Critics have warned that the new panels replacing the ones exhibited since 2010 whitewash the history of slavery. They were installed Wednesday morning in the same area where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776.

“Overnight, under the cover of darkness, the federal government removed panels at the President’s House that told a thorough history of Philadelphia,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said Wednesday. “It was allowed to do this by the decision of the federal court, but that it did so at night shows it understands this action is shameful, that it violates community trust.”

The original panels were put in place in 2010 and told the story of how nine slaves lived in the home along with George and Martha Washington in the 1790s, when Philadelphia was briefly the nation’s capital.

Those panels were updated after President Donald Trump issued and executive order in 2025 that called for federally owned or controlled historic sites to not to display information to “disparage Americans past or living” and to focus on the “greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people.”

A lower court forced the federal government in February to remove the new panels after they already had been installed earlier this year. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit of Appeals reversed that and ruled July 3 that the work could continue.

A government website with images of the new panels showed they would still have information on enslaved people who lived in the home. It would also include details on the abolitionist movement, how the Constitution treated slavery, the end of slavery in Pennsylvania and how Washington and his successor, John Adams, viewed and treated slavery, as well as information about the 20th century Civil Rights movement.

However, the replacement panels do not include some of detail in the earlier ones, such as a map of slave trade routes and a timeline on slavery. They also avoid critical headlines such as “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”

The city of Philadelphia had sued the federal government over the removal of information previously included in the panels. It argued that the federal government must consult with the city before making changes to the President’s House Site. Justice Department lawyers argued the administration alone can decide what stories are told at National Park Service properties.

Parker said the city intends to seek a rehearing “on serious legal issues” presented in the appeals court decision.

Michael Coard, an attorney and founder of Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), said the Philadelphia-based history preservation group continues to work on legal strategies opposing the Trump Administration’s changing of the panels.

ATAC joined the city’s lawsuit.

Trump is attempting to rewrite history, Coard told reporters Wednesday near the site.

“What if there’s a president next time who doesn’t like the Liberty Bell because the Liberty Bell was used by abolitionists to support the end of slavery?” he said. “What if there’s a president who doesn’t like the Statue of Liberty because too many immigrants come in? Do we remove the Statue of Liberty?”

The Associated Press left an email Wednesday seeking comment from the National Park Service.

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Williams reported from Detroit.

It's not clear whether ICE will quickly reverse course and resume most stops, which have been a key tool in Trump's immigration crackdown.

Ending those stops, Trump wrote, would be “playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

“We CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media site.

Hours after Trump made his views known, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued his own statement saying people illegally in the country would be “arrested and deported wherever they are.” But Mullin didn't directly say whether ICE officers will be allowed to carry out traffic stops.

ICE's enforcement tactics are coming under renewed criticism after three people died during encounters with federal officers within a week. In Florida, a 28-year-old man was killed Tuesday after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

Before that, two motorists were shot and killed by ICE officers — one in Texas last week and another in Maine on Monday.

After the Maine killing, Trump administration officials told ICE officers to suspend most vehicle stops, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

Since the immigration crackdown began, federal officers confronting drivers have opened fire several times, saying the drivers’ vehicles had posed a danger. Policing experts have long said that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

There have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. At least four of them involved people in vehicles, a trend so troubling that Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine urged Department of Homeland Security leaders “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

Two shootings in a week, she said Wednesday, “raise very serious questions” and warrant a halt in that approach for the time being.

ICE has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers. It says people being sought are increasingly staying in their homes, and it often blames immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge.

ICE officers say that means they’re forced to find other ways to make arrests.

DHS says the man killed in Maine came to the US illegally

More protests are planned for Wednesday, a day after hundreds gathered to remember Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, the 25-year-old Colombian national who was shot in his car Monday.

Durán Guerrero illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border, DHS said Wednesday. Advocacy groups said that when he was killed, he was authorized to work in the U.S.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said the Homeland Security secretary told him on Monday that ICE officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it wasn't for the person who was shot.

When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone who came from a home under surveillance, the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.

It its statement Wednesday, DHS said Guerrero was released into the U.S. after crossing the border.

The department didn't answer questions about the agent who shot him.

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions about what happened.

Maine shooting puts a spotlight on ICE

Outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting of Durán Guerrero a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

In Wednesday’s social media post, Trump told ICE to be “judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters that the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.

Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills, said ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency if it can’t be fixed.

Mills, who has criticized ICE before, said Wednesday that the agency needs changes “before more families are robbed of a loved one.”

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Whittle reported from Biddeford, Maine. Associated Press reporters Jack Brook in New Orleans, Michael R. Sisak in New York, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Elliot Spagat in Park City, Utah, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

The shipwreck occurred on Tuesday near Bardaa Island, off the coastal city of Tobruk, according to Coast Guard authorities in eastern Libya. They said 10 survivors managed to swim to the island to save themselves. The search for others continues, the Coast Guard said.

It was the latest tragedy off Libya, one of the main departure points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and reach European shores for a better life there. Last month a shipwreck off eastern Libya left 51 migrants dead or missing.

Even though Libya was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed its longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, the country has over the years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

Smugglers usually pack Europe-bound migrants into small and unsafe boats, with thousands dying during the perilous sea journey.

More than 800 migrants were reported dead or missing in the central Mediterranean route between Jan. 1 and May 16 this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. Last year saw more than 1,300 migrants perish or go missing on that route, it said.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

Buffett told CNBC that Gates' association with Epstein was “distasteful," but the 95-year-old investor suggested that Gates' actions weren't much different from mistakes he himself had made over the years in hiring the wrong person or in choosing friends.

“No one bats a thousand in the business of choosing people," Buffett said on CNBC.

Buffett read up on Gates' ties to Epstein

Buffett said he “read a great deal since Jan. 1 in terms of what happened with Bill and Epstein. And I have read his remarks to Congress given under oath, and I read the cross-examination.” He noted that Gates eventually ended his relationship with Epstein.

Buffett said Gates wasn't surprised by the decision Buffett announced Tuesday to eventually donate all the rest of his $140 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to foundations associated with his family and his three children, Howard, Susie and Peter. Gates flew to Omaha a few weeks ago and spent several hours talking with Buffett. The two hadn't spoken much since before additional details about Gates and Epstein started to come out when the federal government began releasing files from the Epstein investigation.

Gates has said that he only met with Epstein because he thought it might help him raise money for charitable causes, and he didn't know about Epstein's ongoing crimes.

Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, was found dead at the Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019. His death was later ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner.

Buffett said in 2024 that he planned to cut off donations to the Gates Foundation after he died and let his three children decide how to distribute the rest of his fortune.

In other news from the CNBC interview,, Buffett revealed that he recently broke his leg and underwent surgery for it, but he said he is recovering well.

Drastically increasing donations to give away his fortune by 2034

The Gates Foundation didn't immediately respond after Buffett's interview on Wednesday, but a day earlier the foundation thanked Buffett for donating more than $47 billion since 2006. The Gates Foundation plans to close in 2045 after distributing the rest of Gates' fortune.

Buffett said he wants his own money to be distributed even quicker than he has previously indicated: by the end of 2034. To do that, he will have to drastically increase the amount he donates every year, to more than $17 billion annually.

Right now he is giving roughly $6 billion to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the foundations his children run: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the Novo Foundation. The majority of that is going to the foundation named in honor of his late wife, which may quickly become one of the world's largest such organizations. Buffett also traditionally gives additional gifts to his family foundations around Thanksgiving each year.

He has said that after his death, a new foundation will be created to distribute the rest of his shares and that his children will have to agree unanimously on where to donate them. He wants his children to be able to make those decisions before they die and his oldest daughter will be nearly 81 in eight years.

Buffett's donations may affect his successor's support

The accelerated pace of Buffett's plan to give away his fortune over the next eight years rather than doing it over the 10 years following his death will mean that his successor at Berkshire Hathaway, Greg Abel, won't be able to count on the support of Buffett's family as the company's biggest shareholder for as long as he thought.

Nevertheless, Buffett said he believes it's clear that Abel is the right man to lead the conglomerate he built, and “that becomes more evident by the day.”

However, Buffett did note that Berkshire's big investment in Google's parent company, which has grown in value considerably over the past year, is one he initiated and not an investment Abel picked, though Abel did agree on it. Just last month, Berkshire agreed to invest another $10 billion in Alphabet after previously tripling its stake in the company.

More people have favorable views of China than the U.S. in 25 out of the 36 countries and territories that were surveyed, including Canada and Mexico. The poll was conducted from February to May, a period when the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.

In only six countries do people still see the U.S. more positively than China, according to the findings released Wednesday.

Views in 22 out of the 36 countries and territories also are more favorable of Chinese leader Xi Jinping than U.S. President Donald Trump, including in Canada, Mexico and major European powers including France, Germany and the U.K. However, people in many of the countries have low confidence in both men.

It marks the first time in the roughly 20 years Pew has been tracking global opinions that China has been viewed more positively than the U.S., said Laura Silver, associate director of Pew's Global Attitudes Research and one of the researchers on the study. Views of Beijing and Washington have been very similar at some points in the past but have not been significantly more favorable for China until now, she said.

The shift follows the COVID-19 pandemic becoming a distant issue and as global views of the U.S. have soured, Silver said.

“There was just an actual relationship between the outbreak of the war and the sense that the U.S. is just not contributing to peace and stability and that people have less confidence in Donald Trump," she said.

Trump's demands to control Greenland, the American military raid that captured Venezuela's then-leader Nicolás Maduro, and the U.S. handling of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza also have led to low approval in many countries, Silver said.

“The U.S. has done a lot in terms of global engagement in recent months to years that is not being perceived positively internationally,” she said.

Aside from benefiting from the fading memory of the pandemic, China appears to have gained from comparison with the U.S., Silver said.

“By comparison, we know that China is seen to be a more reliable partner in many places. It’s more likely to be seen to contribute to global peace and stability,” the researcher said.

Notably, those in some U.S. allied countries have drastically shifted their views in recent years, such as Canada. In the new survey, only 33% of Canadians have positive views of the U.S., down from 57% in 2023. Over the same period, their favorable opinions of China rose from 14% to 44%.

Trump slapped a barrage of tariffs on Canadian goods last year, and even claimed that Canada could be the “the 51st state.”

Major European countries — including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy — all have switched their opinions toward the world's two largest economies.

People in the U.K., where about 6 in 10 held positive views of the U.S. in 2023, now view China and the U.S. similarly. Three years ago, the spread was 32 percentage points in Washington's favor.

Of the six countries where people have more favorable views of the U.S., Israel leads the way. About 8 in 10 Israelis view the U.S. positively, compared with 19% for China.

The other five countries are Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines and Poland. Still, even their views of the U.S. have dimmed over recent years.

The U.S. is still ahead of China when it comes to government respect for personal freedoms, though the gap is shrinking, the Pew report says.

While China's standing has improved somewhat, the narrowed divide is “driven largely by the fact that people in nearly every country surveyed have become less likely to say the U.S. government respects its people’s personal freedoms” since 2021, when Pew last asked the question.

For the new study, Pew surveyed more than 42,000 people across 35 countries plus the West Bank and east Jerusalem, with margins of error ranging from 2.3 to 5.5 percentage points depending on the country.

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Associated Press journalists Linley Sanders, Emily Swanson and Kevin S. Vineys contributed to this report.

Firefighters arrived to find a working garage fire. Crews quickly attacked the blaze, searched the residence to confirm no occupants were inside and extinguished the fire before it could spread further into the home, officials said. No injuries were reported.

Erica Miller said she woke up in the middle of the night to a wall of smoke.

“Just hit with a big black wall of smoke,” she said.

There were five kids in the house and two dogs who also escaped safely, but are shaken up.

The fire is believed to have originated from a charging e-bike in the garage, SJFR said.

She said they saved up for years to buy the e-bike for her son and they had it plugged in there for two years with no problem, until Wednesday morning.

While the house is majorly damaged, there were property restoration companies at the house. Miller said she hopes that the home they bought in 2022 is still salvageable.

“A wave of emotions, very upsetting, very frustrating,” she said.

Officials urged residents to use manufacturer-approved chargers, avoid charging lithium-ion batteries unattended or overnight, and keep them away from combustible materials whenever possible.

The 47-page outline, called a budget resolution, is a long-shot undertaking designed to supplement Pentagon funding for the Iran war and address Trump’s top priority of changing voter registration requirements. A more ambitious effort was narrowed to address concerns of conservatives about adding to the deficit. The resolution does not seek any offsets to pay for the new spending.

House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed ahead after meeting with Trump at the White House this week in what will be the Republicans’ calling card to voters this fall heading into the midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake.

“Safeguarding American elections and strengthening our national defense are the most basic responsibilities of Congress,” Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson welcomed the chance to again use a legislative process that will allow Republicans to overpower Democratic objections and eventually approve legislation on a party-line majority vote, saying the Democrats won’t be able to block the GOP priorities “any longer.”

Democrats, however, have argued against the sharply partisan path, particularly for matters of war funding.

The Budget Committee is expected to consider the outline Thursday, ahead of floor action in the House next week.

Billions of dollars for the Iran war

The bulk of the $95 billion would go for the U.S.-led war against Iran, reflecting the White House's request for supplemental spending to rebuild stockpiles and fund classified programs, among other expenses related to Operation Epic Fury.

The resolution calls for the House Armed Services Committee to craft legislation that will not increase deficits through 2036 by more than $60 billion; the Select Committee on Intelligence, $13 billion; the Agriculture Committee, $12 billion; and the House Administration Committee, $10 billion.

The latter funding would be focused on enacting aspects of an election law overhaul that requires those registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship and is a top Trump priority.

Overall, the plan is on par with a request the White House submitted to Congress last month, as the Iran war drags past four months. But it falls far short of the $350 billion increase the White House proposed in its budget request this year to beef up the Defense Department.

Approving extra war funding will be difficult, even among Republicans supporting the Iran effort, as the nation confronts staggering annual deficits reaching nearly $2 trillion this year.

Trump pushes Congress for voting law changes

Both the House and the Senate would have to pass the same budget resolution to launch the crafting of the party-line bill, which is politically difficult in the Congress where Republicans hold only narrow majority control.

Along with the war funds, the package Republicans are pursuing would include $10 billion for the GOP's effort to impose strict citizenship requirements in line with provisions of the SAVE America Act, which has been a top Trump priority.

Trump has insisted that Republicans approve the elections overhaul bill, which has passed the House but does not have the votes to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. So Republicans are looking to get parts of it through the arduous reconciliation process that allows both chambers to pass a bill with a simple majority.

It's unclear how the budget package would impose or fund voting law changes and if any alterations could be made before the midterm elections, with many state elections processes already underway.

Overall, passage of the package would be a lengthy process, with much of the action taking place after lawmakers return from their August recess and during the heart of election season. House Republicans hope to kick off the effort before they leave town at the end of this month.

Democrats mount opposition to the GOP package

The additional aid for farmers dealing with higher gas and fertilizer prices and retaliatory tariffs has become an election year priority for many lawmakers with large rural constituencies.

But even the addition of that type of farm aid is not likely to be an incentive for Democrats to lend support for what is essentially a Republican-only bill. Democrats are expected to overwhelmingly oppose whatever final product emerges and force Republicans to take votes on scores of difficult amendments.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, the lead Democratic lawmaker on the House Budget Committee, said the GOP’s budget plan would lead to tens of billions of dollars in additional debt to fund what he called the most unpopular war in American history.

“I’m going to fight like hell to make sure taxpayer dollars are being used to lower costs and make life better for American families, not to bankroll Trump’s giveaways to billionaires and endless wars overseas,” Boyle said.

Johnson, of Louisiana, applauded Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and others on the panel for moving swiftly to advance the resolution and unlock what would be Republicans' third reconciliation bill this Congress.

Trump's big tax breaks bill last year and the Homeland Security funding bill this year both passed largely along party lines.

Arrington said several factors contributed to the decision not to offset some of the new spending Republicans will seek. First, the Trump administration’s call for more defense spending was winnowed to just meeting replenishment needs during a time of war. Second, he was concerned that some of the savings generated in last year’s party line bill could be relitigated and stripped out if the Senate Finance Committee had been instructed to find offsets.

Republicans could have tried to work with Democrats to pass more defense spending through the regular appropriations process or through an emergency supplemental spending bill, but that would require bipartisan support to get through the Senate. And Democrats likely would have sought commensurate spending increases for non-defense priorities.

“There’s no doubt that Democrats would exact a big price,” Arrington said. “… We avoided that, so I would say in this moment, with this scenario, that’s a win.”

Instead, Les Bleus had no answers in a 2-0 semifinal loss at the home of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday in what is presumably coach Didier Deschamps' final appearance on soccer's biggest stage.

Deschamps, who has said this would be his last World Cup, won a title as a player in 1998 and again as a coach eight years ago in Russia before leading France to the final in 2022 in Qatar. Argentina won that championship in a penalty shootout.

“I’ve been lucky as a player to enjoy happy moments,” Deschamps said through a translator, while also saying it wasn't yet time to discuss his future. “Today is not such a moment. But I think we must accept it without forgetting everything that we’ve experienced so far. But today’s feeling is that I am not happy.”

The disappointment reverberated from Texas across the Atlantic Ocean. A number of clashes reportedly broke out in Paris, with incidents between law enforcement and young people also reported in Lyon.

French media lamented that their team had been unable to reproduce the exhilarating performances it had delivered while never trailing in its first six World Cup matches.

L’Équipe, France’s leading sports newspaper, noted that Deschamps’ players had been outplayed in every aspect of the game, “unable to live up to their dreams and to the hope they had inspired.”

Those players didn't disagree, although Mbappé was quick to defend his coach, and said he would play hard for Deschamps in the third-place match against the Argentina-England loser on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.

“Nothing changed about what Didier means to us as a French people. As a manager, as a player, he wrote an amazing story,” said the France captain, who got a quick hug from his coach on the sideline after the final whistle. “There’s one game left for him, so we’re going to try to play the best game for him because he deserves it, and also the fans deserve to have a win and finish third in this World Cup.”

The dangerous playmaking of Mbappé, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise never showed up in what ended up being Spain's sixth clean sheet in seven World Cup appearances this year.

Mbappé's best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.

The 27-year-old Mbappé, who entered the day level with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi for the tournament lead in goals with eight, showed some frustration with a yellow card in the 86th minute. He rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.

“In so many ways, France was missing everything today,” Rayan Cherki said through a translator. “We’ll be back in four years, and we won’t make the same mistakes.”

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Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged. Stocks were nearly evenly split between gainers and losers in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 43 points, or 0.1%, as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

BlackRock surged 7.2% after the company behind some of the most popular investment funds reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Laurence Fink said its iShares funds topped $6 trillion in assets under management during the quarter, roughly doubling in three years.

Bank of New York Mellon rose 2.9% after adding to the spate of strong earnings reports from many of the biggest U.S. banks a day earlier. Cintas climbed 4.4% after the provider of office uniforms, restroom supplies and other products likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts forecast.

They helped offset a drop for Elevance Health, which fell 8.3% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.

Several big technology companies fell sharply, weighing down the market and offsetting gains elsewhere. Nvidia fell 2.2% and Micron Technology slumped 9.3%.

Expectations are high for U.S. companies’ profit growth during the spring. They’ll need to beat them to justify the big moves their stock prices have made, with indexes near their records.

Another report showed inflation slowed last month. This one said inflation at the wholesale level slowed to 5.5% from 6% in May, and it was much better than the acceleration that economists expected.

The day before, a separate report said that inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling was also not as bad as economists expected last month.

Such numbers take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

Following the inflation report, traders see just a 12% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in a couple weeks. That’s down from the nearly 42% probability they saw on Monday, before the inflation reports, according to data from CME Group.

Also helping to pull down expectations was a speech from John Williams, president of the New York Fed. He said that “there are encouraging reasons to expect that inflation has peaked and should edge down in coming quarters.”

That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.55% from 4.58% late Tuesday and from 4.62% the day before.

Still, upward pressure on inflation remains because of the war with Iran, which has seen days of back-and-forth strikes by the United States and Iran across the Middle East.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East because of the U.S. military's blockade to prevent tankers carrying Iranian oil from using the Strait of Hormuz.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” the Revolutionary Guard said.

Oil prices swung near their highest levels in a month because of the war with Iran. The price for a barrel of Brent crude briefly topped $86 in the morning before falling back to $84.93 per barrel, up 0.2% from the day before.

In stock markets abroad, technology stocks helped lead the way as winners of the artificial-intelligence boom gathered more strength following several shaky weeks.

In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 6.2%. Its market is dominated by two huge tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and the index has already had drops of 8.9%, 7.9% and 5.3% so far this month.

In Amsterdam, ASML reported stronger revenue growth for the latest quarter than the bellwether of the chipmaking industry had forecast. CEO Christophe Fouquet said continuing progress in the AI boom has customers accelerating their expansions, and the maker of chipmaking machinery gave a forecast for revenue growth in the summer that topped analysts’ expectations.

The strength helped calm some of the worries that have sent AI-related stocks spinning recently. Chief among them is the possibility that their prices shot too high in the euphoria around AI. Worries have been rising that surging demand for AI chips and data centers may fizzle if they don’t produce enough profits and productivity to make all the investments worth it.

In China, stocks rose 1.4% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after the government said the world's second-largest economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace last quarter, down from the 5% growth rate at the start of the year.

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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

One person was pulled from the water but later died, and 16 others were rescued Tuesday afternoon after the boat took on water and capsized in what witnesses described as “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said. A dog on board also died.

Search teams were using thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling to guide their efforts, the department said Wednesday. By Tuesday evening, authorities had been searching the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people suffer a loss of dexterity in minutes, which can be dangerous or deadly when someone is trying to escape a sinking watercraft.

Some of the swells on the bay were up to 5 feet (1.5 meters), said Lt. Joseph England of the Richmond Police Department, who responded to the scene.

"The wind was coming underneath the Golden Gate and blowing toward Alcatraz,” England said Wednesday. “If you have a smaller vessel and you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re hitting those swells sideways, it can lead to disaster.”

The vessel was a 50-foot (15-meter) pleasure craft with a cabin and upper deck named Volare, registered out of Stockton, California, said Lt. Mariano Elias, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson. He said the vessel was about 600 yards (about 550 meters) from Alcatraz Island.

The U.S. Coast Guard is leading a search and rescue effort with an 87-foot (26-meter) cutter named the Barracuda, other vessels and a fixed-wing aircraft, said Petty Officer Kenneth Wiese.

Wiese said the Coast Guard has been searching nonstop since Tuesday for the missing people and that it hadn’t yet determined how long crews will search before switching to a recovery effort.

“We want to consider every single option,” he said.

England said no one was aboard by the time his department’s marine unit reached the vessel. The crew found the boat nearly submerged, with cushions, chairs and other debris floating nearby.

Initial callers reported what appeared to be smoke coming from the boat, but San Francisco police officers who first reached the vessel determined it was steam.

The boat departed at or near the St. Francis Yacht Club, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island State Park in the bay before the apparent return trip, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder. A person who answered the phone at the yacht club on Tuesday said he had no information. Angel Island is the largest natural island in the bay, with sweeping views of the city.

The maximum-security federal prison at Alcatraz Island, which closed more than 60 years ago, was infamously inescapable due to the chilly waters and strong currents that surround "The Rock.” Designed to hold the nation’s intractable criminals, including Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, it is now a popular tourist attraction. The island is about a mile (1.6 kilometers) off San Francisco.

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Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Ed White in Detroit; and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.

Starmer, who leaves office next week, bid farewell to the boisterous weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions where he has traded barbs with opposition politicians and defended his government’s record. On Monday, he will step down as prime minister after losing the support of his Labour Party, handing over power to a new Labour leader, Andy Burnham.

“Every prime minister knows when they take up the torch that the day will come when they have to pass it on,” said Starmer, who has spent six years as leader of the Labour Party and two as prime minister.

“This is the end of my political journey,” he said, though he plans to remain a backbench lawmaker for now.

Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election doesn't have to be held until 2029.

PMQs is a weekly ritual in British politics, where the prime minister answers questions, from opposition party leaders and others, on topics they don’t know in advance. A test of leaders’ ability to think on their feet, it is derided by some as political pantomime that generates more noise than insight.

Starmer's valedictory session was a gentler affair, mixing seriousness and political criticism with personal tributes and jokes about an upcoming special election pitting Reform UK leader Nigel Farage against the comedy candidate Count Binface.

Starmer opened by saying he was “horrified” at the killing last week of the former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe. Counterterrorism police are investigating it as murder.

Starmer called it “chilling” that three serving or former members have been killed during his 11 years in Parliament, and urged politicians to “do more to defend our democracy.”

Instead of mentioning upcoming meetings with ministers, as he has every other week, Starmer said that he had “an important appointment with the television” later when England faces Argentina in a World Cup semifinal.

Kemi Badenoch — the fourth leader of the opposition Conservative Party since 2022 — cautioned Labour that changing leaders is no “silver bullet,” and recalled how Starmer had predicted she wouldn't last a year in charge.

“Life comes at you fast,” Badenoch said.

Starmer went from landslide to ouster in two years

Starmer was elected in a landslide in July 2024, but is quitting after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

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

After Labour was hammered in May’s local elections, Starmer gave in to mounting pressure from the party and announced that he would step down. Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is the only candidate in the contest to replace him and will be announced as the new Labour leader on Friday.

On Monday, Starmer will go to Buckingham Palace and announce his resignation as prime minister to King Charles III, who will then ask Burnham to take over.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer said that he was proud of his government’s domestic policy achievements, including stronger protections for working people, a reduction in child poverty, a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies, and higher defense spending.

“I am proud to leave this country in better shape than I found it,” he said.

He got praise for supporting Ukraine

Starmer has been lauded for his role on the world stage, especially in repairing relations with Britain's European Union neighbors after Brexit and galvanizing international support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.

On Tuesday, Starmer attended Bastille Day celebrations in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him the Legion of Honor in recognition of his work with France on European security. The two countries have led efforts to assemble an international coalition to underpin peace in Ukraine if there is a ceasefire.

Ukraine's cause has wide political support in Britain, and Badenoch praised Starmer for inviting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London immediately after the Ukrainian leader was berated by U.S. President Donald Trump and other administration officials in the White House last year.

Starmer recalled how people had gathered at the gates of Downing Street to see Zelenskyy, and “the moment he got out of the car and hugged me, they cheered from the top of their voices, the British people, to tell President Zelenskyy exactly what they thought of him and the way he had been treated” in the Oval Office.

The rambunctious House fell silent as Starmer ended by thanking colleagues, staff, civil servants and all those “who struggle to be seen or heard — you’re the reason I came into politics.”

He said “I love you” to wife Victoria and two teenage children, who were watching from a viewing gallery, before a final: “Goodbye.”

Lawmakers from all sides of the chamber applauded, with many rising for a standing ovation. That drew a reprimand from Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who reminded them that cheering is allowed in the House of Commons, but clapping is against the rules.

Blanche insisted the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was scrapped after fierce bipartisan backlash, was “not moving forward.” But lawmakers, including Republican Sen. John Cornyn, raised concerns the Trump administration has yet to commit in writing that the fund is dead and it could therefore conceivably be resurrected.

“Just to be clear, the president of the United States, who's a plaintiff in this lawsuit, has not agreed in writing to delete the ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ and there’s no guarantee that he won’t raise it in the future?” Cornyn asked. Blanche replied that Trump has no power over the fund, which was to have been administered by the Justice Department but never launched.

Cornyn's questions were closely watched given that Blanche requires the support of all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and the Texas senator has yet to commit to back him.

The hearing arrived at a tumultuous time for the Justice Department, with mass firings and resignations hollowing out the workforce and Democrats and other critics raising alarms that Blanche is still functioning as the president's personal lawyer. He has led the department on an interim basis since April, functioning as the public face of the maligned and later-withdrawn fund and accelerating investigations into perceived Trump adversaries

Those actions, along with the flawed release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, received fresh scrutiny Wednesday as Blanche testified for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.

“You’re in charge of a Department of Justice I don’t recognize, prosecuting the president’s political enemies, firing rank-and-file prosecutors and FBI agents,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told Blanche. “These are some actions that in your previous confirmation hearing before us, you said you would not take.”

Blanche insisted he has presided over a course correction at the department following investigations into Trump during the Biden administration.

“In recent years, we watched the Justice Department turned against many of you and a former president, and it damaged the public’s faith in justice,” Blanche argued. “We are fixing that."

Blanche will need the support of each Republican on the panel

Key to Blanche's confirmation are Cornyn, who in May lost his primary, and Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has opted not to seek reelection. Entering the final stretches of their Senate career, both men are seen as more likely than before to split from Trump and have been outspoken critics of the fund that the Trump administration created to compensate people who feel unjustly persecuted by the criminal justice system and then quickly withdrew.

Tillis has said he will not support for attorney general anyone who equivocates on the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the congressional certification of Trump's election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Democrats tried to press Blanche on his views on the Jan. 6 violence and Trump’s pardons of the more than 1,500 people who were charged, including those who were convicted of violently attacking police.

He appeared to grow frustrated as Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse criticized him for comments he made at a political conference earlier this year in which he spoke of the Jan. 6 pardons as an accomplishment for the administration. Blanche replied that he has “never said that any sort of violence against law enforcement is appropriate.”

“He has the absolute right to pardon anybody for any reason he sees fit,” Blanche said of the president. “I am not celebrating that. It is a fact.”

With the death of South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, there are 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the panel. If even one Republican on the committee votes against Blanche, it could scuttle his nomination.

Blanche insists the fund is dead. Lawmakers aren't so sure

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund" emerged as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns.

Blanche initially defended the fund during congressional appearances only to reveal later that it was being scrapped, a retreat that followed fierce bipartisan backlash that flared during a tense closed-door meeting he had with lawmakers.

The judge who presided over the case said in a scathing ruling Monday that Trump and his lawyers had manipulated the court system through the lawsuit and subsequent settled. The judge, Kathleen Williams, said Monday she was troubled by Blanche's involvement in the settlement given that he previously represented Trump and sent a copy of her ruling to the New York Bar Association, where an investigation is pending.

“I very much disagree with the judge's insinuations about me, and we're going to do what we can to make that right,” Blanche said.

Blanche also defended a separate element of the settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits and that, he has said, remains on track despite outrage over it even from Republicans. He denied that it placed Trump above the law.

Epstein files are also under scrutiny

Other testimony focused on Blanche's handling of the Epstein files, especially after his predecessor Pam Bondi told lawmakers behind closed doors after her ouster as attorney general that Blanche was the department’s point person on the release of documents from the sex trafficking case into the late financier.

The staggered release, mandated by an act of Congress, was beset by problems, including redaction errors that left exposed nude photos showing the faces of potential victims. Some names, email addresses and other identifying information were either unredacted or not fully obscured. About 1% of the records had redactions that needed to be fixed, he said.

Blanche said though “mistakes were made,” the disclosure of the documents was an exercise in unprecedented transparency.

“I want to make sure that the American people know that this administration, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, has been more transparent than any administration,” he said.

The Justice Department only released additional files after Trump bowed to bipartisan political pressure to sign a law forcing the department to do so.

A former federal prosecutor and key member of Trump's defense team as the Republican battled four indictments between his first and second terms, Blanche arrived at the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. At one point, under friendly questioning from Republican Sen. John Kennedy about whether he and Trump are friends, Blanche responded: “I’m his lawyer,” before quickly correcting himself to say he “was his lawyer.”

He ascended to the top job after Trump ousted Bondi, who had frustrated the White House by struggling to bring successful cases against Trump's political opponents. Blanche has tried to satisfy the president in that regard.

He has appointed a new prosecutor to spearhead a Florida-based investigation centered on former government officials Trump dislikes. The Justice Department under Blanche's watch also secured an indictment of ex-FBI Director James Comey, another Trump adversary, on charges of threatening the 47th president by posting a social media photograph of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47.” Comey has said he assumed the numbers reflected a political message, not a call to violence.

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Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. The 28-year-old was killed after he was hit by a tractor-trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

Here's the latest:

Maine governor says ICE must be reformed or abolished after shooting

Maine’s governor said Wednesday that ICE should be scrapped as a federal agency, if it can’t be fixed in the wake of a fatal shooting in her state.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, said in a letter to the state’s congressional delegation that Congress must act to “require ICE to respect the rule of law and honor our collective security.”

Mills had criticized ICE before, including in January after a surge of enforcement activity in Maine that she said was marred by “lawless, dangerous conduct” by the agency. She said Wednesday the agency must be fixed “before more families are robbed of a loved one.”

She added: “ICE needs to be fundamentally reformed, and if not, then it is time to abolish it.”

Houston Mayor John Whitmire calls for Texas Rangers to investigate fatal shooting there

“We need DHS to allow independent authorities to investigate,” Whitmire told CNN on Wednesday. “The jurisdiction is federal. They control the evidence. We’re asking them to release that to the Texas Rangers.”

Lorenzo Araujo Salgado, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was shot last week while driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston. His death sparked protests in Houston and demands for an independent investigation from Democrats and Salgado Araujo’s family.

On Tuesday, Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz, Jr. formally requested that the Texas Department of Public Safety’s investigative agency conduct an independent and transparent probe.

Mayor Whitmire also told CNN the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should pause ICE vehicle stops for 90 days to review its policies.

Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain calls for a permanent ban on ICE traffic stops

In a statement, he also questioned why the ICE officers involved in the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero weren’t wearing body cameras. LaFountain pointed out that his city’s police officers have been equipped with body cameras for nearly a decade.

“The fact that ICE is swimming in billions of taxpayer dollars and can’t perform a basic function like properly equipping their people is a severe indictment,” LaFountain said. “Corrective action is required immediately.”

LaFountain added that the city is offering mental health services to Durán Guerrero’s family and all residents affected by the shooting.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin: ‘If you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW’

In response to questions about President Trump’s Wednesday morning social media post, Mullin said in a statement that the department’s “#1 goal” is to keep officers safe and get criminals off the streets.

The department didn’t respond to specific questions about whether ICE officers are now able to do traffic stops but Mullin’s statement said people in the country illegally would be “arrested and deported wherever they are.”

“If you are here illegally, LEAVE NOW,” said Mullin. “We remind illegal aliens attempting to evade arrest is dangerous.”

Man fatally shot by an ICE officer in Maine had illegally entered the US, officials said

Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, had illegally entered the U.S. on Sept. 1, 2023, through the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.

He was killed Monday in Biddesford, Maine, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland.

Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him Monday that ICE officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was not for the person who was shot.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said agents were surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country.

When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.

There have been at least 10 deaths involving immigration agents since Trump began deportation push

At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including the one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday that she had urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration, estimated recently that there have been roughly 18 traffic stop shootings during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Questions surround the Maine shooting

Photos showed bullet holes in Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when shooting, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they’re found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.

Maine’s attorney general’s office, which said it is working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

Fatal shooting during immigration operation angers Maine

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national. Advocacy groups said Guerrero, who had a wife and a young daughter, was authorized to work in the United States.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Lindsey Graham’s Senate Judiciary Committee spot draped in black

As the committee convened Wednesday for a confirmation hearing, the late South Carolina Republican’s seat at the rostrum was also marked with a vase of white roses.

Graham had been set to chair the panel in the next Congress. He died over the weekend of a tear in his aorta.

On Tuesday, Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, was sworn in to serve out the remaining months of his term, which expires in January. South Carolina Republicans are standing up a special primary election to pick a new nominee for this fall’s midterms.

High-stakes attorney general confirmation hearing getting underway

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to face bipartisan scrutiny as he seeks the chance to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, when Pam Bondi was fired after struggling to bring successful cases against Trump’s political foes.

Since taking the reins at the Justice Department, Blanche has accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the president’s allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.

Senate to hold hearing for Trump’s pick to head intelligence agencies after weekslong delay

Jay Clayton, President Trump’s pick to head the nation’s intelligence agencies, will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, weeks after Trump abruptly delayed his nomination.

Republicans and even some Democrats have been eager to quickly confirm Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as they’ve expressed concerns about Trump’s interim appointee for the intelligence post, Bill Pulte. Pulte, who has been in the job since June 19, is a former housing official with no known intelligence experience and who used his previous administration perch to target perceived adversaries of the president.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, a Republican, expressed frustration when Trump delayed Clayton’s nomination in a social media post last month, allowing Pulte to take office. Cotton said then that Clayton had been instructed not to appear at a scheduled confirmation hearing, but he rescheduled the hearing three weeks later, with apparent approval from the White House.

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Blanche faces Senate scrutiny with Republican support key to his confirmation as attorney general

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will confront questions Wednesday about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate confirmation hearing that will test President Donald Trump’s grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, during which time he’s accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the Republican president’s allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.

Those actions will receive fresh scrutiny at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Blanche testifies for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.

▶ Read more

Waerenskjold finished just ahead of Olav Kooij, Jasper Philipsen and a host of other riders in a sprint finish that seemed inevitable on the relatively short and flat 161.3-kilometer (100.2-mile) route from Vichy to Nevers in central France.

Pogačar, who stretched his lead to more than 3½ minutes with his third stage win of this Tour on Tuesday, finished among a bunch of riders with his main challenger Jonas Vingegaard to maintain his advantage.

For the 26-year-old Waerenskjold, it was his first stage win, and no one seemed more surprised by it than himself.

“It means everything, it’s my biggest win so far and like I said when I came here, I knew that there are two or three guys that are faster than me but if I’m lucky and I have a good sprint like today then it’s possible,” he said.

From last to first

Waerenskjold finished last among the 175 riders after a crash on the hilly stage to Le Lioran the day before. Early on Wednesday's stage, the Uno-X Mobility rider called the race doctor for treatment on his right hand.

“Sometimes I have really good confidence and I believe in myself, but there’s many, many times where I feel super tired and like it’s impossible to win here," Waerenskjold said. "So yeah, it’s crazy that it happened today.”

Fastest stage ever

With an average speed of 50.9 kph (31.6 mph), the riders set a record for a road stage on the Tour.

Mathieu van der Poel and Valentin Paret-Peintre attacked from the off and were reined in before four riders managed to get away – Julian Alaphilippe, Mathis Le Berre, Nelson Oliveira and Anthon Charmig.

They reached Moulins with 100 kilometers to go with a lead of 1 minute, 15 seconds from the peloton.

Alaphilippe fell behind when they reached the category 4 Côte de Billy-Chevannes, a 1.4-kilometer climb at 5%, leaving three leaders with a gap of 45 seconds going into the last 20 kilometers.

That gap shrank to 19 seconds with 10K remaining, the rest of the riders gathered ominously in a huge bunch just behind, and it was no surprise when the leaders were finally caught with 5.5K remaining.

The peloton slowed with the breakaways back on board as the riders positioned themselves among teammates for the looming final sprint.

Waerenskjold was quickest to react when it got going.

“I thought I was too far back and then it opened up on the right side like it usually doesn’t do, but it was a bit same feeling as my first big win in (Belgian race) Omloop het Nieuwsblad,” the Norwegian said. “That was also like I was too far back and suddenly I’m at the front, and then, yeah it’s unbelievable.”

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

Messi and Mbappé are tied on eight goals for the tournament. Messi is also the all-time top scorer in World Cups with 21 goals.

Stopping him is the biggest challenge for England in Atlanta.

“It’s just incredible his campaign, this tournament, how he carries that team, it’s just absolutely incredible,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Messi. “There are no words ... left for this kind of achievement, the responsibility and the quality that he shows again in this tournament.”

At the age of 39 this could be Messi's last World Cup and he could surpass Argentina great Diego Maradona by winning the trophy for a second time after victory in Qatar in 2022. Maradona led his country to the title in 1986 and was runner-up four years later.

Argentina is aiming to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Brazil in 1958 and 62.

England's star players Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are also in contention for the golden boot with six goals each.

Despite France losing to Spain in the semifinals, Mbappé could still add to his goals tally if he plays in the third-place match against England or Argentina.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in the northwestern part of San Antonio near Interstate 10. Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small twister.

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding were in effect for some areas as the deluge was forecast to continue through Thursday evening. As much as 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some areas before the storms move out, the weather service said.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries from the tornado or the flooding.

The highest rainfall totals so far — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) — have been in Uvalde County, where officials tallied 25 rescues as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, and said more people needed help as river levels rose.

State Rep. Don McLaughlin said that despite a “little lull,” the rainfall wasn't done and waterways could become more dangerous. “The rivers and the creeks are going to be coming up, and they’re going to be coming up again with a vengeance,” McLaughlin said.

Lightning flashed as clouds darkened the landscape across Uvalde, where the typically calm Leona River was swollen and brown water poured over low bridges. The riverbanks were strewn with debris, including branches and grass, plastic bags and a cactus, from a day earlier when the river was several feet higher.

The night had brought booming thunder through a steady rain, swelling the rivers and creeks that ran through or just around the town. The rain would abate, then pummel the small town with heavy drops, before lifting again.

Forecasters warned that hilly terrain in other parts of the region could be especially vulnerable to heavy rain. Flash flood warnings covered parts of Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River last year killed more than 100 people, Kerr County officials said they have been in contact with summer camps and retreat centers where river flooding could happen.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, Weather service meteorologist Monte Oaks said.

Authorities posted videos on Tuesday showing a rescue crew in a boat navigating flooded streets and a vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman.

Oaks said the rain is being fueled with tropical moisture, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean.

“This is called a typical mid-summer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,” said Oaks. “About once every five years, we’ll get socked in with a daily recurrence of heavy rain chances that’s generally produced by a stagnant kind of a pattern with a low-pressure center that’s just not moving very fast.”

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Associated Press writers Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed to this report.

Over 100 wildfires currently are burning in Canada and winds are carrying the smoke southeast. Warnings about dangerous, unhealthy air extended Wednesday from Minnesota through Toronto and into New York. Unusually hot summer temperatures were expected too.

The best advice is to stay indoors to avoid both the smoke and the extreme heat, said Tyler Hasenstein, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

“Those two things coinciding with each other is not good from a health perspective,” he said.

Rangers try to get thousands of campers out of remote Minnesota wilderness

In far northeast Minnesota, rangers were trying to warn people that the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was closed because about 17 fires caused by lightning were burning around the vast wilderness accessible primarily by canoe.

The area was closed Tuesday and rangers estimated anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 people were still inside the 1.1-million-acre (445,000-hectare) wilderness, which is almost the size of Delaware, Superior National Forest spokesperson Joy VanDrie said.

“It’s an arduous job,” VanDrie said of rangers and campers having to canoe for hours or even carry their boats over land to evacuate.

VanDrie didn’t know when the area might reopen. Minnesota officials said some fires in the Boundary Waters will be allowed to burn indefinitely but will be monitored to ensure they don’t threaten people or property.

Even the Canadian Air Force pitched in. They were rescuing two groups of youth campers Wednesday who had crossed the border and appeared to be safe, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said.

Severe drought and heat have led to a busy wildfire season

Dan Westervelt, associate professor at Columbia University’s Climate School, said severe drought conditions combined with heat in Canada and the U.S. have created “a perfect storm for really dry conditions to provide a lot of fuel for these wildfires to burn.” Research shows warming temperatures from burning coal, oil and gas are making fires more frequent and intense.

High levels of fine particulate matter in the air from wildfire smoke may be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as children and people with heart or lung conditions. The particulates can cause shortness of breath, coughing, dizziness or fatigue and aggravate heart and lung diseases and other chronic health issues.

Experts suggest wearing a N95 mask if you have to be outside and keeping your indoor air cleaner by closing windows and running an air purifier or air conditioner.

It's been a particularly busy and deadly fire season in the U.S. About four dozen large fires are currently burning across 15 states, from Minnesota and North Carolina to Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and California, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Prolonged drought and record-low snowpack levels combined to make conditions ripe for rapid fire growth. More than 16,800 people are assigned to fighting blazes across the county. The fires have burned over 5,678 square miles (9,138 square kilometers) — more than the size of Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks combined, the agency said.

Smoke spreads as officials warn wildfires could burn for months

In Minnesota, officials warned large fires could burn for months. In Minneapolis, the high Wednesday was expected to be 96 degrees F (36 C) and temperatures above 90 F (32 C) were expected the rest of the week.

“It could well be we’re having significant fires throughout the summer until we have snow. Snow would be a good thing,” said Patty Thielen, director of the state Department of Natural Resources.

Officials in Michigan and Wisconsin warned residents about air quality issues that could last for days and the problems extended even to Maine, where residents were reporting a yellowish and brownish color in the sky.

The most intense smoke could spread as far south as Washington, D.C., by midday Thursday.

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Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report.

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

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — dropped 0.3% from May, biggest decline since April 2025 and a reversal from a 0.6% uptick the month before. Compared to a year earlier, wholesale prices were up 5.5% in June, decelerating from a 6% increase the month before. Gasoline prices plunged 12% in June but are still up nearly 43% from June 2025, pushed higher by the Iran war. Food prices also dipped in June.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices were up 4.7% from June 2025 and 0.2% from May.

The producer price report came out a day after the Labor Department said consumer prices dropped 0.4% from May to June, the biggest monthly drop in four years. Compared to a year earlier, they were up 3.5% last month, down from 4.2% in May. The June inflation numbers were much cooler than forecasters had expected, reducing pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year. Still, inflation is running above the Fed's 2% target.

In his first appearance before Congress since becoming Fed chair May 22, Kevin Warsh said Tuesday that the central bank has "no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation.''

Energy prices have ratcheted higher since President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passes. Many Americans are already frustrated with the high cost of living, dimming the prospects of Trump's Republican Party in November's midterm elections.

“There’s no near-term pressure on the Fed, but oil is in the driver’s seat over the longer term,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at the online brokerage TradeStation. "Energy saved the day in June, but that might become ancient history if the Strait of Hormuz doesn’t open soon.''

Wholesale prices can offer an early look at where consumer inflation might be headed. Economists also watch it because some of its components, notably healthcare and financial services, flow into the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, index.

Blanche, according to prepared remarks released before the hearing, is expected to tell lawmakers that he and his team are “restoring trust” in the Justice Department. It’s a nod toward complaints from Democrats that he has weaponized the law enforcement institution by pursuing criminal investigations into Trump’s perceived adversaries.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April. During that time, he has accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the Republican president’s allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.

Here's the latest:

Blanche defends Trump’s audit immunity deal

Democrats have repeatedly asked Blanche about part of a deal to resolve Trump’s IRS lawsuit, which granted the president and members of his family protection from tax audits.

While the administration says it has shelved a separate part of the lawsuit deal — a $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies of the president — Blanche has previously said the audit immunity remains on track. That’s despite outrage over it, even from Republicans.

Blanche defended the immunity deal again during the hearing. He denied that it placed Trump above the law.

Key Republican says he’s still undecided on Blanche

After questioning Blanche, Sen. John Cornyn said he still hasn’t made up his mind over whether he will support his nomination for attorney general. If Cornyn votes against Blanche, it could scuttle his nomination.

Cornyn, who in May lost his primary, pressed Blanche during the hearing about the creation of a fund to compensate the president’s allies and a tax immunity deal for the president. Cornyn told CNN afterward that he continues “to have some concerns” and is not “going to make any decisions at this point.”

Another closely watched Republican senator, Thom Tillis, indicated during questioning that he is likely to support Blanche.

Tillis, a key vote for Blanche, criticizes Democrats in his remarks

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina opened his questioning by telling Blanche he “appeared to be doing very well.”

He then launched into a lengthy criticism of Democrats for not speaking out against what he viewed as politically motivated prosecutions under former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“It’s almost as if they weren’t here when the Biden administration did the indictments against President Trump,” Tillis said of Democrats.

Tillis said he wanted “to stick a fork in this turkey of a 1776 fund,” referring to the administration’s shelved “anti-weaponization fund.” He pressed Blanche to commit to helping with language to put into law that the fund cannot be resurrected.

Blanche said he “absolutely” would.

Blanche says he hasn’t been ‘celebrating’ Trump’s mass pardons for Capitol rioters

Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told Blanche that it was a “shameful slap in the face” for Trump to pardon supporters who assaulted police officers during a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Coons asked Blanche if he was proud of Trump’s decision.

“I wasn’t celebrating it,” Blanche said. But he added that he believes it was “very generous” for Trump to issue the blanket pardons to Capitol rioters.

Coons asked Blanche if he knew why Trump fired his predecessor, Pam Bondi, in April.

“I have no idea,” Blanche said. “We all serve at the pleasure of President Trump.”

Coons also asked Blanche whether he would resign if the president asked him to do something unethical.

“That would never happen, but yes: If it were to happen, I’m not going to violate my oath to the Constitution,” Blanche replied.

Whitehouse asks how long Blanche will ‘put up with that Kash Patel character’

Enumerating criticism of Director Kash Patel ’s use of the FBI plane and his global travel, blurring professional responsibilities with leisure activities, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked if the trips were “a pretext for activities like snorkeling and girlfriends.”

Blanche called the question “extraordinarily obnoxious,” going on to say he has “full faith” in Patel.

“Great, you get to own that,” Whitehouse quipped.

According to government emails obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI took pains to note Patel wasn’t on vacation when he visited Hawaii last summer, highlighting his walking tour of the bureau’s Honolulu field office and meetings with local law enforcement.

Left out of the FBI’s releases was an excursion Patel took days later when he participated in what government officials described as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona, an outing coordinated by the military.

‘I’m his lawy

er,’ Blanche says of Trump, before correcting himself

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked Blanche a string of questions about the nature of his relationship with Trump, including whether he considered the president a friend. Blanche represented Trump in multiple cases, including the election fraud case in Washington, before joining the Justice Department under Trump’s second term.

Blanche referred to himself as Trump’s attorney in the present tense, saying, “I’m his lawyer” before correcting himself to say that he “was his lawyer.”

Kennedy also asked Blanche if the president had ever asked him to do something illegal. Blanche said Trump had not.

“Would you do it if he asked you?” Kennedy asked.

“Absolutely not,” Blanche said.

Questioned by Cornyn, Blanche says $1.8B weaponization ‘fund is dead’

That came during an exchange with Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is among the Republicans concerned about Blanche’s nomination and who asked about the status of the settlement fund set up by the Trump administration for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.

“I never started. No money went from the Treasury to any other account,” Blanche said. “There’s no commissioners. It’s not moving forward.”

Last month, a federal judge agreed to extend a court-ordered block on the fund indefinitely. Blanche previously told Congress the government was scrapping its plans in the face of fierce bipartisan backlash.

But plaintiffs’ attorneys haven’t been satisfied with Blanche’s assurances that the fund won’t move forward.

As Cornyn questioned that the agreement notes it remains “enforceable,” Blanche said he had discussed with Cornyn and others “about potentially codifying, so there’s no weaponization fund, which is certainly something that could be done.”

Blanche: ‘I don’t question President Trump’s authority’ on Jan. 6 pardons

Blanche didn’t endorse Trump’s move specifically, but said the U.S. Constitution gives presidents “the authority to pardon anybody for any federal crime.”

Just hours after returning to the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the riot.

Durbin took issue with the decision, saying that “someone should have grabbed him by the arm and said, ‘Stop, you can’t release all of those rioters.’”

“For the president to give a blanket pardon to these individuals is something that I don’t think you can explain to the American people,” Durbin added.

Blanche defends the settlement that granted Trump immunity from tax audits

Durbin pressed Blanche over a deal to end Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns. The Justice Department has faced intense scrutiny over part of the settlement that granted the president immunity from tax audits.

Blanche said such an agreement is “typical” in settlements like that one.

“Nobody is above the law,” Blanche told Durbin. “And when we enter the settlements like that … It doesn’t make any of those individuals above the law.”

Blanche says his heart ‘breaks’ for Epstein’s victims

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who is ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, repeatedly pressed Blanche about whether he would commit to meeting with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.

Durbin noted that 10 victims of Epstein were in the room for Blanche’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“I appreciate them being here today,” Blanche said. “I have never said I wouldn’t meet with survivors.”

“I hope you would do it immediately, or we’re going to hold you to it,” Durbin said.

Blanche said he would be willing to prosecute “anyone who did any harm to any of these victims.”

“My heart breaks for every survivor,” he said.

Blanche defends DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files

Under questioning from the committee’s Republican chair, Blanche acknowledged that the Justice Department made redaction mistakes when reviewing and releasing millions of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Blanche said he takes responsibility for the mistakes that were made, but also said department lawyers who reviewed the documents took pains to protect victims and quickly fixed any errors.

The fallout over the department’s handling of the Epstein files continues to plague the Trump administration.

Blanche said the administration has been “extraordinarily transparent” in releasing the files, despite the department agreeing to release more records only after Congress passed a law forcing it to do so.

‘We are restoring trust’ in the Justice Department, Blanche says

Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, alluded in his opening statement to the criminal cases brought against Trump in the last administration.

Blanche said that “in recent years, Americans watched the Justice Department turn against many of you and a former president, and it damaged the public’s faith in justice.”

He added: “We are fixing that.”

While the Trump administration has said it is determined to end the “weaponization” of law enforcement that it said occurred under the Biden administration, critics argue it has instead turned the agency into a tool of retribution against Trump’s political opponents.

The department under Trump has opened investigations or brought prosecutions against numerous foes of the president, including former FBI Director James Comey.

Blanche highlights the Justice Department’s shifting priorities under Trump

In his opening statement, Blanche touted the Trump administration’s efforts to lower violent crime, stem the flow of illicit drugs, prosecute dangerous cartels and take down fraudsters taking advantage of American taxpayers.

The Justice Department under Trump has moved aggressively to prioritize immigration enforcement and turn up the pressure on cartels. It also created a new division dedicated to tackling fraud in taxpayer-funded programs.

Florida senator highlights Blanche’s pre-Trump career

As a counter to Democrats’ narrative portraying Blanche as loyal only to Trump, Sen. Ashley Moody reminded the committee that the acting attorney general began his career at the Department of Justice as a paralegal.

Moody also detailed Blanche’s years with the Southern District of New York, where she said, “He prosecuted drug traffickers and violent criminals.” She also detailed various awards and commendations he received while in that role.

Watch these 2 Republicans on the committee

The stakes are high for Blanche, who needs the support of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to advance.

Two of those Republicans — Sen. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn — haven’t committed to supporting him.

Tillis has been an outspoken critic of a $1.776 billion fund that the Trump administration created to compensate people who feel unjustly persecuted by the criminal justice system and then quickly withdrew.

Tillis and Cornyn are expected to grill Blanche over a separate element of the settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.

Durbin says Blanche still acts like Trump’s personal attorney

In his opening statement, Sen. Dick Durbin railed against actions taken by the Justice Department under Blanche’s watch, including a move to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the president.

The top Democrat on the committee also condemned the purging of Justice Department employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump and the department’s handling of millions of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.

Durbin accused Blanche of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer, pursuing investigations against the president’s foes while taking steps to aid his allies.

“In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you’ve shown you’re still President Trump’s personal attorney,” Durbin said.

Attorney general confirmation hearing getting underway

Blanche is expected to face bipartisan scrutiny as he seeks the chance to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, when Pam Bondi was fired after struggling to bring successful cases against Trump’s political foes.

Since taking the reins at the Justice Department, Blanche has accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the president’s allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.

Blanche faces Senate scrutiny, with Republican support key to his confirmation as attorney general

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will confront questions Wednesday about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate confirmation hearing that will test President Donald Trump’s grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, during which time he’s accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the Republican president’s allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.

Those actions will receive fresh scrutiny at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Blanche testifies for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.

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The action by DeSantis sets up two executions to take place at Florida State Prison on July 28, with Duckett scheduled to die at noon and Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, at 6 p.m., both by lethal injection.

Occhicone, who is set to become the oldest person put to death by the state in the modern execution era, killed his former girlfriend’s parents four decades ago in Pasco County.

Duckett was convicted of the 1987 death of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.

Duckett, 68, was scheduled to be executed on March 31, but the justices imposed a stay to allow for the completion of DNA testing and a subsequent statistical analysis of the DNA sample.

The testing and analysis of semen and hair samples found on McAbee’s clothes reportedly provided no new evidence to clear Duckett.

The latest warrant for Duckett, 68, came a week after the court agreed with the state that “prolonging the stay is unjustified as Duckett has no substantial grounds to delay execution of his death sentence.”

Duckett’s legal team expressed being “disappointed” by DeSantis’ action, arguing “the state’s own decisions prevented a full and reliable evaluation that could have demonstrated his long-maintained innocence.”

“The inconclusive test results are a direct consequence of the State’s own decisions,” counsel from Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty wrote in a statement. “They chose the laboratory, chose the testing method, and chose expediency over the truth of what happened to Teresa McAbee. Now, they seek to execute our client without the full truth ever being revealed.”

Click here to read the full story on News Service of Florida.

The all-Czech final, during which Noskova wasted five match points and a 5-2 lead in the second set before eventually winning 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 on Saturday, averaged 1.9 million viewers. That was an increase of 48% compared to last year’s women’s final: Iga Swiatek’s 6-0, 6-0 rout of Amanda Anisimova in 57 minutes.

ESPN began its coverage of Wimbledon in 2003 and has had exclusive rights since 2012.

Jannik Sinner’s four-set victory over Alexander Zverev in the men’s final on Sunday averaged 2.4 million viewers, down 16% from 2025, when Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz in four sets.

Overall, it ranked as ESPN’s second most-viewed Wimbledon, with an 18% year-over-year increase, averaging 853,000 viewers per day, the network said. This year’s numbers trailed only the 2019 edition – when Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in a memorable five-set final and Simona Halep beat Serena Williams for the women’s trophy.

Also this year, William’s return to Grand Slam tennis after nearly four years away earned ESPN its biggest audience for a Day 2 at Wimbledon, with an average of 1.8 million viewers — despite being played on a Tuesday afternoon in the U.S.

Italian TV

In Italy, where Sinner has become the country’s most popular athlete, the final in which he earned his fifth Grand Slam title was watched by an average of 4.2 million viewers and earned a 33.8% share, Sky Italia said.

Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz last year had an average viewership in Italy of 5.7 million.

The finals started at 11 a.m. ET in the U.S. and 5 p.m. in Italy.

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

They are among the 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, Meta said it would lay off in May. The lawsuit filed late Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, claims the company used internal AI systems, keystroke and activity-monitoring data, AI token-usage dashboards and algorithmically assisted performance rankings, among other methods, to determine who would be laid off.

Many of these scores and ratings “by design, cannot be accumulated by an employee who is on protected medical or family leave, or whose output is reduced by a disability,” the lawsuit says. Meta, according to the lawsuit, did not account for protected leave when taking employees' scores into account and “did not pause the system for the individualized, leave- and accommodation-neutral review that the law requires.”

As a result, people on protected medical or family leave were disproportionately selected for layoffs, the lawsuit says. Each of the 26 anonymous employees in the lawsuit took protected leave, or requested or received a reasonable accommodation for disability. Though they have been notified of their layoffs, all 26 remain employed by Meta, with separations set to begin July 22.

Many workers were on parental leave

Many of the employees in the lawsuit took pregnancy or parental leave, during which time they wouldn't have worked and thus had their measured output reduced. Others took medical leave — one disclosed a “serious health condition and disability” that was approved by Meta's own provider. But according to the lawsuit, he was “discouraged and deterred from taking that leave by a manager” who warned that doing so would result in his selection for the anticipated layoffs. Meta offered no accommodation for his disability, the lawsuit says.

Meta said in a statement that the claims "lack merit and are not based on facts. Workforce management and organizational decisions were and are made by people, not AI.”

About half the plaintiffs had taken leave for caregiving or pregnancy-related reasons. Eight are women who had taken maternity or pregnancy-related leave, four are men who had taken parental leave and one is a woman who had taken leave to care for a family member and later bereavement leave.

The lawsuit says the layoffs violated several state and federal laws, including the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

Lawsuit cites ‘disparate impact’

The complaint also references “disparate impact liability,” a longstanding civil rights concept that President Donald Trump's administration moved to abandon. Disparate impact, codified in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, holds that facially neutral policies or practices can be discriminatory if they disproportionately burden a protected class of workers and aren’t necessary for the job.

The Trump administration has ordered federal agencies to deprioritize disparate impact liability enforcement, arguing that its use undermines “meritocracy” and encourages the assumption that any racial or gender imbalance in a workforce is the result of discrimination. The order has led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to drop discrimination cases on behalf of some workers.

However, the lawsuit against Meta underscores that companies remain vulnerable to disparate impact litigation in the age of AI despite the Trump administration’s efforts to stamp out its enforcement. Workers are still free to pursue such lawsuits on their own if the EEOC rejects their complaints, and several state laws specifically prohibit disparate impact discrimination.

In the case against Meta, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the company’s “algorithmically assisted selection process, by systematically recording such absences as reduced performance, falls more heavily on women than on men.” That’s because women disproportionately take pregnancy and caregiving leave, according to the lawyers. The lawsuit cites Title VII’s prohibition on employment practices that have a disparate impact, as well as a landmark 1971 Supreme Court ruling that recognized the doctrine.

The plaintiffs' lawyers said in a statement that the lawsuit asks for one thing — preserving the status quo to keep the workers employed pending arbitration. That's because “once these separations are final, the harms are irreversible: employer-subsidized health coverage lost during pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and active medical treatment; time-bound leave rights extinguished; unvested equity forfeited; and immigration consequences triggered.”

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies — have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.

The U.S. first imposed a blockade in April and then lifted it last month after signing the interim deal that paused the fighting and set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues such as Iran’s nuclear program. Those talks have stalled as fighting over the Strait of Hormuz has intensified.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the waterway to shipping traffic — a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.

Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed

The U.S. carried out a wave of strikes, hitting dozens of targets overnight, the military’s Central Command said Wednesday, and then resumed striking Iran during daylight — an unusual move that further signaled the increasing tempo of the attacks.

Within 17 hours of reimposing the blockade on Iranian ports, Central Command said U.S. forces had “redirected” two commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade.

“The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance,” it said on social media.

Among the U.S. military's targets was Greater Tunb Island, which is viewed as a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the attack targeted Iranian defense and missile sites.

Iran took control of three islands — Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb — from what would become the United Arab Emirates in 1971. The UAE has sought to reclaim them.

Some analysts have suggested that if the U.S. seized the islands, they could allow it to control the strait.

The U.S. military said its bombing campaign hit targets along Iran's southern coast in Bandar Abbas, Khormuj, Ahvaz, Qeshm, Bushehr and Kuh-e Stak — a list that includes several coastal towns and another island near the strait.

Another strike targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said the Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and that the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

More than 35 people have been killed and more than 300 wounded by U.S. airstrikes in recent days, said Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Iranian Health Ministry. At least 72 people are hospitalized, he added.

Kermanpour did not break down the figures between civilians and combatants.

The announcement marked the first overall toll given by Iranian authorities for this round of fighting. The number of wounded was far larger than for any other recent violence between Iran and the U.S.

The army said it would make “a decisive response to this aggressive action by the American enemy,” according to state TV.

Missile alert warnings sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday as they faced incoming Iranian fire — a daily occurrence in recent days. Jordan said it shot down three incoming Iranian missiles. Iran claimed attacks on the three nations, all of which host U.S. forces.

U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.

Trump told the Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran would come over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targeted by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.

“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Trump warned.

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America’s attacks.

“The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body’s leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting

The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade passes during peacetime. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.

During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control.

In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route — and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Wednesday — more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.

Analysts with the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday that while a surplus of oil had kept prices low, “much of that room has now been used up.”

“As tensions flare again in the Strait of Hormuz, that room is now smaller and shrinking further as spare capacity has been deployed, demand has compressed, and inventories have been drawn down,” Azim Sadikov and Jean-Marc Natal wrote in a blog post. “Unless inventories are replenished, the world will start from a weaker position when the next shock comes.”

In other developments, the U.S. Treasury said Wednesday that it imposed sanctions on a network of seven people and companies across Iran, Nigeria, Italy and Russia who it accused of helping procure weapons for the Revolutionary Guard.

___

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Fatima Hussein in Washington and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

NHC says it now has a low chance of becoming a tropical cyclone after that time as it moves northeastward along and off the southeastern US coast.

Subsequent slow development of this system is possible while it moves slowly northeastward over the northeastern gulf and or near the southeastern coast of the United States by early next week.

Formation chance over 48 hours is near 0%

Formation chance over the next 7 days is 20%

8:00 AM EDT Wed. July 15th. An area of low pressure is expected to form in the northeastern Gulf this weekend, and now has a low chance of becoming a tropical cyclone after that time as it moves northeastward along and off the southeastern US coast.

Latest information at… pic.twitter.com/VmzUbKxHZg

— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 15, 2026

The fate of the Totsakan band has been a key focus in Thailand's coverage of the blaze, and as residents expressed their sadness, confusion, outrage and demands for compensation on Wednesday, the sister of the group’s late keyboard player struck a particular note of grace.

“If I can be his representative, I think he would say he doesn’t want to see everyone sad and cry,” said Chanyanuch Pudmon, the sister of keyboard player Preutthipong Pudmon, as she and other family members retrieved his body from Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Science. “He would not want everyone to see him as he is now, but please remember his smile on stage, playing music that he loves.”

The fire that broke out Sunday night killed at least 33 people and injured dozens, with 17 hospitalized in critical condition, Erawan emergency services said. Wiroon Supasingsiripreecha, chief of the forensic institute, told reporters Wednesday that most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, while a few died from burn injuries.

What set off the blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar in northern Bangkok and why it caused so many casualties is under investigation. Authorities are looking at whether the venue’s ceiling had especially flammable soundproofing foam, whether its exits were accessible and unlocked and whether the venue was legally registered.

The band played good-time music every Sunday

Totsakan was a house band at the bar, and every Sunday they played the kind of good-time roots music that is popular especially in rural areas where traditional beats are played on modern instruments.

The band’s members were among the first to spy a spark from a circuit breaker that may have set off the blaze that roared across the ceiling, which experts suspect was covered with highly combustible material. People rushed for the few and narrow exits in what they said was total darkness.

The chaos was such that even after the blaze was put under control by firefighters and the injured taken to hospitals, it was unclear who had survived and who had perished. However for the band’s leader and singer, Atipat Wijan -- nickname “Ice” -- a big blow came right away.

In an interview with Thai TV Channel 3 just hours after the flames were extinguished, he recalled how the band’s bass player called him to tell him that Nahatai Sajjalert, the lead female singer nicknamed “Breeze″ — who was also his girlfriend — was undergoing CPR in back of the still-smoldering building.

Ice said he tried helping the EMS team resuscitate her, but she could not be revived.

“She wasn’t burned at all. Her body was completely intact. She just looked like she was peacefully asleep,” he recalled.

Ice said it was originally believed that keyboardist Puttipong -- nickname “Kwang” -- had been found and hospitalized, but that was a misunderstanding. He never made it out of the bar. Nattapat Thamnita, or “Biw,” the band’s drummer, was evacuated in critical condition, but also did not survive.

A fourth band member died Wednesday

Misery extended to Wednesday when the band announced that its other male singer, Thitiwat Kaewkanha, had died in hospital. He was initially feared dead, but had then turned up hospitalized after a day of frantic searching. According to Thai Rath, Thailand’s most popular newspaper, Thitiwat, whose nickname is “Din,” had burns over 80% of his body.

Other survivors and family members of victims of the fire visited a police station on Wednesday to seek compensation, gather belongings and give their testimony.

Natthaphong Lakhorn, 26, was at the beer hall on the night of the fire with four companions. He was sitting near the stage when the fire broke out. He recounted seeing white smoke coming from the stage, which he at first thought was an effect from dry ice before realizing it was the start of a fire.

“When the fire broke, I just ran, and then all power went out,” said Natthaphong, who said that one of his companions, a relative, died in the fire. “It was so hectic."

Natthaphong said he escaped through the back door of the bar near the bathrooms and that there was a security guard there who was using a flashlight to lead people out, contradicting reports from police that the door was not used. He said he did not recall hearing a fire alarm.

Bandages covered both of Natthaphong’s ears and part of his forehead. Before registering with the police, he said that he plans to seek compensation for his injuries.

Kanticha Singkhon, 25, was at the police station to pick up a handbag and other personal belongings of her mother, who died in the fire. With her mother gone, Kanticha said she is now responsible for her younger brother. She said she wanted the bar owners to be the one who reach out to the victim's families “because they would be going back to their hometowns by now. They won’t have time because each victim came from far away," she said.

A lawyer representing the bar owners told local media that survivors and family members will initially receive 10,000 baht (approximately $300) in compensation.

“It’s not enough money for a funeral — I had to take a loan to arrange my mom’s funeral,” Kanticha said. “I have not had any financial arrangements, and no one has contacted me."

___

A previous version of this article included an outdated figure of 24 people in critical condition. It has been corrected to use the updated figure of 15.

——-

Khemmapat Rojwanichkun in Bangkok contributed to this report.

“This operation dismantled a dangerous cartel pipeline flooding Florida communities with cocaine,” Uthmeier said. “Thanks to the outstanding work of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, FDLE, and our Statewide Prosecutors, we have removed 60 kilograms of poison from our streets and are holding these traffickers fully accountable.”

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office detectives, working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement through the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication (SAFE) program, conducted surveillance of a drug trafficking organization and identified a pattern of monthly shipments involving white Freightliner semi‑trucks, officials said.

Investigators observed two members retrieving bags from the semi‑trucks in Wesley Chapel and moving them in a chase vehicle to a handoff with Daniel Cruz Pinales in a Tampa parking lot, according to the announcement.

Pinales was stopped with three suitcases that contained an estimated 60 kilograms of cocaine, which field‑tested positive for the substance. Joaquin Enriquez, Jesus Guadalupe Chan Morales and Arturo Carlos were taken into custody without incident, officials said.

The defendants — Pinales, Carlos, Enriquez and Morales — face charges of trafficking in cocaine (400 grams to 150 kilograms) and conspiracy. Under the current charges, they face a mandatory minimum of 15 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.

The investigation is ongoing and authorities said more charges and arrests are expected.

Amazon, which was founded by Jeff Bezos, said that it would partner with South African internet provider Herotel to launch a new service in the country of 62 million people. Amazon said that it was its first satellite internet agreement on the African continent.

No financial details were initially disclosed.

Amazon's announcement follows Musk's bitter criticism of the government in his country of birth. The world's richest man has said that South African regulations have prevented him from launching Starlink there because he's white, and has accused the government of racism.

He was referring to South Africa's affirmative action policies, which require foreign companies operating in the communications sector to give a minority share of their local entities to Black or other non-white owners in order to acquire a license.

The regulations are meant to provide opportunities that were denied non-white people under the country's previous apartheid system of white minority rule.

The South African government has backed the Amazon deal, with Communications Minister Solly Malatsi joining Amazon and Herotel representatives to announce the agreement.

Amazon launched its first low orbit internet satellites last year and says it has more than 390 currently operational.

Starlink's first operational satellites were launched in 2019 and it now has more than 10,000 in orbit. Starlink's satellite internet has launched in around two dozen other African countries, but Musk has refused to follow South Africa's affirmative action regulations.

Amazon said Wednesday that the South African deal was the start of its effort to roll out across Africa, where it would also partner with Vanu Inc., a Lexington, Massachusetts-based company specializing in mobile internet in developing countries.

There’s a large potential market for satellite internet in Africa, a continent of more than 1.5 billion people where many live in rural and other areas without fixed internet connections.

Amazon Leo, which was previously called Project Kuiper, has already signed deals to launch in Thailand, Kazakhstan, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, according to announcements from the company and local operators it's teaming up with.

Starlink, though, is well ahead and says it's now operating in more than 160 countries.

___

AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from Toronto.

___

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

The memoir is scheduled to come out Nov. 17, publisher Little, Brown and Company told The Associated Press. The timing of the book — two weeks after midterm elections in which Democrats seek to regain control of Congress — could raise concerns within Biden's party by putting him back into the spotlight.

Democrats remain divided on Biden’s legacy, with many blaming his ill-fated determination to seek a second term for Republican President Donald Trump's return to the White House. Leaders hope to keep the fall campaign focused on Trump and his record, and any leaks or promotional efforts before votes are cast could draw frustration.

“'Promise Me, America' is about the challenges we faced as a nation. It’s about the decisions I made and why I made them,” Biden said in a video statement accompanying Wednesday's announcement. “It’s about why I chose to run for reelection and why I chose to step aside."

Reports of Biden's book have circulated for more than a year, and the former president himself has referred to it during public remarks, appearing to suggest at one point that it would be released before November's election.

Biden, who will turn 84 three days after the publication of “Promise Me, America," has long presented himself as an upholder of standards and traditions; presidential memoirs are one of them. With a handful of exceptions, modern presidents since Harry Truman in the 1950s have published books about their White House years. Like virtually all of his predecessors, Biden did not work on the book alone but was helped by a “small editorial team,” according to the publisher. Little, Brown declined to release financial details for ”Promise Me, America," although presidents have usually reached deals worth at least seven figures.

The book's title echoes a 2017 memoir by Biden, “Promise Me, Dad,” which centered on the death of his son, Beau Biden.

Vowing as a candidate to “restore the soul” of his country, Biden was sworn into office in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to stop his certification as president. Biden's term was defined by a wide range of conflicts and achievements, from his handling of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to the passage of ambitious infrastructure and economic aid bills. But many readers will likely want to know more about his health while president, including the disastrous debate in June 2024 against Trump that led to his giving up his reelection bid. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran instead, lost decisively to Trump.

Former first lady Jill Biden wrote in her own book that her husband seemed so weak and disoriented during the debate that she feared he was having a stroke. In “View from the East Wing,” published in June, she noted that the White House had initially said he was suffering from a cold.

“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don’t explain something well enough then the question won’t go away,” she wrote. “There was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe’s debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.”

Biden was the oldest man to serve as president and his health was a source of speculation for much of his term; Biden and his White House advisers have faced intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans for allegedly concealing the extent of his problems. A notable book release from 2025, Jake Tapper's and Alex Thompson's “Original Sin,” was subtitled “President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”

That year, Biden announced he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Biden's previous books also include “Promises to Keep,” a campaign work published to boost his run for president in 2008, when Barack Obama was the eventual nominee and Biden his running mate. ”Promise Me, America" comes out during a year when nonfiction sales have declined and few political books have caught on, although recent bestsellers have included Vice President JD Vance's “Communion” and an inside account of Trump's second term, by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, “Regime Change.”

A Little, Brown spokesperson said that Biden plans to tour on behalf of the book and give interviews. In his video announcement, Biden said that many people had been asking him how he was doing.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family. I’m dealing with a cancer diagnosis, been getting treatment, and it’s going really well,” he said. “I want to thank all those who have offered their prayers and support and well-wishes. It’s meant the world to me and to Jill.”

Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest medical center, went on strike Wednesday and are the latest group to walk off the job at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front-line workers barricaded the entrance to the hospital, claiming they have not received pay despite working under difficult conditions.

The World Health Organization says more than 100 healthcare workers have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.

The Central African nation has been battling the Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus since May 15. A total of 753 patients remain in isolation or in hospitals, while 366 have recovered so far, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health.

The outbreak continues to spread faster than health officials can track despite an expanding response. At least 80% of new cases are emerging from unknown chains of transmission, the WHO said Tuesday.

A key challenge is that health authorities have yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero, while displacement from armed conflict and mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.

The authorities have been able to trace 67% of the contacts of those exposed to confirmed cases, Congo's health ministry said.

Many of the newly reported deaths are of people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the WHO emergencies chief, said Tuesday after returning from Bunia in Ituri, the worst-hit province in the outbreak.

The response is being hampered by a funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities.

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center in Rwampara, another hard-hit city in the Ituri province, went on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work on condition the government pay them within 72 hours.

Some have told The Associated Press they have not received any payment since they started work at the onset of the outbreak.

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

Enrollment in a highly anticipated study of two possible Ebola treatments recently started in Ituri.

That warning comes as a 13-year-old in Flagler County faces charges after deputies say he sent another 13-year-old a photo of himself holding a handgun, along with a written threat to kill him.

Investigators said the two boys had been friends, but their relationship soured and they were messaging the day of the incident while planning to fight. Deputies said the teen’s mother reported the threat to law enforcement.

Jacksonville attorney Millicent Daniels says cases like that underscore a key point for parents and teens: Florida law treats written or electronic threats — including posts and messages — as serious crimes.

“Everyone needs to understand whether it’s on Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, whether it is a direct message … or even in a group text, … written threats to kill or cause bodily injury … is considered a crime in the state of Florida,” said Daniels, who joined us Wednesday on The Morning Show for the latest edition in our “Justice 4 All” series.

When a post becomes a felony

Florida’s law on written or electronic threats makes it illegal to “send, post, or transmit” a writing or other record — including an electronic record — that can be viewed by another person if it includes a threat to kill or do bodily harm, or to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.

A violation is a second-degree felony under Florida Statute 836.10. The statute defines an electronic record broadly — including text, images, video and audio — and applies across platforms. (The statute excludes telephone calls.)

Daniels said teens sometimes assume that because the threat is typed out — or sent as an image — it is less serious than saying it face to face.

“Law enforcement is taking these threats very seriously, whether in a digital space … or whether it’s face-to-face,” Daniels said.

You don’t have to follow through for it to be a crime

Daniels said another misconception is that a threat “doesn’t count” if the teen never intended to carry it out.

“I want parents and our viewers to understand that you don’t have to carry out the threat … for the crime to have occurred,” she said.

Daniels said investigators and prosecutors look at whether a “reasonable person” would consider the message credible based on the words and the context.

That context can include what’s shown in a photo or video.

“Particularly in the digital space, when we see posts such as these, those posts … are forever,” Daniels said. “They are in perpetuity. So those posts can be used as evidence against a person.”

‘Pranks’ and false reports can trigger major police responses

Daniels said threats and false reports — including posts intended as jokes or excuses to miss school — can set off an expensive and disruptive response.

“These kinds of situations where these threats are made and law enforcement acts can result in school lockdowns, public roads being closed off, businesses closed, SWAT teams everywhere,” Daniels said. “So what one teen … may consider a prank, law enforcement takes this very seriously.”

Florida law also addresses false reports involving bombs, weapons of mass destruction, or “the use of firearms in a violent manner.” Under Florida Statute 790.163, making a false report “with intent to deceive” is a second-degree felony.

Cyberstalking and school harassment laws can apply, too

Depending on the conduct, Daniels said other laws may come into play when online conflict escalates.

Florida’s stalking law includes cyberstalking, defined as a course of conduct using electronic communications directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional distress and serves no legitimate purpose.

Aggravated stalking can become a felony when a credible threat is involved. (See Florida Statute 784.048)

There are also state education laws requiring school districts to address bullying and harassment, including cyberbullying. (See Florida Statute 1006.147)

What parents can do now

Daniels urged parents to talk early and often with teens about what they post, send and share.

Her advice: Don’t assume kids fully understand that a screenshot can turn into evidence.

If you have a question about crime, safety or the law, email it to the Justice 4 All team at jwaugh@wjxt.com, and it may be featured in a future story.

The man was held on Tuesday on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a member of Parliament, the Metropolitan Police said. He was held overnight and later released on bail.

“I am going to shoot you in the head if you win,” the man allegedly told Farage in a post on X in May, according to the Telegraph newspaper.

The July 8 killing of Widdecombe at her rural home in southwest England shocked the political establishment and the public. The 78-year-old, who was Reform’s immigration and justice spokesperson, was long known for her blunt-spoken socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.

Farage said her death showed that “things have become even more dangerous” for people in public life and his party has called for better protection. Other Reform politicians have suggested their party members are at greater risk than other politicians.

Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a tribute to Widdecombe in the House of Commons, said it was “chilling” that three sitting or former MPs had been murdered during his 11 years in Parliament.

“We must do more to defend our democracy” Starmer said.

Security has been tightened in the past decade after Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was fatally shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.

The alleged threat to Farage came during local and regional elections in May that saw his relatively new anti-immigration party win big and raise its hopes he could become prime minister after the next election, due in 2029. The poll results were so poor for the ruling Labour Party that its members forced Starmer to resign.

Police said the threat was reported May 8, but the arrest only came after they received information they requested from the social media company about the user’s identity.

Farage has recently been embroiled in a scandal over a 5 million pound ($6.7 million) donation he received from an overseas cryptocurrency billionaire that he said helped pay for his private security.

The Reform leader resigned his seat in Parliament this month but is seeking reelection to show he still has voters’ support. Opponents have criticized the move as a ploy to dodge a parliamentary probe.

The investigation into Widdecombe's death is being handled by counterterror police. A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and terror crimes. He remains in custody but was not named because he has not been charged.

Devon and Cornwall Police have been criticized for originally saying the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated.

Widdecombe served in Parliament from 1987 to 2010, and was prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government.

She later found fame as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”

She joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. She had recently joined Reform.

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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

“I can see now that he used me and other respectable people to legitimize his standing,” Ruemmler told members of the House Oversight Committee, according to a copy of her opening remarks.

Ruemmler is the latest prominent figure called before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers investigate the network of powerful people connected with Epstein. The bipartisan inquiry has already included testimony from more than a dozen high-profile witnesses, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton, as lawmakers examine how Epstein's wealth and influence may have helped shield him from scrutiny.

Ruemmler served as White House counsel under Obama from 2011 to 2014 and was briefly considered for attorney general. She served as Goldman Sachs’ general counsel for the past six years before announcing in February that she would step down amid backlash over her correspondence with Epstein.

Although she said she would step down on June 30, she remains employed by Goldman Sachs.

Entering Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters that Ruemmler will provide unique insight as one of the few people who was "very close in the last phase of Jeffrey Epstein’s life.”

“I think some of the emails that are in the files are very concerning about how she communicated with Jeffrey Epstein,” he added.

The two were close years after Epstein's 2008 conviction on sex crimes

While Ruemmler has tried to downplay their relationship in more recent statements, thousands of documents released by the Justice Department showed that Ruemmler and Epstein had an extensive relationship. The files included personal emails, social plans and gifts that extended beyond formal legal work. Documents showed she had called Epstein “Uncle Jeffrey” in emails and said she adored him.

Ruemmler said in her opening remarks that she first met Epstein in 2014 regarding potentially working with him and Gates “to set up a large donor advised fund.” Soon after, according to Ruemmler, she learned about Epstein’s 2008 conviction on sex crimes, when he became a registered sex offender.

She said Epstein expressed remorse about it, and that he did not know the women were underaged. She said she “relied on the resolution reached by federal and state prosecutors and validated by a judge as being a proportionate and final resolution of his criminal conduct.”

House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters Wednesday that the “most concerning” part of Ruemmler's communications with Epstein is how she “tried to rehabilitate his image after he was convicted of solicitation of a minor.”

Ruemmler's interview is part of a broader investigation

Comer said Wednesday that Ruemmler is the 18th person to testify as part of their broader investigation.

Billionaire investor Leon Black was subpoenaed last month after lawmakers said he refused to answer some questions about his yearslong relationship with Epstein.

Comer said Wednesday that Black will appear for a formal deposition on Sept. 3 but that he expects to have Black's nondisclosure agreements by “the end of the week.”

The committee has also expressed interest in questioning acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department is pending before the Senate. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi identified Blanche as the department’s point person on the release of the Epstein documents, a process that has drawn bipartisan scrutiny.

“Hopefully Blanche will come in as soon as his confirmation is over,” Comer said.

Warren Zapata, 34, was wanted on warrants issued by the Perry Police Department in connection with a check scam involving the Georgia National Fairgrounds that dates to August 2025 in Perry, Ga., the sheriff’s office said.

Perry investigators interviewed Zapata in February, but the sheriff’s office said he did not disclose that he was a law enforcement officer or tell supervisors he was involved in a criminal investigation. A warrant was issued in March, and the sheriff’s office said it was not notified at that time.

A third party later informed PCSO about the warrant, and detectives contacted the Perry Police Department. Upon learning of the warrant, detectives arrested Zapata at his workplace, the sheriff’s office said.

“I am beyond disgusted at the moral turpitude of this now former employee,” Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach said in a statement. “He knew he was being investigated and at no time did he inform his supervisors about this situation, nor did he assist in the investigation by Georgia. It is my understanding he is claiming to be a victim, but I find that as less than a credible statement on his part due to his inactions in helping another law enforcement agency find the supposed true perpetrator of the crime. Therefore he can face the accusations in Georgia and without being unencumbered with a job here.”

Zapata was hired by the PCSO in 2018 and, the agency said, had no prior disciplinary actions. His employment has been terminated because of the felony arrest.

He was taken to the Putnam County Jail and is being held without bond, the sheriff’s office said. The investigation is being conducted by the Perry Police Department.

Yet there he was Wednesday on the range, pounding drives with his athletic 6-foot-5 frame on the final day of practice before his debut in the British Open.

A few spots to his left was Jordan Spieth, a three-time major champion and the last Open champion at Birkdale. Down a ways to his right was two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau with a stationary camera behind him. It was a lot to take in.

“It's awesome,” Plunkett said. “As cool as it gets.”

Plunkett, a 32-year-old from Atlantic Beach, Florida, was among the 20 players who made it through 36-hole qualifying in the U.K. a few weeks ago, holding steady on the last four holes at Dundonald Links to grab the final spot.

He has been all over the world, and not just his Army stops in South Korea and Afghanistan. He made it through Asian Tour Q-school last year and already this year has gone from the Philippines to Malaysia to Singapore and Morocco. He is 20th on the Order of Merit.

Plunkett getting a card anywhere — the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, the Asian Tour in 2026 — came about when he least expected. All it took was one impromptu round of golf, and the COVID-19 pandemic certainly played a part.

Plunkett finished his college career at Army by helping the Black Knights to the Patriot Conference title with brother Matt a freshman on the team. That would have seemed to be the end of his golf. He was a logistics officer during his five-year Army stint, specializing primarily in convoy maneuvers, either moving personnel or cargo. His golf clubs stayed home.

But one day after he returned to Fort Carson in Colorado, he decided to play golf with his dad.

“I shot 69 and thought I was the best golfer in the world,” Plunkett said. “And I played the next day and probably shot 95. But I stuck with it. My last few months in the Army, COVID was a thing and the DOD (Department of Defense) took it seriously. We had a lot of limited personnel office hours. I had a lot more free time on my hands and played a lot of golf.”

A career as an Army officer was on his mind until he fell back in love with golf.

“It was either time to re-up or go a different way,” Plunkett said. “I was enjoying golf so much that I decided I wanted to give it a go.”

And so he went. Plunkett qualified for a Korn Ferry Tour event each of the next two years after getting out of the Army in 2021, and at the end of 2024, he did well enough in Q-school to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card that guaranteed him eight tournaments. He didn't come close to keeping his card, and then tried his hand in Asia. The next step might be European tour Q-school.

It's a big world in golf, and Plunkett realized it can also be a small world.

He played a practice round Tuesday with Sahith Theegala, who has played on a Presidents Cup team and reached as high as No. 11 in the world ranking.

They were making small talk when Theegala realized one his high school teammates in California, Dean Sakata, also went to West Point and played with Plunkett.

“I didn't realize that until I asked him on the second hole,” Theegala said. “Dean was a super nice guy. Everyone loved him. And they were pretty close at West Point, so that shows me a lot about Marcus' character.”

It was a good day for Plunkett, who could see how a player of Theegala's pedigree approached a practice round at a major. And there was no small appreciation from Theegala.

Military veterans in golf are not new. Billy Hurley, a Naval Academy graduate, spent a decade on the PGA Tour and won once. Kyle Westmoreland became the first Air Force Academy graduate to make the cut in the U.S. Open in 2021. He currently is on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Plunkett would love to be next in line.

“He's been all over,” Theegala said. “It just awesome that he was serving our country and making such a big sacrifice for everyone and is still able to do what he loves. It shows a lot that you have one life to live, and now he's out here grinding. Hopefully, this will be a good week.”

It will be a long day, for sure. Plunkett is in the penultimate group, meaning his first tee shot in his first major will be about 4:10 p.m. local time. But he's at the British Open, a victory in itself at his stage of his second career. Also in the field is Austen Truslow, another American on the Asian Tour.

Asked what he wanted out of the week, Plunkett kept it simple: "Probably giving my mom and dad a hug when I walk off 18 every day.”

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

Yzerman’s transition to an advisory role to owner and CEO Chris Ilitch comes several weeks after captain and No. 1 center Dylan Larkin’s trade request came to light. The Red Wings' decade-long playoff drought is the longest in the storied history of the organization and the longest active drought in the NHL.

The team said its search for a new head of hockey operations has begun and that Yzerman will continue to be in charge on a day-to-day basis until his successor is determined.

“Clearly, we are not where we and our fans expect to be as an organization,” Ilitch said in a statement. “Steve’s lifetime of contributions to the Red Wings has meant more to this franchise than words can truly express, and I have the highest level of respect for his continued commitment to our organization.”

Yzerman spent his entire 22-year Hall of Fame playing career with Detroit from 1983-2006, captaining it to the Stanley Cup three times. He has the three highest-scoring seasons in franchise history and is second only to Gordie Howe on the Red Wings' all-time points list.

“This organization has given me incredible opportunities, from my time as a player to the privilege of returning as general manager,” Yzerman said. “My commitment to the Red Wings and this community will never waver, and I look forward to supporting the organization in whatever role is needed to achieve our collective goals.”

But he did not get hired just for his on-ice performance. Yzerman was an accomplished GM with Tampa Bay, building the core group of players and leadership that eventually won back-to-back championships. He took over in Detroit in 2019, where success on the ice has not materialized.

Yzerman’s moves or lack thereof have contributed to the struggles, including failing to adequately address goaltending. Trading Tyler Bertuzzi to Boston and Filip Hronek to Vancouver for draft picks at the trade deadline in March 2023 and giving up a second-rounder to unload Jake Walman on a deal with San Jose 15 months later are among the questionable decisions.

Larkin also criticized Yzerman for not doing more at the 2024 deadline, and the team struggled down the stretch without reinforcements. Acquiring Justin Faulk and David Perron this past season also was not enough to get the Red Wings into the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

Larkin asking to be traded — with Minnesota, Florida and Vegas initially the only teams on his list — threatened the direction of the team at a time when it looked like Yzerman's position was safe. Yzerman last month said he could not guarantee granting Larkin's wish because the player is signed for five more seasons at an average annual salary of $8.7 million.

Figuring out that situation will now be someone else's call, as will improving a roster that has perennially underacheived expectations.

“I’m looking forward to bringing in new leadership to build the championship-caliber organization (Detroit) deserves," Ilitch said.

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

Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, did not mention Trump’s interim appointee for the intelligence post, Bill Pulte. But he worked to assure senators that he is prepared for the post as they work to replace Pulte, a former housing official with no known intelligence experience and who used his previous administration perch to target perceived adversaries of the president.

“I saw firsthand how a strong national security apparatus depends on decisive judgment, discipline, integrity, and effective communication and cooperation across different branches of the government,” Clayton said in his opening statement. “If confirmed as Director of National Intelligence, I will commit to upholding these principles every day.”

Clayton's nomination hearing was first scheduled for June as Republicans rushed to confirm him and prevent Pulte's appointment to temporarily replace outgoing intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard. But Trump delayed Clayton's confirmation just hours before his hearing was scheduled to begin, pushing back the process and allowing Pulte to take office.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., expressed frustration last month when the hearing was delayed. He said in his opening statement Wednesday that Clayton has a reputation for operating with “morality, decency and integrity" in his previous positions and that he hopes his nomination will win bipartisan support.

Democrats grill Clayton on his role in elections

While Clayton has received some bipartisan praise, Democrats aggressively questioned him on how he would approach the issue of election interference ahead of November's midterm elections. They repeatedly asked if former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election that Trump has falsely claimed was stolen.

Like many of Trump's other nominees, Clayton answered that Biden's election was certified. But he would not say that Biden won.

“Saying Joe Biden was certified is not an answer,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

Democrats also asked Clayton about Trump's announcement that he will deliver a primetime address on Thursday with a focus on elections, after the president suggested he could revisit long-debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat.

Clayton said he had has no involvement with that speech.

Some Democrats praise Clayton, but bipartisan support is uncertain

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the panel’s top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in June that he has “known and respected Jay Clayton for many years and believe he is a capable public servant.”

But he has stopped short of saying he would vote for him, and he said to Clayton at the hearing that the intelligence post is “a very different job than any that you have held.”

Warner said that the Trump administration has attempted to politicize the intelligence community, particularly in the area of election interference. “I hope that, should you be confirmed, you will make it clear that this kind of politicization has no place in the intelligence community,” Warner said.

Most Democrats are expected to vote against his nomination. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday that he expects to oppose Clayton, but he and other Democrats may not stand in the way if majority Republicans want to try and speed up his confirmation so that he can replace Pulte.

“I’m not going to vote for him,” Blumenthal said. “But I wouldn’t object to an accelerated vote.”

As US attorney in Manhattan, Clayton oversees vast portfolio

Clayton is currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the most prestigious of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices. His cases have ranged from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

Democrats pressed Clayton on subpoenas of four New York Times journalists after they reported on security concerns involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called the subpoenas “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country."

Clayton said he was not able to discuss the details of the subpoenas and declined to elaborate on whether he spoke to the White House before they were issued. He said he is “confident in procedures we have in place to protect freedom of press.”

Under Clayton, the office also facilitated the unsealing of thousands of pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell — documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.

Clayton has also overseen the prosecution of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.

Confirmation vote could unlock renewal of surveillance authority

Clayton’s confirmation could potentially clear the way for bipartisan legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which stalled last month when Democrats had said they would not provide the necessary votes to pass the bill unless Pulte’s temporary appointment was withdrawn.

The law, which aims to prevent terrorist attacks by monitoring the communications of targeted foreigners located outside the United States, expired in June.

Even if Democrats relent, though, it is unclear if Trump would sign it. He said in his June social media post delaying Clayton’s nomination that he would not sign the FISA renewal without his legislation to require proof of citizenship for all voters. That bill does not have enough support to pass the Senate.

Clearing Clayton’s nomination “would be a good first step” in moving the FISA renewal, said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the intelligence panel.

Rounds said that Republicans hope to move Clayton’s nomination quickly through the process, if Democrats don’t object.

“We’re looking forward to getting him into that position as quickly as possible,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

The Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday unveiled 300 gold-colored statuettes of Mozart, which are barely 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) tall. They were designed by German concept artist Ottmar Hörl.

Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in the Austrian city, where the Mozarteum Foundation offers concerts, maintains Mozart museums and supports research on him.

“I didn’t want to do a monument of Mozart. There are already enough of these. But I wanted to show his human side, that he was a normal human being despite his genius,” Hörl told The Associated Press.

To give the statues a human touch, Hörl depicted the composer with his favorite dog, Pimperl. Mozart and his family were known to take long walks with their dogs in the Mirabell Garden, next to where they lived.

The mini-Mozarts populate not only the garden, but also Mozart’s former living quarters as well as several pavilions. In all, 400 statues were made, but only 300 are on display at present. The rest are being kept in reserve in case of theft.

"Two already got stolen within the last few hours,” Linus Klumpner of the Mozarteum Foundation said. But the statues are meant to attract a broader range of visitors and get them hooked on Mozart’s Music.

“You come here, maybe you see the small golden heads shimmering in the sun on the horizon. And people become curious," Klumpner said. "And then a process begins which is very much in our interest. That is to bring new people in contact with Mozart."

For Hörl, the theft of his artworks in nothing new. At an installation in Bayreuth, Germany, a complete array of statues of Richard Wagner was stolen within 10 days.

“That’s just the nature of public space. That means when you work as an artist in a public space you mustn’t complain about what is happening there," Hörl said. "It ranges from destruction to theft. That’s just how it is.”

The Mozart statues are scheduled to remain on display until Aug. 30. People who would like to own one but would prefer not to steal it can purchase one for 100 euros ($114) – while supplies last.

Hörl is known for his sculptures made from polymer. In 2010 he displayed 10,000 plastic owls in Athens. A “Homage to Dürer” showcased oversized plastic copies of Albrecht Dürer’s hare at the Daegu art museum in South Korea.

In 2009, German prosecutors decided against investigating Hörl over a series of golden garden gnomes doing the Hitler salute, under a law that forbids using insignia forbidden by the German constitution. Hörl himself intended the gnomes as satire against the Nazis' ideology.

According to an arrest report, a JFRD firefighter first spotted a man, later identified as Amaree Wiggins, walking toward the fire station from Main Street. The report said that the firefighter did not question Wiggins’ intentions, believing he was approaching the station to seek assistance.

A separate JFRD engineer was on a computer when he first noticed Wiggins. That interaction was also redacted. However, a lieutenant told investigators he walked outside and saw the ambulance heading south on Main Street while crew members chased after the vehicle.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded and located Wiggins driving the ambulance on Interstate 95 near Dunn Avenue. Wiggins reportedly stopped the vehicle on Busch Drive near the Anheuser-Busch facility, where he was taken into custody.

No one else was found inside the ambulance, according to the report.

Wiggins was charged with theft of a motor vehicle valued over $100,000 and burglary without a weapon.

The Colonial Point complex is about a mile west of University Boulevard South.

JSO said that officers responding around 2 a.m. to a domestic dispute at the complex found a man in the parking lot suffering from at least one stab wound.

He died at the hospital.

Investigators said several people were taken to the homicide office to be interviewed, but their relationship to the man who died is unclear.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call JSO at 904-630-0500 or CrimeStoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.

Over the course of the war, Ukraine has gone from pleading for foreign military support to providing its cutting-edge and battle-tested weapons know-how to Europe, the United States and Middle East countries. But it still needs help expanding its domestic production, especially sophisticated air defenses that can stop Russia’s ballistic missiles.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, attending ceremonies marking Ukraine’s Statehood Day, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a new EU-Ukraine Defense Industrial Partnership.

The move reflects European worries about Russia’s broader intentions on the continent.

“Today, Ukraine’s fight is not only a fight for your own freedom. It is an existential fight for Europe’s freedoms — for its values, its self-determination,” Von der Leyen said in a speech in Kyiv's St. Michaels’ Square, where she received Ukraine's Order of Europe, a state honor.

“You are not only fighting for your own future but for the security of our entire continent,” she told a crowd.

The EU and Ukraine signed a letter of intent that aims to establish joint drone and anti-drone production by the end of this year and joint anti-ballistic missile production by 2028, as well as broader support for defense manufacturing.

Ukraine wants to bolster its security by joining the EU. It has started that process, which could take years to complete.

U.S. President Donald Trump said at the NATO summit last week that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to build its own Patriot air defense systems, essential to countering ballistic missiles.

Zelenskyy said Wednesday he expects Ukraine will have the technical capability to produce the sophisticated missiles by the end of the year, even though experts say it could take years.

Ukraine celebrates its sovereignty amid Russia war

Von der Leyen and other dignitaries, including the presidents of Moldova and Romania, marked Ukraine’s Statehood Day, which celebrates the country’s sovereignty and is a public holiday.

Ukraine has been under threat since Russian forces illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, followed eight years later by the all-out invasion in 2022. Statehood Day, celebrating the country’s self-determination, is a public holiday in Ukraine.

The war has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced some Ukrainian cities to rubble, and has fueled fears the confrontation could slide into an open conflict between Russia and NATO, whose member nations have supported Kyiv. No peace settlement is in sight.

Senior officials from southeastern European countries also were in Kyiv for a gathering focused on Black Sea and regional security. Last year’s meeting in the southern city of Odesa reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Zelenskyy has recently won important pledges of further support, including from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations and the so-called Coalition of the Willing countries.

EU official says the ‘tide is turning’ in the war

Von der Leyen said her trip to the Ukrainian capital was her 11th in wartime. The EU has provided billions of euros to Ukraine as well as diplomatic support.

She promised EU help in preparing Ukraine's air defenses for the colder months. That's when Russia, often launching ballistic missiles, usually tries to knock out essential services like electricity and heat in what Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”

"Energy remains an unwavering priority,” Zelenskyy said.

Western officials and analysts say Ukraine’s drone and missile attacks are hitting high-profile targets deep inside Russia, severely disrupting Moscow's supply lines and causing civilian fuel shortages.

“It’s a special moment,” Von der Leyen said on social media. “Ukraine has built a strong military momentum. The tide is turning.”

Washington appeared poised to increase economic pressure on Moscow as a proposed Russia sanctions bill was unveiled in the U.S. Senate following Saturday’s death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of its chief backers.

The bill, which its authors had hoped to pass last summer but was held up by White House reservations, would impose steep tariffs on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports.

Wednesday's official ceremonies came at a delicate political moment for Zelenskyy as he manages a major government reshuffle.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Moscow-friendly president, Aleksandar Vucic, was taking part in the Southeast Europe Summit in Kyiv. Serbia, which relies almost fully on Russia for its energy supplies, has refused to join Western sanctions on Moscow, although it officially supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Russian attacks kill 9 Ukrainian civilians

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that at least nine civilians were killed and 13 others were injured in Russian aerial attacks.

Russian forces dropped six glide bombs mostly targeting infrastructure in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, killing three people and wounding seven, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration.

Three people were killed and three others wounded in a Russian attack on Odesa, according to Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s military administration.

In the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, Russian drones killed two people and seriously wounded an 18-year-old, while one person was killed and two injured in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 93 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press reporter Justin Spike in Budapest contributed.

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

Researchers analyzed a decade of Medicare claims and annual cognitive assessments to examine the relationship between sleep apnea and age-related changes in brain function. The study builds on earlier, shorter trials that explored continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use and cognitive outcomes, including dementia onset.

“While those with sleep apnea may not see the short-term benefit of using a continuous positive airway pressure machine or related devices, using it for longer, sustained periods can help offset cognitive decline,” Christopher Kaufmann, an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, said.

Sleep apnea causes people to stop breathing during sleep, often without the sufferer realizing it. Obstructive sleep apnea, the most common type, occurs when soft tissues in the throat collapse and block the airway. Central sleep apnea happens when the brain does not send proper signals to the breathing muscles.

Earlier studies of obstructive sleep apnea treatment and cognition typically lasted about six months, even though cognitive decline develops over years. This study examined effects of up to 10 years of treatment.

“In the sleep apnea world, a CPAP is considered the gold standard,” Kaufmann said, noting wide variability in diagnosis timing and access to treatment. “Increasing access to sleep apnea treatments may have a major impact on cognitive outcomes from a population health perspective.”

There is no cure for dementia, and effective drugs are limited, prompting researchers to focus on modifiable risk factors. Adam Spira, a professor in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the study’s senior author, said the findings add to evidence that obstructive sleep apnea may be a modifiable risk factor for dementia by showing links between treatment and better maintenance of cognitive health.

Researchers estimate that more than 40% of dementia cases worldwide may be attributable to lifestyle factors such as sleep problems.

“If we can make sleep apnea treatment more widely available and give patients the tools to adhere to treatment, then we may be able to help slow cognitive decline or prevent the eventual onset of dementia down the road,” Kaufmann said.

The study also involved researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of California San Diego.

The two teams meet in Atlanta and the winner will play Spain in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday.

“I mean the two shirts are just iconic and the historic matches are iconic,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said.

A fierce rivalry

The World Cup rivalry between the nations dates back to 1962, but it was England's 1-0 win in the quarterfinals four years later that saw it intensify. Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, whose death was announced on Saturday, was sent off in a bad-tempered match. England went on to win the World Cup for the first, and still the only time, in its history.

Twenty years on in Mexico, Diego Maradona scored the infamous “Hand of God” goal that helped Argentina to a 2-1 win in the quarterfinals on the way to becoming world champion for a second time.

That game also saw Maradona score what many believe to be the greatest World Cup goal ever when he dribbled the ball from the halfway line before beating England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.

“That will be forever in our hearts. It was just such a beautiful goal,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. “Anybody who loves football will remember that in the best way possible.”

England felt aggrieved again in 1998 when David Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Argentina midfielder Diego Simeone before losing the round-of-16 game on penalties.

Beckham got his revenge four years later by scoring a penalty in a 1-0 win that contributed to Argentina being eliminated at the group stage.

Given the heated rivalry, Tuchel has tried to manage the emotions of his players ahead of the semifinal.

“If a fixture provides so many iconic moments you cannot just say it’s just another football match, but as a coach we do exactly that,” he said. “We don’t speak about the historic events. We don’t speak about the iconic moments.”

Route to the semifinals

Neither team has had a smooth ride to the semifinals.

Argentina survived scares against Cape Verde and Egypt earlier in the knockout rounds and needed extra time to beat 10-man Switzerland 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

England had to rally for wins against Congo and Norway after going a goal down. It also endured a physically exhausting game played at altitude, and being down to 10 men, to beat co-host Mexico 3-2 in the round of 16.

Messi vs. Kane and Bellingham

The seemingly ageless Lionel Messi has been Argentina's talisman once again, scoring eight goals and also providing crucial assists.

England has relied on its big hitters in Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Both have six goals so far, with Bellingham scoring twice in each of England's last two games.

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Deputies responded June 5 after the man reported that callers posing as Spectrum fraud investigators connected him with someone claiming to be from his bank. The callers told him his account had been compromised and instructed him to seal his Truist debit card in an envelope and leave it in his mailbox so it could be “collected” and secured, according to charging affidavits.

The envelope was later removed, and investigators say $3,444.79 in fraudulent ATM withdrawals and charges followed across Palm Coast and St. Augustine.

Detectives traced the withdrawals to a vehicle driven by Mardochee Malvoisin, 36, of Palm Coast, who was already in custody at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on unrelated charges. Investigators said they identified a second vehicle, a Miami-area rental, used by an accomplice.

Through investigative work, detectives say they identified Emile Destin Jr., 38, of North Miami Beach, as the alleged recruiter who recruited Malvoisin to take cards from mailboxes and use them at ATMs. Destin turned himself in to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office July 13 on a Flagler County warrant and is being held there on $35,000 bond pending extradition, the sheriff’s office said.

Malvoisin remains in custody on a combined $19,500 bond that includes $15,000 on the fraud warrants and $4,500 on a separate case for driving with a suspended license, giving a deputy a false name and possession of drug paraphernalia, records show.

Investigators used surveillance video, still images and license-plate recognition to place vehicles and suspects at locations where the cards were used, according to arrest reports. Malvoisin told detectives he picked up the cards from a mailbox and used them at ATMs before meeting Destin at a Palm Coast convenience store and handing over the cards, the reports say.

“Scoffers convinced a senior resident to put his debit card in an envelope and place it in his mailbox, and they started draining his account,” Sheriff Rick Staly said in a news release. “Malvoisin already knows what a bunk at the Green Roof Inn feels like, and soon Destin will, too.”

The sheriff’s office urged residents to be suspicious of callers who ask for financial information or request that you mail or hand over a debit or credit card. Legitimate companies will not ask customers to mail or hand over a card to “secure” it, officials said.

If you receive a similar call, hang up and contact the company directly using the number on your card or account statement, and report fraud to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office nonemergency line at 386-313-4911.

The sheriff’s office also offers free scams-and-frauds classes. For information or to host a class, contact the community engagement unit at communityengagement@flaglersheriff.com.

The office is hosting a Summit to Protect and Serve Seniors on Sept. 24 and a Safety Expo on Aug. 15.

Miami, which had been the ACC's most dominant team during the regular season, wound up being selected for the playoff and went on to reach the national title game, where it fell short to No. 1 Indiana 27-21.

Duke beat No. 20 Virginia in the ACC championship game last year for its first outright ACC title since 1962 but was not selected for the CFP, much to the dismay of Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz.

The new football championship tiebreaker policy will take effect beginning with the 2026 season, reflecting the league’s transition to a nine-game conference schedule and ensuring a fair and equitable process for determining participants in the ACC championship game, the league said.

The updated tiebreaking procedure is built on three guiding principles:

— Head-to-head results always will matter most.

— No team will be overly rewarded or penalized based on the number of conference games it played.

— When head-to-head competition cannot separate tied teams, the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to compete for the ACC championship and the conference’s automatic qualifier to the College Football Playoff.

“Our game will feature the two most deserving teams,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday in Charlotte.

Phillips said the third tier of that tiebreaker will be based on a SportSource Analytics metric used by the CFP.

The updated policy was developed to reward head-to-head results and account for the league’s teams playing an alternate number of conference games while also identifying the two most deserving teams to compete for the ACC championship and the conference’s automatic berth into the CFP.

The conference said the evaluation included more than 10,000 simulated season outcomes to ensure the model fairly addressed a wide range of championship scenarios.

The revised policy was approved following a comprehensive review by the ACC’s athletics directors.

In December, the ACC announced that 12 of its 17 football-playing members would be playing a nine-game football schedule beginning in 2026 while five teams would play eight games. That made the head-to-head tiebreakers even more complicated than in the past.

The policy will operate as a bridge to accommodate conference games already on the books, with the plan to have 16 of 17 teams playing nine football games regularly by 2027.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a 28-year-old man who ran from ICE agents around 6:45 a.m. Tuesday crossed into the path of a tractor-trailer on State Road 16 and was killed.

A DHS spokesperson released this statement about the incident on Wednesday morning:

On July 14, DHS law enforcement conducted an operation near St. Johns, Florida. Florida Highway Patrol and HSI are investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national. We will provide an update when available.

FHP said Tuesday that agents with the Homeland Security Investigations division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement were conducting an operation in the parking lot of a gas station on SR 16 when four people inside a vehicle ran off.

One of the men tried to run across SR 16 at Green Acres Road but crossed in front of a semi and suffered fatal injuries, according to FHP.

The driver of the tractor-trailer stopped and tried to help the man, but he died at the scene, troopers said. The driver was uninjured, according to the report.

A woman who witnessed the incident described it as a “very scary” sight that will be hard to forget.

“The sounds are constantly replaying in my head of him getting hit,” she said. “I’ll never look at that road the same.”

She said she had her two children in the car with her at the time of the incident. One of them saw what occurred. She said her thoughts are with everyone involved.

She also expressed condolences for the man, calling the ICE involvement “really sad” and noting that she comes from an immigrant family.

“When I saw that whole situation happen, I prayed for that man,” she said. “I prayed for him, and I do pray that he is in heaven.”

FHP is conducting the traffic fatality investigation and said it would share updates as information becomes available.

FHP could not comment on what led to the ICE enforcement.

www.hagermanmusic.com

“Hallowed turf,” is how a young, wide-eyed Fleetwood viewed the course in this golf-crazed corner of northwest England that, every few years, would welcome the world’s best players for the British Open.

His dream of making it there himself one day and lifting the claret jug — a scenario which, who knows, might just happen on the 18th green at Birkdale on Sunday evening — began a 10-minute drive down the road in more humble environs.

Southport Municipal, a club that proudly labels itself as England’s oldest municipal links course, staged a junior program on Monday nights and it was there where Fleetwood’s golfing journey launched around the age of 6.

And it’s why Will Burke, a 40-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, pitched up there on Wednesday with his father, Randy. They paid 19 pounds ($25) each to play 18 holes under a gorgeous blue sky.

“We’re here for the golf this week,” Will said, “and we met with some locals who were really complimentary about the place and said it’s right down the street from where we’re staying.

“When you hear the story about Tommy Fleetwood’s origins and how he got started in the Southport area, that’s the cherry on top.”

Nothing inside this muni’s modest club shop, or indeed anywhere at the course, points to Fleetwood being its most famous son. Strangely, there's not a mention of him anywhere.

Look further afield around these parts, though, and it’s clear this popular golfer with distinctive flowing locks and a forever-friendly manner is a hometown hero.

Fleetwood sees huge support as ‘really positive fuel’

There’s a mural of Fleetwood — pumping his fists and wearing his blue Team Europe Ryder Cup uniform — on the wall of Southport & Birkdale Sports Club.

There’s the Tommy Fleetwood Academy at nearby Formby Hall golf club, where he first became a member and won his only club championship as a kid. Youngsters from the academy have lined up for autographs from Fleetwood next to the practice putting green this week.

There's been no bigger buzz during the practice days than when the 35-year-old Fleetwood has been on the course.

“It’s very rare to have an opportunity to play a tournament, let alone the Open, in the town where you grew up in front of fans that were all there to support you,” Fleetwood said.

“To see people emotionally invested in you … I think it’s very special. It definitely doesn’t go unnoticed by me.”

The natural question is, will it heap too much pressure on him?

Fleetwood sees it as “really, really positive fuel.”

“If I just go back to the original me being an 8-year-old kid, the thought of playing in an Open at Birkdale was unbelievably special,” he said. “So if you’re not going to enjoy it, then you’ve kind of let yourself down.”

Fleetwood has already had experience of playing in the Open at Royal Birkdale, in 2017 when he shot a first-round 76 to essentially drop him out of contention. He described a bounce-back 69 to make the cut as “one of the best rounds I ever played” and finished tied for 27th.

Fleetwood was tied for the first-round lead at the 2023 British Open staged nearby at Royal Liverpool, where he also was billed as the home favorite. He faded to a tie for 10th, nine shots back from champion Brian Harman.

Rory knows the feeling

Rory McIlroy knows what Fleetwood is going through. McIlroy was the guy most in the crowd were rooting for when the Open Championship made an emotional return to Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland in 2019 — after an absence of 68 years — and again last year.

McIlroy missed the cut the first time after a nightmarish first-round 79 but said he handled things better the second time, when he tied for seventh.

“You feel like you’re trying to play well for everyone else and not for yourself,” McIlroy said. “I think there’s already enough pressure on anyone in this field to play well for themselves, so to add that extra layer on top of that is always pretty difficult.

“But,” he added, “I feel like Tommy’s more level-headed than I am and won’t fall into that trap like I did in 2019.”

Away from the lofty expectations of the locals in this seaside town, Fleetwood comes back home under pressure to end his wait for a first major title.

Winning the Tour Championship last August was celebrated beyond English shores because it was his first PGA Tour title and he'd come so close so many times, handling each near-miss with dignity and grace.

Now it's time for Fleetwood to capture that elusive major and there'd be no more popular winner on Sunday, especially to the people of Southport, who keep welcoming back with open arms.

“Everybody loves him, everybody respects him, whether they've met him or not. We own a little bit of him,” said Patrick Hodgson, a 71-year-old member at Southport Municipal who has followed Fleetwood's rise from talented local kid to one of the world's best players.

“If he wins, it would be celebrated here for days and months and years.”

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

According to the IC3’s 2025 Internet Crime Report, Floridians reported more than $12 million in losses to phishing — a sharp rise from roughly $4 million the previous year. Phishing is a cyber scam in which criminals use email or malicious websites to steal information. They lure victims by pretending to be trusted sources, then trick them into revealing passwords, financial data or other sensitive information.

The FBI said Kali365 is targeting popular Microsoft 365 tools, including Outlook, Teams and OneDrive. The platform can capture access tokens and bypass multi-factor authentication without needing a user’s password, allowing attackers to access accounts even when extra authentication steps are in place.

Phishing schemes first appeared in the mid-1990s and have remained a staple of the cybercrime playbook. The FBI and private-sector security officials say the techniques have grown steadily more sophisticated.

“Kali365 is yet another reminder that threat actors continue to adapt in a constantly shifting landscape,” said FBI Tampa Cybercrime Supervisory Special Agent Tim Callinan. “Human behavior remains the most vulnerable point in any cybersecurity strategy. It is the responsibility of every organization to provide continuous workforce training, enforce strong password standards, and wherever possible, mandate the use of physical hardware tokens to ensure robust multi-factor authentication.”

The FBI and IC3 recommend steps to reduce risk:

• Do not click links or open attachments in unsolicited emails.
• Verify sender addresses and watch for misspellings or unusual domains.
• Use strong, unique passwords and turn on multi-factor authentication.
• When possible, use physical hardware tokens for multi-factor authentication.
• If unsure, go directly to the service’s website instead of following links in email.

Anyone who believes they were targeted or victimized should file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. Crime reports are used for investigative and intelligence purposes, and rapid reporting can help support the recovery of lost funds.

Click here to learn more.

The lower house of parliament is widely expected to approve the measure after backing it in three previous readings, completing parliament’s work on the legislation announced by French President Emmanuel Macron over three years ago.

According to various estimates, assisted dying is available to some 300 million people worldwide, with euthanasia legal under certain conditions in some countries and assisted suicide allowed in others and in several U.S. states.

France has an increasingly aging population, with growing numbers of patients who require care for chronic illnesses. The traditionally Catholic country has grappled with legal, medical, moral and religious questions about end-of-life options, including existing legislation that allows doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated before death but stops short of allowing assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Many French people have traveled to neighboring countries where medically assisted suicide or euthanasia are legal. Medically assisted suicide generally involves a patient voluntarily taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor. Euthanasia involves a doctor or other health care professional administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request.

End-of-life options are also being debated in the United Kingdom. A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales will formally return to Parliament on Sept. 11, five months after it ran out of time in Parliament’s last session.

The bill sets strict conditions

The proposed measure in France primarily provides for medically assisted suicide, by allowing patients to receive and self-administer lethal medication under strict conditions. Only people whose physical condition prevents them from doing so would be allowed to receive assistance from a doctor or a nurse.

Patients seeking to end their lives would have to be at least 18 years old and either French citizens or legal residents of France.

A doctor would first have to consult a team of health care professionals and then confirm that the patient has a serious and incurable illness that is life-threatening. The patient must be in an advanced or terminal stage, experiencing pain that cannot be relieved or is unbearable, and seeking lethal medication of their own free will.

Lawmakers specified that psychological suffering alone would not qualify a person for medically assisted dying.

People with severe psychiatric disorders or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s would not be eligible.

Patients would initiate the request, to be reviewed by health professionals within 15 days, and then confirm it after a period of reflection lasting at least two days.

If approved, they could take the lethal medication at the time and in the place of their choice, including at home or in a health care facility, in the presence of their loved ones if they wish.

On the chosen date, the doctor or nurse would have to verify that the person still wishes to proceed and remain nearby to intervene if complications arise.

France’s national health insurance system would cover all associated costs.

Many French people support the changes

A 2023 report found that most French people are in favor of legalizing end-of-life options, and opinion polls have shown support increasing over the past two decades.

The Association for the Right to Die With Dignity said the law would allow people “to choose to end unbearable suffering, freely and with full awareness.” Its president, Jonathan Denis, said in a statement that “a law that creates a new right never forces anyone to exercise it. It does, however, ensure that every person … can remain at the heart of medical decisions that concern them and have their wishes respected.”

Opponents argue the measure could put pressure on older people and those living with illness or disabilities.

In an open letter to Macron, the anti-euthanasia group Alliance Vita said “every effort must be made to ensure that people who are suffering have immediate access to palliative care and support. Presenting death as a desirable solution can never be an acceptable response to suffering and is contrary to human dignity.”

The vote caps a lengthy parliamentary process

The Senate, the upper house where conservatives hold a majority, rejected the bill. But under France’s legislative process, the National Assembly has the final say when the two houses of parliament disagree.

Senate President Gérard Larcher and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said they will refer the bill, once adopted, to the Constitutional Council, which will have up to a month to determine whether it complies with the Constitution. The law would only enter into force once that review has been completed.

“Extensive debates have taken place in the National Assembly on this bill. However, discussions in the Senate did not allow for such an in-depth examination, in order to produce legislation that addresses both the aspirations of its supporters and the concerns of those who are worried about how it will be implemented,” Lecornu said.

In the U.K., opponents of the bill to legalize assisted dying prevented it from passing in the House of Lords, the upper house, by filing more than 1,200 amendments on a range of concerns, including potential coercion of vulnerable people and a lack of safeguards for those with disabilities.

That was in April, after elected representatives in the House of Commons passed it.

The bill that is expected to be presented again proposes allowing adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel. One aim is so people no longer go to other countries, such as Switzerland, for an assisted death.

In Germany, parliament’s lower house, the Bundestag, in 2023 considered two proposals to regulate assisted dying and rejected both of them.

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Samuel Petrequin and John Leicester in Paris, Pan Pylas in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Whether it’s hitting the road or taking to the skies, the goal is usually the same: Escape. Relax. Recharge.

A survey found 93% of Americans plan to travel this year, but for some, this year’s getaway isn’t just about relaxing; it’s about coming home with more than just souvenirs.

What if your vacation could also teach you something?

More travelers are embracing the “skillcation,” which is a vacation built around learning something new!

The appeal is simple: Memories stick harder when you’re not just watching.

Love taking pictures? National Geographic Expeditions offers voyages with National Geographic photographers.

Love food? Book a cooking class instead of just a dinner reservation.

Traveling with kids? Try marine biology camps, farm stays, or cultural craft experiences.

And with more than a third of Americans planning international travel, the possibilities get even bigger.

Learn flamenco dancing in Spain or master sushi basics in Japan, and the best part? Research suggests hands-on learning can boost creativity, confidence, and overall well-being, so you may come home with more than great photos. You may come home changed.

If food is your love language, skillcations may be a perfect match. Some travel companies now offer immersive culinary experiences from foraging for ingredients in Vietnam, to cooking with local families, to learning regional recipes you can actually bring home.

Schwartz, 54, is up for director of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is charged with protecting Americans from preventable health threats.

Her career has largely been spent in military uniform, including in a leadership position at the U.S. Coast Guard where she oversaw the organization’s system of 41 clinics and 150 sick bays — as well as policies promoting vaccinations of service members. She later served as deputy surgeon general, where she helped lead uniformed medical and health professionals posted at the CDC and government health agencies that serve the general public.

The CDC long enjoyed a sterling international reputation but has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office last year. Largely due to layoffs and resignations, the agency has lost more than 3,000 employees, or more than a quarter of its workforce. Morale has plummeted as a succession of mostly temporary leaders have come and gone — the front office filled with political appointees, many of them with little or no training in medicine or public health.

“There’s still really good people who work there (at the CDC). They are doing their best to navigate choppy waters,” said Dr. David Margolius, director of Cleveland's health department and a leader in a U.S. coalition of big city health departments. But CDC no longer seems to the authoritative and communicative lead that it was on outbreaks and other public health emergencies.

“Basically everybody’s got to kind of choose their own adventure, as opposed to being led by a national public health department,” Margolius said.

CDC has had several leaders

The agency is overseen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before he was tapped to lead the CDC and other federal health agencies. Kennedy had promised not to change the nation’s vaccination schedule. But shortly after taking office, Kennedy said he was going to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and went on to attempt a substantial rewrite of vaccine recommendations for kids. Some of those efforts were put on hold earlier this year by a federal judge.

The administration’s first pick to run the CDC was former Florida congressman Dr. David Weldon, but his March 2025 Senate confirmation hearing was canceled an hour before it was to begin. Weldon said at the time that he’d been told not enough senators were willing to vote for him.

The White House then moved on to Susan Monarez, who had been serving as the CDC’s acting director. Monarez was confirmed by the Senate, but she was ousted in less than a month. Trump administration officials said she wasn’t aligned with their agenda so they terminated her.

Several key CDC scientific leaders resigned in protest, saying Monarez’s dismissal dashed their hopes that a CDC director would be able to guard against political meddling in the agency’s scientific research and health recommendations.

Since then, there’s been a revolving door in agency leadership, with the short-term role of acting director being passed from one Washington-based HHS official to another. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya has been overseeing the CDC most recently.

Senators will also hear from nominee overseeing health emergency preparedness

In April, Trump nominated Schwartz, calling her “incredibly talented.” In a congressional hearing in April, Kennedy said he approved of the choice, but refused to commit to supporting whatever vaccine guidance she might issue.

Last month, Schwartz filed letters with the government that address her finances and potential conflicts of interest. She wrote that if confirmed, she will leave her current job with UnitedHealth Group, where she's making about $850,000 in salary and bonus money and cash out her stock options. She also will resign from the board of directors of Butterfly Network Inc., a Massachusetts company that makes ultrasound devices; from the board of Atlanta-based Aveanna Healthcare, a medical home care provider; and from the board of the Florida-based Searching for Solutions Institute.

Also at Wednesday's hearing, senators will consider the nomination of Sean Kaufman as the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, or ASPR. That job entails overseeing preparations and response to public health emergencies and disasters.

Last year, the Trump administration announced a plan to bring those responsibilities under CDC, but the dramatic HHS restructuring has not happened.

The assistant secretary's office is involved in decisions about funding next-generation vaccines against pandemic flu or other infectious disease threats. In postings on LinkedIn, Kaufman has made comments cheered by vaccine skeptics, arguing against hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns and saying he served as an expert witness to advocate for people who refused the COVID-19 vaccine.

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

A post from the Glynn County Police Department said that just before 6 p.m. Tuesday, an officer with GCPD spotted a vehicle that had been reported stolen earlier in the day.

But when the officer tried to pull the car over, the driver sped away, leading officers on a pursuit through the Golden Isles Parkway area.

During the chase, the stolen vehicle reached high speeds and drove recklessly before crashing into three vehicles at the intersection of Golden Isles Parkway and Canal Road, police said.

The two teens in the car ran off but were quickly taken into custody.

The driver, identified as a juvenile offender, was charged with theft by receiving stolen property, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, hit and run, obstruction, failure to obey a traffic control device, and driving without a valid license.

The passenger, also identified as a juvenile offender, was charged with obstruction.

Because of their ages, police have not identified the teens.

Both juveniles were taken to a local hospital to be check out before they were turned over to the juvenile justice system. The driver was later taken to the Regional Youth Detention Center.

The Georgia State Patrol is investigating the traffic crash, which damaged three other vehicles.

This investigation remains active, and additional charges may be forthcoming, GCPD wrote.

Anyone with information related to this case is encouraged to contact the Glynn County Police Department Non-Emergency line at (912) 554-3645 or anonymously through Silent Witness at (912) 264-1333.

No one has died in the outbreak on Manhattan's Upper East Side, but 49 patients have required hospitalization, though 34 so far have gone home, city Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said. City data show two new cases were diagnosed from samples taken Sunday and Monday, compared to as many as 11 per day from earlier samples.

“All of these things together paint an encouraging sign,” Martin said at a virtual news briefing.

It came a day after City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat and Upper East Side resident, complained that the Health Department wasn't doing and disclosing enough. Menin said Wednesday she plans a Council hearing to examine the city's handling of the outbreak and “demand accountability.”

Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, which grow in warm water and can spread in building cooling systems, hot tubs and showerheads. In many cases, people contract the disease by inhaling tiny droplets of contaminated water; Legionnaires’ disease doesn't spread person-to-person.

The illness is treatable, but it is fatal in about 10% of cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seven people died and more than 100 were sickened during an outbreak last year in New York's Harlem neighborhood. The sources turned out to include cooling towers — devices sometimes used for cooling large buildings — at a city-run hospital and the site of the city's public health lab.

Health officials are working to identify the origin of the Upper East Side outbreak, which was first identified on July 2 from two cases in close proximity. The investigation expanded to encompass three heavily residential ZIP codes.

The city said Tuesday it has inspected all 183 cooling towers in the area, and about 75 of them came up positive on first-round tests that don't distinguish between live and dead bacteria.

Those buildings include the Metropolitan, according to a list the city released Tuesday. The storied museum said it was working on the required cleanup and follow-up testing. It's normally closed Wednesday and canceled the day's few activities to ease the cleaning.

City officials said last week that they got positive tests at the Guggenheim Museum, private schools, Park and Fifth Avenue apartment houses, and more.

Most already finished the required cleanups, which entail draining and disinfecting the cooling towers, Martin said. The remaining buildings are to be done by Thursday.

Martin said the city acted with unprecedented speed in ordering cooling tower cleanups after the first-round tests. In the past, he said, officials awaited results from second-round tests for live bacteria. Those tests take about two weeks.

Menin, the Council speaker, contends the city should have demanded cleanups throughout the area right away, without waiting for any tests.

President Gitanas Nausėda said that authorities were monitoring the risk of attacks that could disrupt the country’s energy and transport systems, including facilities supporting Lithuania’s connections with the European electricity grid.

“I cannot deny that we have such information and that it concerns limited kinetic operations likely targeting critical infrastructure,” Nausėda told Lithuania's BNS news agency.

Nausėda said that the intelligence didn't identify a specific location or timing for the potential attacks. He said that such provocations could involve conventional or other means.

Russia dismissed the claim as an excuse to justify NATO’s military buildup in the Baltics.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs similarly warned on Wednesday that, with Ukraine increasingly effective at putting pressure on Russia, Moscow might respond with provocations against NATO’s eastern flank.

“Even without a total Ukrainian victory, Russia may indirectly test Article 5 and response mechanisms at the Alliance and European Union levels,” Rinkēvičs said, referring to NATO's common defense guarantee.

“The next few months, or even the next 12 months, will be crucial for Baltic security,” he said.

The three Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — and Poland, all located on NATO's eastern flank, have strengthened security around key transport and energy infrastructure in recent months in response to the Russian threat.

The countries say they have long been targets of Russian hybrid attacks, a threat that has intensified since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2022.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Poland intercepted Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea that, according to the Polish government, were conducting surveillance of Poland’s air defense systems, despite remaining outside Polish territorial waters.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the Lithuanian intelligence warning about Russia’s purported plans to launch attacks on infrastructure in the Baltics and elsewhere in Europe.

“It’s a fresh batch of bugaboos intended to continue the brainwashing and prepare the population for further militarization,” Peskov told reporters.

“To do this, they need to create an enemy image on the other side, our side in this case,” he said. “And use it as a pretext to continue moving NATO military infrastructure in all its forms into the Baltic states.”

Poland sent similar warnings

Nauseda's comments echo warnings issued in recent weeks by Polish politicians, following multiple media reports that Russia could carry out a limited military or hybrid provocation against Poland in the near future.

In late June, leading Polish outlet onet.pl reported that U.S. intelligence had warned its Polish counterparts about the possibility of a Russian attack. Citing its own sources, the outlet said that potential scenarios could include attacks on critical infrastructure, incursions by Russian soldiers near border areas and drone operations.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on July 3 that the warnings should be taken seriously and noted that he had been issuing similar alerts for weeks.

“Poland is preparing very intensively for various scenarios,” Tusk said. “I don’t want to scare anyone, but the coming months, also because of the changing nature of the war in Ukraine, could be critical.”

Tusk said that concerns were particularly pronounced in the Baltic states.

“We are not afraid; we are preparing for various scenarios, but we cannot take this lightly,” he said. “We are conscious of the dangers also because of information coming from our allies.”

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that Poland had a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We know what you are planning. Don’t do it.”

Countries deploy additional troops to protect infrastructure

Gen. Raimundas Vaikšnoras Lithuania's chief of defense, recently confirmed that the military had deployed additional forces to help protect strategic infrastructure in response to concerns over possible Russian provocations.

Vaikšnoras told reporters that Russia’s recent rhetoric targeting the Baltic states and Poland appears to serve a broader purpose, warning that Moscow has long sought to erode public trust in state institutions, the military and the government.

Poland had similarly intensified protection of key infrastructure following a November attack on rail infrastructure blamed on Russia.

On Monday, the European Union said that Russia’s FSB Center 16 had conducted cyberespionage and sabotage against defense industries and critical infrastructure across Europe, including a December attack against a Polish combined heat and power plant supplying heat to almost 500,000 customers.

A recent report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank said that Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe that repeatedly disrupted civilian aviation between 2024 and 2026.

The Baltic region is under additional strain from stray Ukrainian drones that have reached Baltic countries as Ukraine ramped up attacks on Baltic Sea ports used for Russian energy exports.

In mid-May, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa resigned over the government’s handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory.

In late May, for the first time in a NATO and European Union capital, Lithuanians were pictured sheltering in underground parking garages in the capital, Vilnius, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity.

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Claudia Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

On Wednesday, three members of a family were killed in central Gaza, Al Aqsa Hospital officials said.

On Tuesday, woman and six police officers were among those killed in an airstrike on a police station in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, hospital officials said. A man died in the bombing of a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south, Nasser Hospital officials said. And Israeli forces shot and killed a child in the Muwasi area outside the southernmost city of Rafah, according to hospital officials.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes in central and southern Gaza. In a statement on the attack in Jabaliya, it claimed that four of the slain police officers were Hamas militants, without providing evidence on how those killed were involved in planning or carrying out attacks.

One of the officers, Col. Mohamad Marwan Salem, was a senior police commander and head of the Jabaliya police station, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.

Hamas, which ruled Gaza for years, maintains an armed wing as well as civilian police and security services that are overseen by its Interior Ministry. Throughout the war, Israel has targeted local police, including those guarding humanitarian aid convoys.

Israel's military has claimed it considers police stations legitimate targets if they're “being used to advance military activities, or if those present are military operatives involved in advancing terrorist activities.”

It did not say what military activities it believed were taking place at the Jabaliya police station, nor did it provide evidence that attacks were being planned. Hamas says the police force is engaged in maintaining law and order.

Israeli attacks on Gaza’s police have been condemned by the United Nations human rights office, which said last month that police personnel had been attacked at least a dozen times in 2026, including “during ordinary law enforcement operations, including directing traffic and patrolling streets and markets.”

“The pattern of attacks raises concerns that Israeli forces apply no distinction between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza,” it said in a June 3 statement.

Ofer Guterman, a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said Israel’s targeting suggests that it regards parts of Hamas' policing apparatus as closely integrated with its military infrastructure, including through dual-role personnel and the use of facilities for weapons storage, operations and logistics.

The fragile ceasefire deal in October attempted to halt a two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas.

The heaviest fighting has subsided but at least 1,123 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which has been part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants but says women and children make up most of the dead.

Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. ___

Magdy reported from Cairo and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank.

The gathering in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is organized by Republican Sen. David McCormick. It has also featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Army Secretary Dan Driscoll; CIA Director John Ratcliffe; and Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump has been a frequent visitor to the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, including last month, when he went to a Mack Trucks facility in Macungie, outside Allentown, hoping to boost Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie's reelection chances.

Trump carried Pennsylvania in 2016 and 2024, and McCormick is not up for reelection this cycle, but Republicans are increasingly concerned about the war and the persistently high cost of living as well as the president's low approval ratings as they look to maintain control of Congress during November's midterm elections.

The White House said the summit is bringing together key leaders in defense and some of the largest global investors to spotlight the importance of national security and identify investment opportunities.

Summit attendees include JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Blackstone President Jon Gray, Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, SpaceX director Antonio Gracias and artificial intelligence firm Palantir chief technology officer of analytics Shyam Sankar, McCormick's office said.

Trump spoke at a similar gathering organized by McCormick last year in Pittsburgh that sought to make the city a hot spot for advancement in energy technology and robotics. Then, the senator announced $90 billion in pledged investments in those sectors across Pennsylvania.

This year's summit began on Tuesday. Before Trump's arrival, multi-analytics threat detection leader ZeroEyes, which is based in Conshohocken, outside Philadelphia, announced a planned $10 million investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning research and development.

Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics says it plans to open a new 10,000-square-foot (930-square-meter) manufacturing facility designed to boost integration of robotics into defense manufacturing processes and better expand the nation's defense industrial base.

An analysis released in May found that U.S. military contractors will need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks, which are used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory, as well as Patriot and THAAD interceptors, which defend against incoming missiles and drones.

Stocks have dwindled as the U.S. has repeatedly fired strikes on Iran, adding to concerns that American forces would have limited firepower in any potential future conflict with China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned during Trump's recent visit to Beijing that if Washington mishandles its relations with Taiwan, the U.S. and China could end up clashing or even find themselves in open conflict.

Trump also recently pledged to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defense systems, which could be a major development in its war with Russia, though turning the idea into real weapons is also likely to take years.

Trump has sought to correct the shortfall by seeking a historic $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal for 2027. But a package authorizing such spending levels is stalled in Congress, and, even if it eventually moves forward, loads of additional time will still be required to expand production capabilities to accommodate such weapons systems.

Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko Robotics, said U.S. defense companies have "got to supercharge supply chains” to reduce how long it takes for new technology to be ready for widespread production.

The official opening at midnight on Tuesday, after a border fence was removed, allows a new freedom of movement under a historic treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It came after years of post-Brexit wrangling.

The contested British overseas territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in a strategic location mere miles from Morocco where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.

Soon after midnight, crowds crossed freely between La Línea de Concepción in Spain and Gibraltar in both directions. Many wore Spanish soccer jerseys after Spain’s victory against France in the World Cup semifinal on Tuesday, adding to the celebratory mood.

“What you feel here is the brotherhood between the two people,” Gibraltar's Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Spanish broadcaster RTVE.

A deal that took years to realize

When Britain left the EU in 2020, the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc had been left unresolved.

Previous talks on a deal to ensure people and goods could keep flowing across the border had made halting progress. In 2025, the EU and U.K. announced an agreement on those issues, with the two sides and Gibraltar’s government signing a treaty Tuesday that eases border crossings.

The U.K.’s Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said Tuesday that the agreement secured Gibraltar’s long-term economic future and interests.

Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative, praised the agreement, too.

“It has taken four years of patient, complex negotiation, but the outcome speaks for itself,” Šefčovič said. “It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down.”

Without a deal, Gibraltar could have a faced a hard land border with full passport checks, posing economic risks for the territory deeply dependent on some 15,000 Spaniards — almost half Gibraltar’s workforce — who cross the frontier every day for work.

Mendez Segura, 51, crossed into Gibraltar from Spain on Wednesday for work, unused to the newfound freedom of movement.

“I’ve been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card,” the home care worker said. “I know you’ll be able to cross without it, but it’s just what I’m used to.”

Leisure visits by people crossing both sides of the border would have been affected, too.

“People who are visiting family in Spain, or whose Spanish family is visiting them in Gibraltar. Children who are going to football matches and extracurricular activities, either in Spain or in Gibraltar. They will be able to do that without having to worry about frontier queues,” Picardo told The Associated Press in an interview.

The deal in effect brings the territory into the EU’s Schengen free travel area. At Gibraltar’s airport and port, entry and exit checks will be conducted by both U.K. and Spanish border officials. The arrangement is similar to what’s in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris, where both British and French officials check passports.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations between the two countries on the issue of Gibraltar have had their ups and downs over the centuries. The treaty that removed the border fence doesn't resolve the territory’s contested status.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in the Rock, as the territory is popularly known in English, supported remaining in the EU.

Travelers to Gibraltar from countries outside the Schengen Area, including the U.K., will have to contend with the EU Entry-Exit System, or EES, which was rolled out in Europe in April and replaced passport stamps with biometric data collected through photographs and digital fingerprints.

Facial recognition cameras at the Rock

With the border fence gone, Gibraltar officials have set up live facial recognition cameras at entry points and throughout the territory.

Chief Minister Picardo said the territory will have many more closed-circuit television cameras and that it has increased its police presence as well as resources for customs and coast guard agencies.

“The fortress has become a digital fortress now,” Picardo said.

The 84-page report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana, located at the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.

Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.

“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by The Associated Press and others. At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.

A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed." That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.

In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp. The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.

The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.

Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.

Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.

People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals.

The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions. Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.

Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country. The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.

In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody, excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.

“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher. “People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.”

Lindell established his national profile from his TV advertising campaign as the MyPillow Guy and has been one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters, echoing the president’s false claims that his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was fraudulent.

“Mike will be SPECTACULAR!!! He truly loves Minnesota, as do I, and wants to bring it back from oblivion and embarrassment. He can do it!” Trump posted Wednesday on his Truth Social platform, referring to Lindell as “the ‘Pillow Man.’”

Trump has hammered outgoing Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats’ 2024 vice presidential nominee, as incompetent and accused his administration of allowing rampant fraud in federal spending on childcare. Trump has employed racist rhetoric to target Minnesota’s Somali immigrant population as driving the alleged fraud.

Walz, who ended his bid for a third term earlier this year, disputes the Trump administration’s characterizations. There are ongoing investigations into the state's administration of federally supported childcare programs in the state.

Lindell is part of a crowded Republican field competing in an Aug. 11 primary. The GOP list includes state House Speaker Lisa Demuth. Lindell has attacked Demuth as responsible for federal spending fraud. Demuth has blamed the Democratic administration and executive agency leaders that oversee federal grants to childcare providers.

Longtime U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar headlines the Democratic field for governor.

There are 36 gubernatorial elections this November. There currently are 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors, and Republicans view Minnesota as an opportunity to flip a seat despite a challenging national environment because of Trump’s lagging popularity and voters’ discontent over the economy.

While Trump and Republicans focus on the childcare fraud accusations, Democrats, including Klobuchar, have focused on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown that involved federal officers killing two Minnesotans, the assassination of a state legislative leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children — all within the past year. Klobuchar has mostly avoided direct mention of the childcare programs and fraud inquiries that Trump has made a political cudgel.

As he's made endorsements in Republican primaries this year, Trump has remained fixated on his lies about the 2020 election. In Georgia, recently, he made a late endorsement in a hotly contested U.S. Senate primary for Rep. Mike Collins, noting the congressman's stalwart support and referencing passing comments made by his opponent, former football coach Derek Dooley, affirming that Biden was legitimately elected in 2020.

Consider a used vehicle

One of the simplest ways to stretch your budget is to expand your search beyond brand-new models. Sure, new vehicles offer the latest technology features and are backed by a full warranty, but they also carry disproportionately higher prices.

You’ll find better value in the used market, particularly when shopping for vehicles that are just a few years old. A lightly used vehicle can often offer many of the same features as a new model while avoiding the steepest period of depreciation. According to Edmunds transaction data, the average price of a 3-year-old used vehicle in June 2026 was $32,553, compared to $48,899 for a new vehicle.

Expand your search area and loan options

Limiting your search to nearby dealerships can unnecessarily reduce your options. Shoppers willing to travel farther from home often find a greater selection of inventory and more competitive pricing. Prices can vary considerably from one county to another based on local demand and supply.

Something similar is true for a loan. Don’t wait until you’re in the dealership finance office to think about a loan. Unless you’re getting a promotional interest rate from the automaker’s finance company, there’s a good chance a credit union may offer you a better rate than the banks the dealership has partnered with.

Instead, get a preapproval from your bank, a credit union or an online lender and compare it against the dealer’s best loan offer. Comparison shopping for loans can often save thousands of dollars over the life of the loan, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Get the most trade-in value from your current car

Your current vehicle may be worth more than you think, and maximizing its value can significantly reduce the amount you need to finance. Get multiple trade-in offers before visiting a dealership. Online appraisal tools and used vehicle retailers can provide baseline estimates that help establish a vehicle’s market value. Having several offers in hand can strengthen your negotiating position and help prevent unknowingly accepting a low trade-in value.

It’s also worth considering a private-party sale. While selling a vehicle yourself requires more time and effort, it often generates a higher return than a trade-in. Buyers who choose this route should gather maintenance records, clean the vehicle thoroughly, and address minor cosmetic issues that could affect perceived value.

Focus on total cost, not monthly payment

When a salesperson starts asking about a monthly payment you’d feel comfortable with, it’s easy to miss the big picture. But don’t let that distract you. Adjusting to a lower monthly payment might seem appealing, but it often comes at the cost of a longer loan, leading to more interest charges and a higher total paid over the life of the loan.

It’s best to examine the entire financing package, including your down payment, your trade-in, the interest rate, loan term and the total cost. A shorter loan with a slightly higher monthly payment can save thousands of dollars in interest. Comparing financing offers on this basis rather than on the monthly payment alone provides a clearer picture of the true expense.

Protect yourself from negative equity

Inflated vehicle prices during the pandemic, longer loan terms and impatient shoppers have increased the risk of negative equity, a situation in which a borrower owes more on a vehicle than it is worth.

According to Edmunds’ data, 30.9% of trade-ins toward a new vehicle purchase carried negative equity in the first part of 2026. Moving negative equity into a new loan may make a car purchase possible, but it increases the loan amount and makes it harder to build equity in the replacement vehicle.

A better strategy is to wait until you can make a 10% to 15% down payment, according to Edmunds. If you’re getting the itch for a new car and currently owe more than your car is worth, the smarter move is to keep it longer and pay down the loan balance before trading it in. This patient approach can help prevent a cycle of carrying debt from one vehicle to the next.

Edmunds says

Stretching your car-buying dollars in 2026 requires looking beyond the sticker price. Before signing any paperwork, ask to see a breakdown of all the fees. If you spot any fees or services you aren’t familiar with, be sure to ask the salesperson. Otherwise, you may overlook something that could prove costly in the long run.

____

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Josh Jacquot is a contributor at Edmunds.

Temperatures will climb into the lower 90s, but with high atmospheric moisture in place, heat index values will likely approach the upper 90s to near 100 degrees.

A weak sea breeze developing along the Atlantic coast this afternoon will provide only limited relief from the heat while serving as the primary focus for isolated to scattered thunderstorm development.

Coverage will remain uneven, meaning many neighborhoods will stay dry, but any storms that do develop will be capable of producing torrential rainfall, frequent cloud-to-ground lightning, brief wind gusts exceeding 40 mph, and rapidly changing conditions.

As daytime heating diminishes this evening, convection will gradually dissipate, leaving partly cloudy skies and warm, humid overnight conditions with temperatures settling into the mid-70s.

Overall, expect a hot, humid summer day with only localized interruptions from late-day thunderstorms before quiet weather returns tonight.

Make it a great day!

The partnership centers on Trade Up, a new community initiative and content collaboration between News4JAX and WareWorks that will highlight the people, programs and employers strengthening the region’s workforce.

MORE | Introducing Trade Up: Elevating skilled trades in Northeast Florida

Inspired by the success of a similar effort at our Graham Media Group sister station in Detroit, Trade Up will feature stories over the coming year focused on in-demand careers, apprenticeship opportunities, career and technical education, workforce innovations, and the skilled trades professionals who help “build our homes, power our communities, and maintain critical infrastructure.”

News4JAX will begin featuring Trade Up stories in the weeks ahead, introducing viewers and readers to local students starting their journeys, employers investing in talent, and community leaders creating new pathways to economic opportunity.

We start with a behind-the-scenes tour of the WareWorks facility with founder Chris Ware, chairman of Ware Capital, who grew The Ware Group from a single HVAC supply operation into a regional company with more than 40 locations.

WareWorks’ mission, he said, is to help build the next generation of skilled trades professionals through collaboration with community partners.

Rather than replacing existing training programs, WareWorks helps people navigate the many opportunities already available throughout Northeast Florida.

Facility tour

Ware showed News4JAX what used to be the Venus Swimwear headquarters and distribution center, where conveyor equipment remains.

Ware said that when he bought the 135,000-square-foot building on Marco Beach Drive on Jacksonville’s Southside, it looked like operations had barely stopped, joking it “must have had 10,000 bathing suits in it” during the closing process.

The WareWorks facility, which is near Beach Boulevard and I-295, might still carry pieces of its past, but News4JAX also saw hints of what it’s becoming.

Ware pointed out spaces designed for a 500-person workforce — including a large cafeteria and call center — and explained how WareWorks plans to repurpose areas throughout the building.

Some areas are slated to become flexible community spaces, including a corner that Ware said will be converted into a culinary event space.

And the property’s scale extends beyond the building: Ware said the site includes a field and roughly 350 parking spots, built to handle large groups as the institute grows.

“We’re populating it over time over the next six months,” Ware said, describing a phased rollout as partners and training activity expand inside the facility.

Plans for programming include conversations with companies about hosting short-term two- to three-week boot camps.

The University of North Florida is already partnering with WareWorks and using space in the facility for the university’s mechanical engineering students.

Future News4JAX coverage as part of our Trade Up partnership with WareWorks will include a UNF summer camp for high schoolers interested in engineering who are also taking advantage of the WareWorks building space.

And we’ll meet young students enjoying activities inside a Be Pro Be Proud mobile learning lab.

Follow News4JAX in the weeks ahead as we spotlight the people, programs, and professions building the future of Northeast Florida.

Click here for more information surrounding WareWorks.

Other strategies

In addition to Trade Up, leaders announced two additional efforts designed to remove barriers and create clearer pathways into skilled trades:

• A partnership with the national Be Pro Be Proud movement to bring a state-of-the-art mobile “Try-A-Trade” experience to North Florida, giving youth and adults hands-on simulations to explore dozens of trades.
• The debut of the WareWorks Career Pathway Platform, an online resource connecting students, parents, educators and job seekers with training programs, opportunities and crystal-clear career pathways throughout the skilled trades ecosystem.

Together, organizers say, the initiatives represent a commitment to changing perceptions and increasing awareness of high-demand, high-wage skilled trades careers in the region.

Notably, more music is being streamed than ever before, both in the U.S. and globally.

In terms of genre: The combination of R&B/hip-hop remains on top in the U.S., but its dominance is being challenged by genre diversification, as other styles experience growth.

Latin and country music are surging thanks to artists like Bad Bunny and Ella Langley. Certain AI-generated tracks are also growing in popularity.

And in film and TV, Netflix continues its command in the U.S. in streams of original content.

In its midyear report, Luminate, an industry data and analytics company, provides insight into changing behaviors across music listenership as well as TV and film viewing behaviors.

Music streaming continues to climb

Music streams continued to grow globally and stateside. Global on-demand audio streams reached 2.8 trillion in the first half of 2026 — up from 2.5 trillion during the same period last year, and 2.29 trillion in 2024.

And in the U.S., on-demand audio song streams grew to 732.7 billion. That's up from 696.6 billion in 2025 and 665.8 billion in 2024.

R&B and hip-hop still rules, but competition nears

A combination of R&B/hip-hop is still the most popular streaming genre in the U.S., accounting for nearly 1 in 4 on-demand audio streams. However, its dominance is being challenged. In the first half of 2026, R&B/hip-hop made up 30% of U.S. album-equivalent consumption, based on analysis of the Billboard 200. Compare that to 41% in 2023, and it shows a decline.

“R&B/Hip-Hop remains a massive commercial force, but its historic dominance is leveling off as the streaming landscape diversifies. The genre was an early adopter of streaming, commanding nearly 30% of U.S. audio consumption by 2022, but the post-pandemic era has seen accelerated … growth from genres like Country and Latin,” wrote Jaime Marconette, Luminate’s vice president of music insights and industry relations in a statement to The Associated Press.

He says R&B/hip-hop's “standalone audio volume has dipped 1.7% so far in 2026 compared to last year. We aren’t seeing a collapse in popularity, but rather a shift toward a more balanced, multi-genre ecosystem where R&B/Hip-Hop’s profound creative influence is also seen in other styles.”

Any concerns about R&B/hip-hop's continued supremacy may be shortsighted. In the first half of 2026, the genres accounted for nearly 180.3 billion streams in the U.S., followed by rock with 137.2 billion, pop with 87.8 billion, country with 63.8 billion and Latin with 63 billion.

Latin and country are drawing more listeners

Latin music continues to grow in popularity in the U.S. That’s evidenced in a few different ways: First, Luminate found that nearly 1 in 10 streams in the U.S. was in Spanish for the first half 2026 — 9.4% of total streams.

Secondly, English-language consumption fell to a new low of 87.1% — still the overwhelming majority but evidence of a diverse listening market.

“Casual U.S. listenership of Latin music has hit an all-time high, with 54% — or more than one in two music listeners — now reporting that they engage with the genre,” said Marconette. “Latin music’s cultural footprint is rapidly widening far beyond its traditional core base into the broader American mainstream.”

And globally, Latin music streams reached a new high — accounting for 363.2 billion streams in the first half of 2026, compared to 335.3 billion the previous year.

Albums may be a good place to see the growth of both Latin and country in the U.S. The top albums of the year, so far, are Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” with 2.035 million album equivalent units, Ella Langley’s “Dandelion” with 1.638 million and Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” with 1.543 million. (Both Wallen and Bad Bunny’s albums released early last year.)

Marconette points to Langley as a prime example of country music's growing audience — she's at the forefront of an increasing group of “younger, streaming-forward” fans.

A small number of AI-generated tracks are spiking

And more may very well be on the way. Chill77, Unjaps and Mikeeysmind’s “Papaoutai (Afro Soul)” had 210.7 million streams in all countries except the U.S. in the first half of 2026. In the U.S., it accounted for 17.6 million streams.

That’s followed by The Second Voice’s “Let Me Be,” which earned 75.6 million streams in all countries expect the U.S.; stateside, it earned 10.1 million streams.

The most-streamed AI-generated song in the U.S. is country act Breaking Rust’s “Livin’ on Borrowed Time,” which accounted for 19 million streams. In all countries except the U.S., it earned 13.4 million streams.

Previously, Breaking Rust had a song called “Walk My Walk” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s country digital song sales chart in November 2025. The vocal phrasing, melodic shape and stylistic DNA came from the Grammy-nominated country artist Blanco Brown, an artist who has worked with Britney Spears, Childish Gambino and Rihanna.

Breaking Rust is an example of the kind of generative AI that has begun upending the music industry, often using models trained on real artists’ voices and styles without their knowledge.

“A small number of breakout tracks at the head of the curve can drive temporary conversational and streaming spikes,” says Marconette. “At this stage, generative tools are actively transforming creative and production workflows, but individual AI-generated tracks have yet to make a profound, long-term impact on consumption behavior.”

Netflix dominates in original film and TV streaming

In the U.S., Netflix accounted for 57% of all original content viewing time, followed by Prime Video (11%), Hulu and Paramount (7% each), Peacock and Apple (5% each), HBO Max (4%) and Disney+ (2%), with 13.6 billion hours streamed in total. Original TV series are most popular, accounting for 11.5 billion hours of that total. Original movies make up the difference, accounting for 2.8 billion hours.

The most streamed original films of 2026 in the U.S., so far, are all courtesy of Netflix: “The Crash” with 39.6 million estimated views, “The Rip” with 39.5 million and “Apex” with 37.3 million.

When it comes to original series in the U.S., there's a bit more competition. HBO Max's “The Pitt” leads with 19.4 billion streams, followed by two Netflix titles: “The Lincoln Lawyer” with 16.9 billion and “Bridgerton” with 14 billion.

Overwhelmingly, however, people in the U.S. are streaming library content (older, preexisting and licensed shows and movies) over original programming. Original TV accounted for 11.5 billion hours streamed in the first half of 2026, and original film raked in 2.1 billion. But library TV totaled 42.2 billion hours, and library film had 10.8 billion, according to Luminate.

Luminate estimates there are nearly 19,000 library titles available on major streaming services compared to just 7,000 originals.

In an unusual twist, two groups working independently detected the cold gas giant a few days apart late last year using different telescopes. It's the dimmest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, scientists reported Wednesday.

A Scottish and German-led team spied the new planet around the star Beta Pictoris using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, then dug through archives to confirm its orbit. The planet had remained hidden in the data all this time, overshadowed by its considerably brighter star and two companion planets.

“It was very much playing hide-and-seek for 11 years,” said the European Southern Observatory’s Markus Bonse, co-leader of the first team.

The California-led team made the discovery with NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. Two observations were all it took with Webb, the biggest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Both teams reported their findings in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The find was serendipitous. Each team was studying one of the star’s already identified planets when they spotted a less massive one — 100 times fainter — lurking farther out. They deliberately kept their work from one another so as not to bias the results.

The new planet is slightly bigger than Jupiter and takes 91 years to orbit its star, a little longer than it takes Uranus to orbit our sun. Born into a star system that’s barely 20 million years old — a kid compared to the sun's 4.5 billion-year-old neighborhood — the planet is probably similar to a much younger Jupiter, said the University of California San Diego’s Aidan Gibbs, who led the second team.

“The giant planets have formed, but smaller terrestrial planets could still be forming,” Gibbs said in an email. Beta Pictoris “is probably our best look at a planetary system just after it has formed and is still in the process of stabilizing” from hurtling asteroids and comets.

Beta Pictoris is located in the easel-shaped southern constellation Pictor, or painter, and 63 light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (more than 9 trillion kilometers).

Fewer than 100 of the more than 6,000 confirmed exoplanets — planets around other stars — have been detected through direct imaging, according to NASA. Most were found while passing in front of their star, briefly dimming it.

“We’ve now built a picture of this planet,” the University of Edinburgh's Ben Sutlieff said in an email, “and we are very excited to see what more can be learned about it.”

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

That information could be reassuring or terrifying, but for now it’s a potential tool to speed drug development by helping to identify and enroll high-risk people into studies of possible Alzheimer’s treatments or preventive strategies.

Already large clinical trials are testing if certain drugs could prevent or at least delay the disease — and if any of those pan out, doctors will need an easy way to tell who should try them.

The scientists behind the new study stress that it’s too soon for healthy people to seek out the so-called p-tau217 test, which is currently used to help diagnose whether people experiencing cognitive problems have Alzheimer’s or another disorder.

“Wait and get tested when you can potentially do something about it,” stressed Dr. Reisa Sperling of the Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute, the study’s senior author. “At this point it wouldn’t change what I would tell someone to do. I’d still tell them to eat well, sleep well, exercise a lot and stay engaged.”

The new findings showed that symptom-free older adults who harbored very high levels of p-tau217 had a 38% risk of developing cognitive impairment over five years. That risk grew to 78% by 10 years.

The research was published in JAMA and presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London.

It’s not clear exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, but its telltale markers are brain-clogging amyloid plaques and neuron-killing tau tangles. The p-tau217 test measures a form of tau that correlates with how much plaque buildup someone has and gives a hint about tangles, Sperling said.

The Mass General Brigham team analyzed data from 2,684 older adults who were healthy when they’d joined some long-running Alzheimer’s studies, receiving the p-tau217 blood test at enrollment and yearly cognitive checkups. Between the earliest enrollment in 2004 and last year, about 478 had developed cognitive impairment.

Study participants with very low p-tau217 levels likewise had a low risk of developing cognitive impairment over the five- to 10-year period.

There’s a conundrum in predicting Alzheimer’s: Lots of people harbor high levels of amyloid plaques yet never get dementia. A leading theory is that at some point amyloid buildup triggers an abnormal type of tau to form tangles, leading to symptoms.

Sperling said the blood test data offers some new clues. While different intermediate levels of p-tau217 signaled progressive risk, only the very highest level seemed to correlate with other evidence about that tipping point.

“This is a gradual process where amyloid and tau build up in the brain and this blood-based biomarker is telling you how far you are in that process,” she said.

Scientists not involved in the study praised it but also offered some reasons to be cautious. One is that only a small fraction of study participants had been tracked for a full decade, so there’s less confidence in the 10-year risk estimate than the five-year risk estimate.

Also, the predictions could be clouded by other factors — older people may be at risk of dying from something else, or have heart-related problems that can cause vascular dementia rather than Alzheimer’s, noted Drs. Suzanne Schindler of Washington University in St. Louis and David Wolk of the University of Pennsylvania in a commentary published in JAMA.

The blood tests “are not yet precise enough to guide individualized prognosis,” wrote Schindler, who also studies p-tau217’s prognostic potential, and Wolk. Still, they said the new work has “provided a crucial piece of the puzzle.”

Already “we have people coming saying, ‘I want this blood test. I have a family history of Alzheimer’s disease,’” said Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, something she strongly discourages — for now.

“These findings are quite strong,” Langbaum added, and a predictive blood test would be “really important” — but only if ongoing studies eventually find a drug that could help people before symptoms begin.

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

According to property records, the complex is owned by Jarek Tadla, a self-proclaimed billionaire who has faced complaints and code enforcement issues involving multiple properties across Jacksonville.

Court records show the Firestone Road complex, which was purchased in April 2021 for just over $1.1 million, is currently under foreclosure and was set to be sold this week. It is one of several properties tied to Tadla currently going through the same foreclosure process.

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A tenant of the Firestone Road complex at 103rd Street reached out to the I-TEAM, complaining about squatters and unsafe living conditions.

A spokesperson for Elon Management, the company now overseeing the property, confirmed those conditions, explaining it inherited them from the previous management.

“When we assumed responsibility, we encountered significant deferred maintenance, unsafe conditions, and unauthorized occupancy by individuals who are not legally permitted to be on the premises,” said in a statement to News4JAX.

We decided to take a look for ourselves, and upon arriving at the property, we immediately noticed filth and junk behind the buildings — along with people who appeared to be there without being residents or tenants.

When approached, those individuals left the area and appeared to warn each other that news cameras were present.

Walking the property, we observed areas and spots where fixtures appeared to have been removed — along with air conditioning units that did not appear to be running. Open apartment doors revealed debris-filled units, as well as utility closets filled with tires and clothes.

A no trespassing sign was posted on the property.

The few residents who appeared to still be living in the five-building complex were not eager to speak on camera. One resident, who asked not to be identified, described the squatter situation bluntly.

“It’s a gang of them,” the resident said. “There’s more of them out here than the people that pay rent.”

When asked how he handles living alongside unauthorized occupants, the resident said he keeps to himself.

“If they don’t bother me, I’ll stay in my house and have my business. Whenever it goes on, I don’t get into nobody’s stuff, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “When I close my door at night, man, I don’t come back outside, man, and I don’t be worried about what be going on out here.”

The I-TEAM reached out to the LLC listed on the deed — People’s Choice, which is owned by Tadla. People’s Choice said it no longer manages the property.

“We want to clarify that we no longer manage 5537 Firestone Road as of the first week of April,” the company said in a statement. “That property and several others are now managed by Elon Management.”

Since Jan. 1, 2025, the city of Jacksonville has received more than 20 complaints about the property, ranging from nuisance issues to individual unit concerns.

A spokesperson for Elon Management told News4JAX that the company was appointed as court-authorized management for a receiver covering this property and nine others previously managed by Tadla. They are looking to give residents a fresh start.

In a statement, an Elon Management spokesperson described what the company found when it took over, as well as other properties it took over to manage.

“Our company was recently appointed as the court-authorized management for the receiver for this property and several others from the same owner. When we assumed responsibility, we encountered significant deferred maintenance, unsafe conditions, and unauthorized occupancy by individuals who are not legally permitted to be on the premises.

Our immediate priority is the safety of the residents, the surrounding community, first responders and anyone who may attempt to enter the property. To address these concerns, we are taking steps to secure the sites, including preventing unauthorized access and reducing potential safety hazards.

We are working closely with city officials, law enforcement, and other local agencies to ensure this work is completed safely, efficiently, and in accordance with all applicable regulations. We appreciate the City’s partnership as we begin the process of stabilizing this portfolio."

On Tuesday, News4JAX returned to the property and we saw visible improvements had been made such as windows being boarded up, entrances to apartments boarded and areas near the dumpster were cleaned. Elon Property Management told us that JSO was also called to remove people from the property who didn’t live there.

The Penguin Random House imprint Crown has scheduled Brett McGurk's “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7 Hostages” for Oct. 6, nearly three years to the day after the deadly Hamas siege that left more than 1,000 people dead and more than 200 taken captive.

McGurk, 53, is a longtime Middle East adviser and diplomat who had already served under three presidents when he was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2023 to oversee hostage talks between Israel and Hamas. According to Crown, McGurk will describe his frantic efforts to balance the competing and seemingly intractable demands of the two sides, traveling worldwide in pursuit of an agreement.

“On October 7, Hamas unleashed a devastating war and the largest hostage crisis in modern history,” McGurk said in a statement released Wednesday by Crown. “I wrote ‘Brink’ to bring readers inside the rooms as events unfolded in real time — from the Situation Room with hundreds of missiles in the air, to compounds across the Middle East where diplomacy teetered between breakthrough and collapse.”

According to Crown, McGurk will also disclose details of a near-deal before Oct. 7 that would have normalized relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and will remember his unlikely alliance with President Donald Trump appointee Steve Witkoff as they handled talks during the transition time between the administrations of Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican. The remaining surviving hostages were freed in October 2025.

“'Brink' details the bipartisan front they forged when it mattered most, ultimately securing a deal that would save lives,” the publisher's announcement reads in part.

Northbound traffic is being diverted around the scene using the Exit 42 offramp.

Georgia State Patrol is investigating the crash.

Please use caution or avoid the area if possible.

In its latest attempt to reduce the risks of online harm for children, Britain's Labour government also said that features that can keep users scrolling for longer, such as videos that automatically play one after another, will also be switched off by default for older teenagers.

The planned restrictions come a month after the government unveiled a social media ban for under-16s, which is expected to cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal, from next spring.

The measures, which are one of the final acts of the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, will have to be legislated upon. It is widely believed that his expected successor Andy Burnham will follow through with the plans.

Online Safety Minister Kanishka Narayan downplayed talk that teenagers would just turn off optional social media curfews, saying it is a “disservice” to them to suggest they would.

He pointed to a recent pilot program involving more than 300 teenagers and parents across the U.K. that saw social media usage drop dramatically overnight as well as helping improve sleep and concentration.

“In October, for example, some platforms introduced these defaults of this sort – 90%-plus teenagers said to us that they’ve maintained those defaults as well,” he told Sky News. “And so the evidence base is clear, the motivation is very clear and I wouldn’t do the disservice to teenagers of saying they’re all going to switch it off.”

Laura Trott, the education spokesperson for the main opposition Conservative Party, said the proposals make “no sense.”

“Either they think 16- and 17-year-olds should be on social media or they don’t, but curfews they can simply switch off won’t achieve anything,” she said.

The NSPCC, the U.K.'s leading children's charity, said the proposals will go some way to improving the experiences of young people on social media but won't be enough on their own.

“Unless they’re followed up with further, stronger measures, they will be a sticking plaster that fails to address the addictive design features which are driving high screentime and undermining children’s wellbeing,” said NSPCC chief executive Chris Sherwood.

Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said the move was a “positive step” as young people want to try to cut down social media use but find it hard.

“I want to know more about how the policies, such as a curfew, will be delivered and will be watching closely to make sure they are effective,” she said.

The organizations say in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that they have been forced to censor their own advocacy work to avoid scrutiny from the White House, which in an executive order last year not only targeted the Hague-based criminal court but prohibited providing or receiving services to or from entities that have been sanctioned.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan against top administration officials by DAWN and Taxpayers Alliance Against Genocide, seeks a court order that would strike down the restrictions on their advocacy and their ability to interact with Palestinian human rights groups and other sanctioned parties.

“The Trump administration is using the blunt instrument of economic sanctions not only to punish human rights defenders but to police the political expressions of millions of Americans,” said Omar Shakir, the executive director of DAWN, a U.S.-based group advocating for democracy and human rights in the Arab world that was founded by Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in 2018.

“The government is violating the constitutional rights of American citizens in order to shield officials of a foreign government who have committed a genocide," he said in a statement.

The White House did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The Hague-based ICC has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Gaza during the war that began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. A panel of judges issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu has called the warrants “absurd.”

The U.S. and Israel are not among the court’s members, and neither nation recognizes its authority.

In response to the arrest warrants, President Donald Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order last year that accused the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and warned of “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.”

The U.S. over the last year has slapped sanctions on Palestinian human rights groups, a series of ICC judges and staffers — including the court’s former chief prosecutor — and Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza. Her family sued in February, saying the penalties violated the First Amendment.

Already, the lawsuit says, DAWN has halted work on submissions to the ICC about Israel’s conduct during the war, stopped exchanging evidence and legal analysis with sanctioned non-government organizations and abstained from collaborating with them on advocacy campaigns. It has also been forced to “discontinue its professional engagements with Albanese.”

“The chilling effect on Plaintiffs has been profound,” the lawsuit states. “They now face prison terms and ruinous fines if, in their interactions with the designated parties, they provide or receive anything that Defendants could plausibly characterize as a ‘service’— an extraordinarily capacious term that potentially reaches any act that confers a benefit on its recipient. Fearing liability, Plaintiffs — and countless others like them —have turned to self-censorship.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is among the defendants in the lawsuit, denounced the court as recently as this week, pledging in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece that Trump's administration would “dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary.” He warned that the court's “overreach,” if left unchecked, could subject Border Patrol agents, federal prosecutors and U.S. Marines to the tribunal's jurisdiction.

“The ICC’s interfering with American military and law enforcement operations isn’t only a grave overreach of its purported authorities. It would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation,” Rubio wrote. “Our decision and our people would be at the mercy of the ICC and its collaborators in the 'international community.' To accept the ICC is to surrender control of our national destiny.”

The State Department said the campaign against the court could include additional sanctions or visa revocations and travel bans for ICC employees as well as “increased scrutiny” of nations that don't reject ICC authority.

For decades, college has been presented as the primary path to success. But thousands of high-paying, in-demand careers are available through skilled trades, often with less student debt and faster paths to employment.

Trade Up aims to highlight those opportunities by showcasing local success stories, providing information about training programs and apprenticeships, and connecting job seekers with employers who are actively hiring.

From electricians and plumbers to HVAC technicians, welders, construction managers, linemen, and advanced manufacturing professionals, skilled trades are helping build Jacksonville’s future.

As our region continues to grow, the demand for qualified workers has never been greater.

Through on-air stories, digital content, community partnerships, and special events, Trade Up will:

• Highlight careers in the skilled trades.
• Showcase local companies and organizations training the next generation of workers.
• Connect viewers with apprenticeship and certification programs.
• Provide resources for students, career changers, veterans, and job seekers.
• Help employers find the talent they need to keep Northeast Florida growing.

Whether you’re a high school student exploring career options, a parent looking for information, or an adult considering a career change, Trade Up is here to help you discover opportunities that can lead to stable, meaningful, and well-paying careers.

Jacksonville is growing. The jobs are here. The opportunities are real.

It’s time to Trade Up.

Follow News4JAX in the weeks ahead as we spotlight the people, programs, and professions building the future of Northeast Florida.

We’ll be introducing viewers and readers to local students starting their journeys, employers investing in talent, and community leaders creating new pathways to economic opportunity.

This includes the partnership’s debut story: A behind-the-scenes tour of the WareWorks facility with founder Chris Ware.

Meet WareWorks

Launching alongside the initiative is News4JAX’s partnership with WareWorks, a Jacksonville-based workforce development organization dedicated to helping people discover careers in the skilled trades.

RELATED | From Venus Swimwear HQ to a new skilled trades hub: WareWorks opens doors for those looking to ‘Trade Up’

WareWorks was created by founder Chris Ware, chairman of Ware Capital, who grew The Ware Group from a single HVAC supply operation into a regional company with more than 40 locations.

WareWorks’ mission, he said, is focused on helping to build the next generation of skilled trades professionals through collaboration with community partners.

WareWorks, led by CEO Karen Bowling, serves as a central hub for individuals exploring trade careers by connecting them with apprenticeship programs, technical schools, employers and industry resources.

Rather than replacing existing training programs, WareWorks helps people navigate the many opportunities already available throughout Northeast Florida.

The organization believes students and families should understand that a successful career doesn’t always require a traditional four-year college degree.

“There are trade schools, there are companies that have apprenticeships, there are colleges,” WareWorks founder Chris Ware explained. “What WareWorks provides is a place where people can understand which trades are available, what certifications they need and how to begin their journey.”

Ware also believes career conversations should start well before graduation.

“It’s so clear that the path could be presented to the ninth-grade student and their parent,” Ware said. “Show them the opportunity that’s waiting after high school.”

For many skilled trades, that opportunity can begin immediately after graduation.

According to Ware, young adults entering apprenticeship programs can quickly begin earning competitive wages with benefits while gaining valuable experience. As their skills grow, so does their earning potential and opportunities for advancement.

Bowling is a longtime Jacksonville leader whose career includes serving as Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Jacksonville and as the University of North Florida’s first Vice President of Jobs, where she built partnerships aligning employer needs with student career pathways. Bowling also co-founded Solantic Urgent Care and previously worked as a journalist and TV news anchor.

Click here for more information surrounding WareWorks.

Other strategies

In addition to Trade Up, leaders announced two additional efforts designed to remove barriers and create clearer pathways into skilled trades:

• A partnership with the national Be Pro Be Proud movement to bring a state-of-the-art mobile “Try-A-Trade” experience to North Florida, giving youth and adults hands-on simulations to explore dozens of trades.
• The debut of the WareWorks Career Pathway Platform, an online resource connecting students, parents, educators and job seekers with training programs, opportunities and crystal-clear career pathways throughout the skilled trades ecosystem.

Together, organizers say, the initiatives represent a commitment to changing perceptions and increasing awareness of high-demand, high-wage skilled trades careers in the region.

Just 11 days after facing Lionel Messi and Argentina in an epic World Cup round-of-32 game, Cape Verde defender Lopes led the Dublin club to a 5-1 second-leg win over Maltese champion Floriana.

Rovers advanced 5-3 on aggregate score and will now travel to face Ararat-Armenia next week. Rovers must advance through four qualifying rounds to enter the lucrative 36-team main phase starting in September.

The second qualifying round will see former European Cup winner Red Star Belgrade enter the competition against Larne, the champion of Northern Ireland. Larne advanced Tuesday beating Tre Fiori of San Marino 2-1 for a 3-1 aggregate score.

Vikingur of Iceland got a 2-2 draw in Hungary against Győri ETO to advance 3-2 on aggregate and will face Hapoel Beer-Sheva in the next round.

Vikingur could have to return to Hungary for the second leg on July 28 or 29. Israeli clubs cannot host their home games in UEFA competitions for security reasons, and Hapoel Beer-Sheva chose stadiums in Hungary as a neutral venue in European qualifying matches last season.

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

In video posted by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, fireworks can be seen flying from the vehicle and landing in the median and in the oncoming lanes of the highway, narrowly missing another vehicle.

After the passenger was arrested and charged with shooting a deadly missile from a moving vehicle, News4JAX learned that the State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against the passenger.

We’ve reached out to learn why the charge was dropped.

In the video, the pilot can be heard describing the vehicle pulling a boat southbound on I-95.

“They appear to be shooting fireworks out of the window at cars on the interstate,” the pilot says. “We’ve got it on camera, but it looks like it was mortar style.”

When deputies pulled the vehicle over, though, the men inside denied shooting fireworks from the car. The interaction was captured on body camera video.

Deputy: This vehicle was seen launching fireworks out of the passenger side of the vehicle.

Driver: No. Not us.

Deputy: Unfortunately, it was captured by our air unit.

Driver: No man, not, not us.

Deputy: Not this car?

After a few minutes, the deputy asked if anyone had told the men how their vehicle had been identified. They said no.

Deputy: You see that little flashy dot? (pointing at the night sky)

Driver: Yeah, it’s a drone?

Deputy: No. That’s a helicopter -- who’s been following you for the past 10 miles, shooting stuff out of the car. ... You’re gonna stick with that story? Because let’s be real, it’s on recording.

“We understand fireworks are a fun way to celebrate, but only when handled safely and responsibly,” the Sheriff’s Office said in its post on social media. “Only ignite fireworks from a hard surface, a safe distance from people and other objects.”

AAA data shows the statewide average rose from $3.77 yesterday to $3.89 today. In the Jacksonville area, the average also climbed 12 cents, from $3.78 to $3.90.

AAA said the spike comes as renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran pushed oil prices higher in overnight trading, adding uncertainty to the global energy market and pressuring gas prices.

In early trading, U.S. crude climbed nearly $2.50 per barrel, about a 3% increase from Friday’s closing price of $71.41 per barrel. The rise reflects uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil shipments.

“Concerns about potential fuel supply disruptions have nudged oil prices higher,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA — The Auto Club Group. “With tensions in the Middle East adding uncertainty to the global oil market, gas prices could remain volatile in the coming weeks.”

How to conserve gasoline

• Combine errands to reduce driving time.
• Drive conservatively; avoid aggressive acceleration and speeding.
• Remove excess weight; every 100 pounds can lower fuel economy 1–2%.
• Shop for the best local prices using the AAA mobile app.
• Pay with cash when possible; some retailers charge more per gallon for credit card payments.

AAA driver resources

• Find local lowest gas prices with the free AAA mobile app and at GasPrices.AAA.com.
• Use AAA’s Gas Cost Calculator to estimate trip fuel costs.
• AAA members who enroll in Shell’s Fuel Rewards program can save on fuel — see AAA for details.
• Keep vehicles maintained to optimize fuel economy; visit AAA.com/AutoRepair to find certified repair shops.

The November fire engulfed seven buildings of an apartment complex, killing 168 people and shattering the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban Tai Po district.

Former residents and relatives of the deceased have been waiting for answers from the committee, which was established in December by the Hong Kong city government with an expectation that the work would take nine months.

Lawyers representing residents, the government and the committee are expected to lay out their arguments before the hearings conclude Friday.

The scope of the panel does not include possible legal liabilities for those linked to the fire’s outbreak, which will be handled by law enforcement authorities.

Committee has heard testimony about multiple factors in fire

The three-member committee is led by High Court Judge David Lok and includes Chan Kin-por, a member of the city’s Executive Council, and Rex Auyeung, who serves on the Hospital Authority Board.

When the hearings began in March, committee lead lawyer Victor Dawes said the evidence showed multiple factors contributed to the disaster, from fire alarms and hose systems being shut off to the use of non-fire-retardant scaffolding netting and covering windows with foam boards.

Lawyer Martin Ho, representing ISS EastPoint Properties, said the property management company's in-house electrician inadvertently switched off the fire alarm system when emptying water tanks.

The mistake was regrettable but could have been avoided if the complex's fire service installation contractor had been present during the process, Ho said.

Another installation contractor later noted the issue but did not follow up properly, Ho said, adding that a director of that contractor pointed to the industry’s mentality of not teaching other companies how to work. The lawyer called it “baffling.”

Aaron Chan, a lawyer for a director of one of the fire service installation contractors, said his client agreed the fire alarm system would help reduce casualties but hoped the committee could consider the window to escape might be very short and other factors.

Judge David Lok, who led the committee, stepped in and asked Chan not to tell him the alarms are useless. Chan quickly denied it but said he wanted to present other factors for consideration.

Residents say responsibility is being avoided

Some Wang Fuk Court residents who listened to Wednesday's arguments said part of those involved in the incident seemed to be trying to deflect responsibility.

Betty Ho was unsure if she could learn the truth, but said she hoped the committee could find justice for the deceased victims.

“I don’t think we’ll get what we hoped for in the end,” she said.

Patrick Liu said he doesn't have much expectation.

“Basically, everyone is just shirking responsibility. There’s no need to even think about it,” Liu said, adding that he learned about what had happened but he still needed to wait for the committee's report and a court trial to fully understand who should be accountable.

Panel also investigating systemic problems

The committee also is examining whether systemic problems such as bid-rigging have occurred in Hong Kong's large-scale building maintenance and renovation works. The panel is expected to give suggestions after reviewing the fire's cause, potential systemic problems and whether existing regulations and penalties are sufficient.

A representative of the Competition Commission, an antitrust organization, on Wednesday said bid-rigging groups existed in the city and in some cases were associated with criminal groups known as triads.

Former residents, government officers and experts have given evidence in previous rounds of hearings. CCTV footage, documents and records of text messages also were used as evidence.

Criminal charges filed over fire

Hong Kong authorities charged seven people and two companies in June with offenses including manslaughter and conspiracy to defraud over the fire.

The companies include Will Power Architects Company, a consultancy, and Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., the main contractor involved in a major renovation project at Wang Fuk Court at the time of the blaze.

Authorities alleged the people in charge of the renovation project and the relevant companies were seriously negligent in monitoring the materials used in the project and the procedures involved.

They also alleged the two companies and some defendants conspired to defraud Wang Fuk Court apartment owners by concealing previous Prestige litigation records and inflating the firm's score in a tender analysis report.

Crews arriving on the scene near Alcatraz Island found a three-deck pontoon vessel almost fully under water with the motor still running and leaking fuel, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said.

By Tuesday evening, authorities were searching for the missing in open ocean on the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The search, which involved divers, helicopters and vessels, was expected to continue all night, officials said.

Authorities updated the initial number of missing people from two to three after hearing from witnesses.

“Right now we are in full rescue mode,” Crispen said, adding that three people who suffered injuries falling from the boat were taken to a hospital and expected to be released Tuesday night.

Alcatraz Island, once a federal prison infamously inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it, is now a tourist destination. It is located in San Francisco Bay about a mile (about 1.6 kilometers) north of the city's shoreline, in an often windy area that attracts sailboats and other recreational vessels.

Videos of the scene showed boats deployed to rescue people who had been on the vessel, which was largely submerged with objects floating nearby.

The boating mishap was initially reported as a fire, “but we now don’t have any evidence of that,” Crispen said.

The person who died was alive when plucked from the frigid waters by rescue crews but later died. A dog onboard also died.

All those rescued were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina, a small craft harbor in San Francisco.

Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass-Tub, told the San Francisco Chronicle his boat was carrying guests toward the Golden Gate Bridge in “pretty windy, a little choppy” waters when a man on a smaller vessel flagged them down and pointed to a pontoon boat in the middle of the bay that appeared to be on fire.

By the time the Bass-Tub reached it, the flames were out, but the pontoon was sinking. Some people were already in the water while others remained aboard, Anfinson said, adding that they tried to hand out life jackets to the passengers.

One woman's head was injured.

“We figured we would get her first,” Anfinson said. A deckhand lowered a swim ladder and threw a life ring into the water to help pull her aboard.

“It was scary,” Anfinson said. “I don’t want to see anybody in that situation.”

Fire Lt. Mariano Elias said the vessel, described as a “pontoon pleasure boat,” was about 600 yards (about 550 meters) from Alcatraz and the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m.

Crispen said the vessel was believed to have launched near the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. A person who answered the phone there said the club did not have any information on what happened.

Live video from the scene showed a man and a woman wrapped in blankets and sitting on a curb before walking to a nearby ambulance. A yellow tarp covered a body on the dock.

The Coast Guard and Oakland police also helped in the rescue, Elias said.

___

Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Hallie Golden in Seattle, and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.

“I thought before the game about starting with a changeup and I thought it would be funny," he said.

He didn't. And the hitters were not laughing.

Cease struck out the side in the first inning, combining with 10 relievers on a three-hitter that led the American League over the National League 4-0 in Tuesday night's All-Star Game.

Cease fanned Kyle Schwarber, Juan Soto and CJ Abrams around a walk in the first inning, when he got six misses among 15 swings. He became just the seventh pitcher to strike out three in an All-Star opening inning after Carl Hubbell (1934), Warren Spahn (1949), Jim Palmer (1977), Dave Stieb (1983), Pedro Martinez (1999) and Brad Penny (2006) — four of them Hall of Famers.

After speaking with Justin Verlander, the senior AL All-Star, Cease gave up the idea of starting with a changeup and instead threw Schwarber a 96.9 mph four-seamer.

“Verlander talked me out of it," Cease said. “So we started with the heater and then I was glad we did.”

Pitchers struck out 27, a record for a nine-inning All-Star Game, 15 of them by AL hurlers.

“That’s the game now. Guys’ stuff is unbelievable,” said AL manager John Schneider, also Cease's skipper in Toronto. “I think the bullpen guys kind fed off of it. They were all excited coming off the mound. It speaks volumes to how good the pitching is, for sure.”

All-Star MVP Cody Bellinger hit a two-run single and Ben Rice followed with an RBI single in the first against Cristopher Sánchez of the host Philadelphia Phillies.

Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox added an eighth-inning home run off the Los Angeles Dodgers' Justin Wrobleski, who was pitching on his 26th birthday, for the game's only extra-base hit. The AL won for the 18th time in 23 games and holds a 49-45-2 advantage overall.

“The pitching was just dominant today,” Bellinger said.

Singles by Soto in the fourth, Pete Crow-Armstrong in the eighth and Otto Lopez in the ninth were the only hits by the NL, which failed to advance a runner past first.

Parker Messick, Michael Wacha, Joe Ryan, Nick Martinez, Cade Smith, Drew Rasmussen, Jacob Latz, Louis Varland, Aroldis Chapman and Bryan Baker finished the 10th All-Star shutout and first since the AL’s 2-0 win in 2013 at New York’s Citi Field.

Some starting star power was missing, with Jacob Misoriowski, Paul Skenes and Shohei Ohtani all unavailable. Just six pitches reached 100 mph, the fewest in an All-Star Game since 2021.

Bellinger and Rice both singled on up sinkers from Sánchez, who struggled through a 34-pitch inning that included three hits and two walks.

“It just took me a little time to soak it all in and enjoy it,” Sánchez said through a translator.

Documenting the day

Managers and starters entered through replica Liberty Bells in front of each dugout, walked to home plate and used a feathered quill to sign an oversized lineup card, as if they were Founding Fathers affixing names to the Declaration of Independence. MLB donated the card to the Hall of Fame.

Dirt around the plate was surrounded by 13 stars, one for each of the Colonies.

After the fourth inning, a video was played of kids bicycling to a sandlot game with a narration by Oscar-winning actor J.K. Simmons. As footage was played of Ray Charles singing “America the Beautiful” at Game 2 of the 2001 World Series, the kids biked onto the field and started interacting with the All-Stars as fireworks went off above the ballpark.

“We were all one of those kids," NL manager Dave Roberts of the Dodgers said. "Some of these kids might never get a chance to be on a major league field. So for them to have that opportunity to be — have a conversation with an All-Star is something that they might never get that chance again, right?

Bellinger thought back to his youth.

“We’re all little kids at heart playing this game even though it’s a challenging game," he said. “We’re all still those little kids with big dreams.”

Early exit

Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero was hit on the outside of his left hand by a 97.6 mph sinker from St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien in the third inning and immediately left the game. The 23-year-old, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse. X-rays were negative.

Been a while

Mike Trout, a 12-time All-Star who hadn’t played in the game since 2019 because of injuries, went 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

___

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

The House passed a bill Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent. Proponents, including the White House, argued the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. The vote was 308-117.

Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. States could opt out if their respective legislatures act to do so before the bill's enactment. The Senate would also have to pass the bill before it could be signed into law, but it’s unclear if it will do so.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said Americans are ready to “ditch the switch," saying that changing the clock twice a year creates unnecessary disruption. More important, he said, it would give families more daylight time in the evening to spend outdoors and support local businesses.

“In my home state of Florida where tourism is a cornerstone of our economy, having more predictable daylight hours is a practical improvement that benefits workers, businesses and visitors alike,” Bilirakis said.

Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings where children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

“Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he supported the bill, but he questioned whether it was the best way for Congress to be spending its time.

“For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” McGovern said. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?”

A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.

If they had to choose one option for the entire country to use, more than half of adults — 56% — prefer making daylight saving time permanent, with less light in the morning and more light in the evening. About 4 in 10 prefer standard time, with more light in the morning and less in the evening.

The White House weighed in before the House vote, calling the “Sunshine Protection Act” a popular, common-sense reform and saying advisers would recommend the president sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.

A 28-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder and terror crimes remains in custody on an extended detention warrant under the Terrorism Act that allows police to question him for up to another week.

“It is clear that this was a targeted attack,” Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing told reporters. “We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motivation that sits behind that attack.”

The death of Widdecombe, 78, a former member of Parliament, shocked the British political establishment, where she was long known for blunt-spoken socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.

Counterterror police took over the investigation Monday after new evidence was discovered. Devon and Cornwall Police have been criticized for originally saying the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated.

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez defended her agency Tuesday, saying new information often changes the nature of a fast-paced investigation.

Police believe Widdecombe was attacked on Wednesday just past noon. She failed to show up for a scheduled TV interview about an hour later and was found dead the next day in her isolated rural home in a village in southwest England.

Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.” Taylor called it a “brutal attack on a 78-year-old lady in her own home.”

The suspect was arrested Saturday in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe died.

Police have conducted extensive searches at his home and Taylor said they found evidence of planning, but he declined to provide details.

The man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder, but additional evidence found while he was in custody led police to rearrest him on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The suspect has not been named because he has not been charged.

Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government.

She found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”

She later joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she joined the anti-immigration Reform UK party, often appearing in the media as a spokesperson.

The killing renewed concerns for politicians about security, which was tightened in the past decade after the murders of two serving members of Parliament. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.

It happened on Monday evening, when a man was arrested on charges related to possessing an open container in a vehicle and resisting an officer without violence.

Waters said the suspect was “extremely intoxicated” during the arrest, causing Officer Shane Saydek, who has worked for JSO for a little over three years, to become increasingly frustrated with him.

According to Saydek’s bodycam video, Saydek accused the suspect of scratching him during the arrest. The intoxicated man did not appear to be resisting or ignoring Saydek’s orders.

“Imma tell you one more time. You curl your [expletive] finger and reach at me again and make me [expletive] bleed, Imma punch you in the [expletive] head,” Saydek could be heard saying to the suspect.

Then the video shows Saydek forcefully grab the suspect’s cuffed hands and place them on the patrol car to collect his fingerprints.

Saydek tells the suspect to “stop moving your fingers” before the video captures him punching the man in the face.

“I told you, I warned you multiple times, you’re getting a punch if you keep [expletive] grabbing at me and moving your [expletive] fingers,” he said to the suspect.

The video showed Saydek hit the suspect twice.

“There’s no reason to think about punching him at that time,” Waters said.

According to Waters, who expressed disappointment in the officer’s actions, the other arresting patrol officer who witnessed the encounter reported the incident to officials, prompting an investigation and ultimately leading to Saydek’s future termination.

“He’s not posing a threat,” Waters said, condemning the officer’s actions in the video. “There’s nothing going on that’s a problem.”

News4JAX spoke with Sheriff Waters following a JSO town hall Tuesday. He continued to share his disappointment with the incident.

“We’re disappointed - we don’t want any employees arrested, but at the same time, we’re not going to show any favoritism either. We’re going to take care of business when business needs to be taken care of,” he said.

Gene Nichols, an attorney not associated with this case, said this situation is unfortunate and that it should have never gotten to the point that it did.

“It is not easy being a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer. And they face pressures all of the time. But this is why they go to the Academy. This is why the Sheriff’s Office trains them extensively on handling situations like this,” said Nichols. “The officer had every opportunity to walk away.”

Saydek was arrested on a battery charge. He’s been with the sheriff’s office since March 2023.

Waters said the officer had no prior investigations prior to this arrest, which marked the 6th arrest of a JSO employee this year.

Days of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East by Iran — and both nations' attempts to vie for control of the waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas passes during peacetime — threaten to push the region back to all-out war.

The U.S. first imposed the blockade in mid-April and then lifted it in mid-June, a day after signing the interim deal that set a 60-day period for negotiations over issues like Iran’s nuclear program, but talks have stalled as fighting over the strait has intensified.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” it said.

When U.S. President Donald Trump announced the return of the blockade Monday, he also said he would impose a 20% fee on ships passing through the strait. But he dropped the plan to collect fees hours before resuming the blockade, citing requests from allies in the Persian Gulf.

Both US and Iran launched attacks as blockade reimposed

The U.S. carried out another wave of strikes as it reimposed the blockade, striking dozens of targets over seven hours, the U.S. military's Central Command said Wednesday.

Missile alert warnings went out in Bahrain and Kuwait early Wednesday morning as they faced incoming Iranian fire, something that's been a daily occurrence, further straining a ceasefire in the war.

U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said in a statement that Iran had launched dozens of missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf Arab countries.

“U.S. forces are holding Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression that continues to endanger innocent lives,” Cooper said.

There are at least 19 U.S. warships in the Arabian Sea, including two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines aboard. Central Command also said in a social media post that there are “hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East."

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively shut the passage by attacking and threatening ships. That sent the price of oil, fertilizer and other goods soaring.

Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off the recent violence. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, criticized America's ongoing attacks targeting his country.

“The U.S. is the aggressor, not the victim,” he wrote to the world body's leader, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Trump says he’s replacing the fees with Gulf investments

Trump said Tuesday that he was called by the region's “kings and emirs,” who suggested an alternate arrangement to charging ships fees to pass through the strait like the president proposed a day earlier.

“They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office.

Trump said he preferred that arrangement to charging tolls “because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait.”

It was unclear if the investment deals would be new commitments relative to what Trump announced after a visit last year to the Middle East.

Trump’s plan to charge fees would have been a change to longstanding American policy and a departure from U.S. promises that the strait would remain open to all without tolls.

Trump told Fox News Channel on Tuesday night that more U.S. strikes against Iran were coming over the next two days and that bridges and power plants could be targets by next week unless negotiations resume. Already, the U.S. has struck at least one bridge.

“You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,” Trump warned.

Strikes and counterstrikes resume across the Mideast

U.S. Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran earlier Tuesday; Tehran acknowledged the strikes but provided no overall casualty or damage assessments.

Hours after the U.S. said it ended its strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf was hit in at least four locations, the IRNA news agency reported. Explosions in the southwestern city of Ahvaz and the southern port city of Bandar Abbas also were reported by Iranian state media Tuesday night.

The attacks again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were retaliating against Iran without discussing it in public.

Kuwait separately said an Iranian attack wounded four members of its navy Tuesday and set a building on fire.

The interim peace deal is in peril

Under the interim deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of charge for 60 days — but the agreement left open what would happen after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic and potentially charge fees. The U.S. has disputed that.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $87 early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war. The price dipped to $78 in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement that he had changed course.

Regional mediators meanwhile are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate diplomatic process, said Pakistan-led mediation was working around the clock to reactivate the ceasefire.

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Toropin and Binkley reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo; Will Weissert and Ben Finley in Washington; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Locally heavy rainfall affected areas from near Newell, GA, along Highway 301 in Charlton County, to the northwest across Ware, Pierce and Brantley counties, ending near Nicholls, GA in Coffee County. Radar-estimated rainfall in the Advisory area was between 2 to 3 inches.

Showers and light rain will slowly end after midnight for southeast Georgia and northeast Florida.

Scattered showers with thunderstorms got an early start for areas south of I-10 and coastal southeast Georgia.

Scattered showers with thunderstorms developed near and around Brunswick, GA and in a line from Gainesville to St. Johns and Flagler counties in northeast Florida. Strong thunderstorms produced winds of 42 mph and 45 mph at Marineland and Palm Coast.

Waves of showers and thunderstorms are expected through tonight. Isolated strong to severe storms will be possible. The main hazards are wind gusts of 35 - 45 mph with frequent lightning and locally heavy downpours. Flooding is possible for urban and low-lying areas.

The coverage for our afternoon storm activity will decrease Wednesday through Friday with isolated to widely scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms expected.

The heat and humidity will build this weekend and early next week with Heat Advisory conditions possible Sunday and Monday.

Tonight: Showers with thunderstorms possible, with lingering showers through around 10 p.m. Partial clearing late.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy skies with isolated to widely scattered showers, thunderstorms, 20-40 percent. Lows in the 70s. Afternoon highs in the 80s and low 90s. Wind: NW 5-10 mph. Partly cloudy overnight.

Looking ahead: Limited showers and thunderstorms through Friday. Hot and humid this weekend with possible heat advisories Sunday and Monday.

Tropics: Tropical activity is not expected over the next 7 days in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean.

A new moon, meteors and earthshine. There is a lot to see in our nighttime sky: www.news4jax.com/weather/2026/07/14/perseid-meteor-shower-to-light-up-night-sky-when-you-need-to-look-up/

Sunrise: 6:35 p.m.

Sunset: 8:30 p.m.

For the Tampa Bay Rays slugging third baseman, Caminero considered himself fortunate the hit-by-pitch was more a scare than a season-ender.

“You are thinking the worst and honestly thought something may have been broken,” Caminero said through a translator. “But thank you to God, it’s fine and just a little bit sore. But we’re all good.”

Caminero was struck on the outside of his left hand by St. Louis Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien with the high hard one in the top of the third inning with the American League up 3-0 on Tuesday night.

The 23-year-old Caminero, fourth in the major leagues with 28 home runs, stayed down for a few moments before he popped up and ran straight into the clubhouse.

X-rays were negative.

“Sinker on hands that didn’t hit my bat at all,” Caminero said. “So look, it was a scary moment. But you know right now, we feel really good.”

The Rays resume their season Friday with a doubleheader in Boston.

O'Brien, who has 24 saves this season for the Cardinals, checked in with Caminero in the AL clubhouse.

“I told Ryan I really appreciate the gesture,” Caminero said. “He came into the clubhouse, and he took a few seconds to apologize, but I told him it was part of the game. He was really worried, but I told him look, these things happen. We are here to have fun, and we are here to enjoy the night.”

Caminero was replaced by Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox. Vargas hit a solo homer for the American League in the eighth inning for game's first extra-base hit.

Caminero hit 17 total home runs a night earlier at Citizens Bank Park in the Home Run Derby. He hit 45 home runs with 110 RBIs last season, and this season has led the Rays to the top of the AL East.

He batted fourth on Tuesday and became the first Ray to start an All-Star game in two straight seasons. Caminero grounded out in his first at bat against Phillies' ace and NL starter Cristopher Sánchez.

Caminero — who advanced to the final round of last season's Home Run Derby before losing a close contest to Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh — this season become the youngest player since at least 1900 to homer in six straight games.

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

Deputies say Willie Reed, Jr. was last seen leaving his home on Morehouse Road near Moncrief Road. Reed’s family says he has memory loss and trouble seeing at night.

Reed has brown eyes and a bald head. Police say he could be wearing a white shirt and black pants. Reed also walks with a cane.

If you see Reed or know where he might be, you’re asked to call JSO at (904) 630-0500.

Commissioner Adam Silver, speaking after the league's Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday night, said he and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum plan to talk to a number of groups interested in owning teams that will play in the new league.

And since many of those interested parties will be heading to the New York area for Sunday's World Cup final, it made sense to take meetings, Silver said.

“We’ve had tremendous interest from multiple cities in Europe, including cities that we didn’t ask for bids from," Silver said. "And we discussed with our board today that we’re in the process of finalizing those bids for an initial group of cities.”

The NBA and FIBA, the sport’s global governing body, announced plans last year to pursue a new European league — ending years of speculation about when or if such a move would happen. The plan remains in place for the new league to launch just over a year.

“Things are where I hope they would be,” Silver said.

NBA hoping Leonard investigation to wrap this summer

The lengthy probe into whether the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented salary cap rules related to an endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a now-bankrupt California-based digital bank that touted itself as environmentally friendly remains active, and Silver said he wants it completed sometime this summer.

It is now a thornier issue, given that a trade is in place to send Leonard from the Clippers to the Toronto Raptors. The teams put that trade on hold last week pending the outcome of the probe, and that could take weeks to decide.

The teams made that decision and the issues “were well-known to the teams,” Silver said.

“They chose not to live with that uncertainty,” Silver said.

The NBA enlisted outside counsel — Wachtell Lipton, a New York-based firm — to conduct the investigation and Silver said he gets regular updates from the league's general counsel on certain elements of the probe.

“The investigation needs to run its course,” Silver said.

The probe, as detailed by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, could lead to penalties that include a substantial fine, the loss of draft capital — and, potentially, even the voiding of a player contract — if the league finds there was a deliberate circumvention of cap rules.

Seattle, Las Vegas expansion update

The league's process of deciding on whether to expand to Seattle, Las Vegas, either or both continued with multiple conversations this week. Silver reiterated something he's said several times, that he's hopeful a decision will be made by the end of 2026.

A handful of potential ownership groups have declared interest publicly.

"Some groups have been public," Silver said. “The majority of groups have not been public.”

If the league expands, the likely target is for the 2028-29 season.

Silver defends CBA's ‘second apron’

Silver said he believes the collective bargaining agreement is working as intended, and defended the “second apron” — one of the salary-related elements of the deal between the league and its players.

“Every collective bargaining agreement is a result of a series of compromises," Silver said. "And that’s what this one is as well, but certainly from my standpoint, from a competitor’s standpoint, this is working very well.”

The current collective bargaining agreement includes aprons — payroll levels that, if exceeded, seriously limit a team’s options on player movement and acquisition. And they have come under fire in recent days, with newly installed National Basketball Players Association executive director David Kelly saying the union will fight it in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said last week. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron, and in the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better of fighting it back against a second apron.”

Kelly was responding to a question surrounding something NBA veteran Kyle Kuzma wrote on social media earlier this month. Kuzma said “the first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.”

The current CBA is scheduled to remain in place through at least the 2028-29 season. And for the record, not all players are up in arms about how the CBA is working.

“Thank God for second aprons and the first aprons,” Houston star Kevin Durant said during the regular season when asked about the league's run of parity — with eight different franchises having won titles in the last eight seasons.

Miami’s Micky Arison to chair Board of Governors

Miami Heat managing general partner and Basketball Hall of Famer Micky Arison was unanimously elected as the board’s next chairman. Arison will take over the role at the league’s September board meeting.

Arison — who has the second-longest tenure of any current NBA team governor at 31 years and is the longtime chair of the board of directors of Carnival Corporation — is assuming the role that outgoing Toronto governor Larry Tanenbaum has held since September 2017.

“I am grateful for Larry’s nearly three decades of stewardship of the Raptors and his commitment to helping guide our league as NBA Board Chairman over the past nine years,” Silver said. “Micky’s long record of service on the Board, his strong relationships with his fellow team owners and his deep understanding of our game and business make him an exceptional choice to assume this important leadership role.”

Tanenbaum thanked the league’s owners for their support and said he wishes Arison success.

“I look forward to working closely in this new capacity with Adam, the league office and my fellow team governors to champion our teams and players, ensuring we continue to deliver exciting and unforgettable experiences for our fans,” Arison said.

All-Star Game future

Silver said he's hoping to have a decision on the format of the All-Star Game by the start of the regular season.

The league tried a U.S. vs. World mini-tournament this past season, and it generally was well-received. Talks between the league and its players are ongoing on the format and if any potential tweaks are needed. "I think we're off to a good start," Silver said.

___

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The man who was killed in Biddeford was identified as a 25-year-old native of Colombia. The Colombian Embassy said it was in contact with U.S. authorities about the Colombian national's death and “is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said in a post on X that agents were surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country. When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, the "vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.

Prior to the brief ICE statement on the incident, Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland. The agents involved didn’t have body cameras, he said.

When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN that that's what the investigation is all about.

“Did this young man actually try to run over an ICE agent or was he in danger of running over other people in the street?" he said. “Was there a reasonable expectation of bodily harm or deadly force to justify this shooting?”

DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

King, an independent, said Mullin also told him the officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was not for the person who was shot. King said Mullin told him that earlier information that the man was the target of an enforcement action was incorrect.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Mullin told her the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Messages seeking comment were left for the inspector general’s office and the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The Maine attorney general’s office, which is also investigating, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The office said the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.

Witness says he heard driver say, ‘I tried to stop’

Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees to the curb” with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it, Boucher said.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said, getting choked up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.'"

Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.

“I was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect," Boucher said. "I don’t remember his exact words.”

Video from a security camera at a nearby business, obtained by the AP, shows a white vehicle approaching an intersection at a modest speed before making several slow circles. A law enforcement SUV blocked its path and two officers open the driver’s door and dragged out a limp body.

It was not clear from the video at what point shots were fired.

The man was authorized to work in the US, advocates say

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S.

After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, but they weren't ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group's executive director, Mufalo Chitam.

Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.

“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”

Sadie Dilboy said the man killed in the shooting regularly came to her laundromat and would bring his daughter, who he'd give quarters to buy candy from the vending machine.

“He was such a good person,” she said. “He was always cleaning up.”

Anti-ICE protesters gather near the scene

Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Biddeford on Monday night to wave anti-ICE signs and call for the agency to be abolished.

“We will always be a city of immigrants,” said Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat from Biddeford.

A handful of pro-ICE and pro-Trump protesters demonstrated across the street.

Some demonstrators had gathered in the city within hours of the shooting. Amy Goodman arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.

“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” she said.

A recent uptick in Trump's immigration crackdown

On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.

The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests are surging. The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

Hundreds of Maine ICE arrests since Trump’s return

ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests. Immigration officials later said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes" including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Court records show that while some had felony convictions, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.

ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP.

About 45% of arrested people had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data shows. ___ This story was first published on July 13, 2026. It was updated on July 14, 2026, to correct the age of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. He was 25, not 26 as the Colombian Embassy previously stated.

___

Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York, Aaron Kessler in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

The suspension of vehicle stops allows room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. Matthew Felling, a spokesperson for Maine Sen. Angus King, said the senator’s office was also told by the Department of Homeland Security that ICE was suspending stops.

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.

DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

The shooting also sparked outrage in Maine, where hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday outside an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.

“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the crowd.

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”

Questions surround the shooting

Durán Guerrero's shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown.

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop, and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out.

“If officers acted inappropriately or illegally, they’ll be held accountable," he said.

Maine's attorney general’s office, which noted that it’s working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

The state's other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November sought Tuesday to connect her with ICE's methods, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is vying for Collins' seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday evening in Lewiston.

“That agency is broken and we need to go back to a time where the rule of law united all of us regardless of the politics,” she told the crowd.

Video shows the shooting's aftermath

According to neighbors and public records, Guerrero lived in an apartment about 150 feet (46 meters) from where his car came to a rest outside an apartment building across the street from a pawnshop and laundromat.

Video from a nearby business' security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocks its path and two officers open the driver’s door and drag out a limp body.

It isn't clear from the video when the shots were fired.

Daniel Boucher said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and ran to the intersection.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

Boucher said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero walked close to him.

“He looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.

Neighbors say Durán Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn’t appear to speak English.

Claudia Morton, who often waved to Durán Guerrero, was distraught.

“The whole world should be crying,” she said.

Dozens of Durán Guerrero's relatives and neighbors gathered in Bucaramanga, his hometown in northeastern Colombia, to remember him on Tuesday. They stood outside his parents’ home, holding candles around a table where a photograph of him rested beside a statue of the Virgin Mary.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the Colombian Embassy says Durán Guerrero was 25, not 26 as the embassy had previously stated.

___

Brook reported from New Orleans and Sisak from New York. Associated Press reporters Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

Simple. A bike, a parking lot and an ice cream.

Tuchel said ahead of England’s World Cup semifinal against Lionel Messi's Argentina that he relaxes by reconnecting with his inner child.

“Sometimes you just go on a bike and then you just need a big parking lot, an ice cream in your hand for 15 minutes on a bike and then you feel like you're 15 years old,” Tuchel said Tuesday. “You enjoy your evening on a warm, summer evening for 15 minutes with the ice cream and you reconnect to the beauty of that feeling that we all have inside of us and that’s sometimes all it needs.”

German coach Tuchel was hired in 2024 and charged with the responsibility of leading England to its first trophy since winning the World Cup in 1966.

He is one win away to leading the team to only its second World Cup final.

England plays defending champion Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday and it would be understandable if Tuchel was feeling the pressure — especially coming up against Messi and resuming one of the fiercest rivals in soccer between the Three Lions and Argentina.

While he said the tournament had been draining due to traveling to Mexico and playing at altitude and also a “roller coaster” due to comeback wins against Congo and Norway, Tuchel also said the experience had been energizing.

“I can tell you that it fuels me and it makes me feel alive,” he said. “I love it so much that it gives me energy every day.”

Tuchel, a serial trophy winner with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, said he was grateful for the opportunity to coach at a World Cup.

As for ending England’s 60-year trophy drought?

“I don’t feel the burden,” he said. “You feel the tension and I will be nervous and of course that is normal. But I feel no burden.”

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The battle of the two No. 10s could be pivotal to deciding Wednesday's match in Atlanta.

“We know how good Messi is,” England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said of the Argentina great, whose enduring brilliance has been on show again even at the age of 39.

Messi and Bellingham have been inspirational in their teams' respective runs to the final four. And Wednesday's match may well be determined by which one has the biggest say on the day.

Messi is playing England for the first time in his storied career.

“He's scored so many goals and contributed to so many goals as well throughout his career, it's great to finally go up against him,” Pickford said.

Settling the GOAT debate

Messi is already considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time and he seems to be on a mission to settle the debate about where he stands in the history of the sport.

Already the all-time top scorer in the World Cup with 21 goals, he could surpass Argentina icon Diego Maradona by leading his country to back-to-back world titles.

His eight goals in the tournament so far have been pivotal to Argentina's run and his moments of magic have dragged his team through big scares against Cape Verde and Egypt.

“It’s just incredible his campaign, this tournament, how he carries that team it’s just, absolutely incredible,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Messi. “There are no words ... left for this kind of achievement, the responsibility and the quality that he shows again in this tournament.”

Argentina's World Cup triumph in 2022 saw Messi emulate Maradona by captaining his country to the title. Maradona lifted the trophy in 1986 and was runner-up with Argentina four years later when it lost to West Germany in the final.

“Trying to draw inspiration from what Diego did is difficult. Only Leo can do that,” said Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister. “Diego is a national icon for us, and hopefully, we can achieve something similar to what that team did.”

Doubts about Bellingham

England has a talismanic No.10 of its own in the form of Bellingham, who is at the opposite end of his career to Messi.

At the age of 23, Real Madrid star Bellingham is already playing in his second World Cup and his fourth major tournament for England. He has six goals, including two each in the last two rounds against Mexico and Norway.

Not bad for a player who was dropped by Tuchel in the lead-up to the World Cup, prompting debate about whether he'd even be in England's starting XI.

There is no doubt anymore about a player who Tuchel described as "world-class” after two goals against Norway in the quarterfinals.

Bellingham and captain Harry Kane, who also has six goals, have spearheaded England's run to the semifinals.

Tuchel said the duo had delivered “like crazy” at the World Cup.

It is Bellingham, however, who has provided the biggest moments in the last two games.

“We all strongly believe it’s a team sport and no one is doing it alone, but of course we are also relying on the world-class moments of world-class players,” Tuchel said.

The key to victory

Both England and Argentina will need to find a way to limit the impact of each other's big stars.

Tuchel said he had considered trying to man-mark Messi by deploying one player to shadow him throughout the game.

“Everyone knows the spaces where he wants to show up. If you analyze the matches, you feel like he sees stuff just earlier than anyone else on the field,” Tuchel said. “I think we found some patterns in their game, but if you close the patterns he will find maybe a new one and create a new one. That’s a super strength. That’s just what it is.”

If Messi is the main focus of England's attention, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has to contend with the double threat of Bellingham and Kane.

“We’re facing great players, two of the best in the world,” Scaloni said. “We will try our best to neutralize them. We have our weapons and we will try to prevent them from having a good game.”

A fierce rivalry

England vs. Argentina is a fierce rivalry that goes beyond the soccer field, with tensions also relating to the 1982 conflict over the Falkland Islands.

There have been numerous clashes at the World Cup.

Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, whose death was announced on Saturday, was sent off in a bad-tempered quarterfinal match against eventual champion England in 1966.

Maradona scored his infamous “Hand of God” goal in 1986 - and England also felt aggrieved when David Beckham was sent off for kicking out against Diego Simeone in 1998 before losing in a penalty shootout.

Most recently England beat Argentina in the group phase in 2002, with Beckham scoring from the penalty spot.

“If a fixture provides so many iconic moments you cannot just say it’s just another football match, but as a coach we do exactly that,” Tuchel said. “We don’t speak about the historic events. We don’t speak about the iconic moments.”

One of those iconic moments was Maradona's second goal in the 2-1 win against England in the quarterfinals win in 1986 when he dribbled the ball from the halfway line before scoring.

“That will be forever in our hearts. It was just such a beautiful goal,” Scaloni said. "Anybody who loves football will remember that in the best way possible.

“It was just a coincidence that it was against England, but had it been against anybody else, it would have been just as beautiful.”

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

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

It’s a movement in tai chi, a physical and philosophical practice developed more than 300 years ago that continues to resonate in China today.

“The environment is great and the air is good too,” said Ye Guirong, 64. “You can see we’re surrounded by trees.”

Most practitioners are retirees in their 60s and beyond. Some exercise in groups while a speaker plays relaxing music in the background. Others move silently on their own.

Ye first encountered tai chi in 2010. Recently retired, she took walks across the city and one day spotted the group she now leads.

“I thought it looked good, so I started practicing,” Ye said.

Once a new member joins a group, its leader teaches the basic moves. The apprentice’s progress is reviewed and corrected periodically until a new level is achieved.

Among tai chi’s basic movements are “White Crane Spreads Its Wings,” in which one arm is raised while the other is lowered, and “Part the Wild Horse’s Mane,” a broad, fluid sequence in which the body weight shifts forward while the arms open gently in front of the chest.

“The movements have been passed down from one instructor to another,” Ye said.

Newcomers keep joining

Ye’s tai chi group, Cypress Grove, has around 30 people and recently welcomed its newest practitioner.

Zu Hong, 59, learned a 24-movement routine in about a month. Ye said she’s ready to take on the second set.

“I thought tai chi looked very beautiful,” Zu said. “I wanted to exercise, so I came here to the Temple of Heaven.”

Founded in the 15th century by a Ming dynasty emperor, the site is a complex of religious buildings symbolizing the relationship between heaven and earth.

Its most iconic building is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. It served as the ceremonial site where emperors acted as intermediaries between humans and heaven, offering sacrifices and prayers for good harvests.

Today it serves primarily as a tourist attraction and its surrounding gardens remain open to the public.

Ancient ideas endure

Tai chi carries two meanings in China. It refers both to the martial art, or Taijiquan, and to the philosophical ideas behind it, or Taiji.

One of its key concepts is qi, or vital energy, which is understood as a life breath that flows through the body.

In traditional Chinese medicine, health depends on qi circulating through a network of pathways known as meridians, which are believed to connect the body’s organs, limbs and other parts. Acupuncture and other traditional treatments aim to regulate that flow.

“Practices like tai chi and qigong are all about activating, regulating or improving the flow of qi in the body,” said James Miller, a professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University in China’s Jiangsu province. “That’s something very key to Daoism (Taoism), but it’s also part of the broader Chinese conception of the body and of the world.”

Beyond the human body, qi is also believed to exist in nature. Mountains and rivers are understood to be animated by its flow.

“This is also why it’s traditional to establish temples on mountains,” Miller said. “They’re understood not just as beautiful or remote places, but because they’re closer to nature.”

An ancient practice lives on

There are several styles of tai chi, each with its own forms.

Ye’s group gathers every morning at 7:40 a.m. to practice Yang-style for about an hour and a half. The group rotates through different sets. Some consist of 24, 42 or 48 movements, while others incorporate swords or fans.

“Through exercising, everyone’s health has improved,” Ye said. “Our spirits are especially good.”

Chen-style is widely recognized as the oldest form of tai chi. It was developed in the 17th century by Chen Wangting, a military commander who later in life changed paths to embrace spirituality.

“He practiced Daoist (Taoist) methods of self-cultivation including meditation,” said Tai Chi master Chen Haitao. “Then one day he experienced a sudden awakening: the meridians throughout his body all opened, his mind became enlightened, and wisdom suddenly emerged.”

Chen Wangting’s experience was life-changing, said Chen Haitao. Dreaming of sharing the sensation with others, he found in movement the means to do so.

Both the martial art and the philosophy behind tai chi are meant to work together, Chen said. The movements provide the method while the philosophy gives them meaning.

“One of the great benefits of Taijiquan is that it is suitable for everyone,” Chen said. “As long as you learn the basic principles correctly and maintain proper alignment, whoever practices it will benefit from it.”

___

AP video journalist Wu Jia contributed to this report. ___

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

Storms dumped up to a foot of rain in some rural areas of Texas, leading to dozens of high-water rescues across the region and officials shutting down portions of a busy highway for hours near Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of San Antonio. A flood watch also included Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding last year along the Guadalupe River killed more than 100 people.

No deaths or injuries Tuesday were immediately reported.

The National Weather Service warned that storms overnight could dump more than a foot of additional rain to some places into Wednesday, creating potentially catastrophic impacts from flash flooding in areas west of San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for dozens of counties.

“Intense rain rates and compounding effects from multiple rounds of storms will result in a dangerous flash flooding threat through Thursday,” the National Weather Service said.

Authorities on Tuesday posted videos of a rescue crew in a boat down flooded streets and one vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by members of the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

In Uvalde, officials said there had been at least two dozen water rescues. They opened a local event center for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

Ali al-Zaidi emerged as a consensus candidate in Iraq after months of deadlock over the premiership following last year’s parliamentary elections. Trump endorsed al-Zaidi for the job after he threatened to cut off U.S. support for Iraq if another candidate became the country's next prime minister.

“Mark my words, I knew what I was doing,” Trump said in the Oval Office as he sat alongside al-Zaidi for his first visit outside Iraq as prime minister. “This man is going to be a great leader in the Middle East, beyond Iraq. His influence is going to spread all throughout the Middle East.”

Speaking through an interpreter, al-Zaidi said that he was conveying his greetings from the “oldest civilization in the world” and that the focus of his U.S. visit would be to announce an “economic partnership” between the two countries.

The issue of Iran loomed large in the discussions Tuesday. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran in February. Officially, the Iraqi government has given non-state armed groups until the end of September to disarm, but some of the most powerful militias have said they have no intention of doing so.

Al-Zaidi stressed on Tuesday that there will be no justification for their existence after Sept. 30. A Trump administration official said ahead of the Oval Office meeting that the U.S. will make “informed” decisions based on Iraq’s efforts to disarm Iranian-backed militias inside its borders. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the administration’s strategy ahead of al-Zaidi’s visit.

Al-Zaidi has been called ‘Trump of the Middle East’

Iraq’s dominant parliamentary bloc called the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran, initially said it would back former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration viewed as too close to Tehran. Trump, a Republican, got personally involved, threatening to block support if al-Maliki returned to power.

Since al-Zaidi's formal installation as prime minister-designate in April, the Trump administration has kept up its outreach to ensure the U.S. can wield significant sway in Iraq, particularly in extricating the Iranian influence that is deeply entrenched inside the country.

The parallel backgrounds of Trump and al-Zaidi have also bolstered their rapport. Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council, noted that al-Zaidi has been likened to “Trump of the Middle East” considering his business background and lack of political experience.

“When you value business success, I think then it’s very appealing to look at an Iraqi prime minister who is likely a billionaire and can be really pointed to as a political outsider,” she said.

But Taylor added that “the reality is much more complicated,” noting that al-Zaidi was chosen by the current political infrastructure in Iraq and will be “beholden in some way to that system.”

“I’m not always sure that there’s a full appreciation of the challenge that this prime minister will face in actually trying to really dismantle core parts of the political system,” she said, noting the obstacles that al-Zaidi will face as he tries to disarm the Iran-backed militias or challenge political corruption.

Underscoring the complicated competing interests that al-Zaidi is confronting in Iraq, the new prime minister sidestepped a question about Trump's remarks on the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

“At that time, I wasn’t involved in politics," al-Zaidi said. "Let’s talk about the future.”

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, said he expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament during his Washington visit “and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support — intelligence support, technical support, armed support.’”

“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,” Mansour said. “And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”

Oil pipeline deal is set to be signed, Iraqi officials say

The two governments are also poised to finalize a significant energy deal.

Two Iraqi officials said an agreement is slated to be signed Friday between Iraq, U.S. companies Chevron and TI Capital, and Qatar’s UCC for construction of an oil pipeline that will connect southern Iraq’s Basra to western Iraq's Haditha and from there to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s coast. The pipeline is projected to carry about 2 million barrels of oil per day. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Neither Trump nor al-Zaidi elaborated on the pending deal publicly during their Oval Office meeting, but the U.S. president said Iraq has “tremendous potential" because of its oil.

Later, a senior Trump administration official said the U.S. is “facilitating conversation” between Iraq and Syria on future energy projects. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations among the governments.

Al-Zaidi cracks down on corruption

Al-Zaidi received Trump’s blessing, despite the fact that he was chairman of a bank, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, that was among the financial institutions banned by Iraq’s central bank in 2024 from dealing in dollars amid pressure from the U.S. to crack down on money laundering and funneling of funds to Iran.

Since taking office, al-Zaidi has made a public show of cracking down on corruption. His government has conducted raids and arrested dozens of current and former lawmakers and government officials accused of corruption, including some affiliated with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The Iraqi premier’s delegation to Washington includes a number of Iraqi businessmen and government officials, and al-Zaidi’s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit is to “strengthen economic and development partnerships, attract investment, and expand the role of U.S. companies in implementing infrastructure projects” and to further develop the oil-rich country’s energy sector.

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An earlier version of this story was corrected to show Trump said “if we are not there to help,” not “if we are there to help.”

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Follow the AP's coverage of Iraq at https://apnews.com/hub/iraq.

Oliphant died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from age-related issues, said his son, Grant Oliphant.

A multidimensional artist who also created sculptures, lithographs and oil paintings, Oliphant was widely considered the most syndicated editorial cartoonist in the U.S. During the 1980s, his daily political cartoons appeared in more than 500 publications in the country and around the world.

For over five decades, Oliphant’s work ridiculed powerful figures — from President Lyndon B. Johnson to Donald Trump — with a blunt and meticulous stroke. He drew Jimmy Carter with large teeth and lips, alluding to his background as a farmer and the cultural stereotype of adaptation to rural work, and depicted Ronald Reagan, whom he thought was uninterested in the suffering of the American people, with a cork in his ear.

Those who knew Oliphant said his gift was to merge the shrewdness of an observer of the political scene with a witty sense of humor into art.

“He redefined what it meant to be a political cartoonist and to be fearless in his work,” said Bill Banowsky, director of the documentary A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant. “His work has a fierce pursuit of bringing injustice to light. And he was very effective.”

Oliphant tackled controversial subjects that were largely deemed unacceptable by the establishment at the time. That included the Catholic Church and its pedophilia scandals in 2002 and Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza in 2008. But his ethnic caricatures also drew complaints about false stereotypes and racism from organizations like the Asian American Journalists Association and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1935, Oliphant started as a copy desk aide at a local newspaper, where he discovered his interest in art while seeing a cartoonist at work. His first in-house cartoonist job was at The Advertiser in his hometown.

“He decided cartooning could merge his interests in art and commentary,” Grant said. “He wanted to be the best in the world.”

About a decade after he moved to the U.S., Oliphant joined The Denver Post in 1964 and won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1967. He thought the prize committee had honored the weakest piece of work he’d submitted for consideration, and criticized the prize process itself afterward.

He later joined The Washington Star and moved to Santa Fe in 2002.

Oliphant began losing his eyesight due to glaucoma around the age of 80 and had to retire from professional cartoon work, Grant said. Still, he painted at home in Santa Fe.

“He loved the creative ferment of Santa Fe. We had constant parties at his house far into the night with a wide range of thinkers, musicians and writers,” said Hampton Sides, a Santa Fe-based writer and friend of Oliphant. “He enjoyed the constant interplay of ideas.”

With the current political environment, Grant said it seems society has lost the capacity to receive humor and debate and contrary opinions.

“My father challenged the idea of the political establishment being sublimely serious as it is,” Grant said. “We really need that in today's America.”

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian crewmates Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina lifted off as scheduled at 7:47 p.m. (10:47 a.m. EDT, 1447 GMT) aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 for an eight-month stint on the orbiting outpost. Their spacecraft docked smoothly at the station in automatic mode about three hours after the launch.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch, the first visit to Baikonur by a NASA chief in eight years that highlighted the ongoing cooperation in orbit between Moscow and Washington, despite tensions over Russia’s military action in Ukraine.

Before the launch, Isaacman met with the head of Russia's state corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov. Speaking during Monday’s meeting with the crew, Isaacman thanked Roscosmos for its efforts to prepare for the mission, saying that “the integrated work performed over the past several months reflects the professionalism and dedication of everyone involved.”

Isaacman also had a meeting with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Manturov's office said they discussed prospective cooperation on the International Space Station and other projects.

The mission is Menon’s first space flight and the second for Dubrov and Kikina.

The trio will join NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyaev.

Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country’s spacecraft.

Plans for broader cooperation, including possible Russian involvement in NASA’s Artemis program of lunar research, have fallen apart. As Russia has become increasingly reliant on China for its energy exports and imports of key technology amid Western sanctions, Roscosmos has started cooperation with China on its prospective lunar mission.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a decades-old desegregation mandate for the Concordia Parish School Board, handing a victory to President Donald Trump’s administration, which has pushed to end the court-ordered plans. The school system has been a focal point in the administration’s attempt to end legal cases dating to the Civil Rights era.

The U.S. Justice Department spent decades fighting for such cases but reversed course under Trump. Officials in his administration have framed the remaining segregation orders as federal intrusion into local school systems. Louisiana officials agree they're no longer needed and describe them as relics of a time when Black students were once forbidden from attending some schools.

“The good people of Concordia Parish elected their school board to govern their schools — not unelected federal judges,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in announcing the ruling. “Today’s decision puts that authority back where it belongs."

Members of the Concordia Parish School Board did not immediately respond Tuesday to emails seeking comment.

Families who brought the suit are no longer involved.

The Concordia Parish case dates to 1965, when the area was segregated and home to a violent offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan. Black families in Ferriday, a town on the central-eastern border of Louisiana, sued for access to all-white schools, and the federal government intervened. As the district integrated its schools, many white families fled Ferriday.

The district’s schools came to reflect the demographics of their surrounding areas. Ferriday is still mostly Black and low-income, while neighboring Vidalia is mostly white and takes in tax revenue from a hydroelectric plant.

Some parents and civil rights groups have argued that desegregation orders remain important tools to address vestiges of segregation such as racial disparities in student discipline, academic programs and teacher hiring.

The Concordia Parish order was used to force a mostly white charter school that opened in 2013 to prioritize Black students and create a more integrated student body.

Congo has been battling an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola since May, with no approved treatment or vaccine. The Africa Centres for Disease Control says it is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on the continent.

“Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care,” Chikwe Ihekweazu said after returning from Bunia, in Ituri province, one of the worst-hit cities. “And as of today, 80% of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission.”

People who die outside the health system cannot be isolated, treated or have their contacts traced promptly, increasing the risk of further transmission.

The outbreak, Ihekweazu said, “continues to outpace the response efforts.”

As of Monday, at least 1,926 people have been infected, of whom 702 have died, in three provinces in Congo from the rare Bundibugyo virus, Congolese authorities said. Cases have also been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.

Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva that his visit to Bunia had been “quite encouraging on many fronts, but also deeply concerning.”

Treatment capacity in Bunia is now close to 800 beds, with capacity increasing every week, and lab capacity has grown from 1 to 14 labs, an effort the emergency chief lauded.

However, Ihekweazu said that despite “our best efforts ... we have not caught up in the race.”

A funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities have hampered the response.

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center in northeast Congo went on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work under the condition that the government pays them within 72 hours.

“Just one day of strike action has already caused damage. Patients were unable to access the center," the striking health workers said in a statement. “We hold the government solely responsible for any loss of life if the site closes after this ultimatum.”

The Congolese authorities declared a fresh Ebola outbreak on May 15 after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the WHO. Clinical trials for treatment began last week after researchers launched a highly anticipated study in the hope of fighting the virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 11 that a U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in Congo has tested positive for the Ebola virus, without providing further details.

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Associated Press writer Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.

Troopers said agents with the Homeland Security Investigations division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement were conducting a stop around 6:45 a.m. in the parking lot of a gas station on SR 16 when the four people inside the vehicle ran off.

One of the men tried to run across SR 16 at Green Acres Road but crossed in front of a semi and suffered fatal injuries, according to FHP.

The driver of the tractor-trailer stopped and tried to help the man, but he died at the scene, troopers said. The driver was uninjured, according to the report.

A woman who witnessed the incident described it as a “very scary” sight that will be hard to forget.

“The sounds are constantly replaying in my head of him getting hit,” she said. “I’ll never look at that road the same.”

She said she had her two kids in the car with her at the time of the incident. One of them saw what occurred. She said her thoughts are with everyone involved.

She also expressed condolences for the man, calling the ICE involvement “really sad” and noting that she comes from an immigrant family.

“When I saw that whole situation happen I prayed for that man,” she said. “I prayed for him and I do pray that he is in heaven.”

FHP is conducting the traffic fatality investigation and said it would share updates as information becomes available.

FHP could not comment on what led the ICE agents to stop the people in the vehicle.