Instead, the FHP trooper issued Deputy Michael Fultz a civil traffic citation for exceeding the posted speed limit by 9 mph, records show.

“I’m not going to take you to jail, Fultz,” Trooper Joshua Provencher told the deputy, according to a video recording of the traffic stop obtained by News 6. “Obviously you and I are buddies. I’m not trying to show favoritism, either.”

Under Florida’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding Act – commonly known as the “Super Speeder” law – law enforcement can arrest motorists who drive 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens the safety of other persons or property.

First time offenders can face up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, which learned about the traffic stop while conducting an unrelated administrative investigation into Fultz, later interviewed the trooper and the deputy.

“Trooper Provencher was aware that Deputy Fultz’s speed, along with the traffic conditions which made his speed a danger to other drivers, met the statutory criminal requirements for the new ‘super speeder law’,” sheriff’s investigators wrote. “Deputy Fultz admitted the speeds at which he was travelling did violate the ‘super speeder’ law.”

The Florida Highway Patrol did not respond to questions from News 6 about the traffic stop.

Fultz, who was recognized as Brevard County’s Deputy of the Year during the sheriff’s annual award ceremony in late March, resigned from the agency two months later as Sheriff Wayne Ivey was poised to fire him for “egregious misconduct”, News 6 previously reported.

The FHP trooper was using speed detection radar on U.S. 192 near Melbourne on February 9 when he stopped Fultz, records show.

Cameras mounted on the FHP vehicle show a motorcycle passing the trooper in the opposite lane at a high rate of speed.

“He’s going to jail,” Provencher can be heard saying to himself as he made a U-turn and began following the motorcycle.

After the trooper activated his patrol car’s emergency lights and siren, the motorcycle pulled off the road.

“What on earth!” Provencher exclaimed as he stepped out of his vehicle and approached the motorcyclist. “111 (mph). And you were increasing. Tell me why I shouldn’t take you to jail?”

The man on the motorcycle apologized and indicated he had a driver license.

“Do I know you?” asked Provencher.

“Yeah. Fultz. Sheriff’s Office,” replied the biker.

“Dude! Bro! I didn’t recognize you!” the trooper said. “C’mon!”

Provencher returned to his patrol car and called an FHP sergeant, the video shows.

“I know this guy. He is a deputy,” the trooper said. “Just clocked him at 111 out here on 192. Any advice?”

The video recording did not capture the supervisor’s comments to the trooper.

“He was passing two other bikes. I clocked those bikes at 80-plus. They were ahead of other vehicles,” Provencher told the sergeant. “But there’s a fairly decent amount of traffic. He was not weaving. He wasn’t doing anything like that. He was in a straight line in the left lane.”

Provencher then expressed his desire not to arrest the deputy.

“If I can avoid the 10-15, I don’t want to ruin his job,” the trooper said to his supervisor.

10-15 is police terminology for “prisoner in custody”.

Besides speeding, records indicate Fultz did not have an endorsement on his driver license that is required to operate a motorcycle.

Law enforcement officers are authorized to tow and impound motorcycles when operators do not have proof of the endorsement, and violators can face up to 60 days in jail if convicted.

Provencher exited his patrol car and began speaking with Fultz again, the video shows.

“Man, you know you’re making my hands tied,” the trooper said. “I’m trying to figure out what to do because, you know, 111, it’s a horrible speed.”

Provencher informed Fultz he would not be arrested.

“I already spoke to my sergeant, and he’s giving me full leeway on it,” the trooper said. “He’s like, ‘It’s up to you.’”

Records show Provencher issued Fultz a traffic citation for driving 9 mph over the posted speed limit.

“I’m not going to make you go to court,” the trooper told Fultz.

Motorists cited for driving 30 mph or more above the speed limit are required to appear before a judge.

Although Fultz was cited for driving 74 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone, a narrative at the bottom of the ticket stated, “(vehicle) was clocked at 111”.

“If you weren’t doing 111 miles an hour, I wouldn’t write the damn ticket,” Provencher told Fultz. “But my hands are literally tied on me.”

Provencher did not cite Fultz for failing to have a motorcycle endorsement on his driver license, and there is no indication the trooper impounded the motorcycle.

Shortly before turning off his patrol car’s camera system, Provencher gave the deputy a warning.

“Slow it down,” the trooper said. “I don’t feel good about it.”

Fultz later paid the citation’s $155 fine and late fees, court records show.

The Florida Highway Patrol did not respond to questions from News 6 inquiring whether the state agency had conducted an internal review of the traffic stop.

FHP also did not address how it might respond to public concerns that the deputy may have received special treatment.

An investigator with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office met with the trooper in April while conducting an administrative review of Fultz.

Provencher told the investigator he knew Fultz only in a professional capacity and mentioned they were both present at a few vehicle crash scenes.

“Trooper Provencher stated he initially planned to give Deputy Fultz a verbal or written warning, as is his discretion,” a sheriff’s office report states.

But after deactivating his patrol car camera, Provencher claimed Fultz argued that he deserved a citation.

Fultz told the sheriff’s office investigator a similar story, records show, while admitting that he did not yet have his motorcycle endorsement at the time of the traffic stop.

The deputy also acknowledged FHP and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office had recently launched a campaign to curtail excessive and unlawful speeding, a report indicates.

“Slow down. Drive responsibly. And if you can’t, these gentlemen behind me are going to help you learn to drive responsibly,” Ivey said in a January Facebook post standing in front of several deputies and troopers as the agencies sought to reduce crashes on I-95.

Fultz failed to report the traffic stop to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office as required by agency policy, a report states.

“Deputy Fultz initially claimed he had informed his supervisor about the traffic stop, but later clarified the statement, advising that word of it got out, and Sargent Taylor Barrett had actually approached him about the incident,” records show.

The report does not indicate when the sergeant may have learned about the February 9 traffic stop, nor does it show any action was taken against Fultz prior to him being named Deputy of the Year on March 13.

Fultz resigned from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in May as Ivey was preparing to fire the deputy for what the agency described as ‘‘egregious misconduct” related and unrelated to the traffic stop.

“First and foremost, I want to apologize to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the men and women I served alongside, my family, and the citizens of Brevard County for the embarrassment and negative attention my actions have caused,” Fultz said in a statement to News 6. “Becoming a deputy was a dream of mine, and I will always be grateful to Sheriff Ivey and BCSO for giving me the opportunity to fulfill that dream.”

An analysis by The Associated Press and Reporter Brasil of all National Mining Agency records through June shows that rare earth exploration applications have surged, with more than 86% filed in the past three years, including 268 in the first half of 2026.

The interest is already raising environmental concerns for the Amazon and other areas.

Here are takeaways from the story:

The US and others are seeking alternatives to China

Rare earth minerals are a group of chemicals essential in digital and defense technologies, used in electronics, magnets and batteries. They are also used in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors, critical to the transition away from fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal that cause global warming. The International Energy Agency estimated in 2022 that demand for rare earths could increase at least threefold by 2040.

China has nearly half of the world’s reserves and dominates global processing. Brazil has the second-largest reserves and is becoming increasingly attractive to investors seeking alternatives to China after Beijing restricted exports last year.

By reviewing all National Mining Agency records in Brazil through June, the AP-Reporter Brasil analysis found that foreign investors are driving the growing interest in rare earth exploration, accounting for more than four in 10 applications.

Australian and U.S. firms dominate the interest. Among recent deals was the acquisition of Serra Verde, Brazil’s only commercial rare earth producer, by a U.S.-backed company.

Chinese firms had not filed any rare earth exploration applications in Brazil as of June, but they are positioning themselves in the sector. Last year, state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group acquired tin producer Mineracao Taboca and announced plans to assess rare earth potential at its Amazon mine. Separately, Shenghe Resources signed an agreement with Brazilian partners WEG Mineracao and Fenrir do Brasil to pursue rare earth projects, including one in Minas Gerais.

New mining push could impact communities and ecosystems

At least a quarter of the applications overlap with or are within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of protected areas and Indigenous territories, including in the Amazon, according to Reporter Brasil’s Energy Transition Observatory. Experts say mining projects within this buffer zone can cause environmental damage.

Depending on what is mined, toxic chemicals can be released and radioactive waste generated. Other potential impacts include deforestation and polluted water seeping into rivers and lakes, which can poison fish populations, as well as air pollution and noise.

In Goias state, in central Brazil, a small Afro-Brazilian community overlaps with mining claims by the Canadian firm Aclara Resources, which last year secured $5 million in project development financing from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

Aclara in a statement said its project initially overlapped with the community’s territory, but “no mining activities will take place there.” Still, residents fear operations that could start as early as 2028 could affect local springs and wildlife.

Brazil is considering safeguards around foreign influence

“The challenge today is that China dominates processing and refining,” said Brazilian lawmaker Zé Silva, author of pending legislation that would establish a federal policy on critical minerals and rare earths, set investment priorities and create a national council to monitor significant foreign influence in the sector. “Under our proposal, companies are welcome to invest, but they must transfer technology to Brazil, including processing capacity.”

On Monday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the Senate would move forward with the proposed law, to defend national interests.

“We will not allow anyone from outside to come here and exploit our mineral resources, because we want their processing and transformation to happen here,” Lula said.

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

Sheriff’s office investigators obtained images of Fultz placing a gun in his ex-girlfriend’s mouth and pointing it at the back of her head during consensual sex acts, making an inappropriate Facetime call from his patrol car while wearing his uniform, and appearing to perform a “Nazi salute” in a photograph captured shortly before he was hired as a deputy, records show.

Fultz, 24, was also accused of using racially insensitive language and improperly accessing the agency’s Flock camera license plate reader system to look up his ex-girlfriend’s tag number.

When Fultz was pulled over by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper in February for allegedly speeding 111 mph on his motorcycle while off duty, the deputy was issued a civil citation instead of being arrested for a misdemeanor under Florida’s “Super Speeder” law.

After Sheriff Wayne Ivey signed off on an internal investigation in May and expressed his intent to terminate the Deputy of the Year, Fultz resigned.

“First and foremost, I want to apologize to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the men and women I served alongside, my family, and the citizens of Brevard County for the embarrassment and negative attention my actions have caused,” Fultz wrote in a statement to News 6. “Becoming a deputy was a dream of mine, and I will always be grateful to Sheriff Ivey and BCSO for giving me the opportunity to fulfill that dream.”

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office hired Fultz as a probationary deputy in September 2024, a spokesperson said.

Seven months later, in April 2025, Fultz fatally shot a suicidal man who charged at him with a knife as the deputy responded to a disturbance at the man’s home, the agency reported at the time.

That incident prompted the sheriff to honor Fultz as the 2025 Deputy of the Year and award him the Medal of Valor during the agency’s annual award ceremony in March.

“Tonight we are proud to recognize an individual who, when faced with an immediate and life-threatening crisis, acted with profound courage and professional poise,” a video shown during the ceremony stated. “Deputy Fultz’s decisive actions, and extraordinary restraint under extreme pressure undoubtedly saved the life of a frightened mother while also protecting himself from grave harm.”

On the same day as the awards ceremony, records show Fultz’s ex-girlfriend sent an email to the sheriff’s office detailing numerous allegations against the deputy.

“My intention in providing this information is not to pursue personal retaliation but to ensure the agency is aware of conduct that, in my understanding, may conflict with departmental policies or professional standards,” the email stated.

The sheriff’s office immediately launched an administrative investigation into Fultz.

While the agency was unable to prove some of the allegations made by Fultz’s ex-girlfriend, records show Fultz acknowledged his involvement in many of the incidents she described.

A photograph, reportedly taken in 2023 before Fultz was hired as a deputy, showed Fultz’s mustache “shaved in what appears to be an attempt to mimic Adolf Hitler, and he appears to be performing a Nazi salute”, investigators wrote.

Fultz admitted to posing for the photo but “denied being racist and stated that the photograph was merely a joke”, records show.

Fultz, who is white, also confirmed the authenticity of text messages provided by the ex-girlfriend showing him repeatedly using the N-word.

“Deputy Fultz stated he grew up in a foster home with black parents and siblings, and the words became normal to use,” investigators wrote. “Deputy Fultz agreed that as a law enforcement officer, he should not use any words or slurs that are derogatory, even if that is not his intention. Deputy Fultz also denied ever hearing any other BCSO deputies use the word or making racially motivated jokes.”

Fultz confirmed images provided by his ex-girlfriend showed him putting a gun in her mouth and pointing it at the back of her head while they were having sex, records show.

Although the ex-girlfriend told investigators the sexual activity was “completely consensual”, the report states she later realized it was “alarming behavior, especially for a deputy sheriff.”

Fultz told investigators the gun used in the sex acts was his personally owned firearm, records show.

But sheriff’s investigators said the weapon resembled the agency-issued handgun assigned to Fultz immediately after the April 2025 fatal shooting.

“Deputy Fultz admitted to ignoring all firearm safety training that he had received,” investigators wrote.

The ex-girlfriend also gave sheriff’s investigators screenshots from a Facetime video call showing Fultz, in uniform, seated in his patrol vehicle.

Although she claimed the images showed Fultz performing a sex act on himself, sheriff’s investigators said the images were not clear enough to definitively conclude what Fultz was doing.

“Deputy Fultz denied ever masturbating on duty and claimed that he was only ‘pretending’ to masturbate while on the video call,” a report states.

Fultz’s ex-girlfriend told investigators that Fultz once discussed “watching her” on the agency’s Flock camera license plate reader system, but she did not know for certain whether he had tracked her vehicle’s location.

When sheriff’s investigators later audited the agency’s Flock system, they determined Fultz had searched his ex-girlfriend’s license plate on one occasion prior to the start of his shift, records show. The Flock search was documented as being for “investigation” purposes.

“Deputy Fultz denied checking her vehicle registration to spy on her or out of revenge but could not provide any reason as to why he queried her vehicle registration tag while off duty,” investigators wrote.

Although some police officers have faced criminal charges for misusing law enforcement databases for personal reasons, there is no indication that Fultz was criminally investigated. When News 6 inquired about it with the sheriff’s office, a spokesperson referred to the administrative investigation report, which does not mention a criminal probe.

Sheriff’s investigators learned Fultz was stopped by other law enforcement agencies on at least four occasions in two months while riding his motorcycle off duty. Fultz then failed to report those traffic stops to supervisors as required by agency policy, records show.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper said he documented Fultz’s motorcycle speeding 111 mph down U.S. 192 near Melbourne in February, the report states.

News 6 obtained video of the traffic stop, which can be viewed here.

Under Florida’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding Act – commonly known as the “Super Speeder” law – law enforcement can arrest motorists who drive 100 mph or more in a manner that threatens the safety of other persons or property.

Instead of arresting Fultz for a misdemeanor offense, records show FHP issued the deputy a civil traffic citation for travelling 6-9 miles over the speed limit. Fultz later paid a $155 fine.

“Trooper (Joshua) Provencher was aware that Deputy Fultz’s speed, along with the traffic conditions which made his speed a danger to other drivers, met the statutory criminal requirements for the new ‘super speeder law’,” sheriff’s investigators wrote. “Deputy Fultz admitted the speeds at which he was travelling did violate the ‘super speeder’ law, and he was aware that BCSO and FHP were in a current campaign to aggressively curtail excessive and unlawful speeding.”

FHP did not respond to questions from News 6 about the traffic stop.

Fultz was stopped twice by the Melbourne Police Department for having an intentionally concealed license plate on his motorcycle but was not ticketed for it, records show. Fultz claimed the license plate had been hidden for a photo shoot.

After sheriff’s officials ordered Fultz to keep his motorcycle tag visible, records show Fultz was recorded by surveillance cameras leaving the sheriff’s office parking lot with no license plate attached.

Fultz submitted his resignation on May 27, after the administrative investigation was completed.

“The nature and severity of your misconduct has irreparably damaged the trust required to perform the duties of a deputy sheriff, and present an unacceptable risk to you, citizens, operations, reputation, and potential liability for the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office,” Ivey wrote in a memo to Fultz.

A sheriff’s office spokesperson told News 6 there was nothing in Fultz’s job application or background check that the agency should have reviewed further before hiring him.

Fultz provided the following statement to News 6 in response to this story:

Statement Regarding My Resignation from BCSO

First and foremost, I want to apologize to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the men and women I served alongside, my family, and the citizens of Brevard County for the embarrassment and negative attention my actions have caused.

Becoming a deputy was a dream of mine, and I will always be grateful to Sheriff Ivey and BCSO for giving me the opportunity to fulfill that dream. Serving the citizens of Brevard County was something I took tremendous pride in. I worked alongside people I have an incredible amount of respect for, and I will always be thankful for the experiences and opportunities I was given. Receiving the Medal of Valor and being named Deputy of the Year are honors I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

I also have to own my mistakes. I was young, made some stupid decisions, and exercised poor judgment in areas of my personal and professional life. There are things I said and decisions I made that I am embarrassed by today and would handle completely differently. I take responsibility for the actions that were mine, and I sincerely apologize to the people I disappointed.

At the same time, I do not agree with every allegation or conclusion contained in the administrative investigation. The investigation originated from a complaint involving a former girlfriend following the end of our relationship, and not every allegation made during that process was substantiated. There is significantly more context surrounding the circumstances that led to the complaint than can be conveyed through an investigative report or news story.

Even after my resignation and departure from law enforcement, aspects of this situation have continued publicly, including comments about the effect the complaint and investigation had on my life and career. Some of those comments have been difficult to see, particularly when consequences that fundamentally changed my life have been treated lightly or as entertainment. I believe those statements and actions speak for themselves.

I could respond by publicly releasing private communications, screenshots, and other details or by making accusations of my own. I am choosing not to do that. I am not interested in turning this into an ongoing public dispute. My responsibility is to answer for my own actions, not anyone else’s.

None of that excuses the mistakes that were mine. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the original complaint, I was responsible for my own decisions. The investigation reached its conclusions, my career with BCSO ended, and I accept that outcome.

I deeply regret that my time with BCSO ended the way it did, but I will never regret serving there. I remain proud of the good I was able to do, particularly during the critical incident that ultimately resulted in my receiving the Medal of Valor and being named Deputy of the Year.

This experience has humbled me and taught me lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I cannot change my mistakes or the outcome of the investigation. What I can do is take responsibility for what was mine, learn from it, make better decisions, and move forward with my life.

I genuinely wish Sheriff Ivey, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, and the men and women who continue serving Brevard County nothing but success. I will always be grateful for the opportunity I was given to serve the citizens of Brevard County, and I am now focused on moving forward with the next chapter of my life.

Michael Fultz

The deportees arrived at the Roberts International Airport outside Monrovia. The Liberia-U.S. agreement is among the largest third-country deportations driven by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.

The 1,200 deportees will include African nationals and also nationals from North America, South America and the Caribbean, according to Liberian Information Minister Jerolinmek Piah.

During a briefing on Tuesday, Liberian Justice Minister Natu Oswald Tweh said that the majority of the deportees had committed migration-related violations and offenses, and that they could seek asylum in the West African country if they wished.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that aren't their own, advocates say, with about 10 of them in Africa.

Immigration lawyers have said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum-seekers back to their home countries.

In many cases, migrants are deported to countries they’ve never been to or where they face safety risks and are left with little choice other than to return to the home countries they were fleeing from.

Around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, officers responded to a home on Bethune Avenue. Upon arrival, they found Shariff Simmons, 49, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in front of the residence.

Simmons was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said the shooting appears to have been targeted. Simmons and others inside the home had been engaged in a card game prior to the shooting.

No one is in custody. Police said they are actively looking for a suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Kevin Burger at 407-656-3636, ext. 6320, or Sgt. Dave Clarke at 407-656-3636, ext. 4092.

Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crimeline at 800-423-8477.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

U.S. futures are relatively unchanged after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would at least double the size of its bond buybacks, and oil prices shot higher.

The planned purchases of longer-term government debt by the Treasury could ease pressure on share prices since the maneuver would push bond yields down.

Futures for the S&P 500 were little changed on Thursday, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. Nasdaq futures gained 0.1%.

Oil prices rose sharply after ballistic missile fire in United Arab Emirates triggered nationwide warnings residents there, the first time in weeks such an alarm had sounded. President Donald Trump threatened to increase economic pressure on Iran, creating more doubts about a near-term solution to the conflict.

Brent crude, the international standard, surged 2.5% to $93.90 a barrel. It was trading at roughly $72 per barrel before the war.

U.S. benchmark crude jumped 2.8% to $86.72 a barrel.

Yields on U.S. government bonds fell after the Treasury announcement. Yields have risen in recent months over growing concerns about inflation stemming from the conflict in Iran and ballooning government debt.

The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion on Wednesday with defense spending soaring and the U.S. involvement in the Middle East.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell to 4.68% on Thursday, although it’s still well above its levels from before the start of the war in Iran. The 30-year Treasury yield fell to around 5.22%.

In Asia, bond yields also eased after the U.S. Treasury’s announcement. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield fell to around 2.85%. It has been trading near 30-year highs.

Walmart's stock slid more than 6% before the market open on Thursday as the retail giant gave a cautious outlook for the year. Walmart is considered a barometer of consumer spending given its vast customer base.

Investors are also awaiting the latest U.S. unemployment data. The previous report from the Labor Department said that 209,000 people filed jobless claims two weeks ago, up from a revised 200,000 the week before and higher than the 205,000 forecasters had expected.

In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 0.5% to 25,960.44, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.4% to 8,466.75. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 10,707.92. Asian shares traded higher.

The U.S. dollar rose to 158.50 Japanese yen from 158.16 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1696, up from $1.1677.

“We can only do the bare minimum,” WFP executive director Carl Skau said Wednesday during a visit to a nutrition center on the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu. “We’re only providing these nutrition supplies to the children that are really the worst hit.”

The reduced funds, because of cuts in international aid by donors and the redirection of resources to other humanitarian crises, meant that the WFP is unable to expand its assistance in Somalia, Skau said.

Millions of people at risk but far less aid

The WFP projects that 1.9 million children under age 5 in the country will suffer acute malnutrition this year, including nearly 500,000 who will require urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Overall, around 30% of the population faces critical levels of food insecurity, the U.N. has said.

“We had 10 times more resources than now,” Skau said of the 2022 hunger emergency that was caused by a prolonged drought. “We were able to step in, and we prevented a famine here in Somalia."

“We know what’s going on, we have the capacity, we have the experience of dealing with this. We just need the resources now to do it.”

The consequences of the current food shortage, which is also a result of drought, conflict and the displacement of people, are seen at the Feynuus Health Center in Mogadishu’s Kahda district. Dozens of women carrying babies waited beneath a large tree or crowded along the veranda of the corrugated-metal facility seeking help.

Inside, health workers placed children in a blue weighing sling, screened them for malnutrition, and distributed therapeutic food.

One desperate mother tells her story

Halima Mohamed Hassan, a mother of six, had walked nearly 3 kilometers (2 miles) carrying her malnourished 4-year-old child. She is pregnant, but said she hadn't eaten for two days. Her last meal was plain rice.

Health workers treated the child she brought with a special nutrient-dense food, while Hassan said that her other children were also malnourished, but she wasn't able to bring them to the center.

“I could not carry all of them,” she said.

Hassan fled the Lower Shabelle region four months ago after her husband died of malnutrition, she said. Food and water became scarce, and conflict made it increasingly dangerous for the family to stay.

She and her children walked for four nights before reaching a camp for internally displaced people on Mogadishu’s outskirts.

Hassan now shares a makeshift shelter with her widowed mother and her mother's four other children. The two women look for occasional work washing clothes in nearby neighborhoods to feed their household of 12.

A health center tries its best to help

The Feynuus center receives between 250 and 350 patients daily, mainly displaced women and children from regions outside Mogadishu, said Abdirahman Barkhad, program director of Youth Link Somalia, which operates the center.

Barkhad said that about 10 nearby health and nutrition centers had closed because of a reduction in humanitarian funding, increasing pressure on those that remain.

“We have witnessed children collapsing, because their families do not have enough food,” he said.

Mohamud Moallim Abdulle, commissioner of the Somali Disaster Management Agency, described the country’s food situation as “extremely alarming.”

He said that an estimated 1.85 million children are malnourished, while around 6 million people are affected by drought, and 2 million urgently need assistance.

They don’t know where their next meal is

Skau said that mothers he met this week in the town of Burhakaba described drought, insecurity, and also rising food prices as the main drivers of the crisis. Some had lost their crops and fled their homes. Others walked for three or four hours to reach health facilities, because aid workers couldn't reach them.

“I spoke to women with eight to 10 children,” Skau said. “They don’t know where the next meal is going to come from.”

Insecurity, with Somalia battling a 20-year-long insurgency by the al-Shabab militant group, also makes humanitarian operations more expensive. WFP must use aircraft in areas where staff and supplies can't travel safely by road, and some communities are inaccessible, Skau said.

He said that conflict in the Middle East was adding to the pressure by driving up fuel and food prices, limiting agricultural supplies, and drawing funding toward other emergencies.

After her child received some food at the center, Hassan began the walk back to the camp they live in. Her five other children were still waiting and hungry, she said, and she would have to return with them one at a time.

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

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

Bodeen died Monday after a struggle with cancer and complications from a stroke, his daughter, Ingrid, said Thursday by telephone from Taiwan.

Bodeen, who spoke fluent Mandarin with a proud Taiwan accent, spent much of his career detailing China's rise to an economic, political and military superpower — and the accompanying friction from what critics have long called Beijing’s heavy-handed efforts to establish dominance in Asia and beyond.

“Chris was a reporter who would go anywhere and do anything for the story,” said Charles Hutzler, AP's former bureau chief in Beijing. After a huge quake flattened a swath of Sichuan province in 2008, Bodeen composed his account from one devastated town sentence by sentence over text messages because of damaged telecommunications networks. "It was one of the first eyewitness reports the AP and the world received about one of the worst earthquakes in decades,” Hutzler recalled.

He was an expert on politics and Chinese military issues

From AP bureaus in Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei, Bodeen was for years the news agency's go-to person on Chinese politics and military issues, able to quickly determine the newsworthiness of the government's often abstruse statements.

“A chat with Chris would inevitably turn into a remarkable history lesson," said Emily Wang Fujiyama, former Greater China news director. “He had astounding knowledge of the region and would be writing about China’s military presence in the South China Sea, pivot to Taiwan’s intricate politics, and just as deftly write about the political sensitivities of Tibet, Mongolia and China.”

Bodeen was born in Missouri on Sept. 9, 1970, but he spent parts of his childhood in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. His father was a foreign service officer and his mother a former diplomat, his daughter, Ingrid, said. Friends and colleagues remembered his love of the Boston Red Sox, esoteric punk rock -- and his contagious enthusiasm for the job of journalism.

"He was the blondest, palest person you’ll ever meet” yet also spoke pitch-perfect Chinese, said Ted Anthony, AP’s former China news editor and news director for Asia. “So when the earthquake in Sichuan happened in 2008, he went out there, put on one of his ever-present ballcaps to cover his hair, and slouched down. He passed as Chinese, started interviewing people and sailed under the scrutiny of the authorities.”

He was 'always ready for adventure’

Bodeen joined the AP in 1996, in Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island China claims as its own, before working as an editor on the agency’s international desk in New York and then joining the AP bureau in Beijing as a correspondent, in 2000. He majored in history and Asian studies at Tufts University, graduating in 1993.

“Chris Bodeen was always ready for adventure. Hiding in the hills of Hainan Island, China, to try to report on the return of an American Air Force plane forced down in 2001, he was the best colleague to be with,” said Raf Wober, a video journalist in the AP's Hong Kong bureau.

In a 2017 story on efforts to burnish the image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Bodeen described state broadcaster China Central Television leading its evening national news bulletin “with more than four minutes of uninterrupted clapping for Xi as he met with adoring citizens,” and a Russian translator who “was so engrossed with reading a recent speech by Xi, Xinhua (the official news agency) said, that he skipped lunch and dinner just to finish studying it.”

While much of this might have seemed amusing to outsiders, Bodeen was careful to note that “the domination of (Xi’s) image in official propaganda evokes, for some, the painful memories of the upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s, when Mao (Zedong) was accorded the status of a near deity.”

Passion for family and work was his hallmark

Bodeen was deeply proud of his two daughters and loved showing off their artwork and achievements — and creative Halloween costumes — to colleagues. “Every parent thinks their kids are the best, but, hand to God, these girls are both adorable and seriously tough cookies,” he wrote of his children.

“He truly, passionately loved what he did, as much as he loved being a dad," Ingrid Bodeen said. She recalled that when her father spent long stints reporting from Afghanistan during her childhood, “he would always have my mom fax over my spelling lists and homework so we could work on them together. He never missed a spelling test week.”

Bodeen was also beloved by colleagues for his sharp sense of humor, his knowledge of good local food and an encyclopedic knowledge of movie and TV comedies from the ’70s and ’80s.

Kanis Leung, an AP reporter in Hong Kong, said that Bodeen once told her about an old correspondent's description of news reporting as “the art of shoving 50 pounds of oatmeal into a 10-pound sack."

“Except,” Leung said, "he didn’t say oatmeal.”

Bodeen is survived by his wife, Yen Ling, daughters Ingrid, 26, and Naomi, 22, his parents and a sister.

More specifically, the study looks at Google Trends throughout 2026 to discover which slang terms Florida residents are searching for most often.

“The most searched slang words of 2026 give insight into the cultural conversations happening in America. Using slang is a social signal,” spokesperson Randoh Sallihall said. “What people search for can tell us something about what they are trying to understand and participate in culturally.”

This year, “6-7″ took the top spot, up from when it placed No. 2 in last year’s ranking.

Below are the top 10 slang terms searched in Florida, according to the report.

1. 6-7 — There is no literal meaning to six seven. Its absurdity is the point, making it a prime example of “brainrot” internet humor where the randomness itself becomes funny. It originates from the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla. LaMelo Ball a basketball player created a trending video about being 6 feet, 7 inches tall using the song. Kids and teens scream and chant it often paired with exaggerated hand gestures.
2. Chud- A fool, troll or jerk. Often used to insult internet trolls and describe an obnoxious person who is unlikable or rude.
3. Larping - A synonym to poser, fraud and try-hard. Someone who pretends to be something they are not. Faking a lifestyle. Acting for attention.
4. Foid - Short for “femoid” (a blend of “female” and “humanoid”). A derogatory and misogynistic slang term for women. Used to express resentment, insult women and reduce individuals to objects.
5. Cap - A lie, a fake claim or an exaggeration. Whereas no cap is means the opposite: I’m telling the truth, seriously, no lie.
6. Chopped - This term has become a synonym for something that is ugly, undesirable or unattractive. Looking very rough.
7. Torta - A way to describe an overweight, chubby or curvy woman.
8. Unc - Short for uncle. Used humorously to indicate old age (unc status). Anyone perceived as old, out of touch or past their prime.
9. Bop - A person with many sexual partners(bops around from person to person). Someone who presents oneself online in a way that is thought of as immodest. A derogatory word often used in cyberbullying.
10. Bird - Someone acting foolishly in relationships (like taking back an unfaithful partner). Lacks common sense, has low standards and stays with a man who disrespects her.

“Slang may look like a collection of throwaway jokes from the internet, but psychology suggests it is doing something much more interesting. Using slang helps people navigate identity and belong to a community,” Sallihall continued. “Research highlighted by the American Psychological Association, including the work of psychologist Ryan Boyd, shows that our language choices can act as signals of who we are, who we identify with and how we relate to other people.”

[EXCLUSIVE: Brevard Deputy of the Year caught speeding 111 mph not arrested under ‘Super Speeder’ law]

Meanwhile, the most searched slang words nationwide are as follows:

1. 6-7
2. Chud
3. Rizz - Style, charm or attractiveness. The ability to attract a romantic partner and make others like you.
4. Gooning - Primarily used in certain online communities to describe a prolonged session of self-stimulation. The term has evolved to casually refer to becoming overly obsessed about something. Essentially losing oneself in enthusiasm for an activity or interest.
5. Cap, No Cap - A lie, a fake claim or an exaggeration. Whereas no cap is means the opposite: I’m telling the truth, seriously, no lie.
6. Mogging, Mogged, Mog, Framemog - Outclassing someone else by appearing more attractive, skillful or successful.
7. Bop
8. Larping, Larper - A synonym to poser, fraud and try-hard. Someone who pretends to be something they are not. Faking a lifestyle. Acting for attention.
9. Aura, Aura Points, Aura Farming - A person’s cool factor, swagger or presence. Aura points are essentially coolness points that you can gain or lose by doing cool or cringe worthy actions. Aura farming refers to a behavior (often referencing anime characters) where a person does something for the sake of looking cool.
10. Sigma - Refers to an independent, self-reliant person who operates outside traditional social hierarchies, often described as a “lone wolf.”

At this year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Imagineers have traded big reveals for bigger details, offering a closer look at some of the projects underway at Disney World as well as some surprise announcements.

Here’s a breakdown of the big Disney World announcements in the Disney Experiences Showcase.

Magic Kingdom

Villains Land

During Destination D23 2025 at Walt Disney World, the only update fans received on the highly anticipated Villains Land was that Imagineers had traveled to Europe for architectural inspiration.

Now, the picture is getting a little more clearer.

At D23 2026, Walt Disney Imagineering officially confirmed the name: Villains Land.

The land’s storyline centers on a corrupted Wishing Well deep in a foreboding forest, where Disney’s most iconic villains have gathered to claim its dark magic and build their own sinister lairs.

Two headline attractions were detailed. The first is a roller coaster set around Maleficent’s mountaintop fortress, promising elements Imagineers say they’ve never attempted before.

The second is a dark ride hosted by the Magic Mirror, transporting guests into a mystical “Mirror Realm” filled with classic Disney Villains brought to life through special effects and physical set pieces.

Imagineers compared Villains Land’s size and scale to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Piston Peak

Walt Disney Imagineers pulled back the curtain on two new attractions coming to Piston Peak National Park in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland: Cars Ridge Run Rally and Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along.

The level of detail packed into the land is staggering — from snow-capped mountain peaks and roaring geyser fields to rugged mud flats and tree-covered trails, every inch of Piston Peak is designed to immerse guests in the world of Disney and Pixar’s “Cars”.

Imagineers are even using “Parkitecture,” an architectural style developed by the National Park Service, to ensure the land’s buildings blend seamlessly into the surrounding landscape.

Cars Ridge Run Rally will also debut a completely new ride vehicle designed to actually drive over terrain, so guests will feel every bump, drop, and rock along the course.

Carousel of Progress

Walt Disney World’s Carousel of Progress is getting its most significant update in decades, and it’s coming with some star power.

Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis and Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston will take on the iconic roles of mom and dad as the beloved Magic Kingdom attraction is updated for a new generation.

Cranston and Curtis join a refreshed version of the show that will feature all-new time periods, a new scene set in the 1980s and an Audio-Animatronic version of Walt Disney himself.

The updated attraction is set to debut in late spring 2027.

Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis and Emmy-winning actor Bryan Cranston will voice Mom and Dad in Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom 🏰 #D23 #WaltDisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/1MZvwhiUxZ

— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) August 16, 2026

EPCOT

Spaceship Earth

EPCOT’s iconic Spaceship Earth is getting its first update in nearly 20 years.

Disney Imagineer Ali Rubinstein revealed at D23 that the reimagined attraction will shift its focus from human communication to the broader theme of human connection, bringing the geodesic sphere into the internet age and beyond.

Reimagination, Reimagination

As a surprise finale to the Disney Experiences Showcase, Disney saved one of its most anticipated announcements for last, teasing a reimagined version of Journey Into Imagination With Figment and promising the long-awaited return of Dreamfinder alongside the iconic purple dragon.

The current version of the attraction has been running for 24 years, outlasting the original Journey Into Imagination, which ran for 15 years after opening in 1983.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Monstropolis

Disney revealed that parts of Monstropolis at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will open to guests in 2027, giving fans their first look at the highly anticipated land inspired by Disney and Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc”.

The new land will feature a show called “Welcome to Monstropolis” at the Glob Theater, hosted by Mike and Sulley, along with dining at the iconic Harryhausen’s restaurant — complete with a sushi chef Audio-Animatronics figure — and Archie’s Scare Pig Pizza.

The land’s headlining door coaster will lift guests 40 feet in the air in just four seconds before launching them directly into the iconic door vault, and Disney Legend Randy Newman composed an original song for the land, marking the first time he has written a song specifically for a Disney theme park.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Yeti alert

In what might be considered a surprise announcement at D23, Disney revealed the Yeti Audio-Animatronic is coming back to life inside Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The beloved creature, which anchors the finale of the high-speed mountain ride, has long been out of commission — leaving guests with little more than a strobe light effect in place of the iconic beast.

Tropical Americas

Why did it have to be snakes? Why not?!

Disney Imagineers announced the name of the upcoming Indiana Jones attraction at Animal Kingdom: Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent.

Set in the new Tropical Americas land, the ride will take guests on a thrilling journey through ancient Maya ruins — complete with monstrous bats, oversized scorpions, and plenty of snakes.

Disney Legend Harrison Ford is also serving as the model for the attraction’s Audio-Animatronics figure, marking the first time his likeness will appear on a Disney attraction anywhere in the world.

For the new Pueblo Esperanza land, Disney Imagineers revealed the official name of the upcoming Encanto attraction: Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto.

The ride celebrates Antonio’s magical gift of communicating with animals — a fitting nod to Animal Kingdom’s dedication to the animal world — and invites guests into Casita as part of a joyful celebration of his gift day.

In Gaza City, a mass funeral was held for 50 people killed in Israeli airstrikes nearly three years ago but whose remains were just recovered. Meanwhile, Syria’s foreign minister visited Pakistan, which is seeking to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Thursday. Full coverage can be found here.

Iran denounces Trump's economic threat

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has rejected the economic threats made against his country, saying that such “failed policies” will stir more hostility among Iranians and “bring more failures.”

Araghchi's comments came a few hours after President Donald Trump threatened “crushing economic measures” against Iran. Trump promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” but provided few details.

In a social media post, Araghchi maintained the threats aim to divert the attention of the U.S. public from domestic financial problems, adding that U.S. “economic terrorism threatens the global economy and the national sovereignty of countries around the world.”

UK and others rebuke planned West Bank settlement project

Several countries condemned the latest development in a contentious Israeli settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the occupied West Bank in two.

Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing issued a tender for constructing several compounds with more than 1,200 homes in total in an open tract of land east of Jerusalem. It’s the latest step in a project under consideration for more than two decades, which critics say would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called the publication of the tender “an unacceptable and destructive act” and denounced “settler violence and terrorism.” In a statement released on Wednesday, he added that the British government “demanded an immediate reversal” and had summoned the Israeli chargé d’affaires.

Egypt and Jordan also condemned Israel’s move, which Cairo said would isolate east Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar responded on Thursday by defending “the historic right of the Jewish people to reestablish their national home in the Land of Israel — including in the area in question.” Saar criticized Britain’s government for “blaming only Israel while ignoring Palestinian extremism.”

Gaza funeral remembers 50 killed in opening strikes of Israel-Hamas war

A mass funeral Thursday in Gaza City remembered 50 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the opening months of the Israel-Hamas war but whose remains were only recently recovered from under rubble.

Dozens of mourners carried the remains, draped in Palestinian flags, through debris-strewn streets before lowering them into graves. Some held portraits and posters with photos of the deceased.

“We were able to recover them after three years of war, after three years of anguish, pain and torture. We were able to recover them, and dignify them in their final resting place. We were able to pray over them and bury them,” said Lina Karam, who lost her father and other members of her family.

The 50 bodies were from three families who were killed in airstrikes in November and December 2023.

The nearly three-year war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll.

Turkey denies delegation had visited air base in Syria that was hit by Israel

Turkey has denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited an air base in northern Syria that was hit by Israeli airstrikes, and vowed to continue supporting Syria in its efforts to rebuild its military.

The Israeli strikes targeted the Abu Duhur base early on Tuesday, causing damage but no casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had attacked the base because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreed-upon “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

Syrian officials have said that a Turkish delegation visited the base before the Israeli strike to review rehabilitation work underway there.

Syria's top diplomat discusses Middle East in Pakistan

Syria's Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani arrived in Islamabad for talks expected to focus on regional issues, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The visit comes days after Israeli airstrikes targeted an air base in northern Syria, causing damage but no casualties.

Pakistani officials say the country's political and military leadership remains in contact with both Iran and United States over efforts to de-escalate tensions and push for the resumption of talks after a 60-day deadline under a June memorandum of understanding expired. The agreement was brokered by Pakistan with help from regional countries.

Bodies of Pakistani sailors returned after Houthi attack

The bodies of two Pakistanis killed in last week’s Houthi attack on a Tanzanian-flagged commercial vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have been repatriated to Pakistan.

Six Pakistani sailors who were injured in the attack have also safely returned to the country, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X.

Premier Christine Fréchette also pushed back against quickly restoring U.S. alcohol to provincial stores, saying Quebec alone would decide whether American products return to shelves at the SAQ, the Quebec government corporation that controls most retail sales of wine and spirits in the province.

“Information is missing before I can make the right decisions to ensure Quebecers are protected. I am awaiting clarifications from Mr. Carney,” she said in a social media post late Wednesday.

Canada and the United States moved closer Wednesday to finalizing a trade agreement that would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs. Trump has said the agreement was “very fair” to both sides and predicted U.S. farmers and manufacturers would benefit. Tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports have been postponed until 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Quebec does not have a veto over a Canada-U.S. trade agreement, but it controls provincial measures such as whether U.S. alcohol is sold through the SAQ.

Carney asked provincial premiers during a briefing Wednesday to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said, a step aimed at addressing one of the Trump administration’s key trade complaints.

The White House says the emerging deal includes a Canadian commitment to address restrictions on U.S. alcohol. But Carney cannot order provinces to restore sales.

Fréchette’s Coalition Avenir Québec faces voters in an October provincial election, adding political pressure as she weighs concessions affecting dairy, forestry and U.S. alcohol sales.

Houston and two other premiers voiced support for the direction of the talks, though Houston said whether Canadians would actually buy U.S. alcohol again “is a whole other discussion.”

Eight of Canada’s 10 provinces restrict or ban U.S. alcohol — measures imposed in retaliation for Trump’s previous tariffs on Canadian goods and amid anger over his repeated talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is especially important. Its government-run LCBO, one of the world’s largest alcohol purchasers, sold nearly C$1 billion ($723 million) in U.S. products annually before pulling them from shelves last year.

While details of the emerging agreement remain vague, Trump has claimed Canada agreed to end tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.

Canada currently allows a set amount of dairy imports at low tariffs. Once imports exceed that limit, much higher tariffs apply. The U.S. says Canada’s supply-management system makes it harder for American dairy producers to gain full access to the Canadian market.

Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister responsible for trade with the U.S., said Canada’s “agriculture sector will be well protected and we have maintained our tough line.”

The Ervebo vaccine is licensed for use against Ebola virus, one of the viruses that cause Ebola disease, but not for Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak which has so far killed 2,476 people out of the 5,208 confirmed cases

WHO said in a statement that while it’s not known whether Ervebo may protect against the Bundibugyo virus, “early laboratory and animal data suggest it may provide some protection.”

The allocation includes 20,000 doses for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the impact of the vaccine on the Bundibugyo virus, the agency said. The remaining 50,000 doses will be used for front-line and health workers as recommended by WHO experts.

The outbreak raging in six provinces in eastern Congo has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other Ebola outbreak in history, and is spreading about three times faster compared to the 2014-2016 outbreak across West Africa — the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record with more than 11,000 deaths.

The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision, which includes WHO and other partners, said the doses will be released immediately following a request from Congo’s government.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the approval “an important example of global solidarity in action.” He said the agency and its partners remain committed to supporting strengthened surveillance, rapid detection, quality care, community engagement and vaccination efforts to bring the outbreak under control.

The lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo virus has been a major issue for responders. Most new cases have been reported outside of the people being monitored, showing the virus continues to spread faster than efforts to track it. That has been a key contributor to the recorded deaths.

The case fatality rate so far is 47.5% although it is far worse in some places where response efforts are more challenging, such as in North Kivu province where the fatality rate is up to 70%.

Experts believe the virus began spreading from the mining town of Mongbwalu as early as February, months before authorities declared the outbreak on May 15.

Moscow's forces have in recent months intensified their ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, exploiting Ukraine's chronic shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense interceptors, the sole weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down the missiles.

Such large-scale Russian missile strikes have become a regular occurrence this summer. Just over two weeks ago, a Russian attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region killed 17 people, and nine were killed in the city two days before that. The United Nations said last week that Kyiv was also one of the hardest hit cities in Ukraine in July, with at least 54 civilians killed and 202 injured.

At the same time, Ukraine has shifted the war onto Russian soil through long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused fuel shortages across the country. It has also unsettled the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country’s biggest online retailer.

Zelenskyy repeats his appeals for more air defense

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded for countries to send more Patriot interceptors for defense, but international stockpiles are low amid the Iran war and Kyiv's more than four-year fight against Russia's all-out invasion.

Russia's overnight barrage also included cruise missiles and jet-powered drones that further strain air defenses, the Ukrainian air force said.

Explosions boomed across Kyiv in the dark, but the air force said hits were recorded at 28 locations across the country. Emergency services said 15 people were killed in the capital, with another death in the wider Kyiv region. About 40 people were wounded, Zelenskyy said, as air raid warnings lasted until after dawn.

More than 38,000 people, including over 2,000 children, sheltered in Kyiv’s subway stations overnight, the system's operator said.

“It was a massive attack,” Zelenskyy said on social media, adding that Russia “had been preparing (it) for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure."

The Russian Defense Ministry said it struck a Kyiv industrial site manufacturing components for Flamingo cruise missiles. Sites involved in the production and storage of drones, an ammunition depot and a logistics center were also hit, it said.

Ukraine says it struck more Russian oil facilities

Russia and Ukraine have battered each other with drones and missiles as their armies struggle to gain the upper hand on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line, where huge numbers of drones are pinning down troops.

Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces struck an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Tatarstan region, starting a fire, and the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Volna, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, where there was also a blaze. Ukraine has hit both facilities in recent months as part of its campaign to disrupt Russia’s vital oil industry.

Tatarstan leader Rustam Minnikhanov confirmed there had been a “massive attack” in the region, state news agency Tass reported, citing his press service. Many of the drones targeted Nizhnekamsk’s Zakamsk economic area, disrupting production at industrial sites and damaging residential buildings, Tass quoted him as saying.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 726 drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, in one of Ukraine's biggest aerial attacks of the war.

Ukraine's neighbors are on alert

Russia’s relentless onslaught has spooked other European countries, especially those bordering Ukraine, which fear spreading attacks from Moscow.

Amid the attack on Kyiv, the Polish Armed Forces Operational Command activated its military aviation operations, ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance. Polish and other NATO military aircraft were deployed to monitor its airspace, Polish news agency PAP reported.

Romania’s Defense Ministry said that an unidentified drone crashed and burned in an uninhabited area near the Ukrainian border. Two Spanish F-18 jets, deployed on a policing mission in Romania, were scrambled after 2 a.m. local time to monitor a group of “air targets” near the border, the ministry said.

In addition, two Romanian F-16 fighter jets were deployed to destroy a naval drone seen near a major Black Sea gas project, Romania’s acting Defense Minister Radu Miruta said.

Moldova’s Defense Ministry also said its airspace was breached by at least one drone.

Russia “is increasingly testing the resolve of NATO and its partners, violating the sovereignty of neighboring states and deliberately expanding the risks posed by its war far beyond Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on social media.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saw a broad threat to the European Union. “An escalating campaign of threats is underway, unsettling our citizens and seeking to divide our Union,” she said on X.

Explosions shatter windows and screams fill the air

Russia's overnight strikes hit 12 locations across Kyiv’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging 30 apartment blocks, a school, a children’s hospital and a kindergarten, Zelenskyy said.

Larysa Bondaruk, 60, sat on the ground, holding her cat, Chanel, which had been rescued by firefighters. With tears in her eyes, she said her neighbor’s grandson had been trapped by the rubble and died. Her apartment was badly damaged.

“A rocket hit the roof. It was incredibly loud. Immediately, debris and doors were blown out. There were columns of smoke, columns of fire, screams, crying and despair,” she said. “Two people were killed in our building, but the rescuers responded quickly and professionally. I am grateful to them for that.”

In Solomianskyi district, the top two floors of a nine-story residential building were destroyed and fires broke out on other floors. People were also trapped in two residential buildings and a school shelter.

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AP reporters Vasilisa Stepanenko and Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England, contributed.

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

The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims dropped to 206,000 last week from a revised 212,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week ups and downs, ticked up to 204,000 last week from 199,750.

Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a harbinger for where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have been at a historically low range of around 200,000 to 230,000 a week.

“The labor market has yet to show any sign of wear and tear from the surge in oil prices since the start of the war with Iran and the global energy supply shock,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary.

The number of people collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended Aug. 8 rose to 1.8 million from 1.78 million the week before.

The U.S. unemployment rate is low at 4.1%, partly because the economy has proved resilient in the face of higher energy prices. But it’s also because President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers mean that fewer people are competing for jobs: More than 1.3 million people have dropped out of the U.S. labor force over the past year.

The job market is tough for those looking for their first job and for those who lost their jobs and are looking for new work. At the same time, companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff; but they aren’t eager to take on new workers. Economists regularly refer to a “no hire, no fire″ job market.

In July, companies, government agencies and nonprofits together cut 23,000 jobs. So far this year, employers are adding 61,000 jobs a month. That is an improvement on the 9,700 they averaged last year — the weakest hiring outside a recession since 2002. The lingering effects of high interest rates and Trump’s erratic trade policies discouraged companies from hiring in 2025.

Hiring this year remains well below the 166,00 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, let alone the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

The couple's children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September, according to a person close to the Sussexes who was not authorized to speak publicly. The family plans to live at a private, non-royal residence outside of London, but plans to maintain their home in Montecito, California, and their vacation property in Portugal.

The Daily Telegraph first reported the story. When asked to discuss the reports by the AP at a roundtable event with U.S. veterans in Washington Wednesday night, Harry replied, "Nothing to say.”

Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago to earn their living through lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify. Although relations with the rest of the royal family have soured since then, Harry has recently expressed an interest in reconciliation so he could spend more time with his father, King Charles III, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer.

Charles was informed of the couple's plans on Sunday. Harry and Meghan visited the U.K. last month.

Buckingham Palace has a policy of not commenting on speculation about non-working members of the royal family. A representative for Harry and Meghan declined to comment.

According to a source close to the Sussexes, Meghan will continue heading her As Ever company from the U.K., while Harry can spend more time working with his U.K.-based charities.

Harry and Meghan have had a stormy relationship with the royal family ever since they decamped to a mansion in the exclusive Southern California enclave of Montecito.

In a series of interviews and Harry's memoir “Spare,” the couple said they left Britain to escape the restrictions of royal life and criticized palace officials for being insensitive to Meghan's mental health while alleging that at least one member of the royal family had expressed racist views when she was pregnant with their first child. Meghan describes herself as biracial.

Those tensions were exacerbated by Harry's long-running legal battle with Britain's tabloid newspapers, which he alleges illegally hacked his phones and invaded his privacy when he was younger.

The prince recently lost a lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail, though he won a 2023 judgment that condemned the publisher of the Daily Mirror for phone hacking. He also reached a settlement with the publisher of the Sun, which apologized for intruding on his life and agreed to pay substantial damages.

The latest trial has left Harry facing a potential bill for millions of pounds after the court ruled he and other plaintiffs in the case were liable for the publisher's legal fees. Associated Newspapers has filed documents showing that its legal costs amounted to 34.5 million pounds ($47 million).

Harry has also been embroiled in a legal wrangle with the British government after a government committee refused to authorize police protection for the prince and his family when they are in the U.K. The prince says he and his family need armed police protection because they are at risk simply because they are members of the royal family, regardless of whether they are working royals.

After losing a court battle over the security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Last month, Harry returned to the U.K. for a series of charity engagements. Meghan and the children joined Harry for part of the visit and they spent time with the king at his Highgrove estate in western England. It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather since the late Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee in 2022.

While Harry has recently met with his father, there are no signs of a warming of relations with his brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne.

Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent, said the surprise announcement would make William “apoplectic.”

“In the short term, Harry will be able to deepen his rapprochement with his father," Hunt told Britain's Press Association. “And his presence back home will make it harder for his brother to duck a reconciliation."

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Pollard reported from Washington.

Fletcher spoke to The Associated Press in an interview after a visit to the southern city of Kherson, where he witnessed how communities there are coping while living under the constant threat of Russian drones. Fletcher described the visit to Kherson, split by the Dnipro River, which acts as an active front line, as “quite chilling."

Russian forces occupy the eastern bank, while Ukrainian forces hold the western bank. From across the water, surveillance and exploding drones routinely hunt and attack civilians, vehicles and public transit.

“It really gives us an insight into the dangers ahead of us,” he said.

The threat is also making it harder for humanitarian organizations to reach people who need assistance.

Fletcher spoke after attending a commemoration for two humanitarian workers who had died while doing their jobs.

“Drones are a real threat to not just civilians but the humanitarians who are here to protect them,” Fletcher said.

He said that aid workers are protected under international humanitarian law and yet marked humanitarian vehicles have still been hit. “So that does restrict what we can do," he said.

Local organizations are particularly exposed. More than two-thirds of operations funded through Ukraine's humanitarian fund are carried out by local organizations, according to Fletcher.

“They’re the ones who are saying most loudly to us, we’re not protected,” he said.

Fletcher said the U.N. needs more than $2 billion for its prioritized humanitarian response in Ukraine this year, with winter among his biggest concerns. Damage to civilian infrastructure, including electricity, water and gas systems, could once again leave millions vulnerable during the harsh winter months, raising fears of a repeat of last winter’s severe conditions.

The U.N. has sharply narrowed its humanitarian priorities all over the world as donor funding has fallen. Fletcher said the organization initially identified 87 million people facing the most severe humanitarian needs, but that figure has since risen to about 92 million with the onslaught of Ebola in Africa, the earthquake in Venezuela and other conflicts.

The U.N. is seeking $23 billion to provide life-saving assistance to those people and had raised about $11 billion, said Fletcher.

Ukraine is relatively well funded compared with many other crises, he added, with roughly 70%–75% of its hyper-prioritized funding requirement covered. But even full funding of the humanitarian plan would address only part of Ukraine’s needs.

Fletcher also admitted that raising money for humanitarian operations has become more difficult as governments have increasingly redirected spending toward defense and domestic priorities.

“We’re in a more transactional world, I would say a more selfish world,” he said.

Fletcher said the U.N. now has to demonstrate that it is using limited taxpayer money efficiently and strategically.

“We have to show governments that we are spending their taxpayers’ money sensibly, wisely, in a prioritized way,” he said.

In a stark new assessment released on Wednesday, the U.N. warned that 907 aid workers were victims of violence last year and over 1,000 have been killed in three years. Fletcher said he could not reassure colleagues that those responsible would be held accountable based on how the international community has reacted.

He said accountability should extend beyond identifying the person who physically carried out an attack.

“I want to see investigations into the people who fired the weapon or flew the drone,” he said.

Comparable sales in U.S. stores, which measure sales at stores open at least a year along with online sales tied to those locations, rose 2.6% in the second quarter. They rose 4.1% in the previous quarter.

Excluding the wellness category that includes Walmart’s pharmacies, comparable sales increased 3.4% in the second quarter. Those sales were hit by federal legislation that requires pharmacies to dispense some high-cost Medicare drugs at capped prices, the retailer said. That was still below analysts’ projections of a 3.8% increase, according to FactSet.

Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business, which has become an engine of growth for the retailer, rose 24%, trailing the first-quarter pace of 26%.

Walmart is among the first batch of major retailers to report second-quarter results, which could offer industry analysts and economists another read on whether ongoing price pressures from the conflict in Iran have impacted consumer behavior.

Walmart is considered a barometer of consumer spending given its vast customer base. More than 150 million customers are on its website or in its stores every week, according to Walmart.

That may draw even more attention this quarter after U.S. data released Friday showed that retail sales were surprisingly weak in July and a new read on consumers from the University of Michigan revealed growing pessimism about the economy, with so many Americans struggling with higher costs for gas, groceries and just about everything else.

The new figures from Walmart revealed the smallest gain in comparable store sales since a 1.9% gain for the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2020, according to FactSet.

That has broadened Walmart’s customer base and the retailer has begun capturing a larger share of wealthier Americans. The biggest gains in market share for Walmart are coming from households with annual incomes over $100,000.

Walmart’s quarterly net income was $6.37 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the three-month period ended July 31. Adjusted per-share results were 81 cents, easily topping the 74 cents Wall Street had expected, according to FactSet.

Sales rose 5.9% to $187.94 billion. Analysts were predicting $186.62 billion, according to FactSet.

For the third quarter, Walmart expects earnings per share of 62 cents to 64 cents. It projects sales to be up 3% to 3.5%. That would put sales in a range of $184.88 billion to $186.23 billion. The forecasts are below analysts’ expectations of 68 cents per share and sales of $188.19 billion, according to FactSet.

For the full year, Walmart now expects earnings per share to be in the range of $2.80 to $2.87 while sales should be up anywhere from 4% to 5%. That would mean a forecast for sales in the range of $741.7 billion to $748.8 billion, according to FactSet.

Analysts expected $2.90 per share and sales of $752.06 billion for the year, according to FactSet.

The Bruins are to play two games in Munich, while the Oilers will play two matches in Leon Draisaitl’s native city of Cologne during the 2027-28 NHL season. The opponents have yet to be determined.

“These events represent an important step in our commitment to grow the game in Germany. By bringing more NHL games to one of Europe’s most dynamic hockey markets, we hope to continue to deepen engagement amongst our fans, partners and local communities, while at the same time creating a significant opportunity to grow the game throughout the country,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

The Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators were already slated to play two games in Düsseldorf in December. Those Global Series games are the second and third regular-season games the league has staged in Germany after the Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings played in Berlin in 2011.

More are to follow with the NHL and NHLPA committed to bringing regular-season games to Germany for at least the next three seasons.

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See AP’s full NHL coverage here

According to SpaceX, a nearly four-hour window is open from 11:38 a.m. to 3:19 p.m. This marks the 30th flight of the first-stage booster supporting the mission.

The booster previously launched Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER-B, USSF-124, BlueBird 1-5, Nusantara Lima (PSN N5), Starfall Demo, and 23 Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

News 6 will stream the launch live at the top of this web story

The announcement of his contract extension ahead of Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix this weekend ends speculation that he could seek a blockbuster move to another team or quit the sport.

It comes despite Red Bull struggling to match the pace of leading team Mercedes this season, and Verstappen's own frustration with how much the 2026 cars rely on electrical power.

“After the first few races (this year), I said to Laurent (Mekies, Red Bull team principal): ‘Don’t come to me with any kind of questions about the future because I don’t even know if I want to stay.’ Honestly, we always kept it very open,” Verstappen said.

He added that talks with F1 and governing body the FIA had persuaded him that “we are slowly working towards something that becomes better and better” with the current cars, while the new contract until 2030 could cover a planned return to simpler V8 engines.

“Even if I’m not entirely happy with how the package is, I still love racing, this is still the pinnacle of motorsport, so I still want to be here,” he added.

Asked whether he’d spoken with other teams, he said: “I think I was closer to retiring than changing team.”

Seeing out the contract in full would take Verstappen to 15 seasons with Red Bull. It would be the longest-running driver-team pairing in F1 history. It comes with strong support for team principal Mekies after he replaced the team's founding boss Christian Horner last year.

In return, Mekies laid out how the team is built around Verstappen.

“He’s a lot more than the fastest driver in the world for us,” Mekies said. “He’s the central point of the team. He’s one we always refer to for all the strategic decisions we are making, and to know that he’s going to be with us in order to build that next winning cycle is phenomenal.”

Verstappen, already considered one of F1’s all-time greats at the age of 28, has yet to win a race this season. The 71-time race winner hasn’t had a winless season since his rookie year in 2015.

Verstappen’s previous contract ran through 2028 but reportedly included performance-related clauses which could have potentially allowed him to leave earlier and which fueled speculation he might seek to move.

Red Bull backed Verstappen’s career from childhood and brought him into F1 at the age of 17 in 2015 at its second team, then called Toro Rosso. That made him the youngest driver in series history, a record he still holds.

Still, there had been signs of tension in recent years amid the departures of a series of key staff including Horner last year and car design great Adrian Newey.

Verstappen also raised safety concerns this season after two separate faults with the Red Bull car’s rear wing hurled him into high-speed crashes.

Verstappen had been linked with a move to McLaren after reports of a meeting in June between his representatives and McLaren management. McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said at the time the team didn't have an opening for him and would stick with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

One driver who had been considered a potential replacement for Verstappen at Red Bull, Carlos Sainz Jr., signed a new contract on Wednesday with Williams.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

The decision marks a milestone in Evergrande's saga after it defaulted on more than $300 billion in liabilities when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry in 2020. That triggered a crunch among many developers and brought on a downturn in the property market that has weighed on the broader economy ever since.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court said Thursday it convicted 67-year-old Hui, who founded Evergrande, of engaging in large-scale financial fraud in inflating the group’s assets and concealing its liabilities.

In a statement, the court said Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, abused his position in orchestrating fraud and misappropriating company assets.

Evergrande group was fined 8.82 billion yuan ($1.31 billion) and Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan ($1.04 billion), the court said.

“The amount involved is exceptionally large, the circumstances are particularly egregious, and extraordinarily heavy economic losses have been caused,” the statement said. “The harm to society is extremely serious. Therefore, severe punishment should be given in accordance with the law.”

Hui’s sons, Xu Tenghe and Xu Zhijian, were also sentenced alongside senior Evergrande executives and others linked to the group on charges including illegally taking public deposits, fundraising fraud and the illegal use of funds, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. A total of more than 50 individuals got prison terms of between 22 months and 18 years, it said without providing a breakdown of sentencing details.

A photo of Hui's courtroom appearance released by the Shenzhen court on Thursday showed an aged Hui, who used to be a high-profile figure but had long been out of public view, wearing a navy blue shirt standing between two uniformed officers behind a sign that read “defendant” in Chinese.

Hui pleaded guilty in April to various charges including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and bribery after he was detained in China.

China Evergrande was founded in 1996 as China's housing boom was taking off. It defaulted on its debts in 2021 and was ordered to liquidate its assets. The broader downturn in China's massive property sector that ensued has pulled home prices down 20% or more since 2021.

Authorities in Hong Kong and mainland China earlier said their investigations found Evergrande had manipulated its financial data using tactics such as prematurely booking revenue from property sales before completion and delivery of the apartments to buyers. Revenues were overstated by roughly $80 billion over 2019 and 2020, they said.

Hui was fined 47 million yuan ($6.5 million) in 2024 and banned from China's securities markets for life by the China Securities Regulatory Commission over inflating company financial results, among other issues.

Once reported to be China’s richest man, Hui used to own the football club Guangzhou Evergrande. At one point, he and his companies were involved in investing in and building theme parks and electric vehicles.

His story was one of rags-to-riches. Born in 1958 into a rural family in central China's Henan province, he worked in the steel industry in the 1980s before establishing Evergrande, which then prospered during China's housing market boom. He was one of many businessmen who have also gained political influence by joining a major advisory organization, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Bangkok contributed to this report.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launches of about 10 short-range ballistic missiles happened from North Korea’s capital region around 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Thursday. The military said the missiles flew about 300 kilometers (185 miles) each toward North Korea’s eastern waters.

The military said South Korea has bolstered its surveillance posture and was closely coordinating information on the launches with the U.S. and Japan. South Korea’s presidential national security council issued a statement urging North Korea to halt ballistic missile launches.

The Japanese prime minister's office had earlier said that it detected a suspected missile launch.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, just before they began Monday. Trump cited what he said was a good relationship with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to support him over the war in Iran.

On Wednesday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries confirmed they shortened the 11-day drills by shortening their duration by about half and canceling some field training exercises. The reduction of the exercises raised worries about the allies’ joint defense posture.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed Trump’s overture later Wednesday, saying “the provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”

“If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer,” she said in a statement.

She denied Trump’s claim that Kim Jong Un had responded to his request for a conversation.

Kim Yo Jong still refrained from the typical North Korean reaction of fiery rhetoric and said personal relations between her brother and Trump are “still excellent.” That signals North Korea would want to wait for Trump to make bigger concessions before returning to talks.

When asked by reporters Wednesday if he would be meeting with Kim Jong Un this year, Trump said that “Yeah, I will be.” He wouldn’t answer a question about whether he is exchanging letters with Kim but said he gets along with him.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield is one of the main military exercises conducted by the U.S. and South Korea annually to enhance their ability to cope with potential North Korean aggression. Washington and Seoul say their drills are defensive in nature, but North Korea calls them an invasion rehearsal and often reacts with weapons tests.

Before this month's drills started, North Korea accused the U.S. and South Korea of plotting more provocative exercises this summer and vowed to respond with "a new level of a deterrent.” Days before the drills' start, North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in its first such launches since late June.

Trump's earlier diplomacy with Kim Jong Un collapsed in 2019 due to disputes over how much sanctions relief North Korea should be given in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step. Kim has since shunned any talks with the U.S., pushed to modernize weapons arsenals and expanded cooperation with Russia.

Kim has said he won’t place his nuclear program back on the negotiating table. Experts say Kim has more leverage than when he first held talks with Trump in 2018 and 2019. They say Kim likely hopes to eventually win international recognition as a nuclear state and extensive sanctions relief in exchange for only limited steps toward denuclearization.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

The school board unanimously selected Deputy Superintendent Chad Farnsworth as the district’s next superintendent.

Farnsworth served seven years as assistant superintendent and chief of staff before being named deputy superintendent in 2024. Before joining Lake County, he was elected superintendent of Bradford County Schools in 2012, a role he held for four years. According to his resume, he raised the district’s grade, improved the graduation rate, and pulled the district out of a critical financial crisis.

Farnsworth plans to outline his vision for the district at an event next week.

Farnsworth takes over for Diane Kornegay, who announced her retirement at the end of the 2026-27 school year after more than 35 years in public education — including a decade as superintendent. Kornegay is the longest-serving appointed superintendent in Florida and was named Florida’s 2026 Superintendent of the Year by the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.

The recalled products may be contaminated with E. coli, a bacteria that can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. In serious cases, infection can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially life-threatening condition that may cause kidney failure.

Publix announced the recall July 29 for four GreenWise organic frozen fruit products. The items were sold at Publix stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The recalled products include:

• GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries, 10-ounce packages
• GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries, 48-ounce packages
• GreenWise Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 10-ounce packages
• GreenWise Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 48-ounce packages

Consumers should check their freezers for the affected products. All recalled items have expiration dates before Feb. 9, 2028, and can be identified by their UPC codes:

• Blueberries, 10 ounces: 41415-06453
• Blueberries, 48 ounces: 41415-12053
• Mixed berries, 10 ounces: 41415-06753
• Mixed berries, 48 ounces: 41415-12153

The FDA’s Class 1 designation means there is a reasonable probability that consuming or being exposed to the recalled products could cause serious health consequences or death.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12 people in two states have been infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli. No deaths have been reported in connection with the outbreak.

Anyone with a recalled product should not eat it. The FDA advises consumers to throw it away or return it to Publix for a full refund. People who develop severe diarrhea, vomiting or stomach cramps after eating the product should contact a health care provider.

In an arrest affidavit, police said the incident happened on the afternoon of Aug. 13 at Turie T. Smalls Elementary, roughly around the period for dismissal.

At the time, the woman — identified as 26-year-old Lynesia Dorsey — was told by the teacher that parents weren’t allowed in the school during the first week due to safety concerns, police explained.

However, Dorsey instead talked over the teacher, trying to push her way into the front office, the affidavit says.

“However, (the teacher) stood ground and refused to allow Dorsey inside,” the affidavit reads. “Dorsey then used her hands and (punched the teacher) several times in the face.”

The principal and a school resource officer soon got involved to restrain Dorsey, investigators added.

Police said they later spoke with Dorsey, who claimed she punched the teacher because “he leaned on her” and her child, a student at the school.

Now, Dorsey faces a charge of battery on a school board employee. She was released later that evening on bond of $5,000.

In Waldorf, in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a woman was struck by a falling tree and fatally injured, the German news agency dpa reported Thursday. Another woman suffered serious injuries in the accident, police said.

The women, 58 and 47, were walking together when a storm rolled in and they sought shelter under a covered seating area. Both women were struck when a tree was uprooted and fell onto the seating area. The 58-year-old died at the scene, a police spokesperson said. The 47-year-old was taken to a hospital.

A tornado struck the town of Fürstenwalde, 78 kilometers (49 miles) southeast of Berlin. Roofs were torn off and several cars were damaged by falling trees, and one person was injured, according to dpa.

In Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwald district in western Germany, a storm tore walls from buildings. At least two homes were affected, according to dpa. Falling pieces of building facades and flying debris caused additional damage, and several trees were uprooted. A widespread power outage also hit the area, while strong gusts of wind overturned a truck on the A61 highway.

There were also numerous weather-related emergency calls overnight in Hesse, Thuringia and Bavaria.

A village festival in Kronach, Bavaria, was partially evacuated due to severe storms. About 3,500 guests had to leave the outdoor area of the festival grounds late Wednesday evening, local police said. They were able to continue celebrating inside the beer halls.

In Wetzlar, in Hesse, the storm damaged about 60 houses, according to the fire department. In some cases, pieces of roofing were blown as far as 100 meters (110 yards) away, dpa reported.

The German Weather Service warned that further severe storms could occur later in the day, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria in southern Germany.

While the storms in Germany were accompanied by cooler temperatures, high temperatures continued to be recorded in southeastern Europe, and fires raged in some parts of the region.

Firefighters are battling wildfires in the Balkans

In Serbia, a Russian firefighting plane joined efforts in Serbia on Thursday to fight wildfires that devastated a nature reserve in the northeast as the Balkan country faces a fresh heat wave in the coming days.

The Il-76 plane landed in Serbia on Wednesday evening, also illustrating continued friendly relations between the two countries despite Belgrade’s proclaimed intention to join the European Union.

The fire in Deliblatska Pescara, or Deliblato Sands, first erupted a month ago, but was under control until early August when it started spreading swiftly, engulfing thousands of acres of pine forests and shrubbery.

Several other big fires also have been raging in other parts of the country, as well as throughout the region in the past weeks. An extremely hot and dry summer this year has fueled wildfires throughout Europe, from Belgium to Greece.

Croatian firefighters from the popular tourism hot spot of Dubrovnik on Thursday joined a struggle to contain a fire across the border in Bosnia to prevent it from spreading toward the medieval walled city that is a UNESCO protected heritage site.

“It was a hard night,” regional firefighting unit commander Stjepan Simović told the Hina news agency. "The fire is huge and in an inaccessible terrain, so we have to be vigilant.”

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Gec reported from Belgrade, Serbia.

If you love fried chicken but are always looking for a new way to eat it, Saucy! by KFC is leaning into the flavor experience with its new Flavor Playground.

Ahead of Saucy! Fest on Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Waterford location, I got an early preview of the brand’s upcoming menu launches. The one-night community event will feature interactive experiences, live DJ entertainment, sauce flights and opportunities for guests to be among the first to try Saucy!’s newest combinations.

I recently spoke with Zachary Phillips, the store manager at the Winter Park location, and he explained that Saucy!’s biggest differentiator is the combination of KFC’s classic 11 herbs and spices with 12 different sauces. The idea is to give customers the familiar flavor of KFC chicken while letting them choose a sauce that creates an entirely different experience.

That variety is at the center of Saucy!’s new Flavor Playground, which also includes an innovative menu and competitive prices.

The new Sauc!es Combo comes with three tenders, fries, a medium drink and four signature dipping sauces inspired by the brand’s new Sauc!es characters: DJ Saucy!, Creole Capone, K-Ferno and Teri Yappi.

Those sauces include Saucy! Sauce, Creole Honey Mustard, Korean Sweet Heat and Sweet Teriyaki. But the brand offers 12 sauces in total, giving customers plenty of room to mix, match and find a favorite.

I tried all 12 sauces, including the new options, and my favorite by far was the Creole Honey Mustard. It had just the right sweetness, balanced by Creole spices that gave it more depth and personality. It was easily the sauce I kept going back to.

The Korean Sweet Heat was also amazing. It reminded me of Korean barbecue, with umami-rich soy notes layered into the sweetness and heat. I think it would pair especially well with one of Saucy!’s rice bowls, where the rice could give the sauce a hearty base and let those flavors really stand out.

One of the upcoming menu items I previewed was the Nashville Hot Tendies, which officially launch Aug. 25.

The tenders were super well-seasoned, with enough Nashville Hot flavor to make the dish exciting without becoming too spicy to enjoy. They also were not overly greasy, which can sometimes be an issue with hot chicken-style items.

For me, the balance was the biggest success. The Nashville Hot Tendies delivered the spice and flavor I wanted without overwhelming the chicken itself.

Saucy! is also launching a new Sauce of the Month program in September. Phillips told me the first featured sauce will be called Golden Jam, a mango-based sauce.

That rotating sauce gives customers another reason to come back and try something new, especially if they enjoy experimenting with different flavor combinations. It also adds another layer to a menu built around customization and discovery.

The brand’s new Dirty Sodas, part of its Beverage Remix Bar, are scheduled to launch Sept. 1. Together with the new tenders, sauce lineup and rotating monthly flavors, the additions give Saucy! a menu that feels designed for people who want more options than a standard chicken meal.

Saucy! Fest will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at 12195 East Colonial Drive. The first 200 guests will receive complimentary sauce flights, and the event will also feature Sauce Roulette, with a chance to win exclusive Saucy! merchandise.

In a market filled with fast-food options for fried chicken, it is refreshing to see a place keeping things fresh and new. With 12 different sauces, no two bites have to taste the same, making the experience feel like an adventure for your taste buds and a way to step outside the mundane.

That kind of creativity is what we need in the food industry: brands that never stop innovating, pushing boundaries and finding new ways to keep things fun for customers. Whether you prefer a sweet and savory sauce like Creole Honey Mustard, something with umami-rich soy notes like Korean Sweet Heat or a spicier tender like Nashville Hot, the new Flavor Playground gives you plenty of ways to find your own favorite combination.

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Authorities identify the suspect as 65-year-old Michael Knight. The arrest happened along West Colonial Drive, a little more than a mile from Ocoee Elementary, according to information provided in the report and reviewed by News 6.

The new case comes while Knight was out on bond for an April case, prompting concerns from parents about why he was released and whether repeat offenders should face tougher consequences.

“I don’t want to be outside where there is a risk of that happening to me and my family,” said Orange County parent Katy Torres.

News 6 reviewed Knight’s criminal history with attorney Raymond Traendly, managing partner of TK Law.

“When you have these serial offenders who are not rehabilitated from their long or short stints in jail, there needs to be some additional action,” he said. “Whether that’s the legislature figuring out a way to impose stricter penalties for these crimes, or whether it’s the judicial system taking a deeper look at what the ultimate cause is.”

Records show Knight was found guilty of indecent exposure in Orange County in 1986.

A 2002 Volusia County case placed him on the sex offender registry, involving a victim under 16, according to court records.

Arrest records also show a 2012 incident at a Maitland park in which a woman reported Knight ran up to her and said, “I’m about to get naked.” The State Attorney’s office ultimately dropped those charges, claiming it did not have enough evidence to move forward.

The next year, Knight was found guilty of felony indecent exposure again. Records show a responding deputy asked whether Knight knew what he did was wrong, and he replied, “Yes, sir.”

In 2022, records show Knight was arrested near a Burger King about three miles from the Popeyes location, where witnesses claimed he exposed himself outside. Prosecutors later dropped those charges, but the arrest remains on his record.

Knight remains in the Orange County Jail, and his bond was revoked on the April charge. News 6 requested a response from the State Attorney’s Office and had not received one as of publication.

“Accountability, integrity and motivating others,” said Quentin McCree, CEO of Pure Pressure Cheer and Dance.

The organization, which began in 2023, serves girls who leaders say are often surrounded by difficult circumstances.

“Pressure makes diamonds,” McCree said.

Martavia Brown, the program’s assistant director, said Pure Pressure provides an outlet for girls who may feel limited by their surroundings.

“At times in this community, we feel captured—imprisoned—to what society has already planned for them,” Brown said. “Us being an outlet gives them a different perspective, a different meaning to life.”

But the program faces pressure of its own. Leaders say they spend thousands of dollars on competitions and already pay out more money than they bring in. They also lack a permanent building for practices, forcing the girls to train in intense heat.

“They pass out,” Brown said. “It has been very difficult.”

As a way to give the girls a break from the heat, the coach and staff tell the girls to hop in the cars they rode in, that are parked nearby where they practice.

Pure Pressure is now working to become a nonprofit. Leaders say that status could help them secure funding, including money to purchase or lease a building.

“To be an impact so they don’t become a statistic of society,” said Brown.

Leaders say the program is already making an impact. They report that participants are earning better grades, and some parents have noticed changes in their children’s confidence and behavior.

“Better grades—even parents are seeing a difference in their kids from when they were enclosed and now they’re opening up,” Brown said.

Twelve-year-old Tija Dansey said she was bullied at school and struggled with insecurity before joining Pure Pressure. She said the program has taught her to encourage herself.

“Look in the mirror, tell yourself you’re good and you can do all you can,” Dansey said.

She also appreciates having a place where she can be herself.

“Everybody doesn’t have this opportunity right in their community. You might have to go somewhere else,” Dansey said. “You can just be you here.”

The team leaders say they want to continue giving Parramore girls a safe space to grow while working toward a permanent home for the program.

Right now, the team is hosting a shoe collection. They’re asking the community to donate new or gently worn men’s and women’s shoes for the young ladies to use in practice.

Shoes can be dropped off on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6 p.m. at Z Riley Park in Parramore, where the girls practice.

“When the 2027 school year starts we will need to have a Superintendent,” one speaker said during Monday’s meeting.

District Communications Officer Sherri Owens confirmed Kornegay’s retirement announcement, telling the board, “Diane Kornegay recently announced she’s retiring.”

Kornegay has served in the role for just under a decade, and the board on Monday approved revisions to the superintendent job description. Board members said they want a candidate with deep experience in Florida schools.

They’re “looking for someone who has at least 10 years experience in Florida Schools,” including “at least five” years at a senior leadership level, a speaker said.

The board said it hopes to select a new superintendent by the end of October.

Another major topic at the meeting: updated plans for two new schools, including a proposed high school on Wellness Way.

Executive Director of Facilities and Growth Planning Kelly Randall said the district is moving forward with a required step tied to the state’s review process: “The capital plan the Board approved in September of 2025, reformatted for submittal to D.O.E.”

District leaders described Monday’s action as a “check-the-box” move for the Florida Department of Education.

Board members said the proposed Wellness Way high school could help families whose students currently travel about 15 miles to attend East Ridge High School, easing commuting stress.

For residents worried about congestion in the area surrounding the planned high school and elementary school, the board said additional road projects are expected before the schools open.

“There is a lot of road network to be built in that area. Lake County has been spearheading that,” one speaker said, adding that the high school is likely 5 - 7 years away, giving time for road improvements intended to relieve congestion.

News 6 will continue tracking this story as more details are released.

“Pulitzer on the Road: Prize — Winning Works That Inform, Empower & Inspire” will launch in October at the Chicago Public Library and the Dallas Public Library and continue through May 2028, with stops at public libraries everywhere from Reading, Pennsylvania, to San Jose, California.

The exhibit will highlight more than a century of Pulitzer winners, whether such groundbreaking news reporting as the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal, iconic photographs such as the AP's “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,” poems by Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost, plays by Arthur Miller and Lin-Manuel Miranda or fiction by Toni Morrison and John Steinbeck.

Kingsolver, Everett and Kraus, all Pulitzer-winning novelists, will be making appearances, along with composer Gabriela Frank and photojournalist Jon Cherry among others.

“Pulitzer on the Road was created to bring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism and storytelling to communities across the country, showcasing the exceptional work that has been honored since the prizes were first awarded in 1917,” Marjorie Miller, administrator of the Pulitzers, said in a statement Thursday.

Maria McCauley, president of the American Library Association, said in a statement that the exhibit would create "opportunities for visitors to connect with the excellent prize-winning works that drive curiosity, conversation and civic engagement.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued the order on Tuesday, which suspends Caruso from his position effective immediately.

Per that order, 67-year-old Caruso is accused of sexually abusing his grandson, who is less than 12 years old and lives in Orange County with the rest of his family.

“During the period charged, Caruso enjoyed regular and unsupervised access to (the) victim by virtue of his position as a family member, including periods alone with the child in Orange County, in Palm Beach County, and aboard a family vacation in August 2025,” the order reads.

Investigators said that in October, the victim’s father learned from the boy that Caruso had showered and performed apparent sexual acts with him during a family cruise in August 2025.

“During the voyage, while in international waters, Caruso separated the victim from his parents under the stated pretext of taking the child to obtain ice cream,” the investigative report states. “Victim was away from his parents in Caruso’s company for at least an hour and was not taken to get ice cream.”

The victim later identified to law enforcement another occasion around Thanksgiving 2024 where Caruso had abused him, the report says.

By December, Caruso was confronted about the allegations, though he denied sexually abusing the boy. Instead, he asked whether his former spouse had interacted with the child, characterizing her as “evil” and having potentially made up the allegations “in an effort to poison the child against him,” investigators said.

Another conversation about what happened cropped up in February 2026, this time recorded at the request of law enforcement, the report says.

“Caruso asserted that the allegations were impossible because, in substance, sexual deviation is directed toward only one sex rather than two, and because he is attracted to women, he could not be a sex offender,” the report continues. “Caruso further stated, in substance: ‘If you report this to the authorities, there won’t be any of me left, I can tell you that.’”

Furthermore, the report claims that Caruso’s daughter had made previous accusations against him of “sexually inappropriate behavior,” including sexual battery.

As a result of the allegations involving his grandson, Caruso was arrested and now faces the following charges:

• Kidnapping
• Lewd or lascivious molestation
• Lewd or lascivious exhibition
• Luring or enticing a child
• Child abuse (mental injury)

Caruso is held in Palm Beach County, though he is expected to be transported to Orange County.

The petition with the hashtag InfantinOut also calls for “FIFA to be rebuilt so that the current debacle can never happen again.”

“The shameful attempt by one individual — the FIFA President himself — to sell off the World Cup to private investors exposed a betrayal football will never forget,” the petition said about Infantino's plan for a commercial spinoff, which he dropped amid a furious backlash.

The fan groups include Football Supporters Europe, Football Supporters Africa and, in North America, the Independent Supporters Council, plus about 40 national fan groups worldwide.

Infantino has resisted calls to leave office despite European soccer body UEFA saying it has no confidence in him. He has also been criticized by the leadership of North America’s CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation.

“Gianni Infantino has demonstrated a profound failure of leadership, incompatible with democratic governance,” the fan petition states. “The concentration of power around the FIFA Presidency, combined with opaque decision-making, personality cult clientelism, and zero accountability has destroyed any remaining trust in the world governing body."

“For the credibility of FIFA — and for the future of the game — he must resign,” the petition adds.

It also cites Infantino’s past support for projects that angered fans, including the failed European Super League project and pushing to hold World Cups every two years.

___

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

THURSDAY

A stalled front to the north and an upper-level low overhead will help fuel showers and storms across the region Thursday. The east coast sea breeze is expected to develop around 2 p.m. and become the main trigger for storms.

Rain and storm chances sit around 50 to 60 percent, with activity developing along the sea breeze before pushing inland. Storm movement will be slow and erratic at times, allowing storms and their outflow boundaries to collide and potentially spark additional development.

A few storms could become strong, producing wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph, with isolated higher gusts possible. Frequent lightning, small hail and locally heavy rainfall will also be possible. Storms could linger over the interior through the evening before gradually fading by around midnight.

Before storms arrive, temperatures will climb into the lower to mid 90s, with humidity pushing heat index values between 108 and 110 degrees.

Another heat advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Increased clouds and storm coverage should help bring some relief by early evening, but conditions will remain warm and muggy overnight.

WEEKEND

The overall weather pattern changes little through the weekend. Expect 40 to 60 percent chances for afternoon and evening showers and storms Friday through Sunday, with strong wind gusts continuing to be the primary concern.

Some slightly drier air moving in this weekend may help lower humidity enough to end the recent streak of widespread advisory-level heat.

NEXT WEEK

A subtle pattern change next week should help temperatures moderate into the lower 90s, though humidity will remain high.

Daily afternoon storms will continue, with the highest coverage shifting farther inland as southerly winds help push the east coast sea breeze deeper into Central Florida.

Heat index values will still reach 100 to 105 degrees, but are currently expected to stay below heat advisory criteria.

Located at the corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street, the 10-story building has been a downtown fixture for more than a century. Built in 1923, the property includes more than 38,000 square feet and blends historic character with modern office space.

First Capital Property Group recently purchased the building. Jere Matheny, the company’s vice president of brokerage services, said the group hopes the project will help spark more redevelopment in downtown Orlando.

“We’re hoping that this is kind of a first step in what we hope will be a wave of rehab and redevelopment and adaptive reuse of our existing stock,” Matheny said.

The company plans to convert the building into modern office suites for small and mid-sized businesses.

Matheny said each floor includes more than 3,500 square feet of space, giving companies the opportunity to occupy an entire floor rather than share hallways and restrooms with other tenants.

“This gives an opportunity for small and midsize firms to have their own fourth floor in the city,” he said.

The building also has a connection to Central Florida history. Walt Disney and his company occupied space in the Metcalf Building in the 1960s, while Disney was acquiring land for what would eventually become Walt Disney World.

The redevelopment comes as downtown businesses continue to face challenges. Several longtime businesses have closed in recent years, including the bar Tanqueray, which shut down in December after 37 years in the Metcalf Building.

Matheny said the building remains fully operational, with several tenants already in place. The new owners are looking to bring in additional businesses while making capital improvements to the property.

“We believe that this is going to be a positive impact,” Matheny said. “We’re hoping that it’s going to show folks that Orlando is open for business, and we’re doubling down.”

The project spans approximately 2.09 miles, running from east of U.S. 17-92 to State Road 419. The corridor passes through the cities of Casselberry, Longwood, and Winter Springs.

Beyond repaving the road with a rehabilitated asphalt surface, the project aims to enhance both safety and traffic operations along the corridor. One of the more significant changes involves replacing a portion of the existing two-way center turn lane with a raised median and directional openings between Sheoah Boulevard and Charles Street.

Full median openings would be placed at Sherry Avenue and Hacienda Drive. Directional median openings are proposed at three additional locations: Bombay Avenue, Fairfax Avenue, and Costa Rica Drive.

Pedestrian safety is also a priority in the proposal. The project would reconstruct sidewalk curb ramps to meet current Americans with Disabilities Act standards, restore pedestrian railing at the Sheoah Boulevard intersection, and refresh all crosswalks along the corridor.

Traffic signal upgrades are also on the table. The existing signals at Fountaintree Drive/Sunshadow Drive and at Winter Park Drive would be fully reconstructed and upgraded. Additional signal enhancements are planned at other existing signals throughout the corridor.

Design of the project is expected to be completed in Fall 2027 at a cost of $1.6 million. Construction is estimated to cost $10.4 million and is expected to be funded by early 2028.

FDOT will hold an open house to discuss the project on Thursday from 5:30 - 7 p.m. at the Longwood Community Building, located at 200 W. Warren Ave.

Nguyen Thi Quynh Tam, 24, said she was raped on July 5 and pressured by the man’s family to accept money and not go to police. She said the police also initially urged her to settle the matter privately.

The AP does not usually identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted. Her candor is unusual for Vietnam, where sexual violence is rarely discussed publicly, but she said she wanted to speak out to help protect other women.

“I’m doing this not just for me. But for everybody else that has been harmed,” said Tam.

Tam’s account was documented in interviews, her police complaint and communications with U.S. and Vietnamese officials. After she sought help from U.S. officials and a U.S. lawmaker, officials confirmed Thursday that they had charged the 23-year-old man.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said authorities had initiated legal proceedings “in accordance with Vietnamese law.” She did not respond to questions about alleged police pressure to settle the case.

The man charged in the case did not respond to AP queries sent via social media.

Tam, whose family moved to the United States when she was 5 years old, returned to Vietnam in May for a banking internship, hoping to reconnect with her family’s homeland. She joined a group of acquaintances on a July 4 trip to a resort in Phu Tho, near Hanoi.

The group stayed up late and when she went to bed, Tam found herself locked out of the room where she expected to sleep. She found another bedroom and fell asleep with the door unlocked, then awoke to the 23-year-old man kissing her neck.

Her complaint says Tam told him not to touch her, but he persisted and climbed on top of her. She pushed and punched him and shouted, “No!” But he pinned both her arms above her head and raped her.

Later that night, she messaged her boyfriend in the U.S. that she had been raped. The AP has seen the messages.

Afterward, she said she blamed herself and struggled mentally. Others in the group they traveled with told her the man was from a wealthy, politically-connected family and she was unsure what to do.

Tam said the man apologized twice on July 9, in a note and during a phone call. The AP has heard a recording of the call and seen the note.

On July 11, Tam and friends of her family met with the man's father in an encounter suggested by members of the group she traveled with. She said he asked how much money she wanted for not involving the police. He called five days later, again offering compensation, she said.

In an email to the The Associated Press, the father said the two had been “intimate,” but he declined to comment further. He said his family had “no intention” of pressuring Tam to drop the case.

Tam said that after she reported the incident to police on July 21, they took her back to the room where she said she was raped and asked her to reenact the assault, leaving her distraught.

“A part of me is gone. And it’s in that room,” she said.

The next day, she said, police urged her to meet with the 23-year-old and to sign a statement saying she had refused a rape kit and a lawyer. She refused. The police again asked her to settle while she was getting mental health care at a Hanoi hospital, she said.

Tam, who is from Houston, Texas, said she got little help at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, where she was told she could report the matter to Vietnamese police, or return home. She said she was discouraged when they cited a previous sexual assault case that dragged on for over a year before being dropped.

After Tam's father contacted their senator, Ted Cruz, the embassy called her to apologize. It told Cruz’s office it had supported Tam and helped her contact authorities. Her father called that “inaccurate,” according to a July 29 email exchange.

The State Department said it was aware of her case, but couldn't comment further because of legal and privacy reasons. It said American “safety and security” was its top priority.

With universities competing to pay athletes millions of dollars, some states now are propping up their strained sports budgets in ways not previously seen. The state dollars aren’t going directly to star athletes. But by funding facilities and administrative costs normally borne by the schools, states are freeing universities to use their own dollars for other purposes.

The athletics program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for the first time, is receiving $3 million earmarked from state sports betting taxes. Wisconsin lawmakers approved $15 million for athletic costs at the University of Wisconsin. And Connecticut and Louisiana also are using tax dollars to support college athletics. Even more states have considered it.

Sports business analysts see an emerging trend.

“Once one state provides that kind of assistance, schools in competing states can argue that they are being placed at a competitive disadvantage, which could create additional pressure on legislatures to respond,” said Daniel McIntosh, faculty director of the sports business program at Arizona State University.

Legal cases have accelerated spending on college athletes

NCAA rules long barred college athletes from getting paid by schools and boosters. But under pressure from lawsuits and states, the NCAA cleared the way in 2021 for athletes to receive money from private entities for the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). Then a legal settlement last year allowed higher education institutions to directly pay athletes a total of about $20.5 million annually — on top of any scholarships and other NIL deals they receive.

That cap rose to $21.3 million for this school year, and is set to rise again the following year.

Many mid-level programs cannot afford that much. But almost all NCAA Division I athletic programs are trying to generate more money to pay athletes in a bid to remain competitive with their peers. At the same time, schools have been incurring greater costs for facilities, coaches’ salaries and travel amid conference realignments that discarded old geographic-based rivalries.

Over the past four years, athletic operating expenses at public Division I institutions shot up by nearly a third — notably outpacing revenue and running up deficits, according to an Associated Press analysis using the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.

Federal legislation could drive athletic costs even higher

The Protect College Sports Act, pending in the U.S. Senate, has been promoted as a way to put guardrails on college sports spending. But it could potentially allow even greater spending by schools.

The latest version would allow institutions to pay up to an additional $27.5 million annually to retain players on their rosters, pushing the overall athlete payment cap close to $50 million. The higher ceiling could reduce the demand for third-party NIL deals.

But the legislation contains no provision restraining increases in state and institutional funding for athletics, said Amy Privette Perko, CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

“Without some restraint on the underlying spending competition, additional public funding could simply finance the next stage of the arms race,” McIntosh said.

States are routing money to schools in creative ways

When North Carolina launched online sports wagering in 2024, it earmarked part of the tax revenue for athletic departments at 13 public universities. But the two largest institutions — the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University — were excluded.

That changed in July under a new state budget that raises the sports betting tax. Those two schools now are projected to receive $3 million each this year and $5.8 million next year.

In the meantime, Louisiana also hiked its sports wagering tax and earmarked about $2.2 million to each of its 11 public universities in conferences with Division I football programs.

Seeking to drum up athletic revenue, Connecticut lawmakers authorized the University of Connecticut to issue vouchers for state tax credits equal to half the amount of donations, sponsorships and licensing endorsements. The program generated $1.7 million in its first four months, according to a university report.

New Jersey’s new budget allots $5 million for “events attraction and marketing” at Rutgers’ flagship campus. A university spokesperson declined to say if the money would be used for athletic programs.

Though not providing new state money, the governing board for Florida’s universities last year authorized institutions to transfer up to $22.5 million to athletics. Florida State University did so almost immediately, and other schools have since followed.

Lawmaker says a bad football team is bad for the state

The Wisconsin budget provides $14.6 million for athletic facility debt payments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and $200,000 each for the Milwaukee and Green Bay campuses.

“None of that state funds technically would go toward student athletes,” said Republican state Rep. Alex Dallman, who sponsored the legislation.

But with the state covering facility debt, the university could use its own funds “for other things, such as NIL, or just trying to compete,” said Dallman, who typically attends a couple Wisconsin football games each year.

“Having a bad football team, having uncompetitive college sports in general, would not be beneficial to our state, both culturally or economically,” Dallman said. “So we decided as a state we’d help out.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids," and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party's future nominee.”

A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention.

The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028, traditionally gives the party a chance to formally introduce its nominee to the country, rally the base and kick-start the most intense period of campaigning ahead of the general election.

The party didn't specify why Atlanta and Chicago, which was the site of the 2024 convention, were eliminated. Officials visited all five cities in April and May, considering logistical and fundraising capacity among other factors.

The three finalists are liberal strongholds surrounded by the type of suburban areas that have become increasingly important to the party in recent elections. They also provide access to fundraising and key demographic and interest groups, like labor unions.

While Colorado and Massachusetts have gone Democratic in recent presidential elections, Pennsylvania has been among the biggest battlegrounds. Trump, a Republican, won Pennsylvania in 2024.

Philadelphia last hosted the convention in 2016, Denver in 2008 and Boston in 2004.

Before the presidential primary gets into gear, Democrats are looking at this year's midterm elections as an opportunity to flip the narrowly divided Republican-led House and maybe take back control of the Senate.

Democrats face fundraising disadvantages compared with Republicans, along with financial debt, and Martin has confronted criticism over his stewardship of the party.

During a recent DNC meeting in Texas, Martin downplayed the critics and called for the party to unite as it tries to win the midterms and look ahead to 2028 and the end of Trump's second term.

Using a pair of hand tools, Shijin carefully inspected the sheet made from the papyrus plant, proceeding with the utmost care. After all, it most likely hadn’t been handled in a century — nor read for thousands of years.

The Papyrus Conservation Summer Seminar at the University of Michigan is the only one of its kind in the Americas, according to the university. And it's one of the few in the world designed to convey the best practices for conserving papyrus manuscripts, ancient texts written on rolls or sheets made from the papyrus plant.

“If you touch this papyrus, you can feel the history,” said Shijin, a native of China who was among nine scholars from across the globe, including Ireland, Italy and the U.S., who took the 10-day course.

Michigan’s Papyrology Collection covers texts and documents from 1000 B.C.E. to 1000 C.E. No institution on this side of the world has more of them, the Ann Arbor school said, giving the researchers access to a vast collection of ancient papyri. There are portions of the Homer epics, “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad,” writings by the philosopher Epicurus and the oldest-known copy of the Epistles of Paul.

“Carrying on this tradition is an incredible responsibility, but it also is incredibly fun and rewarding, because there’s nothing I love more than getting people together from all over the world, sharing ideas, learning from each other,” said Marieka Kaye, who manages library preservation services for physical collections at the University of Michigan Library.

Kaye said she tried to make “things comfortable and not scary, because a lot of people just feel terrified working on these ancient things.”

The seminar introduced the papyrologists and conservators to techniques in the treatment, storage and care of the ancient texts, as well as documentation practices. Papyrus and its ink can crumble, smear or break, so Kaye encouraged the students to carefully remove dirt, sand, salt and debris; use controlled moisture to soften folds and realign fibers; and dry the papyrus slowly under light weight to prevent curling.

The first seminar was held in 2012, and they have been held every two years since, except for the 2020 pandemic year. About 50 students total have taken part.

“If we don’t train the next generations of conservators, this is a craft that is going to be lost,” said Giuliano Sidro, curator of Michigan's Papyrology Collection.

Michigan has so many papyrus manuscripts on hand that its researchers haven’t gone through them all. Some of the items were acquired, while others were excavated, during university expeditions to the ancient site of Karanis, Egypt, from 1924-35. Francis Willey Kelsey, a Latin professor who died in 1927, was the driving force behind the establishment of the Papyrology Collection. He believed Michigan students studying the ancient world needed access not only to books, but to the tangible remains of antiquity. Today, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is a fixture on the Michigan campus. Its collection represents one of the finest compilations of daily-life objects from Greco-Roman Egypt located outside of Cairo.

“This is a place where you make discoveries, potentially every day, if you just go into the vault, pick out a box and open something up, and you start reading,” Sidro said.

Of course, to make sense of it, one needs to be able to decipher Arabic, ancient Greek or Latin, and even Egyptian, one of the earliest known written languages that is now extinct. A few of the seminar participants were able to read the papyri, including Arzak Mohamed, who reads Arabic, and Mauro Castiello, a papyrology doctoral student in Milan, who can translate ancient Greek and Latin.

Kaye said she always tries to include a student from Egypt among the seminar participants.

Mohamed, a postdoctoral fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, had heard about the papyrus seminar for years and always wanted to attend. The 42-year-old mother of three is from Fayoum, Egypt, not far from Karanis.

“Now, I can transfer this information from Michigan to Egypt and even in Australia,” she said. “I will be like the chain, connecting between the three countries.”

“By saving this information, we can transfer the knowledge to the next generation,” she added.

The military said it would not probe three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. It said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct in Gaza and made decisions on the five cases.

Chef José Andrés, founder of U.S.-based World Central Kitchen, condemned the decision on X as “wrong and painful.”

The investigations involve killings that drew a heavy international outcry. Hind was trapped in a vehicle with her slain relatives, pleading for help by phone before she too was killed in February 2024. After the shooting of the 15 medics in March 2025, troops bulldozed their bodies into a mass grave.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 people, including tens of thousands of women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Rights groups and U.N. commissions have said the campaign amounts to genocide and that Israeli forces have committed a litany of war crimes, including indiscriminate use of force and deliberate killings of civilians.

Israel denies accusations of genocide and war crimes and says it is targeting Hamas after its October 2023 attack on southern Israel. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militant group operates in populated areas in the tiny, overcrowded strip.

Israeli officials contend the country's justice system can address any violations by its troops, but rights groups say soldiers are almost never held accountable.

Wednesday's statement did not mention many other high-profile killings that Israel has pledged to investigate, such as its strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza that killed five journalists in August 2025, including Mariam Dagga, a visual journalist who freelanced for The Associated Press and other news organizations.

The 5-year-old was the last alive in a stranded car

Hind's grandmother, also named Hind Rajab, told the AP by phone that the Israeli investigation into her killing is not enough.

“An international investigation is required to uncover the truth and hold all those responsible accountable,” she said. “We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children.”

The military in Wednesday's statement admitted to firing at the car carrying the 5-year-old, four of her cousins and her aunt and uncle as they fled an Israeli invasion of Gaza City.

As gunfire sprayed around them, the girl's cousin, 15-year-old Layan Hamada, called the Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic center, telling staff there her family had been killed. Seconds later, more gunshots were heard, and Layan’s screaming stopped, according to the Red Crescent recording of the call.

Palestinian paramedics dispatched an ambulance to rescue Hind and stayed on the line with her until contact was lost. Hind, her five relatives and two medics from the ambulance were found dead 12 days later.

The military admitted Wednesday that troops had fired toward that ambulance, killing the two medics.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, director of the Belgium-based Hind Rajab foundation, told Al-Jazeera he considered the military investigations a “charade meant to whitewash the culprits instead of convicting them.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent also insists on an international investigation, according to Raed al-Nims, a spokesman for the organization in Gaza. “Israeli measures are not enough,” he told the AP.

A movie docudrama about Hind's death, “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” won international awards and was nominated for an Oscar.

The 15 medics had been trying to reach casualties

In the killing of the paramedics, Israeli troops fired on an ambulance driving to retrieve casualties from an Israeli offensive in the southern city of Rafah, then fired on other emergency vehicles that came looking for the first one, according to phone footage and the sole survivor of the shootings. Fifteen medics and emergency responders from the Red Crescent and Gaza's Civil Defense were killed.

Troops then bulldozed over the bodies and vehicles, burying them in a mass grave. U.N. and rescue workers were only able to reach the site a week later to dig out the bodies.

The Israeli military initially said it opened fire because the vehicles were “advancing suspiciously” on troops without headlights or emergency signals. But it backtracked after the footage emerged, showing the teams driving slowly with their emergency lights flashing and logos visible. A deputy commander was directed to step down over the killings.

“We are not obligated to prove the truth because it is already proven to the whole world,” Eid Azizi, a Palestinian Red Crescent spokesperson, told the AP in a phone call. “We shouldn’t have reached this point if they respected and followed international humanitarian law.”

Israel will not criminally probe World Central Kitchen strike

The military said it had decided against a criminal investigation into April 2024 airstrikes that hit a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven staffers.

The aid group, which distributes food in Gaza, said at the time it had coordinated with the military over the convoy's movement. The vehicles, which had the group’s logo on their roofs visible from the air, were left incinerated and mangled.

Wednesday's military statement said individuals in the vehicles were mistakenly identified as armed Hamas operatives. But it concluded that the commanders' decisions "did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.” At the time, two officers were removed from their positions and three others reprimanded.

World Central Kitchen responded in a statement saying the military’s account of the strike was untrue, “conflates different timelines and events, muddies the story and shifts the blame.” It called for an independent investigation.

Australia's foreign minister Penny Wong expressed “outrage” at the outcome Thursday, saying the removals and reprimands of officers weren't sufficient accountability for the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom. Wong said unanswered questions remained and her government would continue to pursue the matter.

The military also decided not to take criminal action over the killings of four staffers from Doctors Without Borders in two separate instances in November 2023 and February 2024.

What happens next?

Military investigators will now take up the probes and present their findings to military prosecutors. The military advocate general can then decide to keep investigating, indict any soldiers involved or decline to charge them.

Any action will take a long time, if it comes at all, said Tal Steiner, head of the Israeli rights group HaMoked.

Indictments are very uncommon and convictions even more so, she said, recalling only one soldier who had spent time behind bars since Oct. 7, 2023, for alleged abuse of Palestinian prisoners. That soldier was imprisoned for seven months under a June 2025 plea bargain.

“It’s very rare that soldiers accused of harming Palestinians even go to court ... and even rarer that they get a severe punishment,” Steiner said.

Just 0.17% of all military investigations launched during three Gaza operations from 2014 to 2022 led to prosecution, according to an analysis by Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

The war's toll keeps growing

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel and abducted 251 others.

Israeli strikes have continued in Gaza since a ceasefire deal came into effect in October, killing at least 1,270 people, according to the Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women and children constitute about half of the dead. ___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Erin Cunningham in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Meanwhile, France announced it will expel two Iranian diplomats in response to the expulsion of French diplomats from the Islamic Republic this week. And the Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator landed in neighboring Iraq for a three-day visit.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage can be found here.

Israel's military plans criminal investigation into Gaza attacks

The Israeli military said it would investigate the killings of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and her family members in February 2024, and the killing of 15 Palestinian medics in March 2025. Both drew international attention.

The announcement followed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct during the war in Gaza. The military said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders.

Rajab was killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a vehicle that also was carrying her aunt, uncle and four cousins as they tried to flee Gaza City amid an Israeli offensive.

The 15 paramedics were killed when Israeli troops opened fire on their vehicles in the southern city of Rafah, then bulldozed over the bodies and buried them in a mass grave. Troops first shot at an ambulance that was driving to retrieve casualties from an Israeli offensive, then fired on several other emergency vehicles that went out to look for the first one, according to phone footage and the sole survivor.

Australian official angered by move not to probe aid worker’s death

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed “outrage” on Thursday at Israel’s decision not to pursue criminal charges over strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including Australian woman Zomi Frankcom.

Wong said her government was informed of the decision moments before it was announced, leaving officials no time to inform Frankcom’s family before it became public.

“There are still many unanswered questions,” Wong said.

They included why the convoy was struck three times in a humanitarian fire control zone and why a senior brigade officer involved in the strikes was a signatory to a letter urging the restriction of aid to Gaza, Wong added. Australia had yet to receive drone recordings from the attack, despite seeking them multiple times, she said.

“The Australian government does not believe that the removal of two officers from their positions and three officers being reprimanded is sufficient accountability for the deaths of seven people, including an Australian citizen,” Wong said.

The minister hours earlier summoned Israel’s envoy to Canberra Hillel Newman for a meeting. However, she wouldn’t expel the ambassador, she said, citing a need to continue engaging diplomatically with Israel.

Newman told reporters after the meeting that he was “very sorry” for Frankcom’s family, but did not apologize for her killing.

“One cannot attack findings of a court if the findings are not suitable to one’s political agenda,” Newman said. He added that the finding of no criminal liability came “after two years of independent research.”

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 10 as ceasefire is in doubt

At least 10 people were killed Wednesday in two airstrikes in Gaza, according to local hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The attacks cast further doubt on whether new U.S. efforts can advance a tenuous ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.

Just two days after U.S. negotiators reportedly asked Israel to draw down attacks in Gaza, Israeli troops also crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and detained a Hamas police colonel at dawn, two witnesses and a Hamas official said. They spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety.

— Samy Magdy and Wafaa Shurafa

Iran's parliament speaker and top negotiator visits Iraq

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf arrived in Iraq for a three-day visit where he will meet with Iraqi officials and leaders of an Iran-backed political coalition.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias have launched drone attacks on U.S. military and diplomatic targets both within Iraq and abroad, piling pressure on Baghdad, which for years has delicately tried to maintain strong ties with both Washington and Tehran.

Qalibaf praised the country’s Tehran-backed militias, which he called the “resistance in Iraq," describing them as a “key component of the country’s national power.”

His comments came even as the Iraqi government has been trying to disarm the militias that have long operated on their own even though they were nominally under state command.

Iraq is asking Iran to grant special status to Iraqi oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz because the country has been affected greatly by Iran's war with the U.S. and needs to guard its economic interests, according to a statement from Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi.

Iraq relies on oil revenues for roughly 90% of its budget, and most of its oil is exported through the strait. Since the war erupted and Iran asserted control over the strait, halting most shipping traffic, Iraq has turned to alternate routes, including sending oil over land to Syria, which is less efficient and more expensive.

France and Iran expel diplomats

France announced it will expel two staff members of the Iranian Embassy in France, in response to what the French Foreign Ministry described as an assault by Iranian security forces against two French diplomatic staff in the Islamic Republic last month.

Iran accused the French pair of taking part in a secret meeting with “suspects in a major case involving foreign infiltration and interference,” Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The French diplomats were expelled on Monday.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot slammed the Iranian authorities for not investigating what he called a “premeditated and deliberate attack.” He called the allegations fabricated and said the two Iranians will leave Paris in the coming days.

___

Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.

On the hillsides of Hautvillers, teams of grape pickers start work at 6:30 a.m. among rows of vines that were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2015.

For Alexandre Gobillard, production director at the Gobillard & Fils Champagne house, beginning the harvest in mid-August was once almost unthinkable.

“It’s historic in Champagne,” he said. “I’ve been working at the estate for 30 years, and when I started, my father used to tell me: ‘On Aug. 15, go on vacation.’ Today, it’s Aug. 18 and we’re in full harvest. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

At 50, Gobillard represents the fourth generation to work the family vineyards. Gobillard & Fils grows 40 hectares (about 100 acres) of vines and produces about 1.5 million bottles a year.

A changing climate brings an earlier harvest

Champagne’s official harvest opened between Aug. 12 and Aug. 17 this year, depending on the area and grape variety — roughly a month earlier than what was once common in the region.

A late-March frost hit vines after mild temperatures triggered early budburst, reducing the potential crop. It was followed by four heat waves, which never happened before, Gobillard said.

Sun-scorched grapes turned partially brown, something Gobillard said he had rarely seen. He explained that losing roughly 10% of the grapes would mean a loss in volume rather than affect the quality of the wine.

Earlier harvests have become increasingly common in Champagne and other French wine regions as temperatures rise. In neighboring Italy, extreme heat has also prompted sparkling-wine producers to harvest sooner and pick grapes at night.

David Chatillon, president of the Union of Champagne Houses, acknowledged weather conditions this year will lead to a clear decrease in yields.

“But it’s not just because of the drought,” he said. “We lost 43% of the potential production to the spring frosts, and the drought has clearly made the problem of lower yields even worse.”

Chatillon said climate change has been a focus of the industry for the past 25 years, prompting investment in research and innovation to adapt to evolving conditions, including developing grape varieties that are more disease-resistant and ripen later.

Heat speeds grape ripening

Gobillard has seen the shift unfold across generations of his family.

“My grandfather’s generation harvested 100 days after flowering, my father’s 90 days, and today we’re down to 80,” he said. “We’re going to have to change our habits.”

This summer’s record temperatures compressed the ripening period even further. In June, temperatures reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Champagne.

“The vine needs water to live,” Gobillard said. “The water was drawn out of the grapes to keep the vine alive, and as a result we had a much higher concentration of sugar. That’s why it happened so much faster.”

As his daughter operated the wine press, Gobillard watched the year's first juice flow with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

He quickly took a sample to measure its sugar level — a key indicator of potential alcohol content and of whether the grapes have been picked at the right moment. “Champagne shouldn’t be too alcoholic. ... We’re looking for delicacy," he said.

An early harvest tests Champagne’s traditions

The early harvest also poses logistical challenges in a region where grapes are traditionally picked by hand, with some workers still on summer vacation and others facing transportation delays.

Gobillard hopes to complete the harvest at the estate in about nine days, a job requiring around 120 workers recruited mostly from across France and Poland.

“It really changes how we look at Champagne’s traditional methods,” said Geoffrey Bonnet-Gobillard, 30, commercial director of the family Champagne house. “Hand harvesting comes with a lot of constraints — housing people, feeding them, recruiting them. It’s very difficult, especially with early harvests in August.”

Those pressures could eventually force producers to reconsider some long-established practices as agricultural machinery becomes more sophisticated, he said.

The house sells most of its Champagne in European markets, including Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain, as well as in West Africa, with smaller volumes going to the United States and Asia, Bonnet-Gobillard said.

High stakes for a global industry

According to Comité Champagne’s 2026 industry report, 266.1 million bottles of Champagne were shipped in France and abroad last year, generating 5.7 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in sales. Exports accounted for 56.5% of shipments. Champagne represented about 8% of global sparkling wine consumption by volume but 31% by value.

The sector supports around 30,000 direct jobs and requires roughly 100,000 seasonal workers for the harvest, according to Comité Champagne.

Despite this year’s difficult conditions, Gobillard said the grapes he inspected were encouraging.

“I’m very happy with what I’m seeing,” he said. “We were worried that the drought would leave us with very light bunches, but in these plots we’re really pleased. The quantity should be sufficient and the quality will be there.”

But there is little time to spare. “It’s time to cut them. We’re going to have to move quickly,” he said.

Hundreds of emails exchanged between U.S. immigration officials, which were obtained by the National Iranian American Council and made public Tuesday, offer the most transparent play by play yet of how the two countries worked together to arrange for more than 100 Iranians to be flown back to Iran on three separate immigration flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026.

The emails show that Iranian officials had some influence over which Iranian immigrants in the U.S. were sent back to their home country, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials apparently heeded some last-minute changes to deportation lists at the request of Iran.

“Per request from the Iran Embassy I added a few cases," one unnamed ICE official wrote in late August, a month before the first deportation flight in September. Just over a week later, someone with the same job title moved to make another, unspecified change to the deportation list after they said they met with the “Director at the Iranian Embassy.”

“Iran has requested that I amend the previous manifest and expedite the removal process,” the official wrote.

In a Sept. 26 email, just three days before the deportation flight left U.S. soil, an ICE official said in an email that the Iranian Embassy was still making requests for three additional Iranians on the flight. It's not clear who ended up on the flight, which ended up being much smaller than initially planned. Iranian officials were still making requests the day the flight departed, although one official wrote that those requests were denied.

Coordination of the flights remained a high priority even as ICE officials acknowledged internally that Iranians were fleeing Iran amid the deadly 12-day war with the U.S. and Israel in June 2025, emails show. The flights departed just months after the U.S. and Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.

The new emails highlight a clear departure from a decades-long practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution forced a large number of Iranians to flee.

The deportation of Iranians to a country whose government has a pattern of violent persecution against women, religious minorities and political dissidents has drawn significant criticism from human rights activists.

The Department of Homeland Security did not offer comment in response to an emailed request sent Tuesday afternoon.

Some deportees were handpicked by Iranian officials, emails show

Iranian officials acknowledged in September 2025 that as many as 400 Iranians could be returned under an agreement with the Trump administration. They said most of the Iranians had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.

It is not clear from the emails how frequently U.S. immigration officials had direct contact with the Iranian government. Sometimes messages were conveyed through Qatari officials, who helped charter the deportation flights through Doha, but other times officials reference regular meetings with the “Iranian delegation," the “Director at the Iranian Embassy” and other unnamed Iranian officials.

It is not clear whether the people Iran put on the list had volunteered to repatriate or if they were forced. Previous reporting from The New York Times revealed that asylum-seekers were among those deported to Iran, while others said they were deported against their will.

At least one person was deported who wasn't supposed to be, emails showed.

“An Iranian not included on the final manifest we sent to the Qatari MOI was boarded on the flight,” an unnamed U.S. official wrote.

In response, another unnamed U.S. official wrote, “I have no idea how the case/person got through on the plane.”

US prioritized deportation efforts during war

Emails suggest that pressure to carry out the Iranian deportations came from the highest levels of the Trump administration, even when U.S. and Israel were exchanging strikes with Iran in a 12-day conflict between June 13 and June 24, 2025.

Just days after Trump's June 16 warning on social media that “Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” the former acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, called the repatriation of Iranian immigrants a “priority" in an email sent to the agency’s head of removal operations Marcos Charles and a number of unnamed staff.

Shortly after Lyon's email, Charles forwarded the message to a group of officials whose names are redacted. An unnamed ICE official responded, warning that “removal will prove difficult” amid the ongoing conflict because Iran wasn't issuing the travel documents for Iranians eligible for deportation. On top of that, the Iranian airspace was closed to all flights during the bombings and Iranians were fleeing the country.

Charles was unfazed, telling staff in a subsequent email to make a plan to deport 58 Iranians with final removal orders in ICE custody at the time.

“We need a plan forward ASAP,” Charles wrote. Another official, who name was redacted, urged colleagues to “identify a solution for this White House priority.”

Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, said the emails undermine Trump’s assertions that the U.S. is at war with Iran to save ordinary Iranians from a repressive regime.

“It demonstrates that the top priority here was to kick out as many people as possible by whatever means necessary,” Abdi said.

Iranian officials had access to immigration detainees

On several occasions, the emails show ICE officials arranging for Iranian officials to meet for unspecified reasons with people detained in the U.S., echoing testimony from Iranian asylum-seekers in an unrelated lawsuit filed by an unaffiliated Iranian interest group in July.

Eleven Iranians in immigration detention said they were forced to meet with Iranian government officials while in ICE detention. Those Iranian authorities knew intimate details about their asylum claims, according to the sworn declarations filed in a Washington, D.C., court in July.

The lawsuit alleges that U.S. immigration agencies have been illegally sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum-seekers with the Iranian government.

The U.S. government is allowed to work with government officials of foreign countries to coordinate deportation logistics. However, federal regulations passed in the late 1990s prohibit the government from sharing information that could reveal that the person getting deported applied for asylum.

DHS vehemently disputed the lawsuit's allegations.

“These allegations that ICE shared asylum application records with the Iranian government are FALSE,” DHS said in a statement in July.

In a legal victory for Anthony, the judge who presided over his trial was removed from the case Wednesday. Judge Michael Chitty was then assigned to consider the motion from Anthony's attorneys asking for a retrial in killing of Austin Metcalf.

Anthony, now 19, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the case. He attended Wednesday's hearing wearing a green prison jumpsuit. His parents and Metcalf's also attending the hearing.

Anthony's attorneys had asked for state District Judge John Roach to be removed in part because of a TV interview in which Roach said jurors “got it right” when they delivered a guilty verdict.

In seeking a new trial, Anthony’s attorneys have argued that the June proceedings were marred by strict courtroom rules and improper jury instructions. They have also said Anthony’s decision to not testify came after a dispute with prosecutors over an agreement to focus the trial on the events leading up to the stabbing.

Jurors in the trial had rejected Anthony’s claims he acted in self-defense during a confrontation with Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year. Students who took the stand described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.

The case attracted national attention in part because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race.

During the recusal hearing Wednesday, Anthony's legal team focused on comments Roach made to a Dallas TV station after the trial had ended. In the interview, which was played as the hearing began, Roach was asked if the jury got “it right.”

“Yeah, they did,” Roach said, adding: “Whatever they say, they got it right.”

During the interview, Roach also defended his courtroom rules and spoke about the onslaught of online postings about the case.

As national attention on the killing intensified last year, the families of both Metcalf and Anthony said they had been targets of harassment.

Several schools were competing at the track event when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.

Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor.

Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.

Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

CK Hutchison said in the statement that it had begun new arbitration proceedings against Panama and alleged that the Central American country had breached an investment protection treaty through “sovereign acts that targeted a decades-old ports concession” in a “state attack campaign” on the company’s assets in the Central American country.

Panama’s government in February seized the Balboa and Cristobal ports, located on each end of the Panama Canal, after its Supreme Court that a concession held by CK Hutchison’s subsidiary to run the two ports was unconstitutional.

The two ports at each end of the Panama Canal became part of U.S.-China tensions since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year after he alleged China of “running” the canal.

The Panama Canal is managed and owned by Panama. But CK Hutchison’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company had run the two ports on the canal from 1997 and had renewed its concession for 25 years in 2021.

Beijing and Hong Kong had hit back at Panama over its takeover of the ports.

CK Hutchison, controlled by the family of Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, last year announced an initial $23 billion deal to sell its global ports business, including the two Panama ports, to a consortium involving U.S. investment firm BlackRock. But the deal had made little progress under geopolitical tensions and legal challenges among China, the U.S. and Panama.

In March, Panama Ports Company had separately sought at least $2 billion in compensation from Panama over its takeover of the ports which it said was unlawful under international arbitration proceedings. CK Hutchison said the actions were making progress.

CK Hutchison added that Thursday's new proceedings were focused on its treaty rights, which were distinct from Panama Ports Company’s contract rights in the earlier arbitration proceedings.

In April, the subsidiary also launched arbitration proceedings against Danish shipping and logistics group Maersk after it took over some of its port operations in Panama. Maersk said at the time that it did not believe it was liable for the claims.

“I don’t think we’ve played great,” the two-time reigning NL manager of the year said Wednesday. “We haven’t really jelled. We haven’t really come together."

The Brewers’ results tell a different story.

Milwaukee appears well on its way to earning its eighth playoff berth in the last nine seasons as it chases a fourth consecutive NL Central title. The Brewers won three of four from the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers last weekend and trounced Seattle 22-0 on Tuesday before their four-game winning streak ended with a 7-5 loss to the Mariners on Wednesday.

“There’s so much that I see that needs to improve, yet you look up and everybody’s saying, ‘Wow, I love the way you play,’ “ Murphy said before Wednesday's game. “And I look funny and I look behind me, and I see if they’re talking to someone else. Really? Maybe I’m too critical. Maybe I’m missing something. I don’t know. I do trust the team.”

They’ve been rewarding that trust.

Surviving a 17-day grind

The Brewers just completed a 17-day run that included no days off, one complete West Coast trip and part of another. They went 10-7 during that stretch.

After losing three straight games at San Diego last week, the Brewers responded by winning a series with the Dodgers, who swept them out of the NL Championship Series last year. After finally getting a day off Monday, the Brewers delivered their 22-0 blowout of Seattle that matched the most one-sided shutout in modern MLB history.

“I think it says we’re a good baseball team,” first baseman Jake Bauers said. “I think in tough times it can be easy to lose sight of that, but we have the right people around to bounce back when things get tough, and we have the right people around to continue to play winning baseball.”

Milwaukee has needed to stay hot to remain ahead of the Chicago Cubs, who have won 11 of their last 16 games and are 4 1/2 behind Milwaukee in the NL Central standings. The Brewers and Cubs face off in a four-game series Aug. 31-Sept. 3 at Wrigley Field before meeting again for three games in Milwaukee from Sept. 7-9.

During that grueling 17-day run, the Brewers encountered some criticism for their inability to acquire two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. The Brewers made a strong push to land Skubal, only to see the Detroit Tigers send him to the Dodgers instead.

Having NL Cy Young Award front-runner Jacob Misiorowski and Skubal fronting a starting rotation in a playoff series would have given the Brewers perhaps their best shot at making the postseason breakthrough that has eluded them during the franchise’s longest run of sustained success. The Brewers haven’t reached a World Series since 1982 and have never won it all.

Continuing to win without adding Skubal

Logan Henderson, an outstanding rookie pitcher the Brewers chose to keep rather than including in a trade last month, outdueled Skubal in Sunday’s series finale at Los Angeles. The 6-2 victory improved Henderson’s record to 7-2 with a 2.70 ERA.

The Brewers pivoted after the Skubal trade by acquiring former St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Dustin May, who is seeking to become the latest in a growing list of starting pitchers to improve after joining the Brewers. Left-hander Kyle Harrison, who also is thriving in his first year in Milwaukee, attributes that trend to Milwaukee’s pitching coaching staff of Chris Hook, Jim Henderson and Juan Sandoval.

“They’re so good at just knowing who you are as an individual and knowing what you need,” Harrison said. “Shoot, yeah, they’ve been doing it for a while now, too, so it’s pretty cool to have those guys you can trust and rely on.”

The Brewers believe they have the makings of a quality playoff rotation with Misiorowski, Henderson, Harrison and May. Milwaukee has withstood injuries that knocked two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff out for the season and prevented Quinn Priester from pitching at all this year.

Milwaukee’s lineup has produced the fewest homers in the big leagues, yet the Brewers remain among the top five teams in scoring. Bauers’ breakthrough season has helped the Brewers overcome down years from 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich and three-time All-Star William Contreras.

Without naming names, Murphy said: “I watch some of our leaders that might not be getting the results, but the way they handle everybody else is pretty impressive.” Murphy added that might be one of the keys to this team’s success.

Another is simply the ability to continue competing even when things aren’t going smoothly.

“Maybe that’s the secret,” Murphy said. “Maybe this team still plays well enough to be close when they’re not at their best.”

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

Ogden lives in Sorrento and says she travels the road about three times a week. When traffic is at its worst, she said she has learned to plan around it.

“I’ve gotten to the point where I try to time it so that I come during late morning or early afternoon to avoid the heavy traffic,” Ogden told News 6.

She described dealing with the traffic as “a nerve-wracking experience.”

The City of Apopka has been working toward widening West Kelly Park Road as development continues around the State Road 429 interchange.

But now the road project has reached a different kind of crossroads: how to pay for it.

Apopka city commissioners have the Kelly Park Road Pioneering Agreement on the agenda for a City Commission discussion workshop Wednesday, Aug. 19. The city’s posted meeting materials include a presentation on the agreement, an outline from the city attorney and documents tied to the roadway funding agreement.

City: Current committed funding is not enough

The issue became public in a May 6 Notice of Funding Deficiency sent by the City of Apopka to the project’s co-developers.

In it, the city wrote that the current developer caps and existing committed funding were “insufficient to complete the Kelly Park Road widening improvements contemplated by the Agreement.”

The notice was sent to Kelly Park VB Development LLC, Golden Gem Investments LLC and Galvin-Harris Land Services LLC, which the document collectively identifies as the project’s co-developers.

The numbers in the notice show why the funding issue is more complicated than one simple shortfall.

According to the May document:

• The co-developers’ estimated remaining project cost was $23,326,100.89, excluding a 10% contingency.
• $15 million in developer-cap funding had been deposited into escrow.
• $5,368,685.80 had already been spent on the widening project as of April 13, including engineering and design costs.
• The co-developer budget listed $9,821,312.90 in collected impact fees, although the city said those fees had not yet been confirmed as allowable funding for the project.
• Based on those figures, the notice listed an estimated funding deficiency of $13,694,786.69.

So is the shortage $13.7 million or $1.05 million?

The city provided additional clarification to News 6 Wednesday afternoon.

City officials said that at the time the May notice was issued, the shortfall in the developers’ capped funding obligation was $1,051,090.93.

That figure is different from the $13.69 million estimated funding deficiency displayed earlier in the notice.

The distinction is important.

The $13.69 million figure represents the broader estimated deficiency shown in the city’s funding calculation based on money deposited, money already spent and the estimated amount still required to complete West Kelly Park Road.

The $1.05 million figure, according to the city, represents the shortfall specifically against the developers’ funding cap of up to $20 million.

The May notice itself identifies that $1,051,090.93 amount as a “shortfall in the Developer’s Cap Funding up to $20,000,000.”

In other words, the documents identify a much larger overall project-funding need, while the developers’ contractual contribution has a ceiling.

And what happens once that ceiling is reached is now a central question for city leaders.

Who pays if the project costs more than $20 million?

News 6 asked the city whether taxpayers could ultimately become responsible for part of the funding problem.

The city said the existing agreement gives Apopka two options if there is a shortfall beyond the $20 million developer cap:

Find another source of funding — or cancel the agreement.

The city did not say in its response Wednesday that developers are required to absorb every dollar above the $20 million cap.

Instead, officials said the agreement caps the pioneers’ contribution at $20 million.

That means one of the most important questions moving forward is what, if any, alternative source the city could use if project costs ultimately exceed the money available under the agreement.

Why did the cost increase?

The city said its review of the developers’ project budget found that there was not an appropriate amount of money remaining for project contingency — money typically reserved for unexpected costs, changes or problems that arise during construction.

The May notice also points to higher market prices for roadway construction materials, labor and equipment as one factor behind the updated estimates.

But that is only part of the potential additional cost.

The city provided News 6 with a list of other issues that could affect the final price:

Nine slope easements remain outstanding

The project still requires nine construction slope easements, according to the city.

Those easements allow crews to work beyond the permanent roadway right-of-way where necessary to properly grade the sides of the road.

If the city cannot secure them, the May notice says retaining walls could instead be required in those areas.

The estimated cost: $2 million to $3 million.

One right-of-way acquisition remains

The city told News 6 there is also one remaining property where right-of-way still needs to be acquired.

The May notice separately identifies the proposed right-of-way acquisition involving Kelly Park Self Storage, saying that cost could rise to $235,000 or more.

Impact-fee money could change

The city also identified a potential $1,275,904 reduction in traffic impact fees collected from Oaks at Kelly Park, a development east of Plymouth Sorrento Road.

The May notice says those impact fees were among the potential funding sources being considered for the widening, but the document also cautioned that collected impact fees had not yet been confirmed as allowable funding to cover project costs.

Construction administration may add roughly $500,000

According to the city, construction administration costs do not appear to have been included in the project budget.

Officials estimate those services could cost approximately $500,000.

The city also identified several other possible expenses, including:

• additional design and engineering;
• permitting;
• drainage work;
• utility relocation;
• signalization;
• possible Round Lake Road improvements required under the agreement;
• changes in roadway scope or construction sequencing; and
• inflation since the previous cost estimate.

The notice says the construction estimate was approximately $16.43 million and that the project would need a standard 10% construction contingency of about $1.64 million for possible change orders and unknown costs.

Residents say development has already changed the road

For the people using Kelly Park Road now, the funding calculations are competing with a much simpler concern: traffic.

Ogden said she has watched homes, apartments and businesses go up around the corridor.

“They’ve already put the houses, the neighborhoods, the apartments. They have the commercial buildings in place,” Ogden said. “They need to widen the roads for us.”

Bradley Naylor told News 6 he has lived in Apopka since 1964 and now travels the Kelly Park Road area several times a week.

His reaction to the funding problem was straightforward.

“They need to find the money,” Naylor said. “I’m surprised it hadn’t been widened already since they put 429 in.”

What happens next?

The May notice gave the co-developers 30 days after receiving it to respond in writing.

Under the agreement, they could either agree to the increased estimate and funding obligation or object to the accuracy or completeness of the information the city used to support the increased estimate.

Now, the Kelly Park Road Pioneering Agreement is back before city commissioners for discussion.

The issue before them goes beyond one number.

They have to determine how much money is actually available, how much more could be needed as property acquisition and construction details are resolved, and what the city is willing — or legally able — to do once the developers reach their contractual funding cap.

For drivers such as Ogden and Naylor, the question is much easier to define: When does the plan finally turn into pavement?

“The world needs more heroes,” he told the roundtable. “And it’s not about creating more heroes because they already live among us. It’s about being able to really value their expertise, their experiences.”

The Duke of Sussex, who served 10 years in the British Army, hinted that he’d soon launch a “commercial” solution that “really values those who served rather than expect them to volunteer.”

He held the discussion with veterans, defense officials, military spouses and nonprofit leaders at a hotel ballroom in Washington, D.C. The conversation — which was organized by The Independence Fund, a nonprofit that helps critically wounded service members — lasted more than 80 minutes.

Veterans’ services and mental health have become cornerstones of Harry and his wife Meghan’s philanthropy through their Archewell Foundation. The Duke of Sussex founded the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style international competition for wounded service members, in 2014. His advocacy also includes visits with wounded military personnel, like last year’s stop at a Ukrainian clinic that rehabilitates victims of war.

Harry’s British military service included two tours in Afghanistan. He has credited his experience witnessing fellow soldiers’ battlefield injuries with inspiring him to help injured veterans lead healthy lives. In a 2023 Netflix series, he spoke openly about lacking the necessary emotional support upon his return from combat.

Harry told the roundtable that it has been refreshing to hear the latest generation of veterans express an interest in “purpose" and “service after service” —- no matter their branch or country of service. He extolled their communication skills, moral leadership and ability to work in high stress environments.

But, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, that those skills are “not being transitioned over within the civilian world."

In between jokes about each other’s hair and their alma maters, wounded veterans emphasized the importance of exercise in their rehabilitation. Garrett J. Carnes, a retired marine corporal who lost both legs, said inactivity is difficult when they’ve spent so long priding themselves on their physical fitness. “I give all glory to Jesus Christ,” he said, “but man I am so thankful that he invented Jiu-Jitsu.”

Others highlighted the need to improve the quality of veterans’ health centers in smaller towns and bolster mental health services at overworked Veterans Affairs offices.

Jason Wheeler, a U.S. Navy and Army veteran, said it's “not right” that he was unable to get his military benefits to cover a recent surgery. Sitting in a wheelchair, he teared up as he recalled the “humiliating” time he had to crawl off a commercial airplane with his service dog.

He was told he would never walk again, he said, but has since walked over 1,000 feet.

“I will not stop the fight. I will not quit,” he said. “We don’t have it in us.”

Harry’s earlier stops Wednesday included Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath, and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He did not mention reports of his decision to return to the United Kingdom for an extended stay with Meghan and their children. He declined to comment when asked to discuss the move.

Sarah Verardo, the CEO of The Independence Fund, noted Harry’s impact on the patients at Walter Reed. A few veterans who told Harry they were too injured to participate in his Invictus Games left their interactions standing “taller and stronger” after he told them there’s “no such thing,” according to Verardo.

Jane Horton, a senior defense adviser in the Trump administration and Gold Star wife, appreciated that Harry is using his platform to unite veterans.

“To see someone that has turned pain into purpose in such a beautiful way such as Prince Harry — not only turn pain into purpose, but pain into service — resonated with the whole community and means a lot to us all,” she told AP.

In an interview with AP, Harry spoke more broadly about the need to elevate “moral leadership.” He expressed concern that a “very, very small group of people are making decisions that are impacting the entire world” around politics and technology.

“What we need,” he said, “is the younger generation coming into leadership who perhaps see the world slightly differently. And I think a little less testosterone might do as well.”

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

Is it time for something similar around the foul poles?

The Baltimore Orioles certainly felt aggrieved Wednesday night against the New York Yankees after Pete Alonso's deep fly to left field in the seventh inning was ruled foul — and the call was upheld on a review.

The play occurred with the game tied at 3. New York then scored twice in top of the eighth and went on to win 5-3.

“I think a simple fix is like football, you have the pylon camera with the plane, where it shoots right across the goal line,” Alonso said. “And I feel like, for us, we could easily have a laser or a camera that shoots straight up.”

Manager Craig Albernaz shared Alonso's frustration.

“On the dugout iPads there’s ball-tracking data with the field that the players see, so it’s really tough to have that (call) come back as ‘stands’ and have that visual in the dugout as well. It’s 2026,” Albernaz said. “There are teams using AI on the iPads and other sports use ball-tracking data for challengeable calls. Don’t understand why we don’t do it.”

At least one replay seemed to show the ball on the fair side of the pole, but it wasn’t clear what angle that shot was from.

“What I was told is in order to overturn a call, you need to have two camera angles to confirm it,” Alonso said. “But the best view, the only view that shows the ball fair or foul is the one down the line, but no other camera angle is available. So video room rules it foul, umpire obviously called it foul initially. It is what it is.”

It might have been easier for the umpire — and the replay room — to make the call if Alonso's hit hadn't been so high. It appeared to tower above the foul pole at one point.

“That we don’t have the technology in place to actually say, ‘Hey, this was fair or foul,’ is literally crazy in 2026. It’s crazy,” said Chris Bassitt, Baltimore's starting pitcher Wednesday.

Bassitt then blamed financial considerations for why such technology isn't used.

“Because it would cost money,” he said. “That’s it. I mean, that’s literally it.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

May Doi, 93, was found dead Monday after she was reported missing, police said. Neighbors think she was escaping floodwaters in her home and trying to get to a nearby shelter, said ʻĀina Akamu, a former student of Doi's who is now a vice principal at a local school.

She taught for so long at Naalehu Elementary on the island's southern tip that “Mrs. Doi was my dad's kindergarten teacher,” Akamu said Wednesday.

“She taught grandkids of her students,” he said. “She was a fixture in this community.”

Akamu often saw her taking walks around the small, rural, sugar plantation-era town: “She was so strong.”

He recalled how everyone looked forward to having Mrs. Doi as a teacher because she sometimes allowed students to have sleepovers in her classroom. Her deceased husband was a math teacher, Akamu said.

The body of a man in his 60s was located by residents in a pasture on Tuesday, a day after police were asked to conduct a welfare check, police said. Authorities said it was the second death attributed to the storm and have not yet released his identity.

Residents were struggling to clean up after Hurricane Lala tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, covered roads in mud and rock and left many households without electricity for days. On top of all that, forecasters warned of the likelihood of another tropical cyclone forming southeast of the islands.

‘We just ask the ancestors to protect us’

Akamu also lamented the destruction of two cemeteries, including one where Akamu’s ancestors have been buried since 1850. Caskets were sticking out of the ground through the town, home to about 800 people, and headstones littered the roadway, he said.

“Our graveyard is now scattered all over the community and how do we heal from that?” he said.

He worries crews working to clear roads could inadvertently run over remains.

“Don't clear the road, my grandma could be in there,” he said. "That's what makes me most emotional, it's like you lost them again."

Akamu was trying to focus on helping his community recover by setting up a hub where residents can get donated items. They are in most need of generators, gasoline and propane, he said.

“We just ask the ancestors to protect us,” Akamu said of the threat of an another storm.

Now well west of Hawaii's main islands, Lala has reached major Category 3 strength with top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) on Wednesday in what the National Hurricane Center called the first major hurricane of 2026 in the Central Pacific Ocean. But Hawaii residents were put on notice for another storm system, located far to the east-southeast.

The hurricane center said conditions appeared conducive for a tropical depression to form within days.

It's too early to tell the exact location or potential wind, rain and storm surge impacts. However, “interests in the Hawaiian Islands should closely monitor the progress of this system,” the hurricane center said, adding it could be a hurricane when it moves near or over the islands by the weekend.

Power repairs could take weeks

Work continued to clear away tons of mud and debris left behind by a torrent of water that inundated buildings, some of whose roofs were sheared off by the winds. Dozens of homes were washed from foundations, bridges were damaged and a collapsed section of a two-lane road had cut off access to the community of Pahala.

The U.S. Department of Transportation approved an initial $6 million in emergency relief to help repair transportation infrastructure damaged by Lala, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii said.

The heaviest recorded rainfall, 43.54 inches (1.1 meters), occurred in Laupahoehoe on the northeast coast of the Big Island, the National Weather Service said.

About 17,000 customers on the Big Island remained without power on Wednesday, the Hawaiian Electric utility said. Some customers on the islands of Oahu and Maui were still in the dark. Repairs in the heavily damaged areas of the Big Island, including the southern end, could take at least two weeks, the utility said.

Lala was moving to the northwest at 10 mph (17 kph) and was expected to turn toward the north early Thursday. It was bearing down on a remote area at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago. Hurricane warnings were posted for portions of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument from Lisianski Island to Maro Reef.

The weather service said the storm was forecast to veer east of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The population in one of the most remote places on Earth consists entirely of a few dozen U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff, volunteers and contractors. Forecasters said there were no tropical-related advisories for the Midway Atoll and any impact might include some elevated surf with a limited amount of rain.

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Raby reported from Charleston, West Virginia.

A person familiar with the trade said Wednesday night that Watson, a restricted free agent who spent his first four NBA seasons with the Nuggets, will sign a four-year contract with the Cavaliers worth $88 million that includes a player option and trade kicker.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced.

Cleveland will send to Denver an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2032 second-round selection from the Sacramento Kings that it got after making a trade in June’s NBA draft. The Nuggets will also acquire Julian Reese from Washington.

The Cavaliers are getting a 2027 second-round pick from the Clippers, but that will be sent to the Wizards.

The 23-year-old Watson started a career-high 40 games last season and averaged career bests in points (14.6), rebounds (4.9) and assists (2.1). He gives the Cavaliers the wing player they were looking for after LeBron James signed with Philadelphia instead of returning to Cleveland for a third stint.

Besides Watson, the Cavaliers were also looking at free agents DeMar DeRozan and Jonathan Kuminga.

Strus and Dean Wade were the primary starters at small forward last season. Wade signed with Philadelphia during free agency.

Strus missed the first 67 games last season due to a broken left foot, but had some big baskets and steals during the playoffs as Cleveland reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2018. The Cavaliers were swept in that series by the New York Knicks.

Cleveland laid the groundwork for a move last week when it traded Dennis Schroder to Charlotte for Tre Mann to gain salary cap space. Mann's time in Cleveland won't last long; he's headed to Washington for Cam Whitmore.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

The dogs are undergoing medical evaluations right now. The shelter is looking for rescue organizations that can help care for the dogs, especially groups that can take 10 or more small dogs.

The shelter says it’s the largest amount of dogs they’ve ever taken in.

These dogs are not up for adoption, but the shelter has other dogs that are and need homes. The shelter says it has 423 animals in its care right now.

Rescue organizations can contact the shelter by email: animalrescue@lakecountyfl.gov.

If you want to help the shelter in other ways, go to its website at LakeCountyFL.gov/Animal-Shelter.

The stunning developments came a day after Ukraine’s recently fired defense minister demanded national elections, despite Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion.

Although Zelenskyy was not implicated in the graft investigation, it threatened to pull him into another political crisis and provide another test of his resilience.

Investigators gave few details of the probe. It has identified a group of people alleged to have laundered 150 million hryvnias ($3.4 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said.

That case, involving the state-owned nuclear power company, brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers.

The latest suspects include a former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank’s board and the head of the bank’s supervisory board, as well as a deputy head of the presidential office, the agency said.

Zelenskyy made no public comment on the investigation but issued a decree dismissing Iryna Mudra as deputy head of the Office of the President. Investigators have not named her as a suspect.

Investigators searched Mudra’s office Wednesday, said lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko.

Zelenskyy remains dogged by high-level graft investigations, although he has never been named as a suspect even as the probes have engulfed officials close to him. Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and later was named as a suspect in a major graft probe involving a luxury construction project in the biggest threat to Zelenskyy’s government since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

The European Union has identified deep-seated corruption as one of the major hurdles to Ukraine's desired membership in the bloc.

Zelenskyy's former aide wants a wartime election

Zelenskyy is already under pressure over his firing last month of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-standing members of his team and a close ally since helping him win the 2019 presidential election.

Zelenskyy, seeking to reconcile tensions between the Defense Ministry's young and tech-savvy innovators and Ukraine's seasoned, Soviet-trained battlefield leaders, risked angering both sides by reshuffling his wartime leadership. He ousted both Fedorov, whose changes to military procurement aimed to stamp out corruption, and commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.

That sparked sustained street protests supporting Fedorov. For Zelenskyy, it was the second time in a year that a move triggered a strong public backlash, after he tried to curb the powers of anti-corruption agencies in 2025.

Fedorov, in an address posted to YouTube late Tuesday, called for elections — appearing to directly confront Zelenskyy, whose term expired in 2024. Ukraine's constitution prohibits such a vote under martial law.

“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said.

He said Ukraine faces a crisis in how it is governed, arguing the current system is oriented toward protecting itself and resisting change. He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight.

Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately comment on Fedorov’s address. It was not immediately clear whether Fedorov's appeal would resonate with Ukrainians.

Also on Wednesday, lawmakers approved Zelenskyy's candidate, Maj. Gen. Yevhenii Khmara, as the new defense minister, a move that effectively closes the door to Fedorov’s return to the post, which he has sought, anytime soon.

Lawmakers also gave their consent for Andrii Sybiha to stay on as foreign minister after serving in an interim role.

Political disarray follows Ukrainian wartime successes

The political disarray follows recent successes for Ukraine in the war. Using innovative drone technology, it has repeatedly hit Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages. It has also shocked the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country's biggest online retailer, and stalled front-line advances by Moscow's bigger army.

But Zelenskyy has been unable to get traction in U.S.-led peace efforts, and Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic missiles because more U.S.-made Patriot interceptors aren't available due to low international stockpiles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has balked at negotiating a peace deal directly with Zelenskyy.

In its latest attack, a Ukrainian drone hit an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan, its Gov. Radiy Khabirov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. There are three oil refineries in Ufa, and all have been attacked.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, as well as Russian-held Crimea and the Black Sea.

It said Russian forces on Tuesday hit a bulk carrier in the Black Sea, southeast of Odesa, that was carrying military equipment. On Wednesday, the Russian military struck what it said were fuel and lubricant storage tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces in the southern port of Chornomorsk.

A Russian drone struck a minibus in Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing four people, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, adding that four women were wounded. Another Russian drone struck a civilian car in the regional capital, killing a woman, he said.

Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine swapped 103 prisoners of war, according to Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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

Graham, a political novice, was asked whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea — a longstanding contention of both Democratic and Republican administrations. She struggled to answer before admitting, “National security is not my thing.”

“I’m not that informed on national security,” she added.

Her rival in next week's runoff for the GOP nomination, Rep. Ralph Norman, suggested the answer showed Graham was unqualified for the role.

“By her choice, she’s running for the United States Senate. It’s a six-year term,” Norman said. “You need to get fully versed in what issues you’re going to be dealing with. This isn’t a get training on the job, you can’t do that.”

It was a moment that drew a stark contrast to Graham’s brother, Lindsey, who died unexpectedly on July 11. It also gave Norman, an established conservative politician, a fresh avenue of attack as he tries to overcome President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Graham in her first campaign. The Republican president is set to visit South Carolina on Friday to campaign for her.

During his decades in the Senate, Lindsey Graham was known for his foreign policy involvement, making countless foreign trips, sometimes as part of a group of U.S. lawmakers meeting with international leaders and observing contentious areas firsthand.

There were multiple trips to Taiwan, including in 2022, when he led a delegation for a two-day visit that included meetings with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the island’s defense minister.

Darline Graham had been asked, “Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States and if so, why or how?”

Graham avoided a direct response and instead mentioned her brother's wealth of experience and her desire to lead differently.

“My brother was in the Air Force for 33 years, so I will do everything I can to support the military,” said Graham, who often read from a legal pad on which she had notes, its pages draped over the front of her lectern. “My dad was in the Army. I’m not a polished politician up here; national security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.”

Candidates were not allowed to bring notes into the debate, but Graham spent several minutes before the broadcast began copiously writing on her legal pad. Norman wrote down a few things but not as extensively.

As interim senator, Graham is surrounded by many of her brother's Capitol Hill staff, many of whom worked with him for years on issues foreign and domestic. She's repeatedly thanked them for getting her up to speed on legislative issues and has pointed to her several weeks on the job as a productive time in which she's gotten legislation passed, including a Russia sanctions bill named for her brother.

In the wake of her brother’s death, Graham has been asked multiple times about how she would either further or shift away from his intense focus on national security, an attitude that was at the essence of his Senate portfolio.

Asked after the debate by reporters if she wanted another crack at her answer to moderators' question, she doubled down, saying she was more focused on South Carolinians' everyday concerns.

“They’re worried about their pocketbooks more than they’re worried about the South China Sea, quite honestly,” Graham said. “So that’s going to be my biggest focus.”

Graham added that she had spoken multiple times during the debate about the overall national security threat posed by China.

“I realize national security is very important,” Graham said. “I probably said 10 times up there tonight how bad China is, how they’re a national threat to us.”

Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Graham acknowledged her flub but said that she had spoken with voters since the debate who said they appreciated her honesty in expressing her lack of foreign policy expertise.

“I tripped up on one question last night regarding Taiwan, but you know, I’ve said many times, I’m not a politician, certainly not a career politician. I don’t speak politician,” Graham said. “You know, I was just honest, and I think that’s kind of a foreign concept.”

Taiwan has often been a flashpoint for aggression from China and international efforts to support its right to self-rule. The U.S. maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity over whether it would defend Taiwan militarily if the mainland invaded, but has committed to bolstering the island's defense for generations.

Claimed by China as part of its territory, Taiwan sits along a South China Sea global trade route, virtually all of which China claims despite a 2016 arbitration ruling based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea that invalidated Beijing’s expansive claims.

During a visit to Manila this week, Adm. Frank Bradley, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, said that American special operations forces are ready to step up warfighting-readiness exercises with counterparts in the Philippines and other countries in Asia to further strengthen a security alliance and help deter a major conflict in the region.

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

Just two days after U.S. negotiators reportedly asked Israel to draw down attacks in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 people were killed Wednesday in two strikes, according to local hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israeli troops also crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and detained a Hamas police colonel at dawn Wednesday, two witnesses and a Hamas official said.

Israel's military said one of the strikes on Wednesday, in the area of Nuseirat refugee camp, struck a Hamas commander who had participated in the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 abducted. A second strike in the Tuffah area of Gaza City struck four Hamas militants gathering in a police station, the military said, claiming they were planning to carry out attacks against Israeli troops.

Israel's military said a strike the day before targeted a meeting of four Hamas commanders and additional militants.

The commanders killed included Muhammad Hamdi Ahmad Al-Masri, Muhammad Attar and Muhammad Fathi Hussein Nasser, all accused of carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli troops, and Samed Samir Harb Abu Habal, who infiltrated Israeli territory during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, according to a statement from Israel's military.

The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the Wednesday Gaza City strike on the police station killed eight police officers and a 13-year-old girl. Two officers were women, it said. One person was killed in Nuseirat. On Tuesday evening, an Israeli strike on a busy seaside cafe killed seven Palestinians, including a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Jared Kushner, a U.S. negotiator and President Donald Trump's son-in-law, held a marathon meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, in which he asked Israel's leader to draw down attacks on Gaza, a person familiar with the meeting said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

Also on Wednesday, Israel's military said it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct during the war in Gaza and would launch criminal investigations into the 2024 killings of a 5-year-old girl and her family, as well as of 15 Palestinian paramedics in 2025.

At least 17 killed in Israeli strikes

The deadly strikes in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday exacted more casualties even as a ceasefire that’s been in place since October has significantly diminished the fighting in the tiny enclave where more than 2 million Palestinians live. Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,273 people, according to health officials in Gaza.

The nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn't distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of the toll.

In the early hours of Wednesday, at least 15 Israeli troops entered the Muwasi coastal area, west of the city of Khan Younis, two residents and a Hamas official said.

Accompanied by armed men, the troops stormed the tent of Sabri Abdel-All, a colonel for the Hamas-led Blue Police in Khan Younis. They also detained another resident identified as Nashat Ezzat Zaarab, they said.

The two residents and the Hamas official spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety.

Latest ceasefire negotiations offer few concrete commitments

On the diplomatic front, the ceasefire also appears stalled. Trump's initial ceasefire plan laid out a broad vision for ending Hamas’ rule in Gaza and rebuilding the territory, much of which was reduced to rubble during the war.

But since last fall, major sticking points have emerged on the conditions of Hamas' disarmament and Israel's withdrawal — and which should come first.

Earlier this month, Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm. But Hamas said it would begin to disarm if Israel halts strikes and withdraws, adding that laying down its heavy weapons would come later and be contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state — something Israel’s government rejects.

Netanyahu also pushed back on the deal, saying Israel won't withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed.

After Wednesday's strikes, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem lashed out at the Board of Peace — the body Trump established to oversee the ceasefire — saying it has provided a "cover” for Israel to escalate its attacks in Gaza instead of pressuring it to abide by the ceasefire agreement.

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Associated Press journalists Julia Frankel and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Jerusalem; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel; and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made the comments Wednesday night in her country’s first reaction to Trump’s moves to drastically cut back the annual U.S.-South Korean military drills.

“We think it’s not worth making comments on that and we have no interest in it at all,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. “The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”

She also cited a series of other military drills carried out by the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year and South Korea’s push to introduce nuclear-powered submarines.

Kim Yo Jong denied that there are any communications between Trump and Kim. Earlier this week, pressed by reporters on whether he had a conversation with Kim Jong Un, Trump said that Kim had responded to his request for a conversation.

Kim Yo Jong's statement did not contain North Korea’s typically harsh rhetoric. She briefly said relations between her brother and Trump are “still excellent," mentioning her brother’s past comments that he still has “good memories” of Trump. This suggests North Korea may be trying to manage relations with Trump, while seeking bigger concessions to restart talks.

When asked by reporters Wednesday if he will meet with Kim Jong Un this year, Trump said that “Yeah, I will be.” He wouldn’t answer a question about whether he is exchanging letters with Kim but said he gets along with him.

US and South Korea confirm drastic slashing of drills

Kim Yo Jong's statement came hours after the South Korean and U.S. militaries confirmed they were scaling back their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises. Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the exercises, citing what he said was a good relationship with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to support him over Iran.

South Korean officials said Trump’s announcement came without prior notice, baffling many people in the Asian country and raising concerns about joint defense readiness.

South Korea’s military said the allies agreed to adjust the duration and scale of the exercises at the request of the U.S. It said the ongoing drills would end Friday, not Aug. 27 as initially planned. It added that the allies also agreed to downsize some joint field training exercises.

The Pentagon said that it was “continuing training that enhances tactical capability” but certain events have been canceled or converted to simulations. “These adjustments preserve essential readiness and training objectives. There will be no degradation to U.S. training objectives,” a Pentagon statement said.

Ulchi Freedom Shield is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise meant to hone the allies’ ability to deal with potential North Korean aggression. The two countries usually hold a set of field training exercises during the command post exercise period.

The drills are a central pillar of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, which dates to the 1950-53 Korean War. But they also are a long-running source of animosities with North Korea, which has denounced the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion and responded with provocative missile tests. Days before this month's drills began, North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea.

This month's drills were initially supposed to be held in two phases in simulation of North Korean attacks — the first part until this Friday on defensive operations and the second part until Aug. 27 on counteroffensive operations. North Korea is extremely sensitive to counteroffensive drills, according to South Korean media.

Prospects for Trump-Kim summit unclear

Earlier Wednesday, North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, published a commentary slamming the U.S.-South Korean military drills as “frantic” and “extremely dangerous” and vowing to completely frustrate its rivals’ hostilities.

Many experts said Kim, now emboldened by his advancing nuclear program and expanding military cooperation with Russia, won't likely embrace Trump's overture and return to talks anytime soon unless he's promised bigger concessions. Kim suggested last year that he could only return to talks if the U.S. drops its demand for North Korean denuclearization as a precondition for diplomacy.

Trump claimed Wednesday that North Korea has 57 nuclear weapons. Some experts put the size of the North’s arsenal at more than 100 warheads.

South Korea’s intelligence service estimated last year that North Korea sent about 15,000 troops to support Russia's war against Ukraine. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said North Korea was preparing to send more troops to Russia. But in her Wednesday statement, Kim Yo Jong flatly denied that, calling it “an ungrounded farce."

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hailed Trump's decision, saying in his X message Wednesday that he hopes it would lead to reopening dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang and promoting peace on the Korean Peninsula. Lee is a liberal who wants better ties with North Korea.

South Korea's main opposition conservative party earlier accused Lee's government of prioritizing the resumption of Kim-Trump diplomacy over security concerns caused by Trump's move.

Trump and Kim met three times from 2018-2019 but their high-stakes diplomacy eventually fell apart over wrangling over a North Korean demand for extensive sanctions relief in return for limited denuclearization steps.

Trump's move may focus on South Korea over Iran

In his social media post, Trump said the drills are not only costly but “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” during his time in the White House. Trump said he asked Lee if South Korea would join the U.S. in the “denuclearization” of Iran, “and they said, ‘No thanks!’”

At separate parliamentary hearings Wednesday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said neither South Korean nor U.S. officials were informed of Trump's move before his social media post. Cho said the alliance remains strong, while Ahn said South Korean and U.S. defense officials were maintaining close consultations.

Some experts say Trump's cut of the drills was more likely designed to apply pressure on South Korea to give him substantial support over the Iran war than to reach out to North Korea.

“Trump's message is that if you don’t cooperate with us on Iran, we’re not cooperating with you” on the drills either, said Yang Uk, an analyst at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “It's like he's asking South Korea to show it's helping him over Iran” by taking steps like sending warships or reinforcing missile defenses in some areas.

South Korean officials said South Korea and the U.S. are closely discussing practical and military contributions that South Korea can make to help restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

It wasn't the first time that the U.S. and South Korea have scaled back or canceled their drills.

In 2018, Trump abruptly announced the cancellation of a major war game with South Korea, after his first summit with Kim. The U.S. and South Korea have since canceled or reduced other joint drills to support diplomacy with North Korea and cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. said crews were working nonstop to fix the outages, but 75,000 customers still lacked electricity by late afternoon, mostly in Lake County next to the Illinois border.

They included more than 20,000 customers in Gary, where residents lined up again at community centers for hot meals and a place to charge phones.

The latest news for Gary wasn't good: Full restoration is not expected there until Aug. 25, NIPSCO said.

Roughly 300 poles and 44 power transmission poles need to be repaired or replaced in Gary as a result of the storm, which carried winds of 99 mph (159 kilometers per hour), said Melody Birmingham, an executive at NIPSCO's parent company.

Birmingham acknowledged the “real burden” of losing perishable food and people living for days without air conditioning after a “historic storm” that initially left 300,000 customers in the dark.

“These aren't simple repairs,” Birmingham said at a news conference. “These are systems that are being rebuilt.”

Utility says low-income residents are not ignored

Jeremy Spurrier, 51, said he's fortunate to have a generator at his Portage home, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. But the generator is expensive — it goes through about $75 of gas a day — and Spurrier said his family is relying on nonperishable food like soup. He drives to Illinois to get ice to chill his insulin.

"If I run out of ice, that’s several hundred dollars of insulin just ruined,” he said.

Gary, a majority-Black city, has been especially hit hard, with some residents voicing frustration that they're being ignored. Birmingham denied that low-income residents were being overlooked and blamed posts on social media.

“We have areas that are probably affluent where we still have customers out as well. ... This has nothing to do with race or any type of division,” said Birmingham, who is Black. “It's really a matter of where the storm hit.”

Gary Mayor Eddie Melton acknowledged that locals were “frustrated and exhausted” but said more than 600 linemen were working to restore power in the city.

"I want to reiterate this is clearly not just a Gary situation. It is a northwest Indiana situation,” Melton said.

No storm damage — but no power

A 4-year-old boy, three men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began Aug. 11, said Liz Woods, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security.

In Whiting, Myra Carden, 74, said her home wasn’t damaged by the storm — “not even a chair was blown over in the yard.” But she was in her second blackout Wednesday.

Carden, her son and three dogs lost power for more than two days last week. Then the electricity went out again Tuesday.

“More than once I have put in an outage report,” she said. ”All I get back is, ‘You already put in a report.’ Well, what do you want me to do? ... This doesn’t make sense. Of course I’m not a lineman; I’m a paralegal.”

Carden uses a generator to keep the refrigerator humming but only when someone’s home to monitor it.

“We have a deep freeze in the garage packed full with beef and chicken. I’m sure everything will be thrown away,” she said.

The State Department announced Tuesday that it had hit ICC president Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who is from Senegal, with sanctions that freeze any assets they have in U.S. jurisdictions or come into contact with the U.S. financial system.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the move “very unfortunate” when asked about the sanctions by a reporter. “Japan will respond as we continue to maintain communication with related countries including the United States,” she added.

The Trump administration has now slapped sanctions on nine of the ICC's 18 judges, both of its deputy prosecutors, its former chief prosecutor and one other prosecution office staffer, the court said. The U.S. accuses the court of overstepping its mandate by investigating and seeking to prosecute senior military and political officials from countries, such as Israel and the United States, that are not members of the court.

In a statement, the court said that when “judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk.” It said the court “will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday branded the ICC “a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.”

The move came weeks after Rubio announced that the U.S. was launching a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.”

Rubio said he will pressure the court’s 125 member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court and ban staff from traveling to the United States.

Since then, Venezuela and Chad have announced they plan to leave the court, bringing the number of countries to pull out of the court in the past year to five. It takes a year for a country's decision to quit the court to be formalized.

The sanctions can impact the daily lives of court officials. They prevent the ICC officials and their families from entering the United States, block their access to even basic financial services making even going to a grocery store difficult.

Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was sanctioned last year, lost access to her credit cards, and Amazon’s Alexa stopped responding to her. “Your whole world is restricted,” she told The Associated Press after she was targeted.

The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, called the sanctions an “escalation” that “risks undermining ongoing investigations and impeding global efforts” to ensure justice reaches victims of global atrocities.

While Japan calls its alliance with the United States the cornerstone of its postwar foreign and security policies, Tokyo has had difficulty managing the relationship under Trump’s trade and security policies. Takaichi has been portrayed as weak for avoiding any criticism of Trump as her administration navigates weakened U.S. commitment in the region and deteriorating ties with China.

Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Japanese opposition Democratic Party for the People, wrote on X that Trump’s sanctions were “outrageous and intolerable.” He urged Takaichi’s government to show its support for the ICC and reach out to the U.S. government to “have it retract this unjust sanction.”

ICC host nation the Netherlands and European powerhouse Germany both threw their weight behind the court.

German foreign office spokesman Martin Giese told reporters in Berlin that the ICC is “fulfilling its mission exactly as intended,” by holding to account perpetrators of grave crimes. Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said he had invited Akane for talks “to discuss our continued support.”

Balkees Jarrah, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, called the sanctions “the latest example of the Trump administration’s utter contempt for international law and a naked attempt to shield American and Israeli officials implicated in serious crimes from justice.”

Human Rights Watch and three other advocacy groups sued the Trump administration in a New York court last week to challenge its campaign against the ICC.

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Associated Press journalists Matthew Lee in Washington, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

Maj. Gen. Adel Issa is the first military officer to be turned over by Lebanon since Assad’s fall in late 2024.

Lebanon’s judicial authorities decided on Tuesday to deliver Issa to Syria, after questioning him over crimes he allegedly committed during the country’s conflict.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had asked authorities in Lebanon to hand over Issa to Syria over alleged crimes including intentional killing of more than two persons, the crime of torture resulting in death, and acts of aggression aimed at inciting civil war and sectarian strife.

The ministry added that Issa was the commander of the Syrian army’s 17th Division and the commander of ground forces in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour until 2016. The ministry posted a photo of Issa wearing a prison uniform.

Officials in Beirut said on Tuesday that Issa was turned over to Syria in accordance with a 1951 agreement between the countries that calls for delivering suspected criminals to face justice.

After Syrian fighters opposed to Assad marched into Damascus to end the Assad family’s five-decade rule in December 2024, a number of military and security officers fled to Lebanon, where some remain.

Dozens of other former members of his security agencies accused of atrocities have been arrested and put on trial in Syria.

Last week, a Syrian court sentenced Assad and his younger brother Maher to death in absentia while their maternal cousin, Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, became the most senior security official to be sentenced to death while in custody. The Assad brothers fled to Russia during the ouster.

Issa was detained on Aug. 8 when he went to the Syrian Embassy in Beirut for some paperwork. Embassy officials contacted Lebanon’s prosecutor’s office to tell them that Issa was wanted in Syria.

Issa had fled to Lebanon by crossing illegally after Assad’s fall, the officials said.

Syria’s conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 before turning into a civil war, left 500,000 people dead and over 1 million wounded.

Prosecutors also called into question Comey's account that he had found the seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47” while walking on a beach in North Carolina and suggested that his May 2025 post on Instagram was an effort to generate attention for a forthcoming novel about a social media personality whose words inspire his fans to attack his foes.

The arguments in motions late Tuesday represent the government's most detailed explanation of its indictment and were filed in response to wide-ranging defense efforts to dismiss the case on grounds including that it constitutes a vindictive prosecution and that Comey's post did not amount to a true threat. Comey's lawyers contend that investigators in the case misled judges, submitted documents containing false statements, withheld key facts and repeatedly came up empty in their efforts to prove that Comey intended a physical threat or knew that the number 86 could suggest violence.

The entry for “86” from Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says its meaning is “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” Trump, a Republican, is the 47th president.

The Justice Department maintains that the post constituted a real threat

Federal prosecutors maintain that the photo of the seashells, which Comey said he found on the beach, constituted a threat against Trump. Comey deleted the post shortly after he put it up, saying he did not know that anyone interpreted the numbers as a call to violence. His lawyers have said that the slogan has long meant to “get rid of” or “eject” and has been featured on thousands of items sold online and regularly displayed at protests.

But the department sought in its filings to place the post against the backdrop of assassination plots or attempts against Trump in the months before and after Comey's post. Prosecutors say that two minutes before the post was made, Comey's wife texted him a screenshot of a definition of “86” that said "to get rid of or refuse service.”

"There is no serious dispute that an objective viewer of Comey’s post could read it to mean ‘Kill President Trump,’” prosecutors wrote.

The photo was posted days before Comey was set to release a novel he wrote titled “FDR Drive,” in which a prosecutor pursues a far-right social media personality who has called out his adversaries by name and inspired violence against them by his fans, the department said.

After the Instagram post provoked an outcry, according to the government's filings, Comey's publishing agent observed in a text message to him that he had “gone viral.” Comey responded that that was “not my intention, but I’ll be OK if it sells books.” The agent replied, ”Music to an agent's ears."

Prosecutors also asserted there was “reason to doubt” Comey’s account of having come upon the seashells while on a walk, saying they were located 4 miles (6 kilometers) “down from the beach from beachfront property where Comey was staying, in an area separated from the ocean by a sand dune.” They said there was "no evidence that anyone else arranged, photographed, or even saw the shells.”

Comey has called the case vindictive, but prosecutors deny that

Comey's lawyers have called the indictment, which was filed months after an earlier and unrelated case against him was dismissed, part of a Trump retribution campaign targeting one of the president’s vocal critics. Trump fired Comey as head of the FBI in 2017 as Comey was overseeing an investigation into potential ties between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Trump since then has called for him and other perceived adversaries to be jailed.

But the Justice Department denied allegations of vindictiveness, saying the decision to indict Comey was made by the U.S. attorney in the area and did not stem from a directive from the president or the attorney general.

To bolster their claims that Comey was unjustly targeted, the defense team argued that investigators struggled to develop compelling evidence from witnesses that Comey had intended the post as a threat, but they concealed that from federal magistrates as they applied for warrants to search digital accounts associated with Comey and his wife

For instance, defense lawyers have said that the FBI searched an internal database of information about open and closed investigations for any indication of an association between Comey and the term “86” but found inconclusive results. An FBI agent also requested a review of the FBI file for the case against reputed mobster John Gambino, which Comey worked on as a young prosecutor, but found no references to the term “86.”

Investigators also interviewed a key government cooperator in the case, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, who said he did not recall ever discussing the term “86” with Comey or hearing it in connection with the trial.

The latest filings made clear that the administration was standing behind the premise of the case.

“No Government theory was disproved at that time, or now. No intentionally false omission exists, much less one made with reckless disregard for the truth,” prosecutors wrote.

“The evidence still supports that Defendant acted at least recklessly by consciously disregarding a substantial risk that his coded message of ‘8647’ that he sent to his 200,000 or so Instagram followers, and the millions of secondary social media users who would view this as threatening violence against the President of the United States," they added.

The awards come through the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund, which supports Florida-based researchers, institutions, startups and other organizations working on cancer prevention, treatment and cures. The new application cycle includes a $10 million increase over the previous year.

“Today, I was proud to announce the winners of this year’s Florida Cancer Innovation Fund awards and the opening of applications for next year’s awards,” DeSantis said in a statement.

The program was created in 2023 with an initial $20 million investment. State officials said nearly 150 projects have since received funding.

The latest awards followed a competitive review process and will support projects ranging from preventive nutrition and emerging medical treatments to data infrastructure and patient-focused care.

Florida has invested more than $1.4 billion in cancer research and treatment since 2019, according to the governor’s office. The state committed nearly $228 million to cancer research and innovation during the 2026-27 fiscal year.

State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo said the funding gives researchers flexibility to explore new ideas and follow scientific evidence.

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in Florida, and nearly 40% of Floridians will face a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, according to the governor’s office.

The Florida Cancer Innovation Fund is part of a broader state effort that includes the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program and the Cancer Connect Collaborative. Officials say those initiatives are intended to improve cooperation among researchers and institutions and speed the development of new treatments.

Applications for the 2026-27 funding cycle are now open. A complete list of the latest award recipients and application information is available through the Florida governor’s office.

The ruling Wednesday by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green is a victory for Republicans seeking to hold onto their slim majority in the U.S. House. But the case is likely to end up in the state Supreme Court.

Missouri’s new districts already were used in the August primaries. On that same day, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition with thousands of signatures seeking to force a November referendum on the map. Hoskins asserted that Missouri’s Constitution doesn’t allow a referendum on congressional redistricting.

The judge agreed with Hoskins and other Republicans, who joined in defense of the new map.

“The Missouri Constitution does not supply any statement — let alone a clear one — reallocating authority over congressional redistricting away from the General Assembly to a referendum process,” Green wrote in the ruling.

Opponents of the redistricting plan quickly announced an appeal.

“Everyone knows that Cole County is not the final decision here,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, who sued to try to place the new map on the ballot. “After months of delay, we are pleased to be moving forward to the Missouri Supreme Court to enforce our constitutional rights.”

Missouri’s redistricting targeted Democratic congressman

Missouri's current U.S. House delegation is made up of six Republicans and two Democrats who were elected from districts with boundaries drawn after the 2020 census.

But Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Legislature into a special session on redistricting last year after Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries to their advantage ahead of the midterms.

Missouri's revised map is designed to help Republicans defeat Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigns portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretches the remainder of Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District far eastward into Republican-heavy rural areas. About 59% of its voters are new to the 5th District, according to an Associated Press estimate.

State Sen. Rick Brattin won a Republican primary in the reshaped district in early August. Cleaver was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Republicans had argued that the new districts should be used in the November elections even if a voter referendum on the map was allowed to occur at the same time.

Lawsuit highlights dispute about referendum rights

The Missouri Constitution does not specifically say that a referendum can be used to decide congressional redistricting, nor does it forbid it, which is why the issue ended up in court.

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office, which represented the secretary of state in court, argued that congressional redistricting is a legislative duty not subject to referendum without specific constitutional permission.

The attorney general and the Republican Party also argued it was too late to switch district boundaries before the November election. Changing districts after the primary would cause “widespread voter confusion” and an “erosion in confidence in the integrity of the state’s elections,” said John Gore, an attorney for national, congressional and state Republican committees.

The judge agreed, ruling that a district swap after the primary would violate federal law.

It’s been more than 100 years since a Missouri redistricting plan faced a referendum. In 1922, voters rejected a new congressional map passed by the Republican-led Legislature. The legitimacy of that referendum petition was not challenged in court.

Redistricting battle spread to numerous states

Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting effort has been among the most litigated nationally, triggering about a dozen lawsuits over the past year.

The Republican-led state was the second, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s call to redraw congressional districts. Several other states followed. All told, Republicans hope to win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states: Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.

It remains to be seen whether the redistricting works as intended for Republicans. The president’s party historically has lost congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s poor approval ratings could provide an extra hurdle for Republican candidates.

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Associated Press journalist Hannah Recht contributed from Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Overton will have to balance a raft of competing priorities, including Trump’s fixations, the anti-regulatory interests of traditional Republicans and the anti-corporate posture of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Those challenges dogged the tenure of the previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary, who resigned in May.

Trump said he’s delaying the 50% U.S. tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The countries reached a deal less than two hours before the sanctions were to go into effect on Tuesday, buying time for more negotiations and avoiding, for now, another strain in already tense relations.

The Latest:

International Criminal Court criticizes US sanctions on senior staffers

The ICC called the latest sanctions a “flagrant attack” on its independence and vowed to continue seeking justice for atrocities around the world.

The ICC said in a statement that when “judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk.” It said it “will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality.”

The State Department announced Tuesday that it hit ICC president Tomoko Akane and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye with sanctions that freeze any assets that they have in U.S. jurisdictions or come into contact with the U.S. financial system.

The Trump administration has now sanctioned nine of the ICC’s 18 judges, both its deputy prosecutors, its former chief prosecutor and one other staffer, the court said. The U.S. accuses it of overstepping its mandate by investigating and seeking to prosecute military and political officials from countries, such as Israel and the United States, that are not members.

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FTC proposal would require retailers to be transparent about personalized pricing

Companies that secretly vary prices based on how much they think individual customers will pay could face federal charges under a proposed policy released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission.

“When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be (the) same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer’s estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

The FTC has had its eye on personalized pricing for several years. In a preliminary report filed in January 2025, the agency found that grocers, clothing companies and others were using third-party companies to help them individualize online prices based on shoppers’ locations, browsing histories and other factors, including how long they left items in their virtual shopping carts.

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Trump announces ‘MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER’ on Iran

On his social media site, the president promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” but provided few details.

He said other countries that allow their “financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences.”

It was not immediately clear what that meant for major economies with close ties to Iran, including China.

But Trump said his prohibitions would include things like oil smuggling, cash transfers and cooperation through exchange houses and ship registries and front companies.

“It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are,” Trump said, imploring U.S. allies “to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.”

Canada and the US move closer to finalizing a trade agreement

The agreement would avert threatened 50% U.S. tariffs, and a senior Canadian official called the emerging terms “a very good deal for Canada” while cautioning that negotiations were not complete.

The official said it would provide greater certainty, protect Canada’s dairy sector and jobs threatened by the new tariffs, and preserve what Ottawa considers favorable trade terms with the United States.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly before an agreement is finalized.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked provincial premiers to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said, a step aimed at addressing one of the Trump administration’s key trade complaints.

Houston and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, both conservatives, voiced support for the direction of the talks, though Houston said whether Canadians would actually buy U.S. alcohol again “is a whole other discussion.”

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— Rob Gillies, Paul Wiseman and Seung Min Kim

Longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes to retire, citing differences with Pentagon leadership

Max D. Lederer Jr. is ending a decades-long career with the military newspaper as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon moves to exert editorial control and eliminate what it asserts are “woke distractions.”

Lederer made the announcement in a memo to staff and an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by AP, he said it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

The announcement comes less than four months after the Pentagon fired the paper’s ombudsman, whose job was to safeguard editorial independence. The news outlet is partly funded by the Defense Department but has a legacy of independence from military and government leadership.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stars and Stripes has recently been at the forefront of some reporting on conditions for sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and concerns for their mental health during its long deployment — concerns that Trump has downplayed.

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Missouri court allows new Trump-backed US House districts be used in November election

A Missouri judge has allowed new U.S. House districts backed by the president to be used in the November elections, rejecting a bid to put the Republican-friendly districts to a statewide vote.

Wednesday’s ruling by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green is a victory for Republicans seeking to hold on to their slim majority in the House, but the court decision is likely to be appealed.

Missouri’s new districts already were used in the August primaries. That same day Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition with thousands of signatures seeking to force a November referendum on the map. Hoskins asserted that Missouri’s Constitution does not allow a referendum on congressional redistricting.

The judge agreed with Hoskins.

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Trump says he will attend GOP’s national midterm convention

In a social media post, the president said he plans to attend the Republicans’ first-ever national convention ahead of the midterm elections, an unusual event aimed at boosting turnout in races.

“I will be with you both nights, and rarin’ to go,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump used his characteristic hyperbole to build hype around the event, which will be hosted in Dallas on Sept. 9 and 10. He teased it as “THE GREATEST RALLY OF THEM ALL.”

“It will be like nothing else,” he said. “The Music, Excitement, and Importance of this Evening will be at levels never seen at a Convention or Political Event.”

US national debt hits $40 trillion

The national debt surpassed a record $40 trillion on Wednesday, a staggering milestone as defense costs, social programs like Social Security and Medicare and interest on the burgeoning deficit make up an enormous share of federal spending.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting the defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out Trump’s almost-6-month-old Iran war to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.

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New CDC director acknowledges agency troubles, including ‘zombie’ programs

Dr. Erica Schwartz, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is promising to advocate for the agency while addressing staff burnout and understaffing issues.

In her remarks to staff, Schwartz referenced an AP story this week about CDC programs that have congressional appropriations but functionally are dead or nearly dead because the CDC staffers who did the work were laid off by Trump’s administration or remain on leave.

She did not say exactly what she will do about these dead, or “zombie,” programs and about staffers who feel exhausted and overloaded but said she will meet with CDC staffers to learn more about the situation and what can be done.

Trump tells Congress to pass pro-crypto law — but isn’t waiting to act

At a White House crypto conference Wednesday, Trump urged passage of the Clarity Act before yielding the floor to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig, who vowed to “use every tool available” to advance Trump’s agenda.

Selig’s comments came ahead of a CFTC meeting Thursday examining ways the agency can use its existing authority to ease crypto rules. A day earlier, other securities regulators proposed rules, making it easier for crypto to raise money from the public.

Since the self-styled “crypto president” was reelected last year, his administration has also disbanded a Justice Department crypto enforcement unit and pulled back from prosecutions.

The shift comes as Trump’s latest financial disclosure reported he took in more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related income last year.

Trump said he’d welcome a data center. Many Americans aren’t so sure

“If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” the president told reporters in the White House. “I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous.”

Trump’s review is more optimistic than many Americans, who have pushed back against data centers in their backyard over concerns with the buildings’ use of water, electricity or hefty tax breaks for tech companies. The large edifices — often used for artificial intelligence and cloud computing — have stirred a bipartisan resentment, which Trump nodded toward Wednesday.

“Maybe it can use a little public relations help,” he said, adding that a solution is for companies to produce their own electricity.

US to spend more than $19M to counter Chinese seabed mining, fishing in international waters

The Trump administration has notified Congress of its plans to spend more than $19 million to assist Pacific Island and other countries in countering Chinese attempts to dominate seabed mineral mining as well as crack down on unregulated Chinese fishing in waters far from China.

The State Department told lawmakers this week in separate notices that $14 million would fund ocean mapping and seabed exploration to push back against “aggressive and corrupt practices” by China in 12 Pacific island nations. Another $5.2 million will assist seven countries in boosting inspections of Chinese-flagged fishing vessels that frequently use their ports.

The notices, dated Monday, were obtained by The Associated Press.

The programs are part of a broader effort by the administration to counter China’s growing global influence and power projection.

Trump complains rates are ‘artificially high’

The president criticized a recent spike in borrowing costs and said the U.S. should have lower rates because the economy is doing well, contradicting financial analysts who say steady growth is a reason rates are rising.

“We have interest rates that are artificial — they’re actually artificially high,” Trump said. “When our country is strong, interest rates should go down. When our country is weak, frankly, they should go up.”

Interest rates on long-term Treasury debt have risen steadily for weeks to multiyear highs, lifting mortgage rates and other borrowing costs. The Treasury Department announced steps Wednesday to push rates lower.

Wall Street analysts say borrowing costs have advanced because of expectations that steady economic growth will keep inflation elevated. Most economists also blame ongoing large budget deficits and heavy borrowing by leading tech companies to build AI infrastructure.

Trump reduced joint US-South Korea military exercises

Trump also said he gave the order because he wasn’t happy with South Korea’s refusal to support him over Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

“I didn’t like the fact that we were doing these massive military exercises really against North Korea,” Trump said. He added that “I’m friendly with him,” meaning North Korean leader Kim.

Trump said he hadn’t seen anything happening from North Korea “for certainly two and a half years.” The country appears to have slowed its pace of test firing rockets and ballistic missiles in the region in recent years.

“So, I felt that to do a massive, we were doing a massive war exercise, I thought that was very insulting to somebody that, frankly, has been, during my term at least, very well behaved,” Trump said.

Trump says ‘we have things we could sanction’ on Iran

“We have very draconian sanctions and we’ll see what happens,” the president said, without providing details.

Trump also said, “A lot of boats are coming through” the Strait of Hormuz while also acknowledging, “That may slow down a little bit at some point.”

Attempting to shrug off oil prices that have remained high, the president said they’d not reached $350 a barrel. He didn’t say who had suggested they might reach such a catastrophically high price.

Instead, Trump said that ongoing disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz had left the world looking for alternatives. He even offered, “I think the Hormuz Strait’s not going to be as important as it was in the past.”

Before the war, a fifth of the world’s traded oil typically flowed through the strait every day.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer-turned-enemy, says the president will appear on his radio show

Cohen and 77 WABC, the radio network where he hosts a new talk show, confirmed Wednesday that Trump will appear as a guest on the program this week after MS NOW first reported it.

Cohen, Trump’s longtime attorney who later testified against him in a hush money case, seems to have mended fences with the president recently.

Cohen has since criticized prosecutors in the case and said the two have begun to reconcile.

He said in a post on the social platform X that the interview would air during the evening on Thursday and Sunday.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump hosts crypto leaders

The president is holding court on Wednesday with several cryptocurrency and finance leaders for an event on digital assets.

The meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House coincides with one held by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee, which focuses on matters of technology and finance.

The president kicked off the meeting by listing his administration’s accomplishments on the issue.

“We’re ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader, not only in Bitcoin and crypto but also technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence, and much more,” Trump said.

An alarmed bond market gets the Trump administration to act again

Normally quiet, the bond market can occasionally send warning signals loud enough to hit stock markets worldwide and even grab the attention of U.S. presidents and other world leaders.

After the bond market’s alarm bells rose in volume throughout the summer in the form of higher yields, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday a move that could help calm it down.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it will more than double the amount of U.S. government bonds it will buy back. And the move worked to lower longer-term yields, for now at least.

The stakes are high because high yields drag on economies and bring downward pressure on stock markets.

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Trump’s White House renovations don’t stop at driveway’s edge

Trump’s construction tour also revealed that he has replaced the walkway from the diplomatic entrance to the White House and a connecting portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with white granite.

He asserted that asphalt is “not appropriate for a great house, or a great place like the White House.”

“One thing I know how to do is build,” Trump said.

Clinton’s birthday expands the octogenarian president’s club

Clinton was the last of three baby boomer presidents born within 66 days of each other in 1946. But he was the first to reach the Oval Office, elected in 1992 at the age of 46.

Trump turned 80 on June 14, followed by George W. Bush on July 6. Joe Biden, the only president from the Silent Generation, is 83.

It’s the oldest group of living U.S. presidents ever, with Barack Obama as the only one under 80 — and even the 44th president has reached Medicare eligibility age. He turned 65 earlier this month.

Clinton has slowed down in recent years, more than a decade after major heart surgery that led him to adopt a mostly vegan diet.

At the 2024 Democratic convention, he told delegates, “I have no idea how many more of these I’ll be able to come to.”

Bill Clinton gets birthday wishes as he turns 80

The 42nd president is celebrating a milestone birthday Wednesday.

Hillary Clinton, the former presidential nominee, secretary of state and first lady, led birthday greetings for her husband.

“Happy birthday, dear Bill. Eighty years in to your extraordinary life, I feel very lucky to have spent over 50 of them with you,” she posted on social media. “Here’s to more dancing, talking, and laughing together in the years to come.”

The George and Barbara Bush Foundation noted Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush’s “meaningful friendship … built after their time in office — a friendship grounded in mutual respect, service and a shared commitment to helping others.”

Clinton defeated the elder Bush in 1992 but came to see him as a mentor and sort of father figure. Bush died in 2018.

‘No serious dispute’ that Comey’s seashell post could be read as a Trump threat, prosecutors say

The Justice Department is defending its prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey and says there’s “no serious dispute” that a social media post of seashells he made could be understood as a threat against Trump.

Prosecutors also called into question late Tuesday Comey’s account that he found the seashells in the numerical arrangement “86 47” while walking on a North Carolina beach. Trump is the 47th president.

Prosecutors say Comey intended a physical threat or knew that the number 86 could suggest violence. Comey’s legal team calls it a vindictive prosecution and says Comey’s post didn’t amount to a true threat.

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Trump picks Dr. Heidi Overton, a top White House aide, to lead FDA

Overton is a deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and a trusted figure in the administration. She has worked on several of Trump’s health initiatives.

But the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner will face challenges balancing Trump’s priorities, traditional Republican interests, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-corporate stance. Overton will need Senate confirmation and face questions from the Senate health committee.

The previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary, resigned in May, leaving unfinished projects like work on ultra-processed foods, antidepressants, and COVID-19 shots.

Referring to a “Dr. Heidi” in a Truth Social post, Trump called Overton a smart and respected “rockstar” who would deliver on his priorities of faster cures, innovation, lower drug prices and more wins for Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement.

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Trump walks and waxes on white granite and grass

It was planned as a private event, but the president decided otherwise. He wanted the reporters to see him sign a massive stone, which would become part of the new helipad under construction.

So, a gaggle of reporters tailed Trump outside the White House as he noted the prior state of disrepair and now, “look at the columns, how perfect they are.” As for the grass, which he said, “has life like humans have life,” it will now “look so beautiful.” And the white granite, which is a “powerful stone” that “you’ll never see a crack in.”

Trump came to a stop, flanked by construction workers in hi-vis vests, hard hats, and sunglasses, who stood silently as the president complimented them and answered a few questions from reporters about the day’s news. The president signed the stone in sweeping strokes.

“I hope you liked it,” he told the assembled reporters.

Trump says underground portion of ballroom will be 5 stories deep

Trump complained that the lawsuit against his White House ballroom was “very unfortunate” because the filings in the case have made public details that might have been kept secret.

But Trump has also been talking about components of the portion of the ballroom that will be underground. And he has taken to referring to the structure as a “military complex” instead of a ballroom.

Trump said during the press tour that the part of the ballroom will be five stories deep underground. The precise depth of some structures, like the ballroom, is usually treated as a closely guarded secret.

Trump said he may reopen negotiations with Iran ‘at some point’

When asked by a reporter at the White House on Wednesday when he would plan to resume talks with Iran, Trump said, “Right now, I think the situation is so good, but maybe at some point.”

He reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon but didn’t offer any other details on his thinking.

The removal was a legal victory for Anthony, now 19, whose attorneys wanted the judge off the case following the June trial, in part because of a TV interview in which the judge said jurors “got it right” when they delivered a guilty verdict in the killing of Austin Metcalf.

Anthony, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison, wore a green prison jumpsuit in a suburban Dallas courtroom when a visiting judge ordered state District Judge John Roach's recusal. Judge Michael Chitty was later assigned to the case.

Outside the courtroom in McKinney, cheers erupted in the hallway while some Anthony supporters chanted “Free Karmelo!” in the parking lot.

“Today’s ruling answers a fundamental question: whether a reasonable fully informed observer would see Judge Roach’s conduct and believe that he could fairly and impartially consider a motion for new trial,” Anthony’s lawyers said in a statement.

On Thursday, Anthony was expected back in court for a hearing that will determine whether a retrial is warranted.

Jurors this summer had rejected Anthony's claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year. Anthony did not testify during the trial. Other students who took the stand described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.

The case attracted national attention in part because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race.

Anthony’s legal team has argued that a retrial is needed, in part, because Roach enforced strict courtroom rules that they said limited the public's access to the proceedings. They also zeroed in Wednesday on comments Roach made to a Dallas TV station after the trial ended.

In the interview, which was played as the hearing began, Roach was asked if the jury got “it right.”

“Yeah, they did,” Roach said, adding: “Whatever they say, they got it right.”

During the interview, Roach also defended his courtroom rules and spoke about the onslaught of online postings about the case.

Visiting Judge Sid Harle said he did not know Roach and he believed Roach would be fair in a hearing for a retrial, but was granting the defense's request for a recusal because of how it might look to others. In his written order, Harle said the evidence was such that the judge's “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” and ordered another judge to “preside over all further proceedings.”

Roach did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the ruling.

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye had urged the court to keep Roach. He said the judge “didn’t do anything wrong” and that his courtroom rules were meant to protect the integrity of the trial, which brought demonstrators outside the courthouse. Wirskye did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the ruling.

As national attention on the killing intensified last year, the families of both Metcalf and Anthony said they had been targets of harassment.

“We were all getting death threats,” Wirskye said.

Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.

Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor.

Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.

Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

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Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno contributed to this report from Austin.

Detectives originally said the group targeted cemeteries, breaking into niches that hold cremated remains and taking family heirlooms left with loved ones — items that can be priceless to grieving relatives.

[RELATED: Trio wanted in Central Florida over looted cemeteries, sheriff says]

At least 20 cases of these “disturbing thefts” have been reported in Florida, deputies said, though investigators believe the number could be higher. The suspects are said to live in Indianapolis and may have committed similar crimes in at least nine states.

In Florida specifically, deputies reported that cases have been identified in Orange County, Seminole County, Hillsborough County, and the city of Winter Park.

One of the suspects — identified as Angela Garrett, 52 — was arrested earlier this week in Indiana, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

In a release on Wednesday, though, deputies revealed that the other two suspects — identified as Drake Lee Milam, 33; and Garrett’s daughter Porsche Bancroft, 32 — had also been taken into custody.

Like Garrett, Milam was also arrested in Indiana, deputies added. Meanwhile, Bancroft turned herself in to the Seminole County Jail.

According to investigators, all three face a variety of charges, including injuring or removing a tomb or monument; disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb; and grand theft over $20,000.

The total value of the stolen property has been estimated at over $35,000.

“But the dollar amount is not what’s important,” the release reads. “Having a loved one’s final resting place disturbed and cherished family heirlooms taken is deeply painful, and we recognize that no arrest can undo what these families have experienced.”

Detectives said they’re continuing to work to identify any other victims and determine the full scope of these crimes.

Officials are also urging families to check their loved ones’ resting places to make sure items remain secure.

The milestone figure was recorded just five months after the U.S. hit a record $39 trillion debt in March. It reached $38 trillion five months before that, in October.

The unprecedented $40 trillion figure highlights competing administration priorities, from boosting defense spending that the U.S. relies on to carry out President Donald Trump's almost-6-month-old war in Iran to lowering the cost of gas and groceries.

Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said the Trump administration “has been focused on slashing waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending while accelerating economic growth to get America’s debt-to-GDP ratio trending in the right direction.”

However, experts say the exploding debt and the latest record milestone are already affecting Americans' pocketbooks by raising borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowering wages from businesses that have less money available to invest, and creating more expensive goods and services.

“If we want to improve our living standards, today and for the next generation, now is the time for lawmakers to put our nation on a more affordable and sustainable path," says Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank focused on U.S. fiscal challenges.

The debt has exploded over several presidential administrations, as the nation's leaders spend more money than it collects in taxes. In recent memory, the multi-year COVID-19 pandemic shut down much of the U.S. economy, where the federal government borrowed heavily during President Trump's first term and under former President Joe Biden to stabilize the economy and support a recovery.

More government spending was approved after Trump signed Republicans’ tax cut and spending legislation into law last year.

Advocates for a balanced budget also warn that the long-term trend of borrowing more and paying more in interest will force Americans to face tougher fiscal tradeoffs ahead.

"The federal debt is already raising the cost of living and choking out other spending and investment, threatening our economy and Americans’ long-term prosperity,” said Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center.

“Our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable, and that’s the best-case scenario. AI disruption, a recession, global war, or any number of other events could quickly push us over the edge from a challenge into a full-blown crisis," Spellings said in a statement.

The U.S. is subject to a statutory debt limit, or a limit to federal borrowing, which Congress has the authority to set, adjust or abolish. The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that the U.S. will most likely reach the $41.1 trillion debt limit sometime between late winter and mid-summer of 2027, requiring Congress to again vote on whether to raise or suspend it.

The U.S.' fiscal position stands as the worst among other developed countries, according to recent data analysis from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

Max D. Lederer Jr. announced his retirement, effective at the end of September, in a memo to staff on Tuesday, as well as in an interview with Stars and Stripes. In the memo, seen by The Associated Press, Lederer, the second full-time civilian in the position, wrote that it had “become clear that my philosophy of leadership, and my understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes, differ in fundamental ways from the direction the leadership of the Department of Defense has for the organization.”

The announcement comes less than four months after the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, ombudsman for the newspaper, whose job was to safeguard editorial independence. The news outlet is partly funded by the Defense Department, but has a legacy of independence from military and government leadership. “No one should be surprised that they’re kicking out the one person charged by Congress with protecting Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence," Smith wrote in a column.

Stars and Stripes has recently been at the forefront of some of the reporting on conditions for sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and concerns for their mental health during the aircraft carrier’s long deployment — concerns that President Donald Trump has downplayed.

It's part of larger, government-driven changes to the military publication

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lederer’s retirement, which comes seven months after the department announced in a social media post that it would essentially overhaul the newspaper to align with its current messaging.

Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, wrote on on X in January that the Pentagon “is returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters.” He said the department will “refocus its content away from woke distractions.”

“Stars and Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters,” Parnell wrote. “It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints.”

More broadly, the developments at Stars and Stripes come against a backdrop of increased efforts by Hegseth to control media coverage of the department.

Last year, officials attempted to impose restrictions on journalists working inside the Pentagon, which, in turn, led most news outlets to turn in their access badges and walk out.

Then this summer, the Pentagon took another step and declared its press office a classified space — instituting a policy that journalists must be accompanied by an escort on Pentagon grounds. That policy is being challenged in court. In mid-July, a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said the policy could stand, overturning a lower court decision.

In her April column titled “The Pentagon is trying to silence me,” Smith, the former ombudsman, expressed concern over increasing restrictions on the media.

“For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more restrictions on the mainstream media,” she wrote. “The New York Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court, instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary Hegseth and company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists.”

Of Stars and Stripes, Smith wrote: “This newspaper has a long history of commitment to the military community and to journalistic values. Please don’t let it be controlled by Pentagon brass.”

The departing publisher objected to certain changes

Lederer was not made available for an interview with the AP. In the interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he did not feel the modernization efforts the Pentagon announced in March were appropriate, in particular a transitioning of print products to digital — a move he feared would limit accessibility for troops.

“I don’t feel that there’s a full recognition of the value of multiple platforms versus only a digital platform,” Lederer was quoted as saying.

In another development, Stars and Stripes said it could not confirm an account that, in recent weeks, a new deputy had been installed by the Pentagon under Lederer without the publisher’s prior knowledge.

In a letter seen by the AP, Rufus Friday, the chair of Stars and Stripes’ advisory board of publishers, wrote to congressional leaders about the arrival of the new deputy, a development he said “threatens Stripes’s editorial independence.”

Roughly half of Stars and Stripes' budget comes from the Pentagon, and its staff members are considered Defense Department employees.

The outlet’s mission statement emphasizes that it is “editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command” and that it is unique among news organizations tied to the Defense Department in being “governed by the principles of the First Amendment.”

The newspaper has been reporting about the military steadily since World War II, to an audience mainly of service members stationed overseas.

Lederer told Stars and Stripes that while his retirement is effective Sept. 30, he does not know whether the Pentagon will keep him as publisher until then or name an acting publisher.

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Jocelyn Noveck writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP.

The cause of the Aug. 12 crash near Fort Hood remains under investigation by the Combat Readiness Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Military officials temporarily halted Apache training flights on Aug. 14. The decision to resume the training came “after a thorough review of safety procedures and flight operations,” the Army said in a statement.

“We remain deeply saddened by the loss of our service members. Our thoughts are with their families, loved ones, and fellow Soldiers as we honor their service and the lasting impact they had on the Army community,” the statement said.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Deontre T. Huey, 34, of Killeen, Texas, and Warrant Officer Seth L. Olmstead, 25, of Belton, Texas, were killed in the Texas crash, the Army said last week. They were the only two people on board when the helicopter crashed in a grassy field near Salado, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Fort Hood.

Huey entered the Army in 2014 and Olmstead entered in 2023. They were assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division.

The military had paused similar missions after past crashes. Three years ago, after 12 soldiers died in separate crashes in Alaska and Kentucky, the Army grounded all aviation units until they completed some additional training.

Fort Hood is a massive base with 214,968 acres (86,995 hectares) that is used to train and deploy heavy forces. In November 2015, four soldiers were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise. And nine Fort Hood soldiers died in 2016 when a rain-swollen creek swept their vehicle into rushing waters.

The Apache attack helicopter has been a core part of Army aviation since the first one was delivered in 1984. More than 5,000 Apaches have been deployed by the U.S. military and its allies over the decades.

In announcing the pause, the Army made no mention of stopping the combat missions that Apache helicopters are regularly flying in the war in Iran. The helicopters have been employed around the Strait of Hormuz as part of the measures to maintain open navigation channels. One Apache crashed after running into an Iranian drone.

Overton is a medical doctor and deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council who has worked on several of Trump’s second-term health initiatives. She has become a trusted administration figure and a champion of the Republican president’s goals.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would have to balance a raft of competing priorities, including Trump’s fixations, the anti-regulatory interests of traditional Republicans and the anti-corporate posture of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Those challenges dogged the tenure of the previous FDA head, Dr. Marty Makary. He resigned in May, leaving behind unfinished projects such as work on ultraprocessed foods, antidepressants and COVID-19 shots.

Referring to her as “Dr. Heidi” in a Truth Social post, Trump said Overton was a smart and respected “rockstar” who would deliver on his priorities of faster cures, innovation, lower drug prices and more wins for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

Kennedy posted on X that Overton has “exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline and an unwavering commitment to the American people.”

Overton has promoted Trump’s health priorities

Overton attended medical school at the University of New Mexico and has a doctoral degree in clinical investigation from Johns Hopkins University, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before joining Trump’s second administration, she was the chief policy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

In recent months, she has appeared with the president to announce major projects, including some of his “most favored nation” deals with drug companies to lower prices to those of other developed countries and his recent vaccine order that sought to split the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three separate immunizations — against the advice of medical groups.

At an Oval Office event to promote that order, she stood by Trump as he falsely suggested the number or timing of vaccines could play a role in rising rates of autism spectrum disorder. Scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link.

Overton has been critical of abortion pills and, if confirmed, would be positioned to roll back FDA rules that made them more accessible. U.S. abortion opponents have expressed frustration that the administration has not acted to stem the flow of such pills prescribed online, a situation they view as undermining state abortion bans.

Mifepristone is typically used with misoprostol in medication abortions that make up close to two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. Medical professionals call it “among the safest medications” ever approved by the FDA.

To be confirmed, Overton must seek approval from a narrowly Republican-led Senate and face questions from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Its chair, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, has been a vocal critic of some of Trump’s actions to sow doubt in vaccinations, including the MMR order.

Cassidy posted Wednesday that while he respects Overton's medical background, he has “strong concerns” about the nomination, mentioning her lack of managerial experience and her participation in the recent vaccine order, which he called “almost disqualifying.”

Democratic senators slammed the nomination.

“Heidi Overton is a far-right, anti-abortion extremist who has no business leading the FDA,” posted Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a committee member.

Makary’s replacement will face challenges he left behind

Before he left the FDA, Makary had drawn complaints from health industry executives and anti-abortion activists. The frustration with him came to a head over the agency’s lack of movement on flavored e-cigarettes. Companies such as R.J. Reynolds are seeking to market to adult smokers, but sweet-flavored vapes have long been blamed for the trend of teenage vaping. FDA scientists have hesitated to endorse those products to curb adult smoking.

Days before Makary's departure, the agency opened the door to allowing more unauthorized electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches onto the U.S. market, in a policy change that essentially bypassed FDA experts.

Pharmaceutical companies will be looking for changes at the agency, too, after rejections or reversals of biotech drugs intended for rare diseases. Complaints from biotech companies, investors and patient groups have grown and been taken up by conservative lawmakers.

Makary tried to assuage industry grievances, in part by announcing new programs designed to streamline or accelerate drug approvals. Some of those initiatives, however, have meant new headaches for the agency.

Several of Makary’s deputies also exited the agency.

Dr. Vinay Prasad, the vaccine and biotech chief, stepped down in April following intense criticism from drugmakers, patients and investors. Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, who was involved in scrutinizing the safety of antidepressants, COVID-19 vaccines and other widely used therapies, was replaced as FDA’s acting drug center director.

MAHA has high expectations of FDA's next head

Overton would also need to tend to the priorities of Kennedy’s health movement, some members of which are already skeptical of her.

Kelly Ryerson, an activist critical of pesticides who is known to her supporters as “Glyphosate Girl,” told The Associated Press that Overton parroted pesticide manufacturer Bayer's talking points in a MAHA roundtable at the White House in April.

“I was stunned by the blatant, undisguised corruption,” Ryerson said.

One major decision for the next commissioner is what to do about peptide regulation. A panel of federal health advisers selected by Kennedy recently recommended easing access to several peptides that are popular with wellness influencers and celebrities, despite warnings from FDA scientists that the chemicals have not been shown to be safe or effective.

The agency recently proposed a rule change that would require food manufacturers to notify regulators before introducing new ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods. But it is still working with the White House to finalize a first-of-its-kind definition of ultraprocessed foods, which Kennedy blames for elevated rates of diabetes, obesity and other chronic conditions.

Under Kennedy, the FDA has set up extra hurdles for vaccine testing and blocked the publication of research into the effectiveness of COVID-19 shots. Kennedy stood by Trump recently as the president signed the executive order aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S. despite unprecedented financial and logistical challenges.

The FDA also has an ongoing review of widely used antidepressants, including whether they may increase the risk of autism and other disorders when used during pregnancy. The medicines have long been a target of Kennedy, who was a leader in the anti-vaccine movement before joining the government.

In recent weeks, the agency has been investigating two summertime foodborne illness outbreaks: a cyclospora outbreak linked to tainted iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands of people and a multistate salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeño peppers.

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Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Laura Ungar contributed from Louisville, Kentucky.

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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.

Democrats have hoped to mount a comeback in the diverse, populous and economically dynamic state but have struggled to craft a message that resonates in the Sunshine State's political climate. Nixon's upset sets up a long-shot challenge to U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general selected by Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill the seat after Marco Rubio vacated it when Trump chose him as secretary of state.

The race has already inflamed tensions within the Democratic Party over how to energize liberal voters eager for unapologetic, combative candidates without alienating independents and moderates who have been key to winning in battleground states.

“If you’re surprised by tonight’s election results, you haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s happening in the South,” said Britney Whaley, the southeast regional director of the Working Families Party, which backs populist candidates. “Tonight’s election results must be a wake-up call to a political establishment that believes a populist message can’t win in the South. Angie’s campaign proves voters will respond to a bold economic vision that meets their basic needs.”

A proud progressive who campaigned with new tactics

A spirited progressive who had the backing of Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Nixon is a longtime labor organizer who recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America. She championed policies like universal healthcare and childcare and has been an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy and the war in Gaza.

In May, Nixon protested the Republican-controlled Florida legislature’s redistricting of the state’s congressional maps by shouting through a megaphone on the state House floor. She was later reprimanded by an ethics committee but earned plaudits from Democratic allies and voting rights groups for her demonstration.

Vindman raised about $16 million in his race and had spent more than $9 million by the end of July. Nixon, by contrast, had raised just shy of $1 million. Nixon eschewed broadcast television advertising, instead focusing on targeting voters on social media. She was backed by prominent online figures like children’s education influencer Ms. Rachel.

In contrast to other high-profile statewide democratic socialist bids this year, Nixon received little opposition from national Democratic figures or major political action committees. That didn't stop progressives from immediately touting her win as a sign of greater momentum for the region.

Florida's Senate race was widely considered out of reach for Democrats and not central to the party's efforts to retake the upper chamber. Nevertheless, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin issued a statement praising Nixon as a “proven leader,” adding that the DNC “is ready to help elect Angie and work together to flip this seat.”

A defeat for ‘resistance’ Democratic politics

Vindman served on the White House's National Security Council during Trump's first term. His testimony was central to Trump's first impeachment over a phone call in which the president pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden and his family. Vindman became a national Democratic star and target of Trump's ire for his actions, a dynamic that garnered him millions in small-dollar donations.

His twin brother Eugene, who also served on the council, is a Democratic congressman from Virginia.

“Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign. I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me,” Vindman said in a statement after he conceded the race.

Trump gleefully hailed Vindman's defeat to Nixon.

“The most gratifying loss last night was that of a real treasonous creep, Alexander Vindman, to a Radical Left Lunatic, who can’t speak or think properly, and who will go down to certain defeat at the hands of Ashley Moody, a truly Fantastic Senator, from the Great State Florida,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump added that Vindman “should be prosecuted for what he’d did!”

Democratic leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had hoped Vindman's reputation and campaign war chest would turn what election analysts considered a solidly Republican seat into a more competitive race. Nixon’s upset victory has now buoyed already high Republican confidence in the state and raised progressive confidence about the strength of their message.

Vindman's defeat mirrors that of others who rose to prominence opposing Trump during his first administration, when Democrats embraced “resistance” as a moniker for that opposition and for standing up for the rule of law. Their defeats may show how rank-and-file voters have shifted toward more strident and affirmative visions of politics.

In May, Rep. Al Green of Texas, a longtime Trump opponent and civil rights icon, lost a runoff race to Rep. Christian Menefee, a freshman progressive representative less than half Green's age.

Rep. Dan Goldman, who served as counsel for House Democrats during Trump's first impeachment, lost his primary in June to progressive challenger Brad Lander, who had the backing of New York City's democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. George Conway, a liberal lawyer who has garnered Trump's ire, came in fifth place in another New York Democratic primary for U.S. House.

And earlier this month, Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan, who last year introduced articles of impeachment against Trump, lost his primary to a democratic socialist in a Detroit-area congressional race.

Nixon's win headlined mixed results for progressives

In multiple southern Florida congressional primaries Tuesday, left-flank candidates lost to more moderate ones. While the state has shifted rightward in recent election cycles, Florida has long been a refuge for Latino communities who had fled left-wing authoritarian regimes in Latin America. Many of those Floridians have consequently reacted negatively to anything or anyone labeled as socialist.

Elijah Manley, who finished third in a Broward County U.S. House primary won by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, acknowledged the tightrope. He got about 14% of the vote in a five-way race. In neighboring districts, Rep. Jared Moskowitz and political newcomer Pia Dandiya ran as moderates and won 64% and 69% of the vote, respectively, over more progressive opponents.

“I’m a proud moderate. We need more moderates,” Dandiya said in an interview.

The Senate returns showed similar trends. Nixon carried most of the state but was weakest in southern Florida, which includes some of the state's largest Latino communities.

Still, Manley insisted the broader electorate wants a more aggressive, left-leaning party.

“They have looked at the Democratic establishment for the past four years, even 10 years, and it’s something that just isn’t working for them,” he said.

“Say what you will about the DSA. They’re organizing. They’re bringing people into the party. They’re exciting people, and they’re getting people. We should be happy that that’s happening,” Manley added.

Nixon's allies view her voter base, which includes some of the most working-class and majority-Black counties in the state, as another path to power when coupled with the broader Democratic coalition. But they caution intraparty divisions and an inauthentic message could hamper a candidate from any wing of the party.

“I think people are looking for change. They’re looking for leadership who they can trust and who listens,” said Moné Holder, a liberal activist and urban planning committee chair who defeated a Republican for an at-large seat on Jacksonville’s city council.

“They’re looking for people to serve who aren’t wrapped up in political drama, but are about people. And I think voters came out to show that, and it proved itself in my election, and Angie’s, and a few others,” Holder said.

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Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

“When consumers see a listed price, they expect it to be (the) same price that everyone else sees, not the retailer’s estimate of how much they are willing to pay based on their personal data,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement.

The FTC has had its eye on personalized pricing for several years. In a preliminary report filed in January 2025, the agency found that grocers, clothing companies and others were using third-party companies to help them individualize online prices based on shoppers' locations, browsing histories and other factors, including how long they left items in their virtual shopping carts.

In one hypothetical example, the FTC said a consumer profiled as a new parent might be shown higher-priced baby thermometers on the first page of their search results.

Ferguson said the FTC doesn't have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances. But under the proposed policy, businesses would have to “clearly and conspicuously disclose” if they are engaging in personalized pricing and share the types of data they're using to set those prices.

The proposed policy states that companies engaged in personalized pricing without revealing the practice and the data behind it could violate the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in the marketplace.

The FTC is seeking comment on the policy for 30 days.

Several retail trade groups didn't comment directly on the FTC's proposal Wednesday.

The National Retail Federation, which represents big companies like Walmart, Target and Macy's as well as smaller stores, said retailers want to continue to offer incentives like loyalty and rewards programs, which collect personal data and provide offers tailored to individuals.

“NRF has and will continue to aggressively advocate to protect these programs that deliver timely savings and personalized offers that are relevant to each shopper's interests,” said David French, NRF's executive vice president of government relations.

FMI, a trade group for the U.S. grocery industry, said Wednesday it was reviewing the proposal and didn’t have immediate comment. But in a letter FMI sent to U.S. senators this month after a subcommittee hearing on personalized pricing, FMI also said it hoped to preserve shopper loyalty programs.

In the letter, FMI also noted that electronic shelf labels, which are becoming increasingly common at grocers and retailers like Walmart, don't automatically change prices based on individual shoppers.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group that represents Best Buy, Home Depot, Dollar General and 200 other retailers, didn't comment on the new proposal Wednesday but cited its own letter sent to U.S. senators earlier this month.

In the letter, the association said retailers don't use consumers' personal data to increase prices because that would jeopardize customer loyalty.

“As shoppers demonstrate an increased willingness to seek out lower prices, competition among retailers intensifies to meet customers' needs, creating a strong and continuous incentive for retailers to offer attractive prices, discounts and value,” the letter said.

The FTC's action comes amid consumer unease about pricing tactics. Wendy's faced a backlash in 2024 after it said it was considering charging more for its menu items during peak times. Uber and Lyft have also been in lawmakers' crosshairs for their surge-pricing practices.

Several states, including Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey, have already passed laws prohibiting personalized pricing at grocery stores. California and New York are also considering legislation that would ban personalized pricing.

New Jersey also placed a one-year moratorium on new electronic shelf labels despite retailers' assurances that the labels aren't used for personalized pricing and can actually help consumers by, say, automatically lowering prices for foods that are about to expire.

The consumer advocacy organization Consumer Reports said Wednesday that the FTC's proposal was encouraging but might still require consumers to read detailed disclosures on pricing while shopping online.

The group said the FTC and Congress should instead follow the states' lead and ban companies from using customer data to personalize prices in the first place.

During his second day of testimony, Arturo Béjar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.

“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.

The trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and is expected to last about six weeks. The four states were among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy — the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts, including one underway in Tennessee.

The lawsuit accuses Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hide these harms from the public. It also argues that Meta routinely collects data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent, in violation of federal law.

Meta says users must be at least 13 years old to create an account, in line with the law, called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.

“The attitude in particular on Instagram was ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’” Béjar said in response to a question about his perception of the company’s attitude towards users under 13.

The company has rejected the claims and said evidence at the trial will show its commitment to safety.

“You will hear over the course of this case a lot of important issues, issues like teen mental health, issues like social media, issues like how teens use social media,” Meta lawyer Paul Schmidt said Tuesday. “Those are important issues, and they’re issues where Meta believes that it has a responsibility. It has a responsibility to act on its own. It has a responsibility to try to work with teens and parents in partnership to try to address those questions.”

Plaintiffs' witness says safety was an ‘afterthought’

Béjar worked at Facebook from 2009 to 2015, attracting wide attention for his work to combat cyberbullying. He returned from 2019 to 2021 as a contractor to work on safety issues. He testified before Congress in 2023 about social media and the teen mental health crisis, saying that Meta executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, knew about harms Instagram was causing but chose not to make meaningful changes to address them.

In his testimony Wednesday, Béjar said employee performance reviews and compensation for those who worked on user-facing products were mostly focused on user numbers and how long they spend with those products.

“In that context, safety was an afterthought,” he said.

The states are seeking changes to user experiences for Facebook and Instagram as well as financial damages, which could include billions of dollars in penalties. In a written statement, the office of California's attorney general said if Meta loses, the amount of any damages would be set by the court.

“This case is about stopping Meta from offering a dangerous product to teens, and from lying to teens, families, and the public about the dangerousness of their platforms. The primary remedy under our state consumer protection law is an injunction,” the statement said.

Béjar walked through Meta features he said were designed for adults and are “inherently unsafe for teenagers.”

This includes video autoplay, which can mean teens see videos that may cause them harm even if they don't click on them; as well as various counters that track how many people liked, viewed or commented on your content or how many followers you have.

Child development experts have noted teenagers are more susceptible to social comparison than adults, so products that reward popularity can be more harmful to their mental health.

Age verification has been criticized for not going far enough

Despite Meta's statements that it works to find kids under 13 on its platforms and ban them, Béjar testified that he found “tens of thousands” of kids under 13 on Instagram through his research. He said it was “common knowledge” at the company that such young children were on Instagram.

“Meta has one of the most sophisticated infrastructures in the world to detect fake accounts,” he said. But despite that, he added, there were “no goals, no metrics” to detect and check kids’ ages who were suspected to be under 13.

Over the years, Meta has introduced features it says are designed to make the experience safer for young people. But Béjar said these did not work.

For instance, a tool called “Take a Break," introduced in 2021, is a feature that is "designed to fail,” he said. First, it is a setting that people have to turn on if they want to use it. Béjar said that in his experience building settings, very few users actually go through the trouble of turning them on. He compared it to an airbag that drivers have to turn on every time they get in a car.

“A safety tool has to be on by default,” he said.

The feature can also be dismissed with a tap of a finger. If Meta was serious about wanting users to take a break, Béjar said, it would not be so easily swiped away.

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AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this story from Los Angeles.

Angela Garrett, 52, has been arrested and faces multiple charges, including injuring or removing a tomb or monument, disturbing the contents of a grave or tomb, and grand theft over $20,000.

Detectives are still searching for Drake Lee Milam, 33, and his girlfriend, Porsche Bancroft, 32. The trio is accused of targeting cemeteries across the country, breaking into niches and stealing jewelry and keepsakes — including wedding rings — placed with cremated remains.

Deputies later announced that Bancroft had turned herself in to the Seminole County Jail.

At least 20 cases have been reported in Florida, though investigators believe the number could be higher. The suspects are believed to live in Indianapolis and may have committed similar crimes in at least nine states.

Officials are urging families to check their loved ones’ resting places to make sure items remain secure.

Central Florida Crimeline is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest. Call 800-423-TIPS (8477).

A person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press the contract is expected to be a one-year deal. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the terms hadn't been announced.

Diggs is a two-time Pro Bowler coming off a season in which he was waived by the Dallas Cowboys and released by the Green Bay Packers. In joining the Super Bowl champions, the 27-year-old hopes to more closely resemble the player who had an NFL-leading 11 interceptions and earned All-Pro honors in 2021.

“I’m looking to show that I’m still the best,” Diggs said. “I’m looking to show that I just want to win and be there for my teammates and be a great teammate and be a great player.”

The Seahawks brought in Diggs less than a week after the team entered an agreement with cornerback Terrion Arnold, whose status for the 2026 season is uncertain.

Arnold is facing eight felony charges stemming from allegations he orchestrated the abduction and beating of three men in February. He became a free agent in June, when the Detroit Lions released him a few days after the kidnapping, armed robbery and conspiracy charges were levied.

Arnold will be placed on the commissioner's exempt list when he signs. He will not be permitted to play or practice while the league investigates his case but can be paid and attend team meetings.

Wide receiver Julian Hicks was waived to make room for Diggs on the 90-man roster.

Diggs should add depth to a secondary that lost cornerback Riq Woolen to free agency and has been without second-year safety Nick Emannwori, who had offseason ankle surgery, during training camp.

In 2025, Diggs played six games for Dallas before sustaining a concussion in an accident at home on Oct. 16. He didn’t explain the cause of the injury to reporters until two months later, when he said he got hit in the head when he was mounting a pole while trying to install a TV.

“It was tough, but just keeping good people around you (helps),” Diggs said of his recovery. “My family is a great support system for me, keeping my mental straight. Just keep going.”

Even after Diggs cleared the concussion protocol, he remained off the field with what the Cowboys described as lingering knee issues. Diggs then returned for two games before getting waived in late December.

He joined the Packers just before their final regular-season game. He played nearly half of Green Bay’s defensive snaps in his Packers debut as the team rested its starters in a 16-3 loss at Minnesota. But he was on the field for only one snap when the Packers lost 31-27 at Chicago in an NFC wild-card playoff game.

Diggs made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2022 but his performance has declined since, in part because of two major knee surgeries. He declared himself healthy on Wednesday.

“It’s my first offseason that I’ve been able to just not rehab and actually do offseason training,” Diggs said. “So, a lot of trainers put the work in, helped me put the work in to get to where I’m at today.”

Diggs has played in 71 NFL games, including playoffs, since the Cowboys took him with the 51st pick in the 2020 draft out of Alabama.

The Seahawks fielded arguably the NFL’s best defense last season. No team allowed fewer points per game (17.2), and Seattle finished in the top seven in the league in sacks and interceptions.

Diggs has been teammates previously with Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence.

“It was just finding somewhere that felt like home,” Diggs said. “Finding somewhere that I’ll have the opportunity to compete, have the opportunity to play. It felt right.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The sheriff’s office released an investigative report on Wednesday. Over three months, investigators reviewed facility records, veterinary documentation, FWC inspection records, and diagnostic findings, and conducted more than 20 interviews with state and national experts.

Sloth World, founded by Ben Agresta, was planned as an interactive attraction on International Drive where visitors could meet and hold sloths. It never opened. In total, 55 sloths died after being imported from Guyana and Peru.

Investigators determined the deaths resulted from multiple contributing factors, including disease, transportation stress, copper and nutritional deficiencies, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and pre-existing health conditions. Pathology findings pointed to a widespread infectious disease process, most likely viral.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services inspector confirmed that none of the sloth species were protected under CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — or the Endangered Species Act at the time of import. Two sloth species were added to CITES Appendix II on March 5, 2026, but the final shipment arrived March 2 — three days before protections took effect.

Thirteen critically ill sloths were transferred to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford in April 2026. Five later died. Eight remain in the zoo’s care.

Investigators also visited two quarantine facilities used to house the sloths. Both were secured and locked during the May 2026 walkthrough, though exterior observations revealed climate control equipment, running water, and wooden animal shipping crates still on site.

The deaths sparked outrage and prompted policy changes. Florida now requires a special permit before sloths can be imported into the state, and Orange County commissioners are exploring a potential ban on using exotic wildlife for commercial entertainment.

The case has been referred to the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, who led news conferences, urged state and criminal investigations, and pushed for immediate policy and permit reforms in response to the sloth deaths, released the following statement.

“I want to thank the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for the rigor they brought to this investigation and for taking our concerns and the community’s concerns so seriously. Over more than three months, their detectives reviewed facility records, veterinary and diagnostic documentation, and inspection histories, and conducted more than twenty interviews with state and national experts. They did their job thoroughly and professionally, and under current law, I accept that the conclusion they reached.

That is why we need to change the law and rules governing captive wildlife in Florida. Dozens of sloths were captured, shipped across the world, and died, and under Florida law as it exists today, no one is held accountable. That is not a failure of the investigators. It is a failure of our statutes and our rules. When a facility can be in full compliance with every applicable state standard and animals still die by the dozens, the standards themselves are the problem. Compliance is not the same as care.

I will be working with my colleagues in the Legislature, with FWC, and with wildlife and veterinary experts to strengthen Florida’s rules on the importation, permitting, and housing of exotic and highly specialized species, and to close the gaps this case exposed. No animal should be brought into our state to suffer and die because our laws were too weak to stop it. I am grateful to every Central Floridian who refused to let this go. Your voices are why this case was investigated at all, and they are why the law and rules will change.”

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando

The full report can be read in the media player below:

It was a warm, sunny day in the coastal town of Narragansett when the spill happened Sunday, and Narragansett Police Capt. Ryan Prest said he was told that the scene “started to smell bad as the squid sat out in the sun for a few hours.”

The fully-loaded trailer was taking the squid to a processing facility out of town when the trailer dislodged and tipped on its side as the driver was navigating a turn, spilling a “substantial portion” of its calamari cargo, the police department said in a statement.

Police responded at 9:27 a.m., and the intersection wasn’t reopened until 5:15 p.m., authorities said.

Video of the scene showed a trailer on its side and massive piles of squid on the road.

“Squid has a distinctive odor to it,” Richard Stevens, a Narragansett resident and fisherman, told WJAR. “It can be very foul smelling, especially if it lands on the road and stays there for awhile.”

Heavy equipment and a dump truck were used to remove the squid, Prest said.

The driver and a passenger in the truck cab weren’t injured, and no other vehicles were involved, Prest said. The Rhode Island State Police Commercial Enforcement Unit is investigating but it’s unclear if any enforcement action will be taken, Prest said.

“We have not issued any citations,” Prest said. “I’m not sure if there will be any citations issued by the state police.”

State police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Narragansett Police Department made light of the situation in a social media post on Wednesday, stating that the town is “still recovering” from the “Squidpocalypse of ’26 — the spill that put ‘slippery when wet’ to shame.”

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Kelety reported from Phoenix.

So, when teams hold joint practices, as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers did on Wednesday, all bets are off when it comes to increased physicality and intensity. Needless to say, the competitive juices were flowing for the nearly two-hour workout on the Jags’ practice fields. But aside from some minor pushing and shoving, tempers were held in check for two teams looking to build off playoff appearances this past season.

In the following video, Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen and quarterback Trevor Lawrence sound off on the merits of the joint practice. Also, I spent a few minutes with Panthers wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., a former star at Seminole High School in Sanford, who’s trying to become a fixture in Carolina’s offensive plans.

The testimony of Paul Zeizel is the strongest evidence yet to support the defense contentions that Clancy should not be held legally responsible for murder because she has bipolar disorder and was in the grip of a rare mental illness called postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children before trying to kill herself. Zeizel began seeing Clancy as a patient at a hospital after the deaths.

“She was unable to conform her behavior to the rule of law. She had no appreciation for the wrongfulness of her act,” Zeizel said, adding that she had “a mental disease or a defect.”

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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.

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Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged from 8 months to 5 years old. Postpartum psychosis is linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Researchers estimate that the condition — which is more serious and less common than postpartum depression — afflicts 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery.

Prosecutors say the former labor and delivery nurse planned the January 2023 killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to pick up medicine for one of their children and dinner for the family.

Clancy was not getting better

Zeizel, who said he spent more than 35 hours with Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records, said she went to a perinatal clinic in December 2022 because she felt her “brain was damaged,” “she should kill herself” and that she “is never going to get any better.” She also showed signs of psychosis, was paranoid and feared that people could hear her thoughts and that she would lose her children.

“She was worried that her children would be removed from her and that she would never see them again,” he said.

But just because she was in a psychotic state, Zeizel said, that didn't mean she couldn't do “everyday tasks of living” like driving and searching the internet, a reference to the fact that the day of the killings she took her daughter to the doctor, played with the children in the snow and searched online for a pharmacy and a restaurant.

“So the fact she is not talking about the unicorns in the corner, she is not slurring her words and she is not unable to walk, to your opinion to a degree of medical certainty, does that mean she is not in a psychotic state?” Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington asked.

Zeizel responded: “It does not.”

Prosecution challenges Zeizel's credibility

On cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out mistakes Zeizel made in his report about Clancy and questioned whether he could be objective about her diagnosis when he was seeing her as a patient and working with the defense including appearing with Reddington at a news conference.

Zeizel acknowledged that there was nothing in Clancy's medical records in which she reports hearing voices telling her to kill herself, only that she told her caregivers that “she wanted to die.”

Prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of Clancy’s suicide attempt. After strangling her children, Clancy jumped from a second-story window and remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Prosecution brings up the children's birthdays

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham also read from daily reports from Tewksbury Hospital, the state psychiatric hospital where Clancy stays, that included the anniversary of the killings and what would have been her children's birthdays. Those reports mentioned her parents sometimes visiting or her talking with other patients. But they never mentioned anything she did to remember her children.

Reddington asked Zeizel if he saw anything in the record from the hospital about her “laughing, and partying and having a good time” while in the hospital.

“Lindsay Clancy has bad days and worse days,” Zeizel said.

Zeizel also said Clancy often talks about her children, aiming to dispel prosecutors' contention that she never mentions them. “She really loves them and misses them and thinks of them every single day, almost every moment of the day,” Zeizel said.

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

With control of the chamber on the line, Sullivan stepped up his attack against Peltola in the days leading to the primary, questioning her effectiveness while in Congress and seeking to align her with Lower 48 “liberals.” Peltola positioned herself as someone who would represent “regular” people and push back against special interests and wealthy politicians.

Both are seen as the leading candidates in November because of their fundraising and name recognition.

The Senate race was one of several being decided in the primary, which also featured Alaska's only U.S. House seat and an open governor's race. Under the state’s open primary system, all candidates appeared on the same ballot. The four top vote-getters qualify for the ranked vote general election. But it remained too early Wednesday to call all the candidates advancing in the top races.

In the House race, Republican Rep. Nick Begich advanced, along with independent Bill Hill. Two Democrats, former lawmakers Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, Nick Begich's uncle, advanced in the race for governor.

Voters Tuesday also approved a ballot measure that would reimpose campaign contribution limits, five years after a divided federal appeals court struck down a number of caps.

Senate race features 2 widely known candidates

Sullivan and Peltola were the highest-profile candidates among a field of 16 and vastly outraised the other competitors. The race, among a handful that could help determine control of the Senate, has drawn significant attention from outside groups, with Republican and Democratic campaign organizations identifying it as a top target.

Peltola, who in 2022 became the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, has tried to steer a centrist path and revived the “fish, family, freedom” slogan that first propelled her to office. But in the days before the primary, she shook up her campaign leadership. The campaign described the changes as “staffing updates as we transition into the general election.”

Sullivan, a veteran and ally of President Donald Trump who is seeking a third term, campaigned on supporting the military, opening more land for oil and gas extraction, and voting for Trump’s signature tax and spending law. He told supporters Tuesday in Anchorage that his office is “getting big things done.”

He criticized Peltola, who lost her bid for reelection in 2024, as ineffective during her time in Congress. He said “D.C. Democrats” don't have a vision for the state but instead have placed a target on Alaska, such as opposing opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Peltola said the Trump administration has brought challenges to Alaska, including cuts to the federal workforce, and criticized Sullivan's support of Trump’s tax and spending bill. She said the bill has not brought opportunity to Alaskans and accused Sullivan of voting for “corporate greed.”

She released an ad Wednesday saying she's willing to take on anyone — “including Democrats, anyone in the Lower 48 who doesn't understand what Alaska needs.” She expressed support for resource development, Second Amendment rights and border security.

A second Dan Sullivan garnered attention

A third candidate, a Republican also named Dan Sullivan, stole much of the attention ahead of the primary.

Dan J. Sullivan won a legal fight to appear on the ballot despite claims by the senator and GOP allies that he was a sham candidate running at the behest of Democrats with the intent of causing confusion. Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the island community of Petersburg, denied that and said frustration with the incumbent prompted him to run.

He appeared on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation — a decision that a state elections official said was intended to minimize possible confusion. The senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent.

Dan J. Sullivan, the challenger, expressed gratitude Wednesday for the support he'd received, while awaiting election results that would determine if he would be among the four advancing to November.

Matchups in House, governor's races still taking shape

Nick Begich, who was endorsed by Trump, cast himself as hardworking and effective in his role in the U.S. House. He said results from the primary show that Alaskans are ready to return him to Congress.

Hill, a fisherman and former educator from a small southwestern village, has made affordability a key issue in his campaign. He said Alaskans are tired of paying high costs for healthcare, gas and groceries.

“Begich and his buddies think they can play by a different set of rules than we do,” he said after advancing Tuesday. “The Alaskans I know don’t think that’s right.”

The governor's race was wide open with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy barred by term limits from seeking a third consecutive stint. The crowded field was mostly led by Republican tickets. A Democrat hasn't served as governor in Alaska since Tony Knowles left office in 2002.

Republicans in the race included Bernadette Wilson, a business owner and conservative activist; Click Bishop, a former lawmaker; Dave Bronson, a former mayor of Anchorage; and Adam Crum and Treg Taylor, two former members of Dunleavy’s Cabinet.

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Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage contributed to this report.

Jaylen Edgar, 17 at the time of his arrest, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

Tyrek Hill, 25, and Timothy Schmidt, Jr., 19, died in the shooting.

Edgar wrote a letter to Judge Keith Carsten last month, asking the judge to consider his state of mind at the time of the shooting. He said he took full responsibility for the shooting, but he claimed that he was “suffering from extreme mental or emotional disturbance” at the time.

Junior Barrett, Edgar’s defense attorney, signaled earlier this week that his client is still exploring the possibility of an insanity defense.

On the third day of jury selection Wednesday, Barrett and assistant state prosecutor Frank George each took time meticulously questioning prospective jurors about anything from their ability to remain fair and impartial on a jury to whether they own guns at home.

Opening statements are slated to get underway on Thursday morning at 9 a.m.

Gallo, who will lead the nation’s eighth-largest school district, said she is prepared to tackle difficult decisions involving the district’s budget, teacher negotiations, school enrollment and classroom instruction.

Less than 24 hours after her victory, Gallo spoke about the challenges facing the district.

“Funding,” Gallo said when asked how the district can survive the financial pressures it faces.

Low enrollment has contributed to the closure of seven schools and hundreds of job cuts, while negotiations with the teachers union over health care costs have added to tensions.

Gallo said the current board will handle the impasse with the teachers union before she is sworn in as chair. But she said teachers need more support.

“Our teachers deserve more funding. They are struggling out there,” Gallo said, adding that rising health care costs will continue to put pressure on educators.

Gallo said she plans to maintain an open dialogue with teachers, listen to their concerns and work to meet their needs.

The district is also searching for a new superintendent following Maria Vazquez’s announcement that she will retire.

Gallo said she wants the next superintendent to bring an “out-of-the-box mindset” and focus on innovation to improve schools for students.

Gallo also wants to change how students use technology in the classroom. She has advocated moving away from one-to-one digital devices and returning to textbooks in elementary and middle schools, with a hybrid approach for high school students.

“Research is showing us that kids don’t learn or retain information from digital devices,” Gallo said.

As she takes over as chair, Gallo said she plans to build on the work of outgoing Chair Jacobs while taking a more visible role in the community.

“I plan on being present, being in the community and listening to the voters,” Gallo said.

Gallo says she hopes to have an answer soon on the ongoing negotiations with the teachers union over health care.

She is expected to be sworn in sometime in November and says there is a lot of work to do, but she is grateful to have the voters’ trust.

The Jaguars gave up a sixth-round draft pick in 2027 for Faalele, a 6-foot-8, 380-pound lineman, with the trade conditional upon him passing a physical.

“Just continuing to bring depth and guys that have played meaningful reps in this league," coach Liam Coen said after a joint practice with Carolina. "That’s something that you can’t have enough of. We came into camp with 16 (offensive linemen) and got down to about nine the other day.

"When you have some of those things occur, you want to continue to find guys that have done it, guys that have played in this league at a high level. He’s got some big size, and I’m looking forward to getting to know him. But the experience is really what matters.”

Jacksonville is down two starting linemen, and each could miss games early in the season.

Right guard Patrick Mekari recently had back surgery to alleviate a lingering issue and could start the season on short-term injured reserve, and starting right tackle Cole Van Lanen (knee) has missed all of training camp while on the physically unable to perform list. Backups Chuma Edoga, Walker Little and rookie Emmanuel Pregnon also have missed time recently in camp, although Pregnon has since returned to practice.

To make room for Faalele, the Jaguars waived offensive lineman Timothy McKay. The Giants filled their opening by claiming defensive tackle Ben Barten off waivers from the Jets.

Faalele had been taking second-team snaps at Giants training camp but lost his best chance at a starting role when the team selected Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa with the 10th pick and planned to make him a guard.

Faalele, 26, started all 17 games for now-Giants coach John Harbaugh with Baltimore each of the past two seasons. He played in 71 NFL games, all with the Ravens, since debuting in 2022, and was one of several players who followed Harbaugh to New York.

Trading Faalele could open the door for tackle-turned-guard Evan Neal to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. Neal, the seventh pick in 2022, surprisingly returned for a fresh start with a new coaching staff after not playing at all last season.

“I’ve seen great growth from Evan in his ability to take coaching and his ability try to understand not just how things look on paper but what certain alignments mean to him,” offensive line coach Mike Bloomgren said last week. “He’s playing with more confidence.”

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AP Pro Football Writer Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% for its first gain in four days after setting its all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 119 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite ticked 0.2% higher.

Financial markets have come under growing strain as Treasury yields charged higher through the summer on worries about inflation, big government debts and other factors. That makes borrowing money more expensive for everyone, which slows the economy and undercuts prices for stocks and other investments.

But Treasury yields fell in the morning after the U.S. Treasury Department said it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term Treasurys from Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. The department said it’s doing so “to provide greater liquidity support in longer-dated nominal sectors where there is consistent strong sponsorship from market participants.”

These longer-term 10- and 30-year Treasurys are less beholden to the Federal Reserve, which can raise or lower very short-term interest rates for overnight loans. President Donald Trump has lobbied for the Fed to lower interest rates to help the economy.

Longer-term yields are set instead by investors in the bond market, who decide how much interest they need to get paid by the U.S. government in exchange for lending it money. And recently, they have been demanding more in interest to make up for the growing risks of high inflation, continued government deficits and other factors.

After the Treasury department’s announcement, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.64% from 4.71% late Tuesday. It, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war with Iran sent oil prices and worries about inflation much higher.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which recently touched its highest level since 2007, fell more sharply to 5.18% from 5.28% late Tuesday.

The relief could be short lived, some analysts warn. The amount of bonds the U.S. Treasury is proposing to repurchase is a fraction of the overall total.

“The boost to buybacks is also happening in a world of challenged Fed credibility,” according to strategists at BNP Paribas. Investors are questioning whether the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate soon to match the tough talk its chairman, Kevin Warsh, has been offering on getting inflation down toward its 2% target.

“We do not believe buybacks will be enough to offset a continued loss in Fed credibility,” the BNP Paribas strategists wrote in a report, calling them “necessary, but not sufficient.”

On Wall Street, Moderna and Merck helped lead the market after they announced encouraging initial results from a study of a cancer vaccine they co-developed. The new drug showed better recurrence-free survival in melanoma patients who had a combination of it and Keytruda, a prescription immunotherapy drug made by Merck, than with Keytruda alone.

Moderna soared 177%, while Merck jumped 12.6%.

The continuing parade of U.S. companies reporting bigger profits for the spring than analysts expected, meanwhile, continues to support stocks.

Estee Lauder rallied 16.3% after CEO Stéphane de La Faverie said a key measure of its revenue growth accelerated for a fourth straight quarter. It reported growth in revenue around the world, with the strongest in mainland China.

The skin care company reported earnings per share of 39 cents, after excluding some restructuring and other one-time expenses. That’s up from just 9 cents a year earlier and was better than the 32 cents that analysts expected, according to FactSet.

Such growth is imperative because stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term. And strong growth helps allay criticism that stock prices shot too high in their runs to records.

Target rose 4.3%, Lowe’s added 2% and homebuilder Toll Brothers climbed 4% after they all reported better profits for the latest quarter than expected.

They helped offset drops for some Big Tech stocks, which restrained the overall market.

Broadcom fell 4.6% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. It and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom have been swinging sharply through the summer on worries that their stocks may have shot too high and that the AI frenzy may not be sustainable if it doesn’t produce big-enough profits.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 16.22 points to 7,707.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 119.65 to 53,463.05, and the Nasdaq composite added 41.38 to 26,331.09.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mostly lower in Asia and mixed in Europe.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 3.2%. South Korea’s Kospi, which has been home to some of the world’s sharpest swings because of its heavy reliance on AI stocks, slumped 5.8%.

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AP Writers Michelle Chapman, Chan Ho-him, Mike Stobbe and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

In a release, deputies said they responded to the 9300 block of Delegates Drive around 12:50 a.m.

Upon arrival, they found the woman with “obvious signs of trauma,” the release states.

Deputies added that she was pronounced dead at the scene.

No additional information has been provided at this time.

Thursday

Heat advisories have already been issued for Marion and Flagler counties for Thursday, all other counties likely to follow suit early tomorrow morning, as high temperatures will once again climb into the mid-upper 90s with heat indices at 108-112ºF. This will be the fuel to get storms to fire up for the second half of the day. Showers and thunderstorms will begin to develop as the east and west coast sea breezes collide near I-4 just after lunchtime. These storms will continue to fan out around Central Florida through the afternoon and into the evening commute. Showers will begin to fade and dissipate around 8pm.

Heading towards the weekend

Rain chances remain higher than normal as moisture and instability remain as the upper level low to our west sticks around and helps to drag a trough further to the south. This will bring a weak cold front into northern portions of the state by Saturday. This will keep moisture and instability around to keep rain chances going to start the weekend. Highs will remain on the high and steamy side in the mid 90s with heat indices flirting with heat advisory levels.

Dr. Erica Schwartz also said she wouldn’t hesitate to disagree with U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if necessary — but said she wouldn’t do so publicly.

Schwartz started at the head of the Atlanta-based federal agency last week, taking the reins from a series of temporary directors. She spoke to CDC employees Wednesday at her first “all hands” staff meeting. The Associated Press heard a recording of the meeting.

Schwartz mentioned an AP story this week about CDC programs that have congressional appropriations but functionally are dead or nearly dead because the CDC staffers who did the work were laid off by President Donald Trump’s administration or remain on leave.

She did not say exactly what she will do about these “zombie" programs and about staffers who feel exhausted and overloaded, but said she will meet with CDC staffers to learn more about the situation and what can be done.

“The good news is, I’m here,” she said. “I’m Week 1 of being here, and now I can certainly be able to advocate for the CDC. I think when you have (had) that leadership vacuum, it’s, you know, it’s hard to get that advocacy.”

Schwartz previously served in uniformed government jobs with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Public Health Service. When she disagrees with other leaders she does so in private, “because that’s just part of the uniformed service person in me,” she said. She said she would continue to do so, but “not in front of the media.”

She also promised to build public trust in the agency through “radical transparency, scientific rigor and honest communications,” echoing language used by Kennedy.

Schwartz is the 22nd leader of the CDC, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats. In her talk Wednesday, she acknowledged the challenges agency employees have faced.

Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost 3,000-plus employees, more than one-quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted as a succession of mostly temporary leaders has come and gone. The front office has been staffed by political appointees with little or no training in medicine or public health.

Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement, took several steps that ran counter to CDC research and recommendations, including disbanding an expert advisory committee and appointing his own panel that included several vaccine skeptics.

CDC staffers asked questions Wednesday, including one about Trump's executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.

Schwartz said a task force on childhood vaccine safety is being established and she is on the panel. It has not met yet, she said. The panel has been given 90 days to report to Trump, she added.

Some current and former CDC employees said Schwartz appeared to be earnest, but want to see what she does.

The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers, issued a statement after the meeting.

“CDC staff and the American people deserve a strong, independent leader who will follow the science, defend public health expertise and put the health and safety of the public ahead of political pressure,” the statement said. “Dr. Schwartz has spoken about rebuilding trust. That trust must be earned through action."

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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.

Trump gushed for several uninterrupted minutes about granite being laid and said the chopper landing area would leave visiting foreign leaders “very impressed” — including Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is coming next month.

At times, he sounded almost like a construction manager, singing the praises of granite over asphalt in painstaking detail and noting for reporters he brought out for the show that the stone could withstand 35,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.

“That's stone that, if you took a hammer and you started hammering right now — all day long — you wouldn't see a mark on it, literally, that's the kind of power it is,” Trump said, at times straining to be heard over the thrum of ongoing work behind him.

The president also revealed for the first time that he has replaced the walkway from the White House's diplomatic entrance along with a portion of the asphalt driveway around the South Lawn with white granite.

“One thing I know how to do is build,” he said, asserting that asphalt is “not appropriate for a great house, or a great place like the White House.” He said that, had he instead merely used “really powerful concrete," it would have supported ”just a tiny fraction of that in terms of strength.”

Trump relishes being the builder-in-chief

The president is called upon to fill many roles as president, but embraces none with as much zeal as managing various building projects to mold the White House and large swatches of Washington in his own image, seeming happiest recalling his days as a real estate developer.

Trump also likes to show off his handiwork and having the White House press pool on hand at all times gives him a readymade audience. Last year, he made an appearance on the roof of the briefing room to survey a future work site, and earlier this summer, he took reporters for a closer look at the ballroom construction site.

It suggests Trump remains focused on such projects, even as his war in Iran nears the six-month mark, his approval ratings sink with just 2 1/2 months to go before critical midterm elections, and as voters are increasingly worried about a weakening economy.

Trump drove home just how important the construction projects are to him, calling the work “very exciting.”

“This will be here long after we’re gone,” Trump said of the projects. “No matter what happens with the world.”

But whether it will endure after he leaves office remains to be seen. Trump once suggested that his refurbishing of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool would last a century, only for the paint to fade and its liner to peel away in chunks just days after it was laid.

Trump again says his ballroom will have security value

The president has increasingly insisted that the $400 million ballroom will add security to the White House and include things like anti-drone technology. His administration even unsuccessfully sought $1 billion in congressional funding to make military improvements to the structure.

“This will be the greatest military complex slash ballroom anywhere in the world,” he said.

Trump also scoffed at court orders seeking to block its construction without congressional approval, saying work is continuing regardless and predicting that the Supreme Court will eventually side with him and allow the project to be completed.

The president found time to talk again about one of his favorite subjects of late — grass — and praised at length Scotts-Miracle Gro. The company's former CEO is a Trump supporter, and it donated $1 million to repair the grass on the White House lawn after it was damaged by Trump's UFC fight marking his 80th birthday in June and by the helipad construction.

At one point on Wednesday, Trump signed the back of one of the granite stones that was marked “Donald Trump 45-47 president” for the occasion. Its front is shaped like an eagle and will be laid into the helipad's presidential seal once work is completed.

“I thought this would be a little different kind of a news conference,” the president said. “We were going to sign this privately and just put it in. I said, ‘This is something I think the press should see,’ and I hope you liked it.”

Trump had some of the construction workers sign the granite, too, and joked about leaving it upside-down so that his signature would be visible for future generations.

“Nice job, fellas,” he told the workers. “Does anybody know the word media?”

Trump also confirmed Wednesday that he'd delayed ongoing work on the helipad to ensure the project could be regraded to lay flatter.

He said that the granite used “has a million-year life” and predicted that it “will never break. It will never leak. It will never do anything" — which would mark a departure from the problem-plagued Reflecting Pool project.

“Nature is stronger than what the human can produce,” Trump said of the granite. “It’s really pretty amazing.”

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies announced the news more than a month after the startup's Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope's rescue.

Katalyst said Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit because of problems with controlling the spacecraft. NASA said this means the telescope will plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Its demise is not expected before October.

NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit. Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than expected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. While flight controllers managed to slow Link's tumble, issues continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit.

“This is not the outcome we were working toward, but it does not change why this mission was worth attempting," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

As a consolation prize, Katalyst will continue to operate Link in proximity with the telescope to demonstrate capabilities for future rescue operations.

Katalyst CEO Ghonhee Lee said it was an ambitious mission on an aggressive timeline that was thrown together in under a year .

“We took on this high-risk, high-reward challenge and are proud of the milestones we reached along the way,” Lee said in a statement. “We have already learned a tremendous amount."

Launched in 2004, Swift's science instruments were turned off earlier this year to slow its descent. It was orbiting 214 miles (345 kilometers) high as of Wednesday. Katalyst had hoped to lift the telescope back to its original orbit of 373 miles (600 kilometers), allowing for many more years of cosmic observations.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope could benefit from an orbital boost and had been next in line for a rescue attempt had this mission gone well. The 36-year-old Hubble is also dropping in orbit because of all the sun's recent outbursts. It wasn't immediately known whether Hubble is now out of luck.

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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 team said Wednesday that Fudd will have arthroscopic surgery on her right knee next week in Connecticut, where she starred for UConn before becoming the Huskies' second consecutive top overall pick by Dallas. Reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 choice last year.

Fudd was eased into the lineup as a rookie, coming off the bench for the first six games. She scored 24 points in that sixth game and immediately became a full-time starter. Fudd had a season-high 26 points in a win over Seattle in June.

Fudd, who averaged 13.1 points in 30 games, went through warmups before a home game against Golden State on Aug. 7 and was held out of the game “out of an abundance of caution,” according to the team. The soreness persisted.

Bueckers and Fudd won the 2025 national championship together at UConn before Bueckers was drafted by the Wings, who are 3-8 since a six-game winning streak that was the longest since the franchise moved to Texas 10 years ago.

Dallas is still in good shape to make the playoffs for the first time since 2023. The Wings play Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever at the home of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night.

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Staly said Kaivan Rahbar, who authorities said left Flagler County years ago and had been living in New York, was arrested this week after investigators received results from new testing. Staly said the sheriff’s office placed Rahbar on a no-fly list after getting the match and later found him as he was trying to leave the country.

Rahbar was extradited from New York to Flagler County and booked into the Flagler County Jail.

Staly said Rahbar owned a local used-car dealership in 2015 when a 19-year-old woman came in looking for a car. Investigators said Rahbar convinced her to join him for dinner to discuss a job opportunity. The woman told investigators she saw a white substance on her glass and later woke up naked beside him. She reported the incident, but Staly said drug testing at the time was inconclusive and the case was later made inactive.

In July 2025, the victim asked the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for her case file. Staly said detectives in the major case unit reviewed the report and reopened the investigation.

“Our detectives with the major case unit reviewed the report and reopened the case as our detectives believed the case could be solved,” Staly said.

Investigators sent the victim’s 2015 blood sample for new testing, which later found Ambien in her system, authorities said. Staly said the drug was not detected in testing conducted about 10 years ago and the new results supported the victim’s account that she had been drugged.

“You needed to have that final piece of the puzzle to make the case and through updated technology and DNA analysis and bloodwork we were able to get that final piece,” Staly said.

Detective Necole Marsan, who spoke during a sheriff’s office briefing, said she spoke with the victim by phone and described her reaction to the development.

“I have spoken to the victim and she was very surprised. She broke down in tears while we were on the phone,” Marsan said, adding the victim is not in Florida and has been communicating with investigators by phone while “going through the process of healing.”

Staly said the case has prompted the agency’s cold case unit, which typically focuses on homicides, to take another look at other unsolved sexual assault cases still within the statute of limitations.

“I’ve asked my division chief to go back and look at sexual assaults that have not been solved that are not beyond the statute of limitations,” Staly said.

Rahbar is being held on no bond in the Flagler County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

Moderna and Merck are developing a treatment using an mRNA-based cancer vaccine called intismeran that is designed to be tailored to individual patients based on unique mutations within their tumors. In current studies, they are pairing it with Keytruda, a immunotherapy drug made by Merck.

The study compared using intismeran and Keytruda together on melanoma patients against using Keytruda alone. The companies said patients who received the combination lived longer without cancer returning or metastasizing than patients who got Keytruda alone.

The companies did not say how long patients survived without cancer returning or whether patients lived longer overall. They said they plan to present the study results at an upcoming international medical meeting.

Moderna shares rose more than 120% to $140.12 a share. Merck shares rose about 11%.

The theme park announced that the projection show Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle returns to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade at Universal Islands of Adventure on select nights from Sept. 5 through Nov. 1.

The show — returning for the first time since 2022 — features state-of-the-art projection mapping, special effects, lights, and music from the Harry Potter films, unleashing Dementors, Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort’s legions upon Hogwarts Castle.

Guests visiting The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida can also encounter Death Eaters roaming the shadows of Knockturn Alley on select days and nights from Aug. 27 through Nov. 1, which coincides with Halloween Horror Nights.

To mark the season, Universal is offering Dark Arts-inspired merchandise, including a newly released Second Generation Interactive Wand modeled after Lord Voldemort’s wand. Guests can also explore Borgin and Burkes shop inside Knockturn Alley.

When I last spoke with Collantes at Sushi Saint, he hinted that Nomikai would feel completely different from his other concepts—and that difference is immediately clear on arrival.

Nomikai is not an extension of Sushi Saint’s hand-roll bar or another take on Soseki’s intimate omakase. Instead, it leans into a more social, energetic identity, with house music, creative cocktails and a dining room designed for lingering.

That nightlife-inspired feel fits ICON Park, one of Orlando’s busiest entertainment hubs. Nomikai feels built for a full night out—whether you’re celebrating, meeting friends or settling in for cocktails and shared plates.

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The name reflects that idea. “Nomikai” is a Japanese term for a celebratory social gathering centered on food, drinks and conversation. The menu reinforces it, encouraging guests to pass plates, share dishes and stay awhile.

I started with warm house-baked bread served with umami butter, furikake and Maldon sea salt—some of the best bread service I’ve had in Orlando. The bread was incredibly soft, almost melting on contact, while the butter was rich, savory and deeply umami.

From there, I moved into appetizers and toasts.

The hamachi truffle potato wrapped buttery hamachi around crispy potato hay, finished with truffle aioli, ponzu and serrano. It was the standout appetizer—balanced, textural and still one of my favorite dishes across Collantes’ restaurants.

I also tried two brioche toasts.

The lobster toast was the favorite: sweet lobster with brown butter-yuzu kosho aioli, crème fraîche, lemon zest, chives and yuzu tobiko on crisp brioche. The tuna caviar toast offered a lighter, more delicate contrast with tuna tartare, wasabi, citrus, nikiri and caviar.

A Japanese Caesar salad followed, made with gem lettuce, miso-anchovy dressing, bonito flakes and a garlic-parmesan crumble—familiar, but clearly influenced by the kitchen’s Japanese foundation.

The miso black cod was the highlight of the mains. Marinated in white miso, mirin, sake and house soy, it was silky, tender and deeply flavorful without feeling heavy. We paired it with fire-charred asparagus in yuzu kosho béarnaise, and the citrus notes tied the dishes together beautifully.

The meal then shifted into Nomikai’s more communal, large-format offerings.

The shiso chimichurri picanha arrived with whipped potatoes and blistered tomatoes, while creamy kurogoma spinach added a rich, savory counterpoint with black sesame and crispy garlic-parmesan breadcrumbs.

Together, the dishes encouraged a relaxed, shared dining style—plates passed around the table rather than a structured progression.

Dessert included matcha Basque cheesecake and freshly baked madeleines, with the madeleines standing out for their light texture and delicate sugar crust.

Collantes has built a reputation in Orlando for distinct, focused concepts: Soseki’s Michelin-starred omakase, Sushi Saint’s Bib Gourmand hand-roll bar, and Perla’s Pizza, which blends pizza, cocktails and vinyl culture.

Nomikai continues that trajectory, but in a more social, high-energy direction. It carries the same precision and attention to detail, but channels it into a space designed for sharing and celebration.

During my visit, Collantes also hinted at additional projects in development beyond Nomikai, suggesting his footprint in Orlando—and beyond—is still expanding.

For now, Nomikai gives the city a new reason to gather. Come for the sushi and seafood, but bring people ready to share. The restaurant is at its best when the table is full and no one is in a rush to leave.

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HOW THE SCHEME WORKED

In a release on Wednesday, state officials said that the woman — identified as Kimberly Ruth Bitting, 58 — obtained power of attorney over her elderly neighbor shortly after her husband died in August 2021.

Over the next 15-18 months, Bitting used her authority to issue several checks from the victim’s accounts to her own accounts and those of others; make repeated ATM withdrawals; and transfer funds from investment accounts, officials added.

“Bitting used more than $137,000 of the victim’s money to purchase two parcels of land in Calhoun County that were titled to a trust in Bitting’s name,” the release reads. “Substantial sums also went to her daughter and a paid caregiver, often framed as payments for services.”

Per the release, Bitting also restricted the victim’s communications with family, controlled access within the home, and even threatened to have the victim declared incompetent and committed.

“The victim ultimately left of her own free will, revoked the power of attorney, and relocated to New York to live with her sister,” the release continues. “Bitting subsequently reported the departure as a kidnapping.”

CONVICTION

While she was initially arrested in 2024, Uthmeier announced on Wednesday that she was convicted of the following charges:

• Elderly exploitation (breach of power of attorney)
• Elderly exploitation (Position of trust or confidence)
• Elderly exploitation (Negligent or intentional misuse)
• Cashing or depositing an item with intent to defraud

“This defendant systematically exploited a vulnerable senior widow grieving the loss of her husband, abusing a power of attorney to drain her life savings, purchase property for herself, and isolate her from family,” Uthmeier said. “Florida will not tolerate those who prey on our elderly under the guise of caregiving or trust. I thank the Leesburg Police Department, Senior Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Taylor Chatting, and Special Counsel Ana Sacco for their outstanding work securing this conviction.”

CO-DEFENDANTS

The release also shows that co-defendant Ashton Silvis, Bitting’s daughter who received substantial payments from the victim’s accounts, entered an open plea on the eve of trial and awaits sentencing.

Meanwhile, co-defendant Lara Larsen, who served as a caregiver, testified for the state, with her help proving “critical to the prosecuting,” the release adds.

Both Silvis and Bitting await sentencing, which will be scheduled for a future date.

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Among those killed were an executive with Telemundo, the U.S.-based Spanish-language network owned by NBCUniversal, and the director of Ecuador’s national intelligence service.

The helicopter crashed at 9:13 a.m. while flying from the Loisaba Conservancy to the Ewaso Nyiro area in Samburu County, according to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, which said in a statement that an investigation was underway. It said there were seven people on board — six passengers and the pilot.

Late on Wednesday, David Nkoroi, the police commander for Samburu, told reporters that all seven people on board had died.

The U.S. State Department said five of those killed were U.S. citizens.

“The U.S. Embassy is in touch with local authorities and is providing consular assistance,” it said. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones on their loss.”

The identities of the victims were not revealed but a local television station in Miami, Florida, said that José Suárez, 55, president and general manager of several Telemundo stations in Florida, was among those killed.

“We are heartbroken to learn the tragic news that José was killed in a helicopter accident in Kenya," the NBC affiliate in Miami quoted from a joint statement from NBC Universal and Telemundo leadership.

The helicopter crashed in a rugged area in the foothills of Mount Ololokwe, a popular tourist destination in the country, local media reported. The helicopter, owned by local company Lady Lori Helicopters, was carrying guests with travel company &Beyond. Lady Lori Helicopters said in a statement that the aircraft was operating a charter flight when it crashed.

Tropic Air Kenya, a local safari operator, said in a statement that it dispatched two of its helicopters to aid search and rescue operations.

The aviation authority said the aircraft was a Eurocopter EC130 B4.

Ecuador confirmed later Wednesday that Michele Sensi-Contugi, director of the country’s National Intelligence Center, died in the crash.

“In this moment of deep sorrow, the government extends its heartfelt condolences to his family, loved ones and close associates,” Ecuador’s presidency said in a statement posted on X.

Sensi-Contugi, a friend and close associate of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, was visiting Kenya as a tourist with his wife, Stephany Hollihan, who also died in the crash. She was a U.S. and Ecuadorian citizen. They are survived by their two children.

Helicopter crashes have happened with increasing regularity in Kenya, which has a vibrant tourism industry that depends on domestic carriers to ferry visitors to distant places like Mount Ololokwe.

In February, a legislator was among six people who died after a helicopter crash in a hilly area of western Kenya.

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This story has been corrected after a previous version erroneously said that local safari company Tropic Air operated the helicopter.

The vote, scheduled for 6 p.m., comes as law enforcement agencies increasingly use technology to help identify people suspected of crimes — while privacy advocates and residents question how far that technology should go.

In Daytona Beach, police use facial recognition software to compare an image of a person to photographs in large databases, including driver’s license photos.

The technology itself does not make an arrest or determine that someone is a suspect. Instead, the software generates potential matches that must then be reviewed by a person.

For some Daytona Beach residents and visitors, facial recognition is simply another investigative tool.

Embry-Riddle student JP Nass said he sees a practical benefit to the technology.

“It’s easier to track and see who’s who. It’s better to catch people doing bad things.”

Nass said he believes facial recognition should have a legitimate investigative reason behind its use rather than being used simply to identify people.

“Only if you have a reason to do it.”

But other residents are more concerned about the amount of information law enforcement can collect and how that information is used.

Daytona Beach police also use Flock cameras, which can collect information about vehicles traveling through the city.

Brian Turnipsed said he is uncomfortable with that type of surveillance, particularly when the technology is operated by a third party.

“That I feel is an invasion of privacy. There’s no one manning them. They’re just out there run by a third party.”

Turnipsed said there should be limits on how law enforcement tracks people, particularly when there is no probable cause.

“I still feel like if they’re going after you, they should have probable cause. Before they just track you,” Turnipsed said.

But he draws a distinction between vehicle surveillance and facial recognition when it comes to fighting crime.

“It’s what we hired them to do. They fight crime, locate the criminals.”

And when asked whether facial recognition could be an invasion of privacy, Turnipsed said:

“Safety is a little more important, I think.”

The debate facing Daytona Beach commissioners is not simply about whether facial recognition can help police identify suspects. It also involves questions about how law enforcement can access photographs of people who have not been accused of a crime and what safeguards should govern the technology.

Driver’s license photographs are collected by the state for identification purposes. The proposed continuation of their use by Daytona Beach police for facial recognition raises questions about the appropriate boundaries between government databases, criminal investigations and individual privacy.

The council’s decision Tuesday night will determine whether Daytona Beach police continue using the state driver’s license photo database as part of their facial recognition investigations.

The vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Daytona Beach City Hall.

Justin Taylor, 38, was arrested on Monday by Orange County deputies.

According to an arrest affidavit, the witness heard Taylor yell at the child and slam him against a bathroom stall for several minutes. At one point, the witness told deputies they saw blood in the bathroom floor, and heard Taylor tell the child, “you slipped and fell.”

When deputies questioned Taylor, he said he was trying to move around the boy to use the bathroom in the stall when the child slipped and fell.