The U.S. military said it was seeking “to degrade" Iran's "ability to attack commercial ships freely transiting" the strait. The statement came after a third round of strikes late Sunday night and into Monday in Iran.

Iranian state media acknowledged the latest attacks early Monday, describing explosions in several locations.

The first wave of strikes, on Sunday morning, was in response to an Iranian strike on a container ship in the critical waterway the day before. In response, Iran hit Gulf Arab states in an escalating cycle of violence that left the negotiations between Tehran and Washington to end the war at the edge of collapse.

The U.S. struck again later Sunday. The governor of Qeshm Island near the strait told Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency that projectiles were fired at military targets, with no casualties. Explosions were also heard in the coastal city of Bandar Abbas and Hajiabad city to the north.

A U.S. official said a few strikes targeted missile and air defense systems and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard boats. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss military operations.

Iran and the U.S. are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of their interim deal aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war. The strait, a key route for the global supply of oil and natural gas and long considered an international waterway, has become a sticking point in negotiations that seem in danger of collapse.

“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, according to a statement.

Iran says the strait is closed but the US disagrees

The U.S. military earlier Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites.

The attacks were heavier than in recent days. The U.S. has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the past week over attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route off Oman, seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.

“We bombed the hell out of them last night,” President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.

“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”

Iran said the strait was closed until calm is restored, and Tehran would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks. The U.S. military and Trump asserted that the strait remained open.

The U.S. military said over 140 ships had transited over the past week. A multinational body overseen by the U.S. Navy said traffic continued “at reduced levels” off both Oman and Iran, and that nearly 140 vessels transited daily before the war.

About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war. Iran’s grip on it led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Oman summons Iranian envoy to protest attack

Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries.

Qatar's military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded by shrapnel from the interception of attacks, Qatar's Interior Ministry said.

Missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said three “land border posts” in the north and an offshore drilling platform of the Kuwait Oil Company were damaged, with one worker wounded.

Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan’s state news agency reported.

And the Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area on the waterway, a day after Oman and Iran held talks on the strait and agreed to continue discussions. The strait sits in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes, the first such move since the war began, calling Iran's acts “irresponsible.”

Iranian strike on ship harms Indian crew

The Cyprus-flagged container ship hit by Iran on Saturday suffered “significant engine room damage,” the U.S. military said.

Oman's maritime authority said it rescued 23 crew members but one was missing. India’s foreign ministry called him an Indian national.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been moving along Oman's shoreline.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings" and ignored instructions to follow what it called an approved route. One “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”

Iranian state media later reported U.S. strikes across the country, including southern Iran in the province closest to the strait and military sites in a province near Tehran.

Attacks followed more diplomatic talks about the strait

Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach an agreement.

A regional official involved in mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire continued Sunday. Pakistan said its foreign minister spoke by phone with Iran's top diplomat and urged “de-escalation” on both sides.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, unseen since the war began, on Saturday vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28.

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Weissert and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo; Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

McGregor's first fight in five years lasted just 1:09 due to a knee injury sustained while attempting an opening roundhouse kick.

“That opening jump switch kick was drilled daily for months, multiple times in warmup. Never an issue,” John Kavanagh wrote on Facebook. “Knee went when he (threw) the very first kick. Doesn’t get any worse than this.”

McGregor's highly-anticipated return to the octagon ended in disappointment when he awkwardly landed on his right knee in the opening seconds of Saturday's fight. McGregor tried to continue, but went to the mat twice more before the scheduled five-round match was halted by the referee.

McGregor and UFC President Dana White both said after the fight there was no pre-existing injury to the knee.

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

McConnell, 84, said in a statement that he was “briefly unconscious” around the time he was first taken to the hospital and has undergone a battery of tests to try and determine what led to his fall. He said he was also treated for mild pneumonia and has been moved to a rehabilitation facility.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell said, adding that he is now “regaining my strength.”

He explained the four-week silence about his condition by saying that “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older.”

“Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct — I can’t help it,” he said.

McConnell said he will not be returning to the Senate “quite yet” but continues to work with his staff on Senate business. The statement included a smiling picture of the senator with his wife Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that McConnell had died or was incapacitated.

McConnnell's disclosure comes after growing pressure

McConnell had provided little information since his hospitalization on June 14, his office insisting only that he was “receiving excellent care” and recovering. Speculation about his condition grew so intense that Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear took the extraordinary step last week of issuing a public letter asking McConnell to update the public in a “transparent manner.”

McConnell is retiring at the end of January after one of the most consequential careers in modern politics. Republicans have nominated U.S. Rep. Andy Barr to replace him, while Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. He said he is determined to finish out his term.

“I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf,” McConnell wrote in the statement addressed to Kentuckians, “and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do.”

McConnell has a history of health problems

McConnell had polio in his early childhood and has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs.

The physician’s office in Congress in the statement Sunday said McConnell has “experienced several falls through the year” due to his “post-polio condition.” The office said his physical therapy is aimed at reducing the risk of him falling again.

“A comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary team determined that he had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumor, or hemorrhage," the physician's office said.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period. He has remained active as a rank-and-file senator, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, often using a wheelchair to get around.

But the senator’s physical condition has visibly declined in recent years.

He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. He twice froze up during news conferences after he returned, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff. A year later, he fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon.

Footage shared online by first responders shows a huge blaze raging and plumes coming out of the front door of the Na Ladprao pub in the northern part of the Thai capital. People are seen trying to flee as thick black smoke billows into the sky. Rescuers said the fire was reported around midnight.

Thailand Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters at the scene that 27 people died and that several of the injured have been taken to the hospital. He said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Anutin said a musician who was performing at the pub told him that he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out, then an explosion was heard and thick smoke quickly filled the place.

Many of victims were found in the restrooms, at the back of the pub, Anutin added.

Firefighters took about half an hour to bring the fire under control. Photos of the aftermath show charred tables and chairs, and the damaged interior of the pub.

Thailand has seen similar tragedies in the past. In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music pub in the eastern part of the country.

And more than a decade before that, 66 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a Jan. 1, 2009 New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand's capital. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.

Kate is the patron of the All England Club and presented the trophy to winner Jannik Sinner after his match against Alexander Zverev. She also handed out the trophy to women's winner Linda Noskova on Saturday, but was not joined by any family members.

The couple's two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, also attended Sunday's match. All four were on hand to watch Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in last year's final as well. After the win over Zverev, the royals had an extended chat with Sinner in a room inside the tournament’s main stadium as he clutched the golden trophy.

“Fantastic achievement,” Kate told Sinner. “It's really inspiring to the children to see tennis at that level.”

Sinner then asked the young royals how often they play tennis themselves.

“Not every day, but weekends,” George said.

Sinner had a similar conversation with the four royals after last year's final.

“You can really see that they love the sport,” Sinner said Sunday. “This is exactly how we feel as players on court when we see them watching tennis. Staying there for four hours under the sun with the heat, it’s really nice. ... Having the whole Royal Box there, as well, the whole people staying for a match like this for four-ish hours, it’s amazing. That’s also the reason why we love to play tennis.”

Other dignitaries in the Royal Box included German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italy's sports minister Andrea Abodi.

Former Wimbledon champions Stefan Edberg, Lleyton Hewitt, Richard Krajicek, Jan Kodes and Stan Smith were also in attendance.

Other Hollywood celebrities in the crowd for the match included Jennifer Lopez, Tom Hiddleston and Andrew Garfield.

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

After following up his French Open title with a run to his first Wimbledon final, he's hoping to be more than that in the future.

Despite losing to Jannik Sinner on Centre Court on Sunday, the 29-year-old Zverev thinks he is closer than ever to challenging the top-ranked Italian and his main rival Carlos Alcaraz and giving tennis a Big Three again.

Sinner and Alcaraz had won the last nine Grand Slam tournaments between them before Zverev won his first major at Roland Garros this year.

“There was always this conversation, ‘who will be the third guy?’” Zverev said. “I’ve always been the third guy, but I was just far away from those two. But I’ve always been No. 3 in a way. So if I get closer to them ... it would be great.”

Alcaraz missed this year's French Open — and Wimbledon — with a wrist injury, and Sinner was eliminated in the second round in Paris after wilting in the heat. Zverev lost in five sets to Alcaraz in the semifinals at the Australian Open this year and lost 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 to Sinner on Sunday after overextending his knee in the third set.

“I think I’ve been pushing those guys,” Zverev said. “I haven’t beaten them this year, but I’ve pushed them to the limits, I would say.”

He may have been able to push Sinner even more had it not been for a slip during the third set, on Zverev's only break point of the match. The German fell to the ground and clutched his right knee in pain, with Sinner coming over to check on his opponent before helping Zverev up off the grass.

Zverev said he overextended his knee and that it hampered his serve — his biggest weapon — after that.

“I was struggling to push off on the serve a little bit. So my serve speed went down,” he said. “But everything else went fine. I was moving fine from the baseline and playing from the baseline fine.”

Despite the loss, Zverev will shed the “third guy” moniker in at least one way — he will overtake Alcaraz as No. 2 in the rankings on Monday.

Zverev had never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon before this year, but seems to have finally figured out how to play on grass.

“I’m 29 years old and this is the first time I actually believe I can win this trophy,” Zverev told the Centre Court crowd after his defeat.

Sinner seems to share that belief.

“Today you were so, so close. If you play like this, I'm very, very sure you're going to have this (trophy) at home as well," Sinner told his opponent. "I know the goal is for you to become the No. 1 in the world. You're very, very close. So we have to be very careful now.”

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

Graham — who died unexpectedly at 71 on Saturday night — was a rare bridge between President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and the traditional Washington consensus prioritizing alliances with Europe and Israel, one falling out of favor with many in both political parties.

With that idea of the U.S., Graham remained a staunch defender of Ukraine to the end, even as Trump’s commitment wavered.

An unexpected passing

Graham, who represented South Carolina in the House and Senate for more than three decades, died after what the Washington, D.C., medical examiner's office said was a rupture in his aorta. The senator's death triggered praise from leaders and diplomats around the world and condemnation from Iran and other countries where he’d agitated for military action.

“In an increasingly isolationist America, Sen. Graham was one of the last titans of the Senate who favored a muscular and engaged U.S. foreign policy,” said Paul Foldi, a former diplomat and top Republican staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “He is irreplaceable.”

Trump, whom Graham opposed, then embraced, won the White House partly by harnessing voters' disgust with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — both of which were championed by Graham's wing of the Republican Party.

A silent ally of Trump's

When Trump returned for a second term, Graham cheered his aggressive approach to Iran but was largely silent as the president dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, questioned the value of NATO, suggested using military force against allies to seize Greenland and praised dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“His moral flexibility over the last few years has been disappointing to many who saw him as a principled patriot,” Dan Baer, a former State Department official under President Barack Obama who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace.

Hailed as a friend of Ukraine

On Friday, shortly after returning from a trip to Kyiv, Graham announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of sanctions against Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Graham, whom he met twice in the past week, had visited Ukraine 10 times since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and “was here with our people when it was most needed.” He said that “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer.”

Commitment to NATO in tough trans-Atlantic times

Graham also drew tributes for his longtime commitment to NATO and trans-Atlantic friendship at a time when those ties have been under severe strain.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Graham was “a powerful advocate for America who believed strongly in the NATO Alliance and was actively working to bring an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.” Rutte's predecessor, Jens Stoltenberg, lauded the South Carolina senator's “tireless commitment” to NATO and the trans-Atlantic bond, and his “staunch support” for Ukraine.

Graham commanded respect on NATO's eastern edge, where Russia's intentions are viewed with deep concern.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that “Estonia will remember him as a steadfast friend, a strong supporter of NATO’s eastern flank, and an unwavering advocate for Ukraine.” Latvian counterpart Baiba Braže said that he was “among the strongest supporters of NATO and trans-Atlantic relations (and) assistance to Ukraine in countering Russian aggression.”

Advocated attacking Iran

Baer, the former State Department official under Obama, said that Graham deserved credit for helping push Trump to retain at least some support for Ukraine. But he noted the South Carolina senator also advocated for the president to attack Iran, sparking an ongoing conflict that Baer argues the U.S. is losing.

“I don't think the historic record of Lindsey Graham's foreign policy record will be black and white,” Baer said.

Graham long backed policies aimed at isolating Iran and limiting its missile and nuclear programs, cheered Trump's decision to strike nuclear sites last year and was a supporter of the latest conflict there. Iranian state television announced Graham’s death during a live broadcast in openly hostile terms.

“I congratulate the great nation of Iran on Lindsey Graham, the warmongering and anti-Iranian U.S. senator, having gone to hell,” the anchor said.

A strong ally of Israel's

While Graham was admired in Israel, his position toward the war in Gaza in particular angered many in the Middle East, including U.S. allies who advocated a diplomatic solution.

He was outspoken in supporting Israel’s devastating military operations in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants.

In May 2024, after Washington paused some military aid to Israel, Graham urged then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to “give Israel what they need to fight the war.” He likened the threat Israel faced to “Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids.” He posted on social media later that year that “the Palestinians in Gaza are the most radicalized population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called him “a great friend of Israel” and “a cherished friend of mine.”

Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States are inseparable and the prime minister said that Graham devoted his life to defending America, strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance and standing up for the free world.

“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.

Gaza helped shift American Jews' attitudes, however

But the Gaza war has also helped trigger a shift against Israel among American voters, with 58% of Democrats saying in a recent AP-NORC poll that the U.S. gives Israelis too much support.

In addition, younger Republicans are more likely than their older counterparts to say the U.S. is too supportive of Israelis, raising the possibility of a generational shift.

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Riccardi reported from Denver, Colorado. Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

This year it was about demonstrating that he still has the physical toughness to win a major after a debilitating second-round meltdown at Roland Garros in a Paris heat wave

Whatever gets thrown Jannik Sinner's way in the French capital — it seems lately — only makes him stronger across the Channel in London.

For the second straight year, Sinner responded to adversity in Paris with a title at Wimbledon.

The top-ranked Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday for his second consecutive title at the All England Club after his German opponent appeared bothered by a knee issue following a slip to the grass on a key point in the third set.

When Sinner ripped a forehand winner up the line on his first match point, the Italian dropped to the grass on his back in an unusually dramatic celebration for the normally low-key Italian.

“This one means a lot because (it) was a tough one after Paris again,” Sinner said. “I’m proud of myself and my team, which continues to push me in the right direction.”

Amid stifling heat and humidity in Paris in late May, Sinner had his 30-match winning streak ended after coming within one game of a straight-set victory over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who was ranked No. 56.

Sinner went in for medical exams in Milan after the Paris defeat and didn’t play an official match again until he arrived at Wimbledon, where he twice had to come back from a set down in a five-set marathon against Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.

Sinner then didn’t drop a set the rest of the way until the final, having dominated against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

“It goes to show the maturity of the player that we’re working with,” said Darren Cahill, one of Sinner’s coaches. “That he can take a kick in the guts like that.

“What makes us the most proud of him and working with him is the way he comes back from those," Cahill added. "It doesn’t put him down for too long.”

It was Sinner’s fifth Grand Slam title.

“I don’t think this one was any more important than any of the others that he’s played," Cahill said. “But it felt damn special, that’s for sure.”

It was Sinner's 10th straight victory over Zverev, who was coming off his first Grand Slam title at the French Open.

Zverev’s previous best performance at Wimbledon was reaching the fourth round three times.

“I’m 29 years old and this is the first time I actually believe I can win this trophy,” Zverev said.

Prince William joined his wife Kate and two of their children for the final in a star-studded Royal Box that also included actors Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Ben Stiller.

“There’s no better place to play tennis,” Sinner said during the trophy ceremony.

Linda Noskova beat Karolina Muchova in an all-Czech women’s final on Saturday for her first Grand Slam title.

Zverev slips

The top two seeds appeared perfectly matched until Zverev earned his only break point of the match at 3-3 in the third set -- 2 hours and 42 minutes in. Sinner produced a drop shot and Zverev slipped and appeared to hyper-extend his right knee as he attempted to change directions behind the baseline.

Zverev grasped his knee in apparent discomfort and Sinner went around the net and helped his opponent up off the grass. Zverev quickly resumed playing but he appeared slightly hampered and slung his racket across the baseline in frustration when he missed a forehand and handed Sinner the first break of the match and a 5-3 lead in the third. Sinner then served it out.

Zverev had also lost 14 straight sets to Sinner and when he claimed the opening set of the final with a forehand winner up the line to conclude a tight tiebreaker, he let out a loud roar toward his box as he bent over in celebration.

Zverev continually cranked out serves at up to 139 mph (224 kph), while Sinner produced a series of well-placed aces at a slightly lower speed.

But Sinner began to read Zverev’s serve better in the second-set tiebreaker and Zverev started to miss forehands.

“He showed once again," Zverev said, “why he’s the best player in the world.”

Sinner produced 58 winners to Zverev’s 49 and had only 25 unforced errors to Zverev’s 45.

Zverev led 17-15 in aces.

Sinner became the first player to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon without conceding a service game in either the semifinals (against Novak Djokovic) or the final since Roger Federer did it in 2003 against Andy Roddick and Mark Philippoussis, respectively, en route to the first of his record eight titles.

Sinner conceded one break point in both the semifinals and final and saved both of them.

Despite the defeat, Zverev will leapfrog Alcaraz into the No. 2 spot in the rankings on Monday.

Alcaraz missed both the French Open and Wimbledon this year due to a right wrist injury.

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Associated Press writer Mattias Karén contributed.

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

The sending off of Switzerland's Breel Embolo in Saturday's quarterfinal game against Argentina was the latest call that may have left fans scratching their heads, not least because of the confusing name of the newly implemented law that swung the match.

It is called the “mistaken identity” rule. Yet, technically, Embolo was not shown a second yellow card — resulting in a red — for a case of mistaken identity. It was because the referee Joao Pinheiro did not see in real time that the forward had simulated a foul under a challenge from Argentina's Leandro Paredes.

Paredes was initially shown a yellow card, which is a key factor. Under FIFA rules, because Paredes was shown a card, the video assistant referee (VAR) can intervene and recommend that the onfield official reviews the sideline monitor.

After review the referee deemed Embolo to have committed a “clear simulation” and showed him a second yellow card and sent him off.

The rules state that the VAR can assist when the referee penalizes the “wrong team for an offense that results in a red or yellow card being shown to the wrong player.”

It was a pivotal point in the match, coming five minutes after Switzerland had made it 1-1. Argentina won 3-1 after extra time.

“The referee made the wrong decision,” Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said. “I know they will protect their referee but this rule destroyed our game today, and it’s very painful, and to be eliminated in that way hurts a lot.”

It is not the first time at this World Cup that teams have hit out against new rules or technology.

Germany infuriated by disallowed goal

Newly tightened regulations contributed to Germany's shock elimination in the round of 32.

Defender Jonathan Tah’s potentially game-winning goal in extra time against Paraguay was ruled out after VAR review for a foul on goalkeeper Orlando Gill.

Replays showed Germany’s Waldemar Anton push Gill to the ground, but the minimal contact led to criticism of the decision. FIFA’s referees chief Pierluigi Collina said officials had been told to punish incidents when players try to block opponents and make no attempt to play the ball, especially where goalkeepers are concerned.

Germany went on to lose the game in a penalty shootout, with Tah firing a decisive spot kick over the bar.

Elimination could have a seismic effect on German soccer, with coach Julian Nagelsmann resigning and Jurgen Klopp expected to take over.

High tech ball costs Croatia

The words “connected ball technology” will likely haunt Luka Modric and Croatia for years to come.

The high-tech soccer ball fitted with “advanced sensors” used at this World Cup cost Croatia a dramatic late equalizer against Portugal in the round of 32.

Josko Gvardiol thought he'd scored in added time to make it 2-2, but the goal was ruled offside after VAR review because the in-ball sensors picked up the slightest of touches from Croatia's Igor Mantanovic in the buildup that was undetectable to the naked eye or even video replays.

FIFA said the in-ball sensors, which capture data 500 times per second, were so finely tuned to be “capable of determining any slight contact ... allowing officials an unprecedented level of data to make fast, accurate decisions.”

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić, who has since stepped down, was not impressed.

“All these decisions take the joy out of football,” he said.

Egypt heartbroken against Argentina

It was shaping up to be one of the great World Cup upsets. Egypt led 2-0 against defending champion Argentina in the round of 16 and might have been 3-0 up if not for VAR.

With the score at 1-0 in the second half, Egypt's Mostafa Zico finished off a sweeping attack. But wild celebrations were cut short when a foul on Argentina's Lisandro Martinez earlier in the move was confirmed on video review and the goal was disallowed.

Argentina staged a spectacular late comeback to win 3-2.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan launched a furious tirade.

"We have suffered injustice,” he said.

The Egyptian soccer federation went further.

“Several key incidents raised serious concerns and left profound questions about the consistency and fairness of decisions that directly influenced the course of the game,” it said.

Questions were raised about the amount time between the foul on Martinez, which happened deep in Egypt's half, and the goal at the other end of the field.

FIFA referees chief Collina responded to criticism to say there was "no defined limit regarding either the distance from goal or the amount of time between the incident and the goal.”

“Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials,” he added.

A double blow for Norway against England

The high tech sensor was called into action again as England beat Norway 2-1 in the quarterfinals.

Norway's players and staff were adamant the ball hit a cable that suspends overhead cameras in the buildup to Jude Bellingham's equalizing goal in the first half. If it had, play would have been stopped.

But FIFA insisted there was no contact, saying the sensor “showed no peak in the ‘heartbeat of the ball’ when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire.”

Norway also had a goal disallowed when the score was 1-1 after VAR spotted a foul by Erling Haaland on England's Elliot Anderson. The infringement came before the corner was taken and, under new rules to try to limit fouls by attacking teams during corner routines, VAR is allowed to intervene regarding incidents that happen even before the ball is kicked.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The rupture was related to the hardening of Graham's arteries. An official cause of death will be disclosed after toxicological and microscopic testing.

Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican and former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for more than three decades, had turned 71 years old just two days before dying on Saturday night. His office had originally said he had suffered from a “brief and sudden illness."

Trump, who talked to Graham frequently, said he was “like a member of the family. It’s very tough.” He said on NBC’s ”Meet the Press" that Graham had called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine and “sounded a little bit tired, but perfect.” The president ordered that flags across the country be flown at half-staff until next Saturday evening.

A noted foreign policy hawk, Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on international affairs and he advised Trump on matters such as the Iran war and Russia. On Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions.

As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Graham also had a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes while holding a narrow 53-47 majority in the chamber.

Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November. A new nominee will be selected in a special primary, which is required to be held within weeks of a vacancy. The winner of November's general election will start a full six-year term in January.

Graham had a close, complicated relationship with Trump

Graham, elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of his party.

Over time, Graham became well-known for his close ties with Trump, whom the senator briefly ran against for the presidential nomination in 2016.

Their relationship would begin on a rough note, with Graham calling the then-New York businessman “unfit for office.” Graham used a profanity to describe Trump after Trump made disparaging comments about Arizona Republican John McCain, Graham's best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled together to promote their foreign policy views around the globe.

During a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump read out Graham’s personal cellphone number and continued to belittle him throughout the 2016 race as Graham made it clear he would not support Trump.

Graham, however, shifted significantly once Trump won the White House and emerged as one of Trump's top allies — speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president — even as McCain remained a critic.

In a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, Graham explained his pivot by saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and that meant “you have an obligation” to help the president. McCain ran twice for the White House.

“And I’ve tried to be helpful where I could because I think he needs all the help he can get,” Graham said of Trump. “You can be a better critic when people understand that you’re trying to help them be successful.”

Graham was a prominent defender of Trump during the president's two first-term impeachments — a reversal from Graham's role as a House prosecutor during Democratic President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1998, when he urged senators not to make up their minds before listening to all of the arguments. Both Trump and Clinton were eventually acquitted.

Graham appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, saying in a dramatic speech on the Senate floor that night, “Count me out. Enough is enough." But the senator soon returned to Trump's side and the two remained close during Trump's second term.

Foreign policy was a focus for Graham

Graham had just been in Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the senator visited his country 10 times during the years since Russia invaded in February 2022. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said.

He was also one of the chief backers of Trump's war in Iran, having advocated for years for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Graham continued to defend Trump this summer even as many of fellow Republicans questioned a tentative June ceasefire agreement that they worried could send billions of dollars to Iran.

“I’d rather try diplomacy than take it off the table,” Graham said of Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Tehran.

Graham's travels made him a familiar face to dozens of world leaders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States was inseparable.

“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.

Graham led both the Senate Budget and Judiciary committees

As Budget Committee chairman, Graham helped oversee a Senate procedure that allowed Republicans to pass significant policies such as last year’s tax law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.

He had previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee when Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. The senator was in line to regain that gavel if the party kept its majority after the midterm elections and had pledged to confirm "as many conservative judges as possible.”

Graham was a key player in the Senate’s efforts to craft a massive immigration overhaul in 2013 as a member of a bipartisan group. The legislation passed the Senate with 68 votes but was never taken up by the House, so it did not become law.

Graham’s views on immigration, particularly an endorsement of a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. without legal status, put him at odds with some Republican factions.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who was his ally on that issue, said Graham was “part of every important policy issue and an indispensable player” in bipartisan negotiations.

An ‘irreplaceable’ force in the Senate

Graham often worked across the aisle, even as he remained fiercely loyal to Trump. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said in a statement that “personal relationships often mattered more to him than the political disagreements of the day."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Graham was “over the moon” with the Russian sanctions deal announced Friday. “The last thing in the world I would have guessed was that he was sick or ill or in any way vulnerable,” Blumenthal said.

Jaime Harrison, a former national and state Democratic Party chairman who unsuccessfully ran against Graham in 2020, said that even during their “fiercest political battles” the two men "could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina.”

Graham was unique in the Senate for his influence not only on Trump, but also with his fellow Republicans who were aware of his ability to sometimes move the president’s thinking. He was also known for his sense of humor, often deployed to diffuse tensions.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican, said Graham will be missed for his “quick wit and infectious laughter.”

McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “irreplaceable.” Former Republican President George W. Bush said Graham “understood how the world works” and “was a kind and funny man who loved our country and loved serving it.”

Graham often spoke about his humble roots, growing up in the back of a South Carolina bar and helping to raise his sister, Darline, after his parents died at a young age. Graham was not married and did not have children.

Special election to replace Graham could be within weeks

Graham won 57% of the GOP vote in South Carolina's primary in June and was up against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, and several minor party and independent candidates in November.

His death will likely prompt a scramble to fill a rare open Senate seat.

A number of Republican names began circulating as possible replacements to serve out the rest of Graham’s term, including three candidates who fell short for the party's nomination for governor this year — Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

Also in the mix is Rep. Russell Fry, who was elected to the House in 2022.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Will Weissert in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Brian P. D. Hannon in Bangkok and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Tonight

Showers and storms worked over out atmosphere a little earlier than usual with strong intensity. This has helped to stabilize our atmosphere. The strongest of the storms is now behind us. We will keep the light, stratiform rainfall scattered around Central Florida until sunset. After 9pm, rain chances fall off and we will enjoy a dry overnight with temperatures in the mid-upper 70s.

Monday

Lingering moisture will prevail over the entering Saharan Dust to once again give us a decent shot of showers and thunderstorms from west to east in the afternoon. Rain chances become more favorable the farther north you go as the dust continues to flow in from the south, beginning to eat away at the moisture we have. We will still see about a 40-50% chance of storms. Due to the onset of more dust, coverage will be a little lower than Sunday afternoon’s deluge. Highs will hit the low 90s before cooling storms fill our skies.

Mid-Week

Saharan Dust shows out in full force by mid-week, alongside a ridge of high pressure building over the state in the upper levels of the atmosphere.

This pair together spells a drier and hotter pattern for Central Florida. Temperatures return to the mid-upper 90s with lower rain chances. Air quality will also be on the downward trend as this plume of dust is noticeably thicker than previous spells.

Footage circulating on social media from a residential security camera appears to capture the moment the car plunges into the stalls, while other videos show the driver being rushed to a nearby police car, as angry bystanders run after him shouting.

“The accident resulted in the deaths of several people and left others with injuries of varying severity,” the navy said, adding that it was cooperating with authorities to establish the circumstances surrounding the crash.

The navy statement did not provide an exact number of fatalities, but local media reported at least six deaths.

Officials at Gustavo Fricke Hospital said five injured people — including two babies — were admitted with various traumatic injuries that were not in life-threatening. Police, firefighters and paramedics treated numerous people at the scene. Two other injured people were discharged.

“At this stage of the evaluation, they are stable and out of life-threatening danger, but of course they are still awaiting the completion of all the examinations required in these cases,” Denise Cataldo, the hospital’s deputy director, said.

The off-duty member of the navy - the only person detained in connection with the incident - tested negative in a breathalyzer test, Interior Undersecretary Máximo Pavez said.

Col. Jorge Guaita, police prefect for Vina del Mar, told reporters the driver says he doesn’t remember anything and that the cause for the incident is yet to be determined.

“Witness statements from people who saw the crash indicate that the vehicle was traveling in the correct direction of traffic, at high speed,” Guaita said, adding that when the vehicle mounted the sidewalk, it spun around.

“Fortunately, the bus stop brought it to a halt. Otherwise, it might have continued forward and caused even more damage,” Guaita added.

Witnesses told local media the driver may have lost control of the vehicle after a collision.

Chilean President José Antonio Kast said on X that the incident had plunged “the entire country in mourning.”

“All state institutions are working to assist those affected and to establish with complete clarity the responsibilities for this painful event,” Kast said.

The Caupolican market is held every Thursday and Sunday in the upper part of Vina del Mar. It comprises more than 1,000 stalls, in addition to informal vendors in the surrounding area, and is typically visited by large crowds.

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

The Blue Jays announced Sunday that Cease will be the American League's starter. Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who is managing the NL, said Sanchez is his starter.

“I think he deserves it. He’s the hometown ballplayer and I think the city of Philly will enjoy watching him and supporting him,” Roberts said. “I had a conversation with him this morning. ... He was very grateful. In a time when guys are not wanting to participate, this guy in the Midsummer Classic for fans, I think this is a good thing. He’s very excited about pitching.”

Also Sunday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said New York's Cam Schlittler was not planning to pitch in the All-Star Game, then hours later said the right-hander could be available after all.

With less than 72 hours left before the game, there was no replacement planned for the AL roster if Schlittler wasn't going to pitch.

“The staff's had a lot of injuries this year ... I don't want to put that risk in there of kind of letting the team down,” Schlittler said after New York's win at Washington. “I'm on the roster, and if they need me I'll throw. That's a conversation I'll have within the next day or two.”

Schlittler was a candidate to start, boasting an AL-leading ERA of 2.05. He pitched for the Yankees on Saturday.

Sanchez is 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA this season. He's third in the major leagues with 144 strikeouts. The left-hander's streak of 50 2/3 scoreless innings was a highlight of the major league season so far.

Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski, who leads the majors in ERA (1.62), WHIP (0.76) and strikeouts (167), was replaced on the All-Star team earlier in the week, when it appeared he would be starting for the Brewers on Sunday. Then Milwaukee scratched him from that start because of arm fatigue.

Cease is 6-4 with a 2.56 ERA for the Blue Jays. He nearly threw his second career no-hitter Wednesday against San Francisco, but it was broken up in the ninth inning.

Cease is the first Toronto pitcher to start the All-Star Game since Roy Halladay in 2009.

Cease got the word from his manager, John Schneider, who will skipper the AL squad, during a team meeting before Sunday’s series finale at San Diego.

“It’s pretty surreal. I didn’t know what to say. Everyone’s saying, ‘Give a speech,’ and I’m like, I was pretty speechless, so it was just a really cool experience,” Cease said.

“It’s really cool how all of these things have lined up, you know, even being able to pitch in it and having a good enough first half to be in the running for it and all that. And the fact that pretty much our entire staff is going, it’s really a really great recipe," Cease added.

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AP freelance writers Bernie Wilson in San Diego and Doug Padilla in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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

A former military lawyer who reached the rank of colonel in the Air Force, the wisecracking Graham was known for his Southern drawl, political flexibility and reliably hawkish stance on foreign policy. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 as a determined opponent of Donald Trump, then became one of the new president's staunchest allies.

In his typical high-energy manner, Graham had just returned to Washington from a trip to Ukraine, having announced a deal with the Trump administration for a new package of sanctions against Russia. He was due to appear on NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday to discuss it. Trump appeared in the senator's place.

“I just can’t believe it,” Trump said. “He was like a member of the family.”

Graham died Saturday night after what the Washington, D.C., medical examiner's office said was a rupture in his aorta stemming from the hardening of his arteries. He was 71.

His death brought encomiums from world leaders and, closer to home, Republicans and Democrats alike, a mark of his influence and his ability to befriend colleagues of different political persuasions. In an outpouring of tributes, lawmakers expressed their shock and remembered his good humor, kindness and zest for the political arena.

“He is the quintessential boy makes good story,” said Bob McAlister, a communications consultant who long worked with Graham. “I don’t know of anybody who, or know very few people who, started out with less and gained as much from life as he did. I guess that may be my epitaph for him.”

Graham transformed from Trump critic to ally

Graham was part of the “Never Trump” movement during his 2016 run and feuded heatedly with his reality television star rival during the campaign. He was especially upset at Trump for “slandering” his close friend and political brother-in-arms, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. “You know, run for president, but don’t be the world’s biggest jackass,” Graham said.

In response, Trump announced Graham's cellphone number during a campaign rally, leading Graham to muse about whether he should get an Android or iPhone to replace it.

By coming around to Trump, particularly in the years after McCain's death in 2018, Graham amassed influence as an intermediary to the White House. Graham and Trump enjoyed a close relationship and became frequent golfing partners, though their relationship ruptured for a time after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Still, a year later, Graham was urging Republicans to rally behind Trump again rather than side with critics calling for his political exile.

“Can I just say to my Republican colleagues — can we move forward without President Trump?" Graham said on Fox News in 2022. “The answer is no,” he said, adding “we can't grow without him.”

His journey from the pool hall to Congress

Graham was born to Millie and Florence James Graham of Central, South Carolina on July 19, 1955. The couple owned a restaurant, bar and pool hall in the town. Graham, his parents and younger sister all lived in one room in the back of the building.

“It was one room, where we all slept, we all ate, we watched TV, the sofa, everything was in one room,” his sister Darline recalled in 2015.

As a child, Graham had free reign of the Sanitary Cafe, where he occasionally would sneak a swig of beer or a puff on a customer's cigarette, he wrote in an autobiography. The patrons, who would take him hunting and fishing as if he were their own son, called him “Stinkball.”

“It was a good life,” Graham recalled to The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina. “I could go grab a Coke any time I wanted to. In my world, I was as rich as I could be.”

Like many institutions at the time, the Sanitary Cafe was segregated, Graham wrote. Black patrons had to take their alcohol to drink outside the establishment until the 1970s. But Graham said his father, known to all as “Dude,” would not tolerate his white customers using slurs against Black people.

Only a C student in high school, Graham still became the first member of his family to attend college at the University of South Carolina. While he was at college, his mother died of Hodgkin lymphoma. Months later, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died of a heart attack as Graham started his first semester of law school.

Graham, a lifelong bachelor who never had children, became the guardian for his younger sister after his parents' death, and later in life often extolled the benefits of Social Security that helped keep them financially afloat.

After earning his law degree, Graham served as a judge advocate general in the Air Force, starting as a defense attorney for accused troops and eventually rising to the Air Force's chief prosecutor in Europe, based in Germany. He returned home in 1989 but remained a reserve or National Guard member for decades.

Even in the Senate, Graham briefly switched back to active status to help advise the Air Force during the Iraq War and was awarded the Bronze Star medal for service in 2014 before formally retiring as a colonel in 2015.

Graham had a lead role in Bill Clinton's impeachment

Upon returning to South Carolina, Graham soon dove into politics. He won a statehouse seat in 1992 and then a U.S. House seat in 1994. He became one of a group of young, combative Republican lawmakers who pushed to oust then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich for cutting too many deals with the Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

Graham took on a prominent role in Clinton's impeachment for an affair with a White House intern. “Is this Watergate or Peyton Place?" Graham asked at one House hearing. After the GOP-controlled House impeached Clinton, Graham became one of the managers of the case in the Senate, which voted to acquit the Democrat.

In 2002, when Strom Thurmond, South Carolina's senior senator, decided to retire at 99, Graham ran for his seat and won. He quickly took to the Senate and its emphasis on relationships, starting some mornings by eating alone in the stately Senate dining room, then throwing himself into the day’s bubbling political fights.

Vice President JD Vance recalled experiencing Graham’s approach to politics up close when Vance was first elected to the Senate.

“I remember getting into a shouting match with Lindsey about a Ukraine funding bill at lunch and then learning the very next day that he was pushing rail legislation I really cared about behind the scenes,” Vance said. “That was Lindsey Graham. He fought like hell for the things he believed in, and he was just as willing to go to bat for you when it counted.”

Graham had a gang of ‘Three Amigos’ in the Senate

Much of Graham's career was defined in large measure by his close relationship with McCain and Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who later became an independent. Calling themselves “The Three Amigos,” the senators traveled the world and pushed for U.S. intervention in several places, particularly the Middle East after the 9/11 attacks.

When McCain died in 2018, Graham broke down in tears on the Senate floor as he memorialized his friend.

“He failed a lot, but he never quit,” Graham said. “And the reason we’re talking about him today and the reason I’m crying is because he was successful in spite of his failures.”

In the latter part his career Graham leaned on his legal background to take a key role in judicial appointments, especially to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2018, when Trump's nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, faced accusations of sexual misconduct, Graham helped turn the tide with an impassioned defense of the federal judge.

“Boy, y’all want power. Boy, I hope you never get it,” Graham said, accusing Democrats of setting up Kavanaugh and breaking trust in the nomination process. "I hope the American people can see through this sham.”

Still, Graham's partisan side was usually tamped down as he positioned himself as a dealmaker. Almost any bipartisan “gang” in the Senate always has had him as a member.

“He was a fierce Republican partisan one day and a key bipartisan ally the next,” recalled Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who worked with him on immigration legislation.

Kevin Bishop, who worked for Graham for 27 years and later ran for Congress himself, said the senator inspired fierce loyalty in his staff.

“He was incredibly fun to be around,” Bishop said. People would walk into his office with “pitchforks” and Graham would turn them around, he said.

“He was willing to accept a lot of criticism to move the ball forward,” Bishop said.

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Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Lisa Mascaro, Seung Min Kim and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

The agreement would resolve allegations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Kansas that South Bow, based in Canada, violated U.S. and state clean water laws. The rupture dumped nearly 13,000 barrels of heavy crude oil into a creek running through a rural pasture in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City.

The accident was the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in the U.S. in nine years and surpassed all 22 previous ones on the same pipeline system combined, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The total amount of oil spilled would have nearly filled an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

South Bow also would pay Kansas more than $3 million for environmental restoration projects under a proposed decree filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas. A judge would have to approve the proposed decree after a 30-day public comment period.

“The oil spill blanketed land and water, rendering the waterway lifeless and useless and requiring extensive cleanup and remediation,” Jeffrey Hall, the EPA's assistant administrator for its enforcement office, said in a statement. “The substantial penalty reflects the seriousness of the environmental harm.”

South Bow spokesperson Sara Hunter said in an emailed statement Sunday that the company “proactively” launched its response to the spill before receiving formal directives from government officials, including “comprehensive environmental remediation” completed in February 2024. She also said that since the spill, the company has done more than 12,000 miles (19,312 kilometers) of pipeline inspections and 400 excavations to examine pipe and make repairs where necessary.

“This work reflects our ongoing commitment to the safe, reliable operation of our pipeline system and to continuously strengthening pipeline integrity,” she said.

The company that built the pipeline, TC Energy, spun off South Bow as a separate firm in 2024, after the Kansas cleanup was done.

No pipeline workers or area residents were injured in the spill, and officials said public water supplies weren't affected. However, a complaint filed Friday by the U.S. government along with the proposed settlement said more than 2,700 animals were harmed or killed. The area is home to an endangered species, the long-eared bat.

In a May 2023 report for the U.S. government, an engineering consulting firm said that a bend in the Keystone system where the spill occurred had been “overstressed” since its installation in December 2010 — likely because construction activity itself altered the land around the pipe. The complaint filed Friday in court said soil under the pipe had been “improperly compacted” and that while the company re-excavated the site in 2013, it did not replace that section of pipe.

The 2,689-mile (4,327-kilometer) Keystone system carries thick, Canadian tar sands oil to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas.

In April, President Donald Trump gave the go-ahead for South Bow and another company to build a second pipeline from Canada to Wyoming, a smaller version of a massive $8 billion pipeline project known as Keystone XL blocked by former President Joe Biden's administration in 2021 over environmental concerns.

The state-run Qatar News Agency reported his death. It offered no cause.

Sheikh Hamad, who stepped down in June 2013 after 18 years as emir, was the architect of energy-rich Qatar’s stunning ambitions that turned it from a backwater into an international crossroads in less than a generation. Qatar owns the Harrod’s department store in London and founded the powerful Al Jazeera satellite news network.

Qatar’s political reach today stretches from North Africa to Afghanistan and it hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the world’s most-watched soccer event. Sheikh Hamad, though long out of power, received thunderous applause from Qataris attending its opening match.

But Qatar’s rise under Sheikh Hamad also rankled regional and Western allies with its independent-minded policymaking, including its close ties to Shiite powerhouse Iran, the Palestinian militant Hamas group and Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Al Jazeera’s blunt reporting, though a much-praised departure from the traditionally deferential habits of Arab media, also was criticized and accused of slanting coverage to suit the views of Qatar’s rulers.

“The future lies ahead of you, the children of this homeland, as you usher into a new era where young leadership hoists the banner,” Sheikh Hamad said as he announced his abdication and the carefully crafted transition to his son, the British-educated crown prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was then 33.

Sheikh Hamad handed over power to his son

The peaceful, voluntary transfer of power was rare in a region where such change usually results from death or overthrow. Sheikh Hamad himself seized control after deposing his father, Sheikh Khalifa, in a bloodless palace coup in 1995.

His abdication was seen as Qatar’s attempt to stay ahead of Arab Spring-inspired calls for reforms and leadership more attuned to the region’s large and powerful young population. Qatar, a peninsula half the size of New Jersey, is believed to have around 300,000 citizens.

At the time, Sheikh Hamad also was thought to have been in poor health for years. In December 2015, Qatari officials said he was flown to Switzerland for surgery after breaking a leg while on holiday.

Sheikh Hamad attended Britain’s military academy, Sandhurst, and became commander of Qatar’s armed forces and defense minister. He was named crown prince in the late 1970s and gradually broadened his duties to include planning for Qatar’s vast oil and gas reserves.

Sheikh Hamad created Al Jazeera, a powerful voice in Arab media

After seizing power from his father, who then lived in exile for nearly a decade, Sheikh Hamad quickly moved to open an inward-looking nation to outside influences, epitomized by Al Jazeera, which became a major force in global media.

Its reporting not only angered other Arab leaders, sometimes to the point of diplomatic rupture, it also riled Washington. Al Jazeera aired statements from the terror network al-Qaida, even as Qatar hosted one of the key Pentagon logistical hubs following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sheikh Hamad, meanwhile, aggressively sought international prestige through sports, an effort crowned by Qatar’s successful bid to host the World Cup, though marred by accusations that it used its huge wealth to woo poor countries’ support.

Qatar’s brand is also prominent across the sporting world from sponsorship deals with the Spanish football giant Barcelona to a majority stake in the football club Paris Saint-Germain.

Sheikh Hamad also pushed Qatar Airways to expand into a major international carrier, trying to rival neighboring carrier Emirates. The country’s international airport in Doha, Qatar’s capital, which cost at least $15 billion to construct, also bears his name.

Qatar became a powerhouse for diplomacy

Sheikh Hamad had wide-ranging visions for Qatar’s role as a diplomatic broker. Over the years, its mediation was brought to bear on the conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, Lebanese factional feuding and the rift between the Palestinians’ Hamas and Fatah factions.

In October 2012, Sheikh Hamad became the first head of state to visit the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control five years previously, promising a total of $400 million in projects and investments. During the visit, Gaza radio stations played a song entitled “Thank you, Qatar.”

Qatar also reached out to Hamas’ main foe, Israel. Sheikh Hamad met in 2007 with Israel’s then-foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, at the United Nations General Assembly. Qatar allowed an Israeli trade office to operate in Doha until it was ordered closed in response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza in late 2008.

While neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020, Qatar maintained its distance. Israelis at the World Cup also faced a multitude of Palestinian flags and anger over its occupation of lands Palestinians claim for their future state.

During the Arab Spring, Qatar sent warplanes to the NATO-led missions in Libya against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces and provided key military and financial aid to the successful Libyan rebels. In Syria, Qatar was a main political sponsor of the opposition to then-President Bashar Assad and led calls to increase the flow of weapons to the Syrian rebels.

However, its backing of Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood has caused rifts with other nations in the region. Those tensions culminated under Sheikh Tamim, when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a yearslong boycott of Qatar, in part over the policies of his father that continued during his rule.

In one of the last initiatives before Sheikh Hamad’s abdication, Qatar formally opened an office for Afghanistan’s Taliban, which set the stage for talks between the United States and the Taliban that ultimately led to NATO and America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Alexandra Rickham, director of sustainability at World Sailing, said this first-of-a-kind life cycle assessment project will give the organization the evidence it needs to make smarter choices and shape the future of Olympic equipment.

“Sailing naturally has a close relationship with nature, with the environment. It's seen very much as this clean, green sport using the wind,” she said. “But the reality is that our equipment has an impact. It goes through some major industrial processes.”

Rickham said the project could be useful not just for Olympic sailing but for the broader sailing community and potentially other sports.

Competitive sailing, an Olympic sport since 1900, involves racing boats powered by only the wind and the waves. In the 2024 Olympics, one- and two-person crews sailed boats with hulls measuring as long as 17 feet (5 meters) around a course marked by buoys in the Bay of Marseille.

Outside the Olympics, competitive sailors race throughout the year in local events and larger regattas.

The boats are commonly made of carbon fiber, fiberglass and PVC foam, which take a lot of energy to produce in processes that emit carbon pollution. These materials don't decompose and are challenging to recycle. So when elite sailors are done with them, the boats would need to be sold, passed onto junior sailors or sent for specialized recycling to avoid landfills.

As part of World Sailing's initiative, the sustainability consultancy Marine Futures is collecting data from boat builders about their operations and surveying athletes about how many boats, sails, masts and other gear they use, how often they replace their equipment and how they travel with their vessels.

By the end of this year, the goal is to capture the environmental impact of a four-year Olympic cycle and identify which interventions by World Sailing could make the most difference, said Ollie Taylor, director of Marine Futures. Taylor said those could include encouraging builders to incorporate reusable materials, redesigning boats, shifting competition schedules to minimize travel and boat transport, or taking steps to ensure equipment is reused.

The goal is to remove guesswork and put data behind every decision, Taylor said.

Michelle Carnevale, president of the environmental organization 11th Hour Racing, said the effort shows how much progress has been made in recent years. Sustainability wasn’t talked about much in the sailing world a decade ago, and now environmental monitoring and benchmarking could become embedded into the rules of the sport, said Carnevale, whose organization sponsored the development of software being used in the project.

Walker Ross, an expert on sport ecology and sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, said he loves World Sailing's leadership on sustainability and wishes more sports organizations were as thoughtful.

“Many sports have specialized equipment that can be quite resource intensive to produce and which are therefore difficult to recycle at the end of their useful lives,” he wrote in an email Wednesday.

Stuart Parkinson, executive director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, commended World Sailing for tackling the environmental impacts of boat construction. But Parkinson, whose organization calculates the environmental impact of major sporting events, said the biggest impacts of international sports come from travel, especially air travel by spectators.

Sailors want to be better stewards of the environment

At the Olympic level, sailors often buy equipment in multiples to pick out the best one in the hopes of gaining a competitive edge. That can add up to more waste, said Olympian Dave Hughes, who competed and coached for the U.S. team.

“There is a certain amount of competition to always have the best equipment and that can create a variety of opportunities for places where we can save on waste,” said Hughes, chair of the committee representing athletes at World Sailing.

Hughes said that if World Sailing can work with manufacturers to create higher standards, there would be less variation and less incentive to source multiple options for a given piece of equipment such as masts, foils or sails. That would help the environment and lower teams' costs, said Hughes.

“Our connection to the ocean environment is daily, so therefore our experience of how the planet is changing is also daily,” Hughes said.

Santiago Sampaio, chief technical officer of the International Laser Class Association, which oversees a type of single-handed racing dinghy used in the Olympics, said he thinks it is possible to reduce the amount of equipment used by sailors annually and to use building materials that don't harm the environment. The association is testing whether high-density PVC foam on the ILCA sailboat could be replaced with environmentally friendly recycled PET plastic.

Sampaio said it will be important to consider whether any change would impact a boat's performance or longevity, render thousands of other boats already in use obsolete, or make it unaffordable for some teams to compete.

“We don't want to make a boat that is too expensive. It’s great for the environment, but then we don’t have people in Fiji or in Ghana or Angola that can actually buy this environmentally sustainable boat, and then we lose those people.”

World Sailing hopes to inspire broader changes

Rickham said that ideally any changes or new regulations based on the project's findings will be in place for the 2032 Olympics, if not earlier. The data could be used for selecting some equipment suppliers for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Starting in 2032, Olympic sailing classes will be required to provide an independently verified life cycle assessment.

Rickham said World Sailing hopes the wider sailing community and other sports organizations will follow its lead.

“That’s where our biggest area of impact is: the ripple effect that we can drive across Olympic sports and the industry of boating and recreational boating going forward,” she said.

Madeleine Orr, assistant professor of sport ecology at the University of Toronto, thinks that could happen. World Sailing will have the data needed to push its suppliers to adopt more sustainable materials and circular options, and those suppliers' other clients span the whole boating sector, Orr said.

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Going deep in a major league ballpark sure gives hope in Tampa Bay that Flewelling could fit in fine once he gets there.

“I think I'm getting more ready every single day,” Flewelling said. “So I think it could be soon.”

Flewelling hit a two-run home run and earned MVP honors, and the American League team managed by 80-year-old Larry Bowa needed only five hits to beat the National League 6-1 on Sunday in the All-Star Futures Game.

Flewelling is rated the second-best prospect in Tampa Bay's organization and was a third-round pick in the 2024 amateur draft. Flewelling and Theo Gillen — Tampa Bay's top-rated prospect — combined for three RBIs in the seven-inning game that included most of minor league baseball's best players.

Flewelling catches for Class-A Bowling Green and the 20-year-old Gillen is an outfielder for Double-A Montgomery.

Flewelling has kept an eye on the standings with the Rays in first place in the AL East.

“I'm really willing to impact the race,” Flewelling said. “I'm excited to get up there one day and hopefully help them out.”

Wood shows promise in his inning

Phillies minor leaguer Gage Wood earned the start for the National League and allowed one run and threw 11 pitches in his one inning of work. Leo De Vries, a 19-year-old Athletics shortstop ranked as the No. 2 prospect by MLB.com, hit a leadoff single and stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Boston's Franklin Arias. Wood threw nine strikes and hit 97 mph on his fastest pitch.

“I know before that first pitch, my heart was pumping,” Wood said.

Former Phillies outfielder and NL Futures manager Shane Victorino made the call to tell Wood he would start the game.

“I hope it was a moment that he’ll never forget, other than the next call hopefully to the big leagues soon enough,” Victorino said. “It’s always an honor to hand the ball to someone obviously that’s a hometown or home-team kid and get that opportunity hopefully someday to pitch for that team.”

The Phillies drafted Wood in the first round (26th overall) last season and signed him for $3 million. He made eight starts this season for Class-A Clearwater and eight for Double-A Reading. Wood has a 3.44 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 55 innings total this season.

Wood naturally hoped to get the call one day to help the Phillies in a pennant race at Citizens Bank Park.

“When I went up those steps and I got out there on the grass, I looked up and I was like, ‘Wow, this looks way bigger than from the suite when we were here when we signed last year,’” Wood said. “That was awesome. The park's huge. Everybody here was like, man, you've got a good home park. I was like, yeah, this place is sick.”

Winners and losers

The NL tied the game at 1-1 in the third on a Jesús Made RBI groundout against Toronto's Nolan Perry. Made is a 19-year-old Milwaukee Brewers infielder who is rated MLB.com’s top prospect.

Wood's teammate and Reading closer Wen-Hui Pan allowed Flewelling's two-run shot into the second row of the right-field seats in the sixth. Flewelling was the third Rays player to ever win Futures MVP honors.

Boston's Anthony Eyanson earned the win and San Diego's Kash Mayfield took the loss.

Former Phillies are the managers

Victorino was the center fielder on the 2008 World Series champion Phillies and Bowa the starting shortstop on the 1980 World Series winners — the only two World Series championship teams in franchise history.

Bowa, a senior adviser to baseball operations for the Phillies, is still a fixture at games and usually can be spotted hitting grounders during infield practice.

He was a five-time NL All-Star and won a pair of Gold Gloves and later managed the San Diego Padres and was the 2001 NL Manager of the Year with the Phillies.

“I've been very fortunate, not only with health and the good man upstairs, but the organization” has been great, Bowa said. “We've had three or four managers; they all tell me to come down to spring training. (Owner) John Middleton's been great. The fact they're letting me do this, I mean without the help of those guys, I couldn't suit up the way I'm doing right now.”

By the numbers

Among past Futures Games players, 86.8% have gone on to play in at least one major league game, while 259 total players (21.3%) have been selected to play in at least one major league All-Star Game.

Twenty-five of the players that appeared in last season's game in Atlanta have played in the big leagues this season.

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

The turf was more brown than green, a sign of hot weather that has been baking Europe and an ominous sign for what figures to be a fast and fiery British Open starting Thursday. The wind was strong, not unusual for links golf along the Lancashire Coast.

From 256 yards away on the par-4 14th, Uihlein hit 6-iron that landed short of the green and wound up 40 yards beyond the hole. From 226 yards into the wind on the 18th, he smoked a 2-iron — he can't remember the last time he had a 2-iron in the bag — and was just short of the green.

But it was the 15th hole that gave him pause.

“What the hell?" he said from the back of the tee of a 241-yard hole. It was only a few holes later that Uihlein, a former U.S. Amateur champion now with LIV Golf, said to no one in particular, “I just don't remember a 240-yard par 3.”

That's because it wasn't there in 2017, the last time the Open was at Royal Birkdale.

It's the second time in four years the R&A has effectively built a new hole, and as Rory McIlroy said last week, it's sure to be a talking point.

Royal Birkdale began to fill Sunday for the final major of the year, a time to get reacquainted or to see it for the first time. Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka were among those who played, both coming down from the Scottish Open after missing the cut — a first for Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, in nearly four years.

Rickie Fowler shook off the jet lag on Saturday with a casual round at nearby West Lancashire and played all 18 holes on Sunday at Royal Birkdale with Akshay Bhatia, a Birkdale newcomer.

While the changes got their attention — No. 15 is the only new hole, but the reachable par-4 fifth has been redesigned and a few angles on other holes are different — what really stood out is the color of the grass, the firmness of the turf and the forecast.

Sunscreen might outpace the sale of fish and chips this week.

“It's as close to Carnoustie as I've seen,” said Joe Greiner, the caddie for Bhatia who worked at Carnoustie in 2018 when it was so yellow that players were driving the first green and Hideki Matsuyama hit a 3-wood into the burn nearly some 425 yards because the ball was rolling so much.

This is links golf at its best.

“It's windy and firm and you need creativity to land it short — very short — of the green and not be afraid of it,” Uihlein said. And then he flipped through the irons in his bag and said, “Loft means nothing when it's like this.”

Jordan Spieth arrived on the weekend to Royal Birkdale, where he won the third leg of the career Grand Slam in 2017 with an astonishing finish. He was in deep grass in the dunes well right of the 13th fairway, took a penalty drop and then got free relief on the driving range and managed to save bogey. He followed birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to win by three.

It would be a nice moment to relive, except that he can't.

The driving range has changed location, and that area where Spieth took his drop is now a Fan's Village and marked out-of-bounds. The par-3 14th where he began his big run no longer exists. Instead the 14th is what used to be the par-5 15th, the fairway shifted.

Uihlein returned to Royal Birkdale as one of 20 players who went through 36-hole qualifiers in the U.K. Three more spots were added from the Scottish Open, including Johnny Keefer.

The final spot was to be decided in a “Last Chance Qualifier” at Royal Birkdale on Monday. The idea was to give 12 players one last opportunity to secure a spot in golf's oldest championship.

As for Scheffler, his next task was the ceremonial return of the claret jug he won at Royal Portrush last year. And then has four rounds to try to win it back.

___

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

The storm's intensity continued to weaken as it moved northwestward across eastern China into the province of Anhui on Sunday afternoon, according to China’s national weather center.

Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to impact many eastern and northeastern Chinese cities on Sunday and Monday, the National Meteorological Center said, adding that heavy to torrential rain was recorded Sunday afternoon in provinces, including Anhui.

In Zhejiang province, more than 2.2 million people were evacuated due to Bavi, according to state media. The city of Shanghai, in Zhejiang, evacuated over 290,000 people from at-risk areas, while Fujian province evacuated more than 180,000 people.

In the coastal city of Yueqing, also in Zhejiang province, more than 1,300 trees were toppled, including at least 700 uprooted, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao International Airport were expected to cancel around 653 inbound and outbound flights due to Bavi, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Bavi passed north of Taiwan on Saturday but did not make a direct landfall. Taiwan’s fire department said at least 134 people across the island were injured, some sustaining injuries while riding motorcycles or bicycles in strong winds or due to slippery road surfaces.

Police say the shooting happened near West 14th Street and Bell Avenue.

Multiple law enforcement vehicles were at the scene, and police say the victim had life-threatening injuries.

Police say the investigation is active and ongoing, and no one is in custody.

Check back for updates.

It was quite the weekend at the Evian Championship for Haeran Ryu, the latest South Korean sensation in women’s golf.

Ryu, the winner of the Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine on June 29, gave up a three-shot overnight lead, birdied No. 18 to make a playoff, and beat Brooke Henderson on the first extra hole Sunday to win the fourth women's major of the year.

“This," said the 25-year-old Ryu, drenched in Champagne and cradling the trophy in her left arm, “is just a dream right now.”

A day after rolling in nine birdies and an eagle to set the scoring record for women's majors, Ryu couldn't make a putt at Evian Golf Resort and found herself teeing off on the par-5 18th without a birdie on her card and in a tie for the lead with Japanese golfer Aki Iwai. Henderson — a two-time major winner and 2022 Evian champion — was a shot back and on a charge after back-to-back front-nine eagles, including a hole-in-one.

With Henderson hitting her second shot to 8 feet at the last, Ryu needed an elusive birdie from further out to ensure being in a playoff.

A putt finally dropped to complete her level-par 71, Iwai missed her birdie putt to fall out of contention and Henderson curled in for eagle and a 64 to take the championships to extra holes on a gorgeous day beside the Lake Geneva in the Alps.

Ryu and Henderson, who were tied on 19-under par for the week, went back up No. 18 in separate golf carts. Ryu found the middle of the fairway, while Henderson drove left into the rough and had to lay up.

Ryu hit her second onto the green and left an eagle putt 3 feet short. That proved to be the distance needed for the win after Henderson could only make par, and Ryu made no mistake.

“It was so tough today because my putt always missed the cup,” Ryu said. "Just made the one birdie on the last hole.

“Before these three weeks," she added, "I didn’t have a major championship — now two in a row. I am so happy, I can’t believe it.”

For the first time in women's golf, there have been double major winners in the same year.

No. 1-ranked Nelly Korda won the first two of 2026 — the Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open.

Henderson was looking to be the first repeat winner of the Evian Championship since it became women's golf's fifth major in 2013.

“Obviously very exciting to get into the playoff,” the 28-year-old Canadian said. “Wish I had played a little bit better, but Haeran has been playing great. Congrats to her.”

Iwai wept as she fell short of winning her first major title and becoming the fifth major champion from Japan since the start of 2024.

Still, third place was her best finish in a major.

“I got a little confidence," she said, fighting back tears. "I never give up.”

The year's final major — the Women's British Open — is at Royal Lytham & St. Annes starting July 30.

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

The movie, which cost a reported $250 million to produce, earned just $43 million from ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Internationally, it earned $52 million from 50 markets, adding up to a $95 million global debut.

The studio bet big on “Moana,” one of its most popular franchises. The 2016 animated film is the most watched movie on Disney+. Its sequel, which was stitched together from a planned streaming series, made over $1 billion and scored a Thanksgiving record when it opened with $225 million in 2024. “Moana 2” was also released just 19 months ago.

This latest “Moana,” directed by Thomas Kail, brings Dwayne Johnson back as the demigod Maui and introduces Catherine Lagaʻaia as the adventuring Polynesian princess. Despite praise for Lagaʻaia, the film set sail on a wave of dismal reviews from critics for being essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the original.

What audiences say about “Moana”

It’s currently sitting at a 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, the majority of whom were women (66%), were less negative: According to PostTrak, 63% said they would “definitely” recommend the film to their friends. Parent reactions were even stronger, with 78% saying they would recommend it to other parents. It also got a promising A- CinemaScore.

Disney’s live action remakes of beloved animated films, new and old, have had their share of successes and disappointments. Some have made over $1 billion, including “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.” Others have floundered, most notably last year’s “Snow White,” which made only $205 million worldwide. “Moana” opened more on par with “Snow White” ($42.2 million).

Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, said “Moana's” debut could also be a product of PG-rated oversaturation in the marketplace: Universal’s “Minions & Monsters” was in second place with $20.5 million and “Toy Story 5” was close behind in third place with $18.5 million.

“Families love going to the movies, but right now there are three of them,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s a lot of competition.”

PG-rated films outgrossed others in 2024 and 2025, so “Moana's” performance may not be a case of “family movie fatigue,” he said, but simply shows there can be a ceiling. Families have to make a choice, and after four weekends, “Toy Story 5” is still going strong with a running global total of $879.1 million.

There also are signs that these movies might not sink or swim based on the opening weekend alone. Although “Minions & Monsters” opened below expectations over the Fourth of July holiday, it also had a modest 45% drop this weekend. Its running domestic total is currently sitting at $108.3 million.

Elsewhere at the box office, horror and history

The weekend’s other big new opener was definitely not PG: The R-rated horror “Evil Dead Burn,” a Warner Bros. release, opened in fourth place with $13.7 million. It’s a significant dip from the previous two films in the series, which both opened in the $25 million range.

Angel Studios’ George Washington movie “Young Washington” rounded out the top five films in its second weekend in theaters, with $6.4 million. Olivia Wilde’s chamber dramedy “The Invite” landed in sixth place in its first weekend in wide release, with $5.7 million from 1,610 theaters.

And though it has dropped out of the top 10 domestically, “Michael” has officially crossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, only the second film this year to do so after “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” It’s also now the highest grossing musical biopic of all time, a title previously held by “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The total domestic box office for the year is currently sitting just under $5.2 billion, up about 10.7% from this point last year. While both May and June were very strong — both generating over $1 billion in North America — July, Dergarabedian said, has faced some headwinds with a string of underperformers, including “Supergirl.” Things will likely pick up next week with the arrival of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” followed by “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” the weekend after.

“They could power a stronger August than July at the box office, which would be very unusual,” Dergarabedian said.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

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

1. “Moana,” $43 million.

2. “Minions & Monsters,” $20.5 million.

3. “Toy Story 5,” $18.5 million.

4. “Evil Dead Burn,” $13.7 million.

5. “Young Washington,” $6.4 million.

6. “The Invite,” $5.7 million.

7. “Obsession,” $3.8 million.

8. “Supergirl,” $3.6 million.

9. “Disclosure Day,” $3.2 million.

10. “Backrooms,” $1.5 million.

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Zelenskyy, who has remained in office under martial law because wartime elections are prohibited, has periodically reshuffled his government in an effort to bring fresh momentum to his administration.

Svyrydenko, who has served as Ukraine’s economy minister, was named prime minister in July 2025 at the age of 39 after playing a lead role in securing a mineral agreement between Ukraine and the United States, seen as an important way of tying U.S. interests to Ukraine’s security.

In a statement on social media, Svyrydenko said she was “proud to have had the honor of leading the government during one of the most difficult periods in Ukraine’s modern history.” She also said she had discussed “next steps” with Zelenskyy, but did not provide further details.

“I remain ready to serve the Ukrainian state and carry out every task aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s position, defending our national interests and bringing a just peace closer,” she said.

Zelenskyy announced her resignation in a post saying that Ukraine was “changing its political strategy.” He also said he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner.

“Each priority area of foreign policy will be assigned to a specific person with substantial experience who is capable of implementing what we agree on at the leaders’ level and what the Ukrainian people expect,” Zelenskyy said, describing the impending reshuffle.

The Ukrainian leader also said there would be changes among the top ranks of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies.

Zelenskyy met with a series of senior officials following the announcement, including Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

The overhaul, which Zelenskyy has yet to explain in detail, would be the fourth major reorganization of his government since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Ukraine continues strikes against Russian oil sites

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian attack in southwest Russia killed one person and wounded three more, local officials said Sunday, as Kyiv’s forces continued to bombard Russia’s oil facilities.

The head of Russia's Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said that a child was among the injured. He also said that residential homes and apartment buildings were damaged in the strike, as well as an unspecified “industrial site.”

Russian media outlets reported that the attack’s target was the region’s Syzran Oil Refinery, with many sharing images that appeared to show plumes of black smoke rising over the site. The refinery, which is owned by oil and gas giant Rosneft and sits some 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the border, has been a repeated target for Kyiv's forces.

Meanwhile the governor of Russia’s Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, said that a tanker had been damaged in a drone attack in the Azov-Black Sea maritime canal. The tanker was empty and there is no threat of an oil spill, Slyusar said.

Ukraine’s drone strikes on oil refineries and other infrastructure across Russia have triggered a widespread fuel crisis with gasoline shortages and rationing in multiple regions and motorists waiting for hours to fill their tanks. Moscow has responded by intensifying its bombardment on Kyiv and other cities, exposing Ukraine’s vulnerability to ballistic missile strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure as part of Kyiv’s campaign of “long-range sanctions” carried out in response to Moscow’s refusal to halt its four-year invasion of its neighbor.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday that it had attacked the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk in Ukraine’s Odesa region. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on the claims.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A drone strike on a blacksmith shop in Gaza City’s Sabra neighborhood killed at least four Palestinians, according to officials at Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The Israeli military acknowledged striking the area, saying it targeted “terrorist infrastructure,” without elaborating. It later said it struck a Hamas weapon production site.

Palestinians received an evacuation order from the military following the first strikes. Roughly an hour later, intense airstrikes targeted the same blacksmith shop. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s ambulance service said the strikes in Gaza City wounded 14 people.

Also on Sunday, Israeli gunfire killed 9-year-old Tala Abu Matar in a displacement camp in central Gaza, according to officials at the Health Ministry. The Israeli military said it was unaware of such an incident.

And an Israeli strike on a displacement tent in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis killed one Palestinian, according to health officials at Nasser hospital, where the body was taken. Israel’s military said it carried out a strike in that area and called it “part of routine activities.” The military said it was not aware of casualties.

Israeli strikes have lessened considerably since a ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, but they continue almost daily. Israel’s military says it targets Hamas and other militants, often asserting they were planning attacks. The strikes have also killed many civilians.

At least 1,098 Palestinians, including at least 260 children, have been killed since the ceasefire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in that time.

The Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas-led militants that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 others taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed 73,221 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry. It is part of the Hamas-led government and is staffed by medical professionals who maintain detailed records viewed as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas remain largely deadlocked over the implementation of the ceasefire's second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. Most of the population of over 2 million people remains displaced, with many living in crowded tent camps with little or no basic services or in the ruins of buildings.

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Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel.

“Trump and I, we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my God, I hate it. From my point of view, he’s been a consequential president," an emotional Graham said once authorities cleared the rioters and allowed senators to reclaim their chamber. "All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough.”

It wasn't, of course.

Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died unexpectedly on Saturday night at age 71, realized that his party's future was inextricably tied to Trump and quickly reverted back to being a staunch defender. The shift made what had once seemed like a final rupture into just another twist in the topsy-turvy relationship between the powerful senator and the president who came to dominate their party.

“Can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no,” Graham said in May 2021, just four months after the Jan. 6 attack. “I’ve determined we can’t grow without him.”

Trump, who called Graham a "true American Patriot” in a social media post Sunday, appeared shocked by the lawmaker's sudden passing.

“I just can’t believe it,” the president told NBC's “Meet the Press." “He was like a member of the family."

Graham often advised Trump on foreign affairs, particularly on matters pertaining to Israel, Ukraine and Iran. He was a frequent visitor at the White House.

“At the end of a particularly thrilling and rollicking meeting in the Oval Office, Lindsey Graham turned to the room and said: 'I’ve never had this much fun in my life,’” deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote on X. He said such gatherings "were filled with camaraderie, kinship and uproarious laughter.”

Trump recalled that during his last conversation with Graham, he told his friend, “We’ll see you soon, come over anytime you want.”

Graham once said Trump's candidacy was like ‘being shot in the head’

The senator and Trump first clashed while competing for the 2016 presidential nomination.

Graham described Trump as “unfit for office,” and was angered when Trump denigrated the military service of Graham's close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Trump suggested, “I like people that weren't captured” when talking about McCain's years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Trump got mad enough at Graham to release the senator's personal cellphone number. That prompted a viral video in which the senator dramatically destroyed a series of flip phones. He smashed one with a meat cleaver and another with a golf club, then used lighter fluid, a blender and toaster oven to pulverize others before tossing one off the roof.

Graham eventually likened Trump's winning the nomination to “being shot in the head” and said he refused to vote for Trump that November. But the pair later bonded over golf and what Graham described as a mutual and irreverent sense of humor.

Trump and Graham began so frequently hitting the links together that the senator started seeing it as something of a career builder, leaning heavily into the kind of over-the-top flattery Trump relishes. In 2017, Graham joked that Trump had beaten him “like a drum” on the course — even worse than in the presidential primary.

“Their true friendship could only be seen behind the curtain,” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told ABC’s “This Week.” Scott said that relationship was forged as political adversaries but also strengthened by spending 100-plus hours golfing together.

During Trump's first term, Graham helped advance Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court, lent credibility to the White House's legislative agenda and even at times became part of the president's inner circle. He frequently said Trump was maturing in politics and growing on the job.

Graham's political divergence with McCain, who died in 2018, was never more clear than in 2017, when McCain voted against a Trump-backed plan to overturn Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. The effort had been co-sponsored by Graham.

A split that was short-lived, an alliance reignited

In his floor speech after the Capitol attack, Graham said “he’d never been so humiliated and embarrassed for the country.” But the break with Trump ended quickly.

Weeks later, Trump invited Graham for golf and dinner at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, reigniting their alliance. During Trump's 2024 campaign, Graham was a frequent Trump surrogate on television, promoting U.S. military strength that he said would advance “America First” policies.

Graham never shed his more traditional Republican foreign policy views, including outspoken support for Ukraine during the Russian invasion. He was also a leading voice pushing the White House to more fully embrace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and take a harder line against Iran.

After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, Graham remained hawkish, staunchly defending the action and working to counter many in Trump's “Make America Great Again” base who thought “America First” meant avoiding such military conflicts.

“To those who say Iran is stronger now than before, that is an insult to the American military and it is delusional thinking because the Iranian economy is in shambles,” Graham posted on social media June 19.

But Graham's admiration for Trump went far beyond Iran. When Graham clinched the South Carolina Republican primary last month, he suggested the president was just short of a deity.

“I want to start with a bunch of thank yous. I want to thank the big guy, God. Trump comes later,” Graham laughed. “Mr. President, you’re not far behind God, but we’re gonna start with him.”

The French leader and others were inaugurating a statue honoring Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful 19th century treason conviction exposed deeply rooted anti-Jewish bias in France. Sunday marked 120 years since Dreyfus’ exoneration by France’s highest court, where the statue now stands.

Hours before the ceremony, police evacuated some 300 people from the Paris suburb of Sarcelles because intelligence services identified a suspicious vehicle containing a military weapon near a synagogue. Sarcelles has a significant Jewish population, and prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the vehicle contained a ″long military weapon,″ and that it’s unclear if the weapon was meant to target the Jewish community.

France is home to Europe’s largest Jewish population and saw a surge in antisemitic acts, including threats, vandalism and physical violence following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. ambassador to France, Charles Kushner, accused Macron of further fueling antisemitism by deciding to recognize Palestine last year.

“We know that the old demons of antisemitism have never completely disappeared from our country,″ the French president said at Sunday’s ceremony for Dreyfus, calling for constant vigilance to prevent acts that ″target people because of who they are.″

Dreyfus, who was Jewish, was convicted of treason in 1894 after being falsely accused of passing military secrets to Germany, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prominent intellectuals, including novelist Emile Zola, argued that Dreyfus had been made a scapegoat by the French military.

He was cleared of all charges on July 12, 1906 by the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court. Macron declared July 12 to be a national day of commemoration of Dreyfus’ innocence, starting this year.

After he was exonerated, Dreyfuss rejoined the French army and served in World War I. He died in 1935.

Dreyfus’ 99-year-old grandson Charles was among those attending Sunday’s ceremony.

“I must sadly admit that I would not have imagined, at my age, seeing antisemitism resurface with such virulence in our country,″ Charles Dreyfus said.

His sorrow, however, was tempered by what he called ″the deep joy″ at seeing his grandfather’s statue erected outside the Palace of Justice, depicting Dreyfus proudly wielding a broken sword.

___

Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

The blazes, which also lashed France this week, came as parts of Western Europe are facing their third heat wave in six weeks. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

In Spain's Andalusia, a combination of light winds and high humidity are helping crews but the sheer size of the fire still poses challenges, Antonio Sanz, head of the region's emergency services, said. The fire has so far scorched some 66 square kilometers (25 square miles) of forest and farmland — about the size of Manhattan.

Sanz said fire crews carried out controlled burns overnight around the perimeter of the fire, which broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierre de Los Filabres mountains in in Almería province, just as Spain was sizzling.

Favorable weather conditions were expected into Sunday, which could help firefighting efforts, Spain's official EFE news agency reported. Justice Minister Félix Bolaños said nearly all homes on the fire front's perimeter were undamaged.

Most of the victims, who are believed to be foreign nationals, died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, authorities said. Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars.

Four of the dead were believed to be British because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said.

Sanz said Saturday that authorities had completed autopsies and DNA samples were collected to identify them.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has spoken with his counterparts from the U.K., Belgium, Canada and the Netherlands about the fire, EFE reported. Almería is home to one of the largest communities of foreign nationals in Andalusia.

Authorities proactively evacuated 1,448 people from some 11 areas.

Many are fleeing the flames

Jeffrey Kember and his wife, Christine, were watching a favorite TV show in their Los Pinos farmhouse when the blare of a siren alerted them to the fire. The couple jumped into their respective cars while also trying to help a neighbor with two toddlers.

The husband described how they got separated and how he was unable to speak to his wife because she didn't have a phone on her.

“I'm driving through the flames. It was actually flames. I though, ‘I can’t stop, I just gotta go,” he told The Associated Press, his wife now next to him outside an evacuation center. "It was eerie because all of a sudden I came out of the flames and it was all bright sunshine. It was like surreal.”

Meanwhile, Spanish authorities arrested two people for ignoring evacuation orders and returning to a high-risk area, according to EFE. Authorities are still combing through the Bédar area in search for any victims.

Europe withers in intense heat

Spain has battled frequent and severe heat waves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Wind, high temperatures and little rainfall help small wildfires grow into unchecked blazes.

Bolaños, the justice minister, on Saturday attributed the ferocity of the Almeira wildfire to a “climate emergency.” He said the fire, at its most intense, advanced as fast as 100 meters per minute (328 feet per minute.)

Spain’s Meteorological Agency warned that the wildfire risk over the weekend will remain very high.

In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.

Wildfires lash France

Several wildfires remained active across France on Saturday as temperatures soared. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that 32 people have been arrested across the country since the beginning of the summer in connection with wildfires.

“Those unacceptable acts, which have disastrous consequences and mobilize our firefighters at the risk of their lives, now fall into the hands of the justice system,” he said. “We will continue our determined action and will not let anything slide.”

French President Emmanuel Macron also weighed in, recalling in a post on X that nine out of 10 wildfires start because of human activity. More than 25,000 hectares (62,000 acres) of land have burned in France since the start of 2026, roughly double the area compared to the same period last year.

France is experiencing the peak of its third heat wave this summer, with temperatures reaching 40 C across western and central areas and around 37 C (98 F) in Paris. In the French capital, the Eiffel Tower will close in the afternoon over the weekend instead of late at night, as it usually does. The Louvre and Orsay museum have also announced reduced opening hours because of the heat wave.

Last month was France’s hottest June on record, with deaths surging by nearly a third during the hottest week.

Spain and Portugal have faced deadly fires before

Spain is no stranger to wildfires, with last year's fire season burning more than 393,000 hectares (971,000 acres). according to the European Forest Fire Information System, an area twice as large as London. Four people died.

Spain's deadliest wildfire was in 1979, when 21 people perished in Lloret de Mar, a coastal town about an hour north of Barcelona.

In 2017, a wildfire in neighboring Portugal left 66 people dead in Pedrogao Grande, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Lisbon. In that blaze, 47 people died on one road while similarly attempting to flee in their cars.

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This story has been corrected to say the name of the Spanish town in the dateline is Bedar, not Bejar.

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Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in London contributed to this report.

A program. The Royal Box seating chart with their names on it. A hat.

They’re creating and cherishing memories now with their partners because of what’s ahead. The brothers have a rare gene mutation that is all but certain to lead to frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Their mother, Geraldine, died from the disease in 2016 at age 52.

The brothers, who expect symptoms to begin in their mid-40s, ran 33 marathons in 33 days on their mission to raise awareness of the brain disease.

"We have been able to turn adversity into something quite hopeful by advocating for other people and trying to bring the dementia community together and hopefully that will be evidence to them that they can live positive lives too,” Jordan, 31, told The Associated Press in an interview.

It started at the London Marathon, where Jordan ran all 26.2 miles with a refrigerator strapped to his back — symbolic of the weight family members bear for loved ones with FTD.

The next day, they began their “Irish Challenge,” a marathon per day in each of the island’s 32 counties. Their mother’s family has Irish roots and 12 relatives on that side have died of the disease, they said.

The outpouring in Ireland for the “FTD Brothers” was overwhelming, with supporters joining in to run and root them on, appearances on national TV, and an invitation from Ireland’s deputy prime minister to speak to government officials about how they can better support people with dementia.

From the British side, Prince William wrote to congratulate them on their “inspiring journey.” The All England Club then followed with an invitation to the Royal Box, where the brothers and their respective partners watched the men’s semifinal matches on Friday.

They planned to be special guests of the Gaelic Athletic Association on Sunday for the national Gaelic football semifinals at Croke Park in Dublin.

Cruel realities of FTD

The U.K.'s National Health Service describes FTD as an uncommon dementia subtype that is “highly heritable” and characterized by “changes in behavior, personality, language and motor function.” With a MAPT mutation — which the brothers carry — the disease is "fully penetrant," the NHS says, with the mean age of onset at 49 years “with a strong correlation with parental age of onset.”

The brothers' mother died at home in Redditch, just south of Birmingham, about six years after being diagnosed.

“It’s more of a guarantee that we’re going to get it," said Jordan, citing a 99.9% likelihood. “Rather than an if, it’s a matter of when.”

Both Jordan and Cian, 25, have undergone testing that confirmed the genetic problem. Their older sister, Kennedy, tested negative.

There is no cure for FTD.

“If I’m totally honest, and I’m quite brazen about this, I don’t believe that a cure will come in time for me and my brother,” Jordan said. “I’ve got the best part of 10 to 15 years before symptoms likely arise. ... We just want to move things forward in all different areas including vital research but welfare support and services is just as important and something that we get echoed a lot to us by the families and the people who we’re advocating for."

Working with Alzheimer's groups in Britain and Ireland, they've raised nearly 2 million pounds ($2.7 million) and remain focused on getting more government support for services so that “people living with dementia and their families don’t feel alone, don’t feel isolated and that’s just as important as finding the treatment and the cure," Jordan said.

Upcoming plans include running the Chicago Marathon in October and taking a group of people to hike Mount Kilimanjaro through their non-profit FTD Brothers Foundation.

Royal Box experience

The brothers were part of a Royal Box contingent that included actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Hugh Laurie. They chatted with West Indies cricket great Brian Lara and journalist/podcaster Louis Theroux.

“I’ve watched his stuff over the years," Jordan said of Theroux. “He asked what our connection was to the event. We opened up to him about that. He found that very interesting. Very humble man.”

Jordan said his family was “very grateful” for the All England Club's invitation in a bucket-list experience that their partners "can hold on to in those difficult times in the future when sadly we won’t remember them ourselves.”

“It seems silly, but we’ve collected artifacts and come away with a program and our little name placards and the seating plan for the day in the Royal Box and took away a hat each and things like that,” Jordan added.

“It’s things like that hopefully if we have families of our own, and we have children of our own, our partners will be able to show them that along with photographs of the day and show them what we were able to do in the face of adversity.”

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

Lee is the first qualifier to win any Grand Slam boys' tournament since Noah Rubin did it at Wimbledon in 2014.

“Standing here with the trophy means a lot because very few people know what I've been through this past year and a half, dealing with a lot of injuries,” Lee said in an on-court interview. “A year ago at this time I was sitting at home on the couch, didn't know if I was going to play tennis again.”

The 17-year-old Hewitt is the son of 2002 Wimbledon men's champion Lleyton Hewitt, who was in the stands at No. 1 Court. The Australian was up an early break in the deciding set but Lee broke back for 4-4 and then again in the final game.

He sealed the victory with a backhand winner up the line on his first match point.

Lee is the first American player to win the boys’ singles title here since Samir Banerjee in 2021.

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

The speedboat was carrying 32 Indian tourists and four Vietnamese crew members when it overturned less than half a kilometer (0.30 mile) from shore Saturday afternoon, shortly after leaving Hon May Rut Ngoai island near Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, authorities said.

The captain, Nguyen Hong Hai, 57, is under investigation for alleged violations of waterway transport safety regulations, state media reported.

Sixteen survivors of Saturday’s speedboat accident have been discharged from the hospital and are returning to India, the Indian Embassy in Hanoi said on social media Sunday. One remains in critical condition in a Vietnamese hospital.

The bodies of the victims were being transported to Ho Chi Minh City before being flown to India after official formalities, according to the embassy.

The boat capsizes moments after departure

All 15 victims were on a company trip organized by India’s Lava International, a smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer, for its employees, distributors and retail partners, the company said.

Ashish Kumar, a 48-year-old distributor for the company from the Indian city of Guntur who took part in the trip, said the party had split into three groups to travel between islands when he witnessed the accident from shore.

The first boat had already departed while the other two were still docked when it capsized.

The boat was relatively close to shore when it flipped, he told The Associated Press over the phone. "We screamed, ‘Help! Help!’”

Nearby boats immediately rushed to the rescue. “But by then it was too late,” he said.

Rough seas hamper rescue efforts

Ha Van Loc, piloting a nearby boat at the time of the accident, told state media VN Express that he spotted the overturned vessel at around 12:40 p.m. local time. He saw about a dozen people clinging to the boat’s hull, while others — without life jackets — were struggling in the water.

“They were being submerged by the waves but still waving their hands for help,” Loc said.

He said he couldn't get close to the upturned speedboat because of the rough seas and was afraid his boat's propeller could injure those in the water. He and his crew threw life buoys attached to ropes and pulled four survivors aboard within 10 minutes.

Realizing others were still trapped, Loc recorded a short video and alerted other boat operators in the area.

Within minutes, nearly a dozen boats and rescue teams arrived at the scene.

Rough seas with waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) high hampered the rescue. Jet Skis were able to reach survivors more easily than larger boats and brought them ashore one by one.

State media VN Express cited passengers as saying the captain told everyone to wear life jackets before departure, but many carried them in their hands. When the speedboat capsized, some passengers were trapped inside and had to escape through the bow or windows, the report said.

Kumar, the eyewitness, said that there was no emergency medical care available at the shore when survivors were brought back.

On shore, tourists and tour company staff took turns performing CPR and giving oxygen to the victims, state media said.

The 17 injured were admitted to Phu Quoc Sun Hospital after two emergency resuscitation doctors and one nurse were dispatched.

The Indian Embassy in Vietnam said 10 of the dead were from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh and two from Kerala.

Hundreds of thousands of Indian tourists visit Vietnam each year

Hon May Rut island is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Phu Quoc, one of Vietnam’s most popular beach destinations. Both are known for their white sandy beaches and clear waters, drawing millions of domestic and foreign tourists each year.

India is one of Vietnam’s fastest-growing tourism markets. The Southeast Asian country welcomed about 750,000 Indians in 2025, up nearly 50% from the previous year.

Officials attribute the growth to an expanding network of direct flights between major Indian and Vietnamese cities and Vietnam’s liberal e-visa policy.

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The 18-year-old, who once found classes boring and put in only enough effort to pass, found renewed purpose to come to school everyday.

“It motivates me. I like making connections with the kids, I like helping them,” Dillon said.

It began in his junior year when he enrolled in career training courses. Soon, Dillon said, his grades improved. He graduated in June from Chief Leschi Schools in Washington and is now considering going to college for a teaching degree.

Administrators at the school say a shift in focus to technical training and career readiness is paying off, with more students not only staying in school but graduating on time.

Those gains are emblematic of progress across the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education, which oversees 183 primary and secondary schools serving over 40,000 students. In 2015, just over half of high schoolers at BIE schools graduated within four years. That number soared to a record high of 79% by 2025.

Some BIE educators attribute that surge to local innovations. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland says they reflect the Trump administration’s commitment to Native American students, including efforts to strengthen teacher training. In addition, the way graduation rates are reported across BIE schools was changed to address flawed data collection that previously depressed the numbers.

But concerns loom that changes reshaping the BIE under the Trump administration — including the planned dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and continued fallout from cuts instituted by DOGE — could undermine progress and prevent struggling schools from improving.

Reporting standards net more accurate data

The surge in graduation rates reflects, in part, more accurate reporting rather than a sudden leap in student academic improvement, according to agency officials.

For years, school administrators across the system used flawed methods to track graduation rates, often counting students who had transferred to other schools as dropouts.

“We had to come to a consensus and set an accountability framework for our schools,” said Carmelia Becenti, the agency’s chief academic officer.

Beginning in 2018, BIE began standardizing data collection methods. In the years since, Becenti said, the data has painted a more accurate and encouraging picture.

An AP analysis of BIE data found that graduation rates across the system are up 55% since new reporting standards began rolling out, with nine of its secondary schools reporting 100% growth or higher.

New approaches help students connect

Less than one-third of BIE schools are operated by the agency itself. The rest are run by tribes and receive federal funding. At some of those, educators say data collection is only part of the story.

Don Brummett, superintendent of Chief Leschi Schools, said his staff has been working to correct a “disconnect” between the high school's previous laser focus on getting students ready for college and many students’ goals of finding a job upon graduation.

“We devalued the trades. That was a mistake,” Brummett said.

The school launched its career and technical curriculum in 2020 with funding from the Puyallup Tribal Council. Since then, Brummett has seen students who might otherwise have dropped out instead enter health sciences, education and fisheries management and find new motivation to stay in school.

Dillon, the recent graduate, said hands-on job training was a better match for his learning style.

“It was kind of the first time I felt excited to go to school,” said Dillon, reflecting on his time helping second graders practice reading skills and learn the life cycle of a frog.

Between 2019 and 2025, Chief Leschi Schools reported four-year graduation rates rose from 53% to 87%.

A focus on trades is just one of the ways tribal-controlled BIE schools have innovated to keep students on track. At Choctaw Central High School, a BIE school operated by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, administrators said a COVID-era experiment in virtual learning contributed to a surge in graduation rates from roughly 70% to 93%.

“For certain kids that have more responsibilities at home, kids that need to work, we saw that (virtual learning) gave them a flexible schedule and an opportunity to earn their diploma,” said principal Alaric Keams.

When pandemic lockdowns lifted, the district maintained a virtual learning option for all high schoolers.

But not all tribal governments have the resources to pay for these kinds of programs or take over management of BIE schools.

Peter Lengkeek, chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, says the BIE-operated high school serving his community is chronically understaffed and crumbling under a backlog of deferred maintenance, including a gymnasium with sinking walls and a rodent infestation. It has reported graduating fewer than 60% of students on time in recent years.

“If we were able to, we would step in and try to remedy a lot of these things,” said Lengkeek. “We have to rely on the government to fulfill its treaty promise.”

Tribal leaders push back against education changes

From the dismantling of the federal Department of Education to DOGE reductions that swept out longtime staffers, as well as repeated threats of deep funding cuts, tribal leaders fear the progress that has been made could be undermined.

In November 2025, the Department of Education began handing off oversight of dozens of programs that serve Native students to BIE.

At a tribal consultation session in February in Washington, D.C., dozens of tribal leaders spoke in opposition, saying the transition could overwhelm the already understaffed and stretched BIE with additional responsibilities. Several accused the department of ignoring its legal responsibility to seek their input before moving forward.

“We are here too late,” said Herschel Gorham, lieutenant governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. “The ink was dry on the agreements before the tribes were ever notified. That should never, ever happen.”

Jason Dropik, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said turmoil at the agency's Washington office trickles down to schools, pointing to a Trump administration executive order that aimed to turn the BIE into a school choice system but was scaled back after an outcry from tribes.

“That caused some delays and disruptions to services,” Dropik said. “When drastic changes go into motion without tribal consultation, there can be unintended consequences for our students.”

Lengkeek worries the BIE could be consumed by political upheaval while schools like the one serving his community continue to underperform.

“This system holds the future of our nations in its hands,” Lengkeek said. “We need stability. We need increased funding. We need infrastructure.”

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This story is published through the Global Indigenous Reporting Network at The Associated Press.

Colt Gray, 16, had pleaded not guilty to charges including murder in the shooting that killed two students and two teachers, and left several others wounded, at the high school northeast of Atlanta.

In a court filing Friday, the judge overseeing his case set a “Non-Negotiated Plea and Sentencing Hearing” to begin July 24. The judge had previously said that if Gray wanted to plead guilty ahead of trial, he must notify the state and court by this coming Wednesday.

A non-negotiated plea means that the state and the defense have not reached an agreement on a sentence. Unlike a negotiated plea, or plea deal, where a defendant reaches an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty in exchange for an agreed upon sentence and possibly reduced charges, this leaves sentencing entirely up to the judge who makes a decision after giving each side a chance to present a summary of the case and a sentencing recommendation.

Colt Gray's attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Sunday.

Gray's trial had been set to begin in mid-October in Columbia County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Barrow County where the shooting happened, after the judge agreed to a defense request to change the venue.

Gray's father, Colin Gray, was convicted by a jury in March on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter after prosecutors said he gave his teenage son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school. The elder Gray is set to be sentenced later this month.

The Sept. 4, 2024, shooting killed teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire. Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with 55 total counts, including murder, cruelty to children and 25 counts of aggravated assault.

Investigators testified that Colt Gray carried the rifle given to him by his father onto the school bus with the barrel wrapped in a poster board. They said the teenager left his second-period class and emerged from a bathroom with the rifle, shooting people in a classroom and hallway.

Investigators have said the teenager carefully plotted the shooting at the high school of 1,900 students. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent testified that the boy left a notebook in his classroom with step-by-step instructions and a diagram to prepare for the assault, including an estimate that he could kill as many as 26 people and wound as many as 13 others.

Colt and Colin Gray were interviewed by sheriff's deputies about an online threat linked to Colt Gray in May 2023. Colt Gray denied making the threat at the time. He skipped 8th grade, enrolled as a freshman at Apalachee after the academic year began, and then skipped multiple days of school.

Family members had been seeking psychological help for Colt Gray before the shooting, but it appeared he never saw a counselor.

Colt’s mother, Marcee Gray, who was separated from Colin Gray, told investigators that she had argued with Colin Gray weeks before the shooting, asking him to secure his guns and restrict Colt’s access. Instead, over time, he bought the boy ammunition, a gun sight and other shooting accessories, records show.

Colt Gray even created a shrine in his bedroom to Nikolas Cruz, the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, prosecutors said.

Troopers say they received a BOLO (be on the lookout) alert for a white truck that investigators believe was involved in a kidnapping out of Orange County.

Troopers say they spotted the truck on State Road 570 in Polk County, caught up to it and stopped it.

FHP says troopers handcuffed the suspect, Jeremy Mason, and placed him in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Troopers say they then spoke with the victim, who told them she was dating Mason.

The victim says she was in the truck with Mason that morning when an argument started after she accused him of cheating, troopers say.

She then told troopers Mason became physical and would not let her leave, according to FHP.

Troopers say the two drove through multiple counties, stopping at a coffee shop and a gas station, while she was unable to get away.

FHP says the victim told troopers Mason also threatened her, saying at one point, “I want to kill you.”

Mason was arrested and faces multiple charges.

He is being held in the Polk County Jail with no bond.

The England and Wales Cricket Board announced Sunday that McCullum "will stand down," with the New Zealander saying in the ECB statement he was “gutted not to be continuing” with the test team — suggesting it was a decision taken by those above him.

“But I respect the decision,” McCullum added. “My focus now is on giving everything I’ve got to the white-ball teams and helping England keep moving forward.”

The announcement came two weeks after England's series loss to New Zealand — its first loss at home in a series of three tests or more since 2012.

That came on the heels of a 4-1 Ashes series loss Down Under in which the England team came under scrutiny for its perceived lack of professionalism.

Ben Stokes quit international cricket after the New Zealand series and now McCullum has gone, too, signaling the end of the so-called “Bazball” era — an entertaining but often flawed period for test cricket in England.

“Brendon breathed new life into England men’s test team during an exciting period which saw some amazing victories, and we’re grateful for all he has given to the role," said Richard Gould, CEO of the ECB. "We now believe that the time is right to make a change for the test team as we target victory in the Ashes next summer.”

The ECB called the “Bazball” era — when McCullum's team played aggressive, fearless cricket — one of the most “exciting and progressive periods” in England's test-playing history.

“It’s been an absolute privilege to watch him shape the mentality of the team," ECB director Rob Key said, "to one the players have loved, and see him develop a new generation of talent who will be at the heart of England men’s teams for years to come.

"He leaves the test team well-set and poised to achieve great things.”

McCullum said there had been “some unbelievable highs and a few tough days along the way, but that’s all part of taking on a challenge like this.”

“I wish the test team nothing but success," he said. "There’s a hell of a lot of talent in that dressing room and they’re a special bunch of lads. I’ll always be backing the boys, with a smile on my face, and hoping they keep taking the game on. I know they’ll continue to make people proud.”

England's next test series is against Pakistan starting next month.

McCullum has combined his white and red-ball roles since January 2025.

England's T20 team has just thrashed India 4-0 in a home series to become the No. 1-ranked side in the world.

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

Our Sunday Funday will be another sultry afternoon, however, there is good news! Our heat will be sub-heat advisory levels, meaning not quite as oppressively hot. Highs will still hit the mid 90s with heat indices 100-105ºF. The other good news is better rain chances! A stronger westerly steering flow spells better rain chances for areas around I-4 and eastward in the afternoon.

We will start seeing spotty storms near I-75 around noon, then push east towards I-4 by 2-3pm. Rain chances continue to push towards the east coast beaches for the second half of the afternoon. These storms will fizzle and fade around sunset.

Next Week

Our next batch of Saharan Dust will begin pushing into Central Florida next week. This will allow us to dry out the atmosphere and heat us up at the same time.

Rain chances will be shaved by 10% each day until we bottom out at 20% by Wednesday. Temperatures, in turn, will soar back into the upper 90s with heat indices crossing north of 105ºF.

The department says two children, ages 5 and 9, and a companion adult, 37-year-old Jenna Denton have been located.

We’re working to learn more, like where the three were found.

We’ll keep you updated.

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company faces pressure to cut costs at home and increasingly intense competition in the lucrative Chinese market, in particular.

Last week, Volkswagen said its “fundamental realignment” over the past three years had reached its next phase, announcing plans to streamline the model lineup by up to half.

It didn't provide specifics, and questions remain over how else it will cut costs. There has been renewed speculation about the future of several plants in Germany.

“There are more intelligent solutions than closing plants,” CEO Oliver Blume told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

He added that a cost-cutting program in Germany already is producing effects. “We were able to improve our factory costs in Germany by an average 20% last year alone,” he said, describing that as “strong progress.”

Blume argued that Volkswagen's products are very popular, but “we just earn too little money with them. So we must continue to reduce our costs. In all kinds of costs.”

A joint statement issued by the 14 nations said they rejected “destabilizing” actions in the disputed waters that threaten regional stability. The 27-nation European Union released a separate statement, reaffirming the ruling as a “landmark decision in the peaceful settlement of disputes."

The statements commemorated a July 12, 2016, arbitration ruling by a tribunal established in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, saying the landmark decision is “is final and legally binding."

China reiterated Sunday that the ruling was "null and void and has no binding force” and Beijing “neither accepts nor recognizes it.”

China refused to join the arbitration initiated by the Philippines in 2013 after a tense standoff in the contested waters a year earlier that ended with Beijing effectively seizing a disputed shoal.

Beijing rejected the 2016 ruling and continues to defend its claims to virtually the entire sea passage, a key global trade route that has long been feared as one of Asia’s most active flashpoints. The areas has been the scene of repeated territorial standoffs involving China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

“We reaffirm the Arbitral Tribunal’s decision that there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, including those based on `historic rights,’” the U.S.-led statement said.

The arbitration tribunal largely decided in favor of the Philippines, ruling then that under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources” in the South China Sea outside of its regular territorial areas recognized under the convention.

The convention, largely regarded as the treaty governing the world’s oceans and seas, took effect in 1994 and has been ratified by more than 170 countries and parties, including China and the Philippines.

In addition to the U.S. and Britain, the other countries listed in Sunday's statement were the Philippines, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.

“We reiterate our strong opposition to any destabilizing or unilateral actions including by force or coercion that threaten peace and stability in the region,” they said.

The nations stressed “our strong opposition to the use of coast guard, military and maritime militia forces to harass, obstruct, intimidate lawful operations by other states at sea or in the air and in so doing endanger the safety of personnel and fishermen and seriously degrade regional peace and security.”

“Freedom of navigation and overflight as well as other internationally lawful uses of the sea as reflected in UNCLOS” must be upheld, the countries said, adding that the territorial disputes should be resolved peacefully based on the 1982 U.N. convention.

In Beijing, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the arbitration tribunal and its ruling “seriously contravene the general practice of international arbitration” and “gravely infringe upon China’s legitimate rights as a sovereign state and state party to UNCLOS and are unjust and unlawful.”

“China opposes and will never accept any claim or action based on those awards,” the Chinese foreign ministry said, adding that Beijing “does not accept any means of third-party dispute settlement or any solution imposed on China.”

Territorial confrontations in the disputed waters have become more prevalent in recent years, particularly between Chinese and Philippine and Vietnamese forces and fishing fleets.

Chinese coast guard ships and support vessels have used powerful water cannons, military-grade lasers and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine forces and fishermen from rival claimant countries that have led to collisions in the high seas and high-risk encounters in the air.

The United States has repeatedly called on China to comply with the arbitration ruling.

The former Biden and current Trump administrations both warned that Washington is obligated to defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, vessels or aircraft come under armed attack in the disputed waters.

Fighting for the first time in more than five years, McGregor flew across the ring with a flying left roundhouse kick when the match started and landed awkwardly on his right knee.

After attempting to kick and strike Holloway (28-9-0) two more times, it was clear McGregor (22-7-0) couldn’t finish the scheduled five-round welterweight bout.

“My head gasket is gone. Destroyed," McGregor said on social media. “I had no injury / injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.”

Asked if there may have been an existing injury, UFC President Dana White said there were no signs of it Friday at the ceremonial weigh-in.

“Five years off in this sport is rough,” White said. “We’re assuming a blown ACL. That’s what I assumed when I saw it, and that’s what the doctors think, too.”

White added that with the millions of social-media views of McGregor rushing Holloway at the weigh-in, someone would have noticed if anyone was injured.

Holloway said he kept telling referee Mike Beltran to stop the fight because it was apparent McGregor was injured, but the former champion kept saying, “Fight!”

“During the fight, you could see his demeanor change,” Holloway said. “When I saw him hurt, I said, ‘Call this, he’s hurt.'

“I just hope for a speedy recovery.”

Holloway closed a -300 favorite at Bet MGM Sportsbook, which means a bettor would have to lay $300 to win $100. McGregor was a +240 underdog, which means a bettor would win $240 with a $100 wager on the Irishman.

McGregor, who strolled to the ring to the sounds of Notorious Biggie Smalls’ “Hypnotize” and the roar of the sold-out crowd, last fought exactly five years and a day before Saturday night.

The fans were also treated to Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham serving as a guest ring girl before the first round of the main event. White said it was decided eight minutes before she strolled around the cage in a black top and sequenced shorts, stopping occasionally to replicate her highly popular finger point from the recent game against the Phoenix Mercury.

To the delight of a frenzied audience just hours after his home country of England won its quarterfinal match over Norway in the World Cup, Liverpool’s Paddy Pimblett (24-4-0) made quick work of Benoit Saint Denis (17-4-0) with a first-round TKO. Pimblett, who closed a +120 underdog, blocked a roundhouse kick, shot in and quickly applied a D’Arce Choke to put Saint Denis to sleep for the win in 52 seconds.

“Light work,” Pimblett said with a smile at the post-fight press conference. “Mother (expletive) got slept.”

In a bantamweight battle, Mario Bautista (18-3-0) defeated Cory Sandhagen (18-7-0) by unanimous decision, after taking advantage of a first-round leg kick and applying pressure in each round after. A flurry of punches in the third round secured the decision.

In a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, Brandon Royval (18-9-0) applied a rear-naked choke on Lone’er Kavanagh (10-2-0) to win by submission at the 3:40 mark of the final round.

In an absolute shocker to start the main card, a bloodied King Green (36-17-0) overcame a beating for nearly the entire first round before landing a right hand to the jaw of Terrance McKinney (18-9-0) with roughly 20 seconds left, and then finished him off for a TKO at the 4:59 mark.

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Perhaps it is simply its ability to suffer.

Whether it was tiny Cape Verde taking them to extra time, or Egypt burying them in a two-goal hole late in their match, Lionel Messi and La Albiceleste have always been able to survive. And that was the case once more on Saturday night, when Julián Alvarez's long-range strike in the 112th minute and Lautaro Martínez's finish later in extra time sent them back to the semifinals with a thrilling 3-1 victory over Switzerland at raucous Arrowhead Stadium.

“We’re among the best four,” Alvarez said, “so we’re meeting our objectives, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The whole match was hard, and we would have loved to have the win earlier, but we tried to get the win however we could.”

“It seems like if there’s no suffering, it doesn’t count,” Argentina’s Leandro Paredes added, “but as long as the results come through.”

Alexis Mac Allister had the other goal off a corner kick from Messi for La Albiceleste, helping to send them into a showdown with England on Wednesday in Atlanta. The Three Lions beat Norway 2-1 earlier in the day.

Messi's nine-game World Cup scoring streak ended, but his pursuit of a second World Cup title continues. With Argentina and England joining France and Spain in the semifinals, it's the first time the top four teams in the FIFA rankings have advanced that far.

“A match is coming up,” Paredes said, “that every kid dreams of playing.”

The game against Switzerland swung on a call sure to rile up those who think Argentina has been favored by World Cup officials.

The Swiss had just tied the game on Dan Ndoye's goal in the 67th minute when Paredes was shown a yellow card for a tackle on Breel Embolo. But video showed the Swiss player falling before the Argentina midfielder made contact with him, and since Embolo received a yellow card earlier in the match, he was sent off and Switzerland was left to defend with 10 players.

It was the second time a yellow card has been overturned using the “mistaken identity” protocol at the World Cup. The rule allows the video assistant referee to intervene when an incorrect player is shown a yellow or red card.

“We were punished because of a rule that in my opinion is completely unacceptable,” Switzerland coach Murat Yakin said. “I don't understand. It's very painful that we were eliminated that way. I don't think we deserve that today, in my opinion.”

It was a maddening end to the Swiss' first World Cup quarterfinal appearance since 1954. They still have never made a semifinal, nor have they beaten Argentina in eight meetings — three of those in the tournament that matters the most.

“It was just a disaster,” Switzerland's Remo Freuler said of the red card.

Argentina has made its base for the past month in Kansas City, training at the home of Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City while winning over thousands of new fans. And on Saturday night, they filled Arrowhead Stadium for the second time this tournament, hoping to see Messi make more magic after his hat trick against Algeria in the same building a few weeks ago.

It was brutally hot and humid throughout the day, but the temperatures began to fall with the setting sun, producing a picturesque setting for the 100th match of an expanded World Cup, and the final match of the quarterfinal round.

The defensive-minded Swiss had only conceded three goals in five games, and they dominated the ball in the opening minutes. But leave it to Messi, whose eight goals in the tournament are tied for the most with France’s Kylian Mbappé, to send a jolt through that heavily pro-Argentina crowd which included Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

He helped to earn an early corner kick with some nifty footwork, then delivered the ball that Mac Allister turned into a 1-0 lead.

For most of the match, the Swiss struggled to break down an Argentina back line that had conceded two goals apiece in its last two games. And it didn’t help their cause that they were playing without Johan Manzabi, one of their best goal-scorers, who remained out with a knee injury after missing their round of 16 penalty shootout win over Colombia.

But after forcing Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez into making a couple of tough second-half saves, the Swiss broke through when Ricardo Rodriguez slipped a tidy pass to Ndoye and he easily found the back of the net.

Whatever momentum the equalizer gave the Swiss disappeared with Embolo's red card a few minutes later.

Argentina turned up the pressure with Mac Allister missing wide with a header in the 89th minute, and Messi creating an opportunity in front of the goal that he sent just wide in the second minute of stoppage time, leaving the game tied into extra time.

There, just as they have all tournament, La Albiceleste found a way to keep their quest for back-to-back championships alive.

“We knew this could happen,” Argentina midfielder Thiago Almada said. “They have top players, very good position, they were trying to find people inside. We knew how to hold up and we made it through.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

That challenge is emerging even as clean energy reaches a historic milestone globally. Renewables generated 34% of the world’s electricity in 2025, overtaking coal’s 33% share. Together with nuclear power, renewables are expected to provide half of global electricity by 2030.

As industrialization, artificial intelligence and electrification push demand higher, experts say the bottleneck in transitioning to cleaner energy has shifted from technology to the systems supporting it, including funding. Overcoming such obstacles is vital for securing access to power for the 600 million people in Africa who are yet to be connected.

“Clean energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels in virtually every part of the world,” former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, said in late June while announcing a new $285 million Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative to strengthen clean energy industries in emerging and developing economies.

“But fixable obstacles are still slowing down deployment, and with energy demand rising at an unprecedented speed, we can’t allow those obstacles to continue standing in the way,” he said.

Rather than financing solar farms or wind projects directly, the initiative will invest in strengthening market design, regulatory capacity, technical expertise and industry institutions, areas increasingly viewed as essential for attracting private investment and accelerating use of renewable energy.

It reflects a growing consensus that Africa’s energy transition is constrained less by a lack of renewable resources or viable technologies than by the institutional capacity needed to turn those advantages into financially viable projects and electricity on the grid.

Many projects remain delayed by weak market design, limited grid planning, slow permitting processes and fragmented regulatory systems.

“What has been missing is not the potential, but the institutional infrastructure and capabilities to unlock it,” said Saliem Fakir, executive director of the African Climate Foundation. “Philanthropy that targets those gaps directly is the kind of intervention that can shift the trajectory of a continent’s energy system.”

Across Africa, renewable energy costs have fallen sharply while investment appetite continues to grow. However, investors say policy uncertainty, slow permitting processes and limited regulatory capacity are hindering projects.

Wangari Muchiri, founder and chief executive of RE.Think Energy, said the commitment signals that “the next phase of the energy transition is not about proving clean energy works, it’s about removing the barriers preventing it from scaling fast enough.”

The Bloomberg initiative is looking beyond ambitious renewable energy targets to focus on helping projects attract long-term investments and connect to national grids.

“The next chapter of Africa's renewable energy story will not be only by the projects it builds, but the institutions that make these projects possible,” Muchiri said.

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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.

The game was only in the 10th minute when Messi — who needed some help from a trainer after a blow near his right eye in the second half — helped to earn a corner kick with some nifty footwork. From there, the Inter Miami star delivered a perfect ball into the box, and Alexis Mac Allister was there to head it home for a 1-0 lead.

Switzerland equalized in the 67th minute and the game eventually went to extra time, but Julian Alvarez sent a rocket into the upper corner of the net in the 112th minute and Lautaro Martinez added a closing goal for good measure for the defending champions.

Now, Argentina will play England in the semifinals on Wednesday in Atlanta.

One of the first questions asked of Swiss coach Murat Yakin before the match was how to stop Messi, who had scored in his last nine World Cup matches, his last six in the knockout round. He also holds the tournament record with 21 career goals.

“This is a very surprising question,” Yakin replied, jokingly. “There are many solutions, and we will try to find the best solution. ... We can talk a lot about it, but in the end it has to really translate onto the pitch, and we do have our solutions.”

In truth, the Swiss did a good job of holding the dynamic goal-scorer in check.

Messi began his World Cup romp in the same building just over three weeks ago, when he scored his first-ever hat trick in the tourney while sending Argentina to a 3-0 win over Algeria. He had gone on to score eight goals as his team reached the quarterfinal round.

Not everything has been charmed for Messi during the World Cup, though. He missed penalty kicks against both Austria and Egypt, and the second one could have proven catastrophic given Argentina eventually found itself in a 2-0 hole.

But it also was Messi who helped get Argentina on the board in the 79th minute by assisting on Cristian Romero's header, and it was the unflappable and ageless attacking midfielder who beat Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir four minutes later to level the score.

Enzo Fernandez eventually provided the winner in stoppage time to send Argentina into the matchup with Switzerland.

“He's like a machine,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said of Messi, whose every World Cup match could be his last in a national team jersey. “Those that are not so much acquainted with him might be surprised, and at 39 years of age some people might think he will not rise to the challenge. But I've said this before, as long as he wants to be the best — and I'm not saying this because I'm coaching him — but because if he wants to continue, he will continue to be the best.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Bellingham certainly earned the serenade.

He scored twice on Saturday — an equalizer in the first half and the go-ahead goal in the third minute of extra time — to lift England past Norway 2-1 and into the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 2018.

The Real Madrid star has now matched Kane with six goals in this tournament, two behind France’s Kylian Mbappé and Argentina’s Lionel Messi and one shy of Norway's Erling Haaland, who was held scoreless by England. Bellingham also scored twice in the round of 16 as England beat co-host Mexico.

England, winner of the 1966 World Cup and facing pressure to return to the title match, is now one win away from getting there. The Three Lions will face Argentina in the semifinals.

“The game is split into loads of different facets. Some of it is technical, tactical,” Bellingham said. “For me, the biggest one is psychological and how you can manage setbacks, how you can manage adversity. This team showed yet again that they can do it and that’s a really valuable skill and trait to have.”

Not everyone was thrilled with England's performance.

“We made life very, very difficult for ourselves today,” coach Thomas Tuchel said in a contentious interview with Fox Sports. “The result is fantastic. We’re in the last four. It’s amazing, but not happy with the performance ... in every sense.”

Tuchel clarified in his news conference that he was “proud and happy” with how his squad has overcome adversity, but added, “I'm also a football coach and I also have demands. ... I think we can play faster. I think we can play more clinical.”

Bellingham seemed to disagree with his coach's critique after England prevailed in the heat and humidity of South Florida, with temperatures reaching 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) at the start of warmups.

“Well, whatever,” Bellingham said, shaking his head. “It's difficult out there. It's a tough shift. My thoughts and appreciation goes to the players out there who put in a great shift.”

Andreas Schjelderup scored in the 36th minute for Norway, a squad that reached its first quarterfinals and took the internet by storm with its “Viking row” and the charisma of Haaland, their fearsome 6-foot-5 striker.

Haaland was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in this World Cup. The Manchester City star sat dejectedly on the bench after he was subbed out for Jorgen Strand Larsen in the second half of extra time.

“It was not a tough decision to take him out,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “He was finished. Maybe I should have taken him out 10 minutes before. ... He also got a dead leg in the second half, so that combined with the fatigue. He did everything he could.”

Norway nearly went ahead 2-1 in the 56th minute when Torbjørn Heggem put a rebound past goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after a corner kick. Following a video review, the goal was disallowed because of a foul by Haaland in the box. Haaland was also denied by Pickford on a point-blank header in the first half.

Schjelderup, making just his second start of the tournament, fired a shot that caromed off the right post and into the net to stun an England team that had dominated possession to that point. Bellingham’s equalizer from close range elicited a roar from that crowd that included Mick Jagger and England great David Beckham.

Schjelderup, who set up both of Haaland’s goals in Norway’s round of 16 win over Brazil, celebrated by stretching his arms wide and looking at the crowd as his teammates lifted him onto their shoulders. Meanwhile, Kane sat near midfield, grabbing his leg and looking toward the officials. No foul was called.

Moments before Bellingham evened the score, a Norway goal kick resulted in the ball appearing to make contact with an aerial camera cable before landing at the feet of England’s Elliot Anderson. The ball was eventually played to Bellingham, who beat Ørjan Nyland with a low shot to the far post. By rule, if the ball had been noticed hitting the cable, play would have stopped and a drop ball would have been utilized to determine possession. FIFA later said the sensor in the ball indicated it did not touch the cable.

There was a brief moment of silence before the match in honor of Jayden Adams, the 25-year-old midfielder for South Africa whose death was announced earlier Saturday.

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Residents in several neighborhoods reported trees crashing into homes, power lines and roadways, causing outages for thousands. On Sunday, some people were still without electricity as crews worked to restore power.

Daysha Harris, who lives near 15th Avenue, said lightning struck a tree in her yard, sending it down and bringing power lines with it.

“It was just a lot of hail and water. I just started noticing all the branches falling, then this tree fell,” Harris said. “You can see where the lightning struck the ground.”

Harris said the outage has been especially difficult in the heat.

“It’s so hot. I know the food is about to go bad,” she said. “We’re thinking about getting a hotel room because the kids can’t be in the heat.”

Ocala Fire Rescue said the storm left downed trees, blocked roads and damage across the northeast part of the city.

Neighbors described some areas as looking like a “war zone,” with debris scattered across streets and multiple homes damaged by fallen trees.

Michelle Flanagan said a tree from a neighboring property crashed into her home, damaging her garage.

“There it is. It damaged my garage. You can see daylight through the garage,” Flanagan said. “All the insulation, everything, is down, and the wiring.”

Ocala Electric Utility said only a small number of customers remained without power Saturday night, but some outages could take longer to restore because multiple transmission poles were damaged.

News 6 reached out to Ocala Fire Rescue for more details on how many homes were damaged and which areas were hit the hardest. We’ll update this story when we hear back.

She carried cold water in one hand. She had an unfolded fan in the other, flapping it with hopes of creating her own little breeze. And the elements seemed to be winning; no matter what she tried, the England fan was still, at best, uncomfortable.

“I can’t imagine playing 90 minutes in it,” said Gregory, who came to the U.S. with her husband from their home in Telford, England to follow their team through the World Cup.

Norway had Harry Kane to worry about. England had Erling Haaland to worry about. And both sides — in what has been a theme for this World Cup — had the weather to worry about. It was 92 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Celsius) when the teams started warmups Saturday, and with the humidity factored in it felt like 104 F (40 C).

That's a far cry from the seasonable 72 F (22 C) in London or 59 F (15 C) in Lillehammer at that time.

“I think we have trained very lightly,” Norway manager Ståle Solbakken said on the eve of the match. “We haven’t done much hard work. We obviously have tactical sessions, but at a lower tempo and have not trained for long periods.”

In other words, rest and hydration took precedence for Norway — which spent much of the week in South Florida to acclimate. England didn't arrive in the Miami area until later in the week.

“Up until now we’ve played in cool conditions, I would say,” England defender Nico O'Reilly said. “But we’re ready for it.”

After England beat Norway 2-1 to advance to the semifinals, coach Thomas Tuchel said several players were dealing with cramping.

This wasn't England's first trip to South Florida on its World Cup journey. The team arrived in Palm Beach Gardens — about 90 minutes north of Miami Gardens — on June 2 for more than a week of training and to get a feel for the heat and humidity.

England also had to adjust to high temperatures at its Kansas City base camp, and survive Mexico’s altitude to beat the co-host in the round of 16, but hadn't faced anything like the combination of heat and humidity that greeted the teams Saturday.

Tuchel praised his team's ability to overcome adversity and reach the semifinals. He was asked if his squad will physically be able to handle two more matches.

“They have to,” he said. “Now it's just about recovery. ... We will be ready.”

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Gracie Fisher is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

You'd better BELIEVE he's paying attention.

The fictional coach of soccer club AFC Richmond — or rather, Jason Sudeikis, who plays the title character on the Apple TV series — was hosting a watch party at CPKC Stadium near downtown Kansas City on Saturday night, when La Albiceleste were playing upstart Switzerland at Arrowhead Stadium in their quest for back-to-back championships.

The fourth season of the comedy-drama, which has been on hiatus since May 31, 2023, is due to premiere on Aug. 5.

“As much as we've loved football before we got started, I've grown to love it more as we got more immersed in the soccer culture,” said Sudeikis, who grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and still has a deep affinity for the city.

In fact, many of the scenes in the new season of “Ted Lasso” were shot around Kansas City.

That includes riverfront CPKC Stadium, the home of the National Women's Soccer League club Kansas City Current. It's the first of its size built specifically for a women's professional club, and a fitting locale for several thousand people to attend a watch party, given that the new season of “Ted Lasso” will focus on the newly formed AFC Richmond women's team.

It was a concept that the character Keeley Jones — played by the award-winning Juno Temple — subtly pitched at the end of the third season, when it was still unclear whether “Ted Lasso” would return for another run.

“It feels like a perfect moment to be talking about women's football, and representing it — not that I play, obviously,” said Temple, who sported a teal Kansas City Current jersey Saturday. “So that's first and foremost. I hope that's something people really treasure. And I also hope people enjoy the journey each of the characters are going on.”

As for the World Cup, the cast hopes fans of the show have become fans of the game over the years. That has certainly been the case in the Sudeikis household; he played a little soccer as a kid before realizing basketball was more his game.

“I've certainly heard from some people that didn't care about soccer at all until they started to watch ‘Ted Lasso,’” said Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard and is one of the show's writers, and who reflected on the last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994.

“As opposed to 1994 when we had the World Cup and people knew even less about soccer, including me, people were ready for it,” Hunt said. “Yes, the world has come with this great energy, but we were more ready to be aware of their presence, and reciprocate energy. And we're not as far behind as far as the sport's popularity as it's made out to be, and this World Cup is showing it.”

The fact that Argentina and Switzerland were playing a World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday night? In Kansas City?

“Luck of the draw,” Hunt said with a wry, bearded smile. “The actual show about to come out after the World Cup? I think someone manipulated that. Might have been a corporate choice.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Vikings' biggest star didn't shine Saturday.

Haaland was a nonfactor for much of his team's quarterfinal against England and — at least in part because of the strain of dealing with hot and humid conditions in South Florida — was taken out with Norway's hopes hanging in the balance going into the final 15 minutes of extra time.

The final score: England 2, Norway 1. Haaland was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in this World Cup; he had scored seven times in his four appearances going into Saturday, but barely had a chance to add to that total Saturday.

“This has been an insane journey,” Haaland said.

Haaland acknowledged afterward that his energy was gone as the game, which was played with a heat index topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), wore along.

“It was not a tough decision to take him out,” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “He was finished. Maybe I should have taken him out 10 minutes before. ... He also got a dead leg in the second half, so that combined with the fatigue. He did everything he could.”

The Manchester City striker was, without question, one of the stars of the tournament — but England silenced him. And his former Borussia Dortmund teammate, Jude Bellingham, wound up stealing the show by scoring both goals.

Haaland and Bellingham shared an embrace when the game ended, before the Norwegian striker made the long, slow walk from the field to the locker room for the final time in this World Cup.

He was already a star within the sport coming into the tournament — but his larger-than-most-in-soccer frame and larger-than-life personality, combined with his long blond hair and unique mannerisms, turned Haaland into a soccer folk hero.

“I think this has changed my life, to be honest,” Haaland said.

England's plan — forged in part by his Manchester City teammates and others who have played with and against him at the club level — was clear: Do not let Haaland get the ball. It was largely successful.

Haaland had two shot attempts in the game, one on goal, and was virtually silenced after the first half. There was a 2-on-1 chance late in the first half where a pass didn't go his way; if it had, that may have been his best scoring opportunity.

There wasn't much for him to get excited about the rest of the way. He stayed on the field for a few minutes after the final whistle, saluting Norway's fans after the team's best World Cup run ever. When the 2030 tournament rolls around, it won't be a surprise if Norway makes another deep run — and that's clearly going to be the goal.

“I think we put Norway on the map,” he said.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Fourteen hours later, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo would return to the wife he’d met as a teenager in Mexico and the modest house he’d built for his family on the city’s east side.

It’s what he’d done for decades, according to Ronaldo Salgado, his oldest son. He said his father built hundreds of houses over 35 years, creating a life for his family and watching as his three sons headed off to college.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Salgado Araujo, 52, after he was pursued by federal agents driving unmarked vehicles while he was taking his crew to their latest job site. The shooting has outraged Houston leaders and renewed public scrutiny over ICE and Trump's immigration crackdown.

Four Democratic members of Congress who represent the Houston area said at a vigil Saturday that they would push for an independent investigation into the shooting.

“We are never going to forget that his blood is on Donald Trump’s hands,” Rep. Christian Menefee said. “We are not at war. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not a casualty. He was a human being who was murdered by our government.”

Salgado Araujo was not the target of ICE's operation

Federal agents were looking for someone else when they tried to stop Salgado Araujo’s white van, Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said, citing a briefing she received from ICE's acting director. The Department of Homeland Security has said an ICE officer fired at the van in self-defense after Salgado Araujo, who officials described as an “illegal alien,” rammed an ICE vehicle. They have provided no evidence.

The three men that Salgado Araujo was driving said he was shot through a passenger window and that the ICE officer who fired was not in front of the van or even in danger, a lawyer who has spoken with them said Friday.

His family has also disputed the account from ICE. They said lawyers, who were helping him apply for a work permit, had explained how he should behave if immigration agents stopped him. Salgado Araujo was close to obtaining legal status when he was killed, they said.

“He knew what to do,” Ronaldo Salgado told reporters this week. “He knew not to sign anything. He knew that the first phone call he should make should be either to myself or to my mom. So that way we can get the process started of getting him out.”

He believes his father may have been scared that he was being followed by unmarked vehicles, worried someone was planning to steal his van or his tools.

The shooting in the heavily Hispanic neighborhood is at least the eighth death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign.

A kind, present husband and father

Salgado Araujo entered the U.S. more than 30 years ago, settling in Houston with his wife where they raised their three children.

Education was a constant focus in the house, said Ronaldo Salgado, who is now a teacher. One of his brothers is an engineer. The other is in college studying engineering.

Several childhood friends of Salgado recalled that his father was kind and soft-spoken, always inquiring about his wife’s day and how his sons’ friends were doing after a long day at work.

“We didn’t really see him until the end of the day when he came home to have dinner, but that just shows how much of a hard worker he was,” said neighbor Jessica Alanis Magdaleno. “Everything they have now is thanks to the dedication to that.”

Josué Flores, a friend of Ronaldo Salgado since their freshman year of high school, said he first saw Lorenzo Salgado Araujo at his son’s football game.

“I think it speaks volumes of the kind of person that he was,” Flores said, recalling how Salgado Araujo showed up for his son even after an arduous day of work.

Salgado Araujo’s wife, a relative said, is “inconsolable.”

“She is very upset ... angry, sad, disoriented,” Jose Torres Ramon, a nephew who lives in Mexico, told The Associated Press in a Facebook message.

Ronaldo Salgado, his oldest son, said at the Saturday vigil that he hoped he was making his father proud.

“I’ll keep fighting for him,” he said.

His brother Lorenzo Salgado Jr. said the shooting of his father was “a hard moment to be an American.”

“Even though my government, my federal government took away my father, we the people will bring justice,” he said. “We the people are America.”

After coming home in the evening, Salgado Araujo liked to listen to music on the porch and pet the family dog. His family has described him as a simple man of routine.

“He did not deserve to die,” Ronaldo Salgado said. “He dedicated his life in the United States to giving his family the American dream.”

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Associated Press reporters Jack Brook in New Orleans, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.

The new jet, a present from the U.S. ally that the administration spent $400 million on to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey and later referenced threats against him made by Iran.

The subpoenas seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan next week, the Times said, adding that federal agents delivered some subpoenas to the reporters at their homes.

They were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The journalists subpoenaed included Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, the Times reported.

It also said that before its first story was published, a senior official at the FBI contacted a reporter and editor to ask that the article be held, citing national security issues. The newspaper said that the FBI official declined to explain the security issue but asked The Times to disclose its sources for the story, which the Times said it refused to do.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said in a statement.

The White House did not answer messages seeking comment about the subpoenas of the Times journalists.

Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Trump's “war on the press is looking for another victim.”

He said in a statement that the subpoenas "break from longstanding Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted.”

The Justice Department said that "to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

Its statement said "we value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”

While recognizing “there may always be natural tension there,” the department said "we are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security.”

Part of a pattern of anti-press actions

Issuing subpoenas represents further ramping up of Trump's effort to threaten independent new organizations by leveraging the power of the federal government against them. It is also part of a systematic pattern by the Republican president to attempt to undermine press freedom in order to shield him from negative coverage.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. In both cases, the department later withdrew the subpoenas, though.

In January, FBI agents searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who has been covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government, as part of a leak investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of taking home classified information.

Adam Steinbaugh, senior attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said Friday's subpoenas and the prospect of “hauling reporters before grand juries sends a chilling message to journalists and whistleblowers alike: Watch what you say, or expect a knock on the door.”

“These tactics are becoming more common,” Steinbaugh said in a statement. “That doesn’t make them normal.”

During his first term, Trump suggested that the press constituted an “enemy” of the American people. Since returning to the White House, he has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history.

Trump's attacks against news outlets and media figures he believes are overly critical of him has included filing lawsuits against outlets whose coverage he dislikes, threatening to revoke TV broadcast licenses and seeking to bend news organizations and social media companies to his will.

The Justice Department over the years has developed and revised internal policies governing how it will respond to news media leaks.

Though the department across presidential administrations has periodically seized the phone records of individual journalists in hopes of identifying sources for national security stories, it is extremely rare for the government to attempt to compel reporters to reveal their sources before a grand jury.

In April 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a policy from President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.

Doing so again gave prosecutors the authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make “unauthorized disclosures” to journalists.

A memo Bondi issued said members of the press are “presumptively entitled to advance notice of such investigative activities,” and subpoenas are to be “narrowly drawn.” Warrants must also include “protocols designed to limit the scope of intrusion into potentially protected materials or newsgathering activities,” the memo stated.

Trump didn't use his new Air Force One while leaving Turkey

The president flew the new Air Force One to Turkey during this week's visit. But he departed Wednesday on one of the older-model Air Force One jets for Mildenhall, a Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, England.

The newer plane also flew to Mildenhall. Trump then switched to that plane for the flight home to Joint Base Andrews.

The abrupt swap came as a shaky ceasefire with Iran had collapsed, with the U.S. launching airstrikes on Iran and Tehran attacking three Gulf Arab states. Iran and Turkey share a border, sparking speculation that the new jet lacked certain sophisticated security and countermeasure systems.

The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service, and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities.

Trump denied any security concerns, posting on social media that the stop in Mildenhall was so that service members there could view the new jet. During the flight, Trump denied to the reporters accompanying him that security concerns involving Iran were a factor in flying two planes home.

Still, asked if he was aware of any credible threats against Air Force One by Iran, Trump responded, “I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list."

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Michelle L. Price and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

U.S. Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran. There were explosions in Bandar Abbas and Sirik, two towns along the shores of the strait, Iran state media reported.

“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the American military said.

A Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.

Senior U.S. officials had previously said in Washington that negotiations to further cement last month's deal to end the war will be unable to progress without the strait being secure — and even said they wanted Iran to offer public statements to that effect.

Instead, the Revolutionary Guards Corps said multiple vessels "disregarded our warnings and instructions to correct their course and proceed along the approved route.” One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”

Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.

A little more than an hour later, the U.S. announced its own new round of strikes.

“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media.

Attacks followed more diplomatic talks about the strait

The latest flurry of shots from both sides followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war.

Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28.

Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.

Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels.”

Iran accuses Washington of violating ceasefire deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said before the new round of strikes that he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.”

The world for decades has considered the strait an international waterway. Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The U.S. urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters.

About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.

Iran's top diplomat also accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.

“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi wrote on social media.

Trump says he responded to threats to kill him

Trump said he's personally been the target of an Iranian plot, and he said the U.S. military would automatically retaliate if he was killed.

He wrote on social media early Saturday that “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”

However, such retaliation would have to be ordered by Vice President JD Vance, who would become commander-in-chief if Trump were to be killed.

Trump said he was responding to threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners held posters or banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The U.S. president has declared the ceasefire over but said the U.S. would continue negotiations.

U.S. officials, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity about the current situation with Iran, said the resumption of strikes even before the latest round came as a result of what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners who were trying to sabotage the ceasefire.

Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified under the new supreme leader.

After the U.S. wrapped up strikes on Thursday, more attacks reportedly hit Iran, raising questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.

Israel didn't claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The strikes in Iran over two days — and prior to the ones in the wake of the warning shot — killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.

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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

The Khosla family entered into a formal agreement to purchase the defending Super Bowl champions for $9.612 billion, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to the The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the deal is still subject to approval by the NFL.

The Khosla family will become the team’s controlling owner, according to a social media post by the Seahawks.

“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,” Vinod Khosla said in a statement. “We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere.”

Allen’s estate announced on Feb. 18 it had begun the process of selling the team, which is coming off its second Super Bowl victory in franchise history. Investment bank Allen & Company LLC and law firm Latham & Watkins led the sales process, which was estimated in February to continue through the offseason.

Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

His current net worth is $13.7 billion, Forbes reported this month.

The company invests in experimental technologies such as biomedicine, robotics, and was the first venture firm to invest in OpenAI, per Forbes.

The Khosla family will be required to relinquish its ownership stake in the San Francisco 49ers as part of the deal. Khosla joined 49ers ownership group as a minority owner in 2025, purchasing 3.1% of the team.

NFL owners still have to ratify a final purchase agreement and they are expected to meet in August to approve the deal, ESPN reported.

The Seahawks have been in the Allen family since 1997, when Paul Allen bought the team for $194 million from then-owner Ken Behring. Allen was critical in keeping the Seahawks in Seattle, which is where the team is expected to remain after the sale is finalized.

The Seahawks have a lease at Lumen Field that runs through 2032 with three 10-year options.

Since Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, died in 2018 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 65, the Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers have been owned by his sister, Jody.

The estate agreed in September to sell the Trail Blazers to an investment group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon. The Trail Blazers will remain in Portland as part of the deal, which is awaiting final approval from the NBA Board of Governors.

The last NFL team to be sold was the Washington Commanders in 2023. A group led by Josh Harris that includes Magic Johnson bought the team from longtime owner Dan Snyder and his family for a record $6.05 billion.

The Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in the Super Bowl in February.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the name of the family purchasing the team to Khosla throughout.

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AP NFL writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

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

Washington left-hander Foster Griffin also was added.

Wrobleski replaced Cincinnati right-hander Chase Burns, who won't be active for Tuesday night's game at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park because of tightness in his right groin.

Peters took the roster spot of Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, who was put on the injured list because of a sprained right thumb.

Griffin replaced Milwaukee pitcher Braxton Ashcraft, who threw 98 pitches Saturday against Pittsburgh.

Wrobleski, 26, is 10-2 with a 2.69 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings. He joins two-way star Shohei Ohtani, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, first baseman Freddie Freeman, third baseman Max Muncy and outfielder Andy Pages as Dodgers All-Stars.

Ohtani will have his left knee drained Sunday to relieve continued irritation and will not go to Philadelphia.

Peters joins White Sox teammates Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami on the All-Star roster. Murakami, a rookie slugger from Japan, was added Friday just hours before he returned to action against the Athletics after missing six weeks with a right hamstring strain.

Still a rookie at 26, the speedy, slick-fielding Peters is batting .303 with six homers and 35 RBIs is his first full major league season. He has 20 doubles and three triples; the most recent came in the seventh inning of Chicago's rout of the Athletics on Friday that made Peters the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle since Jose Abreu in September 2017.

Chicago obtained Peters' rights last December from Tampa Bay. He appeared in only four games with the Rays last season without a hit in 12 plate appearances, but the one-time Savannah Banana has taken off in Chicago.

“The White Sox gave me this opportunity and I went into it just trying to make the most out of it and just be who I am as a player, too," Peters said. “I know there was a lot of bunting in the beginning and just trying to figure out who I am at the big league level and you know they give space for that, too. Just an incredibly supportive group and that's helped me thrive.”

A native of Winkler, Manitoba, Peters became the second Canadian to record a cycle. He joins Cleveland right-hander Cade Smith and Miami infielder Otto Lopez, who holds dual Canadian-Dominican citizenship, as Canadians on the 2026 All-Star roster.

Peter's said becoming an All-Star was a pipe dream at the start of the season. But after several months, he thought it might become a possibility.

“I guess toward the end of this first half, I was like ‘OK, maybe there's a chance,' but there's a lot of really, really talented players in this league," he said.

Kurtz is batting .266 with 20 home runs, 66 RBIs and a league-leading 76 walks. The 23-year-old was the AL rookie of the year last season, when he batted .290 with 36 homers and 86 RBIs.

He landed on injured list for the second time in his career after being sidelined with a strained left hip flexor in May 2025.

Griffin, back in the major leagues after three seasons pitching in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants, is 10-2 with a 2.77 ERA in 19 starts.

“I’m later in my career, and it happened now and I’m super grateful for that and super proud of that," the 30-year-old Griffin said. "Just looking back over all the time and effort and work I put in, it’s a huge honor and I’m excited for it.”

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

Sunday

Our Sunday Funday will be another sultry afternoon, however, there is good news! Our heat will be sub-heat advisory levels, meaning not quite as oppressively hot. Highs will still hit the mid 90s with heat indices 100-105ºF. The other good news is better rain chances! A stronger westerly steering flow spells better rain chances for areas around I-4 and eastward in the afternoon.

We will start seeing spotty storms near I-75 around noon, then push east towards I-4 by 2-3pm. Rain chances continue to push towards the east coast beaches for the second half of the afternoon. These storms will fizzle and fade around sunset.

Next Week

Our next batch of Saharan Dust will begin pushing into Central Florida next week. This will allow us to dry out the atmosphere and heat us up at the same time.

Rain chances will be shaved by 10% each day until we bottom out at 20% by Wednesday. Temperatures, in turn, will soar back into the upper 90s with heat indices crossing north of 105ºF.

But the U.S. government has no way to create an automatic, preauthorized “dead man’s switch” that would prompt immediate retaliation.

Instead, if Trump were killed, the transfer of power to his successor is governed by the 25th Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Vice President JD Vance instantaneously would become commander in chief and have authority for any retaliation.

Under such a scenario, Vance could do exactly what Trump called for, though there also is a chance he could decide not to follow his predecessor's orders — or offer a direct response in a different way.

“The U.S. has, for a whole variety of reasons, never utilized a technical ‘dead man’s switch,'” said Garrett M. Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself -- While the Rest of Us Die.”

The United States does have extensive contingency plans for continuity of government in the event of a nuclear attack or other major catastrophe that wipes out most or all of Washington. But those plans also do not allow for immediately launching retaliatory strikes upon the death of a president, even if that president had demanded that the military be ready to do so.

Trump nonetheless posted on his social media website Saturday that Iran had made threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him and he said 1,000 “missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat.”

Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said hours later that Iranians would continue to avenge the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elder Khamenei died in the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes that started the war in late February, and he was mourned in funeral events throughout Iran this week. His son said retaliation “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.”

“We pledge to take revenge for the pure blood of you and all the martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraceful killers," he said on remarks aired on state television. "This revenge is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.”

The White House on Saturday did not immediately answer questions about what would become of Trump's military orders should he be killed.

During those recent funeral events, mourners repeatedly held posters or banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Israel alerted U.S. officials to fresh Iranian plots to kill Trump. The White House has refused to comment, but Trump appeared to reference to such threats in comments during this week's NATO summit in Turkey, saying, “They want to take out the U.S. leader — me.”

Sabrina Singh, former Biden administration deputy Pentagon press secretary, said “Iran wanting to target senior American leaders is something that we know is happening."

“You have to take these as credible threats,” Singh said.

US retaliations would almost certainly come, just not automatically

Trump was targeted in two domestic assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign and saw a gunman storm the White House Correspondents' Association dinner he was attending in April.

The president flew part of the way back to Washington from Turkey this week aboard an older Air Force One jet rather a new Qatari-gifted aircraft, raising fresh security questions about the newer plane. Images of the jet, which was retrofitted at an estimated cost of $400 million, show it is not equipped with some of the same missile detection and countermeasure systems as earlier versions.

The swap occurred as the U.S. and Iran once again began trading strikes, jeopardizing last month's initial deal to end the war. Asked about Iranian threats, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I’m No. 1 on their list."

Graff said the U.S. prepared years of plans for how nuclear launch authority would devolve in the event of a surprise attack. That included, during 30 years of the Cold War, the country keeping fleets of airborne command posts flying 24 hours a day with a general aboard one of them who could take over nuclear launch orders in the event Washington was lost.

“What I believe Trump is saying is that he’s left standing orders to attack if he’s killed, e.g., that the Pentagon should proceed with standard launch protocols,” Graff said. “There’s a lot of reason to doubt the legality of such standing orders, since in the event of a president’s death, the nuclear launch authority would immediately pass to the vice president or designated successor — and ultimately it would be up to him or her to determine whether to proceed.”

Trump’s post only refers to firing missiles at Iran, which the U.S. has done scores of time since its war with Iran began. He did not expressly threaten involving nuclear weapons.

Graff said that, in addition to leaving standing orders in case of his death, Trump also might say “something to Vance like, ‘If I’m killed, nuke Iran,'" and that would make ”more sense and would be absolutely legal”

Biden administration once warned Iran about Trump, too

Washington receiving credible threats against the president and top U.S. leaders from Iran and other foreign adversaries is not uncommon and is often disclosed via national security briefings or other classified means. But far less common is Trump declaring publicly that he personally has been targeted by Iran.

Still, this is not the first time Washington has threatened Iran over threats against Trump.

In 2022, the Biden administration warned Iran against attacking U.S. citizens after the Justice Department's disclosure that a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had planned to assassinate John Bolton, Trump's first-term national security adviser. Now a Trump critic, Bolton last month pleaded guilty to illegally retaining classified documents in a case led by Trump’s Justice Department.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in 2022 that “should Iran attack any of our citizens, to include those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences.”

Two years later, in the heat of Trump’s campaign against Democrat Kamala Harris, Biden's vice president, the Biden administration again quietly warned Iran. This time, officials made clear that an attack on Trump would be considered an act of war.

Photos show trees on some homes and sprawled across roads.

Fire officials say there were road blockages and that while the damage appears structural, the risk remains of hard-to-see power lines across roads.

They’re warning people to stay indoors and off roads in the impacted area as first responders and utility workers move through.

Reddick won five of the first nine stops on this year's Cup Series schedule, including at EchoPark Speedway on Feb. 22, one week after winning the Daytona 500, to take a dominant lead in the points race.

Reddick’s points lead has disappeared in recent weeks. Denny Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, enters Sunday night’s race leading Reddick by 44 points.

Overall, Reddick has two wins in three starts on drafting tracks this season in his 23XI Racing Toyota, giving him reason for optimism. Reddick said Saturday he is “extremely” confident he can enjoy more success in his return to the track formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“In my opinion, we’re stronger when we come back here in the summer race,” Reddick said. “We’re still plenty good in the spring, but what we do well at EchoPark Speedway really shows up in the summer. ... Our strength typically is handling and I feel like the more that’s in play the better I do with these kind of races.”

Hamlin was third while Reddick finished 36th in last week's race at Chicagoland Speedway won by Chase Briscoe. Reddick has finished 25th or worse in four of the last five Cup Series races.

“For us to still be second in points ... all things considered I think most people with a race car would do anything to have that,” Reddick said.

Larson looking to end 2 droughts

Kyle Larson is trying to end a 43-race winless streak and also claim his first Cup Series win at the 1.54-mile oval track in Atlanta. He finished third in February 2025.

The winless stretch is his longest since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. His last win came at Kansas in May 2025. Larson, who won Cup Series championships in 2021 and 2025, finished 34th after qualifying second last week in Chicago. He was in the top five before losing several laps following a spin in Stage 2.

Larson said he feels his Hendrick Motorsports team has been making gains each week.

“I feel like we’ve noticed each week, I feel like Hendrick as a whole has gotten just a little bit better and closed the gap a little,” Larson said. “I think it feels like a large chunk still left to get, but I feel like in this sport ... you’re probably closer than it really feels out on the track.”

Chase Elliott, Larson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, won last summer’s race at EchoPark Speedway to end a 44-race winless streak.

Despite his streak, Larson is sixth in the points race, only one point behind Elliott.

In-Season Challenge continues

The second year of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge continues with the third round. The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament will earn $1 million. A compelling matchup is Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell.

“I guess probably we'll be the underdog against Christopher,” Hamlin said before adding “whoever doesn't wreck” has the advantage.

Elliott is matched against Briscoe, another Joe Gibbs Racing driver. The other matchups are William Byron against Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland against Alex Bowman.

Four drivers will advance to next week's race in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina and the championship round is scheduled for July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bell injury update

Bell will again wear a cast on his left wrist that was broken during a hit at Michigan International Speedway on June 7. He had only a wrap on the wrist Saturday but said he'll add the cast for the race “just in case something happens." He said he hopes this will be the last race with the cast.

“I'm close if not 100% right there,” Bell said.

Billboard fun

Ryan Preece worked with EchoPark Speedway to purchase billboards to promote the race.

Preece put his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher on each billboard. One billboard on Interstate 75 near the track promotes Buescher's hometown by proclaiming “Visit Prosper, Texas. 843 miles” with an image of Buescher in his racing uniform. Another billboard says “Come see me race this weekend” with an image of Buescher wearing a red wig.

Preece promoted the prank on his Facebook account.

Buescher smiled Saturday when he said “So Ryan’s back to shenanigans” and added he was planning to return the favor.

“It is fine, because I’m currently in the process as well, and I look forward to unveiling that before too terribly long,” Buescher said.

Added Buescher: “Ironically I did have that same haircut as a kid. It just wasn’t that red.”

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

Rattín died in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentine Football Association, or AFA, which expressed its “deepest sorrow at the passing of a historic symbol of Boca Juniors and the national team,” with whom he played in two World Cups.

A defensive midfielder known for his physical, hard-tackling style, Rattín won six Argentine league titles with Boca Juniors and was a Copa Libertadores runner-up in 1963.

“Rattín was one of us and loved these colours so much that they were the only ones he chose to defend throughout his 14-year career. A leader, an Argentine and forever a Bostero,” the club said.

With Argentina, Rattín played at the 1962 World Cup in Chile and the 1966 tournament in England, and also finished runner-up in the Copa América twice.

In the quarterfinals of the 1966 World Cup, Argentina faced England at Wembley Stadium. In the 36th minute, Rattín protested a foul and was sent off for “verbal dissent.” At the time, referees did not use cards but instead verbally informed players that they had been dismissed.

As he left the pitch, Rattín crumpled one of the corner flags, which featured the design of the English flag. He then sat down on the red carpet reserved for the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The two acts of protest sparked a barrage of objects thrown at him by fans from the stands.

In the wake of the confusing incident, and amid growing concern over the increasingly violent nature of the game, FIFA’s refereeing authorities concluded that a practical, universally understood system was needed to communicate cautions and dismissals.

Kenneth George Aston, who headed FIFA’s refereeing committee, took inspiration from traffic lights and, in 1967, introduced the yellow and red cards that are still used today.

Rattín’s defiant gesture at Wembley also marked the beginning of the football rivalry between Argentina and England. It reached its most iconic chapter in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when Argentina won thanks to Diego Maradona’s unforgettable goals — one scored with his hand, unnoticed by the referee, and the other after a brilliant solo run.

Argentina plays Switzerland in another World Cup quarter-final on Saturday. Many supporters are hoping for a semifinal meeting with England, who will face Norway in another quarter-final also on Saturday.

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His death was confirmed by Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s minister of sport, arts and culture, in a statement on Saturday.

“It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams, midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana, at the age of 25," McKenzie posted on X.

"South African football has lost one of its brightest young talents, and our nation mourns alongside his family, his team-mates and the millions of supporters.”

Adams helped South Africa reach the World Cup knockout stage for the first time.

Further details of his death were not given.

“The cause of Jayden’s passing has not yet been confirmed," McKenzie said. “I wish to appeal to members of the media and the public to exercise restraint and compassion, and to refrain from speculation.”

A moment of silence in honor of Adams was held ahead of the World Cup quarterfinal between Norway and England in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday.

Adams started in South Africa's first Group A games against Mexico and Czech Republic. McKenzie said Adams played the second game only hours after learning that his grandmother had died. He came on as a second-half substitute in the third game against South Korea.

Adams played several seasons for Stellenbosch before joining Mamelodi Sundowns last year. He helped the club win the CAF (African) Champions League this year.

“Death has cruelly stolen one of our own. It has robbed our nation of a remarkable footballer,” the South African Football Players Union posted on X. “We will forever remember his humility, his extraordinary talent and the pride with which he represented South Africa. Rest in eternal peace, Jayden. You will never be forgotten.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the South African Federation of Trade Unions also expressed their condolences.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Haaland has become a social media phenomenon, with his own posts and memes from others turning even soccer novices into diehard fans.

His domineering physical appearance coupled with his goofy online persona have contributed to the craze. Fans remark on his flowing blond mane, color-coordinated hair ties and playful posts like a Snapchat-filtered selfie in which he proclaimed Shrek his “twin.” The contrast between his strength and skill on the field and his softer, looser online presence has also subjected him to the “babygirl” treatment online. That term is used frequently by fans of endearing male celebrities or characters who come across as sensitive, caring or vulnerable.

Haaland is emblematic of a broader embrace of soccer players as pop culture figures, driven in large part by how they present themselves off the pitch.

Haaland as a ‘pretty Norwegian princess’

Sarah Wilson, a baseball content creator in New York, is new to following soccer, but has become a big enough fan in the past month that she embarked on a lengthy hunt to buy the jersey of her new favorite player.

“I love Erling Haaland more than life itself,” Wilson, 31, said in a now viral video. “I cannot fathom being such a pretty Norwegian princess and also being one of the best strikers in all of football.”

Haaland is being catapulted into a fame even more intense than he had already known as the Premier League's top scorer. This moment boils down to the pairing of elite skills with quirky personality, Wilson said.

“Him being really, really talented — that’s the first pillar of it all. And then you find out that he’s 25 years old and he’s probably the most Gen Z athlete in the World Cup,” Wilson told The Associated Press, noting his use of Snapchat and goofy filters in photos online. Many are thinking, “‘Wow, I love that guy, he’s hilarious. Now he’s my new favorite player,’ which is exactly what happened with me,” she added.

Haaland’s expressive reactions on the pitch and his unique appearance have spawned hundreds of memes. He’s leaned into this virality, posting cheeky selfies on Instagram, uploading long-form vlogs on YouTube and interacting with fans on his public Snapchat stories, often poking fun at himself.

After scoring two goals to knock out Brazil, he posted a smug selfie from the locker room with the caption, “Well well well.” When an Instagram video with nearly 100 million views likened his appearance to a green onion — its wiry roots standing in as his hair — Haaland responded in the comments with a side-eyeing dog GIF. When Google added a Viking row animation to his search results, Haaland wrote on X, “One thing to do today… search my name on Google,” with a winking emoji.

Haaland said in a team news conference on Thursday that he's enjoyed being embraced in the U.S.

“I think it’s a good thing because I like the Americans. I think they are kind of hilarious as well. They are funny. I like the way they are,” he said. “I think it's just good and honestly, on every single thing, the World Cup so far here has been amazing.”

Sports are a “cultural force,” one on par with politics or religion, said Jeffrey Kassing, an Arizona State University professor who has studied fans' and athletes' social media use. It’s natural that Haaland has “crossed over” into non-soccer audiences, he said. A song from his youth has gone viral. A lookalike contest is in the offing. Even dogs are sporting blond wigs.

“There used to be a whole lot of gatekeeping that would happen with athletes; you would only ever hear from athletes maybe in an interview or in a press conference,” Kassing said. Haaland is evidence of how players have much more control in shaping their image now, he added.

Fans also try to ‘shape the perception’ of their favorite players

Fans' access to athletes contributes to what is called a parasocial relationship, defined by one-way knowing, said Gayle Stever, a professor at Empire State University who has studied the dynamics between celebrities and fans for decades. Haaland’s fans feel like they know him on a personal level, but he doesn’t know the nearly 60 million people who follow him on Instagram alone.

The majority of parasocial relationships are “positive, healthy and normal,” Stever said. Only a small percentage of people take it to the extreme, she said.

Skyla Clarke, a 19-year-old sports management student in Brisbane, Australia — and lifelong soccer fan — says she's seen that uglier side rear its head; attacks on players after poor performances, and even unprovoked hate toward athletes’ wives and partners are not uncommon. Haaland himself called AI-generated content of players a “bit scary.” But he noted in Norwegian that the attention on the team and its traditions — the rowing cheer, for example — is a sign of praise.

“Usually if it’s like that, it means that you’re doing something right, and that your country is doing something right,” Haaland said.

Even healthy parasocial dynamics can seem unusual to those uninitiated in internet culture. Haaland is not the only player whose persona has blown up on social media, nor is he the only one fans have anointed a babygirl.

Fans have described feeling “maternal” toward Luka Modrić — especially after Croatia’s elimination in the 40-year-old's final international game. Modrić is a “special case” whose difficult upbringing amid Yugoslavia's dissolution plays into how fans characterize him online, Clarke said. Some will incorporate childhood photos of him into their content, creating “a deeper appreciation for him as a player,” she added. Clarke's TikTok video about Modrić’s potential retirement reached hundreds of thousands of viewers in a matter of days.

Modrić himself has a rather tame social media presence, especially compared with Haaland, but Kassing noted fans “take it upon themselves to try to shape the perception” of those with whom they develop a parasocial attachment. In Modrić and Haaland’s cases, some do this by overlaying bows and hearts on their images.

Ahead of Norway’s match against England in the quarterfinals on Saturday, fans have also focused intensely on Haaland’s friendship with English player Jude Bellingham, his former teammate. Some have “shipped” the two footballers, making edits of them hugging or celebrating together and drawing comparisons to the television sensation “Heated Rivalry,” in which two pro hockey opponents develop a romance off the ice.

“People have been saying ‘heated Haalandry,’” said Nulara Ratwatté, a 19-year-old art student at the University of Melbourne. She's one of many fans whose videos about their newfound love of Haaland have gone viral.

Ratwatté said she’s “not supposed to talk about football” because of her lack of knowledge, but she's not looking back after catching Haaland fever. She describes him as a “big, friendly giant,” and despite her lack of soccer savvy, she's now tuning in to cheer Norway on.

“Truly, from the bottom of my heart,” she said, “I love him.”

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

She draped one of Wimbledon’s strawberry-red towels over her head.

And eventually — after she had wasted five match points and a 5-2 lead and conceded the second set of a drama-filled final — she left the court completely for a bathroom break.

During Noskova's brief time off the court, two shiny objects caught her attention: the Venus Rosewater Dish that is awarded to the women's champion and the smaller dish for the runner-up.

“I was like, ‘I’m not going to take the small one. I’m taking the big one. I have been so close. This will probably be the heartbreak of my life,’” Noskova said. "'I’m going to leave my soul on court in the third set, whatever that be.'”

The 21-year-old Noskova did just as she promised herself, overcoming her second-set meltdown to beat Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in an all-Czech final for her first Grand Slam trophy on Saturday.

When Noskova finally finished it off with a service winner on her sixth match point — and first of the third set — she covered her face and dropped down to the grass on her back.

Minutes later, Noskova was being awarded the Venus Rosewater Dish by Kate, the Princess of Wales.

“It’s never easy to get the last point,” Noskova said during her victory speech. “Karo, you really made me work for it.”

Noskova became the third Czech woman in four years to win the grass-court major, after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.

Muchova and Noskova played doubles together at the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished fourth.

“I am so glad that I could play my first Grand Slam final with you,” Noskova told Muchova during her speech. “We made history today. All our Czech fans at home are proud of us no matter the result. It was a good day for both of us.”

Petra Kvitova, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, was in attendance, as was the greatest Czech-born player of them all, Martina Navratilova — who won a record nine singles titles at the All England Club and was seated next to Princess Kate in the Royal Box; and Jan Kodes, the 1973 champion.

Kipling’s poem

An excerpt of the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling that was placed above the players’ entrance to Centre Court more than a century ago summarizes the challenges Noskova had to overcome.

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster,” the excerpt says. “And treat those two imposters just the same.”

It's not the first time that Noskova has had to overcome adversity at Wimbledon.

Her mother died just before she played the tournament two years ago.

“I definitely would not be standing here without her, so thank you,” Noskova said in a dedication to her mother during her speech when she blew a kiss skyward.

Navratilova wiped away tears listening to Noskova's tribute.

Moments earlier, Muchova began her runner-up speech by calling Noskova “my ex-friend.

“I’m kidding, obviously,” Muchova quickly added. “You’re so young and this was your first final of a Grand Slam and the way you handled it ... was really unbelievable. ... You deserve it.”

It was the 29-year-old Muchova's second Grand Slam final after getting beat by Iga Swiatek at the French Open in 2023.

Wasted chances

Blasting aces and winners from all over the court early on, Noskova looked like she was going to run away with it almost like Swiatek's 6-0, 6-0 rout of Amanda Anisimova in last year's final, which lasted all of 57 minutes.

Saturday's match was just 68 minutes old when Noskova earned her first match point — which ended when she landed a backhand into the net.

Two points later, there was another backhand miss from Noskova; then Muchova took advantage of a net-cord shot on Noskova's third match point in the same game.

Serving for the title in the next game, Noskova double faulted on her fourth match point. And then on the fifth occasion to end it, Muchova produced a big serve and forehand winner.

In all, Noskova lost five straight games.

“It’s hard to watch,” Tracy Austin said on the BBC as she called the match alongside John McEnroe. “We know what that feels like when you start to get tight and you can’t loosen up and then the lead starts to unravel.”

Noskova said, “Winning it this way, really having to fight for it, having all these ups and downs, it matters a lot. I have to learn a lot from this match."

Czech success

It’s Noskova’s second grass title of the season after beating Jessica Pegula in the Berlin Open final.

But as this match displayed, it hasn’t been all straightforward. Noskova saved a match point in the third set of her third-round match against Sorana Cirstea.

The 12th-ranked Noskova will climb to No. 7 — a new career-high — when the next rankings are released on Monday.

She's the youngest woman to win Wimbledon since Kvitova was also 21 in 2011.

Jana Novotna, one of Noskova’s first coaches, also won Wimbledon (in 1998).

How to explain all the Czech success?

“They play on clay in the summer where you have to out-maneuver your opponent and then in the winter they go indoors and it’s first-strike tennis,” Austin said. “The best of both worlds to create an all-court player.”

In the men’s final on Sunday, top-ranked Jannik Sinner will attempt to defend his title against French Open champion Alexander Zverev.

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AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed.

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

For the record, the name is pronounced chil-OW’-skee.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred still botched the pronunciation of Cholowsky’s name at the podium Saturday when the Chicago White Sox indeed made the UCLA shortstop the No. 1 pick of the draft.

No harm done, Cholowsky insisted.

“I didn't hear it get butchered,” Cholowsky said. “I heard Roch and kind of lost it.”

Cholowsky burst into tears at a draft party far from the Philadelphia site of the draft.

He led off the lineup of MLB draft prospects who did not show up at the city’s convention center, just a few miles away from Citizens Bank Park, the home of Tuesday’s All-Star Game. MLB said Friday that no amateur players were scheduled to attend the draft, just like last year.

Cholowsky was thrilled he'll be headed to Chicago, where he enjoyed a fruitful predraft meeting with team officials and mingled in the clubhouse of a team that has been perhaps the biggest surprise in baseball and entered Saturday in first place in the AL Central.

“It really felt like to me like a college clubhouse," Cholowsky said. “It’s just a different feel in there.”

A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, Cholowsky was a Golden Spikes finalist at UCLA and had a 1.088 OPS with 21 homers and 60 RBIs in his junior season. He was the Big Ten Player of the Year.

White Sox general manager Chris Getz said in a statement that Cholowsky "is a leader on the field as well as in the clubhouse. He has more than lived up to very high expectations, and we cannot wait to get him into our organization, get started and see him continue his growth and success.”

The next two picks went about as widely predicted.

Tampa Bay selected Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson with the second pick and Minnesota took Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey third.

Just 18 years old, the 6-3, 185-pound Emerson bats left, throws right and is widely considered the best all-around player in the draft. A University of Texas commit, Emerson transferred to Fort Worth Christian for his senior year, when he played under head coach Rusty Greer, a nine-year MLB veteran who spent nine seasons with the Texas Rangers.

The 21-year-old Lackey didn’t receive any Division I offers until his senior year of high school and has since blossomed into one of the top catching prospects in the draft out of Georgia Tech. The 6-foot-2, 215-pounder showed some versatility by also playing third base.

The rest of the top 10

San Francisco selected right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora — a noted fried chicken aficionado — out of UC Santa Barbara with the No. 4 pick. The Pirates took outfielder Derek Curiel from LSU with the fifth pick. Louisville outfielder Zion Rose went sixth to Kansas City and Oak Grove High School (Mississippi) outfielder Eric Booth Jr. went seventh to Baltimore.

The Athletics drafted Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress with the eighth pick, Atlanta took Virginia outfielder AJ Gracia with the ninth pick and Colorado selected Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell 10th.

There were just three pitchers selected among the first 20 overall.

The Philly connection

Phillies fans cheered the 34th overall pick in the draft when the White Sox drafted high school star Landon Thome.

The Nazareth Academy (Illinois) infielder is the son of former Phillies, White Sox and Cleveland great and baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome.

Jim Thome helped changed the perception of the Phillies from long-time losers to championship contenders when he left Cleveland and signed a six-year, $85 million contract with Philly ahead of the 2003 season.

The 18-year-old Thome went two picks before the Phillies drafted California high school shortstop Tyler Spangler with the 36th pick — and sent the bulk of the fans fleeing for the exits.

Family affair

The Marlins selected shortstop Jacob Lombard with the No. 14 pick. Lombard is the son of Detroit Tigers bench coach George Lombard Sr and younger brother of top Yankees prospect George Lombard Jr.

The Brewers took high school shortstop Trey Ebel with the 25th pick. He is the brother of Brady Ebel, whom they drafted with the 32nd selection last year. Their father is Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel — expected to pitch to Phillies slugger Bryce Harper in the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

The players were no-shows

With former White Sox and Phillies players Jimmy Rollins and Greg Luzinski on hand to rally hundreds of fans at the draft, Chicago had the top selection for the first time since taking Harold Baines in 1977.

Baines was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.

The White Sox, who the No. 1 pick after they lost 102 games last season and won the draft lottery, have pegged Cholowsky as a future star that can help them win their first World Series title since 2005.

Led by All-Star third baseman Miguel Vargas, the White Sox have emerged as one of the top surprises and entered Saturday in first place in the AL Central after enduring three straight 100-loss seasons.

“It's definitely a lot more motivation to get up there and join those guys at some point,” Cholowsky said. “Being part of a contending team is pretty cool. I value winning a lot.”

Cholowsky is the first collegiate shortstop to go No. 1 overall since Vanderbilt’s Dansby Swanson in 2015 and was UCLA’s first No. 1 draft pick since Gerrit Cole in 2011.

No players in Saturday's draft went to the podium after their name was called.

Major League Baseball has weaved the idea of forcing players to attend into negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB proposed requiring up to 10 prospects to attend the draft, and each would get a $50,000 draft attendance bonus.

That meant the loudest ovation during draft festivities belonged to the Phillie Phanatic when he was introduced during mascot roll call. Phillies fans just about booed Braves mascot Blooper out of the convention center and had more jeers for Manfred.

Manfred turned the crowd reaction around before the start of the draft as he name-dropped some of the great stars in Phillies history.

There was another announcement to make inside the convention center.

“We’re going to see the arrival of tremendous talent today,” Siera Santos of MLB Network told the crowd.

Just not live in Philadelphia.

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

Forecasters advised people to stay hydrated and find places to cool off, warning of temperatures 15 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (8 to 14 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal in many areas, including at night — especially bad for people's health because their bodies won't have a chance to recover. The heat dome was expected to affect as much as two-thirds of the continental United States.

“The heat doesn’t necessarily stop when it’s dark out,” said Josh Adam, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota, where temperatures will surpass 100 F (37 C) until Tuesday, a dramatic spike for a state where summer temperatures are typically in the 80s.

Tynika Smith of Bloomington, Minnesota, handed out frozen towels and wash cloths along with battery-operated fans at encampments of homeless people in nearby St. Paul and will continue next week, when temperatures are forecast to climb into the mid- to high 90s. The residents put the ice packs around their necks and on their heads.

“They can’t get into a car with air conditioning or go into a house,” said Smith, who also distributed water, freezer pops, food and hygiene supplies.

The encampments are so secluded that it's difficult for the residents to walk or bicycle to cooling centers, she said. There also is little outside shade, while the temperature inside their tents gets even hotter than outdoors.

“I can only do so much,” Smith said, “but at least I can help them stay cool for a little bit.”

Temperature records expected to be broken

The National Weather Service predicted that more than 90 U.S. local temperature records will be tied or broken through Wednesday — with two-thirds of those being overnight heat records. Temperatures were not forecast to drop below 80 F (27 C) at night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Miami; Tampa, Florida; Galveston, Texas; and Charleston, South Carolina.

The heat dome — formed when high pressure traps hot air while blocking cooling winds and rain — is one of the strongest to affect the Dakotas in 25 years, said Chad Merrill, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

Record triple-digit highs were forecast for the weekend in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas.

In Helena, Montana, where temperatures were expected to creep above 95 F (35 C), Last Chance Splash Waterpark & Pool was holding a swim meet for hundreds of swimmers.

The timing couldn’t be better, as it’s uncommon for Helena to get so hot, said Sean Swingley, assistant manager.

“It’s certainly a hot day, but the pool is nice and cool,” Swingley said. “Usually in the summer we have a couple 95 degree days, but it mostly hovers around 85 to 90 in June and July.”

Nevada, a state accustomed to hot weather, was even hotter than normal, said Andrew Gorelow, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. The temperature there was expected to hit 111 F (48 C) on Saturday, Gorelow said.

Hydrating and finding cool spaces is critical, experts said.

They also warned that the heat could spike fire risk in some parts of the country that already are dry, including the Rockies, where Merrill said dry thunderstorms could develop.

Climate change is supercharging heat

Climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is causing more intense and longer-lasting heat waves that cover larger areas, scientists say.

This year's temperatures also are expected to be affected by El Nino, a natural warming of the equatorial Pacific that alters weather patterns and spikes temperatures across the globe.

The current El Nino — which formed last month and is too young to have affected this heat wave much — is expected to rank as among the most intense since the weather service began tracking the phenomena in 1950, experts said.

By fall it has an 81% chance of becoming “very strong” — the top category — according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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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.

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a release on Saturday that he had received a whistleblower disclosure from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower protection group, alleging that “the Center rushed a series of renovations driven by the President’s aesthetic whims and his desire to star in a series of televised events in December.”

“The Center’s subservience to the President’s desires and its corner-cutting contracting practices have resulted in steel columns that are rusting through fresh paint, a reflecting pool that may have to be torn out and rebuilt, and a brand-new bathroom floor torn out over an offending tile color,” Whitehouse continued. “This is waste, and it treats a national memorial to President Kennedy as if it were a private renovation project.”

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump seized control of the arts and culture venue, named after former President John F. Kennedy, at the beginning of his second term. Trump ousted the center's prior leadership and replaced it with a Board of Trustees that named him chairman and added his name to the building.

Democrats sued to remove it and a federal judge ruled Trump's name must come off the venue, which had been wracked with boycotts by artists during the turmoil. He tried to close the center for two years, only to be ordered to keep it open by the court because only Congress could change its name.

Whitehouse released a letter he wrote to the center's executive director, Matt Floca, demanding answers by July 23. He said the whistleblower report included “firsthand accounts of multiple former Center project managers, supported by contemporaneous documents and photographs.” He also included an 83-page appendix full of internal center documents, emails and photos of apparently shoddy construction.

The allegations include that the center rushed work before it was authorized by Congress because it wanted it to be complete for Trump to accept the new FIFA Peace Prize that the soccer federation awarded him. In doing so, the letter alleges the center didn't follow required contracting guidelines and wasted money replacing a bathroom because the president didn't like the color and inking no-bid contracts. One $8 million contract to replace the concert hall's floor went to a firm with no experience in concert halls, Whitehouse contended.

Government spokesman Bayo Onanuga did not specify the total number of students rescued, but authorities said at the time of the abductions on May 15 that more than 40 people had been abducted. One of the teachers abducted alongside the students was killed shortly afterward.

Eight militants were arrested as part of the operation, while an unspecified number of the militants were killed, Onanuga said.

The abductions in a southern state had represented an escalation of the country’s security crisis because most such abductions previously had taken place in the north.

“This successful military operation has ended the siege and standoff of over 50 days and has brought relief to the entire nation and the affected families in particular," Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said in a statement.

In the same week as the Oyo abduction, dozens of children were kidnapped in Borno, the epicenter of Nigeria's security crisis.

Abductions at schools are common in Nigeria, where militant groups target them to put pressure on the government and extract ransoms.

According to OCFR, crews performed life-saving measures at the scene.

OCFR says the child was transported to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

We’ve reached out to learn how the child is doing and whether the child is expected to be OK.

We’re working to learn more and will provide an update as soon as we hear back.

A representative for Khanna, a California Democrat who is an outspoken progressive, said the confrontation occurred Wednesday in the middle of a three-day tour of the West Bank. As the congressman visited a Palestinian village that had been abandoned after settler attacks, masked men with guns stopped his group and refused to let them leave.

The New York Times said the incident was witnessed by one of its photographers. Khanna's office said it occurred in the town of Khirbet Zanuta.

Khanna said that when Israeli soldiers arrived he was dispirited to see them interact in a friendly manner with the settlers and block the exit for the congressman's party. Not until the U.S. Embassy and Israeli police were called was Khanna's group allowed to proceed.

“If this can happen to an American member of Congress, imagine what life is like for Palestinians who have no smartphones, no security, and no national platform,” Khanna, who is exploring a presidential bid in 2028, said in a fundraising email he sent out shortly after his post Saturday about the incident.

In a statement, the IDF said it received a report of Israeli citizens blocking foreign nationals and media in Khirbet Zanuta.

“Upon receiving the report, IDF troops were dispatched to the scene, quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians, and reopened the blocked road,” the military said in a statement. “The IDF soldiers operating in the area did not take part in blocking the road.”

Democratic politicians from the United States have stepped up their criticism of Israel amid a sharp turn against the country by the party's voters since the war in Gaza began. This past week, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose father was born in Jerusalem and fought in Israel's war of independence, gave a blistering speech last week in Tel Aviv in which he said Israel has become a “territorial pariah.” Emanuel also is a potential White House contender.

In a recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about 58% of Democrats said the U.S. is “too supportive” of Israelis.

Also Saturday, the Israeli military said it detained four suspects who were attacking foreign journalists traveling to Sinjil, another West Bank community. The assailants blocked the journalists' vehicle and damaged it and were armed with clubs and knives, according to the military's statement.

CNN reported that it had a team among the journalists who were attacked. The network said the journalists were there to cover the one-year anniversary of the killing of a Palestinian-American man who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

The West Bank has seen a surge of settlement construction, and settler violence against Palestinians, in the past few years. Israeli officials have condemned particularly grave violence by settlers but tend to describe the incidents as exceptions, and attackers are rarely punished.

The international community overwhelmingly considers the settlements illegal. Israel’s government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy criticism from Palestinians and rights groups for accelerating settlement expansion, which they say is aimed at preventing the establishment of a future Palestinian state there.

Israel views the West Bank as disputed territory and says its final status is subject to negotiations. Key Cabinet ministers have pushed for formal annexation of the territory.

The city health department on Friday released a list of 31 buildings on the Upper East Side that have been ordered to clean and disinfect their cooling towers as the city deals with the latest outbreak of the disease, which is a serious form of pneumonia.

The distinctive, cylindrical-shaped art museum was among 19 that have already completed the remediation, according to the department’s list. The rest were expected to complete the work by Saturday.

City officials stressed the positive test results do not confirm any of the buildings as the source of outbreak as the tests conducted could not distinguish between live and dead bacteria.

The museum was also not shuttered at any point because of the positive test or remediation work, they said.

“The city has confirmed that there is no additional action needed at this time, and this poses no risk to anyone inside the building,” the museum said in a statement Saturday, noting that it has an outside company that conducts regular monthly testing and treating of its cooling tower.

The Guggenheim was designed by the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site as one of the defining architectural works of the 20th century.

More than 50 people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease in connection with the Upper East Side cluster, of which less than 20 remain hospitalized, according to the most recent data from the city health department. No deaths have so far been reported.

Seven people died and more than 100 were sickened during a major outbreak in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem last year that was ultimately traced to cooling towers atop Harlem Hospital and a nearby construction site where the city’s public health lab is located.

Legionella bacteria generally grow in warm water and can spread in building water systems such as showerheads, hot tubs and cooling towers.

The structures are usually found on the top of buildings and control the temperature of systems such as refrigeration, but they do not affect drinking water or the building’s indoor air or air conditioning.

Legionnaires’ disease is also not transmitted person-to-person. People often contract it by breathing in tiny droplets of contaminated water.

Symptoms usually develop two days to two weeks after exposure and include cough, fever, headaches, muscle aches and shortness of breath, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People are at an increased risk for Legionnaires’ disease if they are age 50 or older, smoke or vape, have a chronic lung disease or have a weakened immune system.

The respiratory ailment's name comes from an outbreak that hit attendees of an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976.

The move puts a pair of Manchester City defenders — Stones and Marc Guehi — in England's opening 11 against Norway star striker Erling Haaland, who also plays for the same club.

Quansah is starting a two-game ban issued after he got a red card in the round of 16 win over Mexico. Stones has not started for England since its opening game of the World Cup. Another switch for England: Noni Madueke is back on the wing, sending Bukayo Saka to the bench.

Norway made a switch to its lineup as well, adding midfielder Andreas Schjelderup — who came off the bench to register the assist on both of Haaland's goals in a 2-1 win over Brazil in the round of 16.

It was Schjelderup's second start of the World Cup. He also started Norway's loss to France in the group stage, a match where coach Stale Solbakken went with mostly backups since his team had already clinched a spot in the knockout round.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

“It’s a day to day thing,” manager Andy Green said before the Mets continued a three-game series with Boston. “If he’s feeling great tomorrow we’ll get him back out there. If not we’ll likely use the All-Star break to kind of get him a full reset.

Green said Bichette felt pain during last weekend’s series in Atlanta when he went 8 for 18 but also fouled balls off his legs.

"In Atlanta, he fouled some balls off of his legs, kind of beat his legs up a little bit, played through a lot; the guy’s a warrior,” Green said. “Legs are just overall sore, got some right ankle soreness, as well, coupled with that.”

Bichette went 0 for 3 in Thursday’s 7-3 win over Kansas City and is hitting .320 with two homers and 11 RBIs in his last 25 games.

Overall Bichette is hitting .256 with 10 homers and 51 RBIs in his first season with the Mets after seven seasons with the Blue Jays. He started this season by going 2-for-22 and was hitting .219 through the first two months.

The Mets signed Bichette to a $126 million, three-year contract in mid-January to play third base and he made the majority of his 44 starts at shortstop while Francisco Lindor was recovering from a calf strain. Bichette can opt out of the deal after the first or second season to become a free agent.

Marcus Semien nearing rehab assignment

Marcus Semien did some running Saturday after facing Clay Holmes in live batting practice on Friday and could start a rehab assignment soon as the second baseman recovers from a left hip flexor strain.

Semien’s rehab assignment may not occur until the end of the next week because the Mets’ Triple-A and Double-A teams are off during the All-Star break.

“Obviously, it’s tough timing with the All-Star break,” Green said. “Only games going on are in the FCL through the All-Star break and I’ve seen too many of those games in the last few years to feel great about putting our hitters in the batter’s box."

Semien was placed on the 10-day injured list June 25 and has missed 16 games. Acquired from Texas for Brandon Nimmo in November, Semien is batting .214 with nine homers and 29 RBIs in 80 games.

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

Bavi previously brought strong winds and rain to Japan’s southern islands and Taiwan. It was the second typhoon to impact China in just over a week’s time. The first, Maysak, made landfall in southern China on July 3.

Chinese authorities have evacuated more than 1.7 million people as of Saturday and issued high alerts while eastern China braced for Bavi, which had maximum sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph) near its center.

After passing north of Taiwan on Saturday and making landfall in the coastal city of Yuhuan in Zhejiang, Bavi is expected to move northwestward inland, the National Meteorological Center said.

Earlier, at least 17 people were killed in the southern Philippines, mostly due to landslides that were set off by seasonal monsoon rains that Bavi intensified before the typhoon blew away toward Taiwan, Philippine officials said Saturday.

China evacuates over 1.7 million people

Authorities in Zhejiang had evacuated more than 1.7 million people by Saturday morning, the official Xinhua News Agency said. By noon, Shanghai, also on China’s eastern coast, relocated around 34,000 residents from high-risk areas, according to Xinhua.

Southeastern Chinese cities near the coast prepared for the impacts. In Ningde in Fujian province, more than 3,700 people were relocated from high-risk onshore areas as of Friday evening, Xinhua said. Authorities in Fujian province placed over 17,000 emergency rescue workers on standby.

China’s weather center issued an orange typhoon alert, the second-highest on a four-tier level, with many schools and ferry services suspended. Hundreds of flights have been canceled, and some high-speed railway services halted.

The center on Saturday also issued the first red alert for rainstorms of the year, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Chinese authorities said Saturday they have allocated 40 million yuan ($5.9 million) in central natural disaster relief funds to support Zhejiang and Fujian provinces’ typhoon prevention and emergency rescue and relief efforts.

Landslides kill more than a dozen in the Philippines

In the Philippines, a landslide set off by monsoon rains that Bavi intensified hit a village before dawn Friday in the coastal town of Malapatan in southern Sarangani province, killing at least 10 villagers and leaving three others missing, Office of Civil Defense spokesperson Diego Mariano said.

A separate landslide in Calanogas town in southern Lanao del Sur province before dawn on Friday killed five people, with six others missing, he said.

Two people drowned in floodwaters Wednesday in the southern province of Bukidnon, Mariano said without providing other details.

Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said about 11,000 villagers moved to 77 emergency shelters mostly in southern Philippine provinces in recent days due to the stormy weather.

More than 110 people injured in Taiwan as high winds hit Japan

As of Saturday at 7 p.m., Taiwanese authorities registered at least 113 injuries from Typhoon Bavi, some sustained while riding motorcycles in rain and winds on slippery roads.

More than 14,200 people had also been evacuated around the island, including from the eastern county of Hualien and the central city of Taichung. Schools and offices in most parts of Taiwan were suspended Saturday.

Across Japan’s southern islands in the prefecture of Okinawa, local authorities earlier warned of high waves, strong winds and storm surges, with more than 200 flights canceled across the region, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. Strong winds and rain had hit islands including Ishigaki.

The event featured a 26-minute, 50-second workout representing Duran’s badge number, 2650, and the 2650 Foundation, the nonprofit his family created following his line-of-duty death.

“It’s just absolutely amazing,” says Duran’s father, Mike Duran, founder of the 2650 Foundation. “I’m not surprised. You know, the 15 days, it just worked out when Austin was at the hospital. It’s the same thing. It’s community coming out and still supporting Austin, the foundation that is Austin. So you see four years later that the community is still coming together and still showing that support. It’s just absolutely amazing.”

Austin Duran, 25, was injured on June 30, 2022, while helping move a heavy sand trailer at an Apopka fire station. He suffered severe spinal injuries and died 15 days later, on July 15.

Saturday’s workout was one of several events held during the foundation’s annual “15 Days of Hope,” a series of community events leading up to the anniversary of Duran’s death.

Since its creation, the 2650 Foundation has funded specialized firefighter safety training for departments across Central Florida and awarded scholarships to local students. Organizers say the goal is to improve firefighter safety while giving back to the community that supported Duran and his family.

Apopka Mayor Nick Nesta participated in the workout and said it serves as a reminder of the sacrifices firefighters make every day.

“You tend to get a little choked up when you start to hit your wall and you think about kind of what he went through, what other firefighters are going through as well,” Nesta said. “Just pushing through, really overcoming obstacles—the mental and the physical strain—and just knowing that his life truly does impact our community now and will forever.”

The final event of the 15 Days of Hope will be a 5K beginning at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at Highland Memorial Gardens in Apopka.

The exchange came as Ukraine’s drones have lately been hitting oil refineries and other infrastructure across Russia to undercut its war effort, triggering a widespread fuel crisis with gasoline shortages. Moscow has responded by intensifying its bombardment on Kyiv and other cities, exposing Ukraine’s vulnerability to ballistic missile strikes.

Ukraine’s General Staff said 21 tankers used to transport oil and petroleum products were damaged overnight, in addition to four tugboats, two cargo ships and a dredging vessel. Russian officials said one person was killed in the Ukrainian drone strikes and that only four ships came under attack.

In Ukraine's northeast Sumy region, four people were killed, including a child, and 17 people were wounded when two aerial glide bombs hit a crowded area where civilians were present, said Sumy regional head Oleh Hryhorov.

Eleven people, including one child, were wounded in missile and drone attacks overnight on Kyiv, the State Emergency Service reported. In the southern region of Odesa, two people were killed after a Russian missile struck a building, said regional head Oleh Kiper. Another man was wounded by shrapnel.

Explosions and fires were reported across Kyiv’s Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, the emergency service said.

Russia launched 12 missiles, including six ballistic missiles, along with 121 drones against Ukraine overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. He said most of the drones and some of the missiles were shot down, but the ballistic missiles reached their targets, reiterating Ukraine's dire air defense gaps.

Ukrainian air defenses said they shot down or electronically suppressed two missiles and 111 drones. The air force said direct hits were recorded at 11 locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv, as well as the ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in the Odesa region.

The ministry also said Russian air defenses destroyed 178 Ukrainian drones overnight over eight Russian regions, as well as over the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Black and Azov seas.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The case's dismissal late Friday became a foregone conclusion when Trump last year used his pardon powers to erase every case that the government prosecuted after a mob of his supporters stormed the building on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge who presided over the Proud Boys leaders' trial saw no basis to preserve the convictions after Trump's sweeping act of clemency last year.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, whom Trump nominated during his first term, said there is “little mystery” about why the second Trump administration decided to abandon this case and every other Jan. 6 riot case.

“President Trump’s views about the prosecution of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — whether those views are based on fact or fiction — are well known, as is his intention to extend clemency to them,” Kelly wrote.

The judge stressed that his order should not be mistaken as an endorsement of the Department of Justice's decision to abandon the case. He referred to the Capitol riot as “a perilous event” and an assault on the constitutional imperative for a peaceful transfer of power between presidents.

“Moving forward, if this Nation’s experiment in self-government is to last another 250 years, the American people — no matter their partisan preferences — will have to act together to preserve, protect and defend that miracle through our constitutional framework,” Kelly wrote.

Juries in the nation's capital separately convicted leaders of the Proud Boys and another extremist group, the antigovernment Oath Keepers, of orchestrating violent plots to keep Trump, a Republican, in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

A different judge has not ruled yet on the Justice Department’s related request to throw out Oath Keepers' seditious conspiracy convictions.

Friday's ruling applied to four of five Proud Boys members who were convicted after a jury trial: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola. Trump commuted their prison sentences, but they were not covered by the president's mass pardons.

Former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio was convicted at the same trial but received a pardon from Trump. Kelly had sentenced Tarrio to 22 years, the longest prison term in any Capitol riot case.

Two days later, he was found dead. What happened, Wells' parents say, is a mystery riddled with conflicting stories, implausible explanations and missing details. It is a case shadowed by the state's fraught racial history and lingering distrust in law enforcement.

At a news conference Friday in New York City, Christine and Elmore Wonsley called for a thorough and transparent investigation into their son’s death, skeptical of claims that Wells told his friends to leave the island without him and suggestions that he, an elite athlete who knew how to swim, had accidentally drowned.

Wells’ body was found early Monday along the shore of Horn Island, about 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) off the Mississippi coast, more than a day after he was last seen alive. The roughly 11-mile long (17.7 kilometer) spit of land is near the Alabama state line. The island is uninhabited and accessible only by boat. About 200 people were there on July 4, the family’s lawyers said.

“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley said, looking upward several times as she stood alongside her lawyer, Ben Crump, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who will officiate Wells’ funeral.

Family commissions independent autopsy

Crump said Wells' family has commissioned an independent autopsy, performed by a forensic pathologist in Washington, D.C. with no ties to Mississippi law enforcement, while they await the results of an official autopsy, which could take weeks. They also plan to employ experts to recover messages that appeared to have been deleted from his cellphone, Crump said. They will eventually turn the device over to authorities, he said.

Wells' family also encouraged witnesses to come forward and asked people to submit any video they recorded that may show him on Horn Island, echoing a call by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to help shed light on the moments before Wells’ disappearance and death.

A photo posted on social media, purportedly from the boat ride to the island, shows Wells with his arms around three white male friends. Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating and that investigators don’t suspect foul play. Crump said those friends now have lawyers and that his investigators haven't attempted to speak with them yet.

Wells' death has led to rampant speculation and suspicion as people grapple with Mississippi's history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority white space.

Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping pay for Wells' funeral, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for his independent autopsy, and filmmaker Spike Lee showed up to the news conference to show support for Wells' family.

Family doesn't trust Mississippi authorities, Crump says

Crump said Wells' parents hired him to conduct an independent investigation into their son’s death because they don't trust that law enforcement officials will perform a fair inquiry in a state still reckoning with its Jim Crow past, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the murders of three civil rights workers in the 1960s.

“The history of Mississippi is something that they don’t just read about in books,” Crump told reporters at Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. “It's a lived experience for many Black Americans that oftentimes when our children are killed in highly questionable situations that there is this notion that ‘Oh, there was nothing wrong, no foul play, let’s just sweep it under the rug.’ Well, we refuse to sweep it under the rug.”

It is the second case that Crump has taken on in the state in recent months. He also was recently retained by the family of a Mississippi 1-year-old who was killed when police fired into a moving car.

Ledbetter told The Associated Press this week that investigators suspect that Wells “chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else.”

Wells didn't have his cellphone or keys

But Wells didn't have his cellphone or his keys — his friends did.

“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island? What teenager wouldn’t take their phone?” Crump said. “It’s not adding up at all.”

Crump said bystander video from the island showed a person he said was Wells arguing with someone to give him his phone back. In another discrepancy, Crump said that a witness reported Wells had planned to leave on the boat with his friends, contradicting the sheriff's theory.

“The friends come back and he's left there with some story about how he said leave him behind,” Sharpton said. “But then by some magic one of the friends has his keys and his phone.”

The sheriff did not return The Associated Press' messages seeking his response to the family's concerns.

Parents try to track down their son, then report him missing

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said she started to worry when a friend of his called her just after 11 p.m. on July 4.

After trying to track him down on her own, she reported him missing to police and went with her husband to meet an officer in a McDonald’s parking lot, she said, a process exacerbated by a dispute over which law enforcement agency had jurisdiction over the island. One of Wells’ friends had also reported him missing to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, said he went out on a boat on the morning of July 5 looking for his son near Horn Island. Crews from multiple local and state agencies began an extensive search, and his body was recovered early Monday, family members confirmed.

“If he’s drowning, nobody sees him drown? Nobody offers assistance? Nobody tries to help? I mean, obviously he stands out," Crump said. "I think he’s the only Black person I saw when I’m looking at the videos.”

Christine Wonsley said she used an app to track his phone and, after a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up, noticed that some of his messages appeared to be deleted. Wells, a shutterbug at social and family events, had two Snapchat accounts — but both were devoid of pictures or saved messages, she said.

As they searched for their son, Elmore Wonsley went to retrieve Wells' keys from the home where he stayed with his friends from the boat the night before their island trip. He said his son's car was still parked in the yard.

A peacemaker with football aspirations

Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, played wide receiver on the football team at Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit, Mississippi, and had aspirations of playing at a high-level Division I program.

His coach, Les George, told WAPT-TV that Wells “was a guy that never had a bad day. Never.”

“He was very sociable with everyone, didn’t meet a stranger,” George said. “He would pop up at my office and come sit on the couch just to hang out and talk.”

Christine Wonsley said she and her husband schooled Wells in history and talked to him about navigating the racial tensions that still permeate the South.

Wells was a peacemaker who didn’t like division, once breaking into a dance while still in diapers to ease tensions while his parents were arguing, they said. He wanted everyone to be included and shied away from confrontation.

“Nolan is a person with a big heart,” Elmore Wonsley said.

Wells' parents said they last saw him the night before the boat trip. He came to their house, baked them salmon for dinner and hugged his mother goodbye.

As people mourn and protest Wells' death, Christine Wonsley urged them to follow his example.

“Please be peaceful," she said. "Nolan was not someone who liked fights, physical fights. He didn’t even really like arguments. Don’t go out there trying to be tough. Think about what Nolan would want, and he wouldn’t want that type of behavior.”

The move on Friday came less than a week after the parent of Instagram and Facebook rolled out Muse Image, its first image-generation model available through the company’s artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI.

“Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way,” Meta said in a statement. “We’ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it’s no longer available.”

Like other AI apps with image-generating capabilities, Muse Image creates images based on users’ suggestions. But its also automatically made photos posted on all public Instagram accounts usable by the AI tool as a reference when creating new images.

That led to a flurry of social media posts flagging privacy concerns and instructing Instagram users how to opt out of having their accounts accessed by Muse Image.

Hollywood also was quick to raise concerns about the image-generation feature.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists urged its members to change the settings on their Instagram account to protect their likeness.

In a statement on X, SAG-AFTRA applauded Meta’s decision to shut off the feature.

“With the dangers of nonconsensual digital replicas well known to all, a feature that encouraged that behavior is unwise,” the union said. “We appreciate its discontinuance. It is the right thing to do.”

Former coach Julian Nagelsmann resigned after his team failed to make the round of 16 for the third World Cup running.

Klopp, a serial trophy winner with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, was quickly identified as the favorite to succeed him.

The German federation said talks were held in New York on Friday with Klopp, who is currently in an executive role as head of global soccer for the Red Bull group.

“In the constructive exchange, an understanding was reached on essential key points of a potential contract,” it said. “Both sides are confident that the negotiations, subject to an agreement with Klopp’s current employer Red Bull, can ultimately be successfully concluded.”

Klopp has been working as a pundit on German TV at the World Cup, even taking part in postgame interviews with Nagelsmann at the side of the field.

He has not been a coach since leaving Liverpool in 2024 after winning a full set of trophies with the iconic club, including the Champions League and Premier League.

“About two years ago I stopped at Liverpool and said that I lacked the energy for another job or for another year with Liverpool. Since then I’m more than recharged, I’m ready,” he told German broadcaster Magenta TV last week.

Germany has repeatedly failed at the World Cup since winning the trophy for the fourth time in 2014.

Since then it was eliminated at the group stage in 2018 and 2022. Germany advanced beyond the group stage at this year's expanded 48-team format, but was knocked out by Paraguay on penalties in the newly-introduced round of 32.

Klopp held talks with German federation president Bernd Neuendorf and vice president Hans-Joachim Watzke.

The 59-year-old has been regarded as one of the game's top coaches since breaking Bayern Munich's dominance of German soccer by winning two league titles with Borussia Dortmund.

He took over at Liverpool in 2015 and ended the Merseyside club's 30-year wait for an English league title in 2020.

He also won the Champions League among seven major trophies during his time at Anfield. He might have won more if not for the fact he was competing against a dominant Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.

There has been speculation about whether he would return to coaching and, as recently as March, he denied claims he’d join Real Madrid.

Following Germany's exit from the World Cup, Klopp said there was a “need to change things fundamentally,” arguing that Nagelsmann was an “excellent coach” who wasn’t to blame for another disappointing campaign.

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James Ellingworth in Duesseldorf contributed to this report.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Jodie Foster, “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins, and “Ted Lasso” actress Hannah Waddingham were also among the invited guests in the Royal Box at Centre Court for the all-Czech women’s final, along with two-time Wimbledon singles champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Eileen Gu, a three-time Olympic goal medalist, was also on hand. The U.S.-born skier, one of the stars of the Milan Cortina Games, competes for her mother’s homeland of China.

Kate, the patron of the All England Club, was scheduled to present the trophy to the winner, as she has done in prior years.

The princess, who early last year announced her cancer was in remission, also visited the grass-court tournament last week and sat next to Andy Murray to watch the tennis.

Wimbledon singles champions Maria Sharapova (2004), Marion Bartoli (2013), and Simona Halep (2019) were also in the Royal Box.

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

Two weeks after winning her first major at the Women's PGA Championship, Ryu birdied four of her last five holes at Evian Golf Resort. She had a chance at tying the LPGA scoring record of 59 but settled for a lengthy two-putt birdie putt on the closing hole.

Ryu didn't know what she had done until she looked at the scorecard and counted all the sub-par holes — nine birdies and an eagle — and realized it was a par 71.

“But after the putt and I counted my score with my caddie,” she said. “Oh my God, it’s 11-under par today. It was so amazing. My caddie says, ‘Yep.’ I’m so happy right now.”

Her 60 broke by one shot the record for lowest round in an LPGA major. Leona Maguire and Jeung-eun Lee6 in 2021, and Hyo Joo Kim in 2014, each shot 61 at the Evian Championship, which was designated an LPGA major in 2013.

The lowest round in a men’s major is 62 by four players — Branden Grace at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 British Open, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Next up for Ryu is to finish it off. Her record day put her at 18-under 194 — another LPGA major record — for a three-shot lead over Aki Iwai of Japan, who shot 65.

The next closest players to Ryu were seven shots behind — Brooke Henderson (64) and Mao Saigo of Japan (67).

Lottie Woad of England, who began the third round with a one-shot lead, struggled to a 72 and fell nine shots off the pace.

Ryu picked up birdies on both par 3s on the front nine, and then holed out for eagle with a 7-iron from 155 yards on the par-4 sixth hole.

“That hole is a little tricky because little narrow and the green is little hilly. So that's why I just want to make par on that hole,” Ryu said. “I hit 7-iron there and then it’s pretty good shot there. I just walking towards (the green) and it’s going in. So it was so happy and surprise there.”

Only one of the three previous players to shoot 61 at the Evian — Kim — went on to win, and Ryu realizes she still has work left. Iwai already has made 21 birdies this week to offset some of her mistakes and is three behind — the same margin Ryu faced at the start of the day.

“Last year I missed the cut, and so I want revenge,” Iwai said. “Really optimistic tomorrow. I just keep going.”

Ryu had minor back surgery after a runner-up finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship, returning just over a month later to win her first major in the Women's PGA at Hazeltine. Now she has a chance to join Nelly Korda, who missed the cut at Evian, as a double major winner this year.

Two majors in three weeks was a lot for her to digest.

“That is amazing, amazing dream,” Ryu said. “So I just want that one to come true, but we have one more day and Aki is pretty good player and everybody is so good player, so I just doing pretty well.”

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

Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.

IMF expects world economy to grow a sluggish 3% this year

The International Monetary Fund this week downgraded its outlook for the world economy in 2026 citing the energy shock caused by the Iran war. But the fallout from the conflict is being partially offset by booming investment in artificial intelligence and other technologies.

The IMF now expects the global economy to expand by a sluggish 3% in 2026, down from 3.5% last year and from the 3.1% it had forecast for this year back in April. The fund expects worldwide growth to rebound to 3.4% next year.

The IMF expects the U.S. economy — the world’s largest — to grow a solid 2.3% this year, up from 2.1% in 2025 and unchanged from the April forecast. The 21 European countries that share the euro currency, hit hard by higher energy prices, are collectively forecast to grow just 0.9% this year, down from 1.4% in 2025.

US home prices hit all-time high

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in June, but a key measure of home prices climbed to an all-time high, adding to prospective homebuyers’ affordability challenges.

Existing home sales fell 2.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, the National Association of Realtors said this week. Sales rose 2.8% compared with June last year.

The latest sales tally fell short of the roughly 4.21 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

Despite the lackluster sales, home prices continued to rise nationally last month. The U.S. median sales price increased 1.8% in June from a year earlier to $440,600, an all-time high on data going back to 1999, NAR said. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 36 months in a row.

The deep divide at the US Fed over inflation

The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee is split over whether inflation is likely to stay elevated or whether it will cool once the Iran war winds down, according to minutes released this week.

In the first set of minutes released under new Chair Kevin Warsh, “many” of the Fed’s 19 officials said its key rate would be unchanged from or slightly below its current level of 3.6% by the end of this year. But they also also said that it would likely be higher by year-end.

Forecasts released after the meeting ended June 17 showed that half of the 18 policymakers who submitted projections supported lifting rates by the end of this year, while the other half supported keeping them unchanged or reducing them. Warsh did not submit a forecast, reflecting his view that doing so can lock policymakers into a specific approach that is harder to change if the economy shifts direction.

Iran war may lead to 1st global oil demand slide since pandemic

Global oil demand will likely decline this year for the first time since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic isolated billions of people at home, according to the International Energy Agency.

The agency expects demand to drop by 1 million barrels per day in 2026 due to higher prices and disruptions to physical supply that weighed heavily on various parts of the world.

Most of the decline in demand has been in Asia, which is heavily reliant on oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz that has largely been shut down to tanker traffic by the war.

Asian nations have altered workdays and made other changes to lower energy use during the war.

One notable exception to the global slump in oil usage was in the United States, where gasoline use increased in the second quarter of 2026, despite the fact that pump prices were almost 50% above their pre-war levels in May.

US jobless claims dip modestly

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dipped slightly last week as layoffs in the U.S. remain historically low.

U.S. applications for jobless aid in the week ending July 4 ticked down by 2,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 220,000 new applications.

Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market.

In its more comprehensive June jobs report last week, the government reported that employers pulled back on hiring in June, adding only 57,000 jobs. That’s less than half the previous month’s total and a sign that companies remain cautious.

Wall Street in flux as Iran war drags on

U.S. stocks and oil prices drifted toward a quiet finish of the week Friday following their earlier fireworks on worries about how the war with Iran will affect the global flow of crude.

The S&P 500 rose and was on track to close out a fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up slightly, and the Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged.

Oil prices held relatively steady, even after a series of unclaimed airstrikes hit Iran after the U.S. said it finished its attacks.

The speedboat was carrying 32 Indian tourists and four crew members when it overturned Saturday afternoon shortly after leaving Hon May Rut Ngoai Island, which is near Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, authorities were quoted as saying.

“The boat had not even gone half a kilometer when it just tipped over,” Ashish Kumar, an Indian who witnessed the accident, told The Associated Press over the phone. “We screamed, ‘Help! Help!’”

He said nearby boats immediately rushed to the rescue. “But by then it was too late,” he said.

Kumar said that there was no emergency medical care available at the shore when survivors were brought back.

He said that at least some of the passengers were on a company tour organized by their employer, which makes smartphones and other electronics.

Three of his friends were on the boat. “Two have died, and the other, I was told, is critical,” he said.

India’s Lava International, a smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer, confirmed that some of its employees and channel partners were among those involved in the accident. “Our immediate priority is to extend all possible support to those affected and their families,” it said.

Strong winds and waves lashed rescue boats

VN Express news site quoted witnesses as saying that some people were trapped inside the capsized boat. Footage on Vietnamese TV showed rough seas and strong winds as rescue teams threw life buoys to people in the water. Jet skis ferried survivors back to shore while people on the beach provided first aid.

Twenty-one people were rescued, and all the dead were recovered, authorities said. The injured were taken to hospitals.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung ordered an investigation and directed authorities to hold those responsible accountable. He also asked officials to review waterway and maritime safety in the area where the accident happened.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the tragedy and wrote on social media that the Indian Embassy was providing all possible assistance.

Many of those on board are believed to be from India's southern Telangana and Tamil Nadu states.

Authorities in Telangana have set up a control room to coordinate assistance and provide information to their families. The Tamil Nadu chief minister wrote on social media that he had urged Indian authorities to provide assistance to the victims and ensure that the bodies of those killed are brought back as soon as possible.

More Indians are visiting Vietnam

Phu Quoc in the Gulf of Thailand is one of Vietnam's most popular beach destinations. Hon May Rut island is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Phu Quoc. They're known for their white-sand beaches and clear waters and draw millions of domestic and foreign tourists each year.

India is one of Vietnam's fastest growing tourism markets. The Southeast Asian country welcomed about 750,000 Indians in 2025, up nearly 50% from the previous year.

Officials attribute the growth to an expanding network of direct flights between major Indian and Vietnamese cities, and Vietnam's liberal e-visa policy.

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This story has been corrected to show that it was a witness, not Modi, who said many of the passengers were on a company tour organized by employer.

He blended in as well as one can in a town where everyone knows just about everyone else. He was not campaigning. “I didn’t want to turn it into something that was about me rather than about the celebration,” he said.

This Sullivan — Dan. J — has been an unconventional candidate from the start. He drew intense, immediate blowback for having the same name and party affiliation as the senator — Dan. S. — in a race that could help decide control of the Senate in November. The incumbent and GOP allies accused the same-named challenger in the Aug. 18 primary of being a sham candidate working with Democrats to sow confusion and help Peltola. Dan. J. Sullivan and the Peltola campaign have denied that claim.

A top state elections official booted Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot. The Alaska Supreme Court later ordered that he be included.

All candidates, including independents, run in one primary in Alaska. The top four vote-getters advance to the ranked vote general election in November. Primaries in the top races can be crowded, with more than a dozen candidates. Dan. J. Sullivan is among 16 hopefuls in the Senate race. The incumbent and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates and the only ones so far to report raising money.

Petersburg, where the challenger has lived for decades, is an island community of about 3,000 people in southeast Alaska that is accessible only by air or water. Many longtime residents find it hard to believe claims that their Dan Sullivan, a retired elementary and middle school teacher, is a dirty trickster.

“You really have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to suddenly not respect Dan Sullivan, because he’s honestly a very stand-up human being," said Orin Pierson, publisher of the Petersburg Pilot newspaper.

Petersburg residents reflect and weigh their choices

Even some who do not know how they will vote, or declined to say, criticized the state’s attempts to block the political novice, saying he met the age, residency and citizenship requirements set out by the U.S. Constitution.

“To say somebody can’t run — that he’s fake — that’s fear,” said Linda Bunge, who attended a community potluck at a park where yellowish seaweed carpeted the beach at low tide. Bunge said she probably will vote for Peltola, a former congresswoman, but would consider Dan J. Sullivan.

Jeigh Stanton Gregor, a borough Assembly member who worked with him years ago at the local elementary school, said he was somewhat surprised Sullivan was running because people previously tried to recruit him for local offices. He called Sullivan’s character “unimpeachable.”

Stanton Gregor said he wants to see how the campaign plays out before deciding which candidate to support. Dan J. Sullivan’s concerns about healthcare costs resonate with him, but Stanton Gregor also has found the senator easy to work with and respects Peltola. A registered Democrat, Stanton Gregor said he generally votes for the person, not the party.

“Being a good human carries a lot of weight with me,” he said.

Sullivan regroups after successful court fight

Last month, Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees elections, announced an investigation into Dan J. Sullivan's run. She cited “credible allegations” that he ran in coordination with another candidate and campaign in an effort to “manipulate voters.” The announcement came after a lawyer for the National Republican Senatorial Committee asserted that Dan J. Sullivan's work with a consultant who has worked with Democrats was evidence of an attempt to confuse voters and “rig the election” for Peltola. It is an assertion that the Republican Senate campaign arm has continued to make.

Dan J. Sullivan argued the state had no legal basis to block his candidacy. He said the allegation he worked with Peltola was “entirely false” and that the prior work of a consultant was not a legitimate reason to investigate him. The state Democratic Party and campaign groups denied recruiting Dan J. Sullivan or having any affiliation with him. The director of the state Division of Elections, Carol Beecher, in disqualifying him, did not mention finding any evidence of coordination.

But she determined he had not filed a “good-faith candidacy.” She cited factors such as his lack of affiliation with the Republican Party before filing and having a campaign site similar in appearance to the senator's.

A state court judge voided her decision, ruling it was not based on constitutional or legal requirements and that there was not enough evidence to support her conclusion that Dan J. Sullivan aimed to confuse voters. The state Supreme Court affirmed placing him on the ballot but left to the Division of Elections to figure out how to do that.

While the challenger sought to appear as Republican Dan J. Sullivan, he is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. The senator is listed as Republican Dan S. Sullivan and as “incumbent,” a title not included for other candidates seeking reelection.

Dan J. Sullivan said he does not think that is fair, but if the agency's concern “is truly that I’m going to confuse people, then this certainly will be a way that people should not be confused.”

He acknowledges his name gives him an advantage over the 13 candidates with little to no name recognition or campaign support. He is now trying to figure how to make the most of the limelight and deal with the scrutiny. He plans to take steps to fundraise and may campaign in other communities and participate in forums. Sullivan has a Facebook page and a basic campaign website.

“I want something to change, and it’s my right to do that,” he said. “I could put up a yard sign; I could write letters. In this case, I thought, wow, this would reach a lot more people.”

Trump's compensation fund was a motivation to run

There was not one issue that prompted the Petersburg Sullivan to run, but he said he had grown frustrated by a senator he sees as unresponsive to constituents. He also wanted the incumbent to join Alaska's senior senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, in speaking out against a compensation fund proposed by the Trump administration and the possibility rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could benefit from it.

Dan J. Sullivan said he worries President Donald Trump's tariff policies and the war with Iran are driving up costs for Alaskans. He does not see the rural healthcare funding approved by Congress last year and promoted as transformational by the senator as helping address immediate needs.

Petersburg, like many small Alaska communities, has limited healthcare options. Residents needing specialized care must travel to larger cities. Residents will often maximize a trip to Juneau, the nearest city of size, by taking their vehicles on the state-run ferry and stocking up at Costco on cheaper groceries and supplies.

Resident Grace Wolf said she appreciates what the senator has done, saying he is fiscally responsible and that she likes his military background. The senator was a long-serving Marine and retired as a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. But “I feel like this time around, grassroots might be the way to go," she said.

She plans to vote for Dan J. Sullivan, whom she knows as Mr. Sullivan.

Wolf worries about people being able to afford to stay in or move to the area and about protecting the health of local fisheries so important to the economy. Having people in office who can relate to those challenges is important, she said.

"I think we stand a better chance with having them at the helm and protecting our interests. It doesn’t matter if they’ve got a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ by their names. They’re our neighbors and they know what we’re going through.”

Our scorching temperatures continue this weekend as we get a thicker plume of Saharan dust working in, in-tandem with our upper level ridge. Highs will once again climb into the mid-upper 90s with our “feels like” temperatures up to 112ºF. Heat advisories are likely Saturday.

One difference is a slight bump in moisture thanks to a cold front moving into the panhandle, allowing for slightly higher rain chances to cool us off. Due to the dust and high pressure, showers will fire up a little later than usual, sparking mid-afternoon and lasting a little after sunset. Coverage will peak at around 40% by 5pm.

By Sunday, a thicker plume of Saharan Dust will have made its way into Central Florida. This will keep our temperatures scorching and help to curb widespread shower chances. Due to moisture over the panhandle from the front, it will be a battle of moisture vs dust to see who wins. Moisture looks to be mostly contained Marion County northward, rain chances look lower the farther south you go as dust continues to work in. Highs will hit the mid 90s with heat index values up to 108ºF.

Drivers along State Road 19 near Groveland had to sit and wait Thursday night after an accident shut down the road. It’s one of three road closures drivers have had to endure following crashes over the past two weeks.

“State Road 19, in one word. What would you say? A cluster. I can’t say the rest,” said Tyler Halbert, a Leesburg resident.

“You just have to find ways around it. Like I said, I work right there, so it makes it harder. If I have to go the other way, I’m late to work,” said Malachi Wayman, a Lake County resident.

“It holds you up. I was only three minutes away from my neighborhood, but because of the accident, I had to turn around and go through Villa City to get back to Emma because there was no other way to get home,” said Brittany Mosley-Joyce, a Groveland resident.

It’s why many are calling for more safety measures and improvements along the corridor.

The Florida Department of Transportation is already studying this more than nine-mile stretch of State Road 19 between State Road 50 and County Road 455. They’re also considering widening the road from two lanes to four.

“At least having extra lanes of travel would be very helpful, especially for people like us who live in this neighborhood. There’s really only one way in and one way out,” said a resident.

FDOT confirms they’re adding a traffic light at the Cherry Lake intersection by early next year, and says the project development and environmental study should be complete by late 2027.

“I think it would help everywhere. We’ve got so many people moving here, but the roads are the same as they were 15 or 20 years ago. It just doesn’t work,” said Halbert.

At Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, China sales for the April-June quarter plummeted between 30% and 41% compared with the same period a year ago, according to company data released over the past week.

For the first half of this year, they all reported a more than 20% year-on-year drop in China. The falling China sales have squeezed their overall profits and in some cases offset gains from other regions.

This also comes at a time when these legacy German carmakers are faced with intensified competition from Chinese automakers outside of China, including in Europe, as leading Chinese brands like BYD make inroads overseas.

The latest quarterly sales declines were some of the steepest seen for the German automakers in China, said Lei Xing, an independent auto analyst.

Volkswagen group, for example, saw deliveries in China down 36.6% during the quarter to 424,300 vehicles, which dragged down its global sales to a 8.6% decline, even as deliveries increased in Europe and the Americas.

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based auto group, which has been betting big on the Chinese market, said it would be slashing its model lineup by up to half after the latest sales declines.

China’s prolonged property sector downturn and an economic slowdown have hurt consumer sentiment, with more people shunning big-ticket purchases. Strong competition in its domestic car market and a yearslong fierce price war have also hit many European carmakers, with drivers opting for affordable Chinese car brands.

Porsche, part of the Volkswagen group, called China’s market environment “challenging” in a statement, while Mercedes-Benz said China is facing “a significantly weaker overall market and macroeconomic environment.”

China’s passenger car sales at home fell 24% in the first half of this year to nearly 8.3 million, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry group.

Consultancy AlixPartners expects sales of light vehicles, including passenger cars, in China will likely fall about 10% for the whole of this year.

As Chinese car brands become increasingly preferable in China, “foreign automakers are going to have to fight for every share of (the) market,” Stephen Dyer, Asia-Pacific leader of the automotive practice at AlixPartners, said at a news briefing last month.

German auto groups remain much stronger in making internal combustion engine vehicles, such as gasoline cars, than electric vehicles, said Chris Liu, with the research and advisory group Omdia, at a time when EVs sales in China are doing better than conventional fuel vehicles.

“The German automakers are bearing most of the brunt,” said Xing, the independent analyst.

Chinese carmakers also have a competitive edge over foreign automakers as they typically update their model lineup a lot more frequently than their rivals, Dyer added.

Willie J. Carpenter, 68, was arrested on Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service North Carolina Regional Task Force and charged with first-degree murder.

Matthews was found murdered Sept. 8, 1988, inside the answering service where she worked at 227 N. Magnolia Ave. in downtown Orlando. Police said her injuries were so severe she was unrecognizable, though an employee identified her by her hair.

Police collected physical evidence — including fingerprints and DNA — but at the time, DNA technology was not routinely used in criminal investigations. The case eventually went cold.

More than two decades later, investigators got a significant break. Carpenter’s DNA was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, following an unrelated arrest in North Carolina for a sexual offense involving an underage female. That DNA was flagged as a potential match to biological evidence from the Matthews investigation.

Detectives interviewed Carpenter in 2013, but he denied knowing Matthews and refused to provide a DNA sample. When re-interviewed in 2024, Carpenter voluntarily provided a sample. Additional testing through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement finalized results in 2025, further linking him to evidence from the crime scene, police said.

Detectives then spent months reviewing evidence, consulting prosecutors and ruling out other potential suspects before seeking an arrest warrant in 2026.

Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith credited the department’s resolve in closing the case.

“Time does not diminish our commitment to justice. No matter how many years pass, the Orlando Police Department’s Homicide Unit will continue to pursue the truth until every possible avenue has been exhausted and those responsible are held accountable,” Smith said.

Carpenter is awaiting extradition to Orlando.

A brutal crime that haunted co-workers for decades

Irene Simon, a retired co-worker who knew Matthews personally, said the violence of that night has stayed with her for nearly four decades.

“He went up to the second floor, where Diane was working, and she realized that he should not be there,” Simon said. “She tried to close the door of the office, but he kept pushing — and he kept pushing her into the wall — so she had her body print embedded into the wall.”

Simone said Matthews was not even scheduled to work that night.

“The night she was murdered, she wasn’t supposed to be working, but she was filling in for someone else,” she said.

‘It took so long’

For Simon, who said she often thought about Matthews over the years and wondered if her killer would ever be caught, news of the arrest brought an emotional release.

“I felt very, very relieved,” Simon said. “Well, naturally I was very happy. It took so long. You know, Diane died in really bad hands — and very brutal.”

The CDC said it was working with the person’s employer, U.S. agencies, the public health authorities and Congolese partners to prevent further transmission and identify close contacts. It did not provide any further details.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that the outbreak is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak ever recorded on the continent, with 1,830 confirmed cases in Congo, including 648 deaths. Cases have also been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.

In the first week of the outbreak, an American doctor working in Congo tested positive for the virus and was transferred to Germany for treatment.

Initially, Trump administration officials had said that the United States was planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. But the project has been suspended after an order from a Kenyan court.

The Congolese authorities declared a fresh Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organization

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment.

Efforts to contain the virus have also been hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers and an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Last week, clinical trials for treatment began after researchers launched a highly anticipated study in the hope of fighting the virus.

Adebayo struck Herro at least once during the encounter, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither player nor their teams revealed any details publicly.

Herro was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this month in the deal that brought Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat, where he'll play alongside Adebayo, the Heat captain.

The Heat said they were aware that an incident took place and declined further comment. Herro spoke briefly to The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after a summer game between the Bucks and Heat, saying “my only comment is no comment.” Herro attended that game; Adebayo was not present for the contest.

ESPN first reported details of the altercation.

The person who spoke to the AP said one of the factors related to the altercation was that Herro had evidently made some critical comments about Adebayo — and the three-year, $166 million extension that Miami gave him in 2024. Herro is believed to have made those comments in direct messages to someone on social media, and screenshots of those conversations eventually went public.

In other events in Las Vegas at summer league on Friday:

Young discusses new deal with Wizards

The Washington Wizards essentially have been holding team meetings in Las Vegas, with veterans at Summer League to watch No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa — and players such as Anthony Davis showing up to support Trae Young at the news conference discussing his $212 million, four-year deal.

Young seemed to enjoy the team bonding.

“I’m a people’s person,” Young said. “I think to be the best version of yourself, you've got to be in the most comfortable spot for yourself. I mean, surround yourself with the right people and the right things. And for me, just being around here (for) the few months that I was after I got traded, it just felt like this could be my next home. And I mean, that’s why I’m here.”

Young is a four-time All-Star who was sidelined by injuries for most of this past season, averaging just 17.9 points — more than seven points per game below his career average — in only 15 games with Atlanta and Washington. He made five appearances with the Wizards after getting traded to them by the Hawks, who had Young for his first 7 1/2 NBA seasons.

Young said he's heard the criticism of how much money the Wizards committed to him, insisting he's not bothered.

“I don’t really care about what other people think,” Young said. “I just care about what the people in this organization think, my teammates think and how we’re going to get better and how we’re going to find ways to win games. So, what everybody else has to say, I mean, it’s all irrelevant to me.”

Union displeased with second apron

Newly installed National Basketball Players Association executive director David Kelly lashed out at the second apron Friday, saying the union will fight it in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron, and in the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better of fighting it back against a second apron.”

Kelly was responding to a question surrounding something NBA veteran Kyle Kuzma wrote on social media earlier this month. Kuzma said “the first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.”

Kuzma called on the union to raise its game and not, as he put it, have the league “continue to run circles around us time and time again with elite lawyers, economists, cap experts, media strategists, and long term business operators.”

Kelly took some issue with that, saying he did so respectfully.

“You don’t ever go into any sort of a competition trying to score as many points as your opponent,” Kelly said. “We do not need anyone who is equal to the NBA. The NBA is not the standard. We need people who will fight for us and force the NBA to raise their game to our standard.”

The current CBA is scheduled to remain in place through at least the 2028-29 season.

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

Now, a generation- and culture-spanning way of preserving food is in the spotlight: fermentation. The federal government's latest dietary guidelines specifically encourage Americans to eat more fermented food.

The foods have been further popularized by followers of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement. And while other diet fads championed by MAHA have been questioned by health experts — like unproven claims about raw milk and seed oils — there's some science behind the benefits of eating fermented foods.

Fermented foods go back thousands of years in human history, to the days when we needed to keep food from spoiling but didn't have refrigerators. Many cultures have traditional fermented foods: yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, South Indian idli and dosa.

Dietitians and doctors say they're a great addition to almost anyone's diet, but they warn against new, mass-produced products.

Here's what to know.

Not all fermented foods are made equal

Fermentation is a process by which naturally occurring microbes including bacteria and yeast break down and preserve food.

The foods are a hot research topic, though many of their health benefits are already clear, experts say.

“We’ve been doing this for ages and we just found out more recently that it’s actually helped our gut health,” said Dr. Lisa Ganjhu, a gastroenterologist with New York University Langone Health.

Still, it doesn't automatically mean something is healthy if it's fermented.

“Beer and wine are fermented foods, but they’re not necessarily probiotics,” she said. “If anything, they influence our own microbiome in more of a negative way.”

Barbara Olendzki, director the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School's Center for Applied Nutrition, said she recommends people focus on “whole fermented foods” like fermented beets or green beans in addition to foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut and tempeh.

Fermented foods feed the gut in two main ways

The microbes in fermented foods help predigest it, breaking it down and changing the compounds available in it. The bacteria themselves also help keep the gut in balance, by competing with other bacteria — some of them less beneficial — already in your intestines.

“What is it that makes the fermented foods so healthy? The answer is we're still working on it,” said Dalia Perelman, a Stanford University research dietitian.

Some fermented foods, like yogurt, give you the live probiotics while you're eating them. Others, like sourdough bread, give you few, if any, because they've been baked or otherwise processed in ways that kill the microbes. But there's evidence that some fermented foods are beneficial even without the live microbes, Perelman said.

Beware of marketing hype

Experts warn against sodas, chocolate or other processed foods that market themselves as probiotic. Even probiotic supplements are essentially trying to replicate the combinations of beneficial bacteria that naturally grow in many fermented foods, Perelman said.

“Consumers are getting excited about it and trying to choose products that are fermented and with the idea that it’s very ‘gut healthy,’ which is not a clinical definition,” she said. “And then the marketing is running with this trend.”

Avoid sugary items, too, Ganjhu said. Extra sugar feeds negative bacteria as opposed to the positive bacteria in fermented foods, she said.

And look for items that say “live cultures,” not just that they're probiotic.

“The best yogurt you can have is just plain, fermented milk with culture,” she said. “Let it do its business.”

Can fermented foods be risky?

While the category of fermented foods is broad, experts say they're generally safe for most people. And not just for health reasons — they also add interesting and diverse flavors to your plate.

Perelman said people who have weakened immune systems and those with irritable bowl disease may want to talk to their doctors before incorporating the foods into their diet. Some people could experience different reactions depending on which type of fermented food they're eating.

Olendzki said some people might experience bloating, gas and other discomfort when introducing more fermented foods, especially as their gut adjusts.

“If you feel good, keep drinking it. You don’t feel good? Stop,” Ganjhu said. She noted that the same foods affect people differently.

Eat a diverse mix of fermented foods consistently

So which fermented food is the best? You'll be hard-pressed to find a scientifically backed ranking that puts sauerkraut over kimchi, or tells you to eat a bowl of yogurt and call it a day.

The best way to eat fermented foods is to eat lots of different kinds, and to make them a regular part of your diet, experts say.

Ganjhu recommended thinking about the foods in categories, like milk-based yogurt and kefir, and fiber-based ones such as kimchi and sauerkraut.

Researchers are also still exploring if it matters how much fermented foods people eat. Just like so many things with diet, the answer is likely very different person to person, experts said.

“We can hedge our bets and just get a variety,” Perelman said. She suggested aiming for two servings a day.

And the foods should be one part of a well-rounded diet, so the good bacteria you're introducing to your gut have things they like to eat, like fibrous prebiotics. They feed the probiotics, which are the live bacteria themselves.

“Just go slow and drink a lot of water. It also matters what the rest of the diet looks like,” Olendzki said. “It’s not just one thing.”

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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.

Lawmakers in states with stronger climate policies don't want data centers to hinder their goal of slashing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.

In other states, environmental advocates and corporations with clean energy goals are working regulatory levers to push monopoly utilities that historically control the energy supply and grid access.

The problem clean energy proponents are confronting is that tech giants are demanding power at such speed and scale — some data centers consume more energy than a mid-size city — that the construction of wind and solar simply can't keep up.

As a result, the AI boom has set in motion the biggest-ever construction boom of natural gas-fired power plants, not to mention moves by utilities, power plant owners and the federal government to keep aging coal-fired power plants operating past their previously scheduled retirement dates.

Legislation on the desk of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul would require data centers over a certain size to meet renewable energy benchmarks starting in 2030 and, by 2040, get at least 90% of their energy from renewable energies. The bill's author, state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, a Democrat, said the targets are realistic.

“We are literally talking about the wealthiest companies in the world that are looking to build in New York state, and if they have the resources to put billions of dollars into data center development, then they certainly should have the resources to build out renewable energy sources to power them,” Gonzalez told The Associated Press.

Worries that AI's energy demands will scuttle climate goals

Michigan, Oregon and Minnesota led the way, enacting laws in the last 18 months designed to protect their pre-existing requirements that electric utilities use only emissions-free energy sources by 2040.

“That’s a challenging thing to meet with the data centers,” said Bob Jenks, executive director of the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, a nonprofit that advocates for lower utility bills and cleaner energy. “It was a challenging thing to meet without the data centers.”

Minnesota and Oregon ordered regulators to ensure that the energy that supplies data centers is in line with their emissions-reduction goals, while Michigan required hyperscale data centers to meet a clean energy requirement — 90% within six years — to access its lucrative sales tax exemption.

Bills with similar provisions emerged in more than a half-dozen states, including California, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

“We just can’t do business as usual with a demand at this scale and facilities of this scale because the impacts are massive,” California state Sen. John Padilla, who sponsored a bill in his state, told the AP.

Pushing utilities to expand access to the power grid

Along with gas projects, tech giants like Google are investing billions into their own zero-emissions projects like solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear or battery storage.

Tech giants often find themselves confronted with utilities that can't promptly supply the kind of power they need. So they — along with environmental groups, energy entrepreneurs and business associations — are trying to persuade regulators to expand access to the grid, including in states where legislators are averse to clean energy mandates.

Greg Robinson, whose Raleigh, North Carolina-based firm Aston Power helps procure power for data centers and other big energy users, likened it to the growth of FedEx when the business world decided that the U.S. Postal Service was too slow.

“Then business said, ‘Hey we’re doing more things now, the postal service is not keeping up so maybe there’s an opportunity for a new service,’” Robinson said.

Part of the exercise has been convincing utilities — which profit by building power plants and transmission infrastructure — that this won't threaten their bottom lines, clean energy advocates say.

For one, utilities will get to connect a power source that they don't have to charge customers for, especially at a time when electricity bills are rising quickly in many utility territories.

Utilities also get a large, long-term energy customer that pays them to expand the grid, instead of watching big customers build standalone power sources.

Regulators are greenlighting renewable energy projects

Last year, clean energy advocates persuaded Colorado regulators to order the state's largest electric utility, Xcel Energy, to create a program to let big power users build clean energy projects that can be connected to the grid.

In an April regulatory filing, Xcel Energy said it agreed that a program could benefit customers, and cited two Google projects — one in Nevada to connect 115 megawatts of geothermal energy and another in Minnesota to connect 1,900 megawatts of wind, solar and battery storage — that were approved through similar programs.

Still, a fight over how Xcel Energy wants to design the program looms with clean energy advocates in front of state regulators.

Google's agreement with NV Energy, Nevada's largest for-profit utility, received approval from regulators last year and is widely viewed as the first of its kind. Google says it now has similar concepts approved or under consideration in eight other states, including Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and South Carolina.

The Corporate Energy Buyers Association — whose members include tech giants and large corporations — hammered out an agreement with Georgia Power, approved by state regulators there earlier this year, to allow their members to build clean energy sources and connect them to the grid.

They are now seeking something similar in North Carolina.

“These innovations are actually some of the most incredible and understated innovations we’re going to see in regulatory and energy procurement,” Nidhi Thaker, CEBA's senior vice president of policy, told the AP. “And I think the actions that are being taken right now are actually going to set energy policy for the next two to three decades.”

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Ohtani will have fluid removed from his left knee following a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he will continue to start at designated hitter. Ohtani had been scheduled to pitch on Friday night, but instead led off with a 381-foot homer to left center after the Dodgers decided to make it a bullpen game to avoid further aggravating the ongoing discomfort in his left knee.

“The goal is to be able to throw according to regular schedule,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the 9-3 loss. “Although I could have started today, it would have still been pushing the envelope a little bit. But the intention, my every intention, is to use the off days to make sure that I’m in a good place to be able to be in the rotation.”

Ohtani has been dealing with the ailment for at least a month. The right-hander had an outing cut short against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 11 because of inflammation in the knee.

“He’s been managing this quite well,” manager Dave Roberts said before Friday’s game. “If there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to kind of try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were going to do that.”

The four-time MVP has once again been one of the best players in the big leagues this season, and he stands alone as a two-way player.

Ohtani is batting .290 with 21 homers and 57 RBIs and is 8-2 on the mound with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. However, his effectiveness as a pitcher has diminished somewhat in Ohtani’s past four starts. He allowed 12 earned runs in 24 2/3 innings in a span corresponding with the left knee irritation. Ohtani had given up five runs in his first 10 starts.

“I think that our hope is if we can (have Ohtani) not make this start ... (and) kind of get the inflammation out, you know, get strong, recover body-wise, then I think he should be in a much better spot,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers don’t expect the procedure will affect Ohtani’s availability as a pitcher in the second half of the season, but Roberts said it was too early to know where he would be slotted in the Dodgers’ six-man rotation following the All-Star break. Los Angeles starts an East Coast road trip next Friday with a three-game set against the New York Yankees.

Ohtani’s absence will be a blow for baseball’s midsummer showcase at Citizens Bank Park. The Japanese star — who turned 32 earlier this week — is among the game’s most popular players and led MLB in jersey sales last year.

He hit his 300th career homer on Tuesday night, a leadoff shot against Colorado’s Michael Lorenzen that made him the first Japanese-born player in the majors to reach the milestone.

The Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions since adding Ohtani in free agency on a record-breaking 10-year contract in December 2023.

Los Angeles has baseball’s best record at 61-34. Being in contention to pull off the major leagues’ first three-peat since the 1998-2000 Yankees factored into Ohtani’s willingness to miss the All-Star Game, especially having to adjust to the demands of both hitting and pitching regularly for the first time since 2023. He has never played in the MLB postseason after being a full-time two-way player.

“Nothing is going to fall in front of being healthy for October,” Roberts said. “For him to concede and miss a start for the best interests of him and the team, that’s not a surprise.”

St. Louis Cardinals designated hitter Iván Herrera was named as a replacement to the National League All-Star team on Friday after Ohtani was ruled out of the game.

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AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report.

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

“They told her she wasn't supposed to live past 20 years old,” Lillard's younger sister, Cindy McVey, told The Associated Press on Friday. “She had the enthusiasm and the drive to continue living and make the best of her life.”

McVey attributes her sister's death to the effects of long-haul COVID-19. A death certificate lists causes as chronic pulmonary failure and post-polio syndrome, McVey said.

Lillard slept in the iron lung cylinder that encased her body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of her lungs. As a child, she went to grade school for two hours a day and was tutored the rest of the time. She attended Shawnee High School by using a phone system that allowed her to interact with her teachers and classmates through an intercom in her classrooms.

Her family went on road trips to Missouri thanks to a custom trailer and her father calling hotels to find out if they had doors wide enough to accommodate the machine Lillard slept in. Lillard was even able to drive for a time.

“To me, it was just normal,” recalled McVey, 75.

Polio was once one of the nation’s most feared diseases, with annual outbreaks causing thousands of cases of paralysis. The disease primarily affects children.

Vaccines became available starting in 1955. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national vaccination campaign cut the annual number of U.S. cases to fewer than 100 in the 1960s and fewer than 10 in the 1970s. In 1979, polio was declared eliminated in the U.S., meaning it was no longer routinely spread.

Later the internet would help Lillard stay informed and learn about all sorts of topics, including her disease, which paralyzed her from the neck down.

With therapy she was able to regain partial use of her left arm and use of her legs. But she could only move her left arm side to side at her waist. Even though she couldn't reach up, she spent many years living alone and preparing her own meals.

The internet also allowed Lillard to meet her future husband. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Lillard wanted to understand more about what happened. In a chat room, she met a man in Egypt and communicated with him online for more than 20 years, McVey said.

Lillard married Baha Salh in February after he was finally able to obtain a visa to travel to Oklahoma.

“They were really soul mates,” McVey said. “He's extremely brokenhearted.”

During the coronavirus pandemic, Lillard got COVID-19 twice. Before getting COVID-19, she had less than 25% lung capacity. The last five years of her life, she wasn't able to leave home as it became harder to breathe. For the past two years, she was in the iron lung nearly 24 hours a day, McVey said.

McVey described her sister as artistic and creative. She wrote poems and composed songs. She wrote her own obituary, which is now posted online by a funeral home. She described being a Humane Society volunteer. “She was an avid Beagle lover and assisted in animal rescue as a cross poster on Facebook,” Lillard wrote.

She later updated her obituary to say she “died of long-haul Covid 19,” but McVey added the date of her death.

In recent years, McVey and Lillard were desperate to find someone who could fix the iron lung, one of several she had over her lifetime.

“But since she's the last one, we don't need that anymore,” McVey said through tears.

He was hoping to find beads from broken friendship bracelets — something symbolic among fans of Taylor Swift. No such luck.

Instead, he picked up a single AirPod, a ring pop, an ovulation test kit strip and a rainbow fan, among others. Then he packaged them all into 1-inch boxes and sold them online — 50 pieces of trash purchased by Swift fans as far away as Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“People were like, ‘Is there any more? Is there any more?’” he said.

Over the past week, fans have scoured Manhattan’s streets and the internet for crumbs — sometimes literal — from what's been called “the United States’ royal wedding.” But Swift managed to keep the thousand-person mega event almost entirely private.

The story she hasn't told

For nearly two decades, Taylor Swift has remembered everything. The rooms. The weather. The clothes left behind. The exact words people said before they walked away.

Her career was built on transforming private moments into public memory — songs that made millions feel as though they were reading pages from a diary (sometimes they were). But one of the most anticipated chapters of her life has been defined by something different: the story she has chosen not to tell.

A week after her star-studded wedding to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, not one verified photo had been released of the interior, the ceremony or Swift’s gown. Guests and crew members signed strict NDAs and surrendered cell phones. The couple used street closures and walls of tents around the arena to keep the celebration out of view.

Some New Yorkers chafed at the security restrictions around a key transit hub on a holiday weekend, all during a heat wave. The secrecy also showed how, when you’re as famous as Taylor Swift, staying truly private requires a level of wealth and influence few people have.

Still, fans in Swift T-shirts crowded the barricades, watching lines of black SUVs disappear inside the arena.

In the early morning hours, a bakery van stopped outside. A catering employee offered a box of apple honey pastries, which a police officer handed out to waiting fans. One fan could be heard yelling: “Oh my God, you guys, we’re having Taylor Swift’s dessert!”

Sifting through the pieces

Gignac, who has been turning New York City trash into art for 25 years, creates limited-edition collections from major New York moments, including the Knicks parade, where the discarded objects themselves told the story — the colors, the celebration, the evidence of thousands of people gathered in one place.

Swift’s wedding was different.

“I was like, OK, let me see how close I can get,” Gignac said. “Everything going on on the block outside of Madison Square Garden was a part of the festivities as well — it’s just a very different part.”

The area outside the Garden was “fairly clean,” he said, but he collected enough. He tied discarded straws into knots to “reinforce the wedding theme.”

Fans who saw the boxes later told him the project reminded them of Swift’s “New Year’s Day,” a song about staying after a party is over and holding on to what remains.

“You’ve never had a song change your life, and the artist be the soundtrack of your life?” Gignac said. “That’s such a massive role in your day to day — it’s nice to have something from that.”

When the photos never came

The lack of images created a void that was quickly filled with artificial intelligence: fake photos of Swift and Kelce in wedding attire, Swift in a gown and fabricated glimpses of the “secret garden” celebration that guests had described inside Madison Square Garden, where the arena was transformed with greenery, trees and flowers.

Some were obvious jokes: users inserting themselves into the wedding or pretending they had been hired to photograph it. Others were designed to be convincing — blurry, pixelated images that looked as though they had been secretly captured inside.

Swift fans are known for decoding “Easter eggs” and clues in Swift’s lyrics and public posts. Longtime Swift fan Alexa Volland said those same habits helped many quickly debunk AI-generated images by spotting warped facial features, impossible dress straps and hidden watermarks from detection tools like Google DeepMind’s SynthID.

“They built a habit of close observation,” Volland said.

Volland, a video producer for the News Literacy Project, said she was surprised no images had emerged, but happy Swift kept control.

“As a Swiftie, I would prefer to have those first looks come directly from her,” she said. “I know that we will eventually get a song that is probably the most revealing, way more revealing than any AI-generated image ever made."

‘The rose garden over Madison Square’

Margaret Willison, a Swiftie in Boston, was still waiting for one wedding detail.

“I need to know what her first song was,” she said. “It’s been haunting me.”

Willison has taught workshops on Swift's music and fandom, and says this kind of tension has defined her career. Swift has the ability to turn moments that may seem insignificant "into a cathedral we all get to be part of,” Willison said, filling them with meaning.

Willison said many fans trust Swift will eventually share the pieces she wants them to know.

“We don’t want something that’s been stolen from her,” she said.

More than a decade ago, Swift sang about leaving the spotlight and choosing “the rose garden over Madison Square.” In the end, Willison said, they weren't mutually exclusive.

“In all of her previous relationships, there was this tension between how much she was able to shine and still be understood by a partner,” she said. “Isn’t it incredible that she found that she didn’t have to choose?”

Needing a triple for the cycle after homering earlier in the seventh, Peters hit a hard grounder past Athletics first baseman Joey Meneses and down the right-field line. He never hesitated as he rounded second — ignoring a stop sign from third base coach Justin Jirschele — and beat the relay throw with a headfirst slide into third, drawing a huge ovation.

“When I hit the ball, I was thinking three,” he said.

Peters became the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle since Jose Abreu on Sept. 9, 2017, and the fifth in major league history to do it from the No. 9 spot in the batting order. The way he did it was even more rare.

According to MLB, Peters became just the third player since 1961 to get two hits in the same inning to complete the cycle. The others were Felix Pie in 2009 and Jim Ray Hart in 1950.

“It’s No. 1, for sure,” Peters said when asked where it ranked among his career achievements. “That was incredible. It’s awesome, amazing.”

The 26-year-old from Canada made his big league debut last Aug. 8. This was his 93rd career game. He raised his batting average to .303 with his 4-for-4 night, driving in four runs and scoring two as the White Sox beat the Athletics 14-1.

“It’s impressive, there haven’t been too many of those,” Chicago manager Will Venable said. “Those are pretty rare, and Tristan has done such a good job of playing the right way — putting swings on good pitches to hit.”

Surprising Chicago remained atop the AL Central, percentage points ahead of Cleveland.

Peters was stranded at second after his two-out double to center in the third. In the fifth, his run-scoring single to right made it 2-0.

In the seventh, Peters followed Kyle Teel's leadoff walk with a two-run homer. His triple drove in the last run of an eight-run inning in which the White Sox sent 12 men to the plate.

He's the third major leaguer to hit for the cycle this season, joining the Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Phillies' Bryce Harper.

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

The blaze, one of Spain's deadliest wildfires, broke out late Thursday in a semi-arid area near the Sierra de Los Filabres mountains in Almeria province, as the country has been dealing with soaring temperatures.

Most of the victims died after ignoring shelter-in-place instructions, said Antonio Sanz, head of Andalusia’s emergency services. Some tried to escape via a dry riverbed that “turned into a death trap,” he said.

Four victims were believed to be British nationals because the steering wheel of their burned-out car was on the right side, as with British vehicles, regional authorities said. Other unspecified nationals also were believed to be among the dead, and the death toll was expected to rise, authorities said.

Seven people died while on foot after abandoning their cars, Sanz said, adding that most of the deceased were believed to be foreign nationals.

Dean Taylor, a resident who divides his time between Spain and the U.K., said he managed to just barely escape the neighborhood by using back roads to get out.

“It was quite terrifying,” Taylor said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It's a very sad day, isn’t it? It’s devastating, really."

The blaze is a challenge for firefighters

The fire was still burning as of Friday afternoon. Some 150 firefighters and 220 soldiers from Spain’s military emergency unit were battling the blaze, which had consumed more than 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) of forest and farmland.

Moreno, the Andalusian regional leader, said containing the fire was difficult because of the steep, dry terrain.

“It consists mainly of scrubland and esparto grass,” Moreno said. “Everything is extremely dry due to the heat waves, making it the perfect fuel; combined with the wind, it’s a ticking time bomb.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences. “Immense sadness and desolation in the face of the terrible consequences of the fire affecting the province of Almeria,” he wrote on X.

Europe battles intense heat again

Spain has battled frequent and severe heat waves in recent years, with temperatures often exceeding 40 C (104 F). Wind, high temperatures and little rainfall help small wildfires grow into unchecked blazes.

In June, Spain experienced several days of record-setting heat, with over 1,000 excess deaths attributed to heat.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Parts of Western Europe are facing their third heat wave in six weeks. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing several intense heat waves across Europe.

France also at risk of wildfires

France is experiencing the peak of its third heat wave of the summer, with temperatures reaching 40 C (104 F) across western and central areas and around 37 C (98 F) in Paris.

French authorities have also warned of a very high wildfire risk, as large fires in the south have already scorched thousands of hectares this week, disrupting the Tour de France cycling race and stretching firefighting resources.

The largest wildfire, in the eastern Pyrenees near the Spanish border, had decreased in intensity by Friday, authorities said. But it has burned about 5,000 hectares (12,000 acres) and forced the temporary evacuation of more than 10,000 people from nearly villages.

Last month was France’s hottest June on record, with deaths surging by nearly a third during the hottest week.

Scientists warn that climate change caused in part by the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making certain regions more vulnerable to wildfires.

Spain and Portugal have faced deadly fires before

Spain is no stranger to wildfires, with last year's fire season burning more than 393,000 hectares (almost 1,520 square miles), according to the European Forest Fire Information System, an area twice as large as London. Four people died.

Spain's deadliest wildfire was in 1979 when 21 people perished in Lloret de Mar, a coastal town about an hour north of Barcelona.

In 2017, a wildfire in neighboring Portugal left 66 people dead in Pedrogao Grande, located 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Lisbon. In that blaze, 47 people died on one road while similarly attempting to flee in their cars.

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Associated Press journalist Sylvie Corbet, in Paris, contributed.

The Maine Democratic Party announced later Friday that it will hold a nominating convention on July 25 to choose Platner's replacement for the November ballot.

Platner’s paperwork was received by the Maine secretary of state's office Friday afternoon.

In a letter to the secretary of state's office, which Platner also posted on social media, he wrote that the Mainers who had nominated him “voted for a new kind of politics” that is “representative of people down here in the real world — not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment.” It was the same outsider chord that had been a trademark of his tumultuous campaign, in which Platner drew backing from progressive leaders including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna of California.

“I seek to further the movement we have built together and the future we believe in,” he went on, without detailing what that meant.

Maine is considered a key state for control of the narrowly divided Senate, and Democrats were desperate for a candidate capable of defeating Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

The formal withdrawal comes two days after Platner said he would quit the race, facing an allegation of sexual assault that he has denied. Maine Democrats are seeking a new nominee, and several hopefuls have already begun jockeying for position.

Maine Democratic Party Chairman Charlie Dingman said delegates representing all of Maine’s 16 counties will choose someone “who has the energy, ideas and popular support” to defeat Collins. The party said 601 delegates will participate.

“Our message to Mainers is this: While these circumstances are unprecedented and the challenge is enormous, your state party is ready and capable of rising to this challenge,” Dingman said.

State law includes a provision for Democrats to replace Platner before the general election but the replacement must by named by July 27.

Several Democrats have announced runs for the Senate nomination this week. They include three candidates who lost the June primary for the governor nomination — former Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Nirav Shah, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson.

Others who have announced runs include Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban; former 2nd Congressional District candidates Jordan Wood and Paige Loud; and former Maine Senate candidates David Costello and Andrea LaFlamme. State Rep. Valli Geiger has also expressed interest in the post but has not formally announced.

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This story has been corrected to show that state Rep. Valli Geiger has expressed interest in running but has not formally announced.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina.

The 33-year-old Schwarber, who leads the majors with 32 homers, had been expected to participate on his home field.

Murakami was a surprise because he had missed more than a month with a strained right hamstring. The White Sox made the announcement when he returned to action Friday night.

Murakami, who was also named Friday as an All-Star injury replacement, has 20 homers this season and will join Shohei Ohtani (2021) as the only Japanese-born players to participate in the derby.

Schwarber will be joined by teammate Bryce Harper, with both trying to put on a show for the crowd at Citizens Bank Park.

Boston’s Willson Contreras, Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, St. Louis' Jordan Walker and the New York Yankees’ Ben Rice are the other participants.

Schwarber, a four-time All-Star, has 219 homers since 2022, trailing only Aaron Judge (227) over that span.

This will be Schwarber's third appearance in the derby. He made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper and was also part of the 2022 derby at Dodger Stadium, losing in the first round to Albert Pujols.

Last year, Schwarber won the All-Star Game for the NL in a “swing-off” tiebreaker, homering three times on three swings at Truist Park in Atlanta.

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

The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it's from shoddy repair work.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall.

“Drain the water, clean up the fireworks stuff,” Burgum told Miller, who is the wife of deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller. “Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again.”

The work on the Reflecting Pool is just one of a number of projects Trump has spearheaded across the nation's capital. Most prominently, he demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a $400 million ballroom and plans to build a towering arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

He initially announced his intentions to beautify the Reflecting Pool this spring, saying he wanted it completed before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations.

Water was drained and Trump directed that the bottom be painted what he called “American flag blue.” In May, the president posted on his social media site of the pool: “The goal is to have it done, at this higher level, prior to July 4th — We are ahead of schedule!”

But problems began quickly after the initial work was finished. Trump blamed vandals, and court documents later showed that the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

On Thursday, former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker.

His attorneys and other Trump administration critics have derided the case as an abuse of prosecutorial power and maintain he is being scapegoated for the poor job done fixing up the Reflecting Pool.

At least three other people have been charged in the same court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the Reflecting Pool, according to online court records. All three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday.

The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, which featured what Trump said was the largest fireworks display in the world. The president had said that the pool would have to be drained anew as part of the new round of repairs.

Burgum has also said that the Trump administration won't seek bids for the new rounds of repairs. He told CNN's “State of the Union” last weekend: “We’ll use the same company because they did a fantastic job."

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

Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project, including seeking answers about how much taxpayer funding is involved.

"Effective immediately, the suspension of all involved South Carolina pilots has been lifted," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote Friday morning on social media. “Carry on Patriots.”

The suspension followed "Salute from the Shore," a July 4 tradition honoring servicemembers in South Carolina since 2010 that features vintage and modern military aircraft flying along the 187-mile length of the state’s shoreline, with the intent of sparking patriotism among thousands of beachgoers gathered for the holiday.

This year’s salute included F-16s with the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing out of McEntire Joint Base, as well as a C-17 from the 437th Airlift Wing based at Joint Base Charleston. For the first time, Apache helicopters joined the air parade, which also featured civilian-owned vintage planes like T-34s and T-6s.

Numerous attendees often post video on social media of the display, but this year, online images of the Apaches flying at what appeared to be a low height over crowded beaches sparked concern with the South Carolina National Guard, which launched a review of the event and temporarily suspended the eight pilots from flying duties while that was ongoing, later clarifying the suspension was “a routine, non-punitive safety measure, not a disciplinary action.”

Late Thursday night, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted on social media that the Pentagon was getting involved, writing, “We’ll fix this. Carry on, Patriots.”

The message was similar to one issued by Hegseth in March, after the lifting of a suspension for a pair of Army pilots who hovered two AH-64 Apache helicopters near Kid Rock’s Tennessee home during a training run while he clapped and saluted.

“No punishment. No Investigation. Carry on, patriots,” Hegseth said then in a social media post, less than three hours after the Army announced its review. Kid Rock, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, said he thought it was “really cool” that the pilots stopped to hover at his house.

South Carolina Republicans rebuked the suspension of its Guard pilots. Rep. Russell Fry, who represents the Myrtle Beach area, said Thursday that the pilots "should be celebrated, not sanctioned.”

Ahead of Parnell's post noting the suspension had been lifted, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster — who serves as commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard — said he trusted the pilots' acumen, writing in a social media post that Guardsmen fly in wartime.

“Surely, they know how to safely navigate the coast of South Carolina — and her scores of cheering residents and tourists on our 250th anniversary," McMaster wrote.

McMaster's office said Friday the governor was pleased the suspension had been lifted. Asked whether the governor — a longtime Trump ally — had directly intervened, a spokesperson said the office “remains in regular communication with state and federal partners as part of its routine operations.”

The Pentagon declined to comment beyond Parnell's statement. Maj. Lisa Allen of the South Carolina National Guard confirmed in an email Friday that the suspension had been lifted but did not respond to a question over whether the Guard were still conducting an internal review.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP