Novak Djokovic:

The three-time Roland-Garros champion is the most experienced of all contenders. He is chasing a record 25th major title, and his first since the 2023 U.S. Open.

The 39-year-old Djokovic came into the tournament with questions over his form after losing to Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic at the Italian Open, his only clay-court warmup event after two months out with a right shoulder injury.

In Paris, Djokovic came from a set down to beat Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a first-round match that lasted nearly three hours. He was then pushed by 74th-ranked French player Valentin Royer for more than 3½ hours before he reached the third round. His next opponent Friday is Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.

Alexander Zverev

A runner-up at Roland Garros in 2024, Alexander Zverev is chasing his first major title. He also advanced to three semifinals and another quarterfinal in Paris. The 29-year-old German is in excellent form, having reached the final in Madrid and the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Munich in the buildup to the French Open. The second-seeded Zverev has yet to drop a set and takes on Frenchman Quentin Halys during the evening session Friday.

Felix Auger-Aliassime

At No. 4, the Canadian is the highest seeded player left in the top half of the draw and will take on Brandon Nakashima in the third round. Auger-Aliassime was two points away from defeat in the first round before rallying past Daniel Altmaier in five sets. He then got past Roman Andres Burruchaga in four sets. Auger-Aliassime’s best result at Roland Garros was making the fourth round in 2022 and 2024.

Rafael Jodar

He is the latest tennis sensation from Spain. The 19-year-old Jodar is into the fourth round at a major for the first time after his five-set win over Alex Michelsen of the United States. Jodar claimed his first ATP title in Marrakech last month, then made it to the semifinals in Barcelona and the quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome. His tour-level record on clay is 18-3. By comparison, 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz both went 13-7 through their first 20 tour-level matches on clay.

Moise Kouame

Can the French teenager create a major surprise and emulate Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win at Roland Garros back in 1983? Kouame reached the third round after a five-set thriller that delighted the French crowd and lasted just under five hours. The No. 318-ranked player next faces Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. “Winning Roland Garros is, of course, a dream,” he said. Kouame beat Marin Cilic in straight sets in the first round, becoming the first man born in 2008 or later to win a Grand Slam match.

Casper Ruud

Ruud reached the final at the 2022 and 2023 French Opens, losing first to Nadal and then Djokovic. The Norwegian player has struggled in the Paris heat this week and needed five sets to prevail in his first round match. Ruud faces Tommy Paul of the United States in the third round.

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

Russia has been banned from participating in any of the tournaments run by the sport’s governing body since invading Ukraine in February 2022. That included preventing Russian players, including those in the NHL, from taking part in the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The decision to evaluate eligibility on a case-by-case basis comes after a January decision to bar Russian teams, including at the youth level, was annulled following an appeal from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. But that was not a reversal of course, as the IIHF said its disciplinary board “explicitly confirmed that this does not mean that Russia has automatically been reintegrated.”

Earlier this week, the IIHF announced it would reintegrate Belarus at the under-18 men’s and women’s events and the women’s Division IV world championship beginning this year. Belarus had also not been allowed to play since aiding Russia in its war in Ukraine.

The IIHF Council said the decision to bring back some teams from Belarus was not taken lightly.

“Based on the assessments conducted and ongoing consultations with relevant stakeholders, we believe this can be done in a safe, responsible, and controlled manner,” the council said in a statement. “The IIHF has always believed in the importance of the international hockey family staying connected through sport. Bringing the family back together is an important step forward for our federation and for the global game.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The entrance of Israel’s troops into the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, came as Israeli airstrikes killed at least six people. Five were killed in an airstrike on the villages of Deir Qanoun al Nahr and Abbasiyeh, while a municipal policeman was killed in the village of Ebba, state media reported.

In Washington, a six-member Lebanese military delegation was meeting on Friday with Israeli military officials in the first direct military talks between the two countries in decades.

A nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17. A senior Lebanese military official told The Associated Press Friday that the Lebanese delegation, led by the army's head of operations Brig. Gen. George Rizkallah, would be to make it comprehensive.

The official added the Lebanese delegation will request the reactivation of the committee monitoring the enforcement of an earlier U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.

Another Lebanese official, who is briefed throughout the day about the ongoing talks at the Pentagon, also said the delegation would seek the comprehensive implementation of the ceasefire and a stop to ongoing hostilities.

He said implementation would be followed by talks at a later date on matters such as deploying the Lebanese army along the border and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing talks in Washington.

President Joseph Aoun's office said he received a call Friday from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and they discussed the situation in Lebanon and the latest developments in the Middle East. Aoun's office said the president told Rubio that efforts should concentrate on implementing the ceasefire as it is “the essential entry point for transitioning to any other issues.”

In April, Lebanon and Israel held the first direct talks in Washington in more than three decades.

The Israeli military issued several evacuation warnings for southern Lebanon on Friday, forcing hundreds of families to flee to safer areas further north.

Israeli troops fought Hezbollah fighters inside the villages of Yohmor and Zawtar al-Sahrqieh near the city of Nabatieh after they crossed the strategic Litani River, which the Israeli military has used as a de facto boundary. Large areas to the south are under Israeli military control, despite the April ceasefire.

Hezbollah, whose members have been fighting Israeli troops for days in the area, said in statements that its members struck Israeli troops inside Yohmor.

The two villages are close to the Crusader-built Beaufort castle that is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Israeli border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon. It was not clear if Israeli troops are trying to capture the castle, which lies north of the Litani.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern front Friday where he spoke to members of the military. “I must tell you that there are very impressive results here. Our forces have crossed the Litani; they have advanced to controlling positions,” he said.

“We are operating in Beirut, in the Bekaa, across the entire width of the front, and we are dealing Hezbollah a crushing blow,” Netanyahu said referring to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs where Israel's air force struck on Thursday.

The violence in southern Lebanon came as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.

Hezbollah legislator Hassan Fadlallah said Friday that any deal between Iran and the U.S. would stop Israel’s offensive in Lebanon. Officials in Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, have said that they insist that a deal with Washington would stop the latest Israel-Hezbollah war that started on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after Israel and Iran attacked in Iran.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has left 3,200 people dead in Lebanon and over 1 million people displaced.

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Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut.

Lao and Thai rescue workers posted the news on social media, along with a video showing the first rescued villager with a lamp strapped to his forehead. The villager, who was not immediately identified, was walking unsteadily with the assistance of two men. They handed him over to other team members amid a waiting crowd for a medical check.

The five had been found by divers on Wednesday, but that left rescue workers with two serious tasks: extricating the five and finding two more who are still missing.

Evacuations of the other four were suspended until tomorrow because they were not ready, said Chakkit Taengtang of Sai Than Association, one of the Thai rescue organization at the scene.

Rescue teams had pumped water out of the flooded cave’s passages on Friday, but a morning rainstorm complicated their work. The trapped men have already been supplied with water, soft food, and foil blankets to keep them warm.

The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.

A video shot inside the cave on Thursday vividly illustrated the desperation the trapped men were feeling.

Thai rescue diver Norrased Palasing spoke with a trapped villager named Khamla, who urged the divers to let the group attempt to swim out immediately

“I can’t go on. I don’t have any strength,” he said.

Norrased sought to reassure him, telling him that the water was being drained, and handing over blankets and food. He cautioned Khamla to eat slowly to avoid digestive problems.

Divers from several nations joined the rescue effort

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian and French specialists also had been reported to be coming to the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.

Working in the dark in unfamiliar surroundings, divers had to make their way through twisting, narrow, flooded passages with jagged walls.

A good rescue plan depends on “the length of the dives involved, the restrictions and the sheer size of the passages that they are in, and the support that’s available," said Gary Mitchell, press officer for the South & Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, which is associated with the British Cave Rescue Council.

Other necessities normally include the space and equipment to recharge air or oxygen cylinders, and a medical team.

Rescuers must weigh risks of waiting for flooding to recede

At the same time, rescuers must weigh the high risks of guiding survivors without diving skills through zero-visibility water against the strategy of waiting for water levels to recede, said Mitchell, who took part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach. Several of the divers at the Lao site had also taken part in the Thai rescue.

“You can’t leave people underground too long without medical support, without proper food, sustenance, clean water ... before their condition is going to deteriorate,” Mitchell warned Thursday from Wales in a video interview.

The five found Wednesday were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing, and Laen. They were reportedly in good health but exhausted from dehydration and lack of food.

A video filmed by Norrased showed the emotional moment he and Finnish diving instructor Mikko Paasi emerged from the water and discovered the trapped men sitting on a rock surrounded by floodwater.

Mued delivered a message to his family on camera, saying, “Don’t worry mom, dad. I’m still strong, I’m still healthy. Tomorrow I will be home. I love you, mom and dad.”

Lao officials say the villagers normally forage in the mountainous surroundings for a living.

The villagers are believed to have been searching for gold

The villagers had been reported to have entered the cave to look for gold deposits. Bounphong Khammanyvong, a local official in Longcheng, the district where the cave is located, said they had noticed rocks or sand with unusual colors in the cave, so they entered it in the hope of digging them out to see if they were valuable.

Bounphong, in an interview on Thursday with local media outlet Xaisomboun Province Television, said the villagers entered the cave on May 20, contradicting rescuers who put the date at May 19.

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Associated Press journalists Danica Kirka in London and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Trump confirmed the high-level talks a day after The Associated Press reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and start new talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

Earlier Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending to challenge it.

Here's the latest:

Trump says only US and China capable of removing Iran’s enriched uranium

The president in his online post also turned back to his on-and-off demand that the highly-enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites badly damaged during last year’s U.S. air bombardment of Iran be removed as part of a deal.

“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump said.

Trump has offered mixed messages over the course of the three-month conflict on the importance of removing the enriched uranium. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”

Louisiana Republicans are poised to pass new US House districts in wider redistricting fight

The state’s Republican-controlled Senate is poised to pass a plan Friday to help the GOP maintain control of the U.S. House in November, potentially becoming the latest Southern state to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that elected a Democrat.

The state Senate is set to vote on a redistricting plan that would give Republicans a chance to pick up an additional seat in response to late April’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s congressional district map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

An amended map overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. Once the final map clears the Legislature, Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign it.

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Hegseth meets with leaders of Vietnam and Singapore at Asian defense conference

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has met with leaders from Vietnam and Singapore to discuss shared security interests, the Pentagon said Friday.

The separate meetings occurred on the sidelines during the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s annual defense and security forum in Singapore.

Hegseth praised Vietnam’s decision to join the Board of Peace and for committing troops and police to the International Stabilization Force in Gaza. Hegseth also applauded the modernization of Vietnam’s military and discussed opportunities to deepen cooperation, including on unmanned naval capabilities.

Hegseth and Singapore’s leaders discussed expanding the U.S. military’s presence in Singapore with rotational deployments from the Navy and Air Force. Meanwhile, Hegseth reaffirmed the American commitment to support advanced training for Singapore’s military in the U.S.

Pam Bondi defends administration’s release of Epstein case files as she testifies before lawmakers

The former attorney general stood behind the Trump administration’s release of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she testified Friday before House lawmakers scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.

Bondi, who arrived Friday morning on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. In her opening statement, she kept to the same tact.

“The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration,” she said, according to a written copy of her opening statement.

The transcribed Bondi interview gave lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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Trump meeting with aides to make ‘final determination’ on moving forward with Iran deal

The president says he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers.

Trump confirmed the high-level White House talks Friday, a day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement.

The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

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White House declines comment on judge’s ruling blocking payouts from ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

The White House referred all questions to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there’s no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund’s creation.

Rubio meets with Pakistani foreign minister as tentative Iran deal hangs in the balance

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has met with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, as a tentative deal to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran hangs in the balance.

Neither Rubio nor Dar — whose country has emerged as a main player and mediator in talks to end the conflict — spoke or responded to questions from reporters as they posed for photographs at the State Department on Friday. Dar has been in the United States since earlier this week to attend meetings at the United Nations in New York.

The meeting came just a day after U.S. officials said an agreement in principle on a memorandum of understanding to extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and return to talks on Iran’s nuclear program had been reached. That agreement, though, must still be approved by President Trump and Iran’s top leadership and there was no indication when that might happen.

Judge temporarily blocks payouts from Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ settlement fund

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from paying any claims through a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies who believe they were victims of a weaponized government.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending to challenge it.

The judge scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend the order blocking payouts from an “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which the government created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

The fund has created a fierce backlash since it was announced last week, with even Republicans pressing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the eligibility considerations and the possibility that even violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, would be free to seek compensation.

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Pam Bondi interview gets underway on Capitol Hill

The former attorney general is appearing before House lawmakers as they investigate how the government has handled the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein.

Bondi was ousted as attorney general last month, but her in her previous testimony to Congress she has been defiant in the face of lawmakers’ questions about how the Department of Justice handled the release of case files on Epstein. She is also accompanied today by Department of Justice officials — an arrangement Democrats have criticized.

Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse also appeared outside the House office room where the interview is happening behind closed doors. They pressed the committee chair, Republican Rep. James Comer, to closely question Bondi.

“We want justice for the survivors, we do,” Comer told them.

South Carolina Democrats expected to celebrate after failure of Trump-backed redistricting push

Democrats may be in a more celebratory mood than usual as they gather Friday in South Carolina, a state led almost entirely by Republicans.

The party is holding events days after the GOP-led state Senate shot down an effort backed by President Donald Trump to redraw House district lines to help Republicans this fall. That move was aimed at ousting longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state’s lone congressional Democrat and a party powerbroker who’s been in office since 1993.

Friday’s gatherings kick off with the Blue Palmetto Dinner, an annual party fundraiser that typically showcases potential presidential contenders and the party’s national figures. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will be the headliner.

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Pam Bondi to face closed-door questioning from House lawmakers over Epstein files

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is testifying before House lawmakers investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse cases, a long-awaited appearance that brings fresh scrutiny of the administration’s botched release of the Epstein case files.

Bondi was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. It’s unclear whether she’ll bring the same approach Friday, now that she is no longer in charge of the Justice Department. The session will be held behind closed doors.

The transcribed interview will give lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of his former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell. The Justice Department moved Maxwell to a prison camp in Texas last August.

“I think she absolutely could clear up many missing pieces if she wanted to,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “Now it’s a question of whether or not she is willing to be transparent.”

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Judge refuses to block Trump order to limit mail voting. There’s no immediate effect on the midterms

A federal judge has declined to halt Trump’s executive order creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, clearing the way for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee in Washington, late Wednesday rejected the request by Democrats and civil rights groups that had argued Trump’s order would likely be found unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the power to set election rules. Nichols agreed with the Republican Trump administration’s contention that it was too early to block the order because it has yet to be implemented.

Nichols’ ruling leaves the door open for further challenges when the Trump administration moves to implement the president’s directive. A separate lawsuit seeking to block the executive order is underway in Boston. No matter how rapidly the administration acts, no voting changes are expected during primary elections, which continue into next month.

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Treasury Secretary Bessent confirms limited steps toward a $250 bill featuring Donald Trump

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that his department has prepared the design for a $250 bill featuring Trump, anticipating the passage of stalled legislation in Congress to put the president on a new denomination of legal tender.

Bessent said at the White House that authorizing the new currency will be up to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but that “we’ve created the bill” because “we have to be prepared.”

The secretary downplayed the idea that the administration is pushing the matter, despite Trump’s penchant for infusing his name and likeness across the nation’s capital and into the observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Yet he also insisted there is nothing inappropriate about Trump’s visage being part of the seminal national celebration.

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Top federal prosecutor in Chicago denies investigation into E. Jean Carroll, disputing media reports

The top federal prosecutor in Chicago denied Thursday evening that his office had opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who has said Trump sexually assaulted her 30 years ago, hours after multiple news organizations reported that the Justice Department was investigating whether she had lied during the course of civil litigation against Trump.

The Associated Press and other news organizations, citing anonymous sources, reported that the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago had opened an investigation into Carroll.

But Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, issued a statement roughly 24 hours after the first report was published saying that his office “has not opened — and has never opened — a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.”

A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, initially told the AP on Thursday morning that investigators were focused on Carroll but later clarified that the actual focus was on a nonprofit that had helped fund her case.

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US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and start new nuclear talks

U.S. and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative agreement Thursday to extend the ceasefire in the 3-month-old war by 60 days and start a new round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if Trump would approve it.

“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign,” Vance told reporters.

He added: “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”

The emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering. The latest flare-up in fighting happened less than a day earlier, when Kuwait intercepted missiles fired from Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.

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— Aamer Madhani, Jon Gambrell, Michelle L. Price and Sam Metz

Here are some key things to know as Broadway's biggest night approaches, including how to watch, the top nominees, who is poised to make history and what shows secured performance slots.

When are the Tony Awards?

The Tonys will be broadcast to both coasts on June 7 from 8-11 p.m. Eastern/5-8 p.m. Pacific, live from Radio City Music Hall.

How can I watch them?

On CBS and streaming for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers in the U.S.

Who's hosting the Tony Awards?

Pink, a three-time Grammy Award winner, will make her debut as MC.

A pre-show will be broadcast on Pluto TV from 6:35-8 p.m. Eastern/3:45-5 p.m. Pacific. Laura Benanti and Tituss Burgess will host that telecast. Viewers can access it on their smart TV, streaming device, mobile app or online by going to Pluto TV and clicking on the “Live Music” channel, found within the Entertainment category on the service.

What performances will there be?

The seven best new musical and best musical revivals — "The Lost Boys," “Schmigadoon!,” “Titanique,” “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York),” “Cats: The Jellicle Ball,” “Ragtime” and “The Rocky Horror Show.”

How many awards are there?

A total of 26 competitive categories, from lead and featured actors to scenic, costume and lighting design. Some technical award handouts may be pre-taped and winners won't appear on the live show, only cut down into edited bits sandwiched into the telecast.

What are the top nominees?

There are two top nominees: “The Lost Boys” and “Schmigadoon!” each earned a leading 12 Tony Award nominations. “The Lost Boys” is an adaptation of a 1987 teen movie vampire thriller, and “Schmigadoon!” is an adaptation of an Apple TV series that gently mocks Broadway musicals. They're followed by a revival of “Ragtime,” a big, soaring musical celebrating early 20th-century America, with 11 nominations, and “Death of a Salesman,” Arthur Miller’s masterpiece that looks at the unraveling of the American Dream, starring Nathan Lane, which nabbed nine nods.

Who is vying for best new play and musical?

For new musicals, it's “The Lost Boys," “Schmigadoon!,” “Titaníque” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).”

For new plays, it's “The Balusters,” “Giant,” “Liberation” and “Little Bear Ridge Road.”

Can history be made?

History has already been made, in a way. June Squibb became the oldest Tony-nominated actor in history at 96 and could become the oldest Tony winner, surpassing Lois Smith who was 90 when she won in 2021.

Nathan Lane is hoping for his fourth Tony, which would make him tied as the most-awarded male performer in Tony history, alongside Boyd Gaines and Frank Langella. If he does win for best lead actor in a play for the revival of “Death of a Salesman,” he'd have Tonys in three separate acting categories, previously winning featured actor in a play for “Angels in America” and lead actor in a musical twice for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “The Producers.”

And for the first time since 2002, the contenders for best leading actress in a musical are all first-time nominees: Sara Chase ("Schmigadoon!"), Stephanie Hsu ("The Rocky Horror Show"), Caissie Levy ("Ragtime"), Marla Mindelle ("Titanique") and Christiani Pitts ("Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York").

Will there be other performances?

Other performances include the original lead cast members of “The Book of Mormon” — Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O’Malley and Nikki M. James — this year celebrating its 15th anniversary.

Broadway's big season

The 2025-2026 Broadway season set a new box office record for the second year in a row. Over the 52 weeks of the season, Broadway brought in a combined total of $1,910,903,835, a smidge higher than last season’s then-historic total of $1,892,650,959. Last season also had 53 weeks instead of the usual 52, a Broadway accountant trick.

In more gloomy news, attendance was actually down — 14,577,322 versus 14,658,531 from last season. And the average paid admission was $131.09, continuing an ever upward trend.

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For more coverage of the 2026 Tony Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.

Trump confirmed the high-level White House talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Trump in a social media posting said that “Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened for international navigation and all sea mines dropped in the waterway must be destroyed as part of the agreement.

Iran’s main negotiator said Friday that it has “no trust in guarantees or words,” only actions, underscoring lingering distrust after the U.S. and Israel have twice attacked Iran over the past year while it was engaged in nuclear negotiations.

“No step will be taken before the other side acts,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who attended talks in Qatar this week, wrote on X. “We do not gain concessions through talks, but through missiles."

Vance says discussions continue on nuclear issues

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Vance said the sides were going back and forth on “a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment.”

The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that a prime objective was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

Vance framed the war’s accomplishments more modestly.

“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said, saying that would be “very, very good” for Americans.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful and has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile, believed to be buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last year.

Deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz

The proposed memorandum makes clear that Iran would not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that it would have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. would gradually lift its blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader and other top officials. Before then, the waterway was open to international traffic, and around a fifth of the world's oil and gas passed through it.

The closure of the strait, which runs between Iran and Oman, has caused the price of fuel and other goods to soar, with the effects felt far beyond the Middle East.

Iran has said it lets some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war. But the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships and established a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.

Iran and Oman discuss strait after Trump threat

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that he discussed the strait’s future management with his Omani counterpart. Araghchi wrote on X that he expressed expressed solidarity “in the face of any threat.”

On Wednesday, Trump had warned Oman — a U.S. ally — not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Pakistan’s top diplomat, Ishaq Dar, whose country has been mediating the Iran talks. Neither Rubio nor Dar spoke as they posed for photographs at the State Department in Washington.

Even as word of the potential deal emerged, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military’s oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign.

Since the ceasefire began about seven weeks ago, the U.S. and Iran have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations. But they have not returned to full-scale hostilities and have kept negotiating.

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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

The game of golf has never been known to be easygoing, either.

The Magnolia Golf Course, located across Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian, has combined the two, creating the aptly named “Grumpy’s Gauntlet.”

Magnolia, Disney’s longest course, has recently been reimagined. All 18 holes have been enhanced, and “Grumpy’s Gauntlet” is a highlight.

Say hello to Grumpy's Gauntlet 🏌️ Grumpy's Gauntlet marks a challenging stretch starting on hole 14 at Magnolia Golf Course at @WaltDisneyWorld ⛳ pic.twitter.com/688E9ln9PC

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) May 29, 2026

It encompasses holes 14 through 17 and features doglegs, a near-600-yard hole, and a water hazard.

Magnolia promises to challenge all comers and is open to the public to give it a try.

The crash happened at about 2:35 a.m. on southbound I-95 in Stafford County. All five of the people who died were in vehicles hit by the bus, and three of the injured are in critical condition, police said.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that traffic was slowing southbound for an upcoming work zone,” state police said in a news release. “A bus failed to slow for traffic and struck six vehicles."

It was not immediately known what the bus was being used for or how many people were aboard.

The crash is under investigation and charges are pending, police said.

The National Transportation Safety Board posted online Friday that it was sending a “go-team” to conduct a safety investigation into the crash and that it would have a spokesperson at the scene.

The southbound left shoulder and left lane remained closed late Friday morning with traffic backed up for about eight miles (12.8 kilometers), according to a state transportation advisory.

The drone was tracked by radar in Romanian airspace and crashed onto the roof of the building in the Danube port city of Galati and sparked a fire, the Romanian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The two injuries were minor and several people were evacuated.

It was the latest in a series of drone incursions — from both Russia and Ukraine — to hit a NATO member since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The incidents have left the 32-member military alliance on edge, and Friday's incursion drew strong condemnation across Europe, with leaders calling Russia's actions reckless and irresponsible.

Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a helicopter, and sent alerts to residents of the affected areas, but the aircraft didn’t engage or shoot at the drone in the city, which is located near the borders of Ukraine and Moldova.

Romania asked NATO to speed up the transfer of anti-drone capabilities to its military, the Foreign Ministry said, calling the incursion a serious violation of international law.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told European leaders to “shut up” about the incident, noting in an expletive-filled post on his messaging channel that it has yet to be determined whose drone it was. But Romanian President Nicusor Dan and other officials identified the drone as Russian.

“We had a Russian drone, Geran-2, leaving Russia. We know the trajectory, we know where it went through Ukraine, we know where it entered Romania, part of a swarm of 43 Russian drones, of which only one reached Romanian territory,” a statement from Dan said.

Gen. Gheorghe Maxim, interim commander of the Romanian armed forces' joint staff, told a news conference that the drone in Galati wasn't “an attack from Russia against Romania,” but he added that “Romanians should understand that Russia is a threat to the security of the countries in the area.”

Elsewhere in the war, Ukrainian forces shot down 217 drones overnight, according to the country’s air force. In total, Russia attacked with 232 drones and one ballistic missile. Strikes were recorded in 14 areas, it said.

Romania calls it the worst of many incidents

Romania has confirmed drone fragments landed on its territory on multiple occasions since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the war, including in Galati last month, but no one was hurt in any of those incidents, with debris falling in remote areas.

Dan convened Romania’s top defense body Friday to discuss what he called “the worst incident to hit the national territory” since the war began.

“We will have proportional measures in relation to the Russian Federation. ... There is no ambiguity about the author and the cause of this assault,” he wrote on Facebook. He said his thoughts are with the injured as well as the families and residents “who experienced terrible moments in their own homes.”

After the Supreme Council of National Defense meeting in Bucharest, Dan said the Russian consul in the Black Sea port city of Constanta has been declared persona non grata and that the consulate will be closed. Russia maintains an embassy in Romania's capital, Bucharest.

Territorial violations have become so common in Romania in recent years that lawmakers adopted legislation last year allowing the army to shoot down drones entering its airspace as a last resort. But the country has remained cautious in downing errant drones, which can pose risks to populated areas.

Russia has been using long-range ballistic missiles and drones to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer cities, and Ukraine has braced for further heavy bombardments. Kyiv also has sent long-range drones deep into Russia to attack oil refineries, military bases and and other infrastructure.

Friday's incident adds to recent drone-related incursions in Europe. Ukrainian drones have hit the chimney of a power plant in Estonia and empty fuel tanks in Latvia, and also were shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania. Ukrainian officials apologized and said the drones were aimed at military targets in Russia, but were sent off course by Russian electronic interference.

Poland, Croatia, Romania and non-NATO member Moldova all have reported airspace violations and found drone fragments on their territory since the war began. The airspace violations have raised questions about the state of air defenses on NATO’s eastern flank.

Allies condemn incursion

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he had spoken to Dan and expressed “absolute solidarity” with its ally.

Rutte said in a post on X that he “affirmed that NATO stands ready to defend every inch of Allied territory. We will continue to enhance our readiness to deter and defend against any threat, including from drones.”

NATO allies spoke informally about the incursion, but no official meeting about it was scheduled for Friday. Romania can request formal NATO consultations if it believes its territory or security is under threat.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia "has crossed yet another line.” She said the European Union will keep strengthening security on its eastern frontier and was drafting another set of sanctions against Russia, the 21st so far.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said the risk of such “serious incidents” was raised by “ Putin’s increasing nervousness, driven by military setbacks.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot complained to the Russian ambassador about what he called “this latest irresponsible act,” saying they are "both reckless and pointless, as they will in no way deter us from our support for the Ukrainian resistance.”

Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012 and is known for his provocative and inflammatory statements since the start of the war, called the European leaders “scoundrels” and “imbeciles.”

“European drones, their spare parts, and other weapons, not to mention intelligence data, are used daily in attacks on our country,” he wrote on his messaging channel MAX. “Their operations result in damage to residential buildings, killing civilians.”

He said EU countries are part of the “warring nations” in the conflict and involved in “drone production” for Ukraine.

“So just shut up. This is just the beginning,” Medvedev added. “Let them prepare -- this will continue to happen.”

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This story has been corrected to remove the reference to Galati being east of the borders of Ukraine and Moldova. The city is west of them.

—-

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

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

The state Senate is set to vote on a redistricting plan that would give Republicans a chance to pick up an additional seat in response to late April’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s congressional district map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

An amended map overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. Once the final map clears the Legislature, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign it.

In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision, several other Republican-controlled Southern states have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts. It’s the latest flare-up in a heated national redistricting battle heading into the November elections, spurred along by President Donald Trump.

So far, Republicans are winning the redistricting contest. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will win a narrowly divided U.S. House in November. So far, Republicans think they could gain as many as 14 seats from their redistricting efforts, while Democrats think they could gain six seats from new districts in California and Utah.

In Louisiana, Republicans currently hold four of six congressional seats on a court-ordered map drawn in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act by including a second district with a majority-Black population.

That map, however, was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court responded on April 30 by striking it down as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Landry postponed the state’s U.S. House primary, scheduled for May 16, until later this summer to allow time for Republican lawmakers to draw and pass a new map.

The proposed map redraws Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields' district, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It also adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.

More lawsuits were expected over the new map.

Democrats say the proposed map could still constitute a racial gerrymander because it packs Black voters into a single congressional district. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court's decision criticized the Legislature's map for leaving a majority-Black district in place.

Several other Southern states also have acted on redistricting since the Supreme Court's decision.

Florida’s Legislature passed new congressional districts just hours after the ruling, completing a redrawing that was in the works in anticipation of the decision. It could yield Republicans as many as four additional seats in the midterm elections.

Tennessee adopted new U.S. House districts a week after the ruling, carving up a majority-Black district based in Memphis in a Republican attempt to win an additional seat.

In Alabama, Republicans are attempting to pick up another seat by redrawing two districts where Black residents compose a majority or close to it. Democrats hold both seats, and the proposal is mired in a court battle.

South Carolina’s Senate, meanwhile, decided against redistricting, despite pressure from Trump.

The company fueled the massive New Glenn rocket Thursday night, hoping to briefly ignite the engines ahead of a satellite launch next week. But the 321-foot (98-meter), rocket blew up, taking part of the pad with it.

Emergency officials on Friday warned the public to avoid any wreckage that might wash ashore and to instead call 911.

Named after John Glenn, the first American in orbit, New Glenn is the rocket that Blue Origin plans to use to launch landers to the moon under NASA's Artemis program that aims to build a sprawling base near the moon's south pole. The goal is to land the first Artemis moonwalkers as early as 2028. Earlier this week, the space agency awarded a new contract to Blue Origin worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

None of the 48 Amazon Leo satellites were on board when the rocket exploded. Another batch of Amazon Leo satellites — competing with SpaceX's Starlinks to provide internet service to remote locales — awaited liftoff several miles away at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, courtesy of United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.

Within 12 hours of the explosion, SpaceX launched more Starlinks to orbit Friday morning. CEO Elon Musk has two pads in action, one on the Space Force side where the latest Falcon 9 lifted off and the other at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Blue Origin has just the one pad in Florida. Its smaller New Shepard rockets soar from Texas, skimming space for a few minutes with tourists and science experiments. Those suborbital hops were paused in January so the company could focus on New Glenn and upcoming moonshots. All that is now on hold, pending the investigation into the explosion.

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

The Florida Department of Health in Osceola County (DOH-Osceola) issued a 60-day rabies alert following a confirmed case in an unvaccinated cat that was euthanized near Academy Circle in Kissimmee on Tuesday, according to a news release.

The alert covers a specific zone bounded by Fortune Road to the north, Neptune Road to the south, La Terraza Lane to the east, and Heritage Key to the west.

Illness caused by the rabies virus can be nearly 100% fatal in humans if left untreated, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The health department recommends taking the following precautions to prevent rabies exposure:

• Immunize your pets and livestock based on your veterinarian’s recommended schedule.
• Keep pets under direct supervision and on a leash and keep livestock secured on your property. If an animal bites your pet or livestock, seek veterinary assistance for the animal immediately and contact Osceola Animal Services at 407-742-8000.
• Avoid contact with wild or stray animals. Do not handle, feed, or unintentionally attract them with outdoor pet food, open garbage cans, or other sources of food. If you have been bitten or scratched by a wild or domestic animal, seek medical attention, and report the injury to DOH-Osceola by calling 407-742-8606.
• Never adopt wild animals or bring them into your home; instead, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.
• Call your local animal control agency to remove any stray animals from your neighborhood. Contact Osceola Animal Services at 407-742-8000.
• Prevent wildlife, including bats, from entering living quarters or occupied spaces in homes, schools, and other similar areas where they might come in contact with people and pets.

For more information on rabies, follow this link to the FDOH website.

To report stray animals, contact Osceola Animal Services at 407-742-8000.

Crews are putting the finishing touches on the Obama Presidential Center ahead of the official public opening on Juneteenth, more than a decade after the site was chosen. But the design of the roughly $850 million campus — particularly the conspicuous 225-foot high rise at its north end — still divides the city celebrated as the birthplace of the modern skyscraper.

For some, it’s a jarring choice in Barack Obama’s hometown after a grueling battle over its location in a lakefront park where classical style buildings are more common. To others, it’s a bold addition that will shape Chicago’s iconic skyline for decades to come.

Residents have compared it to a grain elevator, ship from “Star Wars” and a mausoleum.

“It doesn’t fit in at all,” said Brenda Nelms, who has lived in the area since the 1970s and leads a group that advocates for nearby Jackson Park, which spans more than 500 acres.

Leaders of the Obama Foundation, which has raised private funds, say they’ve heard it all. They enlisted “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill for cheeky promotional videos on May the 4th, a day celebrated by fans of the movie franchise.

“Part of the joy of the center is everyone is going to have their unique experience,” said Valerie Jarrett, foundation CEO and a former Obama advisor. “The design of the building was intended to be inviting and opening to people whether they live across the street or around the world.”

Chicago’s architecture is ‘spectator sport’

The bar for architectural design is high in Chicago, from Louis Sullivan’s modern skyscrapers after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 to Helmut Jahn’s post-modern office buildings.

Discourse around design is so fierce in the nation’s third-largest city that Chicago Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey calls it “a spectator sport.” His initial impression of the Obama Presidential Center was that it looked more suited to a cemetery.

The striking design has few windows, all selectively placed. Foundation officials say that decision also helps protect the artifacts inside from sunlight, including an Oval Office replica.

Bey said the museum design makes more sense in context with the other low-lying buildings on the campus, which includes a basketball court, children’s playground, public library branch and works by prominent artists.

Mixed public response has greeted other renown Chicago buildings, he said. The former John Hancock Center, a black 100-story building marked by giant X’s, was compared to an oil rig soon after it was built in the 1960s. Renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in recent years for its address, the building houses stores, condos and offices.

“As we begin to experience buildings, we begin to imprint our own impressions,” Bey said. “The John Hancock becomes less of an oil derrick and more of the building that has your doctor’s office.”

Edward Keegan, a Chicago Tribune architecture columnist, has called the presidential museum “an un-Chicago building” because of the few windows and unusual shape. Still, it offers a unique perspective of the city.

Atop the building is a glass-enclosed “Sky Room,” with panoramic views of Chicago, including north-facing perspectives of downtown, which are uncommon from that height.

“It doesn’t feel like any other place in Chicago,” he said. “It does feel unique and unexpected.”

After fights over the location, some worry about future

The road to the museum was bumpy, even though support for Obama has remained vigorous in the Democratic stronghold.

Lawsuits to stop construction started after its location was announced in 2015. Concerns about displacement of low-income and Black residents living in pockets near the museum grew. Community groups lobbied for housing protections, but area residents say they don’t go far enough as prices for homes near the museum have soared.

Construction of the museum involved tearing up nearly 20 acres of park land and scrapping a section of major thoroughfare, which residents say was critical to connect residents from other parts of the city and suburbs with downtown.

On a recent walk through a bird sanctuary near the center, activist Robin Kaufman, 82, said she couldn't fully enjoy the wildflowers by the secluded ponds as she once did. She watched as ducks paddled through a lagoon but couldn't ignore the center's tower poking out above the tree line.

“Everywhere I go, you can see it, so you’re reminded of what’s going on and that’s distressing,” she said. “I’m very distrustful of anything they say.”

She and others have anxiety about what else might come to the area because of Obama's presidential center.

“It’s a Trojan horse,” said Shannon Bennett with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization. “It’s an extreme version of a scheme to transform these communities for another population.”

Obama advisor says facility outweighs costs

Several design choices were made by the former president with New York-based architects, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. Obama chose a stone design and wanted a high tower for city views not far from where he raised his family and taught law at the University of Chicago.

The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”

The Obama Foundation said they have widened some roads, added a new field to the area that local schools use and the campus has a new public library branch, basketball gym for community use, a playground and gardens that have been landscaped to blend in with the park around it.

“The benefit of having this extraordinary facility far outweighs any costs,” Jarrett said. “It’s a symbol to the community of how important they are to us.”

Adam Rubin at the Chicago Architecture Center called it a successful project so far, but added that questions linger about whether the tradeoff of park land for the center was worth it.

“It really does have a sense of place,” he said of the museum. “Time will tell how people utilize it.”

Bondi, who arrived Friday morning on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. In her opening statement, she kept to the same tact.

“The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration,” she said, according to a written copy of her opening statement.

The transcribed Bondi interview gave lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein's former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein killed himself in a New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein but has insisted she’s innocent, arguing she never should have been prosecuted. The Justice Department moved Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas last August.

Lawmakers are trying to find out what decisions prosecutors have made about investigating Epstein associates, how the Justice Department handled the congressional mandate to release the Epstein case files and whether President Donald Trump was involved in the process.

Bondi told lawmakers in her opening statement that then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, had overseen the process to release the Epstein case files as mandated by a law passed by Congress and signed by Trump last year.

She called it “an enormously complicated and labor-intensive process” and conceded that the department had made redaction errors. But she mostly defended the Justice Department's work, saying that it had complied with the law and demonstrated “an unprecedented commitment to transparency.”

Several survivors of Epstein's abuse also gathered outside the Capitol office where the interview was taking place. They tried to make their presence known to Bondi as she entered the room, but several said they were shoved aside by police officers.

“We hope that she finds it in her heart to be completely honest,” said Marina Lacerda, one of the survivors. “That's all we're asking for.”

The survivors also implored lawmakers to hold Bondi accountable for the handling of the Epstein case files' release, which included the personal information of potential victims.

They confronted the committee chair, Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, and he told them that he would press for the complete release of case files mandated by law.

“We want justice for the survivors, we do,” Comer added.

Bondi, who revealed this week that she is being treated for thyroid cancer, has stayed within the Republican president's orbit even after being ousted from her job in early April.

Trump appointed Bondi to a White House panel on artificial intelligence this week, and she will be accompanied Friday by Justice Department officials, including Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the department's Civil Rights Division, acting as her counsel.

Democrats say that arrangement is a conflict of interest.

Bondi was central to the Epstein saga

Bondi has been central to the political firestorm over Epstein, initially raising expectations for the full release of what's known as the Epstein files, only to later backtrack. That reversal prompted Congress to step in and pass a law requiring the release.

Bondi faced even more backlash when the Justice Department's release of the files was delayed and then included personal information and nude photos of several potential victims. She has insisted in congressional hearings that she was trying to follow the law.

The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has been conducting a wide-ranging investigation into Epstein that spans multiple presidential administrations.

The interview format is already contentious

Bondi was subpoenaed by the committee in March in a bipartisan vote, but she tried to head off that demand by holding a closed-door meeting with lawmakers that month. The maneuver only added to the enmity between Bondi and Democrats on the committee.

Bondi's departure from the Justice Department also raised doubts about the enforcement of the congressional subpoena. After the committee's Democrats maneuvered to press for a civil contempt of Congress resolution against Bondi, she agreed to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a sworn deposition.

Democrats on the Oversight panel have criticized that arrangement, saying that it allows Bondi to decline to answer questions. They also objected to Comer's decision not to video the interview.

“We continue to be incredibly disappointed of the decision to not have this interview videotaped and then released to the American public,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the panel.

Comer has said he is allowing Bondi to sit for a transcribed interview rather than a deposition as an incentive to cooperate. Previously, he had enforced a subpoena on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after they resisted the demand. Both of their depositions were video-recorded.

Still, Comer said Bondi could face prosecution if she lies to Congress. He said the committee would also release a transcript of the interview.

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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.

The 15th-ranked Ukrainian is in an excellent run of form and extended her winning streak on clay to 15 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Viktorija Golubic on yet another hot day in Paris. Ahead of Roland Garros, she won in Madrid — the biggest title of her career — after she claimed another clay-court title in Rouen, France.

She previously reached the fourth round in Paris in 2021, when she lost to Swiatek. A rematch is coming up next after Swiatek defeated fellow Polish player Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4.

“Marta is having a great season,” said Swiatek, who has not won a title on clay since the 2024 French Open. “She always had a game to play well. Did some semifinals of big tournaments before. Now she won Madrid. So good for her.”

Swiatek, however, has won in straight sets all three times she has played Kostyuk and has experience on her side in Paris, holding a 43-3 record overall at Roland Garros.

“I’m still the person who lost to her three times, and she’s won this tournament four times,” Kostyuk said. “I would love to be the one who is a favorite in this match, but I still don’t think it’s the case, even though I have this really long streak."

Double bagel

Also advancing to the fourth round was 36-year-old Sorana Cirstea, who routed Solana Sierra and became the oldest player in the Open Era to claim a 6-0 6-0 win in a Grand Slam tournament. She will next face Wang Xiyu of China, who beat Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 7-5. The Chinese qualifier has still not dropped a set in her campaign.

Eighth-seeded Mirra Andreeva progressed with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Czech opponent Marie Bouzkova. Andreeva leads the women’s tour with 32 victories this season. Her fourth-round match pits her against Jill Teichmann, who beat 10th-seeded Karolina Muchova 6-1, 7-5.

In men’s action, a day after top-ranked Jannik Sinner was upset after he twice failed to serve out the match in the third set, three-time champion Novak Djokovic later takes on Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev, chasing a first major title in Paris, continues his quest for his first major trophy against Frenchman Quentin Halys during the evening session. Casper Ruud faces Tommy Paul.

Earlier, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta reached the fourth round at a major for the first time since the 2022 U.S. Open by defeating Argentina’s Thiago Tirante 7-6 (0), 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Andrey Rublev beat Nuno Borges 7-5, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2).

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

The science center is unveiling The Dome by Dr. Phillips Charities on Monday, June 1, a fully transformed immersive theater designed to thrill audiences with 8K laser projection, 30,000 watts of 7.1 surround sound, a nearly seamless NanoSeam screen, and new luxury seating.

For nearly three decades, the domed theater has been a centerpiece of the Orlando Science Center experience — welcoming nearly four million guests and standing out as one of the last museum theaters in the United States to show analog film, according to the science center.

Now, after a top-to-bottom overhaul, the iconic venue is launching a new chapter that combines next-generation visuals and audio with the return of planetarium-style storytelling.

“Orlando Science Center is a home for bold experiences that inspire curiosity and wonder,” said JoAnn Newman, the science center’s president and CEO, in a prepared statement. “The Dome by Dr. Phillips Charities is a step forward in how we present storytelling that educates and inspires contemporary audiences.”

What’s new inside the Dome

The reimagined theater features eight Christie Griffyn projectors delivering 8K laser imagery that the science center says is brighter and sharper than ever before.

The space was also physically redesigned to improve sightlines and expand capacity. The former central projection structure was removed, and seating was increased to 315 guests.

A major visual upgrade comes from the theater’s new screen system: 419 individual panels create a nearly seamless surface intended to maximize clarity and immersion.

Audio is a centerpiece, too. A 7.1 surround sound system delivers more than 30,000 watts — built to make audiences feel like they’re under a rocket launch, inside an ocean storm or drifting through deep space.

The experience starts before the show

Orlando Science Center also redesigned the lobby leading into the Dome, adding a dramatic LED wall and large-scale projection surfaces to wrap visitors in motion and light even before they take their seats.

The updated lobby also includes automated vending with popcorn, candy and drinks.

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A return to planetarium roots

The Dome’s relaunch also signals a return to Orlando Science Center’s planetarium heritage.

From 1972 to 1984, the organization was known as the John Young Museum and Planetarium, and planetarium-style programs helped define its early years.

The Dome’s new programming lineup is expected to include planetarium shows, giant screen films, full-dome educational presentations, and musical laser light shows.

The premiere schedule includes a live planetarium experience led by Orlando Science Center presenters exploring the skies above Orlando — from constellations and planets to distant phenomena at the edge of the universe.

Who helped make it happen?

The project was supported through the science center’s Unlock Science Campaign, including contributions from Dr. Phillips Charities, Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Bert W. Martin Foundation, and The Magruder Foundation, the science center said.

“Dr. Phillips Charities is dedicated to the education and enrichment of our community and proud to further our legacy of support with this amazing venue,” said Ken Robinson, president and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities, in a prepared statement.

Plan your visit

The Dome by Dr. Phillips Charities premieres Monday, June 1, at Orlando Science Center.

Tickets and showtimes are available through Orlando Science Center.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, also barred the government from moving forward with the fund’s creation or operating it while litigation is pending to challenge it.

The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend the order blocking payouts from an “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The government created the fund to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

The White House declined to comment on the judge's ruling and referred all questions to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The judge gave the government another week to respond in writing to the plaintiffs' arguments in favor of freezing the fund's creation.

The fund has generated a fierce backlash since it was announced last week, with even Republicans pressing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the eligibility considerations and the possibility that even violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, would be free to seek compensation.

The Justice Department hasn’t formed the five-member commission that will decide on payout criteria, so there has been no money paid out yet or claims accepted.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there is no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

“President Trump and his allies have long accused Democrats of using the government and the legal system as political weapons,” plaintiffs' lawyers wrote. “In doing so, the (Trump) administration fails to acknowledge the unprecedented campaign of targeting individuals and entities for retribution on personal and ideological grounds that it has carried out.”

Brinkema said it’s important to maintain the status quo — for at least the next two weeks — and to ensure that no funds are “irreversibly disbursed” from the fund. Her order temporarily prohibits the Trump administration from transferring any money to the fund, considering any claims or disbursing any money from it.

The Virginia lawsuit's plaintiffs include a fired prosecutor and a college professor acquitted of assaulting federal agents at a protest.

“The unlawfulness that has imbued the Anti-Weaponization Fund from its inception requires that it be wholly dismantled,” the suit says.

At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund's creation. A lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington refers to the fund as “a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.” Two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters sued last week.

During a congressional hearing, Blanche wouldn’t rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan. 6 could be eligible for fund payouts.

Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump handed out mass pardons, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of every pending Jan. 6 criminal case last year.

One of the plaintiffs in the Virginia case is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted Capitol riot cases in Washington before he was fired last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Floyd believes his firing was retaliation for his Jan. 6 work.

“The President’s targeting of me and others involved in January 6 prosecutions leaves our country in a very dark place, sending a message that insurrection and sedition will be protected (and even encouraged) as long as it is on behalf of this administration,” Floyd said in a court filing.

Another plaintiff is California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, who was acquitted of an assault charge. He was accused of throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a 2025 protest against an immigration raid at a Camarillo, California, cannabis farm.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

“…There is no reason to think the economy is in a recession or is at the edge of one.”

“Are we in a recession? – No, we are not.”

July 2022, March 2024, and February 2025.

Three quotes, three different years, three different moments of economic anxiety. All of these quotes point to one consistent message from one of the most powerful economic voices on the planet, former Fed Chairman Jerome Powell: the U.S. economy has not hit the tipping point of a recession.

But what exactly is that tipping point? Though the Fed Chair is the one whose words will calm (or shake) a nation, the real authority on U.S. recessions is a private, nonpartisan research organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER. And here’s the part that rarely makes the headline: by the time the NBER officially declares a recession, the country may have already been in one for months.

Powell served as Chairman of the Fed from February 2018 to May 2026. He’s overseen the nation’s economy through Trump’s first term, a global pandemic, a heated 2020 election, and a return of Donald Trump to the presidency.

Three different years. The same question. The same answer. One north star guiding a nation’s economy spread across three presidential administrations.

So why does it feel like, “Are we in a recession?” is still being asked? Are there economic indicators – outside of what government officials say – that would signal the possibility of a recession?

Funny you should ask…

Economic indicators – outside of what government officials say – that would signal the possibility of a recession

You walked right into that one.

This story isn’t about doom and gloom; it’s not a prediction, and it’s not a declaration. It’s a look at some of the more unconventional ways economists, analysts, and everyday observers have tried to read the economic tea leaves – long before official numbers come in.

Some of these indicators are rooted in real behavioral economics. Others are more folklore than formula. But all of them share one thing in common: they’re based on how regular people actually behave when money gets tight.

And sometimes, that’s more revealing than any government report.

So let’s explore several unofficial indicators of a possible impending recession:

• The Lipstick Effect

When money gets tight, people don’t stop treating themselves – they just downsize the treat.

That’s the idea behind something economists call the Lipstick Effect (or the Lipstick Index), a concept first observed by Estée Lauder chairman Leonard Lauder after the September 11 attacks. Although Lauder’s theory was directly tied to one of the company’s products, in practice, it can be applied to all types of products.

His observation: lipstick sales go up during recessions, not down. Why? Because during hard economic times, a $12 lipstick still feels like a splurge – an affordable one, but a splurge nonetheless. The purchase scratches the itch without breaking the bank.

Economists observed Lauder’s theory during the 2008 financial crisis – and it showed up again during the recent pandemic. The broader idea is that when big indulgences – vacations, new cars, designer handbags – fall off the table, small ones take their place.

So the next time you’re in the cosmetics aisle and the shelves look a little picked over, it might be worth paying attention.

• The Parking Lot Test

While the Lipstick Effect was a nuanced observation by one business leader and has grown into a legitimate economic theory, how about another indicator that has academic research to back it up?

A 2022 study, published in the Journal of Retailing, found that parking lot traffic is a highly relevant metric for predicting retailer performance and signaling trends in consumer traffic. Aside from the peer-reviewed study, economists have long used higher parking lot occupancy as an informal gauge of consumer spending. Cars in the parking lot: customers. No cars in the parking lot: no customers.

That tracks.

It sounds almost too simple, but sometimes the simplest reads are the most honest ones. Think of it this way: before the data catches up, before the quarterly earnings reports come out, or before the economists and analysts officially call anything, regular people are already voting with their car keys. The Parking Lot Test is common sense backed up by data.

• The Lottery Ticket Paradox

Here’s a recession indicator that has a little irony baked right into it. When people get nervous about money, lottery ticket sales tend to go up – not down, up.

The logic isn’t as strange as it sounds: when conventional paths to financial security start to feel out of reach, the long shot starts to look a lot more appealing. It’s hope in a $2 scratch-off. This has shades of the Lipstick Effect (pun intended): lottery tickets from $2 to $10 aren’t so much of a splurge as they are a small bet with the possibility of a big payout.

Researchers have tracked this pattern across multiple downturns – lottery revenues historically climb when unemployment rises and consumer confidence falls. It’s not that people suddenly become reckless with their money – on the contrary: they’re looking for any reason to believe things could turn around.

And hey – somebody has to win, right?

• The Prediction Market Paradox

The Lottery Ticket Paradox has a younger, shinier cousin – and it lives on your smartphone.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are relatively new platforms that let anyone place a bet on real-world outcomes: Will the Fed cut interest rates? Will unemployment hit 5%? Will the U.S. enter a recession?

These aren’t casino games and they’re not true online betting – prediction markets are structured more like financial contracts, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). But make no mistake: at their core, they’re still a bet.

And people are pouring billions into prediction markets.

In 2025, total trading volume on prediction markets topped $44 billion – nearly all of it split between Kalshi and Polymarket. By April 2026, monthly trading volume had grown from $1.8 billion to $24.2 billion in just one year.

That’s not a trend – that’s a stampede.

Sound familiar? It should because at its core, the same psychological impulse that drives someone to buy a $2 scratch-off during tough economic times is the same impulse driving people to their prediction market apps.

It’s the hope that one small risk could change everything.

The difference is that prediction markets feel smarter. You’re not picking lottery numbers; you’re making an informed prediction about the economy, politics, world, or sporting events. It feels less like gambling and more like analysis. But here’s the catch: research shows that 67% of profits on Polymarket go to just 0.1% of accounts.

Kalshi has acknowledged there are 2.9 unprofitable users for every one profitable user. The people on the other side of your “informed” bet are often professional traders and algorithms making tens of thousands of trades a day.

So yes: the lottery ticket went digital, got dressed up in a suit, and started talking about macroeconomics. The impulse, though? Exactly the same. When people feel “economically anxious”, they reach for a long shot. Whether that’s a scratch-off at a gas station counter or a recession contract on a smartphone app, the psychology behind it hasn’t changed one bit.

The long shot just got a lot more sophisticated – and a lot more convenient. And though it may be too early to be recognized, more money being dumped into prediction markets could be the new 21st century economic indicator of an impending recession.

The recession before the recession

Economic indicators – official or otherwise – are ultimately about one thing: human behavior.

And human behavior during uncertain times follows patterns. People downsize their treats. They stay home instead of spending. They reach for long shots when conventional paths feel out of reach.

Jerome Powell said “no recession” three times over three years. The new Fed Chair will eventually face the same question (they always do). And the answer may well be the same.

The official verdict on a recession is always backward-looking: better understood and easier to recognize in hindsight. It tells you where you’ve been. But these indicators – imperfect as they are – also try to tell you something about where we’re heading.

While economists and officials debate the data, regular people are already voting. With their car keys, with their scratch-offs, with their smartphone apps – and with the lipstick they picked up instead of the vacation they didn’t take.

If you watch what people do when money gets tight, their actions will often tell you what the economists haven’t said yet. Before recessions show up in the data, they often show up in people.

The craft carrying Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang of the Shenzhou 21 crew touched down at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia region in the evening. Their return came as China prepares for its first lunar landing by 2030.

The crew had completed various tasks, from processing and transmitting experimental data to transferring remaining supplies, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the China Manned Space Agency as saying. They also shared their experience with the Shenzhou 23 crew who arrived at the space station on Monday, Xinhua said.

Xinhua reported earlier that the crew had completed three spacewalk activities. Zhang Jingbo, the space agency's spokesperson, said that Zhang Lu, who was also on an earlier Shenzhou 15 mission to the space station, had completed seven such operations in total — becoming the Chinese astronaut with the most spacewalks, the report said.

Zhang Lu said he felt extremely emotional when he returned to China. He said at the astronauts' mission wouldn't have been possible without the care and support from their families and comrades, as well as the the backing of leaders and those involved in the project.

Zhang Hongzhang recalled his time away from the planet.

“Looking at Earth from space, I really felt that humanity is an indivisible community with a shared future," he said.

One of the three astronauts who arrived at the Tiangong space station with the Shenzhou 23 craft is set to stay for a year. Tiangong means “Heavenly Palace" in Chinese.

The astronauts are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying, using the Mandarin transliteration of her name. Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

As China steps up its space program, its astronauts have carried out multiple missions to the Tiangong space station, developed after China was effectively excluded from the International Space Station on U.S. concerns over national security.

The U.S. is seen as China’s top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.

___

Liu Zheng contributed to this report from Beijing.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday. The index is coming off six gains in a row and is headed for a ninth straight winning week, which would be the longest such streak since 2023.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 240 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:29 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.

Technology stocks lead the gains. Dell Technologies surged 31.3% after after delivering profits that blew past expectations. The company also raised its outlook, citing powerful demand for AI computing.

Microsoft and Broadcom both rose 3%,

Every major index is on track for records and to close out May with solid gains, despite worries about the U.S. war with Iran and its impact on inflation.

Markets in Europe and Asia mostly rose.

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly working toward a deal to extend a ceasefire. That eased pressure on oil prices. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.6% to $92.18 a barrel. It is still well above the $70 per barrel level in late February before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 0.9% to $88.09 per barrel.

Treasury yields held relatively steady as oil prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury remained at 4.45% from late Thursday.

High oil prices remain a key concern for Wall Street. The war has stifled the flow of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped through the waterway.

That has pushed gasoline prices and prices for a wide range of goods higher, feeding inflation and squeezing consumers and businesses.

Several reports this week reflected inflation’s rise and impact on consumers. A measure of inflation preferred by the Federal Reserve accelerated in April to its highest level in three years. Consumer confidence is slipping amid the squeeze from rising inflation.

Wall Street's worries about rising inflation have been somewhat muted by the latest round of corporate profit reports. Companies in the S&P 500 have reported profit growth of 28% overall for the most recent quarter, according to FactSet. The overwhelming majority of companies in the S&P 500 have already reported their latest results. That could mean investors' focus may shift back toward inflation, consumers' behavior and the Fed's path ahead for interest rates.

The Fed has been holding its benchmark interest rate steady as it closely watches rising inflation. It is expected to continue holding rates steady at its next meeting in June. Cutting interest rates could help lower borrowing costs and give the economy a jolt, but it could also worsen inflation at time when prices are already high and rising.

“As the mayor of Chicago, we are incredibly elated and proud of him,” Johnson told The Associated Press in an interview Friday, a day after meeting the American pope in a private audience.

The mayor said it was comforting to know that someone who comes from the city of Chicago "can speak to justice” and defend “the most vulnerable among us.”

Johnson, a first-term progressive Democrat leading the third-largest U.S. city, traveled to Rome with a delegation of some 50 local officials, drawing strong media interest. He is a leading critic of U.S. President Donald Trump and has applauded Leo for pushing back against the war in Iran and Trump administration immigration policies.

Johnson said he used the meeting to thank the pope “for his courage and his strength and particularly his moral stance,” framing the encounter as a convergence of civic leadership and moral authority.

He noted the meeting underscored areas of alignment between Chicago’s policy agenda and the pope’s emphasis on social justice, particularly on the legacy of slavery and the treatment of migrants.

Johnson said the pontiff’s apology for the Catholic Church’s role in slavery reinforced his administration’s push for reparations, including efforts to fund a task force examining the lasting impact on Black Americans.

“The fact that the pope made a very clear declaration apologizing for the church’s role in slavery … is an affirmation to the work that we’re doing,” he said.

Johnson stressed the visit reflects an effort to position Chicago within a broader international push for human rights, with the pope’s global influence lending weight to the city’s agenda on justice, migration and reparative policies — and potentially extending that message well beyond the U.S.

Focus on migrants' conditions amid US crackdown

Migration was also central to their discussion. Johnson said Pope Leo asked directly about conditions in Chicago following a broader U.S. immigration crackdown and efforts to deport migrants.

“He wanted to know the conditions on the ground in Chicago … how we were responding,” Johnson said, adding the pontiff was aware of “the mass effort to deport immigrants from the city of Chicago and really around the country.”

Johnson described outlining the city’s response to migrants facing fear and uncertainty, including rapid-response efforts to ensure families had access to schools and basic necessities. He also highlighted executive actions intended to shield migrants, saying Chicago’s approach has been adopted by other municipalities.

Johnson framed the meeting as the beginning of broader cooperation between city government and the Vatican. “We talked about how his pulpit and my pen can come together to protect all of humanity,” he said, referencing both descendants of enslaved people and immigrant communities.

The mayor also emphasized the shared Chicago background, saying the city’s history of activism makes it “uniquely positioned for this moment.” On Thursday, he marked the visit by presenting Leo with a key to the city and inviting him to celebrate Mass in Chicago’s Grant Park.

It’s at least the second official invitation that Leo has received to visit the United States. U.S. Vice President JD Vance invited Leo soon after he became pope last May.

___

Associated Press writer Silvia Stellacci in Rome contributed to this report.

While Sheriff Wayne Ivey said there have not been any reported injuries thus far, News 6 has begun to gather images and videos of the explosion from a variety of sources.

[RELATED: Here’s what we know so far about the Blue Origin rocket explosion on Florida’s coast]

You can check those out below:

• SPACEFLIGHT NOW

• CAPE CANAVERAL COMMUNITY CENTER

• CAPE CANAVERAL MAYOR WES MORRISON

• VIDEO FROM GARRETT FISCHER

• PHOTO FROM AMBERLE PLATTS

• PHOTOS FROM JOHN HEID

Police held 30 students overnight for questioning. Authorities said school administrators would face disciplinary action for safety violations after an exit door was found to be locked during the panicked rush to escape the building. At least 79 people were injured.

Education Minister Julius Ogamba said two teachers were aware that students were planning something but failed to take appropriate action, without elaborating.

A full day after the blaze, some parents said they had still not been told whether their children were under arrest or just being questioned.

“We have not even been told about the eight that police have arrested,” a parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear that her daughter could be victimized, told The Associated Press. “We are just here and no one is giving us any information.”

At a hospital morgue some 28 kilometers (18 miles) from the school, other parents awaited DNA tests to identify their children. A distraught father, John Muiruri, said they were being given conflicting information about the location of the bodies.

“They have just been doing some sideshows, trying to prevent us from knowing the truth, but the reality we have come to know is that we have lost our children," he said. “What we want to know is where are the remains of our daughters.”

The Utumishi Girls School, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, is managed and sponsored by the police, and many of the students are daughters of police officers.

“Investigators have conducted extensive interviews with students, teaching staff and other witnesses, while forensic teams carry out a detailed review of available CCTV footage,” John Marete, a spokesman for the investigative arm of the national police, said in a statement.

Education Minister Ogamba said the school's board of management had been dissolved and the principal would face disciplinary action for failing to comply with safety regulations.

“In particular, there was congestion in the dormitory and one exit door was locked, contrary to the prescribed safety requirements,” he said.

Fires at schools have long been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded and firefighting equipment is rarely within reach.

Fires are sometimes attributed to electrical faults but there have also been cases of students burning down schools because of disciplinary issues.

___

Associated Press journalist Zelipha Kirobi in Gilgil, Kenya, contributed.

At 8:57 a.m., SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carried 29 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The mission marked the 16th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster assigned to this launch.

Following stage separation, the booster touched down on SpaceX’s droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

On the pad!

United Launch Alliance transported our Atlas V rocket to its Cape Canaveral launch pad this morning to deliver Amazon Leo 7 into low Earth orbit. Liftoff is planned for tomorrow evening at 7:33 p.m. EDT (2333 UTC).

ULA will launch 29 satellites for this seventh… pic.twitter.com/90mjU0YPra

— ULA (@ulalaunch) May 28, 2026

Not to be outdone, ULA rolled its Atlas V rocket to its Cape Canaveral launch pad ahead of its planned Friday launch.

The rocket is targeting a 7:33 p.m. liftoff carrying 29 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper as part of the Leo 7 mission. The launch window is extended until 8:02 p.m.

The payload matches the largest and heaviest ever carried by the Atlas V. With a successful launch, ULA will have delivered 168 Amazon satellites into orbit.

The release of the funds was a signal of Brussels’ embrace of the new government in Budapest after the 16-year tenure of Viktor Orbán, who was allied with Russia and antagonized the EU.

The agreement, announced during a media briefing in Brussels on Friday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, capped off weeks of negotiations between Magyar’s government and the EU to release the crucial funding that is badly needed by Hungary’s slumping economy.

Magyar called the deal “a historic breakthrough” for the nation, and said that his government was "very grateful, and we are ready to continuing cooperating together in the interest of the Hungarian people and all the European citizens.”

Partly by campaigning on forging stronger ties with the EU, Magyar's earthquake success in the April election ended the long tenure of Orbán, who had vilified von der Leyen and other powerbrokers in the 27-nation bloc as he hollowed out institutional checks and balances in Hungary.

Those actions, and concerns over corruption and the erosion of judicial independence, prompted the EU to freeze the billions in funding to Budapest in 2022. A year later, the commission found that the government had carried out sufficient reforms to have around 10.2 billion euros ($12.1 billion) released.

On Friday, von der Leyen said that only a few weeks since Magyar's new government took office, "we can already feel a strong wind of change across Hungary.”

“A great deal of work has already been achieved in very short time, and markets are already taking notice. Investors confidence is returning. Trust is being rebuilt,” she said.

After Magyar's party Tisza won a super-majority in parliament, which enabled deep and quick reforms, leaders in Brussels and Budapest prioritized releasing the funds as soon as possible to help Hungary's economy, which has stagnated for years.

The funds are split between 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion) of COVID-19 recovery funds and more than 6.3 billion euros ($7.3 billion) in the cohesion funds designed to lift up struggling economies within the EU.

Magyar's government has undertaken crucial changes like restoring judicial independence, academic and media freedom, and launching broad anti-corruption efforts in order to get access to the money.

On Friday, Magyar formally submitted Hungary's request to sign on to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, the EU’s corruption watchdog based in Luxembourg that Orbán's government had long refused to join.

He told reporters that Orbán's government — which frequently portrayed the EU as an oppressive force bent on punishing Hungary for its anti-immigration and anti-LGBTQ+ policies — had “lied to the Hungarian people constantly" about why the funds had been frozen.

“The real reason the European institutions and the European Union were not in a position to release (the funds) was corruption,” he said. “There was a degree of corruption that for a long time was unthinkable in the European Union, and in Hungary as well.”

Von der Leyen also announced deeper integration of Hungary into EU institutions. For example, Hungarian students will once again be able to join the Erasmus scholarship program that allows students to attend schools across the EU, an opportunity that had been suspended under Orbán.

___

Justin Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary.

The explosion prompted warnings that hazardous debris could wash ashore along Florida’s coastline in the coming days and weeks.

Officials are urging the public not to touch, move, or attempt to recover any suspected debris. Blue Origin has established a Wreckage Management Hotline at 321-222-4355 and an email address — missionrecovery@blueorigin.com — for anyone who spots suspected wreckage.

In a livestream by Spaceflight Now, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket was seen at the launch pad. But at 9 p.m., the rocket appeared to explode into a massive fireball.

Footage from the Cape Canaveral Community Center also appears to show the fireball far off in the distance.

Blue Origin later released a statement on X, confirming that all personnel had been accounted for.

We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 29, 2026

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos mirrored that sentiment with his own post about the explosion.

All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 29, 2026

Brevard County Emergency Management also issued a notice about the “anomaly” shortly after 9:30 p.m., cautioning that there is no threat to the general public.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey also issued a statement, which reads as follows:

“A Blue Origin rocket exploded on the launchpad just moments ago during a static fire test ahead of a pending launch!!

There are no reported injuries at this time and the current plan is to allow the contained fire from the explosion to burn itself out.

Our agency, as well as the Brevard County Emergency Management and Brevard County Fire Rescue, are monitoring the incident and stand ready to assist should the need arise.

There is no danger or threat to the community and if any further information develops we will provide an update as it becomes available!!"

Sheriff Wayne Ivey

An image shared with News 6 by viewer Amberle Platts shows the massive fireball in the distance.

The massive New Glenn was grounded in April after it left a satellite in the wrong orbit because of engine failure. It was only the third flight of the rocket that Blue Origin intends to use to launch landers to the moon for NASA.

New Glenn made its debut in 2025 from Cape Canaveral. It is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman commented on Thursday’s explosion, announcing that the agency is aware of the anomaly.

NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. ⁰⁰Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with…

— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) May 29, 2026

On Friday, the FAA released a statement:

“The FAA is aware that the Blue Origin New Glenn vehicle experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida around 9 p.m. local time on May 28. This test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities. There was no impact to air traffic. Please contact Blue Origin for more information.”

FAA

No additional information has been provided at this time, including the cause of the explosion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sudan Doctors Network, a group that tracks violence across the country, blamed forces affiliated with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for carrying out the attacks on Thursday on villages in al-Murrah area located west of Barah town in North Kordofan.

It said the attacks worsened already “catastrophic humanitarian conditions that citizens are enduring due to the ongoing war."

A full-scale war erupted in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and the Rapid Support Forces escalated. The Kordofan region has become one of the conflict’s main epicenters, with fighting intensifying on several fronts, including through drone warfare.

The paramilitary RSF and its allies control the western Darfur region and areas in the Kordofan region along the border with South Sudan — both regions rich in oil fields and gold mines. The RSF also repeatedly clashed with the army over Barah.

Thursday's attacks were carried out during the second day of Eid al-Adha or “Feast of Sacrifice,” an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims around the globe.

The doctors' network said in its statement that “targeting villages and civilian areas and liquidating citizens in this horrific manner constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

North Kordofan's governing administration condemned the attacks in a statement on Friday and said that “such crimes will only increase the citizens’ unity behind the armed forces in defense of the security and stability of the state and Sudan in general.”

Earlier this month, intense clashes in southern Sudan in South Kordofan between forces linked to the rebel group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the Otoro tribe killed over 61 people, including nine children. Last week, a drone strike on a bustling market in central Sudan killed 28 people and wounded dozens more.

The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 after long-simmering tensions between the army and RSF erupted into a full-out war. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million, and pushed many parts of the country into famine. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Both of Sudan’s warring sides have been accused by the United Nations and rights groups of committing atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against civilians. Aid groups say the true toll could be much higher as access to areas of fighting across the vast country remains limited.

“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” regarded as one of Freud’s masterpieces, is going up for sale at Sotheby’s on June 24, with a presale estimate of 25 million pounds to 35 million pounds ($33 million to $47 million).

Tilley hasn’t seen any of the millions that the portraits have fetched at auction. But she doesn’t regret a thing.

“It did change my life,” Tilley told The Associated Press as she sat in front of the 7 ½-foot (2.3-meter)-high nude image of herself in the auction house showroom. “Who would have thought I’d be in Sotheby’s?”

“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” painted in 1996, is the last of Freud’s four monumental portraits of Tilley reclining, resting or dozing. An earlier painting, “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” sold at auction in 2008 for $33.6 million, at the time a record for a living artist.

“I was thrilled I was in ‘The Guinness Book of Records,’” said 69-year-old Tilley, who has a rich laugh and an air of delight at the twists her life has taken. “Unfortunately, it didn’t say my name. There was a picture and it said ‘Benefits Supervisor.’ But I was still thrilled that it was there.”

Cups of tea and paint everywhere

Freud, a grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, is famed for fleshy nudes of friends, family and the artist himself. He slathered oil paint to capture his subjects’ mottled skin tones in portraits that are both unsparing and warm. He even painted Queen Elizabeth II — fully clothed. By the time of his death aged 88 in 2011, he was the most acclaimed British portrait painter of the 20th century.

His reputation has only grown since. Another picture of Tilley, “Benefits Supervisor Resting,” was auctioned in 2015 for $56.2 million. In 2022, his painting “Large Interior, W11” sold for $86 million.

Tilley met Freud through her friend Leigh Bowery, the late Australian performance artist, who also posed for the painter. She recalls “trudging up the stairs” to Freud’s London studio for sittings that involved plentiful tea and chitchat, punctuated by a good lunch. Each portrait was the product of months of work.

“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet,” Tilley says, “was the most comfortable one, because I was sitting up in a chair. Lying down on the sofa looks comfortable, but after a while it got a bit painful.”

Freud painted his friends, lovers, children and colleagues, and the results are bold and exposing. Tilley says that has never bothered her.

“I’m not really vain,” she said. “Sometimes I get out of bed in the morning, and I look at my legs and go, ‘Oh, they look just like that painting.’”

She loved the messy energy of Freud’s studio, where “he used to make you a drink and whisk it up with a dirty old paintbrush, and there was paint absolutely everywhere. I’d go home and there’d be bits of paint all over me.”

Tilley was part of a 1980s and '90s London creative scene, alongside figures like Bowery, who ran the avant-garde Taboo nightclub and died in 1994 aged 33. She says she enjoyed Freud’s tales of an earlier Bohemian era.

“I used to love hearing about when he was roaring around in a Rolls-Royce open top with Cecil Beaton and Marlene Dietrich and goodness knows (who), and when he met Judy Garland,” she said. “I used to love getting the stories of his youth and his misbehavior.”

Freud's ‘magnum opus’ up for sale

Tilley is unperturbed that her image is ending up in the hands of the ultra-wealthy. “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” was bought in 2008 by Roman Abramovich, the then-owner of Chelsea Football Club, who was sanctioned by the U.K. after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” is part of a June 24-25 sale from the collection of British billionaire Joe Lewis, the former majority owner of Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur, which is still owned by his family. Also going under the hammer are works by Henri Matisse, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and others, collectively valued at more than 150 million pounds ($201 million).

There's a chance “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” could set a new record. Oliver Barker, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, describes it as Freud’s “magnum opus.”

“This is a painting that during his lifetime was very much described by Lucian as being the apogee of everything that he was trying to achieve as a painter,” Barker said. “The market knows, and it’s very savvy, it wants to go for the best of the best — and this is it.”

Tilley, who is retired and lives on England's south coast, says Freud “gave me a couple of etchings, and then I sold them, because I’d rather have the money, and I went on holiday.”

She says she doesn’t regret Freud not leaving her one of the paintings. Her place in art history is secure.

“When I was younger, I used to read art books the whole time and read all about the Pre-Raphaelites and the Impressionists, all the goings on, how they’re all friends and interconnected and all the models knew each other," she said.

“And now, I’ve only just realized, I’m part of that. And that’s thrilling for me that I’ve achieved my ambition without really knowing it.”

The World Health Organization said Friday authorities have reported 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths.

“To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not alone," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the airport late Thursday.

“Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking communities to protect themselves,” he added.

The outbreak “can be stopped,” he said, but is “very complex.”

Challenges like the high number of people displaced by armed conflict in the region and food insecurity are complicating efforts to stop the spread of the virus, Tedros said.

Containment has been particularly difficult because the disease likely spread for weeks before it was first identified in mid-May.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has said three of its volunteers in Ituri province died after they were believed to have contracted Ebola doing unrelated health work on March 27 — more than a month before the first suspected death cited by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Outbreak spreading faster than response

Meanwhile, the outbreak continues to spread faster than the response, despite health facilities becoming more organized and the arrival of more equipment.

Anaïs Legand, a researcher in the WHO emergencies program, told reporters at a U.N. briefing in Geneva Friday that one “positive development” was that a person in Congo who had contracted the Bundibugyo virus had recovered and was discharged on Wednesday. It is the only documented recovery of a confirmed Ebola patient during the current outbreak.

Legand said five other infected people were also likely to recover.

The average fatality rate of Bundibugyo virus is around 30 to 50%, she said.

Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Ituri, the heart of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, on Thursday, with more shipments expected over the next eight days. The United States announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.

An AP reporter in Bunia, the provincial capital, said the response has improved since the new arrivals of aid earlier this week.

At Rwampara Hospital, where a treatment center has been established, the response looks far more organized than in previous days, with more staff deployed, stronger prevention measures and teams in protective gear visible across units — though patients continue to arrive around the clock.

The same progress was noted at Bunia General Hospital, where new medical kits, support personnel and emergency funding appear to be reinvigorating operations.

Health workers with scant supplies had been struggling to contain the outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine. In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.

There are no specific treatments for Bundibugyo.

“We are currently exploring the use of more and more drugs and compounds that can help save even more lives, because, as I’ve mentioned, this disease initially presents just like any other infectious disease we’re familiar with: dizziness, headache, fever, vomiting and diarrhea,” Congo’s Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba told reporters Thursday night.

Distrust, travel bans could complicate response

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.

The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

After Uganda closed its border with Congo, the WHO chief said Thursday he discourages countries from imposing travel bans. “There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having a strong, restricted travel ban and we don’t encourage that as WHO,” Tedros said.

The Trump administration last week announced a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days. It said Wednesday it plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the U.S.

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Kabumba reported from Bunia, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

This week, the “Alligator Capital of the World” opened its first-ever beverage venue, the Guzzlin’ Gator Beverage Barn.

The new spot offers more than 25 options, including craft beers, ciders, seltzers, canned cocktails, wine on tap, and non-alcoholic beverages, with bar seating, picnic tables, and a to-go area — all with views of the park’s zipliners and rock climbers.

The barn’s signature pour is the Grinnin’ Gator Lager, brewed exclusively for Gatorland by Winter Garden’s Crooked Can Brewing Company. The Munich-style Helles lager is made with Pilsen Malt, delivering a smooth, easy-drinking beer built for hot Florida days.

“Crooked Can Brewing Company was the perfect choice for our Grinnin’ Gator Lager,” said Mark McHugh, Gatorland president and CEO. “Our new Grinnin’ Gator craft beer is a good combination of an easy-drinking lager style that is fun and playful, just like we are right here at Gatorland.”

Paul Bishop, general manager of Crooked Can Brewing Company, said the partnership is a natural fit.

“What happens when you mix hometown brews with world-famous gators? You get something worth grinnin’ about,” Bishop said.

Guzzlin’ Gator Beverage Barn is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Guzzlin’ Gator merchandise is available at the park’s main gift shop.

The opening of the beer barn comes just in time for the park’s seventh annual Gatorpalooza happening Saturday and Sunday. The festival includes a live DJ, games, craft vendors, and a chance to meet the Gatorland Vlog team.

Then he listened to pronouncer Jacques Bailly, and his dour body language vanished as he nodded vigorously, his tell that, yes, he knew the words he was asked to spell. All of them.

“Once I get the word,” Shrey said, “I'm not really nervous anymore, because then it's all in my control.”

Shrey arrived as a favorite and walked away as a National Spelling Bee champion Thursday night, outlasting a deep and experienced group of finalists and beating Ishaan Gupta in a lightning-round tiebreaker that looked like it was over as soon as Shrey raced through his first word.

His final tally: 32 words spelled correctly in 90 seconds, a record for the shootout-style finish that was first used in 2022.

“I was counting and I'm like, OK, this is more than 30,” said Shrey's mother, Khyati Mehta. “And at that point, I'm like, ‘I think this is it.’"

Ishaan battled gamely, getting 25 words right during the spell-off, but he was more deliberate and hesitant from the start. The competitors stood next to each other as Scripps officials announced what everyone in a lively crowd at Constitution Hall already knew, and Shrey turned and shook Ishaan's hand.

After Sarv Dharavane bowed out in third place for the second consecutive year, Shrey and Ishaan had only one conventional round before the buzzer for the spell-off was placed on the stage. Ishaan was escorted away — the tiebreaker is the only time spellers get the same words — and Shrey had a last bout with nerves as he stood there for five minutes while crews tried, and failed, to fix a technical glitch with the buzzer.

“That was really, like, scary for me,” he said.

The spell-off moves so fast that it’s impossible to tell which word secures the title, but Scripps later announced that “bromocriptine” — a polypeptide alkaloid that mimics the activity of dopamine — was the winner. Shrey could get a dopamine hit from the winner's haul of $52,500 in cash, a custom trophy and a package of prizes.

He becomes the 31st of the past 37 champions with Indian heritage, a run that began with Nupur Lala's victory in 1999.

Bouncing back from a school bee stunner

A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey took an unusual route to the title. He finished third in 2024, but last year he was absent. He missed his regional bee, too — because, woozy from a virus that caused a fever, he blanked on the word “calipers” and bowed out of a competition that any speller of his talent would consider child's play: the spelling bee at Day Creek Intermediate School.

“Right now I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions,” Shrey said. “At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn’t even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”

After a few months off, he rededicated himself, seeking every edge he could find through coaching and study guides. In online bees against many of the same spellers he faced this week in Washington, he won again and again.

“Whenever I would quiz him, he would take notice of his missed words. He'd analyze every missed word he had, try to figure out why he missed it,” said Sohum Sukhatankar, a co-champion in 2019 who coached Shrey along with Sam Evans and Vijaya Ganesh. “All the time I coached him, he'd never miss a word twice.”

Evans, who has worked with each of the past three champions, said Shrey's work ethic stood out.

“I’ve really never seen someone put this much effort into spelling bees, into learning everything that he possibly can,” Evans said. “Shrey is relentless.”

A high-quality final comes to an abrupt end

The spell-off will never be popular among bee purists who prefer to see the final two contestants go head-to-head for as many rounds as it takes. Because it emphasizes speed and memorization, it lacks the intrigue of watching a speller work out the intricacies of a tricky word with odd vowel patterns or sneaky double consonants.

“It's a perversion of many values that I and many in the spelling community hold dear,” said Navneeth Murali, who competed through 2020 and now coaches. “I think everyone would have liked to see a duel, but it looks like the spell-off is here to stay. It’s something that we’ll have to adapt to.”

A stout, experienced group of nine finalists showed off their skills by going 18 for 18 at the start, breezing through the first spelling and vocabulary rounds. Aiden Meng ended that streak when he was tripped up by “catometope” to start the second spelling round.

Then the crowd gasped when the bell rung on two thought to be capable of winning it all: Oliver Halkett for “Faesulae” and Zwe Spacetime for “vaesite,” words with tricky combinations of origins and vowel sounds.

Oliver and Zwe are eighth-graders, which means they have now aged out of the competition. Sarv, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, has two years of eligibility left to try to repeat Shrey's achievement of going from third to first. Ishaan, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, can try again next year too.

The bee’s move from a suburban convention center to Constitution Hall was a point of contention for spellers and their families because of inconveniences it caused. But Thursday's finals had a lively atmosphere, with more intimate seating and better sight lines bringing the crowd closer to the action, and the broadcast got a reboot with ESPN's Mina Kimes hosting alongside longtime analyst Paul Loeffler.

Though the way Scripps determined the champion will be debated — and Shrey didn't even get the winner's usual shower of confetti — there was no doubt he was deserving.

“When it comes to competition, he goes all the way,” said his father, Gaurav Parikh.

Or, as Evans put it: “He's got that dog in him.”

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This story corrects the spelling of Gaurav Parikh’s first name

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.

Iran did not immediately confirm any deal. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday evening confirmed there was a tentative agreement, but said it was unclear if President Donald Trump would approve it.

“It’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign," Vance told reporters.

He added: “We’re going back and forth on a couple of language points.”

The emerging memorandum of understanding came as the fragile ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering. The latest flare-up in fighting happened less than a day earlier, when Kuwait intercepted missiles fired from Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.

Proposal addresses Strait of Hormuz

The memorandum makes clear that Iran will not be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran will have to remove all mines from the vital waterway within 30 days, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the war, Iran has effectively closed the strait, which had been the conduit for about a fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas. Its closure has sent oil prices skyrocketing around the world. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted Thursday at a news briefing that the cost of oil could “come down very quickly” once a deal is finalized.

Iran has said it's letting some commercial vessels pass — about two dozen daily in recent days, compared with more than 100 a day before the war — but the Islamic Republic also has charged tolls for at least some ships. It set up a formal gatekeeper agency earlier this month, spurring a new round of U.S. sanctions this week.

Under the tentative agreement, the U.S. would gradually lift its naval blockade on Iranian ports and would also agree to relax sanctions, allowing Iran to sell more of its oil.

Yet even as word of the potential deal emerged, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed additional sanctions on the Iranian military's oil sales arm. The new penalties, first reported by The Associated Press, extend the Trump administration’s economic pressure campaign on the Islamic Republic.

Details of the tentative pact were first reported by the news outlet Axios.

Nuclear issue remains unresolved

Among the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day ceasefire is what will happen to Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the first official said. The Islamic Republic has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Vance suggested on Thursday evening that negotiators were trying to strike general terms on the highly enriched uranium settled in the tentative agreement, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Vance said the continued back and forth involved “a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment.”

Iran has not publicly committed to giving up the stockpile. It is believed to be buried under a trio of nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. airstrikes last year.

Nuclear analysts have said that Iran might consider China or Russia, which have close relations with Tehran, to be a potential acceptable third party to take possession of the enriched uranium. But Trump said Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be comfortable” with such a plan.

Though Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict that one of their prime objectives was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, Vance framed the war's accomplishments as something far less definitive.

“We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term,” Vance said. "That’s a very very good thing for the American people.”

Iran, which has long maintained its program is peaceful, has insisted that any deal must include an end to Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Tensions deepened Thursday in Lebanon as Israel conducted an airstrike on a southern suburb of the capital, Beirut, and other strikes in the southern coastal city of Tyre. At least 14 people were killed across the country’s south.

Kuwait reports an attack

Kuwait announced that its air-defense systems intercepted incoming missiles and drones on Thursday, without detailing what had been targeted. Iran said it had retaliated for strikes earlier in the week by firing on a U.S. base in a Gulf state it did not name.

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry condemned Iran for what it called “blatant aggression," and U.S. Central Command called the attack on one of America’s top allies in the Persian Gulf an “egregious ceasefire violation.” Kuwait repeatedly came under fire from Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq before the April ceasefire began.

The exchange took place after U.S. officials said late Wednesday that American forces launched more strikes on Iran, shooting down four one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the strait and hitting an Iranian ground-control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged the attack around Bandar Abbas International Airport and said via the state-run IRNA news agency that it launched a retaliatory attack on the air base that launched the assaults. The Revolutionary Guard did not specify whether the response targeted Kuwait, which houses U.S. Army Central’s forward headquarters, air bases and a naval base.

On Monday, the U.S. said it conducted what the Pentagon called “self-defense” strikes on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.

Although they have traded strikes and accusations of ceasefire violations, Washington and Tehran have not returned to full-scale hostilities and keep negotiating.

Vance said that, “Ceasefires are always a little messy” but it’s “very much holding."

Later Thursday, Iran's defenses destroyed “a hostile aircraft” around the southern city of Jam, the area's governor, Masood Tangestani, told state broadcaster IRIB. No other information was immediately available.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matthew Lee in Washington and Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

Scattered to numerous showers and storms are expected each afternoon and evening, with many areas picking up another 2 to 3 inches of rain through Sunday. Some isolated spots could see more than 5 inches where storms repeatedly move over the same locations.

While the rain is helping improve drought conditions, localized flooding and ponding on roads will remain possible in areas that see multiple rounds of heavy rainfall.

FRIDAY FORECAST

West to northwest winds will keep the sea breeze pinned near the coast, focusing the highest storm coverage (60-70%) along the eastern half through the afternoon and evening.

Some storms may produce frequent lightning, gusty winds and torrential downpours.

Before the rain and storms develop, temperatures will have a chance to climb into the upper 80s and low 90s with heat index values near 100 degrees.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK

The unsettled pattern continues Saturday and Sunday with rain chances staying high each day. Storms will once again develop during the afternoon before pushing offshore during the evening.

Forecast models continue to show a front approaching Florida early next week that may stall near Central Florida, keeping daily rain and storm chances elevated into next week.

Dori Howington, who also served as chief financial officer for the Clerk of the Court, is no longer employed with that office.

The clerk’s office released a statement thanking Howington for her service, but said the attention the claims received factored into the decision to end her employment.

“The Volusia County Clerk of the Court announces that Mrs. Dori Howington is no longer employed with the office.

During her tenure with the Clerk’s office, Mrs. Howington fulfilled her job responsibilities and the Office is grateful for her service.

In recent weeks, there have been claims and allegations concerning potential conflicts of interest involving Mrs. Howington’s service as a city commissioner for the City of Deltona and her role as Chief Financial Officer. In light of these concerns, the events that followed, and the impact of the attention they attracted, the Clerk’s office determined that a separation of employment was in the best interest of all parties involved and necessary to ensure public confidence in the Clerk’s services.

The Volusia County Clerk of the Court maintains respect for Mrs. Howington and wishes her well in her future endeavors. The office remains focused on delivering impartial and efficient service to the residents of Volusia County."

Volusia County Clerk of the Court

Video from last month showed a heated exchange between Howington and fellow Commissioner Emma Santiago.

The incident prompted deputies to investigate Howington for possible battery after she touched Santiago on the shoulder.

The more than 300-acre proposal includes plans for more than 600 homes, a bed-and-breakfast, retail space, and an event venue.

Despite significant public opposition, the commission approved the development.

As city leaders prepared to debate the project, nearby residents said anxiety and frustration are growing over what the development could mean for traffic and infrastructure in the community.

“A high level,” one resident said when asked about anxiety surrounding the proposal.

Another resident said many people in the area oppose the project and wanted their concerns heard before the commissioners vote.

“I definitely know the talk in this town, in this community I am living in — people are not happy about it,” the resident said.

Traffic has become one of the biggest concerns among neighbors who live near the proposed site.

“I’m concerned about the traffic,” one resident said.

Another neighbor warned that travel times in the area could significantly increase if the project moves forward.

“No matter where you go, you’re going to add 25 to 40 minutes to your drive,” the resident said.

Others argued that the current infrastructure is already struggling to handle existing traffic levels.

“I know me and most people in the neighborhood feel like it’s going to bring a lot of unused and not good infrastructure with the traffic adding on the homes,” another resident said.

City leaders and developers have discussed possible traffic improvements tied to the proposal, including a roundabout, a potential traffic light and additional road connections.

But some residents said those plans are not enough to ease their concerns.

“We have three roundabouts on Marsh Road now up to Avalon and it doesn’t improve things,” one resident said.

“These roundabouts here have already been hit,” another added.

Many residents had hoped that commissioners would reconsider the proposal before making a final decision.

“I would tell them to reconsider. It’s just not feasible,” one resident said.

Prices for those red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.

“The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper,” says Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef who lamented life's “simplest pleasures” falling victim to price increases. “Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families.”

Tomato prices are up about 40% over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5%), beef roasts (up 17.8%) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12%), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.

A separate inflation gauge released Thursday showed that overall prices increased 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in nearly three years.

Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meantime, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America's supply.

Usha Haley, a Wichita State University economist, says it's “a perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy.”

American tomato farmers cheered the withdrawal from the tomato deal last July, saying it would help rebuild their shrinking industry. But for consumers, it's been painful. Though the U.S. withdrew from the Mexico tomato deal in July, it took time to see the impact in the produce aisle, with more imports in late winter and early spring.

When the tomatoes arrived, they were slapped with a 17% tariff.

“Tariffs are undeniably a big driver of the price inflation,” says Brett Massimino, a Virginia Commonwealth University business professor. “Because the U.S. relies on Mexico for the majority of its tomato supply, any changes in trade policy can have a large impact.”

U.S. tariffs collected on tomatoes ballooned from just $16,424 in 2024 to nearly $4.6 million, according to federal data, a staggering 27,879% increase.

As the cost trickles down, outraged shoppers have pulled out their phones in the produce aisle, shooting videos lamenting costs they said quadrupled, with some vowing to plant a garden to avoid prices of up to $8 a pound. But the impact has been most pronounced for businesses that rely on tomatoes as a key ingredient in their kitchens.

MarginEdge, which tracks prices for restaurants, says grape tomatoes have increased most — 65% in just a month — but prices have gone up across all types of tomatoes.

Phillip Coles, a professor of supply chain management at Lehigh University, says prices should drop later in the year when domestically grown tomatoes are harvested. Higher prices, he says, will also “induce farmers to increase planting to meet the demand, but this takes longer because of the lead time.”

Meantime, it's translating to a big hit for businesses like Snarf’s Sandwiches, which puts a tomato in nearly every sandwich it makes.

Wayne Humphrey, chief operating officer of Snarf’s, which operates dozens of stores in Colorado, Missouri and Texas, said cases of tomatoes went from costing him $27 to $93 in the space of a year, piled on top of rising expenses for other ingredients including bread and beef, as well as increased labor costs.

“That single ingredient now costs us more than $1.7 million in additional spend annually,” says Humphrey. “The math is getting harder to ignore.”

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Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report. Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

The eruption on May 29, 2006, was likely triggered by commercial gas drilling by a local exploration company, according to scientific research, contradicting an Indonesian government minister at the time who insisted it was a natural disaster.

Residents gathered to remember those killed, and the homes and neighborhoods they once lived in before boiling mud slowly swallowed them up in the Porong subdistrict in Sidoarjo.

For years, experts have been searching for ways to slow the spread of the sludge. But all measures, including the construction of holding dams, to stop it have failed. The volcano continues to erupt to this day.

The 14 deaths included a worker who was killed in August 2006 when the digger he was using fell off a levee, and the 13 other victims died in November 2006 when an underground gas pipeline beneath one of the holding dams exploded.

Tens of thousands of residents were displaced after losing their homes, land, jobs and even their ancestors’ graves.

One resident, Sastro, 55, lost his house and his former job as a factory worker. The factory where he worked was submerged in mud, along with thousands of other structures within the 572-hectare (more than 1,400-acre) sea of mud.

Twenty years later, he now works as a motorcycle taxi driver, ferrying visitors on daily trips to the site, which has become a tourist destination in East Java.

“As far as I can tell, things have been really tough ever since the Lapindo incident,” said Sastro, who like other Indonesians uses a single name.

Local mining company PT Lapindo Brantas was exploring for gas in the area of the disaster in May 2006.

Indonesia’s president at the time, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, ordered the company to pay $420 million in compensation to villagers who lost their homes and to help the government fund its emergency operations.

However, the government subsequently provided emergency financial assistance to compensate the affected victims. While Lapindo Brantas did provide some aid, it was a fraction of the total.

After two decades, white smoke can be seen billowing from the center of the mud lake, indicating that hot mud is still erupting from the vent. Excavators dredging the bottom of the mud pond have become a common sight.

Aerial photographs show the vent as a small dot in the middle of the vast expanse of the mud lake. That dot marks the vent that caused one of the largest and longest-lasting disasters in Indonesia.

The mud flow has affected more than 1,100 hectares (around 2,700 acres) as it submerged 19 villages across three subdistricts.

To this day, many survivors still face issues. They include environmental contamination, health and civil registration problems, and the uncertainty of life left in the wake of the disaster, said Lucky Wahyu Wardana, from the Indonesian Forum for Living Environment, or WALHI, in East Java.

“The Lapindo tragedy must serve as a lesson for the government to stop relying on extractive industries, as the costs of the impact far outweigh the benefits.

“Not only have lives been lost, but children who once lived in the affected areas have lost their future and face health consequences,” Wardana said. “In addition, many parents have lost their sense of history regarding their origins and hometowns.”

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Edna Tarigan reported from Jakarta.

Police said Jacob Baker, 36, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was arrested on suspicion of murder, burglary and other charges following a search that involved “significant resources," including help from state and federal authorities. They described him as “armed and extremely dangerous.”

Authorities said they believe Baker is involved in the deaths of three men: a 69-year-old man found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old man who was found just a few hundred feet (meters) away, and a third man, also 69, whose body was found about 19 miles (31 kilometers) away.

The killings took place over two days in a remote and mostly rural part of the island, which is the largest in the Hawaiian chain at more than 4,000 square miles (10,360 square kilometers). The area is a mix of tropical landscape and barren lava fields.

Police received information Thursday afternoon that Baker was hiding in a grassy area, ducking down as traffic passed, Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said at news conference after the arrest. Police found him hiding in a small cave and arrested him.

Deborah Davis was driving home when she slowed down near where one of the people killed had lived. That’s when she saw a policewoman chasing a man running on the road.

“I just stopped and I’m thinking, this is it, this is the guy,” she said.

The man ran into a grass driveway and into the jungle. After some yelling, several officers emerged with a shirtless man in handcuffs. She said officers were giving each other high-fives and shouting, “chee hoo,” a celebratory yell common in Hawaii.

“They were very happy,” she said. “And I was very grateful. I was thanking them with tears in my eyes.”

Police said they had not identified a motive but were confident Baker was involved in all three killings. Mahuna did not release information on how police identified Baker as a suspect or what evidence may connect him to the killings. He said investigators had not found any connections among the victims, other than two of them lived near each other.

Women accused Baker of threats and harassment

The slayings happened just days after two women requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm. One woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment.

One of the women claimed in her petition that Baker threatened to kill several women who were staying on the property, and caused a number of them to move or end their stays. She included a link to a video that allegedly captured at least one threat, but the link had either been removed or was incorrect as of Thursday.

The other woman alleged that Baker threatened women and a disabled man, and said he would trespass on the property, take things that didn’t belong to him and said his intention was to squat on the property.

No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.

3 men found dead over 2 days

Police identified the first victim as Robert Shine and the third victim as John Carse. The name of the 79-year-old man was pending positive identification. Autopsies show Shine was strangled, and Carse died from “sharp force trauma,” police said.

On Monday night, police found Shine at a residence partially submerged in a cement pond, Mahuna said. On Tuesday, the 79-year-old man was found dead with apparent blunt force injuries shortly after 12:30 p.m., Mahuna said.

Later Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., police responded to a property about 19 miles (31 kilometers) away on a welfare check request and found Carse dead.

Stephen Shaffer said Baker had lived on his ex-wife's property in Puna, where they grow fruit, and Baker climbed coconut trees for her. But after several months, he said, she sought a temporary restraining order against Baker. Shaffer said he didn't know details of their falling out, only that his ex-wife felt threatened by Baker and wanted him to move out.

“He just seemed to me kind of angry,” said Shaffer, who lives in a separate dwelling on the same property. He added that others in the area were concerned about Baker but didn’t elaborate.

Donald Hyatt, who is friends with two of the men killed and Shaffer’s ex-wife, said Baker left the cabin he was living in on the property months ago.

“He left the place in disarray,” Hyatt said. “Trash inside and out.”

Baker returned recently claiming “squatter’s rights,” and threatened Shaffer's ex, Hyatt said. Hyatt urged her to seek a restraining order.

Puna, on the eastern side of the island, is a largely rural but fast-growing area known for affordable land. It's also an area where lava flows have wiped out entire communities over the years.

Residents on edge

Before the arrest, Puna resident Tiffany Edwards Hunt said many in the community were on edge. She said she had never seen so many police cars in Puna.

Many in the area live in poverty, she said.

“We have people who live in blue tarps in a jungle in makeshift homes,” Hunt said.

Puna is just 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Hilo, east Hawaii’s main town, but with unpaved roads in many parts of Puna, it can feel farther away, she said.

“In that remoteness, you have lawlessness,” Hunt said.

___

Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Lauer from Philadelphia.

The party is holding events days after the GOP-led state Senate shot down an effort backed by President Donald Trump to redraw House district lines to help Republicans this fall. That move was aimed at ousting longtime Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state’s lone congressional Democrat and a party powerbroker who has been in office since 1993.

Friday's gatherings kick off with the Blue Palmetto Dinner, an annual party fundraiser that typically showcases potential presidential contenders and the party’s national figures. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will be the headliner.

Clyburn’s own signature event, his “World Famous Fish Fry,” follows the dinner. A gathering that began years ago as a thank you to campaign supporters, it’s become its own destination for White House aspirants. For one minute, they along with South Carolina Democrats seeking a litany of offices have their stump speech moment, appearing alongside Clyburn, whose backing has boosted presidents.

The events are happening as early-in person voting is underway in South Carolina's primary, which is June 9. Voters will choose nominees for offices statewide, including governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Had Republicans in the state Senate not rejected the plan pushed by the White House, those congressional votes would have been canceled and a new primary scheduled under revised districts.

Republicans rebuked redistricting with voting underway

The state Senate vote on redistricting failed Tuesday, the first day of early voting, with some senators saying it was simply too late to change district lines.

Clyburn, who is Black, condemned a White House-led effort he said had been aimed at “zeroing Democratic voters, zeroing African American voters out of the process.”

“I know the state, and I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington to tell them what to do, when to do it and how to do it,” Clyburn said as he cast his vote in Orangeburg on Tuesday.

The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy to redraw voting districts to the GOP’s advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterms. Republicans have moved quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened minority protections under the federal Voting Rights Act.

Clyburn keeps his kingmaker role

At least for now, Clyburn's district has been preserved, as has his place as the Democrat to whom White House hopefuls look for guidance in navigating the state's electorate.

Among the 21 presidential hopefuls who took the stage at his fish fry in 2019 was Joe Biden, who later turned around early 2020 primary stumbles and won a resounding victory here after Clyburn endorsed him.

At 85, the dean of South Carolina's Democrats is currently seeking an 18th term representing the 6th District, one he seems certain to secure now that the redistricting threat has been turned back.

But Clyburn, among the oldest Democrats serving in Washington, has called it an “open question” as to whether this term could be his last, and the Democratic field looking to replace him is anticipated to be massive, whenever he leaves office.

Beshear is a possible 2028 candidate

The conclusion of November's midterm elections will mark the unofficial start to a 2028 presidential primary season. Although Democrats' voting order won't be set for months, the early attention primary has already begun in earnest in a variety of states — including South Carolina — that candidates are banking on playing a pivotal role in choosing party nominees.

Beshear, by all indications, is angling to be among them. He has focused much of his attention on the labor leaders on whose support Biden relied in his successful 2020 campaign. Already this year, the two-term governor keynoted the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, fundraised for local Democrats and took questions at AFL-CIO headquarters.

Last summer, he spent two days in South Carolina, addressing an AFL-CIO convention and meeting with party leaders across the state.

Beshear isn't the only national-level luminary in town. California Rep. Ro Khanna, who has also been to South Carolina several times in recent months, is set to headline the state convention on Saturday and also attend Friday's dinner.

South Carolina's yearly confab comes as the Democratic National Committee mulls its primary calendar for 2028. The state is pitching to go first again, although party luminaries say they wouldn't see it as a loss if another state led off the calendar.

The important facet, they stress, is that South Carolina maintain its status as an early primary state, a position that brings the state that consistently votes Republican in general elections cyclical attention — and campaign spending — from Democrats that it otherwise wouldn't enjoy.

On Thursday, Democratic party chairs in five southern states wrote a letter to DNC officials urging them to again pick South Carolina to go first overall.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

But the first Black woman to hold the post insists she should keep leading the struggling city of nearly 4 million that will host the 2028 Olympics. Homicides have dipped. Street homelessness is down. Homes destroyed in last year's wildfires are being rebuilt, though critics say too slowly.

“There’s more work to do,” Bass says.

Los Angeles mayoral races — indeed, some of the mayors themselves — often are forgettable in a city where politics takes a back seat to the Lakers, Dodgers and Hollywood. But this year has been different as Bass attempts to overcome lingering fallout from the Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited.

Among the thousands of people who lost their homes was reality television personality Spencer Pratt, now running to replace the mayor who he blames for the destruction.

In another sign of how political media has evolved, the biggest sensation in the race has been campaign videos created with artificial intelligence where Pratt takes on a superhero persona to battle street criminals and Democratic politicians. Created by filmmaker Charles Curran, Pratt has shared the videos on his own platforms.

Unless a candidate receives a majority of the vote in Tuesday's primary, the top two will advance to a general election in November.

The race is officially nonpartisan, but Bass is a Democrat, as is progressive city council member Nithya Raman, who made a last-minute decision to challenge her one-time ally.

Pratt, who rose to fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on “The Hills,” is a registered Republican who has received a nod of approval — if not an outright endorsement — from President Donald Trump.

Polling shows a tight race

A University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, found Bass tightly clustered with Raman and Pratt, with other candidates trailing. The poll of 1,351 of likely voters conducted between May 19 and May 24 gave no candidate a statistically significant edge.

It's a perilous position for an incumbent, spotlighting widespread public doubts about her leadership.

On a recent Saturday, Bass was greeted by cheering supporters under brilliant sunshine in a Mid-City neighborhood where she dropped off her ballot in a collection box. For an unpopular mayor facing a dicey future, she appeared relaxed, smiling broadly, petting dogs and fawning over toddlers in strollers.

Asked about Pratt drawing national attention, she dismissed him as a political dilettante.

“He is an entertainer and that’s what he’s doing is entertaining,” Bass said.

She also questioned how Pratt, who received a tacit blessing from Trump, would be received in a city where less than 15% of voters are registered as Republicans. The president is widely unpopular in California outside his conservative base — Trump received just 32% of the vote in Los Angeles County two years ago — and a Republican hasn't been elected mayor since 1997.

“This is Los Angeles,” Bass said. “This is not a MAGA city.”

Among the crowd applauding Bass was Diane Mitchell Henry, a registered Democrat and event planner, who said she was impressed with the mayor's many years of government experience.

“She knows the heartbeat of Los Angeles,” she said. “I trust her.”

A November runoff appears likely with 14 names on the ballot.

Democratic strategist Garry South expects Bass, despite her slumping popularity, to advance on Tuesday, probably alongside Pratt.

He questioned whether Pratt's online video barrage was reaching people who actually vote. The most reliable voters in the state tend to be older, white, affluent homeowners.

“Most voters are over 50, pure and simple. You are not going to grab that demographic by posting clever stuff on YouTube and Instagram,” South said.

The contest bears some similarity to the 2022 race, when billionaire developer Rick Caruso promised to expand spending on police at a time of widespread concerns over crime and homelessness. Bass won by nearly 10 points.

A struggling city looks to the future

While immediate concerns in Los Angeles are focused on wildfire reconstruction and homelessness, the city also is grasping for a vision for its future.

Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for cheaper filming locations. A downtown renaissance was crushed by extended pandemic closures and many office buildings remain desperate for tenants. The city has long struggled to provide basic services, whether paving buckled streets and sidewalks or keeping streetlights on. The restaurant industry has witnessed a long string of high-profile closures. Trump administration immigration raids have shaken residents. The city's notorious gridlock continues unabated.

Bass was elected in 2022 promising to end the unchecked homeless crisis and deal with increasing crime as smash-and-grab robberies became national news. She has lined up most of the Democratic establishment behind her, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with the city’s powerful labor unions.

"We are not going to have this level of failure in our city for four more years," Pratt told CNBC on Thursday. The city “is not safe. It’s disgusting. We pay with our money to give needles to drug addicts to overdose in front of kids.”

Raman has promised to speed up housing construction, bring back entertainment industry jobs and improve street paving and other basic services. Residents are “hungry for a different future for this city — one that is affordable, functional, creative and safe,” she said in a statement Thursday.

Bass brushed off the competition.

“We’re almost to the finish line,” she said after dropping off her ballot. “I’m feeling good.”

Barnett Villas, a 156-unit affordable apartment community at 1000 Barnett Villas Drive in Orlando’s Pine Hills neighborhood, is officially open.

Barnett Villas offers apartments for households earning between 50% and 70% of the area median income.

The project received $6.8 million from Orange County’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, $2.2 million in impact fee waivers and $2.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan. The Florida Housing Finance Corporation also contributed $3 million in viability loan funds, bringing the total county investment to $9 million.

The community was developed by Orlando-based Banyan Development Group, which manages more than 9,000 affordable housing units.

Barnett Villas is designed as a green-certified development, featuring Energy Star-rated appliances, ceiling fans, upgraded lighting fixtures, washer and dryer hookups, a clubhouse with a fitness center and on-site business office space. Residents also have access to trails, sports fields and playgrounds at nearby Barnett Park.

For residents like Fred Williams, the community has already exceeded expectations.

“I mean, when I first walked in, I thought I was in Hollywood,” Williams said. “I walked in, the first thing that really took me by surprise was the bathroom, the shower, you know, everything’s nice, neat.”

Williams also appreciates the community’s affordable pricing.

“It’s really helpful and I’m [sure] the rest of the residents feel the same,” Williams said.

Residents at Barnett Villas have access to free support services through The Treehouse Foundation, an Orlando-based nonprofit that offers financial literacy courses, employment assistance and first-time homebuyer education programs.

Barnett Villas is one of several new affordable housing developments taking shape across the region. In Osceola County, St. Cloud is in the process of approving an affordable housing apartment building for its downtown.

Mayor Jerry Demings launched the Housing for All initiative to promote and incentivize the development of affordable and attainable housing in Orange County.

In April, Orange County celebrated the opening of Whispering Oaks, a community for families earning up to 80% of the area’s median income.

Several other projects are in the works as Orange County has committed $160 million to build and preserve affordable housing across the region.

Those include:

• Building a 137-unit complex in west Orlando on South Ivey Lane.
• Rebuilding the former Griffin Park site in Parramore with 725 affordable housing units.
• Redeveloping the Lorna Doone Apartments near Camping World Stadium for seniors.

Williams is on board with the additional units coming to the county because he feels it will benefit many people, including seniors like himself.

“We need more of this, you know, not just here, but, you know, in other locations in the county,” Williams said.

For information on Barnett Villas, click here.

The comments come after The New York Times reported that the Central American nation agreed to carry out joint strikes.

The case is the latest in ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and Latin American governments that seek to strike a balance between bilateral cooperation to fight drug trafficking and maintaining sovereignty.

“There is no agreement. There is a request that falls within the framework of existing agreements in several countries,” Arévalo said at a news conference.

“What we are signing are types of collaboration that have been taking place in the past. We conduct maritime interdictions where the United States has been collaborating with training, capacity building and equipment,” Arévalo said.

He said the government’s actions are in accordance with Guatemalan law and the Constitution.

“The only body that can authorize operations involving soldiers on Guatemalan soil is the Congress of the Republic. The Guatemalan government is not requesting this cooperation and has no plans to do so,” the president said.

When asked about the supposed agreement, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said he cannot “speculate on future operations or discuss matters of operational security” but emphasized that the Department of War works with partners in the region to fight drug trafficking and other transnational threats.

The Guatemalan government also published a press release and two letters in which its defense minister discusses combined military operations under pre-existing agreements with U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

The April deaths of two CIA agents in northern Mexico after an operation to destroy a drug lab highlighted the presence of U.S. agents in Latin America and raised questions about heightened U.S. involvement throughout the region. In the days following, Mexican officials offered contradictory accounts on how much information the country had regarding the CIA agents' involvement.

The Mexican government acknowledges the presence of U.S. agencies on Mexican territory but says that they cannot participate in on-the-ground operations.

___

Ben Finley in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.

___

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

Among the dozens of companies taking part, including well-known players like Boston Dynamics and Toyota Motor Corp., the big stars now were clearly the Chinese.

Chinese newcomers, like Booster Robotics and LimX Dynamics, took the technology initially developed in Japan and the U.S. and fine-tuned it, often for cheaper mass production. It’s a repeat of what happened in other Japanese industries, from consumer electronics to cellphones and electric vehicles. In humanoids, Japan was initially ahead but then failed to produce major commercial solutions.

Tim Hornyak, author of “Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots,” who was at the event, categorized it as the so-called “Galapagos syndrome,” referring to how innovative Japanese products evolve in isolation and end up not translating for the international market.

“I really hope that Japan can come up with a Ford Model T-version of humanoid roots. But I think China has already stolen their lunch. It’s a bit too little too late,” he said.

The dancing and wiggling Mini Pi Plus robot from High Torque of China, for instance, still can’t help at an auto plant or do your dishes. But it’s cute. And it doesn’t come with an eye-popping price tag, starting at $5,500.

Chinese robots are dominating

One telling example of Chinese robotics use in Japan was GMO, a Tokyo-based AI and robotics company working on a humanoid with camera eyes that will help with Japan Airlines cargo and other chores at an airport.

The key is to have the robot do the work in the same way as people so they would be interchangeable, an initiative meant to tackle the labor shortage problem that is increasingly serious in Japan.

The inner robotics workings were all courtesy of Unitree, a Chinese outfit, which is also working on a four-legged dog-like “stellar explorer.”

Experts say Japan, with its finesse in manufacturing, proved a good breeding ground for robotics development. The sociological backdrop of a public receptive to robotics also helped.

A recent Pew global survey showed that people in Japan are highly aware of AI but are less anxious about it, at about 28%, than people in the U.S. at 50%.

Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co., a leader in robotics with its walking humanoid Asimo, first shown in 2000, was demonstrating a motorized four-fingered robotic hand that could screw on and off tiny bolts, or thread a needle.

It didn’t seem to bother Keisuke Tsuta, assistant chief engineer, that similar mechanical hands were on display galore near his booth, many of them from Chinese makers.

Japanese robotics show their prowess

The technology Honda had developed is more durable and powerful than rival offerings, and the Japanese have historically shown they can excel at quality mass production, according to Tsuta.

The looming threat of a Chinese robotics domination didn’t seem to phase Osaka University Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, who has worked on humanoids for decades, including one that’s his clone.

“What’s significant is that Japan has a culture that’s receptive to robotics. If we’re going to really start using robots in society, Japan is the ideal place,” he said, stressing that Japanese don’t discriminate against robots.

His robotic counterpart, dressed all in black like the professor, did as good a job, if not better, of answering a key existentialist question on the meaning of robots.

“I think robots will coexist with people. Robots are the mirror of human beings,” the robot replied in a slightly monotonous but human-like voice.

Earlier, the professor had answered a similar question, but a bit differently.

“No one is interested in me. All everyone cares about is my robot,” he said, sitting next to his twin-like humanoid.

“As long as people identify with what I have produced, I am a success,” he added. ___

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

A U.S. administration official said on Wednesday that the U.S. was planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to share the administration’s plans. It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan.

The Kenyan government only revealed discussions with the U.S. on support for Ebola preparedness but did not address the facility. The U.S. government intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

The High Court in Nairobi on Friday put a stop to any deal on the Ebola facility until petitions against it are heard on Tuesday.

An organization formed to defend Kenya’s Constitution, Katiba Institute, and the Kenya Law Society separately challenged any presence of Ebola-related facilities. The Kenya Law Society asked the court to nullify any agreements signed between the U.S. and Kenya on the project, citing public health risks and a lack of public participation.

It also said that Kenya lacks “the high-containment infrastructure required to safely manage such a facility, exposing the public to serious health risks.”

A Kenyan doctors' union on Thursday issued a 48-hour strike notice should the country proceed with the deal. It said the U.S. was clear that they would not allow Ebola on their soil and therefore Kenya should not become another “dumping ground.”

“As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid,” the union’s chairperson, Davji Atellah, said in a statement.

In northeastern Congo, health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus also has reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.

Animals use various techniques to navigate including following the stars and remembering key landmarks. Birds, fish and turtles orient themselves using Earth's magnetic field as a compass. But it's not yet clear how exactly they do this.

Pigeons are a well-known group of frequent flyers that can traverse hundreds of miles (hundreds of kilometers) in a single day. For thousands of years, humans have used them to carry news, notes and military messages.

Scientists have long tried to untangle how pigeons travel without getting lost. Some think the birds detect magnetic cues using light-sensitive molecules in their eyes, while others suggest it happens in the beak or inner ear.

“The magnetic sense has been this mystery for almost 100 years,” said Martin Wikelski with the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

In a new study, Wikelski and other researchers decided to draw back the curtain on pigeons' navigational secrets. They searched for magnetic clues in the birds' organs and found a strong signal in an unexpected place: the liver.

Specialized immune cells in the pigeon's liver break down red blood cells and store iron. When scientists temporarily stripped pigeons of those immune cells and let them fly, the birds “just couldn't find their way,” said Christian Kurts with the University of Bonn in Germany. That suggested the iron-rich liver cells might play a role in their sense of direction.

The birds' magnetic compasses only got scrambled on overcast days. That's because they also use the sun as a navigational guide.

Scientists have previously wondered whether immune cells could be involved in magnetic sensing, but the new study published Thursday in the journal Science is the first to present a full-fledged theory.

“I would never have guessed it, but once it was explained to me, it makes sense,” said behavioral ecologist Albert Kao with the University of Massachusetts Boston, who had no role in the study.

The immune cells are located near nerve fibers in the liver. That might be how they transmit their “magnetic sense” to the brain “and help the pigeons to navigate,” said study co-author Clivia Lisowski with the University of Bonn.

The researchers think other birds and animals like mice could operate using a similar magnetic GPS. But outside experts say more work is needed to verify the pigeons navigate this way and to firm up how these signals get to the brain. While the researchers found the strongest magnetic signal in the pigeons' livers, such immune cells have also been spotted in other areas including the beak and spleen.

It's possible this magnetic puzzle doesn't have a single answer, wrote veterinary pathologist Simon Spiro and biologist Hal Drakesmith in an accompanying editorial. The birds could use different techniques to sense magnetic fields depending on the task, be it traveling long distances or finding a specific destination.

“Indeed, it could be prudent to have more than one way of getting home in the dark,” they wrote.

—-

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.

He looks likely to sharply escalate the Russian aerial attacks on the Ukrainian capital in the hope it will shore up his sagging domestic approval ratings and persuade an increasingly pessimistic audience at home that Moscow is winning the war, now in its fifth year.

Russia’s warning to carry out “consistent and systematic” missile strikes on Kyiv, accompanied by a call for evacuating foreign embassies from the capital, signals Putin’s intention to expand Russia's barrage despite the heavy costs and potential international outrage.

Massive drills of Russia's nuclear forces earlier this month and a series of belligerent statements from Moscow warning Kyiv’s European allies about possible retaliation for what the Kremlin cast as their involvement in Ukrainian drone attacks have underlined Putin’s intention to up the ante.

As Russia's advance stalls, Ukraine boosts long-range strikes

After a series of gains last year, Russia’s advances along the over 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have ground to a near halt recently, and Ukraine’s armed forces have launched successful counterstrikes and reclaimed some ground.

“The character of the war is shifting in favor of Ukrainian forces, at least for now,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a recent analysis. “Russian forces’ rates of advances are stagnating while Ukrainian forces are employing novel tactics and operational concepts in efforts to break out of positional warfare.”

The battlefield gridlock undermines Putin’s declared goal of quickly capturing the eastern Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control. Kyiv has rejected his demands to withdraw from the region as a condition for a ceasefire.

At the same time, Ukraine has significantly expanded its long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities and arms factories, inflicting increasing damage.

Putin scaled down the annual May 9 Victory Day parade, fearing Ukrainian drone strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow's suburbs killed three and showed that even the densely protected capital isn’t fully immune from assault, shattering Kremlin efforts to cast the conflict as something distant that doesn’t affect ordinary Russians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks were “significantly changing the situation — and, more broadly, the world’s perception of Russia’s war.”

Acknowledging the growing threat of Ukraine's deep strikes, Russian lawmakers this week approved a bill that says the country’s banks should bear the cost of installing drone-jamming systems on their premises, rather than rely on the military.

“From Russia’s perspective, these attacks are just going to get worse,” said Thomas Withington of the Royal United Services Institute in London. He added that Ukraine's increasingly audacious drone attacks were “exacting not only a political but an economic cost in Russia.”

The war is taking a toll on the Russian economy and morale

Russia’s economy has stagnated as the initial boost from massive military spending has petered out. The government has raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep the budget deficit under control. And even though the U.S. war in Iran has meant windfall oil revenues for Russia, fundamental economic challenges remain.

Putin is expected to play down the negative dynamics at next week's international economic forum in St. Petersburg, an annual event intended to showcase Russia’s achievements.

Nigel Gould-Davies of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in an analysis that “war-fueled high prices of capital, labor and goods, as well as rising taxes, have begun to depress the civilian sectors,” resulting in "a dual economy of overheated military output and civilian stagnation.”

While Russia has relied on volunteer soldiers to fight the war, offering them comparatively high wages and other benefits, Gould-Davies argued that “there are signs that this incentive may no longer be working effectively, and that Russia has begun to lose more troops than it can recruit.”

To sustain the war, the Kremlin will have to forcibly mobilize human and material resources, requiring it to “curtail the last remaining post-Soviet market freedoms, labor freedom, and freedom of movement,” he said.

In a sign of brewing discontent, some social media influencers previously loyal to the Kremlin have started to openly criticize government policies.

A move by authorities to restrict cellphone internet and block popular messaging apps has upset daily routines for millions, causing open grumbling. Natalya Kasperskaya, a prominent IT entrepreneur and a staunch Kremlin supporter, harshly criticized the shutdowns and attempts to block virtual private networks, warning that they cause massive damage to the tech sector.

Tatyana Stanovaya, a Russia expert who founded the R.Politik newsletter focused on Kremlin politics, noted the spreading Ukrainian drone attacks along with mobile internet shutdowns and rising taxes have eroded Putin’s standing. While he faces no immediate threats to his rule, “the gradual fading of Putin’s credibility is real,” she said.

In early spring, Russian opinion polls, including one by a government-run pollster, recorded a dip in Putin’s approval ratings, although they rose slightly in May in the state-controlled poll after the organization changed its methodology to include face-to-face interviews. Many observers believe the numbers may be inflated amid a widespread crackdown on dissent.

“Putin is losing his magic,” Alexander Baunov of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center wrote in a commentary. “Power remains undivided in his hands, but its spell is fading. Even loyalists complain about the mounting restrictions and repression, and once-upbeat businesspeople are now despondent.”

Russia's new threats to Ukraine and the West

Citing a May 22 Ukrainian drone attack on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine that Moscow said killed 21 people, Putin ordered a massive missile strike on Kyiv and its surrounding region. Sunday's barrage that involved Russia’s new hypersonic Oreshnik missile killed two, injured scores of others and destroyed or damaged many buildings.

On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow will launch “consistent and systematic” strikes on Kyiv to target drone-making facilities and “decision-making centers.” It urged foreign diplomats to leave the capital — a demand rejected by Ukraine’s allies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to warn him of the coming strikes and push for the evacuation of its diplomats.

“The danger in all of these wars as they continue and then they go on is that they always have the threat of escalation, of spreading into something new,” Rubio told reporters after the call.

The Iran war has effectively put U.S. mediation efforts in Ukraine on hold and drained American missile arsenals, delaying the delivery of U.S.-made Patriot missiles that Ukraine desperately needs to fend off Russian attacks.

Moscow-based military analyst Sergei Poletaev said Russia sees the shortage of air defense assets in Kyiv as an opportunity.

“Kyiv’s air defenses have been exhausted enough to make a massive attack efficient,” he said in a recent commentary.

Accompanying the declared blitz on Kyiv, Russia issued a barrage of threats aimed at Ukraine's European allies.

The Defense Ministry published a list of facilities in Europe that it said were involved in manufacturing drones and their components for Ukraine. And Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service warned the Baltic nations that their NATO membership won’t protect them from Moscow’s retaliation if they allow Ukraine to launch attacks from their territory. Those allies have denounced Moscow's claims.

“We are actually very, very close to direct military confrontation,” said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Blue Origin said its New Glenn rocket exploded during an engine-firing test being conducted ahead of a satellite launch planned for next week. No one was hurt, according to officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it," Bezos said via X. "Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”

The massive New Glenn was grounded in April after it left a satellite in the wrong orbit because of engine failure. It was only the third flight of the rocket that Blue Origin intends to use to launch landers to the moon for NASA, including the landers that will take astronauts to the lunar surface.

The company had been on track to launch a prototype lunar lander to the moon on a flight test this fall. Earlier this week, the space agency awarded Blue Origin a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a pair of moon buggies in the next few years as part of the Artemis program.

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said via X. He promised to provide information on any impacts to the Artemis program, including the moon base that he recently outlined.

Homes shook in nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach around 9 p.m., with residents turning to social media to wonder what happened. Launch Complex 36 is visible from the beach, and the internet quickly filled with photos of an orange fireball.

The rocket was supposed to blast off next week with internet satellites that are part of the Amazon Leo constellation in orbit.

Emergency crews remained more than an hour after the explosion. Officials stressed there was no threat due to fumes or other potential hazards.

Space Force officials said the explosion would not affect upcoming launches by other companies from other pads. United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket is due to blast off Friday night with a batch of Amazon Leo satellites, the same kind that this rocket was supposed to take up.

SpaceX's Elon Musk, who's had his own share of rocket explosions, offered his condolences. “Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly,” he told Blue Origin via X.

Towering at 321 feet (98 meters), New Glenn made its debut in 2025. It is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, and is much bigger and more powerful than the New Shepard rockets that have carried tourists to the fringes of space from Texas.

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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.

Smalley, still seeking his first PGA Tour victory, had one of a bevy of bogey-free 5-under 65s on Thursday and was one of 12 players a shot behind six first-round leaders.

Lee Hodges, among those who had to sit through a two-hour weather delay during his round, finished with a bogey at the par-4 ninth. He was at 64 along with reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, Ryan Gerard, Andrew Putnam, Tom Kim and Matt McCarty, who birdied No. 9 two groups ahead of Hodges.

It's the second-most leaders after 18 holes at Colonial behind the eight atop the leaderboard in 2022.

Keegan Bradley, Brian Harman, Jordan Smith, Ricky Castillo and Luke Clanton matched Smalley with five birdies and no bogeys. The other six players at 5 under included 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and eight-time tour winner Billy Horschel.

There were another 13 players at 4 under, putting 31 players within two shots of the lead at Hogan's Alley. Defending champion Ben Griffin, whose won three times last year, was 2 under.

“It’s one of my favorite courses we play all year because I don’t think there’s any one person that it caters to,” Hodges said. “You don’t have to bomb it. You’ve got to have your whole game here. I think it’s a great test of golf.”

Smalley finished three shots behind Aaron Rai at the PGA, tied with Jon Rahm after leading by two through 54 holes. The Duke alum spent the next few days focused more on travel plans for the U.S. Open and British Open than his return to Texas.

Smalley found that his Lone Star State vibe is still a good one. He is on a six-tournament run of finishing 21st or better. The first two were in Houston and San Antonio, followed by a tie for second in the team event in New Orleans.

The PGA finish matched that career best, and Smalley finally picked up a golf club again last Thursday, then picked up where he left off at Colonial. Four of his five birdie putts were inside 5 feet, including a 134-yard approach to inside a foot at the par-4 15th.

Colonial is tough when it's dry and windy, but it's neither right now in North Texas. Plenty of recent rain has been accompanied by calm winds.

“We would throw grass up and it was kind of coming right back down to our feet,” Smalley said. “So definitely more of the scorable conditions I’ve seen around here, but still not an easy golf course. To have no bogeys on the scorecard anywhere is nice, especially here.”

Kim, a South Korea native who lives in Dallas, is the closest thing to a hometown favorite with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth skipping Colonial for the first time since the Dallas residents became household names. Both cited busy schedules.

Kim twice had the lead by himself at 7 under, but bogeyed the par-4 fifth and followed a birdie at the sixth hole with another bogey at No. 7, his 16th.

Hodges went in front with five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start his back nine, but he had to punch out of the rough at No. 9 and ended up missing a long par putt.

Gerard made all 17 of his putts inside 15 feet, finishing with eight birdies and two bogeys. Putnam's bogey-free round included four birdies over his final eight holes, which were on the front nine.

“It was nice to get a couple putts to go in,” said Gerard, whose only tour victory came at last year's Barracuda Championship, seven years after Putnam's only tour win at the same event. “I know the stats are probably going to lean more putting, but I’ve been hitting my driver really well.”

Harman, the 2023 British Open champion playing Colonial for the 13th consecutive year and 14th time in 15 years, ran off third birdies over four holes early and had two more on the first three holes of his back nine.

“I love playing golf in Texas, man,” said Harman, who has two top 10s at Colonial. “I love this weather. I like it hot. I like the course a lot. It’s holding up pretty good for itself. The greens are soft and the scores are still, there’s nothing crazy out there.”

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

A white cargo plane with aid donated by the European Union delivered masks, gloves, boots and medications, which all are in short supply, to the northeastern town of Bunia at the heart of the outbreak in Congo's Ituri province. U.N.-branded forklifts lifted several cases into trucks.

Health workers with scant supplies have been struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine. In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks while treating suspected patients.

Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers in Ituri province.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said that during outbreaks people in remote communities can feel overwhelmed by an incoming flood of information and people.

“We’ve seen in every epidemic that there’s always resistance,” Kamba said. "Communities always ask themselves, ‘What’s going on?’ And in epidemics like this one, it is really risk communication and community engagement that ultimately change perceptions.”

Aid donated by the EU is expected to arrive in batches over the next eight days, said Jérôme Kouachi, head of emergency operations at UNICEF in Congo.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was on his way to Congo to witness the efforts. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, in the hope of ramping up aid.

The United States on Thursday said it is increasing aid to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing its commitment to more than $112 million since the outbreak.

The additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, support for health screening at airports and contact tracing, the U.S. State Department said.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Africa Centres for Disease Control director-general, said the organization on Monday believed it had secured funding pledges of nearly $500 million toward Africa’s emergency response, but as of Thursday afternoon the amount had dwindled to $290 million as partners withdrew or reduced pledges.

He also said the Africa CDC hoped to have treatments and a vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus by the end of the year and there were some vaccine candidates already in the works.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus also has reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.

On Wednesday, the Congolese government said the first survivor to recover from the virus had left a health center.

“We are trying to catch up,” Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week. “It is a race against the clock.”

The ground response has been hampered by multiple challenges including customs' red tape, insufficient storage facilities, bad roads and weak telecommunications, humanitarian agencies said in a report Thursday.

Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades.

“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” he said.

Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.

The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

The region’s main airport in Goma, which doubles as a staging ground for humanitarian efforts into the region, has been closed since January 2025, when M23 seized the city.

The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.

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Ope Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Mathew Lee contributed from Washington and Mogomotsi Magome contributed from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Game 7 is Saturday night in Oklahoma City, with the winner hosting the New York Knicks on Wednesday night to open the NBA Finals.

Wembanyama and the Spurs responded to a listless 127-114 loss in Game 5 on Tuesday night with their most energized outing of this see-saw series.

“(Playing with desperation) just feels like it erases kind of all the little mistakes that we do that are human nature, whether it’s in the regular season or previous games,” Wembanyama said. “Just got to fight that all the time and put your backs against the wall. It feels like it’s the best opportunity to be able to play.”

Dylan Harper had 18 points, Stephon Castle added 17 and Devin Vassell had 12 points and two thunderous blocks for San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to a team-high 15 points on 6-for-18 shooting for defending champion Oklahoma City.

“I just think all of our focus and attention was on the defensive end,” Castle said. “I don’t think scoring against them has been a problem for us. I think just our self-infliced mistakes, like turnovers and allowing them to get offensive rebounds and easy buckets is what slows us down."

The Thunder were scoreless for eight minutes in the third as the Spurs ran off 22 straight points to make it 92-64 with 56 seconds left in the quarter.

“I don’t know that it was necessarily anything we did wrong,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we were ready to play. I felt confident going into the game, and I felt confident at halftime. It had the makings of a road win if we could be the team that threw the punch in the third and they were the team that did that.”

The average margin of victory has been 15.3 points, with the Spurs winning by an average of 18.3 points.

Wembanyama has been at the forefront of all three victories.

The 7-foot-4 star joined Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan as the only players in franchise history with five games of 25 points and 10 rebounds in a single postseason.

Wembanyama made his first two shots — both 3-pointers — and blocked Gilgeous-Alexander’s layup in the first 1:27 as San Antonio took a 9-2 lead.

“I think we were consistent and we did what we needed to do,” Wembanyama said. “Trusted the game, trusted the basketball gods.”

Wembanyama had 11 points, five rebounds an assist and a block in the opening quarter.

The series remained physical and contentious, with the Thunder's Chet Holmgren jawing with and bumping into Vassell after the Spurs' wing blocked the 7-footer’s dunk attempt in the second quarter.

Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams returned after reinjuring his hamstring in Game 2 and missing the next three games. Williams was limited to one point on 0-for-1 shooting in 10 minutes.

Holmgren had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

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

There was the long robe that the San Antonio star wore to his home arena on Thursday night, done to celebrate an Islamic holiday but also reminding some of his look last summer at a Shaolin temple he visited while seeking physical, mental and spiritual growth. There was the freshly cropped hair, another sign that he was all business.

“I’d seen a picture pregame,” Spurs guard Devin Vassell told NBA TV afterward. “I knew he was locked in from there, for sure.”

Sure enough, on the court, Wembanyama was back to his dominant self as well.

Facing an elimination game for the first time in his career, Wembanyama — who had a fiery pregame address for teammates, something he doesn’t typically do — seemed as comfortable as could be. He had 28 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists, on 10-for-21 shooting in 28 minutes, leading the Spurs past the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-91 to tie the Western Conference finals at 3-3.

“I think we were consistent,” Wembanyama said. “And we did what we needed to do.”

Game 7 is Saturday night in Oklahoma City, the place where Wembanyama started this West title series with a 41-point, 24-rebound masterpiece that carried the Spurs to a double-overtime win. If he gets another win on Saturday, he and the Spurs will be heading to the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.

From the outset, Wembanyama’s imprint was on Game 6. After winning the opening tip-off, his next three plays went like this — made 3-pointer, blocked shot, another made 3-pointer. The tone was set, and the Spurs never trailed.

It was a very different approach from Game 5, when Wembanyama had 20 points on just 4-for-15 shooting.

“I would say his overall activity,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said, when asked to describe the biggest differences between Games 5 and 6 for his biggest and best player. “That, probably from my perspective, was just from his will and intent on leaving his imprints on the game.”

Wembanyama got most of the fourth quarter off, with the game having long been decided. Game 6 wasn’t over, but it’s a safe bet that he was already thinking about Game 7. Harrison Barnes, the team’s third-oldest player, was in Wembanyama’s ear during the fourth quarter on the Spurs’ bench, offering some wisdom.

He spoke. Wembanyama nodded. Whatever the message was, it was clear.

“Listening to the experienced people, whether it’s on our team, on our staff or outside,” Wembanyama said when asked what’s the first thing he thinks of when preparing for a Game 7.

The robe that he wore to Thursday’s game, he confirmed in French during his postgame news conference, wasn’t an homage to his time last June in China at the Shaolin temple — but rather to celebrate Eid al-Adha, an Islamic holiday. And during that same French portion of his remarks, he was asked if he can take a moment to even contemplate how far the Spurs have come.

Short answer: no.

“I have absolutely no desire to do that right now,” he said.

The formula for this series held true again Thursday. When Wembanyama is the most dominant player, the Spurs have won. When he isn’t, they’ve lost. Good hasn’t been good enough — in the three Spurs losses, he’s averaged 22.3 points on 43% shooting. In the three Spurs wins, he’s averaged 34 points on 51% shooting.

“He’s not always perfect and we’ve got to help him at times, obviously,” Johnson said. “He’s 22 years old, but his passion and desire for being right where he is and at the forefront of it all and to take the responsibility and the role and the burden of what he does ... I don’t know what else to say. He is comfortable with that regardless of the outcome and what that may look like.”

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

Project manager Lawanna Gelzer says the issue became personal.

“Even I was experiencing it… when I turned 50 and I began dealing with respiratory issues… I’m like, wait a minute — I’ve never smoked," Gelzer said.

Gelzer says she started noticing respiratory problems not only in herself, but also among elderly residents across Orange County. She also points to what her late mother saw while running a childcare center in Parramore: Gelzer says many children there dealt with asthma. Those experiences helped push her to look for answers — and ultimately launch the study.

The project uses four air monitors, each costing about $50,000. They’re placed in locations for six months at a time, then the readings are compared to data from Orange County’s only federal reference monitor, located in Winter Park.

“We co-locate our monitors in Winter Park — that was the only place collecting this information. And so now with our data we can show if there’s any correlation or discrepancies… and that’s what we’re gonna report to our community,” Gelzer said.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) scale commonly used by agencies breaks down like this:

• 0–50: Good
• 51–100: Moderate
• 101–150: Unhealthy for sensitive groups

In one example shared from the project’s findings:

• The highest AQI reading in 2025 reached 105 — categorized as unhealthy for sensitive groups.
• The second-highest was 100 — moderate, but just one point away from the next risk category.

The study also found differences between neighborhoods. In Azalea Park, data from May through November of last year showed the local monitor reading about 10 AQI points higher than the Winter Park reference site — a disparity researchers describe as roughly a 30% higher air-quality risk compared with Winter Park.

Researchers say that’s just one of the gaps the study is working to document — with the goal of reporting results back to the community.

In a release on Thursday, city officials said that a resident originally called the Stormwater Hotline to report a gasoline smell coming from the drain along Indian River Drive.

City crews responded and discovered that gasoline and oil had been dumped in there, and they realized that the oil had damaged part of the road next to the drain, the release shows.

City officials added that crews were able to remove and replace the damaged section of the road, plugging and washing the drain before vacuuming out the polluted materials.

“Because this was reported to us quickly, we were able to remove the gasoline before it washed into the Indian River Lagoon,” the release reads. “The individual responsible for the illegal dumping and road damage has not yet been identified.”

Officials reminded locals that no dumping of any kind is allowed into storm drains.

Anyone who notices anything suspicious is urged to contact the Stormwater Hotline at (321) 608-7341.

The Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office said Thursday that deputies responded just after 3 a.m. to the scene of an apparent suicide at the family’s furniture store in Lake Park, Florida. The office said the victim was believed to be Lemieux, who was found in a rear warehouse by one of his sons.

The NHL Alumni Association announced Lemieux’s death in a post on social media.

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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Just three days ago, Lemieux was the Montreal Canadiens’ torch bearer prior to Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final at Bell Centre. Former teammate Chris Nilan reposted a photo of him, Lemieux and Sergio Momesso from the arena with the message: “You never know when you’re going to see someone for the last time. Rest in Peace, Mon Ami.”

“Today is a dark day for the Canadiens family and the entire hockey community," Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said. “A fierce competitor who rose to the occasion in big moments, Claude was a relentless, courageous and tenacious player who led the team to the highest honors. He embodied the very essence of being a Montreal Canadiens player. Today we mourn the untimely passing of one of our champions. Our thoughts are with his family on this difficult day.”

President Donald Trump, in a post on social media, called Lemieux a “true Legend of the Game and one of the fiercest competitors Hockey has ever seen." He described Lemieux as a tremendous Trump supporter, saying he ”will be missed by all who love Winning and Toughness."

As a player, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Lemieux was a bruising mix of talent and abrasiveness, not afraid to cross the line in the name of competition over 21 seasons in the NHL. He wound up with nearly 400 goals, about the same number of assists and nearly 1,800 penalty minutes, the epitome of a guy you wanted on your team but dreaded facing on the ice.

“Just hard-nosed, hard-nosed player,” said Montreal coach Martin St. Louis, a former star for Tampa Bay. “When I played against Claude, you had to fight for every inch on the ice with him. He competed hard. He always toed the line. He was a hard player to play against.”

Lemieux won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after scoring 13 goals in 20 games for the New Jersey Devils to help them win their first championship in 1995.

A year later with the Colorado Avalanche, he was suspended for two games for a hit from behind on Detroit's Kris Draper that fueled one of the nastiest rivalries in the history of the NHL. Lemieux returned to score the first goal in Game 3 of the final against Florida on the way to the Avalanche sweeping the Panthers to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in their first season since moving from his native Quebec.

Darren McCarty, a truculent member of the Red Wings who had multiple fights with Lemieux, posted a broken heart emoji on social media and heard the news from Draper. McCarty said Lemieux the person was totally different than the player, and the two later met for an interview with smiles about their clashes.

“Sad day: another brother gone," McCarty said in a video message posted to YouTube. "If you’re struggling out there, no matter what, just reach out for some help. It can never be that bad. It’s a sad day, no matter what. Rest in peace, Claude.”

Colorado president of hockey operations Joe Sakic, who was teammates with Lemieux on the Avalanche, said the organization was devastated.

“‘Pepe’ was a terrific hockey player, a fierce competitor and a champion in every way. He was also a loyal friend who would do anything for his teammates and someone you could always count on,” Sakic said. "Gone but never forgotten. Rest in peace my friend.”

Lemieux also won the Cup with Montreal in 1986 and returned to the Devils to be a part of their title run in 2000. He played 1,449 regular-season and playoff games with six different teams from 1983-2009, finishing with Phoenix, Dallas and San Jose.

His 80 career playoff goals rank ninth in league history. Commissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux “one of the greatest big-game players in hockey history.”

Lemieux had become an agent in the years since his playing career ended and represented Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, New Jersey's Timo Meier, Detroit's Moritz Seider and Boston's Hampus Lindholm among more than a dozen clients in the NHL.

Part of a hockey family, Lemieux's brother Jocelyn and son Brendan also played in the league. Brendan's feisty style over more than 300 games most resembled his father's.

At a gathering in December to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of Colorado's '96 Stanley Cup championship, Lemieux said of winning, “When it’s happening, when you’re in the middle of it, you don’t quite appreciate it as much as you should.” Late former teammate Chris Simon was represented during the on-ice ceremony by his children. He died in 2024 at 52.

“It’s very difficult, and especially with Chris passing at such a young age,” Lemieux said. “We have to count our blessings — be grateful for the days that we have and enjoy and appreciate those times when we get together.”

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Associated Press writer David Fischer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and AP Sports Writers Pat Graham in Denver and Aaron Beard in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Rozier, 32, was charged Thursday in a superseding indictment in Brooklyn federal court with bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy. Superseding indictments are used when prosecutors want to change or add new charges to an existing criminal case.

Rozier has denied participating in the gambling scheme, and has been fighting to have the case dismissed after pleading not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy charges in December. His attorneys argue in part that the government’s theory of the case — that he prevented sportsbooks from making informed decisions about accepting certain bets — runs afoul of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the federal wire fraud statute.

The new indictment "just confirms that our motion to dismiss was righteous — new charges, new theories, but all just an effort to make something stick,” Rozier's attorney, Jim Trusty, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

Rozier was arrested in October along with former NBA player Damon Jones, who pleaded guilty last month for his role in schemes to defraud major sportsbooks including DraftKings and FanDuel. Others charged in the case include sports bettor and influencer Marves Fairley, who pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy, bribery and other federal charges in connection with gambling schemes targeting basketball games in the U.S. and China.

Rozier remains free on $3 million bond. The case has kept him off the court this season.

The new indictment alleges that Rozier not only defrauded sportsbooks, but also the NBA and the team he was playing for at the time, the Charlotte Hornets.

Rozier is accused of conspiring with gamblers to leave a game early, citing a lingering lower leg injury, so they could cash in on more than $250,000 in bets that his points, assists and other totals would be lower than what the sportsbooks had set as betting lines.

Not all of the bets were successful because Rozier collected four rebounds, which was more than the betting line, the superseding indictment said. As a result, after the game, Rozier and his co-conspirators negotiated a discount on his bribe, cutting it from $100,000 to about $70,000, the superseding indictment said.

The new indictment against Rozier was filed within hours of the guilty pleas by Fairley, who goes by the name “Vezino Locks" on Instagram. As part of his plea, Fairley admitted to prosecutors’ allegations that he used insider information to get an edge when betting on NBA, NCAA and Chinese Professional Basketball League games — including paying Rozier’s longtime friend $100,000 in exchange for a tip that Rozier was going to leave a game early.”

Fairley's attorney Eric Siegle said his client “deeply regrets and is ashamed of his conduct.”

“By publicly acknowledging his guilt and conduct today, Marves is taking the first step toward atoning for his wrongful conduct and to starting his ‘second half’ on the right foot,” Siegle said. ____ Associated Press reporter Michael R. Sisak contributed from New York. Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

“You know, I never thought I would run for governor, so I guess I should know better than to say any of it. Never say never,” Whitmer said when asked later Thursday about the remarks.

“At this juncture, I’ve got nothing to announce,” Whitmer said during an onstage interview following her annual speech at the Mackinac policy conference.

Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state that Republican Donald Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. Whitmer is term-limited and will be done after this year.

For months Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future. She seemed to put an end to the speculation during an interview earlier Thursday, telling Fox 2 Detroit: “I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028."

But she backtracked later in the day, saying she wanted to “correct the record.” Whitmer said she was answering the “100th question of the morning about it” and said she wasn't making any plans.

“I guess I’ll smile and say, ‘I’m going to stay focused’ and leave it at that for now," Whitmer said.

Whitmer has previously said she plans to take time before deciding on her next move politically.

“I don’t know that I’ll put my name on the ballot again. I’m just not sure,” Whitmer said at an April breakfast in Detroit. “But I also am 54 years old. I got a lot of gas in the tank.”

The Mackinac conference has become a hub of presidential speculation, with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin — both considered possible 2028 contenders — also in attendance.

“If there was someone I believed in, I'd be all in,” Slotkin told The Associated Press. “But I'm not taking it off the table because I want to be a part of that next generation of leaders.”

Scheduled performers also include Milli Vanilli, the pop duo from the 1980s who were discredited after it was revealed that their frontmen, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, were only lip-syncing.

Milli Vanilli won a Grammy in 1990 for Best New Artist, but the award was rescinded after the scandal broke. Pilatus died in 1998, while Morvan has attempted a solo career and published a memoir, “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli.”

Morvan recently told The Guardian newspaper that he owns the Milli Vanilli name, and he said in a statement Thursday that he would be performing at the Great American State Fair.

“I am here to entertain and unite people, not divide them,” Morvan said. “Let’s celebrate life & music and take a trip down memory lane. I feel honored to be a part of as it will celebrate the 250 Year Anniversary of America with so many other accomplished artists.”

A Freedom 250 spokesperson did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. Freedom 250, which Trump launched late last year, describes itself as a “national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.” Trump appointed Keith Krach, who served as an under secretary of state during his first term, as the organization’s CEO.

Trump and his supporters have long had a contentious relationship with the music community. Celine Dion, Elton John and Guns ’N Roses are among the many artists who have objected to their music being played at Trump rallies.

Country singer McBride wrote Thursday on social media that she had agreed to perform after she “was assured this was a nonpartisan event.”

“Yesterday things started changing and what we were told is, in fact, not what is happening,” she said.

In an Instagram post, Young MC questioned whether the National Mall shows would be nonpartisan. “The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” he wrote, adding that he hoped to “perform in D.C. in the near future at an event that is not so politically charged.”

Day posted on Instagram, “Contrary to rumor, Morris Day & The Time will not be performing at the 'GREAT AMERICAN STATE FAIR.”

McBride was scheduled for June 25. Young MC and Milli Vanilli were among those on the roster for an “I Love the '90s” concert on June 26. Day was listed for June 27. Other performers announced include Flo Rida and Bret Michaels. The Great American State Fair is scheduled to run June 25-July 10.

At least one “I Love the 90s” act will be there: Vanilla Ice.

“He is proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!” a representative for the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper wrote in an email to the AP. “Everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate USA’s Birthday and our Freedom!”

Neighbors in Port Orange’s Windsor Hill subdivision say the incident is especially concerning because many residents in the community are elderly.

“This neighborhood, we have a lot of elderly,” resident Jason Aquino said. “Most of the elderly are above 80.”

Aquino said watching the surveillance footage was unsettling for neighbors.

“To hear this is kind of surprising for us,” Aquino said.

The video appears to show a man approaching front doors and trying door handles before later walking into a backyard pool lanai area and approaching a sliding glass door while a family was asleep inside.

Residents also say the man let loose two dogs that were later located in the neighborhood.

“It looks like someone that doesn’t behave in a normal manner, which is kind of concerning,” Aquino said.

Aquino said the situation feels personal because many homes in the neighborhood have open backyard layouts similar to the one seen in the video.

“I have the same setup in my backyard,” Aquino said. “We don’t have a fence. Everything is open, so if he’s able to access that, he’s able to access our backyard as well.”

Neighbors say the suspect still being at large has increased concerns throughout the community.

“Someone like that not apprehended is somewhat concerning to anyone,” Aquino said. “Now that I’ve seen him, I can at least keep an eye out.”

Aquino described the neighborhood as close-knit, saying residents regularly look out for one another.

“I definitely watch out,” Aquino said. “I watch out for every neighbor. Anytime they have an issue, they call me.”

Residents say they are now being extra cautious and hope the surveillance images help someone identify the suspect.

“I thought us having a few officers on the street as well, it would deter that type of person,” Aquino said.

Neighbors are encouraging residents to remain alert and report suspicious activity to law enforcement.

“If somebody sees somebody that looks suspicious, at least now everybody is a little more alert to anything that is unusual,” Aquino said.

Several law enforcement vehicles were spotted near South Highland Avenue and 16th Street.

No additional information has been provided at this time.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Judicial Council of the 11th Judicial Circuit, which includes Alabama, Florida and Georgia, said in a February order that the judge would receive a private reprimand. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States last week affirmed that order.

The judge’s name and court location within the 11th Circuit were not disclosed, and The Associated Press was unable to confirm the judge's identity.

Federal judges are appointed for life but can be subject to disciplinary action, including censure, public or private reprimands and temporary withholding of cases. They can only be removed through impeachment by Congress.

According to the investigation, the judge and the unidentified officer had “sexual intercourse in the judge’s chambers during business hours within hearing distance of staff” and that the judge went to a partisan political event. The judge initially called the allegations “outrageous” and denied them.

In deciding to impose a private reprimand that kept the judge's name secret, the committee said it took into account that the judge recanted the false statements. The committee also found that the judge was unlikely to engage in similar misconduct in the future, noting that the judge had ended the relationship and committed to avoiding partisan political events in the future. And the committee took into account the judge’s “otherwise exemplary service to the court.”

“Although the special committee is deeply troubled by the conduct in which the judge engaged, the Subject Judge has demonstrated a strong propensity for rehabilitation and continued diligent service to the judiciary,” the committee’s report says.

Lester Tate, a lawyer who often defends Georgia judges facing misconduct in the state judicial system, said the punishment feels like a “slap on the wrist.”

“I'm shocked that there was not a more severe punishment for the false statements that were made by this judge during the course of the investigation,” he said, adding that he always advises his clients that it is best to tell the truth.

A person who is appointed for life and sits in judgment of others needs to be honest about their own flaws, and most people would likely find “being held up for a little public scorn” appropriate in this case, Tate said.

The genesis for the investigation was one of the judge's law clerks reporting the judge had engaged in sexual activity with an officer on multiple occasions in the judge’s office. It also was alleged the judge didn’t properly supervise clerks and on one occasion yelled and cursed at staff.

William Pryor, chief judge of the 11th Circuit, asked the judge to respond to the allegations. The judge replied the same day and “specifically denied” each allegation. In a follow-up email the next day, the judge speculated to Pryor that the law clerk may have invented things in retaliation for being required to work in the office. Pryor appointed a special committee to investigate.

The committee's review of logs and security footage showed an officer had frequently visited the judge's chambers in uniform around lunchtime. Six clerks recalled seeing someone who fit the officer's description, with three remembering overhearing what may have been sexual activity in the judge's office.

Three clerks remembered bringing summer interns on their first day to watch the judge presiding over a hearing in a criminal case. Right after that, they told the committee, the judge declined to have lunch with the interns, acknowledging having too many martinis the night before at a primary election victory party for a district attorney friend.

The clerks said the judge didn't provide sufficient guidance and “rarely, if ever, substantively edited civil orders the clerks drafted.” While clerks described an “eggshell culture,” the committee didn't find evidence of abusive behavior.

The judge ultimately admitted to having an extramarital sexual relationship with the officer but denied the allegations about mistreatment of staff, the committee wrote. The judge acknowledged to the committee having gone to a “mixer” of former employees of a district attorney's office, where the judge used to work, but said it was in a separate room from the victory party.

The judge also agreed to write apology letters to six former law clerks, not to accept the position of chief judge of the district when eligible and to refrain from serving on any Judicial Conference committee.

The families of detainees and their supporters said Thursday that immigrants being held at Delaney Hall in Newark have been subjected to pepper spray and physical force as the situation inside deteriorates.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said state health officials were also “denied full access” to the facility to conduct an inspection Thursday. The Democrat said they were allowed to inspect only a limited area.

“Unrest within Delaney Hall is directly related to its rampant inhumane conditions and the Trump administration’s refusal to dedicate appropriate resources for basic human needs like food and health care,” Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said in statement.

The GEO Group, the private contractor that runs the facility, confirmed that a “physical altercation” involving people detained at the facility prompted staff on Thursday to enact “response and control measures” including the "limited use of chemical agents.”

The company didn't elaborate on the nature of the altercation or how many people were involved but said all affected people were "promptly evaluated by on-site medical personnel and were cleared with no serious injuries.”

The company also denied allegations of poor conditions inside, dismissing them as “part of a coordinated, politically motivated campaign” by groups opposed to federal immigration enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees federal immigration enforcement, didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment but has previously denied there is any hunger strike, abuse or poor conditions inside the center.

Thursday's developments followed violent confrontations Wednesday night between protesters and U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officers.

Groups of demonstrators, many wearing gas masks and other face coverings, linked arms in a human chain, videos and photos posted on social media show.

Some used trash cans, old mattresses, umbrellas and other materials as makeshift shields and barricades as they confronted U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officers.

Others attempted to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting the building or threw orange traffic cones and other objects in the direction of ICE officers as they taunted them with expletives and vulgar chants.

The ICE officers, many of whom wore helmets and tactical vests, used pepper spray to try and disperse the protesters, according to videos posted to social media. Some used their batons to beat and push back protesters as the officers attempted to clear the roadway for vehicles.

DHS said about six demonstrators were arrested for assaulting law enforcement officers.

Earlier Wednesday, Democratic members of Congress from New York City toured the facility as part of an oversight visit. Reps. Jerry Nadler, Daniel Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, who all represent Manhattan, described dire conditions where people held in the facility are fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs are ignored.

Baseball owners hadn’t proposed a firm cap since 1994. Their effort prompted a 7 1/2-month strike that forced the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

MLB's proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more. The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball's biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year — around $170 million over the proposed cap.

“The cap is pretty much a nonstarter,” Pittsburgh outfielder Bryan Reynolds said.

Owners said they would discuss with the union both a phase-in schedule that would give teams like the Dodgers time to comply with the cap and an escrow system as part of a proposed seven-year deal. In an escrow system, a portion of a player's salary is withheld to ensure the agreed-to-revenue split when final figures are accounted for.

MLB maintained all current contracts would remain guaranteed and there would be no prohibition of guaranteed contracts under the cap system.

MLB said it would centralize local media revenue from the 30 teams equally and give players a 50-50 split as part of a proposal that would eliminate the current revenue-sharing plan among the clubs.

“Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of local TV blackouts.”

Baseball’s current five-year deal, agreed to in March 2022 after a 99-day lockout, expires Dec. 1. While a lockout next winter is expected, talks are not likely to intensify until late February or early March 2027, when the possibilities of losing regular-season games and revenue near. If regular-season games are lost, negotiations may become a standoff of which side can tolerate the most economic loss.

“Billionaire owners are not seeking to cap their profits or asset values, only player salaries,” union head Bruce Meyer said in a statement. “This isn’t out of generosity or a desire to protect the game’s well-being. It’s a play to control costs, increase profits and maximize franchise values — all at the expense of players past, present and future.”

Based on 2026 opening day figures, eight teams would have to cut payroll to get under the cap. The teams over are the two-time reigning World Series champion Dodgers, New York Mets ($379.2 million), New York Yankees ($339.6 million), Toronto ($319.5 million), Philadelphia ($315.2 million), Boston ($263.7 million), San Diego ($260.1 million) and Atlanta ($247.9 million).

Twelve teams would be required to increase payroll by a total of $617 million based on 2026 numbers: Miami ($81.8 million), Cleveland ($95.7 million), Tampa Bay ($108.2 million), the Chicago White Sox ($108.6 million), St. Louis ($114.4 million), Washington ($119.1 million), Pittsburgh ($122.6 million), Minnesota ($125.6 million), Milwaukee ($130.9 million), the Athletics ($139.2 million), Colorado ($142.2 million) and Cincinnati ($148.8 million).

“I think If you want to even remotely persuade us on a salary cap or even try to persuade players at all, this was very, very far from it," said Baltimore pitcher Chris Bassitt, a member of the union's eight-man executive subcommittee.

Owners and the union agreed to a luxury tax in 2003 designed to slow spending, but teams feel it has had little or no impact on the Dodgers and Mets in recent years. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was Kansas City in 2015, although Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee all lead their divisions as of Thursday, while the Mets and Red Sox are in last place.

MLB said its revenue has grown by 247% since 2003 and player payroll has increased by 149% in that span.

Deputy commissioner Dan Halem and MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword presented the cap plan to players during a bargaining session at the commissioner's office, one day after the union made its economic proposal. Owners say a cap is needed to improve competitive balance and restrain wealthy teams from assembling starrier rosters than their smaller-market brethren.

Players want expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum, increasing the money high-revenue teams share with the less-wealthy clubs and establishing penalties for teams that drop below payroll floors. MLB's proposal did not address those issues.

Other U.S. major sports leagues operate under a cap. The NBA had a cap in its initial season in 1946-47, then dropped that and began its modern version in 1984-85. NFL players and owners adopted a cap for the 1994 season, and the NHL did so in 2005-06 after a lockout wiped out the entire 2004-05 season.

The Dodgers shattered MLB's spending record with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to their second straight World Series title. Los Angeles' total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of the Marlins, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.

Players say a cap would hurt them, enrich owners and increase franchise values.

“Cap systems are always proposed without any consideration for the billions in franchise value that talent brings to owners," said Scott Boras, baseball's most prominent agent. “The blindness of that concept is something that the Major League Baseball Players Association has dealt with and will continue to deal with as we move forward.”

Without a cap, MLB stars have landed lucrative, guaranteed contracts that outpace what the biggest stars in other U.S. sports leagues make. Juan Soto's $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets negotiated by Boras is believed to be the biggest in team sports and is far greater than the largest deals in the NFL (Patrick Mahomes at $450 million over 10 years) and NBA (Jayson Tatum at $314 million over five years).

MLB's last salary cap proposal in 1994 offered players a 50-50 split of revenue in a system that would have forced teams to maintain payrolls of 84-110% of the average. Salary arbitration would have been eliminated and the threshold for free agency would have been lowered from six years’ major league service to four — with the provision that a player’s former club could match any offer until he had six years.

MLB's offer came on June 14 that year, and players struck on Aug. 12. MLB withdrew the cap proposal the following Feb. 6 after pressure by the National Labor Relations Board. The strike ended on March 31 after U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor — now a Supreme Court Justice — issued an injunction restoring the work rules of the expired labor contract. Two days later, owners accepted the union's offer to return to work without an agreement. A deal wasn't reached until 1997.

“For generations, our members have fought against cap systems because they harm players at all levels, erode or eliminate contractual guarantees, pit player against player, lead to more work stoppages, not less, and get worse for players over time,” Meyer said. “Caps don’t lower ticket prices for fans, eliminate tanking or ensure teams are run with equal competence. They suffocate competition by offering owners an all-purpose excuse for inaction and mediocrity.”

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AP Sports Writer Noah Trister and AP freelance writer John Perrotto contributed to this report.

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

“Now we’ve got this pool that’s running through Las Flores here,” said Scott Feranec, as he stood with a News 6 crew outside his house on Las Flores Way.

As crews with the Orlando Utilities Commission worked to repair the damage to the water line, Feranec explained to News 6’s Mike Valente what compelled him to call us.

“We had no communication from anybody,” Feranec said, referring to AT&T, the telecommunication company responsible for installing the fiber optic cables Thursday.

Feranec said he was given no advanced notice about the work.

“Come on guys,” Feranec said. “Do better.”

Valente spoke with a supervisor for the sub-contractor retained to install the cables underground. The supervisor confirmed that they were working on behalf of AT&T and he said that crews make sure to put notices on peoples’ front doors ahead of the installation.

“I’ve never seen that door tag in my life,” Feranec said, when Valente showed him a picture of one such notice. “No.”

Feranec said he was irritated that he feels kept in the dark.

Late Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson with AT&T told News 6 that the contractor did put signs in the neighborhood to notify residents about the work in the area. The spokesperson also sent this statement:

“We apologize to residents affected by the water line damage that occurred earlier today. As soon as our contractor was aware of the issue, the local utility provider was notified so that repairs could begin as soon as possible. As we work to bring high-speed fiber to more communities, we remain committed to minimizing disruptions for residents.”

Hours after News 6 left the neighborhood, Feranec said OUC crews were able to pinpoint the leak and fix the issue. His water turned back on Thursday.

The fight has gone mostly in Carroll's favor, with one jury finding Trump liable for attacking her and a second awarding her tens of millions of dollars in damages for Trump’s public attacks on her credibility.

But numerous news organizations, citing anonymous sources, have reported that Trump's Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether Carroll lied under oath during the civil litigation. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing inquiry, said the perjury investigation is being led by the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago. That person later clarified that the actual focus was on a nonprofit that had helped fund Carroll's case.

Late Thursday, Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, denied the reports. He issued a statement saying his office “has not opened — and has never opened — a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.”

Here's a look at the history of the legal fight between Carroll and Trump.

Carroll's allegations and Trump's denials

Carroll first went public with her story about being sexually assaulted by Trump in June 2019, when an excerpt from her soon-to-be-released memoir “What Do We Need Men For?” was published in New York magazine.

In the book, she described bumping into Trump while shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, flirting with him, then physically fighting him off after he sexually assaulted her in a dressing room.

The claims drew angry denials from Trump.

“I've never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book — that should be sold in the fiction section," he said in a statement.

“Number one, she's not my type. Number two, it never happened," he said in another statement.

Carroll sues Trump for defamation

In 2019, Carroll filed a libel lawsuit against Trump, saying his claims that she made the story up had “smeared her integrity, honesty and dignity — all in the national press.”

That legal claim wound up being bogged down for years over the legal question of whether, in denying the allegations, Trump had been fulfilling his duties as president. Trump claimed that as a federal employee carrying out his job, he was shielded from the defamation lawsuit.

At the time Carroll filed the legal claim, she was barred by law from suing him over the alleged sexual assault because so many years had passed.

New York changes the law

In 2022, New York changed its laws to give sexual abuse survivors a fresh chance to sue over attacks that happened in the distant past. Carroll was one of the first people to take advantage, filing a new legal claim against Trump alleging that he had raped her. She also sued over things he had said about her after leaving the White House.

That lawsuit moved more quickly through the courts. It went to trial in New York City in 2023.

Trump chose not to attend, leaving his lawyers to argue the case on his behalf.

The jury found that while Carroll had not proved she had been raped, under New York’s definition of that crime, Trump had sexually abused her. It also found that he had made some false statements about her that had damaged her reputation. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million.

A second trial

Months later, in January 2024, a federal judge held a second trial to determine whether other things Trump had said about Carroll were defamatory.

Its purpose was narrow. Since a jury had already found that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll, the testimony was limited to how badly Carroll's reputation had been damaged by his comments assailing her credibility and denying the alleged attack.

This time, Trump attended the proceedings and testified for about three minutes.

“She said something that I considered to be a false accusation,” he told the jury, later adding, “I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency.”

Carroll testified that she faced a stream of death threats after Trump repeatedly attacked her story.

The new jury sided with Carroll again, awarding her more than $83 million in damages.

Appeals continue

Carroll has yet to receive any of the money while Trump's appeals of the two verdicts have moved through the courts.

Ruling in one of those appeals, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also addressed the issue of whether Carroll had been honest about who was paying for her legal representation.

Trump's lawyers had accused Carroll of hiding the fact that her lawyers had received money from an organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. The judges ruled that there was no evidence to suggest that Carroll was involved in that funding arrangement or had purposely lied about it when she was asked during a deposition in 2020 whether anyone was paying her legal fees.

“It showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.

A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.

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Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed to this report.

At least five people also went to hospitals with injuries, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said. It was unclear how many residents lived in the two-story complex in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown Dallas, where a towering plume of black smoke was visible for miles.

Evans did not rule out that more victims could be found as crews continued to sift through the charred remains of the building. By late Thursday, Evans said firefighters had searched less than half of the scene by hand and that some areas would require excavation.

“This was enormous,” Evans said of the fire.

As dozens of firefighters swarmed to the neighborhood, some residents’ friends and relatives worried as they tried unsuccessfully to reach each loved ones. Dozens of firefighters searched through the smoldering rubble of the building even as colleagues continued to drench the blackened debris.

Berry said firefighters were responding to a call of a gas leak when an explosion happened.

“We had the cavalry coming," Dallas Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Berry said. "But the explosion had already taken place.”

Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider, said in a statement they were told by fire officials that a construction crew unrelated to the company had damaged a pipeline near the site of the fire.

Kacee Proctor, a resident of the apartment building, said her mother had smelled gas inside a day earlier, but Proctor didn't think much of it at the time.

She wasn't home during the blast and was devastated that her cat, Shirley, was stuck inside.

“I’ve been sitting over there crying for several hours. I don’t know what to do. This is all I have right here,” Proctor said, gesturing to the clothes she was wearing.

She spent the afternoon chatting with neighbors who had evacuated, including a girl who was home babysitting her little sister and carried both the child and their dog to safety.

Natural gas service to the area remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site, the company said.

Authorities set up a family reunification center at a nearby high school. Several hours after the blaze, Frances Rizo was still trying to find her friend who lived in the building.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Rizo said.

Firefighters rushed to the scene as flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. Some trained their hoses on piles of smoking debris while others removed lumber and other burned wreckage to look for anyone trapped underneath. Little more than a blackened shell of the original building remained.

“The fire is contained, but our members are still working on the scene to do primary searches,” said Dallas Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief James Russ.

Julie Jensen said she was at home less than a block from the burning building when she heard a noise like an explosion that left her ears ringing.

“I was sitting on my couch watching TV — stuff flew off our walls,” Jensen said.

Jensen said she saw rising smoke and neighbors running when she looked out the window. She grabbed her family’s cat and left, finding a nearby parking lot to wait until she knew it was safe to return.

Sal De La Rosa was at work at a nearby auto repair shop when “all of a sudden we just heard and felt this huge boom.”

“We felt where the building kind of shook a little bit,” De La Rosa said.

He said a co-worker went outside and saw thick, black smoke rising into the air.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Frances Rizo's last name in one instance. It is Rizo, not Rizzo.

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Associated Press journalists Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

The fire happened at the Utumishi Girls School, which has more than 800 students, in the Gilgil area of central Kenya, Education Minister Julius Ogamba said, adding that 79 students were injured in the disaster.

Detectives were questioning students to determine whether any wrongdoing triggered the fire, and Ogamba said authorities were trying to find out whether the school's fire safety manual had been adhered to.

The victims were not yet been identified, a source of anger and frustration for parents who gathered outside the ruined dormitory. Some of them angrily confronted police guarding the site, demanding to see the remains of still-uncollected victims.

Bernard Omwandho, a representative of the parents’ association, urged calm as the police investigation continued.

“Most of the parents who are still here are those whose daughters are being questioned,” he said, adding that he hoped that those being questioned will be “able to at least shed some light or give us a hint on what really transpired.”

The school is located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of the capital, Nairobi. The government-owned secondary school is managed and sponsored by the Kenya Police Service. Many of the students are the daughters of police officers.

Elizabeth Rioba, a mother of two girls at the school, said she was relieved to see her daughters but expressed concern because one of the girls saw her friend get stuck while trying to jump out of a window.

“She’s very traumatized, but I’m relieved she’s OK and I’m sad for all these children who have died,” she told The Associated Press.

The Kenya Red Cross said several students were evacuated and are receiving treatment in various hospitals. The group said it sent psychological support teams for students and their families.

Kenyan President William Ruto expressed his condolences in a statement. “No words can truly ease the pain of losing young lives filled with promise, hope, and dreams for the future,” Ruto said. “As a nation, we mourn with the parents, guardians, teachers, and fellow students who are enduring this unimaginable tragedy.”

Fires at schools have been a cause of concern for education officials in East Africa, where classrooms and dormitories are often crowded, and there’s usually no firefighting equipment in place. Officials sometimes cite poor electrical connections as sparking blazes.

In 2024, 21 students burned to death in a school fire in central Kenya. Ruto declared three days of mourning.

Kenya’s deadliest school fire in recent history occurred in 2001 when 67 students died in a dormitory fire in Machakos County.

In 2017, 10 students died in a school fire in Nairobi. A student was charged with murder.

The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.

The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered.

And the realization that France never formally did away with it left many aghast. Debate in the chamber turned raw on Thursday.

Steevy Gustave — a lawmaker descended from enslaved people on the Caribbean island of Martinique, now a French overseas department — told colleagues that the repeal was necessary, “but no vote alone can repair centuries of shattered lives.”

“We are not descendants of slaves,” he said, bursting into tears. “We are descendants of human beings born free, then reduced to the worst — reduced to slavery.”

The code’s reach was total. Article 44 declared the enslaved “movable property” — assets a master could acquire like real estate. Those who fled faced branding, the amputation of their ears, and even death. The word of an enslaved person counted for nothing.

Code Noir’s 60 articles “should never have survived the abolition of slavery” in the 19th century, President Emmanuel Macron said last week.

“The silence, even the indifference, that we have maintained for nearly two centuries toward this Black Code is no longer an oversight,” Macron said. “It has become a form of offense.”

Like French presidents before him, Macron stopped short of an apology.

France ran the third-largest slave trade, shipping about 1.4 million Africans to plantations whose sugar wealth built the French cities of Nantes and Bordeaux. The French empire later spanned four continents.

Others see the repeal as something more telling — a symptom, they argue, of a country that has yet to reckon fully with that past, one of many slow steps along the way.

Calls for France to face its past

In law, officially eliminating it is the easy part, observers say. Code Noir lost all authority in 1848, when France abolished slavery.

France didn't relinquish its slave colonies: the four oldest — Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion — were made full French overseas departments in 1946. That means they're governed from Paris like any other.

Their roughly 1.9 million people, most descended from the enslaved, are French citizens.

Despite being fully part of France, the overseas departments remain among its poorest territories. Unemployment runs roughly double the mainland rate, and more than three-quarters of households in the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte live below the national poverty line.

Shocked to find the law wasn't annulled

Before he discovered the truth, the French lawmaker who put forward the proposal to repeal the law didn't know it still existed.

Max Mathiasin, from Guadeloupe, had bought copies of the text over the years and left them on his shelf.

“As the great-great-grandson of people who were enslaved, I had never been able to read it in full,” he said. “This was made by human beings — against human beings.”

For him, the vote is “a way of restoring our ancestors, restoring our humanity” before a France whose motto is liberty, equality, fraternity. “It means living up to the Republican promise.”

That promise, he says, is still unkept at home.

“In Guadeloupe,” Mathiasin said, “in the most important positions, in the structures of the state, they are white.”

A colonial exception that never ended

The Foundation for the Memory of Slavery is chaired by a former prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and its deputy director is Pierre-Yves Bocquet — both white men.

Bocquet calls Code Noir the birthplace of France’s “colonial exception” — the principle that the French Republic’s founding rights could be suspended for those under its rule.

The principle outlived the empire, he said: “Even today, we accept that people in the overseas territories can have fewer rights than in mainland France.”

France is hardly the only country still holding fragments of empire — the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands still have overseas territories.

But what sets France apart, observers say, is that it made its slave colonies equal departments of the Republic, not dependencies it governs from afar.

The state insists that the overseas departments are France like anywhere else, even as the people who live there say they are treated as less.

Most major colonial powers, including Britain, Spain and Portugal, had laws governing slavery in their colonies. In each case, those laws fell away when slavery itself was abolished, leaving no single text to repeal.

France’s Code Noir was different, experts say: a single, named royal law that no one ever formally erased, even after France abolished slavery.

France is 'still in a form of apartheid’

For Max Relouzat, 81, president of the Association for the Memory of Slaveries, the repeal matters, because so little else has.

His African ancestor had no name under the law, only a number and a registration code — the family that lived in Martinique was given the name Relouzat at emancipation, likely after Nelouzat, a village in the Auvergne region of central France.

What galls him, he said, is what the symbolism leaves untouched: systemic racism in France.

“Under the cover of departmentalization, a colonial system was maintained,” Relouzat said. “If the overseas departments are part of France, why is there a ministry for the overseas?”

In France, he said, “we are still today in a form of apartheid … a form of colonial continuity.”

‘Racism is the legacy of slavery itself’

For some who have fought longest, Thursday isn't the milestone it appears.

For Florence Alexis, a slavery expert and daughter of the Haitian writer Jacques Stephen Alexis, the real turning point came 25 years ago. In 2001, the Taubira law made France the first country to call the slave trade, and slavery, crimes against humanity.

“That is what changed my life,” Alexis said.

For her, racism is the legacy of slavery itself, not of one edict.

“When I was a child at school, they called me the little monkey,” she said. “People made animal cries when I walked past — as they still do in football stadiums today.”

Paris-born Élodie Léon, 29, whose family is from French Guiana, welcomes the repeal, but resents the delay.

“Symbolic neglect is also neglect,” she said.

“It shocks me,” said Muriel Jean-Baptiste, a Paris-born nurse whose parents are from Martinique. “A law that treated Black people as property was left sitting there.”

The history of reparations

At the Taubira law’s 25th anniversary on May 21, Macron floated the idea of reparations — something that France has long stayed away from addressing.

He called it “a question we must not refuse,” but one on which “we must not make false promises.”

He committed no money, instead defining repair first as truth-telling, education and historical work.

The wealthiest of France's plantations were in Saint-Domingue, in the Caribbean, where the enslaved rose up and won independence in 1804 as Haiti. France then forced the freed to pay reparations for the loss of their masters — a debt cleared only in 1947.

France isn't alone. In the United States, federal reparations legislation has stalled for decades. California approved an apology, but no cash.

But the timing of Macron's latest speech was awkward. Two months earlier, France abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted 123-3, with 52 abstentions, to call the trans-Atlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity.

And this month at the Africa Forward Summit in Kenya, days after declaring himself a “pan-Africanist,” Macron seized a microphone and ordered the room to quiet down.

“As soon as he sets foot on the African continent,” French opposition lawmaker Danièle Obono said, “he can’t help but behave like a colonizer.”

The repeal of the nCode Noir, said Bocquet, “will have no direct effect.” Whether it helps France fight racism and inequality in its overseas territories, he said, “remains to be seen.”

“It is easy for the French authorities, and for Macron, to do this,” Alexis added. “Because it commits them to nothing.”

The Associated Press and other news organizations, citing anonymous sources, reported that the federal prosecutors’ office in Chicago had opened an investigation into Carroll examining possible perjury allegations.

But Andrew Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, issued a statement roughly 24 hours after the first report was published saying that his office “has not opened — and has never opened — a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll.”

A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, initially told the AP on Thursday morning that investigators were focused on Carroll but later clarified that the actual focus was on a nonprofit that had helped fund her case.

A lawyer for Carroll declined to comment through a spokesperson on Thursday.

The Justice Department investigation into Carroll was first reported by CNN on Wednesday evening.

Reports of the investigation added to the perception from Democrats and other former officials that a Justice Department meant to make prosecutorial decisions independent of the White House is being weaponized against the president’s political enemies. Trump's Justice Department has opened multiple investigations into perceived adversaries of the Republican president, including securing an indictment last month against former FBI Director James Comey.

Carroll has said a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan ended violently. She said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her. Trump has called the allegations a “made-up scam," and he has attacked her motivations, saying they were politically driven or arose from a desire to promote her memoir.

A jury in 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and defaming her, and she was awarded $5 million. The following year, another jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation case related to Trump's social media posts about her.

The reports this week said the Justice Department was scrutinizing a statement Carroll made in the course of the civil litigation that no one else was paying her legal fees. It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll's case. Trump's lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.

Multiple news organizations, including The Washington Post and NBC News, cited unnamed sources in reporting Thursday that the investigation was actually centered on Hoffman's nonprofit, which the person familiar with the matter confirmed to AP.

A month before the first trial in 2023, then-Trump lawyer Alina Habba sought to delay it, saying in court papers that new revelations about Hoffman partially funding Carroll’s case “raises significant questions as to Plaintiff’s credibility, as well as her motive for commencing and/or continuing the instant action.”

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Dec. 30, 2024, ruling, upheld the $5 million jury award from 2023. The court addressed Carroll’s credibility after Trump accused her of lying, during a deposition, about how her case was funded.

The court cited Carroll’s explanation that when the question about Hoffman's contributions was first posed to her in 2022, she had forgotten about “the limited outside funding” received in September 2020.

“It showed that Ms. Carroll simply was not involved in the matter of who was or was not funding her litigation costs,” the appeals court said.

Hoffman has defended the financial assistance, saying in a social media post that “supporting women's fight for progress and justice in philanthropy, politics and business has been a longstanding priority of mine, as is supporting America against the threat of Trump.”

A court entry earlier this month said Trump will not have to pay the award until the U.S. Supreme Court gets a chance to review the case or reject an appeal. The appeals court agreed to a request by one of Trump’s lawyers that it let Trump delay the payment to Carroll, though he was required to post a $7.4 million bond to cover any additional interest costs, a request Carroll’s attorney had made.

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Associated Press reporter Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

The setting sun was framed by a canyon of skyscrapers Thursday as it sunk below the horizon, perfectly aligned with the Manhattan street grid.

The dramatic spectacle was just the first of the year. A fuller version of the setting sun is expected to be seen between New York's famed skyscrapers on Friday. The phenomenon then repeats on July 11 and 12.

Manhattanhenge happens about three weeks before and after the summer solstice.

Over the years, it has become a must-see event, bringing photographers and others out onto the city sidewalks on spring and summer evenings.

Some background on the uniquely New York experience:

Where does the name Manhattanhenge come from?

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article in the magazine “Natural History.” Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York's American Museum of Natural History, said he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager.

The future host of TV shows such as PBS' "Nova ScienceNow" was part of an expedition led by Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who first theorized that Stonehenge's mysterious megaliths were an ancient astronomical observatory.

It struck Tyson, a native New Yorker, that the setting sun framed by Manhattan's high-rises could be compared to the sun's rays striking the center of the Stonehenge circle on the solstice.

Unlike the Neolithic Stonehenge builders, the planners who laid out Manhattan did not mean to channel the sun. It just worked out that way.

When is Manhattanhenge?

Manhattanhenge does not take place on the summer solstice itself, which is June 21 this year. Instead, it happens about three weeks before and after the solstice. That's when the sun aligns itself perfectly with the Manhattan grid's east-west streets.

Viewers get to choose between two different versions of the phenomenon.

On Thursday, and again on July 12, half the sun is above the horizon and half below it at the moment of alignment with Manhattan's streets, according to the Hayden Planetarium.

On Friday and July 11, the whole sun will appear to hover between buildings just before sinking into the New Jersey horizon across the Hudson River.

Where can you see Manhattanhenge?

The traditional viewing spots are along the city's broad east-west thoroughfares: 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street and 57th Street.

The farther east you go, the more dramatic the vista as the sun hits building facades on either side of the street. It is also possible to see Manhattanhenge across the East River in the Long Island City section of Queens.

Is Manhattanhenge an organized event?

No, not really.

Seeing Manhattanhenge is mostly a DIY affair. People gather on east-west streets a half-hour or so before sunset and snap photos as dusk approaches. That's if the weather is fine. There's no visible Manhattanhenge on rainy or cloudy days.

Do other cities have similar sunset events?

Similar effects occur in other cities with uniform street grids. Chicagohenge and Baltimorehenge happen when the setting sun lines up with the gridded streets in those cities in March and September, around the spring and fall equinoxes. Torontohenge occurs in February and October.

But Manhattanhenge is particularly striking because of the height of the buildings and the unobstructed path to the Hudson River.

The state party chairs of five Democratic parties wrote a letter Thursday to the Democratic National Committee calling on party leaders "to do everything in your power to ensure South Carolina continues to serve as the indispensable first proving ground for Democratic presidential nominees." The DNC is currently debating the order in which states will vote in the next round of presidential primaries.

The state should hold the first presidential balloting in 2028, they argued, in part because it “is not simply a geographic starting point. It is a moral and political compass for our party and our nation.”

The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee is meeting this week, hearing presentations from the dozen states seeking to lead off its 2028 calendar. Other southern states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, are in the mix.

South Carolina chair Christale Spain, who made her argument on behalf of the state Thursday afternoon, has said she believes her state has “more to offer than other states do,” including “the role of Black folks.”

“The fight for voting rights is no longer just a courtroom battle, it is an electoral one,” the Democratic chairs from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia wrote in the letter, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release. “And it begins in South Carolina.”

“Any effort to diminish South Carolina’s role in the primary process would be a step backward for the Democratic Party’s stated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” they wrote. “It would signal to Southern Democrats and to Black voters in particular, that their loyalty to this party is taken for granted. We refuse to accept that, and we will stand firmly against it.”

In a separate letter to DNC leaders, Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus Institute — which has partnered with the South Carolina Democratic Party on several presidential debates in the past — reiterated those sentiments.

“To remove or diminish South Carolina’s standing in the primary calendar would send precisely the wrong message to Black voters and to every voter who has been told their voice does not matter until after the outcome is already decided,” Thompson wrote.

For years, South Carolina has held one of the earliest Democratic primaries in the country. As the first southern state to hold its primary, South Carolina has been the initial gauge of a candidate’s ability to appeal to Black voters, who play an outsized role among the state's Democratic voters.

In 2020, Joe Biden's ability to make that appeal — along with a coveted endorsement from Rep. Jim Clyburn, the state's lone congressional Democrat and for a time the top Black Democratic lawmaker on Capitol Hill — helped him revive a flagging primary campaign, win a resounding victory in South Carolina, and go on to secure the nomination.

For the 2024 cycle, Biden led a DNC effort to have South Carolina go first overall in the party’s primary, citing the state’s more racially diverse population compared to the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire, which are overwhelmingly white. New Hampshire, which rejected the DNC’s plan, held a leadoff primary ahead of South Carolina anyway, and Biden — who didn’t campaign or have his name on the ballot — still won by a sizable margin after supporters mounted a write-in campaign on his behalf.

Biden, who also handily won South Carolina's 2024 contest, pushed for a revamped primary calendar that saw Nevada go second. He also pushed the Democratic primary in Michigan — a large and diverse swing state — ahead of the expansive field of states voting on Super Tuesday, the date in early March when multiple states hold primaries and the largest number of delegates needed to win the nomination are up for grabs.

Although the calendar won't officially be set until later this summer, Democrats likely to be among their party's 2028 contenders have been making the rounds in South Carolina for months. ___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

In all, 11 people were killed in the disaster, including the three yet to be recovered, and eight injured. It’s one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in recent decades.

A tank containing more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a chemical mixture used to break down wood for making paper collapsed Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, a city along the Columbia River.

The collapse occurred during a shift change, and the six workers whose remains were recovered had been in an area where they would congregate in the morning as they awaited their assignments for the day, said Matt Amos, Longview fire battalion chief.

Among the victims were a grandfather who was always willing to help anyone and a young husband described as selfless and caring, according to friends who organized fundraisers for the victims’ families.

The recovery of the victims has been slow and deliberate, complicated by the dangers posed by the remaining chemicals and other industrial hazards, Amos said. Crews were steering clear of a zone closest to the tank, in case of further collapse. They have been working with engineers to determine whether damaged buildings around the tank are safe to enter.

As they collect the remains, crews must decontaminate them before turning them over to the coroner's office for identification. The searchers also must decontaminate themselves.

Authorities said the cause of the disaster is still under investigation. They have not released the names of those who were killed, but friends and relatives had begun confirming their names and posting online fundraisers to support their families.

Gilbert Bernal, a grandfather who was an electrician at the plant, was the first confirmed death, said his friend Todd Cornwell.

“He was one of the most genuinely good people that you’ve ever met. He would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He was always there willing to help in whatever needed to be done," Cornwell said.

CJ Doran, who was 26, was among those presumed dead, according to a GoFundMe post verified by the crowdfunding site.

He was a husband who was “the spiritual leader of their family, the joy of their home, and the family provider,” the post said.

Other victims included John Forsberg, a father to two young children; Jared Ammons, who had two children and another on the way; and Braydon Finkas, an electrician at the plant who, along with his longtime partner, Kaitlyn Kincaid, took in exchange students and others in need at their home in Cathlamet, according to their friend Rex Czuba.

Finkas was always willing to help someone cut hay or to buy a beer for a new face in their small town, he said.

“He was a really big part of the town,” Czuba said. “He really jumped in and became a part of the community so quickly.”

The tank failure also injured eight people, including a firefighter. Some suffered burns or inhalation injuries, authorities said.

The mill's Japanese parent company, Nippon Paper Group, said in a statement Wednesday that it was offering its “deepest condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families.”

Authorities said Thursday the spill hadn’t contaminated the air and drinking water in and around Longview, a city of about 40,000 people along Washington's border with Oregon.

The community, which was founded at the confluence of the Cowlitz and Columbia rivers by a Kansas City timber baron in the 1920s, has deep ties to paper and lumber industries.

Generations of families have worked in the mills, and many residents who spoke with The Associated Press had family members or friends connected to the Nippon Dynawave plant. The sprawling facility, which employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, and cartons. It sits along the Columbia next to other timber, paper and chemical businesses.

Crews were working to flush water from ditches near the plant and dilute it before pumping it into the river.

Some contamination has reached the river, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it has had no noticeable effect.

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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press Martha Bellisle and Hallie Golden in Seattle, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

The move Wednesday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine comes as tax breaks for energy-hungry AI data centers are increasingly playing a role in state budgets and the industry is under pressure to pay the full costs of the vast network of its computing warehouses needed to power AI.

The size of Ohio's tax break skyrocketed, dwarfing previous projections, as opposition to data centers is sweeping through cities, suburbs and towns there and prompting lawmakers to form a committee to study the impact.

In the meantime, residents are trying to bypass the GOP-controlled Legislature and get a referendum on November's midterm election ballot that's designed to permanently ban hyperscale data centers, likely the strictest such statewide ban under consideration in the U.S.

DeWine's office cited the rising utilization of the tax break and the state Legislature's new research undertaking to declare a “pause” in granting it to new applicants.

"The governor felt it was the right time to let the citizens know, let businesses know that we're going to pause on new offers of this tax incentive while that process plays out," DeWine's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said Thursday.

DeWine stressed that he supports data centers — calling them a critical component in today’s economy — and that the roughly $37 billion in data center-related investment in 2024 and 2025 in Ohio has been worthwhile. Meanwhile, business groups — including the state Chamber of Commerce — and labor unions warned that pausing the tax break put Ohio at risk of losing tech-sector investments to other states.

The state, in 2024, had used previous history in projecting that the exemption would total $136 million in fiscal 2025 and $142 million in fiscal 2026. It was $554 million in 2024 and nearly $1.6 billion in 2025, the state reported.

The resumption of Ohio's tax break — should it resume — could happen under a new governor: DeWine is term-limited and the race is on to replace him. The Republican nominee, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy — an Ivy League-educated biotech billionaire — likes to talk about turning the Ohio River Valley into the next Silicon Valley.

However, Ramaswamy and Democratic nominee Amy Acton could share the midterm ballot in November with the citizen-led drive to ban the new construction of large data centers across Ohio. It faces a July 1 deadline to gather more than 400,000 voter signatures.

State tax breaks for the massive data center industry are facing growing criticism by governors and lawmakers.

The cost is likely rising as data center and AI-related investments drive higher consumer spending in the U.S. and tech giants keep boosting their spending commitment to hyperscale data centers.

In Virginia, budget negotiations have been hung up for months on a bid by Senate Democrats to eliminate the roughly $1.6 billion annual tax break.

Thirty-eight states have some form of a sales tax break for data centers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Many were approved when data centers were a small, but growing part of the economy, and well before the late 2022 debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT launched an intensifying buildout of increasingly large data centers.

Ohio's exemption is fairly broad, applying not only to construction materials, but to the expensive equipment — such as server racks and cooling systems — used in data centers. Operators might buy new server racks every couple of years as the technology improves.

DeWine's order was a surprise.

Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, where union members spend much of their time on data center projects, said he was upset with DeWine and trying to understand the governor's reasons.

He worried, he said, that developers that were in the midst of trying to finalize plans or permits for a project might have second thoughts.

Lawmakers acknowledged the opposition in announcing their joint data center committee on May 13, and said their mission was to ensure that Ohioans have accurate information about the economic, environmental and security impact of data center development.

“We’re well aware of initiatives to limit Ohio data center development during this critical point in America’s history,” state Rep. Adam Holmes told a news conference. “This public concern has become a priority issue for us and could have dramatic impact on Ohio and American’s future.”

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Not everyone at this week's competition appreciates the change.

“I feel like they should not have moved it. The old venue was better. Because it's a bit of a hassle, getting on the bus and going there and then coming back,” said 14-year-old Yahya Mohammed, a three-time speller from Hoffman Estates, Illinois. “The old venue was more spacious, and it feels kind of isolated in the hotel.”

As the National Spelling Bee began with Tuesday's preliminary rounds, spellers and their families marveled at the historical significance of their new venue and the nearby cultural opportunities while also dealing with logistical hurdles: crowded hallways, limited dining options and shuttle bus rides to and from their hotel.

Built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall sits a few blocks from the Washington Monument and the White House. Spellers and their families are staying at the nearby J.W. Marriott, a favored haunt of lobbyists and interest groups, and the quickest route to the competition venue would normally be a stroll across the Ellipse, the grassy expanse south of the Executive Mansion.

However, the Ellipse is surrounded by temporary fencing and security checkpoints as crews construct an outdoor octagon on the South Lawn of the White House for UFC Freedom 250, a June 14 event timed for President Donald Trump's 80th birthday and marking the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

“Two very disparate forms of entertainment,” said Rajeev Malhotra of Boston, the father of speller Sanjay Malhotra, describing the bee and the mixed martial arts extravaganza.

Venue change brings heavy security but plenty of history and culture

Security was beefed up at the hall, with guards and metal detectors stationed at every entrance and explosive-sniffing dogs patrolling the hallways. Three blocks away and three days earlier, a man opened fire at a White House security checkpoint, injuring a bystander before he was fatally shot by Secret Service officers.

At the prior venue, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, spellers moved freely throughout the building, roaming between their hotel rooms, the ballroom that housed the competition stage and a massive food court where they grabbed quick meals between last-minute study sessions.

“Last year was better,” said Arpit Aggarwal of Columbia, Missouri, whose daughter, Ananya, is competing for the second time. “Everything was in one place.”

“It's an adjustment,” Ananya's mom, Deepti Bahl, said diplomatically.

Other spellers appreciated the buzz of gathering downtown, saying it was more appropriate for a national competition. The bee began in 1925 and was held at a series of Washington hotels before it moved to the suburbs in 2011.

“I just love being here, right next to the National Mall. You can see the Smithsonian, you can see the Jefferson Memorial. It's such a lively and unique city and I love being in the heart of it,” said three-time speller Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old from Los Angeles. “There's so much history, there's so much culture. The memorials and the museums are fascinating to go to.”

Speller Andie Seavey of Fairbanks, Alaska, and her mom, Kristin, went to see the musical “The Great Gatsby” at the National Theater next door to the hotel.

After 80 spellers were eliminated Tuesday during onstage spelling and vocabulary rounds, the remaining 167 competitors reconvened at the hotel for a high-stakes written test that determined the 100 or so who would move on to Wednesday morning's quarterfinals. The competition concludes Thursday night.

At the spelling bee, the bell is not necessarily the end

Last year, Faizan Zaki won the National Spelling Bee even though he misspelled a word and heard the dreaded bell rung by head judge Mary Brooks. In fact, he knew it after a few letters. He stopped spelling and told Brooks, “Just ring the bell.”

Faizan's flub let his two remaining competitors back in, since all three misspelled during the round.

Kushi Gottimukkala of Morrisville, North Carolina, is one of a few spellers competing this year who know what that feels like.

At her regional bee, sponsored by the NFL's Carolina Panthers, it was down to Kushi and two other spellers for the final spot at nationals. She misspelled “anchialine,” and she thought it was over, only to see the other two spellers mess up.

Kushi rode the emotional roller coaster and ultimately got through.

“I was still thinking about the mistake, but I was also really grateful that I got a second chance, and so I took that into consideration and decided to focus on my next word,” she said.

Spellers have to prepare for the possibility that missing a word isn't necessarily the end.

Oliver Halkett, too, has competed in a bee where he got a word wrong but wasn't eliminated. He battled through the disappointment by focusing only on the word in front of him.

“It's a peculiar situation, but I think, above all, mental clarity is so important, especially in those latter rounds,” he said. “I close my eyes and do some deep breathing and I visualize the word, and it's just me and the word. That's how you have to approach every single word.

“Treat every word as if it's your first and last word.”

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This story has been updated to correct the name of Boston speller Sanjay Malhotra, not Rajeev Malhotra.

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.

The island’s water system is operating with only 37% of the required fuel as Cuba faces its worse energy crisis.

The water system is one of the sectors most affected because it is one of the country’s largest energy consumers, said Antonio Rodríguez, president of the state-run National Institute of Water Resources.

Details of the forum focused on the intermittent water supply affecting an overall population of nearly 10 million people were published Thursday by the official website Cubadebate.

Rodríguez said that not only does water pumping consume electricity, but all of the agency’s essential activities require fuel, from unclogging pipes and cleaning septic tanks to repairing leaks. Chemical supplies are also needed, and their import is currently paralyzed.

According to Rodríguez, the agency once purchased parts and other supplies worth some $100 million annually, but in the last year, purchases totaled only about $10 million given a total suspension of credit. Many suppliers are placing contracts on hold as they assess when it might be advantageous to deliver supplies to Cuba or what obstacles might arise in processing bank payments, not to mention the limitations on shipping services, he said.

Complicating the problem is aging infrastructure and oversaturated pumping stations, especially in large cities like Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Matanzas, Rodríguez said. Many high-rise buildings and apartments also require electricity to power the pumps that lift water to the elevated tanks.

The water crisis is not new, but it has worsened in recent months.

Since January, the U.S. government tightened sanctions it had already imposed on Cuba as it pressures the island to change its political model. U.S. President Donald Trump also threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, which produces only 40% of the fuel it needs.

The population, already having endured five years of economic crisis, inflation and shortages, is now struggling with daily power outages that last up to 20 hours.

Many neighborhoods in Havana receive water deliveries by tanker trucks, but they remain inconsistent.

“It’s been five days since the water came in,” Magaly Ribial, a 60-year-old teacher, said Thursday as she collected water for her home from a tanker truck parked near her house in Old Havana.

Meanwhile, 95-year-old Dayse Izquierdo struggles to carry water and obtains whatever her neighbors bring her when the tanker truck, which Cubans call a “pipa,” arrives.

Some residents even said they walk from other parts of the city when they hear that water trucks are arriving in a specific neighborhood.

“The water situation is widespread,” said 55-year-old Carlos Molina. “I come from another municipality to collect water because there is none there.”

Rodríguez noted that only a small portion of the agency’s operations depend on solar panels and other alternatives.

Authorities are developing an accelerated solar energy program, but experts note that such technologies require costly investments.

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Associated Press videographer Ariel Fernández in Havana contributed.

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

More than 20 people were injured in the strikes, according to Shifa Hospital. Video from the scene showed flames pouring from an upper-floor window of a building, while bystanders rushed to carry wounded people, including children, to ambulances.

Mohammed Shawish, who was wounded and lost his wife in the strikes, broke down in tears as he held her body at the hospital morgue, saying, “I married my wife for love. For God’s sake, I chose her because of love.”

The strikes took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice,” an Islamic holiday celebrated by millions of Muslims worldwide. The Israeli military said Wednesday evening it had launched strikes in the northern Gaza Strip targeting two Hamas militants.

Among those killed was Hamas fighter Imad Isleim. On Thursday, mourners carried his body wrapped in a white shroud with a Hamas flag draped over it. His death came as a “shock” to the family, even though they knew it could happen at any time, his cousin Nidal Isleim said.

The strikes came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was expanding its control in Gaza.

“Right now we are tightening the grip on Hamas," Netanyahu said Thursday at the Jordan Valley Conference in the occupied West Bank. “We are now in 60% of the territory of the Gaza Strip. You know that? We were at 50%, we moved to 60%."

He said the next step was to move to 70% control, with Israel “tightening the grip" on Hamas "from every direction.”

“We will deal with the remnants,” Netanyahu said. "But the most important thing is to continue leveraging our power, to increase it.”

The conference was part of a broader discussion on the war, Iran, Hezbollah, Gaza and regional strategy.

"There is still more work. What is happening right now is truly a global change. There is no doubt about that,” Netanyahu added.

Earlier this week, an Israeli strike killed Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed leader of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, less than two weeks after his predecessor was also killed.

Across the Gaza Strip, 16 people were killed and 39 others wounded over the past 48 hours, Gaza’s health ministry said in an update on Thursday. The ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Since a fragile ceasefire came into effect last October, 922 people have been killed in Gaza and 2,786 others injured, according to the ministry.

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This story has corrected the location where Netanyahu spoke.

Messi, about to turn 39, headlines the 26-man World Cup roster announced by the Argentine Football Association on Thursday.

Of those called up, 17 players were part of the team that triumphed four years ago in the final against France in Qatar.

Several of those players were in doubt due to injuries of varying severity, close to the June 1 deadline set by FIFA for finalizing World Cup squads. Among them was Messi himself, who is suffering from muscle fatigue and strain in his left hamstring, which prevented him from finishing the match with Inter Miami last Sunday.

The club has officially stated that his recovery time will depend on “his clinical and functional progress.” Messi will be playing in his sixth World Cup, having previously participated in Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2015, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022.

Goalkeeper Martinez named

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, who fractured the ring finger of his right hand during last week’s Europa League final in which Aston Villa defeated Freiburg, has also been confirmed.

Scaloni also included defender Cristian Romero, who is recovering from a sprained collateral ligament in his right knee suffered in mid-April while playing for Tottenham, and fullbacks Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive penalty kicks in the 2002 World Cup shootout against France, both of whom are recovering from muscle injuries.

Argentina, also world champions in 1978 and 1986, will debut on June 16 against Algeria in Group J, which also includes Austria and Jordan.

The squad will travel on Saturday to their World Cup base in Kansas City and will play friendlies against Honduras and Iceland before the start of the tournament.

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Argentina squad:

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Gerónimo Rulli (Olympique de Marseille), Juan Musso (Atlético de Madrid).

Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Nahuel Molina (Atlético de Madrid), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique de Marseille), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique de Lyon), Facundo Medina (Olympique de Marseille).

Midfielders: Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Leandro Paredes (Boca Jrs), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Valentín Barco (RC Strasbourg Alsace).

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicolás González (Atlético de Madrid), Giuliano Simeone (Atlético de Madrid), Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan), José Manuel López (Palmeiras), Julián Álvarez (Atlético de Madrid), Thiago Almada (Lyon), Nico Paz (Como).

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

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the team had not announced the injury.

The Knicks are set to play Game 1 of the NBA Finals next Wednesday on the road against either Oklahoma City or San Antonio.

Robinson appeared in 13 of New York’s first 16 games through the first three rounds of the playoffs, including more than 17 minutes off the bench in the Eastern Conference finals-clinching victory at Cleveland. The team returned to practice at home on Thursday.

It was not clear exactly when Robinson was injured, though video shows him grabbing at his right hand and shaking it going back down the court with 5:35 left in the third quarter Monday night after coming down from attempting to rebound a missed shot by teammate Mikal Bridges. He played off and on until 7:47 left in the fourth.

The Knicks are 12-2 in the postseason, with a victory margin of 19.4 points a game, and have won 11 in a row. That’s tied for the third-longest winning streak within one postseason.

The 28-year-old Robinson is averaging 5.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in the playoffs as a big man whose minutes come in a reserve role and who can fill time on the court when Karl-Anthony Towns gets into foul trouble. On the offensive end, Robinson has been the subject of fouling from opponents because of his issues at the free throw line, where he's 13 of 43 (30.2%).

ESPN first reported Robinson's broken finger.

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

The ruling came after the first bench trial in the country to examine the constitutionality of the execution method that has now been used to put eight people to death, seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. The ruling clears the way for Alabama and other states to continue with the method and is a setback for critics who hoped a fuller examination of Alabama's protocol would halt its use.

The execution method, first used in 2024, involves strapping a respirator to the person's face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from lack of oxygen. The lawsuit challenging the method was filed last year by death row inmate Jeffery Lee. Lee, 58, is scheduled to be executed with nitrogen gas on June 11 at a south Alabama prison.

“While Lee establishes that death by nitrogen hypoxia involves some suffering, he fails to show that the protocol is cruel and unusual in violation of the Eighth Amendment,” U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks wrote.

Attorneys for the state and Lee disputed how long inmates are awake during a nitrogen gas execution. Marks wrote the evidence shows Alabama’s protocol “likely causes severe air hunger —the most severe form of breathing discomfort — for one to three minutes” but did not arise to a constitutional violation.

Lee's attorneys indicated in court filings that they are appealing the decision.

The Alabama attorney general praised the judge's decision.

“After the first full trial on nitrogen hypoxia in the entire country, the district court found it to be constitutional. The district court considered all the evidence and concluded that nitrogen hypoxia is not cruel and unusual, affirming that the question of capital punishment belongs to the people and their representatives, not the courts, to resolve,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said.

Inmates executed by nitrogen gas have displayed various levels of shaking during the executions, and lawyers for the state and inmates have disagreed on whether those are involuntary or a sign of suffering. Alabama's last nitrogen gas execution took more than 30 minutes to complete.

Marks noted that Lee faced a high legal bar because the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to find a state’s method of execution qualifies as cruel and unusual.

Five states have authorized nitrogen gas as an execution method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, although only two states have used it.

Lee was convicted of capital murder for killing Ellis and Thompson on Dec. 12, 1998, near the small town of Orrville, Alabama. Prosecutors said Lee entered a pawn shop with a sawed-off shotgun and fatally shot Jimmy Ellis, the owner of the store, and Elaine Thompson, a store employee.

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.

Lee's legal team did not issue an immediate comment on the decision.

“The real torture of the death penalty is in the decades of waiting. With what we know about each of the available methods of being killed in Alabama or in the U.S., I can’t imagine anyone choosing conscious suffocation," said Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, a group that opposes the death penalty.

He added that Lee would not face the death penalty if sentenced today because judicial override has been abolished.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the First Command of the Capital, or PCC, and the Red Command, or CV, will be considered foreign terrorist organizations as of June 5. Until then, they will be named as specially designated global terrorists, which hampers their ability to make financial transactions as they are regarded as a threat to U.S. citizens.

Rubio's announcement comes 24 hours after a visit by Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a presidential hopeful and son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has advocated for the move. The senator's bid to face President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in October's election is at risk after he admitted receiving money from a disgraced banker.

Lula, who the Bolsonaros accuse of not fighting organized crime, has repeatedly said he would interpret a designation of the two criminal groups as terrorist organizations as interference to favor his electoral rival. He has yet to comment on Thursday's announcement.

The PCC and the CV likely have more than 50,000 members combined, according to experts, who also say most of their connections are in Europe rather than in North America. Most of PCC's operations are centered in metropolis Sao Paulo, while the CV is based in Rio de Janeiro. They have reach throughout South America.

Latin America strategy

Designating criminal cartels in Latin America as foreign terrorist organizations is a strategy the Trump’s administration has used as it turns to military activity and other steps to combat drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, notably carrying out a campaign of deadly boat strikes against those it calls “narcoterrorists” in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

“CV and PCC are two of the most violent criminal organizations in Brazil. Together, they command thousands of members and have orchestrated brutal attacks against Brazilian police officers, public officials, and civilians,” Rubio said. “Their influence and illicit networks extend far beyond Brazil’s borders, across our region and into our country.”

“Today’s action taken by the State Department further demonstrates the Trump Administration’s unwavering commitment to dismantling cartels and criminal organizations in our region and ensuring the safety of the American people,” he added.

Sen. Bolsonaro, who briefly met Trump before his longer conversation with Rubio on Wednesday, said his visit to the Washington this week had produced more results for Brazil's public security than in Lula's three administrations. The incumbent president also governed in two terms between 2003-2010.

“Lula was on his knees to Trump to lobby for CV and PCC, and I was there to work so they can be treated as terrorists, which is what they are,” Sen. Bolsonaro said.

Brazil reaction

A Brazilian government staffer told The Associated Press there was no previous notice from the Trump administration that the move would take place on Thursday. The source spoke under condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to journalists about the decision.

Lula, who is seeking reelection and is trying to boost his anti-crime credentials, has openly opposed labeling criminals as terrorists, while Bolsonaro’s supporters in Congress have publicly urged Trump to hit harder on the gangs.

Earlier Thursday, Brazilian prosecutors launched a mega-operation to dismantle fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, in the latest phase of an investigation targeting criminal gangs like the PCC and CV.

Lula's special adviser for foreign affairs and former foreign minister Celso Amorim was the first to publicly comment on Rubio's announcement.

“Public security is a key topic for social economic development. Organized crime is an evil that must be fought. International cooperation is welcome, especially in matters of money laundering and arms trade. (But) pretext for intervention is unacceptable,” Amorim said.

Public security will likely be a wedge issue in Brazil’s presidential elections, when Sen. Bolsonaro faces off against Lula. The 71-year-old Jair Bolsonaro cannot run as he is serving his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt.

Experts have said neither Jair Bolsonaro nor Lula was very successful in fighting the two criminal groups, although Brazil’s federal police and prosecutors have conducted several raids against them in recent years. Authorities scored a major win against the PCC in August by dismantling part of its money laundering network that included gas stations, perfume shops and even a financial services company based in one of Sao Paulo’s main arteries.

Brazil’s federal police said then that their operation, known as Hidden Carbon, found companies linked to the PCC laundering at least 6 billion reals ($1.1 billion) in recent years.

Political analyst Thomas Traumann says Rubio's move is about “the Trump administration trying to meddle in the election after a request by Flávio Bolsonaro during his trip to Washington.”

“Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign was hit by his problematic businesses with a corrupted banker, he came to the Trump administration to ask for some help and he got this one,” Traumann said. “Lula's best moment in the polls was after Trump imposed tariffs against Brazil and he revived a narrative on national sovereignty. It is likely he will do it again.”

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

State-run Yemeni TV said that he died at his residence in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, but gave no other details.

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of the Presidential Leadership Council — the leadership body of Yemen’s internationally recognized government — said Hadi believed in the Yemeni people’s “right to a just state, freedom and human dignity.”

“He led the battle to defend the republican system," al-Alimi said on X.

The government announced three days of mourning, during which flags will be flown at half-staff.

Hadi's presidency

Hadi became president in 2012 after the resignation of longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh during the Arab Spring uprisings. Backed by the United States and Gulf states, Hadi emerged as a compromise candidate in a one-person election meant to guide Yemen through a political transition.

But his presidency soon got bogged down in unrest.

During his first years in office, Hadi tried to implement wide-reaching reforms, including the unification of the country’s various armed factions.

His opponents accused him of favoring the country’s eastern oil-rich provinces at the expense of the mountainous heartlands dominated by Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement.

Another challenge came from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, long considered one of the global network’s most dangerous branches. The group carried out a bombing in Sanaa in 2012 that killed more than 100 people.

The defining moment of Hadi’s presidency came in 2014, when Houthi fighters swept south from their northern strongholds and captured Sanaa amid growing public anger over economic hardship and political instability.

With support from forces loyal to Saleh, Houthi forces took control of Yemen’s presidential palace in January 2015. Hadi resigned and escaped to Aden. But he later withdrew his resignation, and a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in March 2015 in a bid to restore Hadi’s government.

Although Hadi remained the internationally recognized president, much of the real decision-making was influenced by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the coalition's main players.

His authority weakened further as divisions emerged in the anti-Houthi alliance.

Tensions with the UAE deepened after Hadi dismissed senior Emirati-backed figures, including Aidarous al-Zubaidi, who led the separatist Southern Transitional Council, or STC.

The STC eventually took control of Aden and parts of southern Yemen, leaving Hadi’s government confined to exile in Riyadh and to scattered territories in the east.

While the STC stopped short of openly demanding Hadi’s removal, it refused to place its forces under his command and accused his government of accommodating Islamist factions linked to the Islah party, Yemen’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The STC was dismantled earlier this year.

Hadi spent his final years in office largely out of public view in the Saudi capital. In April 2022, shortly after a U.N.-brokered ceasefire was announced, he transferred power to al-Alimi, who began leading the newly formed presidential council backed by Saudi Arabia.

His rise as a military officer

Mansour Hadi was born Sept. 1, 1945, in Yemen’s coastal Abyan province at a time when the southern of the half country was a British protectorate. His family was part of the influential Al-Fadl tribe, one of the largest and most established in the south.

After completing school, Hadi pursued a career in the army, graduating from the United Kingdom's Sandhurst military academy. His early military years saw him serve in Egypt and Russia, before returning to Yemen.

Hadi was a senior officer when civil war erupted in 1986, following a fallout between rival factions of Southern Yemen’s then governing Socialist party. He sided with President Ali Nasser Mohammed, fleeing with him to northern Yemen, then an independent state.

In the immediate years after Yemen’s reunification in 1990, Hadi was promoted first to the rank of general and later to defense minister by Saleh. As a reward for leading numerous successful military campaigns against southern separatists in 1994, Saleh appointed Hadi as vice president of the new republic.

Hadi is survived by his wife, Hala, and six children. Funeral arrangements weren't yet known.

___

Fatma Khaled reported from Cairo. Jack Jeffery provided reporting for this story from Cairo before leaving The Associated Press.

The climbers’ conditions weren’t immediately known following the fall, which was reported to Denali National Park and Preserve rangers overnight, and rangers were seeking a weather window to allow them to reach the area by helicopter, a statement from the agency said. The four climbers were part of a seven-person team.

The three others climbing attended to those who fell, and then returned to camp, the statement says. The fall occurred near Denali Pass, at about 18,200 feet (5,547 meters). The climbers returned to an area known as high camp around 17,000 feet (5,181 meters), the statement says. McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet (6,190 meters).

Park officials have been in contact with the three climbers, said Scott Carr, a park service spokesperson. He said additional information would be released “if and when it becomes appropriate.”

Over the years, many climbing injuries and deaths have occurred on the traverse between the high camp and Denali Pass, mainly resulting from unprotected falls, according to the park.

Park rangers and mountain guides install and maintain snow pickets — which are used to help build anchors for extra protection on areas like steep slopes — between the high camp and Denali Pass, the park says. Climbers are urged to have their own pickets in case the protection placed by rangers and guides is missing.

Weather conditions didn't improve the way rescuers had hoped. Carr said late Thursday that conditions throughout the day had been variable, with low cloud ceilings and limited visibility, and that authorities were still awaiting an opportunity to safely fly.

"Helicopter operations will start when a weather window opens up,” he said.

A typical climbing season for Mount McKinley begins in late April and continues into mid-July, according to the park. There were 516 climbers on the mountain as of Thursday, Carr said by email.

On Wednesday, two climbers as part of a separate incident were evacuated from the mountain by helicopter around 11 p.m., but the park service said it did not have additional information to share.

Annabella Gyasi arrived last Tuesday at Washington Dulles International Airport ahead of an appointment she had arranged for her son, who was born with malformed hands, at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, according to an emergency petition filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

The pair had come to the U.S. in 2024 for medical care, her lawyers say, but had returned to Ghana after being told the boy was still too young for surgery.

This time, they had booked a connecting flight for a May 30 appointment in Akron to see if he was old enough for surgery.

Instead, both were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after Gyasi, 38 and a little more than four months pregnant, said she feared returning to Ghana because of persecution they had both faced, her lawyers say.

“Ms. Gyasi legally traveled to the U.S. to get necessary medical care for her son, but the illegal detention and inhumane treatment that she’s experiencing at Dulles is endangering her son’s health as well as her own,” Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia, said in a statement.

Immigration officials insisted she had not been mistreated.

“These allegations are false," the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “Everyone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food."

Since arriving in the U.S., Gyasi has been hospitalized twice for pregnancy complications, including vaginal bleeding and lightheadedness, but was returned both times to the detention room at Dulles, the lawyers say. In one visit, doctors “expressed concern that she was not eating enough in detention and was over-stressed,” the legal group said in a statement.

Gyasi repeatedly told guards she and her son were hungry, but they were denied additional food, the lawyers say.

Fearing for the unborn baby, Gyasi said she would rather be deported than not have enough food. She was provided food once she signed a deportation order, the lawyers say.

The lawyers later told Customs and Border Protection officers that she had only agreed to be deported out of desperation.

An order from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema quoted immigration officials as saying Gyasi could not use the tourist visas to enter the U.S. and was being processed for expedited removal because she had “admitted under oath that she came to the United States in order to seek asylum and her intent was not to leave the United States to return to Ghana.”

Brinkema ordered a Friday hearing for oral arguments.

The 35-page report — shared by the Israeli mission to the U.N. late Thursday ahead of its expected release Friday — blacklists 77 government and non-government parties in a dozen countries suspected of committing or being responsible for sexual violence in conflicts around the world. It says the number of cases rose sharply in 2025 from 2024.

Russian armed and security forces were also blacklisted for the first time this year for sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians detained during the war in Ukraine.

The list for 2025 includes Israel's armed and security forces as well as Hamas militants, who were previously blacklisted after their attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Both Israel and Russia were warned in last year's report by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that they could be put on the list.

The ambassadors of both countries expressed outrage at their inclusion and lashed out at Guterres.

“We will write a letter to the secretary-general saying that these are unsubstantiated lies and alleged things which again portray Russia as a villain, like they do all the time," Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said. He said Russia is documenting and preparing a report on how the Ukrainians are treating Russian prisoners of war.

“We are done with this UN Secretary-General,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement on social media. “Guterres has put Israel on the same blacklist along with Hamas, ISIS and the most depraved terrorist organizations in the world.” Guterres' second five-year term ends Dec. 31.

Danon said Israel had provided documents, data and detailed responses to the allegations that are raised in the report.

The report said in 2025 the U.N. was able to document “patterns of sexual violence" against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including as a form of torture, inflicted on 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. It said 13 cases occurred in 2025 and 18 in 2023 and 2024.

“Violations consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breasts and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity and threats of rape,” the report stated.

It detailed at least nine victims, mostly from Gaza, who were raped or gang raped, in some cases repeatedly, by perpetrators from the Israel Defense Forces and Israel's prison service, its special forces and police units.

Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday it has “comprehensively, thoroughly, and unequivocally refuted these allegations.”

“This decision is yet another example of the UN’s long-standing, institutionalized hostility toward Israel,” the foreign ministry wrote on X.

The report again includes accusations of sexual violence by Hamas, but says many of the details could not be independently confirmed because the Israeli government continues to deny the U.N. the access it needs to carry out investigations.

Russian authorities also consistently deny access to U.N. human rights investigators, the report said, but they still were able to verify 310 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine against prisoners of war and civilian detainees. The vast majority of the victims were men, the report said.

Human rights monitors in Ukraine documented 31 cases of conflict-related sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilian detainees, the majority of which occurred prior to 2025, the report said. Ukraine has not been put on the U.N. blacklist.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist who has said President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store 30 years ago, lied during the course of civil litigation against the Republican president, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Also, a federal judge has declined to halt Trump’s executive order, creating a federal voter list and limiting mail voting, clearing the way for potential sweeping changes in how American elections are run shortly before this year’s midterm elections.

Here's the latest:

Jill Biden disagreed with her husband’s initial refusal to pardon son Hunter

In June 2024, Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018.

The family was surprised the case had gone to trial and viewed it as politically motivated.

But while Joe Biden had vowed that he wouldn’t use the powers of his office to pardon his son if he were convicted, the former first lady saw things differently.

“In the end, it felt like in working so hard to be impartial, we guaranteed that Hunter would meet the worst possible legal fate,” she wrote. “Joe might have gone too far, in my opinion, to show that his family was being treated with complete impartiality.”

But after Trump was elected, Biden changed his mind and pardoned Hunter, sparing his son a possible prison sentence.

Jill Biden is ‘pained’ by the East Wing’s destruction

People in Washington sent her photos of the demolition and she said, “I could barely look.”

The East Wing was the historic base of operations for first ladies and their staffs, along with other White House operations. Trump had the wing torn down last year to build a ballroom.

“A major landmark and historic treasure was being treated like an extreme fixer-upper on HGTV’s ‘Property Brothers,’” she wrote in “View from the East Wing,” her memoir being published next week.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the manuscript.

She said what “pained me” was “the symbolic bulldozing of history and the eradication of institutional memory.”

Jill Biden discloses that she was fired by Northern Virginia Community College

The former first lady had taught English and writing at the Alexandria, Virginia, campus since 2009. She signed her annual contract in July 2023, and a termination letter was hand-delivered that winter, she wrote in her forthcoming memoir. The grant used to pay her salary had dried up. “I felt sick,” she wrote in “View from the East Wing.” The Associated Press obtained a copy of the manuscript. Ultimately, the issue was resolved — she did not say how —- “and I kept my position.” But she taught her last class at the school in December 2024 and closed the book on a 40-year career as an educator as she and her husband prepared to leave the White House.

Jill Biden thinks they could have explained better after Joe’s debate

The official explanation from the White House for Joe Biden’s poor debate performance was that he was suffering from a cold.

But Jill Biden wondered in her memoir, “View from the East Wing,” if they should have just acknowledged what millions of people saw – “that he looked very unwell in that debate.”

“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don’t explain something well enough then the question won’t go away,” she wrote. “There was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe’s debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.”

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the manuscript for the book before it is published on Tuesday.

Jill Biden says she thought Joe might be having a stroke while debating Trump

The former first lady writes in her new memoir, “View from the East Wing,” that her husband “didn’t seem himself” from the start of the debate in June 2024.

And after he said, “we finally beat Medicare,” she started to wonder about his health.

“Is he short-circuiting? I thought,” she wrote. “Is this a stroke?”

He improved as the debate went on “but not enough to reassure me or anyone watching that he was okay. He clearly wasn’t,” Jill Biden said. “I’d never seen that look on his face before in my life.”

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the manuscript for the book.

Vance seems to move goal posts for achieving one of Trump’s key objectives for launching the war

Trump and his team said from the start of the conflict and throughout the 3-month-old war that one of the prime reasons they undertook it was to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

But Vance, touting what he said the war had accomplished, told reporters that, “We’re in a position where we could substantially set back their nuclear program, not just during the term of this president but over the long term.”

Vance said it’s hard to say if Trump will sign the tentative agreement with Iran

The vice president said to reporters Thursday evening after he returned from a trip to Colorado that “it’s hard to say exactly when or if the president’s going to sign.”

He said it was clear Iran wants to make a deal and that negotiators were “going back and forth on a couple of language points.”

He said points of disagreement included Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which could potentially be used to make a nuclear weapon.

“There are a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff, the highly enriched stockpile, and also the question of enrichment,” Vance said.

US sanctions more Iranian oil sales despite officials saying tentative deal has been reached

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday announced additional sanctions on Iran’s military oil sales even as one U.S. official said that Tehran and Washington had reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire and start nuclear negotiations.

The latest penalties -- first reported by The Associated Press -- are part of the Trump administration’s sprawling and ever-growing economic pressure campaign to get Iran to capitulate to its demands. But both Republican and Democratic administrations have levied countless sanctions against Iran for decades to no avail.

The action puts additional sanctions on Sepehr Energy Jahan -- the oil sales arm of Iran’s armed forces -- which facilitates the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to China. In a news release, Treasury claimed that Iran’s military generates revenue through these sales “via an array of front companies to help fund its reconstitution and threaten its neighbors.”

“The Treasury Department will continue to increase pressure on Iranian oil sales to deprive the Iranian regime and its military of the financial resources it needs to threaten U.S. allies and partners in the Middle East,” Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Acting AG says there’s ‘no limit’ on who can apply for payments from Trump administration settlement

Todd Blanche said there’s “no limit to who can apply” for the Trump administration’s new $1.776 billion settlement fund to pay individuals who believe they were targeted politically.

The acting attorney general, attending a law enforcement symposium in Dallas on Thursday, declined to rule out payments to people who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“You have to define something and then stick to it,” Blanche told The Associated Press at the symposium. “So that’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do because it’s very fact intensive.”

He said “the example that comes to mind” of someone who might receive a payment is a parent who is pushed out of a school board meeting and charged with assault.

Blanche is facing questions about the fund from the Senate. GOP leaders have put a Homeland Security funding bill on hold until the administration agrees to some parameters on the settlement money.

About 8% of the country lacked health insurance in 2025, new data shows. That could rise next year

The proportion of Americans without health insurance held steady at around 8% of the population in 2025, according to new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The national survey results published Thursday show the uninsured rate has stayed down from where it was a few years ago.

However, changes from the Trump administration could increase this rate in the years ahead. Massive changes to Medicaid and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies may lead to more uninsured individuals. Around 5 million fewer people are expected to enroll in those plans in 2026 compared with 2025, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.

The survey also indicates a possible increase in the percentage of insured Hispanic Americans, which could be due in part to immigration changes.

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Milli Vanilli and Morris Day say they won’t perform at Trump-linked Freedom 250’s DC shows

A day after the Trump -affiliated Freedom 250 announced the “first wave” of performers for “The Great American State Fair” shows on Washington’s National Mall in June and July, Milli Vanilli and Morris Day are among the scheduled acts who have said they will not be appearing.

Day and Young MC issued statements on social media disputing Wednesday’s announcement from Freedom 250, while Milli Vanilli singer Jodie Rocco told The Associated Press that neither she, her sister Linda Rocco, nor any of the other group members had been asked to come.

“My sister and I were shocked to see our name, ‘Milli Vanilli’, as one of the performers,” Jodie Rocco wrote in an email.

Freedom 250 has not responded to requests for comment.

Other scheduled performers include the Commodores, Flo Rida and Martina McBride.

The president launched Freedom 250 last year to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday. The organization describes itself as nonpartisan.

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FACT FOCUS: Trump says Obama and Biden spent ‘hundreds of millions’ on reflecting pool. They did not

Trump has claimed that the administrations of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” to fix the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and alleged that renovations he is currently overseeing will be much more economical. This is false.

The Obama administration spent at least $34 million on a massive, two-year reconstruction project that ended in 2012. No major repairs to the pool were done during the Biden administration.

Trump has repeatedly said that his administration’s work on the pool will cost only $1.5 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million in contracts have been awarded for the project so far.

The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington.

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Immigration lawyers raise concerns about new green card policy

Attorneys from the American Immigration Lawyers Association are warning that they don’t think anyone should assume they’re safe from a new green card policy announced last week.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Friday that immigrants applying for a green card would have to do so in their home countries except in “extraordinary circumstances.”

In later statements, the agency has said the policy wouldn’t affect people who provide an “economic benefit” or “skilled professionals who have followed the law.”

Immigrants and lawyers have been trying to assess how broadly the new guidance will be applied and who might get a green card in the U.S.

AILA lawyers said during a news conference Thursday that they didn’t think anyone, including those in the country on the highly coveted employment-based H-1B visa, should assume that the new policy wouldn’t affect them.

The association provides legal education to its 18,000 members.

Bessent says Americans could be saving less because of optimism

The Treasury Secretary responded to a question about a report earlier Thursday showing Americans are saving the smallest proportion of their paychecks in about two decades, outside the pandemic. He said it could be because wages aren’t going as far, which he termed a “doomer” view, or because they are more optimistic about the economy and the stock market.

Consumers do step up their spending when they are more confident of their job and income prospects. But consumer confidence surveys show Americans have a decidedly gloomy outlook on the economy right now, and their perception of the job market is also negative.

Thursday’s report showed that after-tax, inflation-adjusted incomes have fallen 1.1% from a year ago, a key reason consumers were forced to dip into savings to maintain their spending. Credit-card balances have also jumped as gas prices have spiked.

Bessent won’t confirm that the tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire is in place

The Treasury secretary was repeatedly peppered with questions about reports that U.S. and Iranian negotiators have agreed to a memorandum of understanding.

But Bessent claimed that he hadn’t spoken with Trump on the matter before taking part in the White House briefing with reporters.

“It’s always a mistake to get out ahead of the president,” he said. “So, it is all going to be the president’s decision.”

Bessent, however, underscored that Trump has made clear that there can be no deal without Tehran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, dispose of its highly enriched uranium and pledge to never have a nuclear weapons program.

Bessent says he doesn’t have presidential aspirations

During his session with reporters in the White House briefing room, it was noted that the Treasury secretary was following Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the podium -- both of whom are widely expected to run for president in 2028.

Asked to laughs about his own aspirations to be president, Bessent responded with a dose of humor himself.

“No,” he said with a smile, “I just think it just means they’ve run out of things on the food chain.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave, and Vance, Rubio, and now Bessent have taken turns holding weekly briefings in her absence.

Treasury secretary and Oman ambassador discuss Strait of Hormuz

Bessent told reporters at a White House briefing that he spoke with Oman’s ambassador to Washington, Talal Alrahbi, earlier on Thursday, and the Gulf envoy assured him that his country had “no plans for tolling the strait.”

Trump, during a Cabinet briefing on Wednesday, warned Oman, a U.S. ally, not to enter into any agreement with Iran to share control of the strait or the U.S. will “have to blow them up.”

Bessent downplayed the president’s rhetoric.

“I think the president wanted to punctuate freedom of navigation in the strait,” he added.

Bessent says he had first meeting with new Fed chair

The Treasury secretary said he had breakfast Thursday with Kevin Warsh, the new chair of the Federal Reserve, who was just sworn in last week to replace former chair Jerome Powell.

Bessent provided some cover for Warsh by not repeating the Trump administration’s calls for him to immediately cut the Fed’s short-term interest rate, which Trump regularly demanded of Powell.

Instead, Bessent said, “I believe he will do the right thing to balance inflation and growth.” Such phrasing suggests the Fed should consider addressing inflation, which it typically does by keeping rates elevated or even raising them. Financial markets increasingly expect the central bank to raise its key rate, rather than cut it, by early next year.

Treasury secretary says the $250 bill with Trump’s picture is up to Congress

Speaking at the White House, Scott Bessent did not take a personal position on the idea of a new $250 bill with Trump’s picture.

He said it’s up to Congress, where legislation to allow a new currency note has stalled.

Bessent affirmed that the Treasury Department does “prepare things in advance.” That’s a tacit confirmation of a Washington Post story that reported said the agency has produced a mockup of a new $250 bill. The design has Trump’s picture and a 250th anniversary logo celebrating the nation’s founding.

The secretary noted that, at least for now, U.S. law does not allow a living person to appear on currency. A bill by Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, would provide an exemption allowing Trump’s image to appear.

“It’s all up to Capitol Hill,” Bessent said. “We will stick to the law.”

Bessent says oil prices may fall ‘very quickly,’ cites UAE leaving OPEC

Asked about rising oil prices, the U.S. Treasury secretary told reporters that a large number of ships are waiting to “come out of the gulf.”

He said that, once an agreement has been reached between the U.S. and Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, “I think the oil market is going to be very well supplied on the other side.”

“We could see prices come down very quickly,” Bessent said, also noting that prices could further ease because “we saw the UAE leave OPEC.”

US Treasury secretary touts Trump accounts at the opening of White House press briefing

Scott Bessent called Trump’s benefit for newborns “the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill.” He said almost 6 million children have been signed up for the accounts, which will launch on July 4.

The accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn whose parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.

Bessent is part of a rotating cast of Cabinet members leading White House press briefings while press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave.

Trump officials: Kenya facility for Americans exposed to Ebola abroad to be operational this week

A new camp in Kenya where the Trump administration plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola abroad will be operational with 50 quarantine beds starting Friday, according to a senior administration official.

The government is still working on bringing in additional isolation and biocontainment units for Americans who may contract the disease, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss details of the facility with reporters on Thursday.

While no Americans have yet been identified to be sent to the facility, 30 members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps have so far been trained and deployed to staff the camp at Kenya’s Laikipia Air Base, the official said.

The U.S. government has been in conversation with Kenya’s president on the establishment of the facility, said another senior administration official on the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters.

Trump approval still pending, US official says

Another U.S. official said the broad outlines of a tentative deal have been reached but stressed that until the president signs off on it, there is no deal.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private diplomacy, said there are still questions about whether Trump will ultimately accept the agreement.

US and Iranian negotiators reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire and launch nuclear talks

U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump still needs to sign off on the emerging memorandum of understanding.

The tentative agreement worked out by the two sides comes at a moment when the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be wavering.

The U.S. military earlier on Thursday accused Iran of violating the ceasefire after Kuwait reported coming under attack following an American strike against the Islamic Republic. It was the latest flare-up of fighting to threaten ongoing negotiations to end the war.

Details of the tentative agreement were first reported by the news outlet Axios.

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Vance tells Air Force graduates to use AI but ‘never submit to it’

In his commencement speech at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Vance said technology is evolving faster than military institutions have been accustomed to. He endorsed Pope Leo XIV’s recent message warning against outsourcing moral decisions to technology.

“If the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines,” Vance told graduates Thursday at a ceremony in Colorado Springs.

Vance said he was confident in the class of 2026, saying they will follow in the footsteps of service members who pulled off a daring rescue of two aviators whose fighter jet was downed by Iran in April.

“Your Air Force, your future force, went in there and did the impossible,” he said.

Iran’s UN envoy calls US action against Venezuela, Iran and now Cuba `dangerous’

Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that the U.S. actions reflect a pattern “of coercion, intimidation and interference” which violates the U.N. Charter, threatens the countries’ sovereignty and independence, and endangers international peace and security.

U.S. forces arrested Venezuela’s president and the Trump administration now oversees the country, and it’s pressuring Cuba by blocking the delivery of oil.

Iravani defended Iran’s right to respond to the U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 and to close the Strait of Hormuz, accusing unnamed countries of ignoring the root causes of the current situation in the region and unfairly shifting the blame to Iran.

“Iran’s actions are lawful and consistent with international law,” Iravani said. “Iran could not allow such a critical waterway to be used as a corridor for hostile action and military aggression against its sovereignty, territory and vital interests.”

Trump’s DOJ sues 4 Democratic-run states over denying undercover license plates for federal agents

It’s the latest front in the wider struggle between the White House and Democratic-led states over the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.

The Department of Justice alleges in separate lawsuits filed Wednesday that Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington state are imposing unconstitutional restrictions it says impede law enforcement and threaten agents’ safety.

“By denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement.

“These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice, and terrorize American communities,” Blanche added.

The Justice Department filed individual suits in U.S. district courts in the respective states. The four state governments are accused of trying “to obstruct the Federal Government’s immigration enforcement efforts, even though control over immigration and the nation’s borders is an exclusive federal power.”

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US boosts Ebola response aid to Congo and Uganda by $80M

The Trump administration says it’s boosting its Ebola response assistance to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing the U.S. contribution to those efforts to more than $112 million over the past two weeks.

The State Department said Thursday the additional money would pay for personal protective equipment for health care workers, Ebola test kits, supporting health screening at airports and other points of entry into Central and East Africa, and contact tracing of potential virus victims in the Congo and Uganda.

The U.S. has been criticized for massive reductions in assistance since Trump began his second term, including dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. But current officials say the new aid procedures are more effective and less costly.

In addition to the bilateral assistance it has pledged, the State Department said it also committed $50 million to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to fund up to 50 Ebola clinics and has earmarked $300 million through the agency for regional humanitarian initiatives.

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she won’t run for president in 2028

She put to rest speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid, saying Thursday that she won’t join what’s expected to be a crowded primary field after leaving office at the end of this year.

Whitmer has long been viewed by some Democrats as a possible White House contender after her decisive election victories in the closely contested state Trump has carried twice in presidential votes. For months, however, Whitmer had offered only cautious answers about her political future.

But she delivered her clearest response yet in an interview Thursday with Fox 2 Detroit.

“I think there will be a robust group of people running for president. I will not be one of them in 2028,” Whitmer said.

Her comments came during Michigan’s annual Mackinac policy conference, where Whitmer is set to be honored and deliver remarks later Thursday.

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Justice Department scrutinizing statement Carroll made that no one else was paying her legal fees

It later became public that a Chicago-based organization backed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, had helped fund Carroll’s case.

Trump’s lawyers in the civil case accused Carroll of concealing that information, which they said called into question whether the case was politically motivated.

Oil prices climb, but US stocks hold near their records

Oil prices are clawing back some of their sharp drops from earlier in the week Thursday, but U.S. stocks are remaining near their records as companies like Dollar Tree, Snowflake and Hormel Foods keep piling up profits.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 219 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower after both indexes also set records the day before.

Stocks appear to be less beholden to swings in the oil market, where prices climbed Thursday following the latest threat to the ceasefire in the United States’ war with Iran. U.S. Central Command said Kuwait had intercepted missiles launched by Iran late Wednesday night, following earlier “defensive” strikes by the U.S. military on missile launch sites and minelaying boats in southern Iran.

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Trump says he’s been invited to watch the Knicks play in the NBA Finals

Trump told reporters Wednesday that New York Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to the NBA Finals, when the Eastern Conference champion Knicks host either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs next month at Madison Square Garden.

New York, which is riding an 11-game postseason winning streak after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, is scheduled to host Game 3 on June 8 and Game 4 on June 10.

Trump, a New York native, said he initially planned to attend Game 5 of the conference finals at MSG before the Knicks finished off the Cavaliers in four games. The president called Dolan a “great guy” and marveled at New York’s run.

Trump called the club’s return to the finals for the first time since 1999 “great to see.”

Trump has routinely dropped in on prominent sporting events during his time in politics. He’s taken in the College Football Playoff championship and caught a prime-time NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets just days before the 2024 election.

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“Listen, I’m not 25 years old, and I get that,” Stafford said Thursday after organized team activities at the Rams' training complex. “So we’re doing everything we can to be as good a football team as we can for now, for the future, for all of it.”

The 38-year-old Stafford said he has “constant dialogue and a great relationship” with coach Sean McVay, who called him last month to tell him the Rams were about to stun the NFL by using the 13th overall pick on Simpson, the Alabama quarterback who was not expected to go that high in the draft — or to go to the Rams, who already knew Stafford was returning for 2026.

The sixth-leading passer in NFL history then inked a hefty contract extension for 2027 last week, cementing his future in a role that was already rock-solid. McVay has repeatedly stated that Stafford is the Rams' starting quarterback for as long as he wants to play, even after the Rams used their highest draft pick in 10 years on a quarterback.

But Stafford also underlined why the Rams drafted a quarterback when he reiterated Thursday that he's still going to take a year-by-year approach to his future, even after making a two-year contractual commitment.

“Happy to have next year taken care of if I decide to play — and they still want me back,” Stafford said with a grin. “Excited to get that behind me, because I just want to come out here and play, and not think about the extra stuff. It’s good to get it done sooner rather than later.”

Stafford and Simpson have been working out alongside returning backup Stetson Bennett and undrafted rookie Matthew Caldwell this month. Bennett and Simpson are expected to compete for the No. 2 job behind Stafford, who is heading into his 18th NFL season.

Stafford and the 23-year-old Simpson appear to be getting along well so far, although Stafford is understandably focused less on mentorship and more on a genuine chance to secure his second Super Bowl ring in the upcoming season.

“He’s a guy that asks questions,” Stafford said. “I’ve been trying to answer those as honestly and as thoroughly as I possibly can. He’s a smart kid. He’s got talent, obviously. Happy to add good players to our team. He’s one of them. But my job is to go out there and get myself and our team as ready to play as we possibly can.”

Stafford is coming off one of the best seasons of his career in which he won his first MVP award. He passed for an NFL-best 4,707 yards and a career-high 46 touchdowns against just eight interceptions while leading the Rams to a 12-win season, two road playoff victories and a spot in the NFC championship game.

While Stafford will wait until the next offseason to decide whether he's coming back for 2027, it's increasingly clear that he doesn't want to play for another team. He turned down overtures from around the league a year ago, and he quickly cemented his future with the Rams this year after his MVP season.

When asked if he intends to finish his career with the Rams, Stafford replied: "That would probably be a ‘Yes,' but ... this is life, and I don't know what's going to happen. I do love playing here. I love playing for this organization. Love my teammates, and my family loves it here.”

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

The Democrat's performance ultimately proved to be his undoing as he campaigned for reelection, amplifying concerns about whether the then-81-year-old could serve a second term. He ultimately dropped his bid under pressure from within his party and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who lost to the Republican Trump.

In “View from the East Wing,” a memoir about her White House years that's being published next Tuesday, she said she still doesn’t know why her husband performed so disastrously that day.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book's 274-page manuscript, which includes her first public comments about the debate and the ensuing chain of events that sent Joe Biden back to private life in Delaware sooner than he had envisioned.

The book also covers his prostate cancer diagnosis after leaving office and their son Hunter's federal trial on gun charges, among other issues during Joe Biden's term, along with how she juggled the added responsibilities of being first lady and her teaching career.

Here are some highlights from the book:

She thought Joe might be having a stroke while debating Trump

Jill Biden writes that her husband “looked bleary” in their hotel suite in Atlanta before the debate. She was confident he would do well, she said, because big events energized him. But when the CNN-sponsored event began, “I immediately noticed that Joe didn't look good. He didn't seem himself from the opening.”

A few minutes in, he said something out of turn about how “we finally beat Medicare.”

“Is he short-circuiting? I thought,” she wrote. “Is this a stroke? It felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching.”

She wondered if he had been drugged or was experiencing a medical emergency.

He improved as the debate went on, “but not enough to reassure me or anyone watching that he was okay. He clearly wasn't,” Jill Biden said. “I'd never seen that look on his face before in my life.”

As they walked offstage afterward, he used colorful language to whisper to her that he had messed up, which she took as a “sign of his having returned to himself.”

But "to this day, I still don't know what happened," she wrote. They attended a post-debate rally and dropped in at a Waffle House before traveling to North Carolina for a next-day appearance.

The official explanation at the time from the White House and others close to the president was that he was suffering from a cold. But Jill Biden said she wonders if they should have acknowledged what millions of people saw — “that he looked very unwell in that debate.”

“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don't explain something well enough then the question won't go away,” she wrote. “There was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe's debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.”

Biden’s performance in the debate crystallized the concerns of many voters that he was too old to continue serving as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for him to consider stepping aside as the party’s nominee as fellow Democrats feared a Trump return to the White House if Biden remained as their candidate.

The drumbeat of calls for him to leave the race started before the debate had ended and, “in the days to come, it would grow louder and louder,” Jill Biden wrote.

Fired from teaching at Northern Virginia Community College

Jill Biden reveals that while she was first lady, she was terminated by the school where she had taught English and writing since 2009. She had signed her annual contract in July 2023, and a termination letter signed by the college president was hand-delivered that winter.

The grant used to pay her salary had dried up.

“I felt sick,” she wrote. “I was hosting holiday parties at the White House, so I had to go from seeing emails about my firing to groups of children belting out ’Jingle Bells.'”

Ultimately, the issue was resolved — she did not say how —- “and I kept my position.”

But she taught her last class at the school in December 2024, wrapping up a 40-year career as an educator. She wrote in the book that she's exploring an opportunity to teach GED classes at an undisclosed women's prison.

Jill Biden is ‘pained’ by the East Wing's destruction

People in Washington sent her photos of the demolition and she said, “I could barely look.”

The East Wing was the historic base of operations for first ladies and their staffs, the social office, the military office and other operations. Trump had it torn down last year to build a ballroom.

“A major landmark and historic treasure was being treated like an extreme fixer-upper on HGTV’s ‘Property Brothers,’” she wrote, adding that what “pained me” was “the symbolic bulldozing of history and the eradication of institutional memory.”

Anger over her husband's prostate cancer diagnosis

She noticed that Biden started waking up repeatedly in the middle of the night in the year before they left the White House. She alerted his doctors and urged him to see a urologist.

About four months after leaving office, in May 2025, he was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Biden underwent daily radiation treatment for five and a half weeks and takes hormone pills that can cause him to become fatigued and moody.

“But we couldn't dwell in the grief because we were put immediately on the defensive, accused of having hidden his illness,” she wrote.

The White House has a doctor's office and presidents have access to the best medical care.

“Joe couldn't stub his toe without 10 people wanting to run at him waving bales of gauze," she wrote. “You put the president in bubble wrap, and he ends up with stage IV prostate cancer? It made no sense.”

She disagreed with her husband's initial refusal to pardon son Hunter

Shortly before that fateful debate, Hunter Biden had been convicted of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018 when, prosecutors argued, he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

The family was surprised the case went to trial and viewed it as politically motivated.

While Joe Biden had vowed that he wouldn't pardon his son if he were convicted, the former first lady saw things differently.

“In the end, it felt like in working so hard to be impartial, we guaranteed that Hunter would meet the worst possible legal fate," she wrote. "Joe might have gone too far, in my opinion, to show that his family was being treated with complete impartiality.”

But during his final weeks in office, Biden issued pardons for Hunter, sparing him a possible prison sentence, and for Biden's siblings and their spouses, fearing they might become targets of the incoming Trump administration.

“It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America,” WABC in New York wrote in an objection that accompanied paperwork filed to comply with the FCC's demand for early applications to renew licenses.

ABC-owned stations in seven other markets filed similar objections. In a statement, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said “broadcast licensees have a unique obligation to operate in the public interest.”

The reviews are part of a mounting confrontation between the FCC and one of America's most prominent broadcast networks. Under Carr, an ally of President Donald Trump, the agency has launched probes of ABC touching on everything from its diversity practices to the network's moderation of a 2024 presidential debate to guests booked on “The View.” Trump has also repeatedly called for late-night host Jimmy Kimmel to be fired.

But the FCC's move in April to begin early reviews of the broadcast licenses of ABC-owned stations in eight local markets attracted particularly close attention. The licenses for stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia as well as Fresno, California, and Durham, North Carolina, were initially slated to come up for renewal between 2028 and 2031.

In his statement, Carr reiterated the agency's focus on Disney's diversity practices and said the company filed its renewal application “after the FCC informed the company that their responses to the agency’s investigation had been disingenuous, deficient, and improper.”

Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC's sole Democrat, has called the reviews an “egregious assault on the First Amendment." She has encouraged major media companies to take a stronger stand against the agency, predicting they would prevail in court if a case made it that far.

On Thursday, Gomez said she was glad to see the stations “expose the FCC's actions as nothing more than naked political retribution and an unlawful assault on free speech and a free press.”

WABC said the “ultimate injury here is not to the station or its parent company.”

“It is to the public,” the station said. “When a broadcaster must weigh regulatory retaliation before making editorial decisions, the public loses access to journalism that is free from government influence.”

That reflects a stark shift in ABC's approach to political scrutiny in Washington. In the weeks before Trump returned to the White House, the network paid a controversial $15 million defamation settlement, a move that did little to quell criticism from Trump and his allies in the coming years.

The network mounted a more robust defense of free speech in a filing last month responding to an FCC review of whether “The View” was subject to equal time rules. The agency argued that the law encouraged more speech but ABC warned that open political discussion was being chilled by the Trump administration.

“The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly,” according to a filing on behalf of both KTRK-TV and ABC.

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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Noveck in New York contributed to this report.

The state court in Wiener Neustadt, south of the capital, found the 21-year-old defendant, an Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, guilty on multiple charges including those related to the concert.

The concert plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift’s three performances in August 2024.

His defense attorney said Beran A. admitted to the charges related to the concert plot during the opening day of the trial last month.

In brief final words to the court before it adjourned to consider a verdict on Thursday, Beran A. said: “I would just like to say that I am sorry.”

Beran A. allegedly planned to target people outside the Ernst Happel Stadium with knives or homemade explosives. Tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans, known as Swifties, had traveled to Austria to attend the performances of the American singer’s record-setting Eras Tour. Devastated by the cancellations, many gathered in central Vienna to trade friendship bracelets and commiserate.

Beran A. also allegedly networked with members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors have said they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance, as well as swearing allegiance to the militant group.

Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024, and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.

“Having our Vienna shows canceled was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”

He was tried alongside Arda K., another 21-year-old whose full name also has not been made public. They, along with a third man, Hasan E., who was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, allegedly planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan 2024 in the name of IS.

Only Beran A. was charged in connection with the concert plot. The two defendants were found guilty of charges including traveling and training for terrorist purposes, and being part of a terrorist organization, the Austria Press Agency reported.

The court also found the pair guilty of contributing to attempted murder, a charge linked to Hasan E.'s alleged stabbing of a security officer in Mecca in March 2024. Hasan E. also attacked and wounded three other officers and a woman before he was arrested, according to prosecutors.

Beran A. and Arda K. did not carry out their alleged plans in the UAE and Turkey. Beran A. returned to Vienna and later allegedly began plotting to attack the Swift concert there.

Arda K. was given a 12-year sentence. The two men listened stoically to the verdict and the sentencing, APA reported.

Beran A.'s lawyer, Anna Mair, said after the verdict that she would discuss with her client in the coming days whether to accept the verdict.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Caesars became an iconic name after the opening of Caesar’s Palace on the Las Vegas Strip in 1966. But its roots date back to the 1930s in Reno, Nevada. It operates nine hotels on the Strip and owns properties in over a dozen states.

Fertitta is the CEO of Fertitta Entertainment, a company that owns Las Vegas' Golden Nugget and chains like Rainforest Cafe and Morton's. Fertitta also owns the NBA team Houston Rockets, and he is the largest shareholder in Wynn Resorts as well as in DraftKings, the sports betting company. Fertitta is also a major GOP mega donor and US ambassador to Italy.

Fertitta Entertainment will pay $5.7 billion and take on close to $12 billion in debt from Caesars, putting the total value of the deal at about $17.6 billion.

As part of the agreement, Caesars can seek competing bids through July 11.

The deal must be approved by its shareholders. But if it goes through, the sale will create one of the largest gaming empires with 60 casino resorts, online gaming, retail sports betting at more than 200 locations through the William Hill brand, and over 600 Fertitta Entertainment outlets, such as restaurants and entertainment venues.

Caesars investors will get $31 in cash for each share they own, a 49% premium over the share price before chatter about a possible tie-up between the two entertainment companies began in February.

Shares of Caesars Entertainment Inc., which are up 15% since merger rumors emerged, rose almost 2% before the opening bell Thursday.

David Schwartz, a gaming historian at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, said Fertitta’s investment in the Las Vegas Strip is a sign of a lot of optimism about Las Vegas, which had struggled with a decline in visitors following the COVID-19 pandemic and what some officials said was the Trump administration’s immigration policies and tariffs.

“Fertitta has been in Las Vegas for over 20 years at this point, so I’m not saying he’s not a gaming operator, but he just has such a big portfolio outside of gaming. I think that’s significant, and that could be something really exciting,” Schwartz said.

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which represents over 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada, said it has strong relationships with both Caesars and Fertitta, and it does not see that changing.

“We anticipate there will be discussions ahead about the full ramifications of this purchase and while we do not know all the details yet, we are confident that based on our relationships with both companies, we will continue to have a positive relationship going forward,” the union said in a Thursday statement.

Executive producer Tanya Simon will be leaving about a year after being named to the job following 30 years at the venerable Sunday evening program. The moves cap a period of turmoil for the venerable newsmagazine that premiered in 1968 and is known for its ticking stopwatch.

In a memo to staff Thursday, Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski said their goal was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”

“That requires a new approach,” Weiss and Cibrowski wrote, defining it as "expanding ‘60 Minutes’ beyond a one-hour television broadcast, deepening its role across CBS News, and holding everything we produce to the ambition, fairness, and fearlessness that have defined ‘60 Minutes’ at its best.”

Bilton, they said, “embodies the energy and ambition that animated the founders of the show. We cannot imagine a better fit.” Bilton is also a former New York Times technology columnist.

Others let go as well

Also let go, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on anonymity: correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment about Trump administration deportees in a Salvadoran prison was abruptly pulled by Weiss, running a month later; and Cecilia Vega.

Sweeping actions like those announced Thursday had been widely expected from Weiss, founder of the Free Press website. Since she was hired in October by CBS parent company Paramount Global’s new management, she has fast become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism.

In his own lengthy memo to staff, Bilton, who comes to his new post without traditional broadcast experience, said “60 Minutes” was “without exaggeration, the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced.”

“The fact that this show has remained a fixed point in a culture is part of why this show still matters as much as it does,” he wrote. “I don’t want to lose that. But the world we are reporting on, and the world we are reporting to, where people consume their news, has moved. And if we don’t move with it, in the ways that matter, we won’t be here for the next sixty years. I want to do everything humanly possible to ensure that we are.”

A bumpy period for ‘60 Minutes’

In July of last year, to the dismay of many at the show, Paramount settled with President Donald Trump out-of-court after he sued “60 Minutes” for how it had handled an interview with Kamala Harris, his 2024 election opponent.

In December, the show, at Weiss' direction, held off at the last minute showing Alfonsi's report about the deportees, saying greater effort was needed to secure an interview with administration officials. Alfonsi complained privately that the decision was political. The story aired a month later with additional administration comments, but no on-camera interviews with officials.

The episode, and others, has had critics watching to see if Weiss is moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction. Since her appointment, Trump administration officials have been more visible on CBS News, in interviews that she sometimes helped arrange. The president himself was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes” on Nov. 2.

In February, Anderson Cooper exited the show, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, but raising questions about whether it had anything to do with Weiss's leadership. Cooper had contributed stories to “60 Minutes” as part of a job-sharing arrangement with CNN, where his prime-time “Anderson Cooper 360” has aired since 2003.

“This is the culmination, right?” the retired striker said Thursday. “This is what I’m sure past players strived to want to be a part of.”

As the Americans prepare to host the World Cup next month, the national team programs have progressed light years. Sunil Gulati, who would later become U.S. Soccer Federation president, recalled buying balls from a Kmart on the morning of an intrasquad game at Colorado Springs, Colorado, filled with players trying to earn spots for the U.S. roster going to the 1985 FIFA Under-16 World Championship. And then sprinklers went off during the match.

Facilities kept improving ever so slightly. The Americans based ahead of the 1994 World Cup at a $3.5 million, seven-acre facility opened the previous year in Mission Viejo, California. They switched to a training center in Chula Vista, California, for 1998, then trained in Cary, North Carolina, in 2002 and 2006. The team moved to Princeton in 2010 and Stanford in 2014.

In recent years, national team practices took place at Major League Soccer training facilities. The new training center, opened May 7, was funded with a $50 million lead gift from Atlanta Falcons and MLS team owner Arthur Bank. It was built on a former cow pasture about 25 miles from Atlanta and is home to all 27 U.S. national teams.

“It's nice to have the first rights of everything that you want to do here,” said midfielder Tyler Adams, the American captain at the 2022 World Cup. “Whenever you train at an MLS facility or something like that, it’s their facility. You’re a guest.”

There are 13 full-size grass fields on three levels, two more with artificial turf, two with sand for beach soccer and two indoors. The USSF moved its office from Chicago to the center, which includes 20 locker rooms, 19 meeting rooms, a 10,000-square foot gym and a kitchen with adjacent dining area.

Offices are on the second floor, some overlooking the most prominent fields, such as the one the World Cup team trained on.

“From my office, you can see the grass. It’s the first time I’ve ever been excited to see grass grow,” USSF CEO JT Batson said.

The USSF examined examples around the world, such as England's St. Georges Park and the French national team training center at Clairefontaine.

Players are staying at a hotel in nearby Trilith. The area has grown rapidly after the opening of Trilith Studios, a movie and television production complex where Marvel Studios films are made.

Defender Chris Richards will be the last to arrive, on Friday, after remaining with Crystal Palace for the UEFA Conference League final in Germany on Wednesday.

World Cup-bound players watched the women's under-16 team train Wednesday.

“They can see the first team and how they move and how the operate and that’s the goal of where they want to end up,” Adams said. “As a youth national team player, if I could have ever had the opportunity to be even close to the senior team, that would have been really special because that’s your dream.”

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

The clash underscored a broader fight inside the Democratic Party as it tries to recover from its 2024 losses and chart a path forward in a premier battleground state. Voters in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary will choose among three candidates offering different visions for the party’s future.

“Democrats across our country and across Michigan are crying out for a new Democratic Party. We need a reckoning,” state Sen. Mallory McMorrow said from the stage Thursday.

The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one the party must hold if it hopes to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall's midterm elections. Seeking the nomination are Rep. Haley Stevens, McMorrow and El-Sayed, a former public health official.

Here’s what else took place at the first statewide televised debate and where things stand in the race:

Campaign funding at issue

The debate at Michigan’s annual bipartisan policy conference laid bare the increasingly sharp contrasts emerging in one of the nation’s last major Democratic primaries.

El-Sayed repeatedly attacked the other candidates over campaign donations, arguing he was the only candidate in the race not accepting corporate money.

“I'll tell you this, the revolution is definitely not coming if we're not fighting for it," El-Sayed said before targeting both his rivals and a sponsor of the conference. “So let's play a game. If you're on this stage and you've never taken a check from Blue Cross Blue Shield, raise your hand.”

El-Sayed then raised his hand as the other two on the stage didn’t, drawing laughs from the crowd.

Stevens, a fourth-term congresswoman representing a district just outside Detroit, is seen as the more moderate, establishment-aligned candidate. She has described herself as a “staunchly pro-Israel Democrat" and has previously received support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

A newly formed outside group, Center for Democratic Priorities Inc., recently reserved over $5 million in television advertising backing Stevens. AIPAC has denied affiliation with the group.

Stevens largely focused Thursday on her congressional record and what she framed as a results-driven approach. She mostly avoided directly attacking her rivals and declined to take questions from reporters afterward.

“The people of Michigan deserve a functional Congress,” Stevens said from stage. “I write bills, I pass bills on behalf of the people of Michigan.”

McMorrow, meanwhile, took a strategy somewhere in the middle of the others — both in her campaign and on the debate stage. She emphasized unity and generational change while still pushing back at El-Sayed during several exchanges.

“There is more that unites us than divides us,” McMorrow said about the candidates on stage in closing remarks.

Still, she did not shy away from responding sharply at times. After El-Sayed said he would choose “having a message” over donors, McMorrow shot back that “you actually need to know how to deliver" on that message.

One issue the candidates aligned on during Thursday’s debate was eliminating the filibuster, the longstanding Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber. Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to eliminate it, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has made clear there is not enough support within the GOP conference to do so.

Primary has grown ‘messier than I would have liked’

Among the many elected officials attending the Mackinac Island conference were Michigan’s two Democratic senators.

Peters and Sen. Elissa Slotkin both told The Associated Press on Thursday that they were not planning to make an endorsement in the primary and while they thought primaries could be beneficial, it was becoming more contentious than they had hoped.

"It is messy. Messier than I would have liked. I think it’s important in any primary that the candidates focus more on what they want to do and their positive affirmative plan,” Slotkin said.

Peters said the eventual nominee will need to bring the party together.

“What are the types of candidates that win in purple states? That should be what we’re looking for," said Peters. “Who can bring people together and build the kind of broad coalition to win in a purple state?”

Winner will face former Rep. Mike Rogers

Rogers lost to then-U.S. Rep. Slotkin in 2024 by fewer than 20,000 votes in a state that Republican Donald Trump carried on his way to a second term.

This time, Rogers will not benefit from having Trump atop the ballot. But Rogers heads into the general election with advantages of his own, including an uncontested primary.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Rogers acknowledged the difficulties in the last campaign, saying the financial disadvantage he faced after a tough primary “made it really difficult” to win the general election.

But he said this year is different.

“This is a change election. People want to talk about Washington. This is about Michigan,” Rogers said.

It may prove difficult to localize a race shaped by national issues such as tariffs and gas prices, both of which are hitting Michigan hard. Outside spending is expected to climb into the nine figures. The Republicans’ U.S. Senate campaign organization has reserved $45 million in ads, compared with $20 million by Democrats.

“They're going to spend a lot of money trying to make you not like me. We're going to spend our money trying to tell people what we're going to do for them and make their lives in our state better," Rogers said.

The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. After a long run at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the bee returns to the nation's capital this year at Constitution Hall, a few blocks from the White House.

Another change for this year: ESPN NFL analyst and recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion Mina Kimes joined the bee as its television host.

This is the 98th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 111th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.

Thirty of the past 36 champions have been of Indian heritage, including last year’s winner, Faizan Zaki.

How can I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

The bee is broadcast and streamed on channels and platforms owned by Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company.

The finals will be broadcast Thursday on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. They will also air or be streamed on these Scripps-owned channels or services: ION Plus, Bounce, Grit, Laff, The Spot, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More, Scripps News and Scripps Sports Network.

What are the rules of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

Spellers qualify by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. In order to compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.

Competitors must get through two preliminary rounds, where they are quizzed on words from a list provided in advance. There is one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.

Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.

Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.

About a dozen spellers typically make it to the finals, although this year only nine made it. When only two remain, Scripps has the option to use a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off” to determine the champion.

Who is competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

This year's bee had 247 spellers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and five other countries: The Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates. After the preliminary rounds, 167 were left, and that field was cut to 95 quarterfinalists after the written spelling and vocabulary test.

The top returning finisher from 2025 is Sarv Dharavane of Dunwoody, Georgia, who finished third last year as an 11-year-old fifth-grader. This year he got a perfect score on the written test, and he's one of the spellers to qualify for Thursday's finals.

Here are the other finalists:

— Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, who finished third in 2024. He lost at the school level in 2025 but has dominated the bee circuit since, winning the South Asian Spelling Bee, the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee and the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee.

— Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Los Angeles who finished in a tie for seventh last year.

— Zwe Spacetime, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Fort Washington, Maryland, and the younger brother of 2021 champion Zaila Avant-garde.

— Aiden Meng, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Orinda, California, who bowed out in the quarterfinals last year.

— Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, who was a semifinalist last year.

— Kushi Gottimukkala, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Morrisville, North Carolina, and a semifinalist last year.

— Avishka Dudala, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Prosper, Texas, and a semifinalist last year.

— Logan Bailey, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Houston. The winner of the North South Foundation spelling bee, he is making his debut on the national stage.

What are the prizes for the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion?

— First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines.

— Second place: $25,000.

— Third place: $15,000.

— Fourth place: $10,000.

— Fifth place: $5,000.

— Sixth place: $2,500.

— All other finalists: $2,000.

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.

Volusia County and representatives from each of its cities met Thursday to discuss where their flood mitigation efforts stand. Most cities have experienced flooding during recent hurricanes and even routine rain events, and nearly all arrived with robust plans in place. Daytona Beach was the exception for Midtown.

For residents living in that area, the threat is constant. Many keep sandbags ready at a moment’s notice — not just for hurricanes, but for any heavy rain in the forecast.

“I feel like we just been left alone out there in the valley, and and no one is coming to help us. You know, I mean, we need help,” said resident Patricia Singleton.

Singleton has flooded numerous times and said preparation has become a way of life in her neighborhood.

“That’s why we just keep our bags available, just in case. If we have a little surprise and we get the heavy rain,” Singleton said.

Midtown was severely impacted by hurricanes in 2022, but residents say lesser storms have also left floodwaters behind. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded its study of the area and determined that no available solution would be cost-effective for the city, leaving residents and officials searching for another path forward.

The city says it is now working with the county to find a regional fix. Daytona Beach Utilities Director Shannon Ponitz said conversations are underway and crews are doing what they can in the meantime.

“We’re working with them for possibly a regional project with the other sister cities and projects within our city,” Ponitz said.

“We’re just doing everything that we can to maintain the existing system so that there’s some available capacity,” she said.

With Midtown identified as a major flood concern in the county, Singleton said she hopes a real solution comes sooner rather than later.

“Yeah, we don’t want to get flooded. I was just talking about that. I said, oh, my God, if we get flooded again, here we go. We’ve got to start all over again,” Singleton said.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office says deputies arrested two teens after the pair were caught on a security camera kicking a front door on in the English Estates neighborhood in Maitland.

It happened before 9:00 p.m. Wednesday. The homeowner said a group of kids were walking in the neighborhood, and two of them walked straight up to his front door.

“It was just one swift kick,” the homeowner said. “They turned around and did a backwards kick.”

[RELATED: Central Florida deputy consoles arrested 12-year-old after door-kick challenge]

The homeowner, who asked not to be identified, shared his security footage with News 6. He said the incident rattled his household.

“It was a very loud bang. It was extremely startling. We were just getting ready for bed. We had no idea what was going on,” he said.

The family first realized something was wrong when their phones buzzed with a security alert.

“We noticed a notification on our phones that said there was motion at our front door. So, we went to check on the front door and check the videos, and we saw these kids coming to do this,” he said.

He added that the timing made it even more unsettling.

“I can only imagine if we had been sitting in the living room — that would have been even more jarring,” he said.

According to a report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office arrest obtained by News 6, the door sustained approximately $300 in damages.

“You can see the dirt from it and everything, and on this side, you can see the same thing,” the homeowner said as he showed News 6 the marks left behind. “Thankfully this is a newer door, and it’s secure and they weren’t able to push through it.”

According to the arrest report, the kids ran to a nearby house after the incident. When deputies followed up and asked one boy if he wanted to tell his father why they were there, the boy said they were “ding-dong ditching.”

He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief — damage to property valued between $200 and $1,000, a misdemeanor under Florida law. He was transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center. The deputy recommended him for the civil citation program.

The homeowner says the so-called prank is no laughing matter — and the consequences could be far more serious than an arrest.

“You don’t know if it’s a prank or if you are getting robbed, right?” he said. “You may react in a way that could seriously harm somebody else, right? Over a prank. It could even cause somebody to lose their life.”

He says the lack of accountability online is making the problem worse.

“The community needs to be aware of this — or the parents need to be aware of what the kids are doing. It seems like there have been little consequences and social media has made things so unlikely that you have consequences for things, and you get a lot of likes and a lot of reaction,” he said.

“It could end badly. Someone could get badly hurt. It is never a good idea to kick somebody’s door. Just don’t do it,” he added.

Earlier this month, three teenagers were caught in Deltona participating in the viral door-kicking challenge circulating on social media. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office said two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old are facing charges for kicking the doors, while the third faces charges for acting as an accomplice.

The sheriff said more than a dozen teens have been caught kicking doors in Volusia County so far this year.

News 6 has also covered cases in Orange County, where the sheriff’s office said they want young people to know that this trend could land them in real trouble.

A provision tucked into the state budget would direct the Department of Children and Families to competitively procure a vendor capable of using machine learning to analyze Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, eligibility determinations.

The goal: reduce errors — and the state’s financial liability for making them.

The selected vendor would be expected to identify and correct erroneous determinations, pinpoint root causes, and recommend operational improvements to prevent future mistakes.

The department would need to complete procurement by Sept. 1.

[RELATED: New Florida SNAP rules take effect. Here’s what you can no longer buy]

News 6 asked Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office if he supports the provision — or plans to line-item veto it.

“Stay tuned,” a spokesperson said.

The total includes at least 22 people who had survived an initial strike only to be hit again or die at sea during the campaign that began last September. That includes three people who survived two separate strikes this month, according to the U.S. military.

U.S. Southern Command says it notifies the U.S. Coast Guard of any survivors of such attacks, but those reports largely appear to be passed on to countries closer to the actual strike location.

When asked about any recent search and rescue efforts, Mexico’s navy said it had received an alert from the U.S. Coast Guard about the strikes this month but it did not mention survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard referred requests for more information to Mexico's authorities.

The strikes have been contentious, with the Trump administration declaring that the U.S. is at war with Latin American drug cartels. They drew more backlash late last year after revelations that two people survived the first boat attack last September only to be targeted again in a follow-up strike and killed. Legal experts have said that would have violated laws governing armed conflict.

The Pentagon's watchdog said this month that it plans to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out its strikes. However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not the legality of the strikes, the inspector general's office said.

To date, only three people are known to have survived strikes and then been rescued. Two were rescued from a semi-submersible ship accused of carrying drugs in October and later returned to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia.

In March, the U.S. Coast Guard said it recovered a survivor of a strike that killed two others and transferred the survivor to Costa Rican authorities.

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Associated Press writer Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

The other three teams in the Gainesville Regional are the Miami Hurricanes, the Troy Trojans and the Rider Broncs.

The Gators will play Rider Friday at 1 p.m., followed by the Canes playing Troy at 6 p.m. It is double-elimination style with games scheduled through Sunday or Monday if a game seven is necessary.

Both the Gators and Canes are feeling confident going into the weekend. Although Florida had a disappointing exit in the SEC Tournament, the Gators have won 10 of the last 12 games. If Florida wins the regional, it will host the super regional, the last step before the College World Series in Omaha.

“Every team in this field, 1 through 64, are all talented enough,” Gators head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said after practice Thursday. “Teams are winning their conference tournaments. Everybody is playing their best baseball at the end of the year.”

This is Coach O’Sullivan’s 18th career NCAA appearance in his 18 years of coaching, the 13th as the Gators’ head coach.

In a surprise, the Canes won its regional last year, the program’s first since 2016. Miami fell in the ACC Tournament semifinals but are proud to be in the final field of 64 teams.

“It’s a new season,” Canes head coach J.D. Arteaga said. “We’re excited. Anything can happen at these things. The message was have fun, enjoy this. We can talk about this weekend for a really long time.”

In the regular season, Florida beat Miami twice. Although it’s a whole new ballgame in the postseason, the rivalry never sleeps. But Gators catcher Karson Bowen pumped the brakes before a potential Gators-Canes matchup.

“We’re just going to take it game-by-game and not do anything different than what we’ve done in the last few weeks,” Bowen said.

No anguished friends or relatives to tell the judge about Florencio Moran, Nazario Vásquez Villegas, Anthony Manson and Chuen Kok ’s abruptly shortened lives. No one to confront Santos face-to-face about his psychosis-fueled rampage through Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood nearly seven years ago, or to hear him apologize.

No one to see him sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

“There are no victim impact statements here today. There’s nobody here to tell this court about their lives and how their absence is a loss,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson told Judge Laura A. Ward.

“But I’m certain this court and this city understands the value of every life, and the gift of life that we’re afforded to live and make choices and have free will,” Peterson said, haltingly and emotionally at times. “That gift was taken away by Randy Santos.”

Santos, convicted in February of first-degree murder, sat solemnly between his court-appointed lawyers, listening through headphones as a Spanish interpreter translated the proceeding. A Chinatown activist who arranged Kok’s funeral watched quietly from the courtroom gallery, a few feet from Santos’ family.

Addressing the court in English, the 31-year-old pleaded for a sentence short enough to allow him to “be somebody” after prison.

He told the judge that his mind — which his lawyers said had deluded him into believing he had to kill 40 people or would die himself — "is much better now” with daily medication. And he promised to use his time in prison to finish school, improve his English and learn a trade.

“I just want to say, I’m very sorry for what I did,” Santos said. “I apologize to the people for what I did. I feel very bad about what I did. I wish it never happened.”

Ward described Santos' case as the “coming together of three horrible symptoms of this city: homelessness, mental illness and narcotics abuse.” Those, she said, “are the constant in all our violent crime cases.”

Peterson called the case “a study in how the life of a young man can go off track so horribly," and said Santos “clearly has his own challenges in life, much like the victims.”

Santos' lawyers argued at trial that his schizophrenia, diagnosed months before the killings, had polluted his mind with irrational thoughts and left him prone to violence. They tried, unsuccessfully, to convince a jury that he was not criminally responsible for the killings and that, instead of prison, he should be sent to a psychiatric treatment facility.

Santos has gone back and forth from jail to psychiatric treatment facilities since his arrest.

“We ask that Mr. Santos not be sentenced to die in prison," defense lawyer Arnold Levine told Ward, asking for a sentence of 20 years to life behind bars. "He is not incorrigible or beyond redemption or hope.”

Ward said she sympathized with Santos, but that she had a "difficult time getting past the fact that Mr. Santos targeted the most vulnerable people in our society. People who were doing nothing but sleeping on the street, homeless.”

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 50 years to life in prison. In addition to the murder charges, Santos was also convicted of attempted murder for assaults that left two other men severely injured.

Before determining the sentence, Ward said she reviewed surveillance video of the attacks. Among other things, the footage showed Santos repeatedly lifting a 4-foot (1.2 meter) bar over his head and bringing it down on the head of one victim.

A couple out on a date on saw Santos beating another man with the same weapon, which he had found on the street, prosecutors said. The lone survivor of the half-hour killing spree, critically injured 49-year-old David Hernandez, staggered to a nearby street where police officers were trying to revive another Santos victim.

Police later found Santos carrying the bar, which was covered with blood and hair. Testing showed it had his DNA on one end and blood from some of his victims on the other, prosecutors said. The victims ranged in age from 39 to 83.

After court officers led Santos out of the courtroom in handcuffs, the Chinatown activist, Karlin Chan, said the sentencing gives the community closure.

“He knew what he was doing,” Chan said, dismissing Santos' apology as performative. “At the end of the day here, he's going to a place where he deserves to be: jail.”