Discussion

At 300 PM GMT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Fay was located near latitude 27.1 North, longitude 44.6 West. The depression is moving toward the south-southwest near 9 mph (15 km/h). A turn to the southwest and then to the west-southwest, along with an increase in forward motion, is expected over the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next day or so, and Fay is forecast to become a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1011 mb (29.86 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

On a humid Central Florida afternoon, you’re doing something completely normal, like checking the mailbox, walking the dog, or pretending you’re “just going to pull one weed real quick.” Then you spot it on a trunk or low branch: a little furry blob, tapered like a tiny comet, just sitting there.

Your brain immediately offers a terrible idea: That looks soft.

This is the moment where we, as a species, must show growth.

Because that fuzzy lump might be the southern flannel moth caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis), better known as the puss caterpillar, and underneath that silky coat are venomous spines that can deliver a seriously painful sting.

What is it, exactly? Caterpillar vs. moth

First, the name confusion cleanup:

• The puss caterpillar is the larval stage of Megalopyge opercularis. This stage has hollow spines connected to venom glands, hidden under soft-looking hairs.
• The adult is the southern flannel moth, a small, fuzzy moth with yellowish wings and an orange-tinted “flannel” body. The adult moth is not what people are usually talking about when they warn you about stings—the caterpillar is the main hazard.

How to identify a puss caterpillar

Puss caterpillars are often described as teardrop-shaped, with long, silky hairs that can look gray, tan, cream, or reddish-brown. Many have a tail-like extension at the rear. Their head is often hidden beneath all that fluff, which adds to the illusion that this is a harmless little pom-pom that fell out of a craft store.

Key detail: the dangerous spines are underneath the soft hairs, so you can’t “check” if it’s safe by poking it. Also don’t poke it. That’s the whole point.

Habitat and range: why Central Florida sees them

According to UF/IFAS, Megalopyge opercularis occurs from New Jersey to Florida and west to Arkansas and Texas, and it’s common in Florida. You’re most likely to encounter them in the places we all share with shade trees: yards, parks, school grounds, and neighborhood streets, especially around host plants.

They feed on a wide variety of plants, but in Florida they’re commonly found on oaks and elms. UF/IFAS also notes that they’re often found on citrus.

Life cycle: the short version

UF/IFAS describes the southern flannel moth as bivoltine, meaning it typically has two broods per year, with a possible partial third brood farther south. In Florida, UF/IFAS summarizes it as two generations: one in spring and one in fall.

The general flow:

1. Adult moths emerge, mate, and females lay eggs on foliage or small twigs.
2. Eggs hatch in about six to eight days.
3. Larvae feed and grow, becoming progressively hairier with each molt.
4. Mature larvae spin tough cocoons that can remain on trees long after the moth has emerged.
5. The adult moth emerges through an “operculum”—a little door-like structure on the cocoon.

Why people mistake it for something harmless

Because it’s basically designed to be misunderstood.

The puss caterpillar looks like:

• a tuft of fur
• a tiny wandering wig
• a cottony seed clump that gained mobility
• something that should obviously be on a kids’ cartoon sticker sheet

UF/IFAS and other extension resources point out the catch: those soft-looking hairs conceal rows of hollow spines with venom glands. The fuzzy appearance is not an invitation—it’s a warning label written in cursive.

The real warning: the sting is no joke

Multiple authoritative medical and extension references describe puss caterpillar stings as notably painful.

Merck Manual states that when the caterpillar is pressed against skin, venomous hairs become embedded, and envenomation can cause intense pain, burning, and a rash. More susceptible individuals may experience broader symptoms, and severe reactions are treated like other serious insect stings.

Most encounters are localized and manageable, but some people can have stronger reactions. Take contact seriously, especially with children.

What to do if you touch one

If remove embedded spines or hairs and treat symptoms a more serious reaction.

Poison Control recommends:

1. Remove the caterpillar without using your hands if it is still on the skin. Use a stick or another tool.
2. Use tape: place tape sticky-side down on the area and pull it up to remove hairs or spines. Repeat with fresh tape as needed.
3. Wash gently with soap and water.
4. For itch relief, Poison Control lists options including baking soda paste and hydrocortisone cream.
5. If blistering is severe or symptoms are concerning, contact a healthcare provider.

Merck Manual also includes washing with soap and water, local cooling measures such as an ice pack, and using tape to remove embedded hairs.

For personalized guidance, contact Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 in the United States. The service is free and available 24/7.

Seek urgent medical care immediately if there is trouble breathing, facial swelling, widespread hives, severe or escalating symptoms, or if the sting involves the eyes or mouth.

Safety guidance for children and pets

For kids

• Teach the simple rule: “If it’s fuzzy, it’s not your friend.”
• Supervise children around trees and outdoor play areas during seasons when caterpillars are active.
• If you find one on a play structure or frequently touched spot, don’t smash it with bare hands. Use tools and appropriate protection, or contact a pest professional if needed.

For pets

Keep dogs from sniffing or licking caterpillars on sidewalks, tree bases, or low branches. If a pet mouths one, drools, paws at its mouth, or shows sudden distress, call your veterinarian right away.

Ecological role

Puss caterpillars are part of Florida’s food web.

As larvae, they’re plant-feeders that usually don’t cause major tree damage in typical numbers. They’re also prey—and hosts—for natural enemies such as parasitic wasps and flies, which help keep populations in check.

In other words: they’re not “bad.” They’re just extremely committed to personal space.

How to observe them respectfully

If you want to watch or photograph a puss caterpillar:

• Keep a respectful distance.
• Use zoom instead of fingers.
• Don’t move it with bare hands.
• If it’s in a risky location, use extreme caution and appropriate protection—or leave relocation to someone equipped to do it safely.
• Treat cocoons with caution too. UF/IFAS notes that cocoons can persist on trees long after emergence.

Everyday Wild rule of thumb: the best wildlife encounters end with everyone alive, un-stung, and still able to brag about it later.

The change furthers Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles and ultimately, will expose Americans to more planet-warming pollution from vehicles.

Mileage standards, known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, requirements, have been implemented since the 1970s energy crisis, and set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. Over time, automakers have gradually improved their vehicles’ average efficiency.

The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the finalized standards would correspond to a combined industry fleetwide average of roughly 34.9 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks in the 2031 model year. That's up from 30.1 miles per gallon for model year 2024, but down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement touting vehicle affordability.

NHTSA had projected last December that the new standards would hover at roughly 34.5 miles per gallon.

The news comes amid ongoing tensions as the war in Iran persists, with Trump refusing a deal with Iran to open the Strait as recently as Saturday, impacting the world's oil supply.

Environmental groups concerned over the rollback

News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists.

The DOT said Monday that the rule would cut yearly oil consumption in 2050 by about 1.3 billion barrels as compared to yearly oil consumption in 2024.

But when the 2024 standards went into effect, NHTSA estimated they would save 14 billion gallons of gasoline from being burned by 2050. The agency also said that while new fuel-efficient vehicles cost more up front, savings on gasoline over the lifetime of the car or truck would more than make up for that.

Environmental groups estimate now, without stricter standards, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules in 2035.

The rule also translates to an extra 90 tons a year of deadly soot particles and 4,870 additional tons a year of smog components such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted into the air in coming years, experts say.

Transportation already accounts for much of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet; 28% as of the last estimate in 2022.

It “ignores the feasibility of clean technology and the millions of fuel-efficient cars already on the road,” Dan Becker, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said of the rule.

Since taking office, Trump has also pulled back auto tailpipe emissions rules, repealed fines for automakers that do not meet federal mileage standards and terminated consumer credits of up to $7,500 for EV purchases.

The president has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an EV “mandate,” referring incorrectly to former President Joe Biden’s target that half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. No federal policy has mandated auto companies to sell EVs.

According to data from Cox Automotive, EVs accounted for 5.7% of total new-vehicle sales in August, down from 7.4% for all of 2025.

Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, vowed the environmental group would fight the rule.

“Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump, and dirtier air in our communities,” Garcia wrote in a statement.

The state of the industry

Automakers and industry groups have said the new rules will increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.

“NHTSA made the right call to better align fuel economy standards with the law and current market conditions,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents the domestic auto industry, said in a statement. He said the previous standards "effectively required a switchover to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand. Today’s final rule is an appropriate course correction."

“What the industry needs is long-term regulatory stability that includes balanced, durable and achievable fuel economy standards that continue to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy,” Bozzella added. “This is the formula for preserving consumer vehicle choice and keeping the U.S. auto industry globally competitive.”

A spokesperson for Ford Motor Company, maker of the top-selling pickup truck, the F-150, said: “We appreciate Secretary Duffy and the Administration’s work to align regulations with market realities. As we evaluate the final rule’s full impact on our business, we’ll continue working with the Administration to build a strong American auto industry.”

A General Motors spokesperson said in a statement the company supports the goals of the rule “and its intention to better align fuel economy standards with market realities.”

Stellantis also welcomed the changes.

“These standards will allow us to offer our customers the freedom to choose from a range of vehicles and powertrains that meet their needs, from brands they love and trust,” a Stellantis spokesperson said in a statement.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would “take the waste out of building cars in America” and save families “thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car,” while boosting auto production in the U.S.

The DOT reiterated on Monday that the changes will cut the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300, and save Americans $138 billion over the next five years.

Americans, however, are spending more on gas as Washington’s war with Iran disrupts the global flow of fuel; gasoline prices averaged $4.47 on Monday, according to the AAA motor club, up from $3.13 a year ago. The rising cost of oil weighed on U.S. stocks to start the week.

“Trump is tanking sensible mile per gallon standards at the worst possible time for consumers, who are getting hit with sky-high prices at the pump,” the Center for Biological Diversity's Becker said. “Consumers will pay the price for these reckless rollbacks while Trump’s Big Oil and Big Auto buddies reap the short-term profits.”

Experts have also said that less stringent rules do not necessarily translate to more consumer purchases of new vehicles that may have more safety features.

The average new car in America sold for $50,089 in August, crossing over the $50,000 line for the first time since last December, according to Kelley Blue Book data.

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Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn. Reach her at ast.john@ap.org.

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York City. Matthew Daly contributed from Washington.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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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.

He was unimpressed.

“If that is leadership, if that's what we're telling people that our culture and our media portrays as leadership, we're screwed,” Steiner, then the CEO of Waste Management, said during a 2007 speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. “If that's leadership, count me out.”

“And for God's sake,” he added to laughter, “if I have to get my hair to look like that, if I have to do that to be a leader, you can definitely count me out.”

Nearly two decades later, Trump has migrated from reality television to the presidency. And onetime detractors — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, for example — now loyally execute his agenda.

Trump's effort to use the Postal Service as a tool to reshape American elections is testing whether Steiner will follow a similar path.

Independent or a Trump ‘pawn'?

When Trump signed an executive order restricting mail ballots this year, Steiner moved quickly to finalize a rule implementing the measure, arguing he had little choice. But after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the effort, Steiner told The Associated Press that work had stopped on one of the plan's most controversial elements, a government portal for voter rolls.

He refused to endorse the Republican president's order as sound policy, saying he was focused on implementation and letting the courts ultimately decide the matter.

“I don't get to decide what rules that are put on us that I decide to accept or not accept,” he said. “We are an independent agency of the executive branch.”

The episode prompted fierce criticism of Steiner for allowing Trump to deploy an agency designed to be shielded from politics.

Jena Griswold, Colorado's Democratic secretary of state, called him a “Trump lackey.” Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, recently asked Congress to deploy observers to ensure postal workers can scan envelopes holding mail ballots without disruption, saying the Trump administration "has attempted to weaponize federal agencies to interfere in our elections, and the leadership at USPS is going along with it.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., accused Steiner of being a Trump “pawn” during a congressional hearing this summer. Dozens of congressional Democrats have pressed Steiner to reveal his interactions with the White House during the development of the mail ballot rule.

Some Republicans have joined in the criticism. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, incensed by abandoned mail, called for Steiner's resignation and introduced legislation to block him from receiving a bonus.

During a lengthy interview, Steiner seemed surprised at points by his reception in Washington. He insisted he wasn't a “political person” and said he had no intention of stepping down despite the criticism. He dismissed heated congressional appearances as “theater” at odds with more substantive private interactions on Capitol Hill.

Steiner was chagrined, however, at the mention of his 2007 remarks on Trump, delivered well before he launched a political career. Steiner recalled speaking at the university but said he didn't remember his comments, acknowledging a tendency to be “flippant.”

“That's funny,” he said. “I don't recall it.”

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on Steiner's remarks or his stewardship of the Postal Service.

Steiner didn't follow the traditional path to power in Trump's Washington

The Postal Service dates to Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general, whose portrait and bust are displayed in Steiner's office overlooking the Washington Wharf. The agency has more than 630,000 employees, dwarfing many Cabinet departments.

While the quickest way to top jobs in Trump's Washington is often by writing big checks, the 66-year-old Steiner doesn’t appear to have followed that course. He has largely donated to Republicans but also gave to John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004. Unlike his predecessor as postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, Steiner was not a major GOP donor or Trump backer.

Born in Oakland, California, as one of eight children to a father who spent his career at Chevron, Steiner worked in corporate and securities law before moving to Waste Management in 2000. He became CEO in 2004 and ran the company for 12 years. He was also a longtime director at FedEx, where board chairman Brad Martin recalled him as “outcome oriented” and rarely political.

“He's going to follow the rules. He's going to follow the law,” Martin said. “I don't recall us ever talking politics.”

By the time a headhunter contacted Steiner about the postmaster general job, he was largely removed from daily corporate life and initially demurred.

“I talked to my wife, and we both agreed I was happily retired," he said.

He changed his mind, he said, during a visit to the beaches of Normandy, feeling a sense of civic duty.

Now at the Postal Service, he earns about $346,000 in annual salary along with a relocation bonus that amounts to half his salary, far less than the $17 million in compensation he earned during his final year at Waste Management. His current role is designed to exist one layer removed from the political process, reporting to a board of governors that is selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

He was hired in 2025 by a board that was made up of five members, three of whom were Democrats. All but one were appointed by President Joe Biden. That makeup could change as four Trump nominees — all Republicans — await Senate confirmation. Steiner can be fired only by the board.

Steiner said he first met Trump along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the board's urging after he was already selected as postmaster general. Since then, he described a minimal relationship with the White House.

“We don't fly on the radar,” he said.

That is, until Trump revived his effort in March to crack down on mail voting. Steiner said he “wasn't in on the development piece” of the order and first saw it about a month before it was signed.

“They gave it to us to say, ‘Have your lawyers look at it, and how do you operationalize it?’” Steiner said.

The portal spurred a massive development effort inside the Postal Service while some states criticized it as federal overreach. A whistleblower report released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued the system was hastily built and riddled with errors, though Steiner said he was confident it could have been unveiled around Sept. 15.

“The heavy lifting was clearly, clearly the IT work,” Steiner said.

Challenges ahead for the Postal Service

Though the Supreme Court dispensed with the rule, the dynamics for the Postal Service don't get easier.

The agency posted a $9 billion net loss last year, and Steiner has warned it could soon run out of cash unless Congress lifts a $15 billion borrowing cap. Political hurdles have prevented potential cost savings from cutting service or closing some post offices.

And while Trump's executive order won't take effect, the Postal Service will still play a critical role in this year's elections. There are mounting concerns that mail ballots could be rejected for late postmarks. Steiner encouraged voters to get their ballots in a week before the election to avoid problems.

The Postal Service is a rare corner of government still viewed favorably with more than half of Americans, 56%, saying it was doing an “excellent” or “good” job in a Gallup poll conducted last year. That could change if the agency is seen as increasingly political.

Steiner, however, said Americans will judge the Postal Service by their experience of it.

“What they care about is when they get that wedding invitation after the wedding or when they send a package and it disappears,” he said. “If we want to have the trust of the American public, let's be the best service provider. Everything else is noise.”

The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.

Investigators haven't concluded whether the incident was state-backed. They are investigating a possible link to Iran, Russia or non-state-backed militant groups. RAF Fairford has also been the focus of protests by anti-war campaigners.

The five suspects, who haven't been named, were initially held over suspected explosives offenses, and later also arrested on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism. Police said that the men are all British nationals from London and in their 20s.

The head of U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said that the suspects face stringent bail conditions and “absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of inquiry.”

Iran denied involvement. The Iranian Embassy in London said that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” about the incident.

Residents were evacuated from 85 homes in the village of Whelford near the base on Sunday, and army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine three white vans. The villagers hadn't been able to go home as of Monday morning, and the vans hadn't been moved yet.

The arrests came after reports of suspicious vehicles

U.S. President Donald Trump said the suspects had been detained following cooperation between the U.S. and Britain, and had been “under view” for some time. Police, however, said the arrests were triggered by a late-night call about “suspicious vehicles” near the base.

U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting declined to give details of the operation, but said that “it was a proud moment” that Trump had recognized “the work that our police and intelligence services do every day.”

“As and when we can, we will report back to the public about these individuals and about the nature of the threat,” Streeting told Times Radio.

The arrests came at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states, with British intelligence services saying Russia and Iran have both used proxies to commit crimes on U.K. soil. In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states, including Iran, increased 50% in the six months to December 2025.

Iran has been linked to a series of attacks in Europe

Britain didn't join the U.S. and Israel in the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28, and initially denied Trump’s request to use bases in the U.K. to strike Iran. But then Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed in March to let the U.S. use bases in Britain for what he called “defensive” operations against Iran’s missiles and their launch sites following Iranian attacks on U.K. interests and Britain’s allies in the Gulf.

American B-1 and B-52 bombers have taken off from Fairford, 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, for operations during the Iran conflict.

Iran has said that it considers any base used to attack its territory a legitimate target.

British security officials say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arson and sabotage attempts in the U.K. and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Monday that the incident is a “reminder of the threats our country faces.”

Miliband met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the United Nations in New York last week and told him that “Britain will not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on U.K. soil,” according to a U.K. readout of the conversation.

U.S. Air Force says personnel remain vigilant

The U.S. Air Force said that its personnel based at RAF Fairford “remain vigilant,” but “for operational security reasons we will not discuss specific force protection measures.”

The U.S. Embassy in London has warned Americans in Britain to be cautious and mindful of their personal security.

Trump said that authorities had the suspects “under view for a long time and we got them.”

“It was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. And working with the British worked out great,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday.

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Jill Lawless reported from Liverpool, England. Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 fell 0.9% and gave back most of its gains from last week, which had brought it to the brink of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 394 points, or 0.8%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.

Wall Street’s most influential stock, Nvidia, climbed after it announced a historic funneling of cash to its investors through a buyback of its stock. But most of the rest of the market sank under the weight of a 2.6% rise for the most actively traded contract in the market for Brent crude oil to $99.96 per barrel.

Oil prices have been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow tankers to flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz and deliver oil from the Middle East to customers worldwide. The latest turns came after President Donald Trump said over the weekend he’s rejecting an offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program.

“I’d like to make a deal, too,” Trump said. “But that deal would not be acceptable.”

Brent climbed as high as $101 per barrel in the morning, before the U.S. stock market opened for trading, but it pared its gains as U.S. officials said mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the strait.

For all its ups and downs, a barrel of Brent remains much higher than the roughly $72 it cost before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February. That has helped worsen inflation, with the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline up to nearly $4.48 from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA.

Worries about inflation have in turn helped send Treasury yields much higher in the bond market. That pressures the economy because it makes borrowing money more expensive for everyone, while also undercutting prices for stocks and other investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which is the centerpiece of the bond market, jumped to 5.27% from 5.17% late Friday, which is a considerable move for the bond market. The 10-year yield is back to where it was in 2007, before the financial crisis and Great Recession sent yields toward zero.

The 30-year Treasury yield, whcih leaped to 5.57% from 5.49%, is back to where it was in 2024.

On Wall Street, stocks of airlines and other companies with big fuel bills sank because of the rise in oil prices.

United Airlines lost 3.3%, and American Airlines fell 3.5%.

Gold miners were also weak after the price of gold fell 3.9%. Gold has a reputation for helping to protect its investors from high inflation, but its price tends to weaken when yields are rising and causing bonds to pay their investors more in interest. Gold struggles to keep up because it pays its investors nothing.

Newmont, the Denver-based mining giant, sank 4.2%.

One of Wall Street's bigger losses hit MongoDB, which dropped 19.9% after the database company said its CEO, Chirantan “CJ” Desai, is stepping down immediately to pursue a senior role at Meta Platforms.

Such losses helped more than offset a 1.9% rise for Nvidia. The chip company said it approved a plan to send up to another $150 billion to its shareholders in a stock buyback plan, bringing the program’s total remaining size to $235 billion.

Nvidia has the power to do so after the frenzy around its chips used for artificial-intelligence technology helped it more than double the amount of cash on its books in the first half of its fiscal year. The company also on Monday unveiled a new security platform that the chipmaker said can stop artificial intelligence agents from going rogue.

AI stocks broadly have come under pressure after leaders of the industry said it needs to slow its development to give safety measures time to catch up.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes ticked higher following losses across much of Asia.

Indexes dropped 2.7% in Seoul and 1.7% in Shanghai for two of the world’s bigger moves.

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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

The new rules were released shortly after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring.

Also, Trump has justified the pending U.S. arms sale to Taiwan to Chinese President Xi Jinping by downplaying it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world — even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. arms, Trump’s ambassador to China said Sunday.

Here's the latest:

Mediators working to broker US-Iran deal even after Trump rejected latest Tehran proposal

Mediators are still working with Iran and the United States on brokering a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz — even after Trump publicly rejected Iran’s latest proposal, four officials familiar with the matter, including a senior U.S. official, told The Associated Press.

The indirect talks were expected to resume Monday and come as the conflict that’s caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran enters its eighth month. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world’s most crucial waterways have failed.

The officials divulged that the behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after Trump spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, releases frozen Iranian assets and waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.

▶ Read more

— Samy Magdy and Matthew Lee

Democratic campaign chair says party has ‘momentum’

The leader of the Democratic effort to retake control of the U.S. House insists the party is well positioned heading into the final stretch of the campaign even as President Trump and his allies begin to unleash a massive amount of cash.

“This isn’t about having the most money,” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters Monday.

She said it was more important that Democrats have enough money to get their message out “and we do.”

Still, she said “we take nothing for granted.”

“Democrats across the battlefield are going to run hard until the very last moment,” she said.

Trump administration lowers fuel economy standards, critics say at a significant environmental cost

The Trump administration on Monday released new fuel economy standards that relax regulatory requirements for automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and light trucks. The new rules were released shortly after Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring.

Fuel economy requirements set out how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. The change furthers Trump’s promise to revoke policies that encouraged or created incentives for the production of electric vehicles.

The Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that the finalized standards would correspond to a combined industry fleetwide average of roughly 34.9 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks in the 2031 model year, down from a projected 50.4 miles per gallon in 2031 under rules put in place by the Biden administration.

▶ Read more

FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey says he’s leaving his position

And he says he’ll be returning to Missouri to be with his family.

Bailey made the announcement in a post on X on Monday morning in which he thanked President Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for the opportunity to serve. He says the FBI has “delivered historic results.”

Bailey was named in August 2025 to be a co-deputy director, the No. 2 job, at the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency. He initially served alongside Dan Bongino and, once Bongino resigned, remained in his position as the FBI named another deputy director, Christopher Raia.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about Bailey’s departure.

Trump to announce $15 billion steel mill planned for Iowa

The White House said Trump on Monday will announce a new steel plant in eastern Iowa that would be one of the largest in the United States.

The president is expected to host steel executives at the White House for the event at 2 p.m. ET.

The mill is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India-based Essar Group. The announcement was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The White House is framing it as part of Trump’s push to revitalize American steel. It comes as Trump is trying to energize Republican voters as his party faces challenging midterm elections. Iowa has found itself with competitive races for the Senate and the governor’s mansion this year.

Trump’s former Army secretary pens essay on military innovation, skips reason for exit

Former Army Sec. Dan Driscoll has written a 3,400-word essay in Foreign Affairs magazine that delves deeply into how the U.S. military can better prepare for the modern battlefield, including drone warfare.

But Driscoll’s article sheds no more light on why he resigned as the Army’s civilian leader in early September. Tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were widely reported, but Driscoll praises the leadership of Hegseth and President Trump in his article.

Driscoll argues the U.S. still needs to build nuclear submarines and stealth fighters. But he says the military must get better at rapidly producing cheaper weapons, such as the drones used by Iran and Ukraine. The solution lies in private industry innovation, Driscoll writes, with “software developers in the mud with soldiers.”

US and China release reciprocal $30 billion product lists for tariff cuts after Trump-Xi meeting

The United States and China released Monday reciprocal lists of products worth about $30 billion each that will see tariff cuts, from American hair products to Chinese toys, in a deal expected to boost bilateral trade.

The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Trump in Washington in his first state visit to the U.S. since 2015. The U.S. had already reduced tariffs against China after Trump’s tariffs reached as high as 145% at one point last year, as tensions between the two countries eased.

China’s commerce ministry said in a statement the agreement will help strengthen trade cooperation.

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Iran denies involvement in suspected plot targeting a US-operated air base in England

Iran’s embassy in London on Monday denied any involvement in a suspected plot targeting a U.S. operated air base in England.

The embassy said in a statement that it “categorically rejects and strongly condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations” surrounding the arrest of five men near the base in western England.

Five British men have been arrested on suspicion of planning a terror attack.

The men were detained early Sunday after three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that’s been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.

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Trump asked China’s president if he wants to buy US arms, ambassador says

Trump has justified the pending U.S. arms sale to Taiwan to Chinese President Xi Jinping by downplaying it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world — even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. arms, Trump’s ambassador to China said on Sunday.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that, if consummated, would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and potentially expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday,” didn’t specify when the offer was made.

Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy, to defend itself from China. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week. Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons.

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Discussion

At 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Hanna was located near latitude 36.6 North, longitude 50.4 West. Hanna is moving toward the east near 17 mph (28 km/h). An east to east-southeast motion is forecast over the next few days.

Satellite wind data indicates that maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph (75 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next couple of days.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km) from the center.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches).

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None

SpaceX said the spacecraft would reenter over the Pacific and splash down north of Hawaii three hours after blasting off from Texas. The company had been aiming for a 10-hour flight, spanning six full laps around Earth, to prove its readiness for NASA’s Artemis moon program.

The spacecraft almost didn't make it to orbit after one of its engines shut down too soon. But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.

“Starship is orbital,” Mission Control announced to cheers.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on reaching orbit and “managing every step in a safe, responsible and especially inspirational way.”

Rocket carries 26 of Musk's most advanced Starlink satellites

Founder Elon Musk’s showpiece rocket — the biggest and most powerful ever built — carried 26 of the latest and most advanced Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service. They popped out of the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from the SpaceX crowds looking on from the launch site at Starbase, Texas.

The decision to end the flight early came soon afterward. No reason was provided.

It was Starship’s 14th full-scale launch from Texas’ southern tip in three years. The earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.

This time, SpaceX was intent on circling the globe from an altitude of 170 miles (275 kilometers) — not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile. While Starship achieved the proper orbit zipping along at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), flight controllers opted to play it safe and bring it back several hours sooner, after just a couple laps.

The first-stage booster was never meant to return to the Starbase launch site either, instead dropping into the Gulf of Mexico within minutes of the morning liftoff.

SpaceX wants to ensure that everything works before flying Starship back to Starbase. If the spacecraft breaks apart over land and rains debris onto people, “our popularity would diminish very rapidly,” Musk said at a business summit earlier this month. “That’s why we’re being extremely cautious here.”

Depending on the findings from Monday's orbital debut, the next Starship could return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft. If the catch works — Musk gives it even or slightly better odds — then SpaceX will refly the spacecraft by year’s end or early next year.

The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was designed from the start to be fully reusable — a key to lowering launch costs. SpaceX managed to salvage the last Starship from the Indian Ocean in July. Engineers modified the newly launched Starship’s heat shield based on hands-on inspections from the recovered spacecraft, which is being tugged back to Starbase.

SpaceX wants Starship to be certified for orbital flight

SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.

NASA’s Artemis III mission is coming up as soon as next summer, a triple-launch docking exercise in orbit around Earth between an Orion capsule full of astronauts and competing lunar landers. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will blast off first, then Orion — which will close in for a linkup — then Musk’s Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is unleashed.

The next mission — Artemis IV slated for no sooner than 2028 — would have astronauts landing on the moon in either Blue Moon or Starship, whichever is ready first. Subsequent moonshots will alternate between the two billionaires’ landers.

Musk originally developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch scores of them with the red planet’s first settlers. For now, he plans to focus on the moon and use Starship to haul satellites into orbit by the truckload, phasing out the company’s frailer Falcon 9 rocket within several years. A second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and a third is planned for Louisiana.

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

The indirect talks were expected to resume on Monday and come as the conflict that's caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran enters its eighth month. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world's most crucial waterways have failed.

The officials divulged that the behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after Trump spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, releases frozen Iranian assets and waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.

Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, remained in New York after last week's gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. He said he was awaiting “definitive” word from mediators of Trump's rejection. Qatar has been mediating.

Despite Trump’s often bellicose rhetoric, he remains open to pursuing a non-military resolution to the conflict if one can possibly be achieved, said the senior U.S. official.

But the official stressed there's a measure of doubt about whether Iran can be persuaded to ultimately reach Trump's conditions for a deal.

The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations.

The deal would first reopen the strait and lift the US blockade

Two of the officials speaking to the AP confirmed that mediators are working with both sides on a proposal that would include reopening the strait and lifting the U.S. blockade, and then removing sanctions.

According to the draft text being discussed, the strait would reopen in accordance with a separate deal that Iran has been discussing with Oman, on the other side of the strait, and it would include no tolls — something Tehran has pursued. That deal seeks to temporarily manage shipping traffic on what was seen as an international waterway before the war.

Despite Trump’s public comments, the U.S. has not officially rejected the current proposal, indicating that his remarks may have been a negotiating tactic, according to the officials.

One official said the U.S is seeking Iranian concessions on its nuclear program, including allowing inspectors to enter the country. Under the Memorandum of Understanding the two sides signed in June that collapsed within days, Iran's nuclear program was meant to be discussed over a 60-day period.

One official reported positive signals coming from both sides. A second reported “slight progress” over the weekend. The third said mediators are still trying “to soften” the positions of both sides.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran's latest proposal has sought a faster timeline

While Iran’s latest proposal echoes the June deal, a key difference is speed.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week that Tehran had pitched the deal as benefiting Trump in the midterm elections. Araghchi later told journalists that “the seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan.”

Both the U.S. and Iran have been hurting economically — the U.S. from high oil prices as Iran attacks ships on the strait, and Tehran from the naval blockade and a growing number of U.S. sanctions that bottle up its oil sales. Brent crude, the international standard, is above $108.

For months, the two sides have been trying to outlast the other, while regional countries put up with missile and drone attacks as Tehran claims to target U.S. military assets in the region.

Reflecting Iran's impatience, a rare statement on Monday attributed to the theocracy's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei noted the “painful blows” that enemy forces have received near the strait. “Before long, the Arabian Sea, too, will be rid of them,” the statement added.

Tehran latest proposal again sought to end the fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But a new front has emerged in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are now perched on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. That has further pressured global energy markets.

Iran argues that the Houthis have their own demands, and that their conflict with neighboring Saudi Arabia is separate from the U.S.-Iran war, but Iranian officials said they are willing to help in finding a settlement between the Houthis and the Saudis, one of the officials said.

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Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington and AP Middle East editor Victoria Eastwood contributed to this report.

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AP STANDARDS: The AP only uses anonymous sources when the information is vital to the news report and not opinion or speculation. The information must be unavailable except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source. The source must be reliable, in a position to have accurate information and approved by news managers.

“We won't play. I'm going to be frank with you,” the New York Yankees pitcher said. “I'm not worried about it. They should be worried about it. There’s a lot of money on us playing baseball. That’s why they pay us a lot.”

Baseball's five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to impose a lockout that would stop trades and free-agent signings, then potentially threaten the start of spring training workouts on Feb. 9 and opening day on March 24.

When management last proposed a cap, it sparked a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994 and '95 that led to the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years. MLB says a cap is needed to alleviate economic disparity, highlighting that no low-revenue team has won the title since the 2015 Kansas City Royals.

“The salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field, allowing us greater flexibility to address longstanding player priorities while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said.

Owners would also gain more financial certainty with a cap, which likely would spark an increase in franchise values.

Players point out teams with low payrolls, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, had the best regular-season records in their leagues this season.

“Despite MLB claiming they need a salary cap because small-market teams supposedly have no hope, we see Milwaukee with the best record in baseball for the second straight year and Tampa with the best record in the AL," union head Bruce Meyer said. “Milwaukee, of course, is 30th out of 30 in our market-size rankings.”

While this would be MLB's 10th work stoppage, the sport hasn't lost any regular-season games since the 1994-95 strike. Baseball players say they will never accept a cap similar to those that have been in the NFL since 1994, the NBA since 1984-85 and the NHL since 2005-06. Nine of the 10 biggest sports contracts by total value in North America belong to MLB players.

“For me the biggest thing is doing right for the generations forward because the generations before me, for the decades before, they’ve fought for our rights today,” Baltimore first baseman Pete Alonso said. “That’s a sacrifice that not just myself but other men around the league are willing to fight for and put up with.”

Salary cap would cut highest salaries

MLB's proposal would cap team spending next year at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million for 2027 but teams could drop as low as $154.1 million and make up the difference over the following two years. The New York Mets' opening day payroll in 2026 was over $352 million.

Contracts would be limited by service time: $500 million and 12 years for those yet to make major league debuts down to $265 million and six years for free-agent-eligible players. It would outlaw megadeals like outfielder Juan Soto's record $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets.

While MLB proposed to split revenues 50-50, the union says that would lead to a massive decrease in money to players because of the way revenues and expenses are defined and the player portion is calculated. In addition, an escrow provision to set salaries aside in case the players' defined revenue share is above 50% means money in guaranteed contracts could be forfeited.

MLB as part of a cap system would agree to drop service time for free agent eligibility for some players from six years of service to five and to eliminate qualifying offers, but the union maintains that would shift money among players under a cap rather than increase spending.

Cost of lost regular-season games would be enormous

Alonso would lose $165,775 next year for each regular-season day missed and Rodón would forfeit $144,385.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani would give up $374,331 daily and Soto $227,273.

At the other end of the salary scale, players making MLB's proposed $900,000 minimum would lose $4,813 daily.

Some players are protected financially because of signing bonuses that will continue to be paid during a work stoppage: Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is due $14 million on June 30 as part of his $325 million contract, though he would give up $74,866 daily in salary.

Union leadership changed in February

Tony Clark, the former All-Star first baseman who headed the union since 2013, was forced out in February and replaced by Meyer, his deputy and chief negotiator in 2021-22.

Baltimore pitcher Chris Bassitt, a member of the union's eight-man executive subcommittee, said there had been a transformation this year in communications within the players' association. The subcommittee and the 30 team player representatives form the executive council that makes union decisions.

“Our last CBA from a player’s side was not internally handled great. I think the structure was very archaic, so to speak, like an old-school approach,” he said. “We have made it our mission to kind of get all 30 clubs — 30 reps that genuinely care. And then not just 30 reps that genuinely care, but 30 reps that are making sure all their players are very informed."

There was a split in vote to accept deal in 2022

When players and MLB agreed to a deal on March 10, 2022, that ended the lockout, the executive subcommittee voted 8-0 against accepting it, but the team player representatives favored the agreement by 26-4.

The vast majority of the 1,200 players on 40-man rosters when the lockout starts will not have salary arbitration or free agency rights and will have 2027 salaries under $1 million.

“Their voices matter, what they’re feeling, what they're thinking,” Bassitt said. “When I came in the league it was — I’m going to say it plainly — but it was like: `Rookie shut up and sit in the corner and the veterans are going to take care of this.' I don’t think that's a possible avenue to go down anymore. I think the league’s too young, first and foremost. Second, I think the only way to have veteran guys that are informed and understand the process is to start the education process from day one.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people, some feared high tides and pounding waves from Polo could breach barriers and send seawater into the community. Some families planned to head to shelters in Ciudad Constitucion, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away, while dozens of people elsewhere in the state were evacuated.

“Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherwoman, said.

Polo barreling toward Baja California peninsula

Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) Monday morning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Forecasters said it would hit the Mexican mainland after lashing Baja California Sur with heavy rains, potentially causing life-threatening flooding and mudslides. It could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week.

“Polo is forecast to be near major hurricane strength when it reaches Baja California Sur later today, and is anticipated to be a hurricane when it makes landfall in mainland Mexico late tonight or early Tuesday morning,” the center said.

As swirling clouds and strong winds marked the region, Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency, reported that Polo would make landfall later in the afternoon.

At a Monday morning news briefing, she urged residents to stay off the streets and seek shelter if their homes are at risk. She said travel will be suspended in the area where the hurricane was expected to make landfall and that ports across the region would be closed.

Nolo, meanwhile, was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close, but a wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Monday morning. Nolo’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 155 mph (249 kph).

It's been a busy season for Pacific storms

Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season, according to National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec. He said that pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it has gathered personnel and humanitarian aid in the ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan, on the Pacific Coast, and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm.

One of the towns in the hurricane’s projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast. The town has only had full-time electricity for a few years, and still experiences frequent outages. There is concern that washed-out roads could block access to medical facilities.

“Our people are concerned about this event,” said Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

Robles Meza said Sunday that army soldiers arrived in San Juanico to prepare a shelter and provide support for possible emergencies.

Also Sunday, Tropical Storm Rachel formed well off Mexico's southwest coast. The hurricane center said Rachel had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) and was located about 250 miles (402 kilometers) south of Acapulco. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

In Hawaii, floods and mudslides are still a risk

Forecasters said Nolo’s outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island possibly getting up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

More than 120 National Guard members were activated, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation. President Donald Trump recently approved an emergency declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

Hawaii residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

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Video journalist Eugene Garcia and photographer Gregory Bull contributed from Hilo, Hawaii.

The crash occurred around 8 p.m. Sunday in the 2500 block of SW College Road.

According to police, a Chevy 3500 Silverado was traveling westbound when it collided with a Lexus SUV entering the intersection from Ocala West Plaza. The force of the crash caused the Silverado to strike the 18-year-old pedestrian, who was standing on the median at the time.

The pedestrian was transported to a local hospital in serious condition.

Investigators determined the victim and two other young adults had been filming a social media video on the median just before the crash — giving a haircut as part of the shoot.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Officers reported no signs of impairment for either driver. No other injuries were reported.

Leo traveled to the eastern city of Metz, near the border with Luxembourg and Germany, to honor Robert Schuman, a French Catholic statesman regarded as one of the founding fathers of European unity after World War II.

Leo decided to end his four-day visit to France in Metz, at a conference center named for Schuman, to drive home his appeal. The American pope wants Europe to draw from its Christian foundations and traditions to respond to wars and other conflicts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the challenges of migration.

“Over the past 80 years, Europe has amply demonstrated that it is possible to articulate divergent opinions, claims and interests through encounter rather than conflict,” he said.

“We need to commit ourselves to patient dialogue, to show courage in negotiation and to be willing to give up some positions for the greater good of peace,” he said, without naming specific conflicts or positions.

Élysée Palace, the French presidential office, had invited all European Union heads of state and the heads of European institutions to attend the conference. But only a handful, from smaller states such as Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg, joined President Emmanuel Macron.

Huge crowds and a military escort

Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by his appeal for Europe to remember its Christian heritage and apply it to today’s ethical and geopolitical challenges.

It has also been marked by huge crowds at nearly every turn — 800,000 attended Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — surprising even organizers and suggesting that the Catholic Church still has a place in an overwhelmingly secular public square.

On Monday morning, Leo's Air France charter received a military escort of two French fighter jets for the flight from Lourdes to Metz in a sign of respect. Macron tweeted a photo of Leo's plane taken by one of the jets while in flight, writing “Welcome to Metz, Most Holy Father.”

Macron joined Leo on stage at the Schuman event, vowing “unfailing” European support for Ukraine and noting that the country is among those aspiring to join the EU and a “space of peace, security, democracy and prosperity.”

“War has come back to our continent and our Europe is rocked by the return of empires,” Macron said. “To guarantee real sovereignty, we must therefore act, act firstly to preserve our security and our values.”

In his final event in France, Leo celebrated Mass in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz, a city with a long history of conflict that was part of Nazi Germany during the war.

The cathedral, finished in 1522, is one of the greatest examples of French Gothic style, with its soaring vaults and stained-glass windows, some of which were later designed by Marc Chagall, a 20th-century Jewish artist.

In his homily, Leo said that Metz and its surroundings experienced evil, but now “bear witness to the whole world that reconciliation is only possible when one has the courage to break the chains of resentment.”

The cathedral’s stained-glass windows, designed by a Jew, are “an extraordinary symbol of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue,” where God’s light unites “different histories and cultures into a single marvelous mosaic of peace.”

“As we contemplate these stained-glass windows, we learn that Europe’s future does not lie in uniformity, but in the harmony of differences, where the wounds of the past become openings through which light shines,” he said.

The colored glass has given the cathedral the nickname the “Lanterne du Bon Dieu,” or “The Good Lord’s Lantern.”

As they did in Paris during Saturday's Mass along the Champs-Élysées, priests in Metz set up makeshift confession stands on the streets to accommodate the faithful who packed the squares around the cathedral.

The Vatican estimated that 35,000 people had turned out. Macron changed his schedule at the last minute to attend and sat in the front row.

A statesman who promoted dialogue among rivals

Schuman is best known for the Schuman Declaration of 1950, five years after World War II ended. It proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community to pool production between historic rivals France and Germany.

The idea, as Europe was emerging from the ruins of the war, was guided by the belief that intertwined economic interests would make another conflict between them “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.”

The coal and steel organization was the first among European institutions that were precursors to what eventually became the European Union.

Schuman, a resistance fighter imprisoned by the Nazis, was declared “venerable” in 2021, a step in the Catholic Church's process toward possible sainthood.

Leo praised especially Schuman's respect for international law in pursuing his idea of peaceful integration. It was an indirect reference to how Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as U.S. military incursions in Venezuela and the Iran war, have taken place outside the international legal order.

Leo said international law and multilateralism “constitute the best antidote to the desire for domination, which lies at the root of every conflict.”

He lamented that in its place, relations today between states are becoming “increasingly uncivilized.”

“The value of keeping one’s word is dismissed; instead, people boast of lies and deceit,” he said.

Asked if Leo had crossed a line and entered into the European political debate, the Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, said that the pope was just preaching Catholic morals.

“He spoke about morality, ethics and the principles of the Church’s moral teaching. If anyone wants to draw political conclusions, they are free to do so,” Gallagher said.

___

John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

First, a special teams blunder. Second, a defensive lapse.

After Brandon Aubrey kicked a 23-yard field goal to tie the score at 31 with seven seconds remaining, the Cowboys chose to kick the ball out of the end zone for the first time in the game. The touchback didn’t run any time off the clock. Lamar Jackson then completed a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers that set up Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal that gave Baltimore a 34-31 victory in Brazil on Sunday.

If Aubrey kicked the ball in the landing zone, at least a few seconds would’ve run off the clock. But Dallas didn’t want to risk a return for a touchdown and opted for the touchback that gave the Ravens the ball at their 35.

“We felt like, let’s boom it through, put them out there, make them throw the ball short and we’ll be fine,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “Play for overtime. That’s what the plan was.”

It backfired because the defense got beat.

Rookie defensive coordinator Christian Parker inexplicably chose to play man-to-man coverage instead of a deep zone. Flowers won his one-on-one and Jackson fired a perfect strike down the middle for the completion with one second remaining.

Former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, an analyst on NBC, criticized the decision to play man coverage during halftime of the Rams-Broncos game.

“I’m really surprised they’re playing man-to-man in this sequence,” Tomlin said. “Most people in these circumstances are going to play what we describe as an umbrella zone.”

The two mistakes at the end ruined an impressive comeback by Dak Prescott and the offense. The Cowboys trailed 24-13 in the third quarter before Prescott led a pair of touchdown drives. But the offense also failed in a clutch spot.

After Jackson and the Ravens took the lead, Dallas had a chance to reclaim it. The Cowboys had a first down at Baltimore’s 2 with 23 seconds to go but failed to score a touchdown. And, they only used up 16 seconds, leaving time on the clock for Baltimore.

Prescott threw an incompletion on first down. He scrambled five yards back to the 2 after a false start penalty on second down. Another incomplete pass forced the Cowboys to settle for a field goal.

Schottenheimer called timeout with 14 seconds left after Prescott's run on second down instead of letting the clock run down a few more seconds.

The Ravens took advantage.

It was one of 12 games that were decided by one score, tying a record for the most such games in a week.

Here are other takeaways from Week 3:

Bo-lieve in Bo Nix

Bo Nix saved Davis Webb’s playcalling duties in the second half, leading the Broncos to a 30-26 comeback win over the Los Angeles Rams.

Nix, with help from defensive penalties on the Rams, engineered the go-ahead drive in the final minutes, scoring on a one-yard leap with 48 seconds remaining.

Webb, who is Denver’s offensive coordinator, is in his first season calling plays instead of coach Sean Payton. He may have lost those responsibilities if the Broncos didn’t get the offense going after getting shut out in the first half.

Raider Nation rejoices

Klint Kubiak and Kirk Cousins have led the Raiders to three straight wins to open the season after Las Vegas won just three games in 2025.

Cousins led a 35-27 comeback win in New Orleans and now has nine touchdown passes in three games. The Raiders don’t have any reason to rush rookie No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza into the starting lineup with Cousins racking up the wins.

Maye’s regression is concerning

It’s hard to believe Drake Maye finished runner-up to Matthew Stafford for the NFL MVP award last season.

Maye’s regression has been dramatic. He now has just one touchdown pass and six interceptions in three games for the Patriots (1-2). He threw 31 TD passes and eight picks last season.

Maye’s troubles began in the playoffs, even though New England reached the Super Bowl. He had eight turnovers (four picks, four fumbles) and was sacked 21 times in four games.

That’s carried over into the first three games, a concerning trend for the Patriots.

Super Bowl champs derailed

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota led the Commanders to a stunning 33-31 victory over the Seahawks, snapping Seattle’s franchise-record 12-game winning streak.

Filling in for Jayden Daniels, Mariota tossed three TD passes and didn’t commit any turnovers against the “Dark Side” defense.

Winless Texans are in trouble

Another poor performance by Houston’s offense in a 19-17 loss to the Colts has the Texans off to an 0-3 start for the second straight season. There’s little reason to believe they could go 12-2 the rest of the way again.

C.J. Stroud was inconsistent and the offense managed just 223 yards against a defense that came in giving up the most in the NFL.

Houston hosts Dallas (1-2) in the battle of Texas next week. The Cowboys will be coming off a long trip to Brazil so that should benefit the Texans.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The settlement was signed by the Milan prosecutors, Alabama-based multinational Caddell Construction and the court-appointed administrator that took over the construction site following the investigation into exploitative labor practices.

Caddell remains under administration, and the criminal investigation against the company and two of its managers in Italy is continuing, prosecutors said.

Caddell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Italian Labor Minister Marina Calderone called the probe “one of the most significant operations in recent years against illegal labor contracting and worker exploitation,” and said the outcome showed that the state would not abandon vulnerable workers.

Unions helping the workers welcomed the settlement, describing it as the largest of its kind in Europe.

Nearly 300 workers identified so far will receive on average 50,000 euros ($57,000), with some receiving up to 90,000 euros ($102,000) in unpaid wages and damages for emotional distress, said Luca Stanzione, the secretary general of the Milan branch of CGIL, a major trade union confederation.

“The compensation is an excellent result achieved through the efforts of prosecutors and trade unions,” Stanzione told The Associated Press. The CGIL’s construction union has been actively helping dozens of workers involved in the case.

Of the total, about 19.7 million euros is earmarked for direct payments to workers, with the remainder covering obligations to Italy’s social security authorities and labor inspectorate.

Most of the workers involved were from India, where they were recruited. The AP also spoke to workers who were recruited from a Caddell embassy project in Africa.

Milan prosecutors say that the workers were constantly exploited. After being promised a fair wage during recruitment, their pay stubs showed that they received less than $2 an hour and that food and housing had been illegally deducted from their wages. The minimum wage for construction workers in Milan starts at 13.19 euros (over $15) an hour.

The building site was put under judicial administration to restore legal operations. The new Milan consulate campus is being built on a 10-acre (40,000-square meter) site at a former shooting range, and will replace the current consulate that is located in a high rise.

Separately, dozens of workers have been granted unemployment benefits, while 265 have received special residence permits and applications for the remaining workers are being processed, according to the Labor Ministry.

Deputies said they responded to a 911 call at about 3:30 p.m. in the 5000 block of Liming Avenue.

When they arrived, deputies found the teen suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a hospital and was listed in stable condition.

On Monday, the sheriff’s office said the parties involved declined to prosecute.

Moscow’s forces pounded apartment buildings, offices, gas stations, data centers and a building of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in downtown Kyiv, among other targets.

The ceaseless Russian drone attacks on cities and towns aim to wear down Ukraine’s resistance and cripple the Ukrainian economy.

The attacks followed a week of diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to get traction for negotiations on ending Moscow’s invasion that began 4½ years ago.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated Monday that the chances of making speedy headway on forging a peace settlement were bleak after recent Ukrainian attacks, including during recent parliamentary elections in Russia.

“Ukraine will have to pay a price for the actions that have taken place in recent months,” Peskov told reporters. “That is happening right now.”

Russian attacks leave dead and wounded across Ukraine

Russian drone attacks on the Kyiv region killed four people and wounded eight, officials said.

A woman was killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district on Monday afternoon, the Kyiv city military administration said. The strike hit the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the latest cultural landmark in the capital to be damaged.

Some staff escaped the burning building by climbing from windows down firefighters' ladders.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Russians were conducting a campaign of “pure terror” on the civilian population.

“The terror goes on,” he told reporters at the site of the academy strike. “For more than a week Russia has kept attacking Kyiv, disrupting normal life in the city and destroying buildings.”

Russian forces also hit a pharmaceutical company and gas stations in Kyiv.

One drone struck an office center in central Dnipro during working hours Monday, killing three people and wounding at least 18, local authorities said.

A Russian strike on a nine-story apartment building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv wounded 43 people, including 11 children, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Thirty civilians were injured in Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia, officials said, while another Russian attack damaged a multistory apartment building in Odesa, wounding three people, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa regional military administration.

Four people, including two teenage girls, were hurt when a Russian drone struck a residential area in northern Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Sunday evening, said Viacheslav Chaus, head of the regional military administration.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck two data centers in Kyiv, as well as gas stations in the Ukrainian capital. A distribution hub belonging to the Nova Poshta postal service was struck in the southern city of Odesa, it said.

The Russian military also hit a cargo ship in the Black Sea and another one in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, the ministry said. The strikes aim to curb Ukraine’s grain exports, though they may also create food shortages in countries that rely on Ukrainian imports.

The Russian aerial attacks regularly hit civilian areas. Moscow claims it targets only military-related sites.

Ukrainian army says it has advanced on the eastern front line

Battlefield positions have changed little since last year, in part because swarms of drones severely restrict troop movements, but Kyiv’s forces launched a recent offensive, code-named Operation Vivaldi, on part of the 1,250-kilometer (800-mile) front line.

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps said Monday it had recaptured another 51 square kilometers (20 square miles) from the Russians, bringing the total to 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) since the offensive began several months ago.

The corps said that in order to break through Russian defenses, it converted Soviet-era BTR-60 armored personnel carriers into kamikaze vehicles that blew up the strongest Russian fortifications. The operation has also used ground robots to attack Russian positions.

The claimed breakthroughs came in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which the bigger Russian army has been trying in vain to conquer.

Russian officials made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian claim.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Russian troops captured the villages of Novovodiane in the Donetsk region and Ulanove in the northern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

Ukraine hits targets in southwestern Russia

Zelenskyy said long-range strikes on Russian soil hit two defense plants in the Tula and Voronezh regions and oil facilities in the Krasnodar region, all in southern and western Russia.

Ukraine's long-range drones have repeatedly targeted Russian fuel depots and industrial plants that are a mainstay of Moscow’s economy and war effort.

Ukrainian drone attacks overnight started fires at three infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar region, local emergency officials said Monday, without identifying the locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 254 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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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

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to contain it.

The latest data from Congo's health ministry released Sunday showed that 8,067 cases have been confirmed, with 3,901 deaths as of Sept. 26 across 63 health zones in seven of the country's 26 provinces, with a fatality rate of more than 48%.

“The continuously high crude case fatality ratio, and especially the continuously high rate of deaths occurring in communities, highlights the seriousness of the disease and the persistent challenges in timely case detection and access to early and adequate patient care,” the World Health Organization said in its latest report.

It means that a large percentage of those infected were dying, without taking into account factors like delays in seeking help or hidden cases.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that the outbreak has begun to have an impact on other essential services in the hot spots as resources are mobilized toward fighting Ebola. According to OCHA's report, routine primary healthcare services fell by 13% between April and June in Ituri province alone.

“The indirect impact of the outbreak reflects both reduced health service availability — as a result of staffing and operational pressures — and reduced demand, as fear of infection and isolation discourages care-seeking,” OCHA said.

Last week, WHO said that Congo was running out of health workers to contain the disease. Health workers have complained about delayed or missing payments, triggering several strikes. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 health workers have died since the outbreak was announced.

Some areas have shown signs of improvement, with fewer confirmed cases in the past several weeks, including in Ituri province and Haut-Uele, but officials say the disease is spreading further in other areas, expanding its geographical reach.

According to data from the Africa CDC, the current outbreak has outpaced the two-year West Africa regional outbreak in terms of spread in the same time. By week 19, the regional outbreak between 2014 and 2016 recorded 3,781 cases, while the current outbreak recorded 7,840. WHO said that it's on track to surpass the regional outbreak, which killed 11,000 people.

Containment efforts have been hamstrung by insecurity, displacement, a health workers’ strike and intense population movements.

“We’ve got to figure out how to exist in the same space,” Mayor Megan Sladek said. “Right now we have e-bikes that are zipping around Center Lake Park and people who are pedestrians do not feel safe walking there.”

Sladek said Oviedo had been waiting on guidance from the state about e-bike regulations, but the situation has become too dangerous to wait any longer.

The proposed rules would limit speeds to 10 mph and could prohibit the devices from being used in some public places, including parks. The proposal would also require riders to yield to pedestrians.

Fines would range from $50 for a first offense up to $250 for repeated violations. Enforcement of the ordinance is also expected to be part of the work session discussion.

“You can’t go enforce unless the police officer catches the behavior. So, if there’s repeated bad behavior, they would, of course, follow up,” Sladek said.

Sladek said Orange County is also expected to put its own micro-mobility ordinance in place on Sept. 29.

“I think we’re going to take a look at that, see how to harmonize those and come up with something that’s safe for everybody,” Sladek said.

Monday’s work session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Oviedo’s public hearing on the proposed ordinance is scheduled for Oct. 5.

The Orlando City Council is scheduled to discuss the extension during a meeting at 2 p.m. Monday.

From July 2025 to June 2026, Orlando’s red light cameras issued 60,000 citations and collected about $7 million in fines. Under state law, roughly half of the money collected from red light camera violations goes to the state, while the rest stays with the city or county running the program.

Cameras are placed at intersections where traffic data shows an increased safety risk, including crashes that have caused serious injury or death.

“They do help,” Randy Maria said. “Like you got people that are just driving recklessly. You know, on a phone, not paying attention. The light turns red. They’ll eat it. Accidents happen. At least the camera, if you see it, you’ll be aware. You’ll come to a stop. I think it improves people’s driving. It’ll keep them cautious.”

Angella Carnegie-Ramos said the financial consequences are a key factor in changing behavior.

“I believe they change drivers’ behavior,” Carnegie-Ramos said. “Because they know that there is a cost behind the consequences. So, I believe it helps.”

She also believes it makes the roads safer for everyone.

“It prevents accidents. It also prevents costs for other drivers. It saves lives. Honestly, because if I know I’m going to pay 3 or $400 for a ticket, I’m going to stop before the red light hits,” Carnegie-Ramos said.

The crash happened around 7:30 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Goldenrod Road and Rio Pinar Lakes Boulevard.

According to an FHP report, a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee was heading southbound in the left-turn lane when the driver turned into the path of a northbound 2015 KTM motorcycle. The front of the motorcycle struck the right side of the SUV.

Both drivers were transported to the hospital, where the motorcyclist was pronounced dead. The SUV driver, a 54-year-old Orlando man, suffered minor injuries.

FHP said the motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

The investigation remains ongoing.

The uncrewed Starship — standing 407 feet tall — lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The launch window opened at 8:15 a.m. EDT, but the launch was pushed back to 8:48 a.m. EDT.

The rocket is expected to complete six orbits. This test flight marks the first time Starship will attempt to reach orbit around Earth. During the nearly 10-hour mission, it deployed 26 Starlink satellites.

Three of those satellites are equipped with specialized cameras pointed at Starship’s heat shield, allowing engineers to monitor its performance during the high-stress reentry phase. If the mission goes as planned, Starship will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile.

Starship is a fully reusable, two-stage rocket that SpaceX ultimately hopes to use to carry astronauts to the moon — and eventually to Mars.

What it means for NASA’s Artemis III mission

The stakes of Monday’s test flight extend well beyond SpaceX. NASA has contracted the company to develop a lunar landing system capable of carrying astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time in more than 50 years.

NASA is investing more than $4 billion in SpaceX’s lunar lander. A successful orbital test flight Monday would be a critical step toward proving the vehicle is ready for that mission.

The meeting between Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan took place on Sunday, two people who were briefed on the Israeli leader's trip confirmed on Monday.

Meanwhile, the European Union's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the bloc is applying for observer status in a Saudi-led maritime defense coalition formed to protect the kingdom's energy exports. The EU already has six vessels deployed to the Red Sea to protect shipping.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Full coverage is available here.

Netanyahu made a secret visit to the UAE

The Israeli prime minister held an hourlong meeting with the UAE’s president on Sunday, according to two people briefed on Netanyahu's trip, which was first reported by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station.

One of them said the talks focused on a report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz earlier this month that said the Emirati leader warned Netanyahu about a looming attack by Hamas just ahead of Oct. 7, 2023.

Netanyahu asked Sheikh Mohamed to deny the report, according to a person said to have firsthand information about the meeting. Netanyahu’s office had previously denied the Haaretz report.

The person, along with a regional official briefed on the meeting, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the secret trip.

The UAE’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on reports about the meeting but stressed it maintains “open and direct lines of communication” with Israel and shares “all relevant intelligence.”

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.

—By Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo

EU applies for observer status in a Saudi mission in the Red Sea

The European Union is applying for “observer status” in a new multinational maritime defense coalition led by Saudi Arabia formed to protect the kingdom’s energy exports.

The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas made the announcement on Monday, ahead of a Brussels meeting. The energy-hungry EU is facing record energy prices due to the war in Iran.

Kallas said she will ask for an expansion of the bloc’s own small naval force in the Red Sea dubbed ASPIDES to help escort cargo vessels through the key strategic chokepoint of the Bab el-Mandeb strait and protect them from attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Kallas said the “need is bigger than it’s ever been” for more ships. It’s unclear what observer status in the Saudi-led coalition would mean operationally for either the EU or ASPIDES.

Supreme leader says Iranian troops defended the Strait of Hormuz from the enemy

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has praised his country’s fighters for allegedly preventing “enemy forces” from “roaming freely” in the Strait of Hormuz.

Khamenei said in a message carried by the state broadcaster on Monday that Iran’s enemies now “do not come" closer to the strait than the Arabian Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean.

Soon, "the Arabian Sea too, will be rid of them,” said the message, issued to mark the two-year anniversary of the killing of the militant Hezbollah group's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon.

Khamenei hasn't been seen or heard publicly since the opening attacks of the war on Feb. 28 that killed his father and previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

WHO says more people have been killed or wounded in Yemen

The World Health Organization said Sunday it has documented 164 deaths and 645 injuries from the war in Yemen between Sept. 19 and Sept. 26.

This brings the overall casualties since Aug. 6 to 4,481, with 838 fatalities. The latest intense fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemeni government forces has displaced more than 180,000 people.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 1 person, wound others

A woman was killed while her husband was wounded when an Israeli strike hit a Gaza City rooftop on Monday, Shifa Hospital officials said. Another person was also wounded and was in critical condition.

The Israeli military later said it was aware of this strike and was looking into its results.

Later Monday, a second Israeli strike, on a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, left one person critically injured, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

The Israeli military said it targeted a “military operative,” but did not immediately provide further details or identify the individual.

More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza ceasefire took effect nearly a year ago. Around half of that number are women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that international organizations consider reliable.

An Israeli minister vows to press on with West Bank settlement project

Israel’s polarizing Cabinet minister in charge of settlement construction, Bezalel Smotrich, has condemned a decision by the attorney general to freeze a contentious project near Jerusalem.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ordered the project to be put on hold until after the Oct. 27 elections so it wouldn't “be used for election propaganda.”

The project — known as E1 settlement development — is especially controversial because it would carve out a strategic section of the West Bank in a way that critics say would destroy hopes for a viable future Palestinian state.

Smotrich accused on X Baharav-Miara of “interfering in the election campaign” and acting in the service of Netanyahu’s political opponents.

Israel reprimands Spain over youth minister's controversial remarks

Israel summoned the Spanish Embassy’s chargé d’affaires over remarks by Spain's youth minister who declared the country's public support for a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” — a slogan that implies a call for the elimination of the Israeli state.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Monday that Spanish Youth Minister Sira Rego’s remarks were “part of a systematic anti-Israel policy pursued by the Spanish government” and its leader, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Rego was barred from entering Israel in Sept. 2025.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

David Perdue said Trump raised the prospect of the arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival, an unlikely offer that if consummated would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe. Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel's “Fox News Sunday” days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington, didn’t specify when the offer was made.

Perdue said Sunday that Trump, a Republican, was downplaying longstanding U.S. arms sales to Taiwan — which have drawn protest from Beijing for years — by couching it as just one of many sales Washington makes around the world — and even asking Xi if he’d be in the market for U.S. weaponry.

Bream had cited concerns from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over delayed aid packages and weapons orders to Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that seeks to defend itself from China’s threat to invade the island. Bream asked if the U.S. is denying arms to Taiwan to appease the Chinese president, who visited Trump last week.

Perdue pushed back on the suggestion, stating that Trump “is as strong on Taiwan as I’ve ever seen anybody” and has sold it plenty of weapons. Perdue also said Trump and Xi continue to talk about future U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan.

“But President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world,’” Perdue said. “He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some, at one point.”

The U.S. is bound by its own laws to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the U.S. ally should China invade.

China has pressed Washington to halt the arms sales, most prominently during a previous summit in May between Trump and Xi in Beijing. After that meeting, the United States paused the sale of a record-breaking $14 billion package — and Trump described arms sales to Taiwan as a “very good negotiating chip” with China.

In their private talks at the White House last week, Xi pressed Trump to oppose Taiwan independence, according to Chinese state media.

In Beijing, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not confirm Perdue's remarks when asked about the matter on Monday. But he told reporters that China has always strengthened its national defense capabilities based on its needs and is committed to maintaining world peace and stability.

This all happened around 9:30 a.m. as the man was on a boogie board near A1A and Cove Road in Melbourne Beach.

Video shows multiple different agencies responding, including the sheriff’s office and Brevard County Fire Rescue.

A helicopter can be seen flying overhead, as other first responders can be seen on shore with binoculars trying to locate the man in the water.

The search comes as rough surf and dangerous rip currents continue along Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The company said that its Open Agent Safety Platform includes open source software that “sets boundaries for agents,” and follows a series of revelations from top AI companies about their models escaping and breaking into other organizations.

The disclosures sparked furious debate about the safety of advanced artificial intelligence systems, including self-improving models that some fear could race out of human control.

Nvidia executives said in a media briefing that the new system could have prevented a recent incident involving a swarm of OpenAI agents that autonomously hacked into AI company Hugging Face.

“From what we know, this new security platform could have stopped the breach if it was being used in frontier labs for model evaluation early on," said the company’s vice president of enterprise AI, Justin Boitano, referring to companies at the forefront of AI.

The Hugging Face incident was a high-profile breach that inflamed the safety concerns about AI, which were followed by similar rogue actions involving OpenAI's models including breaching an Australian health department website. Anthropic and Meta have also disclosed that their AI systems hacked into other organizations on their own.

Nvidia's software, called OpenShell, lets developers “formally verify an agent has enough authority to do its job and no more,” Boitano said.

Because it's open source, it can be “extended” to run on rival computing platforms including those from Arm and Intel.

The platform also includes a separate security layer called Sentry that runs onboard a chip to continuously monitor AI agent activity and can "intervene instantly" if the agent starts trying to move beyond its target, the company said.

“It can quarantine a suspicious agent in milliseconds,” Boitano said.

“OpenShell governs the agent’s actions, and then Sentry independently monitors and contains suspicious behavior,” Boitano said.

Nvidia said more than 100 organizations are using the platform at its launch, including Microsoft, Perplexity, Accenture, and JPMorgan Chase.

The AI safety debate has divided the industry, with the heads of Anthropic and OpenAI championing a coordinated slowdown of AI development to let safety efforts catch up. But others including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang say it should be up to individual companies to make sure their models are safe for release.

Huang, during the annual Salesforce technology conference held earlier this month, characterized AI safety, including the danger of rogue agents, as an engineering problem that software developers can address.

Also Monday, Nvidia said its board approved expanding its share repurchase program by $150 billion, raising the total amount to $235 billion.

6) SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream

If you want a major Halloween event in Orlando, this one brings the big-budget scares.

• Where: SeaWorld Orlando
• When: Sept. 25 and 26 (select nights Sept. 11 through Oct. 31)
• • Gates open: 6:30 p.m.
  • Event starts: 7 p.m.
• What to know: Features five haunted houses, six scare zones, themed bars and entertainment, plus select SeaWorld rollercoasters operating during the event.
• Tickets: seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/

Check out my full Howl-O-Scream event guide here.

5) Nature Fest at Oakland Nature Preserve

A great daytime pick for families and anyone who wants fresh air with a side of Florida nature.

• Where: Oakland Nature Preserve, 747 Machete Trail, Oakland
• When: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• What to know: Meet members of the environmental community, take part in animal interactions and guided hikes, and check out presentations celebrating Florida’s natural history, conservation and future.
• Cost: Donations are greatly appreciated.
• Full schedule: https://oaklandnaturepreserve.wildapricot.org/

4) Orlando Air Show

A bucket-list kind of day for aviation fans — and a rare chance to see multiple military demo teams in one show.

• Where: Orlando Sanford International Airport
• When: September 26 & 27
• • Gates open at 9 am on Saturday and Sunday.
  • The Flight Line Club and Corporate Chalets will open at 10 am on Saturday and Sunday
  • The aerial portion of the show runs from noon to approximately 4:00 pm.
• What to know: Headliners include the F-22 Raptor Demo Team and the U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet Demo Team, plus Navy SEALs Leap Frogs, the Racers Jet Team, and aerobatic pilots including Galen Killam and John Black.
• Tickets: Starting at $32
• Info/Tickets: https://air.show/cf-purchase-tickets/

3) SCREAM-A-GEDDON (Halloween horror park)

A road-trip-worthy haunted attraction with classic horror creatures and hangout spots.

• Where: Dade City, Florida
• When: Friday, Saturday and Sunday (running weekends through Nov. 1)
• • Park opens: 7 p.m.
• What to know: Haunted house attraction with zombies, demons and scary clowns, plus fire pits, food and drink. It’s recommended for adults and teens, but younger children may attend if parents choose to bring them.
• Tickets: Purchase online: https://screamageddon.com/

2) Chase Sanctuary animal experiences

A hands-on way to support rescue, rehabilitation and conservation — with experiences scheduled all weekend.

• Where: SE 122nd Blvd, Webster, FL 33597
• Cost: See booking pages for pricing and availability
• Details: https://www.chasesanctuary.org/

For more details and to see what it’s like at Chase Sanctuary, you can my full video here.

1) Jurassic Quest

A big, indoor, family-friendly road trip idea — one weekend only in Daytona Beach.

• Where: Ocean Center, Daytona Beach
• When: Sept. 25-27, 2026 (one weekend only)
• What to know: Three experiences included with admission: Jurassic Quest, Ancient Oceans, and the all-new Frozen Frontier. Families can see life-size dinosaurs from multiple time periods, plus live dinosaur shows, baby dinosaur encounters, dinosaur rides, fossil digs, inflatables, crafts and other kid-friendly activities.
• Tickets/Info: JurassicQuest.com

Bonus🎉

4Roots Farmers Market

If you’re staying closer to Orlando, this is an easy Saturday morning stop.

• Where: 4Roots Farm Campus
• When: Sept. 26, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• What to know: Farm-fresh produce, handcrafted goods, local vendors and artisans.

Lemesto Brand Launch Party

A crafty, community-forward night out with mini make-and-take stations — and a little sparkle encouraged.

• Where: Bookburn, 2425 E. South St., Orlando, FL 32803
• When: Sept. 27, 6-8 p.m.
• What to know: Lemesto is launching its new brand with micro-craft stations, a photobooth, giveaways and swag bags. Festive attire recommended, and spots are limited.
• Tickets: $10 (18+): https://lemesto.com/tickets/p/launchparty

The National Hurricane Center is now giving an area of low pressure in the central subtropical Atlantic a 70% chance of developing over the next 48 hours and an 80% chance through the next seven days.

The system, designated AL91, is located several hundred miles east-northeast of Bermuda.

Thunderstorm activity is showing signs of becoming better organized as the system moves quickly east over the central subtropical Atlantic during the next couple of days.

If it becomes a tropical storm, Hanna would be the next name on the 2026 Atlantic list.

The environment is expected to become less favorable for development later this week, so the system has a relatively short window to strengthen.

There is no immediate threat to Florida.

But South Carolina is also the first state in Democrats' next presidential nominating process, so White House hopefuls are looking for any excuse they can find to pop over.

In the next few weeks, five Democrats who are believed to be mulling 2028 campaigns — California Rep. Ro Khanna, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and longtime Democratic politico Rahm Emanuel — will be stumping here.

That’s on top of recent visits from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

The travel itineraries show that even though there are five weeks until the midterms, the next presidential cycle is already underway.

Khanna returns to South Carolina for several days starting Thursday. Around the same time, Beshear will stump with candidates in Orangeburg and Charleston, and he'll discuss his new book with Rep. Jim Clyburn, a longtime Democratic kingmaker.

There's overlap with Kelly, who starts a two-day swing on Friday and plans to campaign for candidates such as Senate nominee Annie Andrews. A week later, Pritzker is set to headline a fundraising dinner for the local NAACP.

And just days before early voting kicks off on Oct. 13, Emanuel — the former congressman, White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan — has a packed South Carolina schedule. He's talking to students on several college campuses and appearing with candidates including gubernatorial nominee Jermaine Johnson.

Emanuel's advisers said he will also meet with dozens of pastors, as well as participate in a community conversation with some parishioners affected by the deadly 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston.

South Carolina has always been early in the primary calendar for both parties, but Democrats recently solidified its place at the front of the line.

Bre Maxwell, a Democratic National Committee member from the state, said visiting allows candidates to see how their pitch lands with key voters.

“They’re doing it under the guise of, ‘Hey, I’m gonna come to South Carolina, help support this candidate,’ while also having one-off meetings with people to build for what they possibly may do in ‘28,” Maxwell said. “'How much support do I have, how many people like me, how many people don’t like me?'”

One person who isn't due to visit soon is former Vice President Kamala Harris. She hasn't been to South Carolina since April, when she participated in a party fundraiser alongside a tour for her book recounting the whirlwind 2024 presidential campaign.

But Harris' deep relations in the state mean she doesn't need to come as early or as often as others, who are still gaining name recognition.

Republicans' nominating process will still start with the Iowa caucuses, but South Carolina will hold the party's first southern primary.

With President Donald Trump constitutionally prohibited from running for a third term, other Republicans are starting to test the waters. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came to stump with Attorney General Alan Wilson before he won the party's nomination for governor.

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

The spate of killings and bodies of women discovered in the area since July has sparked fears that a serial killer or killers are responsible. The killings also have generated anger in South Africa, which has high rates of femicide and violent crime toward women and children.

The body of the latest female victim was discovered in Springs, which is part of Ekurhuleni, by a private security company that was patrolling the area on Sunday, police said.

Police began investigating after the bodies of three women were found in July and August within about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of one another in the Ekurhuleni municipality, east of Johannesburg.

The discovery of six bodies in Ekurhuleni over 10 days earlier this month raised fears about a serial killer or killers.

The latest discovery came a day after another body of a woman who appeared to have been violently killed was discovered near Tembisa township.

Police released limited details about the 10th body, which was found early Saturday, and didn't immediately identify the victim.

According to the police, a 36-year-old suspect was arrested in connection with the killing and is due to appear at Tembisa Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

It is alleged that following the killing, the suspect fled to Tzaneen in Limpopo province, which is nearly 400 kilometers (about 245 miles) away from where the woman's body was discovered. He was arrested on Saturday evening, the same day the woman's body was discovered.

Last week, two women appeared in court in relation to the killing of one of the women whose bodies have been discovered around Ekurhuleni since July. They are due to appear in court on Oct. 1.

The details came days after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Donald Trump in Washington in his first state visit to the U.S. since 2015. The U.S. had already reduced tariffs against China after Trump’s tariffs reached as high as 145% at one point last year, as tensions between the two countries eased.

China’s commerce ministry said in a statement the agreement will help strengthen trade cooperation.

Most country-specific tariffs practically eradicated

The lists included 1,619 items of U.S. goods entering China, ranging from agricultural commodities, hair and personal care products to timber and medical equipment. Coal from the U.S. will also be included.

For Chinese goods exported to the U.S., 77 categories were covered, including fireworks, tableware, toys like dolls and puzzles, glass and wooden Christmas ornaments and soccer balls.

Tariff rates on over 90% of the products would be subject to “most-favored-nation” levels, the Chinese commerce ministry said, meaning that country-specific tariffs will effectively be eliminated.

Most-favored-nation rates are the standard tariffs applied under World Trade Organization rules, but they can differ from item to item and are often in the single digits.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a separate statement the product lists focused on “nonsensitive goods on each side that could benefit from more favorable tariff treatment.” The deal could help secure market access for U.S. farmers, manufacturers, businesses and workers, while benefiting American consumers with imports from China including household goods and toys, Greer said.

Both countries said they agreed the list may be adjusted later as needed, but amendments were likely to be no more than on an annual basis.

The Chinese commerce ministry said the two countries agreed to further cooperate in the agricultural sector, forming a group under the Board of Trade established in May to optimize bilateral trade.

Sectors of strategic importance for both countries, such as chips, electric vehicles and batteries, were not covered under the agreement.

A potential boost to US-China bilateral trade

“This is a positive outcome for these affected products compared to a smaller tariff cut, and could lead to a more significant boost to bilateral trade,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING Bank.

The lowered tariffs could be a win for U.S. consumer brands, added Jacob Cooke, CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies based in Beijing, as some of the products covered by China's list of U.S. imports included fast-growing categories like hair care, personal care products and infant formula.

With the U.S. list for Chinese products focused more on consumer goods, it could help lower U.S. inflation while also allowing Chinese firms to export more of their overcapacity, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis.

Some experts said, however, the economic impact at $30 billion each way may be limited overall.

U.S. exports to China were roughly $68 billion through the first seven months of this year, while Chinese exports to the U.S. were at around $270 billion for the first eight months, said Prashant Bhayani, chief investment officer for Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

A $30 billion deal each way will be “more meaningful” for U.S. exports to China in terms of percentage share, he said.

China's trade surplus expected to remain elevated

While the deal did not cover sensitive strategic goods, analysts believe U.S.-China trade will likely continue to recover for the rest of the year after steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese products last year hit bilateral trade.

The U.S. and China last week also reached a two-month extension of the broader trade truce that was set to expire Nov. 10 to January.

China’s trade surplus, which reached a record $1.2 trillion last year, will likely remain elevated. By August, it stood at about $800 billion, putting this year’s surplus “on pace to exceed the 2025 record,” according to Ecaterina Bigos, a senior market strategist with BNP Paribas Asset Management.

The U.S. is also investigating China among 16 trading partners in its Section 301 probe on excess industrial capacity and could impose additional tariffs on China when the investigation concludes.

However, with more meetings set between Trump and Xi, including at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen in November and at the Group of 20 summit in Florida in December, Song at ING said he would not expect a major flare-up of trade tensions before year-end.

Exporters welcome the tariff deal

Some Chinese exporters welcomed the tariff deal announcements.

“This is positive news,” said Richard Chan of Golden Arts Gifts & Decor, which manufactures Christmas decorations in southern China and supplies to countries including the U.S. “The economy in both the U.S. and China is not really good, and the two sides should help each other more.”

However, because most of this year’s Christmas goods are already being shipped ahead of the peak holiday season, the tariff reductions may have limited effect for them at least for now.

In this rough-and-tumble corner of northwest Louisiana, where booms and busts have defined the oil rich region’s history, the legislation can be a bit of a mystery to voters going about their days ahead of the November election.

This is President Donald Trump country, and Johnson, who rode into office on the 2016 wave that elected the president the first time, is in no apparent danger as he seeks a sixth term in Congress.

But the tenor of conversations — at a candidate forum, at a data center open house, outside a grocery store — provides a snapshot of the grim outlook for the party in power. High gas and grocery prices, the war in Iran and the lingering sense of an uneasy new economic normal are all on voters’ minds.

“I remember when Trump said, ‘This Christmas, you’ll have one doll’ — I didn’t get it,” said Katherine Ferguson, an attorney in Shreveport and mother of a teenager, after a recent community meeting downtown. “Now I get it.”

Voters are struggling to add it all up

Republicans are campaigning on the big bill, what Johnson calls the largest tax cuts in American history. He hauled the package over the finish line last summer, a remarkable political achievement given the slim House majority.

“This is real money for real people,” Johnson said in Washington, as lawmakers headed home to campaign.

Louisianans on average saw an estimated $2,900 tax deduction this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, largely because the bill preserved existing rates and brackets that would have otherwise expired. The boost in actual tax refunds was much less, about $350 on average nationwide.

The numbers, in many ways, speak for themselves. The bill tallied some $4 trillion in tax breaks, including new deductions for tips and overtime pay, and enhanced benefits for many seniors and families with children. It also cut more than $1 trillion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and Medicaid healthcare by imposing administrative changes and additional work requirements that are expected to lead to fewer people on the programs.

Overall, the bill is projected to boost economic growth, but it also adds more than $3 trillion to the federal deficit over a decade.

Johnson said the GOP is “cutting wasteful government spending” and “enacting the policies to bring about economic growth.”

Voters appear to be struggling to add it all up, especially as gas hits $4 a gallon and diesel has almost doubled from last year in Louisiana, topping $6.

“I don’t understand the high prices,” said Dodie Horton, a state representative in Johnson’s district, who is supportive of Trump and the speaker but has trouble making sense of the price spikes.

“I know it’s not the president,” she said. “My people want to know why. I don’t have an answer.”

Tax cuts vs. food aid

Madison McDonald, in between working the bar area at the Silver Star Smokehouse & Tavern, said she’s saved about $3,000 on state and federal taxes combined this year, thanks to the tipped income deduction.

The restaurant is popular with the oil and gas industry workers, and she said she once landed a $1,100 tip from a busy table — an appreciated supplement to her $2.13 hourly wage, the federal minimum.

“It definitely helps,” she said. “People are generous.”

Up the road in Bossier Parish, where Johnson lives, Sheriff Julian C. Whittington had his staff run the numbers and found that more than 180 deputies had their taxable income reduced by an average of $1,100 thanks to the overtime deduction.

“That’s good for them, and it’s good for the department,” he said. “Our folks are getting more money, and it doesn’t cost us any more.”

Yet across the river that divides the city, with its riverfront casinos on one side and aging civic infrastructure on the other, the food aid cuts are also taking shape.

Al Moore keeps the door locked as the line begins to form hours before the daily hot lunch is served at the nonprofit Christian Service, where he is executive director.

Once the noon hour strikes, he begins to let people file in, about 10 or so at a time, as they take their seats.

Calvin Ray Marshall, 59, said he was receiving about $294 per month in SNAP benefits until May, when he said he was unable to meet the new 80-hours-a-month work requirements, which now apply to those through age 64 who are able-bodied and do not have young children.

“That’s why I’m here,” he said, finishing up a plate of chicken, rice and gravy, with mixed vegetables.

He said he used to stock shelves at a mini-market and recently sought work at a new gas station. Sometimes he picks up odd jobs, cutting a yard, and he lives out of a tire repair shop where he used to help out, but that closed as business dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

“For some reason, the government has always been trying to cut people off food stamps because they think people are abusing it,” said Marshall. “It seems like they think jobs are just falling out of the sky.”

Johnson's district now encompasses this area, part of a majority-Black congressional district that was eliminated after the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark voting rights case this summer.

After lunch, Kenny “KeKe” Heads pulls out a resume listing past work experience — sandwich artist, janitor, housekeeper at a local hotel — on a tidy one-sheet document. For now, Heads receives about $100 a month in SNAP benefits but is worried that the three-month window available to jobseekers will lapse before he finds work.

“It’s rough,” Heads said, hopeful one day of opening a beauty salon and boutique. “Getting a chance is like one in a million.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Louisiana is behind only Arizona and on par with Nevada in the decline in SNAP recipients during the year since the bill passed, a 21% reduction. The Medicaid work requirements are set to begin in most states in January.

Other voices looking for alternatives

One of Johnson’s Democratic opponents, Conrad Cable, an English major turned vegetable farmer, said he decided to run for Congress because “enough is enough.”

“If you talk to people at the gas pumps — people are pissed,” he said.

He said he hears from voters about the war, affordability, the SNAP cuts — “there was never any conversation about cutting people's food benefits,” he said.

Outside a Shreveport grocery store, Norman Summers, 70, a Marine and retired construction worker, supported Trump but is warily watching the war in Iran and the president's rising wealth.

“Trump’s the one who’s bothering me,” he said.

As the afternoon sun glared, attorney Scott Bowie stopped his cart of bottled waters to assess the political mood.

A believer in small government, he wishes the big Republican bill had done more to reduce the federal deficit.

When he looks to Democrats, “They don't seem to want what I want," he said. "But I’m not saying I'm happy with the Republicans either.”

The briefing is set for 3 p.m. NASA and Boeing leaders are expected to discuss Starliner’s development, the spacecraft’s next flight and plans for future crewed missions.

During its last mission in 2024, the spacecraft experienced helium leaks and thruster failures while traveling to the space station. NASA ultimately determined that Starliner was not safe to use for the astronauts’ return trip.

As a result, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remained aboard the space station for more than nine months instead of the 10 days originally planned. They eventually returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

NASA classified the incident as a Type A mishap, the agency’s most serious category.

“Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in February. “But the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware. It’s decision-making and leadership — and, if left unchecked, it could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”

An audit released in March found that Starliner’s leak and propulsion problems remained unresolved. NASA also said it could not provide a timeline for certifying the spacecraft to carry astronauts again.

Starliner’s next planned mission is expected to be an uncrewed cargo flight. However, NASA and Boeing have not announced an official launch date.

NASA and Boeing are expected to address questions about remaining issues and whether Starliner can take a crew to the I.S.S again during the update. Updates will be posted on ClickOrlando.com.

Rescuers from the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, which is leading the efforts, said they recovered two more bodies on Monday in addition to two others who were found on Sunday. Twelve are missing.

Eight experienced mountain guides from the association took advantage of improving weather to dig through the snow that had covered tents at base camp.

Ten people were rescued from Mount Himlung, a 7,126-meter (23,380-foot) peak in north-central Nepal, after the avalanche hit on Sunday.

All those killed or missing were Nepali nationals. They were at base camp preparing for foreign clients to arrive and climb the peak during the Autumn climbing season that began this month, when they were swept away.

Helicopters brought down the remains to Kathmandu airport. Family and friends at a hospital morgue did not comment.

Flooding and landslides in the Manang district, where the mountain is located, were caused by heavy rainfall, the district administration office said. The avalanche had issued warnings for severe weather across the entire Himalayan nation.

Nepal’s disaster management agency said 21 other people have been killed and five more are missing in different parts of the country between Thursday and Sunday.

Nepal is recovering from devastating flooding in August that swept several villages, leaving more than 1,400 people dead and nearly 6,000 others missing.

MONDAY & TUESDAY

Drier air will remain in place Monday and Tuesday, keeping rain and storm chances very low.

Temperatures will begin warming, with highs in the mid to upper 80s and a few inland spots possibly reaching 90 degrees. Heat indices will stay mostly in the upper 80s to low 90s.

Despite the quieter weather inland, beach conditions remain dangerous.

A high risk of life-threatening rip currents continues at all area beaches Monday.

Overnight lows will fall into the 60s, with some coastal areas closer to 70.

MIDWEEK

Moisture gradually increases Wednesday, bringing back higher rain and storm chances.

Rain chances will be highest south of the Orlando metro area, with coverage increasing each day. By Wednesday, rain chances will be above normal for this time of year, with coverage at 40-50%.

Temperatures will also continue to climb, with highs in the mid to upper 80s and some low 90s possible inland. Morning lows will warm into the upper 60s and low 70s.

WEEKEND

The wetter pattern continues into the second half of the week as moisture builds across Central Florida.

Rain chances will increase to 60-70% with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms possible across the area by the weekend.

Highs will remain seasonable to slightly above normal, gradually warming through the week, while overnight lows settle into the low to mid-70s.

In a letter from the city’s director of HR, it’s announced that Interim City Administrator Radley Williams and Finance Director Blanche Sherman were “separated from employment” due to a reorganization.

The letter goes on to say the separation is effective Oct.1st, and that each is on paid administrative leave until that date.

HR Director Joe Patton continues, saying each has received the option to accept a six-week paid severance package; however, they have chosen to take time to review that package.

In recent months, News 6 has looked at controversial rate increases in the city.

One of those increases is the city’s millage rate. Earlier this month, a rate jump was approved. The increased rate is expected to bring in approximately $2.1 million more than the previous rate would have. While the rate jump will bring in more money for the city, that tax will have to be paid by homeowners.

This also comes after the city raised the rate on water, sewer, and garbage the day before the millage rate. Again, this rate increase will fall on the backs of homeowners.

A notice sent to residents earlier this year tied the increase to anticipated operating costs, capital expenses and continuing cost increases.

Mayor Nick Nesta commented saying ““We didn’t want to raise rates, but we gotta get these projects done,” said the mayor. “At the end of the day, if you want quality water and water that has the right pressure... these projects have to get done.”

We’re asking the city multiple questions, including what exactly led to the new job cuts, and if the jobs will be replaced.

We’ll let you know what we learn.

She was the first female member of Ferrari’s young driver program, a front-runner in Formula 1’s developmental series for women, F1 Academy, and a star of its spinoff Netflix docuseries.

Now Weug has spent most of 2026 on the outside looking in.

“There was a good plan coming into this year and everything was ready to go and to focus on GT (sportscar racing),” the 22-year-old told The Associated Press in a recent interview on the sidelines of the Dutch Grand Prix. “But then it suddenly all fell apart in March. Since then I’ve just been standing, I wouldn’t say on my own, but basically on my own.”

F1 Academy was launched in 2023 to give female drivers a platform to reach higher levels of competition in a sport that’s always been dominated by men. But Weug’s case highlights how even the academy’s top drivers often struggle to bring in the sponsorship money they need to continue racing once they exit the two-year program.

F1 Academy’s managing director Susie Wolff told AP the series is challenging “perceptions and stereotypes” about women in motorsports even though it hasn’t yet propelled its graduates to racing’s top levels.

“I do acknowledge that it’s frustrating to see that we haven’t seen our champions go on to considerable success,” she said, while noting that the series is only in its fourth season.

Weug’s turbulent year after leaving F1 Academy

Weug had a rough landing this year after finishing F1 Academy runner-up in 2025. Despite backing from F1 Academy and Ferrari, her plan to move into GT sportscar racing failed for reasons she wouldn’t specify but said were “out of their control and my control.”

She only managed to arrange two races in a mostly amateur sportscar series in Belgium.

Weug described her disappointment in a heartfelt social media post in August and appealed for teams and sponsors to get in touch.

“I think I just expected that the results I put together over the past years would have counted for something,” she wrote.

Since then, things have started looking up: Earlier this month Weug had a one-off race in Germany in the Euroformula Open, a racing series with cars close in performance to Formula 3, but with a relatively small audience.

She’s not the only F1 Academy graduate struggling to finance her career.

Marta García, the inaugural F1 Academy champion in 2022, went nine months without racing this year until her return to the track last month in Belgium. The absence took a toll.

“I was like ‘who am I when I’m not racing?’ Trust me, that question is terrifying,” she said in a video on Instagram. “I started questioning everything, my value, my purpose. There were days where I didn’t even know who I was.”

Other ex-F1 Academy drivers have left motorsport, including for personal reasons, or dropped into mostly amateur events. Of the 16 drivers from the inaugural 2023 season, at least six do not appear to have raced cars competitively in 2026.

Some are still in the spotlight. F1 Academy provides career-development funding to its champions.

Last year’s champion Doriane Pin was on a team challenging for a class win at the Le Mans 24-hour race, while 2024 winner Abbi Pulling tested for the Indy NXT series Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Costs have spiraled and female racers remain a small minority

When F1 announced its new developmental series for women in 2022, CEO Stefano Domenicali sought to prepare up-and-coming drivers to move through junior ranks “hopefully to F2 and then the pinnacle of Formula 1.”

So far, no F1 Academy graduate has reached Formula 2, the level below F1 on the FIA racing ladder. No woman has taken part in an F1 world championship race in 50 years.

One reason is spiraling costs. Another is that women are underrepresented at the grassroots, making up just 5-7 percent of youth entries in karting, the main entry route for children dreaming of F1. A season in top-level karting can cost $270,000, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem told the AP this month.

A year in F3 or F2 can run into the millions. With fewer seats available at each level up the ladder, drivers -- and their sponsors or parents -- are essentially bidding against each other for spots.

People “are asking, ‘Are you getting paid for it?’ No. All the money we’re finding is to actually be able to race and show yourself,” Weug said. “That’s always been something I’ve been struggling with since I was 12.”

The FIA’s efforts largely focus on opening up karting with sponsored places for female drivers. It says the field for a new World Cup event launched last year was 14% female, still low but double the typical level.

“We invest in the grassroots, we invested in building up bridges, and we invest in making sure the journey is more affordable,” Ben Sulayem told the AP. “Accessibility comes from affordability.”

Wolff said F1 Academy’s reach was driving demand for girls to take part and the series had more applicants than ever.

“I think there’s many things that we’re doing right,” Wolff said. “There’s clearly on the sporting side more we need to evaluate because it is not sustainable for our champions not to go on to some form of success.”

F1 Academy drivers are heavily subsidized

F1 Academy uses modified Formula 4-level cars and enforces a maximum two seasons for drivers, meaning Weug had to move on after 2025, her second year.

The academy is unusual because the series subsidizes drivers taking part, with backing from F1 ownership and its own sponsors. F1 Academy estimates it covers 82% of the cost, and Wolff estimated the value of a GB3 season like the one funded for former champion Pulling at around 700,000 euros ($797,000).

“I think one of the challenges we face is our name, F1 Academy,” Wolff said. “It clearly gives the impression that we are getting our drivers ready for F1. And those with the knowledge in the sport, we are at F4 level, that means there is still F3 and F2, so this idea that F1 Academy is preparing you for F1 is also sometimes challenging.”

At the Dutch Grand Prix last month at Zandvoort, Weug was on the sidelines at a track where she had a breakthrough home win last year. She wasn’t driving but instead coaching her friend and former rival Alba Larsen, her replacement as the Ferrari-backed driver in F1 Academy. The academy’s races benefit from the F1 spotlight by being held at the same tracks during the same weekends as Grand Prix races.

“The most important is that people don’t forget you,” Weug said. “That you’re on track is really important.”

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AP Sports Writer Daniella Matar in Monza, Italy, contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

Now 86, Bosworth is speaking publicly about his arrest, the viral attention, and how his life has changed since pleading no contest to the criminal charges.

“It devastated me,” Bosworth said in an interview with News 6 Investigator Mike DeForest. “It’s funny, but it’s not funny. I know it’s serious.”

Bosworth was taken into custody June 13 after Lake County deputies said they caught him racing a red Corvette on U.S. 27 near Leesburg and violating the state’s Dangerous Excessive Speeding law, commonly known as the ‘Super Speeder’ law.

“I am just out having a little ride in my favorite car,” Bosworth told deputies while sitting in his Nissan 350Z and smoking a cigarillo. “I’m not a street racer.”

If convicted by a jury, Bosworth faced up to a year in jail for racing and 30 days for excessive speeding.

“I didn’t want to go to jail,” Bosworth said of his decision to plead no contest to the misdemeanor offenses.

Under the plea agreement, Bosworth was sentenced to a year of supervised probation and issued a $500 fine. He was also required to take an advanced driver improvement course.

Bosworth has spent more than $7,000 on legal costs, he said.

But the worst punishment, according to Bosworth, has been the yearlong suspension of his driver’s license.

“I can’t do anything,” Bosworth said. “I’m not in jail. But I’m behind bars in my house.”

Besides being unable to drive himself to run errands and visit friends, Bosworth said the rules of his gated retirement community prohibit him from operating his golf cart without a license.

“It’s put a terrible burden on my wife,” he said. “We don’t want to eat out no more. I’m a dead man walking.”

Meanwhile, the 2006 Nissan 350Z with a convertible top and customized seat covers emblazoned with “Bosworth” sits idle in his garage.

“I’ve liked cars all my life,” said Bosworth, who used compete in legal drag races when he was younger. “One of the reasons I’m 86 years old is because they make me tick.”

Bosworth told News 6 he’s occasionally driven fast in his Nissan but denies ever putting other motorists in danger.

“I have no fear of speed. Never did,” he said.

On the night he was arrested, Bosworth admits he was driving much faster than the posted 55-mile-per hour speed limit.

“Could you have been going 110?” DeForest asked.

“Possibly,” Bosworth replied. “I would not say I wasn’t.”

But Bosworth continues to insist he was not racing the Corvette as deputies claimed.

While driving alongside the Corvette, Bosworth claims the other vehicle swerved into his lane.

“I didn’t know if he was going to ram me or what he was going to do,” Bosworth said. “My thought was, ‘Get away from him ASAP’.”

Bosworth claims he sped up to pass the other vehicle.

“I was on the gas for six to ten seconds,” he said.

Deputies said the Corvette driver, Philip Signorino, was travelling 125 miles per hour.

Signorino, 57, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racing and dangerous excessive speeding. A jury trial is scheduled for next month.

“I think it’s a good law,” Bosworth said of Florida’s ‘super speeder’ law. “But it should be appropriately used. One size does not fit all.”

Bosworth tells News 6 he is abiding by the terms of his probation and hopes his driving privileges will be restored earlier than expected.

“I’m walking on eggshells,” Bosworth said. “I’m the best boy you could be.”

For the second year in a row.

The Milwaukee Brewers won their final five games this week to finish with a franchise-record 103 victories. That's after they set the previous team mark with 97 last season — a total that also led the major leagues.

The 2026 Brewers had the best run differential in baseball, and they enter the playoffs with perhaps the game's most watchable star. With Shohei Ohtani not pitching at the moment, has Jacob Misiorowski surpassed him as the sport's must-see attraction?

Either way, the Brewers might be baseball's biggest story heading into this postseason. They haven't won a pennant since 1982, and they've never won a World Series, but this is their fourth straight playoff appearance and eighth in nine years. And you can bet their performance from here forward will be viewed against the backdrop of baseball's competitive balance and a likely labor dispute in the offseason.

As much as the regular season is a grueling test of consistent excellence, it's still the postseason that sticks in the minds of fans and casual observers. The big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers won the last two World Series, and that's gone a long way toward creating the impression that baseball needs substantial changes.

Now, the Brewers — who have ranked dead last in the collective bargaining agreement's revenue sharing “market score” — are the top seed in the National League. And another team from a smaller market, Tampa Bay, is the top seed in the AL. Cleveland is also in the postseason and has a first-round bye in the American League.

It's naive to think one year's results would have a huge effect on negotiations between the union and management, but if the Brewers, Rays or Guardians go all the way, that could certainly change the narrative a bit.

Trivia time

Who hit a two-run single in the seventh inning of the decisive game of the AL Championship Series to lift the Brewers to the pennant in 1982?

Performance of the week

Houston's Lucas Spence hit three home runs — the first three of his big league career — to help the Astros to a 7-5 win over the Athletics on Thursday night. Spence had only 40 major league at-bats before the game and was just called up from the minors the day before. The win was part of Houston's successful final-week push for the AL West title, which the Astros managed to win with an 81-81 record.

Honorable mention: Miami's Eury Pérez threw a one-hit shutout against Atlanta on Friday night. It was the first complete game of his career and one of only 11 shutouts thrown by big league players in 2026. Nobody pitched more than one.

Comeback of the week

Down 6-0 in the sixth inning, the Athletics overtook the Los Angeles Angels without even batting in the ninth Tuesday night. Lawrence Butler hit an RBI triple in the sixth and scored later that inning to make it 6-2. Then the A's scored three runs in the seventh. Carlos Cortes tripled home a run and came home on Shea Langeliers' single, and Jeff McNeil drew a bases-loaded walk, cutting the lead to one.

In the bottom of the eighth, Cortes and Zack Gelof each hit a two-run homer, giving the A's a 9-6 lead. They won 9-7.

Los Angeles had a win probability of 97.6% in the sixth inning, according to Baseball Savant. The Athletics ended up finishing two games ahead of the Angels at the bottom of the AL West.

Trivia answer

Cecil Cooper.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

It's no major surprise since they have helped their respective teams win five of the past six WNBA championships. On Sunday, they combined to scored 72 points, pull down 28 rebounds and block six shots.

“She’s a walking mismatch,” New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said of Stewart, her Liberty teammate.

The same could be said of Wilson, who was unstoppable in Las Vegas' rout of Indiana.

Hours after Wilson earned The Associated Press WNBA Player of the Year for a third consecutive season, the Aces All-Star had 38 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots to help Las Vegas roll to a 102-85 win over Caitlin Clark and the Fever.

Wilson missed the World Cup to let her back heal and get ready for the playoffs. She had 22 points by halftime and finished the game making 15 of her 19 shots from the field.

“I think we just showed up to work, and that’s what we need to do moving forward,” Wilson said.

The Aces will try and close out Clark and the Fever on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Stewart also filled up the stat sheet in New York’s rout of top-seed Minnesota. She had 34 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks in the Liberty's 91-75 road win. The Liberty forward became the first WNBA player to put up those numbers in a postseason game. It was the second time she's had 30-plus points and more than 10 rebounds in a playoff game.

“I think I was just really ready. I mean, if you don’t get up for these big moments, then you’ve got to rethink why you’re playing basketball,” Stewart said. “But for myself, mentally, I was just ready to do whatever it took to lead the team and get the win today. And my teammates found me and got me good looks at the basket, so I just wanted to keep going.”

Stewart has been stellar all month, including leading the U.S. national team to a fifth consecutive FIBA World Cup title as she earned MVP honors.

Even with the convincing win, Stewart isn't taking anything for granted when the Liberty return home looking to close out the series on Tuesday.

“We did this in Phoenix and then we got smoked on our home court,” Stewart said of the playoffs last year. “So being really intentional for the adjustments we’re going to make. Obviously, we had a ton of turnovers (19) and want to be better in that area, but we’re going to just have to have the same steadiness that we had for today; we’re going to do that on Tuesday.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Then he joined Dance Abilities, a program at Academy of Dance Arts in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers for people with physical or intellectual disabilities.

Now dance has become his way to communicate and connect with others, his mom, Nicole Vester, said.

Claire Graham, the founder of Dance Abilities, got the idea for the program in high school after realizing while she was studying dance, she was never able to connect with her sister with Down syndrome while she took part in her own activities. The program has grown in three years from a summer camp for eight youngsters to year-round classes for about 20 people.

Dance Abilities has separate classes for children ages 18 months to 4, ages 4-7 and 8-12, teenagers, and for adults, too. A successful day for Graham, who has a degree in dance and a master's in recreational therapy, is when everyone has had fun and been challenged.

“I’m not looking for perfection of position and not looking for a perfect performance,” Graham said. “Only a performance that they can feel confident about.”

These dancers are not the only ones performing through challenges. Ezra Frech, a two-time gold medal Paralympian, is competing on this season's “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC. Frech, a track and field athlete, has a prosthetic leg.

Classes build confidence

Finn's mom values her son’s confidence-building that will help him be able to go into the world and learn new things, she said.

“Claire teaches him at his level. She teaches him a little slower. She teaches him a couple more extra times. And he feels proud and he feels accomplished and he feels like he’s part of a group,” Vester said.

Accommodations at Dance Abilities include slowing down, using more visual cues than verbal instruction, and teacher “helpers” who physically guide students through the movements.

“Sometimes, we’ll add something new that they can work on to make it a little harder,” said one helper, Catherine Benko, 16.

Dance classes focus on specific needs

Dance is good for the body, too, with different needs for different students.

For students with Down syndrome, who tend to be naturally more flexible and less strong, Graham emphasizes developing muscle tone. Students with autism, she said, often need more help stretching.

Abigail MacGregor, who has Down syndrome, loves to dance through an obstacle course and to perform her latest moves for friends and family after she’s been practicing all week.

“I just love dance,” Abby said. “The best thing of dance is having fun, being with all my dance crew.”

Tucker McGarrell, 13, who has Down syndrome, doesn’t walk but runs into his dance classes, his mom Amanda McGarrell said.

“It’s not speech therapy or physical therapy or occupational therapy appointments. This is actually something he enjoys doing,” McGarrell said.

McGarrell loves to see her son have an accepting, accommodating place.

“It’s just such a huge thing that Tucker’s given a space and a stage to be himself and get to be with friends and learn new things,” McGarrell said. “It just like fills me with joy knowing that he’s getting to do something that he loves too just like typical kids do.”

Whoever her students are, Graham said, “if you give them the chance to succeed and meet them where they are, they can 100% grow.”

Seeing her students smile is the ultimate metric of success.

“It warms my heart to hear my kiddos saying, 'Look, Mom, I did it!'” she said.

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Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado.

The pop powerhouse received the inaugural Artist Director Honors on Sunday night, becoming the most-awarded artist in VMA history.

Previously, she was tied with Beyoncé for the title, with 30 VMAs each. The new award is meant to recognize artists “whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling."

“I got to start making music videos and being a part of music videos 20 years ago,” Swift said in her speech, adding that she's been involved in making roughly 60 music videos, 18 of which she wrote and directed.

“You, the fans, make it so much fun,” she said.

She also took home the top prize of the night — video of the year — for “The Fate of Ophelia" from her album “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Swift dedicated that award to the “ultimate showgirl,” the late Dolly Parton.

“I think we were all very lucky to share this planet with Dolly Parton for a time," Swift said.

Taylor Swift debuts ‘Patient Zero’ music video

Swift also debuted the music video for her new song, “Patient Zero,” during the award show. She directed the visual, which stars Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson. Johnson and Swift portray mirror images of each other.

“Patient Zero” is also her first single since marrying Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in July.

The two-hour show was broadcast live on CBS from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Madonna opened the starry award show — and won big

“It's mother," were the first words uttered by Madonna as she opened the VMAs with her 2026 single “Bring Your Love" alongside collaborator Sabrina Carpenter. Later in the night, the pair won the award for best collaboration for the song.

“It’s been a while since I did one of these things,” Madonna joked. “So, I’ve prepared nothing.”

When it came time for her return to the stage to accept the award for artist of the year, Madonna began with, “First of all, I would like to thank my fingers because I can always count on them.” Returning a third time to accept for best dance, she said simply, "I came alive on the dance floor. ... We’re all equal on the dance floor.”

If her aim was to bring the dance floor to the award show stage, Madonna did exactly that in her opening number — and then some, when Charli xcx emerged from a club bathroom to perform their reworked version of “Danceteria.” Around them? A trove of dancers and various famous friends, including actor Debi Mazar, Sombr and Julia Garner.

The show, which was delayed 20 minutes by a tight NFL game, wasted no time getting heart rates up.

Snoop Dogg, a 13-time VMAs nominee and three-time winner, emerged as host shortly thereafter.

“Now that is an icon,” Dogg said of Madonna, before pivoting to a joke: “She ain't a virgin no more.”

Teyana Taylor then presented the first award for best pop to LISA for “Dream,” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi.

“Thank you MTV for this amazing award,” she said while holding back tears. “All those late-night dreams brought me here today.” It was a different scene about an hour later, when she returned to the stage for her hip-hop heavy hitter “Sawadika,” which loosely translates to “Hello” in her native Thai.

Performances include a tribute to Dolly Parton

There was always going to be a big musical tribute to Dolly Parton. Kacey Musgraves paid homage to the late, great country music icon with a cover of Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Parton, whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, died in Nashville of cancer in August. She was 80.

Performances arrived fast and furious: Raye delivered a medley of her throwback soul, including “I Will Overcome” and “Where Is My Husband!”

Bruno Mars slowed things down with “Dance With Me.” Shaboozey launched into his saloon single “Cowgirl,” before being joined by Gunna for some hybrid country-rap with their crossover track, “High Noon.”

“Survivor” host Jeff Probst and actor Brandon Sklenar introduced the final performance of the night and arguably its best – a partial reenactment of GENER8ION and Yung Lean’s "STORM" music video – which began with Lean smashing a VMA ‘Moon person’ trophy.

Sienna Spiro belted out her “Great Expectation.” It was a welcome introduction to the new talent, who was named best new artist shortly thereafter.

Orville Peck introduced a tribute to George Michael, who died 10 years ago on Christmas Day. He was 53.

Nirvana took home the 2026 Video Vanguard Award

If this year's VMAs felt too pop-heavy for some viewers, that changed when the coveted Video Vanguard Award was awarded to Nirvana.

“They were completely original and always fearless at a time when the status quo kind of got to the point of being formulaic,” Public Enemy rapper Chuck D said of the grunge greats.

The award was presented to surviving members Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl and Pat Smear. Frontman Kurt Cobain died in 1994.

“Kurt was one of one,” Novoselic said in their acceptance speech, adding that the band never imagined its sound and aesthetic would resonate with so many people. He said the music continues to endure because people are still hungry for “something real, something uncompromising” and a message that “it’s just OK to come as you are.”

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For more coverage of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/mtv-video-music-awards

Devotees savor durians like wine. For Malaysian ones, the taste of their rich and creamy flesh varies widely across types. Some are prized for their sweet custard and fruity notes, others for a hint of bitterness, an alcohol tinge or even a peanut butter flavor.

Malaysians' efforts to elevate the industry can be found in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, at a center devoted exclusively to the fruit and the growing variety of products made from it.

At the Kuala Lumpur Durian Experience Centre, near the landmark Petronas Twin Towers, visitors venture into a replica durian orchard to discover the fruit’s culture and history. In another room, a theater show draws laughter. Downstairs, visitors enjoy platters and egg tarts crafted from it.

Launched this summer after an investment of nearly $2 million, the two-story center spans about 1,900 square meters (20,450 square feet) and is open daily. Its durian shop welcomes guests from morning to midnight.

Its founder, Edison Ang, said the center targets both local customers and tourists, especially those from China, the world's biggest durian importer. He said Chinese palates have long been influenced by Thai durian culture.

“What we actually hope for now is not to get people who don’t eat durian to start eating durian," he said. “Instead, we hope consumers who are already eating durian from other countries will switch to Malaysian durian.”

Rising demand presents challenges

In 2025, China imported 1.87 million tonnes of fresh durian worth $7.5 billion, with volume jumping over six times in the past decade, according to its customs data.

Thailand’s earlier entry helped it secure over half that market by value in 2025. Malaysia, which began exporting fresh durian to China in 2024, was dwarfed. But for the first half of 2026, the value of China's fresh durian imports from Malaysia quadrupled compared with the same period last year, pointing to rapid growth.

Unlike their rivals, Malaysian growers typically do not harvest early, instead collecting only naturally ripened fruit caught in nets or ropes as they fall.

That’s the industry’s biggest advantage and also its biggest weakness, Ang said, as sellers have to race against time because the fruit’s shelf life is at most two to three days. Any delays would affect its quality. When his stock was held up for several days during customs checks, his refund rate climbed, he said.

Durian sales are also sensitive to economic conditions, said Leron Yee, founder of DKing, whose business covers both export and domestic markets. When the Chinese economy performs well, his business improves, but if the buying powerF of Chinese consumers falls, he needs to find alternative markets, he said.

“It is a luxury, not a necessity,” he said.

Going beyond the fruit itself

Businesses are finding opportunities in what the fruit can become. Yee's business sells durian paste, durian-flavored chocolate and mochi — and even mooncakes ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

DurianBB founder Adrian Choy's company offers durian ice cream, desserts and dried durian at a cafe, alongside coffee flavored with the Musang King variety and other items. His brand also offers guided farm tours.

In July, Choy's brand went a step further and launched a durian flower perfume that smells sweet and floral.

Choy said branching into other products is important because it will add value to the food itself and differentiate his business, even when others compete on price.

“Food is food,” he said. “You cannot sell it like 50% more because your branding is different."

Tasting it in Malaysia

Across China, durian specialty shops have mushroomed, with some specializing in Malaysian varieties. In Beijing, the Jiang Sir durian shop sells platters priced roughly between 300 and 1,000 yuan (about $44 to $150), depending on the weight of the pulp and the varieties chosen.

Its employee, Hou Yuxin, welcomed the growing number of similar shops and brushed off pressure from competition, saying it would help boost the market for Malaysian durians. She noted many people now want to enjoy durians during their trips to Malaysia.

Back at Ang’s center in Kuala Lumpur, Henry Zhang was one of them. Zhang, a visitor from Shanghai who started eating durian during his university days, saw a durian no bigger than his palm for the first time.

He said Malaysian ones were creamier than those from Thailand and had different flavors. He was impressed by the center offering more than just the fruit.

“I may still eat durians from other countries. But after eating them, I may miss Malaysian ones even more,” Zhang said.

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Associated Press photographer Vincent Thian and video journalists Olivia Zhang and Wu Jia in Beijing contributed to this report.

Above the village of Dorohusk in eastern Poland, vapor trails cut across the pale blue sky and military helicopters rumbled overhead. Just 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) away, traffic at the border crossing into Ukraine was suspended three times, and staff were even evacuated once.

The alerts and disruptions on Thursday came as The Associated Press was visiting the village. They reflected a new reality along Poland's eastern frontier, where the war in Ukraine — now 4 1/2 years old — has felt increasingly close.

Russia isn’t at war with Poland, but over the past few years European leaders say it’s mounted a series of so-called hybrid attacks to pressure to pressure adversaries in the West and NATO that include sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks. Poland is worried that the drones or missiles strikes could spill over from Ukraine, whether by accident or as part of a Russian strategy of ambiguous attacks.

The anxiety intensified after two Russian drones exploded on the Ukrainian side of the Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossing in the early hours of Sept. 13. The explosions could clearly be heard in Dorohusk.

“There is new restlessness and fear because you could hear those explosions very well on that night in our village,” said Wojciech Sawa, the Dorohusk mayor. “We had never had something like that before. This was the first time the sirens wailed.”

Poland is preparing for a more serious Russian hybrid attack

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Sept. 17 that Russia was planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, among them Poland, and regions bordering Ukraine would be especially vulnerable in the coming months. Other European leaders and intelligence services have shared his warnings that Russia is likely to step up its hybrid campaign.

In Dorohusk, people have lived in the shadow of the war for years. They watched Ukrainian refugees flee across the frontier in the early days of Russia’s 2022 invasion and, this July, had a Russian missile pass through airspace in eastern Poland before crashing some 90 kilometers (56 miles) inside the country.

But the recent drone attacks and the Polish government's efforts to prepare the population for further serious incidents have brought a new sense of apprehension — and also confusion — among locals.

Kids in border regions have to evacuate when sirens warn of air threat

Jarosław Wójcicki, the Dorohusk school’s director, said staff, including the school psychologist, now discuss with students “practically every day” how to stay safe.

The school had to be evacuated once so far and Wójcicki showed the two rooms in the basement of the school building where the kids took cover. Windows had been boarded up to avoid glass shards hurting anyone in case of an explosion.

“The older children had no problem at all, without showing any particular emotion,” the director said. "You could see a little fear among the younger children, but they were well looked after by their teachers.”

Wójcicki is responsible for the safety of hundreds of children who travel from nearby villages to attend school in Dorohusk, and his voice wavered as he described the enormity of the task.

Poland's Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz visited the Dorohusk-Yahodyn border crossing on Sept. 22 and announced new air defense elements were being brought to the border region. He added that Patriot batteries were deployed in the two Polish regions bordering Ukraine, including the one where Dorohusk is located.

More work needs to be done on civil preparedness

While the government’s warnings are stark, even communities closest to Ukraine are still catching up on civil defense preparedness.

“We are at the beginning of the process of building civil resilience and the resilience of the state to threats," said Mirosław Sokal, head of resident safety for the city of Lublin, 90 km west of Dorohusk. “We have to remember that over the past 40 years we thought we would be living in peace.”

He said, given the lack of more solid infrastructure, Poles should respect one minimal rule when there's an air threat: get inside and put two walls between them and any window.

Sawa, the Dorohusk mayor, said villagers typically live in individual homes with basements and that is the obvious place to hide in case of air threats. “If I don’t have a basement myself, my neighbor likely does,” he said.

But people on the streets of Dorohusk seemed more confused about their options in case of a real attack.

“For now, I sleep well at night, so I don’t really hear it," said Irena Popek, a woman in her 80s. If planes are coming, she said, her basement was not an option as it was flooded. "I simply have nowhere to hide, and that’s it.”

Renata Pastuszo, a local shop employee, said she continued working through the recent siren alarm because it's better to keep a positive spirit in front of the Russian threat.

Krzysztof Rulka, another resident, complained that alerts were now coming too often, leaving people confused about their meaning.

“If someone told me that a drone was going to explode in the center of Dorohusk, then I would know what to do,” he said. "But this kind of confusion — there's an air attack somewhere in Ukraine — well, what am I supposed to do now? Run to Germany?”

Tidal surges swamped low-lying neighborhoods in New Jersey while wind gusts toppled trees on New York's Long Island, damaging homes and bringing down utility poles.

In the New Jersey beach town of Sea Bright, each high tide brought a new round of flooding. “It's not like a one-time occurrence,” said Caroline Virenius, whose garage filled with about a foot of water (30 centimeters). “It's getting wet again and again.”

The slow-moving storm, which killed a New York City Housing Authority worker when a tree fell Saturday, was expected to linger through Sunday with heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf all the way to New England.

Extreme amounts of rain — more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) since Friday in some spots in New Jersey — combined with a surging ocean led to flooding amounts not seen for close to a decade in places used to dealing with high water, residents said.

The National Weather Service predicted the storm will weaken over Sunday night with local heavy rain in parts of New England and the mid-Atlantic. But local officials in New Jersey and New York told residents that high tide late Monday could potentially bring more flooding.

“There is another band of the storm, a weaker band, but still another band that could hit early this afternoon and later into the evening,” said New York's Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

Nor'easter disrupts flights and utilities

The nor’easter triggered memories of Superstorm Sandy, which left behind over $60 billion in damage across the eastern U.S. in 2012. While this storm’s impact has been nowhere near that, it could be the first of several along the East Coast this fall because of an El Niño climate pattern that’s disrupting this year’s weather.

Images of waves crashing into sea walls and onto beaches raised concerns about coastal erosion.

Well over 100,000 customers were without power across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic at times on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. The most widespread outages were in counties along the coast from New Jersey to Connecticut.

Numerous flights were canceled or delayed up and down the coast. More than 250 flights had been canceled at Boston Logan International Airport by late Sunday morning as wind gusts reached 40 mph (64 kph), according to the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Flooding the biggest concern from nor'easter

The worst of the remaining rainfall was expected Sunday from northern New Jersey into southern New England.

While the storm was gradually weakening, tidal flooding would stay through high-tide cycles Sunday night, said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

In New York City, water a few inches deep filled streets in the Howard Beach neighborhood but didn’t deter residents from venturing out for coffee Sunday morning.

Carole Ann Palmer, who owns Jingles Bait and Tackle in North Beach Haven, New Jersey, said this was the worst flooding she’s seen in 10 years.

“Yesterday, I was like, oh my God, it just keeps getting higher and higher,” said Palmer, who lives above the store.

The front step was swept away in the storm and she saw neighbors kayaking through the streets on Saturday.

Her biggest problem on Sunday was taking her two puppies outside to relieve themselves. She had to put on waders and carry them to dry land.

“I take one at the time, carry them across the street so they can do their business and then come back, dry them off and then do the other one. It’s a workout,” Palmer said.

New Jersey community better prepared after Sandy

Bernard Dowd waded through tidal water Sunday to get to his Sea Bright home, a day after he got back from work to find his basement “filled up like a swimming pool.”

But he said the situation around his neighborhood likely would have been much worse if it weren’t for new rules requiring homeowners to raise the height of their homes in the wake of Sandy, which devastated the community.

He also noticed that many around the community had lined their homes and businesses with sandbags — something he wishes he had done too.

“I'm always thinking they are hyping the storm,” he said.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. AP journalists Mikella Schuettler in Phoenix and Julie Walker in New York contributed.

Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) Sunday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm is expected to lash the peninsula with heavy rainfall overnight and could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides.

Nolo was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close, but a high-wind warning, wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Sunday evening. Nolo’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 105 mph (165 kph).

In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, residents boarded up homes Sunday as workers hauled dirt and rubble to shore up the embankments protecting the town. Authorities said 90% of the community was susceptible to flooding.

Residents feared high tides and pounding waves could breach the barriers and send seawater through the community. Some families planned to evacuate to shelters in Ciudad Constitucion, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) away.

“Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way. They said they wouldn’t hold,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherman, said.

Forecasters said Polo would hit the Mexican mainland after crossing Baja California and could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week. Polo was moving to the north at 12 mph (19 kph) about 270 miles (435 kilometers) west of Cabo San Lucas at the peninsula’s southern tip, the hurricane center said.

It's been a busy seasons for Pacific storms

The Pacific has been unusually active, according to National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec, with storm activity running above average during what is already the peak of hurricane season. He said that pattern is consistent with El Niño years, when the Pacific often sees more tropical storms and hurricanes.

With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it has gathered personnel and humanitarian aid in the ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan, on the country's Pacific Coast, and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm.

One of the towns in the hurricane's projected path is San Juanico, a small fishing community on Baja’s Pacific coast. The town has only had full-time electricity for a few years, and still experiences frequent outages. There is concern that washed-out roads could block access to medical facilities.

“Our people are concerned about this event,” said Gloriely Robles Meza, a manager at a small hotel. “We haven’t faced such a worrying situation in many years.”

Robles Meza said Sunday that army soldiers arrived in San Juanico to prepare a shelter and provide support for possible emergencies.

Also Sunday, Tropical Storm Rachel formed well off Mexico's southwest coast. The hurricane center said Rachel had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was located about 300 miles (485 kilometers) south of Acapulco. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

In Hawaii, floods and mudslides are still a risk

Forecasters said Nolo’s outer bands could cause life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with parts of the Big Island possibly getting up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. Heavy rain also was expected on the other islands.

More than 120 National Guard members were activated, part of roughly 400 statewide after the governor issued an emergency proclamation. President Donald Trump recently approved an emergency declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate assistance and provide funding support.

Hawaii residents are still recovering from Hurricane Lala, which produced heavy rain and winds strong enough to sweep about 100 homes off their foundations on the Big Island.

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Video journalist Eugene Garcia and photographer Gregory Bull contributed from Hilo, Hawaii.

The price of jet fuel shot up after the Iran war began and retreated sharply in the spring before surging again as the summer went on. Such fluctuations make it harder for airlines to plan ahead and give them a reason to be cautious about lowering ticket prices, according to Brett House, an economist who teaches at Columbia Business School.

Jet fuel has risen even faster than oil during the war, reflecting both higher crude prices and tight supplies of the refined fuel that is one of airlines’ largest operating expenses. Carriers cut some less profitable flights and raised fares and baggage fees, although major U.S. airlines said higher passenger revenue initially covered only part of their soaring fuel costs.

Airfares haven’t moved in lockstep with fuel prices, however. The Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index plunged from an early April peak of $4.88 a gallon to a wartime low of $2.70 in June, but average fares remained elevated.

The average fare, not including optional fees for services such as checked bags and seat selection, rose from $405 in the last three months of 2025 to $428 in the first quarter of this year and to $436 in the April-June period, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Part of the disconnect between fuel prices and airfares comes down to timing, House said. Airlines typically decide several months in advance how many flights to operate and seats to offer, factoring in expected fuel costs and other expenses. They begin selling tickets even earlier. While prices for seats on the same flight can change repeatedly, airlines can't charge more for seats already sold if fuel prices suddenly spike, he explained.

“It’s not just the level of fuel costs that is a problem or a challenge for airlines,” House said. “It’s also the volatility.”

There are few signs of relief so far for travelers as airlines adjust their schedules and prices for the remainder of the year. In August, U.S. airfares were 23% higher than a year earlier, according to the Labor Department. Jet fuel prices kept climbing this month, reaching $4.53 a gallon on Sept. 17, according to the Argus index.

At $4.30 a gallon on Friday, the average price across the four U.S. markets the index tracks remained nearly twice the 2025 average. Travelers shopping for holiday flights already are encountering the highest airfares in a decade, travel-booking company Hopper said in a report published the same day.

The company, which tracks fares available in flight searches, estimated that during the previous week, a round-trip domestic fare averaged $402 for Thanksgiving travel and $452 for Christmas, 31% and 23% more than last year.

And the pressure on airlines and travelers isn't limited to the United States. Globally, jet fuel averaged about $99 a barrel on Feb. 27, the day before the war began, according to the International Air Transport Association’s Jet Fuel Price Monitor. Prices more than doubled to $209 by early April, fell for nearly three months and reached $195 a barrel in mid-September following their renewed ascent, IATA said, citing data from S&P Global Energy Platts.

Fuel prices can swing overnight while airfares decline more slowly

The renewed pressure on jet fuel prices stems from many of the same disruptions that have sent diesel prices soaring. Fighting has curtailed refinery production and fuel exports from the Middle East, while Ukrainian strikes have damaged Russian refineries. Because diesel and jet fuel are closely related products that compete for refinery output, shortages of one can put additional pressure on the price and availability of the other.

IATA expects fuel to account for nearly one-third of airline operating expenses this year, up from about a quarter in 2025.

By the time fuel prices jumped again, about 35% of United’s tickets for the final three months of the year were already booked and the airline could not increase those fares retroactively, Chief Financial Officer Mike Leskinen said. The airline expects to recover its higher fuel costs through revenue but not immediately, he said.

Speaking about the rising price of jet fuel at a Sept. 16 investor conference, Leskinen said, “I don’t actually care if it stays high. I just need it to stabilize.”

The time it takes airlines to recoup their costs means travelers may keep paying for a fuel spike even as prices come down. Jet fuel prices need to fall and stay down for airfares to decline on a sustained basis, said Stephen Treanor, a finance professor at California State University, Chico, who has studied airlines’ exposure to fuel price risk.

Carriers are responding to the latest swing in fuel prices

The speed with which jet fuel prices rose recently has complicated the forecasts of U.S. airlines. As recently as Sept. 10, JetBlue raised its expected average fuel price for the July-September period to $3.96 a gallon. Prices continued climbing afterward, with the Argus U.S. Jet Fuel Index reaching $4.53 a gallon a week later and remaining above $4.25 with just days left in the quarter.

Every penny per gallon adds about $10 million to American Airlines' quarterly fuel bill, Chief Financial Officer Devon May said. Speaking at the same investor conference this month, May said the latest increases would boost the airline's fourth-quarter fuel costs by about $1 billion.

American, United and Southwest Airlines have said they are pruning their flight schedules further, particularly on less-profitable routes, due to higher fuel costs. United, for example, pulled some December flights and warned of further cuts in 2027 if fuel remains expensive. American said it expected to grow more slowly next year than it anticipated a few months ago.

Travelers who buy tickets at the last minute are paying a price. The average same-day fare for a one-way domestic Allegiant Air flight jumped 21% in a week, to $280 on Sept. 18, according to a Deutsche Bank analysis of flight pricing. The comparable price for a same-day American Airlines fare was $463, up 6%.

For travelers holding out for cheaper fares, the wait could outlast the war itself.

“The likelihood that fuel surcharges are going to be rolled back and airfares are going to be brought down is very low over the next few months,” House said.

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Associated Press writer Lisa Leff in London contributed to this report.

Days of continuous downpours have caused widespread flooding and severe disruptions in Bangkok, impacting traffic and businesses, with accumulated rainfall exceeding 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in many areas.

Thailand’s Meteorological Department said moderate to heavy rain was still expected Sunday in several parts of the country, but conditions were expected to improve by Monday.

The city set up more than 200 temporary shelters, and about 3,000 people remained in them as of Sunday. Officials said 31 roads were still impacted by floodwaters.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said rainfall in the capital has decreased and city officials were working to drain water as quickly as possible. He cautioned that water levels in the city’s main canals remained high, with some still rising as water continued to flow in from nearby areas.

Several low-lying areas, particularly in the suburbs, were still submerged and many communities had to evacuate, Chadchart said.

More than 545,000 people in 25 other provinces have been impacted by flooding as of Sunday, especially in the central and eastern regions, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

Incessant rainfall caused flooding that overwhelmed drainage capacity in many areas, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

He ordered relevant authorities to take immediate measures to relieve the situation and assist those impacted.

Several long-distance train and bus services were suspended. Airports continued to operate, but passengers faced some delays.

The state government said 46 people were injured and more than 1,000 houses were damaged after three days of heavy rainfall caused flooding in several districts.

Schools were closed Monday in parts of the state, including the capital, Lucknow, while rescue teams moved people from flooded areas to safer locations. Residents were advised to avoid unnecessary travel through waterlogged areas and stay away from fast-flowing rivers, streams and drains.

Rainfall was expected to ease from Monday as a weather system over the Bay of Bengal weakened, said Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow. Light rain could continue in eastern and western parts of the state through Tuesday, he said.

Flooding also affected the eastern state of Odisha, where more than 75,000 people were evacuated to safer areas, officials said.

In neighboring Nepal, 21 people died in weather-related incidents from Thursday through Sunday, the country's disaster management agency said. Five people remained missing and five others were injured, while floods and landslides damaged 194 houses.

Nepal is recovering from devastating August floods that killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 missing.

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Associated Press journalists Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal contributed to this report.

Both bounced back in a big way, rallying the Denver Broncos past Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams 30-26 in the latest come-from-behind thriller that's become so common in the Mile High City.

Nix's keeper from inches outside the goal line with 47 seconds left capped a wild final five minutes that included a 66-yard pick-6 by Hufanga, a quick touchdown response by Los Angeles and a game-sealing second picked-off pass by Denver's do-everything safety.

“I actually had to have a pep talk with myself,” after dropping two interceptions earlier in the game, said Hufanga, who finished with a sack, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and three pass breakups to go with his pair of interceptions.

The Broncos (2-1) trailed 16-0 at halftime and went three-and-out to start the second half but rallied for a comeback, one-score win for the second straight week.

“In the huddle we feel a lot of belief that we've been there before and we have what it takes to go down against a really good defense and score points,” said Nix, who put the Broncos in front by reaching over the scrum with both hands squeezing the football.

Matthew Stafford, whose 17 comebacks in the last 2 minutes are the most by any active quarterback, quickly drove the Rams to the Denver 14, where he spiked the ball with 2 seconds left.

After false start moved the ball back to the 19, the Rams (1-2) sent out five receivers but Hufanga secured his second interception, this one in the end zone.

“Obviously a gutsy win,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

“I mean, it's a tough one,” Stafford said after the Rams, preseason favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, suffered a second loss in three weeks.

Hufanga's 66-yard pick-6 with 4:49 left gave Denver its first lead at 23-19. He jumped in front of running back Kyren Williams, cradled Stafford’s pass and weaved his way down the field, past the hard-charging QB and into the end zone.

“To be honest, Matt Stafford is a lot faster than you think,” Hufanga said. “I might be slow, but he's fast. I'll give him his credit because I had to cut back on that play.”

“Hufanga did a really nice job of fighting through the Y (receiver) and I left it a little bit back behind him,” Stafford lamented. "If I just dirt it, or whatever, we come away with three points. I’ll take myself trying to make those plays all day.”

Hufanga said he had told himself to stay patient for more opportunities to come after dropping two earlier potential interceptions of Stafford. “And man, two big plays.”

Just four plays later, however, Stafford hit Konata Mumpfield from 48 yards out when cornerback Riley Moss fell down, restoring the Rams' lead at 26-23.

Nix then drove Denver 65 yards in 10 plays with the aid of three defensive penalties and, with the ball nearly touching the goal line, leaped over the pile for the go-ahead TD. Nix had completions of 39 and 21 yards on that drive.

Cornerback Justin Wallace would have had his second interception of the night on that drive, but he was whistled for defensive pass interference on Pat Bryant on third-and-6 from the LA 11. That gave Denver a new set of downs at the 7.

“You try to be physical as a DB,” Rams safety Quentin Lake said. “Sometimes, you know, I think at the end of the day, as you know, the rules are the rules. Can’t be too handsy. It’s unfortunate.”

The Rams led 16-0 at halftime but it was tied going into the fourth after Nix threw a pair of touchdown passes and made two 2-point conversion throws: “We knew it was just a two-score game,” said Nix.

Harrison Mevis' fourth field goal, which followed an interception by Wallace, restored LA's lead at 19-16. He was also good from 36, 35 and 40 yards before halftime.

The Broncos cut their deficit in half on Nix's 5-yard strike to Bryant and 2-point conversion pass to Jaylen Waddle on a throw between the hands of Wallace midway through the third quarter. The Broncos tied it on another touchdown and 2-pointer. Nate Adkins caught an 8-yard throw from Nix, who found Bryant again to tie the game.

Stafford finished 30 for 55 for 390 yards. He threw 32 passes in the first half, the most of his career. With Puca Nacua out again with a hip injury, Davante Adams had seven receptions for 137 yards, giving him 15 catches for 332 yards over his last two games, the best such stretch of his career.

Injuries

Rams: CB Jaylen Watson (shoulder) got hurt just before halftime while guarding Courtland Sutton and was carted to the locker room from the sideline. LA lost two tight ends on its first touchdown drive, although Terrance Ferguson (ankle) returned on the Rams' next series. Also injured on the drive was Colby Parkinson (shoulder).

Broncos: Denver was without its Game 2 hero, rookie RB Jonah Coleman, who went on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain after his TD run secured the Broncos' 20-13 win over Jacksonville.

Up next

Rams: At Philadelphia next Sunday.

Broncos: Visit San Francisco next Sunday.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Vucic’s second presidential term would otherwise end in May next year. He is banned by the Serbian Constitution from seeking a third term and said he was resigning to lead his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party in the Oct. 25 ballot.

The governing populists face a major challenge at the ballot box from a youth-backed movement that led the protests triggered by the Nov. 1, 2024, train station canopy collapse that killed 16 people in the northern city of Novi Sad.

University students demanded accountability for the tragedy. Their struggle for justice and against corruption has grown into a strong movement that will attempt to oust Vucic’s government after 14 years in power. Vucic himself has been either prime minister or president for the past 12 years.

“I am resigning the duty of the President of the Republic,” Vucic said, reading the text of his resignation.

Tensions are rising ahead of high-stakes October ballot

The ballot in October will be held against a backdrop of high political tensions as Vucic’s populists seek to remain in office despite widespread popular discontent. His decision to run for prime minister is seen as a carefully planned maneuver to retain a top position, and to boost his party’s chances against the student movement.

Before signing his resignation, Vucic briefly addressed his supporters outside the presidency building in Belgrade. He said “tonight is a very special occasion for me, my last evening in this beautiful building.”

“But I look to the future with joy, new victories await us,” he told the crowd as they chanted his name. “Let’s beat them (opponents) more convincingly than ever before.”

Vucic in recent weeks has toured the country tirelessly in a live coverage on pro-government media. He has opened new roads, offered assistance money and cheaper medicines, and visited voters in their homes. More recently, Vucic was filmed driving in his brother’s car to some of the events.

The prime minister in Serbia is formally more powerful than the president. But Vucic still took a dominant role during his two five-year terms, sometimes presiding over government sessions and routinely announcing all important decisions and plans.

The Independent Bureau for Social Research, or BIRODI, has filed a complaint alleging that Vucic has abused a public institution as president to promote his party, which he has dismissed. There has been no response from the anti-corruption authorities that are under government control.

Presidential vote to be held later

After Vucic’s resignation, the acting president will be a close ally and former prime minister, Ana Brnabic, who is the outgoing speaker of Serbia’s 250-member Parliament.

Vucic said the first round of the early presidential election must be held by the end of this year because of a 90-day deadline.

Vucic and his party have been accused of rampant corruption, organized crime links and a clampdown on democratic freedoms, including the critical media. The SNS party has gradually taken control over all state institutions since coming to power in 2012, while denying abuse of office and repeatedly pledging to fight graft.

The student-backed election list includes little-known experts, professors, teachers, athletes and other individuals from all walks of life. Groups of students have been touring the country on bicycles as part of their campaign calling for the rule of law and an end to corruption.

Analysts say the student group and Vucic are polling close, heralding a tight race and a referendum-like atmosphere. Also running are Vucic’s allies, the Socialist Party, a pro-EU opposition alliance and several smaller groups.

Vucic said that as of Monday, he will be “everywhere in Serbia to listen to the people.” While praising his government's achievements, Vucic contended that “I have made mistakes but I have worked diligently like hardly anyone in this position.”

Vucic also said he had pardoned 49 people before leaving the office, including 23 who have been prosecuted for alleged offenses during the protests. They include a group of anti-government activists who fled Serbia after being accused of anti-state activities.

Authorities have pushed hard against protesters with police violence and detentions as Vucic, without offering evidence, accused his opponents and critical media of intending to “destroy the state” under unspecified foreign influence.

He told Serbia’s state-run RTS Television earlier on Sunday that foreign powers and unidentified people in the country plan to stir unrest on election night.

Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union have stalled under Vucic because of democratic backsliding and a refusal to join sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

On the third day of his visit to France, Leo again waded into the end-of-life debate unfolding in his native U.S. and countries around the world. The issue roiled French politics for years before lawmakers recently approved legislation allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.

Leo also met on Sunday with seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse, in what has now become a regular appointment for popes on foreign visits. The aim is to atone for the Catholic Church’s failure to protect its youngest and most vulnerable members from predator priests.

“It was extraordinary,” said survivor Jean-Marie Delbos, who joined four others at a press conference afterward to praise Leo for the encounter, saying he listened and was informed of their cases. “I never thought I would have a pope before me.”

A message about end-of-life care

Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by huge crowds — 800,000 at Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — and his messaging against abortion and assisted dying.

France’s National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to its end-of-life bill.

On Sunday, the American pope celebrated Mass before some 150,000 people — many in wheelchairs — on the prairie next to Lourdes’ main basilica. He then visited a care center for sick people on the sanctuary’s grounds. He sought to encourage especially those who live in “terrible pain” that they have inherent dignity that no law or algorithm can “eliminate.”

“On the contrary, it is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” he said. "What is legal is not necessarily moral,” Leo said to applause from the crowd.

Catholic teaching holds that all human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death, leading to its firm opposition to abortion, euthanasia and medically assisted dying.

Leo had specifically criticized a medical-aid-in-dying law that took effect in Sept. 12 in his home state of Illinois — the 13th U.S. state with such a law.

Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported here by a young girl in 1858. The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims each year, especially sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto where the visions purportedly occurred.

As a result in Lourdes, where the church has recognized 72 “miraculous” cures as authentic, the question of respecting even the most frail, sick and vulnerable is particularly acute.

Survivors visit Lourdes as part of their healing process

More recently, Lourdes has also become a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and it was chosen as the site for Leo's encounter with victims. Leo met with them in a group and one-on-one in an encounter that lasted nearly two hours, the Vatican said.

The pope "listened to their stories, the pain and suffering they had endured — sometimes, unfortunately, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them — and their suggestions for ensuring that this does not happen again,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Olivier Mardi, co-founder of Voix Libérées de Touraine, a survivor group, said he perceived that Leo was a decisive “man of engagement” who had done his homework going into the meeting. He said Leo knew Mardi's case and asked him precise questions.

“He's not fooled; he knows that these incidents will continue and that we must remain vigilant,” he said. “There was an emotional side to it, and at the same time, something very powerful when he spoke.”

The French church has faced a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse. An independent report in 2021 estimated 330,000 children had been abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.

Despite criticism of the report’s methodology and conclusions, French bishops put in place an independent system of compensation for victims that to date has recommended the church pay out more than 20 million euros ($22.7 million).

During a meeting with French bishops on Sunday morning, Leo praised their response to victims and urged them to continue. But he also acknowledged that the cratering in priestly vocations in the French church is related to the scandal, given the priesthood is now sometimes viewed with suspicion.

“For priestly vocations to flourish, the priest must be welcomed, accepted, and loved,” Leo said.

Monsignor Pierre-Antoine Bozo, spokesperson for the bishops’ conference, said Leo intentionally wanted to keep the encounter with victims small to facilitate an intimate encounter.

“When it comes to listening to them, you can’t have 50 people in front of you,” he said. “So I think that’s really what the pope chose: to listen so that we can act and respond more effectively.”

Mosaics are a painful reminder of alleged abuse

In Lourdes, Leo was also reminded of a prickly abuse case inherited from Pope Francis.

The façade of one of the Lourdes basilicas was designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, a religious mosaic artist.

Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused them starting in the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks.

His case was covered up for three decades by his Jesuit superiors, and even Francis was suspected of having protected his fellow Jesuit. In response to a media outcry, Francis ordered a canonical trial in 2024, which is ongoing.

The Rupnik case posed the question of what to do with his mosaics, which adorn basilicas around the world.

Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas in 2025 decided to cover the façade of the Notre Dame du Rosaire Basilica, reasoning that abuse victims who come to Lourdes for healing shouldn’t be forced to see the mosaics.

On Sunday, Leo looped in front of the basilica in his popemobile, passing by the mosaic panels now covered by mustard-colored curtains affixed with plastic ties.

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

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington was first tried in 2017 on second-degree kidnapping and simple assault charges. Prosecutors said she held down and beat a one-time member of the group more than 13 years ago.

That case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations. Covington has maintained she is innocent.

In the meantime, the COVID-19 outbreak, a move to remove the original prosecutor that ended with the suspension of the law license of the attorney making the request, deaths or retirements of lawyers on both sides and handing the trial to a new prosecutor in a new jurisdiction have all delayed a new trial.

Covington's trial is set to begin Monday in Buncombe County, according to court records. Both the new prosecutor and Covington's lawyer didn't respond to messages seeking details about the trial.

Teen says church leaders held him down and beat him

Matthew Fenner joined Word of Faith as a teenager in 2010 with his mother. He was at a service on the church’s compound in Spindale, North Carolina, when members including Covington started what the church called a “blasting” session on him, according to Fenner. Members held him down and choked and beat him for two hours while others prayed to expel “homosexual demons,” Fenner said.

Word of Faith is a nondenominational Protestant church that was founded in 1979 by Sam and Jane Whaley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlotte and Asheville. Members consider Jane Whaley a prophet.

In 2017, The Associated Press published a series of stories about Word of Faith that detailed former church members’ allegations of abuse. The AP spoke to dozens of former congregants around the world, listened to hours of secretly recorded conversations with church leaders, and reviewed hundreds of pages of law enforcement, court and child welfare documents.

Church denies abuse and says it is targeted by former members

Whaley has denied that she or other church leaders ever abused Word of Faith members. She has also said that any discipline would be protected by the Constitution’s freedom of religion tenet.

The church said the allegations made to the AP were false and made by “certain former members” out to target the church and that it does not condone abuse.

The case was turned over to a special prosecutor after Fenner’s lawyer accused District Attorney Ted Bell of siding with Word of Faith in his handling of the case.

Allegations against prosecutor lead to suspension of law license

Attorney Andrew LaBreche said Bell didn’t investigate new evidence or witnesses and made a deal to drop the felony kidnapping charge against Covington.

Bell provided text messages and other evidence he refused to talk to Word of Faith members when they tried to steer conversations toward the assault cases.

Superior Court Judge William Stetzer not only denied LaBreche’s request to remove the prosecutor, but in his order said LaBreche’s “repeated acts of dishonesty and the significant harm to the legal profession” led the judge to suspend his law license for three years. He also awarded Bell legal fees.

LaBreche is appealing the ruling, and his suspension has been delayed until his case can be heard.

Associated Press covered Word of Faith extensively

Word of Faith had about 700 members in North Carolina a decade ago, but a sworn statement from a former church leader said membership had now dwindled to about 300 to 400 people.

The AP reported that the church controlled almost every aspect of their members’ lives, including who they married, what subjects they studied in school and whether they could go to college. Members were regularly slapped, choked and thrown to the floor during high-decibel group prayer.

The AP investigation also found that the church and its hundreds of followers controlled law enforcement and social services, preventing fair investigations.

Deputies responded at 11:39 p.m. Sept. 26 to the area of Jones Road and Talisi Loop after a driver spotted the toddler walking in the road. The driver stopped, brought the child to safety and called 911.

Deputies say the child was wearing only a diaper and tank top, and was afraid and crying.

The sheriff’s office says they canvassed the neighborhood and found the front door open at a home in the 600 block of Talisi Loop. No one was inside, and deputies attempted to contact the residents listed at the address.

The child’s father, 36-year-old Johnny JeanBaptiste, was reached by phone but hung up, according to OCSO. Nearly an hour later, JeanBaptiste and the child’s mother, 32-year-old Stacia McMillian, arrived at the home.

The sheriff’s office says both parents were uncooperative and were arrested. JeanBaptiste and McMillian were booked into the Osceola County Jail, and face a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm.

The Florida Department of Children and Families was notified, and a family member took custody of the child.

The trip to Vandalia, just north of Dayton, is scheduled to come after stops in Oklahoma on Thursday and Alabama on Friday. The Ohio race is seen as vital to determining control of the Senate.

Trump had earlier vowed to campaign in 35 of the most competitive battleground races in the final sprint to November’s midterm elections.

Brown is attempting a comeback two years after losing his Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno. Husted is a veteran of Republican politics in Ohio, having served as a state lawmaker, House speaker, secretary of state and lieutenant governor before being tapped to fill the Senate seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president.

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou recently told The Associated Press that he hoped Trump would visit his state, where he won in 2024 by 11 percentage points.

“We definitely want him here,” Triantafilou said. “He’s a turnout driver for us.”

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Tucker reported from Washington.

Trump told reporters after returning to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland that he was grabbing dinner at 10 p.m. with Dario Amodei. The meal comes just two days after Amodei's company faced a setback in a court case against the government over its barring its products for Defense Department work.

The dispute between the AI company and the Pentagon broke out in February when Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security and designated the company a supply chain risk. Amodei had refused to back down over concerns the company’s products could be used for mass surveillance or autonomous armed drones.

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the artificial intelligence lab’s challenge to the government’s labeling of it as a supply chain risk. The decision allows the Pentagon to continue to remove Anthropic’s Claude models from its systems.

Trump has been a champion of artificial intelligence, often warning that it must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. But Amodei said earlier this month that the artificial-intelligence industry should slow its fast-moving development to give safety measures time to catch up. Without such a slowdown, Amodei warned that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet.

The warning comes as worries about AI grow inside and outside the industry and reports continue to emerge about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also go rogue and carry out other, more harmful tasks. The worries have grown so loud that the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in an interview with Fortune that his company would wait until next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

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AP White House reporter Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Alvarez's .316 average was the lowest for the overall major league batting champion, below the previous mark of .325 by Dick Groat for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. Alvarez had the lowest for an AL winner since Carl Yastrzemski's .301 in 1968.

“The batting title was something I always wanted," Alvarez said.

Moreno edged Philadelphia's Luis Arraez for the NL crown and became only the fifth player with at least 50 starts at catcher to win a batting championship, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He joined Bubbles Hargrave (1926), Ernie Lombardi (1938, ‘42), Buster Posey (2012) and Joe Mauer (2006, ’08, '09).

Moreno, Arizona's first batting champion, was scratched from the starting lineup Sunday because of a tender hamstring and he finished at .311, one percentage point above Arraez. A three-time batting champion, Arraez sprained an ankle Thursday and missed the Phillies' last regular-season series.

“It’s something that you dream when you’re playing baseball since you’re 3 years old, 4 years old,” Moreno said.

Seven qualified big leaguers hit .300 or better, matching 2024 and 2025 for the fewest since a record-low six in 1968. Colorado's TJ Rumfield reached .300 with a first-inning single Saturday, was removed in the second and didn't play Sunday.

Misiorowski finished with 252 strikeouts, a 1.80 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .157. The only other pitchers since 1950 to lead the major leagues in all three categories were Sandy Koufax in 1965, J.R. Richard in 1979 and Mike Scott in 1986, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Misiorowski's opponents' batting average was the lowest since 1900 for an AL or NL pitcher with 100 or more innings, bettering Pedro Martinez's .167 in 2000, Elias said. His 0.80 WHIP was the lowest for pitchers with at least 150 innings since Martinez's 0.73 in 2000.

Misiorowski threw 1,115 pitches 100 mph or faster, most in a season since tracking started in 2008. He shattered the prior mark of 673 by Jordan Hicks in 2018.

“Honestly, being able to go in week in and week out and perform for my teammates, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Misiorowski said.

Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees won the AL ERA title at 1.95 and had a 1.16 ERA on the road, the third-lowest in the Live Ball era for a pitcher with 100 or more innings behind Bob Gibson's 0.81 in 1968 and Greg Maddux's 1.12 in 1995.

Houston set a record for lowest winning percentage by a first-place team at .500 with an 81-81 mark that won the AL West.

Colson Montgomery of the Chicago White Sox set the season record for strikeouts by a batter with 227, four more than Mark Reynolds in 2009.

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber tied for the home run lead with 45. Pete Alonso topped the AL with 43 after leaving the New York Mets as a free agent to sign with the Orioles.

Alec Burleson of St. Louis led the NL in RBIs with 116 and Alonso topped the AL with 113, becoming the first player to win an RBI title in both leagues. Alonso paced the NL with 131 in 2022 for the Mets.

Pittsburgh's Bryan Reynolds had the most doubles with 40 and Boston's Wilyer Abreu led the AL with 38.

Corbin Carroll became the first player to lead his league in triples in four straight seasons, hitting 17 for the Diamondbacks. Minnesota's Kody Clemens had seven triples, the fewest for an AL leader in a non-shortened season.

Washington's Nasim Nuñez led the major leagues with 49 stolen bases, and Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson topped the AL with 46.

Philadelphia's Cristopher Sánchez and Boston's Sonny Gray tied for the lead with 18 wins. There have not been any 20-game winners since Atlanta's Spencer Strider in 2023. The only other non-shortened seasons without a 20-game winner were 1871, 2006, 2009 and 2017.

Cleveland's Gavin Williams led the AL with 248 strikeouts.

Tampa Bay’s Bryan Baker and Cleveland's Cade Smith tied for most saves with 41, while San Diego's Mason Miller and St. Louis' Riley O'Brien led the NL with 38 each.

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AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham and AP freelance writers Adam Camarena and Matt Carlson contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

“He's got a dislocated thumb. He's going to have an MRI (Monday) just to see exactly what inside is wrong with it,” coach Todd Bowles said after Sunday's 23-16 loss to the Vikings, which left the Bucs winless through three games for the first time since 2014.

While X-rays didn't show a break in the right thumb, Bowles stressed the team will not know the severity of the injury until after the MRI.

Mayfield left Raymond James Stadium without speaking to the media.

The Bucs have lost 10 of 12 games dating to last season and the two-time Pro Bowl selection, who has resurrected his career since joining Tampa Bay in 2023, has not played well since signing a three-year, $165 million contract extension less than a week before the season opener.

Tampa Bay's offense scored two touchdowns in a season-opening loss to Cincinnati and one in a loss to Cleveland. Mayfield connected with rookie Ted Hurst III for 40-yard TD in the opening quarter Sunday, but he failed to get the Bucs into the end zone again against the Vikings.

Mayfield finished 17 of 34 for 217 yards and was sacked six times. He had an 85-yard scoring pass to Chris Godwin nullified by a holding penalty in the third quarter.

The last time the Bucs started 0-3, they went on to finish 2-14 and selected Jameis Winston with the first overall pick in the following draft.

“The funny thing is we're 0-3 and we're a game out of first place. We have to get our stuff together, reach down ... do more and figure out how we can be better,” said Bowles, who entered the season on the hot seat after dropping seven of nine games following a 6-2 start in 2025.

The coach defended his decision to leave the offense on the field for the play that resulted in Mayfield's injury.

Trailing 20-16, the Bucs faced fourth-and-13 from their own 39 with just under two minutes remaining. Mayfield retreated all the way inside the Bucs 15 before launching a pass that was intercepted by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. Five plays later, Will Reichard kicked a 43-yard field goal to put Minnesota up by seven with 33 seconds left.

“At the end of the game, we needed the play,” Bowles said of the decision to go for it on fourth down. “We would've gotten the ball back with very little time. We had to make a play.”

Rookie Jalon Daniels replaced Mayfield for the final series, which ended with a fourth-down interception as time expired. If Mayfield is unable to play next Sunday, the rookie likely would make his first pro start against the Packers.

“We haven't really gotten into it yet. We'll see what the MRI says, and then we'll kind of talk amongst ourselves and kind of see,” Bowles said. “But right now, Jalon would probably go in.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

You’ve likely of heard it. It’s been the topic of the summer.

It’s played a huge role in keeping the Atlantic tame this hurricane season, but may have an even bigger impact on the Sunshine State this winter.

There is a strong correlation between a strong El Niño and the weather during the cooler months in Florida.

Long story short, during an El Niño winter, a very active storm track sets up across the Gulf.

This tends to bring more clouds, rain and an elevated threat for severe weather to Florida.

This El Niño could rival the strongest on record, which historically ramps up the severe weather threat.

While the threat for severe weather, including tornadoes, will be elevated from late fall to early spring, it appears to be greatest in December and February.

Wind shear tends to be much stronger during an El Niño, enhancing the threat for strong storms and tornadoes.

Tropical systems hate wind shear, but severe storms need it to organize and become strong.

Here’s a monthly look at how the winter of 2026-2027 could play out.

Outlook

The winter of 2026-2027 will likely feature wet and cloudy weather more often than not. The temperature outlook is harder to pin down as wild temperature swings will be likely, although the winter as a whole may end up below average, especially the second half.

The below average portion would come from cooler afternoons rather the deep freezes like last winter.

Here’s a monthly look at how the winter of 2026-2027 could play out.

The table below showcases the average precipitation across the 5 Central Florida climate sites.

The forecast below is the anomaly, above or below average for each month. Add or subtract the forecast to the average to get the expected outcome for the month.

November

The El Niño pattern starts to materialize. The best chance for above-average moisture will be in North and Central Florida.

It will be warm in November for Central and South Florida.

December

The El Niño firehose is expected to settle in, sending rounds of rain through Florida. The severe weather threat is expected to ramp up.

Overall, above-normal temperatures will continue for much of the state. Cold fronts will send the chill from time to time.

January

A battle between the warm tropical airmass and the cold polar one sets up this month. Frequent storms are expected to move in off the Gulf, resulting in above-average precipitation for the entire state.

The tug of war allows for warm days followed by colder ones.

February

This looks to be the wettest and most active month of winter. Central and South Florida should become the focal point for the heaviest rain and strongest storms.

This is the best chance for temperatures to average out below normal.

The below-normal temperatures would largely come from cool afternoons rather than harsh overnight/morning freezes.

March

The moisture surge continues, but may abruptly shut off later in the month.

Warmer air should start to surge back in, allowing March to end up warmer than normal. South Florida may finish well above normal.

How this outlook was made

The outlook weighed heavily on strong El Niños of the past.

Analog, or similar years, used in this outlook are 1972/73, 1982/83, 1997/98, and 2015/2016.

For this upcoming winter, a warm blob of water in the North Pacific may be a wild card in this season’s forecast.

The sea surface temperature pattern there, known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, is in its negative phase. Typically, when El Niño is present, it’s in its positive phase.

Oftentimes, this can counter the impacts of El Niño; however, with the potentially historic strength, it may have little effect on it.

The one thing the negative PDO can do is buckle the northern branch of the jet stream, polar jet, in the eastern half of the country. This will only enhance the storminess for Florida and is the reason for the likely large ups and downs in the temperature department rather than just a steady, cloudy and cool winter El Niño typically brings.

Long-range climate models were also considered.

Model forecasts show the wind shear anomaly to be maxed out through winter, enhancing the overall severe weather threat.

Now is a good time to download the FREE News 6 Weather app to stay updated on what could be a wild winter in Florida.

“These people want to see golf,” he said Sunday.

And just like his last visit to the Presidents Cup in 2017, he saw the Americans win. They rallied with the best performance on the final day in tournament history.

“Our team played unbelievable golf. They went in with a massive deficit, and they came out with a tremendous victory, just a great comeback,” Trump told reporters when he landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.

His visit to Medinah Country Club in suburban Chicago marked the fourth time Trump has gone to a golf tournament this year. He arrived early and participated in the closing ceremony, helping with the presentation of the trophy to the winning U.S. team.

Security was tight. The Secret Service would not let spectators cross from one side of the first fairway to the other except for when Trump took a break from greeting players to go inside a suite.

Trump also was honorary chairman at the 2017 Presidents Cup during his first term. He showed up at Liberty National, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, toward the end of the competition when the Americans were assured of winning. He posed with U.S. players during the trophy presentation.

This time, he arrived before the start of the 12 singles matches in the final session. Flanked by PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, Trump greeted players and caddies on both teams. In between player introductions, he watched the action on the videoboard at No. 1.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and among several golfers who have played with Trump, patted the president’s shoulder as he walked onto the tee. U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also visited the president a couple of times.

“He told me I was going to bring some energy today for you guys, you guys need it, and I told him if we did this, he gets all the credit,” Snedeker said after the U.S. closed out the victory. “Thank you, President Trump.”

Trump signed three hats for fans, and he responded to sections of the crowd clamoring for his attention by pointing, waving and offering a thumbs-up. When a fan yelled “We love you Donnie!” right before Chris Gotterup's tee shot, Trump waved discreetly.

He congratulated both teams during the closing ceremony. He also posed for photos and handed out challenge coins to Team USA and their significant others.

Trump was introduced by Rolapp at the beginning of the session, prompting Trump to remark “the fake news media will say I got a very bad reception.”

The president spoke briefly, noting that Rolapp had asked him to make a short speech.

“I said, ‘No, I don’t have the courage to make a speech. These people want to see golf. They don’t want to hear speeches,’” Trump said. “I’ll only say this: Our country is doing great, better than ever before.”

Unlike regular golf tournaments, the first tee is boisterous with a flag-waving crowd and music at the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup, which Trump attended last year at Bethpage Black on Long Island in New York.

The Americans lost the Ryder Cup to Europe, but they rallied past the International team for their 11th consecutive Presidents Cup win.

Before the horseshoe-shaped grandstand was filled, the loudest buzz was Air Force One flying over Medinah, louder than any of the commercial airlines that have been flying over the course every 70 seconds throughout the week during descent to O'Hare International Airport.

“They were nice enough to name me chairman or honorary chairman, so it’s an honor. It’s a very big event, one of the biggest events in golf by far,” Trump told reporters Sunday morning as he left the White House. “You have the Ryder Cup, and you have the Presidents Cup, and this is a big one, and so it’s a great honor. So, I’m going there.”

It's a traditional role offered to leaders of every country where the tournament is played.

The Presidents Cup began in 1994 to include international players from non-European countries who were not eligible for the more famed Ryder Cup. The name of the tournament comes from including the head of state of the host country as honorary chairman.

Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was part of the trophy presentation at the last Presidents Cup in 2024 at Royal Montreal.

President Bill Clinton was in office in 2000 when he attended for one round at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. The first time Trump attended in 2017, the start of the week was the biggest display of presidents when Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama sat together on the first tee for the opening round.

Trump this year was at the Cadillac Championship at his Trump National Doral near Miami in early May. He also attended the LIV Golf event at his Trump National Bedminster course in New Jersey in August.

Earlier this month he attended the Irish Open at his course in Doonbeg, Ireland.

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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

From ‘Under-I’ to The Canopy

The Canopy has been more than a decade in the making. City leaders began to reimagine downtown as far back as 2014, and the idea has evolved significantly since then.

What started as a concept called the “Bridge District” later became the “Under-I Project” before taking its current form as The Canopy. The project calls for transforming the stretch beneath the elevated I-4 bridge beams — between West Church Street to the south and West Washington Street to the north — into a vibrant, immersive outdoor destination.

The vision includes a festival street and gathering space, a projection wall, artistic trees and sculptural elements, enhanced lighting, public restrooms, a bike path, streetscape improvements, a rideshare zone and parking. City officials say the goal is to turn what has long been an underutilized stretch of highway infrastructure into a thriving hub that draws residents and visitors alike.

In 2024, the city released new renderings of the project. The city council later approved a $30 million cap on construction costs and awarded a contract to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to bring the vision to life. The Canopy is expected to open in 2027.

What local businesses are saying

For business owners along Church Street, the project can’t come soon enough.

Yehya Rizeq, owner of Crepe Delicious, has been waiting years for The Canopy to become a reality — and has even extended his lease in anticipation of the foot traffic it could bring.

[WATCH: Church Street business anticipates boost from ‘The Canopy’]

“I believe it will be double and double what I’m doing now,” Rizeq told News 6.

But his patience has limits. Rizeq said the project must be completed on time or he will walk away.

“So, I have now a five-year lease but with an option. An option because if ‘The Canopy’ is not finished in two years, then I’ll just cancel my lease,” he said. “It all depends on ‘The Canopy.’ So, if in two years, ‘The Canopy’ is not finished, I’ll cancel my lease. I cannot sustain my business here.”

Rizeq also said he wants regular updates from the city and financial support for Church Street businesses if the project faces further delays.

Others who work and spend time downtown share his enthusiasm.

“Oh, yeah. Honestly, a bigger, more family-oriented type of thing [would be nice],” said Quentin Clark, who passes through the area regularly.

What’s on the agenda Monday

To move construction forward, the city must hire a firm to handle Construction, Engineering and Inspection — known as CEI — services. Because part of the project sits within Florida Department of Transportation right-of-way, state rules require an independent firm to monitor and inspect the work as it progresses.

The city issued a formal Request for Qualifications in late June 2026, inviting firms to compete for the work. Two companies were shortlisted: Mehta and Associates, Inc. and Mead & Hunt, Inc.

A five-member advisory committee — made up of city Public Works and Economic Development staff — met Aug. 19 to hear presentations and independently score both firms. After a competitive evaluation, Mehta and Associates came out on top. The city issued its Notice of Intended Action on Aug. 21, formally signaling its intent to move forward with the firm.

If the commission approves the contract Monday, the city will enter into a formal agreement with Mehta and Associates in an amount not to exceed $1.1 million, drawn from the project’s previously approved budget. The Chief Procurement Officer would be authorized to execute the agreement, subject to review and approval by the City Attorney’s Office.

Part of a bigger downtown transformation

The Canopy is just one piece of a broader effort to reshape downtown Orlando. The project is anchored in the Downtown Orlando Community Redevelopment Area Plan, which prioritizes activating vacant and underutilized areas. A 2023 amendment to that plan formalized the strategy to fund and support what has now become The Canopy.

District 5 Commissioner Shan Rose, who has been involved in downtown planning efforts for years, captured the sentiment many city leaders share about the momentum building across downtown.

“So, we’ve been talking about this for a really long time. We started in 2014 imagining downtown and where we’re going. What we’re going to do to get to this moment is really rewarding,” Rose said.

“This is our moment to show like, we have an opportunity to start moving things forward and building a better downtown Orlando, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Monday’s vote is another signal that the city is serious about making that vision a reality — and that businesses like Crepe Delicious are counting on it.

Appearing on stage together for their first and only debate before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Kean latched himself to Trump’s divisive record, defending Trump’s signature protectionist economic policies that have roiled global trade and backing Trump’s decision to launch attacks on Iran, saying the country could not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon.

Bennett, a Navy veteran, sought to tap into public discontent over rising prices, and urged an end to the war and called on Congress to rein in Trump’s use of tariffs on imports.

The 7th Congressional District, which includes Trump’s Bedminster golf club, has changed party control in each of the past two midterm elections, making it a magnet for campaign spending and a political barometer. Republicans are trying to defend their narrow House majority at a time when Trump’s approval rating is deeply underwater and gas prices are rising because of his war with Iran.

Kean, who has voted against resolutions aimed at halting military action in Iran, defended the war.

“I think when you look at what Iran's terrorist leadership says — they say death to America. They have as their goal a nuclear weapon,” Kean said.

Bennett, a Navy veteran, called for an end to the conflict.

“We need to end the war in Iran,” she said. “The reason that we are seeing this increase in our gas prices is because of this unnecessary war.”

On tariffs, Kean said they were the president's prerogative. Bennett said Congress should step in.

Kean, a former state legislator who comes from a deep-rooted political family, is seeking a third term. During his absence, he missed more than 100 votes.

He returned in June and said he had been hospitalized for depression and that he was a private person by nature.

Bennett, a former Navy pilot who also worked as a healthcare executive, is a political newcomer. She won a competitive primary in June and was widely viewed as a more moderate and electable Democrat than some of her competitors.

Millions of dollars have poured into the race.

Last week, a super PAC tied to the Republican president indicated it would spend more than $3 million to help Kean in the race. Another political action committee tied to Democrats has set aside about $2.5 million for television ads in the New York market to help Bennett and another Democrat in a New York district.

Kean's district became slightly more Republican after the redistricting following the 2020 census. Nonetheless, Democrats view it as a prime pickup opportunity.

Kean won in 2022 by unseating Democrat Tom Malinowski, who had ousted Republican Leonard Lance in 2018.

Wilson made the announcement shortly after the Mariners finished off a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, the ending to a disappointing 76-86 season that began with World Series aspirations after Seattle reached Game 7 of the American League Championship Series last year.

“Collectively we failed to meet our own expectations this season,” Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. “Dan and I both care deeply about this organization, these players, and the future of the Mariners. After much discussion it was concluded that a new direction is best for 2027 and beyond.

“I want to thank Dan for his efforts over the past two years and specifically recognize his role in our club advancing to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2025.”

Wilson, a Mariners Hall of Famer who played catcher for the team from 1994-2005, took over the job after Seattle fired Scott Servais on Aug. 22, 2024. Things started off well, as Wilson led the club to a 21-13 finish after it squandered a 10-game lead in the AL West earlier in the season.

The Mariners won the AL West in 2025, their first division title in 24 years, and came within one victory of the franchise's first World Series appearance. But a combination of injuries and regression by the bullpen and several of the team's top offensive stars led to a 2026 season filled with disappointment.

After hitting .247 with 60 homers and 125 RBIs and finishing second in the AL MVP race to Aaron Judge last year, Cal Raleigh batted .182 with 23 homers and 69 RBIs. Center fielder Julio Rodríguez and first baseman Josh Naylor also had career-worst seasons as the Mariners scored just 664 runs — third-fewest in the majors.

The defense ranked last in MLB with -58 outs above average, and All-Star closer Andrés Muñoz blew 10 saves.

Wilson went 187-171 in two-plus seasons as Mariners manager, at .522 the second-best winning percentage in club history behind Lou Piniella (.542).

“I'm still processing this with my family, and it's a very difficult day," Wilson said at a postgame news conference, reading from a prepared statement. “We love this city, we love this community and we appreciate the organization for what it has meant to the family since coming here as a player in '94.”

His tenure as manager ends with the Mariners still the only major league team that's never reached the World Series.

“I’ve appreciated the opportunity to lead this team the past two years,” Wilson said. “While this season has not gone the way any of us expected, I’m proud that the players in the clubhouse showed up each day to try and compete and battle in each game they played. I’m confident that the 2026 season doesn’t accurately reflect the talent, passion and desire of our players and know that bright things are ahead for this group.”

Prior to Sunday’s game, Wilson told the team he would not be back in 2027.

“He just made it clear that he really cares about this team and this organization as a whole,” Rodríguez said. “Even though he’s not going to be around us, he’s going to always be there for us in many different ways and that he believes in this group going forward."

Mariners Chairman and CEO John Stanton thanked Wilson and said he could still remain in the organization.

"I want to add my thanks to Dan for the work he’s done as manager,” Stanton said in the team's statement. “I have also spoken with Dan and made it clear that we would like to keep him in our organization. I look forward to continued conversations as we work to identify a role in which we can continue to benefit from his experience and commitment to the Mariners and our community.”

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Jackson completed a 27-yard pass to Zay Flowers and alertly called a timeout with 1 second left, setting up Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal to cap a stunning 7-second drive that gave the Ravens a 34-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Brazil.

“Everyone was on the same timing," Jackson said of the final drive. “The line did a great job protecting, Zay ran a great route and I just had to deliver the baby. He caught it and as soon as he got down, I was like 'Please see me ref!'"

The Ravens (2-1) and Cowboys (1-2) put on a entertaining show in front of an announced crowd of 72,792 during the NFL’s third game in Brazil and first in the city of Rio de Janeiro, engaging in a back-and-forth contest that featured plenty of big plays.

“Unbelievable play by Lamar and Zay,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. ”Heads up on the time. You practice for those moments, you wait for them to come up and it came up today and we were ready."

For a moment, it looked as though the Cowboys would win in regulation.

Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins was called for pass interference with 23 seconds left when his arms locked with CeeDee Lamb, giving the Cowboys the ball at the Ravens 2. After an incomplete pass, the Cowboys were called for a false start, which backed them up to the 7. Dallas settled for Brandon Aubrey's 23-yard field goal to tie it at 31 with 7 seconds left.

And that set up the Ravens' improbable finish that was capped by Loop's kick sailing through the uprights and the jubilant Ravens swarming their kicker during a wild celebration at the Maracana.

“I am hurting, they are hurting,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “It is a long trip (to Rio), but no one cares. We also have a long flight back.”

Jackson found rookie tight end Matt Hibner for a 2-yard touchdown for a 31-28 lead with 1:30 remaining. That gave the Cowboys and Dak Prescott enough time for the tying drive.

Baltimore’s Derrick Henry ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

The Ravens were in control with a 24-13 lead in the third quarter, but the Cowboys weren’t done. Jake Ferguson atoned for a previous turnover when Prescott found him for a 19-yard touchdown. Dallas added a 2-point conversion on a nice catch by Lamb, cutting the deficit to 24-21.

Baltimore appeared it was about to go up by 10 a few minutes later, but Henry was stuffed in the backfield on fourth-and-inches at the goal line when rookie linebacker Jaishawn Barham sliced through the offensive line and made the tackle.

Dallas kept the momentum in its favor with a 96-yard touchdown drive that included a 49-yard pass to Lamb. KaVontae Turpin had a 9-yard TD run to give the Cowboys a 28-24 lead with just under 10 minutes left.

The Ravens’ defense came up big in the third quarter, forcing a Cowboys turnover when Ferguson fumbled a shovel pass from Prescott. Dallas tried for a 59-yard field goal later in the third, but Keondre Jackson blocked Aubrey’s kick to preserve the Ravens’ 17-13 lead and regain possession at mid field.

Jackson hit Chris Moore for a 4-yard touchdown four plays later and a 24-13 lead.

The Ravens recovered from a rough start, scoring 17 straight points to take a 17-13 lead into halftime.

Henry moves into 9th place on NFL rushing list

Henry had a 5-yard run early in the second quarter to move into ninth place on the NFL’s career rushing list, passing Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson, who had 13,259. If the five-time Pro Bowl selection continues at his current pace, he could also pass Jerome Bettis (13,662), LaDainian Tomlinson (13,684) and even Curtis Martin (14,101) this season.

Playing surface holds up

After concerns about the playing surface this week, the grass field at the Maracana appeared to hold up pretty well.

The NFL has been playing in Brazil since 2024, but the two previous games were at the 48,000-seat NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo. In the first year of the Brazil game, its turf was also criticized and forced players of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers to change their cleats to stop slipping.

Injuries

Ravens: Tight end Mark Andrews (hand) left in the first half, but returned later in the game.

Cowboys: Safety Jalen Thompson (hamstring) left in the second quarter. Safety Markquese Bell (dehydration), left in the third quarter, but returned.

Up next

Ravens: Host the Tennessee Titans next Sunday.

Cowboys: At the Houston Texans next Sunday.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The U.S. players — from world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun — passed the gold cup down the line, which was only fitting.

Everyone had a hand in the latest comeback at Medinah, where the Americans delivered the most lopsided singles session in Presidents Cup history. They won nine of the 12 matches and halved the other for a 17-13 victory, their 11th in a row against the hard-luck Internationals.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker went from blaming himself for the three-point deficit to choking back emotions as his team set the tone early and rode momentum and a raucous Chicago gallery late that left them believing again they can succeed in team golf.

The real proof comes a year from now in Ireland for the Ryder Cup. For now, the Americans redeemed themselves in a competition they have lost only once since these matches began in 1994.

“Is it a record in singles? That doesn't happen unless you have a special group of guys, and we do,” Snedeker said. “I'm really proud of how they came together.”

It was a crushing blow to Geoff Ogilvy and his International team, which outplayed the Americans in team matches over three days, taking the lead for only the fourth time in the Presidents Cup, and the first time on American soil.

Five matches were on the course — the U.S. were 1-up in three, the other two were halved — and the Internationals need to find three points to win the cup. The Americans simply didn't budge.

“It just felt like it was sort of right on a knife edge for a massive part of the day,” Ogilvy said. "If you hole a couple of putts at the right time and get a bit more yellow on the board at the right time, the momentum, and the crowd sort of stays out of it a little bit.

“Just sort of started drifting away for us in the last few hours.”

The Americans, outplayed down the stretch all week on the No. 3 course at Medinah and Ogilvy's architecture company redesign, flipped two key matches on the back nine. Collin Morikawa beat Hideki Matsuyama, and Koivun went from 2 down after 10 holes to a 2-up victory over Si Woo Kim.

Trump, the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup, was on the first tee for the start of the 12 singles matches and was there for the trophy presentation, as he was at Liberty National in 2017 during his first term.

That was an American blowout. This one was tight, and yet it still felt inevitable, nothing like the Ryder Cup at Medinah in 2012 when Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit to win on the road.

The Americans rallied behind endless and boisterous cheers, some of which went a little too far.

Someone yelled in the backswing of Nico Echavarria, causing him to drop the driver as his ball sailed to the right. Scheffler barked at the fan, and after missing a birdie putt, he conceded a 30-foot par to the Colombian in a show of sportsmanship.

Scheffler went on to win. So did Cameron Young and Justin Thomas and Chris Gotterup in the early part of the lineup as the deficit shrunk and soon turned into another comfortable victory.

“I told the guys last night that funny stuff happens here. Medinah has a history of funny things happening," said Snedeker, who was on that losing Ryder Cup team in 2012. “Sure enough, they went out and played their (tails) off today. I'm so damn proud of those guys.”

That group included Koivun, who just over a year ago was on the winning Walker Cup team for amateurs. Just four months ago, he helped Auburn to an NCAA golf title. And there he was Sunday, turning a loss into a point and hitting clutch shots at the end.

Koivun was 2 down through 10 holes to the Kim when he won three straight holes to flip the color to American red on the board. The kid drilled his tee shot on the 18th, and twirled his iron when he knew the approach was pure. He wound up with a 2-up victory, and then it was a matter of time.

“The kid is special. He’s different,” Snedeker said. “You saw that for a 21-year-old kid to stand up there and hit those last two balls like he did. Not many people like that.”

The clinching point came from Jacob Bridgeman, another Presidents Cup rookie.

Patrick Cantlay had another moment, as he always seem to do in these events, holing a birdie putt from just inside 60 feet on the par-3 16th against Adam Scott, who now has played 12 times in this competition without ever being on the winning side.

"Look, it’s a very difficult thing to beat the U.S. in singles in the U.S.,” Ogilvy said. “They’re great players, and the crowd came out for them. They get a bit of red on the board, and the noise gets loud. They started the day with a lot to do and they all played great.”

All the Internationals can do is regroup and try again at Kingston Heath in Australia is two years. Their only victory was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, and there was a tie in South Africa in 2003.

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See AP’s full golf coverage here

The undertaking is as robust as it is daunting, spanning several House committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets and staff, and the ability to investigate, subpoena and potentially course-correct what the Democrats say are widespread corruption and abuses of power. Impeachment of the Republican president and Cabinet officials is not off the table.

“There is a cost to the American people of the out-of-control corruption,” said Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is in line to become House speaker if Democrats win control at the Capitol.

“If folks have been stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people or screwing over the American people,” Jeffries said, “we are going to hold the crooks accountable.”

Congress has enormous ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch as part of its power as a coequal branch of government, and a road map for the Democratic-run investigations has already been set by the almost daily letters lawmakers send to the administration and in amicus court filings.

Democrats are asking about the money-making by Trump and his family, whose wealth has grown dramatically since he returned to the White House in January 2025. They are investigating the potential civil rights violations of Americans killed protesting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and of detained immigrants being deported to faraway countries. They have fought the closing of the Kennedy Center, launched investigations into private funding of the America at 250 celebrations and tracked the shuttering of federal operations, including the U.S. Agency for International Development.

New questions emerge daily, including the Trump family’s recent acknowledgment that a weekend wedding party for the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. was partly funded by a Russian oligarch, with reportedly close ties to the Kremlin.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who is in line to become the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, characterized the issues involved as “gargantuan."

“We need to zero in quickly on the forms of systemic corruption that have cost the public huge amounts of money," Raskin told The Associated Press, “and where there are legislative cures available.”

Trump impeachments made history then. Could it happen again?

Jeffries will almost certainly be under pressure from the far left to move more swiftly to articles of impeachment against Trump, who during his first term became the first president to be twice impeached by the House. Both times, he was acquitted by the Senate.

Impeaching the president a third time may not hold the currency that it once did. Democrats will more likely focus their impeachment efforts on Cabinet members. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth already faces articles of impeachment from a Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, over his leadership at the Pentagon and his management of the Iran war.

“We haven’t ruled anything out,” Jeffries said recently about the tools available to Congress, “and we haven’t ruled anything in.”

The White House is likely to play hardball if confronted with investigations, and Democrats are bracing for an administration that potentially ignores subpoenas or refuses to turn over paperwork that lawmakers are demanding.

The Democrats are also reaching beyond the administration into various corporate and business entities for potential wrongdoing.

‘We’ll act like the Congress,' says one Democrat in line to lead a committee

Ranking Democratic lawmakers who are in line to lead committees if power shifts are beginning to chart the investigations they plan to tackle.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat now on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and ICE operations.

“We’re already doing work,” Garcia told the AP.

He also mentioned the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as broader allegations of corporate corruption.

The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, whose jurisdiction includes the State Department, said the committee plans to investigate Trump's international dealings, including around the Iran war.

He expects the committee will also look into the administration's Venezuela operations — from the military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific waters to the U.S. partnership with a private company to develop and access the South American country's oil.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat at the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Interior Department and its National Park Service operations, has begun digging into Trump's “vanity projects,” including the demolition of the White House's East wing for a new ballroom and the president's proposed arch.

Huffman and other committee members have also been eyeing the Trump family's role in various minerals deals.

At the committee's last session before lawmakers recessed to campaign for the midterm elections, Huffman said that if Democrats take charge, he plans to call witnesses, put them under oath and follow the evidence where it leads.

"When people ask what will we do," he said he responds, “My answer is simple. We’ll use those tools. We’ll act like the Congress.”

Stephens, who was ejected from the game for targeting, was suspended for one game by USC earlier Sunday for the hit and his celebration afterward.

“Dante sustained a concussion in last night’s game but fortunately his MRI and CT scans came back clean and he did not suffer any additional injuries," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said in a statement. “Every concussion is different and we are going to move forward with an abundance of caution to ensure we make the best decisions for Dante and his future.”

Moore was sliding to complete an 11-yard run to the USC 12 in the second quarter when Stephens hit him in the head and chest with his shoulder. Moore’s helmet snapped back and hit the turf, and his hands raised in what appeared to be an involuntary motion. Eventually was placed on a stretcher with his neck in a brace and left the game in an ambulance.

Stephens celebrated after the hit and was confronted by Oregon players before he left the game. His actions were roundly criticized.

Stephens later apologized and expressed empathy for Moore and his family in a statement issued by the Trojans.

“I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during yesterday’s game,” Stephens in a statement released by the university. “Seeing a player injured like that is incredibly serious, and my reaction in the moments afterward was completely inappropriate and inexcusable. Regardless of what was going through my mind at the time, there is no justification for smiling or celebrating while another player receives medical attention. I take full responsibility for my actions. That is not the person or teammate I want to be, and I will learn from this."

USC coach Lincoln Riley condemned Stephens' actions while announcing the suspension for his starting linebacker, who won't play when No. 18 USC (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) hosts Washington (3-1, 0-1) next weekend.

“Desman’s actions in last night’s game are unacceptable and are not reflective of USC football nor of his personal character,” Riley said. “He understands his mistake, accepts the consequences of his actions and will learn from this. The entire Trojan Family wishes Dante a full recovery, and we send our best regards to him and his family.”

Lanning expressed gratitude in his statement Sunday for the medical attention that Moore received.

“We are extremely appreciative of our entire medical staff and the medical staffs at USC and LA General County Hospital for their quick and thorough action in making sure Dante received the very best care possible,” Lanning said.

The Ducks, while shaken by the loss of their quarterback, went on to win 41-27. Oregon, which jumped five spots to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 with the victory, is off next weekend before hosting UCLA on Oct. 10.

The Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee in March approved a one-year trial rule for this season that gives a player a break for his first targeting penalty and clears the way for him to play in the next game. Since this was Stephens’ first such penalty, he would have been eligible to play against the Huskies had USC not suspended him.

Following the game, Lanning had called the hit “disgusting.” Stephens drew even more ire for smiling on the bench and later returning to the Trojans' sideline in the second half after being ejected.

Riley defended Stephens' return to the sideline Saturday night, saying he was allowed back because “he's on our football team.”

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All three potential games in the AL first-round matchup that begins Tuesday will start at about 8 p.m. EDT and be televised by NBC, MLB said Sunday.

Atlanta's series hosting Philadelphia will have 2 p.m. games televised on NBC, and the Chicago White Sox series at Houston will start at 5 p.m. EDT, with games televised by NBCSN.

The Chicago Cubs' series at San Diego will have 10 p.m. EDT games and be televised by NBCSN.

All games also will be streamed on Peacock in the first year of a contract with MLB that replaced ESPN as the Wild Card Series network.

Games will be televised with Spanish-language commentary on Universo and Univision.

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Chenal went down with 6:38 remaining in the half on a run by Seattle's Emanuel Wilson. The cart was brought out, and eventually the whole Washington team came off the sideline to surround him.

As Chenal was being carted off, fans began chanting his name. He was able to give a fist pump as he neared the tunnel.

Coach Dan Quinn said afterward that Chenal was at the hospital and had feeling in his extremities.

“Undergoing further testing as we go through tonight,” Quinn said.

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Schwarber delivered with a clutch two-run double, yes. He also showed the fire, the fight that vanished from the Phillies during a treacherous week that sent them from the brink of a wild-card clinch to the edge — and yes, the bottom was crumbling — of an all-time franchise collapse.

His slide had Phillies fans roaring from their feet — perhaps more than a few who wore brown paper bags over their heads a night earlier — and instantly all felt right on a soggy day inside Citizens Bank Park.

Zack Wheeler pitched a gem against Tampa Bay on Sunday and untangled a few thousand knots inside the stomachs of Phillies fans, and even from those inside a mostly solemn clubhouse. The Phillies survived their perilous five-day scare and are indeed headed to the playoffs for the fifth straight season after beating the Rays 7-3 to clinch the final NL wild-card berth.

“We didn't play the best baseball we could in September,” slugger Bryce Harper said. “Should we have clinched two weeks ago? Probably, right? But we didn't. We clinched today.”

Jhoan Duran struck out Nick Fortes to seal it. Duran pounded his mitt and was greeted by teammates for a fairly muted celebration on the field.

The Phillies got more rowdy inside the clubhouse and sprayed cheap beer and bubbly as bottle caps floated in booze-soaked puddles on the carpet while Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” was cranked to 11.

Philadelphia did indeed survive a freefall that coincided with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting hot over the final week of the season. The Phillies’ slam dunk of a playoff spot morphed into something much more tenuous.

Interim manager Don Mattingly said ahead of Wednesday’s game — the first day the team could clinch — that, yes, Philadelphia would wait until midnight if needed to pop the bubbly if it beat Milwaukee and the Diamondbacks lost a time zone away to Colorado.

The Phillies lost that one. Then came three more defeats, capped by a 12-1 embarrassment on Saturday against the AL East champion Rays.

Mattingly's presumed wait of a few hours to celebrate was not complete until 5:19 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, Sept. 27.

The Phillies scored only three runs during their four-game losing streak. They needed an unearned run on Saturday to snap a 21-inning scoreless streak.

Schwarber’s double in the second inning made it 4-0, and that all but erased the significance of the Diamondbacks' outcome in San Diego. Philadelphia entered the day needing a win or an Arizona loss to make the playoffs.

J.T. Realmuto slogged through 34 straight hitless at-bats. He also ripped an RBI double in the second inning.

Bryson Stott batted cleanup for only the seventh time in his career. He also hit an RBI double that scored Schwarber in the first inning.

Harper lined a solo shot into the first row of the right-field seats, and Edmundo Sosa added a two-run homer for a 7-1 lead in the seventh.

Slumps were busted. Losing streaks were obliterated. Corks were popped.

“It was kind of a living hell in slow motion,” Phillies managing partner and CEO John Middleton said of the final week.

Wheeler allowed one run and threw 97 pitches over six innings to earn his 14th win of the season on a rainy day that stirred memories of the 2008 World Series between the same teams.

The Phillies, though, likely took a loss by pushing the clincher to the 162nd game. With Game 1 in the best-of-three Wild Card Series set to start Tuesday in Atlanta, the Phillies will almost surely have to beat the Braves without a start from Wheeler.

The Phillies' rotation has been a strength this season, and Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez are in play for Games 1 and 2. Andrew Painter or Aaron Nola could make a Game 3 start, if necessary.

Mattingly had goggles wrapped around his backward cap and laughed when he said it was "too early” to announce a Game 1 starter.

NL East champion Atlanta won the season series 9-4 and finished six games ahead of second-place Philadelphia.

The Phillies were 9-19 when they fired popular manager Rob Thomson in April after he led the Phillies to four straight playoff appearances, including the 2022 World Series, and consecutive NL East titles.

Mattingly, hired in the offseason as bench coach, is back in the playoffs a season after he was on the staff of a Toronto team that lost the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's tasked with leading the franchise to its first championship since 2008, the second year of a five-year playoff stretch for the Phillies.

That was a record, until this year's team matched it.

“You wouldn't think that, right, with everybody's opinion of us,” Harper said. “I think as a team, as a group, pretty cool. The job's not done, the job's not finished. We've never finished the job before.”

The Phillies did all they could to try and blow their lead.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that spurred painful memories of the 1964 season. Those Phillies lost 10 straight games to blow a 6 1/2-game lead and the NL pennant with 12 games left.

This year's team will be able to raise a playoff flag on opening day (whenever that is in 2027).

The Phillies also must try and prove their late-September meltdown was nothing but a blip in a long and successful October.

That's a problem to start to solve on Monday.

On Sunday, it was hugs and high-fives and a collective exhale that more playoffs were on the horizon.

“We know our team,” Schwarber said. “We know that we have a lot of experience. We’ve got talent. When we’re playing our game, and we’re executing what we need to do, we’re a really hard team to beat.”

___

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Francisco, who got his breakthrough in calypso music with his 1956 hit song “Jean and Dinah,” died peacefully surrounded by his family in New York, his family said in a statement. His death came after a “brief illness,” the statement said without disclosing any other details.

“He was an institution in the entertainment industry, well admired for his skill and finesse as a singer, songwriter and mentor; beloved by many,” Francisco’s family said.

The Mighty Sparrow will be remembered as “a defining voice of our culture, a master storyteller and a towering figure whose music helped carry calypso from Trinidad and Tobago to the world,” the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians’ Organisation said in a statement.

Born in the coastal town of Grand Roy, Grenada, in July 1935, Francisco was just a toddler when he migrated with his parents to Trinidad and Tobago in 1937.

Trinidad and Tobago is the birthplace of calypso music, and it’s where the name and persona of the Mighty Sparrow would later emerge to produce a list of hit songs in the genre: Both of Them, Congo Man, Mr. Walker, The Lizard and many more.

“Birdie,” as Francisco was also affectionately known, recorded hundreds of songs in a career that spanned six decades. He performed in several countries around the world, including at famous venues such as New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Throughout his career, Francisco’s goal was to advance the calypso art form, according to Trinidadian cultural historian and author Dr. Rudolph Ottley.

“The Mighty Sparrow was the supreme entertainer, a cultural revolutionary and one of the world’s greatest Calypsonians,” Dr. Ottley told The Associated Press.

Trinidad and Tobago has honored the composer and performer with national awards, and in 1987 the University of the West Indies conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters on Francisco.

He won't have much choice in the matter now.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion capped a dominant performance at Kansas Speedway on Sunday by passing Chase Briscoe with seven laps left and leading the rest of the way, leaving Larson to wheel his No. 5 Chevrolet into victory lane for a record-tying fourth time at the mile-and-a-half oval and with a padded lead in the Chase for the championship standings.

Larson won each of the first two stages and broke his own record by leading 235 laps, allowing him to turn the slimmest of leads — a single point over Denny Hamlin at the start of the day — into a 26-point advantage heading to Las Vegas next weekend.

“Such a good day,” Larson said. “I was going to be happy with second how the race went, but to get the lead, that's a big deal.”

Briscoe chased down Larson throughout the final stage, finally getting around him with 30 laps to go. But after briefly pulling away, the No. 19 Toyota began to get loose, and Briscoe brushed the wall. Larson closed in on the lead again, made a move on the low side and powered away, taking the checkered flag for the second time in three races.

He also won at St. Louis, a victory that had ended a maddening 51-race winless drought.

“I think it's easier to be the hunter than the hunted,” Larson said. "With me out front, I'm just defending, trying to guess on what the fast lines are, and when he got in front of me he started getting really loose.”

So loose that Briscoe drifted all the way back to fourth. Austin Cindric wound up second and Hamlin finished third.

“It was better for me being in second. It would tighten me up and allow me to be a little better," Briscoe said, “and as soon as I got the lead I got really free again. Frustrating for sure.”

Cindric spent much of the day stalking Larson but was never able to get his No. 2 Ford around him. He might have been the fastest car on the track at the end, too, but Cindric was too far back to mount a challenge for the victory.

“I wish I would have had at least a shot at it. I thought we could join the fun at least," Cindric said, “but proud of the effort.”

It was a similar story — and a bittersweet day — for Hamlin, whose strong third-place run nevertheless cost him in the points race. The revamped Chase format offers a big reward for wins, and Larson was the one doing a celebratory burnout at the end.

“Just didn't quite have it today,” Hamlin said. “We could be really good in the long run. In the short run, the 5 was really good. The 2 was good. And we just couldn't quite hold those guys off, or keep them close enough in the short run.”

Persistent rain earlier in the weekend washed out practice and qualifying, leaving the starting lineup to be set by a combination of last week's results at Bristol and owner points. That left Larson in the enviable spot of starting alongside Joey Logano on the front row, and the fortunate position of having had so much success at Kansas that missing out on practice really didn't matter.

Larson's fourth win tied Hamlin's record for the track, and he's been first or second in seven of the past 11 races there.

“I feel like if we can just click it, we're the most comfortable on these (mile-and-a-half tracks),” Larson said. “Man, what a day. I thought we'd have a good shot. I didn't think we'd have a max points-type day, so I'm just thrilled.”

Hocevar in the middle of another yellow

One week after Carson Hocevar's bump sent Ryan Blaney into the wall at Bristol, leading to a pit-road fracas, the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet was involved in another caution. This time, after running near the front through the opening stage, Hocevar appeared to get bumped from behind on a restart, sending him into Bubba Wallace in a spin that collected several other cars.

Hocevar wound up finishing 33rd. Blaney started 25th due to the qualifying rainout and finished fifth.

“The guy leading the points won the race. Kind of dominated,” said Blaney, who is now 91 points back of Larson in the standings. “It is what it is. You just have to keep grinding and working hard, and try to get to victory lane a couple of times.”

Legacy Motor Club locks up Erik Jones

The team co-owned by Jimmie Johnson announced the signing of Erik Jones to a multiyear extension to continue driving the No. 43 Toyota. The move provides some stability to Legacy Motor Club, which is replacing John Hunter Nemechek with Josh Berry in the No. 42 next season, and will have Riley Herbst driving the No. 84 that Johnson had driven in select races.

Up next

The NASCAR Cup Series continues its stretch of three straight races on 1.5-mile ovals with Las Vegas next Sunday. Hamlin won the race there in March, when he overcame a pit-road speeding penalty to pick up his first win of the season.

___

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

In Caracas, hundreds of activists in sky blue shirts — the color of Machado’s Vente Venezuela party — rode motorcycles and drove through the city’s main avenues, honking their horns and waving Venezuelan flags. Similar demonstrations were held in state capitals including Valencia, Maracaibo and Merida.

“This is not a matter of parties or politics,” said Flavio Valentini, a Vente Venezuela activist in Caracas who grabbed a megaphone and addressed the crowd. “This is a movement for the people and by the people.”

Machado has been living in exile for the past nine months, and has had her plans to return to Venezuela spoiled multiple times. Opposition activists have accused Venezuela's government of blocking her return, a claim denied by Venezuelan authorities.

Machado's party said this week that on Monday night, the opposition leader made three unsuccessful attempts to return.

“We hope this transition process leads us to presidential elections and consolidates a free, democratic country that will be the main ally of the United States,” said Anthony Romero, a leader for Vente Venezuela in the nation's capital.

Machado, one of Venezuela’s most popular political leaders, was barred from running in Venezuela’s last presidential election by courts under the control of former President Nicolás Maduro. But her stand-in candidate is widely believed to have won the election with almost two thirds of the vote.

Maduro claimed victory nevertheless, and unleashed a violent crackdown against dissidents who protested the official results, forcing Machado and dozens of opposition leaders to go into hiding.

Last year, Machado smuggled herself out of Venezuela after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to restore democracy in the South American country. A U.S. military operation removed Maduro in January. But Machado has been unable to return to Venezuela since then. The government is now led by Delcy Rodríguez, a Maduro ally who has opened Venezuela’s oil industry to foreign investment and is now working closely with the Trump administration.

Machado’s team said Monday that the opposition leader, who is now based in Panama, attempted to return to Venezuela by sea, but the company that chartered her boat canceled the trip hours before leaving, alleging its vessel was unfit for navigation. Machado later tried to fly to Curacao, her team said, from where she could take a speed boat to Venezuela, but her plane was denied landing permits. In total, Machado has made seven unsuccessful attempts to return to Venezuela this year, her party says, with some critics questioning whether the Trump administration is also involved in the efforts to stop her from returning.

Trump administration officials deny they are holding Machado back, but have said that on some occasions they have advised that she not return to the country due to safety concerns.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a news conference that Machado has “every right to enter her country whenever she wants to return.” On Wednesday, Rubio said he was unaware of Machado’s most recent efforts to go back to the South American country.

Rubio said the United States would like to see thousands of Venezuelans return to their country and “open the businesses that they lost.” The Secretary of State has long argued that before holding new elections, Venezuela must stabilize its economy and rebuild its institutions, like its courts and its electoral council.

___

Associated Press writer Manuel Rueda contributed from Bogota, Colombia.

The Gators’ 24-point win over Mississippi on Saturday earned them a 13-rung promotion to No. 8, their highest since 2020 and first top-10 appearance since 2021.

Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame held their grip on the top three spots in the poll. Miami was a season-high No. 4, and Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5.

Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and BYU rounded out the top 10. That’s a five-spot drop for the Rebels.

Jeremiah Smith becomes a Heisman favorite

By MAURA CAREY

One week after Jeremiah Smith became Ohio State’s all-time leading receiver, he takes over as a Heisman favorite after exploding for 12 receptions, 217 receiving yards and four touchdowns – that’s Jeremiah Smith for you.

Smith’s odds jumped from +950 to +290 to win the award, passing over Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah. Mensah has the second-best odds at +450, and Kamario Taylor (+600) jumped over Chambliss (+1150) for the third-best odds.

Ask a voter: Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season

By TOM MURPHY

Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season, from the preseason rankings to moving Georgia to the top spot this week.

AP sports editor Dave Zelio

I opted to put ultra-talented Ohio State No. 1 on my preseason ballot for various reasons.

The fall-from-ahead loss, after leading Texas by 20 points, gave an opportunity to move Miami to No. 1 for a couple of weeks.

I dropped the Hurricanes down after their close call against Wake Forest and moved the defending champs Indiana to No. 1 last week. I didn’t feel like the Hoosiers deserved to stay there after their Friday home win against Northwestern. So Georgia is my fourth No. 1 of the year on today’s ballot. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Kamario Taylor continues to shine

By MAURA CAREY

Perhaps no SEC team has been more shocking than No. 24 Mississippi State, which improved to 4-0 with a 31-24 win over No. 19 Missouri this weekend.

Quarterback Kamario Taylor was 27 of 38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, boosting his season totals to 1,192 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Taylor taking advantage of upcoming transfer portal opportunities has been a hot topic of conversation lately. But the Mississippi State quarterback responded to that on Saturday: “If you know me, you know I bleed maroon and white.”

P.J. Fleck isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck’s intensity was on full display after his team’s 27-24 win over Washington on Saturday.

Golden Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski was bleeding from his mouth after the final play. Fleck embraced his player, wiped the blood from his mouth, and smeared it on his face.

“He’s a crazy man,” Baranowski said after the game.

Tennessee appeared to lose momentum against Texas

Tennessee had all the momentum on its side after the two-minute warning against Texas. Quarterback Faizon Brandon led a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to bring the Vols within three points. Then Arion Carter recovered a fumbled onside kick, giving Tennessee possession at its 49-yard line.

A facemask call brought the Vols to the 40-yard line, but poor clock management and penalties exposed a young Tennessee offense.

Despite the near-loss for Texas, a road win at Neyland Stadium is no easy feat. The Longhorns remained No. 1 for another week, receiving 62 of 69 first-place votes.

Not so Happy Valley

Penn State's Happy Valley has seen happier days after a loss to Wisconsin Saturday (and the Nittany Lions entered as 9.5-point favorites).

Wisconsin recovered from a 17-0 first-half deficit and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Penn State 24-20.

In terms of the rankings, Penn State took one of the hardest falls of the week, dropping from No. 13 to out of the rankings.

Conference breakdown

The SEC again leads the pack with 10 ranked teams this week: Texas (1), Georgia (2), Alabama (7), Florida (8), Ole Miss (9), LSU (11), Mississippi State (16), Tennessee (17), Kentucky (24), Missouri (25).

The Big Ten has six ranked teams: Ohio State (5), Indiana (6), Iowa (14), Oregon (15), USC (18), UCLA (23).

The Big 12 has five ranked teams: BYU (10), Texas Tech (12), Utah (13), Oklahoma State (19), Houston (20).

The ACC is down to two ranked teams: Miami (4) and SMU (21).

Notre Dame (3) is independent.

And the Group of Six is represented for the first time this season, as the Pac-12’s Boise State debuted in the rankings at No. 22.

Heisman contender Jeremiah Smith is on the rise

One week after Jeremiah Smith became Ohio State’s all-time leading receiver, he takes over as a Heisman favorite after exploding for 12 receptions, 217 receiving yards and four touchdowns – that’s Jeremiah Smith for you.

Smith’s odds jumped from +950 to +290 to win the award, passing over Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah.

Mensah has the second-best odds at +450, and Kamario Taylor (+600) jumped over Chambliss (+1150) for the third-best odds.

Ask a voter: Walk us through how you’ve voted No. 1 this season

By TOM MURPHY

I opted to put ultra-talented Ohio State No. 1 on my preseason ballot for various reasons.

The fall-from-ahead loss, after leading Texas by 20 points, gave an opportunity to move Miami to No. 1 for a couple of weeks.

I dropped the Hurricanes down after their close call against Wake Forest and moved the defending champs Indiana to No. 1 last week. I didn’t feel like the Hoosiers deserved to stay there after their Friday home win against Northwestern. So Georgia is my fourth No. 1 of the year on today’s ballot. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Kamario Taylor continues to shine

By MAURA CAREY

Perhaps no SEC team has been more shocking than No. 24 Mississippi State, which improved to 4-0 with a 31-24 win over No. 19 Missouri this weekend.

Quarterback Kamario Taylor was 27 of 38 for 360 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, boosting his season totals to 1,192 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions.

Taylor taking advantage of upcoming transfer portal opportunities has been a hot topic of conversation lately. But the Mississippi State quarterback responded to that on Saturday: “If you know me, you know I bleed maroon and white.”

Ask AP: What’s the justification for Oregon being ahead of Oklahoma State?

By DAVE ZELIO

It’s an excellent question, and Top 25 voters are absolutely encouraged to look closely at head-to-head results.

Best guess is that the voters, collectively, recall that Oklahoma State lost to Tulsa before catching fire and Oregon looked more than solid on the road at USC this weekend with a backup QB, and have in hand what looks now like a good win against newly ranked Boise State back in Week 1.

They are also not terribly far apart in poll terms, with the Ducks at No. 15 and the ’Pokes at No. 19.

P.J. Fleck isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty

By MAURA CAREY

Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck’s intensity was on full display after his team’s 27-24 win over Washington on Saturday.

Golden Gophers linebacker Maverick Baranowski was bleeding from his mouth after the final play. Fleck embraced his player, wiped the blood from his mouth, and smeared it on his face.

“He’s a crazy man,” Baranowski said after the game.

Tennessee appeared to lose momentum against Texas

Tennessee had all the momentum on its side after the two-minute warning against Texas. Quarterback Faizon Brandon led a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to bring the Vols within three points. Then Arion Carter recovered a fumbled onside kick, giving Tennessee possession at its 49-yard line.

A facemask call brought the Vols to the 40-yard line, but poor clock management and penalties exposed a young Tennessee offense.

Despite the near-loss for Texas, a road win at Neyland Stadium is no easy feat. The Longhorns remained No. 1 for another week, receiving 62 of 69 first-place votes.

Not so Happy Valley

Happy Valley has seen happier days after a loss to Wisconsin Saturday (and the Nittany Lions entered as 9.5-point favorites).

Wisconsin recovered from a 17-0 first-half deficit and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Penn State 24-20.

In terms of the rankings, Penn State took one of the hardest falls of the week, dropping from No. 13 to out of the rankings.

Conference breakdown

The SEC again leads the pack with 10 ranked teams this week: Texas (1), Georgia (2), Alabama (7), Florida (8), Ole Miss (9), LSU (11), Mississippi State (16), Tennessee (17), Kentucky (24), Missouri (25).

The Big Ten has six ranked teams: Ohio State (5), Indiana (6), Iowa (14), Oregon (15), USC (18), UCLA (23).

The Big 12 has five ranked teams: BYU (10), Texas Tech (12), Utah (13), Oklahoma State (19), Houston (20).

The ACC is down to two ranked teams: Miami (4) and SMU (21).

Notre Dame (3) is independent.

And the Group of Six is represented for the first time this season, as the Pac-12’s Boise State debuted in the rankings at No. 22.

Down goes Michigan

Michigan’s first few weeks in the Top 25 have been turbulent, from entering the season at No. 16 to dropping out of the rankings after a controversial 13-12 win against Western Michigan, to climbing back in at No. 18 after beating Oklahoma and UTEP.

The Wolverines are back out of the rankings after a familiar-looking loss to Iowa. Michigan fell 20-19 on a last-second touchdown, marking its second close call in the past month.

Louisville’s path to the CFP takes a turn

Despite a Week 1 loss to Ole Miss, Louisville appeared on a fast track to the ACC championship in the early weeks of the season. That outlook has changed after a 30-27 upset from Wake Forest.

Louisville kicked a field goal to tie it up at 27-all at the end of the third quarter, but the fourth quarter wasn’t as kind to the Cardinals. Louisville turned the ball over on downs and missed two field goals in its final three drives. Louisville’s final field goal attempt was blocked by Wake Forest’s Gabe Kirschke and set the Demon Deacons up for victory formation.

A once red-hot Louisville team tumbled out of the rankings as a result and made its path to the College Football Playoff much more complicated.

Ask a voter: Do this weekend’s results show Top-25 voting is too reliant on team hype?

By TOM MURPHY

Truly, the results every weekend show that nobody’s ballot is foolproof, and fortunes for even really strong teams can waver in the course of a week.

The final 10 or so teams every week form such a cluster it’s hard to sort them all.

As an example, I dropped five teams from my ballot this week (Oklahoma, Washington, Louisville, West Virginia, Texas A&M) and upgraded five unbeatens (Miss. State, Duke, Cincinnati, UCLA, Pitt), and there are still a few more teams with no losses. — Arkansas sports reporter Tom Murphy has been an AP Top 25 voter since 2007.

Florida cracks the top 10

By MAURA CAREY

The Gators cracked the top 10 of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2021, coming in at No. 8.

That’s one of the biggest jumps of the season and moved Florida up 13 spots from No. 21. The Gators are one of five unbeaten SEC teams alongside Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State and Texas.

Ole Miss drops to No. 9

The Rebels’ stint in the top five proved to be short-lived, as Ole Miss fell from No. 4 to No. 9 following a 52-28 loss to Florida.

It was a tough test for Ole Miss coming off its biggest win of the season – a 32-24 triumph over rival LSU that briefly moved the Rebels into the top five.

Ole Miss was unable to carry that momentum into Gainesville, giving up 52 points in its first loss of the season.

Florida improved to No. 8, one spot above the Rebels, and LSU dropped from No. 10 to No. 11.

Four teams in, four teams out

There’s plenty of turnover in this week’s AP Top 25. Four newcomers are No. 19 Oklahoma State, No. 22 Boise State, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 Kentucky. Boise State is the first Group of Six team to crack the rankings this season, while UCLA is off to its first 4-0 start since 2022.

Penn State, Louisville, Michigan and Texas A&M each fell out of the rankings after Week 4 losses.

How the votes are counted

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

For decades, voters called, emailed and faxed their votes to the AP and ballots were tabulated by hand.

Now voting happens online, and the count is automated first before AP checks for miscues.

The poll operates on a 1-to-25-point system, with the No. 1 team receiving 25 points down to the 25th team receiving 1 point. In between, the poll lists the teams with the most points from 24 down to 2. Teams that receive votes but not enough to make the top 25 are noted separately.

AP Top 25 rankings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

1. Texas

2. Georgia

3. Notre Dame

4. Miami

5. Ohio State

6. Indiana

7. Alabama

8. Florida

9. Ole Miss

10. BYU

11. LSU

12. Texas Tech

13. Utah

14. Iowa

15. Oregon

16. Mississippi State

17. Tennessee

18. USC

19. Oklahoma State

20. Houston

21. SMU

22. Boise State

23. UCLA

24. Kentucky

25. Missouri

Dante Moore suffers a scary injury against USC

By MAURA CAREY

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore went down with a scary injury after USC linebacker Desman Stephens hit him late on a slide on Saturday night.

Moore lay motionless on the field before being carted off and taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance.

Stephens was ejected for targeting, and the game was delayed 15 minutes as a result.

Oregon backup and former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola added a spark off the bench, completing 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns and guiding Oregon to a 41-27 win.

“He’s in recovery, so I don’t want to speak too soon, but he’s moving,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after the game. “We’ll continue to assess him, but I don’t want to speak too soon, but he’s moving.”

No. 21 Florida sends No. 4 Ole Miss packing

No. 21 Florida made its biggest statement yet with a 52-28 win over No. 4 Ole Miss.

The Gators had six rushing touchdowns, with standout running back Jadan Baugh accounting for three of them and 142 rushing yards. Duke Clark added 126 rushing yards and a score. Quarterback Aaron Philo also ran one in and completed 16 of 23 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown.

It’s the first defeat this season for Pete Golding’s Rebels, who took a trip to the swamp after a highly anticipated 32-24 win against rival LSU.

This weekend, Florida outscored Ole Miss 21-7 in the fourth quarter to come out with the win.

“I didn’t come here for us to be average,” Florida coach Jon Sumrall said after the game.

Texas A&M and Oklahoma fall to 2-2 overall

Two of the SEC’s highly ranked College Football Playoff teams — Texas A&M and Oklahoma — each lost this weekend.

Both teams have plummeted in the rankings recently. The Sooners tumbled out of the AP Top 25 after a loss to Michigan and a shaky win against New Mexico in back-to-back weeks. Texas A&M dropped to No. 23 last week following a 31-21 upset loss to Kentucky.

The Aggies lost 35-6 to No. 10 LSU on Saturday, and the Sooners fell 41-13 to No. 2 Georgia.

Guzman-Rivera faces charges of driving under the influence resulting in death, vehicular homicide and possession of cannabis of not more than 20 grams, according to police.

He was arrested Sept. 24 and taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

According to the Volusia County Department of corrections he is being held with no bond.

The crash happened around 9 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2025, when police, fire and EMS crews responded to the intersection for a serious two-vehicle crash.

Investigators said Guzman-Rivera, who was 22 at the time, was driving a black 2012 Ford Mustang convertible east on Granada Boulevard when he crashed into a white 2021 Toyota RAV4 driven by 68-year-old Paul Monroe Booker.

Police said Booker was turning left from Vining Court onto Granada Boulevard when the collision happened.

Both drivers were taken to the hospital as trauma alerts. Booker died from his injuries at the hospital.

At the time of the crash, police said preliminary findings indicated speed and alcohol may have contributed.

The Greek substitute scored with a deflected shot in the 74th minute, somewhat spoiling the mood in Augsburg where Klopp was making his home debut as Germany coach.

It was Germany's first ever loss to Greece, the 2004 European champion.

“It's part of the process, absolutely,” Klopp told broadcaster ARD. "The lineup, the formation, the many changes – that is all 100% down to me.”

Klopp oversaw a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands in his first game in charge on Thursday.

His team dominated the first half against Greece with 77% possession according to Opta, albeit without creating many clear goal-chances.

Karim Adeyemi forced a fine save from Konstantinos Tzolakis in the 32nd minute but the Greek goalkeeper otherwise had little to do.

The visitors became more ambitious in the second half with Fotis Ioannidis missing a big chance, and defender Jonathan Tah preventing another, before Kourbelis stunned the home fans.

“To be honest, we simply didn't perform well enough,” Tah said. "Of course we’re disappointed and angry when we lose a match. But the important thing is that we stick together. That won’t change, the euphoria around the new coach. If we don’t play well and we lose, obviously not everyone is going to be happy. But we can make up for it in the next game.”

Germany next faces Serbia in Munich on Thursday.

Ronaldo on bench as Portugal wins in Norway

Cristiano Ronaldo had to be content with a place on the substitutes bench in a 2-1 away win for Portugal over Norway.

Ronaldo watched João Félix score his second goal in as many games as Portugal opened the scoring in Oslo.

Félix took a touch to control Pedro Neto’s cross before shooting low inside the corner in the 17th.

Erling Haaland missed chances before he finally equalized in the 51st. It was the Norwegian star’s 65th goal in 57 appearances for his country.

But Gonçalo Ramos – playing in Ronaldo’s place – scored three minutes later after intercepting a poor pass by Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland. Ramos thought he'd made it 3-1 before the hour mark after another Nyland mistake only to have the goal ruled out for offside after a VAR check.

Denmark defeated Wales 2-0 for its first win in the other Group A4 game.

Xavi's first win

Mexx Meerdink scored twice as the Netherlands beat Serbia 2-1 away, giving new coach Xavi Hernándeez his first win in charge.

The 23-year-old Meerdink, who plays for AZ Alkmaar, made his first start for his country and he opened the scoring with a confidently taken penalty in the 30th minute before canceling Luka Jović’s equalizer after the break with what proved to be the winner in the 69th.

It was set up by Ruben van Bommel, who has now created as many goals in as many games for the Dutch after his brilliant cross for Cody Gakpo’s late equalizer in the 1-1 draw with Germany.

Meerdink, who made his second appearance after his debut Thursday, has two goals in as many games.

They gave the Netherlands its first win in Group A2, which Greece leads after two wins.

Ireland beats Israel 3-0

Ireland defeated Israel 3-0 in a contentious match in Debrecen, Hungary after bitter opposition in Ireland over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

First-half goals from Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Jack Moylan gave the Irish their first win in Group B3.

Reserve goalkeeper Gavin Bazuno decided Saturday to boycott both of Ireland’s games against Israel because of what he said was his “personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong.”

The Irish players wore black armbands and refrained from handshakes with their opponents.

Austria beat Kosovo 3-1 in the other group game earlier Sunday.

Also, Lithuania and Azerbaijan drew 1-1 in Group D2.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

So much so that when the Pittsburgh Steelers coach told Rodgers and the rest of the offense it was time to “cut it loose” before Sunday's early-season litmus test against Cincinnati, it didn't really register with the quarterback he's known for 20 years.

“I feel like he says that every week,” Rodgers said, then added with a laugh, “It's not like, ‘Hey, this week ...’”

The message was not new. The results were another matter.

Rodgers bounced back from a nightmarish performance in a dismal loss to New England by throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns to outduel Joe Burrow as the Steelers pulled out a 30-27 thriller.

“I think resilience is critical to any, any type of success, whether it’s playing one division game (or) overcoming a loss last week,” McCarthy said.

Pittsburgh (2-1) did both by showcasing the kind of explosiveness Rodgers has said was possible if everyone just settled down and did their jobs.

Rodgers completed 19 of 34 passes, including a 47-yard catch-and-run to massive tight end Darnell Washington that helped set up Chris Boswell’s go-ahead, 33-yard field goal with 2:18 remaining.

The Steelers (2-1) rolled up 411 yards on a revamped Cincinnati defense that had fueled the Bengals' promising start. Jaylen Warren, dealing with a shoulder injury that limited him in practice, had 176 total yards (127 rushing, 49 receiving), numbers that could have been a little bit higher if he hadn't tripped over his own feet while running free inside the Cincinnati 10 in the late going.

Pittsburgh was forced to settle for Boswell's third field goal, giving Burrow and the Bengals plenty of time to respond.

Cincinnati made its way into Steelers territory in the final minute and was on the fringe of kicker Evan McPherson's range when Steelers defensive lineman Derrick Harmon crashed into Burrow. The ball squirted free, and Pittsburgh's Sebastian Joseph-Day fell on it to spoil the Bengals' chances at the franchise's first 3-0 start since 2015.

“Trying to take a shot at the end zone, trying not to take the sack, trying to get the ball out, (and I) fumbled it,” Burrow said.

Bengals lament their missed opportunities

The Bengals' opportunity to stamp themselves as front-runners in the AFC North disappeared with some self-inflicted wounds.

A roughing-the-punter penalty in the third quarter extended a Pittsburgh drive that ended with a touchdown pass from Rodgers to DK Metcalf. Cincinnati's Ke'Shawn Williams later muffed a punt deep in Bengals territory to set up the second of Boswell's three field goals that tied the game at 27 with 8:45 remaining.

“Some games, you just go get your butt kicked and there's not much to say about it,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “This one, we had our chances. Pittsburgh took advantage of theirs. We didn't take advantage of ours.”

Cincinnati backed up Pittsburgh deep in its territory late in the fourth, but the Steelers responded even after a run of 80-plus yards by Warren was wiped out by a holding penalty on Metcalf.

Rodgers, playing behind a new-look offensive line that included rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor at right tackle, guided the Steelers 77 yards anyway. Boswell's winner helped Pittsburgh improve to 10-2 in its last 12 games following a loss of 15 points or more.

It also gave the Steelers a dose of belief following an ugly performance against the Patriots in which Rodgers was sacked four times and the line struggled to protect him.

The 42-year-old four-time MVP insisted it was not time to panic. Iheanachor's promotion added a dose of physicality on the line, and Pittsburgh was dynamic. Rodgers hit nine receivers and Warren cut loose for field-flipping runs that were hard to come by during the opening two weeks.

Warren's shoulder was so tender on Saturday that McCarthy advised Rodgers not to throw it to him during a walkthrough. There were no such issues 24 hours later, when Warren's punishing approach helped ignite the Steelers on a day the offense needed to pick up the slack for a defense that let Burrow play pitch-and-catch with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Yet with the clock ticking down, Harmon provided Pittsburgh's only sack. He wasn't trying to strip Burrow. It just kind of happened, and Joseph-Day fell on it.

McCarthy had jotted down in his notes this week that Pittsburgh would need 31 points to win. The Steelers fell one shy, not that it mattered.

“We've got to play more sound football than we did today to beat a team like that,” Burrow said.

Injuries

Bengals: LB Demetrius Knight left in the first quarter ... WR Colbie Young (knee) exited in the first half with a knee injury.

Steelers: CB Brandin Eichols was evaluated for a concussion after colliding with Williams during the botched second-half punt return.

Up next

Bengals: At Jacksonville next Sunday.

Steelers: Visit Cleveland on Thursday night.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

It would have been tough to imagine anything better than this.

Trevor Lawrence threw three touchdown passes, including one on which Parker Washington made a fingertip catch in the end zone, and the Jaguars bounced back from their worst offensive performance in nearly a year to dominate New England 35-6 on Sunday.

“You get what you emphasize so much with this team," said Coen, who became the first NFL coach to win 15 of his first 20 games since Green Bay's Matt LaFleur in 2020.

The Jaguars (2-1) won their sixth consecutive regular-season home game and raised more questions about Drake Maye’s regression with the Patriots.

Maye fumbled twice, losing one, and threw two more interceptions before getting pulled in the fourth quarter. He now has one TD pass and six INTs in three games. He threw 31 touchdowns and eight picks last season for the AFC champion Patriots (1-2).

“I’m always going to be confident in myself to make plays," Maye said. "If there’s one thing, I’m going to go out there and compete. I’m going to leave it all out there. Competing comes with being confident and being confident in this league is realizing that these mistakes, you got to eliminate them.

"More that we get out of our own way, the more the confidence in myself and this team will build. That’s something that starts with practice and it starts with me.”

Maye’s performance in this one was more alarming than his three-interception fourth quarter in the season opener at Seattle. The ball slipped out of his right hand with no one around him during one play. He threw into coverage on a third-and-goal play, resulting in Travis Hunter’s first career interception. He also threw a pass directly to cornerback Jarrian Jones that set up another score for Jacksonville.

“I think he knows what to do," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said. "I think we have to do it better. We all want to make plays. We just have to make some good ones. If it’s not there, I think sometimes you can want it too badly, and we can’t force it.”

New England had other issues, too: Andy Borregales missed a 38-yard field goal; Kyle Williams mistakenly stepped out of bounds on a kickoff return; and Mack Hollins was flagged for taunting at the end of a 9-yard reception, turning a fourth-and-1 play into a field goal.

The Jaguars played much cleaner.

Lawrence completed 19 of 29 passes for 182 yards, with an interception on a tipped pass. He connected with Jakobi Meyers and Josh Cameron for TDs. Cameron got significant snaps in place of Brian Thomas Jr., who dropped two passes in last week’s 20-13 loss at Denver.

Meyers had seven receptions for 64 yards against his former team, and Bhayshul Tuten added 73 yards rushing and a touchdown — after Lawrence took a knee at the 1 to try to milk the clock with more than eight minutes left.

“We were just ready to play,” Lawrence said. “Guys were flying around. At the end of the day, that's what it's about. It's the players executing the plan. You got to have a good plan, and we did. But it's about us going out there and owning it, playing fast and executing. We did all those things today.”

Patriots pull off a crazy play

Facing a first-and-30 play after back-to-back penalties, the Patriots dialed up some trickiness in Jacksonville territory. And it worked despite a lot of adversity.

Maye threw a backward pass to Efton Chism III, who had to elude Jones’ tackle near the sideline. Chism stayed on his feet and completed a pass to Mack Hollins that was tipped by cornerback Travis Hunter. It was far from pretty but resulted in a 16-yard gain that led to a field goal.

Little nearly hit an NFL record field goal

Jacksonville’s Cam Little just missed making a 70-yard field goal, which would have broken his NFL record. Little attempted the long kick at the end of the first half and pushed it just a couple feet right.

Little had the distance, which was no surprise considering he made a 70-yard in a preseason game against Pittsburgh in 2025. He set the real NFL mark later that year with a 68-yarder at Las Vegas in early November.

Key injuries

Patriots: RG Greg Van Roten left in the first half with a thigh injury and did not return. DT Christian Barmore (shoulder) and CB Carlton Davis III also missed snaps but returned.

Up next

Patriots: Play at Buffalo next Sunday.

Jaguars: Play at Cincinnati next Sunday.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The 30-second video, which is virtually identical to one that aired in 2024, shows Trump walking down a hallway as his voice can be heard warning of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers.” The black-and-white video ends with Trump staring straight into the camera lens with a message that says: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” The 2024 iteration of the ad from the Trump campaign urged viewers to “Join President Trump’s Fight for America.”

Lawmakers of both parties have criticized the new series of ads for their inherently political nature and the use of taxpayer dollars. The White House maintains they are like the ones used by past presidents, though those previous ads promoted particular policies, not Oval Office occupants.

Spending on the latest ad already topped about $319,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending.

“With you at my side, we will demolish the ‘deep state.’ We will expel the war mongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists; we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists,” he says in the narration. “We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.”

It’s in addition to a minute-long ad that began airing Friday and features scenic videos of Mount Rushmore at night with quotes and clips from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there honoring the country’s 250th anniversary. An earlier 30-second spot that began airing on Wednesday features clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”

The White House in a statement on Friday defended the use of what it described as “public service announcements” and dismissed criticism of them as “deeply dishonest.”

“The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action,” the White House said. “Instead, the announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending — at home, at the border, and abroad.”

Examples cited by the White House include George W. Bush’s administration airing a campaign about a Medicare law and the Biden administration running one about COVID-19 vaccinations.

Jolly stopped at a local church days after making campaign stops in Orlando, Tampa and South Florida. He said the I-4 corridor, which includes Volusia County, reflects a wide range of issues facing voters.

“Look, the I-4 corridor is incredibly diverse,” Jolly said. “But I think what we also see in Volusia is the real diversity of economic conditions.”

Jolly’s visit came just days after Republican Byron Donalds campaigned in the area, stopping at a resort in Daytona Beach Shores. Donalds also visited Kissimmee before heading to South Florida.

At his Volusia County stop, Donalds told attendees he wanted to hear from them directly.

“Let’s go around the room, introduce yourselves, and let’s have a dialogue,” Donalds said.

On Saturday, Jolly focused on issues he said are dividing Floridians, criticizing culture-war politics and calling for a state fund to respond to major natural disasters. He also targeted Donalds, accusing him of moving away from President Donald Trump as Trump’s popularity declines.

Donalds pushed back this week on claims that he is distancing himself from Trump after his campaign website removed major references to Trump’s endorsement.

“We’re not distancing ourselves from President Trump,” Donalds said. “We’ve been planning on making website changes for about two months now, coming out of the primary. We wanted the website to be purely on the issues that we’re campaigning on.”

Donalds added, “President Trump has endorsed us. Grateful to have his endorsement.”

The candidates are offering sharply different messages on the campaign trail, but both have acknowledged that whoever wins will need to work with Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature. That includes addressing possible local budget shortfalls if property tax relief passes.

Jolly said the state must focus on affordability, education and health care.

“We know the economy is leaving a lot of people behind,” Jolly said. “Housing and health care in particular, that we’ve abandoned education and that the culture wars have divided people.”

Donalds has emphasized cost concerns as well, including price transparency.

“Price transparency is one of the cornerstones of stabilizing costs,” Donalds said. “Because then everybody knows what everybody else is charging.”

With voting by mail underway, the race for Florida governor is now fully in motion. Election Day is Nov. 3.

Lawrence gave himself up at the 1-yard line with more than eight minutes to play in a lopsided game. He easily could have walked into the end zone, but instead chose to drop to a knee and milk the clock.

One problem: There was still a lot of time left in the game.

“It’s something we talk about all the time, potentially, in those situations, like going down, keeping the clock running,” Lawrence said following the 35-6 victory. “That was too much time. I looked at the clock after and I’m like, ‘Still eight minutes left.’ Probably unnecessary there. ...

“If you do the analytics, people will probably be all over it online. I’m sure it probably wasn’t the best decision, but we scored the next play.”

Running back Bhayshul Tuten scored seconds later, likely creating ripple effects across fantasy football leagues.

Lawrence said teammates were “making fun of me” afterward when he reached the sideline.

Coach Liam Coen took the blame for the call, deadpanning: “I just wanted to give a touchdown to somebody else.”

Lawrence threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns. Tuten ran for 73 yards and a score.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the hatchlings, known as washback sea turtles, may need specialized care after being carried back to shore by waves and wind.

The agency is urging anyone who spots a hatchling that appears to be in trouble to call for help instead of touching it.

Along beaches such as Playalinda Beach in Brevard County, hatchlings can be difficult to see, especially when they are tangled in seaweed along the shoreline.

Ginger Roberge, who has lived along Central Florida’s coast since 2003, said people should leave hatchlings alone and contact wildlife officials if they are concerned.

“The turtle hatchlings, you’re not supposed to touch them,” Roberge said. “They’re supposed to find their way on their own. ”Roberge said beachgoers should note exactly where they found the hatchlings so officials can respond.

“Let them know which station you’re at,” she said. “Let them know you’ve spotted some turtle hatchlings there and let them handle it.”

The warning comes during a record nesting season in Volusia County.

In July, News 6 reported the county had counted its 1,517th nest of the season.

The FWC has not confirmed any impacts from last week’s strong weather conditions, but the agency said it wants beachgoers to be prepared.

Officials said the same guidance applies to sea turtle nests, which are often marked off along the shoreline.

Strong winds and waves can shift the sand covering eggs, and the FWC recommends calling the agency if a nest appears disturbed.

Beachgoers who see hatchlings or damaged nests should keep their distance, note the location and contact the FWC at their 24 hour phone number 888-404-FWCC (3922).

The astronauts are expected to land at Kennedy Space Center soon.

The crew is set for liftoff Thursday from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on their way to the International Space Station.

NASA Astronaut Jessica Watkins will be the spacecraft commander, while NASA astronaut Luke Delaney will serve as pilot. They are joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov, who will serve as mission specialists.

The crew will conduct scientific investigations and look at how technology could work on future exploration missions to the Moon and Mars.

A live webcast of today’s events is right at the top of this page.

Check back with us later today and throughout the week for much more on this mission to space.

In a statement posted on the company's website, Walmart Inc.'s CEO John Furner vowed that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer isn't using personal information like income, shopping history or a customer's willingness to pay to set prices, and it won't be doing so in the future either.

“We don’t set different prices based on who you are or the time of day, and we won’t,” Furner wrote Friday. “Whether you’re buying groceries or electronics on a hot afternoon or in a sudden rush for an item, it’s never a reason to charge you more.”

The pledge from Walmart comes as concerns are mounting from some shoppers, consumer advocates and lawmakers skeptical about the rollout of digital price labels by the discounter and other stores. Digital price labels are rapidly replacing paper shelf tags at U.S. supermarkets and let stores change prices instantly from a central computer instead of having workers swap out paper labels by hand.

Furner noted that Walmart is also holding its artificial intelligence shopping assistant Sparky to the same promise and won't be using the bot to raise a customer's price or hide lower-priced options that meet their needs.

Furner said such practices would violate the company's “every day low prices” business model.

He also noted that prices can change: Walmart lowers them when it can pass savings along, or sometimes raises them because an item costs more to buy or to transport, he said.

Walmart said in March that 2,300 Walmart U.S. locations already use digital shelves, and it expects this technology to be chain-wide within the next year.

Walmart executives have repeatedly said it uses electronic shelf price tags to help the retailer change prices consistently and match what rings up at checkout. It also saves workers time and reduces labor costs by replacing paper tags.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission said that it's putting companies on notice that the practice of personalizing pricing could violate consumer protection laws. The agency said it does not have the legal authority to ban personalized pricing in all circumstances, but it issued a new bulletin that warned companies that they must disclose to customers how the personal information is being used to set a price.

O

Tens of thousands marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal from the apartment in the upscale Retiro neighborhood where she had lived for more than seven decades.

The demonstrators are demanding stronger tenant protections, measures to combat fraud and a ban on evictions when alternative housing is unavailable.

Many refused to leave after Saturday’s march and pitched tents in Puerta del Sol for the night.

“The housing situation is unsustainable,” said Natalia Navarro, a 27-year-old actress who was among those camping out at the plaza. “We are all out on the street because we are fed up.”

“The wave of indignation and anger that has been unleashed is now unstoppable,” said Alicia del Río, a spokesperson for the Madrid Tenants’ Union, which led the protests.

“We will remain here” until the government passes new laws, including indefinite rental contracts, and stops evictions like Abascal’s, del Río told journalists at the plaza on Sunday. Spain's Socialist-led government is expected to announce new measures in its weekly cabinet meeting next Tuesday.

Eviction 'sparked this social unrest'

On Sept. 23, Abascal was carried from her apartment on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance as supporters — who had tried unsuccessfully to stop the eviction — chanted her nickname, “Maricarmen.”

“I haven’t managed to defend my home, but I have fought so that others can learn to fight for what’s theirs,” Abascal said in a video recorded from her hospital bed after the eviction.

Images of the eviction spread widely across Spain, fueling outrage and criticism of public authorities and real estate investment companies accused of pricing residents out of their homes. Critics often refer to such companies as “vulture funds.”

“Maricarmen has been, in a way, the last straw that sparked this social unrest,” said Simón de la Riva, 43, a teacher who took part in Saturday's protests.

Speaking at a Socialist Party rally in Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed Abascal directly: “I have a message for you, Maricarmen: the government is working around the clock to bring a Royal Decree on housing next Tuesday. And I ask parliamentary groups to make one last effort to have it validated in the National Parliament for Maricarmen.”

Abascal has criticized Sánchez and blamed him for her ordeal.

“Does he not realize the quantity of evictions that there are daily?” she asked during an interview with Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE the day before she was forcibly removed from her home. “Does he not realize, or does he not want to realize?”

A home for seven decades

Spanish media reported that Abascal’s father first rented the apartment in 1956 and that she remained there as a tenant under rent controls after her parents died.

The building changed ownership in 2018, and Abascal was offered the opportunity to buy the apartment but could not afford it, according to the Madrid Tenants’ Union.

Urbagestión, an investment fund that later bought the unit, raised her monthly rent from 500 euros ($570) to 2,650 euros.

It subsequently lowered the rent to 1,650 euros, which Abascal still could not afford on her pension, the union said.

Rising costs and a growing housing shortage

Rising costs and a housing shortage are pricing many Spaniards out of the market, despite strong economic growth in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. Incomes have not kept pace with the rising housing costs, and analysts say tourism and immigration-driven population growth in cities have placed further pressure on the limited housing supply.

The Bank of Spain estimated that the country had a shortage of about 550,000 homes last year, with Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia accounting for a substantial share.

The demonstrations in the symbolic Madrid plaza this weekend reminded many in Spain of the historic demonstrations starting May 15, 2011, when members of the “indignados movement” camped for 28 days straight, sparking similar sit-ins across the country and the world. That movement was a reaction to evictions and other issues following a global economic crisis, including unemployment, austerity measures and corruption.

Estefania Molina, a political scientist and columnist, said the stakes of popular frustration are growing. In 2011, "people protested because they couldn’t buy an apartment."

“Today, the protest is about not being able to rent a room in someone else’s home," she told Spanish television.

Spain ranks near the bottom of countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development for subsidized public rental housing, which represents less than 2% of the country's housing stock. The European Union average is 8%.

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Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Associated Press journalist Suman Naishadham contributed to this report from Madrid.

Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran has not been formally notified of U.S. President Donald Trump's rejection of its proposed deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And the World Health Organization says nearly 700 people have been killed in Yemen since fighting escalated last month.

Here is a look at the latest news from the Middle East on Sunday.

Iran’s top diplomat says they await word from mediators

Araghchi said Tehran awaits a U.S. response through mediators after Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume negotiations.

Speaking from New York, Araghchi told NBC that Iran is “fully prepared for the war to be resumed."

He added, however: “At the same time, we stand ready for diplomacy. It is up to President Trump to choose.”

Trump told Axios he expects U.S. negotiators to engage in more talks this week.

Araghchi, who had described the proposal on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, earlier told Iranian state media that Tehran’s conditions for reopening the strait remained unchanged and there would be “no backing down from them.”

Israel to expel Dutch diplomats over settlements-related ban

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the government had notified the Dutch embassy in Israel that its diplomats in Ramallah had to leave within one week.

Saar said the decision was in response to a Dutch ban that went into effect on Sept. 22 on the “import, purchase and sale of goods” originating from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which the Netherlands, like most of the international community, considers illegal.

Israeli news outlets reported Sunday that Dutch authorities searched the luggage of passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam to ensure compliance.

“Any country that acts in a hostile and unilateral manner against Israel will lose influence and relevance in the region,” Saar said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from the Dutch foreign ministry.

Israel also ousted the Dutch delegation from the International Gaza Support Center last month.

In Gaza, over 1,100 have been killed since ceasefire

Gaza’s Health Ministry on Saturday said the Palestinian death toll has risen to 74,016, with 175,068 wounded. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage.

While a ceasefire that took effect last Oct. 10 has halted the heaviest fighting, Israeli strikes have continued in what the military has said are responses to threats or attacks.

Since the ceasefire, 1,145 Palestinians have been killed, said the ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government. It maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants. Meanwhile, seven Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

Next steps in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire remain largely stalled. Israeli forces now control over half of the territory, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says they will not withdraw until Hamas disarms.

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 2

Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza killed two Palestinians and wounded several others, according to hospital officials.

In Gaza City, a strike hit a car, killing one person and wounding several others, according to Shifa Hospital. Video showed a chaotic scene around the charred vehicle.

Israel's military said it targeted a military operative.

A separate Israeli strike in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis killed one person and wounded three others, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israeli's military said it targeted a Hamas militant.

Houthi rebels accuse Yemeni forces of a deadly strike

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels accused Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces of striking a market in Yemen's Taiz province, killing at least seven people.

Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry, said the strike hit shops in a market in the district of Taiziyah. He said at least other 40 people, including five children, were wounded.

The military of Yemen’s internationally recognized government rejected the Houthi claims, saying it attacked Houthi “warehouses and positions” in northern, southern and western Taiz and left “dozens of dead and wounded” among the rebels.

There has been fierce fighting on Yemen’s Red Sea coast as government forces attempt to reverse recent Houthi advances. The WHO says almost 700 people have been killed since the escalation last month.

Hezbollah supporters mark Nasrallah’s death

Thousands of people gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark the two-year anniversary of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's death in an Israeli airstrike. In a video address, his successor, Naim Kassem, reiterated the militant group’s refusal to disarm while Israeli forces occupy southern Lebanon.

“With regard to disarmament, we have told (the government) that we are ready for dialogue, but first the south must be liberated and its people return,” he said.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began when the Iran-backed group fired missiles across the border, two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran. Israel responded with bombardment and a ground invasion and now occupies a large swath of the south.

Lebanon's government signed a U.S.-brokered agreement in June under which Israeli forces would gradually withdraw in exchange for Hezbollah disarming. Hezbollah was not a party to the negotiations, and implementation of the agreement has stalled.

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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

London’s Metropolitan Police, which takes the lead on potential terrorist activities, said police received a call at 12:45 a.m. related to the three suspicious vehicles that appeared to be traveling toward RAF Fairford, a U.K.-owned base that is operated by the U.S. under an agreement dating back to the Cold War.

The base is home to US bombers striking Iran

The arrests come at a time of heightened tensions around the threat from hostile states to the U.K., with Russia and Iran among those that have used proxies to commit crimes on their behalf on British soil. In March, officials said the number of national security cases involving activity by hostile states including Iran increased 50% in the six months to December 2025.

Fairford has been used by American bombers for strictly limited strikes against Iranian missile sites under an agreement with former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who voiced opposition to the war after it was launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.

Authorities are investigating a link between the Fairford arrests and Iran as one possibility. Iran has previously indicated that a base used to attack its territory is a legitimate target.

U.S. President Donald Trump praised those who were involved in making the arrests.

“It was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. And working with the British worked out great,” he told reporters in Chicago on Sunday. “We had them under view for a long time and we got them.”

Police feared an explosion

The five men were initially arrested on suspicion of committing offenses under the Explosives Act in the Whelford area, which backs onto RAF Fairford, which hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Air Force’s 501st Combat Support Wing and the 420th Air Base Squadron.

Aerial footage from Sky News appeared to show a bomb disposal robot roaming between three white trucks. The rear doors of two of the vans were open and large black items could be seen scattered around. The robot appeared to be working toward getting access to the third truck.

Police gave no details as to the nationality of those arrested. Suspects arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 can be detained for up to 14 days without charge, compared to the 24-hour limit for standard arrests, without an extension application.

“We are in the early stages of an investigation, and five men remain in custody,” said Vicki Evans, the Met’s counterterrorism policing senior national coordinator.

Evans said a 400-meter (yard) cordon has been put in place around the three vehicles that raised suspicion while the army conducts examinations. As a precaution, around 85 households have been evacuated whilst these examinations take place. Some have been taken to a nearby recreation center.

The U.S. embassy in London warned Americans to be cautious and mindful of their personal security.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he knew the incident would be “deeply concerning” for many. In a post on social media, Burnham thanked police and the armed forces for their response and said he was grateful to the residents who have been evacuated from their homes “while precautionary checks are carried out.”

He urged people “not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts.”

The defense secretaries of the U.S. and the U.K., Pete Hegseth and Wes Streeting, have also spoken about the incident.

British security officials say proxies linked to Iran have been behind a string of arson and sabotage attempts in the U.K. and other countries, many of them targeting the Jewish community. They have previously warned that Tehran could expand its targets in the U.K. if conflicts in the Middle East continue.

Local residents evacuated as investigation continues

Gloucestershire police said the situation appeared to be “contained” and urged residents to follow official advice while the investigation continues.

Julian Tudsbery, who has lived in Whelford for 30 years, said another resident had reported seeing three “suspicious vans” in the village early on Sunday.

“There were several police, three police cars in the drive, and they said you need to evacuate, there’s been a major incident, said he couldn’t elaborate,” he said.

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Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in Liverpool, England, and Ben Finley in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.

And, Iowa rubbed it in.

Hank Brown connected with Reece Vander Zee on a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Hawkeyes a 20-19 win over the Wolverines on Saturday.

Iowa had 2 seconds on the clock for the final snap of a 91-yard, game-winning drive. The Hawkeyes took advantage of the time, three weeks after Michigan was given a second to attempt a second Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan in a controversial finish in the same stadium.

As the Hawkeyes celebrated in a stunned Big House, they poked fun at college football's winningest team.

“ NO EXTRA TIME NECESSARY,” Iowa's football program posted on social media.

Iowa moved up three spots to No. 14 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday, ahead of its home game against No. 5 Ohio State.

Michigan, which fell from No. 18 to out of poll for the second time in the opening month of the season, will play its first road game at Minnesota on Saturday.

The Wolverines made costly mistakes in all three phases of the game against the Hawkeyes to lose for the first time under coach Kyle Whittingham.

After penalties were a problem in the first two games of the season, Michigan was flagged eight times for 75 yards.

One penalty, in particular, was a killer for the maize and blue.

On the Hawkeyes' last drive, Brown threw an incomplete pass on third-and-12 from his 40.

Instead of facing a fourth down, they had a first down at the Michigan 45 with 19 seconds left because fifth-year defensive back Zeke Berry pushed receiver Tony Diaz out of bounds and was called for unnecessary roughness.

“I didn’t really say anything to him because he’s an old enough guy to understand that’s a stupid penalty,” sixth-year defensive back Rod Moore said. “But you got to be smarter.”

Michigan's defense, which kept Iowa's offense scoreless for three quarters, had the last chance to make enough plays to hold on for the win.

The offense and special teams, too, wasted opportunities earlier in the game for the Wolverines to stay undefeated.

While sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood had his best game, completing 17 of 28 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, he threw an interception at the Iowa 2 in the third quarter. That was one of the missed opportunities for the offense, which went 2 of 4 in the red zone.

After Underwood threw his first of two touchdown passes to JJ Buchanan late in the first quarter, the Wolverines did not touch Braeden Jackson on a 99-yard kickoff return.

In the end, Michigan had one more shot to make a stop to seal the win and failed.

Brown, though, didn’t want to bite when asked if the victory was justice for Western Michigan.

“I’m not going to speak on that,” he said after a chuckle.

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The Gators' 24-point win over then-No. 4 Mississippi under first-year coach Jon Sumrall on Saturday earned them a 13-rung promotion to No. 8, their highest ranking since 2020 and first top-10 appearance since 2021.

Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame continued to hold the top three spots, Miami was a season-high No. 4 and Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5. Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and BYU completed the top 10.

The Longhorns received 62 first-place votes from the media voting panel, four more than last week, after they held off Tennessee 20-17 in their first road game.

Georgia, coming off a convincing win over Oklahoma and outscoring opponents by an average of 41.5 points per game, got six first-place votes, double its number last week. Miami and Indiana each received one first-place vote.

Mississippi State moved up eight spots to No. 16, its highest ranking in four years, for beating Missouri at home. Oregon was up five spots to No. 15 after winning on the road against Southern California. Houston also moved up five spots to No. 20 after winning at Georgia Southern.

Iowa earned its highest ranking since 2021, at No. 14, for knocking off Michigan on the road on the final play of the game.

Seven ranked teams lost in Week 4 and four dropped out of the poll. Penn State took the biggest fall, going from No. 13 to unranked after losing to Wisconsin at home.

In and out

No. 19 Oklahoma State, which won at West Virginia for its third straight victory after losing 21 straight against Bowl Subdivision opponents, is ranked for the first time in two years.

No. 22 Boise State of the Pac-12 is the first Group of Six team to crack the Top 25 this season. The Broncos' 25-point win at Western Michigan was their third straight win after a narrow loss at Oregon. They hadn't been ranked since the 2025 preseason poll.

No. 23 UCLA is 4-0 for the first time in four years after a 51-point road win over Maryland and is ranked for the first time in three years.

No. 24 Kentucky followed its win at Texas A&M with an easy victory at South Alabama to earn its first ranking since 2023.

In addition to Penn State, Michigan, Louisville and Texas A&M fell out of the Top 25.

Poll points

— Florida’s rise was the biggest since LSU leapt 14 spots, from No. 25 to No. 11, on Sept. 4, 2018.

— The Big 12's five ranked teams are the most since the conference had the same number ranked Oct. 26, 2025. It's just the sixth time in the 2020s the Big 12 has had that many in the Top 25.

— Georgia is in the Top 25 for the 700th time, which is 10th-most all-time.

— Alabama made its 300th straight appearance in the Top 25, the longest active streak and nearly double that of the next team (Georgia, 153).

Conference call

SEC (10 ranked teams): No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Florida, No. 9 Mississippi, No. 11 LSU, No. 16 Mississippi State, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 24 Kentucky, No. 25 Missouri.

Big Ten (6): No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 Indiana, No. 14 Iowa, No. 15 Oregon, No. 18 USC, No. 23 UCLA).

Big 12 (5): No. 10 BYU, No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 13 Utah, No. 19 Oklahoma State, No. 20 Houston.

ACC (2): No. 4 Miami, No. 21 SMU.

Pac-12 (1): No. 22 Boise State.

Independent (1): No. 3 Notre Dame.

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa: Buckeyes were ranked No. 3 when they last visited Kinnick Stadium, in 2017, and the 55-24 loss killed their playoff hopes.

No. 7 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State: Crimson Tide have won 16 straight in the series, and most of the games haven't been close.

No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri: Tigers have won last two meetings in Columbia, on a field goal with 5 seconds left in 2023 and on a 2-point conversion pass in overtime in 2021.

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Evans is now “just furious with myself” for those votes. The 56-year-old from Portland described Collins’ critical vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, where President Donald Trump's nominee eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion, as a betrayal.

“I was a really uninformed voter,” Evans said. “I thought any woman from Maine was probably in line with me.”

The Nov. 3 election will be the first time Collins is on the ballot since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, resulting in abortion being banned in much of the United States. This time, Evans says she is backing Democrat Troy Jackson, a former state lawmaker and logger trying to deny Collins a sixth term.

Jackson and Democrats are hoping that voters like Evans will help flip a seat in a state the party has made a priority in the quest to retake the Senate.

Both Collins and Jackson have made an effort to appeal to women, who make up the majority of Maine's population and have had a slightly higher rate of voting than men, according to a recent report by democracy advocacy groups. In campaign ads from both candidates, women are featured prominently.

Democrats' ads have focused heavily on Collins' vote in support of Kavanaugh and describe her as caving to Trump. The Democratic-aligned advocacy group Affordable Maine has spent nearly $10 million on ads stressing the senator's backing of other Trump-appointed judges who oppose abortion. An additional $32 million has been spent by Win Senate, a political action committee focused on Collins. Planned Parenthood Votes has so far spent at least $500,000 to run ads that include a female voter who regrets voting for Collins because of her Kavanaugh vote.

Yet Jackson is facing a steep challenge.

Collins has a 30-year record of winning elections even as Maine voters have spurned Republican presidential nominees, including Trump, since 1988.

And the issue trails others in terms of importance to voters. A New York Times/Siena poll conducted in September found that when asked in their own words what one issue will be most important in deciding their vote for Congress in November, almost no likely Maine voters mentioned abortion.

‘I do not regret’ voting to confirm Kavanaugh, Collins says

Collins has long called herself a “pro-choice” Republican and a supporter of a woman’s right to an abortion. She was one of the few Republicans endorsed by Planned Parenthood earlier in her political career. In 2022, she co-sponsored legislation to put federal protections for abortion into law.

The position has put her at odds with her party but was in line with Maine voters.

In 2020, the last time Collins sought reelection, the vast majority of Maine voters in the Senate race, 76%, said the Supreme Court should not overturn Roe v. Wade, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate. That included most Collins voters. Some 35% of voters who supported Collins in her successful reelection bid said they wanted Roe to be overturned.

Collins' 2018 vote in support of Kavanaugh was crucial to his confirmation. At the time, Collins waited months before announcing her decision in a 45-minute floor speech. The final vote was 50-48.

Kavanaugh later joined the 6-3 conservative majority in stripping away constitutional rights to abortion.

Collins criticized the high court’s decision in 2022, but she has never publicly wavered in her decision to confirm Kavanaugh. She told reporters in June that “I do not regret that vote.” Collins had said before the 2018 vote that Kavanaugh, in a two-hour meeting with her, said he viewed Roe as settled law.

But her confirmation vote is what stands out in the minds of voters like Bente Lundh, 67, of Falmouth.

“She’s positioned herself as this moderate voter, but she’s really chopped that down with her vote for Kavanaugh,” Lundh said.

For others, Collins’ long-standing record as a moderate continues to draw their support even if they are disappointed with the eventual overturning of Roe.

“I think I’ve tried to not have my allegiance to party make me blind to what may be a better path from time to time,” said Mary Ann Lynch, a Democrat supporting Collins. “Neither party, in my view, has a monopoly on the truth and how best to do things. So I think it’s really important to have people who will reach across the aisle.”

Lynch added that Collins may have voted to confirm Kavanaugh, but she also voted to confirm Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who dissented in the abortion ruling. They were nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Jackson makes his case to women, abortion rights supporters

Since launching his campaign in July, Jackson has announced a “Women for Troy” coalition made up of women from all 16 Maine counties and he has secured endorsements from abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All.

Jackson was serving as a top state senator when the landmark 1973 decision was upended in 2022. He says he worked to pass “some of the strongest protections for abortion access in the country.”

Yet Jackson has had his own hurdles.

The Democrat became a last-minute Senate nominee after Graham Platner dropped out this summer following criticism of his past relationships with women and a sexual assault allegation, which Platner denies. Jackson is now scrambling to win over voters who may be wary of his connection to Platner. The two campaigned together as Jackson initially sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination but lost.

Jackson also has had to explain the evolution of his support on abortion rights and same-sex marriage, both of which he opposed years ago. Jackson now says he was wrong about his past beliefs and changed his mind after talking to women. Jackson's campaign spokesperson Maggie Amjad said Jackson now holds a “100% rating from Maine's Planned Parenthood."

Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Collins, described the senator as the only “reliably pro-choice” candidate in the race.

Abortion is not top of mind for Maine voters

While Jackson is reminding voters of Collins’ role in the abortion rights fight, he is doing so in a state that was not highly affected by the decision compared with Republican-controlled regions where many abortion clinics have shuttered, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine.

“If you were in a state where all of the abortion clinics had closed, then that might be a bigger issue," Brewer said. "That has not been the case here.”

The state’s Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2023 approved a law that allows abortions at any time if deemed medically necessary by a doctor, and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has enacted legislation protecting providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from legal action brought by other states.

A CNN/SSRS survey of likely Maine voters conducted in late August and early September found that most voters are still unhappy about the decision to overturn Roe, but that anger over the loss of abortion rights could be overshadowed by broader concerns about the economy.

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Kruesi reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.

The demonstrators, many wearing balaclavas, congregated on a street in the town, where many favor unification with the Republic of Ireland. They came after an early hours decision from the High Court in Belfast to give the parade the go-ahead.

It's the first time in nearly 30 years that the Orange Order parade has been allowed to go down the Garvaghy Road, which had been a notorious flashpoint between the communities in the years before the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 largely ended the bloodshed in Northern Ireland. During the so-called Troubles, some 3,600 people were killed while some 50,000 were wounded.

Ending the Troubles meant balancing competing identities in Northern Ireland, which remained in the United Kingdom when the rest of Ireland won independence a century ago. Irish nationalists in the north — most of them Catholic — seek union with the Republic of Ireland, while largely Protestant unionists want to stay part of the U.K.

Both sides appeared to be adhering to calls from across the political spectrum, including from British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, to avoid stoking tensions further.

“I am hoping we will bring all of today’s events to a sensible and peaceful conclusion," said Jon Boutcher, the head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Boutcher said there had been many “sensible voices” calling for calm which he thought had been “listened to by all parties."

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, who represents Sinn Fein, the party historically linked to the Irish Republican Army, faced criticism for attending the unlicensed protest on the Garvaghy Road to support the local community.

“She’s the head of an executive and she is prepared to wilfully disregard the ruling of our courts, the determination by the statutory body charged with determining parades in Northern Ireland,” said Gavin Robinson, who is the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest pro-U.K. party in Northern Ireland.

O'Neill, whose government is made up of a cross-section of Northern Ireland parties as part of the power-sharing agreement within the Good Friday Agreement, defended her actions, saying “the progress of the last 28 years have been brought into question by the actions of the Orange Order and those within political unionism that want to drag us backwards.”

For days, there had been uncertainty about whether the parade, which celebrates Northern Ireland's Protestant heritage and links with the U.K. was given the final go-ahead at a court hearing concluded at 2:15 a.m. Sunday, a move that prompted the protesters to take to the street.

The Orange Order is named after William of Orange, a Protestant prince of Holland who defeated the Catholic King James to take over the British throne in the 17th century.

Zverev — who captured his first two Grand Slam titles this year by winning the French Open and U.S. Open — beat Learner Tien 7-6 (3), 6-3 to make it a 13-5 victory for Europe.

Zverev has been a part of all six Team Europe victories in the Ryder Cup-style event, and owns the most Laver Cup singles wins with eight.

“Winning as a team — there’s no better feeling in sports,” Zverev said. “We don’t have enough of it in tennis. Being among these great players you normally see across the net every single week, it’s just fun being out here.”

Team World had won in San Francisco last year.

It was an improved performance for Zverev after his nine-match winning streak in singles — his U.S. Open title and two Davis Cup victories for Germany last weekend — ended with a loss to Alex de Minaur on Saturday.

“I haven’t won a Laver Cup match in two years, so I’m happy I did it today,” Zverev said. “Massive credit to the entire Team World. They pushed us all the way again. ... We had a great team. We have a great team chemistry.”

The 13th-ranked Tien had beaten Flavio Cobolli in his Laver Cup debut on Saturday.

Earlier, Cobolli and Jakub Mensik extended Europe’s lead by beating De Minaur and Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in doubles.

Zverev’s victory sealed with it three matches to spare — which meant that Carlos Alcaraz didn’t need to take the court for the third match of the day against De Minaur.

“We had three chances to close it out in singles,” Zverev said. “Especially with Carlos playing after me, it gave me a little bit of confidence.”

Using Zverev’s nickname, Team World captain Andre Agassi said during the trophy presentation: “Congratulations, Sascha, on the crazy year.”

Alcaraz won a doubles match with Mensik on Friday and a singles match over Fritz on Saturday.

Wins are worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday. The first team to reach 13 points wins.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

Russia’s top diplomat on Saturday brushed off what’s believed to have been the first face-to-face meeting with his German counterpart since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting was held during the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders, as an intensifying aerial war between Russia and Ukraine showed no sign of slowing.

Ties between Russia and Germany have soured in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack last month at Leipzig airport that Berlin blamed on the Kremlin.

With front-line positions largely unchanged since last year, Moscow has hammered its neighbor with cruise and ballistic missiles, powerful glide bombs and jet-powered drones in recent months. Meanwhile, Kyiv’s long-range drones have targeted Russian oil refineries and businesses.

Strikes kill 8 in Ukraine, 1 in Russia

In Kyiv, a man was found dead after a Russian drone hit a non-residential building overnight, according to Ukraine’s emergency service.

Later on Sunday, Russian drone strikes killed one person and wounded at least five on the outskirts of the capital, according to local administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In Kyiv itself, a drone hit a 9-story apartment block, wounding at least one woman, according to municipal authorities.

In Russian-occupied Ukraine, a strike by Kyiv's forces on Sunday killed a civilian woman in Enerhodar, the town housing Europe’s largest nuclear plant, according to its Kremlin-installed mayor. Maxim Pukhov said the Ukrainian drones also wounded two others.

Russian forces also attacked Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, which surrounds the country’s main Black Sea port, multiple times overnight into Sunday, killing one person and wounding two, according to the head of the local military administration, Oleh Kiper.

On Sunday afternoon, a woman and a 16-year-old girl were killed as Russian guided bombs struck the city of Sumy in northern Ukraine, regional administration head Oleh Hryhorov reported. He said five other people were wounded.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region, two people died and two more were injured after Russian drones struck passenger cars, the regional prosecutor's office reported.

In Russia's Belgorod border region, a woman died in a hospital on Sunday after being wounded in a Ukrainian strike, regional authorities said.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck twice at a data center in Kyiv on Sunday morning, wounding two children and an adult. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces struck multiple data centers in Kyiv on Sunday that it claimed were providing internet to Ukraine's armed forces.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly blamed each other for damaging power lines supplying Enerhodar's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Moscow captured early in the war. The plant is not in service, but needs power to keep cooling systems running and maintain safety.

Russia's Lavrov brushes off rare Germany meeting

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was dismissive after the meeting in New York, which was held at German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul’s request. Lavrov said that Wadephul “simply reiterated his official position condemning Russia”.

“You can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not,” he said.

Wadephul expressed openness to a better relationship but said it required a genuine willingness from Russia’s leadership to end the war in Ukraine, according to a German delegation official.

An overwhelming majority of U.N. member nations have repeatedly condemned Moscow’s invasion. The Kremlin describes the war as a “special military operation” intended to ensure Russia’s security and the rights of Russian speakers.

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

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang departed Chengdu in southwestern China early Sunday aboard a dedicated “FedEx Panda Express” Boeing 777 aircraft, officials said. A new agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association makes Atlanta one of three zoos in the U.S. to house giant pandas, along with the San Diego Zoo in California and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

“This is a thrilling day for Zoo Atlanta and a historic moment for the City of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and beyond,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement. “We are elated to welcome Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and could not be more excited about sharing that joy with our Members, guests, city, and community in the coming weeks."

Zoo visitors will have to wait awhile to see Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, officials said. The bears will be quarantined for about a month in a biosecure area of the wildlife park's new giant panda complex. Park officials haven't confirmed a specific opening date.

The pandas' arrival was announced Thursday by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The loan of the pandas was one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of the state visit, which saw expressions of goodwill between the leaders, but no fixes to any of the long-standing differences between the two countries.

Atlanta said farewell to its last pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without the bears. The new agreement was announced back in April, but without any dates.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will be on loan to Zoo Atlanta for 10 years as part of the agreement. Both pandas were born in 2020 and were kept at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Ping Ping, the male, has dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a forehead that protrudes a bit, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

China has long used the pandas as part of its diplomacy globally, deploying the bears in loan programs as expressions of goodwill and letting loan agreements lapse when tensions arise.

Xi had said the loan program was an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”

Welcome back, NBA.

Media Day — the spectacle where teams open their doors for interviews and photo shoots — for most teams is Monday, a prelude to the start of training camp practices on Tuesday. Houston and Dallas held their media events last week, as they were permitted to start early because they have overseas travel coming during the preseason.

For the other 28 clubs, the journey officially starts Monday.

“I'm going to get back to my real job,” reigning NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson of the champion New York Knicks said as he signed off from his role hosting the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.

There are six coaches in new roles entering the season, including Dallas' Dusty May — who led Michigan to the NCAA title last spring and then found an offer to jump to the NBA with the Mavs too enticing to turn down.

May's first Dallas camp is already underway. The other five new coaches — Jamahl Mosley in New Orleans, Sean Sweeney in Orlando, Taylor Jenkins in Milwaukee, Tiago Splitter in Chicago and Micah Nori in Portland — will lead their first practices in their new spots on Tuesday.

“There have been a few active coaches that I've leaned on for advice, not as much strategy as just the day-to-day planning, the future, things like that,” May said, talking about how he's gotten ready to go from leading a college program to an NBA one. “It's more of just trying to figure out what my routine is going to be, what our routine is going to be.”

May isn't alone on that front. Everybody — from first-year coaches to 24th-year players — will be figuring things out.

James, now the first player in NBA history to enter a 24th season, will begin his expected final chapter with his inaugural camp with the 76ers. He made the NBA world wait a few weeks before announcing his decision over the summer to join to Philadelphia on a two-year deal, then explained some of his rationale for the move last week on a podcast he shares with Steve Nash.

If James wins a title in Philadelphia, the 76ers would be the fourth franchise to become champions with him on the roster. James won two championships in Miami, one in Cleveland and one with the Los Angeles Lakers. And if that Philly title happens, it would give Joel Embiid his first ring — which is part of James' motivation.

“I hope I can be that final little piece that can help him get over the hump and have him maybe just see it a little bit differently than he’s seen in his career as far as the day-to-day process,” James said on the “Mind The Game” podcast last week. "The day-to-day what it takes to get there.”

Antetokounmpo got traded to Miami, where he'll join Bam Adebayo and newly acquired Klay Thompson in an effort to get the Heat back into contention. Leonard — hoping to move past a turbulent end to his Los Angeles Clippers tenure — has been traded back to Toronto, after leading the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title. And Curry agreed last week to a two-year extension with Golden State, even though nobody around him or the Warriors ever thought he would seriously consider playing elsewhere.

“For years to come,” the Warriors wrote to Curry in a social media post.

After media day, a few teams hit the road for at least a portion of their training camps. Preseason games start Saturday — Miami faces Toronto in Quebec City, with exhibitions running through Oct. 16. And then opening night or really opening day this year, is Oct. 20 with Boston at Detroit in a 3 p.m. EDT tip to start the season, followed by Philadelphia at the Knicks that evening and Oklahoma City visiting San Antonio in a matchup of last season's Western Conference finals.

Plenty of teams expect to contend. Surprises are certain. Disappointments are certain, too. And the road toward whatever the final destination is starts now.

“Part of our mindset is going to be growth every single day and becoming a championship level team,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “No one is a championship level team on September 29th. There’s not a team in the league that is a championship level team. That is an ongoing process throughout the year.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

The rerelease grossed $26 million over the weekend and another $60 million overseas, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film, which grossed $2.8 billion in 2019, was put back into theaters with several new end-credits scenes and an introductory thank you to fans from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans.

Among rereleases, only the 1997 release of “Star Wars: A New Hope” ($35.9 million) and the 2011 repeat of “The Lion King” ($30.2 million) have opened higher than “Endgame” in domestic cinemas.

Hollywood has increasingly turned to rereleases in recent years to take advantage of holes in the release schedule. But The Walt Disney Co. rerun, billed as “Endgame: Encore,” came out on top on an especially crowded weekend in theaters.

Three well-reviewed new releases — A24’s “Primetime,” with Robert Pattinson; Paramount Pictures’ “Heart of the Beast,” with Brad Pitt; and Universal Pictures’ “Forgotten Island” — all landed in theaters.

Second place, though, went to Zach Cregger’s reboot of “Resident Evil.” The Sony Pictures release followed up its above-expectations debut with $23.3 million in its second weekend. In two weeks, the video-game adaptation has grossed $103.5 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters.

In a close race for third place, “Heart of the Beast” came out just ahead of “Primetime” with an estimated $20 million from 3,435 theaters. Directed by David Ayer, the film stars Pitt as a retired veteran who must trek through the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog after a plane crash. It added $30.1 million in international theaters.

Pattinson drives ‘Primetime’ sales

But the opening for “Primetime” was more impressive. “Heart of the Beast” cost $82 million to produce, making its path to profitability challenging. “Primetime,” starring Pattinson as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen, was made with a modest budget of $15 million and it opened in 500 fewer theaters.

Yet “Primetime,” buoyed by strong reviews and buzz out of the Venice Film Festival, debuted with $19.2 million. For Pattinson, who also starred this year in A24’s “The Drama” and Universal’s “The Odyssey,” the strong performance showed the actor’s drawing power with Gen Z audiences.

Some 69% of ticket buyers for “Primetime” were under the age of 30. Gen Z has emerged as the most regular moviegoing demographic, fueling hits this year like “Obsession” and “Backrooms.” “Primetime” is directed by 30-year-old documentarian Lance Oppenheim, who co-directed the much-anticipated Elizabeth Holmes documentary, “You Can See Everything,” due out next month.

“Forgotten Island,” from DreamWorks Animation, had a hard time standing out. The film, which cost $80 million to make, opened in fifth place with a disappointing $12.8 million domestically. In 31 overseas markets, “Forgotten Island” also didn’t make much of a dent, grossing $7.8 million internationally.

Universal will hope family audiences catch up to the movie that landed the weekend’s best CinemaScore (an “A”) and the best reviews (94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). “Forgotten Island,” directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, is about two friends who get stranded in a mystical world.

The confluence of releases added up to a historically good September weekend in theaters. According to Rentrak, ticket sales were up 58.5% from the same weekend last year. The domestic box office has massed $7.8 billion thus far, putting it 19% ahead of last year.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

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

1. “Avengers: Endgame: Encore,” $26 million.

2. “Resident Evil,” $23.3 million.

3. “Heart of the Beast,” $20 million.

4. “Primetime,” $19.2 million.

5. “Forgotten Island,” $12.8 million.

6. “Practical Magic 2,” $5.7 million.

7. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” $4.1 million.

8. “The Odyssey,” $3.7 million.

9. “Coyote vs. Acme,” $1.9 million.

10. “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace,” $1.5 million.

The sixth-ranked Noskova and the eighth-ranked Muchova each won their singles matches Sunday as Czechia beat Ukraine 2-0 in the final of the women's tennis team event.

Noskova sealed it by beating the seventh-ranked Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (5) after Muchova beat 47th-ranked Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-3.

“We just have the vibe in the locker room,” Muchova said.

On Noskova's third match point, she hit a big serve and a big forehand that Svitolina could barely get her racket on. Then Noskova dropped on her back as Czech captain Barbora Strycova ran out to celebrate with her.

Noskova served 10 aces to Svitolina's six.

Czechia, formerly known as the Czech Republic, earned its 12th title in the competition previously called the Fed Cup — and first since 2018. Only the United States, which did not qualify for the finals, has won more with a record 18 titles.

Strycova became the fourth woman to win the competition as both a player and a captain, joining Margaret Court, Chris Evert and event namesake Billie Jean King.

Strycova won six titles with Czechia as a player before assuming the captaincy this year.

Czechia also shut out Britain in the quarterfinals and Spain in the semifinals — meaning that its top-ranked doubles standout Katerina Siniakova never even had to play this week.

“I’m really glad that we didn’t ever have to go into doubles, the deciding match, which is always the most stressful one,” Noskova said.

In this year's all-Czech Wimbledon final, Noskova beat Muchova for her first Grand Slam title.

Ukraine eliminated two-time defending champion Italy in the semifinals and was playing its first final.

Ukraine was without 10th-ranked Marta Kostyuk due to a right wrist injury.

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See AP’s full tennis coverage here

The city council of Heidenau, southeast of Dresden, on Thursday voted to end the practice of laying the engraved brass plaques featuring the names of Holocaust victims into sidewalks — often in place of cobblestones and near the homes where they once lived.

Created by German artist Gunter Demnig, the Stolpersteine, or “stumbling blocks” in German, are the palm-sized memorial plaques that bear the names and fates of Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis. They have become a prominent form of Holocaust remembrance in Germany.

The first block was laid in the western city of Cologne in 1992, and today more than 126,000 can be found in over 30 countries across Europe, honoring some of the 6 million Jews and others killed in the Holocaust.

City councilors from the AfD and Merz's center-right Christian Democratic Union came together behind the municipal action, whose promoters claimed that many relatives of Holocaust victims consider the stones to be an inappropriate form of remembrance because passersby walk on them.

Strong reactions criticize the move

But Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, said he was “ashamed,” adding that some of the plaques in Berlin commemorated his own relatives. “And in Germany in the year 2026, a city council decides to no longer install new Stolpersteine,” he wrote on X.

Many Jews have traveled to Germany to attend the stone-laying ceremonies, often to remember victims who were gassed in Nazi concentration camps. The plaque-covered blocks amount to the closest thing to a grave or a burial.

Christian Meyer-Heidemann, the state commissioner for political education in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, blasted the decision in Heidenau, telling the German news agency dpa that it amounted to "a deliberate attack on our culture of remembrance.”

The town of about 16,000 is not alone in rejecting the plaque commemorations. Munich does not permit Stolpersteine to be laid on city-owned land, and has come up with alternative memorials. Some Jewish leaders there have objected to them on the grounds that they allow victims’ names to be trampled on.

AfD has tried to downplay Nazi-era crimes

The anti-immigration AfD, which has a stronghold in eastern Germany, has been riding a wave of popularity. The party is fresh off electoral successes in two states, and polls suggest it’s now the most popular party in Germany.

Merz, the CDU leader, has rejected any cooperation with the AfD, which has been criticized for brushing aside memories of the Nazi era that have influenced Germany’s politics and mindset throughout the postwar era.

The AfD's successes have tested the longstanding policy of mainstream parties not to cooperate with it. The party has been classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as an extremist group in some regions.

“Following the AfD’s electoral successes, it was certainly to be expected that something like this would happen,” Demnig was quoted as saying by dpa. He accused the CDU of “leaving their Christian roots behind.”

South Africa has struggled with violent crime for years, but recent shooting incidents have shocked a country used to some of the highest homicide rates in the world.

In the first attack, eight gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and pistols opened fire at a bar near Johannesburg late on Saturday. The South African Police Service said 17 people were killed at the small venue in Wedela township, southwest of South Africa's biggest city.

The attackers fired at patrons outside the bar before moving inside and continuing to shoot. The victims included 13 men and four women, with at least 15 other people injured, police said.

The gunmen searched some of the patrons and took their mobile phones before escaping in two vehicles. Two cars were set alight outside the bar during the shooting.

Around four hours later, 10 people were killed and 11 wounded in a shooting at a store linked to what police described as an entertainment venue in Lwandle township, near Cape Town, South Africa's second biggest city. Police said they were searching for multiple suspects, though they didn’t give an exact number.

No arrests have been made in either case. Police deployed specialized units to both townships and surrounding areas in the hunt for the gunmen.

The attacks came five days after another mass shooting in a township near Durban killed at least 11 people, including a pregnant woman, when multiple gunmen attacked a house party in KwaMakhutha township. Police have not reported any arrests.

South Africa's gun violence problem

Wedela resident Siyabonga Nondabula said there had been shootings in the area in the past involving illegal mining gangs, but none of them targeted so many people.

“Seventeen people and (maybe) even more have died, this has never happened here,” he said. "So I feel very sad and traumatized.”

A high rate of killings is a longstanding problem for Africa's most advanced economy, but the phenomenon of mass shootings is becoming more common, according to experts, with recent killings often being carried out by multiple gunmen.

Gun homicides mostly affect South Africa's poorest communities in townships and informal settlements made up of shacks and small homes on the edges of many big cities. Police have linked some of the recent shootings, including last week's house party killings near Durban, to criminal gangs.

Other recent mass shootings include one in June in a poor neighborhood of Johannesburg that killed 12 people, and two in the space of two weeks in December that left a total of 21 people dead.

Soldiers deployed to help police fight crime

South Africa's violent crime problem prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy soldiers on the streets in March in a yearlong operation to combat crime in some of the country's worst-affected areas. The deployment included high-crime areas around Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as other areas.

Announcing the deployment, Ramaphosa said crime by organized gangs was the biggest threat to South Africa's democracy and economic development. Some critics viewed the use of soldiers on the streets as an admission that police were failing.

Soldiers were deployed Sunday to the scene of the bar shooting in Wedela.

South Africa has on average 60 homicides a day

South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides in the three-months ending June 30, an average of nearly 60 a day, according to police statistics.

Shootings are the most common method of homicide in the country. Police and crime experts have long identified the large number of illegal firearms in circulation as a major problem.

Firearm ownership is legal in South Africa but heavily regulated and subject to strict competency requirements. Estimates from political parties and the country’s national gun owners association suggest that between 2 million and 6 million illegal firearms are in circulation. Those groups say the weapons are used in the vast majority of gun homicides.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa