President Gitanas Nauseda said 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,” Nauseda told Lithuania's BNS news agency.

Nauseda said the intelligence did not 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 Rinkevics 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,” Rinkevics 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 added.

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 in 2022.

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 added. “And use it as a pretext to continue moving NATO military infrastructure in all its forms into the Baltic states.”

Poland sent similar warnings about an imminent Russian provocation

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 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 added 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 added. “We are conscious of the dangers also because of information coming from our allies.”

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Poland had a message for Russian leader Vladimir Putin: “We know what you are planning. Don’t do it.”

Countries deploy additional troops to protect infrastructure

General Raimundas Vaiksnoras, 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.

Vaiksnoras 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 Russia’s FSB Center 16 had conducted cyber‑espionage 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 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 Silina 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 car parks in the capital Vilnius, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity.

___

Ciobanu reported from WARSAW, Poland.

Blanche is set to confront questions about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate hearing that will test Trump's grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job. His prepared remarks were released before the hearing.

Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, during which 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.

Those actions will receive fresh scrutiny at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Blanche testifies for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump's term. The stakes are high given the upheaval inside the department, where mass firings and resignations have hollowed out the workforce. More than 1,200 department alumni have come out against his nomination.

In his prepared remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, noted that the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the country. “You take an oath to the Constitution, not to the President,” he plans to say. “But you have treated DOJ like President Trump’s personal law firm.” He said the Trump administration's Justice Department has violated dozens of court orders.

Blanche, for his part, will insist that he has presided over a course correction at the department following years of investigations into Trump during the Biden administration.

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

Blanche will need the support of each Republican on the panel

Blanche, who is expected to be uniformly voted down by Democrats on the committee, must win the support of all Republicans on the panel for his nomination to advance.

A particular focus is on Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who in May lost his primary and has said he won't decide on Blanche's nomination until after the hearing, and Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has opted not to seek reelection. 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 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. The senator, however, recently said he doesn’t have any concerns about Blanche’s record regarding the events of that day.

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.

Questions await about the $1.776 billion fund and the Epstein files

The $1.776 billion fund, called the Anti-Weaponization Fund, created a particularly rocky moment for Blanche. He initially defended it during congressional appearances only to reveal later that it was being scrapped — even while resisting calls to give those reassurances in writing. The turnabout followed fierce bipartisan backlash that came to a head during a tense closed-door meeting he had with lawmakers.

The fund arose out of a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns. The Florida judge overseeing that case issued a scathing ruling that said Trump and his lawyers had manipulated the court system in bringing the lawsuit in the first place. The judge, Kathleen Williams, said Monday she was troubled by Blanche's involvement in the settlement given that he previously represented Trump.

“He’s got a few more questions to get through, after the judge’s decision today,” Cornyn told reporters Monday.

Blanche will also face questioning over 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 from even Republicans.

Epstein files are also under scrutiny

Other testimony is likely to focus on Blanche's handling of the Jeffrey 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.

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. He then 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 adversary of Trump, 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.

Blanche has denied accusations that he has been weaponizing the department. But he has also insisted that he sees no problem with the president’s interest in Justice Department matters and that he feels no pressure to placate him.

“We have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now,” Blanche told a press conference in May. “And it is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with and believes should be investigated. That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that.”

Blanche has also presided over an aggressive enforcement of news media leaks, with prosecutors most recently issuing subpoenas demanding that a group of New York Times journalists testify before a federal grand jury after they reported on security concerns involving the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The Times' executive editor, Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas, praised his journalists’ work and said: “We expect to prevail."

ICE is “doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

The Republican president said that to remove criminals he claims were let into the country under the previous Democratic administration “we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump said, “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

The suspension was ordered after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after another officer 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.

It’s a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers and then saying they opened fire when the drivers' vehicles became a danger. That’s despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

At least 10 people have been killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. 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 immigration crackdown.

The office of Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was told by DHS that ICE was suspending traffic stops, office spokesperson Matthew Felling said.

ICE, which has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers, often says people it's trying to arrest are increasingly resistant to leaving their homes. ICE officers blame immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in their homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge instead of the administrative warrants the agency generally uses that are signed by another ICE officer. So, ICE officers say, they’re forced to find other areas in which to make arrests.

Shooting 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.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said 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.

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 Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

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

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”

Questions surround the shooting

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 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 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 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.

Collins said Mullin told her the DHS inspector general is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November have sought 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, a Democrat who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday in Lewiston.

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.

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

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:

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.

▶ Read more

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

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.

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.

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.

In a session that mixed somber seriousness and political criticism with personal tributes and jokes, 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 Starmer's Labour Party 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 insulted by U.S. President Donald Trump 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 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 gave him a standing ovation.

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.

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding were posted in some areas as the deluge was expected to continue through Thursday evening. The National Weather Service said 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some areas by the time the storms move out.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

Flash flood warnings were posted Wednesday morning for several counties near the Mexico border including 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.

The highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) in some areas, the weather service said.

“This is called a typical mid-summer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,” said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist with the weather service. “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.”

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

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, he said.

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

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.

The weather service said the city of Uvalde has been hardest hit. Officials there said there had been at least two dozen water rescues, and a local event center was open for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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 expected 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.

President Volodymyr 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. Europe is watchful of Russia’s broader intentions on the continent and has provided billions of euros (dollars) to Ukraine as well as diplomatic support.

Von der Leyen said she would announce new steps toward integrating the European and Ukrainian defense industries as well as providing help to prepare the country's air defenses for the colder months, when Russia usually tries to knock out electricity and heat in what Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”

The top European Union official's visit came as 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 and visiting dignitaries in Kyiv 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 at least 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

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 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.

Health workers at Bunia General Hospital, the region's largest medical center, went on strike on Wednesday and are the latest group to have walked off their job at the epicenter over payment issues. Health professionals and other front line workers barricaded the entrance of the hospital, claiming they have not received any compensation 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 so far recovered, according to data from Congo’s Ministry of Health. Contact tracing remains a challenge, with coverage of those exposed still at 67%.

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 displacements from armed conflict as well as mining-related movements have made it difficult to trace thousands who have come in contact with infected individuals.

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

The health 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 under the condition that the government pays 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 for a highly anticipated study of two possible Ebola treatments recently started in Ituri.

Futures for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.

Morgan Stanley shares rose 2% in premarket trading after the bank reported revenue of $21.3 billion in the second quarter and profit of $5.6 billion, both records. That follows a slew of strong reports from big U.S. banks on Tuesday, with all of them to some degree crediting their trading desks.

It marks the second straight quarter of robust results from the banks, which have benefited from market volatility since the Iran war began in late February.

Coming later Wednesday is the government's report on wholesale inflation in June.

Stock price gains overall were moderate given worries that the United States and Iran may return to an all-out war. Renewed attacks in the Middle East have raised the risks of further disruptions of transport of oil and gas through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil prices higher.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the U.S. blockade. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the blockade was resumed as an interim agreement on ending the war unraveled.

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

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 63 cents to $85.36 a barrel, while benchmark U.S. crude gained 46 cents to $79.80 a barrel.

“The U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding signed last month has proved to be anything but. The two sides are once again exchanging military strikes, and they hold completely different views on the state of affairs in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

“With shipping around the Gulf becoming increasingly fraught with danger, traffic flows are declining once more,” he said.

In early European trading, France's CAC 40 dipped 0.2%, while the German DAX shed 0.8% and Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi led gains in Asia, surging 6.2% to 7,284.41 as prices rebounded from a recent sell-off in semiconductor stocks. Shares in computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 8.8%, while those of Samsung Electronics surged 6.3%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% to finish at 68,751.51.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,841.10.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 1.4% to 24,681.10, while the Shanghai Composite lost 0.3% to 3,955.58 after the Chinese government reported the economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace in April-June, slowing sharply from 5% in the first quarter of the year.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

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 like 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.

Among the 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.

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.

Including those at the barracks, more than 30 people have been killed in recent days, Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said, without elaborating.

Hossein Kermanpour, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, meanwhile, said over 260 people were wounded in overnight strikes alone — a figure far larger than for any other round of recent violence between Iran and the U.S. He did not say how many people were killed overnight.

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.”

Regional mediators meanwhile are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

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.

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.

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.

___

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.

“Promise Me, America,” which Biden says will touch upon everything from the economy to his decision to drop his bid for reelection, is scheduled to come out Nov. 17.

The timing of the book — two weeks after midterm elections in which Democrats seek to regain control of Congress — could raise concerns within his party. Many Democrats remain divided on Biden's legacy and his ill-fated determination to seek a second term in the White House, and leaders hope to keep the fall campaign focused on the record of Republican President Donald Trump.

“'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. “Most of all, it’s about my faith in the promise of America.”

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 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. 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.”

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.

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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.

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 Spain’s La Línea de Concepción 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 does not 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 CCTV 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.

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.

The fire, which broke out on Sunday night, killed at least 32 people and left more than 70 injured, 15 of whom are still in critical condition, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

The cause of the fire at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar is still under investigation.

Most of the people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms, where they may have sought to escape the flames, police said.

Wiroon Supasingsiripreecha, chief of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, told reporters Wednesday that most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, while a few died from burn injuries.

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.”

On Wednesday, Natthaphong went to the Phahonyothin Police Station in Bangkok to give a statement. Photos of personal belongings, like smartphones, left behind the bar on the night of fire adorned the walls.

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 these injuries.

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.

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.

“I want them (the owners of the bar) to be the one reaching out to the families. Rather than having us come to the police station ourselves because they (family members of victims) would be going back to their hometowns by now,” she said. “They won’t have time, because each victim came from far away.”

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.”

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

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.

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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.

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

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 and 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The released documents showed that the two were close years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction on sex crimes, when he became a registered sex offender. She tried to downplay her relationship in more recent statements, calling him a “monster.” But documents showed she had called Epstein “Uncle Jeffrey” in emails and said she adored him.

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

Ruemmler is the 17th 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.

A spokesperson for the committee said that Black's attorneys have confirmed his appearance for a formal deposition on Sept. 3 and that they will produce Black's nondisclosure agreements by the end of next 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.

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.

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 have 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, R-Ark., 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.

“Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly,” Cotton said.

While Clayton has received some bipartisan praise, Democrats are expected to aggressively question him on how he would approach the issue of election interference, especially as Trump has said he will deliver a primetime address on Thursday with a focus on elections, suggesting he could revisit long-debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.

“Trump made it clear that he expects whomever is Director of National Intelligence to promote his baseless election conspiracy theories,” said Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democratic member of the intelligence panel, after the nomination was delayed last month.

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.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said he worked with Clayton when he was chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and "during that time, he had the independence of mind and respect for the law that are necessary for any Director of National Intelligence,” Himes said.

Still, 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 object 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 are certain to press Clayton on his role in recent 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."

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 — which does not have enough votes 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 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 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’s 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 Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of analytics and artificial intelligence firm Palantir, 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 also 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 — used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory — as well as Patriots 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.

China has a stated goal of ensuring its military is capable of taking Taiwan by force if necessary by 2027, which experts see as more aspirational than a hard deadline. But Chinese President Xi Jinping warned during Trump's recent visit to Beijing that if Washington mishandles its relations with the self-governing island, 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.

“President Trump uniquely understands the importance of pragmatic impact today,” Loosararian said. "He also understands big, beautiful things for tomorrow.”

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. A message seeking comment was sent Tuesday to Menin's office.

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; Legionnaire's 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 noted that the city used to await results from second-round tests for live bacteria before ordering such cleanups but this year decided not to hold off. The tests take about two weeks.

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.

___

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.

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.

___

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

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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.

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.”

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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.

The request follows the death of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. Since the beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, 17 Mexican migrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry had previously said it would make the request, which was formalized on Tuesday, according to the ministry. It said a similar request will be also sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States is not legally obliged to act on the requests.

Also, the Mexican government said it has started sending letters to U.S. detention centers where Mexican migrants have died, demanding they “immediately cease the actions or omissions that resulted in these deaths, such as preventing access to prompt and expedited medical care, as well as the application of policies incompatible with medical and penitentiary standards.”

The first center to receive the letter was Adelanto, in California, where four Mexican migrants died.

The letters are a first step toward “the eventual filing of civil lawsuits” against the companies that operate the detention centers to stop human rights violations, according to the ministry.

Last week, Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said his country would go directly to U.S. authorities to request criminal investigations in cases of Mexicans killed in ICE custody or enforcement operations.

Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was shot last Tuesday 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.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said the 52-year-old Araujo had rammed an ICE vehicle, and that a federal agent fired a weapon in self-defense.

Velasco also sent a letter to Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, requesting that U.S. authorities gather information on the deaths of the Mexican migrants in ICE custody and analyze the “compatibility of these events with international human rights obligations.”

The foreign minister also asked Türk to seek the opinion of the Human Rights Council, a U.N. intergovernmental body that promotes human rights, on the cases and offer recommendations.

The developments mark an escalation in Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s response to Trump’s immigration crackdown. Sheinbaum earlier this year ordered Mexico's diplomatic missions across the U.S. to regularly check in with ICE detainees, and her government even lodged a complaint with Türk.

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Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

It was the third death in a week involving encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, following shootings in Texas and Maine.

The 28-year-old was among four occupants of a vehicle that stopped in the parking lot of a gas station and convenience store in the St. Augustine area before 7 a.m. During an encounter with agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations, the four fled on foot, with one darting across a busy road into the path of the semi, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Dylan Bryan said in an emailed statement.

The driver of the semi stopped and tried to help the man, Bryan said.

It was at least the 10th death involving encounters with immigration agents since President Donald Trump launched his mass deportation campaign last year.

It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the encounter Tuesday. In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had conducted an operation and said the Florida Highway Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations were “investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national.”

The department did not respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press about the status of the other three occupants of the vehicle.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democrat from Jacksonville, called the death a tragedy that resulted from an out-of-control agency.

“Whether it’s ICE agents gunning down a father in the streets of Houston, shooting a young man in Maine or conducting operations right here in Northeast Florida that result in a deadly crash, the outcome is the same: fear, chaos and death,” she said.

In two other cases, people died after fleeing agents and being struck by vehicles.

Last summer, a man running from immigration officers outside a Home Depot store in southern California died after being hit by an SUV as he tried to cross a freeway. Homeland Security officials said that 52-year-old Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, of Guatemala, was not being pursued by immigration authorities when he was struck.

In October, a pickup truck fatally struck 24-year-old gardener Josué Castro Rivera, of Honduras, on a highway in Norfolk, Virginia, as he tried to escape authorities during a traffic stop. Authorities said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and that Castro Rivera had “resisted heavily and fled.”

The Mexican government on Tuesday said it had asked state attorneys general in the U.S. to review the deaths of migrants in ICE custody or during raids for possible criminal prosecution.

Dennis Sochor was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of killing Patricia Gifford on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting the 18-year-old woman at a New Year’s Eve party.

Sochor was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up at the 6 p.m. execution time. Asked by the warden if he had any last words, Sochor said he did.

He apologized several times to the Gifford family, saying he was “deeply sorry” and also thanked his own loved ones for their support over the years. Then he commended his spirit to Jesus Christ shortly before the drugs began flowing at 6:03 p.m.

Sochor underwent about a minute of heavy breathing and then some seconds of sputtering. After two minutes in which Sochor appeared to go still, the warden looked into his eyes, shook his shoulders and yelled his name without getting a response. A medic was summoned at 6:14 p.m., soon after pronouncing Sochor dead.

Another 74-year-old inmate just a week younger than Sochor at the time of execution was put to death last month. And later this month, the state is preparing to execute an 80-year-old, the state’s first octogenarian facing a lethal injection.

The execution plans highlight the aging death row population in the U.S. and the busy death chamber in Florida, which has now carried out 10 of the 16 executions conducted in the nation this year — more than every other state combined.

Marilyn Gifford, Patricia’s sister, said after witnessing the execution that Sochor’s death brings some closure to the family, but it’s bittersweet since her body has never been found. She encouraged anyone with information that could lead to the remains to contact authorities.

“He had 45 years to return Patty’s remains to us, but he cruelly chose not to,” Gifford said, reading from a statement. “We never got a chance to lay her to rest in God’s arms. Without closure, every happy memory of Patty is immediately crushed by the tragedy of her murder.”

Gifford also pointed out that Sochor got to live more than twice as long on death row as her sister lived her entire life. “Tonight’s execution was appropriate because Dennis Sochor was a lifelong brutal and sadistic man,” she said.

It’s unclear why Florida scheduled the executions of the three prisoners consecutively.

Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to scheduling executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' office did not respond to emailed requests for comment about the recent pace of the executions.

A New Year's Day killing

According to court records, Gifford was celebrating the upcoming New Year with a friend at a Fort Lauderdale area bar when they met Sochor and his brother.

The four spent hours talking, but after the friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. But instead of going for food, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked Gifford, according to investigators.

Sochor was later arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. Sochor’s brother told police Sochor was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance, and Sochor himself confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, and he was sentenced to death.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Sochor's final appeal without comment.

Oldest inmates executed in Florida

On June 25, Florida executed 74-year-old Dusty Ray Spencer for the killing of his wife Karen. Until Tuesday, Spencer was the oldest inmate executed in Florida.

According to Florida Department of Corrections records, the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72: Samuel Lee Smithers on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 killings of two women and R. Charlie Gifford on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 shooting of a state representative, Charles Schuh Jr.

Meanwhile, Dominick Anthony Occhicone, 80, is scheduled to be executed July 28 for the killings of his ex-girlfriend's parents.

If executed as planned, he would become the second oldest prisoner known to be put to death in modern U.S. history after 83-year-old Walter Moody Jr. Moody was executed in Alabama in 2018 for killing a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney during a wave of Southern mail bombs.

The billionaire businessman was keeping up from afar, and he attended Spain's 2-0 victory over France in the semifinals AT&T Stadium on Tuesday.

“I think first and foremost, he’s just a big event guy,” said Chad Estis, the Cowboys' executive vice president of business operations. “He loves the NFL. He loves the Dallas Cowboys. But he has a passion for events as much as anybody that I know. He very much wanted to ensure that the stadium was operating well.”

Judging by fans who eagerly anticipate seeing themselves on the giant video board that hangs above the center of the field and under the retractable roof — and then jump and wave for joy when they do — the venue temporarily renamed Dallas Stadium by FIFA has been a hit.

The Jones family has a suite for the World Cup, and that's where Jones was shown on the video board with his wife, Gene Jones, sitting next to him. The polarizing figure was met mostly with boos from the sellout crowd of 70,176.

Jones and some family members often leave the country on his yacht this time of year — between the end of offseason workouts for the Cowboys in June and the start of training camp in California in late July.

As a result, Jones wasn't there in person for a pair of record-setting performances from Argentina superstar Lionel Messi. Or Japanese fans leaving entire sections spotless by picking up after themselves — twice. Or Portugal star and career men's international scoring leader Cristiano Ronaldo's final World Cup game.

Those types of seminal moments were what Jones had in mind with the design and building of a stadium that opened in 2009 and in barely more than five years had hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games in football and men's basketball.

Jones also was thinking about the fan experience, having used his own lessons from touring stadiums in Europe to include large standing-room viewing areas on three levels at each end.

An extensive art collection is punctuated by Anish Kapoor's stainless steel sculpture dubbed “sky mirror” outside on the east plaza. Kapoor is the creator of a similar sculpture in Chicago nicknamed “the bean.”

To prepare for the World Cup, the Cowboys pumped another $350 million into a stadium with an original price tag of $1.2 billon. The video board looks the same, but there were upgrades in the guts of that, along with new carpeting and furniture mostly in premium areas and an overhaul of the fan shop.

“I cannot tell you how many people come to our stadium and say, ‘I can’t believe this is 17 years old,’” Estis said. “People think it feels new. The whole thing’s been great, but it feels like it culminates in this phenomenal match tomorrow.”

FIFA's in charge

Jones had to turn the stadium over to FIFA, which means the governing body got to put up curtains on the huge sliding glass doors on the west end for the only game where the setting sun could have shined into the eyes of the players.

NFL players, including Cowboys, losing footballs in the sun has been an occasional issue each fall. Each time the topic comes up, Jones flatly refuses to consider curtains. He prefers the asthetics and expects coaches and players to make game plans around the setting sun.

It will be too early in the day for the sun to be an issue when Spain and France play for a spot Sunday in the World Cup final at the home of the New York Jets and Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Jones wanted that final, but settled for the consolation prize of the most games, including sharing the semifinals with the home of the Atlanta Falcons, where Argentina and England play Wednesday.

“It’s just another great moment in an unbelievable sports legacy,” said Dan Hunt, co-chair of the local organizing committee and son of the late Lamar Hunt, who was one of Jones' rivals as owner of the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He’s been a world champion,” Dan Hunt said. “He’s a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He’s hosted Super Bowls, hosted almost everything you can at AT&T Stadium. And this is just another moment.”

That suite spot

Oh, one other thing Jones had to give up — his personal suite at the 50-yard line. Estis said FIFA thought it was perfect for a VIP area.

“We're like, ‘Wait a minute. Are you serious?’” Estis said with a chuckle. “I mean, I understand it. That's why Jerry's suite is there. It's the prime spot.”

Jones is giving up his prime spot for arguably the biggest single global sporting event to come to his venue. He'll just be in a different suite.

“I think I could imagine him being a little emotional about it,” Estis said. “To see him in design meetings and his attention to detail and his care for what the stadium looked and felt like to people, what it looked like from different angles walking up to it. He just he was so involved in the creation of what it is.”

Jones is set to feel the soccer vibe — finally.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.

Mbappé, one of the biggest stars of this year's World Cup and one of the game's greatest scorers, just couldn't generate many chances in his team's 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Mbappé and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year's tournament. Mbappé, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England.

Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.

“At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbappé said. "When you don’t win ... it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

Mbappé had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain's first goal shouldn't have been called.

The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.

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.

“It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbappé said. “That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”

The 27-year-old Mbappé was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when 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.

Mbappé started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.

Mbappé also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.

“They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

President Donald Trump, standing alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, said “we don’t think we need the military there anymore” and noted Iraq’s growing relationships with oil companies.

“The relationship is a whole big relationship where we don’t need the military,” Trump said. “We’re there to help them. We’re there to protect them if need be. But we don’t think that’s going to be necessary.”

Speaking through an interpreter, al-Zaidi said “U.S. forces will be out of Iraq” by Sept. 30, “while U.S. companies will be inside Iraq.”

The Pentagon said in a subsequent statement that it was reaffirming a 2024 agreement with Iraq to end its mission against IS fighters. Many of the U.S. troops still serving in Iraq at the time of the deal, which was made during the Biden administration, already have departed.

The United States has been shifting the burden for combating IS in Iraq from American and coalition forces to Iraqi troops who have been trained by the U.S. military. American troops have been diminishing their footprint, withdrawing from areas and consolidating forces.

The U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003 in what it called a massive “shock and awe” bombing campaign that lit up the skies, laid waste to large sections of the country and paved the way for American ground troops to converge on Baghdad. The invasion was based on what turned out to be faulty claims that Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed weapons of mass destruction. Such weapons never materialized.

The U.S. presence grew to more than 170,000 troops at the peak of counterinsurgency operations in 2007. The Obama administration negotiated the drawdown of forces, and in December 2011, the final combat troops departed, leaving only a small number of military personnel behind to staff an office of security assistance and a detachment of Marines to guard the embassy compound.

In 2014, the rise of the Islamic State group and its rapid capture of a wide swath across Iraq and Syria brought U.S. and partner nation forces back at the invitation of the Iraqi government to help rebuild and retrain police and military units that had fallen apart and fled.

After IS lost its hold on the territory it once claimed, coalition military operations ended in 2021. The U.S. had maintained about 2,500 troops in Iraq for training and to conduct partnered counter-IS operations with Iraq’s military. Many have withdrawn since the 2024 agreement to end the mission, with just a small contingent of military advisers and others still remaining in Iraq.

The Spanish team managed a record sixth shutout in seven games so far, winning 2-0 in the semifinals Tuesday against one of the most prolific scorers in World Cup history.

Teenager Lamine Yamal certainly was correct when he said France should fear Spain. That despite FIFA's top-ranked team being led by Mbappé — their captain with 20 goals in his 20 World Cup games before the semifinals — Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and Michael Olise, who has a tournament-high five assists.

“We were up against one of the best national teams in the world, but today, they were facing the best team in the world,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored from the penalty spot after a heady play by Yamal drew a foul, and Pedro Porro added another goal to put Spain in its second World Cup final.

A day after his 19th birthday, Yamal was denied a goal on a close offside call that came soon after Porro's give-and-go with Dani Olmo in the 58th minute had put Spain up 2-0. But it was Yamal's smart play against a veteran defender that gave Spain the early lead.

Spain will face either defending champion Argentina or England on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City.

“So difficult to get to this moment, but we want more," Spain midfielder Rodri said. “We want to win this World Cup.”

After trying to become only the third team to reach three consecutive World Cup finals, France instead will play in the third-place game in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday.

“Spain has been able to defend well,” departing France coach Didier Deschamps said through a translator. “They’ve closed out all the spaces and also we’ve made some technical mistakes. So it is difficult to create problems when the technical level is below standard.”

Argentina and England play Wednesday in Atlanta in the second powerhouse semifinal match.

This win on soccer’s biggest stage marked the third summer in a row that Spain beat France in a tournament semifinal match. Yamal scored in a 2-1 win in the 2024 European Championship semifinals just days before his 17th birthday, and La Roja won 5-4 in Nations League play last year.

Yamal was quick to point out that France should be concerned after Spain's quarterfinal win over Belgium set up another semifinal matchup.

"It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball. That’s what we let them do," said Mbappé, who got none of his three shots on target. “It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain.”

Spain has outscored opponents 12-1 since a scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play. The lone goal allowed by goalkeeper Unai Simón was in the quarterfinal game against Belgium that snapped his World Cup record of 650 scoreless minutes.

This World Cup run has extended Spain's unbeaten streak in regular time to 37 matches (28 wins and nine draws) since March 2024. That broke the country’s previous record of 35 in a row from 2007-09.

The loss broke France’s record-matching streak of six consecutive World Cup wins, which the team also accomplished in the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute came after Yamal drew a foul when kicked by defender Lucas Digne.

After a poor first touch with his head, Digne was trying to clear the ball when Yamal raced in from behind to challenge in the penalty area. The ball hit off the elbow of the leaping teen before he was kicked by Digne, playing in his 63rd game for France only six days before his 33rd birthday.

Oyarzabal’s fifth goal of this year’s World Cup marked the first time either team had trailed in their seven games in this tournament. It was his 30th goal in 60 international games for Spain.

For the second goal, Porro broke free and received a pass back from Olmo, who got the touch just before getting knocked off his feet by defender Dayot Upamecano.

“We knew that we’re a very tough team, we’re doing things really well," Porro said.

France allowed only two goals in its first six games in this tournament.

Spain had two other real scoring chances in the first half.

There was the a free kick from just beyond the box after Adrien Rabiot drew a yellow card for a foul on Olmo in the eighth minute. Alex Baena’s kick went directly into the wall of French players.

After France goalkeeper Mike Maignan’s attempted clearing pass in the 38th minute instead went straight to Baena, there were several quick passes before Fabian Ruiz's close-range shot was denied on a nifty play by Upamecano.

Mbappé, who is tied with Argentina great Lionel Messi with a tournament-high eight goals and leads the race for the Golden Boot on the assist tiebreaker, still has the third-place match to add to his tally. Messi has two games left in his sixth World Cup to try to win the Golden Boot and also increase his overall record of 21 goals at the tournament.

“As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility and I have no problem with that,” Mbappé said. "We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Fuel has been running out across Cuba since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island, deepening the island’s ongoing economic and financial crisis. Public transportation has largely been halted, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries.

Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs. A solution for fuel imports is not yet in sight.

The state-owned Electric Union reported that a problem with a generating unit in the eastern province of Holguín caused “a sudden frequency change,” resulting in the SEN blackout around midday.

Both the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Electric Union indicated that “protocols for its restoration have been activated,” meaning that “micro-islands” are being established and then interconnected to provide power to priority locations, such as hospitals and food processing plants.

By the afternoon, some parts of the capital Havana had power restored, The Associated Press confirmed, while authorities indicated that 4% of the city had received electricity. The provinces of Guantánamo and Cienfuegos reported that they had begun distributing power to their hospitals, and Matanzas confirmed that power had been restored to the city’s historic center.

Last week, two nationwide blackouts — on Monday and Friday — left more than 9 million Cubans in the dark, adding to two others in March, as well as several regional outages.

The blackouts have a significant impact on the population and, combined with the energy embargo, have led to transportation limitations, reduced work hours and flight cancellations, in addition to serious public health consequences.

The power outages also affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone service.

On the streets of Havana, the blackout didn’t surprise residents.

“These blackouts are normal in Cuba now. If something else happened, it would be strange,” said Roberto Liana, 69, a retail store clerk.

Meanwhile, many were trying to adapt to the circumstances, like Sayli Aguilera, 25, a mother of two. “We’re improvising and doing what we can,” she said.

Many families have installed solar backup systems such as panels and portable batteries, and the main mode of transportation for the population consists of electric motorcycles and tricycles equipped with photovoltaic power.

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Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

A federal immigration agent fatally shot a motorist just south of Maine's largest city on Monday, the second time in a week that ICE has used deadly force on American soil and at least the ninth death since President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown. It was the first for Maine, a Democratic-led state with a relatively large immigrant population that Trump targeted earlier in the year immediately after two high-profile ICE shootings in Minnesota.

The agents involved in the Maine incident were not using body cameras, and the victim, a 26-year-old Colombian national, was not the target of their probe, officials said.

The shooting sparked a swift and aggressive backlash from Democrats, who are still reeling from the sexual assault allegation that forced their party's Senate nominee, Graham Platner, to quit the race late last week. Platner denied the allegation, which many former allies described as credible.

Democratic officials are scheduled to select a Platner replacement at a July 25 convention, leaving the party's nominee just a few months to try to unseat a longtime incumbent in a race seen as critical if Democrats are to win back control of the Senate.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, several would-be Collins' challengers descended upon the scene — and her office — to speak out.

Senate hopeful Democrat Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director, drew a direct link from the shooting to the Republican senator's oversight of ICE's budget as chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

“She's got power, but she didn’t use it to rein in a rogue agency, and instead gave them a blank check to kill,” Shah said in a press conference outside Collins' office on Tuesday. “It is time to abolish this broken agency. It is time to fire the leadership that has let it run wild. And it is time to retire politicians like Susan Collins who have made this lawlessness possible."

Collins is in Washington this week for Senate business.

Phoebe Keller, a spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Collins worked to secure specific ICE “protections” in the federal spending bill signed into law at the end of April. They included $20 million for body cameras, $2 million for deescalation training and $20 million more for increased oversight of detention facilities.

At the time, Senate Democrats were demanding a series of reforms that would have required ICE agents to wear body cameras, restricted the use of face masks and banned enforcement actions near sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and courthouses.

The Republican-controlled Senate ultimately rejected the reforms.

Collins says she spoke with DHS Secretary

“While the investigation of the Biddeford shooting is not yet complete, it raises sufficient critical questions that I spoke with DHS Secretary Mullin last night and urged him to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops," Collins said in a brief statement Tuesday.

The ICE shooting and the immediate backlash in a state Trump lost by 7 points suggests that Collins may have only begun to answer tough questions about the situation and her role in funding the agency.

Democrats, who acknowledged that the Platner scandal likely makes their fight to defeat Collins more difficult, were nonetheless hopeful that the shooting will shift the conversation back to Collins' record. The Republican has represented the state in the Senate since 1997 and regularly touts her power as the Appropriations Committee chair as a reason to keep her in the Senate for another six years.

“This tragedy refocuses the conversation from Platner fallout to the real world impact of Susan Collins voting to give ICE tens of billions of dollars with zero reforms,” said Democratic strategist Josh Schwerin. "The impact will be real.”

Earlier this month, an ICE agent fatally shot a man in Houston after he attempted to evade arrest in his vehicle during an operation. In January, two people were shot and killed by federal officers within days of each other in Minnesota.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults said earlier this year that Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents into American cities, according to an AP-NORC poll. The poll suggested political independents were increasingly uncomfortable with Trump's tactics.

Hundreds attend vigil after Maine killing

On Tuesday, the shooting dominated the political conversation on the ground in Maine.

The day after a vigil turned out hundreds in Portland, a group of several dozen protestors gathered near an ICE facility in Scarborough and condemned Collins for supporting legislation to expand funding for ICE. Protesters waved signs stating “Stop the murder” and “End this terror.”

“Does anyone here feel safer because this man was shot in cold blood?” said Kelli Brennan, co-president of the Maine State Nurses Association. “Does the senseless murder of this man make any of our lives better in any way?”

Former Maine Senate leader and logger by trade, Troy Jackson, now a candidate to replace Platner, declared “ICE out” at the Portland vigil and held an “Abolish ICE” sign at a protest outside Collins' office on Monday.

“Immigrant communities are living under constant threat from an agency that operates with cruelty and impunity,” Jackson said during an online progressive organizing meeting Monday night. “We need accountability and leaders who believe every person deserves dignity, safety and due process.”

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who was also in the organizing meeting, called the shooting “murder” and said “we must abolish ICE now.”

“This is the second person ICE has killed in less than a week, the latest attack from Trump’s masked, unaccountable thugs,” Markey said, noting he voted against the creation of ICE in 2003.

Less than a week after Platner's exit, however, he is still a part of the conversation — even if he is not the focus anymore.

“You poured your hearts, your time, and your energy into building this movement alongside another candidate than me. And I know that there’s real pain, anger, and disappointment. And I’m not going to try and minimize that,” Jackson said. “But look, this movement has always been bigger than one person."

He continued: "We can defeat Susan Collins and elect a senator who will never forget what side they’re on.”

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AP writers Matt Brown in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed.

The Republican president has been guarded about what he plans to say in the 9 p.m. Thursday speech, scheduled as he confronts a collapsing deal to end the war with Iran. He also faces numerous domestic issues, including recent deadly shootings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Asked for a preview of the speech on Tuesday, Trump offered scant detail but said he has “really big news.”

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country,” Trump said in the Oval Office. He refused to go further, saying he wanted to “save it” for the moment, though he also hinted he would be talking about a hodgepodge of issues.

“We’ll be discussing other things, too,” Trump said, without elaborating. “It’s going to be a very big announcement.”

Trump has used the power of the primetime presidential address — typically reserved for milestones — to deliver politically charged speeches before, including one in December when he sought to blame the challenging economic climate on Democrats. But Thursday's address seems poised to go even further, using the moment to amplify election lies before an audience of millions in an effort to boost Republican prospects before midterms that threaten to hobble Trump for the remainder of his term.

On Monday, when asked about the speech, Trump repeated baseless claims of voter fraud in the Los Angeles primary race for mayor. During the interview with conservative outlet Newsmax, Trump said Republican Spencer Pratt lost his primary bid because of fraud, citing in part California's slow vote count.

Federal prosecutors said they were opening fraud investigations in the state last month after Trump drew attention to the claim.

The president's preoccupation with voting fraud and election security dates back at least to 2016, when he refused to say whether he would accept defeat to Democrat Hillary Clinton. After he won, he convened a voting integrity commission to support his claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the popular vote, though the commission disbanded without uncovering any such evidence.

Four years later, after he lost the 2020 election to Biden, Trump again claimed cheating and zeroed in on the Democrat's narrow win in Georgia. Trump called the state's secretary of state and pressured him to “find 11,780 votes,” just enough votes to overturn Biden's victory in the state. He, along with than a dozen allies, was indicted in the state though the charges were later dropped.

Repeated audits and reviews -- manyrun by Republicans, including Trump’s own then-attorney general -- have found no significant fraud occurred in 2020.

Before winning in 2024, Trump was again laying the groundwork to claim cheating if he lost. After returning to office, he stocked his administration with officials who back his false claims of 2020 election fraud.

Trump made voting regulation central in this term

Frequently declaring that he won the White House “three times,” Trump has made voting regulation a core issue during his second term, demanding legislation that would require voter ID and sharply limit mail-in voting. Facing midterm races that will decide control of Capitol Hill, Trump has stirred new claims to cast doubt on election results that could challenge his power in Washington.

Earlier this year, FBI agents raided elections offices in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing materials from the 2020 election. Tulsi Gabbard, then Trump’s director of national intelligence, traveled to Atlanta to oversee the execution of the search warrant.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, campaigning in Georgia for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and governor's candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms, smiled Tuesday when asked about Trump potentially rehashing the 2020 election in his national address.

He called it a strategy “for losers.”

“I think people are exhausted by having conversations about elections that happened six years ago, that we have the answer to,” Moore said. “He continues to bring this up because he cannot get out of his mind that he actually could have lost.”

Beyond Georgia, Trump has widely taken aim at states that allow voters to submit ballots by mail. Trump said he called a U.S. attorney in California and demanded scrutiny of the governor's primary last month as votes were being counted.

Last week, Trump ousted the remaining members of the federal Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan panel that resisted his efforts to require would-be voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

Down the street, U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House after strongly backing the political novice’s bid for office. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm Iran-backed militias that attacked U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel instigated the Iran war.

The U.S. launched more strikes on Iran early Tuesday after Trump vowed to blockade Iranian ports and charge 20% of their cargo for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Later Tuesday, he said he was backing away from the tolls and pursuing another arrangement following discussions with Gulf allies.

And in Maine, protesters are raising unanswered questions about the ninth fatal shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since Trump's immigration crackdown began.

The Latest:

Trump doesn’t rule out using ground forces in Iran

The president suggested he wasn’t interested in continuing negotiations immediately with Iran because “they lie.”

He also said the last contact he had with negotiators was an hour ago.

Trump said U.S. forces had been careful not to harm Iran’s civilian population with strikes up until now, but he warned Iran: “You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left.”

He didn’t rule out using U.S. ground forces to ensure that his key objectives are met, especially when it comes to removing Iran’s enriched uranium.

“Sometimes you need a ground campaign,” Trump said, though he also suggested that “other people might do it for us” without elaborating.

Trump dials up the bravado against Iran

In an interview with the Fox News Channel, the president said the U.S. plans to launch at least two more days of strikes against Iran and that such attacks will continue “until I say it’s enough.”

He likened Iran to “a great boxer.”

“You think you have them beat, then they’ll come back and give you a shot,” Trump said.

The president said U.S. forces would “hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night” and begin targeting power plants and bridges as soon as next week unless Iran comes to the table and negotiates — a threat for escalated bombing that the president has made for months.

Briefing requested from Homeland Security to discuss ICE use of force policies

The Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee has requested a bipartisan briefing for next week from the Department of Homeland Security to discuss ICE’s use of force policies and the deployment of body cameras.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who represents a congressional district on New York’s Long Island, said Homeland Security hadn’t yet responded to the request.

“You had two shootings this week. I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact, Secretary Mullin doesn’t want that,” Garbarino said.

White House launches cybersecurity clearinghouse to rush AI-found software fixes

The White House has established a cybersecurity clearinghouse to help identify and quickly fix vulnerabilities in software that artificial intelligence models have detected.

The clearinghouse is named “GOLD EAGLE” and was developed as part of a June 2 executive order signed by Trump to provide oversight for rapidly evolving AI technologies.

After AI models such as Anthropic’s Mythos exposed weaknesses in classified government computer systems, the administration has sought to find ways to protect against the risk cyberattacks and intrusions made possible by AI.

The Trump administration has stressed that the U.S. is leading in the AI race, though the claim comes with the caveat that there is no apparent finish line to cross.

National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said the clearinghouse was officially launched on July 2 by the departments of Treasury, Defense and Homeland Security in consultation with the White House.

Fears of burnout for Supreme Court’s security staff

Kagan says that when she joined the court in 2010, the need for security was vastly different. She drove herself to work, and security personnel only came along for high-profile speeches.

That started to change after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, and the need ramped up after the leak of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Today, each justice has a security team of four to eight people, and they’re having to work overtime to provide the level of security needed, raising fears of burnout, Barrett said.

Supreme Court now requires NDAs for employees, Justice Barrett says

She said the move and others are aimed at controlling leaks of internal deliberations.

She said the court has long required confidentiality agreements, but recently upgraded to nondisclosure agreements with carveouts for whistleblowers.

The documents serve as an “additional check” on inappropriate or illegal information sharing.

They come after the 2022 leak of the draft opinion overturning abortion as a constitutional right, a major breach for the nation’s highest court.

The new NDA requirement was previously reported by the New York Times.

Collins calls attacks on judiciary ‘appalling’

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said rhetoric from public figures attacking judges is “appalling.”

The Maine senator said officials on both sides of the aisle have gone after the judiciary. Collins, who is up for reelection this year, pointed to examples of criticism of the conservative-majority court from the left.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, meanwhile, highlighted Trump’s targeting of justices who ruled against him and struck down his wide-ranging tariffs.

Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings

Administration officials issued the order after two deadly shootings in little over a week, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.

The order Tuesday came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine, renewing criticism of the agency’s tactics during enforcement operations. The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed the man Monday in the city of Biddeford.

New York City’s mayor calls for abolishment of ICE

Zohran Mamdani made the demand in a post Tuesday on X in response to the fatal shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine.

“ICE is killing our neighbors,” Mamdani wrote. “ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.”

Outgoing Colombian president slams fatal shooting of citizen in Maine

In a scathing post on X, Gustavo Petro of Colombia described the fatal shooting of a Colombian citizen in Biddeford as a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with Trump, called on him to provide Colombia with an explanation for the killing. He accused ICE officers of shooting the Colombian national “for believing him to be an inferior being without rights.”

Petro, who will leave office in less than a month, said he expects Colombia’s foreign service to pursue legal action against those responsible for the shooting.

Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia’s Trump-backed president-elect, has not commented publicly on the case.

Official vying for Pentagon budget job skirts questions about Iran war costs

Prime Minister al-Zaidi noted that it’s “my first visit to the United States of America” and it’s “not just like any visit.”

He said from the Oval Office that the visit is about announcing an “economic partnership” with the United States. Al-Zaidi said all remaining U.S. forces will be out of Iraq come Sept. 30 “while U.S. companies will be inside Iraq” and investing in the country.

He also thanked Trump for extending a “warm welcome,” which included a last-minute offer of lunch.

“I have no idea what we’re going to be eating, but it will be fine,” Trump said before ending the joint press availability.

Iraqi leader al-Zaidi says his first US visit is about ‘economic partnership’

Prime Minister al-Zaidi noted that it’s “my first visit to the United States of America” and it’s “not just like any visit.”

He said from the Oval Office that the visit is about announcing an “economic partnership” with the United States. Al-Zaidi said all remaining U.S. forces will be out of Iraq come Sept. 30 “while U.S. companies will be inside Iraq” and investing in the country.

He also thanked Trump for extending a “warm welcome,” which included a last-minute offer of lunch.

“I have no idea what we’re going to be eating, but it will be fine,” Trump said before ending the joint press availability.

Trump says his Thursday address will touch on ‘free and fair elections’ but reveals little else

Asked for a sneak peek of his scheduled national address, the president said it will be “really, really big news” but added he’d “rather save it.”

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections you don’t have a country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “We’ll be discussing other things, too. But it’s going to be a very big announcement.”

The Republican president has said little else about the address, which he announced on social media on Monday. His post said only that he will be “making a Speech to the Nation on Thursday evening” at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Asked about it on Monday, Trump quickly pivoted to discussing what he called a “busy news day,” talking about the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and other topics.

Trump hails report showing inflation declining

The president blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for the rate of inflation having spiked to three-year high just last month. Biden, Trump said, “could create inflation like anybody.”

But Trump cheered a report Tuesday showing that prices dropped 0.4% from May to June, the largest monthly drop in four year and way down from a year-over-year gain of 4.2% in May.

Trump added of inflation, “It’s not my fault. We are putting it to sleep.”

“The report was incredible. Inflation is way down,” Trump said, before urging voters, “Remember that for the midterms.”

“Nobody else could do it,” Trump said.

Trump says FBI is ‘wasting their time’ on Sen. Graham’s death

Trump said he doesn’t know why the FBI is looking into Graham’s death.

The president said the late South Carolina senator had “a problem” and that what ultimately took his life “is actually something that’s very hard to detect.”

A preliminary medical examiner’s report said Graham had a tear in his aorta.

Trump said he’s watched medical reports about Graham’s case and had White House doctors explain to him what happened. “And this is something that is very almost undetectable,” Trump said, adding that there’s not much that can be done about a torn aorta.

“So I don’t see a lot of evil there. I know there’s all sorts of conspiracy theories going along, and I don’t think the FBI, I think the FBI is wasting their time if they’re doing it,” Trump said of an investigation.

Trump says Gulf allies asked him to move from tolls to trade deals in Strait of Hormuz

The president explained his thinking in backing away from a 20% toll on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying he was called by “kings and emirs” and other leaders who suggested an alternate arrangement.

“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 in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Trump said he prefers that arrangement to the tolls he previously said the U.S. would impose. “I like that actually, because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” Trump said.

Trump praises Iraqi PM, says he’s a ‘great leader’ who will hold office for a ‘long time’

Trump said he and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had a “great meeting” in the Oval Office and will now have lunch together because of their “tremendous chemistry.” Lunch wasn’t on the original schedule.

“We’re going to do it on the fly,” Trump told reporters about the meal.

Trump heaped praise on al-Zaidi in front of reporters, calling him a “great fan of America.”

“He’s a great leader. I think he’s going to be there for a long period of time,” Trump said, emphasizing “long.”

“He’s changed that country so much, especially toward their thinking about the United States,” the president said.

Trump also commented on the prime minister’s youth and looks.

“He’s young and he’s handsome, which I don’t like. I’m not happy about that,” Trump joked.

Justices Kagan, Barrett split on enforcement mechanism for Supreme Court’s new code of ethics

All nine justices agreed to the code in 2023 amid a storm of criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.

Kagan and Barrett both said the court is taking the code seriously, but Kagan also supported creating a way to enforce it. The liberal-leaning justice acknowledged it could be tricky since any enforcement would have to come from the judicial branch and the Supreme Court sits at its head.

Barrett, who is part of the court’s conservative majority, said she wasn’t so sure. There are significant questions over who would do the enforcing and how, and it’s not clear whether there is a way to address them effectively, she said.

How does the court decide emergency appeals?

The relatively quick process of deciding emergency docket cases centers on whether the petitioner will eventually win, and how they could be legally harmed if the court doesn’t step in, Barrett said.

The justices declined to talk about specific cases, including suits where the court sided with the Trump administration and allowed cuts to the federal workforce to proceed.

The court often begins by considering the case from the petitioner’s point of view, Barrett said, though Kagan pointed out the court can also consider how the other side might be affected if the court intervenes.

Supreme Court justices address rise in ‘shadow docket’ appeals

Kagan and Barrett address the rise in appeals on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

While the court can’t control how many are filed, Kagan points out that some high-profile decisions may have encouraged attorneys to file more appeals. Those appeals are decided without full briefing or arguments, Kagan said, and “we should consider those downsides.”

Iraqi PM arrives for White House meeting with Trump

Trump was waiting outside the entrance to the West Wing to greet the prime minister when he arrived. They shook hands and exchanged small talk before entering the White House with their arms around each other’s backs.

“Love Iraq,” Trump replied to a reporter’s question about his message to the people of Iraq.

The leaked Dobbs opinion’s shadow on the Supreme Court’s security concerns

Kagan said threats against the Supreme Court increased after the leak of a draft of the opinion that later overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, and have continued to grow since then.

In 2022, shortly after the leak, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties. Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all U.S. judges, saying during a speech in March that criticism of judicial opinions is understandable, but personally directed hostility is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

Supreme Court justices testify before Congress on increasing security funding in rare appearance

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said Tuesday that a sharp increase in threats targeting her and other justices has increasingly encroached on their personal and family lives.

During a rare appearance before Congress, Barrett said she had to wear a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son.

“I didn’t expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, why I had to wear one,” she said. The hearing marks the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019.

▶ Read more

Warsh vows to crush inflation but offers no hint on the Fed’s next move

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s written testimony to Congress says the Fed will make high inflation “a thing of the past,” but provides no signal about the central bank’s next steps.

Fed policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” Warsh will say when he testifies Tuesday before a House committee. “And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Yet about half of the 19 members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee expect they will have to raise the central bank’s key rate by the end of the year to defeat inflation, while nearly half have penciled in no change or even a rate cut. Warsh faces a stiff challenge in reconciling the divided committee while navigating a rapidly-changing economic outlook.

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Lindsey Graham’s sister prepares for her Senate swearing-in

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon as his temporary replacement after his unexpected death over the weekend, and will serve out the rest of his term ending in January.

Graham earned a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and has worked as an optician and at various state agencies. She’ll be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.

“It is such an honor,” she said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her during a statehouse news conference. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

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Trump to welcome Iraq’s new prime minister to the White House

Al-Zaidi 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.

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament “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.”

‘Dangerous.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Unprecedented.’ ‘Uncharted territory’

Reaction has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving Trump’s new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

“The subpoenas are 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,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The White House Correspondents Association holds its rescheduled dinner celebrating the First Amendment in less than two weeks, with Trump planning to attend. The first was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

“The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang.

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What does the Supreme Court want from Congress?

Security is central to the court’s budget request of $228 million — roughly 10% more than the last fiscal year.

Nearly $15 million of that would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

Another $2 million would fund more Supreme Court police officers and an off-site residential security post to speed emergency responses.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country during the last fiscal year, and justices have not been immune: Barrett’s security detail had to defuse a fake 911 call at her house, and her sister was the victim of a bomb threat. A would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats, saying it’s “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

June inflation report shows complicated outlook for Trump on economy

The White House will have reasons to rejoice in the June release of the consumer price index, as prices fell 0.4% on a monthly basis in large part because of tumbling oil prices tied to the now deteriorated ceasefire with Iran.

But prices still rose 3.5% over the past 12 months, well above the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%.

And the monthly decline could be short-lived, with oil prices jumping again as fighting intensifies in the Middle East.

Prices for the global benchmark of Brent crude oil have risen nearly 8% in the past five days of trading to about $81 a barrel on Tuesday, a sign that inflation could soon pick up again as the American public begins to focus on the November midterm elections.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran, targeting “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged the strikes, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack” and said the U.S. was “putting the blockade back.”

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three tankers that traveled through the strait.

Here's Trump's rationale for charging tolls in the strait

U.S. Central Command said on social media that it “will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas” beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT, and will “support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade.”

A notice to mariners released Monday by the U.S. military warned of using force if ships don’t comply. It also said the military will let through humanitarian shipments.

The statement follows Trump declaring that the U.S. would be reinstating the naval blockade and charging a 20% toll on eligible cargo.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” Trump said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, would not say whether the military would be collecting tolls, and referred questions to the White House.

Trump to address the nation on Thursday

The president posted on social media that he would be “making a Speech to the Nation” at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Trump appeared to refer to himself in the third person in the post.

He did not disclose the details of his planned speech, but the announcement comes after he said he would block Iran-related ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and that the U.S. would charge a 20% fee on all cargo going through the waterway.

Asked in an interview with Hugh Hewitt what his Thursday address will be about, Trump made it sound like nothing out of the ordinary.

“It’s just going to be a speech like a lot of my speeches,” he said, without offering any more detail.

A Paramount-Warner merger “threatens the economic and creative health of the American entertainment industry,” reads Tuesday's federal complaint, which was filed by both the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East (jointly the WGA).

The union argued that the merger would create less competitors and give the larger company “both the incentive and the ability” to lower wages and the number of projects that offer workers employment.

“This proposed combined entity would be the largest employer of writers, with tremendous power to suppress our wages, eliminate opportunities for emerging writers, cut jobs across the industry, and produce less programming," WGAE President Tom Fontana said in a statement.

A Warner-Paramount tie-up would bring together two of the five last legacy studios in Hollywood. It would also mean putting Warner’s HBO Max, its libraries filled with popular titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN under the same roof of Paramount-owned CBS, movies like “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service.

Tuesday’s complaint alleges that the merger violates antitrust law by reducing competition in three markets for writers: writing for episodic TV and streaming series, TV writing deals overall and screenwriting for the biggest theatrical films.

In response, Skydance-owned Paramount maintained that a combined Warner-Paramount would allow the company to “expand opportunities for writers, not shrink them.” It also reiterated pledges to release at least 30 movies a year with a 45-day window exclusive to theaters — and said it would continue to commission from independent production companies while maintaining “two distinct film studios.”

“A stronger Hollywood only means something if it’s stronger for the writers who power it," the company said in a statement.

The WGA's complaint arrives a day after 12 states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit challenging the deal, alleging that it would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for moviegoers and cable TV customers nationwide.

The coalition of states called on Warner and Paramount to not close the merger until after a court had time to “fully evaluate” their claims. But they said the companies quickly refused — and late Monday night, the group filed an emergency motion in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction aimed at immediately halting the deal.

Paramount on Monday called the states' claims “wrong on both the facts and the law” and vowed to “vigorously defend” its Warner acquisition.

The growing list of legal challenges could become a roadblock in Paramount’s quest to complete its purchase of Warner. Other regulatory reviews are ongoing in the European Union and in the U.K., which has suggested it may intervene. But Paramount has also racked up effective green lights from a handful of other countries, including the Trump administration in the U.S., China, Canada and Australia.

Paramount and Warner have hoped to close their deal sometime in the third quarter of this year. In Monday night's motion seeking an immediate pause, the states said the companies may try to complete the process as early as July 22.

Including debt, Paramount’s proposed purchase of Warner is valued at nearly $111 billion based on outstanding shares.

The guest of honor? An orange traffic cone.

Tuesday’s arrival of the “Boston Cone” marked the latest chapter in the city's unlikely love affair with Scotland’s Tartan Army, whose habit of placing traffic cones atop statues during the team's World Cup run last month turned the humble orange cone into one of the tournament’s defining symbols.

“I have to admit, this is probably — yes, it is — my first official welcoming ceremony for a traffic cone,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in the airport's Terminal E, before signing her name to the cone. “But it’s a pretty special one, isn’t it? Because this cone tells the story of what happened this summer. What happened in Boston, what happened in Massachusetts.”

“And special thanks to the Scots for drinking all the beer,” she added to laughter. “I do promise you, when you return … we will never again run out of beer in Massachusetts.”

During Scottish fans’ World Cup visit, Boston bars struggled to keep up with the Tartan Army’s thirst, with some running out of beer and scrambling for emergency deliveries. The fans transformed parts of Boston into an unofficial outpost of Scotland, filling downtown with bagpipes, songs and chants while bright orange traffic cones sprouted atop some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks — from Samuel Adams outside Faneuil Hall to Red Auerbach outside TD Garden, former Mayor Kevin White near Quincy Market and even the beloved Make Way for Ducklings statues in the Public Garden.

“There are still some traffic cones atop our most important statues,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joked Tuesday, recalling how Boston had “unofficially become New Scotland.”

The official commemorative cone, decorated with illustrations celebrating Boston and Scotland and the slogan “No Boston, No Party,” will spend the next week visiting landmarks across Massachusetts to raise money for mental health charities before returning home to Scotland.

The tradition dates to Glasgow, where placing bright orange traffic cones atop public statues began as a late-night prank in the 1980s before evolving into an unofficial symbol of the country’s irreverent humor. The best-known example is the Duke of Wellington statue in the city center, where the cone has become so iconic that repeated efforts to remove it have been met with public opposition.

“It’s an in-joke that’s gone too far, actually,” one of the cone's Scottish escorts, Danny Campbell, said, laughing as he stood beside the cone in a kilt. “But no, it isn’t a joke. This is a metaphor for life.”

Campbell said people can become consumed by “going to our jobs and cooking sausages and all the sort of serious stuff that adults have to do” and lose sight of what matters.

“That’s what our countrymen represented when they came here,” he said, speaking of Scottish fans' stay in Boston. “They left stomachs and cheeks sore from laughing, they cleaned up after themselves, they spread joy and these people came together with humor and they built relationships with each other.”

“This is not just a silly cone,” Campbell said. “It means love. It means love, and that is the whole point.”

___ See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Supporters of Ukraine have been working for more than a year to pass a bill that would impose steep tariffs on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports. They unveiled a revised measure Tuesday with the goal of depriving Russia of money it uses to fund its war against Ukraine.

Some lawmakers worried the original bill was too broad and could harm the economies of some of the U.S.'s strongest allies that have also helped Ukraine. The White House wanted to ensure the president had adequate flexibility to waive sanctions when it is the national interest to do so. The revised bill attempts to address both concerns.

The final bill more narrowly applies the tariffs to the world's top five purchasers of Russia oil or natural gas, according to a summary. China and India are at the top of that list, sponsors said. It also dramatically reduces the tariffs from a blanket 500% to up to 100%, and it provides exceptions for countries that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are taking steps to reduce those imports.

The bill also includes sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior Russian political and military leaders, and Russian financial institutions and energy projects. It would also expand U.S. sanctions to target older, reflagged oil tankers that Russia uses to circumvent existing U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and energy revenues.

Graham said he was making progress with Trump

Graham and colleagues who had been working on the legislation issued a statement Friday announcing that significant progress had been made in talks with the Trump administration. The senator passed away late Saturday before the revised bill could be unveiled.

Graham had just returned from Ukraine and discussed the sanctions bill with President Donald Trump in a call shortly before his death.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who was working with Graham on the legislation, said he would be in favor of naming the bill after Graham.

“It's part of his legacy,” Blumenthal said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Monday on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring the sanctions bill to the floor immediately “in honor of Lindsey,” saying “it will pass overwhelmingly and help our allies in Ukraine.”

Thune said he was “hopeful we can make that happen."

“It would certainly be an incredible legacy for him if, in fact, we can find a path forward. It’ll take Democrats and Republicans here in the Senate to do that,” Thune said on CNN.

The bill has support from more than two dozen senators so far and aides said the list was growing. The House passed a much different bill last month that included more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid for Ukraine as well as making another $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defense through loans.

Blumenthal said he spoke with Graham last week about the progress he had made in talks with the White House.

“He was absolutely ecstatic. You know, I’ve never heard him quite as exuberant.”

Lawmakers want to act quickly

Graham traveled to Ukraine last week and offered the country reason to be optimistic, telling reporters that sweeping, hard-hitting new economic sanctions against Russia were finally within reach. He said he would be heading back to Washington to meet with bipartisan leaders to advance the proposal.

Lawmakers said no one had done more to advance the sanctions bill than Graham. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., said Graham was overjoyed when Trump gave the nod to move forward.

“He did a lot of big things, but this one he believed would have the largest impact, would make the biggest difference,” Britt said.

Senators said the war has generated a heavy human and economic cost for both nations, but Ukraine has momentum on its side.

“Unfortunately, if the Kremlin is able to fund its war machine through the sale of oil and gas, it's going to be able to keep going, and that's what this bill is going to do," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. "It's going to stop those purchases. It's going to make clear those purchases come with real costs."

It's unclear when the bill will come up for a vote in the Senate, but Blumenthal said Thune has made clear he's ready to move “when we have the votes.”

“And I think we have the votes,” Blumenthal said.

The former actor who married Britain's Prince Harry in 2018 was nominated in the outstanding lifestyle program category for “With Love, Meghan" on Tuesday.

The show is competing against “A Different Breed,” “George to the Rescue,” “The Motherhood,” and “The Wizard of Paws.”

The 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be presented Oct. 30 at the Hollywood Palladium.

The Duchess of Sussex's show featured cooking, entertaining and gardening segments and included appearances by celebrities like Chrissy Teigen and Mindy Kaling, and a cameo by her husband, Prince Harry. The show aired for two seasons in 2025 and had a holiday special.

Then known as Meghan Markle, she starred in the legal drama “Suits” from 2011 to 2018, before leaving to marry into the royal family.

CBS received a leading 48 nominations.

The nominees for daytime drama series are: “Beyond the Gates,” “Days of Our Lives,” “General Hospital,” and “The Young and the Restless.”

The nominees for lead actress in a daytime drama series are Stacy Haiduk of “Days of Our Lives,” Karla Mosley of “Beyond the Gates,” Michelle Stafford of “The Young and the Restless,” Heather Tom of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Tamara Tunie of “Beyond the Gates.”

Eric Braden of “The Young and the Restless” is among the lead actor nominees. He's joined by Steve Burton of “General Hospital,” Scott Clifton of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” Thorsten Kaye of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and Christian Jules Le Blanc of “The Young and the Restless.”

The daytime talk series nominees are “3rd Hour of Today,” “The Drew Barrymore Show,” “ The Kelly Clarkson Show,” “Live with Kelly and Mark,” “TODAY with Jenna & Friends,” and “The View.”

Clarkson is among the nominees for daytime talk series host. The others are Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin & Ana Navarro of “The View,” Tamron Hall, Jennifer Hudson, and Sherri Shepherd.

Clarkson is ending her seven-season run this fall, while Shepherd's show was canceled in May after four seasons.

ABC's “The View” has been in the crosshairs of federal regulators who want to reopen the debate of whether it is subject to equal-time rules.

Bethany Michel, 28, inherited the home in Arbor Mill after her father, a disabled veteran, died in October 2023. Michel said she moved into the home in 2020 to care for her terminally ill father during the COVID-19 pandemic after restrictions at his assisted living facility made it difficult to provide his dialysis care.

Now, nearly three years into a legal dispute with the homeowners association, Michel says the fight has become about more than just where she lives.

“I 100% am being forced out,” Michel told News4JAX. “They’re trying to rip my office away from me, too.”

Michel, who has built a large following by posting restaurant reviews on social media, recently used her platform to bring attention to the dispute before homeowners voted on a proposed special assessment. She said the HOA wants each of the community’s approximately 155 homeowners to contribute about $1,000 toward legal costs associated with enforcing the community’s age restrictions.

“I realized I had 48 hours before a special assessment was voted on,” Michel said. “I just did what I know to do and I posted about it on social media.”

According to the community’s governing documents, every occupied home must include at least one resident who is 55 or older. The declaration also prohibits anyone under 19 from living in the community and allows the HOA board to grant hardship exceptions at its discretion if the community remains compliant with federal fair housing requirements. Homeowners are also required to notify the association of changes in occupancy after events such as a death or inheritance.

The community’s declaration states the neighborhood is intended to comply with the federal Housing for Older Persons Act, which allows qualifying communities to restrict residency based on age if at least one occupant in each home is 55 or older and the community meets other federal requirements.

Michel argues her circumstances are unique.

She said the home’s builder was aware her father intended to leave the home to her and assured the family she would be “grandfathered in” after his death. She said she has never seen documentation confirming that arrangement.

“My dad’s biggest concern was something would happen to him,” Michel said. “His dying wish was that this house would be left to his daughter.”

Less than three months after her father’s death, Michel said she received notice reminding her she no longer met the community’s age requirements and was asked to move.

The dispute has since evolved into litigation.

“Every upgrade we made, [my dad] said, ‘This is going to be for you one day,’” Michel said. “It’s so sentimental. I sleep with the same pillow in the same bed that he did every day.”

Michel said she has lost access to neighborhood amenities, including the pool, gym and clubhouse, while the lawsuit continues. She also questions whether homeowners on fixed incomes should be required to help finance the legal battle.

The case also raises broader questions for families who inherit homes in age-restricted communities.

Although ownership of a home may transfer through inheritance, the community’s governing documents make clear that ownership does not automatically grant the right to occupy the property if age requirements are not met. The declaration specifically states that owners under 55 may own property but cannot live there unless the occupancy requirements are satisfied.

Michel said she hopes her case encourages other residents to think about what happens when a homeowner dies.

“Everyone here is one day, one breath, one year away from that question,” she said. “People need to think about what happens to their families.”

Neighbors could help pay legal costs

The legal dispute has now expanded beyond Michel.

Michel said many neighbors have told her they oppose paying for the lawsuit.

“I think people have a stronger desire not to pay $1,000 than they do for me to leave,” she said.

Her next-door neighbor, Bob Stadler, agrees.

“I don’t think we should have to pay,” Stadler said. “I can’t afford $1,000, and a lot of people around here are on a fixed income.”

Stadler said Michel has never caused problems in the neighborhood.

“I never know she’s even there,” he said. “If she wants to stay, let her stay. If she wants to move, let her move. But don’t force her out.”

What the law says

Arbor Mill is governed as a 55-and-older community under the federal Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA).

The law requires at least 80% of occupied homes to have at least one resident who is 55 or older. The remaining 20% provides flexibility for situations involving younger spouses, caregivers or inherited homes. However, individual homeowners associations may adopt stricter occupancy requirements through their governing documents.

According to Arbor Mill’s recorded declaration, every occupied home must have at least one resident who is 55 or older. While younger individuals may inherit ownership of a home, ownership alone does not automatically grant the right to live there if the occupancy requirements are not met.

Michel believes her case highlights an issue many families could eventually face.

“For them to tell me to pick my life up and just get out because that’s what they want, that’s not right,” she said.

News4JAX reached out to the Arbor Mill HOA and its management company for comment on the lawsuit, the proposed special assessment and whether alternatives had been considered. They declined to comment.

The HOA board is expected to consider the proposed special assessment during its meeting Wednesday evening.

The opportunity with a cost of two proven power forwards and multiple draft picks was deemed worthwhile by the Timberwolves in their ongoing attempt to make the last and most difficult step toward an NBA title.

“I think he’ll elevate us,” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said, "and our environment will be conducive to his continued growth as well.”

Eager to gain one of the league's true point guards and lessen the ballhandling and playmaking burden on superstar Anthony Edwards, the Wolves had to swallow hard and surrender valuable assets.

Completing a complicated four-team trade with Brooklyn, Charlotte and Chicago, Minnesota acquired Ball and guard Josh Green and sent fan favorite Naz Reid and a package of draft picks — a 2033 unprotected first-rounder, first-round swaps in 2028, 2029 and 2030, and second-rounders in 2029, 2032 and 2033 — to the Hornets.

Second-leading scorer Julius Randle went to the Nets, who swapped the 28th overall selection in the draft last month for No. 33 that landed the Wolves guard Isaiah Evans. That first part of the trade also created the salary cap space necessary for the Wolves to re-sign guard Ayo Dosunmu.

Edwards was the first overall pick in the 2020 draft. Ball went third. Green was the 18th selection by Dallas and McDaniels was 28th, giving the Wolves four first-round picks from that year.

“Well, we have none for the next 10 years,” Connelly quipped at the introductory news conference for Ball and Green on Tuesday at Target Center. “It’s all about quality, not quantity, right?”

All four of those 2020 draftees are still 25 and younger, giving the Wolves confidence they'll continue to contend — “bites at the apple” is Connelly's description — as long as Edwards is on their roster.

“I’ve known Ant for a minute, so we’ve been talking,” Ball said. “Everybody’s excited, and we’re ready to get to work.”

Ball played in only 43% of the games over a three-year stretch from 2022-25 before a promising 2025-26 season that helped propel the Hornets into the play-in games. He has shown a recklessness on and off the court at times, too. But the Wolves will give him a stronger team around him than he ever had with the Hornets, and six years into his NBA career the 6-foot-7 Ball is still just 24.

“You’ve got to have a big backcourt. We learned that through the playoffs this year,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said.

The flip side of Ball's penchant for undisciplined or flashy plays is a carefree style the Wolves could use. One of the undercurrents of their underachieving season that ended with a second-round loss to San Antonio was a moodiness that became part of their collective personality. Too many players took too long to shake off unproductive games or frustrating stretches.

“This is supposed to be fun,” Connelly said. “He enjoys life. He enjoys playing. You don’t want to make this anything but where it’s a joyous atmosphere.”

Minnesota's long-shot pitch for LeBron

The void left by the departure of Randle and Reid could be filled rather neatly by a certain free agent who has included the Wolves on his list of teams worth considering. Meet Minneapolis, the city's tourism arm, even took out digital billboards in Los Angeles to add a light-hearted element to the pitch for LeBron James.

But even if the NBA's all-time leading scorer is unlikely to land in Minnesota for his 24th season, the Wolves have found satisfaction in the widespread notion around the league they might well provide the best on-court fit for James next to Edwards, Ball and McDaniels with veteran defensive whiz Rudy Gobert at the rim.

“This is a place where you’re going to have a lot of fun and win a lot of games. We’re trying to change the narrative of how this organization is viewed. We’re kind of proud of who we are, and certainly, wherever LeBron ends up, he’s going to make that place much, much better,” Connelly said. "I like who we are and we’re pretty proud of who we are. Hopefully that’s appealing, not just to LeBron, but to any free agent.”

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

RELATED: Neighbors recount trying to help after car fire that killed Jacksonville woman, 3-year-old boy

The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash was reported at about 10:35 p.m. Thursday on northbound I-295 near the Pulaski Road exit on the city’s Northside; local accounts placed the wreck near Alta Drive. Troopers said a black Jeep left the roadway, struck a tree and burst into flames while Dusty Reid and her son R.J. were in it. It was unclear what caused the vehicle to veer off the road.

The GoFundMe post asked first for prayers and then for financial support for what the post called “The Reid Boys.” Reid leaves behind three other sons, according to the fundraiser.

Neighbors tried to rescue the occupants with a garden hose and a fire extinguisher, but their efforts were not successful, a woman who attempted to help told News4JAX.

“I was asking whoever you believe in…to let whoever is in this vehicle enter,” she said.

Impact Learning Center, where the boy had been enrolled since infancy, released a statement.

“RJ had been part of our Impact Learning Center family since he was just an infant. He grew up in our hearts. He was a little brother, a son, and a beloved friend to his classmates and teachers.”

Troopers did not immediately say whether anyone in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt or whether a child restraint was in use. The crash remains under investigation.

Click here to donate to the GoFundMe.

JSO arrested Joshua Andrew Morgan and charged him with culpable negligence and child neglect, the report says. The child was taken to Wolfson Children’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Detectives served a search warrant at the residence and found a blue Walther P22 pistol on a kitchen table next to a bag with blood on the outside. Officials said there appeared to be a bullet hole with muzzle burn inside the bag and a large puddle of blood on the floor nearby.

Neighbors described a chaotic scene when first responders arrived.

“The people were running outside with the baby clenched, and he ran over to them with the defibrillator and then within a minute fire rescue and everything were here. I hope everything is OK. God bless that child,” a neighbor said.

The appearances from Supreme Court Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan were the first of their kind since 2019. Their testimony came weeks after the conservative-majority court handed down a series of major opinions, including one that increased President Donald Trump’s power over federal regulatory agencies and one that rejected his wide-ranging tariffs. Those rulings and more sparked harsh personal criticism of the justices.

The main focus of the hearings in the House and Senate was a request for increased security funding for the justices. Like judges around the country, they’ve faced a surge in threats of violence and intimidation.

Barrett said she had to take a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son. “I didn’t expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, why I had to wear one,” she said.

While security was the major theme of the justices’ testimony, ethics and the shadow docket also emerged as lines of questioning for members of Congress in packed hearing rooms with lines out the door.

Security is central to the Supreme Court's budget request

The Supreme Court requested a total of $228 million for next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase over the year before. About $18 million of that is for maintaining the building and grounds.

Much of the requested operating-budget increase, $14.6 million, would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats in the last government fiscal year, an increase that includes threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country.

The nine-member Supreme Court has also been targeted, including by fake 911 swatting calls and pizza deliveries in the name of a judge’s murdered son.

Barrett said her son opened their door in May to see their street filled with police cars responding to a fake swatting call that her security team quickly dispersed. Last year, her sister was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found.

In 2022, shortly after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties. Threats to the Supreme Court have continued to grow since then and are expected to be up 38% this year, Kagan said.

She condemned rhetoric from public officials targeting judges for personal criticism when they disagree with their rulings.

“When political figures of any stripe are trying to intimidate judges and justices to do things that they like rather than things they don’t, that’s where we really have crossed the line,” she said.

Kagan and Barrett differ on ethics code enforcement

Multiple Democrats brought up the Supreme Court's relatively new code of ethics, adopted in 2023 during a storm of criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.

While the justices agreed that members of the court are taking the code seriously, Kagan supported creating a way to enforce it. The liberal-leaning justice acknowledged, though, that enforcement could be tricky. That would have to come from the judicial branch and the Supreme Court sits at its head.

Barrett, who is part of the court’s conservative majority, said she's not sure an enforcement mechanism is possible. It's not clear there's an effective way to address questions about who would do the enforcing and how, she said.

“I am certainly fully committed to the code as are all of our colleagues, but because of some of the complexities I'm just not quite sure" about enforcement, she said.

Kagan cites downsides to the rise in emergency appeals

The Supreme Court has seen a sharp rise in appeals to its short-term emergency docket, where the justices make quicker decisions in cases still working their way through the court system.

It's been especially busy during Trump's second term, as his administration appeals orders blocking parts of his wide-ranging agenda to the nation's highest court. The government notched a string of wins in this manner, on cuts to the federal workforce, restrictions on transgender members of the military, and more.

Such decisions are usually made without a detailed explanation, and while the orders are designed to be temporary they can nevertheless have real-world effects.

“There are downsides of using emergency relief," Kagan said. “You don’t get the kind of briefing that we ordinarily do. We don’t get the argument we ordinarily get." She added: “We should consider those downsides when we decide how often to grant relief.”

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Associated Press video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this story.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission last week referred two complaints to the Brown County district attorney's office, which can choose to bring criminal charges over violating the state law against election bribery. Prosecutors have 40 days to report back to the commission.

Musk, the founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, was deeply involved in the effort to flip majority control of the highest court in battleground Wisconsin.

The tech titan and groups he supported spent at least $20 million on the candidate backed by Republicans, Brad Schimel. However, he lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.

A month after the lopsided loss, Musk announced that he would be spending far less on political campaigns. Spending on the election topped $100 million, making it the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

Prosecutors will decide if Musk should be charged over the $1 million checks

The complaints, which are confidential under state law, were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, which is in Brown County. Musk handed out checks at a rally there just days before the election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 in closed session on Thursday to refer the complaints to the district attorney, the commission's spokesperson Emilee Miklas said.

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee, a Republican, did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The motion approved by the elections commission said it found probable cause that Musk broke Wisconsin law by making a social media post offering $1 million to people who voted in the Supreme Court election “in order to induce them to vote in that election.”

Spokespeople for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk gave $1 million checks to 3 Wisconsin voters

Three Wisconsin voters received checks from Musk, including two who got them in person at the Green Bay rally. Two weeks before the election, Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges,” or referred someone to sign it.

Crawford's win kept liberals in control of the state Supreme Court, and their majority grew to 5-2 after Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor's victory this year.

Musk’s spending on the 2025 race has already resulted in one lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which seeks to prohibit him from ever again offering cash payments in the state.

That lawsuit is pending in Brown County. It alleges that Musk and two groups he funds violated prohibitions on vote bribery and unauthorized lotteries and that his actions were an unlawful conspiracy and public nuisance.

Attempts to stop Musk failed in 2025

Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general sued to stop Musk from handing over the checks to two voters, but was rejected by state courts.

Musk’s attorneys argued in legal filings in 2025 that Musk was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions.

The payments are “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate,” Musk’s attorneys argued in court filings.

Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the 2024 presidential election, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.

A homeowner helped deputies find the men hiding on private property and they were taken into custody.

Watch the video on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.

The relatives of Youlin Chen of Boston broke their silence this week, apparently after they saw no sign from the Chinese government that it was planning to release Chen — even after President Donald Trump brought up the case when meeting Xi in Beijing in May, according to Global Reach, a Washington-based nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing home Americans wrongly detained abroad.

“I have not been able to speak with my husband for over 600 days and am concerned for his health and well-being," Yufang Rong, Chen's wife, said in a statement released by Global Reach, which has been advising the family since Chen's detention.

“President Trump has taken a personal interest in freeing Youlin. Since taking office, he has already freed 106 people and I know that he and his team will bring Youlin home to us," Rong said.

Chen is the only U.S. citizen determined by the State Department to be wrongfully detained in China, Global Reach said. The designation means those cases are of high priority to the U.S. government and can lead to intense diplomatic efforts to secure releases. The Biden administration in 2024 secured the release of three wrongfully detained Americans from China.

“President Trump has been clear that he wants every American detained abroad to return home, and he has reunited over 100 individuals with their families since taking office this term," Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said when asked about Chen's case.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Chen as a wrongful detainee in March. The State Department said Tuesday that the U.S. government has raised Chen's case directly with Chinese officials, calling for his immediate release. Reuters reported earlier on his detention.

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Tuesday that there is no “wrongful detention” in China and that judicial agencies handle cases in accordance with the law.

If not resolved, Chen's case could “figure prominently” when Xi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in September, said Eric Lebson, a Global Reach adviser to Chen’s relatives. The family decided to speak out now because Chinese officials do not appear to be acting on Xi's commitment to Trump after the U.S. president raised Chen's detention in May, Lebson said.

The seismologist was detained in November 2024 by state security agents during a personal trip to visit his parents in Beijing, and he has been charged with espionage, Global Reach said.

Chen has worked as a U.S. government contractor for the State Department and Air Force Research Lab, with much of his work involving collaborating with Chinese colleagues to analyze seismological data, Global Reach said.

Chen’s arrest is “likely an effort by Chinese officials to learn about the techniques the U.S. uses to detect nuclear tests using seismic data,” the group said.

U.S. embassy personnel have been allowed to visit Chen several times but are not allowed to discuss the case with him, the group said.

Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, vowed Tuesday to do “everything within my power to advocate for” the immediate release of one of his constituents.

“It is my hope that increased attention on his unjust detention will force the Chinese government to do the right thing and release Dr. Chen and allow him to return to his family in Massachusetts,” Markey said.

Sotheby's said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed “Gus,” is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned off, besting the almost $45 million price tag for a nearly complete stegosaurus sold by the same New York auction house in 2024. The previous record holder had been a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Stan” that sold for nearly $32 million in 2020.

“Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared, and cared for with real excellence,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chair, said after the sale was completed. “The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way.”

Why the bidding for this T. rex was intense

Standing upright with its tail extended and right foot slightly raised, “Gus” is an adult dinosaur specimen measuring about 12 ½ feet (3.8 meters) tall and 38 feet (11.5 meters) long.

He's about 61% complete, with what Sotheby's describes as an “exceptionally preserved” skull including a gaping jaw of powerful teeth, two “well represented” feet and a number of rarely found bones, including a furcula, or wishbone.

The fossil was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota and named in honor of property owner Gary Licking, who died during the roughly five year excavation, restoration and mounting process.

The auction house said the winner, who participated by phone and wants to remain anonymous, outbid six other prospective buyers during Tuesday's 10-minute bidding battle. The piece had been estimated to fetch anywhere from $20 to $30 million ahead of the sale.

“Try a bigger bite,” auctioneer Phyllis Kao cajoled the bidders at one point during the auction, which was conducted live and online. “It’s a T. rex, after all.”

Scientists want ‘Gus’ on public display

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an advocacy group of scientists, scholars and students, said scientifically significant fossils such as “Gus” should be publicly displayed in museums and other research institutions so that they can be “preserved, documented, and accessible for future generations.”

“Our hope is that the new owner recognizes the extraordinary scientific and educational value of Gus the T. rex and that they aim to keep it in the public trust by immediately donating it to an accredited natural history museum,” Kristi Curry Rogers, the society's president-elect, said in a statement Tuesday. “That outcome would ensure that this remarkable specimen continues to advance science, rather than becoming unavailable for study.”

Indeed, “Apex,” the stegosaurus, the previous dinosaur fossil record-holder, is currently on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “Sue” the T. rex, the first dinosaur ever sold at auction in 1997, also by Sotheby's, is a centerpiece of the Field Museum in Chicago.

And “Stan” is on display at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, posed in combat with another fossilized T. rex over the remains of a triceratops.

A Cretaceous king and Hollywood staple

Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name roughly translates to “King of the Tyrant Lizards,” stood firmly at the top of the food chain when it ruled during the late Cretaceous period.

With its fearsome jawline and comically stubby arms, it has become the most recognizable and beloved of the dinosaurs, depicted in everything from children’s programs like Barney, the purple T. rex, to the enduring “Jurassic Park” movie franchise.

The great beasts roamed what is today western North America, during a time when the region boasted “warm climates, high sea levels, and rich coastal floodplains” that allowed their primary prey, giant herbivores like the triceratops, to flourish, according to Sotheby’s.

“I’m Joe Lombardo,” he said as the officer arrived at the passenger-side window, police body camera video obtained by The Associated Press shows.

Gov. Lombardo was pulled over May 15 by an officer from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the agency Lombardo led as sheriff for eight years. The officer walks up to the passenger side of a light-gray Ford pickup truck and says, “Hello, how are you doing, sir?” according to the video.

Lombardo is in the driver's seat, with his wife Donna Lombardo in the passenger seat.

The officer begins to explain the reason for the stop, and Lombardo interrupts to say, “I’m Joe Lombardo.” The officer says, “I’m aware,” and continues to explain the stop was initiated because he did not see Lombardo stop at a red light before making a right turn.

“Come on, man,” Lombardo says.

The officer replies, “You’re good to go, sir. Appreciate ya. Have a good day,” and then walks away.

The whole interaction lasts about 15 seconds of the 1 minute and 10 second video.

The police department said the governor did not receive a citation but did not say why, however law enforcement officers say it is common to not give a citation over a minor violation.

Lombardo's campaign said the governor and his wife were headed to the airport when they were pulled over.

“Governor Lombardo spoke with the officer, fully complied with all instructions, and was promptly on his way,” the campaign said in a statement Tuesday. “He remains grateful for the professionalism of the officer involved and for the service of law enforcement officers across Nevada.”

The video, which was obtained via public records request, comes to light months before the November election, when Lombardo, a Republican seeking reelection, will face Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford.

Steve Grammas, the president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said the interaction wasn't uncommon. Officers stop drivers, explain why drivers are stopped and then let them go on their way.

“It really is a big nothing in my opinion,” he said.

Grammas, whose union endorsed the Republican governor, denied Lombardo received any special treatment. Typically officers ask for the driver’s license in order to identify them, but the officer already knew who the governor was, he said.

“Being that it is the governor, the former sheriff, odds are he doesn’t have warrants, does not have a suspended driver’s license, and so there’s no need to run that person,” Grammas said.

Grammas added that the governor didn’t identify himself as the governor, and simply said his name.

Edward Obayashi, a deputy sheriff and policy adviser who teaches an ethics and policing class in California, said there is nothing unethical about what the governor or the officer did.

“We let motorists off with a warning all the time,” Obayashi said.

Obayashi said that it was obvious the officer already knew who he was stopping because he ran the license plate, and the governor identifying himself is a common courtesy.

“What a brilliant film. It was amazing,” Cruise told journalists at a recent press event. “Every aspect of that film was very thought out, very detailed, and you could feel the powerful human voice of someone who was incredibly skilled at what they were doing.”

Twenty-five years later, Iñárritu and Cruise have collaborated on the highly-anticipated dark comedy “Digger.” Cruise kicked off his promotional tour for the film — and previewed a potential Hollywood awards campaign — at a trailer reveal event last week on the Warner Bros. studio lot. He greeted and posed for photos with film journalists and influencers.

“He’s never made something like this before, nor have I,” said Cruise, who told journalists it felt as if all the skills he has developed throughout his 45-year acting career led up to his performance in the film, set for theatrical release on Oct. 2.

Iñárritu knew the role was meant for Cruise.

“The transformation he went through was astonishing," said the filmmaker in a prerecorded video at Thursday's event. "And I think we both know what it means to carry an entire career into a single moment like this. We both knew that throughout our journeys, we had never done anything even close to this.”

The 64-year-old actor and producer stars in Iñárritu’s “Digger” alongside a cast of A-list talent like John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed and Jesse Plemons.

Iñárritu first approached Cruise with the script and read it to him line by line over a series of days, a method Cruise says he asks of all collaborators.

“I’m listening to everything that’s in his mind, so that I can understand that, and then I know how to contribute to it, and bring that collaboration together. And to be there with Alejandro, it was beautiful,” said the actor.

The trailer showcases an eccentric oil baron named Digger Rockwell, played by Cruise in heavy prosthetic makeup, whose company sets off a chain of events and hijinks.

Iñárritu says he had the idea for the film just after completing “The Revenant,” but it took him a decade to complete the story.

“Not script, not a film, just a relentless recurring obsession that has endured through all these wild years. I knew who this character was,” said the Oscar-winning director. “I knew how he spoke, how he survived, how he seduced reality into agreeing with him ... I wasn’t looking for a story. I was looking for the right way of saying it.”

Like “The Brutalist” and “One Battle After Another," the film was shot on VistaVision.

With the move to the new grounds, the Fair is delivering a rocking concert lineup at the newest venue in the city, the 10,000-capacity open-air JAX Amphitheater.

The 2026 Fair will take place Nov. 5-15. This year’s theme is “Here We Grow!” Each day of the fair will feature a concert of national acts such as Skillet, Smash Mouth, and 311.

Here is the full concert lineup for the JAX Amphitheater during the 2026 Fair:

Nov. 5 - An Evening with JJ Grey & Mofro

Nov. 6 - Grace Potter with Lamont Landers

Nov. 7 - Dwight Yoakam

Nov. 8 - The Pop 2000 Tour hosted by Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC with O-Town, BB Mak, Ryan Cabrera & lfo

Nov. 9 - Skillet with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Nov. 10 - Corey Smith

Nov. 11 - Jake Owen

Nov. 12 - Smash Mouth with Fastball and Nine days

Nov. 13 - 311 with Sitting on Saturn

Nov. 14 - Amp It Up with Any Time at All – A Beatles Tribute, A Foreigner’s Journey to Boston – Tribute to Foreigner, Journey and Boston, and Heart-Shaped Box – Tribute to Nirvana

Nov. 15 - LoCash and John Morgan

Admission to the JAX Amphitheater comes included with a General Admission ticket to the fair.

For more information on the 2026 Fair and the JAX Amphitheater, visit the fair’s website.

On Nov. 7 & 8, Super Girl Surf Festival will bring two days filled of surfing, music, and fun for the entire family to the Jacksonville Beach Pier. The event is celebrating 20 years of empowering, inspiring, and uplifting women through sports. This year, the event will feature surfing competitions, skateboarding, beach volleyball, beach soccer, beach flag football, basketball, cheer and dance showcase, and the Super Girl 5K.

While sports might dominate the day’s events, the night is dominated by the music. This year’s event features performances by Switchfoot, Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B, Gym Class Heroes, Emily Zeck, Mckenzi Brooke, Hello Sister, Anora, and more at Seawalk Pavilion.

The concert is available to all ages and free to attend, however, pre-registration is required. You can pre-register here. Entry for the concert is first-come, first-served. You can guarantee entry to the concert by getting a VIP Pass, which starts at $125 per day.

For more information on the Surf Festival, visit the event’s website.

All blood donors will receive a Jacksonville Jaguars preseason home-game ticket and a limited-edition T-shirt, organizers said.

Summer is one of the toughest seasons for maintaining a strong blood supply, and organizers are urging fans to “make a game-changing play” by donating. Donors can board the Big Red Bus at the event to give blood and help ensure hospitals have the supply they need.

“The need for blood and platelet donations is constant, especially at this time of year, and every donor has the power to make a real difference for patients and families in our community,” Whitney Meyer, Jaguars senior vice president and chief community impact officer, said. “We are grateful to partner with OneBlood and all the Jaguars fans stepping forward to give this life‑saving gift to ensure blood is available when it’s needed most.”

For more information or to register, visit the Jaguars or OneBlood websites.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% to recover some of its 0.8% loss from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.

Stocks got help from easing yields in the bond market, which fell after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.5% higher last month than a year earlier. That wasn’t as bad as May’s 4.2% inflation rate or the 3.9% that economists expected for June.

Less bad inflation takes 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 less than a 17% 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 the day before, according to data from CME Group.

Rebounds for big, influential tech stocks also helped steady the market. They’ve swung sharply in recent weeks on worries that they shot too high in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology and that the voracious demand for AI chips and data centers may fade if they don’t produce the promised profits and productivity.

Micron Technology rose 4.9%, and Nvidia climbed 4.1%. A day before, they were two of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 after falling 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively.

To be sure, big risks remain for inflation. Fighting in the Middle East is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf and deliver crude to customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly topped $87 in the morning. Following its leap of nearly 10% on Monday, it got back to where it was before the United States and Iran signed their interim deal to halt their fighting in the middle of last month.

Brent’s price later pared its gain and settled at $84.73, up 1.7% from Monday’s settlement. It eased after Donald Trump backed away from his threat made Monday to charge 20% on all cargo going through the strait to reimburse the U.S. military for its protection.

Wall Street’s other big focus this week is the start of earnings reporting season, as companies tell investors how much profit they made from April through June. The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth to justify how high their stock prices have jumped. Indexes are near records despite the recent swings caused by worries about AI stocks.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all on Tuesday reported fatter profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Their reports showed strength for their trading desks and suggested spending by U.S. consumers remains resilient.

Their stocks mostly rose following the results. Goldman Sachs jumped 9%, but Citigroup fell 5.3%.

IBM was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 and the biggest reason the Dow lagged behind other indexes after dropping 25.2%. That was its worst day since at least 1972, according to data provider FactSet.

CEO Arvind Krishna said performance for IBM’s software and infrastructure businesses fell short of expectations last quarter after customers shifted their spending toward servers, storage and memory to get ahead of expected price increases caused by the AI boom.

“These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” Krishna wrote in a letter to investors. “We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”

All told, the S&P 500 rose 28.25 points to 7,543.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9.63 to 52,508.27, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 233.83 to 26,107.01.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.58% from 4.62% late Monday. That halted its run higher from 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill for the first time since taking over leadership of the central bank. He pledged to make high inflation “a thing of the past” but offered no signal about the Fed’s next steps.

In stock markets abroad, indexes inched higher in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% as SoftBank Group Corp. rose 3.3%. It’s a big investor in AI, and Chairman Masayoshi Son gave a speech in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI.

Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai after the government reported China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as AI drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

The civil rights suit, filed in federal court Tuesday, names the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as the architect of what it describes as an ongoing conspiracy to silence members of the pro-Palestinian movement by smearing them as antisemites.

Those efforts were aided by Canary Mission and Betar, two pro-Israel groups that maintain online lists of Israel's critics, often alongside unsubstantiated claims that they are affiliated with Hamas, according to the lawsuit.

Activists placed on those lists “were nearly automatically targeted by the Federal Defendants for arrest and removal," the suit claims, adding that the "process of nomination to punishment was frictionless.”

Lawyers for Khalil argue this “public-private partnership” could violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law that sought to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.

The suit, led by the Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks unspecified damages and a judicial order to end the alleged conspiracy.

Inquiries to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, did not comment on the lawsuit, but said in an email that the executive branch “has the lawful authority to take actions that will protect the public and to ensure the integrity of our immigration system.”

The suit comes as Khalil’s deportation case appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Khalil described the purpose of the latest filing as “exposing the network of organizations, particular actors and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Palestine and to make an example of those who refuse to stay silent.”

“If constitutional protections can be cast aside under political pressure today, they can be cast aside tomorrow against anyone,” he added.

A former graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil gained prominence as a spokesperson and leader for student activists protesting against Israel and its actions in Gaza.

He was arrested in March 2025 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his campus apartment and quickly became the face of the Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Khalil then spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.

Soon after his arrest, both Canary Mission and Betar boasted of their role in flagging Khalil's noncitizen status to the government.

Betar — an Israeli company that claimed to use facial recognition software to identify masked protesters — also claimed it had compiled a longer list of names and given it to the Trump administration. The group has since agreed to dissolve its nonprofit status, following a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James accusing its members of harassing Palestinians.

Khalil's lawsuit traces the origins of the alleged conspiracy to a blueprint from the Heritage Foundation, entitled “Project Esther,” which called for the expulsion of noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

The report also suggested, without evidence, that participants in those protests should be seen as part of a “highly organized, global Hamas Support Network.”

In May, as the Trump administration ramped up its crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists, one of the report’s authors, Robert Greenway, appeared to acknowledge the foundation's influence, saying that it was “no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening,” according to the suit.

Greenway, a former adviser to Trump, did not reply to a request for comment.

Khalil, meanwhile, has forcefully denied that his criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism. While government officials — along with Canary Mission and Betar — have linked him to Hamas, they have offered no evidence to support the claim.

“My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,” Khalil previously told The Associated Press. “It’s as simple as that.”

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah have ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and scenic canyons, as well as coal and uranium deposits that state officials want made available for development.

Trump, a Republican, issued proclamations under the Antiquities Act to reduce their size by about 90% each. He took similar actions during his first term, but those were reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The latest move comes as Trump and other Republicans have drastically reshaped the management of vast taxpayer-owned lands concentrated in Western states. Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have sought to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while removing protections for imperiled species and rolling back rules for conservation.

“They took the land from the people quite honestly,” Trump said at a signing event at the White House Monday. “We’re giving it back.”

President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, and President Barack Obama, also a Democrat, created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 under the Antiquities Act. The 1906 law gives presidents the powers to protect sites considered historic, archaeologically significant or culturally important.

Davina Smith-Idjesa, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said tribal leaders had braced for a reduction since Trump was elected to a second term. She said it was “heartbreaking” and accused federal officials of sidestepping their legal responsibility to consult with tribal nations that would be impacted.

“From a Navajo perspective, Bears Ears is not simply a piece of federal public land,” Smith-Idjesa said. “This is a living cultural site that holds our histories, our ceremonies, our traditional foods and medicines and our ancestors’ footprints.”

‘Big day for Utah’

Utah officials had long fought against the monument designations and argued that the state should be in charge of controlling its own lands. Trump in his first term reduced their size, calling their creation a “massive land grab.” Combined they spanned more than 3.2 million acres (1.3 million hectares), an area nearly the size of Connecticut.

Trump reduced them Monday to less than 303,000 acres (123,000 hectares) combined.

That's a greater reduction than his first term, when he left Grand Staircase Escalante at 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) and Bears Ears at 213,000 acres (86,000 hectares).

“This is a big day for Utah,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox as he stood next to Trump at the White House. “These monument designations are supposed to be the smallest area as possible to protect the antiquities.”

Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of tribal nations that consider the land sacred. The landscape contains ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites and features in some tribes’ creation and migration stories. Its designation honored five tribes in the region — Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute.

Home to hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and scientific significance, Bears Ears is jointly managed by an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.

Grand Staircase-Escalante consists of cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including rock paintings. It holds large coal reserves, while the Bears Ears area has uranium.

The national monument designation provides sweeping protections not just for significant geological features or artifacts but also for the surrounding landscape, banning drilling, mining and new construction nearby. Proponents of Trump’s move to downsize say the protective boundaries stretch too far and hinder mining for critical minerals.

Trump asserted Monday that people can not hunt, fish or “virtually not even walk” on the monuments. That's false: Hunting, fishing, camping and other recreation are permitted under state and federal regulations, said Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a conservation group.

Biden designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments and had a goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Trump’s policies are largely the opposite: He wants to tap into the natural resource wealth of federal lands that total more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) and offshore areas under federal control, such as in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.

That’s drawn backlash from Democrats who warn of the wholesale disposal of treasured landscapes for commercial gain.

“Today’s executive action is another chapter in this administration’s war on the West," Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said Monday. He added that Trump was “turning the Antiquities Act on its head."

Land sale proposals fell flat

Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last year that federal officials would review and consider redrawing monument boundaries as part of a push to expand U.S. energy production.

Trump in his current term has used proclamations to lift commercial fishing prohibitions within expansive marine monuments in areas of the Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. Those monuments were created by Democratic and Republican administrations. The effort to boost the fishing industry, which has been challenged in court, marks a dramatic shift in federal policy by prioritizing commercial interests over efforts to allow the fish supply to increase.

Some Republicans have tried to sell or transfer federal lands to states or other entities. Those efforts have largely fallen flat: A push by some GOP lawmakers in the House to sell public lands ran into bipartisan opposition, while another proposal by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to sell more than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square kilometers) of federal lands was removed from Republicans' big tax and spending bill.

The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned back a lawsuit from Utah officials who sought to wrest control of vast areas of public land within the state from the federal government.

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Hannah Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.

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This story was first published July 13, 2026. It was updated July 14, 2026, to correct that the monuments were a combined 1.3 million hectares, not 13 million hectares.

The Department of Homeland Security later said the officer fired his weapon when the man they were pursuing attempted to flee the scene, threatening “public safety.”

It’s a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers then saying they opened fire when their vehicles became a danger. That's despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

The Embassy of Colombia identified the man killed Monday in Biddeford, roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland, as Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national. Some friends, neighbors and an advocacy group have spelled his name “Joan.”

Nine dead in immigration operations

He is the ninth killed during immigration operations since the start of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday she urged DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

A person familiar with the matter told AP Tuesday that administration officials told immigration officers to suspend most vehicle stops. Some policing experts say Immigration and Customs Enforcement should never have conducted traffic stops.

“They’re saying that all these cases are justified because the officers were in danger,” said John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during the Obama administration. “But then why the hell are we putting the officer in danger by asking them to execute traffic stops?”

Sandweg, who estimates there have been roughly 18 traffic-stop shootings during the immigration crackdown, noted there are many other places to make arrests, from homes to workplaces.

“It becomes a much more risky and dangerous situation once you start to pursue someone,” said John Gihon, an immigration lawyer who was an attorney at ICE from 2008 to 2014. “That’s going to escalate.”

Gihon said that during his tenure at ICE he regularly trained deportation officers about vehicle stop policies. He said officers were advised they have discretion on whether to pull over someone they are trying to arrest. But if that person refuses to get out of their car and drives away, the guidance is to let them go and track them down another day.

“If they refuse, you are not pulling them out of the vehicle, you are not putting yourself in front of their car,” he said. “This policy is for everyone’s safety.”

But fatal vehicle stops keep happening during Trump’s second administration.

There was Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, shot during a late-night traffic stop in South Texas in March 2025, and Renee Good, a mother of three shot and killed in January as she drove her car through the streets of a Minneapolis residential neighborhood amid growing anti-crackdown protests.

Last week, it was Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican builder shot and killed as he drove his crew to a worksite in Houston, where he had lived and worked for decades.

Shooting into moving vehicles creates danger for all who are near

Each time, officials insisted the federal officers had fired because they feared they or someone else could be killed by the vehicles.

“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X after Good was killed. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

That shooting was captured on multiple bystander videos that contradicted the administration’s narrative and prompted widespread anger and protests against the officers' use of deadly force.

Much remains unknown about the others.

Officers were not wearing body cameras in the Salgado Araujo or the Durán Guerrero killings, despite DHS announcing months ago that it would outfit all officers with cameras.

Geoffrey P. Alpert, an expert on policing at the University of South Carolina, said without video evidence, investigators must rely on witness statements.

“There’s certainly a pattern, a practice, a trend that is disturbing,” Alpert said, adding that police departments decades ago began prohibiting officers from shooting into moving cars because if the driver is injured or killed, they can lose control, turning the vehicle into “an unguided missile,” threatening anyone nearby.

“Every bullet needs to be understood: why was it fired. Every time an officer pulls the trigger, we need to know why,” Alpert said. “We talked about that last time, and we’ll talk about that the next time.”

Texas lawmaker notes conflicting descriptions of Houston shooting

Doubts are already swirling about the official story the administration told about the fatal shooting of 52-year-old Salgado Araujo in Houston.

DHS officials said in a statement that the Mexican national ignored commands and was trying to evade arrest, then attempted to ram his car into an officer, who opened fire in self-defense.

Rep. Sylvia Garcia said she visited the facility where the men who were in the vehicle with Salgado Araujo are being held and spoke to two of them, raising “many alarming questions” about the administration’s claims.

“Here’s the deal. I visited with them separately, and their stories were consistent, and paint a totally, totally conflicting version of the events,” Garcia said. They said that at no time were any of the ICE officers in front of the vehicle. Instead, they told her the officers were on the passenger side and shot Salgado Araujo, who was driving, through the passenger side window. The window had been open because the vehicle’s air conditioning was broken.

The DHS story quickly shifted

What exactly led to the deadly shooting in Maine remains unclear. Officers were in Biddeford, surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country, then tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, DHS said.

Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said DHS Secretary Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers.

But nearly 12 hours after Durán Guerrero was killed, that story shifted: DHS issued a statement saying the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”

When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN an investigation would reveal the truth.

The state’s Office of the Attorney General announced it would investigate the shooting in coordination with federal authorities, promised transparency and encouraged witnesses to come forward.

On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters gathered near an ICE facility in Scarborough, Maine. They held up a large banner reading “No more ICE killings” and signs saying “stop the murder” and “end this terror.”

“We need to never see this happen in the streets of Biddeford, Maine, and in this country,” said Democratic state Sen. Mattie Daughtry, said during the protest. “Never forget the human toll of what has happened here in Maine, in Minnesota, in Texas.”

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Santana reported from Washington, D.C., Sullivan from Minneapolis and Galofaro from Louisville, Kentucky. Associated Press reporters Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, and Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday that Ohtani had the procedure to relieve irritation following Sunday's game and that the four-time MVP was taking a few days of vacation before the season's second half. Roberts said the two-way star did not receive an injection.

Two-time World Series champion Los Angeles opens the second half Friday for the start of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

“He’s going to be in the lineup,” Roberts said before managing the National League in the All-Star Game.

Ohtani is batting .293 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts. The four-time MVP skipped Tuesday’s All-Star Game.

Ohtani last pitched on July 3. It isn't yet clear whether he will pitch against the Yankees.

“We haven't decided that yet," Roberts said.

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

More than 30 states have reported infections this year, and current data from them shows the number of infections surpassing the record U.S. mark of about 4,700 set in 2019. The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.

Health officials have not yet definitively identified what is causing the infections. On Tuesday, federal health officials said there may be different infection patterns in different places, although they believe cases in at least four states — Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia — are linked.

Michigan officials blame lettuce

In Michigan — where more than 3,300 cases have been reported — officials say early information points to lettuce or salad greens as a possible culprit.

After conducting more than 1,000 interviews with patients, “early information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation,” said Natasha Bagdasarian, the Michigan health department's chief medical executive.

Because of that commonality and because produce has been behind some past cyclospora outbreaks, Michigan officials advised consumers to buy whole heads of lettuce, discard the outer layers and thoroughly wash what is left. They also suggested people avoid bagged lettuce and pre-mixed salad kits.

On Tuesday, the Taco Bell restaurant chain issued a statement saying it had “voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and follow the guidance of public health authorities."

In a call with reporters on Tuesday, federal health officials did not directly respond to a question about whether they are looking at Taco Bell or any specific food vendor or distributor.

“FDA certainly is continuing its traceback investigation on multiple produce items, also including locations that are reported by the case patients before they became sick,” said Donald Prater, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food, in response.

Cyclospora causes ‘explosive’ diarrhea

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.

Experts say it's likely that cyclospora cases historically were underreported, in part because some common tests used to check for food poisoning have not been geared to detect cyclospora. They attribute the increasing trend in cases to climate change and better detection.

2019 was the worst year for infections

The worst year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported, according to federal data on confirmed and suspected cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps those numbers, but they traditionally lag what is posted by individual city and state health departments dealing with local outbreaks in real time. On Tuesday, CDC officials issued a health alert that said that since May 1, the agency is aware of 1,645 confirmed domestic cases and more than 5,100 that require further analysis to confirm whether the infections were acquired in the U.S. The reports come from 34 states, and no deaths have been reported, the CDC said.

The true number of cases is likely larger than what has been reported so far because some people may have milder illnesses that they don't seek care for, said Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, in the call with reporters.

It can take days to weeks for someone exposed to the parasite to develop symptoms. It's not clear to what extent people currently are being infected, or whether many of the exposures happened earlier. But Biggerstaff said official expect that case numbers will continue to grow through August.

The CDC also posted information about the investigation of an outbreak affecting the four states.

The federal alert did not detail how many reports came from each state. But Michigan officials have reported more than 3,300 cases, officials in northwest Ohio said they have seen more than 1,100, New York City officials counted more than 400 and Illinois reported more than 200.

Officials do not think all can be tied to a common source. In Illinois, for example, more than half the people with infections said they had traveled outside the United States, and at least some may have been infected elsewhere.

But Michigan officials believe a large share of their total is likely due to a linked domestic outbreak. CDC officials did not go into detail about why they currently think cases in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia are part of the same outbreak.

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Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.

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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 person familiar with the contract confirmed the agreement to the AP on Tuesday because it hadn't been announced by the team.

The slot value for the top pick this year was $11,350,600. Cholowsky's bonus tops the previous mark of $9.25 million for the amateur draft that belonged to Reds pitcher Chase Burns and Rockies prospect Charlie Condon, two of the top three selections in 2024.

Cholowsky, a 6-foot-2 shortstop who turned 21 in April, hit .320 with 21 homers, 60 RBIs and a 1.088 OPS in 60 games this season for UCLA.

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

The payment — representing the $5 million jury award, plus interest — was made Monday from an account where it had been held in escrow since the 2023 verdict, according to court records. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment Tuesday.

“We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment,” Kaplan said in a statement. Carroll herself later wrote on Substack that “the eagle has landed.”

Trump's lawyers have vowed to continue appealing.

Trump deposited the money in an escrow account shortly after the jury ruled against him. The U.S. Supreme Court recently let the civil verdict stand, clearing the way for Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to release the money.

Trump’s lawyers then sought but were denied an emergency order to block the payment. The one-sentence denial set no conditions on how Carroll may use the money. Her lawyers have said in court papers that she plans to put it in a retirement account.

Trump's attorneys have since filed another appeal seeking to stop or reverse the payment.

The jury found Trump attacked Carroll in 1996 in a New York luxury department store dressing room and defamed her after she told the story publicly in a memoir in 2019, during his first term as president.

Trump insisted nothing sexual happened between him and Carroll, now 82, a former advice columnist. Trump claimed she was “totally lying” and “ not my type ” in a 2019 interview. He said he didn't know her, dismissing a 1987 photo of them and their then-spouses at a party as inconsequential, and he accused her of harboring political motives and trying to sell books at his expense.

Trump didn't attend the trial, where Carroll testified that their flirtatious and friendly chance encounter at the department store turned violent.

Carroll sued Trump after New York changed its laws to give sexual abuse survivors a fresh chance to sue over attacks that happened in the distant past.

Trump is also appealing $83 million in defamation compensation granted to Carroll by a separate Manhattan jury after a 2024 trial where Trump briefly testified.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually abused. Carroll has agreed to be named.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed.

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This story has been corrected to show that Carroll collected over $5.6 million, not $5.8 million.

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 Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, comes on the heels of the latest Social Security Board of Trustees’ annual report, which found that Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032, a year earlier than last year’s projections.

Even with it being clear for years that Social Security was running out of money, Congress has been loath to act. Making changes to the program — and potentially cutting benefits — has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare’s troubling math to the next generation.

“The longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program’s financial shortfall,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., one of the bill’s authors, said in a statement. “We were elected to solve problems — we owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect and strengthen this critical program.”

Durbin, who is retiring, is joining with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia; independent Sen. Angus King of Maine and outgoing Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in backing the Social Security legislation, which calls for an “independent, bipartisan advisory committee” that would make recommendations to Congress.

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., signed onto the bill right before its introduction.

The bill is designed to force Congress to confront Social Security’s long-term financing problem by guaranteeing that lawmakers vote on a solvency plan. It culminates in an up-or-down vote on a plan that restores Social Security solvency for at least half a century.

Committees, however, have been here before. That happened as recently as 2024, when House lawmakers undertook an effort with the backing of several in GOP leadership to form a federal debt commission that would include tackling the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

The effort collapsed when Americans for Tax Reform — led by its president, Grover Norquist — aggressively lobbied against it.

Social Security's looming funding shortfall is mainly the result of lower projected birth rates, reduced immigration and reduced trust fund revenue due to the costs of Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer, according to the Board of Trustees' report.

The looming challenge for the programs is a partial funding gap, not a collapse. Even after trust fund depletion, the system will continue issuing benefits, albeit at reduced amounts.

Traditionally, Republicans have been skeptical of endorsing tax increases, while Democrats have been critical of calls to raise the age of Social Security eligibility. In 2022, members of the House Republican Study Committee proposed raising the age at which someone could qualify for Social Security and Medicare.

Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67, based on recommendations from a commission under the leadership of Alan Greenspan.

Still, there are ongoing bipartisan calls to find a way to provide long-term funding to Social Security.

Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for raising the cap on the Social Security payroll tax.

For 2026, the payroll tax cap, or maximum amount of earnings on which you must pay Social Security tax is $184,500.

Americans for Tax Reform organized a lengthy and aggressive rebuttal with comments from scores of conservatives in opposition.

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill — or Hillsborough Law — imposes a legal duty of candor on public officials to tell the truth about public tragedies whatever the impact on their reputation.

It is named after the 1989 disaster in which 97 Liverpool soccer fans were killed in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. An independent inquiry in 2012 found the police had covered up their own mistakes and blamed the deaths on unruly supporters.

The bill completed its passage through the House of Commons after a delay caused by wrangling over whether it would apply to Britain’s spies. After pressure from bereaved families, the government has agreed that the intelligence services will also be covered by the duty of candor, but with a “secure process” for disclosing information if it could affect national security.

The bill will become law after being approved by the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who promised to bring in the law during his 2024 election campaign, opened the debate on the bill in the Commons in one of his final acts as leader.

He said victims' families “have waited years and years too long” for justice.

Starmer's successor Andy Burnham, who is due to take over as prime minister on Monday, has long campaigned on behalf of the bereaved families.

In his first speech in the Commons since being elected as an MP last month, Burnham said the Hillsborough Law was “a rewiring of the state and a passing of power from the authorities to the hands of ordinary people.”

Paying tribute to Starmer, he said it was happening “because of the prime minister’s commitment to a country based on justice and fairness, and we thank him for that.”

The 54,000-capacity Hillsborough Stadium was nearly full for a FA Cup semifinal match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989, when more than 2,000 Liverpool fans poured into a standing-only section behind a goal. Many victims were crushed against metal fences or trampled underfoot, and suffocated.

With hooliganism rife in English soccer in the 1980s, a narrative blaming drunken, ticketless and rowdy Liverpool fans was created by the police, and was only overturned by years of campaigning by bereaved families.

An original inquest in 1991 found the deaths were accidental, a conclusion the victims’ families refused to accept. Those findings were overturned in 2012 after a far-reaching inquiry into the disaster that examined previously secret documents and exposed wrongdoing and mistakes by police.

In 2016, a jury at a second inquest found the victims had been “unlawfully killed” as a result of failings by the police, the ambulance service and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, which ran the stadium. It found the behavior of fans did not contribute to the deaths.

In 2023 the government apologized for the way the families were treated over the decades and for the delay in its response to the report.

An investigation by the police watchdog concluded last year that 12 officers would have faced gross misconduct proceedings, were they not dead or long retired.

Labour lawmaker Ian Byrne, who was at Hillsborough and survived the tragedy, said he hoped the law would mean “that no grieving family will ever have to come to fight the state simply to uncover the truth.”

“This law is far more than Hillsborough,” he said in an emotional speech. “It is about the kind of country we choose to be, a country where power tells the truth, where public servants serve the public, where justice is not delayed until campaigners grow old, and where no family is ever left to walk alone.”