“Hey, buddy,” North Carolina's Forbes said, beaming and extending his hand to the Oklahoma coach.

“You thought we were going to fight?” Johnson said, turning to reporters.

The college baseball lifers have known each other for decades, since they spent long days and nights scouting the same talent showcases and engaging in recruiting battles during long runs as assistants.

“I always thought if we met up together," Forbes told Johnson, “we'd be hunting.”

Oh, they're hunting together all right.

North Carolina will be looking for its first national title in baseball and Oklahoma for its third when the schools square off in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at Charles Schwab Field on Saturday. The start of the game was moved up five hours to 3 p.m. EDT because of a forecast calling for storms at night.

The Tar Heels and Sooners have taken different routes to reach the same destination.

North Carolina (53-12-1) has lost consecutive games just once, in early March, and has been ranked no lower than No. 4 by D1Baseball.com the last two months.

Oklahoma (41-22) was ranked as high as No. 8 and then lost six of nine series in Southeastern Conference play. The Sooners finished 11th in the SEC and were unranked when they entered the national tournament off losses in seven of nine games.

“I think the SEC just offers a great preparation, period, for this type of tournament,” OU's Trey Gambill said. “There’s no breaks. Just like in this tournament, you’re not playing any bad teams. You’re not playing any mediocre teams. You’re playing the best of the best. So the SEC just prepared us for always being ready to put our best out there.”

Both teams went 3-0 in CWS bracket play. The Tar Heels have won five straight, and the Sooners are on a season-best eight-game streak.

The Game 1 pitching matchup pits North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro (11-2) against 6-foot-6, 237-pound left-hander Cord Rager (6-3), one of three freshman starters for the Sooners. DeCaro went 6 2/3 innings and struck out nine in Carolina's 6-2 win over Mississippi last Friday. Rager walked none and struck out eight in seven innings of a 9-0 win over Alabama last Saturday.

SEC streak on line

Oklahoma will be going for the Southeastern Conference's seventh straight national title and 18th overall, which would tie the Pac-12 for most.

The SEC is assured of having the champion, runner-up or both for the 20th time since 2000. The Sooners are the 10th different SEC team to reach the finals over that span.

ACC's first finals since 2015

North Carolina is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to make the CWS finals since Virginia in 2015.

The Tar Heels are trying to become the third ACC program to win a national title in baseball. Wake Forest won the first in 1955 and Virginia the second in 2015.

North Carolina (2006-07, 2026) and Virginia (2014-15) are the only ACC programs to play in the finals since the best-of-three format started in 2003.

Power surge

DeCaro will face a Sooners team that's averaging 10.4 runs per game with 22 homers during their eight-game win streak. They've gone deep eight times in the CWS, including five in an 11-4 win over Georgia on Wednesday. OU has 45 homers in its 20 games since May 1 after hitting 46 homers in its first 43.

“What Jason’s going to do is what he’s been doing,” Forbes said. “We don’t care what the offense has been, what they’re doing, how hot they are. He’s going to go right after them with his stuff. You start being tentative, you start getting negative counts, then that offense gets even better.”

Call him K-den

North Carolina is 28-0 when Caden Glauber pitches. The freshman leads the Tar Heels with 106 strikeouts and 13.76 per nine innings, and he has allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings over three CWS games.

Another freshman reliever, lefty Jackson Rose, pitched 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief in a 12-7 win over West Virginia and has a 2.15 ERA over 50 2/3 innings this season.

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

The new aircraft eschews the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue exterior of the old plane for a bolder look, with the underbelly of the plane painted navy blue with a red stripe above it. The plane's left side, where the president boards, features the presidential seal, while the tail of the aircraft has a massive American flag on it.

“This plane was transformed into a flying White House at a level of luxury that nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said from inside the massive Joint Base Andrews hangar, as a couple hundred assembled Air Force personnel looked on. He spoke after stepping off the new plane in a dramatic flourish, as his signature tune “God Bless the USA” played.

He confirmed that he would be taking the new jet to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, next month and indicated he would be returning to China “at some point,” presumably a reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that China is hosting in November. His return from the Group of 7 summit in France this week was the last planned trip aboard the old Air Force One, he said.

“Now, when we land at airports in London and in Germany and different places, nobody tops this one, and that’s the way we have to have it for our country,” Trump said, noting that the colors and the design were to “my taste, I will say."

He added that the new Air Force One will do a flyover during the July 4 celebrations next month.

The gift from Qatar is serving as a “bridge” aircraft to carry the president until the new planes ordered directly from Boeing arrive. That is currently slated for 2028.

The administration formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last year to be used as the presidential airplane, despite questions about the ethics and legality of accepting such an expensive gift from a foreign government. Trump has insisted in the past that he would not fly around in the Qatari jet once he leaves office and said it would instead be donated to a future presidential library.

Trump on Friday said the U.S. was in a “little bit of a logjam” as they awaited the delivery of the new jets directly from Boeing, which had originally been scheduled for 2024 but have been delayed. He recalled asking the emir of Qatar for use of one of their planes.

"See, a normal president wouldn’t do this. A normal president wants to stay away from aircraft," Trump said Friday. “But our country has to be represented properly.”

The Air Force said in a news release Friday that any plane deemed Air Force One “must meet rigorous security requirements” and that the Qatari plane “was modified under a disciplined engineering approach that prioritized these exact core capabilities above all else.” The Air Force also said “much of the previous head of state interior layout” of the plane was kept intact.

The Air Force has said in the past that security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million.

Trump's efforts to reimagine the presidential airplane date back to his first administration, when he directed that an incoming fleet of new jets would adopt a color scheme that was nearly identical to that of his personal airplane. Then-President Joe Biden reversed the decision in March 2023 as an Air Force review suggested that the darker colors could increase costs and delay delivery of the new jets, but once Trump returned to office, he returned to his desired colors for the plane.

Other government jets that carry other top administration officials will also use the similar red, white and navy color scheme, the Air Force said earlier this year.

An Air Force spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive plans, told The Associated Press that the two current planes, known as VC-25As, will not be retiring. Instead, they will remain in the fleet until the new Boeing planes, referred to as VC-25Bs, come into service, the spokesperson said.

It is unclear how the older jets will be used but the spokesperson said that both the Qatari jet as well as the VC-25As will be available for use and “the Presidential Airlift Group will select the appropriate aircraft for each mission based on operational requirements.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the name of the air base to Joint Base Andrews, not Andrews Air Force Base, its former name.

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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report from Washington.

“This is what it looked like. Would you drink that?” one resident said.

Steven Thornly, a Groveland resident, said the water looked severe across the area. “It’s almost like a gravy-looking color. It’s all throughout the neighborhood,” Thornly said.

The City of Groveland handed out notices recommending residents run their faucets for up to 15 minutes to flush out the murky water, but some said that didn’t work.

Stacey Cooper, a Groveland resident, said she had to flush her water much longer than the city recommended. “For me, it wasn’t just 10 to 15 minutes of flushing my water. It was over two hours of flushing,” Cooper said.

The city posted on social media that some residents were experiencing water discoloration due to routine fire hydrant flushing. City officials said that’s normal and caused by minor sediment disturbances in water lines.

But residents said the impact lingered even after the water cleared.

“Even though the color is gone, you can still smell it,” Thornly said.

Cooper said the issue disrupted basic tasks at home. “I’ve got laundry that I can’t wash. I can’t do dishes. I’m not going to let my 9-year-old child or my husband shower in that. We have to find another place to shower,” Cooper said.

Dozens of residents posted on social media, worried about whether the problem will impact their next water bill. The city’s communications director provided this statement:

“Regarding billing impacts, the city is still investigating which residents may have been affected and to what extent. Once that review is complete, we will be able to provide more information.”

Cooper said residents should not have to pay for the extra water. “They shouldn’t be charging the residents. This is the city’s issue. They need to handle it,” Cooper said.

The city says the water discoloration issue has been resolved. Officials said any resident still experiencing problems should contact the City of Groveland.

A deep U.S. roster earned a knockout berth after only two matches for the first time. The last time the Americans served as World Cup hosts in 1994, they advanced by being one of the best third-place teams. They then lost to eventual champion Brazil in their next match, which was in the round of 16.

Pulisic, who plays for AC Milan and has 33 goals in 87 international appearances, missed Friday’s match because of a calf injury.

“C.P. is a fantastic player — the quality and the leadership that he gives us,” said Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in the 4-1 victory over Paraguay on June 12. “We didn’t have him today, but I think you saw we’re still capable to go out there and get a result and put up a performance.”

Alex Freeman, the youngest player on the team at 21 and son of Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, gave the Americans a 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute off a set piece. Freeman headed in a deflected shot by Sergiño Dest for his first career World Cup goal. The goal was confirmed after a video review.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute after a run down the left sideline by Balogun.

He directed a centering pass towards striker Ricardo Pepi, who started in place of Pulisic. The ball never reached Pepi, deflecting off Australia defender Cameron Burgess and into the Socceroos’ net for an own-goal.

“I want to be dangerous, I want to create opportunities,” Balogun said. “It might not always be myself that scores, but if I can force an error that gives us the lead, then for me it's like a goal as well. It was a special start to the game to give us the momentum.”

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

With the median home price now topping $400,000, a new pilot program in Orlando is trying to change that by building new homes for about half the cost.

A lot off Quill Avenue in Parramore may not look like much right now, but organizers say it could soon be the site of a new home priced around $200,000 for low-income families.

“We just really wanted an opportunity to bring actual affordable housing to people who have basically been forever renters,” said Satrina Whithead with the GXVE Homes Initiative.

The GXVE Homes Initiative says the goal is to help families earning between $16,000 and $65,000 a year get a chance at homeownership. Whithead said the homes could range from 500 to 1,400 square feet, depending on the lot size and location.

The Orlando Regional Realtor Association reports the median home price in the area is now more than $400,000. Whithead said GXVE hopes to sell homes for about half that.

“There’s nothing wrong with profit, but at the end of the day, I want to help where the need is greatest,” Whithead said.

Organizers say they are already planning to build in Parramore and are working to close on two additional properties. They also say they have properties planned in Sanford and Mims, with a goal of bringing eight homes a year to Central Florida.

“You can pay 80 percent of your salary on rent just to have a place to live. So getting that number back down to around 50 percent is extremely important,” said Mike Harris, vice president of GXVE Homes.

Florida Made Tiny Homes, which is partnering with the organization, said it plans to build concrete homes that exceed safety requirements for the area.

“I don’t think there’s going to be anything available on the market in that price range, much less new construction,” said Dylan Grace, co-founder of Florida Made Tiny Homes.

Program organizers say they expect to start construction in the fall and hope to complete the first home within six to eight months after work begins. For more information please click here.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump praised both Evette and state Attorney General Alan Wilson, writing: “Both have had amazing careers, and have been with me from the beginning. They are MAGA and America First all the way!”

The move represents a hedging of Trump's bets in a primary season where he has seen some of his endorsed candidates fall short, rare defeats that have stirred doubts about his clout as he approaches the back half of his second term.

Trump previously gave Evette his “Complete and Total Endorsement." He also said “A BIG added plus” for her campaign is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the son of the current governor, a close ally — may be Evette’s running mate. But the 38-year-old lawyer later said he would not be considered for the post.

On social media Friday, Evette posted: “I was proud to come in first as President @realDonaldTrump's endorsed candidate for Governor on June 9th. Looking forward to doing it again on June 23rd.”

Wilson said in a social media post Friday, “I am honored to have the endorsement of President Donald J. Trump.” Swiftly thereafter, Wilson issued a news release which in part enumerated the legal briefs he's filed in support of Trump's policies on issues including restricting birthright citizenship, on which the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled.

Moments after Trump's double-endorsement post, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said on social media that he was backing Wilson, who he predicted “will lead with humility, courage, and an optimistic vision for our state.”

A person familiar with Scott’s thinking but not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Associated Press that the senator had been making calls for Wilson, helping fundraise and encouraging Trump to back his candidacy.

Evette has called Trump’s endorsement a “golden ticket” for Republicans seeking office in South Carolina, but the results have been a mixed bag in other races for governor. The Republican president’s choices in Iowa and Georgia lost this month.

Has Trump double-barreled a primary endorsement before?

Just before a 2022 U.S. Senate primary in Missouri between former Gov. Eric Greitens and Attorney General Eric Schmitt, Trump just endorsed “ERIC," presumably meaning either candidate, both of whom claimed the endorsement. Schmitt won the nomination and the office.

Arizona's primary is not until next month but Trump has been endorsing Republican candidates for governor for the past two years. In late 2024, Trump said that he was endorsing housing developer Karrin Taylor Robson. His choice angered some of his biggest allies in the state, who are suspicious of Robson's long-standing ties to the party's business establishment. Then in April 2025, Trump said he was backing U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs — in addition to Robson.

How are Trump-endorsed governor candidates doing this year?

It has been a bit of a jumble when it comes to Trump's 2026 primary picks so far.

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, in Ohio, and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, in Alabama, secured backing from Trump early in their campaigns for governor, and they went on to dominate their primaries. Like Evette, former state Sen. Mike Mazzei got Trump's backing in his bid for Oklahoma governor in a crowded field without a clear front-runner, and advanced to an Aug. 25 runoff.

But Trump's chosen gubernatorial candidates have failed in other contests. Aided by more than $100 million — mostly from his personal fortune — billionaire healthcare tycoon Rick Jackson battled his way to the Republican nomination in Georgia over Trump's pick, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, endorsed by Trump the same day as Evette, failed in his Iowa governor bid, losing to businessman Zach Lahn.

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

Fire Chief Dru Driscoll announced his retirement this week. His final day is July 24, according to the city.

“For 27 years, it has been my greatest privilege and honor to serve the Daytona Beach Fire Department and the City of Daytona Beach,” Driscoll wrote in his retirement letter.

The city praised his tenure in a statement, saying Driscoll spent 13 years as fire chief guiding the department through “tremendous growth and transformation, while remaining committed to the safety of the community and the well-being of our firefighters.”

$500K audit cloud loomed over his final months

Driscoll’s announcement follows a turbulent stretch for the department he led. In March, the city’s internal auditor released findings from a sweeping review of fire department spending between 2021 and 2025 — and the results drew sharp scrutiny from city commissioners and the public.

The audit flagged more than $500,000 charged to city purchasing cards, known as P-cards, mostly for vehicle repairs and fuel — in violation of city rules. Auditors also identified 14 fire department employees who had city take-home vehicles but kept no mileage logs, making it impossible to confirm whether the vehicles were used for city business or personal use.

Other questionable purchases included more than $50,000 spent on fast food by fire leadership, hundreds of transactions with missing receipts, roughly $50,000 in unexplained technology purchases, and a mix of unusual items — among them 15 televisions, baby shower decorations, and a beer-can cooler.

The audit launched after city employee whistleblowers brought spending concerns to elected officials.

City Commissioner Stacy Cantu said she heard directly from firefighters and the fire union president who shared her concerns.

“There’s no logs kept. That means... we were paying for their insurance, their gas, are we paying for that when they’re not working?” Cantu said.

Driscoll pushed back — hard

When city auditor Abenit Belachew presented his findings to the commission in April, the meeting ran until nearly 2 a.m. Driscoll stood before commissioners and rejected the report’s conclusions.

“The seemingly subjective report furnished by the city auditor unfairly and potentially negligently disparages and brings harmful discredit upon the men and women of the fire department,” Driscoll told the commission.

Belachew said the pushback caught him off guard — and that Driscoll never engaged with the findings before the public meeting. Belachew says he sent the report to both the fire chief and city manager in February and gave them an opportunity to respond. Neither did, he said.

“The message was clear — you need to push back an auditor, you need to question audit findings, not you need to implement corrective action,” Belachew said.

Auditor: This isn’t about fraud — it’s about accountability

Belachew was clear about where his authority ends. He said it’s not his job to declare whether fraud occurred — that’s a matter for the courts. His role, he said, is to flag gaps in oversight.

“Regardless of that amount, the elected people should be concerned of why we are spending a penny without a good reason,” Belachew said.

At least four of the 14 take-home vehicles have since been returned to the city. The state is also conducting a separate audit of the city, expected to wrap up within the coming months.

The city’s internal auditor continues working through reviews of other city departments, with a goal of finishing by end of year.

Both trains were traveling south to London St. Pancras station when they collided outside the town of Bedford around 5:15 p.m., according to information on rail tracking websites. Emergency services deployed a number of resources to the scene including an air ambulance and hazardous incident team from the East of England Ambulance Service.

“We know that a number of people have been injured and one person has very sadly died,’’ police said in a statement. “A major incident has been declared, and officers are continuing to respond at the scene alongside colleagues from Bedfordshire Police and the local Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services.''

The East of England Ambulance Service later said that 11 people had very serious injuries, 22 were seriously injured and 56 had minor injuries.

Peter Knapp, a train passenger, said he was in the rear train when the collision occurred without any warning.

“There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke," Knapp said. “People were crying, screaming. People were so scared and confused.”

“I got up and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs," he added. "And then I managed to get out of the train and because I’m quite thin I was able to squeeze out through the gap in the doors.”

Photos and videos posted on social media showed dozens of people, some with bandages but many who appeared uninjured, standing and sitting among emergency vehicles parked on a road that runs parallel to the train tracks.

The RMT union, which represents many railway workers, said it was monitoring the situation and expressed its concern over reports of “serious injuries” sustained by both train staff and passengers.

East Midlands Railway said in a statement that the 4:40 p.m. train from Corby to St. Pancras had been involved in the collision with the 3:50 p.m. train from Nottingham to the same station. The company said it had cancelled all trains to and from St. Pancras for the rest of Friday and it was unable to confirm the schedule for Saturday.

In a release, deputies said the incident happened Monday at the 400 block of Leland Drive in Deltona.

“The boy’s mother found him face down in the pool as the family was getting ready to go to the beach,” the release reads. “The boy’s mom pulled him from the pool and immediately began CPR until deputies and paramedics arrived.”

Per investigators, the mother estimated it had been around three minutes since she had last seen the boy, and she believes he slipped out through a sliding glass door that was mistakenly left open.

The toddler was taken to the hospital, but despite being treated for days, he was taken off life support Thursday night, the sheriff’s office revealed.

“At this time, detectives do not believe foul play was involved, and this was an accidental drowning,” the release concludes. “The Volusia Sheriff’s Office sends its heartfelt sympathies to the boy’s loved ones.”

Every Brazilian fan — in Philadelphia to watch their team play Haiti on Friday at the World Cup — who stopped for a snapshot or a selfie with the 9-foot-11, 1,300-pound beast left the statue dressed in only his bronze trunks and boots.

No taking chances of getting hit by the Rocky curse.

Yes, the Rocky statue, long a symbol of resilience, heart and the unbreakable bond between Rocky and the people of Philadelphia, has taken a few more hits of late (even in retirement).

Visiting American sports fans have long learned the hard way that dressing the statue with colorful jerseys, scarfs, hats, anything found in your local Rally House, has only meant that team would suffer a knockout blow at the home of the local Philly team.

Scoff all you want.

The bad fortune stretched to soccer when Ecuador fans took over the Rocky steps and sang and danced and waved flags and ... dressed Rocky in a team jersey and tied the country's flag around the fictional fighter's neck.

It didn't go well.

Amad Diallo scored in the 90th minute to lift Ivory Coast to a 1-0 victory over Ecuador in its first World Cup appearance in a dozen years.

And there ain't gonna be no rematch.

Brazil fans noticed the outcome and one of their fan groups, the Green and Yellow Movement, urged visitors to keep their clothing to themselves.

"ANTENCAO TORCEDOR!" the Instagram post warned.

Everyone is paying attention.

The translated text read: “It's totally forbidden to put a Brazil shirt on the Rocky statue in Philly!!!!!”

Even Visit PA cheekily got in on the fun and tried to warn foreigners that — just like Ivan Drago learned the hard way — Rocky was not to be messed with.

“Countless football teams (as in American Football, not Fútbol — same curse, different sport) have all dressed the Rocky Statue in their colors and gone on to lose,” the Instagram post said. “Ecuador dressed Rocky last weekend Coincidence? Sadly, history says no.

“Philadelphia can't wait to host you! (but Rocky does not need your kit)”

Brazilian fans paid heed to the warning Thursday, and scores of fans simply took the spot in front of the statue and raised their arms in triumph just as Rocky did after so many fights, and many, many movies.

Hundreds of Brazilian fans swarmed the Rocky steps late in the day and left the statue bare. Rocky was roped off as if inside the ring and four “Rocky protectors” stood at each corner to keep enthusiastic fans at bay.

“This is a moment in Brazil,” said Lorival Guerreiro, who traveled from Limeira, Brazil. “They promote this place to celebrate before the game. The Brazilians come here to celebrate our team."

When the bronze statue was left on the steps after filming the “Rocky” movies, the museum fought to have it removed. It was eventually relocated to South Philadelphia before returning to the bottom of the steps in 2006. The statue was a huge hit and became a point of pilgrimage for people around the world.

According to the Philadelphia Visitor Center, about 4 million people visit the steps each year — rivaling the nearby Liberty Bell in annual foot traffic. The pop culture icon was recently moved to the top of the steps.

Roberto De Freitas, a native of Porto Alegre who now lives in Florida and is attending his third World Cup, climbed the steps for a photoshoot with perhaps Philadelphia's most famous landmark. He was dressed in Brazil's colors — down to the green sneakers — and was set to attend Friday's game.

He hoped five-time World Cup champion Brazil would take a page from Rocky's corner and win some more.

“We have five titles,” De Freitas said. “We are trying to get that sixth one.”

De Freitas had not yet heard of the Rocky curse but had no plans to tempt fate once he learned of the potential consequences.

“That's what they said,” he asked with a laugh. “I'm for sure not going to do it.”

For the record, De Freitas said “Rocky” was his favorite of all the movies in the series.

The Rocky Shop at the base of the steps was loaded with tourists who snaked their way through fighter T-shirts and plush offerings of Mr. T's character, Clubber Lang. Peruvian sports journalist Jampool Cuadros Estrada tried on a Rocky robe as a cameraman followed him around the store for their latest World Cup report.

Philadelphia, home to nearly 6,000 Brazilian-born immigrants, has a bit of a recent connection with the South American country. The Philadelphia Eagles opened their Super Bowl championship season with a win over the Green Bay Packers in Brazil in 2024.

Facing pressure to win its first World Cup title since 2002, Brazil was outplayed early and needed Vinícius Júnior’s 32nd-minute goal to get a 1-1 draw with Morocco on Saturday.

Brazil now needs to beware Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation that qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974 and is a noted heavy underdog — just like Rocky.

“Brazil has the pressure. Haiti has the freedom,” Haitian singer Wyclef Jean wrote on social media. “And sometimes freedom is the most dangerous thing on the pitch. I can't wait!!!!”

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

A Heat Advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday as heat index values soar between 108 and 111 degrees. Afternoon highs will climb into the mid 90s, but the combination of heat and humidity will make it feel much hotter.

Along with the heat, expect the chance for storms to increase Friday afternoon as the easy and west coast sea breeze collides. The highest rain and storm coverage, between 40 and 70 percent, is expected across much of East Central Florida.

A few storms could become strong to severe, especially during the afternoon and evening hours. The main threats include damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph, frequent lightning, small hail, and torrential rainfall. Some areas could see 1 to 2 inches of rain in a short period, with isolated totals of 3 to 5 inches possible where storms repeatedly move over the same locations.

A Marginal Risk (Level 1/5) for severe storms is in place across the area, and a Marginal Risk (Level 1/5) for excessive rainfall for Brevard County.

WEEKEND

The active pattern continues into Saturday, when storm coverage increases to 50 to 80 percent. Another round of strong storms will be possible, bringing gusty winds, frequent lightning, heavy rain, and localized flooding concerns.

Storm chances decrease slightly on Father’s Day, but scattered afternoon and evening storms remain in the forecast. Temperatures will continue to run above normal through the weekend, with highs in the low to mid 90s and heat index values topping 100 degrees.

NEXT WEEK

Looking ahead to next week, rain chances gradually decrease as high pressure builds over the eastern Gulf. However, daily afternoon storms and above normal temperatures will remain part of the forecast.

But one homeowner says another reptile has her a lot more creeped out.

“They’re huge. They’re so big. They look like mini dinosaurs,” Brady Deluca said. “That’s so dramatic, I know, but they are so disgusting.”

The City of Cape Canaveral recently shared a message saying Brevard County is asking for help spotting Argentine black and white tegus, an invasive species that state wildlife officials say can threaten native wildlife.

Deluca recently captured video of one of the large lizards crossing a road in her neighborhood and heading toward a canal.

“OH NO, IT’S BACK,” she recalled thinking.

That’s because this wasn’t her first encounter with one.

Last year, Deluca said a smaller tegu somehow ended up inside a neighbor’s crab trap.

“We tried to trap it. Failed miserably. Got in the water,” she said. “We learned they’re great swimmers.”

Her neighbor showed News 6 the trap where the lizard was found before escaping.

“I think those traps are a little over 24 inches, so he was probably close to three foot,” he said.

Deluca says she’s used to sharing her Lake Poinsett neighborhood with alligators, but these lizards are another story.

“We’re used to the gators because they’re here and they don’t bother us. We don’t bother them,” she said. “But these are new and different. And I don’t like them.”

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Argentine black and white tegus can grow to nearly 5 feet long. The agency says the invasive lizards are strong swimmers and have been documented eating the eggs of native wildlife, including alligators and sea turtles.

That worries Deluca, who recently watched a pair of sandhill cranes raise two chicks near her home.

“We had two babies here for a couple weeks, and now they only have one,” Deluca said. “Now I’m going to sit here and worry that one of the tegus got it.”

Still, she hopes she won’t have to worry about seeing any more.

“I would love to think that no more show up,” Deluca said. “That would make my day.”

FWC encourages anyone who spots a tegu to take a picture, note the location and report the sighting through the IveGot1 app or the Exotic Species Hotline. The agency advises people not to try to handle the animals themselves.

Carrying a cross, people stood at a distance as the small coffin was lowered into the ground by masked and gloved health workers, and a Catholic priest prayed over her body.

“It’s a feeling of sadness because we have lost one of our own, a daughter of the church," said Father Innocent Ndogo.

“As we have always said, the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.”

Ituri, the region at the center of the current outbreak, has reported more than 90% of the cases. The response has been complicated by residents clashing with healthcare professionals over disrupted burials and the response to the outbreak, which has been militarized at times.

The impersonal nature of safe burial practices and the severity of the epidemic were evident on Friday as only healthcare workers in protective gear were allowed to handle the coffin and the burial.

Bundibugyo, the type of Ebola in this outbreak, has no approved treatment or vaccine, and even some health workers have said they don’t have the masks, gloves and other gear to protect themselves.

During a visit to Bunia on Friday, Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba said that there were now 933 confirmed cases and 245 deaths from the current outbreak. Kamba also stated that all health centers will be free in Ituri and that healthcare workers bonuses will be doubled.

There are 35,000 suspected potential contacts, Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

Despite the rapid spread of the current outbreak, it is still not nearly as deadly as a 2014 outbreak of Ebola that killed more than 11,000.

With no approved vaccines or treatments, the Bundibugyo strain was not tested for in the early days. This lack of testing is one of the reasons the outbreak has spread to such an extent. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

Alex Lock, a communications officer at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, asked people to resist feeling indifferent.

"She was a baby. She had her whole life ahead of her. Unfortunately, she was taken by the disease, a disease that, as you know, is transmitted from one person to another," Lock said.

Although the outbreak is concentrated in Ituri, cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda, where 19 confirmed cases have been reported and two people have died.

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McMakin contributed from Dakar, Senegal.

FHP Captain Lenita King and Trooper Maurice Vilsaint were arrested and charged with grand theft, fraud, and falsifying an official document.

Champions Gate is a private resort and golf community just south of Disney. They hire off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol the area. According to an arrest affidavit, both King and Vilsaint were paid directly through their own companies, not through FHP.

State records confirm King’s company, Encore Security Services LLC, belongs solely to her.

The affidavit states Champions Gate paid Vilsaint through MNEWARKVIL LLC, which he created in 2023.

FHP’s Office of Inspector General opened an investigation in April. Investigators found the two troopers billed Champions Gate for days when they never showed up.

FHP’s off-duty system differs from other agencies

Most law enforcement agencies collect off-duty pay on behalf of their officers, then distribute it. Orlando Police Department’s website states that payment must be submitted to “Off Duty Management.” Orange County Sheriff’s Office handles billing and collection the same way, according to its website.

FHP works differently. At FHP, off-duty work arrangements often go directly through the trooper. Some troopers receive checks written in their name. Others form their own LLCs to limit liability and get paid directly by the companies that hire them.

News 6 asked FHP why it tasks troopers with forming their own companies, and whether enough oversight exists for off-duty work. FHP had not responded.

Investigation could expand

Sources tell News 6 that other troopers could now be under scrutiny for their own off-duty work arrangements.

King and Vilsaint have both been terminated from FHP.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich found that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had, but she effectively put her ruling on hold for up to three weeks so Biden could appeal.

The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur in the course of his investigation into whether Biden improperly retained classified documents while a senator and vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded them after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president.

Biden's Democratic administration refused to turn over the recordings and transcripts from 2016 and 2017, leading congressional Republicans to hold his attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt.

President Donald Trump's Justice Department authorized the release of the materials. That led Biden last month to sue to seek to block the release to a staffer at the conservative Heritage Foundation who had formally requested the records.

Biden objected to the release as an invasion of privacy, saying the recordings included him discussing sensitive personal matters such as the death of his older son, Beau Biden. But Friedrich found that the administration redacted that material.

The judge wrote that the materials “contain no mention of highly sensitive topics like illness or death, nor do they mention any non-public persons, including members of Biden's family.”

Representatives for Biden did not immediately comment but asked Friedrich to bar release of the material while they appeal her decision. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Friedrich was nominated by Trump, a Republican, in 2017.

Hur’s yearlong investigation led to a 345-page report that questioned the effects of Biden’s age and his mental competence but recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old. Hur said he found insufficient evidence to prosecute a case in court successfully.

The transcripts of five hours of Biden interviews with federal prosecutors was released that same year. While Biden was adamant that he treated classified information seriously, the transcript shows that he was at times fuzzy about dates and details and he said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.

About a dozen people deported from the U.S. arrived in Sierra Leone Thursday, the second deportation flight to the country after nine West African migrants landed there last month, Erica Reilly, an attorney representing one of the migrants, said Friday.

Sierra Leone is one of at least nine other African nations that the U.S. has struck third-country deportation deals with. Authorities have said they are only taking in citizens of West African countries. Several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have also reached similar agreements with the U.S.

A briefing pamphlet that lawyers said was distributed to the migrants upon their arrival in the capital, Freetown, reads that the government and contractors are working to “return you home as quickly and safely as possible.”

The pamphlet, a copy of which was seen by the AP, was distributed by Kenvah Solutions, ⁠a private contractor that the Sierra Leone government said it hired to handle the deportees' accommodation, food, healthcare and transfer.

The pamphlet describes Sierra Leone as a “temporary transit location,” stating that “no long-term settlement is provided for or permitted.”

Kenvah Solutions and the Sierra Leonean authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Under a series of often-secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to nearly two dozen countries that are not their own, advocates say, all part of the broad U.S. crackdown on immigration. Immigration lawyers said the Trump administration uses deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers back to their home countries.

Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, Timothy Kabba, said last month that the government’s agreement with the Trump administration is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. government.

The program is capped at 25 deportees per month and 300 per year, according to the ministry. It did not specify the duration of the arrangement.

Reilly, the attorney representing a Nigerian man among those deported Thursday, said the migrants had legal protections from U.S. courts to not be deported to their home countries after judges ruled they faced credible fears of persecution. Now they are left with little ability to prevent being sent there.

“They’re put in a position where they just don’t have a say at all,” Reilly said.

Earlier this month, rights lawyers filed a case against Equatorial Guinea before Africa’s top human rights body, accusing the central African nation of forcing deportees from the United States back to their home countries in violation of their rights.

“The U.S. government knows exactly what’s going to happen in the vast majority of these situations,” Reilly said. “Our government is just saying, ‘What happens to them after they leave the United States is not our problem.’”

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

And then it all changed in a New York minute.

Four holes later, he was 11 shots behind and scrambling just to make it to the weekend at Shinnecock Hills.

“Just rocks,” Johnson said.

It was a little more than pebbles in the sand that caused this stunning meltdown in the second round, but it left him a little dazed and more than a little frustrated.

His mishaps started on the 11th when a gust knocked down his tee shot and it wound up in the right bunker. The next shot came out soft, rolled back down the false front into another bunker, and he failed to get up-and-down, making double bogey.

“Where I was standing it felt firm, but it came out soft,” he said of the first sand shot. “These bunkers are very difficult — or at least I'm having a hard time with it.”

Two soft bogeys followed, one of them on the 13th hole when he had a lob wedge from a 117 yards that went so far it landed on the slope at the back of the green. His pitch went past the pin and off the green and he had to scramble from there.

But the real damage came on the 15th from the right rough, and a shot that wound up in the right bunker guarding the green. He thought that would be fine, an easy place to make par, until it was anything but that.

His first shot took a hard turn to the left, went down the false front and into the left bunker. The next shot stayed in the bunker. The third one was a rocket that sailed over the green and caused two volunteers sitting next to the grandstand to scramble for cover.

“Three in a row with rocks,” Johnson said. “I hit a rock coming out and it shot it straight left. The next one hit a rock and it came out soft. And the third one hit rock and went into the ball.”

When he chipped cautiously to avoid going back into the bunker, he had a 25-foot putt that nervously ran 3 1/2 by the hole. He made that for 8.

The upside is he should be safe for the weekend, his third straight cut he made in the majors. But he couldn't help but wonder where he could have been except for the rocks.

“It's the ones you can't see," Johnson said. “Obviously, the big ones on top you can move them. I could see them but there we in the sand, and it's one of those things whether you can move them. If I move them it would improve my lie.”

At least he bounced back by hammering a drive — his ball speed has measured as high as 194 mph this week — and a 7-wood to 25 feet on the 615-yard 16th hole for a two-putt birdie. He finished with a pair of pars for a 77 and was at 3-over 143.

Most frustrating is Johnson, who is in the last year of his U.S. Open exemption from winning in 2016 at Oakmont, felt like he was on the right track. He made a rash decision to change back to the old loft on his irons before the LIV event in South Korea, finished fourth and then tied for fifth in Spain.

And here he was, chasing Wyndham Clark until he was hanging on by the seat of his pants. He lost an opportunity, but not all hope.

“The swing is good. I feel good,” Johnson said. “On this golf course, you're never really out of it. A couple of good days, I can get back in the mix.”

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

His family confirmed his death in a statement to People, saying he “passed away peacefully today surrounded by his family.” No location or cause of death was provided.

Burrows spent his career behind the camera specializing in situation comedies. Few viewers recognized him or knew his name, other than to see it flash quickly on the screen in the opening credits. But they knew his work.

Burrows got his start in television relatively late at age 35 in 1974, directing episodes of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show,” and “Laverne & Shirley.”

He co-created “Cheers,” directing 243 of the 273 episodes, as well as all 246 episodes of “Will and Grace.”

He also helmed multiple episodes of such hits as “Frasier,” “Friends” and “Mike & Molly,” and the pilots of “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

“When I direct a television show, I try to reach that sweet spot where the best script meets the best performance and the best chemistry between performers,” Burrows wrote in his 2022 memoir “Directed by James Burrows." ”Hitting that exact moment, where these factors land in combination, results in the sweetest and most enduring laugh.”

His family said, "Burrows understood that great comedy was never simply about laughter. It was about humanity, connection, and truth. That understanding became the foundation of a career that forever changed television.

"But beyond his remarkable achievements, Burrows will be remembered for something even greater: his kindness, generosity, and unwavering belief in the people around him. He possessed a rare ability to make everyone better and was known for remembering every person he met by name, making colleagues at every level feel seen, valued, and appreciated,” the family statement said.

The majority of Burrows' shows aired on NBC, whose “Must See TV” slogan promoted its Thursday night lineup in the early 1990s that included “Friends” and “Frasier.”

“Jimmy Burrows was the man behind the curtain. He knew how to make us laugh, what buttons to push and was the absolute master of getting the most out of every joke,” NBC said in a statement. "His loss to the television comedy world is immeasurable. Every time you have a smile on your face watching ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ ’Taxi, ‘Cheers,’ ‘Will & Grace,’ ‘Friends’ and countless others, think of Jimmy and know he made all our lives funnier.”

Born James Edward Burrows on Dec. 30, 1940, in Los Angeles, he moved to New York when he was 5 years old. He spent five years in the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus until his voice started to change. He attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art.

His father was writer, director and producer Abe Burrows, whose Broadway hits included “Guys and Dolls” and “Can-Can.” The elder Burrows also mentored Larry Gelbart, future creator and producer of the TV show “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H.”

The younger Burrows spent hours of his youth in theaters and studios watching his father work, dining with him at such famed New York haunts as Sardi’s and Gallagher’s and meeting celebrities who attended his father’s New Year’s Eve parties.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College, Burrows attended the graduate program of the Yale School of Drama, where his classmates included actor-comedian Robert Klein, playwright John Guare and film director John Badham.

At Yale, he was required to take directing classes and he got hooked.

Burrows’ first sitcom experience was as Burl Ives’ dialogue coach on “O.K. Crackerby!” which was directed by his father and ran for one season on ABC in 1965.

From there, he was an assistant on “The Patty Duke Show.” He moved back to New York and worked for Broadway producers Lee Guber, Frank Ford and Shelly Gross. He first met actor Moore while working on the Broadway production of “Holly Golightly,” an adaptation of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” that was directed by his father.

Burrows eventually worked as a stage manager for various road productions, where he met such actors as Hugh O’Brien, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Julie Harris.

By 1974, after working in dinner theater and summer stock, he turned on his television and saw Moore’s eponymous TV show. He wrote her a letter asking if there was any opening “small or smaller” at her production company that he could fill, according to his memoir.

Moore’s husband and business partner, Grant Tinker, invited Burrows to Los Angeles to direct an episode of the comedy. He apprenticed for MTM Enterprises, which had four sitcoms on the air at the same time.

Burrows cited his theater background for learning how to give actors direction and block out scenes. He’s credited for being one of the first sitcom directors to increase the typical multi-camera television shoot from three to four cameras.

The common thread between Burrows’ shows were the bonds between friends and unrelated families, whether it was the motley crew of regulars meeting at the bar in “Cheers” or the drivers working toward a better life in “Taxi” or the 20-somethings sharing the same apartment building in “Friends.”

“The best sitcoms transcend the screen and reach out and grab the audience by the throat and by the heart,” Burrows wrote in his memoir.

He relished discovering new acting talent while directing more than 75 pilots that were picked up as series.

“Having directed over a thousand shows means that almost any night you can turn on your television or go online and find a show that I directed. I’m very proud of that,” he wrote in his memoir.

In 2019, Burrows was an executive producer on live productions of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” with famous actors re-creating episodes of those 1970s comedies.

“Jimmy was the greatest comedic television director in the history of the medium,” his agent Rick Rosen said in a statement. “He directed the most iconic, defining shows of generations. Always a gentleman, it was an absolute honor to represent him.”

Burrows was married in 1997 to Debbie Easton, whom he met when she worked as a hairstylist on “Frasier.” Daughters Kat Schatzow, Ellie Gluck and Maggie Burrows, who followed her father into directing, are from his first marriage to Linda Solomon, who died in 2004. His stepdaughter Paris is from his wife’s previous marriage. He has a sister, Laurie Burrows Grad, and seven grandchildren.

So how does it work, with 48 teams criss-crossing 16 cities across three countries? Iran has been forced to comply with what White House FIFA task force head Andrew Giuliani said were previously mandated rules stemming from the war, but those restrictions also align with FIFA guidelines for general team travel.

Team Melli made the 127-mile (204-kilometer) charter flight from Tijuana International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport the day before its opening 2-2 draw against New Zealand on Monday, a typically short trip that team captain Mehdi Taremi said instead took five hours, including security and immigration checks.

Iran returned to Mexico right after the match, which ended about 8 p.m. Pacific. The team had hoped to stave off travel for a day after the game.

The team's request to travel to LA two days before Sunday's match against Belgium was also denied, the federation said late Thursday, adding that it will lodge a complaint with FIFA. In a statement, the federation noted Sunday's earlier kickoff — noon Pacific — and said it believes “such restrictions are inconsistent with the principle of providing equal conditions for all participating teams and may negatively affect teams’ preparation processes.”

“We are the only team that are participating in the World Cup that we are at the host cities just 24 hours and it is not fair,” Iran soccer secretary-general Hedayat Mombeini said through a translator Friday. “All these limitations on us, it has negative effects on our physical and mental things on our players.”

But the Iran team’s travel schedule itself is not unusual for short distances in this tournament. And FIFA's 2026 World Cup regulations state in Article 18.3 that “each team shall travel from its team base camp to the match venue one day before matchday (MD‑1) and in exceptional cases on MD‑2, and shall return to their team base camp after the match (on MD/MD+1).”

The restrictions on the Iran team have not been lifted despite an interim agreement to end the war. Some team officials and support staff have been unable to secure visas to the U.S., and player Mehdi Torabi had to visit the U.S. consulate in Tijuana to get a new visa after the first match.

Many teams have been arriving in host cities the day before their matches. For Friday's group-stage match against Australia, the U.S. made the roughly 980-mile (1,580-kilometer) flight from their base in Orange County, California, to Seattle on Thursday. The team intended to return to its hotel in Laguna Niguel after the match.

Some CONCACAF teams preferred to arrive on the day before games for World Cup qualifiers at Mexico City, where sports performance experts advise players won't have time to acclimatize to the altitude so should get there as close to kickoff as possible.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has the longest group stage travel, at 5,878 miles (9,460 kilometers) in total. The Dragons had a roughly 1,660-mile (2,670-kilometer) flight each way from Salt Lake City to Toronto, 590 miles (950 kilometers) to Los Angeles and 690 miles (1,110 kilometers) to Seattle.

Bosnia's travel is far shorter than the 9,000-mile (14,484-kilometer) trek for the U.S. at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the longest among the 32 nations. The Americans went from their base camp in Sao Paulo to Natal, a distance of 1,436 miles (2,311 kilometers), three days before their opener against Ghana. They made the 1,832-mile (2,948-kilometer) trip to Manaus two days before of their game against Portugal and the 1,321-mile (2,126-kilometer) journey to Recife two days in front of their match against Germany.

Four years ago in Qatar, all stadiums were within 31 miles (50 kilometers) of downtown Qatar, enabling for teams to stay in one hotel throughout the tournament.

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

“I knew there was going to be a tsunami of Tartan Army (Scotland fans),” said Jason Waddleton, a Scotland native and owner of The Haven, a Scottish restaurant and bar in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood since 2010.

He was right.

First, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey agreed to temporarily extend bar and restaurant hours during the World Cup. Next came thousands of Scots — one estimate is as high as 50,000 — descending on the Boston area, including nearby Providence, Rhode Island, which has become a home base for many of them over the past few weeks.

Then it was the Tartan Army marching through Boston’s streets following the country’s opening win over Haiti last week — taking over the city’s famed Fenway Park alongside Red Sox Nation after the team dubbed it “Scottish Heritage Celebration Night.”

And the taps have been running nonstop.

World Cup fans in Boston, especially the Scots, have put a serious strain on the beer supply in a city that is accustomed to big drinking holidays in St. Patrick's Day and the Fourth of July.

The Haven, which has long served Scotland's top-selling beer, Tennent's Lager, has gone from four kegs a week to ordering 50 just for this week. Other bars have sold out of Tennent's and have tripled their orders to make sure it doesn't happen again. Sam Adams said its Boston taproom ran out of their famed Samuel Adams Boston Lager last weekend after Scottish fans descended on the city.

“We’ve basically blown through our own allocation. We still have it and we’ll get more in on Monday,” Waddleton said.

The celebratory atmosphere intensified Friday as Scotland prepared to play its second World Cup match of the tournament outside Boston.

“They know how to party, how to make friends and influence people,” Waddleton said of the Scots.

Scots fill pubs in the Boston area, challenging beer reserves

One of the most sought-after beverages in Boston pubs over the last week is Tennent's Lager.

Once only available at The Haven, before the tournament started Tennent’s made deals and distributed kegs of its product to 80 bars in Boston and surrounding areas.

Samantha Crawford, the international marketing manager for Tennent’s, said they started preparing to distribute their product to the U.S. as soon as Scotland qualified for the the World Cup in November. They've also sent supplies to Miami bars ahead of Scotland's match against Brazil next week.

“It’s been a long time in the making. The next day we got to work,” she said of the preparations to make sure the beer is stocked in the U.S. She said the beer is ingrained in the sports culture in Scotland.

Many area bars and restaurants have been caught by surprise

Mivan Spencer, owner of Caffe Dello Sport in Boston’s North End, said he is used to handling large crowds for major soccer tournaments, but has been surprised by the amount of business he’s seen during the World Cup.

“After the first weekend of matches I definitely ran out of almost everything,” Spencer said. “Luckily I have a couple other restaurants I borrowed product from to get me through.”

The first thing he sold out of was Tennent’s, before quickly selling out of Peroni.

Spencer said he’s since tripled his usual alcohol order for this week, saying it’s so “I don’t run out of a single thing.”

Over at High Street Place, a food hall in downtown Boston, beverage supplies that were expected to last a week were consumed in four days, said Lauren Johnson, a senior marketplace manager at the venue.

“Fortunately, we have great partners, and our distributors were able to pivot quickly and increase subsequent orders to keep pace with demand seamlessly,” she said.

Tapping in — and out — of iconic Boston beer Sam Adams

Sam Adams said its Boston taproom ran out of their famed Samuel Adams Boston Lager last weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, the Boston-based brewer said the Tartan Army drank four times as much Boston Lager as the establishment typically sells during a four-day holiday stretch like the Fourth of July.

To date, Sam Adams has sold more than 4,000 pints of Boston Lager, resulting in about 90 empty kegs, said Devon Sage, a Sam Adams spokesperson.

“We’ve had to schedule four ‘emergency deliveries’ to the Taproom,” Sage wrote in an email.

Soccer diplomacy comes to Massachusetts because of the World Cup

Politicians in Massachusetts have also joined in on the soccer craze.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has been a fixture at Boston’s fan festival and made appearances at several watch parties. Gov. Healey declared June 18 “World Cup Fans Appreciation Day” and was spotted at The Haven behind the bar pouring drinks for patrons.

It brought a smile to Waddleton’s face, though he said the governor may need to work on her bartending skills a little.

“Maura Healey needs to learn how to pour a pint before getting that Sunday shift she asked for," Waddleton said. “But we can work on that.”

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Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi, and freelancers Ken Powtak and Caterina McGuigan contributed to this report.

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

As thousands of fans streamed toward the stadium last week for the tournament opener, many stopped to snap photos, pet the dog and post videos online. Within hours, Osito was appearing on international broadcasts and spreading across social media, transforming the bicycle-riding dog into one of the World Cup’s most charming viral stars.

For his owner, Jorge Rangel, the attention is less about internet fame than the companionship he shares with the dog who accompanies him almost everywhere. For the past two years, Osito has joined Rangel on his daily rounds delivering household products across Mexico City.

“More than a dog, he’s my daily companion,” Rangel, 50, said.

They travel together on a specially adapted cargo bicycle, where Osito sits calmly in a back compartment, greeting passersby and drawing smiles from strangers.

The arrangement began by chance. One day, Rangel placed the dog in a delivery box attached to his bicycle and took him for a short ride. Osito seemed to enjoy it. Over time, Rangel added cushions, adjusted the setup and gradually brought him along on longer trips through the city. Before long, the pair became a familiar sight.

Now, children rush over to greet Osito, strangers stop to take photographs and some initially mistake him for a stuffed animal because he sits so still, often dressed in one of his many outfits.

“He has a very gentle temperament. Everybody wants to meet him,” Rangel said.

When the World Cup arrived, Rangel saw an opportunity to introduce Osito — whose name means “little bear” — to an even larger audience.

A devoted soccer fan, he spent weeks preparing for the tournament, gathering accessories and adapting a pair of sunglasses to fit the dog. He dressed Osito in a national team jersey and decorated the bicycle, hoping to stand out among the crowds heading to the stadium.

“It exceeded all my expectations,” Rangel said of the response.

What appears to resonate most with fans is not the costume or the viral fame, but the relationship between the man and the dog. Rangel adopted Osito years ago, during a difficult period in his life, and describes him as an emotional lifeline.

“I didn’t know what it meant to love an animal until Osito came into my life,” Rangel said.

Today, the two spend nearly every day together. If Rangel leaves without him, Osito protests with something he rarely does: bark.

Their bond is evident to the strangers who encounter them on the streets. Rangel recalls people approaching him to say that seeing Osito had brightened an otherwise stressful day. Some have thanked the pair simply for making them smile.

Now, as World Cup celebrations continue, videos of Osito keep circulating and requests for photographs remain constant. Yet each morning, Rangel and Osito climb aboard their bicycle and head back into the streets of Mexico City, where they continue working, greeting strangers and spreading moments of joy.

For Rangel, that remains the most meaningful part of the story.

The television appearances and viral fame are gratifying, he said. But what matters most is that people see the affection between a man and his dog — a bond that has unexpectedly become one of the World Cup’s most endearing images.

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

Located on a sprawling campus on Chicago’s South Side, the center honoring the nation's first Black president has been designed to inspire people to make the change they want to see in their own communities. It's the kind of contemplation that also comes as Americans gather for Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S.

The holiday marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas at the end of the Civil War with an order declaring the state's enslaved people to be free with “absolute equality.” By then, 2 1/2 years had passed since the Emancipation Proclamation declared the freedom of enslaved people in the South.

“Juneteenth represents not just a commemoration of the end of slavery but it’s also part of the ongoing struggle for absolute equality and that ideal in American life,” said W. Caleb McDaniel, a Rice University professor and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Sweet Taste of Liberty.”

Obama's presidential center in Chicago

The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center includes days of events following Thursday’s star-studded dedication ceremony. In addition to greeting visitors Friday as the center opened to the public for the first time, the couple also read to children gathered there.

Tyrone Sturgis, 62, said it had been a beautiful experience to see all of the people from different walks of life explore the new presidential center on Friday.

“For this center to open on Juneteenth, on the South Side of Chicago, it’s extraordinary, it’s awesome,” he said.

The center's public opening arrives as a symbolic convergence of legacy and liberation. The nation is deeply divided politically and grappling with renewed questions about the arc of racial progress as the Supreme Court hollowed out the Voting Rights Act, endangering Black political representation in Congress.

The nearly 20-acre (8-hectare) campus includes a museum featuring a life-sized replica of the Oval Office, a garden designed by Michelle Obama complete with lettuce and strawberry plants, a professional-grade basketball court, a picnic area with grills and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. Visitors can experience high-tech and hands-on exhibits spanning the campaigns, key moments of Obama’s presidency and life at the White House.

The spaces are designed to bring people together on a campus expected to draw as many as 1 million visitors annually, but the center also aims to encourage personal reflection. Louise Bernard, the museum’s director, has said they’re “inviting people to bring change home, however change may be defined, both small or large.”

The history of Juneteenth

This is the fifth year since Juneteenth was designated as a federal holiday by former President Joe Biden, who served as Obama's vice president. But the celebrations, which began in Texas and then spread across the country, have a rich and long history in Black America, with the day often spent gathering for picnics and cookouts.

The holiday — a combination of “June” and “nineteenth” — marks the day when U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in the Texas port city with the declaration of freedom in General Order No. 3.

As the third year of the Civil War neared, President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the freedom of “all persons held as slaves” in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. Though, for many, it did not mean immediate freedom but a promise of liberation, to be secured with a Union victory.

“It really required the force of arms and the success of U.S. armies to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation,” McDaniel said.

About six months after Granger's arrival in Galveston, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery nationwide was ratified.

Celebrations across the nation this year

Juneteenth’s birthplace is celebrating with a daylong gathering at a Galveston park with music and fireworks, a parade and a worship service in a historic Black church. In nearby Houston there was a line-up of musical artists and a domino tournament at Emancipation Park, established in 1872 by a group of formerly enslaved men.

Hundreds of other cities across the U.S. announced events over the long weekend, including a parade in Atlanta, a bike ride in Los Angeles and a festival on Martha’s Vineyard. People also gathered for community projects to mark the day, including a group of schoolchildren in Vermont.

Several cities across the U.S. will host walks named for Opal Lee, the Texas woman who pushed for years to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. Participants will walk 2 1/2 miles to symbolize the 2 1/2 years it took for the Emancipation Proclamation to be enforced in Texas. Lee, known as the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” turns 100 this year.

Reflecting on a continuing struggle

Black Texans embraced the date of Granger’s arrival as one to celebrate, even as the Ku Klux Klan was established in Texas by 1868. By the 1880s, “it was difficult to find a significant community in Texas where it wasn’t being marked by African Americans,” McDaniel said.

“They made it a community celebration, they made it a celebration of not only freedom but also a demonstration of community empowerment and institution-building,” he added.

Corey D.B. Walker, dean of Wake Forest University’s divinity school, said the holiday offers a way to recognize the nation’s “complex history” and what it means to be a U.S. citizen, especially amid efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to undermine the retelling of Black history.

“I think it really reminds people the importance of understanding a fuller, more robust portrait of our nation’s history and the many contributions of many individuals who have contributed to America’s experiment with democracy,” Walker said.

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Associated Press writer Claire Savage contributed to this report.

The outbreak has claimed more than 200 lives out of 894 confirmed cases since May 15, with up to 35,000 contacts, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The number of cases is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed weeks late.

Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya told The Associated Press in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, that the current outbreak — the worst ever at this stage — is yet another reminder for Africa to invest more in its health sector to reduce its reliance on foreign partners.

“If this outbreak was in Europe, the United States or other continents, they would already have developed a vaccine and medicine,” Kaseya said.

“We don’t want to be a continent begging every day. We want to be a continent of people who know what they are doing and who are respected because they are doing the right thing,” he added.

Response efforts have been challenged by the lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo virus. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

At the epicenter in Congo's eastern Ituri province where burials have become routine, including of babies. Health workers labor with little rest as they battle attacks from angry residents and widespread skepticism.

Vaccines have long been a problem for African countries

Consecutive health shocks, including COVID-19, have triggered efforts to boost local vaccine manufacturing in Africa, although not much has been achieved yet.

The continent, whose population is projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, produces less than 1% of its vaccine needs and 3% of medicine that is brought in from abroad, making millions of people vulnerable to epidemics.

While efforts are in place to speed up the development of vaccines and diagnostics, Kaseya said he is unsure a vaccine will be available by the end of the year.

The Africa CDC head added that the peak of the Ebola outbreak is still to come because of slow progress in identifying and monitoring contacts.

Officials are yet to identify the outbreak's patient zero and still need to trace more than 35,000 people who have come in contact with infected individuals, he added.

"This is why we are accelerating our fundraising to put on the ground so many teams to look for any contact, direct or indirect, and to start following them,” Kaseya said.

As part of the plan to push African states to financially support the agency’s efforts, Kaseya said South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to fly to Ituri Province in Congo and to Uganda next week in support of the mobilization of funds.

A newly established African Epidemic Fund has received pledges totaling about $80 million from African governments, while a broader donor conference held this week generated pledges of about $910 million, he said.

“We need to take care of ourselves," Kaseya said. "We need to say, ‘It’s time for us to really think strongly about how we can manufacture medicines and vaccines to meet our own needs.'"

—-

Musambi reported from Nairobi, Kenya. AP writer Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria contributed.

The company says approximately 830,000 members who held a USAA auto policy between 2023 and 2025 qualify for the funds. The average payout is about $760, and more than a quarter of eligible members will receive more than $1,000.

Between December 2025 and July 2026, USAA will have provided nearly $1 billion in targeted rate reductions and direct member returns to eligible Florida members — including an average 14% decrease in auto insurance rates statewide.

Who qualifies, what to expect

USAA policyholder Col. Jim Gowen said he received $1,100 applied as a credit to his bill.

“That’s probably a quarter of my total insurance policies that I pay every year with them,” Gowen said.

Gowen said it’s a bonus for his family.

“You know, I have kids and grandkids and grown children that I still help with college,” he said. “$1,000 is, you know, pretty good bonus to wake up to one morning in your email.”

The $500 million dividend — announced June 8 — is being distributed beginning June 15 to eligible current auto policyholders in Florida. It is part of a broader national effort by USAA to help military families build financial resilience through a combination of insurance rate reductions, member dividends, safe-driving discounts and banking benefits.

“As the cost of living rises, we are focused on putting real money back into our members’ pockets in multiple ways,” said Juan C. Andrade, president and CEO of USAA. “From rate reductions to rewards programs and direct returns, our goal is to deliver meaningful, immediate relief while preserving the financial strength our members depend on.”

Florida’s legal reforms driving the change

USAA credits Florida’s civil litigation and tort reforms — changes to state law that limit certain types of lawsuits and legal fees — for reducing costs that were a significant driver of premium increases.

Lisa Miller, a former Florida deputy insurance commissioner, said the reforms addressed a long-standing problem in the state’s insurance market, with litigation running rampant for years.

“We see the TV ads. We see the bus wraps, the enticement to file a lawsuit,” Miller said. “There would be hundreds of lawsuits filed with lawyers hoping that some of them would stick. They’d get attorneys fees. That costs all of us money.”

Miller said the tort reforms, enacted in 2022 and 2023, are now delivering measurable results — and that Florida’s insurance commissioner has played a key role in holding companies accountable.

“The insurance companies are required to put in their rate filings that they’re going to pass on savings and reduce their premiums accordingly,” she said.

More companies, more competition

When asked what the wave of payouts signals about the market overall, Miller said the message has been heard far beyond Florida’s borders.

“The competitive nature of the market is tremendous for Floridians. If you walk into an insurance agent’s office right now, you’re going to get 15 different quotes,” she said. “The spread is unbelievable. Three, four years ago you might be lucky to get two quotes and you couldn’t afford either one of them.”

Miller said nearly 20 new insurance companies have entered the Florida market as a result of the reforms — a sign of renewed confidence in the state.

She added that the days of consumers staying with the same insurer for decades are over — and that’s good news for drivers.

“Talk to your agent,” Miller said. “The agents are great Americans. They sit on the front lines. They want to help us as customers. They get as excited about you saving money as we do saving it.”

Other insurers also offering relief

USAA is not the only company returning money to customers.

Last fall, Progressive reported to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation nearly $1 billion in credits to policyholders. State Farm recently announced a dividend for Florida policyholders of nearly $533 million, averaging $173 per vehicle. OIR has approved multiple State Farm rate reductions since 2024, with the most recent being a 10% decrease for drivers.

More than 700,000 Geico customers received rate relief that took effect in April 2026. AAA drivers are also seeing lower premiums — OIR approved three separate rate decreases for the company over the past year, resulting in a combined 15% reduction. Allstate decreased rates by 7% for more than 171,000 drivers, and USAA lowered rates by 7%, which took effect in May 2026.

Drivers who don’t hold a USAA policy are encouraged to speak with their insurance agent or check with their provider to find out what savings or rate reductions may be available to them.

Florida’s auto insurance market: A broader look at the numbers

According to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation, the state’s top five auto insurance groups requested a total rate change of -7.4% for 2025, representing 78% of Florida’s auto market. As of February 2026, those same groups are showing a year-to-date indicated rate change of -8.0% for 2026.

The state’s loss ratios — a measure of claims paid out relative to premiums collected — tell an equally striking story. Florida ranked No. 1 among all 50 states for the lowest personal auto liability loss ratio in both 2024 and 2025, recording 52.5% in 2025, the lowest figure for the state in 15 years.

Auto physical damage loss ratios have also improved dramatically, dropping from 112.0% in 2022 to 49.5% in 2025. That improvement pushed Florida from 48th place to ninth place nationally in a single year.

Many of the provisions were already on hold because of an earlier, preliminary court ruling. But it is resulting in one major change: The state's Planned Parenthood affiliates say the new ruling means they're going to start prescribing abortion pills to patients there for the first time since 2018.

The ruling is a clear legal victory for abortion rights advocates, but it's not the final word. An appeal and another ballot measure are on tap.

A 72-hour waiting period is one of the provisions the judge nixed

Jackson County Circuit Judge Jerri Zhang's ruling Thursday came months after she held a 10-day trial on the issue earlier this year.

She ruled on whether 40 different state laws conflicted with the 2024 amendment. In most cases, she sided with abortion rights groups — and against the state government, which was arguing that the laws should be enforced.

She overturned a number of provisions including a requirement that women seeking an abortion see a doctor in person twice at least 72 hours apart, and another requirement that the initial dose of abortion pills, which are the most common way abortions are obtained, be taken in the presence of the prescribing doctor.

But she didn't throw out a requirement that patients see a doctor in-person to confirm gestational age and rule out an ectopic pregnancy.

Missouri has a history of abortion restrictions

Missouri was the first state to enforce a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade.

Even before the ban went into effect, other laws already on the books meant that abortion was not readily available for many women in the state.

In 2024, the state's voters made it the first to adopt a constitutional amendment to undo a ban, allowing abortion until fetal viability, which is generally considered to be somewhere past 21 weeks into a pregnancy, though there’s no fixed time frame. The two Planned Parenthood affiliates that operate in the state sued to undo abortion restrictions immediately after voters approved that state constitutional amendment.

Abortion pill access is expected to expand

After this week's ruling, Planned Parenthood said it would offer appointments starting next week for medication abortion.

“For too long, politicians forced patients to leave the state for an evidence-based and trusted form of abortion care,” Emily Wales, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains said in a statement. “Now, that care is coming home and with it, we move closer to fulfilling the promise of reproductive freedom Missourians demanded.”

The ruling also affirmed that the clinics could continue to offer abortion procedures.

Two different surveys of providers conducted for groups that support abortion rights — the Guttmacher Institute and the Society of Family Planning — estimated that in the second half of 2025, somewhere around 300 abortions each month were provided in Missouri. Those were from providers in other states that prescribe and send abortion pills to women in states with abortion bans or restrictions. Those providers are in states with laws that week to protect prescribers from legal action in states with bans — another issue that's being contested in court.

Guttmacher found that in 2024, Missouri women traveled to bordering Illinois and Kansas for about 12,000 abortions.

The ruling won't be the final word

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said she will appeal this week's ruling.

“This is exactly the Pandora’s box we warned of, and the women of Missouri will pay the price,” Hanaway said in a statement.

Abortion will also be on the ballot again in November, when voters are being asked to approve a measure that would undo the 2024 amendment.

Perhaps as spectacular as his meltdown was the recovery.

About a half-hour after being informed of the penalty, Niemann birdied five of the first six holes of his second round and shot 65 to easily get inside the cut line. He would be the first player in 97 years to make 10 or worse on a hole and still make the cut.

“All the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn’t resist to throw it away,” Niemann said. “There was no people, obviously. No one there. I’m not proud of it, but yeah, sometimes all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated. And that was me there.”

And then the USGA made him an example, skipping the warning and going straight to a two-shot penalty — the third step is disqualification — for what it cited as serious misconduct.

The USGA cited Rule 1.2b on “Code of Conduct.” Among incidents that fall under this category are unacceptable language and abuse of clubs or the course.

While the rule has always been in place, the USGA and all the other golf organizations have met in recent years to develop consistent guidelines for a conduct policy, applied separately by each of the organizations at their tournaments.

The Masters used it for the first time in April when Sergio Garcia was issued a warning after a bad drive on the par-5 second hole in the final round. He slammed his club into the turf twice and swung his club at a table holding a green cooler. That left the head of his driver dangling from the shaft.

The PGA Championship also posted the policy in the locker room at Aronimink last month.

The frustration for Niemann was evident. He was at even par in the first round late Thursday afternoon when he hit two tee shots out of play down the right side of the sixth fairway. The fifth shot wasn't much better, in the clumpy grass short of the fairway.

Niemann said he saw ants near his bad lie in the sandy oil and asked if they were fire ants, which could be considered a dangerous situation making him entitled to a drop. That was rejected. He hacked it out to the fairway, and then his sand wedge came up just short of the green.

That's when the 27-year-old from Chile heaved his club.

The USGA policy for serious misconduct says if a player’s behavior (or that of his caddie) is “so far removed from what is expected in the spirit of the game of golf,” officials can assess a two-shot penalty or disqualify the player while considering “the frequency, impact, intent and severity of the misconduct.”

Niemann was informed of the penalty after he signed his card, and the two shots gave him a 78.

He had 37 minutes before his next tee time.

“I’m not someone that likes to be in that behavior. I’m the first one to judge myself when I don’t behave on the golf course. Yeah, that was a misbehave from my part,” Niemann said. “I felt a little bit extra penalized with the two-shot penalty, but I think it is what it is.”

He said he argued the penalty to no avail. Ultimately, it's a judgment call among the committee.

“It is what it is. I think I'm going to learn from it,” Niemann said. “It definitely helped me a little bit to have a better round today.”

The incident happened on Niemann's final hole Thursday evening of fog-delayed opening round. While video has not surfaced of the club throw, The Athletic spoke to a marshal on the sixth hole who said Niemann kicked the flag marking where his ball was in the rough, kicked the grass and reported that “it was a pretty impressive throw, actually.”

Tempers have long been part of golf, a most frustrating game. Rory McIlroy once heaved a 3-iron into the lake at Doral and last year flung an iron after a poor shot. Henrik Stenson and Erik van Rooyen are among those who have taken out their frustrations on tee markers.

Those typically result in fines by the tours.

But there has been a concerted effort in recent years to be more uniform with a conduct policy, and it has come into play twice in three majors this year.

Niemann, who left for LIV Golf after the 2022 season, won in South Korea last month for his eighth career victory in the rival league that began with Saudi Arabia funding but now faces an uncertain future with the Public Investment Fund no longer supporting it.

___

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

Merrywood, known for its Spanish-style design, is a creation of renowned architect James Gamble Rogers II, whose work helped shape Winter Park’s distinctive character.

For preservationist Betsy Rogers Owens, the fight is personal, both for her profound appreciation of historic homes and because Rogers II is her grandfather.

She says many of Rogers’ designs helped create the charm that continues to attract visitors and support Winter Park’s multimillion-dollar heritage tourism economy.

“People do continue to flock here because they sense that je ne sais quoi. Winter Park has that historic patina they crave,” she added.

Development Plans Draw Concern

Merrywood is currently under contract to prominent attorney Tara Tedrow.

According to city documents and discussions at public meetings, Tedrow plans to divide the large lakefront parcel, build a new home on one portion of the property, and seek a preservation-minded buyer to restore Merrywood itself.

But so far, no one has stepped up.

Tedrow also inherited a demolition permit tied to the property, which triggers a 90-day waiting period, with preservation advocates using that narrow window to push city leaders to intervene.

Winter Park’s planning and zoning board already voted 4-2 in early June to allow Tedrow to split the lot, which is otherwise prohibited on lakefront properties. Now the Winter Park commission will have the final say on whether or not the demolition of Merrywood can proceed.

The topic has sparked emotional debate for weeks during countless city commission meetings during public comment.

“Florida is booming. People can build new houses in many places, but Winter Park has a unique and valuable heritage that needs vigilant stewards,” one preservation supporter said during public comment.

Historic Home Without Historic Protection

Part of what makes the debate so complicated is that, despite its architectural significance and local prominence, Merrywood was never added to Winter Park’s historic register.

That leaves the estate vulnerable to redevelopment today.

Preservation advocates argue the city missed opportunities years ago to formally protect properties like Merrywood. They also note that Winter Park offers limited financial incentives or assistance for owners and buyers of historic properties, making valuable lakefront estates especially attractive targets for redevelopment.

Owens argues the situation reflects a long-standing failure to prioritize preservation.

“When many communities around Florida were getting smart about historic preservation back in the ’80s and ’90s, Winter Park stuck its head in the sand,” she said.

Decision Looms

The final decision now rests with the Winter Park City Commission, which is expected to consider the issue at the end of June.

Until then, residents, preservationists, and supporters of the estate continue making emotional appeals to save Merrywood from demolition.

“As each older home of character is demolished, home values will decline,” one resident warned.

The debate has become about more than a single property. For many, it represents a larger question facing Winter Park: how much of its historic character should be preserved as development pressures continue to grow.

The Commission’s vote could shape not only the future of Merrywood, but also how Winter Park balances preservation and development on some of its most valuable lakefront land for years to come.

Such is life in a world teeming with cell phone cameras and viral video. Such is life in professional golf, a sport built on managing failure and harnessing emotions — and where success one week, or one year, doesn’t always carry over to the next.

Clark’s spot at the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard after his second round at Shinnecock on Friday brought up expected reminders of his emotion-filled journey through a sport — a life, really — that Clark himself acknowledged nobody truly conquers.

“I was on top of the world in my game, at least when I won the U.S. Open, and then had some good years,” the 32-year-old said. “Then, next thing you know, I’m apologizing for breaking a locker."

Much as tennis great John McEnroe will always have “You cannot be serious!” alongside the seven grand slam singles titles he won in another of sports' biggest pressure cookers, Clark will always have the broken locker at Oakmont. He will always have the underhanded fling of the driver that smashed an advertising board and snapped off the clubhead at the PGA Championship, a few months before the locker debacle.

Because of that, he’ll probably also always have his share of detractors and critics — people watching for some brilliance on the golf course, but also waiting for the next big blowup.

“I’m fierce, competitive, love the game, respect the game, and I just had a bad moment,” Clark said. “Hopefully I can win those people back.”

His breakthrough three years ago at LA Country Club was tinged with tears and stories of the personal growth Clark had to make to reach that point.

Much of it had to do with the emotional residue left from his mom’s death in 2013 — a family tragedy that he conceded had left him spiraling.

“I didn’t show any emotion off the course," Clark explained after his victory that day. “But when I was on the golf course, I couldn’t have been angrier.”

The easy way for the armchair psychologists (and sports pundits) to explain things after that win was to conclude that Clark’s victory proved he had harnessed the emotion, turned the page and beaten back all the demons.

It’s never that simple.

“For any of us, this is a process,” Clark’s sports psychologist, Julie Elion, wrote in her new book ’Mastering Your Mental Game.” “Golfers don’t reach the top and then stay there forever.”

Clark followed the U.S. Open win with 18 months of good golf, including a win at Pebble Beach. Last year was something different — he only had two top-10 finishes, did not make the FedEx Cup playoffs and was nowhere to be seen at the Ryder Cup.

“Mastering our mental game in golf or reaching a state of growth or self-improvement in life isn’t always a permanent condition,” Elion wrote. “It takes more work over more years, and there are frequently hills and valleys.”

At Shinnecock, Clark held a four-shot lead after his second round. Heading into the weekend, he finds himself back on the rise again. He recently took to social media to tell the world he had a new girlfriend, Emily Tanner, who held hands with him as they exited the 18th green after Friday’s round of 1-under 69.

Four weeks ago, Clark won the Byron Nelson for his first victory in 28 months.

“I kind of looked at it objectively and took a bird’s-eye view on it and said, ‘OK, I’m not hitting it good off the tee, I’m not putting as good as I was,’” he explained about his turnaround. “And I said, ‘All right, I’ve got to attack that.’”

He hired a swing coach, Pat Coyner at Cherry Hills, near where Clark grew up outside of Denver.

He's been hitting his driver straighter of late. His iron game has improved dramatically (up 110 spots in the analytic-driven stat: strokes gained on approach shots). He found a new putter, which has helped him dial in dramatically over the past four weeks, during which he also finished third at the Memorial and played in the final group last Sunday at the Canadian Open.

Never more did it look in sync than Friday on No. 18, where he sank a 33-footer to finish the day in red numbers.

Now, a chance for another breakthrough at the U.S. Open. With a win, he would celebrate again. But he knows as well as anyone that it wouldn't mean all the problems — or the work, both on and off the course — are behind him.

“I just think with the mental game there’s ebbs and flows,” Clark said. “If you think of it as climbing Everest, sometimes you go up, sometimes you have to go down to go back up. I think that’s kind of what happens both on the golf course and off the golf course. Right now I’m trending back up, which is nice.”

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

With so much chaos around him, Clark played a steady hand — a far cry from where he was at the U.S. Open last year when he missed the cut and smashed up a locker at storied Oakmont.

His last act was a 35-foot putt down the slope on the 18th green that dropped for a 1-under 69. That put him at 7-under 133, one shot better than Phil Mickelson and Shigeki Maruyama at the halfway point in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills.

And he thinks he could be better.

“I really felt like I could be in double digits (under par),” Clark said. “But you know, the great thing about that is I didn’t feel like I had my best, and I still am leading as of right now. Hopefully, I can bring my A-game on the weekend.”

Xander Schauffele, with the best U.S. Open record of anyone without a U.S. Open title over the last 10 years, had a 66 to finish at 137 along with Matt Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. Open champion who birdied two of his last three holes to salvage a 70.

The most remarkable day belonged to Joaquin Niemann. He made a 9 on No. 6 — his 15th and final hole of the fog-delayed first round that was halted by darkness — only for it to become an 11 when the USGA penalized two shots for bad behavior.

Niemann hit two drives that were lost, chopped his way up the fairway and finally lost it by heaving his club. The majors are cracking down on behavior this year — the Masters was the first to use the policy this year — and the USGA deemed it serious enough to skip the warning and go straight to the harsh two-shot penalty.

Niemann headed out for his second round, made five birdies in six holes and shot 65 to easily get inside the cut line. It was the first time in 97 years at the U.S. Open someone made 10 or worse in a U.S. Open and still make the cut.

“All the frustration that came inside me and had my club in my hand, and I couldn’t resist to throw it away,” Niemann said. “There was no people, obviously. No one there. I’m not proud of it, but yeah, sometimes all the expectation of trying to play well and things doesn’t go your way, you get frustrated. And that was me there.”

Dustin Johnson managed to keep his head during a meltdown on the back nine. Johnson, in his final year of U.S. Open exemptions from winning at Oakmont in 2016, was one shot behind Clark as they headed to the tee at the par-3 11th. He was 11 shots behind when they reached the 16th.

Johnson went from one bunker to the next for a double bogey on the 11th. And then on the 15th, he went from the front right bunker to the front left bunker, left it in that bunker, blasted it over the green, chipped on and took two putts for a quadruple-bogey 8.

He attributed it to rocks in the sand. But he made birdie on the 16th and was likely to make the cut.

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy took their turns in the afternoon. The wind wasn't as strong as Thursday, and while the course was still relatively soft by U.S. Open standards — greens were being sprayed in the early morning — the sun was out and the afternoon figured to be a strong test.

It was a long day for Clark and the other finishers because they had to return at 6:35 a.m. to resume the first round — 10 hours after they walked off the course.

Clark finished with two pars for a 64, the lowest start ever for a U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, and had a two-shot lead. He doubled that, and then waited to see if anyone could make a run at him.

He was on a heater coming into Shinnecock Hills, winning The CJ Cup Byron Nelson with a 60 in the final round, contending in the Memorial and the Canadian Open the last two weeks. Frustration peaked a year ago at Oakmont and in the months that followed. Now, he appears to be more comfortable with each day.

Schauffele has seven top 10s in his nine U.S. Open appearances, a Californian who keeps his cool even amid a tough test.

“It’s a brutal week,” Schauffele said. “Everyone watching at home wants to see guys shooting in the 80s and doing crazy things. I get it. You know, it’s once a year you get to see some carnage, and it’s at a U.S. Open. Try to embrace it as much as you can.”

___

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

That law — HB 1343 — isn’t primarily focused on classwork, though.

HB 1343 actually provides that anyone who’s earned a diploma from a Florida high school can satisfy the licensure requirements to be an insurance customer representative — on the following conditions:

• The diploma was obtained within four years before filing the license application with the Department of Financial Services
• The high school education included a course in insurance and personal finance

However, HB 1343 also has another provision: it directs the Department of Education to develop a 0.5-credit course in insurance and personal finance, which can be used to satisfy the education requirements, legislative analysts report.

[RELATED: Florida Gov. DeSantis gives his take on DEI after signing new ban into law]

That course is expected to be available to school district for use beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.

Back in 2022, Florida Gov. DeSantis signed another law (SB 1054), which also requires a personal financial literacy class for 9th graders. This class includes instruction on basic principles of personal insurance policies.

That said, HB 1343 requires a more comprehensive curriculum on the subject, though it remains to be seen what that will look like more specifically.

Regardless, HB 1343 kicks off officially on July 1, along with over 100 other new Florida laws. You can find the full list here.

[RELATED: DeSantis signs off on new data center law]

Trump’s overnight social media post Wednesday that he was delaying Jay Clayton’s nomination to become national intelligence director, just hours before the U.S. attorney's confirmation hearing, further strained relations between the Senate and White House that have been worsening for weeks. Later that day, some Republican senators who have been hesitant to challenge the president directly on the Iran war were blunt in their criticism of his deal to end it.

“This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a post on X.

The open tensions are an almost complete reversal from a year ago when Senate Republicans worked closely with Trump on a complicated effort to push through his massive package of spending and tax cuts.

At the time, criticism of the president was almost nonexistent among Republicans on Capitol Hill, and they planned to highlight passage of that bill in the midterms. But as the November election draws closer and Republicans are trying to defend their majorities, Trump is instead needling Congress with his demands and reversals, driving several Republican senators to disparage his actions publicly for the first time.

“I think somebody’s not dialing the president into the complexities of what he’s done here,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Wednesday after Clayton’s confirmation was postponed. “I mean, my God.”

The slow unraveling of what once seemed like an airtight alliance between the executive and legislative branches in a Republican-led Washington extends to their policy priorities.

Trump appears to have lost interest in most of the GOP agenda and has become almost singularly focused on his voting legislation to require proof of citizenship, which has almost no chance of passing. At the same time, he has asked members of Congress to fund parts of his White House ballroom project, allow a temporary intelligence director that none of them like and cede their powers on the Iran war.

The growing rift has brought much of the Senate’s business to a halt and put Republicans who are up for reelection this year on the defensive. It has also put pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has been up-front with Trump about what he can and cannot do in the Senate.

Trump pressures Thune on voting bill

Trump has pressured Thune relentlessly to scrap the filibuster and pass the strict proof-of-citizenship legislation, called the SAVE America Act. Thune, R-S.D., has told Trump publicly and privately that the votes are not there for either step. Still, Trump has kept up the push.

In a social media post Thursday, Trump said he would be “the last Republican president” if the voting bill does not pass.

“Senate Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Senate, must not let this ‘carnage’ happen,” Trump said. “They will go down on the wrong side of History, as will all Republicans who just stood by and watched.”

Nonetheless, Trump has yet to go after the well-liked Republican leader on a personal basis, as he often did with Thune's predecessor, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.. Trump once called McConnell a “ dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.”

Trump and Thune talk frequently, even as Thune is sometimes giving the president news he does not want to hear. As Trump pushed for the voting bill, Thune scheduled weeks of floor time to consider it, an effort to make clear that the Senate was supportive, even if the votes are lacking.

Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, one of the president’s closest allies in the Senate, said he has never heard Trump say anything negative about Thune.

“It’s a difficult position,” Schmitt said of Thune’s role in the Senate. “I think they have a good working relationship.”

One of Thune's closest allies, Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, said the even-keeled leader is the “right person at the right time.”

“In the Capitol today, he is the stable force,” Rounds said. “In Washington, D.C., today, he is the stable force.”

No signs of revolt among Senate GOP

There were no signs of a revolt within the GOP conference, for now, despite Trump's pressure.

Thune “has managed it better than anyone else could manage it,” said Cassidy, who has become a more frequent Trump critic since a primary loss to a Trump-backed challenger.

Criticism of Trump has at times surfaced even among his closest Senate allies, especially with his proposed $1.776 billion settlement fund for his political allies and his pick for acting intelligence director, Bill Pulte, who has no known intelligence experience.

But the rift with Trump has also stoked some new internal tensions.

Several Republican senators criticized Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has waged an online campaign to eliminate the filibuster and pass the SAVE America Act, in a private conference lunch this week for stoking dissension within the party in an election year.

Unbowed, Lee has kept up his social media campaign, including a post Friday on X in which he said that giving up because Republicans lack the votes is a “recipe for failure.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of those who spoke out at the meeting, replied that it is Lee’s job to find the votes, “if you can.”

“Can’t just complain about others,” Cornyn posted. “Prove us wrong.”

Trump's dwindling number of allies

Some Senate Republicans have made clear they have no plans to separate themselves from Trump.

As several of his colleagues criticized Trump’s agreement with Iran this week, first-term Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, aggressively defended it on social media.

“Let’s get the Nobel Peace Prize ready!” Moreno posted on X.

But Trump has far fewer of those Senate allies than he did when they narrowly passed the tax and spending cuts legislation a year ago. That is in part because he has picked off some of the most loyal Republican votes himself.

Both Cassidy and Cornyn lost in primaries last month after Trump endorsed their opponents. Tillis announced he was not running for reelection last year after Trump repeatedly criticized him on social media.

Now all three have become frequent critics.

Shortly after his election loss, Cornyn posted on social media a fable about a frog and a scorpion. The scorpion asks the frog to carry it across a river, according to the fable, and then stings the frog in the middle of the river, “dooming them both.”

“The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence,” Cornyn’s post read. “To which the scorpion replies: ‘I am sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my character.’”

___

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that Israeli strikes on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon must stop before the talks can take place, according to three regional officials and a person familiar with the matter. They were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing mediation to try to get the talks rescheduled and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The situation was fluid as Israel and Hezbollah agreed on Friday to renew their ceasefire, according to a U.S. official and regional officials. It remains to be seen whether that could help put the U.S.-Iran talks back on track.

In Washington, President Donald Trump lashed out once again in the midst of the intensified fighting in Lebanon and the stalled nuclear talks.

“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did,” Trump wrote in a social media post Friday. “They are FINISHED! We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!”

Vance was ready for Swiss talks

Trump's vice president, JD Vance, had been prepared to make an overnight flight to meet with his Iranian counterparts at a mountainside resort in the tiny Swiss village of Obbürgen and begin the technical talks.

Vance's staff and a small group of journalists had gathered at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington in anticipation of the trip. Dozens of White House officials, advance staffers and more media were already in Switzerland.

Then the trip was called off — abruptly and for the time being.

A White House statement said Vance, tapped by Trump to lead the negotiations, decided to postpone his travel. It made no mention of the escalating violence in Lebanon.

“The logistics of these negotiations have never been simple or predictable,” the statement said.

But, according to officials, the Iranians made clear to the White House that they had balked at starting the talks with Vance because of the Israeli action in Lebanon.

While Iranian officials and Vance did not make it to Switzerland Friday, a mediator from the Gulf country of Qatar found his way to the resort near Lucerne, Switzerland, where the U.S.-Iran talks are to be held. Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met with the Swiss foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis.

Fighting in southern Lebanon intensifies

The fighting had intensified with at least 18 killed by Israeli airstrikes, while four Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military would stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as “Israel’s security needs require it.”

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the U.S.-Iran agreement.

Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal does not explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Hours before postponing his trip, Vance gave some indication of the state of flux when he told reporters at a White House briefing that he was uncertain if the talks were going to happen this weekend.

“We think these technical negotiations start sometime this weekend," Vance said. "That’s still the plan. But that could change.”

Soon after Vance spoke to reporters, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, endorsed direct negotiations with the United States. His terse statement, read by state media, appeared to signal to the Islamic Republic’s leadership that it could move forward with a first round of talks.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” Khamenei said.

The messaging seemed to give Khamenei, who was badly wounded in the U.S. strike on Feb. 28 that killed his father, some maneuverability. Hard-liners in the Iranian government, including Khamenei’s father, long opposed direct talks with the White House, especially after Trump, during his first term, pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Democratic President Barack Obama's administration.

The meeting was initially supposed to be a signing ceremony

Vance was initially expected to go to Switzerland to sign the agreement at a formal ceremony. Instead, Trump signed the document Wednesday during a glitzy dinner at the Palace of Versailles with French President Emmanuel Macron. Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, separately signed the agreement.

It says Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under rubble left by U.S. military strikes last year targeting Tehran’s key nuclear sites, must at minimum be diluted under international supervision.

It also says Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment Tehran has made previously. Other commitments remain to be worked out.

Iran believes it's in a strong negotiating position

Iranians would be going into the talks with a measure of confidence after effectively shutting down the strait, causing global economic reverberations, said Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities in Washington.

She said the U.S. is now “essentially trying to negotiate our way back to the prewar status quo."

Neil Quilliam, an associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House think tank, said the “buoyant” Iranian leadership feels it has the upper hand. The endorsement of the talks by the Iranian supreme leader “sends a very strong signal domestically: ’We’re now on an equal footing with the U.S.'”

”‘Trump has gone from calling for regime change on Feb. 28 to this: Now they’re going to sit down with us directly and talk about these big issues,'” Quilliam said of the Iranians' thinking. “So it’s intended more for the domestic audience, and telling them: ‘We are firmly in control of this. There can be no protests, no revolution: We are a new regime and we’re staying put.’”

Vance has to negotiate through political division

For Vance, a likely 2028 presidential contender, how the negotiations play out could have enormous ramifications for his political fortunes.

Vance's skepticism of foreign wars was a core part of his political identity during his political rise, which included election as a U.S. senator. Now he finds himself the chief defender of negotiating an endgame to Trump's conflict that Democrats have largely derided as a foolish gambit. Some hawkish Republicans are aghast that Trump is getting behind a settlement that could put billions of dollars into Iran's coffers.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said aspects of the deal are “completely out of step” with Trump's goals.

Trump fiercely criticized Obama for the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Trump argued failed to stop Tehran from advancing toward a weapon and funneled billions of dollars to the Islamic Republic. The Republican president exited the U.S. from the deal in 2018.

Trump has pushed back against comparisons to that earlier agreement, saying he had “negotiated from strength” after a major military campaign while asserting that Obama was paying the Iranians off and not receiving acquiescence.

Wicker, R-Miss., was particularly concerned about the $300 billion fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran mentioned in the 14-point agreement. Trump and Vance have said no U.S. taxpayer money would go to such a fund and it would not come without concessions and reforms by Tehran.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed to this report.

The Obamas, joined by former “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton, also read “Where the Wild Things Are" to 25 school children at the Chicago Public Library branch inside the center. When the former president read Maurice Sendak's line about being “king of all the wild things,” Michelle Obama interjected with, “Although there were no kings,” to applause.

Later, awed guests shook hands with the Obamas against the backdrop of a colorful, 38-foot-tall painting depicting a map of Chicago stretching to the ceiling, inspired by Carl Sandburg’s 1914 poem about the city: “stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders.”

“It was perfect. It was great,” said 18-year-old Houefa Agassounon from Chicago after the surprise visit from the Obamas. “I was literally crying. I asked for a hug and everything.”

She wrote a letter to the Obama Foundation last year, asking if she could be there when it opened. She said meeting the Obamas was a bonus.

“This is just the greatest thing of my 18 years of life,” she said.

The Juneteenth opening followed a star-studded dedication ceremony where the Obamas gave rousing speeches to an audience including three former presidents, their former first ladies, and a host of politicians, A-list celebrities, musicians, athletes and others. Thousands more joined the livestream from a nearby park.

A weekend of events is planned for the sprawling campus on Chicago's South Side near where the Obamas lived and began his political career. It is adjacent to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the lakefront park, and not far from the University of Chicago.

Tickets for the general public are sold out through the end of November. But those lucky enough to score them for the first day got the unexpected thrill of meeting the Obamas themselves.

The campus includes a towering museum that covers the political and personal realms of the nation’s first Black president and first lady, while public spaces include a branch of the Chicago Public Library, a playground and athletic center, basketball courts and a picnic area with grills.

The tower’s design is meant to depict four hands coming together in solidarity. Wrapped around one side are 5-foot tall concrete capital letters, an excerpt of Obama’s 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march. It begins, “You are America.”

The inquiry stems from an incident where three San Francisco Giants pitchers wrote Bible verses over their rainbow-colored hats on Pride Night.

Major League Baseball issued the players a formal warning, saying it violates MLB’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, which says that “no alterations, writing or illustrations, other than as authorized herein, are to be made to any part of the uniform.”

[WATCH: Florida AG takes aim at Major League Baseball over cap controversy]

In a letter to MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred, Jr., Uthmeier questions whether the league applies this rule evenly in all cases.

“It appears that MLB has a history of selectively enforcing its rules; players who promote secular messages get a pass, while players who promote religious messages get a reprimand,” Uthmeier wrote. “If this pattern or practice of religious discrimination is true, then it could amount to a de facto League policy, which would violate Florida law.”

Uthmeier subpoenaed Manfred and MLB executive vice president Lara Pitaro Wisch for documents related to the case.

News 6 talked to an Orlando-based attorney who specializes in the First Amendment, who cast doubt on any such case proving to be successful.

“I think it’s a political position that he wants to get out,” said Howard Marks, an attorney with Burr & Forman. “But I’m not sure there’s much of a legal First Amendment case that could be brought by him.”

MLB execs had no issue with acts of protest while cities were burned down by left-wing mobs in 2020. In fact, MLB changed the rules to allow more left-wing messaging!

Meanwhile, Christians are singled out and targeted for taking part in a religious protest. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/F90BUwujdC

— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 16, 2026

News 6 reached out to Uthmeier’s office to inquire about the kind of action his office may take. A response has not yet been returned.

A spokesperson with First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian legal organization, echoed Uthmeier’s position. Cliff Martin, senior counsel at the organization, sent the following statement to News 6:

“Coercing MLB players to wear symbols that violate their religious beliefs is discriminatory. Under the law, employers cannot discriminate against religious employees and must grant religious accommodations, with limited exceptions. If the MLB has allowed players to write messages on their uniforms in the past, it would be potentially unlawful to refuse to allow employees of faith to do so now. The MLB should not coerce its players to wear symbols that violate their religious beliefs.”

Starmer said he planned to fight for his job, but a growing number of colleagues urged him to make a dignified exit.

“There is this sense of collective movement,” former Labour Deputy Leader Harriet Harman told the “Electoral Dysfunction” podcast. “Andy Burnham is going to become prime minister. Keir Starmer is going to be leaving office.”

Burnham decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwestern England over Rob Kenyon of the anti-immigration party Reform UK. The result cements the status of Burnham, a 56-year-old politician nicknamed the King of the North, as the top contender to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party and the country. Burnham won almost 55% of the 45,510 votes cast for a field of more than a dozen candidates, over 9,000 more than runner-up Kenyon.

Burnham’s acceptance speech left no doubt that he wants to lead the country, and not just be one of the more than 400 Labour lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons.

“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working," he said. "Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”

Starmer congratulated Burnham, writing on X that voters “chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate.”

But the prime minister insisted he would fight any attempt to oust him.

“I will run, I will stand,” if there is a Labour leadership contest, Starmer said. "I’ve said repeatedly I’m not going to walk away from that.”

Burnham says he's the candidate of change

Burnham has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. He is pledging to repeat his signature brand of “Manchesterism” on a national scale.

Burnham said he would work to ensure that “the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs.”

He told supporters and campaign workers on Friday that "we are going to lay out a new path for Britain.”

“We need an economy that works for everybody, not a few in far-off places from here,” he said. “We have an opportunity to turn the tide, to make the country feel like it’s working again, to make people see that politics can make a positive difference, to make people feel hope again.”

Earlier, in his victory speech, he said Labour had “a final chance to change" and win back voters' trust.

“But it is a chance now, from this result tonight, to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States,” he said.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said defeating Reform UK strengthens Burnham’s claim to be Labour’s biggest asset.

“The narrative he can bring is, ‘No one else could have won that seat. I won that. I bring something unique. I bring an ability to renew our appeal,’” Ford said.

Voters in Makerfield, who have been the focus of international media attention during the five-week campaign, were aware their votes carried unusual weight.

“I voted Andy Burnham because I don’t believe Keir Starmer has done a good job," said Ernest Sherman, 70. "So I voted tactically knowing that Andy Burnham has a chance to replace Starmer. So it will still be Labour, but he will have different views.”

Labour is in power but unpopular

Starmer’s popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.

Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party, and facing a rising Reform UK, which consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls. The Nigel Farage -led party has rapidly gained ground in post-industrial northern England areas like Makerfield, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London.

Burnham’s resounding victory gives Labour new hope of stopping the Reform tide. Farage acknowledged he was “disappointed, no question about it,” with the result.

Labour's dismal performance in May’s local elections spurred scores of lawmakers to demand Starmer’s resignation. Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary in May, saying that “where we need vision, we have a vacuum.” Streeting has said he will run in a leadership contest if there is one.

Then Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election and give Burnham the chance to return to Parliament.

Britain’s parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leaders midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a national election. Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they have backing from a fifth of the party’s House of Commons lawmakers — a number that stands at 81.

Burnham’s victory piles pressure on Starmer to quit

Burnham will head to London to be sworn in as a lawmaker as soon as Monday. He’s likely to seek a meeting with Starmer to argue that the prime minister should exit gracefully and set a timetable for his departure.

Burnham's supporters wasted no time in urging Starmer to go. Labour lawmaker Louise Haigh, a Burnham ally, said Starmer should “consider an orderly and managed transition.”

“Andy won’t be doing anything rash or hasty,” she told Sky News. “I’m really hopeful the prime minister and Andy can come to an agreement.”

Starmer insisted on Friday that he was elected on a “mandate for change” and would carry on with it. Earlier this week he suggested that he could offer Burnham a Cabinet post, an idea rebuffed by Burnham's allies.

Despite his stubborn determination, Starmer could be forced out if several members of the Cabinet tell him the game is up and quit, or threaten to quit, in protest. Tthere could then be a leadership contest, or a coronation, depending on whether other potential candidates think Burnham has an unassailable lead.

“When things begin to slide away from a prime minister, they begin to slide away very, very quickly," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

“Over the weekend there will be all sorts of talks behind closed doors, mainly I suspect people trying to persuade Keir Starmer ... that the game is up."

___

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this story.

United States coach Mauricio Pochettino made the announcement during an interview with Fox about 90 minutes before the kickoff at Lumen Field in Seattle. On Thursday, Pochettino said Pulisic is in a “much better” spot than he was last Friday, and that he would be available for the Americans' next game against Turkey if he could not play against Australia.

“Today, he was training in the morning in the camp and I’ve seen the feelings are good,” Pochettino told Fox on Friday. “I hope as soon as possible he can be ready to be selected again and to be part of the team. Now, we need to be focused on our team and the players that are going to play."

The move is a setback for a U.S. team that defeated Paraguay 4-1 in its opener on June 12 and with a win would clinch advancement to the round of 32.

Pulisic left the game at halftime after helping create the opening goal by splitting a pair of defenders before passing to Weston McKennie, then setting up Folarin Balogun for the second goal.

Pochettino said the 27-year-old attacker was kicked in the back of his left calf during a training session ahead of the game and felt tightness during the match. Pulisic trained on his own in the leadup to the game against Australia.

Pulisic has 33 goals in 87 international appearances.

Pepi was the only addition to the U.S. starting lineup. Pochettino decided to insert the 23-year-old striker, who was one of the final cuts from the 2022 World Cup roster, over a few other accomplished players.

Brenden Aaronson, a winger who had four goals and five assists for Leeds last season, and Tim Weah, a Marseille forward who can impact a game with his speed on either wing, both remain on the bench.

Gio Reyna, who scored the Americans’ final goal against Paraguay and has provided moments of dynamic playmaking from the wing, will be a reserve once again.

With Pepi in for Pulisic, the U.S. hopes to reward its supporters and justify the wave of momentum that is building around the team.

“What excites me is that the entire world, the entire nation is behind us,” midfielder Cristian Roldan said. “I think that they enjoyed watching us play, and at the end of the day what we want to do is inspire and motivate the next generation. ... We have to build off it, and that’s the truth. We can’t just talk about it: We have to show out against Australia.”

___

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

Crystal Gaynell Ann Lawson, 32, is charged with 113 felony counts of computer crimes — unauthorized access and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, according to a newly obtained arrest warrant affidavit filed in Orange County’s Ninth Judicial Circuit. Each unauthorized access count carries up to five years in prison.

How it started: A fentanyl ring and leaked warrants

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says the case began in 2025, when a DEA task force officer opened an investigation — under DEA Case No. GB-25-0103 — into a drug trafficking organization led by Omyry Hickson that was moving fentanyl and laundering money in Orange County.

A judge signed secret arrest warrants for five suspects — Hickson, Josalyn Harris, Carlos Reed, Linell Lowe, and Amial White — on April 3, 2026. Investigators held off entering the warrants into public databases to coordinate a simultaneous roundup and seize assets and evidence.

Then things went wrong. On April 26, 2026, the task force officer received a text containing a color-scanned image of Hickson’s arrest warrant affidavit. The document was not public. By April 30, scanned copies of warrants for two more suspects — including one still on the run — were transmitted through the same channel.

Investigators say the source was traced back to someone known inside the drug group as “Mel Baby.”

‘Mel Baby’ and a father’s boast

“Mel Baby” is the nickname for Melvin Lawson, according to the affidavit — an uncharged criminal associate of the drug group. Cooperating sources told investigators that Melvin regularly boasted he could get arrest warrants and other confidential court documents through his daughter, who worked inside the criminal justice system.

That daughter was Crystal Lawson.

She had been hired by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in February 2022 and was given access to the Comprehensive Case Information System — known as CCIS — a statewide, government-only database of court records. In October 2022, she was fired following an arrest for battery.

The problem: No one turned off her access.

246 unauthorized searches — and she kept going

According to the affidavit, Lawson made 246 individual CCIS search and document access incidents between January 27 and May 1, 2026 — all unauthorized. Investigators say she searched for DTO members’ active cases, scanned for co-defendants using sequential case number searches, and accessed files tied to at least six separate individuals who had active, unserved arrest warrants at the time she looked them up.

CCIS records showed she was the only user who accessed all five DTO defendants’ court files — often at times that directly preceded or coincided with the leaks.

The CCIS login page, the affidavit notes, displayed a warning in red capital letters: “FOR GOVERNMENTAL USE ONLY.”

Text messages caught her in real time

Investigators say some of the most damaging evidence came from text messages backed up in Melvin Lawson’s iCloud account.

On February 11, 2026, Crystal Lawson sent a message to a family group chat that read: “Trap got out on ROR. They don’t file charges in 30 days.” The affidavit notes that at the exact time she sent that message, she was actively logged into CCIS and viewing the felony case file for Travis “Trap” Mosley — a member of the DTO.

In a separate exchange on March 25, 2026, Crystal Lawson sent her father embedded images and wrote, “this man told on you.” Minutes earlier, she had pulled up a charging affidavit in which a defendant named a man fitting her father’s description as the source of a stolen electric bicycle. According to investigators, she used her database access to find the inculpatory statement and warn her father.

A digital trail that followed her across the country

Investigators used iCloud records, IP address data, cell tower location records, and hotel receipts to place Lawson behind the keyboard for each unauthorized search.

In one instance, CCIS activity on April 9, 2026 was traced to an IP address assigned to AT&T Business at Hilton Hotels in Sacramento, California. Search warrant returns on Lawson’s iCloud account recovered a Disney+ login notification from Sacramento on April 8, and a Hilton Hotels checkout confirmation for April 11 — all in her name.

Back in Orange County, Lawson’s most-used IP address for the searches resolved to her residential address at 5227 South Orange Blossom Trail, where investigators confirmed she lived through subpoenaed lease records and physical surveillance as recently as June 16, 2026.

Real-world consequences

The affidavit says the leaked warrants had direct investigative consequences: lost evidence, unrecovered assets, and at least one person fleeing to avoid arrest.

Lawson was the only CCIS user to access the questioned documents, investigators say, before those documents were leaked to the drug group.

Lawson is charged with 113 felony counts of computer crimes - unauthorized access.

Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison — or 565 years altogether.

The 40-year-old was named player of the match in Cape Verde’s goalless draw on Monday, a display that brought him international attention and a surge in popularity on social media.

Among the fans cheering him on in the U.S. are his father, Jose Pedro Dias, and brother, Delmiro Évora Nascimento, who also is a soccer player. Vozinha’s mother, who had initially faced difficulties obtaining a visa, is also expected to arrive in the United States ahead of Sunday’s game.

Speaking before Thursday’s training session at Cape Verde’s training base in Tampa, Vozinha said having his family nearby was one of the most meaningful aspects of his World Cup experience.

“They always support me in everything I do, so having my mother here is something special. My father is here too, and my brother as well, so I’m very happy,” he said.

Vozinha’s full name is Josimar José Évora Dias. His father said he was named after Josimar, a defender in Brazil’s squad in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

“I watched the matches and fell in love with the Brazilian national team,” Dias said. “I really enjoyed it and there were a few players who stood out; one of them was Josimar, a right-back, who scored two goals and really made his mark at that World Cup.”

Like other fans cheering on the team at its training base in Tampa, Dias was beaming with pride over Cape Verde’s successful start to its first ever World Cup.

“As a father, I feel immense pride. All Cape Verdeans right now feel proud to be Cape Verdean and of Cape Verde’s current performance; it’s something we could never have imagined would be possible,” he said.

Vozinha’s brother agreed.

“I’ve no words to describe this moment,” he said. “We just have to live it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment for a professional footballer – to be at the World Cup, to play against Spain, to put in the performance he did.”

RVs full of Cape Verde fans, dressed in the blue of the nation’s flag and adorned with matching beach hats and flags as capes, arrived in the small parking lot outside the training ground in Tampa.

One of them, Benjamin Ferrera, called the draw with Spain “unbelievable.”

“I don’t have words for it, because nobody expected it. We are just 500,000 people on small islands. To be on this type of stage with the world watching us is just magnificent,” he said.

Ferrera was born in Cape Verde but now lives in Massachusetts, which hosts the largest portion of the Cape Verdean diaspora in the United States and is sometimes called Cape Verde’s 11th island.

He is also part of the security team at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, one of the host venues at this year’s tournament.

“We’re all about joy,” Ferrera said. “When I grew up, I always heard that Cape Verde doesn’t have football, that we would never make a World Cup. Today I’m proud to say we’re here and we are going to make history.”

The archipelago nation off the west coast of Africa was the only one of the four debutants at the tournament to avoid defeat in its first game. If you ask Andreia Levy, an organizer for the Cape Verde supporters’ group, 12 Sharks, it was fate.

“Of course, I trusted the guys,” she said. “We knew that it was possible to do something here.”

___

Zach Pascuzzi is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

The crash is in the westbound lanes of SR-408 near Kirkman Road (State Road 435).

Florida Department of Transportation says the crash is blocking three lanes.

Try to avoid the area if you can.

No other information is available.

Visit Orlando reports the city welcomed 76.7 million visitors in 2025, setting a new record and marking a nearly 2% increase over 2024. The milestone puts Orlando ahead of other major tourism destinations.

Cassandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando, put the numbers in perspective.

“In ’25, New York welcomed 65 million visitors, which was up nearly a point, and Las Vegas welcomed 38.5 million visitors, and they were actually down 7.4%,” Matej said.

Despite the record overall numbers, Orlando saw a significant drop in international visitors, particularly from Canada.

“We did see challenges internationally,” Matej said.

Visit Orlando reported a 13.3% drop in Canadian visitors in 2025, a decline tied to tensions over trade and tariffs between the U.S. and Canada. However, the agency expects that trend to reverse.

“I’m pleased to say we are seeing strong momentum in 2026 and there is the anticipation of full recovery in 2027,” Matej said.

While Canadian tourism dipped, Orlando saw increases in visitors from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. The organization also forecasts strong visitor growth from Brazil, Germany, Ireland and the U.K. in the coming year.

Beyond visitor counts, Orlando is poised to see meaningful growth in tourist tax revenue. The Tourist Development Tax, or TDT, is projected to grow substantially.

“The forecast in ’26 has been upgraded rather significantly as you can see, suggesting that overall TDT collections should average about a 6 percent growth year over year,” Matej said.

You can see Visit Orlando’s full presentation below.

Q2 TDC Visit Orlando Update 6.19 by Christie Zizo

The U.S. midfielder has played for the Seattle Sounders since 2015, getting plenty of love from fans in this soccer-crazed Pacific Northwest city.

With the Americans coming off a 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their World Cup opener in Southern California, Roldan is expecting a charged atmosphere on Friday when the Americans face Australia at the home of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

“I fully expect this crowd to be extremely loud. And, they’re going to energize our group,” Roldan said. “This is one of the loudest stadiums in the world when you think about Seahawks games or Sounders games.

“Just seeing the Belgium game against Egypt and how the atmosphere was there, I fully expect the city of Seattle to come out and show out, and I think the guys are going to feel that type of energy.”

The Americans want to reward their supporters and justify the wave of momentum that is building around the team.

“What excites me is that the entire world, the entire nation is behind us,” Roldan said. “I think that they enjoyed watching us play, and at the end of the day what we want to do is inspire and motivate the next generation. ... We have to build off it, and that’s the truth. We can’t just talk about it: We have to show out against Australia.”

The Americans' excitement is somewhat tempered by concerns about their biggest star. Coach Mauricio Pochettino announced Friday morning that Christian Pulisic would not play in the match. Pulisic had trained apart from his teammates on Thursday for the fourth straight day because of his left calf injury.

The Socceroos also pose a significant challenge. In October, the U.S. earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory against a physical Australia side in a friendly that Pochettino said was anything but.

Pochettino wants his team to match Australia's intensity.

“I think we need to play on the edge of the line,” Pochettino said, “with not crossing the lines of the rules.”

Australia center back Harry Souttar anticipates the U.S. will try to start fast, much as it did against Paraguay. Coach Tony Popovic's scrappy squad opened with a 2-0 victory over Turkey on Saturday.

“We want to earn our respect,” Popovic said. “We know that by our performances, we can put Australian football on the world map. And, that’s what we aim to do. We started off well against Turkey. Now, we want to back it up.”

___

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

It came after a heavy exchange of fire killed 47 people in Lebanon and four Israeli soldiers.

Hezbollah and Israel went to war shortly after the outbreak of the wider conflict, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at civilian communities in northern Israel and Israel seizing large swaths of southern Lebanon.

The interim agreement to end the Iran war has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed, cutting the global economy off from significant supplies of oil and natural gas. The deal would also relaunch talks on Iran’s nuclear program, the core issue over which Israel and the U.S. began the war on Feb. 28.

But the accord already faces threats, chiefly from Lebanon, with the fighting there leading to a delay in the start of talks planned for Friday in Switzerland. The agreement calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and for its sovereignty to be respected. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah is a party to the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until the threat is eliminated. Hezbollah has refused to halt its attacks unless Israel commits to withdrawing from Lebanon, which Iran says is also a condition of the deal.

Firing goes on along Lebanese border

Hours after officials told news organizations about the truce, Israeli artillery fire could still be heard from northern Israel along the Lebanese border, and a large explosion was seen erupting inside Lebanon, according to an AP journalist in northern Israel.

Word of the attempt to halt the fighting came from two regional officials and a U.S. official. The effort was mediated by Qatar, the U.S. and Iran, the regional officials said. The three officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah was supposed to end at 4 p.m. local time, according to a second U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly and also spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Hezbollah official said an agreement to stop fighting could be announced soon, but he stopped short of confirming it was in place. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Netanyahu's office did not immediately comment. However, Netanyahu posted Friday on X that, on his orders, the Israeli army had “struck powerfully” 150 Hezbollah targets, killing dozens of militants.

Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military has not received different instructions from the government. He said Israeli forces were operating in a “forward defense zone” and would continue doing so.

The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, posted on X that Israel “remains firmly committed to an immediate ceasefire” if Hezbollah honors the agreement and ceases hostilities.

Iranian and U.S. officials cancel travel to Switzerland

Iranian officials did not travel as planned to Switzerland, insisting that the fighting in Lebanon must stop before the talks can take place, according to the two regional officials, an Iranian official and a fourth person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations behind the scenes. U.S. Vice President JD Vance also postponed his trip.

The future talks are supposed to bring about a permanent end to the conflict.

On Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said consultations through mediators were ongoing regarding the next phase of negotiations to draft a final agreement.

Because the initial deal was signed digitally earlier this week, the talks in Switzerland were not urgent, and plans were underway to hold a meeting in the coming days, he said.

Fighting forces families to flee from villages

The Israeli military said four soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, were killed in an attack on a tank in a village near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh. An explosive drone attack wounded another five, military officials added.

Israel then launched multiple strikes against “Hezbollah infrastructure sites” in Nabatiyeh and other areas, according to a military statement, which accused the militant group of “blatant ceasefire violations.”

Later, the military said it also struck targets in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, with Lebanese media saying the village of Douris was hit.

“Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or on our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for these attacks,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Hezbollah acknowledged targeting Israeli tanks and said its attacks were in response to what it called Israel’s own violation of the ceasefire. It said the attacks came after Israeli forces attempted to reach the northern side of Ali al-Taher hilltop, a strategic point that overlooks Nabatiyeh and that Israeli troops have been trying to capture.

In southern Lebanon, many were forced to flee their villages.

“The situation is lawless, we couldn't stay,” said Mustafa Zain, who was with his six daughters in a pickup truck.

Israel’s actions have created a rift between Israel and the U.S., with Trump becoming increasingly critical of his close ally Netanyahu, who is also facing increasing criticism at home.

Much still needs to be resolved

The discussions in Switzerland were expected to focus on Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran maintains it is peaceful, though it has highly enriched uranium that could be used to build multiple atomic bombs, should it choose to do so, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Those talks are expected to be difficult. The 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump scrapped during his first term, took more than 18 months to negotiate.

The interim deal gives negotiators 60 days to come up with a nuclear agreement, but that can be extended. It outlines lucrative incentives if Iran does reach a new agreement, including the eventual lifting of all international sanctions and a $300 billion fund for postwar reconstruction.

Already Iran has won some concessions. Following the signing of the interim deal, the U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and is allowing it to sell its oil freely. The deal also calls for Iran’s assets to be unfrozen — though it’s not clear how quickly.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Madhani reported from Zurich. Associated Press journalists David Rising in Bangkok, Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Malak Harb in Tyre, Lebanon, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem contributed to this story.

The 56-year-old politician presents himself as an amiable northern everyman who prefers T-shirts to a suit and tie and spends spare time playing soccer or spinning 1990s tunes during DJ battles.

He’s also an experienced politician whose career has taken him from high-level government jobs to the mayoralty of Greater Manchester, and now to the cusp of the prime minister’s office.

Burnham is expected to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer after winning a seat in Parliament in a special election he hailed as a “turning point” for U.K. politics.

His nickname is inspired by ‘Game of Thrones’

Burnham was born and raised in a pocket of northwest England between Liverpool and Manchester, the son of a British Telecom engineer and a receptionist. He joined the Labour Party as a teenager, attended Cambridge University and was first elected to Parliament in 2001.

He was a lawmaker for a decade and a half, rising through the ranks under Prime Minister Tony Blair and serving in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Cabinet between 2007 and 2010.

He ran twice for the leadership of the Labour Party, in 2010 and 2015, and lost badly each time, before quitting Westminster to run for Manchester mayor.

His tenure has seen him nicknamed the King of the North, a “Game of Thrones”-inspired nod both to his championing of his home region and his barely disguised political ambition.

He gained the moniker during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he harangued Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson over what he called a “London-centric” approach to the crisis.

Burnham has led the Greater Manchester region since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. The city center has boomed, with skyscrapers blooming on vacant post-industrial sites. Many residents praise him for championing the city. He took a piecemeal public transport system under public control, branded it the Bee Network and improved its services.

He has also won praise for supporting the campaign for justice for victims of the Hillsborough disaster, when 97 Liverpool soccer fans were killed in a crush at a game in Sheffield in 1989. Years of advocacy led by victims’ families exposed mistakes and wrongdoing by police – who initially spread a false narrative blaming drunken fans – and extracted an apology from the government.

He pledges to end trickle-down economics

Burnham is perceived to be to the political left of Starmer – an asset with Labour members – and is acknowledged as one of the party’s best communicators. The rather stiff public speaker of his earlier leadership bids has been replaced by a relaxed figure in jeans and open-necked shirts.

His three mayoral election victories and decisive win in Thursday's election in Makerfield, where he trounced the candidate of the anti-immigration party Reform UK, have cemented his status as a winner. Many in the party hope he can reverse Labour’s precipitous decline in popularity since Starmer won an election landslide two years ago.

Makerfield voter Ellen Picton, 66, said she was “absolutely thrilled” by Burnham's victory.

“I believe that he’s a man for the common people,” she said. “Andy is like one of us, and he understands what we are going through."

Burnham is pledging to repeat on a national scale his signature brand of “Manchesterism” – a politics that, he likes to say, puts people and place before party and centers on regions ignored by governments in London.

“What we’ve built in Greater Manchester needs to go national,” Burnham said during the campaign. “I know what it is to turn places around.”

But it remains to be seen whether he can have national appeal, said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

“Calling him King of the North in some ways, I think, raises the question of whether he can also be King of the South, King of the East and King of the West,″ Bale said. “However, he does seem to have the kind of X factor that encourages people to think of him as not an ordinary politician, somebody who can communicate with normal people, someone who can speak human.”

In a postelection speech to supporters, Burnham sketched out his priorities: better vocational education and jobs for young people, lower energy bills and rail fares and “an end to trickle down economics, which didn’t trickle down very much at all to places like this.”

Critics say Burnham’s politics are vague and fail to grapple with tough issues, such as where the money will come from to pay for his pledges. And they note that running a country of 70 million is a lot different from overseeing a city region of 3 million.

Nonetheless Burnham now has momentum that could propel him into 10 Downing Street.

"Andy Burnham is probably one of the most popular politicians in the country,” Bale said. “Although, to be honest, that is not saying much.”

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Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha in Ashton-in-Makerfield, England, contributed to this story.

The federal holiday marks the day that Union soldiers on June 19, 1865, told enslaved Black people in Texas that they were free, thus marking the end of slavery in the United States.

Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday on June 17, 2021, when former President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

Communities are celebrating Juneteenth on Friday and Saturday with arts festivals and markets, parades, concerts and resource fairs.

Find events throughout our area below.

Friday

Longwood, Seminole County

Juneteenth at Longwood

• 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• 200 W. Warren Ave., Longwood

Groveland, Lake County

Juneteenth Potluck Cookout

• 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• 441 S. Main Ave., Groveland

Leesburg, Lake County

Juneteenth Art Makers Market

• 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• 100 S. 4th Street

Orlando, Orange County

Unity Juneteenth Block Party

• 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
• 274 N. Orange Ave.

Juneteenth Night Market

• 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• Smoke & Donuts, 601 N. Primrose Dr.

Saturday

Winter Garden, Orange County

Juneteenth Community Celebration

• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• 1203 E Plant Street

Deltona, Volusia County

Deltona Juneteenth Celebration

• 10 a.m.
• Dewey Brewster Park, 1200 Saxon Blvd.

Kissimmee, Osceola County

Juneteenth at Lakeside Skatepark

• 11 a.m.
• Lakeside Skatepark, 2253 Lakeside Dr.

Orlando, Orange County

Orlando Juneteenth Community Resource Fair

• 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Grand Avenue Neighborhood Center, 800 Grand Street

Juneteenth Community BBQ

• 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Barnett Park, 4801 W. Colonial Dr.

Love & liberation: A boldly unapologetic Juneteenth Pride Celebration

• 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
• Central Florida Fair, 4603 W. Colonial Dr.

Eatonville, Orange County

Eatonville Juneteenth Festival

• Noon to 7 p.m.
• Hungerford Field, 100 East Kennedy Blvd.

New Smyrna Beach, Volusia County

Juneteenth Fest

• 12 p.m.
• Pettis Park, 800 Mary Ave.

Cocoa, Brevard County

Juneteenth Arts and Cultural Festival

• 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Cocoa Riverfront Park, 401 Riveredge Blvd.

Apopka, Orange County

Apopka Juneteenth Parade and Festival

• 2 p.m.
• Parade starts at the Apopka VFW, 519 S. Central Ave.
• Festival takes place at Alonzo Williams Park, 225 MA Board Street

Mount Dora, Lake County

Juneteenth Community Celebration

• 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Cauley Lott Park, 1717 N. Highland Street

Sanford, Seminole County

Juneteenth 2026 Block Party

• 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sanford Civic Center, 401 E. Seminole Boulevard

Clermont, Lake County

2026 Juneteenth celebration

• 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Clermont Waterfront Park, 330 Third Street

Winter Park, Orange County

A Night Under The Stars: Jazz & Jubilee

• 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
• Shady Park, 721 W. New England Ave.

The Dallas Wings rookie joins No. 3 pick Awa Fam as part of the new 5-on-5 league that will play all over the world from November to April.

So far about a dozen players have said they’ll be playing in Project B, headlined by Nneka Ogwumike, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd and Kelsey Mitchell. Many young players from around the world are expected to play in the league as well.

Project B will feature six teams with 11 players and compete in seven two-week tournaments across the globe in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Valencia, Spain, and Tokyo have already been announced as two of the cities that will host the new league. Tokyo will have games from March 25-April 4.

Host Broadcast Services, the broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup, will be the league’s production partner. They plan to stream all games.

Project B will have 66 players divided into six teams. According to the organization, women’s players will receive larger salaries than those currently offered by the WNBA. Fudd is making $500,000 as the No. 1 pick. The former UConn star had an NIL deal with Unrivaled, but that was only for college.

Fudd is averaging 12.7 points while shooting 50.7% from the field.

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

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani abruptly cancelled a planned trip to the United States this weekend, calling Trump’s claims “serious and offensive” toward Meloni and all of Italy. The Foreign Ministry later announced that the business and scientific forum Tajani was to attend in Miami had also been called off.

Meloni for her part posted a video calling Trump’s claims “completely fabricated" and expressing astonishment that he would invent such things about an ally.

“Italy and I do not beg,” she said pointedly.

Trump had made the comments in an interview broadcast Friday on the La7 network. The La7 correspondent had asked Trump about Ukraine, but Trump raised Meloni and the conversation turned to their meeting during the just-concluded G7 meeting in Evian-les-Bains, France. Meloni and Trump were filmed speaking at several moments, including alone on a small sofa.

According to La7, Trump said Meloni had “begged” him for a photo-op. Trump said he wasn’t obliged to do it but that he felt sorry for her and agreed, La7 said. The broadcaster put a dubbed version of the conversation online, not the original English audio.

Meloni is astonished and defiant

Trump's posturing underscored how his alliance with Meloni — long seen as one of his closest friends in Europe — has frayed over his war in Iran, his tariffs against Europe and his complaints when anyone disagrees with him.

He turned on Meloni in April after she refused to support his war in Iran and stood up for Pope Leo XIV when Trump lashed out at the pontiff.

But Meloni's strong response on Friday suggested she no longer fears Trump's verbal attacks — attacks that could actually play in her favor in a country where public opinion of the American president has chilled, said Lorenzo Castellani, a political scientist at Rome's Luiss Guido Carli University.

“In some ways this was a favor to Giorgia Meloni, in the sense that she was accused until a few months ago of being a sort of Trump's vassal in Europe,” he said.

In her video, Meloni said she was responding to Trump’s claims because “certain things deserve an immediate response."

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned,” she said. “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way toward his own allies. After all, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”

It was an apparent reference to an interview Trump gave to Italian daily Corriere della Sera in April in which he criticized Meloni's refusal to back the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. Meloni didn't respond publicly at the time. By Friday, it appeared she had had enough of his boasts and broadsides.

“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward the enemies of the West, toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating," Meloni said Friday. "But there’s one thing he must remember: Italy and I do not beg.”

The White House did not return an immediate request for comment on Meloni’s remarks.

Meloni had initially sought to build on longstanding strong U.S.-Italian ties when Trump began his second mandate, and had positioned herself as a “bridge” between Washington and the European Union. She was the lone EU head of state to attend his inauguration.

But relations have frayed over the U.S. war in Iran, which Meloni has said was illegal, and Trump’s position on Ukraine, which Italy strongly supports. Trump's tariffs and strong U.S. support of Israel over its war in Gaza have been other points of contention.

Italian officials close ranks around Meloni

By Friday afternoon, solidarity for Meloni had poured in from across the government and political spectrum, and included a call from President Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s respected head of state.

“Whoever attacks @GiorgiaMeloni attacks all of us,” posted Transport Minister Matteo Salvini.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio referenced the sacrifice of American troops in World War II in underlining the harm to U.S.-Italy relations caused by Trump.

“The thousands of crosses marking the graves of American soldiers who died to free us from Nazi-Fascist dictatorship did not deserve such a painful blow to our fraternal ties,” Nordio said on X.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said he didn't believe Meloni would ever beg someone for a photo, “not even under threat.”

A ‘fantastic’ friendship frays

Meloni and Trump had gotten off to a strong start, and the two leaders are ideologically aligned on many issues. As the head of a far-right party, Meloni backs curbing migration and promoting traditional values.

Weeks before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, Meloni met Trump at his Mar-a-Lago retreat, a visit that she said went “beyond expectations.” It was, she said at the time, “an opportunity to confirm a relationship that promises to be very solid.’’

In the months after, Trump had praised her repeatedly, as “fantastic,” “incredible,” beautiful and a friend.

But stark differences emerged over Ukraine. More recently, Meloni sharply warned against U.S. threats to take Greenland by force, saying she didn’t believe Washington would go so far and that regardless Italy would never support such a move.

Meloni also received support from an unlikely ally in Europe: Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was on Friday asked about the back and forth on the sidelines of a European Council meeting.

“About Meloni, first and foremost, all my solidarity," he told reporters. “Secondly, I not only say this publicly in a response to your question, but also in private during the European Council meeting I offered her all my solidarity against this attack that is not political or personal … I really don´t know how to qualify it.”

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Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

Karthikeyan Deenadayalan was charged in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Monday with one count of violating the federal Port and Waterways Safety Act. Deenadayalan’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

Prosecutors also filed notice of a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the court, but did not provide details about the terms of that deal. Deferred prosecution agreements are typically used when a defendant has agreed to meet certain conditions — such as providing testimony, or paying restitution — in exchange for the charges against them being dropped.

Prosecutors say in court documents that Deenadayalan was the chief engineer of the container ship when it was in the Port of Baltimore in the days before the deadly bridge collision, and that Deenadayalan willfully failed to notify the U.S. Coast Guard that an improper fuel pump without a backup system was being used to power two of the ship's generators.

The Dali, bound for Sri Lanka, lost power twice in a four-minute span as it moved to sea from the Port of Baltimore, causing it to crash into the Key Bridge in the early hours of March 26, 2024. Investigators say a loose wire in a switchboard likely caused the first power loss that led to its steering failure.

But after regaining power, the ship found itself in trouble again, prosecutors say, because the fuel pump used on the two generators was not designed to automatically restart after the first blackout. That caused a second blackout to occur, and the vessel crashed into a supporting column of the bridge, killing six construction workers who had been filling potholes on the structure. The toll bridge first opened in 1977 and is traveled by millions of cars every year.

The Singapore-based ship operator and another employee were indicted on criminal charges in May, accused of relying on the improper pump and then lying about it to investigators. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd. and Chennai, India-based Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd. and the ship's former technical superintendent Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, are charged with conspiracy, misconduct causing death, failing to immediately inform the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition, obstructing the National Transportation Safety Board and making false statements.

A trial in the case against the ship's operator and the technical superintendent has been scheduled for October 2027.

After the indictment, Synergy Marine expressed disappointment and accused the U.S. Justice Department of turning an accident into a crime. Nair’s lawyer, David Gerger, had a similar response, saying in May that his client “thinks about this accident every day, but he certainly did not cause it.”

In April, a $2.25 billion settlement was announced between the state of Maryland, Synergy Marine and Grace Ocean Private Limited, the Singapore-based ship owner. Grace Ocean hasn’t been charged with any crimes related to the collapse.

Earlier this month, a federal judge agreed to postpone a civil trial over the collapse after a flurry of last-minute settlements resolved most of the remaining claims, including deals resolving all pending claims over the deaths of six construction workers.

Virtually all of the unresolved claims are alleging economic losses by businesses and local governments. None of the remaining parties were asking to start the trial as scheduled this week.

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This story has been updated to correct that millions of cars travel the toll bridge every year, not every day.

On Friday, the Oscar-winning actor posted an Instagram video in which she grins as she reveals a baby bump and hurries off camera. The 43-year-old Hathaway captioned the video “Baby, I'm yours” and for the soundtrack used the Barbara Lewis hit of the same name.

When asked for confirmation, a Hathaway spokesman responded, “I think the video is pretty obvious.”

Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman are already the parents of Jonathan Shulman and Jack Shulman. Friday's news arrives at an especially busy time for the actor, whose films this year include “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Mother Mary” and “The Odyssey.”

Take Folarin Balogun who scored twice in the United States’ opening win over Paraguay. He chose to play for the U.S. where he was born instead of England where he grew up or Nigeria where his parents came from.

Or Yasin Ayari, who picked Sweden over his father’s native Tunisia, a decision that came into focus as Sweden defeated the North African team 5-1 with two goals from Ayari.

And there’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, an 18-year-old standout who switched national teams from France to Morocco just weeks before the tournament kicked off.

The World Cup in the U.S., Mexico and Canada is the biggest melting pot in the tournament’s history. Decades of migration are reflected in the rosters of major European teams like France, England and Germany. Meanwhile, many teams in Africa and the Caribbean rely heavily on their diaspora, made easier by a relaxation of FIFA’s eligibility rules.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of players at this World Cup are playing for a country other than the one in which they were born. Many with mixed backgrounds switched allegiances when turning senior, following their heart – or their ambition.

Players from France are everywhere

Nearly 100 players at this World Cup were born in France, but only 23 of them play for the French national team. The others – France-born players with family ties worldwide – make up significant parts of the squads of Algeria, Cape Verde, Congo, Ghana, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Tunisia.

Bouaddi, one of the top performers in Morocco’s 1-1 draw with Brazil, was born in France and nurtured at top-tier club Lille. He played for France at the youth level and was captain of France’s under-21 team as recently as March, but switched to Morocco, where his family came from, just in time for the World Cup.

"I’m very proud of my decision and very happy to represent my country, Morocco,” he said before the tournament. “My family is happy and I hope great things will come in the upcoming competitions.”

Moroccan soccer federation president Faouzi Lekjaa personally visited Bouaddi at his home and met with the president of Lille to outline the North African kingdom’s soccer ambitions and the professional environment it offers, according to Moroccan state television.

Morocco, which in 2022 became the first African country to reach the World Cup semifinals, relies heavily on players from its diaspora in Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It has 19 foreign-born players in its 26-man squad.

Defender Achraf Hakimi was born in Madrid and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz played one game for Spain before his FIFA switch to Morocco was processed in 2024.

A complex choice for the children of immigrants

Some of the biggest profiles of soccer had to make a choice. Kylian Mbappé was eligible to play for Cameroon or Algeria because of his family background but chose France where he was born and raised. Spain’s Lamine Yamal could have played for Morocco, his father’s homeland.

Brothers Désiré and Guéla Doué took separate paths. Both were born in France but Désiré plays for France while Guéla chose to represent Ivory Coast, where their father is from.

They’re not the only brothers who have ended up on separate World Cup teams. John Souttar represents Scotland while his brother Harry plays for Australia. Nico and Iñaki Williams were born in Spain to Ghanaian parents and while Nico chose to play for Spain, Iñaki picked Ghana.

Tunisia tried to recruit Ayari, the Sweden midfielder who plays for Brighton in the Premier League, for its national team based on his father’s Tunisian background. However, his father, Azzouz Ayari, pushed back. He told Swedish media that he felt his son should represent the country in which he was born and raised.

“I am an immigrant, but my children, no. Yasin is a Swede, with Tunisian background,” Azzouz Ayari told newspaper Aftonbladet. “I want him to play for Sweden because I want him to feel that he is giving back to the country that really took care of him.”

Sweden fans won’t argue with that decision. Ayari scored twice in the team’s opener against Tunisia but muted his celebrations out of respect for his father’s home country.

Birthright citizen Balogun chose the US over England

Balogun’s two goals in the 4-1 win against Paraguay made him – and his background – more widely known to the American public. He played for England at youth level, except for a brief stint with the U.S. under-18 team, but switched to represent the United States in 2023.

That was possible because of birthright citizenship rules in the U.S. – Balogun was born in New York, while his Nigerian parents were visiting.

Balogun has cited the passion of U.S. soccer fans that he experienced while visiting a training camp in Florida in March 2023 as part of the reason why he decided to represent the United States. When they found out he was in Florida, many fans urged him to play for the U.S. national team. He also met with U.S. team officials.

“I’ve always said the fans gave me so much motivation and showed me so much support. The most important thing has always been to be able to repay that,” Balogun said after the Paraguay game last week. “I just want to continue to show the fans I made the right decision."

Whether he could have gotten a place in the highly competitive England squad is unclear. At the time, then-England coach Gareth Southgate said they were monitoring his progress but couldn't promise anything.

FIFA sets the rules

Switching nationalities is nothing new in soccer. Some of the sport’s biggest stars represented multiple countries, including Ferenc Puskás, who was the leader of Hungary’s “Mighty Magyars” in the 1950s but played for Spain at the 1962 World Cup.

That Spain squad also included Puskás’s Real Madrid teammate Alfredo Di Stéfano, whose international career started with his native Argentina.

In modern soccer, FIFA intervened in 2004 amid concern Brazilian players were being naturalized with a passport too easily by other countries, including Qatar.

A “clear connection” with the country was insisted on, which could be two years of residence or a grandparent born there.

FIFA’s then-president Sepp Blatter later aimed to “stop this farce” warning that at a 32-team World Cup “you will have 16 full of Brazilian players.”

The residence demand on players aged 18 or over became five years in 2008, and a proposal at the 2011 FIFA Congress by the United Arab Emirates to cut it to three was rejected.

Dual- or multiple-national players have been “cap-tied” by FIFA to any team they represented in a senior competitive game. Those who played only in friendlies or at youth level could apply to switch.

FIFA eased its rules in 2020 to allow more eligibility changes, but players are locked to a nation if they play at a finals tournament of the World Cup or continental championship.

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AP reporter Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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

The incident happened on June 12 at the Luv-N-Hugs Learning Center, located on Fountain Street near U.S. Hwy 27.

The video showed an officer as he responded to the daycare and questioned Halee Russo, who was arrested on a charge of child neglect.

In the video, Russo first told the officer she only lost track of the toddler for a few seconds and quickly caught up to him near the daycare’s entrance.

“All of a sudden, I see the gate swing open, and I left my kids unattended for a second, and I had to run out after him,” Russo said. “It was probably about five seconds because I was at the front gate and the gate he went out of was the back gate.”

[WATCH: Florida daycare worker arrested after child escapes, runs into street]

The officer pressed Russo on the statement, as her account differed from what was seen on surveillance video.

Russo then changed her statement and said she was told by her boss to lie because there were concerns about the daycare being shut down.

“It was different, because I was doing what my boss told me to say because she didn’t want to get this center shut down,” Russo said.

According to investigators, multiple drivers saw the child in the road, and one brought them back to the daycare.

Russo said she confirmed the gate was locked and the child likely crawled under the gate through a gap.

Russo told the officer her boss said to lie so the daycare wouldn’t be closed, the affidavit stated.

According to state records, Luv-N-Hugs was found in non-compliance in April for inadequate supervision.

The Department of Children and Families visited the facility again on June 12 in response to the incident.

On Thursday, Desiree Everett, the owner of Luv-N-Hugs, issued a statement apologizing for what happened.

“We would like to formally apologize to the parents of the child involved in the recent incident. We are deeply grateful that the child is safe and unharmed,” Everett said. We remain committed to serving our community and ensuring a safe, nurturing environment for every child.

Russo was released from jail on a $2,500 bond and has an arraignment scheduled for July 6.

The Bank King Card debit card will be offered beginning Friday in honor of Juneteenth by Redemption Bank, which will make a donation from every account opened to nonprofits that will steer the funding to needy families.

“Bank King Card represents a new regenerative banking model that starts with investing in mothers who are a few hopeful dollars away from breaking out of poverty, and opening up America’s vaults of opportunity that have been closed to too many for too long,” Redemption Holding Co. chair and Chief Executive Ashley Bell said.

A 2026 report by the Urban Institute and the Jeremiah Program says households led by single mothers experience widespread economic and caregiving hardship.

Redemption Bank, based in Holladay, Utah, says it intends to make fixed-amount donations based on new Bank King Card account openings. The amount will be determined annually by the bank’s board of directors and will not be based on the amount of card purchases, according to Redemption Bank.

Nonprofits that provide direct-cash services would apply for grants through a foundation developed to make sure the money gets to those who need it most.

“What we’ve seen is these guaranteed income programs have been a jolt out of poverty for women around the country, including many women of color,” Bell said.

Every dollar helps

Money given directly to needy mothers and children is overwhelmingly spent to cover necessary goods or services, according to Chastity Lord, president and chief executive of the Jeremiah Program, which works to improve economic mobility for single mothers.

But it also does so much more, she said.

“It provides dignity,” Lord continued. “It ensures summer learning, not leaving kids at home. It increases nutrition. It allows the mom to make powerful decisions that benefit their children and their families instead of making decisions to just get by.”

A pilot program through the Ohio Mother's Trust funneled $500 each month for a year to 32 single mothers in the Columbus, Ohio, area.

For Juanita Amakor of Columbus, the cash she received through the Ohio Mother's Trust allowed her to catch up on bills and pay rent.

“It's the breathing room it gives you, knowing there is something extra coming in. It relieves a lot of anxiety,” said Amakor, 36, who has a 7-year-old daughter. “This help goes a long way, even if it was for something as little as being able to take my child to the grocery store, to the clothing store.”

In Michigan, Rx Kids gives women a one-time allocation of $1,500 during pregnancy, followed by $500 per month throughout the child’s first months. The $1,500 can be used on food, prenatal care, rent, cribs or other needs. The $500 monthly stipend can be spent on formula, diapers or childcare.

Kinea Wright and her family received funding through the Rx Kids program in Flint. It helped with some bills, diapers for her newborn daughter and other needs, especially after her husband was injured in a forklift accident.

“Initially, (the money) was put up for a rainy day,” said Wright, 46. “I didn't know the rainy day would come sooner than we thought. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Juneteenth connection

A year ago, Redemption Holding Co. completed its acquisition of Utah-based Holladay Bank & Trust, making it the first time a bank has been owned by a Black-led investment group in the Western U.S.

At the time, Redemption Bank had roughly $65 million in assets. It primarily focuses on commercial lending and small business loans. Bernice A. King, the youngest child of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is a co-founder and senior vice president of the bank.

“Economic opportunity must be practical, accessible and rooted in the needs of families,” King said. “Bank King Card is an innovative way to support that work. It creates a practical opportunity for people to align their financial choices with their values while supporting mothers, children and families working toward long-term stability.”

A Bank King Card credit card is expected to be introduced later with interest rates capped at 12%.

The announcement of the Bank King Card coincides with Juneteenth, which also is the one-year anniversary of Redemption's acquisition of Holladay Bank & Trust.

Juneteenth — which combines “June” and “nineteenth” — represents the date in 1865 when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed. It came two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. In 2021, President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday.

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Corey Williams is a member of AP's Race & Ethnicity team.

The contract is worth $68 million, according to a person familiar with the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because financial terms were not disclosed.

Raddysh will count $8.5 million against the salary cap through the 2033-34 season. He had never made more than a million dollars a year until now.

The 30-year-old late bloomer cashed in on a breakout season in which he set career highs with 22 goals, 48 assists and 70 points in 73 games. That's the same amount of points he put up in the previous two seasons combined since becoming a full-time NHL player as recently as 2023.

Raddysh provides an immediate upgrade for the Leafs, who have a new coach in Jim Hiller and a new front office led by general manager John Chayka and franchise legend adviser Mats Sundin. Getting Raddysh's rights from the Lightning for a fifth-round pick before he could hit the open market is Chayka's second trade after clearing cap space earlier this week by sending goaltender Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit to Philadelphia.

“We are thrilled to add a defenseman of Darren’s caliber to our organization,” Chayka said. “Darren has emerged as one of the NHL’s premier two-way defensemen, combining elite puck-moving ability with poise, competitiveness and strong play in all three zones. He strengthens our blue line in every situation and is exactly the type of player we want helping lead this team.”

Raddysh was undrafted despite helping the Erie Otters win the Ontario Hockey League at the junior level in 2016-17. He signed with Chicago, got traded to the New York Rangers and inked a free agent deal in 2021 with the Lightning.

He spent a vast majority of that time in the minors and was an All-Star in the American Hockey League before earning a job with Tampa Bay. He thrived this past season while the team dealt with injuries all over and led all players in the league at the position with 10 power-play goals.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

“The fact that this holiday has been preserved for thousands of years shows how much we value our traditional customs,” said Meng Dongmei, a retired resident of Beijing’s Tongzhou district.

Meng said her family observes the holiday through a variety of traditional customs. They prepare zongzi, the sticky rice dumplings associated with the festival, and children wear five-colored bracelets believed to ward off evil.

“We also learned online about a traditional recipe using mugwort leaves, red dates, brown sugar and ginger to boil eggs,” Meng said. “We heard that it could help ward off illness and keep people healthy throughout the year, so we hope that through this festival our family will enjoy good health.”

Thousands to gather for boat races

Beijing’s 2026 celebrations will continue through the weekend at the capital’s Grand Canal.

The three-day event features men’s, women’s and mixed dragon boat races over distances of 100, 200 and 500 meters. Teams from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Guangdong will compete throughout the holiday weekend.

More than 1,000 athletes and 200,000 spectators are expected to gather for the event, organizers said in a press release.

“The competition helped strengthen our team spirit,” said Li Maoshan, a participant in Friday’s races. “It also gave us an opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of perseverance and hard work.”

Beyond the races

Among the cultural features during Beijing’s Dragon Boat Festival were demonstrations of Wing Chun martial arts, a market featuring traditional handicrafts and a performance in which dancers mimic the movements of a lion.

Activities were intended to highlight cultural exchanges between northern and southern China, officials said.

Friday’s lion dance was presented by a group of performers from Guangdong province in southern China. “Wherever there is a festive occasion, you’ll find dragon and lion dances,” said He Weihong, founder of the group. “Dragon boat racing and dragon-and-lion dancing are inseparable, as they are both part of our intangible cultural heritage.”

Ancient customs on health and protection

The festival’s roots run deeper than sporting competitions. It is widely associated with the ancient poet Qu Yuan, who according to legend drowned himself more than 2,000 years ago.

Tradition holds that people raced out in boats to search for him and threw rice into the river so fish would not eat his body. That story is often linked to both today’s dragon boat races and the zongzi still prepared by families across China.

“The Dragon Boat Festival is probably the richest and most diverse of all traditional Chinese festivals,” said Tsinghua University history professor Liu Xiaofeng. “Across different regions, people developed a wide variety of traditions based on ideas connected to the summer solstice and the balance of yin and yang.”

The holiday falls in the fifth month of the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, around the time of the summer solstice. Ancient Chinese viewed this as a period when insects, poisonous creatures and disease became more prevalent, giving rise to a wide range of customs aimed at preserving health and warding off misfortune.

“At its core, the Dragon Boat Festival is about disease prevention, warding off evil and maintaining health,” Liu said.

Some people wear sachets containing medicinal herbs during the festival. Others fumigate their homes with smoke, a practice intended to prevent disease by driving out things considered harmful.

“Chinese people have traditionally placed a special emphasis on happiness, well-being and living in peace and safety,” Liu said. “Nearly all of China’s major festivals are connected in some way to these aspirations.”

Evolving traditions

Participants in Hong Kong’s dragon boat races on Friday wore costumes including a cartoon version of Chinese Taoist deity Ne Zha.

Guided by the thunderous beat of their drummers, crews pulled their paddles through the water in unison, each boat surging toward the finish line as spectators cheered them on. Others watched the races at home as they enjoyed zongzi with their families.

“Today more than 64% of China’s population lives in urban areas and people’s lifestyles have been transformed,” Liu said. “In a large city, it’s difficult to celebrate the festival the way people once did in rural communities. Festivals evolve along with the times.”

Bao Nari, a Beijing resident who spent years away from home while she studied in Japan, said that while boat races were not part of her childhood celebrations, other long-standing Dragon Boat Festival traditions like wearing five-colored bracelets were passed down through her family.

“After coming back, I’m impressed by how much cultural development has progressed here,” Bao said. “This cultural heritage has become deeply rooted in our hearts and it inspires our generation to be more confident.”

___

AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing and reporter Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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

The poll points to just how unpopular the war, which began Feb. 28, has been with Americans even as the Republican president turned abruptly from threatening Iran to reopening negotiations. Support for his handling of the war remains lopsidedly partisan. About two-thirds, 65%, of U.S. adults disapprove of how Trump is handling issues with Iran. But while the vast majority of Democrats and independents view Trump’s actions negatively, only 28% of Republicans are unhappy.

Americans’ views on how the president is handling Iran are roughly in line with his overall job approval, which stands at 37%, unchanged from an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in May.

The new survey was conducted June 11-17, just after Trump called off threats to escalate the war with Iran. The poll was fielded as Trump announced a deal with Iran and authorized an end to the U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, concluding just before the deal was signed Wednesday.

Approval of Trump’s actions on Iran has been low over the past few months. But in interviews, some Republicans also weren’t pleased with the outcome of this week’s agreement, which gives Iran an immediate benefit, allowing it to sell its oil freely again.

The deal also reopens the strait without tolls for two months, restarts talks between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program and calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

David Farrington, a 79-year-old Republican-leaning independent in Fort Worth, Texas, “doesn’t have any love lost” for Iran, but he’s frustrated the agreement focused on the strait and didn’t deliver more on the country’s nuclear weapons program.

“Any agreement regarding the strait is hardly what I would consider a recognizable concession on the part of Iran,” Farrington said. “So, I consider that some fluff that attempts to make this agreement look better when it’s not.”

Trump’s approval on Iran remains flat

Only about one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Iran in the new poll, in line with May.

Donald McBride, a 28-year-old independent in Plano, Texas, is frustrated that Trump has not maintained his campaign promise to keep America out of foreign wars. McBride voted for Trump but he opposed going to war with Iran.

“I would like the war to end,” he said. “The original objective of the war was to end the Iranian regime, and that’s just not possible. I don’t really know why we’d continue fighting.”

The poll suggests most Americans want action in Iran to wrap up. Even with an agreement on the horizon, 53% of U.S. adults said American military action against Iran had “gone too far,” only a slight decline from 59% in March.

About 4 in 10 Republicans, though, said in the latest poll that action has been “about right,” and 37% said it had not gone far enough.

Joan Jones, a 64-year-old independent in northwest Florida, believes the United States’ actions in Iran have been necessary to address the threat Iran posed.

“Those attacks are ultimately to protect us from nuclear attacks,” Jones said. “I think we have to go through that … and eliminate that worry so we don’t have that hovering over us.”

Few approve of Trump’s approach on Israel

About one-third, 34%, of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling Israel.

Tensions have been rising between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump as the president criticizes recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which jeopardized negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

James Huffman, a 69-year-old Republican in Medway, Ohio, thinks Trump is taking the wrong strategy when it comes to Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu is not going to do everything Trump wants. He’s going to do what he wants,” Huffman said. “I just don’t think it’s effective.”

Only about one-third approve on the economy

About one-third of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s approach to the economy. That’s in line with last month, and continues a challenging stretch for Trump on the issue.

Jones, the Florida independent, is more optimistic than most. She said she can hardly leave the house some hours without getting stuck in the traffic of tourists headed to the beach on vacation. She also spots lines around the block for Starbucks, McDonalds and Chick-fil-A in her community — all signs to her that the economy is doing well overall.

“I think President Trump’s policies are contributing to a better economy,” Jones said.

Other Republicans are more skeptical, a troubling sign for a president who prides himself on his business acumen. Only 69% of Republicans approve of how he’s handling the economy, slightly lower than the 78% who approve of how he’s handling the presidency overall.

Patricia Bailey, a 42-year-old Republican in Parkersburg, West Virginia, sees an economy where prices have gotten out of control. “I just said the other night, ordering pizza is for rich people,” she said. Bailey voted for Trump but added, “He’s kind of let me down a little bit.”

Even if high prices preceded Trump, Bailey doesn’t think he’s lived up to his pledge to improve the economy.

“I think he got so distracted with the war that he forgot some old promises,” she said.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 3,040 adults was conducted June 11-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

As thousands poured into Atlanta Stadium on Monday to see Spain face Cape Verde in what turned out to be a remarkable scoreless draw, Ramroop stood outside, increasingly stressed as she went back and forth for hours between StubHub representatives on the phone and FIFA representatives in the ticket booth. Each blamed the other.

No one could figure out why the tickets Ramroop bought months ago on StubHub for $485 apiece couldn't be transferred from the original seller to the FIFA ticketing app. StubHub offered her a refund and, as Ramroop heard the crowd roar for the start of the match, she knew she had no choice but to give up and take the offer.

“I didn’t want a refund, I didn’t want my money back,” Ramroop said. “I wanted to go to the game.”

The World Cup has delivered thrills on the pitch, but fans have flooded social media with complaints about tickets that never arrived, orders that were canceled at the last minute and hours they spent trying to sort out problems between FIFA’s ticketing system and outside resale platforms. The vast majority seem to be about industry titan StubHub, but people who bought through competitors such as SeatGeek and Vivid Seats have also reported issues. Interviews with fans and industry experts show that some cases stem from technical glitches in the transfer process, while others could involve sellers who never had tickets to deliver in the first place, though StubHub denies such sales happen on its platform.

A grandmother's disappointment

FIFA has urged fans to buy resale tickets through its own marketplace, where it slaps a 30% surcharge on every resold ticket — 15% each from the buyer and seller. But many fans bought through other resale sites, either out of habit or because those sites have lower prices or are easier to navigate.

Ramroop didn't realize she was taking a risk when she bought through StubHub, which she had used in the past without issues.

As she and her grandson Elijah Gomes took the long, lonely train ride back to the Atlanta suburbs, Elijah followed the score on his phone. The match had ended scoreless, and he tried to cheer up his devastated grandmother by telling her they hadn't missed much after all (Cape Verdeans would beg to differ ).

“He’s telling me, ‘Grandma, it’s OK, Grandma.’ And he’s trying to console me,” Ramroop said the next day.

She was hardly alone. An Associated Press journalist witnessed more than a dozen frustrated fans at the match who said they were stuck in similar situations.

StubHub blamed FIFA for the transfer problems that buyers like Ramroop have experienced. In a statement, it said FIFA has “poor technology infrastructure,” enacted last-minute transfer restrictions and didn't launch its new ticketing app until a few weeks before the tournament. The company also called out organizers that “take anti-competitive actions” that limit where fans can buy and sell tickets.

Asked about the technical issues, FIFA on Wednesday reiterated that sales through its official site are guaranteed to go through.

An industry's longstanding problem

Industry observers say the problems appear to stem from more than one cause. For some, it may indeed be technical glitches — an issue that StubHub says is “very, very rare” and one that it is hard at work to solve. For others, they say it's likely a more longstanding scourge: speculative sellers.

Scott Friedman, an industry veteran and co-founder of a consultancy called the Ticket Talk Network, said some sellers list tickets before they actually have them, betting that prices will fall closer to the event so they can buy the tickets at a better price later. But because World Cup ticket prices have surged since the tournament began, those sellers have been forced to either buy expensive tickets to fulfill their orders or cancel and accept penalties from resale platforms. StubHub's penalties are typically 200% of the ticket price, Friedman said.

“This is not new at all,” said Friedman, pointing to other high-profile events where frustrated fans were left empty-handed, including Taylor Swift's Eras tour. “This has been going on, but it’s making global news because it’s the World Cup.”

StubHub says it requires sellers to prove they have tickets before they list them.

But regardless of the reason for the canceled sales, Friedman said “StubHub should fill every single order to make sure fans get in the biggest global sporting event that happens every four years.”

That’s what many fans say they expected when they purchased through StubHub.

StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee promises replacement tickets or a refund if tickets fail to arrive. But the policy repeatedly says those remedies are provided at StubHub’s “sole discretion,” meaning the company can choose a refund instead of securing replacement seats.

“That is pretty explicit language,” said Michael McCann, a sports law expert at the University of New Hampshire. McCann noted that a buyer could try to challenge the language under state consumer protection laws, but it would be an uphill battle.

A father's regrets

Pape Ndaw is crestfallen that the high school graduation gift he got for his son — tickets for them to see the Netherlands and Japan near their home city of Dallas — never arrived.

He bought the tickets for about $550 apiece in December. Then, two days before the June 14 match, he received an email from StubHub telling him, “The seller can’t deliver your original tickets.”

Ndaw accepted store credit rather than a refund, thinking he would use the funds to quickly get replacements, only to then realize that the cheapest last-minute tickets were going for more than $1,500 each. Not only were they not going to get to go to the game, but Ndaw said StubHub rejected his belated request for a refund instead of store credit.

Breaking the news to his soccer-obsessed son was brutal, Ndaw said.

“It was a disastrous thing,” he said. “He had told all his friends that he was going to that game. He literally cried. I mean, he is a 17-year-old kid, but he cried.”

A family's attempt to make the best of it

Others fared somewhat better.

Patrick O’Neil of Pittsboro, North Carolina, traveled to Atlanta with his wife, son and relatives after purchasing five tickets through StubHub for the Spain-Cape Verde match. Two tickets transferred successfully, but three never arrived.

O’Neil’s 15-year-old son and his uncle ended up using the two tickets, while O’Neil, his wife and another relative watched from a nearby bar.

After local media caught wind of their ordeal, O’Neil said StubHub contacted the family and offered tickets to another game. Since the family had already bought tickets to one, though, he and his wife asked the company to instead give the seats to local nonprofit Soccer in the Streets so they could go to people who otherwise might not be able to attend a match.

“StubHub is not evil, but they’re part of the whole system that makes it really hard for just normal kids and people who might want to see a match get to go,” O'Neil said.

On Thursday, a StubHub representative confirmed to the AP that the company would honor the O’Neils’ request and send tickets to the nonprofit.

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

It’s a sculpture entitled “Some Were Quite Blind.”

The art piece is purposefully abstract, with four aluminum statues sticking straight up out of the ground.

However, there’s a lewd rumor about this sculpture that’s become the de facto assumption for many — namely, that they represent four animal penises.

THE REPUTATION

According to the curio website Atlas Obscura, the giant metal statues represent the genitals of a boar, a cat, a bull and a ram.

“The collection of penis statues is accompanied by a small plaque,” the website reads. “However, it doesn’t give any information as to what the artwork actually represents, making it easy for passersby to miss the true identities of the massive mammalian phalluses.”

This has certainly given the sculpture a unique reputation, though there’s a glaring issue with the rumors about it.

They just aren’t true — at least, according to the artist herself.

THE REAL STORY

Carol Brown, who originally built the pieces around 40 years ago, told News 6 that the art piece was a result of a state grant.

But a couple of years ago, she received a call from someone claiming to write a paper on the “penises” that she had installed.

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t know anything about you, but you’re so far off the mark, it’s ridiculous,’” Brown explained. “’ I think that before you try to write about art, you should study animal anatomy.’ And the guy was livid, of course, because I’m sure I was offensive.”

Despite her protestations, though, Brown said the label soon stuck.

“Sure enough, all over the Internet, it shows up,” she continued. “‘Go see the animal penises at the Animal and Dairy Sciences Building — the ram, the cat, whatever.’"

WHAT IS THE SCULPTURE SUPPOSED TO BE?

As expected, Brown told News 6 that the sculpture was not meant to depict genitalia.

Instead, she said, the sculpture was a product of her interest in European modernist art.

“There’s a traditional sculpture that interested me very much at that time, and I was developing a vocabulary that was just figures that had a lifelike aspect to them,” she explained. “I’ll phrase it that way: in some cases, they made references to vague hints of animals or people.”

[BELOW: Here’s where Florida’s last two “Future Houses” can be found]

As such, Brown built her metal sculptures with abstract forms that were “vaguely anthropomorphic or zoomorphic,” which fit in with the theme of the nearby Animal Sciences building.

In addition, Brown discussed the title of her art piece, “Some Were Quite Blind,” which was also based on abstract themes.

“I was busy thinking about all of the people who were so offended about the idea of the art, and so i came up with the title ‘Some Were Quite Blind’ because you didn’t know if it would refer tot he piece or the people looking at the piece,” she continued.

WHAT IS SHE DOING NOW?

While Brown used to be a sculptor, she said her work has since evolved, leading her to become a painter. Many of her works can still be found on her website.

That said, the reputation her sculpture has garnered has bled into her personal life to some extent.

”I have a grandson who’s now 20 years old, and he came in the other day, not too long ago, and he said, ‘Did you really do all these penises?’" she said.

And despite the negative experience she suffered with this specific piece, she’s still a vocal proponent of public art.

“Public art is just meant to liven up dead space in my mind. I mean, it activates an area and can be wonderful,” she added. “And there’s so many great things to say about public art that I sort of hate pointing out all the things that went wrong on this one because of people’s perceptions.”

[BELOW: Here’s the terrifying story behind Florida’s “Devil Tree”]

The report examines factors like financial stability, education, health and safety to determine the top-ranked entries, as well as the lowest-ranked of the bunch.

“The best-run cities in America use their budgets most effectively to provide high-quality financial security, education, health, safety and transportation to their residents,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. “Many of the top cities also have a very low amount of outstanding government debt per capita, which can prevent financial troubles in the future.”

In Florida, the top-ranked pick turned out to be Jacksonville at No. 18, with Tallahassee falling further behind at No. 29.

Nationwide, though, the No. 1 city was revealed to be Provo, Utah.

“Provo, UT, is the best-run city, and the reasons for that are that the city is experiencing business growth of around 3.1%, alongside a high school graduation rate of nearly 91%, a combination that signals a strong foundation for the future.

Provo is also a city that is safe and keeps its infrastructure well-maintained. It has the seventh-lowest violent crime rate in the country, the eighth-lowest property crime rate, and the 24th-best road quality in the country.

Finally, with relatively short average commute times and low traffic congestion, Provo’s ease of getting around adds to its growing appeal and reflects effective city planning and infrastructure management."

WalletHub, "Best- & Worst-Run Cities in America (2026)"

In terms of individual cities, Florida had a few stand-outs in the report.

• Miami — Ranked No. 8 in terms of education
• Hialeah — Tied No. 1 with Miami for unemployment, and came in at No. 5 for violent crime rates
• Jacksonville — Ranked No. 8 for total budget per capita
• Tallahassee — Ranked No. 2 for quality of roads

Meanwhile, the full list of Florida cities ranked as follows:

The law — SB 212 — was filed all the way back in October, and it requires sex offenders to stay away from public swimming pools.

More specifically, the bill prohibits those convicted of certain sex offenses against children 16 years of age or younger from living within 1,000 feet of a public swimming pool.

These sex offenses include sexual battery; indecent exposure; child porn possession/creation; and selling or buying minors. That said, an exemption has been carved out for those who are already living near a public swimming pool.

[RELATED: Disturbing discoveries at Sanford home revealed by Florida attorney general]

Such offenders are also forbidden from working for, volunteering at, or even visiting a public swimming pool, unless prior approval has been obtained from the supervising officer.

Current law already prohibits these sorts of sex offenders from living near schools, childcare facilities, parks and playgrounds, though this law cracks down even harder via the following rules:

• Contacting Children: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they knowingly contact a minor at any park, playground or public swimming pool.
• School Grounds: Such offenders may be arrested without a warrant if they’re purposefully present in any pre-K-12 school while the school is still in operation, with few exceptions.
• Prowling Offenders: The bill increases the restricted distance for loitering and prowling by such sex offenders from 300 feet to 500 feet of places where children congregate.

As for what a “public swimming pool” means, the legislation defines it as follows:

“A structure that is located either indoors or outdoors and used for recreational bathing or swimming by humans.

The term includes a conventional pool, spa-type pool, wading pool, special purpose pool, spray pool, splash pad, or other water recreation attraction, to which admission may be gained with or without payment of a fee, regardless of whether entry to the swimming pool is limited by a gate or other method of controlling access.

The term includes swimming pools operated by or serving subdivisions, apartments, condominiums, mobile home parks, or townhouses, or any pool operated by a governmental entity which is held open to the public.

The term does not include a swimming pool at a private single-family residence, hotel, motel, or recreational vehicle park, or a swimming pool where the operator prohibits the use of such pool by persons younger than 18 years of age.”

Senate Bill 212

The law takes effect on July 1, alongside over 100 other new Florida laws.

You can find the full list here.

The defender, who is currently playing with Morocco at the World Cup after winning the Champions League for a second straight year with PSG, had appealed a February decision by an investigative judge. That ruling followed recommendations from public prosecutors that Hakimi should face trial.

The decision was released just hours before Morocco takes on Scotland in their Group C match. Morocco drew 1-1 with Brazil in its opening game.

Hakimi, one of the best right backs in the world, denies any wrongdoing. He faced preliminary charges of rape in March 2023 after a 24-year-old woman said she was raped by Hakimi at his home in a Paris suburb.

The Versailles appeals court said in a press statement that it ordered that Hakimi be formally charged with rape. The court said that the investigations conducted during the inquiry and the judicial investigation led the investigating chamber to conclude that there is sufficient evidence against the player to stand trial.

Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, said that after more than three years of legal proceedings, “and after being defamed and dragged through the mud by Achraf Hakimi’s defense,” the court's decision “brings my client a sense of relief and hope."

“Relief that she has been heard by the justice system and will have her case heard at trial,” Pardo said in a statement to The Associate Press. "Hope that this trial will help other women and further weaken the fortress of denial and impunity surrounding sexual violence, including within the world of men’s football.”

Hakimi claimed in a message posted on X on Friday that his case would have been dismissed if he had not been famous, and that he sometimes feels he has become “an easy target.”

“Justice looked me in the eye and told me: ‘If you were not famous, there would never have been a case,’" Hakimi wrote. “I chose to remain silent for years. I believed that staying dignified, being patient, and trusting the justice system would allow the right decisions to be made.”

He added that the case has been detrimental not only to him, but also to his family, “and above all, to the truth.”

“I have been waiting for this trial since the first day. And I am now waiting for it impatiently,” he added. “Finally, I will be able to speak.”

A date for the trial has yet to be announced.

“The multitude of exculpatory elements uncovered during the investigation and judicial inquiry would, in any other case, have led to the dismissal of the proceedings," Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, told the AP.

“Achraf Hakimi’s defense regrets that no consequences were drawn from the contradictions and false statements made by the complainant, her concealment of information from the judicial authorities, her obstruction of the search for the truth, and the psychological assessments noting both her ambivalence and her lack of clarity regarding the events she reported.”

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

U.S. markets will be closed Friday for Juneteenth.

Planned talks in Switzerland between Iran and the United States over their efforts to reach a permanent end to war were delayed, while Israel’s military said its forces struck targets throughout southern Lebanon overnight as Hezbollah reported intense fighting in the area.

“Both sides are trying to show some good faith,” Bas van Geffen of RaboResearch said in a commentary. “But even if the water appears calmer, there is still a strong undertow. The agreement remains fragile on multiple fronts.”

Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to 25,079.30, while the CAC 40 in Paris was nearly unchanged at 8,467.75. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.2% to 10,376.64.

The futures for the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 wavered between gains and losses but closed 0.3% higher at a new record of 71,250.06. The government reported that consumer prices excluding volatile fresh foods was unchanged, but analysts said it would likely pick up in coming months despite higher fuel costs.

Higher inflation was a factor driving the Bank of Japan to raise its benchmark interest rate earlier this week to a three-decade high of 1% as it gradually adjusts its policies after years of near-zero or negative rates.

In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.1% to 9,052.42, just shy of its record set a day earlier. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.9% to 8,828.70, while India's Sensex lost 0.8%.

Markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taiwan were closed for the Dragon Boat festival.

On Thursday, stocks rose on Wall Street, erasing most of their losses from a day earlier to notch weekly gains thanks to big advances for heavyweight technology companies. The decline on Wednesday was driven by anticipation that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates this year in an effort to fight inflation.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1% and the Dow industrials added 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite surged 1.9%.

Technology stocks had some of the biggest gains and the most influence on the broader market's rise. Intel surged 10.6% after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the semiconductor giant will make chips for Apple in the U.S. Other big semiconductor companies gained ground. Nvidia rose 3% and Micron Technology jumped 8.7%.

On the losing end, SpaceX fell for the second straight day since its big debut on the U.S. stock market last week. The Elon Musk-led rocket maker and AI company was down 3.6% following a 4.9% loss Wednesday.

Oil prices wavered after the United States and Iran signed an agreement to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tanker traffic. Brent crude, the international standard, spent most of the day lower before settling 0.4% higher at $79.85 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 0.2% to $75.85 per barrel.

Early Friday, Brent crude was down 0.4% at $79.50 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude was flat at $75.85 per barrel.

Prices for crude oil are still above roughly $70 per barrel from before the war, but are well below the $100-plus price from a few weeks ago.

Rising energy costs have been putting more pressure on already hot inflation. The average price of gasoline in the U.S. has dipped below $4 a gallon, but is still 25% higher than a year ago. Prices have been rising for a wide range of goods because of higher shipping costs.

The Federal Reserve kept is key interest rate unchanged this week but hotter inflation means it will likely raise rates by the end of the year. Lower interest rates make borrowing easier for businesses and households, spurring growth, but they also tend to stoke inflation.

In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 161.31 Japanese yen from 161.38 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1458.

Manchester City, in its first season in 10 years without Pep Guardiola as manager, will host Bournemouth in its opener, and Manchester United will visit promoted Hull. Liverpool plays at Newcastle.

The season's fixtures were released by the league on Friday.

Chelsea and new coach Xabi Alonso visit Fulham in a west London derby on Aug. 24 that concludes the opening round of fixtures.

After facing Coventry, Mikel Arteta's team visits Aston Villa and then hosts Chelsea as it looks to repeat as champion after winning its first league title in 22 years last season.

Andoni Iraola, Liverpool's new manager, will get his first taste of the Merseyside derby on Nov. 28 at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Man United's second game of the season is also against a promoted team — Ipswich — this one at Old Trafford with coach Michael Carrick starting a two-year contract.

The first Manchester derby is scheduled for Sept. 12 at Old Trafford. United visits Anfield on Nov. 21.

The season starts one week later than the 2025-26 campaign, to allow for player recovery following the World Cup.

The final round will be played on Sunday, May 30 — six days before the Champions League final on June 5 in Madrid.

Frank Lampard, the Chelsea great who coaches Coventry, welcomes his old team to Coventry Building Society Arena on Boxing Day, Dec. 26.

Ipswich opens its campaign at home against Sunderland. Ipswich is looking for a new coach after Kieran McKenna stepped down just over a week ago despite leading the club to promotion.

Man City is also without a manager but is reportedly eying Enzo Maresca, the former Chelsea coach who was assistant to Guardiola at City in its treble-winning season of 2022-23.

The season's curtain-raising Community Shield between league champion Arsenal and FA Cup winner Man City will be on Aug. 16 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

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

Right now, the odds of redevelopment remain low. The National Hurricane Center gives the system just a 10% chance of regaining tropical or subtropical characteristics over the next seven days.

Arthur, the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, quickly weakened after moving inland along the Texas coast Wednesday.

It’s leftover spin and moisture associated with it will have the chances to emerge off the East Coast by Friday or Saturday, where slightly more favorable conditions could allow the system to reorganize.

Even if redevelopment never happens, the remnants of Arthur will continue to bring heavy rain and the risk of flash flooding across parts of the Southeast over the next couple of days.

If it redevelops, why would it still be called Arthur?

Tropical cyclones keep their names as long as they’re considered the same weather system.

Think of it like a sports team taking a timeout. The game pauses, but it’s still the same team when play resumes.

Even though Arthur weakened and lost its tropical characteristics over land, the National Hurricane Center can still track the system’s leftover circulation as it moves east. If that same circulation reorganizes and becomes a tropical or subtropical storm again, it keeps the name Arthur.

The next name on the 2026 Atlantic list, Bertha, would only be used if an entirely new and unrelated storm forms somewhere else in the Atlantic basin.

The News6 Weather Team will continue to monitor Arthur’s remnants and provide updates if redevelopment chances increase.

Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 25, spent two years in captivity in Gaza after Palestinian militants abducted him and 250 others during the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I feel like I have a mission to spread to the world, to use my voice and empower other victims of sexual assaults,” he said Sunday in a conversation with Israel's first lady Michal Herzog in Jerusalem. “I want people who have been through those experiences to know that they’re not alone.”

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.

According to the United Nations, conflict-related sexual violence is on the rise worldwide, with cases more than doubling in 2025, as state and non-state actors increasingly use it as a tactic of war, torture and political repression.

In Israel and the Palestinian territories, the use of sexual violence as part of the conflict has become highly politicized since the Oct. 7 attacks and the start of the war in Gaza. Rights groups and the United Nations have investigated and documented cases beginning with allegations of widespread rape during the initial Hamas attacks.

The U.N. also said last month that it has verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, "including as a form of torture” perpetrated by Israeli military and security forces against Palestinian men and women in Gaza and the West Bank, charges Israel denies.

This year, for the first time, the U.N. included Israel’s armed and security forces on a list of parties “credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict.” Hamas had previously been on the list.

In 2024, the U.N.'s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said she “found clear and convincing information” that some hostages were subjected to such abuse, including rape and “sexualized torture.” But in a recent report, the U.N. said it was “not able to verify” public allegations made by former hostages accusing their Palestinian captors of abuse. It blamed the lack of verification on what it said was Israel’s denial for U.N. groups to carry out investigations.

On Sunday, Gilboa-Dalal recounted again the details of the abuse he said he faced and said he was frustrated by the U.N. In a short, separate interview following the conversation with Herzog, Gilboa-Dalal said: “They have no right to say what happened or what didn’t happen, I was there, not them.”

At least six of the released hostages have publicly shared experiences of sexual assault while in captivity. Gilboa-Dalal first spoke of the attacks in an interview with Israeli media last November, about a month after he was released.

Gilboa-Dalal said his abuse took place over two separate assaults, over a year after his captivity began. He said that he froze as it happened and was unable to resist, terrified and physically weakened after spending most of his time in a narrow cell, deep underground, with three other hostages. He said they were forcibly starved or given rotten food, and denied the opportunity to move around or bathe.

In both instances, Gilboa-Dalal said, he was naked and blindfolded. He said the captor threatened to kill him if he ever spoke about what happened, beating him and holding a knife to his throat and a gun to his head.

“He could do whatever he wanted. I was so weak, and he was so strong,” Gilboa-Dalal said. Because he and the other hostages were constantly monitored, he said, he didn’t tell either of them until just before one was released during a temporary ceasefire in Feb. 2025.

Now, he says he is trying to heal and spend time with family. He is also writing a book and an anime script about his experiences.

He said he worries that other sexual abuse victims are likewise isolated and unable to speak about their abuse. “They may think, ‘maybe it’s my fault maybe I could have done something different,’” he said. “But it wasn’t my fault and it wasn’t any of the victims’ fault.”

The decision against Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party, was met with anger by some 300 supporters from around the country who had gathered outside the Supreme Court complex in Phnom Penh.

“Even though he is not in prison, I'm saddened that his freedom has been restricted and he has become a sub-citizen, meaning he has no right to vote or participate in politics,” said Nek Ratha, a 55-year-old from the capital.

“The verdict is hard for us to accept because he is not free, and he has done nothing wrong.”

The 56-year-old had been found guilty last year of inciting social unrest after meeting with villagers displaced by government construction projects, in what was widely seen as one of many legal moves taken by the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to stifle criticism.

Rong Chhun told his supporters the verdict was “completely unfair” and accused the court of following orders of the government rather than the rule of law.

“If the powerful leader wants black, the court will paint it black for them,” he said. “And if the powerful wants white, the court will paint it white for them.”

Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the ruling demonstrates Cambodia's courts “lack of independence from the ruling party.”

"Hun Manet’s government should stop using the courts to silence the political opposition and instead reopen space for parties and civil society groups to operate freely ahead of next year’s election,” she said.

Cambodia’s Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra told The Associated Press that it was “not appropriate to characterize a judicial decision as an executive decision.”

“The Royal Government respects the separation of powers, the independence of the courts, and the rule of law,” he said in a written response to a query. “Any party who disagrees with a court ruling should address the matter through the legal remedies available under Cambodian law, rather than through political assumptions.”

Under almost four decades of autocratic former Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia was widely criticized for human rights abuses that included suppression of freedom of speech and association. He was succeeded in August 2023 by his American-educated son, Hun Manet, but there have been few signs of political liberalization.

Sophal Ear, a Cambodian political scientist in the U.S., called the decision against Rong Chhun “evidence of continuity rather than change under the transition from Hun Sen to Hun Manet.”

“A high-profile case like this inevitably becomes a test of how much political space exists under the current leadership and whether the transition has produced any meaningful changes in governance,” he said. “Many people will conclude that the leadership transition has so far produced more continuity than reform.”

Under the decision, Rong Chhun will be prohibited from any involvement in politics for five years, including voting or standing as a candidate, and will be banned from traveling abroad for three years, the remainder of his original four-year sentence, his attorney Em Chantha told reporters. He had also been free while his appeal was pending.

Supreme Court decisions are final, but Rong Chhun said he and his attorney would study the verdict in detail to decide whether there would be a chance to ask Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni for a pardon.

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Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press reporter Anton L. Delgado contributed to this report from Bangkok.

Pingree and Charles won their primaries Friday, after the June 9 contests advanced to ranked choice voting.

In another ranked runoff in Maine, Democrat Matt Dunlap won the nomination in the 2nd Congressional District. Dunlap will face the state’s former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, for a seat Democrats are trying to hold in the fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The ranked counts conclude a busy primary season in Maine in which Democratic voters also chose oyster farmer Graham Platner to run against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner won that primary by a wide margin and it did not need to proceed to ranked choice.

New governor this year

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who has served since 2018, is termed out of office, creating an open field for governor in both parties. Five Democratic candidates and seven Republicans actively campaigned in the June 9 primary.

That created a scenario in which no candidate in either party broke 50% of the popular vote, leading to the ranked choice runoff, which began shortly after the election. The Democratic race was especially close, with the top four challengers within a few percentage points of each other.

Democrats chose between Pingree, the former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.

The Republican ballot for governor was even more crowded. Republicans chose between Charles, the former U.S. assistant secretary of state; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; former Paris, Maine, selectman Robert Wessels; and businessmen Owen McCarthy, David Jones and Ben Midgley.

Mills ran in the primary for U.S. Senate in Maine but suspended her campaign in April.

“Throughout my two campaigns for governor and this one for Senate, what I have always loved the most is traveling across our beautiful state and getting to talk to Maine people,” Mills said on election night.

Key House race

In the 2nd Congressional District, former Maine Secretary of State Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood and social worker Paige Loud were on the ballot for the Democrats.

LePage, an ally of President Donald Trump, was unopposed in the Republican primary. LePage served as governor from 2010 to 2018, during which time he fashioned himself as a vocal critic of liberalism and a staunch Trump defender.

The 2nd District seat has no incumbent in the November election because Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who has held the seat since 2018, is stepping down. Golden, a moderate who sometimes breaks from his party, said last year that he has “grown tired of the increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community.”

While Golden has won in the 2nd District, its voters have also shown strong support for Trump. He won an electoral vote in the district in three consecutive presidential elections.

The district is geographically large and includes much of Maine’s rural territory and logging country and some of its key fishing ports. It is expected to be among this fall's most competitive House races.

Ranked choice in play

Maine has used ranked choice voting since voters approved it 10 years ago. Voters were allowed to rank the candidates on their ballot in order of preference. Under that scenario, if no candidate breaks 50% of the popular vote, the bottom finisher is eliminated, and voters’ second choices come into play. The tabulations continue until a candidate achieves a majority of the total votes.

The 20-year-old man was one of three masked offenders who broke into the Adass Israel Synagogue, doused the interior with flammable liquid then set it alight in the early hours of Dec. 6, 2024, a police statement alleged.

The fire caused extensive damage to the synagogue and a worshipper sustained minor injuries.

The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which brings together federal and state police with a spy agency, charged the man, who has not been named, with offenses including arson.

He was charged in a Melbourne jail where he was already being held in custody on unrelated offenses. Police declined to elaborate on those offenses.

His co-accused Giovanni Laulu, 21, was arrested in July last year and another suspect, Younes Ali Younes, 20, was arrested a month later.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guard of directing the synagogue fire and an arson attack two months earlier at a Sydney kosher eatery, Lewis’ Continental Kitchen.

Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, said the Revolutionary Guard used a “complex web of proxies to hide its involvement” in both antisemitic attacks.

Iran’s ambassador to Australia and another three Iranian diplomats were expelled. Tehran has denied Australia’s allegations.

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Crozier told reporters on Friday that investigators were working with international partners in the continuing investigation.

Police were also investigating whether the three alleged arsonists knew who ordered the attack.

“They may not actually be aware of the people who are directing or the principals of these investigations. That remains a key line of inquiry for us,” Crozier said.

Victoria Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Paul O’Halloran said police had informed the local Jewish community of the third arrest before the news was made public.

“Our heart goes out to them. Again, this brings back this terrible incident,” O’Halloran said.

“People deserve the right to feel safe and be safe in their community and particularly at their place of worship. Today's charges are a strong testament to this,” he added.

The latest suspect will make his first court appearance on the new charges next week.

The Australian government has established a public inquiry to investigate a rise in antisemitism across the country, including the killing of 15 people when two gunmen opened fire on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December.

It marks a major triumph for a team that failed to get out of the group stage in 2022 and now has won twice on home soil in front of jubilant crowds. Mexico players celebrated at midfield and waved to the fans who cheered and sang from the packed stands at Estadio Akron.

As soon as the final whistle blew, the mariachis began to sing at the Ángel of Independence in Mexico City while thousands of people walked in from all directions. Some streets in Guadalajara were filled with drivers honking horns and fans chanting and waving Mexican flags.

Luis Romo scored in the 50th minute after South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu collided with defender Lee Gi-hyuk and dropped the ball inside the area. Romo easily found the open net after picking up the loose ball.

The South Koreans nearly equalized in the 87th minute when Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel stopped a header from close range by Cho Gue-sung, then made an even better save of Yang Hyun-jun's attempt on the rebound, extending his right arm to keep the ball from crossing the line.

“It was very quick, it was pure reaction,” Rangel said. “I couldn’t really tell you what I saw, because I remember the moment of impact with my teammate and me having the ball."

Mexico clinches Group A

Mexico won Group A with six points in two matches, three more than South Korea and five more than the Czech Republic and South Africa, who drew 1-1 earlier Thursday in Atlanta.

The top two teams from each group move on to the knockout stage, along with the best eight third-place teams. A round of 32 is being played for the first time at the World Cup after the tournament was expanded to 48 teams.

“We’ve been doing very well,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. “It wasn’t a great match, but I think that our opponent didn’t let us do too much. But we still were able to score, on that mistake, in addition to another two or three opportunities.”

Aguirre said it felt good for the players to guarantee their spot in the next round back in Mexico City.

“It relieves some of the pressure,” he said. “But not for me, for the players. They are euphoric, they are very happy.”

Mexico opened with a 2-0 win over South Africa, while South Korea rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Czechs.

Mexico closes group play on Wednesday against the Czech Republic in Mexico City, while South Korea takes on South Africa in Monterrey.

Mexico had never won a World Cup game on home soil outside Mexico City. Before 2026, all but one of its nine World Cup matches at home, spanning the 1970 and 1986 tournaments, had been played at Estadio Azteca, with five wins and three draws. When it played in Toluca in 1970, it lost 4-1 to Italy in the quarterfinals.

Thursday's match got off to a lackluster start, with neither team creating significant scoring opportunities and both squads getting loudly booed after the halftime whistle.

Mexico, ranked 13th, was eliminated in the group stage four years ago in Qatar. That followed seven straight eliminations in the round of the 16.

South Korea star Son Heung-min had another disappointing game and was substituted out in the 57th.

Plaudits for Son

The 33-year-old Son is looking to become South Korea’s top goal scorer at the World Cup and the Asian player with the most goals in the tournament. The former Tottenham star, currently with Los Angeles FC, entered with three goals over three prior World Cups.

Kim kept Mexico from adding to the lead by coming up with a tough save off a close-range shot by Raúl Jiménez in the 75th.

The South Koreans pressed through the end but could not equalize.

South Korea, ranked 22nd, is making its 11th straight World Cup appearance and 12th overall, the most of any Asian country. Its best result was a fourth-place finish at the tournament it co-hosted with Japan in 2002. Since then, the South Koreans have never gone beyond the round of 16.

“The mistake that we made was unfortunate,” coach Hong Myung-bo said.

This time there were not many empty seats in Guadalajara, contrary to what happened in the earlier match between South Korea and the Czech Republic. FIFA had blamed fans standing in the concourses for the empty seats. Thursday's crowd was announced at 45,522 for the 45,664-capacity stadium, which was hosting the national team for the first time.

Celebrations and protest

Fan zones across Mexico were packed ahead of the game. In the biggest one, in Mexico City’s Zócalo, chants of support for the national team, shouting “Olé!” with every pass, mingled with a homophobic chant — a one-word slur that literally means male prostitute in Spanish — that has previously led to sanctions against Mexico and could spur new punishments by FIFA.

There were peaceful protests in Guadalajara organized by the families of Mexico’s 130,000 missing people.

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Associated Press writers Refugio Ruiz, Alexis Triboulard and Maria Verza contributed to this report.

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

The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 211 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.

As with most of the military’s statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. A video posted on X showed a boat speeding through the water before being struck and bursting into flames.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.

Senators on Thursday demanded that the Pentagon release “unedited video” of the strikes. They have drawn intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military legal scholars. The U.S. military’s first strike in early September drew particular concern from some lawmakers and those who study military law.

Two men on the boat initially survived the attack that killed nine others, and they were clinging to the wreckage when the vessel was struck again, killing them. The White House confirmed the follow-up strike, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the boat was destroyed and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.

But some legal scholars said a second strike killing survivors would have been illegal under any circumstance, armed conflict or not.

The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it plans to look into whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes. However, the evaluation is focused specifically on what’s known as the six-phase Joint Targeting Cycle and not on the legality of the strikes, the inspector general’s office said.

Severe weather also pummeled parts of the Midwest, where a separate line of strong storms knocked down structures and left tens of thousands of residents without power.

Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin, and although it quickly downgraded within a day of forming, the lingering system created dangerous conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi. In one rural Louisiana parish, more than 2 feet of rain fell in 48 hours and most of that soaking came Thursday, said Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.

It flooded at least 200 homes in Avoyelles Parish, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) northwest of the state capital, Louisiana state Rep. Daryl Deshotel said.

“Even by this region’s standards, that’s catastrophic rain,” Jones said.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post Thursday night that a worker on a county road crew in the southwestern part of the state had been killed while helping with storm cleanup operations. The cause of the death was not disclosed.

Thirty homes below the Anchor Lake dam in southern Mississippi were being evacuated as a precaution due to concerns that rising waters could overwhelm the spillways and compromise the structure, Reeves said. Residents in the area were being encouraged to seek higher ground.

Coni Dubois said several inches of water flooded her home overnight in Houma, southwest of New Orleans, but others in the community had worse damage. She’s lived through many hurricanes and other storms, but never witnessed thunder and lightning like this.

“It was unbelievable, it literally sounded like hell broke open,” Dubois said. “I thought for sure we had a tornado on top of us. The lightning and the thunder was so consistent, the whole house was lit up like daylight for about 20 minutes.”

The National Guard and state wildlife officials were working with rescue crews, officials said.

One tornado had been confirmed in Avoyelles Parish in central Louisiana, along with three others near New Orleans, the weather service said.

Louisana Gov. Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency for some storm-hit areas, and the town of Cottonport in Avoyelles Parish said it was turning off water service overnight “to manage our resources and allow our system to recover.” It urged residents to limit water use and to fill pots and other containers before the water was shut off.

Amid relentless rainfall in central Louisiana, Cody Coco said he rescued stranded workers — waist deep in water —- at a cypress sawmill operation he runs near his home in Avoyelles Parish. He said the water has continued to rise all throughout the day.

Coco, 40, said he also used a boat to rescue the four pigs he kept in a pen. Video he shared on his Facebook page shows the hogs swimming out of their enclosure in a torrent of murky water. Coco says they are now safe on higher ground.

“If I’d left them in the pen, they’d have drowned,” Coco said. “They were happy to see me.”

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno posted a video on Facebook describing relatively minor damage and cleanup efforts. Ahead of the storm, police prepared boats and set up barricades in flood-prone areas. They also opened sandbag distribution sites across Louisiana.

Just across the Mississippi River in Avondale, a tornado wrecked four homes, Jefferson Parish spokeswoman Rachel Strassel said. Two people were hospitalized with minor injuries and later released.

The Midwest was also dealing with damage after a strong line of storms.

A tornado was reported Wednesday evening near Effingham, Illinois, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Springfield. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said.

Firefighters responded to damaged homes, collapsed structures, car crashes, downed power lines, gas leaks and blocked roads, Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum said.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln, Illinois, confirmed two tornadoes, including one Wednesday with maximum winds of 116 mph (186.8 kph) in the Charleston area. The EF2 tornado lifted the roof off a home and flipped a semi-truck, injuring one person.

Marla Washburn and her husband, Todd, hunkered down in their basement as a suspected tornado tore through their neighborhood about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north in Blue Mound. They could hear debris smacking into their house and a school across the street lost its roof, which came crashing onto their home.

“The whole house shook,” Washburn said in a phone interview, adding that the neighborhood looks like Armageddon.

“You don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but we’re OK,” she said. “You look at it and you go, ‘I don’t even know where to start to clean up.'”

Her unapologetically expansive, left-wing agenda includes subsidized or even free childcare, increased down payment assistance for homebuyers and community resources to reduce crime, plus a promise to aggressively confront President Donald Trump's attempts to reshape the nation's capital.

“People are tired of hearing what government can’t do. They want to hear what government can do,” Lewis George said in an interview before the city's primary, where she defeated her Democratic opponents and positioned herself to win the general election in November in a city dominated by Democrats.

Lewis George's victory signals a break with a quarter-century of centrist governance in Washington, and it puts her in the vanguard of democratic socialists who have ascended in urban politics over the last year. Zohran Mamdani toppled Andrew Cuomo, the scion of a political dynasty, on his way to becoming New York City mayor. Katie Wilson won an upset victory to lead Seattle last fall. And this month, Nithya Raman clinched a spot in the November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

All of them are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA. The political organization has seen its membership ranks swell from a few thousand to more than 100,000 nationwide over the last decade after an influx of younger Americans joined following the presidential bids of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a self-described democratic socialist.

There's little sign of national coordination among the candidates, and it’s unclear whether voters are gravitating toward their promises of improved government services, their vows to fight the Trump administration or their critiques of capitalism.

But from coast to coast, confrontational progressives are advancing in mayoral races. City leaders can draw outsized attention for their successes and failures, and democratic socialists will be under pressure from residents to deliver on their vows for a new kind of governance. Whether that translates to national politics is a next test for their movement.

“They are all channeling a displeasure with a status quo and a serious desire for economic populism that the establishment Democratic Party hasn't been preaching,” said Eric Stern, a Democratic strategist with Fight Agency, a political consulting firm that strategized Mamdani's mayoral campaign.

Stern added that Democratic voters appeared more willing to support the most progressive candidate in mayoral races rather than in contests for the U.S. House. Candidates like Mamdani and Raman, Stern said, are “daring voters to dream and fall in love not just with the individual candidates but also the political process as a whole.”

A rising left navigates America's urban challenges

The trend of progressives surging in urban areas may have limits for its broader impact on Democratic politics. Democratic mayors in cities including Atlanta, Houston, Miami and San Francisco won on relatively moderate platforms in recent years.

Progressive have also faced noteworthy challenges. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was endorsed by the city's DSA chapter during his 2023 mayoral run but has since faced criticism from both moderate and liberal local leaders on issues such as immigration, the local budget and public safety. Recalls and public pressure ousted progressives elected to district attorney offices in multiple jurisdictions over the last five years, when criminal justice reform efforts ran into dissatisfaction over public disorder following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump's hardline immigration and law enforcement tactics have also become a challenge for liberal cities. The president's agenda poses an especially serious threat to Washington, D.C., because of its status as a federal territory.

“Maybe we take back Washington and run it on a federal basis,” Trump told reporters this month when asked about the potential election of a democratic socialist as the district's mayor. “We won’t put up with it.”

But progressives hope the current wave of anti-Trump furor in deep blue cities across the country will help buoy the chances of those on the hard left.

“It’s not folks looking for the leftmost option so much as looking for a candidate who’s gonna be on their side,” said Ravi Mangla, speaking for the left-wing Working Families Party. The party often endorses the same candidates as the DSA and is readying to target more mayoral offices in the country's biggest metropolises this fall and in 2028.

“It’s less about whether you are on the right or on the left so much as whether you are willing to punch up at the powerful,” he added.

Mamdani and Lewis George are both self-described “sewer socialists” who emphasize the need for responsive government services rather than critiques of market economics. The phrase recalls the socialist Gilded Age mayors whom critics derided as too preoccupied with managing public works projects.

The term's revival is partly a strategic move to align leftist ideas with concerns over affordability and the economy, voters' top concern in the midterm elections, and shift the public perception of democratic socialists from firebrands who support radical policies to independent-minded public servants.

“This is absolutely a change election and I’m excited to bring the change that people want, which is really putting people first in the city and having the moral clarity and courage to stand up to Trump,” Lewis George said.

For voters the ‘socialist’ label did not seem to matter

While conservatives have used the “socialist” label to attack Democrats as extreme or incompetent, some D.C. voters appeared ambivalent before Tuesday's primary.

Several lifelong residents said they believed Lewis George was a “fighter” but didn't think she'd have much of an impact on the local economy, given the city's status as a federal district.

“I go back and forth on my own labels and whether I am supportive of that movement or not, but I am supportive of making D.C. more affordable,” Owen Fitzgerald, a University of Maryland graduate student, said of his support for democratic socialism.

Fitzgerald voted for Lewis George because she would stand up to Trump and said he'd first learned of her campaign from friends in his neighborhood. But he didn't know she was a democratic socialist until he saw news reports describing her with the label.

“It sends a cultural message to this administration that the people who are surrounding them in the capital are opposed to their platform, opposed to their political agenda, and I think that it will send a message, both nationally and internationally,” Fitzgerald said.

“In years to come, as people walk down Hollywood Boulevard, they’ll come across my star,” he said to the assembled crowd. “And unless they’re related to me, they’ll ask: ‘Who the hell was that guy?’”

Yet at a time of perpetual upheaval in Hollywood, the unflashy Meledandri has created and shaped one of Hollywood’s most consistent blockbuster-making operations. Family-friendly movies are fueling the box office like never before, and Illumination is at the forefront of it.

Since Illumination’s first release, 2010’s “Despicable Me,” the animation studio has accounted for more than $11 billion in global box office. Its “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is the sole $1 billion movie of 2026 so far. Illumination’s next release, “Minions & Monsters,” which premieres Sunday at the Annecy Film Festival in France, stands a good chance of equaling it.

The Minions — Illumination’s answer to Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny — have done a lot to drive that success. But the studio, a division of Universal Pictures, has expanded to include the “Mario” movies with Nintendo, an upcoming “Barbie” animated movie with Mattel and earlier franchises like “Sing” and “The Secret Lives of Pets.” If Illumination is synonymous with anything, it’s good cartoony fun.

“From the outset, we really wanted to make films that would be joyous above everything else,” Meledandri said in an interview. “I found myself working with filmmakers who appreciated that Looney Tunes style of cartooning integrated into the creation of these animated films today.”

“Minions & Monsters,” which opens in theaters July 1, may be Illumination’s ultimate goofy romp. In the seventh of the “Despicable Me” movies and the third “Minions” standalone feature, the Minions become filmmakers. “Minions & Monsters” has the gumption to give some of the most chaos-inducing creatures, who have mishandled every diabolical device ever handed to them, a camera.

Set in the 1920s Golden Age of Hollywood, the movie has a lot of fun putting the Minions alongside silent slapstick classics like Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” and Harold Lloyd’s “Safety Last!” Jeff Bridges voices a studio head. It's the Minions' answer to “The Muppet Movie.” James, the most creative Minion, is listed as its director — at least in a first draft of the end credits.

The Minions go behind the camera

The movie’s real director, though, is Pierre Coffin, an Illumination veteran who has directed many of its movies and who famously voices the Minions. But Coffin has had a complicated relationship with the Minions ever-expanding world domination, and Meledandri knew he was reluctant to return. But this is an executive who, as a producer, managed to reunite the cast of DreamWorks' “Shrek” for a fifth movie due out next year.

“He called me one weekend and he said, ’You’re going to say no but I’ve got to ask,” Coffin, speaking from Paris, says. “He said: ‘It’s Minions wanting to make a monster movie. They conjure monsters but then that creation turns on them and the Earth.’”

“He got me at ‘Minions making movies,’” adds Coffin. “From that moment, I just had questions.”

The movie, opening two weeks after Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” will be a new test of just how much of a powerhouse Illumination has become. After a stint running Fox’s animation division and making the “Ice Age” films, Meledandri founded the company, relying heavily on a group of artists at a Paris animation company then called Mac Guff. While Illumination is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, much of its movie production takes place in Paris.

With its collaborations now stretching to Japan, via Nintendo, a globalization defines Illumination — fitting given the international word salad gibberish of the Minions.

“An objective from day one, when I started the company, was to have the complexion of creative leadership reflect our desire to make films for the entire world, as opposed to being so American-centric,” says Meledandri.

But Meledandri never set out to rival Disney or Pixar. “Those goals just felt unrealistically ambitious,” he says. Instead, Meledandri freed filmmakers and animators to make movies about antic antiheroes. He targeted subversive comedy, not poignancy. You’re likely to laugh at an Illumination movie. Crying? Not so much.

That approach has made Illumination a box-office behemoth. (Universal’s output deal with Netflix, after the movies first stream on Peacock, also boosts its films' audience.) But awards love has eluded the company. Illumination has never won an Oscar, a historical fact jokingly nodded to in “Minions & Monsters.” Only one release ("Despicable Me 2") has been nominated for best animated feature.

But with its abiding affection for moviemaking, “Minions & Monsters” could find wider industry support. Even George Lucas lends his voice to the film.

Making blockbusters on a budget

Regardless, “Minions & Monsters” is something rare in today’s movie world: It's almost certain to be profitable. Since producing the 2000 box-office bomb “Titan A.E.” at Fox, Meledandri has made fiscal discipline a religion. “Everyone’s expectation was that I would be fired,” he says. “I probably should have been fired.”

While $200 million-plus budgets still drive many blockbusters, even big-budget filmmakers like James Cameron have warned that production costs need to be scaled down for leaner times. “Minions & Monsters” cost a relatively modest $85 million to make. Illumination’s most expensive movie, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” cost a not-extreme $110 million. “Toy Story 5,” on the other hand, carries a $250 million budget.

“In 19 years, I cannot remember a single conversation where a director came back and said: We need more money. It’s just not part of our ethos,” Meledandri says. “It may be: How are we going to solve this problem? Or: We can’t get this done by this date. But it’s never: We need more money.”

Some in Hollywood see generative AI as a promising new way to keep expenses down, but Meledandri isn’t sold yet.

“My main focus right now is the preservation of jobs and at the expense of being the most technologically advanced,” he says. “It always feels better to be part of a front of a wave as opposed to a Luddite. But in this case, we’re not pushing AI into our pipeline.”

“I do not believe that a sufficient answer is, ‘Well, we’ve had technological advances before and people were worried yet it all was fine and things kept surging forward,’” Meledandri continues. “None of those other technologies had agency.”

Animation big wigs have often been ubiquitous presences. But neither Jeffrey Katzenberg, of DreamWorks, nor John Lasseter, of Pixar, remain at the animation studios they once defined. The 67-year-old Meledandri, who grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is the unlikely heavyweight — the “big boss” of the Minion empire.

His entry to the movie business first began when a customer of his father's men's clothing store hired him as an assistant on “Footloose.” His second big break came producing the 1993 Disney hit “Cool Runnings.” Now he finds himself running a once-underdog animation studio with an almost unblemished track record.

The competition that worries him isn't Disney or Pixar, though, but short-form content.

“It’s got to force us to be more imaginative and more surprising and to reach further than storytelling that could feel safe because it’s worked before,” says Meledandri. “In ‘Minions & Monsters,’ what Pierre Coffin has done is made a movie that is so wildly imaginative and unexpected that it’s exactly where I would wish Illumination to be in this moment in time.”

Dressed in military-style camouflage, the members of the National Coordinating Committee of the Bolivarian Army placed their weapons on a table during a formal ceremony in the department of Putumayo, which borders Ecuador. The group is a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Now disarmed, the dissidents will enter a temporary resettlement zone where the government intends to facilitate their gradual reintegration into civilian life. The government in a statement explained that they “will have their freedom restricted and will be under the control and supervision” of authorities.

“We laid down the iron rifle because we understand that words are a more powerful weapon,” dissident leader Geovany Andrés Rojas said as part of the ceremony. He made the remarks remotely from jail, where he is being held after being captured last year when the group was engaged in peace talks with the government.

His arrest took place in connection with an Interpol Red Notice for drug trafficking charges in the United States. Rojas on Thursday said his capture undermined the confidence of the rank and file but did not derail the dialogue process.

Petro, a former rebel leader and Colombia’s first progressive president, is negotiating with the dissident faction as part of his signature “total peace” policy, which has opened parallel peace negotiations with multiple armed groups. The effort has largely failed.

The dissident groups emerged from factions that did not accept the historic peace agreement signed a decade ago by the state and FARC, formerly Latin America’s oldest guerrilla group. The country is estimated to have 27,000 illegally armed group members, according to a 2025 report by the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a think tank focused on the internal conflict.

Last week, Petro established a monitoring mechanism for the temporary relocation zone and ordered the suspension of offensive military and special police operations to allow the dissidents to enter the designated area.

Records obtained by News 6 show former FHP Capt. Sterling King — the husband of former Capt. Lenita King — was previously convicted of official misconduct tied to a 2004 traffic stop in Osceola County.

[RELATED: Affidavit reveals details of ChampionsGate scheme that led to arrest of former Capt. Lenita King]

According to court records, King stopped a woman for speeding in May 2004 and issued her a citation. The victim later told investigators the encounter became inappropriate when King allegedly began discussing “intimate, personal sexual experiences he had at a nudist colony.”

The woman told investigators she was “mortified by King’s behavior,” according to the documents.

Court records state the woman later asked King if he could help cancel her speeding ticket. Investigators said King told her he would help get the citation dismissed.

Internal FHP records show King sent the woman 24 messages over a 19-week period, instructing her on how to request a hearing related to the ticket.

Investigators also found King used official FHP letterhead to send a fax to a traffic officer requesting the speeding citation be dismissed because of mistaken identity.

King was ultimately convicted on two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct.

He faced up to seven years in prison but received no jail time and was fined $1,500. Records show he was also terminated from the Florida Highway Patrol.

The warnings were followed by sweeping airstrikes, which Israel said targeted the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

What Kaour found back in Tyre shattered his hopes. His dream family apartment overlooking the Mediterranean Sea was a heap of rubble and shattered glass.

His return came after the announcement of an agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East. The deal also calls for an end to the war in Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Hezbollah, but it's unclear what that means in practice.

Israel and Hezbollah are not parties to the agreement. Iran insists Israel must withdraw from the large swath of southern Lebanon it is occupying, but the wording of the interim deal doesn’t explicitly require that and only ensures Lebanon’s “territorial integrity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s military will stay in a “security zone” of southern Lebanon as long as "Israel’s security needs require it.”

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — a Hezbollah ally — said Thursday that the group was committed to the ceasefire, “provided that Israel adheres to it fully and comprehensively.” Hezbollah has said that it's committed to resisting any occupation by Israel. Fighting between the two sides, which was still underway in some parts of southern Lebanon, could derail the deal.

Many hope the US-Iran deal signals better times

For residents in the south of crisis-battered Lebanon, hopes of better times are mixed with skepticism after many ceasefire announcements previously failed to halt fighting.

Kaour lives in Germany but spends most of the summer in Tyre. Last month, when an Israeli strike hit their street without warning, he was abroad with his family.

When he returned, he saw his building, with a popular sweets shop and an electronics store on the ground floor, was still standing, unlike surrounding structures that were leveled to the ground.

But walls and windows had been blasted out. He was relieved his family had not been there, he said.

“I’m hopeful for peace, and God willing this is the end of the war, and everyone can go back to their homes," he said. “We are living abroad, but our minds are here in our country.”

Outside, the street filled with people trying to clear the rubble.

Kaour's neighbor one floor above, Samih Haidar, had also just returned and found his door bolted by wooden boards.

He tried to kick them down but failed, then anxiously waited as two men who had been clearing rubble on another floor came and unscrewed the bolts.

Through a gap, Haidar climbed in. He didn't know what to expect. He had rented the apartment out to a family displaced from another area in the south, people who came to him through a friend.

His anxiety turned into shock: broken furniture, shattered glass, rubble and a burned out kitchen that had caught fire after the strike. He slowly walked through each room, quietly filming with his phone. He doesn't know what became of the tenants — displaced from Tyre like scores of others, he presumed.

“We want things to work out and live in safety, so there can be stability for us and everyone else,” Haidar said.

An isolated enclave hopes for reprieve

Farther south, the Christian village of Ain Ebel is one of a few enclaves in Lebanon's border area where residents have remained during the war. Christian villages, where Hezbollah has little presence, have been largely spared the destruction of neighboring Shiite villages. But they have their own problems.

The village is cut off from the rest of Lebanon by fighting and Israeli checkpoints, relying on aid convoys that require extensive coordination to get through. One such convoy, organized by the Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order, arrived Thursday bearing emergency livestock feed and supplies for farmers.

Cattle farmer Boutros Maroun said people in Ain Ebel are exhausted.

“We don’t care about America and Iran, we want the Lebanese people to live comfortably and happily," he said. "Every two years there’s a new war, and we can no longer take it.”

The convoy was delayed in returning to Beirut because of explosives found on the road, which had to be cleared by U.N. peacekeepers.

Fighting pierces a tenuous ceasefire

The fighting subsided but did not stop Thursday. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported several Israeli drone strikes, including one on a car in the town of Kfar Tebnit that killed one person and critically wounded another. Hezbollah later said in a statement that its fighters clashed with Israeli troops trying to advance on the town. Israel did not comment.

To the north, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, displaced families huddled along the waterfront in Beirut. Most of them have been sleeping in tents for months, living in limbo. For others, it's a bench or a mattress on the ground.

Many said they're not convinced that the U.S.-Iran deal will hold or that they will be able to return to their homes — if they still exist. In the border area close to Israel, many Lebanese villages have been almost completely demolished.

“I haven’t felt relieved at all,” said Mohammed Ashmar, displaced from the border village of Deir Seryan, holding a cup of coffee and sitting near his tent on the waterfront. “Until I get back to my home ... I won’t be convinced of anything.”

The Israel-Hezbollah war has displaced more than 1 million people in Lebanon, and killed more than 3,900, according to Lebanese officials. About 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Speaking during a visit by foreign dignitaries on Thursday, Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said the country faces urgent humanitarian needs but also the daunting task of planning for the return of displaced families and reconstruction of the destroyed areas.

“The Lebanese people deserve peace," she said. “They deserve to return safely to their homes, rebuild their communities, and look to the future with confidence and hope.”

___

Associated Press journalists Fadi Tawil in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Hussein reported from Ain Ebel, Lebanon.

Sean Sweeney was formally introduced at a news conference in Orlando on Thursday.

“I’m going to work to my highest level to do the best job I can for this franchise and for the guys like this that are sitting here in front of us,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney comes to the Magic from the San Antonio Spurs, where he was an associate head coach. Sweeney specializes in the defensive side of basketball strategy and is considered the mastermind behind the Spurs’ defensive scheme that helped propel them to the NBA Finals.

The Spurs eventually lost the championship to the New York Knicks.

Sweeney is 41 and this is his first full-time stint as an NBA head coach.

Sweeney said he planned to hold the organization to a high standard, and he also wants to make sure the players know he is listening to their concerns.

“There’s been a lot of communication with all those guys,” Sweeney said of the players. “I think there’s been a lot of listening, a lot of getting feedback from them on their thoughts on things themselves, the team, and then trying to communicate things that I value."

Sweeney will be the Magic’s 15th head coach, replacing Jamahl Mosley, who was fired last month after five seasons and three consecutive first-round playoff exits. Mosley is now the coach of the New Orleans Pelicans.

News 6’s Jamie Seh spoke with Sweeney in a one-on-one interview. You can watch the full interview at the top of this story.

Orange County District 2 Commission candidate George Oliver III said he wants the county to revisit rent control, arguing earlier efforts were derailed by the state. His opponent, Wes Hodge, pushed for Orange County to take a more direct role by building and owning housing, saying the county currently owns none and that reducing profit incentives is key to long-term affordability.

In the Orange County mayoral contest, tension flared between candidates Mayra Uribe and Tiffany Moore Russell over where affordable housing should go. Uribe criticized what she described as a pattern of placing affordability units in higher-crime areas, while Moore Russell countered that long-neglected communities deserve investment and new housing opportunities, not just newer growth areas.

Crime, especially youth crime, was a central issue for candidates in both races. Mayoral candidate Stephanie Murphy emphasized prevention and opportunity, including after-school options and economic pathways, saying solutions go beyond law enforcement. District 2 candidate Marsha Summersill said public safety must remain a top priority in Orange County.

Candidates also weighed in on a property tax cut amendment expected to be on the November ballot, with none of the candidates present supporting voter approval.

Election Day is Aug. 18.

The review was yet another surprise for European allies and Canada as they learn to deal with an increasingly unpredictable ally. U.S. officials and senior military officers had promised to coordinate closely with the Europeans as America draws down.

In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Pentagon have sent conflicting signals about whether America is reducing or increasing its military footprint in Europe, as well as threatening to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous island that is part of ally Denmark. Just weeks ago, the Trump administration said that it would no longer provide as much military support should any NATO member come under attack.

“This will be a real review. It will be designed to ensure that NATO is moving fast and irreversibly toward Europe leading, stepping up to take primary responsibility for the defense of Europe,” Hegseth told his NATO counterparts. “It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colors.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz later said the allies have long been aware of U.S. plans to pull troops from Europe at some point and that they must take care of their own security.

“We know that we must do more and we are doing it,” Merz said.

Public dressing down over bases, gender and migration

In a fiery speech at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Hegseth lambasted European allies for failing to provide U.S. forces access to bases in Europe to launch attacks on Iran, calling it “shameful.”

“These allies, they put America’s sons and daughters, our sons and daughters, at risk by denying them the predictable access, basing and overflight that never should have been in question at all,” he said. The review would also assess whether the U.S. has full access and overflight “when we need it.”

While defense ministers and military officers sat in silence, Hegseth railed against migration and gender equality policies in Europe, in remarks reminiscent to those of Vice President JD Vance in February last year that angered many Europeans.

“Instead of tanks and fighters and air defenses, the focus has been on gender equity and climate change and defense austerity. Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defense budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth's comments largely mischaracterized European policies today. On defense, European allies and Canada have launched an unprecedented effort to boost defense spending and expand their armed forces. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Thursday that they spent $90 billion more on defense last year, a 20% increase over 2024. And while Europe accepted large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers more than a decade ago, most countries have tightened their borders since.

It does not augur well for a summit of NATO leaders in Turkey on July 7-8.

A rare and short visit to NATO

It was a rare visit to NATO by Hegseth, his first this year after skipping a meeting in February. The Pentagon chief did not stay long, leaving well before the gathering was over and hours before Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to press allies for more weapons for his country.

Speaking to reporters at Brussels airport before flying home, Hegseth said, “It was great to hear country after country say, ‘We’re going to meet our target. We’re going to meet our target.’ There are still a few outliers, and we will be clear with them as we do this review.”

NATO’s supreme allied commander, an American, is working on backup plans to defend Europe after the U.S. signaled on June 3 that it would no longer supply an aircraft carrier and support ships, aerial refueling planes and dozens of fighter jets, among other military assets, in a crisis.

The Trump administration insists that it needs to be able to plan for two simultaneous conflicts and wants more military resources at hand should it clash with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Under NATO’s collective security guarantee – Article 5 of its founding treaty – the 32 allies pledge that an attack on one of them will be considered an attack on all. It does not oblige them to provide military support, although many likely would.

In essence, the United States is scaling back how it might help should an ally trigger Article 5.

US nuclear weapons will stay

The U.S. has by far NATO’s biggest armed forces. It does not intend to withdraw its nuclear weapons in Europe, which are key to NATO’s deterrence. To underscore that point, NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group issued its first statement in 19 years after Thursday’s meeting.

In the statement, it “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin NATO’s extended deterrence architecture.”

The ministers “agreed to continue enhancing NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission by modernizing NATO’s nuclear capabilities, strengthening its nuclear planning capacity, and adapting to achieve its security interests.”

Rutte played down the impact of the U.S. decision, saying that the NATO Force Model – the system for organizing what forces member countries will provide commanders in times of peace, crisis or conflict – is just “a planning tool,” and not a reflection of what would actually happen.

“If war breaks out, we will all max out what we need to do to make sure we can fight the war,” Rutte told reporters. “In the planning phase, it is important to know what we can count on. What is in theory there.”

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Jonathan David scored three goals and Canada won its first World Cup match while all but securing a spot in the knockout round with a 6-0 victory over Qatar on Thursday.

Qatar was reduced to nine players because of red cards in the chaotic match. Assim Madibo was handed a red early in the second half after a tackle on Ismaël Koné, who was stretchered off with a broken left leg. Homan Ahmed was sent off in the first half for a challenge on Tajon Buchanan.

With the outburst of scoring, Canada tripled its overall World Cup goal total. Cyle Larin scored in the Canadians' opening draw against Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Alphonso Davies scored four years ago in a loss to Croatia in Qatar, where Canada also got on the board with an own goal by Morocco. The Canadians were shut out three times in the 1986 World Cup.

“No one will forget this, and no Canadian will forget this day,” said coach Jesse Marsch, who held up six fingers as he walked off the field. “It’s an incredibly seminal moment for everyone to understand that there’s talent in this country, that there’s mentality, that there’s desire, that there’s a lot of things that make this country special.”

And the supporters who packed BC Place were ecstatic.

“We’re soaking up history right here,” fan Matthias Kempe said.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was among the 52,497 fans in attendance after missing the game in Toronto last week because of the G7 summit in France. He sat with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

“It was amazing. After every goal it got louder and louder,” David said. “It gave us motivation to get the next goal and the next goal.”

Canada's triumph was marred by its anguish over Koné's injury. Teammates surrounded him in concern after he was tackled from behind and crumpled to the pitch with his lower left leg bent at a gruesome-looking angle. Madibo was clearly distraught before he was ejected.

Koné was taken to a hospital, were he was preparing for surgery. His family was with him, said Marsch, who confirmed the player's leg was broken.

Larin scored his second goal of the tournament on a rebound in the 16th minute. Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada punched away David’s volley but it fell to Larin, who pointed to his ears in celebration as the red-clad crowd roared.

David doubled the lead with a right-footed volley in the 29th, for his first goal in the run of play in more than a year.

Ahmed was sent off with a red card in the 33rd. The official initially pointed to the penalty spot, but after video review Canada was given a free kick just outside the box and the initial yellow card handed to Ahmed was changed to red.

Canada made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time when David scored in a scramble in front of the net off a shot that caromed off the crossbar. Qatari players stood with their hands on their hips in frustration while Canada celebrated.

Nathan Saliba, who came in as a substitute for Koné, scored on a free kick in the 64th to make it 4-0. Mohamed Manai deflected a shot past his goalkeeper for an own goal in the 75th.

David completed the hat trick in stoppage time, joining Argentina’s Lionel Messi as the only players with three goals in a match in this World Cup.

“It was a very tough match for many reasons. The players did their best. It was very difficult to face this match with two players less with this environment,” Qatar coach Julen Lopetegui said.

Qatar scored a stoppage-time goal to earn a surprising 1-1 draw with Group B favorite Switzerland in its opener. The Persian Gulf country is still looking for its first World Cup win after losing all of its group matches four years ago as the host.

Switzerland defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-1 earlier in the day in Group B.

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

Faron Kelley, senior vice president of Disney Destinations Sales, Strategy & Solutions for Disney Experiences, said his own journey began through the Disney College Program in the 1980s. He started in attractions at Space Mountain before returning after college and working his way through several roles.

“It’s been a great ride over 36 years,” Kelley said.

Today, his daughter Callie Kelley is carving out her own path. She began with the Disney College Program, then returned after graduating and started part-time in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom. She later became a trainer and now works as a relief coordinator.

Callie Kelley said her father’s career gave her perspective — and guidance — as she looks ahead.

“I think that the biggest thing that he, that his journey has given me is some perspective and also tons of advice on just different ways that I can navigate my career, different opportunities that I should take,” she said.

For Faron Kelley, the pride comes from seeing his child step into a company he believes offers room to grow.

“You know what I think every parent wants is a strong future for their kids,” he said. “And that just makes you feel proud as a parent.”

He also pointed to Disney’s roots as a family-centered place — and said that mission still resonates for cast members who raise their own families around it.

“Walt started Disneyland because he wanted a place where families could come together and have that family time,” Kelley said.

Callie Kelley said Disney shaped her childhood in Orlando — and now she draws on those memories in her own work.

“Remembering the magic that was made for me as a kid and now getting able to make it for other people has. It’s been incredible,” she said.

A similar pride runs through the Orosco family. Brian Orosco, an engineering service manager with the Magic Kingdom power and lighting team, said he and his wife first visited Walt Disney World on their honeymoon. Years later, they moved to Central Florida, and he set his sights on working for Disney.

He started as a bus driver, entered a Disney apprenticeship program and became an electrician — building skills that led to bigger roles over time.

“I just tried my hardest and got a job with Disney,” Orosco said. “I became an electrician… and then it just kept moving up.”

His work happens largely after hours, when crews can safely access areas that are busy during operating hours.

“We keep the lights on,” Orosco said. “Everything that the light touches is our kingdom.”

Now, Orosco’s son and daughter also work for the company. Giovanni Orosco is a ticket specialist at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, while Gianna Orosco is a front desk service advisor at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.

Brian Orosco said it’s reassuring to know his children are building their lives at a place he trusts.

“I’m very happy that my children work here, because I know what kind of company Disney is,” he said. “And I know the opportunities that they have.”

Giovanni Orosco said his career has taken turns he never expected — and that’s part of what keeps him engaged.

“I never ended up where I thought I was going to,” he said. “It’s been amazing so far.”

Gianna Orosco said watching her father lead — and mentor — shaped her own goals.

“He’s my biggest mentor,” she said.

In her role at the resort, she says part of the job is helping guests when plans go sideways — and making things feel magical again.

“A big part of my role is recovering the magic,” she said. “It really fills up my pixie dust.”

Across Disney, the families say that opportunity is what makes the legacy possible, whether it starts in a frontline role, a skilled trade apprenticeship, or a leadership track built over decades.

And for the fathers, the reward is simple: seeing their kids not just hear the stories but live them.

“It’s very inspiring and makes you filled with pride,” Brian Orozco said, “but see them do it themselves. It is fantastic.”

WEATHER WARNINGS:

None

THURSDAY

A Heat Advisory is in effect from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. as heat index values climb between 108 and 110 degrees across East Central Florida. While the actual air temperatures will reach the mid 90s, the combination of heat and humidity will make it feel much hotter.

Storm chances will increase this afternoon as the east coast and west coast sea breezes collide across the peninsula. The highest coverage is expected from Brevard and Osceola counties northward, where rain chances range from 40 to 70 percent.

Some storms could become strong, bringing frequent lightning, wind gusts up to 55 mph, and torrential downpours. Widespread rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches are possible, with isolated locations seeing more than 5 inches where storms repeatedly track over the same area.

A Marginal Risk for excessive rainfall is in place today, meaning localized flooding of roads and low lying areas is possible.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK

The active pattern will continue into the weekend.

Friday carries the highest risk for strong to severe storms with coverage between 60-70%. The strongest storms could produce wind gusts up to 60 mph, dangerous lightning, and heavy downpours that may lead to localized flooding.

Rain chances remain elevated through Saturday and Sunday as a weak front combined with remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur settles across northern Florida, keeping scattered to numerous showers and storms in the forecast each afternoon and evening.

While temperatures may ease slightly over the weekend, highs will still reach the low to mid 90s with heat index values well above 100 degrees.

NEXT WEEK

Drier conditions are expected early next week, but above normal temperatures and daily storm chances will continue.

Romanch Mahajan, 18, died after he got off of the four-wheeled carriage as its horse sprinted through the park without the driver.

He is believed to be the first person to die in a horse carriage accident since they were introduced in Central Park more than 150 years ago, according to the labor union representing the industry and the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the 843-acre (341-hectare) park.

The conservancy was among those arguing Thursday that the carriage industry should be suspended until more protections can be put in place. Mahajan’s death was the eighth horse-related incident in the park over the past 13 months, the group said.

“The record is undeniable: crashes, runaways, horse deaths, injuries, and now a devastating loss of human life,” said Edita Birnkrant, head of the animal welfare group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable, and Safe Streets.

Animal rights activists have long said the carriage horses are overworked, can get easily spooked on city streets and live in inadequate stables while their drivers regularly flout city rules. All of those allegations have been denied by the horse and carriage owners, who say the animals are well cared for and the stables are fine.

The conservancy has argued that horses can no longer safely share park roads teeming with joggers, cyclists, pedestrians and motorized scooters, noting that other U.S. cities, including Chicago and San Antonio, have also recently done away with the nostalgic rides.

But carriage industry leaders said the fatal crash underscores the need for better protections, not outright elimination of the quaint attraction that harkens back to a romanticized, bygone New York.

“We’re absolutely gutted and stunned by this tragedy,” said Alexander Kemp, a vice president with the Transport Workers Union Local 100, the labor union representing carriage drivers and owners. “We have shuttered the stables and ceased operations today while we have extensive internal discussions of safety protocols and how they can be improved.”

Horse carriages weren’t running Thursday and it was not immediately clear when the rides, which cost about $72 for the first 20 minutes, would resume.

The owner of the carriage involved in the fatal crash also suspended the driver indefinitely, and has plans to retire the horse from the business, according to the union. It said the driver improperly dismounted to take a photograph of his passengers.

Celebrating a high school graduation turned tragic

Mahajan had been on a family trip celebrating his recent high school graduation when the family decided to take a ride on one of the park’s often photographed, richly decorated carriages.

His father, Deepak Mahajan, told The New York Times the family had arrived from India on Monday, the same day Romanch learned he had been accepted to a university in Jaipur.

They had spent the trip visiting many of the city’s popular tourist attractions, including the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The carriage driver hopped off to take a photograph of the family near a fountain when the horse suddenly bolted, Mahajan said.

Romanch’s mother fell out of the carriage, and the teen jumped out in an attempt to save her, according to his father.

“He was screaming, ‘Mom!’” Deepak Mahajan recounted to the Times.

But Romanch hit his head on the ground before the carriage clipped another horse-drawn vehicle and eventually toppled over. The father, his wife and younger son escaped with minor injuries.

“This incident should be taken very seriously,” Mahajan said. “It took my son’s dream away.”

Carriage owners and drivers fear end to livelihood

New York City leaders vowed to work swiftly to end the industry in the wake of Romanch's death.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the legislative body would hold a hearing next month on a long-simmering bill that would ban horse carriages and help drivers transition into new jobs.

Last year, the park conservancy revived debate over the carriages when, for the first time, it threw its support behind what’s known as Ryder’s Law.

“The time to act is now,” she wrote on the social platform X.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani also reiterated his support for ending the industry, saying he’d work with the council, the industry and animal welfare advocates to “deliver a just transition that protects workers while ending horse-drawn carriages in Central Park once and for all.”

Other recent mayors have made similar pronouncements. Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to shut down the industry “on Day One" in office, only to come up against years of council opposition. Mayor Eric Adams, Mamdani’s predecessor, came out against the industry near the end of his single term.

Onur Altintas, who owns four horses and a carriage operating in Central Park, was among those worried about an end to their livelihood. He said the industry provides hundreds of jobs to drivers, stable hands, farriers, and others in horse-related trades.

“We are sad about what happened. Nobody wants that. But it’s not like this is happening every day,” said Altintas. “Car crashes and plane crashes are happening every single day. One horse makes an accident, and the world is destroyed? Come on.”

The longtime owner and driver said the industry needs better regulations to make it safer. He said “90%” of horse-related accidents could be avoided simply by installing hitching posts throughout the park so drivers could safely tether and secure their horses, including at popular tourist photo stops.

The Transport Workers Union on Thursday said legislation recently introduced into the council would do just that.

“Drivers can’t leave their carriage. They have to be on it all the time,” Altintas said. “But it’s impossible. We have to go to the restroom. We have to eat. We have to do things.”

____

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

The 1,200-year-old Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is believed to have died after it didn’t sprout leaves this spring, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said Thursday.

Visitors over the past two centuries who viewed the tree's gnarled limbs and sprawling canopy in Nottingham compressed the soil, making it difficult for rain to reach its roots, the conservation group said.

The forest has been under threat for years and the tree had been rumored to have died in the past — only to have the group confirm it was still alive.

That is no longer the case.

“The tree’s failure to produce leaves this year is heartbreaking for everyone,” Hollie Drake of the RSPB said in a statement announcing the death.

The tree is said to have sheltered Robin Hood, the legendary 13th-century bandit who stole from the rich and gave to the poor and took refuge in the forest when being pursued by the sheriff of Nottingham.

It got its name after being mentioned in a book on oaks by Major Hayman Rooke in 1790 that led to the first wave of fans who flocked to the forest.

It's impossible to say what killed the tree, but the footprints of millions contributed to its downfall, along with intervention to shore up its massive limbs using cables and poles. Climate change that has brought heat waves and drought was also blamed.

Tree experts found the root system strangled and starved.

“Ancient trees like the Major Oak are the ‘conservation white rhinos of the U.K.’ but their decline is far less visible,” said Ed Pyne, of the Woodland Trust. “Saving them is vital to the health of the world we live in and yet most disappear quietly, without the recognition or care given to the Major Oak.”

In addition to its place in folklore, the forest is known for Sherwood oaks that floated the ships of Vice Adm. Horatio Nelson’s Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and as timbers in the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The Major Oak was spared from the saw and has been protected by a fence since the 1970s.

“The Major Oak will continue to stand at the heart of Sherwood as a natural monument for visitors to come and see, living on in the legend of Robin Hood and continuing to provide as much support to the forest’s ecosystem in death as in life,” Drake said.

The proposal from the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West to impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion faces staunch pushback from a wide swath of critics, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The union said Thursday that it would abandon the 5% tax proposal if Newsom would join them in supporting a 2% levy. The updated proposal would instead have to be passed by the Legislature, given a June 25 deadline for the measure to qualify for the ballot.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Newsom, said scaling it back doesn't change its "fundamental flaws that harm working Californians.”

“The Governor supports making the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share, but this poorly designed state-only measure will defund teachers, schools, clinics, and public safety,” she said in a statement.

The tax, to be paid by those living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026, is meant to generate $100 billion in revenue, mainly to counter federal cuts to healthcare for low-income people with some money going to food assistance and education programs.

“A 2% one-time tax on that accumulated wealth is modest by any objective measure especially if it means keeping emergency rooms open and saving patient lives,” backers wrote in a letter to Newsom.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, said Wednesday night that petitioners collected more than the roughly 875,000 signatures needed to place the original proposal before voters.

States have been debating how to respond to the major tax breaks and spending cuts legislation President Donald Trump signed last year. The proposal has already divided Democrats and major labor unions and triggered an expensive campaign to defeat it. The proposed tax is backed by prominent progressives including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Silicon Valley tech moguls have spent millions to defeat it, and prominent players in Sacramento have opposed it. They include the California Medical Association and California School Boards Association, which helped launch a committee this week urging voters to reject it if it ends up on the ballot in November. Newsom also opposed a ballot measure in 2022 to increase taxes on the wealthy, which would have funded programs that help people buy electric cars or install more chargers. Voters rejected it.

Critics say the original measure would decrease state revenue over time by pushing the ultrawealthy to leave, taking the money they would contribute in income taxes with them. That would deal a huge blow to a state that relies on its top 1% of earners for nearly half its personal income tax revenue.

“This flawed measure is the wrong approach for California’s small businesses and working families,” said Roger Salazar, a spokesperson for Golden State Promise, a political committee fighting the tax.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that the 5% tax would generate tens of billions of dollars in the first few years, but that income tax revenues could subsequently decline by hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Since the proposal was announced in October, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has donated $82 million to a political committee called Building a Better California that backs a variety of initiatives designed to blunt the billionaire tax proposal. It has raised more than $118 million, counting Brin’s contributions, from fewer than a dozen donors.

State lawmakers passed budget bills this week that aim to raise revenue in other ways, including by extending a tax on healthcare providers. Newsom and legislative leaders agree to this approach, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón said.

“The budget, as approved by the Legislature and now being negotiated with the Governor, does not include the billionaire’s tax,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Instead, it reflects additional revenues to address our long-term structural deficit.”

For Blanca Nubia Monroy, it’s a black-and-white scale of justice tattooed on her forearm, identical to the one used to identify her 19-year-old son's body after he was kidnapped and killed by Colombian soldiers in 2008.

For Sigifredo López, it's flashbacks from the seven years he was held captive by guerrillas in the South American country's dense jungles and the trauma of surviving after his companions were massacred in 2007.

Both have radically different views of who should win Colombia’s presidency on Sunday, with Monroy throwing her support behind peace activist Iván Cepeda and López backing Trump-endorsed Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised a scourge on crime.

But their fear is the same: Returning to a more violent past.

“It all takes a toll, both physically and emotionally,” said López. “Emotionally, there’s the fear that still simmers deep down, something you don’t openly express, the fear that everything we’ve already lived through could happen again.”

Polarization ‘brewing for decades’

In Colombia’s most polarized presidential election in years, voters will choose between de la Espriella and Cepeda – two candidates with sharply different visions for how to find peace in a country long marked by war.

The armed struggle between Marxist guerrillas, Colombian military forces and right-wing paramilitaries has resulted in more than 10 million people — one in five Colombians — becoming victims of conflict, according to a government registry documenting killings, kidnappings, forced displacement and more.

The trauma of war and the fight for peace are embedded in Colombian politics. Despite a 2016 peace pact with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, conflict rages in many parts of the Andean nation, becoming a defining theme in Sunday's vote.

Polarization within Colombian society over how to handle violence has “been brewing for decades,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, Bogotá-based deputy Latin America director of International Crisis Group.

“Increasingly on both sides, there's an us and a them. That's very dangerous in a country like Colombia with a long history of political violence. ... The spark could light at any moment."

On one side is Cepeda, who has pledged to continue Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “total peace” agenda of negotiating peace pacts with a range of criminal groups, from drug mafias to insurgent fighters. That strategy sought to rewire how Colombia deals with conflict, but has largely failed, stoking a rebuke as armed groups have taken advantage of ceasefires to grow in strength.

On the other is de la Espriella, a lawyer who has promised an all-out offensive on crime, echoing El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s war on gangs. While Bukele’s crackdown has drawn attention across the region for sharply cutting homicide rates, it also fueled allegations of human rights abuses.

Fears of state violence

The 67-year-old Monroy is reminded of the civilian toll from past military offensives every time she thinks of her son, Julián Oviedo Monroy, or looks at the tattoo on her arm.

Her son, who had dreamed of joining Colombia’s military to lift his family out of poverty, disappeared in 2008 along with other poor young men on the fringes of Bogotá. Months later, his body was unearthed in a clandestine grave in the conflict-torn northeast. His body was identified by his tattoo.

“It’s like still having him here,” she said, looking down at the tattoo she got as an homage to her son and his photo that she keeps in her wallet.

Monroy's son became one of 6,402 victims in one of the worst atrocities of Colombia’s conflict. Colombian military officers carried out extrajudicial executions against civilians in a scandal known as “false positives” carried out largely between 2002–2008 under ex-President Álvaro Uribe. Officials then falsely said the murdered civilians were enemy combatants killed in the war with FARC rebels.

Around a dozen high-ranking security officers later acknowledged they killed Monroy's son and asked for forgiveness in a peace tribunal established after the 2016 peace pact to unearth the ugly truths of the war — a court that de la Espriella has promised to dismantle.

Monroy criticized the mounting violence under incumbent president Petro, saying Cepeda would have to come down with a heavier hand on criminal groups.

But what outweighed her criticism was fear of the military campaign promised by de la Espriella, who has vowed to wipe out “anyone who I’ve declared a military target like cockroaches, like rats.”

“God willing, this man doesn’t come to power, because ‘false positives’ will become a reality again,” she said of de la Espriella.

‘Colombia is being kidnapped’

For López, 62, the fear is returning to the “hell” he lived in for seven years from 2002-2009 when he was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas and held captive in the jungles they controlled.

López was working as a local assemblyman in western Colombia at a time when the rebels had declared politicians military targets. They kidnapped him and 11 other lawmakers.

López was being held in solitary confinement in 2007 when his companions were massacred by rebels. He heard the gunshots echo over the rebel camp, a memory that haunts him. The case turned López into a symbol — a survivor of the FARC's kidnapping of over 21,000 people over five decades of conflict.

Now in Cali, the city where he was kidnapped, he lives with a state-appointed security detail because of threats against his life. He's watched with fear over the past four years as violence has mounted. Because of that, López, a self-declared leftist, said de la Espriella has his support.

“Colombia is being kidnapped,” López said. “I’m with Abelardo because his priority is to restore safety to Colombians. He understands ‘total peace’ isn’t won by negotiating with criminals, but by exercising the legitimate force of the state.”

Under current president Petro, armed groups have used weapons like drones to wage war, bombings have racked up a civilian toll and one presidential candidate was assassinated in June 2025. In May, the International Red Cross said the impact of armed conflict on civilians in Colombia over the past year had reached the worst point in a decade.

This week, the country's largest guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), announced a temporary ceasefire in order to not interfere in Colombia's elections. Other criminal groups made no such promises.

With the wave of violence, López said, “victims are being revictimized."

Just as Monroy fears what could come from a sharp swerve to the right, López worries about what could happen if Colombia continues on its current path.

“My fear is for the new generation, that the same thing that happened to me could happen to them if the country keeps being handed over to guerrillas and organized crime,” López said.

___

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

Koné injured his left leg when Qatar midfielder Assim Madibo tackled him from behind in the second half, sending the 24-year-old to the ground. Koné grimaced and players rushed to his aid, calling for help from the sidelines.

Madibo was sent off for the tackle on Koné, who was protectively surrounded by his teammates while he was treated on the field before he was stretchered off.

“I saw his leg. I saw that something wasn’t right,” Canada captain Stephen Eustáquio said. He was among one of the first players to reach Koné.

Koné was whisked to a local hospital were he was preparing for surgery while surrounded by family, Canada coach Jesse Marsch said. He said the injury happened right in front of the bench, and you could hear the “bones snap."

“Everybody was crushed when it happened, but we had to find a way to stay focused, we knew that Ismaël wanted us to finish the job," Marsch said. "There’s a lot of thoughts that go through our heads right now, we’re all thinking about him, but we’re all very proud of what we are.”

Marsch added that Madibo personally apologized to Koné.

Madibo's red card left Qatar to play with nine men, after teammate Homam Ahmed was sent off in the first half.

Fewer than 10 minutes later, Koné’s replacement, Nathan Saliba, scored Canada’s fourth goal in the 6-0 win and held up Koné’s jersey in an emotional tribute.

Canada striker Jonathan David, who scored a hat trick, questioned the need for the tackle on Koné.

“If there’s a play where you cannot win the ball, there’s no point,” he said. “It’s just to hurt people.”

The details of Koné’s injury have not yet been disclosed. His lower left leg looked visibly broken in photos after the incident.

“We’re going to miss (Koné),” Eustáquio said. “He has that X factor that our team really needs.”

__

Connor Joyce and Drew Renner are students in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

The team led by Vance had been ready to leave but was postponing, the White House said, citing difficult logistics for negotiations. The announcement followed a report from Al-Mayadeen, a pan-Arab satellite channel that is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, that Iran was delaying sending its delegation to Switzerland over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.

Vance, who was initially personally skeptical of the U.S. going to war with Iran, has increasingly become the administration’s face of the conflict and has been outspoken in defending the deal.

Earlier Thursday, he took the relatively unusual step of appearing at the White House to defend the initial deal to extend the ceasefire 60 days and allow for more negotiating — arguing that while it offers concessions, Iran first has to comply with U.S. demands.

“As they dial up their good behavior, we can dial up the economic relief,” Vance said. “If they dial down their good behavior, we can turn it off.”

But the vice president also had said during those remarks that he was not sure of the timing of his planned to Switzerland and that talks might not begin this week. The formal postponement now makes that even less clear.

Vance staying put in Washington came after the U.S. said it had lifted its blockade, allowing oil tankers to begin freely moving through the Strait of Hormuz after months of being unable to use the critical channel. Still, the tentative agreement has drawn sharp criticism from some in the U.S. — including a few congressional Republicans — who worry Washington ceded too much to Iran with relief from sanctions and a potential $300 billion fund to help with rebuilding.

Earlier, a top Trump administration envoy told U.S. lawmakers in a private briefing that Iran will invite the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency to inspect its nuclear sites.

And Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had seemed to endorse direct negotiations for his officials.

“It is obvious that the face-to-face negotiations that will be held in the future will not mean accepting the enemy’s opinion,” he said in a statement read by state media.

It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement, and it was interpreted as a shift in Iran’s approach. Hard-liners, especially Khamenei’s father, the previous supreme leader, have long opposed direct talks, especially after the U.S. pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The supreme leader has not been seen in public since he was wounded in a strike at the start of the war.

Lawmakers told Iran will invite UN inspectors to its nuclear sites

The agreement states that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium must at minimum be diluted under international supervision. It also says that Iran shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons — a commitment it has made previously.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told members of Congress that Iran will invite the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its nuclear sites and begin work on identifying and uncovering the locations of Tehran’s enriched material, which is believed to be buried under rubble.

Witkoff's private briefing was described by two people familiar with the conversation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to share the closed-door details.

The agreement requires Iran to “commit to renounce their nuclear ambitions in writing,” said White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales. The IAEA did not respond to a request for comment.

Witkoff told congressional leadership and members of national security-related committees that the agreement the U.S. struck with Iran did not include any side deals, but a side letter was drafted between Tehran and the IAEA extending the invitation.

Witkoff said the letter to IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi would enable him to bring U.S. nuclear inspectors to Tehran.

Vance defends US-Iran deal and has sharp words for Israel

Before Vance delayed his trip, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif postponed a planned visit to Switzerland, where Islamabad officials had originally planned to host a ceremonial signing ceremony for the agreement. That visit was postponed because the agreement had already been signed by both Iran and the U.S., said two senior officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

President Donald Trump signed the initial pact with Iran on Wednesday while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palace of Versailles. The deal is slated to take immediate effect and extends a ceasefire while giving each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements on larger issues.

Vance, in his comments at the White House, shrugged off criticism about the confusing rollout of the initial deal, saying, “I don’t think our public messaging has been chaotic."

He also offered a blunt warning to Israel, which has pushed the U.S. to take a harder stance against Iran and launched attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon throughout the war, including just before the deal extending the ceasefire was reached. Those attacks complicated the peace efforts with Iran.

Trump “is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time," Vance said. “And he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower.”

Shipping starts to pick up

Trump said he signed the agreement to avoid “economic catastrophe” in the U.S., after the war caused oil prices to skyrocket, made financial markets skittish and fueled inflation. The deal caused gas prices to fall and stock markets to rise — though rallies could be threatened again depending on how the next round of U.S.-Iran talks go.

The vice president said more than 12.5 million barrels of oil went through the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday night and said that the U.S. easing its blockade of Iran means “honoring our end of the early part of the agreement on the military side.”

U.S. Central Command said American warships “will remain in the general area to make sure that all aspects of the agreement are adhered to, obeyed and in full force and effect.”

Iranian state media said shipping had “normalized” at Iran’s southern ports but added that the strait remains supervised and under the control of the Iranian military, and transiting through the vital waterway still requires coordination.

Major shipowners began moving vessels through the strait after the agreement was signed, according to maritime data company Lloyd’s List Intelligence, though Lloyd's did not give data on how many ships have passed through the strait as of Thursday.

In a media briefing, Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, said for the first time in 110 days, ships owned by major companies are transiting the strait after effectively being marooned there since February. It could take weeks or months to fully reopen the strait, and the two alternative routes do not have as much capacity as the strait's central passage.

___

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Aamer Madhani in Zurich; Collin Binkley in Washington; Mae Anderson in New York; and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

A few minutes later, everyone knew the answer. There was Scheffler jumping up and down in a bunker situated 150 yards shy of the green — and 10 feet lower than the fairway — to catch a glimpse of the flag on the putting surface ahead.

What resulted was a rare bogey 6 for the world's No. 1 player on one of those rare par 5s in pro golf that wasn't remotely reachable in two — thanks to it being uphill and dead into a 25 mph wind. Even after the wind died down in the afternoon, the 16th played at 0.372 strokes over par with most of the first round over, making it the fourth-hardest hole on the course.

Welcome to Shinnecock.

“You had to be hitting a great shot if you wanted to avoid a punishment,” Scheffler said after walking off the windswept golf course at 2-over par, which was eight shots behind leader Wyndham Clark, who played in much tamer conditions in the afternoon. “I think ‘good’ would put you in some tough spots.”

Scheffler, who needs this tournament to complete the career Grand Slam, found plenty of those tough spots in his 10th straight round at the U.S. Open in which he has failed to break par. It began in the morning but bled well into the afternoon — a 5 1/2-hour grind through the wind that started late because of a two-hour fog delay. One of his playing partners, defending champion J.J. Spaun, fared even worse. Spaun shot 77.

Scheffler made double bogey on No. 8 after teeing off into the rough, hitting his second into a bunker some 40 yards from the hole, then three-putting.

He hit a wedge from 110 yards to the middle of the 13th green, but the ball spun and rolled off the front. That led to a bogey; blame it on the soft conditions the USGA has been trying to hang on to in wake of the wind forecast.

“Overall, yeah, it was a really challenging day,” Scheffler said. “If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on 9 that I would post 2-over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time.”

He made that putt, a 6-footer, to make the turn at 3 over. He sank a 9-footer for a sand save on No. 18 to walk away with his 72. Three of his four birdies came on the back nine.

“I feel like this course can change pretty rapidly from day to day,” he said. “I think that’s also part of the challenge of the tournament is adjusting to those conditions.”

Some 90 minutes after the round, Scheffler was still on the driving range, having an animated conversation with his coach, Randy Smith, while the wind picked up for the second wave of players, many of whom would be on the course at twilight.

As much as his swing, Scheffler knows this tournament will come down to who can untangle the conditions, then deal with them the best. He walked off the course in a tie for 75th place — not out of it, but still looking for answers.

“I think it’s a little easier sometimes in a U.S. Open,” Scheffler said, “because it’s happening to everybody.”

___

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

Morning fog led to a two-hour delay, and Clark had a feeling his late afternoon start would be an advantage as the wind began to subside with the setting sun. Good golf was still required, and Clark displayed every bit of that before he was stopped only by darkness.

By then, the former U.S. Open champion rode a birdie-birdie-eagle stretch to 6-under par through 16 holes and a four-shot lead.

“Everything was kind of clicking,” said Clark, who came into the U.S. Open playing as well as anyone. “We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall a good round.”

The USGA set up a different golf course at Shinnecock Hills — slower, more receptive greens and reasonable pin positions — to keep it playable in strong wind. But when the wind subsided late in the day, Clark looked like he was playing in a different U.S. Open.

No one ever has gone lower than 66 in an opening round at Shinnecock Hills. Clark can go two shots lower if he can finish with two pars when he and 49 other players return Friday morning.

He led by four over seven players, one of them Oklahoma junior Ryder Cowan, another one the surprisingly resurgent Dustin Johnson. Four of them were former U.S. Open champions.

Rory McIlroy thought he had made a fine effort with a 69 in gusts that topped 30 mph in the middle of the day, when the scoring average was well above 74. The afternoon started tough until the wind kept subsiding, and players began taking aim at flags. The afternoon wave was playing at least a stroke easier than the early starters who faced relentless wind.

Shinnecock was still a brute of a test, but the red numbers on the white scoreboard was an unfamiliar site for this course. When play was suspended by darkness, 17 players were under par.

Cowan birdied his last hole for a 68 to join former Sooner Max McGreevy and former Oklahoma State player Sam Stevens of those who finished the round. Stevens was the only one of that trio who faced the harsh wind of the morning wave.

Johnson, in his final year of being exempt from the U.S. Open he won at Oakmont in 2016, ran off four straight birdies and was tied with Clark after 13 holes. But Johnson failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the easy par-5 fifth, where Clark made eagle. And then Johnson three-putted from short range for double bogey on the sixth to fall four shots behind.

Scottie Scheffler, who needs the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam, battled all day and relied heavily on his short game to salvage a 72. It was his 10th consecutive U.S. Open round without breaking par, but at the time it left him only four shots out of the lead.

Clark, who won the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club three years ago, changed the look of the leaderboard with his late flourish. He was to return Friday morning to complete the round, then head out for the second round in wind expected to be not as strong as the full blast from Thursday.

“I would say when I got my tee times on Tuesday, I was like, ‘Oh, could be a tough draw,’” Clark said. “That two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was really nice it laid down. So it definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played.”

His golf wasn't too shabby, either. Clark started on No. 10 and opened with two quick birdies. He went out in 32 to get his name atop the leaderboard. And after missing an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and failing to save par from a bunker on the long par-3 second, he took off.

He hit wedge to 5 feet on No. 3 for birdie, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the next and then from 207 yards with some wind at his back, he hit his second on the par-5 fifth to 3 feet for eagle.

When Johnson faltered, Clark had plenty of breathing room — and a quick turnaround.

The wind was so strong and the conditions so severe that it took Scheffler's group nearly three hours to complete nine holes. There was a question the round could have finished even without the fog delay.

Johnson was joined by three other U.S. Open champions — Matt Fitzpatrick (2022), Gary Woodland (2019) and Jon Rahm (2021) — at 2 under, with all still having holes to play.

Rahm, who had a chance in the final hour at the PGA Championship, was bogey-free and reached 2 under by making a 60-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole.

Stevens overcame a double bogey to start his round — a hole that took him over two hours to play because of the fog — and strung together six birdies for his 68.

“The greens haven’t been too firm, the fairways haven’t been too firm, so I’ve really felt like it’s pretty scorable,” said Stevens, who had only his second sub-70 round in his fourth U.S. Open. “Obviously, it’s difficult, but overall it’s an awesome place. I think the setup is great right now.”

For half of the opening round, the USGA appeared to have the ideal test. Coming off two Opens at Shinnecock when the course got out of control, it slowed greens to 10 1/2 on the Stimpmeter — rare for any major, much less the U.S. Open — and keep plenty of water on the putting surfaces.

It was all due to the wind, which did not disappoint. The sustained wind approached 25 mph, and gusts were even stronger. And if that wasn’t enough, it shifted directions in the middle of the day.

“It was tough around here without wind, and then it was blowing pretty hard — really hard,” Keegan Bradley said after a 70. “The USGA did a great job setting the course up because if the greens were any faster or firmer, we might not be playing right now.”

But they played, it became more ideal with each passing hour late in the afternoon.

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

Midway through his round Thursday, the leaderboard showed that the amateur was playing the best golf of anyone at Shinnecock Hills.

Cowan, a 21-year-old who will be a senior at Oklahoma, briefly held the lead in his first major championship before finishing with a 2-under 68, matching the lowest round by an amateur at Shinnecock. He was tied for second when the first round was suspended because of darkness.

“Through nine, I looked up and I was 3-under par,” Cowan said. “I definitely looked at that leaderboard, and I saw it up there.”

A couple bogeys on his second nine knocked him back, but with the sun setting, Cowan finished strong shortly before play was stopped for the day. Playing the ninth hole, he hit his approach to 5 feet and knocked in the putt for his fourth birdie of the round.

Starting on the back, he had three of them in his first eight holes, moving to 3-under and into the lead after his birdie at the par-3 17th.

“I feel like I started well. I got some momentum from that,” Cowan said. "I knew, if I could get through those holes, I had a couple easy holes coming in.

"I hit it good all day, put myself in good positions throughout the day.

Cowan was four shots behind Wyndham Clark, in position to be the first amateur to finish a U.S. Open round in the top five since Brian Campbell was tied for fourth after the first round in 2015. The group he is tied with includes past U.S. champions Dustin Johnson, Matt Fitzpatrick, Gary Woodland and Jon Rahm.

Cowan earned his trip to Shinnecock through a qualifier at BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, shooting 6-under 138 and then surviving a three-man playoff for two spots. The other was earned by 17-year-old Miles Russell, who also played well Thursday and finished at 2 over while playing in a group with three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, 54.

Cowan said the practice he did to prepare had him believing he would play well. But playing on his home course looks and sounds much different than what he faced at Shinnecock.

“I think that I’ve really just been trying this week to focus on each shot, especially today. One at a time, not worry about what’s going on in the crowds or everything,” Cowan said. “I’m not used to all these crowds. We don’t ever really play with a lot of crowds.”

If he can keep up his strong play, he might have a big one following him around on the weekend.

“I feel like all the work I put in every single day gives me that belief that I can come out here and play with anyone and the guys that I surround myself with,” Cowan said.

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

In a rally with Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that drew thousands to a Brooklyn theater, the emboldened mayor delivered a fiery message to Democratic leaders in Washington — and even those considering 2028 presidential bids — as he worked to elevate a slate of likeminded candidates in Tuesday's New York primaries.

“People often ask me what I think of the state of the Democratic Party. This slate here today is our answer," Mamdani declared. "The Democratic Party must change.”

“The party of the past will not be what leads us into the future. We need a Democratic Party with backbone."

He shared the stage with three congressional candidates, including two running against Democratic incumbents. All three identify, or have identified, as democratic socialists. They promised to “abolish ICE,” condemned the “genocide” in Israel and vowed to "tax the rich" if elected.

The collection of congressional candidates he’s backing represent a political gamble for Mamdani, whose picks may not win Tuesday, and a potential headache for Democratic leaders, who fear that Mamdani’s allies may push the party too far left. It's the latest way Mamdani is testing the limits of his newfound political muscle, even if it means challenging his own party’s leadership.

Sanders cheered him on Thursday night, noting that democratic socialists fighting for working-class voters like Mamdani have been elected across the country in recent months.

“The politics and the policies of the democratic establishment are no longer good enough,” Sanders charged. “In this dangerous and unprecedented moment in American history, tinkering around the edges just won’t work.”

The Mamdani slate

Establishment Democrats are not pleased with the mayor's decisions.

Mamdani endorsed political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in New York's 13th District, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

Mamdani is also backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running against incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York's 10th District. And in New York's 7th, he's supporting democratic socialist state Assembly Member Claire Valdez against outgoing Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s handpicked successor.

All three congressional candidates stood arm-in-arm with the mayor Thursday and spoke from a podium emblazoned with the sign “Our team, our year.”

“Right now there’s really mass dissatisfaction with the way the party leadership has been operating and not standing up strongly enough to Trump,” Valdez told The Associated Press before the rally, where she promised to “Free Palestine” and “abolish ICE.”

She said she hopes to “bring a partner to Zohran to Washington.”

Valdez's primary opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, said he feels like the underdog in the race, even though he was endorsed by the outgoing incumbent. He said Mamdani “has a celebrity status that we haven’t seen the likes of since I’ve been alive.”

“He’s going to be our champion for the foreseeable future and he’s doing a great job, and when he says that he’s endorsing someone, it matters,” Reynoso said in an interview. “I believe that this community has seen me work, they know I’m a progressive champion, and in any other circumstance I would be a favorite to win this race, but I’m not because he has tipped the scale.”

The candidates are largely aligned on the biggest issues, although there are modest differences.

Israel’s war in Gaza has featured heavily among the Mamdani slate, with Lander, Valdez and Avila Chevalier casting their Democratic opponents as too soft on Israel. The mayor’s candidates also sought to replicate much of the platform that sent him to City Hall, focusing on the city’s high cost of living and framing themselves as fresh faces not beholden to powerful business interests.

Avila Chevalier went after Espaillat at Thursday’s rally for accepting major donations from real estate developers and Wall Street.

“You cannot take working people for granted. And you cannot outspend a movement whose time has come,” she said. “We are done being ignored.”

The view from Washington

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are pleasantly surprised that Mamdani has become less of a political liability for the party in swing district seats than they once feared.

But Mamdani’s endorsements have aggravated intraparty fissures, especially among moderates who worry that Mamdani's far-left brand may eventually tarnish the entire party.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a fellow New Yorker, has tried to push back against the Mamdani-backed democratic socialist challengers, endorsing and campaigning for the embattled incumbents in a proxy fight with the mayor.

But Jeffries and Mamdani have opted to wrestle only in primaries rather than bicker publicly and feed into GOP narratives of Democratic disarray.

“Democrats must understand, and both the leader and Mamdani appreciate this, how to yell in areas where we agree and whisper in areas where we diverge,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist who works with House Democrats.

For now, Jeffries' allies acknowledge that Mamdani has energized Democratic voters and may be able to reach some Americans who have checked out of the political process. They also prefer that Mamdani is hyper-focused on New York City’s governance rather than traveling across the country.

And yet Mamdani made clear Thursday that he wants his message to be heard nationally.

He referenced the Democratic Party's 2028 presidential nomination contest, saying it begins Tuesday when New York Democrats pick their general election nominees.

“For far too long our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people,” Mamdani said. “That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire.”

Meanwhile, Republicans plan to elevate Mamdani's profile as well.

The GOP hasn't made Mamdani a central feature of its broader national messaging as it once threatened, but Republican operatives have sought to link Mamdani to Democratic House candidates in swing districts across California, Colorado and Wisconsin. They also believe the specter of the New York City mayor will loom large in pivotal House races in New York and New Jersey.

The Republican bet is that vulnerable Democrats cannot afford to break with Mamdani too cleanly for fear of alienating progressive voters, even as they cast him as a radical.

“Zohran Mamdani’s socialist brand is as toxic as it comes,” said Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, House Republicans’ campaign arm. “And during a time when Democrats don’t have a leader or a message, he’s exactly the kind of bogeyman we can use against Democrats to truly show who is leading their party and the crazy policies they all support.”

Sanders' senior adviser Faiz Shakir encouraged the GOP to try.

He said “the crowd goes nuts” when Sanders mentions Mamdani in almost every speech as he tours the nation rallying voters ahead of the midterms.

“He’s seeing that opportunity — that we can radically change the Democratic Party,” Shakir said of Mamdani, whom he described as a friend. “He certainly is not a political liability.”

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Brown reported in Washington.

The team announced before Thursday night's game against the Athletics that the 11-time All-Star was placed on the 10-day IL due to a right hamstring strain. The Angels recalled infielder Christian Moore from Triple-A Salt Lake among a flurry of moves.

Trout told MLB.com that the injury occurred when he was running to first base Wednesday in the Angels' 8-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“From last night to today, it’s a night-and-day difference, so that’s positive for me,” Trout told MLB.com. “I was a little worried last night, but had a plane ride and just sitting down after playing, so that kind of came into effect. But feels way better today, so I’m not overly concerned about it. But I’m going to do everything I can in that training room and the weight room to get back.”

Injuries have hindered Trout for much of this decade. Since winning his third AL MVP award in 2019, Trout has played more than 82 games in a season just twice – 119 in 2022 and 130 in 2025.

The 34-year-old Trout had played in 74 of 75 games this year in a resurgent season. He's batting .234 with an .866 OPS, 17 homers, 36 RBIs and seven steals.

He entered Thursday with an AL-leading 54 runs, a total that was tied for second in the majors behind Washington’s James Wood. Trout's 66 walks also ranked second in the big leagues, behind the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz.

Trout had the second-highest vote count of any AL outfielder in the All-Star Game balloting totals that were released this week. He grew up near Philadelphia, where this year’s All-Star Game will take place next month.

The injury to Trout created an opportunity for Moore, who was hitting .333 with a .468 on-base percentage, nine homers, 45 RBIs and 10 steals in 51 games at Salt Lake while playing second base, third base and the outfield.

Moore hit .198 with a .284 on-base percentage, seven homers, 16 RBIs and three steals in 53 games with the Angels last season.

In other moves, the Angels recalled right-hander Ryan Johnson from Double-A Rocket City, released left-hander Drew Pomeranz and optioned right-hander Brett Kerry and catcher Logan Porter to Salt Lake.

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

State Sen. Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director who advanced Thursday, received the most votes in a crowded field of both Democrats and Republicans to move on to the Aug. 18 special general election.

Wahab had a lead in votes, but Hernandez said her path forward to August is “digging into the numbers, and going out to those areas where we know that we can secure votes."

“I connect to voters, and that’s one thing that is definitely different than my opponent," she said, reiterating her focus on bringing down costs for lower and middle class families. “We’re going to fight the good fight.”

Whoever wins the special election in August will fill Swalwell’s seat through January. At that time, the winner of the regular general election in November will take over for a full, two-year term. In this case, that will also be Wahab or Hernandez, who snagged the top two spots in the regular primary that was held on June 2, similarly locking out Republican challengers.

That means both candidates are running in two separate elections for California’s 14th Congressional District, which includes East Bay cities such as Fremont, Hayward and Livermore. It would’ve been an uphill fight for a Republican to win in the heavily Democratic district. The three top vote-getters in the special election were Democrats, with businesswoman and attorney Rakhi Israni Singh finishing behind Hernandez.

Whoever wins the special election in August will likely get a boost of visibility and a few months of experience in Congress that they can tout during the November general election campaign.

Wahab, who didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, is an established presence in California politics as the Senate’s assistant majority leader. She has campaigned on a more progressive platform and has detailed her track record in public office.

That includes expanding social safety net programs and renter protections, promoting social justice issues and pledging to support small businesses by cutting bureaucratic hurdles.

Hernandez, who was the former mayor of the East Bay city of Dublin, has highlighted similar goals while emphasizing a business-friendly approach. For lowering costs, Hernandez said she would “prioritize growing small businesses” and promote incentives to build housing. She also would push to lower health insurance premiums by restoring insurance subsidies.

One of them will replace Swalwell after he served for seven terms before resigning in April and dropping his bid for California governor. That was prompted by a San Francisco Chronicle report of allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him.

CNN later reported that other women accused him of sending inappropriate messages and nude photos.

Swalwell, a Democrat, has repeatedly denied the accusations but said it would be unfair to his constituents to remain in Congress.

Capt. Lenita King, 63, of Haines City, and Trooper Maurice Vilsaint, 42, of Reunion, were booked in Osceola County. Following their arrests, both are no longer employed by the Florida Highway Patrol.

What is ‘off-duty’ police work?

Both troopers are accused of abusing a common law enforcement practice called Off Duty Police Employment, or more commonly referred to as “off-duty” work.

Off-duty assignments allow officers to use their agency uniform and patrol vehicle to provide security for outside clients — including construction companies, homeowners associations, and community development districts. The outside organization pays the officer directly, and the officer repays the agency for fuel and equipment. The practice is permitted under FHP rules and is widely used at law enforcement agencies across Florida.

In this case, both King and Vilsaint had off-duty assignments with the Champions Gate Community Development District in Osceola County.

[WATCH: Florida Highway Patrol trooper accused of fraud walks out of jail]

New details: How investigators caught King

King is a 21-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol who served as the Orlando District 2 commander for FHP Troop D. She faces three charges:

• Grand theft (larceny valued between $750 and less than $5,000)
• Fraud/swindle (defrauding to obtain property valued less than $5,000)
• Falsifying an official document (public servant falsifying an official record)

Investigators placed a covert GPS tracker on King’s vehicle to verify her location during her scheduled shifts — both for her assigned duties with FHP and for her off-duty job. The tracker told a different story than her billing records.

According to her arrest affidavit, King was physically present at the Champions Gate Community Development District on only 10 of the 19 days she billed the district in March and April 2026.

Investigators say she overbilled the district $3,517. The district paid King $2,600 before withholding further payments after learning of the alleged fraud.

New details: Vilsaint allegedly used an LLC to run the scheme

Vilsaint is an 18-year veteran of the Florida Highway Patrol. He faces four charges:

• Fraud/swindle (defrauding to obtain property valued less than $20,000)
• Grand theft (larceny valued between $10,000 and less than $20,000)
• Falsifying a public or court record
• Falsifying an official document (public servant falsifying an official record)

According to his arrest affidavit, Vilsaint collected his off-duty payments through a limited liability company he created in 2023. Investigators grew suspicious after he failed to file FHP’s required Selective Enforcement Activity Reports for work he claimed to have performed for the Champions Gate Community Development District between October 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026.

The affidavit says Vilsaint did file monthly off-duty reports with FHP — but those reports deliberately left out the Champions Gate dates. “The activity reports were intentionally deceptive and supported Vilsaint’s scheme to defraud the CG CDD representatives who entrusted and paid Vilsaint to make the community safer,” the affidavit states.

In total, Vilsaint allegedly “fictitiously billed” for 60 days of assignments at the district and and received $15,340.

Both warrants were issued out of Osceola County, which investigators identified as the location of the alleged crimes.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Mitchell set a U.S. Open record Thursday at Shinnecock Hills when he became the only player to post a score in the 40s on nine holes, and follow that with a score in the 20s on the next nine.

He went 41-29. It added to an even-par 70, and Mitchell still isn't sure what happened. He was coming off a bogey on the par-5 16th, and his first thought was whether he would finish.

“I was thinking about trying to break 80,” he said. “I was just trying to keep in it in the fairway, on the green and maybe have a chance to make the cut. And then it all flipped.”

His 29 tied the Shinnecock Hills record for nine holes set by Neal Lancaster in 1995 (Lancaster is the only player to twice shoot 29 on nine holes in the U.S. Open).

How it started is something Mitchell would like to forget. He went over the par-4 10th green to start his round, took two chips and two putts and had a double bogey. He went over the green on the par-3 11th and made bogey. Going long is to be avoided on those holes.

“All week I've been told not to do that,” Mitchell said. “It's the sum of all fears.”

After a string of bogeys, he hit a good tee shot into the par-3 17th and two-putted for par. He hit another good iron on the 18th and two-putted for par, both of them in the 20-foot range.

Those pars sparked the turnaround.

“There's a lot less pressure when you're 6 over and you're just rocking and rolling,” he said.

He was rolling, all right. The wind switched and was at his back on the first hole, so his caddie suggested he hit driver.

“Best swing of the day,” Mitchell said. It led to birdie, and he was on his way.

He hit wedge to 3 feet on the third, holed a 10-footer for birdie on the fourth, and then hit his second shot to 12 feet on the par-5 fifth and made eagle. He closed out his remarkable round with an approach to 8 feet on the rough nine for his 29.

He might have taken a 70 at the start of the day. He certainly would have taken it after his opening seven holes.

“If you hit the fairway, you have a chance — I didn't do that very often on the back nine — and then you have a chance to get on the green,” Mitchell said.

He did that on the front nine, not missing a fairway and only missing the green on one of the long holes. And suddenly, the game felt easy.

“Fortunately, I hit it really, really well,” he said.

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

Spencer, 74, would become the oldest person put to death in Florida since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and the ninth man executed in Florida this year.

According to court records, Spencer had a violent history with his wife, Karen, before stabbing her to death in the backyard of their home in January 1992.

In a conference call Thursday, Jeff Hood, Spencer’s spiritual advisor, described the state’s pending action as a “nursing home execution.”

“The fact that Dusty Ray Spencer is being executed at his age, in his health, says everything we need to know about how haywire this entire system has gone,” Hood said.

In seeking to “humanize” Spencer beyond the headlines and mug shots, retired cardiologist Felix Rogers described his friend of 30-years as a survivor of sexual abuse by his father who has overcome substance addictions. While not excusing his crime, Rogers contends Spencer has changed while on Death Row.

“I think if he is to be executed, our own humanity for each one of us, will be diminished just a little bit,” Rogers said. “Because it means we’re admitting we’re part of a society that would kill somebody, that would execute a person, in spite of their many changes. He’s not the same person that killed Karen Spencer in 1992.”

Attorney General James Uthmeier recently defended the state’s increased use of the death penalty.

“We all take an oath to enforce the law. The people that are being executed have committed some of the most heinous crimes, unspeakable things, many things to women and children,” Uthmeier said while in Brooksville on May 19.

In addition to Spencer’s pending execution, Dennis Sochor is scheduled to be put to death on July 14 for the death of an 18-year-old woman he met at a New Year’s celebration in a Broward County bar 44 years ago.

Sochor is 12 days younger than Spencer, with the executions scheduled 19 days apart.

Florida executed 19 men last year, a modern record for the state.

The Orlando Municipal Planning Board approved the vision for the project, which could become one of the tallest developments in downtown Orlando. The proposed 37-story tower is planned at 170 E. Washington Street with more than 200 residential units, an additional 200 hotel room, retail and business areas with a parking garage.

Supporters say the project could bring more housing, increase foot traffic and create a more active downtown corridor. But some neighbors remain concerned about construction impacts, congestion and whether the development fits the surrounding community.

“It would have to be built somewhere else,” one resident said after viewing renderings of the proposed tower.

A major concern comes from leaders at a nearby 100-year-old church, who worry construction could damage the historic building.

Father John Hamatie said the foundation work he believes could caused the church to be put at a serious risk.

“To build a building that high, you have to drive pylons very deep into the ground,” Hamatie said. “So a 37-story building will have major damage to the church, although they say they have techniques — but I don’t believe that.”

Parking and traffic are also concerns for some residents and business owners as downtown Orlando continues to grow.

“The congregation is growing,” Hamatie said, pointing to the area’s increasing activity.

People in the neighborhood had mixed reactions to the proposal. Some said additional housing could make sense in an already developing downtown area, while others questioned whether the project would benefit current residents.

“We already have a lot of condos and apartments, so it will fit,” one person said. “But is it going to benefit the people here? I doubt it, because it’s already expensive to live downtown.”

Another resident said the project appears too close to the church and surrounding buildings.

The development team says the project could help increase housing options, create a stronger street presence and enhance downtown Orlando.

Additional city discussions on the proposal are expected to continue as the project moves through the approval process.

Trump bestowed the military's highest honor on Marine Corps Maj. James Capers Jr. and Army Maj. Nicholas Dockery. He also awarded it posthumously to Marine Corps Col. John W. Ripley, who died in 2008.

“These are great men, great people,” Trump said at the ceremony. “We thank you and we will never, ever forget you.”

Capers led a selfless rescue after a deadly ambush

Capers, 88, was honored for risking his life to ensure the safety of his fellow Marines after they were ambushed in Vietnam in 1967. What was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission to find a suspected North Vietnamese base camp turned into days of bloody fighting in dense jungle, according to his citation.

On the fourth day, his team was ambushed and outnumbered by Vietnamese fighters. A mine explosion left Capers with a broken leg and serious wounds to his abdomen.

“After a shot of morphine, Jim asserted command of the firefight,” Trump said, drawing on accounts of the mission. “He took over like nobody’s ever seen before.”

Capers called in air support to repel the ambush. When a rescue helicopter arrived, Capers loaded all the wounded men before climbing aboard.

Trump shared a moving moment with Capers as the president pinned the Medal of Honor around his neck, clasping Capers by the shoulders and pulling him forward to make sure the medal was straight and level against his chest. Capers had been keeping a straight face but broke into a smile when Trump grinned.

Ripley single-handedly laid explosives to destroy key bridge

Ripley was honored for a heroic effort to halt the advance of North Vietnamese forces by blowing up a crucial bridge in 1972.

A force of more than 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers and 200 tanks was approaching the bridge in the village of Dong Ha when Ripley single-handedly placed 500 pounds of explosives to bring it down, according to his citation.

Over the course of five hours, Ripley climbed back and forth along the bridge's steel beams, exposing himself to enemy fire as he placed the charges.

“John completed not one, not two, but five such trips,” Trump said, calling him a “very strong guy.”

Ripley said a prayer, then detonated the bridge, sending it into the water below and halting the North Vietnamese advance, Trump said.

Ripley died in 2008. His three sons and other family members attended the ceremony.

Dockery rescued wounded soldiers before coordinating rescue

Dockery's platoon members were guarding a compound in Afghanistan's Kapisa Province in 2012 when they were ambushed by an estimated 150 Taliban fighters. He raced across open ground to rally his scattered team then set out to find missing soldiers, according to his citation.

After carrying a wounded soldier away from gunfire, he spotted two enemy fighters heading toward another wounded soldier in an alley. Dockery killed the two fighters before performing CPR on the American soldier to get him breathing again, his citation said. Dockery called in mortar support, then shielded the wounded soldier from the blasts with his own body.

After hours of fighting in the close urban setting, Dockery used smoke grenades to signal enemy positions for American gunships. He refused to leave the village until all the wounded soldiers were taken to safety.

“You were the last man to depart the battlefield that day," Trump told him, “and you left it a legend and a hero."

According to an annual defense authorization bill, filed this week, much of the travel funds for the defense secretary’s office may not be spent until Hegseth submits "unredacted civilian harm investigations," including for the Feb. 28, 2026, strike on the Minab school. Officials have preliminarily said the U.S. was responsible for the strike, which was blamed on outdated intelligence.

Congress, which conducts oversight of the Pentagon, has not yet received the Defense Department's report on the investigation. It is believed to have been completed last month.

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that this year's annual defense package “forces the Secretary to be more accountable to Congress and will prevent many errors of the past from being repeated in the future.”

Strike on elementary school became a flashpoint

The bombing of the elementary school on the first day of the U.S. war against Iran killed more than 165 people, many of them children, at the campus adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base. It quickly became a focal point of the conflict.

Outdated intelligence likely led to the United States carrying out the missile strike, according to those familiar with the preliminary findings in March. If so, it would stand among the highest civilian casualty events caused by American military operations in the last two decades.

Senators from both parties tucked the new provisions blocking Hegseth's travel funds into the National Defense Authorization Act to force release of the investigation.

The Senate bill text said not more than 25% of the defense secretary’s travel funds may be spent until he submits the investigations, "including all relevant supporting documents,” for several incidents of civilian harm.

The Pentagon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senators also demand video of the boat strikes near Venezuela

Senators also are seeking to withhold Hegseth's travel funds until the Pentagon releases “unedited video” of the U.S. strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats near Venezuela.

The Pentagon has conducted a monthslong campaign of strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 211 people so far. Many of the attacks have been captured on videos that the department announces by posting select footage on social media.

In at least one instance, survivors have been killed in follow-on strikes, which experts have said is at odds with military law and rules of engagement. Lawmakers also pressed for such video in last year's defense package.

Additionally, lawmakers are seeking three other investigations into a series of strikes in Yemen in April 2025. They were conducted during the U.S. military's campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels who were attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea.

The list of requested investigations includes a strike on a port that left at least 70 dead and more than 170 wounded and a strike on neighborhood in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, that hit a house, killing at least four people and wounding 16 others.

The casualty figures for both were provided by the Houthis.

At the time, U.S. Central Command didn’t answer questions relating to the strikes in Yemen. Following the port strike, it said it “was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.” Central Command argued it was intended to “eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years.”

Senators conduct oversight as part of sweeping defense bill

The reports being requested from the Pentagon are to be submitted to the Armed Services committees in the House and Senate.

The directive comes as part of the annual defense bill, a sprawling 1,500-page document that sets policy for the coming year. The package is compiled by both parties — Republicans, who hold the majority in the Senate, and Democrats in the minority.

It’s one of the rare bipartisan measures that is almost always approved by Congress.

The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced the measure last week, and it is now headed to the full Senate for a vote.

The retraction came just a day after Mangione’s lawyers told Judge Gregory Carro that they planned to pursue a defense involving claims that the 28-year-old Ivy League graduate was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the Dec. 4, 2024, killing.

A message seeking comment was left with a spokesperson for Mangione’s lawyers. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case, declined to comment.

Mangione's lawyers had faced a deadline Thursday to provide prosecutors with information to support the emotional disturbance claim.

In another turn, Carro rescinded his order to unseal a transcript and other material from a secret hearing on the matter on June 3, citing the defense’s decision, but by the time he ruled copies of the transcript had already been provided to at least some members of the news media.

It contained no additional details about the emotional disturbance claim.

If Mangione were to have gone through with the extreme emotional disturbance defense, he would have effectively been admitting that he killed Thompson but did so because of mitigating circumstances. It wouldn’t have absolved him of responsibility, but could have led to less time in prison.

If a jury accepts the defense, it is obligated to convict a defendant of manslaughter, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison, instead of murder, which carries a potential life sentence.

In a letter to Carro on Thursday, Mangione lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo said the defense “respectfully withdraws” its notice under New York's psychiatric defense statute “at this time.”

Mangione, 28, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. His state trial is scheduled to start Sept. 8. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.

At Wednesday's hearing, Friedman Agnifilo protested Carro’s decision to unseal materials related to his psychiatric defense, saying it will be “prejudicial to his defense to the exact same facts” in his federal case, where an extreme emotional disturbance defense isn’t allowed.

An emotional disturbance defense is not the same as a not guilty by reason of insanity defense, which would allow a defendant to go to a psychiatric facility instead of prison.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

At a hearing last month, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”

The decision comes as a blow to NetChoice, which has won court victories against identical digital identification laws in other states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Georgia. The trade group representing TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and other major tech companies said the Ohio decision went against “clear national consensus” and that it intended to keep fighting.

“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” said Paul Taske, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center.

Netchoice brought suit against Ohio's law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.

The Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit's panel disagreed. In a 2-1 decision, it found that the law was not unconstitutional and sent it back to a lower court to have a block on the law's enforcement vacated.

“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote in the lead opinion. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”

Judge Alice Batchelder concurred, writing that “a statute is not vague just because it has a wide berth.”

Known as the Social Media Parental Notification Act, the Ohio law was part of an $86.1 billion state budget bill that Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law in July 2023.

The administration pushed the measure as a way to protect children’s mental health, with then-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, now a U.S. senator, saying at the time that social media was “intentionally addictive” and harmful to kids.

The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.

Republican Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson called Thursday's ruling “a win for Ohio families.”

“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”