Discussion

At 500 PM AST (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Hanna was located near latitude 36.5 North, longitude 48.7 West. Hanna is moving toward the east-southeast near 17 mph (28 km/h). A general east-southeast motion is forecast over the next day or two followed by a turn to the east-northeast.

Maximum sustained winds are near 45 mph (75 km/h) with higher gusts. Only slight intensification is forecast in the short-term and Hanna is likely to become a post-tropical cyclone by the latter part of this week.

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

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

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

Discussion

At 500 PM AST (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Fay was located near latitude 26.6 North, longitude 45.3 West. The depression is moving toward the southwest near 9 mph (15 km/h). A southwest to west-southwest motion, along with an increase in forward speed, is expected over the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next day or so, and Fay is forecast to become a post-tropical cyclone in 36 h.

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

Watches and Warnings

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.

Land Hazards

None.

Douglas Stewart Carter was sentenced to death that same year after a jury found him guilty of murdering Eva Olesen, an aunt of the Provo police chief at the time.

The state Supreme Court ordered a new trial last year, citing misconduct by investigators. Carter has maintained his innocence and says a signed confession was coerced.

No physical evidence linked him to the crime scene, but the jury convicted Carter, a Black man, based on the confession and two witnesses who said he bragged about killing Olesen, who was white. Those witnesses later recanted.

Judge Derek Pullan said that the new DNA analysis further undermined the case against Carter, but a reasonable jury still conclude that he murdered Olesen.

Pullan ordered Carter to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release, and to avoid contact with Olesen's family.

Defense attorney Neal Hamilton said Carter will be placed in an extended stay accommodation near the family of his son, who was adopted by another family as an infant and didn't learn about the conviction until years later. Carter also will need therapy to deal with his extended incarceration, Hamilton said.

“It's not just as simple as, ‘Let’s let him go,'" Hamilton said. “He's being released with 41 years of state-induced trauma and the effect it will have on him is very real.”

Defendant says confession was coerced

Pullan had scheduled a two-month retrial for 2027, but last week Utah County prosecutors withdrew a notice that they intended to seek the death penalty.

The prosecutors said results of a DNA analysis received Sept. 22 exclude Carter as a possible match to blood found on a doorknob and genetic material recovered from the handle of a knife used to stab Olesen, who was also shot.

Utah County prosecutor Erwin Petilos told the judge Monday that reassessing Carter’s bail was “necessary and fair” as the state continues to look at the remaining evidence in the case.

Carter, a Chicago native, had been living with his mother in Utah at the time of Olesen’s killing on Feb. 27, 1985. Court documents indicate the investigation eventually focused on Carter, who was suspected of killing Olesen during a robbery.

By that April, Carter had fled Utah believing he was a suspect in an unrelated assault case, according to court documents. He was apprehended that June in Nashville, Tennessee, where Carter signed a confession while under interrogation from a Provo detective.

Carter said later that he had given a false confession after being repeatedly threatened by police. He was convicted and sentenced to death after a trial in which the defense called no witnesses. He was again sentenced to death after a 1992 retrial, and courts in Utah rejected numerous appeals from Carter in subsequent years.

Key witnesses say police gave them cash and gifts

A turning point came in 2011, when the two witnesses at his original trial were tracked down in Mexico. They said they had been told to lie in court and were given cash and gifts by police who told them not to disclose the payments. They also said police and prosecutors threatened them and their son with deportation if they did not implicate Carter.

More than a decade of legal wrangling followed before the Utah Supreme Court last year ordered a new trial, citing “multiple instances of intentional misconduct” by police and a prosecutor. A DNA analysis of the evidence was conducted in response to that order and prosecutors said the results arrived last week. They declined Monday to say whether they're using the DNA evidence to search for other suspects with matching DNA.

Victim's husband was potential suspect

Carter's defense attorneys have said witnesses saw a white man fleeing the crime scene and an investigator suppressed evidence pointing to other suspects, including the victim’s husband, Orla Olesen.

They allege that prosecutors were close to filing charges against the husband, but a Provo police lieutenant asked them not to so he could continue investigating. Carter was identified as a suspect soon after, according to court documents.

Orla Olesen, a painting contractor who died in 2009, told police he found his wife dead in their home, partially undressed and with her hands tied behind her back.

Theresa Olesen, a daughter in law of Eva Olesen, said during Monday's bond hearing that her family had "serious concerns" about Carter's release. She said he should remain in the Utah County jail, where he was being held pending a new trial.

“By golly we were hoping for a concrete match,” Olesen said of the DNA analysis. “It doesn't mean he wasn't there."

“There are other factors and hopefully the investigation will continue," she added. "We just want justice for Eva. And if he had any part of it we want that to be known.”

The theme of the 2026 hurricane season to date has been short-lived tropical storms with most of them forming in the subtropical Atlantic.

That continued today with the formation of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Hanna will again be one for the fish.

That could change though during the first week of October.

We talked in the last couple of newsletters that the overall pattern would be supportive of disturbed weather in the Gulf as the calendar flips.

Since last week’s edition, guidance has has become more bullish on development in the Bay Of Campeche/southern Gulf region.

Nothing to get overly worried about at this point, because we have seen the story before with model guidance being bullish and nothing materializing, however it makes sense meteorologically why the signal is growing.

• The MJO, Madden-Julian Oscillation, is trying to move through which would promote storminess in the region.
• The Gulf water is very warm and largely untapped
• Wind shear during the first week of October backs off a little in the western Gulf.

The white and blue color in the map above show below normal wind shear. The red in the Caribbean is the above normal, El Nino induced wind shear.

Wind shear should increase as that week goes on.

At this point we just watch. There is no active storm to track in the region, but the signal is there for at least some disturbed weather to form.

Not that we have had many threats to dodge this season anyway, but it really does look like once we get beyond the first 10-12 days of October we can close the book on impacts for the 2026 hurricane season.

Any questions feel free to hit me up at jkegges@wkmg.com

- Jonathan

Ways to stay connected this hurricane season

News 6+

If you live outside of Central Florida or don’t have cable, first of all thank you for finding the Tropics Watch newsletter! You can also watch the special on June 1st at 8 p.m. by downloading the FREE News 6+ app! You can watch all of the newscasts on here as well. You can download that on your smart T.V. or other streaming devices.

News 6 Weather App

Even if you are outside of Central Florida download this app! This is the best hurricane app on the market and its FREE. As soon as the National Hurricane Center names something, you’re going to know about. It’s a great way to follow the season if you like doing that. Search WKMG in your app store and make sure you find the hurricane one.

YouTube

If you live in Central Florida subscribe to the WKMG/Clickorlando page.

If you love the weather whether you’re in Central Florida or not, subscribe to JustWeather!

Clickorlando.com/hurricane is also a great resource no matter where you live.

Alright. I have rambled on enough. Just wanted to make you aware of where you can find trustworthy and in-depth weather content this season.

One last thing. This is a two-way street. I/we are here for you. Any ideas? Like or hate something? Have any questions? Let me know. Shoot me an e-mail at jkegges@wkmg.com. Find me on facebook or twitter.

We’re in this together. We have families here too. You’re going to get the same info we give to them. Thank you for your trust. We don’t take that responsibility lightly.

Sidelined since Sept. 16 by a strained right calf, the Yankees captain took live batting practice on the field Monday, a day ahead of the series opener. He walked twice, hit a comebacker to the mound and took a called third strike against teammates Ryan Weathers and Elmer Rodríguez.

“I’ve been doing a lot of convincing, I feel like, so I’m going to keep doing that,” Judge said. “The most important thing is just making sure I’m healthy and ready to go for this long stretch. We've got another month of baseball to play.”

A three-time AL MVP, the 34-year-old slugger had a platelet-poor plasma injection Sept. 21. He was sidelined by a fractured rib from May 31 to Sept. 8 and played in just seven games before the latest injury.

“He’s making progress. We’ll continue to see where he’s at,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Speaking in front of his locker, a diamond-and-garnet pendant of a judge’s gavel hanging from his neck, the outfielder said he hasn't run the bases since the injury but had been working on an AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill.

“I’ve been hitting for a while, so it feels great, which is definitely a big step forward because you kind of produce a lot of weight on that back leg,” he said.

Judge was limited to 66 games this season. He hit .241 with 18 homers, 41 RBIs and an .871 OPS, including .174 with one homer and three RBIs in September.

He hopes not to be limited to designated hitter — teammate Ben Rice was the DH in 96 games.

"I’m trying to come back as an outfielder because I think it helps our team the most, but however they see I fit in the best, I am going to try to do that," Judge said.

Judge didn't express concern about trying for a quick return from an injury to his soleus muscle, which is part of the Achilles tendon.

“Guys take risks every single day. I know a lot of guys in here are banged up and dealing with stuff,” he said. "So, yeah, I understand the risks."

In his 11th big league season and still without a World Series title, Judge is sensing the passage of time as motivation for pushing to get back on the field.

“The biggest thing is just understanding how short I get. The time I get to be a Yankee and play this game of baseball is a very short window,” he said. “Ten years have gone by since I debuted out here. Time flies and I just think about that more than thinking about age. I feel like I’ll still be a good baseball player at 45. So, yeah, it’s more just, your window to play this game is short so you don’t want to miss an opportunity."

Stanton, Grisham and Weathers

Giancarlo Stanton, out since April 24 because of strained calf muscles in both legs, also is a roster possibility along with center fielder Trent Grisham, sidelined since straining his right hamstring on Sept. 4, and Weathers, who hasn't pitched since Aug. 22 because of a left forearm flexor strain. Weathers appeared unlikely since he threw BP to Judge, Stanton and Grisham.

“There’s a few roster decisions still that we keep kind of bouncing back and forth, thinking about lineup construction," Boone said. "So those are still things that I’m wrestling with to some degree. Ultimately, we’ve got to settle on it tomorrow and go let it rip.”

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Seminole County resident Sabrena Oldakowski, who says she has seven cats and two shelter dogs, said she worries reduced funding could ripple into the community through fewer vaccinations and services.

“When you look at the end of the vaccinations… then you’ve got the spread of rabies, the overpopulation of feral cats,” Oldakowski said.

County leaders say the measure could reduce property tax revenue by about 20%, straining budgets for multiple programs, including emergency management and animal services.

[RELATED: Florida’s Amendment 3 could change property taxes. Here’s what voters need to know]

Alan Harris, Seminole County’s director of emergency management, said tightening budgets could mean fewer services and fewer staff — and he warned that could affect the shelter’s ability to maintain no-kill operations and provide community clinics.

“If we’re gonna tighten the budget, we aren’t going to be a no-kill shelter anymore,” Harris said, adding that staffing cuts would be a major part of why services and programs would be cut.

Harris said cuts of roughly $200,000 would eliminate money for basic needs like food and veterinary services, and he expects the overall revenue loss could force more cuts in staff.

Oldakowski said she supports saving money for homeowners but not if it comes at the expense of animal services and public safety.

“I’m going to vote no,” she said.

Supporters of the homestead exemption say homeowners will keep more of their own money. County leaders say the funding impact will ultimately depend on what voters decide at the polls on Nov. 3.

Trump on Monday acted confused when a reporter asked him about Ambassador David Perdue's remarks over the weekend, suggesting the diplomat was confusing China with Taiwan. But then Trump said “maybe it’s a good idea” to make such an offer to China.

The whiplash over the prospect of arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival underlines the Trump administration's often uncoordinated and contradictory approach to China, including Xi's pomp-filled state visit to Washington last week during which Trump appeared to get little in return on key issues.

Perdue, speaking to Shannon Bream on Fox News Channel's “Fox News Sunday” days after the summit, didn’t specify when the offer was made. But such a proposal, if realized, would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe.

Trump administration disavows ambassador's comments

The State Department on Monday looked to distance the Trump administration from Perdue's comments, saying that “U.S. law prohibits arms sales to China and there is no offer or plan to sell arms to China.”

Hours later, Trump seemed to be doing the same.

“To China? You mean to Taiwan?” he said when a reporter asked him about Perdue's account.

“I never heard of that one. I’m going to have to ask him," Trump said.

He then mused that China would probably like to buy U.S. equipment, which he said was superior, and added: “So maybe it’s a good idea. But we didn’t discuss it. He may have been talking about Taiwan. I think he was probably talking about Taiwan.”

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

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

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

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

Experts point to Trump's transactional approach

If so, that offer “speaks to (Trump's) treatment of China in almost exclusively commercial terms, even at the potential expense of the U.S. military position in Asia,” said Evan Sankey, an analyst focused on U.S. policy toward China at the libertarian Cato Institute.

He said the U.S. last sold arms to Beijing in the 1980s and resuming those sales would be “a shocking policy change.”

Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the hawkish think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the anecdote that Perdue told offers “a revealing window into Trump's transactional worldview.”

“He tends to see weapons, tariffs and market access as instruments of leverage, even across the traditional dividing line between allies and adversaries,” Singleton said.

Such an offer to Xi also would clash with U.S. obligations under a domestic law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself and deter an invasion from Beijing, which has vowed to seize the island by force if necessary. While not recognizing Taiwan as a country, the U.S. is the island’s strongest informal backer and primary arms provider. But multiple U.S. leaders have left ambiguous whether they would commit military force to defend the island should China invade.

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

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

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

But county officials are also warning voters about the potential impact of Amendment 3, a statewide ballot measure that would increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes, potentially lowering property taxes while reducing revenue for counties.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the lack of a public safety exemption could create challenges for counties statewide.

County officials have stated that Amendment 3 could cut $275 million from property tax revenue by 2028.

“At the end of the day, something will have to get cut, and typically the first things that we will cut are those things that we don’t have to do,” he said. “We aren’t required to necessarily provide social services and those types of things.”

Other Central Florida law enforcement leaders have also raised concerns.

Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood has come out against Amendment 3, saying his agency could lose $37 million next year alone.

Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma warned last week that his agency could face a 20 percent cut, which would mean layoffs and hundreds fewer officers patrolling the streets.

“You cannot reduce by $41 million and 300 people without a realistic expectation that some services are going to be compromised,” he said.

Orange County District 3 Commissioner Mayra Uribe told News 6 the county should first look for efficiencies internally, saying there may be room to absorb reductions before residents see significant impacts.

Another priority for the county is maintaining its commitment to building more affordable housing, with the goal of 10,000 new or preserved housing units by the end of 2028. The budget approved Tuesday includes $19.5 for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Uribe said ultimately money is not the problem for this issue.

“I have a hard time with that one not because of the funding, because of the process that internally it takes to build them,” she said. “We have the funding, we have the money set aside. But the process internally for permitting, for land use, for all of that is what tends to delay projects.”

What Amendment 3 would do:

• Raise the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027
• Raise it again to $250,000 in 2028
• Requires 60% voter approval to pass

County leaders say if Amendment 3 passes in November, budgets in coming years could look significantly different.

Passage of the legislation would be the strongest effort yet by Congress to set national regulations governing payments to college athletes for their name, image and likeness and how often they can transfer. It would give the NCAA new authority over those rules and limited antitrust protections to enforce them.

The bill is the product of years of Senate negotiations that intensified as some in the industry pleaded with Congress to step in after a 2025 lawsuit settlement uprooted the college sports landscape by allowing colleges to pay their players. The legislation, which would still have to pass the House, would codify the settlement into law but also establish new guardrails around the system in an attempt to rein in the runaway costs for colleges.

“It would be nice if college sports could somehow magically fix itself, but this is a matter of law, federal law, and only Congress can fix it,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who negotiated the bill with the top Democrat on the panel, Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell.

The bill's backers — more than 70 senators from both parties — say it aims to curtail constant litigation and uncertainty across college sports for athletes, schools and fans. It would also give hundreds of thousands of student athletes new health and labor protections.

Critics say the bill doesn't do enough to protect athletes or curtail the enormous sums of money flowing to coaches, colleges and conferences.

“This is a bill that essentially ensconces a system of exploitation, and it doesn’t fix the broader problems,” said Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat who has worked with labor and civil rights groups to rally opposition to the bill.

A vote was delayed for several hours Monday evening as senators in both parties negotiated a series of last-minute amendment votes, including proposals to make it easier for athletes to sue over sexual assault or injuries and a cap on ticket prices. It was unclear if those amendments will pass ahead of the final vote.

The bill's future is still unclear. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed an interest in the legislation, and the White House formally endorsed the bill last month. But it could face an uphill battle in the House, which failed repeatedly over the last year to get a different version to the floor and is in recess until after the November elections.

Lawmakers will have to start over in the next Congress if the bill doesn't pass both chambers by the end of the year.

Bill addresses skyrocketing spending, unlimited transfers

College sports have been reeling in the wake of the 2025 court settlement allowing colleges to directly pay players for their name, image and likeness. The fallout has reshaped the industry and led to football roster payrolls that can exceed $40 million.

The bill codifies the court settlement, including a revenue cap that allows schools to share up to $21.5 million in revenue with their players. The legislation would more than double that amount for some schools, allowing up to an additional $27.5 million in payments through a retention fund, and would give schools and conferences the option of pooling their TV media rights to potentially raise more revenue.

The legislation also aims to stabilize the NCAA transfer portal that has led to players constantly switching teams. It would restrict player transfers to one “free” move over five years without sitting out a year, with some exceptions, and also restrict players to five years of total eligibility.

The proposed eligibility limit comes amid backlash to schools that have increasingly pushed boundaries, including LSU's now-canceled plans to place players on the roster who had participated in NFL training camps.

“That was probably like a big lamp for some people who saw it and said, ‘Oh my God, this is so out of control,’” Cantwell said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “You can see how out-of-hand the situation was getting.”

The bill also would restrict coaches from leaving their schools during the season and prevent conferences from growing larger than 19 programs, an effort to prevent so-called “superleagues” from taking over sports. The Senate was expected to vote on an amendment by Florida Sen. Ashley Moody, a Republican, that would raise that cap to 20 schools.

It would force schools that want to switch conferences to spend three years as an independent — down from five years in the original bill. That change brought new supporters on board, including Florida State and Clemson of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Critics say it wouldn’t do enough to help athletes

The legislation includes new protections for athletes, including caps on agent fees and guarantees for health insurance and certain scholarships. It would also require schools to maintain a minimum number of sports and roster spots — an effort to ensure that women's and Olympic sports are not cut in favor of football, basketball and other sports that generate more revenue.

Still, some Democrats say it wouldn't do enough to limit the big money in college sports.

The legislation “places a cap on the students’ cut of the revenues, but there are no caps on coaches’ salaries or on the size of donations to athletic programs,” Murphy said last week.

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said that the new antitrust protections would make it harder for athletes to sue universities, and “taking away their legal rights strikes me as a bridge too far.”

Groups like the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus and AFL-CIO have also opposed the bill, in part, because it leaves unresolved whether athletes should be considered employees with the ability to collectively bargain.

All four Black Democrats in the Senate — Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — have opposed the bill.

Booker, who played football at Stanford in the late 1980s on a scholarship, said in a Senate floor speech earlier this month that he was “afforded opportunities I never would have had if it wasn't for college athletics” but that he also “saw how unjust the NCAA is.”

He said it wasn't until college athletes were able to begin to win cases in court that the power started to shift, “and now the NCAA is coming here to the United States Senate, asking for sweeping powers" to exempt antitrust laws.

Some Republicans also said it is overreach.

The legislation “goes way too far inserting the federal government into collegiate athletics,” said Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who is opposing it.

House passage is uncertain

Despite strong bipartisan support in the Senate, the bill faces a murky path in the House.

House lawmakers won't return to Washington until mid-November, after the elections. And it's unclear what will be on Republican leaders' agenda in the chaotic last few weeks of the session.

Pressure from Trump could help push the bill to passage. But some House Republicans have insisted on language explicitly stating that athletes are not employees, which the Senate bill does not have — a key concession to Cantwell to win enough Democratic support.

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in a statement in May that “any lasting framework must confront the central issue that continues to cast uncertainty over the future of college sports: whether student-athletes will ultimately be treated as employees.”

“Congress cannot deliver real stability, consistency, or certainty to schools, conferences, and student-athletes while leaving that question unresolved,” the two Republicans said.

Trooper Hayden Phillips was shot while patrolling along northbound Interstate 65 in Warren County, Kentucky state police said in a statement on social media. Phillips was based out of Bowling Green in south-central Kentucky.

“Our hearts break for Trooper Phillips’ family, loved ones, and fellow troopers as we grieve this tremendous loss,” Col. Phillip Burnett Jr., commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, said in the statement. “We will carry his memory with us, honor the life he lived and the badge he wore, and stand together as an agency to support this family in the days ahead.”

Authorities began searching for a suspect and a Honda Civic with an Alabama license plate that was present at the scene of the shooting. State police announced later that the suspect was taken into custody by police in Louisville. The suspect was not immediately identified. State police planned a news conference Monday night in Bowling Green.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called Phillips “a hero who dedicated himself to protecting our commonwealth.”

“Don’t let the Fake News get away with their lies about our epic Public Service Announcements that have been running on tv,” White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X on Sunday.

But the Republican administration's ads attracted mounting criticism on Monday, including from members of Trump’s own party.

“It shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer dollars,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters.

“It would not have been something that I would have done. And I know that the White House is not covered by the same guidance that we are, but it’s not something that I would have done," said Sen. Mike Rounds, another South Dakota Republican.

Multiple legal experts consulted by The Associated Press said the ads appear to run afoul of federal statutes, including a law against congressionally appropriated funds being used for “publicity or propaganda” and a law that limits the partisan political activities of government employees.

They said the new ads, which are airing on network and cable TV and streaming, differ from other administrations’ PSAs because they aren’t designed to help Americans access any specific program.

“You watch all three ads, they’re sheer propaganda,” said Richard Painter, a former White House ethics czar under Republican President George W. Bush. “This is increasingly looking like what authoritarian governments do to promote their leaders.”

The heightened scrutiny comes as the Trump administration has increased spending on the ads and bought time on popular TV shows, including college football and National Football League programming. It remains unclear which part of the government is supplying the funds.

With both chambers of Congress led by Republicans, any oversight would likely have to come from Trump's allies, decreasing the likelihood of hearings or other accountability efforts before November's midterm elections.

Three ads have aired in less than a week, totaling well over $1M

The first ad in the campaign, which began airing last Wednesday, features clips of Trump talking about defeating communism interspersed with onscreen text promoting the “largest tax cuts in history,” “reigniting American manufacturing” and a call to “defend law and order and police.”

Later in the week, a second ad began running, showing scenic videos of Mount Rushmore at night with quotes and clips from Trump’s Fourth of July weekend speech there honoring the country’s 250th anniversary.

The latest of the ads, a spot first aired over the weekend, is virtually identical to an ad for Trump’s Republican reelection campaign in 2024. It shows him walking down a hallway as his voice can be heard warning of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers.”

All three ads end with a message that says: "Paid for by the U.S. Government.” The White House hasn't responded to inquiries about which part of the government is paying.

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the spots have so far cost more than $1.4 million and run across a wide range of TV networks around the country. The actual amount spent could be significantly more, depending on whether networks classified the ad as a political ad.

The ads are different from past PSAs, experts say

In defending the campaign, the White House published a list of PSAs from recent Democratic and Republican administrations.

Among the examples it cited were Bush’s Republican administration touting a Medicare law, Barack Obama's Democratic administration promoting Affordable Care Act subsidies and Joe Biden's Democratic administration running ads promoting COVID-19 vaccinations.

“The announcements are very clearly not campaign ads; President Trump is not on the ballot and there is no call to action,” the White House wrote. “Instead, the announcements are a reminder for Americans to love their country and know why it’s worth defending — at home, at the border, and abroad.”

Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said in her view the new ads differ from the examples the White House provided because they aren’t aimed at helping members of the public benefit from specific government programs.

“These ads are nothing more than government propaganda, aimed at helping Trump,” she said.

Painter, who joined the Bush administration after the Medicare PSAs went out, said that ad campaign toed the line on appropriateness because it included misleading information about Medicare Part D. But he said Trump's campaign is a far more egregious violation of the statute that blocks congressionally appropriated money from being spent on publicity or propaganda.

“There's nothing in here about a particular policy that's at all focused," Painter said of Trump's ads. “One of them is just about the evils of the deep state. Another one of them is about communists and Marxists.”

In its support for the ads, the White House also referenced the administrations of President Woodrow Wilson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, both of whom used posters, radio and film to rally the country during World Wars I and II.

James Kimble, a communication professor at Seton Hall University who studies domestic propaganda, said it's true that Wilson's Democratic administration used propaganda to rally Americans. But he said most Americans no longer view its actions in a positive light.

“By almost any objective measure, looking back, we find what they did pretty repulsive," he said.

Skepticism of the campaign grows on the Hill

Top Democrats on the Senate and House appropriations committees last week wrote to the White House demanding the ads be taken down and requesting more information on how much money was spent to create and air them.

In the days since, more than a dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans have spoken up to further criticize the ads. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the latest ad “an absolute violation of what a democracy is supposed to look like.”

“Americans sat down to watch football, not to be force-fed Trump’s propaganda on their own dime,” he said in a Senate floor speech Monday.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said on CBS's “Face the Nation” on Sunday that no public official should spend public money on private ads for themselves.

And Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, had his own harsh words for the administration on Monday.

“Don’t worry, using taxpayer dollars to run ominous campaign ads of the President has been done before and is completely legal… in banana republics,” he wrote in an X post.

The Republican chairs of the Senate and House appropriation committees didn't respond to requests for comment.

___

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Steven Sloan contributed to this report.

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

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

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

Netanyahu made a secret visit to the UAE

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

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

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

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

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

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.

But the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, filed a complaint with Israel’s chief military censor against Channel 12 over what it called a serious censorship violation. It said the timing of the report endangered the prime minister and the operation and forces on the ground and exposed Shin Bet operational methods.

The PMO said Channel 12 reported the flight at 9:38 p.m. while the plane was still outside Israel and about an hour before it landed.

—By Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Houthi-run health ministry says 4 civilians killed in strike on a home in southwestern Yemen

The Houthi-run health ministry said a strike by Saudi-backed forces on a residence in southwestern Yemen’s Taiz province killed three women and an elderly man.

The statement Monday said three others were injured in the strike in Kadhah, in western Taiz. It was not immediately clear if the strike occurred Monday.

The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claims.

Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, aired footage it said to be showing a partially destroyed bloc of rural one-floor residences.

WHO says more people have been killed or wounded in Yemen

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iranian and Emirati officials argue about ownership of Gulf islands

In the waning hours of the U.N. General Assembly, Iran and the United Arab Emirates used their final moments to jab at each other over the islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb, which are once again in the crosshairs of regional escalations.

The three small islands — which were seized in 1971 by Iran from what would later become the UAE — sit at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, the minister of state for the United Arab Emirates, used part of his speech earlier in the day to criticize Iran for its “occupation” of the islands.

Hours later, Nasser Asadi, a member of Iran’s U.N. mission, responded by saying that Tehran “illustrates its full sovereignty” over the islands.

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

The commanders of the National Liberation Army, ELN, were found guilty of recruiting boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 17. Prosecutors said that some of the girls were sexually abused.

Sentences handed to the rebel leaders ranged from 11 years to 20 years in prison. Some of them recently participated in peace talks with Colombia’s government.

The trial was conducted in absentia because the commanders haven't been captured by Colombia’s government.

One of the leaders who was convicted, Israel Ramírez Pineda, also known by the alias Pablo Beltrán, now lives in Cuba and recently led a delegation that held peace talks with Colombia’s government.

Colombia’s government canceled peace talks with the ELN last year after the group staged a string of attacks in the northeastern Catatumbo region in which at least 80 people were killed.

Human rights groups have pointed out that the recruitment of children by rebel groups and gangs in Colombia continues to be a problem, with these organizations now using social media to lure youth into their ranks.

In 2016, almost 14,000 fighters laid down their weapons following a peace deal between Colombia’s government and the nation’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

But violence has resurfaced in some rural areas where there is little state presence and where groups like the ELN are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes, extortion rackets and illegal mines abandoned by FARC.

According to Colombia’s Human Rights Defenders’ Office, at least 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups since 2021, with 625 cases reported in 2024. Recruits are given a wide range of tasks that include serving as messengers, gathering intelligence, cooking or engaging with the enemy — while girls are sometimes forced into sexual acts with commanders.

The United Nations has called on social media platforms to share evidence with Colombian prosecutors and take actions aimed at blocking rebel groups from using social media to recruit children. Its human rights office in Colombia welcomed the sentence against the ELN leaders, noting that recruiting children into armed groups is prohibited by international law.

“This is a very important development in the fight against the recruitment of girls and boys,” said Scott Campbell, the representative in Colombia for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “We have urged the Colombian justice system to investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for the recruitment of girls and boys, and welcome this step forward.”

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Reeve's record fifth WNBA Coach of the Year trophy, she said, would not have materialized without Miles and her performance at point guard this season that made her an unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year.

“What I was reminded of with Liv is the importance of letting greatness be great,” Reeve said, “and not getting in the way.”

Miles received all 74 votes for the award from a national panel of sports writers and broadcasters covering the league, after she set the WNBA rookie scoring record. The second pick in the draft out of TCU played in 40 of 44 games and averaged 19.8 points, 6.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 49.2% from the field, 38.8% from 3-point range and 87% from the free-throw line.

Reeve, who is in her 17th season as head coach of the Lynx and fourth as president of basketball operations, was sold on Miles and her curiosity and humility during the pre-draft interview process and was pleasantly surprised by how quickly she became comfortable on the court. The coach and the player realized they see the game through a similar lens, thanks to Reeve's degree from La Salle in computer science and the mindset Miles shares with her father, Yakubu, a software engineer.

“It was important for me to have someone who was humble,” said Reeve, who guided the Lynx to WNBA titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. “I think a lot of players come in feeling like they know and they don’t need to be told or have others around them to guide them.”

Miles became the sixth winner of the award in Lynx history, following Betty Lennox (2000), Seimone Augustus (2006), Maya Moore (2011), Napheesa Collier (2019) and Crystal Dangerfield (2020).

Just like Reeve became a better coach with her on the floor, Miles found the ideal place to land in the league with a core of welcoming veterans on and off the court in Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams and an accomplished coach in Reeve with such high standards.

“I truly think that her method to her madness, what she refers to it as, will lead to success if we trust in it,” Miles said. “I knew it was going to be hard. I didn’t know it was going to be this hard. I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity I’d have right away, so I kind of just took that and ran with it. She’s given me a lot of grace as well.”

Reeve, who received 40 of 74 votes from media panel, previously won the award in 2011, 2016, 2020 and 2024. She became the WNBA’s all-time leader in regular-season coaching wins this year. Golden State’s Natalie Nakase, who won the award last year, finished second with 20 votes. Washington’s Sydney Johnson was third with 14 votes.

Miles, a native of New Jersey who started her college career at Notre Dame, led all rookies in points, points per game, field goals made, defensive rebounds, assists, assists per game and efficiency rating.

The WNBA announced the awards on Monday, before the Lynx traveled to New York for an elimination game in their best-of-three first-round playoff series on Tuesday. The top-seeded Lynx lost the opener at home 91-75 to the 2024 champion Liberty on Sunday, when Miles had just 11 points on 3-for-12 shooting with four turnovers and four fouls in her postseason debut.

Even for one of the most precocious rookies to join the league lately, the playoffs are another level of competition.

“I think she’s feeling it right now, but it’s what we expected and it’s not easy,” Reeve said. “She’s a smart player, and she’ll figure it out.”

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See AP’s full WNBA coverage here

Thompson is under contract through 2030 at an annual salary cap hit of $7.15 million, a steal for his production and size. Robert Thomas at $8.15 million with St. Louis and Frank Nazar at $6.6 million with Chicago are on similar team-friendly deals.

They are among players who signed long term before this past summer of high spending, when Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet set off a domino effect of big-money deals. Suddenly this group looks grossly underpaid, perhaps with a tinge of regret, but also generally happy with prioritizing security for themselves and their families.

“It’s tough to kind of gauge where the cap’s going to go and honestly where your career’s going go,” Thompson said. “Do I think there’s guys that wish they would have held out a little bit? And am I one of those guys? Yeah, obviously you would have liked to sign a big ticket and get as much money as humanly possible. But at the end of the day, you’re still talking about (a lot of money).”

Thompson’s father, Brent, bounced around during his career on a series of one- and two-year contracts that moved the family around North America. That played into his decision to choose stability over the risk of something shorter.

“When you sign it, too, there’s a big weight off your shoulders,” Thompson said. “There’s so many things that go on inside your head. I think when you sign one of those long-term deals, it just kind of frees you up to just focus on what you can do to just help the team win and not have to worry about that next contract.”

Thomas signed a few weeks before Thompson in 2022 and joked that he wished he could predict the future.

“If anybody could predict the future, then I don’t think there will be guys signing eight-year deals,” Boston captain David Pastrnak quipped. “But it’s timing. It’s a little bit of luck.”

Nazar signed for $46.13 million a little over a year ago, knowing the cap was going up and that he could have waited and made a little more. He, too, set career highs with 15 goals, 26 assists and 41 points.

“Obviously, no matter what, you’re going to think about it,” Nazar said. “If anything, it’s a good thing. Leave some money on the table for other guys, and hopefully we can bring in some guys and do something really special.”

That’s how Montreal’s Cole Caufield views his situation in the middle of his eight-year, $62.8 million contract. Having forwards Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky all making less than $8 million annually through 2030 and No. 1 defenseman Lane Hutson at $8.85 million through ’31 is a big reason the Canadiens could be good for a long, long time.

“Obviously, money’s money, and we get paid a lot of it to do what we do,” Caufield said. “Right now it’s probably the biggest five, six years of our careers, and based on what we’ve built, I think what’s more important is winning.”

Coming off winning the Stanley Cup with Carolina, Jaccob Slavin may be the best value in the league at an average annual cap hit of under $6.4 million through 2032-33. Not an offensive defenseman like Colorado’s Cale Makar, whose $163.2 million contract is the richest in league history, Slavin joked that “defense doesn’t pay” and isn’t worried that he should have held out for a few more bucks.

“I don’t kick myself for signing when I did,” Slavin said. “I wanted to be in Raleigh. I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Jack Eichel, who won the Cup with Vegas in 2023 and helped the Golden Knights reach the final before losing to the Hurricanes, is just beginning his eight-year, $108 million contract signed last October. During that process, he and agent Pat Brisson were in touch with the union and saw the rising cap coming, yet Eichel harbors no regrets.

“It’s an incredible deal for me and my family,” Eichel said. “There’s no signer’s remorse. Yeah, I’m a happy guy.”

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In a release, the agency said that the item — a hidden knife inside of a baseball bat-shaped flashlight — was found during a routine screening in a passenger’s carry-on bag at a TSA checkpoint.

Per the agency, TSA officer Andrew Carter noticed that the flashlight looked unusual on the X-ray screen and sent the bag for additional inspection.

Supervisory TSA Officer Michael Slaughter searched the bag and felt something hidden beneath its lining, the release notes. Inside, he found a toiletry kit and the small flashlight. When he twisted the flashlight’s handle, it came apart and revealed a 4-inch, double-edged knife built into the handle.

Slaughter immediately contacted other TSA supervisors, airport management and Tampa Airport Police.

The passenger initially said he did not know the knife was in the bag. However, after police arrived, he reportedly said he had placed the item beneath the suitcase lining to save space.

TSA officials said the way the knife was hidden raised concerns about whether the passenger had intentionally tried to conceal it.

The passenger was arrested and was not allowed to travel, officials added. However, the passenger’s identity was not disclosed in the release.

TSA officials noted that passengers who bring knives to security checkpoints are sometimes allowed to voluntarily surrender the items and continue their trips. However, law enforcement decisions depend on the circumstances, the passenger’s statements or behavior, local laws and the officer’s assessment.

TSA managers praised the officers for working together and communicating throughout the incident.

“This ranks among the most unique items I have identified,” Carter said, calling it a “good catch.”

“We’ve been talking about it ever since, I think, Jaxson got hurt, that we would need to add a quarterback — quarterbacks,” Giants coach John Harbaugh said. “We’ve been turning over every stone. This was an opportunity that kind of came up and able to finish the deal off.”

McCarthy, the 10th pick in the 2024 draft, gets a change of scenery after losing the starting job in Minnesota to Kyler Murray and falling behind Carson Wentz on the depth chart. McCarthy started 10 games last season, completing 57.6% of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

“Nothing about this changes the way I feel about J.J. or the hopes I have for him," said Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who had what he called an emotional 1-on-1 meeting with McCarthy about the trade. "I think it’s a good opportunity in New York and, as I told him, I’ll be pulling for him like crazy to see him go and do well and apply a lot of the things that we talked about in his period of time here.”

McCarthy missed what would have been his rookie season after injuring his right knee. He was picked a year ahead of Dart, but each was born in 2003, with McCarthy being just four months older.

Long term, that sets up a fascinating situation for New York, with Dart, Jameis Winston and McCarthy all under contract for next season. For now, McCarthy joins in a reserve role to learn the offense, while Harbaugh reiterated that Winston will start again Sunday against Arizona after beating Tennessee despite not scoring a touchdown and having just 238 yards of offense.

By making this aggressive move, Harbaugh, general manager Joe Schoen and the Giants are doubling down on trying to contend now, even after losing Dart and linebacker Brian Burns to season-ending knee injuries.

“You need another quarterback, in our situation, and you want to go get the very best quarterback you could get, which is what we did,” Harbaugh said. “Very talented player and is going to make us a stronger football team.”

There is familial familiarity with McCarthy, who won the national title at Michigan in his final college season playing for John's younger brother Jim Harbaugh.

“He always had good things to say about J.J.,” John Harbaugh said. “When Jim was there, that was a team I watched closely, so I’ve watched J.J. play a lot.”

It is still possible the Giants bring in another quarterback, though they did not hold tryouts Monday, according to the league's transactions report. Jake Haener backed up Winston during the Titans game and figures to stick around on the practice squad, with either he or McCarthy serving in that role this weekend.

“You never know,” Harbaugh said. “I would say all options are on the table.”

For the Vikings, the trade served as yet another reminder of the quarterback carousel the franchise has continually found itself on. Murray and Wentz are set to be free agents next spring, so the organization will yet again be forced to make multiple decisions and evaluations about who to build around for next season and beyond. Murray became the ninth different starting quarterback since Kirk Cousins took the field at Green Bay on Oct. 29, 2023, and tore his Achilles tendon.

“A lot of the decisions that we make and that we’re forced to make in football we have to make in a moment in time as opposed to hypotheticals in the future," GM Nolan Teasley said. "And so that’s really reflective of this decision, that we think it’s in the best interests of the Minnesota Vikings right now.”

McCarthy was the fifth quarterback taken among the record six selected in the first 12 picks in the 2024 draft, when Caleb Williams went to Chicago, Jayden Daniels to Washington and Drake Maye to New England with the first three spots. Michael Penix was picked eighth by Atlanta, followed by McCarthy at No. 10 and Bo Nix to Denver at No. 12.

McCarthy lost only three games as the starter through high school and college, including a 27-1 record at Michigan on the way to the championship, but he came to the Vikings with minimal experience as a pro-style passer after being in Jim Harbaugh's run-heavy offense. The energy and toughness that helped McCarthy become a winner and a leader at the lower levels worked against him at times last season, with a tendency for recklessness and a pattern of inaccuracy that contributed to his disappointing debut.

“Sometimes things don’t work out how you envisioned or how you planned or how you hoped, and that doesn’t change the intent," O'Connell said. “That doesn’t change the work that got put into it by J.J. himself and what he’s meant within this building since the time we first got him. So, I believe in the collective work that was put in, and I believe in J.J. and the intent and the work that he put in. This is just where we are.”

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Italy stormed to a dominant 4-1 win at Turkey in the Nations League on Monday with the Azzurri’s best performance for a long time, in Mancini’s second match in charge.

It was a far cry from Friday’s 2-0 loss at home to Belgium when Italy looked to still be struggling, six months on from failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

Italy will no doubt face a much tougher test in its next match, however, when it plays France away on Friday.

France also has a new coach in Zinedine Zidane, and he saw his team — without the injured Kylian Mbappé — snatch a 1-0 win at Belgium.

“These boys deserved the win, especially what so many have been saying over the past three days,” Mancini said. “They didn’t deserve that kind of talk. We are on a long journey. ... Besides the victory itself, the boys did some really good things.”

Dream debut for Kayode

Brentford defender Michael Kayode scored one goal and set up another in an impressive Italy debut for the 22-year-old.

Italy took the lead with less than nine minutes on the clock when Zeki Çelik scuffed an attempted clearance on a corner and the ball fell to Alessandro Bastoni, who swept it into the roof of the net.

It was a sort of redemption for Bastoni, who was sent off in the first half of Italy’s World Cup qualifying playoff against Bosnia and Herzegovina — which the Azzurri went on to lose on penalties.

Davide Frattesi doubled Italy’s lead in the 22nd minute, tapping in the rebound after Kayode’s shot had been parried by Turkey goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, following a well-worked team move by Italy.

Kayode got on the scoresheet five minutes later, following a similar move, with Pio Esposito sending him clear to fire into the bottom right corner.

It was the first time in five years that Italy scored three goals in the opening half-hour of a competitive match.

Barış Alper Yılmaz caught Italy napping to pull one back for Turkey right at the start of the second half but Esposito restored the visitors’ three-goal advantage three minutes later, nodding in a rebound after Sandro Tonali’s curled effort had come off the post.

Esposito had been joined in the starting lineup by his older brother Sebastiano, who was making his debut, marking the first time since 1915 that two brothers had started a match for Italy.

Epic Zidane celebration after late Olise stunner

France dominated and hit the woodwork twice but needed a stunning, late goal from substitute Michael Olise to finally break the deadlock.

France was without Mbappé, who has already returned to Real Madrid, after limping off with an injury to his left knee moments after scoring a record-extending 67th goal for his country in Friday’s 1-0 victory against Turkey.

It took something special to break the Belgians down and that happened two minutes from time, when Olise — who had only come on in the 75th minute — received the ball inside his own half and sprinted down the right before cutting in and driving into the bottom left corner.

Zidane celebrated by running down the touchline screaming, before fiercely kicking a ball that was in his path.

“I went along with the play — I wanted to be part of it," Zidane said with a smile. “I saw him go on a dribbling run and thought to myself: ‘He’s going to score!’ I was fully behind him, anyway.”

Zidane had made nine changes to his starting lineup, including handing debuts to Jérémy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Lucas Da Cunha.

Belgium goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a number of important saves, while Désiré Doué hit the crossbar in the 12th minute and Da Cunha saw a fierce effort from 25 yards come off the post.

Sweden stays perfect

In League B, Sweden made it two wins out of two with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Poland, while Bosnia-Herzegovina won 4-2 at Romania.

Both games in Group B2 ended in goalless draws. Northern Ireland drew 0-0 against Hungary, while Ukraine’s match at Georgia ended in the same scoreline.

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See AP’s full soccer coverage here

A house fire in Geneva ended with six dogs dead and left the home a loss, according to Seminole County officials.

Firefighters were called to the single-family home on Snow Hill Road around 10 a.m. Monday.

Upon arrival, half of the home was engulfed in flames. The fire has since been fully extinguished.

The fire caused a partial roof collapse, leaving the house a complete loss.

Eleven dogs were found inside the home, with six dead and others transported to a shelter for care.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office also reported that the agency will be pursuing criminal charges related to animal cruelty. However, no information was released regarding the identity of the suspect.

No other injuries were reported. It is not clear what caused the fire.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The update came during an announcement at Kennedy Space Center, where NASA and Boeing leaders said they have identified the issues from Starliner’s test flight and are working through required fixes before putting astronauts back on board.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said corrective actions have been assigned based on the findings from the post-flight review.

“Corrective actions have been assigned across the recommendations with the work divided between what is required for an uncrewed Starliner 1 mission and what must be completed before it carries our astronauts once again,” Isaacman said.

The next Starliner mission is expected to be uncrewed and would travel to the International Space Station. NASA and Boeing said that flight could happen before the end of the year.A crewed Starliner mission is now planned for 2028. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg is expected to command that flight.

“We’re putting the program on a path to correct the key technical deficiencies and return to crewed flight as soon as we’re ready,” Hoburg said.

John Mulholland, Boeing’s Commercial Crew vice president and program manager, said NASA has already approved about 90% of Starliner’s human spaceflight certification requirements.

“We are in great shape for Starliner 1 and the certification ahead of the Starliner 2 mission in 2028,” Mulholland said.

NASA and Boeing said safety remains the priority as the program moves toward its next test flight.

Monday’s Starliner announcement comes ahead of NASA’s Crew-13 launch, which is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. Thursday.

Newly obtained body camera video from the Winter Springs Police Department shows Bruce Gittleman being arrested in June after officers responded to a 911 call from the neighborhood.

“This guy who has been harassing me for about 10 years just tried to run me over with his golf cart,” the caller told dispatchers.

When asked whether the golf cart hit him, the caller said no.

“He usually just gets close and then veers off just to make a statement,” the caller said.

In police video, an officer can be heard telling Gittleman that he was being accused of assault with a deadly weapon.

“We have a witness and also a victim saying you tried to hit him with a golf cart,” the officer said. “We have a witness saying the same thing.”

Gittleman denied trying to hurt anyone and told officers the encounter came after an argument with a neighbor.

“He turned around, he come back out in the street with the mower, and he’s yelling at me as I’m riding by,” Gittleman told police. “That’s the extent of it.”

During the investigation, officers also said Gittleman should not have been operating the golf cart because he had a cancelled driver’s license. Police told him a valid license was required to drive the golf cart in that area because it was not a private driveway or recreational area.

“No one ever told me that,” Gittleman said in the video.According to the police report, Gittleman has a history of disturbances in Hacienda Village, including prior arrests for battery and trespassing.

The case is now in trial posture. Gittleman is expected to appear in court later this week for trial scheduling.

Caleb Flynn, 40, has pleaded not guilty to murder, assault and tampering with evidence charges in the February shooting of Ashley Flynn, 37, a schoolteacher and volleyball coach, at their Tipp City home, north of Dayton. Flynn and their two daughters were home when police arrived.

Flynn’s trial, which heads to closing arguments on Tuesday, has featured testimony from a woman who said she and Flynn had been having an affair at the time of his wife’s killing. Jurors also heard AI-generated love songs that prosecutors say he made for his paramour and some of the more than 100,000 text messages that authorities say they exchanged.

Prosecutors say Flynn staged a home invasion to mislead investigators and claimed in a frantic 911 call that a burglar had shot his wife. Flynn's alleged paramour, 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, testified that he had remarked that he hated his wife and harbored thoughts of killing her.

Here’s what you need to know about Flynn’s trial:

The woman in the affair testified against him

Botner's bombshell affair testimony has been the highlight so far. On the witness stand for two days, Botner described how she met Flynn in 2022 while she was a 20-year-old intern at his church and carried on an affair with him that spanned more than a year.

She detailed the secret life she says they shared, including candid conversations in which he mused about leaving his wife and wanting her dead.

“He told me that he hates her,” Botner testified. “He told me the only reason that he’s still with her is because of the girls.”

Botner sobbed as she read some of her text messages with Flynn, saying she regretted telling him: “I want to kill her, Caleb.”

Rather than dissuade her from that dark thought, Flynn replied: “That makes two of us.”

In August 2025, about six months before the killing, Flynn texted Botner: “I was up until 4 a.m. last night crying, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail."

In another text message read in court, Botner said she wasn't serious, telling Flynn: “I'm not asking that you take her life obviously, because that's not what you should do, and I know you actually wouldn't. But to make the divorce happen, it would change everything.”

When a prosecutor asked how she felt about Flynn now, Botner said: “I hate him.” Asked why, she said: “Because I believe that he murdered his wife.”

Jurors heard love songs he made with AI

Prosecutors played some of Flynn’s AI-generated love songs, which included lyrics such as: “Age never mattered, when it was you and me," and “we danced on the edge of a life we could choose, so close to forever, so much left to lose.”

They also played audio of Flynn's 911 call, in which he said someone had broken into his home and killed his wife. He told a dispatcher that she was shot multiple times in the head and didn't know whether the intruder was still there.

When police arrived, the garage door, a side door and the center console of Flynn’s pickup truck were all open. Flynn told officers he kept a gun in the console, but no weapon was found there, according to a police report. Police say they never found the gun used in the killing.

Jurors also saw videos of Flynn’s police interviews. Crying and wearing a sweatshirt that said, “God-Sized Vision,” he said he was sleeping on the couch when he was awoken by a pair of gunshots. Flynn told investigators that a man had come to the door a day before the killing and handed his wife an American flag while making a “weird sales pitch for America.”

In another police interview, Flynn told investigators: “We are a normal married couple who love each other and disagree. I’ve never laid hands on her.”

Defense rests without calling any witnesses

Flynn didn't testify on his own behalf. Nor did anybody else.

After eight days of testimony from 40 prosecution witnesses, including detectives and forensics experts, Flynn's lawyers decided not to call any witnesses.

The prosecution and defense both rested their cases on Monday. That leaves Tuesday for closing arguments, followed by the start of jury deliberations.

In an opening statement, defense lawyer Emily Smith acknowledged Flynn's affair. But, she told jurors: “Caleb is not on trial for being a bad husband. He’s not on trial for cheating. You’re not here to deliberate on whether or not you like Caleb.”

Prosecutors opted not to call Flynn’s daughters, ages 10 and 12, as witnesses.

Caleb Flynn auditioned on ‘American Idol’ years ago

Flynn appeared in season 12 in 2013. He sang in televised auditions in Chicago before judges Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson and Nicki Minaj but did not advance to the main competition in Hollywood, where Candice Glover took the crown.

“Music is all I know,” Flynn said on the show. “It’s what I live to do, and I love to sing.”

Flynn said God inspired him to be a performer. He credited his wife with encouraging him to try out for “American Idol” again after he missed the cut a few seasons earlier.

“I love my wife more than anything,” he said. “She’s very, very pretty. Oof, I love her.”

Ashley Flynn was an educator, coach and church volunteer

Ashley Flynn coached middle school volleyball and was a substitute teacher, Tipp City Schools said on its Facebook page. In her obituary, she was described as “a devoted and loving wife, and a caring and dedicated mother.”

“She was known for her beautiful smile, warmth, kindness, and the positive impact she had on so many — both in and out of the classroom and on the court,” the school district said.

According to her online obituary, the Tipp City High School and Lee University graduate also volunteered at her church, Christian Life Center, and was part of a program that teaches the Bible to public school students.

“Ashley was known as a shining light of joy to all who crossed her path, effortlessly encouraging others along the way,” the obituary said. “Her genuine care for people reflected the selfless love we all strive to share.

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

Also, Trump disputed that he asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States, contradicting an account from the U.S. ambassador to China. The whiplash over the prospect of arms sales from the U.S. to its ascendant geopolitical rival underlines the Trump administration’s often uncoordinated and contradictory approach to China.

Here's the latest:

FBI chief salutes outgoing deputy Andrew Bailey

FBI Director Kash Patel is praising Andrew Bailey, his outgoing deputy director who is leaving his post at the end of the week.

In a post on X, Patel said Bailey may be leaving the bureau but “his fantastic contribution instituting critical reforms which resulted in our historic success will live on.”

Bailey was named co-deputy director in August 2025 to serve alongside Dan Bongino, who also held the title. Bongino resigned months later but Bailey remained in the job even after the FBI added another co-deputy director, veteran agent Christopher Raia.

Bailey said he was returning to Missouri, where he served as the Republican state attorney general, to be with his family.

Review finds 8 noncitizens have voted in Arizona

An investigation of 60 registered voters in Arizona who were suspected of being noncitizens has concluded that 52 were U.S. citizens.

The remaining eight were noncitizens who were in the United States legally, said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, whose office hasn’t yet decided whether to charge the eight with a crime.

The problem is attributed to a flaw in Arizona’s motor vehicle division system that was discovered in 2024. People who got their first driver’s licenses before proof of citizenship was required in order to vote were later grandfathered as if they had provided such proof when they renewed their licenses.

Mitchell examined the voter registrations after County Recorder Justin Heap informed her of 207 registered voters who were suspected of being noncitizens.

In February, Heap’s office used a controversial federal voter database in a bid to confirm voter eligibility of the registered voters in question.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on the SAVE database before November’s elections. It’s a program that has drawn scrutiny for its tendency to wrongly flag some eligible voters as noncitizens.

Pope Leo says artificial intelligence safety concerns should be taken seriously

Pope Leo XIV said Monday that concerns about artificial intelligence going rogue are not “fake news” and should be taken seriously, insisting that safety issues raised by AI experts should be discussed and acted on.

Leo, who dedicated his first encyclical to AI and protecting humanity in its wake, was asked during a press conference about what the United States and China especially should be doing to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks to humanity. President Donald Trump has called concerns about AI going rogue a “hoax.”

Trump has been a champion of AI, often warning that the United States must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. He has said efforts to limit the technology were part of a “conspiracy” by his political opponents.

Several AI giants, including Anthropic, have called for a slowdown in development to give safety measures time to catch up to the fast-moving technology.

Judge blocks federal effort to use counterterrorism grants to pressure states over election practices

A federal court judge on Monday blocked the authority of President Donald Trump’s administration to withhold some federal counterterrorism funding from states that don’t meet its election administration demands.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., wrote in a 24-page opinion that the Department of Homeland Security didn’t have the authority from Congress to make such demands on the grants, and that the demands it made didn’t meet legal thresholds requiring it to be related to the underlying grant purpose.

The plaintiffs were Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, El Paso and Harris counties in Texas and Columbus, Ohio.

Over the summer, a Federal Emergency Management Agency antiterrorism grant announcement included a list of election-related requirements, saying that 20% of grants for states and urban areas would be withheld until they comply.

The list of items for states includes verifying the citizenship of all registered voters and election workers.

Places that use electronic voting systems that use bar codes or QR codes to count votes would have to submit plans to switch to hand-marked paper ballots. Every jurisdiction would have to show it audits results.

Trump disagrees with bail for men arrested near US-run air base in UK

Trump said he was “surprised” that the five young British men arrested Sunday on explosives and terror charges near the base in England were allowed to be released.

A U.K.-owned base, RAF Fairford has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East, including this year’s war with Iran.

The men were released on bail on Monday, and counterterror detectives said they were investigating “multiple lines of inquiry,” including whether there was a link to Iran.

“I know the answer,” Trump said, when asked if there were a connection to Iran. “I can be very specific, but I’d rather not say it.”

Trump says US ambassador to China ‘probably’ meant US selling to Taiwan — not China

Asked about ’David Perdue’s comment on Fox News Channel’s “Fox News Sunday,” Trump said, “I never heard of that one.”

On Sunday, Perdue said that Trump had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States. Such an offer would upend generations of U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan and expose U.S. technology to a potential foe.

Perdue’s remark came days after Trump hosted Xi for a state visit in Washington. Perdue didn’t specify when the offer was made.

On Monday, Trump said he was “going to have to ask” Perdue about the comment, trying to correct the reporter who asked about it — and suggesting that surely Perdue had meant arms sales to Taiwan, not China.

Trump says he’ll stump in Iowa again ahead of midterms

“I’m going to come to Iowa,” Trump said in the Oval Office announcing a new $15 billion steel plant there, after talking with Rep. Ashley Hinson about her Senate campaign there.

“We’re going to do a great rally and we’ll all be there together,” Trump said. “We have to get you all elected.”

Both Trump and Vance have already campaigned with GOP candidates in Iowa, and their continued attention on the state reflects the administration’s understanding that governor and Senate races have become competitive.

Trump has vowed to campaign in 35 of the most competitive battleground races in the final sprint to November’s midterm elections. He plans on Saturday to visit Ohio in support of Sen. Jon Husted, following stops in Oklahoma and Alabama in the preceding days.

“I love Iowa,” Trump said.

Oval Office gathering of Iowa officials for steel plant announcement shows Trump’s midterm focus on the state

In the room as Trump announced a new $15 billion steel plant in Iowa being built with backing from an Indian conglomerate were a veritable phalanx of Republican officials from the state that’s drawn elevated focus from the White House this midterm cycle.

Trump was joined by outgoing Sen. Joni Ernst, who’s not running for reelection. Trump said he’s “really going to miss Ernst,” his longtime ally. Trump said he had seen some “good polls” for the GOP nominee to replace her, Rep. Ashley Hinson, who was also in the room, as was Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both touched down in the state this year to shore up Republican enthusiasm, trying to energize voters ahead of governor and Senate races that have become competitive.

Trump credits his ‘powerful’ steel tariffs for the opening of the steel plant

The president touted the 50% tariffs on steel imports that he imposed last year as the impetus for the steel plant that officials were announcing Monday will be built in Iowa by Mesabi Metallics.

“Our steel industry is roaring back to life. Everyone is building their plants here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It’s really not that complicated.”

US revokes visas from 27 Latin American officials and their families, including Bolivia’s attorney general

The Trump administration is revoking the visas of 27 Latin American officials, former officials and their families, including Bolivia’s current attorney general, on corruption charges.

The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – the last three of which Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited earlier this month. The administration says the revocations are part of broader efforts to clamp down on corruption, particularly related to the drug trade and human trafficking, by the so-called “Shield of the Americas” bloc, which President Donald Trump created earlier this year.

The State Department announced the revocations on Monday.

The 27 targeted include Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca and several other Bolivian prosecutors and judges. Two Colombians, a business mogul and a lawmaker, along with two Ecuadorians, and one Peruvian judge are also affected.

US is skeptical of any promises made by Iran and wants nuclear issues addressed

The U.S. is having talks with Iran through mediators that are seen as positive and constructive, but it will not reach a deal with Tehran until nuclear issues are addressed, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment directly to the media.

Trump is willing to grant sanctions relief to Iran, along with the release of some frozen funds, for concrete progress on nuclear issues, and Iran has indicated it is flexible on nuclear issues, but the sides remain far apart on timing and which side makes the first moves, according to the official.

The official said the U.S. is skeptical of promises from Iran after it broke the memorandum of understanding by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, so Washington is looking for signs that Iran is serious this time. It was not immediately clear what those signs might be.

U.S. officials feel their position is getting stronger as Tehran feels the impact of sanctions.

—By Michelle Price

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

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

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

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

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— Samy Magdy and Matthew Lee

Democratic campaign chair says party has ‘momentum’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump to announce $15 billion steel mill planned for Iowa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The announcement of the company's Open Agent Safety Platform follows a series of revelations from top AI companies about their models escaping and breaking into other organizations.

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

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

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

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

Earlence Fernandes, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego's computer science and engineering department, called Nvidia's security platform a “step in the right direction.”

“We need more work that seeks to build protections around the model. I’ve been talking about how traditional cybersecurity ideas are necessary to help control and secure AI agents for a while now," he said in an email. “There are however, several challenges that traditional cyber security approaches still cannot currently solve. For example, what is a good security policy to configure the system with? An agent needs access to real resources to be useful, but giving it the minimum amount of access is tricky and non-trivial.”

Fernandes added that to solve the AI security problem, both sides need to cooperate, with companies continuing to invest in alignment efforts and the open source community and academia "creating systems-level solutions to account for when a model does engage in unwanted behavior.”

Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, makes high-end chips that have emerged as the leading building blocks for AI. The company's board has cleared the way for the company to spend $150 billion more in share buybacks, bringing its stock repurchase program to $235 billion, the company said Monday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The indirect talks come as the conflict, which is entering its eighth month, has caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world’s most crucial waterways have failed.

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

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — who stayed in New York after last week’s gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly — will meet with Qatari mediators Monday about the latest discussions, Iranian state media reported Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei as saying.

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

But the Trump administration will not reach a deal with Tehran until nuclear issues are addressed, another U.S. official said. Trump is willing to grant sanctions relief to Iran, along with the release of some frozen funds, for concrete progress on nuclear issues, and while Iran has indicated it is flexible on nuclear issues, the sides are far apart on timing and which side makes the first moves, the official said.

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

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

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

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

One regional official said the U.S. is seeking Iranian concessions on nuclear issues that include allowing inspectors to enter the country. Under the memorandum of understanding the two sides signed in June that collapsed within days, Iran’s nuclear program was meant to be discussed over a 60-day period.

The U.S. officials say the United States is skeptical about whether Iran can be persuaded to ultimately reach Trump’s conditions for a deal and would be serious about any promises it makes, especially after it broke the interim deal by firing on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. officials feel their position is getting stronger as Tehran feels the impact of sanctions.

Iran's latest proposal seeks faster action

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

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

Meanwhile, Araghchi met Monday with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, whose office said he welcomed diplomatic efforts in the last week to end the conflict and urged the parties to keep talking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As proof, consider the descriptions offered about their summer vacations.

“It was short,” Wembanyama said.

"The longest, shortest summer ever,” Brunson said.

Short offseasons are the goal for every team in the NBA — because they want to play as long as possible, like the champion Knicks and runner-up Spurs did last season. And the journey toward potential title runs have now started in earnest around the league, with media days being held for most teams on Monday and practices for everybody happening on Tuesday.

“Right now, the best team in the NBA is the New York Knicks,” Miami forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said at Heat media day Monday, tipping his cap to the reigning champions. “And they have one of the best players, Jalen Brunson. ... But we’re going to do our job. We’ve got to do our job, man. If we do our job and we win games, then we’ll see.”

It's not an unheard-of approach, obviously, but it worked wonders for the Knicks last season when they ended a 53-year title drought for the franchise.

“Not being satisfied, I think, is the biggest takeaway moving forward,” Brunson said. “You still want to figure out how you can grow as a person and as a player.”

There is no shortage of teams in the league with confidence that they can contend, especially in this era of parity — with eight different franchises having won titles in the past eight seasons. Among the key moves from recent months: Philadelphia loaded up by adding LeBron James and Jaylen Brown, Miami added Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson, the Toronto Raptors brought back Kawhi Leonard, LaMelo Ball headed to Minnesota and DeMar DeRozan is set to pair up with Nikola Jokic in Denver.

James — the NBA's all-time leading scorer, entering Year 24 of his career — was asked what he can do for the 76ers.

“Whatever the team needs for me to do,” James said, wearing his new 76ers uniform in public for the first time. “I think the luxury of my game is I can do everything. Literally, I can do everything.”

And while the Eastern Conference is loaded with depth, it's two Western Conference teams — the Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder — that are favorites to win the 2027 championship, according to most sportsbooks.

Here's a good sign for the Thunder and a bad sign for the remainder of the NBA: “I feel like I got better this summer, for sure,” back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said at Oklahoma City media day.

Wembanyama said the Spurs grew from the pain that came with losing to the Knicks.

“I’ve had a few sleepless nights; maybe not sleepless nights, but hard to find sleep sometimes or hard emotions. Haunting, sometimes,” Wembanyama said. "But there’s just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it.”

At Golden State's media day, Stephen Curry — a perennial All-Star and the league's all-time 3-point king — said the Warriors' expectations will remain high.

“Championship mentality is always a part of who you are, but we're not putting that type of pressure on ourselves on Day 1," Curry said. “Let’s figure out what good basketball looks like for this team, and we’ll figure that out as we go.”

Indiana, which lost Game 7 of the finals in 2025 to Oklahoma City, now has Tyrese Haliburton back after he missed all of last season with a torn Achilles, and that means the Pacers will also likely be among the many legit contenders in the East.

“I am healthy. I am 100%. There will be no restrictions,” Haliburton said. “That is not news. There is no source. I am the source. I’m good. I’m ready to go for the year.”

Leonard's return to the Raptors — he led Toronto to the 2019 NBA title — came after a year where the end of his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers was overshadowed by a salary-cap-circumvention scandal that led to massive sanctions against his now-former team such as the forfeiture of five first-round picks, a $30 million fine and a one-year banishment of owner Steve Ballmer.

“I think the best decision is to move forward and focus on my time being a Toronto Raptor," Leonard said. "I already was a distraction for the past 70 days and wasn’t able to meet my teammates, do any of that minicamp stuff with them. Moving forward, I just want to talk about the Toronto Raptors. ... I just want to focus on basketball again.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Courts have largely rejected the administration’s previous efforts, which reflect untrue claims about widespread voting fraud and come ahead of November’s midterm elections where Democrats seek to take control of one or both chambers of Congress and check Trump’s power.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington, D.C., wrote in a 24-page opinion that federal agencies didn't have the authority from Congress to add such conditions to the grants, and that the conditions didn't meet legal thresholds requiring them to relate to the underlying grant purpose.

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor its subagency handling the grants, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, immediately responded to a request for comment. The grant conditions were the latest in a line of actions by Trump’s administration to shape how elections are run, a task that has long been the job of states.

The plaintiffs that sued were Columbus, Ohio; Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and El Paso and Harris counties in Texas.

Over the summer, a FEMA antiterrorism grant announcement included a list of election-related requirements, saying that 20% of grants for states and urban areas would be withheld until they comply.

The program includes more than $1 billion for states and local and tribal governments for a variety of programs aimed at preventing terror at crowded places, online, with border security — and around elections. FEMA expects to award 56 grants.

The list of items for states includes verifying the citizenship of all registered voters and election workers.

Places that use electronic voting systems that use barcodes or QR codes to count votes would have to submit plans to switch to hand-marked paper ballots. Every jurisdiction would have to show it audits results.

In the lawsuit, the cities and counties said FEMA had no authority to impose those conditions, “not under its governing statute and not under the Constitution.”

Congress authorized FEMA to help jurisdictions protect critical infrastructure from terrorism and cyberattacks, not to decide who can vote, how ballots must be counted or how states maintain voter rolls, the cities and counties wrote.

“Never before has FEMA purported to regulate how states and counties run elections,” they said in the lawsuit.

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at Knoxville Job Corps. Prosecutors said Pike feared Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area where she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer. The case got widespread attention because of the brutality of the killing, the ages of the people involved and because a satanic symbol was carved into the victim’s body.

Pike does not deny her guilt, but her attorneys and supporters argue a death sentence is not appropriate for a crime committed at that age by a teen with untreated mental illness after a childhood of brutal sexual abuse and neglect. Slemmer’s mother wants the lethal injection go forward, saying she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Monday that he would not grant clemency. Pike’s attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution.

The request for clemency points to Pike's traumatic past

Pike's attorneys said she experienced an exceptionally traumatic and abusive childhood.

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike was sexually abused starting from when she was a toddler and that she was raped at ages 11 and 17. He said Pike's lawyers at the penalty phase of her trial did not present the jury with what he said was critical information about her past or argue that her age should be a consideration.

Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Pike told police she initially only wanted to fight Slemmer but ended up killing her in a frenzied attack. In her clemency petition, Pike’s attorneys said her untreated mental illness and background made her unable to “put the brakes on.”

“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected. I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime,” Pike said in a statement included in her clemency petition.

Ferrell said more today is known about adolescent brain development and that Pike's death sentence is an outlier. He noted that Pike's boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole because of his age. He was denied parole last year. A third teen admitted to being an accessory and received probation.

In the modern death penalty era, Ferrell said, other 18-year-olds who were sentenced to death in Tennessee have since had their sentences reduced.

The Death Penalty Information Center said 275 people nationwide have been executed for crimes they committed at age 18, 19 or 20 in the modern death penalty era, but that death sentences for those in that age group have become increasingly rare.

“If Christa Pike was tried today, I do not believe a jury that knew about the documented sexual abuse and neglect she experienced as a child would sentence her to death,” Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said.

The victim’s mother wants the execution to go forward

Speaking by telephone from Florida, Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, also pointed to her daughter's age and said Slemmer never got a chance to grow up.

“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” Martinez said.

Martinez said her daughter volunteered with the Special Olympics, loved roller skating and wanted to pursue a career in computers.

“She was easygoing. She was a computer geek to begin with. She and my husband would build and tear apart the computers constantly,” Martinez said. “She trusted everybody, and that was her downfall.”

She said her daughter called her from Job Corps on the night of the murder, but the call was dropping because of bad reception. When Martinez called back, her daughter had already gone out.

“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen. Holidays are the worst. Colleen’s birthday was last week. She would have been 51,” Martinez said.

The killing rocked the city of Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large chunk of asphalt. Elements of the crime stoked fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic” of the 1980s and 1990s. Shipp, Pike's boyfriend, has admitted that he was the one who carved a pentagram, a star-shaped symbol associated with Satanism, into her body.

Executions of female inmates are rare in Tennessee and nationwide

If Pike’s execution proceeds as scheduled, it would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman since 1820, Maher said.

Executions of female inmates are also rare in the U.S. Since 1976, 18 women have been executed in the country, representing about 1% of all executions, according to the center.

Most recently, Missouri in 2023 executed Amber McLaughlin, a transgender woman, for a 2003 killing, in what is believed to be the first execution of a transgender woman in the U.S. In 2021, the federal government executed Lisa Montgomery, marking the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government has put a female inmate to death. Georgia executed a woman in 2015.

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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama.

Bailey was named co-deputy director in August 2025 to serve alongside Dan Bongino at a time of high tensions between FBI and Justice Department leadership over the handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The appointment was unusual because the FBI for years has had only one person at a time serve as deputy director and because the position, the No. 2 job at the bureau, is typically held by a career agent.

An ardent backer of President Donald Trump, Bailey was serving as the Republican attorney general of Missouri when he was picked to be deputy director with Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and popular podcaster who also had not previously worked for the FBI. Bailey remained in his position after Bongino announced his departure and as the FBI in January added another deputy director, veteran agent Christopher Raia, to serve under Director Kash Patel.

Bailey announced his resignation from the FBI in a post on X on Monday in which he thanked Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche and Patel for “the opportunity to serve."

“With great pride in what we have accomplished, I am announcing that I am stepping down to return to my family in Missouri. I am confident Director Patel will continue to reform the FBI, combat violent crime, defend the homeland, ensure strong organizational accountability, and restore public trust in this institution of excellence,” Bailey wrote.

His last day will be Friday, an FBI spokesman said.

Patel in his own post credited him for “dedicated service” and for “instituting critical reforms.”

Bailey maintained a low public profile during his brief tenure as deputy director, though he was present in January when agents executed a search warrant at the main election facility in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of an election fraud investigation.

Practically Perfect Wishes and Dreams, also known as PPW, provided written answers to News 6 on Monday, Sept. 28, saying it completed three wishes and denying allegations that its personnel used the program for personal gain.

The organization said it sent closing notices to 80 families, most of whom had not completed its onboarding and planning process. PPW stressed that the number did not represent 80 scheduled or planned trips. Unfinished trips will not move forward, it said.

The responses came after a tip to the News 6 Neighborhood Network led to messages from additional families. Reporter Alex Cook first sent PPW questions on Sept. 14 and interviewed three Michigan mothers about their experiences on Sept. 24.

Patricia Squires said Tina Rivero, one of the people running PPW, promised that her family’s hotel, Disney tickets and meals would be covered. Her 22-year-old daughter has a cognitive disability, and her 9-year-old son was also looking forward to the trip.

“My 9-year-old son said, ‘Is this really going to happen?’” Squires recalled.

She said Rivero responded: “Oh, I promise, I promise this is really happening.”

Screenshots Squires provided to News 6 show a travel itinerary with hotel information and Disney activities. A dinner entry states: “This meal will be covered by the Visa given to you by Practically Perfect Wishes and Dreams.”

Squires said Rivero was still discussing the arrangements with her the day before she received the closing notice.

“I was on the phone with her, going over all those things that she had promised,” Squires said. She said Rivero assured her that confirmations would be provided before the family left.

Danielle Dickson, another mother interviewed by News 6, described a group where parents had been comparing their PPW experiences. During the interview, she read off several states where members said they lived.

“Two from California, one from Pennsylvania, two from Missouri, one from South Carolina, one from Texas,” Dickson said.

In responses provided through attorney Chad Rogers, PPW said telling a family its wish had been “granted” meant the approval and planning process was moving forward.

“It did not mean that trip arrangements were finalized or that all expenses had already been funded,” the organization wrote.

PPW said families still needed to complete required paperwork before setting dates and that fulfillment could depend on subsequent fundraising.

The organization also said fundraising was voluntary.

“Families were invited to fundraise but were not required to; families coordinated their own fundraising,” PPW wrote. It said transaction records would need to be reviewed before it could explain how particular families’ donations were allocated or spent.

PPW’s closing letter cited Rivero’s health, saying her condition had taken an unexpected turn and that the organization could not continue operating without her. The letter announced an immediate closure and said families would be contacted individually as necessary about further details.

In Monday’s responses, PPW identified several contributing factors: Rivero’s health, funding challenges and “negative accusations surrounding the organization.”

It said it applied for one grant this past summer but had received neither a decision nor funding.

PPW said its personnel estimate they contributed approximately $10,000 of their own money toward trips and operations. It also reported receiving approximately $1,500 in commissions associated with wish-granting activities, which it said were fully reinvested in the program.

“It disputes allegations that its personnel used the program for personal gain,” the statement said.

PPW said it completed three wishes. News 6 also received a positive account from Shalynn Miller, who said the organization fulfilled a wish trip for her mother shortly before her mother died.

Miller described the experience as “the most phenomenal gift” her family could have received.

PPW said it is aware of four families who incurred a combined $6,383 in personal travel expenses related to anticipated trips.

Although its agreements assigned responsibility for families’ own travel expenses to the families, the organization said it intends to reimburse that amount.

PPW reported sending an initial installment on Sept. 22. It expects to finish reimbursing the first family in October, then make further payments of $600 per month until the full $6,383 has been reimbursed.

The organization said it had contacted or attempted to contact three of the four families and was working to contact the fourth.

Asked for supporting records, PPW said it would consider providing information about specific transactions while taking families’ privacy and the possibility of litigation into account.

News 6 is continuing to seek an interview with Rivero about the organization and the families’ concerns.

For Squires, the immediate challenge is explaining the change in plans to her children. She said she cannot afford to provide everything Rivero promised, but she is trying to put together a trip to Florida.

“Disney is someplace that we never would have been able to afford,” Squires said.

She recalled her son asking a different question after the plans fell apart:

“Well, at least we can go see the beach, right, Mom?”

In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people, high tides and pounding waves from Polo were already breaching sea barriers as residents worried for their homes in the mostly empty town. Hundreds of people in the region evacuated, hunkering down in nearby shelters in schools and other facilities.

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

Polo barreling toward Baja California peninsula

Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Forecasters said it would hit the Mexican mainland after lashing Baja California Sur with heavy rains, and that “life threatening winds and flash floods (were) expected to occur soon.” It could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. Southwest later in the week.

Residents of the area were bracing themselves, plagued by the uncertainty of what was to come. Margarita Bobadilla and her family were sheltered in a local school, saying it was safer than weathering the storm in her wooden house.

“Material things can be replaced, but family can’t. My children and I decided to come here last night, and now we’re waiting to see what happens.”

Others lingered in their mostly emptied town of Puerto San Carlos, crossing their fingers the light flooding and powerful winds would be the worst of Polo.

Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency, reported that Polo would make landfall later in the afternoon. With Polo approaching Mexico, the Mexican navy said it had personnel ready across the northern Pacific coast and deployed three vessels that could ship aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm. Local authorities along the Baja California Peninsula said they had shelters at the ready.

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

At the same time, Tropical Storm Rachel was brewing over Mexico’s southwest coast. The hurricane center said Monday that Rachel had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was located about 225 miles (365 kilometers) south-southwest of Acapulco. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

It's been a busy season for Pacific storms

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

While Polo is slated to weaken over northern Mexico, tropical weather was also supposed to deal a one-two punch to the U.S. Southwest.

The region has already been saturated by heavy rain over the past months, and regions like New Mexico and Grand Canyon were hit by devastating floods earlier this month. Now, the remnants of Polo are forecast to track east across the region, expected to douse Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Texas with inches of rain.

That’s a good chunk of the 8-12 inches the arid area of canyons and rocky expanses with little vegetation usually gets in a year. Such terrain is already conducive to flash flooding, sudden torrents that can sweep down canyons and other low-lying areas with little warning. The new tropical weather adds more risk, said Andrew Mangham, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

“We’re getting caught up here in a very, very short time,” Mangham said. “And that’s not really what we want. We want nice rains, you know, all summer long.”

In Hawaii, floods and mudslides are still a risk

Nolo, meanwhile, was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close. Nolo drenched communities in south and southeastern parts of Big Island over the weekend, prompting some highway closures on Saturday evening and Sunday as rushing water and boulders blocked roadways.

Damage assessments are still underway as Nolo continues moving west away from the main Hawaiian islands. National Hurricane Center specialist Elizabeth Adams said Monday that Nolo was closing in on Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a marine conservation area northwest of the islands.

“We are expecting conditions to rapidly deteriorate near that national monument,” she said.

Power outages persist on Maui, with over 10,000 households and businesses lacking electricity Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us, primarily on the west side of the island.

Most of the outages were related to storm damage, according to statements from Hawaiian Electric. High winds of over 60 mph (96.5 kph) Sunday prevented helicopters from flying over mountain ridges this weekend to assess transmission line damage, the utility said, adding that it expected the outages to persist until midday Monday.

Hawaii residents were still recovering from several other natural events this year, including spring Kona low storms, a May earthquake, Hurricane Lala in August and Hurricane Lowell in September. Those events affected more than 1,290 homes, according to the state, and caused nearly $700 million in damage and recovery costs.

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Photojournalist Eduardo Verdugo contributed from Puerto San Carlos, Mexico, reporter Julie Walker reported from New York, reporter Mead Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado. Videojournalist Eugene Garcia and photographer Gregory Bull contributed from Hilo, Hawaii.

Trump announced the new plant at an Oval Office event alongside steel executives and Iowa Republicans, including two running for office. The event highlighted Iowa's elevated status for Republicans and for Trump, who on Monday pledged to campaign there in coming weeks.

“We're going to do a great rally. We'll all be there together,” Trump said alongside Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who is up for re-election. Also joining him were Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Joni Ernst, who are not seeking new terms in office.

The new steel plant is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India’s Essar Group, an industrial conglomerate. Trump said the project will become the largest steel plant in the United States. It is expected to produce 10 million tons of steel a year after it's fully built out.

The plant was projected to begin production in 2030, supplied by a new $2.5 billion iron ore mine that Mesabi developed along Minnesota's Mesabi iron range. The resulting steel will be produced from start to finish in the United States, the White House said.

Trump said the American steel industry is “roaring back to life,” crediting it to the 50% tariffs on steel imports that he imposed last year.

“Everyone is building their plants here because they don’t want to pay tariffs,” Trump said. “It’s really not that complicated.”

Trump in June also approved the takeover of iconic American steelmaker U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, a move that had been blocked by Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor, and initially opposed by Trump as a 2024 Republican presidential candidate. After returning to office, Trump later backed a deal that gave the federal government a say in some company decisions.

The Oval Office announcement at times took on the tone of a campaign event. Introducing Hinson, Trump described her as a “young lady who is going to be hopefully elected to the Senate.”

“She's outstanding, one of the top anywhere in the country,” Trump continued. “They talk about her all the time.”

Trump told Ernst she had done a wonderful job in the Senate and said he would miss her: “I can't believe you're leaving,” he said.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance both have touched down in Iowa this year to shore up Republican enthusiasm and energize voters before the Nov. 3 elections.

Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of Iowa's Republican Party, said the announcement was made possible by the state's Republican leadership, including from Reynolds.

“Investments of this magnitude do not come to Iowa by accident,” he said. “They come to states with low taxes, responsible budgets, fewer burdensome regulations, and leaders who understand that the role of the government is to help job creators succeed, not stand in their way.”

Mesabi Metallics is based in Nashwauk, Minnesota. The Essar Group is an industrial conglomerate formed in India in 1969, with ventures in industries from energy and mining to technology and retail, according to its website.

Joe Broking, CEO at Mesabi Metallics, called the announcement a “major moment for U.S. made steel," saying the factory would be supplying a critical product that U.S. national defense, cars and trucks, shipbuilding, household appliances, energy and infrastructure depend on.

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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule had so many problems in 2024 that its two test pilots were stuck at the International Space Station for nearly a year. NASA later reclassified the botched mission as a crew-endangering “Type A mishap,” its most severe ranking.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced Monday that Boeing should be ready to launch a new and improved Starliner to the space station — with cargo but no crew — by December. Astronauts will not strap in until 2028 because of the need for further safety redesigns that will take months, if not years, to complete.

Manager Dana Weigel stressed that everyone must be confident that all of Starliner's problems have been resolved before putting astronauts back on board.

“Bottom line: We’re on the right path," said NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, who will command the next Starliner flight.

Hoburg said Starliner's original test pilots — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, now both retired — are “American heroes and I am deeply humbled to follow in their footsteps.”

NASA always wanted two U.S.-based means of getting astronauts to and from orbit. The space agency shelled out billions of dollars to Boeing as well as SpaceX for ferry service once the space shuttles retired.

Elon Musk's SpaceX became the first private business to send astronauts to orbit in 2020. His company will launch its 14th crew for NASA later this week. After struggling to carry out a pair of empty Starliner test flights, Boeing's Starliner flew astronauts Wilmore and Williams, but they had to hitch a ride back with SpaceX nine months later.

SpaceX intends to phase out its Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules in another few years and focus on its newer, larger Starship, which reached orbit for the first time Monday.

That is why NASA is so keen to redeem Boeing’s repeatedly bedeviled ride. The extra Starliner upgrades and new rocket certifications will cost NASA another $359 million, Weigel said. Among the many fixes: new valves and seals.

While the aging space station is due to be abandoned and deorbited by 2031, several private U.S. companies are working on their own orbital outposts that will need reliable taxi service. SpaceX's Starship is way too big to dock and Musk has moon and Mars travel as the company's overriding goals.

Why not simply bag Starliner and shop elsewhere?

“We always were committed to seeing this through with Boeing," Isaacman said, "and now we're on a very good path.”

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

Are we back to Square One? Also not exactly.

One week after three news outlets filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and his abrupt ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from White House grounds, the extraordinary First Amendment showdown has morphed into a wait-and-see game. For now, the players are the White House and, collectively, the five major networks that form the TV pool: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News.

And things have gotten murky.

Over the weekend, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the decision to keep CNN off Air Force One on Saturday as the president traveled to a college football game in Tennessee, despite the fact that it was CNN’s turn to provide pool coverage of Trump. The rest of the pool declined to provide a replacement, in solidarity with CNN.

“The president has every right to decide who gets to fly on his plane,” Blanche said in an interview Sunday with ABC. He said Trump was “sick and tired of certain media outlets just refusing to report accurate news.” And he added that news coverage he described as “misinformation” amounted to a national security issue.

“That is what is a national security problem, when you have complete misinformation coming out of the White House,” he said.

A federal judge threw cold water on the national security argument in his ruling last week granting a temporary restraining order against the White House ban. “The Court is skeptical … that Defendants’ interest in safeguarding national security is the actual motivation” for removal of access, Judge Timothy Kelly wrote.

But the ruling did not directly address the TV pool rotation, even though the news outlets’ lead attorney, Theodore Boutrous Jr., has said he believes the ruling applies to pool access.

And now pool access has become the battleground, with networks facing tough choices as the standoff persists with a president who, in his second term, has become increasingly willing to go to extreme lengths — in the courts, in the regulatory system and in his public statements — to quash coverage that he doesn't like.

For now, a decision to act on a case-by-case basis

At one point on Friday, it seemed everything was more or less settled. CNN, which had been blocked from its pool duties by Trump’s ban — prompting the other networks to refrain from their own pool coverage in solidarity — was back in. The network fulfilled its pool duty at a visit by Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the National Archives. For the first time in days, CNN aired live footage of the president.

But then came CNN's Air Force One setback on Saturday.

For now, networks in the pool have decided to address the ongoing standoff on a case-by-case basis, according to a person familiar with the pool’s operation, speaking on condition of anonymity to give details of ongoing discussions.

On Sunday, Fox covered a pool event; on Monday, NBC was covering the president in the Oval Office. CNN is not in the rotation until at least Thursday. If CNN is again barred from a pool event, the networks will decide together, presumably based on the newsworthiness of the situation, whether to provide a replacement or to refrain from coverage as they did previously.

Networks are ‘between a rock and a hard place’

The issues at stake are difficult. On the one hand, the networks want to take a stand on behalf of press freedom and against efforts to intimidate coverage. On the other, media outlets have an obvious purpose of providing news to their audiences.

“There are not a lot of good options,” said David A. Schulz, director of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School.

Should the White House continue to bar CNN, Schulz said, networks may choose to litigate, or to “exert their market power and say, 'We’re not going to play ball with you.’”

The question, Schulz added, is: “Who’s going to back down first?”

The networks “may well feel like they’re between a rock and a hard place," noted RonNell Andersen Jones, a law professor at the University of Utah.

“Capitulation might be perceived as abandonment of core components of press freedom,” Andersen Jones said. “But the practicalities of lengthy White House news blackouts are also complicated, and refusing to cover major news at the highest levels of government might itself feel like a failure to serve the goals of democracy.”

From Blanche’s weekend comments, it did not seem likely the White House was softening its stance.

“When it comes to the White House, it is the people’s house,” Blanche said, returning to an argument the administration has made since the beginning.

“It is a privilege, and not a right, to be there.”

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

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

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

Britain's national news agency, PA, reported without citing sources that police had not found viable explosives. Announcing that the suspects had been bailed, the head of U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing, Laurence Taylor, said that the suspects face stringent conditions and “absolutely remain under investigation."

Taylor said lines of inquiry include that the suspected offenses were committed by "proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”

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

Residents were evacuated from 85 homes in the village of Whelford near the base on Sunday, and army bomb-disposal experts used a robot to examine three white vans. The villagers were allowed to return home late Monday afternoon, though a cordon remained around the three vehicles, police said.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a meeting of the government’s COBRA emergency committee on Monday “to make sure we have the full picture" of the incident, he said.

The arrests came after reports of suspicious vehicles

It was unclear whether the arrested men had been on security services' radar. Local residents described seeing heightened security around RAF Fairford in recent days, with heavy vehicles parked across entrance gates.

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

A local farmer said she called police after seeing three oddly parked vans as she drove home late Saturday night, and that nearby she came across “a large group of men,” some with their faces covered. She said they scattered when they saw her vehicle.

She declined to be identified to protect her identity because she was describing what she saw as potential security lapses.

British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said the farmer “did exactly the right thing” by calling police but only had “a partial view” of the operation.

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

Iran has been linked to a series of attacks in Europe

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

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

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

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

Several people also have been charged with plotting to commit arson in the U.K. on behalf of Russia-linked groups.

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

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

US Air Force says personnel remain vigilant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We’ll let you know what we learn.

Leo, who dedicated his first encyclical to AI and protecting humanity in its wake, was asked during a press conference about what the United States and China especially should be doing to prevent AI from posing catastrophic risks to humanity. President Donald Trump has called concerns about AI going rogue a “hoax.”

“This is a problem that I think we need to sit down and talk about,” the American pope told reporters returning home from France. “We can’t just sit back and pretend nothing is going to happen.”

Trump has been a champion of AI, often warning that the United States must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. He has said efforts to limit the technology were part of a “conspiracy” by his political opponents.

Several AI giants, including Anthropic, have called for a slowdown in development to give safety measures time to catch up to the fast-moving technology. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, for example, has warned that within six to 12 months AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet.

Trump said on Sunday he planned to have a late dinner with Amodei, but he has not yet commented on the meeting.

“If someone were to ask me ‘Am I in panic mode?’ No I’m not. I sleep at night,” Leo said. “I do think that the concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in AI should be taken seriously.”

“I don’t think that that is ‘fake news’ as some have said to try and cause whether financial or other some other kind of benefit,” Leo said.

The pope, who called for robust regulation of AI and a slowdown of the technolgoy in his encyclical “Magnificent Humanity,” is up to speed on developments in the field.

Despite being at the end of a grueling four-day trip to France, Leo noted a news report Monday afternoon about Nvidia introducing guardrails into AI. He also noted that the company has previously resisted outside regulation of AI development.

Leo had identified AI as one of t he biggest challenges to humanity within days of his election and took the unusual step of personally launching his own encyclical alongside Anthropic's co-founder Christopher Olah at a Vatican event in May. The initiative was part of the Vatican's effort to engage Silicon Valley about the human costs of AI.

“We need to continue to invite political leaders, leaders of AI, social organizations, associations to come together and look at what is happening already and what could be down the road,” he said Monday.

“To simply say ‘Oh it’s not going to happen’ and close our eyes to it I think is probably not the most responsible way to go about that,” he added.

With his comments Monday about the legitimacy of safety concerns and AI development, Leo has confirmed another area of disagreement with Trump. The two had a back-and-forth in April over Leo’s opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and Leo has also criticized the Trump administration’s migration crackdown.

Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week in Washington and while Xi said that it was important to ensure AI is “always under human control,” Trump focused more on trying to rebrand it as “superintelligence” and dismissed calls for regulation. However, the two leaders agreed to explore a new “notification mechanism” for AI incidents affecting national security.

AI has become a major election-year issue in the U.S. as some of the country’s largest companies rush to build a national network of data centers while Americans from both parties increasingly raise alarms about the impact on farmland, water supplies and electricity bills.

Worries about AI are continuing to grow inside and outside the industry and reports continue to emerge about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also go rogue and carry out other, more harmful tasks.

The worries have grown so loud that the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in an interview with Fortune that his company would wait until next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

Leo noted that ever since he published his encyclical in May, the Vatican has received comments from people interested in being part of a broader conversation about AI. A Vatican commission is working to promote dialogue, study and investigation “to find ways to make sure that AI does not get to a point of destroying humanity or removing humanity from the conversation,” he said.

Leo said he was “relatively optimistic” that solutions could be found.

“I think there are enough people seriously interested in that and willing to look at that outside of the questions once again of power, who gets there first,” he said.

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AP reporter Roberta Rampton in Washington contributed.

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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.

Now, can the Knights maintain that momentum?

Saturday’s 21-13 win over TCU is a boost to UCF whom has struggled in the Big 12. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier; arguably, it gets tougher.

Here’s a look at the month of October for UCF:

Oct. 3 - at (20) Houston

Oct. 10 - at (19) Oklahoma State

Oct. 17 - BYE

Oct. 24 - vs. (10) BYU

Friday, Oct. 31 - vs. Baylor

“It’s a challenging stretch,” head coach Scott Frost said Monday. “Those are three really good football teams. I think we’ve been improving, and we’ll see if we’re up for those challenges.”

Playing against three ranked opponent is something the Knights are looking forward to.

“It’s definetly a cool experience,” wide receiver Josh Derry said. “I want to do whatever I can to help this team win on offense or special teams.”

The Knights also haven’t won a road game in the last 10 away games. The streak started before Frost’s return to UCF.

“This team has nothing to do with the team last year or the team two years ago,” Frost said. “I thought we played really physical and battled on the road against a good (Pitt) team a couple of weeks ago. We’re going to get another opportunity to do something cool and special.”

Quarterback Alonza Barnett III is still out with a hamstring injury. Keyone Jenkins is slated to get the start again. He went 19 of 20 for 160 yards and one touchdown.

Kickoff for Saturday’s game at Houston is 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT.

The megahit Broadway musical “Hamilton” is bringing back its North American tour to downtown Orlando and it’s running for several weeks.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop-flavored biography about the first U.S. Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, has won 11 Tony Awards, including Best New Musical.

It also has other awards under its belt, including the Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Grammy, and the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

The musical focuses on the rise of founding father, Alexander Hamilton, as he fights for honor, love, and a legacy that would shape the course of a nation.

The 2-hour, 45-minute show runs Tuesday, Sept. 29 through Sunday, Oct. 8 at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

The Oct. 8 performance includes a special Q&A session with the cast and crew after the show. Click here for details.

SunRail is also running a special weeknight train service for “Hamilton.”

After Orlando, the musical will head to Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Naples, and Jacksonville.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said Monday that his office will present evidence to a grand jury as he faces questions from the public about why there were no criminal prosecutions in the case.

The woman, identified only by a pseudonym in the lawsuit, filed the complaint Sept. 16, saying she was sexually assaulted at the Chi Phi fraternity house on the Ivy League campus in October 2024 after being pressured into snorting ketamine, smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. She became completely incapacitated while frat members were sexually assaulting her, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit, the reopening of the investigation and Cornell’s response have sparked a flood of commentary on social media. Many people have criticized the school and the district attorney’s office in their posts, while some have expressed doubt about the lawsuit’s allegations. Some posted photos of the seven fraternity members.

The accuser is suing the men, the Chi Phi fraternity, the university, an Ithaca bar and others, seeking undisclosed damages. Her attorney did not immediately respond Monday to messages seeking comment on the prosecutor’s decision.

The woman went to campus police at the time, but Van Houten said the accuser did not make any claims of being gang-raped or drugged in her initial sworn statement to authorities. The prosecutor also said he was never contacted by the woman's attorney about her statement or about reconsidering the decision not to prosecute, but he reached out to the attorney recently.

“Seeking justice sometimes requires us to reconsider or reopen cases when we are provided with additional evidence,” Van Houten said in a statement. “I have been asked by the community to revisit the decision whether to pursue criminal charges against the seven fraternity members. I have already begun that process, starting with our conversation with Jane Doe and her attorneys.”

Cornell responds to criticism about its handling of the allegations

The university said in a statement that it supports the decision to reopen the investigation. The school said it conducted its own investigation and issued sanctions, including expelling some students and suspending others. It also said the on-campus Chi Phi chapter was closed in 2024 and remains barred from campus.

School officials on Monday declined to release more information on the sanctions, including how many students were expelled and suspended. Cornell said last week that federal privacy law barred it from disclosing specific information on individual students.

“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university said. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”

The national chapter of Chi Phi did not return phone and email messages Monday.

The school said it conducted an internal disciplinary investigation in 2024. It said a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days, and both the woman and the people accused had the opportunity to testify and present evidence.

Lawsuit alleges student was sexually assaulted during a night of celebrating

The woman's complaint accuses the university of not preventing the alleged assaults and failing to properly address sexual violence on campus. It includes a photo that it says shows a group chat between frat members discussing the night's events.

The woman, who was a 20-year-old Cornell student at the time and a sorority member, went to campus police about three weeks later, according to the lawsuit. The fraternity and seven of its members were placed on temporary suspension that same day, the lawsuit said.

The complaint said the seven were given “the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell."

Cornell said “none of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement," noting the expulsions and suspensions.

Over the weekend, New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned what she called a “culture of rape” that is protected at elite institutions.

“When I read what happened at Cornell, those men posted in a group chat. That means it was normal to them. That means it was acceptable to them. This is a culture,” she said Sunday at a forum packed with young people near Cornell’s campus.

“And what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces any more.”

School says it has taken additional action to address sexual violence

Cornell said a school task force on campus sexual assault, formed in 2025, made recommendations earlier this year, several of which have been implemented while others are in development.

The task force report said a 2025 school survey showed 35% of undergraduate women and 8% of undergraduate men reported experiencing sexual assault during their time at Cornell.

Since the lawsuit was filed, the prosecutor said, his office has been flooded with phone calls, voicemails and emails about the case from people seeking answers and others making insults and threats.

“The community outrage stemming from the incomplete news and social media coverage requires that I provide an answer to why the investigation resulted in a lack of criminal charges,” Van Houten said in a statement.

Eeshaan Chaudhuri, a Cornell senior and president of the student government, said there needs to be a fresh look at the university’s initial investigation and why the district attorney's office did not do more.

There also needs to be an examination of the culture at the fraternity, he said.

“This issue poses more of a broader question, not just at Cornell,” he said. “Obviously, these things can’t be fixed overnight.”

Police disclosed Friday that Tasia Fortune, 29, was killed in a drug dispute before her body was placed in a tree behind an abandoned house in Jackson.

Fortune was Black, and the discovery of her hanging body stoked fear because the scene recalled actual lynchings in the Southern state, which has a long history of racial violence. Some officials had called for a federal civil rights investigation before a Jackson police detective said the scene was “staged.”

“People justifiably didn’t know if we had a killer on the loose who might hang people for racial reasons,” Judge Jeffery Reynolds said Monday.

He said it was a “heinous” act that shocked the state capital.

Reynolds presided at a hearing for Eric Clark, 45, who turned himself in Friday. The Hinds County Public Defender’s Office, which is representing him, declined to comment. Clark and two other men charged in Fortune’s death are Black.

Later outside the court, Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said Clark approached her at the courthouse last week and hugged her following a hearing for co-defendant Jarques Ratliff.

“He never said he did it, but he said he was there to turn himself in for murder,” Spivey told reporters Monday.

The body was discovered in a tree on Aug. 3. Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney said props were left at the scene “as part of the staging” of Fortune's death and that more arrests were likely.

Brackney told reporters that she believes the case has been conflated with that of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college student whose July 4 disappearance from an island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast caused speculation that his death could have been racially motivated.

A Mississippi grand jury said it found no evidence of criminal conduct in Wells' death. His family and its legal team have slammed the report and are working to keep the investigation open.

“This has created even more damage in our communities,” Brackney said, referring to the fear that the image of Fortune’s hanging body evoked. “We know we have a very sordid history around lynchings and racial terror across this nation and particularly around the South. That is still a very current narrative. It is still a very raw narrative.”

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AP writer Ed White in Detroit contributed.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% and gave back much of its gain from last week, which had brought it to the brink of its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 347 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.9%.

Stocks felt pressure as the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly topped 5.27% before pulling back to 5.23%, up from 5.17% late Friday. It’s back to where it was in 2007, before the financial crisis and Great Recession sent yields toward zero.

The 30-year Treasury yield rose to 5.55% from 5.49% and is back to where it was in 2004.

Treasury yields have been rising for a range of reasons, from worries about inflation to Washington’s massive debt load to signs that the U.S. economy remains solid despite its many challenges. That pressures the economy because higher yields make borrowing money more expensive for everyone, while also undercutting prices for stocks and other investments.

Monday’s rise in yields followed the latest swings for oil prices, which have been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow tankers to flow freely again through the Strait of Hormuz. That would allow them deliver oil from the Middle East to customers worldwide.

The latest turns came after President Donald Trump said over the weekend he’s rejecting an offer from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program.

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

The price for Brent crude in the most actively traded part of the oil market briefly climbed above $101 per barrel Monday morning, but it pared its gains as U.S. officials said mediators were still working with Iran and the United States on a deal to end the fighting and open the strait. It settled at $97.83, up 0.4%.

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

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

American Airlines fell 2.5%, and United Airlines lost 2.2%.

Gold miners were also weak after the price of gold sank 3.5%. Gold has a reputation for helping to protect its investors from high inflation, but its price tends to weaken when rising yields mean bonds are paying investors more in interest. Gold struggles to keep up because it pays its investors nothing.

Newmont, the Denver-based mining giant, slid 4.4%.

One of Wall Street’s bigger losses hit MongoDB, which dropped 18.5% after the database company said its CEO, Chirantan “CJ” Desai, is stepping down immediately to pursue a senior role at Meta Platforms.

Such losses more than offset a 1.7% rise for Nvidia, Wall Street’s most influential stock.

The chip company’s stock climbed after it said its board approved a plan to send up to another $150 billion to its shareholders in a stock buyback plan, bringing the program’s total remaining size to $235 billion.

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

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

All told, the S&P 500 fell 59.72 points to 7,683.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 347.11 to 51,481.51, and the Nasdaq composite sank 248.34 to 26,820.38.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes were mixed following weaker performances across much of Asia.

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

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

The petition, which has more than 650 signatures calls for the removal of the league’s president and vice president. Supporters claim the league has created “hate and division” and say they want better role models for children.

Several parents told News 6 they have pulled their kids from the league after disputes with league leaders. One of them is Kenneth Carr, who said he previously coached in the league.

Carr said problems started after he made a Facebook post about the idea of forming a Pop Warner team to honor his son, who was killed in a shooting in 2022. Carr said league leaders accused him of recruiting players, which he said was not his intent. Carr said he deleted the post, but was later told he could no longer coach.

“He’s telling lies, saying I told him I was going to steal kids. It was just a mess,” Carr said.

Carr said he wants changes in leadership so kids don’t lose the chance to play.

“A change, because to me, in my eyes, MCYFL as a whole, it’s a good thing for the community if it’s ran by the right people,” Carr said.

Another father told News 6 off-camera that he is upset after he said his son was removed from a team following a fight during a game, even though he said his child was not involved. The father said he is considering legal options.

News 6 reached out to the Marion County Youth Football League for comment about the petition and the parents’ concerns. After two emails, the league had not responded as of publication.

That’s according to Dr. Lisa Taylor, an assistant research scientist for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Despite the moniker, though, it’s not necessarily that there are more spiders out and about in the Sunshine State.

WHAT IS “SPIDER SEASON?”

Many spiders typically hatch in the spring, though people may not see them. But from August into September, many homeowners begin to notice the uptick in spiders — and there’s a good reason for it.

“It feels like spider season because a lot of people are thinking about creepy things when Halloween is coming,” Taylor told News 6 last year. “So we see a lot of spider decorations in stores and out-and-about. And so I think people are just thinking about spiders, and then, they’re noticing spiders that are around.”

[BELOW: Take a look at Florida’s most-hated insect]

That being said, it’s difficult not to notice these creepy-crawlies, as this time of year is also when some of Florida’s more “charismatic” spiders come into their prime.

As Taylor explained, some spiders like golden silk orb-weavers — one of the biggest spiders statewide — become a much more common sight.

“They’re kind of small early in the season, and they get bigger and bigger as the summer goes on,” Taylor said. “And then, in the fall, they’re really big... We see a lot of these really big spiders hanging around in October, so that might be part of where this time of year gets the ‘Spider Season’ name.”

FLORIDA WEATHER AND SPIDERS

Weather also plays a big role in this season.

While Florida doesn’t get major temperature swings like the northern states do, spiders still know when summer is coming to an end and fall is approaching. It’s their biological clock ticking. It’s mating season.

Spiders don’t like the boiling heat in the summer, nor do they like the rain. That’s when they find relief inside homes or around them in shady areas. Not only are the areas in and around homes cooler but at night, the lights attract food, like moths and other insects.

And as it gets colder, spiders may start to seek shelter indoors, meaning there are a lot more encounters when the temperature outside eventually does drop.

Late summer into early fall, male spiders come out of their hiding spots to find a mate. They look for dry places to do this, and since we tend to see rain in September — with the dry season usually beginning in October — spiders venture into homes.

Not to worry, though; Dr. Taylor explained that the vast majority of spiders are completely harmless to humans, so there’s no need to fret.

AVOID THESE ARACHNIDS

However, there are a few species of venomous spiders in Florida that may warrant a wide berth if you come across them.

• Widow spiders — These include the southern black widow, the northern black widow, the red widow and the brown widow.

• Recluse spiders — There are two primary brown recluse spiders found in Florida: the Mediterranean recluse and Chilean recluse.

“(Black widows) are really timid, shy spiders... Typically, it’s uncommon for them to bother anybody or to bite,” Dr. Taylor said.

According to state officials, these widow spiders can often be found under structures like sheds or outhouses that have been left alone for a while.

But even then, the spiders rarely bite, usually only doing so when they’re trapped against human skin. Such a bite may cause symptoms like intense pain and nausea, typically lasting around 3-5 days.

Meanwhile, Taylor said that most of Florida is outside the range of brown recluse spiders, making them a rare find, as well. Within Central Florida alone, state officials said that recluse spiders have been located in Orange, Osceola and Polk counties.

Four- to five-foot sand cliffs now line much of New Smyrna Beach’s shoreline, exposing seawalls that the newly placed sand was meant to protect. The county completed the renourishment project in May, placing about 550,000 cubic yards of sand along the New Smyrna Beach shoreline — rebuilding more than four miles of beach and creating a buffer against storms and erosion.

The sight has caught beachgoers off guard.

“It’s pretty drastic, no doubt about it,” said Monica Sturgeon, a neighbor. “You have to get a shovel and shovel some stairs — that’s what I did this morning so I could get down to the beach.”

For some, the timing is especially frustrating.

“All that money they spent to put new sand in and it all got washed back out again,” said Maureen Straub, a beachgoer.

Volusia County pushed back on that characterization, releasing a statement saying the sand performed “as intended” by absorbing the brunt of the waves. The county added that sand that appears to have washed away moved just offshore and continues to serve as a protective barrier — and is expected to wash back up to other parts of the beach over time.

Sturgeon acknowledged the uncertainty.

“The rest of it might wash out — it’s supposed to build up in the water out there,” she said. “That’s what they say, but you just never know. Mother Nature’s got her own plans.”

Not everyone is alarmed. Charley Hajek, of Gnarly Charley’s Surf Camp, sees the natural process as part of the cycle.

“Mother nature takes this course,” Hajek said. “What it does - when the sand comes down from the dunes, it goes back out in the ocean. It makes the waves better. It breaks better. We need this — every once in a while.”

Beyond the beach erosion, there’s another concern. Volusia County has recorded a record number of sea turtle nests this year, and many of those nests remain on the beach waiting to hatch. The county says six nests have been washed away by the tides so far. Officials are urging anyone who spots exposed eggs to leave them untouched.

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

Starship tipped over and erupted in flames upon splashdown, a dramatic end to the mission.

Founder Elon Musk's Starship almost didn't make it to orbit when one of its engines shut down prematurely. But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided, after several tense minutes, to proceed as planned.

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

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

Rocket carries 26 of Musk's most advanced Starlink satellites

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

The decision to end the flight early came soon afterward. SpaceX said hours later in an online update that the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” because of the early engine trouble.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SpaceX wants Starship to be certified for orbital flight

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

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

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

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

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

The video posted on Sunday shows Dawkins' pregame walkout as he chants “The time has come,” followed by a series of big hits. The DHS post includes the caption “Our time has come.”

“The league has requested the DHS take down the video,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Monday.

Dawkins was a nine-time Pro Bowler and five time All-Pro safety during 16 NFL seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos before retiring in 2011.

DHS released a statement saying the United States Border Patrol “is actively tracking" a group of migrants coming from Honduras and used football jargon to add the department "is playing lockdown defense" at the border.

The statement did not address the NFL's request to take down the video.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Prosecutors said Word of Faith Fellowship leader Brooke Covington led a group of church members in 2013 who choked and beat a young man for two hours while they prayed to expel “homosexual demons.”

Covington, 68, pleaded to two misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and simple assault Monday by entering an Alford plea, according to court records. It's technically a guilty plea in which defendants maintain they are innocent while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them at trial.

The judge sentenced Covington to 45 days in jail on the false imprisonment charge and 30 days for simple assault, but suspended them so she won't have to serve the time if she completes her probation. Covington also was ordered to complete 30 hours of community service benefiting children or young adults.

Covington's original case ended in a mistrial after the jury foreman brought his own research into deliberations.

Since then, the COVID-19 outbreak, a move to remove the original prosecutor that ended with the suspension of the law license of the attorney making the request, deaths or retirements of lawyers on both sides and handing the case to a new prosecutor in a new jurisdiction all delayed a new trial.

Both the new prosecutor and Covington's lawyer didn't respond to messages seeking details about Monday's hearing.

Teen says church leaders held him down and beat him

Matthew Fenner joined Word of Faith as a teenager in 2010 with his mother. He was at a service on the church’s compound in Spindale, North Carolina, when members including Covington started what the church called a “blasting” session on him, according to Fenner.

Covington said the session was no different than others, and she had witnesses prepared to testify they didn't see an assault against Fenner.

Word of Faith is a nondenominational Protestant church that was founded in 1979 by Sam and Jane Whaley in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlotte and Asheville. Members consider Jane Whaley a prophet.

In 2017, The Associated Press published a series of stories about Word of Faith that detailed former church members’ allegations of abuse. The AP spoke to dozens of former congregants around the world, listened to hours of secretly recorded conversations with church leaders, and reviewed hundreds of pages of law enforcement, court and child welfare documents.

Church denies abuse and says it is targeted by former members

Whaley has denied that she or other church leaders ever abused Word of Faith members, and said that any discipline would be protected by the Constitution’s freedom of religion tenet.

The church said the allegations made to the AP were false and made by “certain former members” out to target the church and that it does not condone abuse.

The case was turned over to a special prosecutor after Fenner’s lawyer accused District Attorney Ted Bell of siding with Word of Faith in his handling of the case.

Allegations against prosecutor lead to suspension of law license

Attorney Andrew LaBreche said Bell didn’t investigate new evidence or witnesses and made a deal to drop the felony kidnapping charge against Covington.

Bell provided text messages and other evidence he refused to talk to Word of Faith members when they tried to steer conversations toward the assault cases.

Superior Court Judge William Stetzer not only denied LaBreche’s request to remove the prosecutor, but in his order said LaBreche’s “repeated acts of dishonesty and the significant harm to the legal profession” led the judge to suspend his law license for three years. He also awarded Bell legal fees.

LaBreche is appealing the ruling, and his suspension has been delayed until his case can be heard.

Associated Press covered Word of Faith extensively

Word of Faith had about 700 members in North Carolina a decade ago, but a sworn statement from a former church leader said membership had now dwindled to about 300 to 400 people.

The AP reported that the church controlled almost every aspect of their members’ lives, including who they married, what subjects they studied in school and whether they could go to college. Members were regularly slapped, choked and thrown to the floor during high-decibel group prayer.

The AP investigation also found that the church and its hundreds of followers controlled local law enforcement and social services, preventing fair investigations.

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

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

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

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

Official of ruling party attacked for defending Ebola measures

An official of Congo's ruling party UDPS, Marie-Célestin Karondwa, was attacked by unknown suspects Sunday for defending the government's measures against Ebola on a radio program and was in critical condition, according to the UDPS.

Karondwa is the acting president of the party’s federal executive in Butembo in North Kivu province, one of the hot spots of the outbreak. He was attacked “by alleged troublemakers from his neighborhood, Vulindi,” the party said. The party called on the government to investigate the attack.

The rapid spread of Ebola has been aided from the onset by widespread skepticism among locals who have dismissed the disease as a hoax, even attacking health workers and health facilities on multiple occasions.

Ebola measures impacting other health services

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The agreement is good for Greenland, for Denmark, for the United States, for NATO and Europe, and for international peace and security,” Christina Lassen said.

The agreement bolstering the U.S. military presence in Greenland is aimed at strengthening NATO’s security in the Arctic and North Atlantic. It keeps Greenland as part of Denmark and, at least for the moment, eases tensions over President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the vast island to become part of the United States. The agreement would still apply if Greenland eventually chooses independence.

In brief remarks on the agreement at the end of her speech, Lassen said, “Progress can still be made when we consult the compass.”

Trump expressed his desire to acquire Greenland as long ago as 2019 and, during his current second term, he issued threats to seize the semiautonomous territory from Denmark, a NATO ally. He said the U.S. needed to “take Greenland,” to prevent Russia or China from doing the same, but said he would rather make a deal ” for the mineral-rich territory.

Trump’s designs on Greenland strained relations within NATO, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warning a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the Atlantic alliance. It also unsettled many of Greenland’s roughly 56,000 people wary of a U.S. takeover and resource grab.

Officials from the U.S., Greenland and Denmark negotiated for months behind the scenes, searching for solutions to address some of Trump’s security concerns about the island and the president gave a thumbs up to the deal..

Just before last Tuesday’s signing, at the U.N., Trump said, “This is tremendous for Europe and for the United States and for everybody. And for Greenland, it’s going to be incredible.” He did not respond to questions about whether a U.S. acquisition of Greenland was off the table.

The United States has had a military presence in Greenland since the end of World War II in 1945, but the numbers decreased from thousands of soldiers on 17 bases and installations to roughly 200 soldiers on the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest today. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the United States and NATO.

Addressing world leaders at the General Assembly just before the signing, Trump said the U.S. would “immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations,” including “building two very major military bases.”

The officials and their families come from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru — all nations with right-leaning leaders friendly with President Donald Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador and Peru this month, pledging U.S. support for their efforts to combat drug and human trafficking.

Those leaders have complained that many of those targeted by the visa revocations were hindering their efforts to fight crime.

The State Department announced the revocations Monday, saying they were being done “to fulfill the commitments to defend democratic governance across our hemisphere against corruption and narco-trafficking.”

“Undermining a democratically-elected government is a threat to security and rule of law in the Americas and will not be tolerated,” it said in a statement.

The Trump administration is billing the revocations as part of its broader efforts to clamp down on corruption, particularly related to the narcotics trade and illegal migration, by members of the U.S.-led “Shield of the Americas” bloc in the Western Hemipshere that Trump created this year.

The State Department has been denying permission to travel to the United States as a way to crack down on immigration or as a pressure tool against some governments, ranging from bans on South African officials accused of discrimination against white people to refusing to issue visas to the Palestinian delegation to attend an annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations.

The 27 targeted include Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca and more than 20 other Bolivian prosecutors and judges, 12 of whom were named as current visa holders and nine who will be denied visas should they apply. Two Colombians, a business mogul and a lawmaker, along with two Ecuadorians and one Peruvian judge are also affected.

Mariaca is accused of abusing his public position by soliciting and accepting bribes to facilitate narcotrafficking and is also accused of helping violent criminals evade justice, according to the documents.

“His actions endanger President Trump's efforts to combat narcoterrorism while undermining the very democratic institutions Bolivia, as a Shield participant, is working to strengthen,” the statement said.

Mariaca, who was elected to a six-year term by lawmakers in 2024 under Bolivia’s previous left-wing government, has faced criticism over his office’s handling of drug-trafficking cases.

He led prosecutors in the eastern region of Santa Cruz when alleged Uruguayan drug kingpin Sebastián Marset, now in U.S. custody, escaped a police operation in 2023. He has since clashed with President Rodrigo Paz, who has aligned Bolivia with Washington after nearly two decades of socialist rule.

Mariaca did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

“You guys know who I am, right?” James asked.

Sure do. No introduction needed.

LeBron James, the most famous basketball player in the world and the NBA's career scoring leader, was indeed in a No. 23 Philadelphia 76ers jersey. He's happy to play for the Sixers, happy to play with close friend and fellow All-Star Tyrese Maxey and happy to start a record 24th NBA season — with no promises of how long his career is going to last.

James did make one vow: He's not in Philadelphia to lose.

“I didn't leave my family,” James said Monday, “to lose in the second round.”

James, Maxey, Joel Embiid and the other new star Sixers player, Jaylen Brown, were all on hand for media day ahead of the start of training camp and what figures to be the most anticipated season in Philly since Julius Erving's heyday.

James is the undisputed star of the show.

The usual assortment of beat writers and bloggers were dwarfed inside the Sixers' complex in New Jersey by cameras and questions from media entities far beyond the NBA scope. James, naturally, handled himself like a true professional, used to the global spotlight since he was put on a basketball pedestal as a teenager.

“Understand that the noise is going to be the noise,” James said. “What happens outside of this building is going to consistently happen, and it's going to be doubled and triple and quadrupled down on you. It just comes with the territory. I understand it.”

Much as James did for Cleveland when he ended a 52-year championship drought for the city by leading the Cavaliers to the title in 2016, he's in Philadelphia largely to help snap a championship drought for the Sixers that stretches to 1983 — just one year before James was born.

The Sixers went 45-37 last season and were swept in the second round by the eventual champion New York Knicks.

Enter a summer makeover already boosted by the shocking trade with Boston for Brown and anchored by James’ arrival. The 41-year-old James — new teammate Justin Edwards called him “Unc” — signed a modest $8 million, two-year contract on the veterans’ minimum with the Sixers.

The contract might be the minimum. The outlook is pretty much championship-or-bust for a franchise that has failed to advance out of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs since 2001.

So how will James mesh with Maxey? Pay heed with Embiid? Bond with Brown?

Pretty easily, actually — for now.

“I think the luxury of my game is, I can do everything,” James said. “Literally, I can do everything.”

He can back up the boast. He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP and a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

He also is coming off a season with the Lakers in which he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. For his career, he has averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

“Him being here is really cool,” Maxey said.

His pull with James had an added benefit — Maxey got him on the team text group chat.

VJ Edgecombe said he organized a thread once Brown was traded, but the idea got complicated once James signed in July.

“LeBron came, and obviously I don’t got LeBron James’ number,” Edgecombe said. “I can’t say, ‘go add 'Bron to the group chat.’ Besides, even if I had his number, why would I randomly add LeBron to a group chat? You get what I’m saying? So I told Tyrese to do it.”

James weighed his career options after flirting with retirement at the end of last season. The pull to stay at his family home in Los Angeles rather than moving to the East Coast was tempting. James noted that one son plays college ball at Arizona, his daughter just started middle school and “my oldest son, my former teammate, is starting his third year in Los Angeles.”

That, of course, would be Bronny James. Don't forget his wife, Savannah, whom James noted “is doing so many unbelievable things right now in her own personal journey.”

After time away with family, and still feeling physically and mentally strong in offseason workouts, James decided he wanted to keep playing.

With key members of Sixers ownership and the front office watching from the side, James declined to get into the issue of how much longer he wants to play. His lone focus, he said, was learning how to play with new teammates — most, like Embiid, haven't won a title — and trying to bring the championship mentality he knows so well from winning titles with the Cavaliers, Heat and Lakers to the Sixers.

“I hope that I can, you know, bring that experience, bring that knowledge, bring the blueprint to the guys that's trying to accomplish some things that they haven't done in their career,” James said. “I've seen everything that this league has to offer on the floor and off the floor, so I hope that every single day with my approach to the game, approach to the work, that it can translate to every single guy."

James started his career in Cleveland in 2003 and spent seven seasons with the Cavs before heading to Miami for four seasons — where he won his first two NBA titles. He then returned to Cleveland for four more seasons, including that title run in 2016, and left in 2018 for the Lakers. He won a title in LA in 2020.

He won't set a timetable on how many years he has left in his career.

“I don't want to speak on the future right now,” James said. “I think that would be doing a disservice to myself on just living in the moment, especially knowing that I am where I am in my career.”

Unbelievably, that's Philadelphia.

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ruling marks the most significant judicial milestone yet in the decade-long quest for accountability over Giulio Regeni’s death. Rome's chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi welcomed the outcome, saying the verdict was achieved despite what he described as a lack of “meaningful cooperation” from Egyptian authorities during the investigation. The defendants were tried in absentia.

“We are satisfied for having brought the case out of the quagmire into which it had risked sinking,” Lo Voi told reporters after the verdict.

Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016, while conducting research on independent trade unions in Egypt. His body was found nine days later on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital bearing signs of extensive torture, according to Italian investigators.

Rome prosecutors had charged the four Egyptians: Tariq Sabir, Hisham Helmi, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif with aggravated kidnapping in connection with Regeni’s disappearance. Sharif had also faced charges related to Regeni’s injuries and death.

Helmi, Ibrahim and Sharif were sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for charges related to Regeni’s abduction, but not for his death. Sabir was acquitted.

The case quickly became one of the most contentious issues in relations between Italy and Egypt. Italian prosecutors maintained that members of Egypt’s security services abducted, detained, tortured and killed Regeni, while Egyptian authorities repeatedly denied state involvement and disputed the findings of the Italian investigation.

The investigation was marked by years of disputes over evidence and judicial cooperation. Italian magistrates accused Egyptian authorities of withholding key information requested through international legal channels, an allegation Cairo rejected.

The proceedings faced repeated delays because the defendants remained in Egypt and never appeared before the Italian court.

Italy’s Constitutional Court ultimately cleared the way for the trial to proceed in absentia, allowing hearings to begin in Rome despite longstanding disputes over notification of the accused.

In June, prosecutors sought a life sentence for Sharif, whom they identified as the man who physically carried out the killing, and prison terms of 17 years and six months for Sabir, Helmi and Ibrahim.

For Regeni’s family, the case became a decade-long campaign for accountability. Their calls for “truth and justice” drew broad support across Italy, where yellow banners bearing Regeni’s name became symbols of solidarity and demands for answers over his death.

The ruling marks the most significant judicial milestone yet in a case that has repeatedly tested relations between Italy and Egypt and drawn international attention to human rights concerns in Egypt.

The century-old private Christian girls' camp filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan on Sept. 25 that would auction off the 749 acres (3 square kilometers) it owns and other assets.

The sprawling campus, nestled among rolling wooded hills on the banks of the Guadalupe River, had several single-story cabins that housed some of the youngest campers and a recreation hall near the riverfront. A second campus on elevated ground was not flooded.

The Eastland family has owned the camp for decades and initially sought to reopen this summer. But they faced fierce opposition from victims’ families and some state lawmakers, lawsuits and legislative investigations into what went wrong.

A buyer would likely get a portion of the camp frozen in time. Families of the victims have fought to stop any demolition of damaged cabins and buildings and stop repairs as part of their lawsuits.

The bankruptcy plan said the owners expect a purchaser would be backed by a group of families that support the camp.

“Nothing in the plan requires any buyer to operate the property as a camp,” the filing said, “but the plan states an express preference, in determining the highest or otherwise best bid, for a buyer that will maintain the historic mission of the camp.”

Twenty-five campers and two counselors were killed when the river surged over its banks in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 2025. Camp owner and director Richard Eastland was also killed. At least 136 people were killed along a several-mile stretch of the river.

Earlier this month, state police investigators sought search warrants for the electronic communications of the camp's owners, saying they could provide evidence of manslaughter, negligent homicide, child abandonment or other crimes.

No charges have been brought.

A probe by state lawmakers determined the camp’s young and inexperienced counselors were not trained for floods and other emergencies. It said an earlier decision to evacuate could have saved every life. Most of the victims were under age 10, and some were attending camp for the first time.

The camp's bankruptcy proposal would have to be approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher M. Lopez. Officials with Camp Mystic did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Monday.

All creditors, including the families who have sued Camp Mystic over the deaths, will have a chance to respond to the plan.

“The Eastlands are now attempting to determine the future of the Camp Mystic property, but the victims' families including my clients, will fight to protect their rights and ensure any sale is fair and transparent,” said Tim Ferguson, attorney for the family of 8-year-old Mary Grace Baker, one of the campers who died.

“The Bakers intend to continue fighting for answers, accountability and justice for their daughter,” Ferguson said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Salary cap would cut highest salaries

MLB's proposal would cap team spending next year at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include an estimated $23 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million for 2027 but teams could drop as low as $154.1 million and make up the difference over the following two years. The New York Mets' opening day payroll in 2026 was over $352 million.

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

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

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

Cost of lost regular-season games would be enormous

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

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

At the other end of the salary scale, players making MLB's proposed $900,000 minimum would lose $4,813 daily. Among the 1,366 players on rosters as of Monday, 549 (40%) started 2026 with less than one year of service time and 893 (65%) had less than three years. Players aren't eligible for salary arbitration until they've completed three seasons, with some exceptions.

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

Union leadership changed in February

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

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

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

There was a split in vote to accept deal in 2022

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

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

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

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

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

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

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

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

Around 2 p.m. Monday, Brevard County deputies responded to a body found just south of A1A and Cove Road in Melbourne Beach, but have not confirmed if it is the missing swimmer.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The work shows that major wildfires, which are worsening with the planet’s warming, could have lasting effects beyond immediate exposure.

Post-wildfire air quality needs to be monitored longer term, the research suggests, and recovery efforts need to consider what might remain in contaminated soot, residue and dirt well after burning stops.

The wildfires, caused by wind spreading a brushfire spurred by downed power lines, burned on the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023, destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed more than 100 people. They were among the deadliest in U.S. history.

New research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday found higher metal levels, associated with respiratory harm, in nearby residents up to a year and a half after the fires.

University of Hawaii researchers studied the urine of 1,400 adults and found substantially elevated concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper and antimony.

Burned buildings, cars and electronics can release harmful chemicals

These metals could be the result of burned buildings, vehicles, electronics and other materials lost in the wildfires, the researchers say. They can cause a different human impact than simply the burned vegetation that is typically studied after fires of this magnitude.

“What we’re dealing with, especially in the aftermath of what we experienced in Lahaina, is a much more complicated mixture of these chemical exposures,” said Alika Maunakea, the study’s co-author and an anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology professor at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

The researchers found antimony nearly 40 times higher in the Maui participants than U.S. biomonitoring data. They found manganese 3.8 times higher, barium 2.3 times and arsenic 2.2 times.

Having more metals in the body was more likely to result in abnormal lung function, such as having less breathing capacity and difficulty moving air in and out of one’s lungs, during standard breathing tests, the study found.

Those lung effects aligned with the geographic distribution of smoke and ash; those nearest to Lahaina, and Wailuku and Kahului, experienced a different impact than in those near Kula.

“It’s really important to identify potential sources of these exposures and to mitigate and reduce potential risks for re-exposures that might be contributing to these effects,” Maunakea said. “What happens to the land and environment can shape what people breathe, take into their bodies, and develop over time. The consequences of that can unfold over many years.”

Warming planet can worsen wildfires

Wildfires are getting larger, more intense, faster-moving and more frequent in certain parts of the globe, experts say, in part due to the warming and drier weather associated with climate change. Human-caused climate change has upped the likelihood of many major fires around the world in recent years and led to fires in regions that typically do not see them as often.

The researchers did note a limitation of the study in that it cannot assess exactly how much of the impact came directly from the wildfires versus chronic or other exposures — such as Hawaii’s geology, diet, historic agricultural and industrial activity and environmental sources — given there is no comparable data from before August 2023.

However, previous studies have also found significant long-term human impacts from wildfires and other environmental crises. The impacts have included lung issues and mental health issues such as depression.

“This is bigger than wildfires. These climate-related disasters can change the environment in ways that continue after the immediate emergency is over,” said Ruben Juarez, study co-author and professor of health economics at the university. “Floods, hurricanes, fires, and other disasters definitely can disturb soil, debris, buildings, and legacy contaminants that we have in Hawaii, creating these pathways for exposure. … Disaster response should not stop when visible danger is gone.”

Dr. Kekoa Taparra, a physician and assistant professor who studies chronic diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the research expands our understanding of the health burden of the fires, particularly over an extended period.

“This type of work echoes that climate-related disasters affect human health well beyond the immediate injuries and deaths we see during the event itself,” said Taparra, who was not involved in the study released Monday but has studied the health impacts of disasters. “Historic wildfires in Lahaina and even Los Angeles have highlighted how these disasters can produce longer-lasting consequences through displacement, disruption of healthcare and social networks, environmental exposures, and potentially increased mortality.

“As these events become more frequent and severe, understanding and measuring their full health impact will be essential to building more resilient communities and health systems.”

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

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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

Born in September 2024 to parents Sohni and Conrad, he made his public debut in January 2025 on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Over the past two years, guests have watched him grow from a curious cub into a confident young adult.

News 6 followed Bakso from the very beginning and was there for his show debut.

According to Disney, later this fall, Bakso will relocate to another Association of Zoos & Aquariums-accredited zoo as part of a recommendation from the AZA’s Species Survival Plan — a program that helps accredited zoos collaborate on the care of endangered animals. With fewer than 600 Sumatran tigers remaining in the wild, Bakso could one day father cubs and contribute to the survival of the critically endangered species.

“People don’t realize how different every tiger’s personality truly is,” said Michelle, a Behavioral Husbandry Manager at the park. “The best part of my role is getting a front row seat to all of the small moments that shape Bakso’s personality.”

Beyond Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Conservation Fund has provided more than $4.5 million to 15 organizations protecting tigers and their forest habitats since 1995. Guests can still visit Bakso on the Maharajah Jungle Trek before he heads off on his next adventure.

The Maharajah Jungle Trek, a walk-through attraction for all heights and ages, is commonly open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the park’s Asia section.

It was, by Pyongyang's standards, a relatively mild speech that contained no direct threats.

The annual opportunity for the country, whose formal name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to speak on the world stage fell this year to Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong. Like many nations, he touted the notion of U.N.-focused multilateralism, yet repeatedly insisted that North Korea could — and would, if necessary — go it alone.

“Gone are the days when an individual member state unilaterally imposed its will on the rest of the world and dominated the international political arena,” Kim said. “Instead, multilateralism and multipolarization have emerged as an irresistible aspiration and trend of the times based on justice and equity.”

North Korea is frequently at odds with South Korea, Japan and the United States, which are tightly aligned in matters of security in East Asia. Kim asserted once again that his nation, no matter the external threat, is prepared to defend itself.

“No physical conflict has occurred on and around the Korean Peninsula, a hot spot of the world, and the security index is being maintained at a higher level than any other part of the globe,” he said. “We owe it to the fact that the DPRK has a war deterrent in place powerful enough to break anyone’s will to start a war of aggression against the DPRK and that we are thoroughly containing and managing the hostile forces’ intention to use force.”

A range of remarks across subjects

As is typical for North Korean speeches at the U.N. — and, for that matter, for many nations' speeches — Kim's remarks ranged across the nation's priorities and goals, with special emphasis on its ability to defend itself in a volatile security situation in East Asia. A sampling:

— On Japan: “An A-class war criminal.”

— On the regional balance of power in East Asia: “maintained by the DPRK’s self-defensive capabilities.”

— On the United Nations itself: “The organization still fails to recover from functional paralysis owing to the high-handedness and unilateralism of a handful of countries pursuing only chauvinistic interests.”

— On nuclear weapons: “The DPRK’s nuclear deterrent is the absolute might and irresistible force designed, from A to Z, to safeguard the sovereignty, security and peace against aggression and threat from outside.”

“The DPRK will continue to strictly control and manage every external threat by dint of her supremacy in overwhelming strength,” Kim said.

Intense rhetoric is a hallmark of North Korea

North Korea's rhetoric is often overheated and its criticism of rivals often over the top. Monday was no exception. What seemed noteworthy, though, was how pro forma it felt: There were no threats of anything that might destabilize the region or cause other nations from Japan to South Korea to the United States to brace for any specific moves.

Saying that “a more offensive and aggressive military bloc with a nuclear element” and its activities have provoked North Korea and destabilized the Korean Peninsula, Kim condemned what he framed as the collusion of Tokyo, Seoul and Washington against Pyongyang. He made no mention of North Korea's role in tensions on the peninsula, including sporadic missile launches that send its rivals scrambling.

Two days before the U.N. meeting in which he was speaking began, North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, days after it threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent capabilities.

Kim is a relatively mid-level official in leader Kim Jong Un's third-generation government, and thus spoke as one of the final speakers of the final day of the leaders' meeting, or General Debate.

The Korean Peninsula split in two after North Korea and South Korea fought a bloody war from 1950 to 1953, backed by China and the United States, respectively. Though an armistice was eventually signed, the two countries remain in a technical state of war, and the border between them is guarded by a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone.

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Ted Anthony, Asia-Pacific news director for The Associated Press from 2014 to 2018, has visited North Korea multiple times.

The Egan Maritime Institute said its exhibits and collections manager would survey the site and send a report to state underwater archaeologists, who then will work with the institute to determine which vessel the wreckage came from.

The splintered timbers, fastened together by rusted iron, emerged near an area where remains believed to be from the Warren Sawyer, a wooden schooner lost in 1884, have been found before.

Officials from Egan, a nonprofit that operates the Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum, cautioned Monday that the newly exposed wreckage has not been identified with certainty.

The slow-moving nor’easter battered the Northeast coastline over the weekend with heavy rain, strong winds and dangerous surf, flooding low-lying communities from New Jersey to New England and knocking out power to more than 100,000 customers at times Sunday. The storm also raised concerns about coastal erosion as waves crashed into beaches and seawalls.

The Warren Sawyer ran aground on Dec. 22, 1884, while carrying 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons (25.4 metric tonnes) of scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston, according to the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources. Its captain and seven-member crew were ultimately rescued.

The schooner remained intact on the island's Miacomet Beach for two weeks, allowing islanders to save 700 bales of cotton using skids and teams of oxen. Then, on Jan. 6, 1885, another storm tore the ship apart, scattering pieces of its hull, remaining cargo and cordage across more than half a mile (0.80 kilometers) of beach.

More than a century later, remains believed to be from the ship have continued to emerge from the sand.

Jason Graziadei, who has lived on the island for two decades and is editor of the online news site the Nantucket Current, said he went out to the beach Saturday amid heavy winds with his 8-year-old son after he got a tip about possible wreckage on the island's south shore.

He and his son found the wooden beams on a drive-on beach by the town’s wastewater facility that everyone calls the “Sewer Beds." He said they had to park their car and walk down to the beach because erosion from the storm had formed a steep drop-off.

The location made the discovery even more remarkable to him: It was directly beneath a route beachgoers had been driving all summer.

“Given where it was and where it emerged, it means that everyone who was driving onto the beach this summer was just directly over this,” Graziadei said. “I just think it is so funny and so cool.”

Graziadei said his son was excited by the discovery and began asking what had happened to the people aboard the ship and why it had run aground. The two could walk right up to the exposed wreckage.

“It’s amazing to think from, you know, over 100 years old that it’s still there,” Graziadei said.

State archaeologists inspected a roughly 42-foot (12.8-meter) section of hull exposed on Miacomet Beach in late 2022 and concluded it was likely part of the Warren Sawyer. A roughly 15-foot-square (4.6-meter-square) section of the lower stern appeared nearby in February 2023, but shifting sands buried it again before state archaeologists could return to document it.

Nantucket is one of the areas known as the “graveyards of the Atlantic,” with more than 750 wrecks estimated in the surrounding waters.

The institute urged visitors not to disturb the newly exposed wreckage. Massachusetts law prohibits removing, damaging or displacing underwater archaeological resources.

The Santa Clara, California, company said Monday the share buyback increase, which it touted as the largest ever, brings its stock repurchase program to $235 billion.

Nvidia said it expects to “execute” the share buyback plan through its fiscal year that ends in Jan. 30, 2028.

Companies use repurchases, in part, to return cash to investors and support the stock’s price. Earnings per share can increase because there are fewer shares outstanding. Buybacks also signal confidence from leadership about a company’s financial prospects.

“NVIDIA’s growth is being driven by a once-in-a-generation platform shift to AI and accelerated computing,” said Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO. “Our cash generation gives us the capacity to invest in the technologies that advance this transformation and return capital to shareholders. This authorization reflects our confidence in the long-term opportunity ahead.”

Shares in Nvidia climbed 2.1% in afternoon trading Monday. The stock is up about 24% so far this year.

Nvidia’s high-end chips have emerged as the leading building blocks for AI, and are highly sought after. The company reported quarterly profits of $59.69 billion late last month.

While AI has powered stock market gains and U.S. economic growth in recent years, there’s been growing skepticism about whether AI will justify the trillions of dollars being spent to develop the technology.

The AI industry also faces increasing pushback amid objections to the expansion of data centers and fears that the rapid speed of AI adoption could lead to widespread job losses worldwide.

“It’s consistent with everything we thought it was, a dislocation,” coach Todd Bowles said Monday. “Right now we’re probably talking a minimum of three weeks.”

Undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels will start this weekend against the Green Bay Packers. Easton Stick is on the practice squad and likely will be promoted unless the Buccaneers add a veteran quarterback.

Mayfield was injured when his throwing hand hit Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman on a desperation pass on fourth down that was intercepted late in the fourth quarter of a 23-16 loss.

An MRI revealed that Mayfield didn’t suffer ligament damage or a fracture. He avoids surgery and possibly won't be placed on injured reserve, which means he would have to miss at least four games.

Mayfield, who signed a $165 million, three-year contract extension before the season, hadn’t missed a start since joining the Buccaneers in 2023. He has played through various injuries throughout his career, which began in Cleveland after the Browns selected him with the No. 1 pick in 2018.

The Buccaneers (0-3) are off to their worst start since 2014.

Mayfield has struggled behind a woeful offensive line. He has two touchdown passes and two interceptions, has lost three fumbles and has been sacked 13 times.

Daniels played six seasons at Kansas and threw 67 TD passes and 31 interceptions. He beat out veteran Jake Bowning for the backup job in training camp.

“His performance speaks for itself when he’s out there,” Bowles said. "His confidence speaks for itself and they rally around him. It’s going to be like every other rookie. But he played well in the preseason. He’s very bright. He’s not going to be out there by himself. We just expect him to do his job and play at a high level, as he expects of himself.”

Daniels will become the first rookie QB to start for Tampa Bay since Jameis Winston in 2015. Before Mayfield, Tom Brady started every game from 2020-22.

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Bakso, a Sumatran tiger cub born in September at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, has officially made his debut and can be seen with his mother, Sohni, on the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

Bakso made his grand debut on Wednesday as his animal keepers proudly watched, according to a news release from Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment (ASE).

With a little encouragement from his mom, bashful Bakso appeared shortly before the first guests entered the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

“He just needs a little time to warm up the things. As soon as he warms up to them, it’s like it’s been happening all the time,” said Rachel Daneault, Primate Zoological Manager at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]

The keepers are of course letting Bakso roam as he pleases, so he’s not always going to be in his habitat during operating hours, the release adds.

Bakso was born Sept. 26, 2024, to parents Sohni and Conrad, according to Disney ASE, adding he was the first tiger cub born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in seven years.

Disney had documented Bakso’s development through its “Tiger Tuesday” series. Backstage, the animal care team monitored milestones Bakso needed to achieve before he could make his debut.

“We have a lot of really great fountains and pools here for them to swim in. So one of the things he has to learn is how to swim,” said Daneault. “We actually have kind of a baby pool in our back area for him to practice so he can get in and he can understand what it’s like to be in water, how to get out of water, those sorts of things.”

There are fewer than 600 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Disney ASE called Bakso “a beacon of hope for this dwindling species” and said he represents the incredible efforts made in partnership with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan Program.

“These are critically endangered animals and we really want people to be able to see them now while they can, but hopefully be inspired to take some conservation action so that we don’t lose these animals in the wild,” Daneault said.

The Maharajah Jungle Trek, a walk-through attraction for all heights and ages, is commonly open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the park’s Asia section.

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The messages on Resurrection Lutheran Church's sign range from witty to practical to profound. It’s an effort to inspire and attract drivers and passersby that’s uniquely popular in churches across America, the quintessential land of open roads and advertisements.

“This is about people saying, ‘this makes a difference to me,’ and … sensing they’re loved by God,” says Heather Hultgren, who's in charge of Resurrection's daily sign changes.

There’s nothing unusual about posting writings to church doors — that’s how tradition says the Protestant Reformation got started in 16th-century Germany. But for the last few decades, U.S. pastors have gotten creative, aiming to brighten a commuter’s day, spur a reflection while chauffeuring to football practice, and maybe persuade a lapsed Christian or two that it’s not all fire and brimstone inside.

“It’s a way to bring something lighter in the world,” says the Rev. Karna Moskalik of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, in the historic river town of Stillwater, Minnesota.

Moskalik likes “invitational” signs, like the classic — “CH - - CH What’s missing? U R!”

Some humorous messages that get social-media shoutouts across the U.S. originated with “the sign guy,” Our Savior’s pastor in the early 2000s. He published a collection entitled, “If there were no Lutherans, would there still be green Jell-O?”

At Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City, a weather pun during the latest brutal heatwave caught many eyes — “Lord, whatever you’re baking, it’s done.”

Elizabeth Pustinger says people stop to ask about the historic church’s sign as she’s manually changing it weekly, and sometimes later attend services.

“It’s a very powerful ministry,” adds the Rev. Susan Sparks, whose favorite sign is the dark warning to drivers, “Honk if you love Jesus, text if you want to meet him.”

Laughter can help process tragedy or serve as a wedge to probe big questions — that’s why Jewish and Christian scriptures have humorous passages, says Rolf Jacobson, professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“God’s business is turning mourning into gladness, Good Friday into Easter Sunday,” he says.

So chuckle away next time you speed past a church sign. But spare a thought for the sweaty person of God who invented this perennial favorite: “Too hot to keep changing sign. Sin bad. Jesus good. Details inside.”

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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.

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Part of a recurring series, “American Objects,” marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more American objects, click here. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, the chief of the general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, on Friday accused Eritrea of mobilizing financial support for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF.

He said that Eritrea and the TPLF would need support from Sudan and Egypt, insinuating external interference, but without explaining further.

The TPLF and Ethiopian federal troops waged war between November 2020 and November 2022, when a peace deal was signed in Pretoria, South Africa. A caretaker administration seen as loyal to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was installed in Mekelle, the Tigray capital. But tensions remained, with the TPLF maneuvering for political control in Mekelle.

Over the weekend, TPLF fighters captured the key strategic town of Erebti in the northern Afar region, a commander told The Associated Press on Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak with the media.

An official with the Tigray Peace Force, a breakaway faction of the Tigray rebels now allied with federal forces in Afar, confirmed that the rebels took control of the town, although he denied that heavy fighting had taken place.

Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French acronym MSF, on Monday said that there had been a surge in the number of wounded receiving treatment in the north.

The number of patients in the Korem and Alamata hospitals rose from around 180 to more than 420 in 48 hours. MSF said that 300 wounded had arrived at northeastern Suhul Hospital last week.

Valerie Browning, the co-founder of the Afar Pastoralist Development Association, told The Associated Press about 150,000 people had been displaced.

Ethiopian federal authorities accused the TPLF of seeking to build an alliance with neighboring Eritrea to destabilize Ethiopia. Abiy’s push for sovereign access to the Eritrean seaport of Assab has reignited tensions with Eritrea, which shares a border with Tigray. Abiy also angered Somalia by trying to negotiate access to the sea via the territory of Somaliland.

Eritrea accused Ethiopia of shifting blame for the ongoing conflict. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Meskel wrote on X that Ethiopia’s pursuit of access to the sea had rattled Eritrea and Somalia, while its move to host militia training in support of Sudan's militia had put Ethiopia at odds with its neighbors.

A spokesperson for the Sudanese armed forces, in a statement, rejected Ethiopia's accusations, saying that Ethiopia was offering support to militias fighting the Sudanese military, an apparent reference to the Rapid Support Forces, which have been battling Sudan's army since 2023.

Eritrean troops fought alongside Ethiopian forces against the TPLF in the 2020-2022 Tigray conflict. The civilian death toll was estimated by Ghent University researchers to be 500,000, including from violence, famine and the collapse of health services.

Commissioners are set to vote on a resolution Monday that would raise emergency medical transport fees across all service levels to $1,000.

Since 2018, the fee for Basic Life Support (BLS) has been $650. Advanced Life Support I (ALS I) — which includes an electrocardiogram and up to three medications — is $700. Advanced Life Support II (ALS II) — which includes advanced procedures or three or more medications — is $800.

Under the new rate proposal, every form of emergency medical transport would cost $1,000.

A fire department spokesperson said the proposed increase is meant to cover rising costs for several items, including fuel and medical supplies.

In July, Fire Chief Ronnie McNeil submitted a chart to the city showing Sanford’s transport fees were among the lowest compared to similar jurisdictions.

With the proposed increase, Sanford’s transport fees would match Longwood’s fees, placing both cities among the higher rates in the area.

The city says the fee and rate structure is supported by an independent study, which also found the mileage charge should increase from $10 to $15 per patient loaded mile.

The fee resolution would take effect as soon as it is passed. Commissioners will vote on the measure Monday at 7 p.m.

Louis Geri declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sentenced him to five years and 10 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Moss said he balanced the danger that Geri poses to the public with the defendant's history of “very serious mental health issues” and his need for adequate treatment.

“This was an extremely serious offense,” the judge said. “It may have been carried out in a bizarre manner, but the threat of violence was a serious one.”

Geri was arrested on Oct. 5, 2025, outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where police officers were clearing the area before the annual Red Mass. Police said they found in Geri’s possession paperwork that expressed “significant animosity” toward the Roman Catholic Church, Jewish people and the Supreme Court. Some justices usually attend the celebration, but none went to last year’s ceremony.

On steps outside the church, Geri had set up a tent containing more than 100 homemade explosives along with a nine-page “list of written demands,” according to a court filing. Geri told police that he had explosive devices and said “several of your people are gonna die from one of these” if his demands weren’t met, the filing says.

Geri's written demands included requests for money, for an “expatriation flight” to Japan and for the Supreme Court to remove Arizona from the United States.

“The defendant’s intent was clear: If his list of demands was not met, innocent people would die and prominent, historic landmarks, such as the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court, and the White House, would be destroyed,” prosecutors wrote.

Geri's attorney said the Vineland, New Jersey, native, who had traveled to Washington from Arkansas, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder more than two decades ago and had stopped taking his medication in the months leading up to his arrest outside the church.

“His conduct was the product of a treatable medical condition spiraling out of control, not malice or an actual intent to harm,” defense attorney Elizabeth Mullin wrote.

Geri pleaded guilty in March to two felony counts: illegal possession of a destructive device and extortion by wrongful use of force, violence or fear.

Geri and prosecutors agreed that a prison term ranging from five years and 10 months to seven years and three months would be appropriate. Moss wasn't bound by that recommendation, but Geri could have withdrawn his guilty plea if the judge had imposed a longer sentence.

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Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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

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

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

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

What is it, exactly? Caterpillar vs. moth

First, the name confusion cleanup:

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

How to identify a puss caterpillar

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

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

Habitat and range: Why Central Florida sees them

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

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

Life cycle: the short version

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

The general flow:

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

Why people mistake it for something harmless

Because it’s basically designed to be misunderstood.

The puss caterpillar looks like:

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

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

The real warning: the sting is no joke

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

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

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

What to do if you touch one

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

Poison Control recommends:

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

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

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

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

Safety guidance for children and pets

For kids

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

For pets

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

Ecological role

Puss caterpillars are part of Florida’s food web.

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

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

How to observe them respectfully

If you want to watch or photograph a puss caterpillar:

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

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

The emergency appeal comes after lower courts blocked officials from immediately carrying out the policy adopted after an executive order from President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to continue providing gender-affirming care like hormone therapy.

The Trump administration argues that the policy was properly adopted and the judge overstepped. It halts surgeries, hormones and social accommodations like wigs while allowing mental health therapy to continue.

It was adopted after an executive order required the Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical care policies so that federal funds aren’t spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex."

The government asked the high court to freeze Lamberth's order while the lawsuit continues to play out, saying the Bureau of Prisons had “determined that sex-trait-modification surgeries, hormone interventions in general, and social accommodations could no longer be justified as treatment for gender dysphoria.”

The agency said in 2025 that it was providing hormone therapy to more than 600 inmates.

The bureau doesn’t dispute that gender dysphoria can cause severe side effects, including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, Lamberth wrote. The Washington-based judge was nominated to the bench by President Ronald Reagan.

An divided appeals court panel left the order in place.

ACLU attorneys for the inmates said the policy is “a direct threat to the well-being of transgender people in federal custody and an open violation of their fundamental rights,” and withholding necessary gender-affirming healthcare constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court has previously upheld state laws banning certain medical treatments for transgender youth, and restricting sports participation by transgender athletes in women's sports.

It has also handed down shorter term decisions allowing the Trump administration to move ahead for now with other policies rolling back protections for transgender people serving in the military and holding a passport consistent with their gender identity.

As of 11:00 A.M., Hanna was 870 miles ENE of Bermuda, moving east at 17 miles per hour. Maximum sustained winds are 45 MPH.

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

There is no immediate threat to Florida.

Now, Larson has won two of the last three after his dominant victory at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

And he's in the pole position for another championship.

After sweeping each of the first two stages, breaking his own track record by leading 235 laps in the race, and passing Chase Briscoe for the lead with seven remaining and holding it the rest of the way, Larson has a 26-point cushion over Denny Hamlin heading to next weekend's race at Las Vegas, a comfortable margin with only six races remaining in the playoffs.

“I said it kind of in Gateway: I felt like we were close,” Larson said of his drought-ending win outside St. Louis. "I didn't feel like it was 51 races and then, yeah, just it seems like we were just building and ready to kind of capitalize if we got a moment like this, where our car and everything kind of came together.

“So just proud of everybody for working so hard for so long now, and then proud of just the execution that they've put in here.”

Things couldn't have gone much better for Larson

The No. 5 team couldn't have executed a whole lot better on Sunday.

After practice and qualifying was washed out the previous day, Larson began on the outside of the front row, thanks to metrics that combined his second-place finish the previous week at Bristol with ownership points. Larson immediately went to the front when the green flag was dropped and, other than during pit-stop cycles, pretty much spent the day there.

Briscoe did catch him with 30 laps to go, and even got around Larson, but his car began to get so loose that he kept brushing against the wall. That gave Larson the opening he needed to get back around the No. 19 car and drive off to victory.

He wound up with the maximum of 76 points on the day, an almost mythic number in the revamped version of the Chase playoffs, but one that became a reality when Larson took the checkered flag for a record-tying fourth time at Kansas Speedway.

“Nobody wants to go through the struggle,” said Larson's crew chief, Cliff Daniels, "but the struggle can be so constructive, if you let it be, if you lean in the right ways. We have a great company with a lot of great people on the shop floor, that are in teams, engine shop, car shop, leadership — everybody having the check of, ‘OK, we’re not where we need to be, so let’s not play the blame game. Let’s look within, and how do we elevate our process, our setups, just digging into all the things you have to do?’

“The sport goes in cycles,” Daniels continued. “Somebody told me a long time ago, when the sport goes in cycles, when you’re on top, you’ve got to take the best of it, and when you’re not, you’ve got to be patient and be ready when it is your turn.”

Patience and confidence pay off for Larson

That patience — and confidence — has paid off at the perfect time.

Larson heads to Las Vegas having won there three times in the Cup Series, second only to Joey Logano among active drivers, while his Hendrick Motorsports team has reached victory lane nine times, more than any other organization.

“I feel like we’ve shown a decent amount of patience. At the same time, we’ve been patient, just from the emotional level of not letting the struggle keep us down,” Daniels said. “Honestly, my opinion, I still don’t think as a company we’ve peaked yet. I don’t think as a team we’ve peaked yet. There’s still a lot of racing left and a lot of work to do. Am I encouraged about where we sit? Of course, but I would be naive to think that this is just going to carry all the way for the rest of the year.”

Larson likewise understands the playoffs aren't over. He was 49 points behind Hamlin after the opening race at Darlington, but he was able to trim 40 away with his win at St. Louis, took the lead by a point at Bristol and now has a 26-point advantage after Kansas.

That's a 75-point swing in just three races, underscoring just how quickly things can change.

“There's still six races, and I only have a 26-point lead on Denny. That could be swallowed up in a hurry,” Larson said. "Denny could have a max-point day and I could blow an engine, like Noah (Gragson) did in the first stage, and I'm down 70-some points right there.

“I'm just really trying to do the best job I can, and yeah, just show up to the racetrack and kind of block out all that stuff.”

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here

With 520 routes to cover, the district is working to get more people behind the wheel to ensure students get to school safely.

“We need at least 50 to 100 to get us back to a point where we can have drivers to cover absences,” Bill Wen, director of transportation for OCPS, said.

To close the gap, OCPS is hosting job fairs, welcoming candidates who already hold a commercial driver’s license, as well as those who need help obtaining one.

“We’ve been getting about 20 people every job fair — we do two a month,” Wen said. “It takes a little time for people to get [a commercial driver’s license], but we’ve been getting classes of about 6 to 7 every couple of weeks. We’re slowly getting there.”

Potential candidates must have a clean driving record and pass a background check. The district is also seeking mechanics in addition to bus drivers.

“We offer full-time benefits, and once they’re here, they can also qualify for the Florida Retirement System. We have days paid off. When the kids are out of school; they’re out of school as well. If they love working with children, this is a great opportunity,” Wen said.

“We have drivers who have been 20-plus years that love what they do and see their kids from kindergarten to high school.”

The district’s next job fair is from 9 a.m. to Noon on Oct. 26.

To see when job fairs are scheduled and how to pre-apply before the hiring event, visit the district’s career webpage.

The storm was located about 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) east-northeast of Bermuda and was moving east, according to an advisory from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Maximum sustained winds were around 45 mph (72 kph).

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect. Little change in strength is forecast in the coming days.

The storm comes as the Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year due to a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean.

Storm activity in the Pacific has been above average, with Hurricane Polo bearing down on Mexico Monday and Hurricane Nolo edging away from Hawaii.

The Trump administration already has slapped sanctions on 13 of the court’s staff members, among them key prosecutors and nine judges including the court’s Japanese President Tomoko Akane. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has launched what he called a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court.”

“The German government completely supports the court,” Wadephul said in The Hague shortly before his visit, adding that Berlin is seeking to “enable the court to be workable.”

Officials in the court’s host country, the Netherlands, have been warned that sanctions on the entire court are imminent and are looking at ways to help the tribunal keep operating, including paying staff, protecting witnesses and maintaining the detention facility, diplomatic and government officials with knowledge of the briefings told The Associated Press last week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Sanctions could prevent the court from accessing financial and IT services, and even paying its U.S. employees. When the court’s former chief prosecutor was sanctioned in 2025, he lost access to his Microsoft email, his bank accounts were frozen and he was barred from entering the United States.

Earlier on Monday, Wadephul said Berlin is “working together with other states on preserving its ability to function.” The court currently has 125 member states.

One possible measure to mitigate sanctions is the EU “blocking statute,” which could be used to protect European court staff by preventing European companies from complying with the U.S. measures.

It's unclear, however, whether the statute would shield the ICC itself, because it’s an international body, not a European one. EU citizens are entitled to a basic bank account, but that doesn’t provide access to credit cards or U.S. payment facilities.

Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen called the blocking statute the “nuclear option” in countering possible sanctions, but said the Netherlands has been in talks with the European Commission to ensure that if it is necessary it can be quickly enacted.

“We are ready for that, the commission is ready for that,” he told reporters at a news conference with Wadephul. Berendsen said he also is in talks with the United States in an attempt to head off possible further sanctions.

In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week, Trump called on ICC member states to quit the court. Days later, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten used the same podium to forcefully defend the court, telling the General Assembly: “I believe there can be only one response. To say: hands off the ICC, and all those other institutions that protect the international legal order.”

The ICC was established in The Hague in 2002 as a court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. It takes on cases when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory.

The U.S. and Israel strongly object to the court’s arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the war in Gaza. The U.S. also has opposed investigations into its military actions in Afghanistan.

Like Russia, China, India and Israel, the United States is among countries that have never joined the panel, with Washington citing fears of politically motivated prosecutions of its military.

Wadephul said Germany was a principled supporter of the ICC.

“Germany knows from its own history where it leads when state power flouts the law and humanity. So supporting the ICC is not a purely foreign policy question for Germany. It is also part of our historic responsibility,” he said Monday as he set off for The Hague.

MLB said Monday that 61 seconds of this year's increase was attributed to the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, which allows batters, catchers and pitchers to appeal umpire ball/strike decisions to a computer.

MLB’s average fell from 3:04 in 2022 to 2:40 the following year when the pitch clock was instituted and decreased to 2:36 in 2024, its lowest since 1984’s 2:35. It rose to 2:38 last year.

The average game time passed three hours for the first time in 2016. It reached a record 3:10 in 2021 before the introduction of the PitchCom electronic pitch-calling device helped bring it down to 3:04 in 2022.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

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

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

Most country-specific tariffs practically eradicated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A potential boost to US-China bilateral trade

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

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

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

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

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

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

Even after the deal, the overall average U.S. tariff rate on China is estimated to only drop from around 22% to roughly 20.5% and remain significantly higher than the roughly 11% before Trump’s return to the White House early last year, said Leah Fahy, a senior China economist at Capital Economics in a research report.

Notably, U.S. soybeans were not included in the list of agricultural commodities, she added.

China's trade surplus expected to remain elevated

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

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

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

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

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

Exporters welcome the tariff deal

Some Chinese exporters welcomed the tariff deal announcements.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What it means for NASA’s Artemis III mission

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

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

Jolly stopped at a local church days after making campaign stops in Orlando, Tampa and South Florida. He said the I-4 corridor, which includes Volusia County, reflects a wide range of issues facing voters.

“Look, the I-4 corridor is incredibly diverse,” Jolly said. “But I think what we also see in Volusia is the real diversity of economic conditions.”

Jolly’s visit came just days after Republican Byron Donalds campaigned in the area, stopping at a resort in Daytona Beach Shores. Donalds also visited Kissimmee before heading to South Florida.

At his Volusia County stop, Donalds told attendees he wanted to hear from them directly.

“Let’s go around the room, introduce yourselves, and let’s have a dialogue,” Donalds said.

On Saturday, Jolly focused on issues he said are dividing Floridians, criticizing culture-war politics and calling for a state fund to respond to major natural disasters. He also targeted Donalds, accusing him of moving away from President Donald Trump as Trump’s popularity declines.

Donalds pushed back this week on claims that he is distancing himself from Trump after his campaign website removed major references to Trump’s endorsement.

“We’re not distancing ourselves from President Trump,” Donalds said. “We’ve been planning on making website changes for about two months now, coming out of the primary. We wanted the website to be purely on the issues that we’re campaigning on.”

Donalds added, “President Trump has endorsed us. Grateful to have his endorsement.”

The candidates are offering sharply different messages on the campaign trail, but both have acknowledged that whoever wins will need to work with Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature. That includes addressing possible local budget shortfalls if property tax relief passes.

Jolly said the state must focus on affordability, education and health care.

“We know the economy is leaving a lot of people behind,” Jolly said. “Housing and health care in particular, that we’ve abandoned education and that the culture wars have divided people.”

Donalds has emphasized cost concerns as well, including price transparency.

“Price transparency is one of the cornerstones of stabilizing costs,” Donalds said. “Because then everybody knows what everybody else is charging.”

With voting by mail underway, the race for Florida governor is now fully in motion. Election Day is Nov. 3.

The Wild Card Series begins Tuesday, featuring four best-of-three matchups that include the Boston Red Sox traveling to face their longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees. Also in the American League, the Chicago White Sox are at the Houston Astros, who qualified for the postseason despite an 81-81 record.

Over in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies are at the Atlanta Braves while the Chicago Cubs travel to face the San Diego Padres.

Four teams earned a bye straight to the Division Series, including the Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays in the AL, along with the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers in the NL. They'll get nearly a week to rest and regroup following the sport's long 162-game regular season.

Here's more of what to know about the wild-card matchups this week:

The Red Sox go to the Bronx. Will Aaron Judge play for the Yankees?

It's the second year in a row the AL East rivals will meet in the Wild Card Series. The Yankees prevailed in last season's matchup, winning 2 games to 1 after a dominant Game 3 performance by young ace Cam Schlittler.

Schlittler has emerged as one of the game's best pitchers this season — he's likely to win the AL Cy Young award — and he'll start Game 1 after a 1.95 ERA in the regular season.

It remains to be seen whether three-time MVP Aaron Judge will be in the lineup against Boston — he's dealing with a right calf strain that knocked him out of the last week of the regular season. That came shortly after he missed more than three months with a broken rib.

The Red Sox had a massive in-season turnaround after they were 32-46 and 15 1/2 games back in the AL East race on June 24. Boston fired manager Alex Cora in April, and his replacement, Chad Tracy, recently had his interim tag removed.

Game 1: Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock

Game 2: Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday on NBC/Peacock/NBCSN

The White Sox try to continue remarkable turnaround

The White Sox became the first team to follow consecutive 100-loss seasons by reaching the playoffs. Chicago's powerful lineup includes Miguel Vargas, Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery, though the latter two have struggled at the plate of late.

The Astros were at one point 11 games under .500, fired their general manager in August and failed to finish with a winning record. Even so, the .500 club was good enough to win the AL West for the fifth time in six years. Houston's roster has some holes, but it also has star slugger Yordan Alvarez, who is the frontrunner to win AL MVP.

Game 1: Tuesday, 5 p.m. ET on Peacock/NBCSN

Game 2: Wednesday, 5 p.m. ET on Peacock/NBCSN

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday on NBC/Peacock/NBCSN

The Phillies barely sneaked into the postseason, and now face their NL East rivals

The Braves are regulars in the playoffs and have another strong roster that includes ace lefty Chris Sale and a lineup that features Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuna Jr., Drake Baldwin and Ozzie Albies.

The veteran Phillies stumbled down the stretch and squeezed into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. With a lineup that includes Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, and one of the best starting rotations in the game, it wouldn't be shocking for them to make a run in October.

Game 1: Tuesday, 2 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock

Game 2: Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET on NBC/Peacock

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday on NBC/Peacock/NBCSN

PCA and the Cubs head to San Diego

The Cubs are led by NL MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong, who finished the season with 45 homers and a .943 OPS. They also have veteran third baseman Alex Bregman, who is back in the lineup despite taking a ball to the face while standing in the on-deck circle last week.

The Padres are back in the postseason for a third straight season, surging down the stretch thanks to big contributions from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. They've got solid starting pitching and one of the best bullpens in the game, led by closer Mason Miller.

Game 1: Tuesday, 10 p.m. ET on Peacock/NBCSN

Game 2: Wednesday, 10 p.m. ET on Peacock/NBCSN

Game 3 (if necessary): Thursday on NBC/Peacock/NBCSN

What is the MLB playoff format?

There are 12 teams that qualify for MLB’s postseason, including six teams from both the AL and NL. The three division winners in each league get seeds No. 1 through No. 3, ranked by win-loss record. Then the three wild-card teams get seeds No. 4 through No. 6, also ranked by win-loss record.

The top two teams with the best record in both the AL and NL automatically advance to the Division Series. The other eight teams play in the Wild Card Series, which is a best-of-three format beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In both the AL and NL, the No. 6 seed will travel to face the No. 3 seed while the No. 5 seed goes to No. 4. The higher seed hosts all three games.

The winners then advance to the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven League Championship Series and a best-of-seven World Series between the winners of the AL and NL.

What is the MLB postseason schedule?

Wild Card Series: Sept. 29-Oct. 1 (NBC/Peacock)

Division Series: Oct. 3-10 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

Championship Series: Oct. 11-20 (AL on TBS, NL on FOX/FS1)

World Series: Oct. 23-31 (FOX)

Who are the favorites to win the World Series?

The Dodgers (+210) are the favorites to capture a third straight World Series title while the Brewers (+550), Rays (+800) and Yankees (+800) are viewed as the top contenders.

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See AP’s full MLB coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

She also believes it makes the roads safer for everyone.

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

Iguanas aren't exactly a big problem in Wisconsin. In Miami, well, they're everywhere — including around Antetokounmpo's new pool, which led to a viral moment this past weekend when the new Heat star posted about his family's encounter with the large lizard.

“If the iguanas keep on coming, I'll probably move, maybe get an apartment. No pools, no grass, none of that stuff,” Antetokounmpo said. "When I came here in July somebody told me they were kind of cute. They're not cute. They're not cute. It's scary. But I'll get used to it, hopefully. We'll see.”

The Heat hope that's the worst of Antetokounmpo's acclimation issues.

The two-time MVP who led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA title in 2021 officially starts the next chapter of his career Tuesday, when the Heat open training camp in Boca Raton, Florida — about 45 minutes north of the team's arena. He was the centerpiece of a massive roster restructuring by Miami this summer, one that saw the Heat add Antetokounmpo, Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis and Tim Hardaway Jr., among others to a core led by Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Davion Mitchell.

“This is all new for me," Antetokounmpo said Monday at his first Heat media day. “I’m trying to learn defense. I’m learning offenses. I am trying to fit in the locker room with new faces. I’m trying to be able to play with players that I’ve never played before. It’s all new for me. It’s exciting. I know that I’m going to put in the work. Succeed or fail, I’m going to fail by working, or succeed by working. And the goal is to win a championship. That’s the goal.”

The arena the Heat call home is a construction site these days. Dozens of workers in hard hats, orange reflective vests and steel-toed boots are all over the building, putting the finishing touches on new club spaces and other amenities that will greet fans in a couple weeks.

Seems fitting that the team has gone through a refurbishing of sorts as well.

“I feel like there’s a synergy from a lot of people in the building about this opportunity and the appropriate time," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Some things in this league really are about alignment. And then we’ll see how it all plays out once we get into the competition and the games and all that.”

Antetokounmpo entered the NBA in 2013. His career totals to date: 21,531 points, 8,882 rebounds and 4,484 assists. The point and rebound totals are both fifth best in the NBA over that span, while the assist total is 13th best — and those numbers are just part of the reason why the Heat consider him to still be one of the five best players in the league.

“We brought him here for a reason. He’s here for a reason," Spoelstra said. “We want him to establish himself as in that conversation of being the best player in the league and that can be debated in a lot of different ways. But we’re not bringing him here to take a step back, so we’ll try to maximize his strengths as much as we can and get him as comfortable as possible.”

And if all goes to Miami's plan, iguanas will be Antetokounmpo's biggest problem.

“I really do believe that if not the best, I’m one of the best players in the world," Antetokounmpo said. "I know when I’m at my best, when I'm locked in, when my body is right, I really do believe that I can dominate the game and I can impact the game in both ways, offensively and defensively. I think I’ve shown it over the years.”

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See AP’s full NBA coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

Environmental groups concerned over the rollback

News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The state of the industry

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

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

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

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

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

Stellantis also welcomed the changes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage.

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

He was unimpressed.

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

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

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

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

Independent or a Trump ‘pawn'?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“We don't fly on the radar,” he said.

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

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

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

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

Challenges ahead for the Postal Service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huge crowds and a military escort

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A statesman who promoted dialogue among rivals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

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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.

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

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

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

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

It backfired because the defense got beat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ravens took advantage.

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

Here are other takeaways from Week 3:

Bo-lieve in Bo Nix

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

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

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

Raider Nation rejoices

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

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

Maye’s regression is concerning

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

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

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

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

Super Bowl champs derailed

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

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

Winless Texans are in trouble

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

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

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

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See AP’s full NFL coverage here

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

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

Caddell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russian attacks leave dead and wounded across Ukraine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ukrainian army says it has advanced on the eastern front line

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

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

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

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

Russian officials made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian claim.

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

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

Ukraine hits targets in southwestern Russia

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

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

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

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

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The investigation remains ongoing.

6) SeaWorld Howl-O-Scream

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

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

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

5) Nature Fest at Oakland Nature Preserve

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

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

4) Orlando Air Show

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

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

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

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

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

2) Chase Sanctuary animal experiences

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

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

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

1) Jurassic Quest

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

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

Bonus🎉

4Roots Farmers Market

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

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

Lemesto Brand Launch Party

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voters are struggling to add it all up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tax cuts vs. food aid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other voices looking for alternatives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zelenskyy told the U.N. General Assembly last week that Ukraine had recently sent the men to South Korea, after capturing them on a Ukraine-Russia battlefield in early 2025. The two are among thousands of North Korean soldiers sent to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung quickly accused Ukraine of violating a nondisclosure agreement about the transfer. Ukraine denied making such a deal.

Late Sunday, Seong Ghi-hong, a senior presidential adviser for Lee on public relations, expressed “strong regret” over Ukraine’s latest actions and demanded an official apology and explanation.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to Seoul, Andrii Vieshkin, to protest what it described as Kyiv’s “unilateral disclosure” of the prisoners’ transfer and its false denial that the two countries had agreed to keep the matter confidential.

Vieshkin said he would convey Seoul’s position to his government, the ministry said in a statement. Repeated calls to Ukraine’s Embassy in Seoul seeking comment were unanswered.

Seong said that Ukraine’s “false” denial of the nondisclosure agreement was “an act that seriously undermines trust between the two governments and causes significant damage to friendly relations between the two countries.”

Seong said the agreement was reached because Seoul was concerned about the safety of the North Korean soldiers and their relatives in the North while Kyiv worried about possible domestic criticism for forfeiting an opportunity to exchange them for Ukrainian soldiers held in Russia.

North Korean POWs wanted to resettle in South Korea

While still in Ukraine, the two soldiers said in media interviews that they wanted to resettle in South Korea.

Seoul had called on Ukraine not to send them back to North Korea, where they could face persecution. The South legally regards the North as part of its territory and has a policy of accepting and financially supporting North Korean defectors.

More than 34,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, mostly in the last three decades. Most were female civilians from the North’s poorer northern provinces. Defections by soldiers are uncommon.

In his U.N. speech, Zelenskyy didn't provide details about the transfer, but said that “one of them, when he realized he was going to ​be taken prisoner, tried to kill himself and he was shocked that ​fate didn’t let him die. This is how they raise people in the North.”

Some experts say Zelenskyy likely decided to expose the danger of North Korean involvement in the war as a way to attract bigger Western assistance.

Meanwhile, South Korea's liberal government worried that news of the transfer could trigger an angry response from the North and hurt efforts to resume diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington.

South Korea

has refused direct military support to Ukraine

A growing arms exporter with a well-equipped and U.S.-backed military, South Korea has provided humanitarian aid and other support to Ukraine while joining U.S.-led economic sanctions against Russia since its invasion in 2022.

However, Seoul has resisted calls by Kyiv and NATO to provide direct military support to Ukraine in line with a long-standing policy of not supplying weapons to countries actively engaged in conflict.

North Korea and Russia confirmed in April 2025 that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk border region. South Korea, the United States and others say North Korea has also supplied artillery, ammunition and missiles to Russia in return for economic and military assistance.

South Korea’s intelligence service estimated last year that North Korea sent about 15,000 troops and 2,000 of them were killed.

Expanding cooperation with Russia has helped North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, push back against U.S.-led pressure and more assertively accelerate a nuclear weapons program. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump scaled back a military drill with South Korea in an apparent bid to restart diplomacy with Kim, but North Korea has suggested the step wasn't enough to convince it to return to talks.

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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONDAY & TUESDAY

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

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

Despite the quieter weather inland, beach conditions remain dangerous.

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

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

MIDWEEK

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

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

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

WEEKEND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weug’s turbulent year after leaving F1 Academy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Costs have spiraled and female racers remain a small minority

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

F1 Academy drivers are heavily subsidized

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See AP’s full auto racing coverage here