Vingegaard, who rides for Team Visma-Lease a Bike, ended the three-week race with an overall advantage of 5 minutes, 22 seconds over second-place Felix Gall. Jai Hindley finished third, 6:25 behind.

Vingegaard won the Tour de France in 2022 and ’23 and last year clinched his first Spanish Vuelta title. It was his first Giro.

“It’s amazing. It’s something I’ve dreamt of my whole life and to now be able to do it, it’s something special,” an emotional Vingegaard said in his first interview as Giro winner. "I’m lost for words.

“It was a really special day, with so many people on the side of the road, so many spectators, it was really incredible. To get the honor to wear the maglia rosa in the streets of Rome is something special. With these last three weeks, it’s just such a nice way to end this race.”

After crossing the line in Rome, the 29-year-old Vingegaard embraced his wife and two children, who were wearing replicas of his maglia rosa — the leader's pink jersey.

“Yeah, that’s even nicer, it also gives me tears in my eyes, they’re always there for me,” said Vingegaard, who has celebrated his five stage wins at the Giro by kissing the photo of his family that is on the handlebar of his bicycle, before kissing his wedding ring.

Vingegaard also carried his children with him to the podium, where he was presented with the Trofeo Senza Fine (Trophy With No End).

Having dominated his first Giro — living up to his billing as pre-race favorite — Vingegaard will turn his attention to the Tour de France as he attempts to become the ninth man to complete the Giro-Tour double in the same year.

However, there he will face cycling’s top talent Tadej Pogacar. The Slovenian, who skipped the Giro to focus on adding to his four Tour titles, became the first man in 26 years to do the Giro-Tour double when he achieved the feat in 2024.

Sunday's largely processional final Giro stage, that ended with eight laps through Rome, was won by sprint specialist Jonathan Milan.

The 131-kilometer route started in Rome and then went out the sea before returning to the Italian capital for the finishing circuit.

So relaxed were the riders that they were all seen sharing a box of sweets as they started the stage, before also being given glasses of Prosecco. They also all posed for team photos during the ride out to the sea.

Milan, who had seen other bids for stage wins end in disappointment earlier in the race, finally got his victory. The Italian edged out compatriot Giovanni Lonardi and French cyclist Paul Penhoët in a bunch sprint.

“I’m super happy to end this Giro in this way,” Milan said. “It’s beautiful. After three weeks that we were looking for this, winning the last stage in Rome means that we were keeping the head there, we never give up, we always keep fighting for the victory, we were always believing in it, we always believe in each other.”

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

Though it has gone by different names over the years, the Israel Day parade has always been a must-attend event for mayors, governors and other political leaders eager to win over the throngs of flag-waving revelers who congregate on Fifth Avenue to celebrate the birth of the Jewish state in 1948.

Not so for Mamdani. Two weeks ago the mayor's office released a video commemorating the Nakba, an Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is used to describe the displacement of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.

“I said on the campaign trail that I wouldn’t be attending the parade, and I’ve made my views on the Israeli government abundantly clear,” Mamdani said at a news conference Thursday.

But he also promised a robust police presence to make sure it went off “seamlessly and peacefully.”

“While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part," he said.

The city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, told reporters she would attend.

“It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly,” she said as she stood alongside Mamdani at police headquarters.

The mayor's absence, though long expected, has given fresh fuel to opponents who view his criticism of the Israeli government as antisemitic.

Rabbi Marc Schneier, founding senior rabbi of The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island and president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which advocates for better relationships between Jews and Muslims, called Mamdani’s decision to not attend the parade “a slap in the face to all Jewish New Yorkers.”

“Do us a favor, stay home,” he said. “We don’t need you. We don’t want you.”

Schneier also slammed Mamdani’s Nakba video as “propaganda,” echoing concerns from other Jewish leaders who said it excluded context about Jewish peoples’ displacement during the period.

The video, which appeared to be the first such recognition from a sitting New York City mayor, featured the story of a woman who was displaced at 9 years old, interspersed with text about the Nakba, as she described a feeling of missing home, saying “it’s the soft hills of Palestine that actually touched me.”

“I’ve lived in different places, and I’ve always been an outsider,” said the woman, Inea Bushnaq.

Supporters of Israel were outraged, saying the video should have acknowledged the mass displacement of Jews from Muslim-majority countries or the role that the mass slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust played in the drive to establish a Jewish state.

Mayors in New York City, which has America’s largest Jewish population, have long been visible supporters of Israel, often visiting the country.

Support for Israel among Americans has deeply eroded in recent years, though, a trend that accelerated amid the outcry over Israeli military action in Gaza..

Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has remained steadfast in his pro-Palestinian advocacy.

He has said he believes Israel has a right to exist but not as a hierarchy that favors Jewish citizens. Simultaneously he has pledged to protect Jewish New Yorkers and highlighted the work of the city’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.

About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township.

The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar’s central government.

A rescue worker who rushed to the site of the blast told The Associated Press that 46 bodies, including six children, had been recovered by Sunday evening and taken for cremation.

The rescuer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said 74 injured people had been transported to the township hospital and rescue operations were continuing.

Another rescuer in Namhkam, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said about 40 people were killed and more than 100 houses near the blast site were damaged.

Myanmar media outlets, including Shan State’s online Shwe Phee Myay news agency, reported death tolls ranging from 50 to 55. They published photos and videos showing smoke from the explosion and damaged buildings and debris in its aftermath.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported the explosion caused multiple deaths and injuries, with many residential houses being severely damaged, but did not give figures.

It said that according to preliminary investigations, the blast occurred at a site where large quantities of explosives used for mining operations were stored.

Local authorities are currently providing relief, medical care and resettlement assistance to affected residents, said the report.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, said in a statement released on its Telegram channel that gelignite had been stored by the group’s economic department for use in mining and stone quarrying sites, and that an investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.

Gelignite is widely used in mining and rock blasting, but can become highly unstable over time and if poorly stored.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, is a member of the rebel Three Brotherhood Alliance, and has controlled the Namhkam area since the alliance and its allies launched a major offensive against the military in northeastern Myanmar in late 2023. The alliance members and other ethnic armed groups have long fought for increased autonomy.

The TNLA signed a ceasefire with Myanmar's military following China-mediated talks in October last year, but relations remain tense.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition. After peaceful demonstrations were put down with lethal force, many opponents of military rule took up arms, and large parts of the country are now embroiled in conflict.

Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian drones struck the Saratov oil refinery in southwestern Russia, causing a large-scale fire. It claimed the refinery has been supplying Moscow’s war effort.

The refinery belongs to Russia’s state oil enterprise, Rosneft. Local Russian Gov. Roman Busargin said Ukrainian drones had damaged civilian infrastructure, but did not give details. Astra, an independent Russian news channel, said an oil refinery was on fire in the city of Saratov.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russia’s oil and gas facilities in recent months, arguing the energy sector funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year invasion.

“Tonight, our soldiers applied Ukraine’s long-range sanctions against an oil refinery in Saratov, Russia — approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles) from the front line. A significant achievement,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social media on Sunday.

Drone debris also set fire to a fuel depot in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, which borders Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, Gov. Yuriy Slyusar reported on Telegram on Sunday. He said residents of nearby homes were evacuated.

Ukraine's General Staff on Sunday confirmed its forces were behind the strike on the facility in the town of Matveev Kurgan. Local authorities said a drone strike on the depot had caused a large-scale fire across a wide area.

According to its General Staff, Ukraine ​also struck the Lazarevo pumping station in Russia's Kirov region northeast of Moscow, more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from Ukrainian-controlled land. The station helps ship Russian oil ​from Siberia to Belarus.

Regional Gov. Alexander Sokolov said drones had hit ​a facility in the Kirov region, without giving further details.

Russia says a Ukrainian drone struck a nuclear plant

Kyiv denied that a Ukrainian drone struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest. Russia’s state nuclear energy company, Rosatom, said on Saturday that the drone exploded after tearing a hole in the wall of a turbine hall. Rosatom’s CEO Alexei Likhachev accused Ukraine of a deliberate attack.

“This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6, resulting in a detonation,” Likhachev said. He added there was no damage to main equipment.

Ukraine’s military said it did not target or strike the plant, describing the Russian claim as “yet another propaganda ploy.” A military statement said that it adheres to international humanitarian law and is aware of the "consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities.”

Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — expressed “serious concern” in a post on X following the incident.

The IAEA said in a statement Sunday that its inspectors at the plant “observed damage to the exterior of a turbine building” that was “consistent with the impact" of a drone. It gave no details of where the drone may have come from, but said radiation levels at the site remained normal. It added that its inspectors had requested access to the inside of the turbine hall for further examination.

Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia plant in the early weeks of the war, and it remains close to the front lines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, one of four Russia has formally annexed despite lacking full military control or international recognition for its actions. The nuclear plant has repeatedly come under fire since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, sparking fears of a nuclear accident. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for targeting the plant.

Zelenskyy claims Russia treats abducted Ukrainian children ‘as combatants’

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Zelenskyy told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that Russia treats abducted Ukrainian children “essentially as combatants,” claiming Kyiv has evidence they are being trained to fight against fellow Ukrainians.

“They taught these children to hate their native country, to hate (their) native people. And Ukrainians, can you imagine, such young Ukrainians — young boys — come to the battlefield and kill (other) Ukrainians,” he said.

He also alleged that Russians have separated abducted Ukrainian siblings, adopting them out to different families, and offered to trade some children for captured Ukrainian soldiers in prisoner swaps.

“There are hundreds of examples of such steps by Russia,” Zelenskyy said, without specifying what evidence his government had.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of children have been unlawfully deported or forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the European Union imposed sanctions on 16 officials accused of helping the abductions, claiming many children had their identities changed or were put up for adoption.

Sanctions were also slapped on seven centers suspected of indoctrinating the children or training them to serve in the armed forces, either for Russia or pro-Russian militias inside Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions.

Deadly drone attacks continue

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that it had shot down 212 of 299 drones launched by Russia overnight. It said 14 drones had reached their targets, while drone debris fell in five locations.

A truck driver died early on Sunday as drones hit a parking lot in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, according to local administration head Vyacheslav Chaus.

Russian drones struck the city of Dnipro and an oil refinery in Ukraine’s Rivne region, causing fires, authorities said. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region, of which Dnipro is the capital, said later on Sunday that one person was killed and nine were injured in Russian attacks in the province.

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

The curfew around Delaney Hall will be in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further notice, Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement.

The move came after another night of standoffs between law enforcement and demonstrators at the facility, as protestors could be seen in photographs and videos fighting over barricades as police used riot shields to push them back. A video posted on social media showed police on horseback marching into crowds attempting to break up groups of protestors.

The high-profile demonstrations at Delaney Hall began earlier this month after advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, the latest hotbed of opposition over the federal government's immigration crackdown.

New Jersey state police on Friday relieved federal immigration enforcement agents who had been facing off against protestors at the facility for days.

In a statement Sunday morning, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said masked individuals attacked a barrier in a designated protest area set up by state police and were “throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.”

“These actions put both peaceful protestors and law enforcement in danger,” Sherrill said, urging calm to focus on advocating for “better conditions for the detainees, for their families, and ultimately, for the closure of Delaney Hall.”

Sherrill also said that the federal government has reopened family visits at Delaney Hall starting Sunday.

For Stephen Siller Jr., the stop carried the weight of personal history. He is the son of FDNY firefighter Stephen Siller, who was off duty the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when he heard over the radio that the towers had been struck.

“He heard it come over the radio that the towers had been struck by a plane, so he turned his car around, drove to his firehouse,” Siller said. When his unit had already responded, he said his father grabbed his gear and drove toward Manhattan — only to find the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel closed.

“So he grabbed his gear, left his car outside the tunnel, and ran to the World Trade Center, where he ultimately lost his life in the South Tower,” Siller said.

Teaching kids what 9/11 meant

Now, a quarter century later, Siller said the mission of the tour is to ensure that story — and the stories of so many others — doesn’t fade as more Americans grow up without firsthand memory of that day.

“I was nine months old at the time,” Siller said. “I wasn’t really able to truly understand the gravity of that day until afterwards. That’s what this steel tour is doing. We’re teaching children across the country — people who didn’t get what happened on September 11th — the story.”

The “Steel Across America” tour is carrying the beam more than 10,500 miles, with more than 35 stops in 21 states and Washington, D.C., before culminating at Ground Zero on the 25th anniversary of the attacks. Alongside the steel, the foundation also brought its 9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit — an 83-foot tractor-trailer that unfolds into a 1,100-square-foot educational exhibit honoring the lives lost, including the 343 FDNY members killed in the line of duty.

Why the tour’s only Houston stop mattered

Siller said Houston was a particularly meaningful place for the tour to pause.

“It’s important for us to be here in Houston today because of all the help that Texas has provided us and all the work we’ve done here,” he said, pointing to the foundation’s ongoing presence in the region — including a homeless veterans program in Houston. “We also have over 100 families where we’ve provided mortgage-free smart homes here.”

He also referenced a local act of remembrance that followed the attacks.

“There’s a special event that occurred here after September 11th. It was called Flags Across America, where they laid thousands of flags in honor of those who lost their lives,” Siller said. “It was a memorial then, and it’s a memorial again today.”

What Tunnel to Towers does year-round

Tunnel to Towers, founded in the wake of 9/11, provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and builds specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders. The organization has also expanded its efforts to address veteran homelessness.

“We pay off mortgages for first responders and military service members that lose their lives in the line of duty, leaving young families behind,” Siller said. “But we also build smart homes for catastrophically injured first responders, and veteran families.”

Space Center Houston: perseverance and public learning

Space Center Houston leaders said the exhibit fit the venue’s mission — and its responsibility to help younger generations understand major moments in U.S. history.

“As part of our America 250 celebration, we’re really proud to welcome the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and ‘Steel Across America,’” said Keesha Bullock, chief operating and strategy officer at Space Center Houston. “It’s the only stop here in Houston, and we’re just so delighted, proud, and honored to have them here.”

Bullock called Space Center Houston a natural place to host an event centered on perseverance.

“We bring together the federal government, the commercial sector and the public to really explore space exploration, and to tell those stories of human spaceflight, and just human perseverance in general,” she said. “So I think there couldn’t be a better place to host this event.”

As visitors walked in, Bullock said the scene underscored a broader challenge: how to keep the meaning of 9/11 alive for children and teens who weren’t born yet — or who have only encountered it through textbooks.

“For generations that are growing smaller, who weren’t here on 9/11, it’s our responsibility now to educate those future generations,” Bullock said. “Space Center Houston is a science learning destination, so this is a really great opportunity to connect what we do every day.”

For Siller, that generational bridge is the point — and the reason the physical presence of the steel matters.

“The void can never be completely filled,” he said, reflecting on losing his father as an infant. “But the healing that’s followed, because of the creation of this organization, has been immense.”

How to learn more

Those who want to learn more about Tunnel to Towers can visit T2T.org, Siller said, adding that donations help support the foundation’s work nationwide. Space Center Houston programming and upcoming events are available at SpaceCenter.org.

The taking of Beaufort castle, near the city of Nabatiyeh, followed days of airstrikes and intense fighting in nearby villages between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants.

The capture marked a major Israeli advance in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel attacked its main backer, Iran.

Since then, Israel has launched a ground invasion, capturing dozens of Lebanese villages and towns close to the border. Hezbollah has launched thousands of missiles and drones at Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

The Israeli push came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just days before Lebanon and Israeli hold their next round of direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said he can guarantee the militant group's “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire."

“But who will force Israel to stop its aggression?” he said in a statement on his television station, NBN.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss Israeli military operations in Lebanon, which he described as “unacceptable.”

“Nothing can justify the prolongation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and its increasingly deep occupation of Lebanese territory,” Barrot said Sunday on French television BFM TV.

A historic and strategic fortress

The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted photographs on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the castle, and Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that they raised an Israeli flag over the castle. Israeli troops previously captured the castle in 1982 and held it until they withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

“Twenty six years after the withdrawal from the security zone in Lebanon, the Israeli flag has returned to fly on the peaks that overlook the Galilee towns,” Katz said Sunday at a memorial ceremony for Israeli soldiers killed in its previous occupation of southern Lebanon.

Katz said Israel intends to hold the castle as its troops work to destroy thousands more homes that he says were used by Hezbollah and other military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

The Beaufort fortress, perched high atop Lebanon’s rolling green hills and overlooking the Litani River, has been a strategic military asset for centuries.

Built as a Crusader castle around the 12th century on top of previous fortifications, it has also been used by Saladin’s Jerusalem army, Mamluks, Ottomans, the French mandate and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Crusaders named it Beaufort, which is Old French for “beautiful fortress.”

The 1982 capture of the castle from the PLO was a major victory for the Israeli military, which was then led by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, who later became prime minister. At the time, the Israeli army pushed all the way north and occupied Beirut.

In 2000, the castle was partially restored and opened to visitors.

During the previous Israel-Hezbollah war in 2024, UNESCO gave enhanced protection to 34 cultural sites in Lebanon, including Beaufort Castle, to safeguard them from damage.

The castle is a few kilometers north of the Israel border and overlooks wide parts of southern Lebanon and northern Israel. In Arabic, it is called Al-Shaqif castle, an old Syriac word referring to the formidable rocky area.

Beaufort is symbolic across the region, including in Israel, where it was one of the best-known places Israel controlled during the 18-year occupation. An Israeli war film titled “Beaufort” explores moral questions about war in the last days before the military withdrew.

Israel expands invasion in Lebanon

In recent days, Israel has expanded the scope of its operations in Lebanon, sending troops across the Litani River, which previously served as a de-facto boundary, and demanding that residents leave much of southern Lebanon.

“The occupation of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policies we are leading,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, citing the military occupation of security zones in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza along Israel’s borders. He said Israel has killed 3,000 Hezbollah militants since the start of the war. Hezbollah has not disclosed its casualty numbers.

Israel has designated the area from the Litani up to the Zahrani River a combat zone. Some residents have already left the area due to intense strikes in recent days, but people remain.

Israeli troops have been advancing for days in villages close to Beaufort castle. They are now about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Nabatiyeh, a major center in southern Lebanon. They have called on people to leave that area, as well as the coastal city of Tyre, the country’s fourth-largest city, and its surroundings.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah or the Lebanese government on the Israeli push.

The expanded operation would give Israel an upper hand in the upcoming talks with Lebanon in Washington, said Beirut geopolitical analyst Joe Macaron.

“We are at a tipping point,” Macaron said, adding that it is still too early to say how Hezbollah will react to the loss of land. “The more land they (the Israeli military) can grab before the ceasefire, the more they can impose conditions on Hezbollah before their withdrawal.”

Exchanges of fire across the border continue

Israel has continued striking near Tyre, including near the Hiram Hospital. Lebanon's Health Ministry said 13 health workers were wounded in the strike. Elsewhere, a strike in Deir al-Zahrani, near Nabatiyeh, killed eight people and wounded 16 others, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

Hezbollah overnight claimed two attacks targeting Israeli troops and a Merkava tank in the southwestern town of Bayada near the border. In recent days, the group has said it has clashed with Israeli troops in several towns just north of the river near Nabatiyeh and the strategic castle. It also claimed attacks deeper into Israel near the northern city of Haifa, Nahariya, as well as border areas.

Hezbollah on Saturday fired salvos of rockets into northern Israel, including Kiryat Shmona, the largest city in the area.

Hezbollah's use of hard-to-detect fiber optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond. There have been nearly 200 alerts for Israeli civilians across northern Israel warning of drones and missiles in the past 24 hours, according to Israel's military.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,350 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 25 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, including one on Saturday. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 780 people were detained in Paris and other cities and 57 officers were wounded, with most suffering minor injuries, as football fans set off fires and vandalized shops overnight.

Nuñez said at a news conference on Sunday that “the situation has been largely brought under control."

“Most of the celebrations took place peacefully” across the French capital, he said, noting most incidents happened in the Champs Elysees neighborhood and close to the Parc des Princes stadium, in western Paris, where fans had gathered to watch the match.

Fans began celebrating in Paris after the final whistle on Saturday night in Budapest, Hungary, where Paris Saint-Germain was crowned Champions League winners after beating Arsenal in a dramatic penalty shootout. Fans marched along the avenues near Paris’ Arc de Triomphe monument, with some setting off flares and blaring car horns. Around 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Elysees, where police worked to contain the crowd.

Planned celebrations for the team’s win on Sunday afternoon at the Champ de Mars, near the Eiffel Tower, went ahead as scheduled. Nunez warned that police would respond with “firmness and determination” to any potential violence.

With the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, up to 100,000 supporters showed up at the event that was placed under high security measures. Returning from Budapest late, PSG players — led by captain Marquinhos, coach Luis Enrique and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi — were greeted by cheering crowds as the club anthem blared from loudspeakers. The players took turns lifting the trophy aloft, relishing their heroes’ welcome back home.

Macron appeals for an end to violence

The team was then hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee presidential palace. Macron condemned the violence.

“I don't want that we get used to it,” Macron said at the ceremony. “This is not soccer, this is not sport, this is not what we love. We will be uncompromising with those who have been caught. We do not want to see this happen again. It’s over. We’ve had enough. This must end."

Nuñez said incidents took place in about 15 cities in France, describing “one to two” shops vandalized in each other than Paris. He said 780 people were detained in all, with 480 of them in the Paris area alone.

Police also intervened five times overnight to prevent people from blocking traffic on the main ring road around Paris, he said. In one accident, a driver lost control of a car that rammed into a restaurant’s terrace, leaving two people wounded including one seriously, Nuñez said. We will be uncompromising with those who have been caught. We do not want to see this happen again. It’s over. We’ve had enough. This must end.

Paris police detain hundreds

The Paris prosecutors’ office said 306 people have been formally taken into police custody, including 81 minors, for alleged offences. Most were for assault of police officers while other allegations include theft, vandalism and disturbing the public order. Some 40 police officers were injured.

The Paris police prefecture said smaller groups caused disturbances in various locations, with some vandalizing shops and setting fires to garbage and self-service bicycles in the streets. Cars were also set ablaze. Some who attempted to storm a police station in the posh 8th Arrondissement neighborhood were dispersed, police said.

“The vast majority of Parisians celebrated it with joy, unity, and respect,” Paris mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said on Sunday in a message on X, while condemning violence “in the strongest possible terms.”

Following PSG’s first Champions League title win in May 2025, 201 people were injured in the French capital and police made more than 500 arrests across France.

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

The vote, seen as a referendum on outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s policies, comes 10 years after Colombia signed an historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

That agreement offered hope to break the nation's vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government, but violence has roared back since then, coming to a head in the lead-up to the presidential vote. Criminal groups have increasingly launched drone strikes, armed attacks have plagued the race and last June, 39-year-old politician and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was fatally shot at a political rally.

In a country where the fight for peace has long been a part of the political ethos, the question of how to address the conflict is once again dividing the country.

The vote is expected to send a message to Latin America at a time voters are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies — such as providing opportunities to young people and rooting out corruption, and solving security issues — and turned instead to heavy-handed security crackdowns like in El Salvador. It also comes as the Trump administration is placing renewed pressure on the region.

“Today's election isn't just important for us, it's important for all of Latin America,” said Juan Acevedo, a 62-year-old sociologist walking out of a voting station in Colombia's capital on Sunday morning. “Whoever wins here will suggest to the region if progressive policies will continue or if things are going to return to the right.”

Three top candidates have starkly different approaches

There are 11 candidates running for president, but the election has basically turned into a three-horse race.

Senator and peace-builder Ivan Cepeda — a Petro ally — has led the polls and promises to carry on with Petro's “total peace” initiative to negotiate with the country’s remaining rebel groups and sign peace agreements with them in an effort to resolve the persistent crisis.

While the peace plan has largely failed as criminals have taken advantage of ceasefires with the government, Cepeda and Petro have maintained strong support among many because of progressive policies pushed forward under Petro, such as boosting the minimum wage.

Running against Cepeda are Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia, who have vowed to come down on armed groups with a heavier hand.

De la Espriella — a bombastic lawyer known as “The Tiger” — has particularly gained traction among voters in recent weeks for pitching himself as an outsider keen on emulating the heavy-handed tactics used in El Salvador’s war on gangs, which sharply reduced gang violence but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

Both Cepeda and de la Espriella entered voting locations on Sunday surrounded by heavy security personnel who held bullet-proof shields over the politicians' heads.

Valencia is considered the political protege of Colombia's former president and strongman Álvaro Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010 with strong support from the United States and whose government beat back FARC rebels in an offensive that took a massive civilian toll.

Both de la Espriella and Valencia have touted their affinity for U.S. President Donald Trump even as he has taken a more aggressive stance toward Latin America than any U.S. president in decades and has pressured nations like Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico to more forcefully crack down on criminal groups.

If no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote — something extremely rare in Colombia — the two top vote-getters will face a runoff in June.

Colombians also disagree on how best to tackle the violence

Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress who was stitching a pair of jeans on Friday in downtown Bogotá, Colombia's capital, said she welcomed an all-out offensive on an expanding slate of criminal groups, regardless of the human cost.

While she approved of Petro’s pushes to improve the country's medical infrastructure, she said she was voting for de la Espriella because violence in rural areas of the country has gotten out of hand. She said negotiating peace pacts was simply “rewarding” armed groups.

“Of course, whenever you come down with a heavy hand, there’s always going to be debate,” she said. “But some people are going to have to fall to clean up what needs to be cleaned.”

Others, like Acevedo, the sociologist strolling out of a polling station on Sunday with packs of other voters, said a security crackdown like the one promoted by de la Espriella would only be returning to past military campaigns that he said only reinforced Colombia's cycle of violence.

He said he planned to vote for Cepeda, adding that while the government hasn't done a perfect job — failing to pass ambitious reforms and follow through on promises to reduce violence — it was better to continue pushing forward with their political coalition's efforts to take a different approach in addressing the country's violence.

He added that his main critique of Petro's administration was the power grabs made by criminal groups as they negotiated with the government. He said he hoped that if Cepeda won, he would strike a better balance between negotiating peace and maintaining control over those groups.

“We're a country that has lived through 60 years of conflict,” Acevedo said. “The danger here is that we return to the times where everyone is saying that the only way to solve our problems is with bullets and more war.”

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

“Backrooms,” released by A24 in 3,442 locations in the U.S. and Canada, made an astonishing $81.5 million in its first three days in theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. That’s just a few hundred thousand dollars shy of what “The Mandalorian and Grogu” earned in its first three days last weekend; And “Backrooms,” which was directed and co-written by YouTube creator Kane Parsons, cost only $10 million to produce.

The wild success of “Backrooms” didn’t even hurt “Obsession,” which is also the directorial debut of a YouTuber, Curry Barker, who is only 26. Three weekends in, “Obsession,” a movie that cost less than $1 million to make, still hasn’t dropped below its opening weekend earnings. This weekend, it was up 10% with another $26.4 million for a second-place finish, leaving Star Wars, the legacy franchise movie from the veteran filmmaker and the Walt Disney Studios, in third with $25 million.

YouTube might not be the death of movie theaters after all. If this weekend is any indication, it could be the industry’s new great hope.

This is a weekend where theaters also hosted the debuts of “The Breadwinner,” a PG-rated family comedy starring the popular comedian Nate Bargatze, and “Pressure,” a solid World War II drama about the tense 72 hours before D-Day with Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser. But it was the 20-something YouTubers that drew the most crowds. And both “Backrooms” and “Obsession” were produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster.

Abhijay Prakash, the president of Blumhouse-Atomic Monster said that the weekend is both staggering and validation of their business, which has from the beginning championed original horror movies that appeal to younger audiences, and generated over $10 billion in box office to date.

He noted that they’ve made a point of looking for up and coming talent on YouTube and, knowing how Hollywood works, this weekend likely inspire a wave of copycats. But beyond that, he’s encouraged by the fact that the young creators who’ve already had enormous success online still value the cultural currency of theatrical movies.

“It’s a great sign of relevance for us,” Prakash said. “With some distance, we’ll probably look back at this as a real turning point.”

“Backrooms” started as a creepypasta — an internet-generated urban legend — before Parsons turned the concept, about a never-ending expanse of dull, depressing rooms and hallways, into a viral web series, which he made with the help of the open-source 3D graphics software Blender. It caught the attention of James Wan and Shawn Levy’s production companies who were interested in taking it to the next level; Soon a movie was in development with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve starring.

It wasn’t just a domestic hit either; Including international showings, “Backrooms” has already made $118 million globally. A24 said Parsons is now the youngest director to have a No. 1 film globally. It’s also a record opening for the studio, whose previous high-water mark was “Civil War,” which opened to $25.5 million in 2024.

The R-rated film was well-reviewed by critics and drew a young and diverse crowd to theaters. According to exit polls, 86% of the audience was under 35, more than half were under 25 and 44% were under 21. Many attended in groups and there were reports of sold-out shows, packed theaters and repeat viewings. Audiences gave it a less-than-stellar B- CinemaScore, however.

But the buzz is still creating a frenzy of all ages, even teenagers, wanting to see “Backrooms.” Some theaters have even posted employees outside of the screens to make sure that anyone under 21 is accompanied by an adult. The same is true for the R-rated “Obsession," which has now made $104.7 million in North America, and is now Focus Features' highest grossing domestic release.

Luis Olloqui, the CEO of Cinépolis USA, which operates 26 theaters across the country — most of which are dine-in — said they’ve seen sellouts at many of their locations for both movies.

“We were a little worried that they would be competing for the same audience. It’s not the case,” Olloqui said. “It shows that when we have the right content, people from all ages are willing to go to the theater.”

“The Mandalorian and Grogu,” meanwhile, fell around 69% from its opening last weekend. The movie has now made $246.6 million globally.

“Michael” landed in fourth place with $11.7 million in its sixth weekend — the musical biopic has made $339.9 million domestically to date. “The Breadwinner,” released by Sony, rounded out the top five with an estimated $7.5 million. ”Pressure" opened in seventh place with $5.8 million.

Outside of the top 10 was the heist-romance “Tuner,” which expanded to 452 theaters in its second weekend, earning a solid $1.7 million.

“Everyone’s asking what’s the next big thing in Hollywood for movies, and what can bring people back to the movie theater? And this may be it,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Backrooms,” $81.5 million.

2. “Obsession,” $26.4 million.

3. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $25 million.

4. “Michael,” $11.7 million.

5. “The Breadwinner,” $7.5 million.

6. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” $5.9 million.

7. “Pressure,” $5.8 million.

8. “The Sheep Detectives,” $4.6 million.

9. “Passenger,” $2.6 million.

10. “Mortal Kombat II,” $2 million.

Undefeated this season on clay, 15th-seeded Marta Kostyuk showed her strong credentials as she reached the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time on Sunday by taking out four-time champion Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-1 and ruining her birthday.

She will be up against her compatriot Elina Svitolina next, ensuring there will be an Ukrainian woman semifinalist at Roland Garros for the first time in the professional era (1968). The seventh-seeded Svitolina rallied past Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

“There’s going to be Ukraine in the semifinals, so it’s already amazing,” said Svitolina, whose country is in a 4-year-old war with Russia.

“I think it couldn’t be a better, amazing achievement for Ukrainian tennis. I think in such a difficult situation right now in the war, with the invasion, it’s really, really difficult, and I think it’s really inspiring for the next generation to really believe that it is possible one day to play on this court and win.”

None of the players still in the draw have yet lifted the trophy in Paris, following Coco Gauff’s elimination on Saturday and Swiatek's exit. It's the same in the men’s draw, after the defeats of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic and with Carlos Alcaraz absent because of an injury.

In men's play, Spanish teenager Rafael Jodar moved into his first Grand Slam quarterfinal after coming back from two sets down to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Jodar, who also played five sets in the previous round, will play second-seeded and former runner-up Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. Zverev defeated Jesper de Jong 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.

Swiatek's bad day

Kostyuk had lost her three previous matches against Swiatek and never taken a set against the former top-ranked player, who turned 25 on Sunday.

“I’m still in shock. To beat such an unbelievable player, who won four times here," she said.

Kostyuk has been the best player of the clay-court season. She defended extremely well, chasing Swiatek’s shots all over the court, and also produced some stunning groundstroke winners while her rival was also undone by her own mistakes.

An intense baseline battle unfolded from the outset. Swiatek showed signs of nerves as she double-faulted, shanked a forehand wide and then missed a volley at the net, allowing Kostyuk to level at 5-5 in the opener. Swiatek hit two more double faults in the 12th game and the 15th-seeded Ukrainian player sealed the set with a backhand passing shot.

Swiatek then briefly left the court. Meanwhile, Kostyuk kept herself warm by stretching and hopping beside her chair, then received some applause as she did a few dance moves to the music playing in the stadium.

Following a first week marked by a suffocating heatwave, relief finally arrived in Paris on Sunday, with temperatures dropping to 21 degrees C (70 F) around midday. When play resumed, Swiatek broke but another double fault coupled with more unforced errors brought her opponent back at 1-1. Kostyuk then won the last five games.

Kostyuk, who had reached the fourth round at Roland Garros in 2021 when she lost to Swiatek, extended her winning streak on clay to 16 matches. Ahead of the French Open, she won in Madrid, the biggest title of her career, after she claimed another clay-court title in Rouen, France.

“The most important thing that I’ve been doing this whole time is really just trying to enjoy,” she said. “It’s helping. I want to keep enjoying. I try not to focus at all on winning or losing because I’m not playing tennis to win, I’m playing tennis because I love it."

17 years later

Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, who is planning to retire at the end of the season, beat Chinese qualifier Wang Xiyu 6-3, 7-6 (4) to reach her second Roland Garros quarterfinal, 17 years after first making it to the last eight.

The gap between Cirstea’s first and second Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in Paris is the longest at a single major by any woman in the Open Era.

“There is no expiration date for ambition and for dreams,” Cirstea said. “I think back then I was a kid, just started on tour. Now I have so many years behind me. I have so much experience, maturity. I feel I’m a completely different player.”

Also advancing was Mirra Andreeva of Russia, who beat Jil Teichmann 6-3, 6-2.

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AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf contributed to this report.

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

The French team, built with Qatari riches and styled by a Spanish perfectionist, looks capable of setting all kinds of records in European club soccer's biggest competition. And after triumphing 4-3 in a penalty shootout against Arsenal in Saturday's final, there is no indication that PSG is ready to relinquish its position of dominance.

“Of course we’re going to go to the market,” president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told TNT Sports while celebrations were just getting started in the center of the field at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

Those words will ring ominously around Europe. When Qatar-backed PSG goes to the market, it goes hard.

That was the case when signing the world's biggest stars during its Galactico era of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi. And the same is true in its current incarnation, where it has amassed a remarkable array of young talent that has swept all aside and taken a stronghold on the Champions League in a manner only bettered by Real Madrid in the modern era.

The team that started against Arsenal had an average age of 25.8 years. Ten of the starting XI was in the starting lineup that won the trophy 12 months earlier.

In other words, Spanish coach Luis Enrique has built a squad that looks capable of dominating for years to come.

“It’s whet our appetite,” said man of the match Vitinha. “You always want to win again. Never give up. Never stop. Luis Enrique is probably guilty of that and I hope that he will continue to push us so we can win more and more.”

How to make the best better

The best don't stand still and Luis Enrique demonstrated his ruthless side when discarding goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma last year and promoting back-up Matvey Safonov as his replacement.

The 20-year-old midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery could have more of a prominent role next season and potentially break up the central trio of Fabian Ruiz, João Neves and Vitinha. Luis Enrique made a point of saying how unfortunate Zaire-Emery was not to start the final.

Perhaps a long-term successor to 32-year-old captain Marquinhos will be sought, but it is difficult to see how PSG can improve on a team that, even when it was not at its most fluid, totally dominated Arsenal.

"What they are able to do with the ball, individual actions, I haven’t seen it (before),” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said afterwards.

And while the usually lethal Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué were subdued by Arsenal's suffocating defense, PSG still found a way through when trailing to Kai Havertz's early goal.

Its incessant pressure paid off when Kvaratskhelia's dribbling forced Cristhian Mosquera into a rash challenge in the box to concede the penalty that Dembélé converted to take the game to extra time.

As mesmerizing as PSG’s attacking talent is, maybe a more consistent back-up to Dembélé than Goncalo Ramos would add depth. Bradley Barcola still has room to improve as demonstrated by his errant touch when given the chance to score a late winner at the end of regulation time.

Only the best will do

“We are going to follow the same line. We do not need a lot of players because it is very difficult to find the right players to play in our team,” Luis Enrique said. “We already have a great squad and we need some players to change some different positions. But we are the champions of Europe the last two years.”

It is an important point. Not only is PSG the best team in Europe, but it is also unlike any other team in Europe.

Luis Enrique's insistence on high-intensity, high-pressure soccer with electrifying forwards that dribble through defenses has created a rare blend — arguably even improving on Pep Guardiola's two-time champion Barcelona. It has expanded on the possession soccer of Spain's best teams with the addition of the risk-taking and attacking approach.

It is perhaps uniquely suited to such a young team and PSG's shift away from Galactico signings has seen it become an industry leader in identifying emerging talent, albeit still at a great cost.

Doué is a two-time Champions League winner at the age of 20. João Neves is 21. Nuno Mendes is 23.

"We are really hungry. We are a young team, and we know we are really ambitious. So next season we have to go again,” said Doué.

A question of longevity

How long the players can cope with the demands of Luis Enrique and an overloaded schedule is not known.

Last year, PSG was one game away from winning a quadruple of trophies, but ran out of steam in the final of the newly expanded Club World Cup.

While it has the benefit of playing in a relatively weaker domestic league in France compared to Europe's other top teams, the Champions League final was its 56th game of the season and came after a 65-game campaign the previous year.

Ballon d'Or winner Dembélé has not quite hit the same heights as last year. Ruiz has had an injury-disrupted campaign, which has given Zaire-Emery room to emerge. When Luis Enrique talks about the need to add to his squad, it may be in acknowledgement of the strain on his players.

PSG has the power to keep hold of its best talent

PSG is not the first team to amass such an array of young talent. Ajax, through its famed academy, has repeatedly done as much. The Monaco team of Mbappé did likewise.

Those teams were broken up when European giants came calling.

That should not be a concern for PSG, which has been owned by Qatar Sports Investments since 2011, and can withstand any approach from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester City. And that is what makes this team different and gives it the potential to emulate or even better Madrid's three Champions League titles in a row from 2016-18.

“It’s normal that big clubs want PSG players because they are at the top right now,” Vitinha said. “Today we can say we are the best in the world, the best in Europe and we take a lot of pleasure being here to play in this incredible group.”

The biggest signing of all

Maybe the biggest challenge will be to keep hold of Luis Enrique, who has joined an elite group of coaches including Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola by winning three European Cups.

He has done what the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino could not in Paris, by leading it to the summit of European soccer. Keeping it there may be dependent on keeping him in the French capital.

“I want to thank all the managers, ex-managers who trained Paris Saint-Germain, but he’s very, very special as a coach, as a human being, as a person,” said Al-Khelaifi. “He’s fantastic. He’s the best coach in the world.”

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

___

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

While officers were on scene, someone in the crowd discharged a firearm, police said. The shots caused people to scatter in multiple directions, including across the street to a Shell gas station. HPD said the incident did not lead to a stampede or any known secondary injuries.

• HPD investigates death of man found unresponsive near downtown Houston

The Fire Marshal’s Office was called to the scene and shut down the establishment, police said. Harris County deputies, including Precinct 4 and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, also responded and assisted in bringing the situation under control.

Police said one officer was assaulted during the incident but was not injured. Multiple people were detained at the scene. Investigators did not immediately have information on whether the firearm discharge was intentional or accidental.

Officers with the Houston Police Department’s South Central Division responded to a call around 11 p.m. Saturday to the area of Chartres Street and Congress Street after a report of a male who was unresponsive and not breathing.

Houston Fire Department personnel were called to the scene and pronounced the man dead, according to police. HPD’s Homicide Division was notified after possible foul play was suspected. The cause and manner of death are pending an evaluation by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

• Police raid targets east Houston strip club after months of complaints

Detectives said one person of interest has been identified and will be interviewed. The man appeared to be experiencing homelessness, police said. Investigators also noted there is no threat to the public at this time.

“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the opening of a new Ebola treatment center in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.

“Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola,” he added.

The WHO said Friday a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.

The health organization said authorities have reported 134 confirmed cases in Congo and neighboring Uganda, including 18 confirmed deaths as of May 29.

Recovered patients describe their experience

Baraka Bulambulu, one of those who recovered, told The Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from them, keeping their distance while delivering food and medicine.

He said the uncertainty was overwhelming, as he and other patients believed they might die without knowing what disease they had, though testing eventually confirmed Ebola.

“Being able to come out of this alive is an immense source of happiness,” Bulambulu said. ”Many people who were in the same situation died.”

Ezo Étienne, a nurse, said his symptoms began during ward rounds when he suddenly felt dizzy, then rapidly deteriorated into vomiting, intense itching, severe diarrhea and extreme weakness. He was tested seven times before Ebola was confirmed.

His treatment remained purely to treat the symptoms: medications to control vomiting, fluids to prevent dehydration and pain relievers. “That was all they could provide,” he said.

He urged the public and healthcare workers not to dismiss early symptoms such as vomiting and headaches, warning that misinformation leads many people to believe they have been poisoned rather than seeking hospital care.

Lack of supplies, distrust and insecurity complicate response

Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, said Saturday the virus continues to spread faster than the response despite better-organized health facilities and new aid arrivals. It called for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

Tedros stressed the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response during the opening of the new treatment center on Sunday.

“If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support," the WHO chief said.

“We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule ... is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” he added.

Attacks in the region by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.

ADF fighters killed seven people Saturday in Beni, North Kivu province, an area also affected by the outbreak, the Congolese army and civil society groups said.

The illness also has been reported in both North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu.

“The final message we would like to share with the Ituri community is that there is hope,” Pierre Akilimali, incident manager at Congo's National Institute of Public Health, said during the inauguration on Sunday.

“With the symptomatic treatment that we are currently providing, we are seeing patients recover,” Akilimali added.

“We truly have hope. The virus here is not as complicated as those we have dealt with in the past, and with the support of all our partners, we believe we will be able to bring this outbreak under control as quickly as possible,” said Davin Ambitapio, another doctor at the treatment center.

——

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.

Deputies were called around 11:30 p.m. to the 20700 block of Stevens Road after a 911 caller reported discovering an unknown person lying in front of the home upon returning.

When Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office patrol deputies arrived, they confirmed the victim was a 15-year-old Black male who appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound.

Deputies began lifesaving efforts, but the teen was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.

• HPD investigates death of man found unresponsive near downtown Houston

Major Crimes detectives and crime scene investigators responded and are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the killing. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 538-5900. Those who wish to remain anonymous can contact Multi-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-STOP (7867). Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for information leading to an arrest in felony cases. Reference case #26A185965.

But the pale pink birds — called “fenicotteri” in Italian — are now flocking to Venice in record numbers, as ecological efforts to restore damaged wetlands could help expand their habitat and possibly induce them to nest in the lagoon.

Flamingos — which most famously nest in Spain and France — started showing up in the vast Venetian Lagoon in the early 2000s, mostly in fishing valleys and mudflats in the lagoon’s furthest reaches, with only rare sightings in the canaled historic center of Venice that is most frequented by global tourists.

Venice Lagoon becomes an unlikely flamingo haven

Environmentalists say their arrival in Venice as the European flamingo’s range expands is a sign of the lagoon’s health and suitability as a feeding ground.

Last year, the number of wintering flamingos in Venice peaked at a record of nearly 24,000. That is 6,000 more than the previous year, numbers “that position the Venetian Lagoon as one of the most important wintering spots in its entire habitat range,” said ornithologist Alessandro Sartori.

Sartori surveys the lagoon weekly by boat for signs of nesting, which would indicate a self-sustaining Venetian colony. So far there are no fresh signs after two nesting attempts, in 2008 and 2013, in northern lagoon fishing valleys suffered serious setbacks, including violent hail that killed dozens of birds.

More than 90% of the birds counted in last year’s census were in the northern lagoon, which contains a large area of natural salt marsh. The flamingos are also attracted by the traditional fishing valleys, semi-natural embanked wetlands that provide abundant food but can also bring them into conflict with human activity.

Venice seeks to recover its lost marsh

A project to reconstruct salt marshes in the more isolated southern lagoon — past the historic center and the industrial port — raises prospects that flamingo numbers will increase there as well by offering a new habitat in an area of the lagoon where wetland erosion has been especially severe. It could also draw the birds away from competing human uses in the north.

The Venetian Lagoon, covering an expanse of 550 square kilometers (more than 200 square miles), was originally nearly half salt marsh. Today the area of salt marsh — or “barene” in the Venetian dialect — is just about 7%, about half of it reconstructed, said Jane da Mosto, the executive director of We Are Here Venice, the local partner in the EU’s 23.6 million euro ($27.5 million), 5-year WaterLANDS project to restore wetlands across Europe.

The damage is especially stark in the central and southern lagoon, due to the combination of natural erosion and the dredging of shipping channels to access the Marghera industrial port in the 1960s.

“And since then, there’s been much more widespread erosion and loss of sediments from the lagoon to the point that Venice is now on a trajectory to becoming a marine bay,” said da Mosto. The wetlands reconstruction project “is specifically to show that it’s possible to address this trend and change the course of history.”

Rebuilding the salt marshes increases the lagoon’s ability to capture carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and driver of climate change, and mitigates the effects of rising sea levels. But da Mosto said much larger areas would need to be restored to produce meaningful climate benefits. The goal of the EU project is to make salt marsh reconstruction scalable.

Flamingos can also benefit as biodiversity increases.

Da Mosto’s team is researching ways to increase biodiversity on the reconstructed marshes, including planting species that can help reduce erosion and make the wetlands more resilient.

The mudflat where they are working contains signs of flamingo activity, chiefly stray pink feathers. On a recent day, a flock of some 30 were perched in the distance — scattering when a pair of squawking oystercatchers alerted them to visitors.

Already, Sartori believes that the reconstruction has begun to draw more flamingos to the area. Over the last three years, he has seen their numbers in the southern lagoon grow from just a handful to as many as 300 to 400 in certain periods.

“The hope is that they can find — as they have found in other parts of the Mediterranean — right here on these barene, places where they can nest,” Sartori said.

Venice’s pink newcomers could draw a different kind of visitor

The flamingos' presence in the lagoon underlines the importance of the Venetian ecosystem and offers a new way for visitors to interpret the canaled city and outer islands through their ecological — and not just historical and artistic — significance.

Still, visitors to Venice who hope to casually spy flamingos will probably be disappointed, and AP reporters recently had to travel by boat for an hour to spot any. The flamingos inhabit shallow, difficult-to-access reaches of the lagoon where navigating safely requires close attention to tides and channels. Even at a distance, the birds are easily disturbed and quick to take flight.

Sartori predicts flamingo spotting — already a possibility from the shores of the small lagoon islands of Murano and Burano but rare in the historic center — could become more common as their numbers continue to grow.

“Obviously this should always be done with respect for the animals, keeping a safe distance and not interfering with their daily lives,” he said.

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This story has been corrected to show that the number of wintering flamingos in Venice increased by 6,000, not 8,000 as previously stated year.

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. 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.

It's the latest controversy in Platner's whirlwind campaign to win the Democratic nomination in Maine and then face Republican Sen. Susan Collins in November in one of a few races that Democrats consider critical as they try to take control of the Senate.

Platner posted a video taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, Saturday night on X. In it, she avoided speaking directly about her husband's reported texts, dubbing the broader coverage as “gossip" and saying that “being married is hard.”

“I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip,” she said in the informal, selfie-style video where she paced along a road. "No marriage is perfect, and I don't want a perfect marriage, I want my marriage."

The texts were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which wrote that Gertner had told the campaign in August about the texts she had found on Platner's phone earlier in their marriage. She wanted to ensure they didn't pose a political liability to the novice candidate. Aides eventually decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023.

“Our marriage counselor helps, my personal counselor helps, Graham’s personal counselor," Gertner said in the video posted Saturday. “Graham and I have a great marriage.”

It's not the first controversy for Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran. The candidate had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn't know until he was several weeks into the campaign. There's also been scrutiny of now-deleted posts he made on Reddit which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs.

Platner's campaign weathered those revelations in the Democratic primary against the state's Gov. Janet Mills, who was forced to abandon her bid and leave Platner to be the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Platner's campaign did not immediately respond to a call and text seeking comment.

Feeling like 100 degrees Sunday:

Today will be much like Saturday. Sunshine, heat, humidity and a few clouds too. I noticed a lot of families enjoying the pool yesterday and I’m betting it will be the same way today!

But thanks to the moisture in the atmosphere, after this weekend, more rain is on the way as we start the first week of June!

Monday’s Forecast: We’ll wake up in the mid-70s with a high in the 90s, but tracking rain for a select few- not all -as we get into the afternoon into the evening.

And speaking of June, hurricane season officially begins June 1st. Are you ready? Many Houstonians of all financial backgrounds are still keeping a very close eye on their bottom line.

Watch: Building a hurricane kit without breaking the bank.

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To help you get prepared before the season ramps up, be sure to catch our KPRC Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide live next Wednesday at 8 p.m., where we’ll cover what you need to know heading into the 2026 season.

In the meantime, check out this list for 2026 Hurricane Names: The history of how hurricanes get named

10-DAY FORECAST:

Rain and storm chances return for the start of June. The rain chances will be driven by tropical moisture off of the Gulf and heating of the day.

“While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,” said Dr. Zev Wainberg, of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the study.

The drug is called daraxonrasib and it blocks a mutated protein that fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases — a target that had eluded treatment for decades.

The daily pills nearly doubled survival time, with fewer severe side effects, in a study that randomly assigned the experimental drug or more chemotherapy to 500 patients whose metastatic, or spreading, cancer had quit responding to prior treatment. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented Sunday at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.

Those taking daraxonrasib lived for a median of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients. While that may seem like a small improvement, Wainberg said it marked the first drug to show a substantial advantage over chemotherapy.

“Having treated pancreatic cancer for 16 years, I actually started crying" when first seeing the study results, Dr. Rachna Shroff of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, who wasn't involved with the research, said from the ASCO meeting. She was struck by how “patients stayed on this treatment because it was providing durable and meaningful benefit to them.”

The pills’ effects eventually wane but recipients used them for significantly longer than the comparison group stayed on chemotherapy, reporting less pain and a better quality of life as their tumors shrank. Many still were using the drug after the data was analyzed, which Wainberg said means the survival gap may widen as researchers continue tracking them.

Dr. Brian Wolpin, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, presented the findings Sunday. He said the drug should become “a new standard of care” for previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer, adding that researchers also will explore its use earlier in the disease, including to see if tumor shrinkage might let more patients qualify for surgery.

Side effects most likely to affect pill usage were a rash that can be severe and mouth sores, he said.

Maker Revolution Medicines funded the study and the Food and Drug Administration plans to expedite review of the drug. Meanwhile, the agency is allowing what’s called “expanded access” to the experimental drug for patients who meet certain criteria. The drug garnered public attention when former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse described on “60 Minutes” how he's had less pain while taking it. Oncologists are being flooded with requests as the special access program gets started.

Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms in large part because it’s hard to detect before it starts spreading to other organs. The American Cancer Society estimates about 67,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year and more than 52,000 people will die from the disease. The five-year overall survival rate is 13%.

Unlike with other cancers that have benefitted from a variety of chemotherapy alternatives, pancreatic cancer has been harder to tackle.

Cancer specialists not involved in the new research expressed optimism that this may be a turning point in the quest for new options, with dozens of experimental drugs in development.

The new drug targets mutations in the RAS gene family that normally regulates cell growth. So-called KRAS mutations are especially critical in fueling pancreatic cancer. But a structure that made it hard for drugs to stick to the mutated proteins meant this cancer driver was long considered “undruggable.”

Revolution Medicines’ drug uses what’s essentially a molecular glue to bind with multiple KRAS subtypes. Wainberg said researchers next will probe whether the drug worked better in certain of those subtypes.

The drug will change pancreatic cancer treatment, said Dr. Andrew Coveler of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, who wasn’t involved in the research.

“This thing works drastically differently,” he said.

Wainberg said other drugs in development target specific KRAS subtypes. Other approaches in earlier stages of testing include vaccines designed to prevent recurrence after pancreatic cancer surgery by teaching the immune system to recognize the mutated protein.

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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 pitch to the A's Tyler Soderstrom in the fourth inning was confirmed as a strike even though the replay showed it missed the zone by a little less than an inch.

The call in question came in the fourth inning of the 6-4 win by the Athletics when Ryan Weathers threw a 2-0 pitch that was called a strike. Soderstrom immediately challenged the call because he thought the pitch was low.

After a short delay, home plate umpire Adam Beck announced that the pitch was confirmed as a strike and the A's lost their challenge. But the replay on MLB.com showed the pitch was 0.8 inches low and should have been called a ball. It ended up being mostly moot as Soderstrom eventually drew a walk although the A's did lose one challenge.

“The explanation on the field was the umpires were told from the communication upstairs, the controller of the ABS, that the call was confirmed,” A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game.

Kotsay said the A's got to see the replay at the end of the inning on the iPad in the dugout, which is standard, and saw that it should have been called a ball. Kotsay went out to talk to the umpires between innings but was unable to get the challenge back.

“Obviously, they don't have access to the iPad,” Kotsay said. “They only have access to the information they're being told through their ear piece. That's something we need clarified through the league and we will have that conversation with the league.”

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This story has been corrected to show that it was Tyler Soderstrom, not Shea Langeliers, who challenged the call.

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

U.S. Southern Command announced the strike with its usual language that the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence for the allegation.

It's the latest in a monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

Video released by the military on social media shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it's hit and engulfed in a fireball.

The attack brings the death toll to 205 in a series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with other attacks announced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America.

Adm. Frank Bradley, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told attendees of a recent annual special forces conference in Tampa, Florida, that troops “have to be very careful about how we come to (AI’s) employment and its inspiration into the delivery of lethality.”

Bradley said he can see a future where AI determines what targets to hit but that “we, as humans, have to have the confidence that ... it's going to deliver violence only where we intend it to be delivered.”

The remarks from Bradley, who oversees the units that handle the military’s most difficult and dangerous operations, about the need to ensure safeguards come as his boss, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is pushing to rapidly evolve the military through AI. It is a push that has led to clashes with some tech companies worried about safety measures.

Hegseth has insisted that the Pentagon be allowed to use the technology any legal way it sees fit. He told an audience of SpaceX employees in January he would reject any AI models “that won’t allow you to fight wars” and that his vision for the technology was systems that operate “without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications.”

AI's use in the military is part of the Republican administration's larger push to grow the capability it sees as a unique American advantage even as it faces pressure to ensure responsible safeguards.

President Donald Trump abruptly called off plans to sign a new AI executive order hours before an expected White House ceremony over concerns the measure could dull America’s edge on AI technology.

“We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters.

Two differing AI worlds within the military

When asked about Bradley's remarks, a Pentagon official said efforts are focused on using AI to create “functional battlefield tools” that can help troops come up with and identify targets more quickly and, as a result, speed up strikes on those targets. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to offer more candid remarks.

Officials at U.S. Special Operations Command talked about AI not as something that will help eliminate targets but rather as a tool that can offer troops more time to focus on their mission.

Sgt. Maj. Andrew Krogman, the top enlisted official for U.S. Special Operations Command, said at the conference that he sees AI handling administrative tasks to free up operators or helping modernize how the command does business.

Melissa Johnson, the top acquisition official for the command, said AI should be “reducing the cognitive workload on mundane tasks.”

“We’re leveraging AI more and more, but it’s not to replace operator judgment, it’s to enhance it,” she added.

Helen Toner, interim executive director at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said those differing descriptions about AI in the military are both true.

“There are a huge number of potential uses for AI in these kinds of bureaucratic settings, which the U.S. military is actively exploring,” Toner said.

Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, told a congressional committee in May that his troops used AI “bots” to convert top secret intelligence down to a secret classification within seconds to make it easier to share with drone operators on the ground during the Iran war.

However, there is no doubt that AI also is helping the military find and strike targets.

The center that Toner oversees published a case study two years ago on how the Army's 18th Airborne Corps used AI to target artillery strikes “just as efficiently as the best unit in recent American history" and with 2,000 fewer service members.

“Human operators are still the ones making crucial decisions, but AI ... is making it possible to operate with a new level of speed and scale,” she said.

AI safety has created a public dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic

The clash over the integration of AI into the military, who ultimately controls the technology and the ethics behind its use has played out in unusually public fashion during the Trump administration.

Hegseth and Anthropic are embroiled in a bitter contract dispute over the company's concerns about unchecked government use of its technology, including the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones and of AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent.

After CEO Dario Amodei refused to back down over concerns about how the chatbot Claude is used in classified Pentagon networks, both Trump and Hegseth accused Anthropic of endangering national security.

The Pentagon formally labeled the San Francisco-based company a supply chain risk — ending its $200 million defense contract and prohibited other government contractors from working with the company.

Anthropic sued, claiming the Pentagon is illegally retaliating by stigmatizing the company with a designation meant to protect against sabotage of national security systems by foreign adversaries. The Pentagon has since emphasized its turn to Anthropic rivals — including Google, OpenAI and SpaceX — to secure AI technology that can “augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments.”

Toner, a former OpenAI board member ousted after a clash with CEO Sam Altman, said “the general public often seems to underestimate the caution with which the U.S. military approaches new technologies.”

“Commanders want their missions to succeed, which means both being able to create lethal effects at scale, and avoiding unintended effects like friendly fire, civilian casualties, or simply identifying targets incorrectly,” she said.

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, one of the first international rescuers to arrive at the site, told The Associated Press that rains had filled the cave up to the second chamber, preventing divers from entering the cave until pumps can lower the water level.

Making the situation even more difficult, a drainage pump broke down, said fellow diver Yoshitaka Isaji of Japan.

The cave saga began with a quest to find minerals

The seven villagers reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals such as gold before being trapped by a flash flood that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped and alerted the authorities.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together in the past week at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. They were joined by divers from countries including Finland, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, France and Australia.

Several of the rescuers previously took part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand that saved 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave.

The rescued men are being treated at a local hospital and are doing well, Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie, who’s taking part in the operation, told the AP on Sunday.

“We interviewed them about how the deeper part of the cave looks like. We will continue to search based on the information we have, and perhaps we will be able to get to the other two,” he said.

According to rescuers, they have navigated more than 200 meters (650 feet) into the cave and discovered five chambers in the system. The five people rescued so far were found in the fifth chamber.

The 2 missing may be in a hard-to-reach chamber

Paasi told the AP that the survivors said there’s a narrow crack in the fifth chamber that could be a passage leading to a deeper part of the cave system.

“This was the only place that we haven’t checked in the mine, where the two lost miners could still be,” he said during a video interview.

“Now there’s a theory that, through that small crack, it still continues, and there’s a sixth chamber, which gives us hope now that, if we could penetrate that small restriction, we might be able to reach the sixth chamber and then see what is there.”

Isaji explained the difficulties of such an endeavor.

“The area between the fifth and sixth chamber is extremely narrow, and no one has seen its shape yet. Furthermore, it’s a narrow space, and of course, it’s muddy water, so visibility is absolutely zero. I’ve also heard that the shape is such that you have to twist your body to get through."

He suggested that even if rescuers could get through and find another trapped person, it would be extremely difficult to bring them out. In such a case, he said, a plan would probably involve getting food and water to those trapped and waiting for the passage to be drained.

Isaji also mentioned the possibility that the two missing villagers are not actually in the cave at all, since they were said to have moved separately from the five rescued people.

The five who were rescued were first found Wednesday. They were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen.

The trapped men took the initiative when the water level dropped

The first man was safely extracted on Friday, guided through a narrow flooded passage by an expert diver. The remaining four left the cave on Saturday, after the water receded enough for them to walk out on their own, rescuers said.

The divers had been preparing to help with another extraction when the trapped men apparently saw that the water level dropped and decided to seize the opportunity, Paasi said, adding that he would have done the same had he been in their situation.

He and other people waiting at the cave entrance were taken by surprise, and when they emerged the atmosphere was like a party, he said.

Videos posted online Saturday showed emotional moments as the men emerged one by one from the cave. Some collapsed on the ground at the cave’s entrance, and were hugged by a group of workers who cried in joy. Later moments showed them lying on a stretcher, wrapped in foil blankets and fitted with an oxygen mask before being transported out of the site.

Deputies responded to the 6600 block of Rubilee Avenue, near Smith Road and Old Humble Road, after the call came in around 2:23 a.m.

• MORE NEWS: Police raid targets east Houston strip club after months of complaints

Investigators said they believe around 100 people, ranging from teens to early 20s, were at the party when shots were fired. Most ran off before deputies could question them.

Deputies said they three people had been shot at the scene. One man, who was later identified by the sheriff’s office as Daniel Rangel, 20, was pronounced dead. Two other men, both 19, were taken to a hospital and were expected to survive, according to the sheriff.

Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from an altercation and multiple people fired shots.

Crime Scene Investigators and Homicide Detectives are processing the scene and working to determine what led up to the gunfire.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office homicide unit at (713) 274-9100 or Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS (8477).

U.S. President Donald Trump has been extremely harsh about NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defense.

Japan pushes for unity, saying it strengthens deterrence

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi praised Hegseth for his commitment to the Indo-Pacific, but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.

“Division weakens deterrence, unity strengthens deterrence,” he told the conference, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“If gaps emerge among the United States, Europe, and allies and like-minded countries, forces which take it as an opportunity will surely come in,” he said. “We must prevent such a situation. We must keep our cooperation going on. Now is the time to make our cooperation even stronger.”

Philippines, Japan remain critical of China despite softer US approach

As China has been rapidly expanding and modernizing its military, Japan has been reshaping its own defense policy. Last month, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its postwar pacifist policy.

China criticized the change, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun saying China would “resolutely resist Japan’s reckless moves toward a new type of militarism.”

Koizumi scoffed at that accusation as ironic, coming from China.

“Think about it, there is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers,” he said, speaking in English. "Japan has neither of such weapons, and yet Japan is labeled new militarism. Isn’t it strange?”

He said that transparency comes from “discussion and dialogue” and lamented that China had not sent its defense minister to the conference.

At this year's conference, Hegseth toned down his comments from the previous year on China, when he had warned of rapidly developing threats from Beijing and cautioned it was “actively training” for a possible invasion of Taiwan.

This year's conference came only about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, however, where Hegseth said the two had agreed to “build a constructive relationship of strategic stability.” His comments were met with praise from China’s delegation in Singapore.

On Sunday, Philippines Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr., whose country has clashed repeatedly over competing maritime claims with China, told a small group of reporters that he wasn't concerned with the change in tone from his most important ally.

“The situation with the United States is different than that from the Philippines,” he said. “They can talk to China that way in a position of parity, if not superiority, while the Philippines cannot.”

He added, however, that he had no intention of following suit.

“If China doesn't change its behavior, my tone won't change,” he said.

Australia defends need for rules-based approach to defense

In his speech Saturday, Hegseth applauded many Asian partners for their efforts to step-up defense spending, while reiterating criticism of European allies, who he suggested got “distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order, while European capitals threw open their borders and hollowed out their militaries.”

“You can have all the rules you want and rules are great,” Hegseth said. “But if you can’t back them up with hard power, the rules are not worth the paper they are written on.”

Many NATO countries failed for years to meet alliance defense spending commitments, but since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many dramatically increased military expenditures and plan more in the future.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the conference Sunday, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, said he agreed with Hegseth's point that “the rules based order needs to be underpinned by power,” but at the same time said strong rules were “more important today than they have ever been.”

“We are all committed to a rules based system, because that is actually what gives middle powers like Australia or smaller countries agency,” he said.

He also said alliances remain critical to the region's defense.

“This is a collective challenge and it demands a collective response, which is actually what the rules based order is all about,” he said.

Dutch defense minister pushes for shared response to global conflicts

Netherlands Defense Minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius said the current conflicts have global implications and demand a shared response.

“A war in Europe involves drones from Iran, soldiers and ammunition from North Korea and various types of support from China,” she said. “The lesson is clear: regional tensions are no longer regional. Our security is interconnected.”

She said that if middle powers do not work together, they risk becoming spectators or the “subject of conversations,” but with coalitions they can help preserve stability.

“The fact that international rules are being violated does not mean we should abandon them,” she said.

"On the contrary, it means we must defend them more constantly and more courageously. International law may be imperfect, but history teaches us that the alternative is far worse.”

His latest collection is called “Calados del Alma” or “Cutouts of the Soul.” It draws inspiration from ancient Mexican beliefs and papel picado, the delicate cut-paper ornaments commonly used during local celebrations and holidays.

“We try to create concepts that resonate with us and convey traditions that make Mexicans feel proud,” said Rosas, who has run a workshop with his brother Andrés near Mexico City since 2022. “The country’s best is reflected in papel picado, colors and town celebrations.”

The first jersey sketched by the brothers portrayed Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent deity revered by several pre-Hispanic civilizations. That garment remains Andrés’ favorite to date.

“Quetzalcoatl represents a balance that sees the world as a system, not as something extractive that human beings can simply benefit from,” said Andrés, who oversees the brand’s marketing. “I connect with that pre-Hispanic worldview, which is why most of our products are deeply rooted in that vision.”

Ancient beliefs, modern jerseys

Hugo’s World Cup collection builds on an earlier set of designs he called “Ofrenda Viva,” or “Live Offering.”

Its aesthetics and concept are rooted in Mexico’s Day the Dead — that the living remember and honor their dearly departed with celebration instead of sorrow.

“It’s a garment resembling papel picado so that a person can offer their actions, thoughts and passions as an homage to those who are already gone,” Rosas said.

The jerseys are made of polyester so the fabric can be cut like papel picado without becoming vulnerable to tears or rips. Rosas and his team once experimented with natural fibers, but the material could not withstand the weight and structure required after production.

Designing each jersey can take up to three weeks, while sewing and cutting requires between eight and 10 hours of work.

Rosas’ first step is deciding the symbols he wishes to depict. He then determines the size and shape of each figure so the stitching aligns with his vision. Once a design is ready, the team’s seamstresses patiently cut and sew each piece of clothing.

A modern armor

The Rosas brothers operate on a modest scale and are proud of that approach. They value the care and time devoted to each jersey, keeping the process as artisanal as possible.

Since the World Cup garments went on sale in April, their Mexclart brand has crafted about 30 jerseys. Hugo Rosas expects demand to increase as the opening ceremony approaches.

Among his other collections is one devoted to pre-Hispanic gods. His favorite portrays Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec ruler of the underworld, who is often depicted in skeletal form.

“Putting on a garment like this is like wearing a modern armor through which we can carry that pride and passion for our roots and show it to the world,” Rosas said.

He sometimes turns to books about Mexico’s history while developing his designs. However, the source of inspiration he enjoys the most is traveling to Indigenous communities where ancient ceremonies and customs remain alive.

“If it were up to me, I’d use gold or another material that could accurately represent our gods the way our ancestors did,” he said. “All the garments we create are meant to give Mexicans the chance to bring those deities into the present.”

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

The Oklahoma City guard — the back-to-back NBA Most Valuable Player — was great in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. The San Antonio Spurs were greater. And that meant there won't be a repeat champion in the NBA this year.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points and was his normal brilliant self with an array of mid-range scores, paint attacks, even stepbacks over San Antonio's 7-foot-4 wall named Victor Wembanyama. It wasn't enough and Gilgeous-Alexander made no excuses.

“So many things go into it," Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about the difficulty of winning a championship — and trying to go back-to-back. "Sometimes it’s like things you can’t control, sometimes it’s things you can control. Yeah, it’s a hard task to do one time, so to do it twice will only make it even more challenging.”

The Thunder played all season to have home-court advantage in Game 7 and got it by two games, winning 64 to San Antonio's 62. But the Spurs beat the Thunder four out of five in the regular season, then got four more out of seven in the West finals. And Oklahoma City, to be fair, was not at its best — with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell out with injuries.

“Not to make any excuses, but they’re a really good team over there," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "And losing Ajay and Dub the way we did in the midst of a series, you would think it would be a lot harder for us.”

Oklahoma City looks like a team that is built to contend for years. So, too, do the Spurs. A rivalry seems very much born.

“Yeah, they’re young, they're talented, well-coached," Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Play the right way, play together, seems like they like each other. They have the makeup, for sure. You don’t beat us without the makeup and they beat us. They have the makeup to go get one.”

The Thunder will have some roster decisions to make and have multiple first-round picks to either use to add talent — or perhaps combine in a trade if they want to move up for a chance to draft a specific person.

Those decisions aren't for Gilgeous-Alexander to make. Canada is hoping he'll play a little bit of World Cup qualifying this summer — basketball's next World Cup is in 2027 — and he'll be looking to add to his game, as elite players always do.

“We just have to take it one day at a time from here on out,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Try to get better this summer, be a better team than we were this season — and try to get back over the hump.”

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

Wembanyama left the series with an MVP trophy of his own — and a whole lot more.

The French standout — in just his third season — has led the Spurs to the NBA Finals. The newly crowned Western Conference finals MVP had 22 points in a Game 7 win at Oklahoma City, one that gave San Antonio a chance to play for the NBA title for the first time since 2014. It'll be San Antonio vs. New York in the NBA Finals, starting Wednesday night.

“Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” Wembanyama said, referring to the name of the trophy given to the NBA champions. “And having a real shot at it, having a chance, a tangible chance at winning it and realizing a dream … it’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it’s going to happen again.

“It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life now.”

He averaged 27.3 points and 10.9 rebounds in the series, scoring at least 20 points in every game. He set the tone with a 41-point effort in a Game 1 win, then did a little of everything — dunks, blocks, playing point guard even — to keep control on the way to the Game 7 win. He was the unanimous pick as series MVP, which should be no surprise. He carried that trophy into the locker room after the game, screaming in joy at supporters and teammates.

“You work all these hours, it’s for these type of emotions,” Wembanyama said. “I want to win so bad. It’s like my life depends on it.”

On the night he was drafted, Wembanyama talked about all the things he knew about San Antonio. Breakfast tacos, which he couldn’t wait to try. Spanish, which he said he wanted to learn. The culture, which he said he wanted to embrace.

And, of course, the winning.

“The ring,” Wembanyama said that night.

The ring. The championship ring. Not even three years since leaving France and coming to the U.S., Wembanyama is about to get his first chance to play for it.

“The best player in the world,” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson yelled at no one in particular, but making clear everyone knew who he was talking about.

He didn’t get that NBA MVP trophy. But it wouldn’t be difficult to say Wembanyama indeed is the best player in the world. Or at the very least, will be soon. He might not even be near his prime yet. The Spurs are young and built for the long haul.

Translated: This may just be the start.

“When you step into a game in regular season, you don’t even look at the big picture of the season. You look at what you need to do tonight, what you have to do in the first half, on the first possession,” Wembanyama said. “And when you lay a brick like this every time you get a chance and you lay it perfectly fine, at the end of the day you get a big castle — a beautiful house and we just did. This, it’s just like the entry hall of our castle right here.”

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

While Belarus has not contributed troops to battle, Lukashenko has backed President Vladimir Putin’s war effort by hosting Russia’s nuclear weapons and military infrastructure, as well as producing components for Moscow’s military industries. Earlier this month, the countries held joint drills of nuclear forces involving Russian weapons deployed in Belarus.

Lukashenko, in power for over three decades, has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist, relentlessly cracking down on dissent and relying on its close ties with Russia, as well as subsidies from the Kremlin's coffers, to counteract repeated Western sanctions.

Military cooperation between Moscow and Minsk is increasingly worrying Ukraine’s allies.

Belarus’ role in Ukraine

When Putin began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Russian troops that gathered in Belarus under the guise of drills dashed toward Kyiv, only about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the border.

Putin’s hope of capturing Kyiv quickly was shattered by staunch Ukrainian resistance, and convoys of Russian tanks stretching along narrow roads became easy prey.

A little over a month after the invasion, Russian troops that suffered heavy losses and struggled to maintain their supply lines pulled back from Kyiv and other areas they captured in northeastern Ukraine in what the Kremlin cast as a “goodwill gesture.”

When Moscow tried to negotiate a quick end to the conflict weeks after its start, Belarus hosted the first talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations. The talks moved to Istanbul but failed to produce a deal.

As the conflict became a war of attrition, Belarus has played a key role in supporting Moscow’s war effort. Belarusian plants have produced important components, including microchips and other electronics, optical guidance systems, artillery munitions and heavy trucks that carry Russian ballistic missiles.

Ukraine’s presidential envoy on sanctions policy, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said fragments of an Oreshnik ballistic missile that Russia fired at Ukraine on May 24 contained microchips from Belarus. He urged Western allies to tighten sanctions enforcement against Belarus.

Belarus also provided training grounds for Moscow's troops, hosted joint drills and offered its hospitals to treat wounded Russian soldiers.

BELPOL, a group of former military and law enforcement officers who oppose Lukashenko, said the Belarusian industries have effectively been integrated into the Kremlin’s war machine. It says that over 500 Belarusian industrial plants are involved in manufacturing weapons and ammunition, repairing military equipment and providing logistics.

“Lukashenko’s regime is quite seriously involved in the war,” BELPOL head Uladzimir Zhyhar told The Associated Press. “Lukashenko is helping Russia in every way he can.”

In the Gomel region that borders Ukraine, construction has begun of a big firing range and barracks for large numbers of troops, Zhyhar said. Ukraine has been forced to maintain many forces at the border with Belarus, he added, keeping them from fighting Russian troops along the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

Under Russia's nuclear umbrella

Belarus, which also borders NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, has hosted some of Russia's tactical nuclear weapons. In December, Russia announced that its latest intermediate range nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system entered service in Belarus.

Russia has used a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik to strike facilities in Ukraine three times — in November 2024 and then again in January and earlier this month.

In 2024, the Kremlin revised its nuclear doctrine, placing Belarus under the Russian nuclear umbrella. Putin has said that Moscow will retain control of its nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus but would allow its ally to select the targets in case of conflict.

Earlier this month, Russia and Belarus held massive drills that included the delivery of nuclear warheads to missile units and launch preparations. As part of the exercise, a Belarusian missile crew test-fired a nuclear-capable Iskander missile from a range in southern Russia.

“Belarus lacks military sovereignty, and as soon as Moscow sees it as necessary for its strategy, Moscow will naturally use Belarus as a launchpad for a new invasion of Ukraine or some kind of armed conflict with NATO countries,” Zhyhar said, noting that Belarus offers a “very convenient springboard” for such an invasion.

Zelenskyy warns of an attack from Belarus

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his intelligence services had learned Moscow recently stepped-up efforts to “draw Belarus much deeper into the war and launch additional aggressive operations precisely from Belarusian territory." He said the target could be along the Chernihiv-Kyiv area or against a NATO country bordering Belarus.

Zelenskyy said he ordered the military and security agencies to prepare a response and strengthen northern defenses.

Lukashenko has denied any aggressive plans, declaring Belarus will not enter the conflict unless attacked.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia's former defense minister and now secretary of its Security Council, also rejected Zelenskyy’s claim, describing it as a scare tactic to attract more Western aid for Kyiv.

But in a sign of growing Western concern, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Lukashenko on May 24 to underscore the risks for Belarus of being dragged into the war, their first call since the invasion began. Lukashenko said that next week he will host a French envoy for talks on European security and prospects of easing EU sanctions.

Andrii Demchenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Border Guard Service, said last week that while intelligence data indicate that Russia has increasingly pressured Belarus to directly enter the war, Ukrainian forces haven’t yet spotted any buildup of troops and weapons near the border.

Belarus’ opposition leader-in-exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, visited Kyiv last week and emphasized that “Belarus must never again become a springboard for aggression.”

“Russian tanks must never again march through Belarus to Chernihiv, Zhitomir, Rivne, or Kyiv,” Tsikhanouskaya told AP. “Ukraine is fighting for itself and for all the peoples who have lived in the shadow of empire for too long. It is fighting for the right to live in peace. And the fate of my country, Belarus, also depends on Ukraine’s success.”

According to official data, Belarus' armed forces have 48,600 troops, a tiny force compared with Russia's 1.5 million. In case of war, Belarus is prepared to mobilize 290,000, but they would need weapons and training to become combat-ready.

“The Belarusian army is unfit for offensive action,” said Alexander Alesin, a Minsk-based military analyst. “An attack from Belarus would require ... mobilizing up to 500,000 troops."

That would mean taking all the men from the national economy and then finding arms for them, he said, adding: "I consider this option unlikely.”

Ukraine has built heavy fortifications on the border with Belarus and planted mines that would easily stymie any attempted incursion, he said.

“Even with a small force, the Ukrainians can easily defend themselves and inflict heavy losses on the Belarusian army,” Alesin said. “From a military perspective, it’s impossible to launch an attack from Belarusian territory without suffering heavy losses.”

Lukashenko is comfortable with Belarus’ position as a key supplier of military equipment and would strongly oppose direct involvement in the war, he added.

“The last thing Lukashenko wants is to fight, and he’ll cling to his current position at any cost, so he can avoid fighting while profiting handsomely from the war,” Alesin said.

Voters are looking for a replacement for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and their decision will help determine the future of a state government that is a testing ground for progressive ideas and a punching bag for Republican President Donald Trump. California is not only the nation's most populous state, it has one of the world's largest economies and is home to Hollywood tastemakers, Silicon Valley disrupters and Central Valley farmers.

The race was upended in April when Rep. Eric Swalwell, who had been consolidating support among establishment Democrats, was accused of sexual assault and dropped out.

California eliminated partisan primaries in 2010 in favor of a “ jungle primary.” All voters will get the full list of candidates, and the top two finishers will advance to the general election regardless of party.

Two polls conducted in mid-to-late May suggested that Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton each have the support of about 2 in 10 likely voters. In one of the polls, Democrat Tom Steyer landed closer to Becerra and Hilton, with Republican Chad Bianco and Democrat Katie Porter trailing further behind, but similar shares of voters were supporting Steyer, Bianco and Porter in the other poll. None of the other candidates were polling in double digits in either poll.

Among the 61 names on the ballot, money and attention have accumulated around a handful of candidates with track records in politics. Here's a look at those top contenders.

Xavier Becerra, Democrat

Becerra has a 35-year history in California and national politics. He was a member of Democratic leadership in the U.S. House when then-Gov. Jerry Brown picked him to be California attorney general after Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. He used that perch to aggressively fight Trump and his agenda in court during the president’s first term.

He later served in President Joe Biden’s cabinet as secretary of Health and Human Services.

That experience is at the core of his pitch to voters as a steady hand to guide California and stand up to Trump. It has also invited scrutiny.

Some Biden administration alumni have disparaged his record as health secretary, and he has faced persistent questions since a former top aide was convicted of stealing his campaign funds.

After Swalwell dropped out, Becerra consolidated support from many of California’s Democratic power players, including major labor unions, Planned Parenthood and the LGBTQ rights group Equality California.

Steve Hilton, Republican

Trump’s endorsement gives Hilton a leg up with Republicans and perhaps the clearest path of any of the candidates into the general election. But it could be a liability in November in a state that voted overwhelmingly against the Republican president. Hilton largely avoided mentioning Trump unless prompted during a series of debates.

Hilton is a conservative commentator and former Fox New host. Originally from England, he advised former British Prime Minister David Cameron.

In a nod to the dominance of Democrats in California, he is urging voters to elect a Republican as a check on the majority in Sacramento. In contrast with Bianco’s focus on cultural issues, Hilton’s message is tied more closely with the traditional Republican focus on lower taxes and smaller government. He has pledged to make people's first $100,000 of income tax free and to dramatically lower gas prices.

Tom Steyer, Democrat

The billionaire founder of a San Francisco-based hedge fund, Steyer — or his face, at least — is everywhere ahead of the primary. His record-breaking spending, mostly from his personal fortune, has made his advertising inescapable. That has helped him become one of the race’s frontrunners.

Steyer, who has never held elected office, first made a name for himself as a donor to Democratic politicians and groups committed to fighting climate change. He bankrolled a campaign calling for Trump's impeachment during his first term, and he later financed his own campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination but dropped out after a disappointing showing in early-state primaries and caucuses.

Steyer is running as a progressive populist, railing against the political power wielded by special interests and corporations. His message has endeared him to unlikely allies for a billionaire financier, including the Bernie Sanders-aligned group Our Revolution.

Matt Mahan, Democrat

As mayor of San Jose, Mahan is a moderate Democrat rooted in the pro-innovation ethos of Silicon Valley. His business-friendly pitch and his own background as an entrepreneur have made him a favorite with some in the tech world.

Mahan says California should get “back to basics,” emphasizing technocratic problem solving over factional skirmishes. He entered the race late as an outsider to Sacramento leadership, building a statewide profile mainly by criticizing Newsom and the Legislature’s response to homelessness and crime.

His backing from tech executives — and their millions of dollars — has been controversial in some corners of the party, particularly among labor unions and populists worried Silicon Valley elites wield too much power.

Still, he has struggled to consolidate support on the pro-business left, and even some of his benefactors are hedging their bets. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale also gave to Republican Steve Hilton.

Katie Porter, Democrat

Once a college professor, Porter made a name for herself with a whiteboard and simple policy messages during three terms representing Orange County in Congress. Her verbal sparring with business executives testifying on Capitol Hill went viral.

Porter is leaning on her populist, anti-corporate background, arguing that she can fight on behalf of normal Californians against powerful interests. Before running for office, she was California’s independent monitor of banks in the national mortgage settlement following the 2008 financial crisis.

Her grasp of policy has helped her amass support from newspaper editorial boards. But she has battled an image as a mercurial leader. Leaked videos showed her berating an aide who could be seen behind her in a Zoom video and threatening to walk out of a television interview. She has apologized and pledged to treat people more respectfully.

Porter ran for Senate in 2024, but she failed to make it through the primary.

Antonio Villaraigosa, Democrat

The former mayor of Los Angeles and speaker of the state Assembly has struggled to gain traction after more than a decade out of public office.

A one-time union organizer, Villaraigosa was the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles in more than a century, a role he filled from 2005 to 2013.

Villaraigosa is pitching his experience in LA and the state Capitol, running as a pragmatic, centrist problem solver in an implicit contrast with his Democratic rivals emphasizing their commitment to a progressive ideology.

Villaraigosa’s roots are in the Southern California political ecosystem, which would be a contrast after four terms of Brown and Newsom, both governors from the San Francisco Bay Area.

He ran for governor in 2018 but finished third in the primary.

Chad Bianco, Republican

Bianco is the sheriff of Riverside County and is emphasizing his three-decade career in law enforcement, pledging to tackle crime and homelessness.

A staunch Trump supporter, Bianco stoked national notoriety when his office seized 1,000 boxes of election material including more than a half million ballots from a 2025 special election on redistricting. He says it is part of a legitimate criminal investigation, but critics see it as a nod to discredited conspiracy theories that have motivated Trump’s base. The state Supreme Court in April ordered him to halt the probe.

The seizure put him at odds with California's Democratic attorney general and raised his profile among Republicans.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ’s Prosperity Party currently holds more than 500 seats in the House of Representatives and is expected to win a majority in this election, securing him another five-year term.

Some 50 million people, out of a population of 130 million Ethiopians, are expected to vote for members of the House of Representatives, but insecurity in the most populous regions, including Amhara and Oromia, is expected to affect turnout.

Ethiopia’s electoral system allows voters to select their representatives, who then vote for a prime minister. Ethiopians will also vote for members of their local regional government councils.

This year’s election themes include national reconciliation due to the fighting seen in regions such as Tigray, Oromia, and Amhara, and there is also a development theme as the government pledges to undertake major projects.

Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who helped facilitate the Tigray peace talks, is leading 73 observers from the African Union.

Arriving in Ethiopia on Saturday, Kenyatta emphasized the importance of Ethiopia’s elections for the continent, as the country hosts the African Union headquarters. “Ours is to call for peaceful situation as Ethiopians are known for,” he said.

Abiy’s administration has been accused of human rights violations against critics and journalists despite the promise of democracy and peace he made in 2020.

During his tenure, Ethiopia has been through the Tigray war in the north of the country, where hundreds of thousands of people died as the federal security forces clashed with the regional forces. A peace deal was signed in November 2022.

Abiy won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for solving a long-standing conflict between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea, though the two countries are currently at loggerheads, with Addis Ababa accusing Asmara of supporting rebel groups to destabilize it.

There are fears that the situation could escalate and drag the volatile Tigray region into a proxy war, even as relief agencies warn of a dire humanitarian situation on the ground.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front — the dominant political party in Ethiopia’s far northern region of Tigray — has been outlawed as the party maintains control of the regional government and threatens to cancel the 2022 peace agreement, which the federal government sees as an attempt to trigger another conflict.

For the second time, the region will not take part in the national election, denying it a federal voice in Ethiopia’s 547-seat parliament and further pushing it to the margins amid escalating famine and conflict, combined with the alleged denial of resources by the central government.

Tigray has been excluded from federal representation for the last six years.

This election is likely to be fair due to the “technological advancements in the electoral process” and increased public awareness, according to Bayu Samuel, an Addis Ababa-based political analyst.

Some opposition parties have, however, decried the ruling party’s unfair advantage.

The electoral process is “far from genuine and democratic,” says Mistresilasie Tamerat, the youngest candidate and head of the opposition Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party.

“The system favors the ruling party, and we can’t even freely operate (or) meet with our constituents,” she said.

Eyoel Solomon, a spokesperson for the main opposition Ezema party, said it is dedicated to ending ethnic-based politics.

“We have seen citizens being attacked because of their identity. We have seen them being persecuted simply for living in areas deemed by others not to be ‘theirs’,” he said.

With much of the campaigning taking place in Addis Ababa, there has been a heavy military presence in the metropolis in recent days.

The vote has dominated local conversation across the city, even though campaigning has been unusually quiet, with fewer rallies and little door-to-door outreach.

The electoral body has declared Monday a national holiday, with government offices closed to encourage citizens to vote.

Former U.S. health secretary Xavier Becerra has called for “hot competence summer" in his bid for governor, promoting his decades of public service as evidence he has what it takes to lead the nation’s most populous state.

Republican Steve Hilton pledged an end to a “bloated, nanny-state bureaucracy” during remarks outside the state Capitol on Wednesday.

Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer told reporters this week in Berkeley, California, that he has made it his life's work to advance progressive causes, a mission he'll bring to Sacramento.

They are seeking to stand out in a field of roughly 60 names on a single gubernatorial ballot, regardless of party, under California’s top-two primary system. The two candidates who receive the most votes Tuesday will face off in the general election to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who can’t seek a third term.

The crowded race includes Democrats Becerra, Steyer, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, and Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose. Hilton, a former Fox News host backed by President Donald Trump, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the most prominent Republicans in the race.

As of Friday afternoon, 13% of voters had cast their ballots. That included 13% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans, according to a tracker by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell. The breakdown is unusual because Democrats in recent years have tended to vote early while many Republicans wait until Election Day.

Some Democrats have been waiting to cast their ballots to see if a candidate breaks away from the pack in the final days, or because they are unimpressed with the crowded field.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass is vying for reelection against critics who question her leadership of the nation’s second-largest city, and had several stops planned Saturday to try and pull ahead of her competitors.

Those include Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican who gained a name on the reality TV show “The Hills," and Nithya Raman, a progressive city councilmember. The race is officially nonpartisan.

Candidates for governor make their final pitch

The contenders have been traveling across the state that includes roughly 23 million registered voters as they seek an edge over rivals. Becerra, Hilton, Steyer and Bianco will all be in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend. Fresno and Los Angeles have also been popular campaign stops.

Becerra has been highlighting the more than 35 years he's spent in state and federal office.

“This is not a place for on-the-job training,” he said on a podcast hosted by political commentator Ana Navarro. “You better know what you’re doing.”

He’ll hit a text-banking event with Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta in San Francisco and rally with the Service Employees International Union in San Jose.

Hilton has been selling himself as someone who would bring a fresh set of eyes to state government, reduce regulations, and bring down housing and energy costs. In a social media video posted Saturday night, Hilton warned Republican votes to unite behind him or risk a “doomsday scenario” of losing a spot in the general election. He urged Bianco to suspend his campaign in the race's final days.

“If we don't get together as a party, if we don't unite, then we could have Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra in the general election and that is a disaster for California — it means no change,” Hilton said.

He's pushed a message he has said is not ideological but commonsense, with a focus on cutting prices. Hilton held a town hall Silicon Valley on Saturday night. Hilton has been cautious not to emphasize Trump’s endorsement. If he advances to the November election, he will need to appeal to voters outside his party to win in the Democrat-dominated state that hasn’t had a Republican governor since 2011.

Steyer is a billionaire who, on X Saturday, said he's the “only candidate who would support the billionaire tax in November." The candidate has framed the race as a contest between three candidates: himself, Hilton and Becerra. Steyer has described Hilton as “a hard-right Republican who’s endorsed by Donald Trump.”

Steyer on Saturday focused several social media posts on Becerra, repeating an argument he recently told a crowd of supporters at a sports bar in Berkeley. Becerra, “to my surprise, is a corporate Democrat," he said, referencing Becerra's acceptance of campaign contributions from Chevron.

“And the third person’s me,” he said. “And I am running because Californians can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Steyer’s headed to a campaign rally Saturday in San Francisco to put a finer point on his message to voters.

Mahan, meanwhile, mingled with voters in Los Angeles, Porter motivated campaign volunteers in Orange County, and Bianco will laid out his vision at a church in San Jose. He didn't immediately respond to Hilton's social media plea for him to exit the race.

“Knock loud, be proud," Porter urged her supporters as they set out to encourage voters to turn in their ballots.

Los Angeles' mayoral candidates jostle to get the final words in

Bass is pursuing her second term after a tumultuous first, which included devastating wildfires and a rebuilding process that critics say is too slow.

The mayor has focused her reelection on the progress that has been made, such a decrease in street homelessness, which she leaned into on a livestream on Instagram Saturday before going after her opponent, Pratt.

“You have a failed reality TV star who wants to be famous,” she told two actresses on the livestream, before seemingly referencing President Donald Trump. “We know what it means if you put somebody who is a reality TV star in a seat of power.”

Pratt, who loss of his home in the wildfires became central to his campaign against Bass, is running a buzzy, social media driven campaign with populist messaging with promises to rid the city of disorder and dysfunction. On Saturday on X, Pratt threw out a few attacks at Raman, the city councilwoman, who both Pratt and Bass have, in different ways, tried to paint as too progressive.

Raman's campaign is partly focused on affordability and infrastructure. Both Raman and Pratt have attacked Bass for her response to the wildfires, though their recent posts have been directed at each other.

In a video posted to Instagram Saturday, Raman cited a recent poll. “After millions of dollars of spending against us, we are still here and we are still competitive," she said, before asking people to vote ahead of Tuesday.

A November runoff appears likely because there are more than a dozen names on the ballot.

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Associated Press journalist Terry Chea in Berkeley, California, contributed to this report.

The champions are dethroned. Wembanyama and the Spurs are headed to the NBA Finals.

Wembanyama scored 22 points, Julian Champagnie got 18 of his 20 off of 3-pointers and the Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 on Saturday night — bucking heavy odds to win a Game 7 on the road.

“This feeling, I can't explain it,” Wembanyama said. “It's so powerful.”

Stephon Castle scored 16 points and De’Aaron Fox had 15. Dylan Harper added 12 and Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell each finished with 11 for the Spurs, who are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014.

They will host the New York Knicks in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

“Back in October, we knew we had a chance to be pretty good,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.

Correction — the Spurs have a chance to be great. Championship-level great.

A huge moment came midway through the fourth, when San Antonio’s Luke Kornet blocked Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein at the rim — denying a fast-break score that would have gotten the Thunder within four.

It felt like the last gasp for the Thunder. Kornet played six minutes, missed all three of his shot attempts and finished with only two points, but the block was an epic moment.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 35 points and nine assists, but for the eighth consecutive season the NBA will have a new champion. Cason Wallace scored 17 points, while Jared McCain and Alex Caruso had 12 apiece for the Thunder.

“You have to grow from every experience, including the tough ones,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “And it's the NBA — there are tough ones. We can also be really disappointed. ... There's nobody that we don't think we can beat, respectfully.”

After four straight games that were largely decided going into the fourth quarter — the Thunder led Game 3 by 11, the Spurs led Game 4 by 18, the Thunder led Game 5 by 10 and the Spurs led Game 6 by 26, those leads all holding up with relative ease — this one was different, worthy of a Game 7.

Spurs 80, Thunder 77 was the score going into the fourth, a bit of a back-and-forth contest where the Spurs led by as many as 14 in the first half and then by as many as 11 in the third, only to see the Thunder come roaring back both times.

“The players did what they've been doing all year and they met the biggest moment,” Johnson said.

The Spurs pulled away in the fourth again, daring the Thunder to try to come back one more time. The champions — short-handed, with Jalen Williams sidelined with a bad hamstring — just didn't have anything left.

“Winning an NBA championship is very hard in itself to do one time," Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So to do it all over again would just only make it harder.”

San Antonio won eight of the 12 meetings against the Thunder this season — and in the end, the only matchup that really mattered.

“We want four more,” Wembanyama said. “We're not done.”

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

Lemieux died of suicide at age 60 on Thursday, according to authorities, after earlier in the week serving as the Montreal Canadiens' torchbearer prior to a playoff game. He played nearly 1,500 NHL games with six teams from 1983-2009 and was known for his hard-hitting style and ability to perform in big games on the way to winning the Stanley Cup four times.

The family said it gave the CTE Center permission to publicly share any findings with Lemieux's name, adding that no conclusions should be drawn regarding any diagnosis.

“Claude dedicated his post-playing career to helping the next generation,” the family said, referring to Lemieux becoming an agent. “By allowing his name to be connected to this research, we hope his life can contribute to greater understanding, more honest conversations and better protection for athletes and families in the years ahead.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

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

Fans began celebrating in Paris after the final whistle earlier in the evening in Budapest, Hungary, where PSG won by beating Arsenal on penalties in a dramatic final.

Fans marched along the avenues near the Arc de Triomphe, with some setting off flares and blaring car horns. Around 20,000 people gathered on the Champs-Elysees, with police working to contain the crowd.

The Paris police prefecture said smaller groups caused disturbances in various locations, with some vandalizing shops and setting fires. Cars were also set ablaze. One police officer was injured. Those who attempted to storm a police station in the posh 8th Arrondissement neighborhood were dispersed, police said.

It said that by 10 p.m., 45 people were taken into custody.

The main ring road surrounding Paris was briefly blockaded by a crowd before police dispersed it. Police also said one bakery and a restaurant were damaged.

Officers also contained about 1,000 people gathered near the PSG stadium in the 16th Arrondissement and cleared barricades made from bicycles.

In May last year following PSG’s first title, when 201 people were injured in the French capital and police made more than 500 arrests across France, Paris was on high alert, with 8,000 police officers deployed across the city.

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

The family wedding will go forward Sunday in South Carolina, but it also will be a time to mourn the loss of Dmitri and Ecaterina Doncev and their two children, Emily and Mark, a relative said Saturday.

“A son, a father — the whole family — everyone that has been dear to us,” Carolina Bublik said.

The Doncevs were killed when a motorcoach caused a chain-reaction crash with vehicles that had slowed down for a work zone on Interstate 95 in Stafford County around 2:35 a.m. Friday, authorities said.

The bus struck a Suburban, which then hit an Acura carrying the Doncev family, police said. Priscilla Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was in the Chevrolet SUV and also died.

More people were treated for injuries, including one who was in critical condition, though most were discharged, Mary Washington Healthcare said.

The bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, of Staten Island, New York, was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and additional charges were likely, Virginia State Police said. The prosecutor's office in Stafford County said Dong was arrested and would be in custody while he is treated for his injuries at a hospital.

Prosecutors said in a statement that Dong's first court appearance will not be scheduled until he is discharged but a magistrate approved holding him without bond until that time. It also said prosecutors saw enough probable cause to believe Dong was “driving in a criminally negligent manner.”

It was unclear whether Dong has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The case did not yet appear in the state's online court records, and a call to the area's public defender went unanswered at a closed office Saturday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, a monthslong task separate from the work of state police. NTSB board member Tom Chapman revealed few new details but said the bus was moving at a high rate of speed.

“It seems fairly clear that if there was any braking there wasn’t much, because of the speed and severity of the collision,” Chapman said.

The bus, which was taking people from New York to North Carolina, was operated by E&P Travel Inc., based in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.

Chapman said the driver's language proficiency would be part of the NTSB investigation. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, citing police, said on social media that Dong, a native of China, does not speak English.

Dmitri Doncev, 45, was a nurse who worked at Holyoke Medical Center. Ecaterina Doncev, 44, was a hairstylist who spent days making desserts for the family wedding, Bublik said.

They emigrated to the U.S. from Moldova in 2008 and settled in Greenfield, Massachusetts, she said.

Dmitri and brother Iuri tried to stay together while traveling in separate vehicles to South Carolina.

“At some point they ended up getting separated,” Bublik said. “Dmitri said, ‘You go ahead. I’ll catch up later.' It was a big shock when Iuri arrived at the house. Dmitri should have arrived around the same time. When his car did not show up, and he wasn't picking up the phone — that’s when the family started panicking.”

Williams has been dealing with a strained left hamstring for much of the playoffs. Mitchell has a strained right soleus.

Williams missed 49 of Oklahoma City's 82 regular-season games with wrist and hamstring issues, and Saturday will be the 10th playoff game he's missed this year with new hamstring problems. He played in five, including about 10 minutes in Thursday's Game 6 loss to the Spurs.

Mitchell had been the starter that replaces Williams in the lineup, until he too got hurt. Oklahoma City has been starting Jared McCain in that spot since, alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren. They went to Cason Wallace as the starter for Game 7, with McCain off the bench.

The Spurs reported no injuries going into Game 7.

Marc Davis, John Goble and Josh Tiven were selected by the NBA as the referees for Game 7 of Spurs-Thunder. It's the second Game 7 in these playoffs for Davis and Tiven; Davis worked the final game of the Cleveland-Detroit series in Round 2, and Tiven had Game 7 of Orlando-Detroit in Round 1.

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

“Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe,” Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security called claims of inhumane conditions at the facility “categorically false.”

“Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE,” the agency spokesperson said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

Filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel, the federal lawsuit comes less than a year after the opening of the sprawling tent camp.

In that time, the facility has seen at least three detainee deaths, including a homicide, a nearly monthlong measles outbreak and nearly 50 detention standards violations as reported by ICE’s own inspectors, prompting calls for the camp’s closure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.

The civil rights groups behind the lawsuit also alleged in a December letter that detained immigrants were subject to medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, insufficient food and denial of meaningful access to attorneys. In March, ICE switched out the facility’s prime operator for a more experienced contractor, saying the agency would “work closely with them” to improve services, including higher standards of medical care. Still, in a subsequent letter to ICE dated May 22, the groups said the situation “continued to deteriorate” and outlined additional complaints such as hazardous dust exposure.

Friday’s lawsuit argues that conditions at the facility are “unconstitutional punishment” and violate detainees’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. 

“These conditions are longstanding, pervasive, and well documented, and Defendants’ continued inaction in the face of known risks shows their deliberate indifference — not mere negligence — to detainees’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.

DHS broadly denied or downplayed these allegations, reiterating its common refrains that ICE has provided the best healthcare many immigrants “have received in their entire lives” and that the federal agency has “higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.” The department spokesperson also said “no detainees are being beaten or abused” and all are given three meals a day that are evaluated by dietitians.

The petition, filed on behalf of four detainees, is also seeking approval to proceed as a class action to cover all those who are currently or will be detained in Camp East Montana.

One of the plaintiffs is Gerald Akari Angye, a detained immigrant who called the conditions at the camp “inhumane and cruel.”

Prior to this lawsuit, the 35-year-old man had filed a petition in January seeking release from ICE detention. According to the filing, Angye was a high school teacher in Cameroon but fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict. He sought asylum after crossing through a New Mexico port of entry in December 2024. An immigration judge later denied his application, and Angye appealed.

In a statement provided by the civil rights groups, Angye said he had been beaten at Camp East Montana and never thought he would face “such severely violent treatments” in the United States. He was also placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, according to the lawsuit.

“No one deserves such cruel treatment,” he said. “We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it.”

U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a statement to the Tribune that she is grateful for the legal fight. A leading critic of Camp East Montana, the El Paso Democrat called the facility “a purgatory for human beings held there.” She also vowed to continue her oversight visits and demand for the tent camp’s permanent closure.

Camp East Montana, first opened in August 2025, is located on Fort Bliss U.S. Army base.

Expected to ultimately reach a 5,000-bed capacity, the camp had a daily average of more than 2,500 detainees as of April 2, according to the most recent public data from ICE. The facility has also held the largest number of detained immigrants thus far in fiscal year 2026, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found.

“Camp East Montana is at the epicenter of the administration’s cruel deportation agenda,” Savannah Kumar, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement. 

Disclosure: ACLU Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump fumed about the Friday decision from U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper who also ordered Trump’s name removed from the center. Clearly angered by his latest legal setback, he said it was “impossible for me to be treated fairly,” tying Cooper's ruling to earlier losses, including the Supreme Court’s rejection in February of his sweeping tariffs.

His post aimed to make the case for the project even as he says he's giving up on it. Hours after Cooper's decision, Trump said he was backing away from the renovations and making arrangements to relinquish control to Congress of what, until the Republican president's second term, had been known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In another post on Saturday, Trump invoked the Kennedy Center episode as he addressed a spate of musicians backing out of a celebration for the country's 250th anniversary.

"Cancel it,” Trump wrote, “just like I canceled my involvement with the failing and unsafe to be in Kennedy Center, because a Highly Conflicted, Crooked Federal Judge, said that I should not be allowed to spend my time and money in order to MAKE THE CENTER GREAT AGAIN.”

The White House did not immediately say whether Trump would keep serving as the center’s board chairman.

Trump's signal that he's retreating from the center gave hope to artists who had been alienated by his takeover, said Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics lawyer who is involved in a lawsuit challenging Trump's Kennedy Center plans.

“I have already heard from artists and from audience members alike who are excited about the Kennedy Center returning to non-partisan normality,” Eisen told The Associated Press in a text message on Saturday. “It’s early days yet but as and when the court’s order is implemented, including Trump’s name coming off the building and the Board otherwise complying with the law, I’m optimistic that the Center will begin the long journey back.”

Trump cites judge's wife

Without offering evidence, Trump suggested that Cooper’s wife, lawyer Amy Jeffress, was to blame in part for the ruling. The president noted that Jeffress, a partner at the Hecker Fink law firm, is a former federal prosecutor who served as a counselor to Attorney General Eric Holder during the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama. Cooper was nominated for the bench by Obama.

Trump also noted that Hecker Fink is representing former President Joe Biden in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from the Democrat's interviews with a ghostwriter that were obtained in an investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents from his time as a senator and as vice president.

Trump asserted that the Kennedy Center, named for the late Democratic president and opened in 1971, was “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and that the ”new Building would have been incomparable."

Cooper said in his ruling that the center board’s March 16 vote to close the venue was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years. Cooper’s ruling halts those plans for now.

The judge also found that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, he said. Cooper ordered that Trump’s name be removed within two weeks.

President defends adding name to the center

Trump on Saturday said it was the board, not him, that added the Trump name to the center. "They thought it would be good for this dying Institution,” he wrote.

Shortly after returning to office in January 2025, he ousted the center’s previous leadership and replaced it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.

Cooper held hearings in late April for parallel lawsuits challenging the project. One lawsuit was filed by a group of cultural and historic preservation organizations. The other was brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who serves as an ex officio member of the board through her position in Congress. He ruled in favor of Beatty’s request but rejected the other challenge.

Trump, in his post, also noted that Jeffress' firm represented E. Jean Carroll, the longtime advice columnist whose claims against Trump won her a $5 million award in 2023 for sexual abuse and defamation after a jury agreed that Trump sexually abused her in a New York department store dressing room in 1996. Another jury in 2024 awarded Carroll an additional $83 million for defamation. Both awards are under appeal.

Jeffress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

Cole birdied four of his first eight holes on way to a 7-under 63 on Saturday in third round at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. His only bogey was sandwiched by birdies on the back nine.

By matching the best round of the tournament, Cole got to 12-under 198 and one stroke ahead of Ryan Gerard, who finished his round of 68 with back-to-back birdies. Mac Meissner (67) and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun (68) were two strokes back. Spaun birdied with a blast out of a greenside bunker at the 428-yard 15th hole after bogeys on two of his previous three holes.

Hogan’s Alley firmed up in the heat of a 90-degree day after rain earlier in the week, and it is expected to be even warmer Sunday. The scoring average for the third round was 71.2, after being under par each of the first two days.

“I kind of knew going into it that it was going to be a harder course, firmer conditions,” Cole said. “Getting off to that start and realizing how much harder the course was today was great.”

PGA Tour rookie Jordan Smith, who entered the day leading at 10 under with a one-stroke lead, had four bogeys without a birdie in a round of 4-over 74 to drop to a tie for 19th place. He had three consecutive bogeys at Nos. 5 through 7 after only one bogey in his first 40 holes before that.

This is the 120th PGA start for the 37-year-old Cole, whose parents were both former professional players. His mother, Laura Baugh, was the LPGA’s rookie of the year in 1973 and had 70 top-10 finishes over a 25-year LPGA career. Bobby Cole, from South Africa, won once on the PGA Tour.

Cole, who will be going for a win on his mother’s 71st birthday Sunday, last played in the final group in the final round at the 2025 Sony Open, when he finished fifth. His PGA Tour debut was in 2021.

“It’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow. I know that from my experience,” Cole said. “I know that it’s going to be difficult, but that’s why I practice really hard and that’s why I try and do everything the way I do so that I could be as prepared for whatever tomorrow brings.”

His chip-in from 27 feet off edge of the green at the 196-yard par-3 16th came after the bogey at the par-4 15th. He birdied the 439-yard 14th hole after an approach shot inside 5 feet.

Cole went into Saturday tied for 25th and five strokes off the lead.

Gerard had three bogeys and three birdies until his impressive finish. After a tap-in birdie at the 399-yard 17th, he hit his approach to 6 feet at the 424-yard closing hole while playing in the final threesome of the day.

“Felt like I was just kind of grinding it out pretty hard all day. Felt really confident with how I’ve been playing, I just didn’t feel like I was hitting it as close as yesterday and wasn’t leaving my ball in the greatest spots,” Gerard said. “So it’s one of those, every shot really matters, any time you get a chance to capitalize on an opportunity you’ve got to take advantage of it.

Meissner, 27, who lives in Dallas and played at SMU, had five birdies through 11 holes. He missed an opportunity to go lower with two bogeys on the back nine.

“There was a lot of positives. I like how I drove it on the front nine, I gave myself a lot of opportunities, a lot of birdie opportunities,” Meissner said. “The goal tomorrow for sure will just be to try and get the ball in the fairway a little bit more. It’s difficult out here.”

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

“I’m so sorry to disappoint the folks who have purchased tickets to my shows, but I have decided to take the rest of the year off from touring to focus on my health,” the 92-year-old singer wrote on social media Friday.

Valli, the frontman and only original member still performing with the Four Seasons, launched an extended farewell tour billed “The Last Encores” in October 2023. Shows scheduled for April of this year were rescheduled to dates in summer and fall. Now, all eight performances remaining for 2026 in cities from Scottsdale, Arizona, to Detroit have been called off entirely.

The Four Seasons found fame in the 1960s, but the band’s hits –- from “Sherry” to “December 1963 (Oh What a Night)” –- span decades. The Four Seasons sold 100 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Valli, who also established a successful solo career, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026.

Known for keeping a rigorous touring schedule even as he has aged, Valli appeared to leave the door open for future performances.

“I’m looking forward to getting healthy and seeing you all again soon,” Valli concluded his Friday message.

“I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance,” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing “the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate 'Artists.'”

The group organizing the June fair on Washington's National Mall, Freedom 250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, “we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24.”

Trump's social media post twice referenced him holding a rally “Wednesday," without a specific date. The White House did not immediately clarify the discrepancy.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, emphasized the broader fair that is scheduled from June 25 through July 10 includes an array of exhibits, family friendly attractions, musical performances, flyovers and more.

Trump was dismissive of the acts that backed out, suggesting in a follow-up post that the solution is to “Cancel it.”

“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” Trump said on social media.

Freedom 250 is billed as nonpartisan, but was launched last year by Trump and is led by a former State Department appointee from Trump's first term. Several artists, including Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride dropped out last week.

Michaels and other artists have said that they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight. McBride, in a statement on Instagram, said she had been “presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.”

Other artists plan to attend, including Flo Rida, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice. The latter's representative previously said that the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper was “proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!”

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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

“I personally have been inside that tank and near that tank many times,” said Wilson, who has lived in Longview for 56 years. “I can assure you that we all know somebody there. … The casualties are our friends and neighbors.”

The tank, which contained more than 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of a mixture used to break down wood for making paper, collapsed Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. The rupture expelled a flood of caustic chemicals powerful enough to overturn pickup trucks and damage buildings at the site.

The chemical disaster, one of the deadliest U.S. workplace accidents in recent decades, has struck at the heart of a community where generations of families have worked in local mills. Authorities announced Saturday that they recovered and identified the last of the victims from the site.

Longview itself was founded by a timber baron to support the first mills established there, and over its roughly century-long history, residents’ lives have become intertwined with the lumber and paper industries.

Supporting victims and worrying about the future

Amid immediate concern about supporting grieving families, there is also worry about what the accident could mean for the future of the plant: It provides crucial jobs in an industry that once powered the forested region but has dwindled in recent decades.

The plant's parent company, Tokyo-based Nippon Paper Group, said in a statement that it was assessing the accident's impact on its financial performance.

“Last night at the vigils, people who work in mills told me that they're proud of their jobs and they're proud of their work, and they don't want to lose it,” U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose district includes Longview, told reporters Wednesday.

Residents who spoke with The Associated Press similarly highlighted how important those jobs are for the city.

”If you’re a waitress, a grocery store worker, a teacher, a paraeducator as I was for 30 years — every walk of life here knows somebody and is related to somebody from these mills,” Cindy Stiebritz said in the antiques store where she volunteers.

Generations in the mills

Stiebritz said her husband’s parents met while working at the lumber company owned by the city’s founder, Robert A. Long.

“Those mills, that is the backbone of this town,” Stiebritz added. “You feel like you’ve lost part of your family.”

Longview’s industrial zone lies along the Columbia River and hosts timber, paper and chemical businesses. Many residents in the city of nearly 40,000 can see the facilities or the steam from the boilers from their homes, or smell the sulfuric odor of the pulp and paper industry.

The city’s mill history is also imprinted on its downtown, where R. A. Long Square serves as a central landmark and gathering place, including for the vigil held after the disaster. A park around a man-made lake, another project of Long, features a burst of greenery where pedestrians enjoy its walking paths or the nearby tree-lined streets.

Authorities said the cause of the tank's collapse is still under investigation. The facility, which dates to 1953 and employs about 1,000 people, makes material for tissues, printing paper, cups, plates, cartons and other goods.

According to fundraisers organized for the victims’ families, those who lost their lives include a grandfather who was always willing to help anyone; two brothers, one of whom was the sole provider for his partner and three children; and a husband who left behind two children and a wife with a baby on the way.

Brianna Pesio, a server at the Mill City Grill downtown, said her father has worked at the plant for over 30 years. She described the fear Tuesday morning when her brother, who works at the lumber mill next door, told her he couldn’t get a hold of him.

“I just didn’t know if I lost my dad or not,” said Pesio, whose husband also works in a paper mill. “I drove over to my dad’s house and pounded on his door until he did wake up. He had just gotten off shift at 5 a.m.”

At the nearby Country Folks Deli, longtime server Gayle Leavitt said her in-laws also worked at the mill for decades, adding: “That’s how this town has survived.”

‘This is not the virtual world’

Officials representing the area echoed the pride residents take in the mills and the economic importance of their good-paying jobs in a region where other areas have been hit hard by the decline of the timber industry.

“This is a place where real people make real things. This is not the virtual world,” state Rep. Jim Walsh said at a news conference at the plant on Tuesday. “Real things and real industry always carries risks. But it’s our job to make sure that risk like this is well managed and, to the extent it can be, controlled.”

Stiebritz, the antiques shop volunteer, said she hopes authorities find out the cause “so it never happens again.”

“If anything comes out of it, I hope lives can be saved,” she said, tearing up as she thought of the children who have lost their parents.

“This town is family. It’s one big family,” she added. “But we’ll make it though. We’re strong. We’ve got a lot of love.”

It took a player who could match the American's court coverage in long baseline rallies to mark the end of the road for Gauff in Paris.

That player was Anastasia Potapova, who produced a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over Gauff in the third round on Saturday.

“She was able to finish the points and I wasn’t,” Gauff said. "Just not capitalizing on certain shots."

The match was played before mostly empty stands inside Court Philippe-Chatrier as French fans stayed away to watch the Champions League soccer final.

Gauff’s second Grand Slam title came with a victory over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Roland Garros a year ago.

Before her opening victory over Taylor Townsend on Tuesday, Gauff was involved in a car accident on the way to the tournament grounds. She wasn't injured, but the car wasn't drivable anymore.

The 30th-ranked Potapova, who was born in Russia but now represents Austria, improved to 3-2 in her career against Gauff. She's having quite a clay season after reaching a final in Linz, Austria, and the semifinals of the Madrid Open as a qualifier.

The fourth-ranked Gauff was coming off a run to the Italian Open final. She was beaten in Rome by Elina Svitolina — another player who can match her on long rallies.

“I lost the same way in Rome as I did here,” Gauff said. “You never want to lose the same way back-to-back times.”

When Gauff shanked a forehand wide on Potapova's first match point, Potapova fell on her back and covered her eyes as she stuck her feet up in the air in celebration. Gauff waved to the crowd and quickly walked off court when it was finished.

“Coco is such a champion. I respect her so much,” Potapova said. “I’ve been fighting for the last point and here I am.”

It wasn’t a matter of mistakes for Gauff — she hit three double-faults to her opponent’s eight and had 46 unforced errors to Potapova’s 56. It was more that Potapova controlled more in the longer rallies and wore Gauff out.

Gauff ran a total of 2,309 meters (yards) to Potapova’s 2,090.

Osaka’s fashion statement

Earlier, Naomi Osaka beat 18-year-old American opponent Iva Jovic 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4 after nearly three hours — in her 100th Grand Slam match — to set up a round-of-16 meeting with top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka beat Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5.

For her second-straight match, Osaka wore a metallic gold bomber jacket over a sequined gold playing dress during her walk-on. But this time her outfit was offset by a tannish-gold colored train that stretched all the way down to the red clay on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

“It’s a surprise every time,” Osaka said of her fashion choices.

“For me, it would be weirder to wear a normal tennis kit, almost, at this point. It’s the fun of it. For a long time, I didn’t have fun for a little bit. And you guys know that period of time in my life,” Osaka added, referring to how in 2021 she withdrew from the French Open because of issues with anxiety and depression. “Now I just want things to be fun, and I want to make it exciting for myself.”

Osaka’s outfits are planned a year and a half in advance and require at least four fittings.

“We have so many fittings throughout the year because your weight can fluctuate or the fabric can change a little bit,” she said. “There is a lot of effort that goes into it.”

Heat wave ending

For the seventh straight day of the tournament, it was hot and humid, with the temperature rising to 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat is expected to break for Sunday and the second week.

In men’s action, Alejandro Tabilo ended the run of 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (9) victory. Tabilo next meets Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat American opponent Brandon Nakashima 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1).

At No. 4, Auger-Aliassime is the highest-seeded player remaining in the top half of the draw after Jannik Sinner’s defeat two days ago.

Juan Manuel Cerundolo followed up his stunning victory over top-ranked Sinner with another five-set victory, beating Martin Landaluce 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8) in 5 hours, 58 minutes — the longest French Open match in six years.

Cerundolo will next meet 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, who required 5 hours, 13 minutes to defeat Francisco Comesana 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (13).

Flavio Cobolli beat Learner Tien 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 and will next meet unsung American Zachary Svajda, who defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3.

Another American advancing was Frances Tiafoe, who came back to beat Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria 4-6, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2 in his second consecutive five-setter. He next meets Matteo Arnaldi.

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AP Sports Writer Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.

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

The process could grind to a halt, however, after the Trump administration said Friday that it intended to appeal a federal judge’s order to allow all companies that paid the invalidated duties to seek refunds, not just the ones that filed lawsuits.

Until the Department of Justice informed the judge of its planned appeal, the refund system overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection had worked fairly smoothly. Refunds reached the bank accounts of the first successful applicants on May 12, about three weeks after importers and their customs brokers could start submitting claims, according to CBP.

Applications for refunds totaling $85 billion — more than half of the $166 billion the agency estimated the government owes to companies that paid the tariffs on imported goods — were accepted for processing as of May 22, CBP reported in a legal filing earlier in the week. It said it had so far directed the Treasury Department to issue $20.6 billion in refunds.

The administration revealed its appeal preparations while objecting to a demand by Judge Richard K. Eaton for CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear in the U.S. Court of International Trade on June 9. The judge said he wants to know how long it would take to repay all 330,000 importers that might be eligible for refunds and whether he should require the government to speed up the process.

Justice Department lawyers asked Eaton to allow Scott's deputies to appear in his place, arguing that as a high-ranking presidential appointee, the CBP chief could not be compelled to testify. They also argued that Eaton exceeded his authority when he determined that the Supreme Court's ruling entitled “all importers of record’’ to refunds.

“For that reason, defendants intend to appeal the court’s universal injunction," the lawyers wrote, adding that CBP would continue to move “as quicky as it can to process refunds in a phased approach” for businesses that filed legal complaints asserting their rights to refunds.

Eaton responded that he needed to hear directly from Scott whether the government would return all of the money it collected between April 2025, when Trump put what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries, the Supreme Court's decision in late February.

“It is undisputed that the remedy for this unlawful collection is for the United States government to refund the unlawfully collected duties," the judge wrote.

Refunds coming in phases

Customs and Border Protection is handling refund claims in phases, focusing first on payments that weren't finalized before the Supreme Court handed down its 6-3 decision. CBP officials said those later, estimated payments were simpler to process because they remained open in its system.

In Friday’s filing, the Justice Department said the agency required technological upgrades to its refund portal and “importer-specific orders” in each lawsuit that businesses filed before it could recalculate the final tax bills for older “liquidated” accounts.

More than 1,000 companies filed lawsuits in the trade court to recoup their tariff costs. It was not immediately clear how many importers that paid the tariffs did not sue and might not receive refunds if an appeal of Eaton's blanket order succeeds.

Ryan Majerus, a partner on the international trade team at law firm King & Spaulding, said he thinks "it’s definitely a fraction of the total in terms of folks who paid” the defunct duties. An appeal would likely affect only imported merchandise that was in the U.S. for 314 days, a time when CPB issues its official determination of the duties owed, he said.

“This doesn’t cover everybody, only those really old entries,” Majerus said about a potential appeal.

But filing an appeal could slow the refund process even if the government “already lost the war” before the Supreme Court, according to Barry Appleton, a professor at New York Law School and managing partner of Appleton & Associates International Lawyers.

“If the government can freeze the refund machinery while it litigates, it buys months, and every month of delay is a month the Treasury keeps the money,” Appleton said.

Price cuts promised

Some national retail chains said they planned to use their tariff refunds refunds to lower customer prices on some items. Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told analysts last week that the company would implement price cuts even though the maximum refund it might be eligible for represented less than half of 1% of Walmart’s annual U.S. sales.

Costco intends to return the tariff costs that it passed on to members, CEO Ron Vachris said. How much of its refund the big-box retail chain redistributes, when and in what form, depends on factors such as the size of the refund, when it arrives, and developments in a lawsuit seeking tariff compensation for Costco customers, Vachris told investors Thursday.

Consumers may see refunds first from shipping companies such as FedEx, UPS and DHL, which acted as customs brokers when they delivered products ordered from overseas.

The companies charged either the sellers that shipped the packages or the buyers who received them and submitted the collected tariffs to CBP. All three promised to transmit any refunds they get to the customers that paid the import taxes.

Putting refunds back into the business

The Supreme Court invalidated only the country-by-country tariff rates Trump set by citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The president also has moved to introduce new tariffs since the court’s Feb. 20 ruling.

Some smaller companies told The Associated Press that the tariff refunds they’ve received so far would go toward paying remaining or future tariffs or getting back on solid financial footing after more than a year of uncertainty and additional costs.

Jay Foreman, CEO of toy company Basic Fun, said he received about $450,000, or 7% of his total claim, over two consecutive days. He took the repayment as a positive sign but that the pace since then seemed like a “total slow roll.”

“It’s time to release the funds back into the economy, especially given how much we and others need these funds to support our businesses,” Foreman said.

Men’s grooming brand Manscaped has received about 30% of the $12 million in refunds it applied for, President Kevin Datoo said. The San Diego company deferred investments and took on debt to pay tariffs on imports from Indonesia, China and elsewhere in Asia, he said.

“We need to shore up the balance sheet because there’s still a whole second chapter here,” Datoo said.

Melkon Khosrovian, who owns Greenbar Distillery in Los Angeles, said he applied for a tariff refund of about $90,000 for 17 different shipments of herbs, spices and packaging that are hard to find domestically. To date, he said he received $18,000.

Khosrovian invested in automating his bottling system last year to reduce personnel costs while his import expenses grew. He recalled how the White House had argued the tariffs would create more U.S. manufacturing jobs.

The tariffs were “painful,” he said. “Our choices were bad and worse: raise prices and lose customers, or keep prices the same and not make any money.”

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AP writers Anne D’Innocenzio and Stan Choe in New York, and Lisa Leff in London contributed to this report.

In a news release from the Baytown Police Department, they say officers located the suspect who then shot at one of the responding officers.

That officer fired back, injuring the suspect. who was then taken to a nearby hospital.

The officer was not injured.

The incident is under investigation and the department will not release additional details until the investigation is completed.

The entire release from Baytown PD is below:

On May 29, 2026, at approximately 10:50 p.m., officers responded to a disturbance call at a residence in the 300 block of E. Texas Avenue.

Preliminary information indicates that upon arrival, officers encountered the suspect, who fired at an officer. During the encounter, the officer discharged their firearm. The suspect sustained injuries and was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. The officer involved was not injured.

As is standard procedure, the incident is under investigation. Additional details regarding the circumstances leading up to the shooting are not being released at this time while investigators continue to gather facts and evidence.

There is no ongoing threat to the public related to this incident.

Further information will be released as it becomes available

“United flight 2005 from Chicago to Minneapolis landed safely in Madison, Wisconsin to address a security concern with an unruly passenger,” an airlines spokesperson wrote in an email.

Law enforcement officials on the flight restrained the passenger quickly, said Carrie Springer, a spokeswoman for the Dane County Regional Airport.

Deputies with the Dane County Sheriff's Office met the flight when it landed and removed the passenger. Federal authorities are handling the investigation, Springer said.

Air traffic control audio reviewed by The Associated Press showed an aircraft crew member told controllers before the plane landed that “it took some time” but law enforcement officers on board the flight had subdued the passenger.

The Boeing 737 had 147 passengers and six crew aboard. No injuries were reported, according to the airline.

Mike Rundle, a passenger on board the flight, told The Associated Press that the man appeared to be in his 70s and “other passengers commented that he seemed confused.”

Rundle said the man stood up as the plane was on the runway in Chicago. Flight attendants told him to sit down and asked on the intercom if anyone on the plane spoke Russian. Later, he heard a commotion and a group of men were leading the same passenger back to a seat.

“I didn’t have a clear view of what happened, but the person next to me on the aisle said they saw him ‘reach’ for a flight attendant and it took a few guys to hold him back,” Rundle said. He said the man was seated quietly for the rest of the flight. He was handcuffed and taken off the plane in Madison.

“The general vibes were calm, and the flight crew did a great job handling everything,” Rundle said.

The flight continued its journey and landed in Minneapolis early Saturday morning.

PSG became back-to-back European champion by beating Arsenal 4-3 on penalties in a dramatic final in Budapest that ended 1-1 after extra time on Saturday.

“It’s incredible,” captain Marquinhos said. “From the very first day of this season, the coach said it’s hard to win, and winning twice is even more difficult. So we all had to get back to work. That was the mentality.”

Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes fired the last of his team’s penalties over the bar to hand PSG the shootout win.

The French giant is only the second team to retain the trophy in the modern era after all-time king of Europe Real Madrid.

Luis Enrique became a three-time winner as a coach and has moulded a team that is simply too good even for the best the continent has to offer. That includes an Arsenal team that won the Premier League last week and topped the first stage of the Champions League with a perfect winning record, finishing 10 points and 10 places ahead of PSG.

That mattered little in Puskas Arena as PSG reaffirmed its status as the dominant force in European soccer.

“It’s even more special because we knew before the match how difficult it would be,” Luis Enrique said. “I think it’s deserved over the course of the whole season, even if the final was very closely contested.”

After demolishing Inter Milan 5-0 in last year's final, PSG endured a tougher foe as Arsenal sat deep and relied on the best defense in the competition.

PSG dominated possession but created little after going behind to a Kai Havertz goal in the sixth minute. It took an Ousmane Dembélé penalty in the 65th to level the score and take the final to extra time for the first time in 10 years.

PSG coach in elite company

By going back to back, Luis Enrique achieved what his good friend Pep Guardiola could not after winning Champions Leagues at Barcelona and Manchester City. Luis Enrique joined Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Guardiola in an elite group of coaches with at least three European Cups.

The next target will be to emulate Madrid’s three in a row under Zidane from 2016-18. And with a starting lineup in Budapest with an average age of less than 24, Luis Enrique has built a team that has the potential to dominate for years.

“It’s crazy, it’s crazy. We’re going to enjoy it first, and after we’re going to work and work again because we want more. We are really hungry. We are a young team, and we know we are really ambitious. So next season we have to go again,” Désiré Doué told broadcaster TNT Sports.

Having waited 22 years to get its hands back on the Premier League trophy, Arsenal’s wait in Europe goes on.

This was its 226th game in the European Cup or Champions League without lifting the trophy. No other team has played so many without being champion.

“First of all you have to go through that pain, digest it and then turn it into fuel and improve and reach a different level because it will demand a different level with the quality that is around Europe," manager Mikel Arteta said.

“I want to congratulate PSG because they are, in my opinion, the best team in the world. What they are able to do with the ball, individual actions, I haven’t seen it (before).”

Arsenal comfortable defending

There were times when it looked as though Arsenal's Champions League losing streak would be snapped. Especially when PSG looked so short of ideas after going behind to Havertz’s breakaway early goal.

By scoring so early the tone was set and Arsenal was comfortable sitting back and soaking up pressure. PSG struggled to find openings and looked edgy in possession.

On an evening that kicked off with a pre-match show by rock band The Killers that sounded off in the acoustics of the stadium, PSG also fell a little flat and registered just one shot on target in the first half.

It was given a way back into the final when Cristhian Mosquera brought down Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the box and referee Daniel Siebert pointed to the spot.

Ballon d’Or holder Dembélé made no mistake, firing low to the left as Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya dived the wrong way.

Red flares were lit by PSG fans, likely as much in relief as celebration.

There were rare chances for PSG to win in regulation. Kvaratskhelia hit the post in the 77th after a rapid breakaway and substitute Bradley Barcola wasted another opportunity to seal it at the death when firing wide.

Arsenal was limited to a 24.7% possession average — the lowest in a final since records began in 2004, according to stats provider Opta. But Arteta's dogged and determined team pushed PSG all the way, even in the shootout.

Eberechi Eze missed an earlier spot kick for Arsenal but Raya saved from Nuno Mendes to keep the score level.

Lucas Beraldo converted the last of PSG’s spot kicks, meaning Gabriel had to convert to take it to sudden death. But he blasted high over the bar into a section of PSG fans, who erupted in celebrations along with their new two-time champion team.

It was a familiar sight as Marquinhos got his hands on the trophy for a second time and raised it aloft in the center of the field as gold confetti and fireworks exploded around the team.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted his congratulations on X: “A new star is shining over Paris!” and told PSG players they were “making all of Europe dream. France is proud.”

___

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

___

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

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the importance of building community trust, ensuring safe burials to prevent the spread of the outbreak and urged countries to reconsider travel bans and border closures, saying they “discourage transparency.”

“The Democratic Republic of Congo has faced Ebola before, 16 times, and has ended every outbreak. This is the 17th. That history gives me real confidence,” Tedros said during a news conference Saturday alongside Congo’s health minister.

The health organization said Friday latest official figures showed 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths. Neighboring Uganda has confirmed nine cases and one death, the Ugandan Health Ministry said Friday.

The Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, has no approved treatment or vaccine.

Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Bunia in Ituri province on Thursday. More shipments are expected in the coming days. The U.S. announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.

Response efforts at Bunia's Rwampara and General hospitals appeared more organized, with additional staff, protective gear and medical supplies, though patients continue arriving around the clock, according to an Associated Press reporter.

The response has not kept pace with one of the fastest-spreading outbreaks on record, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, warned on Saturday.

“Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” Dr. Alan Gonzalez, MSF’s deputy director of operations, said in a statement. “Nobody knows the true scale and severity of this outbreak.”

Gonzalez called for an immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

The dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.

“We are not here to tell people what to do, we are here to listen,” Tedros said Saturday. “Building trust takes time, and it starts with listening."

“I understand how painful it is to lose someone, and how much it means to honor them properly, but certain practices, including touching the bodies of those who have died from Ebola, can spread the virus further,” Tedros said.

Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response. The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.

Uganda and Rwanda have closed their borders, while the Trump administration last week banned entry of non-U.S. passport holders who had recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.

“I would also ask countries that have imposed travel bans or border closures to reconsider,” Tedros said, saying such measures "discourage the transparency that saves lives.”

——

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Saleh Mwanamilongo in Bonn, Germany, contributed to this report.

Arsenal missed two of its five spot kicks while PSG only missed one. The game was tied at 1-1 after extra time.

Arsenal was bidding to become European champion for the first time on its return to the final after a 20-year wait. Both teams were coming off winning their own domestic leagues, in France and England, respectively.

Here's the latest:

Painful loss for Arteta

“Pain.”

That’s how Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta summed up his feelings after the shootout loss.

“When you are so close in a competition, a few penalty kicks in the biggest club competition in the world, then that’s how we should feel. We have to turn this pain into fuel.”

Arteta told TNT Sports that PSG is a hard team to play against.

“That’s why they are champions two times in a row. And the individual quality they have, the manner of their coach. They are a top, top team.

Reassuring news from Dembélé

PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé says he wasn’t seriously injured when he limped off the field in the second half. The Ballon d’Or winner says he only suffered from cramps.

That will be a relief for France, with the World Cup less than two weeks away.

“In the 80th minute it was tough, everyone had cramps at the end, I think,” Dembélé said.

“We worked hard this season to achieve the back-to-back (titles). We are very happy and we’re going to enjoy it. It was difficult all season; we had to manage a lot of things, but we are once again Champions League winners.”

Stats from the final

A quick glance at the official statistics, and it’s hard to argue that PSG didn’t deserve to win the title again.

It had 64% possession, attempted 21 shots to Arsenal’s eight, and completed four times as many passes (837 to 199).

PSG midfielder Vitinha was named as the man of the match by UEFA.

Arsenal misses out on becoming European champion

Still, it has been a great season for the team, which won the Premier League title for the first time in 22 years after three runner-up finishes.

In the last three seasons, Arsenal has had the following finishes in the Champions League: Quarterfinals, semifinals, and runner-up.

Is the next step the title in 2026-27?

PSG captain Marquinhos on winning twice

“It’s incredible, back-to-back. From the very first day of this season, the coach said it’s hard to win, and winning twice is even more difficult. So we all had to get back to work. That was the mentality. Today we had the full squad, and the players who came on made their mark on this team, like Gonçalo (Ramos) and (Lucas) Beraldo, who did the job and took the penalties. Thanks to everyone who is in Paris: enjoy yourselves, but in moderation. Don’t cause trouble!”

Paris celebrates 2nd consecutive Champions League title

Flares go off in the PSG end as their fans celebrate the team successfully defending the title.

PSG becomes only the second team — after Real Madrid in 2016-18 — to do that in the Champions League era.

It's a cruel moment for Gabriel Magalhaes whose miss ended Arsenal's title hopes. He is embraced by PSG captain Marquinhos, who is likely to play alongside him at the World Cup for Brazil.

PSG wins!

The French team converted four of its five penalty kicks in the shootout.

Eberechi Eze and Gabriel Magalhaes missed for Arsenal.

Paris Saint-Germain is European champion once again.

The Champions League final is going to a penalty shootout

It’s the eighth time a shootout has been needed to settle the title match since the European Cup was rebranded as the Champions League in 1992.

The last one was in 2016, when Cristiano Ronaldo converted the decisive kick for Real Madrid and flexed his muscles after removing his jersey.

Nearing a penalty shootout

No big chances so far in the second half of extra time.

PSG are passing the ball around but not finding paths through Arsenal’s defense.

Arsenal appear content to sit back and let this end in a penalty shootout.

No goals in the first 15 minutes of extra time

It's still 1-1 at Puskas Arena.

Boos from Arsenal fans rang around the stadium after the referee turned down a penalty appeal by Noni Madueke following a challenge by Willian Pacho.

Arsenal's Declan Rice was livid that a spot kick wasn’t given and took his disgruntlement too far, getting a yellow card from the referee.

Scuffles break out near the Champs-Élysées

In Paris, riot police have clashed with PSG supporters after a bus shelter window was smashed on the famous avenue in Paris.

There was widespread disorder across the French capital and beyond following PSG’s Champions League title last year, which led to hundreds of arrests nationwide.

Extra time has started

Goncalo Ramos has replaced Ousmane Dembélé for PSG. Dembélé appeared to be struggling with a leg injury toward the end of the second half.

The Champions League final is going into extra time

It's 1-1 after regulation time and there will be an extra 30 minutes of play.

The last time there was extra time in the Champions League final, Real Madrid was drawing 1-1 with Atletico Madrid in 2016. Real Madrid went on to win on penalties.

More subs for Arsenal and Barcola on for PSG

Wingers Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli come on for Arsenal, replacing Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard.

Meanwhile, PSG makes its first chance, bringing on Bradley Barcola for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Police in riot gear make a brief appearance

Dozens of police in riot gear entered the perimeter of the field as PSG fans set off flares to celebrate the equalizer.

They formed a wall in front of the PSG section for a few minutes before retreating down the tunnel.

Just marking their presence – flares and other pyrotechnics are forbidden by UEFA.

Gyökeres on as Arsenal makes two substitutions

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has reacted to conceding the goal by making two changes: one of them being striker Viktor Gyökeres coming on for Martin Odegaard in a switch that will see Kai Havertz drop into midfield.

Also, Jurrien Timber replaces Cristhian Mosquera as right back.

Dembélé makes it 1-1

Ousmane Dembélé holds his nerve and converts his penalty kick into the bottom left corner.

PSG fans are setting off flares to celebrate.

Penalty to PSG

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has been fouled by Cristhian Mosquera in the area and the referee points to the penalty spot.

The second half has started

PSG is pushing forward and Arsenal is trying to slow things down. Arsenal defender Cristhian Mosquera is dragging his feet a bit too much at a throw-in and receives a yellow card for time wasting.

What can PSG do to turn this around?

They do have potentially game-changing options on the bench, notably in France forward Bradley Barcola and Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos.

Ousmane Dembélé has been quiet – is he fully fit? – and has been snuffed out by Arsenal’s big center backs.

There’s also Senny Mayulu, a 20-year-old attacker who scored as a substitute for PSG in last year’s 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the final.

A perfect half for Arsenal

Arsenal has done a very good job of keeping PSG’s wide players quiet. Désiré Doué, the star of last year’s final, has been ineffective. So has Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

PSG is having lots of possession, but keeps coming up against a red wall with so little space around the box.

PSG’s players also look unusually nervous on the ball. Perhaps a little too afraid to get caught on the break again after falling behind early in the first half.

It's Arsenal 1, Paris Saint-Germain 0 at half-time

An early goal, then defend the lead.

This final is going just how Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta might have dreamed.

There was an element of fortune about Kai Havertz’s goal. But Arsenal fans won’t care about that.

PSG has had one shot on goal – a speculative long-range effort in the final minute of the half.

The defending champions need to improve drastically.

PSG has the possession but no shots on target

We’re past the half-hour point in the final, and PSG still hasn’t had a shot on target.

The French champions have, though, had more than 70% possession. But it’s not getting them anywhere.

Spanish coaches competing for the title

The coaches of the two finalists – PSG’s Luis Enrique and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta – are both Spanish. And they go way back.

They were together at Barcelona in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Arteta was starting his professional career and Luis Enrique was coming toward the end of his.

Arteta has said he “learnt a lot of things” from Luis Enrique as a player and now as a coach, saying he has “this unbelievable power” and an approach to life that he really likes.

Arteta had a spell on loan at PSG in 2000-01, when he played alongside Ronaldinho and Nicolas Anelka.

Safonov attended by medics

PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov needs attention from team medics after receiving a blow to the head.

Backup keeper Lucas Chevalier is warming up but Safonov remains on the field for now. Chevalier lost his starting spot in favor of Safonov earlier this season and, due to his limited playing time, was not selected for the French national team for the World Cup.

Drinks break

The teams are taking a break for drinks at the midway point of the first half.

Things are going just as Arsenal would like, still leading 1-0.

Kai Havertz joins an exclusive club

The Germany forward becomes only the third player – after Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United and Real Madrid) and Mario Mandzukic (Juventus and Bayern Munich) — to score in a Champions League final for two different teams, according to stats supplier Opta.

Arsenal’s players happy to defend the lead

Arsenal is sitting deep and PSG has all the possession.

Expect that to be the case while Arsenal leads.

There’s even a bit of time-wasting from Arsenal on goal kicks -- to the annoyance of PSG fans.

Arsenal take an early lead

Kai Havertz makes it 1-0 for the Gunners in the sixth minute.

Marquinhos’ attempted clearance rebounds off Arsenal winger Leandro Trossard and into the path of Havertz, who strides through on goal from near halfway. His shot from a narrow angle goes into the roof of the net.

We are go! The final is underway

The players emerge from their huddles and the Champions League is underway with Arsenal taking the kickoff.

Fan sneaks away from hospital after serious injury

An English fan was taken to hospital Saturday afternoon after suffering what police called a “life-threatening” injury in an electric scooter accident, but wasn’t willing to let the injury keep him from the final.

Budapest police said the man “left the hospital without permission because he was adamant about going to the match.”

They added that they are looking for the man and trying to contact his family “because he requires immediate medical attention.”

Going back-to-back is not easy

Only Real Madrid has successfully defended the Champions League title since the competition was rebranded in 1992.

Can PSG be the second team to do so?

The Madrid team of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale won the Champions League three times in a row (2016-18), under coach Zinedine Zidane.

Since then, no defending champion has reached the final until this PSG team, which beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich last year.

Get ready for clash of styles

PSG and Arsenal have reached the title match adopting vastly different playing approaches.

PSG is the top-scoring team in the competition with 44 goals -- that’s an average of more than three per game.

Arsenal has the Champions League’s best defense, letting in just six goals in 14 games and keeping nine clean sheets, three more than any other team has registered.

▶ Read more

Non-World Cup referee in charge

The man entrusted with being the referee for the biggest match in club soccer won’t even be going to next month's World Cup.

German ref Daniel Siebert was left off FIFA’s list of match officials for the World Cup – after going to the 2022 edition in Qatar – so handling the Champions League final is a consolation prize in a sense.

This will be the third straight round Siebert will have worked an Arsenal match.

Video review – or VAR, as it’s known in soccer circles — will be in operation for the final.

Here are lineups for Champions League final

PSG: Matvey Safonov; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, João Neves, Fabian Ruiz; Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué.

Arsenal: David Raya; Cristhian Mosquera, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Piero Hincapié; Declan Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard; Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka.

NYC Mayor Mamdani urges beloved Arsenal to ‘enjoy moment’

Zohran Mamdani is a big Arsenal fan and the New York Mayor was seen wearing club-branded clothing when he joined residents across the city for Eid al-Adha prayers this week.

In an article he has written for The Athletic ahead of the final, Mamdani said he started supporting Arsenal from the age of 9 after his uncle “introduced me to a team with a cannon on its shirt.”

He says supporting the team “increasingly became an exercise in nostalgia” until the recent uplift under Mikel Arteta.

“Over these past two years, no matter how chaotic life became, Arsenal remained the constant,” he writes.

Mamdani acknowledges PSG is “brilliant” and “frustratingly well-managed” by Luis Enrique, but has a message for Arsenal and its fans: “Enjoy this moment, because they don’t come around often.”

Rivalry extends to fans’ chants

Fans are making their way to the stadium under a cloudy, threatening sky in Budapest, and they’ll have a role to play in the final.

Not least with the rival chants that you might get to hear in your TV broadcast.

PSG’s most notable song will see their passionate Ultras bellow “Tous ensemble on chantera” (All together we will sing).

Arsenal fans have their own chant that has grown in popularity over the last few seasons in manager Arteta’s 6 ½-year reign, with a chorus taken from “The Angel (North London Forever)” -- written by singer and Arsenal fan Louis Dunford in 2022.

▶ Read more

Hungary and soccer

This is the first European Cup final to be staged in Hungary and it comes at an interesting time for the Central European country, a few weeks after right-wing populist leader Viktor Orbán‘s heavy defeat in the elections.

Péter Magyar is the prime minister and is set to attend the match at the 67,000-seat Puskas Arena, a stadium that opened in 2019 and was built on the same site as the previous Ferenc Puskas Stadion — named after the Hungarian and Real Madrid great who won three European Cups as a player.

Orbán is a massive soccer fan and attempted to bring back the glory days of the 1950s, when Hungary had one of the world’s top teams.

To that end, the arena, located a few kilometers east of central Budapest, has become a well-known host for European games. The stadium staged the UEFA Super Cup in 2020, as well as a slew of Champions League group games and four European Championship matches in 2021. In 2023, it hosted the Europa League final won by Sevilla.

Somebody told me The Killers are playing...

Pre-match entertainment is being provided by American rock band The Killers, who are best known for songs like “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It” and “Somebody Told Me.”

It differs from the Super Bowl, where artists perform in a halftime show.

The Killers, who hail from Las Vegas, predicted an “epic match” when they were announced to be performing – though at the time, they didn’t know who the finalists would be.

In previous years, Linkin Park, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa have been headliners in Champions League finals.

Big gathering at Parc des Princes

Some 48,000 fans are expected to fill PSG’s stadium in Paris, the Parc des Princes, to watch the match on giant screens.

PSG said Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire is among the officials expected to attend.

Former players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Claude Makélélé and Ronaldinho, have been invited to Budapest for the final.

Capital clubs go head-to-head – and that’s rare

It’s the first time in 55 years that clubs from two different capital cities are competing in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition.

The last was Ajax (of Amsterdam) vs. Panathinaikos (of Athens) in 1971.

There were only two before that: Benfica (Lisbon) vs. Real Madrid in 1962 and Real Madrid vs. Partizan Belgrade in 1966.

This is also the first major European final featuring teams from France and England.

The World Cup is coming. No injuries please!

It’s the last match of the European club season – and World Cup coaches will be watching on with a mixture of intrigue and nervousness.

The World Cup begins in 12 days, and the squads of both PSG and Arsenal are bulging with players heading to the tournament being held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Any injuries sustained in the final could be devastating so close to the big kickoff.

Arsenal has “taste” for trophies now

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says winning the Premier League has whetted the players’ appetite for more trophies.

Nothing comes bigger than the Champions League.

“The ambition is bigger,” Arteta said in his pre-match news conference. “We have one, and we want the second one ... there has to be a platform to reach bigger destinations.”

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was the first player in the squad to get his hands on the Premier League trophy, and he liked it.

“When you get the taste of winning and lifting a trophy,” Odegaard says, “you know how nice it feels. And we want to do it again.”

Dembélé, Doué, Saka ... a bunch of world’s best are on show

Many of soccer’s superstar players will be taking the field at Puskas Arena – not least PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé, the most recent world player of the year.

Désiré Doué, the 20-year-old forward who lit up last year’s final with two goals in the record 5-0 win over Inter Milan, is still a shining light for PSG along with Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and three of Cristiano Ronaldo’s top teammates with Portugal – Vitinha, Nuno Mendes and Joao Neves.

Arsenal has England stars Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice in midfield and the striker who has just sent Sweden to the World Cup – Viktor Gyökeres.

Fans brawl in central Budapest

Groups of fans got physical late Friday in Budapest’s frequented party area, leading police to launch an investigation over disorderly conduct.

Videos on social media showed several dozen people throwing punches and kicks, driving another group down Király street in the capital’s District 7.

One fan held a burning red flare before throwing it toward the other group, which was retreating down the street. Budapest police said in a statement that the violence erupted shortly after midnight, and that it was using surveillance footage to try to identify participants.

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

Carter called the situation “bigger than football" and explained he felt the need to call out Dart publicly for the decision.

“He not only represents himself and what he does, but he represents all of us and that goes for anybody who wears a Giants uniform,” Carter said Friday after an offseason workout practice. "If he chooses to align himself with a man like President Trump, it’s my responsibility based on what I believe and what I stand on to not only show my teammates that I’m against that — but to show the world.”

Carter took to social media on May 23 to criticize his teammate after realizing a video of Dart on stage with Trump was real. Hours later, Carter said he and Dart spoke and were fine. Those posts have since been deleted.

“It doesn’t mean that me and Jaxson hate each other or we have beef,” Carter said. "I sit next to Jaxson every day, every team meeting. We’re close. We talk. As long as we make sure we’ve got the same goal as a team and our goals align, which they do, then I feel like that’s all that matters.”

Trump has targeted the diversity, equity and inclusion programs that helped many Black Americans find jobs in both the federal government and a variety of private industries. He has called DEI programs “discrimination,” and he has pushed to eradicate them from the government and put pressure on the private sector to do the same.

Earlier this year, he posted and then deleted a racist video on social media that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle.

Trump thanked Dart in a post on social media Saturday, saying: “I know you’re taking some heat from the Radical Left Lunatics who are jealous of you, me, and everyone who surrounds us but, I also know that your Jersey also went to Number One, and you’re making Millions of Dollars so, YOU ARE A WINNER — THEY ARE ALL LOSERS. I’ll see you in the White House!”

Dart in his 562-word statement never invoked Trump's name and said he valued the office of the president. Dart called it “a unique opportunity, being asked and given the opportunity to introduce the president of the United States.”

Asked if he understood why the situation might bother teammates and if he thought he made a mistake, Dart referred back to his statement. Carter said Dart did not apologize for being at Trump's event.

“I don’t want him to say he’s sorry,” Carter said. “Stand on what you believe in. But it can’t be a problem when I stand on what I believe in. That’s all that matters to me. As long as we have that understanding, it’s all good.”

Dart said he addressed the situation with teammates, including Carter, as part of “honest conversations” over the past week. That included a meeting at the Giants' facility Tuesday when Carter was not present, as well as a conversation last weekend between the two players going into their second NFL season.

“We just talked," Dart said of Carter, who was also drafted in the first round last year. “Me and him are one of the closer guys on the team with each other. We’ve had a lot of conversation, and he’s my brother. I know that I’m a brother to him.”

Coach John Harbaugh and veteran backup quarterback Jameis Winston attempted to put a positive spin on going through the situation at a tense time in the U.S.

“We’ve got a blond-haired, blue-eyed white kid and a Black Muslim religion, Black kid, who are coming together and showing y’all, showing the world that we can come together,” said Winston, who is also Black. “I think this is an excellent opportunity for those two young men to realize what they represent, the platform that they have, and how they’re going to go about navigating that and standing on what they both believe in.”

Harbaugh, who has expressed support for Trump over the years, said he had no concerns about a rift in the locker room and said “it’s not going to affect what kind of football team we are.” He deferred to players about what kind of guidelines they want to set.

“I think it’s made us better, honestly,” Harbaugh said. “I’m kind of grateful for the opportunity that we had to have the conversation. But if you do things the right way, you confront everything all the time that have to do with your football team and your ability to be successful, and that was something to confront and talk about. Rather than ignore it or rather than dictate something, let’s just talk about it."

Gunner Olszewski carted off with injury

Receiver/return specialist Gunner Olszewski went down with a noncontact injury grabbing at his right leg late in practice, and teammates went down on one knee while he received medical attention. Olszewski was put on a cart and driven off the field, and it did not look good.

“We’ll find out what the situation is with that,” Harbaugh said. “That was a noncontact change-of-direction kind of a deal there in the grass, so that was disappointing.”

Arvell Reese signs his rookie contract

No. 5 pick Arvell Reese, a linebacker out of Ohio State, signed his rookie contract on Friday, becoming the final member of the draft class to do so. No. 10 pick Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa signed earlier this week.

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

On the verge of becoming the oldest U.S. player to appear in a World Cup, the 38-year-old defender was picked by coach Mauricio Pochettino to captain the Americans next month.

“Wow,” Ream said during a news conference Saturday, seated alongside Pochettino. “This is more than a dream come true. I’ve done everything possible to be a part of this group, to help this group along. I’m just really, really grateful to be sitting here, to have this honor."

Ream was not aware he was going to be appointed captain until Pochettino made the announcement during a news conference on an indoor field at the new U.S. National Soccer Training Center.

“It’s the highest honor for me in this group,” he said, his voice echoing in the gym-like room. “I’m not going to take that for granted."

A St. Louis native who plays for Charlotte in Major League Soccer, Ream will be 38 years, 250 days on the day the U.S. plays its opener against Paraguay on June 12, older than defender Fernando Clavijo when the U.S. was knocked out by Brazil in 1994. Clavijo was 37 years, 162 days or 38 years, 162 days — his birthdate was listed at Jan. 23, 1957, when he played and Jan. 23, 1956, at the time of his death in 2019.

Ream started all four games for the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup, when Tyler Adams at 23 was the youngest captain among the 32 nations and the youngest for the U.S. since 1950.

Adams said Thursday that he didn't care whether he would return as captain.

“It’s a privilege and honor, anyone that gets to wear the armband,” he said. “What I represent and how I lead, I think anybody that plays with me knows that I’m a leader. That’s just how I’ve been my entire career whether I’m wearing the armband or not.”

Ream has 80 international appearances, second on the team only to Christian Pulisic's 84, and has captained the U.S. in 17 of 24 games since Pochettino took over in October 2024.

“A great captain, not only on the field, maybe more important off the field,” Pochettino said. “He has the experience, he has a capacity to be the leader that we want, the positive leader.”

Ream played college soccer for Saint Louis University, then joined the New York Red Bulls in 2010. He moved to England with Bolton in 2012, then signed with Fulham in 2015 and spent 10 seasons at Craven Cottage. He returned to MLS with Charlotte in 2024.

“So lucky to have a player like him with his personality and his character involved and helping the young players and the players also that have lesser experience,” Pochettino said. “Playing or not playing, he is the captain. It’s not now he’s the captain, he’s going to be sure in the starting 11.”

Previous U.S. World Cup captains include 24-year-old Mike Windischmann in 1990, 25-year-old Tony Meola in 1994, 37-year-old Thomas Dooley in 1998, 28-year-old Claudio Reyna in 2002, Reyna again in 2006, 31-year-old Carlos Bocanegra in 2010 and 31-year-old Clint Dempsey in 2014.

“Of course, it’s important. The captain, you're first one out of the tunnel, especially in a home World Cup, it’s very important," retired forward Jozy Altidore said at training Thursday. “But when I see this group, I see a bunch of leaders. Maybe they didn’t start that way, but now they're most certainly leaders in terms of how they’ve played at their clubs, how they developed as young men.”

___

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

The message from local officials: Don’t panic — prepare.

If you’ve been putting off hurricane prep, officials say this weekend is your window to get ahead before the rush starts. And the good news? Emergency managers say you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars overnight.

1. Turn on emergency alerts

Emergency managers say one of the most important first steps is making sure your phone is set up to receive emergency alerts.

Residents are encouraged to sign up for:

• AlertHouston
• ReadyHarris Alerts
• STEAR (State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry)

Brian Murray with Harris County Office of Emergency Management said emergency alerts can become critical during severe weather.

“This is the time when everyone needs to look at what is your plan to get through not only hurricane season, but basically all of the risks and threats that we have on almost daily basis,” Murray said.

• Is your home in a new flood zone? FEMA releases updated Harris County maps

Officials also stress that residents enrolled in STEAR should respond to check-in messages during emergencies.

“We want you to be in STEAR but during an emergency if we call you if we text you and ask if you’re okay please acknowledge that you’re ok because if not I’m gonna send a firefighter or a police officer to go knock on your door and make sure you’re OK,” Murray said.

2. Build a go-kit without overspending

Emergency officials say building a hurricane kit does not have to happen all at once.

Recommended supplies include:

• Extra canned food
• Cases of water
• Medications
• Flashlights and batteries
• A waterproof bag for important documents
• A hand-crank or battery-powered radio
• Pet supplies

Brian Mason with the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management says families can slowly build supplies during regular grocery trips.

“Every time you go to the grocery store, buy an extra item or two. Buy an extra jar of peanut butter. Buy an extra pack of batteries. Buy an extra case of water,” Mason said.

Officials recommend having enough food, water, and medications for at least seven days.

They also say battery-powered or hand-crank radios can become especially important if power or cell service goes down during a storm.

3. Know your evacuation zone

Officials also encourage residents to check evacuation maps now before hurricane season ramps up.

Residents can find evacuation zone maps and preparedness information through:

• ReadyHarris.org
• HoustonOEM.org

The websites also include multilingual emergency information and preparedness resources.

Officials say residents who need assistance before or after a disaster can dial:

• 2-1-1 for community assistance resources
• 3-1-1 for county and city resources

Houston OEM also offers website translation options in multiple languages.

Emergency managers say the key is to start preparing now — even if it’s one small step at a time.

The Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from U.S. forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. The ship remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman and U.S. forces have not boarded it, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

With the latest action, U.S. military has stopped six ships trying to breach the blockade. One was allowed to proceed. Another 116 ships have been redirected, the military said.

The U.S. launched the blockade on April 17 in response to Iran effectively closing the strait after the war in the Middle East began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. A fragile ceasefire has held since April 7. Now the region awaits word on whether a deal can be reached to extend it by 60 days while talks would be held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Events in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway between Iran and Oman, have shaken the global economy. Shipments of significant amounts of oil, natural gas and related supplies like fertilizer are largely stranded, increasing the strain on consumers and food producers.

The U.S. blockade seeks to limit Iran’s own shipments and further weaken its access to cash, creating more pain for its long-weakened economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump met with advisers on Friday but has yet to decide on whether to move ahead with a deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the strait. Iran has said the deal had not been finalized.

Commercial traffic has quietly continued to flow through the strait, despite Iran's assertions that it must approve any transits, though at a much lower volume than before the war.

“Any violation of these regulations will place the security of their passage at serious risk,” Iran's joint military command said Saturday in a statement carried by state TV, warning that any military vessels trying to interfere with that would be targeted.

Iran has even charged tolls for transit as high as $2 million, which experts have called a violation of a principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation.

Qatar's deputy prime minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani, said on Saturday said that the Gulf nation opposes charging fees to transit, “but for certain times when they say they are going to use it for mine clearing or some usage of the fees for a temporary time, this is something that is negotiable, and it could be something that will help the transit of the Strait of Hormuz to be back to normal stage.”

The U.S. official previously told The Associated Press that the U.S. has not found or destroyed any mines in the strait.

“I’ve had this happen before in my career," he said Saturday, a day before the U.S. faces Senegal in the Americans’ next-to-last warmup match. "There’s difficult times and then sometimes one will bounce off your knee and go in and then it seems like everything goes in after that.”

Pulisic had 10 goals in his first 15 matches for AC Milan this season but went scoreless in 19 games after Dec. 28. He has has gone eight U.S. matches without a goal since November 2024.

“He is going to score in World Cup. Yes, I really trust in that,” coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “He has very good attitude, very good commitment. He’s trying so hard to get his best level and I think he will achieve it for sure.”

A 27-year-old attacker from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Pulisic has 32 goals in 84 international appearances. His goal in the 1-0 win over Iran at the 2022 World Cup advanced the Americans to the round of 16.

He has the most international experience among the 26 players on the U.S. roster and is the lone holdover from group that played in the 2017 loss at Trinidad and Tobago, which ended the Americans' streak of seven straight World Cup appearances. Pulisic is among 13 players returning from the 2022 roster.

“Guys have just gotten a lot more experience at club level, international level," Pulisic said. “Going through that World Cup as a team, going through the really good performances and getting through the group and then having a tough loss against a big team, it all helps you grow. It all helps you learn.”

At the 2022 World Cup, Pulisic was injured while scoring against Iran, then returned for the 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the round of 16.

“Most of the guys are going to go into this World Cup a lot — yeah, just a bit more relaxed, ready for these big moments," he said. "Every game and every big moment just feels just a little bit easier and you feel a little more comfortable going into it.”

Milan finished the Serie A season with two wins in its last eight games, wasting a lead on the final day and missing Champions League qualification. Coach Massimiliano Allegri and CEO Giorgio Furlani were fired.

“I don’t try to place blame or figure out the problems,” Pulisic said. “There are moments where I could have done a lot better and it was a difficult time for our team. It was a difficult time for me, and that’s what it comes down to. I haven’t changed the way I train, the way that I prepare, the way that I continue to move forward and try to improve every day. I’m still doing that every day and that's why I can keep my head high. Obviously, I’m disappointed but now I have to look forward on what’s in front of me.”

Sunday's game against 14th-ranked Senegal and a June 6 friendly against No. 10 Germany will be the last prep matches for the 16th-ranked Americans before their World Cup opener against No. 40 Paraguay on June 12. Defender Chris Richards, recovering from two torn ankle ligaments, won’t play Sunday.

“I’m sure we’re going to test a couple things, move some guys around,” Pulisic said. “Maybe it won’t look exactly as it will in the games.”

When the Americans last gathered in March, they lost 5-2 to Belgium and 2-0 to Portugal.

“Just getting a little bit of rhythm and a good feeling with the team going into the tournament,” Pulisic said. “These are two really strong opponents, so we have a great opportunity to test ourselves going into the World Cup. Obviously, we want to get good results, but most importantly, just feeling confident.”

___

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

Now, one of those politicians has pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government. Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang's plea, entered in federal court Friday, continues a saga that some residents of the area worry could bring unfair scrutiny on the broader Chinese and Asian American community.

Arcadia has gone under rapid demographic change in the last two decades as immigrants from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong flocked to the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. After Wang's case was made public May 11, the news made national headlines and filled the unassuming suburban city with anger, disappointment and murmurs of quiet concern. On social media, fears about spies and Chinese Communist Party influence abounded.

“We cannot allow this moment to become an excuse for people to paint entire communities with one brush or weaponize ethnicity for political gain,” acting Mayor Paul Cheng said in a statement.

Shock in heavily Chinese community

Wang agreed in April to plead guilty to doing the bidding of Chinese officials by sharing articles favorable of Beijing on a news website she ran, without notifying the U.S. government as required by law.

The 56-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person City Council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. She was born in Chengdu, China, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1995.

The San Gabriel Valley is home to the largest concentration of residents of Chinese and Taiwanese descent in the United States. Beginning in the 1970s, real estate developers marketed the region as “Chinese Beverly Hills” to woo affluent immigrants. As the population grew, it became a haven for newer immigrants who could go about life without needing English, access business opportunities, and avoid putting their children through China’s intensely competitive education system. Arcadia's population of about 53,000 is majority Asian, like many other cities in the region.

Ted Tseng, 52, arrived in Arcadia from Taiwan nearly 40 years ago with his parents, who emigrated because they feared potential conflict between Taiwan and China.

Tseng was concerned Wang's indictment would deepen animosity against Asian Americans and discredit their contributions to the region. Fears of anti-Asian racism, though hate crimes are down since the COVID-19 pandemic, still linger.

“I'm just worried our image has been damaged,” Tseng said.

Feds crack down on Chinese espionage

The U.S. Department of Justice has escalated efforts in recent years to combat Chinese espionage. In April, a man accused of running a secret Chinese spy outpost in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood was convicted of acting as an illegal foreign agent.

Wang has suggested that she was misled by her former fiance, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who pleaded guilty to the same charge last year and is now serving a four-year prison sentence. Sun was the treasurer for Wang’s 2022 election campaign.

A statement shared by Wang's lawyers references her "trust and love for apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray.”

April Verlato, a former City Council member who served with Wang, said Wang and Sun lived together, and Sun accompanied Wang wherever she went.

Verlato said Wang should have stepped down as soon as she came under investigation.

“She was being selfish, getting sworn in as mayor and not resigning when she knew she was going to be pleading guilty to something,” Verlato said.

Gene Sun, a long-time lawyer in Arcadia, agreed.

“I don't understand how she could have continued being a City Council member,” he said.

Beijing seeks influence overseas

It is not surprising that the Chinese government would attempt to exert political influence in the region, especially given the increased political tension and economic rivalry between China and the U.S. in recent years, said Wei Li, a professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University.

“A lot of countries, if they have the will and if they have the means, will try to influence their diaspora,” Li said.

According to his federal criminal complaint, Sun was in contact with John Chen, who also pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government, regarding local politicians that Beijing could influence. In reports to Chinese officials, Sun and Chen called Wang a “New Political Star” and bragged about her contacts with mainstream U.S. politicians.

They also wrote of combatting “anti-China forces” such as Taiwan independence and the Falun Gong, an exiled anti-communist spiritual movement.

In a January 2023 message from Chen to Wang referenced in Sun’s criminal complaint, Chen said: “You are doing a good job, I hope you can continue the good work, make Chinese people proud.”

Some fear political repercussions for Asian Americans

Not only was the news of her guilty plea like a “slap in the face," the reaction from some community members has also been painful, said Cheng, the acting mayor.

Some residents at a May 19 City Council meeting blamed remaining council members for enabling Wang and called for their resignations.

“I’ve been called more names, been told to go back to China although that’s not where I’m from,” said Cheng, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan at age 2.

For many Arcadia residents and workers, life was as usual the day after the news broke. Many smiled apologetically when asked about the issue, saying they don’t pay attention to politics.

Aliza Mo, who emigrated from China six years ago for her children's education, said she first thought the headlines must be exaggerated.

“A lot of people wondered if it was discrimination," she said.

When she learned what Wang pleaded guilty to, she changed her mind.

“I think it would be improper for anyone to be doing something like that,” she said.

Now, the London-based singer-songwriter is using artificial intelligence tools to help him continue making Americana music after Parkinson's disease largely took away his ability to play guitar.

Smith, who was diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder in 2020, recently released his second album, “The Art of Letting Go.” For one of the eight tracks, an instrumental piece titled “Horizon,” he relied on platforms that use AI to generate music to create demo arrangements that would convey his vision to the musicians who recorded the song.

The demos he created by humming rough melodies into his phone and uploading the recordings into song generators like Suno and Udio weren't for mixing into the final studio version of “Horizon,” Smith stressed. But tremors, stiffness and fatigue, which are common symptoms of Parkinson’s, caused his guitar skills to deteriorate during the more than a year he worked on the album, he said.

“So then I’m faced with a question,” Smith, 49, said. “‘Don’t play, don’t be creative, or find a way out, find a route.’ And for me, this was the route.”

Generative AI has divided the music industry, whose artists and record labels have complained of their copyrighted work being used to train the models behind AI-powered music tools. Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records sued Suno and Udio in June 2024, although Universal later reached a settlement and partnership deal with Udio and Warner did the same with Suno.

Less discussed is what those platforms can do when employed by a serious musician like Smith, whose disease affects the tools central to his songwriting and identity as a guitarist: his hands. He released his debut album, “In the Springtime,” in 2023, saying he wanted to give his two sons a way to remember when he could perform and record music himself.

“I’d always written, I’d also played, I always sung," he said. "And immediately it became clear to me that I was in trouble, that my music was going to be seriously compromised.”

From prompts to convincing demos

AI music generators use systems trained on large datasets of recorded music and audio. The platforms analyze patterns in melody, harmony, and rhythm before generating new audio based on prompts or uploaded recordings. Users don’t need musical talent to end up with a serviceable song, or even a popular one.

Smith said producing convincing demos from the synthetic tracks the apps generated often required “50, 100, 150 attempts” and extensive editing "to get something that sounds close to my music.” After humming a song into his phone and uploading the recording, he gives prompts describing instrumentation, mood and style. .

“AI is not replacing anything for me,” he said. “It’s unlocking, it’s enabling. It’s allowing me to keep writing. I upload my lyrics; AI doesn’t create my lyrics. I upload my music; AI does not create my music.”

He added: “It then brings it to life in a way that I can play to session players and say, ‘Here, that’s what I’m thinking, that is what I’m hearing.’”

A bittersweet guitar duet

The album was produced by Grammy-winning pianist and producer Matt Rollings, who assembled a group of established roots and bluegrass musicians for the project. They included dobro player and 16-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas, Grammy-winning banjo player Alison Brown, fiddler Stuart Duncan, guitarist Bryan Sutton, bassist Viktor Krauss and singers Jonatha Brooke and Glen Phillips.

For Smith, the experience of singing in a Nashville studio alongside musicians he had admired for decades was "an extraordinary moment.”

Grammy-nominated guitarist Julian Lage, known for his jazz and acoustic recordings with Blue Note Records, performed on the album’s title track and on “Horizon.” The latter recording became a bittersweet high point in Smith's career; despite the progression of his disease, he managed to play a guitar duet with his friend.

“I hadn’t been able to play for months, but I kept telling myself that if I wrote something to take to the studio, perhaps the clouds would part for a few minutes," Smith said. “That’s what happened. I had a window of about 10 minutes in the studio when my arm freed up. ... So in the end, I was able to capture the last breath of my guitar playing.”

New possibilities and perils

Experts said AI-assisted music tools could benefit other people with disabilities or illnesses.

Ruaidhri Mannion, a composer, music producer and sonic artist who teaches at Brunel University of London, said technology like affordable digital recording software "effectively democratized the making of music” in recent decades. By helping songwriters and musicians communicate ideas and collaborate more easily, AI tools that generate polished-sounding material from voice or text prompts could work in the same way, he said.

“If these tools are able to enable people to be able to participate with other creative groups and encourage more people to feel confident to be able to reach out to an ensemble or an orchestra or something, then I think that is all for the better,” Mannion said.

But an overreliance on technology could intefere with the trial and error, frustration and synergy that are necessary parts of a musician's artistic development, Mannion said.

“What makes a lot of music-making meaningful is the collaborative element,” he said. “There’s a lot of experimentation and development and failure that’s part of musical discovery.”

Udio and Suno have denied copyright infringement allegations and said they wanted to work with the music industry, not in opposition to it. Some musicians are unconvinced. A group of recording artists and activists, including singer-songwriter Tift Merritt, David Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, and ECR Music Group President Blake Morgan, published an open letter in February under the heading “So no to Suno.”

“Many in our community are embracing responsible AI as a tool for creation, and as a means for fans to explore and interact with our artistry. That’s wonderful,” the letter read. “But it’s not the same as creating an environment where AI-generated works sourced from our music are mass distributed to dilute our royalties or, worse yet, reward those actively seeking to commit fraud. Artists need to know the difference.”

‘Show us what you can do’

Smith said he thinks his experience demonstrated how AI could benefit society and expand creative access, if it's developed responsibly.

“My message would be that if these companies want to show they’ve got a place, a role in society, then step up,” Smith said. “Engage with health professionals, engage with music therapists, engage with society and show us what you can do.”

On May 21, Smith collaborated with the Berklee Music and Health Institute for an event in New York that brought together music industry leaders, researchers and clinicians to examine how music can support people living with neurological conditions. Smith discussed his experience living with Parkinson's and sang again alongside musicians who played on “The Art of Letting Go.”

Creating music is crucial to the legacy Smith hopes to leave for his children, ages 4 and 17.

“My 4-year-old is probably never going to remember me playing, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said. “But I’ve been able to pull this into something and refuse to be defined by this disease.”

Ultras, who was 14, spent years working alongside deputies after joining the agency in 2015. During his career, he assisted in numerous arrests and helped keep drugs off the streets, officials said. He retired in 2022.

The constable’s office described Ultras as more than a working dog — a steady partner in the field and a friend to those who handled him. Deputies also shared their appreciation for Deputy Mike Aspras, noting the close partnership the pair built over the years.

As Precinct 4 says goodbye, deputies are honoring Ultras’ contributions and the lasting mark he left on the agency and the community he helped protect.

Some just haven’t decided which of the two state lawmakers in the race fits the bill.

“I am having a lot of trouble,” said Mike Lazere, a 65-year-old Democrat who always votes on Election Day.

State Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls are seeking the nomination for the seat held by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst in the state where Republicans have an advantage but Democrats think they could have a chance.

It means the primary choice carries high stakes for Iowa's Democratic voters, who haven't had many recent examples of successful statewide candidates to help guide their decision. The last Democrat to win federal office statewide was President Barack Obama in 2012. All six members of the federal delegation are Republicans, and the GOP has had a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade. Iowa's most recent Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, was elected to his fifth term in 2008 and retired from office six years later.

U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson is running for the GOP nomination, and a Republican-aligned political group has already pledged $29 million to defend the seat.

Turek and Wahls say the differences between them are clear, but voters still weighing their options disagree.

“They both have strong legislative records. They both have compelling stories. I think they both share my values,” Lazere said Thursday outside of the Ames public library, where Story County Democrats had just held their monthly meeting.

“Since they’re so close, I just want the candidate who is more likely to have a chance,” he said. “It’s an uphill battle, probably, in Iowa still.”

Turek says he can win independents and GOP voters

At the Des Moines Farmers' Market last weekend, where both candidates waded through the crowds, Sundie Ruppert shouted her support for Turek as he passed by her tent, saying he had her vote.

Ruppert called the race an “embarrassment of riches,” something that’s been rare as of late. She said the two stand for “virtually everything the same,” so for her, it’s a matter of who can win the crossover support to get over the finish line in November.

Turek, a four-time wheelchair basketball Paralympian born with spina bifida, says his story of overcoming adversity and his politics appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters. He represents a state House district that supported President Donald Trump.

Turek said he’s laser-focused on securing a livable wage, health care access and drinkable water, not the culture-war issues that he said Republicans use to distract voters from the core problems they are facing.

“I’m not gonna get dragged down the rabbit hole of worrying about these distraction issues,” Turek said in an interview.

“I think that if we are going to win again in a state like Iowa, it is going be a message of economic populism,” he said. “It is going to be that we as a Democratic Party stand for the workers and for the middle class. That’s the way forward.”

Ruppert said she thinks general election voters are more likely to vote for Turek, even if they “have to hold their nose.”

“We’ve got to get the independents,” she said. “I do believe that Josh in a red district has better pull than Wahls.”

Wahls says he will stand up to leadership in both parties

About 37 miles (60 kilometers) north in Ames on Thursday, Shellie Orngard said she’s heard that logic and doesn’t buy it.

Orngard said both are good people and strong candidates, but Wahls strikes her as “somebody with real character behind his convictions.”

“I think that whether you’re Democrat or Republican or independent, you appreciate authenticity and real values,” Orngard said. “I think Zach Wahls just seems to have the character that I feel he’s the person that I want to put my vote behind.”

Wahls says he's the candidate willing to defy leadership in both parties, and he has criticized Turek for not rejecting Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer as caucus leader.

He says his anti-establishment message is winning back the working-class voters, especially common across eastern Iowa, who supported Obama before they pivoted to Trump.

“We’re not just talking about building a coalition that can win in November, we are already doing it,” he said. “These are voters who are not hardcore MAGA Trump Republicans. A lot of them are just really frustrated with both parties, they don’t trust Washington, they don’t trust the establishment.”

“And what we hear from people all the time is, ‘Even if we don’t agree on every issue, if you are willing to take them on, you’ve got my vote,’” Wahls said.

Iowa will be a tough win for either Democrat

Iowa has shifted considerably since Obama’s win in 2012, voting for Trump in the last three presidential elections. Democrats lag Republicans by roughly 200,000 registered voters statewide.

Rob Sand, state auditor and candidate for governor, was the only Democrat to win statewide in 2022.

Nearly 30,000 Democrats have already cast their ballots as of Friday, according to data from the secretary of state's office. Still, in Ellston on Wednesday, many of the two dozen southwest Iowa Democrats waiting to hear from Turek said they’d rely on a gut feeling.

“As far as I’m concerned, Ashley Hinson has got to be beat,” said Lynne Wallace, a 67-year-old from Mount Ayr. The staunch Democrat said she’d support either candidate in the general election, already eager to make calls and knock on doors, but added that she's got “shaky faith” that either Democrat can pull it off.

Lois Rose, 77, and her 79-year-old husband, John, said at the Des Moines farmers' market that they might not vote in the primary at all since they, so far, hadn't been able to make up their minds on whether one candidate is stronger than the other.

She suggested the pair could also coordinate their votes, each casting a ballot for one of the two. John liked the idea.

“They’re both so qualified,” said Lois Rose of West Des Moines. “They’re both very genuine, hence the difficulty.”

A federal judge in 11th Judicial Circuit received a “private reprimand” after a court investigation found that the judge had sex in the courthouse with a high-ranking uniformed police officer within earshot of staff, attended a partisan event and then initially lied to deny the allegations.

The court's investigation did not publicly identify the judge or the court location within the 11th Circuit's jurisdiction, which includes Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The Justice Department is relying on media reports that identify U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross in Atlanta as the judge in question.

The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the judge’s identity. A person who answered the phone in Ross’ chambers Friday said the judge was unavailable and referred questions about the allegations to the court’s media office which said, “Judge Ross has no comment right now.” The media office did not immediately respond Saturday to a second email seeking comment about the Justice Department motion seeking Ross’ recusal.

Federal judges are appointed for life but can be subject to disciplinary action, including censure, public or private reprimands and temporary withholding of cases. They can only be removed through impeachment by Congress.

Ross was nominated in January 2014 by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and she was confirmed by the Senate in November of that year. She had previously served as a state court judge in DeKalb County, which includes a small part of the city of Atlanta, since 2011. Prior to taking the bench, she had worked as a state and federal prosecutor, mostly in Atlanta, for more than a decade.

The election records fight

Ross is overseeing the election records case filed by the Justice Department against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The Justice Department has sued multiple states seeking statewide voter lists. Raffensperger has said that Georgia law prohibits the release of voters' confidential personal information unless certain qualifications are met and that the federal government hadn't met those conditions. He has said that he sent the public part of the voter roll to the Justice Department in December.

Ross has scheduled a hearing in the case for Wednesday, though the Justice Department has asked to delay that hearing because of its request for the judge to recuse herself.

The judicial discipline case

In the disciplinary case against the unnamed federal judge, the Judicial Council of the 11th Circuit chose in a February order to impose a private reprimand that kept the judge’s name secret. The Committee on Judicial Conduct and Disability of the Judicial Conference of the United States on May 22 affirmed that order.

An investigation report attached to the order says the judge went to an event hosted by a district attorney's campaign. The judge acknowledged having gone to the event to visit with former colleagues in the district attorney's office at a private mixer but said it was held in the same place but was separated from the prosecutor's victory party. The investigative committee found that the mixer was part of the larger partisan event that was sponsored by the district attorney's campaign or donors and that the judge should not have attended the event.

Ross previously worked in the Fulton County district attorney's office and overlapped with Willis there before Willis was district attorney.

The 2020 Georgia election case

Willis began investigating Trump and others for possible interference in the 2020 election in Fulton County soon after becoming district attorney in January 2021. Among the things she looked at was a January 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Raffensperger to help “find” the votes needed to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's win in Georgia in the 2020 presidential election.

Willis in August 2023 obtained an indictment against Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results. That case was ultimately dismissed in November after an appeals court found an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship Willis had with the outside lawyer she had hired to lead the prosecution.

The Justice Department's arguments

“A judge who attended a party celebrating the election of a Democrat best known for prosecuting a Republican President for alleged election interference cannot then preside over a case concerning that President's efforts to ensure election integrity,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in their filing Friday.

The Justice Department argued that any “objective reasonable observer” would see Ross' presence at Willis' election night party as an endorsement of her election and her actions in office.

“If Judge Ross is indeed the Subject Judge, that conduct gives rise to an appearance of bias, which requires Judge Ross to recuse herself from this election-related case,” the Justice Department filing says.

The Justice Department filing makes passing mention of the allegations of improper sexual activity with a police officer in the judge's chambers and the subsequent false statements the judge made to deny those allegations, but says “those are not the subject of this Motion.”

Separately, the Atlanta Police Department has said it has opened an investigation to determine whether the “high-ranking law enforcement officer” found to have had sex with a federal judge in the judge’s chambers is a member of their department.

Lao and Thai rescue groups posted about the successful operation on social media, along with photos of the men lying on stretchers, wearing oxygen masks and being wrapped in foil blankets.

The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.

Lao organization Rescue Volunteer for People said on its Facebook page that the water level inside the cave receded low enough for them to leave with divers who had gone in to deliver food and water. They said they will continue their search for the two who remain missing.

A video posted online by a Thai rescuer at the scene, Chakkit Taengtang, showed the men being assisted one by one out of the cave's entrance, bodies covered in mud. After they got out, some collapsed on the ground and were hugged by a group of rescuers who cried in joy.

The first of the trapped group was safely evacuated on Friday. According to rescuers, that operation took about 30 minutes. Videos showed the moment he emerged from the water alongside a diver, catching his breath before struggling to crawl through a narrow, flooded passage and rising unsteadily to his feet.

The villagers had reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals before being trapped by flash flooding that blocked their way out. One other villager escaped in time and alerted the authorities to the seven left behind.

Five of them were found alive Wednesday. They were identified by their first names as Khamla, Mued, Ee, Ing and Laen.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand were joined by Japanese and Malaysian colleagues. Indonesian, French and Australian specialists also reportedly arrived at the site in a rugged area in the central province of Xaisomboun, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane.

Several of them had taken part in the complicated 2018 cave rescue in northern Thailand of 12 schoolboys and their soccer coach.

Rescuers are also preparing to search for the two villagers who remain missing.

Kengkaj Bongkawong, head of the Thai rescue group Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, said Friday that the team plans to explore an area deeper inside the cave, about 20 to 25 meters (yards) beyond where the survivors were found. However, he cautioned that the section is heavily flooded.

Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said falling drone debris sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and tanker in the port of Taganrog, while officials in the neighboring Krasnodar region reported a fire breaking out at an oil depot in Armavir for the same reason.

“Another facility of Russia’s oil industry has been reached — Armavir,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, referring to the Krasnodar attack, and noting that Armavir is “500 kilometers from our state border.”

“We are rightfully bringing the war back to where it came from,” he wrote.

Ukraine has expanded its mid- and long-range strike capabilities, deploying drone and missile technology that it has developed domestically to battle Russia’s 4-year-old invasion. Attacks on Russian oil assets that play a key part in funding the invasion have become almost daily occurrences.

For its part, Russia has used its long-range ballistic missiles to damage Ukraine’s power grid and hammer its cities. The Ukrainian capital is bracing for further heavy bombardments after what the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week would be upcoming “systemic strikes” on Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that he’s being “very persistent” in pressing the United States to provide his country with more Patriot air defense missiles that can counter devastating Russian ballistic missile attacks.

The attacks on Russian oil infrastructure came a day after a Russian drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine struck an apartment building in eastern Romania, injuring two people in the NATO member country. The incursion added to concerns that the war could spread across the alliance’s borders, and drew strong condemnation across Europe.

Meanwhile, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom said Saturday that a ​Ukrainian drone struck the Russian-controlled ‌Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

There was no damage to key equipment, but the attack left a hole in the ​wall of a turbine hall, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said. He was quoted as saying by Russian state media that the fact that the drone was controlled via fiber optics “completely rules out the possibility of an accidental impact.”

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident.

The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest.

___

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

Southern Jerks | 2950 Gears Rd., Houston

Chris first step is an unexpected find tucked inside a Speedy Mart on Gears Road. That’s where Southern Jerks has quietly built a devoted following thanks to its Caribbean-inspired fried chicken and house-made sauces.

Owners Jabril and Jordan Riddick draw inspiration from their Virgin Islands heritage, creating what they describe as Caribbean fried chicken rather than traditional Jamaican jerk. The result is a flavor profile that’s savory, slightly sweet and incredibly approachable.

• PREVIOUS EPISODE: ‘Eat Like a Local’ finds top Houston area spots for dumplings, kebabs, and Yemeni-Mexican Pastries

Everything is made in-house, from the mac and cheese sauce and dirty rice to the hot sauces and the fan-favorite Golden Ranch, a curry-based sauce that quickly became one of Chris’ favorites.

The menu offers plenty of options, including wings, tenders, sandwiches and even burgers, all seasoned with the restaurant’s signature Caribbean influence.

Captain Mc’s Seafood |5055 Griggs Rd., Houston

Next, Chris headed to Captain Mc’s Seafood on Griggs Road, where owner and commercial fisherman Fred McBride is taking local seafood sourcing to another level.

Before opening the restaurant, McBride spent years supplying some of Houston’s top chefs with Gulf seafood. Now he’s bringing that same product directly to his own customers. The concept is simple: if it’s on the menu, Fred either caught it himself or sourced it from local Gulf fishermen.

• Watch “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd” Saturday at 10 a.m. on KPRC and KPRC 2+

Black drum, blue crab and Gulf shrimp are the backbone of the operation. While most restaurants buy pre-picked crab meat, McBride and his team process their own fresh caught blue crabs, creating crab cakes and fried crab fingers.

One of the restaurant’s most unique features is a QR code that allows guests to watch videos of the fish and seafood being caught, creating a direct connection between the water and the plate. For Chris, that’s what makes Captain Mc’s special is that it’s full circle - you know exactly who caught it and how it got to your plate.

Fountain View Fish Market | 2912 Fountain View, Houston

The final stop brought Chris to one of Houston’s longtime seafood institutions: Fountain View Fish Market. The no-frills restaurant has been serving Houstonians since the 1970s and remains one of Chris’ favorite places for fried seafood.

From the outside, it’s easy to miss. The sign simply reads “Fish Market.” Inside, however, you’ll find some of the city’s most consistently excellent fried Gulf seafood. Using locally sourced shrimp, oysters, crab and fish, the kitchen has mastered a frying technique that produces seafood that’s crispy, light and never greasy.

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Season 3 of “Eat Like a Local”

• SEASON 3, EPISODE 56: Season 3 of ‘Eat Like a Local’ launches with chefs recognized by the James Beard Awards
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 57: Beer + Bites: Discover two of the Houston-area’s best craft breweries
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 58: Hungry for a short trip? 4 flavorful restaurants to try in Baytown
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 59: Not your typical Chinese takeout! Houston’s regional Chinese restaurants serve up authenticity in every bite
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 60: From tortas to paletas: Generations of Mexican-American flavor in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 61: Farmed Fresh: Gulf Coast oysters make waves in Houston restaurants
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 62: Houston’s pizza scene is rising: Chris Shepherd explores top spots for every style
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 63: ‘Fine casual’ dining with killer cocktails | Go inside Brennan’s renovated courtyard bar in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 64: Houston eateries transform healthy dining with vibrant flavors and customizable meals everyone will love
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 65: These Greek family restaurants became Houston icons | Hear the stories behind Christie’s and Cleburne Cafeteria
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 66: Classic dishes are taken to new levels at these Houston restaurants | What to order at State of Grace & Credence
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 67: Discover Houston Asiatown’s unique snacks with Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 68: ‘Eat Like a Local’ explores Jūn’s cultural fusion and Latuli’s coastal cuisine in Houston
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 69: Chris Shepherd’s Houston-area burger picks include a hot new spot and a 50-year classic
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 70: MEET THE PITMASTERS 🔥 ‘Eat Like a Local’ gets to know the teams behind CorkScrew BBQ & Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 71: Win the Hosting Game! 🏈 Game Day recipes & crowd-pleasers from Chef Chris Shepherd
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 72: These meat markets are a cut above when it comes to quality, flavor, and tradition
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 73: ‘Top Chef’ finalist says this spot has the best corn dogs at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 74: Houston coffee gems (Matcha lovers, this one’s for you)
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 75: Craving Cajun food in Houston? These restaurants deliver big variety and flavor
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 76: Where to eat in Houston’s Heights neighborhood | Chris Shepherd visits 3 top picks
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 77: Chris Shepherd shares two of his favorite Houston-area spots for a great meal with friends
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 78: Every stop Chris Shepherd hits in this no-theme episode of ‘Eat Like a Local’
• SEASON 3, EPISODE 79: ‘Eat Like a Local’ finds top Houston area spots for dumplings, kebabs, and Yemeni-Mexican Pastries
• Watch seasons 1 & 2 of “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd”

Speaking to a group of world leaders, diplomats and top security officials at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore, Hegseth said that the region “has profound implications for U.S. security and prosperity” and that Washington's priority was to “achieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific.”

It was his second time addressing the forum, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Last year, he raised the ire of Beijing by warning of rapidly developing threats from China, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan. He said China is no longer just building up its military forces to take Taiwan, it’s “actively training for it, every day.”

This year, however, the meeting comes only about two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump visited Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, following which Trump called Xi a “great leader” and said that they were going to have a “fantastic future together.”

Hegseth says China won't be allowed to dominate the region

Hegseth, who was with Trump in Beijing, said the two leaders had agreed that China and the U.S. should “build a constructive relationship of strategic stability, based on fairness and reciprocity, reaffirming that while our nations will vigorously protect our respective interests, we can secure practical, mutually beneficial agreements where our interests align.”

However, he said it was still an American priority to ensure that China is not allowed to dominate the Indo-Pacific.

“There is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,” he said.

"We share a clear-eyed assessment of that security environment and a mutual understanding that a Pacific dominated by any hegemon would unravel the regional balance of power and undermine the equilibrium we all seek to preserve.”

Later in the day, Chinese Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing praised Hegseth's remarks about the meeting between Xi and Trump, saying the consensus the leaders reached “should provide strategic guidance for China-U.S. relations over the next three years and beyond.”

“During his meeting with President Trump, President Xi Jinping made it clear that such constructive strategic stability should be a positive form of stability centered on cooperation, a healthy form of stability in which competition remains within reasonable bounds, a normal state of stability in which differences are managed and kept under control, and a lasting form of stability that offers the prospect of peace,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, part of a congressional delegation to the conference, accused the Trump administration of “cozying up” to China.

“I worry that this administration is being distracted into wars that they’ve started in other parts of the world at the expense of our commitment here in the Indo-Pacific,” the Illinois Democrat told reporters on the sidelines.

“I am concerned that it seems like our president is entering into, you know, policies where he’s doing what Beijing wants him to do,” she added.

After the meetings between Xi and Trump, the American president raised questions about Washington’s willingness to defend Taiwan, calling a new $14 billion arms package that he has yet to greenlight “a very good negotiating chip for us” with China.

China claims the democratic self-governing island as its own, and Xi has not ruled out using force to take it. The U.S. is required by law to help provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though follows a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether it would intervene militarily if China were to attack the island.

Hegseth told the forum that there was “no change in our status” toward Taiwan, but would not comment on the arms deal.

“Any decision about future Taiwan arms sales, as the president said, will rest with him,” he said.

US praises countries that spent more on defense

He underscored the Trump administration's insistence that allies increase defense spending, saying “we need partners, not protectorates.”

He lauded several countries in Asia for their efforts, while reiterating criticism of European allies, without naming names, who he suggested got “distracted by empty globalist rhetoric about the rules-based international order.”

“Our partners in Asia have long understood that the bedrock of a durable partnership is not based on idealistic values but on the concrete alignment of national interests,” he said.

“When our interests diverge, we adjust pragmatically, without the drama or the moralizing,” he added. “I think Western Europe might take note — this is a mindset we fully embrace.”

Hegseth did not mention either the war in Ukraine or Iran war in his speech. When asked about Iran, he only said that Trump had assured him that when negotiations with Tehran had concluded, “any deal will be a good deal.”

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, whose country was among those Hegseth praised for increased military spending, said that while the international rules-based order is not perfect, the “task before us, all of us, including the great powers, is the renovation of that order, not its dismemberment.”

“When the rules apply, smaller states have agency,” Marles said in a speech that followed Hegseth's. “When the rules yield to power, sovereignty becomes, as others have put it, the purview of the powerful, and no state in this room today, whatever its size, is well served by that outcome.”

UK, US and Australia announce new undersea drone initiative

At an event held outside the conference, Hegseth, Marles and British Defense Secretary John Healey announced a new initiative in their AUKUS partnership, whose primary focus has been the development and construction of nuclear-powered submarines.

Under the so-called second pillar of AUKUS, the three said they would together invest in the development of improved capabilities for underwater drones.

“Together we produce a range of cutting-edge sensors or weapons systems for undersea drones,” Healey said, adding it will help detect threats including to underwater cables and pipelines.

Deputies with Constable Mark Herman’s Office say they have located 6-year-old Kiara Hsieh safe in La Marque, Texas, following what the agency described as a rapid response and diligent investigation.

Kiara is being evaluated by EMS as a precaution and is expected to be reunited with her mother.

Deputies also took James Dean Ramirez — described as the mother’s ex-boyfriend and not the child’s biological father — into custody.

The Amber Alert has been canceled.

“Outstanding work by our Special Operations Unit, Special Victims Unit Investigators, law enforcement partners, and everyone involved in bringing this case to a safe resolution,” Herman said.

The case remains an active investigation.

ORIGINAL REPORT

DICKINSON, Texas - Authorities are investigating the abduction of 6-year-old Kiara Hsieh, according to the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.

The Texas Department of Public Safety issued a local Amber Alert at 5:50 a.m. on Saturday. Authorities said Kiara was last seen around 6:39 p.m. on Friday in the 12300 block of 2nd Street in Dickinson in Galveston County.

The Amber Alert notes Kiara is 4 feet 8 inches tall, 60 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Ramirez is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 138 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Investigators have filed kidnapping charges against James Dean Ramirez, 36, after he allegedly failed to return Kiara to her mother, deputies said. Officials added Ramirez is not the child’s biological father.

Ramirez was last known to be in the Galveston area and may be driving a brown 2012 Ford Explorer with Texas license plate SVM5598, authorities said.

Constable Mark Herman said the agency’s Special Victims Unit is actively working the case alongside federal partners.

“We are urging anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Kiara Hsieh or James Dean Ramirez to immediately contact 911 or their local law enforcement agency,” Herman said in a statement.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911. The point of contact listed in the alert is the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 4 at (281) 376-3472.

The Faculty Senate survey found about half of respondents said they changed course content on their own because of concerns about the memos from system leaders, while roughly a quarter said administrators or other university personnel asked them to.

More than half of the 367 respondents noted they were looking for jobs elsewhere because of the restrictions that started trickling down in the fall semester.

The findings complicate the picture Texas Tech System administrators presented this spring, when they said fewer than 60 of the more than 14,000 courses offered across the system’s five universities were recommended for changes after review.

The two counts measure different things. Administrators counted formal review outcomes across the system. The Faculty Senate tried to capture changes professors at the flagship campus in Lubbock said they made or were asked to make.

“We really just want to capture for posterity what’s going on here,” said Alan Barenberg, chair of the Faculty Senate committee who drafted and sent the survey, “because it may be that we can’t change or affect the outcome of things, but people ought to know what took place here.”

Chancellor Brandon Creighton has said the restrictions are meant to comply with state and federal law and to ensure students receive “degrees of value,” which he has described as degrees that prepare students for high-demand jobs with strong pay.

Erin Wilson, Creighton’s spokesperson, pushed back on the survey’s significance, saying the system relies on “sound methodology and representative data, not self-selected samples.”

“For that reason, Chancellor Creighton places greater weight on the findings of the course content review process,” Wilson said in a statement late Friday, referring to administrators’ systemwide review. “The facts simply do not support the notion that academic freedom and accountability cannot coexist.”

In September, then-Chancellor Tedd Mitchell told university presidents that faculty must comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, a letter from Gov. Greg Abbott and a new state law, all recognizing only two sexes. Mitchell directed faculty to review course materials, curricula and syllabi and make adjustments where needed.

After Creighton took over in November, he went further, telling faculty in December to submit course content related to gender identity and sexual orientation for review by the system’s regents. He barred faculty from promoting certain concepts related to race and sex, including that one race or sex is inherently superior to another or that people bear responsibility for actions committed by others of the same race or sex.

In April, Creighton issued the most sweeping memo yet, ordering the system’s universities to begin phasing out academic programs centered on sexual orientation and gender identity; barring that content from core and lower-level undergraduate courses while limiting it in upper-level courses; and restricting future graduate theses and dissertation centered on those topics.

Barenberg acknowledged the survey, conducted in May, was not scientific. However, faculty senators had limited options after university officials denied their request to email it to all faculty, he added.

The Faculty Senate posted the survey on its website and put it behind a password-protected login so only people with Texas Tech credentials could access it. Faculty could respond anonymously, he said.

Texas Tech University had 2,157 faculty as of the fall semester, the latest data available. The report noted the survey received more responses than Texas Tech’s annual IT satisfaction survey, which drew 237 faculty responses last year.

“You can say it’s not representative, fine, but I think it speaks very loudly,” Barenberg said.

The survey showed the memos hit some colleges harder than others.

Respondents from the colleges of education, media and communication, and visual and performing arts reported higher levels of changing teaching material on their own than faculty overall. Engineering faculty reported the fewest changes.

Meanwhile, about 18% of responding faculty said they changed their research because of the memos, while 7% said administrators asked them to change their research.

Earlier this month, administrators from the provost’s office met with departments and handed out written feedback from the regents’ academic, clinical and student affairs committee, multiple professors told The Texas Tribune.

In his department meeting, Barenberg said faculty were told the feedback was generated by an artificial intelligence tool. He said that tool flagged readings from his graduate seminar on European historiography, including one week focused on how historians have studied gender and sexuality.

Barenberg said the AI tool also generated feedback that mischaracterized at least one reading and initially appeared to include instructions meant for another course. After he asked the provost’s office for clarification, he said he received a corrected form telling him to teach the course without those readings. He said he was told he could not appeal the decision.

Barenberg said he is not scheduled to teach the course again in the fall. But if he teaches it again, he said he would not follow the directive.

“I’m ethically bound by my discipline to teach history to the best of my ability, and that includes not censoring particular texts because of someone’s political preferences,” Barenberg said.

In her statement, Wilson encouraged faculty concerned about a particular course to utilize the established review process.

“The fact simply do not support the notion that academic freedom and accountability cannot coexist,” she said. “At Texas Tech, they do.”

Before becoming chancellor, Creighton was a Republican state senator. He authored Senate Bill 37, which aimed to limit faculty senates roles on campuses and gave governor-appointed regents more authority over curriculum.

Texas Tech’s Faculty Senate was never especially powerful and typically worked cooperatively with administrators, Barenberg said. But the law forced the university’s senate to reorganize. And the April memo changed the mood on campus from fear to anger, he said.

Now, the Faculty Senate is using its limited advisory role to formally condemn Creighton’s latest memo.

In a resolution also passed this month, faculty senators said Creighton’s April memo would harm Texas Tech, limit what students can learn and impose viewpoint discrimination on students, staff and faculty. They also warned the chancellor’s directives infringe on free inquiry and set a precedent for political interference in academic matters.

Other Texas university leaders also have moved to restrict or reorganize programs and courses tied to race, gender and sexuality.

Texas A&M University System regents barred professors at its 12 universities from advocating for race or gender ideology or bringing up topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity unless a university president approves it in a specific, non-core or graduate course after review. Texas A&M University officials in College Station later eliminated its women’s and gender studies program and canceled or revised courses after reviewing thousands of syllabi.

University of Texas System regents passed a rule requiring its 14 universities to ensure students can graduate without taking courses that include “unnecessary controversial subjects.” The rule says instructors must take a “broad and balanced approach” when courses include controversial issues, but it does not define what that means. UT-Austin is consolidating seven ethnic and gender studies departments.

At Texas Tech, presidents have until June 15 to identify academic programs, majors, minors and certificates centered on sexual orientation and gender identity. Creighton has said universities must then freeze admissions to those programs while current students are allowed to finish their degrees.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Fenway Sports Group, the club’s American ownership, said it made a “difficult” decision after Liverpool finished fifth and trophy-less in a disappointing title defense.

“We have collectively come to the conclusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward,” the ownership said in a statement. “Again, it must be stressed that this is not a decision which has been reached lightly, anything but.”

Slot replaced club icon Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2024 and led Liverpool to a record-tying 20th English league title.

Liverpool spent an unprecedented $570 million to strengthen the squad for his second season but most of the expensive signings, including Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and injury-hit striker Alexander Isak, underwhelmed.

The club also was affected by the death of Portugal forward Diogo Jota last summer.

A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the decision did “not sit easily” with Liverpool and “on a human level” did not “feel entirely fair."

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the club had already issued a public statement.

The person said it was increasingly inevitable that a change of coach was required and it was better to act sooner to avoid disrupting preparations for next season.

The process to assess Slot’s replacement has begun, with Liverpool seeking a manager who will play a more “aggressive and urgent” style of soccer. Andoni Iraola, the Spanish coach who left Bournemouth at the end of this season, would fit that description and is the frontrunner to come in.

Slot, 47, appears to have paid the price for failing to emulate a debut campaign that exceeded expectations.

Filling the boots of a club icon was always going to be an arduous task. So, for the Dutchman to match Klopp's one Premier League title at the first time of asking was a remarkable feat and emulated the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Antonio Conte by being crowned champion in his first year in the league.

While a fifth-place finish that secured Champions League qualification does not represent a terrible campaign, Liverpool's slump in form was notable and prompted boos from fans.

A public fallout with the legendary winger Mohamed Salah did not help either.

Slot was adamant there would be an improvement in the third and final year of his contract, but Liverpool's hierarchy was unconvinced.

“That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” the club statement said. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and — most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves — successful.

“As such, our appreciation for everything he has achieved could not be greater, particularly as it was underpinned by a work ethic, a diligence and a level of expertise which further underlined our view that he is a leader in his field.”

Liverpool joins Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea as another top English team to make a coaching change ahead of next season.

Michael Carrick has been given a long-term deal to replace the fired Ruben Amorim at United and Pep Guardiola has left City after 10 trophy-laden years, with Enzo Maresca favorite to take over. Chelsea has appointed former Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso.

___

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

Constable Ryan Gable’s Criminal Investigations Division said the case was opened in May 2026 after detectives learned Alexander Marban allegedly altered the images by removing clothing and pairing the minors’ faces with nude bodies from the neck down. Investigators said they later obtained a search warrant and went to Marban’s residence on May 28, where multiple devices were seized for forensic review.

• 20-year-old man killed in northeast Harris County shooting; teenage girlfriend may have been involved, deputies say

After analyzing the devices, detectives said they developed probable cause to believe Marban created the images with the intent to possess child sexual assault material (CSAM). Marban was arrested at his home and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, a second-degree felony, along with one count of methamphetamine possession, a state jail felony.

The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to identify additional victims.

Anyone with information is asked to call (281) 364-4211 and request to speak with a detective, or submit a tip online through the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office website.

"What’s the word?” Steve McCabe, an 80-year-old retired lawyer, asked Jon Bramnick, a GOP state senator.

Bramnick had no answer for Kean's unexplained medical absence that has stretched over nearly three months. But he told the audience how Kean hated to miss votes when they served together in the Legislature, even if that meant driving through a snowstorm.

“I said, ‘Tom, we should really turn around,’” he recalled.

Now Kean has missed more than 100 votes in Congress, and he has not been spotted in Washington or in his district. It is a political mystery with potentially national consequences: Kean represents a district that is among Democrats' top targets as they try to retake control of Congress.

Kean's office insists he is still running for reelection. He is not facing any challengers in Tuesday's primary while several Democrats are running for their party's nomination.

Harrison Neely, Kean’s campaign consultant, said the congressman was dealing with a medical emergency. He promised that Kean would be transparent about the issue and would return to a full schedule “very soon.”

“This was an emergency, you don’t get to plan these,” Neely said. “There’s no good timing for this.”

To Bramnick, it seems like it must be something serious.

“For him not to be there, that’s a big deal," he said.

‘We're expecting him back here soon’

Kean represents the 7th Congressional District, a mix of suburbs and small towns. It includes President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf course.

Despite being redrawn after the most recent census in 2021 to become more favorable to Republicans, the district has seesawed between the parties in each of the last two midterm elections. Republican Leonard Lance lost to Democrat Tom Malinowski in 2018. Malinowski lost to Kean in 2022.

Kean's last vote in the House was March 5. Since then his absence has drawn escalating attention.

“We’re expecting him back here soon," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently. “He’s going to be fully transparent."

Kean comes from a storied political family. His father served as governor. An ancestor was New Jersey’s first leader after the United States declared independence.

The New Jersey Globe, a local political website, said it received a call from Kean this month. He did not explain his condition, only that “my doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery.”

McCabe, the voter who asked Bramnick about Kean, said he wanted an update after reading the news about the congressman's absence.

“I hope he’s not sick,” he said.

What if Kean steps down?

Bruce Paterson, a 75-year-old retired engineer from Garwood, described himself as a “regular Democrat, not like the crazy Democrats they have today.” He attended the town hall with Bramnick and plans to support Kean in the general election.

“I hope he comes back,” he said. “I mean, will I vote for him? Probably only because we need a nice balance" in a state otherwise dominated by Democrats.

Another voter asked Bramnick if Kean steps down after Tuesday’s primary whether he would accept the Republican nomination for the 7th District. If that were to happen, party leaders in the district's counties would hold a convention to choose a replacement.

Bramnick repeatedly noted Kean is running for reelection and questioned whether his own candidacy would be a good fit in today's Republican Party. While Bramnick has criticized Trump, including during Bramnick's failed campaign for governor last year, Kean has embraced the president and features his endorsement prominently on social media accounts.

“I’m not considered the biggest fan of Donald Trump,” Bramnick said. “I don’t think that the Republican Party is interested in sending someone to Washington that may vote yes or no depending on how I feel about the issue.”

Democrats are waiting in the wings

Some Democrats running in the primary have criticized Kean over the failure to tell constituents about what is going on.

“Tom Kean disappeared from the job,” said Michael Roth, a former Small Business Administration official.

Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy pilot also in the race, wished Kean a speedy recovery but criticized his record in Congress, including the battle over money for a new railway tunnel connecting New Jersey with New York City.

“He was nowhere to be found when funding got cut for the Gateway Tunnel, which is a critical infrastructure project in our district,” she said.

Candidates Tina Shah, an intensive care unit doctor, and Brian Varela, a marketing agency founder, have also been critical of Kean during debates.

Kean, who has a cash advantage at this point over his potential Democratic opponents, still has time before the November election to connect with voters, said Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship.

“The issue is not going to be that he was out for a hundred plus votes in the spring,” he said. “The question is really, how effective is he going to get once he returns?”

Yet even after interviews with some of the highest-ranked officials to ever appear before a congressional investigation, including a former president, lawmakers have little to show in terms of criminal culpability for Epstein’s crimes or a definitive acknowledgment of government failure.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who sponsored legislation to force the release of case files on Epstein, told The Associated Press he is still asking, “Why there has not been a single investigation of people who have allegedly abused or committed financial crimes?”

Lawmakers hoped to get some answers to those questions during a transcribed interview Friday with Pam Bondi, President Donald Trump's former attorney general who oversaw the release of the files.

But the interview left Democrats fuming at Bondi's decision to defend the Trump administration's handling of that material, as well as her refusal to answer questions about the Republican president's involvement. Democratic lawmakers also singled out Republican Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, saying he has allowed administration officials to dodge tough questions from Congress.

For survivors of Epstein's abuse, including several who traveled to Washington to confront Bondi, it was a frustrating development at a time when many are weary of pleading their case before government officials. They say the Department of Justice's chaotic release of the files, which included nude photos and personal information of potential victims, has only added to a wider failure by the criminal justice system to believe or protect them.

“The government’s refusal to acknowledge the failures that were there have led to so much harm,” said Annie Farmer. “And I think whenever you’re thinking about things from a perspective of justice or healing, without acknowledgment, it’s really hard to move forward.”

Push for accountability scrambled political lines

The committee's investigation has been remarkably bipartisan at many moments, with Democrats and Republicans joining to issue subpoenas and force witness testimony. Besides Bondi, lawmakers have interviewed former Democratic President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.

That effort shows lawmakers are willing to cross political lines when there is overwhelming public pressure to act. Dozens of women have accused Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier, of sexual abuse and rape, including in the years after he reached a deal with federal prosecutors in 2008 to dispose of a federal investigation in exchange for pleading guilty to state level sex offense charges in Florida.

Epstein, who was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges, was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them.

His case has captured the public imagination as an example of how the rich and powerful escape accountability for wrongdoing. Lawmakers took up the cause last year after the administration failed to meet promises to provide transparency on the case.

Different continents, different standards?

Despite the investigation originating in the United States, the reckoning over Epstein has been relatively mild in the country compared with Europe. There, senior figures in governments including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and Slovakia have all been forced to step down over their ties to Epstein.

In its investigation, the House committee spoke to some of Epstein’s closest associates, including his former financial client Les Wexner, his lawyer Darren Indyke and his accountant Richard Kahn. The Clintons, Lutnick and others were also called to testify.

All have said more or less the same thing: They knew nothing about Epstein abusing underage girls.

Still, the release of Epstein files has had consequences. At least eight American academic and business figures have been forced from positions of power, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers from teaching at Harvard University and Kathy Ruemmler from her post as the chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs.

Bank of America and Epstein’s estate have reached multimillion-dollar settlements with women who have accused the institutions of facilitating Epstein’s sex-trafficking operations.

Comer, R-Ky., said last week that the names of three people allegedly involved in abuse had come up in an interview with Epstein’s former personal assistant, Sarah Kellen. The congresswoman plans to interview six more people with connections to Epstein in the coming weeks, including billionaire Bill Gates, private equity investor Leon Black, the former CEO of Barclays Bank Jes Staley and Ruemmler.

“The government has failed the survivors. There’s no doubt about that," Comer said, adding, "What we’re trying to do is connect all the dots and see if there is a way to hold people accountable.”

But it has stung lawmakers to see a reckoning over Epstein for figures such as Britain’s former Prince Andrew at time when the administration has tried repeatedly to move past the issue.

“A prince has been taken down and here in the United States, our Department of Justice, which is sitting on millions of files, is refusing to act,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., pointing to unreleased case files that the Justice Department is withholding on the grounds that they are duplicative or illegal to make public.

“That is not a failure, that is a choice,” Stansbury said.

Survivors and Democratic lawmakers have also taken issue with the administration's decision to move Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime confidant and former girlfriend, to a minimum-security prison camp. She is serving a 20-year sentence for luring teenage girls for Epstein to abuse.

Will survivors be heard?

Scattered across the country and busy with lives of their own, survivors of Epstein's abuse have made repeated trips to Washington to push for government action. After years of fighting in court and sharing traumatic stories privately, they have become increasingly outspoken in their quest for accountability.

“It is very taxing to be continually focused on this case,” Farmer said. She added that even if the government's response has not met her hopes, she has seen a wider cultural movement to address sexual predation.

To Marina Lacerda, another survivor, “Accountability is kind of hard right now. But we are looking for saving the next generation."

But they also want the administration to listen to their stories. Pressing for the president's ear, several victims spoke this month at a hearing just miles away from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that was organized by Democrats on the House committee.

For some of the survivors, the return to South Florida was also an opportunity to finally be heard. Jena-Lisa Jones told the panel that she was 14 years old when she was abused by Epstein in Palm Beach.

She implored the lawmakers: “Find a way to bring closure to the story of Jeffrey Epstein to allow survivors and this country to finally begin to move forward so that one day, and I pray soon, Jeffrey Epstein’s name is no longer something we are forced to hear every single day.”

He'll do it for a 10% cut of any award, capped at $5,000 apiece.

“I think the narrative is changing” about how the history of that day is being told, Johnston said in a video he posted to social media. “I think good things are happening for us.”

Hundreds of Trump loyalists pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol, admitting under oath that they broke the law. Now pardoned by Trump, many hope to capitalize on their crimes by tapping into the $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate the Republican president's allies who believe they were politically prosecuted.

A bipartisan backlash to the fund and a legal roadblock have not dimmed the celebratory response from Jan. 6 rioters clamoring for a share of the taxpayer money. Some are staking claims even though the government has not established an application process and a judge has frozen the fund's formation, at least temporarily.

Rioters seek compensation payouts

The fund's critics see it as another vehicle for Trump and his allies to whitewash the events of Jan. 6, retroactively justify the mob's assault on a pillar of American democracy and reward some of Trump's most loyal followers.

Jason Riddle, a military veteran from New Hampshire who was sentenced to 90 days behind bars after pleading guilty to riot charges, publicly rejected a pardon from Trump. Likewise, he said it would be “ridiculous” for him or any other Jan. 6 rioter to get government compensation.

“I'd love money, but I can’t accept that. That would bother me for the rest of my life,” he said. "We weren't innocently persecuted just because of who we are or who we vote for. We were persecuted for committing criminal behavior in the Capitol of the United States."

Plenty of other “J6ers” do not share Riddle's reluctance.

A Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s podium argued on social media that he deserves to be compensated for the cost of his infamy. A rioter from New Jersey described by prosecutors as a Nazi sympathizer hailed the fund as “good news not just for J6ers but all victims of weaponization.” A Texas man who received a seven-year prison sentence for storming the Capitol with a metal tomahawk celebrated the fund as “payback” for “victims of Biden’s tyranny,” referring to Democratic President Joe Biden.

Oregon resident Pamela Hemphill, sentenced to 60 days in jail for her conviction, rejected a pardon from Trump but has drafted a written claim for compensation from the fund. Unlike scores of rioters who claim to be victims of a government weaponized by Democrats, Hemphill blames Trump for her legal troubles. Her claims letter says she is seeking $5 million in compensation.

“I wouldn't have been through all of this if Trump hadn't lied about the election being stolen," she said during a telephone interview. "It's a direct result of his lies that I was even there that day.”

Fund faces legal and political challenges

It is an open question whether anyone convicted of a Capitol riot-related crime could be eligible for payments from a fund created to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that possibility. Blanche said there are no limits on who can apply, but he noted that the fund’s five commissioners — all yet to be named — will decide who deserves to be compensated and why, based on factors such as “what the person did, his sentence, how much time he was in jail.”

“That's up to the commissioners,” Blanche told The Associated Press on Thursday when asked about his position on whether violent Jan. 6 defendants should be eligible for payments.

“You have to define something and then stick to it. That’s something I’ve been hesitant to try to do, because it’s very fact-intensive,” Blanche said. ”Me sitting here and talking in hypotheticals is something that I don’t think is fair to the process.”

It is unclear whether Congress would block payments to Jan. 6 defendants. Senate Republicans who are angry about the settlement have said they want to place parameters on the fund as part of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. They abruptly left town earlier this month after a tense meeting with Blanche and will return on Monday with the situation unresolved.

A federal judge in Virginia has frozen the fund's establishment and temporarily blocked any processing or paying of claims. The judge issued that ruling Friday in one of at least three lawsuits challenging the fund.

Brendan Ballou, a former prosecutor who tried several Jan. 6 cases before leaving the Department of Justice last year, sued on behalf of two police officers who helped defend the Capitol from the mob. Ballou views the fund’s creation as part of a broader Trump campaign to undermine democratic institutions and rewrite the history of Jan. 6.

“And if the president is successful in that effort, if he’s able to get people to either forget or condone that day, he knows that he can get people to accept any attack on democracy,” Ballou said.

Rioters emboldened by Trump's Jan. 6 recasting

Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,200 were convicted and sentenced before Trump issued mass pardons and ordered the dismissal of all pending Jan. 6 cases. Trump also freed far-right extremist group members who were imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden.

The self-described “J6 community” isn’t the only pro-Trump constituency angling for cuts of the money.

Meshawn Maddock, who was charged as being a fake elector for Trump in Michigan before a judge dismissed the case last year, said she and her husband, state Rep. Matt Maddock, “absolutely” plan on making a claim. She believes the fund’s use of taxpayer money is justified because it “paid for the prosecution and investigation of the years that I was being hunted down.”

“I want vengeance and I want retribution,” Maddock said.

Trump's campaign to recast Jan. 6 as a peaceful protest seems to have emboldened many convicted rioters.

Johnston's eagerness to help other Capitol rioters with claims contrasts with his remorse at sentencing in 2022. He apologized for his “terrible lapse in judgment” before a judge sentenced him to three weeks in jail and three months of home detention. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespassing charge.

“It was a dumb, dumb thing to do,” Johnston told the judge. “I am 100% responsible for what I did that day.”

___

Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Mary Claire Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

“I felt a disconnect right away,” she recalled.

At home, the Orlando, Florida, mom was exhausted and anxious and cried every day. She was eventually diagnosed with postpartum depression — a potentially dangerous condition that can fill a typically joyous time with deep despair.

The mood disorder has been on the rise. A 2024 study in the journal JAMA Network Open found that U.S. rates more than doubled in just over a decade, climbing from 9.4% in 2010 to 19% in 2021, partly due to improved screening and diagnosis.

It can be hard to differentiate the disorder from the much milder and more common “baby blues” brought on by plummeting hormone levels. But recognizing and treating postpartum depression is crucial, said OB-GYN Dr. Tiffany Moore Simas at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.

Moms who go untreated may have problems bonding with and caring for their babies. And they're at increased risk of suicide.

“A healthy you will ultimately be important for a healthy baby,” Moore Simas said.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

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How to tell if postpartum sadness is more than baby blues

Baby blues affects about 8 in 10 new moms, striking shortly after delivery.

“Moms will feel kind of more emotional than normal,” said Dr. Jennifer Payne, an expert in reproductive psychiatry at the University of Virginia.

But the crying jags and feelings of sadness aren’t severe enough to interfere with normal life. Moms should still be able to care for themselves and their babies.

Screening tools can help discern if the problem is more serious. A commonly used 10-item questionnaire, often given at a postpartum checkup, asks how often a mom has experienced feelings such as sadness, panic or worry. A high score points toward the need for further evaluation.

Experts say there's no single cause of postpartum depression. Genetics, physical changes and emotional issues may contribute to it.

“We’re pretty sure that having a case of the baby blues doesn’t increase your risk of postpartum depression,” Payne said. “But it does seem that both conditions can develop in the same person.”

Signs of postpartum depression to watch out for

If sadness lingers for more than two weeks, that’s one sign.

Others include intense feelings of despair, anxiety, loss of interest, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, low energy and decreased concentration and appetite. Moms may worry constantly about their babies, be unable to sleep, or stop showering for days.

They “feel negatively and badly about themselves. They’ll feel that they’re a bad mother. They might not feel attached to the baby very much,” Payne said.

They may even have thoughts of harming themselves.

Carberg, who gave birth to her daughter in 2016, had such thoughts a couple of times — once while driving with her daughter. She went to a psychiatric facility for a few days and did better for a while.

But she later had a severe breakdown. She sent text messages to her husband, Chris, saying she was sorry, then turned her phone off. Chris desperately tried to reach her, worried she'd hurt herself.

“She luckily went to the hospital ER,” he said.

Postpartum depression can be treated effectively

Ultimately, finding the right medication was the key to Jenna Carberg’s recovery.

“I felt like myself again,” she said after taking the stimulant Vyvanse.

Other medications include antidepressants such as Zoloft or Prozac, or Zurzuvae, the first pill approved for postpartum depression. Talk therapy is another common treatment, and experts also stress the importance of getting enough sleep and support from family and friends.

To help others, the Carbergs started an online information resource — postpartumdepression.org — to provide support and connect patients with professional help.

Doctors advise anyone who thinks they or a loved one may have postpartum depression to reach out to their OB-GYN, primary care doctor or mental health provider.

If necessary, be persistent, said Dr. Kerry Hudson, an OB-GYN at Newport Women’s Health Services in Rhode Island. When she suffered postpartum depression two decades ago, she said, her doctor told her she was just an overstressed medical resident. She finally got help after breaking down in front of colleagues during a presentation.

After therapy and medications, Hudson went on to have a second child. So did the Carbergs. All are doing well.

“When we get people help, I think they can have a good future ahead of them,” Hudson said. “You don’t have to suffer in silence.”

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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.

Investigators with the Houston Police Department’s Northeast Division and Vice Division, along with the Texas State Comptroller’s Office, served the warrant around 1 a.m. at La Toxica Strip Club, 12910 East Freeway.

Officials said complaints over the past several months included allegations of prostitution, illegal alcohol sales, narcotics use and other offenses. During the search, investigators located more than a dozen dancers inside the club and worked with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine possible charges.

Authorities also recovered suspected narcotics, illegal alcohol and additional tobacco and vape products that investigators said were not permitted. Multiple people were detained, including individuals believed to be part of the club’s management.

The investigation remains ongoing.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Louis Norman was arrested Friday following a joint probe by the sheriff’s office Major Crimes Unit and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Public Integrity Unit. The investigation began after the Precinct 3 Constable’s Office received a complaint from Norman’s former girlfriend and forwarded it to county authorities.

• MORE NEWS: Police raid targets east Houston strip club after months of complaints

Detectives allege Norman looked up sensitive records in the National Crime Information Center and the Texas Crime Information Center systems even though the searches were not tied to law enforcement work. Misusing that kind of restricted information is considered a third-degree felony in Texas, officials said.

Norman has been fired from the constable’s office and is being held at the Montgomery County Jail. Authorities said the case is still active and more details have not been released.

According to the constable’s office, investigators responded Friday, May 29, 2026, to a Missing/Runaway Juvenile call in the Eastwood Hills subdivision. Family members told detectives that Josue Perez-Martinez left the residence on May 18, 2026, and has not returned.

• MORE NEWS: Is your home in a new flood zone? FEMA releases updated Harris County maps

The missing teen is described as 17 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall and about 115 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, according to the constable’s office.

Officials said he was last seen leaving the home by his parents in Eastwood Hills. He was reported to be wearing white shorts, a blue Oak Ridge High School T-shirt, and blue New Balance athletic shoes.

Anyone with information about Josue’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office at 281-364-4211 and ask for Detective Olmedo. After hours, callers can contact 936-760-5800. Reference report number 26E022331.

This girl was fighting her classmates. A police officer at her school, near Houston, blinded her with pepper spray, then kneed her in the face.

This boy threw a punch during a lunchroom brawl. A school officer in Irving yanked him off his feet and slammed him into a metal cart.

This 14-year-old was caught with a vape at his school in Mesquite. After he was restrained, an officer smashed him into a wall. “Who else?” the officer shouted at the teenagers gathered nearby.

Since the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde in 2022, school districts across Texas have spent billions of dollars to station police officers on every campus in the state. The effort, the most ambitious in the nation, was intended to protect students from similar tragedies.

But the constant presence of officers has transformed the way many public schools manage discipline, subjecting students to heavy-handed police tactics for behavior that once would have landed them only in the principal’s office, The New York Times and The San Antonio Express-News found.

Officers in Texas displayed startling belligerence at times, grabbing or tackling students a fraction of their size over misconduct that often appeared to be minor. Children in elementary school, including one as young as 6, were handcuffed. Teenagers were arrested, charged with crimes and even jailed. In the most extreme cases, they wound up in hospitals, bruised or concussed, after being body-slammed or shocked by Tasers, which are prohibited in the state’s juvenile detention facilities but allowed in its public schools.

There is no comprehensive record of use-of-force incidents across the more than 1,000 public school districts in Texas. Many districts and police agencies declined to disclose their data to our journalists; others did not respond to public records requests. More than 200 provided some information, but in most cases, it was limited.

Still, by examining even that small share of records, our reporters identified more than 2,600 use-of-force incidents that occurred from January 2022 through December 2025. About 450 of those interactions were described in detailed reports, which we reviewed. We also watched video footage from over two dozen encounters.

The records provide a first-of-its-kind look at how Texas’ initiative around school policing has played out in districts large and small, urban and rural.

Many incidents began over misbehavior such as dress-code violations, vaping or schoolyard scraps. Officers, often summoned by principals or teachers, escalated some situations by shouting obscenities or insults. They used physical takedown tactics in about 60 situations when students ignored their commands, talked back or pulled away.

In the Judson school district, which includes parts of San Antonio, an officer slammed a 15-year-old boy onto a table after he threw a cheese stick at another student, according to witnesses cited in public records. In a statement, the school district said that the student had tried to walk away from the officer, who used “necessary force to gain control of the situation.”

In the Cypress-Fairbanks district, near Houston, an officer hogtied a 10-year-old boy with a behavioral disorder who had kicked the principal, using a cord to bind his hands and feet behind his back, an internal investigation found. The officer had twice before used the same restraint technique, when the boy left campus during school, the records show. The district later banned the practice.

Tayshawn Chadwick, 17, was suspended from his school in the Aldine district for threatening to fight another student in December 2023. When he tried to retrieve his house keys from a classroom before leaving campus, a school officer pinned him against a window, according to records. Another officer pressed a Taser against his skin and shocked him repeatedly.

“It felt like a lightning bolt,” Tayshawn recalled in an interview.

Tayshawn was charged with resisting arrest and held in the county jail. The charge was dismissed after he completed an anger-management program. The school district declined to comment on the incident; records show that the officers’ supervisors deemed their actions in compliance with department policy.

In interviews, dozens of parents, teachers, principals and students said that they believed police officers were needed to keep schools safe. Many praised officers for stopping violent fights. Almost everyone cited fear of school shootings. As recently as March, a student at a high school in the San Antonio area shot a teacher and then killed himself. School officers have confiscated dozens of guns in that region alone, and some have thwarted potential attacks.

“Just look at the TV,” said LaTres Essien, who teaches third-grade math in Dallas. “There’s no school in America that should not have some kind of officer.”

Police chiefs said physical force was necessary in police work, even at schools. “We can’t be lackadaisical and say, ‘Well, we’re in a school, and maybe we shouldn’t go hands on with this student,’ and then it rises to a level that he or she does hurt someone,” said Charles Carnes, who in December retired as chief of the Northside school district’s department in San Antonio.

Some departments disciplined officers for going too far, including in the hogtie incident and the pepper-spray and vape cases shown in the videos above. (Neither the officer involved in the lunchroom brawl case nor his department provided comment.)

But in Texas, no state agency has the power to routinely review school officers’ actions and weigh in on possible overreach.

Lawmakers here have embraced school policing without establishing safeguards required for meaningful accountability, policing experts said. A 2019 law meant to keep officers out of “routine student discipline” does not define the term or detail repercussions for violations. Police departments in Texas are not required to report incidents of force in schools unless they shoot someone.

School boards and police agencies are responsible for oversight, state officials said. But in interviews, two dozen board members from across Texas said they did not consider that part of their job. “We just approve what they need to buy,” said Michael Valdez, a board member in the Edgewood school district in San Antonio.

Several said they were unaware that their officers used force on students at all.

A review of use-of-force policies from more than 200 school district police departments found that many were largely copied from those used by municipal police agencies. Some addressed how to handle livestock and animal control calls. Most provided no specific guidance on handling students.

‘Eyes Wide Open’

Police officers have been assigned to some schools in Texas for nearly a century. In the 1930s, newspaper articles show, the Houston Police Department employed part-time “school policemen” to help direct traffic.

But it was not until the 1980s and ’90s, amid concerns about drugs and violence, that the ranks of school officers began to swell. The 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado led to a larger rise.

Elsewhere in the country, school districts typically tapped the local sheriff’s office or police department for officers. Texas was unusual in that many districts formed their own departments instead.

As police presence in schools grew, some educators became wary of harsh punishment and practices that could push students into the criminal justice system. Even in law-and-order Texas, concerns seemed to break through. In 2019, the Legislature passed a law saying that school boards should not task officers with routine student discipline.

Then came Uvalde, the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, which claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.

A year later, in 2023, lawmakers passed legislation to require at least one licensed police officer at each of the state’s public schools. While other states had taken steps to increase school security, few relied as heavily on the police.

Before the Texas law was adopted, some parents, teachers and advocates warned that it would lead to more arrests and incidents involving force. Alycia Castillo, the associate director of policy and advocacy for the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit based in Austin, said that several groups had already raised concerns about heavy-handed police tactics in schools. Lawmakers, she said in an interview, had their “eyes wide open.”

In the two years that followed, statewide annual spending on school security rose to more than $1.3 billion from about $900 million.

Today, Texas is home to nearly 400 school district police departments, more than all other states combined. Most of the remaining districts have contracts with outside police agencies. The number of officers trained to work in schools — about 11,000 — exceeds the total number of police officers in at least two dozen states.

Most of what school officers do is mundane. They secure external doors, usher students through metal detectors and monitor hallways for fights. Some mentor students and offer advice.

But routine interactions have been punctuated at times by physical encounters. Officers grabbed or tackled students hundreds of times, data and records show. They used pepper spray in dozens of cases and shocked students with Tasers in at least nine incidents. On four occasions, reporters found, officers held teenagers at gunpoint.

Some large school districts reported using force more than 100 times in a school year. In an interview, Kirby Warnke, the chief of the Corpus Christi school district police department, said that his officers got physical with students “almost every day,” often to restrain or redirect them.

Students were left with bruises, scrapes or other injuries in nearly a quarter of the 450 cases reviewed by reporters. Two teenagers suffered concussions, according to medical records and an interview with one family’s lawyer.

About two dozen of the overall cases involved children in elementary school. In the Northside school district, an officer handcuffed a 6-year-old boy who kicked a school employee during a tantrum.

State law prohibits using restraints on children in fifth grade or below in all but the most dangerous situations. In a statement, the district said that the officer had perceived an “immediate risk of harm.”

The boy was still in cuffs when his father arrived a few minutes later and began filming on his cellphone.

“The police wants me to die!” the child cried.

‘The Heavy Hand’

In May 2024, Anabelle Jaramillo rang a plastic doorbell outside a classroom at Texas City High School. The $13 bell came off and Anabelle walked away with it, according to a description of surveillance footage included in a police report.

The next day, administrators accused the 17-year-old honor student of theft and assigned her three days of in-school suspension.

Certain there had been a misunderstanding, Anabelle showed up at the office of Sonia Davis, an assistant principal. She told Ms. Davis that she had accidentally dislodged the doorbell and tucked it into a nearby planter so that she would not get in trouble, she recalled in an interview.

Still, Ms. Davis summoned the Galveston County sheriff’s deputies at the school and, body camera footage shows, asked them to speak with Anabelle about theft.

Anabelle continued to plead her case. She texted her mother, and Ms. Davis extended her suspension by two days for using a cellphone in the office. Ms. Davis told Anabelle to leave. But the teenager would not budge from her seat.

One of the deputies, Karla Rodriguez, ordered Anabelle to stand.

“You’re under arrest for theft,” she said.

Deputy Rodriguez grabbed one of Anabelle’s arms. When the teenager pulled away, a second deputy, Cipriano Ruiz, took the other.

They wrestled Anabelle, 4-foot-11, onto her belly. Deputy Ruiz gripped the back of her neck and pushed her face into the carpet. Deputy Rodriguez handcuffed her.

Deputy Rodriguez tried pulling the teenager to her feet. “You’re going to jail, young lady,” she said.

“What the heck?” Anabelle exclaimed.

Anabelle, who has panic attacks, started to pant. One of the deputies instructed her to breathe.

Ms. Davis positioned a fan toward the teenager. Then, she returned to her desk, picked up her cellphone and started eating potato chips.

Anabelle gasped for air for about three minutes before going still, body camera footage shows. Ms. Davis called for the school nurse. Deputy Ruiz took her pulse. Anabelle later told reporters that she had passed out.

Other cases reviewed by reporters similarly escalated.

A staff member called for an officer when a 17-year-old in a special education class threatened a classmate and threw a “sanitizer can” at the student, the police report said; the officer dragged the boy to the ground and, after a scuffle, punched him in the face twice, video footage shows.

A teacher alerted an officer to a 15-year-old who was swearing in a hallway; the officer took the student down, records show, and dragged him into a room by his leg.

In interviews, educators said that they sometimes needed help managing unruly students. Many feel pressure to be tough on misbehavior, said Anita Wadhwa, a former teacher who now runs a nonprofit in Houston focused on alternative approaches to school discipline.

“No adult wants to look like a kid is talking back to them,” she said.

Some school district leaders said that they had sent a clear message: Officers should get involved only if a student is accused of a serious crime or if someone is at risk of physical harm.

“Our officers are not disciplinarians, period,” said Sean Maika, who was the superintendent of the North East Independent School District in San Antonio until January.

But in many places, that message seems to have gotten lost. Michelle Parsons, who teaches a training course required for school officers in Texas, said that officers frequently described being pulled into minor disciplinary matters. At a recent training attended by a reporter, officers were told to stay out of incidents that would not otherwise prompt a 911 call. Several scoffed and said their principals would be unhappy.

Mrs. Parsons said that principals and teachers often see officers as “the heavy hand.” Texas does not require them to be trained on when to call school police.

Shortly after Anabelle’s arrest, her mother, Martha Jaramillo, arrived at the school to find her on the ground, footage shows. “She was very rude to us,” Ms. Davis, the assistant principal, told Mrs. Jaramillo.

Mrs. Jaramillo told the nurse about her daughter’s health conditions, including asthma. One of the deputies called for paramedics, who took the teenager to an emergency room.

Two weeks later, Anabelle turned herself in at the county jail for the theft charge. There, she said, she had another panic attack.

Neither Ms. Davis nor Texas City school district officials agreed to be interviewed for this article. In a statement, the district said Ms. Davis had not violated its policies. The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment. The deputies involved in the case did not respond to multiple efforts to reach them.

Kim Simon, a national expert on school policing and a former officer from Virginia who reviewed the case for The Times and The Express-News, said that Ms. Davis and the officers had escalated a minor offense unnecessarily.

“Nobody was acting in the best interest of a child,” Ms. Simon said.

Command and Control

Across the state, officers directed obscenities, insults and threats at students just before or after using physical force, records and video footage show.

“Stop crying like a little girl,” a school police officer in San Antonio ordered a seventh-grade boy who had gotten in trouble for being disruptive.

“Boy, I will hurt you,” an officer in Houston told a high school student who talked back to him.

“Get your fucking hands up before I shoot you!” an officer in Galveston shouted while pointing her gun at a 17-year-old she had cornered in a yard. The teen had run off campus after he was caught with a vape.

Most officers employed by a Texas school district previously worked for municipal police agencies, an analysis of police certification data found. More than 1,000 worked as jailers.

In those roles, officers are encouraged to have a commanding presence in order to take control of dangerous situations.

“The notion of policing requires force,” said Aaron Kupchik, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, who writes about school policing. “It requires that you compel people to obey your authority.”

But dealing with young people, he and other law enforcement experts said, calls for a different approach. Research shows that adolescents, whose brains have not yet fully developed, often have difficulty with impulse control. Yelling at or physically dominating them, the experts added, can backfire.

In Texas, the state-mandated training for school police officers includes instruction in child psychology, conflict resolution and managing students with behavioral issues. But at only 20 hours, the program is half the minimum recommended by the National Association of School Resource Officers. Kentucky, which also mandates officers at all public schools, requires 120 hours.

When officers used force on students, department leaders almost always had the final say on whether they acted within bounds or overstepped.

Supervisors often reviewed forms describing the incidents, and they noted on some whether they approved of the officers’ actions. Reporters examined more than 100 such documents, finding that supervisors almost always determined that the force had been appropriate.

In some other cases reviewed by reporters, officers were disciplined, but received little more than verbal warnings or orders to get additional training.

In 2024, Officer Linda Holland used pepper spray to stop a group of girls from fighting and then kneed one of the girls in the face, video footage shows. She was required to complete four training courses, including one on ethics, according to an internal report. A supervisor wrote that her actions were “not a good look.”

Officer Holland hung up when a reporter called for comment. In a statement, the district described the scene as “chaotic,” adding that the officer did not intend to hurt the girl.

Some parents, records show, took concerns about officers to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which licenses all of the state’s police officers. But the commission says it cannot investigate excessive force complaints unless the officer was criminally charged.

In at least two cases, when parents have filed federal lawsuits against officers over use of force, the appellate court that covers Texas ruled against their claims. In 2023, the court ruled in favor of an officer who used a Taser on a 17-year-old boy with an intellectual disability when he tried to leave school. The court said that the officer’s actions were akin to corporal punishment, which is legal in Texas.

Alienated and withdrawn

Some students who were subject to physical force from police officers said that they had suffered lingering consequences.

Tayshawn Chadwick, who was stunned with a Taser, said he stopped leaving the house. Julian Montes, who was slammed into a lunch cart, is now afraid of police officers.

Anabelle Jaramillo said the doorbell incident led her to become withdrawn from even close friends.

Prosecutors dismissed the theft charge after she completed an online course about stealing. But she was mortified when a crime website posted her mug shot. She finished her classes from home and skipped her graduation ceremony.

Two years later, Anabelle has finally begun to put the trauma behind her. She gave birth to a son and completed community college. She plans to attend a nearby university in the fall in hopes of becoming a veterinarian. But the police episode has made her less trusting. The adults at her high school, she said, had failed her.

“I thought they’re there to hear you out, to build you up and get you into the future,” she said. Instead, “They broke me down.”

This article was reported in collaboration with The San Antonio Express-News as part of The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship. Justin Mayo, Melissa Manno, Liz Teitz, Maggie Allwein, Elizabeth Sander and Teresa Mondria Terol contributed reporting. Susan Beachy, Kitty Bennett, Alain Delaqueriere, Georgia Gee, Sheelagh McNeill and Kirsten Noyes contributed research. This article was reported in partnership with Big Local News at Stanford University.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic was the most experienced contender left in the field, chasing a record 25th major title. But the 39-year-old Serb will have to wait until Wimbledon after losing a five-set thriller to 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca on Friday.

The result may not have been so surprising because Djokovic came into the tournament with questions over his form after losing to a Croatian qualifier at the Italian Open, his only clay-court warmup event after two months out with a right shoulder injury.

Here is a look at some of the favorites still in contention for the title:

Alexander Zverev

He will likely think this is best chance of winning his first major title. The 2024 runner-up to Alcaraz has also advanced to three semifinals and another quarterfinal in Paris. The 29-year-old German is in excellent form after reaching the final in Madrid and the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Munich. The second-seeded Zverev advanced to the fourth round with a four-set win late Friday over Frenchman Quentin Halys.

Felix Auger-Aliassime

At No. 4, the Canadian is the highest seed left in the top half of the draw and will take on Brandon Nakashima in the third round. Auger-Aliassime was two points away from defeat in the first round before rallying past Daniel Altmaier in five sets. He then got past Roman Andres Burruchaga in four sets. Auger-Aliassime’s best result at Roland Garros was the fourth round in 2022 and 2024.

Rafael Jodar

He is the latest tennis sensation from Spain. The 19-year-old Jodar is into the fourth round at a major for the first time after his five-set win over Alex Michelsen. Jodar claimed his first ATP title in Marrakech last month then made it to the semifinals in Barcelona and the quarterfinals in Madrid and Rome. His tour-level record on clay is 18-3. By comparison, 14-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal and Alcaraz both went 13-7 through their first 20 tour-level matches on clay.

Moise Kouame

Can the French teenager create a major surprise and emulate Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win at Roland Garros in 1983? Kouame reached the third round after a five-set, five-hour thriller that delighted the French crowd. The No. 318-ranked player next faces Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. Kouame beat Marin Cilic in straight sets in the first round, becoming the first man born in 2008 or later to win a Grand Slam match.

Casper Ruud

Ruud lost the 2022 final to Nadal and the 2023 final to Djokovic. The Norwegian has struggled in the Paris heat this week and needed five sets to prevail in the first round. Ruud also recovered from the loss of the opening two sets against Tommy Paul to reach the the fourth round.

Joao Fonseca

He has to be added to the list after a brilliant comeback win against arguably the best men’s player of all time. Fonseca became the first teenager to defeat the Serbian at a Grand Slam event. He is into the fourth round at a major for the first time.

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

Others occasionally sell in the open, like the women who preside over impossibly large baskets of squirming caterpillars at the market in Kinshasa.

For many in Congo and elsewhere in Central and West Africa wild meat is a craving and a key part of the cultural milieux. Even a disease as punishing as Ebola, currently ravaging a remote part of eastern Congo, has failed to stem demand for wild meat from the Congo Basin, an expansive forested ecosystem sometimes called Earth’s second lung.

The Congo Basin is rich in all kinds of wildlife, from great apes to serpents — both of which are hunted for their meat. One consequence for locals is exposure to zoonotic diseases such as Ebola.

Although Ebola is generally not spread by food, cases in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected animals, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.

“Once there is human, animal and environment interface, we have these kinds of outbreaks on a frequent level,” said Dr. Tolbert Geewleh Nyenswah of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. “And this is why one health approach in dealing with virus outbreaks is important, because we still interact with the bats, and our hunters are still killing monkeys, and we are close to the environment.”

The link between wild meat and Ebola

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak of Ebola on May 15. It appears the virus spread undetected for weeks, and the World Health Organization suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

Ebola, named for a tributary of the Congo River, was first discovered in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in Congo and present-day South Sudan. Outbreaks are believed to start with the virus spilling over into humans from an infected animal such as a fruit bat. These cross-species infections often happen when people handle and eat wild meat, experts say.

But since Ebola outbreaks happen only sporadically in communities that regularly eat wild meat, some people “don't believe the linkage” and others are “totally ignorant” of the health threat from eating wild meat, said Dr. Misaki Wayengera, a microbiologist who advises Uganda's Ministry of Health on epidemics.

“It is very difficult to change some of these core practices,” he said.

Locals have paid a heavy price for occasional outbreaks of Ebola, whose bloody symptoms can terrorize entire villages and cause many to believe they are under an evil spell.

The Ebola virus is responsible for 17 outbreaks in Congo and many others elsewhere in the region. The deadliest outbreak, in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, infected an estimated 28,000 people and killed more than 11,300.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization — which studied the Ebola risk stemming from the eating and handling of wild meat after West Africa’s epidemic — animal-to-human spillovers of Ebola are rare, but "their consequences are nonetheless disastrous.”

Once Ebola has infected one person, the virus then spreads through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, feces or vomit. Health workers without sufficient protective gear are seen as highly vulnerable.

The current outbreak in eastern Congo is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola that has no approved medicines or vaccines.

The outbreak is occurring in a part of Congo that also faces armed violence by rebel groups and the displacement of large numbers of people fleeing the violence.

A need for education

While Congolese authorities have prohibited hunting endangered wildlife, including great apes sent to the brink of extinction by poachers, there is no blanket ban on the wildlife trade and illegal hunting persists for totemic creatures like the bonobo.

Many in and around the Congo Basin have wild meat as their primary source of animal protein. The yearly extraction rate of wild meat from the Congo Basin is estimated at 4.5 million tons, according to the Center for International Forestry Research.

Viande de brousse, as wild meat is known in French, is a popular food, even served in trendy restaurants. That's intensified pressure on the dwindling resources of the Congo Basin. Despite the ongoing biodiversity losses, the Congo Basin remains the world's largest carbon sink, surpassing the Amazon in its ability to capture and store carbon.

Public health campaigners need to step up education campaigns on how Ebola starts and is spread among communities that face recurring outbreaks, said Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of the Uganda-based Conservation Through Public Health group.

People need to be told that “eating meat from an unknown source, or a dead animal, is a no-no,” Kalema-Zikusoka said. “It’s a very cultural thing.”

Some fruit bats are believed to be natural hosts of the viruses that cause Ebola, according to the WHO. Yet bats are known to be a delicacy in many parts of Central and West Africa. The soup of a roasted fruit bat is highly sought after, as are the parts of a wide range of monkeys.

In Kinshasa’s Masina Market one recent morning, before the latest Ebola outbreak, traders said they sold antelope, rodent and snake meat sourced from the Congo Basin.

They said they long ago stopped selling the meat of monkeys, possible reservoirs of the Ebola virus.

One vendor, Guyva Mputu, was selling python, whose frozen flesh started to steam in the humid weather.

Another, Charles Ntanga, wielded a flywhisk to swat flies that settled on the rancid carcass of a giant rodent, with a kilogram going for about $17. Ntanga said he gets clients from all walks of life.

“We sell wild meat," he said. “We make our lives through this business.”

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Associated Press writer Mogomotsi Magome in Johannesburg, South Africa, contributed to this report.

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

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

The Texans’ Pro Bowl corner threw out the first pitch Friday night at the Sugar Land Space Cowboys game at Constellation Field.

Next up: his inaugural June 20 celebrity softball game and home run derby here with Lassiter and several teammates and players from across the NFL.

“It’s really cool,” Lassiter said. “Everything’s coming full circle.I’m just taking it all in, enjoying the moment.”

Kamari Lassiter #Texans Pro Bowl corner @kamari_lassiter throws out first pitch tonight @SLSpaceCowboys
On June 20, Lassiter and teammates and former NBA guard Nate Robinson @nate_robinson and several #NFL players including #Ravens Malaki Starks @starks_malaki @GeorgiaFootball… https://t.co/TBKTBXshLp pic.twitter.com/3joMZUoDYX

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 30, 2026

The vision behind the upcoming event: His mother made the suggestion and the idea immediately resonated with Lassiter.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I would love to,’ and she was like, ‘It’s going to be a celebrity event so you get to bring whoever you want,’” Lassiter said. “I know all my guys would love to do that. Just having that opportunity come it’s like impossible to say no.

“It’s really for me and the guys. In my eyes, they’re all celebrities. Those are the guys that I look up to.It’s going to be a lot of my teammates, a lot of my friends that are in the league, a couple guys that I know from other sports. It’s going to be a good time.”

The game, presented by Clear Vision, will include giveaways, a home run derby and community involvement.

“I’m extremely excited, extremely blessed,” Lassiter told KPRC 2 on Tuesday. “We’ve got a great group of guys coming out, a couple guests, celebrity stars. It’s gonna be a really fun day.”

The list of scheduled participants is dotted with several of Lassiter’s teammates as well as NFL players across the league. Tickets and details are available at www.k3softball.com

The game includes Texans players Jalen Pitre, Nico Collins, Azeez Al-Shaair, Calen Bullock, Tank Dell, Henry To’oTo’o, Jaylin Smity, Jaylen Reed and Jamal Kill. Several NFL players are set to attend, including Baltimore Ravens safety and former University of Georgia standout Malaki Starks along with Kamren Kinchens, Dallas Turner, Javon Bulard, Tykee Smith, Jarrian Jones and Jamal Shead along with retired NBA all-star Nate Robinson.

#Texans Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter @kamari_lassiter @kamari is throwing out first pitch tonight @SLSpaceCowboys he is holding a June 20 celebrity softball game at Constellation Field https://t.co/Zm62TJ2Kkp @KPRC2 https://t.co/Rmx9fU7Ytz pic.twitter.com/D4Eer2r8ph

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 29, 2026

“I just want everyone to come out and just see us, be us,” Lassiter said. “A lot of times people see us whenever we’re on the field and they very rarely get to see us off the field. We’re just normal people.

“We like to laugh and joke. We like to play. So, it’s just gonna be a time for us to just be ourselves and have a little fun while doing it.”

Lassiter grew up playing center field as a high school senior before enrolling at the University of Georgia on a football scholarship.

“I actually really fell in love with it,” Lassiter said. “It was just too late. It was time for football, so I had to drop it.”

Bragging rights are on the line. Especially between Lassiter and Bullock, his best friend.

“Clearly, I think I’m the best, but all my friends think they’re the best, so we’re going to see who hits the most home runs,” Lassiter said. “Everybody on the team thinks they’re going to hit more home runs than me. (Bullock) thinks he’s going to hit a lot of home runs.

“We’re going to see. It’s really going to be bragging rights, because some people are going to come out here and they’re going to wet the bed. Whenever they wet the bed and get struck out in the home run derby, they’re never going to hear the end of it."

Friday afternoon, Lassiter hosted a special shopping spree for children at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Sugar Land.

Lassiter helped the kids pick out athletic gear and shoes.

“It’s probably full circle for them,” Lassiter said. “I hope the kids just see that there’s always a genuine person out there, someone who really cares about you. They don’t have to know you. You don’t have to know someone to be genuine and be kind just to impact them.

“I hope they like me coming here to hang out with them a little bit. I hope they learn a little bit from me.I’m going to learn a lot from them.”

#Texans Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter @kamari_lassiter @kl3softball, partnered today with Dick's Sporting Goods @DICKS for a shopping spree for kids @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/XhjT2vrJ46

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) May 29, 2026

Who’s the best softball player?

No contest, according to Lassiter.

“Me, you’re looking at him,” Lassiter said. “I’m all-around. I’m a home run hitter. I’m a defensive guru.”

On and off the field, Lassiter is dedicated. And he’s inspired by the example of his parents, Kammie and Kenneth.

“It comes a lot for my family, just being raised by two hard-working, God-fearing people,” Lassiter said. “That’s instilled in me, but I feel like this event is really just something to put my name on as a staple to be in the city Houston.

“Something that I could do year in and year out. Just have people come out and just enjoy a day where we can all just be together.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

It took eight years, but the Hurricanes have finally broken through their Eastern Conference Final roadblock. Now comes the chance to play for the Stanley Cup for the first time in two decades.

Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven and Eric Robinson scored in a dominating first period that helped push the Hurricanes past the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Friday night, closing a five-game series that sent the East's top seed on to face Vegas for the Cup.

Three times before under Brind'Amour, the Hurricanes had reached this round, only to win just a single game.

This time, they shook off an ugly series-opening loss that harkened back to those past struggles by winning four straight, steadily asserting control of the series and dominating the last two games to earn that on-ice celebration in front of a rowdy home crowd.

“I wasn't prepared for media (interviews) and I'm probably going to start crying,” veteran forward Jordan Martinook said in the locker room. "A lot of years with a lot of pain. ... It's been a crazy journey in my time here, but this team, it's been really special.”

Jackson Blake and Shayne Gostisbehere added second-period goals that pushed the Hurricanes to a 5-0 lead entering the final period, while Seth Jarvis scoring into an empty net with 3:41 left. Frederik Andersen carried a shutout until midway through the third in net, an emotional performance coming a day after his agent and former NHL player Claude Lemieux died after taking his own life.

Carolina swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, then regrouped from a 6-2 loss in Game 1 after an extended between-rounds break to win four straight. That included a run of 10 straight goals going back to Andrei Svechnikov’s overtime goal in Game 3 before Montreal finally got on the board with Cole Caufield’s power-play score midway through the third.

That made the Hurricanes the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final with only one loss since 1983, according to SportRadar, and the only team to do so since the league went to best-of-seven series in all four postseason rounds in 1987.

It was a long-awaited moment for the franchise, even for the new arrivals. That included defenseman K'Andre Miller — a summer trade addition as a missing piece — sitting near the ice afterward, holding his newborn son and shaking his head in an emotional moment of taking it all in.

“It's kind of hard to unpack right now,” Brind'Amour said. “It's a weird feeling because it's kind of where we all thought we should be.”

The Hurricanes have been a perennial contender in the East, yet they entered this series having gone 1-12 in the Eastern Conference Final under Brind’Amour — falling in sweeps to Boston in 2019 and Florida in 2023 before losing in five games to the Panthers in last year’s rematch.

But they were tested, and wounded, from those past postseason failures. Throw in their depth and talent, and the Hurricanes were finally ready to punch through for their third shot at the Cup since the former Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina before the 1997-98 season.

The last time the Hurricanes reached this point? Brind’Amour was the captain on a team that hoisted the Cup in a seven-game series against Edmonton in 2006.

After regrouping from a 6-2 loss in Game 1, the Hurricanes took control of the series from the young and skilled Canadiens — who had arrived at this round ahead of schedule after Game 7 road wins against Tampa Bay and Buffalo through the first two rounds.

“As close as it feels, we’re so far away still,” Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson said. "So much more to do to battle to get the ultimate goal. Even when you win two rounds, you still got to find another level for the next round.”

Carolina won consecutive 3-2 overtime games, then took Game 4 in a 4-0 road romp Wednesday.

Beyond the score, Carolina was getting to its smothering game in pressuring the Canadiens in their own end or shutting off most high-danger chances they could muster going the other way.

By midway through the second period, the festive and rowdy crowd was offering “Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!” chants in a mocking nod to Canadiens fans with Carolina up 4-0. By the final two minutes, they were chanting “We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” as the Hurricanes closed this one out.

“They’re a good team, a lot experience," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "You’ve got to give credit to how well they’ve played. They made it really hard on us.”

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

Uribe is appealing the suspension so he was able to pitch Friday night, getting the win in a 10-inning 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros.

The suspension comes after Uribe's behavior Tuesday night following an inning-ending strikeout in a 6-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Uribe retired Alec Burleson on a called third strike with two outs and runners on first and second in the eighth, the only inning he pitched. Uribe then made three WWE-style crotch chops while facing the Cardinals dugout.

The Cardinals challenged the call, which was close, but narrowly confirmed to be at the bottom of the strike zone.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after the game that he was embarrassed by Uribe’s antics and that it was unacceptable. He reiterated that point Friday after the suspension was announced.

“We accept the fact that the MLB has a job to do and I’ll be the first one to say what Abner did is unacceptable,” Murphy said. “I’m not going to make any other statements about what’s fair and what’s not fair. I don’t have a full view of everything and how it works or what all goes behind it. But Abner has the right to appeal. He’s done that and I support him on that.”

Uribe said through an interpreter on Tuesday that he apologized to his team. But he did not apologize to the Cardinals.

“Everyone here knows me and knows who I am, and knows I have a bit of a history of being emotional out there,” Uribe said. “I think first I owe an apology to the Brewers. I owe an apology to my teammates, to my manager, all the bosses of the team. I understand that’s unacceptable, to go out there and react in a way like that.”

Uribe pitched for the first time since the incident in the ninth inning on Friday night with the game tied. The Astros loaded the bases with one out, but he struck out Brice Matthews before retiring Isaac Paredes on a popout to send it to the 10th.

Uribe wouldn't discuss his suspension or appeal after the game but did talk about his overall mindset with everything that was going on Friday.

“No, the mentality was the same as it is any other day,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “Go to the bullpen, do my routine and prepare myself to be ready for the game.”

Murphy said Friday that they have dealt with the matter internally and added that Uribe was not available to pitch Wednesday.

“He clearly understands,” Murphy said. “He’s clearly made the apologies he needs to make. It was sincere. I know the kid very well and am happy with that.”

Uribe was stoic on the mound Friday night and was asked afterward how he can manage his emotions moving forward to avoid situations like the one on Tuesday.

“I think a lot of it just depends on the game situation,” he said. “The game will dictate a lot of those things. I’m the type of pitcher that I like to have a lot of fun out there and I like to enjoy pitching out there. So there’s some times I like to have a little bit more fun than others, but I think the game will let you know.”

Uribe was suspended for six games and fined following a benches-clearing brawl against the Tampa Bay Rays in April 2024.

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

Moscow's agents are building fake companies, recruiting middlemen and deploying cyber spies and hackers who are gathering information that could also be used to attack key infrastructure, they said.

Four years of international sanctions have hampered Moscow's ability to procure machinery, technology and research from Europe, while the grinding war in Ukraine has taxed key industries and pushed the country toward a potential financial crisis.

“They really know what they need,” and are putting “serious effort” into acquiring advanced machine tools, factory equipment, research and dual-use technology, said Christoffer Wedelin, deputy head of operations at the Swedish Security Service.

Russia seeks high-end research, defense technology and software

In Sweden, Russia is targeting the defense industry and high-end research on the country's most advanced weaponry, such as the Gripen fighter jet, Wedelin said. It is also trying to procure camera and laser technology developed for civilian purposes that could be integrated into Russian weapons systems, he said.

Moscow is also trying to steal technology to help it keep pace — or give it an edge — against the West in the decades ahead, said Juha Martelius, the director of Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service.

“We're talking about space technology, quantum ... arctic technology, marine technology,” he said, adding that space technology is something Russia needs “right now," without elaborating. Countries use such technology for satellite imaging, communications and navigation.

Russia also needs sanctioned computer technology and software updates for machine tools, Martelius said.

On Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, the director of the U.K’s signals intelligence agency, accused Russia of “relentlessly targeting” the U.K. and its European allies, by stealing technology and plotting sabotage and assassination attempts.

In May, Swedish police arrested two people on suspicion of violating sanctions relating to a company in Turkey that has made dozens of shipments of metalworking and metal-turning machine tools to Russia.

As the schemes to acquire technology grow more complex, companies need to be more aware they could unwittingly become part of Russia's war supply chain, Wedelin said.

“All of the security and intelligence services in Russia are helping out on the state’s efforts to get this," he said.

Intelligence officials say Russia cares less about getting caught

Moscow is also deploying cyberattacks against European firms and critical infrastructure in an attempt to gather information, which it could exploit “when they get the chance and when it serves their purpose,” Wedelin said. He pointed to an attack on a Swedish power plant last year.

Russia-linked actors tried to “destroy” the plant but failed because the system detected the intrusion, Wedelin said. He said the attack was partly aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine.

Before then, Sweden's security services had mostly observed reconnaissance for potential attacks, intelligence gathering or activity linked to cybercriminals. The attack marked a “switch” in Russia's modus operandi, Wedelin said.

“They’re no longer caring as much about potential attribution after their activities, so they are taking greater risks to achieve their goals,” he said.

Problems are mounting for Russia's economy

Russia's increasingly aggressive tactics may reflect mounting internal concerns about its economy, which “is not doing well at all,” said Kaupo Rosin, the head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

About a third of Russia's gross domestic product currently goes to the war effort, Martelius said. The war and ensuing sanctions have slowed growth and fueled stubborn inflation.

Russian officials planned to have a budget deficit of 3.7 trillion rubles ($52.1 billion) for the whole of 2026 and had already reached about 3.4 trillion rubles ($47.9 billion) by the end of February, Rosin said.

The Iran war that erupted on Feb. 28 has provided a boost by causing oil prices to soar. The U.S. has granted sanctions waivers for the sale of Russian oil and the U.K. watered down its sanctions in an attempt to lower global fuel costs.

Increased revenue since then has likely improved Russia’s budget, but “it doesn’t save them,” Rosin said, adding that if Western pressure persists, Moscow could face a financial crisis toward the end of the year.

Rosin said intelligence seen by his agency shows a gloomier outlook among Russian officials over the past six months, with the narrative of “total victory” in Ukraine having vanished. Keast-Butler, of British intelligence, said almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia and Ukraine have mostly kept their combat casualty figures under wraps.

Stalled progress on the battlefield and economic woes have many Russian officials privately asking “what is this all for,” Rosin said, citing the intelligence reports.

Martelius, of Finland's intelligence service, said that while some reports on the war in Ukraine may have been “sanitized” before reaching President Vladimir Putin's desk, he believes the Russian leader has a fairly clear picture of the economic challenges.

But that does not mean there will be political change.

It is “very dangerous ... to start analyzing Russia as if it is some country like ours," Martelius said. “It is not.”

A report from Dr. Sean Barbabella, released late Friday, says Trump underwent a CT scan and other heart imaging, along with cancer screenings and other preventative assessments carried out by 22 specialists.

Trump, 79, said after the three-hour visit Tuesday that everything checked out “PERFECTLY.”

The president weighed in at 238 pounds (108 kilograms), up 14 pounds (6 kg) from a medical exam in April 2025. His doctors gave him guidance on his diet, physical activity and weight loss, but concluded his “cognitive and physical performance are excellent.”

With his 6-foot, 3-inch (1.9-meter) frame, Trump has a body mass index of 29.7. An index of 30 is considered by doctors to be obese.

The report also documented bruising on Trump’s hands, explained as “minor soft tissue irritation related to frequent handshaking,” and said it was “a common and benign effect of aspirin therapy." Among the recommendations was a switch to low-dose aspirin.

Last year the White House said Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a fairly common condition for older adults that causes blood to pool in the president's legs. The report from his latest exam noted “slight lower leg swelling” but said there was “improvement from last year."

His doctor reported nothing abnormal, saying Trump demonstrated strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall health.

“His demanding daily schedule, including multiple high-level meetings, public engagements, and regular physical activity, continues to support his overall well-being,” Barbabella wrote.

Trump was again given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is used to screen for dementia and cognitive impairment. Trump’s doctors reported he scored 30 out of 30, the same that was reported last year and in 2018.

His cholesterol levels have improved significantly with the help of medication. Trump's total cholesterol came in at 143, down from 223 in 2018. It had been down to 140 last April. He takes rosuvastatin to help lower his bad cholesterol, known as LDL, and to raise his good cholesterol, or HDL. He also takes ezetimibe to help lower his LDL.

The exam, which Trump described as a six-month physical, was his fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term. It comes as he tries to project strength ahead of midterm elections.

Past administrations have also released selected results from presidential physicals, offering the public a glimpse at the commander in chief’s health.

But there is no law requiring presidents to disclose their full health records, and the degree of transparency has varied by administration. Trump’s past reports have been criticized for offering scant detail and for providing statistics that some medical experts have viewed with skepticism.

Trump, a Republican, turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected U.S. president. His immediate predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, was 82 when he left office, dropping out of the 2024 presidential race because of widespread concerns he was too old for the job.

Trump has tried to fight off public concern over his age and stamina. He often appears with makeup covering bruises on his hands, and photographs have shown the president with swollen feet, ankles and calves.

He has recently talked about how good he feels, even as he jokes about his fondness for fast food and his minimal exercise beyond frequent golf outings. At recent public appearances, Trump has said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed the visa had been revoked. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter involves visa privacy. A State Department official confirmed there was a plan to revoke the visa.

The tit-for-tat move by the Trump administration has followed the expulsion by Beijing of Vivian Wang, a China correspondent for The New York Times, apparently over the appearance of the Taiwanese leader in a DealBook event in which Wang had no role. It was a rare occasion of the U.S. government directly retaliating against Beijing's expulsion of American journalists.

The Times, which first reported the reciprocal move by the Trump administration, said the newspaper does not ask governments to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere with the work of any journalist. On Friday, the paper issued a statement calling for Wang to be reinstated as a credentialed journalist in China and urging both governments to “reverse this deterioration in journalist access."

“The Chinese government’s decision to expel Vivian Wang is wrong,” Joseph Kahn, the paper's executive editor, said in a statement published on the Times' corporate website. “Her expulsion will make it even harder for our global audience to get accurate, independent and in-depth reporting about the world’s second largest economy at a critical time.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

US media presence in China already dwindled

Wang is leaving China when the presence of U.S. media is already thin after previous rounds of disputes over journalistic credentials, leaving several U.S. news organizations with skeleton staffing in their China bureaus.

“The number of correspondents from American media outlets allowed to work in China has now fallen to an alarmingly low level, at a time when the need for people everywhere to understand China is greater than ever,” Kahn wrote.

Beijing moved to expel Wang, a China correspondent for the newspaper since 2020, after the media group's DealBook Summit 2025 featured Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in a recorded interview with host Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin called Taiwan a country, and Lai warned of Beijing's aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait and vowed that “Taiwan will do everything necessary to protect itself.”

The Chinese government claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which split from the mainland in 1949 after Mao Zedong's communists won a civil war. In the latest summit with President Donald Trump in Beijing, in mid-May, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that China and the U.S. could “collide or even clash” over Taiwan if the issue is not handled properly.

Other Western media watching closely

The decision against The New York Times also has created unease among other Western media that might interview Lai, giving the self-governed island a voice, at the risk of losing their abilities to report within China.

All foreign journalists must be accredited by China's foreign ministry to report in China, and Beijing has used the accreditation and visa policy to expel or keep out foreign journalists whose work has upset the Chinese leadership or to show displeasure with what Beijing views as unfavorable or malicious coverage of China.

In 2020, for example, the Chinese government expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents after the financial newspaper ran an opinion piece titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia” following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As U.S.-China relations soured, the U.S. State Department in 2020 designated some major Chinese news groups as “foreign missions". Xinhua, for example, is tasked by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to serve as the mouthpiece of the party and the government, which includes distributing their official news.

Beijing in turn drastically limited visas for journalists working for U.S. media.

In total, at least 18 foreign journalists working for The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal were expelled in the first half of 2020, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China. Many others were given short visas ranging from one month to three months, according to the group's annual survey.

The two governments later reached a one-time agreement that allowed U.S. media to send in a small number of correspondents to mainland China. Wang was one of them.

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An earlier headline on this story said the expulsions happened days after Trump visited Beijing. The New York Times says its reporter was expelled from China in February.

Just days ago, the Republican-led state Senate shot down an effort backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the House map to oust Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's only congressional Democrat and a party powerbroker who has been in office since 1993.

With his district still intact, Clyburn spent Friday night hosting his signature event, the “World Famous Fish Fry,” which followed the Blue Palmetto Dinner, an annual Democratic fundraiser.

"You have delivered for the people of this state and this nation in an unbelievable way,” Clyburn told a sold-out crowd at the dinner as hundreds of attendees burst into thunderous applause.

The back-to-back events often showcase potential presidential contenders. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke at the dinner, and he paid tribute to Clyburn.

“I am so proud to be here with the one and only Jim Clyburn, the man so strong that South Carolina Republicans said, ‘no thanks’ to Donald Trump on redistricting,” he said.

Beshear and California Rep. Ro Khanna joined Clyburn at the fish fry as well, where thousands chowed down on hot fried fish and sipped cold drinks.

Democratic candidates from around the state wore blue “Clyburn for Congress” T-shirts as they pitched themselves to the crowd, a political ritual that showcases his influence in South Carolina. He's running for his 18th term this year.

South Carolina's primary is June 9. Voters will choose nominees for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Had Republicans in the state Senate not rejected the plan pushed by the White House, those congressional votes would have been canceled and a new primary scheduled under revised districts.

Republicans rebuked redistricting with voting underway

The state Senate vote on redistricting failed Tuesday, the first day of early voting, with some senators saying it was simply too late to change district lines.

Clyburn, who is Black, condemned the White House-led effort, which he said had been aimed at “zeroing Democratic voters, zeroing African American voters out of the process.”

“I know the state, and I am embarrassed that so many people in our legislature will allow strangers in Washington to tell them what to do, when to do it and how to do it,” Clyburn said as he cast his vote in Orangeburg on Tuesday.

The political drama in South Carolina is part of a Republican strategy to redraw voting districts to the party's advantage in an attempt to hold on to a slim House majority in the midterms. Republicans have moved quickly to try to leverage a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened the federal Voting Rights Act.

Clyburn keeps his kingmaker role

At least for now, Clyburn's 6th congressional district has been preserved, as has his place as the Democrat to whom White House hopefuls look for guidance in navigating the state's electorate.

During the 2020 primary, Clyburn provided a crucial endorsement to Joe Biden, helping him demonstrate strength among Black voters and catapulting him to the Democratic nomination. On Friday night, Clyburn told reporters he was “open” to endorsing a presidential candidate in 2028.

But Clyburn, among the oldest Democrats serving in Washington, has called it an “open question” as to whether his next term could be his last. Whenever he leaves office, the Democratic field looking to replace him is anticipated to be massive.

South Carolina angling to reprise leadoff primary status

The conclusion of November's midterm elections will mark the unofficial start to a 2028 presidential primary season. Although the order of states for Democrats' primaries won't be set for months, the battle for attention has already begun in a variety of places that could play a pivotal role.

On Thursday, Democratic chairs in five southern states wrote a letter to Democratic National Committee officials urging them to again pick South Carolina to go first.

However, party leaders here have braced for a different spot on the calendar, saying they wouldn't see it as a loss if another state got the leadoff spot.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

The four were members of a Latvian mountaineering expedition, the group said. They were part of a seven-person team traversing a route known for its exposed sections — where many injuries and deaths have occurred over the years — when they fell Wednesday, the National Park Service has said.

McKinley stands at about 20,310 feet (6,190 meters), and the climber who was rescued was brought off the mountain from about 17,200 feet (5,240 meters) by Denali National Park and Preserve search and rescue personnel late Thursday afternoon. A long line from a helicopter was used in the rescue because the terrain and conditions prevented the helicopter from landing, the park service said Friday. The climber was later airlifted to a hospital.

The fall happened during the climb near Denali Pass, which is about 18,200 feet (5,550 meters), the park service said. It provided few other details. The three others in the climbing group helped with the rescue work and started experiencing “declining physical conditions," the park service said. Crews evacuated them from the mountain Friday.

The group was on the West Buttress route, the most popular path to the summit. It’s known for crevasses, steep ice and exposed ridges.

Over the years, many climbing injuries and deaths have occurred on the traverse between an area known as high camp at around 17,200 feet (5,240 meters) and Denali Pass, mainly resulting from unprotected falls, according to the park. Most of the deaths along the pass have happened while climbers are descending.

Park rangers and mountain guides install and maintain snow pickets — which are used to help build anchors for extra protection on areas like steep slopes — between the high camp and Denali Pass, the park has said. That area also is known as the Autobahn, a snow and ice slope that can be marked by conditions ranging from deep snow carrying avalanche risk to hard ice, the agency said.

Climbers can put in their own pickets if needed, but “you might have to bash it in through very, very dense snow and ice even,” said climber Clint Helander, who has summitted McKinley and been on the mountain numerous times.

Intense glaciation, rapid weather changes, altitude and the sheer scale of the peak make climbing McKinley “a huge undertaking," he said. Climbers also must carry a significant amount of gear for what can be long expeditions, he said.

“It’s immensely easy for something to happen and turn an otherwise straightforward trip into an epic,” Helander said.

Only about 1,000 to 1,200 climbers attempt to reach the top of Mount McKinley each year, mostly during May and June. The trip usually takes about 17 days, and less than half made it to the summit last year, according to park statistics.

More than 130 people have died on the mountain in the history of the park, including two deaths last year, according to park statistics. In 2012, four climbers from Japan were killed after a shallow avalanche pushed them into a crevasse.

There were 516 climbers on the mountain as of Thursday, said Scott Carr, a park service spokesperson.

Two others climbers who were not with the group that fell were evacuated from the mountain by helicopter Wednesday, according to the park service.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

Bob Nuelle, the father of Liz Barraza, was remembered Friday night at Burroughs Park, where a tree and bench have served as a memorial for his daughter since her 2019 murder. Nuelle passed away after a battle with cancer this month, never seeing an arrest made in his daughter’s case.

KPRC 2 News reporter Corley Peel was at the memorial, where the family asked for no cameras during the celebration of Nuelle’s life.

In a 2025 interview, Nuelle described what the park meant to him.

“This is a place for peace for us. When we’re struggling, when we’re trying to find what’s necessary to go forward, this is where I come,” Nuelle said.

Investigators say Barraza was shot and killed while setting up a garage sale in 2019. Surveillance video captured an unknown person in disguise exiting a Nissan Frontier truck, pulling the trigger and driving away. Investigators say the murder was calculated, but the motive remains a mystery.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Ritchie has been the lead investigator on Barraza’s case since day one. He said Nuelle’s impact on the investigation was profound.

“He was a huge impact on me as the lead investigator,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie shared the memory of one of his final conversations with Nuelle before he passed.

“He says, ‘Hey, Michael, when I pass, I’m going to get up to heaven. I’m gonna see Liz. I’ll talk to God. I will try to reach out to you from beyond and give you that tip you need to solve this case. So I’m waiting,’” Ritchie recalled.

The investigator says he is watching for any signs, and on the way to Friday’s memorial, he got a reminder.

“Not yet but actually on the way here, what vehicle was in front of me? A Nissan Frontier,” Ritchie said.

Loved ones remembered Nuelle for his big personality and his dedication to others. In one of his final recorded interviews, he left a message for other families of murder victims.

“I would tell her (Liz) we will never stop preserving your legacy. We will never stop helping people. We will never stop get the message out that if you’re affected by a murder, there are resources, there are people who can help you.” Nuelle said.

Nuelle was also an active member of Parents of Murdered Children and Crime Victims United.

Liz Barraza’s murder case remains open. A $50,000 reward is available for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with tips is encouraged to contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

The reigning U.S. Open champion believes he's getting both lined up just about right three weeks before he tries to defend his first major title.

Spaun surged with four birdies on his front nine before a couple of late bogeys in a 2-under 68 that put him at 8 under Friday, two shots behind Englishman Jordan Smith and one back of Hideki Matsuyama and three others after 36 holes at Colonial.

Smith took the lead by himself with a 31-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th, saved par from a bunker on 17 and missed a 9-footer for birdie on 18 to finish at 10 under with a second consecutive 65.

“It’s going to be a new experience for us out here leading for the first time,” said Smith, a 33-year-old PGA Tour rookie who qualified through the DP World Tour and had his best finish at third in the Valpar Championship. “Not going to force anything, not going to rush anything, just going to see what happens and enjoy it.”

Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion with 10 other tour victories, and Michael Thorbjornsen had matching 65s. They were at 9 under with Ryan Gerard (67) and 2023 Britisn Open champion Brian Harman (66).

Spaun was joined by Akshay Bhatia (65), Russell Henley (66), Brice Garnett (66) and Alex Smalley (67).

A.J. Ewart had the second hole-in-one two days at the 195-yard, par-3 16th — Brandt Snedeker aced it in the opening round — and followed an opening 70 with a career-best 63, the low round of the day. He was at 7 under with Michael Brennan (66) and Mackenzie Hughes (67).

Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, was among 11 players at 6 under at Hogan's Alley, where light winds and still-soft conditions led to 154 sub-par scores through two rounds. That tied the previous high from 2010, when Zach Johnson set the 72-hole scoring record of 21-under 259.

Temperatures reached the mid-90s with a heat index approaching 100, and conditions are supposed to stay that way through the weekend. There is almost no chance for rain.

“It’s drying up just like it probably did a little bit yesterday afternoon,” Harman said. “The fairways will get firm and these fairways will get tougher to hit, and that’s how this place protects itself.”

Defending champion Ben Griffin shot a second consecutive 68 and was 4 under along with Justin Thomas, a stroke above the cut line.

Spaun, who was among six players tied for the lead after an opening 64, missed the cut in six of his first 13 events this year, including the Masters and PGA Championship. He said he changed putters because he was losing confidence on the greens.

The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 9, Spaun kept his hot front nine going with a 15-foot par putt at 17 and was still without a bogey for the tournament before missing a pair of par putts outside 15 feet on the seventh and eight holes.

“It’s nice to see that the putter switch was a good change,” Spaun said. “I found myself kind of resenting my putter at times when I’m out on the course. That’s been the only issue all year. My ball striking’s been pretty solid. The weeks that I putt just slightly better than average, I contend.”

Spaun's other two wins are both at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, including last month. He figures the 27 holes on Sunday in a rain-altered event might have contributed to a 74-75 at the Masters, and he shot 70-76 while playing a third consecutive week at the PGA.

After playing the Memorial next week, Spaun will skip the Canadian Open before going to Shinnecock Hills.

“It will be nice to have a week off and then get to Shinnecock and kind of feel fresh, but not like I’ve taken too much time off,” said Spaun, who skipped Colonial's neighboring event, The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, last week.

Smith made 181 feet of putts, including a 40-footer from the fringe on the par-4 12th. The long putt at 16 came two holes after his only bogey of the tournament at the par-4 14th.

“The putter’s been hot the last two days, which is nice to see,” Smith said. “Swing still hasn’t felt 100%, but we’ve been hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, which is key out here.”

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

The policy, often called the “SNAP sugar ban,” went into effect April 1. It limits what people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can buy; candy and sugary drinks containing five or more grams added sugars, and artificial sweeteners are banned.

But despite the name, it’s not a full sugar ban. SNAP recipients can still use their benefits to pay for chips and cookies. If they want soda, sweet tea or anything with artificial sweeteners, they’d have to pay for them out of pocket.

The change comes from Senate Bill 379, passed by Texas lawmakers in 2025.

Supporters say the goal is to encourage healthier eating habits and reduce taxpayer-funded healthcare costs tied to diet-related illness.

• RELATED: New SNAP purchase restrictions begin April 1 in Texas: What you won’t be able to buy

For many families, SNAP benefits are already limited. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the average SNAP recipient in Texas receives $188 per month.

Houston-area resident Lisa McWashington told KPRC 2 she receives about $285 a month for her child and $135 for herself.

For families living paycheck to paycheck, even small changes in what benefits cover can have a real impact.

KPRC 2 called or emailed representatives from major grocery chains — including H-E-B, Kroger, Whole Foods Market, Food Town, and La Michoacana — to ask how the change is affecting shoppers. None agreed to an on-camera interview.

• RELATED: Texas Senate passes bill prohibiting using SNAP benefits for junk food

At District Market Green Grocer, an independent grocery store in Houston, the approach is straightforward: clearly show customers what qualifies for SNAP and what does not.

Robert Thomas, the store’s owner, said many customers are asking what they can still buy and adjusting their shopping habits in response.

“A good 10 percent of my monthly revenue comes from SNAP. So what we tell customers is, adjust the way you shop. A lot of times we shop and think you have to fill up the house with food. No, you don’t. Just get what you need for that time,” said Thomas.

It’s unclear whether the policy is working. Because the law only took effect in April, there is currently no data showing improved health outcomes, and no clear evidence that people are buying fewer sugary items.

Texas Health and Human Services told KPRC2 it’s asking people on SNAP to provide feedback on the impact of the restrictions and whether their shopping and eating habits have changed. They’re asking people to fill out this confidential survey.

If you’re struggling to afford food, the Houston Food Bank says help is available. Its Community Assistance Program connects people with food resources and benefit support across the Houston area.

After the first round — and even the second — was full of newcomers who hadn't played postseason hockey in a long time, the conference finals featured some of the usual suspects.

The Vegas Golden Knights swept Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado in the West final, and the Carolina Hurricanes got past Montreal in five games. They'll meet in a final matchup of the two hottest teams in hockey over the past two months.

There will be a new champion and no three-peat after the Florida Panthers were derailed by injuries following three consecutive trips to the final. In fact, both finalists are new after Edmonton got knocked out by Anaheim.

What’s happened so far

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Vegas got through Utah and Anaheim in six, then won four in a row against the Avalanche.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:Carolina swept Ottawa and Philadelphia, then responded from a Game 1 loss to the Canadiens to advance to the final for the first time since 2006.

The matchups

The top three teams in each of the four divisions make the playoffs. The other four spots go to the next two highest-placed teams in each conference, regardless of division. All four rounds of the playoffs are best-of-seven; the first team to 16 victories wins the Stanley Cup.

— Carolina vs. Vegas vs., Game 1 Tuesday night.

The favorites

Carolina is a slight favorite at just over even money.

How to watch

Every playoff game will be nationally televised in the U.S on an ESPN or Turner network. The NHL schedule is here and a streaming guide is here. Much of TNT’s coverage, which includes the Stanley Cup Final, will be simulcast on truTV and available on Max’s B/R Sports Add-On. In Canada, games will be showcased on Sportsnet and CBC.

After three rounds of best-of-seven series, the final starts Tuesday night. If it goes the distance, Game 7 could go as late as June 20.

What to know

WEST: No-nonsense John Tortorella took over coaching the Vegas Golden Knights in late March, and they've been rolling since. Mitch Marner, who was maligned for a lack of playoff success during his time in Toronto, has been arguably the best player in the postseason.

EAST: The Carolina Hurricanes have rolled through the East, getting dominant goaltending from 36-year-old Frederik Andersen and do-it-all play from 2018 league MVP Taylor Hall. After so many disappointing playoff exits, they are hoping to win the franchise's second championship and first since 2006.

Canada's Stanley Cup drought will extend one more year. No team north of the border has won it since Montreal in 1993.

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

Sergio Guel, 31, was charged as part of an ongoing investigation by Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

Court records state that Guel was charged with one count of possession of lewd visual material depicting a child, a state-jail felony punishable by up to two years confinement and a fine.

As an investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible.

Detectives with Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit are reviewing photos and videos which were found on an electronic device seized at his residence in Hockley.

The images are believed to have been downloaded from the internet.

Guel has previously been commissioned by the State of Texas as a private security officer and has worked in technology.

Because of the nature of some information and evidence uncovered in the case, detectives ask that anyone with information about Guel and any sexual impropriety with children, to contact them 713-222-4929.

“If you see something, say something. Together, we can keep our community safer,” Constable Rosen said.

Constable Precinct One’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit is part of the Houston-Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Hot, steamy weather expected this weekend:

Get ready for classic Houston heat this weekend. Temperatures will kick off Saturday morning in the mid-70s, with a heat index already feeling like 80 degrees by 8 a.m. Through the afternoon, highs are expected to reach 90 to 92 degrees, and the heat index climbs to 98 degrees. This means it’s going to feel extra steamy, perfect timing if you’ve been considering a pool day.

Humidity is expected to tick upward on Sunday, bumping the heat index even higher.

Hurricane season starts next week:

Hurricane season officially begins June 1, and the KPRC 2 Weather Team has you covered with a special Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide. Make a note to tune in to KPRC 2 on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for insightful tips, the newest science, and expert advice on staying safe whether you’re new to the area or have weathered decades of Gulf storms.

The guide is designed to help everyone get prepared, no matter your experience level. The forecast team will dive deep into what to watch for and how to be ready for severe weather.

The history of how hurricanes get named

Tropical rain threat looms next week:

There’s a shift in weather patterns to keep an eye on after this dry weekend. Tropical moisture is expected to move into the Gulf early next week. This system appears disorganized and is likely to send the heaviest rainfall toward Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

For Houston, afternoon showers and a few thunderstorms start Monday, and continuing off and on throughout the week. It’s not expected to be a washout, but it’s a good idea to stay Weather Ready and watch for forecast updates in case things change.

10-Day forecast:

The start of hurricane season is Monday. This day also starts the chance of afternoon thunderstorms throughout the week.

Lucas, who was married to “Star Wars” creator George Lucas from 1969 to 1983, died Wednesday from metastatic cancer, attorney Deidre Von Rock said in an email to The Associated Press. She died in Rancho Mirage, California, surrounded by loved ones, Von Rock said.

Marcia Lucas was the editor on 1983's “Return of the Jedi” and the pre-“Star Wars” George Lucas-directed films “THX 1138” and “American Graffiti.”

She was also part of the editing team for director Martin Scorsese's 1970s films “Taxi Driver,” “Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore” and “New York, New York.”

Editor was a rare senior creative position where a woman could find a foothold in Hollywood. Marcia Lucas became one of several women whose work in the editing chair made sense of the work of the overwhelmingly male directors of the New Hollywood of the late 1960s through the early 1980s, including Dede Allen, editor of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Dog Day Afternoon”; Verna Fields, editor of “Paper Moon” and “Jaws"; and Thelma Schoonmaker, editor of most of Scorsese's films starting with 1980's “Raging Bull.”

Lucas was often called the unsung hero of “Star Wars,” the original film that after sequels, prequels and spinoffs has come to be known by its subtitle, “A New Hope.”

She convinced her then-husband that he should have Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, die in his lightsaber battle with Darth Vader and become a spirit guide to Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker.

And she had to make sense of raw footage that could have been a mess in the wrong hands, including the climactic rebel attack on the Death Star.

“It was extremely complex and we had 40,000 feet of dialogue footage of pilots saying this and that. And she had to cull through all that, and put in all the fighting as well,” George Lucas told Rolling Stone in an interview a few months after the film came out. “Nobody really has ever tried to interweave an actual plot story into a dogfight, and we were trying to do that."

Lucas was born Marcia Griffin in Modesto, California shortly after the end of World War II. She moved to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents divorced when she was a small child.

She began working as a film librarian and moved into working as an editor on commercials, trailers and promotional films. She was an assistant editor on the documentary “Journey to the Pacific” for Fields, who also hired George Lucas, then a film student at the University of Southern California.

The couple became engaged soon after. Their marriage would essentially end in 1982, but they kept their divorce under wraps until after the release of “Return of the Jedi” in 1983. Marcia Lucas was then married to Tom Rodrigues, a production manager at the Skywalker Ranch production center, from 1983 to 1993.

She is survived by her daughters, Amanda Lucas and Amy Soper, and grandchildren Felix Hallikainen, Aeliana Hallikainen and Knox Soper.

"Her influence on film is indelible, but those who knew her best will remember the way she made life feel more vivid, more beautiful, more fun, and more full of love,” a family statement said. “Her work was known for its emotional intelligence, rhythm, and humanity — a rare ability to find the truth of a scene and bring heart, momentum, and clarity to the screen.”

U.S. Southern Command announced the latest strike in the monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence.

While the military's social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white. The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it's hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water.

The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay.

An executive order from Trump directs federal agencies to align their policies behind the study, which recommended an overhaul long called for by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The study found that the United States recommends more childhood vaccines than many peer nations.

The Trump administration previously moved to narrow the number of recommended childhood vaccines in response to the report, but the move was blocked by a federal judge in Massachusetts. The administration is appealing the decision.

The study recommends vaccinating all children against 11 diseases. Several others would be recommended only for high-risk groups or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.” That includes vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV.

Trump's order adds weight behind the study at a time when the administration had appeared to be trying to shift focus away from Kennedy's more contentious vaccine policies and toward more mainstream topics like healthy eating.

The order directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to review the study and “take any appropriate steps” to update its vaccine recommendations. It says the CDC should “provide maximum flexibility to parents and doctors" and directs agencies to make sure all actions, regulations and funding are aligned with the study.

The order adds that any changes should ensure that Americans retain their current access to vaccines.

States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.

Trump directed HHS to carry out the study in December.

Kennedy is a longtime activist against vaccines and has sought ways to inject his skepticism about the shots into national guidance. Last year, he announced the CDC would no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, a move questions by public health experts who saw no new data to justify the change.

Last June, he fired a 17-member CDC vaccine advisory committee and later installed several of his own replacements, including multiple vaccine skeptics.

The January report found that vaccine recommendations for American children had increased in recent decades. It also highlighted countries where no vaccines are required to attend school.

In a trio of social media posts, Trump gave his backing to South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra and former Oklahoma state senator Mike Mazzei as primary elections approach.

Iowa’s primary is Tuesday, South Carolina’s is on June 9 and Oklahoma's is on June 16. All three states are having their first competitive Republican gubernatorial primaries in years.

For two terms, Evette has served alongside Gov. Henry McMaster, one of Trump's earliest backers during his first presidential campaign. Earlier this year, the long-serving governor endorsed his No. 2, telegraphing to some that Trump's backing could be next.

On Friday, Trump expressed both appreciation for Evette and the state she represents, noting that she stumped for him in 2024. He also said “A BIG added plus” for her campaign is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the sitting governor's son — may be Evette's running mate.

In the deep red state of South Carolina, the competition for the president’s support has been the most intense part of the primary race.

In a separate post, Trump described Feenstra as "MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” for the state on issues including the economy, border security and support of law enforcement.

Evette and Feenstra have been vocal about wanting Trump's endorsement, in the hopes that it would carry weight in states that helped propel Trump's return to office in 2024. Feenstra said earlier this year that he asked for Trump's support, and much of Evette's campaign media has featured photos of her next to Trump.

Along with Feenstra, four other Republicans — state Rep. Eddie Andrews, businessman and former conservative political director Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former director of the state Department of Administrative Services Adam Steen — are in the primary to replace outgoing Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who opted out of a third bid.

Evette is competing for the South Carolina nomination against Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and state Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Mazzei is running to replace Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is finishing his second term. He's competing against state Attorney General Gentner Drummond, former state House Speaker Charles McCall and former state public safety secretary Chip Keating.

"Mike Mazzei has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of Oklahoma — HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Trump wrote on social media.

___

Hannah Fingerhut contributed reporting from Des Moines, Iowa.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she sent in state police to bring order outside Delaney Hall as the demonstrations have intensified, with violence and arrests increasing as night falls.

“It has grown unsafe, and that’s completely unacceptable,” the Democratic governor said at a news conference announcing the new measures. “We need to take this opportunity to lower the temperature.”

As police erected protest barriers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had formed an line in front of protesters moved inside the building’s perimeter fence.

New Jersey State Police Lt. Col. David Sierotowicz said ICE officers agreed to stand down with state police assuming responsibility.

Demonstrators had mixed reactions. Some staged a sit-in and refused to move into one of the new protest areas police set up using metal barriers and concrete blocks.

Rachel Cohen worried that demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights were being silenced.

“It is not helpful to quell protest for the sake of a false peace,” she said. “There is no peace while we are torturing our neighbors on government dime inside this facility.”

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, on social media, called the measures a “win for law and order" and noted that Sherrill had resisted sending state police for days.

The protests began a week earlier after immigrant advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, which opened last May.

Demonstrators have been attempting to block people and vehicles from entering and exiting, linking their arms in a human chain and using trash cans, umbrellas and other items as makeshift shields and barricades.

ICE officers wearing helmets and tactical vests have used pepper spray and batons to try to disperse the protesters and clear the roadway for vehicles.

At least six demonstrators were arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers Wednesday night, and more have been arrested on other nights, according to DHS.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche shared images online Friday of bloody wounds and bruises sustained by ICE officers.

“These riots are clearly not ‘peaceful protests’ as you can see from the photos of these horrific wounds,” he said. “Assault a federal officer, you’ll be held accountable.”

Another demonstrator, Lisa O’Dwyer, said she was fine with the designated protest areas.

“I like to get my point across and stay safe at the same time,” the Westfield resident said.

Eyesha Marable, pastor at Mt. Zion AME Church in Millburn, agreed even while acknowledging that there were “different schools of thought” among protesters.

“There are people here who are angry. Their family members are inside. Their friends are inside. People have been taken off the streets, out of their communities,” she said.

“We have to keep the peace,” Marable said. “The goal is to get our people free, to get them liberated, and we cannot do that if we’re fighting out here.”

State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said it was important to “de-escalate” the situation as “violence, either against protesters or by protesters, is unacceptable.”

Sherril said she did not want to give ICE a “pretext” to expand operations in the state.

“We all need to do everything we can to cool things down now,” she said.

The governor and other Democratic officials tried to visit detainees on Monday but were denied entry.

Democratic members of Congress from New York City, however, were able to tour Delaney Hall the day after that. They reported dire conditions, with detainees being fed small portions of often spoiled food and their varied medical needs going ignored.

Families and supporters of detainees also say their loved ones have also been subjected to pepper spray and physical force in retaliation for their hunger strike and the protests outside.

___

Marcelo reported from New York.

Trump has warned that Cuba “is next” after U.S. military forces captured Venezuela's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a January raid. In the months since, the Trump administration has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba, maintained warships in the Caribbean Sea and indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on federal charges.

Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, met with Lt. Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo and other Cuban military officials.

Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces said in a statement that both sides viewed "the meeting positively because it addressed security issues along the perimeter separating the military enclave, and they agreed to maintain communication between the two military commands.”

Top Trump aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA chief John Ratcliffe, also have met with Cuban officials to explore possible improvements in relations. But the U.S. side has come away unimpressed from those talks, leading to even more sanctions imposed on the Cuban government.

Besides the meeting, Donovan also assessed the security of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay and discussed the “safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X.

The U.S. maintains the base despite decades of friction with Cuba's socialist leaders, whom Trump wants removed from power.

The U.S. military has a handful of Navy ships, including at least one amphibious assault ship, in the Caribbean, a much smaller force than was present at the time of the Maduro raid.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced that a new unit of 1,300 sailors and Marines would be replacing the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed to the region last summer.

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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodríguez in Havana contributed to this report.

Meanwhile Trump held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers as he looks to make a “final determination” on moving forward on a deal to extend a ceasefire with Iran. Trump confirmed the high-level talks a day after the AP reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had reached a tentative agreement to extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days and start new talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

And former Attorney General Pam Bondi refused to answer questions on Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she defended the administration’s actions in a closed-door interview before House lawmakers. Lawmakers have scrutinized the Justice Department’s release of the files, which was delayed and revealed the personal information of potential victims.

Here's the latest:

Trump claims he’s making food more affordable, but his examples ignore the big picture

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, the president proclaimed “TRUMP’S MAKING FOOD AFFORDABLE,” and cited falling prices for a range of groceries, including avocados, fresh berries, and a variety of pantry staples. Yet just two weeks earlier the Labor Department had released inflation figures showing grocery prices up nearly 3% in April from a year earlier.

So where’s the reality?

The graphic shared by Trump may be correct about the specific items he listed. It’s hard to know because he used data that isn’t publicly available and he didn’t specify what time frame he used.

But specific grocery items go up and down all the time, and his post ignores the broader reality consumers are facing at the supermarket: Overall, food prices have risen since his inauguration, and at a faster pace than they typically did before the pandemic. Most economists expect them to continue to do so in the coming months as a spike in diesel fuel prices lifts the cost of shipping groceries to stores around the country.

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Pentagon-led talks between Israel and Lebanon conclude

The Pentagon said the security-related talks were “productive” but stopped short of noting any accomplishments or achievements.

The statement released late Friday said the “military-to-military talks focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability” and “tangible outcomes” from the discussions will directly inform negotiations with political leaders conducted by the State Department next week.

Talks between senior Israeli and Lebanese officials have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating and has refused to accept their results.

ICE officer arrested in shooting during Minneapolis immigration crackdown

Christian Castro, who was wanted in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration’s crackdown, was arrested Friday in Texas, authorities said.

Castro, 52, was taken into custody 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.

Prosecutors in Hennepin County, Minnesota, said the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension located Castro in Texas, and the Texas Rangers said they assisted in the arrest in Cameron County, which borders Mexico.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Castro, and it was not immediately clear if he has one.

Castro is the second federal agent to be charged over conduct during the Minnesota crackdown and one of two agents that ICE Director Todd Lyons said lied about the circumstances of the incident.

Prosecutors say Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh after Castro and another officer chased a different man to the Minneapolis apartment duplex where he and Sosa-Celis lived.

Tomatoes become latest symbol of America’s affordability squeeze

Tomatoes, ubiquitous in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, are taking on a new role beyond the plate: A nagging reminder of rising costs.

Prices for those red orbs have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.

Tomato prices are up about 40% over a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5%), beef roasts (up 17.8%) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12%), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.

Alongside crop yields, experts blame price increases for tomatoes, in part, on two pillars of President Donald Trump’s second-term policies: the Iran war and tariffs. The war spiked gas prices and increased shipping costs. Meantime, the U.S. withdrew from a deal allowing duty-free imports of tomatoes from Mexico, which grows most of America’s supply.

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Trump jumps into GOP governor primaries in South Carolina and Iowa

The president waded into primary contests that have pitted allies against each other in a fierce competition for their party leader’s blessing. In a pair of social media posts, he gave his backing to South Carolina Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Iowa Rep. Randy Feenstra.

Trump expressed appreciation for Evette and her state, noting that she stumped for him in 2024. He also said “A BIG added plus” for her is that Henry McMaster Jr. — the sitting governor’s son — may be Evette’s running mate.

Separately Trump described Feenstra as “MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” on issues including the economy, border security and support of law enforcement.

Both Evette and Feenstra have been vocal about wanting Trump’s endorsement, in the hopes that it would carry weight in states that helped propel his return to office in 2024.

What to know about the artists backing out of the Trump-linked Freedom 250 concerts

“The Great American State Fair” is a series of concerts, exhibits, tributes and other programs scheduled for June 25 to July 10 on Washington’s National Mall. It was organized by Freedom 250, which is billed as a nonpartisan organization but was launched last year by the president and is headed by a Trump State Department appointee from his first term.

On Wednesday, Freedom 250 announced that Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride would be among the musical performers. But by late Thursday, all three dropped out, as did Morris Day and Young MC.

Michaels and others have said they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight.

Freedom 250 organizers have yet to respond to AP requests for comment. Spokesperson Rachel Reisner told The New York Times that “Freedom 250 is focused on our signature celebrations and events that honor our history and engage all Americans.”

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US and China trade journalist expulsions days after Trump visits Xi in Beijing

The Trump administration has revoked the visa of a Chinese national working for state news agency Xinhua, an apparent reciprocal act to Beijing’s decision to expel a New York Times reporter.

A person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because it involves visa privacy confirmed the visa had been revoked. A State Department official confirmed there was a plan to revoke it.

The move followed China’s expulsion of Times correspondent Vivian Wang, apparently over the appearance of the Taiwanese leader in a DealBook event in which Wang had no role.

The Times, which first reported the reciprocal move, said it does not ask governments to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere with the work of any journalist. It called for Wang’s reinstatement and urged both governments to “reverse this deterioration in journalist access.”

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Didi Tang and Matthew Lee

US commander meets with Cuban military officials as Trump continues pressure on island nation

The top U.S. military leader in Latin America and the Cuban officials met Friday in what Southern Command characterized as a “brief exchange on operational security matters” near the U.S. Navy base on Guantanamo Bay.

Gen. Francis L. Donovan also “led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials,” Southern Command said on the social platform X.

The meeting comes as the U.S. military maintains a presence of warships in the Caribbean Sea and the Trump administration applies pressure on Cuba with an oil blockade. Trump has warned that Cuba “is next” after capturing Venezuela’s autocratic leader in a January military operation.

Trump says he’s backing away from Kennedy Center renovation and returning control to Congress

Hours after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the arts institution, the president said the judge “should be ashamed of himself” in a social media post.

“Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,’” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump also said he has instructed his administration to “make all necessary arrangements” to have the center transferred to Congress.

Federal judge says New Hampshire must loosen requirements to prove citizenship to vote

New Hampshire must make voter registration easier by allowing applicants to attest to their U.S. citizenship if they don’t have the documents to prove it, the judge said.

The case was seen as the first major legal test of an election reform that has been pushed nationally by Trump and has gained favor among many Republicans, although U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot said she was not deciding whether requiring proof of citizenship itself is constitutional.

Her ruling late Thursday night on a narrower question of New Hampshire law was significant, however, because it underscored the potential perils of implementing strict requirements for voters to document their U.S. citizenship so they can cast a ballot.

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Kennedy Center board broke the law putting Trump’s name on the building, judge says, and blocks its closure for renovations

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded Friday that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, he said, and only Congress can change it.

The judge also ruled that the board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations.

“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote.

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Iran’s nuclear issues remain unresolved

A deal to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz “has not yet been finalized,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told a state broadcaster on Friday.

On Thursday, U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested negotiators were trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Baghaei, however, said Friday that Iranian officials were “focused on the end of war and are not discussing the details of the nuclear plan at this point.”

Trump’s Situation Room meeting on Iran ceasefire has concluded

Trump has finished his meeting with national security aides to weigh a framework of an agreement that would extend the U.S. ceasefire with Iran by 60 days and kickstart new talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to a senior administration official.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not comment on whether Trump had made a decision to sign off on the tentative agreement following the roughly two-hour meeting.

— Aamer Madhani

Kennedy Center board broke the law putting Trump’s name on the building, judge says, and blocks its closure for renovations

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper concluded Friday that the board “overstepped its statutory bounds” by unilaterally adding Trump’s name to the center. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, he said, and only Congress can change it.

The judge also ruled that the board’s March 16 vote to close the facility was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” with no regard for its legal obligations.

“The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one,” he wrote.

Rubio calls Lebanese president as Israel-Lebanon security talks begin at the Pentagon

The U.S. secretary of state had a phone call with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to praise him for pursuing peace talks with Israel, as Israel and Lebanon held their first security-related meeting in Washington at the Pentagon.

Rubio “commended President Aoun’s courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel, even as Hezbollah continues its attempts to derail those talks at the expense of the Lebanese people,” the State Department said in a statement Friday.

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon have been going on since last month but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah, Israel’s target, is not participating in the discussions and has refused to accept their results.

Rubio told Aoun that Hezbollah “is entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting and emphasized the need for Hezbollah to immediately cease its attacks and provocations to enable de-escalation.”

Trump administration grants a rare reprieve, shielding 11,000 Lebanese from deportation

The decision on their Temporary Protected Status allows them to stay and work in the United States for another six months.

Unusually, the decision was automatic, meaning the administration missed the deadline to decide on whether to extend TPS for Lebanese people covered by the program.

The Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday that officials “were unable to make an informed determination on Lebanon’s TPS designation.” It comes amid ongoing fighting in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants.

Republicans have harshly criticized the TPS program, which was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

White House moves to give political appointees more power over federal grants

Scientists say this would put critical research funding into the hands of partisans without relevant expertise. It would be the most sweeping change to the federal grantmaking process in years.

The proposed regulations would require senior appointees to review funding to see if it complies with the law and the president’s priorities. The rules would also give administration officials more freedom to terminate grants that have already been awarded, a process that could jeopardize millions of dollars in ongoing research.

The Office of Management and Budget claims the reforms are needed for greater accountability. It says the Biden administration wasted taxpayer dollars on “woke” programs.

Published Friday, the plan will enter a public comment period before a final rule will be issued.

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Ex-Iowa school district leader who was arrested in Trump’s immigration crackdown gets 2 years in prison

Ian Roberts pleaded guilty in January to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms, which together carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He would serve the sentence before he is likely deported to his native Guyana in South America.

His lawyers had proposed that he be put on probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States.” Prosecutors recommended a sentence of more than three years, saying his likely deportation should not be a factor.

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Louisiana lawmakers pass a new congressional map designed to pick up a Republican seat

The new map is also likely to leave the state with just one of its two majority-Black House districts represented by Democrats.

Approval of the new House map came a month after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander, weakening the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act. That decision intensified a national redistricting battle fueled by Trump’s efforts to protect the Republicans’ slim House majority in the midterm elections.

Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s U.S. House seats. But that would have required adding more Black voters to Republican-held districts, potentially backfiring with losses. Some Republicans said a 5-1 map better protects U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a difficult reelection.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law.

Bondi interview concludes after 4 hours

Democratic lawmakers say former attorney general told them she would not answer questions about Trump’s involvement in the release of case files on Jeffrey Epstein.

She also said Todd Blanche, her former deputy who is now the acting attorney general, had overseen the publication of case files.

Bondi refuses to answer lawmakers’ questions about Trump’s involvement in Epstein files release

Bondi was on Capitol Hill for a closed-door interview in which she defended the administration’s actions before House lawmakers who are scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.

Democratic lawmakers said Bondi told them she would not speak about the president in Friday’s interview and, accompanied by a lawyer from the Department of Justice, cited her ability to decline questions because she agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.

“It’s a sham in there. They are not answering any questions,” said Democratic Rep. Dave Min during a break in the interview.

Trump says only the US and China are capable of removing Iran’s enriched uranium

The president in his online post also turned back to his on-and-off demand that the highly-enriched uranium buried under nuclear sites badly damaged during last year’s U.S. air bombardment of Iran be removed as part of a deal.

“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump said.

Trump has offered mixed messages over the course of the three-month conflict on the importance of removing the enriched uranium. Earlier this month, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity he’d “just feel better if I got” the uranium, but that “it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”

Louisiana Republicans are poised to pass new US House districts in wider redistricting fight

The state’s Republican-controlled Senate is poised to pass a plan Friday to help the GOP maintain control of the U.S. House in November, potentially becoming the latest Southern state to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that elected a Democrat.

The state Senate is set to vote on a redistricting plan that would give Republicans a chance to pick up an additional seat in response to late April’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Louisiana’s congressional district map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

An amended map overwhelmingly passed the House on Thursday. Once the final map clears the Legislature, Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to sign it.

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Hegseth meets with leaders of Vietnam and Singapore at Asian defense conference

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has met with leaders from Vietnam and Singapore to discuss shared security interests, the Pentagon said Friday.

The separate meetings occurred on the sidelines during the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s annual defense and security forum in Singapore.

Hegseth praised Vietnam’s decision to join the Board of Peace and for committing troops and police to the International Stabilization Force in Gaza. Hegseth also applauded the modernization of Vietnam’s military and discussed opportunities to deepen cooperation, including on unmanned naval capabilities.

Hegseth and Singapore’s leaders discussed expanding the U.S. military’s presence in Singapore with rotational deployments from the Navy and Air Force. Meanwhile, Hegseth reaffirmed the American commitment to support advanced training for Singapore’s military in the U.S.

Pam Bondi defends administration’s release of Epstein case files as she testifies before lawmakers

The former attorney general stood behind the Trump administration’s release of the case files on Jeffrey Epstein as she testified Friday before House lawmakers scrutinizing a process that was delayed and included personal information of potential victims.

Bondi, who arrived Friday morning on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was defiant in previous public testimony when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation. In her opening statement, she kept to the same tack.

“The bottom line is: justice and transparency in this matter have been delivered at the direction of President Trump and his administration,” she said, according to a written copy of her opening statement.

The transcribed Bondi interview gave lawmakers a chance to dig for information on the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other related matters, including the prison sentence of Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.

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Trump meeting with aides to make ‘final determination’ on moving forward with Iran deal

The president says he’s holding a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers.

Trump confirmed the high-level White House talks Friday, a day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement.

The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

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White House declines comment on judge’s ruling blocking payouts from ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

The White House referred all questions to the Justice Department, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys from the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward are seeking a court order halting the fund’s implementation and preventing the Trump administration from disbursing any payouts from it. The federal suit claims there’s no legal basis or accountability behind the fund.

At least two other lawsuits, both filed separately in Washington, also are challenging the fund’s creation.