Instead, Alexandra Lozano created fake stories of domestic abuse and human trafficking to apply for humanitarian visas without her clients' knowledge, according to several lawsuits and a legal ethics investigation. They say she preyed on immigrants’ desperation to drain their bank accounts while leaving them at risk of deportation.

She is accused hiring workers who didn’t have proper legal credentials and building an assembly-line system to rush through applications, even copying clients’ signatures onto documents they never saw.

“I put the trust of my family with her,” 30-year-old Gabriel Martinez Garcia said. After they paid $30,000, he said Lozano duped his family and got his mother placed in removal proceedings despite her marriage to a naturalized U.S. citizen. “We believed in her and then she just let us down.”

Lozano's firm, Luz del Camino Legal, closed this month amid a barrage of allegations. She permanently surrendered her law license rather than face discipline from the bar association, and denies wrongdoing.

While federal data shows immigration service scams are rising sharply, Lozano’s alleged scheme stands out for its scale. The bar says her signature is on more than 53,000 pending cases.

It's unclear how many cases were fraudulent or to what extent her clients were complicit. The ones suing her say they had no idea.

The consequences of her downfall are hitting the immigration system “like a tidal wave,” said Erika Gonzalez, an attorney with the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking.

The Trump administration last year started overhauling the humanitarian programs Lozano allegedly exploited, claiming a surge in applications since 2020 was a sign of widespread fraud. The administration tightened the programs' restrictions and slowed processing rates, which advocacy groups say will hurt legitimate victims.

The visas are meant for people who were trafficked or abused

Lozano specialized in getting visas through the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which covers all genders.

These programs seek to protect victims from having their immigration status weaponized by abusers. Evidence standards are more flexible, making the system more accessible to victims. But it's also easier for an unscrupulous firm to exploit, immigration attorneys say.

Lozano's firm probed clients for issues at home or work, then spun them as abuse cases that didn't meet the threshold for these humanitarian programs, according to attorneys representing dozens of her old clients.

Although clients quickly secured work permits, they often faced trouble years later when seeking permanent residency and their claims faced greater scrutiny.

Lozano denies mass immigration fraud

Angelo Calfo, an attorney representing Lozano, said clients were expected to review their applications before signing and blamed them for any false statements.

“Alexandra’s practice has always been to fight for her clients, zealously pursue every lawful option available to them, and support their efforts to build lives in this country,” his statement said.

The bar accused Lozano of fraud in May and her firm shut down June 10. She’s being investigated by the fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to emails obtained by The Associated Press. The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the immigration agency, declined to comment.

At least 920 immigration service scams were reported in 2025, which is more than the first three years of the Biden administration combined, according to Federal Trade Commission data analyzed by the AP. Experts say that's probably an undercount, given immigrants’ reluctance to come forward.

Clients say foreign workers, not US-licensed lawyers, handled cases

Lozano is accused of enlisting hundreds of employees in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina to provide legal advice to clients and handle visa applications. That would mean clients never got consultations from a U.S.-licensed attorney.

“Alexandra was telling us to please invent more information about the abuse because it is not real abuse,” said Rafael Alvarez, who worked for Lozano from 2022 to 2024 in Colombia. “There were a lot of cases that were not true.”

Lozano's former chief operating officer, Amy Rios, testified in 2024 that the firm earned $1.7 million teaching other law firms its legal strategies for humanitarian visas and “changed the way many attorneys now approach immigration law.”

Recent lawsuits accuse at least two other firms in Texas and Ohio of replicating Lozano’s tactics, which they deny.

Immigrants say they didn't know about the lies

Erika Sanchez and her husband entered the U.S. unlawfully. Multiple lawyers told them there was no way to adjust their status from within the country.

But Lozano promised a successful outcome after just one consultation in 2020, according to a lawsuit the couple filed in May alongside seven other former clients.

The couple trusted the firm when it asked for their signatures on blank paper, Sanchez said, and lived on a tight budget to pay Lozano more than $32,000.

“We truly did believe that she was doing the right thing,” Sanchez said.

She added that they never saw the application submitted by the firm for her husband, which they later learned contained false claims that his teenage daughter abused him. He is now in removal proceedings.

Some former clients say they didn't discover the alleged fraud for years. Nora Murillo Moreno said the firm told her about the fake abuse claims on the day before her green card interview. She panicked.

“Should I say what really happened, or what is written?” Murillo Moreno said. “I knew things didn’t match.”

Trump administration says a surge in visas indicates ‘rampant fraud’

Attorneys suing Lozano say her rise parallels an exponential increase in visa applications for trafficking and domestic abuse cases.

Domestic abuse claims more than tripled between the 2020 and 2025 fiscal years, from nearly 15,000 applications to upward of 53,000 per year, according to immigration agency data. There were also nearly twelve times as many applications from parents alleging their child abused them.

During that same period, human trafficking claims jumped from around 1,000 applications to more than 37,000.

In December, the immigration agency said it would overhaul its domestic violence visa program due to “rampant fraud" based on the increase in filings, without offering other evidence. The changes include narrowing definitions of abuse and giving greater weight to evidence supplied by alleged abusers.

Cecelia Levin, an attorney with the nonprofit Alliance for Immigrant Survivors, said making these visas harder for actual abuse victims isn't the answer. Instead, the Trump administration should focus on enforcing the law against attorneys running scams, she said.

An earlier ethics complaint was dismissed

Immigration attorneys say Lozano’s social media was filled with red flags, like claiming the Virgin Mary blessed all her cases.

In 2023, the Washington bar said it had concerns about Lozano’s law practice but dismissed an ethics complaint against her on the grounds that she was protected by disclaimers, according to a document obtained by the AP. The complaint alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct.

Sara Niegowski, a spokesperson for the bar, said it blocked Lozano from practicing law “as quickly as possible.”

Lozano’s ex-clients are in a legal mess

Former clients are now scrambling to get their case files from the defunct firm. Hundreds showed up for recent consultations with volunteer attorneys in Washington and Oregon.

Many applied to join a lawsuit seeking financial compensation for legal malpractice. Another class action lawsuit aims to recoup their attorney fees.

Vicente Omar Barraza, an attorney behind the malpractice lawsuit, said hundreds of former clients told him they still don't know what Lozano's firm wrote in their applications. He’s worried many people lost viable pathways to legal status.

Garcia Martinez, who says his mother is in removal proceedings because Lozano mishandled her case, lives every day in fear that she will be deported.

“I’m just praying really, really, really hard for her,” Garcia Martinez said. “None of this should have happened.”

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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, and data journalist Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

Pakistani security forces carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border late Sunday, followed by strikes against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. They said the operations were launched in response to multiple militant attacks across Pakistan.

Afghanistan condemned the strikes as a “cowardly act of aggression” and an “act of brutality.”

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said the Pakistani forces targeted a home in Chamkani district, in Paktia province, killing an elderly man and a child, while other family members were injured. When residents gathered to rescue people, the area was struck again, killing 28 villagers and wounding 158, he said.

Six people, mostly women and children, were killed in a village in Giyan district, Paktika province, when another home was struck, he said. A civilian home in Kunar province was also hit, causing no casualties but killing some 30 livestock.

Militant attacks targeting Pakistan's police and security forces have surged in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — and allied militant groups for most of the violence. The Pakistani Taliban are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that returned to power in 2021.

The Pakistani security operation followed a militant attack targeting the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in Karachi that killed three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack.

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

At 10:25 Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received reports of a shooting on Ramona Boulevard. As officers were heading to the scene the call was upgraded to a person shot at the Victory Pointe Apartments. When officers arrived to the apartment complex they found a man shot and killed in the playground area. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

JSO is working to identify the man and learn if he lived in the apartment complex. They say he is believed to be between 20 and 30-years-old.

Investigators are looking for a suspect and working to learn what led up to the shooting.

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

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

For years, Israel never officially broached the subject for fear of angering Turkey, but that relationship has soured over the past two decades, especially as the most recent wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran have dragged on.

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

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

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

He noted that 32 countries, including the United States, Syria and Lebanon, have also classified the violence as a genocide. It was not immediately known when Sunday's decision, approved unanimously by Israel's Cabinet, would go to the parliament for approval.

Turkey called Israel’s move a “politically motivated” step meant to distract from the country’s own actions against Palestinians.

“The Israeli government, which systematically persecutes the Palestinian people in full view of the world and is being tried at the International Court of Justice for genocide against the people of Gaza, aims to cover up its own crimes,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This malicious attempt, which disregards legal and historical facts, reveals the predicament of Netanyahu and his accomplices, who have arrest warrants against them in connection with the investigation into crimes committed against Palestinians at the International Criminal Court,” the statement added.

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

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

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

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

Twenty Japanese entities, including multiple divisions of Mitsubishi Corporation, have been placed on a control list, which prohibits Chinese and foreign exporters from selling to them dual-use items made in China, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement. Dual-use items can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Additionally, 20 other entities have been added to a watch list for dual-use items, according to the ministry.

The watch list includes Mitsui E&S which makes engines and other equipment for ships, as well as divisions of Fujitsu and Komatsu corporations.

Chinese companies exporting to these firms will be required to apply for special licenses, submit risk assessment reports on the Japanese companies and written pledges that the dual-use items will not be used for military purposes.

“China’s measures are entirely justified, reasonable and lawful. They are aimed at firmly deterring Japan’s reckless pursuit of ‘new militarism,’” read the Chinese Commerce Ministry statement.

“We hope Japan will recognize its mistakes, reverse its wrongful course, genuinely reflect on its past and return to the right track,” it added.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been increasingly tense since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year implied Japan could intervene if China used military force against Taiwan, an island democracy China claims as its own.

Takaichi’s government is also further reinforcing Japan with more offensive capabilities, including deploying longer-range missiles on remote islands and promoting lethal weapons exports now allowed under a new policy. Japan will revise its defense and security documents by December, which could further increase its defense budget.

On Monday, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force announced it deployed a Type-12 missile launcher on the country's southernmost remote island of Minamitorishima, an apparent response to China’s growing activity expanding into the Pacific.

In February, China put 20 Japanese companies on an export control list and 20 others on a watch list.

The Commerce Ministry said that since then, “instead of reflecting on its past and correcting its course, Japan has continued down the wrong path” by accelerating remilitarization, deploying offensive weapons and launching missiles.

China considers self-ruled Taiwan its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary and has increased military pressure on the island.

Earlier this month, the Chinese Coast Guard conducted patrols east of the island in what state media described a “pointed warning” to Japan and the Philippines over an announcement that the countries would discuss their maritime boundaries in waters that Beijing views as its own.

The United Kingdom, Germany and France in a rare joint statement last week condemned Chinese activities in the waters east of Taiwan, adding they opposed any change of the status quo between China and Taiwan.

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Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his Vanuatu counterpart Jotham Napat in the Australian capital nine months after the Vanuatuan government rejected an earlier draft. Vanuatu had feared the deal would limit its ability to attract infrastructure investment.

“Our agreement reflects and confirms Australia’s role as Vanuatu’s largest and most comprehensive economic, security and development partner, a responsibility that we take seriously,” Albanese told reporters.

Natap said the pact “reaffirms our shared commitment to continuing and strengthening the comprehensive partnership between our two countries, founded on mutual respect, trust and our common vision for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pacific.”

Under the agreement, Vanuatu will not allow any foreign military base or infrastructure in its territory and will keep its critical infrastructure free from militarization, foreign interference or unauthorized access, a government statement said.

The agreement is one of several Australia struck or was negotiating with regional neighbors to prevent China from gaining security influence in the region.

Vanuatu will consult with Australia when it considers third-party engagement in its critical infrastructure, but there is no power of veto as originally proposed.

Vanuatu committed to prioritize policing cooperation with Pacific Islands Forum members, a collection of 18 countries and territories that includes Australia. But the agreement does not exclude Chinese police. China does not have a permanent police presence in Vanuatu, but Chinese police personnel often visit the nation of 350,000 people.

Vanuatu also agrees to come to Australia, New Zealand and France first in response to major natural disasters.

Australia had proposed to provide Vanuatu with 500 million Australian dollars ($344 million) over a decade under the terms of the agreement as originally drafted.

Albanese said the cost of the latest agreement would be made public by December.

Napat said a bilateral agreement Vanuatu was negotiating with China would be made public once the pact had “clearance from Beijing.”

Napat has previously described the so-called Namele Agreement with China as a “comprehensive development cooperation" deal. He said it was not a security pact.

Vanuatu has received large loans and aid from China for buildings, wharves and other infrastructure.

“Currently, it’s not yet signed. We will share the (Namele) agreement. There is nothing to hide. Our government is transparent and I am so grateful that the Prime Minister (Albanese) has also given me the clearance to share with them (China) the Nakamal Agreement,” Napat said.

In September last year, Albanese was notified that a previous draft of the pact had been rejected hours before he was to fly to Vanuatu for the signing.

Just moments after Maher began to accept the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Matt Friend, a leading impersonator of the president, took to the stage and, in Trump's voice, joked that he would accept the award himself. Trump was a punchline for other comedians and entertainers, including Whitney Cummings, Jay Leno and Woody Harrelson.

For the most part, the barbs weren't particularly biting. Cummings, for instance, said that under Trump's influence, the Kennedy Center would host “white ‘Hamilton.’” And once Friend left the stage, Maher largely steered clear of hitting the president. The commentary was nonetheless notable for unfolding in an iconic performing arts venue that Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to bend to his favor, leaving its future in the coming years uncertain.

Accepting the award, Maher derided extremes in both political parties, rejecting what he called “groupthink.”

“If you hang around long enough and create something important enough, everyone hates you at some point,” Maher said.

The ceremony in the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall wasn't purely political. There were plenty of jokes about Maher's fondness for marijuana, his rejection of organized religion and his penchant for controversy, including comments he made shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to the cancellation of his television show, “Politically Incorrect.”

The Kennedy Center's uncertain future hangs over event

But the future of the Kennedy Center hung most prominently over the event.

Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Republican president fired much of the center's leadership and installed a board largely composed of allies. It named Trump as chairman and his name was added to the building's iconic facade, prompting a legal battle that became a proxy fight over the extent of the president's power.

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

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

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

The legal fight has turned into a saga that at points became fodder for jokes at the Twain gala. At one point, Harrelson joked “we fixed that" in a nod to the court order calling for Trump's name to be removed from the building.

Ahead of the ceremony, Lutnick said Trump “wants to make this building sensational.”

But others were more skeptical. As he walked the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, Leno said Trump’s moves at the Kennedy Center were both “hilarious” and about “vanity.”

“It's not a war,” he said. “It's not people getting killed. It's not antisemitism. It's a silly thing covering a name. I mean what's funnier than that? I mean it's just like, you know it's high school with money.”

Friend said he felt there was a “hunger games vibe” as he entered the building.

“It's crazy,” he said of the changes Trump has pushed for.

Maher has a fraught relationship with Trump

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

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

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

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year. Lutnick noted that Trump had written out all the critical comments he'd made about Maher over the years and autographed the document.

“You've got to be able to laugh at it,” Lutnick said. “The president can laugh at it. Bill Maher can laugh at it. And that's what makes tonight great.”

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

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

The Twain prize ceremony will air on Netflix on July 21.

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Associated Press videojournalist John Carucci contributed to this report.

As if taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning and reaching 2,000 career strikeouts weren't enough, his brilliant outing Sunday night for Boston came against the rival New York Yankees — a team Gray once pitched for and hasn't been shy about disliking.

So after winning in a wild ending, Gray and the Red Sox were reveling in a four-game sweep at Fenway Park that marked their longest winning streak this season.

“They’re at the top of our division right now. They are where we hope to be. So yeah, it was a good series and it was a pretty sick finish to the series for us,” Gray said after the Red Sox rallied for a 5-4 victory in 10 innings.

Actually, the Yankees fell a game behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East, thanks in large part to Boston's first four-game sweep in the rivalry since 2018.

Finishing it off proved difficult when New York scored two runs in the ninth to tie it and then two more in the 10th to take a 4-2 lead. But the Red Sox responded with three in the bottom half and walked off with a rousing win on Jarren Duran's game-ending single.

The chaotic conclusion nearly overshadowed what Gray had done earlier, striking out nine and shutting down the Yankees emphatically for 7 1/3 innings as Boston clung to a 2-0 advantage.

“I was just trying to do my part to win the game. That’s all I was thinking about other than executing a pitch," Gray said. “I just felt very focused. I wanted to come out and win the game and we did that.”

Gray didn't dwell much on the opponent despite his history with New York.

He pitched for the Yankees after a trade-deadline deal with the Athletics in 2017, but the following season ended up losing his spot in the rotation and being left off the postseason roster. His time in New York ended with an offseason trade to Cincinnati.

Stops in Minnesota and St. Louis followed before the three-time All-Star arrived in Boston this season, and he said he never really wanted to play for the Yankees in the first place.

While the last-place Red Sox (36-46) are still 10 games below .500, Gray said it felt pretty special getting to that point after what it took to win Sunday night. The veteran right-hander tipped his cap to Boston fans as he left to a standing ovation in the eighth after Amed Rosario ended the no-hit bid with a one-out single up the middle on Gray’s 97th pitch.

“I think in the sixth inning or something they started really like getting into it and it was cool. I appreciated that,” Gray said. “I appreciate them and it seemed like they appreciated the outing tonight. We need them. If we’re going to get back into this thing, we need them. And they were here for us this weekend, so I appreciated that.”

It was the first time since 1963 the Yankees were held hitless through the first four innings of three straight games.

Gray got some defensive help in the third when Wilyer Abreu robbed Austin Wells of a hit with a sliding grab in shallow right field after a full sprint to reach the sinking ball in time. Abreu also committed a pair of costly throwing errors late that helped the Yankees tie it and later take the lead.

Interim manager Chad Tracy said he still has plenty of confidence in his two-time Gold Glove outfielder, as did his teammates.

“We’ve had a good weekend. Even though we gave up a couple of runs, the energy in the dugout coming in was like, let’s go win the game,” Tracy said. “There’s been times here in the past couple of months where that would have kind of crushed us, but that was not the case. They were fired up to try and get that done.”

Yankees starter Carlos Rodón allowed only one hit in five innings, Caleb Durbin's two-run single with one out in the fourth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Police cordoned off the crumpled wreckage.

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

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

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

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

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

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Leicester reported from Paris and Hatton from Lisbon, Portugal.

Efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without Iran's oversight has sparked days of crossfire. A multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Saturday it would expand a route near Oman for inbound and outbound traffic.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday reiterated the claim that Tehran must govern the strait to the Persian Gulf that once carried a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.

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

The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side.

Pakistan, a key mediator, has said talks would resume Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran on the terms of their interim deal. The Trump administration on Sunday said nothing has been canceled and technical talks are on track for the coming days.

Talks include arrangements around the strait, the removal of a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions on Iran, and the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The two sides have 60 days from their signing of the memorandum of understanding earlier this month to work out details.

Continued conflict in Lebanon threatens the agreement, which says fighting must end on all fronts before certain issues can be discussed.

Strikes target Gulf states hosting US military

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

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

Bahrain said the Iranian strikes damaged a residential building near the international airport and no one was killed. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The damaged building was not near its headquarters.

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

Later on Sunday, Qatar said a civilian had been killed, and another person was hurt, by shrapnel related to “military operations in the area" after a vessel didn't return at its scheduled time on Saturday. It did not give details.

Trump accuses Iran of violating ceasefire

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

U.S. President Donald Trump on social media accused Iran of violating the deal and warned of a point where the U.S. may "be forced to militarily complete the job.”

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

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

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

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

Iran calls for new ‘conflict control unit’ in Lebanon

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

The agreement did not include Iran or Hezbollah, which has criticized it and rejected calls to disarm.

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

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

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

Two strikes hit southern Lebanon on Sunday morning — one in Taybeh town and the other in the Nabatiyeh area, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. There was no immediate word on casualties.

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

Israel targets a village in Syria

Israel's military targeted Abdin village in southern Syria’s Daraa province with artillery shelling Sunday evening, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate report of casualties.

The provincial government of Daraa said in a statement that residents of the village had thrown rocks at an Israeli convoy when it advanced on the village, and that the troops withdrew after U.N. peacekeepers intervened. It said the Israeli artillery shelling drove Abdin's residents to flee the village.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel's military said it had killed several armed men in southern Syria but gave no details. There was no statement from Syrian officials.

Israel seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria in December 2024 following the ouster of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in an insurgent offensive. Israeli officials initially called the move temporary, but more recently they have said they plan to occupy the zone indefinitely.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AlJoud and Abby Sewell in Beirut and Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

The government reported 1,450 dead from the quakes Sunday afternoon as it faced growing criticism from Venezuelans that its response was inadequate and overshadowed by civilian-led efforts to rescue people buried under collapsed buildings. Thousands more have been reported missing.

Even as the likelihood of finding people alive diminished with each passing hour, rescuers continued to free some survivors from mountains of debris, offering anguished families a sliver of hope. The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez said Sunday night that even as the threshold passed, the search for survivors would continue. More than 2,600 rescue workers from around the world had arrived with trained search dogs and machinery, the government said.

“It’s been incredibly hard work, but we’re going strong,” said Jason Mercano, a civilian who was able to communicate with family buried under the rubble and was working with rescue teams to pull them out.

“We've never given up hope,” he added.

More than 770 buildings partially or totally collapsed

Still, many Venezuelans are struggling to hold onto hope in an increasingly desperate situation. The one-two punch of 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes that hit last Wednesday have left a trail of devastation. The U.N. said up to 6.8 million of Venezuela's nearly 30 million residents may be affected by the earthquakes.

A layer of dust coated coastal communities, and as the stench of decomposing bodies spread, more people began to wear masks.

Authorities said Sunday that more than 770 buildings had totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes, twice as many as were reported destroyed or damaged on Friday. The risk of further damage remains as aftershocks continued to shake Venezuela; quakes measuring 4.2 and 4.5 hit Sunday morning.

But rescue efforts in La Guaira — the hardest-hit area — appeared significantly more organized on Sunday as international rescue missions arrived en masse. In previous days, residents there had expressed frustration and anger about the level of response.

The government reported on state television that more than 14,000 members of the military and police are now patrolling La Guaira state, where access is blocked and special permits are required to enter.

Because of the chaos and shoddy cellphone service since the earthquakes, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.

Optimism and grief mark La Guaira

Moments of optimism contrasted sharply with grief on Sunday.

Masses of people gathered around a mountain of debris watching as rescue crews from the U.S., France and Venezuela pulled a man and his son from a crack in the concrete, covered in dust and almost unresponsive. Helmet-clad teams pulled them on a black tarp and passed the two carefully through the crowd to an ambulance to hydrate them through an IV.

Rescue teams and onlookers burst into applause in a moment of relief, then continued working.

In another part of La Guaira, Helen Guedez and her mother were reeling. They had spent days trying to save her father Jesús from their apartment.

She felt a swell of hope when rescue teams from the U.S. had come to inspect the building and confirmed to them that her dad was still alive under the rubble. But they told the family that the building was too unstable to enter and rescue him, she said.

They left the scene, but Guedez said would continue to try and rescue their father without their assistance. She said they were now working with civilian volunteers and local miners to get him out.

“We're not going to give up," said Guedez. “The rest of the team is willing to continue. They know there's another way to get him out and they said they're going to keep working until the very end.”

Despite the overwhelming demand for medical services and the shortage of supplies in Venezuela’s public health system, Domingo Luciani Hospital in the capital of Caracas coped with an influx of patients thanks to a flood of donations.

“We have tons of patients, but thank god, people have responded by bringing us a great deal of supplies,” said Leomery Pérez, an anesthesiologist at the hospital.

Authorities said they had treated more than 3,100 wounded people, including many with crush injuries.

A big challenge for Venezuela's acting president

The disaster poses a significant challenge for acting President Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the U.S. capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Since then, the U.S. government has played in increasingly powerful role in dictating the future of the South American nation. Venezuela has faced economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.

The country now faces an even more difficult circumstances, said Ronal Rodríguez, researcher for the Bogotá-based Venezuelan Observatory at the University of Rosario.

“There is political interference by the United States, the operational incompetence of a government that has driven the country into a complex humanitarian crisis and, all of the sudden, an earthquake in a place that lacks human capital and short-term resources to address the situation,” he said.

Amy Pope, director general from International Organization for Migration, warned that displacement from Venezuela – where crisis has forced 8 million people to migrate over the past decade – was likely to increase as people seek safety.

Rodríguez on Sunday said she was setting up a special commission to assess the damage to homes to confirm whether it's safe for people sleeping on the streets to return, adding that her government would also examine infrastructure damage. The search for life in the destruction, she said, would also continue.

“Today we recovered people who are still alive,” she said. “We always maintain hope.”

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Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez, Matías Delacroix in La Guaira, Venezuela; Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Clara Preve and Mayra Pertossi in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Elliot Spagat in San Diego, contributed to this report.

U.S. futures advanced and oil prices gained, though they remained close to the levels they were at before the Iran war began in late February.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated over the weekend as Iran launched fresh drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait in response to new U.S. airstrikes, adding to uncertainties clouding the global economic outlook.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 shed 1% to 68,704.70, after falling 4.2% on Friday. SoftBank Group, the multinational investment holding company which invests in OpenAI, sank 5.9% following a 12.5% drop on Friday.

South Korea’s Kospi lost 2% to 8,246.50. It was down 5.8% on Friday. Samsung Electronics sank 6%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 4.5%.

Taiwan’s Taiex, also a beneficiary of the global AI boom thanks to its many tech companies including chipmaker TSMC, gained 1.1% as it recovered some losses from its 3.6% decline on Friday.

Japan’s and South Korea’s markets have soared as many of their Big Tech firms were lifted by demand for computer chips and other high-valued components used in artificial intelligence. Recent worries over AI valuations have trimmed some of those gains.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.1% to 23,153.89, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher to 4,034.08. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,798.00.

India’s Sensex was nearly unchanged.

On Friday, the worries over AI rolled through Wall Street, though shares ended mixed. The S&P500 lost less than 0.1% to 7,354.02 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2% to 25.297.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% to 51,876.11.

Micron Technology’s shares dropped 6.7%, Intel was down 3.4%, Nvidia fell 1.6% and AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, fell 2.1%.

In other dealings early Monday, Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.7% to $73.27 a barrel. It sold for about $72 a barrel before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 0.8% to $70.02 a barrel.

There’s still plenty of risk facing the oil market over on U.S.-Iran re-escalation, ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a commentary Monday, as more questions were raised about the safety of ships in the Strait of Hormuz following attacks on vessels.

Oil traders have been “too optimistic” about the timeline for a recovery in Persian Gulf supplies, they said.

“This complacency is odd and clearly leaves significant upside risk if the supply recovery proves slow — or if we see significant re-escalation,” the commentary said.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 161.81 Japanese yen from 161.71 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1386.

With all 32 places in his cold room taken, Zouhaeir Hertelli reluctantly has to gently say “Non,” over and over and over again.

“We're facing a really catastrophic situation," he said. “I'm getting hundreds of calls."

As the historic heat wave shifted its deadly temperatures eastward this weekend to other parts of Europe, France began counting the human cost it left in its wake.

Tallying heat-related deaths could take time

The statistical and public health work of tallying heat-related deaths could take weeks or months. But it's already apparent that the toll exacted by the intense, unrelenting extreme temperatures was terrible in France, the first country hit from mid-June, particularly among older people who died at home.

“We're dealing with an enormous spike of deaths because of the heat wave and we're really full, full, full,” Hertelli said.

In its first preliminary estimate, the national public health agency said deaths surged during the heat wave's peak in France last week, which roasted most of Europe's largest country with temperatures that soared in many places above 40C (104 F) and also broke records for nighttime highs — an exhausting one-two punch for fatigued bodies.

Public Health France said there were more than 1,200 deaths last Wednesday, when France registered its hottest-ever day, breaking a record that had been set just the previous day.

Deaths then increased to more than 1,400 on Thursday and another 1,400 on Friday, it said. By way of comparison, the pre-heat wave death rate in April and May was around 900 to 1,000 per day, it said.

The agency cautioned that its estimate of at least 1,000 additional deaths during those three sizzling days alone is expected to increase as more death certificates come in for people who died at home and in care facilities for older people, where most deaths are still not registered electronically.

"Mortality will as a consequence be higher than these first figures,” the agency said.

Many who died were 65 and older

It said that 85% of the deaths registered so far during the three days it studied involved people aged 65 and above and that there was a sharp increase in deaths at home — up by about 40% — particularly in the Paris region.

Hertelli and others in the funeral industry said Paris mortuaries quickly ran out of storage space. City Hall said two temporary storage units, with 20 places each, were installed for municipal mortuaries and that city hospitals provided another 50 additional places.

Still, Hertelli said funeral directors he spoke to told him they were having to store bodies as far away as Chartres — 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Paris — and in other regions around the capital. To open more space, he said he has asked authorities for permission to temporarily install refrigerated containers outside his mortuary, which is next to Paris' Orly airport, but is still waiting for a green light.

“Families are suffering,” he said. “We have no solution to offer them, because the funeral homes are full. So we are deeply affected, we have empathy for them, but there’s nothing we can offer. We are really facing a problem, a big problem," he said.

Temperatures reached historic highs

Historic high temperatures in 2003, surpassed this time, were blamed for 15,000 deaths, provoking a national reckoning about care of older people, who were particularly hard-hit. More than 5,700 deaths were also attributed to heat during an exceptionally hot summer last year.

Véronique Bertrand, a Paris funeral director, said she fears that lessons have been forgotten.

“Most of the deaths that we are dealing with at the moment were people who were living alone at home, isolated. Given the circumstances in which they were found, there can be no other conclusion than that these were deaths caused by the heat," Bertrand said.

“I think people absolutely need to wake up, that solidarity needs to come back, that what happened in 2003 led to a movement in that direction, with people thinking about their neighbors, of those around them who live alone and perhaps checking from time to time that they're drinking water and are being looked after," she said.

"With the passing years, we’ve perhaps forgotten that it could happen again and that things would even perhaps be worse.”

Dong had been locked up in China several times, including for his activities commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and past efforts to flee.

“It’s like living in a cage. Very suffocating,” he said in an online video interview with The Associated Press from Toronto, referring to the lack of freedom of expression in China.

After his release from prison, the 68-year-old dissident said he was unable to receive retirement benefits or renew his passport and was under constant police monitoring.

He attempted to flee at least three previous times: in 2015 to Thailand, where authorities deported him back to China; in 2019 when he tried to swim to a Taiwanese island off China's east coast; and in 2020, when he reached Vietnam, only to be deported back again.

Last month, he tried again.

‘No point fearing death’

In the early hours of May 24, he set off in a gray rubber dinghy fitted with an engine from Weihai, a coastal city in eastern China’s Shandong province, under fine weather. He was eyeing Japan, confident that the government there would not send him back to China.

But the next day brought fog. When he noticed his phone, which he relied on for GPS navigation, was on its last bar, he became terrified. His power bank also died. He quickly switched to his contingency plan — South Korea.

Dong recalled that dread ran deep because his tiny boat might capsize if the winds and waves picked up. But he had no way to return and shook off the fear of death.

“Living conditions back in the country are so terrible that being alive is little different than being dead. So there is no point fearing death," he said. “If you move forward, there’s a chance at life.”

In the evening, he saw lights in the distance and moved toward them. The first vessel could not hear his cries for help and left. Later, he encountered a fishing boat that agreed to pull him on board. He asked the fishers to call the police to help him.

The South Korean Coast Guard detained him for allegedly violating the country’s immigration law. They sought a warrant to formally arrest him, but a court refused, saying it’s “difficult to recognize sufficient grounds and necessity” for his arrest.

From refugee center to Canada

Dong was later sent to a refugee center in Incheon, a port city near Seoul. Earlier this month, the U.N. refugee agency contacted him via video call, he said.

A refugee center manager later asked about his height, weight and his eye color. He was worried at first but it turned out to be a good sign. His lawyer told him it was at the request of the Canadian diplomatic mission, he said.

About a week later, Dong boarded a flight and he arrived in Toronto Friday. He was still unclear what legal procedures were involved in his move, but guessed it was based on cooperation between the South Korean and Canadian governments and the U.N. agency.

“I feel very surprised, extremely surprised. It's like still in a dream. It's very fast,” he said.

He believed the resettlement status in Canada that his family secured in 2015, before Thai authorities deported him back to China, was still valid.

The Canadian Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Dong's case. The U.N. refugee agency and the South Korean government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dong vows to press on with his activism

Dong said he feels at home after arriving in Toronto, saying he finally tasted freedom for the first time in over a decade.

"There’s not even a hint of fear,” he said.

He hopes to make a living, possibly by being a truck driver or an Uber driver.

But the joy doesn't help Dong let go of the deportations by the Thai and Vietnamese authorities.

In 2015, Dong and his family went to Thailand to seek refugee status from the U.N. refugee agency, but Thai authorities later arrested him and returned him to China, according to Amnesty International. His ex-wife and daughter managed to settle in Canada.

The activist fled to Vietnam in 2020, but was sent back in 2022. He was jailed each time he was returned to China. He said he plans to consult a lawyer to see if he can sue both Thailand and Vietnam.

For Dong, the fight is far from over. He also plans to press on in his call for China's democratization.

In the late 1990s, the former police officer distributed leaflets with his articles on topics such as the Tiananmen crackdown. He was imprisoned for three years in 2001 for inciting subversion of state power.

He also spent more than eight months behind bars over his participation in a memorial for victims of the crackdown after being arrested in 2014, he said.

“My ultimate goal is for China to achieve constitutional democracy," he said.

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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Murdaugh’s murder convictions and sentence of life in prison were overturned last month by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The only goals of Monday's hearing are to set deadlines for exchanging evidence between the defense and prosecution, and to figure out dates for other hearings and maybe for the next trial.

Dozens of media outlets, from international agencies to local TV stations to true crime podcasters are heading to the Lexington County courthouse to again chronicle every forehead rub and quizzical look from the once rich and imposing Southern lawyer.

It's a rare chance to see up close how prison life has changed the 58-year-old Murdaugh, who still has decades to serve in a South Carolina prison after pleading guilty to stealing about $12 million from clients and his family's law firm.

There likely is one other bit of business before the hearing starts at 10 a.m. Monday. Even though he remains in prison, Murdaugh's lawyers want the judge to allow him to wear civilian clothes and not have his wrists or ankles shackled at every hearing and during his retrial.

“Mr. Murdaugh's convictions for non-violent, white-collar crimes in no way justify presenting him to the jury pool as a shackled prisoner in a prison jumpsuit via video cameras at televised pretrial hearings,” defense attorneys wrote in their request.

Murdaugh's attorneys have already filed other pretrial motions. One asks prosecutors to turn over for testing at a private lab DNA found under his wife’s fingernails that investigators said was from an unknown and unrelated man.

Defense lawyers want to provide Murdaugh, who was disbarred during his legal troubles, a laptop in prison without internet access to review evidence so they don’t have to print it all and want to hold the next trial outside of Colleton County where the killings happened and the first trial took place.

While admitting he is a thief, insurance cheat, liar and bad lawyer, Murdaugh has adamantly denied shooting to death his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul, since he found their bodies outside their home in 2021.

A jury convicted him of two counts of murder in 2023 and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

But during that trial, a few jurors said the Colleton County clerk of court, assigned to oversee the evidence and the jury during the trial, told them to watch Murdaugh’s body language when he testified in his own defense and to not be fooled, confused or thrown off by what he might say.

The state Supreme Court ruled that was a suggestion Murdaugh was guilty and overturned his convictions.

The justices also were concerned that days of testimony at the murder trial centered around how Murdaugh stole from clients, many of them in dire straits.

Brief testimony is fine, but details such as how some of the people Murdaugh stole from were disabled or vulnerable could unfairly turn against him jurors who should be focused just on whether he killed his family, the justices said.

Murdaugh remains in a South Carolina prison as he serves a 40-year federal sentence at the same time as a 27-year state sentence for his financial crimes.

Trump's efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, fire the heads of most independent agencies at will and remove a sitting Federal Reserve governor are among the remaining eight cases the justices are expected to decide this week, beginning Monday.

The court also is weighing, in cases from West Virginia and Idaho, whether to uphold laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports.

Two election-related cases remain, over state laws that allow a grace period for the receipt of mailed ballots, provided they are sent by Election Day, and limits on political party spending in support of candidates for Congress and president.

Also outstanding is a dispute over geofence warrants that collect the location history of cellphone users to find people near crime scenes. Critics say the practice is a fishing expedition that violates civil liberties.

The court’s conservative majority has so far been mostly receptive to Trump's immigration crackdown, including a decision last week allowing the administration to end temporary legal protections for people who came to the U.S. because of war or natural disaster in their homeland. Another decision could make it harder for people fleeing persecution to seek asylum in the United States.

During arguments in April, the justices signaled a more skeptical look at Trump's executive order that would overturn long-settled understanding and deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily.

The court also has rejected Trump's assertion of the power to unilaterally impose wide-ranging tariffs under an emergency powers law.

The decision in February drew Trump's ire, including an unusually harsh and personal denunciation of two of his court appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, who voted against him.

The extent of Trump's power to fire independent agency members is the oldest undecided case, argued in December. The justices seem likely to overturn, or drastically narrow, a 91-year-old decision. It required a cause, like neglect of duty, before a president could remove the Senate-confirmed officials from their jobs.

The outcome appears to be in little doubt because the conservatives have allowed the firings to take effect while the case plays out, even after lower-court judges found the firings illegal.

The court seemed less willing to endorse Trump's bid to immediately fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, which she denies. No president has ever fired a Fed governor in the agency's 112-year history.

By custom, the court finishes its work before July 4. After this week, its next public meeting is the first Monday in October.

Boston starter Sonny Gray took a no-hitter into the eighth against his former team before Amed Rosario singled with one out. That ended a brilliant outing for Gray, who had nine strikeouts to reach 2,000 for his career.

But the Yankees scored twice in the ninth off All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman to tie it 2-all, aided enormously by a brutal throwing error from two-time Gold Glove right fielder Wilyer Abreu.

New York scratched across two more runs in the 10th, taking advantage of another throwing error by Abreu after Rosario's sinking liner squirted out of his glove for an RBI single. But right-hander Fernando Cruz (4-3) was unable to hold the lead after closer David Bednar had pitched the previous two innings.

Boston's first four-game sweep of the Yankees since 2018 marked the first four-game winning streak this season for the last-place Red Sox.

New York arrived at Fenway Park with the best record in the American League but left a game behind Tampa Bay atop the AL East.

Justin Slaten (1-4) worked one inning for the win.

Anthony Seigler led off the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single that scored the automatic runner from second base and trimmed Boston's deficit to 4-3. Pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida followed with a double before a sacrifice fly by Tsung-Che Cheng tied it at 4 and advanced Yoshida to third.

New York brought in Rosario from left field to form a five-man infield, and Duran hit a line drive to right where nobody was standing.

Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. was ejected for arguing after he was called out on a check-swing for strike three to end the sixth.

Up next

Yankees LHP Ryan Weathers (3-5, 3.95 ERA) faces Detroit RHP Casey Mize on Monday as New York returns home and opens a three-game series against the Tigers.

Boston is scheduled to start LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83 ERA) against Washington LHP Andrew Alvarez on Monday to open a three-game set at Fenway Park.

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

Introduced by Ice Cube, the eight-time Grammy winner was honored with performances at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater from SZA, Doechii, Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Common, her children Selah Marley and Zion Marley, who revisited songs from Hill’s stellar catalog while she stood smiling, singing along and applauding throughout the tribute.

After she accepted the honor, Hill encouraged artists to embrace their gifts and remain true to their purpose.

“I fight for y’all,” Hill said. “And fighting for y’all is me fighting for myself, it’s me fighting for my children, it’s me fighting for my community.”

The Living Legend Icon Award recognizes pioneers whose work has remained culturally essential across generations. Hill first emerged as a member of the Fugees before releasing her landmark solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” featuring classics including “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex-Factor” and “Everything Is Everything.”

Janet Jackson surprises Teyana Taylor with honor

Teyana Taylor fought back tears Sunday after an emotional surprise at the BET Awards:Janet Jackson walked onto the stage to present Taylor with the Icon of the Year Award.

Taylor, visibly stunned as Jackson received a standing ovation, embraced the music legend before thanking one of her biggest inspirations.

“They did not tell me Janet was coming,” Taylor said through tears. “There will be no me without you.”

Presenting the award, Jackson praised Taylor’s relentless work ethic and artistic range, highlighting her Golden Globe win for best supporting actress in “One Battle After Another” and calling her gifts “God-given.”

The Icon of the Year Award recognizes a creative force whose influence is shaping culture. Taylor has evolved from a multiplatinum recording artist into an award-winning actor, director, producer and choreographer.

Accepting the honor, Taylor reflected on her two-decade career.

“I worked my (expletives) off 20 years,” she said. “So I’m not accepting what I’ve earned with arrogance. I’m accepting what I’ve earned with gratitude.”

BET Awards remembers Clive Davis, Richard Smallwood and other trailblazers

The BET Awards paused to honor influential figures from music and entertainment who died over the past year during an emotional in memoriam tribute.

Erica Campbell of Mary Mary introduced the segment by reflecting on the enduring legacies left behind by those who died, paying special tribute to the late gospel composer Richard Smallwood, whose music she said strengthened her faith. She also remembered the late music executive Clive Davis, who died earlier this week at 94, before performing Whitney Houston’s “I Love the Lord” with Le’Andria Johnson.

The tribute remembered Smallwood, Davis, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and others whose contributions left a lasting mark on music, television and culture.

D’Angelo honored with all-star tribute

The show also celebrated the late D’Angelo’s legacy with a star-studded tribute that opened with appearances by his three children.

Ari Lennox, BJ the Chicago Kid, Durand Bernarr, George Clinton and RAYE were among the artists who honored the singer with performances of his music, celebrating the enduring influence of one of R&B’s most acclaimed voices.

Sylvia Rhone honored for shaping generations of artists

Music executive Sylvia Rhone received the BET Ultimate Icon Award in recognition of her groundbreaking leadership and lasting impact on the music industry.

Presented by Kelly Rowland, the honor celebrated Rhone’s trailblazing career as the first Black woman to lead a major record company owned by a Fortune 500 corporation. A video tribute featured messages from artists including Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes, highlighting her role in helping develop the careers of performers such as Tracy Chapman, Brandy, Erykah Badu, Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi, Future, Travis Scott and Tyler, the Creator.

While accepting the award, Rhone dedicated the honor to the artists and creative teams she has worked alongside throughout her career.

“Tonight’s honor bears my name, but it really belongs to all of us who create culture,” she said.

Rhone also used the moment to urge the music industry to protect artists as artificial intelligence reshapes the business.

“We make the algorithm. The algorithm doesn’t make us,” she said. “We must honor the musician. We must compensate the creator.”

She concluded by calling on the industry to ensure the next generation of artists has the opportunity to create “the songs that will change the world.”

Druski opens BET Awards with dramatic entrance

Druski made a grand entrance to kick off the BET Awards on Sunday, descending from the rafters in a harness as a choir filled the theater with a rendition of Kirk Franklin’s “Revolution,” setting the tone for a night celebrating music, comedy and culture.

The comedian and digital creator made history by becoming the youngest host of the ceremony.The show's opening performances featured Kehlani, who sang “Folded” with Jamie Foxx and his daughter, Anelise Estelle Foxx, on guitar. Don Toliver also performed his hits “E85” and “Body.”

Accepting the award for best female R&B/pop artist, Kehlani admitted she hadn’t prepared a speech, instead marveling that “Janet Jackson is here,” before telling the icon she was “really honored to be here” among the night’s talent.

Druski, 31, surpassed Kevin Hart, who previously held the distinction as the BET Award’s youngest host when he emceed in 2011.

Throughout the night, Druski leaned into his comedic persona with appearances alongside Martin Lawrence and Latto. Lawrence jokingly shut down Druski’s pitch to appear in the next “Bad Boys” film before teasing his upcoming Paramount+ series, while Latto playfully poked fun at the host during one of the show’s transitions. Druski also spoofed Jay-Z's Roots Picnic freestyle.

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

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

That was the case though Sunday night due to a rain delay at the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship, and with Scottie Scheffler in contention.

An NBC Sports spokesman said the decision was made in consultation with the PGA Tour and Major League Baseball to stick with coverage of the golf tournament once it resumed at 7:20 p.m. EDT until it finished or was suspended due to darkness.

Scheffler — the world's No.. 1 player — made an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole to force a sudden-death playoff against Viktor Hovland on Monday morning. Tournament officials determined officials deemed there was not enough daylight to start the playoff.

The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highlands course in Cromwell, Connecticut. NBC aired the conclusion of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The start of the final round of third women's major of the year in Chaska, Minnesota, was delayed 3 1/2 hours due to rain. Haeran Ryu won by two strokes for her first major title.

The Yankees-Red Sox game was also streamed on Peacock. NBC picked up coverage at 8:28 p.m. during the bottom of the fourth inning with the Red Sox leading 2-0.

NBC viewers still got to see the more interesting parts of the game. Boston's Sonny Gray had a no-hitter through seven innings before the Yankees' Amed Rosario ended it with a single with one out in the eighth inning. New York rallied for two runs in the ninth to send it into extra innings and then scored two in the 10th to take a 4-2 lead.

The Red Sox though scored three in the 10th, including Jarren Duran's game-winning RBI single, to beat the Yankees 5-4 and complete a four-game sweep of their longtime rival.

This is NBC's first season carrying “Sunday Night Baseball.” It was the first Yankees-Red Sox game on NBC since Sept. 8, 1995.

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

In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country.

In Afghanistan, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistan's attacks resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of civilians, including women and children.

“We strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression and consider it a crime and an act of brutality,” he said.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence.

The security operation took place a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideouts and safe havens of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest operations are likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

Strikes are the latest in cross-border violence between neighbors

Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan's military launched airstrikes on what it said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.

The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action between the two countries. Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.

Multiple rounds of talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire. China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.

Pakistan since last year has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of TTP and other militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Afghan Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Abdul Qahar Afghan in Kabul; Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

Communications Minister Anika Wells on Monday blamed the platforms’ resistance to the age restrictions for the need to toughen the laws that came into force on Dec. 10.

“We can all agree we would like the scheme to work better than it is currently, but that is on Big Tech taking the Mickey,” Wells told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., using an Australian slang term for deceiving, teasing or mocking.

The government announced Sunday it would introduce draft legislation into Parliament this week that would double the maximum fine to 99 million Australian dollars ($68 million) for platforms that fail to take reasons steps to prevent Australian children from holding accounts.

The amendments would also increase the powers of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s online safety watchdog, to demand information and documents to ensure platforms were complying with Australian law, a government statement said.

The new powers would also include information from third parties, such as age assurance technology providers, to test claims made by the platforms about how those under 16 continued to circumvent the ban, the statement said.

Senior opposition lawmaker Jane Hume said her party would consider voting for the reforms, saying the “social media ban wasn’t working” because of deficient laws.

“The legislation was clearly undercooked in the first place. The eSafety Commissioner wasn’t given the powers to be able to pursue these Big Tech companies,” Hume said.

Parliament passed the initial legislation with overwhelming support in 2024. The targeted platforms were given more than 12 months to plan to implement the ban.

Many countries who have implemented or are planning similar restrictions have been closely watching progress of Australia’s ban.

The government initially reported more than 5 million children had accounts removed, deactivated or restricted after the ban became law.

But eSafety reported in March that seven in 10 children who held accounts on restricted platforms on Dec. 10 remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Inman Grant said in April she was considering court action against those platforms and YouTube, alleging they were not taking reasonable steps to exclude children.

She had been satisfied with progress made by the remaining restricted platforms: X, Kick, Reddit, Threads and Twitch.

Wells said she had received monthly updates from eSafety since March and “we are not seeing improvements.”

“These (draft) changes ensure that the eSafety Commissioner has the tools and powers she needs to hold platforms to account and we’re making sure that she can do just that,” Wells said.

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Winning a third straight major to start the season was within reach for Korda on this windy Sunday at Hazeltine National Golf Club, three weeks after she came back to secure her first U.S. Women's Open title.

“I was just trying to take it a shot at a time, really," Korda said. "I didn’t know where the leaders were at, so I was just trying to focus on myself.”

Soft greens from a morning deluge that delayed play by 3 1/2 hours and an unsteady putter got the best of her, as did the rest of the formidable pack at the top of the leaderboard. That's why the feat she was pursuing is so rare, a daunting prospect even for the runaway LPGA Tour leader.

Haeran Ryu finished at 13-under 275 to become the sixth South Korean to win the event over the last 12 editions, beating Ina Yoon by two strokes. Brooke Henderson and Dewi Weber tied for third at 10 under. Three Americans — Allisen Corpuz, Auston Kim and Alison Lee — tied for fifth place, six strokes behind Ryu.

Korda shot a 1-over 73 to finish seven shots back and fall into a four-way tie for eighth, failing to match what Inbee Park in 2013 and Babe Zaharias in 1950 pulled off as the only women to win the first three majors of the season.

For her part, that wasn't an accomplishment she'd been intentionally pursuing, even if her smashing success on the course this year has been fueling more fan interest in the sport, a following that was palpable to her wherever she went this week.

“You guys made that such a big thing. I didn’t think about that, no," Korda said. “I was just kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short really. I was just thinking about the way that I played, not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about.”

Korda three-putted five times this week, after posting no more than three in any other tournament this year. Hazeltine’s signature lakeside hole dragged her down, too, with a double bogey in both the first and fourth rounds on the 16th. Her second shot from the right edge of the fairway on Sunday splashed in the water for a costly penalty stroke, and she two-putted the par-4 hole.

This was just the second time in nine official stroke play events this year that Korda didn't finish first or second. She also tied for eighth at the Queen City Championship in Cincinnati in May. Korda still needs two points to secure her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame, a system that will grant her entry with one more major win or two more regular tour event victories. But with the Evian Championship and Women’s British Open waiting on the schedule next month, Korda has two more majors to play. Winning one of them would give her the career grand slam at age 27.

Next week, she'll rest and reset before traveling to Europe.

“Just chill for a few days,” Korda said, “and then practice.”

___

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

At approximately 1 a.m., JSO received several 911 calls reporting a shooting on West 11th Street, west of Grunthal Street. Patrol officers arrived to find two men, between 20 and 30 years old, suffering from gunshot wounds.

One of the men died at the scene and the other was taken to a hospital in critical condition by first responders with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department.

Police say a large group of people were in the area when the shooting happened, but by the time officers arrived, most of those individuals had already left.

Many of the neighbors News4JAX spoke with Sunday did not want to be on camera, citing fear of retaliation. One woman, who asked not to be identified, said she initially mistook the gunshots for fireworks.

“We thought it was fireworks, honestly, because people have been shooting fireworks off for the past week — and then we realized it was worse than what it was,” she said.

She described waking up to find her street completely roped off.

“We got up around one o’clock and I saw flashing lights. At first I thought it was somebody partying because it happens a lot around here. So I wake my husband up and we come out — and it’s roped off at the front of the house all the way past the apartment complex. There was a lot of cops. Nobody said anything to us. We had no idea what was going on.”

The woman, who moved to Jacksonville from South Carolina less than six months ago with her husband and children, said the shooting has her reconsidering whether she made the right decision moving here.

“We are looking to move,” she said. When told she had only been in Jacksonville for four months, she was direct: “We’re moving. It was terrifying — because I’m here alone a lot, my husband works. We don’t want to be here no more.”

Neighbors told News4JAX they want to see a stronger police presence on the block going forward.

Detectives from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit and State Attorney’s Office are conducting an investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500, email jsocrimetips@jaxsheriff.org or call CrimeStoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

The 88 Project, which focuses on rights issues in Vietnam, documented 56 such arrests in 2025, the third consecutive year of increases and double the number in 2022. The report includes only arrests where the defendant could be identified by name and the case tracked, and the actual numbers are believed to be much higher, said Ben Swanton, co-director of the group.

The report says the country under leader To Lam “routinely weaponizes criminal law” to quash dissent. To Lam, the country’s former top security official who has served as general secretary of the Communist Party since 2024, was also elected president earlier this year.

The arrests are largely driven by fears of an uprising against the leadership in a so-called “color revolution,” like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines, according to the report.

It is a fear shared by the Communist Party in neighboring China, which has been accused of using similar tactics to stifle critics. Though competing maritime claims have led to confrontations between the two countries and a tense diplomatic relationship at times, China and Vietnam were able to agree earlier this year to together “prioritize political security and enhance efforts to prevent and resist color revolutions,” the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

“With the ascendancy of To Lam, the country has become a literal police state that tolerates no dissent,” Swanton said.

“This represents a serious regression from the period of relative openness in the 2010s when some dissent was tolerated and civil society groups were able to engage in policy activism.”

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the findings of the report.

The report found that authorities are relying increasingly on Article 331 of Vietnam's penal code, which makes it a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison to “abuse democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state.”

Previously little used, “authorities have enlarged the scope and application of Article 331 so that it reaches further into society, beyond human rights and democracy dissidents ... to all those who voice any grievance with state or local Communist Party and government officials,” New York-based Human Rights Watch wrote in a report last year.

“The Vietnamese authorities’ increased use of Article 331 is a little known facet of the government’s expanding crackdown on ordinary people who are seeking to use social media and other peaceful means to publicly raise important social issues, including religious freedom, land rights, rights of Indigenous people, and government and Communist Party corruption,” Human Rights Watch wrote.

Among those arrested under Article 331 last year were three men behind the YouTube channel “Nguoi Da Tin' — The Messenger — on allegations that videos they uploaded were ”distorted content" that violated the statute, The 88 Project reported.

The report provides details of every arrest identified as politically related in 2025.

Those also included an activist for the minority Montagnard group who was arrested in Thailand and extradited to Vietnam, a dissident writer accused of spreading “propaganda against the state,” and a man who helped residents of Ha Tinh province file complaints demanding fair compensation for land expropriated for a new highway.

“The Vietnamese government has dealt alarmingly severe punishments to longstanding targets like journalists and human rights activists, while displaying an increasing willingness to attack groups previously thought safe, such as political exiles and legal petitioners,” the report said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

France records surge in deaths during heat wave

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

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

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

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

Europe is the fastest-warming continent, WHO warns

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

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

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

Lightning strikes Swedish theme park

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

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

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

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

Heat sparks wildfires in forests contaminated with WWII ammunition

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

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

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

Berlin police use water cannons to cool down locals and tourists

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

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

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

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

——

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

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

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

The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce fuel rationing. According to Western analysts, it has also slowed Moscow’s efforts on the battlefield, heaping pressure on the Kremlin to come to the negotiating table.

Putin says Ukrainian attacks aim to split Russian society

Speaking to a Russian state TV reporter, Putin described the Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries as an attempt to “cause a split in Russian society and force Russia to halt, even if only briefly, the advance of our troops along the line of contact, and create conditions for launching a negotiation process on terms advantageous to our adversary."

“We will not give them that chance,” Putin said, adding that “strikes on our infrastructure, wherever they are directed, have absolutely no effect on the situation at the front, on the line of contact.”

He said for the first time that Ukraine has proposed a halt on deep strikes, arguing that Kyiv made the offer because Russian strikes deep into Ukrainian territory are more powerful and devastating.

The Russian leader added that Kyiv also offered to limit the fighting to the four regions that Russia annexed but never fully captured — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. He rejected the proposal, arguing it would allow Ukraine to relocate its forces that are fighting Russian troops in other areas to let them focus on fending off the Russian attacks in the four southeastern regions.

Ukrainian drones set major Russian refinery on fire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking at a meeting with officials that focused on the fuel situation, Putin admitted that the country was “going through a difficult period,” but insisted that Moscow would “honor all its social obligations.”

Shortly after, he told state TV that the country's arms industries will quickly ramp up production of air defense systems to fend off Ukrainian attacks.

Putin also said that Russia will import more fuel and speed up repair works at oil facilities to end the “temporary deficit.”

“All damaged facilities are being restored quite quickly, and the issues that arise are not critical,” he said.

Putin specifically pledged to quickly deal with fuel shortages in Crimea, saying that fuel deliveries to the Black Sea peninsula by land and sea will rise and voicing confidence that “this task will be accomplished.”

As fuel shortages spread across Russia, the governor of the Irkutsk region in Siberia, thousands of kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border, Igor Kobzev announced that drivers will only be allowed to buy no more than 50 liters (13 gallons) of fuel per vehicle per day at state-run Rosneft gas stations in the province. Other gas stations may set lower limits.

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

Drones, bombs and missiles target more regions

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

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

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

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

___

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

The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highlands, and officials deemed there was not enough daylight for them to start the playoff.

The playoff was to start at 9 a.m. Monday, the first time a PGA Tour went an extra day since The Players Championship last year.

“It’s more fun when you’re making the ones to win,” Scheffler said. “But to keep yourself in it is also nice. Like I said, I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do.”

Scheffler and Hovland each had birdie chances at the end. Scheffler rammed his 30-foot putt 8 feet by the hole. Hovland's 25-foot attempt missed by inches and he tapped in for a 69. Scheffler made his third big par putt for a 68 to match Hovland at 21-under 259.

That was one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who closed with a 61 and was briefly tied for the lead, though it never looked as though it would be enough.

Hovland, who went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Scheffler, found himself two back when play was halted by a pounding rain and lightning in the area, both of them in the fairway on the 14th hole.

Hovland poured in a 15-foot birdie putt from just off the green, to get within one shot and Scheffler had to make a 6-foot par putt to stay in the lead.

On the reachable par-4 15th, Scheffler's pitch from the collar of rough — wet grass might have saved his tee shot from going in the water — raced toward the pin on the top shelf and kept right on going, over the back and down a slope. He chipped that just onto the green and made another big par putt with Hovland in tight for a third straight birdie.

That left them tied. Scheffler missed a big opportunity on a 10-foot birdie chance on the 17th that spun off of the left edge of the cup, and the world's No. 1 player did well to hammer a shot from the wet rough right of the 18th fairway to just inside 30 feet.

PGA Tour official decided before they finished the 18th there would not be enough light to play even one extra hole.

They arrived at the playoff in different manners — Scheffler with three birdies against one bogey, Hovland going through a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round with just two pars.

Hovland fell behind by two early, only for a two-shot swing on No. 7. There was a two-shot swing in Scheffler's favorite to start the back nine, and then Hovland made up ground with three straight birdies, the final two after rain changed the condition of the course.

The break was good for Hovland just to settle him down.

“I hit some good shots and then some bad shots and I just couldn’t quite get a flow in,” Hovland said. “So it was nice to just get completely off the golf course and reset and I felt a lot better coming back. So sometimes that’s all you need.”

Morikawa finished in style, a shot out of the wet sand in the bunker on the 18th to just inside 10 feet for ninth birdie of the round to post at 20-under 260. Morikawa, who started the day nine shots out of the lead, had to wait some three hours — including the delay — before leaving.

“The thought of actually having a chance, waiting it out, didn’t really cross my mind,” Morikawa said. “But I told my wife earlier this morning, ‘Let’s shoot 61 and end the three-week stretch on a good note.’ And sometimes the way you manifest things works out.”

Matt Fitzpatrick shot 64 to finish alone in fourth followed by U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who played remarkably well after such a draining week at Shinnecock Hills. He was in it until a shot into the water for bogey on the 17th. Clark had a 65 and was three shots back.

___

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

It will be hot and humid to start the new week. Highs on Monday will be in the mid to upper 90s and when you factor in the humidity it will feel like it’s around 105 degrees.

Scattered showers and storms will develop in the afternoon and evening. Heavy rain, frequent lightning and gusty wind is possible in any storm.

Storm coverage will remain widespread on Tuesday with highs near 90 degrees.

Regarding the drought, the latest drought monitor reflects improvement across our area. Several areas have been downgraded to a moderate and severe drought which reflects the rainfall we saw over the past week.

While we are still in a deficit, rainfall will once again lead to more improvement in the next outlook.

TONIGHT: Partly Cloudy. An Isolated Storm Early. Low 77.

MONDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 96, Low 76.

TUESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 76.

WEDNESDAY: Partly Cloudy. Isolated Rain & Storms. High 91, Low 75.

THURSDAY: Partly Cloudy. Mainly Dry. High 91, Low 75.

FRIDAY: Partly Cloudy. Mainly Dry. High 93, Low 76.

The accident occurred around 6 a.m. in Ras Tanura, and everyone killed was a Saudi national, the statement said. An investigation was opened into the cause of the crash.

The helicopter belonged to Aramco, which is majority-owned by Saudi Arabia.

Aramco recently has had to scramble as the Iran war disrupted oil supplies and raised prices. The company has said it successfully shifted some oil exports to a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted as Iran asserted control over the waterway.

In the days since Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, search teams and locals had believed that there were no signs of life under the concrete mass in La Guaira state, one of the hardest-hit areas.

Then on Sunday came a burst of movement. A pair of dust-coated legs was pulled out of a hole by rescue teams from Virginia, France and Venezuela.

Teams gently carried the man from the structure where he had been trapped for four days, his body slack but still gripping his phone, onto a black tarp and administered an IV.

Then came his young son, pulled shirtless and almost unresponsive over a pack of hard-hat clad rescue workers with the words “Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue” emblazoned on the backs.

“Slow, slow, gentle, gentle,” chanted rescue teams in a mix of Spanish and English, as they passed the father and son through a crowd of onlookers into a nearby ambulance.

The teams burst out into applause days into search and rescue efforts, at a time that hope of finding survivors was dimming.

Associated Press journalists Juan Pablo Arraez and Matías Delacroix were among the throng of people who witnessed the rescue.

On Sunday, Arraez said they were scouring the La Guaira region “trying to see if we can see any miracles” when they found the U.S. rescue teams and local civilians calmly working to pull the father and son out of the building.

“At this stage many begin to lose hope. You see that in their faces,” Arraez said, as helicopters flew overhead. “When somebody makes it out alive, this father and son. It’s more than a glimpse, it’s real hope for people.”

The one-two punch of the earthquakes has been the greatest natural disaster the South American nation has faced in decades.

Authorities reported 1,450 people were dead on Sunday, with thousands more injured and many more missing.

The first 48 to 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial to rescue efforts, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water.

But small moments of optimism, solidarity and humanity like this have cut through almost overwhelming grief.

Venezuelan firefighters poured water into the mouth of a dust-covered dog peeking its head through cracks in the concrete.

After being trapped for 70 hours, one woman sat up on a stretcher, grinning and waving at cheering crowds as she was loaded on a gurney into an ambulance.

——

Associated Press photojournalist Matías Delacroix contributed to this report.

The National Weather Service said wildfire conditions “remain critical” across the Southwest, with risk high in the Four Corners region where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah intersect. The agency warned of “extreme fire behavior” along the Utah-Colorado border, where “rapid fire growth is likely.”

The firefighters were killed and two sustained burn injuries when they were overcome Saturday by flames from fast-moving fires. They deployed emergency protective shelters during the so-called burnover — which occurs when a fire spreads and closes off all escape routes — in Mesa County, the U.S. Interior Department said.

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

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

The names of the firefighters were withheld pending notification to their loved ones, the Interior Department said.

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

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

On Sunday, strong winds pushed waves of thick, gray smoke from the fire as it burned through a desolate stretch of scrub and red mesa.

Hot, dry and windy conditions

Consecutive days of hot, dry and windy weather fueled fires in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and elsewhere. New fires popped up across the region.

The largest blaze, the Cottonwood Fire, burned out of control in rugged terrain in southwest Utah. It ballooned Sunday to more than 146 square miles (378 square kilometers) after marching through canyons and mountainsides, destroying part of a ski resort. The cause is under investigation.

Firefighters worked on multiple fronts, using bulldozers to scrape away brush and trees to starve the fire of fuel.

No estimates of damage were immediately available. Gov. Spencer Cox in a post on social media thanked crews for what he called “several miraculous stops and saves.”

The danger is even higher this year because of Utah's record-low snowpack and its warmest winter on record. Much of the West is grappling with similar conditions, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some 12 fires were burning in Utah. None were contained by late afternoon Sunday.

Fires across the U.S. burn thousands of square miles this year

Nationally, nearly 4,688 square miles (12,142 square kilometers) have burned since Jan. 1. That is more than the 10-year average.

Fully or largely uncontained wildfires burned across the desert Southwest on Sunday, according to Forest Service data, including in Nevada and Arizona. Their area totaled nearly 469 square miles (1,214 square kilometers).

Emergencies declared in Utah and Colorado

Citing fire conditions, Cox declared an emergency last week and banned fireworks ahead of the July Fourth holiday. State officials said Utah has seen an increase in wildfire starts, with each fire showing unprecedented behavior and stretching wildland firefighting capabilities.

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

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

Parts of northern Arizona were without power Saturday as the utility serving the area initiated a safety shut-off in hopes of lessening the wildfire risk. On Sunday, officials said power had been restored to much of Grand Canyon National Park.

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

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Smyth contributed from Columbus, Ohio. Sisak reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michael R. Blood in Los Angeles contributed.

Ryu shot a 2-under 70 to finish at 13-under 275 and become the sixth South Korean to win the event over the last 12 editions, flashing a big smile after sinking her last putt as friends ran out to douse her in celebration.

The 2023 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year was also the first major champion in at least the last 60 years to rally from a 10-plus-shot deficit after the first round. Ryu opened Thursday with a 73 in a tie for 70th place, as Yoon shot a tournament-record 63.

Playing her first event in six weeks, Ryu shook off whatever rust she showed and heeded some keen advice from her coach about moving forward.

“You don’t have another problem so just trust your shot and trust your caddie and trust yourself on the golf course,” Ryu said during the trophy ceremony on the 18th green.

Brooke Henderson and Dewi Weber tied for third at 10 under. Three Americans — Allisen Corpuz, Auston Kim and Alison Lee — tied for fifth place, six strokes behind Ryu.

“Haeran played unbelievable today,” Yoon said. “Brooke, I like to play her, play with her all the time. She’s such a nice girl. I learned a lot today, this week.”

LPGA Tour leader Nelly Korda wrapped up a frustrating weekend on the greens with a 73 to finish in a four-way tie for eighth, failing to become the third player to win the first three majors of the season.

The course was closed for most of the morning while a thunderstorm moved through the Twin Cities metro area, dropping more than an inch of rain and pushing all of the tee times back by 3 1/2 hours while players tried to stay focused and loose. That left the greens extra soft and the air especially gusty, making many of Hazeltine’s notoriously long fairways even trickier.

Ryu was five strokes behind Yoon in a four-way tie for second after two rounds and surged to the top on Saturday to take a one-shot lead over Henderson, the third time she’s been ahead or tied for the lead entering the final round of a major.

The 25-year-old Ryu bogeyed three of her first five holes before settling in and flexing her ball-striking muscle on a particularly tough afternoon for putting.

Ranking in the top three on the tour in approach, tee to green, and greens in regulation, Ryu went 4 under over the final 12 holes to separate from the pack in a far more relaxing finish than she was on track for. Four different players held a solo lead over the front nine.

Weber became only the fourth women’s player from the Netherlands to finish in the top 20 at a major tournament, with Anne van Dam the most recent at the 2024 British Women’s Open. Only one player on the men’s side has ever done so.

The 23-year-old Yoon had her best finish on the LPGA Tour, deftly rebounding from a 75 on Saturday and a double bogey on the third hole on Sunday.

“Little disappointed yesterday and today, but I think I did pretty good job being under pressure and it’s just part of golf,” Yoon said. “I think it’s going to be a really big lesson in the big picture.”

Korda turns her focus to the next two majors

Korda made the turn only three shots back and birdied the 10th hole, but her short game fell short down the stretch in similar fashion to the third round. She three-putted five different times at Hazeltine, after posting no more than three in any other tournament this year.

Hazeltine's signature lakeside hole dragged her down, too, with a double bogey in the first and fourth rounds on the 16th. Her second shot from the right edge of the fairway splashed in the water for a costly penalty stroke, and she two-putted the par-4 hole.

With the Evian Championship and Women's British Open next month, Korda can still add a grand slam to what has been a superb season despite some setbacks this week in Minnesota.

“I was just thinking about the way that I played," Korda said, "not like the realistic big picture that everyone is talking about.”

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

“You guys are Canadian heroes today!" Marsch declared. "Canadian heroes for the future children of this country who play this sport. The sport has a big future because of you guys. You should be so proud of who you are. You should be so proud of this game. You never lost belief. You went after it, point after point, moment after moment. You are Canadian heroes!”

Stephen Eustáquio's dramatic late goal had inspired Marsch to Ted Lasso levels of earnestness, and he didn't care who knew it.

Soccer has never been the main event on Canada's busy sports calendar, and Les Rouges are playing in only their third World Cup this summer. But Marsch realized this landmark 1-0 win over South Africa on Sunday is the type of achievement that can seize an entire nation's attention for a generation.

“We could have made life a little easier on ourselves if we would have made a play earlier when we had some big chances,” Marsch said. “But obviously the timing of the goal means that the win is incredibly dramatic, and I think the effect that it will have in Canada, and the inspiring of people, will be immense.”

After 90-plus minutes of frustration and failure to break down cagey South Africa at SoFi Stadium, Canada made history in an instant when Alistair Johnston’s long pass into the box was cleared directly into the path of Eustáquio.

The midfielder who plays professionally at nearby Los Angeles FC coolly chested it down and blasted it off the bounce into the bottom corner of Ronwen Williams' net before sprinting away to celebrate with Canada's bench in the second minute of second-half stoppage time.

“We worked for it," Eustáquio said. “We have a special group. We feel like we are brothers. When we fight for each other, when we play for each other, special things like this can happen. I am over the moon, but at the same time I don’t want to say that the job is finished.”

Canada, which sits 30th in the most recent FIFA world rankings, advanced to face the Netherlands or Morocco in Houston on Saturday.

After playing its first three group matches in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada missed the chance to also make this bit of history at home when it lost 2-1 to Switzerland last Wednesday and got sent on the road for the knockout rounds. But Marsch's plucky team responded by winning this tournament's first round of 32 match and reaching the round of 16 for the first time in its three trips to the World Cup.

The Canadians were still the clear crowd favorite in the Los Angeles area between their traveling fans and thousands of supportive locals, including several in Eustáquio’s LAFC shirt who couldn't have imagined the day they were about to enjoy.

“We never stopped believing," Eustáquio said. "And I think the goal is really something that we deserved.”

After finishing second in their respective groups, both South Africa and Canada were playing for their nations’ first knockout victories at a World Cup when they opened knockout play with the only match of the day.

Canada got a boost in the 75th minute when star defender Alphonso Davies came on for his first World Cup action. The playmaking Bayern Munich defender missed group play after injuring his hamstring last month for the third time this year, but finally returned in the same stadium where he tore a knee ligament in March 2025 in CONCACAF Nations League play.

Davies immediately made the best pass of the day to set up Promise David for a golden chance, but the forward hit it wide. The game then bogged down again — but Eustáquio made sure Canada avoided extra time.

“Steph is one of the people in the team that I think is the most reliable and understands what we’re trying to achieve as a group, and understands how to manage moments in games, and to be a leader, a true leader,” Marsch said. “It was good to see him, in that moment, just being in the moment and thinking about the best way to strike the ball in the way to give it the best chance to go in. Really composed and really well-executed.”

Williams made five saves for South Africa, which played with remarkable heart while hanging in until the final moments in search of another historic win for the team known as Bafana Bafana. South Africa stayed firm defensively and created a handful of tantalizing chances despite getting only one shot on goal to close a tournament in which it scored two goals in four matches.

“We lost the game because there was a lack of power and speed in our team when I compare that with our opponent,” South Africa coach Hugo Broos said. “We had a difficult game, certainly. But when we look back, we can be fairly satisfied with what we did.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Skier Lindsey Vonn has a special understanding of what Williams is going through as she prepares to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon at age 44.

After making her own comeback, Vonn was the top World Cup downhiller last season at age 41 until her horrific crash at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February left her with a severely fractured left leg.

“There is an increasing shift in what women can accomplish at later stages in their careers or life,” Vonn told The Associated Press. “I feel like we are in the same boat, where we don’t need to prove anything to anyone but we still have the ability to compete at an elite level. She (Willliams) also told me that I played a role in inspiring her to come back so that of course was meaningful to me.”

Vonn talked with Williams after the tennis standout’s doubles victory with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London, having watched the match from one of the VIP balconies.

“She was in great spirits. She’s having fun which I loved seeing, even more than her tennis,” Vonn said in a written response. “If it’s bringing her joy to play, I say play as long as you want!”

Vonn has undergone eight surgeries following her Olympic crash — which nearly led to a leg amputation — and needs at least one more to repair a torn ACL in that same knee. But she’s back in the gym and has resumed physical training, while still assessing whether she’ll compete again.

After nearly six years away from skiing, Vonn returned in December 2024 with a partial titanium replacement in her right knee. She had two victories and seven podium results last season.

On Centre Court at Wimbledon on Tuesday, Williams will play her first singles match since 2022 against 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia. Then she’ll play doubles with older sister Venus Williams later in the week.

So what does Vonn expect from Williams at Wimbledon?

“It’s her first major singles tournament since retiring so I would expect for her to play well but not show all her cards yet,” Vonn said. “I’m sure she can still win, but I wouldn’t put any expectations on her. She’s the GOAT (greatest of all time) no matter what happens.”

Indeed, Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champion in singles and has won 14 more Grand Slams in doubles — all with Venus as her partner. Vonn’s 45 World Cup downhill wins are the most by a male or female skier.

“It was kind of like riding a bike,” Williams said Sunday of her first practice sessions back at the All England Club. “Obviously when I play, I might have a lot of things come up.”

No matter the outcome, Williams shares Vonn’s credo of setting the bar high to create new standards.

“You have to believe in yourself and go for any dream,” Williams said, “no matter how wild it may be.”

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

“When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events,” Trump posted on social media.

Trump toured the course with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, various aides and the golf course architect Tom Fazio and his son, Gavin Fazio. The president's redevelopment of the course is subject to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

It's unclear when the course could host any major tournaments, as locations are chosen several years ahead of the events. Locations for the U.S. Open are scheduled through 2051, though there are available spots in 2043, 2046 and 2048. The PGA Championship is set through 2035.

Trump complained in his post about the condition of the grass and the sprinkler system for the public golf course, but debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing has also been dumped on the grounds. The National Park Service said last month that the debris tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals.

Trump said in his post that work on the golf course would begin on Sept. 1. The president also toured updates to Lafayette Park on the north side of the White House and had his motorcade drive around where he plans to build a triumphal arch.

The president also said in a separate post that he would meet with Janeese Lewis George, who won the Democratic primary for Washington's mayor. Trump in his post called Lewis George a “Communist."

At a news conference Thursday, Lewis George said that as the next likely mayor that she would “work with anyone including the president for the best interest of D.C. residents” but stressed that she would not comply “in advance” to requests from the administration that could compromise the locally elected government.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump uses the presidency to enrich himself and his family

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump has used the government to pursue his enemies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Walsh clocked 23.55 seconds at the Sette Colli meet in Rome to shave 0.04 seconds off the record Douglass set in Indianapolis on June 19.

Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who held the world record before Douglass, finished second on Sunday in 23.86.

Walsh and Douglass are former teammates at the University of Virginia and still train together. After seeing her mark bested so quickly, Douglass posted a photo of Walsh on Instagram with the text “was fun while it lasted” and a handshake emoji.

Walsh, who won two relay gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also holds the short-course world record over 50 meters and the long-course mark in the 100 butterfly.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

South Korea won its opening match against Czech Republic, then lost its next two Group A matches to South Africa and Mexico.

South Korea hoped it would qualify for the next round as one of the third-place teams to advance in this year's expanded tournament. That ended when Congo defeated Uzbekistan 3-1 on Saturday.

The quick exit for a team that expected to advance left the national team program in turmoil and drew a sharp rebuke from President Lee Jae Myung. He leveled pointed criticism at the coach..

“As a former honorary professional football club chairman and, at heart, a member of the Red Devils, I feel not just surprise but deep bewilderment at this unexpected result,” the president said.

The president criticized the national team structure and oversight, and the coach's appointment in the first place.

“Once again, it has been proven that personnel decisions determine everything. If loyalty and factionalism are valued over competence and an incapable person is appointed as a leader, the outcome is as predictable as fire,” the president said.

Hong, 57, announced his resignation with an apology to Korean fans before the team left its base camp in Mexico, where South Korea had played all three of its group matches.

Hong was in his second stint with the national team. He was the coach at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when South Korea also failed to advance past the group stage.

“To all of the Korean people who love and support our national team, I would like to genuinely apologize. Today, I’d like to announce that I will step down as the national team head coach,” Hong said.

“As the head coach, no explanation can supersede the ultimate result. I could not bring the result that our people had expected. All responsibilities are with me," Hong said. "Today, I step down as the national team head coach. However, my heart for Korean football will remain the same. I will now support Korea national team to regain the trust and love of our people.”

South Korea is a regular at the World Cup with 11 consecutive appearances, and was a semifinalist when it was co-host of the tournament in 2002.

Lee called for the national Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to review the national team and its failures.

"I sincerely apologize to the public for the deep disappointment caused by this absurd situation. We will move swiftly to reform sports administration to ensure this does not happen again,” Lee said.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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

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

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

Carlos Duarte came in from Long Island to attend New York's parade.

“It’s very important for us to be here … to be all together for love, peace and to show the world who we are,” Duarte said.

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

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

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

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

The newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official, also was held in Manhattan on Sunday.

This year, some transgender rights activists pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals' contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments.

Christen Clifford, a mother of two trans children, said during a news conference before the parade that New York City needs to enforce state laws that protect gender-affirming care.

“How can you let institutions that are actively harming queer kids march in Pride?” Clifford said. “I hope that New York City Pride will ban these hospitals from any future Pride parades until they restart care and so that families like mine know that you are listening to our concerns.”

The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients' medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.

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

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

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

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Fischer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Lionel Messi and Argentina, on the other hand, probably wouldn't complain much about their potential path to the World Cup final four.

The bracket is set for the knockout stage of the World Cup. There was no selection committee; slots were predetermined — Group A winner on this line, Group D runner-up on this line, etc. — so it wasn't exactly like how the NCAA tournaments go. And FIFA doesn't reseed like some sports, so a couple lower seeds are certain to get into at least the Round of 16.

So, when taking the 32 qualifiers for the knockout stage and ranking them like it's an NCAA tournament — essentially seeding the field 1 to 32 based on the FIFA live rankings entering Sunday — it's easy to see why some “regions” might be tougher to navigate than others.

A breakdown of the World Cup bracket:

Foxborough Region

— Quarterfinal: July 9 at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 12 Germany vs. No. 27 Paraguay, No. 2 France vs. No. 26 Sweden, No. 29 South Africa vs. No. 25 Canada (won 1-0 by Canada on Sunday), No. 7 Netherlands vs. No. 6 Morocco.

— Outlook: Netherlands vs. Morocco in the Round of 32 means that at least one of the seven highest-ranked teams left in the tournament won't even get to the Round of 16. France and Germany — perennial European powers — could meet in the Round of 16. And Canada (the first team through to the Round of 16 after winning the knockout stage opener over South Africa on Sunday) might have to change time zones twice on its way to the quarterfinals, while Germany, Paraguay, France and Sweden will all be in either Massachusetts, New Jersey or Pennsylvania in the Rounds of 32 and 16.

— If the seeds hold: France would play Morocco in the quarterfinal.

Inglewood Region

— Quarterfinal: July 10 at Inglewood, California.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 8 Portugal vs. No. 13 Croatia, No. 3 Spain vs. No. 18 Austria, No. 14 United States vs. No. 30 Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 10 Belgium vs. No. 17 Senegal.

— Outlook: The U.S. gets one of the lowest-ranked teams left in the tournament to open the Round of 32 and would remain in the Pacific time zone until the semifinals. Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal did not get an easy draw at all, with Croatia right off the bat and then potentially Spain in the Round of 16. (Can't imagine Spain is too thrilled with this, either.) Belgium vs. Senegal is in Seattle, and the winner will stay there to play the U.S. match winner; that's a big break for weary legs.

— If the seeds hold: Spain would play Belgium in the quarterfinal.

Miami Gardens Region

— Quarterfinal: July 11 at Miami Gardens, Florida.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 5 Brazil vs. No. 16 Japan, No. 24 Ivory Coast vs. No. 19 Norway, No. 9 Mexico vs. No. 20 Ecuador, No. 4 England vs. No. 28 Congo.

— Outlook: Mexico and England will be heavily favored in their Round of 32 matches, then would be in line to go head-to-head in the Round of 16 — in what would be a road game at Mexico City for England. And Mexico is one of only two teams not to surrender a goal in the group stage, with Spain being the other. Brazil gets a bit of an easier path to the quarterfinals, opening with Japan and then — if it wins — drawing the Ivory Coast-Norway winner.

— If the seeds hold: Brazil would play England in the quarterfinal.

Kansas City Region

— Quarterfinal: July 11 at Kansas City, Missouri.

— Round of 32 matchups: No. 1 Argentina vs. No. 31 Cape Verde, No. 22 Australia vs. No. 21 Egypt, No. 15 Switzerland vs. No. 23 Algeria, No. 11 Colombia vs. No. 32 Ghana.

— Outlook: Again, there is no “selection committee,” but if there was it would have gotten this one right by putting the best goalscorer in Argentina's Lionel Messi against the tournament's best story in Cape Verde in the Round of 32. And Messi gets to be at home in Miami Gardens, a few miles from Inter Miami's stadium for that matchup. Australia or Egypt awaits the Argentina match winner, Switzerland-Algeria has potential for a lot of goals, and Colombia faces a Ghana team with nothing to lose.

— If the seeds hold: Argentina would play Colombia in the quarterfinal.

Inside the bracket

News and notes about the Round of 32 matchups:

— France, Mexico and Argentina were the only teams to escape group play with 3-0-0 records.

— There are four Round of 32 matchups between unbeaten teams: Netherlands (2-0-1) vs. Morocco (2-0-1), Belgium (1-0-2) vs. Senegal (1-0-2), Brazil (2-0-1) vs. Japan (1-0-2) and Argentina (3-0-0) vs. Cape Verde (0-0-3).

— Expect some goals in France vs. Sweden (combined 17 goals in the group stage), Netherlands-Morocco (16), Belgium-Senegal (14), Brazil-Japan (14) and U.S.-Bosnia and Herzegovina (13).

— On the flip side, the first goal of Mexico-Ecuador might be that match's decider. Mexico wasn't scored on in group play and Ecuador surrendered only two goals in those three matches.

— The semifinal matchups are the winner of the Foxborough quarterfinal against the winner of the Inglewood quarterfinal (at Arlington, Texas on July 14) and the winner of the Miami Gardens quarterfinal against the winner of the Kansas City quarterfinal (at Atlanta on July 15). The final is at East Rutherford, New Jersey on July 19.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Already, parts of the U.S., especially Phoenix and central Texas, and much of the Southwest were experiencing temperatures around 100 F (38 C) on Sunday, while the weather service warned of severe wildfire conditions developing across much of the West as new fires popped up across the region.

On Sunday, well over 130 million Americans across southern and Great Plains states were under moderate to severe heat risk conditions, according to weather service maps, with that area forecast to expand and temperatures to intensify as the week drags on.

Forecasters say several days of high temperatures — some above 100 degrees F — will settle in across the lower Great Lakes, the mid-Atlantic and the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. Some record highs could be set in areas from the lower Great Lakes to the mid-Atlantic and New England later in the week, said weather service meteorologist Bryan Putnam.

A number of big cities could see their highest temperatures of the year so far as they host World Cup matches and celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary.

Feeling the heat will be the East Coast cities of New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore, and Midwestern and Great Lakes cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Detroit. Southern cities including Dallas, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, will also see high temperatures.

High heat will last into next weekend across the Great Plains, the Southeast and the mid-Atlantic, the weather service said.

Temperatures will reach well into the 90s and low 100 degrees Fahrenheit (mid to high 30s Celsius), the weather service said. High humidity will lead to heat indexes of 100 to 110 degrees F (40 C to 43 C), and as high as 115 F (46 C).

“That’s heat that’s impactful to anyone,” Putnam said. “It’s not just older adults or younger children or people who are spending a ton of time outdoors, maybe straining themselves a little more than normal. This is heat that really could impact everyone, especially with people outdoors going into the holiday weekend.”

The heat index, which factors in humidity and is included on many weather forecasts, provides a sense of how hot it really feels — and what’s dangerous for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity.

AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys said temperatures will be significantly above normal. For instance, in Washington, highs around July Fourth average around 89 degrees F (32 C), while Indianapolis averages around 85 degrees F (29 C). But this week, both cities will be hotter by 10 or 11 degrees F, Roys said.

The high pressure system — an area of dry, sinking air — creating the heat will act like a “rock” that will force storms to go around it and limit rainfall across the East, Roys said. That's sometimes called a “heat dome.”

Nightly lows in the 70s F (21 to 26 C) or even high 80s won’t provide much relief, meteorologists said.

For those who don't have air conditioning, especially in Eastern Seaboard cities like New York where lows may not dip below 80 F (27 C), it’s going be miserable to sleep, Roys said.

Roys also said this is a primetime for heat-related illnesses because people's bodies aren’t able to recover and cool off.

During extreme temperatures, limit outdoor activity, stay hydrated and ensure access to air-conditioning and other cooling areas, the weather service said.

The weather service said it expected extremely dry and windy conditions that could promote rapid wildfire spread across the Great Basin and the Southwest on Sunday.

In hot, windy conditions near the Colorado-Utah border, three firefighters working for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service and U.S. Forest Service were killed, and two others sustained burn injuries, when they were overcome by flames from fast-moving wildfires.

Wildfire activity has intensified across the Western U.S. as hot, dry and windy weather fueled flames in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and elsewhere.

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

Andy Murray announced the closure in a social media post, thanking customers for their years of support.

“Thank you for all your love and support,” Murray wrote. “We’ve had 25 wonderful years here at the World Golf Village, but it is now time to slip away. Come on by today, have a drink, and say goodbye.”

The post did not mention why the business closed.

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

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

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

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

The specific accusations against them were not immediately clear.

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

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

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

Diaa Jaafar, the investigative judge of Iraq’s central anti-corruption court, said in a statement that the investigation into al-Jumaili began in October “following the court’s receipt of a number of reports alleging that several candidates had spent exorbitant sums of money to support their election campaigns, exploiting state resources and with the support of influential figures in the previous government.”

He said the investigation uncovered the involvement of a group of legislators in “exploiting state resources for electioneering and benefiting from government contracts, directly or indirectly, to obtain commissions and personal advantages for themselves and others.”

Jaafar said Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi lifted the immunity of the members of parliament implemented in the case and the arrest warrants against them were then executed.

Saudi Arabia is out at the earliest point. Again. Bottom of a group that included tiny Cape Verde, the third-smallest nation ever to compete on this stage and into the knockouts for the first time.

By signing the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema as part of a spectacular recruitment drive in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been a major disruptor of club soccer. But on the international stage it still has a long way to go eight years out from hosting the World Cup in 2034.

Qatar, the host four years ago, is also on its way home after just three games, so too are the other gulf nations Iran and Iraq. Compared to the success of African teams at this World Cup, with nine out of 10 advancing to the round of 32, gulf nations are struggling mightily to make their mark.

A goalless draw against Cape Verde ended Saudi Arabia's hopes of advancing from the group phase for the first time since 1994.

“It was not what we wanted because when playing in such a match against a team that is more or less the same level as us, our performance was not good. So this gives rise to concern,” Saudi coach Georgios Donis said.

Qatar made history with its first point at a World Cup, scoring a dramatic late equalizer against Switzerland. But it was another disappointingly early exit after it was eliminated just two games into its home tournament in 2022.

“I think that they show that at least we were able to compete in these kind of matches,” coach Julen Lopetegui said.

The appointment of Lopetegui — the former Spain and Real Madrid coach — is evidence of the type of investment Qatar has made to try to boost its performance on the global stage. Unlike Saudi Arabia, it has not embarked on such an audacious drive to attract aging stars from Europe to its domestic league.

Despite a population of 3 million people and only around 300,000 citizens, it has managed to develop enough homegrown players to win back-to-back Asian Cups in recent years and assert its dominance on a region that includes powers like Japan and South Korea.

But it has not been able to translate those performances to the World Cup, and such an early exit marks a disappointment less than four years after hosting the tournament and spending billions of dollars to create eight state-of-the-art stadiums.

“You compare with other countries ... for sure we know who we are,” said Lopetegui. "But at the same time I think that this is one little country but with a big passion, a big investment ... we have to improve every day and they did this.

“We look to the future being optimistic about this for sure.”

It's all about the future for Saudi Arabia, too, after winning the right to host the World Cup in 2034.

It has been on a mission to wield influence in sports around the world, from buying Premier League Newcastle to launching LIV Golf and hosting world title boxing matches and Formula 1.

The World Cup would be its standout achievement as it looks to move away from its heavy reliance on oil and explore other revenue-generating sectors.

It will want its national team to make a statement at its home tournament and while superstar signings like Ronaldo have raised the profile of its league, the hope is that they will also raise standards.

Yet after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history by beating eventual champion Argentina four years ago, there was no standout moment this time — failing to advance beyond the group phase for the sixth time in a row.

“When we have these stars in the Arabian League, I think that the more competitive the competition, the better our players will be,” said Donis. “But it’s different when we’re playing for the national team because in the national team, these experiences, there needs to be a certain mentality.”

Focus on development of homegrown talent is clear as 2034 approaches.

Star signings from overseas have slowed and some big names, including Neymar, have departed. U.S. Soccer’s sporting director Matt Crocker was lured away to head up talent development in Saudi Arabia and youth investment is said to have doubled over the past three years.

If Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been disruptors with their sudden mega spending, Iran has been competing in World Cups since 1978.

It had to contend with difficulties regarding preparation and travel in the wake of war with the United States and only narrowly missed out on advancing as a best third place team after three draws. In seven appearances at the World Cup it has never gone beyond the groups.

Likewise for Iraq in its two appearances 40 years apart.

At a time when a supersized 48-team World Cup has opportunities for the likes of Cape Verde and Congo to make history, gulf nations are still waiting for their moment.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The first strike targeted a group of people in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, killing two and wounding another, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

Another Israeli strike in southern Gaza killed a man, according to health officials at Nasser hospital.

And the 13-year-old girl, Eileen al-Farra, was killed by shrapnel from Israeli tank shelling in southern Gaza, according to Nasser hospital.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes but said one of them targeted a “Hamas terrorist," without elaborating.

Palestinians on Sunday reported heavy tank shelling across Gaza and quadcopters — a type of unmanned aerial vehicle — buzzing overhead.

The heaviest fighting in Gaza has eased after a fragile ceasefire deal was reached in October between Israel and the Hamas militant group, but Palestinians continue to report new casualties almost daily. Israel says it targets Hamas and other militants who pose a threat and in response to ceasefire violations.

Israel has killed more than 1,040 people in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all deaths.

Israel has said five soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,050 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said Friday that it also discovered 21 canine skulls, hundreds of bones and other remains during searches at Miranda’s Rescue Animal Sanctuary, a 50-acre (20-hectare) facility in Fortuna, California.

Investigators combing the site on Thursday located an area in a barn where they believe dogs were likely killed, the sheriff’s office said. More than 600 dog collars were found nearby, the office said.

Sheriff William Honsal called it a “horrific scene.” No charges have been filed.

A message seeking comment was left for the shelter’s founder, Shannon Miranda.

In a statement posted to the shelter’s website on June 18, Miranda said that recent media coverage and online commentary “have presented an incomplete and, in some cases, inaccurate picture of our work.”

“At Miranda’s Rescue, our mission is to save as many animals as we safely can—always balancing compassion for animals with our responsibility to protect families, children, other pets, and the public,” Miranda wrote.

The sheriff’s office said it started investigating the shelter after receiving “credible information” in April “regarding allegations of felony animal abuse, animal cruelty, fraud, and conspiracy.”

Miranda’s Rescue collects fees from shelter transfers, as well as donations that it says helps cover the costs of food, housing, veterinary care, medications, facility expenses and staffing.

An affidavit from an earlier search of the property said that the sheriff’s office was tipped off by a pair of animal advocates, one of whom owns property adjoining the shelter and used trail cameras to monitor activity near an alleged burial site.

The advocates later went onto shelter property and dug up dog remains, the affidavit said.

“This investigation is just getting started,” Honsal said in a statement. “There is a tremendous amount of data to process, witnesses to interview, and evidence to examine.”

Investigators using ground-penetrating radar found 117 intact remains in various stages of decomposition buried in an open field, the sheriff’s office said.

They X-rayed 70 of the remains on site and found evidence of bullet fragments in many of them. The cause of death for many of those animals appeared to be gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators also found additional remains in advanced stages of decomposition, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said hundreds of dogs were transferred or turned over to Miranda’s Rescue by private citizens and animal shelters.

In his statement, Miranda said, “Miranda’s Rescue is a no-kill rescue. We do not euthanize animals simply to make space.”

However, Miranda wrote, ”there are rare circumstances in which euthanasia may be necessary — when an animal is suffering from a terminal condition or when it poses a serious, ongoing danger to people or other animals.”

“In those situations, we make the most humane and responsible decision we can, always with public safety and animal welfare in mind.”

One option starts right on your phone.

The app is called Too Good To Go. It connects customers with local businesses that have unsold food at the end of the day — items that might otherwise be thrown away.

News4JAX tested it out. Watch The Morning Show at 6 a.m. for what we learned and the pros and cons of the app.

The Hornets have agreed to trade forward Miles Bridges, a 2029 first-round draft pick and a 2027 second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for guard Grayson Allen, forward Royce O’Neale and a 2033 first-round pick, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Sunday because the trade, which was first reported by ESPN, still needs to be approved by the league.

The trade comes on the heels of the Hornets sending star point guard LaMelo Ball to Minnesota as part of a deal that brought them Naz Reid, draft picks and pick swaps.

That appears to have set off a major restructuring in Charlotte just months after the team improved its win total by 24 games from last season under second-year head coach Charles Lee.

The Hornets lost in the play-in game to Orlando.

The 6-foot-7 Bridges, 28, was the longest-tenured player on the Hornets roster, joining the team as a first-round draft pick in 2018 out of Michigan State.

In seven seasons, he averaged 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 46.1% from the field and 33.8% from 3-point range. His best season came in 2023-24 when he averaged 21 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting 34.9% from beyond the arc.

He sat out the 2022-23 season following accusations of domestic abuse.

Bridges was arrested in June 2022 on the eve of free agency on charges including felony child abuse and injuring a child’s parent. The NBA forced him to to sit out while his legal case was pending. He ultimately pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in November 2022.

Bridges was suspended for 30 games in April 2023 by the league but received a 20-game credit because he missed the entire 2022-23 season.

Charlotte never made the playoffs with Bridges' tenure with the team.

The trade opens the door for Reid, one of the league's top reserves, to potentially start at power forward.

The 6-foot-3 Allen grew into a solid scorer in his three seasons with the Suns, averaging a career-high 16.5 points and 3.8 assists per game, though injuries limited him to just 51 games.

He's the third former Duke player to join the Hornets roster.

The 30-year-old is considered an elite 3-point shooter, though his accuracy dipped to 34.9% from long range last season.

O’Neale, 33, is a versatile veteran entering his 10th NBA season. The 6-foot-6 forward spent the past 2 1/2 seasons with the Suns and averaged a career-high 9.8 points per game last season while shooting nearly 41% from beyond the arc.

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AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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

A funeral service for Savannah Barber and Edwin Barber was held at Franklin Street Baptist Church, where loved ones gathered wearing shirts bearing photos of the three victims — Savannah and Edwin Barber and Shad Cole — with the message: “Forever in our hearts. Three lives taken too soon.”

Savannah Barber’s mother, Amy Barber, said the service brought fresh pain as the family mourns.

“It’s been hard… it feels like it’s been going in circles,” she said. “Now today’s like I’m doing it all over again. I’m just ready for it to be over.”

The triple stabbing happened May 28 in the Normandy Estates area of West Jacksonville. Savannah Barber, 27, Edwin Barber and Cole, 37, were all killed. Edwin was Savannah’s stepfather and Cole was her fiancé, family said.

Austin Fisher, 30, pleaded guilty earlier this week and was sentenced to four life terms.

Amy Barber said the guilty plea spared her family from a trial but did not ease the loss.

“I’m just glad I really didn’t want to sit through the trial and go through everything,” she said. “I’m just glad that he’s going to be put away.”

But, she added, “Ain’t nothing’s going to bring none of them back.”

Amy Barber said support from friends, family, and the broader community has helped her endure the past month.

“I’m just glad everybody came together — that’s what they would have wanted,” she said. “It’s been a big help … everybody that stepped up and helped and volunteered.”

As mourners left the church, Amy Barber thanked those who attended and asked for continued prayers as the family tries to move forward.

“I just want to say thanks to everybody, and I love everybody,” she said. “And I’m glad they could come out and be with us.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russell's smart win

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cadillac feels the heat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then Williams-Joint.

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

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

Serena gets nervous?

Even GOATs get butterflies, apparently.

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

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

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

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

What can we expect from Serena?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

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

1. “Toy Story 5,” $70 million.

2. “Supergirl,” $38 million.

3. “Obsession,” $9.8 million.

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

5. “Disclosure Day,” $8.1 million.

6. “Backrooms,” $4.3 million.

7. “Scary Movie,” $3 million.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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This story corrects spacecraft name to Link.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But such organizations were built in a different era.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Generational change clashes with legacy in closely watched primaries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nashville's all-stars came out in droves

It was a concert in two movements.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A night to remember

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fireworks were launched into the sky for “Chattahoochee.”

Alan Jackson's story continues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's a completely different story now.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

They delivered a thrilling 3-3 draw instead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Letlow had spending advantages

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Democrats pick Davis as their Senate nominee

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

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

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

Here are the games in the round of 32:

US vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

, July 1

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

Belgium vs. Senegal, July 1

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

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Germany vs. Paraguay, June 29

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

France vs. Sweden, June 30

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

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South Africa vs. Canada, June 28

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

Netherlands vs. Morocco, June 29

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

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Portugal vs. Croatia, July 2

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

Spain vs. Austria, July 2

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

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Brazil vs. Japan, June 29

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

Norway vs. Ivory Coast, June 30

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

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Mexico vs. Ecuador, June 30

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

England vs. Congo, July 1

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

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Argentina vs. Cape Verde

, July 3

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

Australia vs. Egypt, July 3

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

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Switzerland vs. Algeria, July 2

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

Colombia vs. Ghana, July 3

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

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

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

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

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

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

Immigration laws are proliferating in states

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some question how the Mississippi law will work

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

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

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

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

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

Advocates say the law could break trust with police

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bahrain condemns Iran’s drone attack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ship comes under attack as strait route expands

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tension mounts during rescue efforts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Searches mix with uncertainty

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

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

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

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

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

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

A glimmer of hope

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

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

Small moments of humanity mixed with grief and terror.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Officers responded around 5:20 p.m. to the 6500 block of Skyler Jean Drive after reports of a person shot. Upon arrival, officers found an adult Black male in his 20s suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue transported the victim to a local hospital, where he is listed in non-life-threatening condition. The victim is cooperating with the investigation.

According to the preliminary investigation, the victim was outside a residence when a dispute broke out between him and the suspect. During that dispute, the suspect shot the victim once with a handgun before fleeing the scene in a vehicle.

Officers were later able to locate the vehicle and took the suspect into custody.

“The suspect and victim were known to each other, and this is believed to be an isolated incident,” said Sgt. Scott with JSO’s Robbery and Violent Crimes Unit. “There is no further danger to the community.”

Crime Scene Detectives are processing the scene for evidence. At least one shell casing was recovered. Investigators said they have not located any nearby residences or businesses struck by gunfire, though a thorough canvass of the area is ongoing.

Detectives with the Robbery and Violent Crimes Unit are actively interviewing witnesses, canvassing for surveillance video and following up on investigative leads.

Investigators said the incident does not appear to be domestic-related and is not believed to be gang-related. While there appears to be a prior relationship between the suspect and the victim, the nature of that relationship is unknown at this time.

Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact JSO at 904-630-0500, email JSOCRIMETIPS@JAXSHERIFF.ORG or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

She rose to the top of the media outlet as the fifth publisher, and first woman to hold that position, in the organization’s 116-year history.

On Saturday, colleagues posted tributes on social media remembering Campbell, who died on the morning of June 25 at her residence in Springfield, according to a story on the outlet’s website. She was 49. The Daily Record is a News4JAX news partner.

Publisher emeritus James Bailey Jr. told the outlet in remembering “Angie” that she took a small opportunity and turned it into a career that helped the business thrive in ways that it hadn’t before.

“I hired Angie to be my receptionist when she was 20 years old even though she didn’t have any experience working in an office. She later became my assistant and then the company’s business manager,” he said.

“She took on every job and did it right every time — sometimes better than I had been doing it for more than 20 years,“ he continued. ”Angie changed the way I was able to run the business. She would always say that I gave her a chance, but the fact is she gave me and the company the chance to do everything we did.”

Campbell was essentially a lifelong Jacksonville resident whose story is inspirational.

She moved to Jacksonville when she was 4 years old, according to the Daily Record, and spent most of the rest of her life here. Campbell and her family grew up in Arlington, and she graduated from Parker High School.

In 1997, Campbell arrived at the Daily Record and began working as a receptionist for Bailey Jr.

Campbell touched every aspect of the Daily Record on her journey, from being the first face people saw as they walked through the door to leading the organization.

Matt Walsh, owner of the Daily Record and CEO of its parent company, the Observer Media Group, said in the JDR story that Campbell brought energy, a great attitude, and an unforgettable laugh to the building.

“Angie was much loved by our team in Jacksonville, her OMG colleagues and everyone who knew her in the Jacksonville business community,” he said. “She was always a source of positive, can-do energy. Her hearty laugh was infectious.”

As a well-known local name in Jacksonville, Campbell and her family also dealt with personal tragedy. Her nephew, Mark Degner, and Mark’s friend, Bryan Hayes, vanished after leaving Paxon Middle School on Feb. 10, 2005. Campbell’s mother, Darlene Briggs, never gave up hope of her grandson and Hayes being found. Campbell often spoke publicly about the family’s hope of being reunited with Mark. Sadly, Briggs preceded Campbell in death just last month.

According to the Daily Record’s report, citing the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Campbell’s death is “characterized as an apparent suicide.”

Campbell is survived by her husband of 25 years, Christopher; her son, Kyle, and his spouse, Sierra; a daughter, Kennedy; and grandson, Carter.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has not immediately commented.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It will be hot and humid to close out the weekend. Highs on Sunday will be in the mid to upper 90s and when you factor in the humidity it will feel like it’s around 105 degrees.

Temperatures will remain well above normal through early next week with highs in the mid to upper 90s. Temperatures will fall on Tuesday behind a disturbance.

With the disturbance nearby on Monday, shower and storm coverage will be scattered. Heavy rain, frequent lightning and gusty wind will be likely in any storm.

The heat index on Monday will likely approach 105 once again.

Regarding the drought, the latest drought monitor reflects improvement across our area. Several areas have been downgraded to a moderate and severe drought which reflects the rainfall we saw over the past week.

While we are still in a deficit, rainfall will once again lead to more improvement in the next outlook.

TONIGHT: Partly Cloudy. An Isolated Storm Early. Low 77.

SUNDAY: Sun & Clouds. Mainly Dry. High 96, Low 77.

MONDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 95, Low 76.

TUESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 75.

WEDNESDAY: Partly Cloudy. Isolated Rain & Storms. High 91, Low 76.

THURSDAY: Partly Cloudy. Mainly Dry. High 91, Low 76.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firefighters grapple with more wind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Visitors undeterred by wildfires

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

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

“It’s still gorgeous,” Miller said.

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

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

Red flag warnings issued around the West

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The heavy police presence, which included a helicopter over the area, closed Pritchard Road near I-295 temporarily during the afternoon.

A viewer described a scene with multiple officers in the parking lot of the gas station with their guns drawn.

The road has since reopened, and News4JAX is working to learn more about what drew police to the area.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not all players support protest

Novak Djokovic has not been a part of it.

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

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

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

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

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

What do the No. 1 singles players say?

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

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

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

“It's getting better even though we are not at the point where we are 100% happy,” the Italian said.

Sinner said it's “not only about the money,” citing the need for improvements in player welfare. But he declined to engage in a question about Wimbledon's offer to work on creating a player council.

“I just think it's better if we don't discuss here, I don't like to talk about this at the moment,” he said.

The four-time Grand Slam champion also didn't want to address whether the players feel they are closer to a solution or a boycott.

“I think we talked enough about this at the moment. The Grand Slams know what we ask, then we see how it goes,” he said. “Again, I'm here now to talk about tennis.”

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

Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations.

Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public.

A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults said in a poll conducted earlier this year by healthcare research nonprofit KFF that they were at least somewhat worried about being able to afford their prescriptions. About 4 in 10 said costs had led them not to take medications as prescribed within the previous year, either by taking less than the prescribed dose, using over-the-counter substitutes or not filling prescriptions.

Dozens of proposals emerge across the US

Pharmacy benefit managers, particularly CVS and two other large companies, handle most U.S. prescriptions.

Lawmakers in at least 26 states introduced more than 120 bills this year on PBMs, according to an Associated Press search using the bill-tracking software Plural, with about a quarter of the bills clearing at least one chamber.

The companies manage pharmacy claims for health insurers and negotiate with manufacturers over drug prices and what medications will be covered. Critics concede that the size of the top companies gives them leverage that health plans wouldn't have on their own.

The benefit managers argue that they're the only player in the drug supply chain created to help push drug costs down and they claim credit for an increased used of less-expensive generic drugs, now 90% of U.S. prescriptions.

“If PBMs already didn’t exist, you’d need to invent one,” said Prem Shah, president of the CVS Health group overseeing its pharmacy and PBM operations, in a recent interview. “Blaming PBMs for high drug prices is like blaming umbrellas for the rain.”

CVS fights restrictions in Tennessee

Drug companies, PBMs and their allies have spent at least $24 million on opposing broadcast and digital advertising since the start of 2025 to influence public opinion, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. CVS spent $4 million this year on ads opposing Tennessee's new law.

CVS sued Arkansas last year after it enacted similar legislation, and a federal judge blocked its law. CVS also settled three lawsuits in which Louisiana accused it of unfair trade and deceptive practices in lobbying against legislation there last year, agreeing to pay $45 million without acknowledging wrongdoing.

The CVS lawsuit in Tennessee alleges that the company, which operates 9,000 pharmacies nationwide, is facing “naked protectionism” from lawmakers who operate independent pharmacies — including the law's main sponsor, state Sen. Bobby Harshbarger and co-sponsor Sen. Shane Reeves.

Independent pharmacies say they're being squeezed

In Knoxville, Seth White, who manages a CVS pharmacy, will have to find a new job if the Tennessee law stands, and he's also worried about hundreds of its customers having to go elsewhere for their medications.

Some 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away in Coldwater, Kansas, Lisa Gales is on the opposite side of the debate. She and her husband operate the Main Street Pharmacy, and she said they rely heavily on sales of non-pharmacy items to offset low reimbursements from pharmacy benefit managers.

Gales calculates she lost money on 86% of the prescriptions she filled last year. A new Kansas law will require PBMs to pay a $10.50 dispensing fee per prescription. Gales called it a “great win,” even though, “It’s still way under what it’s costing us.”

A new Louisiana law imposes an $11.81 dispensing fee. Another says PBMs must operate for the benefit of their health-insurer clients and people enrolled in health plans.

Critics deride each mandatory dispensing fee as an extra “pill tax” that will drive up consumers' costs. Backers dispute that, saying the laws also limit what PBMs charge health plans for the cost of medications themselves — so that it's often well below wholesale prices.

Pharmacy benefit managers push drugmakers to give big discounts on those wholesale prices but face criticism for keeping any portion of them. Some states now require PBMs to pass along all discounts.

Patients are watching the debate

It all worries consumers, particularly in small towns, who fear it could become harder to get their medications if PBMs squeeze independent pharmacies on reimbursements to the point of endangering their businesses.

In southeastern Kansas, Faith Sanders, a 79-year-old retired nursing home administrator, said the pharmacy in her hometown of Cedar Vale is important because without it people would have to drive 35 miles (56 kilometers) “to go out of town to get anything.”

For her many elderly neighbors, she said, “We get to the point where it’s hard for us to get out of town.”

Meanwhile, even some PBM critics question whether states can effectively regulate them. In Tennessee, state Rep. Robert Stevens, a Nashville-area Republican, told colleagues during a debate that cracking down on PBMs “needs to be done by Congress and not by us.”

Congress did pass new PBM regulations in February. One law will prevent PBMs from keeping any rebates they’ve negotiated on drug prices for health plans that supplement federal Medicare coverage for Americans over 64.

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This story has been updated to correct the name of CVS executive Prem Shah, not Prem Shaw.

St. Louis sent the Nos. 73 and 76 picks to Toronto for the 29-year-old defenseman.

Carlo lasted just 88 games with the Leafs after they sent a first-round pick, a fourth-rounder and highly regarded forward prospect Fraser Minten to Boston for him at the deadline in March 2025. That was with the previous regime in charge, and general manager Brad Treliving was fired two months ago and replaced weeks later by John Chayka, and they only got to keep the pick this year because they won the lottery for the No. 1 overall pick.

This is the third trade of the week for the Blues, who are also in transition as GM-in-waiting Alexander Steen is set to take over for seasoned executive Doug Armstrong next week. Armstrong in his final days at the helm has been plenty busy.

On Tuesday, he traded Jordan Kyrou to Washington for fellow forward Connor McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin and the No. 16 pick, accumulating a league-high four in the first round. On Friday night, he sent two of them to Anaheim for 23-year-old Mason McTavish, who is signed through 2031.

Carlo provides some dependable veteran stability on the right side on defense, especially if the Blues decide to trade Colton Parayko or Justin Faulk as part of their summer overhaul. He is going into the final year of his contract at a salary cap hit of just under $3.5 million.

“We’re excited (Carlo has) got his size and length, his ability to kill plays, his experience,” Armstrong told reporters in Centene, Missouri. “Getting stronger up front and having strong goaltending, we think we’re going to be more competitive than we were last year.”

Toronto used the third-round picks on Canadian winger Zach Olsen and Swedish defenseman Mans Gudmundsson.

Hurricanes get John Carlson's rights

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes jumped the queue to talk to John Carlson before the 36-year-old defenseman can become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday. They sent the 192nd pick and the rights to pending restricted free agent forward Kyle Masters to Anaheim to get an exclusive negotiating window with Carlson.

Traded to the Ducks by the Capitals less than 13 hours before the deadline in March, Carlson is believed to want to get back on the East Coast for family reasons. He spent his first 16-plus NHL seasons with Washington and helped the team win the Cup in 2018.

More trades at the NHL draft

New Nashville president of hockey operations and GM Chris MacFarland spent his first few weeks on the job largely adding players he was familiar with from his time in Colorado. On Saturday, he added fresh blood from the East by acquiring big, Swedish winger Adam Edstrom in a trade with the New York Rangers.

The Predators sent the 148th pick in the draft (a fifth-rounder) and the rights to minor leaguer Massimo Rizzo to New York. The Rangers, who also traded Brett Berard to Montreal on Friday, are not expected to tender Rizzo a qualifying offer and would make him an unrestricted free agent.

The Avalanche traded Ivan Ivan to the Bruins for Fabian Lysell in a swap of young forwards.

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

The agreement signed Friday in Washington links Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to Hezbollah's disarmament, something the group rejects.

Several previous ceasefire agreements that Lebanon has negotiated with Israel since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war were never implemented on the ground. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since March, when Hezbollah fired at Israel two days after the Iran war began.

In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group will keep fighting until Israel is forced to leave Lebanon. The group's supporters protested in the streets of Beirut following the announcement of the agreement.

Despite the deal, the Lebanese state news agency reported an Israeli drone strike near the southern city of Nabatiyeh. It also reported that Israel's military released three Lebanese and three Syrian workers who were taken near the southern village of Ain Arab on Friday.

Deal calls on Israel to withdraw but only if Hezbollah disarms

The talks between Israel and Lebanon were separate from the interim deal signed earlier this month by the U.S. and Iran.

Details of the deal that the U.S. State Department released Saturday say Lebanon and Israel aim to eventually end the state of war between them that began when Israel was created in 1948.

The deal says Israel will withdraw from Lebanon, provided Hezbollah disarms.

It calls for Israel to initially withdraw from two small areas, called pilot zones. It did not say where they will be. The Lebanese army will gradually assume full security responsibility over those areas. The countries will agree to future pilot zones for Israel's withdrawal in the future, the agreement says.

The deal has a security annex that includes details of the deployment of the Lebanese army and redeployments of Israeli troops. The security annex was not made public.

As part of the deal, Israel stresses that Hezbollah's disarmament throughout Lebanon and additional security measures to be agreed upon between the countries will eliminate any future need for the Israeli army’s military action or presence in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said Israeli forces will remain in southern Lebanon “until Hezbollah and the rest of the terrorist organizations are disarmed, and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon.”

Netanyahu said the two agreed-upon zones will have a “pilot program for disarming Hezbollah and transferring the territory to the control of the Lebanese army.” He said Israel's military already withdrew from one.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military has been instructed “to prepare for an extended stay.”

Hezbollah's leader rejects the deal as ‘a humiliation’

From Hezbollah’s point of view, the deal is nonexistent, Kassem said.

He called the agreement a “humiliation,” adding that linking Israel’s withdrawal to Hezbollah’s disarmament as a “very dangerous suggestion.”

The deal prompted one of the group’s officials, Hassan Fadlallah, to warn that it could result in civil war because Hezbollah won't give up its weapons and will resist any measures taken by the Lebanese army.

Judge Ahmed Rami al-Hajj, Lebanon's top public prosecutor, on Saturday told the heads of the country’s security agencies to take measures to prevent riots.

Some Israelis and Lebanese doubt the deal will last

The deal says both Lebanon and Israel recognize that the restoration of security in southern Lebanon through the deployment of the Lebanese army, the safe return of its civilian population and the security of Israel’s northern communities are essential to long-term stability and peace.

“Personally, I don’t think it will be lasting because the Lebanese military cannot really stand a chance against Hezbollah,” said Israeli citizen Ronit Belson while visiting the town of Metula along the border.

In Lebanon, people were divided.

“People just want to rest for good. I support the Lebanese authorities in the decision” taken, said Rabie Sammour, a resident of the southern city of Sidon.

Another Sidon resident, Khaled Ghannoum, said the deal “legitimized Israel’s occupation.”

In an apparent reference to Iran, which has sent billions of dollars in cash to Hezbollah over the past four decades, the deal says Lebanon and the U.S. commit to preventing funds from flowing to any entity, organization or individual affiliated with non-state armed groups.

The deal states that the Lebanese government explicitly commits to prevent reconstruction funds from flowing to non-state armed groups and connected entities.

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Mor reported from Metula, Israel. Associated Press journalist Ibrahim Hazboun contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

This is the Great American State Fair.

The fair kicked off this week and is a run by Freedom 250, an organization created by President Donald Trump to run his administration's official events. Its creation caused tension with America250, a congressionally created group that was designed to plan the nation's 250th anniversary. The event on the National Mall will run into July.

Crowds came in small numbers early Friday, spending little time at security. The entryway led straight to a 110-foot tall Ferris wheel, the lone ride at the fair, and a smaller arch, similar to the ones that the Republican president has used to adorn other events.

The consensus among people who were interviewed was that the fair was a great idea — and perhaps an opportunity missed.

A fair for America that highlights divisions for some

Familiar to anyone who has ever attended a fair were the goats, sheep and a calf whose mooing could be heard across the Mall, all courtesy of the Washington High School Future Farmers of America from Jefferson County, West Virginia. Baby chicks, resplendent in all of their downy softness, were a huge draw, and there was the promise of a cowboy performance with bucking broncos to highlight the rise of the American cowboy.

Visitors were united by their enthusiasm for states to come together and show off their unique characters, famous natives, industries and history and geographical diversity. They were also drawn by a desire for a nonpartisan celebration of American unity.

“There’s nice people, nice events, nice family events,” said Sharyn Bovat, who said she lived in Florida but has remained in the Washington area since having a heart attack this year. “Half the country is divided with the other half. I wish they would create a USA 250 for all the people. I’m tired of the politics.”

She said the arch was the main thing that gave the event a political overtone. “It makes me think of Germany,” she said.

The fair booths, all inside structures that resembled the neoclassical architecture of the nearby National Gallery of Art, offered snippets of Americana to visitors.

The varying aspects of America on display

Among the items representing Montana was a gigantic rib cage, a scaled-up version of apatosaurus, which is a cousin to the better-known brontosaurus.

Virginia's booth offered a journey through the state's role in American history. For the District of Columbia, there was a huge banner for visitors to sign, along with a tree filled with cherry blossoms. South Carolina invited people to enjoy a putting green.

Texas included a space capsule, a facade of the Alamo and a statue — Big Tex. The one place where there was a line outside was for Arizona's exhibit, which had an interactive that allowed visitors to put themselves in terrain from the state.

Visitors to New Jersey's booth saw an ornate sandcastle made from 7,000 pounds of sand brought from the Jersey Shore and built over the course of four days by an artist.

Andy Walters and his wife, Kirsten, were there with their three children from Wapakoneta, Ohio, the boyhood hometown of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. “I think it's nice. I wish all the states were participating,” Andy Walters said. “It's a little underwhelming but it's a great idea.”

Kirsten Walters said she wished something similar would be held more often, without the overtones. “We’re excited to be here and participate,” she said.

Not all states participated or staffed their booths

Most states participated, treating the fair almost like a tourism opportunity. But there was not full representation.

Maine, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania opted to not send delegations, citing costs, scheduling or politicization concerns. Pennsylvania's senators John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dave McCormick, a Republican, said Saturday they had gotten together with several business trade organizations to “make sure the Keystone State would have a showcase worthy of its singular place in our nation’s history.”

Some booths, including those for Hawaii and Alaska, were unstaffed. Hawaii's did feature a couple of rocking chairs, which tired visitors put to good use.

Alonzo Lewis Jr. and Kelly Domizio, from Rome, New York, took advantage to take a load off.

“This was really pretty cool,” she said. “Been going to all the different states.”

But her husband had a different view.

“Was it necessary, I don't think so,” Lewis said. “It feels forced. There's so much separation.”

Domizio said she remembered the bicentennial in 1976.

“There was a sense of pride” and togetherness she said. “We are enjoying the day but it feels forced.”

All that mattered to Ruck on Saturday was being selected with the 39th pick in the second round by Pittsburgh in following his brother, who was drafted 22nd overall by the Penguins a day earlier.

“He can brag to me all he wants. I’m just so happy to be with him. I know he won’t brag, but if he wanted to, he could,” Ruck said. “To be with him, it’s so special.”

The twins are from Osoyoos, British Columbia, and spent the past two-plus seasons as one of the Western Hockey League’s most productive tandems in Medicine Hat. Marcus led the WHL with 108 points last season, while Liam, a right wing, finished second with 104 points.

Liam was projected to go first, and when the Penguins chose him, Markus began looking ahead to No. 39, Pittsburgh’s next turn to pick.

“I didn’t have a preference of when, I just knew where I wanted to go and who I wanted be with,” he said, noting his brother kept his spirits up overnight. “He kept me calm and told me it was going to happen. So for it to happen it’s awesome.”

The Ruck’s reunion was part of a family theme in a draft that had Caleb Malhotra going third to Vancouver, where his dad was just hired as the Canucks head coach.

The Calgary Flames opened the third round by selecting WHL Vancouver forward Joe Iginla. He’s the youngest son of Hall of Famer and longtime Flames star Jarome Iginla, and his selection came after older brother Tij went No. 6 to Utah in the 2024 draft.

Rogowski picks hockey over baseball

Whatever doubts Brooks Rogowski had in choosing hockey over baseball quickly evaporated following the first pick in the second round of the NHL draft.

The 18-year-old from Livonia, Michigan, had taken his seat with his family on the draft floor, when NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly announced Rogowski had been selected at No. 33 by the Vancouver Canucks.

“You sit down for five minutes and you’re standing back up. So that was nice not having to sit a while,” Rogowski said. “But the relief was immediate. You hear your name called and all the stresses just kind of fall off you. It’s great, it’s been awesome.”

And the selection validates the choice the 6-foot-7, 235-pound Rogowski made two years ago. In picking hockey, after being drafted by the OHL Oshawa Generals, he put baseball behind him — and to the regret of his father and uncle, who both enjoyed minor-league baseball careers.

His father, Casey, was drafted by the Chicago White Sox and his uncle, Ryan, drafted by the Dodgers.

“Obviously they’re still sad about baseball, but I think this was the right decision,” Rogowski said. “You know, get to wear a nice jersey, so I think that they’re more than happy with that.”

Rogowski has made a commitment to play at Michigan State in two years, and appreciates he still has plenty of room to develop after focusing more on baseball than hockey growing up.

“I have a lot more to improve,” he said. “You have a lot of these guys who have been doing this for a long time. I’m still relatively new to it, and I think there’s a lot more to me that needs to come out.”

His trajectory is pointing up. As a rookie, Rogowski had 11 goals and 23 points in 66 games with Oshawa, and built on that with 42 points (15 goals) in 46 games last season.

Not bad for the former first baseman.

“Exactly. It’s very different,” Rogowski said comparing the two sports. “I have always been a decent hockey player, but I think the rapid growth, I can attribute to athletic ability.”

A day after pop icon Justin Bieber took the stage to announce the Toronto Maple Leafs taking Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick, there were several notable highlights over the final six rounds on Saturday.

Golden Knights 2nd-round pick forfeited

The second round featured just 31 selections with the Vegas Golden Knights forfeiting their 63rd pick after being sanctioned by the league for violating media regulations. Former Vegas coach John Tortorella was also fined $100,000 for refusing to speak to reporters following a second-round-series-clinching Game 6 victory at Anaheim.

Another notable selection came at No. 40, when the Florida Panthers used their first pick of the draft on right winger Simas Ignatavicius. Though born in Memphis, he relocated with his family to their native Lithuania, a nation that by his count has four hockey rinks.

Though his father played basketball, Ignatavicius was drawn to hockey at age 3 while watching a practice at a rink inside a shopping mall. Six years ago, the 18-year-old moved to Switzerland to develop his skills.

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

Serena Williams is the star, though, at Wimbledon.

The 44-year-old Williams' presence has been emanating throughout SW19 — the famous post code of Wimbledon — as she prepares to play her first singles match at the event in four years Tuesday when she faces No. 53 Maya Joint in the first round.

Mirra Andreeva, who just won the French Open, was basically crossing her fingers when the Wimbledon draw was announced.

“I was watching like this because I don’t think anyone in the draw would have wanted to play against Serena," the smiling Russian teenager said Saturday. “I’m going to speak for myself. I wouldn’t want to play against Serena. I would be just very nervous.”

Williams had been away from the sport since her farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open but she accepted a wild-card entry to play women’s doubles with her sister Venus, who is 46. And then she accepted another to play singles.

Williams’ most-recent appearance at Wimbledon was in 2022 when she lost in the opening round to Harmony Tan, who was then-ranked 115th. The American great walked away from tennis — she described it as “evolving” away — after losing in the third round to Ajla Tomljanovic at Flushing Meadows. Her second daughter was born in 2023.

Williams, a seven-time Wimbledon singles title winner, could meet Swiatek in the third round.

Venus provides some motivation

Serena Williams officially returned to tennis earlier this month in a doubles match with 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

“Unexpectedly, before her first match she asked me did I have any motivational quotes I use for myself,” Venus Williams said Saturday. “I told her what I was using at the time. I don’t know if that helped or not. She did win the match.”

The Williams sisters will play their first-round doubles match against Colombia’s Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra of Argentina.

Serena and Venus have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon. Their first two doubles titles at the All England Club, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

“For us it was about the titles, we wanted the Grand Slam titles. We just wanted to bring them home,” Venus said. “We did pretty good.”

Djokovic inspired by Serena

Novak Djokovic calls Serena Williams' tennis comeback “inspirational” and “epic.”

“That’s what I told her,” Djokovic said Saturday.

“I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime,” Djokovic, a 24-time major champion, said of Williams, a 23-time major winner in singles. “It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”

Djokovic added: “I always admired her career, her journey, her story. Of course, Venus’, as well.”

Gauff and Sabalenka too

Coco Gauff, the No. 7 seed at Wimbledon, said Serena and Venus were the “biggest” inspiration on her.

“I played the sport because of them, believed that I could do things because of them. I look up to them a lot,” she said.

Sabalenka added: “It’s amazing what she’s doing. Also it’s Serena Williams, everyone was talking about that. She’s bringing more eyes on tennis. It’s a good thing for tennis. I’m really excited to see her play.”

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

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling overturns a June 15 decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher to disqualify the challenger and keep him off the primary ballot. Matthews’ ruling can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Attorneys for the state have said Tuesday is the deadline for a final ruling so that ballots for the Aug. 18 primary can be printed.

The judge ruled that the division’s decision to exclude Dan J. Sullivan because his candidacy was not “in good faith” was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the division’s own regulations. The retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg filed to challenge the incumbent.

“Instead, the decision was based upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good faith’ criteria,” the judge wrote.

The division is appealing the decision, Sam Curtis, a spokesperson with the state Department of Law, said by email Saturday. Jeffrey Robinson, an attorney for Dan J. Sullivan, said in an email he expected the division to appeal and couldn't comment until the Alaska Supreme Court rules on the case.

The controversy over the two Dan Sullivans has underscored the stakes involved in the incumbent’s reelection campaign. The Alaska race is one of about half a dozen U.S. Senate races expected to be highly competitive in the fall, and the seat is one Democrats are trying to flip in their efforts to try to regain the majority.

The senator and allies, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have condemned the challenger’s efforts to join the race, arguing his presence could confuse voters. Under Alaska’s election system, the top four candidates from the primary, regardless of party, move on to the ranked-choice November general election.

The senator has accused the challenger Sullivan of working with Democrats and the campaign of Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola — who is considered the senator’s main opponent — to cause confusion and boost Peltola’s chances. Peltola’s campaign and state Democrats have denied the allegation, as has the challenger.

Sen. Sullivan and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in the crowded race and the only ones to report raising any money.

Beecher has said she determined the challenger Sullivan is not eligible to run because his candidacy was not filed in good faith and instead was done with an intent to confuse voters. She said he had registered to vote as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and, in conjunction with his candidacy, changed his party affiliation to Republican. She also cited similarities between his campaign website and the senator’s, and his work with a consultant whose clients have included some Democrats. She did not mention finding any evidence of alleged coordination.

In arguing to keep the challenger disqualified, attorneys for the state pushed back on suggestions the ballot could be designed in a way to reduce voter confusion over two candidates with the same name and party running for the same office.

“The Constitution does not require States to place a sham candidate on the ballot and then attempt to mitigate the damage through design choices,” attorney Rachel Witty, with the Alaska Department of Law, and outside attorneys Christopher Murray and Michael Francisco wrote in court filings.

Attorneys for the challenger Sullivan argued that the Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate, addressing only age, citizenship and residency. They said Beecher lacked the legal authority to boot their client off the ballot.

The challenger Sullivan has said that sharing a name and party affiliation with the incumbent gave him “an instant megaphone.” But the 69-year-old retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee said he had considered a run for some time and had grown frustrated with the senator.

He initially was certified on the state’s candidate list as Dan J. Sullivan, with the senator listed as Dan S. Sullivan and identified as the incumbent.

———

This story has been updated to correct the surname of Dan J. Sullivan's attorney: it is Robinson, not Robertson.

The strike targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in the sprawling camp of Muwasi, killing 15-year-old Islam Moussa and her 30-year-old brother, Abdullah Moussa.

The Israeli military acknowledged it had struck the area of Muwasi, saying it had targeted a Hamas militant but did not immediately provide more information.

In the hospital's courtyard, relatives wept over the bodies covered in white burial shrouds.

Also on Saturday, Palestinians reported hearing a loud boom in Gaza City.

The Israeli military struck a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in western Gaza City, wounding at least 12 people, according to Shifa hospital. The ambulance service of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said two people were critically wounded and the majority of those hurt were women.

The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant and that it was not aware of uninvolved civilians being harmed.

Strikes continued Saturday evening in central Gaza, with no immediate word of casualties. Israel's military said it was checking on the reports.

Despite a fragile ceasefire reached in October that paused the heaviest fighting between Israel and the Hamas militant group, Israel continues to carry out near-daily strikes and shelling across the coastal enclave. Israel and Hamas continue to trade accusations of violating the ceasefire. Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat and in response to ceasefire violations.

Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has killed more than 1,030 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-led government. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

The ministry last week said Israel has killed over 250 children in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect.

A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations has accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza, and repeated an accusation that Israel has committed genocide in the territory. Israel denies the claim that it committed genocide in Gaza during the two-year war.

The Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,050 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Easier said than done, actually. But now the larger-than-life replica match ball has become the iconic symbol for Vancouver during the World Cup, a favored shot by both broadcasters and social media posts.

Some two years ago, Science World, stadium and host city officials were discussing the best ways to capitalize on the World Cup coming to their city.

“We were kind of saying, well, we should definitely wrap the dome as a soccer ball, right? And it was kind of a joke, because then it was like, well, who’s going to pay for it and how do we do it? So many questions,” said Rob Hollingsworth, senior director for commercial Sales and partnerships at Science World. “But I think in this instance the idea was actually the easy bit, because you know we’ve got a massive ball on our roof.”

Adidas, which designed the World Cup's official match ball, agreed to allow the replica. Local businesses, organizations and government agencies pitched in to help pay for the project. The only question left was how to pull it off.

The normally silver dome has been a fixture of the Vancouver skyline since it was built for the 1986 World's Fair. At the 2010 Winter Games, it served as the Sochi House to preview the 2014 Olympics. And it has long housed Science World, a museum that includes an IMAX theater.

But when the decision was made to transform it into an enormous soccer ball there were some complications. The only schematics for the building were the original hand-drawn blueprints by local architect Bruno Freschi.

So a drone was dispatched to take detailed laser measurements of each of the geodesic dome's many panels. To everyone's dismay, all of the panels were slightly different.

Yet, pliable panels were manufactured and numbered for their precise locations, then installed and connected with special ties to give slightly in windy conditions.

“We’d orientated it really with broadcast in mind, so you’ll notice that the logo on the ball, that the trophy faces kind of southeast, so that if you’re getting the shot, that iconic Vancouver shot, that lines up Science World, with the stadium, with downtown, with the water and the mountains, you get everything in one," Hollingsworth said.

Turns out, however, that Science World isn't just a soccer ball during the World Cup, it's still a museum and it's hosting a special exhibit, Soccer and Technology, from the FIFA Museum.

It's the first time the immersive exhibit has been displayed outside of Zurich. Science World tweaked it to add a bit of Canadian flavor, like national star Christine Sinclair's jersey worn during the gold medal match at the Tokyo Olympics, and the match ball from the 2022 men's World Cup in Qatar when Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first-ever goal in the tournament.

The museum has seen a rise in visitors during the tournament, but nothing prepared Science World for the visual explosion on social media, which is filled with photos of the dome, Hollingsworth said.

“We hoped that this would be what happened, but we had no idea, really. In the context of the World Cup, we were one of 16 host cities, so we didn’t know what everyone else was doing, we just knew what we were doing. But we hoped above all it would be a shot that broadcasters would pick up as being kind of the iconic Vancouver shot, and that it would travel around the world in that way during the tournament, and I believe it has,” he said. "What we didn’t know or necessarily foresee is just the organic earned media and the organic social media that’s happening every single day."

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here.

Slow development of this system will be possible thereafter while it moves slowly westward. Wind shear and dry air may limit any development. This area has a low (20%) chance of development over the next week.

Jones, a 2022 graduate at Fletcher, had an excellent season with the Seminoles and played himself into the draft conversation. He was the 54^th overall pick, and the first selection from a Gateway Conference program since James Collins went to the Clippers at pick No. 36 in 1997. Collins also played at Florida State after a career that ended with a Mr. Basketball selection at Jackson.

Jones’ arc was far more subtle. He spent his freshman season at Tarleton State before going to Barton Community College as a sophomore, where he thrived. Then came a stop at St. Bonaventure, where he averaged 10.8 points and 5.8 rebounds a game as a junior. From there, James transferred to Florida State, where he averaged 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game for the Seminoles.

The 6-7 guard can shoot it from 3 (33% last season) and drive to the basket.

Notable area players selected in the NBA draft

Player, Local tie, NBA team, Round, Pick, Year

Kwame Brown, Glynn Academy, Washington Wizards, 1, 1, 2001

Roger Strickland, Bishop Kenny/JU, LA Lakers, 1, 7, 1963*

Dee Brown, Bolles/JU, Boston Celtics, 1, 19, 1990

Grayson Allen, Providence, Utah Jazz, 1, 21, 2018

Udoka Azubuike, Potter’s House, Utah Jazz, 1, 27, 2020

Truck Robinson, Raines, Washington Bullets, 2, 22, 1974

James Collins, Jackson, LA Clippers, 2, 36, 1997

Norris Coleman, Paxon, LA Clippers, 2, 38, 1988

Otis Smith, Forrest/JU, Denver Nuggets, 2, 41, 1986

Lajae Jones, Fletcher, Golden State Warriors, 2, 54, 2026

Carl Fuller, Murray (St. Augustine), Detroit Pistons, 5, 56, 1968

Ron Anthony, Fletcher, 5, 97, 1978**

**Was selected in seventh round of 1967 ABA draft but did not sign

* Was selected in fourth round of 1962 draft by Boston but did not sign

Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.

Key inflation gauge jumps to 3-year high

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose to a new three-year high in May as gas prices peaked, a sign rising costs could pose political problems for President Donald Trump and his political party as midterm elections near.

Consumer prices rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Thursday, the largest annual increase since April 2023. On a monthly basis, inflation was 0.4% last month, matching April’s increase and down from 0.7% in March.

The increase was largely driven by more expensive gas, as well as pricier semiconductors and other computer equipment that are in high demand for the AI buildout.

Apple raises prices as demand for chips drives costs upward

Apple announced an increase in prices for Macs and iPads, citing a memory chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom.

The company called the demand spike an “unprecedented challenge” for the consumer electronics industry.

“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” the company said in a written statement.

The new, entry-level MacBook Neo will now cost $699, up from $599. The 512 gigabyte MacBook Air now costs $1,299, up from $1,099. The one terabyte MacBook Pro is $1,999, up from $1,699. The 128 gigabyte iPad Air is now $749, up from $599, while the 256 gigabyte iPad Pro Wifi is now $1,199, up from $999.

US economy expanded at 2.1% pace in January-March

The U.S. economy expanded at a solid and unexpected 2.1% annual pace from January through March, the Commerce Department reported Thursday in its final estimate of first-quarter growth.

The growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — marked a rebound from a sluggish 0.5% in the last three months of 2025 when a 43-day federal government shutdown weighed on the economy. Thursday’s numbers were an upgrade from Commerce’s previous first-quarter estimate of 1.6% growth.

Business investment surged, likely due to an investment boom in artificial intelligence. But consumer spending, which accounts for around 70% of U.S. economic activity, fell sharply from fourth-quarter 2025 and from Commerce’s previous estimate in a sign that consumers may be cutting back in the face of higher gasoline prices caused by the war with Iran.

Average 30-year U.S. mortgage rate rises

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate edged higher this week, staying close to 6.5%, where it’s been the last six weeks.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.49% from 6.47% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.77%.

When mortgage rates rise they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing their purchasing power.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate ticked up to 5.84% from 5.81% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.89%, Freddie Mac said.

US jobless aid filings decline as layoffs remain low

Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite economic headwinds that are creating uncertainty for businesses.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 20 fell by 12,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

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

Wall Street ends on a positive note in a down week

US markets rose on the final day of trading during the week after oil prices eased back to where they were before the war with Iran, but drops for AI stocks kept the market in check.

The S&P 500 had its second losing week in the last 13, largely because of a retreat in the tech sector, particularly artificial-intelligence companies and related technology.

Unusually high temperatures were recorded even in the Nordic countries not known for sweltering summers. Denmark's Meteorological Institute reported a record 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Ødum north of Aarhus — the warmest day since records there began in 1874.

In Switzerland, a record 38.8 C (101.8 F) was set in the city of Basel.

Germany's famous Autobahn was overwhelmed, too, as temperatures were expected to hit 40 C (104 F). In two places outside Berlin, the concrete of the A2 burst due to the high temperatures and the highway had to be closed. Other highway damage was reported across the country, according to the German daily Bild.

Train operator Deutsche Bahn and other rail companies advised against all nonessential train travel this weekend.

“Germany’s transportation infrastructure is being severely affected by the record-breaking heat this weekend,” Deutsche Bahn said in a statement.

The Czech Republic also saw its hottest day on record, with 40.8 C (105.4 F) in the northern town of Doksany. Forecasters said it may still rise.

Residents evacuated from German nursing home

In the western German city of Dormagen, dozens of residents of a nursing home were evacuated for medical care due to dangerous heat conditions in the building.

The local fire department reported that temperatures inside the home had reached 35 C (95 F). Air conditioning is not widespread in Germany and many countries in Europe because the continent is largely unused to such oppressive heat.

A resident at the home died overnight, but it was not yet clear whether the heat was the cause, a city spokesperson told German news agency dpa.

Hospitals under intense pressure in France

In France, multiple towns in the east of the country saw their highest-ever temperatures Saturday, with some above 40 C (104 F) even though the worst of the heat wave was starting to pass in some regions.

Paris and 36 other regions, stretching from the center to the east and northeast, remained in the extreme-heat red zone on Saturday, down from a peak on Thursday of 72 regions that were under such warnings. The capital continued to see unrelenting pressure on its hospitals, with a second consecutive day of nearly 3,000 people seeking care in public hospital emergency rooms, about a third more than normal.

The Paris public hospital authority, AP-HP, said it activated its emergency response plan across all 38 hospitals to cope. Phone calls to its medical dispatch centers were up nearly 80% compared with the same period in 2025, it said.

Concerns that hospitals could be overwhelmed prompted the postponement of the Paris Pride march for LGBTQ+ rights on Saturday, and a three-day music festival was canceled.

The temperatures this week have been higher than those during a historic 2003 heat wave that was blamed for 15,000 heat-related deaths, many of them older people. The AP-HP’s director, Nicolas Revel, said he doesn’t expect as many deaths this time, at least in Paris hospitals, in part because treatment for overheating has since improved.

During another exceptionally hot summer last year, more than 5,700 deaths were attributed to heat, according to France’s public health authority.

“I think we’ll be situated, clearly, between 2025 and without necessarily reaching the catastrophic level of 2003. But we have to expect that there will still be many deaths,” he said.

UK temperatures easing after 3 record heat days

In the U.K., sweltering conditions are expected to gradually ease this weekend though an amber warning — one step down from red — remained in place until Saturday night.

Britons struggled to cope this week as the record June temperature was smashed three days in a row. Friday was confirmed as the country's hottest June day on record, with a provisional temperature of 37.3 C (99 F) recorded in eastern England.

It was more than 1 C hotter than the long-standing record for June heat in the U.K., set in the summer of 1976.

On Saturday, police said the bodies of a 22-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were recovered from a lake and a river. The deaths bring the total number of U.K. heat-related fatalities this week to four.

Authorities in the U.K. have warned people to take extra care when swimming in unsupervised areas following the deaths of around 40 people in France over the past week.

Tourists wilting in Rome as red heat alert remains active

In Italy's capital, which remains under a red heat alert, tourists tried to cool off seeking shade near buildings and dunking their heads under public fountains. Street vendors were doing a brisk business selling bottled water, hats and sun umbrellas.

Some turned to Italian classics for relief.

“Gelato, pasta, because it’s tradition, but also fresh fruit, and ice cold drinks, that’s the best for this temperature,” said Isabella Dold, a tourist from Kempten, Germany.

On Saturday, Italy’s health ministry said 18 cities — including the most popular tourism hubs like Venice, Florence, Bologna and Milan — were on red alert due to danger posed by the high temperatures.

Record heat focuses attention on climate change

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

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

André Corrêa do Lago, the president of the U.N. climate talks known as COP30, said the heat wave has "helped strengthen the perception of urgency of fighting climate change.”

“The fact that we are living with this amazing heat in London is a strong argument, we need to agree, that we have to take action as soon as possible,” do Lago told The Associated Press.

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Hui reported from London and Leicester from Paris. Associated Press journalists Trisha Thomas in Rome, Suman Naishadham in Madrid and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.

In the report released Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggested the 13% drop in enrollment from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million this year could be attributed to a federal crackdown on fraudulent or “phantom” enrollment. But health analysts said it was more likely related to the Jan. 1 expiration of federal subsidies, which caused a surge in plan costs that resulted in many people being unable to pay their premiums.

“We know that real people lost their health insurance coverage,” said Cynthia Cox, a vice president and director of the ACA program at the healthcare research nonprofit KFF, citing survey findings on people who had left their plans. “This coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced double or even triple digit increases in their premium payments.”

The new data, compiled in April but showing coverage in February, represents the government's first official look at how people's inability to pay their first bills this year affected total enrollment. That is because the figures capture the marketplace after a nonpayment grace period expired.

A federal estimate in January showed that about 800,000 fewer people had signed up for ACA plans compared with the same time last year, marking the first time in the past four years that enrollment had been down from the previous year at that point in the shopping window.

Cox said KFF expects the total number of people in the government healthcare program to continue to decline throughout the year, potentially to a low of about 17.5 million. That would be a significant drop for the government’s flagship subsidized health insurance program for working-age people who do not qualify for Medicaid. In recent years, ACA plans have become a popular choice for gig workers, farmers, ranchers, hairstylists and others without health coverage through an employer.

The ACA subsidies that expired this year were at the center of a bitter fight in Congress last fall, with Democrats and some Republicans calling for their renewal. Sharp increases in health costs across ACA and other health insurance programs come as voters in the approaching November elections say affordability is among their top concerns.

The Local Station brought you live coverage of Dream Day from setup during The Morning Show to the main event on Channel 4 and our News4JAX+ streaming app.

WATCH: Press play above for a replay of our Positively Jax special coverage of Dream Day 2026

The magical Positively Jax event, brought to you by PRI Productions and Dreams Come True, took place at PRI Productions headquarters, located at 1819 Kings Ave. in Jacksonville. It was free and open to the public to come cheer on the children.

The community came together to give the red carpet treatment to 36 local children, known as Dreamers, who were honored as the heroes they are during the one-of-a-kind celebration.

More than 2,000 attendees filled the festive community gathering, which featured live music, nearly 100 beloved character appearances, a parade, more than 100 local food vendors, 20-plus themed performances, children’s activities, and much more.

More than 200 volunteers were on hand to help make the day a success, and all individuals, organizations, and businesses that participated donated their time and resources to the event.

Dream Day is a signature event of PRI Productions, created in partnership with Dreams Come True of Jacksonville — a nonprofit organization that has been fulfilling the dreams of children with life-threatening conditions since 1984.

WANT TO DONATE? Ways to give to Dreams Come True

Who are the Dreamers?

At the heart of Dream Day are the Dreamers — this year, that included 36 children from across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia between the ages of 4 and 14 who are facing life-threatening medical conditions with courage and heart.

Each Dreamer arrived individually as their favorite character to a cheering crowd, walked a 150-foot red carpet, and was celebrated as the true star of the day.

Family members and loved ones accompanied each child throughout the event, sharing in a day designed entirely for them.

This year’s event honored children representing a range of life-threatening conditions.

Dreams Come True has fulfilled more than 5,000 dreams for children in its 42-year history.

Russell came through the second-to-last corner seconds after Max Verstappen went spinning off the track toward the barrier, causing a yellow flag which means drivers must slow down.

Russell was warned of the yellow flag ahead of time by Mercedes over the radio and argued he lifted off the accelerator earlier than usual for the corner and that the rest of his lap was still enough for first place.

It was still “an amazing lap,” he said.

The stewards agreed and deemed the incident needed “no further investigation”, keeping Russell on pole ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton for Sunday's “heat hazard” race. “I was glad common sense prevailed,” Russell said.

With a margin of .236 of a second over Leclerc despite lifting off, Russell seemed to have plenty more pace available and will be a clear favorite to win for the first time since the season-opener in Australia, especially with standings leader Kimi Antonelli down in fourth.

Why Russell's lap stood

The key factor keeping Russell's lap on the board was that it was a single, not double, yellow flag at the corner.

A single yellow means drivers need to be able to show they slowed down noticeably. A double signifies more immediate danger, and in qualifying means drivers should abandon any attempt at setting a competitive lap time.

Russell argued it was the right call because Verstappen's car was on the other side of a gravel runoff area and slowing down meant he didn't risk losing control and potentially hitting the wreckage.

“I didn’t even see the car because the runoff is so far and I think in that instance a single yellow was correct because a double yellow is immediate danger," he said.

"I think I did everything right to be very much under control, and it’s a very different story to a double."

Russell's teammate Antonelli backed off his last qualifying run, believing wrongly it was a double yellow.

It's the fourth pole position for Russell this season, not counting sprint races, and puts him level with Antonelli.

Antonelli’s lead is set to shrink

By the time Russell crossed the line to take pole, fans and broadcasters assumed Ferrari's Leclerc and Hamilton were set to end Mercedes' run of pole position in each grand prix this season.

They both bested Antonelli's time by less than a tenth of a second shortly before Verstappen went off. Verstappen also looked like a contender for pole with his upgraded Red Bull car and was set to improve on his previous time.

Leclerc is set to start Sunday's race second, and Hamilton third after his win for Ferrari last time out. Antonelli was fourth in his lowest qualifying result of the season.

That makes it likely his lead — 41 points over Hamilton, 50 over Russell — is set to shrink for the second race running. Antonelli's car broke down in the last race, the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, as Hamilton won and Russell was second.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sport Germany it was “a matter of experience” that Antonelli abandoned his lap after Verstappen's crash while Russell was “super clever”.

Verstappen's earlier time was still good enough for fifth ahead of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

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

León is a huge World Cup fan, a huge Real Madrid fan and someone who can't believe he got to meet Inter Miami co-owner and soccer icon David Beckham. And on Sunday, the Mexican singer-songwriter will become the first person to headline a concert at Inter Miami's newly opened stadium — Lionel Messi's home field.

“Being the first one to play in this iconic stadium — it's new but already iconic because of the team — I see this with much responsibility,” León told The Associated Press in an interview. “For me, it's like a big soccer match and I want to inspire a lot of new artists in my genre and in all the root genres that nothing is impossible. We’re coming here to this big stage, making history with the music we grew up with.”

León is a back-to-back Grammy winner in the Best Regional Mexican Music Album category, plus a four-time Latin Grammy winner. Except, with León, it's short-sighted to simply call him a Mexican artist.

He's a little country. A little rock. Maybe some reggaeton. He has played Coachella and the Grand Ole Opry. He's in line to become the first Latino artist to have a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, with shows scheduled in September. His appeal is all over the map, which is why Inter Miami wanted someone like him to be the first show on the field that the reigning Major League Soccer champions call home.

“There was a time when I was going to do music because it was trending right then, and then nothing was happening for me,” León said. “There was a time when I was going to quit music. But in two weeks, I was back because I’m a musician. I decided to do what I love, what I love, what I like, what I feel, what made me happy. I never did music because of money or to be famous.”

He released some music that wasn't expected to be a hit, and fans couldn't get enough of it.

“That's when I knew to just be honest with the music,” León said. “And now I prefer to be a trendsetter than looking for the trend.”

That approach has opened countless doors — including the one leading from Messi's locker room to the field where he plays. And it's not lost on León that soccer fans in Miami won't have any World Cup matches to watch Sunday night when he takes the stage; there's only one game on Sunday's tournament schedule, and it's in the afternoon.

“I'm so happy for what we've accomplished,” León said. "I'm just proud to be here at the house of Inter Miami, the Messi house, the David Beckham house. Putting my name alongside these names, it's something incredible for me, something that I still cannot believe.”

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

Blyth died Wednesday of “natural causes” at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, according to her daughter, Eileen McNulty. Blyth's family was at her side.

One of the last surviving actors from the Hollywood studio system, Blyth appeared in youth movies as well as dramas such as "Another Part of the Forest," and her co-stars included Bing Crosby, Tyrone Power, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Blyth had stopped appearing in films by the end of the 1950s when she chose to spend more time with her children. But she would work in TV musicals and dramas and tour in concerts and musicals from "Show Boat" to "The Sound of Music."

She was acting and singing from an early age and her first big break came at 13 when she was cast as Paul Lukas's daughter in Lillian Hellman's anti-Nazi play, "Watch on the Rhine," which also starred Bette Davis. She stayed with the play for almost a year on Broadway and a year on the road.

When "Watch on the Rhine" appeared in Los Angeles, Universal Studio signed her to a term contract starting at $175 a week. A dark-haired actor with a melodic singing voice, she appeared with a young Donald O'Connor in low-budget musicals such as "Chip Off the Old Block" and "Bowery to Broadway." The loan-out to Warner Bros. for "Mildred Pierce" elevated Blyth's career and led to grown-up roles.

Good at being bad

Like "Double Indemnity," adapted for the screen by Billy Wilder in 1944, "Mildred Pierce" was a James M. Cain thriller about vengeance and calculation. Crawford won the 1945 Oscar as a waitress who rises to own a string of Los Angeles restaurants. Blyth was nominated in the supporting role as Mildred's spoiled daughter, Veda, who seduces her mother's second husband (Zachary Scott), then riddles him with bullets in a jealous rage.

Directed by Michael Curtiz of “Casablanca” fame, "Mildred Pierce" was a memorable piece of film noir that took place mostly at night. For Blyth it was a major change from the cheery musicals she had been known for. It was also a stretch for an actor who was the subject of magazine articles entitled "Incorruptible!", "Angelic Annie" and "Ann Blyth: Success Without an Enemy."

In 1946, Blyth broke her back in a toboggan accident, and it appeared her career might be over. She spent seven months in a body cast and another seven months in a wheelchair, relying on her Roman Catholic faith for courage.

"The busy, exciting world I had known faded away, and my life slowed down to little things," she later told The Associated Press. "But even here I found myself blessed, for a new sense of prayer began to unfold to me."

Once recovered, she appeared as the love interest for Sonny Tufts in "Swell Guy," Howard Duff in "Brute Force" and Mickey Rooney in a prizefight movie, "Killer McCoy." She displayed her dramatic skill as the young woman in love with a suspected wife-killer, Charles Boyer, in "A Woman's Vengeance."

Her strongest role after "Mildred Pierce" came with "Another Part of the Forest," Hellman's prequel to her stage and film drama "The Little Foxes." Blythe appeared as the young Regina Hubbard, created as an adult on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead and in the film by Bette Davis.

Add a little music

Blyth's career made a turn in 1951 when she starred with Mario Lanza in "The Great Caruso." Her lilting soprano made an ideal match for his tenor, and they were cast in "The Student Prince." But the temperamental Lanza dropped out after recording his songs, and British actor Edmund Purdom acted his role and mouthed the songs. Blyth co-starred with Howard Keel in "Rose Marie" and "Kismet."

Her other films included "Top o' the Morning" with Crosby, "The World in His Arms" (Peck) and a reunion with O'Connor, "The Buster Keaton Story." Her last film was in 1957, “The Helen Morgan Story,” which co-starred Paul Newman.

Born in 1928 in Mount Kisco, New York, to an Irish mother and English valet father, she grew up in New York City. After the father left the family, Nan Blyth supported herself and two daughters by washing clothes and working in beauty parlors.

She had high hopes for daughter Ann's future as an actress, and at 5 the girl began appearing on a New York radio show. She continued as a radio performer and spent three years studying and performing with the San Carlo Opera Company.

After becoming a movie star, Blyth admitted of her early career: "I'd become blue and despondent when I failed to get a job, and my mother's encouraging words made me want to try again." Before the actress's breakout performance in "Mildred Pierce," her mother died of cancer.

In 1953, Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, brother of tenor-comedian Dennis Day. They had five children and remained married until McNulty’s death, in 2007. A few weeks before son Timothy was born in 1954, she made television history of a sort performing the song "Secret Love" at the Oscars — visibly pregnant as she sang, "Once I had a secret love ... and my secret love's no secret anymore."

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Thomas, a former Associated Press Hollywood correspondent who died in 2014, was the primary writer of this obituary.