Officers were called around 2:30 a.m. Sunday after reports of gunfire.

Police say that’s when they learned a fight had started between two groups.

During the fight, investigators say a girl was punched in the face and her brother used a gun to hit the person who punched her.

Police say the gun accidentally went off, hitting his sister in the foot.

Investigators say she went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Everyone involved was detained and later released after the initial investigation.

Police say they will decide whether charges will be filed after the final investigation is complete.

No names were released.

The government reported more than 1,400 dead from the quakes Saturday as it faced growing criticism from Venezuelans that its response was inadequate and was overshadowed by civilian-led efforts to search for loved ones buried under collapsed buildings. Virtual databases used by families to report and find loved ones say thousands are still missing.

Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Sunday that 33 people had been rescued the day before, although she did not provide an updated death toll.

A U.S. rescue team from Virginia pulled a man and his son from the ruins Sunday morning and carried them carefully on a black tarp into an ambulance. Masses of people gathered to watch the rescue as the survivors — covered in dust — were hydrated through an IV.

Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster as crucial for retrieving people alive, though that can be extended if they have access to food and water. More than 2,200 rescue workers from across the world had arrived by Saturday, the U.N. said, and more were still arriving.

As messages of solidarity with Venezuelans flooded in from across the world, Pope Leo offered prayers for “the eternal rest of the deceased.”

"Likewise, I express my gratitude and encouragement to all those who are generously working in the search and rescue efforts,” he said.

Tension mounts during rescue efforts

Rodríguez said on state television Saturday that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are patrolling the La Guaira state, where access is now blocked and special permits are required to enter. But many in disaster zones said they had seen little of their government.

The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the U.S. capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.

Some people climbed the remnants of buildings and cried out names, hoping for any proof of life. Dust coated coastal communities. In punishing heat, more people wore masks as the stench of decomposition spread. In other parts of La Guaira, teams loaded stacks of bodies – some in white bags, other naked – onto white trucks from the ground of a dirt hospital parking lot, where they were being identified.

Without hard hats or other gear, rescuers and civilians instead wore motorcycle helmets as they searched piles of debris.

Some, frustrated by the government's response, blocked an excavator from leaving the site of a collapse and pulled the operator from its cabin shortly after state workers took selfies in front of flattened buildings and left without helping. The ruling party’s officials often take selfies to show participation in government-related events.

Searches mix with uncertainty

The International Organization for Migration said over 6 million people could be affected, some 2 million in the capital, Caracas, alone.

Experts said the destruction was amplified by the quick succession of shallow quakes. For days, smaller aftershocks occasionally shook the capital, Caracas and areas hit by the quakes, including one measuring 4.8 on Saturday.

Search teams and foreign aid continued to arrive from Mexico, the U.S., Brazil, El Salvador, France and elsewhere.

On Saturday, Mexican rescue teams climbed over collapsed buildings and pushed their heads into holes in the pancaked concrete to search for signs of life, occasionally hearing movement.

“We're rescuers from the Mexican military, if there's anyone down there still alive, make noise or scream. Now!" one man shouted.

A glimmer of hope

For many, the images of international aid teams arriving and climbing through the rubble alongside them offered a glimmer of hope. Yonahí Regalado has been calling out the names of her sister and 1-year-old nephew and godson since 1 a.m. the day after the earthquakes until aid workers began to arrive.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, whoever, whether it’s family or somebody else. If there is anyone alive, let’s get them out,” she said, as helicopters circled overhead.

Small moments of humanity mixed with grief and terror.

One video showed a Venezuelan rescuer comforting an elderly woman trapped beneath the rubble, scared that the structure would cave in if she moved.

“The roof won’t cave in. If it falls, I’ll be here with you,” he said.

Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves Caracas, was badly damaged. One runway was operational as U.S. teams worked to repair the crucial throughway, Jeremy Lewin, a senior State Department official in charge of foreign assistance, told reporters.

Lewin said a U.S. Navy transport ship was docked off the coast, ready to receive airlifted survivors in need of medical attention. Lewin said it is a “race against the clock” to find people injured in the quakes.

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalist Matías Delacroix, Clara Preve and Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

Racing in a heatwave with a broken drinks system, Russell held off Max Verstappen and his own teammate Kimi Antonelli to turn his controversial pole position into a dominant win.

It's the first win for Russell, excluding sprint races, since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Russell said it was “incredible" to win again after struggling to compete with Antonelli when his teammate racked up five straight victories earlier in the season.

“It’s been a tough couple of months with some really tricky races, with races that felt like everything was going against me, then some races with some tough performances,” he said.

Verstappen took the fight to Mercedes with his upgraded Red Bull car at the team's home race, but couldn't get close enough for a shot at Russell and finished on the defensive against Antonelli. The top three were separated by just two seconds at the finish.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari failed to build on his breakthrough win at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix last time out, fading badly in the race despite qualifying well, with the seven-time champion fifth and teammate Charles Leclerc eighth.

Russell takes back second in the standings from Hamilton with his seventh career win and cuts Antonelli’s lead to 40 points.

“I have a lot of confidence in myself, knowing I can do it. I have less confidence in being able to get everything aligned with the car, the set-up and the tires, because it’s just been so up and down for me,” Russell said.

Antonelli was left to rue mistakes he said cost him valuable seconds early in the race.

“It was a shame that I joined the party a bit too late,” the 19-year-old driver said.

Russell's smart win

Russell took pole Saturday with a lap time set as a yellow flag was displayed for a crash by Verstappen. Russell argued he’d lifted off enough to be safe and the stewards agreed.

Sunday’s win showed off Russell’s smart approach to racing in a different way as he managed his pace and stayed out of trouble, even as those behind him lost time battling each other for position.

Leclerc had started second, with Hamilton third, but they gradually dropped back through the field on a track where they lacked power compared to Mercedes and also had difficulties with tire wear.

Hamilton didn’t give up without a fight, bringing back memories of his fierce battles with Verstappen in 2021. Hamilton and the Dutch driver fought side by side in the early part of the race and Verstappen complained Hamilton had forced him wide into a gravel trap.

Fourth place for Oscar Piastri was a positive sign for McLaren, with defending champion Lando Norris seventh, but it came with a warning from team principal Andrea Stella.

It was an example of “excellent strategy” but “we are not in a position to fight for victories and podiums on pure pace at the moment,” Stella said.

Cadillac feels the heat

The heatwave sweeping Europe made this the first race of the year to be run under F1’s “heat hazard” rules, with drivers required to use cooling vests or carry an equivalent weight in ballast. They lined up for the pre-race Austrian anthem in cooling gear and carrying umbrellas.

Overheating brakes were a hot topic, with Antonelli among those struggling to stop the car. Both Cadillac drivers retired early, with the team’s crew rushing to put out a small fire on Valtteri Bottas’ car before Sergio Perez reported smoke.

F1's newest team is launching an investigation into the issues.

“We have made progress in terms of pace and the gap from the rear of the field is growing, but we need to ensure we have the reliability to demonstrate it,” team principal Graeme Lowdon said.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Temperature records were toppled in several countries on the weekend, wildfires were sparked in Germany and Berlin police used water cannons to cool down the crowds.

Meanwhile, the heat wave slowly moved toward eastern parts of the continent.

Germany marked a new record for the third day in a row with 41.7 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) in Neißemünde, near the border with Poland, which baked under its new all-time high of 40.5 C (104.9 F). The Czech Republic also experienced its hottest day ever with 41.9 C (107.4 F), up from the previous record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (105.6 F) on Saturday.

A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this past week would not have been possible without climate change.

The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.

France records surge in deaths during heat wave

France reported a surge in deaths last week, including a sharp increase at private homes, especially in the Paris region, the national public health agency said Sunday.

There were more than 1,200 deaths on Wednesday, when France was sweltering under its hottest temperatures, increasing to more than 1,400 deaths on each of the two following days, Public Health France said. In April and May, before the heat wave, France’s rate of deaths was about 900 to 1,000 per day.

The agency concluded that France experienced a total of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three days alone, an estimate it cautioned is likely to increase as more data is collected, including for deaths at home.

The increase was sharpest in areas under red warnings of extreme heat, it said. Those warnings blanketed about three-quarters of the country at the peak of the heat wave. The agency said that 85% of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, WHO warns

“Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, heating at twice the global average,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday on X. “Right now 150 million people are living under extreme heat, hundreds have died, schools are shut, grids are buckling.”

Driven by climate change and global warming, the “once-in-a-generation” heat wave is now occurring nearly every year, Tedros said, adding that more than 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded since June 21 linked to high temperatures in Europe.

“Heat stress is often called the ‘silent killer’ — and European homes, workplaces and schools were not built for these temperatures,” Tedros warned as he called on European countries to implement action plans. He said they should focus on preparedness, prevention and stronger health system responses.

Lightning strikes Swedish theme park

In Sweden, several people were injured when they were hit by lightning at an amusement park, the country's TT news agency reported.

Three adults were taken to the hospital, among them a woman with serious injuries, after the lightning struck the Tosselilla Sommarland park in Tomelilla in the south of the country.

Across Europe, the extreme heat has been followed by severe thunderstorms.

Denmark, which marked new temperature records on Saturday, recorded 1,156 lighting strikes by Sunday morning, according to public broadcaster DR.

Heat sparks wildfires in forests contaminated with WWII ammunition

In Gohrischheide, in eastern Germany, a fire broke out in a large forest that's still contaminated with ammunition from World War II, complicating efforts by firefighters.

Similarly, a major firefighting operation was underway in southwest Germany near the village of Traisen, where the heat sparked a forest fire in an area that also contained unexploded ordnance. Firefighters had to stop work temporarily after explosions took place and an ordnance disposal unit was brought in to continuously assess the situation, German news agency dpa reported. Some 650 people in Traisen had to leave their homes Sunday afternoon because the fire continued to spread.

Fire departments in the big cities were busy sending out ambulances to people suffering from heat-related illnesses. In Berlin, an additional 500 ambulance dispatches were reported on Saturday, most of them heat-related.

Berlin police use water cannons to cool down locals and tourists

The German capital's police found a way to help suffering Berliners and tourists alike. They put up two huge water cannons — usually used to disperse unruly protesters — in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate and sprayed the cool water across the cheering crowd.

The heat also worsened damage to infrastructure, with the concrete surface on countless highways breaking up, and a weekend warning by national rail operator Deutsche Bahn to avoid all unnecessary train travel.

More than 600 passengers had to be evacuated from an overheated train in Brandenburg after a tree fell onto an overhead power line during a storm on Saturday evening. The train, which was on its way from Hamburg to Prague, lost power. The air conditioners stopped working and the doors were locked until emergency responders forced them open. Two people were hospitalized with heat-related problems, dpa reported.

In the eastern city of Leipzig, no trams will be running until early Monday morning due to heat damage to tracks and switches. The Leipzig Public Transportation Authority said that the high temperatures had caused the joint sealant for asphalt and concrete in switches and tracks to run and clump together in many places throughout the city's network.

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Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

The dead included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers and the pilot, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said it was France's biggest aviation accident involving skydiving in about 30 years.

“Some of the victims’ families witnessed the aircraft falling with their own eyes. So there is tremendous emotion and an even greater psychological trauma," Nunez said.

He refused to speculate on what caused the crash but said the plane dropped out of the sky suddenly. He said it had just taken off from the Nancy-Essey airfield on the outskirts of the city of Nancy when it came down about 300 meters (yards) from the runway.

Yves Séguy, prefect of the Meurthe-et-Moselle region, said the plane suffered a malfunction and “fell almost vertically," narrowly missing a built-up area.

“Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” he said.

The plane banked to the left after takeoff and crashed less than a minute later near houses, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24.

Police cordoned off the crumpled wreckage.

Flight tracking sites identified the plane as a single-engine Pilatus PC-6, a small transporter of freight, passengers and skydivers.

The parachutists were to have jumped as tandems, Nancy Mayor Mathieu Klein told public broadcaster France Info. Tandem jumps are skydiving experiences where two people, often an instructor and a novice jumper, are attached together for the descent.

Emergency services responded immediately and were providing psychological support to victims' relatives, officials said. The Paris prosecutor's office is leading the crash probe, Nunez said.

A resident, identified as John Curaku by BFM-TV, told the broadcaster that he was in his yard when he heard what sounded like a plane's engine stopping, immediately followed by a bang.

He said he went to the crash site and “there were no signs of life,” with two of the bodies thrown a few meters (yards) from the plane.

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Leicester reported from Paris and Hatton from Lisbon, Portugal.

Crews began searching for the Marine early Thursday morning, shortly after midnight, according to a Navy news release. The Marine was reported missing from the USS Anchorage during integrated training between the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

It's at least the second time in six weeks that the U.S. military has been forced to look for missing members. The remains of the second of two U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during military exercises in Morocco were recovered in May, the Army said, ending a multinational search operation that deployed air, naval and artificial intelligence assets.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and all who are affected during this difficult time,” the Navy said in the news release this week about the missing Marine.

The Navy transitioned from search-and-rescue efforts to a search-and-recovery operation Friday evening. The Marine's name was being withheld pending the notification of family.

The search has covered about 2,400 square miles (6,200 square kilometers) and involved three surface ships and 12 aircraft from the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force, officials said.

The USS Anchorage is an amphibious transport dock ship based at Naval Base San Diego.

The firefighters deployed emergency shelters during the burnover incident on Saturday in Mesa County, Colorado, the U.S. Interior Department said.

They worked for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service and U.S. Forest Service and were part of an interagency response to the Knowles and Gore fires, which merged with other fires to form the Snyder Fire. So far, about 44 square miles (114 square kilometers) have burned.

Temperatures in Grand Junction hit a high of 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius), with winds gusting to 44 mph (71 kph), according to the National Weather Service.

The U.S. Wildland Fire Service, created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and fire reduction across public lands, said in a statement that it “stands united” with the Forest Service in grief and "in our unwavering support for the loved ones left behind."

"Their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten," the statement said.

The names of the firefighters who perished were being withheld pending notifications to their loved ones, the Interior Department said.

The Mesa County Sheriff's Office was asking people to evacuate the potential path of the fire and to turn on irrigation water to saturate the land. The federal Bureau of Land Management closed public access to lands it manages nearby.

“Firefighter and public safety are the highest priority,” the agency said in a statement. “The temporary closing of the lands is to reduce exposure to hazardous situations due to the rapid rates of spread and fire behavior that the fire has exhibited. The public is to remain clear of these closed lands.”

Hot, dry and windy conditions

Wildfire activity has intensified across the western United States, as consecutive days of hot, dry and windy weather have fueled flames in Utah, Arizona and elsewhere as new fires popped up across the region.

The largest blaze, the Cottonwood Fire, was burning in rugged terrain in southwest Utah. It ballooned Saturday to more than 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) after marching through canyons and mountainsides, destroying part of a ski resort and other summer cabins along the way.

Authorities in Beaver County began working with fire teams on Saturday to assess the extent of the damage, but no estimates were immediately available. Gov. Spencer Cox in a post on social media called it bleak, but he thanked crews for what he called "several miraculous stops and saves.”

The cliffs and steep slopes have made the job even harder, said Alyssa Mason, a spokesperson assigned to the fire.

“It's hard to get dozers and other heavy equipment into that. It's hard to get engines into that,” she said. “It doesn't make it impossible to firefight, but it does just kind of slow things down.”

Hundreds of firefighters have been arriving in the arid state to battle new starts as well as those that have been growing because of what forecasters called critical fire weather — dangerously low humidity levels, warm temperatures and gusty winds.

The danger is even higher this year because of Utah's record-low snowpack and its warmest winter on record. Much of the West is grappling with similar conditions, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Nationally, nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) have burned since the start of the year. That is more than the 10-year average.

Emergencies declared in Utah and Colorado

The conditions in Utah were critical enough for Cox to declare an emergency earlier this week and clear the way for the state to ban fireworks ahead of the July Fourth holiday. The order comes as Utah is experiencing one of the most severe wildfire seasons in recent history, fueled by historic drought conditions.

State officials said that over the past week, Utah has seen an increase in wildfire starts, with each fire showing unprecedented behavior. These starts have stretched the state’s wildland firefighting capabilities, State Forester Jamie Barnes said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also declared an emergency on Saturday, and authorized the use of the National Guard to tackle the fires.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service over recent days have been issuing red flag warnings for a wide swath of the West, from California to Arizona and New Mexico.

South of Grand Canyon National Park, authorities said the flames of a new wildfire were moving away from Grand Canyon Village and the nearby community of Tusayan on Saturday. But about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, another fire prompted Coconino County officials to issue evacuation orders for those near Kendrick Mountain.

Parts of northern Arizona were without power Saturday as the utility serving the area initiated a safety shut-off in hopes of lessening the wildfire risk.

Power shutoffs have become more common in the West as wildfire risk has expanded. It is usually a last resort after utility forecasters weigh factors like sustained wind and gust speeds, available fuels and topography.

With extreme fire conditions persisting in Utah, Rocky Mountain Power also shut off power lines serving Beaver County and other areas.

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.

The All England club was holding one last wild card entry and the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion — who had already announced she'd play doubles with her sister Venus — had a decision to make.

“I thought I should really take this opportunity. Who knows if I’ll ever make it here again. This could be it,” the 44-year-old Williams said Sunday at a press conference.

“I was like, ‘What’s wrong with me, Serena? What are you thinking? Are you nuts? Like you really should do this,’” she added. “People live to be an athlete. I have this great opportunity to showcase what I do, what I do best, I suppose. Yeah, I think ultimately I was like that is pretty cool, so I should do it.”

Williams’ first match at the grass-court Grand Slam since 2022 will take place on Centre Court on Tuesday evening when she faces 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia as part of her evolving tennis comeback.

Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Her most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows.

After earlier accepting a wild card in doubles, Williams described the process of making her decision for singles.

“So I think it was on, I had until Monday to decide. I think it was like Sunday. I just wasn’t sure up until then,” she said. “Honestly, I’m still not even sure, but we’ll see.”

Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion but said Sunday that “in general my expectations are definitely different for the first time in my career.”

Defending champion Iga Swiatek opens play on Centre Court on Tuesday (1:30 p.m. local time), in keeping with tradition, against Taylor Townsend. That's to be followed by Taylor Fritz vs. home favorite Jack Draper — in what is one of the most intriguing men's first-round matchups.

And then Williams-Joint.

“Yeah, actually I know her. I’ve watched some of her videos,” said Williams, who paused for a moment before adding, “I’m sure she knows my game.”

Michigan-born Joint slipped from No. 53 to No. 87 in the WTA rankings updated on Sunday.

Serena gets nervous?

Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently.

“I expect to be nervous. I was also nervous every single match I ever played in my life,” Williams said. “I think that showed the passion and the love and the care, that I cared about my job, whether it was the first round or the second round or the finals. I’ve always had some nerves. But then I just dust ’em off, then I move on.”

Williams has a Wimbledon singles first-round record of 19-2 — the losses coming in her last two appearances: 2021 and 2022.

The most-recent of her seven singles titles at the All England Club was 2016. She reached the 2018 final — 10 months after giving birth — and lost to Angelique Kerber. A year later, she lost in the final to Simona Halep.

Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament. She then played doubles in Berlin with Karolina Muchova — losing in the first round.

What can we expect from Serena?

Newly crowned French Open champion Mirra Andreeva probably spoke for lots of top players when she mentioned on Saturday that she was relieved to see the draw didn't match her up with Williams in the first round.

“Respectfully,” Williams said, “it’s not surprising simply because I think anyone that’s done — it’s like the big four coming back, I mean, Novak (Djokovic) is still here, but no one would want to play them in their first round. I can’t think of anyone that would want to do that.”

She added: “No one knows how my game may or may not have evolved, what to expect, don’t know much. Those type of opponents are always very difficult to play.”

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

According to the sheriff’s office, they responded to the 1100 block of Partlow Drive for a domestic assault call.

They say the suspect, a man in his 30s, barricaded himself inside the home.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says a SWAT team eventually took the man into custody without incident. No one was hurt.

The sheriff’s office has not released additional information.

After a near-record debut for an animated movie, “Toy Story 5” remained No. 1 at the box office with $70 million in domestic ticket sales and another $89.1 million overseas, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney Co. release has in two weeks quickly amassed $585 million globally, making it one of the biggest hits of the year.

“Supergirl,” however, failed to lift off. It opened with $38 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters. It added $30 million in overseas markets.

Craig Gillespie’s superhero spinoff is the second big-screen release from James Gunn and Peter Safran, who were tapped to lead DC Studios in late 2022. Their first release, 2025’s “Superman,” grossed $618 million worldwide, a strong-enough start for Gunn and Safran.

But “Supergirl” flopped with both critics and moviegoers. Reportedly trimmed significantly after test screenings, Gillespie’s film landed poor reviews (56% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a “B-” CinemaScore from audiences.

The poor opening weekend for “Supergirl” puts it behind the disappointing debuts of DC busts like “The Flash” ($55 million in 2023) and “The Green Lantern” ($53 million in 2011), and only barely ahead of “Joker: Folie à Deux” ($37.7 million in 2024).

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe, noted superhero movies no longer drive the box office like they did pre-pandemic. There are fewer yearly releases, and the box office in the genre is down approximately $3.5 billion annually from its highs in 2017-2019.

After huge successes like “Wonder Woman” ($822 million in 2017) and “Captain Marvel” ($1.13 billion in 2019), female-fronted superhero movies have also taken a downturn.

“You’ll hear general explanations like ‘the audience lost interest.’ Yes, they did,” said Gross. “But no one has been able to explain why it happened so suddenly and so completely. Why female superheroes in particular, after their sensational starts? We don’t understand it either.”

The stumble for “Supergirl,” which cost $170 million to make, comes as Warner Bros. Discovery, the film studio’s parent company, is preparing to be acquired by Paramount Skydance. David Ellison, Paramount chief executive, recently met with Gunn and Safran.

The next DC release is “Clayface,” a body horror take on the DC character, to be released in October. Gunn’s “Superman” follow-up, “Man of Tomorrow,” is currently in production. It’s dated for July 2027.

Gunn, who serves as a producer on “Supergirl,” handed directing duties to Gillespie, the filmmaker of “I, Tonya” and “Cruella.” Milly Alcock, who briefly appeared in “Superman,” stars as Supergirl, or Lara Zor-El, a younger cousin to Superman who’s more of a party girl than a world saver.

Paramount Pictures’ “Jackass: Best and Last” was the weekend’s other new wide release. The latest stunt compilation from Johnny Knoxville and company opened with a modest $8.4 million from 2,855 North American theaters. While that’s a good result for a movie that cost just $10 million to make, the 2022 installment, “Jackass Forever,” debuted with $23 million before ultimately grossing $80 million worldwide.

Olivia Wilde’s dinner party comedy “The Invite” notched one of the best per-screen averages of the year. Opening on seven screens in New York and Los Angeles, it debuted with $379,104, good for a per-screen average of $54,158.

Wilde’s third film as director stars herself, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton as a pair of San Francisco couples who meet for an impromptu night together. A24 acquired the film after its buzzy Sundance Film Festival premiere. The indie distributor is hoping “The Invite,” which will expand next week and go nationwide on July 10, can revive the largely dormant summer comedy.

The micro-budget horror phenomenon “Obsession” continued to hold unusually strong. It took third place on the weekend with $9.8 million in its seventh weekend of release. Curry Barker’s film, made for less than $1 million, has now collected $233.9 million domestically for Focus Features, plus $108.9 million internationally.

Such legs, however, haven’t materialized for Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller “Disclosure Day.” In the Universal Pictures’ third weekend of release, it slipped to fifth place with $8.1 million in domestic theaters. Spielberg's UFO tale has grossed $193.7 million globally in three weeks.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “Toy Story 5,” $70 million.

2. “Supergirl,” $38 million.

3. “Obsession,” $9.8 million.

4. “Jackass: Best and Last,” $8.4 million.

5. “Disclosure Day,” $8.1 million.

6. “Backrooms,” $4.3 million.

7. “Scary Movie,” $3 million.

8. “Masters of the Universe,” $2.2 million.

9. “Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Calamity," $2 million.

10. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $1.6 million.

“Mother Khadijah” worked alongside her provocative and charismatic husband for decades, helping lead their religious and sociopolitical movement, which espouses Black self-reliance. Its home base was Mosque Maryam on the south side of Chicago, where the pair lived.

“The Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan with deep sadness yet with profound gratitude to Allah informs you that his beloved wife of 72 years, the first lady of the Nation of Islam, Mother Khadijah has returned to Allah (may Allah be pleased),” a statement by the Shura Executive Council said.

Her death came only seven months after devotees had marked Khadijah's 90th birthday. The statement said funeral services are to be announced.

Mosque Maryam remembered Farrakhan as “a devoted follower” with “a precious soul, a sweet heart.”

In a post on Facebook, R&B artist ZaRio Son Rise recalled her as “a true queen, a righteous woman, and one of the greatest examples of dignity, faith, loyalty, and grace our generation has ever witnessed.”

Born Betsy Ross, Khadijah Farrakhan married her husband, then named Louis Walcott, in Boston on Sept. 12, 1953. The two had nine children. Their eldest son, Louis Farrakhan Jr., died in 2018, and son Joshua Farrakhan died in 2023.

Khadijah Farrakhan converted to Islam in 1955, the same year that her husband joined the Chicago-based movement after being heavily influenced Malcolm X, his friend from Boston. The pair changed their names around that time.

Louis Farrakhan stepped into the organization's leadership vacuum shortly after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. Among his most significant accomplishments was the Million Man March on Washington in 1995.

Two years later, Khadijah Farrakhan spoke before a gathering of America's Black women in Philadelphia dubbed the Million Woman March.

“A nation can rise no higher than its women," she told the crowd. "We focus on women but cannot lose sight that we must rise as a family -- men, women and children.”

With supporters' red-and-white St. George's Cross signs circling the field on an afternoon of sporadic rain, Bellingham and Kane scored early in the second half for a 2-0 win over Panama on Saturday. England earned first place in its group and a more favorable knockout phase bracket.

The Three Lions even wore the red jerseys made famous when England beat Germany for its only title in 1966, a sartorial similarity connecting North Jersey and that famous day in north London.

“Amazing support. Crazy white wall behind the goal. Perfect weather to play football for us — warm rain," England coach Thomas Tuchel said.

England finished Group L with two wins and a draw for seven points and plays its round of 32 match Wednesday at Atlanta against Congo. The team that advances faces Mexico or Ecuador in Mexico City.

If the Three Lions had dropped to second, they would have encountered Portugal, with the winner meeting Spain or Austria.

“I know some people have already made plans,” Bellingham said, “so it was nice they don’t have to cancel anything.”

Fans filled the field walls with flags displaying club names that included Tottenham, Watford and Wolves plus less-celebrated clubs such as Crawley Town, Bristol Rovers and Faversham Town.

Panama held the England scoreless through a first half in which Kane had 10 touches, the fewest of any player. Croatia added pressure by taking the lead in the 31st minute against Ghana in simultaneous match in Philadelphia.

“All the lads were ready to go after halftime,” Bellingham said. "We realized we had a couple of more gears to go.”

Bellingham put the Three Lions ahead in the 62nd minute from Bukayo Saka's corner kick. Held in bear hug by Jorge Gutiérrez at the top of the 6-yard box, Bellingham stuck out his left leg and stabbed the ball past goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera for his third World Cup goal, his second this year.

Five minutes later, Bellingham crossed from the left flank and Kane outjumped Andrés Andrade to head in the ball for his 82nd international goal. Kane became England's record World Cup scorer with his 11th goal, one more than Gary Lineker.

Bellingham injured his left hamstring playing for Real Madrid on Feb. 1, didn't return until March 22 and scored just two more goals during the rest of the La Liga season.

“Jude looks fit, looks sharp," Kane said. "It looks like he's got the bit between his teeth to really go out there and prove to the world what type of player he is.”

England reached the knockout rounds for the seventh time in eight World Cups.

“They have great players. They are worth millions and millions," Panama defender José Córdoba said. "We’re talking about English football, which is much more developed than in our country and there’s a huge distance.”

Panama went 0-3 for the second time and was outscored 4-0. It joined Iraq, Haiti, El Salvador, Canada and Mexico — all but one from the CONCACAF region — as teams that lost their first six World Cup matches. José Fajardo put the ball in the net for the Los Canaleros in second-half stoppage time, but was called for offside.

“We can be proud — not of the results, as no one can be proud of a defeat, but all in all I think they gave their everything." Panama coach Thomas Christiansen said. “For the outside world, the image of Panama has been really good.”

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford played his 15th World Cup match, second among English players to Peter Shilton’s 17.

England's Jarell Quansah, usually a central defender, replaced right back Reece James, sidelined by a hamstring. Quansah twisted his right ankle during a 59th-minute challenge by José Luis Rodríguez and was replaced in the 63rd. England is short on right backs after Trent Alexander-Arnold was not picked for the roster.

“It will be now a very tight race for Quansah, so I’m worried about these two," Tuchel said.

In the glow of victory, supporters celebrated Bellingham by singing the Beatles' “Hey Jude” when he stood on the field for postgame interviews.

“This evening is for sure to take in the energy and take in the atmosphere,” Tuchel said. “From tomorrow we will think about round of 32.”

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion — now in its fifth year — and make Russians feel the consequences.

The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries. According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table.

“Our ‘long-range sanctions’ reached two oil refineries in Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. “Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace.”

Debris from downed Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze at the refinery in Slavyansk-na-Kubani, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region, east of occupied Crimea, according to Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev. The falling debris killed one person in Slavyansk and wounded another in a nearby village, local authorities said.

The Slavyansk site is one of southern Russia’s major refineries, processing close to 4 million tons of crude per year, according to its operator’s website. It is also a key source of petroleum products intended for export through Russia’s Black Sea ports, including fuel oil, naphtha and marine fuel.

Zelenskyy also claimed that a second Russian refinery, in the Yaroslavl region around 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the Ukrainian border, was hit during the nighttime strikes.

There were no immediate reports from Russian authorities about the strike on the Yaroslavl refinery. Local Gov. Mikhail Evraev reported on Sunday morning that some roads between Moscow and the region's capital, Yaroslavl, were temporarily closed due to “an enemy attack by Ukrainian drones.”

Yaroslavl's airport also briefly closed overnight, along with others in southern and western Russia, according to the country's civil aviation agency.

Fuel shortages in Russia as Putin says plans will be ‘adjusted’

For months, Ukraine has been stepping up attacks on energy facilities deep inside Russia. Despite a raft of Western sanctions, Moscow remains among the world's top exporters of oil and natural gas.

More recently, Ukraine has attempted to choke off fuel deliveries to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in early 2014. Last weekend, Kremlin-installed officials in Crimea suspended gasoline sales to civilians, after Kyiv's targeting of supply routes triggered the worst energy crisis there since the annexation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on Sunday that the country was “going through a difficult period,” but insisted that Moscow would “honor all its social obligations” to citizens. He did not directly reference the Ukrainian strikes or fuel shortages.

“Naturally, we are adjusting certain plans in light of the current situation, but all strategically important (domestic) development programs will undoubtedly be implemented in full,” Putin said at a conference of his ruling United Russia party.

“We will continue to build housing and roads, create new, modern, high-paying jobs, and support domestic businesses,” he said. “We are going through a difficult period, but this has taught us a great deal, and allowed us to grasp the very essence of what it means to be a Russian citizen.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Moscow was actively reviewing fuel export agreements to avoid compromising domestic needs.

Fuel sales to civilians were also being restricted in Russia’s Irkutsk region in Siberia, thousands of kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border, local Gov. Igor Kobzev announced on Sunday.

Drivers will be barred from buying more than 50 liters (13 gallons) of fuel per vehicle per day at state-run Rosneft gas stations in the province, Kobzev said, adding that other gas stations may set lower limits.

At least two private gas station networks in Siberia — KreisNeft in the Irkutsk region and Elke Auto in the Tomsk region farther west — said earlier this month that they were limiting sales due to supply disruptions.

Drones, bombs and missiles target more regions

Also on Sunday, a Russian aerial bomb killed two people in Zaporizhzhia — a city in southern Ukraine — and injured 16 others, including two children, said regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.

In Russia's border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian drone strikes killed one person and injured another earlier on Sunday, according to acting local Gov. Alexander Shuvayev.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 213 Ukrainian drones during the night, including over Russia, occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 142 long-range strike drones and eight missiles overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Of those, 125 drones and seven missiles were struck down, the air force said.

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

It said the arrests were based on a statement made by former Deputy Minister of Oil Adnan al-Jumaili, who was arrested last month, and “included members of Parliament whose immunity had been lifted.”

Iraqi security forces sealed off all entrances to the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone early Sunday and carried out raids inside the compound that houses key government institutions and foreign embassies.

The state news agency later reported that 47 people had been arrested in the corruption probe, but it was not clear if all of them were detained Sunday or if some of them had been arrested earlier.

It released the names of 15 arrestees, including 12 current lawmakers, one former legislator, a former advisor to former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and another high-ranking oil ministry official. Some of the arrested lawmakers came from al-Sudani's Shiite political bloc and others from the Azm Alliance, an influential Sunni party.

The specific accusations against them were not immediately clear.

Al-Sudani’s bloc won the largest share of seats in November’s parliamentary elections, but he ultimately stepped aside amid a deadlock in the Coordination Framework — a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran that brought him to power — over their preferred candidate for premier.

Al-Sudani was replaced by Ali al-Zaidi, a businessman and political newcomer, who emerged as a consensus candidate and received the blessing of the United States.

The arrests are likely to have ripple effects across Iraq’s fractured political landscape, where accusations of corruption frequently intersect with rivalries over power and influence.

Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's direct oversight sparked the days of crossfire and have imperiled the talks for a lasting ceasefire. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday it would expand a route near Oman for inbound and outbound traffic, setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran.

The global community has long considered the strait an international passageway, despite its location in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route on the Omani side in an evacuation effort backed by a United Nations agency.

Iran insists that it alone must govern the strait, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated the claim on Sunday.

“Any attempt to establish new or separate arrangements from those currently being carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran will only lead to further complications, delay the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and increase the level of tension,” Araghchi said.

The United States and Iran have been debating the terms of an interim deal, including shipping arrangements on the strait, the removal of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the memorandum of understanding signed this month, they have 60 days to iron out details.

The interim deal is meant to end fighting on all fronts before certain key issues can be discussed. Continued fighting in Lebanon, where an Israeli soldier was killed by Hezbollah fire early Sunday, also threatens the agreement.

Strikes target Gulf states hosting US military

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for the attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait.

Kuwait's military said air defenses intercepted Iranian drones and missiles just after the U.S. strikes in Iran. Kuwait, which hosts a major U.S. military base, said it intercepted two ballistic missiles. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

Bahrain's Interior Ministry said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. The ministry released photos of an eight-story building, its top floor destroyed and windows blown out.

Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, whose base came under repeated attack during the war. The damaged building was not near the fleet's headquarters.

Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry denounced what it called “a dangerous escalation that reveals that what Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression."

Trump accuses Iran of violating ceasefire with ship attack

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea Saturday. The Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key mediator between Iran and the U.S.

President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the ceasefire and warned of a point where the U.S. may no longer be reasonable “and will be forced to militarily complete the job.”

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote.

The exchanges of fire began when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated with strikes.

Ship traffic on the strait had increased over the past 72 hours, off both Iran and Oman, the multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday, adding that “U.S.-assisted commercial transits continued uninterrupted despite the elevated threat environment.”

It said 89 such transits had been made, still below the historical average of 138 vessels a day.

Iran calls for new ‘conflict control unit’ in Lebanon

Last week, Israel and the Lebanese government signed a framework agreement to end the latest fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which began two days after the Iran war began when Hezbollah fired at Israel. Israel responded with an invasion that has occupied large swaths of southern Lebanon, and it has said it will not withdraw until Hezbollah is disarmed.

But last week's deal did not include Iran or Hezbollah, which has criticized the deal and rejected calls to disarm.

On Sunday, Araghchi again said the U.S. must force Israel to halt attacks and withdraw. Israel occupies around 600 square kilometers (231 square miles) in southern Lebanon, which it says it needs as a security buffer.

But sporadic clashes have continued, and Hezbollah's leader said Saturday that the group would continue fighting until Israel withdraws from Lebanon.

Key Iranian negotiator and parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Sunday that a meeting of a new “conflict control unit” formed among Iran, the United States and Lebanon should meet as soon as possible, Iran's state broadcaster reported.

The frequency of Israeli strikes in Lebanon has decreased significantly since the Iran-U.S. deal was signed, but two separate strikes hit southern Lebanon on Sunday morning — one in Taybeh town and the other in the Nabatiyeh area, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Overnight, Hezbollah militants killed an Israeli soldier in Deir Siryan village in southern Lebanon, according to Israel's military. Hezbollah did not comment.

“We are prepared to rapidly resume offensive operations in both Lebanon and Iran if required,” said Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

Troopers say the crash happened around 11:50 p.m. at 2006 Adair Street, that’s right near Fifth Avenue.

According to a report, a 2013 Toyota Camry ran off the road, struck the home and sent one person to AdventHealth Apopka.

It was not immediately clear who was hospitalized.

Troopers say the crash remains under investigation

Today

Similar to Saturday, our Sunday Funday will start off on the dry and sunny side. Expect dry conditions to last into lunchtime, Just after noon, our sea breeze will once again begin sparking up thunderstorms across Central Florida. Coverage will land around 40%, with greatest chances landing mid-late afternoon.

With upper ridging remaining in place, in addition to Saharan Dust, highs will climb into the mid-upper 90s with the heat index values climbing over the 105ºF mark for many neighborhoods. We will be flirting with heat advisory criteria.

Next Week

Changes come to the forecast by early next week as we get a wind pattern shift and added moisture. A dying frontal boundary will try to slip into northern Florida early next week, providing added moisture and energy into our atmosphere. This will also help to shift our winds back to our predominant easterly flow. This will allow for widespread showers and storms along our sea breeze and also push the sea breeze further inland. Rain chances will favor the I-4 corridor and points westward. Rain chances will climb to 60-70%.

This front is also the catalyst for the NHC’s development area just off our coast. The instability off this dying boundary has the possibility of spinning up an area of low pressure. As of Saturday afternoon, chances of this remain low. Keep checking back in with News 6 for updates.

According to the report, the person was trying to cross the road when they got in the way of a car.

Troopers say the car struck and killed that person.

The driver was not hurt and stayed at the scene, troopers say.

The names of the driver and the victim have not been released.

The crash remains under investigation.

The step, which still needs approval in Parliament, reflects deteriorating ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkey has fiercely lobbied to prevent countries from officially recognizing the mass deaths of Armenians around 1915 as a genocide, even as Armenians have pushed for it.

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

For years, Israel did not officially broach the subject for fear of angering Turkey, but that relationship has soured over the past two decades, especially in recent years as the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have dragged on.

“Despite the extensive and unambiguous historical documentation, the Armenian Genocide remains to this day the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization, including a manipulative rewriting of history, mainly by the Turkish government,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who brought the decision to the government.

He noted that Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have previously described the violence against Armenians as a genocide. But it has never been formally recognized in a vote by Israel’s Knesset.

“It is never too late to do the right thing,” Saar said Sunday, calling it a “moral and historical duty.”

He noted that 32 countries, including the United States, Syria and Lebanon, have also classified the violence as a genocide. It was not immediately known when Sunday's decision, approved unanimously by Israel's Cabinet, would go to the parliament for approval. There was no immediate reaction from Turkey.

Israel and Turkey were once close allies, but relations soured during the rise of Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leading Israel to reconsider its position.

Israel has faced repeated accusations, including from the United Nations and Turkey, that its offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. Israel, founded in the wake of the Holocaust, denies the accusations.

Israel launched the war in response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Gaza's Health Ministry, part of the Hamas government, says over 73,000 people have been killed, roughly half of them women and children. Israel says it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.

Last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza and repeated accusations that Israel has carried out a genocide. Israel called the report a “libelous sham.”

The $30 million salvage operation gets underway as soon as this week with the planned launch of a robotic lifesaver.

NASA hired startup Katalyst Space Technologies to boost the Swift Observatory to a higher orbit where it can continue hunting for some of the universe’s biggest explosions. A three-armed spacecraft built by Katalyst will chase after Swift once it takes off from an atoll in the Pacific's Marshall Islands aboard an airplane-launched Pegasus rocket. Liftoff could occur as early as Tuesday.

Scanning the cosmos since its launch in 2004, Swift has been sinking faster and faster because of recent intense solar activity. It needs to get to a higher, more stable orbit as soon as possible to survive.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope — also at risk — could be next.

Like Swift, Hubble is losing altitude as the sun erupts with one flare after another. Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee said his company's next-generation robot, still in development, could save the day for the much bigger Hubble in a couple years.

Only China has attempted a mission like the upcoming one, successfully boosting a satellite into a higher graveyard orbit four years ago.

“This is the first American space robot to go up and do anything like this,” Lee told The Associated Press. “NASA has all these big senior observatories … all of them can benefit from a service like this. So what we're proving with this mission is this is a new play in the playbook that's available.”

It will take Katalyst's autonomous spacecraft, named Link, about a month to rendezvous with Swift and catch it, and another couple months to raise its orbit from the current 224 miles (360 kilometers) to the desired 373 miles (600 kilometers).

The 1.6-ton (1.4-metric ton) gamma ray observatory must be above 185 miles (300 kilometers) for the rescue to work. It's expected to reach that point of no return in October, according to the latest estimates.

Roughly the size of a small kitchen refrigerator with a 40-foot (12-meter) solar wingspan, Link sports three arms with a reach of just over 3 feet (1 meter). Each arm has two finger-like pinching grippers that resemble the hands of a Lego mini figure.

If all goes well, Swift could be back in business by September, according to Lee.

Worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Swift was never designed to be repaired, let alone retrieved by hands — human or otherwise. That's what makes this so challenging, according to company officials, who stress there is no guarantee it will work.

NASA signed a contract with Katalyst last September with only two requests: It has to be a rush job, but please don't make things worse. Nine months later, the company is ready to rumble.

“I have to be honest. No one thought it was going to be possible. No one thought we would get as far as we’ve already gotten today,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, NASA's astrophysics director.

NASA has bought a little more time for Swift, turning off all scientific instruments to slow its descent. Observations ceased in February.

NASA's science mission chief Nicky Fox said it's worth the effort.

“If we let Swift reenter, we would lose that telescope. We would lose a lot of capability,” she said. “We don’t currently have the budget to build another one to replace that.”

While everything cannot be saved in space, Swift is special, said Domagal-Goldman.

True to its name, Swift is designed to pivot quickly to capture late-breaking astronomical events such as gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. With more discoveries expected by the Webb Space Telescope and soon-to-launch Roman Space Telescope, Swift, if saved, would be busier than ever as “NASA's first responder.”

Katalyst sees Swift as the jumping-off point for a new repair business in space. The company's next-generation robotic rescuer, scheduled to fly next year, will tackle satellites as high as 22,300 miles (35,800 kilometers) up. Lee envisions hundreds of robots in orbit one day, not only fixing and hoisting satellites but also refueling them and building solar farms, data centers and other platforms.

Thirty-six-year-old Hubble, which received repeat servicing by spacewalking astronauts during the shuttle era, could follow in 2028 with a life-extending Katalyst boost.

“It's a national treasure,” Fox said. “People love Hubble.”

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This story corrects spacecraft name to Link.

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

“You're next!” they chanted when an image of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York flashed on the television screens at Valdez's victory party in a renovated Brooklyn warehouse.

The message alarmed Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, whose district borders the one that Valdez is poised to represent. Jeffries would likely be the first Black speaker of the House if Democrats regain the majority, Meeks said, and “people died to see something like that opportunity.”

The episode reflects the party's dilemma in a populist age.

As left-wing insurgents make inroads in New York and elsewhere, their campaigns are confronting legacy institutions led by people of color. For a party that prides itself on diversity, the clashes have exacerbated fierce debates over identity politics and long-standing rifts between progressives and moderates.

The outcome will determine who holds power within the Democratic coalition as it battles for control of Congress and prepares for what is expected to be a sprawling and searing presidential primary in 2028.

Although minority-led organizations have historically been viewed as more radical and antiestablishment, some Democratic leaders now view the left-wing surge as driven by white college graduates. Progressives argue that their agenda remains popular within communities of color.

“It’s complicated," said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “But these changes are a real opportunity for our communities, and maybe a passing of the baton to a younger generation of leaders.”

Jeffries brushed off a question about whether he could face his own primary challenge.

“When you ask me a serious question, I’ll give you a serious answer," he told a reporter from Fox Business.

A past generation of minority political leaders went from outsiders to insiders

Once the distant dreams of Black and Latino activists, the political machines in many communities of color have become a central part of the Democratic establishment. They were a key driver of the party’s embrace of civil rights and diversity as core values.

Some of the party’s most tenured members and influential dynasties now come from communities of color, and politicians such as Jeffries rose through the ranks of such systems to serve as party leaders.

But such organizations were built in a different era.

“A lot of our communities are anchored in older, more traditional voters, and those older, more traditional voters carry older, more traditional values,” said Dallas Jones, the former Texas political director for Democrat Joe Biden's presidential campaign in 2020. In Democrats' current debates of “people versus elites," Jones said, “you cannot help but find that the Black community is caught up in the middle of it.”

Jones said that yearning for generational change helped topple Texas Rep. Al Green, a progressive seeking his 12th term in Congress, in May. A longtime civil rights activist, Green, 78, was defeated by Christian Menefee, a 38-year-old first-term congressman who is also Black, to represent a majority-Black district anchored by Houston.

The Democratic electorate grew slightly whiter in 2024 as Donald Trump made some gains among Black and Hispanic voters. In addition, white Democrats have become more likely to describe themselves as liberal than are Black and Hispanic Democrats, according to Gallup research from 2022.

Progressives argue that they are challenging longtime lawmakers based on their establishment ties rather than any shift in the party's demographics. They point to progressives recently winning House Democratic primaries for majority-minority districts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as signs of deeper appeal.

“The point of being a senior Democrat is you’re supposed to be able to deliver more and impact the agenda,” said Regina Monge, a strategist who led a political action committee that backed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in last year's race for New York mayor. “People are supposed to feel the benefits of their leadership in the district.”

Senior lawmakers are skeptical that much can be extrapolated nationally from last week's results, where Mamdani successfully pushed a slate of three insurgent candidates.

“Our path to 218” — the number of seats necessary for a House majority — “wasn’t affected by those races that are getting a lot of news,” said Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the highest-ranking Latino in Congress. “The mayor made some endorsements, and those individuals won, and I presume that they’re going to come and vote with the Democratic caucus when they get here.”

Generational change clashes with legacy in closely watched primaries

The new style of challenger often rises from outside the traditional civil rights and organizing structures that characterized some communities for decades.

Valdez, who is Latina and Native American, won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who was born in Puerto Rico.

The current caucus leader, Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, lost his primary to Darializa Avila Chevalier, another democratic socialist, in a district that includes parts of Manhattan and the Bronx. Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic; Chevalier’s parents are Dominican immigrants.

“We’re really looking at a moment in time where people are anxious about the future of our country," said Katharine Pichardo, who leads Latino Victory.

Pichardo was a senior adviser to Espaillat's first successful run for Congress, in 2016. She said Espaillat's message “needed to focus more on kitchen table issues” and be “forward looking” if he were to ward off Chevalier.

For incumbents to defeat populist and more ideological challengers, she said, they must “give people a sense of security against the very real anxiety over what’s going on in Washington, D.C.”

Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party who now teaches at Columbia University, said insurgent candidates and their voters see institutions as “inherently flawed.” He said party leaders "would do well to turn with the momentum and not against it.”

“This is an opportunity for Hakeem to turn around and say, ‘Look, I’m with you, I’m not going to stand in your way, let's iron out our differences and make me speaker, get us back to power,'" Smikle said. "That would be the best way to bridge this divide.”

On Saturday, Jeffries took a step in that direction by congratulating New York City's Democratic nominees, including Valdez and Chevalier. He did not mention his ideological disagreements with them or his support for their opponents, instead stressing that they would help "crush far-right extremism."

“The path is different but the work is the same," Jeffries said.

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Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre in New York contributed to this report.

The award has been presented since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made significant contributions to humor and commentary in the United States. In announcing the honor in March, the Kennedy Center described Maher as someone who has long influenced American comedy “one politically incorrect joke at a time,” a reference to the late-night show “Politically Incorrect" that he hosted for much of the 1990s and helped lift him to prominence.

Previous winners include Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Letterman, Carol Burnett and Tina Fey. Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington and Jay Leno are among the celebrities expected to appear at the Sunday night ceremony.

President Donald Trump, who has spent much of his second term reshaping the performing arts venue, is not expected to attend.

The awards come at an awkward moment for the Kennedy Center, long one of the few relatively nonpartisan institutions in Washington. Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president fired much of the center's leadership and installed a board largely composed of allies. It named Trump as chairman and his name was added to the building's iconic facade, prompting a legal battle that became a proxy fight over the extent of the president's power.

Trump later said the Kennedy Center would close in July for a two-year renovation. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper upended those plans in May by ruling that Trump's name was illegally added to the building, ordering it removed. The judge also has blocked the closure.

A legal saga that could be fodder for jokes

The legal fight has turned into a saga that could be easy fodder for jokes at the Twain gala.

Trump's name has come down from the building, in compliance with the judge's order. But the part of the building once covered with letters spelling the president's name is now shrouded in a tarp. The full closure is on hold. Lawyers for the Kennedy Center have said they are not planning for now to build out programming.

“The Court’s order did not affirmatively require the Board to reschedule programming that had previously been cancelled or to seek new programming,” the lawyers wrote in a court filing this month.

Cooper has asked for an update next month on how long the tarp will remain on the building. For now, the final event scheduled for the Kennedy Center's well-known Concert Hall is “The Freedom Gathering: A Musical Celebration” on July 3.

Maher and Trump have a fraught relationship

Given Trump's sway over the Kennedy Center, Maher's selection for the award is notable because the two men have long had a fraught relationship.

Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Leno’s “The Tonight Show,” Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if Trump could prove he was not “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”

Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher did not pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year.

“He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,” Trump wrote online. “He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself.” Trump said the comedian admitted he was “scared.”

Maher, during his April 11 episode of “Real Time,” described the dinner. He said Trump was “gracious and measured” and not like the “person who plays a crazy person on TV.” Maher said he was not scared.

He took time in his “New Rules” segment to point out the various Trump policies he liked, including the “mass removal of stone cold criminals” and making NATO members pay “their fair share.”

“I may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you,” he said.

Maher hosted Vice President JD Vance on his show heading into the weekend. Vance, who is promoting a book, said he watches the show and laughed at Maher's monologue “even though you were making fun of me.” During the interview, Maher pressed Vance on the Iran war, immigration enforcement and election conspiracy theories.

“You guys have two outcomes that an election can be,” Maher told Vance. “Either we win or they cheated. That s—- has to stop.”

Maher's selection for the award was itself the subject of drama.

After The Atlantic reported in March that Maher would win the award, the White House pushed back hard. White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media that the story was “literally FAKE NEWS.” Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, also called the initial report “fake news” and said Maher “will NOT be getting this award.”

The situation evolved after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers.

Beyond Maher, other celebrities expected to appear on Sunday have had up-and-down relationships with Trump. The president and Huffington, for instance, have feuded at points for more than a decade.

Stephen A. Smith, the sports analyst who is among those expected to appear at the ceremony, recently knocked Trump for attending the NBA Finals earlier this month in New York. Smith, who has signaled political ambitions of his own, called the move “selfish” and “narcissistic.”

The images illustrate how the Republican president has dominated daily life since returning to power and, to some, evoke more the style of a monarch than the leader of the world's oldest democracy. But it's also how he has wielded that power that has led to comparisons of an imperial reign.

Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has nominated one of his personal lawyers to serve as attorney general, ordered the Department of Justice to pursue his political enemies, deployed the U.S. Marines to the nation's second largest city and leveraged the presidency to enrich himself and his family.

He has demanded that comedians who mock him be fired, has slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, has pushed to seize control of elections, has filed lawsuits against news organizations whose coverage he disliked and has sued his own government seeking $10 billion in taxpayer money.

With the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding fast approaching, Trump’s own celebrations have overshadowed the bipartisan, congressionally authorized commission that was supposed to coordinate events commemorating the moment. He plans to return to the National Mall on July Fourth for what he calls a “Trump rally.”

The president's actions have led to comparisons with King George III, the British monarch whose rule inspired the American Revolution. It is a parallel Trump himself rejects.

“I’m not a king,” he told CBS' “60 Minutes” earlier this year. “If I was a king, I wouldn’t be dealing with you.”

Past presidents have been branded as imperial, but Trump stands out

There is a long American political traditional of opponents reviling presidents as kings. But Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian, said the label fits differently on Trump.

“It’s more about how he imagines who is he and what the presidency is,” Zelizer said. “We're celebrating founding principles, and that was a driving issue — fears of how a centralized power can be corrupted. And here we are again.”

When King Charles III visited Trump this year, the official White House X account posted an image of the two men with the caption “TWO KINGS.” At the start of his second term, Trump declared he had ended a New York City transportation program and posted: “LONG LIVE THE KING.” The posts also seemed to indicate a willingness to leverage the label and the reaction it provokes in his critics.

It is no coincidence that the main resistance movement in Trump's second term adopted the slogan “No Kings.” Ezra Levin of Indivisible said activists were thinking ahead to 2026 and the America 250 celebration when they chose the label.

“It looks like the same kind of tyranny we were rebelling against 250 years ago, the type of domination of Americans by a secret police force that's murdering people in the streets like in Minneapolis this year and in Boston in 1770,” Levin said, referring to demonstrations against the administration's immigration crackdown that led to the fatal shootings of two protesters this year by federal officers.

When asked for comment, the White House referred to Trump's own statements about his use of executive power. The president has weighed in multiple times about his maximalist approach.

During his first term, he referred to Article II of the Constitution when he told participants in a youth summit, “I have the right to do whatever I want as president," while declaring that it "gives me all of these rights at a level nobody has ever seen before.” He told The New York Times in an interview this year that the only check on his global power was “my own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Yet he also has said that portrayals of his approach as authoritarian were wrong: “I'm not a dictator,” he told reporters last year. In response to a question about whether he was concentrating power in the presidency, Trump told Time in an interview last year, “I don’t think so. I think I’m using it properly, and I’m also using it as per my election.”

Supreme Court's conservative majority has enabled Trump's approach

With a deferential Republican-controlled Congress, courts have become the last check on Trump. The president has harshly criticized judges who have ruled against him, and his administration has sometimes defied their orders.

Yet his quest to expand presidential power has been aided by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, which has sided with Trump numerous times after lower court rulings hampered him.

In the middle of his 2024 campaign, the high court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. The decision derailed multiple investigations stemming from Trump's first term, including one focused on his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Trump has argued the courts cannot constrain the president on key issues, including his claims that he has the ability to fire members of independent agencies. The most notorious example was in 2024, when a judge asked during the immunity case whether a president could be prosecuted for ordering the assassination of a political rival. Trump's lawyer, D. John Sauer, answered with a “qualified yes.”

Sauer is now solicitor general, the administration official who oversees arguments before the high court. He has continued to insist that courts cannot review presidential acts.

“Once the President has made a determination … at that point, there’s no work for the reviewing court to do,” Sauer said during Supreme Court arguments in a case over whether Trump could fire Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor.

But the Supreme Court has allowed Cook to remain on the board while it considers the case. The majority also slapped down his global tariffs, finding that only Congress had that authority.

Such rulings demonstrate that presidential power does have its limits, said John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“The presidency today, even when colored by President Trump's worst excesses, is not a monarchy,” he said.

Trump uses the presidency to enrich himself and his family

Trump was the richest man to ever become president. During his first term, he was criticized for owning properties where foreign dignitaries and others hoping to curry his favor spent lavishly. The conflicts of interest have escalated in his second term.

Trump launched cryptocurrencies before and after returning to office. By conservative estimates, one has pulled in $320 million this year alone, while another sold $550 million worth of tokens. A third received a $2 billion investment from a foreign wealth fund.

Trump took a new step earlier this year, filing a private $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for the leak of his tax returns during his first term. His Department of Justice directed the IRS to settle the litigation to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay damages to people who claimed the federal government unfairly prosecuted them.

The administration pulled back the settlement amid an outcry from congressional Democrats and Republicans. But Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump who is now acting attorney general, said at least one provision remains — a ban on the IRS auditing Trump.

Zelizer said Trump’s financial entanglements might be the most monarchical part of his administration.

“We have not seen a person who has a business operation of this scale and scope benefiting directly from the decisions he makes,” Zelizer said.

Trump has used the government to pursue his enemies

The Justice Department's role in the IRS lawsuit is one example of how Trump has decreed that executive branch employees should act as agents of his will.

In breaching what is supposed to be a firewall between the White House and Justice Department, Trump has demanded that federal prosecutors target his foes. In one social media post last year, he called out by name Pam Bondi, who was attorney general at the time, in pushing her to prosecute several of his political opponents: “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump wrote.

Indictments followed shortly after, including against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat. The charges against both eventually were dismissed, but the department under Blanche filed new charges against Comey.

The pursuit is not limited to Trump enemies of the past.

For his 80th birthday this month, the president hosted a fight held by UFC — a company he invested in — on the White House lawn. The event was broadcast on a network owned by the son of one of the president’s major donors. The spectacle drew a rebuke from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a persistent critic and potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender.

“The White House was built to serve the American people. Tonight it was used to promote a company the President owns stock in, sell subscriptions, promote corporate sponsors, push Trump crypto, and enrich the President and his family,” Newsom wrote on X. “The founders warned us about kings enriching themselves from public office.”

Days later, Newsom disclosed that Trump’s Department of Justice was investigating him and his wife.

___

Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the eldest son of President Yoweri Museveni, has served as the top military commander since 2024. In recent days, after Museveni was sworn in for a seventh consecutive term, Kainerugaba has strengthened his grip with a series of directives and orders usually reserved for the head of state.

Soldiers were deployed outside the Kampala offices of the Daily Monitor newspaper early Sunday. The paper is part of the Nation Media Group of companies whose headquarters is in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

“I have the power in Uganda to shut down ANY media house I want to,” Kainerugaba wrote on X, his preferred channel of communication. "I have had this power since 2017. This power was given to me by my great father.”

He added: “From now on ALL media in Uganda will follow the rules!”

The army chief said that in addition to Daily Monitor, his closure directive also targeted local broadcaster NTV, part of Nation Media Group.

The National Association of Broadcasters said in a statement that at least six publishing and broadcasting outlets — all under Nation Media Group — were closed. “We are deeply concerned about this action and its impact on the media ecosystem,” the statement said.

Kainerugaba asserts that he will succeed his father in the presidency, an increasingly likely possibility as the 81-year-old leader now relies heavily on his son’s military authority.

Earlier this month, Kainerugaba retaliated against a prominent attorney who sought to hold him accountable for his alleged role in the violation of the rights of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. He was seized in Nairobi in 2024, and has since been imprisoned on treason charges he says are politically motivated. Besigye's attorney, Erias Lukwago, was taken from his house and later charged with an offense related to the concealment of treason.

Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, has not said when he will retire. He has no rivals within the ruling party, the reason many believe the military will have a say in choosing his successor.

Kainerugaba’s associates describe him as a dedicated military officer who often eschews ostentatious displays of wealth. They say he opposes official corruption and would punish it heavily as president.

He attended military schools in the U.S. and Britain before taking charge of a presidential guard unit that has since been expanded into an elite group of special forces. In addition to his military duties, he is the founder of a political activist group known as the Patriotic League of Uganda. Its members and well-wishers range from the parliamentary speaker to government ministers.

However, he didn’t OK all of the bills that were sent to his desk.

Among the large batches of bills that he approved, there were five in particular that he instead opted to veto, according to the governor’s office.

[RELATED: Florida’s new data center law takes effect on July 1]

News 6 has collected the veto letters from each of these bills, in which DeSantis explains his reasoning for doing so.

The full list of veto letters is as follows:

HB 325 — Inmate Development

“HB 325 creates a new program that requires state correctional institutions and facilities to include training for Class A and Class B commercial driver’s licenses.

The bill allows inmates to operate a state-owned vehicle outside of the fence for the purpose of completing program requirements or demonstrating proficiency in the program and requires that such operation must be under the supervision of a correctional officer.

Not only is this new program unnecessarily burdensome to the Department of Corrections staff and its facilities, but it also creates signification public safety concerns by authorizing incarcerated individuals to operate commercial vehicles in public thoroughfares.

Florida’s commitment to enhancing workforce development efforts and supporting our state’s trucking industry is clear, and while portions of the bill may support both goals, those can be achieved through the existing oversight of both the Department of Corrections and Department of Transportation, that do not put our roads at risk.

For these reasons, I withhold my approval of (HB 325) and do hereby veto the same."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (HB 325)

SB 382 — E-Bike Rules

“SB 382 prohibits electric bicycles (e-bikes) from operating at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour if within 50 feet of a pedestrian. The bill establishes a standard that would certainly be difficult for a bicyclist to measure when safely operating an e-bike.

Violators would be guilty of a nonmoving traffic violation and subject to fines surpassing $100, a violation that would inevitably be enforced with speed detection and surveillance devices. Separately, the bill creates a ‘Micromobility Device Safety Task Force," with no sunset date, to recommend limitless regulations related to e-bikes.

This bill will likely lead to enhanced surveillance by local governments against citizens. Moreover, the bill creates a task force, yet substantive changes are also implemented prior to any task force recommendations.

For these reasons, I withhold my approval of (SB 382) and do hereby veto the same."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (SB 382)

[RELATED: Florida governor vetoes e-bike safety bill]

HB 461 — Poll Volunteers

“The bill seeks to clarify the ability for high school students to volunteer at polling locations for the purpose of receiving community service hours to meet high school graduation and scholarship requirements.

While the House and Senate sponsors had a noble intent in filing the bill, the application of the bill may result in an avenue for polls to be staffed with volunteers that may not be subject to Florida’s prohibition on single party registered poll workers for general elections. Given the bill received support in committee by representatives of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this may indeed be the consequence of the legislation.

Currently, Florida high school students can already receive service hour credit for paid work and volunteering. For these reasons, I withhold my approval of (HB 461) and do hereby veto the same."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (HB 461)

SB 688 — Naturopathic Medicine

“SB 688 provides for the regulation and licensing of naturopathic medicine in Florida. The bill requires the Department of Health to establish the Board of Naturopathic Medicine to oversee naturopathic doctors and authorizes a licensure fee. The bill requires individuals to receive a license to practice from an accredited institution - all of which are out of state.

Current law allows licensed practitioners such as physicians, doctors of osteopathy, acupuncturists, and dietitians to employ naturopathic methods and recommend natural remedies.

Additionally, Floridians can already access natural remedy treatments because they do not require a prescription or U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. If enacted, this legislation may negatively impact Floridians who currently work in alternative medicine by mandating post-graduate education that cannot be obtained in Florida and require them to pay costly licensure fees to do the work they are already performing. There is no need to create additional bureaucratic hurdles.

Florida leads the nation in advancing medical freedom and access to care. Initiatives such as Healthy Florida First empower citizens to make informed choices without creating excessive regulations. Rather than relying on additional bureaucracy, Florida will continue to pursue practical solutions that promote transparency and accountability to better serve Florida families."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (SB 688)

HB 4075 — Town of Davie

“The bill creates an exemption from state and federal outdoor advertising laws for a parcel abutting I-75, a federal-aid component of the Interstate Highway System. Given that the bill provides an exclusive exemption to the Highway Beautification Act, it may result in a reduction in Florida’s funding apportionment under federal law.

While the bill has the intent of promoting the agricultural heritage of the community, the fiscal impact from noncompliance with the Highway Beautification Act outweighs any revenue that may be derived from the promotional signage planned by the Town of Davie.

For this reason, I withhold my approval of (HB 4075) and do hereby veto the same."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (HB 4075)

A militant rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the provincial headquarters of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers in Karachi on Saturday night, triggering an intense exchange of gunfire with security forces, according to police and witnesses.

In a statement, the military said security forces had killed three attackers and captured a fourth, who was wounded. It identified the captured suspect as an Afghan national.

The military said operations were continuing in the area and warned that Pakistan would retaliate against those responsible for the assault. Pakistan has carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan in recent years, saying they targeted militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul has repeatedly denied allowing militant groups to use Afghan territory to launch cross-border attacks.

The militant group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed the attack shortly after it occurred.

The military described the group as an Indian proxy, but provided no evidence to support the allegation. There was no immediate comment from India, and New Delhi has denied similar allegations in recent years.

President Asif Ali Zardari paid tribute to the three Rangers personnel “martyred” in the assault, expressed condolences to their families and wished the wounded a speedy recovery in a statement issued by his office. He also praised the sacrifices of Pakistan’s security forces in the fight against militancy and reaffirmed the nation’s resolve to eliminate terrorism.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack and praised security forces for repelling the assault.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years.

The military said operations were still underway to eliminate any remaining accomplices of the attackers.

____

Associated Press writer in Islamabad Munir Ahmed contributed to this story.

The genre traditionalist from Newnan, Georgia, whose career kicked off in the 1980s and exploded shortly thereafter in the oft-cited '90s country wave with heartfelt songs for the working man who'd rather be drinking, or fishing, or ideally both, has sold over 60 million records across his storied career. And on Saturday night at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, he brought his touring career to an end.

The event titled “Last Call: One More for the Road — The Finale" was a triumphant swan song for the performer, a celebration of his life and career with some help from the artists he directly inspired.

Nashville's all-stars came out in droves

It was a concert in two movements.

The first two hours were made up of a marathon run of Jackson covers from some of the biggest names in contemporary country. And each performer had a personal story to share. Carrie Underwood sang “Everything I Love” after revealing that Jackson was her first ever concert, in 1994 at the Tulsa State Fair. Thomas Rhett warmed up the crowd with “Small Town Southern Man,” an appropriate choice for a singer currently living the song's lyrics — he's a father to four girls.

The Texas-born and bred Miranda Lambert performed “Dallas.” Lainey Wilson got the crowd moving with “Tall, Tall Trees.”

“It's almost impossible to pick a favorite Alan Jackson song ... but I had to try,” said Luke Combs before launching into “Hard Hat and a Hammer.”

Each performer played with Jackson's backing band, save for Eric Church, who opted to cover “Someday” with just his voice and an acoustic guitar.

It was an All-Star night for one of country music's most colossal voices. Other guest performers included Luke Bryan, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Little Big Town, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, Lee Ann Womack and a slew of super talented members of Jackson's own family: Adam Wright, Big City Brian Wright and Carlisle Wright.

Five years ago, the 67-year-old music giant Jackson shared that he has a degenerative nerve condition that affects his balance called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which he was first diagnosed with a decade prior. He said it was a genetic condition, and its effects on his ability to walk and perform had become more noticeable. One dollar of every ticket sold on Saturday night the CMT Research Foundation, an organization that funds research to find a cure for Charcot-Marie-Tooth.

When it was time for Jackson to hit the stage after 9:35 p.m. — after a storm delay of about an hour — he was met with ear-piercing cheers. The singer appeared stiff as he walked to his microphone, but once he picked up his guitar for the opener “Gone Country,” he was immediately back in action with that smoky baritone and timeless songs, though strumming was kept to a minimum.

“It's overwhelming,” he addressed the crowd before assuring them he would not spend too much time on “that last show stuff … I'm not dead!”

A night to remember

The Country Music Hall of Famer ran through his best-known hits with real ferocity: “I Don’t Even Know Your Name” arrived quickly, as did “Livin' on Love,” “Summertime Blues" and the moody “Midnight in Montgomery,” as the music videos for each played on a giant screen behind them.

He made it a point to walk from side to side of the stage, greeting each section while championing his band and the power of “real country music.”

“If anyone has lived the American dream,” he said later, while seated on a stool, “It's me.”

Anecdotes flowed from there. He talked about writing “I'd Love You All Over Again” for his wife on their 10th wedding anniversary and how the radio from “Chasin' that Neon Rainbow” is currently in the Country Music Hall of Fame museum. And he mentioned that “Drive (For Daddy Gene” was written after his father died.

An hour into his set, Jackson teased the audience by saying he needed some help for the next song. Out emerged George Strait for their collaborations “Designated Drink” and “Murder on Music Row.”

Then came an incredible run of hits: “Little Bitty,” “Country Boy,” “Good Time” and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” among them, the latter written and recorded following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Blockbuster singles followed: “Don't Rock the Jukebox,” “Remember When,” and “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” the latter recording famously featuring the late “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett.

Fireworks were launched into the sky for “Chattahoochee.”

Alan Jackson's story continues

Just because this is the end of Jackson's touring career doesn't mean it is the end of his music career. On Thursday, two days before the final concert blowout, Jackson released a country cover of Orleans' “Still the One,” to celebrate his 50-year relationship with wife and high school sweetheart Denise Jackson. She was a cheerleader practicing a dance routine to the soft rock classic; he was instantly smitten.

For those who missed Jackson's final bow, the show will be released later in the year as an NBC concert special. But for those who were in the stadium — in the middle of a huge storm — it was an unrepeatable and unmistakable night.

Not anymore. Not after a new generation of players made history by advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time and set up a clash with England.

“The weight on our shoulders was hard to bear,” said striker Yoane Wissa, whose two goals helped Congo rally to a 3-1 win against Uzbekistan on Saturday night

Fiston Mayele was also on target in a dramatic second-half comeback as Congo joined Cape Verde as another unexpected qualifier for the round of 32.

“We told ourselves we can’t give up,” Mayele said.

Congo has been one of the surprise stories of this World Cup, with few expecting it to emerge from a group that included Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal and Colombia. And history was hardly on its side.

Congo's previous appearance was when it competed as Zaire in 1974 and lost all three games, including the rout by Yugoslavia.

It's a completely different story now.

After holding Portugal to a 1-1 draw earlier in the tournament, Congo needed a win in its final Group K game to advance as one of the best third-place teams.

It did just that with a breathless fight back after trailing to Eldor Shomurodov's lobbed goal in the 10th minute.

“We’re a team that knows how to respond when we concede a goal; we keep fighting with determination,” coach Sébastien Desabre said.

If the weight of the occasion was evident in Congo's first-half performance, the resilience of its players proved irresistible after the break.

The game was level in the 68th when Wissa was brought down by Abdukodir Khusanov for a penalty.

Wissa picked himself up and sent Uzbekistan goalkeeper Abduvohid Nematov the wrong way, rolling the ball into the bottom corner for the first of a late flurry of goals.

Mayele put Congo ahead 10 minutes later when flicking past Nematov at the near post and was mobbed by teammates and even substitutes, who raced off the bench and across the field to join in the wild celebrations.

There were even more joyous scenes when Wissa put the result beyond doubt in added time with a curling shot into the bottom corner.

Fans continued celebrating long after the final whistle, singing and dancing in the stadium concourses. The memories of 1974 fading fast.

“We’re going to savor this moment because it’s been tough,” said Wissa. “All the guys — the substitutes, those who’ve worn the jersey before, and those who’ll wear it tomorrow — we should be proud. Thank you to all the Congolese people; it’s for moments like these that we do what we do. We did it!”

Congo is one of nine African nations to advance from the group stage at this tournament.

“It’s quite an achievement. We showed a good image of Congo,” said Desabre.

Uzbekistan's debut at the World Cup ended in three straight defeats.

“I hope this tournament will give us big experience. I hope this experience will give us more motivation for the future,” said coach Fabio Cannavaro.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Argentina's superstar did it anyway as a second-half substitute.

Messi made it seven straight while extending the all-time men's World Cup scoring record with his 19th goal in Argentina's 3-1 victory over Jordan in a group stage finale on Saturday night.

In his first match since turning 39 three days earlier, Messi scored on a free kick in the 80th minute after being taken down just outside the penalty area. The low kick barely above the grass surface split two Jordan defenders into the left corner of the net.

It was his 72nd career goal on a free kick, including his 12th for Argentina. Messi now has 123 international goals — second all-time to Cristiano Ronaldo’s 145 — in 202 appearances.

Messi had been one of only three players to score in six consecutive World Cup games along with France striker Just Fontaine and Brazil great Jairzinho.

“What you’re seeing, I’m seeing the same thing,” coach Lionel Scaloni said through a translator. "It’s a little bit of an uncomfortable situation every single time people ask because I no longer know what to say."

Messi also scored on a free kick against Nigeria in the 2014 World Cup and is among six players since records are available dating to 1966 who scored two free kick goals in the World Cup. He joined Pelé, Rivellino, Téofilo Cubillas, Bernard Genghini and David Beckham.

“I am very happy for him, for the moment he is having,” Giovani Lo Celso said in translated remarks after becoming the first Argentine other than Messi to score in this tournament, also on a free kick in the 19th minute. “The truth is that seeing him every day excites, excites and infects a lot. So obviously seeing him like that for us is very important.”

Messi didn't start because Argentina had already clinched first place in Group J, and the game was further meaningless because Jordan was already eliminated from the knockout stage.

Nevertheless, the decidedly pro-Argentina crowd of 70,649 at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys was eager to see him.

Fans started chanting Messi's name as soon as the second half started, and cheered loudly when he came off the bench merely to go through warmups.

The roar was louder when he stepped onto the field in the 60th minute, replacing Lautaro Martinez, who scored on a penalty kick in the first half.

For all the accomplishments of the eight-time winner of the Ballon d’Or as the best player in Europe, Messi has never won the golden boot as the top scorer in each World Cup. This is his sixth.

Messi now has six goals in this tournament, two clear of Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Júnior and Erling Haaland.

Messi had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury with Inter Miami that slowed him in the lead-up to the World Cup.

The knockout round for Argentina begins Friday in South Florida, and in this expanded 48-team tournament that would be the first of five matches in 17 days if La Albiceleste makes it to the final on July 19.

“Today he could have played 90 minutes,” Scaloni said. “He wanted his teammates to have time on the pitch and to save himself also for what’s coming up now. He doesn’t think so much about the numbers that people are talking about.”

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

They delivered a thrilling 3-3 draw instead.

In the wildest finish of the group stage, Algeria took the lead in stoppage time only for Austria to answer on the final play of the game, making it a win-win result for those teams and a heartbreaking loss for Iran, which was eliminated from the tournament.

“I've been a coach for about 40 years. I don't remember a game that had such a dramatic course, and such an unexpected trajectory,” Austria coach Ralf Rangnick said, shaking his head. “Even at the beginning of the match, if someone would have said it would be 3-3, nobody would have believed it. Somebody would have won an incredible bet, I guess.”

The game was tied 2-all in the closing minutes, and Algeria looked as if it was content to run out the clock and allow both teams to advance, when Riyad Mahrez scored his second goal of the game. That put Austria on the verge of elimination, only for Sasa Kalajdzic to head in the equalizer a couple of minutes later, rescuing Das Team’s World Cup hopes.

“The locker room is madness,” Rangnick said with a smile. “If Alfred Hitchcock — who had nothing to do with soccer, didn't really like soccer — if he had written such a drama, I would have said he was completely mad.”

Marko Arnautovic and Marcel Sabitzer also had goals for Austria, which finished second behind Argentina in Group J to advance for the first time since 1982. Its reward is a matchup with European champion Spain on Thursday in Los Angeles.

Rafik Belghali also scored for Les Fennecs, who became the ninth of 10 teams from Africa to advance. They finished third in the group but get a potentially easier Round of 32 matchup with Switzerland on Thursday night in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“It’s a feeling of being extremely happy,” Mahrez said. “We’re obviously happy, and it was the objective when we arrived — it was to go beyond the first round. That's what we did, and we're all very happy.”

Iran would've advanced as one of the eight best third-place teams had Austria or Algeria won. But when Kalajdzic scored in stoppage time to tie the game one last time, it meant Team Melli was eliminated in heartbreaking fashion.

“When you have 3-3,” Rangnick said, “nobody can assume that it was an agreement (to tie) or anything like that.”

The first three World Cup matches at Arrowhead Stadium had seen the home of the Kansas City Chiefs flooded in the light blue of Argentina, yellow of Ecuador and highlighter orange of the Netherlands. But in the city's group finale, the Algeria green and red of the Austrians were complemented by thousands of locals just happy to score a less expensive World Cup ticket.

Many of those locals appeared to be rooting for Algeria, though, which has made its training base in nearby Lawrence, Kansas, and has struck up a unique friendship with the small college town home to the University of Kansas.

Few of those new fans of Les Fennecs probably knew about the “Disgrace of Gijón.”

Yet longtime Algeria supporters had been waiting 44 years for some World Cup revenge against Austria. At the 1982 tournament, Austria and West Germany seemingly quit playing after the latter took a 1-0 lead, because that outcome ensured both would advance at the expense of Algeria, which protested to FIFA to no avail and was eliminated from the World Cup.

Some were curious whether the expanded 48-team field would result in a “Disgrace of Kansas City,” since both teams knew by kickoff that a draw would send them through. Instead, a crowd of 69,045 on Saturday night was treated to a dramatic 90-plus minutes.

Austria struck first when Arnautovic perfectly timed a run between two Algerian defenders, found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Oussama Benbot, and overcame a stumble to score his record-extending 49th career goal for his nation.

Algeria answered just before halftime, when Belghali’s left-footed shot easily beat Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager.

The frenetic pace continued early in the second half on a hot night in Kansas City.

Not content with a 1-1 draw, Austria’s Konrad Laimer sent a sharp pass across the field that Sabitzer finished to regain the lead — and give Iran some hope — only for Algeria to answer minutes later, when Mahrez scored off a perfect cross from Houssem Aouar.

It remained 2-2 down the stretch, and Algeria began to play keep-away as an antsy crowd began to hoot and whistle. But just when it seemed that would be it, Mahrez and Kalajdzic ended the group stage of the World Cup in memorable fashion.

“I think the match was a little crazy. It sort of went beyond the limits of everyone’s endurance,” said Algeria coach Vladimir Petkovic. “Let’s celebrate our promotion, so to speak, let's rest and then we will begin again for the next round.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Iran missed the round of 32 by one spot in heartbreaking fashion.

It finished third in Group G with three points earned with draws against Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt. Iran appeared to have advanced via tiebreakers when Algeria scored a stunning stoppage-time goal to go ahead of Austria 3-2 Saturday night, but Austria tied it back up seconds later on the game's final play. Their draw ensured Iran's elimination.

It was one last painful moment for Iran in a World Cup that's been tumultuous, on and off the pitch.

The Iranians have been playing while Tehran negotiates with Washington on terms of a deal meant to permanently end the war that began earlier this year. Tensions continued Saturday when Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, in a likely response to overnight airstrikes by the U.S. Hours later, the U.S. said it struck multiple Iranian military targets after it said Iran attacked a ship near the Straight of Hormuz.

During the World Cup, Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei and players complained about numerous complications, including travel restrictions, visa denials for support staff and quick departures from the U.S. after matches.

U.S. officials have said all restrictions were known before the tournament.

The U.S. and Israel began the war on Feb. 28 by attacking Iran, which retaliated with attacks in the region and by asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz.

In March, Iran sought to move its group-stage matches to Mexico, with which it has diplomatic ties. Its request to move its base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana was granted two weeks before the team’s arrival.

After Iran was eliminated Saturday night, the team sent a statement expressing “heartfelt appreciation to the wonderful people of Mexico, especially the beautiful city of Tijuana.”

“Leaving Tijuana is truly difficult for all of us,” the statement said.

At its first match, several hundred Iranian Americans protested outside the stadium, calling for change in Tehran and waving the pre-revolutionary lion-and-sun flag. Thousands more poured into the stadium to watch them play, and the pre-game national anthem was met with a mix of cheers and boos.

For the first two matches, near Los Angeles, the team was not permitted to travel until the day before and had to return to Mexico immediately after each game. The U.S. then eased its restrictions, allowing the squad to travel to Seattle two days before Friday’s match against Egypt. If Iran had advanced, it would have played its next match in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“We were treated very, very badly,” Ghalenoei said after Friday’s draw with Egypt left the Iranians clinging to hope they would get to the next round. “I hope the world becomes aware of these issues.”

“What these young Iranian national team players have done should be recorded in history,” Ghalenoei said. “Why? Because the host treated us in the worst possible way.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Lt. Dave Williams with Seminole County Fire says it’s a situation crews see far too often around the holiday.

“I’ve personally responded to calls where we’ve had explosions in people’s hands,” Williams said.

Seminole County firefighters say the days around the Fourth of July are some of their busiest, responding to fireworks accidents that can leave people with severe burns — or even the loss of fingers and limbs.

“We see eye injuries, facial injuries, and throughout the nation as a whole, there are thousands of injuries specifically on the Fourth of July because of fireworks that are mishandled,” Williams said.

Williams also warned that even sparklers — which many people consider safe — can be dangerous.

“Those sparklers that people say are the perfect firework for a kid… unfortunately, they burn at over 2,000 degrees. So you’re talking about an instant burn. Even the ones that appear safe are dangerous,” Williams said.

Williams says crews are equipped with special burn sheets to treat victims on scene before they’re taken to the hospital.

“We’re always ready for it. It’s something we train our paramedics and EMTs for,” Williams said.

To help prevent fires, firefighters recommend soaking used fireworks in a bucket of water for 24 hours before throwing them away.

“Before you light the first firework, make sure you have a water source ready. Set them off away from the house. That seems to be a recurring theme every year. We always get one, two, or three fires,” Williams said.

Seminole County firefighters say fireworks can also spark a jump in house fires and dumpster fires — sometimes as many as five in a single holiday.

“I think the most important thing to remember is fireworks last for a second… but those injuries can last a lifetime,” Williams said.

Firefighters recommend wearing eye protection, never letting children handle fireworks, and keeping fireworks away from homes and trees. They also encourage families to skip at-home fireworks altogether and attend professional shows instead.

Letlow, who was endorsed by Trump, defeated state Treasurer John Fleming in the two-candidate runoff after they finished ahead of Cassidy in the GOP primary May 16.

Letlow pledged her loyalty to Trump in a race where Cassidy, who voted to convict the president on impeachment charges in 2021, spent a year working to keep Trump from going after him. She has promised to work in lockstep with Trump to advance his agenda.

“I am so filled with gratitude for the greatest president this country has every had, Donald J. Trump,” Letlow told supporters at her election night watch party in Baton Rouge. “I am also so incredibly grateful for your endorsement.”

Letlow’s victory caps Trump’s early 2026 effort to back Republican challengers to GOP lawmakers who have disagreed with him and replace them with ones more loyal. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and five Indiana state senators all lost reelection bids last month to GOP challengers he endorsed.

However Trump-backed candidates lost in two June GOP gubernatorial primaries: Rep. Randy Feenstra on June 2 in Iowa, to businessperson Zach Lahn; and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones of Georgia on June 16, to billionaire Rick Jackson. Both winners were outsiders competing with establishment favorites.

Letlow is now the immediate favorite to succeed Cassidy in a state Trump carried in 2024 by 22 percentage points. Letlow would become Louisiana’s first female Republican senator if elected.

Her supporters cheered as she stepped to the stage in Baton Rouge. One attendee let out a shriek a few minutes earlier after seeing on TV that The Associated Press had called the race.

Letlow has been in the House since 2021. Her husband, Luke Letlow, died from COVID-19 complications after being elected to Congress in 2020, and she won a special election to fill the seat.

It was Gov. Jeff Landry, whom Letlow also thanked, who began advocating for her to Trump last year. The president took until January to endorse her, however, making his announcement before she declared her candidacy.

She finished first in last month's voting with nearly 45%, compared with about 28% for Fleming and nearly 25% for Cassidy. Letlow and Fleming advanced to Saturday’s runoff because nobody won a majority that day.

For some voters, Trump's endorsement was all that mattered.

“Trump’s lady all the way,” said Barbara Dufrene, 67, of Marrero. She added that she knew little about Letlow but was counting on the president to lower her healthcare costs and increase her social safety net. “I always vote whatever Trump wants.”

Letlow had spending advantages

Letlow's success on May 16, campaign spending on her behalf and support from prominent Republicans had her well positioned in the runoff. She was also endorsed by Landry and U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

Fleming, a founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus while in Congress, later worked in Trump's first administration. He reminded voters that he did not resign after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

On the campaign trail, he directed his appeals to those who identify most closely with the president's “Make America Great Again” movement, saying his voting record was more conservative than Letlow's. His ads described him as MAGA “long before it was cool.”

Fleming told voters he was blocked from reaching Trump to seek his endorsement by White House allies of Landry. Fleming said he finally got on the phone with Trump and reminded the president who he was.

“I said nobody has been more loyal to you than me,” Fleming recounted during a June campaign stop. “He said, 'You’re fantastic! Why didn't you call?'”

The two campaigns spent comparably on advertising, roughly $1 million each, since the May 16 primary. But a super PAC that supports Letlow led all spending, accounting for $4.1 million in the past six weeks, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

Fleming attacked Letlow on DEI, and she criticized him over an AI video

Fleming ads highlighted Letlow's previous public support for diversity, equity and inclusion policy, which Trump has tried to eliminate. Letlow, a former college administrator, said she supported DEI while interviewing for the position of president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe in 2020, but said this year she opposes it.

Fleming reposted an AI-generated video on the social platform X this month that purported to show Letlow saying she supported DEI because she “didn't know any better.” The fake image of Letlow also referenced her husband, who died from complications of COVID-19.

Fleming said he did not create the video “but it’s getting passed around Louisiana for a reason.”

Letlow condemned the sharing of the video as “disgraceful and indefensible,” chiefly for its mention of her husband. She thanked her late husband Saturday and also introduced her fiance, Kevin Ainsworth, a Baton Rouge lobbyist. The pair were engaged at the White House in December.

Despite the rancor of the campaign, Letlow thanked Fleming and said they had a pleasant phone conversation after the race was called in her favor.

“The contest for this primary is over, and now it’s on to the general election,” Fleming told his supporters. “And we want to continue to make America strong by sending the best of the best there.”

Letlow emphasized key priorities for social conservatives, notably her support for national legislation barring transgender women and girls from competing in school sports.

Fleming staked much of his campaign on opposition to carbon capture and sequestration, the process for injecting carbon dioxide waste underground to reduce industrial pollution. The technology’s build-out, included planned pipelines, has sparked backlash in rural Louisiana communities and divided the state GOP.

Fleming said such projects infringe on private property rights and federal government subsidies for the technology are wasteful.

Democrats pick Davis as their Senate nominee

In the Democratic primary, Jamie Davis, a northeast Louisiana crop farmer, defeated Gary Crockett, a Navy veteran and business executive. Both promoted addressing the cost of living and protecting social safety nets.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

The U.S. will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California, while third co-host Mexico returns to its capital city to take on Ecuador on Tuesday. Tournament favorite France goes back to the New York area to play Sweden on Tuesday, with the winner of that game going up against Germany or Paraguay in the round of 16.

Here are the games in the round of 32:

US vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

, July 1

The Americans had their powerful momentum from two consecutive victories stalled in the loss to Turkey. But in the knockout round, they’ll face Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is 62nd in the FIFA rankings. Bosnia finished third in Group B with four points. U.S. star Christian Pulisic entered as a substitute in the second half against Turkey. He had not played since leaving the opening win over Paraguay at halftime with a calf injury. “We play every game like a knockout game,” said U.S. midfielder Sebastian Berhalter, who scored against Turkey. “You saw that in our intensity and the way we worked. For us, it’s keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Belgium vs. Senegal, July 1

Belgium scored five times in its group play finale against New Zealand to not only advance but finish first. Up next is no easy task: a matchup against Senegal, which played France and Norway tough and routed Iraq to move on. The U.S.-Bosnia-Herzegovina winner faces the winner of this match.

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Germany vs. Paraguay, June 29

Germany comes into the knockout stage off a similarly low-key late defeat as the U.S., having already clinched its group with little to play for. Germany is a significant favorite against Paraguay, which lost to the U.S. 4-1 in its opener but steadied itself enough to move on.

France vs. Sweden, June 30

France came in as the tournament favorite and remains it after winning all three of its group games to set up a matchup against Sweden, which had a 5-1 win, a 5-1 loss and a draw.

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South Africa vs. Canada, June 28

These nations have already made history. It’ll be the first time both are in the knockout stage of the World Cup. Canada advanced as runner-up in Group B with four points — one win, one draw and one loss. South Africa was runner-up in Group A, also with four points, including a surprising win over South Korea.

Netherlands vs. Morocco, June 29

The Netherlands won Group F after a draw with Japan and outscoring Sweden and Tunisia by a combined 8-2. Morocco went unbeaten to finish second in Group C in pursuit of becoming the first African winner of the World Cup. Morocco reached the semifinals four years ago in Qatar.

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Portugal vs. Croatia, July 2

Playing Colombia to a 0-0 tie Saturday night meant a second-place finish in the group for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal and a tougher path, which could include facing neighbor Spain for a spot in the quarterfinals. Croatia moved into this spot by defeating Ghana hours earlier.

Spain vs. Austria, July 2

Spain bounced back from a surprising 0-0 draw against Cape Verde in its first game to win its group, in the process sending two-time champion Uruguay home. Austria tied it in the final minutes after falling behind earlier in stoppage time to play Algeria to a 3-3 draw Saturday night and set up this matchup.

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Brazil vs. Japan, June 29

Japan advanced as Group F runner-up with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Sweden and the Samurai Blue’s reward is a knockout match against five-time World Cup champion Brazil. It’ll be a full-circle moment for Japan, which brought in Brazilian great Zico in 1991 to professionalize the country’s new domestic league and support Japan’s successful bid to co-host the World Cup in 2002. Now, the Japanese have a chance to show how far they’ve come against a country that has set the standard.

Norway vs. Ivory Coast, June 30

It would have taken beating favored France for Norway to win Group I. Instead, coach Ståle Solbakken opted to rest Erling Haaland and all but one starter. That sets up a matchup against the Ivory Coast at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Tuesday.

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Mexico vs. Ecuador, June 30

Winning all three of its group stage matches for the first time at the World Cup, Mexico goes into the round of 32 also having now allowed a single goal. It has outscored opponents 6-0 and now has the distinct home-field advantage at altitude back at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City against Ecuador, which rallied to beat Germany and advance.

England vs. Congo, July 1

It took Jude Bellingham scoring and setting up Harry Kane's goal to break a tie with Panama, but England got the job done Saturday to finish first in its group. Injuries are a question now, going into a matchup with Congo, which rallied to defeat Uzbekistan and advance.

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Argentina vs. Cape Verde

, July 3

Defending champion Argentina faces the smallest country to qualify for the knockout stage at a World Cup. Unsurprisingly, Cape Verde goes in as a massive underdog.

Australia vs. Egypt, July 3

This may be one of the most evenly matched round of 32 games, after Australia beat Turkey, lost to the U.S and drew with Paraguay. Egypt got through as the second-place team in Group G after a late goal by Iran on Friday night was called back for offside.

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Switzerland vs. Algeria, July 2

This was supposed to be Canada's spot in Vancouver, but Switzerland winning the teams' head-to-head matchup there and finishing ahead in the group gave the Swiss a plum spot. Algeria took a late lead on Austria before allowing the tying goal in the final minutes leading to a 3-3 draw and getting both teams in and eliminating Iran.

Colombia vs. Ghana, July 3

Passing Portugal for first in the group allows Colombia to open the knockout stage against Ghana, which entered with the lowest FIFA ranking at No. 74 but also played England to a scoreless tie.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Pride events often mix celebration and calls to action, reflecting the political winds, cultural climate and news around LGBTQ+ rights.

This month's parades and festivals around the U.S. have unfolded as President Donald Trump works to roll back transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Among other moves, the Republican's administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument earlier this year, then ultimately relented amid a lawsuit.

“As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, said in a statement Friday. “We will not be erased.”

Meanwhile, multiple Republican governors have promulgated conservative-friendly designations for June, such as “Nuclear Family Month," sometimes openly describing them as a counter to Pride. Other prominent Republican politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, criticized Major League Baseball 's response to some San Francisco Giants players who added Bible verses to the rainbow-themed Pride Night caps they were issued.

Against that backdrop, the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade are setting out to further their legacies as some of the world's largest and oldest such celebrations.

Both trace their roots to events held in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion on June 28, 1969, when patrons of a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid and ended up kindling a wave of activism.

The Stonewall Inn still is a bar; the Stonewall monument centers on a small park across the street, about half a mile (about 0.8 km) from the Pride March route at its closest point.

Also set for Sunday in Manhattan is the newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official.

This year, some transgender rights activists also pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals' contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments. The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients' medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.

Heritage of Pride said it has been talking with the hospitals about the issue. The group also noted the parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups, not by the top administrators responsible for decisions about care.

A message was sent to San Francisco Pride organizers about whether they faced similar questions.

Other cities with Pride parades Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match Friday took on a Pride dimension after the countries whose teams involved — Iran and Egypt — triedunsuccessfully to get the celebrations canceled.

What's to be done with that information is a bit open-ended. But the law set to take effect Wednesday is sparking alarm among immigrant advocates, who fear it could become a new tactic to target immigrants in conjunction with President Donald Trump's plan to deport millions of people lacking legal approval to live in the U.S.

The law says the state Department of Public Safety “may use all reasonable lawful investigative means available” to determine the number and identities of all “illegal aliens” in Mississippi. That includes collecting their names, addresses, country of origin and whether they are an adult or minor. It also includes noting any criminal history and the date, location and status of deportation proceedings.

The department is directed to share information on those suspected of violating laws with state and local authorities. The measure neither requires nor prohibits the database from being shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Republican state Sen. Angela Hill, who sponsored the measure, said states have a right and obligation to assist the U.S. government in discouraging illegal immigration, which she said facilitates crimes such as human and drug trafficking.

The new law “seems like commonsense to me,” Hill said. “In order to address the problems caused by illegal immigration, we need to understand the magnitude of the problem. Identifying the number and identity of illegal aliens in Mississippi is a concrete way to better understand the problem.”

Immigration laws are proliferating in states

Nationwide, states already have enacted more than 100 immigration-related laws this year, according to an Associated Press tally.

In Republican-led states, those measures generally have aligned with Trump's agenda by requiring local sheriffs to sign cooperative agreements with ICE, reinforcing eligibility restrictions for public benefits and directing election clerks to check voter rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system in an attempt to flag noncitizens.

Democratic-led states generally have pushed back against Trump with new laws banning cooperative pacts with ICE, forbidding ICE tactics like wearing masks and restricting immigration enforcement actions in schools, hospitals and other sensitive locations without judicial warrants.

The closest thing to Mississippi's new law appears to be a 2021 executive order by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. That measure directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to “use all lawful investigative means available” to determine the number and identities of all “illegal aliens” who had been transported from the nation's southwest border to Florida.

The Florida agency did not respond to an AP request for information about the results of the executive order.

Trump's administration, meanwhile, has stepped up enforcement of a decades-old federal law that requires noncitizens to register with the U.S. government.

Some question how the Mississippi law will work

The Mississippi law envisions more than a one-time count. It prescribes an ongoing effort to keep track of immigrants illegally in the state for the next two years. That could get complicated as people overstay visas, apply for new forms of legal status and move into and out the state.

"You can be undocumented today, and then have status tomorrow, and then lose it again next month, and then regain it three months from now,” said Efrén Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income immigrants.

“It’s practically unworkable, but it’s also very worrisome, because it’s eerily reminiscent of other countries that have created lists of certain groups of people,” Olivares said.

State officials will need to come up with “a credible and fairly foolproof way of correctly determining someone's immigration status,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit think tank that supports restrictions on immigration.

But Vaughan said the law “makes a lot of sense," adding that it "raises the likelihood that someone’s illegal presence is going to come to the attention of federal authorities.”

Advocates say the law could break trust with police

Mississippi has one of the country's smallest percentages of immigrants illegally residing in the state — fewer than 28,000 people, amounting to less than 1% of its population — according to a report by the American Immigration Council, which used 2023 Census Bureau data.

The new law “is very concerning for a bunch of different reasons,” including the potential to redirect law enforcement resources away from protecting the public to investigating people from foreign countries who may be contributing to the economy, said Victoria Francis, deputy director of state and local initiatives for the American Immigration Council, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of immigrants.

“A mandate like this invites profiling and turning entire communities into targets,” Francis said.

The law could undermine trust between police and residents, said Lydia Grizzell, policy and advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

“That increases the likelihood of individuals not reaching out to law enforcement when it’s needed – and that is opposite of the mission,” she said.

The attack on Kuwait early Sunday was the first since the two sides signed a deal that aimed to halt fighting, and came as a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday that it would expand a route near Oman in the strait to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic — likely setting up a new flashpoint with Tehran.

The U.S. military's Central Command said it struck Iranian military “surveillance infrastructure, communication systems, air defense sites, drone storage facilities and minelayer capabilities” following an attack on a ship at sea early Saturday morning. That ship, the Panamanian-flagged tanker Kiku, carried crude oil for the state-run energy company of Qatar, a key negotiator between Iran and the U.S.

In a social media post, Trump said the U.S. had “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN!” He warned of a point where the U.S. may no longer be able to be reasonable “and will be forced to militarily complete the job."

“If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The incident follows a similar back and forth that occurred just days prior when an Iranian drone struck a merchant vessel off the coast of Oman on Thursday and the U.S. military retaliated with strikes.

US says strikes were a response to Iranian attack on oil tanker

According to ship tracking websites, the Kiku left a Qatari oil field in the middle of the Persian Gulf earlier in the week and was bound for a port in the United Arab Emirates that sits on the Gulf of Oman, just on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz.

It appeared to be attempting to use a route that was established near the coast of Oman that is serving as an alternative to the route sanctioned by Iran that runs through its own waters.

The U.S. military said that “Iran had a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement” but “elected not to” when its forces attacked the Kiku.

Iran state TV reported explosions in an area just north of the Strait of Hormuz.

After the U.S. strikes early Sunday, Kuwait's military said air defenses intercepted incoming Iranian drones and missiles. It offered no immediate information on any damage. Kuwait is home to a major U.S. Army base.

Bahrain condemns Iran’s drone attack

Earlier on Saturday, a statement from Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said a “number of Iranian drones” targeted the country. It called the attack “a flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents.” There were no immediate reports of damage.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard earlier issued a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency saying it had targeted several locations “of the U.S. terrorist army in the region.” It did not name what areas were targeted.

Bahrain has been one of the strongest critics of Iran and is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. It just hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s foreign ministers, which ended with a call for an end to Iran’s attacks and for the strait to be completely open.

Overnight into Saturday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it had struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who has led the negotiations with Iran, said on social media Friday night that Iran should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement, “but violence will be met with violence.”

The U.S. and Iran are negotiating terms of the deal including issues such as getting ships through the strait that’s vital to global supplies of oil and natural gas and addressing the future of Iran’s nuclear program and stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details. Ending the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group is a key part of the deal.

Ship comes under attack as strait route expands

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said that a tanker was attacked Saturday in the strait, with the crew safe and no environmental damage reported. No one immediately claimed the strike, but suspicion fell on Iran.

Just after that report, the Joint Maritime Information Center, overseen by the U.S. Navy, said the route near Oman’s shore is expanding to allow for inbound and outbound traffic.

Iran has insisted that ships must obey its orders and warned it will start charging fees for transit through the strait. However, ships have been increasingly trying to leave the Gulf in recent days.

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, wrote Friday that “the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules.”

The U.S. and Gulf Arab states have rejected Iran’s demands. The strait is considered as an international waterway, despite being the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

The Joint Maritime Information Center warned that the threat to ships was “substantial,” adding that “mariners are advised of the existence of mines and should expect a naval presence as clearance operations continue.”

The International Maritime Organization on Friday halted a new effort to evacuate ships said it won’t resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won’t be attacked. It said about 115 ships have been able to move out of the strait in recent days.

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Toropin reported from Washington, Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

Families reported at least 68,900 people missing Saturday, three days after the one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes devastated the South American nation.

Venezuelans looking for loved ones and neighbors used shovels, heavy equipment, ropes and bare hands atop mounds of toppled concrete throughout La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit states. They were joined by a growing number of international rescue teams who began to climb through the rubble, offering a small glint of hope to anguished families.

Tensions peaked over what many Venezuelans viewed as an inadequate response by the government, whose soldiers, firefighters, police and military cadets were evidently underprepared to respond to the scope of the tragedy. Frustration was amplified by efforts to project the image of a robust state response.

Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours as crucial for retrieving people alive, though that can be extended if they have access to food and water. Venezuelan officials said 17 flights carrying more than 1,600 rescue team members had touched down by Saturday.

As 72 hours passed since the earthquakes struck, many felt every minute ticking away as they ran out of time to rescue people alive.

“There’s a pile of bodies over there from last night. Newborn babies," said Mileidy Romero, who was among those searching in the seaside town of Caraballeada. "At 8 p.m. (yesterday) there were people alive down there, and they haven’t bothered to rescue them. We’ve located several bodies, and they haven’t helped us recover them either. What are they waiting for?”

Tension mounts during rescue efforts

Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on state television that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are patrolling the area, where access is now blocked and special permits are required to enter. But many in disaster zones said they had seen little of their government.

Some people climbed the remnants of buildings and cried out names, hoping for any proof of life. Dust coated coastal communities. In punishing heat, more people wore masks as the stench of decomposition spread. In other parts of La Guaira, teams loaded stacks of bodies – some in white bags, other naked – onto white trucks from the ground of a dirt hospital parking lot, where they were being identified.

Without hard hats or other gear, rescuers and civilians instead wore motorcycle helmets as they searched piles of debris that were once people's belongings: Eddie Murphy and Nemo DVDs, a kitchen sink, mattresses and shoes.

Some, frustrated by the government's response, blocked an excavator from leaving the site of a collapse and pulled the operator from its cabin shortly after state workers took selfies in front of flattened buildings and left without helping. The ruling party’s officials often take selfies to show participation in government-related events.

A few feet away, at least five bodies wrapped in blankets.

A member of the crowd, Yeison Marcano, said those searching had received some assistance from an investigations unit but neither police nor the National Guard helped.

“They came to eat arepas and take pictures to make it look like they were working," Marcano said. "They didn’t even get their uniforms dirty like we have. We’ve been here for three days."

A minute later, a man tried to grab a firefighter, shouting and cursing. “Silence! Silence!” rescuers shouted as they tried to confirm whether someone was trapped alive.

Meanwhile, an older man was pulled from the rubble of a public housing building. Visibly disoriented, he begged a nurse for water. He fought with personnel who put him into a pickup truck, screaming, “My family! My family!"

Searches mix with uncertainty

The International Organization for Migration said over 6 million people could be affected, some 2 million in the capital, Caracas, alone.

Experts said the destruction was amplified by the quick succession of shallow quakes. For days, smaller aftershocks occasionally shook the capital, Caracas and areas hit by the quakes, including one measuring 4.8 on Saturday.

The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the U.S. capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.

Search teams and foreign aid continued to arrive from Mexico, the U.S., Brazil, El Salvador, France and elsewhere.

On Saturday, Mexican rescue teams climbed over collapsed buildings and pushed their heads into holes in the pancaked concrete to search for signs of life, occasionally hearing movement.

“We're rescuers from the Mexican military, if there's anyone down there still alive, make noise or scream. Now!" one man shouted.

A glimmer of hope

For many, the images of international aid teams arriving and climbing through the rubble alongside them offered a glimmer of hope. Yonahí Regalado has been calling out the names of her sister and 1-year-old nephew and godson since 1 a.m. the day after the earthquakes until aid workers began to arrive.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, whoever, whether it’s family or somebody else. If there is anyone alive, let’s get them out,” she said, as helicopters circled overhead.

Small moments of humanity mixed with grief and terror.

Rescue teams carefully handed down a 18-day-old swaddled in pink blankets from a building after 12 hours of searching for the baby boy and his mother, Telemundo reported. One 69-year-old woman, saved by Salvadoran teams, asked for a Coca-Cola upon being pulled out of the rubble, Salvadoran authorities said.

One video showed a Venezuelan rescuer comforting an elderly woman trapped beneath the rubble, scared that the structure would cave in if she moved.

“The roof won’t cave in. If it falls, I’ll be here with you,” he said.

Simón Bolívar International Airport, which serves Caracas, was badly damaged. One runway was operational as U.S. teams worked to repair the crucial throughway, Jeremy Lewin, a senior State Department official in charge of foreign assistance, told reporters.

Lewin said a U.S. Navy transport ship was docked off the coast, ready to receive airlifted survivors in need of medical attention. Lewin said it is a “race against the clock” to find people injured in the quakes.

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez and Matías Delacroix in La Guaira, Venezuela, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Ali Swenson in Washington contributed to this report.

Dong Guangping was aboard a 3.3-meter (10.8-foot) inflatable boat in the waters off a western South Korean island in May when he was detained by South Korea’s coast guard for allegedly violating the country’s immigration law. It was his fourth known attempt to flee China.

At a court hearing in South Korea, he told reporters that he hopes to go to Canada to reunite with his wife and daughter, who have already been resettled there, according to South Korean media.

In a post Saturday on X, his friend Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian activist, said Dong had landed in Toronto following an Air Canada flight on Friday.

“He just had a big bowl of noodles with eggs, tomatoes and shrimps," she wrote in the post, adding that she has spent more than 10 years trying to get him out of China.

She attached a photo of Dong in a car with her and another photo of Dong holding a bowl.

Dong, a former police officer in China, has been detained several times for his activism. He lost his job as a police officer in 1999 after he co-signed a letter commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to Amnesty International.

He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for “inciting subversion of state power” and spent more than eight months behind bars after being arrested in 2014 for participating in a memorial for victims of the Tiananmen crackdown, according to past statements from Amnesty International.

He previously escaped to Thailand and Vietnam, but authorities there deported him back to China. Dong also tried unsuccessfully to swim to a Taiwanese island.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has not immediately commented.

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This article has been updated to reflect that Dong has one daughter in Canada, instead of daughters.

It started when she led Tennessee to two national championships, then continued in the WNBA, where she won three titles and two MVP awards. She also helped the U.S. win two Olympic gold medals.

Parker was inducted Saturday night into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. She was joined by Elena Delle Donne, Amaya Valdemoro and Isabelle Fijalkowski; coaches Cheryl Reeve and Kim Muhl; television analyst Doris Burke; and posthumous veteran honoree Barbara Kennedy-Dixon.

While accepting the honor, Parker said she had brothers who were eight and 11 years older than her. She spent her life trying to do whatever they did.

“Whenever I struggled when I was young, my mom would whisper ‘can do’ to me,” Parker said, referring to her nickname. “It reminded me to push the doubt away. I was a little girl who dared to dream. I whispered that to myself whenever I was scared.

“Nobody creates in a vacuum. They have influences. We are our ancestor's wildest dreams.”

Chamique Holdsclaw, another Lady Vols legend who presented Parker at the induction, put her career in perspective.

“She knocked down every bar set in front of her,” Holdsclaw said. “She changed the way the game looks. She brought creativity, skill and athletic ability.”

Parker is the 11th player and 17th person with Tennessee ties to be enshrined. Later this summer, Parker and Delle Donne will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Delle Donne originally committed to play her college basketball at UConn but chose instead to stay close to her Wilmington home at the University of Delaware. She was a three-time Colonial Athletic Conference Player of the Year. She was the No. 2 pick in the 2013 WNBA draft. Delle Donne was a two-time WNBA MVP and was part of an Olympic gold medal-winning team.

Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished international players, Valdemoro made her mark in the WNBA. The native of Spain was part of the Houston Comets' run of three straight titles. She also excelled in the EuroLeague.

Fijalkowski was born in France and played college basketball at the University of Colorado. She played in the WNBA’s first two seasons for Cleveland. She became the French national team’s career scoring leader with 2,562 points.

The head coach and executive since 2010 with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, Reeve has won the league’s Coach of the Year honor four times and Executive of the Year twice. Reeve has led the Lynx to four WNBA titles. She was an assistant coach on two gold medal-winning Olympic teams before leading the U.S. to gold in 2024 as the head coach. Reeve took a break from the busy WNBA season to come to the induction ceremony. Her team plays at Dallas on Sunday.

After 37 years, Muhl announced his retirement as head women’s basketball coach at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He won 1,108 games.

Burke began working as a television analyst for Big East men’s basketball in the early 1990s. By 2017, she was a full-time NBA analyst for ESPN.

Kennedy-Dixon, who died in 2018, was a player and longtime administrator at Clemson.

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This story has been to corrected to delete an erroneous reference to Cleveland making the WNBA Finals.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Druski will surpass Kevin Hart, who previously held the distinction as the BET Award’s youngest host when he emceed in 2011.

The 31-year-old comedian and digital creator will host the ceremony live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. EDT.

Who is nominated?

Cardi B leads this year’s BET Awards with six nominations, while Kendrick Lamar and Mariah the Scientist earned five nods each. Doechii, Doja Cat, Clipse, Teyana Taylor, Olivia Dean and Latto follow with four nominations apiece.

The album of the year race includes Cardi B’s “Am I the Drama?,” Clipse’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” J. Cole’s “The Fall-Off,” Leon Thomas’ “Mutt Deluxe: Heel,” Mariah the Scientist’s “Hearts Sold Separately,” Tyler, the Creator’s “Don’t Tap the Glass,” Bruno Mars’ “The Romantic,” and Wale’s “everything is a lot.”

Several of the year’s biggest hits are also in contention for song of the year, including Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther,” Leon Thomas’ “Mutt,” Doechii’s “Denial Is a River,” and Mariah the Scientist’s “Burning Blue.”

Who are the show’s performers?

The first wave of performers includes Cardi B, Common, Doechii, Don Toliver, French Montana, Jill Scott, Kehlani, Queen Latifah, Rick Ross, Tems, T.I. and The War And Treaty.

Hip-hop pioneer MC Lyte returns as the show’s announcer.

Who will host the show?

Druski is expected to bring his improvisational style and internet-born comedy to the BET Awards stage.

He became one of entertainment’s fastest-rising stars through his viral sketches before expanding into sold-out comedy tours and collaborations with artists including Drake and Snoop Dogg, as well as appearances alongside figures like Tom Brady and Timothée Chalamet.

“I grew up watching the BET Awards,” Druski said. “To know the comedic legends that hosted before me set the bar so high, I’m just grateful to be a part of the history. But I’m still bringing my brand of comedy to the stage.”

Who will receive special honors?

Hill will receive the Living Legend Icon Award, which recognizes pioneers whose work has remained culturally essential across generations. She first emerged as a member of the Fugees before releasing her landmark solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” a genre-defying album that became one of the most influential recordings in hip-hop and R&B history.

BET called Hill “the very definition of a living legend,” crediting her with reshaping music while inspiring generations of artists.

Taylor, who starred in “One Battle After Another,” will receive the Icon of the Year Award, recognizing a creative force whose influence is shaping culture today. She has evolved from a multiplatinum recording artist into an award-winning actor, director, producer and choreographer.

Music executive Sylvia Rhone will receive the Ultimate Icon Award for her groundbreaking leadership and lasting impact on the music industry.

Rhone made history as the first Black woman to lead a major record company owned by a Fortune 500 corporation. During a career spanning decades, she helped develop artists including Missy Elliott, Lil Wayne, Tracy Chapman, Brandy, Erykah Badu, Kid Cudi, Future, Travis Scott and Giveon.

Are there any other standout nominees?

The awards will feature award categories including the Pulse Award for creator and content series and the Fashion Vanguard Award for cultural impact in fashion.

The Cottonwood Fire, burning in rugged terrain in southwest Utah, severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort and destroyed summer cabins in sparsely populated Beaver County. Authorities conducted damage assessments but did not yet have estimates of how many homes burned.

Gov. Spencer Cox, in a social media post, asked for prayers for firefighters and “the rains we desperately need.”

“It’s as bleak as it’s ever been ... and yet there were several miraculous stops and saves,” Cox said, referring to the work of the hundreds of firefighters assigned to the blaze.

They were among the crews that have poured into Utah as more wildfires in the arid state gained steam thanks to consecutive days of what forecasters called critical fire weather, or dangerously low humidity levels, warm temperatures and gusty winds.

There was little relief from the strong winds Saturday, but crews fighting the Cottonwood Fire were treated to higher humidity levels than the single digits that were expected, said Alyssa Mason, a spokesperson assigned to the blaze.

“That was good news for us today,” Mason said.

Utah is coming off a record-low snowpack and the warmest winter on record, which has elevated fire danger. Much of the West is grappling with similar conditions, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

From Alaska to Florida, crews worked to corral dozens of fires, including three dozen that were classified as large and uncontained.

Nationally, nearly 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) have burned since the start of the year, pushing the U.S. ahead of the 10-year average.

Firefighters grapple with more wind

Helicopters took to the skies hoping to put a dent in the Cottonwood Fire before afternoon winds kicked up again and grounded them. Air support also was grounded the previous afternoon as conditions deteriorated.

The fire ballooned to more than 144 square miles (373 square kilometers), and roughly 1,300 residents in the towns of Marysvale, Junction and Circleville remained on notice that they should be prepared to leave if conditions worsened.

Cox declared an emergency, and the state has restricted fireworks citing one of the most severe wildfire seasons in recent history and saying the blazes were stretching wildland firefighting capabilities.

“These fires are starting closer to homes and communities,” State Forester Jamie Barnes said. “One human-caused fire is one too many.”

The cause of the Cottonwood Fire has not been determined, but officials said the majority of those sparked so far this year have been human-caused. Forecasters also noted that lightning strikes around the West have resulted in fires.

Elsewhere in Utah, evacuations were in place for several small communities southwest of Salt Lake City, including Eureka, with a population under 1,000, and the Vernon Reservoir area. Highways running through the area were closed.

Two wildfires in that area — the Iron and the Cherry — covered a combined 112 square miles (290 square kilometers), fire officials said.

Visitors undeterred by wildfires

The towering column of smoke from the Cottonwood Fire was visible Friday from miles away, even from Bryce Canyon National Park to the south and Colorado to the east. It was hazy Saturday as the smoke drifted to the northeast, leaving air quality unaffected in places like Bryce and other popular vacation spots to the south.

Bob Miller of Yucaipa, California, who was staying at an RV park in Marysvale, was prepared to evacuate if needed. The evenings especially have been smoky, Miller said, but he and his family have still been able to enjoy the area, where they have vacationed for almost two decades.

“It’s still gorgeous,” Miller said.

“Fires happen around here. When you come every year, you kind of get used to that,” he added.

“After you’ve been through burned areas a few times, you look at it and you understand what nature can do.”

Red flag warnings issued around the West

The warnings stretched from California to Arizona to New Mexico, where firefighters battled several blazes amid windy conditions. That included a new one reported south of Grand Canyon National Park.

Authorities said the flames were moving away from Grand Canyon Village and the nearby community of Tusayan. The area was without power as the utility serving the area initiated a safety shut-off earlier in hopes of lessening the wildfire risk.

Park visitors could still purchase park passes at entrance stations as long as backup power systems remained operational, but officials said people should come prepared. That meant downloading maps before arriving and ensuring that phones and other devices are fully charged.

Power shut-offs have become more common in the West as wildfire risk has expanded. It is usually a last resort after utility forecasters weigh factors like sustained wind and gust speeds, available fuels and topography.

With extreme fire conditions persisting in Utah, Rocky Mountain Power also shut off power lines serving Beaver County and other areas.

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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.

A two-shot swing on the 18th hole — Hovland made a 6-foot birdie, Scheffler three-putted from 25 feet on the fringe for bogey — gave the Norwegian star a 6-under 64 and a one-shot lead over the world's No. 1 player.

“Just had a great time,” Hovland said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in this position. To go head-to-head against the best player in the world and pull off some great shots, it was just a lot of fun.”

The pleasant surprise was the support he had in the crowd.

Scheffler is enormously popular and the TPC Highlands had a vocal gallery. Hovland had plenty of support from a Norway contingent that drove over from Boston following a World Cup loss to France. Hovland gave them plenty of opportunity to do the “row” that has become so popular in the stadium and subway stations and wherever they gather.

Hovland knows it well. Oddly enough, it was the first time he had seen it live.

“I mean, we’re Vikings, so it’s kind of in our DNA,” Hovland said. “It’s kind of funny, that’s the first time I’ve ever seen it. I think that’s the first time we’ve ever done it, especially in the World Cup. So yeah, it took us 1,000 years to figure it out. I think it’s pretty cool.”

“Ro, ro, ro!” they chanted as Hovland approached the 18th green. “USA! USA!” came the American chants. It was good banter on a Saturday afternoon in New England, an example why partisan cheering in a World Cup year is far more palatable than a Ryder Cup year.

It was the second straight year Scheffler, whose bogey gave him a 67, fell from the top of the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, though this was no cause for alarm. A year ago, he opened with a triple bogey, shot 72 and fell nine shots behind.

This was one hole, and he was only one shot behind as Scheffler tries to win for the first time since the start to his season in the California desert.

Hovland was at 20-under 190 and gets another afternoon with Scheffler on Sunday. The next closest players were Patrick Cantlay (64) and Akshay Bhatia (67), who were five shots behind.

“This is a golf course where you can see some numbers be shot. You know, guys can shoot pretty low,” Scheffler said. “Going into tomorrow just try to execute, have a good round, and see where that puts me.”

Hovland started two shots behind and it took him four holes — three birdies — to catch Scheffler. From there, it was a bit of a pillow fight as they matched mostly pars, two birdies and one bogey to remain tied.

Scheffler regained the lead with a lob wedge to 2 feet on the 14th. Both got up-and-down from the front of the green on the reachable par-4 15th — Scheffler with a nifty chip that floated up the slope and trickled down to the pin — and exchanged pars going to the 18th.

That's where it flipped, giving Hovland the lead.

“The score is nice ... but I'm very process-driven,” Hovland said. "As soon as I find a certain feel that I can trust and it produces a pretty reliable shot shape, I know that I’m going to be able to score pretty well from there. So if I happen to shoot 2 under or 6 under or 9 under, that’s not the most important thing. As soon as I see the shots that I’m trying to hit and execute, that’s what gives me the confidence.

“Then it’s all a bonus on top being able to do it at this stage and in front of that many people.”

There was separation, but this is not a duel given the nature of this course that allows for low scoring and dynamic finishes because of the closing hole.

“The beauty of this golf course is that I think Scottie and I have separated ourselves from the rest of the field, but at the same time, 14 or 15 under is still very much in this thing if they go and shoot a very low score tomorrow,” Hovland said.

“So we still have to go out there and play very similar to what we did today,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re bringing in a lot more guys.”

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

Your Saturday evening plans will stay dry as the scattered afternoon storms along the sea breeze will fade away around sunset. A rogue shower is possible until 9pm. Dry conditions prevail the rest of the overnight hours with lows well above average. Temperatures will only fall into the upper 70s.

Sunday

Similar to Saturday, our Sunday Funday will start off on the dry and sunny side. Expect dry conditions to last into lunchtime, Just after noon, our sea breeze will once again begin sparking up thunderstorms across Central Florida. Coverage will land around 40%, with greatest chances landing mid-late afternoon.

With upper ridging remaining in place, in addition to Saharan Dust, highs will climb into the mid-upper 90s with the heat index values climbing over the 105ºF mark for many neighborhoods. We will be flirting with heat advisory criteria.

Next Week

Changes come to the forecast by early next week as we get a wind pattern shift and added moisture. A dying frontal boundary will try to slip into northern Florida early next week, providing added moisture and energy into our atmosphere. This will also help to shift our winds back to our predominant easterly flow. This will allow for widespread showers and storms along our sea breeze and also push the sea breeze further inland. Rain chances will favor the I-4 corridor and points westward. Rain chances will climb to 60-70%.

This front is also the catalyst for the NHC’s development area just off our coast. The instability off this dying boundary has the possibility of spinning up an area of low pressure. As of Saturday afternoon, chances of this remain low. Keep checking back in with News 6 for updates.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his new pick for the immigration enforcement agency is a former U.S. Marine and a “PATRIOT with real operational experience." He called Schroyer a "proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.”

Schroyer hails from the same home state as the new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former congressman. Earlier this month, Mullin brought Schroyer onstage at a National Sheriffs' Association event, calling him a “good friend of mine" and noting DHS had recently hired him.

On Saturday, Mullin quickly praised Schroyer in a statement highlighting the former trooper's 29-year career and his work with federal and state partners on a U.S. immigration enforcement program.

“President Trump made a great pick, and I’m confident Lance’s strong leadership and firsthand experience will empower the men and women of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people,” Mullin said.

If confirmed, Schroyer will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. The agency is undergoing massive growth from a one-time injection of $75 billion last year, which has allowed for the hiring of 12,000 officers and increased detention capacity.

Mullin, who started in his role in March, has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations.

Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official, said prior confirmed ICE directors have often been attorneys, though some state and local law enforcement officials have also been nominated. She said his background in Oklahoma suggests Mullin likely had influence over the pick.

“I think probably given the attention on ICE, he wants to feel like he has somebody he can trust in there,” she said in an interview.

John Torres, another senior ICE official, said Schroyer faces an uphill climb toward Senate confirmation but his experience being at the state and local level instead of the federal level might help.

“He won't have any of that baggage, where they're going to turn around and say, oh, well, he worked for this administration or that,” Torres said.

Schroyer's nomination comes after former ICE director Todd Lyons resigned at the end of May. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, has been serving as the acting head of the agency. Venturella is expected to stay on as the acting director until Schroyer is Senate confirmed, according to a DHS official speaking on condition of anonymity.

ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration, a result of polarizing politics around the agency and immigration policy.

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Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.

Kittle tied the knot with his girlfriend, Barbara, in Reinsdorf’s suite during Chicago’s 10-run third inning. The White Sox went on to score their most runs since a 22-13 victory at Boston on May 31, 1970.

“He’s so superstitious he might marry somebody today in the bottom of the third,” Kittle, the 1983 AL Rookie of the Year, said Saturday about Reinsdorf.

Harold Baines and Greg Walker, Kittle’s teammates on the 1983 White Sox squad, and their spouses also attended the quick ceremony.

“My better half doesn’t want any notoriety, recognition. She wants to keep it to herself,” Kittle said. “But I invited Harold Baines and his wife and Greg Walker and his wife, and we did it and I was pretty excited. I think Jerry is excited. We’ve become a family over the years.”

The 1983 White Sox, who won the AL West, were honored before Saturday’s game between Chicago and Kansas City.

Kittle said he also is ordained and that he officiated a wedding in the outfield last season on Bill Veeck Day.

“Now I’m the only player to marry someone at the park and get married at the park," Kittle said. “And I’m good.”

Other members of the 1983 team who attended the pregame reunion at Rate Field were Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, who serves as a White Sox special adviser, Richard Dotson and Greg Luzinski.

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

Seemed to be, because Wimbledon then increased its prize money by 20%.

But several players are continuing the protest — by limiting media appearances — this weekend and in the first week of the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts Monday, arguing that they deserve a bigger share of revenues.

“We’re very grateful that Wimbledon has raised the prize money, but again it’s not really answering the questions that we’ve been asking,” Pegula said Saturday, when she limited her time with the press. “I don't know if the point is just not getting across.”

And the No. 4 player is already looking ahead to the last major on the calendar — the U.S. Open.

“We’ll see how it progresses ... after doing this today and over the next week and then going into obviously the next Slam which is the U.S. Open,” the 32-year-old American said. “I think we’ll kind of get a good grasp about where we’re really standing with the Slams and see what we can get out of that with talking to them.”

Wimbledon's total prize money including player per diems will be 64.2 million pounds ($85 million), the biggest annual increase, by sum of money, in the tournament’s history. The increase in 2013 represented a 40% hike over the prior year.

The singles champions at the All England Club will each get 3.6 million pounds ($4.75 million) — which also represents a 20% hike.

The protest began at the French Open, where players complained the total prize money only made up 14.3% of the clay-court tournament’s revenue.

On Wednesday, a statement by an advisory firm representing the players said the “direct action protest” would continue during Wimbledon's first week. The statement said the players’ share of Wimbledon’s projected revenue this year was 14.4%, which would be below the 14.9% share they received 10 years ago.

The All England Club has said it was “surprised and disappointed by this action.”

Not all players support protest

Novak Djokovic has not been a part of it.

“I have no views on that, to be honest. I’m not part of it. Just I’ll stay neutral on that,” the seven-time Wimbledon champion said Saturday

No. 6 Alex de Minaur took part in the Roland Garros protest but not this time, with the Australian saying in quotes reported by the BBC: “I thought that Wimbledon made a big step in the right direction, and something that should be noted. So this is for me to acknowledge their big step.”

Cam Norrie, who at No. 29 is the highest-ranked British men's singles player, noted improved facilities for players and said the prize money increase is “absolutely huge.”

Meanwhile, No. 5 Ben Shelton said “I back the players in this whole process” and rattled off a list of concerns. But he added that he wasn't limiting his time on media day “because Wimbledon is a special place.”

“They’ve always treated me well here,” Shelton said. “I think they have made an effort. I think that showed in the increase that they brought in prize money this year.”

What do the No. 1 singles players say?

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka described the 20% increase as a “great start.”

“I really hope we can finally get to the table and really get it done, come to a conclusion that everyone going to be happy with. Hopefully we’ll never have to do it again,” she said. “Once again, I hope we're not going to get to this boycotting again.”

Jannik Sinner limited a media appearance and deflected questions about the protest.

“It's getting better even though we are not at the point where we are 100% happy,” the Italian said.

Sinner said it's “not only about the money,” citing the need for improvements in player welfare. But he declined to engage in a question about Wimbledon's offer to work on creating a player council.

“I just think it's better if we don't discuss here, I don't like to talk about this at the moment,” he said.

The four-time Grand Slam champion also didn't want to address whether the players feel they are closer to a solution or a boycott.

“I think we talked enough about this at the moment. The Grand Slams know what we ask, then we see how it goes,” he said. “Again, I'm here now to talk about tennis.”

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

Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations.

Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public.

A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults said in a poll conducted earlier this year by healthcare research nonprofit KFF that they were at least somewhat worried about being able to afford their prescriptions. About 4 in 10 said costs had led them not to take medications as prescribed within the previous year, either by taking less than the prescribed dose, using over-the-counter substitutes or not filling prescriptions.

Dozens of proposals emerge across the US

Pharmacy benefit managers, particularly CVS and two other large companies, handle most U.S. prescriptions.

Lawmakers in at least 26 states introduced more than 120 bills this year on PBMs, according to an Associated Press search using the bill-tracking software Plural, with about a quarter of the bills clearing at least one chamber.

The companies manage pharmacy claims for health insurers and negotiate with manufacturers over drug prices and what medications will be covered. Critics concede that the size of the top companies gives them leverage that health plans wouldn't have on their own.

The benefit managers argue that they're the only player in the drug supply chain created to help push drug costs down and they claim credit for an increased used of less-expensive generic drugs, now 90% of U.S. prescriptions.

“If PBMs already didn’t exist, you’d need to invent one,” said Prem Shah, president of the CVS Health group overseeing its pharmacy and PBM operations, in a recent interview. “Blaming PBMs for high drug prices is like blaming umbrellas for the rain.”

CVS fights restrictions in Tennessee

Drug companies, PBMs and their allies have spent at least $24 million on opposing broadcast and digital advertising since the start of 2025 to influence public opinion, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. CVS spent $4 million this year on ads opposing Tennessee's new law.

CVS sued Arkansas last year after it enacted similar legislation, and a federal judge blocked its law. CVS also settled three lawsuits in which Louisiana accused it of unfair trade and deceptive practices in lobbying against legislation there last year, agreeing to pay $45 million without acknowledging wrongdoing.

The CVS lawsuit in Tennessee alleges that the company, which operates 9,000 pharmacies nationwide, is facing “naked protectionism” from lawmakers who operate independent pharmacies — including the law's main sponsor, state Sen. Bobby Harshbarger and co-sponsor Sen. Shane Reeves.

Independent pharmacies say they're being squeezed

In Knoxville, Seth White, who manages a CVS pharmacy, will have to find a new job if the Tennessee law stands, and he's also worried about hundreds of its customers having to go elsewhere for their medications.

Some 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away in Coldwater, Kansas, Lisa Gales is on the opposite side of the debate. She and her husband operate the Main Street Pharmacy, and she said they rely heavily on sales of non-pharmacy items to offset low reimbursements from pharmacy benefit managers.

Gales calculates she lost money on 86% of the prescriptions she filled last year. A new Kansas law will require PBMs to pay a $10.50 dispensing fee per prescription. Gales called it a “great win,” even though, “It’s still way under what it’s costing us.”

A new Louisiana law imposes an $11.81 dispensing fee. Another says PBMs must operate for the benefit of their health-insurer clients and people enrolled in health plans.

Critics deride each mandatory dispensing fee as an extra “pill tax” that will drive up consumers' costs. Backers dispute that, saying the laws also limit what PBMs charge health plans for the cost of medications themselves — so that it's often well below wholesale prices.

Pharmacy benefit managers push drugmakers to give big discounts on those wholesale prices but face criticism for keeping any portion of them. Some states now require PBMs to pass along all discounts.

Patients are watching the debate

It all worries consumers, particularly in small towns, who fear it could become harder to get their medications if PBMs squeeze independent pharmacies on reimbursements to the point of endangering their businesses.

In southeastern Kansas, Faith Sanders, a 79-year-old retired nursing home administrator, said the pharmacy in her hometown of Cedar Vale is important because without it people would have to drive 35 miles (56 kilometers) “to go out of town to get anything.”

For her many elderly neighbors, she said, “We get to the point where it’s hard for us to get out of town.”

Meanwhile, even some PBM critics question whether states can effectively regulate them. In Tennessee, state Rep. Robert Stevens, a Nashville-area Republican, told colleagues during a debate that cracking down on PBMs “needs to be done by Congress and not by us.”

Congress did pass new PBM regulations in February. One law will prevent PBMs from keeping any rebates they’ve negotiated on drug prices for health plans that supplement federal Medicare coverage for Americans over 64.

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This story has been updated to correct the name of CVS executive Prem Shah, not Prem Shaw.

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St. Louis sent the Nos. 73 and 76 picks to Toronto for the 29-year-old defenseman.

Carlo lasted just 88 games with the Leafs after they sent a first-round pick, a fourth-rounder and highly regarded forward prospect Fraser Minten to Boston for him at the deadline in March 2025. That was with the previous regime in charge, and general manager Brad Treliving was fired two months ago and replaced weeks later by John Chayka, and they only got to keep the pick this year because they won the lottery for the No. 1 overall pick.

This is the third trade of the week for the Blues, who are also in transition as GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen is set to take over for seasoned executive Doug Armstrong next week. Armstrong in his final days at the helm has been plenty busy.

On Tuesday, he traded Jordan Kyrou to Washington for fellow forward Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin and the No. 16 pick, accumulating a league-high four in the first round. On Friday night, he sent two of them to Anaheim for 23-year-old Mason McTavish, who is signed through 2031.

Carlo provides some dependable veteran stability on the right side on defense, especially if the Blues decide to trade Colton Parayko or Justin Faulk as part of their summer overhaul. He is going into the final year of his contract at a salary cap hit of just under $3.5 million.

“We’re excited (Carlo has) got his size and length, his ability to kill plays, his experience,” Armstrong told reporters in Centene, Missouri. “Getting stronger up front and having strong goaltending, we think we’re going to be more competitive than we were last year.”

Toronto used the third-round picks on Canadian winger Zach Olsen and Swedish defenseman Mans Gudmundsson.

Hurricanes get John Carlson's rights

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes jumped the queue to talk to John Carlson before the 36-year-old defenseman can become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday. They sent the 192nd pick and the rights to pending restricted free agent forward Kyle Masters to Anaheim to get an exclusive negotiating window with Carlson.

Traded to the Ducks by the Capitals less than 13 hours before the deadline in March, Carlson is believed to want to get back on the East Coast for family reasons. He spent his first 16-plus NHL seasons with Washington and helped the team win the Cup in 2018.

More trades at the NHL draft

New Nashville president of hockey operations and GM Chris MacFarland spent his first few weeks on the job largely adding players he was familiar with from his time in Colorado. On Saturday, he added fresh blood from the East by acquiring big, Swedish winger Adam Edstrom in a trade with the New York Rangers.

The Predators sent the 148th pick in the draft (a fifth-rounder) and the rights to minor leaguer Massimo Rizzo to New York. The Rangers, who also traded Brett Berard to Montreal on Friday, are not expected to tender Rizzo a qualifying offer and would make him an unrestricted free agent.

The Avalanche traded Ivan Ivan to the Bruins for Fabian Lysell in a swap of young forwards.

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

The agreement signed Friday in Washington links Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah's disarmament, something the group rejects.

Several previous ceasefire agreements that Lebanon has negotiated with Israel since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war were never implemented on the ground. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since March, when Hezbollah fired at Israel two days after the Iran war began.

In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group will keep fighting until Israel is forced to leave Lebanon. The group's supporters protested in the streets of Beirut following the announcement of the agreement.

Despite the deal, the Lebanese state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh. It also reported that Israel's military released three Lebanese and three Syrian workers who were taken near the southern village of Ain Arab on Friday.

Deal calls on Israel to withdraw but only if Hezbollah disarms

The talks between Israel and Lebanon were separate from the interim deal signed earlier this month by the U.S. and Iran.

Details of the deal that the U.S. State Department released Saturday say Lebanon and Israel aim to eventually end the state of war between them that began when Israel was created in 1948.

The deal says Israel will withdraw from Lebanon, provided Hezbollah disarms.

It calls for Israel to initially withdraw from two small areas, called pilot zones. It did not say where they will be. The Lebanese army will gradually assume full security responsibility over those areas. The countries will agree to future pilot zones for Israel's withdrawal in the future, the agreement says.

The deal has a security annex that includes details of the deployment of the Lebanese army and redeployments of Israeli troops. The security annex was not made public.

As part of the deal, Israel stresses that Hezbollah's disarmament throughout Lebanon and additional security measures to be agreed upon between the countries will eliminate any future need for the Israeli army’s military action or presence in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon “until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon.”

Netanyahu said the two agreed-upon zones will have a “pilot program for disarming Hezbollah and transferring the territory to the control of the Lebanese army.” He said Israel's military already withdrew from one.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military has been instructed “to prepare for an extended stay.”

Hezbollah's leader rejects the deal as ‘a humiliation’

From Hezbollah’s point of view, the deal is nonexistent, Kassem said.

He called the agreement a “humiliation,” adding that linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament as a “very dangerous suggestion.”

The deal prompted one of the group’s officials, Hassan Fadlallah, to warn that it could result in civil war because Hezbollah won't give up its weapons and will resist any measures taken by the Lebanese army.

Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj, Lebanon's top public prosecutor, on Saturday told the heads of the country’s security agencies to take measures to prevent riots.

Some Israelis and Lebanese doubt the deal will last

The deal says both Lebanon and Israel recognize that the restoration of security in southern Lebanon through the deployment of the Lebanese army, the safe return of its civilian population and the security of Israel’s northern communities are essential to long-term stability and peace.

“Personally, I don’t think it will be lasting because the Lebanese military cannot really stand a chance against Hezbollah,” said Israeli citizen Ronit Belson while visiting the town of Metula along the border.

In Lebanon, people were divided.

“People just want to rest for good. I support the Lebanese authorities in the decision” taken, said Rabie Sammour, a resident of the southern city of Sidon.

Another Sidon resident, Khaled Ghannoum, said the deal “legitimized Israel’s occupation.”

In an apparent reference to Iran, which has sent billions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah over the past four decades, the deal says Lebanon and the U.S. commit to preventing funds from flowing to any entity, organization or individual affiliated with non-state armed groups.

The deal states that the Lebanese government explicitly commits to prevent reconstruction funds from flowing to non-state armed groups and connected entities.

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Mor reported from Metula, Israel. Associated Press journalist Ibrahim Hazboun contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

This is the Great American State Fair.

The fair kicked off this week and is a run by Freedom 250, an organization created by President Donald Trump to run his administration's official events. Its creation caused tension with America250, a congressionally created group that was designed to plan the nation's 250th anniversary. The event on the National Mall will run into July.

Crowds came in small numbers early Friday, spending little time at security. The entryway led straight to a 110-foot tall Ferris wheel, the lone ride at the fair, and a smaller arch, similar to the ones that the Republican president has used to adorn other events.

The consensus among people who were interviewed was that the fair was a great idea — and perhaps an opportunity missed.

A fair for America that highlights divisions for some

Familiar to anyone who has ever attended a fair were the goats, sheep and a calf whose mooing could be heard across the Mall, all courtesy of the Washington High School Future Farmers of America from Jefferson County, West Virginia. Baby chicks, resplendent in all of their downy softness, were a huge draw, and there was the promise of a cowboy performance with bucking broncos to highlight the rise of the American cowboy.

Visitors were united by their enthusiasm for states to come together and show off their unique characters, famous natives, industries and history and geographical diversity. They were also drawn by a desire for a nonpartisan celebration of American unity.

“There’s nice people, nice events, nice family events,” said Sharyn Bovat, who said she lived in Florida but has remained in the Washington area since having a heart attack this year. “Half the country is divided with the other half. I wish they would create a USA 250 for all the people. I’m tired of the politics.”

She said the arch was the main thing that gave the event a political overtone. “It makes me think of Germany,” she said.

The fair booths, all inside structures that resembled the neoclassical architecture of the nearby National Gallery of Art, offered snippets of Americana to visitors.

The varying aspects of America on display

Among the items representing Montana was a gigantic rib cage, a scaled-up version of apatosaurus, which is a cousin to the better-known brontosaurus.

Virginia's booth offered a journey through the state's role in American history. For the District of Columbia, there was a huge banner for visitors to sign, along with a tree filled with cherry blossoms. South Carolina invited people to enjoy a putting green.

Texas included a space capsule, a facade of the Alamo and a statue — Big Tex. The one place where there was a line outside was for Arizona's exhibit, which had an interactive that allowed visitors to put themselves in terrain from the state.

Visitors to New Jersey's booth saw an ornate sandcastle made from 7,000 pounds of sand brought from the Jersey Shore and built over the course of four days by an artist.

Andy Walters and his wife, Kirsten, were there with their three children from Wapakoneta, Ohio, the boyhood hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. “I think it's nice. I wish all the states were participating,” Andy Walters said. “It's a little underwhelming but it's a great idea.”

Kirsten Walters said she wished something similar would be held more often, without the overtones. “We’re excited to be here and participate,” she said.

Not all states participated or staffed their booths

Most states participated, treating the fair almost like a tourism opportunity. But there was not full representation.

Maine, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania opted to not send delegations, citing costs, scheduling or politicization concerns. Pennsylvania's senators John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican, said Saturday they had gotten together with several business trade organizations to “make sure the Keystone State would have a showcase worthy of its singular place in our nation’s history.”

Some booths, including those for Hawaii and Alaska, were unstaffed. Hawaii's did feature a couple of rocking chairs, which tired visitors put to good use.

Alonzo Lewis Jr. and Kelly Domizio, from Rome, New York, took advantage to take a load off.

“This was really pretty cool,” she said. “Been going to all the different states.”

But her husband had a different view.

“Was it necessary, I don't think so,” Lewis said. “It feels forced. There's so much separation.”

Domizio said she remembered the bicentennial in 1976.

“There was a sense of pride” and togetherness she said. “We are enjoying the day but it feels forced.”

All that mattered to Ruck on Saturday was being selected with the 39th pick in the second round by Pittsburgh in following his brother, who was drafted 22nd overall by the Penguins a day earlier.

“He can brag to me all he wants. I’m just so happy to be with him. I know he won’t brag, but if he wanted to, he could,” Ruck said. “To be with him, it’s so special.”

The twins are from Osoyoos, British Columbia, and spent the past two-plus seasons as one of the Western Hockey League’s most productive tandems in Medicine Hat. Marcus led the WHL with 108 points last season, while Liam, a right wing, finished second with 104 points.

Liam was projected to go first, and when the Penguins chose him, Markus began looking ahead to No. 39, Pittsburgh’s next turn to pick.

“I didn’t have a preference of when, I just knew where I wanted to go and who I wanted be with,” he said, noting his brother kept his spirits up overnight. “He kept me calm and told me it was going to happen. So for it to happen it’s awesome.”

The Ruck’s reunion was part of a family theme in a draft that had Caleb Malhotra going third to Vancouver, where his dad was just hired as the Canucks head coach.

The Calgary Flames opened the third round by selecting WHL Vancouver forward Joe Iginla. He’s the youngest son of Hall of Famer and longtime Flames star Jarome Iginla, and his selection came after older brother Tij went No. 6 to Utah in the 2024 draft.

Rogowski picks hockey over baseball

Whatever doubts Brooks Rogowski had in choosing hockey over baseball quickly evaporated following the first pick in the second round of the NHL draft.

The 18-year-old from Livonia, Michigan, had taken his seat with his family on the draft floor, when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced Rogowski had been selected at No. 33 by the Vancouver Canucks.

“You sit down for five minutes and you’re standing back up. So that was nice not having to sit a while,” Rogowski said. “But the relief was immediate. You hear your name called and all the stresses just kind of fall off you. It’s great, it’s been awesome.”

And the selection validates the choice the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Rogowski made two years ago. In picking hockey, after being drafted by the OHL Oshawa Generals, he put baseball behind him — and to the regret of his father and uncle, who both enjoyed minor-league baseball careers.

His father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and his uncle, Ryan, drafted by the Dodgers.

“Obviously they’re still sad about baseball, but I think this was the right decision,” Rogowski said. “You know, get to wear a nice jersey, so I think that they’re more than happy with that.”

Rogowski has made a commitment to play at Michigan State in two years, and appreciates he still has plenty of room to develop after focusing more on baseball than hockey growing up.

“I have a lot more to improve,” he said. “You have a lot of these guys who have been doing this for a long time. I’m still relatively new to it, and I think there’s a lot more to me that needs to come out.”

His trajectory is pointing up. As a rookie, Rogowski had 11 goals and 23 points in 66 games with Oshawa, and built on that with 42 points (15 goals) in 46 games last season.

Not bad for the former first baseman.

“Exactly. It’s very different,” Rogowski said comparing the two sports. “I have always been a decent hockey player, but I think the rapid growth, I can attribute to athletic ability.”

A day after pop icon Justin Bieber took the stage to announce the Toronto Maple Leafs taking Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick, there were several notable highlights over the final six rounds on Saturday.

Golden Knights 2nd-round pick forfeited

The second round featured just 31 selections with the Vegas Golden Knights forfeiting their 63rd pick after being sanctioned by the league for violating media regulations. Former Vegas coach John Tortorella was also fined $100,000 for refusing to speak to reporters following a second-round-series-clinching Game 6 victory at Anaheim.

Another notable selection came at No. 40, when the Florida Panthers used their first pick of the draft on right winger Simas Ignatavicius. Though born in Memphis, he relocated with his family to their native Lithuania, a nation that by his count has four hockey rinks.

Though his father played basketball, Ignatavicius was drawn to hockey at age 3 while watching a practice at a rink inside a shopping mall. Six years ago, the 18-year-old moved to Switzerland to develop his skills.

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

Serena Williams is the star, though, at Wimbledon.

The 44-year-old Williams' presence has been emanating throughout SW19 — the famous post code of Wimbledon — as she prepares to play her first singles match at the event in four years Tuesday when she faces No. 53 Maya Joint in the first round.

Mirra Andreeva, who just won the French Open, was basically crossing her fingers when the Wimbledon draw was announced.

“I was watching like this because I don’t think anyone in the draw would have wanted to play against Serena," the smiling Russian teenager said Saturday. “I’m going to speak for myself. I wouldn’t want to play against Serena. I would be just very nervous.”

Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open but she accepted a wild-card entry to play women’s doubles with her sister Venus, who is 46. And then she accepted another to play singles.

Williams’ most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows. Her second daughter was born in 2023.

Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles title winner, could meet Swiatek in the third round.

Venus provides some motivation

Serena Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

“Unexpectedly, before her first match she asked me did I have any motivational quotes I use for myself,” Venus Williams said Saturday. “I told her what I was using at the time. I don’t know if that helped or not. She did win the match.”

The Williams sisters will play their first-round doubles match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.

Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

“For us it was about the titles, we wanted the Grand Slam titles. We just wanted to bring them home,” Venus said. “We did pretty good.”

Djokovic inspired by Serena

Novak Djokovic calls Serena Williams' tennis comeback “inspirational” and “epic.”

“That’s what I told her,” Djokovic said Saturday.

“I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime,” Djokovic, a 24-time major champion, said of Williams, a 23-time major winner in singles. “It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”

Djokovic added: “I always admired her career, her journey, her story. Of course, Venus’, as well.”

Gauff and Sabalenka too

Coco Gauff, the No. 7 seed at Wimbledon, said Serena and Venus were the “biggest” inspiration on her.

“I played the sport because of them, believed that I could do things because of them. I look up to them a lot,” she said.

Sabalenka added: “It’s amazing what she’s doing. Also it’s Serena Williams, everyone was talking about that. She’s bringing more eyes on tennis. It’s a good thing for tennis. I’m really excited to see her play.”

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

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to disqualify the challenger and keep him off the primary ballot. Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Attorneys for the state have said Tuesday is the deadline for a final ruling so that ballots for the Aug. 18 primary can be printed.

The judge ruled that the division’s decision to exclude Dan J. Sullivan because his candidacy was not “in good faith” was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the division’s own regulations. The retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg filed to challenge the incumbent.

“Instead, the decision was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good faith’ criteria,” the judge wrote.

The division is appealing the decision, Sam Curtis, a spokesperson with the state Department of Law, said by email Saturday. Jeffrey Robinson, an attorney for Dan J. Sullivan, said in an email he expected the division to appeal and couldn't comment until the Alaska Supreme Court rules on the case.

The controversy over the two Dan Sullivans has underscored the stakes involved in the incumbent’s reelection campaign. The Alaska race is one of about half a dozen U.S. Senate races expected to be highly competitive in the fall, and the seat is one Democrats are trying to flip in their efforts to try to regain the majority.

The senator and allies, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have condemned the challenger’s efforts to join the race, arguing his presence could confuse voters. Under Alaska’s election system, the top four candidates from the primary, regardless of party, move on to the ranked-choice November general election.

The senator has accused the challenger Sullivan of working with Democrats and the campaign of Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola — who is considered the senator’s main opponent — to cause confusion and boost Peltola’s chances. Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger.

Sen. Sullivan and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in the crowded race and the only ones to report raising any money.

Beecher has said she determined the challenger Sullivan is not eligible to run because his candidacy was not filed in good faith and instead was done with an intent to confuse voters. She said he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and, in conjunction with his candidacy, changed his party affiliation to Republican. She also cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator’s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats. She did not mention finding any evidence of alleged coordination.

In arguing to keep the challenger disqualified, attorneys for the state pushed back on suggestions the ballot could be designed in a way to reduce voter confusion over two candidates with the same name and party running for the same office.

“The Constitution does not require States to place a sham candidate on the ballot and then attempt to mitigate the damage through design choices,” attorney Rachel Witty, with the Alaska Department of Law, and outside attorneys Christopher Murray and Michael Francisco wrote in court filings.

Attorneys for the challenger Sullivan argued that the Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate, addressing only age, citizenship and residency. They said Beecher lacked the legal authority to boot their client off the ballot.

The challenger Sullivan has said that sharing a name and party affiliation with the incumbent gave him “an instant megaphone.” But the 69-year-old retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee said he had considered a run for some time and had grown frustrated with the senator.

He initially was certified on the state’s candidate list as Dan J. Sullivan, with the senator listed as Dan S. Sullivan and identified as the incumbent.

———

This story has been updated to correct the surname of Dan J. Sullivan's attorney: it is Robinson, not Robertson.

The strike targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the sprawling camp of Muwasi, killing 15-year-old Islam Moussa and her 30-year-old brother, Abdullah Moussa.

The Israeli military acknowledged it had struck the area of Muwasi, saying it had targeted a Hamas militant but did not immediately provide more information.

In the hospital's courtyard, relatives wept over the bodies covered in white burial shrouds.

Also on Saturday, Palestinians reported hearing a loud boom in Gaza City.

The Israeli military struck a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in western Gaza City, wounding at least 12 people, according to Shifa hospital. The ambulance service of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two people were critically wounded and the majority of those hurt were women.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant and that it was not aware of uninvolved civilians being harmed.

Strikes continued Saturday evening in central Gaza, with no immediate word of casualties. Israel's military said it was checking on the reports.

Despite a fragile ceasefire reached in October that paused the heaviest fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group, Israel continues to carry out near-daily strikes and shelling across the coastal enclave. Israel and Hamas continue to trade accusations of violating the ceasefire. Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat and in response to ceasefire violations.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has killed more than 1,030 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

The ministry last week said Israel has killed over 250 children in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.

A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations has accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza, and repeated an accusation that Israel has committed genocide in the territory. Israel denies the claim that it committed genocide in Gaza during the two-year war.

The Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,050 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Easier said than done, actually. But now the larger-than-life replica match ball has become the iconic symbol for Vancouver during the World Cup, a favored shot by both broadcasters and social media posts.

Some two years ago, Science World, stadium and host city officials were discussing the best ways to capitalize on the World Cup coming to their city.

“We were kind of saying, well, we should definitely wrap the dome as a soccer ball, right? And it was kind of a joke, because then it was like, well, who’s going to pay for it and how do we do it? So many questions,” said Rob Hollingsworth, senior director for commercial Sales and partnerships at Science World. “But I think in this instance the idea was actually the easy bit, because you know we’ve got a massive ball on our roof.”

Adidas, which designed the World Cup's official match ball, agreed to allow the replica. Local businesses, organizations and government agencies pitched in to help pay for the project. The only question left was how to pull it off.

The normally silver dome has been a fixture of the Vancouver skyline since it was built for the 1986 World's Fair. At the 2010 Winter Games, it served as the Sochi House to preview the 2014 Olympics. And it has long housed Science World, a museum that includes an IMAX theater.

But when the decision was made to transform it into an enormous soccer ball there were some complications. The only schematics for the building were the original hand-drawn blueprints by local architect Bruno Freschi.

So a drone was dispatched to take detailed laser measurements of each of the geodesic dome's many panels. To everyone's dismay, all of the panels were slightly different.

Yet, pliable panels were manufactured and numbered for their precise locations, then installed and connected with special ties to give slightly in windy conditions.

“We’d orientated it really with broadcast in mind, so you’ll notice that the logo on the ball, that the trophy faces kind of southeast, so that if you’re getting the shot, that iconic Vancouver shot, that lines up Science World, with the stadium, with downtown, with the water and the mountains, you get everything in one," Hollingsworth said.

Turns out, however, that Science World isn't just a soccer ball during the World Cup, it's still a museum and it's hosting a special exhibit, Soccer and Technology, from the FIFA Museum.

It's the first time the immersive exhibit has been displayed outside of Zurich. Science World tweaked it to add a bit of Canadian flavor, like national star Christine Sinclair's jersey worn during the gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics, and the match ball from the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar when Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first-ever goal in the tournament.

The museum has seen a rise in visitors during the tournament, but nothing prepared Science World for the visual explosion on social media, which is filled with photos of the dome, Hollingsworth said.

“We hoped that this would be what happened, but we had no idea, really. In the context of the World Cup, we were one of 16 host cities, so we didn’t know what everyone else was doing, we just knew what we were doing. But we hoped above all it would be a shot that broadcasters would pick up as being kind of the iconic Vancouver shot, and that it would travel around the world in that way during the tournament, and I believe it has,” he said. "What we didn’t know or necessarily foresee is just the organic earned media and the organic social media that’s happening every single day."

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.

Key inflation gauge jumps to 3-year high

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose to a new three-year high in May as gas prices peaked, a sign rising costs could pose political problems for President Donald Trump and his political party as midterm elections near.

Consumer prices rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday, the largest annual increase since April 2023. On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.4% last month, matching April’s increase and down from 0.7% in March.

The increase was largely driven by more expensive gas, as well as pricier semiconductors and other computer equipment that are in high demand for the AI buildout.

Apple raises prices as demand for chips drives costs upward

Apple announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads, citing a memory chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom.

The company called the demand spike an “unprecedented challenge” for the consumer electronics industry.

“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” the company said in a written statement.

The new, entry-level MacBook Neo will now cost $699, up from $599. The 512 gigabyte MacBook Air now costs $1,299, up from $1,099. The one terabyte MacBook Pro is $1,999, up from $1,699. The 128 gigabyte iPad Air is now $749, up from $599, while the 256 gigabyte iPad Pro Wifi is now $1,199, up from $999.

US economy expanded at 2.1% pace in January-March

The U.S. economy expanded at a solid and unexpected 2.1% annual pace from January through March, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in its final estimate of first-quarter growth.

The growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — marked a rebound from a sluggish 0.5% in the last three months of 2025 when a 43-day federal government shutdown weighed on the economy. Thursday’s numbers were an upgrade from Commerce’s previous first-quarter estimate of 1.6% growth.

Business investment surged, likely due to an investment boom in artificial intelligence. But consumer spending, which accounts for around 70% of U.S. economic activity, fell sharply from fourth-quarter 2025 and from Commerce’s previous estimate in a sign that consumers may be cutting back in the face of higher gasoline prices caused by the war with Iran.

Average 30-year U.S. mortgage rate rises

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged higher this week, staying close to 6.5%, where it’s been the last six weeks.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.49% from 6.47% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.77%.

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing their purchasing power.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate ticked up to 5.84% from 5.81% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.89%, Freddie Mac said.

US jobless aid filings decline as layoffs remain low

Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite economic headwinds that are creating uncertainty for businesses.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 20 fell by 12,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

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

Wall Street ends on a positive note in a down week

US markets rose on the final day of trading during the week after oil prices eased back to where they were before the war with Iran, but drops for AI stocks kept the market in check.

The S&P 500 had its second losing week in the last 13, largely because of a retreat in the tech sector, particularly artificial-intelligence companies and related technology.

Unusually high temperatures were recorded even in the Nordic countries not known for sweltering summers. Denmark's Meteorological Institute reported a record 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Ødum north of Aarhus — the warmest day since records there began in 1874.

In Switzerland, a record 38.8 C (101.8 F) was set in the city of Basel.

Germany's famous Autobahn was overwhelmed, too, as temperatures were expected to hit 40 C (104 F). In two places outside Berlin, the concrete of the A2 burst due to the high temperatures and the highway had to be closed. Other highway damage was reported across the country, according to the German daily Bild.

Train operator Deutsche Bahn and other rail companies advised against all nonessential train travel this weekend.

“Germany’s transportation infrastructure is being severely affected by the record-breaking heat this weekend,” Deutsche Bahn said in a statement.

The Czech Republic also saw its hottest day on record, with 40.8 C (105.4 F) in the northern town of Doksany. Forecasters said it may still rise.

Residents evacuated from German nursing home

In the western German city of Dormagen, dozens of residents of a nursing home were evacuated for medical care due to dangerous heat conditions in the building.

The local fire department reported that temperatures inside the home had reached 35 C (95 F). Air conditioning is not widespread in Germany and many countries in Europe because the continent is largely unused to such oppressive heat.

A resident at the home died overnight, but it was not yet clear whether the heat was the cause, a city spokesperson told German news agency dpa.

Hospitals under intense pressure in France

In France, multiple towns in the east of the country saw their highest-ever temperatures Saturday, with some above 40 C (104 F) even though the worst of the heat wave was starting to pass in some regions.

Paris and 36 other regions, stretching from the center to the east and northeast, remained in the extreme-heat red zone on Saturday, down from a peak on Thursday of 72 regions that were under such warnings. The capital continued to see unrelenting pressure on its hospitals, with a second consecutive day of nearly 3,000 people seeking care in public hospital emergency rooms, about a third more than normal.

The Paris public hospital authority, AP-HP, said it activated its emergency response plan across all 38 hospitals to cope. Phone calls to its medical dispatch centers were up nearly 80% compared with the same period in 2025, it said.

Concerns that hospitals could be overwhelmed prompted the postponement of the Paris Pride march for LGBTQ+ rights on Saturday, and a three-day music festival was canceled.

The temperatures this week have been higher than those during a historic 2003 heat wave that was blamed for 15,000 heat-related deaths, many of them older people. The AP-HP’s director, Nicolas Revel, said he doesn’t expect as many deaths this time, at least in Paris hospitals, in part because treatment for overheating has since improved.

During another exceptionally hot summer last year, more than 5,700 deaths were attributed to heat, according to France’s public health authority.

“I think we’ll be situated, clearly, between 2025 and without necessarily reaching the catastrophic level of 2003. But we have to expect that there will still be many deaths,” he said.

UK temperatures easing after 3 record heat days

In the U.K., sweltering conditions are expected to gradually ease this weekend though an amber warning — one step down from red — remained in place until Saturday night.

Britons struggled to cope this week as the record June temperature was smashed three days in a row. Friday was confirmed as the country's hottest June day on record, with a provisional temperature of 37.3 C (99 F) recorded in eastern England.

It was more than 1 C hotter than the long-standing record for June heat in the U.K., set in the summer of 1976.

On Saturday, police said the bodies of a 22-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were recovered from a lake and a river. The deaths bring the total number of U.K. heat-related fatalities this week to four.

Authorities in the U.K. have warned people to take extra care when swimming in unsupervised areas following the deaths of around 40 people in France over the past week.

Tourists wilting in Rome as red heat alert remains active

In Italy's capital, which remains under a red heat alert, tourists tried to cool off seeking shade near buildings and dunking their heads under public fountains. Street vendors were doing a brisk business selling bottled water, hats and sun umbrellas.

Some turned to Italian classics for relief.

“Gelato, pasta, because it’s tradition, but also fresh fruit, and ice cold drinks, that’s the best for this temperature,” said Isabella Dold, a tourist from Kempten, Germany.

On Saturday, Italy’s health ministry said 18 cities — including the most popular tourism hubs like Venice, Florence, Bologna and Milan — were on red alert due to danger posed by the high temperatures.

Record heat focuses attention on climate change

A new study from the World Weather Attribution, a Europe-based collaboration of scientists, reported Friday that the record-breaking heat and humidity in Europe this week would not have been possible without climate change.

The rapid study found that the heat would have been virtually impossible just five decades ago, and is 200 times more likely today than it would have been 20 years ago.

André Corrêa do Lago, the president of the U.N. climate talks known as COP30, said the heat wave has "helped strengthen the perception of urgency of fighting climate change.”

“The fact that we are living with this amazing heat in London is a strong argument, we need to agree, that we have to take action as soon as possible,” do Lago told The Associated Press.

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Hui reported from London and Leicester from Paris. Associated Press journalists Trisha Thomas in Rome, Suman Naishadham in Madrid and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

According to Sanford police, officers responded to a home near Clairmont Avenue and Terrace Avenue after a family member reported finding the woman dead. Police have not released her identity or said how she died, describing the investigation as active and ongoing.

Neighbors said the usually quiet street was filled with emergency responders for hours Friday night.

“This is a very, very quiet block,” neighbor Renee Housin said. “To see fire rescue rolling down the street and then to see police cars coming in from both ways ... the big crime scene van, the coroner van eventually, and animal control.”

Housin, who has lived on the street for nearly three years, said she had never seen anyone regularly coming or going from the home.

“I’ve never seen anybody go in the house. I’ve never seen anybody come out the house,” Housin said. “She’s known as the cat lady, but I’ve never seen anybody at that residence at all.”

News 6 returned to the home Saturday and knocked on the front door, but no one answered.

Police confirmed Saturday morning that, as part of the investigation, Seminole County Animal Control removed eight cats and one dog from the home.

Neighbors say they are hoping investigators provide more information as the case moves forward.

“I definitely want answers because I live here,” Housin said. “This is a very quiet block. No activity happens on this block.”

Sanford police have not said whether they believe the woman’s death is suspicious.

News 6 has also asked police whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the investigation and whether any additional animals were found inside the home. As of Saturday evening, those questions had not been answered.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.

“We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. “This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments.”

The new data, compiled in April but showing coverage in February, represents the government's first official look at how people's inability to pay their first bills this year affected total enrollment. That is because the figures capture the marketplace after a nonpayment grace period expired.

A federal estimate in January showed that about 800,000 fewer people had signed up for ACA plans compared with the same time last year, marking the first time in the past four years that enrollment had been down from the previous year at that point in the shopping window.

Cox said KFF expects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year, potentially to a low of about 17.5 million. That would be a significant drop for the government’s flagship subsidized health insurance program for working-age people who do not qualify for Medicaid. In recent years, ACA plans have become a popular choice for gig workers, farmers, ranchers, hairstylists and others without health coverage through an employer.

The ACA subsidies that expired this year were at the center of a bitter fight in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal. Sharp increases in health costs across ACA and other health insurance programs come as voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

Russell came through the second-to-last corner seconds after Max Verstappen went spinning off the track toward the barrier, causing a yellow flag which means drivers must slow down.

Russell was warned of the yellow flag ahead of time by Mercedes over the radio and argued he lifted off the accelerator earlier than usual for the corner and that the rest of his lap was still enough for first place.

It was still “an amazing lap,” he said.

The stewards agreed and deemed the incident needed “no further investigation”, keeping Russell on pole ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton for Sunday's “heat hazard” race. “I was glad common sense prevailed,” Russell said.

With a margin of .236 of a second over Leclerc despite lifting off, Russell seemed to have plenty more pace available and will be a clear favorite to win for the first time since the season-opener in Australia, especially with standings leader Kimi Antonelli down in fourth.

Why Russell's lap stood

The key factor keeping Russell's lap on the board was that it was a single, not double, yellow flag at the corner.

A single yellow means drivers need to be able to show they slowed down noticeably. A double signifies more immediate danger, and in qualifying means drivers should abandon any attempt at setting a competitive lap time.

Russell argued it was the right call because Verstappen's car was on the other side of a gravel runoff area and slowing down meant he didn't risk losing control and potentially hitting the wreckage.

“I didn’t even see the car because the runoff is so far and I think in that instance a single yellow was correct because a double yellow is immediate danger," he said.

"I think I did everything right to be very much under control, and it’s a very different story to a double."

Russell's teammate Antonelli backed off his last qualifying run, believing wrongly it was a double yellow.

It's the fourth pole position for Russell this season, not counting sprint races, and puts him level with Antonelli.

Antonelli’s lead is set to shrink

By the time Russell crossed the line to take pole, fans and broadcasters assumed Ferrari's Leclerc and Hamilton were set to end Mercedes' run of pole position in each grand prix this season.

They both bested Antonelli's time by less than a tenth of a second shortly before Verstappen went off. Verstappen also looked like a contender for pole with his upgraded Red Bull car and was set to improve on his previous time.

Leclerc is set to start Sunday's race second, and Hamilton third after his win for Ferrari last time out. Antonelli was fourth in his lowest qualifying result of the season.

That makes it likely his lead — 41 points over Hamilton, 50 over Russell — is set to shrink for the second race running. Antonelli's car broke down in the last race, the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, as Hamilton won and Russell was second.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sport Germany it was “a matter of experience” that Antonelli abandoned his lap after Verstappen's crash while Russell was “super clever”.

Verstappen's earlier time was still good enough for fifth ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

León is a huge World Cup fan, a huge Real Madrid fan and someone who can't believe he got to meet Inter Miami co-owner and soccer icon David Beckham. And on Sunday, the Mexican singer-songwriter will become the first person to headline a concert at Inter Miami's newly opened stadium — Lionel Messi's home field.

“Being the first one to play in this iconic stadium — it's new but already iconic because of the team — I see this with much responsibility,” León told The Associated Press in an interview. “For me, it's like a big soccer match and I want to inspire a lot of new artists in my genre and in all the root genres that nothing is impossible. We’re coming here to this big stage, making history with the music we grew up with.”

León is a back-to-back Grammy winner in the Best Regional Mexican Music Album category, plus a four-time Latin Grammy winner. Except, with León, it's short-sighted to simply call him a Mexican artist.

He's a little country. A little rock. Maybe some reggaeton. He has played Coachella and the Grand Ole Opry. He's in line to become the first Latino artist to have a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, with shows scheduled in September. His appeal is all over the map, which is why Inter Miami wanted someone like him to be the first show on the field that the reigning Major League Soccer champions call home.

“There was a time when I was going to do music because it was trending right then, and then nothing was happening for me,” León said. “There was a time when I was going to quit music. But in two weeks, I was back because I’m a musician. I decided to do what I love, what I love, what I like, what I feel, what made me happy. I never did music because of money or to be famous.”

He released some music that wasn't expected to be a hit, and fans couldn't get enough of it.

“That's when I knew to just be honest with the music,” León said. “And now I prefer to be a trendsetter than looking for the trend.”

That approach has opened countless doors — including the one leading from Messi's locker room to the field where he plays. And it's not lost on León that soccer fans in Miami won't have any World Cup matches to watch Sunday night when he takes the stage; there's only one game on Sunday's tournament schedule, and it's in the afternoon.

“I'm so happy for what we've accomplished,” León said. "I'm just proud to be here at the house of Inter Miami, the Messi house, the David Beckham house. Putting my name alongside these names, it's something incredible for me, something that I still cannot believe.”

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

Orlando Police asked for the public’s help finding Jasiyah when they said she went missing this morning.

Officers posted the update on “X” saying “Thank you to everyone who shared the information and assisted in bringing her home.”

Blyth died Wednesday of “natural causes” at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, according to her daughter, Eileen McNulty. Blyth's family was at her side.

One of the last surviving actors from the Hollywood studio system, Blyth appeared in youth movies as well as dramas such as "Another Part of the Forest," and her co-stars included Bing Crosby, Tyrone Power, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Blyth had stopped appearing in films by the end of the 1950s when she chose to spend more time with her children. But she would work in TV musicals and dramas and tour in concerts and musicals from "Show Boat" to "The Sound of Music."

She was acting and singing from an early age and her first big break came at 13 when she was cast as Paul Lukas's daughter in Lillian Hellman's anti-Nazi play, "Watch on the Rhine," which also starred Bette Davis. She stayed with the play for almost a year on Broadway and a year on the road.

When "Watch on the Rhine" appeared in Los Angeles, Universal Studio signed her to a term contract starting at $175 a week. A dark-haired actor with a melodic singing voice, she appeared with a young Donald O'Connor in low-budget musicals such as "Chip Off the Old Block" and "Bowery to Broadway." The loan-out to Warner Bros. for "Mildred Pierce" elevated Blyth's career and led to grown-up roles.

Good at being bad

Like "Double Indemnity," adapted for the screen by Billy Wilder in 1944, "Mildred Pierce" was a James M. Cain thriller about vengeance and calculation. Crawford won the 1945 Oscar as a waitress who rises to own a string of Los Angeles restaurants. Blyth was nominated in the supporting role as Mildred's spoiled daughter, Veda, who seduces her mother's second husband (Zachary Scott), then riddles him with bullets in a jealous rage.

Directed by Michael Curtiz of “Casablanca” fame, "Mildred Pierce" was a memorable piece of film noir that took place mostly at night. For Blyth it was a major change from the cheery musicals she had been known for. It was also a stretch for an actor who was the subject of magazine articles entitled "Incorruptible!", "Angelic Annie" and "Ann Blyth: Success Without an Enemy."

In 1946, Blyth broke her back in a toboggan accident, and it appeared her career might be over. She spent seven months in a body cast and another seven months in a wheelchair, relying on her Roman Catholic faith for courage.

"The busy, exciting world I had known faded away, and my life slowed down to little things," she later told The Associated Press. "But even here I found myself blessed, for a new sense of prayer began to unfold to me."

Once recovered, she appeared as the love interest for Sonny Tufts in "Swell Guy," Howard Duff in "Brute Force" and Mickey Rooney in a prizefight movie, "Killer McCoy." She displayed her dramatic skill as the young woman in love with a suspected wife-killer, Charles Boyer, in "A Woman's Vengeance."

Her strongest role after "Mildred Pierce" came with "Another Part of the Forest," Hellman's prequel to her stage and film drama "The Little Foxes." Blythe appeared as the young Regina Hubbard, created as an adult on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead and in the film by Bette Davis.

Add a little music

Blyth's career made a turn in 1951 when she starred with Mario Lanza in "The Great Caruso." Her lilting soprano made an ideal match for his tenor, and they were cast in "The Student Prince." But the temperamental Lanza dropped out after recording his songs, and British actor Edmund Purdom acted his role and mouthed the songs. Blyth co-starred with Howard Keel in "Rose Marie" and "Kismet."

Her other films included "Top o' the Morning" with Crosby, "The World in His Arms" (Peck) and a reunion with O'Connor, "The Buster Keaton Story." Her last film was in 1957, “The Helen Morgan Story,” which co-starred Paul Newman.

Born in 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York, to an Irish mother and English valet father, she grew up in New York City. After the father left the family, Nan Blyth supported herself and two daughters by washing clothes and working in beauty parlors.

She had high hopes for daughter Ann's future as an actress, and at 5 the girl began appearing on a New York radio show. She continued as a radio performer and spent three years studying and performing with the San Carlo Opera Company.

After becoming a movie star, Blyth admitted of her early career: "I'd become blue and despondent when I failed to get a job, and my mother's encouraging words made me want to try again." Before the actress's breakout performance in "Mildred Pierce," her mother died of cancer.

In 1953, Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, brother of tenor-comedian Dennis Day. They had five children and remained married until McNulty’s death, in 2007. A few weeks before son Timothy was born in 1954, she made television history of a sort performing the song "Secret Love" at the Oscars — visibly pregnant as she sang, "Once I had a secret love ... and my secret love's no secret anymore."

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Thomas, a former Associated Press Hollywood correspondent who died in 2014, was the primary writer of this obituary.

The epicenter was in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 6.1.

Tremors were felt in Islamabad, as well as in the eastern province of Punjab and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan. It was also felt in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Emergency services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said district administrations were placed on alert.

Anwar Shahzad, a spokesperson for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said that initial assessments had found no reports of casualties or damage.

In Afghanistan, the quake jolted Kabul and other parts of the country, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said.

Pakistan lies along an active seismic zone and is frequently affected by earthquakes. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in 2005 killed tens of thousands of people in Pakistan and Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both countries.

Afghanistan has also suffered repeated quakes in recent years that have claimed thousands of lives.

Fernando Ortiz-Marrero was adjudicated guilty on charges of lewd and lascivious touching of a minor, and sexual assault on a client.

According to his arrest report, he had started flirting with her when she was admitted on a Baker Act.

The victim recounted several times Ortiz-Marrero allegedly took her into a bathroom and told her to get undressed before groping and kissing her, saying how she felt “frozen,” the affidavit states

On June 28, the girl was alone when investigators say Ortiz-Marrero approached her and told her to get into a bathroom with him again, where he’s accused of forcing her to perform a sex act, the original affidavit states.

Investigators say another staff member reported him.

Ortiz-Marrero will now serve consecutive, 5-year sentences.

In a release Friday, fire officials said crews were working wildfires off Maytown Road. The fires burned more than 250 acres.

Local officials say to stay cautious.

“Although the fires have been contained, residents and motorists in the area may continue to experience smoky conditions, including the smell of smoke and periods of reduced visibility,” officials said in a news release.

No additional information was immediately available.

I don’t even have a dog. And I still come to BarkHaven just to eat.

That’s the funniest part about this place. You hear “dog bar” and assume it’s all about the dog run (which, yes, is adorable). But the real surprise is the food is actually really good. Like... “why is this so fresh?” good. The dogs running around are honestly just a bonus.

They just rolled out a bunch of new menu items for humans, and the kitchen is seriously impressive. Everything is cooked exclusively in beef tallow, which gives the food this rich, deepened flavor you don’t find very often anymore. And the craziest part? Every single thing is made out of a food truck... even the wood-fired pizzas. Nothing tastes like it was microwaved or thrown together. It tastes like someone back there is putting their heart and soul into every dish.

The Cobb Salad: I never thought I’d be raving about a salad, but I kept going back to it. It tastes like they didn’t just toss it on the menu to have a salad. The crispy bacon makes the salad and adds so much texture.

The Spud Flight (homemade chips, truffle fries, sweet potato waffle fries). This is the perfect appetizer for the table (but I could honestly crush this by myself) The truffle fries were my favorite — super flavorful without being greasy, and they had that real truffle/garlic vibe that hits right away. But the homemade chips were the surprise for me: they had the perfect texture that you can’t find in a bag and the beef tallow added a nice savory flavor to each bite.

The Patty Melt: I took one bite and immediately thought, “Wait… this tastes like In-N-Out.” Like that exact comfort-food flavor that’s salty and melty and makes you want another bite before you’re even done chewing. The closest thing to the west coast classic that I’ve ever tried!

The Lebanese Burger: This one isn’t part of the new menu, but I just can’t skip it when I’m here. The meat is so spiced and the pickled side salad and creamy sauce perfectly balance out the kick, and it has a KICK, so if you don’t like heat, just know that going in. But if you do like spicy? It’s that kind of burger where you’re like, why is a DOG BAR making one of my favorite burgers in town?

The Protein Bowl: This tasted homemade in the best way. Served with either chicken or beef it’s the perfect meal to treat your tastebuds but also nourish your body with a balanced, hearty meal.

The Pup-eroni Pizza: I truly wasn’t expecting this to be a standout, but the crust was perfect — that in-between chewy and crunchy texture that you can only get from a real wood fire oven. It was perfectly cheesy and not greasy at all.

Being dogless, BarkHaven was never the type of place I thought I’d be frequenting, but I’m so glad I discovered this hidden foodie gem. If you’re a dog owner this place is a no brainer. But if you’re like me and you’re just coming for a great meal and you happen to get to watch a bunch of cute dogs living their best life while you eat? That’s a pretty great perk.

This Weekend

Another push of Saharan Dust this weekend will serve to limit widespread storms and also increase high temperatures. Rain chances, while not zero, will lower to about 30-40% along the afternoon sea breeze.

However, with upper ridging in place, in addition to the dust, highs will climb into the mid-upper 90s with the heat index values climbing over the 100ºF mark. We will be flirting with heat advisory criteria.

Next Week

Changes come to the forecast by early next week as we get a wind pattern shift and added moisture. A dying frontal boundary will try to slip into northern Florida early next week, providing added moisture and energy into our atmosphere. This will also help to shift our winds back to our predominant easterly flow. This will allow for widespread showers and storms along our sea breeze and also push the sea breeze further inland. Rain chances will favor the I-4 corridor and points westward. Rain chances will climb to 60-70%.

They are a relatively small group of people, scattered across different states, but they share a common bond that stretches back decades: Each had a family member die violently in the struggle for voting and civil rights, victims on a long and difficult path marked by blood that ended when the country seemed to mature into the nation of its creed.

But 61 years later, and as the country approaches its 250th anniversary, those sacrifices are in question. In a series of decisions over the past dozen years, including one in April, the Supreme Court has effectively dismantled the law that their family members died to see enacted, the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

“My mother’s blood is on that bill. We were always proud of that, and now it’s gone,” said Anthony Liuzzo, whose mother, Viola Liuzzo, died on an Alabama highway between Selma and Montgomery while driving marchers in 1965.

Critics of the law argue that times have changed, a point Chief Justice John Roberts made in a 2013 decision that was the first major step in rolling back the law.

Survivors of lost loved ones disagree, pointing to the speed with which Republican-led state legislatureseliminated majority-Black congressional districts after the court's April ruling, which severely weakened a section of the law that had protected voting rights for minority communities. They feel anger and sadness that a milestone political victory decades ago has been reversed, but they are committed to keep fighting.

A church bombing and a chunk of concrete

Lisa McNair was born Sept. 19, 1964. Her older sister, Denise, died in the Sept 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The church had been a central organizing point for civil rights protest.

The explosion killed Denise McNair, 11, Addie Mae Collins, 14, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Morris Wesley, 14. Nearly two dozen others were injured. Three Klansmen were convicted years later.

One of Lisa McNair's early memories of her sister was of the box that their grandmother kept from the funeral home. It included Denise McNair's shoes, a purse and a rock-sized piece of concrete that had been embedded in her skull.

The crime brought the civil rights struggle onto the national stage and outraged Democratic President John F. Kennedy.

The times were tumultuous, McNair said, but it seemed the nation was heading in the right direction. Most of her life, “I’ve seen advances” on television, in commercials, with interracial marriages, civil rights and voting rights, “a plethora of rights that we got over the greater part of my lifetime.” But that has changed, she said.

McNair, 61, said she is “physically sick” about the Supreme Court decision and subsequent actions by lower courts and legislatures.

“I am constantly working to pray my way through it, so I can get up and go to work in the morning and do what I need to do. But I just want to ask every white person I see, What more do you want?" she said. “Why do you hate us so?”

They left for Freedom Summer and never came home

Michael Schwerner, known as Mickey, came from a family in which human rights activism and challenging social norms were expected. He was in Mississippi in 1964 as part of Freedom Summer when he, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney vanished one day in June while investigating a bombing at a Black church.

Their bodies were found weeks later, buried in an earthen dam in a rural area of Neshoba County. Schwerner, 24, and Goodman, 20, were white; Chaney, 21, was Black.

Stephen Schwerner, who died earlier this year and was a social activist in his own right, told The Associated Press in a 2023 interview that as soon as the family heard his younger brother and the other men were missing, they knew they were dead.

“Our family was very out front in the media that the only reason there was international attention was two of the young men were white," said Stephen’s daughter, Cassie Schwerner. "Had all three of those young men been Black, they would have ended up absent from our history and our narrative.”

The executive director of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, Cassie Schwerner, said her family has followed voting rights through their ups and downs. That includes the 2013 Supreme Court decision that allowed states and counties with a history of discriminatory voting rules to make changes without prior approval from the Department of Justice.

The court's April decision, she said, brought rage “and a good deal of sadness — not for me and my family, but for this country.” There is, she said, work to be done on multiple fronts.

Rights paid for in blood turned out to be fragile

Tamara Orange said among her many thoughts when she heard of the Supreme Court decision in this year's Voting Rights Act case, there was relief — "relief that my dad is not here to see that; that Jimmie Lee Jackson is not here to see it; that Viola Liuzzo is not here to see it,” she said. “I’m relieved for them because to me, it’s as though the sacrifices that were made were done in vain.”

Her father, James Orange, was working with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to organize voting rights protests in Marion and Perry County, Alabama, in 1965. When juveniles joined the effort, he was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of minors. Concern arose that Orange was going to be taken out of the jail and lynched.

A protest to intervene ended with Jackson, a 26-year-old Black church deacon, being shot in the stomach by a state trooper while Jackson tried to shield his mother and grandfather.

His death was the catalyst for what became the Selma to Montgomery march and “Bloody Sunday.”

Orange stayed in the movement all his life and died in 2008, Tamara Orange said. But even after the Voting Rights Act passed, "He would say, be careful or we're going to lose it.”

‘We got bad news for you’

Anthony Liuzzo had just turned 10 when his mother, 39, left their middle-class neighborhood in Michigan and headed for Selma, Alabama. She had cried as she watched scenes from “Bloody Sunday” on television.

Viola Liuzzo participated in a portion of the second march and then helped drive other civil rights protesters around the Black Belt region of the state. On March 25, 1965, she was driving one protester between Selma and Montgomery when a vehicle pulled alongside and fired into the car.

The phone call came around midnight. Anthony Liuzzo remembers the caller asking his dad, “Is your wife Viola? We got bad news for you. She’s been shot.” When his father asked whether she was all right, the caller said “No, she’s dead," and then hung up.

An informant for the FBI quickly identified members of the Ku Klux Klan as her killers. The three men charged would escape conviction on state charges but be convicted in federal court.

Anthony Liuzzo and his siblings lived with the lost birthdays and other missed milestones. His comfort was that the voting rights she had died for had become a reality. But the April ruling by the Supreme Court and the subsequent rush by Republican-led legislatures in several Southern states to eliminate congressional districts represented by Black lawmakers left him angry and distraught.

Even so, he said he is still proud his mother had the courage to go to Selma "when others sat in their pretty little houses.”

One morning, the Klan returned

The inscription at the bottom of Vernon Dahmer Sr.'s tombstone reads simply: "If you don't vote, you don't count.”

It is a message that embodies his life's work and the story behind his death.

Even after Democratic President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, not every state was eager to implement the new law. In Mississippi, it came with a “poll tax.” The amount was $2, but in a world where a farmworker's wages might only be $5 a day, that was substantial, said Dahmer's son, Dennis Dahmer Sr.

The elder Dahmer, 57 at the time of his death, was a successful businessman who owned a store, sawmill and farm near Hattiesburg. He also was a civil rights leader and NAACP president in Ford County. He offered to pay the $2 for Black residents who wanted to register to vote.

He had already been under scrutiny by the local Ku Klux Klan. There was harassment and there were threatening phone calls. The windows were shot out of his store, but no one challenged him directly because his sons were always present and armed.

That seemed to trail off after Johnson signed the law.

“The Klan quit calling," Dennis Dahmer said. "They quit shooting out the windows, so my family thought that all of this was behind us.”

That changed in the early hours of Jan. 10, 1966, when two carloads of Klansmen showed up. They firebombed the house and adjacent grocery store and began shooting at the house. The elder Dahmer shot back, using his ample arsenal to fight off the attack.

His wife and the three children who were home survived, but he suffered severe injuries from inhaling the smoke and fumes from the flames. He died later that day.

Dennis Dahmer was 12 as he stood next to his dad's hospital bed. He wondered why some people wanted his father dead just for trying to help Black people vote.

A former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Sam Bowers, was convicted in 1998 for the attack and sentenced to life.

Like the families of other survivors, Dennis Dahmer's family has witnessed the methodical dismantling of the Voting Rights Act.

"Finally, they basically turned it into a relic,” he said.

His plan now is activism, to speak out and promote the need for a massive voter turnout. He also wants to remind people of the price that certain families paid for everyone to have the right to vote and be represented by someone of their choosing.

“We’re living in a time when America has a lot of the same characteristics of the 1960s that I grew up in,” he said. "People say, are we going back? Hell, we’re already there.”

Murky. Peaceful. Stinky. The backdrop for protests, vigils, celebrations and stunning sunrise photos. Beset by gnats and algae. Scenery for a run. A key part of the capital's carefully designed monumental core. The location of an iconic scene in “Forrest Gump.”

One thing it's generally not: a strictly enforced police zone.

Entering the pool has always been illegal, but, in general, the most someone wading into the water might expect is a direction from a police officer to get out.

But that has changed since President Donald Trump insisted last weekend, without providing evidence, that vandals were responsible for damage to the pool's liner, undermining his renovation efforts after he blamed previous presidents for ignoring deterioration. Court documents filed this week show that the National Park Service reported to the U.S. Park Police a June 9 incident in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner.

National Guard members and Park Police have patrolled the deck around the pool. The Associated Press verified that one man was arrested after touching the already-peeling paint. He said he wanted to examine the new coating, briefly touching a still-attached chunk, then letting go shortly after a park worker told him to. At one point this week, crews were seen adding fencing near the area, which the administration attributed to preparations for July Fourth celebrations.

Here’s a look at photos of how people have interacted with the Reflecting Pool over the years.

The scrutiny belies the fact that the Reflecting Pool has always been enticing to visitors.

During the Poor People's Campaign in 1968, the pool offered relief from the summer heat.

And during the bitter cold of winter, it has become an unlikely urban skating rink.

Now, it is home to mobile surveillance towers and increased law enforcement foot patrols, while the hum of nanobubblers punctuates the June air.

A cold front will stall across the Deep South and be the focal point for possible tropical development prior to the holiday weekend.

Currently odds are low, 20% over the next seven days.

Both the European ensembles and Google’s DeepMind AI ensemble have been suggesting development since the middle of last week.

The next name for the 2026 hurricane season is Bertha.

This possibility comes as a part of a bigger weather pattern change heading into Independence Day.

Deep moisture should surge into Florida from the Atlantic increasing rain and storm chances for the week ahead.

High pressure north of Florida will be the driver for the increased moisture and the reason any potential system drifts back to the west.

Ukraine has stepped up its long-range aerial attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for the war and make Russians feel the consequences of the invasion, now in its fifth year.

The campaign, which Zelenskyy has said aims to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield and heaping pressure on Putin, Western officials and analysts say.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said that FP-5 Flamingo missiles hit the Titan-Barrikady facility in Volgograd in southwestern Russia, describing it as a “major industrial complex” where Russia “produces artillery systems and specialized military equipment, including components for missile launch systems.”

According to Ukraine’s General Staff, the facility manufactures equipment for missile systems, including self-propelled launchers and transport-loading vehicles for the Iskander-M missile system, which it said is “the same system Russia regularly uses to strike Ukrainian cities.”

Volgograd Gov. Andrei Bocharov confirmed an attack on a business in the region’s Krasnooktyabrsky district, saying 10 people had been wounded and taken to a hospital. He said production facilities at the site were damaged but did not identify the company.

Ukraine's state security service said Saturday morning that Ukrainian forces also struck an oil pumping facility in Russia’s Vladimir region that supplies fuel to Moscow, for the second time this month.

The attacks came a day after Ukraine launched what appeared to be one of Kyiv's biggest drone assaults since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion more than four years ago. The major nighttime attack targeted a dozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimea and the surrounding seas, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said Friday, noting that Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones.

Zelenskyy said Thursday he had ordered “a 40-day influence operation,” believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at “compelling (Russia) to end the war” after U.S. peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine’s Sumy region, a 66-year-old man was killed in a Russian drone strike on a private residence in the region, regional head Oleh Hryhorov said Saturday.

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

Frenzied speculation surrounding the superstar singer and football player's upcoming wedding has spiked over the past few days as reports swirl that the two are getting married the first week in July at one of New York's iconic landmarks.

Yet nearly a year after Kelce and Swift announced their engagement with the caption “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” they have disclosed little about their plans.

Here's what we know and don't know.

The wedding date is unconfirmed, but reports say early July

Nothing has been publicly confirmed by the couple, despite The Associated Press' multiple requests to Swift’s representative for comment.

Citing an entertainment industry executive and another person with knowledge of the matter, The New York Times reported that the couple were planning a gathering of 100 people at Madison Square Garden — an arena that seats up to 19,500 people — on July 2 followed by a second event at the arena for about 1,000 guests on July 3.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently confirm those details, but there are no public events planned at the Garden from June 29 until a Bon Jovi concert on July 7.

Public records show that the city issued a permit for loading and unloading theatrical materials at the arena from June 29 to July 4. Winick Productions, a company that has produced red carpet events for the Grammy and Tony award shows and movie premieres, also applied for a permit to set up a canopy or tent outside the Garden for an event involving up to 999 people.

Meanwhile, just a few weeks prior, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani jokingly referenced the reports of Swift and Kelce’s wedding during a press conference. Mamdani was answering questions about safety during the World Cup when he said, “We know it coincides with July Fourth, America 250, Taylor Swift’s wedding all happening at the same time, and we are so excited to welcome the world here.”

Mamdani, however, said he was not invited to the wedding.

“I wish them a lovely wedding. I’ll listen to ‘Only the Young’ at home on my own,” he said, referencing one of Swift's songs.

MSG is a fortress, but has hosted weddings before

Madison Square Garden may not scream “bridal,” but the venue is available for private rentals, advertising a banquet capacity for 1,250 — or 2,000 if you are only serving cocktails. And it has hosted weddings before. Sly Stone got married to Kathy Silva there in 1974 before thousands of fans. And more than 2,000 couples were wed in a mass ceremony at the Garden officiated by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in 1982.

Located above Penn Station, the busiest rail hub in the U.S., the Garden doesn't scream “privacy" either.

But it does have guarded entrances, a secure garage and a lack of windows, which would allow Kelce, Swift and celebrity guests to stay out of sight of photographers or camera-equipped drones.

That need for privacy popped up earlier in June when a large tent appeared next door to Swift’s Watch Hill estate in Rhode Island. Despite organizers denying the event was for Swift, a wave of speculation bubbled up online as photographers and some Swifties headed to the town to see if they could catch a glimpse of a possible wedding.

Yet others have theorized that the MSG buzz could be an elaborate smoke screen to throw off attention to the couple's real wedding plans. Swift did once write, “No, you can’t come to the wedding,” in her song “But Daddy I Love Him," which some fans have been reupping lately as a reminder that the wedding isn't supposed to be a public spectacle.

Friends, family, and plenty of celebrities expected to attend

Swift joked in October that “anyone I've ever talked to” would be invited to the wedding, telling Graham Norton that she believed “the only stressful weddings” are those that are small and force people to make aggressive cuts to the guest list.

Yet just who exactly will show up is to be determined. Aside from family, Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany Mahomes, will likely be in attendance. For Swift, close friends like Selena Gomez, Abigail Anderson Berard, the Haim sisters, Emma Stone and Gigi Hadid will all likely attend.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he couldn't talk about it when asked by The Associated Press if he was going to the wedding.

“If it’s like when I got married, my wife did everything, so I just kind of followed her lead on it, showed up, right? Maybe he’s doing more but he looks like he’s pretty focused in on this job here, too,” Reid said in early June.

Swift has a history of Fourth of July parties

Perhaps another clue why the week of the Fourth of July makes sense for Swift and Kelce's wedding is that the popstar has long been known for throwing elaborate parties over the American holiday.

It wasn't too long ago that fans dubbed her Fourth of July events as “Taymerica,” where celebrities showed up at her Rhode Island estate wearing red, white and blue swimsuits, waving American flags and eventually shared some social media photos with the public.

The timing also works with Kelce's football schedule, given the tight end once joked on his “New Heights” podcast, “Don’t make my friends have to choose whether or not they have to sell their tickets that week.”

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Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre and Maria Sherman in New York and David Skretta in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed reporting.

A lot of things can cause itchiness, sometimes serious diseases. Whatever the cause, doctors have long warned that scratching too much can damage the skin. Now researchers better understand why even a mildly annoying itch could put you on an itch-and-scratch cycle if you give in.

How did they find out? In part by putting tiny “cones of shame” onto mice to uncover what happens on a cellular level when an itch gets scratched — or left alone.

They also gained insight into why a good scratch at least at first brings a sigh of relief. After all, not just people and other mammals scratch, even fish do. The commonality suggests there must be some evolutionary reason and the mouse experiment hints at a little germ protection — but still not a reason to scratch.

Expect a more swollen, itchier spot if you can't ignore that bug bite

Dr. Daniel Kaplan, a University of Pittsburgh dermatologist whose lab studies immune reactions in skin, was exploring a run-of-the-mill type of itch called allergic contact dermatitis, caused by irritants such as poison ivy or nickel in jewelry.

Kaplan's research team put a rash-inducing irritant on the ears of mice. Normal mice scratched and inflammatory immune cells rushed to the site, increasing swelling. The rash was much milder in mice bred with defective itch-sensing nerve cells. But was the difference really the scratching?

Normal mice put into collars like those veterinary “cones of shame” so they itched but couldn't scratch gave the answer: They, too, had much less swelling and fewer inflammatory cells.

Kaplan said that evidence matches people’s everyday experiences that scratching really can make things worse.

Ignore a mosquito bite and the itch is “gone in five or 10 minutes for most people,” he said. “But if you start scratching it, it’s your friend for a week,” getting itchier and more inflamed.

The immune system’s first responders can help — and hurt

To understand what was happening in the skin, Kaplan’s team took a deeper look at mast cells, among the immune system’s first responders. When called into action, they release compounds that can help fight germs or toxins — or, through a compound called histamine, trigger itchy allergic reactions.

Scientists have long known that allergens can activate mast cells. But other signals can summon mast cells, too, including pain. And when we scratch, “we tend to scratch until it starts to hurt,” Kaplan noted.

Pain-sensing nerve cells release a chemical messenger called substance P. In findings published last year, Kaplan’s team reported that substance P can activate mast cells through a different molecular pathway than allergens do — a double whammy that explains why scratching further inflames itchy rashes or bites.

Then why does a little scratching feel good?

If we experience pain like touching a hot stove, we’ll learn not to do that again. Yet relief from a good scratch, in evolutionary terms, is positive feedback. Why?

One long-held theory is that it may help creatures slough off parasites like fleas or mites. But Kaplan also was intrigued by other labs’ findings that mast cells could fend off a common type of skin bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus. So his team infected mice and then repeated the cone-of-shame itch experiment. Sure enough, those that scratched had lower levels of that germ on their ears, maybe because of the extra inflammation or some other mast cell-related compound.

But that's not enough of an upside to change the health advice.

“Ultimately, scratching is deleterious,” Kaplan stressed. “You should avoid scratching,” he said, although acknowledging that it’s “easier said than done.”

Here’s how to handle a minor itch

What fights an itch depends on its cause and there's a need for better treatments. For now, antihistamines and certain other drugs for hives can tamp down some itchiness triggered by mast cells. Drug companies are experimenting with other approaches called MRGPRX2 blockers that target the pathway Kaplan’s team linked to scratching. Kaplan hopes better understanding of that pathway eventually could help skin diseases such as chronic eczema.

For the summer itchiness of bug bites, poison ivy and other types of contact dermatitis, dermatologists recommend anti-itch balms such as hydrocortisone cream, calamine lotion or oatmeal baths.

Another trick from Kaplan: Menthol-containing creams can temporarily fool the skin into sensing cold instead of itch, just long enough that “if you don’t scratch, then you break that itch-scratch cycle,” he said. “It’s like a cheat code.”

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

But the charismatic Burnham may have difficulty — at least initially — distancing himself from policies set in motion by his predecessor.

Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who was sworn into Parliament hours after Starmer announced his resignation on Monday, will be constrained by the platform the center-left Labour Party was elected on that decisively ended 14 years of Conservative rule in 2024.

It's not entirely clear how he'll navigate those limits and bring his unique brand of politics to the revolving-door post that would make him the 7th prime minister in a decade. He’ll lay out his economic vision in a speech next week.

“At the moment, Andy Burnham is being almost hailed and held up as a folk hero that will save British politics,” said Matthew Flinders, politics professor at University of Sheffield. “The tide is changing and the big issue for Andy Burnham is that when the world suddenly moves against him and he becomes a folk devil, will he sustain the pressure?”

Next PM will seek to boost a sluggish economy and ease cost of living

Burnham is currently the only contestant for the job of leading the Labour Party and the country, and will likely take over July 17 if no one else enters the race. His return to the House of Commons follows a decade leading the region around the U.K.’s third-largest city, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, which has enjoyed an economic revival during his tenure.

His main challenge will be to overcome Starmer's inability to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living.

Burnham highlighted those issues — along with housing and creating opportunities for young people — in a post on social media after Starmer said he was quitting.

“The country expects stability, seriousness and a continued focus on the issues that matter most and that is what it will get,” he said on X.

Burnham, who is widely regarded as sitting to the left of Starmer in the party, has said he'll revive a sluggish economy without going beyond the current government’s spending and borrowing plans. That pledge has helped reassure markets traumatized in 2022 after Prime Minister Liz Truss announced unfunded tax cuts and then withdrew them, leading to her 49-day record as Britain's shortest-serving leader.

“If you are a Labour prime minister from the soft left of the party, the markets don’t need that much invitation to panic,” said Mark Goodwin, a politics lecturer at Coventry University. “They will start from a position of skepticism. So he’d have to be very, very careful."

He said Burnham will face a challenge “to convince people that this is something different, without the markets reading that as ‘This is too different.’"

Burnham faces big questions over budget priorities

Burnham promotes what has been called “Manchesterism,” a business-friendly socialist approach that involves harnessing private investment for major projects and decentralizing government to give communities more control of housing, utilities, transportation and education.

In a possible preview of how he would move power from the capital, he is reportedly planning to move some of the prime minister’s operation closer to home, about 200 miles north of 10 Downing St., the London office and home of the U.K.’s leader.

He has said he would not raise taxes on workers — sticking to a Starmer pledge — and suggested policies that include easing the tax burden on businesses, and possibly reversing an increase in a tax employers pay to fund pensions, public health care and welfare.

The big question is how he will fund programs, if he'll scrap existing priorities, and how he'll meet demands for higher defense spending, said Jill Rutter, senior fellow at the Institute for Government think tank.

Starmer's government pledged to meet a NATO target of spending 3.5% of GDP on the military by 2035. But John Healey stepped down as defense secretary this month after complaining that Starmer was not moving fast enough to meet the target.

Burnham more comfortable with domestic issues

Burnham's lack of experience on the world stage could present a challenge improving the so-called special relationship with the U.S. after President Donald Trump turned on Starmer.

Trump described Burnham this week as a “town” mayor and said he heard he was “extremely liberal” and probably wouldn't expand North Sea oil drilling — one of his frequent gripes about Starmer.

Starmer made a priority of forging cordial ties with Trump despite their political differences, and was rewarded with a U.S.-U.K. trade deal. But it came at the cost of angering some in Labour's liberal voter base, and the president soured on Starmer after the British leader criticized his designs on Greenland and declined to enter the Iran war.

Burnham has not always said nice things about Trump. After Trump's followers stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Burnham posted on X that "any politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now.”

Starmer won praise from many for his international role, especially in bolstering European support for Ukraine. But he was criticized by some for being distracted by foreign affairs, Rutter said. She doesn't expect the same from Burnham and he could farm out some of those duties by choosing an experienced hand as foreign secretary, the U.K.'s top diplomat.

"I don’t think Andy Burnham will want to be ‘never-here Andy’ in succession to ‘never-here Keir,’” Rutter said in reference to Starmer's globetrotting moniker.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Wednesday that she spoke with Burnham about policy issues and said “he’s 100% behind our unwavering support for Ukraine” and ”is a fundamental believer in NATO and in our shared deterrence and in the multilateral partnerships that we have."

Playing it safe at first could allow radical reshaping

An early priority for Burnham will be something Starmer struggled with: crafting a clear and convincing narrative that people understand about the direction he wants to take the country, Flinders said.

That plays to Burnham's communications skills and the popularity he has achieved by presenting himself as an amiable northern everyman who favors T-shirts over suits and ties, plays soccer for kicks and is known for spinning 1990s tunes during DJ battles.

So far, he has played it safe and tried not to raise public expectations too high. But if he can prove himself to be a competent leader and win public support to survive the remaining three years before a general election must be held, he can lay out a bolder vision for another term in his own manifesto.

Burnham has spoken of reshaping the political system, such as replacing the House of Lords with an elected senate and introducing proportional representation in voting. He also said he'd like to see the U.K. rejoin the European Union in his lifetime, though he backed away from that during his campaign in a constituency that voted 2-to-1 in favor of Brexit.

“My sense is that he will take some time, sensibly, to build up his team, his narrative, his story and his connections in order to then try to secure a public mandate and the next general election to then approach the more radical phase that he wants to deliver, which is exactly what Margaret Thatcher did in the '80s,” Flinders said.

Last year's coaching staff, too.

And maybe a few more quality players by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Freddy Peralta? Clay Holmes?

In the past eight months, president of baseball operations David Stearns has remodeled the reeling New York Mets to a degree that probably seemed unthinkable on June 12, 2025.

On that date, New York had the best record in the majors. Barely more than a year ago. But not much has gone right since.

On the field. ... In the dugout. ... Anywhere.

The latest big move came Friday, exactly halfway through a dismal season, when Mendoza was fired as manager of the underperforming Mets and replaced by former San Diego Padres skipper Andy Green, who was already working in the organization.

“In my estimation, our estimation, change is needed right now,” Stearns said. “Clearly, we’ve fallen short.”

The ugly numbers

The Mets were 34-47 at the midway point, 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 back of the final NL wild-card berth.

Then they went out and lost their seventh consecutive game Friday night, 2-1 to the rival Philadelphia Phillies. New York has been outscored 56-23 during the slide.

“For whatever reason, we haven’t come together and found, I guess, what our identity is,” infielder Bo Bichette said.

Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s biggest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.

“There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered,” Cohen said in a statement.

So with Stearns cutting loose so many Mets in uniform, how long does he have to repair this expensive wreck before Cohen decides he’s seen enough from the front office and hands him his own one-way ticket out of town?

A strong start fizzles fast

Stearns grew up a Mets fan in Manhattan and teamed with Mendoza to take the franchise on a surprising run to the 2024 National League Championship Series during their first rousing season together.

Then the club signed slugger Juan Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract before the 2025 season and went a big league-best 45-24 through June 12 that year.

But since then, the Mets are 72-103 and they missed the playoffs last season.

This year's team has been hampered by injuries to Soto, Holmes, Francisco Lindor and others. Stearns, a small-market success running the Milwaukee Brewers before coming home to New York, alienated Mets backers by letting fan favorites Alonso and Diaz leave as free agents last offseason. Nimmo and McNeil were traded, and replacements like Bichette, Marcus Semien, Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr. have either missed extensive time with injuries or vastly underperformed.

Mendoza's coaching staff was overhauled last winter, too, with poor results thus far.

“I understand fans’ skepticism. If I were sitting in the fans’ seat, I would share that,” Stearns said. “This is never on one person. It’s certainly not all on Carlos. As I said, I take responsibility for our record on the field. I take responsibility for the entirety of our baseball operations department.”

Tough questions

At a Citi Field news conference, Stearns was asked point blank if he has considered stepping aside.

“I have not,” said Stearns, in the third season of a five-year contract. “I believe that we are building the foundation of an organization that can deliver what we all want. I don't believe that our record on the field this year is indicative of some of the advancements that we've made as an organization. But clearly, our record is nowhere good enough.”

Stearns said he believes ownership still has confidence in him.

“Steve and I are talking on a regular basis, and he's certainly indicated that I have his support,” Stearns said.

Looking ahead

The next step could include pivoting to a selloff this summer and trying to retool for the future.

Peralta, a two-time All-Star pitcher acquired from Milwaukee for two highly regarded prospects, is eligible for free agency after the World Series. Holmes, who could return to the mound in August from his broken leg, can also become a free agent next offseason by declining his $12 million player option, which seems likely.

So the Mets might look to trade them by Aug. 3 to guarantee at least something in return during a lost season.

New York already sent struggling pitcher David Peterson, the team’s longest-tenured player, to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday for a minor leaguer. Peterson also can become a free agent this fall.

“I understand we have an uphill battle ahead of us this year, but we’re not turning the page,” Stearns said. “I think sometimes a new voice, a new perspective, a new view, helps. And sometimes it’s really difficult to explain why or how. But at this point, it was time to try.”

Meet the new boss

The 48-year-old Green, a former major league infielder, joined the Mets in 2023 as senior vice president of baseball development and had been running their farm system. He was given the title of interim manager for the rest of this season.

After that, Stearns said Green will return to a front-office role and New York will conduct a full search for a new manager. Alex Cora, fired by the Red Sox in April, could be an attractive candidate to multiple teams — including the Mets.

New York could also look to hire an experienced general manager under Stearns to give him additional help.

“I understand our fans’ frustration and anger. I think I share that. And we will do everything we can to improve,” Stearns said.

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP freelancer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

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

Shoja Khalilzadeh ripped his jersey off before being mobbed by the entire Iran team after he fired a shot past Egypt goalie Mostafa Shobeir in the 93rd minute to seemingly give his side a 2-1 lead on Friday night.

For a few joyous moments, Iran was convinced it had advanced to the knockout round at the World Cup for the first time in the expanded 48-team pool at this year’s tournament.

The potential late winning goal was called back due to an offside, though, and Egypt advanced past the group stage.

Iran, meanwhile, will have to wait one day to find out its fate after the two teams played to a 1-1 draw. Egypt will play Australia in the round of 32.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei lamented what was the third goal by his side waved off by video review in the tournament.

“Technology is justice,” Ghalenoei said in Farsi, “But, I'm upset about our bad luck.”

At the conclusion of what was promoted as a “Pride Match” in Seattle, one which neither Iran nor Egypt wanted any part in, the Pharaohs finished in second place in Group G. Belgium, which played to a 1-1 draw against Egypt on June 15, beat New Zealand 5-1 in Vancouver, British Columbia to win the group outright.

Egypt coach Hossam Hassan was grateful his team didn't slide to third in the group, which would have been the case had Khalilzadeh's goal held up.

“We knew we had qualified already, we were sitting at the top of the group," Hossan said. "I thank God for everything. After this goal was ruled offside, I was very happy.”

Iran, meanwhile, could still advance to the knockout round for the first time in the expanded 48-team pool at this year’s tournament. But, they no longer controls their own destiny after Friday’s game.

“We’re here to make our history, too,” said midfielder Rouzbeh Cheshmi. “(Saturday), if our dream comes true, thank God. If not, we are proud of our game and our players because of how we did the game. The last three games, we held up, so let’s see what happens."

Egypt took an early lead on a goal by Mahmoud Saber in the fifth minute. Former Liverpool star Mohamed Salah provided some strong play in the box before Saber fired a shot between the legs of Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

Iran was denied an equalizer in the 11th minute when Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir saved a penalty kick, but tied the game in the 14th minute on a goal by Ramin Rezaeian.

After Iran came up just short, its players aired their grievances about numerous complications off the field. The team has endured travel restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in light of the war in Iran.

In March, Iran sought to move its group-stage matches to Mexico, with which it has diplomatic ties. Its request to move its base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana was granted two weeks before the team’s arrival.

Ghalenoei said members of the team have been limited to their hotels and training facilities, and not explored Tijuana in any capacity. Several team officials and members of the support staff have been barred from traveling into the U.S. with the team.

“We don’t have recovery, we don’t have any logistic people here to help us. We always complain about these things, but no one helps us – no one,” said Roozbeh Cheshmi. “As you know, recovery is an important thing. Small details affect the football."

For the first two matches, near Los Angeles, the team was not permitted to travel until the day before and had to return to Mexico immediately after each game. The U.S. then eased its restrictions, allowing the squad to travel to Seattle two days before Friday’s match.

Ghalenoei said the team again had to immediately fly back to Tijuana after Friday's game.

“We were treated very, very badly,” Ghalenoei said. “I hope the world becomes aware of these issues.”

If only for a short stint of time, though, Iran's disdain was tabled in the aftermath of Khalilzadeh's near-goal. Iran did not finish Friday's game with a storybook ending, but it is still alive in the tournament — at least for another 24 hours.

“What these young Iranian national team players have done should be recorded in history,” Ghalenoei said. “Why? Because the host treated us in the worst possible way.”

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AP freelancer Mark Moschetti contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The authorities of the Chaoyang district, a vibrant business area, said a two-seat light sport aircraft collided with a high-rise building near the East Third Ring Road at 5:55 p.m. on Friday and caused the casualties.

The short statement on WeChat did not identify the building or the pilot, who the authorities said was the only person on the craft.

The global flight-tracking service provider Flightradar24 on Friday said the plane crashed into the CITIC Tower, also known as China Zun, which rises more than 1,700 feet (528 meters), just east of a major ring road in a cluster of skyscrapers.

The 108-story CITIC tower, shaped like an ancient Chinese wine vessel, is one of the most recognizable skyscrapers in Beijing and is the tallest building in the city.

Flightradar24 posted on social media the path of the plane, a Sunward SA 60L Aurora, which took off from an airport about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beijing. It headed westward and ended just east of the East Third Ring Road.

Associated Press photos showed on Saturday apparent marks of the crash on the glass facade on one side of the CITIC Tower. A hole there had been covered up.

It was not immediately known what caused the crash in a city with strict airspace controls, including a recent ban on drones. An investigation is underway into the situation, the authorities said.

It was also unclear whether the injured were in the building or were hit by debris, but the statement said they were receiving treatment.

The CITIC tower is just a roughly 20-minute drive from Zhongnanhai, a former imperial garden that now serves as headquarters of China’s top leadership, and a 15-minute drive from the Forbidden City, a popular tourist attraction.

Social media posts about the crash were scrubbed from China’s walled-off internet on Friday, though footage has made its way outside of China’s firewall and is circulating on overseas sites such as X.com. A report by financial news platform Caixin about the crash's casualties soon became inaccessible on Saturday. Chinese authorities consider such incidents to be a sensitive matter.

Images and videos shared on social media appeared to show debris from a small aircraft near the skyscraper. While the images were consistent with the location, it was not possible to independently confirm their authenticity. One image of the wreckage shows a partial registration number of “B-12.” The full registration number of the aircraft is B-12PP.

According to Flightradar24, the aircraft was operated by Shuangyue General Aviation, an apparent reference to Dongshi Shuangyue (Beijing) General Aviation, whose website was not accessible on Saturday. The firm provides services ranging from private pilot training to aerial sightseeing tours, said an online platform citing official data.

SA 60L is a product of Starair Aircraft, based in China's central Hunan province. According to Starair's website, the single-engine aircraft accounts for more than 70% of China’s light sports aircraft market and has been exported to Australia and the United States.

Its maximum cruise speed is 220 kilometers (137 miles) per hour and its maximum takeoff weight is 600 kilograms (1,322 pounds), the website said.

The idea was to give them to friends with kids. But what happened next surprised him.

“When I walked in with this box of cards,” Martin recalled, “hundreds of people of all creeds and cultures said something: ‘Where did you get those? How can I get some?’ Those Panini stickers are just that iconic collectible that goes beyond sports collectors.”

The stickers depicting players and teams in the World Cup have been around since 1970, when four Italian brothers paid $1,000 to procure the rights to produce the images. More than 50 years later, the stickers are available in packs all over the world, and fans young and old not only purchase them but also swap among themselves, helping each other fill their keepsake albums.

This year's book is the largest ever, partly due to an enlarged 48-team tournament, with 980 distinct stickers. They've become such a hot commodity that many stores are sold out, and backorders may not ship until the tournament has crowned a champion.

“We've sold an unbelievable amount of the stickers,” said Martin, one of the owners of Dave and Adam's Card World, which has shops in New York and Europe.

“We thought the order we placed months ago would be enough to tide us over,” Martin said. “We've had to reorder twice.”

The building buzz for a World Cup tradition

Panini had produced more than 2 billion packs — each containing seven stickers — by the start of the tournament, said Jason Howarth, the senior vice president of marketing and athlete relations for Panini America. That's quite a feat considering the field wasn't set until April 1.

Most stickers are not valuable by themselves, though older ones — such as the debuts of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo — can fetch hundreds of dollars. The value comes in trying to fill the World Cup album.

“In European and South American culture, completing the sticker album is something almost every child does at some point,” said Matt Blazey, from Milton Keynes, England, whose YouTube channel featuring cards and collectibles has more than 62,000 subscribers.

“Most rediscover it in adulthood,” Blazey said, “when they realize they have adult money, which brings back all of those memories of bringing stickers into school, showing them off to your mates and swapping them to complete the album.”

Indeed, part of the beauty of the Panini stickers is in their accessibility. Each pack only costs about $2 (1.50 euros).

Beginning with the last World Cup in Qatar, though, Panini also began producing variations with special borders that are much more scarce. Suddenly, stickers with red, purple or orange edges became especially sought-after, and collectors have put huge bounties on ultra-rare, black-bordered, 1-of-1s — as in, one in the world — depicting Messi, Ronaldo, Lamine Yamal and other big stars.

Some industry experts believe the black Messi sticker alone could command $200,000 at auction.

“We're tracking and following through social media who pulls the black 1-of-1s,” Howarth said. “Neymar, Leo, Ronaldo — this is probably their last World Cup. What do those stickers sell for? That's going to be a new high mark for the category.”

The challenge of completing the album is real

Sammi Kaewsawang had never participated in the World Cup album experience until this year, when the content creator from Long Beach, California, decided to see how long it would take to physically peel and stick all 980 examples into the album.

By the time Kaewsawang finished with Panama, the last of his 48 teams, he'd been at it for about 7 hours, 47 minutes.

“Now I'm on my second one, helping my fiance's nephew complete his,” Kaewsawang said. “What made the experience so memorable was the people I met along the way. Trading stickers brought me together with fans of all ages.”

That is undoubtedly part of the appeal: Even though Panini has a digital collection available, the sense of community that comes from swapping your doubles for a player you might need brings with it a quaint sense of nostalgia, not unlike the way American kids have collected and traded baseball cards for generations.

Many shops help by scheduling swap meets. Panini itself has a truck at Rockefeller Center in New York, where thousands have shown up in the evenings to trade. Message boards allow fans to connect anywhere in the world, and about 8,000 collectors recently showed up at a stadium in Santiago, Chile, to swap.

“I've made genuine new friends though this hobby,” Kaewsawang said, “and that means more than completing the collection itself.”

The end of the Panini stickers is near, or is it?

Even though Panini stickers have never been hotter — a partnership with Coca-Cola means stickers can be found under labels of certain bottles — the company is facing the end of an era after the 2030 tournament in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

The Fanatics brand Topps will take over the rights to produce World Cup cards, stickers and other FIFA collectibles, and it's unclear whether the U.S.-based company will produce a similar product as its Italian rival.

“It is a real bittersweet moment,” Blazey said. “From my side, and for probably 90% of collectors at the moment — more so outside the U.S., where Panini is a household name — it's a very sad moment for this to be the end. So many people grew up collecting them, and it's synonymous with their childhood, so the loss of the license is very much seen as sacrilege.”

Yet there is also hope among collectors that Fanatics, which also recently took over the license for the Premier League, can take some of its forward-thinking ideas from sportscards and apply them to a sticker product for the 2034 World Cup.

It may not be the end of an era so much as a reboot.

“We're very privileged to be a significant partner with both Panini and Fanatics. We try not to pick sides,” Martin said. “I think Fanatics will do an amazing job with World Cup products, but I'm not sure they'll be able to capture the cultural impact.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

“We are small,” he said. “But we have big hearts and we are fighters.”

Cape Verde completed an improbable run through the group stage with a third straight World Cup draw, a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday night to advance in the tournament.

The small island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on soccer’s grandest stage, already held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw and then came from behind to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay.

“The team was very eager to show this to the whole world,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country's flag. “We are proud of having arrived at this stage. We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve.”

Cape Verde’s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group.

Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3.

Drawing all three group matches doesn't guarantee advancement at major soccer tournaments. But several teams have done it in the past, including Wales in 1958, Ireland and the Netherlands in 1990, and Chile in 1998. New Zealand, however, also got three draws at the 2010 World Cup and was eliminated.

On the eve of the match, Bubista mused, “everyone is entitled to dream and nothing is impossible.”

The Blue Sharks proved him right, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds as this country of just more than 500,000 reached the round of 32.

A woman, her face painted with a flag of the archipelago, held a sign that read: “Small Islands, Big Dreams.”

A dream that these underdogs have made reality as they continue their charmed run on the world stage.

They did it with another strong game from Vozinha, whose tournament success has helped him amass more than 16 million Instagram followers.

He had a save in first half stoppage time, grabbing a header from Mohamed Kanno to keep Saudi Arabia scoreless. Another save came in the 66th minute when he leaped to deflect a shot from Mohammed Abu Al-Shamat.

A third came in the 92nd minute when he stopped a shot by Abdullah Al-Hamdan.

“There is a lot of quality in our national team,” Vozinha said. “Maybe for many of you, you think the Cape Verdean player is not good enough. But we came here to show that we have a lot of quality and we are here to compete and our players can play everywhere in the big competition, in the big leagues.”

A group of shirtless men in the crowd each painted one letter of his name on their chests as they cheered Cape Verde.

But Vozinha had a much bigger fan among the crowd of 68,278 as his mother Ana Candida Evora watched from a luxury suite, waving a tiny Cape Verde flag. It was her second match of the tournament after missing Vozinha’s epic seven-save performance against Spain because of visa issues.

Cape Verde had a chance to score in the 50th minute, but Kevin Pina's shot from distance was just above the crossbar. Another chance came in the 74th minute when Laros Duarte’s shot from the middle of the box was stopped by goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais.

A last chance to score came in the final seconds when Nuno da Costa sent a shot from the middle of the box wide left.

But it didn’t matter because a couple of minutes after the final whistle, Spain completed its victory over Uruguay and set off a joyous celebration among Cape Verde's players and fans, many of whom cried as they rejoiced.

Having led his squad to new heights, Bubista was asked if he could have imagined such a run entering the tournament.

“I’ve always said that sooner or later Cape Verde would be on such a stage,” he said. “Of course it’s hard to have such a forecast, but I always knew.”

Saudi Arabia was eliminated after finishing with two points in the group stage.

“We were very poor in terms of creating things, controlling the game and creating actions,” coach Georgios Donis said. “And one cannot win a game this way. It would be very difficult.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Cities across the region are working to map out what their finances would look like if a proposed constitutional amendment passes, dramatically reducing the amount homeowners pay in property taxes.

Under the proposal, the first $150,000 of a homestead property’s value would be exempt from taxation. That figure would increase to $250,000 by 2028.

For many homeowners, that sounds like welcome relief. But critics and some residents worry the savings could come at a steep cost to essential services.

“I mean, I’d love a break and anything that we can find, but it’s a little concerning when you take into consideration that, like our police department gets paid off it, our fire department, like everybody gets paid off it, schooling and stuff,” Kissimmee resident Julio Pina said.

[WATCH: Local governments warn of revenue losses under Florida tax proposal]

Several Central Florida cities have already put numbers to the potential impact. The mayor of Sanford said the city would lose $15 million, while Ocoee officials project losing up to $8 million by 2028.

Kissimmee could also take a significant hit. Homestead properties make up more than half of the homes in the city, and nearly 63% carry the homestead exemption.

Some cities have floated the idea of raising other fees to make up for lost tax revenue. Kissimmee resident Travis Burgner said he’s open to that trade-off, as long as he’s seeing savings on his property tax bill.

“That’s thousands of dollars in my pocket going to my family, going to my kids, toward our future. If there are extra costs, fire fees, things like that, then that’s something I’d be willing to allocate some of that money toward,” Burgner said.

Kissimmee is holding a budget workshop tonight. The city has not released detailed information about the agenda, only that it will be a budget discussion as well as a discussion about the commission travel policy, but the meeting comes as municipalities across the region work through similar conversations.

The amendment will go before voters in November. It would need at least 60% approval to pass.

In fact, several of these new laws will take effect on July 1, alongside over 120 others.

[RELATED: Here’s what to know about Florida’s upcoming data center law]

That said, DeSantis also vetoed two other bills, which are as follows:

• HB 325 — Inmate Development
• • Allows certain nonviolent inmates who are close to release take CDL classes while still in prison to help them get jobs once they’re out
• SB 688 — Naturopathic Medicine
• • Establishes licenses for naturopathic doctors and sets up a state board to create regulations

Meanwhile, the full list of new laws signed on Friday can be found below:

HB 175 — Stablecoin Payment

House Bill 175 creates a regulatory framework for issuers of “payment stablecoin,” a type of cryptocurrency that’s typically pegged to a currency like the U.S. dollar to maintain stability.

The law requires money services businesses to obtain a license from the Office of Financial Regulation to issue payment stablecoin.

The law took effect immediately upon being signed.

HB 359 — Search Warrants

House Bill 359 generally requires law enforcement agencies to return a search warrant to the issuing court within 10 days, except for the following scenarios:

• 20 days if the search warrant is issued to an out-of-state provider for electronic communications data
• 30 days if the search warrant is issued to search for and seize specimens for DNA analysis or entry into the DNA database
• 365 days if the search warrant is issued for a computer, computer system, or electronic device

The law takes effect on July 1.

HB 505 — Virtual Currency Kiosks

House Bill 505 expands the definition of “money transmitter” to include owners and operators of virtual currency kiosks.

This consequently requires them to obtain a money transmitter license, though they’re also exempt from licensure fees.

The law takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

SB 594 — Housing Assistance Plans

Senate Bill 594 helps mobile home owners keep their homes by letting local housing programs use funds to help pay up to six months of lot rent.

The law takes effect on July 1.

HB 1389 — Affordable Housing

House Bill 1389 updates the Live Local Act to make it easier to build certain affordable apartment or mixed-use housing on certain properties owned by local governments and school districts.

The law also limits how local governments can block these projects, like using rules that effectively shrink how tall a building can be.

The law takes effect on July 1.

SB 1452 — Department of Financial Services

Senate Bill 1452 makes a load of statutory provisions relating to the Department of Financial Services.

This includes specifying that any interest which becomes due and owing must be paid from the appropriation charged for such goods or services.

The law took effect immediately upon being signed.

SB 1568 — Digital Currency

Senate Bill 1568 establishes the “Florida Stablecoin Pilot Program,” which allows the Department of Financial Services to accept stablecoins to pay certain governmental fees.

The law took effect immediately upon being signed.

HB 4039 — Monarch Hill Landfill

House Bill 4039 requires Broward County to commission a feasibility study and conduct a public hearing before issuing any application, zoning change or permit that would allow for a physical expansion of the Monarch Hill Landfill.

The law takes effect on Oct. 1.

It was just a coincidence that the city’s “Pride Match” ended up as a high-stakes matchup between Iran and Egypt — ultimately a 1-1 draw — and it came with plenty of pushback from both countries. But Seattle officials and its soccer community say the distinctive pairing was an opportunity to showcase the city’s inclusivity as well as the common ground that can be found at the World Cup.

Some milled about the stadium with Pride Match scarves, while others had painted their faces with rainbows or clutched free flags handed out by a human rights organization. One man toted a large sign that spelled out PRIDE as an acronym: “Proud, Respectful, Inclusive, Diverse, Egyptian.”

Stacy Harbour works for an LGBTQ+ nonprofit invited by the local organizing committee and brought 20 young people to the match. Harbour said she’s glad these two countries were the ones competing.

“There are groups of folks that live here in Seattle that are of Egyptian, Iranian descent. This is their opportunity to represent their intersectional identities,” she said. “This is an opportunity to show the world what Seattle is. And Seattle is an inclusive city. We always have been, we always will be.”

Pride celebrations are low-key inside the stadium

Same-sex relations are illegal in Iran, where gay men have been executed on sodomy charges, while Egypt has prosecuted gay and lesbian people and suppressed outward expressions of gay pride, including rainbow flags. The countries had complained to FIFA about the “Pride Match” and asked that the celebrations be canceled. In a statement earlier Friday, Iran's federation said it had made its position clear to FIFA in multiple letters and meetings and was assured “that no ceremonies or promotional activities related to this issue will take place inside the stadium or as part of the official match programme.”

“Iran and Egypt are two Muslim countries with deep cultural and religious commonalities, and the views expressed by both federations reflect the shared values and beliefs of the people of the two nations,” Iran's federation said.

The pre-match festivities on the field did not include any references to Pride, and by halftime, some fans said they were disappointed by the lack of Pride-related celebrations.

“I don’t expect a lot from FIFA, so I am not that surprised, but it’s a little disappointing,” said Hunter Schafer, of Seattle, wearing a rainbow headband.

The Associated Press sent requests for comment on how the Pride Match unfurled to the Iranian and Egyptian federations, as well as the organizing committee, on Friday night. Hana Tadesse, a spokesperson for Seattle’s World Cup organizing committee, said before the match that FIFA treats the rainbow flag as a statement of human rights and would allow fans to wave it inside the stadium.

British activist Peter Tatchell brought a protest placard that read, “Iran & Egypt ban gay footballers. It's against FIFA rules.” He said in a statement that officials at the stadium tried to confiscate the poster, but he refused to hand it over and was ultimately told he couldn't leave his seat. A separate request for comment on the incident was sent to the organizing committee.

“I don’t have any idea about that,” Iran player Ramin Rezaeian said when asked about the match's Pride designation after the game.

Egyptian player Mahmoud Saber responded similarly, saying in Arabic, “Yeah, it’s not my business. I am not commenting on these things.”

The ‘Pride Match’ makes fans feel seen

Anthony Vega, 50, stood outside the stadium more than three hours before kickoff, waving a large rainbow flag he planned to bring inside. At his first World Cup match after winning the ticket lottery, he said he thought more people would be outside with Pride flags.

“If one or two kids in Iran or Egypt see who we really are as Americans and how we are accepting, especially here in my home, that could change the lives for a lot of people, or them,” said Vega, who celebrated his first Pride in 1991.

Paul Kahl, a West Seattle native who wore a purple shirt in support of Pride, said he didn't experience any issues getting into the stadium.

“I think there’s a difference between the fans of a country versus the government of a country. And, their government’s not here,” he said. “Their fans are here to see the game. It’s the World Cup. You leave your politics at the door.”

The match coincided with Seattle’s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, including its popular Pride parade planned for the weekend.

Ilona Lohrey, president and CEO of the Greater Seattle Business Association, an LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce, described Seattle as one of the most inclusive cities in the country.

“I think it gives us an opportunity to showcase who we are as a city, who we are as a people and how diversity makes us stronger,” Lohrey said in an interview Thursday.

Sara Bunn, who identifies as pansexual, started to tear up, standing outside the stadium with a Pride flag wrapped around her shoulders and a shirt that read, “Trans People Belong.”

“This is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Bunn said, “and it’s really cool to be able to be a part of it and be a part of history of us being able to be represented.”

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Destin and Owen Cameros, a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

U.S. President Donald Trump said the drone attack violated the ceasefire. The strikes came shortly after Trump told reporters, “You’ll find out,” whether the U.S. would respond.

U.S. Central Command said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran.

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four of them,” Trump said at the White House shortly before the U.S. struck back. When asked why there would be strikes when Trump has insisted talks with Tehran are going well, Trump said of Iran: “They’re a little bit different.”

He then abruptly cut off questions and reporters were ushered out of his office.

Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, responded to Trump on social media earlier Friday, saying, “the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran, so: Respect the rules” and to “not mistake control for escalation.”

“This is not a violation of the ceasefire; it is ceasefire management,” Azizi wrote.

Friday evening, Vice President JD Vance said on social media that Iran should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement.

“But violence will be met with violence,” Vance said.

Strikes conclude an hour later

The U.S. strikes on Iran concluded about an hour after U.S. Central Command announced the military action on social media, a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing military operation.

The British military said on Thursday that a container ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman, coming hours after Iran threatened vessels to stop using the route. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said no injuries were reported.

The development came during a fragile time for the U.S. and Iran as they work to negotiate a permanent end to the war. Iran has increasingly challenged the region and the U.S. over its control of the Strait of Hormuz, even with the current interim deal it reached with the U.S. last week.

The attack on the cargo ship happened while a United Nations maritime agency was beginning an operation to move stranded ships out of the strait this week, using an alternative route, hugging the shores of Oman rather than sailing through the central part of the strait.

The International Maritime Organization halted the evacuations after the attack and said on Friday they won’t resume until there are guarantees that the other ships won’t be attacked.

About 115 ships were able to move out of the strait in recent days, leaving about 500 still in the area, said Arsenio Dominguez, the agency’s secretary-general.

The opening of the alternative passage through the strait was expected to relieve pressure on the world economy and remove Iran’s main source of leverage in ongoing peace talks with the U.S.

The U.S. and Iran are still negotiating terms of the deal, including issues such as getting ships through the key strait and addressing the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Under the interim deal, the two sides have 60 days to work out the details.

Cargo ship attack poses a test for shipping

Shipping analysts said the drone strike cast a shadow over what had been a growing stream of trapped vessels finally leaving the Gulf and an increasing flow of tankers carrying crude oil.

“A week of widening commercial confidence in the Strait of Hormuz has hit its first significant test,” said marine data company Windward on X. It said that while the strait remains operationally open with 43 transits recorded after the incident, “the pace of normalization has slowed.”

On Wednesday before Thursday’s drone strike, 78 vessels transited the strait, the highest since the war began, although below the prewar averages of 130 or more per day.

At least two tankers reversed course while attempting to transit the strait on the U.N.-backed route near Oman after Iran insisted vessels use only the Teheran-approved routes, according to marine data and analytic firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

More than two dozen ships were still transiting the strait's southern route after the attack, Lloyd's said Friday.

Lebanon and Israel make a step toward peace

Ambassadors from Israel and Lebanon announced an agreement Friday described as a step toward peace following months of conflict between Israeli troops and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Nada Hamadeh, Lebanon's ambassador to the U.S., called the framework a move toward "enabling our people to go back to their land and allowing all Lebanese to live in peace, security, and prosperity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the plan was a “great achievement” for Israel.

“The most important thing, first and foremost, is that Israel will remain in the security zone in southern Lebanon,” he said, adding that they will stay until Hezbollah is disarmed and no longer poses a threat to Israel.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Ben Finley, Michelle L. Price and Josh Boak in Washington, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

In his first chance to pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his still-new Padres uniform Friday night, Buehler was a star in this NL West rivalry once again.

Buehler beat the Dodgers for the first time since he left the World Series champions 1 1/2 seasons ago, pitching three-hit ball into the sixth inning of the Padres' 7-1 win.

The veteran right-hander played a significant role in building the baseball-dominating powerhouse he faced from the Petco Park mound in the opener of this weekend rivalry series. Buehler came through against the Dodgers' high-powered lineup, striking out five and yielding just one run to an LA roster still packed with his longtime teammates.

Buehler acknowledged feeling good about the latest strong start in his revitalized season for the Padres — but not particularly because of the opponent.

“I have no bad blood against that organization,” Buehler said. “They treated me very well for a long time, and I think in some way, I did to them as well. My last pitch there was the last out of a World Series. I don’t really know how else I would have gone out any better than that. So yeah, I want to beat everyone, especially in the division, and especially a team that has been so successful against the organization I’m with now. I want to be a part of turning that around.”

Buehler made two All-Star teams and won two World Series rings with the Dodgers, going down in franchise history when he came on in relief and got the final out in the clinching Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees in the 2024 Fall Classic. He also was particularly effective in rivalry games against the Padres, going 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 12 starts.

He built a career and a life in Los Angeles, but injuries slowed Buehler in his final years, and the Dodgers let him walk after his title-winning heroics.

Buehler faced the Dodgers for the first time last season at Fenway Park, and he didn't get through the fifth inning of a start that went just about as poorly as most of his tenure for the Red Sox, who released him less than a month later. After a brief stint with Philadelphia, he signed with San Diego last February.

“I think the first one in Boston was a lot bigger emotional load, for lack of a better word,” Buehler said. “It’s a team in our division. I’m going to have to pitch against them, and it was good to get the first one in this uniform at home, and we’ll see what happens on the road. I haven’t thrown at Dodger Stadium yet, which will be kind of a different thing, but (it's) nice to have something to fall back on in terms of having some success.”

Buehler (5-3) has regained his footing with the Padres, allowing just five runs over five starts and 26 1/3 total innings in an excellent June. He has improbably become the most reliable starter in San Diego's injury-affected rotation.

The Padres are getting success from Buehler by not overextending the 31-year-old pitcher with two Tommy John surgeries behind him. He has yet to record an out in the seventh inning, but San Diego's superb bullpen has allowed Buehler to feel better about his new role.

“I think I’ve changed from trying to throw 120 pitches and owning the game to just kind of trying to get through the five, six innings and hand it off to our bullpen,” Buehler said. “Obviously we have a lot of super-talented guys back there, so I feel good about it.”

Buehler still wasn't particularly happy when manager Craig Stammen came out to get him in the sixth after just 74 pitches against the Dodgers, but that bullpen came through with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless, four-hit ball that included escapes from two bases-loaded jams.

“In the moment, he likes to let me know he’s not happy on the mound,” Stammen said. “And then when I get back to the dugout, he’s already cooled off. So he’s handled it really well. He’s been a very professional pitcher in that regard. He knows that he’s pitching well and he can get a lot of guys out, but he also knows we’ve got a really good bullpen that can finish a game and get him a win.”

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

“He was looking at me and I kind of was thinking, maybe,” McKenna said with a laugh. “Crazy. Just crazy what’s going on right now.”

With most of Yukon watching and a loud presence of Maple Leafs fans in the stands, Toronto chose the Penn State left winger, validating longstanding projections of McKenna being his age group’s top prospect. The 18-year-old from Yukon’s capital of Whitehorse has been a prolific scorer on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.

And if Bieber’s appearance and taking the stage to the artist's song “Yukon” wasn’t enough, McKenna was welcomed to the Maple Leafs with a video message from Toronto captain Auston Matthews.

“Obviously he’s on the first line. I’m going to have to prove myself to be able to play with a player like that. But that’s my goal,” McKenna said about Matthews, who was chosen No. 1 by Toronto in the 2016 draft, which also happened to be held in Buffalo. “My game’s obviously a playmaker, he’s a shooter, so I think we could complement each other pretty well.”

McKenna represents a major plank in in a rebuilding process for a team in transition under new general manager John Chayka. Toronto finished last in the Atlantic Division last season and missed the playoffs for the first time since Matthews’ arrival.

Canucks select coach's son, Caleb Malhotra

The draft featured dueling cheers — and boos — between large contingents of Maple Leafs and Sabres fans, several surprises, nine trades and a poignant father-son moment when Vancouver selected center Caleb Malhotra with the No. 3 pick, joining a team coached by dad Manny Malhotra.

“I hugged him right after, and we were happy,” said Caleb, who is from British Columbia and finished second among OHL rookies with 84 points with Brantford last season. “It’s the best feeling in the world. I’ve never felt anything like this. And that embrace was so comforting, and I’m so glad he’s here with me as dad.”

Malhotra said his dad was not aware of the Canucks’ draft plans. And he now has bragging rights on his father in being selected four spots higher, after Manny went No. 7 to the New York Rangers in 1998.

Run on defensemen

After forwards went with the first three picks, including Sweden’s Ivar Stenberg second to San Jose, the expected run on defensemen began with five selected over the next six picks, and 10 overall.

Buffalo selected Prince Albert blue-liner Daxon Rudolph at No. 4, followed by Latvia’s Alberts Smits going fifth to the Rangers. Chase Reid, who is from Michigan, went seventh to Seattle as the first American-born player selected.

Smits split last season playing professionally in Finland and Germany, while also representing Latvia at the Milan Cortina Olympics. He became the highest drafted Latvian.

Trades and more trades

This was a much more active first round with picks traded for NHL players than the previous couple of years. The Rangers got Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas for picks 26 and 92, and a 2028 first-rounder. Boston acquired JJ Peterka from Utah for a pair of first-rounders. And St. Louis traded two of its picks to Anaheim for Mason McTavish.

The selections featured an international flavor with 10 Canadians, a first-round-record seven Swedes and seven Americans chosen. The first round ended with Ottawa selecting forward Jaxon Cover, who was born in Miami, raised on Grand Cayman where he played roller hockey, and developed his hockey skills in Toronto.

And Bieber wasn't the only music star to make a pick, with country music's Luke Bryan on hand to announce Nashville's selection of Wyatt Cullen before performing a concert a few blocks away.

Rudolph was wowed watching his good friend McKenna being welcomed to the stage.

“To see him be selected first and with Justin Bieber and everything, it was amazing,” Rudolph said. “I just remember talking to my mom and saying. ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ as I’m sitting there on the couch waiting to be picked.”

McKenna accustomed to the spotlight

McKenna is accustomed to the spotlight. He combined for 79 goals and 244 points in 133 games with Medicine Hat in the WHL. As a freshman at Penn State, he finished with 51 points, tied for fourth in the nation, last season.

He became just the fifth NCAA player to go first, and third in six years, since Michigan defenseman Owen Power went No. 1 to Buffalo in 2021.

McKenna also became the fifth Yukon-born player to be selected in the draft, and first to go No. 1. He now heads to a metropolis that is nearly 100 times larger than Whitehorse’s population of about 39,000.

This was the NHL’s second straight decentralized draft, with teams making selections from their respective headquarters.

Decentralized draft Part II

Lacking in the new format is each draft pick joining his new team’s front office on stage. Last year, the NHL attempted to rectify that by having teams welcome their prospects by video conference call on stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The interviews were widely panned for being awkward and glitchy, and contributing to the draft lasting nearly 4 1/2 hours.

This year the NHL had the top prospects seated with their families in what resembled a lounge area, featuring plush couches, directly in front of the stage. After being selected, each player was interviewed on a couch on stage, with the backdrop representing the team in a first round that took about four hours to complete.

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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP freelance writer Denis Gorman contributed to this report.

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

She's only the second WNBA coach to enter the Hall of Fame, joining former Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor, who was inducted in 2001.

“(I appreciate) the magnitude of this recognition of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the great work that has gone into this institution,” Reeve said. “To walk around and see the history of how much has been done years before I could ever have this opportunity to coach. Grateful to the WNBA because I think there was some consideration given schedule wise.”

Reeve will be joined by WNBA greats Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne in this year's class. Parker and Delle Donne also will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Other inductees include ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke, Kirkwood Community College coach Kim Muhl, Spanish star Amaya Valdemoro, French great Isabelle Fijalkowski and Clemson's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Barbara Kennedy-Dixon.

Parker and Delle Donne were shocked to learn that Reeve was only the second WNBA coach to be honored.

“When you look at Cheryl’s career and what she’s done and all the winning and all the Hall of Famers she’s coached and then you look at her and she’s not ancient, like, that’s rare,” Delle Donne said. “That’s just how good she is and how long she’s been winning and doing it at a young age. Cheryl’s phenomenal. She made life really hard when we were playing against her.”

Reeve has won four WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, whom she has coached since 2010. She also led the U.S. women's Olympic team to an eighth consecutive gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games. Reeve has 378 victories and is one win behind Mike Thibault for the most all-time in WNBA history.

She has a chance to match Thibault on Sunday when the Lynx play the Dallas Wings.

Parker won three titles in the WNBA playing with three different teams: Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. She is the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season (2008).

She also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, plus two Olympic gold medals and a second WNBA MVP award (2013).

“I'm super humbled to be going in with Elena and with the other inductees in the 2026 class,” Parker said.

Delle Donne won two league MVP awards in 2015 and 2019, the second of which came when she led the Washington Mystics to their lone WNBA championship. Delle Donne became the first player in league history to shoot more than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the foul line.

Burke has covered basketball for ESPN since 1991 and in 2024 became the first woman to call the NBA Finals as a TV analyst. She was also the lead voice for the network in women's college basketball for many years. Burke played college basketball at Providence, scoring 1,372 points.

Valdemoro starred for the Spanish national team while playing on the 2004 and 2008 Olympic teams. She also was a member of the Houston Comets, winning three WNBA titles with the organization.

Muhl won 1,108 games and nine national titles at Kirkwood Community College. He had 37 consecutive 20-win seasons before retiring this past April.

Fijalkowski was a five-time French League champion and two-time EuroLeague winner. She was the French national team's all-time leading scorer with 2,562 points in 204 games.

Kennedy-Dixon had 3,113 points and 1,252 rebounds for Clemson. She was one of just eight players to have at least 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds since the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports. She played professionally in Italy, and then played for the Virginia Wave in 1989 in the Women’s American Basketball Association before the league folded the same year.

Kennedy-Dixon died in 2018.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Birds, especially, are crucial to ecosystems across the globe, providing services like pollinating flowers, controlling pests naturally, dispersing seeds and even serving as early warning systems.

Experts said there are ways to respond if people see a bird in need in the heat, and how to react to other wildlife. Here's what to know.

What happens to birds in high heat?

Birds are very diverse, and often well adapted to dealing with prolonged periods of heat, said David Bird, McGill University emeritus professor of wildlife biology.

They also have a higher body temperature than mammals, with some birds around 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) or even slightly higher.

They may adjust their feathers in certain ways, or increase airflow across a complex series of air sacs, to help keep cool. They also adapt to heat behaviorally.

But birds have a maximum level of heat they can withstand, just like humans, said Aimee Van Tatenhove, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

“This level differs by species, and as you can imagine, species that live closer to the poles are often much more susceptible to heat than species that live closer to the equator,” Van Tatenhove said. “Prolonged intense heat like Europe is experiencing right now is likely pushing many species toward their maximum heat tolerances, putting them at risk of heat illness or death.”

Birds don’t sweat like humans and some other mammals do, but they have other ways to naturally beat the heat, experts say.

Some species, including backyard birds, will “gape,” opening their beaks and panting, not unlike a dog. Others will also flutter the pouch skin on their necks to cool off. This behavior is known as “gular fluttering."

Birds also often seek out shade, and dip in birdbaths, fountains and shallow ponds to lower their body temperatures.

What should people do if they see birds out i

n the heat?

It's difficult to fully protect birds that are also experiencing the ongoing heat wave, but experts offered a few tips.

In the short term, people could set up shallow water sources — in spots that are safe from harm, like predators — though experts caution it's important to keep these baths clean.

People can also fill bird feeders, providing an easy food source for birds that might be avoiding foraging for their next meal in the hot sun. Insect populations are also dramatically down, in part due to climate change and pollution, impacting a major natural food source for birds.

Over the long term, people who are able to can provide shaded areas around their yard, including layered vegetation such as small shrubs and taller trees, Bird noted.

If passive approaches aren't possible, it might be best to leave them be, said Jack Kottwitz, assistant professor at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “These birds know better than what we do about what is comfortable for them.”

Birds often seek out cooling temperatures, by finding lower places to perch or even fans.

What about other wildlife that might be seen and found?

As far as other wildlife, it might also not be the best choice to try to intervene by giving an animal foreign food or water or attempting to bring it indoors, experts say.

Local wildlife rehabilitators are the best resource to contact if a sick or injured animal is found, as signs of extreme heat stress can also be similar to those of diseases that wild animals may carry. Experts know best how to help wildlife and provide needed care.

“The best thing for wildlife is to let them be wild," said Lisa Duke, sanctuary grounds manager at the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, also affiliated with Michigan State. "They know what to do with their bodies.”

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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.

That's right: There's a beef about beef between two of the top cattle-raising areas of the world, where steak is deeply ingrained in diet and culture. Texas ranks No. 1 in the United States in beef production and the U.S. is second only to Brazil globally, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Argentina ranks sixth.

It's a high-steaks question: Who does do it best?

The case for Argentine beef

“Argentine beef is simply unbeatable. The savory texture, the style of the cut — there is no competing with it,” said Carlos Eduardo Barahona, 64, an Argentine chef who's lived in Texas since 1998.

From the cheapest cuts to the most expensive, Argentina is tops, asserts Barahona, who has worked in restaurants across Argentina, Uruguay, and Texas.

“You can make an (Argentine) asado with the cheapest cut in our country and you will enjoy it. Here, you can use the best meat, like tenderloin, and depending on its source, it can turn out tough, inedible or tender. But our beef has a completely different flavor profile,” Barahona said.

Argentine beef cattle is mostly grass-fed on open pastures, taking longer to reach the point it is ready for market. The result is leaner meat with intense earthy flavors.

The case for Texan beef

Predominantly grain-fed beef in Texas and the U.S. will have more marbling — the streaks of intramuscular fat that act as internal baster and make the meat juicy and tender — and a sweeter flavor.

“There’s no better beef than U.S. beef, particularly Texas beef,” said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.

But Argentine beef is very good too, Miller said. Thanks to Texas.

Miller said his agency opened a marketing office more than a decade ago to connect Texas' cattle raisers with ranchers in South America, notably in Argentina.

“I don’t want to disparage our friends in Argentina, but we have helped them improve,” he said.

“Their genetics were lacking. We do have them up to pretty high quality. We sold them a lot of semen, embryos, and breeding stock,” Miller added.

Miller congratulated Argentine farmers on improving the quality of their cows.

“Their herds have American genetics in them, so they should be good,” Miller said.

The verdict is in the eye of the beefholder

Argentine fan Gonzalo Herrera browsed packaged meat at a Walmart in Arlington, Texas, after watching Messi score two goals in a win over Austria. He shrugged at the whose-beef-is-better debate.

“Honestly, I don’t see a massive difference,” Herrera said as he packed four T-bone steaks into his shopping cart.

“The key is knowing exactly which cuts to buy and finding the equivalent of what we eat in Argentina,” he said, shaking his head at the $45 price.

“Prices are higher here,” Herrera said.

The beef banter just as easily boils down to recipes and preferences in style and thickness of cuts. It's a matter of taste, quite literally, when it comes to seasoning, searing, smoking, butter, pepper, sauces and so forth.

At Corrientes 348 Argentinian Steakhouse in Dallas, steaks are prepared with just salt and mesquite charcoal, said assistant manager Emmanuel Tobon.

“There's a big difference. Texans use a lot of pepper, they use butter, they use a little barbecue (sauce),” Tobon said. “(Argentines) like to bring all the flavor of the steak by only using salt.”

Argentina still has at least one more match to play in Dallas, on Saturday. Fans of the Albiceleste have been packing the restaurant, seeking a quick taste of home during the World Cup.

“They have been enjoying the Texas culture,” Tobon said. “(But) it has been a great pleasure to have all of them, to make them feel like home.”

Argentines are fiercely proud of their steak culture, recipes that have been passed down for generations, and the “sacred” work of the grill master at large family meals, he said.

For Fernando Garcia Morillo, an Argentine from Buenos Aires who now lives near Miami, the meat from both countries is great. But he longs for the traditions of home whenever he orders steak in the U.S.

“I order just salt, no pepper, just plain,” Morillo said. “Sometimes they use a lot of sauce.”

He dismissed any notion of a beef between the U.S and Argentina.

“Maybe there's a rivalry as usual against Brazil, our neighbor,” he said. “I love the U.S. meat.”

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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

After more than 130 years, the once grand Aqueduct track is set to run its last live races this weekend. The final race, appropriately titled, “It Was a Good Run,” is posted for Sunday at 5:44 p.m.

The track, located next to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, will remain open for betting on televised races — known as simulcasting — through Sept. 7.

“There’s a lot of history here. Just so many good horses,” said David Donk, a veteran horse trainer, in between afternoon races at Aqueduct earlier this month. “It’s had its use. But, you know, times change. Everything changes in life.”

Racing is a contracting industry

The end of the “Big A” comes amid increased competition for gambling dollars. Slot parlors, casinos, state lotteries and, more recently, legalized online and sports betting have all steadily eroded the allure of what once was dubbed the “sport of kings.”

There are roughly 75 thoroughbred tracks nationwide, compared to the more than 300 facilities offering some form of horse racing during the sport’s Gilded Age peak in the late 1800s, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, an industry trade group.

Among the other major tracks that have closed in recent years are Arlington Park in Illinois, which was purchased by NFL’s Chicago Bears for a potential new stadium, and Golden Gate Fields in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“For over 100 years, thoroughbred racing was one of very few sports outlets you could legally bet on,” said Tom Rooney, the association’s president. “With the expansion of sports gambling, our sport will naturally condense and coalesce around a more pragmatic number of marquee tracks and locations, similar to other sports.”

Indeed, a large chunk of Aqueduct’s hulking site, where a crowd of 75,000 celebrated Mass with Pope John Paul II in 1995, has for years been home to a Resorts World casino. The gambling hall began offering live table games like blackjack, poker and craps earlier this year after winning a lucrative state license to operate a Las Vegas-style resort, and has plans for a glitzy, multibillion dollar expansion.

Some 9 miles (14 kilometers) east, just over the city line on suburban Long Island, the famed Belmont Park racetrack — home to the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes — is set to reopen in September after a roughly $550 million renovation. State funding for that project was contingent on the New York Racing Association, which operates the tracks, returning Aqueduct’s more than 100 acres (40 hectares) to the state for future redevelopment and consolidating thoroughbred races at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate.

“We couldn’t have gotten the money to rebuild Belmont and continue to race at Aqueduct. You have to make these choices,” said Andy Serling, the track's longtime television analyst and race handicapper. “I don’t think you’ll find anybody here that’s not gonna tell you they’re gonna miss Aqueduct, but we’re also incredibly excited to be opening this beautiful new building at Belmont.”

Aqueduct had humble beginnings

Originally opened in 1894, Aqueduct took its name from an old aqueduct running through the property that brought fresh water from Long Island to New York City.

It was a relatively modest operation until a dramatic reinvestment in 1959, which brought a dedicated subway stop, air-conditioned restaurants and lounges along with a roughly 35,000-seat grandstand complete with escalators, elevators and other amenities. The Associated Press, at the time, declared the transformed track “the world’s most modern and luxurious horse plant.”

Legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat won the first race of his storied career at the track in 1972, then trotted out for a final farewell the following year.

Seattle Slew’s big win at Aqueduct in 1977 served as the final tuneup en route to sweeping the Triple Crown later that year. And in 1994, Cigar launched his historic, 16-race winning streak at Aqueduct.

Top jockey remembers track fondly

Taking a break between races on a recent Friday afternoon, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez recalled how his decorated career began at Aqueduct.

The 54-year-old native of Puerto Rico said it took weeks going up against some of the top horse riders of the time for him to win his first career race. Velazquez has since notched more than 6,700 victories and holds the most purse earnings of any jockey in North America.

“This is where I developed my craft, where I learned everything that I know,” Velazquez said after winning his first race of the day. “The years that I spent here made me the jockey that I am today.”

Inside the cavernous grandstand, longtime gambler Roy Brown reminisced how he tried getting into the business himself after one big win at the track.

The 68-year-old retiree from Queens said he hauled in around $60,000 on a “pick-six” in the late 1980s — a difficult bet in which a gambler has to pick the winning horse for six straight races.

The native of Jamaica, who had no experience in the industry outside of gambling, used some of his profits to buy two horses. But he and the thoroughbreds ended up having brief racing careers.

“It’s best to bet on them, not own them,” Brown said with a laugh. “If you’re really passionate about it, it’s your best two minutes. Nothing's sweeter than seeing your horse coming down the stretch or coming from behind and at the wire, knowing you got it.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Mbappé, to help France beat Norway 4-1 at the World Cup on Friday.

Dembélé's goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

“It is a unique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.”

France, which won the World Cup in 2018 and lost in the final four years ago, had already secured its place in the knockout round before Friday’s match. Norway was also assured of a spot in the round of 32 and ended up in second place in the group.

Désiré Doué scored France's final goal in second-half injury time.

Dembélé said changing their approach in the final group match was never a consideration. France has 10 goals through three games.

“We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused,” Dembélé said.

The fastest World Cup hat trick took only 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who had come on as a substitute, managed that feat late in the match against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

The quickest World Cup hat trick from the start of the match occurred at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland when Austria striker Erich Probst scored his three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia.

Dembélé, who won Ballon d’Or as Europe’s top player in 2025 and has now scored four goals at this year's World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola.

Thelo Aasgaard got Norway on the scoreboard after Dembélé’s second goal, finding the back of the net only 14 seconds after the restart. But Dembélé added his third goal less than nine minutes later to push the lead back to two.

Dembélé increased his international goal total to eight while Mbappe now has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup matches. He scored two goals in each of France’s wins over Senegal and Iraq.

Erling Haaland was among 10 regular starters absent from Norway’s starting lineup, presumably to rest. The wholesale changes included Egil Selvik starting in goal in place of Orjan Nyland.

Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said resting so many players was an easy decision for him.

“The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. ... So it's a no-brainer,” he said. “The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have like to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament.”

The Norwegians will next face Ivory Coast in the round of 32 on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. France will play the same day against one of the eight best third-place finishers in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Mbappé nearly got France on the scoreboard only 21 seconds into the game. He sprinted up the right side and sent a hard shot that hit the crossbar beyond the outstretched arm of Selvik.

Dembélé was operating in space for his first goal when he took took a pass from Mbappé and blasted a right-footed shot across Selvik.

On the Paris Saint-Germain player’s second goal, Dembélé found space between three defenders at the top of the box and fired in a left-footer beyond Selvik’s diving save attempt.

Norway had a chance to close the gap back to one goal in the 49th when France defender Theo Hernandez was whistled for tripping Oscar Bobb in the box. But Jorgen Strand Larsen’s penalty shot toward the right corner was batted away by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Before the game, French fans in attendance displayed a banner reading “AVEC TOI DIDIER” (With you Didier), acknowledging France coach Didier Deschamps' mother, Ginette Deschamps, who died this week. The coach missed the match against Norway on Friday because he was in France with family, leaving assistant Guy Stéphan in charge.

Stéphan said Deschamps would rejoin the team for its next training session on Saturday.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Julie Sulpizio is the only living suspect in the ambush that left Master Deputy Bradley Link dead. Two other deputies survived their injuries.

[TIMELINE: What exactly happened in Lake County ambush attack of 3 deputies]

Sulpizio’s husband, Michael, and her two adult daughters were found dead with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

In a marathon hearing reviewing her competency Friday, the defense argued that Sulpizio was not fit to stand trial, while the prosecution countered that she should be deemed capable of moving forward.

Sulpizio, in a red and white jail jumpsuit, remained mostly stone-faced throughout the proceedings, although she did appear close to tears at one point. At times, her head would sink as she sat next to her attorneys.

[WATCH: Woman accused in deadly Lake County deputy ambush found competent to stand trial, DCF records show]

Dr. Julie Harper and Dr. Yenys Castillo testified on behalf of the defense, stating that based on their respective evaluations, they believe Sulpizio continues to suffer from psychosis.

“I find that she is not demonstrating sufficient capacity to proceed,” Dr. Harper said. “Particularly in her areas to assist you as the defense attorney in building a rational defense.”

The doctors said that Sulpizio has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and dissociative identity disorder, slipping into different personalities during the same conversation.

They recounted that in their respective conversations with Sulpizio, she would alternate between adopting the personas of “Lucifer,” “Michael the Archangel,” and others.

Dr. Castillo said Sulpizio has talked about being able to assume the form of other people in the courtroom.

“She said, ‘Yes, I can jump into the judge, and I can jump into the prosecutor,” Dr. Castillo recalled.

During cross-examination, the prosecution tried to poke holes in the psychologists’ testimony, questioning their credentials and downplaying the severity of Sulpizio’s mental illness.

The last doctor to testify Friday did so on behalf of the prosecution.

Dr. Jason Demery conceded that Sulpizio is mentally ill, but he argued that does not mean she is unfit to stand trial.

“We also have a person who has some symptoms,” Dr. Demery said. “But my opinion of what we don’t have is somebody who is incapable of fulfilling the six criteria to meet Dusky. In my opinion, she’s competent. Symptoms do not equal incompetence.”

Demery was referring to Dusky v. United States, the landmark United States Supreme Court case that established criteria to determine whether a defendant is legally competent to stand trial.

Judge Brian Welke had twice previously declared Sulpizio incompetent for trial, but the hearing Friday was held after a Florida Department of Children and Families report earlier this year determined she was indeed fit.

Judge Welk told the defense and prosecution that they have three weeks to file a proposed order. He will then make a ruling on Sulpizio’s competence.

A spokesperson told News 6 shortly before 10 p.m. that officers had headed to the area of Clairmont Avenue and Terrace Avenue after the woman — only identified as being in her late 60s — was reported dead by a family member.

“At this time, investigators are still assessing the scene,” the spokesperson wrote. “I can provide you with further updates tomorrow morning.”

No additional information has been provided at this time.

Uruguay, a two-time champion, will go home without any victories in its three Group H games. Spain, the European champion, won the group with seven points and will face the second-place team from Group J — either Austria or Algeria — on Thursday in Inglewood, California.

Álex Baena scored in the 42nd minute after Muslera couldn’t fully swat away his shot from inside the area. It was the third blunder of the tournament by the 40-year-old Muslera, who asked coach Marcelo Bielsa to substitute him at halftime. Sergio Rochet came in to start the second half.

“He is the one who decided to leave,” Bielsa said.

The veteran Argentine coach said he feels like Uruguay deserved better luck considering its performances, and should have earned seven points instead of two from its group matches. But he took full responsibility for the team's failure.

“No one wants to listen to explanations now,” Bielsa said. “The blame is on me, I’m the one responsible for the disappointing work that I did. I had a group of quality players.”

At 19th in the FIFA rankings, Uruguay is the highest-ranked team to be eliminated so far.

“Every match is different and you have to win every type of match,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “This was a game with maximum difficulty.”

De la Fuente said midfielder Yéremy Pino likely suffered a broken collarbone that would sideline him for the rest of the tournament. Pino, who entered the match in the 66th minute, stayed on until the end despite the injury because Spain had already made all five substitutions.

Cape Verde, which played Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw in the other group game on Friday, finished second in the group with three points, one more than both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Uruguay finished third but without enough points to be among the best eight third-place teams that will advance.

A few Uruguay players cried on the field after the final whistle. Many fans booed the team as it left.

The match was one of the most anticipated of the group stage, but it featured few significant scoring chances by either team.

“I'm very proud of all the work that we have done,” Baena said. “We competed very well.”

Uruguay players loudly advocated for a penalty in the final minutes after Federico Viñas went down inside the area.

There was some tension near the end. Uruguay’s Agustín Canobbio was sent off in stoppage time for a tackle on Spain defender Paul Cubarsi. His teammates had to escort him off the field, and after the final whistle he returned to try to talk to the referee.

Uruguay, the World Cup winner in 1930 and 1950, came into the final group match in turmoil after draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde. Uruguayan media said there were reports of players not being happy with Bielsa.

Spain, seeking its second World Cup title, opened with a shocking 0-0 draw against Cape Verde but was coming off a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia. La Roja haven’t made it past the round of 16 since winning their lone title in 2010.

Spain striker Lamine Yamal, who entered the tournament nursing a left hamstring injury, had a lackluster outing and again didn’t play the entire match, being replaced by Ferran Torres in the 76th minute. The 18-year-old Yamal was replaced at halftime against Saudi Arabia and came off the bench in the second half against Cape Verde.

Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte had to replaced because of an apparent knee injury near the end of the first half. He was on the ground seeking medical assistance when Spain opened the scoring, and was eventually taken off the field on a stretcher.

King Felipe VI of Spain was among the crowd of 45,065 at Estadio Akron.

A moment of silence was observed before the match in memory of those who died when back-to-back earthquakes struck Venezuela late Wednesday.

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Associated Press writer Maria Verza contributed to this report.

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

The Rangers acquired Dorofeyev from Vegas for the Nos. 26 and 92 picks this year, plus a conditional first-rounder in 2028. The 25-year-old is coming off scoring 12 goals on the Golden Knights' run to the Stanley Cup Final.

On their way there, they defeated the Utah Mammoth, who also made a big subtraction by sending a winger to the Eastern Conference. JJ Peterka is going to the Boston Bruins for the No. 23 pick and Florida's top-10-protected '28 first-rounder.

Peterka is changing places for a second consecutive offseason following his move from Buffalo just over a year to the day ago. The 24-year-old from Germany now gets to play for the league's only German coach, Marco Sturm.

“I would like to thank JJ for his commitment to our organization,” Utah general manager Bill Armstrong said. “JJ is a great person and will be a dynamic player for Boston.”

Midway through the first round, the St. Louis Blues acquired forward Mason McTavish from Anaheim for the Nos. 15 and 29 picks, getting a player entering his prime at 23 who's signed through 2031 at a salary cap hit of $7 million.

The Mammoth flipped the 23rd pick to Detroit for 23-year-old restricted free agent goaltender Sebastian Cossa.

Pre-draft trades aplenty

Getting Dorofeyev was New York GM Chris Drury 's second move of the day after sending forward Brett Berard to Montreal for defenseman William Trudeau, who has been in the minors and is still awaiting his NHL debut.

Also Friday, Buffalo got defenseman Olen Zellweger, who also needs a new contract, from Anaheim for the 45th pick and forward prospect Anton Wahlberg. Zellweger, who turns 23 in September, replenishes depth for the Sabres after they traded Bowen Byram to Chicago earlier in the week.

Chicago sent winger Andre Burakovsky to Ottawa for a 2027 sixth-round pick. Burakovsky joins the Senators more than three decades since his dad, Robert, played 23 games for them in the 1993-94 season.

The Blackhawks clear his $5.5 million salary cap hit off the books for next season, while the Senators get a 31-year-old winger who has twice won the Stanley Cup.

General manager Steve Staios said the Senators were happy to add a player of Burakovsky’s pedigree because he “adds skill and playmaking ability to our forward group.”

Staios was busy in the hours before adding Burakovsky, acquiring the rights to goaltender Samuel Ersson and re-signing another pending restricted free agent, defenseman Jordan Spence. Ottawa sent a 2027 fifth-rounder to rival Toronto for Ersson, whom the Maple Leafs got along with Emil Andrae in a cap space-clearing trade with Philadelphia for Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit.

Spence, 25, signed a four-year, $20 million contract. He was a big part of the team enduring injuries at the position and still making the playoffs, scoring a career-high seven goals and finishing with 31 points while skating an average of nearly 19 minutes over 73 games.

“Jordan was an excellent addition to our hockey club and proved to be a valuable asset on our blue line and stepped up when it counted last season,” Staios said. “We’re excited to have him as part of our core group.”

Teams take care of in-house business

Colorado re-signed defensemen Brent Burns and Brett Kulak, fresh off winning the Presidents’ Trophy and losing in the conference final to Vegas.

Burns, 41, signed for next season, his 23rd in the league, at the veteran minimum of $850,000 and can make up to $3 million in incentives, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because financial terms were not disclosed.

Burns has skated in 1,007 consecutive regular-season games and is 58 away from passing Phil Kessel for the longest ironman streak in NHL history.

Kulak got a five-year contract from the Avalanche worth a reported $22.5 million. President of hockey operations and franchise great Joe Sakic is reshaping the roster after reclaiming GM duties when Chris MacFarland left for Nashville.

The Islanders re-signed defenseman Tony DeAngelo to a two-year contract worth $9 million. He will count $4.5 million against the salary cap through the 2027-28 season.

DeAngelo, 30, is returning to the Islanders for a second full season after joining them upon returning to the NHL from a stint in the Russia-based KHL in January 2025.

“Tony has been great since he’s been here," GM Mathieu Darche said on a video call with reporters after the draft. “It’s tough to find puck-moving defensemen, never mind a right-shot puck-moving defenseman, so Tony’s a big part of our team. We’re excited to have him back.”

Los Angeles re-signed defenseman Brandt Clarke for $37 million over the next five years.

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A three-judge panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously issued the decision, saying his trial judge did not violate the former movie magnate's constitutional rights.

“We reject his attempts to disturb the jury’s guilty verdicts,” the judges wrote in their opinion.

Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said in an email that “We are disappointed by today’s decision and respectfully disagree with the Court of Appeal’s conclusions regarding the fairness of Mr. Weinstein’s trial. At the same time, the court correctly recognized that his sentence cannot stand.”

The decision came a day after prosecutors in New York decided Weinstein would not face a fourth trial there, dropping the #MeToo-era case after the accuser said she could not bear to testify again.

The California panel said that resentencing was necessary because the judge that sentenced him considered New York convictions that were later thrown out as an aggravating factor. California's attorney general agreed.

Weinstein, 74, still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York, and he remains behind bars awaiting a September sentencing there. Prosecutors there are seeking a 20-year prison term.

In California, Weinstein was convicted in December 2022 of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian model and actor known during the trial as Jane Doe 1. He would serve his new sentence there only after his New York term is complete.

After the trial, Jane Doe 1 came forward under her name, Evgeniya Chernyshova, when she sued Weinstein in civil court.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Chernyshova did. Her attorney also said she consented to being named.

Chernyshova testified that Weinstein arrived uninvited to her hotel room during the 2013 LA Italia Film Festival and assaulted her.

Weinstein’s defense argued that Weinstein deserved a new trial because Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench wrongly prevented his trial lawyers from asking about Facebook messages between Chernyshova and festival head Pascal Vicedomini that would have shown they had a sexual relationship.

The questioning would have demonstrated that she perjured herself when she said she and Vicedomini were just friends and colleagues, the defense said. And the lawyers argued it would have bolstered their assertion that she was not even in her room on the night of the alleged assault.

“The lower court all but gutted Mr. Weinstein’s defense,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean told the appeals judges at April 23 oral arguments.

But the appeals court said in its ruling that Weinstein did make the arguments he wanted during the trial based on other evidence, including another set of Facebook messages that Lench allowed.

“Thus, there was no denial of Weinstein’s constitutional right to present a defense,” the panel wrote in its opinion.

The three judges also found that Weinstein's lawyers failed to adhere to California's rape shield law prohibiting evidence of an accuser's sexual history when they tried to introduce the messages. Weinstein's lawyers had argued that the shield law was not pertinent because they wanted to use the messages only to impeach the witness's credibility.

And the appeals judges said testimony from accusers describing sexual assaults Weinstein was not charged with was appropriate, and allowed under state law.

Before his sentencing, Weinstein told the judge that this was a “made-up story” from a woman he had never met.

The Los Angeles jury acquitted Weinstein of the sexual battery of a massage therapist and failed to reach verdicts on counts involving two other women.

“This is not the end of the appellate process,” Engelmayer said in his email Friday. “We intend to seek review in the California Supreme Court because we continue to believe significant legal errors affected the proceedings and warrant further review.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said it would not have comment on the decision until the office reviewed it.

Chernyshova’s lawyer David Ring said in an email Friday that she “has persevered for years to reach this point against the man who raped her” and thanks the prosecutors and appellate lawyers “for putting Harvey Weinstein away for good.”

The conversation gained attention after a viewer reached out through a neighborhood network concerned about a self-driving vehicle he believed was malfunctioning. The concern raised questions about what happens when autonomous technology does not work as expected and how drivers should respond as they see more of these vehicles on the road.

“I think it is cool for long drives,” one driver said.

Another driver disagreed, saying, “Nope, not for me.”

Videos shared this year showing autonomous vehicles in unusual situations have added to the public discussion. One showed a Waymo vehicle navigating flooding in Texas, while another appeared to show a vehicle blocking traffic near an apartment fire.

Some drivers say they are not convinced the technology is ready.

“I don’t think the human race is ready for self-driving cars yet. People can barely drive nowadays as is,” one driver said.

Others believe autonomous vehicles could eventually make roads safer. Waymo says its vehicles have fewer serious crashes compared with human drivers.

“As long as you’re using it smart and not drinking and driving with the self-driving, it should be good,” another driver said.

A MetroPlan Orlando survey found more drivers are becoming comfortable sharing the road with autonomous vehicles compared with previous years. However, when asked about riding in a driverless vehicle, a majority of respondents still preferred having a human driver.

Traffic safety experts say part of the challenge is learning how to interact with the technology. News 6 traffic safety expert Trooper Steve recently spotted a Waymo vehicle while on patrol along John Young Parkway.

“Malfunction could be up for definition, give it some time and be patient if you see one,” he said.

Trooper Steve said drivers need to understand both the abilities and limitations of autonomous vehicles. He said if something goes wrong, the vehicle is designed to recognize the issue and attempt to safely respond.

“If something does go wrong with Waymo, Waymo already knows it will autonomously try to fix what is happening, and if it can’t, it will try to find a way to park itself,” he said.

He added that if drivers see an issue involving a self-driving vehicle, they should respond the same way they would with any other vehicle emergency and call 911 if needed.

For some, the technology represents progress.

“I think it’s a good idea when people get ready for it, but at the same time I don’t think it’s updated and safe,” one driver said.

For others, handing over control to a computer remains a major step.

And on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza took the fall.

Halfway through a wretched season, Mendoza was fired as skipper of the underperforming Mets and replaced by former San Diego Padres manager Andy Green, who was already working in the organization.

Last-place New York was 34-47 at the season's midpoint, 15 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta and 9 1/2 back of the final NL wild-card berth.

Mets owner Steve Cohen had high expectations for a team without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.

“There is no sugar-coating it: This season has been a disappointment and our fans deserve better than what we’ve delivered,” Cohen said in a statement.

Although in some ways Mendoza had been on the hot seat for months, in others it was a stunningly swift decline for a skipper viewed as a rising star in 2024, when he earned high praise and was a Manager of the Year finalist after taking the Mets on a surprising playoff run in his debut season.

At a Citi Field news conference before Friday night's 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, president of baseball operations David Stearns thanked Mendoza for his contributions and called it “a very difficult day.”

“Despite all of our effors, Mendy’s included, we haven’t been able to get this going this year. And I take responsibility for that," Stearns said. "I also have a responsibility to push us forward, to look for solutions and to make difficult decisions and change when I think it's needed."

Slowed by injuries to Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Clay Holmes, Francisco Alvarez, Luis Robert Jr. and Jorge Polanco, the Mets (34-48) are a season-worst 14 games under .500 after dropping their seventh in a row. Friday night marked only the 10th time all year — and first since April 22 — that Lindor and Soto were both in the starting lineup. On two of those occasions, one left early because of a calf strain.

New York traded pitcher David Peterson, who had been the team's longest-tenured player, to the Chicago Cubs on Thursday and could pivot to a selloff this summer and retooling for the future.

“I understand we have an uphill battle ahead of us this year, but we're not turning the page,” Stearns said. “I think sometimes a new voice, a new perspective, a new view, helps. And sometimes it's really difficult to explain why or how. But at this point, it was time to try.”

Stearns said he informed Mendoza of the decision when they met Friday morning, and the Mets held a team meeting Friday afternoon.

“At the end of the day, this is not on him. It’s more on us, the players, that we didn’t perform to our capabilities,” Lindor said.

The 46-year-old Mendoza spent 15 seasons working for the New York Yankees, the last four as bench coach, before the Mets hired him to replace Buck Showalter after the 2023 season. They reached the National League Championship Series in 2024 but missed the playoffs last year and are among baseball's biggest disappointments this season.

“If we were playing better, he’d still be here. It’s just unfortunate he had to take the fall,” infielder Bo Bichette said.

Since starting 2025 a major league-best 45-24 through June 12, the Mets are 72-103. The team went 206-199 under Mendoza, who was in the final guaranteed season of a three-year contract. He was hired by the Mets a month after Stearns arrived.

After signing Soto to a record $765 million, 15-year contract before the 2025 season, Stearns made major changes last offseason. He overhauled Mendoza's coaching staff and allowed fan favorites Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz to leave as free agents. Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil were traded, and Stearns brought in Bichette, Polanco, Robert, Freddy Peralta and Marcus Semien.

None of it has worked.

New York had a 12-game losing streak in April, its longest since 2002, and made six errors in the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader loss to the Chicago Cubs, the team's most in a game since 2014.

The 48-year-old Green, a former major league infielder, joined the Mets in 2023 as senior vice president of baseball development and had been running their farm system. He was given the title of interim manager for the rest of the season and will wear uniform No. 70.

“Tough. I don't think anybody dreams of sitting in this seat this way,” Green said.

Green managed San Diego to a 274-366 record from 2016-19, finishing with losing records in all four seasons.

Stearns said Green will return to a front-office role after this season and the Mets will conduct a full search for a new manager. Green said he loves the player-development job he had and chose it largely to be able to spend more time with his three daughters.

“This wasn't something I was running to,” Green said. “This felt more like a responsibility than an opportunity.”

Green played four games for the Mets in 2009, his final big league appearances as a player. He became the team's fourth manager since Cohen bought the club from the Wilpon and Katz families after the 2020 season, following Luis Rojas, Showalter and Mendoza.

Mendoza is the third major league manager to lose his job since the season started. Boston's Alex Cora was replaced by Chad Tracy and Philadelphia's Rob Thomson by Don Mattingly, with both of those changes coming in late April.

Roster shuffle

In other moves, the Mets reinstated outfielder Tyrone Taylor (right hip flexor strain) from the 10-day injured list and recalled left-hander Zach Thornton from Triple-A Syracuse to make his second big league start Friday night against Philadelphia. The club optioned outfielder MJ Melendez and right-hander Daniel Duarte to Syracuse following Thursday night's 10-inning loss to the Cubs.

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum and AP freelancer Jerry Beach contributed to this report.

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