But there is a rip current risk at Jacksonville Beach today, and Ocean Rescue is encouraging beachgoers to have fun and be safe about it.

Click on the player above to watch the live beach cam.

Especially on holidays, when a lot more people will be out and about, parents are urged to keep an eye on their kids and remember that water safety is always a priority, like always swimming near a lifeguard.

Lifeguards and surf instructors in Jacksonville Beach say parents losing sight of children happens more often than they’d like to admit. In fact, Jax Beach Ocean Rescue reunited 74 missing people in 2024.

They hear parents asking if they’ve seen their kid, or they’ll find kids panicking and not knowing where their parents are, and they don’t know phone numbers or where they last saw their parents.

Here are some tips to keep in mind, especially with young kids:

Set up a perimeter, stay off phones and pay close attention. Consider having them wear lanyards or wrist bands with phone numbers on them. Have them wear bright colors (orange, yellow) to make them easier to spot.

Another good idea is to keep a recent photo of the child for identification purposes.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department pointed out that the Memorial Day holiday weekend falls within National Water Safety Month, making water awareness a top focus for JFRD and the Emergency Preparedness Division.

“Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer, and with that comes an increase in outdoor activity, water recreation, and grilling, said Director/Fire Chief Percy Golden II. “We want everyone to enjoy this holiday. That starts with making smart choices before an emergency ever happens.”

Water safety

Duval County is home to more than 1,100 miles of shoreline, making water safety one of JFRD’s most critical public safety priorities.

From the beach to the river, and even backyard pools, residents and visitors have no shortage of places to enjoy the water.

JFRD urges anyone taking advantage of these resources to treat that access with respect. If you plan to spend time in the water, keep these safety tips in mind:

• Never swim alone.
• Designate a responsible adult as a Water Watcher to monitor children.
• Swim near a lifeguard. Accidents can happen even to strong swimmers.

JFRD Ocean Rescue Lifeguards will be stationed at Hanna and Huguenot parks to help keep everyone safe.

Ocean Rescue says it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the color of the flag flying at the beach.

• Yellow = medium hazard.
• Red = high hazard.

The National Weather Service put out a rip current statement on Monday, which lasts through the day.

They recommend swimming near a lifeguard and not swimming against the current if you get caught in it. Make sure to relax and float.

RELATED: How to escape a rip current

Boating safety

If you are planning on boating this weekend, JFRD urges you to use the following tips to stay safe:

• Wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket. (Wear it, don’t carry it!)
• Designate a sober skipper before you leave the dock.
• Make sure someone onshore knows your route and expected return time.

Grilling safety

Grilling is a Memorial Day tradition, but it can be dangerous if you don’t take proper precautions. JFRD suggests that residents follow these simple steps to keep their cookouts from taking a wrong turn:

• Keep grills at least three feet away from structures, deck railings, and overhanging branches.
• Never leave a lit grill unattended.
• Keep children and pets away from the grill area at all times.
• Allow charcoal to cool completely before disposing of it. Never place hot coals in a trash can or near anything that can burn.
• Keep a fire extinguisher nearby and know how to use it.
• Never use a charcoal or propane grill indoors, in a garage, or under a covered patio.

Due to ongoing drought conditions, JFRD also reminds everyone to use extreme caution when cooking outdoors. It only takes one spark to ignite a fire that could quickly get out of control, dampening your holiday plans.

Holiday safety

With increased travel and outdoor activity expected throughout the weekend, JFRD and the Emergency Preparedness Division also remind the public to take precautions against heat and traffic-related hazards:

• Stay hydrated. Drink water throughout the day, especially if you are spending time outdoors during peak heat.
• Never leave children or pets in parked vehicles. Temperatures inside a car can reach dangerous levels within minutes.
• Know the signs of heat illness and when to seek medical help.
• Protect your skin from dangerous UV rays with sunblock, UV protective clothing, and hats.
• Designate a sober driver and plan your return trip before you head out.

JFRD’s Emergency Preparedness Division encourages all Jacksonville residents to visit JaxReady.com/ALERTJAX to sign up for Duval County ALERTJAX emergency notifications.

Her cousin, 24-year-old Linton Alejandro Munguía Martínez, stepped up, giving the family a place to stay at his apartment in the St. Nicholas area of Jacksonville.

But tragedy struck Sunday at the Landon Imperial Apartments on Art Museum Drive.

RELATED: Brother, community mourn 24-year-old man who died in St. Nicholas apartment fire | 1 dead, 1 injured in St. Nicholas apartment fire Sunday morning; Red Cross helping 12 people: JFRD

An early morning fire not only left Sandra and her children without a home once again, but also took the life of the cousin who had been so generous to her family.

“I was in my room with my kids, and there was a lady in the other room and a guy that slept in the living room,” Sandra said, recounting the chaotic moments as she tried to escape the fire with her children. “When he yelled, I walked out and saw a lot smoke and flames. I grabbed my kids and broke the window along with the other guy who was staying with us. And I yelled for him to exit through the window, but the smoke was so heavy.

Fabiola Marmolejo, a family friend, said Munguía Martínez was trying to help others escape when the fire broke out.

“The victim that died was helping Sandra Martinez and her kids and two other guys,” Marmolejo said.

She said the fire has shaken the neighborhood.

“As a community, you know, we need to get together. It could happen to me, it could happen to anybody,” Marmolejo said.

Margarita Weber, a local community member, purchased food for Sandra and her family at Publix. She encourages anyone who can to step in and help the family.

“Please, whether you speak Spanish or you speak English, help. If you are human, you know what the word human means. Help them because today could be them, tomorrow could be you,” she said.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help Linton’s family in the wake of the tragedy.

Karen and Jean Kirsten — identical twin sisters and former Army officers — are now preparing for careers in medicine at Nova Southeastern University’s Jacksonville campus through the school’s Military to Medicine pathway program.

After years of military service, overseas deployments and one life-changing cancer diagnosis, the sisters are beginning a new chapter together: training to become Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants, also known as CAAs.

“We joined the military in 2009,” Jean Kirsten said.

The sisters built parallel careers in the Army, often following similar paths despite serving at different duty stations over the years. Both working as officers both retiring around the same time.

Both say they always felt drawn to healthcare.

“Ever since I was young, I had kind of like a passion for the medical field,” Karen said. “It’s always been just wanting to help others and kind of make a difference in people’s lives.”

That passion eventually led them to NSU’s Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant program, a rigorous 27-month master’s program designed to prepare students to help administer anesthesia and monitor patients during surgery.

The fast-paced program includes a year of classroom instruction followed by clinical rotations across the country.

But for Karen, the decision to pursue medicine became deeply personal.

Near the end of her military career, she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer while still serving on active duty.

“I went through all the treatment and recovery,” Karen said. “And I’m actually five years cancer free today.”

The diagnosis ultimately changed the direction of both sisters’ careers.

Jean became one of Karen’s caretakers throughout her treatment and recovery, bringing the sisters even closer together.

Now, Karen hopes to eventually work in a cancer center helping patients facing challenges similar to her own.

“I would like to work in a cancer center and help through that way since I will also a cancer survivor myself,” she said.

Their transition into healthcare was made possible in part through NSU’s Military to Medicine pathway — a program designed to help veterans and active-duty service members navigate the often difficult transition from military life into civilian healthcare careers.

Awilda Carozza, director of Military Affairs at NSU, said the university created the program after recognizing a growing need among veterans interested in medicine.

“The military to medicine pathway program was created because we wanted to help our transitioning service members and our veterans transition into healthcare careers,” Carozza said. “We saw that a lot of veterans exiting the military were lacking a clear pathway into healthcare education after their service.”

The program helps veterans with admissions, academic planning, financial aid and using military education benefits such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon Program.

Carozza said veterans already possess many of the qualities needed to succeed in healthcare settings.

“They have discipline, leadership, real-world experience and the ability to work under pressure,” she said. “Those qualities transition very well and fit perfectly into healthcare.”

According to NSU, dozens of service members are currently enrolled or moving through the program’s pipeline into careers ranging from medicine and physician assistant studies to anesthesia and physical therapy.

The initiative also comes at a critical time for Florida’s healthcare workforce.

The state is projected to face significant shortages of healthcare professionals over the next decade, increasing demand for trained workers in hospitals and healthcare systems statewide.

For the Kirsten twins, the program represents more than just career training — it represents another opportunity to serve.

During interviews at the Jacksonville campus, the sisters laughed about being built-in study partners and support systems for one another.

“It’s kind of like a built-in support system and study buddy,” Karen said.

Although classes have not officially started yet, both admitted they are already studying in preparation for the demanding coursework ahead.

“A little nervous,” Jean said with a laugh. “But excited.”

The sisters said adjusting to civilian life after the military came with challenges, especially after years of structure and routine. But they say this next phase feels rewarding because they are pursuing something they are genuinely passionate about.

“Now we can do what we want to do and actually find what our passion is,” Karen said.

As they prepare to enter operating rooms instead of military bases, the twins say the mission remains the same: helping people during some of their most vulnerable moments.

In a social media post, Trump said negotiations are “proceeding nicely” but tied any eventual agreement to expanded participation in the 2020 accords.

He pointed to Saudi Arabia and Qatar as countries that should “immediately” sign on, quickly followed by Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to join in 2020, but it remains to be seen how the proposal to expand the accords will be received.

He wrote that “after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”

The president said he brought up the Abraham Accords plan with leaders during negotiations on Saturday.

In his post, Trump suggested he would accept “one or two” countries declining to sign, but said most should be willing. Egypt and Jordan already formally recognize Israel and have long-standing peace treaties.

Masood Khan, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, said it remains to be seen how workable the proposal might be for all the countries on Trump's list.

“The invocation of the Abraham Accords at this stage gives an altogether new dimension to the diplomatic and mediatory processes because this issue was not on the agenda,” he said.

Trump's comments come as criticism from fellow Republicans adds pressure to strike a favorable deal. Still, Khan said, “the diplomatic track is still working, and I believe Pakistan is very much at the center of it, supported by regional countries.”

It remains unclear when or how any deal with Iran might be completed. Trump suggested even Iran could eventually sign on to the accords, if an agreement is reached.

The accords are a series of diplomatic, economic and security agreements created with U.S. influence during Trump’s first term, originally between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed by Sudan, Morocco, and more recently, Kazakhstan.

They were framed as an effort to promote cooperation among countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and the administration saw them as partly paving a path toward full ties with Israel.

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Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

The first bee was held in 1925, when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. After a long run at a convention center in suburban Maryland, the bee returns to the nation's capital this year at Constitution Hall, a few blocks from the White House.

Another change for this year: ESPN NFL analyst and recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion Mina Kimes has joined the bee as its television host.

This is the 98th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 111th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.

Thirty of the past 36 champions have been of Indian heritage, including last year’s winner, Faizan Zaki.

How can I watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

The bee is broadcast and streamed on channels and platforms owned by Scripps, a Cincinnati-based media company.

On Tuesday, preliminary rounds will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. EDT.

Wednesday's quarterfinals will stream on Scripps Sports Network and spellingbee.com from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and semifinals can be watched on those platforms from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tape-delayed semifinals broadcast on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Finals will broadcast Thursday on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The semifinals and finals will also air or be streamed on these Scripps-owned channels or services: ION Plus, Bounce, Grit, Laff, The Spot, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More, Scripps News and Scripps Sports Network.

What are the rules of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

Spellers qualify by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. In order to compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.

Contestants must get through two preliminary rounds, where they are quizzed on words from a list provided in advance. There is one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.

Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.

Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.

About a dozen spellers advance to the finals. When only two remain, Scripps has the option to use a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off” to determine the champion.

Who is competing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

This year's bee has 247 spellers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, three U.S. territories and five other countries: The Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

The top returning finisher from 2025 is Sarv Dharavane of Dunwoody, Georgia, who finished third last year as an 11-year-old fifth-grader. Even if he falls short this year, he has two years of eligibility left.

Other possible contenders:

— Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga, California, who finished third in 2024. He has dominated the bee circuit in the past year, winning the South Asian Spelling Bee, the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee and the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee.

— Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Los Angeles who finished in a tie for seventh last year.

— Esha Marupudi, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Chandler, Arizona, who also tied for seventh last year.

What are the prizes for the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion?

The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Here are the prize payouts:

— First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a custom trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines.

— Second place: $25,000.

— Third place: $15,000.

— Fourth place: $10,000.

— Fifth place: $5,000.

— Sixth place: $2,500.

— All other finalists: $2,000.

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Ben Nuckols has covered the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2012. Follow his work here.

Patchy fog will develop overnight, especially for those areas that saw activity today.

Tuesday will feature more of the same. We will see a partly to mostly cloudy sky with highs near 90 degrees. Isolated showers and storms are likely in the afternoon and evening.

Heavy rain, gusty wind and frequent lightning will be possible in any storm. Make sure to keep an eye to the sky as showers and storms could develop rapidly in the afternoon and evening.

Tropical moisture will continue to move into our area this week. This will keep widespread showers and storms in the forecast through this weekend. It will be warm and humid with temperatures near 90 degrees.

A front will approach our area later this week and at the same time an area of low pressure could develop to our south. This pattern would favor more tropical moisture over our area and will likely keep widespread rain and storm chances in the forecast later this week into the upcoming weekend.

Temperatures will drop into the low to mid 80s during this period due to more cloud cover and storm coverage.

In terms of rainfall, accumulation will depend highly on where storms develop. Several inches of rain are possible during this period. Any rainfall will be very beneficial due to the ongoing drought across our area.

Regarding the drought, the latest drought monitor reflects the overall pattern over the past few months. Most of our area remains in an extreme drought. An exceptional drought classification remains over the same locations.

Portions of Nassau and Camden Counties in FL/GA were downgraded to a severe drought due to the rainfall received over the past week.

TONIGHT: Mostly Cloudy. Patchy Fog. Low 75.

TUESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 75.

WEDNESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 74.

THURSDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 74.

FRIDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 88, Low 73.

SATURDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 86, Low 72.

SUNDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 84, Low 70.

After gulping the traditional swig of milk and dumping the rest over his head Sunday, the winner of the closest race in Indy 500 history started making the winner's rounds. He spent two hours answering questions in his fire suit before heading to another photo shoot. Then there was a short celebratory night before hitting the early morning television shows, enduring additional photo shoots and, yes, Monday night's annual postrace dinner where he'll find out how much money he won.

Never mind that there's another race next weekend in Detroit.

But the 34-year-old Swede who endured so much heartbreak at Indianapolis and in IndyCars wasn't about to start complaining. No, he was too busy savoring the spoils of victory.

“I can sit here for 24 hours and do this, whatever you want,” Rosenqvist said with a smile. “It's funny, someone asked me to sign their beer bottle a minute ago and writing Indy 500 winner was like, it kind of struck me that I've done it. I still feel like it's a dream. I feel like I could wake up at any point and it's like, ‘Oh, it’s race day, we haven't run yet.' I still hope I don't wake up.”

Rosenqvist probably didn't get much shut-eye Sunday night and not just because his newborn daughter, Stella, is less than a month old.

This was the moment Rosenqvist's family dreamt about from the moment it started scraping together money for his karting career.

While he barely remembers the effervescent, guitar-playing Kenny Brack becoming the first Swede to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” back in 1999, he does remember his father telling him how great Brack was and how great a victory it was for the country.

Twenty-three years later, Marcus Ericsson replicated Brack's feat on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval. Ericsson celebrated his 500 win by taking the iconic Borg-Warner Trophy on tour across his home country, which has a population of less than 11 million.

The Meyer Shank Racing driver isn't sure if that will be in the plans this time, but he was grateful for Ericsson welcoming him to the club.

“I'm pretty proud to be one of three Swedish (winners), which is a pretty small nation in the grand scheme of things, to have won the biggest race in the world,” he said. “(Marcus) came up to me when we were drinking the milk in victory circle and he said I earned it, that I deserved it. That meant a lot to me.”

Rosenqvist certainly earned his place in history with his unforgettably daring move — hurtling down the front straightaway behind David Malukas on the final lap, making a perfectly timed swing outside, catching a tow and edging his car across the yard of bricks, barely ahead of Malukas.

The victory margin of 0.0233 seconds was even smaller than Al Unser Jr.'s 0.043-second victory over Scott Goodyear in 1992, and even in the moment, Rosenqvist understood the significance of what happened.

“I thought I was second, to be honest. I was like, this is — this sucks, now we’re second in the 500,” said Rosenqvist, who made his fifth straight start in the top nine and placed fourth twice in the previous four years. “I thought I didn’t have it, and then I shifted up, and it was just kind of sucking up to David, and it was just enough to get me over the finish line, half a foot ahead of him. You can’t even dream up that stuff. It was just so cool. I’ll watch it a million times.”

But before Rosenqvist became a winner here, he was there in the shoes of Malukas and Pato O'Ward — two-time Indy runner-ups who have been unable to bask in their own milk bath. Rosenqvist's advice: Never give up.

“That's what I've done,” he said. “If you're knocking on the door, it will happen.”

This year, it did thanks in part to this first-time father understanding that there's more to life than racing. His wife, Emille, and his new daughter helped him learn that lesson heading into the biggest race of the IndyCar season, and one day, when old enough, Stella will see her father's image on the trophy and understand what he did and how she helped.

And, to Rosenqvist, that will be the sweetest victory of all.

“It's funny because if you go to our house, we don't have any pictures of racing, you wouldn't know I'm a race car driver because I tried to separate work and home,” he said. “But I think, yeah, this kind of changes that. I hope she'll be proud of it, and for her to be our little lucky charm for the rest of her life.”

___

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

The seaweed is called sargassum — and it’s washing up in droves along Florida’s east coast.

“I think that it is a really bad smell, but once you pass it, it’s all good at the beach,” said Cat Nye, a beachgoer.

RELATED | Seaweed City: Sargassum washing up in piles on local beaches - and it stinks

Not everyone loved it. Dee Broom, who was at the beach with her dog Laney, put it simply.

“I don’t like it,” Broom said.

But she and her dog are dealing with it well and having a nice time.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sargassum is technically an algae. Free-floating sargassum has long been common off the U.S. eastern seaboard, where it plays a critical role in ocean ecosystems — providing food, shelter, nursery areas and breeding grounds for fish, sea turtles and birds.

But in recent years, the situation has changed dramatically. Since 2011, sargassum has been appearing in significantly greater abundance across the tropics, stretching from Africa to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of America. The problem isn’t just visual. When sargassum decomposes on the beach, it releases hydrogen sulfide gas — a foul-smelling compound that reeks of rotten eggs — and attracts flies and other insects, creating an unpleasant experience for beachgoers.

To help track the issue, NOAA developed the Sargassum Inundation Risk (SIR) tool, which provides daily reports on sargassum location and inundation risk for coastal areas across the Caribbean, Florida, the Gulf of America and northern South America.

According to the SIR tracker, Northeast Florida is currently in the warning zone, while South and Central Florida are experiencing even higher concentrations along their coastlines.

The results of the evaluation was “incredibly positive news,” and allowed officials to turn the corner after days of concern about a possible explosion, said Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey.

However, evacuation orders remained in place for about 50,000 people in Garden Grove, California, located south of Los Angeles. There has been no chemical leak as of early Monday, but the Orange County Fire Authority said the risk to public safety is “ongoing.”

Covey didn’t say in the recorded message what the most likely outcome might be but officials had previously said they hoped to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it wouldn't leak or explode. The tank’s interior had cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), Covey said, down from 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday.

After the tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors, firefighters have repeatedly sprayed the tank with water in an attempt to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastic parts. As the interior temperature rises, methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas and increases the pressure, according to Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical.

Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and people may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Relief among residents after hearing the latest update

Kim Yen, a retiree who has evacuated from her home in Garden Grove, said she’s been following the news on an “hourly basis,” and was pleased to hear in the latest update that there was no longer a risk of an explosion.

“According to that update I am happy and many of us are happy, but still, we are still on our evacuation,” she said.

Yen, who lives just two blocks from the plant, said that while she’s ready to return home, she wants to make sure it’s safe before she does. And, she said, she’s been worried about the emergency crews.

“They are really our heroes,” Yen said.

At a shelter that opened in a hall located in a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, the parking lot was full on Monday as some people sought refuge inside the hall and others set up tents outside. Other people were gathered in the park to enjoy the outdoors on Memorial Day

GKN is a British company that supplies aircraft manufacturers

The tank is at a site owned by GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, a British company that makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft. The tank holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate used to make plastic parts.

GKN Aerospace technical specialists and the Orange County Fire Authority removed external insulation material from the tank to help cool its contents, according to a GKN Aerospace statement released on Monday.

“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the statement said.

GKN Aerospace says on its website that it employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries and supplies technologies and components used by major commercial and military aircraft manufacturers worldwide.

It remained unknown when the operation would reopen.

GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

Manufacture of aircraft components are sensitive to supply chain disruptions

Disruptions at facilities producing specialized aircraft components can be difficult for the global aerospace industry to absorb because supply chains are highly concentrated and already strained, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the aerospace consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory.

Aboulafia said aerospace manufacturing differs from many other industries because aircraft production rates are relatively low, leaving only a small number of suppliers for many specialized parts and systems.

“There’s just not a lot of margin in the system,” he said.

___

Stengle reported from Dallas. Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California, contributed to this report.

A nearby traffic camera showed multiple vehicles in the median.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, there were injuries involved.

As of 1:25 p.m., the left lane was blocked.

The roadway was cleared and back open an hour later.

And the 2024 Olympics were held in July and August.

Temperatures for the opening two days of the clay-court Grand Slam have soared to 33 degrees C (91 F) — far beyond normal for late May in the French capital. And it’s forecast to stay that way for the entire first week.

Besides making it uncomfortable for fans and players alike, the sultry conditions have also created faster conditions on court — changing the pace of the game.

“It is much different. Maybe it was that hot in the Olympics but the balls were different, so I wouldn’t treat it as the same tournament,” four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek said after routing Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in the first round on Monday.

Players have been putting bags of ice around their necks on changeovers to stay cool, while fans refreshed themselves under sprinklers.

When workers water the clay courts between sets, they have taken to directing their hoses at spectators begging to be doused, too.

“I don’t remember the last time it was so hot at Roland Garros,” Russian-born Australian player Daria Kasatkina said after beating Zeynep Sonmez 6-4, 6-4. “Maybe one day. But we’re going to have it for the whole week.”

Kasatkina said the energy-sapping temperatures made for more up-and-down matches.

“You can suddenly just get out of the bench and feel that your focus dropped,” she said. “So this is a battle which you have to also win. … Whoever adapts better to today’s conditions gets it.”

A retirement and medical timeout

Canadian player Gabriel Diallo said the heat was the main reason why he retired midway through his match against James Duckworth on Sunday.

Both Andrey Rublev and opponent Ignacio Buse called for the trainer on separate occasions during the second set of their 3-hour, 39-minute match on Monday, which Rublev won in four sets.

Buse took a medical timeout and had salts and minerals added to his water bottle as a stethoscope was placed on his chest. Rublev received treatment a few games later.

Heat protocol

The French Open is usually cool compared to the heat at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.

But like in Australia and New York, the French Open has adopted an extreme weather policy.

If the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) — which takes into account temperature, humidity, sun, wind and other factors — reaches 30.1 degrees C (86 F) or higher, 10-minute cooling breaks can be installed between the second and third sets for women’s matches and between the third and fourth sets for men’s matches.

If the WBGT hits 32.2 C (90 F), play is suspended. It would require an air temperature of about 38 C (100 F) for play to be suspended.

Fast-court players like the heat

Some players were embracing the hotter air.

“I’ve always preferred hot and lively conditions to chilly on a clay court, because I feel like I can bring a little bit more of my all-court tennis on this type of surface,” Australian player Alex de Minaur said after beating Toby Samuel 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

“It’s easier to be a little bit more aggressive. The ball is jumping. I don’t necessarily have to use as much spin or heaviness, and I can let the conditions do the job for me. And it’s quite physical. I don’t mind the heat,” De Minaur added.

Same goes for American player Alex Michelsen, who eliminated Alexander Shevchenko in straight sets.

“It’s definitely good for us Americans,” Michelsen said. “Generally we’re big serve, big forehand, big ground game and like to play offense. When it’s super hot, the ball is moving through the air very fast. … I was so happy when I saw the forecast.”

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

The list of candidates capable of challenging top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who enters the French Open on a three-month-long 29-match winning streak, has been dwindling.

Enter Rafael Jodar, the 19-year-old Spaniard who has been making waves on the ATP Tour.

Jodar continued to impress in his Roland Garros debut, dropping just five games in a 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 rout of American opponent Aleksandar Kovacevic on Monday despite boiling heat at the clay-court Grand Slam. The last man to concede fewer games in a French Open debut was Novak Djokovic, who allowed three to Robby Ginepri in 2005.

“I did the things very well from the start,” Jodar said. “It’s just my first year (on tour) and I’m experiencing a lot of things in these past few months.”

Mostly, Jodar has been experiencing victories: He’s won 16 of his last 19 matches, raised a trophy on clay in Morocco, reached the semifinals in Barcelona and had a run to the quarterfinals in Madrid ended by Sinner.

A year ago, Jodar was ranked No. 707 and playing challengers — tennis’ minor leagues — in the U.S. after he competed at the University of Virginia. Now he’s No. 29 and is seeded 27th in Paris.

“It was obviously another chapter of my life but I think that chapter also helped me to develop a lot and to be a better player now,” Jodar said.

Going to college also helped.

“Living there alone, it was great to develop and to do things by myself,” Jodar said. “It was a new chapter, new culture for me, actually a new life.”

Jodar appears destined to become a top-10 player and a serious contender for the biggest trophies.

And Jodar is in the bottom half of the draw in Paris — meaning he could meet Sinner only in the final.

Swiatek making no assumptions

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek eliminated 136th-ranked debutant Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in her opener.

The only real issue for the third-ranked Swiatek came when she needed a trainer to re-tape the middle finger on her tennis-playing right hand for an apparent blister after the first set.

Swiatek has not won a title on clay this season and recently made a coaching change. She hired Francisco Roig, who previously worked with 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

“Nothing comes easy,” Swiatek said. “With more titles it’s even a bit harder because everyone expects you to be ready always and play perfectly. So you need to stay humble and not take anything for granted and work your way from the beginning of the tournament.”

She improved to 28-1 in first-round matches at Grand Slams.

Also advancing were Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, who beat Veronika Erjavec 6-2, 6-2; and recent Italian Open winner Elina Svitolina, who rallied past Anna Bondar 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

In men’s action, 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka was beaten by Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to end his 21st and last French Open.

Eighth-seeded Alex De Minaur defeated Toby Samuel 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

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

The tournament opens Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha beginning June 12.

"The committee believed this year's championship field was deep and very balanced from top to bottom," said NCAA selection committee chairman Michael Alford, the athletic director at Florida State. “Throughout the process we remained focused on applying the selection principles pretty consistently across all conferences and regions and I hope that is noticed. Every decision was based on a full body of work, not just single metrics."

UCLA (51-6), which swept the Big Ten Conference regular-season and tournament titles, was No. 1 by Baseball America in each of its weekly rankings since the preseason and has the most wins entering regionals since Tennessee came in with 53 in 2022.

The Bruins' ace, Logan Reddeman, and closer, Ethan Hawk, are among the best in the nation and lead a staff that has a 3.31 ERA. Shortstop Roch Cholowsky is widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in the Major League Baseball amateur draft and he, Will Gasparino and Big Ten Tournament MVP Mulivai Levu have combined for 57 homers.

Georgia Tech (48-9), which swept the Atlantic Coast Conference championships, features the nation's most prodigious offense. The Yellow Jackets lead Division I in scoring (10.8 runs per game), batting average (.358) and slugging (.636). Jarren Advincula is batting .431 to rank second nationally and Vahn Lackey is sixth at .410.

The national seeds following UCLA and Georgia Tech are Georgia (46-12), Auburn (38-19), North Carolina (45-11-1), Texas (40-13), Alabama (37-19) and Florida (39-19). Top-eight national seeds, if they win their regional, are assured of hosting a super regional.

Seeds Nos. 9 through 16: Southern Mississippi (44-15), Florida State (38-17), Oregon (40-16), Texas A&M (39-14), Nebraska (42-15), Mississippi State (40-17), Kansas (42-16) and West Virginia (39-14).

The Southeastern Conference had the most teams selected, with 12. The ACC has nine teams in the field, followed by the Big 12 with six, Sun Belt with five and Big Ten with four.

The last four teams to get at-large bids, in alphabetical order, were Liberty (41-19), Kentucky (31-21), Texas State (36-24) and Troy (32-29).

The first four teams left out were Mercer (44-15), Michigan (34-24), Pittsburgh (33-24) and TCU (33-21).

LSU (30-28), the 2025 national champion, became the seventh program to win the title and not make a regional the following year since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

Been there, done that

Texas is in the tournament for a record 65th time and Miami for a 51st. Florida State is a regional host for a record 38th time.

Florida has the longest active streak with 18 straight appearances. Other notable consecutive streaks include Oklahoma State (13), Southern Mississippi (10), Arkansas (9) and East Carolina, North Carolina and Oregon State (8).

Vanderbilt (33-25) is missing regionals after making 19 straight appearances.

First timer

Western Athletic Conference champion Tarleton State is the only first-time participant. The Texans began their transition to Division I in 2021 and weren't eligible for the tournament when they won the WAC in 2024. Their most recent postseason appearance was in the 2018 Division II tournament.

Losing, but winning

South Dakota State takes a 24-31 record into its second regional, and first since 2013, after winning the four-team Summit League Tournament as the No. 4 seed.

Holy Cross is 25-28 after winning the Patriot League Tournament and has its first back-to-back regional appearances since 1962-63.

Horizon League champion Milwaukee is 25-31 entering its first regional in 16 years.

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

Lapid, who is part of an alliance attempting to unseat Netanyahu in elections this year, said details of the emerging deal are “disturbing.”

“The deal is bad for Israel, bad for the region, bad for the citizens of Iran,” Lapid told reporters in Jerusalem.

Israel and the U.S. launched the war on Feb. 28 vowing to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile program, end its support for proxy militant groups across the region and end Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear bomb. Both Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump also said they hoped to create conditions to topple Iran’s government.

According to regional officials, under the current deal being discussed Iran would give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz in exchange for ending a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and the lifting of sanctions against Iran. Key details on Iran’s nuclear program would then be negotiated during a 60-day period. It is unclear if the deal will address Iran’s missiles or support for regional militant groups.

Lapid expressed gratitude to Trump for launching the war with Israel, but criticized Netanyahu for allowing Washington to negotiate a potential deal with little coordination with Israel.

“The Israeli government is at an all-time low in its ability to influence decisions in Washington,” he said, noting that Trump said last week: “Netanyahu will do whatever I want him to do.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed to Trump that Israel maintains “freedom of action” against threats in any arena, according to an official familiar with Israel prime minister's conversations with Trump, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

“Israel is a sovereign state, we are not a vassal state and we are not a protectorate,” Lapid said.

Lapid, head of the centrist “Yesh Atid” party, briefly served as prime minister in 2022 under a rotation agreement with Naftali Bennett, leader of a small conservative party. Their coalition government ended 12 years of Netanyahu’s rule.

They have once again merged their parties into a single faction headed by Bennett as they attempt to unseat Netanyahu in elections that will be held by the end of October.

Lapid has served as Israel’s opposition leader since Netanyahu returned to power in late 2022, while Bennett took a break from politics. Their alliance is aimed at uniting a fragmented opposition with a shared hostility toward Netanyahu.

Lapid, one of a shrinking number of Israeli politicians who supports the idea of Palestinian independence, said the issue would not be on the next government’s agenda. He said the conditions are not right following the trauma of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and wars that have followed.

“There will be no two-state solution in the coming years, because Israelis now understand this will become just another failing terrorist state on our borders,” said Lapid, adding that the Palestinian Authority does not have the ability to effectively prevent attacks against Israel.

But Lapid said he would oppose unilateral steps that would make a future Palestinian state impossible and had received assurances from Bennett, a former West Bank settlement leader, that Israel will not move toward annexing the occupied territory.

Lapid also ruled out cooperation with Arab parties to build a coalition to unseat Netanyahu.

Opinion polls indicate that Bennett and Lapid might not be able to form a governing majority coalition without the support of some Arab lawmakers, as they did in their previous government. They broke a longstanding taboo in 2021 when they invited Mansour Abbas, leader of a small Arab faction, into Israel’s governing coalition for the first and only time in Israel’s history.

Lapid said his previous cooperation with Abbas was “the right government for the moment,” but that Israel is in a very different place after nearly three years of wars and that he and Bennett will not build a coalition with Abbas’ party in the next elections.

The French sports minister, Marina Ferrari, posted condolences to the loved ones of a runner who died Sunday in a Paris race. Le Parisien newspaper reported that the 53-year-old man suffered a heart attack during the run in the capital’s 20th arrondissement, and that firefighters were unable to revive him.

It wasn’t yet known if the cause of the runner's death was heat-related, but Ferrari suggested a possible link.

“The events that occurred today (Sunday) during running races are a reminder that practicing sports in extreme heat requires absolute vigilance,” Ferrari said in an X post. “My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the runner who died in Paris, as well as with the people who were treated by emergency services.”

In the southeastern city of Lyon, local media Actu Lyon on Monday reported the death of a woman who suffered heat stroke there during another sports competition, also on Sunday.

The national weather service, Meteo France, said temperatures are breaking records for a month of May, soaring past 30 C (86 F) in many parts of the country and forecast to last into the week.

The United Kingdom broke its record Monday for the hottest temperature recorded in May, after a heat wave was declared in several parts of the country.

Residents and tourists sought relief at beaches, parks and searched for shade on the holiday as the temperature hit 33.5 C (92.3 F) at London's Heathrow Airport, breaking the previous record of 32.8 C (91.4 F) set in 1922 and matched again in 1944.

The U.K. Health Security Agency has issued its first amber health alert of the year, warning of a rise in deaths, particularly among the elderly, at the hottest times of the day.

Next-level weather wildness is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds. Experts say unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger.

For a team with three full-time Cup drivers and only 175 employees, that's saying something.

But that doesn't mean the team is satisfied.

“Yes, we’re seeing results. Yes, we are being competitive," Suarez said. “But we’re not even close to our full potential.”

Suarez, the first Mexican-born driver to win the Coca-Cola 600, said when he arrived at Spire last October that it didn't take long to recognize just how hard everyone worked, which he said is a credit to team owner Jeff Dickerson and crew chief Ryan Sparks.

The organization's structure, he said, is well organized.

“When you have a good foundation, the house is going to be strong," Suarez said. "Spire Motorsports has an amazing foundation.”

Spire has long been considered a small Cup Series team, and any wins it has had were largely considered upsets or one-offs.

That notion may be changing under Dickerson, who admits he can be difficult to deal with on race day but refuses to apologize for setting the bar high.

“I just don’t think we’ve hit our ceiling," Dickerson said. "I don’t think we’re hitting on all cylinders. I think we’ve still got a long ways to go to.”

Carson Hocevar won earlier this season at Talladega, giving Spire its first win and the entire organization a shot in the arm. There was a sudden realization it could compete with bigger race teams like Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske, RFK Racing, 23XI Racing and Hendrick.

Suarez's win at a crown jewel event like the Coca-Cola 600 was another huge step in the right direction.

Dickerson said the goal this season is simple: Put two cars in the playoffs and win three races.

Things are looking good right now.

With 24 races left, Hocevar is ninth in the Cup Series points standings, while Suarez moved up to 10th after his third career win and first since joining Spire. The top 16 drivers in points qualify for the Chase.

“Still a long ways to go,” Dickerson said. “I don’t want to fumble it. But, man, it would be good to meet those goals.”

Sparks was the unsung hero Sunday night.

With rain on the radar, he trusted his instincts and made the call to pit and go with two new tires late in the race. It paid off big time.

Suarez was able to go from the middle of the pack to the top spot.

Shortly after the race was red-flagged for lightning, it looked like the move might backfire on Sparks after cars were sent back on the track.

But Suarez held off JGR's Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin — who had dominated most of the race, along with pole sitter Tylor Reddick — on two restarts to stay out front.

On the final restart, Suarez exploded off the line with a little push from behind from Hendrick's Kyle Larson. From there he blocked Bell and Hamlin as the JGR teammates frantically tried to pass. Just when it appeared they might catch Suarez, the sky opened up and rain poured down on the mile-and-a-half track.

With the scheduled 400-lap race already more than four hours old and the clock approaching midnight, NASCAR quickly called the race with 27 laps, declaring Suarez the winner.

He later honored his mentor, the late Kyle Busch, by imitating the NASCAR great's postrace bow in victory lane.

Suarez led only 17 laps, several of those coming with the race under caution.

“Something in the back of my mind told me to just go ahead and put two (tires) on,” Sparks said. “I kind of looked and saw what everybody had for tires on in front of me, and I figured there was going to be a good opportunity for us to be first or second. Just wanted to get that clean air and give ourselves an opportunity."

With two-thirds of the season remaining, Spire has plenty of time to build on its early success and have a record-setting season.

And continue to shock the big race teams.

“I’m just extremely happy to be part of Spire Motorsports because I believe that we haven’t even seen the full potential of this organization,” Saurez added. “And I can’t wait to continue this journey.”

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

On this Memorial Day, we honor the sacrifices of all those who have died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Below is a list of local observances happening around the area on Monday:

Duval County

City of Jacksonville Memorial Day Observance: The City of Jacksonville’s Military Affairs and Veterans Department along with Wounded Warrior Project will hold its annual Memorial Day Observance beginning at 8 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial Wall on East Adams Street. This is a free event with free parking in Lot P.

Clay County

Green Cove Springs Riverfest: The day’s highlight is the memorial and veterans’ recognition ceremony. Event runs from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. at Spring Park in Green Cove Springs.

Orange Park Memorial Day Service at Magnolia Cemetery: The Orange Park Fire Department & the Town of Orange Park will host its annual Memorial Day Service starting at 9 a.m. at Magnolia Cemetery on Kingsley Avenue. Parking is available across the street at Clarke House Park.

St. Johns County

St. Augustine National Cemetery Memorial Day Observance: The ceremony from 10-11 a.m. at the St. Augustine National Cemetery begins with music and the presentation of massed flags from area veterans organizations. Speakers will also read the names of local veterans who have died in the past year.

Nassau County

Fernandina Beach Memorial Day Service: Event host by American Legion Post 54 begins at 11 a.m. near the “Monument To Our Fallen” at the Fernandina Harbor Marina.

Alachua County

Annual Memorial Day Ceremony: ​Alachua County Veteran Services, in partnership with the City of Gainesville, VyStar Credit Union and Milam Funeral Home, invites the community to attend the annual Memorial Day ceremony, starting at 10 a.m. at the historic Evergreen Cemetery (401 SE 21st Ave., Gainesville).

Baker County

Wreath Laying Ceremony: Heritage Park Village and American Legion Post 83 are hosting a wreath-laying ceremony at 10 a.m.

Bradford County

Memorial Day Ceremony: Begins at 10 a.m. at Veterans’ Park in Downtown Starke at the Square.

Flagler County

Memorial Day Ceremony: Join the City of Palm Coast as it remembers America’s heroes, starting at 9 a.m. at Heroes Memorial Park on Palm Coast Parkway.

Camden County

St. Marys Memorial Day Ceremony: Honor and Remember this Memorial Day by attending this annual event presented by local James Jarret Brown VFW Post 8385. Event begins at 10 a.m. at Oak Grove Cemetery.

Glynn County

Brunswick Memorial Day Ceremony 2026: The Veterans Council of the Golden Isles invites the community to gather at Veterans Memorial Park in Downtown Brunswick as we honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives in service to our country. Even begins at 10 a.m. at I Street and 341.

If you know of a ceremony happening Monday that we should add to this list, email webteam@wjxt.com.

The Dream have twice rallied from 15-point deficits this season to win, including Sunday's victory over Phoenix. No one else in the WNBA has done that once according to ESPN.

“We are resilient team, the game isn’t over till it’s over,” Atlanta guard Jordin Canada said after the Dream rallied to beat the Mercury. “We always come together in the fourth quarter, whether we have to make a run or sustain a lead. ... We battle to the very end, we get stops and try to execute down the stretch. What we’ve been doing in the fourth quarter, we got to sustain that in the first three quarters.”

Atlanta sits atop the WNBA standings at 4-1 — the only team in the league with only one loss. The Dream head out for road games at Minnesota and Portland this week.

The Dream are getting everyone's best shot so far which coach Karl Smesko feels will help them down the road.

“When teams play Atlanta it's a big game for everyone now,” he said. “We'll see everyone's best shot. ... Constantly playing against a team's best effort makes you stronger over the course of the season. They are seeing a different team than other teams see. I've noticed that so far this year. ... Happy we met the moment a few times already."

Power poll rankings

Atlanta moved up to No. 1 for the first time in the 10-year history of the rankings. The Dream were followed by Las Vegas and Minnesota. Indiana, Dallas and New York were next. Golden State and Chicago were seventh and eighth. Los Angeles and Phoenix followed the Sky. Portland, Washington and Toronto were the 11th through 13. Seattle and Connecticut rounded out the poll.

Homecourt disadvantage

Through the first few weeks of the season, playing at home hasn't really been an advantage for teams. Only two teams have winning records on their home court — Atlanta and Indiana. As a league, teams are 16-30 through Sunday's games.

Player of the week

Kelsey Plum of Los Angeles was the AP player of the week. She averaged 27.0 points, 8.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds to help the Sparks win both their games last week. Plum had a 38-point effort in the win at Las Vegas to spoil the Aces night the champions raised their banner from last season. Other players receiving votes included Natasha Howard of Minnesota and Rhyne Howard of Atlanta.

Game of the week

Atlanta at Minnesota, Wednesday. While a lot was expected of the Dream this season, the Lynx were expected to struggle early on with star Napheesa Collier sidelined after having offseason surgery on her injured ankles in late March. The Lynx have flourished with rookie guard Olivia Miles leading the way.

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

One is the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola, with no vaccine or treatment. The other is the anger and suspicion of residents who have pelted her with stones and verbal abuse in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak.

“We continue to tell them that the disease is out there. Some accept, and others don’t,” Birungi told The Associated Press on Monday as she and colleagues spoke with groups of people in a working-class neighborhood under the scorching sun.

Aid workers are especially at risk in this volatile region where residents, like Birungi, have long been under threat of armed groups that have killed thousands of people and displaced many more in recent years.

Trust is hard to find among the traumatized population that is wary of outsiders, even those trying desperately to contain the rapidly spreading outbreak that experts say was discovered weeks late. Surveillance for such diseases has been weakened by U.S. and other aid cuts.

“These people should stop bothering us. They just want to get rich. Let’s not forget that Ebola is a white man’s invention,” declared Pierre Basola, a 56-year-old resident of Bunia, who added: “Stop talking to me anyway.”

Cases are nearing 1,000 but health centers are burned

Three times in the past week, healthcare facilities have been attacked. On Sunday, angry young men stormed a hospital treating Ebola patients, forcing medical staff to evacuate them as gunfire rang out.

On Saturday, a group of residents set fire to a tent for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases run by Doctors Without Borders in Mongbwalu, and more than a dozen people suspected to have the virus fled. On Thursday, a center in Rwampara was burned after relatives were barred from retrieving the body of a man suspected to have Ebola.

Anger is amplified as virus prevention practices keep loved ones from handling bodies in final rites following an illness some have described as sudden and dramatic, with vomiting and bleeding.

The Ebola virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.

“Trust is almost as important as the health response, because if you get this massive distrust in the communities, they’re not going to go to the health centers,” said Heather Kerr, country director for the International Rescue Committee in Congo.

Armed conflict in the region poses another challenge. To travel from Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, to Mongbwalu, aid groups risk potential attacks in a region more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.

Meanwhile, the outbreak now has over 900 suspected cases and more than 220 suspected deaths, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Monday.

“We are now playing catch-up with a very fast-moving epidemic,” he said.

‘We leave everything to God’

Mado Nditamba, a 70-year-old Bunia resident, said she has seen students running away from aid workers.

“The last time Ebola came, it was not on the scale that we see today,” Nditamba said. “But this epidemic today is worse. We go to the doctors in the hospitals, but they also die. That’s what worries us. We don’t know what to do and we leave everything to God.”

Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks, and the WHO says the country is equipped to respond. But early tests in this outbreak were conducted for a more common type of Ebola, losing valuable time. Experts are still trying to determine when this outbreak began.

There are few places to test for this Bundibugyo type in a region where clinics can run on generators and a major airport serving as a humanitarian hub has been in the hands of rebels for over a year.

Health workers on the ground have told the AP they are underprepared and underprotected. Now an unknown number of responders have been infected, and some have died.

A Congolese doctor was reported dead on Sunday in Rwampara, Rubens Dhedgia, coordinator of the Ebola response in the region, told the AP. In neighboring Uganda, where a far smaller number of cases has begun to spread after Congolese traveled there, at least three health workers have been infected.

And perhaps most worryingly, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says three volunteers died in Mongbwalu after it believes they handled bodies on March 27 during work unrelated to Ebola.

If confirmed, that would significantly push back the timeline of the outbreak from the first confirmed death in late April in Bunia.

Some residents still believe Ebola is a myth

Even as at least one funeral home manager dusted off coffins for sale alongside a road in Bunia, experts reported a lack of trust among some residents of the region who do not believe the virus exists.

Action Aid, another of the international humanitarian groups responding, said a high level of skepticism and lack of understanding remains, citing residents it questioned in mid-May in Ituri province just after the outbreak was announced.

"The only way to go, as far as this particular virus is concerned, is community engagement,” said Yakubu Mohammed Saani, country director for Action Aid in Congo.

How that will be improved, and quickly, is still not clear. Meanwhile, both the WHO and Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe the outbreak is larger than the cases reported so far.

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Adetayo reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed.

Past popes have apologized for Christians’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But no pope had ever publicly acknowledged, much less apologized for, the role that past popes played in giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave “infidels.”

History’s first U.S.-born pope, whose family history includes both enslaved people and slave owners, delivered the apology in his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” (Magnificent Humanity), which was released Monday.

The sweeping manifesto is about safeguarding humanity in an era of increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. Leo raised the slave trade in relation to what he called the new forms of slavery and colonialism that the digital revolution is fueling.

Black American Catholics, activists and scholars have long called for the Holy See to atone for its role in the colonial-era trade in human beings, beyond generic apologies for the involvement of individual Christians.

“It is impossible not to feel deep sorrow when contemplating the immense suffering and humiliation endured by so many in stark contrast to their immeasurable dignity as persons infinitely loved by the Lord,” Leo wrote. “For this, in the name of the church, I sincerely ask for pardon.”

Shannen Dee Williams, historian at the University of Dayton and author of the 2022 history of American Black Catholic nuns, “Subversive Habits,” welcomed the apology as a "monumental step toward the kind of essential truth-telling and reparation that many Catholics have prayed and worked to witness.”

“The Catholic Church has never been an innocent bystander in the history of white supremacy," said Williams. “Black Catholics have waited a long time to hear the Vatican speak honestly about the church’s leading roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery--and thus by extension the enduring systems of anti-Black racism in the world today.”

Centuries of legitimizing slavery for European colonizers

The Vatican has insisted that it always upheld the dignity of all human beings as children of God. But a series of 15th-century directives from the Vatican authorized Portuguese sovereigns to conquer Africa and the Americas and enslave non-Christians.

In 1452, for example, Pope Nicholas V issued the papal bull Dum Diversas, which gave the Portuguese king and his successors the right “to invade, conquer, fight and subjugate” and take all possessions — including land — of “Saracens, and pagans, and other infidels, and enemies of the name of Christ” anywhere.

The bull also gave the Portuguese permission “to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.”

That bull and another issued three years later, Romanus Pontifex, formed the basis of the Doctrine of Discovery, the theory that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of land in Africa and the Americas.

Nicholas V’s permissions to the Portuguese were confirmed or renewed by Pope Callixtus III in 1456, Pope Sixtus IV in 1481 and Pope Leo X in 1514, according to the Rev. Christopher J. Kellerman, a Jesuit priest and author of “All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church.”

Spanish kings received the rights for the Americas.

In 2023, the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, but it never formally rescinded, abrogated or rejected the bulls themselves. The Vatican insists that a later bull, Sublimis Deus in 1537, reaffirmed that Indigenous peoples shouldn’t be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, and weren't to be enslaved.

Holy See late to condemn slavery, Leo says

In his encyclical, Leo recalled that his namesake, Pope Leo XIII, was the first pope to explicitly condemn slavery in 1888, long after many countries had abolished it. Before that, in antiquity and the Middle Ages, church institutions and even popes — Gregory the Great — had slaves, Kellerman said.

In acknowledging the 15th century papal bulls, Leo wrote in his encyclical: “Already in the early modern period, the Apostolic See of Rome, responding to the requests of sovereigns, intervened several times in order to regulate and legitimize forms of subjugation, and, in certain cases, including the enslavement of ‘infidels.’”

Leo said it wasn't possible to judge the morality of the decisions with today’s standards.

“Yet neither can we deny or diminish the delay with which both society and the church came to denounce the scourge of slavery,” he said.

The pope said that the church has long affirmed the dignity of every human being as the basis of its doctrine, “even if it took eighteen centuries for its full incompatibility with slavery to be explicitly recognized.”

“This constitutes a wound in Christian memory, one from which we cannot consider ourselves detached,” he said.

Leo said that the church must firmly condemn all forms of trafficking related to the digital technological revolution “if we want to avoid the need to ask for pardon again in the future for having failed to respect the treasure of human dignity that is required by our faith.”

Anthea Butler, senior fellow at the Koch History Center, Oxford University, said Leo needed to acknowledge and atone for the church's complicity in historic slavery if he wanted to credibly “speak to the current issues of technological enslavement.”

“For descendants of enslaved persons, this is once again a much needed apology from the pope,” said Butler, who is Black.

Leo’s own family history and past apologies

Kellerman, the scholar, welcomed Leo’s apology but said more needs to be done to further acknowledge how the Catholic Church legitimized and expanded slavery.

“Pope Leo has strengthened the moral credibility of the church with this admission and apology today,” he told The Associated Press. “Hopefully a future document will explain in more detail the church’s involvement with slaveholding. As a scholar I have some quibbles with the wording, but this is a truly remarkable moment.”

During a 1985 visit to Cameroon, St. John Paul II asked forgiveness of Africans for the slave trade on behalf of Christians who participated in it, but not the popes. In a 1992 visit to Goree Island, Senegal, which was the largest slave-trading center in West Africa, he denounced the injustice of slavery and called it a “tragedy of a civilization that called itself Christian.”

According to genealogical research published by Henry Louis Gates Jr., 17 of Leo’s American ancestors were Black, listed in census records as mulatto, Black, Creole or a free person of color. His family tree includes slaveholders and enslaved people, Gates wrote in The New York Times.

During a visit to Angola last month, Leo prayed at a Catholic shrine at the site of an important hub of the African slave trade during Portugal’s colonial rule. While at the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, Leo recalled the “sorrow and great suffering” Angolans endured for centuries, but he didn’t refer specifically to slavery.

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Winfield reported from Middletown, Connecticut.

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

Peter Murrell, 61, who was remanded into custody in the High Court in Edinburgh after his plea, admitted using party funds to buy a high-priced motorhome, two cars, including a Jaguar, and luxury goods, including Bremont watches and household items that included two toilet seats.

“By embezzling from the SNP, Peter Murrell was stealing the hopes, the dreams and the aspirations of thousands of people all over Scotland, people who gave what they could over many years in the hope that it would help contribute to a better country,” SNP leader John Swinney told a press conference. “I am horrified, I am betrayed.”

Swinney and Sturgeon both distanced themselves from the taint of Murrell's crimes and said they had been unaware of the theft.

Murrell's plea caps a five-year police investigation and a tumultuous period for Scotland's dominant party and the former power couple once at its helm.

Following big elections gains for the SNP in 2021, signs of internal turmoil exploded less than two years later as questions swirled about the party’s finances and dwindling membership numbers.

Sturgeon, who dominated Scottish politics for almost a decade, abruptly resigned as first minister of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government in February 2023 after serving more than eight years in the role. Observers were bewildered by her announcement that she knew in her “head and in my heart” that it was the right time to go.

The following month, Murrell quit his job after two decades as party executive. He took responsibility for misleading the news media about the collapsing membership of the party. Three weeks later he was arrested by police at the couple's home in Glasgow.

Case casts a cloud over SNP

Police officers spent two days searching the house. They also searched SNP headquarters in Edinburgh and confiscated a luxury motorhome parked in the driveway at Murrell’s mother's home north of the capital.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said the investigation, which cost 2 million pounds ($2.7 million) in public funds, was lengthy and complex because Murrell covered his tracks over a 12-year period by making false entries in the SNP’s accounts.

“Peter Murrell has shown utter contempt for the high public trust placed in him,” Houston said. “He abused his privileged position with access to Scottish National Party funds to divert cash into his own accounts and bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford.”

Sentencing was scheduled for June 23.

Police Scotland's investigation into how the SNP spent more than 600,000 pounds ($810,000) designated for a Scottish independence campaign cast a cloud over the party, Sturgeon and her legacy.

Sturgeon and former party treasurer Colin Beattie were also arrested and questioned. Sturgeon said at the time: “I know beyond doubt that I am, in fact, innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Police announced in March 2025 that Sturgeon and Beattie were cleared.

Sturgeon said Monday that she never had knowledge of or suspected Murrell was siphoning funds from the party. She said she was “utterly appalled,” and “angry, hurt, sad and very distressed about the impact of his actions on family, friends and the SNP.”

“To be deceived and let down by a husband I loved and trusted has caused me acute pain,” Sturgeon said on Instagram. “Why he acted as he did is, and always will be, beyond my comprehension.”

When the lists of some of the items Murrell was alleged to have purchased were later published, including an expensive coffee maker and DVDS of the Danish political drama “Borgen” — which Sturgeon had told reporters she liked — she issued a statement saying she was unaware that the goods had been bought with party funds.

‘Close ranks and shut down scrutiny’

Sturgeon led her party to dominance in Scottish politics and refashioned the SNP from a largely one-issue party into a dominant governing force with liberal social positions. She guided her party during three U.K.-wide elections and two Scottish elections, and led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic, winning praise for her clear, measured communication style.

But Sturgeon left office amid divisions in the SNP without meeting her main goal — independence from the United Kingdom for the nation of 5.5 million people.

Sturgeon announced last year that she and Murrell were divorcing after about 15 years of marriage.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said it was “inconceivable” Sturgeon knew nothing about what her husband was doing as she called on Swinney, the first minister, to explain what the party knew about the crime.

“It was Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP party machine that attempted to close ranks and shut down scrutiny when questions about the finances started to emerge, and we need to know why,” Baillie said.

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Murrell's age has been corrected in this story to 61, not 62.

There are many resources out there, including these top five building blocks from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM):

1. Sign up for county and state alerts
2. 1. 1. See below for a list of links to sign up for your county emergency management direct alerts.
      2. Most counties also have Facebook pages for emergency messages.
3. Find a shelter
4. 1. 1. Stay with a family member or friend who isn’t in a flood-prone area.
      2. Know which county-provided shelter will accommodate your family, such as special needs, elderly assistance and pets.
5. Know your flood zone risk and evacuation route/s
6. 1. 1. Determine if you’ll need sandbags and window protection.
      2. Drive the best route and note construction and other road hazards.
7. Know what supplies, medicines, etc., your family and pets will need should you have to evacuate
8. Communicate your plan with your family and friends

Links to county alert websites & apps

Download the News4JAX & Weather Authority App: https://www.news4jax.com/insider/download-wjxt-apps/

NORTHEAST FLORIDA COUNTIES

• Alachua - https://alachuacounty.us/depts/em/pages/em.aspx
• Baker - https://public.alertsense.com/SignUp/publicUser.aspx?regionid=1357
• Bradford - https://member.everbridge.net/892807736724821/login
• Clay - www.claycountygov.com/community/emergency-management/alert-clay-staying-informed
• Columbia - https://www.columbiacountyfla.com/alerts.html
• Duval - https://www.jaxready.com/
• Flagler - www.flaglercounty.gov/County-Services/Emergency-Management/Emergency-Alerts-ALERTFlagler
• Nassau - https://member.everbridge.net/453003085611111/login
• Putnam - https://member.everbridge.net/index/453003085613768#/login
• St. Johns - https://www.sjcfl.us/sjc-connect/
• Union - https://member.everbridge.net/453003085614879/login

SOUTHEAST GEORGIA COUNTIES

• Brantley - https://brantleycounty-ga.gov/alerts
• Camden - https://member.everbridge.net/88684095340653/login
• Charlton - https://www.charltoncountyga.us/198/Emergency-Notification
• Clinch - https://clinchcountyga.gov/uploads/1/2/7/1/127184196/ema_-_hyper-reach_sign-up_info-english.pdf
• Glynn - https://www.glynncounty.org/671/CodeRED
• Pierce - https://data.redding.com/severe-weather-alerts-warnings-watches/pierce-county-ga/13229/
• Ware - https://accountportal.onsolve.net/warecountyga

Hun Sen, the Senate president acting as head of state in the absence of King Norodom Sihamoni, issued the pardon freeing Kem Sokha from house arrest. Sihamoni is in China on an extended stay for medical treatment.

Prime Minister Hun Manet, in a statement posted on the Telegram social media platform, described the pardon as a step in strengthening national unity. Kem Sokha made no immediate public comment. His lawyers said the action did not lift a ban on him taking part in politics or leaving the country for five years after his sentence was over.

The decision is unlikely to greatly affect the political climate in Cambodia, with other opposition figures in exile and where political and social activists continue to face restrictions on freedom of speech and movement.

“Hun Sen’s decision to pardon Kem Sokha after more than eight years in arbitrary detention partially reverses a grievous injustice, but it is deplorable that Sokha remains barred from participating in politics or leaving the country,” Elaine Pearson, the regional director for Human Rights Watch, said a statement.

She added: “Cambodia’s remaining opposition politicians and parties are still under constant threat of arbitrary arrest and baseless restrictions. The government needs to ensure that political rights are respected in the country.”

Kem Sokha was convicted in 2023 following a long period of pretrial detention. He was accused of conspiring with the United States to topple the Cambodian government. He has consistently denied the charge.

The primary evidence against him was a video of him discussing political advice from U.S.-based pro-democracy groups. He told the appeals court last month that he had never conspired with any foreign country to cost the lives of Cambodian citizens or the loss of national territory.

His arrest in 2017 marked the start of a broad government crackdown on independent media and political opponents, notably Kem Sokha’s popular Cambodia National Rescue Party.

The Supreme Court dissolved the party shortly after his 2017 arrest. That allowed Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to sweep all parliamentary seats in the 2018 elections.

Hun Sen was prime minister when Kem Sokha was arrested and convicted. In 2023, Hun Sen became Senate president and his son, Hun Manet, succeeded him as prime minister.

Hun Sen, who served 38 years as Cambodia’s leader, has long been accused of using the judicial system to persecute critics and political opponents. While the government insists it promotes the rule of law under an electoral democracy, the courts have frequently dissolved political parties seen as potential rivals and jailed or harassed their leaders.

Critics charge that the situation has not improved much under Hun Manet.

The Phnom Penh Appeals Court had affirmed Kem Sokha’s 27-year sentence at the end of April, following a much-delayed appeals process. It added a condition barring him from leaving the country for five years after his sentence was over.

Kem Sokha had visited his ailing 101-year-old mother with the court's permission earlier Monday before the pardon was announced.

He did not speak to the media, but a video posted on social media by his lawyer showed him hugging his mother and saying that if he were free, he would enter the Buddhist monkhood to honor her. He also said he would not seek revenge against those who put him in prison.

——-

Associated Press writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

But detectives aren’t giving up, JSO said.

In a post on Saturday to mark the grim anniversary, JSO said investigators want to bring closure to Fields’ family members, who continue to fight for answers.

That fight is focused mainly on the community, because Fields wasn’t alone when he was killed, police said.

Today marks 4 years since 18-year-old Rashaud Fields lost his life in a shooting at a graduation party on Pine Estates Road East near Leonid Road. Despite there being many witnesses present, no one has been arrested for his murder. But, our detectives haven’t given up the search… pic.twitter.com/rlKuY2gOCk

— Jax Sheriff's Office (@JSOPIO) May 23, 2026

Many witnesses were at the May 23, 2022, graduation party, which took place just hours after Fields walked across the stage to get his Raines High School diploma.

“We know someone knows something. Say something and help bring this family justice,” JSO wrote on social media.

The post highlighted Fields’ football scholarship to Keiser University and his dream of finishing college and playing in the NFL.

“He was the life of everybody,” Janice Fields, Rashaud’s mother, said. “The principal said he was a leader. He was not a follower. He was always a leader. He loves to push the young fellas on the football team. That just was the great person that Rashaud was. He was born to be great.”

During an event to support the Fields family in April, District 10 Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman said the lack of answers is frustrating.

“We really don’t know if he was a target or not. We really don’t know that because no one is talking, no one wants to be a snitch, and that’s unfortunate,” Pittman said.

Janice Fields said she will not stop fighting until she gets answers about who killed her son.

RELATED: Mother of Jacksonville teen killed hours after high school graduation aims to keep his memory alive with special event | ‘Justice is coming’: More tips come in surrounding death of teen killed hours after graduation

“If you know something, say something,” she said. “You could be sitting in the same seat I’m sitting in right now. All I ask y’all to do is please, please, if y’all know something, say something — and you will remain anonymous.”

If you know anything about the 2022 murder of Rashaud Fields, please call JSO at 904-630-0500 or email JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. You can report what you know anonymously to First Coast Crime Stoppers by calling 1-866-845-TIPS. You could earn up to $5,000 in cash if your tip results in an arrest.

The intersection is just about 30 feet long and over the past six years, there have been 21 crashes there.

The most recent happened this month and involved a motorcyclist who nearly died.

A Pine Lakes resident named Ashley reached out to News4JAX asking for help after she said she contacted the Florida Department of Transportation to request a traffic light because she believes the intersection is dangerous and she’s worried a fatal crash could happen.

She said FDOT responded and indicated their study does recommend installing a traffic signal to improve safety, but funding is not yet available.

Residents who live nearby say drivers frequently exceed the posted speed limit.

“They say it’s 50 miles an hour,” said Wendy Triviets. “I can guarantee you on any given day or time they are going by here 60 plus.”

Another resident said visibility is limited when trying to turn out of the neighborhood.

“There’s a blind spot right there because of the turning lane into the neighborhood,” said Alethea Preston. “You can’t see around the car so you don’t know when you can turn out. That I think has caused most of the accidents.”

The resident said the situation creates constant stress.

“I don’t like the anxiety of just pulling out of my own neighborhood, for all these years has been just horrible,” Preston said. “I’ve thought about moving just simply because of this; we want our kids to be safe.”

When asked about the lack of funding for a traffic light, Triviets reacted with frustration.

“Really?” the resident said. “You mean it’s all about a political bullcrap?”

The resident said the community needs action.

“You could put a light up here or do something. Do something with that 50 miles an hour. Because if you look, do you think that guy’s really doing 50? No.”

Another resident said a signal would provide peace of mind for families.

“Having that safety to drive in and out without having to worry about an accident every other day,” Preston said.

Community members also said growth in the area is likely to add more traffic.

“We have a charter school coming up. Now we got more apartments up there,” said Triviets. “How many more drivers are coming out of that complex?”

News4JAX received a statement from FDOT about the intersection.

The agency said its study recommends installing a traffic signal, but funding depends on the city of Jacksonville prioritizing the potential project through the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, also known as the TPO.

News4JAX contacted TPO.

A representative said the agency cannot select potential projects for funding on its own and needs the city of Jacksonville to identify that intersection as a priority.

That means the City Council member representing the district would need to show interest to the TPO.

The council member for the area is Reggie Gaffney Jr.

Gaffney has confirmed he will do an interview with News4JAX about the issue, but we are still finalizing the date and time.

The 41-year-old Swiss, the 2015 champion and 2017 finalist, is retiring at the end of the season. He made his final Roland Garros appearance 21 years after his first.

Jesper de Jong finished off Wawrinka 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 with a whipped forehand winner, then urged the fans to applaud Wawrinka, whose face was almost as red as the baking-hot clay. Temperatures in sun-soaked Paris hit 33 degrees C (91 F).

“It’s hard, it’s hard to say goodbye to you here,” an emotional Wawrinka said. “It’s because of Roland Garros that I wanted to become a tennis player.”

He was given an ovation at Court Simonne-Mathieu, where he got fans to do a Mexican wave before leaving. He was scheduled to face Arthur Fils but the rising French star pulled out of the tournament with a hip issue.

Wawrinka got the crowd going, at times asking for more encouragement with a broad grin. He applauded the spectators back, tapping his racket after winning a point. One fan held up a sign with “Stan the Man” written on it, another with “Stan still the Man.”

He knows it will be hard to let go — although he still has Wimbledon and the U.S. Open to come.

“For more than 20 years I experienced these emotions, you never want it to stop," Wawrinka said. "I have given everything for this sport.”

His stunning 2015 run to the title saw him defeat heavy favorite Novak Djokovic in the final after downing another all-time great, Roger Federer, in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka stood out that year as much for his eye-catching pink-checkered shorts as for his destructive backhand.

Those shorts fed his happy-go-lucky appearance and he reinforced that image by celebrating with Champagne long into the night. But as cavalier as he sometimes seemed, Wawrinka was anything but casual and always trained fiercely hard.

Later Monday, Gaël Monfils plays in the night session. The 39-year-old Frenchman is also retiring at the end of the year.

De Jong, who is 25, gave Wawrinka a timely reminder of his veteran status.

“He was playing against my coach (Bas Van Bentum) when I was a ball kid. I don’t want to say you’re that old,” De Jong said, drawing a smile from Wawrinka. “It’s all about Stan today, the way he was fighting.”

Wawrinka retorted: “I know I played against your coach, it doesn’t make me any younger.”

He was hugged on court by tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, before sitting and watching footage of his matches down the years. He was shown video messages from Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner, reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz, and Monfils.

At his physical peak, the barrel-chested Wawrinka had huge stamina and was one of the few who beat Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Andy Murray at the Grand Slams.

Wawrinka beat Nadal in the the Australian Open final in 2014 and downed Djokovic again in the U.S. Open final in 2016, meaning all three of his majors were won against the No. 1 player. Nadal, however, dispatched him in straight sets in the 2017 French Open final.

He was an Olympic champion in doubles alongside Federer in 2008 and they won the Davis Cup for Switzerland in 2014.

“You are a legend of our sport,” said Monfils, who later faced countryman Hugo Gaston on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

___

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

Russia and ally Belarus held joint nuclear drills last week, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned in recent days that Belarus could provide a launchpad for Russia to open a new front in northern Ukraine. Some Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarusian territory in Moscow's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

In a further sign of concern, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday about the war in Ukraine, their first call since the invasion began.

Russia warns of more 'systemic strikes'

Further “systemic strikes” on Kyiv are in store, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. It urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic missions, to leave the city as quickly as possible and told residents to stay away from military and government facilities.

The ministry said Friday’s deadly Ukrainian drone strike on a college dormitory in Starobilsk was “the final straw.” Ukraine said it hit only targets supporting Russia’s invasion.

The Russian army is locked in a hard and costly slog on the 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line that mostly snakes through eastern and southern Ukraine.

“Russia hit a dead-end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centers,” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said on X, after the weekend barrage that killed two people and damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital.

With U.S.-made air defense missiles in short supply because of the Iran war, Russian missiles are harder for Ukraine to stop. Meanwhile, U.S. efforts to stop the fighting have stalled.

Countries keep a wary eye on Belarus

In his call with Lukashenko, Macron “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in the French leader’s office who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the presidential palace’s practices. Macron also spoke Sunday with Zelenskyy.

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, on her first visit to Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Sunday that “Lukashenko’s regime knows well what needs to be done to improve ties with the European Union, but it isn’t happening. Instead, hybrid attacks, nuclear blackmail and threats to the entire region continue."

A terse readout released by the Belarusian presidential press service said the call with Macron took place “on the French side’s initiative” and the leaders discussed “regional issues” and Belarusian relations with the EU and France.

Lukashenko, who has governed his country of some 9.5 million people with an iron fist for more than three decades, relies on the Kremlin for cheap energy, loans and other support. Western countries have repeatedly slapped sanctions on Belarus, including for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory to invade Ukraine.

More recently, Lukashenko has been trying to improve ties with the West. Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners as part of deals that lifted some U.S. sanctions.

Russia fires hypersonic missile at Ukraine

Sunday’s bombardment included Russia’s powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile, which can carry multiple warheads. Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted it can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound and evade air defense systems.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence services had received tipoffs from the United States and European countries that Russia was preparing to launch an Oreshnik.

In addition to the two deaths, at least 91 people were wounded in Sunday's barrage, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Administration.

Shattered glass littered sidewalks on Monday after Ukrainian authorities said the assault damaged buildings across the city, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Monday led ambassadors from more than 70 countries on a visit to the sites of the strikes. He urged the international community to step up pressure on Moscow and ensure Ukraine gets more air defense support.

In other developments:

Russia’s Federal Security Service said divers found magnetic mines attached to the hull of a liquefied petroleum gas tanker in the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga. The tanker Arrhenius was bound for Samsun, Turkey, it said, adding that the limpet mines were made in a NATO member country. Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile hit a business in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Derhachi, killing two people and wounding 19 others Monday, Kharkiv regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said. Seventeen people were hospitalized.

___

Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

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

Police said they were called just after 5:30 a.m. to a home on Hazel Lake Drive, off Old Middleburg Road South, where they found the man suffering from a gunshot wound and a stab wound.

He was taken to an area hospital, where his injuries were listed as non-life-threatening and he was last reported in a stable condition.

JSO said investigators learned the man was sitting inside his garage, when two men -- one heavy set and the other skinny -- walked up to him.

They spoke briefly before the two men started shooting and then also stabbed the man in the garage.

“At this time, investigators believe the incident is isolated, but the suspects are still outstanding,” JSO said in a news release about the attack.

Investigators said the attackers were in a black or dark gray SUV, which drove off in an unknown direction.

Detectives with the Robbery and Violent Crime Unit are actively interviewing witnesses, canvassing for surveillance video, and following up on investigative leads.

The community’s assistance is critical in this investigation, JSO said.

Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500, email JSOCRIMETIPS@JAXSHERIFF.ORG, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

The new records outline how investigators shifted focus from 23-year-old Lindsey Isaacs, who was originally arrested in the case, to 47-year-old Alisa Lee Montalvo, who now faces nine charges connected to the crash.

The October 2025 crash in Volusia County killed Flagler County Deputy Administrator Jorge Salinas, his wife and a motorcyclist. A fourth victim survived with serious injuries.

According to an arrest affidavit, investigators now believe Montalvo was driving a maroon Dodge Durango the night of the crash. However, witnesses initially described the SUV as black.

That detail became critical to the investigation.

FHP investigators originally focused on Isaacs because she owned a black Dodge Durango matching witness descriptions and appearing on nearby Flock cameras around the time of the crash, records show.

On Oct. 10, troopers obtained a search warrant for Isaacs’ vehicle after investigators reported finding smudges they believed were consistent with the crash. Isaacs was arrested April 16 and booked into the Volusia County Jail.

But after Isaacs’ arrest, the State Attorney’s Office requested assistance from FHP’s Specialized Investigation and Reconstruction Team, or SIRT, after identifying discrepancies in the original investigation.

According to the affidavit, the SIRT investigation determined the crash occurred on a dark stretch of I-4 with little lighting, and investigators concluded witnesses could have easily mistaken Montalvo’s maroon Dodge Durango for Isaacs’ black SUV.

The affidavit also reveals new details about the moments leading up to the crash.

Investigators say a witness told them Montalvo had been with a group of motorcycle riders and friends in Sanford before everyone eventually traveled onto Interstate 4 that night.

According to investigators, the witness said Montalvo later left alone in her maroon Dodge Durango and traveled eastbound alongside the group of motorcycles.

A 911 caller later reported seeing the maroon SUV driving recklessly and dangerously close to one of the motorcycles moments before the crash, according to the affidavit.

The caller told investigators he saw the SUV and motorcycle disappear in front of a large truck before coming upon the crash scene seconds later.

Investigators say Montalvo briefly pulled onto the shoulder after the collision before driving away.

Montalvo is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide, three counts of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury, reckless driving causing serious bodily injury and tampering with physical evidence.

According to court records, the tampering charge stems from allegations that Montalvo attempted to repair damage to the SUV days after the crash.

Investigators say Montalvo brought the Dodge Durango to a man in Altamonte Springs for repairs. The man later provided investigators with photos of the damage, pictures of an airbag found in the backseat and receipts showing Montalvo paid for repairs, records state.

In a motion for pretrial detention, prosecutors wrote, “While this case received extensive media coverage, the Defendant failed to contact law enforcement to report the crash, and instead took steps to conceal it.”

Montalvo is being held in the Volusia County Jail without bond and is expected back in court within the next five days.

Meanwhile, prosecutors formally declined to pursue charges against Isaacs after she spent 13 days in jail.

Isaacs’ attorney, Patrick McGeehan, criticized FHP investigators and called for accountability.

“The person that should be here is Colonel Gary Helm, who’s the director of FHP,” McGeehan said. “He should be here explaining to you how this happened, how an innocent woman was put in the county jail for 13 days on a crime. She wasn’t even on the scene.”

Isaacs also spoke publicly after her release.

“I feel there’s really no way of correcting what they did to me,” Isaacs said. “It will always hurt me, my reputation, when I’m still receiving death threats and hate. It’s very hard.”

McGeehan said his team is now exploring possible legal action against FHP.

News 6 reached out to FHP asking whether investigators believe mistakes were made in Isaacs’ arrest and what changes, if any, may be implemented moving forward.

FHP did not answer those questions but said the case remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation.

“Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first encyclical, has been eagerly awaited ever since history’s first U.S.-born pope announced days after his election that he considered AI to be the biggest challenge facing humanity today.

In the text, Leo denounced the “culture of power” driving the AI race, especially in developing ever more sophisticated methods of remote warfare. He declared that it was “not permissible” to entrust irreversible, lethal decisions to AI systems, setting up another flash point between the American pope and the Trump administration, which has worked aggressively to deregulate AI development.

“Artificial Intelligence now demands to be disarmed, freed from logics that turn it into an instrument of domination, exclusion and death,″ the pope told a special Vatican presentation of the encyclical, one of the most authoritative types of teaching documents a pope can issue.

Experts in the tech industry, academia and Catholic morality said the document will likely become a benchmark in the debate over AI, a point of reference for policymakers, researchers and ordinary folk alike. It comes as the near-daily developments in the technology trigger concerns over AI replacing human jobs and even human intelligence.

Taylor Black, a Microsoft AI executive and director of Catholic University of America’s AI institute, said the document would prompt people “at the forefront of these tools” to ask questions such as “What does it mean to be human?”

Pope calls out AI companies even as he hosts Anthropic

The Vatican launch also included remarks by the co-founder of Anthropic, which is currently locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration over access to its AI technology. The Vatican decided to involve Anthropic as part of its decade-long effort to engage Silicon Valley in dialogue over the human cost of AI.

And yet in his text, Leo repeatedly blasted the concentration of power and data in the hands of so few people in the private sector as a danger, especially to children and the most vulnerable, and called for external regulation of their work.

“It is not enough to invoke ethics in the abstract; robust legal frameworks, independent oversight, informed users and a political system that does not abdicate its responsibility are required,” he wrote. “A more moral AI is not enough if that morality is determined by a few.”

Leo appealed to AI developers and political leaders responsible for regulating them to slow down and reflect on what they are doing. He urged them to use ethical and spiritual guidelines to make the choice to work not for their own profit or power, but the betterment of humanity.

AI competitors OpenAI and Anthropic are the second- and third-most valuable U.S. private companies, each valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, more than the GDP of many nations. Both companies are heading toward near-trillion dollar IPOs.

Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah welcomed Leo's criticism and concern. He said such external checks were fundamental to the technology “going well” for humankind since there is so much at stake — “a real possibility that AI will displace human labor at a very large scale.”

“We need more of the world — religious communities, civil society, scholars, governments — to do what His Holiness has done here: to take this seriously, to look closely, and to push events in a better direction,” Olah said. “We need moral voices that the incentives cannot bend.”

Experts say the text will become a benchmark

In a methodical text, the math major pope traced the history of the Catholic Church’s social teaching and applied its core concepts — justice, solidarity, the dignity of work and the universal destination of resources — to the digital revolution.

“I am convinced that this will prove to be a defining document for our era, a profound and prophetic document,” said Paolo Carozza, law professor at Notre Dame Law School and chair of the Meta Oversight Board.

“Pope Leo is offering a clear, comprehensive, and coherent voice urging us to take responsibility for constructing a world in which technology will serve humans rather than degrade them,” he said.

In its strongest chapters, Leo denounced how AI had helped accelerate the “normalization of war” by desensitizing people to its cost. He didn’t name specific conflicts, but cited “opposing imperialisms, between powers that wish to preserve their supremacy, and those that aspire to seize that supremacy.”

He demanded transparency and accountability by AI developers so that the chain of decision-making command in ordering strikes with AI weaponry is always known. He declared that the Catholic Church’s “just war” theory, which provides specific criteria for when force can be justified, was now “outdated” given the technological advances of warfare.

A text in the church’s social justice tradition

Leo signed the text May 15, the 135th anniversary of the publication of “Rerum Novarum” (Of New Things), the most important teaching document of Leo’s hero and namesake, Pope Leo XIII. That document addressed workers’ rights, the limits of capitalism, and the obligations that states and employers owed workers as the Industrial Revolution was underway.

It became the foundation of modern Catholic social thought, and the current pope cited it at the start of his pontificate in relation to the AI revolution, which he believes poses the same existential questions that the Industrial Revolution posed over a century ago. “Magnifica Humanitas” thus becomes the latest chapter in a century-long history of popes adapting “Rerum Novarum” to the social questions of their times, often dwelling on the dignity of work for human flourishing.

AI is evoking both existential fears and utopian vision amid an intensifying debate on whether it will become a catalyst that enriches humanity or a technological toxin that dulls human intelligence while wiping out millions of high-paying jobs.

“The pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs, because the human person is an end, not a means, and the economic order must remain subordinate to human dignity and the common good,” Leo wrote.

Leo extended his concern for upholding human dignity in labor to issue the first-ever papal apology for the Holy See’s own role in legitimizing slavery by giving European sovereigns explicit authority to subjugate and enslave “infidels.”

A decade-long dialogue with Silicon Valley

Vatican officials declined to say who contributed to Leo’s encyclical. But Vatican and church officials have been engaged in a dialogue with Silicon Valley tech firms for a decade.

The decision to include Anthropic at the Vatican launch was criticized by some who considered it a papal stamp of approval of the AI firm, which is currently suing the Trump administration after it ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic’s technology for its refusal to allow the U.S. military unrestricted use of it.

Brian Boyd, U.S. faith liaison for the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, read the inclusion of Anthropic’s co-founder Olah as a recognition of its prominence in the field and as similar to a papal audience with a head of state: not an endorsement.

Anthropic is an “enormous corporation that is taking onto itself an enormous risk and responsibility,” Boyd said, adding that the company has “demonstrated genuine goodwill and integrity and interest in dialogue.”

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Winfield reported from Middletown, Connecticut, and Huamani reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan in London and Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

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

Also on the ballot are primary runoffs in more than a dozen congressional districts, plus state contests for lieutenant governor, attorney general and others.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was the top vote-getter in the March 3 primary, but strong showings by two GOP challengers forced the four-term incumbent to Tuesday’s head-to-head matchup with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the second-place finisher who received President Donald Trump’s endorsement on May 19.

The contest is Trump’s next opportunity to purge the party of incumbents he views as insufficiently loyal to him and his agenda. It also sets the stage for a general election where Democrats are increasingly optimistic about their chances to score an upset in the heavily Republican state as they look to retake control of the U.S. Senate. Historically, voters have tended to punish the incumbent president’s party at the ballot box in midterm election years.

The winner will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the general election.

Trump seemed open to endorsing Cornyn following the primary, and he did not excoriate the incumbent in his endorsement of Paxton, as he’s done recently with Republican incumbents in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky. But he said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough.”

Cornyn was critical of Trump ahead of the president’s 2024 campaign.

Since much of the Texas primary campaign has focused on the candidates’ loyalty to Trump, the counties where the president has the most support could play a decisive role. Although many of the counties Trump won in 2024 with 80% or more of the vote are rural and sparsely populated, collectively they made up about a fifth of the GOP primary vote. Paxton beat Cornyn in these counties, 45% to 40%, while Cornyn performed better than Paxton in the rest of the state.

In counties Trump carried with between 50% and 80% of the vote, Cornyn received about 42% of the vote, edging Paxton by a percentage point. Republican primary voters in the 12 counties Democrat Kamala Harris carried in 2024 preferred Cornyn, 44% to 40%. These counties made up 25% of the overall primary vote, larger than the share of Trump’s 80%-plus counties.

Only two incumbent U.S. senators from Texas have lost a primary in the last 100 years.

In 2025, Republicans redrew the state’s congressional districts at Trump’s urging as part of an effort to maintain control of the U.S. House.

Among the notable primary runoffs that resulted from the new congressional map, Democratic U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee and Al Green will face each other in the redrawn 18th Congressional District. In the new 33rd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson faces a challenge from her predecessor, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close statewide at 7 p.m. local time, which is 8 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET. Most polls are in Central time and close at 8 p.m. ET, while polls in the westernmost part of the state are in Mountain time and close at 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The AP will provide vote results and declare winners in Republican primary runoffs for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, railroad commissioner, Court of Criminal Appeals, state Senate and state House and in Democratic primary runoffs for U.S. House, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state Board of Education and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Voters who did not participate in a party primary on March 3 may vote in the runoff for either party. Voters who did cast a ballot in a party primary may only vote in the runoff of the same party as they did in the primary. In other words, Democratic primary voters may not vote in a Republican primary runoff or vice versa. Voters in the non-partisan primary may vote in either party’s runoff.

How many voters are there?

As of the March 3 primary, there were nearly 19 million registered voters in Texas.

How many people actually vote?

About 2.2 million Republican primary votes and about 2.3 million Democratic primary votes were cast in the March 3 Texas primary.

In the 2022 Republican primary for Texas Attorney General, turnout was about 1.9 million voters in the primary and about 932,000 in the primary runoff.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 63% of the vote in the March 3 Republican primary was cast before primary day.

As of Thursday, about 621,000 Republican primary ballots and about 262,000 Democratic primary ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Counties tend to release all or nearly all results from early and absentee voting in the first vote update of the night, before any in-person Election Day results are released.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the U.S. Senate primary in March, the AP first reported results at 8 p.m. ET just as polls closed in most of the state. By 11:39 p.m. ET, 75% of the vote had been counted. Vote results were released continuously until about 5:58 a.m. ET, with about 98% of the total vote counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The Associated Press does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

Texas requires an automatic recount only in cases of a tie vote. Losing candidates may request and pay for a recount if the margin is less than 10% of the leading candidate’s vote. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 161 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia from outside the country, Saleh bin Saad Al-Murabba, commander of the Hajj passport forces, said Friday. The faithful have been pouring into the country for the Hajj against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related regional tensions and uncertainty.

Egyptian pilgrim Samya Abdul Moneim said she was grateful to God that she made it to the Hajj, which is required once in a lifetime of every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to make it.

“I am in a state of blessing and happiness,” she said in Mecca on Sunday. “It’s an indescribable feeling, truly. I mean, thank God, I am in a blessing.”

Typically on the first day, many pilgrims in Mecca converge on a vast tent camp in the nearby desert. Ahead of that, pilgrims have been circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in sweltering temperatures. For pilgrims, Hajj can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness and the erasure of past sins. Pilgrims perform the Hajj rituals over several days.

This Hajj "is, in effect, a hard reset for me,” Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, said Monday from the tent city of Mina. “I pray that I emerge on the other side of this journey with a new sense of purpose and the discipline to see it through.”

Around him, many pilgrims were resting and refueling, he said via WhatsApp, noting how demanding the pilgrimage is.

“It is for many pilgrims the most difficult thing they will ever do in their lives,” he said. “But nothing this meaningful is ever going to be easy.”

He found it inspiring “to see so many who have sacrificed so much to be here ... only to compete with one another in giving charity and helping each other along the way," he said. “All this in the hope that their intentions and actions may be accepted by their Lord.”

Pilgrims brave intense heat

Many spend years hoping and praying to one day perform the Hajj or saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the trip.

As they brave the intense heat to perform religious rituals, many pilgrims have been using umbrellas for shade and carrying handheld fans. Volunteers hand out water bottles to help them stay hydrated and fans spray fine mists of water.

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran on the war, including opening the Strait of Hormuz, has been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other allies in the region. He described it as a “Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to PEACE” that still must be finalized by the United States, Iran and the other countries that participated in the calls. That capped a week in which the U.S. weighed a new round of attacks on Iran.

Ahead of the trip for Hajj, some have said they were leaning on their faith as they embark on the journey amid the tensions and that they were feeling immense gratitude for the opportunity to go.

Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and economic classes, creating a sense of unity for many.

Regional tensions and Hajj travel plans

With uncertainty and global concerns high, authorities in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, have in the run-up to the Hajj season emphasized contingency planning for the pilgrimage and issued instructions to ensure that additional travel costs not be passed on to Indonesian pilgrims.

In India, home to a large Muslim minority, pilgrimage planning has proceeded largely as normal, but high fuel prices have pushed up travel costs for pilgrims.

A reopening of the strait would begin to ease a worldwide energy crisis sparked by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, which led Tehran to effectively close the waterway. Prices have spiked for oil, gas and several related products, jolting the world economy. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports for over a month, and Trump on Sunday said the blockade “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

In response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes and the conflict widened. A fragile ceasefire was reached in April.

In Saudi Arabia, pilgrims have been doing the ritual circuit around the Kaaba since arriving in Mecca over recent days. Pilgrims in Mina will camp there and pray and worship.

On Tuesday, in what is considered the pinnacle of the pilgrimage, the pilgrims will stand on the plain of Arafat, where they praise God, plead for forgiveness and make supplications. Many carry prayer requests from loved ones and raise their hands in worship with tears streaming down their faces.

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Fam reported from Winter Park, Florida. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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

Well-suited to Central and South Florida conditions, papaya is an increasingly popular choice for homeowners looking to grow fruit.

Successful trees depend on proper site selection, ample drainage, cold protection and pest awareness. These are challenges that the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) addresses in Papaya Growing in the Florida Home Landscape, the latest Ask IFAS publication, also available in Spanish.

The document goes beyond quick tips and includes a comprehensive, step-by-step guide for successfully growing papaya in a Florida yard, its origins and market.

While Florida is not a major player in papaya production, either nationally or globally, it is growing steadily as a favorite among residential property owners and growers. The Sunshine State has a niche industry. Within the United States, Hawaii dominates papaya production, which accounts for most of the domestic output.

Florida contributes a minor share, with production largely concentrated in South Florida and geared toward local or specialty markets. That is quickly changing.

There are numerous varieties of papaya. The seeds are not commonly for sale, but when available, they come in small amounts. This makes a reliable nursery the best place to find the right tree.

Here’s what readers can expect from this month’s featured Ask IFAS resource.

What exactly is a papaya plant and how does it produce fruit?

The publication explains the plant’s tropical origins and how it grows in warm climates, then walks readers through the three plant types and why that distinction matters for fruit production. Understanding which plants produce fruit helps gardeners make better planting decisions.

What should you consider when planting papaya to ensure long-term success?

Some nurseries offer papaya plants, and the first step is to choose a healthy tree. Commonly, nursery papaya trees are grown in 3-gallon containers. Learn what to look for and why choosing the right height is important. This document explains why you should avoid large trees in smaller containers.

What conditions do papaya trees need to thrive in a Florida backyard?

Learning practical tips on planting and spacing, as well as emphasizing factors like wind exposure, cold weather or poor drainage can significantly reduce growth and yield. These insights help homeowners find the best environment for healthy, productive trees.

How do you care for papaya plants and prevent common problems?

The publication dives into daily care, including fertilizer schedules, irrigation needs and maintenance practices. It also identifies common pests and diseases, such as papaya fruit fly and ringspot virus. Readers will learn ways to manage them. This makes it especially useful for beginners looking to spot issues early and keep plants productive year-round.

Are there cues to harvesting?

Knowing when to pick the fruit, how to ripen it and ways to enjoy papaya are also explored.

Lovebugs are small black flies that show up in large numbers across Florida and nearby states for a few weeks each spring and late summer, especially along highways and around grassy areas.

While many will have to swat them away while crossing parking lots or walking paths, or scrape them off front bumpers after a road trip, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) experts say that they are harmless to people and pets.

While their numbers can spike quickly, researchers say the insects are short-lived.

“Lovebug adults live for a few days,” said Norman Leppla, University of Florida professor of integrated pest management and biological control. “They only last for a few weeks in any given location.”

Guidance from UF/IFAS explains that lovebugs don’t bite, sting, spread disease, or intentionally target cars. Their brief population booms and seasonal swarms are driven by natural mating cycles and environmental cues.

“Lovebug larvae survive in suitable habitats to become adults at the same time,” said Leppla.

Their larvae play an important environmental role by helping break down dead plant material and recycle nutrients back into the soil.

Gardeners and environmental educators can even use lovebugs as an example of how insects contribute to healthy ecosystems through decomposition.

Leppla warns that while insecticides and bug sprays work for other Florida pests like mosquitoes, they’re rather ineffective when it comes to lovebugs.

“Spraying insecticides can only kill lovebugs that are present. Lovebug adults blow downwind and collect on buildings as more fly in. Their movement depends largely on wind direction,” Leppla said.

The large swarms nearly always quickly return from surrounding areas.

While a nuisance, encounters with lovebugs can be reduced. Leppla says that lovebugs are abundant in habitats where they become adults but almost absent in other locations.

Homeowners can use fans, screens and closed doors to reduce the number of lovebugs entering buildings.

Fans can help circulate the air and reduce lovebug problems because the insects are relatively weak fliers. Moving air from ceiling fans, box fans or outdoor fans can make it harder for lovebugs to land or gather.

For pedestrians, keeping to shady pathways away from freshly mowed grass can help, along with portable fans to create airflow that discourages hovering insects, and wearing protective eyewear can help reduce irritation.

For drivers, expect heavier swarms along highways, especially during the late morning and early afternoon in peak seasons.

“Lovebugs do not fly at night and are less active in the early morning and late evening,” Leppla said.

Drivers can use windshield washer fluid proactively in dense swarms rather than waiting for buildup and quickly clean bug residue from grills, headlights and paint soon after driving because dried residue can become harder to remove.

Leppla gives one last tip for removing heavy accumulations: “Use a moist cloth or a dryer sheet for easy removal.”

Lovebugs may splatter windshields and frustrate commuters, but the insects are more nuisance than threat.

By understanding what attracts them and what does not work to control them, researchers hope Floridians can rely less on ineffective pesticides and more on practical ways to manage one of the South’s most familiar seasonal nuisances.

There were no public campaign events scheduled for Sen. John Cornyn nor state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the final day of their more than yearlong quest for the GOP nomination. Instead, their fight for Tuesday's runoff continues as it has for months — intense and unabated — through advertising that has topped $109 million, heavily from Cornyn's side.

Cornyn is scheduled to host an annual, non-campaign event in San Antonio to recognize high school graduates attending the nation's service academies. The senator seeking a fifth term held his last public campaign event in Corpus Christi on Friday, ahead of Tuesday’s voting.

Paxton headlined his last events Thursday in the Austin area and in San Antonio, content to let his campaign and a super PAC carry his primary message: that President Donald Trump endorsed him on May 19.

Trump's announcement and accompanying dismissal of Cornyn, who has had an awkward public relationship with the president, came on the second day of early voting, which ended Friday.

Though the candidates were quiet over the weekend, Trump reaffirmed his support for Paxton on Sunday, and disparaged Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to him.

Paxton, Trump posted on social media, “was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME,” while calling Cornyn “VERY disloyal to me.” It was Trump's strongest rebuke of Cornyn, who had dismissed his 2024 comeback chances, and echoed the president's reproach of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy before he lost in the May 15 GOP Senate primary.

Following Trump's call for retribution, Republican voters in Indiana and Kentucky have also chosen GOP primary challengers over incumbent GOP officeholders who have crossed the president or opposed his agenda.

For a contest that is expected to draw a fraction of Texas’ 18.7 million voters, the two candidates’ campaigns and supporting groups were continuing to bombard all Texans with advertising, though more by Cornyn's backers than Paxton's.

"It’s just a slug fest, with the campaigns and third-party groups slugging it out,” said Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

The combination of Cornyn's campaign and supporting super PACs have far outspent pro-Paxton groups over the past year, by almost nine-to-one. But the gap has shrunk as the runoff has approached. In the final week of the campaign, the combination of pro-Cornyn ad spending was less than twice Paxton's group.

Cornyn's network continued to air spots attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions that have shadowed him with little effect throughout the campaign. Cornyn’s campaign also had reprised an ad noting his tendency to vote in the Senate for Trump’s priorities.

Paxton's campaign and groups supporting him transitioned midweek to all ads noting Trump's endorsement, though Paxton's primary super PAC, Lone Star Liberty Fund, began airing one over the weekend aimed at raising questions about state Rep. James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee.

The spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 will be nearly $115 billion, less than the Senate’s preferred budget but not the $113.6 billion plan preferred by the House.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, had insisted on larger cuts to the existing budget, fearing projected deficits in future years if spending wasn’t curtailed. The chambers couldn’t reach an agreement during the regular session that ended March 13.

Legislators plan to approve the budget Friday and send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Here’s a look at some of the agreements reached Sunday:

Education

After clashing during the regular session over the state voucher program, the chambers agreed to keep the $4.5 billion for scholarships for homeschool and private school tuition inside the main funding formula for K-12 public schools.

An audit showing mismanagement of the program in November spurred the Senate to push for changes to ensure scholarship funds are being paid correctly, but the House wouldn’t go along.

The chambers also approved a provision to prevent deep cuts to school districts, which are seeing declining enrollment. Two counties, Union and Glades, saw their school districts put on emergency administration after enrollment declines jeopardized their solvency, and lawmakers moved to prevent the same from happening in other counties.

A measure setting aside $7 million for capital improvements at private schools in “financially disadvantaged” areas was amended to require the funds to be spent in rural counties with less than 10,000 people, with the funds disbursed by Dec. 1.

Lawmakers will also allow Florida State University to use existing funds to pay for the acquisition of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. FSU agreed to buy the hospital from the City of Tallahassee earlier this year, paying $3.6 million per year for 30 years, and investing $1.7 billion in the same period.

There’s also a deal in place to transfer control of the University of South Florida’s Manatee-Sarasota campus to New College of Florida, which the House wanted but the Senate resisted until late in budget negotiations.

Health care

In the health care portion of the budget, one point of contention was the Cancer Innovation Fund championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. The Senate preferred $30 million while the House didn’t want to fund the program that seeks to boost cancer research, but the chambers settled on $20 million on Sunday evening.

Lawmakers provided emergency funding during the regular session to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which faced cuts by the Department of Health amid a shortfall of federal funding. That funding only lasts until June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Now, the program that helps HIV patients get needed prescriptions will receive $75 million, as top budget negotiators acknowledged the cuts earlier this year pushed people in the program to get private coverage to get their medications.

A $50 million fund that was part of a 2024 law championed by Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, who was Senate President at the time, was eliminated in the last round of budget talks. The Health Innovation Council, though, still has funds from the current year to help bring new medical technologies to hospitals.

The House wanted $250,000 to study the effects of leaving the federal health care exchange, where residents can shop for Affordable Care Act plans, but the Senate didn’t agree to it.

Environment

When the Legislature ended the regular session without a budget in place, DeSantis threatened to veto the spending plan if it didn’t include enough funding for Everglades restoration projects.

The final budget deal has $514 million for such projects, which McClure and Hooper said should satisfy DeSantis. But they said his veto threat wasn’t on their mind during negotiations.

“$514 million is well above the statutory minimum and it is a lot of money and should continue the (Everglades restoration) efforts,” House budget chief Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover, said.

The chambers also agreed to $425 million for the Rural and Family Lands program, which pays for easements on agricultural land to prevent development on farmland.

Other issues

As part of the budget deal, the state will also provide $4.5 million in grants to county supervisors of elections to pay for software or hardware to conduct post-election audits.

And there will be $4 million for the families of the Groveland Four – Ernest Thomas, Charles Greenlee, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin – African-American men falsely accused of raping a white woman in Lake County in 1949. They were pardoned in 2019 and exonerated in 2021. The Senate had the measure in its initial budget but the House resisted the provision until the last week of budget talks.

One issue where the chambers couldn’t reach an agreement was on security funding. The Senate wanted to pay for a security detail for DeSantis and his family for one year after he leaves office on Jan. 5, but the House wouldn’t go along. Also, the Senate didn’t agree to the House push to provide security to the nominees for governor of each major party after the Aug. 18 primary election.

Staff and students at Parkwood Heights Elementary in Arlington surprised Perry Friday with a retirement celebration in his honor. News4Jax photojournalist Ben Schubert was there to capture the memorable moments.

Perry has served 31 years with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, including 15 years with the school district. His last five years were spent at Parkwood Heights Elementary.

News4JAX congratulates Officer Perry and thanks him for a career of dedicated service to the Jacksonville community.

But even if you need a new refrigerator, dishwasher, or washing machine right away, Consumer Reports says there are still ways to save money—if you shop smart.

Consumer Reports appliance expert Paul Hope says rushing into a purchase without doing any research can cost you.

CR’s testing shows that performance varies widely between brands and models, even within the same appliance category.

CONSUMER REPORTS: Appliance store buying guide

Consumer Reports also found that where you shop can be just as important as what you buy.

Using survey data from more than 30,000 appliance store purchases, CR rated 31 national retailers on factors including price, selection, customer service, delivery, installation, and how easy their websites are to use.

According to Consumer Reports, independent appliance retailers can sometimes offer better overall service than big-box stores.

Many local retailers are able to match major chain prices, and because they often use their own delivery teams instead of third-party contractors, they may provide more accurate delivery windows. Some even offer perks like in-house repair service or temporary loaner appliances while you wait for your new one.

Before buying, Consumer Reports recommends checking retailers’ online inventory tools to see what’s actually in stock and available for immediate delivery.

Comparing prices online, looking at price history, and asking whether a store offers price matching can also help you spot a real bargain.

There are additional ways to save, too. Consumer Reports suggests considering open-box items or floor models, bundling multiple appliances together for discounts, and simply asking for a better deal.

In fact, CR found that shoppers who negotiated saved a median of $123 on major appliance purchases.

The bottom line: whether you need a replacement immediately or you’re planning ahead, taking a little time to compare options and ask questions can help you avoid overspending on a major appliance.

“I’ll stay in the European Parliament because it would be good for the Direct Democracy party to have a European Parliament member,” Fidias, who goes by his first name, told reporters before a proclamation ceremony.

“We could’ve done better but we’re happy with what has happened, this is a small victory.”

Fidias whipped up much speculation by being coy about his political future throughout his campaign.

It was only six months ago that Fidias, 26, founded the Direct Democracy party. He said that the party was intended to upend the established political order in Cyprus and abroad by enabling ordinary citizens to have a say in formulating party policy and declare themselves party candidates through an online application.

Direct Democracy received 5.4% of total votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election and four seats in the 56-member House. Fidias, who garnered the most votes out of all of his party’s candidates, ceded his seat to runner-up Yiannis Laouris.

Even though it’s a remarkable result for a group that eschewed the traditional way of wooing voters by outlining its policies, the result didn’t live up to Fidias’ own expectations. That’s because nearly one in five voters cast their ballots for him in the June 2024 European Parliament election, even though he took no political positions, made no promises and didn't present a program for his time in office.

“It seems now that people are hungry not for political positions, but for true people that are not lying, (but) saying the truth,” he told The Associated Press in an interview shortly after the 2024 poll.

Fidias spent years boosting his popularity with outrageous video posts of him spending wads of cash in Vietnam, living a week in an airport for free, and burying himself alive for 10 days.

His online breakthrough came after he relentlessly pursued and succeeded in getting a hug from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who also became a fan.

Fidias has acknowledged that his online antics had offered many Cypriot voters — who are deeply disenchanted with the perceived corruption of a party system that has operated on a favors-for-votes basis for decades — a way to express their frustrations.

Fidias has used online media as his primary tool to communicate with his supporters the inner workings of the European Parliament, the reasoning for his voting on issues as well as to answer his growing number of detractors who consider him and his trial-by-error decision-making politically infantile.

He has also courted plenty of controversy for his perceived support for negotiations with Russia over the war in Ukraine, and for casting doubt on what the International Criminal Court said was the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Sunday’s parliamentary election saw the ultranationalist National Popular Front, or ELAM, party make major gains, receiving nearly 11% of the vote and eight seats — up from just under 7% and four seats in the previous poll.

“'What about the stock trading in Congress? What about people getting rich in Congress?’” Allred said they ask him regularly. “And I have to say to them, you’re absolutely right about that, too. We need to be better.”

He's challenging Rep. Julie Johnson in the Democratic runoff for a Dallas-area House seat on Tuesday, and he's one of several candidates trying to harness populist anger over congressional stock trading. Allred has denounced Johnson for trades involving companies like Palantir, a data analytics firm with ties to President Donald Trump's administration.

Johnson said her trades were handled by a financial manager, and she accused Allred of being “only out for himself.” She pointed to financial disclosures that showed Allred's wealth nearly doubling during his own time in Congress, although Allred said his assets were in a blind trust and the money came from his wife's income as a partner at a law firm.

“To be clear, the sum total I made on that trade was only $90,” Johnson said of her Palantir stock. “My opponent is trying to make it seem like it was hundreds or thousands.”

The bitter campaign is emblematic of broader debates within the Democratic Party over the role of money in politics. Long a refrain of strident progressives and good-government reformers, accusations that political rivals are self-dealing or bought by special interests have become a mainstay of Democratic primaries. The heightened criticism of lawmakers’ personal wealth comes as the party looks to sharpen its anti-corruption message against Trump and to develop a platform for overhauling Washington if Democrats take power in the midterms.

Some are tracking congressional stock trading

Trump campaigned on a promise to “drain the swamp,” capitalizing on Americans' disdain for the Washington establishment. Now that his family is profiting while he's back in the White House, Democrats are eager to regain the upper hand on an issue that could prove potent with voters.

“The difficulty is that right now, no party has the mantle on anti-corruption,” said Daniel Lobo-Lewis, a political consultant in Washington. “Many voters outside of the beltway see both parties as corrupt, because they see all politicians as bought by the donors or by their own self-interest.”

Lobo-Lewis and Nico Agosto founded the Political Integrity Project last year to track stock trading and corporate donations involving members of Congress.

The organization asks candidates to sign an “integrity pledge” to refrain from trading stocks or accepting corporate donations while in Congress and vow not to work as a lobbyist after they leave office. So far, about 90 challengers and seven sitting lawmakers have taken the pledge, all of whom are Democrats.

"If we want to, in any way, start rebuilding trust in our political institutions, it starts with no-brainer changes like this that have an approval rating above and beyond any other issue you could imagine," Lobo-Lewis said.

Congress has yet to enact a stock trading ban for its members, though insider trading is already illegal. for members just like it is for anyone else. There are multiple proposals on Capitol Hill but none have gained traction.

A bipartisan bill to ban congressional stock trading stalled this year despite receiving Trump’s blessing during his State of the Union. And Democrats remain divided over the number of alleged loopholes in their competing proposals.

Anti-corruption messages spread in Democratic primaries

A crowded race in a Democratic-leaning Utah congressional seat has featured attacks over candidates’ personal wealth. State Sen. Nate Blouin criticized his main rival, former Rep. Ben McAdams, for having equity in a Utah data center firm, and excoriated others in the race for past investments and jobs.

McAdams said the equity of several thousand dollars was payment for a past contract completed by his government consulting firm while he was a private citizen. His campaign defended the data center project by saying it would use no water and run on clean energy.

A spokesperson for McAdams also claimed Blouin “is currently hiding his corporate donations” by removing them from campaign disclosure reports, which McAdams' campaign claims "is not only deceitful, it breaks campaign finance law.”

In an interview, Blouin rejected the claim that he broke the law, and said that he removed the donations because he returned the money to each donor.

“It was actually quite uncomfortable to return some of those,” said Blouin, because some of the firms included local firms and clean energy companies. “But there is a perception that campaign contributions from lobbyists and companies influence votes, and I think there is some truth to that."

In a New York City congressional district that includes both Wall Street and the Democratic Socialists of America’s headquarters, the city’s former comptroller, Brad Lander, has accused Rep. Dan Goldman of trying to buy another term by using his own wealth to match campaign contributions. Goldman, an heir to the Levi Strauss family fortune, says he entered all of his assets into a blind trust after taking office in 2023.

A spokesperson for Goldman said Lander is “running a deceitful campaign based on absurd lies that Dan is beholden to special interests" and that Goldman has raised more campaign funds than Lander “without taking a dime of corporate PAC money.” Goldman has spent his own money on the race, the spokesperson said, “to ensure that the NY-10 voters can be sure that he is beholden only to them and his principles.”

Lander said Goldman's spending is “not illegal, but it is certainly anti-democratic when a quarter-billionaire like Dan Goldman not only dumps millions of his own inherited wealth into his elections but also solicits money from the same forces who are rigging the economy and worsening the affordability crisis."

More candidates are fighting over stocks in California

Even representatives who support a ban on congressional stock trading are feeling the heat.

Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman of California is facing multiple primary challengers who have criticized the congressman for holding stocks while serving in Congress. Sherman does not trade individual stocks and supports a ban on stock trading.

“I only own three individual stocks which I inherited from my mother when she passed away, which were originally acquired by my grandmother,” Sherman said. “I have never sold them because I made a promise to my constituents that I would not buy and sell individual stocks.”

One of Sherman's primary challengers is Jake Levine, a former climate adviser to President Joe Biden, who signed the pledge from the Political Integrity Project. But Sherman said Levine “refuses to disclose key elements of his $18 million stock portfolio, and actively bought and sold stocks while serving on the National Security Council.” Levine has said he cannot disclose the portfolio because it is managed by his family and he has no oversight.

In the race to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California State Sen. Scott Wiener has critiqued his progressive opponent, Saikat Chakrabarti, over his personal wealth. Chakrabarti is a former software engineer who earned millions as an early employee at the tech firm Stripe. He later served as the first chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Wiener said that Chakrabarti “has enormous investments” and “is trying to buy this seat” while “spreading bogus conspiracy theories” with his own wealth. He criticized Chakrabarti for not disclosing the last decade of his stock trades.

“If you’re making a ban on stock trades a central part of your campaign — as Saikat is doing, running around saying that everyone under the sun is corrupt — how about you tell the voters about your own stock trading history,” Wiener said.

Chakrabarti retorted that his wealth as a private citizen is not relevant to his future time in office and that he would put all of his assets into a blind trust should he be elected. He critiqued Wiener for being supported by super PACs funded by the AI firm Anthropic and other major corporations.

“This is all part of a larger problem, which is just the whole idea of corruption in our politics,” Chakrabarti said. “If you’re in Congress, you sit on committees that oversee a lot of these industries, and it’s unethical to be using that insider information, that knowledge to make stock trades. But that doesn’t apply to a private citizen.”

Kylian Mbappé and Mohamed Salah have recovered from injuries ahead of the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Now the focus will switch to Messi, the Argentina great who left the field after reaching toward his left hamstring in a game for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer on Sunday.

Yamal, Spain's new superstar, missed the final weeks of the season for Barcelona because of a muscle injury in his left leg but should be healed in time to play at the World Cup.

Others have not been so fortunate.

France striker Hugo Ekitike sustained an Achilles injury in April that could take more than six months to heal, ruling him out of the tournament and probably the start of next season with Liverpool.

Brazil stars Rodrygo and Éder Militão are definitely out. So is Bayern Munich and Germany forward Serge Gnabry after injuring his adductor in training.

Players and coaches have increasingly warned about the impact of an ever-packed schedule, and the expanded World Cup comes a year after the relaunched, supersized Club World Cup. The Champions League has also been expanded in recent years.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta describes the demand on players as “an accident waiting to happen."

With the World Cup just around the corner, players are walking a tightrope to avoid injury before the tournament kicks off.

Players definitely ruled out of the World Cup

Argentina: Joaquín Panichelli (ACL)

Brazil: Éder Militão (hamstring), Rodrygo (ACL)

England: Ben White (medial ligament)

France: Hugo Ekitike (Achilles)

Germany: Serge Gnabry (adductor)

Netherlands: Xavi Simons (ACL)

United States: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles), Patrick Agyemang (Achilles)

Ones to watch

Algeria: Goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of France icon Zinedine Zidane, is a doubt after suffering a facial injury during an on-field collision last month.

Argentina: Cristian Romero has a knee injury. It has not yet been confirmed if he is out of the World Cup, with Tottenham not giving a timeframe for his recovery.

Canada: Star left back Alphonso Davies injured his hamstring with just over a month to go before the tournament starts, after he was hurt during Bayern Munich's defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semifinals.

Croatia: Veteran midfielder Luka Modrić broke his cheekbone last month but was back playing for AC Milan well in time for the World Cup. Defender Joško Gvardiol returned to training for Manchester City in early May after four months out with a broken leg.

Morocco: Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi has been sidelined with a right thigh injury.

United States: Midfielder Johnny Cardoso sprained his right ankle five weeks before the World Cup while training with Atletico Madrid. Center back Chris Richards tore ligaments in his ankle playing for Crystal Palace.

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

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

The World Health Organization says the acceptable rate is only 10-15%.

A C-section is when the baby is delivered through the lower part of the abdomen, with an incision through the skin & uterus to remove the baby safely.

“There are certain instances where the only safe way to deliver the baby is a C-section,” said Dr. Rita Ellen Eye, an OB/GYN physician & owner of Premier OB-Gyn. “One fairly common reason that a C-section might need to happen would be if the baby is not in a good position to deliver vaginally.”

The biggest reason for C-sections right now is fetal distress, which is picked up by fetal monitoring.

“Rather than risk the baby not being able to be delivered safely, then very often we’ll suggest, you know what, let’s do a C-section to get the baby out safely,” Eye explained.

According to the New York Times, fetal monitoring increases the chance of C-sections by 63%, and that means at least some unnecessary surgeries.

Last year, a family was awarded over $48,000,000 from a case in which their doctor allegedly avoided a C-section.

However, with natural deliveries…

“There are often many things we can do during labor, like give IV fluids, give some oxygen, change the position for the mom, where you can take the pressure, take that distress away from the baby, and be able to proceed with labor rather than have to say, ‘Oh, this isn’t safe. We have to stop and do a C-section now,’” said Eye.

However, the CDC still says the U.S. C-section rate of 32% needs to be lowered to 24% or less.

“So there really has been a push, especially, I would say, in the last five years, to try to avoid unnecessary C-sections,” Eye told Ivanhoe.

At the end of the day, it should be a decision about which way will keep the mother and baby safest and not about which way is most convenient for the doctor or the mother.

Eye says the pros of a C-section include avoidance of using forceps or a vacuum to aid with delivery, the ability to deliver the baby quickly and safely, and avoid shoulder dystocia, where one or both of the baby’s shoulders get stuck.

The cons are a greater loss of blood, and often future pregnancies may also need a C-section.

One rare complication from C-sections is placenta accreta, where the mother later has another baby and the placenta abnormally fuses because of the scar tissue from the first C-section, which can lead to excessive bleeding and hemorrhaging during the next C-section.

The rain chances are expected to climb every day as we move through the week. Right now, we’re starting around a 30% chance for Monday, but by Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, rain looks a lot more likely.

These showers could become more widespread as we get deeper into the week.

You won’t need to cancel all your plans, but it’s definitely smart to keep rain gear handy. Some showers will be heavy—maybe even a thunderstorm or two. Not everyone will see rain at the same time, but almost everyone is in the game once we get toward the end of the week.

Memorial Day morning: Warm and muggy

As we got started this morning, Jacksonville, Mayport, Orange Park, and St. Augustine were already sitting close to 80 degrees before sunrise!

It’s a warm start for late May, and there isn’t much of a breeze out there for many of you.

For today, a few showers are already popping up off the Atlantic and drifting in, especially for spots from Palm Coast and St. Augustine through World Golf Village.

Most folks will stay dry, especially early. But later in the day, we could see some pop-up activity—mainly as the heat builds through the afternoon.

Some of these storms could be briefly heavy, and if you’ve got beach plans or are heading out for Memorial Day events, it’s a good idea to have that poncho stashed close by.

Weekend outlook: Heat, humidity, scattered storms

The weekend ahead is expected to keep those summer vibes rolling. Our highs will stay up in the upper 80s and maybe hit 90 degrees in a few neighborhoods. Places like Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Waycross are forecast to reach between 87 and 89 degrees Saturday and Sunday.

Humidity will be a big factor, and rain chances remain. By Friday and Saturday, rain looks much more likely overall, so if you’ve got big outdoor plans, make sure you’re ready to duck inside if needed. Even a quick trip to the golf course could mean taking a break in the clubhouse as a quick shower rolls through.

The pattern doesn’t look to change much, so we’ll stay in the 80s and low 90s, with low to mid-70s overnight, and that sticky feeling in the air isn’t leaving anytime soon.

Share your weather snapshots!

If you capture dramatic skies, rainbows, or anything showing off our changing weather, we’d love to see your photos. You can share them anytime on SnapJAX!

As I continue sharing my cancer journey, I’m discussing the disappointment that comes with the territory.

What’s behind it: I hadn’t met his newest granddaughter yet, and doing so had to wait because she and her sister got sick, and the doctor said — “it’s not a good idea to be around them.”

That was a crushing blow.

But there are times when you are fighting cancer that things are not always “on your terms.”

Watch the video above for how I handled that disappointment and frustration.

The indictment is in connection with the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles.

It comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on the island’s socialist government.

President Trump said the United States is “freeing up Cuba” and ruled out escalation.

Renata Castro, founding member of Florida-based immigration law firm USA 4 ALL, joined News4Jax anchor Bruce Hamilton on The Morning Show. She says the legal action carries immense historic, symbolic, and geopolitical implications for Florida and the Cuban American community.

Family members identified the man who died as 24-year-old Linton Alejandro Munguía Martínez. Officials have not released the name of the woman who was taken to the hospital.

The fire broke out Sunday at the Landon Imperial Apartments on Art Museum Drive, where crews worked to evacuate residents as smoke and flames spread. Video from the scene shows heavy flames coming from part of the building.

Several families were displaced, including a mother and her three children who lost most of their belongings and were still trying to figure out where they would stay Sunday night, according to community members.

Fabiola Marmolejo, a friend of one displaced family, said Munguía Martínez was trying to help others escape when the fire broke out. “The victim that died was helping Sandra Martinez and her kids and two other guys,” Marmolejo said. She said the fire has shaken the neighborhood. “As a community, you know, we need to get together. It could happen to me, it could happen to anybody.”

The American Red Cross said it is assisting 12 residents, including five children, with emergency housing and basic necessities.

A local nonprofit, Kim’s Open Door, is helping the mother and her children with urgent needs, including food, clothing and temporary shelter. “This family is left without anything in their possession and they obviously don’t have a place to stay,” said Kim Bogart, founder and director of Kim’s Open Door. “We would love to get support through Kim’s Open Door, which will go for food, clothing, and shelter for this family as they get their feet back on the ground.”

Bogart said community support will be key in helping the family recover. “We know that just rebuilding one family like this is going to take an army of people working together,” she said.

More information about Kim’s Open Door is available at here.

A GoFundMe has also been created for Munguía Martínez’s family. A link is available for anyone who can donate.

Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.

All the cases are linked to the outbreak in neighboring Congo, which appears to have started several days or weeks before Congolese authorities declared it on May 15.

A 59-year-old Congolese man was admitted to a hospital in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, on May 11, and died three days later, before it was known he was suffering from the Ebola virus. Two other Congolese nationals who sought medical care in Uganda later tested positive for Ebola.

Ugandan health authorities on Saturday confirmed the first local infections: a driver and a health worker exposed to the Congolese patient who died on May 11. Two more health workers at a private hospital in Kampala have since tested positive, the Ministry of Health said Monday.

“Both patients have been admitted to the designated treatment unit and are now receiving care,” Dr. Charles Olaro, the national director of health services, said in a statement.

President Yoweri Museveni has urged Ugandans to “ stop shaking hands ” as part of measures to avoid infection. He also ordered the postponement of an annual religious event that attracts thousands of pilgrims, from Congo and elsewhere, who converge around a Catholic basilica just outside Kampala by June 3.

Other measures include the temporary suspension of all public transportation and flights between Congo and Uganda.

In Congo, suspected Ebola cases have topped 900, mainly in eastern Ituri province where the ongoing outbreak is centered, authorities said Sunday. The response has been hampered by fear, anger and frustration among locals including attacks on treatment centers, as well as distrust of authorities in a region long plagued by armed violence.

Congo has had more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks over the decades. Health experts say international aid cuts last year by the United States and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo because of the region's unique problems.

Aid groups fighting this Ebola outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need, such as face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits, and body bags and other materials needed to safely bury the bodies of victims, which can be highly contagious.

The Bundibugyo type of Ebola virus responsible for the outbreak has no approved vaccine or treatment. The outbreak has been declared a global health emergency.

Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever.

A family of fruit bats is believed to be the natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola is spread by contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.

This back and forth was hardly a surprise. One byproduct of the automatic runner on second base is that extra innings are one of the few times managers can still stomach ordering up an intentional walk. It's a strategy that was beginning to fall out of favor otherwise.

In 2019, only 753 intentional walks were issued in the major leagues. That was the fewest since 1961, when there were fewer teams and fewer games.

And the number has only decreased since 2019. There were just 474 intentional walks in 2023 and 556 last year. Just as some statistically minded thinkers frown on the sacrifice bunt — don't give away outs! — it's also considered risky to give the other team an extra baserunner.

But in extra innings, the calculus changes. The inning starts with first base open, and if it's still tied in the bottom half, there's little downside to walking a good hitter intentionally and setting up a potential double play.

From 1974 to 2019 — before the automatic runner — there was an intentional walk every 140 plate appearances. In extra innings, it was one every 26.7.

Since 2020, there has been an intentional walk every 335 plate appearances overall. But in extra innings, it has been one every 16.7. In extra innings, intentional walks are actually more common than they used to be.

Some fans may enjoy the extra strategy, while others surely find it frustrating to watch the bat taken out of a player like Soto's hands. Since 2020, here are the major league leaders in extra-inning RBIs:

1. Eugénio Suarez, 22

2. Josh Naylor, 21

3. Alec Bohm, 20

4. Adolis García, 20

5. Daulton Varsho, 18

Here are the leaders in extra-inning intentional walks:

1. José Ramírez, 25

2. Aaron Judge, 19

3. Juan Soto, 16

4. Shohei Ohtani, 15

5. Bryce Harper, 15

The two intentional walks to Soto didn't stop the Mets on Monday. They scored 10 runs in the 12th inning and won 16-7. Carson Benge had two hits and three RBIs in the inning. Benge now has an MLB-best six extra-inning RBIs this season.

Trivia time

Which player hit five extra-inning home runs in the 2010 season alone? (Hint: His team reached the World Series that year.)

Performance of the week

Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels struck out 14 in eight one-hit innings Sunday night. Jake Burger homered in the second. That was the only batter Detmers failed to retire.

The Angels beat the Texas Rangers 2-1 on a ninth-inning throwing error by Justin Foscue.

Comeback of the week

The Arizona Diamondbacks were down by two in the bottom of the ninth to San Francisco on Tuesday night, with two outs and one on. Adrian Del Castillo hit an RBI single and Ryan Waldschmidt reached on catcher’s interference. Then Ketel Marte's three-run homer gave Arizona a 5-3 win. San Francisco's win probability peaked at 95.4% according to Baseball Savant.

The Diamondbacks have taken advantage of a soft patch on their schedule, going 8-2 against the Giants and Rockies in their last 10 games.

Trivia answer

Nelson Cruz.

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

France's CAC 40 edged up 1.1% to 8,203.32, while the German DAX rose 1.0% to 25,148.39. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.2% to 10,466.26. Trading will be closed in the U.S. for the Memorial Day holiday.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 2.9% to finish at 65,158.19. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4% to 8,692.00. The Shanghai Composite gained nearly 1% to 4,152.57. Trading was closed in South Korea and Hong Kong for holidays marking Buddha's birthday.

Trump said negotiations with Iran were “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner.” Meanwhile, regional officials told The Associated Press on Sunday that the United States is close to reaching a deal with Iran that would end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium,

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz will help decide the direction of oil prices. Its closure due to the war has prevented oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf and delivering crude to customers worldwide. Japan, for instance, imports almost all its oil, most of it through the strait.

“Markets are rapidly transitioning from pricing geopolitical fear toward pricing a potential peace dividend as Hormuz reopening expectations pressure oil and the dollar lower,” analyst Stephen Innes said in a commentary.

On Friday, the S&P 500 added 0.4% and the Dow industrials climbed 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil declined $4.77, or more than 4%, to $91.83 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, sank $4.86 to $98.68 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar declined to 158.95 Japanese yen from 159.16 yen. The euro cost $1.1644, up from $1.1605.

Recent earnings reports from U.S. companies that topped analysts’ expectations are helping markets, though concerns over inflation have risen as the war has dragged on.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

As a quick refresher, on Memorial Day, we remember those who died while serving our country. Veterans Day is intended to honor the service of all people who have worn armed services uniforms.

So, what do you say on Memorial Day to someone who might be struggling -- a widow, a veteran or anyone who’s been affected by a military member’s death? What do you say to someone who served?

The website DiversityInc wrote about this very topic.

“This common misconception, that Memorial Day is a time to thank veterans, is not in fact what the holiday is intended for,” the site says.

Here are some ideas on what you can say instead. Try something like:

• “Enjoy your weekend, but I want you to know that I will be remembering what this holiday is about.”
• “Enjoy your weekend, and I will be thinking about those who are no longer with us.”
• “I will be taking a moment this weekend to honor those who served our nation and are no longer with us.”
• NPR simply suggests, “I hope you’re having a meaningful day.”

Those seem preferable to:

• “Thank you for your service.”
• “Happy Memorial Day.”
• “Is this a difficult weekend for you?”
• “How many friends did you lose on your deployments?”

It might be hard to approach any veterans you might know, but saying something meaningful really could make all the difference for someone having a difficult day.

Before you think this is splitting hairs, consider that what you say matters.

While it’s certainly not “wrong” to wish someone a “Happy Memorial Day,” and it’s safe to assume most people are well-intentioned, it seems as though taking a few minutes to say the right thing will mean that much more.

After all, the day is about more than backyard parties and barbecues. Let’s prove it by taking a moment to examine our words.

This story was first published in 2019. It has since been updated.

Two of the men were dead, while emergency personnel struggled in the early morning hours to revive one in an ambulance near the pile of concrete slabs, twisted iron bars and aluminum scaffoldings that was all that remained of the building in Angeles City of Pampanga Province. They eventually gave up and drove away.

The poignant scene was witnessed by a small group of journalists, including from The Associated Press, who watched hundreds of rescuers led by firefighters and police scrambling for hours to extricate the men, who were at the time alive but trapped under concrete slabs and iron bars.

Rescuers tried to provide water and medicine intravenously to one of the trapped men in a desperate effort to keep him alive in the scorching summer heat, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez told the AP.

“He never made it despite all the efforts,” he said.

One of the three people pulled out from the rubble on Monday was unidentified and was not on the list of the 17 missing, who were mostly construction workers, according to Angeles city information chief Jay Pelayo.

The fourth dead victim was a Malaysian tourist trapped in a budget inn that was partly hit by the avalanche of debris from the collapsed building. Another guest at the inn was injured but managed to dash out, officials said.

A day after the unfinished building collapsed with a loud crashing sound after a fierce thunderstorm, Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin said rescue efforts would still not be shifted to a body retrieval operation.

“My best hope is that we can rescue more people alive,” Lazatin told the AP. “We don’t want to give the families of the trapped workers any bad news.”

Anxiety and fear among relatives of the trapped workers, who are waiting in sheds near the rubble, have deepened.

“I’m losing hope because of what I see — slow rescue work,” said Lea Mendoza Casilao, a 47-year-old sardine factory worker whose boyfriend, a mason, was among those still trapped in the rubble.

She brought a week’s supply of rice and sardines for him at the construction site, but she said they would never meet as scheduled over the weekend after the building where he was sleeping crumbled before dawn on Sunday.

Lazatin said rescuers were moving carefully because huge slabs of concrete were being held up precariously by a tangle of aluminum scaffolding and could crash down on rescuers.

Twenty-six workers were either rescued or managed to run out of the collapsing building, where they slept on pieces of plywood on the ground floor.

National police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said his force will support an “ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the incident and possible violations of safety and building regulations.”

Angeles City hosted one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside of the American mainland, helping turn Angeles and outlying cities and towns into entertainment and commercial hubs in the main northern Philippine region of Luzon.

Clark Air Base, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila, closed in the early 1990s. The former base has become a bustling industrial and tourism enclave called the Clark Freeport Zone, and is still surrounded by remnants of U.S. base-era red-light strips, bars, nightclubs, tattoo shops and budget hotels.

Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency known as ASIO, was testifying at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the attack at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14.

ASIO reduced Australia’s National Terrorism Threat Level from “probable” to “possible” — the second-safest level on a five-tier scale -- in November 2022, after the Islamic State group in the Middle East had been defeated and was no longer recruiting fighters.

ASIO then shifted to increase its focus on foreign interference and espionage investigations, but left the organization’s “counterterrorism mission” with sufficient resources, Burgess said.

“Because terrorism has the potential to cause people to lose their lives or get harmed, it always remained a priority for us. There was just less activity that we were investigating because the nature of the environment had changed and the number of tasks we were looking at had reduced,” Burgess said.

“At the same time, every rock we lifted up we found espionage or foreign interference that needed to be inquired and investigated and so resources were moved over there,” Burgess added.

Spy boss had sounded alarm after the Hamas Oct. 7 attack

Five days after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Burgess said he took an unprecedented step for an ASIO boss by making a public statement warning that inflamed language could lead to violence.

“Before the Israeli government responded to that horrific attack, we saw the strong emotions appear in this country where we had people celebrating the Hamas terrorist attack,” Burgess said.

ASIO saw threatening and intimidating behavior directed at Jewish Australians through the end of 2023. That behavior escalated to target Jewish businesses and places of worship in October 2024, he said.

ASIO elevated Australia’s terrorism threat level again to “probable” in August 2024. ASIO's resources became stretched as antisemitic cases mounted, Burgess said.

'We knew we were busy and had a lot on our plate, but ... at no time did we have serious matters that we knew about that we were leaving untreated," Burgess said.

Hanukkah event was given the lowest security priority

Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the highest form of inquiry in Australia, must report to the government before the first anniversary of what was the nation’s worst mass shooting since 1996.

The father and son gunmen, Sajid and Naveed Akram, were inspired by IS and brought handmade IS flags to Bondi, prosecutors allege.

Both were wounded in a gunfight with police, the father fatally, less than eight minutes after the shooting began. The son has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder. He has entered no pleas.

Richard Lancaster, who leads a team of lawyers in his role as the Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission, said only four police officers were at the event when the gunmen opened fire on a crowd of around 1,000 people.

Within 29 seconds of the start of the shooting, 10 people had been fatally shot and an 11th had been wounded, Lancaster said.

Within five minutes, 11 police officers were at the scene. Three of those officers were wounded, he said.

A Jewish security organization, the Community Security Group, had requested the New South Wales Police Force post officers at the beachfront park for the duration of the Hanukkah event, Lancaster said. Instead, officers were instructed to attend from time to time.

Police gave the Hanukkah celebration the lowest security priority on a three-tier scale, with police resources managed by a local commander, Lancaster said.

Jewish High Holy Days in September and October were top-tier events in which police resources were managed by the specialized Police Force Major Events Group in liaison with the paramilitary Police Force Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command.

“There is no evidence that any intelligence agency or law enforcement agency had any actual knowledge or specific information to suggest there might be an armed attack on the Hanukkah celebration,” Lancaster said.

“In that sense, it was a surprise attack,” he added.

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This story has been corrected to show that Burgess said the agency’s counterterrorism mission was left with sufficient resources.

Her home in the southwestern village of Potrerito sits less than 100 meters (320 feet) from the police station, which has become a frequent target for drone-dropped explosives. Authorities blame the attacks on a rebel faction that rejected a peace agreement signed a decade ago with the Colombian government.

"You have to stay alert to what is happening, because we live very close to the police station,” Marín said from her porch in this town about 470 kilometers from the capital, Bogotá.

Colombia will elect a new president and vice president on May 31 in what has been cast as a referendum on President Gustavo Petro’s policies, most notably his controversial “total peace” initiative to negotiate with the country’s remaining rebel groups.

By most accounts, violence tied to armed groups has worsened under Petro's watch.

According to Colombia's Electoral Observation Mission, 386 municipalities, or about a third of the country, are vulnerable to violence from illegal armed groups, and data from the Ideas for Peace Foundation think tank indicates that roughly 27,000 people remain under arms nationwide.

Drone attacks change the landscape of violence

In Robles, a neighboring town in the Jamundi municipality, the streets leading to the police station are blocked by improvised barricades. The police are entrenched in sentry posts, using shelters made of sandbags and black fabric to scan the sky for any approaching drones.

“You pass by the police station with this sense of dread, looking up, hoping you won’t run into a nasty surprise,” said Eucaris Zamora, who had to vacate her home after a cylinder bomb struck it in October, leaving the building partially destroyed.

Guillermo Londoño, a security official in the region of Valle del Cauca, where Jamundi is located, said illegal armed groups in the area have sought to maximize damage through simultaneous, “swarm-style” drone strikes, marking a shift from previous tactics, where attackers would launch attacks with a single drone, reload it, and then resume their assault.

Drones modified to drop explosives have altered the dynamics of Colombia’s armed conflict since 2024, posting one of the greatest threats to civilians and security forces alike, particularly along the Venezuelan border, in northern Bolivar province and in southwestern coastal areas.

Colombia's Defense Ministry reported that drone attacks hit 333 targets in 2025, up from 61 such incidents recorded in 2024. Meanwhile, the army has recorded 107 drone attacks so far this year, which have claimed the lives of two soldiers.

The problem with Petro's ‘total peace’ plan

Officials here believe their region has become a casualty of Petro's “total peace” strategy, aimed at putting an end to one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

Petro acknowledges that the initiative has failed to achieve its hoped-for outcome of disarming illegal networks, and his approach of being open to talk to every group has hardened up a notch. He has frozen negotiations with some groups due to their continuing violence, though he has kept dialogue open with other organizations.

A clear divide has emerged between candidates. On one side are those who favor continuing dialogue with illegal groups, such as Sen. Iván Cepeda, of Petro’s political movement. On the other are those who say they would dismantle such efforts and prioritize military pressure, such as Sen. Paloma Valencia, of the opposition Democratic Center, and Abelardo de la Espriella, a self-described admirer of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele who has vowed to crack down on illegal armed groups.

Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, believes the violence could worsen if a hawkish candidate is elected.

“Right-wing candidates propose a ‘hard-line’ response that could exacerbate the violence, because the armed groups will respond to pressure from security forces with terror-style attacks, as they lack the means to respond symmetrically, army-to-army,” Dickinson said.

In December, gunmen sowed terror in the small southern town of Buenos Aires, launching an attack on the police station that left several officers injured and reduced a local bank and nearby homes to rubble.

Among the wreckage was the home of 89-year-old Celimo Enrique Aguilar.

“I haven’t lost faith that, someday, one might be able to live in peace,” he said.

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It was not immediately known if anyone was hurt in the attack on the Mongbwalu General Hospital but Dr. Richard Lokudu, the hospital’s medical director, told The Associated Press the attackers demanded that two bodies of their kin be handed over to them.

There was gunfire and the medics were trying to evacuate the patients and the staff, Lokudu said over the phone.

“Mongbwalu General Hospital is on general alert,” he added. He did not have any further details of the unfolding turmoil.

The attack — the third in a week’s time on healthcare facilities where medical workers struggle with lack of resources to treat suspected Ebola cases — underlined the challenges of the outbreak, which the World Health Organization has declared a public health emergency of international concern.

Bodies of those who died of Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare them for burial and gather for funerals.

In response to the outbreak, Congolese authorities have mandated that the dangerous work of burying suspected victims be managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from families and friends. On Friday, the government said funeral wakes and gatherings of more than 50 people would be banned in northeastern Congo in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

On Saturday, a group of residents of Mongbwalu, located in Ituri province, attacked and set fire to a tent set up for suspected and confirmed Ebola cases by the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian group.

During that attack, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections left the facility and were now unaccounted for, Lokudu had said earlier.

On Thursday, another treatment center, in the town of Rwampara, was burned down after family members were banned from retrieving the body of a local man suspected to have died of Ebola.

WHO has said the outbreak poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low.

Earlier on Sunday, the Congolese Ministry of Communication said on X that there were 904 suspected cases of Ebola, mostly in northeastern Ituri Province — a significant jump from the previously announced more than 700 suspected Ebola cases.

The ministry also said the total suspected Ebola deaths stood at 119, but the numbers it released separately for each region added up to 220. Officials could not immediately be reached to explain the discrepancy.

There is no available vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, which spread undetected for weeks in Ituri following the first reported death — in late April in the town of Bunia, the provincial capital — while authorities tested for another, more common, Ebola virus and came up negative.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Saturday that three of its volunteers had died from the outbreak in Mongbwalu. The agency said it believed the three healthcare workers contracted the virus on March 27 while handling dead bodies as part of a humanitarian mission unrelated to Ebola.

If confirmed, this would significantly push back the timeline of the outbreak.

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Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal.

That made his crown jewel Cup Series victory Sunday night all the more special.

Suarez benefited from a crucial pit call, then caught a break from Mother Nature to win the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, capping an emotional day in which the racing world remembered the late Busch.

Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win the Coke 600. It was his third Cup Series win and first since 2024.

The victory was especially emotional for Suarez, who previously raced for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“Kyle, he was special,” Saurez said as he teared up. “I was doing this for Kyle, for (his wife) Samatha, for (his children) Brexton and Lennix and for all of his family.”

A non-factor for most of the race, Suarez gambled and took two tires during a late pit stop, then held off Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin on restarts before the race was called when the sky opened up and rain drenched the track shortly before midnight Eastern time.

NASCAR quickly made the decision to call the race with 27 laps remaining.

Bell finished second; Hamlin was third.

The two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates had a chance to catch Suarez on the two restarts, but couldn't clear his No. 7 Chevrolet.

“It’s a bummer," Bell said, who won the rain-shortened 2024 Coca-Cola 600. "It wasn’t meant to be today. That's 2026 for us.”

Hamlin said he was “just a little unlucky.”

“The 20 car (Bell) and us were just really battling because we knew whoever could clear him (would win the race),” Hamlin said. "We were really good all day. We just didn’t get to see it through.”

The race came just three days after Busch’s death sent shockwaves throughout the motorsports world and beyond. The 41-year-old Busch died after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications, according to a statement released by his family.

The two-time Cup Series champion and winner of a record 234 races across NASCAR’s three national series had become unresponsive while practicing in a Chevrolet simulator Wednesday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no details were released by the family.

Busch's family attended the race and NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell told them they are part of the NASCAR community and “we got you.”

NASCAR and CMS honored Busch with his No. 8 and signature on the frontstretch grass and a highway billboard near the main entrance of the track. The U.S. Army Golden Knights carried a Busch flag prior to the race and each of the 39 cars in field carried a small, black No. 8 decal.

Kyle Larson won the first stage race. Hamlin won the second stage and Bell the third.

Crashing out

Defending champion Ross Chastain crashed out when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. clipped his car in Turn 2 with 81 laps remaining in the race.

Connor Zilisch and Austin Cindric only made it 52 laps before getting caught up in a crash. Cindric got turned around and Zilisch came crashing in to the side of his No. 2 Ford, ending both drivers’ day.

Chase Elliott, a two-time winner this year, hit the outside wall and ping-ponged into the inside wall on Lap 90. That car was beyond repair and he finished 37th.

“I was trying to make something happen and I stepped over the line,” Elliott said.

Replacing Busch

Austin Hill, a regular driver in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series for Richard Childress Racing, took Busch's spot in the race and finished 26th. He drove the No. 33 car after RCR temporarily retired the No. 8 until Busch's 11-year-old son Brexton is ready to drive.

Austin Dillon, went behind the wall with damage to the front of his car with 56 laps to go, ending any hope of an emotional win for RCR. He finished 32nd.

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Kerley, who predicted Usain Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds would get “destroyed,” ran a time that would have placed him last at the Paris Olympics two years ago, where he ran 9.81 and won bronze.

The only athlete to win the $1 million bonus for going faster than the world record over the four hours of swimming, weightlifting and track in the specially built stadium on the Las Vegas Strip was Kristian Gkolomeev, who closed the night by swimming the 50-meter free in 20.81 seconds.

That record won't go into the books, however, because the Enhanced Games, true to its name, allows performance-enhancing drugs that are banned in mainstream sports.

The men’s 50-meter freestyle world record of 20.88 seconds was set two months ago in a sanctioned event by Cameron McEvoy.

Gkolomeev had also won a $1 million bonus from Enhanced last year for swimming faster than the world record during a “trial.”

“Another million, it’s not bad at all,” he said. “It’s going to change my life to the good, for sure.“

The most iconic marks in Olympic sports, though, are in track, and when Kerley called out Bolt’s 17-year-old record, it made headlines and even got Bolt involved with a short post on social media: “OK,” he said.

By the time the starting gun sounded (or maybe long before that, depending on who you ask) it was clear there wouldn't be much to worry about.

Kerley was in a line of six runners who had to be called out of the blocks three times — an energy sapper — first for a sprinter to re-tie his shoe, then twice more when the false-start signal went off, but early motion was, apparently, undetectable and nobody was disqualified.

“A lot of false starts, a lot of jumping, a lot of people who didn’t want to run their heats,” Kerley said of the less-than-full field for a basically meaningless prelim race in which he false started but wasn't DQ'd. “Got to do better than that. I’m ready to run fast.“

Kerley, who said he is not using performance enhancers, still pocketed $250,000 — the first-place prize for all the events.

Most athletes are making money they could only dream of in mainstream Olympic sports.

The real stakes, however, could be for the investors in the company that brought the world the Enhanced Games with the idea of turning it into a new-age online pharmacy that peddles performance enhancers under medical supervision.

“It's just the beginning,” CEO Max Martin said in front of a specially curated crowd of around 2,500.

Tickets were not on sale to the general public.

The women’s sprints didn’t have anywhere near the star power Kerley injected into the men’s.

What the two races did have in common were winners who claimed not to be taking drugs — results that force questions about both the effectiveness of performance enhancers and the level of the athletes who signed onto the league that began with mega investments from the likes of Peter Thiel and is now a publicly traded company.

Tristan Evelyn’s winning time of 11.25 seconds in the women's sprint was more than three-quarters of a second slower than FloJo's 38-year-old world record (10.49). It would have been .21 seconds behind the seventh-place finisher at the Paris Games two years ago.

In all, Enhanced said there were 14 personal bests set by 12 athletes, all of them swimmers and weightlifters.

Among those who made runs at world marks was Ben Proud, the British Olympic silver medalist, who finished .05 off the 50-meter fly mark of 22.27.

“I think I am,” he said when asked if he was happy after winning $250K. “But I think we all know what we came here for, and that’s a world record.”

Kerley didn’t come close to it. When it was over, he seemed to be blaming everyone but himself.

“Man, they gotta do better than that,” he said. “Gotta train a little harder, train on that (expletive) a little more.”

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Suzuki, an honorary adviser at Seven & i Holdings, died on May 18 of heart failure at his Tokyo home, the company said Monday.

Suzuki founded the Japanese unit that operates the seemingly ubiquitous 7-Eleven “conbini” outlets, where busy people can hop in and grab sandwiches, rice balls, drinks, chips and other meals on-the-run, use ATMs, pay utility bills and copy documents.

The 7-Eleven stores, now numbering more than 80,000 worldwide, are the biggest convenience-store chain in Japan.

The business started out in Japan under a franchise agreement with the U.S. 7-Eleven in 1973. The first store opened in Japan the following year.

After The Southland Corp., which founded 7-Eleven, ran into financial difficulties the Japanese company bought a majority stake in the 1990’s. It made the American counterpart its 100% owned group company in 2005.

Several years ago, the Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard, which runs the global Circle K convenience store chain, sought to take over Seven & i Holdings. But it dropped the effort in 2024, citing frustration with negotiations that showed “a lack of constructive engagement.”

Suzuki, born in Nagano Prefecture, northern Japan, in 1932, graduated from the prestigious Chuo University in Tokyo.

Before beginning his career in the convenience store business, he worked at Ito-Yokado, a major Japanese retail chain that sells a variety of products including groceries, cosmetics and clothing, which is also owned by Seven and i Holdings.

Apart from leading 7-Eleven, Suzuki engineered the acquisition of Barney’s Japan in 2015 and added banking functions to the empire.

He said he wanted to provide customers with what he called a lifestyle shopping experience. Over the years, the retailing giant also brought under its wing the Sogo and Seibu department stores.

Suzuki became chief executive of 7-Eleven Japan in 1978. He is widely seen as having innovated how Japanese consumers shop. Convenience stores have led retailers in Japan in implementing new retail technologies.

Funeral services are being held privately with family, and messages, flowers and other condolence gifts were politely declined, according to the company. Details of a public ceremony will come later, it said.

Suzuki is survived by his wife and two children.

Vegas coach John Tortorella had his own description.

“This is a game where we showed some balls,” the man known as Torts said after the Golden Knights' latest Houdini act.

Tomas Hertl weaved his way toward the slot and broke a tie at 8:21 of the third period as the Golden Knights overcame a three-goal deficit Sunday night to beat Colorado 5-3 and move within a victory of their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in nine years.

“It obviously feels really good right now, but we’re playing a hell of a hockey team,” Golden Knights forward Mitch Marner said. “We know that the next game is going to be even tougher now. Enjoy this for the next 10 minutes, 30 minutes, go home and then try to take care of yourself, and do what you got to do to be ready tomorrow.”

The Golden Knights go for what would be a stunning sweep over the Presidents' Trophy winners on Tuesday night. Chicago in 2013 was the last team to win the Presidents' Trophy and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

Colorado will try to become just the fifth team to win a series after falling behind 3-0. Los Angeles in 2014 was the most recent team to accomplish that in eliminating San Jose in their first-round series.

Vegas, which trailed 3-0 after the first period, was 0-19 in the playoffs when behind that many goals. The Avalanche were 74-1 when holding such a lead.

“As low as it can get,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of the team's emotions. “It’s a big hill to climb. The next 24-to-36 hours is for … you’ve got to find a way to get over it, regroup and go again.”

Colorado has other concerns because front-line center Nathan MacKinnon might not be fully healthy going forward. MacKinnon, who has 15 points this postseason and led the league in the regular season with 53 goals, took a puck to his right knee in the second period and played through the injury.

That comes just as the Avalanche got back star defenseman Cale Makar, who missed the first two games this series because of an upper-body injury.

Vegas keeps finding aways, going this deep into the postseason despite being outshot in 11 of 15 games, including now nine in a row. The Golden Knights erased deficits the past two games against Colorado, though Game 2 was just 1-0.

“We’ve been all season long many times down,” Hertl said. “We’ve come back so many times. Even after the first when we were down 3-0 we knew we could do it.”

Hertl, Mark Stone and William Karlsson each had a goal and assist. Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden scored the other Golden Knights goals, and Mitch Marner and Kaedan Korczak each tallied two assists. Carter Hart made 32 saves.

Stone’s goal came on his first appearance since suffering a lower-body injury in Game 3 of the second-round series against Anaheim. Kolesar, who had gone 37 playoff games without a goal, picked up his first point of the postseason.

Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury scored for the Avalanche, and Devon Toews had two assists. Scott Wedgewood stopped 18 shots.

The Avalanche dominated the first period by taking a 3-0 lead, but the Golden Knights thought they had cut the deficit to 2-1 when Pavel Dorofeyev appeared to score a power-play goal with 7:26 left. Officials immediately waved it off and the decision was upheld on video review.

Colorado then made the Golden Knights pay when Drury found himself alone on a breakaway, deking Vegas goalie Hart to score the short-handed goal with 6:45 left for the three-goal lead.

But the Golden Knights didn't let the two-goal swing trouble them too much, with Stone's power-play goal 19 seconds into the second period sparking a three-goal answer to tie the game heading into the final period of regulation.

Then Hertl broke the deadlock — and now the Golden Knights just need to win one of four games.

“I want them to feel it for a little bit, as far as what they just did against a really good hockey club,” Tortorella said, “but then we get back to work tomorrow.”

There was a moment of silence before the game for two-time NASCAR champion driver and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch. He died Thursday at 41 after severe pneumonia developed into sepsis, according to a statement from Busch's family.

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“The highlight will be when I can finally lay down because I'm so tired,” Legge said.

Legge's quest to become the first woman to complete “The Double” — racing 1,100 miles spread out over two tracks on one day — ended quickly Sunday when she crashed out in the Indianapolis 500.

She flew to North Carolina and finished in 31st at the Coca-Cola 600 and 12 laps back after losing a tire mid-race.

Legge said now it is time to regroup after what she called “a calamity of errors.”

The English driver completed just 17 of the scheduled 200 laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's iconic 2.5-mile oval before she ran into the car of Ryan Hunter-Reay, knocking both cars out of the race. Hunter-Reay started spinning in the second turn and braked hard to keep his car off the wall, and the trailing Legge steered inside to try to avoid the 2013 Indy 500 winner. But as smoke emerge from both braking cars, Legge's car hit the inside wall.

“I’m fine, just gutted more than anything,” she said after being checked and released at the track's infield medical center. “Ryan spun in front of me, I think he was battling his car for a minute, I was just chilling, trying to save fuel and he spun down the track and started coming up the track, so I tried to go low and just didn’t make it.”

Legge was the sixth driver ever to attempt “The Double." The only driver to complete it is three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart in 2001.

It's been a week full of bad luck for Legge.

Her flight from New York to Indianapolis was delayed, causing her to miss Indy's annual media day. Then she had communications trouble in Friday's final 500 practice, and after flying to Charlotte on Saturday, Coca-Cola 600 qualifying was rained out.

“Hopefully, we get all of the travel woes out of the way now before the weekend, and this weekend goes smoothly,” Legge told The Associated Press on Thursday. “My management has been speaking with Kyle’s management about how to get the logistics sorted out, how they did it and we’re trying our best to copy and paste what they had and they’re just keeping me in the loop.”

Her fortunes briefly looked like they might have changed when the speedway dodged the predicted prerace rain, allowing the race to begin on time. Then came the tangle with Hunter-Reay, who was also was checked and released by IndyCar's medical team.

“It was super tough out there,” Hunter-Reay said. “The whole time I was trying to keep it off the wall. Just super disappointing. That’s the busiest I’ve been around here in 16 years. I was trying to keep it off the wall the whole time and finally, one of those wiggles didn't come back in Turn 2.”

At the 500, crashes and bad weather have been a theme in each of the last three “Double” attempts. A rain-delayed Indy start prevented two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson from making it to Charlotte in time for the start in 2024, and Larson crashed out of both races last year after another rain-delayed start in Indy.

But Legge was hoping to avoid all of it.

“She’ll stay here throughout,” her father, Derek Legge, said before the first race while texting from a golf cart outside her garage. “We’re keeping an eye on the weather. It might even be delayed here an hour at a time.”

By then, Legge’s car was already on the Brickyard as the sold-out grandstands filled in and hundreds of people surrounded the cars on the track.

The English driver started from the No. 26 spot, the middle of the ninth row, at Indy, where she drove for HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing team.

The other five drivers who previously tried "The Double” had months to prepare, but Legge's teams didn't announce her attempt until last week. Since then, those behind the scenes helped Legge line up the helicopter ride she planned to take from the speedway to Indianapolis International Airport and the private jet that would take her to Charlotte.

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The Golden Knights, instead, put the setback behind them and rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 and take a 3-0 series lead in the Western Conference Final.

Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev appeared to score a power-play goal with 7:26 left in the first period, but officials immediately waved it off and the decision was upheld on video review. The Golden Knights immediately celebrated despite the initial call with a run through the high-five line, believing the call would be changed after officials checked the video.

Officials ruled on the ice that the puck went off Dorofeyev's glove, according to the ESPN broadcast, and found the video inconclusive.

Dorofeyev's stick also might have been above the cross bar, but it was at least even with it.

The Avalanche then made the Golden Knights pay when Jack Drury found himself alone on a breakaway, deking Vegas goalie Carter Hart to score the short-handed goal with 6:45 left for the three-goal lead.

A lead that didn't last.

“Not super ideal, obviously, but I think we got a pretty big penalty kill after that and it kind of settled us down and the period ends,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. "That’s probably the best thing that could happen to us, the period ends.”

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Now Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the workshop founded by the legendary creator of the Muppets, is drawing back the curtain.

This year, the company opened the doors of its Queens workshop to public tours for the first time, allowing fans to meet a puppet builder, see a puppetry demonstration and take photos and videos with beloved and iconic characters.

Jason Weber, the shop’s creative supervisor, said the tours, which cost $150 a person, are an opportunity to celebrate the unsung craftspeople that bring these famous characters to life.

“There is a level of expertise here that we’re sharing. It’s not just going to a pop-up store or something like that,” he said during a recent visit. “Things are made one-of-a-kind, made by hand with artisans who have been trained for years and decades.”

Besides Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppets, Henson was the creative force behind Big Bird, Cookie Monster and other famous “Sesame Street” denizens, as well as the “Fraggle Rock” characters. He died in 1990.

Henson originally founded the workshop in the 1960s in Manhattan and it has moved multiple times around the city since. It's been at its current location in Queens since 2009. The company also has a workshop in Los Angeles, though that doesn’t offer tours.

The 80-minute New York tours take place on Saturdays. Visitors start in a large room specially created for the tour that's filled with real show props and creations. It’s also the only spot on the tour where visitors are allowed to take photos and videos, as much of what’s in the actual workshop are still works in progress or proprietary.

“The Muppets" are now owned by Disney. Sesame owns the rights to Big Bird and other characters Henson created for the long-running show, which films at a nearby studio.

Among the centerpieces in that first room on the tour is an Oscar the Grouch display where the “Sesame Street” character is in his familiar trash can surrounded by heaps of fake garbage.

There’s also a menacing black throne from “The Dark Crystal,” Henson’s 1982 live-action fantasy film, and a full-sized working puppet of Junior Gorg, a giant from “Fraggle Rock,” which requires multiple performers to manipulate.

The workshop space itself is filled with fantastical creatures in various stages of assembly. There’s drawers and bins tucked into nearly every corner brimming with colorful furs, textured fabrics and ready-made puppet body parts, clothing and accessories.

“Everything we do is custom. Everything we do is bespoke,” said Melissa Creighton, the shop’s director.

On a recent visit, staff were busy preparing costumes and other pieces for a range of current projects, including a “Fraggle Rock" musical opening later this month at a theater near Times Square.

The shop’s past credits include the horror movie “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the children’s fantasy film “Where the Wild Things Are" and the 1990s television sitcom “Dinosaurs.”

Sierra Schoening, a senior puppet builder, said working at the shop had been her “pie-in-the sky” dream job. Her favorite movie growing up was “The Labyrinth,” Henson's 1986 musical fantasy film starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly.

“I just really always wanted to know how those illusions were made,” Schoening said as she took a break from fashioning a set of new creations. “I know all the secret sauce, and I’m making the secret sauce now.”

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Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

One day might not seem like much in the grand scheme, but it was a seismic delay in plans for the unprecedented and daring invasion, which would deploy nearly 160,000 Allied troops in Normandy. Ultimately it came down to a recommendation from a shrewd Scottish meteorologist, Group Capt. James Stagg, who had to tell everyone, including Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Allied leadership, something they didn’t want to hear: The weather was going to be catastrophically bad. And no, he wasn’t certain about it.

The tense 72 hours before the invasion are brought to life in “Pressure,” in theaters May 29, on the eve of the operation’s 82nd anniversary. An adaptation of David Haig’s acclaimed stage play, the film sheds light on this bit of history that would effectively change the course of the second World War.

The very different styles of Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott

Filmmaker Anthony Maras assembled a unique group of actors for the task at hand, calling on Brendan Fraser to play Eisenhower and Andrew Scott to play Stagg.

“I didn’t think I was an Ike Eisenhower when Anthony Maras sent me the script,” Fraser said. “I got on a Zoom call and he said, ‘You gotta do this man.’ Me? Why? ‘It’s because he’s you, he’s like you. He’s just a regular guy.’ Really? I mean, I thought Eisenhower was this, you know, stern, staunch, something on coin.”

Fraser went deep in his preparation, reading and listening to everything he could get his hands on to help him understand the man who would ultimately have to make the decision. The research even continued on set. Maras laughed that right before they shot Eisenhower’s famous “soldiers, sailors and airmen” speech, something that they’d rehearsed many, many times, he looked up and saw Fraser reading yet another biography. But he appreciated that the Oscar-winner was passionate about knowing everything he possibly could to get it right.

“He cared intensely for his troops,” Fraser said. “It was my responsibility to honor their memory and to comport myself in a way that puts a human face on the seemingly academic decisions that go into an operation as massive as this.”

Scott was the opposite in terms of how he approached his role. Yes, he read Stagg’s book and wanted to have a working understanding of the metrological jargon he’d have to be spouting. While history was important, for him, character was king. And he liked that Stagg is not the most immediately likable person, but he has integrity.

“The thing with Stagg is that he’s just not interested in charm … or being liked at all,” Scott said. “I think that’s to be admired actually, because he’s just there to do a job. So I like the fact that at the beginning of the movie, you’re like, whoa, this guy is not pleasant.”

Maras said that for Scott, it was all about the inner, emotional life of the character — which was essential for a part that would require so much internal conflict.

“With Andrew, he has a quality to him where he can seemingly be doing very little — he’s sitting down, rearranging his tie, he can be reading a phone book — and you can’t look away,” Maras said.

In the shadow of ‘Saving Private Ryan’

The actors weren’t the only ones feeling pressure of the assignment: Maras also had a behemoth looming in attempting to stage, however briefly, the D-Day invasion.

“You’ve kind of got to be crazy maybe to attempt it, given that Spielberg did it so masterfully,” Maras said.

But unlike “Saving Private Ryan,” which focused on the men storming the beach, “Pressure” is about the ones making the decisions. It’s a different perspective. Still, once they make the call to go, there would have to be at least some of the operation shown to juxtapose with the “bloody tense, wire-type atmosphere of the control room,” Maras said.

Inspired by Peter Jackson’s World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old,” and the existence of dozens of hours of pristine 35 mm black and white film from the event, Maras decided that perhaps archival footage, colorized, would be the way to go. It was a different way to present D-Day that gave it immediacy, he said, as opposed to looking like history.

‘Pressure’s’ relevance to today

Ultimately, “Pressure” isn’t just a history lesson, or even a character drama with big personalities and even bigger stakes: It’s a portrait of leadership and ego clashing with facts and science. And its relevance to the present day is the reason Maras wanted to make the film in the first place.

“How do you bring your best self to the table to make the decision? How do you have the humility to acknowledge when you don’t know something? And how do you have the wisdom to determine who to trust? … Eisenhower in the end showed that he was a maestro at that,” Maras said. “What I love about the Stagg character is he’s someone who feels compelled to tell someone something that they don’t want to hear, that they violently don’t want to but they need to hear. The world needs more of that.”

Years later, John F. Kennedy, on the way to his own inauguration, asked Eisenhower what gave them the edge on D-Day. His response? “We had better meteorologists than the Germans.”

“When life or death depends on you understanding the facts, it probably has a way of like cutting up the BS and getting to it,” Maras said. “It’s a very clear example of a time where the Allied worlds’ future was at stake and they listened to someone who knew what he was talking about and they did all right.”

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For more coverage of summer films, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/movies

He had three Oklahoma City defenders in front of him. He took three dribbles. He got three points.

And he made it look easy, too.

A swished 3-pointer from the midcourt stripe to close the first half brought maybe the loudest roars of his night, but it was hardly the only moment in which Wembanyama was unstoppable in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday.

He got most of the fourth quarter off and still finished with 33 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots as the Spurs beat the Thunder 103-82 to tie the West title series at two games apiece.

“The truth is that we had never been in this kind of situation before,” Wembanyama said. “It was our first deficit in a playoff series and we just responded. It was nothing amazing. It wasn't magic. We just did what we needed to do.”

In other words, he wasn't surprised. A 62-win team in the regular season — and a team that has now beaten Oklahoma City six times in nine opportunities this season — shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore.

Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City.

It was Wembanyama who pointed the finger of blame at himself following San Antonio's loss in Game 3, saying that the Spurs were “going to see what we're made of” in Game 4 and that he had to do more to get teammates involved.

He delivered on every level.

“I saw a lot and I'm not surprised," Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I think our competitive response all year has been pretty good — and he's been at the forefront of that more often than not. I think tonight, not speaking for him, he felt an obligation to set a tone for us in a variety of ways.”

Wembanyama had 11 points in the first quarter, 11 more on 10 shot attempts in the second quarter and capped all that with the beat-the-clock 3-pointer going into halftime.

And on the other end, he might have been even better.

The unanimous Defensive Player of the Year — who was announced on Sunday night as a first-team All-NBA selection for the first time — led an effort that held Oklahoma City to a season-low in points and a season-high-tying 20 turnovers.

The Thunder had at least 108 points in every game in these playoffs entering Sunday.

“We've played 12 playoff games. When you play 12 playoff games, they're not all going to be masterpieces,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “As much as you want to win, there's nights where you just don't have it for whatever reason.”

On Sunday, that reason might have been Wembanyama. The Thunder were outscored by 29 points when he was on the floor. They shot 18 of 41 inside the paint, with Wembanyama a big reason for that, so more things got forced outside — where they shot 12 of 50.

He was asked how the Spurs bottled up the Thunder so well.

“I'm not going to get into details, but in general, being more disciplined and just trusting the game plan even more,” Wembanyama said.

There's a flight for the Spurs to Oklahoma City on Monday for a game on Tuesday, and the winner of that contest will be one game away from the NBA Finals. It's clear that Wembanyama knows that even after a big win, the job only gets tougher now.

“The series is far from over,” Wembanyama said. “We've got six more wins before we can rest.”

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

De'Aaron Fox had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for San Antonio, which has not lost three consecutive games all season. Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell added 13 points each.

“You definitely don’t want to go down 3-1 going into their house,” Vassell said. “We knew we had to respond and that’s how you respond. You get stops. You don’t try and focus on the offensive end, you get stops, you get out of transition. You guard your yard and that’s what we did.”

Game 5 is Tuesday in Oklahoma City, followed by Game 6 on Thursday in San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting for the Thunder.

Wembanyama took Oklahoma City's 123-108 victory Friday in Game 3 personally. The 7-foot-4 star from France said he needed to be better to make his teammates better. He was monumentally better Sunday night — and so was San Antonio.

“We all have high standards and I know I have a lot of responsibilities, but I’m here for it,” Wembanyama said. “Yeah, it was better today. It wasn’t perfect. But, you know, all of us, I’m talking about the whole organization, so we’re going to have to do things that we didn’t sign up for.”

The Spurs limited the Thunder to 33% shooting from the field, including 6 for 33 on 3-pointers (18%).

“I think we made a great defensive adjustment,” Vassell said. “I don’t want to say what it was. We were just able to rotate the shooters and not give them so many wide-open 3s. I feel like they had so many wide-open 3s over the past couple games and you've got to respect them, especially if they’re making them. So, we were trying to cut them out with that and just stay playing fast.”

After being outscored 76-23 in bench points in Game 3, San Antonio's reserves scored 30 points while limiting Oklahoma City to 34.

The Spurs had another hot start in Game 4 after opening the previous game on a 15-0 run. Unlike Friday’s lopsided loss, the Spurs never relinquished that lead.

“They just punched us in our face early,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s two games in a row they’ve come out the aggressor. The last game we were able to course correct. Tonight, we just didn’t do so.”

After blocking Jared McCain’s layup under the rim, Vassell tossed an alley-oop pass to Wembanyama for a dunk as part of 16-0 run that gave the Spurs a 23-8 lead with 4:19 remaining.

“I feel like with who we are, we need to start games like this,” Wembanyama said, “but it really doesn’t mean anything for the way it holds. I mean, it helps for sure, but it’s a whole 'nother type of effort to be consistent rather than just hitting first.”

San Antonio had an assist on all 10 field goals in the first quarter.

San Antonio held Oklahoma City to 38 points in the first half, tied for its second-lowest half in the past four regular and postseasons. The Thunder are 2-9 when they score less than 40 points in any half over the last five seasons.

Oklahoma City’s franchise low is 65 points in a playoff loss to Memphis on May 3, 2014, and its second-fewest points had been 85 against San Antonio on May 21, 2014.

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

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time this week, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Netflix drops Season 2 of Netflix’s “Four Seasons” starring Tina Fey, Atlanta rapper Latto returns with “Big Mama” and Nicolas Cage stars in a new live-action series inspired by Spider-Man.

New movies to stream from May 25-31

— Bill Skarsgård’s aggrieved everyman takes Dacre Montgomery’s mortgage executive hostage in “Dead Man’s Wire,” streaming on Netflix on Thursday. In his review for The Associated Press, Film Writer Jake Coyle wrote that, “it plays a little loose with facts but the righteous rage of “Dog Day Afternoon” is present enough in Gus Van Sant’s … thriller that’s as deeply 1970s as it is contemporary.”

— Fresh off its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, John Travolta’s “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” will be streaming on Apple TV starting Friday, May 29. The actor wrote, directed and narrates this ode to the glamorous days of 1960s air travel following an aviation obsessed 10-year-old on a cross country trip with his mother. Running at only 60 minutes, the film, which is based on a novel he wrote, has received mostly mixed reviews.

— In “Miss You, Love You,” written and directed by Jim Rash and streaming on HBO Max on May 29, Allison Janney plays a recently widowed woman who has to plan her husband's funeral with a stranger: Her estranged son’s assistant, played by Andrew Rannells. Also coming to HBO Max on May 29 is the Charli xcx movie “The Moment,” a meta mockumentary about the end of Brat summer and grappling with otherworldly success.

— Markiplier’s “Iron Lung” is also making its streaming debut, on YouTube, on May 31. The adaptation of the indie horror game was self-financed and self-released in theaters where it earned over $50 million worldwide.

— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr

New music to stream from May 25-31

— Paul McCartney reflects on the “Days We Left Behind” on his 18th studio album, “The Boys of Dungeon Lane,” out Friday. That’s a reference to a particularly nostalgic and wistful track on the new collection, which reflects on the youth of a life well lived — so, of course, it’s all soft piano and delicate harmonies. If that’s not enough to inspire a listen, perhaps this is: The album also features the first duet of Macca and Ringo Starr, a must-play for any Beatles fan. “The world around us wasn’t safe, the place was falling down/But it was my hometown/And it was home to us,” they sing. It’s enough to make someone weep, if it wasn’t such a jam.

— Atlanta rapper Latto is back with “Big Mama.” If the title feels familiar, there’s a reason for it. “Big Mama” is also the name of her 2024 Grammy-nominated single from her last album, “Sugar Honey Iced Tea.” She’s called her forthcoming record her “retirement album,” and if that’s true, she’s going out with a bang: “Somebody” is laid-back pop-trap; “GOMF” (an acronym for “Get Out My Face”) samples the buzzy ’00s Soulja Boy hit “Yahhh!” and transforms it with the swagger only Latto possesses. For the lover girls and girl bosses among us, and for everyone in between.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

New series to stream from May 25-31

— A Spider-Man series, but make it noir. Nicolas Cage stars in a new live-action series inspired by the Marvel character. Set against a gritty 1930s New York, Cage plays Ben Reilly, a P.I. who carries the weight of being the city’s only masked hero fighting rampant corruption. Viewers can choose between black-and-white and color versions. “Spider-Noir” drops its eight episodes on Wednesday on Prime Video.

— The wild crime comedy “Deli Boys” returns to Hulu for its second season on Thursday. Two Pakistani American brothers, played by Asif Ali and Saagar Shaikh, inherit a chain of delis after their father dies and think they’re set for life until the realization that those delis were really a front for smuggling drugs. Poorna Jagannathan plays their aunt who has taken over the business.

— Netflix drops Season 2 of its “Four Seasons” on Thursday. It’s about a group of friends navigating relationships and life’s ups and downs. Tina Fey is a co-creator and stars alongside Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Marco Calvani and Erika Henningsen. It’s adapted from Alan Alda’s 1981 film of the same name.

— “Criminal Minds: Evolution” Season 19 premieres with two episodes Thursday on Paramount+. In the new episodes, serial killer Elias Voit (Zach Gilford) is still in prison for life but also helping the BAU track down other killers like himself. The big bad for Season 19 is a copycat killer, who is a fan of Voit. A number of actors from the original series return, including Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Aisha Tyler, Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Connor Storrie of “Heated Rivalry” will also guest star.

— Alicia Rancilio

New video games to play from May 25-31

— Filmmakers are still trying to decide on the next actor to play James Bond, but gamers worldwide are ready to take on the role in “007 First Light.” Developer IO Interactive describes it as an origin story, as a 20-something Bond who is new to MI6 is sent in pursuit of a rogue agent. Expect plenty of exotic locations, cool weapons and gadgets, a slick wardrobe and, of course, a glamorous love interest. You can “go silent or go loud,” meaning you can take a stealthy approach to each mission or go in with fists and bullets flying. IO is best known for its globe-trotting “Hitman” series, so it’s well qualified to take on this franchise. Pick up your license to kill Wednesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch 2 or PC.

— “Mina the Hollower” is a mouse who’s really good at burrowing, which comes in handy when she needs to run away from — or sneak up behind — the nastier critters roaming her spooky home. She can also fight back with her whip, and she can track down sidearms and trinkets that make her more of a threat. All this takes place in a colorful, pixelated 2D world reminiscent of 1980s classics like “The Legend of Zelda.” Developer Yacht Club Games, which gave us the retro indie smash “Shovel Knight,” promises a “bone-chilling yet heartwarming tale inspired by Victorian Gothic horror.” Dig in Friday, May 29, on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S, Switch, PC or Mac.

— Lou Kesten

Messi — who almost never gets subbed out of matches — left in the 73rd minute, meaning he was long gone before Luis Suárez's third goal of the night helped lift the defending MLS champions past the last-place Philadelphia Union 6-4 on Sunday night.

No preliminary diagnosis of any issue for Messi was immediately announced. Messi has dealt with hamstring issues at least two other times during his three-year stint with Inter Miami.

In past instances of possible soft tissue injuries, the team has ordered an MRI exam relatively quickly to determine severity. There was no indication in this case from the club that any tests on Messi were scheduled; Mateo Silvetti, the Argentine who replaced Messi on Sunday night, said he had no idea what had happened.

“I tried to see how he was doing. ... I have the same doubt as everyone else,” Silvetti said in Spanish after the match.

Messi had two assists and Germán Berterame scored twice during a record-setting first half for Inter Miami. But Messi basically took himself out of play in the 71st minute and reached toward his left hamstring at least once, then didn't even venture toward the Inter Miami bench when he could be subbed out.

Messi was replaced by Silvetti, then left immediately through the tunnel connecting the field with the team’s locker room. Messi was walking under his own power, albeit slowly, and without any team medical personnel with him.

Suárez got the go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. Rodrigo De Paul, on his birthday, scored in stoppage time to seal the win for Inter Miami.

Heavy rain began falling early in the second half, causing some players to seem to slip on the turf. It wasn't clear if Messi's departure was precautionary or not, and it didn't seem like he took any major missteps during the worst of the rain.

Messi has said in the past that he would only play in the World Cup if healthy. Argentina starts group stage play on June 16.

Milan Iloski had a first-half hat trick — including two penalty kicks — and Bruno Damiani also scored for Union, which was up 2-0 only 10 minutes into the match. That start set the stage for the teams to be tied at 4-4 at the half.

The eight goals by halftime was an MLS record, the league said.

Inter Miami (9-2-4, 31 points) enters the break second in the Eastern Conference, two points behind Nashville (10-1-3, 33 points). Inter Miami is also fourth in the Supporters’ Shield standings — a trophy that Philadelphia won last season.

The Union won’t be winning that this season. Not even close.

They’re at the bottom of the league, a stunning first-to-worst collapse and head into the break with seven points — at 1-10-4.

"It's beautiful, it's fun to be a part of the game, it’s fun to sing a national anthem and obviously to see Messi and all these greats so close to me, it’s an honor," said Grammy-nominated and Latin Grammy-winning singer and Miami resident Luis Fonsi, who performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” pregame. "I’m a fan and I’m enjoying every bit of it.”

He was asked what it's like to share the field with Messi.

“He’s a lot more known than me — times a million," Fonsi said.

Messi has already appeared in five World Cups, winning the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player twice — first in 2014, then again in 2022 when he led Argentina to the title. That award has been given out only since 1982, but he is the lone player to win it twice.

Argentina is in Group J for the World Cup. Its group stage matches: Algeria, at Kansas City, on June 16; Austria, at Arlington, Texas, on June 22; and Jordan, back in Arlington, on June 27.

If Argentina wins that group — and the defending champions would be heavily favored to do so — then Messi would play a Round of 32 match in Miami Gardens on July 3. The only other way for Messi to play in South Florida during the tournament would be if Argentina is in the third-place match on July 18.

Of course, all that is contingent on whether Messi plays. And that would now seem to be in at least some question.

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

The difference: He was more focused on being a dad and felt less pressure to reach victory lane.

Rosenqvist responded by making a daring, outside move in the closing yards, sling-shotting past leader David Malukas and across the yard of bricks by half a car-length in the closest race in 500 history and cap the most memorable month of his life.

The 0.023-second victory was his second in 120 career IndyCar starts, his first on an oval and came exactly 20 days after he welcomed his first child, daughter Stella.

“After we had our baby, Stella, I was like I've already won the month of May,” said Roseqvist, whose only other win came in July 2020 at Road America. “But winning was the cheery on top of an incredible month.”

Neither Rosenqvist's wife, Emille, nor his newborn daughter were at the track.

Rosenqvist jumped on top of his Meyer Shank Racing car, pumping his arms in the air before tasting the milk and then dumping it over his head. And why not savor it after what he's endured on this iconic 2.5-mile track.

Rosenqvist entered race day with five straight top nine 500 qualifying runs but no poles. He'd also finished fourth in the race twice over the past four years, including 2025, while winding up 27th in the other two.

And it looked as if this one might be slipping away, too, when the red flag came out with seven laps to go and he got passed on the ensuing restart and again when Malukas appeared to be pulling away while Rosenqvist and teammate Marcus Armstrong were racing wheel-to-wheel on the final lap.

“I was given two options: either I lift or I crash with Felix,” said Armstrong, who finished fifth. “I chose to lift. I don’t know if I could have done anything different.”

With Armstrong out of the way, Rosenqvist pulled up behind Malukas, swung his car to the outside and pushed the car as hard as he could. The momentum — and the tow — sent him past Team Penske's top finisher, relegating Malukas to runner-up status for the second straight year.

Meyer Shank earned its second 500 win and Helio Castroneves, one of four four-time 500 winners, celebrated his first as a team owner.

The victory margin was even closer than the 1992 race when Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear to the finish line by 0.043 seconds. But that was little consolation to Malukas. Even moving up to second in the points standings was little consolation to the 24-year-old American.

“I just don’t know what else we could have done,” an understandably distraught Malukas said. “We were driving 150% that whole time. We had the fastest car out there, loved that whole race. It was ours to win and I knew that, so I just never pushed like that my whole life.”

Malukas seemed to be in position to win with four turns left.

He beat leader Marcus Armstrong off the final restart with one lap to go and led through each of the final four corners as Rosenqvist tried to snake his way down Indy's front straightaway and moved to the outside.

This time, Rosenqvist timed it perfectly, stayed on the high driving line and didn't think twice about going for it. He's the third Swede to win the 500, joining Kenny Brack in 1999 and Marcus Ericsson in 2022.

Rosenqvist even had to hold off his best friend in racing, Pato O'Ward of Arrow McLaren. The two-time race runner-up finished fourth — his fourth top-five finish in four years — behind Malukas' teammate Scott McLaughlin. Armstrong wound up fifth.

“I haven't seen a finish like that ever," Rosenqvist said. “So initially, I was like ‘OK, I’m second' because this never happens, you never have enough time to get that pass. But it happened and it's just incredible."

It was a wild conclusion to a strange race day that included a handful of crashes, two red flag delays — a 12-minute stoppage midway through the race because of rain and the 10-minute delay after Indy rookie Caio Collet slammed hard into the wall with eight laps to go.

But just as it appeared Rosenqvist and O'Ward might come up short again, they got another chance when Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champ Michael Schumacher, brushed the second turn wall with 3 1/2 laps left

That contact set up the final one-lap shootout and this time, Rosenqvist sensed it was going to be different.

“I think somehow this was the first time I felt less (pressure) because I had so much to come home to at night, and I’m like happy,” Rosenqvist said before telling reporters he had already spoken with his wife after the race. “It's actually kind of nice when taking more pressure off of yourself in a way when you think about the right stuff because because we all put enough pressure on these folks. I think actually it turned out to be a good point to become a dad."

Alex Palou, the pole winner and defending Indy champ, extended his lead to 37 points after leading the most laps (59) and making the most on-track passes (60). But he settled for seventh.

Palau was penalized five points after for a technical violation found in the post-race inspection, with IndyCar saying the “non-compliance was the result of an assembly error and not an intentional modification.”

Double trouble

Katherine Legge’s attempt to become the first woman to complete “The Double” ended after just 17 laps when she couldn’t avoid Ryan Hunter-Reay’s spinning car. Legge’s car skidded down the track and into the inside wall in Turn 2.

The English driver was checked at the track’s infield medical care center and was released. She was still planning to travel to Charlotte, North Carolia, for Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600. She’s scheduled to start 37th.

Up next

The series moves north for the Detroit Grand Prix next Sunday.

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

Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Wayhowe Huang said that fire officials were able to evaluate the tank more closely overnight and discovered the tank had cracked.

Huang told The Associated Press earlier Sunday that it did not appear any of the highly volatile chemicals in the tank have leaked. “There’s still the danger of a possible explosion," Huang said.

Firefighters have been spraying the tank with water in an effort to cool the chemicals inside and prevent an explosion. The inside of the tank reached 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday, Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg said, an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) since Saturday.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who declared a state of emergency Saturday, said in a post on X he had asked President Donald Trump to issue an emergency declaration to bolster federal support for local and state officials.

The pressurized tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors at a company site in Garden Grove, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Fire Authority.

No injuries have been reported. Air monitoring tests have found that air pollution around the evacuation zone is within normal limits, and specialized equipment has been deployed to ensure no gas is released from the compromised tank, state and federal environmental officials said Saturday.

The streets were empty in the area Sunday, according to aerial photos taken by the AP.

Tank crack could mitigate damage

A crack could be a welcome development, as it could mean product or pressure inside the tank is being released, reducing the chance the tank explodes, said Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University.

“Think of a soda can. If you leave it in a hot car it can explode," he said. “But if you put a hole in the can, the product is released and the can itself doesn’t explode.”

Elias Picazo, a chemistry professor at the University of Southern California, agreed that a crack could be a positive development.

“A strategic leak buys more time for the liquid within the tank to solidify as the reaction continues,” he said. “Depending on where the leak is, it can also be used to direct the unreacted liquid out of the tank in a controlled manner.”

Faisal Khan, head of the chemical engineering department at Texas A&M University, said a crack suggests an explosion could still happen -- just not in the magnitude initially feared.

“Cooling is happening on the surface of the tank while runaway reaction may be occurring deep inside the tank,” he explained. “Yes, reaction is slowed compared to what it started. However, we are not out of explosive release risk.”

Several shelters for evacuees remained open. The parking lot was full Sunday at an evacuation center at a high school in neighboring La Palma. Some people, including a family of seven, slept in cars or on mats and sleeping bags on the asphalt. The large family also had nine cats with them. They stacked up cat carriers for a makeshift table as they waited around, sipping coffee and tending to the pets.

Meanwhile, some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action lawsuit on Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, the company that operates the facility where the tank is located.

Lawyers for residents living in the evacuation zone argued in their federal court lawsuit that regardless of what happens next, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.

Spokespersons for the company didn’t comment on the lawsuit itself, but pointed to a Saturday statement in which they apologized to residents and businesses that have been forced to evacuate.

On Sunday, the company released another statement saying it was monitoring the “condition of the affected material” and “working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak.”

Officials said the valves on the tank are broken or “gummed up,” which prevented crews from removing the chemical or relieving the pressure on the tank, said Craig Covey, Orange County Fire Authority division chief.

Firefighters’ first hope is to find a way to cool off the chemical inside the tank so it won’t leak or explode. If that is not possible, Whelton said it would be best if the tank sprang a leak so the chemical could be mostly contained. An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario.

If the temperature inside the tank continues to increase, the pressure will continue to build as the methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas. Whelton said it’s unlikely that firefighters would consider creating a hole in the tank because of fears that could create a spark that might ignite the volatile and flammable gas.

Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes, Covey said on a social media post on X. Containment barriers have been set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said.

Exposure could lead to health problems

The damaged tank is located at GKN Aerospace, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft. It holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 and 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate, used to make plastic parts.

GKN agreed to pay state regulators more than $900,000 in 2025 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems and even render someone unconscious. It can also cause neurological problems and irritate the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical. But Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and residents may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Whelton said the volume of chemical in the tank is much smaller than in the disastrous 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which he studied when more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride was released after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.

“Many of these are acute, fast-acting effects. But the longer somebody stays in contact with it, the more potential for significant damage that occurs,” Whelton said.

If an explosion releases the chemical into the air, Whelton said, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did in East Palestine.

The weather will be an important factor in determining where a plume of chemicals would go in the event of an explosion. Officials were developing maps to predict different scenarios.

Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the incident and supporting employees impacted by evacuations.

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Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope contributed to this report.

The spacecraft blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The much-anticipated launch comes as China prepares for its first crewed lunar landing by 2030.

The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name.

Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

The crew is set to conduct dozens of science and application projects, state media said. They are also expected to complete an in-orbit rotation with the crew of Shenzhou 21, who has been at the Tiangong space station for more than 200 days.

One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space. The astronaut's mission is to “explore human adaptability and performance limits” in long-duration spaceflight environments, state media reported.

As China steps up its space program, its astronauts have carried out multiple missions to the Tiangong space station, developed after China was effectively excluded from the International Space Station on U.S. concerns over national security.

The U.S. is seen as China’s top space rival, with NASA aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface in 2028.

China’s space station Tiangong, which translates to “Heavenly Palace,” first hosted the country's crew in 2021. Last year, an emergency mission in the Shenzhou program, which means “Divine Vessel,” returned a team of astronauts stranded on the space station due to a damaged spacecraft.

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Associated Press video journalist Wu Jia in Jiuquan, China contributed to this report.

The Secret Service said the bystander, who has not been identified, suffered a gunshot wound described as not life-threatening. It was not clear how he was shot.

Authorities have released few additional details about the early Saturday evening shooting. The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department said the suspect, identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, started shooting toward a White House security checkpoint when Secret Service officers returned fire. Best, of Dundalk, Maryland, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

No officers were injured, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement posted on social media. “Our thoughts are also with the innocent bystander who was wounded during this incident,” Curran said. “The Secret Service is hopeful he will make a full recovery.”

President Donald Trump was in the White House at the time of the shooting.

It was the third shooting near the president in the past month, after a man stormed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April armed with guns and knives, and Secret Service officers shot and wounded a man who fired at them earlier this month near the Washington Monument.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said the suspect in Saturday’s shooting had a “possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure.” He also used the shooting to promote the ballroom he is seeking to build on the site of the White House’s former East Wing, saying the shooting “goes to show how important it is, for all future Presidents, to get, what will be, the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C.” Trump is asking Congress for $1 billion for security additions for the White House campus, including the ballroom.

Best had a previous run-in with law enforcement near the White House, according to District of Columbia court records. He was arrested last July for attempting to enter White House grounds near a different checkpoint. He failed to heed officers’ commands to stop, claimed to be Jesus Christ and said he wanted to be arrested.

Best was a track and field athlete at Dundalk High School, from which he graduated in 2023.

A woman who identified herself as Best’s mother told The Washington Post that she learned about the shooting on social media and was in disbelief. She said her son “was never violent, regardless of what people are posting.”

At a 79th Cannes Film Festival that saw few films cause a stir, “Fjord” found wide admiration for its engrossing tale of what Mungiu called “left-wing fundamentalism.” It stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Romanian Evangelicals who move to Norway, but soon after have their children taken from them by child services for spanking them.

“Today the society is split. It’s divided. It’s radicalized,” said Mungiu. “This film is a pledge against any type of fundamentalism. It's a pledge for these things we quote very often, like trauma and inclusion and empathy. These are lovely words but we need to apply them more often.”

Mungiu becomes just the 10th filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or twice. His “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a Romanian abortion drama, won the award in 2007.

The win for “Fjord” extends one of the movies’ most extraordinary streaks. Neon, the specialty label, has now taken seven Palme d’Or winners in a row. “Fjord” adds to its unparalleled run, including last year’s champion, Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” and the 2024 winner, “Anora.” The latter went on to win best picture at the Oscars.

‘Minotaur’ wins Grand Prix

The Grand Prix, or second prize, went to “Minotaur,” Andrey Zvyagintsev’s domestic thriller set against Russia’s war with Ukraine. Loosely based on Claude Chabrol’s 1969 film “The Unfaithful Wife,” “Minotaur” is about a Russian businessman suspicious of his wife’s indiscretions. At the same time, he’s tasked with conscripting 150 of his workers for Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

“The only person who can stop this butchery is you, Mr. President of the Russian Federation,” Zvyagintsev said, accepting his award. "Put an end to this slaughter. The whole world is waiting for this.”

By wide consensus, it wasn’t a banner festival. Hollywood largely sat out this year’s edition. Many of the selections struggled to bowl over critics. The global buzz that Cannes typically generates was fitful at best.

But the awards handed out Saturday as the 79th Cannes drew to a close will significantly raise the international profiles of the winners. Last year's Cannes produced a long string of Oscar nominees, including “Sentimental Value” and “The Secret Agent.”

The nine-member jury that decided the awards was headed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård were also jurors. Park, a Cannes regular including last year with his satirical thriller “No Other Choice,” joked that he preferred not to give away the Palme.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to award the Palme d’Or to any of the films, because it’s an award I myself have never gotten,” Park told reporters after the ceremony. “But I had no other choice.”

Awards are split and shared

Two films won for best director: the Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, for his postwar drama “Fatherland,” and the Spanish creative duo Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo for “The Black Ball,” a generation-spanning queer epic “The Black Ball.”

It was Pawlikowski's second time winning the same Cannes prize in as many films, following his “Cold War” in 2018. But the award marked a breakthrough for Ambrossi and Calvo in their first Cannes entry.

"No one knew us. Thierry didn’t know us," Ambrossi told reporters, referring to Thierry Fremaux, Cannes artistic director. “It was just that the movie spoke.”

Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, the two stars of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden” shared the best actress award. In the elegantly empathetic drama, the two play women brought together in friendship out of their mutual sense of care for others.

The jury also split the best actor prize. They chose Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the two stars of "Coward,” Lukas Dhont’s drama about young Belgian men sent to the front lines of World War II.

The prize for best screenplay was awarded to Emmanuel Marre for “A Man of His Time,” a French drama about a Nazi collaborator in Vichy France. Marre based it on the experiences of his own great-grandfather.

The jury prize, or third place, went to German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach’s “The Dreamed Adventure,” a crime drama set in a Bulgarian border town.

Saturday’s ceremony was missing its tribute honoree. Barbra Streisand was to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, but a knee injury prevented her from attending. Isabelle Huppert nevertheless celebrated Streisand during the ceremony, and Streisand appeared in a taped video message.

The Camera d’Or, Cannes’ award for best first film, went to Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo’s post-genocide drama “Ben’Imana,” the first Rwandan film to be officially selected for the festival.

U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at allies for not doing more to support the United States' war effort in Iran, whose chokehold on the strait has crippled international shipping and sent energy prices soaring. In March, Trump told NATO allies to “go get your own oil” and secure the strait themselves.

On the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, the U.K.’s Royal Navy is preparing to do that — but only once a peace agreement is reached. Trump said Saturday that a deal with Iran has been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other allies in the region, but it still needs finalizing.

Britain’s Armed Forces Minister Al Carns took a small group of reporters to visit the RFA Lyme Bay as it prepares for a possible international operation, led by the U.K. and France, to secure the strait. As Carns spoke, the amphibious landing vessel, docked at the gateway to the Mediterranean, was being loaded with ammunition and mine-hunting sea drones equipped with sonar.

With a crew of several hundred sailors, the RFA Lyme Bay will soon depart Gibraltar to link up with the U.K. destroyer HMS Dragon and allied ships for air support before sailing through the Suez Canal to the Persian Gulf.

“Which other country can pull together 40 nations and come up with a solution to deal with a complex problem that we couldn’t predict because we weren’t involved?” asked Carns, responding to a question from The Associated Press about what Trump wants from his British ally.

After the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, a key waterway for the region’s oil, natural gas and fertilizer, causing global economic pain. The U.K. in particular has drawn the ire of Trump, who has described Britain’s navy as “toys” and Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “not Winston Churchill.”

At least 6,000 ships have been blocked from passing through the strait since the conflict began, Carns said.

There could be a range of threats from Iran’s mines

Iran could have a “huge” variety of mines throughout strait, said Cmdr. Gemma Britton, who is in charge of the Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group. Mines could be rocket-propelled, cabled or sit on the seabed and be triggered by sound, movement or light.

AP was shown autonomous systems that can scan the seabed and the water with sonar in about half the time it takes for a crewed vessel to enter and map potential dangers. The sea drones equipped with sonar produce a picture of objects under the water, from fishing traps to pipelines. The picture is used to identify mines that can be explored with advanced acoustic systems and cameras, Britton said.

Some of the systems on the RFA Lyme Bay can be loaded onto a smaller vessel that can be launched and piloted autonomously from the ship, which acts as a mother ship, waiting outside any potential minefield, Britton said. That reduces the number of people needed to enter, she said.

Once a mine has been located, a diver with explosives normally places a charge on the mine before swimming away to detonate it. But RFA Lyme Bay is trialing a remotely operated vehicle that dives and drops a charge by a mine before setting it off, Britton said.

The priority, she said, will be to clear a transit lane in the strait to allow around 700 ships to leave. A lane flowing in the opposite direction will then be cleared, allowing ships to enter, she said, but added that clearing the entire strait could take months or years.

It's still not clear if the UK and its allies will be deployed

It's still not clear if any mines are in the strait — or if the U.K. and its allies will be deploying to remove them.

A U.S. official speaking on condition on anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters told the AP that the U.S. has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait, nor have any ships been damaged. Commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow, though at a much lower volume than before the conflict.

When asked by the AP if the British effort was partly for show, to curry favor with the U.S., Carns said he was sure some mines had been blown up or floated away but that assurance is not good enough for commercial insurance companies. He said those companies need “absolute certainty” to get vessels traveling through the strait again.

“That’s what this capability will provide,” he said.

The international effort to secure the strait would happen only once hostilities are over.

“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump said Saturday on social media, with no details on timing.

This is not the first time in recent weeks that a deal has been described as close.

“We don’t know when the Americans, Iranians and Israelis are going to come up with a suitable solution,” Carns said.

In the meantime, the RFA Lyme Bay and its crew will be waiting and will be “really, really ready,” Carns said.

——

Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Memorial Day will feature more of the same. We will see a partly to mostly cloudy sky with highs near 90 degrees. Showers and storms are likely in the afternoon and evening. Coverage will not be as widespread as what we saw on Sunday.

Any storm will be slow moving with heavy rain, gusty wind and frequent lightning. Make sure to keep an eye to the sky as showers and storms could develop rapidly in the afternoon and evening.

Tropical moisture will continue to move into our area this week. This will keep widespread showers and storms in the forecast through this weekend. It will be warm and humid with temperatures near 90 degrees.

In terms of rainfall, accumulation will depend highly on where storms develop. An area of low pressure along with a front will keep widespread rain and storm chances in the forecast later next week into the upcoming weekend.

Several inches of rain are possible during this period. Any rainfall will be very beneficial due to the ongoing drought across our area.

Regarding the drought, the latest drought monitor reflects the overall pattern over the past few months. Most of our area remains in an extreme drought. An exceptional drought classification remains over the same locations.

Portions of Nassau and Camden Counties in FL/GA were downgraded to a severe drought due to the rainfall received over the past week.

TONIGHT: Mostly Cloudy. Patchy Fog. Low 74.

MONDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 89, Low 75

TUESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 75.

WEDNESDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 90, Low 74.

THURSDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 89, Low 74.

FRIDAY: Sun & Clouds. Scattered Rain & Storms. High 87, Low 73.

After that approach shot inside 3 feet, he became the first PGA Tour player to win twice with a closing 60.

The 2023 U.S. Open champion shot 11 under on Sunday, overtaking Si Woo Kim by three and pulling away from defending champion Scottie Scheffler after starting the day tied with the top-ranked hometown favorite.

Clark didn't know he was shooting a closing 60 for the win the first time he did it, in 2024 at Pebble Beach. There was supposed to be a final round the next day, but it was wiped out by weather. Clark was declared the winner when officials decided not to play Monday.

One other difference came to mind for Clark, who shot 30-under 254 and had a 28 on the back nine at the revamped but still vulnerable TPC Craig Ranch, about 30 miles north of Dallas.

Two years ago, Clark had an eagle putt for 59 on the iconic 18th green at Pebble Beach but settled for birdie. This time — in his first victory since then — Clark closed with four birdies over five holes, including that short capper at 18.

Clark's ninth birdie matched Kim’s 60 from the second round when the 30-year-old South Korean was in position to shoot 59 but bogeyed the final hole. Kim, who started the final round with a two-stroke lead, shot 65 to finish 27 under.

“I look at Pebble, it was amazing, but that one, I was so close to shooting 59. At that golf course, that would have been just epic,” Clark said after his fourth PGA Tour win. “This one, really 59 wasn’t necessarily in the cards. I’m just really proud of myself that I didn’t waver and I didn’t sit back and just try to hit to 20 feet and kind of leak my way in there. I was still very aggressive.”

Despite the addition of bunkers and significant changes to the contour of the greens on the Lanny Wadkins-led redesign, Clark was just one shot off Scheffler's winning score of a year ago. Scheffler's 31 under tied the tour's 72-hole scoring record of 253.

“I felt pretty comfortable, but I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal and keep making birdies,” Clark said. “I made more than I thought I was going to make, that’s for sure.”

Clark went in front for the first time in the final round with an eagle at the par-5 12th and twice took two-shot leads with clutch birdie putts over the final four holes.

The 32-year-old had an emphatic first pump after his 45-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th. Clark was a little more reserved, but pumping a fist nonetheless after another birdie 2, this one at the No. 17 stadium hole.

A few minutes after Clark's long putt at 15, Kim was a shot behind when his 44-footer on the same hole slid by the right side of the cup. The deficit was two when Kim couldn't match Clark's birdie at 17.

“I think if I keep knocking on the door, something’s coming,” said Kim, a four-time tour winner looking for his first victory since 2023 at Waialae. “I think it’s pretty much best play golf I’ve ever had. I’m a little frustrated, but nothing I can do. Wyndham played so good.”

Scheffler, who matched Kim's 65 and was 25 under, briefly was tied for the lead on Saturday, but never caught Kim — his partner in the final pairing — or Clark one group ahead after the second hole in the final round.

The four-time major winner was two shots behind Kim and Clark at the short par-4 sixth when his second shot hit the pin and spun away after it bounced, ending up 54 feet away. Scheffler settled for par on a hole Kim and Clark birdied.

Jackson Suber was a career-best fourth, shooting 63 to finish 23 under. Keith Mitchell shot 64 and was a stroke back in fifth.

Brooks Koepka, still looking for his first win since rejoining the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, shot 68.

Jordan Spieth, the other hometown favorite alongside Scheffler, bounced back with a 66 and finished 15 under a day after fading from contention with a 73.

Scheffler almost became the only PGA Tour player since at least 1983 to go an entire tournament without a score of 5 or higher. That ended with his par 5 on 12, when he went bunker to bunker with his first two shots and missed a 12-foot birdie putt. It was his only 5.

“No,” Scheffler said when asked if he was aware. “But you know around this place, what did Wyndham finish out, around 30 under? If you’re going to play 30 under, you can’t be making too many 5s.”

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

The Carolina Ascent made a goal six minutes in stand up to deny host Sporting JAX in a 1-0 game at Hodges Stadium in the Gainbridge Super League women’s playoff semifinals on Sunday night. The Ascent moves on to the championship match, while Sporting JAX enters the offseason celebrating a historic first season.

Mackenzie George scored the only goal on a close range shot for Carolina. It marked Ascent’s second win over Sporting JAX in as many games. Carolina beat the local team 3-1 in the regular season finale on May 16.

Sporting JAX was far more aggressive throughout the match, outshooting Carolina 17-10 and more than doubling the Ascent on corners (nine to four). But Sporting JAX couldn’t get anything to fall. It finished its first season with a 16-8-5 record.

It was a violent end to a standoff between members of the Republican Peoples’ Party, or CHP, and a leadership team appointed by an appeals court, escalating tensions between the opposition and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Supporters had barricaded the courtyard entrance with buses and the building with furniture. Footage taken by local media in the courtyard and inside the building showed clouds of tear gas as riot police stormed through the premises, before journalists were removed by the police.

Once the raid began, supporters attempted to resist the police by spraying them with fire extinguishers, but were quickly stopped. Doors, furniture and the ground floor windows were destroyed in the melee.

Among those inside the building was Ozgur Ozel, elected as party chairperson in November 2023 but dismissed by the court ruling. A video from inside his office at the start of the raid shows him being served the court order removing him, which he promptly ripped up.

Leaving party headquarters to cheers from supporters outside, Ozel told journalists: “We are leaving (the building) now only to reclaim it in such a way that no one will be able to meddle again. When we return, neither this administration nor the administration’s collaborators will dare do this once more.”

Ozel asks his supporters to rebuild the party for a third time

Ozel and his supporters then marched to Parliament about 8 kilometers (5 miles) away, joined by hundreds of passersby despite heavy rain and hail. Before arriving at Parliament, he stopped at the National Sovereignty Park where he asked the crowd if they were willing to rebuild the party for a third time.

The CHP was first established in 1923 by Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but was shut down in a 1980 military coup, before reemerging in 1992.

Outside the legislature, Ozel rallied a crowd of hundreds, telling them that the CHP was “de facto shuttered” but would be reestablished.

Even if ousted as the chairperson of the CHP, Ozel is still an elected lawmaker from the western province of Manisa as well as the party's group speaker.

The appeals court on Thursday nullified Ozel's election as CHP chairperson, suspending him and members of the party’s executive board. The ruling said Ozel should be replaced by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, his predecessor, who led the party for 13 years but never won any national elections.

Meanwhile, Ozel, in his first and only election as party leader, delivered a decisive blow to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party in the 2024 municipal polls.

The opposition says the decision was politically motivated to weaken the party as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

Erdogan's eye is on the next election

The next presidential election isn't due until 2028, but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a CHP member, has been imprisoned since March last year and is on trial on corruption charges.

Many observers have said the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

The vast majority of the party has rallied behind Ozel. He and most of the party had been inside the CHP headquarters in Ankara since Thursday’s ruling, with the new administration unable to enter. The rival teams were supposed to meet Sunday afternoon to figure a way out of the impasse.

Early on Sunday, a crowd gathered outside the office, watched by a growing police presence. Kilicdaroglu’s lawyer, Celal Celik, sent a request to Ankara police to assist in vacating the building, a move approved by the provincial governor.

The police raid comes at the start of a nine-day holiday for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when many people are on vacation and out of the big cities.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a setback in 2019, when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure who many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.

Standing on the frontstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway, O'Donnell looked directly at the Busch family and said, "Samantha, I want you to know that this sport stands with you, and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever. And Brexton and Lennix, your dad loved you with all his heart. Everyone gathered here, everyone behind you, everybody watching on TV, and all those people up in that grandstand are your family — and we’ve got you. ”

Tears rolled down Samantha Busch’s cheek as she wrapped her arm tightly around 11-year-old Brexton, an aspiring racer. Both wore black T-shirts that read “Battle of the Busches.”

Busch’s older brother and former Cup Series champion, Kurt, and his parents, Tom and Gaye, also attended the tribute.

“Kyle Busch is NASCAR,” O'Donnell added. “He was one of a kind and there will never be another.”

A moment of silence followed.

Auto racing's biggest day became a Memorial Day weekend tribute to Busch from Indianapolis to CMS.

Busch died Thurday at 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications according to a statement released by his family, and his loss sent shockwaves through the motorsports world and beyond.

Charlotte Motor Speedway honored the two-time Cup Series champion with a large, black No. 8 and his signature on the frontstretch grass and a photo on the videoboard.

The U.S. Army Golden Knights carried Busch's flag prior during pre-race festivities. Each of the 39 cars in field carried Busch's decal. On the pace lap, the cars formed the missing man formation.

The speedway's public address system and the television commentators went silent on the eighth lap of the race.

On Saturday night, Layne Riggs celebrated his Trucks Series win at Charlotte by immitating Busch's traditional bows to the crowd after the race, and Ross Chastain did the same after capturing the rain-shortened O'Reilly Auto Parts race.

“When you think race car driver and what that person should be like, Kyle Busch is probably one of the first that comes to your mind on the type of racer he was," Cup Series driver Joey Logano said.

Fans at CMS arrived in droves Sunday with shirts that read “Rowdy” and “KFB.”

Earlier in the day at the Indianapolis 500, Dale Coyne Racing changed the font of Romain Grosjean's No. 18 car to replicate the font the two-time Brickyard 400 winner used during his 14 seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing in his No. 18 car.

Then came the opening prayer, in which Busch was mentioned by name. And on lap 18, race officials lit up the scoring pylon next to pit lane with Busch's name, his birth year and 2026.

Even with the pageantry of Indianapolis' big IndyCar race, Busch, who had a record 234 victory across NASCAR’s three national series, was never far from the thoughts of people in the city that dubs itself the “Racing Capital of the World.”

“It’s desperately sad. It’s also one of those things where you try not to think about it or let it in because you’ve got so much to do, you can’t let yourself get emotional,” Katherine Legge said. “But honestly, racing has lost one of the greatest drivers, in my opinion, of all time. If you look back at the history and just — he was a legend.”

As Indy held its biggest race of the year, those who knew or competed against Busch raced with a heavy heart.

“How can you not be in shock over the situation?” two-time Indy winner Josef Newgarden said. “I think it just puts into perspective how fragile life is. You just don’t know. Makes me think of his kids, to be honest with you. Gosh, I feel terrible about — I have two sons now. That’s the thing that breaks my heart.”

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

JFRD Chief Aaron Bebernitz says the fire happened at the Landon Imperial Apartments on Art Museum Drive in the St. Nicholas neighborhood shortly after 4:15 a.m.

Bebernitz says the Red Cross is assisting 12 people, including five children.

Two apartment units were damaged by the fire. One of them was destroyed.

A local nonprofit, Kim’s Open Door, is helping at least one of those families, including a mother with three children who needs a place to stay after losing nearly everything in the fire. Founder and Director Kim Bogart said donations to the organization will go toward immediate needs such as food, clothing, and shelter as the family begins recovering.

Fire investigators are working to determine what caused the fire. Officials have not released the name of the person who died.

Even opponents nearly half his age — and in front of a hostile crowd.

Djokovic came back from a set down for a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over 22-year-old home player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round of the French Open on Sunday in his record 82nd Grand Slam appearance.

“Obviously playing a French player, center court at Roland Garros is never so easy. The crowd gets into it and then you feel the pressure even more,” Djokovic said after the 2 hour, 51-minute encounter. “But all in all it was a good match to be part of: Three hours, just what the doctor ordered at age 39.”

Grunting during long rallies and digging deep on the opening night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier, it wasn’t until 1 hour, 45 minutes in that Djokovic finally found a way to break his 6-foot-7 (2.01-meter) opponent and even the match at a set all.

The crowd was pumped for a potential stunner — after all, Djokovic hasn’t lost in the first round of a Grand Slam in 20 years. But after two tense sets, Mpetshi Perricard seemed deflated of energy.

Djokovic, meanwhile, was just getting warmed up in only his second match on clay this year. In his other match on the surface this season, Djokovic lost to Croatian qualifier Dino Prižmić at the Italian Open after two months out due to a right shoulder injury.

Just by stepping on court two days after his 39th birthday, Djokovic set the men’s record for most Grand Slams contested — one more than Roger Federer and Feliciano Lopez. Djokovic has won a record 24 of those 82 Grand Slams.

Djokovic also tied French players Richard Gasquet and Antoine Gentian with a men’s record 22nd appearance at Roland Garros. He has reached at least the quarterfinals in 19 of the last 20 editions and raised the Coupe des Mousquetaires trophy in 2016, 2021 and 2023.

Djokovic taunts the pro-French crowd

The 80th-ranked Mpetshi Perricard had plenty of crowd support and the fans erupted into chants of “Gio-vanni, Gio-vanni, Gio-vanni” when he ripped a forehand winner on his fourth break point to conclude a long rally during a tense game at 5-5 in the first set. Mpetshi Perricard then finished the set off with consecutive aces — the first of which clocked in at 223 kph (139 mph).

Djokovic said afterward that Mpetshi Perricard — who he played for the first time — has “one of the most tremendous serves in terms of precision and speed that I have ever faced in my career.”

Djokovic couldn’t convert a break point until his 10th try when he concluded the second set with a drop shot that Mpetshi Perricard couldn’t get back. Then Djokovic held his hand to his ear to taunt the pro-French crowd.

Late in the fourth set after he pulled off a delicate half-volley winner, Djokovic skipped back to the baseline in apparent glee. And when it was over, Djokovic performed a celebratory wiggle on the baseline.

Djokovic can't meet Sinner until the final

Despite his reduced schedule of late, it should be remembered that Djokovic reached this year’s Australian Open final where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz and has made the semifinals or better at five straight Grand Slams.

With Alcaraz, the two-time reigning French Open champion, sitting out Roland Garros and Wimbledon with an injured right wrist, Djokovic sees a chance for himself in the lower half of the draw. He would meet top-ranked Jannik Sinner, who is on a 29-match winning streak, only in the final.

Along with 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka, who is playing in his final French Open, Djokovic is the only former men’s singles champion competing in Paris.

Match-fixing whistleblower

Djokovic wasn’t the only player at an advanced age in the win column at Roland Garros on Sunday.

Marco Trungelliti, who at 36 recently became the oldest man in the professional era (since 1969) to break into the top 100 of the rankings, beat Kyrian Jacquet 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

“I’m reaching my peak (at) 36,” Trungelliti said.

Trungelitti partly attributed his late development to being ostracized from the tennis tour years ago when he became a whistleblower against match-fixing in the sport.

“Really hurt me back then,” said Trungelitti, who still lives in exile in Andorra and feels uncomfortable going home to Argentina. “I was very innocent in the sense that I was expecting that the system would help me out a little bit, and it was completely the opposite.

“The whole package of institutions were never there, and they are still not there,” Trungelitti added. “I have a spine in my heart, and it’s going to be there forever.”

Sorana Cirstea, another 36-year-old who this week became the oldest player to make her debut in the top 20, beat 17-year-old Ksenia Efremova 6-3, 6-1.

And on Monday, 41-year-old Wawrinka will play Jesper De Jong.

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

Brunson's focus, along with the rest of his teammates, is what happens in the first 12 minutes of Monday night's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“So you have the first possession, the first quarter, and then you have the end of the first half and you go on,” Brunson said after Saturday night's 121-108 victory. “You just continue to just deal with what’s in front of you and just have your teammates' back. Make sure everyone’s on the same page, making sure that everyone’s holding each other accountable. That’s just the most important thing right now.”

The blinders approach has New York on a 10-game winning streak with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points and one victory away from its first finals appearance since 1999.

No team in NBA history has blown a 3-0 lead, and the Knicks aren't showing any signs of being the first in 164 series.

Just when everyone thinks the Knicks are peaking, they find a way to find another gear. Forward OG Anunoby, who missed the last two games of the Philadelphia series due to a strained right hamstring, had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists in Saturday night's victory.

Anunoby is second on the team in scoring during the winning streak, averaging 19.8 points in eight games.

Brunson is averaging 29 points in the series and 27.8 in the postseason while Karl-Anthony Downs is averaging a double-double with 16.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, along with 6.1 assists.

Brunson said the next-man-up mentality has displayed itself throughout the series.

“We have a bunch of individuals in that we locker room who work really hard and they’re very psychotic about their work and the things they do, and making sure that they’re ready physically and mentally so when their number’s called and then when there’s time to go out there, they’re ready,” Brunson said. “We have a lot of real professionals on our roster.”

The Knicks have had the momentum in the series since rallying from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cavaliers 115-104 in Game 1. Towns noted though the Knicks still have the mentality that it is the opening tip of the first game.

“We've got to come out with that same desperation as Game 1. What got us here as a team, we’ve won all these games in a row as a team, we’ve had this winning streak as a team. As long as we stay together, we stay unified, we always have felt that the sky’s the limit for us,” he said.

Cleveland will be playing its 14th game since April 29, while New York will be playing its ninth.

The Cavaliers are shooting only 29.4% from 3-point range and are 50 of 74 from the foul line. Donovan Mitchell is averaging 26 points in the series, but has appeared not to have the same burst he had in previous rounds.

Coach Kenny Atkinson is hoping his team can find something in the tank to avoid a sweep, but knows his team is winded after enduring a pair of seven-game series against Toronto and Detroit to get to their first Eastern Conference final in eight years.

“I said it before this series, the rest disadvantage is real. It’s massive, right? And it plays into it. I don’t think anybody has a grip on what that really means saying, ‘Well why are you shooting so below expected? Is that a part of it?’ I don’t know. I don’t have that answer,” he said.

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

Trump said negotiations were “proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner,” and the relationship with Iran was becoming “much more professional and productive.” He pushed back against criticism by some fellow Republicans seeking a tougher approach.

The agreement would not be signed Sunday, according to a person familiar with the status of negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The sides have previously seemed close to a deal in recent weeks, only to falter.

The strait's reopening would ease a worldwide energy crisis sparked by the U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Iran on Feb. 28, which led Tehran to effectively close the waterway. Prices have spiked for oil, gas and related products. Experts say it would take several weeks or even months for shipping and prices to recover once the strait reopens.

The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports for over a month, and Trump said it “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

The emerging deal would include Iran giving up uranium

Under the potential deal, Tehran would agree to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to the two regional officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

One official, with direct knowledge of the negotiations, said how Iran would give up the uranium would be subject to further talks during a 60-day period. Some would likely be diluted, while the rest would be transferred to a third country, the official said. Russia has offered to take it.

A U.S. official confirmed the 60-day period and said if Iran doesn't give up its stockpile there will be no sanctions relief. The official spoke on condition of anonymity about the emerging deal because it has not been made public.

Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Iran has not publicly committed to giving up its uranium, a key Trump demand. President Masoud Pezeshkian told state TV they were ready “to assure the world that we are not after a nuclear weapon.”

Iran has always insisted its program is peaceful while enriching uranium to near weapons-grade levels, and asserts its right to nuclear technology.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to India, said that “significant progress, although not final progress, has been made” in negotiations, and the world would no longer need to fear Iran getting a nuclear weapon.

Rubio told India Today that the “first stage” ahead would be the full reopening of the strait. “The second is that Iran needs to enter into serious negotiations on three topics: their pledge never to have nuclear weapons, restrictions long-term on their enrichment capabilities, and what do you do with the highly enriched uranium?”

Trump has sought greater concessions from Iran than those required under a 2015 Obama-era agreement that the U.S. later withdrew from under Trump.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the state-run news agency there are “narrowing differences” between the Iranian and U.S. positions, but Iran is cautious after being attacked twice in the past year during nuclear negotiations.

The strait would reopen and Iran would be able to sell oil

Under the emerging agreement, the Strait of Hormuz would gradually reopen in parallel with the U.S. ending its blockade, the two regional officials and the U.S. official said. The U.S. official said the strait would be demined, though a U.S. official on Friday said the military has not found any mines there.

The U.S. would allow Iran to sell its oil through sanctions waivers, said the second official, who has been briefed on the negotiations. Sanctions relief and the release of Iran’s frozen funds would be negotiated during the 60-day period, the official said.

Both officials said the draft deal includes an end to the war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon that began two days after the Iran war started.

Twelve weeks have passed since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader and other top officials. A ceasefire has held since April 7, though the sides have exchanged fire on occasion.

Israel remains concerned over Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a social media post said he and Trump agreed that "any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger,” and that Trump had reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself “on every front, including Lebanon.”

The U.S. official said the deal would guarantee Israel’s right to act against imminent threats in self-defense.

Israeli officials are concerned that Hezbollah remains a serious threat to Israel and that Lebanon is ill-equipped to disarm it.

A fragile, U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect in Lebanon on April 17, but fighting has continued, mainly in the south. Hezbollah has launched daily drone and rocket attacks on Israeli forces and northern Israel, and Israel has struck targets across Lebanon while its troops remain in large swaths of the south.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Additionally, 22 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Netanyahu’s office.

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Superville reported from Washington and Lidman from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani in Washington, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Kostyuk fought back tears after beating Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3 on Court Simonne-Mathieu on the opening day of the clay-court Grand Slam at Roland Garros in western Paris.

“I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career," the 15th-seeded Kostyuk said. “This morning, 100 meters away from my parents’ house, the missile destroyed the building and it was a very difficult morning for me ... I didn’t know how I would handle it, I’ve been crying part of the morning.”

In the opening night session at Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic beat home player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 5-7, 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 in his record 82nd Grand Slam.

Kostyuk received a message at 8 a.m. and could not stop thinking what could have happened.

“I felt sick,” she said. “If it was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mom and a sister today.”

Her mother, sister and great aunt — were in the house at the time of the strike, she said, among 17 people in total, so her relief was enormous that no one was injured.

“I don’t want to think what I would do if something worse happened, but I knew that this is the day to go out and play,” she said. “It didn’t cross my mind today that I shouldn’t go out, because, you know, at the end of the day, everyone is alive.”

After the match, she thanked fans and received an ovation. Then she explained how she found the emotional and mental resources to play.

“I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is Ukrainian people, I woke up in the morning today and,” the 23-year-old Kostyuk said, becoming tearful before repeating and finishing the sentence.

“I looked at all these people who woke up and kept living their life, kept helping people who are in need,” she said. "I knew a lot of Ukrainian flags would be here today and a lot of Ukrainian people would come out, support. My friends from Ukraine came as well.”

She next plays unseeded American Katie Volynets and Kostyuk's countrywoman Elina Svitolina — a recent winner at the Italian Open in Rome — faces Anna Bondar on Monday.

The heat is on

High temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius (91 Fahrenheit) contributed to Frenchman Arthur Gea taking an emergency bathroom break early into his first-round loss to No. 13 Karen Khachanov on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

Spectators folded newspapers in half and fanned themselves to keep cool as players attempted to stay hydrated.

Canadian Gabriel Diallo said the heat was the main reason why he retired against Australian James Duckworth after losing the first set 6-3 and trailing 4-1 in the second.

“That’s mainly what it was," he said. "It was getting worse and worse.”

No. 21 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina also struggled.

“I am coming from Hamburg with 10 degrees (and) it’s 22 degrees more,” the Spaniard said after beating Damir Dzumhur 6-7 (3), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. “I didn’t expect that.”

The opening match on Chatrier saw No. 11 Belinda Bencic beating Sinja Kraus 6-2, 6-3 and 2024 runner-up Alexander Zverev, seeded No. 2, won 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win against Benjamin Bonzi.

Other results

Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu and former French Open runners-up Sloane Stephens and Sofia Kenin all went out.

No. 26 Hailey Baptiste won 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6), 6-2 against 2021 champion Barbora Krejčíková. Baptiste is playing in the women’s doubles alongside American countrywoman Venus Williams. No. 21 Clara Tauson lost while No. 27 Marie Bouzkova and No. 32 Wang Xinyu reached the second round.

In men’s first-round play, No. 23 Tomas Etcheverry lost against Nuno Borges but No. 26 Jakub Mensik and No. 28 João Fonseca advanced.

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Paris contributed to this report.

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

Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack. He never heard his shipmates firing anti-aircraft guns at the attacking planes — shooting down a torpedo plane. By the time he was topside, the St. Louis, a light cruiser, had evaded midget submarines and safely set out to sea.

“While all the rigamarole was going on topside, I was inside a steam drum. Couldn’t see anything, absolutely nothing,” said Johnson, a Centerville, Massachusetts, resident whose living room is filled with mementos and photos of his Navy service, including photos of the St. Louis and him as a young sailor, along with a collection of Navy challenge coins and ribbons representing the places he visited. He still has his military identification tag — popularly known as dog tag.

Even as the St. Louis headed into the Pacific Ocean, Johnson, whose job was known as a fireman on the ship, knew little about the attack.

“We were way out to sea, way out. You couldn’t see any land at all. All you saw was ocean,” he said. “I was just a sailor, just a swabbie, I was not an officer. They don’t tell you anything if you don’t need to know. And I didn’t need know it. So they tell you nothing.”

When he visited schools, children often asked Johnson whether he was scared that day. “You’re not scared. You’re too busy to be scared,” he said, his gravelly voice rising. “Besides, you don’t know what you’re scared of. You can’t see anything. What are you afraid of?”

One of only 11 survivors

Johnson became the oldest survivor after World War II Navy veteran Ira “Ike” Schab died in December. He was 105. With Schab's passing and the death of Clarence Lane in February at the age of 100, there remain only 11 survivors of the surprise attack, which killed just over 2,400 Americans and propelled the United States into the war. The U.S. mourns the nation’s fallen service members on Memorial Day, which takes place Monday.

Every year, there is a remembrance ceremony at the military base’s waterfront for Pearl Harbor survivors.

About 2,000 survivors attended the 50th anniversary event in 1991. A few dozen have showed in recent decades. In 2024, only two made it. That is out of an estimated 87,000 troops stationed on Oahu that day. None made the pilgrimage to Hawaii last year.

Growing recognition

For most of his life, Johnson avoided the spotlight and talked little about surviving the bombing. After all, he was one of the tens of thousands sailors who were there on that tragic day. He recalled his wife, Ruth, “thought that was something special,” so she called the Navy and “the girl laughed at her.”

But as the oldest survivor, he's become a local celebrity and the reluctant face of one of the most important events in World War II. Johnson showed up at his 106th birthday party in a limousine and was mugged by television cameras. He gets letters from all over the world and is routinely called a hero wherever he goes out.

Johnson, who is hard of hearing, needs a walker to get around and suffers from congestive heart failure, can recall his wartime experience down to the smallest detail. A 19-year-old who was unemployed and living at home in Waltham, Johnson said he feared being drafted so he signed up for the Navy — because he felt it would be less physically taxing than the Army.

“As a kid, I walked. If I wanted to go somewhere, I walked or took my bicycle. But I didn't want to walk from France to Germany," he said, sitting in a recliner, dressed in an oversized flannel shirt and waving his hands like an orchestra conductor.

“It's a long way carrying a knapsack with you. ... Water for a day, food for a day, a 9-pound Springfield rifle all on your back and walking through the mud,” he said. “No thanks. That’s why I joined the Navy.”

Witnessing history

Johnson's memories have less to do with battles while on the St. Louis, and later aboard the USS Iowa, than their significant roles in history. He helped commission the Iowa and recalled the battleship's preparations in November 1943 ahead of transporting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Tehran Conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

The ship was equipped with two elevators and a bathtub. All the ammunition and much of the oil was removed to lighten the ship as it made its way down the Potomac River to pick up Roosevelt. It was reloaded before the ship headed out to sea.

“It was a big meeting,” Johnson said, recalling how the crew were photographed with Roosevelt. “I don’t know what they talked about, but I didn’t need to know. We picked him back up, brought him home.”

Johnson also witnessed the war's end aboard the Iowa. He was on the Iowa's mast watching the surrender ceremonies about a mile away in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945.

“I could see the boats coming up with the Marines escorting the Japanese onto ship and sitting around a table,” he said. “It was all over. That was the end of the war. A bunch of us got together — the war is over. Let's go home.”

Telling the story of Pearl Harbor

These days, his daughter, Diane Johnson, is often by his side. They live together and always take a trip on Dec. 7, often attending Pearl Harbor remembrance events, including the 65th and 80th anniversary in Hawaii. She often poses questions to get her father talking and likes to nag him that he has “a responsibility” to share the story of Pearl Harbor —- especially for children who know little about the bombing.

“It’s kind of overwhelming when you think of it. Well, the 106 is what gets me,” she said. “When I think about his history, he’s at the beginning, he’s at middle, he is at the end when he witnessed the surrender. It’s something.”

Johnson began getting more attention when Diane Johnson heard a local television report suggesting the last survivor in the state had died. She called to correct the record and that raised his profile. Johnson also started making regular appearances in the Cape Cod St. Patrick's Parade, often leading from the front.

“I wish more people were like him today. He just gets on and doesn't complain about anything,” said Desmond Keogh, the chairman of the parade who has accompanied Johnson. “It's what this country was all about. They were just a different generation. They did what was best for their country.”

For all the attention to Pearl Harbor, the gruff Johnson, who is known for his cackling laugh and mischievous smile, doesn't see it as a defining moment in his life.

That would have been getting married after the war to his late wife and having three daughters. He also worked for years in a machinist shop, then in a convenience store and, finally, delivering meals to seniors — all jobs he retired from, the last one at the age of 90.

“Pearl Harbor just happened. I can’t put it any other way,” he said.

The Saints won the third national championship in program history with a 4-3 stunner over previously unbeaten Barry University on Sunday afternoon in Surprise, Arizona. Flagler hadn’t beaten Barry since Feb. 19, 1994, a 23-match losing streak that spanned the NAIA and NCAA years for the Saints.

Flagler stamped the upset when Aly El Rafie grinded out a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) win at the No. 4 singles spot to deliver the championship. Flagler’s two previous national championships came in 1977 and 1986 when the Saints were members of the NAIA. Flagler was the national runner-up in 2024, its first appearance in the championship match.

His final game ended in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa on a day charged with emotion as he said goodbye to the fans he gave so much joy during a decade of dominance in English soccer.

“I never could have imagined the amount of love I've found,” said Guardiola, standing in the center of the field at the Etihad Stadium and addressing the crowd. “It is an incredible, tremendous honor to be your manager, to be here 10 years.”

The tears started long before the final whistle, with Guardiola welling up and rubbing his eyes as two of his most loyal servants, Bernardo Silva and John Stones, also said farewell and were given guards of honor when substituted in the second half.

Then it was his turn to receive a guard of honor of his own.

“This is the man who changed everything,” the stadium announcer said as Guardiola ran onto the field wearing khakis and a cream T-shirt, with fans cheering wildly.

“10 more years," they chanted, prompting Guardiola to shake his head in defiance.

After 17 major trophies and records galore, on Friday he confirmed he could do no more. After turning City into the most dominant Premier League team of its generation and a champion of Europe for the first time, he said the time was right to hand over the reins.

“I will not miss it for a while,” he said Sunday. “I feel deeply... it is the right decision.”

Guardiola's day

Former Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca, who won the Club World Cup last year, is favorite to take over with an announcement possibly in the coming week.

Guardiola did not confirm his replacement, but said he would call his successor to offer advice.

“Be yourself... be free with your ideas and work a lot. Everything will be fine,” he said.

That is for another day. This day was about Guardiola and the chance for supporters to show their appreciation.

“He means everything to me and this club. It’s absolutely brilliant what he’s done for it,” City fan Fred Taylor, 82, told The Associated Press. “I can’t think of another manager that’s done what he’s done in the 10-year period he’s been here.”

Guardiola joined City in the summer of 2016 and has led the Abu Dhabi-owned team to six Premier League titles and a first Champions League crown in 2023.

“That's what we always wanted ... we’d never done it,” said Taylor. “That was probably the highlight of his tenure.”

Guardiola's trophy haul included a domestic double this season of the English League Cup and the FA Cup. He led City to the treble in 2023, winning the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup — matching Manchester United’s feat from more than 20 years earlier in 1999.

First to 100 points

There were other benchmarks. City became the first team to win four straight English leagues and the first to amass 100 points in a single season in 2018. The following year City was the first team to win the domestic treble of the league, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season.

Those are big shoes to fill, but Guardiola said expectations of his successor should be realistic.

“Fans don’t forget that winning the treble, doubles is exceptional,” he said. “It is so difficult, this business is so complicated. That’s why when you come here, you win one game, here in the Etihad - enjoy it. Celebrate it.”

More than just trophies, Guardiola has connected with City fans, telling them Sunday to hug him if they ever see him in the future, saying “I will need it.”

“It’s hard to describe, it’s someone you don’t actually know, but you feel like you do know,” City fan Richard Wilbourn said. "When I heard the news (he was leaving) I got a bit emotional. What he’s done for the club has been absolutely unreal, and it’s something that we’ve never seen in our lifetime.

“Growing up through my mid-20s to mid-30s (he's been) a massive part of my life.”

City has honored Guardiola by naming its newly developed north stand after him. He will also take up a role as global ambassador.

“I’m sad he’s leaving, but I think he’s leaving at the right time,” said Taylor. “He’s done everything and he can’t go any further in this club, but I think he’s done brilliant and I wish him all the best.”

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

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

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard looked up to the sky and back down at the trophy, shaking his head in disbelief, before walking in front of his celebrating teammates and lifting it aloft inside Selhurst Park after a campaign-ending 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.

Arsenal clinched a first English league title since 2004 with a game to spare in midweek, after three straight runner-up finishes.

Kroenke made his way to London for the trophy lift and watched the game against Palace next to his son, Josh. About an hour after the game finished, they walked out onto the field with the trophy ahead of the ceremony.

It marked the latest success in Kroenke’s sporting empire. The Denver Nuggets won the NBA Championship in 2023, a year after the LA Rams won the Super Bowl and Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in NHL. All three of those teams are in the Kroenke Sports & Entertainment portfolio that also now includes the best soccer team in England.

Josh Kroenke, Arsenal's co-chairman, said his family is invested “emotionally, financially, everything.”

“This club means the world to us,” he told Sky Sports. "I think it took a few people a few years to understand what that meant but now we’ve some great people, great players and great coaches.

“We’ve just got to continue providing them the resources to go out and do magical things like they did this season.”

He described the Premier League as a “slower burn than our championships in the United States.”

“Here, the cumulative points — it's a grind and you start to feel it in December,” he said. “Credit to our players, the staff, and Mikel for keeping their heads on. They deserve it.”

For Sunday's big occasion, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and his players wore the team’s classic red-and-white jersey with “Champions 2026” on the back. Arteta was thrown up in the air by the squad in joyous scenes.

The season could get even better for Arsenal, which also has reached the Champions League final for the first time since 2006. Paris Saint-Germain will be the opponent in Budapest, Hungary, next Saturday.

“We’ve achieved one of our goals but we have several others as well," Josh Kroenke said. "There is still one to be played for next weekend. Today is about enjoying today — tomorrow, we will get back to work because there is still one more to play.”

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

West Ham beat Leeds 3-0 but that wasn't enough to climb out of the relegation zone because fourth-to-last Tottenham also won, 1-0 at home to Everton, to stay two points clear of its London rival.

That meant West Ham's 14-year stay in the Premier League was over and Tottenham, which won three of its last five games under recently hired coach Roberto De Zerbi, will be in the top division for a 49th straight season.

“We shouldn’t be in the position we’re in but we’ve found ourselves in it and we’ve not done enough to stay up," West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen said. "Hurt is the only thing.”

Guardiola's decade-long tenure at Manchester City — which has included six Premier League titles among 17 major trophies — ended with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa that featured a mid-match guard of honor for first Bernardo Silva and then John Stones, two of Guardiola's stalwarts.

Guardiola wept on the sideline as Silva left the field and was given his own guard of honor by players and staff after the match.

“We lived an incredible period,” Guardiola said. “If I had energy, I would stay here (but) a new person has to do this job.”

Salah started and was given a standing ovation — before he kissed the Anfield turf — during his second-half substitution in his 442nd and last game for Liverpool, in which he grabbed an assist in a 1-1 draw with Brentford. The Egypt winger finished his nine years with the Reds with 257 goals and received his own post-match guard of honor, which he walked through in tears.

Arsenal had already clinched the title in midweek and closed its first championship-winning campaign since 2004 with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. The players finally got their hands on the trophy about an hour after fulltime at Palace's Selhurst Park stadium, with coach Mikel Arteta and the team wearing jerseys with “Champions 2026” on the back for the occasion.

In the final shake-up for European qualification, Bournemouth and Sunderland finished sixth and seventh, respectively, to get into the Europa League and Brighton was eighth to reach the Conference League.

Brighton lost 3-0 at home to Manchester United, for whom Bruno Fernandes scored and got a record-setting 21st assist of the season.

Sunderland, which beat Chelsea 2-1, will be in Europe for the first time in 53 years — a remarkable achievement for a team in its first season back in the top division and which was in the third tier as recently as 2022. The team's players huddled around a cell phone to see their Europa League qualification confirmed and broke away in delight.

Chelsea, on the contrary, missed out on European competition entirely after finishing in 10th place — 10 months after winning the Club World Cup.

West Ham's third Premier League relegation

Add 2026 to 2003 and 2011 as years when West Ham lost its Premier League status.

The big difference this season is that the team is now playing its home matches in the vast Olympic Stadium, so that 68,000-capacity arena will be staging games in the second-tier Championship against the likes of Wrexham and the two clubs that had already been relegated from the Premier League before Sunday — Wolverhampton and Burnley.

“This club deserves to be in the Premier League,” said Bowen, who scored and set up a goal against Leeds. "Our aim now is to get this club back into the Premier League.”

De Zerbi rescues Tottenham

A top-flight ever present since 1978, Tottenham was heading out of the Premier League before the club hired De Zerbi in what has proved to be an inspired appointment.

Three wins and two draws later — along with two losses — and Spurs have managed to avoid dropping into the bottom three in what would have been the most unlikely relegation since the Premier League was founded in 1992.

Joao Palhinha scored Tottenham's winner against Everton in the 43rd minute, forcing in a rebound after initially heading against the post, and Spurs defended stoutly to stop Everton scoring the two goals that would have kept West Ham up.

“After a bad season like this one, we showed up as a collective and had amazing support from the fans,” Palhinha said.

“The club will grow up with this season and we know what we have to do in the future."

Tottenham, one of the biggest clubs in Europe and the Europa League champion last season, has now finished one place outside the relegation spots in successive seasons.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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

The deal the Republican president had said was “largely negotiated” has left a range of lawmakers, former Cabinet members and conservative analysts wondering aloud whether the terms as currently known will render the conflict all “for naught.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the president's decision to strike Iran was the “most consequential” of his second term and that he should not let up now.

“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz wrote Saturday on the social media platform X. It was in reaction to Trump's update after he had spoken with the leaders of Israel and other U.S. allies in the region.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who also is close to Trump, panned any deal that would leave Iran perceived as being a dominant force in the region and in which it would retain its ability to destroy oil infrastructure throughout the Gulf.

Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned the merit of a proposed 60-day ceasefire, saying it would be a “disaster.”

“Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught!” said Wicker, R-Miss.

Trump says it will take time to ‘get it right’

Trump, who has said he only makes good deals and detests being seen as not having the upper hand in any negotiation, dismissed objections to a deal that he said was not “even fully negotiated yet.”

“So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about,” he said on his social media platform.

Trump said the deal he and his representatives are working out is “THE EXACT OPPOSITE” of a nuclear pact that Iran agreed to under the Democratic Obama administration. Trump pulled out of that agreement and has been trying to iron out a new one.

“Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!” Trump said.

He added that a U.S. military blockade of Iranian ports would remain “in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”

Some support for Trump came from Capitol Hill, too.

GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, often a thorn in the president’s side, defended the White House's approach.

“War virtually always ends with negotiations,” Paul wrote on X. “Critics of President Trump’s peace negotiations should give President Trump the space to find an American First solution.”

Under the proposal, the war would come to an end and Iran would reopen the strait and give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, with the details and timelines to be worked out during a later 60-day window, regional officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Critics air objections as details trickle out

Polls show the war, which began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, is unpopular with the American public and has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $29 billion, as of this month. Thirteen service members have been killed during the operation.

Trump initially said the war would be over in four weeks to six weeks, but the standoff continues. Iran's closure of the strait, through which about 20% of global energy supplies transit, has jolted the world economy and sent prices for gasoline and other goods climbing.

Mike Pompeo, one of Trump's first-term secretaries of state, asserted on Saturday that the emerging deal seemed to him to be the same as the Obama-era one from which Trump withdrew.

“Not remotely America First,” Pompeo said on X, prompting a profanity-laced rejoinder from Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications.

John Bolton, a national security adviser in the first term who has become a critic of the president, said the emerging plan details seemed to favor the Iranian government.

“If news reports about the impending Iran deal are correct, the ayatollahs will have won a significant victory,” Bolton wrote Sunday on X. “They will be back on the road to nuclear weapons, supporting global terrorism and repressing their own people.”

Rubio says a nuclear Iran is ‘not going to happen’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on Sunday during a diplomatic mission in India, telling reporters at a news conference that no president has been stronger against Iran than Trump.

“His commitment to that principle that they’ll never have a nuclear weapon shouldn’t be questioned by anybody,” Rubio said. “And the idea that somehow this president, given everything he’s already proven he’s willing to do, is going to somehow agree to a deal that ultimately winds up putting Iran in a stronger position when it comes to nuclear ambitions is absurd. That’s just not going to happen.”

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Trump antagonist who had pushed legislation to restrain the president’s ability to wage war against Iran, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that while the terms are not yet fully known, “if Lindsey Graham and Ted Cuz are crashing out last night, I’d say it’s probably a pretty good deal.”

Massie will leave Congress in January after incurring Trump's wrath and losing his GOP primary last week to a Trump-backed challenger.

An Associated Press reporter on Sunday witnessed police and security guarding the entrance to the mining facility located in Qinyuan county in the city of Changzhi as emergency vehicles were on site.

Hundreds of emergency responders and medical personnel were sent to help with rescue efforts, state media reported. Rescuers were taking turns to go down the mine shaft, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, facing hurdles including flooded tunnels.

Two were missing and dozens of miners were hospitalized, local officials said late Saturday, following the gas explosion Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine in the northern province of Shanxi.

The death toll was revised down from 90, with officials blaming “chaotic” scenes in the aftermath and inaccurate information provided by the mine operator. Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a thorough investigation and accountability of those responsible.

Some hospitalized miners recalled seeing smoke and blacking out, according to state media reports. Many among the injured were hurt by toxic gas, the reports said.

Shanxi is a coal-rich province

The inland Shanxi province, located southwest of Beijing with a population of around 34 million, is China’s main coal-mining area.

A few hundred meters (yards) from the mine lies the village of Shangzhuang, where some of the miners who work at the site live, including some of the victims, residents said.

The village includes a single main street through which mining trucks pass. On both sides stand two-story houses, some with red-tiled roofs. Some of them are divided into separate rooms and rented out to people including miners.

After the explosion, other mines in the area shut down and some miners left, while others stayed behind waiting to receive their pay, residents said.

Wang Linjun, a coal miner at Liushenyu, said he was at home when the gas explosion occurred.

“My heart is very heavy,” he told the AP. “Thinking that those who eat together and work together suddenly are gone, no one would feel good.” Wang said he does not want to continue at the job, but doesn’t know where to go.

Miners can be paid more than 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month.

Feng Renfu, also a miner at Liushenyu, said he was working underground in a pit next to the one where the accident took place. Feng said he and his co-workers smelled gas and withdrew from the underground.

“My father is over 80 and he is worried about me. He always calls me to check if I am safe and well in my job,” Feng said. “There are eight people in my family and they all depend on me.”

Safety lapses investigated

The coal mine has “seriously” violated the law, according to local officials, although they did not elaborate on the specific violations. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported that blueprints provided by the Liushenyu coal mine did not match the actual layout, which hampered rescue efforts.

State media said those responsible had been “placed under control.” On Sunday, a commentary in the official People’s Daily newspaper called for all regions and departments to learn from the accident and to “always keep safety in mind.”

Local authorities also announced a “comprehensive, blanket” inspection of the coal mining sector that would include checks of coal mines’ gas drainage, ventilation, safety monitoring systems and their underground layouts.

A broader inspection of coal mines could put pressure on the province’s ability to produce its annual capacity of around 1.3 billion metric tons of coal, which accounts for nearly a third of China’s total. The country's total coal output rose to approximately 4.8 billion metric tons last year.

China still relies on coal

Coal remains a major energy source in China, given its high availability and low cost, even as the country accelerates its green energy transition. Mining accidents were common and authorities had implemented measures to help improve safety over the past years.

China’s National Mine Safety Administration in 2024 put the Liushenyu mine, operated by the privately run Shanxi Tongzhou group, on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines.

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Chan reported from Hong Kong.

It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.

The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.

The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.

“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.

Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.

“The moviegoers rule," said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. "I think given the audience reaction and the scores that are coming from parents and kids, this is going to be in it for the long haul."

Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.

“That’s really unheard of,” Dergarabedian said. “And it is a testament to how this social media buzz from younger viewers is fueling the FOMO factor."

The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.

“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).

Boots Riley's colorful shoplifting caper meets surreal social satire “I Love Boosters” also opened this weekend to $3.7 million. The Neon release stars Keke Palmer and Demi Moore.

The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

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

1. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $82 million.

2. “Obsession,” $22.4 million.

3. “Michael,” $20 million.

4. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” $12.6 million.

5. “The Sheep Detectives,” $9 million.

6. “Passenger,” $8.7 million.

7. “Mortal Kombat II,” $6.2 million.

8. “I Love Boosters,” $3.7 million.

9. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $3.2 million.

10. “Project Hail Mary,” $2.7 million.

The ruling came down one day before Florida’s planned opener, leaving charter companies scrambling to cancel or reschedule trips and figure out alternative options for customers already in town.

John Eggers, captain of Rock n Reel, said he did not learn about the pause until early Friday morning, and then had to start calling customers.

“I didn’t even get the notification till 4 a.m. that morning, and of course, we’re making phone calls, cancellations, losing revenue by the second,” Eggers said.

The season had been part of a longer recreational opening under exempted fishing permits used for South Atlantic states, including Florida. NOAA Fisheries said recreational red snapper fishing under those permits is not authorized while the injunction is in effect.

The pause followed a lawsuit filed by a fishing trade group and others seeking to block the plan to expand recreational access.

For charter captains, the timing is especially difficult. Eggers, who said he has been guiding for about 30 years, called red snapper season a key source of income and a boost after a slower spring.

“This is my 30th year being a guide. This is my only source of income,” Eggers said. “The snapper season really kind of sparked a slower spring for us and generated a lot more revenue.”

Eggers said the financial impact is immediate.

“This year it was over 10 grand in just the snapper fishery, not the inshore, not anything else,” he said. “That’s revenue that we can’t recoup. It’s gone.”

Florida leaders say expanding red snapper access is about more than just fishing. In a news release, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Florida is home to more than 4 million licensed anglers, about 922,000 registered boats, and a $31.3 billion recreational boating industry that supports more than 100,000 jobs statewide.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has criticized the decision to halt the expanded season. Eggers said he believes Florida should have more control over how the fishery is managed, pointing to state data collection efforts.

“The Florida Wildlife Commission here sometimes sends biologists with fishermen out there to see how many snapper are out there versus other species of fish,” Eggers said. “That’s why it should be state-regulated, not federally regulated.”

Captains said the biggest frustration is the lack of notice, especially with trips already booked and visitors already traveling for the opener. They are now waiting to see whether the season will be reinstated and what new guidance will come from NOAA and the state.

The force of the explosion caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online.

The attack happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road, according to witnesses and images circulating on social media.

Doctors at local hospitals said they had received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. Three security officials told The Associated Press the bodies were transported to hospitals following the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak to the media.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to reporters. The militant group said it targeted a train carrying security personnel.

Quetta is the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province. The oil- and mineral-rich region has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency. The insurgents have frequently targeted security forces, government installations and civilians in the province and elsewhere in the country.

“We strongly condemn the targeting of innocent civilians and are deeply saddened by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” said Shahid Rind, Balochistan provincial government spokesman.

He said following the explosion, a medical emergency was declared at hospitals in Quetta, and an investigation has been launched.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, calling it a “cowardly act of terrorism" in a post on X and offering condolences to the families of the victims.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti strongly condemned the attack in Quetta, saying the militants targeted “innocent civilians, including women and children,” vowing to “hunt (them down)” in a post on X.

Bugti and the federal government in Islamabad often use the phrase “Fitna al-Hindustan” to refer to the BLA, which they allege is backed by India. New Delhi denies the allegation.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari denounced the bombing, saying militants and their backers sought to undermine Pakistan’s role in regional and international peace efforts.

The attack came a day after Pakistan said the United States and Iran were close to reaching a memorandum of understanding to end the war in the Middle East that began on Feb. 28 after the U.S. and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic, upending global travel and spiking oil prices. U.S. President Donald Trump had said a deal related to the conflict had been “largely negotiated” following calls with regional allies, including Pakistan.

Zardari promised in a statement that his country “will defeat terrorists, their facilitators, financiers and those providing them safe havens.”

Pakistan and India have long had strained relations and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is claimed by both in its entirety.

Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.

At least 26 people, including soldiers, were killed in 2024 when a suicide bomber attacked a train station in Balochistan.

Derrick Walden, 44, has been transferred from federal custody to the St. Johns County Jail, where he faces two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the deaths of Cody Bennett, 21, and Tre’ Lyons, 22. The two men were found shot to death inside a vehicle in November 2023.

RELATED: Man arrested in 2023 double murder of 2 St. Augustine men found shot in car

Walden had been serving time in federal custody prior to his transfer to St. Johns County.

The Knicks can wrap up the Eastern Conference Finals and sweep their second straight series with a win on Monday night. Knicks fans — who were boisterous throughout the night — were chanting “Knicks in four!” as the final seconds of Game 3 ticked away.

New York is the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 10 straight during a postseason run. The last team to do it was the Boston Celtics, who went on a 10-game run on their way to the 2024 title. Cleveland, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers have done it twice.

All but one of the Knicks' wins have been by double digits, with an average margin of victory of 22.5 points.

“We've just have to keep our mind on the task at hand. The game is over and we found a way to win. We have to execute at a high level in Game 4,” said Karl Anthony-Towns, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

OG Anunoby had 21 points as New York led the entire game. The Knicks not only made 55.8% of their shots from the field, they also had 11 3-pointers and were 24 of 27 from the foul line.

Evan Mobley scored 24 points, Donovan Mitchell had 23 points and James Harden added 19 for Cleveland. The Cavaliers were 12 of 41 on 3-pointers and 12 of 19 from the foul line.

Not even an appearance by the superstar couple of Taylor Swift and Cleveland Heights native Travis Kelce could spur the Cavs to beat the Knicks.

“I think their physicality and energy, we couldn’t get to that level to combat it,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They’re on a hell of a run. We haven’t been able to stop the momentum. We had one chance in that first game I thought to stop it, but they haven’t been able to halt their momentum.”

New York led 91-82 at the end of the third quarter but put it out reach in the fourth when Landry Shamet made three 3-pointers in a 99-second span to make it 105-94.

“Our guys were locked in from the beginning of the game and it showed from the first few minutes of the game. We got a lot of great contributions,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “I thought throughout the whole game we did a good job trying to play fast. We don’t want to go against their set defense all the time, so we’ve got to keep trying to play fast. And then our guys did a better job in the second half trying to defend without fouling.”

The Knicks made their first four shots en route to a 9-1 lead less than two minutes into the game. New York was 12 of 17 from the field in the quarter and was up 37-27 after 12 minutes.

Cleveland rallied to tie it at 50-all on a jumper by Harden before the Knicks countered with a 10-1 run. They went into halftime with a 60-54 advantage.

Brunson had six of his 12 points during an 8-1 run midway through the third quarter as the Knicks extended their lead to 83-70 with 3:41 remaining.

“It’s the next-man-up mentality and the guys found me a few times," Shamet said. We knew we were going to get a real good punch from that team, and we weathered their best punches tonight.

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This story has been updated to reflect that Evan Mobley led the Cavaliers with 24 points and James Harden scored 19.

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

“I need to go to the bathroom. I can’t move anymore. I’m going to (go) on the court,” Gea told the chair umpire in French before hastily running off Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The 135th-ranked Gea was trailing 13th-seeded Karen Khachanov 4-2 when he made his move. Khachanov won 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-0.

Usually, bathroom breaks are only permitted between sets.

Khachanov protested to the chair umpire as three minutes passed between games at a point in the match that was not a changeover when players change ends.

Gea said the umpire allowed him the break because of "medical circumstances" and that he was given some medicine to settle his stomach pain.

After the match, Gea said he had not felt ill the night before but started feeling unwell when he woke up in the morning.

“During the match it was even worse,” he said. “I had to go to the toilet really quick.”

His situation was not helped by the intense heat at Roland Garros with lunchtime temperatures hitting 31 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit).

“It was harder than usual, because I was ill,” he said.

The 21-year-old Gea received a wild card invitation from Roland Garros organizers to participate in the main draw.

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

The threat peaks between 7 and 9 p.m., when sea breezes are expected to collide in the area, potentially resulting in heavy downpours in a short amount of time.

Storm activity is expected to die down later in the evening, but scattered showers and isolated storms could linger into Southeast Georgia through early Monday morning.

Hot, humid, and sticky

Don’t pack away the sunscreen just yet. Temperatures will climb into the upper 80s and low 90s again Sunday afternoon, and it’s going to feel even hotter than that. Feels like temperatures could push into the upper 90s during the middle afternoon hours.

Overnight won’t offer much relief. Expect muggy conditions with lows in the low 70s inland and the mid-70s along the coast.

More of the same heading into early next week

Memorial Day Monday and Tuesday bring a familiar pattern: afternoon and evening thunderstorms paired with hot, humid air.

Drier air begins to work into the area from the south Monday afternoon into Tuesday, which could ease storm coverage a bit, especially across northeast Florida and along the coast.

Afternoon highs will stay above normal, reaching the mid-80s to low 90s. Heat index values could hit the mid-90s to around 100 degrees on the hottest days. Overnight lows will range from the upper 60s to upper 70s.

The intense aerial assault damaged buildings across the Ukrainian capital, including near government offices, residential buildings, schools and a market, Ukrainian authorities said. At least 83 people were wounded in the attack.

Air raid sirens blared through the night as smoke billowed across the city from strikes. Associated Press reporters heard powerful explosions near the city center and close to government buildings.

The attack included 600 strike drones and 90 air, sea and ground-launched missiles, according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed and jammed 549 drones and 55 missiles. Around 19 missiles failed to reach targets, the Air Force said.

Ferit Hoxha, Albania’s foreign minister, reported that the residence of the Albanian ambassador to Ukraine was hit during the attack, denouncing it as “unacceptable” and a “grave escalation”.

The Oreshnik, which is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads, struck the city of Bila Tserkva in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said on Telegram.

Russia had vowed to strike back for an attack Friday

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday confirmed the weapon's use, as well as other missile types, to strike Ukrainian “military command and control facilities,” air bases and military industrial enterprises. The ministry added the attack was retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on “civilian facilities on Russian territory,” without giving detail.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denounced a drone strike on a college dormitory in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which Moscow blamed on Kyiv. He said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college. Putin said he ordered the Russian military to retaliate.

The death toll from that strike had risen to 21, Russian authorities said late Saturday. They said 42 other people had been wounded in the attack the previous night. The Kremlin-installed authorities of the Luhansk region announced two days of mourning for the victims.

At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the strike, held at the request of Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Andrii Melnyk denied his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

Kyiv's European allies, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, condemned the Russian strikes and use of the Oreshnik in statements published on Sunday. Kaja Kallas, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said top diplomats from EU states will meet within days to “discuss how to dial up the international pressure on Russia.”

Ukraine struggles to down all ballistic missiles

Zelenskyy said not all the ballistic missiles were intercepted and that most of the strikes hit Kyiv, the primary target of the attack.

The apparent interception failures underscored Ukraine’s chronic shortage of air defense missiles capable of downing ballistic missiles. Kyiv relies heavily on U.S. Patriot air defense systems to intercept such weapons, but interceptors remain in short supply and are among Ukraine’s most urgent requests to its Western partners.

Developing a domestically produced alternative has become a top priority for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, though doing so will require time and funding.

Fires rage into the morning in Kyiv after attack

Damage was recorded in 50 locations across several districts of the capital, including residential buildings, shopping centers and schools, Ukraine's emergency service said in a Telegram post. Police department buildings were also damaged, it said.

Fires continued to rage into the morning, complicating rescue efforts as buildings collapsed from the blasts.

“It was a terrible night, and there had never been anything like it in the entire war," said Kyiv resident Svitlana Onofryichuk, 55, who had worked in the market that was damaged for 22 years.

“I am very sorry that I have to say goodbye to Kyiv now, I am not staying there anymore, there is no possibility," she added. “My job is gone, everything is gone, everything has burned down.”

Yevhen Zosin, 74, a Kyiv resident who witnessed the attack, said the moment he heard the explosion he rushed to grab his dog.

“Then there was another explosion and she and I were thrown back like a pin by the shock wave. We both survived, she and I. My apartment was blown to pieces,” he said.

In Kyiv’s Shevchenko district, a five-story residential building was hit, which caused a fire, and one person was killed, Ukraine's state emergency service reported.

A school building was damaged by an attack while people sheltered inside, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Local authorities reported supermarkets and warehouses across the city also were damaged.

Multiple communities recorded damage throughout the Kyiv region, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, who heads the regional administration.

Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone killed a civilian in the Russian town of Grayvoron, in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, local authorities reported on Sunday morning.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down or jammed 33 Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday, including over the Moscow region, western and southwestern Russia, and Russian-occupied Crimea.

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Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

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This story corrects Mykola Kalashnyk’s title.

Rubio's first official visit to the South Asian country came amid an economic and diplomatic downturn between the United States and India, largely strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which raised duties on several Indian exports.

Rubio is set to meet in New Delhi on Tuesday his counterparts from India, Australia and Japan, members of the Indo-Pacific strategic alliance known as the Quad.

India is a US strategic partner, Rubio says

Rubio and Jaishankar held a joint press briefing after Sunday’s initial round of talks. They reiterated their aim to deepen the U.S.-India strategic partnership while pursuing their respective national interests.

The U.S. top diplomat said that India is one of the most important strategic partners of the United States and expressed optimism about finalizing a bilateral trade deal soon. “I don’t view our relation with any country in the world as coming at the expense of our strategic alliance with India,” he said, adding that he hoped that India-U.S. relations would come out much stronger in the coming years.

Rubio stressed that the Trump administration’s trade decisions were of a global perspective to serve the U.S. economy, rather than targeted at New Delhi. “There virtually is no country in the world that I could travel to that isn’t going to raise the issue of trade because we did this from a global perspective.”

Jaishankar said the U.S.-India strategic partnership exists because of a “convergence of national interests" in multiple areas.

“Trump administration has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as America first. ... We have a view of India first. So both of us are obviously driven by our respective national interests,” he said.

The Indian foreign minister also said his country sought dependable, multiple and cheap energy sources for its 1.4 billion people.

“The United States fits the bill in many respects. So do some other countries. So, we will continue to diversify and maintain multiple sources of supply at the most reasonable cost,” Jaishankar said.

India has recently made a notable shift by wrapping up a series of trade deals: three in 2025 with Oman, New Zealand, and the UK. This was followed by an agreement with the European Union in January, which represents a third of global trade.

On tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, following the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran that sparked a war in the region, spiking oil prices and disrupting supply chains, Jaishankar said India and the U.S. are keen on keeping global maritime trade safe and uninterrupted, while ensuring fuel remains affordable and widely available.

He said India's approach is to diversify its energy sources so that energy markets stay open and unconstrained, with prices kept low to support global economic growth.

Rubio's four-day visit includes a multicity tour and a gala reception in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

India and US have different priorities but shared concerns

“In the past one year, statements and rhetoric coming from Washington on some of India’s most sensitive security concerns and trade matters have not been helpful and have created a trust deficit,” said Ashok Malik, a former policy adviser in India’s Foreign Ministry.

“Certain misgivings will remain,” Malik added, noting Rubio’s visit will be considered an achievement if the talks somewhat stabilize the relationship and check further deterioration.

Experts say friction exists between U.S. global strategic ambitions and India’s priorities as an emerging middle power. Historically close to Russia, New Delhi has long expressed unease as it moves closer to the U.S., reflecting India's lingering distrust of American intentions rooted in cultural differences and Cold War-era instincts.

Still, India-U.S. ties steadily deepened over two decades into a broad, robust strategic partnership, increasingly shaped in recent years by shared concerns about China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and articulated diplomatically through the Quad forum.

The Quad has repeatedly accused China of flexing its military muscles in the South China Sea and aggressively pushing its maritime territorial claims. Beijing maintains that its military is purely defensive to protect what it says are China's sovereign rights and calls the Quad an attempt to contain its economic growth and influence.

After the U.S. presidential inauguration in January 2025, Rubio’s first formal international engagement was meeting with the foreign ministers of the Quad countries jointly and in separate sessions.

Tensions build up over conflict with Pakistan and Russian oil purchases

Despite close ties and often being perceived as ideological allies, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi downplayed Trump’s role in brokering a ceasefire after a brief India-Pakistan military conflict triggered by the April 2025 massacre of mostly Hindu tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir. But Pakistan openly courted Trump and even advocated for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Economic tensions followed, with the Trump administration imposing tariffs on India over its discounted purchases of Russian oil, further straining ties between the two countries.

“In India, there is some skepticism about U.S. policy and predictability,” said Malik, who heads the India chapter of The Asia Group advisory firm in the U.S. He said what has happened in the past year between India and the U.S. “can’t be forgotten or erased easily.”

When the Iran war broke out in February, the U.S. stepped up engagement with Pakistan, which positioned itself as a mediator between Washington and Tehran, deepening unease in New Delhi. Trump’s recent, high-profile visit to China has only added to India’s discomfort.

India-U.S. relations are challenging “due to a few structural tensions and Trump only brought them to the fore,” said Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“New Delhi’s foreign policy, increasingly colored by its domestic politics, has become more black-and-white in the last decade, as evidenced by its deep discomfort with the U.S.’s ties with Pakistan and its moves toward detente with China,” Donthi said.

Experts say these shifts reflect the growing complexity of India-U.S. relations, rooted in shared strategic interests, yet increasingly shaped by competing priorities and a shifting geopolitical landscape.

“New Delhi is likely to exercise strategic patience and wait for Trump to leave office,” Donthi said. “India would hope that the bipartisan consensus on India in the U.S. survives his term and that it can start building on that again.”

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Hussain reported from Srinagar, India.

At least 24 workers either managed to dash out of the building, where they mostly slept on the ground floor, or were rescued after the it crumbled to the ground around 2:30 a.m. in a crowded neighborhood of budget hotels, cafes, spas and rural houses outside a former U.S. Air Force base, officials said.

A Malaysian tourist died and another guest was injured in a lodging house, which was partly hit by debris from the collapsing building in Angeles City in Pampanga province, Fire Superintendent Maria Lea Sajili said.

Relatives of those trapped under concrete slabs, twisted iron bars and aluminum scaffoldings and other debris prayed and wept as they waited for word from about 700 rescuers gingerly scouring the rubble pail to create space for them to safely move into the collapsed structure.

“This is the worst day of our lives,” Joamel Angcao, an 18-year-old student, told The Associated Press as she and other siblings waited for word on their parents, who were among those trapped.

Her parents were tending to their food and coffee cart positioned beside the building when it tumbled down. The parents had struggled through poverty to send her and another sibling to school, Angcao said, tears welling in her eyes.

John Carlo Villarente, a young plumber, said that he stepped out of the building about two hours before it collapsed after heavy rains and fierce wind to have a drink.

“I was so shocked, there were people inside, including my nephew,” Villarente told The AP. “We ran and tried to help but we were not allowed to ger near because people said it was very dangerous.”

Randy Alapide, a 41-year-old plumber who was off-duty when the accident unfolded, said he rushed back to the scene and helped rescuers locate trapped workers by drawing a map to pinpoint their location. “I know three of the missing. They are breadwinners and they have families waiting for them,” Alapide said.

Sajili said two of the trapped workers were located alive by rescuers but it was taking time to pluck them out safely. Ambulance vans, firefighters and police lined up waiting for the two to be extricated.

Nearly 200 police officers were helping in the rescue, which would proceed overnight “until all are accounted for,” regional police director Brig. Gen. Jess Mendez said.

Angeles City hosted one of the largest U.S. Air Force bases outside of the American mainland until it closed in the early 1990s, helping develop Angeles and outlying cities and towns into entertainment and commercial hubs in the main northern Philippine region of Luzon.

The former American air base, now a bustling industrial and tourism enclave called the Clark Freeport Zone, lies about about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Manila.

That's because Democrats, in many states, can draw partisan political lines only if they evade constraints — some self-imposed — on their ability to counterpunch.

In Colorado, New Jersey, New York and Washington, redistricting commissions draw boundaries that are not supposed to benefit either party. Democrats will have to gain voters' permission to nullify those politically popular bodies and replace their balanced maps with ruthlessly gerrymandered ones to match what Republicans did after President Donald Trump last year demanded a sweeping redrawing in Republican-controlled states in an attempt to help his party keep its House majority.

If the Democrats get a detail wrong in their process, courts could unwind the new maps. That is what happened in Virginia this month when the state Supreme Court invalidated voter-approved maps that would have given Democrats four more winnable seats. The court found the Democratic-controlled legislature did not follow the correct procedure when it placed the measure on the ballot.

“It's going to be expensive, it's going to be unpopular, and it's going to be a challenge for them to do what they want,” said Adam Kincaid, executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust.

The next census will present another challenge for Democrats

Democrats remain favored to win control of the House this year despite recent setbacks in redistricting. The most consequential was the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, allowing Republicans to swiftly eliminate at least three majority-Black House seats in the South that Democrats now hold.

Strategists for both parties expect Democratic gains in November that are typical when the party of an incumbent president faces voter backlash in a midterm election. In Trump's first midterm in 2018, for example, Democrats added 40 seats in the House.

But a 2028 House majority looks much harder for Democrats.

Presidential votes are usually much closer than midterm ones. Under the recent high court decision, Republicans next year could easily eliminate another five or more majority-minority Democratic-held districts in states whose maps were already set for 2026. They can likely gain an additional four seats by redrawing maps in Indiana, where some state lawmakers balked last year and were punished by Republican primary voters, and in Kentucky and Kansas, where Democratic governors who have been able to block Republican maps will reach their term limit.

The mapmaking pressure is high for Democrats to try to boost their chances of winning the House in 2028 as the party also hopes to take back the Senate and White House that year. Only then could it try again to pass a national ban on partisan gerrymandering that could rob the Republicans of what could become a durable advantage for them.

After the 2030 census, House seats will be reallocated to states seeing the fastest population gains, which are mainly ones that Republicans control. They are projected to pick up as many as 10 seats, largely at the expense of Democratic strongholds such as California and New York.

“Looking at the next census makes me all the more stressed to ban partisan gerrymandering at the federal level,” said John Bisogano, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Constitutional and legislative barriers confront Democrats

Republicans face some of their own legal hoops in the redistricting competition.

In Florida, their redrawn congressional map hinges on the conservative-majority state Supreme Court throwing out that state's constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.

But Democrats face far more obstacles and need to execute a series of complex political maneuvers.

Only in Illinois and Oregon would Democrats have a chance to draw additional winnable seats without many impediments.

Among Colorado, New York and New Jersey, Democrats could rack up close to double-digit gains in House seats, but only if they likewise thread the needle to change their constitutions.

In Maryland, Democrats who balked at redrawing their map this year are moving to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would give them permission to eliminate the state’s sole Republican House seat in 2028.

Democrats note that their voters have embraced the idea of ditching the reform approach they once favored to let their party match the redistricting by Trump and his fellow Republicans. The biggest success came in California, where a ballot measure to adopt a new map to pick up as many as five seats easily passed last year. Virginia's map passed more narrowly, but Democrats there remain resolute about implementing the 10-1 map in 2028.

In Washington state, Democrats' only chance to revise the constitution and redraw maps would be to win a two-thirds majority of the Legislature in November, a tall order. Because Democrats expect to do well in November, they re also hoping to win a handful of state legislative seats that would give them control of maps in states such as Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker has floated new maps to let Democrats win up to six seats in a state where Republicans now hold six of the eight House districts. Such an aggressive move is necessary, he said, because of what Republicans are doing elsewhere.

“If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned that when you know a knife fight is coming — bring a bazooka,” he said.

Redistricting reforms of the past are complicated to overcome

In other states, Democrats are confident their voters will be behind them.

“People in New York are pretty fired up given what they've seen around the country,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who is close to the top Democrat in the U.S. House, Hakeem Jeffries, also from New York.

But New York voters cannot enter the redistricting fight until next year because the state constitution will need to be amended by a statewide vote to permit it. That can happen only after the Democratic-controlled Legislature votes twice over two years to put the question on the ballot.

Likewise, Colorado Democrats embraced the idea of an independent commission redrawing lines in their state. Though many have had second thoughts, they cannot act until voters lift the commission's map this fall and permit a Democratic redrawing for 2028.

Their proposed initiative faces a challenge at the state Supreme Court. Even if it is approved for the ballot, it could face a rival measure from Republicans to redraw the map to favor conservative candidates.

“Republicans are stealing votes of Americans all across the country, and Colorado voters will say: ‘Hey, you can’t do that,'” said Curtis Hubbard, a spokesman for Democrats pushing the Colorado redrawing.

Democrats see an existential threat in the GOP's rush to gerrymander

Colorado is the most visible example of Democrats' about-face on redistricting.

Republicans won control of numerous statehouses in the 2010 midterm election and used that to redraw maps across the country, giving them an edge in the U.S. House. Democrats responded by embracing nonpartisan redistricting, a push that reached its zenith in 2018 when Colorado Democrats rallied behind a measure creating such a body in their state.

Now, both candidates for the party's nomination for governor support overruling the commission. Former Democratic President Barack Obama, who made redistricting reform a key pillar of his platform, has also had a change of heart, calling for aggressive map redrawing nationwide.

Nicholas Stephanopolous, a Harvard law professor, said it is clear that Democrats view Trump’s redistricting push as an existential threat.

“I think they’re going to move heaven and earth to respond,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.