

The US is on pace for more cases than last year

Measles continues to spread nationwide. So far this year, the U.S. has logged 1,792 cases — nearly 80% of 2025's record-breaking total — and 22 new outbreaks. Florida has confirmed 134 cases this year and Texas has 180, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of greatest concern now is an outbreak that started on the Arizona-Utah border and has since spread across much of Utah. Since August, 607 people have been sickened in Utah. Mohave County, Arizona, has also confirmed 282 cases. Genetic analysis indicates the outbreak could have started six weeks earlier and may have been much larger than reported, according to research presented at a CDC conference last week.

Cases have slowed a bit, but it’s still too soon to say an end is in sight, said Dr. Ellie Brownstein, a Utah pediatrician and president-elect of the state’s American Academy of Pediatrics chapter. State data show that southwestern Utah still has the most cases — 258 — but each of the state's 13 local health districts has logged at least one case.

“It has marched through the state and is everywhere,” Brownstein said.

South Carolina officials are still on guard

In South Carolina, the end of the outbreak has given health workers only a slight reprieve. Last week, a case linked to international travel in Saluda County, west of Columbia, led to 41 people having to quarantine.

“We are certainly not letting our guard down, and I don't think that South Carolinians who are still vulnerable to the virus, that don't have immunity, should let their guard down,” Traxler said.

The virus has resurged across the Americas since a major outbreak started in Canada in fall 2024. In the U.S., childhood vaccination rates against the measles have fallen for years, as more parents opt out of shots required for school. In November, international health officials will determine if the U.S. has lost its measles elimination status, which it has maintained since 2000.

Dr. Martha Edwards, president of the South Carolina chapter of the AAP, said the end of the outbreak brought a mix of gratitude and anger.

“I’m angry that many children and their parents had to worry about contracting or suffering through a disease that should have been nearly 100% preventable,” she said.

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

A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and a few others, causing some concern.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she's trying to avoid illness by sticking to a simple diet of chicken breast, rice and salad.

The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame.

Sabalenka knocked on wood and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos (laughing). I stick to the same food, same meal that I’ve been having since the very beginning of the tournament.”

Sabalenka said she was spending as little time as possible on site at the Caja Magica tennis complex.

"I try not to stay for too long," she said. “Extra vitamin C, I guess, extra IM8, and I’m good to go, hopefully."

Gauff vomited on the court on her way to a victory over Sorana Cirstea on Sunday. The American didn't show signs of illness on Monday in her 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (5) loss to Linda Noskova, last year's runner-up to Sabalenka.

Cilic couldn't play his match against João Fonseca on Friday.

“Unfortunately, I got food poisoning,” Cilic said. “After trying to recover all night my body is unfortunately exhausted and not at the proper level to get into the battle.”

Sabalenka rallies

Sabalenka rebounded from a set and a break down against Osaka in their fourth round contest.

She prevailed against No. 15 Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to reach the quarterfinals and stay on track to defend her title.

“Oh my God, that was an incredible level,” Sabalenka said. “She played incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky in a couple of shots in the third set, that’s why it went that fast. I’m happy she brought that fight, I had to fight through to level up my game.”

Sabalenka won her 15th straight match and advanced to her 17th consecutive quarterfinal. She hasn't lost before that round since February 2025 in Dubai. The Belarusian said her team kept pushing her to “keep fighting, keep going.”

“I'm really happy that I didn't give up and I was pushing until the very last point,” Sabalenka said.

Longest tiebreaker since 2024

Sabalenka will next face American Hailey Baptiste, who defeated Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-7 (14), 6-3 after losing the second set in the longest tour-level regular tiebreaker since 2024, according to the WTA.

Baptiste broke the racket on her leg in frustration after the loss in a set in which she wasted six match points, including five during the tiebreaker.

The 32nd-ranked American was able to rebound and clinch the victory in 2 hours, 42 minutes.

Rybakina's line-calling frustration

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina said she has no trust in the electronic line-calling system in Madrid. She complained to the chair umpire after her opponent, Zheng Qinwen, was awarded an ace in the second set. Rybakina said the mark on the court was out. The umpire refused to inspect the mark and backed the system. Rybakina eventually won in three sets on Sunday.

“Well with this thing, I won’t trust it at all,” Rybakina said. “Because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed."

She felt it was a similar situation to what happened to men's player Alexander Zverev last year in Madrid, where he ended up grabbing his cell phone and taking a photo of a mark of an alleged wrong call. Zverev was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“You can’t not see it,” Rybakina said. "It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving really well, but it’s really frustrating.”

Jódar only Spaniard left

Daniel Mérida lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina lost to defending champion Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1 on Monday, leaving 19-year-old Rafael Jódar as the only Spaniard left in the tournament.

Jódar, one of the promising stars on tour, needed three sets to get past Fonseca, another teen sensation.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, Spain's current top player, withdrew from the home tournament because of a right wrist injury.

Unusual rally

There was an unusually long rally in the Rudd vs. Davidovich Fokina match when the Spaniard resorted to 15 straight lob shots to the back of the court.

The high returns in the 32-shot rally kept Rudd from attacking until one shot came up a little short and allowed him to power a forehand and take the point.

In the match between Francisco Cerundolo and Luciano Darderi, Cerundolo won a point after reaching over the net to get to a high return that spun back into Darderi's side of the court. Cerundolo won the match 6-2, 6-3.

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

Trump and other conservatives have made a renewed push for the ballroom in the wake of Saturday's media dinner shooting, arguing it exposed the difficulties in ensuring presidential security at large events outside the White House grounds, and urging the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its lawsuit.

Top Justice officials said the government would ask a court to dismiss the lawsuit “in light of last night’s extraordinary events" if the Trust did not voluntarily drop it.

Trust attorney Gregory Craig declined that request, writing to the Justice Department that the legal issues at the heart of the lawsuit are unchanged.

“What Saturday’s awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so," Craig wrote.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The preservation group sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for a below-ground bunker and security upgrades.

In its lawsuit, the Trust argued that Trump had overstepped his authority by moving forward with the project without first getting approval from key federal agencies and Congress.

A federal appeals court has allowed Trump to continue the project, ruling a day after a lower court judge continued to block above-ground construction on the site and scheduling a June 5 hearing to review the case.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike killed two people in the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Moscow-installed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said Monday. A man and a woman in their 70s died in the village of Dnipriany, he said.

In Odesa, drones hit residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, said Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s administration. Russia has repeatedly targeted Odesa, a key Black Sea port for Ukraine, since Moscow launched the war more than four years ago on Feb. 24, 2022.

Five of the wounded, most of them with shrapnel wounds, were hospitalized, according to Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia has fired approximately 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 powerful guided aerial bombs and around 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the past week.

Ukraine’s wartime development of cutting-edge military technology means that it's intercepting more than 90% of the drones that Russia launches, Zelenskyy said in an X post. However, Ukraine needs more American-made Patriot air defense missiles, which are able to shoot down Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Ukraine has recently been helping Middle Eastern and Gulf region countries counter attacks on their territory by Iranian drones.

Norway is the latest European country to enter into a joint drone manufacturing agreement with Kyiv, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Monday.

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that his government plans to build a “drone armada” with Ukraine’s help, to defend both itself and the rest of Europe.

Zelenskyy also announced that Ukraine is massively scaling up the production of ground robots that can deliver supplies, evacuate injured soldiers and fire automatic weapons. The uncrewed vehicles can help to ease the pressure on Ukraine's short-handed infantry along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (770-mile) front line.

Ukraine has ordered 25,000 ground robots for this year, twice as many as in 2025, and the number is set to grow, he said in a separate post on X.

Zelenskyy noted a recent raft of good news for Ukraine: NATO partners, excluding the United States, have contributed to a financial arrangement to buy American weapons; the European Union has approved a 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) loan to Ukraine; and the EU intends to place more sanctions on Moscow.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has been assailing oil terminals and refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones and missiles, aiming to disrupt Moscow’s economy.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Sunday it has seen geolocated evidence that Ukrainian forces conducted at least 10 strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure in the past two weeks.

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Claudia Ciobanu contributed to this report from Warsaw, Poland.

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

Chad's deputy prime minister, Limane Mahamat, said another 10 people were wounded in Saturday's clashes in Igote village in Wadi Fira province near the border.

The situation is under control after the army intervened, Mahamat said Sunday, adding that a mediation process in the village had begun, as well as judicial proceedings to determine criminal responsibility.

Such clashes over resources are common in the Central African country. Last year, clashes between farmers and herders in southwestern Chad left 42 people dead and homes burned.

Mahamat said the government will take “all necessary measures” to prevent a destabilization of the border area.

In February, Chad closed the border with Sudan until further notice, calling it an attempt to limit the spread of that country's war into its territory after multiple crossings by fighters with warring Sudanese factions.

“I was confident that this combination, which would have been about adding and not subtracting, creating a truly great airline that customers love, could get regulatory approval,” Kirby wrote in a press release. “I was hoping to pitch that story to American, but they declined to engage and instead responded by publicly closing the door.”

The stocks of both airlines soared two weeks ago when reports surfaced that Kirby had floated the idea of combining two of the biggest U.S. airlines to the White House. Kirby said Monday that he had approached American directly about a tie-up, but it's unclear whether that was before or after the White House meeting.

Days after the meeting in Washington, American shot down the idea of a merger.

“American Airlines is not engaged with or interested in any discussions regarding a merger with United Airlines,” the company said in an April 17 press release. Additionally, a combination of the two carriers “would be negative for competition and for consumers” and possibly raise antitrust concerns, the company said.

Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines is itself the product of a 2013 merger with US Airways Group.

President Donald Trump also said last week that he was against a merger of the airlines.

In his press release Monday, Kirby argued that a merger between the iconic airlines would expand service, create a globally competitive airline and boost the U.S. economy by creating millions of jobs and strengthening the aircraft manufacturing sector.

Shares of Chicago-based United shares fell 1.4% on Monday, to $91.72. They are down about 20% since the war in Iran began in late February, sending fuel prices soaring. American shares were down 2% in morning trading Monday, to $11.84. American is down about 15% since the war began.

For filmmaker Christopher Nolan, “The Odyssey,” out July 17, isn't just a story. It's the story: A foundational piece that deserved to be done on the biggest possible scale, with all the resources modern Hollywood had to offer.

“There’s a massive amount of pressure,” Nolan told The Associated Press. “Anyone taking on ‘The Odyssey’ is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility.”

It's a familiar feeling, though. He did three Batman films after all.

“What I learned from that experience is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation,” Nolan said. “They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

Three summers ago, “Oppenheimer” made nearly a billion dollars. “The Odyssey” has battles, gods, creatures and an army of movie stars — Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya and Tom Holland included. It's also the first movie shot entirely on IMAX film. Tickets for some IMAX 70 mm showings sold out in under an hour a full year in advance.

“The Odyssey” will be shorter than “Oppenheimer”; Three hours is the longest they’ve been able to get onto an IMAX film projector, after all.

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” Nolan said. “But it is shorter.”

Summer movie season's fashionable kickoff

Hollywood may not save all its blockbusters for the hottest months anymore, but the 18 week corridor running from the first weekend in May through Labor Day remains the industry’s most important, accounting for around 40% of the year’s box office. And it's only surpassed $4 billion once since the pandemic, in 2023.

Marvel movies often kick off the season, but last year filmmaker David Frankel got a call from Disney: “Avengers: Doomsday” wasn’t going to be ready by the first weekend in May; Could “The Devil Wears Prada 2” step up?

May 1 is just days before the Met Gala and it would give the movie a long runway to play, he figured. It would also require a bit of a sprint — they finished the film just weeks ago. But the enthusiasm was motivating, from fans snapping photos of Hathaway and Meryl Streep on the New York streets, to support from Anna Wintour.

Love for “Prada” isn’t the only thing that’s changed in 20 years; Magazines have also become an endangered species.

“How does Miranda Priestly deal with this changing world and what’s her future?” Frankel said. “The same with Andy Sachs: If all your ambition has been funneled in this one direction, what happens when you have to pivot and how do you adapt?”

The $4 billion question

The movie industry is also adjusting to a new paradigm. Box office is down over 20% from pre-COVID levels. The rise in streaming, the pandemic and shifting theatrical windows altered people’s moviegoing habits, perhaps permanently. And there may be one less major studio if Paramount acquires Warner Bros.

But, as James Cameron said, “hope springs eternal.

“We still have a very robust theatrical industry at a time when it was kind of almost pronounced dead,” Cameron said.

The gap is not widening. Studios are committing to longer exclusive theatrical windows. Original movies and premium formats are drawing crowds. And the market continues to expand globally.

Cameron is behind one of those only-in-a-theater experiences with the 3D Billie Eilish concert film (May 8). Using new technology, they used 17 camera systems to capture four nights of her Manchester shows last year.

“Seeing it in 3D is astonishing,” Cameron said. “You really feel an intimacy with her and yet you feel the scale of the spectacle.”

A summer for heavyweights

Nolan isn’t Universal’s only giant of cinema on its summer roster: Steven Spielberg is also returning to one of his most beloved genres with “Disclosure Day” (June 12). There are superhero movies as well, with “Supergirl” (June 26), which DC Studios co-head Peter Safran said is “is something cool and original and we haven’t seen before,” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (July 31). The last Spidey film, which made over $1.9 billion, ended with Holland’s Peter Parker erasing himself from everyone’s memory.

“This is a blockbuster action movie with all the humor and emotion we love about Spider-Man,” director Destin Daniel Cretton said. “But at its heart, it’s a story about learning how to reconnect with the ones you love.”

A lot of power recently has shifted to PG-rated offerings. This summer has “Toy Story 5” (June 19), “Minions & Monsters” (July 1) and a live action “Moana” (July 10), which could all very well hit a billion dollars each.

One non-franchise family friendly film is “The Sheep Detectives” (May 8), in which the animals (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston) investigate the death of their beloved owner (Hugh Jackman). Writer Craig Mazin understands the hurdle: There have been a lot of stupid talking animal movies. But this one is different, he said, it's not just silly sheep doing silly things.

“There are some really beautiful moments and themes and things that parents can talk about with their kids,” Mazin said. “And most importantly, it is legitimately a movie that is meant for everyone.”

Then there's “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” (May 22), which is rated PG-13 but has an impossibly cute alien going for it. It’s also one of several made for IMAX.

“People have got great TVs at home,” said director Jon Favreau. “You’ve got to give them a reason to go out.”

The scary movies

Movie studios also continue to lean into horror and this summer has both franchises, like “Evil Dead Burn”(July 10) and “Insidious: Out of the Further” (Aug. 21) and unnerving indies, including the “conversion therapy” horror “Leviticus,” “Rose of Nevada” (both June 19), “Backrooms” (May 29) and a new Jane Schoenbrun, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (Aug. 7).

And then there is “Scary Movie 6" (June 5), which sees the return of Regina Hall and Anna Faris, as well as Marlon and Shawn Wayans, who haven't been involved in the franchise they helped create since the 2001 sequel. And there were so many movies ripe for parody, like “M3GAN,” “Get Out,” “Weapons,” the just-released “Michael,” and “Sinners,” which Marlon Wayans was most excited about.

“Mockery is the greatest form of flattery,” Wayans said. “Sending up their movie was definitely tipping our hat to them.”

The festival darlings and other gems

Audiences want more than brands and blockbusters though. This year moviegoers have already proven they’ll turn out when the buzz is right, whether it’s for a big crowd pleaser like “Project Hail Mary” or for something more challenging like “The Drama.”

One that has the potential to break through is Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” (June 26), a chamber dramedy about two very different couples (Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) over one wine-filled night that sparked a bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival. Wilde was heartened that most studios were offering theatrical releases, and ultimately chose A24. They’ve even made a 35 mm print.

“The whole project for me is really tipping my hat to Mike Nichols,” Wilde said. “We thought of the audiences that have always loved those films.”

There are plenty of indies and originals to choose from throughout the summer, including Daniel Roher’s “Tuner,” about a piano prodigy turned safecracker, Boots Riley’s colorful shoplifting movie “I Love Boosters,” (both May 22) a John Carney musical with Paul Rudd (“Power Ballad,” June 5) and David Wain’s wholesomely raunchy comedy “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass” (July 10).

As Wilde said, there’s room for both originals and franchises.

“The audience really likes to recognize risk,” she said. “There’s something exciting about that.”

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For more coverage of this summer’s upcoming films, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/movies

Leslie John feared she had killed her career. Instead, it became an asset.

“Those two grand poo-bahs, they became my closest mentors,” said John, a Harvard business professor and author of “Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing.” “And it’s not in spite of my having shared my embarrassing story with them, because they’ve told me it’s because of it.”

John acknowledges that she may have gotten lucky, since her openness caused the professors to see her as different from other junior colleagues. But the experience illustrated a point.

Most people worry about the risks of oversharing, but in reality, opening up often builds trust and leads to stronger relationships, she said. (Her advice is for in-person relationships; sharing online is something different, carrying different risks.)

So, how do you know when it’s TMI or if you’re not sharing enough?

Context is key

Kathryn Greene, a communications professor at Rutgers University, has been studying what’s known in academia as "disclosure" since the 1980s. She said people may not realize how often they make decisions about whether to disclose something personal.

“We’re constantly making these evaluations in all of our relationships and reassessing as it goes along,” Greene said.

She said context is key. Telling your doctor about a sexually transmitted infection is clearly different from telling your boss.

Being open about personal aspects of your life can bring people together, but if you reveal too much too soon, it will turn people away.

Greene offered the example of when two people start dating. They first offer only a trickle of information to test if their values align.

“There’s a pretty predictable pattern as we test for a positive rather than neutral or negative reaction,” she said. “It’s going to lead to us potentially sharing more.”

Why you share is as important as what

John suggested analyzing why you want to share and questioning if it’s with the right person at the right time, which “requires a lot of self-honesty.”

When she was pregnant during the pandemic, she told her landlord because she was dying for connection. The landlord, apparently wary of tenants with children, put the place up for sale the next day, and she had to move.

“If I had been honest with myself, why do I want to reveal this? Because I want love and excitement,” she said. “Well, the landlord is not the right person to reveal to.”

When to share

People rarely think of the risks of revealing too little information, however, John said. Without opening up to acquaintances, they’ll never become close friends. If you don’t tell the love of your life that you love them, it’s a missed opportunity that’s hard to recover from.

On the other hand, revealing too much is recoverable. John argues that the answer to feeling like you’ve overshared is to share more, not less.

For instance, if you think you may have offended someone at work, it presents an opportunity to stop by their office to clear things up.

“What feels like overcommunicating is just communicating,” she said.

What not to share

Greene said one kind of oversharing won’t get you anywhere — the kind where someone dumps personal information on another person without letting them speak.

Over time, such an imbalance will degrade a relationship.

“Most people will try to distance themselves if they’re finding time after time that this balance doesn’t ever shift,” she said.

Gossip is another. John’s research includes examining what’s called “spontaneous trait transference.” Essentially, that means that when you share someone else’s personal information, or if you speak badly about someone, the recipient of the information will implicitly associate those negative things with you and your character, John said.

“It happens automatically, outside of conscious awareness,” she said. “Literally, it makes you look bad.”

But she said anything else is fair game, especially if the goal is to feel more known. Besides, sharing feels good.

John pointed to studies that have shown that pleasure centers in the brain light up when people self-disclose.

“Nature has a way of making what’s good for us pleasurable,” she said. “In moderation.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Albert Stumm writes about wellness, travel and food. Find his work at https://www.albertstumm.com

Isle Royale is a 134,000-acre (54,200-hectare) national park in far western Lake Superior between Grand Marais, Minnesota, and Thunder Bay, Canada. The island is a natural laboratory, offering scientists a rare opportunity to observe wolves and moose largely free from human influence.

Researchers have conducted wolf and moose population surveys on the island since 1958. The surveys had been an annual winter event when the roadless island is closed to visitors, but researchers have run into obstacles in recent years.

The pandemic in 2021 forced scientists to cancel the survey for the first time. The National Park Service ordered researchers to evacuate the island during their 2024 winter survey after weeks of unusually warm weather left the ice surrounding the island unsafe for ski-plane landings. Researchers rely on the planes for easier wildlife tracking but the island has no runway, forcing them to land on iced-over Lake Superior. Things didn't go much better last year when researchers were forced to scrap the effort after their pilot suffered a last-minute medical issue.

But this year a team of researchers led by scientists from Michigan Tech University were able to conduct a survey from Jan. 22 through March 3. Their findings led them to estimate the island's wolf population at 37 animals. Data gathered before researchers evacuated in 2024 showed the population at 30.

The 2026 estimates are the highest since the late 1970s and represent a marked improvement since the population dwindled to just two wolves a decade ago. Researchers believe inbreeding led to depressed survival rates in pups.

The island's moose population, though, is declining dramatically. This year's survey put the population at 524 moose, down 75% from a high of 2,000 in 2019. Wolves likely killed almost a quarter of the moose population over the last year, scientists estimated. For the first time in almost 70 years, researchers observed no moose calves during the winter survey.

Sarah Hoy, a Michigan Tech researcher who specializes in predator-prey interactions and one of the survey's co-leaders, said scientists had to brave wind chills that dipped to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.5 Celsius) and it was difficult to keep warm with the woodstoves in their cabins.

But clear skies facilitated exceptional observations. The scientists spotted wolves on all but one survey flight, she said. One of the highlights was watching a pack snuggle up together on the ice on Valentine's Day, she said.

“It's always such a privilege to get to see wolves interacting, witnessing courtship behavior, pups playfully tugging on each other's tails, or a pack working together to take down a moose,” she said.

Scientists plan to conduct summer research on the island with an eye toward how the burgeoning wolf packs can maintain balance with the rest of the ecosystem.

The 7-footer from Cameroon became so debilitated by the ailment that he struggled walking, stayed awake deep into the night and even going to the bathroom became a chore. Embiid was finally forced to tell team officials this sickness was worse than food poisoning or any other malady he suspected, and he required a hospital visit.

The test results almost seemed preordained for bad news for Embiid around NBA playoff time.

One of the dominant big men of his era when healthy, Embiid has had a postseason career curtailed by a cornucopia of injuries — sprains, fractures, even facial paralysis — and this April was no exception.

Embiid had an appendectomy in Houston on April 9 after the two-time NBA scoring champion was stricken with appendicitis overnight and sidelined indefinitely.

No Sixers' stretch run. No play-in tournament game. He watched from the bench as the Sixers went down 2-1 to Boston in their first-round series.

“You probably go through a couple of days where you feel bad for yourself,” Embiid said late Sunday. “Then it’s right back to it. Are you going to give up or are you going to try and come back as early as possible?”

Embiid indeed returned early and was welcomed by a roaring ovation in Game 4 only 17 days after having surgery, desperate to give the Sixers the punch — scoring, rather than gut — needed to try to upset a Celtics team that beat the Sixers by 32 points in a Game 1 victory.

The result was familiar, the 76ers again lost by 32, 128-96 on Sunday night and now trail the series 3-1 headed into Game 5 on Tuesday night in Boston.

Embiid had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes, a gutsy effort in his latest return from injury that the Sixers otherwise did little to suggest they could win the next three games. The numbers were brutal: Boston hit 24 3-pointers to the 76ers' nine; the Celtics won the rebounding battle 51-30; and Boston at one point had a 13-0 edge in second-chance points to build a 21-point lead.

Give the Sixers this much: They know how to get blown out.

With All-Stars in Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George on the roster, the Sixers this season were the first team in NBA history to lose three home game by 40-plus points. Throw in two 32-pointers (one each at home and the road) in the playoffs and team president Daryl Morey and coach Nick Nurse figure to sit on the hot seat if the Sixers can't recover and win this series.

“I think those are going to kind of happen a couple of times a year,” Nurse said. “Listen, our kind of MO all year was to have a lot of things thrown at us, pick ourselves up and fight back. We're just going to have to do it again.”

To have any chance at resuscitating their chances, the Sixers need ruthless aggression and production from Maxey and rookie standout VJ Edgecombe. The Sixers have muddled roster construction in trying to win with two young, speedy, flashy guards while at the same time trying to force an aging, brittle, big man the ball.

Sure enough, Embiid sank two free throws for the Sixers’ first points of the game, added a monster two-handed jam and scored the team’s first eight points.

Maxey took a backseat to Embiid and took only three shots in the first half. He scored 22 points for the Sixers in 40 minutes.

“That can’t happen,” Maxey said of the slow start. “That’s on me. That’s just unacceptable by me. I was playing within the flow of the game. It kind of happened that way. It wasn’t meant to happen that way.”

Maxey and Edgecombe combined for 23 shots. Embiid attempted 21.

“There's a couple of times when he had opportunities to shoot the ball, but he's got to take them,” Embiid said of Maxey. “You've got to want it.”

Embiid said he had unspecified complications after the surgery but still went out “to do the best job possible with the conditions.” He was limited to 38 games this season, sitting out primarily to manage injuries to his knees, and hasn’t appeared in as many as 40 games in a regular season since 2022-23, when he averaged a career-best 33.1 points and earned MVP honors.

Embiid said he no choice but to push through his latest setback and try to salvage the Sixers' season. It's a familiar refrain in Philadelphia. While anything can happen, the final result for the Sixers seems as inevitable as Embiid pulling up lame — no NBA title since 1983, no conference final since 2001.

“I just told them again, way out of character,” Nurse said. “We played another, about as bad as we could play, game. That's two in the series.”

The third one ends another empty postseason.

___

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

We’ve compiled a non-exhaustive list of upcoming Space Coast launches so you can know what to expect.

[RELATED: Best spots to watch a rocket launch]

Keep checking back, though, because as most space enthusiasts know, launch schedules are subject to change due to weather, technical reasons, and range restrictions.

I repeat: All launch dates and times are tentative!

• Date: April 28
• Vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9
• Mission: SpaceX is targeting the launch of its Falcon Heavy equipped with the ViaSat-3 F3 mission to geosynchronous transfer orbit.
• Launch Time: 10:17 a.m.
• Location: Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center.

• Date: First half of 2026
• Vehicle: Blue Origin New Glenn
• Mission: Blue Origin will launch a Blue Moon lunar lander carrying NASA payloads on a demonstration mission.
• Launch Time: TBD
• Location: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 36

• Date: No earlier than April
• Vehicle: Boeing Starliner
• Mission: An uncrewed Boeing Starliner will deliver cargo to the International Space Station and undergo in-flight validation of a series of system upgrades.
• Launch Time: TBD
• Location: TBD

• Date: Q4 2026
• Vehicle: ULA Vulcan
• Mission: Sierra Space will launch its uncrewed Dream Chaser space plane atop a ULA Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
• Launch Time: TBD
• Location: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 41

Venezi was due to take up the role this coming October.

But general manager Nicola Colabianchi cited her “repeated and serious public statements that were offensive and harmful” to the theater and its orchestra for the decision to cancel future collaboration, the theater’s foundation said Sunday.

They included an interview with Argentine daily La Nación, in which she accused the theater of nepotism, saying that “positions were handed from father to son.”

Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said that he hoped the move would “clear misunderstandings, tensions and manipulations” that had surrounded Venezi’s selection.

La Fenice's unions welcomed the decision to part ways with Venezi, calling it “a necessary act of respect” and underlining that the theater's professionalism had been “subject to serious, unfounded public statements damaging to the dignity of labor.”

Musicians, singers and backstage hands had vociferously opposed her appointment, citing a lack of transparency and lack of experience necessary to lead the theater.

Their escalating protests included a strike that forced the cancellation of a performance and a march through Venice joined by workers from other opera houses, reflecting concerns of political interference in artistic decisions.

The audience and orchestra erupted in applause during a performance Sunday night at the news that Venezi’s appointment had been blocked, according to video circulated by Italian media.

Colabianchi, who appointed Venezi on Sept. 22, initially defended the move, saying her youth and dynamism would attract a younger audience to the theater. Giuli had also supported hiring her.

Venezi, 36, was appointed as an adviser to the culture minister after Meloni came to power in 2022. She previously was principal conductor of the Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti Young and guest conductor of the Orchestra della Toscana, and has conducted internationally, including in Armenia, Uruguay and Argentina.

A sheep owned by O'Connor, who runs Clover & Bee Farm in Underhill, Vermont, with her husband, Gunnar, gave birth to a rare batch of six lambs earlier this month. The sextuplets and their mother are all doing well, making the lamb windfall even more remarkable.

The same ewe previously had quadruplets, and while a recent checkup indicated she would have two lambs this time, O'Connor suspected more. When the big day came, the baby lambs seemed to have kept coming and coming, she said.

“I was a little bit suspicious, just given how big she was and that she was going a little earlier, that she might have more than two,” she said. “Six is great, but it's definitely — it's plenty.”

Sources differ on how uncommon sheep sextuplets are, with O'Connor putting the number around 1 in 1,000 and some agricultural websites placing it at one in a million or higher. O'Connor said she has been in touch with the Vermont Sheep & Goat Association about the births, and the group found only one other shepherd had a sheep give birth to so many lambs.

“They do take longer to reach full body weight, but most do just fine,” said Kristen Judkins of Gilead Fiber Farm, who owned a ewe that had sextuplets three years in a row, in an email. “You have to keep an eye on them for the first few weeks to make sure they are getting enough to eat.”

The lambs, which are partially the Finnsheep breed, are named the numbers one through six in Finnish. Their mother is named Teemu after Finnish hockey player and Hockey Hall of Famer Teemu Selänne. The O'Connors plan to keep the four ewes and find homes for the two male lambs.

The farm raises sheep for wool and also grows herbs and berries. It's headed for its fifth summer raising sheep. The flock is booming — along with two other recent babies, the six new lambs have brought the total up to 21. And five ewes are currently pregnant.

Teemu's breeding days are likely not over. She'll be allowed a respite, but odds are good she'll have more lambs in the future, O'Connor said.

“She’s a great mom, she’s doing awesome with this,” O'Connor said. “She’s still very much in her reproductive years, so probably a year or more and she’ll just, you know, be able to put her hooves up.”

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Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

But the rise of artificial intelligence has scrambled those calculations. The basic skills she was learning in things like statistical analysis and coding can now easily be automated. “Everyone has a fear that entry-level jobs will be taken by AI,” said the 20-year-old at Miami University in Ohio.

A few weeks ago, Timperman switched her major to marketing. Her new strategy is to use her undergraduate studies to build critical thinking and interpersonal skills — areas where humans still have an edge.

“You don’t just want to be able to code. You want to be able to have a conversation, form relationships and be able to think critically, because at the end of the day, that’s the thing that AI can’t replace,” said Timperman, who is keeping analytics as a minor and plans to dive deeper into the subject for a one-year master’s program.

Today’s college students say that picking a major that’s “AI-proof” feels like shooting at a moving target as they prepare for a job market that could be fundamentally different by the time they graduate.

As a result, many are reconsidering their career paths. About 70% of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, while recent Gallup polling finds U.S. workers are increasingly concerned about being replaced by new technologies.

Students seeking majors that teach ‘human’ skills

The uncertainty appears most concentrated among those pursuing degrees in technology and vocational areas of study, where students feel a need to develop expertise in AI but also fear being replaced by it. A recent Quinnipiac poll found the vast majority of Americans believe it’s “very” or “somewhat” important for college and university students to be taught how to use AI, as Gallup Workforce polling finds AI is getting adopted in technology-related fields at higher rates. Meanwhile, students studying healthcare and natural sciences may be less impacted by AI overhauls, Gallup found.

“We see students all the time change majors. That’s not new or different. But it’s usually for a ton of different reasons,” said Courtney Brown, a vice president at Lumina, an education nonprofit focused on increasing the number of students who seek education beyond high school. “The fact that so many students say it’s because of AI — that is startling.”

A recent Gallup poll of Generation Z youth and adults, between the ages of 14 and 29, found increasing skepticism and concerns about AI. Although half of Gen Z adults use AI at least “weekly,” and teenagers report higher use, many in this generation see drawbacks to the technology and worry about AI's impact on their cognitive abilities and job prospects. About half — 48% — of Gen Z workers say the risks of AI in the workforce outweigh the possible benefits.

Part of the challenge for college students is that the experts they would typically turn to for advice, like advisers, professors and parents, don’t have any answers. “Students are having to navigate this on their own, without a GPS,” says Brown.

That uncertainty was evident last month at Stanford University, where the leaders of several prominent universities gathered for a wide-ranging panel discussion on the future of higher education. Topics of concern included the AI revolution that is transforming how students learn and forcing educators to rethink pedagogy.

“We need to think really hard about what students need to learn to be successful in the job market in 10, 20, 30 years,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson.

“And none of us know. We don’t know the answer to that,” Paxson said. “I think it’s communication, it’s critical thought. The fundamentals of a liberal education are probably more important than learning how to code in Java right now.”

Anxiety also reaches computer science majors

Computer science major Ben Aybar, 22, graduated last spring from the University of Chicago and applied for about 50 jobs, mostly in software engineering, without getting a single interview. He pivoted to a master’s degree in computer science and meanwhile has found part-time work doing AI consulting for companies.

“People who know how to use AI will be very valuable,” said Aybar, who sees new jobs emerging that require AI skills, particularly for people who can explain the complexities in layman's terms. “Being able to talk to people and interact with people in a very human way I think is more valuable than ever.”

At the University of Virginia, data science major Ava Lawless is wondering if her major is worthwhile but can’t get concrete answers. Some advisers feel that data scientists will be safe because they’re the ones building AI models, but she keeps seeing gloomy job reports that indicate the contrary.

“It makes me feel a bit hopeless for the future,” Lawless said. “What if by the time I graduate there’s not even a job market for this anymore?”

She is considering switching to studio art, which is her minor.

“I’m at a point where I’m thinking if I can’t get a job being a data scientist, I might as well pursue art,” she said. “Because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well do something I love.”

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Voters are choosing an increasing number of nonwhite Hispanic leaders to local elective office — and many of the leaders are the first Latinos to hold their seats. Some political science experts attribute the rise of Latino leadership to years of grassroots organizing, coupled with ongoing demonization of their communities by Trump administration officials and conservative activists.

“That's the difference now, is that there's this extra incentive of an unrelenting attack on Latinos across the country,” said Anna Sampaio, an ethnic studies professor at Santa Clara University who specializes in race and gender politics.

There are currently an estimated 7,700 Latino elected officials nationwide, according to data from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. That's up from 6,883 officials in 2020.

Estimated to number as many as 55 million people — 16% of the U.S. population — Latinos are the largest ethnic minority in the country, with politics, interests and priorities as diverse as the national origins represented within their population. But Latinos also are underrepresented as a demographic across elective offices.

Since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, Latino communities have been a target of his hard-line immigration tactics. The feeling of attack doesn't stop there. From memes shared from the official White House page perpetuating Hispanic stereotypes, a federally led English-only initiative and an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion push have painted a target on Latinos across the country.

It's all led to more Latinos seeking office to defend their communities and give voice to those who may be afraid to speak out in the current political climate. As a result, legislators have proposed measures that include providing community members with protections against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, halting the approval of ICE detention centers in their cities, and calling for a stop to ICE funding, among other actions.

Pennsylvania Latino mayor makes history

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with a roughly 40% Hispanic population, recently elected Jaime Arroyo their first Latino mayor. Arroyo took office in January, after being elected with 85% of the vote.

“I think being the first Latino to be in this role and the first person of color to be mayor of Lancaster City has been exciting,” Arroyo told The Associated Press, adding that he finds it “extremely exciting to lead and represent our community in this role.”

With rhetoric and national policies — such as heightened immigration enforcement — hurting the Latino communities, Arroyo said, diverse representation in government is more important than ever. He also believes that the rise of elected Latino officials over the last couple of years is the result of generations of Latinos being politically active fighting for civil rights.

“We're starting to see a lot of the fruits of that labor come to fruition,” Arroyo said. “There's never a perfect time to serve your community, there's the right time. And I think right now is the right time for a lot of Latinos to step up into these roles, especially with everything that is going on.”

Latino representation expanding in city councils

Many more Latinos made history when they took office in earlier this year.

In Iowa, Rob Barron was sworn in Jan. 12 as the first Latino representative on the Des Moines City Council. Antonio Pacheco was sworn on Jan. 7 to be the first Latino member of the city council in Conyers, Georgia. In Ohio, Eileen Torres became the first Mexican American women to win a city council seat in Lorain. Sabrina Gonzalez also took office there as the first Puerto Rican women to serve.

And in Michigan, Clara Martinez and Deyanira Nevarez Martinez were sworn in Jan. 1 to the Lansing City Council, making the city the first in the U.S. to have a council with majority Latino representation.

Martinez said her election, and that of Nevarez Martinez, makes a bit statement about “what people are truly open to despite the national rhetoric.”

“I think because of the rhetoric that we are having to face and some of the backlash on the national stage, I think that’s just fueled the fire for so many people,” she said.

The Salt Lake City Council also has a Latino majority, with four of seven seats, after Erika Carlsen, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, was sworn in on Jan. 5. Carlsen said her success is possible because of current and previous generations that put in the work to create spaces where Latinas were encouraged to take leadership positions.

“I feel like I'm building on early generations of leadership,” Carlsen said. “That's both an honor and responsibility to improve Salt Lake City for the people who live here.”

Carlsen said even if representation at the federal level is not high or visible she said having representation at the local level can have a huge impact.

“I think that it's critically important that we continue to build on this momentum,” Carlsen said. “The majority of change that can happen starts locally, it doesn't start in Washington but in City Hall, school boards and neighborhoods conversations. That's the kind of momentum I'd love to see all across the United States.”

Carolina Welles, executive director of The First Ask, an organization that supports first-time female candidates at the state level, said the reason why Latino representation is more visible at the local level is because those leaders are able to built trust with their community much easier given their proximity.

“They actually know what people care about,” Welles said. “They have a stake because they are facing similar things.”

Local level Latino leadership builds on state and federal representation

It's not just at the local level. Latinos are making inroads at the federal level too.

The 119th Congress has 56 Hispanic or Latino members. That shakes out to 10.35% of total membership, according to the Congressional Research Service.

For comparison, there were only 14 Hispanic or Latino members and all were male in the 99th Congress, 40 years ago.

At the start of 2025, there were seven Hispanic U.S. senators. That number decreased to six when then Sen. Marco Rubio resigned to become the Secretary of State, the first Latino to hold the position.

Last year also marked a record for Latinas at the state level. Latinas held 214, or 2.9%, of seats in state legislatures, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. That was up from 192 seats in 2024.

Currently, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is the only active Latina governor in the U.S. Only two Latinas have been elected governor in U.S. history, and both were in New Mexico.

In March, Gina Hinojosa won the Democratic nomination for governor, making her the second Latina to win a major party gubernatorial nomination in Texas.

Latinos saw the biggest rise in elected officials during the Trump administration in response to attacks on their fundamental rights, said Sampaio, the Santa Clara University professor. She said that trend is likely to continue as the administration continues its attacks on immigrant communities.

“We’re likely to see more Latinos run for office at the local level, at the state level and even at the national level in response to the attack on simply their existence,” Sampaio said. “It is unwittingly both terrorizing the Latino community as well as mobilizing communities.”

Such is the promise sung by the artist known as Melanie C, or Mel C and Sporty Spice of the game-changing ‘90s girl group Spice Girls, in the lead single from her ninth album of the same name. Atop a sample of Diana Ross’ “Work That Body” and sleek house-pop production, it is equal parts club banger and workout anthem, something for the DJ booth and a runner's playlist.

Surprised? Don't be. Eight or so years ago, Melanie C began deejaying, reinvigorating her love of rave and dance music — early loves that predate her girl group days. “Deejaying is so much fun, and it’s brought so much joy into my life that it made it really important that this album, as an artist, was a lot closer to what I love to play as a DJ,” she told The Associated Press.

It might come as a surprise to some of her fans, but the truth is, this musical world has always held a special place in her heart. “Before I was part of the Spice Girls, I discovered rave culture,” she explains. “I was 19. I went into this nightclub. I was on holiday with some friends. I heard this music. I saw people dancing. It was like this utopia I’d never experienced.”

Then superstar fame happened, which makes “Sweat” an unusual release for her in at least one very specific way: “I feel like I brought some of my life pre-Spice Girls into this album,” she said. “Which is something I haven’t really done before.”

Dance floor therapy

Melanie C was hard at work on “Sweat” for two and a half years, writing and recording across London, Stockholm and Los Angeles, a period that proved to be uniquely transformative. “My life had twists and turns. You know? I had a long-term relationship that ended. I had a management change. I’m back with Virgin Records,” she lists. “I’m in a new relationship. So, there’s been difficult moments within it and there’s been great times. And all of that is reflected in the album.”

Appropriately, catharsis appears to be a major theme. Like on the song “Attitude” — with its sample of Inner Life's ’80s disco classic, “Moment Of My Life” — where she cheers, “Every night’s a Friday!”

Or, even more directly, the song “Pressure.”

“Under the pressure,” she sings on the explosive electronic track, before offering a one-word solution: “Release.”

“We’re under such incredible pressure and I think we put ourselves under it, too. And that’s why I’ve loved bringing in this joy of, you know, the club,” she said. “For me, as a human, that is the release.”

There has long been a connection between dance music, joy and resiliency — particularly in queer club culture. Melanie C says honoring her LGBTQ+ audience has always been key to her work.

“It’s a community that’s been important to myself and the Spice Girls for such a long time,” she said. “It's always going to be a big part of the music that I make.”

From Sporty Spice to Melanie C

If “Sweat” is an album about the freedom of a dance floor, it's a destination Melanie C has worked hard to arrive at— particularly considering her life now, three decades removed from the Spice Girls' heyday. For many, she is still Sporty Spice. And she understands that.

“I’m not Sporty Spice or Melanie C; I’m both of those things. And not just some of the time, but all of the time,” she said. “I think it’s really important to acknowledge that,” to embrace her legacy and build a new one.

“I want to make people feel good,” she says of this new musical era. “I want to empower them. I want to motivate people.”

But she also hopes they use “Sweat” as a break, an escape, some downtime.

“Recovery is a really important part of working out,” she laughs.

Spoken like Sporty Spice — and Melanie C.

Otherwise, the first round might soon be winding down.

So far, only two conference quarterfinal series — New York vs. Atlanta and Cleveland vs. Toronto — have a Game 6 that's guaranteed. The other six remaining opening-round matchups still could end in either four or five games.

It's possible that six first-round series are completed by Wednesday. Some might even end on Monday, when the schedule features three games: Orlando will seek a 3-1 lead at home against Detroit, Phoenix will look to avoid a sweep against Oklahoma City, and Denver looks to stave off elimination against short-handed Minnesota.

If Phoenix beats Oklahoma City, there will be no sweeps in Round 1 — something that hasn't happened since the 2003 playoffs.

Sunday recaps

— Raptors 93, Cavaliers 89 to tie series at 2-2.

— Spurs 114, Trail Blazers 93 for 3-1 series lead. Wemby has concerns.

— Celtics 128, 76ers 96 for 3-1 series lead. Embiid returned, to no avail.

— Rockets 115, Lakers 96 to get within 3-1 in series. Might Durant play?

Stories of note

— Edwards out, DiVincenzo has surgery

— An interesting year for Tiago Splitter

— There's a standard in Oklahoma City

— Taylor Jenkins set to return to Milwaukee

— AJ Dybantsa formally enters NBA draft

— Donovan steps down as Chicago's coach

— Warriors brace for possible Kerr departure

— Some news, notes going into the postseason

— Heat equipment manager needs transplants

Awards watch

Awards season is in full swing in the NBA and will resume Monday with the Rookie of the Year announcement (7 p.m. EDT, Peacock/NBCSN).

The rookie finalists: VJ Edgecombe of Philadelphia, Cooper Flagg of Dallas and Kon Knueppel of Charlotte.

Other awards being announced this week are Basketball Executive of the Year on Tuesday, the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year on Wednesday and the Hustle Award on Thursday. They'll all be announced at 1 p.m. EDT on one of the NBA's social media channels.

A breakdown on awards handed out to this point:

— San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year, and the first to win the award in a unanimous vote.

— Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nearly became the first unanimous winner of the Clutch Player of the Year award. He got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes.

— San Antonio's Keldon Johnson topped Miami's Jaime Jaquez Jr. for Sixth Man of the Year, getting 63 first-place votes.

— Boston's Derrick White was revealed as the Sportsmanship Award winner, as selected by the league's players. Indiana's TJ McConnell — who got more first-place votes than anyone else — was second.

— Atlanta now has back-to-back Most Improved Player winners, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker taking that trophy this year. Dyson Daniels won for the Hawks last year.

Among the announcements still to be scheduled:

— Most Valuable Player, which will be either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver's Nikola Jokic.

— Coach of the Year, which will be either Detroit's J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson or Boston's Joe Mazzulla.

Monday's games

8 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Detroit at Orlando (NBC/Peacock)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Phoenix (Peacock/NBCSN)

10:30 p.m. EDT — Game 4, Minnesota at Denver (NBC/Peacock)

Tuesday's games

7 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Philadelphia at Boston (ESPN)

8 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Atlanta at New York (NBC/Peacock)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Portland at San Antonio (ESPN)

Wednesday's games

7 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Orlando at Detroit (Prime)

7:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Toronto at Cleveland (ESPN)

9:30 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Phoenix at Oklahoma City (Prime), if necessary

10 p.m. EDT — Game 5, Houston at LA Lakers (ESPN)

Betting odds

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder (-120) are favorites to win the NBA title, according to oddsmakers.

The Thunder are followed by San Antonio (+400), Boston (+550), Cleveland (+1600), New York (+2500) and the Los Angeles Lakers (+2500).

Denver is +3000, followed by Detroit (+3500). Minnesota, even with a 3-1 series lead entering Monday, is at +20000 after the injuries to Donte DiVincenzo and Anthony Edwards.

Key dates

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

— May 10: NBA draft lottery.

— May 10-17: NBA draft combine.

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

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

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

— June 23: Round 1, NBA draft

— June 24: Round 2, NBA draft

Quote of the day

“We need to find the answers before having our back against the wall. But that also shows the strength of our team. In adversity, we stick together. We get closer to each other. We feed off of each other's energy." — San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama, after the Spurs rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit before blowing out Portland for a 3-1 series lead. It was San Antonio's league-best ninth win after trailing by 15 or more in a game this season.

Stats of the day

— Boston has beaten Philadelphia by 32 points on two separate occasions so far in their Eastern Conference first-round series. The last time the Celtics had two wins by 32 or more points in the same series was 1965 — in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

— LeBron James' teams are now 12-3 in Game 4s with a chance to sweep a series. His teams had been 9-0 in such games since 2013, before Sunday night's loss in Houston.

— Toronto scored 93 points in its Game 4 win. Teams scoring 93 or less are now 3-94 this season — but teams allowing 89 or less (as the Raptors did against Cleveland on Sunday) are 46-0.

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

Now, her stove is often cold as she crouches over a charcoal burner, coaxing a smoky fire to cook for her family outside her tin-roofed home in Kibera in Kenya's capital Nairobi, one of Africa’s largest informal settlements. Cooking gas is too expensive and often unavailable. Charcoal is always there.

“We don’t have many options,” she said. “You use what you can afford.”

Stories like hers are becoming more common because of the energy disruptions caused by the Iran war. Governments had promoted cleaner fuels like LPG for health and conservation reasons, but rising costs are undermining those gains.

The impacts are spreading beyond gas pumps to kitchens, forests, and wildlife habitats. Across Africa and South Asia, governments have spent years trying to shift households away from burning charcoal and firewood to cleaner fuels like liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG.

That push was driven by concerns over risks from air pollution, which killed 2.9 million people in 2021, according to the World Health Organization. But it also was focused on conservation, since use of firewood or charcoal increases pressure on forests and wildlife. Cutting trees faster than they grow back accelerates deforestation.

As more people search for fuel in the forest, they are encountering wildlife. At the same time, economic pressures can drive more poaching and bushmeat hunting, increasing the chance of diseases spreading from animals to people. Falling tourism means less funding for conservation, while high fuel costs make it harder for field teams to operate and respond quickly when wild animals enter human areas.

“The longer this debacle runs, the harder it is going to hit conservation,” said Mayukh Chatterjee, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's co-chair for its conflict and co-existence specialist group.

Rising costs push families into forests for fuel

When LPG, kerosene or electricity become too expensive or unreliable, many families turn to firewood and charcoal because they are easier to get in cash-poor settings, even though they harm the environment, said Paula Kahumbu, a wildlife conservationist, and CEO of Nairobi-based WildlifeDirect.

"The first conservation risk from an energy shock in Africa is not abstract. It is household fuel switching,” she said.

Rising demand for biomass fuels also degrades watersheds and wildlife habitats as people go deeper into previously undisturbed areas, increasing pressure on ecosystems and the species that depend on them.

Experts fear that rising diesel prices and higher fertilizer costs will also hurt farm productivity, reducing yields and increasing food insecurity.

“The crisis is impacting more than forests,” Kahumbu said.

Charcoal, made by slowly burning wood in kilns, is one of the most widely used cooking fuels in sub-Saharan Africa and a major driver of deforestation. Demand is climbing among customers in Nairobi’s low-income settlements, according to charcoal seller Munyao Kitheka.

A similar shift is underway in India, the world’s second-largest LPG importer, with about 60% of its supply coming from the Gulf region, according to S&P Global.

Rama, a social worker who goes by only one name, spent years encouraging waste-picking families in Bhalswa, a poor neighborhood in the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, to adopt LPG. But with incomes below $3 a day, many can no longer afford pricier LPG cylinders and are reverting to stoves that burn firewood, or returning to villages where wood is easier to find.

“Things are very, very bad,” she said.

The shift places a heavier burden on women and girls who end up spending hours each day hunting for fuel, limiting their time for work or school, said Neha Saigal, a consultant with the environmental and social justice startup Asar Social Impact Advisors.

“Years of work went into making LPG aspirational. But a global issue like this can reverse some of those gains,” she said.

Reducing pressure on habitats by reducing fuelwood use has been central to conservation efforts in Asia, said Chatterjee, the conservationist. He cited an elephant conservation project in India's northeastern Assam state where eateries had reduced wood use, but warned those gains could unravel as households shift back from LPG, which is produced from refining oil or natural gas.

“That all risks going back to square one,” he said.

Broader ripple effects on conservation

Experts warn that the war in Iran and the resulting fuel shocks can strain funding and disrupt field operations, hindering global conservation.

Airlines are cutting routes to Africa, potentially hitting tourism as rising fuel prices raise travel costs. Disruptions to aviation routes through Middle Eastern hubs make access to some destinations more difficult.

Even a modest drop in visitor numbers can have outsized effects in countries that rely on wildlife tourism to fund protected areas.

Tourism contributes about 14% of the GDP in countries like Kenya and Tanzania, where it underpins park management, anti-poaching patrols, and community conservation initiatives.

“Less tourism means less income for conservation initiatives, fewer rangers and more opportunistic poaching," Kahumbu said, adding that rising food and fuel costs could also push more people toward bushmeat as an affordable source of protein, increasing pressure on wildlife populations.

Moreover, conservation work in remote areas requires extensive and regular travel, often by motorbike or other vehicles. Higher fuel prices can disrupt that movement.

Chatterjee pointed out that in cases of conflict between wildlife and people in South Asia, rapid deployment of forest staff and conservation teams is critical to secure the area, manage crowds, and safely guide or tranquilize animals before situations escalate.

Delays increase the risk of injury or death on both sides, and fuel shortages can slow response times.

African governments have options to cushion the impact, but action has often lagged. Kahumbu called for protecting households from reverting to polluting fuels through targeted subsidies and stronger local supply chains and by backing local energy sources such as biogas, solar, and geothermal.

“Treat conservation as essential infrastructure during economic shocks,” she said.

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Ghosal reported from Hanoi, Vietnam.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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This version corrects the name of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and corrects to say India is the world’s second-largest LPG importer.

Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, bettering the previous men’s world record by an astonishing 65 seconds. He beat Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who was running his first marathon and finished in 1:59.41.

“What comes today is not for me alone,” Sawe said, “but for all of us today in London.”

Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda came in third, finishing in 2:00.28. That was seven seconds better than the previous world record held by Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum and completed a podium in which all three men broke Kiptum’s three-year-old mark.

Legend has it that the marathon's distance is the same as the run a Greek soldier made from Marathon to Athens to announce a military victory in ancient times.

On a relatively flat London course on a mostly sunny day in the low 60s (15 Celsius) — ideal for running — Sawe ran a faster second half, covering the second half of the race in 59:01.

He and Kejelcha pulled clear after 18.5 miles (30 kilometers), then Sawe made his solo break in the final two kilometers. Fans showered him with loud cheers as he sprinted to the finish on The Mall.

“I think they help a lot,” Sawe said, “because if it was not for them you don’t feel like you are so loved ... with them calling, you feel so happy and strong.”

Sawe, who came in as the defending champion in London, said it was a “day to remember for me” and thanked the huge crowds who lined the streets of the British capital to witness one of the greatest performances in a sport that asks a simple question: How fast can a person run?

Under two hours has been done before — unofficially

After Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, the mark was lowered 18 more times until it reached the current world record: 3:43.13, by Morocco's great runner, Hicham El Guerrouj.

The mile has been largely replaced by the 1,500 meters as the main four-lap race in major events. The marathon, however, remains a staple of world-class running and the 2-hour barrier — a nice, even number at a distance that has been around since ancient times — has been in the sights of the world's greatest runners (and shoe companies) for about the last 20 years.

Kenyan long-distance great Eliud Kipchoge did, in fact, break 2 hours in 2019, but it did not go into the record books, as it was a specially tailored race — the “1:59 Challenge” — run in favorable conditions on a 6-mile track with a stable of 41 rotating pacemakers. Kipchoge finished in 1:59.40.

Sawe beat that time by 10 seconds on one of the world's less-taxing marathon courses.

“The goalposts have literally just moved for marathon running,” Paula Radcliffe, a former winner of the London Marathon, said during commentary of the race for the BBC.

The first sub-2:30 marathon came in 1925 and the 2:15 barrier was broken 38 years after that. At the turn of the century, the world's best time for the men's marathon was 2:05:42, set by Khalid Khannouchi in Chicago in 1999.

Khannouchi broke his own record by four seconds in 2002 — the previous last time the fastest men's marathon was run in London — and it has been whittled down gradually over the last 24 years by a succession of Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, including Haile Gebrselassie, Wilson Kipsang, Kipchoge and, most recently, Kiptum.

Now that the 2-hour mark has been broken, a few other iconic track-and-field records to watch include Usain Bolt's 9.58 seconds in the 100 meters (2009), Mike Powell's 8.95 meters in the long jump (1991) and Marita Koch's 47.60 in the women's 400 meters (1985).

Lightweight shoes with cutting-edge technology help fuel the speed

Part of the lowering of the times is about improvements in training, nutrition and technique.

Another key element is the streamlining of shoes, defined through a battle of shoe companies who use carbon-fiber plates and other materials as part of an effort to make shoes lighter and springier.

There's been ongoing debate about whether the advances in shoes amount to “technology doping." Seven years ago, Kipchoge wore Nike in his controlled run at sub-2 hours. On Sunday, Sawe was in Adidas, which is making a men's size 9 shoe that weighs 3.4 ounces — less than half the weight of an average running shoe, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“When you give them the box, they think it’s a joke,” Patrick Nava, general manager of Adidas running, told WSJ. “They think the box is empty.”

Assefa wins fastest-ever women's-only marathon

A record also went down in the women's race, with Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa pulling away with about 500 meters remaining to win in 2:15:41 and defend the title in the fastest-ever time in a women’s-only marathon.

However, it was 16 seconds slower than the course record set by Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.

Kenya’s Hellen Obiri was 12 seconds back in second place in a personal-best time on her London debut and compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei was third, a further two seconds adrift. It was the first time three women have run under 2 hours, 16 minutes in a marathon.

“I screamed when I finished because I knew I was breaking the world record," Assefa said.

“I felt much healthier today and have worked really hard on my speed and all my training has paid off.”

Swiss double in wheelchair races

In the wheelchair races, there was a Swiss double with Marcel Hug powering to a sixth straight men’s title – and eighth in total – and Catherine Debrunner beating Tatyana McFadden in a close finish to defend the title.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

The central African country's General Inspectorate of Mines said in a statement the new unit would be deployed gradually, with an initial 2,500 to 3,000 personnel expected to be operational by December following six months of training in military collaboration.

The paramilitary force is projected to have more than 20,000 personnel across all of Congo's 22 mining provinces by the end of 2028, with the aim of boosting investor confidence and strengthening state oversight of mineral production.

The $100 million program is funded through partnerships with the United States and United Arab Emirates, the statement said.

Congo is a major supplier of coltan, a metallic ore that contains the rare metal tantalum, a key component in the production of smartphones, computers and aircraft engines.

The vast country has long struggled with illicit mineral trafficking and chronic insecurity, particularly in its eastern provinces, where fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Congo's president aims to "clean up the entire mining sector, by eliminating practices that run counter to good governance, transparency and the traceability of minerals,” the inspector general of mines, Rafael Kabengele, said in the statement.

The paramilitary guard will take over security duties currently performed by conventional military forces. Its mandate includes securing mine sites, escorting mineral shipments to processing facilities and border crossings and protecting foreign investments.

Washington is trying to reduce China’s dominance over critical mineral supply chains. Congo and the U.S. signed a minerals partnership last year under which American firm Virtus Minerals has taken over copper-cobalt miner Chemaf. Other Western companies have expressed interest, including some assets located in rebel-held territory.

Congo produced about 40% of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. More than 15% of the world’s supply of tantalum comes from the rebel-controlled Rubaya mines in the east.

Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades, with dozens of armed groups active.

Last year, the Congolese and Rwandan governments signed a peace deal brokered by the U.S., which also opened up access to critical minerals for the U.S. government and American companies.

Negotiations continue between M23 rebels and Congo. However, fighting continues on several fronts in the east.

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Mwanamilongo reported from Bonn, Germany.

Korda was so untouchable at The Chevron Championship that no one got closer than four shots of her the entire weekend. She played her last 29 holes at Memorial Park in even par and still won by five, the largest margin at this major in 18 years.

And it was one of the toughest times she ever had.

“It's not easy going in with that big of a lead,” said Korda, “I think that was the challenging point with like, where do I still play like Nelly and where do I play a little defensive?”

That's why where was much relief as joy when she holed a 7-foot par putt to close with a 2-under 70 to capture her third major championship and return to No. 1 in the women's world ranking for the first time since August.

She celebrated in the best manner possible — a cannon ball into the 4 1/2-foot pool built to the right of the 18th green to keep with the tradition at this major that dates to 1988 when the winner jumped into Poppie’s Pond at Mission Hills in the California desert.

“Feet first,” she said with a smile, dressed in the winner's white robe. “I knew it was 4 feet, so I was expecting to hit the ground very fast.”

No one else expected anything else.

Staked to a five-shot lead at the start, Korda was efficient as ever with two early birdies, and two more on the back nine that put the final touches on this masterpiece.

Playing it safe left her a couple of par putts in the 6-foot range, the ones that had given her fits in the third round. She made one on the 11th. She left the next one short, and her lead was down to four shots.

Time for Nelly golf.

Her caddie told her she should play well short of the pin on the heavily contoured green at the 13th. Korda had other ideas.

“I actually just sent it at the pin and I had a tap-in birdie,” she said.

Korda followed by hammering a 3-wood to just short of the green for a simple up-and-down for birdie. And then it was back to playing it safe — so conservative that instead of hitting a mid-iron onto the par-5 16th over water, she opted to lay up with a gap wedge and then hit lob wedge to 25 feet for a two-putt par.

The victory was her 17th on the LPGA and 21st worldwide. Not since Meg Mallon in 2000 had an American reached three majors in her career, and the 27-year-old Korda is just getting started.

She doesn't care for comparisons with her 2024 season when she won seven times, including that record-tying streak of five in a row that was capped off at The Chevron.

But it's the start to a season that will get everyone's attention. She has played in the final group in all five of her tournaments, winning twice and being runner-up the other three times. And then she won a major by leading the final 57 holes of the tournament.

Korda joined Juli Inkster (1989) and Amy Alcott (1991), both at Nabisco Dinah Shore, as the only players in the last 50 years to win LPGA majors when leading by multiple shots after each round.

About the only drama in the final hour — all weekend, really — was whether Korda could break Dottie Pepper's 72-hole scoring record that has stood since 1999. Korda was playing it safe with a big lead, hitting to the fat of the green and settling for pars, along with another three-putt bogey.

She finished at 18-under 270, one short of Pepper's record at Mission Hills.

Korda made a 25-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole Friday, and didn't make another putt over 10 feet the rest of the week. That included a trio of 4-foot misses that kept it from being a blowout, and it stayed in her heard.

But that was part of Korda's new outlook. Don't worry about mistakes, knowing she could make up for them, and she did.

‘What I was telling myself was I really want to hoist this trophy because I want to show the kids at home that it’s OK to miss short putts and still win a major championship," she said with a laugh. "You’re going to make mistakes. You have to mentally still be in it 100%, and that’s really what I wanted show.

“I wanted to show it to myself and I wanted to show it everyone looking up to me.”

Ruoning Yin (69) and Patty Tavatanakit (70) tied for second. They were the only ones who could even think about having a chance on Sunday.

Tavatanakit walked in a 25-foot birdie on the sixth hole to get within four shots, only to make bogey with a wedge on the par-5 eighth. Yin went 56 consecutive holes without a bogey until making one on the 17th.

Korda won $1.35 million for a victory that puts her back as the best in women's golf without any debate. And now it's off to the Gulf Coast of Mexico for the next LPGA event, taking Monday to celebrate and getting back to work on Tuesday.

She loves competition. In this case, she was competing mainly against her herself. It was a big win in many ways because she had self-doubts when she missed those short putts Saturday. Korda told her caddie she did not want those thoughts to creep in during the final round.

"I want to go out and play golf. Whatever happens — if I jump into that pond, if I have the trophy in my hands at the end of the day — then great. I gave it 100%. If I don’t, then I have next week. I have the week after.

“That's going to be my mindset for the rest of the year.”

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

At a work session on Monday, commissioners will discuss using revenue from Oviedo’s five-cent local option to assist with funding for the planned two-mile connector road.

Once finished, the project would connect State Road 417 to the Orlando Sanford International Airport.

According to project leaders, the purpose of the road is to reduce congestion on East Lake Mary Boulevard and surrounding roadways, enhance access to commercial centers, and support long-term growth in the area.

Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek will be part of Monday’s discussion and said she wants to hear more details about the project’s benefits.

“I’ve got some questions about why the City of Oviedo would be assisting with paying for a toll road,” Sladek said. “It’s a little bit of a heavy lift to explain that to the public, so I know we’re going to have to get a lot of answers before we move in that direction.”

Some residents have similar concerns about using taxpayer dollars to fund a toll road.

“Toll dollars should be appropriated towards toll roads, and we shouldn’t be pulling money from anywhere else,” Harlika Watzman said.

The discussion with Oviedo leaders will take place after Seminole County agrees to make an initial $25 million payment on the project, with another $25 million required to be paid between October 2027 and September 2028.

In addition to Oviedo, Seminole County has also requested funding assistance for the connector from Sanford, Lake Mary, and Winter Springs.

Oviedo’s work session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich on Tuesday pairs two easy-on-the-eye attacking teams playing arguably the highest quality technical soccer in the world today.

Atletico Madrid vs. Arsenal on Wednesday is a clash of traditionally durable styles with tight defenses.

Titleholder PSG and Bayern each has won the Champions League in the past six seasons.

Atletico and Arsenal never have been European champion and are a combined 0-for-4 in finals.

PSG and Bayern have a total of 24 domestic league titles between them in the last 14 seasons. Bayern is already Bundesliga champion this season and another French title is likely coming to Paris next month.

Atletico was twice Spanish champion in that period, while Arsenal is in a duel with Manchester City to earn a first English title in 22 years.

What the semifinals have in common is being rematches from this season’s league phase, which were won by Bayern and Arsenal.

The real final?

PSG vs. Bayern would be many people’s choice of the ideal final, after their majestic displays in the quarterfinals to eliminate, respectively, Liverpool and Real Madrid. They are the tournament joint top scorers this season, each with 38 goals.

It was the final in 2020 when Bayern became European champion for the sixth time and PSG lost its first title match appearance.

That game in Lisbon was the strange climax to the delayed, pandemic-affected season — played in an empty stadium in mid-August. It was decided by Kingsley Coman, the former PSG trainee who eventually starred in Munich.

It was also the only time Bayern advanced to the final in its last six semifinal appearances. The five losses were against Spanish opponents and the one victory was against a French team. Lyon was beaten in a single-leg game at the lockdown Lisbon mini-tournament.

Bayern won on its trip to Paris in November. Luis Díaz scored twice then was sent off before halftime for a tackle on Achraf Hakimi.

Still, PSG under coach Luis Enrique peaks in the second half the season, finding a new level since signing Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January last year.

The return game is on Wednesday next week in Munich, where PSG routed Inter Milan to win its first European title.

A-game in Madrid

Arsenal’s record as the only unbeaten team in this season’s Champions League will be tested in the intense atmosphere of the Metropolitano Stadium.

Arsenal has conceded just five goals in 12 games so far, the kind of record associated with Atletico during coach Diego Simeone’s long reign of mostly feisty soccer.

This is a more expansive Atletico version, with a surprising 26 goals conceded in 14 Champions League games this season. Julián Alvarez has got nine of the 34 scored at the other end.

The semifinal pairs two of Europe’s long-serving top-tier coaches: Simeone in a remarkable 15th season — often described as the highest paid club coach in world soccer, earning about $35 million — and Arteta in his seventh with Arsenal.

Still, Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico in October feels a long time ago. A four-goal burst in 15 second-half minutes, including two from Viktor Gyokeres, showed a freedom Arteta’s team has found hard to recapture in a tense second half the season.

Atletico’s path to the semifinals has been taking first-leg leads — ambushing Tottenham at home then winning at Barcelona — before riding out severe pressure in the return game. That will be in London on Tuesday of next week.

Rwanda partners

All four semifinalists have a sponsor deal with the same nation state in Africa.

Arsenal led the way with a “Visit Rwanda” sleeve patch deal eight years ago that ends after this season. The club posts annual messages on its social media account marking the genocide there three decades ago.

The sponsorships with Arsenal, Bayern and PSG were criticized last year by neighboring Congo because of Rwanda’s backing for the M23 ­militia in conflicts in the eastern part the country.

Weeks later, Atletico announced a three-year deal with Rwanda, noting “the club’s values of resilience, discipline, and excellence closely align with Rwanda’s national ethos and transformation journey.”

When the Congolese government’s request for European soccer clubs to end the sponsorships — worth tens of millions of dollars — had no effect, it started a similar strategy. Congo now sponsors Barcelona, AC Milan and Monaco.

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

Federal prosecutors have been conducting a preliminary investigation since mid-February 2026 into alleged cyberattacks on Signal accounts, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutors confirmed on Saturday.

Among other things, the investigation involves an initial suspicion of espionage, she added, without specifying which country might be involved.

The German government has still not officially attributed the attacks to Russia.

Germany and other European countries have been under increased pressure from cyberattacks and other malign activity linked to Russia by Western officials since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Around 300 Signal accounts belonging to individuals within the political sphere were compromised in the attacks, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, quoting governmental sources.

There is no official confirmation of the names of the victims.

According to Der Spiegel, the targeted users received messages from a fake Signal security chatbot that informed them of suspicious activity on their accounts and asked them to take immediate action. If the user followed the instructions, including entering a PIN or scanning a QR code, their Signal accounts were linked to an external device controlled by the hackers.

This allowed the attackers to read past chats, follow ongoing conversations and even see address books and other data stored by the users.

In February, Germany's domestic intelligence service BfV and the federal cybersecurity authority BSI had issued a public warning about such a phishing campaign, saying it was “likely being carried out by a state-controlled cyber actor.” According to the German press agency dpa, German authorities also contacted several politicians personally to warn them such attacks may have happened.

In March, Dutch intelligence and security services also warned that “Russian state hackers are engaged in a large-scale global cyber campaign to gain access to Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to dignitaries, military personnel and civil servants.”

Targets include Dutch government employees, the Dutch authorities warned at the time, and journalists may also have been targeted.

The Russian embassy in Berlin did not respond to an AP request for comment. Moscow has repeatedly ​denied ⁠it is spying on other countries.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the German ambassador to Russia, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday morning, dpa reported, regarding alleged contacts between German politicians and terrorist organizations. No connection has been made between the summons and the German media revelations about the Signal phishing attacks.

“I will, of course, comply with the summons. I consider it unlikely that the Russian side will be able to substantiate its accusations,” Lambsdorff said in advance. Relations between the two countries have been tense for years.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

The deal comes as New Delhi moves to diversify export markets to offset the impact of steep tariffs imposed by the United States and instability in shipping and energy routes due to the Iran war. For New Zealand, the agreement is part of a broader push to reduce reliance on China, its largest trading partner.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi by India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and visiting New Zealand Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay.

Negotiated over nine months and agreed in December, the deal will cut or eliminate tariffs on 95% of New Zealand’s exports to India, while making all Indian exports to New Zealand duty-free. Wellington has also committed to invest $20 billion in India over the next 15 years.

McClay said the deal marked a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to deepen economic ties at a time of rising global trade tensions and uncertainty. India is New Zealand’s 12th-largest export market, with bilateral trade valued at $2.15 billion in the year through June 2025, according to official data.

“This agreement is also being concluded at a time of heightened global and regional uncertainty. In this context, strong, reliable partnerships matter more than ever before,” McClay said.

Goyal called the deal a “defining milestone” and said India and New Zealand had “chosen each other” at a time ”when the world economy is being recast.” He said the agreement offers market access across sectors and creates frameworks for investment and regulatory cooperation.

Indian sectors expected to see expanded market access include textiles and apparel, engineering goods, leather and footwear, and marine products. New Zealand is likely to register increased exports in horticulture, timber, coal, wool and meat.

India has excluded dairy and certain agricultural products from the deal to protect its farming sector.

Indian exporters have been under pressure from higher U.S. tariffs since August last year, particularly in labor-intensive sectors such as textiles, auto components and metals, even as New Delhi continues negotiations with Washington on a separate bilateral agreement.

New Zealand’s trade deals are usually bipartisan. The agreement now requires ratification by parliament and is expected to pass after the opposition New Zealand Labour Party backed it, despite resistance from coalition partner and populist minor party New Zealand First.

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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

But during the celebration this weekend, Volusia County deputies say a 3-year-old was hit by a vehicle on the beach.

It was a sea of Jeeps on the sand as Jeep Beach 2026 wrapped up in Volusia County, with organizers expecting about 14,000 Jeeps to drive up and down the shoreline. Jeep Beach CEO Charlene Greer said about 200,000 people come to Daytona during the 10-day event, bringing an estimated $500 million economic impact to local businesses and the community.

Greer said the impact also supports charities across Central Florida. She said the event, now in its 23rd year and in its eighth as a nonprofit, has raised more than $5 million to give back. She says that a sense of giving and fun is what brings people together each year.

Still, questions about safety were front and center after the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said a 3-year-old was hit Saturday afternoon in the designated beach traffic lane, where the speed limit is 10 mph.

Deputies said the child ran into the lane and was struck.

A witness, Cynthia Valente Brown, said she saw emergency crews rush to the area and realized it was serious as sirens and beach patrol units moved quickly along the shoreline. Brown said the incident is a reminder for drivers and parents to stay alert, especially with small children near moving vehicles.

Deputies did end up issuing a DUI as they discovered the driver was drinking before getting behind the wheel. VCSO said the child is recovering and has been released from the hospital.

Greer and deputies are urging everyone to follow beach driving laws, watch children closely, and stay aware so the event can remain safe for families.

A 911 caller reported the incident as it happened, telling dispatchers, “A lady just got run over by a truck… I don’t know what address we are at… we’re at the beach.”

According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, the woman was lying in an area of the beach where vehicles are allowed to drive, a section of sand that can appear similar to the rest of the shoreline.

Body camera audio from deputies described the victim’s injuries, noting there were tire marks on her torso and abdomen.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the crash happened in March, when the driver of a Chevy Silverado made an illegal turn and struck the woman.

“We had a woman who was laying sunbathing in the traffic lane, and she was run over and she suffered serious injuries,” Chitwood said. “The driver stayed on location. Eventually, an investigation showed that he wasn’t wearing his glasses. He made an illegal turn, and he ran over this poor woman who was laying in the traffic lanes.”

The woman was taken to a hospital with serious injuries and remains in recovery months later, authorities said.

The driver stayed at the scene and was cited for traffic violations.

The incident is not the first time someone has been struck on Volusia County beaches, where vehicles and pedestrians share the sand.

Chitwood said beach driving is expected to continue and urged both drivers and pedestrians to remain alert.

“It’s incumbent upon pedestrians and drivers to understand,” he said. “You have to have your head on a swivel. Windows down. No speed greater than 10 miles an hour.”

The club did not give details on the severity of the injury or when Mbappé is expected to return. It said his recovery will depend on how the injury progresses.

Spanish media said the injury was not expected to sideline the France star for too long.

Madrid will play the clasico against Barcelona on May 10 at the Camp Nou stadium. Madrid trails its Catalan rival by 11 points with five matches remaining in the season.

Mbappé had to be replaced in the 82nd minute of the team's 1-1 draw at Real Betis on Friday.

The France striker had already lost playing time this season because of a knee ailment. The World Cup begins in June.

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

Janek Szkaradek and Luke Charske were arrested for disorderly conduct following an incident Saturday in which Szkaradek drove a lawnmower through the Target store on SW College Road, damaging a door. Charske recorded the stunt on camera, police said.

The night before, Szkaradek entered the Culver’s restaurant on SW College Road and used a leaf blower inside the building, police said.

Szkaradek faces charges of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct for the Culver’s incident, as well as a separate disorderly conduct charge for the Target incident. Charske was charged as a principal with disorderly conduct in connection with the Target stunt.

Authorities say the incidents were not harmless pranks. The actions endangered people, caused property damage, and resulted in criminal charges for both teens.

A vacant lot on Goldenrod Road is now being considered for a new homeless shelter, aimed at helping dozens of people get off the streets and back on their feet. But for neighbors who live right across the street, this plan is hitting close to home. Some say help is long overdue, while others are watching closely as the proposal moves forward.

“This 10-acre lot right here off Goldenrod Road is where leaders are considering putting a 150-bed, full-service homeless shelter. We spoke with neighbors who live right across the street about their thoughts on the county’s plans.”

Bruce Harrell said he’s struggling to find help in East Orlando. “There is nowhere to go unless you stay across the downtown area or somewhere like that,” Harrell said. After four years on the streets, he said he’s ready for a way out, but options are few and far between. “All the places say trespass. You can’t stay anywhere. It’s hard for us to find a place to put up a tent or lay down on the ground,” Harrell said.

Neighbors said he’s far from the only one struggling. “They’re always on the corner of Goldenrod and Colonial, out there with signs. I do my best to try and help them,” said Cecil Peck, who lives near Goldenrod Road.

The Samaritan Resource Center said since 2020, the number of people they’re serving has tripled. “In 2020, we were seeing about 20 to 30 people a day. Now we’re easily seeing 100-plus people a day,” said Zeynep Portway, executive director of the Samaritan Resource Center.

Leaders said that the surge is why they’re looking to create a 150-bed, full-service homeless shelter, offering on-site food, laundry, and housing services. Jose Torres, who lives near Goldenrod Road, supported the idea. “I think that’s great. I think that’s great because it’ll help us in this community. You see many people hanging around, and sometimes you feel bad for them,” Torres said.

Leaders said those who stay there will be screened and connected with services to help them get back on track.on

Neighbors will get a chance to voice their concerns about the facility on Monday at 6 p.m. at the Goldenrod Recreation Center.

Tokyo Electron was also fined 150 million new Taiwan dollars ($4.8 million) and four other people were sentenced to up to six years in jail.

The heavy sentencing under Taiwan’s national security act and other statutes underscores Taiwan's efforts to protect the self-ruled island’s advanced technology and semiconductor sector, which are vital for its export-oriented economy as artificial intelligence booms.

TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., is one of the world’s most valuable companies and counts Nvidia and Apple as key customers.

In handing down the 10-year sentence at Taiwan’s Intellectual Property and Commercial Court, Judge Chang Ming-huang said Chen Li-ming, who worked at TSMC before moving to Tokyo Electron's subsidiary in Taiwan, was believed to have used his relationships with his former TSMC colleagues to illegally access and collect the chip maker's trade secrets.

Chen photographed, copied and passed along the materials to help Tokyo-based Tokyo Electron improve its bids as a TSMC supplier, according to the court.

Chen's motivation was mainly to “improve his personal work performance,” Chang said, but he jeopardized the competitiveness and economic security of Taiwan and its chipmaking industry.

Taiwan’s prosecutors indicted Chen and others in August on alleged trade secret theft. Tokyo Electron said in a statement at the time it had dismissed an employee involved in the case but also said its internal investigation had not confirmed evidence of the relevant confidential information being leaked.

The Japanese company said Monday that it takes “the court’s finding with the utmost seriousness” and will strengthen its "information management systems and other relevant measures.” But it stressed that the court and its own probe had not found any organizational involvement by Tokyo Electron.

TSMC said in a response that it “maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward any actions that compromise the protection of trade secrets or harm the company’s interests” and that such kinds of violations “are dealt with strictly and pursued to the full extent of the law.”

___

Chan reported from Hong Kong.

Authorities say Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, was taken into custody at the dinner Saturday night in Washington that was attended by Trump and top members of his administration. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.

In a message sent to family members minutes before the attack, the 31-year-old the described himself as “Friendly Federal Assassin” and railed against recent actions taken by the U.S. government under Trump, though he did not name the Republican president directly, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The writings ran more than a thousand words and read as a rambling, deeply personal message, opening almost jarringly with a casual “hello everybody!” before shifting into apologies to family members, co-workers, fellow travelers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence. The note moved between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen thanking people in his life even as he sought to explain the attack.

Elsewhere, the document veered between political anger, religious justifications and rebuttals to imagined critics, at times reading as if he were arguing with detractors in real time.

Authorities said Allen will face charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer, as well as other potential counts. A search of state and federal court databases showed no indication Allen had ever previously been charged with a crime.

He signed the document using a moniker that matches social media accounts that have since been taken offline. A defunct account using the same name on the platform Bluesky reposted others who offered commentary critical of Trump as well as members of the media who attend the annual black-tie dinner.

The AP limits the use of attackers’ writings and social media posts to avoid amplifying their views or encouraging copycat actions. The AP chooses to summarize their words and focus mainly on the victims and investigations.

Allen was arrested Saturday night trying to rush past a security checkpoint with two firearms and knives. Law enforcement officials told the AP that Allen legally bought a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol in October 2023 and a 12-gauge shotgun last year.

Canvassing the suspect's neighborhood

Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. Public records show he is the oldest of four adult siblings, with two younger sisters and a brother.

Two cars were parked in the driveway Sunday morning. A blue scooter that a neighbor said Allen rode was on the front lawn. No one answered the door when an Associated Press reporter knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.

A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education.

A 2024 post on the C2's Facebook page listed Allen as the company’s teacher of the month. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday night and an office in Torrance was closed on Sunday.

Allen's profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025. Bin Tang, a computer science professor at the school, told the AP that Allen took a few of his classes.

“He was a very good student indeed, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions. Soft-spoken, very polite, a good fellow. I am very shocked to see the news,” Tang wrote in an email.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.

The suspect’s father, Thomas Allen, is listed as an elder at Grace United Reformed Church Torrance. The webpage for the congregation describes it as a “Bible-believing church” following the “infallible Word of God.” Security guards posted at the sanctuary during worship services on Sunday escorted parishioners to the door and kept reporters at bay.

Allen also posted that he had developed a video game for the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry. A post under Allen’s name said he was working to develop a new “top-down shooter” combat game set in outer space.

___

Biesecker and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo, Michael Kunzelman, Brian Slodysko and Byron Tau in Washington contributed to this report.

MONDAY

Monday’s cold front will begin pushing into northern parts of Central Florida around sunrise, then slowly slide south through the day. As it moves through, expect a mix of clouds and a 10-30% chance for showers.

Temperatures on Monday will be a little cooler thanks to the clouds and a shift to northerly winds. Highs will reach the low to mid 80s.

By Monday night, the front pushes south of the area, and drier air settles in. That sets up a quiet stretch of weather through midweek.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY

Tuesday into Wednesday looks dry with a mix of sun and clouds as high pressure builds in. Warmer days start up with temperatures heading closer to the upper 80s to near 90 degrees.

LATE WEEK-WEEKEND

By Thursday, the pattern starts to change again with spotty showers returning to the forecast as another front approaches.

Storm activity will become more common late week and into the weekend, with rain chances continuing to increase. At this point, Sunday looks like the wettest day with around a 50 percent chance of rain.

Temperatures will also be on the rise through the week. Highs are expected to climb in the low 90s inland through the week, making it possibly the warmest stretch so far this year.

A cold front is on the way and is expected to move across east-central Florida during the day on Monday, reaching northern areas by sunrise and clearing the region by early evening.

Winds will shift from the north to northeast and increase to around 10 mph by late morning. There’s a 20–30% chance of showers and storms as the front moves through, with enough moisture and instability for a few stronger storms that could produce frequent lightning, gusty winds up to 40 mph, and small hail.

Conditions dry out behind the front, with warm weather continuing this week—highs in the upper 80s to low 90s.

Another front may arrive Saturday, bringing slightly cooler, near-normal temperatures by Sunday.

A deputy observed Richardson, 25, driving an Aston Martin at speeds exceeding 100 mph in a 65 mph zone, flashing lights to get other drivers out of her way and making unsafe lane changes, according to an arrest affidavit.

“You’re driving 104 miles an hour in a 65-mile-an-hour zone with sub-par equipment, flashing people to get out of your lane, following too close, using every lane to pass everybody, cutting me off, passing a car on the inside shoulder with their hazard lights on. You’re going to jail for dangerous excessive speeding,” the deputy told Richardson.

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]

The track star can be heard in the video apologizing profusely.

“I did not mean to do that. My phone, I didn’t even know my car was speeding,” Richardson said.

Despite her pleas, the deputy told her, “That’s why they give you a speedometer. Nothing you say is going to change that. You’re going to jail.”

During the traffic stop, Richardson also told the deputy her back tire was underinflated, which she said contributed to her speeding.

Minutes after Richardson’s stop, deputies said Christian Coleman, identified as her boyfriend, arrived at the scene in a black Jeep.

According to an arrest affidavit, Coleman, who is also an Olympic sprinter, was cited for stopping on a limited-access roadway, refused to comply with officers’ instructions, and was arrested for resisting without violence.

During the search of Coleman’s vehicle, deputies said they found a glass smoking device with residue consistent with cannabis use. The device was collected as evidence and led to a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, the affidavit states.

Twanisha Terry, who also stopped at the scene, was cited for stopping on a limited-access roadway, the affidavit states.

According to the arrest reports, Richardson was charged with dangerous excessive speeding at 104 mph in a 65 mph zone, failure to dim headlights, following too closely, cutting in, and failure to move over. Coleman was charged with resisting an officer without violence, possession of drug paraphernalia, stopping on a limited access roadway, and expired vehicle registration.

Both Richardson and Coleman were taken to the Orange County jail and their vehicles were towed.

Richardson’s excessive-speeding charge stems from a new Florida law passed last year that makes it a criminal offense to drive at 100 mph or more in a manner that endangers people or property.

Richardson obtained prominence after she took gold for the 100m at the 2023 World Championships and the Olympic relay in 2024.

However, the sprinter isn’t without her share of controversies, either.

In 2021, she was barred from running in the Olympic 100m race after she tested positive for a chemical found in cannabis. Just last year, she was arrested after being accused of domestic violence.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the facility known as “Sloth World” faced mounting backlash in recent days, prompting state leaders to confirm the attraction will not move forward.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani said public pressure played a key role in the decision to close the business before it opened.

Investigators say the animals were not housed at the main attraction site, but instead kept at a separate facility about a mile away along International Drive.

An incident report from FWC details what happened in December 2024, when the owners were expecting a shipment of several dozen sloths from Guyana and Peru. A staff member told investigators the animals arrived before the facility was properly prepared to house them.

According to the report, the building where the sloths were kept did not have electricity at the time. During a cold spell, workers attempted to use space heaters powered by an extension cord from a neighboring building, but the effort was not enough.

In total, 31 sloths died, investigators said.

The remaining animals have since been relocated. Officials at the Central Florida Zoo say they received a call earlier this week asking if they could take in 13 surviving sloths.

Zoo staff spent days preparing a temporary habitat before transporting the animals Friday morning.

“Our team went out there and picked the animals up, and it took maybe three hours to move them out of their exhibit and back here,” said CEO Richard Glover.

The sloths are now being held in quarantine for 30 days, where they will undergo testing to check for any potential illnesses. Zoo officials say special care was taken to prepare the enclosure to meet the animals’ needs.

“Sloths need things to climb on and things to be comfortable on,” Glover said. “We had a team that worked all day to get things ready.”

The closure has also drawn attention from federal leaders. On Friday, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost posted on social media that the facility “has been shut down and will not open,” thanking local officials and advocates for raising awareness.

It remains unclear when Sloth World had planned to open. Workers at the site said they had not been informed about the decision to cancel the project, and the interior of the building appears unfinished.

Attempts to reach the owners for comment have been unsuccessful.

That news could have come from any of three major markets.

The Red Sox actually took two of three at Baltimore, but they're still in last place in their division at 11-17. The New York Mets have been even worse, scoring one run Sunday while getting swept in a home doubleheader against lowly Colorado. The Mets have lost 15 of 17 to fall to 9-19.

And they actually have company in the NL East cellar, because the Philadelphia Phillies have dropped 11 of 12 and have the same 9-19 record.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was still employed as of Sunday night, and so was Philadelphia's Rob Thomson. And all three of these big-market teams can take solace in the notion that it's hard to play your way out of contention before the end of April — if you have enough talent to recover.

Right now, FanGraphs still gives the Red Sox a 34% chance of making the playoffs, and the Phillies and Mets each a 33% chance. That means there's a decent shot one of those three teams will turn it around and reach the postseason.

But so far this season has been dire for each of them. The Mets and Phillies have the two worst run differentials in baseball, and New York will be without shortstop Francisco Lindor for at least a few weeks because of a calf injury. That won't help an offense that has scored the fewest runs in baseball.

Ace Zack Wheeler finally made his 2026 debut for Philadelphia on Saturday, and the Phillies snapped a 10-game skid, but a loss Sunday dropped them to 10 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta.

The Red Sox are a little closer to first place, trailing the Yankees by only seven, but their run differential (minus-11) looks tolerable only because of a 17-1 win Saturday in which the Orioles brought in a position player to pitch during a 10-run ninth inning.

The next month is critical for these three teams. If they keep playing like this through Memorial Day, then it really might be too late to come back.

Trivia time

Both the lowest batting average in the National League and the highest ERA — among qualifying players — belong to members of the Phillies. Who are they?

Unfriendly schedule

The Milwaukee Brewers had to face each of last year's Cy Young Award winners in back-to-back games Thursday and Friday. Tarik Skubal took the mound for Detroit against Milwaukee, and the Tigers eventually won 5-4 on a home run by Spencer Torkelson. Then Paul Skenes took a perfect game into the seventh against the Brewers in a game Pittsburgh won 6-0.

Slugfests

The most surprising pitchers' duel of the week may have occurred Sunday, when the Nationals and White Sox played nine scoreless innings before Washington won 2-1 in 10. The Nationals are averaging 5.38 runs per game, the fourth-most in the major leagues. They've allowed 5.9, the second-most in baseball. Washington was actually leading the majors in both runs scored and runs allowed entering Wednesday's action.

The pitching was expected to be bad. The offense has made the team watchable thanks to James Wood (10 homers), CJ Abrams (.897 OPS) and a good start from Joey Wiemer (.320 average).

In 14 of Washington's 29 games, at least one team has scored eight runs.

Performance of the week

Milwaukee's Kyle Harrison struck out 12 in six one-hit innings in Sunday's 5-0 win over Pittsburgh. That prevented the Pirates from sweeping a series at Milwaukee for the first time since 2016.

Comeback of the week

Kansas City was down by three with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth before rallying to tie it Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals eventually won 11-9 in 10 innings.

The Angels actually led 6-0 in the fifth, and it was 8-5 in the ninth before a triple by Vinnie Pasquantino, an RBI single by Salvador Perez and a two-run homer by Jac Caglianone sent the game to extra innings. Kansas City's win probability had been 0.5%, according to Baseball Savant.

The Royals were down to their last out again in the 10th when Lane Thomas' three-run homer won it.

Trivia answer

Alec Bohm is batting .143, and Jesús Luzardo has a 6.91 ERA.

___

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

Both anchors tried the Pub Subs — this time based around brisket sandwiches — though they weren’t too pleased with how these new deli offerings came out.

“Out of 10? I gave it a four,” Austin claimed.

[RELATED: Publix has new brisket subs - and people are split]

Afterward, Publix spokeswoman Hannah Herring reached out to respond to the low score.

“We saw the clip of DJ, Matt and Ginger talking about the new brisket subs, and we just can’t settle for being ‘mid!’” she wrote. “We’d love the opportunity to make it up to them with a special delivery.”

And indeed, Publix came through, bringing in a new batch of Pub Subs for Austin and Gadsden to try on Friday afternoon.

This time around, the anchors had a much better perspective.

“It was much better today; I’ll just tell you that. Better deal,” Austin said. “But they also brought the philly cheesesteak and the chicken tender sub.”

“Now, I think my chicken tender (sub) has moved to the second spot because I tried a new sub today,” Gadsden chimed in. “It was really good.”

[RELATED: Here’s how license plate renewal works at Publix]

Meanwhile, the full list of new Pub Subs is as follows:

• Publix Deli Stacked Brisket and Brioche Sandwich — “A half-pound of tender smoked brisket, stacked high and drizzled with Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce on a soft, buttery brioche roll for a rich, ready-to-savor experience”

• Publix Deli Spicy Brisket Sub — “Smoked brisket layered with Boar’s Head 3-Pepper Colby Jack cheese, jalapenos, crispy Publix Fried Onions and Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce for a bold bite with heat and crunch”

• Publix Deli Brisket, Lettuce and Tomato Sub — “A fresh, classic option featuring smoky brisket paired with crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes and Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce”

• Publix Southern Style Brisket Sub — “A comforting Southern-inspired sub stacked with smoked brisket, Publix cheddar, dill pickles, crispy Publix Fried Onions and Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce”

The Malian government confirmed the death of the defense chief, Gen. Sadio Camara, in a post on the defense ministry's Facebook page, and expressed its condolences to his family. State-run television also broadcast the announcement of his death by spokesman Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly.

Mali was struck on Saturday by one of the biggest coordinated attacks on its army in the capital, Bamako, and several other cities and towns in an assault that also challenged Mali’s security partner, Russia, which has forces on the ground in the West African country.

The government said Sunday the attacks appear to be over, but several questions remain, including who was in control of a key northern city that the separatists claim to have taken.

The government has not provided a death toll from Saturday and previously said only that at least 16 people were wounded in what it denounced as terror attacks.

The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and IS-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.

According to the government statement, Camara's residence was targeted by a suicide car bomber and other attackers on Saturday.

“He engaged in an exchange of fire with the assailants, some of whom he managed to neutralize,” it said. "During intense clashes, he was wounded and then transported to the hospital, where he unfortunately succumbed to his injuries."

Separatists claim control of the northern town of Kidal

A spokesperson for the separatist Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city of Kidal following the attack on Saturday, after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.

“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.

In a statement on state TV late Sunday night, Gen. Oumar Diarra, head of the armed forces, confirmed that the Malian army had left the city and that its forces were repositioning in Anefis, a city about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Kidal.

The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.

Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.

Militants unite with separatists to coordinate attacks

Saturday's wave of attacks was the first time the separatists joined forces with the al-Qaida-linked group JNIM, which said it was also part of the attack on Kidal and had also targeted a town outside of the capital of Bamako and three other cities on Saturday.

The FLA spokesperson confirmed the coordinated push.

“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.

The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta" in Mali, saying its "actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”

Wassim Nasr, a specialist for the region and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said this “coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time,” the united push by the two groups and the call for the Russian military to leave was a first.

It extended beyond the military, he said, to the political level because both groups “acknowledged that they worked together.”

Following the attacks, a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., was also announced for the Bamako district.

Mali's government spokesperson, Coulibaly, said civilian and military personnel were among the 16 wounded and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.

A threat to the wider region

The Economic Community of West African States condemned Saturday's attacks in Mali and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”

Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants.

But the security situation in the region has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako’s airport and a military training camp in the country's capital, killing scores of people.

Ulf Laessing, from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that the separatists and JNIM are unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.

Still, the attacks undermined the Malian junta's Russian partners.

“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities,” Laessing said.

“May the Lord bless from his height, the meal our belly will take with delight,” they chanted in unison before beginning their lunch, a ritual that takes place three times a week in the dining hall adjacent to the church.

Among the nearly 50 elderly people was Carmen Casado, an 84-year-old retired chemical engineer who attends without fail. Her monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos is equivalent to $4 at the informal exchange rate that people use on a daily basis. She lives alone, has no children and does not receive remittances from relatives abroad.

She says the church meals are a needed supplement to the meager rations, such as bread, rice and beans, that she can obtain for free from state-run stores, or bodegas.

“This is a lifeline for us retirees with small pensions," said Casado, speaking in a rapid-fire tone. “What we get from the bodegas alone is not enough.”

The elderly are among the hardest hit by the severe economic crisis on the island, which has worsened dramatically since the beginning of the year following an oil embargo imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Most are former government employees — teachers, doctors, nurses, technicians, custodians, lawyers — whose pensions are usually less than $10 a month and who must face cuts to the basket of goods that have been subsidized for decades, as well as the loneliness brought on by the growing emigration of young people.

They were young when Fidel Castro entered Havana and lived through all the major events on the island, from the Bay of Pigs invasion to U.S. President Barack Obama shaking the hand of Raúl Castro in 2016.

Now, their revolutionary spirit is being tested in the latest crisis, which is forcing them to sell cigarettes on the streets, line up for a loaf of bread and seek free meals offered by churches and some state institutions.

An aging country

After lunch, Casado walked the four blocks home to tend to household chores she still performs without assistance. Her home is on the second and top floors of a 19th-century building that, like many in the capital, is falling apart.

Born in 1942, Casado was a teenager when the revolution led by Castro triumphed. Her life has spanned the island’s most defining moments, from the 1962 Missile Crisis to the so-called Special Period following the collapse of the Soviet Union. She also lived through the 1970s and 80s, when the island's economy was heavily subsidized by the Soviets and when the Cuban system seemed to promise a brighter future.

“This is our life; we were born and raised here,” she said.

Even before the economic crisis worsened and before the wave of emigration over the past five years, Cuba was already one of the countries with the oldest populations in Latin America, a trend nudged further by high life expectancy and low birth rates.

According to Cuba's National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2024, almost 26% of the population was aged 60 or older. That is almost twice the regional average of 14.2% in the same year, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, CEPAL.

The last five years have seen a population decline in Cuba of nearly 1.5 million, primarily due to migration. The number of Cubans residing on the island, which stood at 11.1 million, has fallen to just 9.7 million.

The impact of the crisis and the exodus of youth is visible at a glance. Elderly people walk the streets alone —some rummaging through trash, others standing in long lines for the bread and rice provided by the ration book, the basic subsidized foods the state guarantees to every Cuban.

The plight of the elderly is so critical that the government recently authorized private entrepreneurs to operate elder care services and residential facilities, a move marking a significant departure from the island’s traditional model of total state control.

Casado insists that she is still privileged. She is mentally sharp and has no physical impairments — she doesn’t even use a cane — and manages entirely on her own. Her only medication is half a tablet for blood pressure, which, “so far,” remains available at the state-run pharmacies.

Despite the poverty and loneliness, she continues to have faith in the government and blames the country’s woes on the United States.

“We’re doing everything we can here to move the country forward,” she said. “But the thing is, we have a very powerful enemy, and he’s right there, right on our doorstep."

___

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

Jeffrey Viel tied it with 6:29 left in regulation for the Ducks, who rallied from an early two-goal deficit and another third-period hole before taking a 3-1 series lead with their third consecutive victory over the back-to-back Western Conference champion Oilers.

The Ducks completed their NHL-best 10th multi-goal comeback of the season when Poehling’s sharp-angled shot hit an Edmonton skate in front and reluctantly trickled under goalie Tristan Jarry, who had played well in his first playoff start for his new team. Poehling celebrated immediately, even though he wasn't totally sure the game was over.

“I thought I saw some white (between the puck and the goal line) when I was behind the net,” Poehling said. “Then everyone was celebrating. Did it go in? I'm like, ‘I think so?’ But yeah, I thought so right away."

An extensive video review revealed no reason to overturn the judgment on the ice that the puck had barely crossed the goal line underneath Jarry’s skate. Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch was unconvinced.

“I can’t see it going in,” Knoblauch said. “I can’t see the line. ... The (initial) goal call on the ice was probably about 60 to 90 seconds after (the shot), maybe even more. They huddled when they got to center ice and then they made the (initial) call that it was a good goal. I don’t know. Wasn’t very definitive.”

Game 5 is Tuesday night in Edmonton.

Cutter Gauthier and Mikael Granlund scored power-play goals in the second period for the Ducks, who have scored 20 goals in four games to begin their team's first Stanley Cup playoff series in eight years. Lukas Dostal stopped 24 shots and made a pair of spectacular saves on McDavid in the final minutes.

“We're just playing so connected right now, and we're doing a good job of doing the right things,” said Anaheim defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who leads the NHL in postseason scoring with eight points after recording two assists in Game 4. “We're all just feeling great, and I think we're all competing to the best of our ability, and it's just paying off right now.”

Evan Bouchard scored a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Jarry made 34 saves for the Oilers. Kasperi Kapanen and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored first-period goals.

Edmonton nearly won it late in regulation, but Dostal made a sprawling pad save to deny McDavid on a late breakaway — and Dostal added another big stuff of McDavid in the final minute. The Oilers’ superstar center, who is suspected to be dealing with an injury, had two assists in Game 4.

Jarry struggled for Edmonton right after arriving in a midseason trade with Pittsburgh, losing his job to Connor Ingram. But with the Oilers struggling mightily to stop the fast, exciting Ducks, Knoblauch made the switch and got a solid effort from Jarry, who hadn’t played since April 8.

The Oilers also improved their defensive structure after a shambolic Game 3 – and yet the energetic, hungry Ducks still pumped in four more goals despite never leading.

Kapanen silenced the raucous sellout crowd at Honda Center 38 seconds after the opening faceoff with his fourth goal in four games. Nugent-Hopkins then scored just Edmonton’s second power-play goal of the series.

The Ducks began yet another comeback with vicious wrist shot from Gauthier, their 22-year-old top scorer. Anaheim’s once-awful power play has scored in eight consecutive games.

Granlund and Leo Carlsson then teamed up for a fluid give-and-go to tie it.

Bouchard ripped a wrist shot for a tiebreaking goal just 4 seconds into an Oilers power play, but the Ducks’ fourth line tied it again, with Viel punching home a rebound of John Carlson’s shot for his second career playoff goal.

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Udoka said Durant has a bone bruise on his ankle that is painful and he has limited his mobility, but didn't rule out his return this season.

“Yeah, a possibility, for sure,” Udoka said. “I didn’t know how bad it was initially and then we got that prognosis. But he’s doing what he can to get swelling out and mobility back. And just like the knee, we weren’t sure when he was going to come back, but he snapped back pretty quickly to be available for Game 2. So it is a true game-to-game, day-to-day thing.”

Game 5 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

Durant missed Game 3 on Friday night with the ankle injury, when the Rockets blew a six-point lead with less than 30 seconds to go in regulation of an eventual 112-108 overtime loss to fall to 0-3 in the series.

Sunday's 115-96 win was the third game of the series that Durant has missed after he sat out the opener with a bruised right knee. He returned for Game 2, scoring 23 points in 41 minutes of the 101-94 loss, during which he injured his ankle late in the game.

His injury problems this postseason came after the 37-year-old ranked second in the league in the regular season by playing 2,840 minutes.

Durant, who is in his first season in Houston after an offseason trade from Phoenix, is the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history.

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A foul was called after Ayton hit Sengun when he had the ball and was heading toward the basket with about 5½ minutes left in the third quarter. The play was reviewed and upgraded to a flagrant foul 2 and Ayton was ejected.

The referee announcing the foul called the contact "unnecessary and excessive.”

“We’re both sweaty guys,” Ayton said. “I just slipped off his shoulder and literally my elbow hit him right there above his shoulders and it looked crazy on camera. But I’m not no guy who’s a dirty player or plays like that. ... I just hope he’s all right and didn’t think it was intentional.”

Players and coaches from both teams questioned whether Ayton should have been ejected.

“It looked intentional, but I was surprised at the flagrant 2,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “But that’s the NBA nowadays and they call it a little softer than they used to.”

Sengun was glad that they called it, but wasn't sure if it was worthy of an ejection.

“I don’t want to make the officials crazy, but I didn’t expect him to get ejected, to be honest,” he said. “I think it was a little bit soft.”

Lakers coach JJ Redick said Ayton would never do something like that on purpose.

“He’s got such a sweet, kind soul, and no, that wasn’t dirty or intentional,” he said. “It looked from our vantage point like he was trying to brace himself with that off arm ... and it looked like his arm just kind of slipped and obviously hit him in the head.”

The Lakers trailed 76-57 at the time of the foul and lost 115-96 to send the series back to Los Angeles Wednesday night. Ayton led the team with 19 points and 10 rebounds despite the ejection.

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Game 5 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

The Rockets got their first win in the series after falling into an 0-3 hole despite missing Kevin Durant for a third game thanks to a balanced scoring attack. Durant sat out a second straight game with a sprained left ankle after missing Game 1 with a bruised right knee.

“I’m proud of the guys,” Thompson said. “Backs against the wall, us coming to perform, but we know we can do that all the time. And I feel like today we were making shots. It’s the first time we were really making shots and we were capitalizing on the turnovers.”

Houston’s entire starting lineup scored at least 16 points with Alperen Sengun adding 19, Reed Sheppard 17 and Jabari Smith Jr. 16.

The Lakers were led by Deandre Ayton, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds before being ejected with about 5½ minutes left in the third quarter for a flagrant foul 2 on a hit to Sengun’s head. His output wasn’t nearly enough to allow the Lakers to close the series out on a night when LeBron James didn’t have his best game.

He had 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting with nine assists and eight turnovers before sitting with about 7½ minutes to go after scoring 19, 28 and 29 points in the first three games. But he wasn’t the only Laker who struggled. Los Angeles made just five 3-pointers after combining for 35 through the first three games.

James was 0 for 3 from long range, Marcus Smart missed both of his attempts and Luke Kennard was 0 for 3.

The Lakers had 23 turnovers Sunday night.

“If we want to win this series, we have to protect the ball and we have to defensive rebound and we have to be able to obviously bring that toughness which we did tonight,” James said. “I’m not worried about that. But the turnovers obviously killed us from start to finish.”

Houston looked good from the start in this one after squandering a six-point lead in the final 26 seconds of regulation in a devastating 112-108 overtime loss Friday night.

“The focus was good today and I think just in general guys have pride,” coach Ime Udoka said. “You obviously don’t want to get swept. And we understood how well we played last game and that was a big picture and the perspective we had was we played a really good three quarters, don’t let that last 30 seconds take away from what you did and I think it was a good carryover tonight.”

The Rockets led by nine at halftime and used a 12-4 run to start the third and make it 68-51 with about 8½ minutes to go in the quarter. They were up by 19 later in the quarter before going on a 9-3 run to end the quarter and push the lead to 90-65 entering the fourth.

Houston led by 23 with about 7½ minutes remaining when coach JJ Redick cleared the Lakers' bench.

Ayton was ejected with about 5½ minutes left in the third quarter after receiving a flagrant foul 2 for hitting Sengun in the face with his elbow and forearm. The referee announcing the foul called the contact “unnecessary and excessive.”

Durant was on the bench Sunday night to support his team after he was absent Friday night because Udoka said he was receiving treatment on his injured ankle.

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The Trump administration's campaign of blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in Latin American waters has gone on since early September and killed at least 186 people in total. Other strikes have taken place in the Caribbean Sea.

The military has not provided evidence that any of the vessels were carrying drugs.

After Sunday's attack, Southern Command posted a video on X showing a boat moving swiftly in the water before an explosion left it in flames. It repeated previous statements by saying it had targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

The attacks began as the U.S. built up its largest military presence in the region in generations and came months ahead of the raid in January that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

Critics, meanwhile, have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes.