Now, it’s time to say thank you and honor those special educators who have made a difference in so many lives.

[READ: Official rules for Educator of the Week]

Do you know an educator who has inspired you, your child or your community? Here’s your chance to show your appreciation by nominating them for the Educator of the Week spotlight!

Each week, we celebrate outstanding teachers who go above and beyond with our Educator of the Week spotlight. These local heroes deserve recognition for their dedication and hard work.

Submit your nomination by using the form below.

Tell us about the educator who has made a difference in your life or the lives of others.

Be sure to tune in every Thursday morning to see the latest honoree and learn about the inspiring educators making a positive impact in our community.

Let’s come together to celebrate and thank our teachers.

Nominate an educator now and help us give them the recognition they deserve!

MEET THE WINNERS!

Lucia Belliveau: Educator of the Week (9/18/25)

Lindsey Stillwell: Educator of the Week (9/25/25)

Jennifer Celentano: Educator of the Week (10/2/25)

Emalee Rowlands: Educator of the Week (10/9/25)

Jenny Henley: Educator of the Week (10/23/25)

Jennifer Downs: Educator of the Week (10/30/25)

Jaquelyn Rifenburg: Educator of the Week (11/6/25)

Carrie Crowe: Educator of the Week (11/13/25)

Christina Nugin: Educator of the Week (11/20/25)

Derek Antoniazzi: Educator of the Week (11/27/25)

Carol Unterreiner: Educator of the Week (12/4/25)

Jacmely Savignon: Educator of the Week (12/11/25)

Lydia Hernandez: Educator of the Week (12/18/25)

Marie Eid: Educator of the Week (1/8/26)

Melissa Greenhill: Educator of the Week (1/15/26)

Dorothy Gemarino: Educator of the Week (1/22/26)

Kerida Partchment-Fuller: Educator of the Week (1/29/26)

Marie Fields: Educator of the Week (2/5/26)

Jamoa Smith: Educator of the Week (2/12/26)

Danielle Mosely: Educator of the Week (2/19/26)

Deirdre Cardona: Educator of the Week (2/26/26)

Quincy Smith: Educator of the Week (3/5/26)

Mareka Lovett: Educator of the Week (3/12/26)

Ana Camunas: Educator of the Week (4/2/26)

Christine Darbin: Educator of the Week (4/9/26)

Karen Rodier: Educator of the Week (4/16/26)

Chanin Goetz: Educator of the Week (4/23/26)

The order signed by Todd Blanche does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law. But it does change the way it's regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III. It also gives licensed medical marijuana operators a major tax break and eases some barriers to researching cannabis.

The Trump administration also said it was jump-starting the process for reclassifying marijuana more broadly, setting a hearing to begin in late June.

Trump told his administration in December to work as quickly as possible to reclassify marijuana. On Saturday, as the Republican president signed an unrelated executive order about psychedelics, he seemed to express frustration that it was taking so long.

Blanche said Thursday that the Department of Justice was “delivering on President Trump’s promise” to expand Americans’ access to medical treatment options. “This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” he said in a statement.

What the marijuana reclassification order does

Blanche's action Iargely legitimizes medical marijuana programs in the 40 states that have adopted them. It sets up an expedited system for state-licensed medical marijuana producers and distributors to register with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It makes clear that cannabis researchers won't be penalized for obtaining state-licensed marijuana or marijuana-derived products for use in their work, and it grants state-licensed medical marijuana companies a windfall by allowing them, for the first time, to deduct business expenses on their federal taxes.

Any marijuana-derived medicine approved by the Food and Drug Administration is similarly listed in Schedule III, it said.

The order represents a major policy shift for the U.S. government, which has continued its longstanding marijuana prohibition — dating to the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 — even as nearly all the states have approved cannabis use in some form. Two dozen states plus Washington, D.C., have authorized adult recreational use of marijuana, 40 have medical marijuana systems, and eight others allow low-THC cannabis or CBD oil for medical use. Only Idaho and Kansas ban marijuana outright.

The regulation of medical marijuana has come a long way since California became the first state to adopt it in 1996, Blanche wrote.

“Today the vast majority of States maintain comprehensive licensing frameworks governing cultivation, processing, distribution, and dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes,” Blanche wrote. “Taken as a whole, they demonstrate a sustained capacity to achieve the public-interest objectives ... including protecting public health and safety and preventing the diversion of controlled substances into illicit channels.”

The president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, Michael Bronstein, called it “the most significant federal advancement in cannabis policy in over 50 years."

“This action recognizes what Americans have long known, cannabis is medicine,” he said in a written statement.

Critic calls the order ‘a tax break to Big Weed’

The Trump administration’s decision drew derision from marijuana legalization opponent Kevin Sabet, the chief executive of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Sabet said that while marijuana research is necessary, "there are many ways to increase our knowledge without giving a tax break to Big Weed and sending a confusing message about marijuana’s harms to the American public.”

“With this move, we are now confronted with the most pro-drug administration in our history,” Sabet said in a text message. “Policy is now being dictated by marijuana CEOs, psychedelics investors, and podcasters in active addiction."

Marijuana or marijuana-derived products that are not distributed through a state medical marijuana program will continue to be classified in Schedule I.

Schedule III drugs are defined as having moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Some critics of the industry have suggested that legalization in the states has led to stronger and stronger cannabis products, which need to be researched rather than categorized less strictly than before.

The efforts to reclassify marijuana

The Justice Department under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had proposed to reclassify marijuana, eliciting nearly 43,000 formal public comments. The DEA was still in the review process when Trump succeeded Biden, and Trump ordered that process to move along as quickly as legally possible.

Blanche's order sidestepped the review process by relying on a provision of federal law that allows the attorney general to determine the appropriate classification for drugs that the U.S. must regulate pursuant to an international treaty.

It was unclear how the order might affect operations in states where licensed recreational marijuana shops also sell to medical patients. In Washington state, which in 2012 became one of the first states to legalize the adult use of marijuana, 302 of 460 licensed stores have endorsements allowing them to sell tax-free cannabis products to registered patients.

Many Republicans oppose loosening marijuana restrictions. More than 20 Republican senators, several of them staunch Trump allies, signed a letter last year urging the president to keep the current standards.

Trump has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl, a feature of his second term, ordering U.S. military attacks on Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying drugs. He signed another executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.

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This story has been corrected to show the name of the 1937 law was spelled Marihuana, not Marijuana.

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Johnson reported from Seattle.

Thousands of people were injured in the violence, with more than 800 people having gunshot wounds.

The commission chairman, Mohamed Chande Othman, said that the number of deaths was likely to be higher, because some families buried their loved ones without taking their bodies to morgues.

Tanzania experienced postelection violence on Oct. 29, after young people took to the streets, accusing the government of silencing the opposition, as the country’s main opposition party leader remained in prison for treason and the presidential candidate for the second-largest opposition party was barred from running.

The internet was shut down in the country for days, a move that President Samia Suluhu Hassan later apologized to the diplomatic community for and promised would never happen again.

Hassan was seeking a second term in office after serving out the term of her predecessor, John Magufuli, after he died in office. Hassan won with 97% of the vote, and some international observers said the election fell short of a free and fair vote.

Othman recommended that a further investigation be conducted on the use of firearms, as some of the witnesses told the commission that their loved ones were shot while sitting inside their houses.

Since the violence, 245 people remain unaccounted for, and 39 families reported having seen the bodies of their loved ones in morgues before they later disappeared.

The commission ruled out the presence of mass graves, as alleged by human rights groups.

The commission concluded that the demonstrations weren't peaceful but were “acts of violence” based on their contravention of laws requiring a 48-hour police notice and because it was an election day, thus denying some citizens the right to vote.

Othman said that the protests were planned and coordinated by people who had been recruited and trained, and violence occurred simultaneously in various locations to confuse the police.

Her nails are down to the quick, except for her thumbs, which feature inch-long talons covered in fancy silver swirls.

Unable to afford a new set of nails as Cuba’s economic crises grind on, the 56-year-old cafeteria worker opted instead to do her lashes, a cheaper alternative she hoped would draw people’s attention upward.

Severe shortages of water, power and money combined with a U.S energy blockade has deepened poverty and increased hunger across the island as severe blackouts persist. Even those who are more affluent are now eliminating long-established and often beloved routines as they adapt to increasingly dire realities.

“The Cuban woman likes to look beautiful — to do her hair, do her nails, do her feet — and wear perfume,” Zamora said. “I don’t look how I would like to look.”

Changes in beauty routines

Melina Colás knows the feeling.

The young manicurist who works in Havana recently got long braids to celebrate her birthday but quickly realized it’s a difficult style to maintain given chronic water shortages.

She used to wear her hair long and straightened but has decided to cut it and wear it natural, even though she thinks it would not suit what she called her short stature and round face.

“Before, you could do whatever you wanted,” she said of hairstyles when water was readily available. “Not now.”

Colás also has tweaked things at the salon where she works.

She has learned patience, aware clients show up late because public transportation is scarce.

And she now relies on a mix of water and vinegar in a spray bottle to offset water shortages – a concoction she said also helps soften clients’ cuticles and staves off a growing number of fungus cases because time between manicure appointments is growing longer for many.

“Some cases are critical,” Colás said.

She also lamented how the island’s economic crisis and shrinking budgets have led to a drop in customers, a trend that hairstylist Betty Ramírez Aldana, 50, also has noticed.

“It really came as a shock to me, because I’ve lost a lot of clients,” he said on a recent afternoon at a makeshift hair salon with bubblegum pink walls. “Normally by now I’d have five, six, eight clients. Look at the hour. And no one has showed up.”

The hair salon where he works recently spent three weeks without water, since electricity powers many pump stations on the island and severe outages are commonplace. He no longer can provide certain hair straightening treatments, so he offers clients options including flattering cuts.

“A lot of them have opted to embrace their natural curly hair,” he said.

An increasing number of women also have been forced to grow out their roots given a lack of gasoline and public transportation, coupled with withering budgets, Ramírez said.

Those who can afford it call him for home visits, with the original customer likely joined “by her aunt and the upstairs neighbor. I don’t serve one, I serve two or three,” he said.

A demand to lift the US energy blockade

Beauty aside, Cubans also are agonizing over being forced to cut corners on basic hygiene: some say they are washing their hair only twice a month, and clothes stay dirtier longer.

Antonia Isalgués Barrién, 60, who works for a state-run company running boats from eastern Havana to the heart of the capital, said she hangs her clothes outside every day after working on a boat because she doesn’t have water to wash them.

“It’s very hot here in Cuba; you sweat a lot,” she said, recalling how she used to wash clothes nearly daily. “I’ve never been forced to hang clothes in the fresh air… and then put them on again.”

Isalgués said she has noticed a surge in the number of passengers as a growing number of gas stations close and only a handful of public buses remain in circulation.

Cuba had spent three months without fuel shipments until a Russian tanker arrived in late March with 730,000 barrels of oil. It is expected to last only nine or 10 days.

Iván de los Ángeles Arias, a 44-year-old boat pilot, often boards the boat for a five-minute ride across the Bay of Havana, keeping his car at home for emergency use only.

“That’s the reality we’re forced to live,” he said. “You deal with it as best you can.”

U.S. diplomats flew to Cuba earlier this month to meet with top government officials for the first time since 2016 as tensions remain high between the two countries.

Cuba’s government has said that the elimination of the U.S. energy embargo was a top priority for its delegation, calling it an “act of economic coercion” and “unjustified punishment.”

In late January, just weeks after the U.S. invaded Venezuela in a move that halted critical oil shipments to Cuba, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, which produces only 40% to meet its needs.

The U.S. has called for an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners and liberalization of the island’s imploding economy as part of several conditions to lift its sanctions on Cuba.

Arias, the boat pilot, said he didn’t think the talks will change anything for him.

“I have no hope,” he said. “That means nothing if living conditions remain the same.”

The EU also approved a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine. The measures were prepared early this year and set to be announced in February to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict, but Hungary and Slovakia opposed the move.

Hungary and Slovakia have been locked in a feud with Ukraine since Russian oil deliveries to the two EU countries were halted in January after a pipeline was damaged. Ukrainian officials blamed the damage on Russian drone attacks. Both countries confirmed Thursday that deliveries have resumed.

Ukraine desperately needs the 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) loan package to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay. Hungary angered its EU partners by reneging on a December deal to provide the funds.

“Today the Council approved the final element needed to allow for the disbursement of the 90-billion-euro loan for Ukraine,” Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said. “Loan disbursements will start flowing as soon as possible, providing vital support for Ukraine’s most pressing budgetary needs.”

“Promised, delivered, implemented,” European Council President Antonio Costa posted on social media, just hours before he was due to chair a summit of EU leaders in Cyprus, which holds the bloc’s presidency until June 30.

Pipeline breakthrough

The political greenlight for the loan package came after Russian oil began flowing to Hungary and Slovakia again through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine. Populist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico welcomed that development as “good news.”

“Let’s hope a serious relation between Ukraine and the European Union has been established,” Fico said.

Hungarian energy group MOL said it had “received crude oil at the Fényeslitke and Budkovce pumping stations earlier Thursday. Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline system have thus resumed to Hungary and Slovakia after a hiatus of nearly three months.”

Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil which have helped to fund Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year. But unlike the rest of the European Union, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was recently defeated in an election, had accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying repairs — an allegation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied.

Fico said Thursday he still didn’t believe the pipeline was damaged at all and alleged that the pipeline and oil “were used in the current geopolitical battle.”

Another EU voting hijack

The row has raised yet more troubling questions about decision-making in the EU, which can often be held hostage to national interests when unanimous votes are required. Several top officials have in recent months called for more majority voting.

The 27-nation bloc had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.

In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

But Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of the April 12 election that he lost in a landslide.

More sanctions on Russia

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia to undermine its war effort, but Hungary and Slovakia were also blocking those measures over the oil feud.

The sanctions set up a ban on providing services, like maintenance or refueling, to ships illicitly transporting Russian oil. More than 40 ships believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet were also targeted.

Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.

Asset freezes were slapped on around 60 more “entities” – often companies, government agencies, banks or other organizations – adding to a growing list of more than 2,600 Russian officials and entities already under sanctions, including Putin, his political associates, oligarchs, and dozens of lawmakers.

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Spike reported from Budapest. Janicek reported from Prague.

Over 400 nuclear reactors are operational in 31 countries, while about 70 more are under construction. Nuclear power accounts for producing about 10% of the world’s electricity, equivalent to about a quarter of all sources of low-carbon power.

Nuclear reactors have seen steady improvements, adding more safety features and making them cheaper to build and operate.

While Chernobyl and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan diminished the appetite for such power sources, it was clear years ago that there probably would be a revival, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

With the war in the Middle East, “I am 100% sure nuclear is coming back,” he added.

“It’s seen as a secure electricity generation system, and we will see that the comeback of nuclear will be very strong, both in (the) Americas, in Europe and in Asia,” Birol told The Associated Press.

Nuclear energy reliance stays strong

The United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, with 94 operational reactors accounting for about 30% of global generation of nuclear electricity. And it is increasing efforts to develop nuclear energy capacity with a goal to quadruple it by 2050.

“The world cannot power its industries, meet the demands of artificial intelligence, or secure its energy future without nuclear power,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas DiNanno said last month.

China operates 61 nuclear reactors and is leading the world in building new units, with nearly 40 under construction with a goal to surpass the U.S. and become the global leader in nuclear capacity.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has acknowledged that it was Europe’s “strategic mistake” to cut nuclear energy and outlined new initiatives to encourage building power plants.

Russia, meanwhile, has taken a strong lead in exporting its nuclear know-how, building 20 reactors worldwide.

Chernobyl’s Reactor No. 4 exploded on April 26, 1986, while Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. The accident contaminated nearby areas and spewed radiation across Europe.

Ukraine still relies heavily on nuclear plants to generate about half of its electricity. Those plants have played a vital role after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022. Moscow's forces have captured Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Kyiv accused Russia of a drone attack on the protective containment structure covering the damaged Chernobyl reactor.

Japan has restarted 15 reactors after reviewing the lessons of the earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima plant, and 10 more are in the process of getting approval to restart.

South Africa has the only nuclear power plant on the African continent, although Russia is building one in Egypt, and several other African nations are exploring the technology.

“The momentum we are seeing today is the result of a growing recognition that reliable, low-carbon electricity will be essential to meet the world’s rising energy demand,” said Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

EU eyes nuclear expansion

Europe sought to wean itself off Russian energy after the Ukraine conflict, but its dependence on hydrocarbons was underlined by the war in the Middle East.

The European Commission has shifted its perception of nuclear energy and views it as part of clean energy, along with wind and solar power, to achieve climate goals.

In 1990, nuclear energy accounted for about a third of Europe’s electricity; now it's only about 15%, and von der Leyen has acknowledged that its reliance on imported fossil fuels puts it at a disadvantage.

“I believe that it was a strategic mistake for Europe to turn its back on a reliable, affordable source of low-emissions power,” she said recently. “In the last years, we see a global revival of nuclear energy. And Europe wants to be part of it.”

The EU is considering the development of Small Modular Reactors. Expected to become operational in the early 2030s, they are seen as cheaper and faster to build and more flexible than traditional reactors.

France and a few other EU members, including Sweden and Finland, have spearheaded nuclear power. On the other hand, Germany, Austria and Italy are among the EU members that outlawed its use.

In a major policy reversal last year, Belgium repealed a law that demanded the closure of its reactors and extended their lifespan. Spain, meanwhile, still plans to phase out its nuclear capacity and shut down its seven operational reactors between 2027 and 2035.

France remains a nuclear powerhouse

With 57 reactors at 19 plants, France relies on nuclear power for nearly 70% of its electricity.

Successive governments have backed nuclear power as central to France’s energy independence, undeterred by the Chernobyl disaster. In 2022, President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to build six new pressurized water reactors, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support the transition to low-carbon energy.

The COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the gas supply crunch triggered by the conflict in Ukraine, “revealed the limits of deploying renewable electricity and Europe’s dependence on gas,” said Nicolas Goldberg, a partner at Paris-based Colombus Consulting.

“France has therefore been reinforced in its strategy of maintaining its existing nuclear plants, which means extending their lifespan as much as possible,” he said.

Germany stands firm in phasing it out

Decades of anti-nuclear protests in Germany, stoked by past accidents, had pressured successive governments to end using a technology that critics saw as unsafe and unsustainable. Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors in 2023, the final step in plans that had been drawn up by governments of various political stripes over two decades.

A significant nuclear revival in Europe’s biggest economy still looks far-fetched, despite recent talk among some in Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right bloc about being open to a possible future generation of small modular reactors.

“The decision is irreversible — I regret it, but that’s how it is,” Merz said, noting the plant operators's "consistent answer was: ’We are too far along with demolition.'”

Russian domestic nuclear expansion and exporting reactors

Russia has aggressively expanded its nuclear power capacity both domestically and internationally.

It has 34 operational reactors, including eight Chernobyl-type RBMK reactors, known as the light water graphite reactors, which account for about a quarter of all nuclear power generation. They have seen extensive modernizations, adding safety features to fix the inherent design flaw that, coupled with human error, triggered the Chernobyl disaster.

Key projects under construction include new units at the Kursk, Leningrad and Smolensk sites, a prospective plant in the Far East, and prospective floating nuclear units.

Russia also is building 20 reactors in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and has signed contracts to launch construction in several other countries.

Russia has built the first nuclear reactor for neighboring ally Belarus, which has seen a third of its territory contaminated from the Chernobyl accident.

“Belarusian authorities are using the changed context and the so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ to claim that we are acting like everyone else in the world, rather than solving the problems of Belarusians in the contaminated territories,” said Irina Sukhiy, founder of the Belarus ecological group Green Network.

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John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

Iran fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz and seized two of them Wednesday, intensifying its assault on shipping in the key waterway, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.

Pakistan had planned to host another round of talks, but the White House suspended U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Islamabad as Iran rebuffed efforts to restart the discussions.

In southern Lebanon, three separate Israeli strikes killed at least six people and wounded others, according to local authorities. Israel denied carrying out one of the strikes and did not immediately comment on the others.

The attacks came as Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors prepared for a new meeting in Washington toward extending a fragile 10-day ceasefire that began last week.

Here is the latest:

Trump threats against Iran are a boon for prediction markets, including some backed by his son

Will President Trump send troops into Iran? Will he rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself? Will he post again praising Allah?

No one knows the answers, but online betting companies that allow people to wager on Trump policies and statements are profiting — including some backed by his oldest son.

Prediction markets love the president’s unpredictability, his need to keep people guessing about his next move or social media post, leading to more wagers in these betting venues and more fees for them. That includes Polymarket, a company Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in, and Kalshi, a company he advises.

These sites have to come up with new betting lines on current events everyday, and Trump Jr.’s famously fickle father has proven to be a rich source of will-he-or-won’t-he questions.

When a wagering event on Polymarket asked whether Trump was likely to send troops into Iran, nearly 100,000 bets were placed April 8, leading to the biggest trading day of the year up to then.

▶ Read more

Trump orders the US military to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian small boats choking the Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. president in a morning social media posting also said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine ‘sweepers’ are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”

Trump likes a naval blockade. But Iran presents big differences from Venezuela and Cuba

President Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat — beyond those posed by the adversaries in America’s own hemisphere — and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks — especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year — could force Trump’s Republican administration to end its blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.

“It’s really a question now of which country, the U.S. or Iran, has a greater pain tolerance,” said Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

▶ Read more

Three killed inside vehicle in central Gaza Strip

An Israeli drone strike killed three men inside a car Thursday in central Gaza Strip, health officials said.

Those killed were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah. Two of them were inside the vehicle targeted on Salah al-Din Street near Maghazi camp, while a third was nearby, hospital director Raed Hussein told The Associated Press. Three others were injured.

The Israeli military didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire has held since October, but renewed strikes have killed 791 people and wounded 2,235, according to the latest figures released by Gaza’s health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its toll.

US military seizes oil tanker associated with Iran

The U.S. military seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil.

The U.S. Defense Department said it seized the oil tanker Majestic X in the Indian Ocean.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” the Defense Department said.

The seizure comes after Iran attacked three cargo ships Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them.

The Defense Department released footage of the seizure of the vessel, showing U.S. troops on the deck of the vessel.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The Majestic X is a Guyana-flagged oil tanker. It previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of American sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“Iran relies upon a sprawling network of tankers and ship management firms in multiple jurisdictions to transport its petroleum to overseas customers — using tactics such as false documentation, manipulation of vessel tracking systems, and constant changes to the names and flags of vessels,” the Treasury said at the time.

There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.

Since the start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait, through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes.

Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

After the attacks Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel that American officials that Iran’s seizure of the ships didn’t violate truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels.”

However, the ceasefire has been strained by dueling American attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in Islamabad, where Pakistani officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

Iran’s exiled crown prince splattered with red liquid

Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid Thursday as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin.

He waved to supporters in the aftermath and got into a car that drove away.

The alleged perpetrator was immediately detained by police.

Pahlavi has been in exile for nearly 50 years.

His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Iran’s exiled crown prince criticizes ceasefire

Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince, criticized the ceasefire between the Unites States and Iran.

He argued Thursday that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”

“I don’t see that happening,” he said during a news conference in Berlin. “I’m not saying that diplomacy should not be given a chance, but I think diplomacy has been given enough chance.”

Pahlavi has tried to position himself for a return to power should the Shiite theocracy fall and has supported the U.S.-Israeli military intervention in the Middle East.

Pahlavi called on Europeans to do more to support Iranian people fighting for democracy.

He claimed 19 political prisoners were executed by Iranian authorities in the past two weeks and another 20 people have been sentenced to death.

“Will the free world do something or watch the slaughter in silence,” Pahlavi wondered.

Pakistan interior minister meets US official

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a statement Thursday he hoped for “positive progress” from Iran after a meeting with U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker.

The meeting in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad included discussion of diplomatic efforts related to a second round of U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks, which was delayed after Tehran did not confirm when it would send its delegation.

Naqvi said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir were making efforts “at every level” to support a peaceful settlement and hoped all sides would give diplomacy a chance.

Naqvi praised U.S. President Donald Trump for extending the ceasefire, calling it a welcome step toward de-escalation.

Baker appreciated Pakistan’s “constructive role” in promoting peace, the statement said.

Iran hangs another member of exiled opposition group

Iran said Thursday it hanged another member of the Iranian exiled opposition group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.

The Mizan news agency of Iran’s judiciary identified the man as Soltanali Shirzadi Fakhr.

It accused him of cooperating with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, without offering specifics. It also did not say when or where it arrested him.

Iran has accused many it has hanged during the war as having links to Israel. Activists say Iran routinely tries capital cases behind closed doors, uses coerced confessions and doesn’t allow the accused to properly challenge the evidence against them.

This brings to nine the total number of MEK members executed since the start of the war.

The construction often requires archaeological surveys before the paving starts, and some of the latest discoveries have emerged along the BR-156 highway in Brazil's northern state of Amapa. Among the findings so far from nine dig sites: pottery vases that may be funerary urns, as well as small artifacts that resemble human faces.

“What we now about the region’s past is also tied to the opening created by these projects, which gives our relationship with them a somewhat ambivalent character,” said Lúcio Flávio Costa Leite, who manages the Archaeological Research Center at Amapa’s Institute for Scientific and Technological Research. “At the same time, the knowledge we gain about these sites leads us to pay closer attention to these regions, including by adopting permanent protection measures.”

Scientists say recent research has reinforced understanding of the region's past not as a human desert, but rather as a landscape shaped by interconnected societies long before Columbus arrived. The material found along BR-156, for example, included pottery in multiple styles and techniques that reflected influences from communities ranging from Brazil’s Para state to the Caribbean.

It's been cleaned and analyzed by a team working for the National Department of Transport Infrastructure. One of the archaeologists, Manoel Fabiano da Silva Santos, said the layers of the Amazon soil he excavated are a historic timeline.

In the upper layers, he found items such as Portuguese porcelain and nails linked to European occupation.

“Digging deeper, we uncovered pottery and ceramics associated with earlier Indigenous presence, marking the site’s transition before and after the arrival of colonizers,” Santos said.

The artifacts will eventually go to Amapa's state collection, overseen by Costa Leite, which includes about 530,000 pieces. The oldest piece is around 6,140 years old, confirming a long human presence across Amapa, he said.

The artifacts offer insight into how ancient Indigenous societies lived, died and interacted with the rainforest.

“Here is something I often debate with my students -- we usually think of technology as computers and microchips,” Costa Leite said, walking through shelves of ancient pottery. “But all of this required careful reading of the landscape and deliberate choices of materials.”

Indigenous design behind an intriguing monument

One of the most impressive historic areas in Amapa is in the city of Calcoene, where a 1,000‑year‑old stone monument made up of 127 carved monoliths arranged in a circle about 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter, set in open grassland amid the rainforest and bordered by a slow river.

Some have dubbed the Archaeological Park of the Solstice the “Stonehenge of the Amazon” for its resemblance to the British monument. Researchers found that the stones were positioned so that during the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere they marked the exact point where the sun rises, said archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral, a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais who was part of the team that began digging at the site some two decades ago.

“It’s hard to say exactly what all the stones mean, but what we do know is that they are not from the site itself. They were brought from other nearby locations,” she said.

Subsequent research and excavations found the site also served as a burial ground. Radiocarbon dating showed it was occupied for hundreds of years, beginning around 1,100 years ago, she said.

The site, discovered by scientists in 2005, can be visited with prior approval from Amapa’s Institute for Scientific and Technological Research. At the same time, the site is going through the process to become a national park, which will allow more people to visit.

Such archaeological sites are protected by Brazilian law, which prohibits them being altered. That adds a layer of protection for surrounding rainforest.

Ancient roads point to connected Amazon societies

Modern archaeological and historical ecology research shows that Indigenous peoples not only lived in the Amazon for centuries but also shaped it. They managed and cultivated the landscape through long‑term, sustainable practices, said Eduardo Neves, an archaeologist professor at the University of Sao Paulo.

Neves has studied the Amazon rainforest for more than 30 years and, since 2023, has led the Amazon Revealed project, which uses satellite scans to identify archaeological sites hidden beneath the forest canopy.

Scans have revealed roads linking archaeological sites and buried patterns in the rainforest that point to repeated occupation and deliberate landscape modification. Together, Neves said, the features suggest large settlements.

Archaeologists had long suspected such connections, Neves added, but technology has made it possible to see their broader geographic reach. The scans show networks of roads connecting clusters of settlements across the forest, most clearly in southern Amazonas state and Acre.

“When people think of an Indigenous tribe, they often imagine a small village isolated in the middle of the forest. But evidence shows a high degree of interconnectivity linking different settlements,” Neves said.

“Amapa is a key piece that helps us see how dynamic and active these populations were, and how they maintained networks of exchange that have been in place for millennia,” Cabral said.

___

Felipe Campos Mello contributed reporting.

___

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.

Trump also said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be...that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted. “There is to be no hesitation. Additionally, our mine “sweepers” are clearing the Strait right now. I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!”

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

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Iran a day after its paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The Defense Department released video footage of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” a Pentagon statement said.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.

It comes a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in a move that intensified its assault on shipping in the key waterway through which 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. There was no immediate sign whether peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait with no end in sight.

On Thursday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin. The alleged perpetrator was immediately detained by police.

During the event, Pahlavi criticized the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, arguing that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”

Pahlavi, 65, has been in exile for nearly 50 years. His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

The ceasefire has been strained by dueling U.S. attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned the impact to businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.

___

Keaten reported from Geneva.

In practice, he thinks one side has gained an advantage.

And it's not the guys throwing the baseball.

“It's what (MLB) wanted — people on base,” Sewald said. “Tough time to be a pitcher. Balls flying everywhere, you've got a smaller strike zone. But you just go out there and do the best you can."

So ... is Sewald right? It depends on which numbers you want to use, but it sure seems like the strike zone has shrunk.

Walks have skyrocketed to near historic highs through the season's first month. There's no direct evidence ABS is the reason for the increase, but as D-backs catcher James McCann said: “Of course it is. What other rules have changed?”

MLB players have drawn a walk in 9.8% of plate appearances this season through Wednesday's games, which would be the highest rate since 1950. The rate is likely to come down as the season progresses — pitchers usually have more trouble finding the zone during widespread chilly conditions in northern cities during March and April.

But even adjusted for the time of year, walks have made a massive jump from last season.

Everyone knew the strike zone would change. MLB had to re-write its definition of the zone to accommodate the shift to robot umpires. The Official Baseball Rules long described a zone stretching from the midpoint of the hitter's torso down to the “hollow beneath the kneecap.” The new zone is more precise. It starts at 27% of a batter's standing height and stretches to 53.5%. The ABS zone is 17 inches wide, matching the width of home plate. All pitches are measured at the midpoint of the plate.

The spike in walks doesn't tell the whole story about who is benefiting during the ABS era. MLB's league-wide batting average is down slightly to .240 through Wednesday, a few ticks below the .242 rate through last year's games in March and April. That pokes a hole in Sewald's claim that there are “balls flying everywhere.”

The difference in opinion is fascinating as MLB players digest the new rules and new data.

New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger isn't putting too much stock in the early numbers. He said hitters and pitchers are always playing a cat-and-mouse game, and there will eventually be equilibrium.

“I think there’s always an adjustment to something new,” the 2019 National League MVP said. “It’s also such a short sample size. It’s (20-25) games into the season, so numbers skyrocket both ways early on.”

McCann's not so sure. The veteran catcher said a smaller strike zone will inevitably lead to more walks.

“I think it's tighter in general,” McCann said. “Umpires are getting instant feedback on what's a strike or a ball and everything's becoming much more uniform. That's what the guys who had used it in the minor leagues told me was going to happen before the season started, and they were exactly right.”

Chicago Cubs star infielder Nico Hoerner had a slightly different take — arguing that hitters might be benefiting in the short-term by laying off pitches at the top of the strike zone — but that all adjustments have an expiration date.

“Getting on base has been emphasized for a long time,” Hoerner said. “Walking is incredibly valuable as a hitter. A lot of pitchers — their approach is to avoid slug at all cost. Sometimes that involves throwing less strikes. But I'm sure there will be a back and forth, just like every trend in baseball.”

If recent history is any indication, MLB rule changes can cause a lasting effect. There was a nearly 50% increase in stolen bases from 2022 to 2023 after a rules package introduced a pitch clock and limits on how many times a pitcher could make pickoff throws.

Stolen bases have remained high in the subsequent years — even after teams adjusted to the new rules.

And when MLB lowered the mound in 1969, the walk rate jumped from 7.6% to 9.1%. It dipped slightly after that but didn't return below 8% again until 2013.

Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough believes the ABS issue is a different animal. He's watching the trends and doesn't believe the higher walk rate is here to stay.

Who knows? The next five months will tell the tale.

“I think that we’ll get to a point where it gets close and stabilizes to what it’s been, where relievers are walking around 10%. Starters are going to be more around 8%,” McCullough said. “My hypothesis sitting here now early in the year is that by the time the season ends, (walk rates) will look very much like they have, say the last several seasons.”

___

AP Baseball Writer Jay Cohen, AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames and AP freelancer Larry Fleshier contributed to this story.

___

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

The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad said Thursday that it earned $1.7 billion, or $2.87 per share. but it estimated that merger-related costs weighed down the results by 6 cents per share. That's still up from last year's $1.63 billion, or $2.70 per share. And the results topped the $2.86 per share that the analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena said the railroad continued to get more efficient during the quarter as it benefited higher rates even as it prepared its case for the merger.

“Our safety, service, and operating momentum continued in the first quarter as we further challenged ‘what’s possible’ from our great railroad,” Vena said.

The railroad’s revenue grew 3% to $6.22 billion even though it hauled about 1% fewer shipments. That’s because the rates it charges continued to increase and the railroad benefited from fuel surcharge fees.

Union Pacific’s expenses also grew 3% to $3.76 billion.

The railroad affirmed its outlook for midsingle digit growth in its earnings per share this year in line with its long-term plan. It plans to invest $3.3 billion in its operation.

Union Pacific plans to resubmit its application to acquire Norfolk Southern next week. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board rejected the railroad's first request to approve the $85 billion merger because the regulators wanted more information. The STB hasn't yet decided whether the deal that would cut the number of major freight railroads down to five will hurt competition.

The deal that would create the nation's first transcontinental railroad has divided labor and the shippers who rely on both railroads. UP is already one of the biggest railroads and it serves the western United States. The nation's largest rail union and a number of the smaller ones supported the merger after Union Pacific promised that their workers would have jobs for life, but two of the other largest unions that represent engineers and track maintenance workers oppose it.

The railroads' customers are also split with trade groups representing chemical makers and agricultural businesses expressing concerns, but hundreds of other businesses lining up behind it. President Donald Trump has also said the deal sounds good to him.

Vena has argued that creating a railroad that stretches from coast to coast would be good for the economy because without the need for a hand-off between railroads in the middle of the country rail shipments would move faster, meaning it could better compete against trucking.

U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 18 rose by 6,000 to 214,000, up from the previous week’s 208,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s slightly more than the 210,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

The Iran war, now in its eighth week, has injected a large degree of uncertainty about how it will affect the U.S. and global economies even as Iran and the U.S. remain under a ceasefire agreement.

U.S. financial markets have rebounded to record levels and prices for a barrel of U.S. crude oil have settled in around $94 per barrel. That’s better than the $112 earlier this month, but still 40% higher than before the war began. Gas prices also remain elevated, saddling businesses and consumers with higher costs.

The largest monthly jump in gas prices in six decades sent consumer prices up 3.3% in March from a year earlier, the Labor Department recently reported. That’s up sharply from just 2.4% in February and the biggest yearly increase since May 2024. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9% in March from February, the largest such increase in nearly four years.

This comes at a time when U.S. inflation was already above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, further diminishing the chances of an interest rate cut by central bank officials any time soon. Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to fuel inflation.

Fed officials voted to cut rates three times to close 2025 out of concern for a weakening job market but have held off lowering rates further this year. The Fed meets next week to decide on rates.

The Labor Department reported earlier this month that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly strong 178,000 new jobs in March, nudging the unemployment rate back down to 4.3%. That followed a surprisingly large loss of 92,000 jobs in February. Revisions also have trimmed 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls, a sign that the labor market remains under strain.

A number of high-profile companies have cut jobs recently, including Morgan Stanley,Block, UPSand Amazon.

Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff rollouts, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

Employers added fewer than 200,000 jobs last year, compared with about 1.5 million in 2024, according to the data firm FactSet.

The American labor market appears stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low, but has left those out of work struggling to find a new job.

The Labor Department’s report Thursday showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, inched up by 750 to 210,750.

The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending April 11 rose by 12,000 to 1.82 million.

Gates, who founded Microsoft, reportedly spoke “candidly” about his relationship to Epstein in a February town hall meeting of the influential foundation he started with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. But the external probe marks the nonprofit's plainest attempt yet to address associations that have cast a pall over its efforts to end preventable maternal and child deaths and control infectious diseases.

The Gates Foundation said in a statement that CEO Mark Suzman, with support from Gates, commissioned an external review in March to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein and look at current policies for vetting and developing new partnerships. The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the staff memo detailing the review.

The philanthropic giant has already undergone a period of change. The Gates Foundation shared plans in January to cap operating costs and incrementally cut as many as 500 positions, or about 20% of its staff, by 2030. The move follows last year’s announcement that the foundation would close in 2045, earlier than previously expected.

The Justice Department's files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they held meetings, and photos of Gates at events also attended by Epstein. Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding their connection, denies knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claims they met only to discuss philanthropy.

The foundation acknowledged in a February statement that “a small number” of employees met with Epstein based on his “claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development." They never created a fund together and the foundation made no payments to Epstein, according to the previous release.

“The foundation regrets having any employees interact with Epstein in any way,” the statement read.

The files' disclosures are being closely followed by one of the Gates Foundation's earliest and most ardent supporters. Investor Warren Buffett, who donates a portion of his annual Berkshire Hathaway shares to the nonprofit, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” last month that it's clear “there was a lot I didn't know."

Buffett, who resigned as the foundation's trustee in 2021, has completed his donation every year around the end of June. But he said he will “wait and see what unfolds” in the Justice Department's documents and congressional hearings on their contents. He noted the foundation is “sitting” on a large endowment, which totals $86 billion, and said Gates has “plenty of his own money.”

“So, in any event, I’ll just wait and see. And there’s three and a half million, or whatever it is pages – I mean, it is astounding,” Buffett said of the Epstein files.

A Gates Foundation spokesperson described Buffett as “an extraordinarily generous partner” for nearly two decades in a statement Wednesday to the Associated Press.

“We are deeply grateful for his support, which has enabled us to accelerate progress on some of the world’s toughest challenges that would not otherwise have been possible,” the spokesperson said.

The Gates Foundation expects its board and management will receive an update on the Epstein review this summer. The third-party investigators have not been publicly named.

___

The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and statehouses from Melinda French Gates’ organization, Pivotal Ventures. ___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

“As I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them. In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend,” Vrabel told ESPN on Wednesday night. “This is something that I have given a lot of thought to and is something I would advise a player to do if I was counseling them.

“I have always wanted to lead by example, and I believe this is what I have to do to be the best husband, father and coach that I possibly can be. This is not an easy thing for me to admit, but it is one that I know will make me a better person. I appreciate the support that everyone has given me and promise a stronger resolve as a result.”

The Patriots confirmed Vrabel will miss the third day of the draft.

The photos of Vrabel and Russini at a Sedona resort were taken before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the New York Post, which published the photos this month.

The NFL said last weekend that it is not investigating Vrabel’s behavior.

Vrabel addressed the matter for the first time on Tuesday, telling reporters he’s had “ difficult conversations with people I care about.”

Vrabel and Russini, who are both married, released written statements to the Post after the publication of the story downplaying what the photos depict. But Russini resigned from The Athletic less than a week later, after the Post’s report prompted an internal investigation at The New York Times-owned sports outlet.

Vrabel said he addressed players about the matter on Monday after they arrived for the start of the voluntary workout program. Two Patriots players were scheduled to be made available to reporters on Tuesday, but Vrabel said he wanted to speak before they did. He also said he didn’t want the interest in the Post photos to take attention away from the NFL draft, which begins Thursday.

___

AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed to this report.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

The Defense Department released video footage of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean.

“We will continue global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate,” a Pentagon statement said.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, earlier seized by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

The vessel previously had been named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

There was no immediate response from Iran on the news of the seizure.

It comes a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in a move that intensified its assault on shipping in the key waterway through which 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump extended a ceasefire while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports. There was no immediate sign whether peace talks, previously hosted by Pakistan, would resume anytime soon.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the strait with no end in sight.

On Thursday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi was splattered with red liquid as he left a building after a news conference in Berlin. The alleged perpetrator was immediately detained by police.

During the event, Pahlavi criticized the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, arguing that the agreement assumes the Iranian government’s behavior will change and “you’re going to deal with people who all of a sudden have become pragmatists.”

Pahlavi, 65, has been in exile for nearly 50 years. His father, Iran’s shah, was so widely hated that millions took to the streets in 1979, forcing him from power. Nevertheless, Pahlavi is trying to position himself as a player in his country’s future.

Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

The ceasefire has been strained by dueling U.S. attacks on Iranian ships and those by Iran on commercial vessels. It also remains unclear when, or if, the two sides will meet again in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where officials say they are still trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal.

The conflict already has sent gas prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products. Officials around the world have warned the impact to businesses, consumers and economies could be long-lasting.

___

Keaten reported from Geneva.

No one knows the answers, but online betting companies that allow people to wager on Trump policies and statements are profiting — including some backed by his oldest son.

Prediction markets love the president's unpredictability, his need to keep people guessing about his next move or social media post, leading to more wagers in these betting venues and more fees for them. That includes Polymarket, a company Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in, and Kalshi, a company he advises.

These sites have to come up with new betting lines on current events everyday, and Trump Jr.'s famously fickle father has proven to be a rich source of will-he-or-won't-he questions.

When a wagering event on Polymarket asked whether Trump was likely to send troops into Iran, nearly 100,000 bets were placed on April 8, leading to the biggest trading day of the year up to then.

And Trump's policies and social media comments generate bets beyond the war-related ones: Who will Trump back to run Venezuela? Will his insults of Pope Leo XIV continue? Will he seize Greenland?

“Trump is the guy. He makes the market possible,” said Kwok Ping Tsang, a Virginia Tech economist who has studied Polymarket. “He’s so unpredictable.”

Sports wagers make up the largest portion of the volume on prediction markets, but politics runs a close second, according to crypto analysis firm Dune.

People are also betting “Yes” or “No” on all kinds of other things — the price of gold, the winner of “Survivor,” even the weather. The cost of the wager, in cents per dollar, reflects the number of people making the same bet, with a price of 49 cents for “Yes,” for instance, reflecting 49% odds.

The betting has drawn bipartisan criticism for inviting insider trading but the president seems to be a big fan, applying a light regulatory touch and helping the industry expand. His family company, the Trump Organization, is even working on opening its own prediction market, called Truth Predict.

One of the biggest fee generators lately has been Trump's approach to the Iran war, notably his Truth Social post on April 5 demanding the country “Open the F—- Strait."

Trading on Polymarket soared with “Yes” or “No” wagers on whether an invasion was imminent, according to Dune, only to be surpassed on April 7 by betting on another question — Will there be a ceasefire? — when Trump posted ominously that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”

In total, 413 million bets on the Iran war were made risking more than $100 million from Sunday, April 5, through Wednesday, April 8, the day after Trump announced a ceasefire, according to Dune.

In a report after the surge, Dune called Trump an “unpredictability machine” and marveled at how his “governing-by-tweet” style sends trading volumes soaring.

Asked whether the president's son should be profiting from a business benefitting from his father's actions, a Trump Jr. spokesman called the question “fact-free Democratic propaganda.”

“Don does not interface with the federal government as part of his role with any company that he invests in or advises and has no influence or involvement with administration policies relating to prediction markets," said the spokesman, Andrew Surabian.

Polymarket didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The betting venues have jumped in popularity since Trump was reelected in November 2024 in part because they correctly predicted, unlike many pundits, that he would win decisively.

Since then the Trump administration has sued states trying to ban prediction markets under no-gambling laws. The head of the industry's chief regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has even promoted the business publicly, calling the online bets in a Wall Street Journal op-ed “exciting products.”

Benefiting particularly has been Polymarket, which was banned from operating anywhere in the U.S. in 2022 after the Biden administration fined it for running an unregistered exchange. It recently got permission to return, and its value has soared.

The company is now worth $9.6 billion, according to research firm PitchBook, a nearly tenfold increase in eight months since a venture capital fund in which Trump Jr. is a partner last invested.

Just how much Trump Jr. is benefiting from the increase in value is unclear because Polymarket is private and doesn't release ownership stakes. Kalshi, which took on Trump Jr. as an adviser last year, is also private.

As for profiting off turmoil and war, Trump Jr. has other possible ways besides the prediction markets.

Through his venture capital fund he also owns pieces of aerospace, defense and technology companies seeking Pentagon contracts and other federal agency dollars. Separately, he and his brother, Eric, just struck a deal giving them stakes in a military drone maker not just selling to the U.S. forces but also pitching to Gulf countries under Iranian attack and beholden to their father for U.S. military protection in a war he started.

Asked last month about the drone company potentially profiting off his father's position as president, Eric Trump sent The Associated Press a statement saying, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in.”

Critics in Congress, virtually all Democrats, have decried what they believe is blatant profiting off the presidency, and are waiting for the midterms to do something about it, possibly voting for impeachment.

But whether that happens is anyone's guess — or to be more specific, tens of thousands of guesses.

In Polymarket trading, those betting that Trump would get impeached by the end of his term were putting the chances at 13% at the start of the year. But that has changed dramatically after his “civilization wipe out” threat and calls from Democrats to oust him from office.

By Tuesday, the odds had jumped to 66%.

——

AP reporters Ken Sweet in New York and Christopher Keller in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this story.

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

“My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list,” he said.

Since the new law took effect Dec. 15, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said his practice is “pretty much flooded with this.”

“We’ve kind of shifted a lot of other work away in order to push these cases through,” he said.

And immigration attorney Amandeep Hayer said his Vancouver, British Columbia, area practice went from about 200 citizenship cases a year to more than 20 consults per day.

How the new law works

Canada has been changing its citizenship laws for decades, whether to update historic interpretations of law or to address discrimination issues.

Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. That changed when Canadian bill C-3 took effect Dec. 15, and opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor — a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.

Those born on or after Dec. 15 need to show their parent met a residency requirement of 1,095 days.

Under the new law, descendants of Canadians already are considered citizens, but they must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Hayer estimated that there are millions of Americans who are Canadian descendants.

“You are Canadian, and you’re considered to be one your whole life,” said Hayer, who advocated for the new law in the Parliament of Canada. “That’s really what you’re applying for, the recognition of a right you already have vested.”

“The best way I can put it is like, if a baby’s born tomorrow in Canada, the baby’s Canadian even though they don’t have the birth certificate,” he said.

Americans interested in dual citizenship

American applicants have different motivations, but many say President Donald Trump's efforts on immigration and other topics have led them to seek dual citizenship.

Michelle Cunha, of Bedford, Massachusetts, said she decided to move to Canada after reflecting on decades of political activism and deciding she had “nothing left to give.”

“I put in my best effort for 30 years. I have done everything that I possibly can to make the United States what it promises the world to be, a place of freedom, a place of equality,” Cunha said. “But clearly we’re not there and we’re not going to get there anytime soon.”

Troy Hicks, who had a great-grandfather born in Canada, said he was spurred by an international trip.

“I recently went to Australia and you know, first words out of the first person I talked to in Australia was basically an expletive about Trump and the U.S.,” said Hicks, of Pahrump, Nevada. “It was just like, whoa, I walked off a 20-hour flight and literally the first words of somebody’s mouth to me were that. ... So the idea of doing that with a Canadian passport just seemed easier, better, more palatable.”

Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, said she was motivated by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which hit home when her teenage nephew encountered federal officers near his high school in St. Paul. Sullivan, whose grandmother was Canadian, said she sees citizenship in Canada as an option in case things in the U.S. “really go south.”

“When I first heard about the bill, I couldn’t believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap,” Sullivan said. “There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed.”

How much will Canadian citizenship cost?

For those with documentation ready at hand, the proof of citizenship application fee is a relatively inexpensive 75 Canadian dollars ($55).

But costs will climb for those seeking help from an attorney or genealogist.

Cunha said she used an attorney and estimates the cost will be about $6,500.

However, Mary Mangan, of Somerville, Massachusetts, filed her application in January using advice from online forums.

“There are some situations where a lawyer might be the right thing, but for many people, I would guess 90% of people can probably do this on their own,” Mangan said.

The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office, which processes applications, says processing times for a certificate is around 10 months, with more 56,000 people awaiting a decision.

The agency said that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, though not all were Americans. Last year, 24,500 Americans gained dual US-Canada citizenship.

What do Canadians think?

Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Canadians are generally a “welcoming people.”

“I think where people start looking askance is someone who’s never been to Canada, who has very thin ties. They can get a passport, becoming Canadians of convenience. People don’t like that,” he said.

Hampson said some also worry a surge of interest from Americans could delay efforts by refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing vulnerable situations.

“Canadians don’t like queue jumpers,” Hampson said.

“Of course, we are hitting what is painful for Russia, and it is very painful,” Zelenskyy said in voice messages to reporters. He said that Russian losses in the strikes have reached tens of billions of dollars.

It wasn't possible to independently verify Zelenskyy’s comments, but Russian officials have reported that attacks have struck infrastructure in regions more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) inside Russia.

While Russia presses its all-out invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine is using its domestically developed drone and missile technology to strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian military also uses American-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's territory.

“We see that the Russians do not want to stop — they are hitting our energy sector and our people. We will respond,” Zelenskyy said.

Prince Harry praises Ukraine's resistance

Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s bigger army drew renewed praise from Prince Harry, who arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for his third visit in a year.

Ukrainians have demonstrated “strength not just in bravery and capability, but in unity, in trust,” he said in a speech to a Kyiv security conference

Ukraine “continues to hold together, and hold together you must,” he said.

The Duke of Sussex stepped off a train in Kyiv’s main station after an overnight journey from Poland, which is the only way to travel to the Ukrainian capital.

It wasn’t clear whether Harry would meet with Zelenskyy, who was due to attend a summit of European Union leaders in Cyprus on Thursday evening.

Russian firefighters tackle huge drone strike blaze

Hours before Harry arrived, three people were killed and 10 were wounded in a Russian drone attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of the regional military administration.

A 13-story building and an administrative building were damaged in the strike, Hanzha said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defenses, meanwhile, intercepted 154 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the annexed Crimea Peninsula, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Authorities in the Krasnodar region on Russia's Black Sea coast said that 276 firefighters at the Black Sea port of Tuapse were fighting for a third straight day a huge blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week.

Toxic material from the fire fell with rain, covering several districts of Tuapse with a black layer of dirt, the region’s emergency headquarters reported. The concentration in the air of chemicals from the fire surpassed admissible levels, officials said, and authorities advised residents to stay indoors.

Ukraine targets more Russian oil facilities

For the second consecutive night, Russia’s Samara region also was targeted. In the Samara city of Novokuybyshevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, a drone attack on an unspecified industrial facility killed one person, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.

Drone debris also fell on a roof of a residential building in the city of Samara, wounding a number of people, Fedorishchev said. One person was hospitalized.

Unconfirmed media reports said that a petrochemical plant in Novokuybyshevsk owned by the Rosneft oil and gas company came under attack.

Ukrainian forces also struck Russian oil infrastructure in the Samara region and a pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region that transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan, said Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

An oil refinery in the Samara region and an oil pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region were hit, he said. The pipeline transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan. He didn’t offer more details about the strikes.

Also, units of Ukraine’s Security Service struck the Gorky oil pumping station in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, said a senior official from the agency, which goes by the abbreviation SBU.

The nighttime drone attack damaged three oil tanks and caused a large fire, the official said. The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The operation of main pipelines is disrupted, the efficiency of processing at refineries decreases, and transportation costs increase. As a result, this directly affects the revenues of the Russian budget, which are used to finance the war against Ukraine,” the official said.

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The Valencia College Criminal Justice Training Center hosted its own memorial service, honoring former recruits who trained in their program and later lost their lives in the line of duty. Over the years, 10 of their own have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving right here in our community.

Let that sink in for a second.

These aren’t just names on a wall. These are men and women who once sat in those same classrooms, went through the same training, and walked the same halls as the recruits who are coming up right now.

I’ll be honest, in all my years around law enforcement, I’ve never seen a criminal justice center host something like this. And to me, that says everything about the passion and dedication they have, not just to training future officers, but to staying connected to them long after they graduate.

It was an absolute honor to be asked to serve as the keynote speaker for this event. Moments like this remind me why I do what I do; it’s never just about traffic. It’s about people, service, and remembering those who gave everything.

For the recruits in the room, it was real. A reminder of the responsibility that comes with the badge. For the instructors, you could feel the pride and the heartbreak, knowing the impact they’ve had on every class that’s come through.

And for me, it was a chance to take you behind the scenes of something that doesn’t get seen very often, a place where training meets tradition, and where those who are lost are never forgotten.

Hope you take a moment to watch this one. It means a little more.

The NFL draft is here in the Steel City.

A total of 257 players will live out a dream and hear their name called over the course of the next three days, culminating a long journey that required a ton of hard of work and plenty of sacrifice.

The first round kicks off Thursday night when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell takes the stage inside the main theater outside Acrisure Stadium and announces the Las Vegas Raiders’ selection with the No. 1 pick. Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner who quarterbacked Indiana to its first national title, is the consensus favorite for the Raiders. It would be a downright stunner if he’s not headed to Las Vegas.

The poised and polished Mendoza will get a chance to learn from Kirk Cousins and play for part-owner Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion who is ready to impart some of his wisdom.

While 16 other players will enjoy the on-site festivities and have the opportunity to give Goodell a giant hug on stage, Mendoza is spending the night with his family in Miami. His mother, Elsa Mendoza, has multiple sclerosis so traveling is difficult.

“I’ve done so much traveling this year, it’s a lot easier for my mom and her health is at the forefront,” Mendoza said. “We need to hop on a plane the next day for whatever team drafts me and to be there with the village that’s poured into me — friends, family, coaches, mentors — to be there with all of them and to share the start of this NFL journey, it’s going to create the best memory for our family.”

Mendoza would be the fifth No. 1 pick in the last nine in-person drafts - 2020 was held virtually - to skip the spectacle and celebrate privately with family and friends. Travon Walker (2022), Trevor Lawrence (2021), Baker Mayfield (2018) and Myles Garrett (2017) were the others.

The biggest question is who goes No. 2 to the New York Jets. Will it be Ohio State’s Arvell Reese or Texas Tech’s David Bailey? They’re considered the two best edge rushers in the draft. Or will the Jets pull off a surprise?

After Mendoza, it could be a while until another quarterback is selected. Alabama’s Ty Simpson is expected to be the next one. He’s among the group of players in attendance and there’s a chance he might have to wait until Round 2 on Friday night.

“I can't control how people think,” Simpson said Wednesday. “All I can control is how I play and how much of a player I can be so wherever I go, whoever gets me, I'm gonna make sure that's what I do wherever that is.”

The first round should be about an hour faster than it's been because the time between picks was shortened from 10 minutes to eight minutes.

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

DeBoer is getting a $2 million raise — up to $12.5 million — and a two-year contract extension after leading the Crimson Tide to the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff, where Alabama lost to eventual national champion Indiana.

Oats is getting a $1.2 million raise — up to $7.2 million — and a two-year contract extension after leading Alabama to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, where the Crimson Tide lost to eventual national champion Michigan. Oats' new deal had been agreed to earlier this month.

Alabama announced both deals Wednesday during a board of trustees meeting.

DeBoer had been scheduled to make $10.5 million during 2026. His salary was set to increase $250,000 annually. He is now under contract through the 2033 season.

Oats had been scheduled to make $6.02 million in 2026-27. He made $5.5 million this past season. He is now under contract through the 2032 season.

DeBoer, courted by Michigan to replace fired coach Sherrone Moore, now has a $10 million buyout through January 2027. It drops to $8 million the following year and $6 million through January 2029.

“We are excited about the opportunity to continue our time in Tuscaloosa with this contract extension,” DeBoer said in a statement. "This university has become a special place to us, and I look forward to working to ensure that Alabama football remains at the forefront of college football.

"This program has a long history of success and an unmatched tradition that I was eager to be a part of two years ago, and I cannot wait to keep coaching our guys and bring more championships to Alabama.”

DeBoer is entering his third season in Tuscaloosa since replacing legendary coach Nick Saban. The Tide are 20-8 in his tenure, with a Southeastern Conference title game appearance and a first-round CFP victory over Oklahoma.

But he also has blowout losses to Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Georgia in the SEC title game on his Alabama resume as well as regular-season upsets to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Florida State.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

A three-judge panel found unanimously there were “substantial grounds” to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later when he was president.

Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in the Philippines last year and flown to the Hague, where the global court is located. He denies the charges against him.

In their 50-page decision, judges found that the evidence shows that Duterte, 81, “developed, disseminated and implemented” a policy “to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals.”

According to prosecutors, police and hit squad members carried out dozens of murders at Duterte’s behest starting in 2011, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

“For some, killing reached the level of a perverse form of competition,” deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court in pretrial hearings in February.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

Prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision “represents a significant milestone” in their effort to bring accountability.

Duterte's lead defense lawyer Nick Kaufman told The Associated Press he was disappointed in the decision, saying it “is based on the uncorroborated statements of vicious self-confessed murderers acting as cooperating witnesses.”

A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set.

Duterte has not been present in the courtroom for any hearings, having waived his right to appear. Last month judges found he was fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about his health.

In the Philippines, families of slain victims in the brutal anti-drugs crackdown rejoiced over the decision, saying it will bring them closer to justice and toward a closure of a tragic chapter in their lives.

“This is for all the victims, who were not even given the chance to be recognized as victims because their stories were twisted in police reports, investigations and findings,” said Randy delos Santos, whose nephew, Kian delos Santos, was gunned down in an alley in August 2017 by three police officers.

“Unlike Kian, most other victims were nameless, voiceless and were just numbers and statistics whose horrific stories were never heard. Now the ICC will give their stories a chance to be told,” delos Santos told The Associated Press.

Human rights groups also praised the decision.

“Duterte’s trial will send a powerful message that no one responsible for grave crimes is above the law, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, and that justice will eventually catch up with them,” Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said.

ICC prosecutors said in 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at avoiding accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

On Tuesday, appeals judges rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippine withdrawal.

In October, judges disqualified the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan from the case, citing a “reasonable appearance of bias” because he represented victims of Duterte’s alleged crimes before he took office at the ICC. Khan had already stepped back from his duties pending the outcome of an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

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Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.

Nearly a year after his death in South Africa, Lungu’s remains are still unburied, the subject of a macabre fight between his family and the longtime rival who succeeded him.

In a statement Wednesday, Zambia's attorney general said the government had custody of Lungu's remains after a South African court ordered the body be released to them. It said the body had been moved from a private funeral home in the South African capital, Pretoria, to another facility run by the South African government.

A separate urgent order then ruled that the body be returned to the funeral home where it had been since Lungu's death last June.

That order, though, said a date of May 21 had been set for the body to ultimately be handed over to the Zambian government. It wasn't clear Thursday where the body was and if it had been returned to the family.

The bizarre battle revolves around Lungu's relationship with current Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. The two were bitter political rivals and the animosity has continued after Lungu's death.

Hichilema's government has said Lungu should have a state funeral at home and be buried at a cemetery set aside for Zambian leaders. Lungu's family claims that he made clear that one of his last wishes was that Hichilema should not go anywhere near his body and not preside over his funeral.

In June last year, the Zambian government succeeded in getting a court order to stop his funeral service in South Africa as it was taking place, forcing family members to leave the church ceremony and travel to a courthouse.

Lungu, who was Zambia’s leader from 2015 to 2021, died of an undisclosed illness in a South African hospital on June 5. He was 68.

When Lungu was president in 2017, Hichilema was arrested, charged with treason and detained for four months, only to be released and the charge dropped after international condemnation.

Lungu lost to Hichilema in a 2021 election, and claimed years later that his movements were being restricted by Zambian police and that he had been effectively placed under house arrest by authorities to prevent any political comeback. Hichilema's government denied the allegations.

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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. AP writer Jacob Zimba in Lusaka, Zambia, contributed to this report.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Paramount wants to buy all of Warner. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof as Paramount’s CBS, “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service. And a greenlight from shareholders would bring the acquisition closer to the finish line.

Shareholders are expected to meet at 10 a.m. ET to vote on the deal, which is valued at nearly $111 billion, including debt, based on Warner's current outstanding shares.

Even if approved, a Paramount-Warner combo would still face ongoing regulatory reviews, including from the U.S. Department of Justice. Warner has said it expects to close the deal sometime in the third fiscal quarter.

Paramount’s quest for Warner has been far from smooth sailing. And while Warner's board now endorses the Paramount merger, it wasn’t always eager to enter this particular marriage.

Late last year, Warner rebuffed Paramount’s overtures to instead strike a $72 billion studio and streaming deal with Netflix. Paramount, meanwhile, went directly to shareholders with a hostile bid to take over the whole company, including the cable business that Netflix did not want.

All three companies spent months fighting publicly over who had the better offer on the table. Warner’s board repeatedly backed Netflix’s bid. But eventually, Paramount offered more money and Netflix abruptly bowed out of the race rather than prolonging the fight.

That corporate drama may now be over, but the implications remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers.

Some lawmakers are also sounding the alarm.

“What is at stake is clearly not just a corporate deal, but who controls news, who controls entertainment, who controls storytelling,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said in a “spotlight” hearing on the merger held in Washington last week. “It’s about the concentration and consolidation of cultural power."

The merger would bring together two of Hollywood’s remaining five legacy studios. It would also join two major streaming platforms — Paramount+ and HBO Max — and two big names in America's TV news landscape — CBS and CNN — as well as a heap of other brands and entertainment networks.

Company executives argue this will be good news for consumers, who they say will have access to bigger content libraries, particularly if HBO Max and Paramount+ become one streaming service. And Paramount CEO David Ellison has tried to assure filmmakers with a 45-day theatrical window guarantee and goal to release 30 movies a year between Paramount and Warner, which he's said will remain stand-alone operations under a combined company.

“I love cinema and I love film,” Ellison said at CinemaCon last week. "You can count on our complete commitment.”

But the new owner will also be looking to cut costs. Regulatory filings have already indicated that would include layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. And critics are skeptical about consumer benefits — warning of higher prices that could arise when it comes to streaming, and potentially less diversity in content down the road.

Then there’s the news. Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, Paramount-owned CBS has already seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief. If the Warner takeover goes through, many are expecting similar changes at CNN, which has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump.

Other questions of political influence have piled up. The Justice Department and company leadership have maintained politics will not play a role in the regulatory process — but Trump himself has publicly waded into Warner’s future at times, despite backpedaling on what he once suggested his personal role would be. Trump also has a close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting billions of dollars on the table to back the bid for his son’s company.

Meanwhile, Paramount has secured money from several sovereign investment funds — including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as well as funds from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, per regulatory filings. But such investors will not have voting rights in a future Paramount-Warner combo, the filings noted. Paramount has not publicly specified how much they’re contributing.

Other countries, including European regulators, are looking the deal — and states could try to challenge it, too. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been particularly vocal about the transaction, and said his state is investigating it.

He was one of the key negotiators of the agreement reached in late 2024 that provisionally comes into force May 1.

“In a moment that the world much needed it, at a time of protectionism, a tough world, this gives a message that it is possible to open markets,” Alckmin said Wednesday during an interview with media, including The Associated Press, at the presidential palace in Brasilia. “It is the biggest deal between trade blocs in the world. A market of $22 trillion and 720 million people.”

Fierce opposition by farmers and environmentalists delayed the deal in December. It then hit another wall after EU lawmakers sent the deal to the bloc’s judiciary. The EU executive responded by saying it would provisionally enact the deal, which sidesteps the European Parliament. After the trade deal is implemented, it will be halted if the European Court of Justice rules against it.

Alckmin said not finishing the deal with the EU would have meant staying behind while other competitors accomplished other agreements.

“It is a win-win. The societies of the Mercosur countries win, and so the 27 countries of the EU,” added Alckmin, who expects a boost in Brazilian exports to the EU of about 13% per year.

The trans-Atlantic trade deal was signed Jan. 17. The European Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen repeatedly paid tribute to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration for its efforts in making the deal happen despite opposition in Europe. Brazil is by far the largest economy of Mercosur, with a gross domestic product estimated at more than $2.3 trillion in 2025.

Alckmin confirmed other potential deals with the United Arab Emirates and Canada are being negotiated.

Change of mind and time

Two decades ago, Alckmin and Lula were on opposite camps in almost every issue, including the negotiations for a deal between the EU and the bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. While the man who was then governor of the powerful Sao Paulo state advocated for a pact with European nations, Lula did not.

Fast forward to 2022, the two gathered forces to unseat then-President Jair Bolsonaro, who they deemed to be a risk to Brazil's democracy. Both gravitated toward the political center. Lula made Alckmin his trade and industry minister, one of the government's key negotiators in any front.

Lula's win in 2022 for a third nonconsecutive term and his bid for reelection this year did not assure the Mercosur-EU trade deal was going ahead, but the conversations gained a new momentum after U.S. President Donald Trump took office last year and imposed tariffs against several countries, including Brazil.

French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the critics of the deal, has demanded safeguards to monitor and stop large economic disruption in the EU, increased regulations in the Mercosur nations like pesticide restrictions, and more inspections of imports at EU ports.

Alckmin rejected the accusation that Mercosur countries have less concerns about environmental preservations, as some EU farmers have said.

“If there’s one country that is a role model of environmental preservation, that is Brazil … Brazil reduced deforestation in 50%,” Alckmin said.

“So no one is too scared in either side, if there’s an import boom any of the two (blocs) can ask for safeguards,” he added.

The full implementation of the deal might take up to 12 years, which Alckmin sees as key for Mercosur companies to improve productivity and quality of thousands of products. He said the fruit, beef and sugar industries of the South American bloc will be among the first to benefit but many more will over time.

“It is better to do it gradually than not do it at all,” Alckmin said. “This was a very well-built deal.”

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

The governor is expected to speak at 10 a.m. at Tohopekaliga High School and will be joined by Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas.

The topic of the discussion is unknown.

News 6 will stream the news conference when it happens.

Futures for the S&P 500 lost 0.4% before the opening bell, a day after hitting a record 7,137.90. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, while futures for the Nasdaq, also coming off a record high, dipped 0.4%.

A growing sense of unease over an end to the Iran war, which is in its eighth week, is weighing on investor sentiment as it's unclear when another round of peace talks will take place. Iran has fired on ships in the Strait of Hormuz despite the extension of a ceasefire from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Global energy prices have surged on the Iran war energy shock. Brent crude, the international standard, was up $1.27 early Thursday at $103.18 per barrel. It was around $70 a barrel before the Iran war began in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude gained $1.21 to $94.17 per barrel.

As hopes for a resolution between the U.S. and Iran fade and peace talks stall, the oil market “is having to reprice expectations,” ING Bank strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a research note.

“If no progress is made, the market will become increasingly numb to the noise and headlines that have dictated price action recently,” they wrote.

Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally passed before the war, is still largely halted and the likelihood of its reopening dimmed after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized two of three ships it attacked.

In equities trading, Tesla tumbled more than 3% overnight after Elon Musk's electric car company beat Wall Street's first-quarter expectations but announced a massive $25 billion capital expenditure investment for 2026. Some of that spending to going toward the production ramp up of its Optimus robots, including a new factory in Texas, the company said.

American Airlines on Thursday joined other carriers in cutting performance expectations this year because of soaring jet fuel costs. American’s shares dipped before the opening bell even though its losses were less than expected and it posted strong revenue.

In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX lost 0.5%, while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% higher. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.7%.

Markets in Japan and South Korea briefly touched new records, driven by buying of tech shares. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.8% to 59,140.23 after breaching the 60,000 level for the first time ever.

South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.9% higher at 6,475.81 after briefly surpassing 6,500. The government reported a better-than-expected 1.7% annual economic growth rate for the January-March quarter, boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in the artificial intelligence boom.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1% to 25,915.20, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 4,093.25.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.6% to 8,793.40.

Taiwan’s Taiex lost 0.4% and the Sensex in India sank 1%.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat — beyond those posed by the adversaries in America’s own hemisphere — and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks — especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year — could force Trump's Republican administration to end its blockade on Iran's ports and coastline, experts say.

“It’s really a question now of which country, the U.S. or Iran, has a greater pain tolerance,” said Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Iran presents ‘major differences’ from other blockades

The effectiveness of Trump's pressure tactic — using the world’s most powerful navy to block the trade of Iran's sanctioned oil and other goods — is still very much up for debate. Some experts say Trump’s success in Venezuela likely had more to do with the U.S. military raid that captured leader Nicolás Maduro than American warships seizing sanctioned oil tankers to enforce U.S. control over the South American country.

A U.S. oil embargo on Cuba, meanwhile, has caused the island’s most severe economic crisis in decades. While U.S. and Cuban officials have met recently on the island for rare talks, the financial strangulation has failed to produce the Trump administration’s stated goal of leadership change.

“I do think that the success of the Maduro mission in Venezuela has probably emboldened the president,” said Todd Huntley, director of Georgetown University’s National Security Law Program.

That doesn’t make the situations in Venezuela and Iran similar — geographically, militarily or politically. “There are some major differences,” said Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general.

While the blockade against Iran has delivered a severe blow to its economy, including stopping freighters from importing various supplies, the country has still been able to move some of its sanctioned oil, ship tracking companies say.

And Iran has rejected Trump’s demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, and it has been firing on ships again this week. Stalled shipments through the strait have sent gasoline prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products, creating a political problem for Trump ahead of the midterm elections in November.

“Blockades are usually just one tool of a mechanism used in a conflict,” said Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina. “They can be important. But it’s only one element. And I don’t think it’s going to be enough to convince the Iranians.”

The effectiveness of the US blockade has been called into question

Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, claimed last week that “no ship has evaded U.S. forces." The command overseeing the Middle East said it has directed 31 ships to turn around or return to port as of Wednesday.

Merchant shipping groups are skeptical. Lloyd’s List Intelligence said “a steady flow of shadow fleet traffic” has passed in and out of the Gulf, including 11 tankers with Iranian cargo that have left the Gulf of Oman outside the strait since April 13.

The maritime intelligence firm Windward said this week that Iranian traffic continues to flow “via deception."

Iranian ships have several ways to sneak through the blockade, including spoofing their location tracking data or traveling through Pakistani territorial waters, Mercogliano said. He also noted that the sheer volume of shipping traffic the military needs to screen is a challenging task.

Blockades require patience to work

The last time the U.S. mounted a blockade similar to the one focused on Iranian ships was during the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s, when the U.S. imposed a blockade on Cuba, Huntley said.

“And it wasn't even called a blockade,” he said. “We called it quarantine.”

Some naval blockades over the course of history have had an impact, such as Britain's blockade on Germany during World War I. "But they tend to be very long-term impacts, whereas Trump is looking for short-term, quick results,” according to Boot, the military historian.

He said Trump probably saw the blockade on sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela as playing a large role in the success of leadership changes in that country. But Boot said it had more to do with the U.S. ousting Maduro and the subsequent cooperation from his vice president and now-acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.

“There is no Delcy Rodríguez in Cuba or Iran,” Boot said. “I think his success in Venezuela led him astray, thinking that this was a template that could be replicated elsewhere. He sees it as a huge success at little cost. And, in fact, it turns out to be a unique set of circumstances.”

“They were demolishing it gradually until they reached the main square and now, as you can see, there are no more houses,” said Hassan Sweidan, a resident of a neighboring village looking across at Beit Lif — about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Lebanon’s border with Israel — from a nearby hill.

Since agreeing last week to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been leveling neighborhoods in towns and villages near the Lebanese-Israeli border. The military says it destroys buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group.

But in many cases, like Beit Lif, the demolition is almost complete. The wide scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents increasingly worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Because of security concerns and limited access, neither U.N. peacekeepers nor Lebanese officials have been able to conduct a detailed survey of the villages where demolitions are taking place. But observers have described entire residential neighborhoods in multiple villages being systematically destroyed.

The demolitions mirror what has happened in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli bulldozers and controlled explosions have almost entirely razed the city of Rafah and other towns under Israeli control. There, Israel says it is removing structures used by Hamas.

Lebanese officials plan to raise the issue of widespread demolitions on Thursday when they hold ceasefire talks with their Israeli counterparts in Washington — part of the first direct negotiations between the two countries in decades.

A 10-day ceasefire is shaky

On March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran, Hezbollah entered the fray by firing missiles into northern Israel. The group had been under pressure by the Lebanese government to disarm following its previous war with Israel in 2024, but refused to do so.

Israel responded with an intense bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon that prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee the southern part of the country. The fighting has killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children.

The fighting was mostly halted by a 10-day ceasefire that began Friday. But both sides have carried out strikes since then. Hezbollah has justified its attacks in part by pointing to the Israeli military’s destruction of houses.

Israeli officials have said they intend to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, and the military has issued maps of a “forward defense line” that extends several miles into Lebanon and encompasses dozens of villages whose residents have not been allowed to return.

Following the announcement of the ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said this area had been "cleared of terrorists and weapons and is empty of citizens, and will continue to be cleared of terrorists' infrastructure, including the destruction of houses in Lebanese villages that border (Israel) and have become terrorists outposts in every sense.”

‘There are no more houses’

After the ceasefire went into effect, Sweidan returned to check on his home in the southern Lebanese village of Yater. It is still intact.

Because Sweidan's village overlooks neighboring Beit Lif, he has been able to observe Israeli army operations there. Despite damage from Israeli airstrikes during the war, most of Beit Lif was still standing on the first day of the ceasefire, he said.

But on the second day, Israeli forces arrived with bulldozers, jackhammers and tanks.

“We would come each day to see how much of the village was demolished," he said.

Tilak Pokharel, a spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said that peacekeepers “have observed demolitions taking place in several areas” since the truce.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the target of the demolition work is Hezbollah, not Lebanon or its civilians, and that it "operates in accordance with international law and does not destroy civilian property unless required by imperative military necessity.”

New demolitions come on top of existing destruction

There was already widespread destruction in border areas after the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024. Some homeowners could afford repairs, but there was no large-scale reconstruction.

Demolition also took place during the most recent war. Photographs taken on April 12 by AP from the towns of Menara and Misgav Am in northern Israel show excavators and bulldozers destroying homes on the Lebanese side of the border.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday that Israeli bulldozers were destroying neighborhoods, roads and infrastructure in the town of Khiam, a battleground in the Israel-Hezbollah fighting, “in a scene that suggests an attempt to completely erase the town’s identity.”

The news agency also reported “systematic bombing operations" Wednesday affecting residential neighborhoods in the city of Bint Jbeil — another flashpoint in the fighting — and in the villages of Beit Lif, Shamaa, Tair Harfa and Hanine.

Hezbollah said Tuesday it had launched drone and rocket attacks, the first since the ceasefire, in response to Israeli “attacks on civilians and the destruction of their homes and villages in southern Lebanon.”

As Lebanese officials scramble to keep the ceasefire in place, President Joseph Aoun said in a statement that “halting Israel’s demolition operations in southern villages and towns” is something Lebanese ambassadors in the United States will raise with their Israeli counterparts during ceasefire talks on Thursday.

The talks were expected to focus on a potential extension of the 10-day truce and establishing a framework for future talks aimed at a lasting a peace between the two countries.

___

This story has been updated to correct that UNIFIL is a U.N. peacekeeping force, not a U.S. peacekeeping force.

___

Associated Press journalists Malak Harb in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.

Trump’s return to the presidency was fueled by a wide-ranging coalition that built on his loyal base of supporters. Now that Trump has been in the White House for more than a year, the survey of more than 2,500 U.S. adults from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that many key groups — including Hispanic adults, younger adults and men — are increasingly dissatisfied with his presidency.

The poll was conducted from April 16 through Monday, as oil prices fluctuated and Americans spent more at the gas pump.

It’s a particularly bad moment for Trump, a Republican whose economic approval slumped over the past month as the Iran war drives prices higher. But AP-NORC polls show that discontent has been building among critical segments of the population over the past year.

Trump's overall approval among Hispanic adults has fallen 16 percentage points since March 2025, and his support has declined by 9 percentage points among men.

And while Trump’s base is still largely behind him — most Republicans approve of his performance — there are signs that his second term may not be living up to their expectations.

Here’s what polling shows about Trump’s current status with four important groups:

Hispanic adults

Hispanic Americans have grown increasingly discontented with Trump over the past year.

About one-quarter of Hispanic adults approve of how he’s handling the presidency in the new poll, down from about 4 in 10 in March 2025.

That decline has been visible since late last year — suggesting that it’s not just the war in Iran or recent spikes in gas prices that are leaving this group unhappy.

Trump’s restrictive immigration approach may be playing a role. Only about one-quarter of Hispanics approve of his handling of immigration, down from 36% at the beginning of his term.

His immigration tactics appear to be particularly unpopular among younger Hispanics — a group with which he made gains in 2024. Only 18% of younger Hispanic adults approve of his performance on immigration, compared with 40% of Americans overall.

There is also broad discontent about the state of the U.S. economy among Hispanics. Only about one-quarter of Hispanic adults approve of how Trump is handling that issue, and about 2 in 10 say they approve of his approach to the cost of living. Few Hispanic adults, about 2 in 10, describe the nation’s economy as “good.”

Young adults

Trump’s overall approval with Americans under age 45 has slid over the past year, falling from 39% in March 2025 to 28% in the latest poll.

Younger women have a particularly dim view of Trump’s handling of the economy.

Only about 2 in 10 women under age 45 approve of how Trump is handling the economy, including only 7% of younger Hispanic women who approve of his economic approach. More young men, about 3 in 10, approve of him on this issue.

Trump’s struggles among young adults extend to other groups, too. Only about one-third of white adults under age 45 approve of his overall performance, compared with 45% of white adults age 45 or older.

A downtick among men

Trump made broad appeals to men throughout his 2024 campaign, and most male voters backed Trump in the presidential election over Democrat Kamala Harris. In particular, he made slight but significant gains with Black and Hispanic men, who were drawn by his vows to revitalize the economy.

Since he reentered office, though, American men have become slightly less likely to approve of his performance, declining from 47% at the start of his second term to 38% in the most recent poll.

There are signs that Black men, in particular, aren’t seeing Trump’s economic promises pan out. Black men are more likely than white or Hispanic men to disapprove of Trump’s approach to the presidency, as well as his approach to the economy, the cost of living and Iran. Only about 1 in 10 Black men say they approve of how Trump is handling the cost of living, and roughly 2 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the economy.

Hispanic men, too, have a relatively dim view of Trump’s overall performance. About 3 in 10 approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, regardless of their age. That support is stronger among white men, with about half approving of Trump.

While young Republicans are frustrated, MAGA still backs Trump

Trump has benefited from Republicans’ loyalty for years, but there are recent signs of frustration even within his base.

Roughly two-thirds of Republicans approve of Trump’s job performance. That is down slightly from 82% near the start of his second term and is generally in line with the GOP low point from his first term.

But only about half of Republicans overall approve of Trump’s approach to the cost of living, and a majority of Republicans under age 45 disapprove of him on that issue.

Trump is still buoyed by the support of his MAGA base, even as he faces backlash from conservative media figures on some of his recent actions in Iran.

About 9 in 10 MAGA Republicans — those who consider themselves supporters of the “Make America Great Again” movement — approve of Trump’s job performance, and a similar share approve of his handling of Iran.

It's a good sign for Trump that his most robust supporters are still in his corner, but not all Republicans identify with MAGA. About half of Republicans, 54%, say they consider themselves MAGA supporters.

Among non-MAGA Republicans, Trump's approval is much lower, at 44%.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Lenzi is selling her Sanford home to fund her retirement. Back in February, she had someone repair a crack in her driveway. Then, weeks later, she got a call from a colleague with alarming news.

“She said, ‘Luzi, there is a mountain in front of your house and your driveway is gone,’” Lenzi recalled.

A second crew had shown up, ripped out the entire driveway, and left behind piles of gravel. The concrete was gone.

“Oh my God, what happened - that’s what I did,” Lenzi said, describing the moment she saw the damage.

“It’s awful,” she said. “It’s a pile of junk.”

[COVERING SANFORD: Sanford weighs future of downtown properties after exiting Heritage Park deal]

Lenzi was clear: she never authorized the work.

“I didn’t hire them. I didn’t need to have my driveway redone,” she said.

Lenzi filed a police report. Officers tracked down the crew after workers left a business card with a neighbor.

News 6 called the company. The man who answered said a contractor had hired him to do the job - and that the contractor told him to stop working after a check bounced.

We then called the contractor. The woman who answered said the company is cooperating with police and that the matter is under a pending investigation.

News 6 is not naming the contractor because law enforcement has not confirmed whether the company is a victim in the case.

According to the Sanford Police Department, “the case remains under investigation as it involves a number of contracts and financial transactions,” and that “investigations of this nature normally take longer to investigate due to their nature and having to wait an extended time to receive information from companies.”

[COVERING SANFORD: Sanford closes dog park to treat invasive caterpillars]

It remains unclear who hired the contractor to work on Lenzi’s driveway in the first place.

In the meantime, Lenzi is left to fix her driveway - again. The repairs are expected to cost around $5,000.

She has a message for those responsible.

“All I want you to do is to repair what you broke,” Lenzi said.

She's followed by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. That comes as no surprise: In 2025 the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was named the streaming giant's most played artist of the year for a fourth time, dethroning Swift.

It's a been bit of a cat-and-mouse game for the two: She claimed the top spot the previous two years; he did the same from 2020 to 2023.

Drake is Spotify's third most streamed artist of all time, followed by The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Eminem, Kanye West, Travis Scott, BTS, Post Malone, Bruno Mars, J Balvin, Rihanna, Coldplay, Kendrick Lamar, Future and Juice WRLD, in that order.

Spotify did not provide insight into its data collection methodology when asked about it by The Associated Press.

In addition to naming its most streamed artists globally, Spotify compiled its most streamed albums, songs, podcasts and audiobooks to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Streaming accounts for most of the money generated by the music industry — 82% in the United States, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

Spotify, a Sweden-based company founded in April 2006, is the largest platform of all. It accounts for over 31% of the total market share, with a reported 751 million users and 290 million subscribers in more than 184 markets.

Spotify's most streamed albums of all time

1. Bad Bunny's “Un Verano Sin Ti”

2. The Weeknd's “Starboy”

3. Ed Sheeran's “÷ (Deluxe)”

4. Olivia Rodrigo's “SOUR”

5. The Weeknd's “After Hours”

6. SZA's “SOS”

7. Post Malone's “Hollywood’s Bleeding”

8. Taylor Swift's “Lover”

9. Arctic Monkeys' “AM”

10. Billie Eilish's “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”

11. Dua Lipa's “Future Nostalgia”

12. Post Malone's “Beerbongs & Bentleys”

13. XXXTENTACION's “?”

14. Karol G's “Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season)”

15. Bad Bunny's “YHLQMDLG”

16. Bruno Mars' “Doo-Wops & Hooligans”

17. Drake's “Views”

18. Taylor Swift's “Midnights”

19. Drake's “Scorpion”

20. The Weeknd's “Beauty Behind The Madness”

Spotify's most streamed songs of all time

1. The Weeknd's “Blinding Lights”

2. Ed Sheeran's “Shape of You”

3. The Neighbourhood's “Sweater Weather”

4. The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk's “Starboy”

5. Harry Styles' “As It Was”

6. Lewis Capaldi's “Someone You Loved”

7. Post Malone and Swae Lee's “Sunflower — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

8. Drake ft. Wizkid and Kyla's “One Dance”

9. Ed Sheeran's “Perfect”

10. The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber's “Stay”

11. Imagine Dragons' “Believer”

12. Arctic Monkeys' “I Wanna Be Yours”

13. Glass Animals' “Heat Waves”

14. Billie Eilish and Khalid's “Lovely”

15. Coldplay's “Yellow”

16. Lord Huron's “The Night We Met”

17. The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey's “Closer”

18. Billie Eilish's “Birds of a Feather”

19. Vance Joy's “Riptide”

20. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' “Die With A Smile”

Skies will stay partly sunny on Thursday, and while most of the area will remain mostly dry, a few passing showers or sprinkles can’t be ruled out.

Rain chances stay low at just 10 to 20 percent, with the best chance for a brief shower shifting inland later this afternoon as the sea breeze pushes west. High temperatures will reach the upper 70s to around 80 degrees at the beaches, while inland areas will warm into the low 80s.

WEEKEND

Heading into the weekend and early next week, the weather pattern turns warmer and a little more unsettled. Daily sea breezes will develop each afternoon, helping spark isolated to scattered thunderstorms from Friday through Monday. The highest chance for storms may come Sunday (30-40%) as moisture increases across the region.

Temperatures will continue to climb quickly with highs running into the upper 80s to near 90 by the weekend.

FIRE THREAT

While the addition of rain is much-needed, it also poses a concern for potential new fires if thunderstorms develop, as lightning could ignite dry vegetation.

The senators this week introduced what they're calling the Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act, which would make the supermarket staple an eligible purchase under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

“America’s best (and delicious) affordability play is Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken,” said Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who joined Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia and others in sponsoring the bill. “It’s one of my family’s favorites, and I’m proud to join this bill with Sen. Justice for all to try. SNAP funds would be well spent to feed our nation’s families who need it.”

The SNAP program provides a monthly stipend for low-income families to buy groceries, but it doesn't pay for hot prepared foods. The exclusion, which dates back decades, was meant to promote home cooking. But critics say it's outdated and penalizes families that are already struggling to make ends meet, excluding convenient and nutritious options.

Lawmakers at the state and federal level have long debated which foods should be eligible for SNAP benefits. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pressed states to exclude junk food such as soda and candy. Twenty-two states, mostly led by Republicans, have requested or been granted permission to ban certain foods.

SNAP is a major piece of the U.S. social safety net used by nearly 42 million, or about 1 in 8, Americans to help buy groceries. On average, the monthly benefit per household is about $350, and the average benefit per person is about $190.

Besides Fetterman and Justice, the senators introducing the bill are Republican Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Democrat Michael Bennet of Colorado. Republican Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas has pushed for similar legislation in the House.

“We have to give people the option to put a healthy, protein-dense choice on the table that actually tastes good and doesn’t take an hour and a half to cook,” Justice said in a statement.

And that’s not all.

Baggage fees are also going up, and fuel surcharges are making an ugly comeback. Those moves come as a direct result of the war in the Middle East, as the cost of aviation fuel has almost doubled since the war began on February 28, 2026.

Jet fuel is one of the biggest expenses for an airline, second only to labor. And when fuel prices go up, airlines must adjust (and adjust quickly):

• Last week, Qantas announced ticket prices would go up to offset rising fuel costs. The airline said they expect their 2026 fuel bill to jump to over $3 billion (AUD), up from their projected $2.2 billion (AUD). Qantas is also cutting unprofitable domestic and international routes.  
• Air New Zealand said last month it was shedding 1,100 flights (about 5% of its routes) over a two-month period. Fares are up between $10 and $20 domestically and $90 for some long-haul flights.
• Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific tacked on fuel surcharges not once, but twice in a 30-day period. Roundtrips between Hong Kong and Singapore now cost an extra $127, and a ticket from Sydney to London recently carried a whopping $800 fuel surcharge added on.
• Norwegian low-cost airline Norse Atlantic Airways has eliminated international service on three routes: Los Angeles and London, Los Angeles and Paris, and Los Angeles and Rome.
• Spanish discount airline Volotea added a €9 per seat fuel charge after customers had already bought their tickets. Backlash to the move has been intense; Volotea however, says terms are explained in the airline’s “Fair Travel Promise” which does indicate the final price of a ticket “is calculated based on variations in fuel market prices compared to a reference average price.”

Interestingly, the airline states the policy is a two-way street, and passengers could see a refund if fuel prices drop.

• KLM cancelled more than 150 flights in the last month as a direct result of rising fuel prices. The airline stressed they didn’t have a fuel shortage; the cuts were strictly to save money. Those 150 flights represent about 1% of the airline’s entire schedule.

Are airlines running out of fuel?

An interesting point to drill down on in KLM’s announcement is this: the mention of a ,. Though KLM stated they have enough fuel for their operations, other airlines (and regions) may not be as fortunate.

Last week, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, stated there could be significant flight cancellations soon if oil supplies from the Middle East weren’t restored. Specifically, Birol told the Associated Press that Europe had “maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,” and added that the shortage is “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced.” A similar warning from the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) was even more dire, saying the region could begin feeling the effects of jet fuel shortages within about three weeks.

Europe produces most of its own jet fuel, but about a third is imported. Most of those imports (about 75% or roughly 375,000 barrels a day) came from the Middle East. Though Europe has about six weeks of jet fuel on hand, most major hubs have only about 8 to 10 days of fuel on hand. ACI Europe estimates that over 200,000 barrels of jet fuel make their way to Europe from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia every day. Since the war began, ACI reports that “no significant cargoes have reached Europe.”

Things in the U.S. and Canada are different.

A sidebar explainer on the U.S. and our oil

The U.S. exports more oil and refined fuels than it imports. In fact, we are the biggest oil producer in the world (surprise!) and one of the world’s largest exporters.

• In 2026, the U.S. is producing, on average, 13.5 million barrels of oil a day
• Since the war began, we have beenis exporting about 5 million barrels of oil per day

Logically, you might think that if we have so much oil, it doesn’t matter what goes on overseas – we can keep everything here internal and not be influenced by outside conflicts.

The funny thing about logic? Sometimes, it’s not logical. Two factors trip us up.

First, it’s about the type of oil, not the amount.

The U.S. has lots of oil, just not the right kind. Years ago, a majority of our refineries were set up to process what’s known as heavy crude oil, oil usually imported from Canada (surprise number 2!) with a small share coming from the Middle East.

The U.S. does produce some heavy crude, but most of our oil is ,pumped from shale fields in places like Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota is light sweet crude. Light sweet crude can be refined into gasoline and jet fuel (kerosene), but as stated, most of our refineries are set up for the other type of oil, heavy crude.

Second, we don’t set our own prices.

Oil is traded on the global market, not on a local market. That means no matter where the oil is produced, the price is set for the whole world, not just a region. So, though the U.S. may import most of our heavy crude oil from Canada – and not the Middle East – we don’t really have as much control of the price,back-and-forth even though that oil doesn’t pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

To bring this back to the airlines: in Europe, it’s a supply problem. In the U.S., it’s a price problem.

How are U.S. airlines responding?

In January of 2026, U.S. airlines were paying on average about $2.36 per gallon for jet fuel. Today, those prices are hovering closer to $3.80 to $4.00 per gallon. That means jet fuel costs have jumped by roughly 60 to 90 percent in just a few weeks, depending on the market. For that same month, U.S. airlines burned through 1.44 billion gallons of jet fuel (about 46-50 million gallons a day).

Cost? About $3.4 billion for airlines just on fuel alone.

For North American carriers, effects from the conflict in the Middle East and the back-and-forth, uncertainty of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are also being felt:

• Delta Air Lines is in a better position than most because it is the only airline in the world that owns an oil refinery. Delta bought the Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania back in 2012 (a move that seemed unusual at the time, but today, who doesn’t want their own fuel refinery and depot?).

Nonetheless, on April 14th, Delta raised first checked bag fees from $35 to $45. Second,reinstated checked bag fees are also up $10; a third checked bag on Delta will now cost an extra $50! Delta’s CEO also acknowledged the carrier had raised some fares.

• United Airlines is cutting about 5% of its flights over the next two quarters. At a little over 10,000 flights each day, that works out to roughly 500 flights a day. CEO Scott Kirby said the rise in aviation fuel prices would cost the airline an extra $11 billion this year. Kirby added: “For perspective, in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

United also joined the ranks of Delta (and JetBlue) in hiking its checked bag fees.

• Air Canada made a stunning announcement last week, cancelling all of its flights between JFK/Montreal and JFK/Toronto. The suspension starts June 1st – Air Canada says those services should be reinstated by October. Air Canada will continue flights to and from Montreal and Toronto through two other New York area airports, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty. The carrier also suspended its Salt Lake City/Toronto flights starting June 30th.    
• Like other U.S. carriers, Southwest Airlines raised its new checked bag fees by $10 in early April ($45 for the first bag and $55 for the second). Southwest ended its Bags Fly Free program in May of 2025. Notably, Southwest hasn’t dramatically raised ticket prices, despite the rise in jet fuel prices.

Decades ago, Southwest had a policy of buying its fuel ahead of time (known as fuel hedging) – for years, it was a successful way to maintain some control over volatile fuel prices. The strategy helped SWA weather previous rises in fuel costs, but in some quarters, hedging also hurt the company when the cost of aviation fuel plummeted, and the airline overpaid. Southwest dropped its fuel hedging policy last year, though it still has some hedging contracts in place through 2027.

• Spirit Airlines, however, might be one of the most vulnerable U.S. carriers. Last week, rumors were swirling that the airline was on the precipice of shutting down. Spirit is still in the midst of its second bankruptcy and is operating on razor-thin margins – the sudden spike in fuel prices caught the carrier off-guard. This week, it was revealed that the ultra-low-cost carrier was seeking emergency funding from the government to avoid liquidation.

With fuel costs rising this fast, airlines aren’t the only ones adjusting – travelers may need to as well.

Airline tickets: buy now or buy later?

Buy now. But pay more now.

Here’s the logic: airfare prices are constantly changing, and in a volatile market, waiting can mean paying more. But, if you buy now, be careful what you choose because not all tickets are created equal:

• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually non-changeable
• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually non-refundable
• Basic Economy, Saver, or Essential Economy tickets are usually not eligible for price drop credits

Instead, look for tickets that give you some flexibility if prices drop after you’ve already booked.

• Main Cabin Economy
• Premium Economy
• Business Class
• First Class

Those last two can get pricey – but the sweet spot for most travelers is main cabin or premium economy. On most major U.S. airlines, those tickets let you change or cancel your flight – often for a credit, and sometimes a refund.

And don’t forget that the Department of Transportation requires airlines to give you a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of booking, as long as the ticket was purchased at least seven days before departure.

To wrap it all up – remember that it’s not just about when you buy – it’s about what you buy. Because in a global market like this, what happens halfway around the world doesn’t stay there: it shows up in the price of your next flight.

Holding signs and waving banners, the workers gathered at a factory compound amid a heavy police presence, shouting “make compensation transparent and remove maximum limits on bonuses!” Union officials said about 40,000 members participated in the protest. Police did not immediately provide a crowd estimate.

The rally came hours after Samsung’s cross-town rival, SK Hynix, posted an all time high in quarterly revenue and operating profit for the January-March quarter. It attributed the jump to expanding global investments in data centers and other AI infrastructure that drove up the demands for its memory chips.

Samsung, which together with SK Hynix produces about two-thirds of global memory chips, forecast earlier this month that its first-quarter operating profit would reach a record 57.2 trillion won ($38.6 billion). That would be higher than the 37.6 trillion won ($25.4 billion) posted by SK Hynix on Thursday, although Samsung has a more diverse lineup of businesses, including smartphones and consumer electronics.

Samsung’s union, which represents about 74,000 workers, says the company has failed to offer adequate compensation despite its strong performance. It has rejected the management’s proposal for bonuses of restricted stock and has called for removing caps on bonuses.

The union has threatened to stage an 18-day walkout starting May 21 if negotiations with management fail, and claims that such action would cost the company more than 1 trillion won ($676 million) a day.

“We won’t stop this fight until our fair demands are met,” Choi Seung-ho, a union leader, said through a loudspeaker from atop a crane-mounted structure.

While semiconductor makers have benefited from the AI boom, the war in the Middle East has clouded the outlook, disrupting supplies of key materials such as helium that are crucial to chipmaking and pushing up energy costs.

In a conference call Thursday, Woo Hyun Kim, SK Hynix’s chief financial officer, said the company is closely monitoring the conflict but does not expect a meaningful impact on production, saying it has been diversifying its sourcing of helium and bromine beyond the Middle East and has sufficient inventory.

———

Kim Tong-hyung reported from Seoul, South Korea. AP writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to the report from Seoul.

Remote working has been made possible by reliable high speed internet and turbocharged by the pandemic. For some remote workers, that includes working from somewhere other than their home, perhaps because their company doesn't have a physical location in their area, or because they don't have an ideal home office setup.

Working in public, however, doesn't come without privacy and security risks. Here's a quick reminder of precautions to take:

Read the rulebook

Hybrid or fully remote working is the norm for many jobs, so it's a good idea to check for guidance from your employer on what's expected when working away from the office.

Many companies and organizations have internal guidelines including best practices for working in public, or even offer privacy and confidentiality training for staff.

Some discourage working in crowded public places like coffee shops because of data privacy risks. The British government spells it out in guidance for staff working with classified documents. “These environments can present additional risks, including being more freely accessible to people without the appropriate clearance and need-to-know.”

If you're planning to travel and work, some employers might also have rules forbidding staff from working from certain countries.

Think visually

Cafes and co-working spaces are often busy with strangers, most of whom will be minding their own business. But it's still a good idea not to leave yourself exposed.

Try to find a secluded place to sit to prevent others from seeing what's on your screen, even if it's by accident. It's harder for someone to “shoulder surf” if you've got your back to a wall.

To make it even harder for prying eyes, get a screen privacy filter. This is a thin film that has tiny louvres to prevent anyone from seeing your screen when looking at it from an angle.

Be wary of the Wi-Fi

It's so tempting to log on to that free Wi-Fi network in the airport lounge or hotel lobby so you can check your email. But cybersecurity experts advise against it because the risks are high.

Avoid a public Wi-Fi network that doesn't need a password, because any data sent over it is vulnerable to theft or manipulation, the National Security Agency warns.

Even if a Wi-Fi network requires a password, that doesn't mean the data will be encrypted, the NSA says in a cybersecurity tip sheet.

The agency warns about a number of cybersecurity risks involving public Wi-Fi. One possible danger is a rogue network that tricks people into joining.

“A malicious actor can set up a fake access point, also known as an evil twin, to mimic the nearby expected public Wi-Fi, resulting in that actor having access to all data sent over the network,” the NSA says.

Instead, use a mobile hotspot, which is more secure because it uses your cellphone signal to create a mini wireless network. Most iPhones or Android phones can do this.

For even more security, use a VPN, or virtual private network. This is software that encrypts data traffic and routes it through private tunnels to secure servers to prevent anyone from being able to read it. Companies usually provide them for staff. If not, you can sign up for one yourself.

Don't forget the obvious measures

There are other common-sense measures you can take in public.

Beware of your surroundings. Sitting in a public place with a laptop in plain sight could make it an attractive target for thieves. If you need to leave your spot to go to the restroom, take your devices with you.

Avoid having private conversations in public. If you're on a noisy train car or in a busy hotel lobby talking on a Zoom call about a sensitive project, it might be tempting to raise your voice to make sure you're being heard. But you can never be sure if anyone is eavesdropping.

"In public areas be aware of whether you can be overheard by any unauthorized individuals, such as members of the public, or smart listening devices," the British government's guidance warns.

___

Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

The meeting between Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad and her Israeli counterpart Yechiel Leiter is the second between the two diplomats, days after they held the first such direct talks between the two countries in three decades.

Lebanon President Joseph Aoun said Wednesday that contacts are ongoing to extend the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that went into effect Friday.

Hamadeh will put forward an extension of the ceasefire during the meeting and ask for an end to ongoing Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2, Aoun said in comments released by his office.

Preparations are ongoing for wider-reaching negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah ahead of negotiations in Washington.

“We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” Saar said during Independence Day remarks to Israel’s ambassadors and diplomatic corps in which he also described the neighboring country as a “failed state.”

“The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”

The latest war started after Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion in which it captured dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Israel’s military currently occupies a buffer zone stretching as much as 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. Israel says it aims to remove the threat of short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles towards northern Israel.

Despite Hezbollah’s outright rejection, the talks are a major step for two countries with no diplomatic relations that officially have been at war since Israel’s inception in 1948.

The Lebanese government hopes the talks will pave the way to a permanent end to the war. While Iran has set ending the wars in Lebanon and the region as a condition for talks with the U.S., Lebanon insists on representing itself.

Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, told The Associated Press that the group will not abide by any agreements made during the direct talks, which it opposes.

Since the ceasefire went into effect last week, there have been multiple violations by both side sides.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children, and displaced over 1 million people.

Last week’s talks were the first between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Both countries have relied on indirect communication, often brokered by the U.S. or UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s top political authorities, critical of Hezbollah’s decision to fire rockets toward Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, quickly proposed direct talks in a bid to stop the escalation, hoping Israel would not launch its ground invasion.

___

Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.

A powerful rainstorm drenched the Malabo sports stadium and the estimated 30,000 people who gathered before dawn for Leo’s farewell liturgy. But the deluge let up before Leo arrived in his covered popemobile for a romp through the deafening crowd.

Leo was leaving after an 11-day, four-nation voyage that took him from Algeria in the north of Africa to Angola in the south and Cameroon in between.

Over that time, Leo covered more than 17,700 kilometers (about 11,000 miles) on 18 flights, including three on Wednesday alone that saw him crisscross Equatorial Guinea from the west coast to the far east border with Gabon and back again.

Leo gets wild welcome nearly everywhere he goes

Nearly everywhere Leo went, history’s first U.S. pope received a raucous welcome, especially in the farther away places that had never had a pope visit.

Popes have been traveling the world since Pope Paul VI made the first modern foreign visit in 1964 to Jordan and Israel. But it was St. John Paul II who revolutionized the papacy with his globetrotting papacy that took him on 104 foreign trips over a quarter century, many with the multination itinerary on which Leo’s trip seemed modeled.

At Leo’s final Mass on Thursday, Michaela Mecha and her sister, Encarnacion, arrived at the Malabo stadium in the downpour at 4 a.m. They were dressed from head to toe in pope-themed attire, complete with yellow umbrellas decorated with Leo’s face.

“We feel very special and blessed that the pope has chosen our country,” said Michaela, who works as a nurse and brought her two young daughters with her. “This visit is bringing young people closer to God.”

In his homily, Leo referred to the April 17 death of the Rev. Fr. Fortunato Nsue Esono Ayíambeng, a member of the committee that organized the trip and the vicar general of Malabo.

“May full light be shed on the circumstances of his death,” Leo said, in apparent reference to rumors that foul play might have been involved.

A feud with Trump that lasted days

Few people could have expected that Leo’s trip, his first to Africa as pope, would have played out against Trump’s unprecedented attacks over the Iran war. But the timing was such that Leo was already in the media crosshairs when it began, and the exchange didn’t let up for days.

On Day 1, Leo insisted he was just preaching the Gospel of peace and wasn’t afraid of the Trump administration after Trump accused him of being soft on crime and cozy with the left. As the attacks continued and Vice President JD Vance joined the fray, telling Leo he should “be careful” when speaking about theology, Leo tried to de-escalate by blaming the media for taking his words out of context.

The initiative seem to have worked, as both Leo and the Trump administration moved on and the pope could concentrate on his Africa agenda. It was focused on rallying Catholics with a message of hope while also blasting what he called the “colonization” of the continent's natural resources by foreign interests.

A kaleidoscope of moments across four countries

The trip had its high-emotion moments, such as when Leo broke away from a choreographed visit to a psychiatric hospital in Sampaka, Equatorial Guinea, to greet the patients, one by one, and pose for selfies.

Another powerful moment came when Leo, whose ancestors include enslaved persons and slave owners, prayed the rosary in Muxima, Angola. The site of a onetime hub of the African slave trade is now Angola's most popular pilgrimage site after a reported vision of the Virgin Mary around 1833.

There were personal stops, too, such as when Leo visited with nuns of his Augustinian religious order in Bab El Oued, Algeria, and stopped at a table of jewelry made by local women. He picked out a necklace featuring a tree of life design and assured the superior, “It’s not for me, it’s for my niece.”

In Bamenda, Cameroon, he traveled to the epicenter of a nearly decade-long separatist conflict and begged for peace while lashing out at the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging the Earth. It was that day’s news headlines that prompted Leo to come to the back of the plane a few days later and insist he wasn’t talking about Trump.

One of the most troubling events came in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, when Leo visited a prison. All the inmates, their heads shaved, were dressed in new neon orange or beige uniforms and new Croc-like rubber shoes. The facility had been recently painted salmon pink with fresh saplings planted around the perimeter.

The inmates stood silently in seemingly assigned spots in the open courtyard waiting for Leo. When he arrived, they sang for him a song about their sins. As Leo told them God loves them and spoke of their dignity, they danced for him and waved their Holy See flags in choreographed unison, as the heavens opened and a downpour drenched them.

As soon as Leo left, with the country’s justice minister still in the courtyard, the inmates broke away from their places into a raucous, dancing chant of “Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!” (Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!)

Milestones inside the papal bubble

The trip was so long that several milestones were crossed: Leo marked the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death with an off-the-cuff tribute from the papal plane remembering Francis’ mercy and gestures.

Leo also offered best wishes to the handful of reporters who celebrated birthdays over the course of the trip, which were marked each time with the ITA Airways flight crew passing around birthday cake.

Leo’s mid-trip remarks to the press, as he traveled from country to country, gave the local media in the Vatican pool a chance to ask questions of interest back home. One nugget that certainly gave joy to Angolans was Leo’s revelation that Angola might have its first cardinal, not in the near future but “a bit further on.”

___

AP writer Monika Pronczuk contributed.

___

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.

It's the first time in a generation that California has a wide-open contest for the heavily Democratic state's highest office, with more than 50 names on the ballot. Mail ballots are scheduled to go to voters early next month in advance of the June 2 primary election.

It was mostly a mannerly exchange. There were few instances of candidates talking over or interrupting each other, indicating they were eager to make a positive impression with voters who might be seeing them for the first time.

The debate brought together the two leading Republicans, conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, and four Democrats including former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Over 90 minutes, candidates fielded questions on housing and wildfire insurance, social media and gas taxes, while bickering over professional experience, individual wealth and the direction of the nation's most populous state. Democrats made clear they would fight President Donald Trump in a state known as the home of the so-called Trump resistance, while Republicans said ruling Democrats are to blame for the state's woes.

“Donald Trump is trying to punish California every way he can,” Steyer said.

Homeless policy displays sharp partisan divide

California has more people living on the street than any other state and Democrats generally credited outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for his efforts to deal with the long-running crisis. But Republicans said the state has spent billions of taxpayer dollars with little evidence of progress.

“Everything has taken us in the wrong direction,” Hilton said.

Bianco called the state's record on homelessness a “dismal failure.”

Social media use for kids at issue

Candidates were asked if the state should ban social media use for children under 16 years old and their answers didn't fall neatly on party lines.

Steyer and Becerra said they support such a ban. Hilton said there should be a social norm to keep smartphones away from children under 16. Porter said she doesn't support a ban at that age but may support a different age ban, noting two of her teenage children use social media in different ways. Bianco and Mahan said it should be left to parents, with Mahan saying he supports parental consent for kids under 16 and cellphones should be banned in schools.

There also were some sharp exchanges and candidates sought to distinguish themselves from rivals.

A billionaire faces questions

References to Steyer's wealth and previous business dealings came up repeatedly.

“The only housing Tom Steyer’s built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers,” Mahan said, echoing criticism that Steyer, a hedge fund founder turned liberal activist, invested in private prisons that today house people picked up in federal immigration raids.

Steyer responded that he and his wife have financed thousands of low-income housing units.

Steyer has been vastly outspending his rivals in advertising and was asked about being the only billionaire in the race. He noted major corporations including utility companies are spending millions against him.

“I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires,” Steyer added. “I’m the billionaire who's taking on the electric monopoly and trying to break up their power. I’m the billionaire who wants to tax the oil companies and make polluters pay.”

California's unique primary rules fuel uncertainty

The candidates were all on stage together because California puts all candidates on the same ballot regardless of party, and the two with the most votes go to the November general election. Democrats have been fretting their crowded field could result in two Republicans advancing, a result that would be a historic calamity for Democrats.

The campaign has just come through an unstable period, with U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell — one of the leading Democrats — leaving the race and Congress following sexual assault allegations that he denies.

Becerra and Mahan were late additions to the debate lineup after Swalwell exited the race. Both candidates in the reordered contest have been getting fresh attention, and endorsements. Becerra was the only candidate who declined to speak to reporters after the debate.

Porter, who became a social media celebrity by brandishing a whiteboard at congressional hearings while grilling CEOs, could become the state's first woman governor. Steyer, who in 2020 ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign, is known for his involvement in climate issues. Becerra served in the Biden administration and as a state attorney general, a congressman and a state legislator, and would be the state's first Hispanic governor in modern history. Mahan says he has made gains against homelessness and crime while leading Northern California's largest city.

California takes center stage

Democrats have dominated government in the nation's most populous state for years. Republicans haven't won a statewide election in two decades, and Hilton and Bianco faulted Sacramento's one-sided politics for the state's troubles.

Bianco said Democratic policies were driving up the cost of living.

Hilton, while discussing the state's notoriously high tax rates, said, “All the Democrats here are part of this system that obviously isn’t working.”

Nexstar Media Group hosted the debate that aired on its local channels, as well as NewsNation, and streamed online via The Hill. ___

Sophie Austin and Trân Nguyễn contributed from Sacramento, California.

Comet 3I/Atlas is only the third interstellar visitor to be confirmed and quite possibly the oldest. Scientists estimate it could be up to 11 billion years old, more than twice as old as the sun.

A team led by the University of Michigan used the ALMA observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert to examine the comet last fall. The errant but harmless iceball was discovered last summer, giving NASA and the European Space Agency plenty of time to aim multiple space telescopes at it as it zoomed past Mars in October and made its closest approach to Earth in December. It's now well past Jupiter on its way out of our solar system for good, still visible only to the professionals.

In the study, scientists said they detected extremely high amounts of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, in the comet's water. That suggests that the comet originated in a place considerably colder — before the star of this solar system even formed — than our own cosmic neighborhood, said the University of Michigan's Teresa Paneque-Carreno.

While our sun may have been surrounded by other newborn stars as it was forming, she noted, this comet's home star could have been more of a loner, leading to less heating and colder conditions.

The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.

The comet's precise place of origin is still unknown. Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope put the size of its nucleus somewhere between a quarter-mile and 3.5 miles (440 meters and 5.6 kilometers). It's hurtling away at 137,000 mph (220,000 kph).

Linking all these “puzzle pieces together may give an idea to how the planet-forming conditions were at these early times,” Paneque-Carreno said in an email.

The first known interstellar object to stray into our celestial backyard — Oumuamua — was discovered by a telescope in Hawaii in 2017. Comet 2I/Borisov followed in 2019, named for the Crimean amateur astronomer who first spotted it.

___

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

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened Tuesday night around 9 p.m. at the Fountain of Millenia complex in building 12.

Clem Newman said that at some point while walking his dog a juvenile got a little close to the dog, and the dog jumped at the young man.

Authorities said Newman claims that same juvenile went and told two men he apparently knew he’d actually been bitten by the dog. Newman also told authorities those two men, one claiming to be the child’s father, identified as Akaeem Mason, approached Newman, beating him and his dog repeatedly.

Authorities said that later that night, they canvassed the area for whom Newman described, eventually finding Mason, who confirmed he’d approached Newman after being told Newman’s dog bit his child.

Newman was taken into custody and has since bonded out of jail. He’s been charged with battery and animal abuse. At this time, there’s no word on a second arrest.

News 6 is working to learn how both the dog and his owner are doing.

Iran’s ability and willingness to go to the World Cup across north America starting June 11 has been unclear since the U.S. and Israel launched military attacks Feb. 28.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports made an announcement about the full preparedness of our national soccer team for presence in the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., by the order of the minister,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohejerani told Iran’s state TV on Wednesday.

FIFA has consistently said Iran will stick to the World Cup game schedule decided last December, and refused to negotiate any suggestion of playing the team’s games in Mexico.

Progress was made March 31 when FIFA President Gianni Infantino went to meet Iranian soccer leaders and players in Turkey where the team had two warmup games.

Though the Iranian soccer league has shut down during the war, the team’s official Instagram account posted photos this week of a practice in Tehran.

Mohejerani added Wednesday “the necessary arrangements that these dear ones need for the team’s proud and successful participation, (have been made).”

Infantino promised the Iranian team three weeks ago he would help find a training camp outside of the country for the team to prepare for the World Cup. That could also be in Turkey, where Iran played warmup games last month in Antalya against Nigeria and Costa Rica.

FIFA did not immediately confirm details Wednesday of a possible camp being organized.

Iran is scheduled to play two group-stage games at the Los Angeles Rams’ stadium in Inglewood — against New Zealand and Belgium — then face Egypt in Seattle.

The team is due to arrive at its training camp in Tucson, Arizona no later than June 10, which is at least five days before its first game as required by FIFA’s World Cup rules.

A key issue to be resolved is the U.S. government giving entry visas to the Iranian delegation including soccer federation president Mehdi Taj. He is a vice president of the Asian soccer body who was barred from attending the World Cup draw in December in Washington D.C., where Infantino presented U.S. President Donald Trump with the specially created FIFA Peace Prize.

Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the 48-nation tournament that runs through July 19.

___

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

He signed one of these bills — SB 1134 — during a news conference in Jacksonville on Wednesday, explaining that it will get rid of DEI programs at the local level.

More specifically, the law prohibits local governments from funding, promoting or implementing any DEI initiatives.

When asked to define DEI — “diversity, equity and inclusion” — DeSantis stated the following:

“I would say it’s an ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups. I would think with DEI, the disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be White males, and I think they’ve been discriminated against.

And it’s like, a lot of people would be like, ‘Oh, that’s fine, that’s fine.’ No, that’s not fine. It’s wrong. So you do that, but you also see with some of these universities that have done it, you’ve seen discrimination against Asian American students.

They’re picking winners and losers, and I think the proper approach is to treat people based on merit and not try to divvy them up into various different groups."

Ron DeSantis

SB 1134 is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, though it’s not the only new law passed this week.

Below is the full list of bills DeSantis signed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

SB 118 — R.V. Park Assessments

Senate Bill 118 revises how special assessments may be levied against R.V. parks.

The bill does this by prohibiting local governments from levying special assessments against areas over 400 square feet for each R.V. parking space or campsite.

The law took effect upon being signed.

HB 441 — Conservation Lands

House Bill 441 requires that when a water management district considers selling conservation lands, the governing board publish the following information at least 30 days before meeting:

• The district-owned parcels of land for sale or proposed for exchange
• The privately owned parcels proposed for exchange
• The portions of those parcels that will be preserved in a permanent conservation easement
• A statement from the district explaining why those lands are no longer needed for conservation purposes

The law takes effect on July 1.

SB 488 — Transportation

Senate Bill 488 amends various provisions related to topics like motor vehicle registration, licensing and tax-related requirements. These new rules include the following:

• Creates penalties for counterfeiting or illegally altering fuel tax licenses and the related permits
• Revises penalties and interest calculations for delinquent tax payments
• Provides penalties for specific offenses related to the misuse of motor fuel-tax related documents and establishes detailed requirements for recordkeeping by motor carriers
• Increases the amount of estimated damage resulting from a crash that is required to be reported to law enforcement from $500 to $2,000

The law takes effect on Oct. 1.

SB 490 — Public Records (FLHSMV)

Senate Bill 490 expands a public records exemption for email addresses collected by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

This expansion includes email addresses that are used to provide customers with general notifications.

The law takes effect on Oct. 1.

SB 1134 — DEI Policy Ban

Senate Bill 1134 prohibits local governments from funding, promoting, or enacting any DEI policies, initiatives, and programs.

The law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

HB 1137 — Alcoholic Beverage Taxes

House Bill 1137 allows alcoholic beverage distributors to take a deduction from alcoholic beverage excise taxes for standard product losses, including breakage, spoilage, evaporation, and expiration.

The law took effect upon being signed.

HB 1217 — Greenhouse Gases

House Bill 1217 prohibits the state and local governments from adopting or enforcing net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policies, including carbon taxes.

The law takes effect on July 1.

That legislation — SB 488 — actually plays off a similar license plate law from last year, which prohibited alterations to license plates.

This applies to any of the following situations:

• Mutilating or defacing a registered license plate
• Changing the plate’s color
• Applying reflective material, spray, covering or anything else that can obscure the plate
• Attaching an illuminated device that can prevent someone from reading the plate

However, the 2025 law sparked controversy when it also banned people from owning a “license plate obscuring device.”

According to state law, drivers aren’t allowed to add a device to their license plates that obscures the license plate number or the decal in the top right-hand corner.

But many took the law to mean that they couldn’t have a frame that covers the top or bottom of the plate, with the confusion even leading to arrests in some cases.

While the state has tried to clarify these rules, SB 488 explicitly states that it is not against the law to have a license plate frame so long as the identifying information isn’t hidden.

[RELATED: How the state of Florida is trying to clear up confusion of new license plate frame law]

SB 488 takes effect in full on Oct. 1, though it doesn’t change much else about last year’s license plate law.

That said, you can check out the full list of new laws approved so far this year by clicking here.

These records show that the reported eateries experienced violations like pests, storage violations and more.

[BELOW: Over 100 roaches, hundreds of droppings found at Orlando Chinese restaurant]

Furthermore, inspectors noted that roaches and other pests were prominent issues for many of these locations.

However, most of the closed restaurants were eventually allowed to reopen after meeting inspection standards.

The full list of Central Florida eateries required to close last week is as follows:

DAYTONA BEACH

• 35 Bistro and Wine Bar — 740 Main Street
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 30 rodent droppings found on premises
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

HAINES CITY

• Taqueria Don Gonzalo — 103 U.S. Hwy. 17-92 N.
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Nearly 60 dead roaches found on premises
    • Seven live roaches found on premises
    • Raw beef kept over unwashed produce in reach-in cooler
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

MERRITT ISLAND

• Tasty K-Pot — 325 E. Merritt Island Causeway
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 50 rodent droppings found on premises
    • Time/temperature violations for cooked noodles, cream cheese, krab, and cut cabbage
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

ORLANDO

• Ayiti Breeze Bar & Grill — 701 W. Lancaster Road
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Around 30 live roaches found on premises
    • Sewage kept backing up through floor drains, with employees mopping water as it came out
    • Time/temperature violations for black rice and cabbage
    • Dishwashing machine chlorine sanitizer not at proper strength
  • Follow-up inspection required as of April 17

SATELLITE BEACH

• Banana River Café — 1301 S. Patrick Drive
• • Closed on April 15
  • • Over 60 small, flying insects found on premises
    • Server handled soiled dishes or utensils before picking up plated food, served food, or prepared a beverage without washing hands
  • Met inspection standards on April 16

ST. PETERSBURG

• Red Lobster — 6151 34 Street N.
• • Closed on April 13
  • • Four dead roaches found on premises
    • Eight live roaches found on premises
  • Met inspection standards on April 14

TAMPA

• Piccola Italia Bistro — 2140 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
• • Closed on April 14
  • • Seven dead roaches found on floor by water heater in kitchen
    • Two more dead roaches found behind refrigerator at cook line
    • Around 30 lives roaches found on wall and floor behind water heater in kitchen
  • Met inspection standards on April 15

In an article on Tuesday, Axios claimed that Trump told confidants DeSantis was “begging” to be attorney general.

“DeSantis also has expressed interest in being secretary of defense and even a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court, according to six sources briefed on the discussions,” the article reads.

Regardless, DeSantis has less than a year left in his term as governor, and there’s been plenty of speculation about what he plans to do next.

[BELOW: Is Ron DeSantis joining Trump’s administration?]

In an interview last month, DeSantis considered the possibility of running for the presidency yet again.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I think that in ‘24, like, in Iowa, the people that voted for Trump, if he wasn’t running, I would’ve gotten like 90% of those people. They were conservative voters, right? They didn’t want the non-conservative — they wanted me. But the timing didn’t work out, obviously."

DeSantis threw his hat in for president during the 2024 election cycle, running against President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

But his campaign faced significant hurdles from the get-go, and he ultimately bowed out to endorse Trump instead.

[BELOW: Trump-DeSantis rivalry grows intense, personal and crude during Republican primary race]

That said, DeSantis and Trump clashed often during their roughly eight-month election standoff, with Trump nicknaming the governor “DeSanctimonious” and DeSantis responding in kind by calling Trump “juvenile.”

But over two years later, Trump may be considering taking DeSantis into his fold.

That’s according to NewsNation White House Correspondent Libbey Dean, who discussed her recent conversation with Trump regarding DeSantis.

When asked by Dean whether there might be a role in Trump’s administration for DeSantis after the latter’s term as governor, Trump reportedly said he wouldn’t rule it out.

“I don’t know, but I’d certainly consider it,” Trump was quoted as saying. “I think he’s good, doing a good job.”

Florida news: President Trump says he'd consider a role for Ron DeSantis in the administration once he's done serving as Florida's governor in Jan 2027.

Q: Do you foresee a role for Ron DeSantis in the administration once he’s done serving as governor?

Trump: “I don’t know but…

— Libbey Dean (@LibbeyDean_) March 24, 2026

It wouldn’t be the first time that Trump has given out positions in his administration to former political rivals.

For example, he made former Sen. Marco Rubio the current secretary of state, and Ben Carson his HUD secretary during Trump’s prior term in office.

DeSantis’ term as governor is set to end on Jan. 5, 2027.

For longtime Winter Garden resident Suzanne Knoblich, the theatre has been a cornerstone of family life for years.

“I’ve lived here for 10 years, and I’ve had kids who were part of the Winter Garden camp when they used to have summer camp and then part of some of the productions and have always come and supported and been to a lot of their shows and things,” she said.

[WATCH: Garden Theatre in Winter Garden shuts down without warning]

The theatre’s sudden closure left Knoblich and many others stunned after the former operator dissolved due to financial issues.

“It was shocking. You had no idea. I had no idea that they were in trouble or that anything was going on. And I was just like, why? Because I had seen the list of the shows and thought, ‘oh, we’ll go see that one and that one and that one,’” she said.

Winter Garden previously approved a plan to revive the venue, which includes plays, movies, concerts, camps and one-off performances tied to downtown festivities. Under the new agreement, city-led programming would have priority access, and the city would sign off on all productions, a move aimed at keeping the theatre’s family-friendly atmosphere intact.

Commissioners are expected to select DNA Event Creative as the theatre’s new presenting partner. The company declined to discuss its plans ahead of the city commission meeting but indicated it would speak publicly once a decision was made. If approved, DNA Event Creative would take over the theatre immediately.

[WATCH: Winter Garden proposes new plan for historic Garden Theatre]

For residents like Melissa Button, the news is a welcome development.

“I’m always looking for something to do. So, a community production, I mean, they’re bringing in so many different things. And it’s nice to have culture in an area and expose people to things that they probably wouldn’t be exposed to normally,” Button said.

The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes.

“We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and a long, open-ended series of amendment votes at the beginning and the end of the process.

The Senate held the first series of votes through the night, starting Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning, with Democrats proposing amendments to lower health care expenses and other costs in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement.

“Instead of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into ICE and Border Patrol, Republicans should be working with Democrats to lower out-of-pocket costs,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The Senate adopted the final resolution 50-48, just past 3:30 a.m.

A lengthy effort to reopen Homeland Security

Once the House approves the framework and the Senate Parliamentarian approves it, the two chambers can then move to pass the measure.

The Senate has already voted on a bipartisan basis to reopen the rest of the department, but Republican leaders in the House say they won’t take that bill up until the Senate shows progress toward funding ICE and Border Patrol, as well.

The $70 billion budget resolution would fund the two agencies for three years, through the rest of Trump’s term. Thune and other GOP leaders say they hope to keep the bill narrowly focused on ICE and Border Patrol and get it to Trump’s desk in the coming weeks, along with the rest of Homeland Security Department funding that has already passed the Senate.

But that could prove difficult as many in the party see the budget bill as the last real chance this year to enact their priorities. Republicans in both the Senate and House have pushed to add other items, including money for farmers and Trump’s proof of citizenship voting bill, called the SAVE America Act.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., briefly held up the vote series late Wednesday, frustrated that the bill would not include parts of the SAVE America Act or other legislation.

“This is the last train leaving the station,” Kennedy said, predicting they would not be able to pass any other major bills ahead of November's midterm elections. But he withdrew his objections and allowed the voting to proceed.

Democrats say reform needed at ICE and Border Patrol after shootings

Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the DHS funding lapsed with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

In March, the Senate passed the legislation by voice vote that would separate out ICE and Border Patrol and fund the rest of the department, including the Transportation Security Administration as security lines grew long at some airports. But Republicans in the House refused to consider it, saying they wouldn’t support any bill that didn’t include money for immigration enforcement.

Congress then left town for a two-week recess, leaving the issue unresolved. Trump has used executive orders to pay some department salaries in the meantime, but the future of those paychecks is uncertain.

Potential roadblocks in the House

During the recess, Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that they would pursue a two-track approach — pass the Senate bill that includes most of the department’s funding through regular order and use the party-line bill to pass ICE and CBP funding.

Weeks later, though, Johnson has still not said when the House will take up the Senate’s legislation that would fund the rest of the department. And it is unclear if members of his GOP conference will unite behind the narrowed budget bill as some House Republicans have argued, like Sen. Kennedy, that they should add other priorities to the legislation.

Johnson said this week that the sequencing of the two bills is important. House lawmakers don’t want to see the rest of the department funded without ICE and Border Patrol, he said.

But Thune warned after the Senate vote that other parts of the Homeland Security Department may run out of money before they are able to finish the winding budget process and fund those two agencies. He said he hopes the adoption of the budget resolution is a signal to the House that “we're going to be following through."

“We'll see what they can do with it," Thune said. “And if they can't, I guess we will go to the next plan.”

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

The legislation is the latest in a global trend to protect young people from dangerous online activity.

Its passage comes a week after a 14-year-old boy killed nine students and a teacher at a middle school in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, in a gun attack. Police are investigating the online activity of the perpetrator, who also died, in a bid to uncover his motivation for the attack.

The bill will force social media platforms to install age‑verification systems, provide parental control tools and require companies to rapidly respond to content deemed harmful, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must now accept the bill within 15 days for it to pass into law. He spoke in the wake of the Kahramanmaras killings of the need for to mitigate the online risks to children’s safety and privacy.

“We are living in a period where some digital sharing applications are corrupting our children's minds and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools,” he said in a televised address Monday.

The main opposition party — the Republican People’s Party, or CHP — has criticized the proposal, saying children should be protected “not with bans but with rights-based policies.”

Under the law, digital platforms — such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and others — would have to block children under 15 from opening accounts and introduce parental controls that would manage children’s access.

Online game companies will also be required to appoint a representative in Turkey to ensure they abide by the new regulations. Potential penalties include internet bandwidth reductions and fines imposed by Turkey’s communications watchdog.

The Turkish government has a recent record of restricting online platforms as they have grown as a means of expressing dissent. Online communications were widely restricted during last year’s protests in support of Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.

Restrictions on social media access for children under 16 first began in December in Australia, where social media companies revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children.

Last month, Indonesia began implementing a new government regulation banning children younger than 16 from access to digital platforms that could expose them to pornography, cyberbullying, online scams and addiction.

Some other countries — including Spain, France and the United Kingdom — are also taking or considering measures to restrict children’s access to social media amid growing concern that they are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content.

No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war. Another Trump loyalist is taking over as acting head of the Navy: Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy combat veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House in Virginia.

Phelan’s departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and defense leaders since taking office last year.

The firings began in February 2025, when Hegseth removed military leaders, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Slife, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force. Trump also fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Showing how sudden the latest move was, Phelan had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals on Tuesday at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington and spoke with reporters about his agenda. He also hosted the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee to discuss the Navy’s budget request and efforts to build more ships, according to a social media post from his office.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a post on X that Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately."

Phelan had been a major Trump donor

Phelan had not served in the military or had a civilian leadership role in the service before Trump nominated him for secretary in late 2024. He was seen as an outsider being brought in to shake up the Navy.

Phelan was a major donor to Trump’s campaign and had founded the private investment firm Rugger Management LLC. According to his biography, Phelan’s primary exposure to the military came from an advisory position he held on the Spirit of America, a nonprofit that supported the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Taiwan.

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Phelan’s office for comment. The White House did not answer questions and instead responded by sending a link to Parnell’s statement.

Phelan is leaving during a busy time for the Navy. It has three aircraft carriers deployed in or heading to the Middle East, while the Trump administration says all the armed forces are poised to resume combat operations against Iran should the ceasefire expire.

The Navy also has maintained a heavy presence in the Caribbean, where it has been part of a campaign of strikes against alleged drug boats. It also played a major role in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

New acting Navy secretary ran unsuccessful bids for Congress

Taking over as acting secretary is Cao, who ran a failed U.S. Senate bid in Virginia to try to unseat Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine in 2024. He had Trump’s endorsement in the crowded Republican primary and gave a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Cao's biography includes fleeing Vietnam with his family as a child in the 1970s. In a campaign video for his Senate bid, he compared Vietnam’s communist regime during the Cold War to the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.

During his one debate with Kaine, Cao criticized COVID-19 vaccine mandates for service members as well as the military’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“When you’re using a drag queen to recruit for the Navy, that’s not the people we want,” Cao said from the debate stage. “What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars.”

Trump and Hegseth have railed against DEI in the military, banning the efforts and firing people accused of supporting such programs.

When he ran for Congress in Virginia in 2022, Cao expressed opposition to aid for Ukraine during a debate against his Democratic opponent.

“My heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. ... But right now we’re borrowing $55 billion from China to pay for the war in Ukraine. Not only that, we’re depleting our national strategic reserves,” Cao said.

Cao graduated from the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, before attending the U.S. Naval Academy.

He was commissioned as a special operations officer and went on to serve with SEAL teams and special forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia before retiring at the rank of captain, according to his Senate campaign biography.

Cao also earned a master's degree in physics and had fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Since becoming Navy undersecretary, Cao has championed returning to duty service members that refused a Biden-era mandate to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

___

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

China’s profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years, thanks to active efforts from its diplomats. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe.

With the Iran war, Beijing is not an official mediator, but all parties — including Washington and Tehran — say it has played an important role in trying to de-escalate the conflict.

Experts say Beijing's strategies for diplomacy in multiple conflicts have looked similar and have had mixed success in influencing negotiations, but the efforts come at an opportune time, as U.S. actions under President Donald Trump have increased tensions with traditional diplomatic allies.

In the Iran war, experts say, China's close economic and political ties to Tehran put it in a unique position of influence as the conflict hurts the global energy supply, especially in Asia.

Trump says China encouraged Iran to negotiate ceasefire

Trump has said he believes China helped encourage Iran to negotiate the fragile ceasefire that he has now extended.

Diplomats told The Associated Press that Beijing, the biggest purchaser of sanctioned Iranian oil, used its leverage to urge the Iranians back to the negotiating table for historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan earlier this month.

Beijing has not confirmed that account, likely because it does not want to be seen as part of a U.S.-led security framework, said Yaqi Li, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Still, some saw it as a major moment for Beijing, which has criticized the U.S.' and Israel’s war against Iran.

After the war began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with counterparts including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. As of mid-April, he had 30 phone calls with various parties about the war, according to a tally of his calls from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wang also hosted his counterpart from close ally Pakistan, which has been acting as the main mediator in the latest talks, to present a five-point proposal calling for an end to hostilities and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Chinese President Xi Jinping in recent days has been uncharacteristically outspoken, warning last week against “the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.” This week, he called for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen.

China leans on its role as an economic power

George Chen, a partner at The Asia Group consultancy, said China’s role in the Iran situation is irreplaceable. As Tehran's biggest oil buyer, its advice carries weight. China is also one of the few countries that has showed sympathy for Iran's situation at the United Nations, he said.

Further, Iran’s ballistic missile program was built with Chinese technology, and China sells dual-use industrial components that can be used for missile production, according to the U.S. government.

Although China isn’t as immediately influential as Pakistan or key Arab Gulf states in active mediation, it occupies a unique position as the key economic partner for many of those countries.

Tuvia Gering, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, said China is uniquely positioned to offer economic incentives that matter to Tehran, especially after the war ends, as Beijing can promise investment in reconstruction and commercial relief in ways few others can.

“It could be one of the few actors capable of giving Tehran both political cover and material incentives to accept constraints and stick to them,” he said.

China's role as a global mediator is growing

One of China's biggest diplomatic wins in recent years came in 2023, when it was among the parties bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran together to restart official engagement.

It was widely seen as a major geopolitical breakthrough that reduced the risk of direct and proxy conflict, said Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, a researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies in Indonesia.

But China is choosing when to play a role cautiously, he said, noting that Saudi Arabia and Iran had preexisting incentives to reengage diplomatically. “Its mediation tends to be opportunistic and low-risk, often occurring when conditions are already conducive to agreement," he said.

Beijing also was active during the recent conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, hosting multiple meetings between them and attending initial ceasefire talks alongside the U.S. in Malaysia. When fighting started again in December, China and the U.S. helped broker another ceasefire.

Beijing also has issued peace proposals for the war in Ukraine, hosting the Ukrainian foreign minister at one point, even though it maintains what it calls a “no-limits” friendship with Russia.

Beijing's role remains carefully worded

China's diplomatic efforts tend to follow a pattern, experts say, with Beijing reiterating calls to respect the U.N. charter and national sovereignty.

With the Iran war, Xi last week called for “upholding the principles of peaceful coexistence, upholding national sovereignty, upholding the rule of international law, and coordinating development and security.”

“A lot of the points are remarkably consistent,” said Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University.

In conflicts further afield, the stakes for Beijing can be low but benefits can be high as the world tries to come to terms with the Trump administration’s approach to negotiating, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of international relations at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, said.

“What the U.S. is doing is deeply damaging, and everyone suffers from it ... and China is displaying global leadership and exerting its global role by speaking to the rules-based international system,” he said. “It’s an inescapable contrast.”

___

Leung reported from Hong Kong.

The latest war in the Middle East has far-reaching effects, including on countries ravaged by conflicts of their own.

After three years of war in Sudan, a public health clinic in Qoz Nafisa village in Khartoum state is struggling to support thousands of people like the 61-year-old Awad.

He said he has been spacing out his medicine for glaucoma, worried he won't be able to find more or afford it when he does. Money was already an issue because of the war at home, he said.

“Now we have the problem of the war in the Middle East. It's just made things worse," he said.

Aid groups say the Iran war has cut off vital shipping routes, upending their ability to get food and medicine to millions of people around the world in need. The standoff between the United States and Iran has essentially shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and other routes from strategic hubs such as Dubai also have been impacted.

Transport costs have spiked with higher fuel and insurance rates, further straining the ability to deliver supplies. The United Nations says there's been up to a 20% cost increase on shipments, along with delays, as goods are rerouted.

The International Rescue Committee, which supports the clinic where Awad gets some of his medicines, said about $130,000 worth of pharmaceuticals intended for Sudan was stranded in Dubai for weeks and only now is making its way there.

The IRC says medicines and supplies such as antibiotics, painkillers and stethoscopes that were supposed to be flown from the United Arab Emirates to Port Sudan were instead transported by road to neighboring Oman and then flown out.

U.S. President Donald Trump this week extended the fragile ceasefire with Iran, but aid groups worry little will change.

“There’s still a real lag in the system. Shipments remain blocked or delayed, and that’s deeply worrying," said Madiha Raza, associate director for global public affairs and communications for IRC.

Sudan has widely been described as facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and Raza said any delay in delivering food, medicine and fuel has devastating consequences.

For the roughly 5,000 people who rely on the public health clinic that the IRC supports in Qoz Nafisa, some now must search at other clinics and spend their own money, which they often don't have.

During a visit by AP journalists on Wednesday, clinic staff said that since the war with Iran began at the end of February they've been struggling to meet demand.

A member of the military media accompanied The Associated Press during the visit for safety reasons. The AP retains full editorial control of its content.

Dr. Amira Sidig, the center's medical director, said the last shipment from the IRC was in December. Ones expected in February and April have not arrived.

Sudan's health ministry tries to fill the gap, but it only accounts for half of what's needed, Sidig said.

“It’s never enough because they also have a shortage, and we’re again out of stock quickly,” she said.

For several days this month, the clinic had no malaria treatment to give the 50% of patients who come in with the disease, Sidig said.

Ahmed Ibrahim, who works at the clinic, said patients are getting frustrated.

“When people come to the window, they say, ‘Why are you here and there is no medicine?’"

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

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

Matt Duchene tied it for Dallas on a power play midway through the third period, seconds after his backcheck on Matt Boldy averted a short-handed goal that would’ve put Minnesota up by two.

After the Wild failed to convert two overtime power plays, finishing 1 for 7 with the man advantage, the Stars took advantage of their opportunity after Danila Yurov’s delay-of-game penalty. Miro Heiskanen's shot was knocked in by Johnston for his third goal in three games — and his sixth winning goal in four career postseasons.

“It’s kind of a little blurry, but just trying to get to the net and just trying to get my stick on the puck,” said Johnston, who had a career-high 45 goals during the regular season.

The game ended at 12:54 a.m.

Radek Faksa had a close-range chance in the second overtime he poked behind Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt, but the puck skidded straight across the crease.

Wallstedt polished off the first Stars' power play by snapping his glove around Mikko Rantanen’s shot and smothering Esa Lindell’s bad-angle attempt. Johnston then spoiled a brilliant 32-save performance by Wallstedt with his deflection.

“We definitely played well enough to win," Wallstedt said. "It’s small margins. It’s a ‘D’ shot that double tips and hits twice and goes over my shoulder. Yeah, it’s bounces, but that’s what it is.”

Seconds after the audible thump from Stars goalie Jake Oettinger’s blocker save on Brock Faber’s slap shot, the Wild had another prime opportunity to win it in the first overtime when Hughes drew a tripping penalty on Sam Steel. But even with Faksa playing most of that penalty kill without a stick, the Wild failed to generate much pressure. Jamie Benn’s holding penalty on Nick Foligno gave them another try to crack Oettinger, who finished with 28 saves.

“I had my head down, looking out of one eye, just like, ’Good Lord, get through this,'” Duchene said.

The Wild killed four penalties between Rantanen’s power play tip-in just 1:25 into the game and Duchene’s crowd-quieting snap shot that slipped between defenseman Jared Spurgeon and the near post. That included 40 seconds of a 5-on-3 after Boldy’s delay-of-game penalty late in the second period.

As soon as he left the box, Spurgeon saw an opening to start a rush that Michael McCarron finished with his first goal in the NHL playoffs to give the Wild a 3-2 lead.

Jason Robertson scored after a slick stretch pass by Duchene to put the Stars up 2-0 in the first period.

Marcus Johansson scored on a power play to start the rally less than five minutes later, and Joel Eriksson Ek had the tying goal in the second after a brilliant setup by Boldy. The U.S. Olympian, who had a career-high 42 goals during the regular season, weaved through four Stars skaters and drew a crowd behind the net before zipping the puck back into the slot for Eriksson Ek to knock in.

Entering these playoffs, the winner of Game 3 after a split of the first two games in a best-of-seven went on to win the series nearly two-thirds of the time (245 of 369) in NHL history.

The Wild, who have not advanced in the postseason since 2015, fell on the flip side of that ratio in each of their last three appearances. They won Game 3 to go up 2-1 on Vegas last year, on Dallas in 2023 and on St. Louis in 2022, before being eliminated with three straight losses every time.

This was the third time in Wild history they reached double overtime, including a 3-2 win at Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series with the Stars in 2023.

The Wild, who have a 4-14 series record in their underwhelming playoff history, have lost 17 of their last 23 postseason home games.

“Whether we won tonight or lost tonight, this series isn’t over,” Hughes said. “It’s a really good hockey game. We had our looks. They had their looks. Just leave it at that.”

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

“I've run out of things to say,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “Obviously, he continues to put himself in a really good spot to take good swings on good pitches. He's making great swing decisions, making a ton of contact and when he hits it, he hits it really hard.”

He added: “Even the singles he's hitting are hard. The damage is incredible and it's impressive to watch.”

He is the 13th rookie in big-league history to go deep in five straight, according to MLB.com. The Japanese first baseman also tied the team's franchise record, a mark shared by A.J. Pierzynski (2012), Paul Konerko (2011), Carlos Lee (2003), Frank Thomas (twice in 1994), Ron Kittle (1983) and Greg Luzinski (1983).

Murakami's two-run homer came off Diamondbacks reliever Ryan Thompson in the seventh, cutting Arizona's lead to 10-7. His 10 homers are second in the big leagues behind Houston's Yordan Alvarez, who has 11.

Murakami’s 10 homers, eight coming on the road, are the most in MLB history by a Japanese-born player in his first 24 career games.

___

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

Some of the biggest blazes were near Georgia’s coast, while others were popping up in northern Florida, a state facing one of its worst fire seasons in decades.

It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia is perilously dry and the conditions prompted the state's forestry commission to issue a burn ban for the first time in its history. Southeastern Georgia has seen just 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain since the beginning of September — almost 15 inches (38 centimeters) below normal, the National Weather Service said.

The fires spread so quickly in that area that residents received no warnings or alerts.

“I wish that I had knew something more,” said Brianna Elliott, who left home Tuesday only to find her route back blocked by the fires 90 minutes later. “I would have turned around in that moment and gone home and got my animals before anything.”

She now fears that her home and her dogs are gone.

Georgia’s two biggest wildfires together have burned more than 53 square miles (137.3 square kilometers), and crews responded Wednesday to 34 smaller fires newly burning across the state, the state's forestry commission said.

Dry timber feeds Georgia fires

The fast-moving Brantley County fire threatened roughly 1,000 homes Wednesday after destroying dozens a day earlier.

That fire grew by roughly six times in just a half day Tuesday, said Joey Cason, the county manager. There were fires erupting “in the backyard and people taking off in the front yard,” he said Wednesday.

So far no major injuries have been reported, Cason said.

The rural county is roughly midway between Georgia's coastal beaches and the Okefenokee Swamp, dotted with livestock and fruit farms as well as thick stands of planted pines grown for timber.

Crews worked to create fire breaks and stop the flames from reaching populated areas. The biggest concern was gusting winds that could easily spread embers.

Authorities said rain is desperately needed. The area with the worst fires was in exceptional or extreme drought, the most dire levels, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“If you could start praying for that right now, we’d be grateful,” Cason said.

Pine and hardwood forests in the region are helping charge the fires, said Seth Hawkins, a spokesperson for the Georgia Forestry Commission, and swampy lowlands with thick layers of leaves and woody debris are “super flammable” when they dry out.

The commission's 30-day burn ban is for the southern part of the state.

FEMA announced the approval of grants for Georgia and Florida to battle the blazes.

More residents told to evacuate

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for more than half of the state's counties.

More people were told to evacuate from Brantley County on Wednesday afternoon, on top of the 800 evacuations previously. Another large fire that started in nearby Clinch County also prompted evacuations.

Mike Reardon and his wife packed family photos and their dog, Molly Rose, along with new e-bikes before leaving their Brantley County home.

The fire was about a mile away, and a shift in the wind would put flames “in our backyard in a matter of minutes,” he said.

The couple just built the home two years ago.

“It’s more than our house. It’s land that my dad bought years ago,” Liz Reardon said, fighting back tears. “It’s the most beautiful place in the world to me.”

Florida sees its worst wildfire season in decades

In Florida, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles (101 square kilometers), mostly in the state’s northern half.

“Florida has got one of the worst fire seasons in maybe the last 30 or 40 years, or it’s turning out to be that way,” state Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said. “We’ve been in drought for 18 months now all across the state.”

Smoke blows into Atlanta and Jacksonville

The National Weather Service said a dangerous combination of low humidity and breezy winds would keep the fire danger elevated Wednesday.

Smoke drifted to Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. The air quality in parts of south Georgia declined to the unhealthy category, meaning all people there might feel health effects.

Smoky conditions were expected to linger throughout the Atlanta area, according to the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency. The worst fires were more than 200 miles (322 kilometers) southeast of the city.

Smoke from Georgia fires also spread into South Carolina, according to its forestry commission.

The high fire risk was expected to continue each afternoon through Friday due to the very dry conditions, the weather service said.

___

Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper says its reporter Amal Khalil was killed in the southern village of al-Tiri.

Khalil had been covering the conflict in Lebanon between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group that resumed in early March, in the shadow of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. She took cover in the house in al-Tiri after an earlier Israeli airstrike hit near the car she was traveling in with another colleague.

The Lebanese health ministry said the first strike killed two people. A second Israeli strike then hit the house in al-Tiri where Khalil and her colleague Zeinab Faraj had taken cover.

At first, rescue workers were able to get to Faraj, who was seriously wounded, and retrieve the bodies of two killed in the first airstrike. But they were fired on by Israeli forces so they were forced to halt attempts to reach Khalil, the ministry said.

Khalil remained under the rubble for hours before the Lebanese army, civil defense and the Lebanese Red Cross were able to get to the scene hours later. Khalil's body was retrieved shortly before midnight, at least six hours after the strike.

Israel’s military said individuals in the village had violated the ceasefire, endangering its troops. Israel denied that it targets journalists or that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area. It said the incident was under review.

"Killing of journalists is a crime and a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law,” said Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos.

Khalil's death comes on the eve of the second round of direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials in Washington on extending the ceasefire that went into effect last Friday.

Khalil, who was from southern Lebanon, had been covering the area since 2006 for al-Akhbar. Her latest reporting was about Israeli demolitions of Lebanese homes in villages where Israeli troops are now positioned inside Lebanon.

Her death brings to nine the number of journalists killed in Lebanon so far this year. At least 2,300 people have been killed in Israeli strikes and more than 1 million displaced since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders called for international pressure on the Israeli army to allow Khalil's rescue. Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its “outrage” at the apparent targeting of the two journalists and warned the obstruction of rescue efforts “may amount to a war crime.”

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun asked the Lebanese Red Cross to coordinate with the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation" as quickly as possible.

In late March, an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed three journalists covering the war. Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV said its longtime correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed. Israel’s military said it had targeted Shoeib, accusing him of being a Hezbollah intelligence operative, without providing evidence.

Also killed in the same strike was reporter Fatima Ftouni, who worked for the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV along with her brother Mohammed Ftouni, a video journalist.

Days earlier, an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in central Beirut killed Mohammed Sherri, the head of political programs at Hezbollah’s at Al-Manar TV, along with his wife.

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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points in the series-opening win on Sunday, going 5 for 18 from the field. He bounced back in Game 2 with 13-for-25 shooting after being presented the NBA Clutch Player of the Year trophy before the game.

Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams each added 19 points for Oklahoma City, though Williams left the game in the third quarter with a left hamstring injury and did not return. Williams, an All-Star in 2024-25, missed 30 games this season with a right hamstring injury after missing the first 19 games of the season following surgery on his right wrist.

Five higher-seeded teams had lost home games in the first week of the playoffs before Wednesday, including the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference, Detroit, Boston and New York, and the No. 2 and 3 seeds in the West, San Antonio and Denver. Oklahoma City avoided that fate by shooting 47.3% from the field and forcing 21 turnovers.

Dillon Brooks led the Suns with 30 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Devin Booker scored 22 points and Jalen Green added 21 for Phoenix, which will host Game 3 on Saturday.

The Thunder led 65-57 at halftime. Williams made his first six field goals and had 19 points at the break, while Gilgeous-Alexander had 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

The action picked up early in the second half as Brooks and Oklahoma City's Lu Dort — both members of Canada's national team — got double technical fouls after a brief skirmish following a made free throw.

Holmgren started the second half hot. He scored eight points in just over four minutes to help the Thunder go up 77-63 and force a Phoenix timeout. Oklahoma City extended the lead to 100-77 at the end of the third quarter.

Oklahoma City pushed the lead to 26 points early in the fourth quarter before Phoenix made a final push. Booker made a pull-up jumper and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but he rebounded and made a mid-range jumper to cut Oklahoma City's lead to 110-97 with five minutes to play. The Suns got no closer than 10 points.

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

It's something only Ohtani could achieve, but the two-way superstar could be having games like that a little bit less often.

“I’m focused, as a leadoff hitter, to get on base. As long as I feel good overall, the result will follow," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "It hasn’t been the case (lately).”

Before Wednesday's loss to San Francisco, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made it clear he's committed to Ohtani's health and keeping him fresh to perform both on the mound and at the plate for the long haul.

And that may look different by the day or week, depending how Ohtani is feeling.

“I'll always let the manager make that final decision and I'm always going to be prepared when I'm starting that I'm hitting,” Ohtani said. “But if it makes sense as a team to occasionally put a guy in as a DH or hit later that's fine as well. I wouldn't want to same more aside from that.”

For some games, that could mean Ohtani pitches but doesn't bat as the designated hitter — and Roberts plans to keep his options open.

Ohtani was solid on the mound again for the Dodgers in a 3-0 loss to the Giants, allowing no earned runs for the third time in four starts this season. A week earlier, Ohtani was held out of the lineup while pitching for the first time since 2021 because he was still sore from getting hit by a pitch.

Ohtani batted in his customary leadoff spot and went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, hitting a fly ball to left in his last at-bat. That ended an on-base streak that matched Shawn Green for the second-longest in Dodgers history. Duke Snider owns the team record at 58 games from May 13-July 11, 1954. Ohtani’s streak was the longest in the majors since Orlando Cabrera reached base in 63 straight from April 25-July 6, 2006.

“The season’s not over, and I could start another streak and that would be great," Ohtani said. "We’ll see how it goes.”

The 31-year-old Ohtani saw his batting average drop from .271 to .258. He has allowed one earned run over 24 innings for an ERA of 0.38 and a 2-0 record, surrendering 15 hits with 25 strikeouts and six walks.

“I think if you look at the overall numbers it's certainly something. I still feel really good about putting his name in the lineup,” Roberts said. “I know the last start I chose not to have him hit and just pitch. I am open to it. We'll see. It's something that we've certainly flagged, and also you have to look at what's the option. In years past or last year, you've got to kind of weigh, who's a different option?”

Catcher Dalton Rushing has become a capable fill-in at DH. He's hitting .414 with seven homers and 13 RBIs.

The two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers have dropped four of five. They lost 3-1 in Tuesday night's series opener at rival San Francisco.

Roberts had yet to decide whether Ohtani would play the series finale Thursday. He said beforehand he had no qualms about giving Ohtani five at-bats on a day he’s pitching but would consider moving him down in the batting order if that makes sense.

“I think everything should be on the table,” Roberts said.

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

Juan Soto went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in his return from a strained right calf, but shortstop Francisco Lindor was removed with left calf tightness after laboring around the bases while scoring from first on Francisco Alvarez's go-ahead double in the fourth.

Byron Buxton tied it 2-all with a leadoff homer in the sixth against Clay Holmes, his second longball in two nights.

Brett Baty, who came off the bench to replace Lindor in the lineup, drew his second walk of the game with two outs in the eighth against Taylor Rogers (0-1). Alvarez coaxed a nine-pitch walk from Justin Topa before Vientos dumped an RBI single into shallow right field.

In the sixth, Vientos blatantly ran through a stop sign rounding third and was easily thrown out at home plate for the final out of the inning.

Luke Weaver (2-0) retired Luke Keaschall with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth and struck out three batters in a one-hit ninth to secure New York's first victory since April 7 at home against Arizona.

The 12-game skid was the team's longest since August 2002.

Connor Prielipp, the Twins' top pitching prospect, needed 82 pitches to get through four innings in his major league debut. But the 25-year-old left-hander showcased a good slider and limited a slumping New York lineup to two runs and four hits with six strikeouts and no walks.

Holmes allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.

Batting cleanup, Lindor drove in a run by legging out an infield single with two outs in the first. Victor Caratini's sacrifice fly tied the score in the fourth.

Up next

All-Star right-hander Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.29 ERA) pitches Thursday night for Minnesota in the series finale against RHP Christian Scott, who will be called up from Triple-A Syracuse to make his first major league start since Tommy John surgery in 2024.

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

The election has national implications. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking gains in a state long dominated by a regional opposition party, while a victory for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would bolster her position as a leading opposition figure.

A second phase of polling is scheduled for next week. Voting also was taking place Thursday in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The voting was part of a wider round of state elections testing the BJP's reach in opposition strongholds. The results of the latest elections and the earlier polls in Kerala and Assam states and the federally administered territory of Puducherry were expected May 4.

9 million names removed, but voters aren't sure why

The election is taking place after a sweeping revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission of India aimed at removing duplicate, deceased and ineligible voters. Officials say about 9 million names — roughly 12% of the electorate — were deleted, including 6.3 million listed as deceased or absent and 2.7 million marked “doubtful” and pending verification.

Some affected voters said they had voted in previous elections and hold valid identification but were removed without clear explanation.

Sheikh Najrul Islam, a 53-year-old paramilitary officer on election duty in West Bengal, said he last voted in 2021 and holds valid identification documents, yet his name no longer appears on the voter list.

“The Election Commission has deputed me to ensure free and fair polls. Yet, it does not consider me a citizen of this country,” he said.

In another case, Taibunessa Begum, a 62-year-old retired school administrator, said she was shocked to find her name deleted despite having a passport, pension records and earlier voter registration.

“It felt like being told I don’t exist,” she said.

Polarizing rhetoric deepens the concerns

Opposition leaders allege the deletions disproportionately affect Muslims and other marginalized communities.

The Election Commission of India has denied the allegations, saying the exercise eliminated dead, duplicate and fake voters on the electoral roll.

Modi’s party said the revision was a routine administrative exercise carried out across multiple states and argued that any disproportionate impact in West Bengal reflects the presence of undocumented migrants. They say many Hindu voters were also removed.

Critics, however, link the deletions to broader political messaging by Modi and some BJP leaders, who have repeatedly suggested the revisions of the voter lists targeted people who immigrated illegally from neighboring Bangladesh. Opposition leaders said such rhetoric has deepened fears among minority communities, particularly Muslims, that the voter roll revision is being used to exclude them.

Derek O’Brien, of the opposition Trinamool Congress, called the exercise “invisible rigging.”

"The motive is to disenfranchise voters,” he said.

Analysts warn the deletions could fuel fears of longer-term consequences.

“Losing one’s place in the electoral roll can be deeply unsettling. It is not only about voting rights; it is about dignity, recognition, and the assurance that one counts as a citizen,” political analyst Iman Kalyan Lahiri said.

For many affected voters, however, the issue is more immediate.

“This is not just about politics,” said Begum. “It is about identity, about whether we belong to this country.”

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Saaliq reported from New Delhi.

Colombia is lobbying to become a buyer of Venezuelan gas and last month sought an exemption from U.S. sanctions to invest in Venezuelan electricity projects and natural gas ventures, which could include the reopening of a gas pipeline between the neighboring South American countries.

Petro's administration also reached agreements with Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA to replace the pipeline in the Colombian section.

Petro and Rodríguez are also expected to discuss the presence of illegal armed groups and drug trafficking along their shared border.

“The United States has an interest in Colombia becoming the buyer of Venezuelan gas,” said Ronal Rodríguez Durán, a researcher at the Venezuela Observatory at the Universidad del Rosario.

“Colombia, by virtue of its geographical nature, would become the client that could quickly bring revenue into Venezuela under U.S. supervision," he added.

The topic was part of the conversation during the nearly two-hour meeting between Petro and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in February. Both said the talks were friendly — a dramatic about-face from weeks earlier, when Trump accused Petro of pumping cocaine into the U.S. and threatened his country with military action.

According to Petro, they discussed how to revitalize the Venezuelan economy with Colombia’s assistance, as well as the role of the U.S., which the Colombian leader said should “lift sanctions” on Venezuela.

The Trump administration is aiming to revive the Venezuelan economy by drawing foreign investment toward its vast natural resources, particularly oil, following years of decline under the Maduro government, which saw the country crumble and forced at least 7.7 million people to migrate.

Petro's leverage as mediator in Venezuela is limited

Ahead of Friday's meeting, Petro announced that his delegation, which includes top military and police officials, will tackle border security with Rodríguez.

The focus remains on the Catatumbo region, where rival armed groups fight for territorial control and Petro stressed the necessity of “close collaboration on intelligence,” warning that without it, “bombs land in the wrong places ... and end up killing civilians.”

Colombia-Venezuela ties have long been on the rocks. Petro did not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president in the wake of the contested July 2024 elections that triggered protests, which sparked widespread repression. Still, he maintained diplomatic ties with Caracas.

Colombia's government has said that the Petro-Rodríguez meeting on Friday aims to “contribute to a resolution of Venezuela’s political crisis.”

However, it's unclear how this can be achieved.

Rodríguez Durán, the university researcher, said Petro’s leverage is limited regarding any potential mediation, given that his term ends in August. Future ties with Venezuela will likely also be influenced by who takes power next in Colombia.

Petro and Rodríguez were expected to meet last month at their shared border, but their respective governments abruptly canceled the meeting citing “force majeure,” which they did not explain, and simply said it would take place at a later time.

Before that canceled meeting, several Venezuelan nongovernmental organizations had addressed an open letter to Petro, urging Colombia to contribute to the “promotion of democratic principles and human rights,” including the release of “all political prisoners” and an end to “persecution.”

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Suárez reported from Bogota, Colombia.

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

Officials plan to unveil the marker Thursday in Ellerbe, North Carolina, a community of about 1,000 people where the wrestler born Andre Rene Roussimoff lived on a ranch just outside town.

Andre was billed at 7-foot-4 (2.24 meters) and 520 pounds (236 kilograms) during his time wrestling for the WWE in the 1970s and 1980s.

A larger than life villain, Roussimoff was touted as unbeatable until he faced Hulk Hogan in a match in 1987 at WrestleMania III that launched the once regional wrestling company into a nationwide entertainment force.

Later that year, Roussimoff appeared on film as the giant Fezzik in “The Princess Bride.” Fezzik was the gentle-hearted muscle for the antagonist and needed rhymes to remember his instructions.

Roussimoff was born in France. But as he wrestled around the U.S. South he fell in love with the region, buying his North Carolina ranch and raising cattle on his land about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Charlotte.

He became a critical part of the Ellerbe community. In 1990, he taped TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size-26 cowboy boots are kept at a museum.

Roussimoff died in 1993 at age 46 in France where he was visiting for his father’s funeral. They had a service for him there, but his body was cremated and his ashes spread at his beloved ranch.

The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 72 and Old NC Highway 220 simply says “Andre The Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”

The 21-year-old whose legal name is David Burke returns to a Los Angeles court for a hearing Thursday, just three days after he was charged and pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, and seven months after the girl's dismembered body was found in his Tesla in the Hollywood Hills.

In a rare move, he is exercising his right in California to have a judge decide within 10 court days of his arraignment whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

Nearly all defendants waive this right, slow-pedal this part of the process and wait months to reach this stage.

“We believe the actual evidence will show David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez,” lead defense attorney Blair Berk told a judge Monday.

Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said in court that the prosecution would be “very happy” to present their evidence, and that “40 terabytes” of it have been collected and can be shared.

One key set of evidence became public Wednesday with the release of the months-old autopsy report from the LA County Medical Examiner’s Office. It said Rivas Hernandez’s death was caused by two penetrating wounds to the upper body.

Burke, who is being held without bail, also pleaded not guilty to lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. Prosecutors allege he had been sexually abusing Rivas Hernandez for at least a year starting when she was 13, killed her when she threatened to report the relationship and dismembered her body about two weeks later.

Thursday's hearing comes exactly one year after the day authorities say she was last known to be alive and went to Burke's house.

A secret grand jury heard months of testimony in the case. But it had not issued an indictment when the singer was arrested last week. Its existence became public in a February court filing in Texas where Burke’s relatives sought to reject subpoenas that they testify.

His attorney told the judge Monday that it was this secret testimony that was prompting the defense to attempt to have the evidence be seen.

It is not clear whether the presentation of evidence would begin at Thursday's hearing or whether the proceedings will be used to schedule witnesses for the coming days.

The girl's parents, Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez, made their first public statement in the case on Tuesday, calling their daughter “a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance.”

“We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us," they said. "We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among young fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

His debut full-length album, “Withered,” was released one year ago, two days after the date prosecutors estimate that Rivas Hernandez was killed.

The child's parent, Rose Inessa-Ethington, a transgender woman, is accused of taking the child to Cuba without the permission of the biological mother. Federal and state authorities sought the return of the child after a family member expressed concern that Inessa-Ethington went to Havana to get the child gender transition surgery.

Inessa-Ethington, who had run a popular Utah political blog in the 2010s, was arrested along with her partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, and charged in the U.S. with international parental kidnapping.

The couple traveled with the child to Canada ostensibly for a camping trip in late March with Blue’s 3-year-old child. However, the two adults turned off their phones after telling the older child’s mother they had arrived in Canada. They flew from Vancouver to Mexico and then to Cuba on April 1, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in federal court in Utah.

The charges don't say if the couple actually planned on getting the child gender-affirming surgery in Cuba or how they would get it because that surgery isn't legal for children in Cuba.

The FBI said that Blue Inessa-Ethington withdrew $10,000 from her checking account before leaving. Agents also found at their home a note with instructions from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., “to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender affirming medical care for children.” That note didn't mention Cuba.

The use of the Department of Justice plane in a parental kidnapping investigation comes after the Trump administration sought to block access to gender-affirming care for minors and pressured health care providers over the issue.

The Associated Press left telephone and email messages with the court-appointed attorneys who represented Blue and Rose Inessa-Ethington in Virginia. The defendants will be returned to Utah to face one count each of international parental kidnapping, according to court filings.

Search began after child wasn't returned as scheduled

The search for the child began on April 3 when they were not returned to the mother in Utah as scheduled, court documents show.

The 10-year-old’s mother, who was divorced from Rose Inessa-Ethington and had shared custody of the child, filed a missing-person report with police in Logan, Utah, a college and dairy farming town about 70 miles (115 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City.

Logan City Police Chief Jeff Simmons said his department’s initial focus was on the custodial interference allegations in the case, and he said investigators did not learn until later about concerns over gender-affirming surgery.

Logan police spokesperson Sgt. Brandon Bevan said those concerns were raised by one family member. He declined to say who.

“They just had the concern about it, no actual physical evidence” Bevan said.

A Utah state judge ordered the return of the 10-year-old to the child’s mother on April 13. Three days later, a federal magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant for the Inessa-Ethingtons. On the same day, Cuban law enforcement located the group. They were deported to the U.S. aboard the government plane Monday and arraigned in federal court in Richmond, Virginia.

The 10-year-old was returned to the child’s biological mother, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak in Utah indicated in a statement. Representatives of the FBI and U.S. attorneys office in Utah declined to say what happened to the 3-year-old child who had been with the group.

Parents engaged in custody dispute

The custody dispute between the parents does not appear to be a new development. An online fundraiser created five years go by Blue Inessa-Ethington titled “Help a Trans Mother Keep Custody of Her Child” raised $9,766.

“Last week, Rose’s ex relocated several counties away, negatively impacting Rose’s parent-time with the child,” she wrote on the fundraising page. She said the money would be used to seek a court order that would keep the child “safe and stable throughout this process.”

Anyone who has spent time with Rose knows “how much care and thought she puts into parenting her gender open child,” she wrote.

Family members said the child was assigned male at birth but identifies as a girl because of what they believed to be “manipulation” by Rose Inessa-Ethington, according to an April 16 affidavit from FBI Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield.

Gender-affirming care for minors has been limited

The Trump administration moved in December to cut off gender-affirming care for minors, prompting a third of states to sue.

It was the latest in a series of clashes between an administration that says transgender health care can be harmful to children and advocates who say it’s medically necessary.

Gender-affirming surgery is rare among U.S. children, research shows. Guidance from several major medical organizations calls for caution around surgery for minors and says decisions about treatments are case-by-case. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents receive gender-affirming medications, such as hormones or puberty blockers.

In Cuba, gender-affirming surgeries are banned for minors and only performed for adults through the public health system under strict supervision in designated public hospitals for Cuban citizens. They must be authorized by a medical commission after a comprehensive review of the patient’s file. That process often takes years because it requires a wide range of medical and psychological evaluations.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana, and Boone from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press journalists Eric Tucker in Washington, Cristiana Mesquita in Havana and Devi Shastri in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

In an arrest report, troopers said they began receiving multiple reports of a hit-and-run crush involving a pickup truck along the highway around 4:30 p.m.

Per a witness, the crash happened in the eastbound lane near mile marker 105 in Seminole County, with the truck striking a guardrail.

“(The witness) stated the Silverado lost its front left wheel, then continued driving,” the report reads.

[RELATED: Driver arrested after I-4 crash leaves 3 dead in Central Florida]

Troopers reported that the driver — later identified as Eric Drewry, 47 — eventually made his way to South Shell Road, driving through a construction barricade and getting stuck in the sand near a large retention pond.

Yet another witness reportedly followed the truck, claiming that it did “donuts and other reckless maneuvers” as it fled the crash scene before becoming stuck, troopers added.

Upon arrival at the truck, deputies also learned that Drewry had attacked a law enforcement officer who’d tried to detain him, the report reveals.

“When I questioned him about the crash, he said, ‘What crash?’ and later that he wasn’t driving,” the arrest report continues.

[BELOW: Central Florida substitute teacher caught acting ‘erratically,’ deputies say]

Troopers further noted that Drewry had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and was unable to recall basic details about what had just happened — all indicators that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

As a result, Drewry was ultimately taken into custody and now faces the following charges:

• Refusal to submit to DUI testing
• Leaving the scene of a crash with unattended property damage
• DUI involving property damage

Francisco Lindor was removed Wednesday night against the Minnesota Twins with left calf tightness, just hours after teammate Juan Soto came off the injured list. The switch-hitting shortstop will have an MRI on Thursday, putting the top of New York's punchless batting order in flux once more.

“Here we go again," manager Carlos Mendoza said.

New York (8-16) ended its 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over Minnesota, but it might have come at a cost.

“We’ve got to wait and see what we’re dealing with,” Mendoza said.

Lindor labored around the bases while scoring from first on Francisco Alvarez's one-out double up the right-center alley in the fourth inning. He grimaced as he rounded third and paused for a bit from the seat of his pants after beating the relay throw with a feetfirst slide.

“I knew right away when he was rounding third base that something wasn’t right there. So, we’ll see what we’ve got,” Mendoza said. "Right away, he scores and you could see his face. Looking from the dugout, I knew something wasn’t right.”

Lindor headed down the dugout tunnel with an athletic trainer and was replaced in the lineup by Brett Baty, who entered at third base in the top of the fifth. Bo Bichette slid over from third base to shortstop.

Batting cleanup, Lindor knocked in a run when he legged out an infield single with two outs in the first. Moments earlier, he made an outstanding leaping grab at shortstop for the second out of the game.

Soto was reinstated from the 10-day IL earlier in the day. The slugging outfielder had been sidelined since straining his right calf while running from first to third on April 3 in San Francisco.

“We got good news, relatively good news with Soto, and it was still three weeks,” Mendoza said. "So, we’ll see what we’re dealing with.”

After a slow start this season, Lindor was starting to come on recently. He launched a three-run homer Tuesday night and is hitting .226 with two home runs and five RBIs.

“Can’t sit here and make excuses. It’s all part of it. We lost Soto, and we had a hard time," Mendoza said. “Another really good player, and we’ve got to figure it out.”

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

“I'm sure they appreciated it,” Pistons power forward Isaiah Stewart said.

Wallace, a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Mahorn, an enforcer for the Bad Boys, helped the Pistons win a lot of games that looked like Wednesday night's slugfest.

Stewart had two blocks, including one that denied Paolo Banchero a dunk.

“I’m willing to lay my body on the line to make those plays for the energy,” Stewart said.

Top-seeded Detroit held eighth-seeded Orlando to 33% shooting and season lows in points and field goals. The Pistons forced 19 turnovers and blocked 11 shots.

“When we play defense at the level we’re capable of, it triggers everything for us,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We can be an elite defensive team, a disruptive defense. It's Pistons basketball. That’s what it looks like.

“We had one off night and it came at a bad time.”

In Game 1, the Pistons had a sluggish start in each half and allowed the Magic to make almost half their shots All five Orlando starters scored at least 16 points in a 112-101 win.

The Pistons were the aggressors in Game 2, blocking seven shots in the opening 12 minutes to tie a franchise playoff record for blocks in a quarter.

In the third, they went on a 30-3 run and outscored the Magic 38-16.

Detroit coasted in the fourth quarter, winning a playoff game for the first time at Little Caesars Arena. The Pistons ended an NBA-record, 11-game home losing streak in the playoffs that dates to 2008, when the franchise played at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

“Obviously, we've heard it,” Tobias Harris said after scoring 16 points, blocking two shots and making two steals.

The Magic, a little reluctantly, gave the Pistons some credit for their defense.

“They did a heck of a job of reaching, grabbing and holding,” Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said. “They protected that paint and our ability to get downhill.”

Jalen Suggs scored 19 and Banchero had 18 for the Magic. They combined to make just 14 of 35 shots.

“They met us at the rim a few times, and they brought the intensity on defense,” Banchero said. “But we got good looks, and nobody really had a great night shooting the ball.”

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

The Pistons had lost 11 straight home postseason games, a drought that started in 2008.

Game 3 is Saturday in Orlando.

Detroit dominated the third quarter, turning a tie game into a rout by outscoring the Magic 38-16 in the period with six players scoring at least five points.

After Cunningham scored a career playoff-high 39 points in Game 1 and didn’t get much help, the All-Star guard had plenty of support, with five teammates scoring in double figures.

Jalen Suggs scored 19 points and Paolo Banchero had 18 for the Magic. They combined to miss 21 of 35 shots as the team shot 33% and was held to a season low in points.

Detroit’s Tobias Harris scored 16 points, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson had 11 each, and Duncan Robertson and Isaiah Stewart each scored 10. Robinson made three much-needed 3-pointers for a team that struggles with outside shooting.

Orlando’s Franz Wagner and Desmond Bane had 12 points apiece and Wendell Carter Jr. was limited to three points on 1-of-6 shooting after he scored 17 in the opener.

The Magic did not trail in the opener as their starters scored at least 16 points apiece and the Pistons had just two players in double figures.

Detroit took its first lead of the series on the opening possession of Game 2 and jumped to a 14-7 lead with a desperately needed strong start after coming out sluggish in Game 1.

The Pistons led by four points after the opening quarter and the game was tied at 46 entering the third period, when Detroit looked like the defensive-minded team that had the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Both teams will have two days to make adjustments for Game 3.

Detroit hasn't advanced beyond the first playoff round in 18 years and Orlando hasn’t reached the second round in 16 years.

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

“The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said after a decades-long campaign in favor of legislation approved Tuesday.

Children born after Dec. 31, 2008, will be banned from ever buying cigarettes under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

The legislation that needs approval by King Charles III — a formality — before taking effect will also allow the government to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including flavors and packaging.

It is currently illegal to sell cigarettes, tobacco products or vapes to people younger than 18. But most youths today will continue to face a ban their entire life as the minimum age to buy cigarettes rises each year.

The passage gives the U.K. one of the toughest antismoking measures in the world. The law is similar to one New Zealand lawmakers passed in 2022, but that was repealed by a subsequent government.

The number of people who smoke in Britain has declined by two-thirds since the 1970s, but some 6.4 million people — or about 13% of the population — still smoke, according to official figures.

Authorities say smoking causes some 80,000 deaths a year in the U.K, and remains the number one preventable cause of death, disability and poor health.

“Children in the U.K. will be part of the first smoke-free generation, protected from a lifetime of addiction and harm,” Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.

Pakistan had planned to host a second round of talks, but the White House suspended Vice President JD Vance’s planned trip to Islamabad as Iran rebuffed efforts to restart negotiations. Iran acknowledged the ceasefire extension but didn't say Tehran was ready to attend a new round of talks to end the war, state television reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Iran’s semiofficial news agencies are reporting that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has attacked a third ship on Wednesday in the Strait of Hormuz, throwing into question efforts to end the war. Nour News, Fars and Mehr all reported the attack by the Guard on a vessel called the Euphoria. They said the vessel had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, without elaborating. The Guard has seized the other two ships that were attacked, Iranian state television separately reported.

Here is the latest:

CENTCOM says more than 30 ships affected by US blockade

The U.S. military’s Central Command said Thursday its forces in the Mideast had “directed 31 vessels to turn around or return to port as part of the U.S. blockade against Iran.”

Panama condemns ‘illegal seizure’ of a vessel traveling under its flag through Strait of Hormuz

The Central American nation’s foreign ministry wrote in a statement that the boat, owned by the Italian company MSC Francesca, was “forcibly taken” into Iranian waters on Wednesday, and it accused Iran of violating international law. It wasn’t immediately clear if the boat remained in Iranian custody.

The seizure “represents a serious attack on maritime security and constitutes an unnecessary escalation,” it wrote.

Panama has one of the largest ship registries, with around 16% of the world’s ships flying under the country’s flag, according to 2024 data from Panamanian authorities.

Pentagon says it will take months to clear mines in the Strait of Hormuz, AP source says

The Pentagon told lawmakers this week it will likely take six months to clear the mines set in the strait, according to a person familiar with the situation who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.

Officials from the Department of Defense delivered the information during a classified briefing at the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

The session left more questions than answers as lawmakers probed for information about the cost of the war against Iran, the strategy and objectives, the person said. The lawmakers also raised questions that have still gone unanswered about the strike on a school compound during the early days of the war.

___

— By Lisa Mascaro

Senators have again rejected a Democratic attempt to halt Trump’s war in Iran

The U.S. Senate rejected the resolution 46-51 on Wednesday as Republicans in Congress have largely backed Trump’s military efforts.

It was the fifth time this year that the Senate voted to cede its war powers to the president in a conflict that Democrats say is illegal and unjustified. The resolution would require the U.S. to withdraw forces from the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.

“The longer Trump waits to extricate the U.S. from this war, the deeper the hole gets and the harder it will be for him to get out,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Republicans have been reluctant to criticize Trump or the war, even as they say they want it to end quickly.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that most Republicans believe “that the president is correct in making sure Iran can’t threaten the world with a nuclear weapon.”

Israeli strike kills at least 5 people in Gaza, hospital says

At least five people, including three children, were killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza on Wednesday night, according to Shifa hospital, where the bodies were taken.

Local health authorities said the group of people was targeted by a drone while they were in a street in Beit Lahiya, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 780 people since the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was put in place six months ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilian and militant deaths.

Overall, the health ministry says 72,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

US stocks rally to records, but Brent oil also tops $100 on worries about the Iran war

The U.S. stock market rallied to more records Wednesday after GE Vernova, Boston Scientific and other big companies joined the parade, reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. But caution still hung over Wall Street, and oil prices rose on uncertainty about what would happen in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 jumped 1% and topped its prior all-time high set on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 340 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite set its own record after jumping 1.6%.

Strong performances have helped the S&P 500 power higher, and the index recorded its 13th gain in its last 16 days.

Still, another rise in oil prices helped keep enthusiasm in check on Wall Street. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 3.5% to $101.91.

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Paramedics recover body of Lebanese journalist hours after Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon

The body of a Lebanese journalist killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Wednesday has been pulled from under the rubble hours after the attack.

The daily Al-Akhbar newspaper confirmed that its reporter, Amal Khalil, was killed in the strike on the southern village of al-Tiri.

Information Minister Paul Morcos also confirmed Khalil’s death.

Khalil had been covering the Israel-Hezbollah war since it started in October 2023 and had been reporting from different parts of southern Lebanon on the hostilities.

Earlier on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, called on the international community to immediately pressure the Israeli army to allow the rescue of Khalil.

Iran says it is prepared for 2026 World Cup participation in the US

However, it was unclear whether it would ultimately take part.

“The Ministry of Youth and Sports made an announcement about the full preparedness of our national soccer team for presence in the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., by the order of the minister,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohejerani told Iran’s state TV on Wednesday.

“They informed that the necessary arrangements that these dear ones need for the team’s proud and successful participation, (have been made),” Mohejerani added.

The tournament is scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.

White House says only Trump knows how long extension of Iran ceasefire will last

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump hasn’t set a deadline for receiving a proposal from the Iranians.

“Ultimately, the timeline would be dictated by the commander in chief,” she said.

Trump announced a ceasefire extension on Tuesday.

White House says Iran seizing 2 ships doesn’t violate ceasefire terms

Iran taking control of two ships is not a violation of the truce terms because “these were not U.S. or Israeli ships, these were two international vessels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Channel.

She said Iran’s navy has been decimated and that the ships in question “were taken by speedy gun boats,” meaning that Iran is acting “like a bunch of pirates.”

Leavitt said Trump’s blockade remains in place “on ships coming to and from Iranian ports” and that the seizure by Iranian forces “is piracy that we are seeing on display.”

Hezbollah says it launched drones at Israeli positions in southern Lebanon

The group added in a statement that the two attacks targeting soldiers and vehicles in the village of Qantara on Wednesday evening were in retaliation for alleged Israeli violations of the 10-day ceasefire that took effect Friday.

The strikes marked the group’s third attack on Wednesday. Israel did not immediately comment on the latest attacks but has previously accused Hezbollah of breaching the ceasefire.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli troops fired at rescuers searching for missing journalist

The ministry said two Israeli strikes on al-Tiri in southern Lebanon killed two people. The journalist Amal Khalil and her colleague took cover in a house, which the ministry said was targeted in the second strike. When rescuers arrived, they were able to recover the two bodies and one injured journalist. But the Israeli military fired live ammunition at the ambulance, preventing the team from completing the search for Khalil, the ministry said. Lebanon’s National News Agency showed pictures of the damage to the ambulance.

Khalil’s condition is not clear. She is a prominent journalist with the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar.

Israel’s military alleged the individuals in the village violated the ceasefire, posing a risk to the troops’ safety. It denied that it prevented rescue teams from reaching the area or that it targets journalists.

Reopening Strait of Hormuz ‘impossible’ amid breaches, Iranian official says

“A complete ceasefire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime/naval blockade and taking the world’s economy hostage, and if the Zionist warmongering across all fronts is halted,” Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on Wednesday.

“Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such flagrant breach of the ceasefire,” Qalibaf added. “The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation.”

Israeli military says it struck targets in south Lebanon, denies blocking rescue

Lebanese officials and Reporters Without Borders said a journalist was missing following an Israeli strike near the southern village of al-Tiri on Wednesday, while another journalist was wounded.

The Israeli military said it struck a vehicle and a structure in the area after identifying what it described as militants posing an immediate threat near the border.

The military said it was aware of reports that journalists were injured but did not confirm them and denied preventing rescue teams from reaching the area.

The details of the incident are under review, it added.

Trump says Iran respected his request, will free women whose release he demanded

The president said he has been informed that four of the women will be “released immediately,” while four others will be sentenced to one month each in prison.

“I very much appreciate that Iran, and its leaders, respected my request ... and terminated the planned execution,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform.

He said the women protesters were expected to be executed Wednesday.

Rights groups that monitor Iran had said two of the women were already released on bail in March, and two others were known to face charges that carry the death sentences. They had been arrested during the January anti-government protests.

Trump re-posted a photo of the women, including two teen girls, on Tuesday on social media, which a conservative activist noted are facing prosecution in Iran.

The Iranian judiciary responded promptly, denying that any of them were on the verge of execution, saying some were already released.

Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli strike on southern Lebanon kills 2

The ministry added that the Wednesday afternoon strike on the village of Yohmor also wounded two people.

UN’s global shipping regulation body condemns Persian Gulf shipping attacks

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, on Wednesday condemned attacks on shipping after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, seizing two and taking them to Iran. Earlier, Trump said the United States would continue to blockade Iranian ports.

“The attacks on and seizures of commercial ships are unacceptable,” Dominguez said, urging an immediate halt and the release of vessels and crews. He warned that the situation remains “extremely volatile” and questioned why companies risk seafarers’ lives.

Nearly 20,000 seafarers remain at sea after seven weeks, uncertain when they can return home, he added.

Firm says over 10M barrels of Iranian oil left Persian Gulf since US blockade of Iran’s ports

An analytics firm focusing on global energy and freight markets says it recorded 34 movements of sanctioned and Iranian-linked tankers in and out of the Persian Gulf in the week after the U.S. imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The firm, Vortexa, says it identified 19 outbound and 15 inbound movements of such vessels between April 13 and Monday.

Six of those outbound movements were “confirmed laden with Iranian crude, representing about 10.7 million barrels,” it said in an email to The Associated Press.

It was not immediately clear whether all those barrels reached markets overseas.

Lebanese journalist missing after Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, called on the international community on Wednesday to immediately pressure the Israeli army into allowing the rescue of journalist Amal Khalil, who works for the daily Al-Akhbar.

RSF added that Khalil is currently trapped near the southern Lebanese village of al-Tiri following an Israeli airstrike close to her vehicle.

“Her life is in danger right now! Continued Israeli airstrikes are preventing rescuers from reaching her,” RSF said.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun called on the Lebanese Red Cross to work on the rescue of Khalil, along with another journalist, Zeinab Faraj, who was with her.

Aoun requested the Lebanese Red Cross to coordinate with the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers “to carry out the rescue operation in the shortest possible time.”

Crew of a ship attacked in the Strait of Hormuz is safe, management company says

The management company of a container ship that was fired upon in the Strait of Hormuz early Wednesday says the Liberian-registered Epaminondas was “approached and fired upon by a manned gunboat” while transiting the strait about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Oman.

The Technomar company said all crew were “safe and accounted for” and no injuries were reported, but that preliminary inspections indicated the ship’s bridge had been damaged.

“Technomar remains in close contact with the crew and relevant authorities. Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our crew as we work with all relevant stakeholders to ensure their continued safety and investigate the incident,” the company said. It did not provide further details, but said more information would be released “when there are material developments.”

Iranians have long sought work and relative stability in Turkey. The war could force some to return

Sadri Haghshenas spends her days selling borek — a layered, savory pastry — at a shop in Istanbul, but her mind is on her daughter in Tehran.

The family had to send her home to Iran after they ran into difficulties renewing her visa, despite fears that a shaky ceasefire could soon collapse.

For years, short-term residency permits have allowed tens of thousands of Iranians to pursue economic opportunities and enjoy relative stability in neighboring Turkey. But it’s a precarious situation, and the war has raised the stakes.

“I swear, I cry every day,” Haghshenas said, raising her hands from behind the counter of the pastry shop. “There is no life in my country, there is no life here, what shall I do?”

Turkey hasn't seen an influx of refugees, as most Iranians have sought safety within their country. Many who've crossed the land border were transiting to other countries where they have citizenship or residency.

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Israeli strike kills two people in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

The strike targeted a vehicle in the town of Tayri on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

No further details on the identities of the victims were immediately available.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack.

The strike comes despite a 10-day ceasefire that went into effect Friday. Since then, several Israeli strikes have been reported, while Hezbollah has claimed a couple of attacks since Tuesday.

A second French soldier has died after an attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

On Saturday, a U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon came under attack with small arms fire leaving one French peacekeeper dead and three others wounded, two of them seriously.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that a wounded soldier, who was repatriated Tuesday from Lebanon “where he had been seriously wounded by Hezbollah fighters, died this morning from his injuries.”

Hezbollah had denied is was behind the attack.

Iran says it has yet to decide whether to join a new round of talks with the US

“We entered the negotiations in good faith and with seriousness, but the negotiating party (the United States) has shown disregard and lack of good faith,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baqaei, said Wednesday, according to Iran’s State TV.

A second round of negotiations, expected in Pakistan’s capital later this week, has not yet been confirmed. On Tuesday, President Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, leaving the next steps for resuming talks unclear.

“Iran has not yet decided whether it will participate in the new round of peace negotiations with the United States scheduled for later this week,” Baqaei said.

US stocks climb, but so do oil prices with uncertainty rising about the war with Iran

GE Vernova, Boston Scientific and Boeing are leading the U.S. stock market toward another record after joining the list of companies reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected.

But caution is still hanging over Wall Street on Wednesday, and oil prices are also rising on uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and was on track to top its all-time high set Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 360 points and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.9%. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly topped $100.

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Energy agency head says energy crisis will trigger major response by governments and industry

Talking about the repercussions of the Iran war, the head of the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that “we are facing the biggest energy crisis in the history.”

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin that what ”we lost in the this war is much bigger than all the crises put together in terms of oil and gas. Plus, plus, there are vital commodities that we are losing — petrochemicals, fertilizers, helium, sulfur.”

However, Birol also pointed out that “there will be a major response to this crisis as well” and that “it is now the job of the governments to design their energy policies in terms of industrial sector, while keeping the competitiveness of the existing industries, preparing the next steps for the tomorrow’s industries.”

He said he also expects that “there will be a similar response in all parts of the economy, car manufacturing industry, electric industry and in the industry sector.”

“And this is a wonderful opportunity,” he added.

Dozens of Israeli civilians attempt to enter Syria

The Israeli military said it intercepted around 40 Israeli civilians that attempted to enter Syria on Wednesday afternoon. The military said the civilians gathered at the border and then were able to infiltrate several hundred meters into the Israeli-military controlled buffer zone in Syria before being returned to Israel and taken into police custody.

The Israeli media identified the infiltrators as part of the right-wing group “Pioneers of Bashan,” which calls for establishing Jewish settlements in Lebanon and Syria.

The leak occurred at the Catalyst Refiners plant in Institute as workers were preparing to shut down at least part of the facility, Kanawha County Commission Emergency Management Director C.W. Sigman said.

A chemical gas reaction occurred at the plant involving nitric acid and another substance, Sigman said at a news briefing. He added that there was "a violent reaction of the chemicals and it instantaneously overreacted.”

“Starting or ending a chemical reaction are the most dangerous times,” Sigman said.

The chemical reaction that was believed to have occurred during a cleaning process produced toxic hydrogen sulfide, Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango said.

Among the injured were seven ambulance workers responding to the leak, officials said.

“We know that the first responders, they always run to the fire. They put themselves in harm’s way,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said at an evening news conference. “We’re very grateful to these brave men and women and what they do. And they’re in our prayers, and we’re monitoring the recovery of those transported to our local hospitals.”

Other people were taken to the hospitals in private cars or even in one case a garbage truck, Sigman said.

Morrisey said one person was in serious condition.

Vandalia Health Charleston Area Medical Center, one of several hospitals in the area, was treating multiple patients, some brought by ambulance, while members of the community were arriving Wednesday afternoon asking to be checked, hospital spokesman Dale Witte said.

Witte said patients were experiencing respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath, sore throat and itchy eyes. They were being evaluated in the emergency room.

WVU Medicine Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston said in a statement it has cared for a dozen patients, including eight who arrived by personal vehicle and were not at the scene but were in the area at the time. It said those injuries were not considered life-threatening.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for the surrounding area and lifted more than five hours later. Officials said all the deaths occurred on the plant site.

“You had to get really close to the facility to smell it,” Sigman said.

The leak required a large-scale decontamination operation in which people had to remove their clothes and be sprayed down, authorities said.

Morrisey said it's believed the local air quality and water supply were unaffected.

Catalyst Refiners works to remove silver from what remains of chemical processes. Ames Goldsmith Corp., the owner of Catalyst Refiners, said it is saddened by the deaths and its thoughts were with all those impacted and their families.

“This is an unfathomably difficult time,” company President Frank Barber said in a statement released at the briefing. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families.”

Ames Goldsmith promised to work with local, state and federal officials as they investigate the leak. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into what happened, a spokesperson said, adding that the agency has six months to complete its examination.

Silver is in a number of items ranging from circuit boards and other electronics, photographic and X-Ray films and jewelry. Nitric acid is used to dissolve materials, leaving behind silver nitrate that can be processed to recover pure silver. Recovery businesses can also crush or sandblast items with silver and use magnets or differences in density to sort out the precious metal.

Sigman said Ames Goldsmith recovers silver from the various plants at the Institute complex "and they'll use it again. When they vacuum their carpets in their office, they recover so many thousands of dollars’ worth of silver out of it just vacuuming their carpets.”

The plant is located near Institute, a community about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of Charleston, the state capital. The plant is in a region known as West Virginia’s “chemical valley,” although many plants that lined the area along the Kanawha River and produced hazardous materials have closed or changed ownership in the past several decades.

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Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee,.contributed to this report.

It is the latest high-profile case of alleged insider trading on prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket, which have brought bipartisan scrutiny from Congress and calls for stricter regulations of the websites where people can put money on just about anything.

Kalshi's disciplinary documents named Mark Moran, who is running as an independent in Virginia's U.S. Senate race; Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran in a Texas Republican primary for a U.S. House seat; and Matt Klein, a Democratic state senator running for a U.S. House seat in Minnesota.

Klein and Enriquez both placed bets less than $100 related to their “own candidacy,” Kalshi said. Moran said on social media that he “traded $100 on myself.”

These relatively small bets follow mammoth wagers on prediction markets earlier this year that raised eyebrows. In one case, an anonymous Polymarket user made a $400,000 profit in January on a wager that former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would soon be out of office.

In March, after two U.S. senators announced legislation that threatened prediction markets, Kalshi and Polymarket highlighted new rules, including against political candidates trading on their own campaigns.

Moran refused to reach an agreement with Kalshi and was fined the most at more than $6,200, while Klein and Enriquez did reach agreements and face penalties of over $530 and $780, respectively, the company said. All were suspended from Kalshi for five years.

Some politicians said the punishments didn't go far enough. U.S. Rep. Mike Levin, a California Democrat, slammed the repercussions on social media, saying, “That’s not a punishment. That’s a parking ticket.”

The agreements are with the company, and not with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates predication markets. The agency is chaired by Michael Selig, who is considered friendly to the burgeoning industry.

Far from denying the allegations, Moran told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he placed the bets intending to draw attention to what he said was unjust sway that platforms like Kalshi have on elections. Moran added that he'd met with the company and had asked for his name to appear on its website.

Moran said he was fined more than the other candidates because he refused to sign a settlement that would've required him to post a statement on X. He said he felt that the stunt was successful.

“When I piss people off, when I upset people, and when I captivate their attention, that’s when they have to start listening,” he said.

Klein also confirmed Kalshi's findings in a post on social media on Wednesday. The $50 wager he placed in October was the first time he had used a predictions market, he said in a statement on X, and he was “curious about how it worked.”

“This was a mistake and I apologize,” he wrote, saying that the experience made it clear that the markets need more regulation.

Klein is a cosponsor of a bill working its way through the Minnesota Legislature to ban most wagering on predictive markets, including the outcome of elections. In an interview, he said he didn’t think there was an inconsistency between his betting $50 on himself to win his primary and his sponsorship of legislation.

Klein said he spent the winter learning about predictive markets and signed onto the bill well before he learned that his bet violated Kalshi’s rules.

Enriquez, known as Zeke, lost his House race in the beginning of March with less than two percent of the vote. Contact information for Enriquez was not immediately found to request comment. ___

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Logan, Utah, contributed.

In an affidavit, deputies said they responded to AdventHealth Celebration back on March 16 after receiving a report from the victim, who claimed that the incident happened after she underwent a medical procedure.

At the time, she was conscious but unable to move or even open her eyes due to the effects of anesthesia, the affidavit notes.

“(The victim) stated that a male nurse, later identified as Carlos Herrera, who had transported her into the room, called her loudly in an apparent attempt to elicit a response,” the affidavit reads. “She advised that although she heard her name being called, she was unable to respond.”

[RELATED: Ocoee nurse accused of sexually violating amputee patient]

But after receiving no response, Herrera moved closer and put his arm through the neck opening of her hospital gown to grab her breast, squeezing it around three times, the victim claimed.

Per investigators, she immediately opened her eyes upon feeling the contact, at which pointed Herrera allegedly said, “Oh, hey, do you normally sleep on your side? I was just trying to move you to lie flat.”

After Herrera left the room, the victim reported what happened, ultimately leading to Herrera’s arrest later that month, records show.

Now, Herrera faces charges of abusing a disabled adult without great bodily harm and making a lewd/lascivious act.

News 6 reached out to AdventHealth for comment and received the following response:

“Patient safety is our highest priority. We take concerns like this seriously. In accordance with our policy, we immediately placed the team member on leave March 16th after the allegation was made, and he remains on leave.”

AdventHealth

In his testimony to various committees in both the Senate and the House over multiple days this week and last, Kennedy was tasked with defending President Donald Trump’s proposed 2027 budget, which would boost defense spending while cutting more than 12% of funding from Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services.

With lawmakers of both parties raising concerns about programs and research funding being reduced or eliminated, Kennedy acknowledged the cuts were “painful” but said they were necessary to address the federal government’s record $39 trillion deficit.

When Democrats came out swinging, Kennedy became more defiant, even at times screaming his rebuttals — though some of them didn’t align with the facts. He accused multiple Democratic lawmakers of grandstanding, making things up and seeking sound bites over meaningful responses.

Here are takeaways from Kennedy’s gauntlet of budget hearings:

Kennedy deflects blame for Americans not vaccinating

One of the central fights shaping Kennedy’s interactions with Democratic lawmakers was over who bears responsibility for the decline in childhood vaccination rates and measles outbreaks that have ripped across the country over the past year, threatening the country’s measles elimination status. Kennedy’s refrain was consistent: It’s not my fault.

“It has nothing to do with me,” Kennedy said Tuesday of the uptick in measles across the country over the past year. He noted there is a global rise in measles cases, including in other countries like Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Kennedy, who spent years as an anti-vaccine crusader before entering politics and in 2021 said he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccines, disputed accusations that he is anti-vaccine, saying he is “pro-science.”

Throughout the hearings, he sought to focus on HHS’s initiatives unrelated to vaccines — part of a broader administration pivot toward less controversial health topics like nutritious eating.

Kennedy argued that fewer Americans are vaccinating because they lost trust in government recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was working to restore that trust. In fact, surveys show trust in federal health agencies has continued to decline during Kennedy’s tenure.

Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington, argued Kennedy’s vaccine views have caused a “spillover effect” that has led to mothers not giving their babies vitamin K injections common at birth to prevent brain bleeding.

“I’ve never said anything about vitamin K,” Kennedy said.

“That’s exactly the point,” Schrier replied.

Kennedy did get credit, however, from Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who said his work was crucial in helping the state manage a troubling measles outbreak over the past year.

“We would not be on the right side of this outbreak without your leadership,” Scott told Kennedy.

Kennedy forcefully denies there are Medicaid cuts – a claim experts call political spin

Nearly every time Democrats brought up the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade largely being created through new work requirements for enrollees, Kennedy lashed back to argue there are no cuts to Medicaid.

“Only in Washington is it considered a cut,” Kennedy told New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat, on Wednesday.

Kennedy cited a Congressional Budget Office report showing that Medicaid outlays are estimated to increase by about 47% over the next decade. But experts say his analysis of that report is disingenuous, politicized framing and that the increased spending reflects factors like inflation and a growing population.

“This is an old, sort of tired argument that’s been used by conservatives to justify spending cuts by saying, well, if spending is still growing in nominal terms, somehow there wasn’t a cut,” said Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University. “The federal government is spending nearly a trillion dollars less than it otherwise would have in the absence of the legislation.”

Lawmakers of both parties are concerned about affordability

A major concern for voters in the 2026 midterm elections is affordability — including skyrocketing costs for health care and health insurance. That wasn’t lost on those questioning Kennedy, as lawmakers from both parties raised the issue.

On Tuesday, Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Oregon, shared the story of his brother who pays $26,000 per year for his health coverage.

“What in the world can I go back to him and say? ‘Hey, the administration is working on trying to drive these prices down?’” he asked Kennedy.

Kennedy, for his part, cited several Trump administration initiatives to lower prices, including the White House's TrumpRx website for discounted drugs and Trump’s so-called most favored nations deals with pharmaceutical companies.

Pressed by senators, Kennedy pledged to provide details of those deals that didn’t include proprietary information or trade secrets. Some Democrats wanted him to do more.

“Why don’t you do an agreement yourself? he said in a jab to Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat. “You’ve had power to do that for 20 years and haven’t done it.”

Kennedy acknowledges some HHS cuts are ‘painful’

To achieve a more than 12% cut of the more than $100 billion HHS budget, the Trump administration is proposing slashing some $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and cutting a bevy of other programs and initiatives, including a low-income home energy assistance program.

Several senators asked Kennedy why different areas were being cut. NIH cuts, in particular, raised bipartisan outcry.

“There’s an argument to be made that we’re handing China our lunch,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Kennedy was candid that neither he nor others at his agency wanted to see the cuts, which he called “painful.”

“There’s a lot of cuts to the agency that nobody wants,” he said.

Investigators say employees of the Orange County-based business “Legacy Imigra” are accused of defrauding hundreds of clients out of roughly $20 million. The case highlights what immigration attorneys say is a growing problem fueled by high demand for legal representation.

Orlando immigration attorney Ileana Rivera said she was not surprised to hear about the arrests.

“In my experience, people come to me saying that they paid thousands and thousands of dollars,” Rivera said. “I’ve seen as high as $8,000, $10,000, and they were not attorneys.”

[BELOW: Florida immigration agency defrauds hundreds of undocumented migrants out of $20M, sheriff says]

Rivera said she receives calls weekly from people who believe they were misled by someone falsely claiming to be a licensed attorney.

She explained that scammers often tell clients exactly what they want to hear, promising favorable outcomes that legitimate attorneys may not guarantee.

Experts say verifying an attorney’s credentials is critical. Both Rivera and The Florida Bar recommend searching for the attorney on The Florida Bar’s website to confirm they are licensed.

However, immigration law is federal, meaning attorneys can be licensed in any state. Rivera advises asking which state the attorney is licensed in and checking that state’s bar association website.

“If they aren’t listed, they aren’t licensed,” she said.

Rivera also noted that some individuals may be licensed attorneys in other countries but are not authorized to practice law in the United States.

“They could be lawyers in their country, but they are not allowed to say they are lawyers here and practice law,” she said.

She added that scams like these can damage trust in legitimate immigration attorneys.

Rivera said many victims never report being defrauded, often out of fear of drawing attention to their immigration status.

Authorities continue to investigate the case.

The FBI said Wednesday that its agents interviewed Patel's girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, when she expressed concern about a death threat received after Williamson's article was published, but took no further action.

The Times, in an article posted online Wednesday, said that the FBI looked on federal databases for information about Williamson and recommended pursuing it further, but was blocked by the Justice Department.

The newspaper said it learned about all of this only through a tip given to reporter Michael S. Schmidt. The paper called the action alarming.

“The FBI's attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth's First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” said Joseph Kahn, the newspaper's executive editor. “It's alarming. It's unconstitutional. And it's wrong.”

It's not clear whether The Times has any recourse other than asking a federal inspector general to review whether the actions were improper.

Williamson briefly interviewed Wilkins when reporting, but the singer insisted the conversation be off the record. The reporter also spoke to people who knew Wilkins or had worked with her, the newspaper said.

The original piece, published on Feb. 28, looked at the use of federal officials called upon to perform personal duties for an administration figure. She wrote that Patel had assigned four agents to protect Wilkins full time, and that they had ferried her to appearances in Britain, Illinois and Nashville.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson, in a statement posted on social media, said that while investigators “were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking, no further action regarding Williamson or the reporting was ever pursued by the FBI.”

Patel hasn't been reluctant to fight back against reporting that displeases him. On Monday, he filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic for its article that discussed allegations about his excessive drinking and mismanagement at the law enforcement agency.

The project, called Terracotta Terrace, is planned for 1398 S.R. 436 and is expected to include 152 units for active adults.

According to the developer, the five-story community will include amenities such as a pool, fitness center, theater, dog park and outdoor gathering spaces.

Developers say the project is aimed at active adults looking for a maintenance-free lifestyle in Casselberry and nearby communities.

At the groundbreaking, city leaders said the project reflects the kind of development they want to see in the city, while business leaders praised the partnerships that helped bring it to Casselberry.

Construction is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2027.

Multiple videos from bystanders show a masked agent grabbing and pulling Franci Stagi across the street during a protest in October against the detention of three Colombian asylum-seekers in Durango, Colorado. She said he grabbed her by the hair and put her in a chokehold. The state is among several that prohibited or severely limited police officers from using chokeholds and neck restraints since George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations launched an investigation into the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer's actions against Stagi at the request of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current, who raised concerns about possible violations of state law — an unusual if not unprecedented request.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection, called the prosecution “unlawful” and a “political stunt.” It said states have no authority to investigate such cases.

“Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies,” DHS said in a statement.

The department said it was still investigating what happened in the incident.

Court documents didn’t list any attorney as representing the officer, Nicholas Rice.

Stagi said she was standing close to the officer and filming him outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Durango, a college town popular for outdoor recreation, when he hit her hand hard, causing her to lose her cellphone. Stagi, a retired hypnotherapist, said she then reached for the officer's shoulder to get his attention. After she said he put her in a chokehold, she said he threw her down an embankment next to the street. She said she still experiences pain in her arm doing normal everyday activities, like putting on her jacket.

Court documents allege that Rice committed third-degree assault by causing bodily injury to Stagi, but the documents don’t describe how she was injured or make mention of a chokehold. Rice also is charged with criminal mischief for allegedly damaging Stagi’s cellphone.

Stagi said Wednesday she was disappointed Rice was charged with less serious crimes. The assault charge, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum sentence of just under a year in jail. But she hopes the prosecution sends a message that immigration officers can't tackle people indiscriminately and use excessive force.

“It did open my eyes to how quickly I can be under someone else's control, and it's frightening,” said Stagi, whose legal name is Anne Francesca Stagi.

Federal law enforcement officers have broad legal protections when acting in the course of their official duties, and the Justice Department has in recent months taken a hard line against state efforts to arrest or prosecute federal agents. Late last year, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said arrests of federal officers performing their duties would be “illegal and futile,” citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and federal law. Legal experts say those protections are significant but not absolute and the Supremacy Clause does not provide blanket immunity.

Chokeholds have been at the center of public discourse and state legislative initiatives about what constitutes an unreasonable use of force since Eric Garner died in New York in 2014 after he was put in a chokehold by a white police officer.

Garner’s dying words, “ I can’t breathe ” became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

While some states have banned chokeholds and other tactics, sweeping changes were met with resistance.

A federal package of reforms that would have banned chokeholds nationwide passed the U.S. House in 2021 but failed to reach then-President Joe Biden’s desk. The bill was named in honor of Floyd, who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee to his neck.

Within a month of Floyd’s death, Colorado lawmakers approved a ban on chokeholds as part of broader police reform legislation. The law overrode more limited chokehold restrictions that were put in place four years earlier.

___

Slevin reported from Denver, and Lee from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Her death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office that had been blocked from release for months.

The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes” to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September.

The examination revealed “two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.” One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another, on the left chest, damaged her ribs. A tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.

A judge had ordered the report sealed late last year at the request of law enforcement, but prosecutors agreed this week to allow its release.

The 21-year-old alt-pop singer D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged in the killing Monday. He pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14 and mutilating a dead body. Burke’s attorneys said he did not cause Rivas Hernandez’s death and they will vigorously defend his innocence.

The girl's parents made their first public comments on Tuesday night, thanking investigators for their work and the people of their hometown of Lake Elsinore, California, for their support. Lake Elsinore is about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles.

“Celeste was a beautiful, strong girl who loved to sing and dance. Every Friday night was movie night and we spent wonderful times together,” Jesus Rivas and Mercedes Martinez said. "We love her very much and she always told us that she loved us. We miss her deeply. All we want is justice for Celeste.”

Prosecutors allege Burke killed Rivas Hernandez because she threatened to report they had a sexual relationship that began when she was 13 years old and he feared it would ruin his rising career.

A criminal complaint alleges he killed her with a sharp object and dismembered the body about two weeks later.

Medical Examiner's investigators called to the scene where the body was found discovered her torso and head in a black, zippered body bag in the Tesla's trunk, with arms and legs in a separate trash bag.

Her body had so degraded that examiners couldn't even determine her eye color. She had braces at the time of her death, and a tattoo that read “Shhh....” on the inside of a finger, according to the report. Two other fingers were missing — as were parts of her arms and legs.

Toxicology tests on the liver showed a low level of alcohol, but it may have been due to postmortem chemical changes and didn't appear to be a factor, the report said.

LA County's Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Odey C. Ukpo has sought to emphasize his agency's independence from law enforcement and to make its work as public as possible since he took over the job three years ago. He has said he does not believe sealing reports of his office's work helps investigations and has said he would only put holds on releasing the reports if compelled by a court order.

“After several months, I am grateful this information can now be released, not only to the public, but also to the grieving family enduring loss,” Ukpo said in a statement Wednesday. “It is unfathomable they have had to wait this long to learn what happened to their daughter.”

D4vd, pronounced “David,” gained popularity among young fans for his blend of indie rock, R&B and lo-fi pop. He went viral on TikTok in 2022 with the hit “Romantic Homicide,” which peaked at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. He released his debut EP “Petals to Thorns” and a follow-up, “The Lost Petals,” in 2023.

His debut full-length album, “Withered,” was released one year ago, two days after the date prosecutors estimate that Rivas Hernandez was killed.

The lawsuit, filed by Lorrayne Mavromatis in federal court in North Carolina on Wednesday, accuses MrBeastYouTube, LLC and GameChanger 24/7, LLC of violating federal law that entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family and medical reasons, including childbirth. Mavromatis also filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, pregnancy, and retaliation.

Mavromatis claims that she worked “nonstop” following her baby's birth as well as while in the delivery room. “I was still bleeding, and I just had to show up,” Mavromatis told The Associated Press in an interview.

Less than three weeks after she returned to work full time, she said she was fired.

A Beast Industries spokesperson called the lawsuit a “clout-chasing complaint” built on “deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements” in an emailed statement. Mavromatis's position was eliminated, according to the spokesperson, when the new head of ecommerce reorganized her team.

The company shared a March 31, 2025 exchange on the workplace messaging app Slack, in which a coworker told Mavromatis that she “shouldn't even be checking” her messages after Mavromatis canceled a meeting because she wrote she was “actually in labor at the hospital as we speak.” In response to allegations that MrBeast failed to inform her of her rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the company shared a screenshot of her signature confirming receipt of the employee handbook including FMLA policies.

“We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us,” the statement said.

Company culture once again under scrutiny

Mavromatis's lawsuit raises disturbing allegations about the culture behind YouTube’s most popular creator as new company leaders seek to rapidly expand the media empire founded by Jimmy Donaldson under his MrBeast alias.

It portrays a toxic, misogynistic workplace that Beast Industries has recently tried to clean up as Donaldson’s media empire launches ambitious ventures into television and financial services. His “Beast Games” Amazon Prime reality competition show is two seasons deep and the company recently acquired the teenager-focused banking app Step.

Questions about Beast Industries’ internal culture surfaced two years ago after a social media firestorm over Donaldson’s past racist and homophobic language coincided with accusations that a longtime collaborator shared inappropriate sexual messages with minors. In an August 2024 email to employees, Donaldson said he recognized that he must “create a culture that makes all our employees feel safe and allows them to do their best work.”

Beast Industries fired several employees following a third-party investigation that identified “isolated instances” of workplace harassment and misconduct.

Donaldson has since become a growing presence in American entertainment outside of YouTube. He appeared at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, advertised for business software maker Salesforce in a Super Bowl commercial and joined the cast of the upcoming “Angry Birds Movie 3.”

Beast Industries — which employs about 700 people, according to chief communication officer Gaude Paez — continues to expand. The company has been on a hiring spree of late, landing executives from the likes of NBCUniversal and TikTok as the brand tries to find success beyond Donaldson’s name and image.

Mavromatis’s lawsuit was filed ahead of Thursday’s TIME100 celebration in New York City, where Donaldson is scheduled to be honored as one of the magazine’s most influential people, along with Pope Leo XIV, President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

A high intensity workplace

Beast Industries encouraged employees to “go to great lengths” to get the job done, according to Mavromatis’s lawsuit, which refers to a 36-page “HOW TO SUCCEED IN MRBEAST PRODUCTION” guide circulated among employees at the time of her employment. The guide included sections saying, “It’s okay for the boys to be childish" and “The Amount of hours you work is irrelevant.”

It was against that backdrop that Mavromatis said she joined a team meeting from her hospital bed in the throes of labor, afraid she would be fired if she refused.

“I actually had to hold my breath in between talks because of how hard the contractions were,” she said.

Mavromatis, now 34, was hired in August 2022 as MrBeast’s head of Instagram, and was promoted twice within a year. Between June 2023 and January 2024, she oversaw operations for the company's verticals division, which she described as an executive position, but Beast Industries' Paez called mid-level.

A few months after she started at the company, she asked James Warren — Donaldson's cousin and CEO at that time— for advice when she noticed Donaldson would not make eye-contact with her.

According to the complaint, Warren responded: "Jimmy gets really awkward around beautiful women. Let’s just say that when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom.”

The company attributed Donaldson's bathroom trips to his Crohn's disease.

The lawsuit said that after Mavromatis reported sexual harassment issues as well as a hostile work environment to human resources, which was headed by Donaldson's mother, she was transferred and demoted to “an obscure role." The company refuted that claim, calling it “false and inaccurate.”

TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund at the National Women’s Law Center, which was founded during the early days of the #MeToo reckoning against sexual misconduct, says it is supporting Mavromatis's case.

“Abusive workplaces rely on a persistent lack of accountability. We see this pattern frequently, where those with influence and power are allowed to harm others and retaliate against those who decide to speak up,” said senior director Jennifer Mondino. “We are in a collective fight to address a longstanding culture of harassment that relies on entrenched silence and shame.”

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

However, 47 bills have already been approved by the governor as of Wednesday, April 22, with many of these new laws set to take effect later this year.

You can find the full list below. Be sure to check back, as News 6 will update this list as more laws are signed.

HB 91 — Candidate Qualification

House Bill 91 requires that someone who wants to run for office must affirm that he/she hasn’t changed his/her name in the year prior to qualification, with few exceptions.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

SB 118 — R.V. Park Assessments

Senate Bill 118 revises how special assessments may be levied against R.V. parks.

The bill does this by prohibiting local governments from levying special assessments against areas over 400 square feet for each R.V. parking space or campsite.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 21

SB 182 — Teacher Mentors

Senate Bill 182 establishes the School Teacher Training and Mentoring Program, aimed at improving teacher effectiveness in public schools.

Under this program, qualified teachers can be placed as mentors in schools that have a “D” or “F” grade, thereby improving the performance of these schools.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 212 — Sex Offenders

Senate Bill 212 amends state statutes regarding sexual offenders and predators in the state.

Under this law, those convicted of certain sex offenses against children 16 years of age or younger may not live within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool.

[BELOW: Florida attorney general unveils Sanford ‘house of horrors’]

Current law already prohibits these sorts of sex offenders from living near schools, childcare facilities, parks and playgrounds, though this bill cracks down even harder via the following rules:

• Contacting Children: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they knowingly contact a minor at any park, playground or public swimming pool.
• School Grounds: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they’re purposefully present in any pre-K-12 school while the school is still in operation, with few exceptions.
• Prowling Offenders: The bill increases the restricted distance for loitering and prowling by such sex offenders from 300 feet to 500 feet of places where children congregate.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 245 — Child Pornography

House Bill 245 replaces the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” under state law.

This shift does not change any other elements of the law, including offenses related to child pornography.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 246 — Specialty Plates

Senate Bill 246 grants permission for five new specialty license plates, which are as follows:

• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
• Miami Northwestern Alumni Association
• Outsider
• St. Petersburg College
• First Responders Resiliency

The bill also revises certain requirements for the existing “Florida Wildflower” and “Fraternal Order of Police” plates.

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

HB 249 — State Flagship

House Bill 249 redesignates the official state flagship.

More specifically, the law replaces the current state flagship (the schooner Western Union) with the S.S. American Victory.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: New Florida bill could change meaning of ‘criminal gang member’]

SB 288 — Electric Cooperatives

Senate Bill 288 revises a state statute that prohibits certain bylaws, tariffs and policies from being used by rural electric cooperatives.

Under this law, the statute is limited to only those cooperatives that sell electricity at retail.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 290 — FDACS

Senate Bill 290 makes a number of changes to state law related to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).

Some of these changes include a prohibition on local governments from banning gas-powered landscape equipment, and criminal penalties for those receiving unauthorized help on a CDL exam.

You can read a list of more changes here.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 302 — Coastal Resiliency

Senate Bill 302 prohibits any dredging or filling of submerged lands at the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, with some exceptions provided for public safety and environmental protection.

This law is also expected to streamline the permitting process for nature-based methods aimed at improving coastal resiliency, helping to accelerate restoration timelines.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 386 — Farm Equipment

Senate Bill 386 sets up a process for consumers and manufacturers to remedy defective farm equipment.

If farm equipment is defective, this law lets buyers report the defect to the manufacturer during the warranty period or the one-year period after the original delivery date of the farm equipment.

The law also requires the manufacturer to either replace or refund any defective farm equipment.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 399 — Development Regulations

House Bill 399 requires application fees for development permits to be reasonably related to the costs associated with processing the application and prohibits fees based on a percentage of project costs.

The legislation also mandates that each local government’s land development regulations must include factors for assessing compatibility of residential uses.

DATE OF EFFECT: March 27

SB 428 — Drowning Prevention

Senate Bill 428 amends the Swimming Lesson Voucher Program, raising the age limit to include children between 1 and 7 years of age.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 441 — Conservation Lands

House Bill 441 requires that when a water management district considers selling conservation lands, the governing board publish the following information at least 30 days before meeting:

• The district-owned parcels of land for sale or proposed for exchange
• The privately owned parcels proposed for exchange
• The portions of those parcels that will be preserved in a permanent conservation easement
• A statement from the district explaining why those lands are no longer needed for conservation purposes

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 445 — Dangerous Crimes

House Bill 445 adds certain offenses dealing with child exploitation and certain kinds of computer porn to the list of dangerous crimes under Florida law.

This means that someone arrested for one of these offenses can’t be given nonmonetary pretrial release at a first appearance hearing.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 488 — Transportation

Senate Bill 488 amends various provisions related to topics like motor vehicle registration, licensing and tax-related requirements. These new rules include the following:

• Creates penalties for counterfeiting or illegally altering fuel tax licenses and the related permits
• Revises penalties and interest calculations for delinquent tax payments
• Provides penalties for specific offenses related to the misuse of motor fuel-tax related documents and establishes detailed requirements for recordkeeping by motor carriers
• Increases the amount of estimated damage resulting from a crash that is required to be reported to law enforcement from $500 to $2,000

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

SB 490 — Public Records (FLHSMV)

Senate Bill 490 expands a public records exemption for email addresses collected by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

This expansion includes email addresses that are used to provide customers with general notifications.

DATE OF EFFECT: Oct. 1

HB 569 — Forensic Client Services

House Bill 569 allows the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to house non-forensic clients and forensic clients within the same wards in secure APD facilities.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 572 — Public Ethics

Senate Bill 572 revises the term “relative” in the Code of Ethics for Public Officers and Employees to include foster parents and foster children.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

SB 628 — Trump Highway

Senate Bill 628 renames over a dozen roadways across the state.

The bill also designates the Tallahassee airport at 3300 Capital Circle SW as the “Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport.”

Furthermore, SB 628 designates 124 miles of SR-80 stretching from SR-A1A in Palm Beach County to US-41 in Lee County as the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 679 — Trademark Registration

House Bill 679 mandate that the Florida Department of State use the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s schedule of classes of goods and services as the state’s classification for trademark purposes, rather than the general classes for trademarks for goods and services set in statute.

Furthermore, the bill requires that agency to set up a website where applicants can apply for a trademark or renew a trademark and provides that the website must safeguard the applicant’s information to ensure data integrity.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 686 — Agricultural Enclaves

Senate Bill 686 deals with agricultural enclaves: pockets of agricultural land that are mainly surrounded by development.

Under this bill, enclave owners may submit development plans for single-family housing.

Local governments won’t be allowed to enact regulation for one of these enclaves that is more burdensome than for other types of applications for comparable uses, either.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1 (Provisions expire Jan. 1, 2028)

HB 697 — Drug Prices

House Bill 697 makes it unlawful for a PBM to force a pharmacy to take a loss when dispensing a drug or to reimburse a nonaffiliated pharmacy less than an affiliated pharmacy.

Furthermore, the law requires PBMs to allow in-network pharmacies to submit consolidated appeals comprised of multiple adjudicated claims featuring identical drugs, day supplies, and dates of service.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 844 — Sickle Cell Disease

Senate Bill 844 requires that the standard continuing education course on prescribing controlled substances include information regarding the treatment of pain for patients with sickle cell disease.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 919 — Donald Trump Airport

House Bill 919 preempts to the state the ability to name major commercial service airports.

More specifically, the law renames the Palm Beach International Airport as the “President Donald J. Trump International Airport.”

All other major airports, including the Orlando International Airport, may keep their current names for now.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: New Florida law could let lawmakers rename Orlando airport]

HB 991 — Elections

House Bill 991 makes several revisions to the Florida Election Code, including:

• Driver’s License: Requires the state to include a person’s legal status on any new, replacement or renewal driver’s licenses and ID cards
• Voter Oath: Voter registration applicants must affirm that they are U.S. citizens and may face criminal penalties for perjury if that is not the case
• Forms of ID: Debit/credit cards, student IDs, retirement center IDs, neighborhood association IDs, and public assistance IDs are no longer acceptable forms of identification for voters
• Campaign Contributions: Political parties and candidates may not willfully accept a contribution from a foreign national in connection with any election held in the state.
• Federal Courts: Requires the state to provide voter registration lists to federal courts to aid in their jury selection process, and requires those courts to provide the state with information about voters being ineligible due to convictions, death, or being a non-U.S. citizen
• Statute of Limitations: Creates a five-year statute of limitations for the prosecution of a felony under the Election Code
• New Penalties: Provides new fines and penalties for those who violate the law of involvement of foreign nationals in state elections
• Early Voting: Election supervisors must use local time when uploading the results of all early voting and vote-by-mail ballots by 7 p.m. the day before the election

DATE OF EFFECT: Jan. 1, 2027

HB 1093 — Vertiports

House Bill 1093 includes vertiports and charging systems as qualifying projects for funding under public-private partnerships between state and private entities.

In addition, the law allows the FDOT to fund all of the project costs of a public vertiport if federal funds aren’t available.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1103 — Vessel Restrictions (I)

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to administer provisions of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict and long-term anchoring permits.

Furthermore, the law lets cities and counties regulate vessel speed and operation within 300 feet of a confluence of water bodies presenting a blind corner (up to 1,000 feet) if the extended area is necessary to ensure safe navigation and visibility for approaching vessels.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1113 — Vessel Restrictions (II)

House Bill 1103 allows local governments to authorize a code enforcement officer to administer the provision of law concerning vessels at risk of becoming derelict on state waters.

This can be done by way of local ordinances.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

SB 1134 — DEI Policy Ban

Senate Bill 1134 prohibits local governments from funding, promoting, or enacting any DEI policies, initiatives, and programs.

DATE OF EFFECT: Jan. 1, 2027

HB 1137 — Alcoholic Beverage Taxes

House Bill 1137 allows alcoholic beverage distributors to take a deduction from alcoholic beverage excise taxes for standard product losses, including breakage, spoilage, evaporation, and expiration.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 21

HB 1153 — Juvenile Justice

House Bill 1153 includes “juvenile detention officers” and “juvenile probation officers” in multiple state statutes related to correctional officers.

This allows such positions to be eligible for a Medal of Heroism or Valor, as well as subjects a person to first-degree aggravated manslaughter if he/she causes such an officer to die through culpable negligence.

DATE OF EFFECT: March 30

HB 1159 — Sexual Offenses

House Bill 1159 sets up harsher penalties for various sexual offenses. These changes include:

• CSAM: Replacing the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in Florida statutes
• Harsher Penalties: Increases penalties for use of a child in a sexual performance; possession and transmission of child porn; creation of generated child porn; possession of a child-like doll; and certain sex acts involving animals
• Mandatory Sentencing: Adults must receive a mandatory minimum sentence for certain offenses related to using children in sexual performances and transmitting child porn
• Repeat Offenders: Raises mandatory minimum sentences for certain repeat sex offenders
• Life Felony: Creates a life felony for aggravated use of a child under 12 years old in a sexual performance
• Generated Child Porn: Creates a second-degree felony for transmitting generated child pornography
• No Pets: Prohibits anyone convicted of certain sex offenses involving animals from owning or working with animals for at least five years

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1217 — Greenhouse Gases

House Bill 1217 prohibits the state and local governments from adopting or enforcing net-zero greenhouse gas emissions policies, including carbon taxes.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1219 — Spoil Island

House Bill 1219 designates a mangrove island within Jupiter Sound as the “Andrew ‘Red’ Harris Spoil Island.”

The island will be named for Andrew “Red” Harris, a native of Jupiter who started his own insurance brokerage agency in 2011 and was killed in a boating accident roughly three years later.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1417 — Department of Environmental Protection

House Bill 1417 repeals the Environmental Regulation Commission, which is expected to streamline rulemaking for environmental protection.

This law also requires erosion and sediment control plans for the construction of solar facilities to include stormwater best management practices.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1443 — Parkinson’s Disease Registry

House Bill 1443 requires the Florida Institute for Parkinson’s Disease at USF to set up a statewide Parkinson’s disease registry.

Under this legislation, physicians who diagnose a patient with Parkinson’s disease must report nationally recognized performance measures to the registry beginning on Jan. 1, 2027.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

[BELOW: Here’s what to know about Florida’s ‘license plate’ law]

HB 1445 — Public Records (Parkinson’s Disease Registry)

House Bill 1445 creates a public record exemption for patient-identifying information held in the Parkinson’s disease registry set up by HB 1443.

The exemption will be repealed on Oct. 2, 2031, unless reenacted by lawmakers.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1471 — Terrorist Organizations

House Bill 1471 makes several changes to state law regarding terrorist organizations. Many of those revisions are as follows:

• Terrorist Designations: Creates a process by which the state may designate groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organization if certain conditions are met
• Religious Laws: Courts and tribunals are prohibited from enforcing religious or foreign laws against someone if such application would violate his/her constitutional rights
• Private Schools: Prohibits private schools participating in state scholarship programs from being owned or funded by terrorist groups, terrorist supporters, or criminal gangs
• State Universities: Prevents institutions in the Florida College System from using state funds to support programs that advocate for terrorist organizations
• Visa Students: Public colleges must report information about the current status of students who are attending on a visa if they promote terrorist organizations
• Student Expulsions: If a student promotes a terrorist organization while enrolled at a public university, the student must be immediately expelled and assessed an out-of-state fee

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 1473 — Public Records (Terrorism)

House Bill 1473 creates a public record exemption tied to HB 1471 for certain information that would require Florida’s Chief of Domestic Security to provide to the governor and cabinet in certain situations.

DATE OF EFFECT: July 1

HB 4005 — Naples Airport Authority

House Bill 4005 revises the method of selection for the Naples Airport Authority board from a body appointed by the city to one elected by the residents of Collier County.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 6

HB 4019 — Lake County

House Bill 4019 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in a Lake County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

HB 4041 — Indian River County

House Bill 4041 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in an Indian River County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

HB 4059 — Polk County

House Bill 4059 limits the compensation of healthcare providers for medical services to inmates housed in a Polk County detention center to 110% of the Medicare allowable rate if the provider doesn’t have a contract with the county.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 14

SB 7006 — Public Records (Florida PSC)

Senate Bill 7006 continues a public records exemption for for portions of hearings conducted by the Florida Public Service Commission.

More specifically, this exemption extends to proprietary confidential business information that is already exempt under state law.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

HB 7011 — Public Records (Aquaculture)

House Bill 7011 continues a public records exemption for certain aquaculture records held by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

That exemption refers to the following:

• Shellfish receiving and production records generated by licensed shellfish processing facilities
• Audit records and supporting documentation required for submerged land leases
• Aquaculture production records and receipts generated by certified aquaculture facilities

DATE OF EFFECT: March 27

SB 7016 — Public Records (Loan Programs)

Senate Bill 7016 continues a public records exemption for certain details held by an economic development agency pursuant to the administration of a state/federally funded small business loan program.

More specifically, the exemption protects tax returns, financial information and credit information.

DATE OF EFFECT: April 1

Edwards contributed 30 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks and a loud voice of encouragement for his teammates. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch had already been reassured by Edwards' influence as the four-time All-Star left the court following a lackluster performance in Game 1.

“He was calm and gave confidence to the guys,” Finch said, reflecting on the series opener after practice on Wednesday. “When we were down early and big, he was really into them with the right messages, to stay calm but to do the things that were asked to be done — put a little bit more work in, be a little smarter with the fouling, all that kind of stuff. So I thought that was really key.”

Edwards was instrumental in urging Rudy Gobert on to a dominant defensive effort against Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. He has also demonstrated his leadership by playing through the right knee pain that sidelined him for 11 of the last 13 regular-season games.

“It definitely uplifts me. I feel like I can’t let him down. If he’s out there battling, then there’s no excuse why I can’t give my best and make the extra effort plays and just go out there and compete at the highest level,” teammate Julius Randle said.

For the Timberwolves to beat the team that has recently become their biggest rival three more times and reach the second round, they will need a steady supply of Edwards' energy on both ends of the court, on the bench and in the locker room.

The Nuggets are sure to bring their own moxie on the road to Minnesota for Game 3 between these well-matched opponents on Thursday. The other Game 3s on Thursday are New York at Atlanta and Cleveland at Toronto.

Over the last four years, including the regular season and playoffs, the Timberwolves and Nuggets have each won 15 of their last 30 meetings.

“Who doesn’t love a big game? Who doesn’t want to wake up for a game with a lot of excitement, a lot of back and forth in it?” Timberwolves sixth man Naz Reid said.

New York Knicks at Atlanta Hawks

When/Where to watch: Game 3, 7 p.m. EDT (Prime Video)

Series: Tied 1-1.

Betting line: Knicks by 1 1/2.

What to know: The Knicks were outscored 28-15 by the upstart Hawks in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden in Game 2, a one-point loss to stew on as they seek to regain home-court advantage in the series. Even in the Game 1 win, the Knicks saw a 19-point lead with a little more than three minutes left shrink to eight in the closing seconds. “We've got to play better with the lead,” point guard Jalen Brunson said. The Hawks have plenty of reason for optimism as they come home, considering they split the first two games with little beyond the clutch play of veteran C.J. McCollum to relish from their performance.

Cleveland Cavaliers at Toronto Raptors

When/Where to watch: Game 3, 8 p.m. EDT (Prime Video)

Series: Cavaliers lead 2-0.

Betting line: Cavaliers by 3 1/2.

What to Know: The Cavs are seeking a 3-0 lead in a first-round series for the second straight year. If they get there, they would set an NBA postseason opponent record with a 13th straight playoff win over the Raptors. Donovan Mitchell has scored at least 30 points in six of his last seven playoff games, averaging 33.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists during that span. Cleveland is 21-7 when its lineup includes James Harden, who became the second player in franchise history with at least 28 points and five steals in the 115-105 win in Game 2 on Monday. Toronto point guard Immanuel Quickley has missed the first two games with a left hamstring strain and remains questionable. Raptors All-Star Brandon Ingram is aiming to bounce back after going 3 of 15 from the field and only scoring seven points in Game 2. “He’s our go-guy guy. We trust him and believe in him. We know he’s going to get shots to drop,” Scottie Barnes said.

Denver Nuggets at Minnesota Timberwolves

When/Where to watch: Game 3, 9:30 p.m. EDT (Prime Video)

Series: Tied 1-1.

Betting line: Nuggets by 2 1/2.

What to know: With so much recent drama between these division rivals — who are facing off in the postseason for the third time in four years — and plenty of chippy play on the court over the first two games, this series is just getting started. After erasing a 19-point deficit early in the second quarter to win 119-114 in Game 2, Minnesota took some momentum home from the Mile High City. Edwards recorded his sixth 30-point game against Denver in 14 playoff meetings, and guard Donte DiVincenzo was all over the court with a game-high plus-20 rating and 16 points. He's 10 for 16 from 3-point range in the series. The Nuggets claimed to be unbothered by the postgame barb from Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels, who said Minnesota's best offensive strategy was to continue to directly attack the Nuggets because they're “all bad defenders.”

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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York and AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report.

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

The dramatic events unfolded at Monday’s running of the iconic race. As scores of runners passed Haridasse, his fellow competitors Robson De Oliveira of Brazil and Aaron Beggs of Britain stopped, helped him up and carried him on their shoulders to end of the race.

Pete Grasso, who was watching the race, caught the moment on video when the pair picked up Haridasse.

“The coolest part about this moment was that these two guys were less than a tenth of a mile away, in the middle of a really, really fast race, and still stopped to help a fellow runner who needed some help. That’s not easy to do,” Grasso said in an email. “Seeing them put everything aside in that moment just to get another runner across the line was incredible. And hearing the crowd respond, cheering for them, supporting them, truly gave me chills.”

The North Down Athletic Club in Northern Ireland, where Beggs is a member, hailed his effort.

“We are immensely proud of Aaron’s sporting achievements, along with his incredible actions shown at the Boston Marathon, having already endured 26 miles at that point,” the club said in an email. “Aaron is an honest gentleman, and we are delighted to have him as a member of North Down Athletic Club.”

A similar scene played out when runner Lan Nguyen of Washington, D.C., struggled toward the finish. Fellow racers Jessica Kier of Snohomish, Washington, Meredith Rosenberg of Boston and William Bara-Jimenez of Bethesda, Maryland, helped her to the finish — at one point carrying her part of the way. Nguyen then scooted across the finish line.

Rosenberg, who was on pace for a personal best, said she spotted Nguyen about mile 25 of the race, adding that she “clearly could not walk. There were medics that were trying to get her into a wheelchair.” But she and the other runners decided to carry Nguyen the rest of the way, passing cheering volunteers as they reached the end of the race. As Nguyen was placed in a wheelchair after finishing, all four of the helpers hugged.

“I have run 12 marathons. Every finish line is special, but this was just even better to be able to help her get across the finish line and just to know that I was part of that,” Rosenberg said. “That’s really what running in the community is about. And it was just incredible. When we put her down, we were hyping up the crowd. People were cheering.”

Jack Fleming, the president and CEO of the Boston Athletic Association, which organized the race, said the actions of these runners is typical of the kindness marathon runners exhibit around the world. Sometimes, it's just checking on a struggling runner, bonding with strangers for part of the race or, in this case, getting fellow competitors to the finish.

“No marathon is easy. There’s no fooling this distance,” Fleming said. “We do see marathoners, athletes taking care of each other around the world, not just at the Boston Marathon. It’s awesome when we do see it at Boston firsthand and up close. But we know that’s a common denominator in our sport.”

Leo’s visit to the prison in the Central African port city of Bata followed in the tradition of Pope Francis, who frequently met with inmates on his foreign visits to give them a message of hope.

But Leo’s stop, at the end of his four-nation African tour, took on added significance after it emerged that Equatorial Guinea was one of several African nations that have been paid millions of dollars in controversial deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

While none of those migrants are being held at Bata, the visit put the spotlight on Equatorial Guinea’s overall human rights record and its judiciary, which rights campaigners have criticized for its lack of independence, arbitrary detentions and other abuses.

“You are not alone. Your families love you and are waiting for you. Many people outside these walls are praying for you,” Leo told the inmates in Spanish. “If any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the Church will stand by your side.”

The inmates, all dressed in new neon orange and beige uniforms, had gathered in a central courtyard of the prison, which appeared to have been recently painted salmon pink. As soon as he started speaking, a huge rainstorm opened, drenching the inmates.

In his remarks, Leo also reminded authorities that justice is meant to protect society, but that incarceration is not meant to be punishment alone.

“To be effective, it must always promote the dignity and potential of every person,” he said. “True justice seeks not so much to punish as to help rebuild the lives of victims, offenders and communities wounded by evil.”

After Leo left, the drenched inmates broke into a raucous dance party in the courtyard as the rain continued to pour, shouting “Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!” (Freedom, freedom, freedom).

'Greater room for freedom'

Leo began the day with Mass in Mongomo, an eastern city on the border with Gabon that has experienced major development since Equatorial Guinea’s oil boom in the 1990s.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism in his four-decade rule, comes from Mongomo and the city has benefited from government investment and infrastructure, even though no official institutions are located here.

While more than half of Equatorial Guinea’s population lives in poverty, Mongomo boasts opulent buildings, curated gardens behind gilt-tipped gates, an 18-hole golf course and is the starting point of the lone highway in the country, linking the city to Bata on the west coast.

Obiang and his wife were on hand for Leo’s Mass, as was their son, Teodoro “Teddy” Nguema Obiang, the country’s vice president who was convicted of embezzling millions of euros by a French court, which handed him a three-year suspended sentence, a 30 million euro ($35.2 million) fine and ordered the seizure of his luxury homes and cars in France worth tens of millions of euros. The country has protested the seizures at the International Court of Justice.

Last year, the United States gave the younger Obiang a temporary waiver on U.S. corruption sanctions so he could travel to a U.N. gathering and visit other American cities. Obiang also met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.

The Vatican said an estimated 100,000 people attended the Mass, most standing in the grand entryway to Mongomo’s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The monumental church was consecrated in 2011 and is modeled on St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

In his homily, Leo urged all citizens to work together to build a society “capable of engendering a new sense of justice,” where there is “greater room for freedom” and where “the dignity of the human person always may be safeguarded.”

He urged everyone, according to their roles, to work to “serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”

“My thoughts go to the poorest, to families experiencing difficulty and to prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions,” he said.

‘Troubling disregard for human life’

Equatorial Guinea’s prisons and justice system have been repeatedly faulted by the United Nations and condemned by human rights groups and the U.S. State Department.

In its 2023 report on the country, the U.S. listed a host of abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful killings and arrests, political detentions, torture, life-threatening prison conditions and “serious problems” with the judiciary’s independence.

Speaking to journalists at the Bata prison, Equatorial Guinea Justice Minister Reginaldo Biyogo Ndong denied the rights abuses and said the country’s prison and justice systems respect international human rights laws. He said the country's justice system features an “enviable” infrastructure and that it's “ready to guarantee human rights, fundamental rights.”

On the eve of his prison visit, 70 human rights organizations published an open letter to Leo, urging him to speak out especially about the U.S. deportation of migrants here and encourage African nations to not be complicit.

“These practices circumvent humanitarian protections, expose refugees to detention and coercion, and subject individuals to refoulement, in direct contravention of international law,” they wrote.

In the run-up to Leo’s arrival, the government released nearly 100 people who had been arrested in a 2022 crackdown on street violence, according to a local lawyer, who requested anonymity given the country’s human rights record.

The lawyer termed the releases one “positive outcome” of the visit but also noted that the government still hasn’t taken action on releasing jailed activists and politicians.

EG Justice, a rights group which has repeatedly denounced the detention of political prisoners in Equatorial Guinea, urged Leo to use his moral authority to speak out about abuses and the detention of activists and politicians especially.

“There are individuals — prisoners of conscience, and human rights activists — in detention whose cases raise serious humanitarian and due process concerns,” said Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based activist who runs the EG Justice group.

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Monika Pronczuk contributed to this report from Malabo.

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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.

State-funded preschool enrollment in the U.S. rose to 1.8 million kids, reaching 37% of 4-year-olds and about 10% of 3-year-olds, according to an annual report published Wednesday by the National Institute of Early Education Research. In total, states added 44,000 students to their preschool enrollment. But the report's authors noted that the gains were smaller than the year prior and said preschool access remains wildly uneven from state to state. Some states even lost ground.

“If providing high-quality preschool education to all 3- and 4-year-olds were a race,” the authors wrote, “some states are nearing the finish line, others have stumbled and fallen behind, and a few have yet to leave the starting line.”

Free preschool has expanded in California

More than half the nation's public preschool enrollment gain — some 25,000 students — came in California, which this year made every 4-year-old eligible for its “ transitional kindergarten ” program, or “TK.” The rapid rollout has had its tradeoffs. The national institute outlines 10 quality benchmarks for preschools, related to teacher training, class size and curriculum. California met just two of them last school year. And private preschool owners say the rush of 4-year-olds joining public schools threatens to cripple their businesses.

“Universal TK ... is a real win, but it’s also just the start of the work and not the end of it,” said Jessica Sawko of Children Now, which advocates on early childhood issues in California. She noted that the state will hit two more quality benchmarks in next year's report, by lowering its student-teacher ratio to 10-to-1 and by requiring lead teachers to have early education training.

The report illustrates some of the difficult tradeoffs states face when they scale up programs quickly or have limited funding. Hawaii is one of six states that meet all the institute's benchmarks. Its state preschool program also only serves 10% of 4-year-olds.

Evidence is mounting that the impact of high-quality preschool can follow children into adulthood, making them better prepared for kindergarten, more likely to graduate high school and more likely to find work. And it is increasingly seen as essential for success in kindergarten and beyond. Educators now also expect youngsters to start their first year of school already equipped to navigate kindergarten.

“We have a lot of kids who still do not fulfill their potential,” said Steven Barnett, founder and director of the early education institute. “We have evidence — very strong evidence — that preschool programs substantially improved the foundation for later success.”

Some states also recognize that free prekindergarten can make a difference for the wider economy, allowing parents to return to work at a time when private child care is becoming less affordable.

Preschool means confident kindergartners

Heather Sufuentes witnessed the impact of preschool when she was principal of Parkview Elementary in Chico, California, as it began its transitional kindergarten program. She said students who attended the program, which has a play-based curriculum and runs the length of a workday, arrived with more confidence and often volunteered to be class leaders.

“They're well prepared to transition into that big elementary school setting,” said Sufuentes, now director of elementary education for Chico Unified School District. Chico has more than doubled the number of TK seats it offers since 2022.

Marisol Márquez, a secretary who works for the state, sends her daughter to transitional kindergarten at 1st Street Elementary in Los Angeles. She had been sending her for free to a learning center underwritten by COVID-19 relief funding. But she would have had to start paying tuition this year, and she's not sure how she and her husband, a UPS driver, would have made it work. She was elated to hear 1st Street Elementary was offering free transitional kindergarten.

Educators there quickly discovered her daughter was bright and began sending her to kindergarten for math and reading lessons.

“If it hadn’t been for this program, we would have never found that out," Márquez said.

In some states, preschool is expensive. In others, it's free

Despite the raised expectations for 5-year-olds, no state mandates that children attend preschool, and only some cities and states make it accessible to every 4-year-old. Preschool offerings differ vastly. A family living in Wyoming, which has no state-funded preschool, could move to Colorado, where every parent can send their 4-year-old to part-time preschool without paying a dime in tuition. In the District of Columbia, even affluent families have access to two full years of prekindergarten, while neighboring Virginia has a far less robust program.

The uneven access across states can exacerbate disparities. Wealthier families can often afford private preschool tuition, regardless of what their state offers. In 2024, private child care centers, which often use preschool curriculum, averaged annual tuition of more than $12,000 for 4-year-olds, according to Child Care Aware of America.

For families that can't afford preschool tuition, the options can be limited. State-funded preschool programs often have waitlists.

If a family's earnings are low enough, they can qualify for programs like Head Start, which provides early education for the neediest Americans. But the number of children in Head Start is falling, in part due to staff shortages. Lower-income families may also qualify for state or federal child care subsidies that can help with private preschool, but those have growing waitlists, too.

Trump says states should pay

Federal support for expanding early education funding is sparse and shrinking. Recently, President Donald Trump said the federal government couldn’t afford to support child care while it was waging a war with Iran.

“We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care,” Trump said. States, he added, “should pay for it. ... They’ll have to raise their taxes.”

The map of states that offer the highest-quality public preschool programs would surprise some partisans. Republican-led states have pioneered universal prekindergarten, with Oklahoma introducing it in the late 1990s. Alabama and West Virginia also have preschool-for-all programs that receive top marks. Wealthier, Democratic-led states have lagged behind, even as many blue-leaning cities have moved ahead with their own initiatives. New York state lost enrollment last school year, even as New York City, which already has universal prekindergarten, is charging ahead with a plan to make all child care free for younger children.

And Georgia, another state with Republican leadership, is the first to have a universal preschool program that meets all quality benchmarks set by the National Institute of Early Education Research.

Rebecca Ellis's son John Patrick, 5, attends the private Capitol Hill Child Enrichment Center in Atlanta free of charge, thanks to the state's preschool-for-all program. She said it saved her family a huge amount of money, and she is impressed by how much her son has grown socially and emotionally.

“They focus so much on just helping kids learn how to calm down, to make friends, to regulate their feelings, to solve problems,” Ellis said.

John Patrick and her older son, who attended the same preschool, have even given their parents advice. When they become agitated, the children urge them to take deep breaths.

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

Mother elephant Nhi Linh gave birth to Linh Mai on Feb. 2 after nearly two years of pregnancy.

Robbie Clark, the zoo's elephant manager, said, “Linh Mai is a hoot, she's a fantastic little elephant to get to know.”

“She's very curious,” Clark added. “She's learning how to be quite playful with the enrichment and the environment that she's living in, and she's confident.”

The Asian elephants at the National Zoo live in an expansive area called Elephant Trails, which contains outdoor walkways and pools. Fans who can't visit Washington can check out Linh Mai on the zoo's elephant cam.

League officials requested the meeting, which took place last Friday in Washington. The FCC recently sought public comments on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services. As of Wednesday, nearly 8,700 comments have been logged.

The NFL's letter about the meeting and its PowerPoint presentation to the FCC were posted to the FCC's public comment section on sports broadcasting on Wednesday.

The NFL is not alone in creating packages for streamers. Its standing as the most popular league and the revenue it receives from media rights, however, put it front and center in a changing landscape.

The NFL reiterated the benefits of its distribution strategy, including the fact that more than 87% of all games last season were on broadcast television. All games in a team’s home market air on a broadcast network.

“This distribution model is good for our fans, for local television broadcasters, for our 32 clubs in small and large markets alike, and for the competitiveness of the game itself. The success of our fan- and broadcast-friendly strategy is evident as the 2025 season was the most viewed since 1989 and one of the most competitive in League history,” Brendon Plack, the NFL's senior vice president of public policy and government affairs, wrote in a filing recapping the meeting.

Plack was among the officials who represented the NFL at the meeting, a group that also included Hans Schroeder, the executive vice president of media distribution.

The FCC officials included Greg Watson, chief of staff for Chairman Brendan Carr. Carr had used an illustration of a fan watching a Green Bay Packers game when he announced the public comment period on Feb. 25.

Games aired last season on CBS, NBC/Peacock, ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, Fox, NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube TV.

The league is expected to move at least three more games to streaming as part of a five-game package next season. That would include games on Thanksgiving Eve, a second on Black Friday and Christmas Eve. The Week 1 game between San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams in Australia on Sept. 10 would also be offered via streaming. The Week 1 games from Brazil the past two seasons were also streamed.

A five-game package could bring the league at least $250 million.

The league averages nearly $11 billion in revenue per season from its media deals. That could increase since the sale of Paramount to Skydance Media allows the league to renegotiate its deal with CBS.

Besides the FCC scrutiny, the Justice Department is investigating the NFL for potential anticompetitive practices.

Congress and other federal agencies have also discussed changes to the Sports Broadcasting Act. Passed by Congress in 1961, it grants professional sports leagues limited antitrust immunity, allowing them to pool their media rights and negotiate as a single entity while protecting them from antitrust lawsuits.

The act applies only to broadcast networks. Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming. There has been bipartisan sentiment in favor of updating the law.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

With a runner on third in the first inning of the Mariners' 5-4 victory over the Athletics, Carlos Cortes belted a line drive at the Seattle right-hander and the ball somehow lodged in Gilbert's jersey.

Gilbert grabbed at his stomach and turned to locate the ball as Cortes made his way down the first-base line, only to find he in fact caught it — well, kind of — in his shirt.

“It happened so quick, I wasn’t quite sure what happened,' Gilbert said. "And then, I mean, I hurt a little bit after that. So, had to take a second.”

Cortes was credited with a single as the play was considered dead, but Nick Kurtz remained at third base. Shea Langeliers advanced to second base.

Gilbert was aware of the rule that awarded Cortes first base, yet still considered himself lucky.

“At first, I thought I was pretty fortunate that it was a catch,” Gilbert said. "But, I guess it wasn’t a catch. But at the same time, if they hit it like 110 off the bat, I don’t really feel like I deserve an out there.”

Gilbert was briefly checked out by Mariners head athletic trainer Kyle Torgerson, but he remained in the game and made it through the inning. After the game, in which Gilbert gave up three runs in four innings, he revealed he had a bruise on his stomach, as well as a cut on his left hand.

Otherwise, Gilbert said he was fine, much to the relief of teammates like first baseman Josh Naylor, who hit a walk-off single on Wednesday.

“Anything hit back to the pitcher with that exit velocity’s kind of scary,” Naylor said. "You never know what’s going to happen. So, I’m glad he’s okay.”

Manager Dan Wilson commended Gilbert for bouncing back, though he did allow two earned runs on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Soderstrom and an RBI single by Jeff McNeil in the first inning. Gilbert joked postgame he no interest in exiting the game since the incident happened so early in it.

“That was crazy," Gilbert said. "That was a freak thing, to end up through the jersey, too.”

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

Authorities say the crash happened Monday on I-75 in Manatee County when a Ford Mustang driver was allegedly weaving through traffic and struck an SUV. The impact sent the SUV into the path of a semi-truck, causing it to overturn.

The truck driver, identified by family as 34-year-old Stavan Facey, was killed in the crash. Investigators say the Mustang driver initially stopped but then fled the scene.

[WATCH: Pro ballplayer, Rockledge High alum arrested in fatal hit-and-run crash]

Florida Highway Patrol troopers later arrested 18-year-old Jonathan Morales, who they say was behind the wheel of the Mustang. Morales, described by authorities as a former minor league player in the Atlanta Braves organization, now faces charges including vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.

Investigators say he told troopers he did not call police because he was on his way to practice and scared after the crash. His car was later found on Braves property.

For Facey’s family, the loss has been devastating.

“Oh God, I don’t understand why,” his mother, Judy Thomas, said through tears.

She recalled seeing her son less than an hour before the crash. “He hugged me and said, ‘Mama, I will see you tomorrow.’”

Thomas said she told her son to “go with God” before he left for work — words that now haunt her.

“But this time I don’t think God was there,” she said, breaking down.

[WATCH: Trooper Steve explains the difference between reckless, careless driving]

While speaking with reporters, Thomas received a call from the medical examiner detailing the extent of her son’s injuries.

“They were telling me his heart and lungs got punched in and his feet were broken … my son,” she said.

Facey’s significant other, Kimberly Johnson, described him as a devoted father of four who would do anything for his family.

“He would literally give you the shirt off his back,” Johnson said. “He is always there for his family and his kids.”

Now, she worries about how their children — including their 2-year-old — will cope without him.

“That was her best friend,” Johnson said, speaking to their young child. “You love Daddy, right?”

Fighting back tears, she added, “I don’t know how I will do it without him.”

In court, a judge set Morales’ bond at $100,000 for each count. As of Wednesday, the jail website listed him as released. He has pleaded not guilty, however in court he was told he will not be able to drive or leave the state once he was released.

Facey’s loved ones say they are holding onto memories as they navigate their grief — and hoping the justice system delivers accountability.

“We just want justice for him,” Johnson said.

The statement made as part of 96-page filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. provided a glimpse at the arguments that Anthropic's lawyers intend to make as part of a lawsuit filed last month in the fallout of a contract dispute over how AI technology can be used in fully autonomous weapons and potential surveillance of Americans.

San Francisco-based Anthropic contends the Pentagon is illegally retaliating against it by stigmatizing it with a designation meant to protect against sabotage of national security systems by foreign adversaries.

Earlier this month, the appeals court rejected Anthropic’s request for an order that would have blocked the Pentagon's actions while the panel is still collecting evidence about the case.

Anthropic's new filing is meant to directly address some of the court's questions ahead of oral arguments scheduled for May 19. The Trump administration will have an opportunity to file its response before that hearing.

Anthropic's temporary setback in the Washington case came after it already had prevailed in a separate case focused on the same issues in San Francisco federal court. That decision prompted the Trump administration to remove the stigmatizing labels from Anthropic, according court filings.

But the lack of a similar order in the parallel case in Washington continues to cast a cloud over Anthropic, whose AI tools have turned it into a rising tech star along with rival OpenAI. After the Pentagon canceled a $200 million contract with Anthropic in the wake of their disagreement, OpenAI struck a deal to provide its technology to the U.S. military.

City commissioners on Wednesday held a first reading of an ordinance that would change the city’s land development code to allow single-family homes on Orange County Public Schools property.

According to the city, the change is tied to a partnership between OCPS and Habitat for Humanity to build homes specifically for school employees.

The property is located at 901 W. Webster Ave., a former Orange Technical College site now owned by the school district.

Right now, the property is zoned for public and quasi-public uses, which does not allow traditional residential development. The proposed change would add single-family homes as a permitted use, clearing the way for the project to move forward.

City officials said their role in the project is limited, but the ordinance would help move the effort closer to permitting and approvals.

Documents included in the agenda packet show the plan would involve a small portion of the property, with a handful of single-family homes proposed.

The project comes as housing costs across Central Florida continue to rise, making it more difficult for teachers and school staff to live in communities like Winter Park.

News 6 reached out to Orange County Public Schools for more details on how the program would work and who would qualify. The district said it is working to respond.

That’s exactly what people say was happening to them outside a post office on Southwest 1st Avenue in Ocala.

The men videoing the people seem to be unbothered, but some people who are being filmed say its uncomfortable and they don’t want any part in it.

In a reverse course, Dylan Atherton began videoing the masked men when she encountered them last week at the post office. She was in the car when she began filming them, and that’s when she says one of the men got up close to her vehicle.

“He pulled out his phone and he had his little tripod and he kept walking up to my car and got super, super close,” explained Atherton.

She shared that video on social media where several other people confirmed they had also seen the men, but not just in Ocala.

“Someone told me they were at the post office in Belleview and even went as far as Dunnellon,” said Atherton.

News 6’s Amy Russo called the Ocala Police Department to see what is going on. They told her the men are first amendment auditors, and what they’re doing is legal.

A first amendment auditor is someone who films in public to test and document whether public officials respect their constitutional right to record.

The recommendation News 6 got from police is if it makes you feel uncomfortable, walk away.

We asked Atherton how she feels about that.

“They could encounter the wrong person and things could escalate,” said Atherton. “You never know what someone is going to do with that footage unfortunately in the world we live in toady. It’s a weird world.”

When News 6 showed other people outside the post office the video of the masked men filming people there were many responses.

“That’s crazy.” “What are they doing?” “That’s very weird, maybe without masks it would be a little less weird.”

If you encounter an auditor, try to stay calm and do not attempt to take their recording device. If they do become threatening in any way, call police.

Skies will feature a mix of clouds, and a few light coastal showers or sprinkles are possible along the Treasure Coast into the early evening. Some models also suggest a brief, isolated coastal shower could develop overnight, but most inland areas will stay dry. Overnight lows will fall to around 61 degrees.

High temperatures Wednesday in Orlando topped out at 81 degrees, slightly cooler than the normal high of 85.

Sensitive fire weather conditions remain in place, even though Red Flag Warning criteria were not met Wednesday. Relative humidity values stayed above the critical 35 percent threshold, but the combination of dry fuels and lingering breezes can still lead to fire concerns.

Winds begin to back off by Thursday and Friday, along with pretty comfortable conditions overall. High temperatures will reach around 81 degrees Thursday, with east-southeast winds at 10 to 15 mph. Expect a few quick, passing showers at times, but overall rain chances remain low.

By Friday and especially into the weekend, a warming trend takes hold. Inland areas will reach the upper 80s, with coastal communities in the low to mid 80s thanks to the sea breeze. Rain chances stay limited at first, but isolated showers and a few lightning storms will return this weekend, mainly driven by sea breeze interactions. Sunday currently looks like the better chance for a few scattered storms, although most areas will still remain dry.

Even with the return of a little moisture, dry conditions leading up to the weekend mean any lightning could spark brush fires, so that remains something to watch.

For boaters, conditions are gradually improving. Winds continue to ease through Friday, with seas subsiding from around 3 to 4 feet down to 1 to 2 feet by the end of the weekend. That sets up much more favorable boating conditions heading into Saturday and Sunday.

Looking ahead, the warming trend continues into early next week. Highs climb into the low 90s inland by Tuesday and Wednesday, with the coast also warming into the upper 80s as the sea breeze becomes a bit more delayed each day.

In a news conference held on Wednesday, Orange County Sheriff John Mina announced that Legacy Imigra claimed to help undocumented clients obtain lawful status in the United States, but instead, was running a criminal enterprise built on manipulation, fraud, and extortion.

“They basically got rich through a business model built on manipulation, fraud, lies, and extortion,” Mina said. “And the majority of their clients, most of them whom are Brazilian nationals, got no closer to realizing their dreams of becoming Americans.”

Vagner De Almeida, the founder, his wife, Juliana Colucci, and their associates, Lucas Felope Trindade Silva and Ronaldo Decampos, were arrested and face charges of racketeering, organized fraud, extortion, and unauthorized practice of law.

Mina confirmed that additional individuals found at the business during the operation are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and may face deportation.

According to the sheriff’s office, the case came to its attention in September when they were contacted by a Florida Bar attorney who received multiple complaints involving Legacy Imigra.

Those complaints alleged Legacy was conducting a coordinated scheme to defraud undocumented immigrants by falsely claiming its staff were qualified immigration attorneys and charging significant fees for fraudulent or improperly filed applications.

[BELOW: Orange County enters new agreement with ICE]

Mina said the agency used social media and word-of-mouth referrals to attract clients.

“Legacy created email accounts in the victim’s names without their knowledge or consent, and then withheld documents and told victims they would not receive their paperwork and unless they paid additional money,” Mina said.

News 6’s Mike Valente asked Mina if investigators believe Legacy Imigra was ever a legitimate business.

“Well, they are not attorneys, so that’s one thing,” Mina said. “I know that we did find information that they were helping some people legitimately. But who knows, is that just an effort so they tell their friends, who tell their friends and they’re getting more business? But basically they’re exploiting people, extorting people and defrauding people out of their money.”

Mina also said De Almeida is in the country illegally as a visa overstayer. Two of the other defendants also have ICE holds, according to the sheriff’s office.

Seven victims have cooperated with the investigation so far. They are from Florida, South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey. Deputies believe the total number of victims could reach into the hundreds.

Mina said victims who cooperate with investigators will be able to apply for a visa that could allow them to remain in the country while assisting with the case.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office conducted the operation in conjunction with Homeland Security Investigations and the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

Outside Legacy Imigra’s headquarters on Kingspointe Parkway Wednesday, News 6 noticed the window that’s now boarded up, two days after deputies smashed it in during their raid of the business.

“Police were literally here all day,” said Steve Nbounsanga, the owner of iHeartCustoms, an office a few doors down form Legacy Imigra.

News 6 spoke to Nbounsanga and owners of two other businesses Wednesday. They all said Legacy quickly made its presence known after it moved into the plaza a couple months ago.

“Suddenly, one day, we had nowhere to park,” said Dr. Stefannia Ezzi, the owner of EZ Aesthetics & Wellness.

Ezzi said Legacy had about 40 employees and some of them consistently parked in other business’s spaces.

“We started having cones here to just reserve our spots for our patients,” Ezzi said. “And they would just remove the cones and park anyways.”

Mazen Ban, the owner of Oudlash, recalled Legacy employees “swarming” the parking lot early every morning.

“They were all suited up and in like formal wear, as if they were going to like a wedding or special occasion,” Ban said.

But none of the people News 6 spoke with suspected Legacy of being anything more than a bad neighbor.

“They’re taking a class of citizens that’s already having challenges and then preying on them,” Nbounsanga said after News 6 told him about the allegations.

The electric vehicle maker run by billionaire Elon Musk said it earned $477 million in the quarter, up 17% from a year ago. Earnings per share totaled 13 cents. Adjusted for certain items, per share earnings were 41 cents, topping Wall Street estimates of 36 cents.

Revenue rose to $22.39 billion, led by a 16% increase in automotive revenues.

Still, profits and revenue are far below their peak when its cars were grabbing market share. Now that is in reverse as European and Chinese rivals steal its customers. The company last year lost its crown as the world's largest EV maker to China's BYD.

Musk has repeatedly shrugged off its car troubles, emphasizing that Tesla’s future lies less in car sales than getting people to t ake rides in them a s self-driving taxis. The company said robotaxi miles doubled in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. They are currently running in San Francisco and three Texas cities, including Austin where Tesla is headquartered.

Musk has also been highlighted Tesla's production of robots for homes and businesses In a conference call with investors Wednesday, he talked about breaking ground for a new factory in Texas for the robots, called Optimus, with a potential capacity of making 10 million a year.

“I think Optimus will be our biggest product," said Musk, adding, “not just Tesla’s biggest product ever, but probably the biggest product ever.”

The company noted that it has begun making its so-called Cybercabs without pedals or wheels. And Musk added a teaser in the call, saying that Tesla could debut a new manually driven Roadster sports car in a month or so.

The company is spending big on its transition, including $2.5 billion last quarter in capital expenditures, up 67% from the year earlier period.

Musk warned of “a very significant increase” in the future, too.

Shares fell 1% in after-hours trading.

The heightened surveillance was part of a promise by Mexican authorities following the tragedy to beef up security at touristic and archaeological sites across Mexico, less than two months before the country hosts the FIFA World Cup jointly with United States and Canada.

The Monday shooting, carried out by a lone gunman on top of one of the Teotihuacan pyramids — a UNESCO Heritage Site and one of Mexico's most frequented tourist attractions — killed one Canadian tourist and injured a dozen more.

It also set off a flurry of questions the next morning by reporters to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum about what security protocols her government was taking ahead of the sports competition.

About an hour from Mexico City, Teotihuacan was slated to be a key site for visitors during the festivities. Just days before the shooting, local lawmakers even pushed forward an initiative to revive a nighttime interactive light show projected on the pyramids for World Cup visitors, which was previous suspended at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The unexpected act of violence came as Sheinbaum's government has gone to great lengths to project an image of safety ahead of the soccer competition, following a surge of cartel violence February in the World Cup host city of Guadalajara.

"Events like this only further magnify the negative images that Mexico has on security issues, undermining the narrative that President Sheinbaum is trying to build that Mexico is a safe country," said Mexican security analyst David Saucedo.

‘An isolated incident’

Mexico’s government has sought to turn the page on the attack and reopened the pyramids on Wednesday after closing them temporarily.

That morning, tourists were already climbing up the pyramid still stained by blood to take selfies.

Among those filing into the archaeological site was 76-year-old physician Mark Diamond, who said he was saddened to see the bloodshed but that he wasn't dissuaded in seeing a site he had long hoped to visit. He noted bluntly: “I'm from Baltimore, Maryland. I'm not concerned.”

“It's presumably a deranged individual and it can happen anywhere,” he said. “In the United States, we have plenty of shootings, unfortunately.”

On Tuesday, Sheinbaum acknowledged that the archaeological site lacked security filters to prevent the attack in part, she said, because the shooting “was an isolated incident" that hasn't occurred before in such a public space.

While Mexico suffers from cartel violence, especially in strategic and rural areas, mass shootings in public spaces are rare in Mexico compared with the U.S., where it is much easier to legally obtain a gun.

She noted that the shooter appeared to be motivated by “outside influences," particularly the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado.

“Our obligation as a government is to take the appropriate measures to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again. But clearly, we all know — Mexicans know — that this is something that had not previously taken place,” Sheinbaum said Tuesday morning.

Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch, the face of the government's crackdown on cartels, said on Tuesday that security forces had been ordered to “immediately strengthen security" at archaeological sites and major tourist destinations across the country.

He said the government will increase the presence of Mexican National Guard, boost security checks at key sites and fortify surveillance systems to “identify and prevent any threats” against citizens and visitors.

Security concerns ahead of World Cup

The announcement was an effort by Mexican authorities to assuage ongoing concerns about violence in Mexico ahead of the tournament.

Sheinbaum's government has touted security successes under her leadership. Homicides have dipped sharply since she taken office to the lowest levels in a decade, government figures show. The government has also taken out a number of top capos and highlighted a dip in fentanyl seizures at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But they have hit hurdles in recent months, namely a burst a violence in Guadalajara in February, triggered by the killing of Mexico’s most powerful cartel boss. The bloodshed was met with a wave of concern by people in and outside of Mexico. Sheinbaum vowed there would be “no risk” for fans coming to the tournament and FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he had “full confidence” in Mexico as a host country. Sheinbaum later met with FIFA representatives to assess security for the World Cup matches to be played in Mexico.

Mexico’s government doubled down on security measures, which include deploying 100,000 security forces across the country, particularly concentrated in the country’s three host cities, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Officials said it would deploy more than 2,000 military vehicles, as well as dozens of air crafts and drones, and establish security perimeters around areas like stadiums and airports in key cities.

"As you can see, we are very prepared for the World Cup," Sheinbaum said in early March.

Despite the rare nature of the Monday shooting at the pyramids, the extreme act of violence reignited scrutiny by some about the government's capacity to prevent violence during the soccer tournament, and once again boosted pressures on the government.

FIFA was approached for comment about the pyramid shooting, but the soccer body typically does not address security issues and incidents that happen away from tournament venues.

Saucedo, the security analyst, said that pressures to concentrate security in host cities and tourist areas like Teotihuacan may come at the expense of other more crime-torn areas in greater need of police and military. He said the shooting was sign that “public safety agencies are overwhelmed.”

Others like Maria de Jesús Román, who traveled to see the pyramids from Guadalajara, said while the shooting “might change the perception of tourists that come to the World Cup" she said she feels safe.

“There's a lot of security, this is the safest place you could go in Mexico right now,” she said.

——

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press photojournalist Eduardo Verdugo contributed to this report from San Juan Teotihuacán.

The Trump administration argued that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that it violated the constitution because the state was directly seeking to regulate the federal government.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal. It had earlier blocked the law from taking effect.

The decision could have implications nationwide for other states that have pursued their own measures to place restrictions on immigration agents.

The measure was one of two major pieces of legislation enacted last fall aimed at reining in federal immigration agents after a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration in Southern California in June. The other law would have banned most law enforcement officers from wearing masks, neck gaiters, and other facial coverings. Advocates have raised concerns about masked agents conducting workplace raids or arresting people on the street, often without showing identification.

The Trump administration sued over both in November.

A federal judge blocked the mask ban in February, ruling that it discriminated against the federal government because it did not apply to state troopers. The law made exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and other situations where not wearing a mask would jeopardize the operation. That judge let the ID law stand.

At an appeal hearing March 3, Justice Department lawyers argued that the California identification requirement law sought to regulate the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

The appeals court agreed unanimously, saying the law “attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” in an opinion written by Judge Mark J. Bennett. The panel was composed of two Trump appointees, Bennett and Daniel P. Collins, and Obama appointee Jacqueline H. Nguyen.

California lawyers argued that the law applied equally to all law enforcement officers without discriminating against the U.S. government, and that states could apply “generally applicable” laws federal agents. They also argued that the law was important to address public safety concerns.

People are more likely to attack officers in self-defense if there's no visible identification letting the public know they are law enforcement, California lawyers said in a brief.

“This confusion has resulted in federal law enforcement officials being mistaken for criminals and vice versa, creating serious risk of harm to peace officers and members of the public,” they wrote.

In October 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a report warning that the increase in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity had spurred “criminal actors impersonating ICE agents to commit violent crime,” California attorneys noted.

The appeals court judges said they did not consider the public safety factors because the federal government has demonstrated its constitutional rights would be violated by the legislation, and “all citizens have a stake in upholding the Constitution."

When a lower court struck down California’s mask ban, it left open another way of achieving the same goal. The judges in that case had indicated they would be more open to a law that banned masks for all law enforcement officers, not just federal ones. A new California bill attempts to revive the mask restrictions by also applying them to state troopers.

But the appeals court’s opinion signals a stricter view on the state government’s ability to regulate federal officers.

“The Supremacy Clause prohibits States from enacting a law that directly regulates federal operations even if the law regulates state operations in the same manner,” the judges wrote.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called it a “huge legal victory” in a post on X.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said they are reviewing the order.

“The Trump Administration has stepped well outside the boundaries of normal practice, deploying masked and unidentified agents to carry out immigration enforcement, despite the risks these tactics pose to public safety and basic civil liberties," Bonta's office said in a statement.

The free-flowing sections of the David Geffen Galleries housing the museum's permanent collection are named for the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and they're meant to run together physically and culturally in the way bodies of water do.

Technically, the Geffen Galleries represent the third phase of a two-decade series of renovations. But the opening of this space to the public on May 4 is the truly huge moment of reinvention for the institution known to locals and the broader art world by the acronym LACMA.

It's a $724 million, 347,600 square-foot (32,293 square-meter) monument designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor that gives the museum an entirely new orientation, footprint, feeling and, ideally, an identity that it has largely lacked to the outside world.

The space — all on a single second-story floor — offers broad-windowed views of the surrounding city. There is no main entrance or central atrium. It's made to wander into, and through, and to encourage accidental interactions with paintings, sculptures and the kinds of work, like ancient pottery or textiles, that visitors often ignore.

LACMA's CEO and director Michael Govan, who oversaw the project from its origins, calls it “a machine of discovery.”

“I am a student for decades of museumgoer psychology,” Govan told The Associated Press in an interview inside the new building. “And one of the things you know in these museums is if you don’t like something or know something, you’re not going up an elevator and across to go see it. But a lot of times, that thing is what you will love if you see it.”

He added, “this chance of experiencing something accidentally and falling in love is part of the idea.”

The art is grouped as much for vibes as for any formal categories. Sculptures and photographs from modern artists are mixed in and matched with works that are centuries old.

The excess of natural light and views of the city that run throughout almost threaten to overshadow the art. But curtains — a staple of Zumthor’s architecture — are strategically used to alter light both for viewing and for preservation of work that can be drained by the sunlight.

Zumthor relishes the way the time of day, the placement of the curtains and the arrangement of the artwork work together in the space.

“Nothing is more beautiful to me than this play of shadow,” he told the AP.

Zumthor's previous work includes the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, Germany, run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne.

Since 1961, LACMA has sat on, and now across, Wilshire in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles, roughly halfway between downtown LA and the Pacific, next to the La Brea Tar Pits. (As with other projects on the site, the constant discovery of valuable fossils slowed work on the new building.)

For visitors who faithfully kept coming for its open-during-remodeling years, and for drivers navigating the construction, it felt like the opening would never come. Construction began in 2019, with the county footing $125 million of the bill. The rest was raised from private donors, including the 83-year-old entertainment mogul Geffen, who is one of LA’s biggest art benefactors.

Its 1988 Pavilion for Japanese Art is now LACMA's oldest section. The Broad Contemporary Art Museum (not to be confused with the stand-alone Broad downtown) was added in 2008, and the Resnick Exhibition Pavilion joined LACMA in 2010.

Other relatively recent additions have helped with LACMA's relevance. Two permanent sculpture-installations — Urban Light (artist Chris Burden's forest of street lamps) and Levitated Mass (artist Michael Heizer's giant suspended boulder) are among the city's most Instagrammed images.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures next door is a separate entity but feels contiguous. Together, the two institutions represent the popular art that defines the region and its fine art that has often been ignored.

The incident has increasingly fueled speculation in the Latin American nation as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for more than a year has repeatedly underscored her country's sovereignty and publicly turned down offers by U.S. President Donald Trump of intervention on cartels.

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

Mexican and U.S. officials have been offering contradictory accounts for days. After the Mexican government originally said it had no knowledge of any sort operation or U.S. involvement, the president admitted Wednesday that federal forces were involved and another high-level official acknowledged that the government at least discussed the matter with the U.S.

The collaboration came to light this week after two local investigators in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua and two CIA agents — originally identified as U.S. Embassy officials — reportedly died in a car crash in the early morning on Sunday while driving back from an operation to destroy cartel laboratories in a rugged area of Mexico. The local government said the convoy drove off the side of a ravine and the car exploded.

The Americans killed were from the CIA, The Associated Press confirmed on Tuesday with a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.

Sheinbaum on Wednesday maintained that she had no knowledge of the operation between the U.S. and local Chihuahua authorities, and that it could constitute a violation of Mexico's law, because any such action should be approved by the federal government.

In her press briefing she said she was considering possible sanctions on Chihuahua’s government, and emphasized that the operation didn’t constitute a new security strategy by Trump in her country. She added that she sent a letter to the U.S. ambassador requesting that he provide all available information regarding the incident and that she planned to speak to Chihuahua's governor.

“There cannot be agents from any U.S. government institution operating in the Mexican field,” Sheinbaum said Wednesday. “It is very important that something like this not be allowed to go unaddressed."

The CIA particularly has a tainted legacy in Latin America, associated in decades past with orchestrating coups and backing military dictatorships in a number of countries. Despite that, the agency has maintained a presence in Mexico for many years, which has also been the subject of contention in Mexican politics.

On Wednesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on Sheinbaum's comments, saying that U.S. efforts to counter cartels in Mexico “is not only a benefit to the American people, but to her people as well.”

“I think the president would agree that some sympathy from Claudia Sheinbaum would be well worth it for the two American lives that were lost, considering all that the United States of America is doing currently under this president to stop the scourge of drug trafficking through Mexico to the United States,” Leavitt said in an appearance on Fox News.

The Trump administration has provided very few comments on the incident since the Sunday crash. The CIA declined to comment on Wednesday.

The back-and-forth comes after days of contradictions in accounts, which have raised eyebrows and have prompted experts to say it underscores heightened U.S. involvement in security operations in Mexico and across the region.

Those only continued on Wednesday when Sheinbaum acknowledged that Mexico's army participated in the operation, but didn't know that the U.S. agents were present. Days before, Chihuahua's Attorney General César Jáuregui said the investigation came following months of investigation by state prosecutors and Mexico's military.

Later on Wednesday, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said at a news conference that the Defense Ministry had previously “received a petition for security support” by the U.S. But, he added, that “going to support an operation is different from actually being part of the planning of a operation.”

“Agents have never been in the field with us," he added.

___

David Klepper and Aamer Madhani in Washington, and Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City, contributed to this report.

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