Speaking at the international economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Putin described Zelenskyy’s open letter proposing the meeting as “boorish.”

“Is it a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible?” he said. “I think it’s the second.”

He said that he sees “no point” in the meeting.

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

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that developing countries have gained an increasingly important role in the global economy, while the share of output by Western countries has shrunk.

In a speech to the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin accused the West of undermining the global economy and finances with unilateral sanctions.

By freezing Russian assets abroad through sanctions, Western nations eroded trust in their own currencies, he said.

“The sanctions and blocking of Russia’s sovereign reserves have irreversibly impacted the standing of international currencies, the dollar and the euro,” he said. “Just like Russia, any other country could lose access to their legitimate assets in dollars or euros, as well as Western financial and payment systems.”

He alleged that high state debt had helped undermine global trust in Western institutions.

“The roots of the current global turbulence lie in the transition from a vertical, hierarchical model, which served the interests of a small number of states, to a more complex, distributed and multipolar one,” Putin said. “Russia views global changes not only as a threat but also as immense opportunities. And to capitalize on them, we aim to act swiftly and pragmatically.”

The Russian leader said the world needed a “modern, flexible and responsible financial architecture — free from risks, bans and barriers.”

Putin played down Russia’s economic slowdown and sought to emphasize its macroeconomic stability. He noted that Russia’s state debt is a fraction of that in Western countries and its budget deficit is considerably smaller, compared with the West.

The forum comes at a time when Russia’s economic outlook has clouded amid the conflict in Ukraine. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

On Thursday, Putin told heads of international media at a question-and-answer session that it was an exaggeration to say Russia's economy was struggling. He noted that his government had taken deliberate steps to cool the economy to keep inflation under control.

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also are present. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Also on Thursday, he acknowledged damaging Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia and pledged to bolster its defenses.

“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin told the media session in talking about the drone strikes. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

Hours before the forum opened on Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his last year's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Putin. Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the U.S. to return its attention to Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin hadn’t seen the letter yet and repeated his statement that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wants talks, an offer that Zelenskyy pointedly rejected. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.

Speaking Thursday, Putin again rejected Zelenskyy's push for an immediate ceasefire, arguing that Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce.

“Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops," he said. "But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”

Employers added 172,000 jobs in May – roughly double what forecasters had expected – and the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.3%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Job growth was down slightly last month from a revised 179,000 in April.

Hiring has bounced back this year from a miserable 2025, showing resilience in the face of economic uncertainty and painfully high energy prices since the Iran war started in late February.

The job gains are broad-based. Local governments added 55,000 workers, restaurants and bars 48,000, healthcare companies 35,000.

In another sign of job market strength, Labor Department revisions added a combined 93,000 jobs in March and April. Job growth averaged 188,000 a month from March through May, marking the best three months of hiring since early 2024.

“The hiring recession is over. American firms are hiring again,’’ said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. "The job rebound is happening in almost every industry ... This is encouraging news for job seekers and for the U.S. economy. The labor market has stabilized and is showing early signs of a genuine rebound.’’

With just five months to go before consequential midterm elections in the U.S., Americans have grown increasingly frustrated by rising costs, and it’s unclear if the strong job numbers this year will change their gloomy view of the economy.

Inflation data last week showed that in addition to gasoline, prices for groceries, clothing and electricity are also on the rise, indicating that inflation may be growing more entrenched.

Polls show that Trump’s approval rating on the economy is falling sharply after being reelected largely on the promise of taming inflation.

And despite the pickup in hiring, wage gains were modest. Average hourly wages rose 0.3% from April and 3.4% from May 2025.

Many young people are still finding it tough to break into a stagnant job market. And workers who have been laid off struggle to get back to work. Nearly 28% of the unemployed in April had been jobless for more than six months, biggest share since December 2021.

But the labor market is clearly improving. Last year, employers added 9,700 jobs a month, the fewest outside a recession since 2002. Hiring has rebounded, averaging 114,000 new jobs a month so far this year.

Friday's report "really is a positive surprise, particularly given the headwinds from the Iran conflict, which clearly led to much higher energy prices and which are going to act to slow economic activity to some degree,’’ said Ryan Nunn, research director at Yale University’s Budget Lab.

The economy, Nunn said, has been boosted by a surge in investment in artificial intelligence. Also helping are lower tariff rates since President Donald Trump has effectively lowered the massive import taxes he imposed last year – and the Supreme Court in February struck down his most sweeping levies, setting the stage for businesses to get back money they'd paid.

Big tax refunds — the product of Trump’s 2025 tax cuts — have given the economy a lift, offsetting the impact of higher energy prices. But the refunds have mostly been pocketed, and gasoline prices have remained above $4 per gallon since March.

U.S. financial markets retreated after the jobs data was released Friday. Healthy hiring has raised the odds that the Fed's next move will be an interest rate increase, a sharp change from the start of the year when central bank officials had still penciled in two rate cuts for 2026.

Wall Street now expects a rate hike in December, which would be sharply at odds with Trump’s repeated demands for a cut. An increase by the Fed could lead, over time, to higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans.

“Higher rates are coming, particularly when inflation is above target and clearly moving in the wrong direction,” said Dario Perkins, an economist at TS Lombard. “The only question is when.”

Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, which operates 12 grocery stores across New York and New Jersey, is on a hiring spree. President Mike Nelson announced last fall that he wanted to add 1,000 workers over the next year, pushing the company's payrolls past 3,500.

Nelson says his problem is finding skilled workers, like butchers and cake decorators.

“We’re looking for a butcher who can cut meat in the store and engage with our customers and give them cooking ideas and speak to them about what makes the product special,” he said. “You don’t find that everywhere now.”

Like other chains, Uncle Giuseppe’s has benefited as Americans cut back on dinners out because of soaring gas prices. The company is marketing specials to lure inflation-scarred shoppers, like a $39.99 chicken Parmesan and pasta meal for a family of four that includes a loaf of bread and a salad.

Michael Wieder, the co-founder of the baby products maker Lalo, is also hiring a few new workers.

Wieder is feeling optimistic because he expects $2 million in tariff refunds after the trade policies of President Trump were shot down by the courts. He is planning to use that money for hiring, but gotten less than $50,000 in refunds so far.

He has roughly 20 employees who work in marketing, operations, customer service and other areas for his New York company. He said he's looking for applicants that will embrace artificial intelligence. Lalo has already been using AI tools in areas like marketing and plans to launch an AI tool on Monday that helps parents potty train their children.

“We’re evaluating the type of people we hire in this rapidly changing environment,” he said.

_____

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York.

“There were two who were chained,” said nursing home worker Danuja Chathuranga. “You only have to take your eyes away for one moment, they run away. One of them had gone one day with the chair he was tied (to) and was found entangled in a barbed wire fence. Another with sores in (their) legs was brought back from a muddy field.”

“Our intention was not to harm them. They were patients taking psychiatric treatment. If they run away or fall into a pit, well or get run over by a vehicle, we have to take that responsibility,” he added.

His comments came amid growing public outrage over the treatment allegedly meted out to the residents at the home in in Anguruwatota where 13 people are now known to have died in the blaze which started late Wednesday.

The nursing home for people with mental health conditions lay abandoned on Friday. Glasses cases, medicines and reclining chairs lay strewn around the burned-out shell in the small town about 55 kilometers (34 miles) southeast of the capital, Colombo.

The surviving residents have been moved to a nearby nursing home.

Video footage by The Associated Press showed the building gutted with its charred furniture and equipment. Bodies lay nearby.

Local television channels showed image of firefighters, police and residents trying to contain the raging fire. Police and soldiers put those rescued on buses to be taken to a safe location.

According to police, 71 people were staying at the home at the time of the fire, of which 50 were rescued by neighbors, firefighters and police. Seven other remain in hospital.

Chathuranga said it is thought the fire was caused by an electric short circuit in a wiring attached to a water pump.

“The fire initially caught a pile of mattresses and pillows and then quickly spread across the house,” he said, adding that the majority of the residents were rescued, but 10 people were caught in the fire and burned to death. Three others have since died in hospital.

The director of the home has been arrested on suspicion of causing deaths through negligence. He appeared before a court on Thursday and was ordered to be detained for a week pending an investigation.

Chathura Mihudum, director of Sri Lanka's National Secretariat for Elders, said the facility was not registered as a nursing home and had been warned to follow laws and guidelines. He said it was overcrowded, with enough beds for about 15 people in a space where 71 people were living.

Government officials had previously visited the institution and had instructed the management to follow laws, he said, without elaborating.

Amala Rajapaksa, an administrator at the nursing home, said the institution was in the process of being registered as requested by government officials.

At least 63 people have died from 397 confirmed cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Yet the outbreak has been challenged by skepticism, attacks on health workers and misinformation.

Vérité Johnson, a journalist and editorial secretary at the Radio Télévision Mont Bleu station in Bunia, the capital city of the eastern Ituri province where the outbreak is concentrated, decided to produce a new program to combat rumors.

The radio show has emerged as a vital tool to win over some residents who have been unaware or skeptical about the facts of Bundibugyo.

WHO chief says misinformation almost as dangerous as the virus

The 45-minute program runs daily at 10 a.m., reminding people of the dangers of Ebola and regularly featuring health specialists who provide updates and answer questions. The show’s jingles about the virus play intermittently throughout the day and residents are able to call in with questions.

“So far, there’s still a layer of resistance within the population, and that’s where the media plays an important role,” Johnson said.

“Misinformation is almost as dangerous as the virus itself and spreads just as fast. Earning and keeping the trust of communities is at the heart of everything we do,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday as WHO and the Africa CDC launched an Ebola response plan with partners.

Tedros said the new plan aims to raise $518 million to “stop the outbreak where it is, support countries that are responding today and ensure that neighboring countries are ready to detect and act quickly if cases appear.”

Resistance to protocols during public health emergencies is common in Congo, which is battling its 17th Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified there in 1976. There currently is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo type of Ebola, which has added another layer of fear.

Widespread rumors, often arising from fear and misinformation, discourage residents from adhering to health warnings or seeking medical help during an outbreak, health officials say.

Mistrust among residents leads to delays in seeking care

Many residents remain distrustful of health authorities, with some alleging that officials are profiting from the outbreak.

“I can never take the vaccine, I prefer to die because if the vaccine arrives, it can scare us even more," said Samson Gerson, a 52-year-old Bunia resident and father of seven children.

Analysts say some people in Congo have been receptive to disinformation due to mistrust of the healthcare system and because some local officials have not become actively involved in containing the disease.

“What is key is to involve the local actors at all levels. If we try to impose what we think is right to the community, we are running towards failure,” said Basile Rambaud, emergency programs director for Mercy Corps in Congo. “If people do not trust the response, they end up delaying to seek care, rejecting protective measures, or avoiding working with health teams, giving the virus more time to spread.”

Ituri province residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers, demanding the bodies of deceased patients. Some people who are believed to have Ebola left the centers during the attacks and health workers could not account for their whereabouts.

“We don’t even know what the body of a person who died of Ebola looks like, but we just see images and montages on our phone,” said Bunia resident Chantal Francine, who expressed doubts over the reported deaths.

Full scale of the outbreak is unknown

The virus has rapidly spread from an initial three health zones to 24, according to WHO chief Tedros.

Experts and WHO officials have warned the numbers might not reflect the true scale of the epidemic as weeks of testing for the wrong type caused a delay in containing the virus.

The outbreak has been worsened by an ongoing armed conflict between Congo's government and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, as well as attacks by the Islamic State-affiliated group the Allied Democratic Force, which killed 16 people in Beni territory in North Kivu on Tuesday.

The attacks by both groups have caused massive displacement of people living in the conflict areas, officials said.

Despite the growing Bundibugyo outbreak and the conditions that are enabling the disease to spread, Johnson said Radio Télévision Mont Bleu continues providing residents with vital facts.

“Everyone is free to think what they want, but the information remains the same. The epidemic is here,” Johnson said.

___

Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Let’s Feckin Go, USA!!

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Chef Brian would love to highlight their signature World Cup Tacos—fresh, bold, and made from scratch—along with the atmosphere that has made Culhane’s a Jacksonville favorite for over 21 years. They will be featuring World Cup Tacos with Australian Lamb, Norwegian Salmon, Fish N’ Chip (Cod), Nashville’s Hot Chicken and many more infusions!

Plus they have both pubs decked out with monster World Cup flags!

The conversation...

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The energy of live international football at Culhane’s• Our women-owned, family-run story, Irish heritage - and 5 Sisters Cocktails

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Eden and Rance are always up for a fitness adventure, so they decided to take flight and immerse themselves in the experience. Was their landing soft or a complete crash?

www.jetsetpilates.com

Also, Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his “permanent” choice for the critical security post following bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte’s lack of national security experience.

Here's the latest:

Treasury warns banks of ‘red flags’ tied to customers in the US illegally

The Treasury Department’s financial crimes arm wants banks to help identify payroll schemes tied to people living in the country illegally, as part of the Trump administration’s latest measure to clamp down on immigration.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known a FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

This comes after President Trump in May signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.

The order directs bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. However, the order is less aggressive than banks had previously expected, as earlier reports suggested the White House was drafting an order that would make collecting customers’ citizenship information mandatory.

▶ Read more

Democratic Wisconsin senator says Trump’s stop in the swing state shows he’s nervous

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says President Trump’s visit to a rural swing district in Wisconsin shows he knows Republicans are in trouble in the midterms.

The stop on Friday for a farmer-focused round table in Chippewa Falls marks the first time Trump has visited Wisconsin in his second term. It comes just four days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. toured a dairy farm in the congressional district held by Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

“They know they’re in trouble,” Baldwin said of Republicans. “They know across the country they’re in trouble.”

Baldwin says Trump’s visit is “not going to do the job in convincing our farmers they are doing better than they’re doing. They know the reality.”

Trump is scheduled to be joined by Van Orden, one of his most vocal supporters. Democrats have targeted that district this year.

US boards an oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean

American forces have boarded a sanctioned oil tanker linked to Iran in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. military said Friday as the U.S. pushes to prevent the Islamic Republic from profiting off its oil and other goods.

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command posted on X that the U.S. forces boarded the MT Davina. The post lacked further details, but U.S. forces around the world have been directed to stop ships tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is enforcing a blockade of Iran’s ports as part of an effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal to extend a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

US set to hold latest oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Trump administration’s push to expand oil and gas development in Alaska faces a new test Friday, with the latest lease sale set for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Opponents of drilling in the refuge’s coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

A coalition of conservation groups this spring sent a letter to leaders of 11 petroleum companies including major ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, both major players in Alaska, urging them to not participate in the sale. The letter cited ongoing litigation over the leasing program, dating to President Trump’s first term, and warned of “financial, operational and reputational risks.”

▶ Read more

Trump looms large over upcoming primary elections in Washington, DC

The last time Washington, D.C., residents chose a new delegate to Congress and a new mayor in the same election, gas was $1.33 a gallon and George H.W. Bush was president.

This fall they’ll do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

As the city heads toward pivotal primaries this month to pick candidates for those roles, President Trump’s influence on the nation’s capital is shaping up as a major campaign issue. The fresh slate of candidates is weighing how best to approach Trump’s Republican administration and congressional control over the heavily Democratic city’s affairs.

“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”

▶ Read more

Trump says he will attend NBA Finals game in New York to root for his hometown Knicks

Trump, a longtime New York Knicks fan, said he plans to attend an NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden next week at the invitation of the team’s owner.

Describing himself as a “big fan” of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me, I’m going,” Trump said of Dolan’s invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn’t rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. “Maybe I’ll do both.”

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

▶ Read more

Water begins refilling Reflecting Pool after Trump’s renovation to repaint it ‘American flag blue’

Water began refilling the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Thursday, Trump announced from the Oval Office.

Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

“That’s clean, beautiful water,” the president said.

Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump also announced a plan to build a “promenade” that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.

▶ Read more

Trump says Pulte won’t be his nominee for director of national intelligence

Trump said Thursday that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his “permanent” choice for the critical security post.

The Republican president’s disclosure that he was ruling out installing Pulte in the position full-time came after bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte’s lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, something that lawmakers indicated was unlikely if Pulte were the nominee.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office after an event on coal. He called Pulte a “very smart guy” and said he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

Senate OKs $70B immigration bill after rejecting efforts to permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund

The Senate passed legislation to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term, after Democrats had blocked the money for months. The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund for allies who believe they’ve been politically persecuted.

▶ Read more

The five astronauts moved into the SpaceX capsule that is docked at the station while cosmonauts worked to fix the leak, which is on the Russian side of the orbiting laboratory.

The decision was made “out of an abundance of caution,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said via X.

That part of the space station has suffered from cracks and leaks over the years. NASA said Roscosmos decided to do a more extensive repair after fresh leaks were found.

The space agencies have been working to determine the cause of the cracks.

___

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

The company behind the Claude chatbot said in a blog post Thursday that as cutting-edge AI gets increasingly faster at carrying out tasks, “it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause” its development.

Anthropic said its internal research institute plans to explore the issue in collaboration with others and “take actions" to help build the systems for a credible slowdown or pause, without being more specific.

AI models are getting faster, with rapid increases in how quickly they can carry out software tasks like coding on their own, the company said. Based on current trends and given enough computing power, an AI system could be able to design and develop its own successor, in what is known as “recursive self-improvement.”

Self-building AI would be a major technological milestone that would bring benefits in science, healthcare and other areas, Anthropic said, but it “also might increase the risks of humans losing control over AI systems.”

Some tech industry figures have long warned of such a scenario.

Anthropic’s post comes after a different warning this week from a team of researchers at the University of Toronto who showed how AI tools could be used to create a new kind of AI “worm” that adapts its hacking strategy as it spreads from device to device and takes over a vast computing network.

“I think it’s really important that people understand that it’s not just the biggest, most powerful language models that pose the security concerns,” lead researcher Nicolas Papernot said in an interview.

The authors of the Anthropic post, company co-founder Jack Clark and Marina Favaro, head of the research institute, said the pause would be used to enable “societal structures and alignment research" to keep up with AI advances. Alignment is industry shorthand for making sure the technology matches human values and intentions.

The proposed coordination would let advanced AI labs verify that global rivals have actually stopped or slowed their work, “and that a bad actor could not use the auspices of a coordinated slowdown to jump ahead in secret.”

The company said a coordinated global mechanism is needed because without it a slowdown in AI development could let the “least cautious” players catch up and add to pressure on companies and governments as they make tough choices about AI safety.

Anthropic's post comes as the company itself is racing with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to sell shares on the stock market, in an IPO that could value it at nearly a trillion dollars.

Meanwhile, bond yields surged as a strong jobs report continued to dim expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its benchmark interest rate this year.

The S&P 500 fell 1% and is headed for its first losing week in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 110 points, or 0.2%, as of 11:03 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.9%.

Nvidia fell 3.7% and Broadcom fell 4.6%. They were among the biggest weights on the broader market countering broader gains. More stocks were rising than falling with the S&P 500. But, many of the bigger tech stocks have pricey values that tend to have an outsized influence on the broader market.

Lululemon slumped 6.8% after trimming its revenue and profit forecasts.

U.S. employers added a surprising 172,000 jobs in May, according to the Labor Department. It is yet another report showing that employment remains solid, despite rising inflation’s squeeze on businesses and consumers.

“Any hopes of a Fed rate cut have effectively been eliminated with this morning’s strong jobs report,” said Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard, in a research note.

The bond market had a strong reaction to the report. Treasury yields jumped, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury rising to 4.54% from 4.50% just before the report was released. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks the Fed's actions, jumped to 4.15% from 4.04% just prior to the report.

The market now sees a more than 60% chance that the Fed will have to raise interest rates by the end of the year, according to CME FedWatch.

The Fed has been holding interest rates steady as it tries to gauge the ongoing impact from rising inflation. Prices were already ticking higher from the impact of tariffs. The U.S. war with Iran has essentially blocked crude oil shipments from moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

The price of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.2% to $93.90. It was about $70 per barrel before the war. The surge in oil prices have prompted a jump in gasoline prices. That has fueled a broader rise in inflation as prices for anything being shipped rises and threatens to slow economic growth.

Wall Street had been hoping for an opening that would allow the Fed room for cutting interest rates. Lower interest rates can make it less expensive for companies and consumers to borrow cash. That can help relieve pressure and boost economic growth. But lower interest rates can also worsen inflation, countering any benefits from an otherwise growing economy.

A measure of inflation preferred by the Fed showed that prices rose 3.8% overall in April. That marked the biggest increase in two years.

Wall Street has been anticipating that negotiations to end the war will eventually be successful. American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalized.

Markets were mixed in Europe after markets in Asia fell.

Senators voted 52-47 to pass the $70 billion legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years, through the end of Trump’s term, after Democrats blocked the money for months. The bill will now head to the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

The final vote came just before 5 a.m., after Republicans narrowly defeated multiple attempts by members of both parties to add language to the bill that would permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund for allies who believe they've been politically persecuted.

Republicans cleared the last major hurdle overnight when they defeated an amendment proposed by one of their own members, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, that would have redirected payments from the settlement to members of law enforcement who were injured when a mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The amendments were a test of party unity that complicated what should have been an easy vote for Republicans who wanted to keep the focus on immigration enforcement in an election year. Instead, they spent almost a full day haggling among themselves over whether to block the settlement fund, even after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had said earlier this week that it would not go forward.

“This would have been done several hours ago if we weren’t having to deal with some of the issues around the fund,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before midnight.

Thune himself has criticized the fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns and has angered many of his GOP colleagues. But he has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage in the House.

Still, a group of Republican senators pushed all day and into the night to block the fund’s payouts through legislation. That effort came after Trump, who has been at odds with the Senate in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the fund’s future on Wednesday when he told reporters that it is “very important” and said “I don’t know” whether it is dead or on hold.

The final 52-47 vote on the bill was nearly party line, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republican to oppose it. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado missed the vote.

Senators push back multiple attempts to ban settlement fund

The first vote on Thursday morning, a Democratic effort to ban the settlement fund, was held open for several hours while Cassidy and two other Republican senators decided whether to support it. The Democratic motion was narrowly defeated when Cassidy eventually voted against it and the two other senators — Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska, both of whom are up for reelection this year — voted for it.

The Senate then rejected a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also have banned the settlement fund but would have moved the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.

Tillis said the fund is a political liability for the party.

“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis said. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with.”

Cassidy's amendment to compensate the injured police officers was a pointed rebuke, as payouts from Trump's fund could have potentially gone to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. Cassidy lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed a primary opponent.

He said that, despite Blanche's comments, the fund is still part of an active settlement and “absolutely can be used.”

The Senate rejected several other Democratic efforts to try to block or limit the fund, including amendments to ban payments to Jan. 6 defendants who injured law enforcement officers.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are now “leaving taxpayers to rely on nothing more than a promise from Donald Trump’s personal fixer. That is not accountability. That is a permission slip.”

ICE and Border Patrol money has been delayed for months

Enactment of the bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January.

Senate Republicans used a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it took weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security and Trump’s ballroom that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.

Democrats say any funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Congress eventually funded the rest of DHS at the end of April with Democratic support, but ICE and Border Patrol have remained without regular funding.

___

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

His Vegas Golden Knights appeared to score with five minutes left in regulation, but referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, citing goaltender interference. Hebert announced that he and the other on-ice officials thought Ivan Barbashev pushed Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen to knock the puck into the net.

Tortorella after some deliberation decided to challenge the play, and it did not take long for officials and the on-site NHL situation room to stick with the call on the ice of no goal. The Hurricanes scored on the ensuing power play 25 seconds later and went on to win 4-3 in overtime to tie the series.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

The next morning, he expressed no regrets.

“That’s been explained by the league, and I stand behind my decision," Tortorella said Friday.

It was purely a video review of goalie interference and had nothing to do with whether the whistle was blown before the puck crossed the goal line.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” Stephen Walkom, executive vice president and director of officiating, told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

Mark Jankowski had just tied it for the Hurricanes a few shifts earlier after Logan Stankoven started the comeback from down 2-0. On the opposing bench, Carolina players and coach Rod Brind'Amour were not sure how the review was going to go.

“Obviously, you’re hoping for the best,” center Sebastian Aho said. “You can’t really control it. I didn’t have a really good view of it, so I had no clue. So, I was just hoping for the best.”

Brind'Amour decided not to challenge for goalie interference in Game 1 on Tuesday night because there were too many variables at play. His thinking turned out to be right again.

“It happened to us in I guess the first game: When it’s called a goal or no goal on the ice, it better be 100% to challenge it,” Brind'Amour said. “That’s the rule we go by. So, they called no goal on the ice, so that’s kind of how I think it worked out. I don’t know. I don’t know what the explanation is. It looked like he had it covered, and then all of a sudden it was in the net. I don’t know. I haven’t really looked at it. I was just happy that it went our way.”

Andersen went full extension to make a paddle save to deny Barbashev on the initial shot. A scrum ensued around the crease, with players diving at the puck hoping to knock it in or keep it out.

“To me, it felt like a no goal,” Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "Obviously, I’m on the other side, but I’m sure they have a different opinion. My gut was like, ‘Man, there’s no way.’ What an incredible effort by Freddie just staying with that one and finding a way to get a piece of that. I was flopping everywhere. I didn’t know what was going on. Freddie just stuck with it. The guy’s an absolute animal. That was a pretty crazy play and obviously a game-changer for us.”

The punishment for a failed coach's challenge is a two-minute minor penalty. Vegas was 4 for 4 on the penalty kill against Carolina's power play to that point in the series.

“I’m not sure how they go about their thought process, Brind'Amour said. “They’ve obviously killed all the penalties. That’s a big one.”

Staal made sure the Golden Knights didn't kill this one, tipping defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere's point shot in for the Hurricanes' eighth power-play goal of the playoffs. Seth Jarvis made it nine when he scored in overtime, though it may have never gotten to that point had Tortorella not challenged.

“You’d like to make them pay every time," Aho said. "It’s a big swing because the other option is going down a goal. But other than that, every time you get a power play, you’re trying to score. So, it’s not that different, but obviously it was a big swing.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — also known a FinCEN — issued an advisory Friday to banks that tells them to watch out for identity theft, payroll tax fraud, and money laundering schemes tied to hiring unauthorized workers.

This comes after President Donald Trump in May signed an executive order that requires banks to take a closer look at the citizenship of their customers.

The order directs bank regulators and government departments to look for signs that people without legal status are opening accounts or obtaining loans or credit cards. However, the order is less aggressive than banks had previously expected, as earlier reports suggested the White House was drafting an order that would make collecting customers’ citizenship information mandatory.

Still, without encouraging a blanket debanking of broad segments of the population, the order and latest advisory acts to discourage people in the U.S. illegally from interacting with the larger U.S. financial system.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the Trump administration "will not allow illegal aliens to abuse financial institutions to steal billions of dollars from hardworking American taxpayers.”

“Schemes to pay unlawful workers often rely upon access to the U.S. financial system, including U.S. banks," he said.

Since banks have never collected any information about their customers’ citizenship or immigration status, there are no reliable public figures on how much risk these customers pose to the financial system.

The banking industry had been aggressively lobbying for months to stop the White House from issuing an executive order that would have made collecting customers’ citizenship status mandatory, arguing it would be expensive and require vast amounts of paperwork. Since the order only offered guidance to the banks instead of a mandate, it appears the banks were able to win over the White House.

The advisory calls on financial institutions to be alert for more than a dozen so-called '"red flags" that indicate an individual is in the U.S. illegally.

——-

Sweet reported from New York.

Coach John Tortorella had no update on McNabb on Friday other than to confirm the 35-year-old was traveling home with the team. Game 3 is Saturday in Las Vegas.

McNabb left Thursday night's game after taking an 87.3 mph slap shot from Nikolaj Ehlers square in the face just past the midway point of the first period. McNabb dropped his stick, went down to the ice and grabbed his nose as he skated immediately off and down the tunnel.

“It’s a scary play," forward Brett Howden said. ”You never want to see that. Just hope he’s doing all right."

Vegas went the rest of the way with just five defensemen. McNabb’s exit had a domino effect that led those guys to playing more minutes than usual, and in particular Jeremy Lauzon was on the ice for all four Carolina goals, with one shot banking in off him, another partially the result of him losing a one-on-one battle with William Carrier and Seth Jarvis' overtime winner going past him.

“You lose a guy like Nabber who logs heavy minutes, such a good teammate, plays the game so hard, it’s tough," captain Mark Stone said. "They battled as hard as they could.”

McNabb was coming off the first three-assist performance of his NHL career in Game 1. He is one of three original Golden Knights players who have been around for the franchise's entire nine-year existence and are in the final for a third time.

“He’s a vital part of this team," said center William Karlsson, who also has been around since the beginning. “He’s been here for a long time and has been vital every year. I think he is extremely good defensively, helps us out in PK situations and stuff like that. Of course, tough to not have him for the remainder of that game.”

The Golden Knights had their optimum, healthy lineup back for the series opener when Lauzon returned from his puck-to-the-head injury that had sidelined him since the second round. That did not last long.

Either Ben Hutton, a left-handed shooter, or Kaedan Korczak, who was playing in place of Lauzon, figures to play in Game 3 on Saturday if McNabb is unavailable.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Here's everything you need to know about “I Knew It, I Knew You.”

Taylor Swift goes country ... again

Swift doesn't sing with a familiar twang on “I Knew It, I Knew You,” but no matter — the song features some elements inextricable from the country genre: Live instrumentation, plucky banjo and harmonica that opens the track.

Most view Swift's last official foray into the country music genre to be 2012's “Red,” though the album is much more of a crossover experiment. It would be more astute to label “Speak Now” as her last true-blue, full-length, country music release — and that was more than 15 years ago.

Additionally: “I Knew It, I Knew You” is also Swift's first original material since “The Life of a Showgirl” was released in October.

The song is also co-produced by Jack Antonoff, her former, frequent collaborator. Swift started working with Antonoff on 2014's “1989” through 2024's “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Notably, the pair started their long collaboration after Swift's country era, perhaps with the rare exception of “Betty” from her 2020 “Folklore” album.

“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time. Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once,” Swift wrote on social media Friday, referencing the beloved cowgirl character. “And being a ‘Toy Story’ kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”

The ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ rollout

Last weekend, billboards with the initials “TS,” stylized like the “Toy Story” logo, appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Toronto, Mexico City and London — fitting, as “TS” works both for the beloved franchise and the musician.

On Monday, Swift confirmed the song was forthcoming, writing on Instagram, “I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5-year-old kid watching the first Toy Story movie. I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?”

She also shared that preorders for three CD single versions of the track were available on her site. They quickly sold out: One features the song as it appears in the film, another is an acoustic version and the last is a piano version.

“It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song. Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable,” “Toy Story 5” director and writer Andrew Stanton said in a press statement at the time. “The song is so deeply connected to ‘Toy Story.’ So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.”

Is Taylor Swift headed to the Oscars?

Some fans online have begun speculating: Could this be an Oscar contender in the original song category?

Quite possibly, if it adheres to all relevant rules and regulations! For 2027 Academy Awards consideration, a feature film — and its song submissions — must have a qualifying theatrical release between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 this year. “Toy Story 5” will be released in theaters worldwide on June 19, so it qualifies there.

It also depends on when “I Knew It, I Knew You” is placed in “Toy Story 5.” There's a new rule this year: If the song plays over the end credits, it must also overlap with the last 15 seconds of the film before the credits actually begin.

At any rate, if Swift's song is submitted — and if she were to win — she'd be just that much closer to an EGOT. She has 14 Grammys and an Emmy. An Oscar would mean she'd only need a Tony. Could Broadway be next?

Closures are set for Saturday, June 6, through Friday, June 12, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. FDOT said not all ramp closures will happen at the same time.

Planned nightly closures and detours include:

• I-95 south to eastbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (Exit 354A): Drivers will be detoured to continue south on I-95 to the Eighth Street exit, then go north on Main Street to reach the eastbound MLK on-ramp.
• Westbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to I-95 south: Drivers will be detoured to take I-95 north, exit at Golfair Boulevard and head west to access the I-95 south on-ramp.
• Eighth Street to westbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (Exit 345B): Drivers will be detoured north to I-95, exit at Golfair Boulevard, then continue south on I-95 to the eastbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway exit.
• Eastbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway under I-95: Drivers will be detoured to take I-95 south, exit at Eighth Street, then go west to Main Street and head north to reach eastbound MLK.
• Westbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway from Boulevard Street to Moncrief Street: Drivers will be detoured to take I-95 north, exit at Golfair Boulevard, then take I-95 south to the westbound MLK exit (Exit 354B).
• I-95 south to westbound Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (Exit 354B): Drivers will be detoured to take Exit 354A to eastbound MLK and use the Boulevard Street ramp to reach westbound MLK.

Webber LLC is expected to complete the $79 million interchange improvement project by early 2027, weather and other conditions permitting.

FDOT recommends checking FL511.com for real-time traffic updates.

Marie has denied the allegations and cannot be prosecuted over Otis' case because of France’s statute of limitations. But the complaint could allow other women, whether their cases are time-barred or not, to join the proceedings, Otis’ lawyer, Mathias Darmon, said in a statement to The Associated Press.

The complaint, seen by the AP, alleges rape of a minor and human trafficking.

Sent to Paris in 1986 by Elite Model agency, Otis, who was then 17, was housed in Marie’s apartment, “mistakenly believing that he wanted to support her modeling career,” according to the complaint. “While living in the apartment, she alleges that she was raped on multiple occasions by the accused, who subsequently arranged for her to be provided to other wealthy men across Europe.”

Otis was never paid for her modeling work, the complaint said.

“The goal is to give other victims the opportunity to find the courage to join our complaint,” Darmon said. “We are opening the door for all those affected by this internationally significant case to come forward and have their voices heard.”

Otis, 58, became a supermodel in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing on the covers of Elle, Vogue and Vanity Fair and featuring in the Pirelli calendar.

Marie, a 76 year-old French national, supervised operations at Elite from 1985 to 2010, during a period when the agency dominated the modeling industry. He helped launch the careers of some of the world’s best-known supermodels.

French broadcaster France Info reported Friday that Otis said she wanted to “denounce an entire system of sexual abuse of models that lasted for years in the fashion industry,” drawing parallels to the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein case.

A complaint previously filed in 2021 by Otis and several other former models alleging rape and sexual assault by Marie in the 1980s was dismissed because the claims were beyond the statute of limitations.

Under French law, victims who were minors at the time of alleged sexual abuse can file a criminal complaint until 30 years after reaching adulthood, allowing them to do so until age 48.

What started as a Facebook event years ago for people just to play hooky has grown to an annual event held every first Friday in June.

Hundreds of boats packed with revelers fill Bayard Point in Clay County for an all-day party on the water.

But even though it’s a day to relax. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is really urging everyone to be safe.

Deputies say everyone on board should have a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket, and children under 6 are required to wear theirs whenever the boat is underway.

If alcohol is part of the celebration, deputies say the most important step is making sure there’s a sober operator behind the wheel.

Two years ago, there were 21 arrests during Boater Skip Day, and last year, there were around 8. Deputies want that number down to zero this year.

Boaters are also being encouraged to stay hydrated and apply sunscreen throughout the day and to be vigilant when it comes to the wind.

“My main concern right now, after being out setting up the emergency lanes, is make sure your boats are secured properly and make sure everybody is hydrated,” Deputy Brooks Morrell said. “Have a good time, bring all of your safety equipment. We talked about it last year, everyone have a good time with no mishaps and just be safe out here.”

Boaters are also urged to follow local waterway rules and plan ahead for a safe ride home.

“Be mindful of the no-wake zones and the minimum wake zones in the county. Always have a sober driver and a safe plan to get home,” Clay County Marine Deputy Adam Kent said. “We want you to have a good time but also be safe.”

Boaters should also be aware that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is closing the Shands Boat Ramp on Friday, June 5, for official use only during the event.

Avril always comes back to Jacksonville to see family this time of year and to host his annual “Family Fun Day” and Flag Football game, both designed to empower area kids.

Avril joined us on The Morning Show to talk about his mission to empower youth in the community.

Teen takeovers are large, social‑media‑organized gatherings of youths at places such as malls, beaches and parks that have recently led to fights, shootings and other forms of violence.

Most recently, the St. Augustine Beach Police Department moved to proactively discourage an event before it happened.

There have also been “Takeovers” recently at Jacksonville Beach, The Avenues Mall and Blue Cypress in Arlington.

Travis Harrell, the Assistant Chief of Police with St. Augustine Beach PD, joined us on The Morning Show to discuss the challenges for law enforcement and the community. He says public safety is the priority.

The drone that self-detonated in the port of Constanta occurred at around 10:30 a.m., after the area had been secured and isolated by the Romanian Intelligence Service, coast guard and the Defense Ministry, authorities said.

“Immediately after identifying the drone, the Ministry of Defense contacted its Ukrainian counterparts, who confirmed that they had lost control of the operation of four drones,” the Romanian government said in a statement. “The other three drones self-detonated — two offshore and the third outside the port.”

“Confirmation of these events came from both the Ukrainian side and from data obtained by the Romanian authorities,” it added.

Romanian President Nicusor Dan said in a statement online that the Ukrainian forces “lost control of the assets as a result of electronic warfare actions" by Russia,” likely jamming, and that the drone's incursion into “Romanian sovereign space is a direct consequence of the war waged by Russia” against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Navy confirmed in a statement that it had lost control of an unmanned naval boat “while performing tasks in the Black Sea operational zone,” and that its military was in contact with Romanian authorities "to prevent losses among the civilian population.

Raed Arafat, the head of Romania's Department for Emergency Situations, told a news conference Friday morning that helicopters had been deployed to search for more drones and that the authorities had issued text message alerts to residents.

“There is a possibility that there may be other drones,” he said. “We are not panicking. These are preventive measures. If there are other drones, we want to make sure there is not another explosion in an area where people are not evacuated.”

After the port explosion, more than 1,300 people were evacuated from several Black Sea beaches and the routes leading to them were temporarily blocked. Just before 3 p.m., the emergency authorities announced they had suspended evacuation measures.

The incident occurred a week after a Russian aerial drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine went astray and struck an apartment building in Romania’s eastern Danube port city of Galati, injuring two people in the NATO member country.

The Russian Embassy in Bucharest accused Romania on Friday of intentionally releasing “incomplete information” regarding the drone's origin, and said “three other similar drones” belonging to Ukraine were drifting toward Romanian territorial waters.

“These are Ukrainian unmanned maritime vehicles, used by the Kyiv regime to commit terrorist acts against civilian ships and to create threats to the safety of navigation in the Black Sea,” the embassy said. “Any attempts to associate, directly or indirectly, these drones with Russia and to assign it responsibility for the incident are without any reason.”

The two incidents are some of the latest in a series of drone incursions — from both Russia and Ukraine — to hit NATO members since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A month ago, Greece made a formal complaint to the Ukrainian government after a military sea drone carrying explosives was discovered off a Greek island. Greece determined that it was Ukrainian-built. Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias called it “an extremely serious issue," and the complaint was forwarded to both NATO and the EU.

Romanian forces destroyed another maritime drone in the Black Sea on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the war next door, the Defense Ministry said that the Romanian navy has neutralized nine of the 156 sea mines in the Black Sea basin.

For its part, the European Union was giving “full solidarity and support to Romania,” European Council President António Costa said Friday.

“The EU condemns the repeated violations of airspace of Member States and reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the security of all Member States,” he said in an online statement Friday. “This is the third significant security incident in Romania in recent weeks. These incidents are a direct consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

___

McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England. Sam McNeil in Brussels and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

Anthony J. Moore, 53, was driving a route in Aiken County, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Georgia border, last Friday when a woman ran directly into his path with her hands cuffed behind her back.

The video, which has no sound, shows the drama unfold: The woman passes in front of the truck, and a man in a Cadillac that had been on the side of the road swerves in front of the truck before taking off. The woman then runs down the road, and the man drives off.

“I just see it as a divine assignment from God, because had not I been there with the dashcam ... they probably wouldn’t have caught the footage that needed to be catched,” Moore told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It was another assignment from God, a special assignment from God. That a life needed to be saved.”

Authorities arrested Jonathan Willard, 39, of New Ellenton, on one count each of kidnapping and impersonation of a law enforcement officer. He was being held Thursday at the Aiken County Detention Center.

According to an incident report from the Aiken County Sheriff's Department, the woman was taking a walk when a man in a green Cadillac “came from behind her and told her he was with the police.” She said he took her phone and Social Security card, put her in handcuffs and placed her in the back seat of the car.

The woman told police that the man pulled over by a gated property and got out. She said she tried to open the rear doors, but they were locked.

As the man rummaged through the trunk, she said, she climbed over the seat and escaped through the open driver's side door.

Moore was driving south of Aiken when he saw the woman running toward him.

“I let my window down and she said, ‘Please help me. He’s trying to kidnap me,’” Moore said.

As the woman swerved, Moore said, the man chasing her pulled up beside him and showed “what looks to be a badge.”

“And he said, ‘I’m with law enforcement, and she jumped out of my car,’” Moore recounted. The man then left in the Cadillac.

Bystanders called 911, helped get the cuffs off the woman and gave her water. Moore said she told him that she had just graduated the day before, and that the man had also taken her diploma.

She asked Moore if he would accompany her back to the spot where she escaped, to see if the man had might have dumped her belongings. He said they found nothing.

The Aiken County Solicitor’s Office said Willard had not yet been assigned a defense attorney and no court dates had been scheduled. The AP called the jail to speak with Willard, but the request was denied.

Moore is pastor of Amazing Grace Ministries in Denmark, South Carolina. Moore is also a 27-year Army veteran, said his wife, Betty, an associate pastor at the church.

“When I learned that he was caught the next day I was relieved of a lot of things that he didn’t get away,” he said, “to go try that again someplace else.”

Brendan Banfield, a former IRS law enforcement officer, claimed that he shot Joseph Ryan after he came across Ryan attacking his wife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. But prosecutors said Brendan Banfield and au pair Juliana Peres Magalhães set Ryan up in a scheme to get rid of Christine Banfield, a pediatric intensive care nurse.

Brendan Banfield faces the possibility of life in prison. In addition to murder, jurors in February convicted Banfield of child endangerment because the couple’s 4-year-old daughter was home during the killings.

During Banfield's trial, Magalhães testified that he had told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, but he needed to “get rid of” his wife first. He didn’t want a divorce because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter, said Magalhães, who was 21 when she started working for the Banfields in 2021.

Magalhães told jurors that she and Brendan Banfield had impersonated Christine Banfield on a website for sexual fetishes. They used the site to lure Ryan to the house in Herndon, Virginia, for a sexual encounter involving a knife and staged the scene to look as though they had shot a violent intruder.

Magalhães testified that on the day of the killings, she waited in a car outside the house with the Banfields' child. When Ryan arrived, she called Brendan Banfield, who was waiting at a nearby McDonald's. The pair took the child to the basement and then went to the bedroom, where they encountered Ryan. Brendan Banfield shot Ryan and then stabbed Christine Banfield with the knife Ryan had brought. When Magalhães saw Ryan moving, she fired a second shot that killed him.

Some media have dubbed the case the “au pair affair.” Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter after agreeing to testify against Brendan Banfield. Magalhães was sentenced to 10 years in prison after Banfield's trial.

And you might not even know you’re using it!

One study found only about 33% of consumers think they are using AI platforms — but the actual usage is 77%!

While it can make life easier, some research shows AI may be harmful to your mental health.

Today, more than 1 in 5 Americans has a mental illness.

“The rates of things like anxiety and depression and burnout have skyrocketed,” said Dr. Emily Anhalt, a psychoanalytic psychologist.

And, it’s also a global issue.

“There’s a 25% increase in mental health problems worldwide,” said Dr. Jodi Halpern, co-director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science and the Public School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. “That’s an enormous number when you think of all the people in the world.”

New research suggests AI could be adding to the problem.

In a 2026 study in JAMA Network Open, researchers found AI usage was linked to a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and irritability. Specifically, the odds of moderate depression were 30% higher among those who used AI at least daily.

But the recent trend has been using AI to help with mental illnesses.

People are using chatbots for online therapy in place of real therapists. The pros are that it’s accessible, easy, cheap, and private. But experts warn there’s not enough scientific data or oversight when it comes to AI therapy.

In short, AI shouldn’t be a substitute for therapy with a real person.

“If what you’re getting is an artificial relationship, then what you’re getting is artificial healing,” Anhalt says.

Earlier this year, character.ai and Google settled multiple lawsuits alleging that their chatbots contributed to mental health crises and suicides among teenagers.

“Technology is a good thing, but everything needs to be used in a way that cares about people,” Halpern said.

Resources

Here is a list of mental health resources available in Florida.

• UF Health St. Johns Behavioral Health Resource Center - open  24/7 with clinicians on staff and available to assist during a crisis. No appointment is needed.
• EPIC Behavioral Health Rapid Response Team – 24/7 service for individuals 26+, dial 988, and a response will occur within 60 minutes of the request.
• EPIC Access Support Center – Walk-in services for mental health at their North Campus, Northwest Campus, and Flagler Campus. If this service is needed, walk-in during hours or call (904) 495-7001.
• Mobile Response Team – 24/7 service for individuals 5-25 years old. Dial 988 or 911 and a response will occur within 60 minutes of the request.
• Vinson Foundation - A support group for St. Johns, Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, and Orange Park, for families who lost someone to suicide.
• St. Augustine Youth Services: 904-829-1770
• Call 211 - Local experts are available 24/7 to help. Calls to 211 are confidential and can be anonymous.
• Hope for Healing Florida - Hope for Healing navigates the many ways Floridians can access help for mental health and substance abuse

These resources can be accessed nationwide.

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - Call or text 988 for help. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free, and confidential support for people in distress, prevention, and crisis resources for you or someone you know.
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides resources for issues with mental health, drugs, or alcohol.
• Veterans Crisis Line - Text 838255 or call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1
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If you or anyone you know needs help, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

There’s barely time to rejoice. As Kemp raises his trophy for a picture, the charter boat’s captain rushes over and then drives a knifelike tool into the fish’s gas-filled bladder. The procedure, required by federal law, is intended to improve the fish’s chances of survival after release.

“Send it overboard,” orders the captain. And with that, Kemp's hopes of bringing the fish home to eat was lost.

Recreational fishermen like Kemp are pitched against commercial fishermen and environmentalists in a legal dispute that has halted what was expected to be the longest snapper season in years, reflecting broader tensions over the Trump administration's efforts to loosen fishing rules and deregulate the seas.

As part of those efforts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in May exempted states from some restrictions under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the landmark law that guides fisheries management. But the decision was halted at the last minute by a federal judge in Washington who blocked the plan.

The Atlantic red snapper is known for both its fighting ability and popularity at the dinner table. After decades of overfishing, regulators in 2010 restricted recreational fishing to only a handful of days each year — when not banned altogether.

Starting last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led a charge with officials in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina to take over management of the recreational Atlantic snapper fishery, casting the effort as guaranteeing anglers’ “God-given right to fish.”

In May, NOAA issued special permits exempting the states from some legal requirements to protect fish. Instead of imposing wholesale fishing bans on bottom fishing each winter, as NOAA had proposed last year, the agency set up an Atlantic snapper season in four states ranging from 39 to 62 days, allowing anglers to keep one fish per day.

“We were excited,” said Kemp, who booked a charter to coincide with the season’s opening day.

Court battle pits recreational anglers against commercial fishermen

The conflict landed in court just before the season was about to begin May 22, and U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued an injunction based in part on environmental concerns. He relied on estimates from the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy suggesting recreational catches could reach up to 485,000 in Florida alone during the expanded season — 20 times the number of landed catch allowed.

Kemp learned about the judge's order from a text message sent by a friend while driving to the marina.

“Originally we thought it was a joke, given the severity,” said Kemp.

The ruling sparked immediate backlash. Florida wildlife officials denounced the decision as the work of a “rogue federal judge,” while some fishermen involved in the lawsuit reported receiving threats after DeSantis falsely accused them of trying to commandeer the quota all for themselves.

One of the plaintiffs, North Carolina fisherman Jeff Oden, said commercial fishermen are struggling to survive amid rising costs and competition from imported seafood. He worries that expanded recreational harvests could leave too few snapper available when the commercial season begins later this year.

“We’re vanishing,” Oden said. “You as a consumer, you’re the loser.”

Stock is rebounding but scientists urge caution

The dispute stems in part from disagreements over the health of the fishery. NOAA estimates that roughly one-quarter of released red snapper die, despite techniques designed to improve their survival like puncturing the bladder to reduce gases that build up in their bladder when pulled up, hindering them from returning to the ocean’s depths where they live.

Yet many fishermen argue the stock is thriving. Kemp’s group hooked about a dozen fish within 40 minutes of arriving to a reef off Florida’s coast.

“To be completely honest, we have never seen an unhealthy stock,” said Haley Stephens, who with her husband operates the Sea Spirit, a charter boat in Ponce Inlet, Florida.

Scientists counter that the abundance of younger fish is misleading and point to biological sampling that indicates most fish being caught haven’t reached the peak of their reproductive maturity.

“It’s tricky because this is a rebuilding fish stock,” said Meredith Moore, a program director at Ocean Conservancy. “So people out in the water are seeing more of the fish than they have seen in a long time, and so that gives them the sense that everything is great.”

NOAA declined to comment on the snapper dispute, citing ongoing litigation. However, it said that it is working with fisheries managers across the country “to better prioritize work around existing resources, explore efficiencies, and streamline operations” in accordance with the “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness” executive order signed last year by President Donald Trump.

The judge, in his ruling, faulted Florida and the other states for declining to provide their own harvest projections. Officials, however, argued that existing federal estimates were unreliable and would eventually be replaced with improved state-collected data.

Oden said he understands the frustrations of recreational anglers but believes everyone must share the burden of conservation.

“There’s only so many fish to go around,” he said.

___

Wieffering reported from Washington. Serginho Roosblad contributed from Washington.

—-

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Police said the boy had last been seen Thursday night around 9:30 p.m. leaving his home on West 45th Street near Moncrief Road.

JSO thanked everyone who helped bring the boy home safely.

NOTE: News4JAX has removed the child’s name and photo from this story because he is no longer missing.

Six people were killed, Lebanon's state news agency reported. The warnings forced hundreds of families to flee the village of Anqoun and the area of Aarnaya, on the edge of the predominantly Christian village of Maghdoucheh, near the southern port city of Sidon.

The strikes came a day after the Hezbollah militant group rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a strong ally of Hezbollah who has been acting as a mediator on behalf of the group, said that he accepts Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the areas south of the Litani River as long as it coincides with the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon. It was his first comment on the agreement reached in Washington this week.

The river, located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border with Israel, forms the boundary of a 2006 U.N.-established buffer zone in which Hezbollah is banned. Israeli troops have currently pushed far past the Litani River into southern Lebanon.

Berri added in a statement that the ceasefire should be “complete and comprehensive” without any restrictions or conditions on land, at sea and in the air, and “without bulldozing and demolishing everything that exists.” He was referring to wide areas that have been demolished by Israeli troops.

Berri criticized the creation of “pilot zones” in the agreement as well as calls for a unilateral ceasefire by Hezbollah and its withdrawal from border areas south of the Litani River.

Lebanese and UN troops take positions in a village vacated by Israeli soldiers

The war in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south since March 2, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a globally important conduit for oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other commodities. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.

Nearly three hours after Friday's evacuation warnings were issued by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Israeli warplanes struck the villages, including Anqoun. About 2,500 people displaced by the fighting were sheltering in Anqoun, the Lebanese news agency NNA reported.

On Thursday, drone alert sirens had sounded in several border communities in northern Israel, including a town where Netanyahu had met earlier with local officials. The Israeli military later said the sirens were triggered by attempts to intercept several drones that hit near soldiers in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported.

On Friday, U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops were seen at an entrance of the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, after Israeli forces withdrew following intense clashes with Hezbollah fighters.

The ceasefire agreement calls for Lebanon’s armed forces to take control of security zones in Lebanon from which the militants would be banned.

It was the first time Israeli troops pulled out from an area in southern Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began three months ago.

At the entrance of the village, dozens of homes were seen destroyed as a result of the clashes and airstrikes. A bulldozer for the peacekeeping force was opening the main road leading to Dibbine.

Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing further into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. The latest declared ceasefire came about through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities.

On Thursday night, an airstrike in the southern city of Tyre killed three and wounded seven people, including three children and two women, the Health Ministry said.

More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.

____

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

The EU-Western Balkans summit, being held in the Adriatic Sea coastal town of Tivat, brings together EU leaders including President Emmanuel Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the heads of candidate countries in the Balkans.

High on the agenda will be Montenegro's EU accession. The bloc has already formed a working group to draft an accession treaty for the country, a signal that membership is within reach.

Security was heavy across Montenegro after the National Security Agency said it had foiled a plot to disrupt the summit and had turned away 87 Serbian nationals after they arrived in Tivat on a chartered flight because they posed “a risk for internal and national security.”

Police issued lengthy and expansive road closures on Thursday and on the morning of the summit as delegations arrived and moved around. The closures resulted in hourslong halts to traffic in the coastal region and as far as the capital Podgorica, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) away.

Enlargement to boost economy and defense

Adding members to the bloc for more single market economic benefits and stronger security capabilities has gained increased urgency in recent years as the continent has faced a series of challenges, such as lopsided trade with China, migration pressures, the war in Ukraine and increasing hybrid threats from Russia.

The EU has signaled its commitment to expanding into the Western Balkans, where it has urged candidate countries such as Montenegro to carry out reforms like cutting corruption and shoring up democratic institutions — steps viewed as benefiting both the candidate nations and the EU as a whole.

“Enlargement means that we can win economically, become stronger politically, we can provide more security to our citizens,” said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

In a post on X, Merz said the bloc wants the Western Balkan countries to join the EU “as quickly as possible.”

“The fact that we haven’t admitted any new members in 13 years also shows shortcomings of the EU,” he wrote. “We want to overcome those today.”

As wars rage in Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East, and Europe’s security has come under question with the United States viewed as less committed to its NATO allies, EU countries have pushed to boost their military capabilities to ward off future threats.

During a tour of countries in the Western Balkans this week, European Council President Antonio Costa, who is hosting the summit, has emphasized how serious the bloc is about enlarging.

Speaking in Serbia on Thursday after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Costa said the EU would look for new ways to speed up the membership process for the Western Balkan candidate countries.

In times of “global geopolitical uncertainty and economic instability,” Costa said, enlarging the EU is “not just an opportunity. It is a geostrategic necessity for Europe.”

Many now aspire to join the bloc

Montenegro, a small, mountainous country that was once a part of Yugoslavia and which this week marked the 20th anniversary of its independence from a union with neighboring Serbia, is considered a front-runner ahead of the region’s other candidate countries of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

After joining NATO in 2017, the country of 623,000 people is now set on fulfilling an ambitious agenda of becoming the 28th member of the EU in 2028. The motto “28 by 28” has even been inscribed on one of the planes of Montenegro’s national airline.

All 27 EU members must agree before each chapter can be opened, and then again for it to be closed. Ukraine and Moldova are also among about 10 countries aspiring to join the bloc, while Iceland will hold a referendum in August on whether to apply.

Serbian leader Vucic said he had high hopes for the summit and accession paths for Balkan countries after recently meeting with EU leaders like Merz and Macron.

“We will see a lot of progress of Western Balkan countries in the future. Of course, we need to do a lot of reforms," he said. "We are on our EU path.”

Von der Leyen too called for quickening the accession process.

“Enlargement is merits-based, but merits-based does not mean slow. We have to make the enlargement process faster and more credible,” she said in Tivat. “Enlargement means more security, more prosperity and a bigger place of Europe in the world.”

New rules to avoid growing pains

Faruk Bašić, a researcher at the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, said the summit will likely result in a rapid movement for Montenegro to join the bloc in 2028. It will also likely see new safeguards to ensure member nations don’t break EU norms.

The summit will be the first to bring together EU leaders since the stunning defeat in April of Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s former Russia-friendly prime minister who, during his 16-year rule, flouted the EU’s standards on democracy and the rule of law and forged close ties with other autocrats.

Orbán's successor, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, did not attend the summit in Tivat which would have been his first since winning the election. The press department for his center-right Tisza party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With the painful experience of Orbán’s democratic backsliding and historic use of the veto in the European Council, the EU is devising new ways to use financial penalties or restricted access to the single market to pressure incoming nations to carry out reforms and adapt to the bloc's standards, Bašić said.

“The EU is trying to find a way how to admit a country that isn’t fully ready to be admitted without losing the ability to hold it accountable after the fact,” he said, pointing to Ukraine’s accession bid as well as nations in the Western Balkans like Serbia and Kosovo.

___

McNeil reported from Brussels.

The filing asks the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the main human rights body of the African Union, to order Equatorial Guinea to immediately halt any further deportations, transfers or removals and improve detention conditions. It also asks the body to grant compensation to people who already have been returned to their home countries.

The case is being brought by several rights groups, including the Global Strategic Litigation Council coalition, on behalf of 14 African migrants deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea between November 2025 and April 2026.

Advocates call it a landmark case

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights can issue decisions and urgent measures, as well as refer cases to the Africa Court on Human and Peoples' Rights but these orders are not binding. Nonetheless, advocates say this is a landmark case that could exercise pressure on governments of African countries who have taken in deportees from the U.S.

It is the first of its kind in the region involving people who had legal protection from removal but were still sent to countries where they face persecution, said Beatrice Njeri, the Global Strategic Litigation Council's regional litigator for Africa.

In March, the commission had already allowed a suit challenging the unlawful and prolonged detention of third country deportees in the African kingdom of Eswatini to proceed.

A month later, Eswatini’s Supreme Court ruled that four of the men sent there could finally meet with a lawyer after they were denied in-person legal counsel for nine months while held at a maximum-security prison.

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.

Equatorial Guinea is one of at least eight other African nations that the U.S. has struck third-country deportation deals with.

Deportees returned to countries where they face persecution

Last week, Equatorial Guinea authorities transferred six deportees to their country of origin in eastern Africa, which lawyers say amount to “chain refoulement,” the indirect return of people to places where they face persecution, despite legal protections by courts in the United States.

The lawyers said the migrants face political, religious and ethnic persecution in their home countries, as well as violence based on sexual orientation. Some had previously been arrested or detained by police or military there, and many had experienced torture and sexual violence. All had previously been protected by U.S. immigration judges from being sent back to their home countries under federal immigration law.

Upon arrival in their home country, two of the deportees later fled to another country and have gone into hiding.

Three others were returned to Equatorial Guinea after their country of origin refused to admit them because they lacked valid travel documents and had not been notified of their arrival.

The migrants were then sent back to Equatorial Guinea, where they remain in legal limbo.

“They have effectively been rendered stateless,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council, describing the process as a “a cycle of hell.”

Equatorial Guinea is a key U.S. partner despite rights concerns

Under an opaque $7.5 million deal with Washington, at least 32 people were deported from the U.S. to Equatorial Guinea, which the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jeanne Shaheen, has called “one of the most corrupt governments in the world.”

The Associated Press reported on the conditions of deportees who were forced back to their home countries. It also got exclusive access to a hotel turned into a prison for asylum seekers deported from the United States by Equatorial Guinea’s all-powerful president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

Equatorial Guinea is one of the richest countries in Africa thanks to its oil resources. It is also rife with corruption and human rights abuses, according to U.S. officials.

There are virtually no critical voices in Equatorial Guinea, where the government has been accused by rights groups and the U.S. State Department of detaining, torturing and even killing those that dare to speak out.

The country's largest foreign investors are U.S. businesses, and its military receives funding for training from the U.S. government.

And they’re not done digging.

JSO said it’s believed more bones from the same person are still buried in the backyard of the home on Lincrest Drive in the Harborview neighborhood.

It appears the remains have been there for a “long time,” according to Sgt. Steve Rudlaff.

According to JSO, this all started when a resident spotted what appeared to be a human bone lying on Lincrest Drive around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

After the medical examiner’s office confirmed the bone was from a human leg, JSO began a search on Thursday, which led to the discovery of buried human remains wrapped in a carpet-like material in the backyard of the home, JSO said.

Investigators believe an animal dug up the leg bone and carried it to the street.

JSO obtained a search warrant to search the property and later was able to get in contact with the homeowner, who has not lived at the house for a long time. They have rented it out for a while.

Rudlaff said investigators need to get an understanding of who has been living in the house over the years.

They are also trying to get in touch with the construction company that had been doing work at the property to determine when they stopped working and how long they had been working.

Anyone with information on this is urged to call 904-630-0500.

The results of the PET scan that determines the effectiveness of my chemotherapy treatments are in.

Dr. Telivala has the results, and it’s time for me to find out if this chapter of my cancer journey ends with encouraging news.

Watch the video above to see the results. But regardless, I know “cancer has a mind of its own.”

Catch up with Bruce’s journey:

The victims, all Nigeriens, were returning home from a religious festival in Mali when the truck stopped running more than 80 kilometers (49 miles) west of Assamaka, near the borders with Mali and Algeria, Niger's Agadez region governorate said in an online post late Thursday.

Two men survived after trekking more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) to a water source and then continuing to Assamaka, where they alerted authorities, the governorate said.

A delegation sent to the scene by the Agadez Region Governor Gen. Ibra Boulama Issa learned the truck had traveled for several days from the Malian town of Talhandek about 300 kilometers (187 miles) from the Nigerien border.

It was not immediately clear what led to the breakdown or how long the passengers waited.

“On the spot, the findings were particularly disturbing. Dozens of lifeless bodies were found under the immobile truck and in its surroundings,” the Agadez governorate said.

Photos published by the governorate showed bodies in the desert with pieces of clothing and other belongings scattered around.

“Deprived of water and unable to repair the vehicle despite the efforts of the driver, his apprentice and passengers, travelers found themselves trapped in the heart of a hostile environment where extreme temperatures and lack of supply points make survival extremely difficult,” the governorate said.

The 49 victims were buried in mass graves at the scene in what officials called a “particularly delicate and emotionally exhausting task” for the survivors.

The tickets were “allocated at no charge (0 USD) due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process,” FIFA said in a statement Thursday.

“FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused,” soccer's ruling body said. “The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount.”

It is the latest glitch in an often controversial World Cup ticketing program that the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey are investigating for possible violations of consumer protection laws.

The mispriced tickets were sold through the official World Cup site on May 21, FIFA said in an email message to buyers.

That date was more than three months after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said all 104 World Cup games had sold out.

Tickets are still being sold by FIFA for games at the World Cup which opens next Thursday in Mexico City. It is unclear if seats for games in less demand will drop in price under FIFA’s surge pricing model that has been controversial for fans.

FIFA also is operating its own resale platform — and taking 15% commission from both buyers and sellers — in order to cut out ticket dealers from the market. However, sales platforms such as Seat Geek were offering widespread availability Friday for many games.

Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are wildly more expensive than any previous edition, which FIFA has justified as helping earn billions of dollars it will give to member federations for developing the game globally.

FIFA took control of pricing and selling tickets as part of bringing World Cup operations in-house. The long-time model at previous editions was working with host nations’ local organizing committees.

When the soccer federations of the United States, Canada and Mexico won hosting rights in 2018, they promised to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets at $21 each for group-stage games.

___

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

This fall they will do it again — under starkly different circumstances.

As the city heads toward pivotal primaries this month to pick candidates for those roles, President Donald Trump's influence on the nation's capital is shaping up as a major campaign issue. The fresh slate of candidates is weighing how best to approach Trump's Republican administration and congressional control over the heavily Democratic city's affairs.

“It’s going to be a big sea change in city politics, no matter how the elections shake out,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics. But Washington’s lack of full autonomy brings “all sorts of peculiarities around the city’s governance.”

Since Trump returned to office last year, the National Guard is on an open-ended deployment as part of what he calls a crime-fighting mission. He is putting his personal imprint on the city’s storied landmarks. And major cuts to the federal workforce have compounded economic pressures on the capital, which has one of the country’s highest unemployment rates.

The city has long had a unique, if fraught, relationship with the federal government: While residents can vote for their local leaders, they are limited by Washington’s status as a federal district in how much influence they can actually have on the city’s affairs. That limited autonomy has been further squeezed under Trump and his federal law enforcement takeover, launched last year.

This fall, current council members Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are the frontrunners vying to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser, elected in 2014. The leading candidates in the race to succeed long-serving congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton are Robert White Jr. and Brooke Pinto, also D.C. council members.

On June 16, primaries will be held for those roles, which in an overwhelmingly Democratic city usually dictate who will take the top spot come November.

Washington, and its elected officials, have limited autonomy

Washington, unlike other cities, does not control its fate.

What choices voters have is through a limited home rule agreement passed by Congress in 1973 that allowed residents to elect their local government leaders.

But Congress retains control over local affairs, including the approval of the budget and laws passed by the city council. Congressional members elected by voters from thousands of miles away routinely introduce measures to impact city affairs.

That has meant local leaders must balance pressures from their constituents with the demands of Congress and the administration — an act Bowser was forced to perform repeatedly.

During Trump's first term, she ordered the painting and naming of Black Lives Matter Plaza, just north of the White House, in 2020. Just months after Trump’s inauguration to his second term, she agreed to remove it in response to pressure from congressional Republicans.

That act, the decimation of the federal workforce by the Department of Government Efficiency and the surge by federal law enforcement and the National Guard into the city have emerged as central themes in the election season. Right now, about 3,500 troops are in the city — a number authorities say will climb to 5,000 as the country's 250th anniversary celebrations approach.

Trump has routinely said his intervention has made Washington “one of the safest" and most beautiful cities in the country, enjoying a historic drop in crime.

Candidates campaign on promise of resistance to Trump

George told The Associated Press that her top priority is addressing “the affordability crisis here in D.C., which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”

McDuffie said his top priority is public safety as crime continues to be an issue. He has said he would add 1,000 police officers over four years, fully staff the 911 call center after years of chronic staffing shortages and take a public health approach to violence reduction.

“We cannot have an affordable city," he said, “without public safety as its foundation.”

Both said they would bolster the city’s legal defenses against federal overreach and said Bowser should have been less cooperative with federal authorities as they targeted members of the city's immigrant communities.

Alex Dodd, co-founder of Free DC, an activist group supporting city independence, said the organization endorsed George because of her willingness to be more aggressive in opposing Trump and congressional Republicans.

“When our leaders comply with this administration before being forced, they are giving this regime an enormous advantage,” he said.

Pat Wheeler, a native Washingtonian and communications consultant who served as a department head at Morgan State University, applauded Bowser for cooperating with the Trump administration on some aspects. She noted failure to do so could have sparked retribution and a loss of what little control city officials have.

“Trump can snap his finger and the whole Republican Congress will say, ‘Let’s put a federal control board over the mayor,’” she said.

Affordability and social issues also concerns

The D.C. delegate position is a nonvoting one, but it grants the nearly 700,000 people of the district, who have no other representation in Congress, a voice through speechmaking on the House floor and bill introduction.

But critics said the 88-year-old Norton was diminished during the second Trump administration and not visible enough in the fight against administration and congressional overreach on the city’s autonomy. She filed paperwork to end her campaign for reelection in January.

Norton, who has served 18 terms, has had a storied career. She and her predecessor, Walter Fauntroy Jr., both had national standing coming out of the civil rights era.

“Eleanor Holmes Norton is maybe one of the last major political figures who comes out of the civil rights movement,” said Matt Dallek, a political historian at The George Washington University. "It’s a real passing of the torch.”

The campaigns of candidates running to replace her have centered on local control, Trump and affordability. Frontrunners and council members Pinto and White have also engaged in personal skirmishes questioning the origins of campaign contributions and connections to Republicans.

Pinto told the AP her top priority for the city is self-governance, something that has “never been a true reality for the people of D.C.”

She said affordability for the middle-class and working families is another concern.

White's campaign has said he's “not willing to continue to see our tax dollars used to allow DC police to cooperate and conspire with federal agents to trample our constitutional rights and to terrorize our communities.”

Brenda Manley, a longtime resident of Ward 7, an area with a storied Black history across the Anacostia River, said the city was well managed despite the tensions with Trump. But she said she hoped all the candidates would spend more time on the campaign focusing on programs that are beneficial to all residents, like a tuition grant program championed by Norton or major strides made in education during Bowser's tenure.

“Those type of programs matter,” Manley said.

I finished my last chemo session.

Then came the waiting for answers to the big question: Was it effective?

Watch the video above for my personal insights and thoughts as I await the results of a PET scan that will determine my future.

MORE: See the results of Bruce’s PET scan

Catch up with Bruce’s journey:

Melissa Ganey English, also known as Melissa Ganey Rhoden, 45, served as financial secretary at Amelia Baptist Church, located on Buccaneer Trail in Fernandina Beach, for about 11 years. Authorities say that from January 2019 to October 2024, English used her position to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in church funds toward her own personal expenses.

On June 3, a judge ordered English to pay $20,000 in restitution to Amelia Baptist Church within 60 days. The order also notes the court may order additional payments at a later date.

If English is placed on probation or parole, full satisfaction of the restitution order will be a required condition — and failure to comply could result in revocation of that supervision.

How the alleged theft was uncovered

The alleged scheme unraveled in October 2024 when two new church financial committee members reviewed bank documents and noticed the church’s funds were lower than they should have been.

When investigators examined credit card statements tied to a church card issued directly to English, they found hundreds of thousands of dollars had been charged for personal use. English was fired, and the church hired an outside contractor to review all financial transactions from 2019 to 2024. That review turned up numerous discrepancies and fraudulent charges.

According to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, English embezzled:

• Nearly $40,000 in 2019
• Nearly $90,000 in 2020
• More than $100,000 in 2021
• Nearly $125,000 in 2022
• Just over $123,000 in 2023
• More than $90,000 in 2024

Fraudulent charges included purchases from Amazon and Walmart, SeaWorld tickets, concert tickets, baseball tickets, Hey Dude shoes, hotel stays, flights, cruises, Airbnb rentals and a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon.

Arrest, charges, restitution

A warrant was issued March 25, 2025. English was located and detained in Baker County.

She has been charged with grand theft over $100,000, a first-degree felony.

“This is a significant breach of trust that has deeply impacted the church community,” Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said. “The suspect abused her position of trust for years, using church funds meant for ministry and community service to instead fund her personal lifestyle. Our office is committed to seeking justice for the victims of this extensive financial crime.”

Church’s initial response to arrest

Pastor Forrest Jones addressed the congregation following the discovery of the theft.

“In October of 2024, the leadership of Amelia Baptist Church discovered evidence of financial irregularities,” Jones said. “The employee overseeing the financial operations of the church admitted to wrongdoing and her employment was terminated immediately.”

Jones said the church fully cooperated with investigators and confirmed no other members, employees or pastors were implicated.

According to JSO, a resident spotted what appeared to be a human bone lying on Lincrest Drive in the Harborview neighborhood around 10 p.m. Wednesday. The medical examiner’s office later confirmed the bone was from a human leg.

UPDATE: JSO says identifying human remains in backyard of Northside home could take months if not years

After the medical examiner’s office confirmed the human remains, JSO began a search on Thursday, which led to the discovery of buried human remains wrapped in a carpet-like material in the backyard of the home, JSO said.

Investigators believe an animal dug up the bone and carried it to the street.

JSO was unable to locate the homeowner but obtained a search warrant to search the property.

Detectives are now working to collect and identify the remains.

News4JAX spoke with neighbors in the area, who asked not to be identified.

One man said he believed the house had been undergoing construction, and he hadn’t seen people living there for a while.

Another woman said she was in shock and called the discovery unbelievable. She said it’s a quiet neighborhood with mostly elderly people and a couple of kids running around. She also didn’t think anyone lived in the house where the remains were found.

Anyone with information on this is urged to call 904-630-0500.

Dawa Sherpa was found Thursday crawling in the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above Everest base camp, a week after he went missing. The 57-year-old was flown to a Kathmandu and reunited with his family. He was being treated for frostbite, dehydration and problems in his thighs but was stable and recovering, HAMS Hospital said in a statement.

His family said they were upset that the search had not begun earlier and filed a police case against Dawa's employer, the Kathmandu-based Himalayan Traverse company, and a complaint at the Department of Tourism, which handles mountaineering in Nepal.

“Action needs to be taken by the mountaineering department. It was negligence of the company that resulted in so much delay in starting rescue,” Dawa's nephew, Karma Gelje Sherpa, said. “If he had been a foreign climber, rescue would definitely have been organized much faster and prompt, but he happened to be an old Nepali.”

Himalayan Traverse could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

Dawa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though two other foreign climbers who were with him did. They were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.

Dawa's last location was a spot called Yellow Band above the Camp 3, which is located at 7,200 meters (23,622 feet). The base camp is at 5,300 meters (17,388 feet).

Dawa was last seen with British climber Chris Thrall and a Polish climber identified by local media as Mariusz Chmielewski. Thrall said in his Instagram post that he had to help the Polish climber down the mountain because he was in bad shape and had frostbites.

“He (Dawa) had been in death zone for 19 hours and at that point, a decision was made that we needed to descent through the Icefall,” he said earlier this week, explaining why he did not go up the mountain to look for Dawa.

When helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.

It was not clear why the men were on the mountain when authorities had removed the ladders on the path on May 29.

Dawa's family had already given up hope and they were on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.

The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after climbers have left.

One thing they are unlikely to debate is the politics of many Southern Baptists, the vanguard of broader white conservative evangelical support for President Donald Trump.

Officials for the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, say more than 11,000 church representatives have preregistered for the two-day meeting in Orlando.

Revisiting a ban on churches with women pastors

In the previous three annual meetings, a majority of representatives voted to amend the SBC constitution to ban churches with women in any pastoral role. But the measures failed to get a two-thirds supermajority in two consecutive years that is required to pass an amendment.

The denomination’s statement of belief, the Baptist Faith and Message, declares that the office of pastor is limited to men. While nonbinding on churches, this has prompted the SBC to expel some churches with women in leading pastoral roles. Now the focus is those who preach or serve in subordinate pastoral roles.

This year, an amendment proposed by Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, would exclude any church that acts “to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.”

Mohler noted the debate has consumed too much time and attention. “Clarity in the constitution would settle that,” he said.

The outgoing SBC president, Clint Pressley, supports the amendment, as do both candidates running to succeed him.

Another nonbinding resolution with similar language will be considered. It requires only a simple majority to pass.

As an association of independent congregations, the SBC can’t tell them what to do. But it can expel any church deemed not to be in “friendly cooperation.” The convention has ousted churches in recent years that appointed women to top pastoral positions or asserted the right to do so. But the status of churches with female assistant pastors is still debated.

On his own podcast, Mohler recently said it would even be a “problem” for a church podcast to include a woman answering questions about that week’s sermon.

Array of issues queued up for debate

That view drew pushback online, including from prominent Bible teacher Beth Moore, who left the SBC after she faced criticism for advocating for victims of sexual abuse and criticizing evangelical support for Trump despite such things as his crude sexual boasts.

“How in heaven’s name a woman discussing a sermon on a podcast could be objectionable to some is beyond me and what I believe to be beyond scripture,” she posted on X.

She added later: “Which has been the greater problem: women trying to become your senior pastors or pastors misusing or abusing women?”

Amy Sims, associate pastor of preschool and children at Sugarland Baptist Church in Sugarland, Texas, described a now-yearly contrast of preparing for vacation Bible school just as Southern Baptists are debating women's ministry.

“I preach. I teach. I disciple children and families,” she wrote on the independent site Baptist News Global. “I walk with parents through crises. I visit hospitals. I help lead people to faith in Christ. I perform baptisms. ... I serve now at a church that is beautifully supportive of my work and calling as a woman and pastor.”

Every June, Sims added, "there are those who seem determined to remind me they do not believe God could have called me to do the very work I am doing.”

Even as the convention's membership shrinks, the annual meeting serves as a bellwether for religious and political trends among evangelicals. And as is typical, the biggest attention will be on whether the already-conservative SBC decides to move further rightward.

The upcoming meeting follows the release of internal statistics showing a continuation of a nearly two-decade-long decline in membership. It’s down to 12.3 million, the lowest since 1973.

Southern Baptists have, however, seen a bump in baptisms. They consider this a key spiritual vital sign because it measures conversions, though the increase is not enough to stem the overall decline.

Southern Baptists will consider other policy statements. One proposed resolution calls for humane treatment of immigrants and rejecting nativistic and dehumanizing rhetoric while also affirming the government's responsibility for immigration enforcement.

Another denounces antisemitic violence and conspiracy theories, notably those arising since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. At the same time, the resolution affirms Southern Baptists' hope for Jews' conversion to Christianity.

In 1996, an SBC resolution called for the evangelization of Jews, prompting major Jewish leaders to call it a setback for interfaith relations.

Baptists' long ties to conservative politics

Beyond denominational politics, the majority-white SBC is a core part of the wider, predominately white evangelical constituency that has coalesced behind Trump. Prominent Southern Baptists say they see little change in that.

They like Trump’s official policy recognizing only two, biologically determined genders, though they worry about his administration’s moderation on abortion. Baptist leaders have largely supported his war against Iran, but were quick to move on from Trump’s posting in April of a social media meme they deemed to be blasphemous.

Trump won the support of about 8 in 10 white evangelical Christian voters in 2020 and 2024, according to AP VoteCast, a large voter survey.

About two-thirds of white born-again Protestants approved of Trump’s overall performance in April, compared to about one-third of U.S. adults overall. That’s according to survey findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Mohler said evangelicals were widely appalled at the Trump social-media meme depicting himself as a healing savior.

“You had the vast majority of evangelicals saying this is fundamentally wrong,” Mohler said. But that's “within the context of the fact that overwhelmingly evangelicals supported President Trump as president."

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the large First Baptist Church in Dallas and a longtime Trump supporter, said he appreciated that the president “had enough sensitivity to remove” the meme after the backlash.

Emphasizing that he was speaking for himself and not his church or the SBC, Jeffress added that he supported Trump's creation of a Religious Liberty Commission, where Jeffress testified about what he contended was unfair scrutiny of his church by the IRS.

Jeffress also supported Trump's decision to go to war against Iran, saying a president has “not only the right but the God-given duty to protect our nation.”

Mohler agreed, but sought to temper expectations. He said he supported past wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but now realizes that some of their objectives, such as nation-building, were not realistic. A just war needs “limited and honest aims,” he said.

Dwight McKissic, senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, has criticized fellow Southern Baptist leaders for both their political slant and their gender focus.

The Black pastor posted on X that the SBC and its theologians have been wrong about issues ranging from slavery and segregation to the mistreatment of sexual-abuse survivors.

“And now they expect us to just blindly trust them on gender theology and women in ministry issues?" McKissic wrote.

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

The ratification was widely expected and a walkout never seemed to be in the cards during drama-free negotiations, but the vote assures there will be no repeat of the 2023 actor and writer strikes that seriously shook the entertainment industry.

More than 90% of votes from members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved of the agreement, with about 19% of eligible voters casting ballots.

Like the Writers Guild of America, whose members approved their own contract on April 24, the actors’ new deal is for four years instead of the usual three, providing an extra layer of labor stability in the industry.

Actor Sean Astin, president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that the contract “delivers meaningful gains in compensation, strengthens protections around artificial intelligence and digital identity, reinforces the long-term security of members’ benefit plans and recognizes the realities of how performers work today.”

The contract says AI performers must bring “significant additional value” over a live actor or a digital capture of them if producers are to use them. Union leaders say this and other provisions will keep use of AI actors minimal.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates for a coalition of Hollywood’s major studios, streamers and production companies, congratulated the union on the ratification.

“SAG-AFTRA’s leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions,” the alliance said in a statement.

AMPTP negotiators have been in contract talks with the Directors Guild of America since May 11. The negotiations are the first under new DGA president Christopher Nolan. That contract is set to expire June 30.

The day quickly warms up, with highs today expected to reach 86 degrees under sunny skies. Tonight, look for things to cool down to about 66 degrees with partly cloudy conditions.

On Saturday, the forecast is for 89 degrees with a mix of sun and clouds. Sunday will be even warmer, likely topping at 92 degrees.

That’s a good 20 degrees warmer than those early morning lows, and it’s a bit above average for this time of year.

Every day this weekend is shaping up to be a beautiful one to get outdoors—just the way we like it in Jacksonville!

Boater Skip Day: hydration and heat

If you’re heading out for Boater Skip Day, you’ve picked the perfect weather. The forecast is partly cloudy for most of the day, with sustained winds around 5 to 6 mph and just a few stronger gusts that should feel pretty nice out on the water.

Temperatures by 3 p.m. are expected to hit 92 degrees.

If you’re packing a cooler, make sure you bring plenty of water—a hot day like this can sneak up on you!

Dehydration is a real risk, so keep hydrating all day. Don’t forget to slather on the sunscreen, too—SPF is a must this weekend.

Tropics quiet, rain returns midweek

The Atlantic and the Gulf are both clear of any tropical activity right now, which is great news as we get into the early days of hurricane season.

The Pacific is a little more active, but nothing there is expected to affect us here at home.

We aren’t seeing much in terms of rain this weekend or the start of next week.

That changes a bit midweek, when I expect a new system to move in and bring some much-needed rain—though, at this point, it looks like just one day of showers before we dry back out.

Enjoy these sun-filled days while they last, and if you spot something interesting out there, share your weather photos and videos with us on SnapJAX!

Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal were facing off in the Champions League final, and by 9:20 a.m. — less than a half hour into the game — the patrons inside this crowded bar had already purchased $1,300 in alcohol.

“It’s just a better vibe when you’re a little buzzed,” said Madeline Guillen, 28, who was drinking a mimosa with friends. “That’s a big thing about sports. I think sports and drinking go hand-in-hand.”

Drinking alcohol while watching sports is common in many countries, and millions of soccer fans will be doing so this summer during the FIFA World Cup games in Mexico, Canada and the United States. But imbibing boozy drinks during what could be a sizzling June and July has some experts worried. They say mixing alcohol with extreme heat poses extra risks, especially people drinking excessively who may not be hydrating enough, staying cool, or have underlying health conditions.

Here's what to know about the science of extreme heat and drinking alcohol, plus tips from experts if you’re going to be drinking while watching soccer on a hot summer's day.

When summer, sports and booze collide

Climate change, caused by burning coal, oil and gas, is making heat deadlier worldwide, especially in the summer, and that's raising worries about soccer players and fans suffering heat stress during the games. Heat also influences how people drink alcohol and whether they end up in the hospital.

Various studies from around the world show that drinking alcohol peaks in the summer, and that people living in hotter climates are more likely to binge drink, according to a study from Mexico.

There is also sometimes a “hedonic effect” where people drink to ease the discomfort of feeling hot, said Nathan Morris, assistant professor in thermoregulation at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. “We drink alcohol, we feel good, and so it masks that normal drive to do something to cool yourself down,” which can lead to heat stress.

“Maybe we stay out in the heat longer. Maybe we drink less cold water. Maybe we’re less likely to use a fan or seek an air conditioned space,” he added. “I think that might be where we’re seeing more of the strain on the body.”

International research has also established links between heavy drinking and sports spectators. One paper from Australia found that participants self-reported consuming an average of five drinks in just over two hours while watching Australian football games. In a 2023 study, researchers found that higher temperatures resulted in more alcohol-related hospital visits in New York state.

Heat and alcohol, a riskier mix

Heat exhaustion happens when your body loses too much water and salt from excessive sweating. When the body can no longer cool itself, heat stroke occurs, which can cause confusion, loss of consciousness and even death. Heat combined with humidity — the kind of weather in host cities like Miami, Houston and Monterrey, Mexico — makes it harder for sweat to evaporate to cool the body.

Alcohol primarily affects the central nervous system — your body's master processing center responsible for your thoughts, feelings and movements. It can cause headaches, vomiting, dizziness, a loss of coordination and balance. It also makes you pee more.

When you combine fluid loss from sweating on a hot day with increased urination from drinking alcohol, it can lead to dehydration, which can make you feel the effects of drinking faster, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Additionally, studies show drinking on a hot day makes it less likely you'll wear sunscreen, and that alcohol reduces the amount of heat exposure needed to get sunburnt.

“If you put together hot weather, summer, crowd, during the World Cup, people are sweating more, so they’re losing liquids from their body," said Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, physician and scientist with the National Institutes of Health. “On top of that, you drink excessive amount of alcohol that is leading you to more urination."

When high temperatures are combined with drinking, it can have a “synergistic effect" that can cause symptoms including thirst, headaches and dizziness, he said.

Fabiano Amorim, associate professor at the University of New Mexico, has studied the effects of alcohol in hot environments among construction workers. He and other researchers found that if workers drank the night before, health markers including blood pressure, core and skin temperatures and heart rate were elevated, and their urine and sweat production were lower at work the next day.

“Alcohol on the previous night effects your ability to deal with heat and stresses your kidneys ... putting you in a higher risk of heat-related illness,” he said. Although World Cup fans won't be physically exerting themselves like construction workers, their findings still apply, Amorim said. Spectators could be in crowded places with limited air flow or exposed to the sun for hours.

“People are going to accumulate days of drinking,” he said. “They want to have fun, they come from one game to the other, they watch games, etc. It means there is a cumulative effect from one day to the other.”

The elderly, people with alcohol disorders, heart conditions and other chronic health issues are among the most vulnerable.

Tips for drinking safely when it's sizzling out

The best way to mitigate risks is to not drink at all, said Leggio. But if you're going to, eat a meal before, drink plenty of water, pick drinks with low concentrations of alcohol, and imbibe in moderation.

Before taking your first sip, Morris suggests taking regular precautions such as putting on a hat and sunscreen and ensuring you have other cold, non-alcoholic beverages at hand. Also, have a friend with you who can jump into action if you start feeling unwell. “Buddy systems are always really important with heat stress," he said.

Amorim recommends seeking shade, which can reduce heat stress on the human body between 25% and 35% throughout the day and can be 20 F to 45 F (11 C to 25 C) cooler than surfaces without it. He echoed to drink plenty of water and apply some on your skin to help cool you off. Eating cold slushies and popsicles are a good idea, too.

Leggio suggests being aware of early signals from your body.

“Feeling dizzy, feeling a little confused, having blurred vision, not being able to see well in your surrounding," he said. “And if you do feel any of these symptoms, ask for help right away.”

Medical staff will be stationed throughout the stadiums and at Fan Festivals.

Back at the bar in Los Angeles, Daniel Tran, 41, was calming his nerves with a cold beer Saturday morning while rooting for Arsenal. He plans to attend several World Cup games and Fan Festivals in L.A.

“If it's a really hot day, I’ll try to either hydrate the night before, make sure I get electrolytes, and also maybe not drink as much," he said, adding: “Pace yourself.”

There will be 104 games, after all.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

The music stars will perform Dai Dai, the official song for the tournament, ahead of the opening game between co-host Mexico and South Africa on Thursday.

FIFA has planned opening ceremonies for each host nation, with curtain-raisers ahead of games in the United States and Canada as well.

World soccer’s governing body has revealed the line-up for the show in Mexico, which also includes Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, J Balvin, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla. It said more artists would be announced for the ceremonies in the U.S. and Canada.

Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé headline in Toronto on June 12 ahead of Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Later that day Katy Perry, global pop star LISA, Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema, Brazilian pop artist Anitta, and hip-hop artist Future are performing in Los Angeles before the U.S. faces Paraguay.

The trio of shows is being created by Italian producer Marco Balich, who was behind the spectacular opening ceremony for this year’s Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Each show will be held about 90 minutes before kickoff.

Shakira is also among headliners performing at a Super Bowl-style halftime show for the World Cup final along with Madonna and boy band BTS.

Diana Ross performed at the opening ceremony in Chicago when the World Cup was last held in the U.S. in 1994 and famously missed a penalty kick as part of the show.

The song Dai Dai aims to raise $100 million in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.

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

It was somehow an even crazier finish than the series opener 48 hours earlier, when Vegas' Tomas Hertl scored the winner with 3:24 left. It's all tied up after the Hurricanes overcame a multigoal deficit in thrilling fashion.

Here is how it happened:

10:20 left in regulation

Down 2-0 after having almost nothing going offensively for the first two periods and much of the first half of the third, the Hurricanes hemmed the Golden Knights in their own end, getting three shots on net and testing goalie Carter Hart. Vegas iced the puck, and the crowd could sense the home team was buzzing.

"The building got going," captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

9:40 left

Logan Stankoven, who has been one of the Hurricanes' best players all postseason, took it upon himself to make a difference. He stole the puck from Rasmus Andersson behind the net, skated toward the crease and banked the puck in off defender Jeremy Lauzon.

“It’s tough to find goals,” Staal said. “We got a bounce. That’s kind of all it took.”

7:14 left

The momentum turned quickly, and the fourth line kept it going. William Carrier somehow stayed onside, and while getting tangled up with Lauzon, passed the puck to streaking linemate Mark Jankowski, who fired a shot past Hart to tie it.

“I didn’t have a lot of time, honestly," said Jankowski, who scored his first of the playoffs after having two called off. "Just got it on my stick, got my head up and just tried to give my best shot possible. Didn’t have a lot of thought behind it, honestly. Instinct half kicked in there.”

5:00 left

With Vegas forward Ivan Barbashev, a two-time Cup champion, around the net with room to maneuver, Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen stretched across the crease to get the paddle of his stick on the puck and keep it out. Players converged, and puck eventually went in the net and referee Jean Hebert immediately waved it off, announcing it was goalie interference because Andersen was pushed.

Golden Knights coach John Tortorella challenged that it was not. Officials and the NHL's on-site situation room quickly confirmed the call on the ice, putting the Hurricanes on the power play.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

4:35 left

Carolina's power play was 0 for 4 in the series to that point and 7 for 60 in the playoffs. Shayne Gostisbehere took a shot from the point, Staal redirected it in from just in front of Hart and Carolina had the lead for the first time all game.

"Just shooting pucks and finding ways to get it to the net," Staal said. “Just finding ways to get a good, quality shot.”

3:29 left

Jackson Blake interfered with Barbashev, putting Vegas on the power play. The Hurricanes' penalty kill got the job done, improving to 56 for 60, a 93.3% success rate.

1:21 left

Mere seconds after the power play expired and with Hart on the bench, pulled for an extra skater, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone tied it. The puck went off him, and Carolina's Jaccob Slavin knocked the puck into his own net.

3:56 into overtime

Hertl tripped Staal 3:17 into overtime, putting the Hurricanes back on the power play.

Gostisbehere found Seth Jarvis, who had struggled so much coach Rod Brind'Amour moved him down to the the third line. Jarvis ripped a one-timer past Hart to give his team a 4-3 win.

“It’s huge,” Jarvis said. “To be able to contribute to win and help the team out like that is nice, get the power play going even more after Jordo, follow his lead. Just keep this wave rolling now.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

They're the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco.

On game nights, they're called the Spurs Nuns.

New York has Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan among its superfans; San Antonio has a group of nuns who wear Spurs jerseys over their habits. It's a relationship that goes back at least 20 years or so, and to the sisters it makes perfect sense.

“We’re serving the poor and the young," said Sr. Bernadette Mota, the director of the department of mission advancement for the Salesian Sisters. "And in order to reach the young where they’re at, you have to love what they love and then they’ll love who you love. So, we have that affinity with the Spurs because it gives us an avenue to do our mission with the young people that we serve.”

This tale started in a most unique way.

As the story goes, a couple decades ago, some of the retired sisters — who happened to be native Texans and big Spurs fans — would watch the games on television or listen on the radio, some even doing so while hospitalized. They would cheer for all the players, and for coach Gregg Popovich. But Popovich would sometimes seem a bit angry on the sidelines, prompting some of the sisters to reach out with letters.

“They would write to Coach Popovich and let him know when they thought he was he doing great and let him know when he lost his temper — but they were really supporting him," Mota said. "He's the one that actually responded back to them, thanking them for their support for him and for the Spurs. It was really just a very organic conversation that started all of this.”

Yes, it's true: The nuns would scold Pop for bad behavior.

“They would, in a nice way, in a very nice way," Mota said. “They’d be like, ‘Coach, you lost your temper there, come on, we’re praying for you, you can do better.’”

Popovich and the Spurs have kept a relationship with the sisters since. Popovich's late wife Erin, who died in 2018, also had close ties to the sisters and their work. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship; the Spurs love having the sisters at games, and the story of what the nuns do when they're not watching basketball has led to many people offering to help their mission.

“We’ve had a number of individual people reach out and they’ve been donating anywhere from $10 to $100 and we’ve had a few ones who have larger capacity reach out, too," Mota said. “All of this is divine providence, God’s gift, because we’re actually very much in need. Our mission, we rely on the generosity of people who are our partners and collaborators in our mission.”

The sisters aren't the only fan group that the Spurs have embraced. This season also brought the Jackals — a group that was envisioned by Wembanyama with hopes of simulating what happens in European soccer matches, with organized chants, drumming and the like throughout the game.

The nuns pray. The Jackals chant “Olé, Olé, Olé.”

Different approach, same intentions.

“I’ve known for years that the Spurs community had this strength in them,” Wembanyama said. “Now to finally see it being channeled into something organized and efficient and effective, it’s a great joy.”

Joy. That's the word the sisters use as well.

It was certainly noted by those around the Spurs that the sisters gave Luke Kornet a special blessing during the Western Conference finals and he came up with an incredible chasedown block midway through the fourth quarter of Game 7 in Oklahoma City, helping to ensure that San Antonio would win that game and earn this finals trip.

Divine intervention? Maybe.

It's also not lost on the sisters that Pope Leo XIV's prayer intention for June is on the value of sports and how they can promote peace and respect across the globe.

“I don’t know if his people who helped him out in terms of creating prayer intentions were also in tune with what’s going on with the sisters and the San Antonio Spurs," Mota said. "Maybe, maybe not. I have no idea. But I just thought it was pretty awesome that his prayer intention for June is for sports.”

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

These rocky, remote outposts of Europe have struggled with the arrival of tens of thousands of mostly African migrants through some of the world's deadliest migration routes. Even as numbers decreased this year, especially in the Canaries, the issue continues to roil politics in these historically Catholic countries.

Many Catholics and migrants hope the upcoming papal trips will refocus attention on solidarity and support — and away from divisive political debate that is splitting the right in addition to pitting it against the left.

“Stuck in the middle are the migrants,” said the Most Rev. José Mazuelos, the bishop of Canarias, whose diocese includes several of the islands. “So the church says, ‘Let’s give them a face, because we’re talking about people, not numbers.’"

Among them is Eslim Jallow, 27. Dreaming of a more prosperous future, Jallow and his younger brother left Gambia and landed in the Canary Islands in 2023. At first, Jallow struggled to adapt, but he quickly learned Spanish, took courses and now earns a living as a programmer and web developer in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

“Perhaps the pope will change the way in which people here look at immigrants,” Jallow said. “Immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, not ignored.”

Like most migrants arriving in the islands, he isn’t Catholic. But he feels that Leo “speaks for us, he reminds the world we are also human beings.”

The Catholic Church’s ministry to migrants

Advocating for migrants globally was a priority for Pope Francis. He went to Lampedusa in 2013 on his first pastoral visit outside Rome and, three years later on the Greek island of Lesbos, he brought back with him a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees.

Under Leo, the Catholic Church has continued to call for their humane treatment around the world, including decrying mass deportations in his home country, the United States.

“Pope Leo is signaling how important immigration is to him by doing these two trips early in his papacy,” said Michele Pistone, a Villanova University professor who leads its new center on immigration.

In the Canaries, Leo is expected at the port of Arguineguín, on the island of Gran Canaria, on June 11 to pay homage to thousands of migrants who died or disappeared en route. The next day, he will meet migrants at a camp on the island of Tenerife.

The archipelago has been the epicenter of a humanitarian crisis that in 2024 saw the arrival of nearly 47,000 migrants from North and West Africa, including several thousand unaccompanied minors.

Like Jallow, half of them landed in El Hierro island — nearly triple its population, said the Most Rev. Eloy Santiago, bishop of Tenerife, whose diocese includes that smaller island. Its resources were strained to a breaking point, even though most migrants only stayed a few days.

“If a boat arrives, the couple of local doctors have to go out running to take care of them, and then the local residents who had their medical appointments can’t have them,” Santiago said.

Catholic organizations are among those that aid migrants from the moment they step out of rickety, overcrowded boats.

Arrivals have slowed dramatically this year, in part due to stricter controls along the African coast. But the most challenging task remains — how to help those who arrived as minors, were entrusted to state care, and are thrown out into the streets when they turn 18, often with no job prospects and no support.

Caya Suárez, secretary-general for the Catholic charity Caritas in the Canaries, has seen firsthand how migrants coming of age on the islands are the most vulnerable.

“That’s a very bad moment, even though they’d been waiting for it with hope, because they see they are still stuck without alternatives,” she said.

Caritas tries to help the young adults find housing and jobs, she added. It’s also relocated a few young migrants to Madrid, a small village in the largely rural region of Galicia, and elsewhere on the mainland, with the help of parishes there even as the governments of other Spanish regions have been reluctant to take on underage migrants.

Spain’s migrant amnesty and continuing challenges

Many residents in the Canaries feel like they’ve been abandoned to cope with an unsolvable problem — how to stretch even farther resources for migrants who thought they’d be within reach of economic prosperity and free to travel across the European Union, and instead end up on the street, struggling to send remittances home but also to leave.

Compounded with the perception that national and European political institutions tend to see it as an exclusively “island problem,” the situation is generating a growing malaise even among generous islanders who have long been accustomed to migration to and from Latin America, the Canaries’ bishops said.

“The pope’s word can help so that in the middle of this fatigue, people can buck up again because they see they are supported,” said Santiago, who was born and ordained a priest on the islands.

At the national level, Spain’s Catholic Church also backed a new measure giving temporary residency permits to potentially more than half a million foreigners in the country illegally, many from Latin America.

They often work in hospitality, agriculture and eldercare, boosting the economy, according to the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — and to the church.

“In the matter of immigration, the church’s position gets into a head-on collision with the position of the right,” said Pablo Simón, a political science professor at University Carlos III in Madrid.

That has created a rift between the church and far-right parties, like Vox in Spain, which has criticized the church on immigration, despite often couching its anti-migrant rhetoric in religious terms.

Days before she is expected to meet Leo, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the firebrand Popular Party conservative regional leader of Madrid, described the migrant legalization push as “importing mass poverty.”

The Rev. Fernando Redondo, who leads the migration department of the Spanish bishops’ conference, said the church’s stance is in line with the Christian mandate to welcome the stranger. But he added it needs better understanding among the many faithful who believe migrants come to steal jobs or live off welfare.

“We have a big challenge, which is raising awareness among our faithful … that from the viewpoint of faith, to welcome a migrant person is to welcome Christ himself,” Redondo said. “Then, of course, there needs to be ways, proper social and political ways, so that migration doesn’t become a total mess.”

Hoping for words of reconciliation in the Canary Islands

In the Canaries, ordinary people have been on the front lines of that often life-endangering chaos — fishermen who hand out drinking water to migrants on ramshackle rafts, sunbathers who run into the sea to help landing migrants, the volunteers who greet them in more than a dozen languages.

But they have also seen that integration can work, as in a small mountain village that was emptying out until a center for three dozen migrant children was opened, creating jobs and filling up the school — and the local church’s annual feast day procession.

That’s why many look forward to Leo bringing a simple but crucial message of reconciliation that focuses on the people impacted, not on the politics.

“The pope doesn’t support this slogan of ‘let’s go, open doors for the whole world here.’ Nobody supports that,” Mazuelos said. “When here comes a gentleman in a wooden boat after five days in the Atlantic, what are we supposed to do, kick him back? We’ve got to find a way to welcome him.”

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Dell'Orto reported from Minneapolis.

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

It also disclosed that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, live in rent-controlled palace properties paid for by their uncle, King Charles III.

The National Audit Office report said Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received income from renting out the cottages on the Royal Lodge estate, his home near Windsor Castle for more than 20 years. A lease for Royal Lodge signed in 2003 shows he paid only a nominal fee known as a “peppercorn rent” for the property, which included a 30-room mansion and eight cottages, three of which he was allowed to sublet.

The amount of income was not included in the report, an omission that Margaret Hodge, a Labour member of the House of Lords and former head of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, said was concerning.

“It’s shocking that the National Audit Office was not able to establish how much money Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor secured from the properties he let,” she said.

The audit office review was carried out at the request of lawmakers after Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal titles and evicted from Royal Lodge by his brother, the king, following revelations about his friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten-Windsor moved earlier this year to the king’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England.

In February, the former prince, 66, was arrested and questioned by police about allegations of misconduct in public office. Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and has not been charged.

The royals' housing arrangements

The audit office report shows that 11 working royals receive free housing within palaces in return for their official duties. They include the king and Queen Camilla, Prince William and his wife Catherine, and the king’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie.

William and Kate also have a family home near Windsor, for which they pay rent of 307,200 pounds (about $413,000) a year.

The rents on Eugenie’s cottage in Kensington Palace and Beatrice’s apartment in St. James’s Palace are set at a portion of open-market value that has ranged in recent years between 50% and 68%. Both rents are paid out of the Privy Purse, the monarch’s private funds.

The pair are not considered “working” royals who carry out public duties, and both have outside jobs.

Buckingham Palace said the audit office report “is in line with the royal household’s commitment to transparency. We hope that the findings will help correct, clarify or contextualize a number of points regarding royal properties.”

Critics of the monarchy cited the findings as evidence the royal family does not pay its way.

“It shows an absolute total contempt for the taxpayer, not only that Andrew was able to have a peppercorn rent for a gigantic property, but then to make potentially millions on the side from subletting properties,” said former Liberal Democrat lawmaker Norman Baker, a longtime critic of royal finances.

The prince's links to Epstein

Mountbatten-Windsor has featured in millions of pages of documents about Epstein released by the U.S. Department of Justice in January, showing how the wealthy financier used an international web of rich, powerful friends to gain influence and sexually exploit young women and girls.

British police are looking into claims that Mountbatten-Windsor sent confidential trade information to the disgraced financier when he served as U.K. trade envoy from 2001 to 2011. Detectives say they may broaden their investigation to include allegations of sexual misconduct and have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Mountbatten-Windsor has rarely been seen in public since he moved to the Sandringham Estate, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of London. He was photographed Thursday in a car with a large bruise on his face.

The Times of London said, without citing sources, that the bruise was the result of a “nonserious medical condition.”

His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

But in the past year, Kim has likewise been trying to improve ties with China, the North’s biggest trading partner and provider of aid.

“As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi’s trip to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests in northeast Asia,” said William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis Group.

Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, Chinese and North Korean state media said in brief dispatches. His last visit was in June 2019.

The trip will serve to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and stability, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

“The traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK have continued to develop in a sound and stable manner, bringing tangible benefits to both countries and their peoples,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said, using the abbreviation for North Korea's full name.

The trip is coming just a few weeks after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.

North Korea's nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the United States, which opposes it. The U.N. has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.

The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce the material for nuclear bombs. It is believed to be a uranium enrichment plant, though North Korea has not confirmed that.

During a visit to the plant, Kim announced plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” Experts say the plant’s disclosure implies that Kim was eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.

The experts say Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear state so he can demand the lifting of the sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the U.S. to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his country's nuclear capability.

Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the U.S. must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.

Analysts will be watching to see what if anything China says during Xi's visit about calls for North Korea’s denuclearization.

Xi and Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation. Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Putin.

Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, have previously frustrated efforts by the U.S. and others to toughen international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.

At their meeting in Beijing last month, Putin and Xi expressed their opposition to “foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure and other methods of creating threats to the security” of North Korea, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Kim has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries locked in confrontation with the United States.

The trip abroad is a relatively rare one for Xi, who has curtailed his international travel sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last overseas visit was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he met Trump.

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Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu contributed from Taipei, Taiwan.

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the drone strikes. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

The wide-ranging media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a nearby naval base.

Putin also said Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached at his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

Zelenskyy proposes talks

Also on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed face-to-face negotiations in a public letter addressed directly to Putin. Zelenskyy acknowledged shifting U.S. priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the U.S. to return its attention to Ukraine while it remains heavily focused on the Iran war.

In Washington, Trump said it “would be great” if Putin and Zelenskyy meet.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin hadn’t seen the letter yet and repeated his statement that Zelenskyy could come to Moscow if he wants talks. Putin said last month he doesn’t exclude a meeting in a third country, but only when there is a deal to sign.

Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could mediate Russia-Ukraine peace talks because “mediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?”

Any potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides, Putin said.

“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?” he said.

Putin's battlefield update

Commenting on Russia's use of its Oreshnik intermediate range ballistic missile, Putin said it was fired at targets that allowed it to test its capability and precision before using it against objectives closer to residential areas.

“We hit the area where it was convenient to see the results,” he said. “It was important for making a decision on the future on the full-format use of the Oreshnik on designated targets, including those in populated areas.”

Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.

Putin declared that the “patriotism and will of the Russian people” will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.

“Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said.

Putin said he has accepted Trump’s compromise proposals from the Alaska summit, saying they could “serve as a basis of agreements between Russia and Ukraine and put an end to the conflict."

Moscow wants a comprehensive settlement, not a temporary truce, he said.

“There is no need to suspend the hostilities to start negotiations,” he said. “Naturally, the Ukrainian side would like us to suspend the advances made by Russian troops. But it would be better to end the war by agreeing to the compromises that were discussed in Anchorage.”

Putin dismisses sabotage accusations

Asked about an AP investigation tracking 191 incidents across Europe, including sabotage, cyberattacks, attempted assassination and other activity that Western officials say are part of a Russian-masterminded campaign, Putin replied there was no detailed proof of Moscow's involvement.

“What are the specific facts? What has been proven?” he said, adding that the accusations showed that Europe was not ready to talk to Russia as an equal partner.

“This only shows that certain political figures in the West are trying to carry out aggressive plans against the Russian Federation,” he said.

Asked whether Russia could contribute to a settlement of the war in Iran, Putin responded that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran for storage remains on the table. He noted Russia did so as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, "and we are ready to do it now.”

His future as president

Putin, 73, who has held power in Russia for over a quarter-century, was asked if he planned to run for another term that would keep him in office until 2036, when he'll be 83. He laughed and said he’s “not even thinking about it.”

“Only God knows if any of us will be healthy enough ... to survive until tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, much less solve the problems we face and achieve the goals we set for ourselves,” he said.

In 2020, Putin ordered amendments to the Russian Constitution that essentially reset his term limits, keeping him in power.

Drone attacks on St. Petersburg

Wednesday's drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a plume of black smoke above Russia’s second-largest city — an embarrassing blow to Putin's efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

It also underscored Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.

Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.

Peskov said Russia’s forces were carrying out “systematic” strikes on Kyiv. On Tuesday, Russia launched deadly attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Russia's version of Davos

Putin has used the St. Petersburg forum, likened to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. While Western officials and business leaders have stayed away after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought guests from elsewhere to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”

Saudi Arabia sent a large delegation this year, and the presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and vice president of China also are present. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.

Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from military spending has fizzled. The government raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.

Asked at the media session if Russia’s economy was struggling because of the military action, Putin paraphrased Mark Twain that “rumors of my death are highly exaggerated.”

He said the economy was growing but admitted that inflation was a concern.

“We’ve deliberately taken steps to cool the economy,” Putin said of Russia’s Central Bank putting the country’s key interest rate at 14.5%, which he called “a difficult decision.”

“You can say we’ve cooled off, or you can say we haven’t done everything yet, but these are deliberate steps. We don’t want inflation — hyperinflation — to reach 60-80%, as it is some countries,” he said. “We’re fighting for the health of the Russian economy as a whole.”

Opponents of drilling in the refuge's coastal plain have pointed to a lack of industry interest in the prior two sales held there and ongoing changes in Alaska’s arctic region due to climate change as proof the region should be off-limits to drilling. But supporters of drilling see the coastal plain, which is roughly the size of Delaware, as a potential untapped resource that could boost U.S. oil production and generate new revenue and jobs.

A coalition of conservation groups this spring sent a letter to leaders of 11 petroleum companies including major ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, both major players in Alaska, urging them to not participate in the sale. The letter cited ongoing litigation over the leasing program, dating to President Donald Trump's first term, and warned of “financial, operational and reputational risks.”

The letters, signed by groups including The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and Earthjustice, called the refuge a crown jewel in the country's public lands system and said there is strong support for protecting it, “making any action there especially visible and consequential.”

A spokesperson for ConocoPhillips Alaska, Megan Olson, said the company doesn't discuss its lease sale plans. A Hilcorp spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has taken a keen interest in Alaska, and his tax and spending bill passed by Congress last year included provisions mandating lease sales in three regions of the state. In addition to the refuge's coastal plain, leases have also been offered in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and in Cook Inlet, an aging basin that's provided natural gas for Alaska's most populous region for decades.

There were no takers in the Cook Inlet auction in March. But there were hundreds of bids, including from major oil companies, for what was the first sale since 2019 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — despite pending litigation challenging the leasing program. The Trump administration has moved to open more lands to drilling in the reserve and roll back protections there. The petroleum reserve is where ConocoPhillips Alaska is developing the large Willow oil project.

On Alaska's vast, petroleum-rich North Slope, the major oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk lie between the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, currently holds leases in the refuge but there is no active drilling. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil.

The coastal plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, features rolling hills and tundra and provides habitat for wildlife including musk oxen and migratory birds. It is considered sacred by the Gwich'in, because the caribou herd they rely upon calve there. Leaders from Gwich’in villages near the refuge have vowed to continue fighting to prevent drilling there.

But some Alaska Native communities have embraced development and see it as essential to the regional economy.

Nagruk Harcharek, president and CEO of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group whose members include leaders from Alaska Native communities on the North Slope, said there’s a long history of balancing development with culturally important practices, such as subsistence hunting. Responsible development is a key part of self-determination, particularly for residents in Kaktovik, the only community within the refuge, who support drilling, he said.

Kaktovik residents hunt and fish on the coastal plain and “will be a big part of whatever project moves forward in making sure that all of those resources are protected and that their people are taken care of," he said.

The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South Wales state, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.

The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world’s biggest cockroaches, measuring 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 centimeters) in length. Photos released by the department showed a shiny, brown invertebrate larger than a person’s finger.

It's much bigger than the country's common Australian cockroach, which measures between 0.9 and 1.4 inches (2.3 and 3.6 centimeters) long. Cockroaches flourish in Australia due to its sub-tropical climates and the country is home to hundreds of species.

Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the larger exotic species were likely being sold as as a cost-effective reptile food because their large size meant fewer insects were needed. Officials urged pet owners to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead.

Both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches are illegal to import into Australia. They can’t be legally kept, bred or sold no matter how they were obtained, the department said in a statement.

Australia has strict biosecurity controls at its borders to protect its agriculture and horticulture sectors and native wildlife from pest infestations. Those smuggling in undeclared or illegal animal, insect or plant material can be fined thousands of dollars.

Exotic cockroaches “have not been subject to an environmental risk assessment” and they could spread disease or harm native wildlife, the statement said. Officials warned of prosecutions against those caught with the invertebrates.

A spokesperson said charges weren’t laid against the Bathurst breeder. The cockroaches seized would be euthanized, the department said.

“Somebody had to step up and make a play,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said simply.

A shocking third-period comeback changed everything, both in getting the Hurricanes back in the Stanley Cup Final and setting the stage for Jarvis and that power-play unit to get a needed breakthrough moment.

Jarvis blasted a one-timer past Carter Hart on a power play at 3:56 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes past the Vegas Golden Knights. 4-3 on Thursday night. That ended a night that saw Carolina trail 2-0 entering the third period after looking outmatched through the second, rally with three unanswered goals, then regroup after giving up a tying goal late to force the OT.

Just as importantly, the Hurricanes went from staring at an 0-2 series deficit after losing twice at home to heading West for Game 3 on Saturday in a tied series after an abrupt turn of fortune.

The time was coming, the Hurricanes kept insisting, when their top-line guys and the power play would make big plays.

Turns out, they were right.

“This is exciting, this is what playoff hockey is all about," said Jarvis, who admitted the winning score was a “huge” weight off his shoulders. "It's tight games and momentum swings and you never really know what's going to happen next.”

Unexpected comeback

Indeed, Vegas' roster filled with Cup winners from 2023 looked every bit in control of this one. Yet the Hurricanes pulled off a comeback that will earn a spot in franchise lore alongside moments like the 2002 “Molson Miracle” at Montreal — when they rallied from a 3-0 hole entering the third before winning in 4-3 OT in Round 2 — or the 2009 first-round shocker at New Jersey when the Hurricanes scored twice in the final 80 seconds for another 4-3 win in Game 7.

It started with a tough effort by Logan Stankoven to beat Rasmus Andersson for a puck along the boards before coming behind the net to throw one off the skate of Jeremy Lauzon in the crease to slip by Hart for a life-infusing score at the 10:20 mark.

Mark Jankowski followed, coming when linemate William Carrier kept the entry alive while tussling with Lauzon and fed him for a score. This one stuck, coming after Jankowski had an overtime winner waved off in Game 2 of the first-round series against Ottawa and a second goal later waved off against Philadelphia for a goaltender-interference review on Carrier.

“It's nice to sit on the bench and look over and see they're not challenging it,” Jankowski said.

Even more surprising, the power play carried the Hurricanes home.

Jarvis, power play come through in clutch

Carolina's power play entered the night just 7 of 58 (12.1%) in the playoffs after ranking fourth in the regular season at 24.9%. But, that unit struck twice to change everything on Thursday night, first with captain Jordan Staal redirecting Shayne Gostisbehere's shot to beat Carter Hart from the top of the crease for a 3-2 lead with the man advantage.

Then, after Vegas got a tying goal off Mark Stone's skate with 1:21 left in regulation — coming when Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin knocking a loose rebound past Frederik Andersen into the net while clear the crease — Carolina came up with a rousing response in OT.

The fact it was Jarvis who got it only magnified the scope of the moment. The winning blast marked only the fourth goal of the playoffs for Jarvis, a top-line forward who led the team with 32 regular-season goals and played for Canada's silver-medalist team at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Brind'Amour had said multiple times in recent weeks that the Sebastian Aho-centered line featuring Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov had largely played other top lines to even. The Hurricanes had rolled to a 12-1 record through the Eastern Conference playoffs while the Stankoven-centered second line or the third line featuring open-ice speedster Nikolaj Ehlers carried the scoring.

But Brind'Amour cautioned Wednesday: “We need them to get going.”

And after Vegas went ahead 2-0 on Brett Howden's second terrific individual effort, Brind'Amour swapped Jarvis with Jordan Martinook midway through the second period to put Jarvis alongside Ehlers and Staal — a move that led to an immediate goal for Jarvis in Game 2 of the second-round series against the Flyers.

This time, Jarvis buried the shot from the left circle off a feed from Gostisbehere up top. A crowd buzzing since the start of the third-period comeback erupted, with Jarvis skating toward the blue line and dropping to one knee to slide across the ice.

The win improved Carolina to 6-0 in overtime during the playoffs. That includes all four Game 2s in this postseason at home.

“It was desperation," Stankoven said. "I think we needed to try to get that split tonight."

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The finance committee deferred the ordinance this week, delaying a decision on whether voters will get to weigh in on extending the 1-mill property tax that first passed in 2022. The school board voted 6-1 in March to send the renewal to city council.

The measure needs council approval to appear on the November ballot.

Some council members pointed to the proposed statewide property tax cut from state lawmakers in Tallahassee as a reason for the delay. Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan addressed the holdup at a news conference Thursday, saying she does not believe the council has grounds to stall.

“The role of the council, in what I’ve been told, is to simply be in a ministerial and managerial role — just making that request happen,” Deegan said. “So I don’t think council has a role here beyond saying ‘this is what you want, we’ll put it on the ballot.’ I don’t really understand the debate.”

The 1-mill tax will generate about $121 million a year and will fund teacher and employee pay, arts programs, and athletics. It is not a tax increase — it would maintain the current rate. For a home valued at $300,000, the tax amounts to about $300 a year.

John Meeks, a teacher and first vice president of Duval Teachers United, said the delay puts educators’ livelihoods in jeopardy.

“I think the only result of these delays could be the endangerment of our teachers’ well-being,” Meeks said. “There’s no increase. It’s just a keeping of the status quo, which has allowed our school system to have the A grade that it has today. I don’t think we can afford to go backwards.”

Tiffany Clark, a parent and advocate with Parents Who Lead, said the holdup is pulling focus away from what matters.

“This is getting tied up in a way that it shouldn’t,” Clark said. “This is only about teachers and that’s it, and that is where the focus needs to be.”

Jacksonville City Council President Kevin Carrico acknowledged the deferral but said he expects the full council to vote on the measure as soon as Tuesday, after the bill is discharged from the finance committee to the floor.

“I anticipate that’s what’s going to happen,” Carrico said. “Then the full body can vote on this referendum.”

Carrico pushed back on the idea that the delay signals the measure is in trouble.

“I think there’s a cause for concern about the stall. I think people are reading into it a little bit too much,” he said. “I’m pretty sure whether I vote for it or not, it goes to the ballot for the people to decide.”

Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier said the district is working to understand what the deferral means and how to move forward.

“Over the next several days, we will consult with council and our attorneys to understand what this deferral means procedurally and how to determine a path for success moving forward,” Bernier said at the June school board meeting. “We’ll continue to work on behalf of our teachers, school police, and other staff — all who rely on the millage to make ends meet.”

Two city council members are hosting separate public meetings to discuss the referendum on Friday. Councilman Raul Arias will hold a meeting at 10:30 a.m. at City Hall in the Don Davis Room. Councilman Matt Carlucci’s meeting is set for 1 p.m. at City Hall in council chambers.

Voters would have the final say on the renewal if the measure reaches the November ballot.

Jarvis’ heroics 3:56 into OT came after a thrilling third period that included four goals being scored and another getting called off because of goaltender interference. Carolina became the first team since 1994 to win a Cup final game when trailing by multiple goals in the final 10 minutes.

“It was lot,” said Jarvis, who scored for just the fourth time this playoffs. “We did a great job controlling our emotions. We never got too high, never got too low. Just kept responding, and that’s what I love about this group is we always bounce back.”

Game 3 is Saturday night in Las Vegas. There is now a guarantee the series will return to Raleigh for a Game 5 next week.

That did not look anything close to certain when Hurricanes had almost nothing going for the first 45 minutes, falling behind by two goals as the Golden Knights took advantage of a couple of scoring chances and locked down defensively. A couple of strong shifts in the offensive zone just before the midway point of the third brought the crowd back to life because the Hurricanes were buzzing.

“The building is a tough building to play in when it gets going,” captain Jordan Staal said. “Obviously, we just needed a spark.”

Logan Stankoven, one of the team's best players this spring, provided he. Stankoven made a terrific individual effort to get them on the board, taking the puck away from Rasmus Andersson, going to the net and banking a shot off Jeremy Lauzon and in with 9:40 remaining in regulation.

Less than three minutes later, Mark Jankowski fired a shot past Carter Hart to tie it, flipping the script from Game 1, when Vegas erased a multigoal deficit and won. This is the first time each of the first two games of a Cup final featured a team falling behind by more than a goal and winning.

“Stanky did a great job getting it going and Janks with a great shot, and it just carried on from there,” Jarvis said.

A big decision by Vegas coach John Tortorella with five minutes left paved the way for it to happen.

Frederik Andersen initially went full extension to deny Ivan Barbashev with the paddle of his stick, and a scrum ensued in the crease that ended with the puck eventually in the net. Referee Jean Hebert waved it off immediately, saying Andersen was pushed into the net and ruling it was goaltender interference.

“I saw a loose puck in front of Freddie," Tortorella said. "Our player stabbed it, didn’t move the goalie and it goes through him into the other side. I’d challenge it 10 out of 10 times.”

Tortorella after some deliberation opted to use his coach’s challenge, and the on-ice officials in consultation with the NHL’s situation room confirmed the call on the ice stood.

“The ruling on the play was goaltender interference,” executive vice president and director of officiating Stephen Walkom told a pool reporter. “He waved it (off) immediately. He believed that it was under the goalie, and the Vegas player went after the puck and interfered with the goalie and his ability to freeze the puck and waived it off immediately.”

The punishment for a failed challenge is a 2-minute minor penalty. The Hurricanes went on the power play, where they had been so ineffective all night and most of the playoffs.

Not this time. Staal redirected Shayne Gostisbehere’s point shot in on the power play. with 4:35 left in regulation.

The Hurricanes killed off a penalty in the intervening time before allowing Stone to tie it with 1:21 left at 6 on 5 with Hart pulled for an extra skater. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin actually knocked the puck into his own net on the play.

Eearly in overtime, Tomas Hertl tripped Staal to put Carolina back on the power play. That allowed Jarvis to score just Carolina’s ninth power play goal of the playoffs.

“That’s a step in the right direction,” Jarvis said. “Our power play found our groove tonight. It started with Jordo in the third, and there just making the right plays, playing smart and being aggressive and it worked out.”

Instead of Vegas going home looking to move to the verge of a second championship in nine years of existence, the series is all square, despite Hart making some big saves and Brett Howden scoring his playoff-leading 12th and 13th goals.

Asked what changed, a tight-lipped Tortorella said: “I have my thoughts. I’m not discussing it here.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The “60 Minutes” correspondent’s searing rebuke of CBS management this week, in which he questioned his bosses’ credentials and motives, may have ended in his firing, but amounted to the sort of mouthing-off that workplace peons typically only fantasize about.

“That’s the American dream — to be able to tell off your boss and walk out the door,” says Zach Tyra, a 40-year-old data analyst from Jones, Oklahoma, who found a kindred spirit in the newsman, recalling his own experience with a former boss he said was clueless. “I couldn’t do what Scott Pelley did because I didn’t have the safety net or the resources or the network that he has. I couldn’t tell my boss to stick it. I just had to sit there and eat it.”

Pelley's message may have been delivered in the measured baritone of someone polished by decades on the airwaves. But his backtalk stirred many who’ve felt the simmering rage of feeling a clueless boss was turning their days into a nightmare.

“It’s also kind of weird, like, Pelley isn’t some blue-collar hero. There’s a wide gap between, like, Pelley and your local everyday guy down at the hardware store,” Tyra says. “But I think everyone can relate to standing up for what they believe.”

A staff meeting that went deeply awry

Pelley's dressing-down came in a Monday staff meeting with the new executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Nick Bilton, brought aboard by Bari Weiss, who became CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October. The correspondent reportedly grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, accusing management of “murdering” the program, a revered cornerstone of TV journalism and a mainstay of Sunday nights for nearly six decades.

“She has no qualifications for her job,” Pelley said of Weiss, according to the media news site Status, which reported he then turned his ire at Bilton. “You have slender qualifications for this job.”

In firing Pelley, Bilton called his outburst an “ambush” of “remarkable incivility and contempt.” But, with Pelley becoming a proxy for the American worker, others cheered.

Parry Headrick, who runs a public relations firm in Boston, was immediately transported to his days as a young reporter at a small newspaper, where he had been carefully chronicling the trials of people who fell ill from what was believed to be exposure to toxic waste.

He had earned the trust of one family only to find editors plastered a headline on the story that reduced the sick child to a “toxic boy” and caused Headrick to lose all faith in his bosses. He screamed at the paper’s publisher and editor-in-chief before quitting.

“I lost my goddamn mind when they did that. And the story with Pelley resonated so hard specifically because of that,” says 57-year-old Headrick, who thinks many people can see Pelley’s point of view. “There exists in most Americans the desire to speak truth to power.”

That such an outburst arose in the news business may be no surprise; journalists pride themselves as a truth-to-power, voice-for-the-voiceless bunch. Staff meetings with reporters sassing editors are common, and in newsrooms everywhere, managers have been subjected to the type of tough questions they pay their people to ask others.

The threshold for dismissal varies from place to place

The line separating acceptable discourse with fireable offense is as different in each workplace as the settings themselves, whether a dive bar or diocesan chancery.

“In the real world, there are layers of politeness and cordiality that don’t really exist in journalism,” says Headrick, who cheered Pelley “pushing back on something larger.”

Clare Haynes had a middle-management role at a nonprofit when she had her Pelley moment two decades ago. She was three weeks into a job where she thought she’d been brought aboard to institute changes that would achieve an innovative work culture. But every suggestion she made was dismissed. Her boss said his boss wouldn’t buy the idea.

“Are you saying you’re too weak to ask?” she snapped. His mouth fell open. He stared at her silently for a full minute.

Haynes survived, lasting three more years at the firm, but things were never the same.

“I didn’t lose my job, but I paid the price, being seen as maverick,” says 55-year-old Haynes, of Royal Leamington Spa, England, who now runs a coaching firm that trains executives how to handle difficult workplace conversations.

Johan Konst was working at a Swedish media company when he felt pushed to the limit seven years ago. After years of high-stress, hard-selling days pushing advertising he didn’t believe in, he finally said his piece, delivering a blunt, profanity-dotted message to his boss.

He was promptly shown the door.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” says 34-year-old Konst, of Amsterdam, who walked away with a nice severance check. “At some point, this had to happen.”

___

Matt Sedensky can be reached at msedensky@ap.org and https://x.com/sedensky

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The House of Mirth,” “The Custom of the Country” and other probing stories of New York society was living in Paris at the time and soon set out to help those imperiled by the clash between Allied and German forces. She set up a workroom for seamstresses and others who had lost their jobs, established hostels that aided thousands of refugees and even reported from the trenches for a series of dispatches that ran in the American periodical Scribner's Magazine.

But Wharton eventually — and inevitably — channeled her observations and experiences into fiction. She worked on a novel published after the war, “A Son at the Front,” and attempted a story about an affluent couple in the French countryside who decide that the war is going well enough that they can resume the social gatherings of the past. “The Men Who Saved the World” — unfinished and never before published — appears Friday in the new issue of The Strand Magazine, which has released rare works by Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and many others.

“The boom of guns can be heard in the distance. A few young soldiers sit among the guests. And the hostess wants to know whether they might have dancing,” Strand Managing Editor Andrew Gulli writes in a brief introduction. “Wharton asks a question that is as relevant today as it was over a century ago: what is the cost of refusing to see the horrors beyond the softly curtained windows — and who pays it?”

Wharton had long scrutinized the rich from the inside. Born into a wealthy New York City family in 1862, she knew firsthand the manners and codes and traditions that she picked apart in her best known work. In “The Men Who Saved the World,” believed to be written in 1918, she shifts the narrative from the New York drawing rooms of her early fiction to a French chateau within miles of a battlefield.

The author had a deep affinity for France and French culture, which she regarded as “one of the greatest cultures in the world, perhaps the greatest culture,” Wharton scholar Julie Olin-Ammentorp wrote in an email, adding that she was unsure why the author never finished “The Men Who Saved the World.” The German attack stirred Wharton's conscience, and her imagination.

“The Men Who Saved the World” dramatizes the separation between civilian and military life, and what happens when they merge. It's told through the perspective of a young American nurse, Milly Arden, a guest at the home of Fred and Madge Upshall, who are preparing a dinner party in the same setting where they had once permitted an army surgeon to perform amputations. Arden finds herself seated next to a war hero, Capt. Sherman Wake, regarded by Mrs. Upshall as one of the “real people.” Capt. Wake proves eager to discuss the “catastrophic horror and waste” he has seen nearby.

“You hear the guns pretty distinctly here,” Wake tells Arden. "They must make the windows rattle when everything’s quiet, don’t they?”

“Yes, they do,” she responded, looking out on an orchid “which the cannonade had displaced just before dinner.”

Last weekend, his campaign wrestled with stories about sexually explicit messages that Platner sent to several women while he was married. Then on Thursday, The New York Times reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends. Some viewed him positively but others described him as volatile and insulting.

One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner called that allegation untrue.

But with Maine's primary around the corner Tuesday and Democrats desperate to rally behind a candidate who can defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November, there's been little sign of voters or political allies backing away from Platner, who has pitched himself as an imperfect person who has redeemed himself.

Some dismissed news of the text messages as a private matter, one that should be addressed solely by the married couple. Others argue that the need for Democrats to take back control of the U.S. Senate from Republicans is too important to cast aside imperfect candidates.

Yet they're also wrestling with the question of whether more controversial information surrounding Platner could come out ahead of the November election.

“I think a lot of people are afraid,” said Deb Dagnan, chair of Maine’s Piscataquis County Democrats. “They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop after he gets the nomination. Then what do we do?”

Key to the Senate

Platner is key to Democrats hopes' to take back the U.S. Senate this year. Yet he's been bedeviled by near-constant controversies involving his disclosure of a since-covered tattoo of a Nazi symbol, his history of inflammatory online comments and the texting revelations.

Nevertheless, Platner's most prominent supporters have continued to back the candidate, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego. Platner is scheduled to appear in Bar Harbor Friday evening with progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California, as well as Democratic candidates for U.S. House and governor, as a part of a “get out the vote” rally in the coastal resort town.

The event is taking place just days ahead of the state's June 9 primary election, where Platner is expected to secure the Democratic nomination. His top opponent, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.

He'll do so under reignited scrutiny amid reports that he and his wife, Amy Gertner, have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren’t a liability to the campaign. Platner’s campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

Genevieve McDonald, a former campaign staffer for Platner, told The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married” and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Shortly after the news came out, Platner posted a five-minute video taken by Gertner, who avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts but dubbed the broader coverage as “gossip” and said “being married is hard.”

Voters worry that more scandals lurk

Gertner's emotional comments about working on her marriage have resonated with some women, who say they are shocked that a former campaign aide would betray someone's trust and the issue should remain between the couple.

“It’s none of my business as far as I’m concerned,” said Joanne Mason, a local Democratic leader from south-central Maine. “And I would hope that people wouldn’t judge any one person on their own private marriage.”

Valerie Tate, a Democrat from Belfast, described Gertner's honesty about trying to work on their mental health and marriage as admirable.

“That is not a scandal,” Tate wrote in an email. “That is integrity. Personal growth is not a disqualification from public life. For many of us, it is precisely what made us worthy of it.”

However, Tate conceded that her mind wasn’t fully at ease. With the public still learning about Platner’s past, there is a chance something could emerge as a dealbreaker for voters.

“Of course, there is that concern as there would be in any race with somebody we don’t know all the dramas and the journeys they’ve been on," she wrote. "Something could come out that would be disqualifying.”

Past controversies simmer

This isn’t the first time Platner has faced questions about his past. He had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he had covered up after starting his campaign.

Platner has said he didn't realize the meaning of the tattoo. However, a former girlfriend told the Times he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner has never held elected office and has fashioned a straight-talking, progressive, populist-style campaign focusing on issues such as income inequality, lack of health care accessibility and the rising cost of housing. In return, he's attracted thousands at his rallies and campaign events and collected millions in campaign funds to further boost his messaging.

“People want somebody new,” said Paige Zeigler, a former Maine Democratic lawmaker and head of the Waldo County Democrats, on why Platner's staying power has remained strong. “They want somebody that they feel that they can embrace. And Platner is riding that wave.” ___

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

The 29-year-old Kupcho has four career LPGA Tour wins, but just one since 2022, when she earned her only major victory in The Chevron Championship at Mission Hills. She missed the cuts of her three previous U.S. Open starts, but charged ahead at Riviera with three straight birdies in her afternoon group before adding back-to-back birdies after the turn.

“I just really, really like the golf course,” Kupcho said. “It’s kind of a ball-striker’s paradise. Just hit it down the fairway, hit it on the green and make the putts.”

Play began under a heavy cloud cover at the 100-year-old country club in Pacific Palisades just two miles from the ocean, but the sun broke through around lunchtime as wind picked up. The conditions weren’t oppressive at any point, but the players realized Riviera’s setup presents a formidable challenge in any weather, and the scores reflected it.

The entire field managed just one eagle in the first round — Allisen Corpuz holed out from 86 yards on the 17th.

Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan's Hinako Shibuno joined South Korea's Hyunjo Yoo, Ina Yoon and Minji Kang in the group at 68. Lopez made five birdies in her first eight holes and was the only player to get to 6 under, but she fell back with three bogeys.

Kupcho gained 4.27 strokes on her approach shots to lead the field in the first round, highlighted by a gorgeous 133-yard shot inside a foot on the second hole. She doesn't normally do extensive pre-tournament research on courses despite the encouragement of her parents, but she came down to Riviera on a scouting trip when the LPGA Tour stopped 13 miles away in Tarzana two months ago.

“When I showed up this week, it was just like I knew where everything was,” Kupcho said. “I knew what I was doing. So I think it actually helped. Parents are always right, right?”

The 33-year-old Kim has played pretty well in sprawling Los Angeles this season: At that JM Eagle LA Championship held at El Caballero in April, she led after the second and third rounds — leading by eight strokes at one point — before blowing a three-stroke lead over the final eight holes and losing a playoff to Australia’s Hannah Green.

“This course is really famous in the world, so I’m very happy to play here this week,” said Kim, who also got a head start on Riviera in practice last weekend. “Also, the course is not easy. Every hole is putting me to the test.”

Kim birdied her first two holes, but her round didn’t pick up steam until the final four holes, when she made three consecutive birdies — including two exceptional approach shots and a 29-foot birdie putt — before drilling another 29-foot par putt to end it.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda made a rough start at 2 over, struggling off the tee. She also couldn't get used to a new pair of shoes sent to her this week Nike and LeBron James, a Korda fan who is becoming an avid golfer himself.

Korda started the day in the new shoes, but changed playing the first six holes — although she said they didn't affect her play.

“It wasn’t a great day,” Korda said. “I hit it really good Monday through Wednesday, so I have honestly no idea where this came from. So I’m going to go to the range.”

Aphrodite Deng, a 16-year-old amateur, was in contention for the lead before playing two late holes at 3 over and carding a 70.

Deng was born in Canada to Chinese parents before growing up in New Jersey and eventually settling in Florida. A competitive child figure skater for several years before the COVID-19 pandemic, Deng took up golf only seven years ago, but won the U.S. Girls’ Junior last year.

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

The three-time AL MVP was out of the lineup earlier in the day for a third straight game and the Yankees were awaiting clarity about what they said was a bone bruise in one of the slugger’s right ribs that is causing right shoulder pain.

The team later announced Judge was diagnosed with the stress fracture of the first rib on his right side and will need to rest and have limited activity. He'll be re-evaluated after having additional imaging in about four to six weeks. The Yankees said in a statement that Judge is expected to return “at some point this season.”

After avoiding a three-game sweep with a 2-1 victory over Cleveland on Thursday, manager Aaron Boone said the team was awaiting the findings of Dr. Gregory Pearl, a vascular surgery specialist in Dallas.

“Look, it’s a lot of smart people in a specialized area and (the) guy’s several states aways,” Boone said. “We just got to be patient.”

Judge underwent a CT scan on Thursday morning and had an MRI earlier in the week when he met with a specialist. The bruise was first revealed when Judge underwent testing on the team’s off day on Monday.

“I’m obviously not a doctor, I don’t know how it all works, but there’s a lot of people involved in trying to make sure we get the right diagnosis,” Boone said Thursday morning.

Judge was diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his right ribs in March 2020. The injury occurred when he dived for a ball in September 2019, but Judge didn't miss any time because of the 2020 season being delayed by the pandemic.

He is hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBIs. But he has just one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive on May 24 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

Judge won the batting title last season when he hit a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow that he sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery.

When Judge was hurt last season, Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf and started taking live at-bats on the field Wednesday, though he was ruled out for New York’s upcoming road trip.

José Caballero started the first two games against Cleveland and has made four starts in right field since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline. Max Schuemann made his first career start in right field Thursday and made a diving catch on Steven Kwan in the second along with a leaping catch on Brayan Rocchio in the seventh.

Judge had started 52 of New York’s first 59 games in right field. Rookie Spencer Jones made four starts in right field before getting sent down May 22 and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

___

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

She argued against the proposed property tax cut, warning that it would severely impact city services, including road maintenance, libraries, and public safety.

Watch Deegan’s full news conference above.

“This hastily conceived, short-sighted overhaul of how cities are funded will hurt more people than it helps,” Deegan said, emphasizing that the toll of the impact would hit low-income communities the most.

According to the House joint resolution approved by lawmakers, the amendment would:

• Increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes:
• • $150,000 beginning Jan. 1, 2027
  • $250,000 beginning Jan. 1, 2028
• Keep school district taxes out of the expanded exemption
• Reduce the cap on annual assessment increases for many non-homestead properties (including certain residential and other properties not covered by the homestead cap), from 10% to 5% beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
• Limit how counties and cities can use ad valorem tax revenue, restricting it to “core services,” including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resource projects, debt service, retirement obligations and basic operations of constitutional offices and local government administration.

Deegan said the tax overhaul would remove roughly 1/3 — equivalent to $300 million — of the city’s budget. It’s a massive price cut that she said had no replacement plan to cover the loss.

“Now the state wants to take that money away with no solutions for services that you rely on every single day,” she said. “This proposed reduction will inevitably result in roads deteriorating, libraries, pools, and parks closing, public safety response times going up, housing affordability worsening, and more homeless on our streets.”

She also emphasized that local government should be the community’s voice — but said it’s repeatedly stifled by state government.

“Here’s the plain truth: this is not conservative government or being fiscally responsible. It’s a Tallahassee takeover,” Deegan expressed. “It moves all the important decisions about quality of life, your quality of life away from you to unknown representatives in Tallahassee.”

The mayor plans to continue to educate residents about the effects of the proposal if it is passed in November. She also urged voters to educate themselves beyond the headlines.

To take effect, the proposed amendment would need 60% voter approval.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espín, the sole son of former Cuban President Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín. He served as an adviser to Cuba’s Defense and National Security Commission and was present when Raúl Castro greeted then-U.S. President Barack Obama in Havana during a historic March 2016 meeting. Castro Espín's son, Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis, also was listed.

The new penalties come as U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba since ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

The threats took on additional weight after the U.S. announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro last month. Thursday's penalties, which follow Trump signing an executive order expanding sanctions against the island, freeze individuals’ property and bank accounts in the U.S. But it’s unclear how intertwined their finances are with the U.S. financial system.

It’s “pretty unlikely” Cuba’s president and others have assets in the U.S., said Richard Feinberg, former U.S. national security adviser on Latin America and professor emeritus of international political economy at the University of California, San Diego.

He said the sanctions “could be seen as preliminary to an intervention or increasing pressure on the regime to cut a deal,” adding that the rhetoric of Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio “could take you in either direction.”

Díaz-Canel accused Trump of making “new threatening statements against Cuba” and said “these measures are aimed at reinforcing the blockade and escalating the conflict between Cuba and the United States.”

“This political blindness adds to the coercive measures applied in recent weeks against our country, designed to harm the Cuban people,” he wrote on X. “The aggression and perversion of the U.S. government will clash with our resolve to confront the worst-case scenarios and resist the imperial onslaught.”

Trump says about Cuba, 'We’re going to handle that'

Asked Thursday if his sanctions were meant to accelerate Cuba’s collapse, Trump said, “We just want them to be a nicely run country.”

“The country is starving and it’s got no energy, it’s got no oil, it’s got no money, it’s got nothing. It’s got a beautiful piece of land. You could have beautiful resorts,” Trump told reporters at an unrelated event in the Oval Office.

Asked whether Cuba is close to collapsing, he said, “It’s sort of collapsed” and added that “we’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran.

“I like to do one thing at a time,” Trump said.

Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging to conduct a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hardline against Cuba’s socialist leadership, has said Trump’s preference is to reach a deal but has said he is doubtful the U.S. can find a diplomatic resolution with the current government.

Those “designated today direct or fund the regime and its efforts to mobilize its radical revolutionary movements in the United States and around the world,” Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio has defended the Trump administration’s decision to slap escalating sanctions on Havana, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Cuba's top diplomat condemns new sanctions as ‘creating a scenario of conflict’

In addition to Diaz-Canel, Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s minister of foreign affairs, said “the vile inclusion” of Díaz-Canel and others, including Cuban institutions and civil society organizations, “is the latest example of the U.S. interventionist plan to portray Cuba as a threat to U.S. national security."

“Every U.S. action aimed at creating a scenario of conflict between the two countries is destined to fail,” he wrote on X. “Every threat against Cuba’s independence and sovereignty will be met with even greater unity and determination from our people.”

The new sanctions, which freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions or any that come into U.S. jurisdictions, also apply to non-American entities that might do business with them.

In addition to the individuals, the sanctions also target Cuba's defense ministry; its Institute for the Friendship with the Peoples, which promotes people-to-people talks; Amistur Cuba, an arm of the institute that oversees specialized tourism on the island; and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

Cuba's president, Castro relatives and others are on the list

Díaz-Canel was handpicked in 2018 to succeed Raúl Castro and was the first person in decades to lead Cuba without bearing the name Castro.

Under him, the island plunged into the worst economic and energy crisis in recent history, a situation worsened by heightened sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

Díaz-Canel's wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, also appeared on the sanctions list. She does not hold the title of first lady, a title abolished during the revolution, but in practice she acts as such, receiving other spouses such as Queen Letizia of Spain and accompanying her husband on official trips.

Her son Miguel Anido Cuesta, who is Díaz-Canel's stepson, also faces sanctions.

Lis Cuesta Peraza wrote on X late Thursday that “it is almost an honor to be on this ‘list.’ They never tire of ridicule and political stupidity.”

The new action boosts pressure on the Cuban government but is far from the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The U.S. hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and, more recently, targeted Maduro and his wife with sanctions.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. AP writer Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report. Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Dawa Sherpa was last seen around May 29 descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled.

Dawa was located by a cleaning crew Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above base camp, said Pemba Sherpa of 8K Expeditions, which coordinated the search.

He was quickly carried down to safety and given food and water. A rescue helicopter flew him to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, where his wife and daughter, who already had begun funeral rituals for him, were waiting.

"We first heard that he was still alive on the local news and from a person we know who called with the news that ... he is being brought down," said his wife, Damu Sherpa.

Though Dawa had been missing since last week, there was a delay in organizing a search team. No reasons were given for the delay, but when helicopters were finally sent to look for him, they could not find him.

His family had given up hope. Dawa’s teenage daughter, Mendo Lhamu Sherpa, said they were on the second day of a funeral ritual, which lasts for several days.

“When we first heard about it (the rescue), we could not be sure if that person was indeed our father,” Mendo Lhamu said. “So to be certain we asked for photos to be sent and then only we were sure and very happy.”

The team that spotted him was part of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which lays the ladders and ropes on the route at the start of each climbing season and then removes the equipment and cleans up the site after climbers have left.

Dawa was last seen at spot called Yellow Band above the Camp 3, which is located at 7,200 meters (23,622 feet). The base camp is at 5,300 meters (17,388 feet).

Dawa, 52, works for a small Kathmandu-based company called Himalayan Traverse, and he was guiding a Polish climber. He comes from the town of Okhaldhunga, south of Everest.

Nepal's mountaineering community has hailed Dawa's survival as miraculous.

“This is nothing short of a miracle surviving so many days on the mountains facing such harsh condition,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, a leading figure in the community.

“Sherpas are built tough growing up in the mountains,” Ang Tshering said. “If there was someone else in his place they might not have survived.”

Members of the Sherpa community were mostly yak herders and traders living deep within the Himalayas until Nepal opened its borders in the 1950s. Their stamina and familiarity with the mountains quickly made them sought-after guides and porters, eventually allowing them to dominate the Himalyan climbing business.

More than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this May, which was the busiest climbing season ever on the world's highest mountain. It began late because of a massive ice block on the route just above the base camp that took about two weeks to clear.

The 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) high peak was first climbed on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

But Republicans still faced a gauntlet of amendments before the bill could advance, a test of party unity that could go late into the night. The biggest threat to the bill could be another amendment to ban the settlement fund — this time from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his primary opponent.

“I feel optimistic that we’ll get there in the end," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday evening, while acknowledging he was not sure how the votes would turn out.

Thune has been pushing GOP senators for weeks to keep the bill focused on the funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked since early this year, and to avoid adding new provisions that could complicate its passage.

If an amendment limiting the settlement were to pass, Thune said, it would be “problematic” when they send the bill to the House. It could also mean a White House veto of the immigration spending bill, which has otherwise unified Trump and Republicans.

The last time the Senate abruptly changed a Homeland Security funding package, in March, the House simply refused to accept it and left town.

Settlement fund roils Senate GOP conference

Still, the judgment fund, which was part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, has angered many Republican senators.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said this week that the fund would not move forward. But Trump, who has been at odds with Senate Republicans in recent weeks, raised new doubts about the settlement’s future Wednesday afternoon — just after the Senate had voted to start debate on the immigration bill — when he told reporters that the settlement is “very important” and said “I don’t know” whether it is dead or on hold.

“I’d have to ask the lawyers,” he said.

The Democratic effort to ban the fund, the first vote of the day, was held open for around three hours as Cassidy, Jon Husted of Ohio and Dan Sullivan of Alaska withheld their votes. In the end, Cassidy voted against the Democratic motion and the two other GOP senators — both of whom are up for reelection this year — voted for it.

Senators defeated a second amendment from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina that would also ban the settlement fund but would move the money to a separate anti-fraud fund at the Department of Justice. Most Democrats voted against the amendment, guaranteeing its defeat, but more than 10 Republicans supported it.

Tillis said the settlement fund, some of which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is a political liability for the party.

“If Blanche says this is largely inoperative, why not use this moment to codify that?” Tillis said. “Otherwise, you’re exposing every one of our members who are in cycle to having to deal with this between today and Election Day, and that makes no sense for something that the DOJ says they’re not moving forward with."

Amendments will be offered late into the night

It was unclear how Republicans would vote on additional amendments.

Cassidy, who had been in discussions all day with the Senate parliamentarian, said he still planned to offer an amendment to ban payouts from the settlement. He told reporters he may also offer an amendment to block a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.

Several Republican senators said they supported the idea but would have to see the final language before they decide. Sen. John Cornyn, who also lost reelection last month after Trump endorsed his opponent, said he agrees with the “thrust of it” but would wait to see the amendment. Republican Sen. John Curtis said the same.

Thune said it wasn't yet certain whether the final bill could pass without some sort of prohibition on the settlement.

“We’re going to find out soon enough,” he said Thursday evening.

Democrats planned other votes through the night, including on Trump's tariffs, his war with Iran and his immigration enforcement campaign.

“Amendment after amendment, vote after vote, Republicans are going to have to answer to the American people,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

ICE and Border Patrol money has been long fight

Passage of the roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.

Senate Republicans are using a complicated procedural maneuver to get around the filibuster and pass the budget legislation with no Democratic votes. But it has taken weeks to get the bill to the Senate floor as Republicans navigated various obstacles to passage created by Trump and the White House — including a $1 billion proposal for White House security that they eventually scrapped and the fierce bipartisan backlash to the settlement fund.

Democrats say any funding bill for the Homeland Security Department should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants, among other asks.

After federal agents shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump agreed to a Democratic request that the Homeland Security bill be separated from a larger spending measure that became law. But bipartisan negotiations went nowhere, and the department funding lapsed in mid-February with no agreement on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Congress eventually funded the rest of the Homeland Security Department at the end of April with Democratic support. But ICE and Border Patrol remained without regular funding, and Republicans launched a new effort to pass three years of funding for those agencies with no Democratic votes.

The ruling came weeks before Aaron Spencer, who will be on the November ballot, had been set to face a jury on a second-degree murder charge. He won a March primary over the local three-term sheriff whose office had arrested Spencer in Lonoke County, which has roughly 76,000 residents and is heavily Republican.

Spencer’s attorneys do not deny that he shot and killed Michael Fosler in 2024, saying he did so to protect his child. Special Circuit Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr. granted a motion by Spencer's attorney to dismiss the charge over a dash camera memory card that may have captured the shooting and was lost by law enforcement.

“The court finds that conduct by law enforcement was so egregious that dismissal of this case is warranted,” Wilson wrote.

At the time of the shooting, Fosler, 67, was out on bond after being charged with dozens of sexual offenses against Spencer’s then-13-year-old daughter.

Court documents show on the night of the shooting, Spencer had woken up to find his daughter missing, and later found the girl in the passenger seat of a vehicle Fosler was driving. Spencer forced Fosler’s truck off the road and, after an altercation, called 911 to report he had shot the man.

Prosecutors said Spencer planned the killing and that he could have called police while pursuing Fosler. But Spencer pleaded not guilty and maintained he acted to protect his child from a predator.

Spencer’s attorney, Erin Cassinelli, said she is thankful for the court’s decision.

“No member of this family should ever again be forced to walk into a courtroom and relive this horror,” she said in a statement. “This father should have never been charged for protecting his child.”

Spencer said he is grateful this chapter is over and that his focus is now on his family and returning to normal life.

“There’s still work to do in Lonoke County, and I’m more committed to it than ever,” he said in a statement. “Together we can build a safer and stronger Lonoke County.”

Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham did not return messages Thursday seeking comment on the decision.

The Associated Press typically does not identify sex abuse victims, but Spencer has made his daughter’s experience with the criminal justice system a central part of his campaign for sheriff, pledging to establish a dedicated team to combat sex crimes against children.

Spencer's attorneys filed the motion seeking to have the case dismissed, contending that video and audio of the dash camera from Fosler's truck may have contained evidence that would have cleared Spencer of any wrongdoing. According to court records, a detective with the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office removed the dash camera from the truck when responding to the scene of the shooting.

But the camera's internal settings were not preserved and the battery of the camera was allowed to drain, and as a result the camera went back to its default settings. When the camera was sent to the attorney general's office for a forensic exam, the memory card that was in it when it was collected from the truck was missing. The detective who collected the camera later admitted that it was not logged into evidence right away, but was instead stored in his personal office rather than the evidence room, according to court records.

Wilson replaced the original judge handling the murder case in January after the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Judge Barbara Elmore from the case, finding she had issued an overly broad gag order that violated Spencer's First Amendment rights.

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

Rivera, the Varsity 4 All-News4JAX Girls Golfer of the Year, began play Thursday in the U.S. Women’s Open at Riviera Country Club, becoming the youngest golfer from Northeast Florida to ever compete in the prestigious championship.

The amateur earned her spot in the 155-player field by winning a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier in April at Sugar Mill Country Club, beating a field of 70 golfers. Now, she is competing alongside many of the game’s biggest stars on one of golf’s most iconic stages.

“Being in California all the way across the country is just amazing,” Rivera said. “The way the players get treated here. The course. Just everything about it is just amazing.”

The tournament appearance is the latest milestone in a breakout year for Rivera. In January, she became just the sixth local girls golfer to win an individual state championship, capturing the Class 3A title by four strokes.

“It’s been rewarding because I didn’t have the best year last year, but I felt like I was improving,” Rivera said. “I just wasn’t seeing it out in tournaments in my scores. This year so far has just really shown me my hard work and everything that I’ve done. It’s translating into good play and good results.”

Rivera, who committed to Indiana University, fell in love with golf when she was 6 years old. She practices six days a week at several Northeast Florida courses, including St. Johns Golf and Country Club, Deercreek Country Club and Glen Kernan Club.

Despite the magnitude of the event, Rivera is approaching the week with a familiar mindset.

“Kind of treat it like a normal tournament,” Rivera said. “I mean it’s kind of hard to when you’re playing at Riviera and you see all the stars when you’re out here, but it’s just golf at the end of the day. I still have to hit the golf shots, so that’s kind of my mindset going into the week.”

One of Rivera’s biggest advantages this week is walking alongside her uncle, Russell Knox, a two-time PGA Tour winner who now competes on the Korn Ferry Tour. Knox caddied for Rivera during qualifying and is back on the bag for the U.S. Women’s Open. The two share a close bond, and Rivera credits his experience as a major asset.

“A superpower I have,” Rivera said of having Knox as her caddie. “We have such a good relationship. It’s awesome to have him out here and the knowledge that he has just in golf, not only on this golf course, but just golf in general. He’s played out here quite a few times as well, so it’s just nice to have him here.”

Rivera said there has been an adjustment to Riviera’s grass conditions, which differ from the courses she typically plays in Florida. Still, she believes she belongs among the elite field.

“It’s kind of cool to see myself stack against them, but I feel like I belong out here,” Rivera said. “Definitely in the beginning it’s like, ‘Woah, I’m playing alongside these girls,’ but seeing that I can compete with them, it’s really nice.”

As Rivera begins her first U.S. Women’s Open, her expectations remain simple. Her goal is to make the cut and continue proving that one of Northeast Florida’s brightest young golfers can compete on golf’s biggest stage.

It’s not surprising that those have yet to be resolved, along with several closely contested congressional races, because the state routinely takes days, or even weeks, to fully tally races. Nor is it unusual for President Donald Trump to complain about the pace of the count and allege fraud, as he did Thursday. It’s something he’s done repeatedly in the past.

What was unusual was that Trump announced that his Department of Justice was investigating the count: “Why the vote counting DELAY???,” the president posted on his social media account.

He suggested that the state's Democrats were somehow cheating so two candidates he favors — Republican Steve Hilton in the governor's race and Spencer Pratt in the nonpartisan mayor's race — would be bumped from the top two slots and therefore ineligible for the November general election.

“You see what’s happening in California, they’re rigging the election," he told reporters during an Oval Office gathering Thursday.

Trump's posts prompted a response from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose press office posted a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed, drawing out the count.

“For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too,” Newsom’s office posted.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on whether it was investigating the ballot counting.

Slow count is designed to ensure accuracy, but opens door to election lies

The law in California practically mandates a drawn-out count. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter — some 23 million of them — and the state has permissive rules for returning them. They will be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.

Only after the polls have closed and most of the country has gone to sleep can local election workers begin the lengthy process of verifying the legitimacy of the late-arriving mail ballots and then start to tabulate them.

If a voter’s signature on the ballot envelope doesn't match what's on file, election officials are required to give those voters a chance to come in and prove their identity so the ballot will count, delaying a final tally further.

“We might not like how California administers its elections (and I don’t),” wrote Stephen Richer, a former Republican election official in Maricopa County, Arizona, on the social platform X. “But that doesn’t make it fraud.”

Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the vote count to be completed within 13 days, rather than the previous 30 days. To get an extension, counties must inform the Secretary of State's Office of the reason for the delay.

That's not quick enough for the president: “The Dumocrats are at it again!” the president wrote on his social media platform. “They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

In a video posted on X, Hilton slammed the state’s counting as “just another shambles brought to you by California Democrats.” Notably, he said that so far his campaign has seen nothing to indicate it will need to go to court. He urged his supporters to take advantage of the state, allowing voters to fix any issues with their mail ballots — one of the steps that drags out the count.

State Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat who wrote the bill to accelerate ballot counting, said Trump’s comments about the counting process were disappointing and “a lie.”

“While Trump is laser focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy, so that Republicans can then try to pass policies like Voter ID laws that make it harder for people to vote, our priority is to make sure that every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.

Many Democratic voters waited until the last minute to cast their ballots

Some experts warned that the count from Tuesday's primary might take even longer than after previous elections.

“What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots,” said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.

The state's millions of Democrats this year were exceptionally slow to send in their ballots, apparently waiting until the last minute to make a selection in the ever-evolving governor's race. The state operates a primary in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election, and Democrats had been fretting for months that having so many Democrats in the race would splinter the vote, allowing two Republicans to claim the top two spots.

Democratic voters appeared to wait until the end to see which of their candidates was emerging as a favorite. The high number of late ballots will likely make the delay in getting final counts even greater.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber issued a statement Thursday saying the state's priority was ensuring the tally is done correctly. “Accuracy comes before speed,” she said.

While millions of ballots have been counted by now, it's the uncounted ones that loom largest for close races.

Despite being an overwhelmingly Democratic state, California has featured some of the nation's closest congressional elections, sometimes decided by just a few hundred votes, so there's often no way to determine a winner until the weekslong ballot count has concluded. In 2024, one House race wasn't called until December.

Things get even more complicated in a primary election, such as Tuesday's. That's because the news isn't just the top vote-getter but also the second-place finisher. To know the true outcome of any race, enough votes need to be tallied to know for certain who finished in first and second.

Later ballots skew toward Democrats, feeding conspiracy theories

Another side effect of the enormous crush of late mail ballots that get tallied last is that the final vote gets more and more Democratic. That’s because Republicans are more likely to return their ballots early or vote in person on Election Day. Those ballots get counted first.

The gradual shift in the vote toward Democrats as ballot counting continues has sparked all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Republicans have long complained about the California count, even though the GOP did well in close House races in the state in 2024. The Republican National Committee filed lawsuits in other states challenging the legality of counting mail ballots that arrive after Election Day and the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the issue sometime this month.

But worries about the California vote count aren't only a partisan issue. Voting advocates have urged state lawmakers to better fund local election offices so they can process the avalanche of late-arriving ballots faster.

“The Legislature needs to throw a lot more money to get the count quicker,” Hasen said.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Sophie Austin in Sacramento contributed to this report.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that it “cannot provide any information on the current size, composition or whereabouts of the stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran or whether Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities.”

The IAEA warned that it was “unable to discharge its safeguards responsibilities” that it has under the Safeguards Agreement of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, adding that it is “indispensable and urgent” for Tehran to implement its obligations under that Treaty.

The only nuclear facility inspected in Iran by IAEA inspectors since the last report in February has been the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which was visited on June 1-3. The reactor currently running at Bushehr uses uranium from Russia enriched to 4.5%, a low level needed for power generation in such plants.

The confidential report come as tensions have flared in the Middle East.

Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport on Wednesday, killing one person, wounding dozens of others and briefly closing the airfield — the latest in back-and-forth attacks by Iran and the U.S. that test a fragile ceasefire.

According to the IAEA, Iran maintains a stockpile of 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

That stockpile could allow Iran to build as many as 10 nuclear bombs, should it decide to weaponize its program, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi warned in a recent AP interview. He added that it doesn’t mean that Iran has such a weapon.

Such highly enriched nuclear material should normally be verified every month, according to the IAEA’s guidelines.

The report said Grossi reiterates his "full support to the negotiations underway aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution to issues related to Iran’s nuclear programme, and his readiness … to support an eventual agreement.”

Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the war, now in its fourth month. They are increasingly strained by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas and related products like fertilizer — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-new-nuclear-landscape/

Crewmembers on the May 3 flight from Venice, Italy, also recalled hearing a loud “thump” and feeling a “mild jolt” just before touchdown at Newark Liberty International Airport, the National Transportation Safety Board stated in its initial report.

The first officer recalled saying “you are still slow and a little low" as the plane descended, according to the report. He then recalled looking back outside and thinking the plane was low, but just about to touch down.

The report provides the first description of the events from the crew inside the plane, but it doesn’t identify a specific reason why the plane came in so low, or make recommendations about how to prevent similar incidents. That is not expected until the NTSB releases its final report, likely sometime next year.

But the report clarifies for the first time that it was debris from the light pole, and not the plane itself, that hit a truck traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike. Law enforcement officials initially said the plane had hit the top of a bakery truck, causing minor injuries to the driver.

The report says the truck’s windshield was damaged and its trailer punctured, but that there was no evidence of tire marks on either the tractor cab or trailer.

The Boeing 767 was able to land safely, though it sustained “substantial” damage to its fuselage and one of its landing tires had evidence of slash marks, according to the NTSB report. None of the more than 200 people aboard the plane were hurt.

Regular drivers on that stretch of Interstate 95 near the Newark airport are likely used to seeing planes coming in low as they cross the highway in preparation for landing.

Dashboard camera video from inside the truck showed the moment of impact. The driver is seen singing happily to himself, then glancing out his window with a slight look of concern as the sound of the jet’s whining engines begins on the recording. A moment later, part of the plane zooms into view out the driver’s side window.

The NTSB report suggests the pilot intentionally took a shallow approach to the runway that was below the established flight path, said D. Blake Stringer, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at The Ohio State University.

“It’s not surprising that the airplane clipped infrastructure near the runway,” he said. “If a pilot can’t fly the intended flight path, the general recommendation is to steepen the angle of descent, not shallow it out.”

Steve Arroyo, a retired United Airlines captain and safety expert, said the pilots don’t appear to have properly prepared for their designated runway’s unique landing requirements, even though they could have made or requested more time.

“They were already below where they should have been before they even crossed over the New Jersey Turnpike," he said.

The plane’s runway assignment changed three times before landing, the report states. The tarmac it ultimately landed on is the shortest runway at the airport and is generally only used when there are strong winds like there were that afternoon.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said those strong winds also appeared to be challenging for the pilot. An air traffic controller told the pilots at the time winds were gusting up to 31 mph (50 kph).

At one point shortly before landing, the pilot told investigators that he “got fast” as he turned the airplane into the headwind, the report states. The pilot pulled the power levers back to compensate as wind gusts produced “moderate turbulence.”

United Airlines declined to comment.

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Associated Press transportation reporter Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska contributed to this story.

An attorney for Karmelo Anthony said his client did not instigate the fight with Austin Metcalf, telling the jury at the start of a packed murder trial near Dallas that it was instead an act of self-defense.

Anthony pleaded not guilty over last year's stabbing, which stunned an affluent suburb where the pair attended school. The death last year quickly drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony, now 19, is Black, while the Metcalf was white.

According to an arrest report, Anthony told police he was protecting himself when the two got into a confrontation during the meet in Frisco, a fast-growing city is dotted by dozens of modern-looking school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.

But prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors it was a “senseless murder” and not a case of self-defense. He called it a “sneak, surprise attack” and said Anthony “knows he goaded the murder.”

“He didn’t want a fight,” Wirskye said of Metcalf.

The jury was seated this week under increased courthouse security and a Collin County judge set strict rules over the proceedings, including prohibiting attorneys from discussing the case publicly. Dozens of people lined up to get a seat in the courtroom Thursday.

The stabbing happened on a rainy morning in April 2025. Witnesses told police the confrontation began when Anthony sat under a tent belonging to Metcalf's team, according to an arrest report. The teens went to different schools in Frisco.

When Metcalf told Anthony that he needed to move, Anthony reached inside his bag and allegedly replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” the report said.

A short time later, Metcalf allegedly grabbed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest, the report said.

Robert Starr, a track coach at Memorial High School, where Metcalf was a student and athlete, explained to jurors that a tent at a track competition “marks your spot” and is similar to a team bench in other sports.

“You just don’t go into someone else’s tent uninvited,” Starr testified.

In his opening remarks, defense attorney Mike Howard said it was Metcalf who made the first contact.

“In that split second, Melo has a decision to make: how and when to act,” Howard said.

"Self-defense is useless if you wait too late to defend yourself. ... He reacts in a split second of fear, chaos,” Howard said.

Starr told the jury that he rushed to the tent when he saw commotion.

“I see Austin on the ground and his face is purple, and he has a big hole in his chest,” the coach said, choking up in the witness chair.

Another area track coach, Vincent Hooper, testified that he put his arm around Anthony and asked what had happened.

Anthony replied that he stabbed someone who had "put his hands on me,” Hooper recalled.

Anthony faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.

The parents of both teens have said they were good students who planned to go to college. Metcalf's father has condemned those who seized on the race of the teenagers after the killing.

“This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened,” Jeff Metcalf said on Fox News' “America Reports.”

“This is a human being thing,” he said. “This person made a bad choice and it affected both his family and my family forever.”

Authorities have also issued warnings about online discussions surrounding the killing. Frisco Police Chief David Shilson urged people last year to beware of posts spreading “misinformation, hate, fear, and division."

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Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed.

The “Stadium Code of Conduct” update was criticized Thursday by an English fan group, which argued FIFA had given assurances on carrying empty plastic bottles to fill with freely available water at a tournament where heat and extreme weather are expected to be a factor.

“Naturally, the immediate thought from supporters is this is just the latest money grab,” the Free Lions fan group said in a statement.

Water, sodas and juices sold at World Cup stadiums are supplied exclusively by long-time FIFA sponsor Coca-Cola when the tournament starts next Thursday.

Andrew Giuliani, who is the executive director of the White House Task Force for this year's World Cup, said conversations are ongoing with FIFA about the decision.

“Certainly understanding that fans with bottles — if anything is frozen there, they can throw that, utilize it as a weapon,” Giuliani said to a group of reporters, including The Associated Press, Thursday at a World Cup kickoff event in Miami. “That’s something, frankly, that we are still in discussions with FIFA about. They made their announcement yesterday, so I don’t want to comment on it just yet.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino was also at the event in Miami beach Thursday evening but did not take questions from reporters.

Giuliani added there is a balance between preparing for hot temperatures and monitoring security risks.

“Understanding these games are going to be very hot. We want to make sure that fans have access to water, so that way they can be hydrated,” he said. “We also want to make sure that everybody is safe and that people can't bring a weapon in there. So those conversations are still ongoing.”

FIFA’s stadium rules had stated that fans could bring in a transparent, reusable bottle up to one liter, or 33.8 oz. capacity.

The latest document dated Tuesday now states “for the avoidance of doubt, reusable water bottles may not be brought into the stadium.”

“In all of our discussions,” the England fans’ group said, “free water availability in stadiums was a key one and we were assured by FIFA that this would be the case.”

In a statement Thursday, the world soccer body said the decision to prohibit bottles — which could be thrown — was "to prevent risk and injury to players and attendees.”

“FIFA is committed to protecting the health and safety of all players, referees, fans, volunteers, and staff,” it said.

FIFA said some of the 16 stadiums had already prohibited fans from bringing water bottles, so the policy would apply across them all.

With temperatures at 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and above expected in many of the U.S., Mexican and Canadian cities hosting the 104 games, FIFA said “heat mitigation” for fans approaching stadiums would include “misting stations, fans, hydration stations, cooling tents, and more.”

“Inside the stadium footprint, pricing for water bottles for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will remain consistent with other events held at each stadium,” the soccer body said.

FIFA has reacted to expected heat in some outdoor stadiums by enforcing three-minute drinks breaks midway through each half at all games. Critics have said turning all games into four quarters was to create more breaks for broadcasters to sell advertising.

“For all of the effort they are going to with ‘drinks breaks’ for the players, this is such a strange, late change,” the Free Lions fan group said of the water bottle ban.

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AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames in Miami Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

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

The easterly flow will continue into the weekend as the area of high pressure to our north remains situated along the eastern seaboard. The high will shift eastward through Friday, leading to lighter wind and a shift to southeasterly-southerly this weekend. The drier airmass continues, limiting our chances of showers and storms through Sunday.

Rain chances will increase next week as the wind swings back to the north-northeast through Wednesday.

Tonight: Mostly clear, lighter wind.

Friday: Mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies. Average lows this time of year are around 68 degrees, with afternoon highs around 88-90 degrees. Morning lows in the 50s, 60s, and 70s for SE GA, and the 60s and 70s for NE FL. Highs will reach the 80s. Wind: As the afternoon sea breeze begins to push inland, northeast winds of around 10-15 mph will move inland with gusts up to 20 mph along the beaches and intracoastal.

Weekend: Warming temperatures and shifting winds. The onshore winds continue under partly cloudy skies with slightly warmer temperatures. Morning lows in the 60s and 70s. Highs in the 80s and 90s. Wind: SE 5-15 mph. Mostly clear with patchy fog overnight.

Looking ahead: Increasing rain chances next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tropics: Quiet across the Gulf, Caribbean, and the Atlantic for the next 5 to 7 days.

Hazards: High Risk for Rip Currents at area beaches through Friday. Rip currents remain moderate to high this weekend.

Sunrise: 6:24 p.m.

Sunset: 8:27 p.m.

No official casualty figures were immediately available from the clashes that prompted calls for restraint from the United Nations and the United States as the government and opposition traded blame for the violence.

Residents reported heavy gunfire and explosions as fighting broke out in several neighborhoods Wednesday.

“We heard heavy weapons fire, and people were fleeing their homes,” said Abdullahi Mohamed, who lives in the city's Howlwadaag district. “Many families left the area looking for safer places.”

The clashes underscore growing political tensions as disputes over Somalia's elections and the constitution have increasingly strained relations between the government and opposition leaders. Somalia is also fighting al-Shabab militants while seeking to strengthen state institutions with support from international partners.

Several buildings were hit by heavy gunfire and mortar shells during the clashes, with some catching fire.

Gunfire subsided on Thursday afternoon following mediation efforts led by the director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, who visited the area and held talks with former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. The discussions reportedly led to an agreement to halt the fighting.

Khaire was later seen leaving his house alongside the intelligence chief. During a briefing with journalists, Benadir Regional Police Commissioner Mahdi Omar said that an arms recovery operation at Khaire’s residence had uncovered heavy machine guns. He added that the operation resulted in casualties but did not provide details on the number of people killed or injured.

Opposition figures say the rally planned for later Thursday was intended to protest what they call constitutional violations and efforts by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to extend his tenure. The government has rejected those allegations.

On Thursday morning, there were signs of mobilization on the streets, but a heavy security presence remained in place with police patrolling major roads.

Mogadishu police said the violence stemmed from “organized attacks” carried out by armed militias.

“The incidents were not the organization of peaceful public demonstrations, but rather coordinated armed acts that directly threatened the security, order and stability of the capital,” the police said in a statement.

State security forces repelled attacks on their positions and launched investigations to identify those responsible for organizing, financing and carrying out the violence, police said.

Opposition leaders accused security forces of attacking residences linked to former Prime Minister Khaire and former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

“We are under attack,” Khaire said in a statement. “For the second time in less than 24 hours, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has directed armed forces against our peaceful gatherings.”

Traditional elders, politicians, and community leaders were meeting at Khaire's residence when the attack occurred, he said. The government disputed that account.

The U.N. expressed alarm over the clashes. Secretary-General António Guterres said the violence resulted in deaths, injuries to civilians, and damage to critical infrastructure.

“The Secretary-General strongly condemns all acts of violence and incitement to violence undertaken for political advantage,” he said in a statement. Guterres also called on all parties to exercise restraint, protect civilians and resolve political differences through dialogue.

The U.S. also voiced concern over the fighting. The U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu described the violence as “reckless” and urged Somali leaders to seek a peaceful resolution.

“Somali leaders on all sides have a responsibility to preserve stability and resolve differences through peaceful means,” the embassy said. “Actions taken in the coming hours and days may have lasting consequences for Somalia’s security, unity, and future.”

Khaire accused Mohamud of deploying state security forces against political opponents and alleged that troops trained and equipped by international partners to fight the al-Shabab extremist group had been used against opposition figures.

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

Nine people were killed in at least four separate strikes overnight in Gaza City, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the bodies. The hospital said the victims included two women and two children.

Another strike in Gaza City on Thursday evening killed at least one person and wounded another, according to Saraya Field Hospital, which is operated by the Red Crescent.

Footage of one of the strikes showed a massive hole in an upper floor in what appeared to be a residential apartment building. The blast blew holes through interior walls and scattered blood-stained belongings across the room and into the street.

“They say the war has stopped, but the war has not stopped,” said Walid Shbeir, the uncle of one of the men killed in the strikes, as relatives mourned the victims at Shifa Hospital. “Every night there is killing, and we have martyrs. Every night, in the morning, in the evening, and at night, this killing is continuous for us.”

Israel's military said the overnight strikes in northern Gaza killed four Hamas militants, which it described as senior members of an apparatus responsible for protecting Hamas leaders and providing them with intelligence assessments. The military said steps were taken before the strikes to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance.

It was not clear what the evening strike was targeting, and the military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on it.

Last week, Israel killed the top Hamas military leader, two weeks after strikes that killed his predecessor.

More than 900 Palestinians killed since ceasefire began

The fatalities were the latest in the coastal enclave since an October ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the fragile ceasefire has seen almost daily Israeli fire.

Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently opened fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing 936 people since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is generally seen as reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to violations of the truce or threats to its troops. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas' October 2023 attack that killed some 1,200 people, with 251 others taken hostage.

Flotilla says 11 activists detained in Libya

At least 11 international activists attempting to bring attention to Israel's blockade of Gaza have been detained in Libya for more than a week while trying to reach the territory by land, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Libyan media reports said the activists were detained in connection with illegal entry and lack of permits. The Global Sumud organizers said the participants all had valid visas.

The organization's maritime flotilla, consisting of dozens of boats, was intercepted last month before reaching Gaza. Hundreds of activists were deported via Israel and Greece. Israel accused the flotilla of being a “PR stunt” carrying very little amounts of aid.

More than 200 health workers and activists have been attempting a separate route overland to reach Gaza. They left Mauritania on May 15 and have been heading towards Egypt to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Global Sumud said a Tunisian national was arrested on May 19 around 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the Libya-Tunisia border while returning home. Another 10 people were detained on May 24 while trying to negotiate safe passage for their convoy at a checkpoint near Sitre, in Libya, along the Mediterranean coast less than halfway between Tunisia and Egypt.

The organization, which has condemned the detentions as “unlawful” and “arbitrary,” said Libya first announced it was holding the activists — who hail from Tunisia, Argentina, Portugal, Italy, the U.S., Uruguay, Poland, and Spain — on May 25. Their detention was extended on Tuesday by another 10 days. __ Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman and Natalie Melzer contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.

“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure of French culture and an artist devoted to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” the French presidency said in a statement.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife “pay tribute to a remarkable artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable,” the statement said.

News broadcaster BFM TV and other French media reported Satrapi “died of sadness” a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish film producer and actor Mattias Ripa, according to a statement from people close to the artist.

The French Academy of Fine Arts, of which she was a member, expressed its deep sadness in a social media statement, paying tribute to “a passionate advocate for cinema and film education” who earlier this year created a foundation to help international students come to Paris to study film.

Satrapi is best known for her monochrome autobiographical comic book and film “Persepolis,” a coming-of-age tale set against the Islamic Revolution in her native Iran.

“Persepolis” won the Film Critics Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and the César award for best adapted screenplay in 2008, in addition to being nominated for best animated feature at the 2008 Oscars.

The film, which details her life in Tehran as the willful daughter of intellectual Marxists, is a reminder that Iranians are just like everyone else, Satrapi told The Associated Press in a 2007 interview in Cannes.

“What we wanted to say is, if these people scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories," she said.

Iranian authorities at the time protested the movie’s inclusion at Cannes, sending a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran.

Satrapi was born on Nov. 22, 1969, in Rasht, Iran, but her parents sent her to Vienna in 1983 to finish her studies because of the extremism in their country following the 1979 Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.

But Satrapi, who found Austria hostile and who desperately missed her parents, returned to Iran in 1989 to attend Tehran University, where she earned a degree in visual communications.

By the time she graduated, Satrapi decided she finally was ready to leave Iran and accept the opportunities her parents had been so desperate to give her a decade before. In 1994, she moved to France. She studied in Strasbourg and later moved to Paris.

Her graphic novels also include “Broderies” (“Embroideries”) and “Poulet aux prunes” (“Chicken with plums”), which also was adapted into a film. As a filmmaker, she has directed several works including “La Bande des Jotas” (“The Gang of Jotas”) and “Radioactive” (“Madame Curie”), a biography about the Polish physicist Marie Curie.

Satrapi in 2023 coordinated the book “Femme, vie, liberté” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”) together with a group of artists and academics to illustrate the revolts that occurred in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” The work denounces the repression and lack of human rights that Iranian society, especially women, suffers at the hands of the Iranian regime, the foundation said.

Satrapi was elected member of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2024. She also was offered France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, that same year but declined it, arguing France was not doing enough to support Iranian people fighting for democracy.

“Supporting the women’s revolution in Iran cannot be reduced to photos or speeches,” she wrote in a January 2025 letter to French authorities. “When people are fighting for democracy, we should support them.”

In 2024, Satrapi won the Princess of Asturias Foundation award in Spain for communication and humanities. The organization said she was “an essential voice in the defense of human rights and freedom.” The judges described her as “a symbol of civic engagement led by women."

Satrapi's husband died in April 2025 at 53. On her Instagram page, only one message was left in a series of posts: “Because I have lost the love of my life.”

Nearly 5 million, actually. New social media followers, that is.

The New Zealand defender met the influencer and content creator from Argentina on Wednesday after Scarsini — known as “El Scarso” — asked his fans last week to help kick up support for the soccer standout while calling him the “least-known” player at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico based on his small social media following.

Well, since that request, the 32-year-old Payne went from just under 5,000 followers on Instagram to more than 5 million, making him a viral sensation.

Scarsini watched Payne's New Zealand squad — known as the All Whites — lose 4-0 to Haiti in a friendly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday night. The next morning, the social media influencer met Payne at the team hotel in Boca Raton.

“My friend!” Scarsini shouted as he walked through a door and saw Payne. “How are you?”

“I'm good, bro, yourself?” asked a smiling Payne as he gave him a big hug. “Lovely to meet you.”

Payne also said, “Cómo estás?” — Spanish for “How are you?” — and then jokingly told Scarsini that's basically the extent of his Spanish vocabulary.

Payne thanked Scarsini “for everything” and described the entire experience as “very crazy.”

“I didn't know what to feel, you know, because it's so foreign to me," Payne said. "Still processing, but it's amazing. And I appreciate you doing it for me, you know?”

Scarsini asked Payne what it's like to have this huge boost in fame happen just before the World Cup begins.

“It’s obviously good for myself and New Zealand football, too," Payne said. "It puts a light on us, which is a positive thing, but at the same time, for me, I don’t change. I’m still the person I am. I just keep trying to do what I do, which is play football and trying to perform for my country.”

Scarsini said Payne should visit him in Argentina someday, and he would also one day go to New Zealand. Payne then gave him an All Whites jersey with his No. 2 on it and signed it before the two posed for photos and hugged again.

New Zealand opens its Group G play at the World Cup against Iran on June 15 in Inglewood, California. Belgium and Egypt are also in the group. New Zealand, playing at the World Cup for the third time after qualifying in 1982 and 2010, has yet to win a match.

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AP Sports Writer Steve McMorran in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

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

Lyndsey Fifield told The New York Times that Platner, a Democrat, never hit or punched her, but the incidents left her shaken and afraid. Fifield, a conservative activist, told the Times she dated Platner for about two years, starting in 2013 when he was a student at George Washington University following his military service.

Her claims were published as part of a Times report on Platner's relationships with previous girlfriends, some of whom viewed him positively and others who described him as sometimes insulting, volatile or unfaithful.

Another woman, Jenny Racicot, who said she dated Platner on and off between 2019 and 2021, also told The Times about behavior that upset her. She said Platner once came to her house drunk in 2021 after she asked him not to come over. Racicot, a Maine Democrat, said his behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran who is favored to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary, denied being violent in a statement to the Associated Press. The Times said in its report that he declined to be interviewed for their story.

“Throughout this campaign, I’ve been open about what was a very dark period of my life where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” the statement said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated. I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine.”

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Fifield and Racicot were not successful.

Platner, 41, has filled theaters around Maine with his booming voice and progressive politics. He has no experience in elected office, but has fashioned a campaign focused on working-class issues such as the high costs of housing and healthcare. His anticipated run against Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November is key to Democrats' hopes to take back the Senate.

Fifield said that when they drank and argued, he could be rough, including one episode where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn't get out.

“It hurt,” she told the paper, adding: “It didn’t cause an injury, it didn’t break my arm.”

In an appearance on MS NOW Thursday evening, Platner told host Chris Hayes that Fifield’s account of being pushed into a room is false. He said the accusations were coming from someone who was “politically motivated.”

“There are things in this that I absolutely will take responsibility for and have been speaking about openly for months,” Platner said. “But those serious allegations are just not true.”

Fifield insisted in her interview with the Times that her allegations were not politically motivated.

Days ago, Platner had to confront public revelations that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while he was married.

Platner has also had to answer questions about a skull tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn’t realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. He later had it covered up with a different design. Platner has said he didn’t realize the meaning of the tattoo.

However, Fifield told the Times that he joked about it being a Nazi symbol and called it “my Totenkopf.”

Platner, in his MS NOW interview, again denied knowing the meaning of his tattoo.

High-profile backers of Platner, including independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, stood by the candidate in the wake of those allegations. No prominent Democrats immediately came forward Thursday to rescind endorsements of Platner.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who is scheduled to appear at a campaign event with Platner in Maine on Friday, called the behavior described in the Times as “wrong and toxic,” but added, "Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. The people of Maine deserve a senator who is going to stand up to the billionaire class, against genocide, and for the working class.”

There’s also been much attention on Platner's past posts on the social media site Reddit, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner’s campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberlee Kruesi in Providence, Rhode Island, and Joey Cappelletti in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Detectives had been investigating two homes in the Longbranch area after the department received drug complaints.

Detectives obtained search warrants for both locations, and on Wednesday, the warrants were served.

Between the two houses, detectives recovered 26 rifles and four handguns — totaling 30 firearms — along with methamphetamine, Xanax and marijuana.

The operation also led to three arrests for men JSO said had ties to gang activity:

• Justice Johnson, 28
• Jaquan Wims, 29
• Leamon Jackson, 47

JSO also pointed out that the homes were located just blocks from an elementary school.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine's defense through loans.

The 226-195 vote is a sign of impatience with President Donald Trump's approach to the war and represents the House's second major foreign policy break with Trump this week. The day before, the House, for the first time, approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran.

Supporters were able to force action on the Ukraine bill by gathering 218 signatures on a discharge petition, a legislative tool that allows a majority of the House to effectively bypass leadership.

Once rarely successful, House members have used the petition tool this Congress to pass bills on releasing the government's files on Jeffrey Epstein and to extend health care subsidies to many of those who get health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, though the latter measure faltered in the Senate.

Meeks said the question before the House was simple. Would it help Ukraine negotiate from a position of strength or help Russia outlast American resolve?

“We all want this war to end,” Meeks said. “The question is how. Will we abandon Ukraine and force it into a terrible deal? That is what Vladimir Putin is counting on. Or will this body live up to the commitments we've made since the start of this war?”

The vast majority of Republicans opposed the measure. Rep. French Hill, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said he is a steadfast supporter of Ukraine. However, the Arkansas Republican said the House was confronted with a flawed, outdated measure that actually calls for less funding for Ukraine security assistance compared to what Congress had agreed to as part of this year's defense policy. Another section could lead to a decrease in defense spending by some NATO members, he warned.

Rep. Brian Mast, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he believed the bill was “a cudgel to fight against President Trump.”

“This bill, in my opinion, is an unserious bill that was crafted basically a year-and-a-half ago,” Mast, R-Fla., said.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., broke with most of his Republican colleagues in voicing support for the measure.

“Are we going to stand with good or are we going to stand with evil? That’s what this is about tonight,” he said.

In the end, 18 Republicans, 207 Democrats and one independent voted for the bill. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar joined with 194 Republicans in voting against it.

Lawmakers want to send a message

Supporters are hopeful that the House's passage of the Ukraine bill would put pressure on the Senate to do the same. But they also know the Senate likely won’t go along unless Trump endorses the bill.

“It's probably not going to get 60 votes in the Senate, but it's going to hopefully force the Senate to address the issue," said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who signed the discharge petition and voted for the bill. “It's going to send a great message to the soldiers of Ukraine.”

He said the vote would also send a message to Putin that “we do have a pulse here, that we do care about Ukraine and that we are going to utilize our authority to help them.”

As the war has dragged on, it's gotten more difficult for supporters of Ukraine in Congress to provide additional financial support to help Ukraine defend itself.

The U.S. has approved some $195 billion for the Ukraine response, according to the latest quarterly inspector general report for Operation Atlantic Resolve, with roughly a quarter of that going to replenish weapons stockpiles for the U.S. military. The last major legislation designed to bolster the Ukraine response occurred in April 2024, though modest amounts have since been included in annual appropriations bills.

Republican leaders tried to stop the bill

Republican leaders urged their members to oppose the legislation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said there are good-faith negotiations between members of Congress and the White House to boost Ukraine. He described the negotiations as complicated.

“I think they are going to yield positive results, but you set that back if you pass legislation that doesn't go as far as the negotiations are going,” Scalise said.

The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight. In recent days, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range missile strikes.

U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington’s attention. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Putin refused.

Action in the Senate on Ukraine has revolved around a bill that would impose sweeping tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. But the bill has languished.

___

Associated Press congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Thomas Pauken II is set to be sentenced Sept. 1 in a U.S. District Court and he faces up to 10 years in jail, the department said. He writes under the name Tom McGregor to distance himself from his father with the same name, who was a former chairman of the Texas Republican Party in the 1990s and ran for governor more than a decade ago.

It is the latest in a string of cases that the federal government has brought against people suspected of working for the Chinese government without proper disclosure.

Eileen Wang, a former mayor of Arcadia, California, agreed in May to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, including sharing articles favorable to Beijing.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York governors, was accused of selling her influence to the Chinese government. Sun pleaded not guilty to charges that she failed to register as an agent of a foreign government, conspired with her husband to launder money and helped people commit visa fraud to enter the U.S. illegally. A December trial ended in a mistrial when a federal jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Charles Burnham, Pauken’s defense lawyer, said in a statement that, by his guilty plea, Pauken “has accepted responsibility for working as an agent of the People’s Republic of China without first completing certain required U.S. Government forms.”

Burnham said Pauken had hoped his work would “promote peaceful relations and advance the cause of religious freedom in China.”

Pauken was arrested in February after arriving in Washington from China. He met with someone who had sought a job in the Trump administration to provide that person with a SIM card and offer $10,000 to write reports to be read by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to the affidavit.

He appeared to see himself as a middleman between Chinese agents and “human resources" who could provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit. His lawyer didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Since at least 2019, Pauken had been working with Chinese agents, including “Cathy,” who he believed to be working for China's security apparatus. Between 2019 and 2025, Pauken received $100,000 for the reports he provided to Cathy, in addition to paid trips to the U.S., the affidavit says. Cathy told him the reports were to be read by Xi.

Pauken was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents when he returned to the U.S. in January 2025. In interviews with CBP and FBI agents, Pauken said he was meeting a person who was seeking a job in the Trump administration and would provide that person with a Samsung phone and a laptop computer. He said he was “80% sure” that person, if hired by the new administration, would provide classified information to Beijing, according to the affidavit.

U.S. agents let Pauken go and instructed him to carry on with his plans. Pauken's contact said in an interview that Pauken asked for open-source information but also indicated his clients in China frequently asked for more secretive information. That person indicated having no intention of working with Pauken, the affidavit said.

A year later, Pauken returned to the U.S. to make another pitch to this person, with whom Pauken had reconnected over a possible commercial oil deal, according to the affidavit. They met at a Washington restaurant on Feb. 23 and again two days later at a hotel, where the FBI monitored the meeting.

Pauken gave the person a SIM card and proposed the $10,000 bonus for providing Cathy with weekly reports that would “influence policy and be read by Xi Jinping,” the affidavit says.

Database checks showed that Pauken did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act or notify the U.S. attorney general that he was acting as an agent for China, the affidavit says.

The Justice Department said Pauken also sold reports to a group of Chinese individuals from the central city of Wuhan, who sought information about technology and the Justice Department and wanted Pauken to find an expert to help them engage in cyberespionage.

Police told relatives of the victims they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing on the anniversary of the crackdown 37 years ago, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retribution.

Relatives from a group called Tiananmen Mothers visited the graves for more than 30 years, reading memorial statements while police kept watch, Amnesty International said.

Hundreds of people, and possibly thousands, were killed in 1989 as troops advanced through crowds that were trying to stop the military from reaching the protesters on Tiananmen Square, a vast plaza in the center of the Chinese capital. The decision by the Communist Party leadership to send in the military was a pivotal moment in China's modern history, determining that the market reform that transformed the country into the world's second largest economy would not be coupled with political liberalization.

Rubio says censorship can't erase the past

In Hong Kong, police stepped up security Thursday at or near a park where a massive candlelight vigil lit up the night every year until a clampdown following major anti-government protests in 2019. A handful of people showed up in the evening. Officers allowed some to go freely — including a man holding flowers and an activist who said she bowed 37 times.

Police said in a statement that seven people were stopped and searched on suspicion of being disorderly in public as of 11:30 p.m. They were taken away for further investigation before being allowed to leave, police said, without naming them.

Activist Chan Po-ying, who held a yellow paper flower, was among those taken away by police vans as journalists watched.

The U.S., the EU and Britain posted messages on social media marking the anniversary. “No amount of censorship can erase the past,” a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio read. “Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday.” Rows of electronic candles lit up the windows of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed Rubio's words as a smear on her nation’s political system. “We urge the U.S. side to ... stop using so-called democracy and human rights as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” she said.

The chairs of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China also issued a statement, saying the Chinese Communist Party “can censor history; it cannot silence memory.”

On Thursday, a number of U.S. lawmakers, former student leaders from the 1989 movement and their supporters gathered on the U.S. Capitol Hill to commemorate the anniversary. Among them was Arthur Liu, father of the Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu and a former student leader. He urged the public to remember the movement and not to forget those who are still in jail for their pro-democracy activism stemming from the Tiananmen days.

Tiananmen Mothers calls crackdown a crime

Tiananmen Mothers issued an annual appeal for justice ahead of this year's anniversary. The statement, signed by 107 people, demanded full disclosure of what happened, compensation for the victims and their families and the pursuit of legal accountability for those responsible.

“The sacrifice of our family members is an indelible pain etched in our hearts. Our tears have run dry, grief is buried deep within, what remains is eternal remembrance of our family members and hatred for the crime of massacring the people,” Zhang Xianling, a member of the group, said in a video message posted on Facebook — which is blocked in China.

Amnesty said it is deeply troubling that China's suppression of the commemoration appears to be escalating. “Banning the relatives of people killed in the Tiananmen crackdown from visiting their loved ones’ graves is a heartless act by the Chinese authorities," Sarah Brooks, the organization's deputy director for Asia, said in a statement.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

Hong Kong has banned an annual vigil

Authorities in Hong Kong have banned the vigil since 2020, at first citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Simon Ng, a past participant, walked around the nearby Causeway Bay shopping district to mark the anniversary. “There are some things I can neither forget nor let go, so I have to come and take a walk,” he said.

Three of the organizers of the vigil have been charged under a 2020 national security law. One pleaded guilty, which may result in a lesser sentence. The other two have been tried and are awaiting a verdict.

One of them, lawyer Chow Hang-tung, said in an online post published last weekend that she would go on a 37-hour hunger strike in prison. “Behind the glitter of power and dictatorship lies the blood and broken dreams of ordinary people. For in amnesia lies the demise of democracy,” she wrote.

Derek Chu, a former district councilor, said on Instagram that he visited Chow on Thursday and told her he would also stop eating for 37 hours in support. He added that a shop he runs is giving out LED candles that can be used to remember the victims.

An annual vigil was held in Taiwan, but a driving thunderstorm reduced turnout to about 200 people. China, which claims the self-governing island as its territory, sanctioned four New Zealand lawmakers on Thursday to protest their recent visit to Taiwan.

___

Leung reported from Hong Kong. AP video journalist Taijing Wu in Taipei, Taiwan and reporter Didi Tang in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.

The yearbook, distributed this spring, included the line “Everybody hatin’, we just call them fans though,” attributed to O’Connell. The district has opened an investigation into allegations of “inappropriate conduct.”

O’Connell, who has worked in the St. Johns County School District for more than 20 years, said the quote was not in the final proof she signed off on.

“That quote was not in there,” O’Connell said. “And when we were done proofreading it, we said, ‘go ahead and send it. It’s good. Like, we’re done. Like sign, seal, deliver that yearbook.’ So the fact that when they arrived at the school, that quote was in there and on the front page and attributed to Mrs. O’Connell, which would never be me.”

After the yearbook was published, O’Connell said she was sent home and told her contract would not be renewed for next year.

“I was just sent home and to say that it’s inappropriate conduct and then they released documents to the news and giving me no control over my own process, I couldn’t even speak for myself, I’ve had no hearing. It’s just been really disappointing,” O’Connell said.

Her lawyer, Jack Webb, said a student made additional edits after O’Connell’s final approval and that a page containing the lyric was added without her knowledge.

“It was distributed in an inappropriate manner prematurely,” Webb said. He said the legal team plans to seek a court order requiring the school board to hold a hearing.

The school board declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

The matter has drawn national attention, O’Connell said, and she described messages of support from the rapper as “nice.”

In addition to the flowers, supporters have contributed to a GoFundMe to help cover legal expenses; the campaign had raised more than $3,000.

Meanwhile, former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Here's the latest:

Trump reveals lineup for 250th anniversary rally after other acts backed out

The president said he’ll be joined by Lee Greenwood, Christopher Macchio and U.S. military bands for a June 24 event that he described as “A Rally to end all Rallies!” Trump announced it on social media Thursday, a week after several musical acts backed out of a Trump-linked concert celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary. After some acts said they were misled about the theme, Trump decided to headline it himself. “We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home,” Trump said Thursday. “All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played.” The show will include “all of your favorite Hits,” Trump added, “PLUS a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as, President DONALD J. TRUMP!”

Cuba’s foreign affairs minister blasts new US sanctions

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s minister of foreign affairs, condemned the new sanctions Thursday on X.

He said “the vile inclusion” of Díaz-Canel and others, including Cuban institutions and civil society organizations, “is the latest example of the US interventionist plan to portray Cuba as a threat to US national security.”

“Every US action aimed at creating a scenario of conflict between the two countries is destined to fail,” he wrote. “Every threat against Cuba’s independence and sovereignty will be met with even greater unity and determination from our people.”

Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time, AP finds

Eight years after Trump’s forcible border separations came to an official halt following global outrage, an Associated Press investigation has found that the government has re-separated dozens of children from their families, despite a landmark legal settlement meant to keep them together.

Some of their parents have been locked in immigration detention facilities for months, others deported back to their home countries after being taken from their families once again.

In some cases, immigration officials conducting interior arrests deported people despite discovering they were legally off limits for removal, according to emails obtained by AP.

▶ Read more of AP’s investigation

Planning commission seeks more details on Trump’s planned arch

The National Capital Planning Commission wants more details on President Donald Trump’s proposal for a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C.

The commission voted Thursday to seek additional information on the planned structure’s impact on air navigation and traffic around the area between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery where the 250-foot arch is planned.

Public comments mostly expressed concerns about its scale and impact on the skyline. One critic called it a “vanity project.”

The arch would feature inscriptions and a public observation deck. Trump claims it can be funded with private donations.

Kennedy Center begins process of removing Trump references after judge said it was illegally added

The Kennedy Center is beginning the process of removing references to President Donald Trump a week after a federal judge ruled that his name had been illegally added to the performing arts center.

Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, said in a statement to The Associated Press that “we are complying with the court’s order while evaluating all legal options to preserve this revitalization and recognize President Trump’s leadership.”

In a Thursday memo to staff from the Kennedy Center’s Office of General Counsel, the institution’s lawyers said email signatures, letterhead and other documents must reflect the name as “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts” or “Kennedy Center.”

The changes, the memo said, must be completed by June 12.

A federal judge ruled May 29 that Trump’s name had been illegally added to the venue, also blocking the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July.

Hours later, Trump said he was backing away from the revamp and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president’s second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

US imposes sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in latest move to pressure leadership

The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel, along with four other individuals, according to a filing Thursday on the U.S. Treasury Department website.

Included in the sanctions are Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of former President Raúl Castro.

The sanctions come after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding sanctions against the island.

The new sanctions boost pressure on the Cuban government but are far from the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against heads of state or government and their relatives.

The U.S. hit former Sudanese President Omar Bashir and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in the early 2000s and more recently targeted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife with sanctions.

Trump says he’s going to NBA Finals to root for the Knicks

Calling himself a “big fan” of the New York Knicks and owner James Dolan, the president — born in Queens — said he’ll be attending at least one game at Madison Square Garden.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me. I’m going,” Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event on Thursday.

Trump said he watched the beginning and end of the Knicks’ Game 1 win over the San Antonio Spurs, though he missed the middle “because I talked to generals all night long.”

A sports enthusiast, Trump said he was amazed by the play of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.

Asked if he would be attending Game 3, scheduled for Monday, or Game 4, Trump said: “Monday, could be Monday. Maybe I’ll do both.”

Trump says Biden was ‘the same guy’ as ever when they met in Oval Office after 2024 election

The Republican president frequently attacks his predecessor, but he hedged on Thursday when asked whether he noticed any cognitive decline while talking with former President Joe Biden.

“No, it was the same guy,” Trump said. “He was fine as far as I was concerned.”

Recalling a 2024 presidential debate that raised concerns about Biden’s health, Trump took credit for what he described as a strong performance.

“Something happened during the debate,” Trump said. “It could have been me. You know, I thought I had a very good debate.”

Biden made an appearance in New York this week at a tour stop for Jill Biden’s new memoir.

Trump says he was only kidding about keeping UFC cage at the White House

The president, speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, said a UFC octagon being built on the South Lawn will come down after the June 14 bout. He said his previous comment was made “jokingly,” and he expressed dismay that some people believed it.

It comes two days after Trump released a video on social media comparing the cage to Paris’ Eiffel Tower, which was built to be temporary for the 1889 World’s Fair but became permanent. In the video, Trump drew a parallel with the octagon, saying, “Maybe we’ll never ever take it down.”

Trump urged to stop Israel from annexing and encroaching on territory for a Palestinian state

Arab and Islamic countries are urging the U.N. Security Council, especially the United States, and the international community to act to end Israel’s annexation campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told reporters Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already has Israeli forces occupying 60% of Gaza, and wants 70%. And he said Israeli construction plans will separate the northern and southern West Bank, and sever east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital, delivering “a deadly blow to the two-state solution.”

Mansour said Trump has told Netanyahu there must be “no annexation,” stressing, “he has the tools to stop Netanyahu in his tracks.”

Mansour was surrounded by many ambassadors from the U.N.’s 22-member Arab Group and 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation who support Security Council action against Israeli annexation.

Trump said it ‘would be great’ if Putin and Zelenskyy met

The president, when asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting a meeting with Putin, said he was glad to hear they were discussing a meeting and said, “They should get it done.”

Trump said he wouldn’t say what compromises he requested Putin make to settle the war, but said, “They’re going to both make compromises. I suggested those compromises.”

Trump says that Pulte won’t be the ‘permanent’ director of national intelligence

The president’s pick of Bill Pulte to be the acting director of national intelligence has triggered pushback from some Republican and Democratic senators.

But Trump stressed in response to an Oval Office question that Pulte, who currently serves as Federal Housing Finance Agency director, would not be nominated to the position of coordinating 18 federal agencies involved in national security issues.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said.

The president said that Pulte is “a very smart guy” and he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

But Trump said other candidates were being considered to be nominated for the Senate confirmed post.

“We’re interviewing people right now,” Trump said.

Trump’s track record hasn’t been great for jobs mining coal

The U.S. president bragged at an Oval Office event to back the coal industry that his policies are putting coal miners back to work, but the numbers tell the exact opposite story.

“They’re all going back to work,” Trump claimed.

Since Trump became president in 2025, the U.S. has lost 1,800 coal mining jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The job losses translate into more than 4% of the coal mining workforce. Employment in the coal mining sector was hurt by the pandemic and rebounded during much of the term of former President Joe Biden. Coal mining jobs began to decline in late 2024 and the losses have been sustained during Trump’s second term.

Rubio assures Kuwait of US support in meeting with FM after Iranian strike on airport

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has assured Kuwait of U.S. support for the country a day after Iran launched a retaliatory airstrike on Kuwait’s international airport.

In a meeting on Thursday with Kuwait’s foreign minister, Rubio “reiterated the commitment of the United States to Kuwait’s security, to ensuring that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, and restoration of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz,” the State Department said in a statement.

Rubio “also condemned Iran’s outrageous and unacceptable attacks targeting Kuwait International Airport and other parts of the country and expressed condolences for those killed and injured in that attack,” it said.

Trump does show-and-tell with Reflecting Pool

The president kicked off an event at the White House about coal by showing off what he said was “nice clean water” filling up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after the renovation he directed.

The president held up for reporters images of the refinished pool and a poster boasting of the length of the basin. He then had an aide play a video on a small laptop screen showing water bubbling back into the drained pool.

“The water is pouring in as we speak,” Trump said.

Trump says Reflecting Pool work is done and it’s set to be filled with water

The president’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is done, and it’s set to be filled with water any day now, his administration says.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed on Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing it’s set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump announced the project in April, inspired by a friend’s complaint. The cost is estimated at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show at least $14.8 million worth of contracts has been awarded for the project.

Critics argue the Republican president is focusing too much on personal projects.

A nonprofit filed a lawsuit to stop work at the “dark grey” pool, claiming the new paint color suggested a “theme park.” The pool was built in the 1920s and is an iconic Washington site.

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House poised to pass Ukraine aid over the objections of Republican leaders

The House is on course to pass legislation that would aid Ukraine and sanction key segments of the Russian economy despite opposition from Republican leaders who warn the bill will undermine negotiations designed to achieve a comparable but stronger result.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, seeks to cement U.S. assistance for Ukraine by providing more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid. It would make another $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.

The vote Thursday could generate the House’s second major foreign policy break this week with Trump. It comes one day after the House for the first time approved a war powers resolution aimed at halting the U.S. military action against Iran.

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Some Republican governors are rebranding June with conservative alternatives to Pride

June is widely recognized as Pride Month, but a handful of Republican governors have bestowed alternative titles that both supporters and opponents view as counterprogramming.

Without directly saying the idea was to replace Pride, the governors of Indiana and Tennessee rebranded June as Nuclear Family Month to celebrate units made up of “one husband, one wife and any biological, adopted or fostered children.”

In Alabama, it’s Strong Families Month, intended to coincide with Father’s Day.

The governors of Utah and Arkansas deemed it Fidelity Month, which emphasizes fidelity to faith, country and family — without comment on how those families might be comprised.

Pride organizations say the efforts to rename the month won’t affect their parades and other celebrations. The festivities were born out of protest more than 50 years ago, and organizers say that remains essential to their purpose.

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Trump expected to announce $700 million in new support for struggling coal industry

The president is again seeking to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry, with an announcement expected Thursday to spend nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports.

A White House official said the administration will use authority under a Cold War-era national defense law to support 13 coal plants across the country and help build coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia.

If built, the plants would be the first new U.S. coal plants since 2013. The money will also help restart a coal-fired power plant in Maryland and support construction of a long-delayed coal export terminal in Oakland, California.

Environmentalists said the plan would “put polluters first” and jeopardize Americans’ health.

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American Airlines temporarily suspends some of its summer routes due to steep jet fuel costs

American Airlines is temporarily suspending some of its routes this summer, as steep jet fuel costs continue to strain carriers’ budgets amid the war with Iran.

In a statement, American said it had adjusted service for “select routes” in August and September — and that affected travelers would be offered alternative arrangements or refunds. The Texas-based airline cited elevated fuel costs, and maintained that these changes were in line with wider industry trends.

American also said that it was not cutting any of its routes indefinitely and that it was proud to “offer an industry-leading network with more flights than any other U.S. airline.”

Still, the summer suspensions could cause more headaches for travelers already facing fewer flights options and higher price tags across their budgets. Airlines around the world have canceled numerous flights or similarly trimmed schedules through the coming months — and many have are also hiking fees or cutting other perks in efforts to save money.

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Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Thursday in a case about the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.

The 8-1 decision upheld one of the Federal Communications Commission’s key tools, though the companies also won a concession from the Republican administration that could shift the regulatory landscape.

The appeal from telecommunications giants Verizon and AT&T challenged a combined $100 million in penalties imposed after the agency determined the companies had failed to safeguard customer location data.

The companies argued that the FCC’s process was unconstitutional because it gave them little opportunity to tell their side of the story in front of a jury.

The administration defended the fines as an essential regulatory tool. But the government also said companies did not have to pay the penalties right away, a regulatory shift in the company’s favor.

The Supreme Court agreed.

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Ex-national security adviser John Bolton will plead guilty in classified information case: AP source

The former Trump administration national security adviser has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or sharing diary-like notes with family members that officials said contained classified information as he was preparing a memoir of his time in government.

Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that hadn’t been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.

A rearraignment, which typically signals a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

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— Eric Tucker

Senate begins voting on bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol as Democrats try to derail it

The Senate is beginning a long series of votes Thursday on legislation to fund President Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies, moving toward passage of a three-year fix as Democrats have blocked the money for months in protest.

The roughly $70 billion bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol would end the blockade by Democrats who demanded policy changes after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents in January. The bill would fund the agencies for three years, through the end of Trump’s term.

First, though, Republicans must beat back a potential gauntlet of amendments Democrats plan to offer, including to try and permanently ban Trump’s $1.776 billion settlement fund for allies who he believes have been politically persecuted. Democrats have said their first amendment Thursday morning will be to eliminate the fund and send the immigration spending bill back to committee.

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US jobless aid filings, a proxy for layoffs, hit highest level since Iran war began in February

The number of Americans filing for jobless aid hit their highest level in four months last week, but layoffs remain historically low despite ongoing economic uncertainty brought on by the war in Iran.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 30 increased by 13,000 to 225,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s the most since early February, before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran, but still a historically low level. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 211,000 new applications.

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

Despite historically low layoffs, the labor market seems to be mired in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state. That’s kept the unemployment rate low at 4.3%, but left many of those out of work struggling to find new employment.

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Trump officials went after dozens of colleges. Now they’re rewriting the rules for all of academia

A year ago, the White House was unleashing a blitz on higher education. At one campus after another, Trump officials opened investigations and cut federal funding unless schools fell in line with the Republican president’s political agenda.

Now, after a campaign that put dozens of universities under investigation, Trump’s administration is taking a wider approach, moving to rewrite the federal rules that govern all of higher education. Demands that were being pressed on individual schools are being written into the fine print for thousands of U.S. universities.

“We’re coming over the higher education system and course correcting,” Nicholas Kent, undersecretary for the Education Department, said in an Associated Press interview. Unlike investigations that target individual campuses, he said the new tactic has power “to affect 6,000 institutions.”

The shift comes after federal judges blocked Trump’s administration from making crippling cuts at Harvard and the University of California, Los Angeles. It also follows a mass exodus in civil rights lawyers who traditionally guide investigations against universities. Still, Trump hasn’t backed down from his campaign to end what he calls “wokeness” run amok in academia.

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Buffalo named Donald Trump for his golden locks is a sensation at a Bangladesh zoo

With his shock of golden hair and trim 700-kilogram (1,500-pound) build, Donald Trump has been drawing crowds from across Bangladesh since he arrived at the national zoo last week.

The rare albino buffalo became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blond tuft of hair resembled the distinctive locks of the U.S. president. After a video of the pale horned mammal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm outside Dhaka to see him for themselves.

The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim festival of sacrifice. But citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo in the capital, where large crowds are now braving sweltering heat to see him.

“There is a resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color,” said Mohammed Nasim, a student in Dhaka. “And just as Donald Trump has a distinctive personality and lifestyle, this buffalo, after going viral, is now living a similar kind of life, enjoying a lot of attention and special treatment.”

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Trump slams the 4 Republicans who voted in favor of war powers resolution

The president says the symbolic House vote approving a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran, was “meaningless.”

Still, Trump is livid that four House Republicans joined the Democrats in supporting the resolution.

“The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump said in a post on his social media site. “They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story - They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refuses to say whether Trump remains exempt from IRS audits

Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

“There’s continuing litigation, and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent told lawmakers at the Senate Finance Committee hearing.

It was a frustrating answer for Democratic lawmakers looking to get answers from Bessent at a hearing ostensibly focused on the Treasury Department’s budget and came a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seemed to indicate that the portion of the settlement dealing with the IRS audit immunity would still be in effect for the Republican president.

After several failed attempts to get Bessent to answer, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said, “It’s been very clear you’re dodging this and you’re trying to use it as an excuse. It’s just outrageous on behalf of the American public.”

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Trump says he'll nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, tapping his former personal lawyer who has aggressively pursued the Republican president’s agenda while leading the Justice Department in an acting role.

Trump said at a dinner at the White House that he plans to nominate Blanche formally on Thursday, according to a video of the event posted on social media by a White House aide.

“We are going to make him permanent attorney general,” Trump said at the Rose Garden event.

Blanche was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general and was elevated after Bondi’s ousting over her failed efforts to prosecute Trump’s perceived political opponents. Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent post but made clear through splashy moves since taking the reins his intent on proving his loyalty to Trump.

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What left the Knicks star nearly stumped was determining what he would deem worthy of spending $7,500 to go see.

“That’s a good question,” Brunson said Thursday. He paused for a few seconds before delivering his answer: “A live Michael Jackson performance.”

Thriller, indeed.

From Bay Ridge to the Bronx and beyond, the Big Apple has gone nuts for the Knicks.

The team is not only in the NBA Finals for the first time in 27 years, New York is riding a 12-0 roll after rallying from a 14-point second-half deficit in a 105-95 win at San Antonio in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Game 2 is Friday night in San Antonio before the series shifts to New York on Monday.

It seems as if the entire city is on board. There were the thousands who filled Madison Square Garden to watch the game on the big screen, only to be matched by the thousands more celebrating outside in the shadow of the Empire State Building lit up in the Knicks' blue and orange.

The MTA — the city's transit authority — got into the spirit by painting several subway stops around the arena in Knicks colors. And Mayor Zohran Mamdani even signed an executive order temporarily lifting children's bedtime hours.

“Knicks in Four!” chants erupted shortly after midnight, as fans climbed light posts and even on an ambulance outside of MSG.

Similar scenes were captured at a free watch party in Central Park, and across the five boroughs.

At a bar in Brooklyn, fans spilled out onto the outside sidewalk to watch the game on the TV inside. At a pizzeria a few doors down, fans gathered around a flat screen TV someone erected in the trunk of a car.

All of this for a chance to be a part of what could be history 53 years in the making, since Willis Reed and company last brought an NBA title to what was and evidently remains a basketball-mad metropolis. The buzz in the city has overwhelmed much talk of the World Cup, which opens in a week.

“Honestly, I just feel grateful to be here and experience the New York Knicks, doing what we haven’t done in a long time,” Owen Odigie said, celebrating the Game 1 win inside Madison Square Garden. “It’s special. It’s beautiful.”

Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns could feel the Big Apple energy some 1,800 miles away in San Antonio following Game 1.

“You feel the energy in the city, the grit, the grind, the hard work you’ve got to put in to make it in the city,” said Towns, who hails from New Jersey. “I think we reflect all our fans ... when we step on that court with a Knicks jersey.”

Knicks fans even made their presence felt in San Antonio, beyond the familiar celebrities of Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller and more. The crowd in San Antonio was made up of an estimated 20% Knicks fans, some of whom made their voices heard in yelling, “Let’s go, Knicks,” during the national anthem.

In reality, given the soaring prices at home, it was reasonably cheaper for Knicks fans to make the trip to San Antonio, even when taking into account flight and lodging costs. Tickets for Game 1 started at around $750 on the secondary market.

Spurs guard Julian Champagnie — a native New Yorker — wasn’t surprised to see the Knicks contingent.

“I kind of expected that,” Champagnie said. “I’m from New York. I know how New York fans travel and stuff like that, so I kind of expected that.”

Towns said he couldn't be more appreciative of the love being shown by Knicks fans. But he said he also prays for the New York police officers tasked with keeping people safe amid the frenzy.

“All those men and women out there that are not only protecting everybody ... they are huge fans of the Knicks and support the Knicks fans in their ability to show how much they love the Knicks and being as lenient as possible without causing chaos,” Towns said. "So, shout-out to the men and women of the NYPD.”

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Wawrow reported from Buffalo, New York, and Reynolds from San Antonio.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Trump showed a video during an unrelated event with water bubbling into the freshly painted basin at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.

“That's clean, beautiful water,” the president said.

Live video showed water accumulating in the center of the basin, with workers and trucks still inside the pool.

Trump noted the work to paint the shallow basin a deep shade, which he calls “American flag blue,” was completed Wednesday. The administration said in a court filing that it was set to be filled with water no later than Sunday.

Trump also announced a plan to build a “promenade” that would allow pedestrians to walk from the back of the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac RIver.

“They want to call it the ‘Trump Promenade’ but I don’t know if I want to do that, but it’s going to be beautiful,” Trump said.

Trump has put the cost of the work on the pool at $1.5 million to $2 million, but records show that at least $14.8 million worth of contracts have been awarded for the project. The president announced the work in April during an unrelated Oval Office appearance, saying he was inspired by complaints from a friend visiting from Germany who called the pool dark and disgusting.

The project is another way for Trump to leave his mark on the city, following the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a large ballroom and plans to build an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

The reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet (610 meters) long, was originally built in the 1920s. It sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and is one of the most iconic sites in Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously gave his “I Have a Dream” speech there in 1963.

The basin held about 6.5 million gallons of water — roughly as much as 10 Olympic-size swimming pools — before a 2012 renovation, according to the National Park Service. Under that earlier renovation, the pool was reengineered with a circulation and filtration system so that instead of using the city’s drinking water, it draws river water from the nearby Tidal Basin. Washington and its surrounding states are facing drought conditions.

Critics have said Trump, a Republican, is spending too much time and attention on his pet projects and not enough on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living, in the run-up to the November elections. Others have said he wants the reflecting pool to look more like a swimming pool.

Last month, a Washington-based nonprofit called the Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a suit asking a judge to force the Trump administration to stop work on the “dark grey” Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the new paint color suggested a “theme park.”

An order in the case hasn't come yet, and on Wednesday the Trump administration notified the court the work was complete, with the basin set to be filled by Sunday.

A message seeking information from the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, wasn't immediately answered.

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Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey.

Wyndham Clark, coming off a victory in the Byron Nelson, U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood and the Ryan Gerard were each at 5-under 67, among only 22 players who broke par at Muirfield Village.

Scheffler was poised to be among them until a bad wedge led to a careless bogey on the 14th, and what he thought was a great shot on the 16th bounced into the water for double bogey.

He walked 96 yards to the drop area with his palms upward when they weren't slapping his thigh, all the while seeking answers from caddie Ted Scott that neither of them had. “I don't think you understand how frustrating that is," he said to Scott, who replied quietly with the obvious answer. “I do,” the caddie said.

Six of the seven players who broke 70 started before 10 a.m. and missed out on the swirling wind on a hot, clear day that made the greens even firmer than they already were.

The exception was Gerard, who had quite the wild ride. He had a 3 on a par 5 and followed that with a 5 on a par 3. He had five straight birdies on the back nine and only five pars on his scorecard for the entire round. It added to a 67, which was all that mattered.

“The small misses often lead to big punishments at this golf course,” Gerard said “I don’t think we aimed at a flag stick on the back nine and shot 5 under. You’re picking small targets around either the edge of a bunker or a rake or some guy wearing a bright-colored shirt in the background or a TV tower or whatever it might be.”

Fleetwood's 67 was his lowest round in his fifth time playing the Memorial, and this wasn't the way he would have drawn it up. He was solid off the tee, not so much from the fairway. Fleetwood hit only seven greens and still played bogey-free.

“I got the most out of the round, totally. I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. ... Shot 5 under, so it couldn't have been that bad. I was just getting a little frustrated at the end not being able to execute the iron shots that I wanted to.”

Nick Taylor wasted a good start with a double bogey on the par-5 seventh and a bogey on the next hole, only to played bogey-free on the tough back nine and finishing with one of only seven birdies on the the 18th hole.

Justin Rose and Sam Burns were at 69.

Scheffler provided the entertainment, even it didn't feel all that entertaining to him. He had changed clubs on the ninth, took the longer one and still was short. He changed clubs three times from the fairway on the par-5 11th and came up short. And then the water ball on the 16th was the capper.

What followed was a stream of frustrating lines: “I never thought that was in the water. ... I don't know what to do. ... I absolutely flushed a 7-iron and we get the wind wrong and I'm in the water. ... I'm hitting good shots and dropping from hazards.”

So when he was asked after signing for his 73 if he had any fun at any point, Scheffler gave a half-laugh as he rubbed his chin and said, “Not that I can recall at the moment.”

The 17th was kind of fun. From a fairway bunker, 182 yards to a tucked pin in the front right, Scheffler hit 7-iron to the collar 15 feet away and chipped in for birdie.

“See, that's the thing that can be so frustrating about golf,” Scheffler said. "I striped one on the hole before that and I end up in the water. That one I kind of hit thin, and you get a good bounce and I end up on the fringe and I chip in.

“Yeah, what a game,” he said. “I felt like I didn't get anything out of the round, all of a sudden you get a lucky bounce and you're like, ‘OK, well, I'm going to try to smile.' It's still hard.”

He did smile as he headed to the wind, late enough in the afternoon the wind was starting to calm. He also realized his score wasn't all that bad compared with other players from the afternoon.

It was tough all over for just about everyone. Patrick Cantlay was 3 over through holes and recovered for a 70. Rory McIlroy overcame an early double bogey to go 3 under the rest of the way for a 71. Aaron Rai played alongside Scheffler in his first start since winning the PGA Championship and shot 73.

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

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Bristol County Superior Court argues that Read's acquittal last June revealed “an embedded culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.” It alleges that the town and the police department were negligent in the hiring, training and supervision of officers and seeks damages for legal fees, lost income, emotional distress and reputational harm, among other claims.

The complaint reproduces dozens of text messages, recordings and other communications attributed to former state trooper Michael Proctor and former Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode. Among them are messages in which Proctor referred to Read as a “whack job” and wrote that he hoped she would kill herself. The lawsuit also cites messages that it says included use of the n-word and, in one instance, a comment by Proctor that “Hitler was really on to something.”

Read's lawyers argue that those materials show both men were unfit to participate in the investigation and that their conduct reflected broader failures in oversight by state and local law enforcement.

In a statement on Thursday, State Police Superintendent Col. Geoffrey Noble called Proctor’s messages “racist, sexist and abhorrent” and said they supported his decision to fire the former trooper. Noble said the comments did not reflect the values of the department and pointed to changes that have been made since he became superintendent. He also noted that the investigation predated his tenure.

“These disturbing messages are entirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and certainly with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper," Noble said, adding that agency officials are, "keenly aware of the ways in which this misconduct harmed the public trust on which our mission depends.”

The town of Canton said it learned of the lawsuit through news reports and a press release from Read’s legal team and had not yet been served with the complaint. The town said it had “the utmost faith and confidence” in Police Chief Michael Daniels and disputed what it described as “broad stroke characterizations” of Canton police officers contained in the lawsuit. Officials said the department has implemented recommendations from an outside audit and is modernizing the agency.

Proctor’s attorney, Matt Hamel, told NBC10 Boston that focusing on “anything other than Ms. Read’s own conduct” was “telling and predictable” and said “anything Mr. Proctor did or said in his personal life, years before Officer O’Keefe was killed, had no bearing whatsoever on the investigation of Karen Read.”

Read walked out of court a free woman about a year ago after more than three years and two trials over the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found on the suburban lawn of a fellow officer’s home after a night of heavy drinking during a snowstorm.

Prosecutors said Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV on the January 2022 night of a party, leaving him to die in a blizzard. Read faced charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene. The jury acquitted her of those charges, but convicted her of a lesser charge for drunken driving.

Her lawyers successfully defended her, painting a sinister picture of police misconduct and theorizing that O’Keefe was in fact killed by colleagues who then covered it up.

The trial centered in part on lead investigator Michael Proctor, whom defense attorneys described as biased against Read from the beginning. The Massachusetts State Police trial board found Proctor guilty of sending crude and defamatory text messages about Read while leading the investigation into her. He was fired and became a central figure for Read supporters who believe the investigation was tainted.

Goode was placed on leave in November 2025 when the town was notified about allegations of misconduct. He resigned earlier this week, according to news outlets.

The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified information, including diary-like notes from his time in government that officials say he shared with family members as he was preparing a memoir about his career.

Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that had not been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement could also allow him to avoid time behind bars. The punishment will ultimately be up to a judge.

The case against Bolton, filed weeks after prosecutors secured indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, unfolded against the backdrop of concerns that the Justice Department is using its law enforcement powers to pursue perceived adversaries of President Donald Trump. The investigation burst into public view last August when FBI agents served search warrants at his Maryland home and Washington office, but it had been well underway by the time Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Wrote book critical of Trump

Bolton, 77, is a longtime fixture in Republican foreign policy circles who became known for his hawkish views on American power. He served for more than a year in Trump’s first administration before being pushed out in 2019 and publishing a critical book that portrayed the Republican president as deeply misinformed and painted an unflattering portrait of his leadership and decision-making.

Trump's administration fought unsuccessfully to block the publication of “The Room Where it Happened” on the grounds that the book contained classified information that could harm national security if exposed. Bolton’s lawyers have said he moved forward with the book after a White House National Security Council official, with whom Bolton had worked for months, said the manuscript no longer had classified information.

The indictment he faced focused on notes shared with his wife and daughter rather than the substance of the book itself.

Bolton had initially pleaded not guilty and, in a statement released after his indictment, described the charges as part of an “intensive effort” by Trump “to intimidate his opponents, to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his conduct.”

A re-arraignment, which can signal a plea agreement, is scheduled for June 26 in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

The indictment's 18 counts carried a threat of a substantial prison sentence in the event of conviction, but the plea will avert that possibility.

Accused of sharing classified material with family members

Court documents alleged that he shared “diary-like” entries with information classified as high as top secret that he had learned from meetings with other U.S. government officials, from intelligence briefings or talks with foreign leaders. After sending one document, Bolton wrote in a message to his relatives, “None of which we talk about!!!” In response, one of his relatives wrote, “Shhhhh,” prosecutors said.

The indictment said that among the material shared was information about foreign adversaries that in some cases revealed details about sources and methods used by the U.S. government to collect intelligence. One document related to a foreign adversary’s plans for a missile launch, while another detailed U.S. government plans for covert action and included intelligence blaming an adversary for an attack, court papers say.

Bolton's government service long predated the Trump administration. He had also served in the Justice Department during President Ronald Reagan’s administration and was a State Department point person on arms control during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Bolton was nominated by Bush to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, but the strong supporter of the Iraq War was unable to win Senate confirmation. He resigned after serving 17 months through a recess appointment that allowed him to hold the job on a temporary basis without Senate approval.

Fired after foreign policy clashes with Trump

In 2018, Bolton was appointed to serve as Trump’s third national security adviser. His brief tenure was characterized by disputes with the president over North Korea, Iran and Ukraine.

Those rifts ultimately led to Bolton’s departure, with Trump announcing on social media in September 2019 that he had accepted Bolton’s resignation.

Bolton subsequently criticized Trump’s approach to foreign policy and government in his book, including by alleging that Trump directly tied providing military aid to Ukraine to that country’s willingness to conduct investigations into Joe Biden, who was soon to be Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2020 presidential election, and members of the Biden family.

Trump responded by slamming Bolton as a “washed-up guy” and a “crazy” warmonger who would have led the country into “World War Six.”

_____

Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% for its 10th gain in the last 11 days, a day after dropping from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 874 points, or 1.7%, to a record, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.

Stocks got a lift from a 2.8% drop for the price of Brent crude oil to $95.03 per barrel. That gave back a chunk of its rise from this week caused by the latest flare-ups of fighting between Iran and the United States and its allies.

The expectation on Wall Street seems to be that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would hopefully improve the flow of crude, lower oil’s price and remove some of the upward pressure on inflation that’s hurting the world. Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, helped launch the S&P 500 on a nine-day winning streak that ended Wednesday, a day short of its longest run in three decades.

Stocks of smaller companies helped lead the way, and the Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks jumped 1.4%. They can reap the biggest benefits of falling interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.47% from 4.49% late Wednesday as oil prices sank.

Lower yields can make it less expensive for companies to borrow cash, which many smaller companies need to do to grow.

Banks also helped lead the market, including gains of 5% for Goldman Sachs, 4.7% for Fifth Third Bancorp and 4.4% for U.S. Bancorp.

They helped to more than make up for losses by some AI stocks, which took a sudden back seat after dominating the market.

Broadcom sank 12.6%, even though both profit and revenue for the chip company surpassed analysts’ expectations. CEO Hock Tan said its AI semiconductor revenue more than doubled to $10.8 billion during the quarter and that demand is only getting bigger. He is forecasting AI semiconductor growth to top 200% in the current quarter.

Investors, though, may have wanted even more after Broadcom’s stock came into the day with a 38.5% surge for the year so far. That towered over the already strong 10.3% rise for the S&P 500 index, and Broadcom has grown to become one of Wall Street’s largest and most influential stocks.

Analysts have been saying AI stocks may have run too high, becoming too expensive, and that the broad U.S. stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.

Other AI winners likewise gave back some of their big gains. Micron Technology, the latest company to see its total value top $1 trillion because of AI euphoria, fell 7.7%.

CrowdStrike Holdings dropped 3.8% even though the cybersecurity company’s profit and revenue for the latest quarter topped analysts’ expectations. CEO George Kurtz said the latest quarter was when “the worlds of cybersecurity and frontier AI collided,” and the company said it’s splitting its stock to make its share price more affordable.

But its stock came into the day with a 59.5% surge for the year so far. And analysts said it beat forecasts for some financial measures by less than it usually does.

Outside of tech, PVH Corp., the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, tumbled 20.2% even though it also beat Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets. CEO Stefan Larsson warned that it’s feeling “the prolonged effects of the Middle East conflict, which is putting pressure on” customers in the region.

All told, the S&P 500 climbed 30.63 points to 7,584.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 874.86 to 51,561.93, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 23.02 to 26,830.96.

Reports on the U.S. economy, meanwhile, came in mixed. One said that slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could indicate a slowdown in the relatively solid U.S. job market.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a weaker finish in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% for some of the larger losses.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

“You all had the opportunity to honor fallen soldiers or children who lost their lives,” said Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend and who was visibly emotional through “tears of outrage.” “Instead, you took precious time to purposefully hurt everyone who loved Floyd. And every other family who has lost a loved one to the police. ”

Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria worker who was shot and killed by a Minnesota police officer in 2016, echoed what Ross said, calling the act “the most hurtful thing you can do.”

“You give a moment of silence to a murderer? Come on," Castile said.

The two women were among those who spoke at a news conference organized by Twin Cities Coalition For Justice.

What happened in Minnesota over the weekend

The Minnesota Republican Party nominating convention held a moment of silence last weekend for Chauvin.

When the action became public knowledge, it triggered intense backlash.

Racial justice groups, civil rights advocates and Democratic public officials swiftly condemned party officials, accusing them of blindly supporting law enforcement and disrespecting Floyd and his family.

Chauvin has been in federal prison since 2021, after he was convicted of murdering Floyd six years ago. Cellphone video of Chauvin putting his knee on Floyd's neck for over 9 minutes despite Floyd's pleas of “I can't breathe" sparked the numerous racial reckoning protests that dominated the latter half of 2020.

On the one-year anniversary of Floyd's death, people knelt in a moment of silence at the site, symbolizing the 9 minutes and 29 seconds Floyd was pinned down.

A delegate at the Minnesota GOP gathering in Duluth on Saturday proposed acknowledging Chauvin, according to reports from local news outlets. It occurred days after the sixth anniversary of Floyd's death.

“The moment of silent prayer was a spontaneous motion brought forward from the convention floor. It was not part of the official convention program, it was not proposed by Convention Chairman Danny Nadeau, and it was not a statement from party leadership,” the Minnesota Republican Party said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota GOP did not immediately return an email Thursday seeking additional comment.

The impact of honoring a police officer — and not the person killed

Castile said it didn't matter if only one person participated, it was still hurtful.

“I am proud of the ones who did not do the moment of silence,” she said. “Those that did, they should be reprimanded in some fashion.”

Ross urged those Republicans who did not take part to hold their peers accountable.

“I’m speaking to the few of you that thought it was wrong. Please stand up," Ross said. “You are public servants.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the state's prosecution of Chauvin, said in a statement this week he was “heartbroken and frankly shocked" by the prayer.

“This decision dishonors the memory of George Floyd and wounds his loved ones all over again. As the lead prosecutor whose team presented this case to a jury of twelve Minnesotans and then prevailed at every step of the appeals process, I am deeply troubled by what this says about the state of our politics," Ellison said.

Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, the attorneys who represented Floyd's family in a wrongful death lawsuit, were left “sickened by this lack of respect." They also demanded the Minnesota GOP retract their moment of silence and apologize to Floyd's family.

“The audacity of the Minnesota Republican Party to honor an individual who has both been convicted by a jury of his peers for the murder of a fellow human being, while at the same time (violating) a professional oath to protect and serve his community, is disgusting,” they said in a statement.

Reached via text message on Thursday, Floyd’s New York-based brother, Terrence Floyd, said he was “glad to see people are still fighting with us for complete justice.”

How some conservatives support police officers

The moment of silence for Chauvin fits a pattern of flashpoints when conservatives reacted to police violence with “back the blue” initiatives. Long before 2020, when George Floyd's murder catalyzed the largest racial justice demonstrations since the Civil Rights Movement, some officers were symbols of “law and order” or anti-Black Lives Matter sentiment.

For example in 2014, after Darren Wilson — the former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who is white — fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was Black, a GoFundMe website raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the officer’s family and legal defense. The amount dwarfed the total raised for Brown’s family. Wilson ultimately did not face criminal charges or federal civil rights offenses.

Officers in the high-profile cases in which police killed Laquan McDonald in Chicago and Eric Garner in New York also drew sizable support from law enforcement unions that recast the criminal prosecution or discipline of officers as unjust and politically motivated.

Although legal outcomes vary a lot in these cases, most prominent examples of support for officers charged in killings do not result in overturned convictions.

___ Associated Press editor Aaron Morrison in New York City contributed to this report.

McClain’s final words — “I can’t breathe” — foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later in Minneapolis, and the Colorado man’s name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020.

The appeals court ordered new trials for Aurora Fire Rescue paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec. McClain, 23, had been forcibly restrained and put in a neck hold by police, who stopped him in response to a suspicious person complaint as the massage therapist walked home from a convenience store in the Denver suburb in 2019.

Criminal charges against paramedics and emergency medical technicians involved in police custody cases are rare. As McClain’s death and others raised questions about the use of ketamine to subdue struggling suspects, this prosecution sent shock waves through the ranks of first responders across the U.S.

New trials in the case will return the issue to the spotlight, and that could make first responders think twice when responding to calls involving people in police custody, said University of Miami criminologist Alex Piquero.

“At 11 o'clock tonight when they're on a call, and the circumstances are the same, is this going to influence their behavior?" Piquero asked. “It may not be the first thing that comes into their heads, but it's going to be there."

A jury in 2023 found Cooper and Cichuniec guilty of criminally negligent homicide following a weekslong trial in state district court. The jurors also found Cichuniec guilty of second-degree felony assault.

Cichuniec received five years in prison. Cooper avoided prison and was sentenced to 14 months in jail with work release and probation.

State attorney general says he will appeal

The appeals court upheld Cichuniec's assault conviction, but faulted the instructions given to jurors with respect to the criminally negligent homicide charges before they deliberated. Thursday's ruling sends their cases back to a lower court for a new trial on that charge.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser will appeal Thursday’s decision, a spokesperson said.

“Bringing these cases to trial was the right thing to do for justice, for Elijah McClain, and for healing in the Aurora community,” Weiser said in a statement. “The attorney general’s office is committed to defending these convictions through the appeals process.”

An Aurora police officer was convicted of homicide and third degree assault in McClain’s death, while two other officers were acquitted.

Cichuniec was released early from prison in 2024 after a judge reduced his sentence to four years of probation. That judge, Mark Warner, cited “unusual and extenuating circumstances,” a part of Colorado’s mandatory sentencing law that allows a court to modify a sentence after a defendant has served least 119 days in prison. Warner said that Cichuniec had to make a quick decision the night of the arrest as the highest-ranking paramedic at the scene.

The International Association of Fire Fighters said in a statement it continued to support Cooper and Cichuniec, who are members of the labor union.

“Today’s ruling recognizes the challenges paramedics face when making split-second medical decisions in rapidly evolving situations,” said Edward Kelly, the association’s general president.

Local prosecutors initially declined to bring charges in McClain's death

Local prosecutors initially decided not to bring charges in McClain’s death largely because an initial autopsy was inconclusive on how how he died.

Following the nationwide protests over Floyd’s death, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis directed Weiser to re-investigate the McClain case. A grand jury indicted the two paramedics and three police officers when Dr. Stephen Cina, a forensic pathologist who performed McClain’s autopsy, changed his findings to pin the blame on the sedative ketamine after reviewing body camera footage from the scene.

The city of Aurora in 2021 agreed to pay $15 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by McClain’s parents.

The Associated Press left a voicemail seeking comment with the attorney for McClain’s mother, Sheneen McClain. Other requests for comment were left with the paramedics' lawyers.

The paramedics’ defense attorneys argued they followed their training in giving ketamine to McClain after deciding he had “excited delirium,” a disputed condition invoked to justify excessive force that some say is unscientific. They also said prosecutors did not prove the sedative is what killed him.

Paramedics in Aurora had been trained to use the drug for the condition in 2018. State officials have since told paramedics to stop using excited delirium as a basis for administering ketamine.

An activist who befriended Sheneen McClain after they met at a protest said the appellate ruling was disappointing and “one of the most divisive judicial decisions our state has experienced in recent memory.”

"It strikes at the heart of a question that Colorado continues to struggle to answer: When a Black life is taken under circumstances that shock the conscience of the public, what does accountability truly mean?” said MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Thomas Peipert contributed reporting from Denver.

Brett Pincomb, 31, was charged with petit theft after a JSO officer confirmed his identity from a doorbell-camera photo, according to a police report. Residents told News4JAX the package thefts happened repeatedly, with dozens of deliveries disappearing over time.

In the report, the victim said she watched video showing a FedEx driver leaving a package at her door. After the driver left, an unknown man returned, picked up the package and walked away.

One resident, who asked not to be identified, said neighbors saw Pincomb on doorbell cameras walking the hallways and looking for deliveries. Another resident, Denise Fittje, said it was “alarming and very concerning” to live near someone accused of that behavior.

Pincomb was arrested May 21 in connection with the sexual assault investigation. Police say he later confessed to sexually assaulting at least four women at the complex. Court records show he is expected to appear before a judge next week on both the sexual assault and theft charges.

Click here for more Addressing A4dability coverage.

The City of Jacksonville has partnered with Florida-based technology company SwiftGov to use AI-assisted reviews of development plans, a move officials say could significantly reduce approval timelines and help get housing projects built faster.

“The question isn’t necessarily do we need more housing, but what is standing between compliant projects and a building permit and how fast we can get it out of the way,” said Sabrina Dugan, managing partner and co-founder of SwiftGov.

Traditionally, plans for subdivisions, townhomes and commercial developments can spend weeks or even months moving through various stages of review before receiving approval.

SwiftGov’s software SwiftBuild.ai is designed to analyze plans for compliance with local codes and regulations in a matter of minutes. The system then provides results to city staff, who review the findings and make final decisions.

“We do have a lot of permits that come through the city,” said Nina Sickler, Jacksonville’s director of public works.

Sickler said city leaders have been searching for ways to streamline the permitting process while maintaining oversight and accuracy.

According to the Dugan, the AI system reached an accuracy rate of approximately 93% after being trained on Jacksonville’s local codes and regulations.

“Just like anything, it takes training, especially with AI,” Sickler said. “We started with a lower accuracy rate in the 60 to 70% range and then over just a few iterations we got above 90%.”

Officials emphasized that AI will not replace human reviewers.

“What we’ve got AI trained to do right now is what we call more of a sufficiency review.”

Sickler said the city expects the technology could shorten permitting timelines by 45 to 60 days during the initial review process.

Supporters argue those time savings could have a direct impact on housing costs.

“Every week of a review timeline that gets compressed is a week that carrying costs don’t get passed to the buyer,” Dugan said.

Development experts note that projects sitting in review queues continue to accumulate costs such as financing expenses, taxes and professional service fees.

“Time is money,” Sickler said. “The developers have a lot of carrying costs, whether it’s financing, professional services that they have to keep working on the plan. So it equates to millions and millions of dollars of savings, and of course getting these projects into the ground and up in the air as soon as possible.”

Dugan said permitting delays ultimately affect consumers.

“Every month a project sits in a review queue, the developer is paying interest, taxes and overhead,” she said. “Those costs don’t disappear. They get passed down to the buyer or the renter. In a city that’s 50,000 units short, we really can’t afford that.”

The effort comes as Jacksonville continues to experience strong population growth and housing demand. Recent national rankings have identified Jacksonville as one of the country’s top markets for first-time homebuyers and a housing hotspot for 2026.

However, housing advocates have warned that new construction has not kept pace with demand, contributing to affordability challenges throughout the region.

Beginning June 15, Jacksonville plans to offer developers the option of using the AI-assisted permitting system.

City officials stressed that human reviewers will continue to oversee the process and retain final authority over all permit approvals.

SwiftGov is also working with several other Florida governments, including Walton, Pasco and Hernando counties, as AI-assisted permitting expands across the state.

They had — and lost — home-court advantage in Round 1 against Portland, before recovering to win the series. In Round 2 against Minnesota, the same thing happened. In the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, they trailed 2-1 before finding a way to oust the defending champion Thunder in seven games.

And now, the finals. They had home-court advantage and lost it in Game 1 against the New York Knicks. Adversity, hello again.

“We’ve been consistent in that regard,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said Thursday as his team prepares for Game 2 on Friday night. “I think one thing we have learned in our three series is that series are long. Games are long. Things shift quickly, whether that’s health, who’s playing well or hot, quote-unquote, at the time. Teams at this stage typically have shown the ability to evolve on the fly and improve within a series.”

That's what will be required if the Spurs are going to head to New York with this series knotted at a game apiece.

They shot poorly in Game 1 (36%), extremely poorly from 3-point range (26%, missing 32 of 43 tries), had 16 assists (nowhere near enough), got outscored in the paint 50-42 and couldn't hold a 14-point third-quarter lead. The Knicks deserve credit for creating a whole lot of those issues, but the Spurs know they're capable of much better play.

“I think the reason we lost that game isn’t even technical (or) tactical,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said. “We need to approach the game with a better mental state. We just need to play our game. We just need to be normal.”

Normal?

“‘Normal’ means trusting each other, trusting the basketball gods, trusting the game plan, executing, and not relying on talent so much to make shots or to save the day,” Wembanyama said. “We’ve been playing a certain way all season. We’ve been successful this way. There’s no reason to change the day the finals start.”

It was easy for the Spurs to find areas to clean up.

For the Knicks these days, that's considerably tougher.

They're 12-0 in their last 12 games, the third team to do that in a single postseason. The other two — San Antonio in 1999 and Golden State in 2017 — were NBA champions. The Knicks are certainly playing like a championship-capable team, but star guard Jalen Brunson insists that New York can't subscribe to any sort of thinking that suggests the job is done and a parade is inevitable.

“It’s all about just getting better every single day, keep chipping away, keep chipping away, being 1% better,” said Brunson, who led all scorers with 30 points in his finals debut Wednesday. “When you take steps back, how can you improve? ... Having that mentality and focus and approach I think allows us to still be students of the game and still find ways to learn, even through wins, and I think we need to continue to do that.”

The Knicks were coming off their second nine-day break between series — an unintended consequence of sweeping Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Cleveland in the East finals — and handled it just fine.

But New York's Mikal Bridges knows Game 2 will be better.

“I don’t think our Game 1s, even though we won, have been great at all,” Bridges said. “It’s tough to assimilate the emotional aspect, how physical it’s going to be when you’re in practice every day, besides being in those games. It’s tough. ... Now, we kind of got a rhythm. We've got to be better and I know we will be Game 2.”

The Spurs hope they will as well.

It's not must-win time for San Antonio, but going to New York in a 2-0 hole would make the challenge of winning the finals considerably more daunting. The Spurs have handled all the adversity that has come their way so far in the playoffs, and now have to answer that bell again.

“It’s very reassuring,” Wembanyama said. “We know we’re not here by chance. We’ve been through some weird — what do you call it? — weird situations, whatever. Yes, it’s reassuring to know that these guys, the 18 guys we got, are built this way. They are resilient.”

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Describing himself as a “big fan” of the team and owner James Dolan, Trump said Thursday that he will be in the arena for at least one game next week. The NBA believes it would make him the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

“The answer is yes — he’s invited me, I’m going,” Trump said of Dolan's invitation. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he was eyeing Game 3 on Monday but didn't rule out Game 4 on Wednesday. “Maybe I'll do both.”

Trump, who is simultaneously contending with a war in Iran, strife in Congress and looming midterm elections, said he made sure to catch some of Game 1 on Wednesday as the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs and took a 1-0 lead in the series.

“I missed the middle because I talk to generals all night long now, but I watched that end of the game and they were dominant,” Trump said. “Really amazing.”

Asked about his plans for next week, Trump went on to offer his own game recap, giving nothing but praise for the Knicks. Taking questions after an event on his administration's efforts to promote the U.S. coal industry, Trump said it “wasn't looking good” for the Knicks early on but commended them for holding back Victor Wembanyama, the towering Spurs center.

“I say, how do you guard this guy? He's 7-foot-5 and he’s got a great shot, right? But they find a way to do it. They're really great.”

The NBA said it believes no other sitting president has attended an NBA Finals game. Earlier Thursday, Commissioner Adam Silver said some former presidents had attended. He recalled Trump as a Knicks fan long before his political career.

“Donald Trump, before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,” Silver said. “I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days. He attended many of our drafts when they used to take place at Madison Square Garden."

Silver reiterated a message he conveyed Wednesday amid reports that Trump might attend — that sports can be unifying, even in deeply divided political times.

“We can emphasize what we have in common, not what pulls us apart,” Silver said. “We’re seeing that in New York and I think President Trump is very much a New Yorker, and I’m thrilled that yet another New Yorker wants to participate in the enthusiasm and the joy around this Knick team.”

The commissioner acknowledged that Trump’s presence will require extra security in and around Madison Square Garden. That would almost certainly mean longer transit times and logistical issues for fans.

“I think the fans are very understanding of that,” Silver said. “I think they recognize that it adds to the bigness of the event."

___

AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in San Antonio contributed to this report.

Trump said the administration will use authority under a Cold War-era national defense law to support 13 coal plants across the country and help build coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia — the first new U.S. coal plants since 2013. The money will also help restart a shuttered coal-fired power plant in Maryland and support construction of a long-delayed coal export terminal in Oakland, California.

Together, the announcements will support or create more than 14,000 jobs in coal, construction, rail and maritime industries, a White House official said. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that grants presidents broad authority over national security-related industries, and said his actions will allow coal plants to invest in upgrades that will extend their operational lives for decades.

The plan will “reinforce the reliability of our electric grid, which is really the biggest beneficiary," Trump said at a White House event that also touched on renovations to the Reflecting Pool, the wars in Ukraine and Iran and a UFC cage being built at the White House.

“Coal's a great business," Trump said. "In terms of power, there’s really nothing like it.”

Trump seeks to reverse long-term decline in US coal

The announcement is the latest step by Trump to try to reverse the years-long decline in the U.S. coal industry. The administration said last fall it would open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants. Trump issued executive orders soon after retaking office to try to revive coal, a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been shrinking amid environmental regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy.

Under Trump’s orders, the Energy Department has required coal-fired power plants in Michigan, Indiana, Colorado and Washington state to keep operating past their retirement dates to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The Energy Department has extended short-term orders to allow those efforts to continue, and has ordered oil and gas-fired plants in Maryland and Pennsylvania to run past scheduled retirement dates.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order Thursday requiring a coal-fired power plant in Orlando, Florida, to remain open past a planned shutdown this month.

Wright repeated a claim Thursday that the administration's use of emergency orders to keep aging coal-fired plants operating helped prevent major blackouts during brutally frigid weather that gripped most of the country in late January and early February.

The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, proposed revisions to an Obama-era rule on regional haze that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said would have forced the closure of a coal-fired power plant in Wyoming. The plant uses Wyoming coal, supports hundreds of Wyoming mining and energy jobs and is essential to delivering reliable, affordable energy to families across the state, Zeldin said.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the third Cabinet member at the White House event, called coal crucial to the U.S. electric grid. “It’s the backbone of having affordable, reliable and secure American energy to power our country, power our electric grid, power our competitiveness in AI and power all the manufacturing that’s coming back," he said.

Activists call Trump's priorities archaic

Environmental groups denounced the latest efforts to boost coal, which come as the Trump administration has clamped down on renewable energy, including freezing permits for offshore wind projects, ending clean energy tax credits and blocking wind and solar projects on federal lands.

“Propping up coal billionaires with taxpayer money is one more way for the Trump administration to put polluters first and put the rest of us at risk," said Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “What’s next, a taxpayer bailout to build new phone booths?”

Trump's order will result in higher electricity bills and dirtier air, Kennedy and other critics said. “The best thing for the air, the climate and our utility bills is to let these plants retire peacefully," she said.

“Spending $700 million to bail out the coal industry is like throwing a lifeline to a ship that has already sunk,'' said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action, another environmental group.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said coal generation helps shield consumers from the impacts of volatile energy prices and supply challenges exacerbated by AI.

Trump's strategy will “ensure that upgrades to existing energy assets are made” domestically, “and at our ports to ensure that U.S. coal can answer the world’s needs,” he said.

Coal once provided more than half of U.S. electricity production, but its share dropped to about 15% in 2024, down from about 45% as recently as 2010. Natural gas provides about 43% of U.S. electricity, with the remainder from nuclear energy and renewables such as wind, solar and hydropower.

Coal exports have dropped

U.S. coal exports dropped during the first year of Trump’s second term, largely due to less coal being shipped to China after it imposed reciprocal tariffs on American products last year in response to broad tariffs announced by Trump, according to the Energy Information Administration. Global coal demand rose to record levels in recent years but is expected to flatten or decline in the coming years, according to the International Energy Agency.

It’s hard for U.S. companies to expand into new markets because there are plentiful reserves of coal around the globe.

Even so, Trump has pushed to revive coal exports on the West Coast. Coal miners have long sought to ship coal from Utah and the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming to markets in Asia.

Developers are fighting the city of Oakland to build an export terminal on the site of a decommissioned Army base. Community members and advocacy groups have voiced concerns over how trains loaded with coal will affect public health, safety and the environment.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.

The Packers announced Thursday they had signed Watson to an extension without disclosing terms, but a person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that the 27-year-old receiver is getting a four-year, $110.5 million extension through 2030 with a $31 million signing bonus.

ESPN first reported the extension.

Watson becomes the second Packers receiver to get an extension this offseason. Jayden Reed agreed in April to a three-year extension that includes $50.25 million in new money and $20 million guaranteed.

“Grateful is an understatement ... so blessed,” Watson said in an Instagram story post.

Watson tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in Green Bay’s 2024 regular-season finale, but he came back last season to catch 35 passes for 611 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games. He tied for the team lead in touchdown catches and ranked second in yards receiving despite missing much of the season.

While recovering from his torn ACL, Watson signed a one-year, $13.25 million extension last fall that enabled his contract to run through 2026. Now he has a longer-term commitment.

Watson, Doubs and 2025 first-round pick Matthew Golden figure to lead a receiving unit that lost a couple of notable performers when Romeo Doubs signed with the New England Patriots and Dontayvion Wicks was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.

“It was definitely tough to see those guys go because they’re great friends of mine, great teammates,” Watson said this week. “This thing always keeps on moving. I definitely think they’ll be a lot more opportunities for the guys who are out there this year, myself included. Just got to embrace that and continue to make plays when our numbers are called.”

Watson, a 2022 second-round pick from North Dakota State, has been a quality deep threat for the Packers when available. Injuries have limited him to 48 games over his first four seasons.

He spoke this week about how much he should benefit from having a full offseason in which he’s feeling healthy rather than recovering from an injury.

“It makes a big difference between just finding a rhythm and building that confidence with the whole offense and personally just being able to work on my craft and get a feel for things,” Watson said. “It’s definitely a lot smoother of an offseason for me this year, being able to do everything.”

Watson has 133 catches for 2,264 yards — an average of 17 yards per reception — and 20 touchdowns. He also has run for two touchdowns.

Billy Howton and James Lofton are the only other players in Packers history to average at least 17 yards per catch while having at least 125 receptions in their first four seasons.

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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report.

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

The Republican president's disclosure that he was ruling out installing Pulte in the position full-time came after bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill in recent days over Pulte's lack of national security experience. The position requires Senate confirmation, something that lawmakers indicated was unlikely if Pulte were the nominee.

“He’s not going to be permanent because, you know, I don’t think he’d want to be permanent,” Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office after an event on coal. He called Pulte a “very smart guy” and said he may look at past elections that Trump claims, without credible evidence, were “rigged” against him.

Trump said other candidates were under consideration for nomination to the post. “We’re interviewing people right now,” he said.

Pulte, a grandson of the founder of PulteGroup, has been a source of controversy within the administration for his work as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and his oversight of the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Pulte has used his position to pursue Trump’s perceived political rivals for alleged mortgage fraud and has verbally attacked Jerome Powell, whose term as the Federal Reserve chairman recently ended after months of Trump and Pulte attacking him for not slashing the central bank’s benchmark rates. The federal housing finance regulator has also pitched a 50-year mortgage, an idea that backfired as it meant that the process of building wealth through home ownership would be slowed.

Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed concerns about Pulte and his lack of national security credentials in occupying a role coordinating 18 federal agencies involved in domestic and foreign security issues. Trump's initial director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, resigned last month, citing her husband's recent cancer diagnosis.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, said the national intelligence director job shouldn't be “weaponized” and should be led by “professionals.”

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas, who are each leaving the chamber after this year’s elections, also expressed concerns about Pulte.

Democratic senators view Pulte as a risk even if he is only temporarily serving as the director of national intelligence while keeping his position at the FHFA.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent Trump a letter on Thursday calling on him to rescind Pulte's national security appointment.

“Americans cannot trust him to protect our nation and refrain from misusing the sensitive information he will have access to,” Warren wrote, saying that giving Pulte the job on an acting basis was a risk because Trump's own words suggested the federal agency could be used “to promote election denial theories.”

At a hearing on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed reports that he had threatened to fight Pulte in September of 2025, a sign of the friction that the federal housing finance director had generated inside the administration.

But as a frequent traveler on Air Force One, Pulte has a close relationship with Trump.

“He’s a person who’s got high integrity,” Trump said Thursday about Pulte.

News4JAX is not naming the woman, because she is charged with a misdemeanor.

She was issued a Notice to Appear, following an incident at the Texas Roadhouse on Blanding Blvd. on May 25 — at approximately 7 p.m.

Deputy responds to animal complaint

According to the report from the Sheriff’s Office, a deputy responded to a call about an animal in distress at the Texas Roadhouse parking lot. Upon arrival, the deputy made contact with a woman who flagged the concern.

A K-9 unit deputy used a laser temperature reader to assess conditions inside the vehicle. The Sheriff’s Office said readings showed the vehicle’s internal temperature had reached 99 degrees, while the dog’s external body temperature measured 104 degrees.

According to the report, the deputy went into the restaurant and made contact with the dog’s owner, who started her vehicle and let the dog out.

[RELATED: Nassau County deputies share reminder as summer heat swelters after rescuing pup accidentally locked in hot car]

What to do if you see a dog in a hot car

If you see a dog locked in a vehicle, first determine whether it appears to be in distress. Is the air conditioning running? Is the owner nearby? Has the dog been inside for more than a few minutes? While a dog in a car is not always an emergency, it’s important to assess the situation carefully.

If the dog is clearly suffering and the owner cannot be located, call 911 or a nearby law enforcement officer for assistance.

If instructed, you may need to forcibly enter the vehicle to save the animal.

Florida law protects individuals from liability for damages when breaking into a vehicle to rescue a vulnerable person or animal, provided that:

• There is no other reasonable way for the person or animal to exit the vehicle
• The rescuer reasonably believes the person or animal is in imminent danger of harm
• Law enforcement or 911 is contacted before or immediately after entry
• No more force than necessary is used to gain access
• The rescuer remains with the person or animal in a safe location near the vehicle until first responders arrive