A heavy military presence was observed in the capital, Addis Ababa, as observers called for a peaceful election in the country that is Africa's second-most populous and hosts the headquarters of the African Union.

Long queues began forming before the 6 a.m. opening time, with voters eager to cast their ballots and make their voices heard.

Ethiopians are choosing more than 500 members of the House of Representatives, who will subsequently vote to select the prime minister.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party is expected to secure a majority of seats, paving the way for him to retain office for another term.

About 50 million people, out of Ethiopia’s estimated population of 130 million, are registered to vote. Voters are also electing members of local government councils. Results are expected later on Monday.

Opposition parties have raised concerns over what they describe as a shrinking political space, alleging that they were prevented from actively campaigning and persuading voters. Ethiopia has also faced criticism over reports of human rights abuses targeting government critics and journalists.

A human rights defender, Noah Yesuf, said the election was illegitimate "from the beginning."

“The fairness of an election is judged by whether there is a level playing field for the opposition and a conducive environment for citizens to freely participate,” he told The Associated Press.

There’s an element of voter apathy due to citizens feeling let down by politicians.

Senait Dereje, a 37-year-old shopkeeper, is certain her vote matters.

“I have registered to vote. I am not sure if my vote will bring the change that I want and that will help change my livelihood,” Dereje told the AP. “I know many friends refuse to vote as they have given up on the politicians but I have not and I see it as a referendum like vote on the mixed record of the government."

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.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the interception in a post Monday on X, saying the Tagor was boarded on Sunday in the Atlantic. The post included a video showing a person rappelling from a helicopter onto a ship. It is the latest in a series of French naval interceptions of tankers suspected of links to Russia.

“It is unacceptable that boats skirt international sanctions, violate the law of the sea and finance the war that Russia has been waging for more than 4 years against Ukraine,” Macron wrote. “These ships, that don’t respect the most elementary rules of maritime navigation, are also a threat to the environment and everyone’s security.”

Oil revenue is a key part of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the war effort against Ukraine without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.

Russia is believed to be using a fleet of hundreds of ships to evade international sanctions imposed over the war. France and other countries have vowed to crack down on the sanction-busting so-called “shadow fleet.”

Responding to the latest French interception, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia “considers such actions illegal.”

“They border on piracy,” he said Monday. “We absolutely disagree that they are being carried out in full compliance with international law.”

French maritime authorities said the tanker was intercepted more than 400 nautical miles west of France, in international waters in the Atlantic. It was traveling from the northwestern Russian port of Murmansk, according to the authorities’ statement.

It said the tanker is suspected of operating under a false flag and that the French navy is now escorting it to an anchorage for more checks.

Tankers previously intercepted by France include the Deyna, boarded in the Mediterranean Sea in March. Another tanker, the Grinch, intercepted in the Mediterranean in January, was released in February after paying a multimillion-euro penalty.

___

Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London contributed.

But doctors say regularly falling short of that recommendation could have serious long-term consequences for brain health.

Experts at Memorial Hermann say growing research continues to show a strong connection between chronic sleep deprivation and cognitive decline, including an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

According to neurologist Dr. Sudha Tallavajhula, the body’s ability to withstand sleep deprivation declines as people enter their 40s and 50s.

“Sleep deprivation is something that is very individual,” Tallavajhula said. “There are people who can get away with six hours of sleep and still do fine maybe. But others need their absolute eight.”

Doctors say poor sleep doesn’t just affect memory and concentration. It can also become a major public safety concern.

Drowsy driving remains one of the leading causes of crashes nationwide. Tallavajhula says roughly one in every 20 drivers on the road is struggling to stay awake behind the wheel.

The long-term effects on the brain can be even more concerning.

“When I talk to people who present a dementia-like syndrome who have been sleep deprived for years, you basically have to pay the bank back,” Tallavajhula said. “All those hours of sleep deprivation, you have to pay them back.”

She warns that prolonged sleep deprivation can eventually lead to the loss of brain cells, which cannot be replaced. However, some cognitive functions can be recovered if sleep problems are addressed early.

The good news is that experts say the brain can heal from sleep deprivation, although recovery may take weeks or even months, depending on the severity of the problem.

For people struggling with sleep disorders, doctors encourage seeking professional help rather than trying to manage the issue alone.

“Sleep therapy is actually a very robust way of intervention where you can actually talk through what their issues are with sleep and train their brain to fall asleep again,” Tallavajhula said.

Specialists also note there are treatment options available for a variety of sleep disorders, including narcolepsy and chronic insomnia.

If you have a family history of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, doctors say protecting your sleep should be considered an important part of maintaining long-term brain health.

“We have a host of options now for treatment for narcolepsy,” Tallavajhula said. “Depending on your sleep problem, there are many options that can be done. You just have to seek attention.”

Happy Monday! Let’s make this week a great week. Jumping into the top headlines, what you need to know right now, today, June 1, is the start of Hurricane season! yep, you heard that right. So, if you have not been preparing or feel prepared, you may want to create a checklist and gather your things now. Although meteorologists are seeing a below-average hurricane season, all it takes is one storm to send devastation across our region.

To read more, click here.

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YOUR MORNING FORECAST ☀️

TODAY: 91° TONIGHT: 86°

KPRC 2 Meteorologist says:

“June is here, bringing daily rain chances for the first week of the month and serving as a reminder that hurricane season officially begins today. As for temperatures, the heat isn’t going anywhere. Expect seasonably hot and humid conditions to continue throughout the week. We’ll start each day in the mid-70s before temperatures climb into the 90s by the afternoon. While not everyone will see rain, we’ll be tracking scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours.”

Get your forecast details here.

TOP STORIES

Brazoria County deputy shoots, kills driver after chase ends at Lake Jackson home

A driver is dead after leading deputies on a chase through Brazoria County Monday morning. The details surrounding the deadly shooting are not 100% clear, but the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office is saying one of its deputies shot a driver who led them on a pursuit.

Carnival data breach may impact more than 800K Texans. Here’s what experts say you should do now

Millions of Carnival Cruise passengers — including more than 800,000 Texans, according to the Texas attorney general’s office — may have had their personal information exposed in a recent data breach.

According to a notice posted by Carnival Corporation, the company discovered unauthorized activity involving an employee account on April 14.

World Trade Center steel displayed at Space Center Houston as ‘Steel Across America’ tour makes Houston stop

The first sound many people heard Sunday morning was “Amazing Grace,” carried by bagpipes as an honor guard procession moved beneath a towering arch of American flags at Space Center Houston. Moments later, a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center — nearly 17,000 pounds of twisted history — was blessed in a solemn ceremony that organizers said was meant to make “Never Forget” tangible.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “Steel Across America” tour stopped in Houston on May 31 as part of a nationwide commemoration ahead of the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, bringing the sacred artifact and a mobile 9/11 exhibit to the Space Center campus for visitors and community members to experience firsthand.

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Crunch Time: Three Houston spots serving fried food done right

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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”

“The new Liz Strout book is the best,” she says of Elizabeth Strout's “The Things We Never Say.” “You know, every single book she publishes, you just think, ‘Oh, well, she can’t possibly do that again.’ And then she comes out with another book and it’s even better.”

At 62, Patchett is the rare and fortunate writer whose words resonate among friends and strangers alike. She owns one of the country's signature independent bookstores, Parnassus Books, with customers ranging from Nashville's book lovers to Tom Hanks. She's also a popular and prize-winning novelist whose new books are inevitably among the year's most anticipated, and whose older ones, including the acclaimed “Bel Canto,” continue to sell. In 2021, she received a National Humanities Medal for “putting into words the beauty, pain, and complexity of human nature.”

Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages, but her home is in Nashville, where she spent part of her childhood and now lives with her husband, physician Karl VanDevender. Patchett spoke at Parnassus with The Associated Press on a sunny weekday morning, shortly before opening time. She also met with staff members gathered at the center of the 4,800-square-foot store to discuss upcoming events, and indulged the occasional interruption by one of the employee-owned “shop dogs” who hurry about like bargain-seeking customers.

The new book is called ‘Whistler’

Patchett is here early to talk about “Whistler,” which comes out Tuesday. Like “Bel Canto,” “State of Wonder” and other Patchett novels, it's a story of improbable meetings and deepening bonds. In this case, 53-year-old Daphne Fuller and her husband encounter an elderly man, Eddie Triplett, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and realize he was briefly her stepfather when she was a girl. Daphne and Eddie form a close friendship as they recall their times together, including a serious car accident followed by the breakup of Eddie's marriage to her mother.

Patchett doesn't write with any message in mind, but “Whistler” can be read as an ode to decency and benevolence. The title refers to a story-fable about a horse that runs away, only to turn up at a time of crisis. In the aftermath of the crash, as Daphne wonders if it's safe to leave and seek help, Eddie assures her, “I swear to you, it's mostly good people out there, with a few bad people around the edges.”

“The people that I interact with every single day are good people,” Patchett says. “It is vanishingly rare when I meet someone who’s not nice. Now, if you watch the news and read the news, it seems like everyone’s terrible and murderous. But it’s the difference between primary and secondary sources. So if I’m just operating off primary sources, what I see is goodness. I completely understand that there is incredible horror and cruelty in the world, but I also feel like incredible horror and cruelty is very well represented (in art). And what I actually experience in my daily life is not as well represented in art.”

“I don’t set out to write books about nice people,” she adds, “but I like people.”

Honored by PEN America

Patchett's sense of citizenship was recognized recently by PEN America, which at its annual May gala in Manhattan presented her with its Literary Service Award. In introducing her to a gathering of hundreds at the American Museum of Natural History, author Patrick Ryan cited her wide range of contributions, whether working “to get books into the hands of children in underserved communities,” supporting emerging writers or inspiring readers “who recognize themselves in her novels.”

Patchett has a well-lived appreciation of connections, and how they can be broken by discord or ended by death.

A native of Los Angeles, she was in early childhood when her parents divorced and she moved east with her mother, events drawn upon for her novel “Commonwealth." She has also written memorials for departed loved ones. In the memoir “Truth & Beauty,” she remembered her close friend Lucy Grealy, a poet and memoir writer who suffered from a rare form of cancer and endured multiple surgeries before dying at 39. In the title essay from her 2004 collection “These Precious Days,” Patchett honors the late Sooki Raphael, a Hanks assistant with whom the author became close while Raphael battled terminal cancer.

“Whistler” is dedicated to her friend Jim Fox, a former head legal counsel at HarperCollins who died in 2024 and is the inspiration for Eddie (and the namesake for a character in “State of Wonder”).

“He was brilliant, and a great reader,” she says. “Jim isn’t Eddie and I’m not Daphne, and certainly the circumstances aren’t the same, but the huge love that Eddie and Daphne shared is the huge love Jim and I shared.”

A bookseller who inspires

Patchett, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa, remembers telling stories even before she could read, a gap she says only intensified her appreciation of the printed word. Raised before the rise of “young adult” books, she started out reading such children's favorites as “Charlotte's Web” and “The Little House on the Prairie” series, and ascended directly to the literary giants who became her formative influences: Saul Bellow, Philip Roth and John Updike.

By her early 20s, Patchett was accomplished enough to have a story published in The Paris Review. Patchett's debut novel, “The Patron Saint of Liars,” came out before she had turned 30. She has since published nine other works of fiction, including “Whistler,” along with four nonfiction books and three picture books, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser.

“I was at my cousins' house a few months ago and they had boxes of old papers of mine,” Patchett says. “And they were from grade school, middle school, high school — notebook after notebook, poetry and stories. I was shocked by the extent I was practicing my craft at age 10.”

Patchett's life as a bookseller began around 2010, when the closing of two Nashville stores seemed to mirror a nationwide decline brought about in part by Amazon's rise. Patchett and business partner Karen Hayes came up with a seemingly wild plan: open a new store — a decision met with some skepticism at the time, but now a sign of the changing fortunes of independent sellers.

Membership in the American Booksellers Association has more than doubled over the past decade — including such author-run stores as Straub's Books Are Magic in New York City and Jeff Kinney's An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Massachusetts. Straub says that when she was thinking of opening her store, she spoke with various friends who owned small businesses.

“They all told me not to do it, but when I talked to Ann, she said ‘Do it,’” Straub says. “She's my hero. I think the friends who were telling me not to do it were speaking practically. But I didn't want to hear practical advice. I wanted to hear inspiration.”

As for temperatures, the heat isn’t going anywhere. Expect seasonably hot and humid conditions to continue throughout the week.

Summer Pattern Settling in:

We’ll start each day in the mid-70s before temperatures climb into the 90s by the afternoon. While not everyone will see rain, we’ll be tracking scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours.

In addition to daytime heating, rain chances will be fueled by tropical moisture and the sea breeze moving inland from the Gulf.

Watch: Building a hurricane kit without breaking the bank

Hurricane season officially begins June 1. Are you ready?

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Many Houstonians, regardless of income level, are continuing to keep a close eye on their budgets. To help you prepare before the season ramps up, be sure to tune in to our KPRC 2 Hurricane & Flood Survival Guide next Wednesday at 8 p.m. We’ll cover everything you need to know as we head into the 2026 hurricane season.

In the meantime, check out our list of 2026 hurricane names and learn about the history behind how hurricanes are named.

10-DAY FORECAST:

Rain chances fade next week, but the heat and humidity remain firmly in place.

I hope you’ve had a great week so far. It’s Friday, so let’s jump into some news of the day!

Do you want to go to the FIFA World Cup games that are coming to Houston next month? If so, be aware of fake FIFA websites that are designed to steal your personal information and money.

We are learning from the FBI that cybercriminals are creating convincing copycat websites that mimic FIFA’s official site in an attempt to scam people searching online for World Cup tickets, hospitality packages, job opportunities, and other tournament-related information.

According to the FBI, many of the fraudulent websites look nearly identical to the real FIFA webpage and use web addresses that are only slightly different from the legitimate domain.

Some use misspellings, while others swap out the traditional “.com” ending for different domain extensions in hopes users will not notice the difference.

To read more, click here.

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YOUR MORNING FORECAST ☀️

TODAY: 91° TONIGHT: 74°

KPRC 2 Meteorologist says:

“Enjoying the sunshine? Houston’s weather pattern did a complete 180 this week. After days of consistent downpours, sunshine and heat continue to settle in for the weekend. Enjoy it while it lasts because rain will return next week.”

Get your forecast details here.

TOP STORIES

20-year-old man killed in northeast Harris County shooting; teenage girlfriend may have been involved, deputies say

An investigation is underway into the deadly shooting of a 20-year-old man after police say he got into an argument with his teenage girlfriend. It’s not entirely clear how or why the man was shot, but police said the man’s 17-year-old girlfriend did return to the scene for questioning

8 riders rescued from stuck roller coaster at Galveston’s Pleasure Pier

Crews have successfully rescued eight people who were on a roller coaster that got stuck after a malfunction at Galveston’s Pleasure Pier.

The roller coaster is the Iron Shark.

The rescue process involved getting each rider into a safety harness before bringing them down the tower truck. Rescue crews were talking and directing the riders the entire time while they got them off the ride.

Man shot and killed after argument in west Houston, police say

Houston police are investigating a deadly shooting that left a man in his 20s dead late Wednesday night in west Houston.

According to Lt. Pulido with the Houston Police Department, officers responded around 10:20 p.m. to a shooting call at 2323 South Kirkwood Road near Southlake Drive.

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The deal, struck in 2022 by Starmer’s predecessor, Rishi Sunak, involved sending migrants who arrive in the U.K. as stowaways or in boats to the East African country. It included arrangements for payments to Rwanda to help cover costs. Starmer’s home secretary at the time the deal was scrapped, Yvette Cooper, called it the “most shocking waste of taxpayer money I have ever seen.”

The Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected two Rwandan claims, each for 50 million pounds ($67 million), linked to funding for the canceled deal. The decision was dated May 15, but formally announced by the Hague-based panel on Monday. It also rejected two other Rwandan claims linked to alleged breaches by the U.K. of the pact.

In a 76-page ruling, the panel said that written diplomatic exchanges between the two countries after Starmer scrapped the deal amounted to an agreement that the U.K. would not make the two 50 million-pound payments, due in April of 2025 and 2026, to cover costs of migrant relocations.

Under the deal, migrants were to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the policy was unlawful because Rwanda is not a safe third country for migrants sent there.

The British government said in a statement: “The U.K. robustly defended its position, and the tribunal has now ruled in favor of the U.K. on all grounds."

It added that Starmer's under-fire government is "now focused on delivering vital reforms to restore order and control to our borders, including removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and scaling up removals of those with no right to be here.”

There was no immediate response from Rwanda.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed from London.

Beryl left millions without power across Southeast Texas in 2024, forcing families to endure days without air conditioning, wait in long lines for gasoline, and scramble for ice, food, and ways to charge their phones.

Now, as the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season begins, emergency managers are reminding residents that preparation cannot wait.

While there are currently no tropical threats in the Gulf of Mexico, officials say now is the time to restock emergency supplies, review insurance policies, and make sure every household has a storm plan in place before the next system threatens the Texas coast.

Meteorologists note that June is typically a quieter month for tropical activity, but history shows early-season storms can still bring significant impacts. According to Weather.com, storms that develop during June most often form in the Gulf of Mexico, northwestern Caribbean, or western Atlantic, areas close enough to bring impacts to the United States. Even weaker tropical systems can produce dangerous flooding, storm surge, and prolonged power outages.

For Houston-area residents, Tropical Storm Allison remains a reminder that a storm does not have to reach hurricane strength to be devastating. The 2001 storm caused catastrophic flooding across the region and became one of the few tropical storms to have its name retired.

Forecasters expect the developing El Niño pattern to help limit hurricane activity across the Atlantic later this season, but experts stress that it only takes one storm to create a disaster. NOAA’s outlook calls for a below-average season overall, yet emergency managers warn that seasonal forecasts do not predict where storms will make landfall.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs through November 30.

The protests come two days after Kenya’s High Court suspended the establishment of the facility and the arrival of any foreign patients pending the hearing of a case filed by the Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog.

The two organizations cited Kenya’s fragile health system as the reason why foreign Ebola patients should not be quarantined in the country.

U.S. officials said Thursday that the United States was planning to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s plans. They said the facility would be at Laikipia Air Base and would be operational with 50 quarantine beds by Friday.

On Monday, hundreds of youths marched to the gates of the air base, chanting anti-Ebola slogans.

Health Minister Aden Duale on Sunday said the quarantine center was for “everyone” and not exclusively for U.S. nationals.

The U.S. government intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Local leaders, including Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu, had told journalists that they were opposed to the establishment of an Ebola quarantine center.

“This will expose our people to Ebola,” he said, adding that many locals work inside the air base and could be exposed.

Kenya has not recorded Ebola cases, but neighboring Uganda has reported nine and closed its border with Congo.

At least 282 confirmed cases have been reported in Congo with over 1,000 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine.

If you’re trying to find out what the new draft flood maps mean for your property or community, these meetings will explain how to search the maps and interpret the results.

The Harris County Flood Control District has scheduled additional virtual public meetings where residents can hear updates, ask questions, and provide feedback about the proposed floodplain changes.

Officials say the meetings are part of the agency’s broader effort to keep residents informed as FEMA updates flood risk maps to reflect increased rainfall, development, and flood mitigation projects completed throughout the county.

Emily Woodell, chief external affairs officer for the Harris County Flood Control District, told KPRC’s Deven Clark the updated maps account for increased rainfall, development across the county, and large-scale mitigation projects, including channel widening, bridge replacements, and expanded stormwater detention along bayous like Brays Bayou.

The district is encouraging residents to review the maps carefully and attend one of the remaining meetings.

Upcoming Virtual Meetings:

• June 8, 2026 — 12:00 p.m. (register here)

• June 23, 2026 — 4:30 p.m. (register here)

• July 1, 2026 — 12:00 p.m. (register here)

Residents can also register for meetings and review project materials through the Harris County Flood Control District website.

Search FEMA proposed Houston area flood maps

You can review floodplain changes using the county’s interactive online mapping tool.

CHECK MAP: Click here to search your address in the map

The Flood Control District says the draft maps currently carry no regulatory implications, but community input remains critical during the review process.

According to district officials, some neighborhoods are seeing an expansion of floodplain boundaries due to updated rainfall data, while others are being removed from floodplain zones because of major infrastructure improvements completed in recent years.

Projects across Harris County have included bayou widening, bridge replacements, and expanded stormwater detention systems designed to reduce flood risk.

Officials say public feedback gathered during the meetings will help shape future flood mitigation planning and project development throughout the county.

The incident happened just after midnight near FM 2004 and This Way Street.

According to the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle around 12:09 a.m. on Monday, June 1. Investigators say the driver failed to stop and led deputies on a pursuit.

Authorities said the chase ended when the vehicle pulled into the attached garage of a home in the 100 block of Indian Warrior Trail in Lake Jackson.

Officials have not released many details about what happened next, but investigators say the deputy encountered the driver and discharged his firearm, hitting the driver.

The driver was transported to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Detectives remained at the scene for hours on Monday morning, collecting evidence as the investigation continued.

The Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office has requested assistance from the Texas Rangers, who will lead the investigation alongside the Brazoria County District Attorney’s Office.

In accordance with department policy, the deputy involved has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Authorities have not released the identity of the person killed, and no additional information has been made public at this time.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

A joint statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said that following what they called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah and the “attacks against our cities and citizens,” they have ordered the Israeli military to attack targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs known in Arabic as Dahiyeh.

Hezbollah agreed to halt attacks on Israel when the ceasefire was signed in mid-April but resumed following Israeli strikes in Lebanon that Israel characterized as self-defense.

After Monday's warning, large numbers of people were seen fleeing Dahiyeh, jamming roads leading out of the suburb, where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire overnight

Israeli airstrikes overnight on southern Lebanon left six people dead, including a Syrian citizen in a village near the city of Nabatiyeh, the state-run National News Agency said. Israel struck other towns and villages near the major city, close to the the strategic Beaufort Castle and other towns the Israeli military captured in recent days.

The Israeli military meanwhile said the Air Force had intercepted two projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israeli territory, as well as a suspicious aerial target in the area where Israeli soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon. No injuries were reported, the military said.

Hezbollah said it carried out rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel on Sunday. It said early Monday it attacked Israeli troops in Zawtar al-Sharqieh, just north of the Litani River, and struck what they said was Israeli military infrastructure in Tiberius, a few dozen miles south of the border.

Israel and Lebanon set to hold talks in Washington

The latest attacks came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just before Lebanon and Israeli hold their next round of direct talks in Washington starting Tuesday. Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran, which has demanded an end to the war in Lebanon in its talks with Washington.

Lebanese officials have been scrambling in diplomatic calls including with Washington in a desperate bid to push back Israel's military escalation after Netanyahu's announcement, a Lebanese diplomatic official said. Beirut is still committed to holding talks to end the conflict despite the boiling tensions, the official said who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Tehran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in his weekly press briefing Monday that Lebanon is an “inseparable part of any ceasefire and any final agreement to end the war.”

Talks between senior officials from Israel and Lebanon began in April in Washington, the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.

Beirut has been mostly spared from airstrikes since the ceasefire went into effect, apart from two targeted attacks on the city's southern suburbs in May.

A U.S. official said late Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to propose a fresh path to continue ongoing negotiations, as President Donald Trump weighs a tentative ceasefire extension with Iran.

Under the proposal, Hezbollah would halt all attacks on Israel and Israel would refrain from escalating military operations in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations.

The official said Aoun was open to the idea but that Lebanese parliament chief Nabih Berri had responded by demanding that Israel first stop all military action.

The official said the Trump administration does not expect Israel to give up retaliating for Hezbollah strikes on its territory.

Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, said in a statement Sunday that he can guarantee the militant group’s “full, comprehensive and immediate commitment to a ceasefire.” Berri added “but who will force Israel to stop its aggression?”

Aoun on Monday said in comments released by his office that “Lebanon is facing a fierce and condemned Israeli aggression.” Aoun added that his government is continuing work to end “the suffering of the Lebanese in general and the southerners in particular.”

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,412 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people.

Israel’s military said a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon overnight in a drone attack by Hezbollah. Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.

According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 26 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

____

Melzer reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.

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.”

The city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who is Jewish, did attend the parade.

“It is the mayor’s decision not to march, and it is my decision to march proudly,” she had said Thursday 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.

A delegation of members of Israel’s hardline government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, attended the parade. The visit came nearly two weeks after the far-right settler leader said the International Criminal Court was seeking an arrest warrant against him and marked his first trip to the United States since March 2025.

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.

Oil prices gained more than 3% as U.S.-Iran negotiations continued, including on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and natural gas transit. The U.S. military said Monday the United States bombed Iranian military sites after Tehran shot down an American drone.

U.S. futures edged higher.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 10,396.16. France's CAC 40 edged up 0.2% to 8,202.53, while Germany's DAX gained 0.4% to 25,198.34.

Asian shares mostly gained and Japan’s and South Korea’s benchmarks hit records, led by technology-related stocks, as investors continued to see growth in AI and other advanced technologies.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 ended 0.9% higher at an all-time record of 66,934.33. It also crossed the 67,000 mark for the first time during Monday's trading, reaching 67,231.28. Shares of SoftBank Group, the investment company that focuses heavily on AI, soared 14% and became Japan's most valuable listed company, surpassing Toyota.

In South Korea, the Kospi index jumped 3.7% to 8,788.38, also closing at a record high, after hitting an intraday record of 8,874.16. Samsung Electronics, its biggest company, was up 10.1%. Official data on Monday showed that South Korea’s exports surged 53% year-on-year in May, buoyed by global demand for semiconductors.

The Nikkei 225 was up more than 12% over the past month, while the Kospi surged around 27% during the same period.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded 0.9% higher at 25,398.18. The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 4,057.74, after China reported over the weekend that factory activity in May softened with signs of slowing new exports demand.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged down less than 0.1% to 8,729.40.

Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 1.4%, while India's Sensex lost 0.7%.

Three months after the Iran war began, uncertainties over a permanent end to the war are still driving market movements and keeping oil prices swinging, even as optimism on robust AI demand and strong corporate earnings have fueled a stock market rally including on Wall Street.

On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump met with advisers in high-level talks but had not decided yet on a tentative plan to extend the Iran war ceasefire by 60 days, while Iran had said a deal was not finalized. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was also still in limbo. The strait has been largely closed and the U.S. has imposed a sea blockade on Iranian ports.

The Israeli army was also advancing in Lebanon as Israel targets the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, further complicating developments of a deal on the Iran war.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 3.3% early Monday to $94.16 per barrel. It was approximately $70 a barrel in late February, before the start of the war.

Benchmark U.S. crude was 3.9% higher at $90.78 a barrel.

“In spite of another round of tit-for-tat attacks, market participants continue to operate on the assumption that, sooner rather than later, the Strait of Hormuz will re-open,” wrote Jonas Goltermann, chief markets economist at Capital Economics.

On Friday, Wall Street stocks reached more records powered by big technology stocks, with the benchmark S&P 500 adding 0.2% in its seventh straight gain to 7,580.06.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.7% to 51,032.46, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.2% to 26,972.62.

Dell Technologies surged 32.8% following strong-than-expected results and after it raised its outlook on strong AI-related demand. Microsoft rose over 5.4%, while Broadcom was up 4.7%.

In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.47 Japanese yen from 159.25 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1650, down from $1.1667.

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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Just beyond the playground of Austin’s Cunningham Elementary School, ancient crops are uniting a new generation through the power of storytelling and teamwork.

The Central Texas Cherokee Township and nonprofit Partners for Education, Agriculture and Sustainability, or PEAS, grow Native crops including corn and beans on a small farm at Cunningham to teach students and families about sustainable agriculture, culture and history.

PEAS has partnered with Austin ISD schools for 15 years. Two years ago, the organization began working with Central Texas Cherokees to plant Native seeds at Cunningham. Now, students and families in the South Austin neighborhood help tend the farm through school-day lessons and after-school programs, on occasion bringing home food harvested from the crops. Families say the farm gives students a rare chance to step away from screens, spend time outdoors and connect with their own cultural traditions or those of their neighbors.

Outdoor educators work with students throughout the school year to plant seeds, tend the farm and harvest crops. For the past two years, many of those seeds have come from the Central Texas Cherokee Township, whose members also teach students about the crops’ history, cultural significance and practical uses.

Doug Martin, a member of the Central Texas Cherokee Township who works with students and community members at the farm, said planting corn with students often makes connections between the crop’s history and their own stories. For many students, he noted, the agricultural lessons are already a part of their personal history.

“People from places where their grandpas, their grandmas grew corn,” he said, “they are connected to it.”

Stories and tradition meet agriculture

Students grow corn, beans and gourds together in a traditional Cherokee planting method. Corn stalks provide support for the beans, while the gourds spread across the ground below. The practice, known as the “three sisters,” is a Cherokee tradition that he shares with students every year along with dances and stories traditional to planting and harvesting.

One year, some students created corn dolls from the crops, representing characters from the stories they heard.

While PEAS manages the farm’s day-to-day operations, members of the Central Texas Cherokee Township volunteer at the site and lead cultural presentations. The groups also teach families how to cook with the crops. At one school, Martin said, a parent-teacher association even made tamales with the fresh corn masa for a fundraiser.

Martin said families often find their own histories reflected in the crops. Parents have shared stories about relatives or ancestors who harvested similar crops across the U.S., Central and South America, from farms in Kansas to ancient milpas in Mexico.

The post-pandemic project started from a drive to build community and unique access to seeds from the Cherokee Nation seedbank. For two years, Martin worked with St. Edwards University to ensure the seeds, originally native to North Carolina, survived the Texas heat. Once the crops proved viable, he offered the seeds to organizations operating farms at schools, including Cunningham. The program also operates at Allison Elementary through Land Justice Community School and the school’s parent-teacher organization.

“We are able to continue a family tradition they would not have access to,” Martin said. “There are some political divisions, there’s the border, there’s all these sorts of things that people point to to divide up groups … When we talk about corn, we talk about how everyone grows corn.”

Maria Guzman, whose daughter attends Cunningham, said her family visits the farm nearly each week. She said it has been a formative experience for her children to witness the cycle of a crop. Her daughter has brought home plants and stories, Guzman said, adding she has become known as the “plant lady” on their street.

Life lessons in sustainability

Magda Hernandez, an outdoor education specialist with PEAS, said some seeds planted by community members after school are nurtured by students during the school day and into the harvest, creating a multigenerational experience that reaches beyond the classroom and into the community.

The relationship is reciprocal. Through planting and stories that surround it, students learn about how plants, like people, rely on each other and make the end result stronger.

But, as is true in many cultures, it’s corn that has become central. The crop has become one of the most anticipated parts of the program for both students and staff, said Hernandez. The patience it takes to wait for the corn to grow throughout the school year and into summer camp is an added life lesson.

“There is this beauty of them walking underneath the corn and the corn creating this shadow for them and protecting them from the sunlight in the summertime,” Hernandez said, adding that students are eager to harvest. “But there are always the questions of ‘How about now? How about today?’”

This article first appeared on Austin Current.

Disclosure: St. Edwards University has been a financial supporters 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.

A stubborn drought and rising demand has left the city strapped for water, but the coastal community is still divided on whether an expensive plant is worth the cost to taxpayers and the local ecosystem.

Desalination removes salt and other minerals from seawater or salty groundwater, but plants are expensive to build and require lots of energy to run.

The city’s water department, the mayor and some City Council members view the proposed plant, the Inner Harbor Desalination Project, as the key to a long-term, steady water supply. City Manager Peter Zanoni often calls it a “drought-proof” solution capable of producing up to 30 million gallons of drinking water a day.

If approved Tuesday, the earliest the facility would deliver water is late 2029, too far away to help the city dodge its immediate emergency needs. According to projections, the city is expecting to impose emergency water restrictions in December, when demand is expected to exceed supplies in six months, though recent rain may push restrictions back into early 2027.

Mayor Paulette Guajardo, a strong supporter of the project, said the city needs to think long-term. “At the blink of an eye, three years will be here,” she said.

The facility is estimated to cost $978.8 million, which the water department said is a “guaranteed maximum price.” That’s about 25% cheaper than previous cost estimates.

The water department has already corralled a number of contractors to jump on the plant, which would be built along the bay in Hillcrest, a historically Black neighborhood. It’s fully permitted and about 60% designed. The soonest it would deliver water, if approved Tuesday, would be late 2029.

Climbing costs played a big role in the City Council’s September decision to abandon the original plan, but critics are also concerned about where the plant’s salty leftovers would be released. Under the proposal under consideration Tuesday, millions of gallons of the brine byproduct — which can be twice as salty as seawater — would be discharged into Corpus Christi Bay, home to a variety of fish, crabs and seagrass.

The city hired a consultant, Spheros Environmental Group, to review the Inner Harbor project’s ecological impact on the bay. The report, finalized last week, concluded that the plant would not disrupt the bay’s ecosystem, Zanoni said.

That report follows a 2020 study evaluating the city’s original desalination project by Freese and Nichols, an engineering consulting firm based in Houston, which found that sea creatures living in the bay can tolerate high salt conditions, and that the proposed plant’s discharge would not surpass that threshold.

But Isabel Araiza, co-founder of the citizens group For the Greater Good, is not convinced.

“It just makes sense in a practically closed-based system, you don’t dump 54 million gallons of brine and sludge into the bay every single day and not expect that to destroy the bay,” Araiza said.

She’s asking city leaders to instead focus on forcing the region’s largest water users — oil refineries and petrochemical plants — to conserve water. Over the past decade, Corpus Christi aggressively courted large industrial facilities that require large amounts of water, promising a sufficient supply.

Now, the city’s main reservoirs have shriveled up, threatening 25% water cuts for all city customers that could begin in December or early 2027. City leaders on Tuesday also will discuss how those restrictions would be implemented, and how high surcharge rates would be, if a Level 1 emergency is triggered — the point when the city is six months away from supply falling short of demand.

Araiza said the proposed desalination plant is “not a sustainable solution economically or environmentally, it’s an industrial want,” and that “the right moral and ethical choice” is to reject it again.

But some community members view the desalination plant as the city’s last lifeline.

Nelda Martinez, who lives along the bay, pleaded with City Council members to move forward with the Inner Harbor project.

“People that you serve are worried if they’re going to have their job tomorrow,” she said during a March meeting. “There have been businesses that have shut down. There have been businesses that now are planning their exit plans. There are people and entities that have decided that they’re not going to move here.”

Ginny Cross, vice president of advocacy for United Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes city leaders move forward with a desalination plant because an evergreen water source could save businesses from threats of future surcharges. Mandatory restrictions would be especially hard on car washes and landscaping companies, she said.

“We obviously want our public officials to be good stewards of our tax dollars, but I fear that the days of plentiful, inexpensive water are gone,” Cross said. “I hate that reality for everybody, but I think we’re either going to have expensive plentiful water, or expensive scarce water. I think if we’re going to pay for it, we’d rather have lots of it.”

The city is also considering two desalination plant proposals from private companies. In March, the City Council agreed to hear a plan from Aquatech, a desalination company offering to finish building a water plant for plastics manufacturer Corpus Christi Polymers if the city agrees to purchase water from it.

City representatives also are in talks with AXE H2O, a 2-month-old Houston company that is offering to fully fund and build a desalination facility in the Coastal Bend area. Before work could begin, the city would have to commit to buying at least 50 million gallons a day for at least 30 years.

Kenneth Dees, a water resources engineer based in Fort Worth, said Corpus Christi and the rest of the state should start preparing to shell out more for water, including desalination plants, as the drought deepens and infrastructure ages.

“We’re not running out of water, we’re running out of cheap water,” Dees said.

The El Paso district, for example, faces a nearly $53 million budget shortfall and may soon declare a financial emergency. Meanwhile, the Crystal City district in South Texas recently told families that it has less than $500 in its bank account.

On Monday, school leaders from across the state will detail the financial challenges still plaguing their districts roughly a year after receiving the significant increase in funding.

The Texas House Public Education Committee hearing will focus on the implementation of House Bill 2, which provided schools with new money for teacher pay, educator training and special education. Lawmakers will gather recommendations on ways to better prepare teachers for careers in the classroom and improve services for children with disabilities.

Declining enrollment — triggered by low birth rates, more schooling options and fears regarding immigration enforcement — has largely contributed to the financial crisis. Public schools receive funding based on attendance, meaning they receive less money if fewer students show up to class.

Inconsistent funding from the Legislature has also played a role.

Prior to the passage of HB 2, Texas students endured six years without their schools receiving comprehensive funding increases — largely a result of Gov. Greg Abbott’s insistence on not approving a funding package without a school voucher program attached. Approval of last year’s school finance overhaul came after lawmakers greenlit education savings accounts — often called vouchers — that allow families to use taxpayer funds for private school or home schooling.

Meanwhile, HB 2 increased teacher pay based on years of experience and districts’ enrollment. Lawmakers also expanded Texas’ pay-for-performance system, which allows more teachers to qualify for raises. And they required that districts phase out the use of educators without teaching certifications and set aside money for teachers who sign up for high-quality training programs.

Lawmakers also approved significant changes to how Texas pays for special education. Districts will soon receive money for students with disabilities based on the needs of each child, as opposed to the classroom setting the school assigns them to.

Those changes take effect next school year. The state now must reimburse districts $1,000 for each evaluation of a child suspected of having a disability, which can cost between $1,000 and $5,000 or more to complete.

Notably, public schools must conduct and pay for the special education evaluations of families wanting to participate in the new voucher program if they request one.

Texas’ voucher program launches next school year, which public school officials have noted could result in additional funding losses if students leave their campuses for other options.

Legislative budget experts estimated that about 24,500 public school students would initially leave for private schools due to limited space. Of almost 96,000 students recently invited to join the voucher program, 57% previously attended a private school or home-school.

The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with such back-and-forth attacks, even as officials from both countries try to negotiate an end to the war. It’s not clear how close they are to a deal — and there is always the risk that an attack could derail those talks.

In the meantime, Iran has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies and driving up the price of fuel around the world, with far-reaching consequences.

Fighting has also escalated between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, despite their nominal ceasefire. Israel has extended its occupation deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah — which joined the war in support of its main backer, Iran — continues to launch drones into Israel.

US military attacks Iran

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it carried out the strikes in Iran on Saturday and Sunday around the city of Geruk and on Qeshm Island.

“The measured and deliberate strikes occurred ... in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” Central Command said.

“U.S. fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters.”

Kuwait reports incoming fire

Kuwait said its air defenses opened fire early Monday morning to intercept incoming drone and missile fire.

Around the same time, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it responded to an American attack without saying where, likely referring to the attack on Kuwait. In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, the Guard said that U.S. forces had targeted a telecommunications tower.

Kuwait is home to U.S. Army Central, the Mideast forward command for the Army. While the U.S. Air Force no longer flies the MQ-1 Predator, the U.S. Army still does.

Iranian state television later shared footage of the ballistic missile launch, including a close-up showing a sticker on its body depicting a bruised U.S. President Donald Trump overlaid on a “closed” Strait of Hormuz with the caption: “Until the last American soldier leaves the region.”

Attacks rattle ceasefire talks

The attacks represent the latest escalation between the U.S. and Iran. Over the weekend, the U.S. fired a missile into the engine room of a Gambia-flagged cargo ship trying to break its blockade of Iranian ports.

A trickle of ships has made it out of the strait, through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas once passed, but pressure continues on global energy supplies, as well as on chemical fertilizer. That has led to fears of food shortages. The Gulf region produces 30% of globally traded chemical fertilizers.

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.

The U.S. and Israel launched the war with strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Trump has offered shifting goals for the conflict, although preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon is among them. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though it has enough highly enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons, should it choose to do so.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance suggested last week that negotiators are trying to strike general terms on Iran’s nuclear program, with the specifics to be hammered out in the ensuing talks.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei on Monday again accused the U.S. of “constantly” changing its positions.

“From the beginning, we knew — and we continue to know — that we are negotiating in an atmosphere of mistrust," Baghaei told journalists.

Trump expressed optimism about the talks in a post on his Truth Social platform early Monday in Washington.

“Iran really wants to make a deal, and it will be a good one for the U.S.A. and those that are with us,” he wrote. “Just sit back and relax, it will all work out well in the end — It always does!”

The rules require social media platforms with at least 8 million users including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, to implement age-verification systems and block users under 16 from creating accounts.

Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission said Monday that age verification for existing users will be rolled out progressively over the next six months.

Users identified as under 16 will have a month to download or transfer their data, including photos and videos, before any restrictions, suspensions, or other actions are applied, it said in a statement.

Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to 10 million ringgit ($2.5 million). But parents whose children manage to bypass the law will not be penalized.

The government said the measures are aimed at protecting children from harmful content, cyberbullying and platform features designed to encourage excessive use.

Other countries including Australia,Brazil and Indonesia have introduced or announced age-based restrictions or requirements for children’s access to social media. Countries including Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are also studying or developing similar approaches.

The regulator said the rules are not intended to prevent children from accessing digital technology.

“These measures help strengthen the protection of children in the online environment, while providing added reassurance to parents in navigating increasingly complex digital risks," it has said.

Platforms are required to improve user safety, discourage excessive use and take action against underage accounts and harmful content.

Technology companies have yet to detail how they will comply with Malaysia’s new requirements.

Clara Koh, Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia, had cautioned in April that Malaysia's blanket under-16 ban could backfire by driving teenagers away from protected apps and into unregulated corners of the internet.

She said Meta has launched “teen accounts” for those under 18 that limits contact, screen time and exposure to inappropriate content.

Malaysia's curbs come as governments face growing pressure to address concerns about social media’s impact on children’s mental health and online safety.

In March, a U.S. jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay millions of dollars in damages in a case alleging that platform design features contributed to harm suffered by a young user.

How two Malaysian families see the changes

Kuala Lumpur parents Saravanan Ganasan and Jayaradha Veerasamy — whose children are 12 and 15 — approve of the changes. They already banned their kids from using social media, believing minors lack the psychological capacity to cope with it.

The couple ban unsupervised scrolling on TikTok and Instagram. Devices are kept out of bedrooms, screen time is limited to common areas, and their son is not allowed to lock his phone with a password.

“Exposure is what we fear,” Saravanan said. “The wrong kind of exposure will do damage to the mind.”

Aadhavan Saravanan, 15, said he believes he would be addicted to social media if allowed full freedom. “Social media is like, a luxury and it’s not a necessity,” he said

The couple said the restrictions have forced their children to develop offline life skills. Instead of scrolling, Aadhavan reads books in a backyard mango tree and repairs broken household appliances, while their daughter cooks and does crafts.

“A lot of parents are very scared that children get bored,” the kids' mother, Jayaradha, said. “But boredom is actually very good because they start thinking out of the box.”

But Shaun Hew, who lives in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, feels the new restrictions go too far.

Hew believes social media offers an outlet for his kids to spend time productively, as long as there is proper adult oversight. His 11-year-old son uses platforms to learn cooking and his daughter, 14, uses YouTube for exam revision.

He worries a sudden cutoff could cause teenagers to rebel and find unregulated ways to bypass internet blocks.

Some voice concerns over privacy and safety

Some critics contend that Malaysia’s move could increase the risks of data privacy breaches and expand state surveillance.

“It is very much following the trend but in a way that is raising alarms due to requiring a government ID for age verification,” said Benjamin Loh, social science lecturer at Monash University in Malaysia.

Loh also said experiences elsewhere suggest age-based restrictions have yet to prove consistently effective. Without penalties on parents, families can easily bypass the law by creating accounts for their children, he said.

“This is a major gap that unless regulators are willing to fix, will result in the law having little effect in stopping children from using social media,” he added.

The young, the old, ruling party leaders and propagandists alike shout it at official events, street demonstrations and on state television, pumping their fists to show loyalty to the self-described socialist government — and its traditional antipathy toward the United States. Even when confronted with overwhelming truths that defy such bravado, the diverse coalition of military, ideological and opportunistic hangers-on has acted in lockstep.

But cracks in that unity have emerged after the stunning U.S. military operation that captured then- President Nicolás Maduro in January. Longtime loyalists are airing disagreements with the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez and even discussing publicly rumors that an insider’s betrayal helped the U.S. depose Maduro.

A warming relationship with the US draws criticism

Rodríguez, has done away with some of Chávez’s policies, complied with U.S. demands and shuffled the government to her liking, removing ministers, pushing legislation through the National Assembly to overhaul the nation's oil industry and releasing political prisoners.

Supporters of Chavismo are making their disapproval known. Many criticize the warming relationship between Rodríguez’s government and the White House, whose occupant, regardless of party, Chavismo has historically seen as its main adversary.

May’s deportation of a former minister to face criminal investigations in the U.S. and Rodríguez’s recent authorization for the U.S. military to conduct a training exercise in Venezuela’s capital laid bare internal divisions.

Mario Silva spent years spreading pro-government propaganda as the host of a program on state TV before being removed from the airwaves after Maduro’s capture. Silva questioned the legality of the deportation of Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro's, arguing that it violated a constitutional ban.

He contended that Rodríguez is not governing freely, as some decisions “are being made in the U.S. Embassy.”

“The imperialists don’t negotiate. They conquer, test and probe — until our country shatters,” Silva said in a livestream. “Nobody is safe right now. And that is a concrete, terribly dangerous fact.”

On May 23, a few dozen people in Caracas protested the training that saw two Marine Corps Osprey aircraft land at the U.S. Embassy. They held a Venezuelan flag with the message, “No to the Yankee drill” written over it. Participation was minimal, which stood out in a city used to frequent demonstrations with attendance in the thousands.

Elías Jaua, who served as Chávez’s vice president and in Maduro’s cabinet in his first years in office, repudiated the exercise on social media. He later told The Associated Press he was speaking up to raise awareness among Venezuelans of the “humiliating” situation facing the country.

“At this stage, the most important thing is to prevent this occupation and this colonial administration to which a nation like Venezuela is being subjected from becoming normalized,” Jaua said.

Chávez and Maduro — as well as Rodríguez, in her previous roles as vice president and communications and foreign affairs minister — had long prophesied that the U.S. would use force to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry, which has opened up to private capital after Maduro's capture. The Trump administration oversees oil sales and administers revenues as part of its phased plan to turn the troubled South American country around.

Maduro's ouster prompts power struggle

The social, political and economic crisis that took hold when Maduro became president in 2013 drove more than 7.7 million people to leave Venezuela and pushed millions of others into poverty. It also led to rounds of anti-government protests and U.S. economic sanctions, both of which the ruling party survived.

Party stalwarts celebrated a Maduro victory in a 2024 election despite overwhelming evidence showing he had lost. They also echoed the party leadership's denial of a surge of migration. Their loyalty was often rewarded, be it with food and basic goods for the poor or multimillion-dollar contracts and bodyguards for the better-off.

Andrés Izarra, a communications minister under Chávez and tourism minister under Maduro, said the fractures are not based in ideology or a defense of Chavismo, which he believes ended when its founder died in 2013. Maduro's interest, he said, was in enriching himself and remaining in power at all costs..

Self-interest, he said, is creating division.

“Since there is no ideological foundation, it is simply a struggle for power, money, positions, and survival. Do you think (he) would be protesting if he’d kept his bodyguards, or if they’d kept his little salary, or his share of power?” Izarra, who lives in exile since becoming a government target last decade, said of one critic of change under Delcy. “If they had an ideological interest, they would have spoken much earlier.”

Loyalists discuss possible betrayal of Maduro

Criticism even aired on state television last month, when a Colombian leftist leader sitting in the audience of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello's show stood up and questioned Venezuela's efforts to free Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores from U.S. custody.

“We’ve seen a very weak campaign for Cilia and Nicolás’s freedom,” Manuel Caicedo said before a visibly stunned Cabello.

Another devout Chavista, lawmaker Iris Varela, told a podcaster she believed a government insider had helped the U.S. oust Maduro. The idea has widely rumored since President Donald Trump announced that the authoritarian leader had been captured on Jan. 3, but no evidence has emerged.

Of course there’s a betrayal,” Varela said. "I say that every Christ has a Judas. If our Lord Jesus Christ knew he was going to be betrayed and yet he let Judas kiss him on the cheek, ... won’t a traitor emerge for Maduro?”

The two people remain unaccounted for since a search and rescue operation began last month in a rugged area of Xaisomboun province, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. Five of the seven people initially trapped inside the cave have been rescued.

Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie, who is involved in the operation, said workers were pumping water out of the cave.

“We will go into the suspected area to continue the search if the water level is lowered,” he told The Associated Press.

Another team of rescuers is also looking around the other side of the cave in hopes of finding a dry passage that could provide access to the area where the missing people are believed to be trapped, he said.

Rescue teams from Laos and neighboring Thailand have been working together for more than a week. 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.

Laos's Rescue Volunteer for People group posted on its Facebook page that heavy rain caused “massive amounts of water” to flow down into the area, forcing them to suspend operations on Sunday night.

Kengkaj Bongkawong, head of the Thai group Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, said that the workers are also looking for air shafts from above that may provide access into the cave.

Rescuers believe the two missing people are trapped deeper inside the cave than the location where the five survivors were originally found on Wednesday. But the passage into that area is said to be very narrow and heavily flooded.

The villagers reportedly entered the cave nearly two weeks ago 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.

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 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.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to propose a fresh path to continue ongoing negotiations, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic conversations. Under the proposal, Hezbollah would halt all attacks on Israel and Israel would refrain from escalating military operations in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to the official.

In a televised statement, 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.

Diplomats said the council meeting might take place Monday afternoon, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

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 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. The Lebanese 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. Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Speaking at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library overlooking Boston Harbor, Powell called universities, courts, Congress and the central bank “the foundation and the embodiment of our democracy” and argued that the Fed’s independence was a “priceless asset” that must be protected.

It was one of his most direct defenses of Fed independence, warning that a single administration’s decision to remove bank officials over policy differences would open the way for future elected officials to follow suit, ultimately undermining the credibility that the Fed has spent decades building.

Powell, who frequently clashed with Trump during his eight years as chair, stepped down as his term expired in May. He was succeeded by Kevin Warsh, whom Trump selected to lead the central bank.

After stepping down as chair, Powell took the unusual step of keeping his seat on the Fed’s governing board, which he has until January 2028. By doing so, he has deprived the Trump administration of an opportunity to appoint another member of the board.

The Trump administration has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, which would open an additional seat on the rate-setting committee the president could fill. Yet Cook sued and the courts have so far let her keep her seat.

While Powell never mentioned Trump by name Sunday, he repeatedly returned to the importance of protecting institutions from political pressure and preserving public trust in their independence.

“Like many other institutions, the Fed has been undergoing a stress test," he said. “Congress wisely chose to insulate monetary policy decisions from political pressure. All other advanced economy nations have done the same.”

Since 1989, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award has recognized public servants who make what the foundation describes as courageous decisions of conscience despite personal or professional consequences.

Previous recipients include former Presidents Barack Obama and George H. W. Bush, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former Vice President Mike Pence.

In March, the foundation said it was awarding Powell for protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve “despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest levels of government.”

Trump harshly criticized Powell throughout his tenure as chair, frequently attacking the Fed’s interest-rate decisions and urging the central bank to cut borrowing costs more aggressively.

Beyond the Federal Reserve, Powell defended U.S. universities and research institutions, the Constitution, Congress and the court system.

“The United States has long been the leader of the world’s freedom-seeking people — the indispensable nation. Other countries know us as a nation built on integrity, and that integrity must be maintained,” he said.

In his remarks, Powell indirectly acknowledged mistakes as chair. The Fed is legally required to seek stable prices, but inflation surged amid the pandemic’s supply chain crunch. Many economists believe the central bank should have raised interest rates more quickly in response.

“At the Fed, we are, of course, human and thus imperfect,” Powell said. “When we make mistakes, we acknowledge them and change course.”

Powell was honored alongside residents of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, who received the award for what the Kennedy Foundation described as acts of courage during a federal immigration crackdown that led to thousands of arrests and the deaths of Minneapolis mother Renée Good and nurse Alex Pretti, both of whom were killed while observing or documenting enforcement activity.

“It’s wonderful just to be invited, honoring Renée,” Good’s father, Tim Granger, said as he entered the library with family members.

Kennedy’s only surviving child, Caroline Kennedy, and her son, Jack Schlossberg, said in a statement that without people like Powell and those in Minnesota “willing to put their lives on the line to hold America to its promises, our democracy can’t survive.”

Attendee U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor of Minnesota next year, reflected that the award was unusual because it recognized ordinary residents rather than elected officials.

“This didn’t go to an elected leader for a reason,” Klobuchar said. “It’s because the people stood up. They stood up by marching 50,000 strong. They stood by bringing kids they didn’t even know — strangers’ kids — to school, by bringing them groceries and they didn’t blink. And that’s what this award is about. It’s about courage.”

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AP journalist Christopher Rugaber contributed from Washington.

He said nothing on his radio, instead paying the penalty by going to the back of the field. Then he drove his way back to the front where he outraced Christopher Bell over the last four thrilling laps off a final restart to win at the Nashville Superspeedway.

“Man, what an unbelievable day,” Hamlin said. “Starting first, going to last and back to first.”

This was Hamlin's second win this year and 62nd of his career, and he wound up leading a race-high 57 laps including the one that mattered most.

The 45-year-old Hamlin wound up racing side-by-side with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe making it three-wide before Hamlin took the lead down the backstretch to win by 0.115 seconds in his No. 11 Toyota.

“Well, that’s why on the last lap, I committed to just run the bottom," Hamlin said.

Team co-owner Heather Gibbs said watching the teammates race so hard was like kids on a family vacation swatting at each other in the backseat. But she said they raced cleanly.

“We want them to race for the win," Heather Gibbs said. "That’s what they do, and it makes us proud.”

Hamlin, who won at Las Vegas and also the All-Star race at Dover, pulled within 97 points of Tyler Reddick in the season standings. Reddick finished sixth.

The race started 80 minutes late after rain delayed NASCAR’s Cup Series for a second straight week. The wait was worth it with a record 31 lead changes among a record 15 leaders. The race also featured 12 cautions at the 1.33-mile, D-shaped oval that is NASCAR’s largest concrete track.

Bell finished second for a second straight race ahead of Briscoe. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top five.

“I had the best car on the race track ... and we had the lead on the restart,” Bell said. “I got a great push from Denny on the restart, and I didn’t win the race.”

One win closer to Busch

Hamlin now is one Cup victory away from matching his one-time teammate Kyle Busch, who died May 22 at 41. Busch is ninth all-time with his 63 Cup victories, and Hamlin said he certainly aspires to get there.

“It just shows how good he was for so long,” Hamlin said. “I saw the stats online where we ran together 500 and some races, and he finished ahead of me 10 more times than I beat him in the same equipment.”

Long time coming

Ryan Blaney, trying to repeat as champ at this track, led the restart trying to hold off AJ Allmendinger on a one-lap shootout for the first stage. Allmendinger took the lead on the backstretch, then held off Kyle Larson to take stage one for his first stage victory since 2024.

Stage 2 win

Suarez took the second stage after staying out during a caution and took the lead on the restart on lap 182. Then Corey Heim drove his No. 67 Toyota into the back of Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford, sending him backward into the Turn 1 wall. That brought out the seventh caution with Cole Custer spinning out in the crash.

Lots of rotor woes

Rookie Connor Zilisch had the right rotor explode on his No. 88 Chevrolet sending him into the wall and smashing the right side on Turn 1 of lap 72. Zilisch got the Trackhouse Racing car into the garage with some flames coming out from under the right tire, which was stuck and nearly sideway.

He had been running 24th after starting 38th on the last row.

Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain had his own rotor issue on lap 82 sending him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Michael McDowell spun trying to avoid Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Zilisch called the rotor problems a surprise when both he and Chastain had been moving up.

“Just unfortunate circumstances,” Zilisch said. “Yeah, we’ll learn from it.”

Van Gisbergen is the third member of Trackhouse Racing. His crew told him not to worry with his No. 97 Chevrolet running a completely different brake package. Ryan Preece went to the garage with no water in his No. 60 Ford, and his crew found a piece of rotor broken off into the radiator before he got back on the track.

Then Allmendinger, who was third, had the rotor spark and flame before his No. 16 Chevrolet hit the Turn 1 wall on lap 173 — with 12 laps left in Stage 2.

Chris Buescher was running 17th with 12 laps left when his right rotor went as he entered Turn 3.

Up next

The series will be at Michigan International Speedway next week where Hamlin will be trying to win for a second straight year and continue his winning streak.

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

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.

Tyler Robinson’s defense has asked Judge Tony Graf to restrict access to the preliminary hearing on July 6-10, when prosecutors must show they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. It will mark the most significant presentation of evidence to date in a case that has so far focused on matters of media access.

Defense attorneys also have requested to seal dozens of exhibits that prosecutors plan to introduce at the July hearing, arguing they could taint the jury pool before a possible trial.

Robinson's lawyers have tried to guard against media coverage that they say sometimes misrepresents their client as his case has drawn tremendous public attention. The 23-year-old from southwestern Utah is charged with crimes including aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. He has not yet entered a plea.

Prosecutors have argued that the preliminary hearing should remain open, but they agreed that media should be restricted from viewing or copying some exhibits that could be used in a future trial. They plan to introduce forensic analyses, surveillance video, recordings of witness statements, autopsy findings and alleged messages from Robinson admitting to the crime.

Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle. Prosecutors also have said Robinson left a note for his romantic partner that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

In the governor's race, former Fox News TV host and British political adviser Steve Hilton is urging Republicans to unite behind him as he fights for one of two spots in the November election alongside two Democrats, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.

In the Los Angeles race for mayor, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt is hoping to turn his insurgent campaign into a surprise upset of Democratic Mayor Karen Bass. The two are tightly clustered with Nithya Raman, a progressive city council member running to Bass' political left.

“We can't give up on LA,” Pratt told applauding supporters at a block party Sunday. “We've got to fight.”

Democrats once feared that the party’s large field of gubernatorial candidates could open a path for two Republicans to advance to November. But now, in the campaign’s closing days, Hilton is warning the opposite could happen — what he called a “doomsday scenario” in which only Democrats advance.

Hilton is pleading with his chief Republican rival, county Sheriff Chad Bianco, to pull out of the contest, fearing an all-Democratic ticket would dampen GOP turnout across the state and reorder races for Congress and the Legislature.

Becerra and Steyer locking out a Republican from the November ballot would be “a disaster for California, it means no change. It’s a disaster for everyone who’s running as a Republican up and down the ballot,” Hilton said on the social platform X.

Mail voting began in early May, but just 15% of voters had returned their ballots as of Sunday. That's left the candidates seeing room for a last-minute shake-up in the race's closing days.

A vulnerable mayor looks for second term in LA

In heavily Democratic Los Angeles, Bass' shaky first term has left her vulnerable. She points to a drop in homelessness, though encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain a common sight in many neighborhoods. Meanwhile, she's still trying to overcome lingering fallout from the 2025 Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. Pratt lost his home in the blaze and has made the fire and the city's recovery a foundation of his campaign.

At Pratt's block party, Vivian Escalante, a historian who lives in the heavily Hispanic Boyle Heights neighborhood adjacent to downtown, said the quality of life has been sliding for years — dirtier streets, more homeless encampments and a lack of pride in the neighborhood she's called home all her life.

“It's gotten completely worse,” Escalante said, with a Pratt cap perched on her head. The Democratic Party, she said, has “completely abandoned us.”

The LA race is officially nonpartisan, but Bass is a Democrat, as is Raman, who made a last-minute decision to challenge her one-time ally and is among the top group of contenders.

Pratt, who rose to fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on “The Hills,” is a registered Republican who has received a nod of approval — if not an outright formal endorsement — from President Donald Trump. He has sought to distance himself from national politics, saying his concerns are strictly within city limits.

A University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, found Bass tightly clustered with Raman and Pratt, with other candidates trailing. The poll of 1,351 likely voters conducted between May 19 and May 24 gave no candidate a statistically significant edge.

The city is at a difficult juncture.

Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for cheaper filming locations. A downtown renaissance was crushed by extended pandemic closures and many office buildings remain desperate for tenants. The city has long struggled to provide basic services, whether paving buckled streets and fixing sidewalks or keeping streetlights on.

A crowded governor's race with no clear leader

The governor's race has been the most wide open in a generation. More than 50 names are on the ballot.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is banned by law from seeking a third term. Other candidates seeking to replace him include former Democratic U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,Democrat Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff.

Rebecca Katz, a strategist with Steyer’s campaign, said Sunday that they are “feeling pretty good” but emphasized how close the race was with a sporting reference, “It’s three candidates for two spots, every possession counts.”

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager turned liberal activist, has set spending records hoping to advance to the November contest. Hilton, a former Fox News host who has been endorsed by Trump, has promised to bring down costs in a state with some of the nation's highest gas prices, utility costs and taxes. Becerra has been stressing his experience in arguing he's best prepared to lead the nation's second most populous state, having served as the Biden administration's health secretary, a former U.S. House member and state attorney general.

Broadly, Republicans in the race are promising drastic change after years of Democratic governance — Democrats haven't lost a statewide race in two decades and Republicans last elected a Los Angeles mayor in 1997. Democrats, though in charge for years, are promising to bring down costs and continue to fend off the Trump administration in its numerous conflicts with Democratic California.

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Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto sales are slumping.

The challenge is global in scale, as interest rates have risen for multiple countries as the world has been adjusting to the prospect of higher inflation, mounting questions about the sustainability of government debt and a dramatic surge in investment in artificial intelligence.

Trump has tried to assure Americans that he has a plan to trim the roughly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit. In the past, he has pointed to revenue from tariffs, payments from foreigners for his “Gold Card” visa, spending cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency, and faster economic growth. Last week, he said the fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance would be the key to unlocking massive savings.

“If he does really great, we’ll have a balanced budget without having to do anything,” Trump said.

Economists say this is probably unrealistic

Economists say Trump’s strategies to meaningfully curb the deficit are unlikely to deliver the promised results.

The cost of servicing the national debt has tripled since 2021 to more than $1 trillion annually, said Jessica Riedl, a budget and tax fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“President Trump signed a tax cut bill that will likely add $5 trillion to 10-year deficits — and tariffs are offsetting only a small fraction of those costs,” she said. “Budget deficits are still projected to soar past $4 trillion annually within a decade under current policies.”

Deficits are expected to grow over the next decade as the costs of Social Security and Medicare outstrip tax revenues.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury rate climbed as high as 4.67% in the middle of May and has since eased as negotiations over the Iran ceasefire continued — just as rates initially climbed in 2025 because of Trump's “Liberation Day” tariffs and then began to decline once Trump backed off the most extreme increases.

When Kent Smetters, faculty director of the Penn Wharton Budget Model, broke down the math tied to rising 30-year Treasury yields, he estimated that 60% of the increase had come from the expectation that America will continue its outsized borrowing and the other 40% was tied to the inflation driven by the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs.

Glenn Hubbard, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the George W. Bush administration, worries that the U.S. may no longer have the same borrowing capacity as before to effectively combat an economic crisis, such as the 2008 crash or the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t think we have the space that we had in 2008 or 2020 to deal with it,” said Hubbard, now a professor at Columbia University's Business School. “Washington doesn’t seem to be full of ideas — good or bad — to solve it.”

Interest rates are a concern for voters

Higher interest rates are giving Democratic candidates in the races to determine control of the House and Senate another line of attack at a time when voters are concerned about high costs for food and gasoline.

In Colorado’s fifth congressional district, Democrat Jessica Killin is leaning into the message that the persistent deficits and higher interest rates make it harder to buy or renovate a home, afford a new car or manage credit card debt.

“Things are already expensive,” said Killin, an Army veteran who was a top aide to Doug Emhoff, the former second gentleman. “We can already talk about gas, but the cost of borrowing only makes that worse.”

Joe Reagan, an Army veteran also seeking the Democratic nomination, said in an email that he is talking “a lot about fiscal stewardship” in his campaign. “Every dollar spent paying interest is a dollar that isn’t being invested in infrastructure, education, veterans’ services, or economic growth," he said.

They are challenging Republican Rep. Jeff Crank in a district that their party views as a potential pickup. Killin said the deficit is an example of how “Trump says one thing and does the opposite.”

In his March 2025 address to Congress, Trump declared that “in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget. We’re going to balance it.”

Crank, the Republican incumbent, did not reply to requests for comment.

Cutting fraud is the new deficit strategy

The administration maintains that it is going to steadily reduce budget deficits. As a share of the overall economy, the deficit last year was lower than it was in 2024, though that drop depended in part on tariff revenues that are subject to refunds after the Supreme Court ruled them to be illegal.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week cited a report showing that there was as much as $500 billion annually in fraudulent government spending that could be eliminated, “so that would reduce the deficit substantially.”

Bessent appeared to draw that conclusion from a 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office that estimated there had been between $233 billion to $521 billion each year in fraudulent spending. But those numbers were drawn in part from the pandemic era when the government borrowed heavily to stabilize the economy.

The White House and Treasury did not respond to questions about the source of Bessent’s claims.

On deficits, Bessent told reporters at the White House that the administration was essentially dealt a bad hand from former President Joe Biden, a Democrat. “We inherited the worst budget deficit in history — in history — when we were not in a recession or not at war,” Bessent said.

Bessent had previously announced that the administration would aim to reduce the annual deficit to 3% of overall U.S. gross domestic product. It’s roughly double that percentage currently and Bessent did not directly answer a question about the timeline for hitting his target.

As of now, investors continue to buy shares in U.S. companies, causing the stock market to increase in value in a sign of confidence in America’s economic potential. But the increase in interest rates also suggests that investors view the national debt as a vulnerability for the U.S.

The financial markets might be able to inflict enough pain with higher rates in order to compel political leaders to address the systemic imbalances. Multiple economists said they expected that markets would force the deficit issue before voters would.

Hubbard emphasized that the whole bond market system rests on the trust that the debt will be repaid. He noted that the word “credit” is linked to a Latin term that is also the root of the word creed about a system of beliefs.

“That is what debt is about: I believe you will pay me back,” Hubbard said. “That works until it doesn’t.”

According to a notice posted by Carnival Corporation, the company discovered unauthorized activity involving an employee account on April 14.

OUR FIRST REPORT: Carnival data breach may affect thousands of Texans, exposing passport and driver’s license information

The company says a cybercriminal used a social engineering scheme to deceive an employee and gain access to a limited portion of its IT system. Investigators later determined the hacker illegally copied personal information.

The company says the compromised information may include names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and government-issued identification numbers, such as driver’s license and passport numbers.

Tim Howard, managing partner of cybersecurity consulting firm Fortify Experts, says the attack highlights a growing trend in cybercrime.

“That particular breach occurred through social engineering,” Howard said. “They acted like they were somebody else, like an administrator who got locked out, and they convinced the individual on the other side to open a door for them to get in.”

Howard says the rise of artificial intelligence is making cyberattacks more sophisticated and easier to carry out.

“We used to have a very small group of hackers that could go after you,” Howard said. “Now, anybody can be a hacker. Anybody can learn how to socially engineer.”

He says AI tools can help criminals create convincing emails, messages and even fake voices.

“They can now duplicate voices. They can even duplicate images,” Howard said.

What should Carnival passengers do?

Howard recommends three immediate steps for anyone concerned their information may have been exposed.

1. Turn on multi-factor authentication

Multi-factor authentication, or MFA, requires a second form of verification before someone can access an account.

“You need to have multi-factor authentication turned on almost everywhere that you can turn it on, especially with anything connected to your financial systems,” Howard said.

1. Stop reusing passwords

Cybersecurity experts recommend using unique passwords for every account and storing them in a password manager.

1. Be cautious of unexpected calls, texts and emails

Howard warns that scammers may use information obtained during the breach to impersonate Carnival or other trusted organizations.

“If you didn’t call them, I would be very suspicious,” Howard said.

Experts say consumers should be especially cautious if someone claims there is an urgent problem and asks for money or sensitive information.

Howard says passengers whose personal information may have been exposed should consider placing fraud alerts or security freezes on their credit reports.

“If passport numbers went out, that’s a really bad thing,” Howard said. “They now have enough information to open up accounts under your name using your credit.”

Consumers can place fraud alerts or freezes through the three major credit bureaus:

• Experian
• Equifax
• TransUnion

According to Carnival, affected U.S. customers are being offered two years of complimentary credit monitoring through TransUnion.

Why are passengers just now learning about the breach?

Carnival says it first identified the unauthorized activity on April 14 and determined on April 22 that personal information had been copied.

The company says investigating exactly what information was accessed and identifying affected individuals took time.

“We understand this process can feel slow,” the company said in its online notice. “Complex incidents like this take time and careful investigation.”

The company says law enforcement has been notified and that it is not aware of any unauthorized activity since the attack was stopped in April.

What Carnival is saying

In its public notice, Carnival says it has strengthened its security and monitoring controls and continues working to improve its cybersecurity protections.

The company also established a dedicated call center for affected customers and is encouraging passengers to closely monitor financial accounts and credit reports for suspicious activity.

According to the Houston Police Department, officers were initially dispatched to a nearby residence before 9 p.m. after reports of suspicious activity involving two men.

When officers arrived, they found one man in the backyard of the home and another in the front yard.

Police said one of the men was charged with trespassing. The second man was detained for questioning and later released.

Just hours later, around 9 p.m., officers were called to the 7200 block of Canal Street for reports of a shooting.

When officers arrived, they found the same man who had previously been detained lying wounded on the sidewalk.

Witnesses at the scene attempted CPR until Houston Fire Department crews arrived. The victim was transported to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators have not released the man’s identity. Officials also said it remains unclear whether the earlier trespassing incident and the fatal shooting are connected.

No suspect information has been released.

Houston police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact the HPD Homicide Division or Crime Stoppers of Houston.

The investigation remains ongoing.

With no candidate taking an outright majority of the vote, the election will head to a second round in June.

But Cepeda and Petro sowed doubt in the results of the first round, claiming without evidence that hundreds of thousands of votes were manipulated and that foreign actors manipulated the results of the election.

Cepeda said he was waiting for electoral authorities to scrutinize the results before accepting the election.

“Only when the vote-counting commissions have fully clarified what happened will we comment on tonight’s results,” Cepeda said, though he acknowledged the vote was likely going to a second round.

Cepeda won 41% of the vote, while de la Espriella won 44% of the votes, with 99.98% of the results counted by electoral authorities.

Cepeda is a progressive senator who has promised to carry on a fraught plan to achieve “total peace" by negotiating peace pacts with guerrillas and criminal gangs. He was consistently leading polls in the run up to the Sunday vote, but in the weeks leading up to the election de la Espriella rapidly gained support with a promise that he would crack down on armed groups.

The neck-and-neck results likely spell trouble for Cepeda in the run-off election, as de la Espriella is expected to scoop up support from voters who threw their support behind another conservative candidate in the first round.

De la Espriella — a newcomer known as El Tigre, or “The Tiger” — has sought to portray himself as a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Let the United States of America and democratic parties monitor this runoff election. I will lead this battle; I will be Colombia’s best warrior," de la Espriella said in an impassioned speech Sunday night, pounding his chest behind bullet-proof glass in front of supporters.

Colombian voters are weighing peace deals or a crackdown

Voters across Latin America are increasingly ditching leaders that pitched progressive policies aimed at addressing the root issues of conflict, such as lack of opportunities for young people and corruption. Instead, voters have increasingly turned to candidates promising heavy-handed security crackdowns.

The polarized vote comes as the Trump administration is playing a more aggressive role in Latin America than any U.S. government in decades, placing mounting pressure on countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador to crack down on crime.

The election has also underscored two sharply diverging visions for the future of peace in a country marked by years of conflict.

On one side, Cepeda has promised to continue Petro’s progressive agenda and a largely failed effort to negotiate peace pacts with armed groups, following a plan that’s likely to sharply contrast with Trump’s vision for Latin America.

On the other side, de la Espriella has promised to fiercely crack down on criminal groups and build 10 mega-prisons, echoing the war on gangs policy of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, which has driven down homicide rates but fueled accusations of human rights abuses.

“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.”

Vote is seen as a referendum on Petro

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

The deal a decade ago had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government. But violence has since roared back, in part because armed groups have taken advantage of peace negotiations with Petro's government to make territorial gains.

That came to a head in the lead-up to the election. 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. Still, Cepeda and Petro have maintained strong support among many because of progressive policies pushed forward under Petro, such as boosting the minimum wage.

Both de la Espriella and Valencia have touted their affinity for Trump, though Valencia’s electoral loss dealt another blow to a once powerful political current known as Uribismo.

Colombians are divided on the way forward

Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress 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 effectively 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 up.”

Others, like Acevedo, the sociologist, said a security crackdown such as the one promoted by de la Espriella meant a return to past military campaigns that he said only reinforced Colombia's cycle of violence.

He said he supports 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

Fueled by a fiery pep talk from captain Aaron Judge, the Yankees scored 13 runs in the third and beat the Athletics 13-8 — finishing one run shy of the largest inning in the storied history of the franchise.

“Remarkable,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Glad we were able to make it stand up. Obviously, a lot of really good things offensively. ... I don’t think the prettiest game on either side, necessarily. But we were able to make a really outstanding inning stand up.”

The game began well for A's starter Jacob Lopez, who retired all six New York batters in the first two innings. That led to a heated message from Judge to his teammates that they needed to wake up.

“I just felt like we were a little asleep there that first two innings. I expect more out of the guys and I know they expect more of themselves. A couple of choice words there just to get it going. The boys responded,” Judge said.

They sure did.

Lopez failed to retire any of the seven hitters he faced in the third, starting with a single by Anthony Volpe.

The totals in the inning were staggering as the Yankees had 11 hits, four walks and four stolen bases. They sent 18 batters to the plate and faced 75 pitches during their most productive inning since scoring 13 runs in the eighth against Tampa Bay on June 21, 2005. It was one off the franchise record for an inning set July 6, 1920, against the Washington Senators.

Lopez walked two batters after Volpe's hit and then failed to cover the bag on Paul Goldschmidt's bases-loaded grounder to first, allowing a run to score on an infield single. Ben Rice followed with a two-run double, Judge blooped a single to center and Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to knock out Lopez.

The next five batters also reached safely against reliever Michael Kelly, marking the first time in 17 seasons that a team started an inning with 12 straight batters reaching safely, according to Sportradar. The Boston Red Sox were the previous team to do it on May 7, 2009, against Cleveland.

This marked the first time the Yankees had 12 consecutive batters reach safely in an inning since the first game of a doubleheader on Sept. 11, 1949, against Washington. It was just two batters off the record since 1920 that came when Detroit had 14 straight reach in the sixth inning against the Yankees on June 17, 1925, with Hall of Famer Ty Cobb hitting a home run in that inning.

The Yankees scored 10 runs before the first out was recorded when Goldschmidt struck out. Rice followed with a two-run triple, giving him two multi-run extra-base hits in one inning.

“To bat around with no outs, it’s incredible,” Judge said. “That’s what this team is capable of doing. We got our backs up against the wall, find a way to dig ourselves out of it and to continue to keep the pressure on them. We needed all 13 of those runs.”

Bellinger capped the scoring with an RBI single, marking the first time since 1950 that the A's allowed at least 13 runs in an inning. They gave up 14 in the first inning of the second game of a June 18 doubleheader that season.

“I really don’t know how to describe that inning,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Obviosuly, the two walks became an issue right away. Hit after hit, really. At some point you figure the ball’s going to go at someone, and it never did.”

In all, eight of the nine Yankees batters had at least one hit and one RBI in the inning, with Austin Wells the lone exception with two walks. All nine batters scored a run, with Volpe becoming the third player in the last 50 years to have two hits, two runs and two steals in an inning.

It lasted so long that he was in the on-deck circle when the rally ended, hoping for a third at-bat in the inning.

“I was getting ready to go hit again,” Volpe said. “It was crazy. It felt like I would run the bases and then I’d get up and I’d have to put my stuff back on. It was a cool feeling.”

The inning took so long — 43 minutes — that Yankees starter Will Warren went to the bullpen to get loose. The right-hander said he threw about seven pitches in the bullpen late in the inning before returning to the mound.

“When they took the second mound visit, I ran to the bullpen,” Warren said. "Just staying loose. A lot of time sitting there. I just wanted to make sure I was sharp to get back out there after the boys put up 13."

The rest of the day wasn’t as productive at the plate for the Yankees. In the other eight innings, their only baserunner came when Bellinger walked leading off the sixth only to get erased on an inning-ending double play.

“I had a few gray hairs today, but obviously a great way to finish a really good road trip,” Boone said.

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

The question, a few minutes after he and the San Antonio Spurs won the Western Conference title and earned the right to go to this year's NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks, was about his relationship with former coach Gregg Popovich and what this playoff run likely means to the winningest coach in league history.

And Wembanyama paused, clearly emotional, before starting his answer.

“I don’t know what it means for him,” Wembanyama said. “That’s a guy who’s got more experience as a coach than almost anybody and has been through so many things in his career and so many things right now as ‘El Jefe.’ He goes through some things we can’t even imagine. So, I need to call him. I need to see him. I need to talk to him because there’s no way I can understand right now how he feels.”

The official title for the 77-year-old Popovich is President of Spurs Basketball. Unofficially, the Basketball Hall of Famer may as well be coach emeritus — still regularly seen at practices in San Antonio, still seen at games, sometimes walking with the assistance of a cane. He's still in the ears of players and coaches, even visiting the locker room after the Spurs lost Game 3 of the West finals to Oklahoma City for a bit of a pep talk and bit of a chewing out, depending on perspective.

But really, he's El Jefe. The boss. It's what he announced himself as when he retired last year, speaking publicly for the first time since the November 2024 stroke that essentially ended his coaching career and led to Mitch Johnson getting the job on basically a couple hours' notice. He came out for that event in a jacket, then opened it to display the shirt with “El Jefe” on the front.

“You talk about the greatest coach pretty much of all time to be able to sit here and tell you the experiences that they went through or that he’s been through or that he sees," Spurs guard Devin Vassell said. “I mean, it’s second to none, honestly. He helps out. He helps out a lot. ... He just has so much wisdom and stuff that you can’t take for granted.”

Game 1 of the Knicks-Spurs series is Wednesday in San Antonio.

Knicks coach Mike Brown saw first-hand how Popovich operated the Spurs; he spent three years as an assistant coach under him in San Antonio.

Brown still has family members living in San Antonio — causing him to joke a few days ago that a Knicks-Spurs matchup in the NBA Finals would save him a little bit of money because he wouldn't have to fly as many people in to see games.

“He still has a huge presence. He will always have a presence," Brown said of Popovich. “The job that he’s done, not only on the court with that team or that organization but off the court too, is going to be imprinted for as long as the game of basketball exists. His presence is very, very much felt all the time and I’ve got a lot of respect for the organization for a lot of different reasons.”

And Popovich still commands that respect, even now.

Popovich met the Spurs at the airport after they flew home from Games 3 and 4 of their West semifinal series against Minnesota a couple weeks ago — for a purpose. Wembanyama was ejected from Game 4 for a flagrant elbow he threw at Timberwolves forward Naz Reid. When Wembanyama got off the plane, Popovich was waiting. Cameras caught the exchange and it was pretty clear that Popovich was doing the talking and Wembanyama was doing the listening.

“He gives feedback and talks to us regularly,” Wembanyama said, without disclosing what Popovich's message was that afternoon.

Popovich was also at the airport in the wee hours of Sunday morning, when the Spurs returned home from Oklahoma City — on a night in which thousands of fans, both there and in the city's streets, celebrated the win.

Popovich won five NBA championships as San Antonio's coach, the first of those coming in 1999 when the Spurs beat the Knicks. The next era of Spurs basketball is here, with Johnson coaching, and it's an interesting coincidence that his first finals as Spurs coach is against the Knicks.

“I’m fortunate my old boss is still around, and has been through this a few times,” Johnson said. “Coach Pop has been a resource.”

And in the immediate aftermath of his biggest win yet — the one that got him to his first of what he hopes is many NBA Finals — Wembanyama simply could not wait to talk to El Jefe.

When I talk to him, it’s going to be only stored in my head — except if I record it in secret," Wembanyama said. “But I need to talk to him, so quick.”

There are more lessons to learn. There are four more wins to get. And Wembanyama knows that if anyone truly knows the way to those wins, it's Popovich.

___

AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in Greenburgh, New York, contributed.

___

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

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 protesters 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 protesters.

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 protesters 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.

Asked about visitations resuming, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided a statement that said “To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots. Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”

Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, posted a video taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year. In the five-minute video, Gertner 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 walked along a road. “No marriage is perfect, and I don't want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage.”

Platner is seeking the Democratic nomination for one of the most closely watched Senate races as Democrats hope to defeat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the party's efforts to win control of the narrowly divided Senate. The Maine primary is June 9.

Genevieve McDonald, a then-campaign staffer for Platner, told the The Associated Press that the candidate was “sexting multiple women while married" and that “the campaign tried to assess that as an election vulnerability.”

Platner told reporters Sunday that what McDonald had said wasn’t true. Asked if he was confirming that the text messages didn’t exist, Platner replied, “I’m confirming that what Genevieve McDonald said in The New York Times is not true.” Platner didn't provide any specifics. He was referring to a Times story that names McDonald Saturday, after The Wall Street Journal first reported the story.

Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages, which she had discovered on his phone last year, to make sure they weren't a liability to the campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal. Platner's campaign team reportedly decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023. The two are in counseling, Gertner has said.

Platner told reporters that he and Gertner spoke with the campaign about their marriage, but reiterated that McDonald’s claims were false.

Platner's campaign on Sunday did not specifically confirm the text messages to the AP, but issued a statement from Gertner saying the disclosure of the conversations she had with a campaign aide was a betrayal that “deeply hurt.”

“I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind," she wrote.

It's not Platner's first controversy

Platner, who has never held public office, has a gruff, less buttoned-up approach on the campaign trail, fashioned a platform around economic equality and has already had to navigate statements that surfaced from his past.

The candidate had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn't realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. There's also been much attention on his former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner's campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds. Mills, a two-term governor, had been seen as one of the Democrats' top 2026 recruits when she entered the Senate race before her campaign fizzled out.

Platner has still pulled support from big-name Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego as well as U.S. House Rep. Ro Khanna. The latter is scheduled to rally with Platner on Friday, and so far, it appears he hasn't lost any endorsements with this latest texting revelation.

Two Democratic senators on Sunday declined to directly address the topic when pressed by reporters. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told CBS' “Face the Nation” that Platner had served his country and community, but “also made mistakes and he has admitted that.”

On CNN’s “State of the Union," New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim sidestepped, too. “With any campaign in the country, the character and the transparency about the different candidates is going to come out,” said Kim, “and the voters are going to decide what they ultimately think."

Barreling forward Sunday, Platner posted a video on X from an event “happening now” where he entered a room to a standing ovation from ecstatic supporters.

Questions over whether additional controversial information about Platner could still surface have added to some Democrats' anxiety over his chances in a general election against Collins, who has represented Maine in the Senate since 1997.

In October, after the revelation that he once had a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest and promptly had it covered, the AP asked him if other scandals were on the horizon.

Platner said he was expecting his opponents were “going to keep dragging things up.”

“They’re going to keep making things up,” he said. “I fully expect people to just lie about me at this point.”

Voters are familiar with the couple's struggles, including with infertility and traveling out of the country to afford IVF treatment, which they've discussed on the campaign trail.

In late April, Platner shared that Gertner had suffered a miscarriage, and he’s discussed his own mental health struggles and the role of his family and therapist in helping.

Former aide explains why she went public

McDonald initially worked on Platner’s campaign as his political director and resigned a few months later when his now-deleted Reddit posts began surfacing, saying she couldn’t stand behind him as a candidate. She later declined a severance offer from the campaign in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.

On Saturday, McDonald wrote on Facebook that Platner’s campaign had “demanded” she retract her statements she had made to The Wall Street Journal or his team would accuse her of violating the couple's trust. McDonald wasn’t named in the newspaper's article, but after that exchange, she said she made the choice to be publicly named in a New York Times story.

“His consultants greatly overestimate how much I do not aspire to be them,” she wrote on Facebook.

After resigning from Platner’s campaign, McDonald moved to help Democrat Jordan Wood’s congressional campaign in Maine’s second district. McDonald submitted her resignation from Wood’s campaign Saturday morning, according to Wood’s campaign.

Wood endorsed Platner after Mills dropped out.

___

Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas and Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Pulisic set up Sergiño Dest’s opener in the seventh minute, then made it 2-0 off a Ricardo Pepi pass in the 20th. Pulisic took a touch, rounded goalkeeper Mory Diaw and slotted into an open net from a tight angle for his 33rd goal in 85 international appearances.

The top American player, Pulisic had finished his AC Milan season scoreless in a career-high 19 club games since Dec. 28 and was without a goal in eight straight U.S. matches. Pulisic ran to a corner flag, dropped to his knees and repeatedly pumped his fists.

Sadio Mané scored twice following American mistakes, extending his Senegal record with 54 international goals. He beat goalkeeper Matt Turner at the far post in the 44th off a Habib Diarra pass that followed Antonee Robinson’s giveaway, then tapped the ball into the net in the 52nd after Nicolas Jackson had lifted it over onrushing goalkeeper Chris Brady.

Brady entered among 10 U.S. changes at the start of the second half in his international debut.

Balogun, another second-half sub, had a goal disallowed for offside in the 49th, then got his ninth international goal in the 63rd after Tim Weah’s cross deflected off a foot of Moustapha Mbow.

The No. 16 U.S. plays 10th-ranked Germany on June 6, six days before the Americans open the tournament against Paraguay. No. 14 Senegal faces Saudi Arabia in a June 9 friendly and start against France on June 16.

The American starting lineup averaged 44 international appearances, the team’s highest since the October 2017 loss at Trinidad and Tobago that ended the U.S. streak of seven straight World Cup appearances, according to Opta.

Turner, the American starting goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup, made just his second U.S. appearance since a 4-0 loss to Switzerland last June.

In the absence of Chris Richards, sidelined by an ankle injury, the U.S. started Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie and captain Tim Ream in a three center back formation. Gio Reyna made his first start for club or country since Dec. 19.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The Buffalo Sabres' Konsta Helenius scored the gold-winning goal 10:42 into overtime. The 20-year-old Helenius netted from the right circle, beating Switzerland goaltender Leonardo Genoni with his team's 28th shot on goal.

Finland netminder Justus Annunen shut out Switzerland with 22 saves.

“We have a strong culture, you leave your ego outside the locker room, and that’s why it’s so awesome to come and play for Finland,” defenseman Olli Maatta said.

Finland also won in 1995, 2011, 2019 and 2022.

Switzerland wasted a two-minute, 5-on-3 advantage that started six seconds before the end of the opening period.

The final was a rematch of the two teams from their last group stage game, which the Swiss won 4-2.

That was the only loss for the Finns, who finished second in their preliminary group behind the Swiss. They went on to eliminate the Czechs 4-1 in the quarterfinals and upset tournament favorite Canada 4-2 in the semifinals.

Finland was led by captain Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entirety of the Florida Panthers’ season because of a major knee injury suffered 20 minutes into his first practice of training camp. The tournament was his first action in competitive games since the Panthers won their second consecutive Stanley Cup last June.

Barkov powered the Finns with three goals and eight assists from 10 games at the worlds.

Swiss disappointment

After finishing runner-up in the previous two years, host Switzerland hoped for more this time in front of its home crowd in Zurich.

Home fans clapped, chanted and cheered tirelessly throughout the tournament.

“It’s a huge disappointment, but, it’s hockey,” Switzerland forward Denis Malgin said. “It was a 0-0 game. We had our chances, and in OT it can go either way.”

Switzerland failed to score a single goal in the three finals.

The Swiss lost to the Czechs 2-0 in 2024, and were defeated by the U.S. 1-0 in overtime last year. They also finished second in 2018 and 2013 when they were defeated by rival Sweden.

Switzerland also finished second back in 1935.

No medal for Canada

Norway stunned Canada 3-2 in overtime of the bronze medal game to capture its first ice hockey world championship medal.

Noah Steen scored the winner 3:32 into overtime. The previous best result for Norway was a fourth-place finish in 1951.

In a wild ending, Canada was 2-0 down when it pulled netminder Jet Greaves. Robert Thomas then scored from the slot to reduce the deficit with 1:16 remaining in the final period with an unassisted goal.

With eight seconds to go, captain Macklin Celebrini and Ryan O’Reilly set up Thomas for his second to tie it at 2-2, forcing overtime.

Earlier, Emilio Pettersen gave Norway a 1-0 lead in the opening period and Stian Solberg added another with a deflected shot in the second. Goaltender Henrik Haukeland stopped 44 shots.

Greaves made 21 saves for Canada.

The Canadians have come up short at the worlds since they won their last and record 28th title in 2023.

They finished fourth in 2024 and were stunned 2-1 by Denmark in the quarterfinals last year.

The worlds ended in disappointment for Canada again this year despite a lineup that included teenage sensation Celebrini as captain and NHL great Sidney Crosby in addition to several established NHL stars, including O’Reilly, John Tavares and Mark Scheifele.

Canada managed to win all of its group games, including a 6-5 victory over Norway in overtime, and eliminated defending champion U.S. in the quarterfinals.

But Finland, led by Barkov, proved too good in the semifinals.

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

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.

Also, 19-year-old Joao Fonseca followed up his five-set victory over Novak Djokovic by beating two-time runner-up Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-6 (8), 5-7, 6-2.

Fonseca will next face 20-year-old Jakub Mensik, who held off a comeback from Andrey Rublev in a 6-3, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 2-6, 6-3 win.

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

First responders were dispatched to the motel along the Southwest Freeway on May 31, 2013. At the scene, Houston Fire Capt. Bill “Iron Bill” Dowling believed several people were still inside, prompting a rescue push as flames spread through the building.

That effort ended in tragedy when a portion of the structure gave way.

Four firefighters — Robert Bebee, Matthew Renaud, Anne Sullivan and Robert Garner — were killed that day. Capt. Dowling suffered severe injuries and later died in 2017. Thirteen other firefighters were hurt.

First moments at the scene

In a 2023 remembrance, KPRC 2 meteorologist and anchor Khambrel Marshall described spotting thick smoke while heading back toward the station with photojournalist Wendel Johnson and diverting toward the fire.

“Once we got closer, we saw it,” Marshall wrote. “The Southwest Inn Sports Bar was on fire. We made a quick U-turn at Bellaire and were the first media on the scene by about 10 minutes or more.”

Marshall said he began photographing firefighters preparing to enter the building — images that later carried a heavier meaning as word spread that firefighters were missing.

What the investigation uncovered

Investigators concluded the fire likely began in the attic area hours before the first call came in.

During the emergency, radio traffic became congested as teams tried to coordinate the search for firefighters inside. Investigators identified multiple contributing issues tied to the incident.

Capt. Bill Dowling’s injuries and later legal fight

Dowling survived but suffered catastrophic injuries. He underwent amputations and sustained a severe brain injury, and he later died in 2017.

Years later, Dowling’s widow, Jacki Dowling, filed a lawsuit against Motorola, alleging failures in the radio system contributed to delays and confusion as crews tried to communicate during the fire.

Changes after the fire

The Houston Fire Department made updates aimed at strengthening communications and improving how large incidents are managed, including technology intended to help commanders track assignments in real time.

A small memorial remains at the site — a row of red crosses bearing station numbers — honoring the firefighters who died in the Southwest Inn fire.

The Nicaraguan government issued a statement Sunday saying that Rivera died from a bacterial infection after his health had declined following a case of COVID-19, which led to his physical and neurological deterioration.

Human rights activists and groups worldwide denounced his death and an earlier statement by the government in which they referred to Rivera as “Brother” and said they were praying for him.

“They took him alive, and after refusing to tell his family, his lawyer, the world anything about his fate, then they call him brother,” said Reed Brody, an American human rights lawyer and member of a group of U.N. experts on Nicaragua. “Unconscionable cynicism on the part of the government to make it seem like they were trying to help him.”

The U.S. had called for his release on Friday after the Nicaraguan government published photos of him in the hospital in critical condition.

“This is just complete neglect,” said Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue. “His death represents the magnitude of repression."

The Argentina-based Inter-American Center for Legal Assistance in Human Rights also denounced Rivera’s death. Those responsible for the death of the Indigenous lawmaker "should be held criminally accountable,” it wrote on X.

Albert R. Ramdin, secretary general of the Organization of American States, said he was “deeply concerned” about reports of Rivera's death.

“His death demands an immediate, independent, and transparent investigation,” Ramdin wrote Sunday on X. “The rights to life, personal integrity, and due process must be guaranteed. My condolences to his family and the Miskito people. We continue to demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners unjustly detained by the Nicaraguan regime.”

A fight for land and autonomy

Rivera led the Miskito people, who live along Nicaragua’s northeast coast and have long fought to retain their lands.

For decades, he fought the ruling Sandinista government and helped establish the area along the northeast coast as an autonomous region. It is rich in gold, silver and other resources, and it is considered a key area for the administration of co-Presidents Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo to attract foreign investment.

Rivera’s fight for Nicaragua’s Indigenous people began in the 1960s. After opposing Ortega’s Sandinista’s government in the late 1970s, he temporarily went into exile in nearby Costa Rica in 1980.

He later returned to Nicaragua, where he survived an attack by Sandinista forces, forcing him once again to seek safety elsewhere, this time, in Colombia.

In the late 1980s, he founded the group known as Yatama, the Organization of the Peoples of Mother Earth. It played a key role in securing limited autonomy for Indigenous people following peace negotiations with the Sandinistas.

“He has been fighting in one way or another for their rights,” Brody said. “He fought for land, he fought for autonomy.”

Nicaragua’s Indigenous people operated autonomously until they were annexed into the country in 1905.

“Since then, they have advocated for the recognition of their rights and for respect for their identity,” stated a September 2024 report published by the group of U.N. experts.

First official sign of life since the 2023 arrest

In April 2023, Rivera traveled to Geneva to participate in a U.N. forum on Indigenous people, where he spoke out against the Nicaraguan government.

Shortly afterward, Ortega and Murillo banned him from returning to the country, but he slipped in anyway and lived in hiding until September 2023, when he was arrested and accused of terrorism.

“Nobody heard from him since then,” Brody said in a phone interview, adding that he and other U.N. experts wrote the government requesting that it provide some sign of life. “The government never gave any indication. He was a disappeared person.”

It wasn’t until late last week that the government published pictures of Rivera in the hospital.

Rivera was not only respected by his supporters, but by political opponents as well, Orozco said in a phone interview, noting he had known Rivera for decades.

“It’s disheartening how this dynasty is just getting rid of people, back and forth, left and right and getting away with it," he said.

Ever since his arrest and that of his second-in-command, Rivera’s party has gone into hiding, Orozco said.

“This is a big blow,” he said. “They have been basically dispersed, not organized. They keep a certain level of communication, of political engagement underground, but mostly with people in the exile.”

Condolences for Rivera poured in online, with one person writing on Facebook: "He was a father to our generation; he taught us, guided us, and led us with actions, not words."

Brody noted that the U.N. group of experts has documented 124 cases of arbitrary detention of Indigenous people in Nicaragua since 2018, and 46 deaths following violence incidents.

He noted that at least six political prisoners have died in custody since 2019, including two last August.

“Brooklyn Rivera spent 40 years fighting for his people,” he said, “and hopefully the international community will finally pay attention.”

The 11-hour flight covering more than 5,500 miles from Ezeiza International Airport touched down in Missouri just after 11 a.m. local time. The flight number for the Aerolineas Argentinas charter was 1978, an homage to the 1978 World Cup that Argentina won as the host nation over the Netherlands before more than 71,000 fans at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires.

The plane itself, an Airbus A330, also celebrated the Argentine squad with special livery. The No. 10 of Lionel Messi was featured on the tail amid the national team's iconic blue and white stripes, while three gold stars represented its three World Cup titles.

Argentina is the first of four national teams making their World Cup home base in the Kansas City metro to arrive.

The Netherlands, England and Algeria — which will be at the University of Kansas in nearby Lawrence — are due to arrive this week.

Most of the Argentina squad arrived on its charter, though some players will arrive from clubs elsewhere in the world. After stepping off the plane, players and staff walked across the tarmac to waiting charter buses for the trip to the team hotel.

Messi and Co. will be staying at the Origin Hotel near downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Fences have been built around the property and extra security provided for the team, while inside the relatively new hotel, signage, posters and other nods to the team known as La Albiceleste are ever-present, including huge images of some of the team's biggest stars on the outside of the building.

The team planned to spend Sunday doing light training in the hotel gym while awaiting the arrival of the rest of its players. Its first full workout is set for Monday at the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, the home of MLS club Sporting Kansas City.

Argentina plays Honduras in a friendly on Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, the home of Texas A&M. Its final tuneup is three days later against Iceland at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Alabama, the home of another SEC football team, Auburn.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni revealed his 26-man World Cup roster on Thursday. It is headlined by Messi, who turns 39 in less than a month, and features 17 players that were part of the team that triumphed four years ago against France in the final in Qatar.

Several players were in doubt because of injuries of varying severity ahead of the June 1 deadline set by FIFA for finalizing all World Cup squads. Among them was Messi, who is suffering from muscle fatigue and a mild strain in his left hamstring.

The club has said that his recovery time will depend on “his clinical and functional progress.” Messi will be playing in his sixth World Cup, having previously participated in Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup.

That wait is at 53 years and it can only end now by beating the Spurs again.

Nearly a week after clinching their first NBA Finals berth since 1999, the Knicks were at last able to practice Sunday while knowing who they were practicing for, after Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs knocked off Oklahoma City on Saturday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

“I mean, they’re a special team,” Knicks guard Deuce McBride said. “Obviously they have the Defensive Player of the Year, obviously a great organization and they’ve got a lot of great young guys, so we’re just excited for this matchup.”

It’s the same one as the last time the Knicks were in the NBA Finals, when the Spurs beat them 27 years ago to leave New York without a title since 1973.

The Knicks believed they were going to have a good shot at ending the drought this year and got a test run at chasing a championship back in December, when they beat San Antonio in Las Vegas to win the NBA Cup.

The Knicks then passed on joining the Lakers and Milwaukee, the previous winners of the in-season tournament, in raising a banner at Madison Square Garden to acknowledge it. They aren’t putting much stock in that victory six months later, knowing how different both teams are.

“Obviously there was good energy around that, but I don’t think that’s really going to be any equivalent to what the atmosphere or the energy is going to be like at their place, or obviously at the Garden,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said.

“So technically that game didn’t happen, so I don’t think there’s anything that we can learn from,” Hart added, poking fun at the fact that the Cup final, an 83rd game for the two teams, doesn’t count in the standings or statistics.

The teams split the two games that did matter, with San Antonio’s victory on New Year’s Eve starting a midseason spiral for a Knicks club that arrived with a 23-9 record. Then, after the Spurs went undefeated in February, New York snapped their 11-game winning streak with a 114-89 home victory on March 1.

Game 1 is Wednesday at San Antonio. More than Wembanyama and the Spurs, the Knicks’ biggest problem might be their lack of playing rhythm.

Because they are rolling through the postseason with an 11-game winning streak, that will be just the 10th game in a 35-day span for the Knicks, starting with the April 30 clincher against Atlanta in Game 6 of the first round.

They then swept Philadelphia and had more than a week off before opening the Eastern Conference finals against Cleveland. Their inactivity clearly showed after that extended rest, as they were 4 for 23 on 3-pointers through three quarters and fell behind by 22 points early in the fourth before rallying to win in overtime.

“We understand what happened last time we had a layoff like this, so we’re just trying to be better than we were last time,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said.

That was the only trouble the Knicks had with the Cavaliers, easily taking the next three games and ending the series last Monday. They have outscored opponents by 262 points during the winning streak, the largest margin for any 11-game stretch in NBA history.

The Knicks don’t expect anything so easy against the Spurs, whose victory in the 1999 matchup was their first of five NBA titles. New York coach Mike Brown was on the bench for one of them as an assistant to Gregg Popovich, and was the losing coach in another when the Spurs swept Cleveland in 2007.

“I got ties to San Antonio and you appreciate the people, you appreciate the journey and all that other stuff,” said Brown, who has family still living in San Antonio. “But at the end of the day, just like they want to beat you, you definitely want to beat them.”

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

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

In a public notice posted May 27, Carnival Corporation said hackers gained access to part of the company’s IT network in April after using social engineering tactics to deceive an employee and compromise an account.

According to the company, the breach was first detected April 14, and investigators later determined the attacker illegally copied customer and employee data.

READ THE FULL STATEMENT

The compromised information may include names, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and government-issued identification numbers such as passports and driver’s licenses.

The incident could impact Texans, especially with Houston and Galveston serving as major cruise hubs for Carnival passengers traveling through the Gulf of America.

Port of Galveston is one of the busiest cruise ports in the country and a major departure point for multiple Carnival ships year-round.

Carnival said the breach appears to have been limited to a “small portion” of its systems and that the company is not aware of ongoing unauthorized activity since stopping the attack.

The company has not publicly disclosed how many people were affected nationwide.

Texans who have traveled with Carnival are encouraged to closely monitor bank accounts, credit reports, and email communications for suspicious activity.

The company also said law enforcement was notified, and third-party cybersecurity experts were brought in to investigate and strengthen security systems.

Experts also recommend considering a fraud alert or credit freeze with the major credit bureaus if sensitive identification information may have been exposed.

The flight departed around 6 p.m. for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but landed back at Newark at 9:37 p.m., according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airline said there were 190 passengers and 12 crew members on board the Boeing 767 aircraft.

According to air traffic control audio, security came to inspect the aircraft after someone named their Bluetooth device a “certain four-letter word.” A passenger posting on social media said crew members repeatedly asked passengers to turn off all Bluetooth devices, but two devices remained on. The flight turned around after communicating with the airline’s headquarters in Chicago.

Passengers had to evacuate as the aircraft was swept by Port Authority police, and passengers were rescreened by TSA and Customs and Border Patrol before reboarding. The airline declined to provide specifics on the cause of the incident.

Passengers boarded a replacement flight with a new crew, which took off early Sunday morning and landed in Palma in the afternoon.

This was the latest incident with a United Airlines flight this month. On Friday, a domestic flight was diverted because of a security concern with an unruly passenger. Earlier this month, a United flight landing at Newark airport struck a semitrailer truck and a light pole, though no one was injured.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation’s “Steel Across America” tour stopped in Houston on May 31 as part of a nationwide commemoration ahead of the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, bringing the sacred artifact and a mobile 9/11 exhibit to the Space Center campus for visitors and community members to experience firsthand.

“He left his car outside the tunnel and ran”

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.”

After the steel blessing, guests moved inside for the formal program, which included the presentation of colors and the national anthem. Community leaders and first responders delivered remarks, including Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz, who spoke about the bravery and sacrifice shown on Sept. 11 and the responsibility to remember.

Siller tied the message of the tour to the place hosting it.

“Space Center Houston is a place that celebrates the courage it takes to go where no one has gone before — and that spirit of fearless service is exactly what we saw on September 11,” he said. “The first responders who ran toward the Twin Towers that morning were cut from the same cloth as the heroes this place honors. Steel Across America is our way of making sure their sacrifice is never forgotten — not just in New York, but in every city, in every state, and in every American heart.”

As part of the ceremony, Siller presented Space Center Houston Chief Operating and Strategy Officer Keesha Bullock with a commemorative steel flag featuring the New York City skyline with the Twin Towers standing tall — a custom piece incorporating World Trade Center steel and presented, organizers said, only to those who demonstrate honorable dedication to the foundation’s mission.

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 Steel Across America tour will make its next stop at the Long Center in Austin, Texas on June 2.

Bengaluru reached 161-5 in 18 overs after winning the toss and restricting Gujarat to 155-8 in its 20 overs.

Kohli smashed nine fours and three sixes in his 42-ball 75 not out. It was his sixth 50-plus score of the season and, along with Venkatesh Iyer’s 32 runs off 16 balls, helped Bengaluru make quick work of an under-par target.

“It is the stuff you dream of. I have thought of this moment many times, to win the IPL and stand here (unbeaten in the chase)," Kohli said. "The kind of team we have, it gives you confidence to face any situation. There is enough depth in our side. We had clarity – Venkatesh (Iyer) and I wanted to finish off the chase in the powerplay itself.”

With its first title in 2025, Bengaluru became only the third side to win successive IPL titles. Chennai Super Kings (2010 and 2011) and Mumbai Indians (2019 and 2020) previously achieved this feat.

Kohli finished with 675 runs in 16 matches, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up 28 wickets this season.

Kumar took 2-29 on Sunday, sharing four wickets with Josh Hazlewood (2-37), and restricted Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Washington Sundar finished on 50 not out, hitting five fours in his 37-ball innings. No other Gujarat batter topped 20. Medium pacer Rasikh Salam Dar took 3-27 in his four overs.

Gujarat’s Kagiso Rabada was the season’s highest wicket-taker – 29 in 17 matches.

Rajasthan Royals’ 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryanshi was the highest run-getter with 776 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 237.

Bengaluru pacers strike hard before Kohli’s chase

Gujarat never really gained any batting momentum and was down to 99-5 at the start of the 15th over. Openers Sai Sudharsan (12) and Shubman Gill (10) were out cheaply.

Krunal Pandya had Jos Buttler (19) stumped and, despite Sundar’s knock, the Titans didn't look comfortable.

Iyer hit two sixes and four fours in his rapid 32 for Bengaluru. Kohli and Iyer contributed 62 off 27 balls for the opening wicket.

Kohli got his half-century off 25 balls, his quickest in the IPL, and he finished the match in style with a six against Arshad Khan – a year after Bengaluru had won the title at the same venue.

The final was a rematch of the first playoff on Tuesday when Bengaluru beat Gujarat by 92 runs in Dharamsala. Gujarat won the IPL in 2022.

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

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.

The replay never showed up on the videoboard as usual. But 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.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Sunday he hadn't seen that happen before this season.

“My understanding was that we got one,” Boone said.

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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

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.

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

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

“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.

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

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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.

Jacob Daniel Baker was charged with counts of first- and second-degree murder Saturday, the Hawaii Police Department said in a news release.

Baker remained jailed without bond Sunday and police said his first court appearance was scheduled for Monday. It was not immediately known if Baker had an attorney who could speak for him.

Charges in the killings came two days after police apprehended Baker following a manhunt on Hawaii's Big Island, where the three victims were found in the rural Puna community known for its tropical landscape and free-spirited residents.

Robert Shine, 69, was found dead Monday partially submerged in a cement pond, according to police. The second victim, a 79-year-old man, was discovered Tuesday a few hundred feet away. Friends identified him as Chitta Morse.

Police found the third victim, 69-year-old John Carse, late Tuesday at a property 19 miles (31 kilometers) from where the other two bodies were located.

Police have not given a suspected motive for the killings. Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna has said investigators found no connections among the victims other than that two of them lived near each other.

In addition to the murder charges, Baker also faces counts of burglary, auto theft and criminal damage to property.

The killings left residents on edge in Puna, a community set amid lush jungle and barren lava fields where people seeking to live off-grid commonly trade work for lodging.

Puna resident Stephen Shaffer said that Baker had worked for his ex-wife, climbing coconut trees on land where she grows fruit, in exchange for a place to live. After several months, Shaffer said, his ex-wife sought a restraining order against Baker, saying she felt threatened by him.

Donald Hyatt, a friend of Shaffer's ex-wife and of two of the men killed, said Baker left the cabin where he had been living months ago. Hyatt said that Baker recently returned claiming “squatter's rights” and threatened Shaffer's ex.

Just days before the killings, two women had requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them, according to court records. A judge denied both applications, saying there was not enough proof of harassment.

Court records showed Baker named in 20 other cases in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker had no attorney and represented himself.

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.

“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.

___

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.

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.”

___

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.”

___

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.”

___

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.”

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

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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.”