It marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ernest Hemingway ’s book “The Sun Also Rises” that launched the future Nobel Laureate to literary fame and put Pamplona on the map for millions of people around the world.

On Monday, the festival kicked off with a firework blast over a jam-packed plaza. The first of eight bull runs is on Tuesday.

Hemingway’s 1926 novel captivated generations of readers with its sexy Jazz Age tale of American and British bohemians trying to fill some inner void with the distractions of exotic travel, vast quantities of alcohol and the anguishing pursuit of impossible love.

Its success established “The Sun Also Rises” as a cornerstone of the American literary canon, right up there with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” It also popularized the term “lost generation” to describe the tight-knit group of early 20th-century writers expatriated in Paris. Hemingway's terse style forever changed American literature. In Spanish, its title is translated as “Fiesta.”

Hillmann, who hails from Chicago, was 19 when Hemingway’s vivid depiction of the bull running festival first enthralled him, especially descriptions of average Spaniards risking their lives sprinting through the streets to guide the bulls to the bull ring during the nine-day festival.

“I sat there for about six hours, well past midnight, reading the book," Hillmann told The Associated Press in Pamplona as he looked down on the pen where the bulls are held before being set free on the cobblestoned route. “And by the time I was done with that book, I was going to be a writer and I was going to be a bull runner."

Since that literary encounter, the 44-year-old Hillmann has run with the bulls in Spain hundreds of times, counting both his trips to Pamplona and his participation in dozens more bull runs in other Spanish towns. His infatuation with Hemingway and Pamplona has never waned, even though he nearly died one time that he was gored by a bull horn.

Hillmann’s appreciation led him to earn a doctorate in English, and now it is his turn to teach “The Sun Also Rises” at East-West University in Chicago, and write about bull running.

Americans are the biggest group of foreign bull runners

Hillmann is just one of many Americans inspired to travel to Spain to see the festival firsthand. While running with bulls is a cherished local custom for Spanish daredevils, Americans are still the leading group of foreigners who run at the San Fermin festival. In 2022, 16% of the bull runners were Americans, the largest percentage among foreigners and four times more than those from neighboring France, according to Pamplona’s City Hall.

Dallas-based tour operator Bruce Anderson, whose company “Running Of The Bulls” has helped thousands of Americans attend San Fermin over the years, says that Hemingway’s work made the festival a bucket-list destination. This year, his company is bringing 1,400 people to the festival, with over two-thirds from the United States.

“There’s a lot of energy, a lot of excitement around just remembering that book and the impact that it’s had,” said Anderson, himself a lifelong Hemingway fan. He spoke in Pamplona’s art deco Café Iruña, which features heavily as a drinking spot in “The Sun Also Rises” and today houses a life-size statue of Hemingway bellying up to the bar.

And Anderson, with his thick white beard, is something of a Hemingway look-alike. Local Spaniards often call out to him: “Papa!” – a nickname for their adopted hero.

It is impossible to avoid Hemingway in Pamplona

Hemingway is etched into the landscape of Pamplona. Hotels and bars have busts of him or signs up that he was once there. Outside the Pamplona bull ring, which also has a statue of the writer, a huge banner hangs in honor of the novel, including a quote that shows how the festival left the writer speechless: “At noon of Sunday, the 6th of July, the fiesta exploded. There is no other way to describe it.”

When Hemingway made his last visits to Pamplona, he would frequent the Perla Hotel; his suite still has furniture from the 1950s when he stayed there. The room, which overlooks the bull run route, also has two glass bookcases holding dozens of copies of “The Sun Also Rises.”

“Hemingway did a lot for Pamplona because he made it known around the world,” said Fernando Hualde, who worked for four decades as a receptionist in the hotel.

Hemingway’s legacy has become complicated over time

Hemingway’s local legacy, however, is mixed.

Beside a feminist critique of his hyper masculine public persona, Hemingway has drawn criticism from the animal rights movement for his praise of bullfighters. In “The Sun Also Rises,” he spills far more ink on descriptions of their bravery than on the bull runs.

Animal welfare activist Brook Spurling said during a protest against the San Fermin bullfights that “Hemingway wrote about many, many themes that today would not be accepted into society. He writes about hunting, about war, and we don’t want to be appreciating these themes today.”

Hualde says that some Pamplona residents rue his early promotion of the festival due to the ills of overtourism the sleepy provincial city is now experiencing.

Pamplona has 200,000 residents and receives over a million more people for the festival. While most are Spaniards, around 15% of the revelers are from abroad. And many, especially the younger visitors, follow Hemingway’s example of drinking to excess.

Some locals take pride in spots that weren’t touched by Hemingway. Local literature professor Gabriel Insausti of Pamplona’s University of Navarra recalls being in a bar with a sign that read “Hemingway was not here.”

“In general, Hemingway has become a product of a franchise associated with San Fermin festival that has obscured his novel,” Insausti said. “People know who Hemingway is, but they haven’t read his novel.”

But the power of Hemingway’s English prose lives on

Hillmann said that the high percentage of inexperienced foreigners today makes the Pamplona bull runs particularly dangerous. The last death was in 2009 but gorings and other injuries are common. Novice runners can easily panic and make a wrong move that can cause a pileup or send someone into the path of a bull.

He was badly gored in 2014 when he said a bad maneuver by a fellow runner left him exposed to a bull. He thought he was dying, such was the quantity of blood gushing from his leg.

After another goring in 2017, Hillmann told the AP from his hospital bed in Pamplona that he would not stop running. “People think this is just crazy people running. There is real art. If you pay attention, you can see it,” he said then.

Hemingway's granddaughter, the actress Mariel Hemingway, recalls being treated “like royalty” when she attended San Fermin years ago. Mariel, who has written and spoken about her grandfather's battles with mental illness that led to his suicide in 1961, is convinced his work will endure.

That fascination with death is likewise timeless.

“Identity, love, purpose, and how to rebuild after profound loss ... those themes haven’t ever changed. That’s what’s great about my grandfather,” Mariel Hemingway told the AP from her home in Idaho.

“I think he captured something that will never go away.”

The missile was launched at 12:01 p.m. local time and carried a dummy warhead, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. China last conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, firing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead, the first in decades since 1980.

The 2024 launch mirrored the testing the United States conducts for its own ballistic missile fleet, which experts viewed as an assertion of China’s growing superpower status.

Monday's launch was part of routine annual training, complied with international law and practice, and was not directed against any country or target, according to a short statement from Xinhua, which was reposted by the Ministry of Defense.

Beijing's militarization has drawn concerns, with Australia, Japan and New Zealand criticizing the launch.

The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand and noted that the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.

The zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region. China ratified the protocols in 1987, pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone or threaten to use them against signatories with territory in the region.

“It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.

The launch took place the same day Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defense treaty meant to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.

“Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region,” Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji in response to the test.

Japan's Defense Ministry expressed concern in a statement about China’s increasing military activity and urged Beijing to “rethink” its missile testing so that the projectiles would not fly over Japan or pose other security risks.

“China’s military activities, combined with its lack of transparency, have become a grave concern for Japan and the international society,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in Japan, citing Beijing's active military activities around Japan and its increased military spending.

Beijing brushed off the criticism Monday.

“We hope that the relevant countries will avoid overinterpretation,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said.

The concern is a result of a lack of clear information, said Drew Thompson, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “China’s military modernization and buildup have occurred without concurrent increases in openness and transparency, resulting in uncertainty about China’s intentions."

He added that the Chinese criticism of Japan’s increased defense spending is hypocritical, given that its own military buildup since 2000 has resulted in the largest military expansion by any state since World War II.

China maintains a “no first use” of nuclear weapons policy, but is also actively pursuing nuclear technology and weaponry as part of its long-term strategy to modernize the People’s Liberation Army.

China has a fleet of six ballistic-missile submarines and 59 nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank.

In its latest report to Congress on China’s military capabilities, released in late 2025, the Pentagon said China had an estimated stockpile of around 600 nuclear warheads in 2024, adding that the PLA remains on track to field more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.

___

Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Japan, and E. Eduardo Castillo in Bangkok contributed to this report.

According to the constable’s office, the proactive operation was designed to create a strong law enforcement presence, cut down on impaired driving, and help prevent DWI-related crashes and fatalities during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

The media advisory says deputies made stops after observing traffic violations and then identified multiple signs of intoxication. Standardized Field Sobriety Tests were administered, and the constable’s office says each suspect was determined to be intoxicated before being taken into custody.

The constable’s office highlighted four cases where suspects were charged with Driving While Intoxicated with a Child Under 15 Years of Age: Berry Harris, Alyssa Todd, Jamarh Derry and Patrick Wireman.

It also identified five suspects charged with Driving While Intoxicated — Second Offense: Juan Sanchez, Tamika Baines, Rudy Martinez, Kenneth Pulliam and Kelvin Tillman.

Constable Mark Herman said, “The Fourth of July is a time to celebrate with family and friends, but impaired driving continues to pose a serious threat to public safety.”

The advisory notes all persons are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Police said the unrest at the prison in Negombo, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, began on Sunday and continued on Monday. Spokesman Chandana Herath said there were fatalities but could not immediately confirm the toll reported by local television station Hiru.

Victims include both inmates and prison officials, the TV reported.

Prison spokesman A.C. Gajanayake said the violence started among inmates and when prison guards attempted to intervene on Monday, “they (inmates) started attacking the prison officials.”

He told reporters that some inmates attempted to escape but were stopped.

The clashes left several officials and inmates dead while several were hospitalized, Gajanayake said, without giving the exact numbers.

An official at the area's main state-run hospital said more than 100 people were admitted with injuries from the prison clash. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He did not specify the injuries.

Sri Lankan prisons are highly congested, with more than 39,000 inmates crowded into a system with a total capacity of just 10,000.

More than 6,000 police officers, including anti-riot squads, were deployed to secure the Senate, where about 400 anti-Duterte demonstrators converged, chanting “Convict Sara now.” Duterte did not appear but was represented by her lawyers at the start of the trial, which will run for 92 days, according to a pretrial plan seen by The Associated Press.

If convicted of the charges, which include amassing unexplained wealth and publicly threatening to have Marcos assassinated, Duterte may be permanently disqualified from holding public office. She denies the charges.

Rep. Gerville Luistro, who leads the prosecution team, said there was adequate evidence and witness accounts to convict the vice president.

“This is the moment when the republic must demonstrate that laws are applied equally to the powerful and the powerless alike,” Luistro said.

Sheila Sison, head of the vice president's legal defense, expressed doubt whether prosecutors have legitimate evidence to back up their allegations against Duterte, who rose to power with a landslide electoral victory.

“This court, and we as a people, must guarantee that all efforts to hold our leaders accountable must be done right,” Sison said. “Impeachment should never be abused."

A conviction would be a lethal blow to the vice president's announced plan to seek the presidency in mid-2028, when Marcos ends his six-year term. They were running mates in the 2022 elections in a whirlwind alliance that combined the vote-getting power of two of the country’s most formidable political dynasties, but the union rapidly fell apart.

The vice president is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos’ predecessor. He was arrested last year on orders of the International Criminal Court and flown to The Hague, where he is detained and is scheduled to face trial over alleged crimes against humanity on Nov. 30.

The charges stem from the ex-president’s brutal anti-drugs crackdowns that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead, alarming Western governments and human rights groups. Rodrigo Duterte has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings but repeatedly threatened suspects with death while in office.

The vice president has blamed Marcos for her 81-year-old father’s arrest and handover to the ICC.

Marcos and the Dutertes have contrasting geopolitical leanings. Marcos has expanded defense engagements with the United States, his country’s treaty ally, as his administration stood up to China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea.

Rodrigo Duterte had nurtured cozy ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin while threatening to sever ties with Washington. The vice president has come under fire for not condemning China’s assaults, including with the use of powerful water cannons, against Filipino forces and fishermen in the disputed waters.

Last month, the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos’ allies, voted overwhelmingly to impeach the vice president over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of confidential state funds and a public threat to have the president, his wife and a former House speaker and ally assassinated if she herself were killed due to their political disputes.

Sara Duterte has generally denied the charges but has refused to publicly answer the allegations in detail ahead of the impeachment trial. Her supporters have accused Marcos and his key aides of politically persecuting the vice president and her senatorial allies to ensure her impeachment.

Two-thirds of the 24-member Senate, or 16 votes, are needed to convict the vice president.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who belongs to a Senate bloc backing the Duterte family, was arrested and detained last month on a nonbailable charge of plunder, or large-scale graft, in connection with a flood-control project bribery scandal. Estrada denies any wrongdoing.

Another pro-Duterte senator, Rodante Marcoleta, was arrested Monday over a nonbailable charge of plunder for receiving huge campaign donations and failing to declare the funds in his assets declaration. Marcoleta has denied committing any irregularity.

A third senator, Ronald dela Rosa, has gone into hiding after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest as a co-perpetrator in the Duterte-era killings. Dela Rosa served as Rodrigo Duterte’s national police chief, who first enforced the then-president’s deadly crackdown against illegal drugs.

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Joeal Calupitan in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

King Charles III’s estranged son is traveling to the land of his birth for a series of charity engagements that begin Tuesday. But for most royal watchers that’s just background noise.

For the past 10 days, British tabloids and news broadcasts have been filled with speculation about whether Harry’s wife, Meghan, will accompany him and, more importantly, whether they will bring their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, so they can finally get to know Grandpa Charles. But everything is up in the air as Harry seeks to arrange protection for his family after a government committee refused to authorize taxpayer-funded security.

“With just days to go until Harry’s first public engagement in the UK on Tuesday … very little is guaranteed at all,” the Times of London reported on Saturday. “For Archie and Lilibet to meet the king, it’s now or never,’’ wrote the Telegraph.

The kids' trip hinges on adequate security measures

Harry, a British army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is visiting to mark one year to go before for the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition he founded to motivate and inspire military veterans around the world as they work to overcome battlefield injuries

Not on the official schedule but very much in the media spotlight, however, is a decision Tuesday at the High Court in London, where the judge will reveal his verdict in Harry’s invasion of privacy lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail.

The decision about whether to bring the children, according to reports based on off-the-record briefings and unidentified people close to the royals, hinges on whether the U.K. government agrees to provide security for Harry and his family. It is an issue that has hung over every trip the prince has made to Britain since he and Meghan decamped to North America six years ago.

British authorities say Harry isn’t entitled to blanket protection because he is no longer a working member of the royal family and they will assess his security on a case-by-case basis, just like any other celebrity. Harry says it is unsafe for his children to travel to Britain without protection because his family remains a target simply by virtue of their royal status.

The decision rests with a government committee known as Ravec, that rules on who should get state-funded protection.

The outcome could be problematic for the royal family, which is trying to show that it provides value for money after months of embarrassing headlines about the links between the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

“In the paranoid atmosphere of waiting for more Andrew shoes to drop, Ravec and the royals themselves are terrified of public blowback if taxpayers are asked to fund protection for the House of Sussex,’’ royal commentator Tina Brown wrote on X. “The issue is not a hill that either the king or the government wants to die on, and who can blame them?’’

Harry wants his children to get to know their grandfather

After initial reports that Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, would visit the U.K., plans began to wobble after the Daily Telegraph reported that Ravec had again rejected Harry’s request for protection.

The Times of London reported that Harry was “distraught” after the decision and told friends he wouldn’t let his children be “chased by paparazzi” through the streets of London.

By Sunday, it was clear the family wouldn’t accompany Harry when he arrives in the capital, though there was still a chance they would join him later in the trip.

Then on Monday, plans for the prince's accommodation fell into disarray. First there were reports that Harry would stay at Buckingham Palace while he is in London, but within an hour it became clear that the palace was not an option. At least for now.

Nonetheless, Harry has said that he wants to reconcile with his 77-year-old father, who is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer. And he really wants his children, who first met the monarch during celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022, to spend time with their grandfather now that they are old enough to remember the experience.

Harry's relations with the palace have been tense

Tension within the House of Windsor have been strained ever since Harry and Meghan gave up royal duties and moved to California to pursue lucrative media deals free from the pressures of royal life in London.

They reached a new low after Harry published an explosive memoir that included unflattering depictions of the royal family and damning allegations of a toxic relationship between the monarchy and the press.

Harry’s description of royals leaking information about other members of the family in exchange for positive coverage of themselves is just one of the tawdry allegations in his book, “Spare.” The prince was especially scathing about Queen Camilla, accusing her of feeding private conversations to the media as she sought to rehabilitate her image, after her longtime affair with Charles when he was heir to the throne.

After losing a court battle over the security issue last year, Harry said he hoped to rebuild relations with his family, even as he suggested that the royals had sought to prevent him from receiving police protection to punish him for walking away from royal duties.

“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry told the BBC. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

All of the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets, underscoring Kyiv’s need for more Patriot interceptor missiles — a point Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely reiterate at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.

Twelve people were killed in the capital, Kyiv, which was Russia's main target, according to local officials. Another six people were killed in the wider Kyiv region, said its head Mykola Kalashnyk.

At least 60 people were wounded, according to Zelenskyy, as emergency workers combed through rubble looking for survivors at residential high-rises in two locations that suffered direct hits in the capital.

Days earlier, on Thursday, a Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv, the deadliest for the capital this year. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes, which have caused severe fuel shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.

More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months, analysts and Western officials say. Strikes on supply routes behind the front line have stripped the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield, they say, slowing its advance and driving up the cost.

But Russia is now exploiting a different kind of momentum: vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defenses, which remain heavily reliant on the U.S. Patriot systems to intercept ballistic missiles it can rarely shoot down any other way. The war in the Middle East has strained the global supply of Patriot interceptors, already produced in limited numbers — a shortage now most of all being felt in Ukraine.

Gaps in Ukraine's air defense

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.

“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television. “Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”

Ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against Russian ballistic missiles — a shortfall he blamed on insufficient interceptor supplies. He urged U.S. and European partners to leave the summit with strong decisions to bolster Ukraine’s air defense and protect civilian lives.

“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said in a statement following the attack.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale not seen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors. “Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including sites it said produce drones, sea drones, armored vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defense systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in the city and surrounding region. The claims could not be independently verified.

Russia’s aerial attacks on Ukraine have repeatedly hit civilian areas. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.

“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s Military Administration, in a post on Telegram.

A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he said. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and people were believed to be trapped under the rubble.

In Kyiv's suburb of Vyshneve, about 600 residents were evacuated due to the risk of unexploded munitions, Ukraine's Emergency Service said.

Witnesses recount harrowing escape

Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, said she began screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast that blew out the windows in her apartment building.

The lights went out, the smell of burning filled the air and the stairwell was thick with smoke, she said.

“When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there,” Piatetska said. “When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire.”

Halina Ivanivna, 61, said she woke to the sound of the first strike at around 2 a.m. Moments later, her apartment building began to collapse around her. “Everything was falling down,” she said. Water poured through the building as smoke filled the air while emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents.

About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.

Ukrainian attacks in Russia and occupied Crimea

Meanwhile, an energy provider in Russia-occupied Crimea reported a blackout across the peninsula due to “external impact.” The Moscow-appointed head of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Ukrainian attacks cut power supplies to the city early Monday, but it was later restored using backup equipment.

Russia's Yaroslavl region Gov. Mikhail Yavrayev said two people were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of the same name. He said over 70 Ukrainian drones were downed. Yavrayev didn’t say if any facilities were damaged, but Astra online news outlet said the attack targeted an oil refinery, causing a fire.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 519 Ukrainian drones overnight.

___ Associated Press writers Volodymyr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Susie Blann in London contributed to this report.

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

He points to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

“They were 26 when they were first elected to public office,” said Alfonso, a Republican.

Alfonso is trying to ride support from his father-in-law to win his old House seat in rural northern Wisconsin. Duffy has repeatedly jetted back to the district to campaign and raise money for Alfonso, and he's tapped $1 million from his old congressional account to support Alfonso's candidacy.

Alfonso has also scored the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who called him a “MAGA warrior.” But to Alfonso's detractors, including prominent Republicans in the 7th Congressional District, he's too young and inexperienced for the job.

“I think it’s insulting to people in the 7th that someone who lacks qualifications and any life experiences and any kind of demonstrable leadership skills or experience is even being touted as a candidate,” said Meg Ellefson, a 20-year resident of the district who voted for Trump three times and now opposes him. “It’s super aggravating to me.”

The Aug. 11 primary will test whether Trump's endorsement of Alfonso, Duffy’s star power in his old congressional district and Alfonso’s fundraising advantage will be enough to put the political newcomer over the top.

Alfonso leans into Duffy's ‘Real World’ past

Alfonso is taking a page from his father-in-law’s playbook by participating in a reality show. He appeared alongside Duffy, a 1997 alum of MTV’s “Real World,” in the “Great American Road Trip” video series that Duffy launched with his wife and 11 children on YouTube in June.

Duffy was elected to Congress in 2010, flipping a seat that had been under Democratic control for 41 years. He served for just under nine years before leaving politics. He returned last year when Trump tapped him to serve as transportation secretary.

Alfonso has leaned into his youth and lack of political experience.

“I’m a young man with the energy of a young man, but I have the values of someone who’s in their 60s,” Alfonso said, citing the fact that he got married to Duffy’s daughter Evita Duffy at age 22 and became a father in May.

Alfonso graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022 and then moved to Florida, where he worked for about a year on a podcast hosted by Trump supporter Dan Bongino. Prior to that, he worked construction jobs while in college.

Alfonso said that conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination inspired him to run to continue what he calls a “spiritual battle for the soul of our nation.” Kirk’s Turning Point Action has endorsed Alfonso.

Duffy’s son-in-law faces a former Iranian hostage and a dog musher

One of Alfonso's rivals in the Republican primary, Kevin Hermening, has deep ties to the district.

Hermening is a former Marine who was one of 66 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days starting in 1979. Framed photos of the then-20-year-old Hermening meeting with former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter hang on his office wall.

He has worked nearly 40 years as a financial planner, spent 16 years on a local school board and was chairman of the Marathon County Republican Party for 24 years, helping Duffy and scores of other Republicans win local, state and federal races across the district.

Hermening also previously ran for Congress in 1986, when he was the same age as Alfonso is now — 26. He lost by 25 percentage points to Democratic incumbent Rep. David Obey.

“The voters told me that I wasn’t ready or prepared yet," Hermening, who's now 66, said in an interview at his Wausau office. “I was ill prepared to have actually done the job, and I’m not saying that because Mr. Alfonso’s in the race. It’s a fact."

Another candidate in the primary, Ashley Furniture executive Jessi Ebben, has the backing of powerful Republican megadonors. Others running are Niina Baum, a dog musher, and Don Raihala, an accountant and real estate broker.

Longtime Republicans are publicly opposing Alfonso despite Trump backing

While Alfonso has endorsements from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and four of Wisconsin’s six Republican congressmen, local Republican officials in the district have publicly questioned the young candidate's credentials.

Leaders in at least three counties have publicly spoken out against Alfonso as being too inexperienced for the job and questioned Duffy's influence.

Iron County Republican Party Chair Tanner Hiller accused Duffy of trying to use his connections to get his son-in-law elected.

“I think what they’re doing is wrong morally,” Hiller told Wisconsin Public Radio in May. “There’s a lot of people that have better credentials, that know this district, that will represent this district better than Michael Alfonso.”

Donations in question as GOP megadonors are divided

Alfonso has benefited from tens of thousands of dollars in donations from transportation interests, raising more questions given that Duffy leads the federal agency that oversees the nation’s transportation system.

When asked whether he would be beholden to those donors, Alfonso said he answers only to God and the voters.

“That's it,” Alfonso said.

But Hermening said Alfonso will feel indebted to the donors.

“I would think that the people would want to get paid back,” he said.

Duffy, despite his repeated visits back home to the district to campaign and raise money for Alfonso, is focused exclusively on executing the president's agenda, his Transportation Department spokesperson Nathaniel Sizemore said when asked about the donations.

A super political action committee backing Alfonso has received $1 million from Duffy’s old congressional account and another $1 million from Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein, whose shipping and packaging business, Uline, is based in Wisconsin.

However, Uihlein’s wife, Elizabeth Uihlein, has donated $1 million to another PAC supporting Ebben. Ebben also has the backing of Club for Growth and Diane Hendricks, a billionaire builder from Wisconsin who is another GOP megadonor.

Alfonso hopes Trump endorsement overcomes GOP pushback

Alfonso is leaning into the Trump endorsement, while saying it will be hard work and not the president's backing that gets him elected. His red, white and blue campaign signs say, “Endorsed by President Donald Trump.”

Jack Hoogendyk, chair of the Republican Party in Marathon County, which is home to the district’s largest city of Wausau, said Trump's endorsement is “solid gold” in a district where Trump won by 22 percentage points two years ago.

But Ellefson, the longtime district resident, who hosted a conservative talk radio show in Wausau for five years, isn't so sure that Trump's blessing carries the same weight now that it used to.

“I personally would like to believe that voters in the 7th are intelligent enough and critical thinkers and won’t be swayed by a Trump endorsement,” she said. “I’m going to give the voters credit for not being that foolish."

With high inflation hurting Trump's popularity, the Republican president has tried to get more Americans to focus on their 401(k) investments, claiming that his policies should get the credit for any gains, particularly as the November midterm elections draw closer.

“It’s all going well — the stock market is setting records virtually every day,” Trump told reporters on last week before boarding Air Force One. “Thank you, President Trump.”

Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s economic leadership, according to a June survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The act of ringing the opening bell suggests why the president’s emphasis on the stock market might not help his party much with voters this fall.

The Oval Office event is aimed at promoting the launch of Trump Accounts, which were created as a vehicle for children to have investments in stock indexes as part of Republicans' big 2025 tax and spending cuts bill. In championing the accounts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized that many Americans have no direct exposure to stocks.

This means that millions of people are not benefiting from investments that largely accrue to more affluent households or that the benefits they’re receiving are for retirements decades away.

“Today, 38% of American adults do not own stocks,” Bessent said last December. “But with Trump Accounts, over time, we can get that number down to zero.”

The S&P 500 stock index posted gains of 17.9% in 2025, but that came after annual returns of 25% in 2024 and 26.3% in 2023, during the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. The benchmark stock index has risen roughly 10% so far this year.

But just as inflation crushed public support for Biden, Trump has also seen his approval fall prey to a cycle of rising prices. Trump won the 2024 election by promising to bring down costs, but his tariffs and the start of the war in Iran created new inflationary pressures.

The consumer price index has climbed 4.2% over the past 12 months, up from 3% when Trump started his second term in January 2025.

Deputies responded to the incident in the 12200 block of Aldine Mail Route Road near Henry Road.

• Car fire spreads to northwest Houston laundromat, forcing customers to evacuate

Authorities said three children were inside the vehicle when it was carjacked. The circumstances surrounding how the children were recovered have not yet been released, but officials confirmed all three are safe.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said a suspect has been detained in connection with the incident.

• Gunfire erupts after Fourth of July fireworks dispute in Houston’s South Side; 2 injured

No additional details, including whether anyone was injured or what led up to the carjacking, have been released.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

The five-day preliminary hearing will mark the most significant presentation of evidence in the case so far — and the first time that Kirk’s parents and widow will be in the courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, a conservative activist and ally of President Donald Trump, at Utah Valley University. Robinson turned himself in a day after the shooting.

Prosecutors allege he confessed in a note left for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”

Robinson has not yet entered a plea, and his attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence. They have, however, sought to get the death penalty taken off the table, so far unsuccessfully.

The proceeding will resemble a minitrial, but prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Once it’s finished, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to a trial.

Prosecutors have said they plan to present DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk’s killing. They are also expected to argue the shooting endangered others at Kirk's campus event — an aggravating circumstance that could make the crime punishable by death under Utah law.

Prosecutors this week can use secondhand information, or hearsay, to help present their case.

Robinson's roommate is not expected to testify in person during the hearing. Still, the roommate's recorded testimony could be a focal point for prosecutors.

In addition to the alleged confession note, Robinson reportedly texted his roommate that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred,” prosecutors have said.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

The Republican president has said he hopes Robinson receives the death penalty.

Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, said during his memorial service that she forgives Robinson. She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband’s parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

The Houston Fire Department responded around 8 p.m. to the fire at a washeteria in the 200 block of West Tidwell Road near Yale Street.

• Gunfire erupts after Fourth of July fireworks dispute in Houston’s South Side; 2 injured

Investigators said the fire started in a vehicle parked outside before extending to the laundromat. Witnesses said customers quickly evacuated the building as the flames spread.

• 5-year-old dies after being pulled from apartment pool in northwest Harris County, deputies say

Officials said no one was inside the vehicle when the fire began, and no injuries were reported. The driver was evaluated by EMS at the scene and released.

The driver told reporters off camera that she believes someone may have intentionally targeted her vehicle. However, investigators have not confirmed that claim, and the cause of the fire has not been released.

The incident remains under investigation.

I hope you had a great holiday weekend!

In today’s newsletter: the top local stories, a few “Things 2 Know,” and a powerful new KPRC 2 documentary, After the Storm: The Flood That Changed the Hill Country—our full-length documentary revisiting one of the deadliest floods in Texas history and the tragic toll it took on families and communities, told through firsthand accounts from survivors, first responders, meteorologists, business owners, and local leaders, plus what’s changed since and what still needs to be done to better protect Texans in the future.

As always, follow us for the latest on Click2Houston.com and watch us live on KPRC 2+.

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Weather ⛅

TODAY: 95° TONIGHT: 80°

KPRC Meteorologist Justin Stapleton says:

“Heat and humidity continue to crank through southeast Texas Monday. There is also a chance for overnight showers and thunderstorms moving from north to southeast.”

➡️ More weather headlines? Check them out here

Get your forecast details here.

Houston’s Top Headlines 📰

2 hospitalized after fire at south central Houston hotel

Two people were hospitalized after an overnight fire at a hotel in south-central Houston, including one person who remains in critical condition.

The Houston Fire Department responded just after midnight Monday to the Deluxe Inn in the 2600 block of Truxillo Street near Live Oak Street.

Car fire spreads to northwest Houston laundromat, forcing customers to evacuate

A car fire spread to a northwest Houston laundromat Sunday night, forcing customers to evacuate as flames and thick smoke filled the area.

The Houston Fire Department responded around 8 p.m. to the fire at a washeteria in the 200 block of West Tidwell Road near Yale Street.

5-year-old dies after being pulled from apartment pool in northwest Harris County, deputies say

A child died after being found unresponsive in an apartment complex pool in northwest Harris County on July 4, authorities said. Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies on scene identified the child as 5 years old.

HCSO deputies were called to a life-in-danger situation at the Cortland Wortham Apartments in the 10225 block of Wortham Boulevard, near North Eldridge Parkway and FM 1960.

FIFA brings the world to Houston as visitors experience American culture during the nation’s 250th birthday

As FIFA draws fans from around the world to Houston, many international visitors are spending America’s 250th Independence Day experiencing an American Fourth of July for the very first time at the City of Houston’s Freedom Over Texas celebration.

The annual event transformed Eleanor Tinsley Park into a showcase of American traditions, complete with patriotic displays, live music, food and fireworks.

After the Storm: The Flood That Changed the Hill Country

• Watch the FULL DOCUMENTARY on the KPRC 2 YouTube page

One year ago, devastating floodwaters tore through the Texas Hill Country, leaving lives forever changed.

In After the Storm: The Flood That Changed the Hill Country, KPRC 2 goes beyond the headlines to tell the stories of the people who lived through one of the deadliest floods in Texas history.

Through powerful firsthand accounts from survivors, first responders, meteorologists, business owners and community leaders, this documentary revisits the hours before the flood, the desperate rescues, the heartbreaking losses and the long road to recovery.

It also examines what has changed in the year since—and what still needs to be done to better protect Texans from future flooding. This is a story of grief, resilience, courage and the enduring strength of a community determined to rebuild.

You Got a Text! 💌

Introducing KPRC 2’s newest show... The Villa Verdict!

This week’s episode is a special one. Ninfa Saavedra was joined by Love Island USA Season 7’s Nic Vansteenberghe to talk life after the villa, his relationship status with Olandria, what he’s been up to since leaving the show, and how his DJ career has taken off—plus his take on all the chaos this season.

Then pop culture creator Dana Omari joined us to break down everything from Casa Amor to the fallout from Movie Night: the biggest surprises, the couples we’re rooting for, and who could be in trouble as the season heats up.🌴❤️📱

New episodes every week. Check them out here.

Things 2 Know 💡

PHOTOS: Texas’ Tall Ship Elissa returns to New York Harbor for Sail4th 250 Parade of Sail

Report: World Cup sparks surge in Houston singles’ dating activity

After the Storm: Family’s heartbreak still fresh one year after Texas Hill Country floods

In case you missed it... 👀

• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo announces plans to build new facility
• Rising healthcare costs are straining Texas businesses as the Legislature seeks solutions
• Texas Attorney General investigating StubHub after ‘widespread reports’ of World Cup ticket cancelations

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We’re tracking your forecast, bringing you traffic solutions, and covering important news LIVE from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on KPRC 2 and the KPRC 2+ livestream. Join us today!

Heat and humidity continue to crank through southeast Texas Monday.

There is also a chance for overnight showers and thunderstorms moving from north to southeast.

Watching the Tropics:

The tropics are quiet right now, and there is no tropical development expected over the next seven days. That’s good news heading into the Fourth of July weekend.

Did you know we’ve only had two documented tropical storms, and one hurricane make land on the 4^th of July in the U.S. Two of those storms happened more than a century ago.

The only Independence Day hurricane strike on record was Hurricane Arthur back in 2014, which scraped North Carolina’s Outer Banks as a Category 2 hurricane during the pre-dawn hours of July 4^th.

The other two were unnamed tropical storms from 1874 and 1919, hitting Texas and the Florida panhandle.

Why so few U.S. landfalls on the 4th?

The Independence Day holiday falls early in the Atlantic hurricane season, when tropical activity is typically still ramping up.

Historically, about 94% of named storms, 97% of hurricanes, and 99.5% of major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger) form after July 4.

Landfalls are also uncommon this early in the season. Only about 1 in 8 named storms to strike the U.S. has occurred before July 5.

A plume of Saharan dust returns mid to late week to the Gulf could bring another chance for hazy skies late week.

10 Day Forecast:

The heat is not going anywhere. Highs stay in the mid-90s through next week, with overnight lows in the upper 70s to lower-80s.

Rain chances return next weekend.

The Houston Fire Department responded just after midnight Monday to the Deluxe Inn in the 2600 block of Truxillo Street near Live Oak Street.

• After the Storm: The flood that changed the Hill Country

Firefighters said the fire started in a first-floor hotel room. One person inside the room was able to escape before crews arrived but suffered major burns and smoke inhalation. That person was taken to an area hospital in critical condition.

A woman staying in the room directly above the fire was also hospitalized with smoke inhalation and burns. Fire officials said she is in stable condition and is expected to recover.

• FIFA brings the world to Houston as visitors experience American culture during the nation’s 250th birthday

According to HFD, the hotel is an older-style building with only one entrance and exit for each room, creating challenges for firefighters during the response.

About 20 hotel units sustained smoke and fire damage. The American Red Cross is assisting guests displaced by the fire. Officials have not said how many people were staying at the hotel at the time.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Khamenei's flag-draped coffin, and those of members of his family killed Feb. 28 in an airstrike at the start of the war launched by Israel and the United States, sat on board a truck decorated to resemble the ornamental grating that surrounds the shrine of an imam. The massive turnout, encouraged by Iran's theocracy as a sign of strength, came as it negotiates with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war that killed the 86-year-old cleric.

Helicopter images aired on Iranian state television showed a massive crowd stretching from Tehran’s Azadi, or Freedom, Square for kilometers (miles) down a multilane street of the same name. The crowd appeared to be larger than the one that turned out for the 2020 procession for the late Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Solemani, which drew over 1 million people.

Authorities offered no immediate crowd count as the truck crept down the street. But people alongside the truck and elsewhere on the route carried placards, signs and banners calling for Trump's death.

“Today that we are here for the funeral for our leader, it’s a very tough day,” mourner Fatima Hassan said. “We are not here to say goodbye to him, we are here for revenge. And we will take revenge.”

Sea of mourners greets Khamenei

Mourners reached out to touch the truck, and some threw scarves and other items for attendants to brush against the coffin, a common practice in Iran seen as a blessing. Attendants, some on the ladders of firetrucks, sprayed misted water across the crowds to cool them in the heat.

Authorities appeared concerned about the dangers of having a large crowd alongside the procession, with officials on loudspeakers urging the public to walk slowly, not to push and to stay to the edges of the street.

The coffins will be taken through the streets of Tehran on a 12-hour journey to Mehrabad International Airport, said Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hasan Hasanzadeh, who is overseeing the procession.

Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began Saturday and will end Thursday as Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.

“This is the last time I am seeing him,” said a weeping Maryam Alizadeh. “Our generation lived with him for decades.”

Calls for Trump's death grow as funeral goes on

As the funeral has gone on, however, there have increasingly been calls from mourners to avenge Khamenei’s death. Mourners and the signs they carry have called for the killing of both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Such signs were seen again Monday along the procession’s route, with one effigy of Trump being hanged.

"We are here to show that his path will continue, and every single one of these people will continue down his path with clenched fists and soon we will certainly avenge his death against the U.S and Israel,” said mourner Sahar Zaraatgar

U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years, stemming from Trump’s ordering the 2020 killing of Soleimani, who led the elite Quds Force. Iran has repeatedly denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran’s crosshairs.

Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran’s civilization during the war, among other threats.

Negotiations over war remain on hold

The U.S. is meanwhile eager to press ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.

The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the strait, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, meanwhile has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war before an April ceasefire, Israel targeted top leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position. It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“Every year, it can change on you in a heartbeat,” said Citrano, whose family runs George’s, George’s #2 and Jorge’s Cantina. “You could have your rates jump because your participation is down, someone on your staff could get hurt. You never know.”

The health insurance costs to Citrano’s business have risen about 5% since reopening from COVID-19 shutdowns, but that is because he has been forced to share that burden with his employees by passing on higher premiums and deductibles. 

Citrano, like business owners across the state, is grappling with rising health insurance costs at a time when operating expenses are rising in a host of other categories. The challenges are particularly acute in the restaurant industry, where extra charges by insurers for low employee participation is common while inflation and rising credit card fees are causing a further strain on business. 

Health insurance costs on businesses have gotten so high that leadership in both chambers of the state Legislature have charged lawmakers with offering solutions ahead of the legislative session beginning in January. And there’s bipartisan support to drop costs.

Under federal law, employers with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance and about half of Texans are covered by an employer-sponsored plan. A report by the Business Group on Health found health costs for businesses were projected to rise 9% in 2026 nationally. This comes after polling firm KFF found annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose 6% from 2024 to 2025. The average premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance for a family of four is just under $27,000 annually, according to KFF. 

Excluding the pandemic years, the Texas state government, a major employer, has seen year-over-year increases in health costs between 3% and 9.8% since 2014, according to the Employee Retirement System of Texas which provides benefits to current and retired state employees. 

Experts and employers that spoke with The Texas Tribune said these rising costs for employers shrink the pool of money available for labor, causing employees to miss out on raises and making it harder to hire new employees. Rising insurance costs that get passed on to employees can price some of the lowest paid employees out of health insurance plans altogether, affecting their access to preventative health and risking their work productivity. 

Those experts say consolidation in the healthcare industry, such as among hospitals as well as companies acting as middlemen between providers and employers, and not just insurers, are driving up insurance premiums and the cost of health services. A lack of transparency around how providers, insurance companies and other industry players set prices for medical care and prescriptions makes it harder for patients and employers to negotiate the best price, further raising costs. Legislators appear poised to take aim at both issues.

The Texas Hospital Association said industry consolidation actually helps keep hospitals open in areas where they are struggling financially by allowing hospitals to pool resources. Hospitals meanwhile face their own rising costs in the form of insufficient reimbursement from health insurance and steep administrative burdens, the association said. 

Healthcare costs are the top issue for Texas voters as well, with 89% of respondents to a January Texas Politics Project poll saying they were either “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about the cost of healthcare. 

“When it boils down, this is about affordability,” said state Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, chair of the House Select Committee on Affordable Healthcare. “This is about healthcare and actually being able to afford care. It has become much more expensive, and not just more expensive, more expensive than it should be.”

Healthcare prices in the U.S. and Texas are rising faster than workers wages, overall inflation and the rest of the developed world, Frank added.

“When I look at what the state needs to do, it is to help foster a healthier healthcare market, an actually functioning healthcare market,” Frank said. “I think most of the things we need to do have general agreement across party lines.”

Consolidation and transparency issues

Amy Hartman is the Senior Manager of Human Investments for Texas-based credit union Credit Human and said healthcare costs are rising faster than any other expense at the company, including wages. This is harming both the business and employees’ bottom line, Hartman said, noting that the company gave raises but higher health insurance premiums ate up the extra pay employees received. 

Those premium increases are not only costing the business, they are starting to price out the company’s lowest paid employees, Hartman said. The premium has gone up at a double digit rate in recent years for both the employer and employee and rose 15% this year for employees, Hartman said. If employees don’t have coverage, they are less likely to seek out healthcare, and they become sicker and miss work, she added. 

“In this last plan year, we had a pretty steep increase, and we did see about double the number of people decline to take the plan and tell us they have no other coverage,” Hartman said, although about 80% of employees do use the plan.

Citrano suffers from low employee participation, which is less cost effective for the employer and can result in a tax penalty by the federal government.

Citrano employs roughly 425 people across his three locations and about half of them work the minimum hours and have the employment tenure to be eligible for the employee healthcare plan. But, because many don’t believe health insurance is worth the rising costs, only 19 employees have opted in to the health insurance policy, which he says offers good coverage for his overall younger employee pool. 

“When your participation is low, your rates are higher. So what we pay for insurance … it’s a lot,” Citrano said. 

As a financial institution, Hartman’s company values using data to make smart financial decisions but has been frustrated by the lack of transparency around costs from their claims administrator and pharmacy benefit manager. It took two years of requests for those providers to agree to give Hartman access to that data. 

Without information on the exact cost of a knee surgery at a specific hospital or prescription drugs from a specific pharmacy, Hartman said she is unable to find the best deal that meets the unique treatment and financial needs of her employees and makes business sense for her company.

“Transparency is a big word, but effectively having a market price for something is what we’re after,” Hartman said. 

As costs and frustration mounted in recent years, Hartman joined the board of Texas Employers for Affordable Healthcare, a nonprofit organization with the goal of uniting Texas businesses to advocate for lower health insurance costs. 

Executive director of the nonprofit, Chris Skisak, said the organization formed in 2022 in hopes of better engaging businesses on the issue. Despite being the most common provider of health insurance in the country, businesses have typically stayed out of health insurance debates, something that is now changing as prices begin to impact their bottom lines. 

“I think they’ve realized that they cannot cost-shift to the employees and ask them to pay more anymore,” Skisak said. “So employers are realizing this is something that is at a higher level and this is something that needs their attention.”

Skisak said complaints about price transparency are common among employers frustrated with the marketplace, both in healthcare services and pharmaceuticals. Consolidation, particularly among hospitals, allows for large healthcare providers to raise their prices as they face less competition, Skisak said. 

Zack Cooper, a professor of public health and economics at Yale University, testified in April before the House select committee that there have been more than 1,300 mergers among the nation’s approximately 5,000 hospitals since 2000. 

Carrie Williams, chief communications officer for the Texas Hospital Association, said much of the criticism of hospital consolidation misses the difficult financial situation many hospitals, particularly rural ones, face to continue operating. Fourteen rural hospitals in Texas have closed since 2015. 

“Patients recognize that if the choice is between their provider closing or maintaining an access point for healthcare in their community, consolidation offers a path to keeping care local,” Williams said. 

For hospitals, Williams added that they support cost transparency for patients and called for greater transparency among health providers of all types, rather than just hospitals and health insurance plans.

Along with a lack of understanding of overall health insurance costs, Hartman said the cost of pharmaceuticals for employees on the Credit Union plan have grown significantly in recent years, about 8% to 11% annually. 

Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, which act as intermediaries on the drug supply chain by managing medication pricing, access and distribution, have also seen significant consolidation. This has prompted experts to question if the companies are at all lowering overall costs for prescriptions.

OptumRx, CVS Health, Express Scripts and Prime Therapeutics — the four largest PBMs — own about two-thirds of the market share. 

Charles Miller, director of health and economic mobility policy for nonprofit think-tank Texas 2036, said that while healthcare costs and health insurance have typically been thought of as federal issues, the Legislature has the ability to increase transparency around hospital ownership and restrict mergers and anticompetitive practices in the healthcare market.

“How most people interact with the issue of affordability is most directly through our insurance, our insurance premium, our out of pocket costs,” Miller said. “But that broader issue, the overall amount we spend, is less about the insurance companies and more about the prices for services.”

What can the Legislature do?

Frank said that while he has not begun crafting legislation yet, he hopes to use the interim hearings to better understand and build consensus around three main areas: making sure employers and patients know the cost of a given treatment ahead of time, more competition in the healthcare market and greater transparency for patients that allows them to make the best choices for the health of both their body and wallet. 

“At the end of the day, I’m going for transparency at the patient level,” Frank said. “I want transparency, I want multiple people going for that business, and I want it to be built around the customer and the customer to have a say. There’s 100 different policies that fit in there.”

Frank has grappled with these same issues as the owner of Sharp Iron Group LLC and Texas Transland LLC, two Wichita Falls-based companies. 

In May, Frank filed a lawsuit in the 95th District Court of Texas in Dallas County against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, alleging the insurer intentionally concealed prescription drug rebates to inflate insurance costs for Texas employers. Frank is petitioning the court to certify the lawsuit as a class action. 

While Frank broadly declined to comment on the ongoing litigation, the lawsuit argues much of the same concerns about healthcare industry consolidations highlighted during the spring legislative hearings. 

The lawsuit argues Blue Cross Blue Shield was able to use its partial ownership of a pharmacy benefit manager to report inflated prescription drug costs to employer-sponsored health plans without disclosing rebates the insurance provider receives from the PBM, allowing the insurance provider to pocket that rebate money.  

Blue Cross Blue Shield declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. 

Frank told the Tribune he would not receive any financial benefit from the lawsuit and that it was his fiduciary responsibility as a business owner to take legal action if he suspects his employees are not getting proper benefits from their health plan. 

Miller said many of these issues around consolidation and pricing transparency are so intractable because the state largely lacks data around hospital and PBM ownership and said there is much the Legislature can do to make the market healthier by simply making it more transparent. 

At George’s in Waco, Citrano said he is hoping for solutions quickly.

As health insurance becomes more unaffordable, larger service industry companies can lure labor from local restaurants by offering cheaper and better plans to their employees because they have the size and employment to get a better deal. With costs rising elsewhere, from credit card fees and utility bills and food, Citrano said, healthcare is just one more growing headache for him and other owners.

“No matter what,” Citrano said, “we’re paying more, and no matter what, the employee isn’t getting exactly what they want.”

The photo showed Halo without a fully formed skull and brain, leading to her death four hours after she was born. Casiano’s OB-GYN had told her 20 weeks into her pregnancy that the defect was “incompatible with life,” but while Casiano said she could see her doctor wanted to help her end the pregnancy, she also saw the physician’s hands were tied by the life imprisonment Texas doctors can face for providing abortions under the state’s laws.

“She had to choose between her life and mine,” Casiano said.

Casiano was one of several women who traveled to Washington last month with Free & Just, a national nonprofit formed after the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that upended abortion access across the country, to speak with federal lawmakers as part of their “Abortion Stories on the Hill” campaign. It was the second June in a row in which women, like Casiano, trekked with Free & Just to the Capitol to relive some of their worst moments in an effort to explain to lawmakers how abortion restrictions delayed their medical care or forced them to carry a nonviable baby to term — an experience Casiano described as watching her daughter “suffocate.”

“I was more prepared this time,” Casiano said, comparing her first visit to Washington, in 2025, to a practice run. “I made sure to look the staffers in their eyes and let them know who I was.”

But not everyone was receptive to the message. After Casiano shared Halo’s story and photo with a staffer for her congressman, U.S. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Magnolia, she was told the office is “pro-life” and escorted out minutes after.

“It was a slap in the face,” she said. “I really wish that [the staffer] would have taken a deep breath with me.”

Despite their annual visits to the Hill and efforts to share their stories with lawmakers, abortion advocates have struggled to break through in a Congress that, since Dobbs, has lacked the numbers to roll back state bans or otherwise loosen restrictions.

Rather, some GOP lawmakers say they want to further clamp down on abortion by targeting pills like mifepristone, which now account for nearly two‑thirds of abortions nationwide. In Texas, telehealth makes up virtually all abortion care that still happens within state law, according to recent estimates.

U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving, said advocates’ warnings about the effects of abortion bans were overblown and intended to “scare the shit out of people.” And she criticized federal rules that allow abortion medication to be prescribed virtually and mailed to patients.

“What you saw with Dobbs was the same scare tactics we always hear from Democrats about what Republicans are going to do, and history has proven them wrong once again,” Van Duyne said, adding that she still sees work to be done in scrapping federal policies allowing drugs like mifepristone “that actually kill a baby.”

Abortion and the campaign trail

Advocates like Casiano are also confronting the reality that, at least in Texas, abortion access is not top of mind for voters. In a recent Texas Politics Project poll, just 2% of voters named abortion as the most important problem facing the state, with inflation and the economy and a host of other issues ranking higher.

That disconnect is something Kaitlyn Kash, an Austin mom who joined a 2023 lawsuit challenging Texas’ narrow medical exceptions to its abortion bans, says she thinks about when she talks to Texans about her own experience.

Kash, who has spent the last three Dobbs anniversaries on the Hill, said she tries to be careful when speaking about abortion and reframes it as a broader fight over access to reproductive healthcare — and as an issue that’s interwoven with the economy, people’s families and their freedoms.

“You can have more than one issue. I don’t think people understand that you’re not voting about abortion, you’re voting for reproductive healthcare because they’re all interrelated,” Kash said. “It’s a continuum of care, and doctors need the ability to be able to give you that care.”

Raven E. Freeborn, a former abortion doula and president of Avow, a Texas-based abortion-rights organization, said she doesn’t see abortion as separate from voters’ pocketbook worries.

“Abortion rights and access are vital to affordability,” she said. “Not being able to access abortion when you need it, that’s an economic justice issue. You’ll likely miss work, so you’re going to lose wages. Economic justice, affordability, reproductive justice, and abortion access are all living inside the same constellation.”

While Casiano, Kash and others have failed to move the needle on Capitol Hill, their stories, along with the deaths of Texas women due to delayed treatment, have helped generate changes at the state level. Last year, Texas lawmakers passed Senate Bill 31, dubbed the Life of the Mother Act, a measure that directs doctors to use “reasonable medical judgment” in medical emergencies involving a patient’s life or serious harm. The law says a medical crisis need not be “imminent” before healthcare providers can act, and that a doctor can only be charged if the state can prove “no reasonable doctor” would have made the same call.

But some advocates say that has not helped when it matters. Texas Equal Access Fund, an abortion access advocacy group, has called SB 31 a “fake fix,” arguing it adds legal red tape for physicians without resolving the gray area around the ban’s exceptions, still leaving pregnant patients in medical limbo.

Additionally, two Austin-area emergency rooms were the subject of a recent federal complaint from a woman alleging she was denied miscarriage care, even with the new clarifying language on the books.

John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion group that helped craft Texas’ abortion bans and SB 31, said he sees the remaining problems not as flaws in the statutes but as failures in how hospitals and attorneys are applying them. That was the impetus, he explained, behind the new law’s requirement for the Texas Medical Board to create training for doctors who perform obstetrics care.

“We passed Senate Bill 31 last session to require education of physicians on this topic, because we want the message to be very clear that whenever there’s a serious situation like an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage, there is no hesitation, that doctors are supposed to serve those women and help them immediately,” he said. “[If] the attorney at the hospital misrepresented the law, that’s just malpractice.”

Freeborn pushed back, describing abortion as more than an emergency moment, but also as “healthcare, a political bargaining chip and a moral clause.”

“These doctors are wrestling with everything that’s in the room with them about a healthcare procedure — stigma, shame, disinformation — and that is not true of other medical care,” Freeborn said. “Birthing people are navigating their reproductive realities, and their ability to have bodily autonomy and govern over themselves is often in question by way of their relationship to something else.”

Some research has found that Texas’ abortion restrictions are linked to worsening mental health among reproductive‑age women. A study of more than 15,000 Texas women found that reports of “frequent mental distress” rose significantly after the state in 2021 banned most abortions after about six weeks.

Cracking down on abortion pills

Meanwhile, Seago’s group and other anti-abortion advocates have been moving to restrict the flow of abortion drugs to states like Texas where the procedure is banned. The Texas GOP, for example, listed “protect life” as one of its eight legislative priorities at last month’s convention, a plank that includes a call for “strong criminal penalties and new enforcement tools to fight abortion and abortion pill trafficking.”

In a letter signed last week by more than 80 anti-abortion groups, advocates urged Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to settle a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s Biden-era policy allowing mail delivery of mifepristone.

“Pro-life states cannot enforce their laws while an FDA regulation gives cover to mail-order abortionists and DOJ defends the profits of abortion drug manufacturers,” the letter said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed two civil suits since 2024 against out‑of‑state providers he says illegally mailed abortion pills to Texans.

In a statement marking the four-year anniversary of Dobbs, Jonathan Saenz, president of the conservative advocacy group Texas Values, celebrated that Texas “has been a beacon of life” since the decision, while calling for action on drugs like mifepristone.

“As the state where Roe v. Wade originated, Texans have a deep and personal stake in never going back to that deadly time period,” said Saenz, one of the signatories on the letter to Blanche. “Sadly, illegal mail order abortion pills are still being sent into Texas and we must continue working hard to protect moms and babies from this type of exploitation.”

Abortion advocates like Kate Cox say lawmakers should focus instead on Texas’ post-Dobbs medical landscape. The Dallas mother, who traveled to New Mexico to terminate her pregnancy in 2023 after her fetus was diagnosed with a genetic condition that’s almost always fatal, said she is concerned that the state’s severe abortion penalties, even with SB 31, will push OB‑GYNs to practice in other states and make Texas a less attractive place for top medical talent.

“I think new OB-GYNs coming out of school look at the situation, and they don’t want to come practice in Texas, where they would have to navigate what would be a very different situation in other states,” said Cox, the first adult woman to seek a court’s permission to have an abortion post-Dobbs. “I was in the emergency room four times, and I asked my doctor, ‘If I choose not to continue the pregnancy, can I make that decision?’ And she said, ‘Not in Texas.’ I think that puts them in a very difficult spot.”

That’s why Cox wants lawmakers to focus less on prescribing what doctors can do and more on recognizing the volatile realities of pregnancy.

“Every pregnancy is different. Some bring joy, some bring heartbreak, and some bring medical emergencies,” Cox said. “The Legislature can write a law that covers every possibility with compassion. And the more we learn about pregnancy, the more we realize how unpredictable it can be. Instead of trying to legislate every scenario, we should trust families and the physicians that are caring for them.”

But Pulido has been dogged by a series of headlines regarding his former bandmate, Frankie Caballero, a registered sex offender whom Pulido toured with for years as his accordionist, despite a lengthy rap sheet that includes a conviction for indecent sexual contact with a child. Pulido has maintained he was not aware Caballero was a sex offender, with his campaign saying he only knew Caballero struggled with addiction.

The Democrat’s ties with his troubled ex-bandmate, and whether voters are turned off by them, could shape the outcome of his high-profile challenge to Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg.

De La Cruz has handily dispatched Democratic challengers since her first election in 2022, and her district, which runs from Hidalgo County up to rural areas east of San Antonio, favored President Donald Trump by an 18-point margin in 2024.

But Pulido, a first-time candidate, has made the race competitive, running as an outsider and telling voters he would focus on the needs of South Texas rather than partisan allegiance. In a leaked audio clip obtained by Punchbowl News, De La Cruz said an internal poll she’d commissioned had found her up by only 1 point, tracking with public polling that has shown Latino voters — who make up about three-quarters of the district’s eligible voting population — turning away from Trump.

Pulido has maintained that the Caballero stories are a distraction from the issues of the race, such as high gas prices, the cost of healthcare and De La Cruz’s pro-Trump voting record. But De La Cruz and Republicans say Pulido’s affiliation with Caballero is disturbing and that they find his denials unconvincing.

“South Texans care about our families and our communities, and this November, we will hold Bobby Pulido accountable for his depravity and corruption,” a De La Cruz campaign spokesperson said.

Pulido’s biggest musical hit, the 1995 single “Desvelado,” featured Caballero on accordion by happenstance. He landed the gig, Pulido recalled in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, because the keyboard player who was supposed to record what became the accordion part with the band never showed up to the studio.

The two went on to tour and perform together over the course of Pulido’s career. Caballero, according to Pulido’s campaign, was a needs-based contractor hired over short stints.

In the meantime, Caballero, a native of the McAllen area, racked up over a dozen criminal charges in Hidalgo County starting in the 1990s, ranging from marijuana possession and burglary to multiple sex crimes, though many were ultimately dismissed or disposed. In 1994, he was arrested and indicted by a grand jury for sexual assault — a charge that was dismissed years later. 

In 2014, Caballero was convicted of indecent sexual contact with an eight-year old girl and sentenced to four years in prison. 

After Caballero got out, he went back to performing with Pulido — including at a benefit for an Edinburg middle school in 2018 where children were invited. The performance was first reported by Axios.

“I find it unconscionable that Mr. Pulido’s campaign is dismissing parents’ concerns as ‘nothing’ while refusing to answer basic questions about his decades-long relationship with a serial child predator,” De La Cruz said in a statement after Axios reported that Pulido and Caballero performed at a middle school benefit. “His ‘I didn’t know’ excuse is simply not believable.”

Pulido’s campaign said Caballero was a contractor hired by Pulido’s management company, which did not conduct a background check — a practice the campaign said is common in the music industry. Pulido, according to his campaign manager, knew Caballero struggled with addiction but was unaware he was a sex offender. 

The two performed together, according to concert footage, as recently as 2021. A spokesperson for Pulido’s campaign said his management company learned that same year that Caballero had “engaged in domestic abuse,” upon which he was “fired immediately and ties were severed.” Pulido and his management team found out about the accordionist’s sex offender status when it was first reported in the media earlier this year.

“Bobby Pulido has been a public figure for over 30 years, he is an open book and has been completely transparent about this from day one — he did not know about Caballero’s sex offense charges and found out about his charges the same way everyone else did: the New York Post,” the campaign spokesperson said.

Later that year, Caballero was again charged with indecency with a child by sexual contact, as well as attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault against a child.

Caballero also was arrested in 2021 for failing to register as a sex offender — a charge that was ultimately dismissed. When he got out on bond for that charge, “Bobby Pulido Band” was listed as his employer on the bond form.

Pulido has alluded to Caballero’s criminal history before, saying in a 2024 interview it was a “shame” his bandmate “just can’t stay out of trouble.”

In 2018, Pulido, performing with Caballero, made a joke onstage that his accordionist “worked at Penn State,” adding that he was “just kidding.”

And in a 2019 interview in Spanish, Pulido, discussing Caballero, said that early in his career, he “went to get [Caballero] out of jail”, using a slang word for ‘jail’ similar to ‘the slammer.’ He did not specify which charge had put Caballero behind bars in this instance, nor did he say when this happened. The comments were first reported by the New York Post.

Pulido’s campaign spokesperson said his comments referred to having given Caballero a chance to perform — and that the abundance of headlines is evidence of the Democrat’s momentum. 

“Bobby Pulido did not post his bail or pick him up from jail or prison — Republicans admittedly saw Monica De La Cruz polling neck and neck with Bobby in a district they rigged for her to win, so they’re lying because they have nothing else to run on,” the spokesperson said. “This desperate smear campaign won’t distract South Texas voters from the fact Monica voted to gut their healthcare, raise their grocery bills, and drive up gas prices.”

But De La Cruz has continued to press the case that Pulido is untrustworthy.

“The only reason Bobby Pulido thought he could get away with bailing this serial pedophile out of jail and marching him into a public school is the same reason he thinks he’s entitled to a seat in Congress: he’s a silver-spooned celebrity, a creature of the corrupt establishment that got rich while the Valley got poorer,” the De La Cruz campaign said.

Pulido’s campaign has depicted the Caballero stories as hit pieces that serve as evidence that his campaign is resonating. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which includes Texas’ 15th Congressional District in its target list of flippable districts, is standing behind Pulido.

DCCC chair Suzan DelBene, a Democratic representative from Oregon, referred The Texas Tribune to Pulido’s comments on the Caballero accusations, but said she believes De La Cruz’s campaign “is scared.”

“[Pulido] has been a strong voice on important issues, like cost of living and healthcare,” DelBene said in an interview. “He’s talking about them head on, and people are hearing crickets from Monica De La Cruz. That’s why he’s in a strong position.”

Disclosure: Cine El Rey 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.

Oil prices slipped after OPEC+ announced Sunday that seven of its members plan to expand oil production by a combined total of 188,000 barrels per day in August. It was the fifth straight month that OPEC+ members have agreed to raise output.

The countries increasing their output are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

Uncertainty over supplies persists as talks with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz appear to be on hold during funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which will continue for several days.

Brent crude, the international standard, lost 40 cents to $71.72 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude fell 29 cents to $68.40 a barrel.

In early European share trading, France's CAC 40 rose 0.3% to 8,529.96, while the DAX in Germany edged 0.1% higher to 25,805.02. Britain's FTSE 100 was unchanged at 10,678.07.

The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1%.

In Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was virtually unchanged at 69,737.69. Tech giant SoftBank Group Corp. declined 3.1%, while computer chipmaker Tokyo Electron shed 1.2%.

South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.5% to 8,051.33.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 1.1% to 23,616.32. The Shanghai Composite index inched down less than 0.1% to 4,041.24.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 8,831.00.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 162.29 Japanese yen from 161.32 yen, resuming its climb despite rumors that authorities might intervene to stem the yen's decline. A year ago, the dollar was trading at 140 yen levels.

The euro cost $1.1419, down from $1.1437.

Markets in the U.S. were closed on Friday, July 3, for the Independence Day holiday. This year, July 4th fell on a Saturday.

This week will bring updates on U.S. housing, inflation and unemployment.

___

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

Chinese official media later reported a Chinese submarine had test-launched a long-range ballistic missile in the South Pacific, a move criticized by Australia.

Albanese and his Fijian counterpart, Sitiveni Rabuka, signed the Ocean of Peace Alliance in Fiji’s capital, Suva. They also signed an economic treaty, the Vuvale Union, under which Australia will invest more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($693 million) in its island neighbor over a decade.

The alliance is Fiji’s first mutual defense treaty. It is Australia’s fourth, following a treaty with the United States and New Zealand signed in 1951 and the bilateral treaty signed with Papua New Guinea last year.

“The Ocean of Peace Alliance introduces a mutual defense obligation and there’s no higher obligation than to come to each other’s aid at a time of need,” Albanese told reporters.

Rabuka did not expect a negative reaction from Beijing to the new treaties.

“I do not expect China to have any severe pushback on either government. And I believe that they will welcome the understanding that is between Australia and Fiji,” Rabuka told reporters.

“It does not threaten Fiji’s relationship with China nor Australia’s relationship with China,” he added.

The Chinese missile launched Monday was tested as part of routine training and carried a dummy warhead, according to the Xinhua News Agency. China last conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, then firing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who was in Fiji for the signing, did not comment on whether China had attempted to send a message by launching the missile on the same day as the security treaty was signed.

“I’ll leave China to speak to its intent,” Wong told reporters.

Wong said Beijing had informed her government in advance of the launch. She spoke before the launch was confirmed.

“Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region,” she said.

“Australia has been clear that this ... proposed test is in the context of a rapid military buildup by China which is lacking in the transparency and reassurance as to intent that the region expects,” she added.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that the test launch was a routine military arrangement and that it was not directed at any specific country.

“We hope that the relevant countries will avoid overinterpretation,” Mao said.

Asked about the defense pact between Australia and Fiji, she said China's cooperation with Pacific island nations has always adhered to the principles of mutual respect and equality and that it does not seek political self-interest.

“We hope relevant countries will genuinely respect the independence and autonomy of the island nations, focus on their sustainable economic and social development and refrain from targeting or harming the interests of third parties,” she said.

Australia has been attempting to shore up its role as the security partner of choice in the region since 2022 when China struck a secretive security treaty with the Solomon Islands. That deal raised fears of a Chinese naval base being built in the South Pacific.

Albanese will fly to the Solomons on Tuesday to meet with his counterpart Matthew Wale after the two nations agreed to further discussions on a security pact.

Wale said while visiting Australia last month that his new government would review the deal with Beijing.

On Wednesday, Albanese will host Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and Tongan Prime Minister Fatafehi Fakafānua in the Australian city of Brisbane.

The Australian defense treaty with Papua New Guinea, the country’s nearest neighbor, takes effect Wednesday.

Australia and Vanuatu last week signed a long-awaited bilateral security and economic treaty that prevents China creating a military base on that island nation.

Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, in the Australian capital nine months after the Vanuatuan government rejected an earlier draft. Vanuatu had feared the deal would limit its ability to attract infrastructure investment.

China expressed concern last week that the Nakamal Agreement may be targeted at Beijing.

Although there’s no contact during the Texans’ practices until training camp, the violence behind his shoulder pads is unmistakable. Montgomery is a downhill, punishing running back who thrives on running through tacklers. Although Montgomery is known for his ability to lower the boom, he’s already showing his wiggle in the open field with the Texans following an offseason trade from the Detroit Lions.

As the Texans’ new RB1 who signed a two-year, $16.5 million contract after joining a returning playoff squad, Montgomery is slated for a heavy workload that includes pass-catching duties as he works in tandem with talented backup Woody Marks.

This is a featured role for Montgomery after complementing Lions star Jahmyr Gibbs and, ultimately, leaving Detroit as his carries and touches declined annually.

“He’s a three-down back,” Texans running backs coach and assistant head coach Danny Barrett told KPRC 2. “He can do it all. It first starts with his mentality. He comes to work every day, same guy every day. How can I get better? The first meeting we had, we talked about how can we get better. He wants to be the best.

“Leave a mark on the game, but also helping the young guys develop that mindset. He’s going to finish every run. He’s going to finish every block. And it’s just that type of mentality that he’s brought to our room that’s going to carry us to the next level with the talent that we have.”

Montgomery, a 716-yard, eight-touchdown rusher on 158 carries last season for the Lions, had wanted to be traded to have an expanded role. Montgomery is a bruising, tackle-breaking 5-foot-11, 230-pounder who can run inside and outside effectively. His nickname in Detroit: “Knuckles.”

The Texans traded for Montgomery in exchange for offensive guard Juice Scruggs, a fourth-round selection and a seventh-round pick.

His reputation preceded him with Barrett. He’s been watching Montgomery for a long time, and he did his homework talking with Lions staff after the trade was finalized.

“Watching film, you study guys and hear there may be an opportunity,” Barrett said when asked to recall his reaction to the percolating trade discussions led by general manager Nick Caserio. “And I was already prepared. Once the trade went down, you quit looking at other people. You focus on the guy that’s coming in here. I was already for him when he walked into the door.

“I put in a call to his former coach: ‘Give me the game plan. Give me the Cliff notes, what I need to know.’ He said, ‘Coach, what you see on film, you already know. And the same guy on film is going to be the same guy every day at practice. Not only from his coach, but we also had a former strength and conditioning coach that left and went to join them. He called. Same deal.”

Montgomery rushed for 4.5 yards per carry last season and has averaged 4.1 yards per run for his career. The Texans’ running game ranked 22nd overall, 3.9 yards per carry, 29th in the NFL, and 31st with nine touchdown runs. They badly needed reinforcements. Montgomery provides that anchor for their running game.

The Texans plan to run the football, a lot, as coach DeMeco Ryans and other staffers have repeatedly emphasized.

“He loves football, he’s very serious, he’s a true pro,” Texans offensive coordinator Nick Caley said. “I’ve admired him for a long time, dating back to when he was at Iowa State. He’s a Cincinnati guy. He’s tough. He embodies everything we want here with our team and with our offense. I’m really, really happy that he’s a part of our team. He’s made an impact. You can feel him. He goes about his business the right way every single day. He’s been great. Really, really happy he’s been an addition to our team.”

A former Chicago Bears third-round draft pick, Montgomery has rushed for 6,115 career yards and 59 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,015 yards and 13 touchdowns his first season in Detroit in 2023 and 775 yards and 12 touchdowns two seasons ago. His career-high for rushing yards is 1,070 yards in 2020 in Chicago, his second season in the league.

Montgomery finished his Lions career with 2,506 yards and 33 touchdowns in three seasons. He had 1,015 yards, the second most of his career, in 2023.

“He’s all-day tough,” Caley said. “His body of work will speak for itself. Runs behind his pads, stays grounded. Arm tackles aren’t getting it done. He’s going to try to run through you every single chance. He can sets guys up. He understands how to set blocks and to deliver and help deliver defenders to the blocker.

“You look at his pass game production, he’s just got a really good feel. He’s refined. He takes a lot of pride in his route running. He brings a lot. That’s one of the many reasons I’m really excited about him.”

The Texans made a significant financial commitment to Montgomery that included a $6.5 million signing bonus. The revised deal has a $1.5 million base salary this year that is fully guaranteed and up to $500,000 in per game active roster bonuses. His first-year payout is up to $8.5 million.

Next year, he is due a $7.5 million salary with $2 million of it guaranteed and a total of $500,000 in per game active roster bonuses.

Montgomery, 28, was previously due a nonguaranteed $5.49 million base salary this year and $7.49 million in 2027 with void years in 2028 and 2029.

“Houston was definitely the place that I wanted to go,” Montgomery said. “I was in Detroit, a very successful organization, and I practiced against Houston a couple of times and they’ve always been the hardest team to practice against.

“So, you can tell the morale, the mentality that coach Ryans brings to the table too. You also get to look at yourself like, ‘Dang, if I ever had an opportunity, I would love to play for a guy like that.’ Look, I’m here now getting to play under a guy like that, and I want to come in and show these guys that I could hang with the big dogs.”

Montgomery played in every game last season. He caught 24 passes for 192 yards on 29 targets. He has 231 career receptions for 1,890 yards and four touchdowns.

Now that Montgomery a Texans, Lions coach Dan Campbell predicts he’ll be a hit in Houston.

“I love David Montgomery,” Campbell told KPRC 2 at the annual NFL meetings at the Arizona Biltmore. “He’s a stud. He’s unbelievable. We had a conversation and felt like this was something that was going to be good for both sides. This gave David an opportunity to be the bell-cow and we got some value back

“I love David. He’s a freaking pro, man. He is unbelievable. So, he will be missed, but I think the Houston Texans are going to be very happy with the back they just got. I think he makes them better.”

During the Texans’ road trip to Detroit for a joint practice and preseason game with the Lions last year, Marks was focused on his job during his first NFL preseason.

He still couldn’t help but notice the obvious energy, skill and intensity of the Lions’ offensive backfield.

Now, Marks is teaming up with Montgomery after a roster-shaking trade.

That former tandem is something for Marks to emulate.

“I’m very excited,” Marks told KPRC 2. “Just looking back at the clips with him and Jahmyr Gibbs, it looked like they was having so much fun out there. When the running back room doing good and everybody blocking, it’s a party in the running back room. So, we’re looking to have that same joy him and Jahmyr Gibbs had bringing it down here in Houston.

“He’s a funny guy. We’re going over plays and stuff right now. Get on the field for a short amount of time. We run plays. He wanted to change the plays to funny names. He’s a great guy. Just working out with him and then with the other backs there, we get along. We’re just clicking together.”

The arrival of Montgomery as the lead running back and primary replacement for injured former Pro Bowl selection Joe Mixon, who was released for a savings of $8 million, should allow Marks to stay fresh in a complementary role that should involve a lot of opportunities to catch passes out of the backfield.

The major thing to know, though, is that Montgomery will be a vital and frequent aspect of the offensive identity. The former Eagle Scout is expected to and already assuming a leadership role in mentoring Marks, Jawhar Jordan and British Brooks.

“David Montgomery has been an outstanding addition for us when it comes to just his approach to the game,” Ryans said. “A veteran guy who’s come in and he’s dialed in mentally, physically. He’s in really great shape, takes care of himself. I think he’s really a great addition for Woody, Jawhar British, all the young guys in the room.

“You see a guy of his caliber and what he’s been able to accomplish in the league, there’s a lot to learn from, a lot for him to share with those guys. I see that room has improved drastically by adding David to our team.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Marks eluded tacklers in tight spaces to create yards out of nothing and displayed enough power to break tackles. Although relatively underutilized compared to his college days, Marks was adept at catching passes out of the backfield. And he opened eyes as a bruising pass-blocker who took pride in knocking back blitzers with well-timed shots.

Marks emerged as the starting running back for a playoff squad, replacing former Pro Bowl runner Nick Chubb as the primary centerpiece of an up-and-down running game. Patience was a watchword for Marks, who didn’t earn the starting job over Chubb until the ninth game of the regular season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. That marked the first game of an 10-game winning streak that was snapped in the AFC divisional round against the New England Patriots.

Marks led the team with 703 rushing yards with two touchdown runs and caught 24 passes for 208 yards and three scores.

Now, Marks is adapting smoothly to a complementary role behind featured veteran running back David Montgomery after an offseason trade for the former Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears starter.

The Texans still envision a solid workload for Marks that includes third-down pass-catching duties and carries along with a new role on kickoff returns.

“I think the key for Woody is understanding his role, which he does,” running backs coach and assistant head coach Danny Barrett told KPRC 2. “He’s going to get lots of opportunities. Last year we brought him along slower, which was good to help him kind of learn the game. And once he learned the game, he played a lot faster. And you can see him now playing even faster.

“So, his role is going to pick up some third downs, special teams.He’s a kickoff return guy. But, more importantly, probably in the passing game as well. Just his level of confidence in the offense going into Year Two is at an all-time high right now. We’ve got to keep it there.

A fourth-round draft pick from USC last year, Marks rushed for a season-high 112 yards and a touchdown in an AFC playoff wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was held to 17 yards on 14 carries and lost a crucial fumble in the loss to the Patriot as the Texans’ running game was stonewalled with just 48 yards on the ground.

Marks’ adjustment to the NFL was relatively smooth overall, though.

And he’s liking his projected role for his second NFL season in the Nick Caley system.

Marks was a prolific pass-catching presence at USC and at Mississippi State before transferring.

“Nick Caley is doing a great job right now,” Marks told KPRC 2. “Got me doing all types of routes, learning the route tree. Just get outside and just using me as he can so I can be productive.”

Marks longest run in 16 games and eight starts was 23 yards with 39 first downs. He had a 50-yard catch-and-run against the Baltimore Ravens.

“I think I did decent,” Marks said. “Just next year, just try to be better, better my craft. There’s always room for improvement and just be the best version I can and be the best version of my last name.

“I just want to get better at everything. Just get smarter at the game. I really don’t have no goals. I just want to win. I want to get to the Super bowl and win the Super Bowl, so my goals come with team success.”

Rookie seasons are about adjustments. Marks made them as the season went on, learning on the fly.

“The speed was very fast at first, then it slowed down,” Marks said. “You kind of can see my main steps during the season, but I didn’t make a lot of steps in the secondary. I think I got complete hands coming out the backfield.

“It kind of separated me. Most guys didn’t think I could pass block, but I showed that a lot. Actually, made a big hit that last game against the Patriots.”

The Texans had set their ambitions on a Super Bowl run. Instead, their season ended on a cold, snowy day in Massachusetts. The Texans lost for the third year in a row in the AFC divisional round. They are now 0-7 all-time in that stage of the postseason.

“It was real hurtful to go out like that,” Marks said. “Whatever success I had, it wasn’t a success. We didn’t finish the game. We didn’t go to the Super Bowl.”

The Texans will return the majority of their starters for next season, especially from a top-ranked defense. They’ll look to upgrade the offense, including the offensive line and running game.

Marks finished his collegiate career with 3,016 rushing yards and 31 touchdown runs with 261 catches for 1,564 yards and five scores.

In spurts, Marks displayed decisiveness, vision and toughness.

During the Texans’ road trip to Detroit for a joint practice and preseason game with the Lions last year, Marks was focused on his job during his first NFL preseason.

He still couldn’t help but notice the obvious energy, skill and intensity of the Lions’ offensive backfield headlined by running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and Montgomery.

Now, Marks is teaming up with Montgomery after a roster-shaking trade as he joined the Texans in exchange for fourth-round and seventh-round draft selections and offensive guard Juice Scruggs.

The tandem that Gibbs, nicknamed ‘Sonic,’ for his dynamic running, and Montgomery, known as ‘Knuckles,’ for his punishing running style, is something for Marks to emulate.

“I’m very excited,” Marks said. “Just looking back at the clips with him and Jahmyr Gibbs, it looked like they was having so much fun out there. When the running back room doing good and everybody blocking, it’s a party in the running back room. So, we’re looking to have that same joy him and Jahmyr Gibbs had bringing it down here in Houston.

“He’s a funny guy. We’re going over plays and stuff right now. Get on the field for a short amount of time. We run plays. He wanted to change the plays to funny names. He’s a great guy. Just working out with him and then with the other backs there, we get along. We’re just clicking together.”

The arrival of Montgomery as the lead running back and primary replacement for injured former Pro Bowl selection Joe Mixon, who was released for a savings of $8 million, should allow Marks to stay fresh.

Montgomery rushed for 4.5 yards per carry last season and has averaged 4.1 yards per run for his career. The Texans’ running game ranked 22nd overall, 3.9 yards per carry, 29th in the NFL, and 31st with nine touchdown runs. They needed reinforcements. Montgomery provides that anchor for their running game.

“Love him as a back, watched him a couple times, him and Jahmyr Gibbs, see how they complement each other,” Marks said. “Having another back in the backfield is always good. There’s less I can take off of my body and there’s less he can take off his body, and we’re just ready to get to work.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com

Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were remembered as courageous public servants who left a lasting impact on the communities where they worked.

“They showed up to make order out of chaos day after day with purpose, dedication and heart,” U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said during a memorial service in Grand Junction, Colorado, near where the firefighters died while battling flames on the Colorado-Utah border.

While that fire is now almost entirely contained, nearly 40 large fires are still going strong across the West. Most of the current fires are scattered around Colorado, Utah and New Mexico while there are wildfires in eight other states — from Alaska to Arizona.

Over the holiday weekend, more evacuations in Colorado were ordered across four counties where the Aspen Acres fire had burned about 136 square miles (352 square kilometers) south of Colorado Springs.

The fire had damaged or destroyed more than 200 structures as of Sunday, authorities said. National Guard soldiers were sent in Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads near the fire zone.

Months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some places along with erratic winds have been fueling the fires.

The three firefighters killed on June 27 in western Colorado were members of a Helitack crew that sometimes drops into remote areas by helicopters.

Barker, Hutcherson and Watson and two others who sustained burn injuries were overcome by flames from fast-moving fires in Mesa County. They had deployed emergency protective shelters, which are considered a “last resort” for firefighters when there is no other way out.

Fennessy, the Wildland Fire Service chief, said Sunday that “the weight of this tragedy is felt way beyond our wildland fire community.”

Photos of the firefighters were set up on the stage at the memorial service alongside flowers and flags.

They worked jobs that require courage, selflessness, strength and heart, said Sarah Fisher, the U.S. Forest Service's deputy chief for fire and aviation management.

“The work demands long days, heavy burdens and quiet acts of bravery,” she said. “We will remember them, we will honor their legacy and we will carry their light forward.”

Emily Barker

Barker, 38, had so much spirit, and the people around her always strived to be a better person by her presence, said Sarah Brubeck Schnurbusch, a friend and former roommate.

Barker was from Clinton Township, Michigan, and liked hiking, skiing, dirt biking and playing hockey. She loved firefighting.

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go to work,” Brubeck Schnurbusch said. She added that her friend helped pave the way for many women in the industry.

Barker was a trailblazer, first working as a teacher “shaping young lives,” Fennessy said.

“She didn't just live in wild places, she helped to shape them, care for them and make them better,” he said.

Nick Hutcherson

Hutcherson, 27, served in the U.S. Navy and had plans to become a physical therapy doctor, according to the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona where he was assigned. He was also an active member of the Northern Arizona Deaf and American Sign Language community.

Hutcherson, who was from Glendale, Arizona, “embodied the spirit of public service” Fennessy said.

He was a dedicated practitioner of Muay Thai martial arts who trained in Flagstaff.

His favorite saying was “easy day,” Fennessy said, “because Nick had an uncommon ability to face hard things with optimism, humility and a smile.”

Sydney Watson

Watson, 27, was from Warrior, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee Southern, where she was a pitcher on the softball team, the university said.

In 2023, she participated in a program in North Carolina organized by the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges, the group said. In her application, she said she wanted to see more women on the fire line and to learn from other women in the field, the university said.

“From the time she was very young, she knew she wanted to be a firefighter someday,” Fennessy said.

“I have no doubt she inspired many young women to become a firefighter,” he said.

In the same stadium where England fell victim to Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal in the 1986 World Cup against Argentina, it was the foot of Kane that gave the nation redemption 40 years later.

“I am just proud of the mentality and the attitude ... round of 16 it is a moment in tournaments when you find a way to win and we did it with pure mentality and heart,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said. “We overcame every obstacle that was thrown our way.”

Bellingham scored two goals 98 seconds apart in the first half. And six minutes after Jarell Quansah was sent off, Kane converted a penalty to restore England's two-goal lead.

England moves on to face Norway on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida, for a spot in the semifinals.

“It was a crazy game. We had to fight,” Kane said, his voice hoarse. “I can't really talk, but the occasion, the team, everything against us, we found a way.”

Bellingham stunned the crowd of 80,824 at a venue where Mexico was unbeaten in 10 World Cup matches, including three this tournament, when he scored on a header in the 36th minute and again in the 38th on a pass from Kane.

“We’ve done something incredible tonight, no doubt about it, and we’ll enjoy it. And we’ll sing songs until we lose our voices on the plane and whatnot, but we’ll have a couple of days recovering, then it’s straight back to business in terms of facing Norway,” Bellingham said.

Julián Quiñones scored for El Tri in the 42nd minute, and the game appeared to turn in Mexico’s favor when Quansah was shown a red card in the 54th for a dangerous foul on Jesús Gallardo.

But England was awarded a penalty for a challenge by Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, and Kane converted for his sixth goal of this tournament and 14th of his World Cup career, matching Gerd Müller of West Germany for fifth on the scoring list. Kane sits one behind Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland in the Golden Boot race.

Kane then committed a foul that made him the first player since at least 1966 to score and concede a penalty in a World Cup game. Raúl Jiménez converted the kick with a stutter-step approach to move El Tri within 3-2.

“Forty, 50 minutes with 10 men — even on sea level it’s almost impossible to overcome but we did it. We did it in altitude,” Tuchel said. “They’re almost too exhausted to celebrate. It’s just beautiful that players on that kind of level just give everything for the win and for the country and for that shirt.”

Mexico attacked relentlessly over the final 21 minutes, plus 11 minutes of stoppage time, but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and England's defenders held steady.

“This is probably one of the biggest England wins in a while, probably the biggest one I can remember as a fan or player,” Bellingham said. “The best night of my England career.”

Midfielder Jordan Henderson was taken to a hospital after the match with a wrist injury, Tuchel said. He was hurt when he tumbled over an advertising board during the postgame celebration.

“I have mixed feelings; I am sad because Jordan injured his wrist and it is quite serious. It just does not fit with the evening that Jordan is not with us,” Tuchel added. “I do not know the procedure; the doctor told me that he is in the hospital.”

Mexico has not reached the World Cup quarterfinals since hosting in 1986. Since then, it has lost in the round of 16 eight times, failed to advance past the group stage in 2022 and was disqualified from the 1990 tournament.

“Dreaming and falling like this hurts a lot, but the players should leave with their heads held high,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said. “They left everything on the pitch, but today it just wasn’t meant to be. The fans had high hopes, and we couldn’t get the job done and give them another night of joy.”

It was Mexico’s third competitive loss at Azteca, which opened in 1966, after a pair of 2-1 defeats in World Cup qualifiers, to Costa Rica in 2001 and to Honduras in 2013.

The stadium sits 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level and England's travel schedule gave it no opportunity to get used to the altitude. Mexico's passionate fans blasted horns outside the England hotel to disrupt players' sleep, and the start of the match was delayed an hour because of a thunderstorm.

No matter. England is on to the quarterfinals as it seeks its first title since 1966, and its outnumbered fans continued to serenade the victorious Three Lions with Oasis' “Wonderwall.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Authorities urged residents in parts of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, to remain indoors and shut their windows and doors due to toxic smoke from a burning recycling plant that was engulfed by a wildfire.

Another major wildfire broke out Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens. The fire department said 210 firefighters, backed up by volunteers, specialized teams and 29 aircraft, including water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed to battle the blaze burning through pine forest in the Mandra area. Authorities were racing to contain the blaze before nightfall, when aircraft can no longer perform firefighting operations.

In central Portugal’s Vouzela area, more than 1,200 firefighters backed up by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft tried to put out a blaze that broke out Thursday, according to the Civil Protection authority. The wildfire had burned across an area of 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) by Sunday, information from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite mapping agency showed.

The EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid said that Spain sent 120 firefighters and 45 vehicles as reinforcements to Portugal on Friday, while three firefighting aircraft from Italy and Spain were also dispatched to help.

By Sunday afternoon, the fire appeared to be abating somewhat, with Portuguese media quoting officials as saying it no longer had major active fronts but that some hot spots remained.

In Spain, a wildfire burning since Friday in the northeastern Girona region had burned nearly 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres), the EFE news agency said. Catalan Fire Service head of operations Eduard Martinez said the blaze had a perimeter of 40 kilometers (25 miles) and firefighters may not be able to bring it under control on Sunday, EFE said.

Toxic smoke from wildfire in northern Greece

On the other side of southern Europe, in Greece, a fast-moving blaze at a recycling plant broke out Saturday evening near the Oraiokastro suburb of Thessaloniki, triggering evacuation alerts for three suburbs and a facility housing 157 people with disabilities.

Strong winds fanned the flames, and around 160 firefighters were deployed to battle the flames through the night until water-dropping aircraft could take off at dawn, the fire department said.

Oraiokastro Mayor Pandelis Tsakiris said on Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that several businesses and homes were damaged but a clearer picture would emerge after authorities conduct a full evaluation.

A 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of having started the blaze through negligence by generating sparks with his vehicle that set vegetation near the road alight, the fire department said. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Sunday.

The fire came days after another wildfire in a nearby area killed a 12-year-old boy and his father.

Most fires in Greece caused by negligence, fire department says

Fire department spokesman Brig. Ioannis Artopoios, speaking on ERT TV on Sunday, said that about 85% of wildfires in Greece were caused by negligence, including through sparks generated through the use of agriculture machinery, discarded cigarettes and the use of outdoor barbecues. “This means most of them could have been avoided,” he said.

Greece suffers frequent, often devastating, wildfires during its hot, dry summers. In 2018, a blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023, which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece, was the largest wildfire recorded in the EU.

The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating an array of four satellites, launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.

So far this summer, Greece has been spared the heatwaves that have scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks. But it has still seen dozens of blazes across the country, both on the mainland and the country's islands.

Balogun, the American leader with three goals in the tournament, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.

FIFA announced Sunday that the suspension had been lifted for the round of 16 match, an extraordinary move that triggered praise from Trump and outrage from Belgium’s team. It appeared to be the first time since 1962 that a red card during a World Cup didn't result in a suspension.

Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game asking FIFA review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a statement on social media.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished,” and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA’s action.

“I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the fifth of July was the first of April in Europe,” Garcia said through a translator in an April Fools' Day comparison. “The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not protect the national team. She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics. I think it’s the first time in the history of the World Cup that there is this kind of decision.”

Garcia wouldn’t respond when asked about a possible appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or whether he thought Trump impacted FIFA’s action.

“In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options,” the Belgian federation said in a statement.

American players learned of Balogun’s availability when social media posts started popping up during the 10-minute bus ride Sunday morning from their hotel to training at the University of Washington’s Husky Soccer Stadium, where they were greeted by Dubs II, the university's Alaskan Malamute.

Balogun’s red card had been one of the World Cup's most controversial and consequential decisions. Brazilian referee Raphael Claus didn’t initially signal a card but showed Balogun red after a video review.

“If you look at the foul, it was just zero intent at all,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said. “I felt like there was much worse ones that went on this tournament.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation learned of FIFA's action in a message sent by FIFA in its portal at 10:31 a.m. EDT.

“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA announced. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino applauded FIFA's move.

“We were punished enough against Bosnia-Herzegovina to play with 10 men (for) 30 minutes in a decision that was completely unfair,” he said.

Pochettino, who played for Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, was not surprised Trump decided to call Infantino.

“I came from a culture, Argentina or Europe, that football, soccer is a religion, more than the religion,” he said. “If we go keep going, pushing on, maybe one step more tomorrow you will see that the sport is magic, that the sport is amazing, is so powerful, unite people, unite a country like us.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel wondered whether more decisions going forward could be challenged, whether yellow cards could be overturned for England's Declan Rice and France's Michael Olise.

“We can now debate endlessly: I think it’s not a yellow card,” he said. “Where does this end? Where does it stop?”

Balogun’s three goals included a go-ahead strike against Bosnia. He matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

A 25-year-old who plays for Monaco, Balogun scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season and has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London and in 2023 opted to change his national team affiliation from England, which he had represented at the under-21 level.

“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” Richards said.

The host U.S. is seeking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. The Americans lost in the round of 16 to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t qualify for the 2018 tournament.

The USSF didn't make Balogun available for comment Sunday, but Balogun posted on social media a picture of himself in front of U.S. fans and overlaid with music of Michael Jackson’s pop single “Bad.”

On Friday, Balogun said he thought a yellow card instead of red “would have been fair.”

FIFA said its decision relied on Article 27 of disciplinary committee rules.

“The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure,” the rule states. “By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.”

FIFA in November deferred the final two games of a three-match ban for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, allowing him to play at the start of the World Cup.

Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi and Ecuadoran midfielder Moisés Caicedo in April had one-game bans deferred for red cards in qualifiers, also allowing them to be available for World Cup openers.

Brazilian midfielder Garrincha received a red card in the 83rd minute of the 1962 semifinal against host Chile for kicking an opponent but was allowed to play in the final against Czechoslovakia after a lobbying campaign that included support from Chile President Jorge Alessandri. Brazil won the final for its second straight title.

“What about the next red card? What happens then?” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away? It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”

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Price reported from Washington, D.C.

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta and AP Sports Writers Andrew Destin in Seattle, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Stephen Whyno in East Rutherford, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The location in Alexandria, Louisiana, would remove logistical headaches caused by wrangling children from foster homes and shelters across the country and not having anywhere to put them during final preparations for flight. Those obstacles were apparent last year when Guatemalan children were awoken at night and given almost no time to get to Harlingen, Texas, where they waited on an airport tarmac for hours.

A federal judge prevented their deportation, but the chaotic episode illustrated the challenges authorities face because they don't have anywhere to put families and children near the airport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is calling the Alexandria facility a “staging area,” not a detention center, and says people would only be there a few days at most.

However, several immigration advocates expressed concern that children could be held at the new facility for weeks or months, which happened at other federal immigration holding sites. These advocates are also concerned about oversight, and say the facility represents a departure from how the government manages those children.

“It’s an expansion of the deportation system in ways we haven’t seen before,” said Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at the nonprofit Children’s Rights. “There’s just so much that could go wrong with this facility.”

ICE has tapped a private prison company to run the deportation facility

Unaccompanied children who are in the U.S. without parents or close relatives are not taken to facilities overseen by ICE. Instead, the law says they must be swiftly placed in the care of state-licensed shelters and foster care programs.

Those are run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. However, that agency isn't involved in the Alexandria facility’s operation, according to a spokesperson at the airfield where it's being built.

Instead, the facility would be run by a nonprofit arm of LaSalle Corrections, a private prison contractor, according to Ralph Hennessy, executive director of the England Airpark Authority. He said it could be operational as early as August.

ICE officials signed a contract late last month to build the facility at the former military base near Alexandria International Airport, roughly 175 miles (280 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans, Hennessy said.

It would operate as a 72-hour holding center for migrants awaiting deportation, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Compass Connections, a Texas-based nonprofit that runs shelters for unaccompanied immigrant children, had originally been tapped to help operate the facility and laid out plans during a public presentation in February.

But the company’s president, Sonya Thompson, told the AP last week that it was no longer involved. She did not elaborate.

Officials have said the facility is for ‘self-deporting’ families

In public board meetings, airpark officials said the facility is a “humanitarian effort” for families that are “self-deporting.” Immigration advocates say families and unaccompanied children sometimes make that decision under pressure or because they don't understand their options.

“These are people that are volunteering to go back home and they’re going back home as a family unit,” Hennessy told the AP.

The facility would sit next to the nation's largest hub for deportations. More than 4,400 immigration enforcement flights came into and out of the Alexandria International Airport in 2025, according to data from the ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First. ICE planning documents say families and children at the facility “are in the legal custody of ICE and can only be released at the direction of ICE.”

The agency has instructed contractors that families at the facility cannot be referred to as prisoners, detainees or inmates, records show. The agency ordered contractors to not use bars or cages when transporting families and unaccompanied children. The facility will not be required to engage in headcounts and should allow families to “wear their own clothes,” the agency added.

The private prison company runs other ICE detention centers

Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections runs a range of private prisons and federal immigration detention centers throughout the South, including the “Louisiana Lockup” inside the state’s maximum-security prison in Angola.

The official contractor for the new ICE holding facility will be the company's nonprofit arm, the LaSalle Family Foundation. According to its tax records, the nonprofit provides chaplain services and educational programming in correctional facilities.

However, LaSalle Corrections itself will be involved in operating the holding facility and ensuring compliance, the company’s chief financial officer, Tim Kurpiewski, wrote in an email reviewed by the AP.

LaSalle spokesperson Scott Sutterfield declined to comment.

The deaths of two detainees have been reported since April at a LaSalle-run ICE facility in the state.

Winn Correctional Center was also found in June to have violated standards governing environmental health and safety, food service, use-of-force, medical care and other subjects, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

This week when he meets leaders in Turkey, his mission is to enforce that pledge.

The speed with which most NATO countries have tried to heed Trump’s call to spend 5% of their annual gross domestic product on defense over the next decade underscores how the U.S. president has reshaped the alliance and bent it to his will — even as he continues to spar with its members over the Iran war, his flirtation with annexing Greenland, and various personal tiffs.

“President Trump fully expects that all allies will step up immediately and get on the path to 5% and do it with urgency,” Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, told reporters in a preview of the administration’s message before this week’s summit in Ankara.

Trump leaves Monday evening for the summit, and for days leading up to the trip has been airing grievances about how much the U.S. spends on defense compared with other countries. That’s despite efforts from Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary-general, who tried to feed the ego of the tempestuous U.S. leader in an Oval Office meeting last month. There, he displayed large charts on easels showing what he called “ The Trump Trillion ” — how much allies had boosted their spending commitments since 2017.

Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think thank in Washington, described the Ankara gathering as the “first report card” after last year’s summit in The Hague.

“If NATO members play their cards right — if the leaders show up demonstrating a commitment and a reasonable plan to meet these spending targets — then it’ll allow President Trump to take a victory lap,” Coffey said.

Trump will meet with Ukraine's Zelenskyy

Trump left last month’s G7 summit in France buoyed by support from his counterparts for his interim agreement to end the war with Iran. He praised unity among leaders — who also worked to bring Trump onside to boost security assistance for Ukraine in its fight with Russia.

That war, now in its fifth year, is expected to be a key focus at the Ankara summit. The White House said Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Trump spoke with both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 4.

Trump also plans to meet on the sidelines of the summit with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The White House has not provided goals for that discussion, but it comes as Trump has publicly mused about Syria playing a bigger role fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al-Sharaa, who led an Islamic insurgent group and whose rebel forces ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad, has said he has no interest in doing so.

The U.S. president also plans a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the host of the summit whom Trump counts as a close friend.

But he has no bilateral meetings planned with other leaders. Despite the positive tone of the G7 summit, Trump resurrected feuds as soon as he returned stateside.

He proclaimed that Keir Starmer would resign as British prime minister before the embattled leader made it official, arguing that Starmer “failed badly” on immigration and energy. Meanwhile, Trump asserted that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had begged him for a photo, prompting a ferocious denial by her and the cancellation of a U.S. visit by the country’s foreign minister.

Despite the fallout, Trump egged it on further on Sunday when he posted a photo on social media of Meloni smiling at him, along with the words “RESTRAINING ORDER NEEDED.”

Trump has remained on tense terms with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and while French President Emmanuel Macron charmed Trump with a lavish dinner at the Palace of Versailles last month, it hasn’t always been smooth between the two leaders.

Aware of those tensions, a bipartisan group of senators is again headed to the summit this year, trying to represent the broad support for the alliance on Capitol Hill and to serve as a counterweight to Trump’s often caustic attitude toward NATO.

“They are our best allies, they are our best trading partners, they are critical to our national security, to our economic success, and we need to encourage those relationships,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who is leading the delegation to Ankara. “That’s part of what Congress understands that the administration doesn’t seem to.”

Trump’s team is making the case for more NATO changes

The summit comes as Trump’s administration makes the case for what it calls “NATO 3.0,” which envisions an alliance that has Europe taking on more of its security needs, allowing the U.S. to shift its focus elsewhere.

The strategy was outlined by Elbridge Colby, a U.S. undersecretary of defense, earlier this year at a gathering of NATO defense ministers.

Then, in a scathing speech to other NATO defense ministers last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added to the pressure by announcing that the U.S. will conduct a six-month review of its forces in Europe. This surprised countries in the alliance that had anticipated coordinating with the Trump administration through the transition.

Trump himself sparked much confusion earlier this year when he seemed to send conflicting signals on the issue, announcing that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of the continent.

Shaheen said the NATO 3.0 concept “fails to understand -- as this administration has consistently failed to understand -- the threat that Putin and Russia are to Europe and subsequently to the United States.”

Europe is boosting spending, but still counts on the U.S.

The U.S. president last year was the driving factor in a broad target reached in The Hague for NATO countries to spend 5% of their GDP on defense over the next decade.

Of that, 3.5% would be for core defense spending and the rest would be related expenses, such as infrastructure. Spain said at the time that it couldn’t meet those levels, and some others have voiced reservations about the ambitious goal.

Despite the increased pledges and spending, experts say many parts of the continent are nonetheless reliant on the U.S. for their defense should they come under attack. The defining feature of the NATO alliance is the view that an armed attack on one member is an attack on all.

“This is the reality for most Europeans,” said Liana Fix, senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. She said most are far from being able to defend themselves without the United States, “even if they’re starting to develop all that.”

Apart from the spending pledge, NATO has worked to accommodate Trump in other ways.

The alliance earlier this year introduced “Arctic Sentry,” a NATO-led military exercise aimed at countering Russian and Chinese activities in the region. It’s also meant to address Trump’s repeated threats to seize Greenland, since the Republican president has insisted the U.S. needs to acquire the semiautonomous territory of Denmark for strategic security reasons.

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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in Washington and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

Small purchased some on a return trip to the U.K., and he promised to share if Briscoe won on the crew chief's birthday. That made Sunday night's victory pretty sweet.

Briscoe held off Christopher Bell in NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway, racing to his first Cup Series win of the season. And Small delivered the chocolates to Briscoe moments after it was over.

“They were pretty dang good,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe was followed closely by Bell in the final laps on the 1.5-mile oval about 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. But Bell was unable to run down his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.

The 31-year-old Briscoe, an Indiana native, celebrated his sixth career win with a burnout before standing on his car and waving to the sellout crowd.

“This has been a place that I've always loved coming to, back when we used to, and I've missed it,” Briscoe said. “It's always been one of my top-five tracks.”

It was Bell’s fourth runner-up finish this season. He was wearing a splint on his arm as he continues his recovery after breaking his left wrist in a crash at Michigan on June 7.

“I think he’s handled that as well as you can handle it,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “He’s got a burning desire to stay in there and win. I think he had, you know — he had a real good car tonight, too.”

Denny Hamlin, who started on the pole, was third. William Byron, who won two stages while leading a race-high 94 laps, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.

“I thought I was in control early on, even though I wasn’t leading,” Hamlin said. “I felt in control and probably got a little lazy on some restarts and things like that. Just taking for granted that I’ll just go up there and get it.”

NASCAR ran 19 Cup races in Joliet before pulling out after the 2019 season. It tried to build interest in the event in a crowded sports market, but the race struggled with attendance.

After racing on a street course in downtown Chicago each of the previous three years, NASCAR decided to go back to Chicagoland — eager to see how the Next Gen cars would do on the rough and bumpy asphalt at the facility. Rain on Friday and Saturday caused some parking issues, but the racing was compelling.

Led by Briscoe, Bell and Hamlin, Toyota accounted for seven of the top 10 cars for the first time in a Cup Series race — continuing a strong season for the manufacturer.

“Yeah, Toyotas are fast,” Bell said.

Driving a “Space Jam”-themed car in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Looney Tunes movie, Bubba Wallace was sixth in his No. 23 Toyota Camry. Wallace is part of the 23XI Racing team that is co-owned by Michael Jordan, one of the stars of the 1996 movie.

Ryan Blaney was seventh in his seventh consecutive top-10 finish. Ty Gibbs, Corey Heim and Riley Herbst completed the top 10.

Tyler Reddick’s championship hopes were damaged by an oil leak with about 32 laps left in Stage 2. There was a long caution while Reddick’s 23XI Racing crew worked on his No. 45 Toyota in the garage, replacing the radiator because of a hole.

Reddick, who won the first three races of the season, finished 36th. He trails Hamlin by 44 points at the top of Cup standings after he was down by one going into the weekend.

Kyle Larson also had a rough day after qualifying second behind Hamlin. He was in third place when he spun out of Turn 4 on Lap 93. He drove his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the wet infield grass and had to be pulled out of the mud.

Larson finished 34th, extending his winless drought to 43 races. He finished second in each of the previous two Cup races at Chicagoland.

Updating the In-Season Challenge

Briscoe, Bell, Hamlin and Blaney were among the winners in the second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge. Byron, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland and Alex Bowman also moved on.

The winner of the five-race, bracket-style tournament receives $1 million.

Briscoe eliminated Ty Gibbs, who won the inaugural competition last year. Byron defeated Larson, his teammate with Hendrick Motorsports.

Up next

The Cup Series is at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, next weekend. Reddick won the February stop at the track.

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

Heading in the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute and scoring again before the end of regulation time, Haaland put Norway on his back and carried it into the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a 2-1 defeat of Brazil on Sunday that showcased the towering striker on soccer’s biggest stage.

“Maybe this will write history in Norway,” Haaland said. “Everyone just need to enjoy themselves. This is just an insane day. It’s one of the most insane days in Norwegian history. Just enjoy it, embrace it and enjoy the moment.”

After being a nonfactor for much of the afternoon and having limited touches, Haaland spoke at the second-half hydration break with coach Ståle Solbakken, who told him to drain his energy and go for it.

Haaland turned it on when it mattered most, getting the right side of his head on the ball after a perfect setup by Andreas Schjelderup, who entered at halftime. Haaland scored a little over minutes later for his seventh of the tournament, through Danilo's legs to tie Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé of France in the race for the Golden Boot.

“It felt it was a gift from God that it actually went into the net,” Haaland said after scoring in a 14th consecutive competitive match internationally. He has 27 in that stretch and 62 in 54 with Norway.

At the other end, goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland was stellar. He made a crucial stop early, diving to his left to deny Bruno Guimarães’ penalty kick in the 14th minute, then got his left hand on a shot by Endrick late when Norway was hanging on to a one-goal lead.

The only goal Nyland allowed was to Neymar on a penalty kick late in stoppage time, which changed just the final score. Neymar, who is 34, said this was his final game playing for Brazil's national team.

Nyland, who at 35 is his team’s oldest player, was a huge factor in a historic victory that ranks among the most significant in the country’s history — at least on the men’s side. Norway’s women’s team won the World Cup in 1995, but the men have only qualified four times and not since 1998. They had not gone further than the round of 16.

“I think that all Norwegian citizens are experiencing the night of a lifetime,” Solbakken said. “Some people say that we have changed Norway forever. Probably, they will party for a week or so.”

Norway next faces England on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Solbakken said he had more than a dozen friends already book travel to South Florida.

Guimarães became the first Brazil player not to score on a World Cup penalty kick since Zico in 1986. The decision to have him take it instead of star Vinícius Júnior brought immediate second-guessing and may be questioned and criticized for quite some time.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti said he and his staff did a yearlong statistical study that determined, with Neymar not on the field and Raphinha injured, Guimarães was the right choice.

There were plenty of other missed opportunities, including Casemiro missing Neymar on a crossing attempt on what could have been the tying goal.

“We really fell short in the opportunities that we did create,” captain Marquinhos said. “We had a penalty kick, we had some other chances as well, but here’s the World Cup for you. Those that make the least mistakes are able to move forward to the next round, and to be victorious.”

Brazil goes home having massively underachieved expectations set pretty much at win or bust for the five-time World Cup champions. The global powerhouse had its streak of quarterfinal appearances at the tournament end at eight, losing before that stage for the first time since 1990.

It was Brazil’s seventh consecutive loss to European opponents in the knockout round at the World Cup, dating to beating Germany in the 2002 final. The absence of injured midfielder Lucas Paquetá did not help.

Norway got defender Julian Ryerson back from his injury that sidelined him the past two games, and Solbakken was rewarded for making changes at halftime by Schjelderup setting up each of Haaland’s goals.

“During the game, you have to take the calls decisions that you feel are appropriate,” Solbakken said. “It’s a gut feeling that Oscar (Bobb) and Andreas might make a difference, and I felt more secure with them on the pitch the way I wanted us to play the second half, and then you saw what happened.”

Those moves played a role in the upset, though this one was not nearly as massive as the group stage in 1998. Norway showed how much it had evolved as a soccer nation since then, with knocking off Brazil the latest step in that process.

Yellow-clad Seleção fans outnumbered those in Norway red, many of whom did the now-famous Viking Row in the stands — with Brazil supporters even cheering it before kickoff. Brazil's fans were stunned silent when it returned after the game, with Haaland banging the drum and leading the celebration.

“I’ve peaked a couple of times during this tournament, but this was a new peak,” Haaland said.

Also in the sellout crowd of 80,663 were rapper Jay-Z, comedian Chris Rock, actor Woody Harrelson, actress Sofía Vergara and basketball player Jalen Brunson of the NBA champion New York Knicks, who elicited a healthy roar when he was shown on video screens.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Deputies responded around 6 p.m. to the 900 block of Spring Lakes Haven after a caller reported an adult and child had drowned.

When deputies arrived, firefighters and EMS crews were performing life-saving measures on the elderly woman near the pond. A short time later, first responders found the 2-year-old child in the water, pulled him to shore and began CPR, officials said.

Both were taken to area hospitals with CPR in progress. They were later pronounced dead.

Investigators said the child’s mother had brought him to visit the 74-year-old relative who lived in the neighborhood. At some point, officials said, the child became bored, and the relative told the mother she was going to take him to a neighborhood park.

After some time passed and the mother had not heard from them, she became concerned and went looking for them.

Officials said the mother walked up to the pond and saw EMS performing CPR on her relative. Moments later, her child was pulled from the water.

“She is naturally very distraught,” Major Ben Katrib with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. “Our approach is trauma-informed, so we need to allow her the time before we interview her.”

Katrib said the information is preliminary and the investigation is still in its early stages. Investigators are canvassing the neighborhood for surveillance cameras and speaking with witnesses who may have seen what happened.

The sheriff’s office said the child’s mother indicated the toddler may have been autistic.

A neighbor, Agha Hussain, said the neighborhood is typically quiet and he was shocked to learn what happened.

“It’s a very heartbreaking thing,” Hussain said. “Never happened before over here.”

Hussain said he often walks near the pond and believes more safety measures may be needed.

“They should have some kind of safety for the children,” Hussain said.

Katrib also urged families to be especially careful around water during the summer months.

“Anything can happen in the blink of an eye,” Katrib said. “Children should be supervised at all times.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line at 713-221-6000 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS.

The eye of the storm passed over the island of Rota Monday morning local time, bringing winds of more than 150 mph (241 kph), according to the National Weather Service. It was traveling at around 9 mph (14 kph) west toward the Philippines, the weather service said.

“Hang tight,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brandon Aydlett said. “We're coming just out of the peak of conditions. It's going to be a slow improvement, but improvement is coming.”

The storm impacted other parts of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, as well as Guam. The area was still recovering from another destructive cyclone that struck in April.

On the island of Saipan, the international airport recorded wind gusts of more than 100 mph (161 kph), the weather service said. Many people living in Saipan and nearby Tinian had been without power since the Super Typhoon Sinlaku, the agency said.

Bavi was a Category 5 super typhoon with winds that could reach 180 mph (290 kph) per hour and gusts of 215 mph (346 kph) per hour, said weather service meteorologist Edwin Montvila.

In addition to Rota, typhoon and flash flood warnings were in effect for Guam, Tinian and Saipan, while tropical storm warnings and watches were in place for other islands in the area. The weather service said the storm could bring a total of at least 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain by the time it passes through the region.

A cyclone becomes a super typhoon when it has maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or stronger. That’s equivalent to a high-end Category 4 or a Category 5 storm.

Bavi posed an “imminent danger to life,” Montvila said, with the weather service telling residents across the islands to move to interior rooms and stay away from windows.

“Entering outside can result in death from flying projectiles. Utility poles and associated power lines will be down,” Montvila said.

Bavi passed through the region at a faster pace than Sinlaku, the weather service said. But because of the size of the storm, the islands could still face tropical storm conditions, including torrential rains, through at least Monday night.

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero urged people to stay home or at a shelter.

“Here we are experiencing another severe force of winds on our island, but as we know, we are always ready and prepared in our planning and our protection of our people,” she said in a video posted on social media Sunday.

The Rev. Francis Hezel, a priest at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo, Guam, heard winds howling outside his house for hours since waking up before dawn. He said he hoped the typhoon wouldn't cause widespread damage on the island because most residents live in concrete homes.

“By this time, people are used to typhoons,” he said. “They know what they have to do to prepare for them.”

And still, McCullough pulled the plug.

Pérez was removed after retiring all 21 batters he faced, a move that almost blew up on the Marlins when they nearly squandered an eight-run lead in a 9-8 victory over the Athletics.

“I totally get it,” McCullough said. “There was a part of my heartstrings pulling at his opportunity to keep on going, but I have to think about Eury and our organization, our team and what’s best moving forward to give us a chance to continue to win games.”

Making his third start since returning from the injured list, Pérez was lifted after throwing 92 pitches over seven perfect innings.

“Going into this game, 90-plus was the pitch count but … us looking to play beyond the regular season, Eury’s going to be an important part of that," McCullough said. "He had it really going today.”

Heriberto Hernández homered twice for the surprising Marlins (49-42), who have won nine of 12 overall after completing a three-game sweep. Leo Jiménez and All-Star shortstop Otto Lopez also went deep.

A crowd full of A’s fans booed when McCullough replaced Pérez with reliever Lake Bachar to begin the eighth.

Bachar issued a leadoff walk to Lawrence Butler, the first baserunner for the A’s. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer then dunked a pop-fly single into shallow right field for their first hit.

Carlos Cortes followed with an RBI double, Max Muncy walked and Jonah Heim launched a grand slam that shaved Miami’s lead to 8-5.

Brian Serven singled to chase Bachar, who didn’t retire any of the six batters he faced. Michael Petersen got through the eighth without any more damage, and Miami tacked on an insurance run in the ninth. That proved critical when Pete Fairbanks gave up three runs, two earned, in the bottom half before finally closing it out.

After all that, Pérez defended his manager for making the change.

"It’s something that doesn’t feel good,” Pérez said. “But they don’t know the inside information. We had a plan of 90 pitches. I’m very proud of my team and very proud of my manager. Mostly the communication that we have.”

The 23-year-old Pérez, who has never tossed a complete game in his major league career, struck out eight before giving way to the bullpen.

“I’m a fan of baseball, too, and I know there’s a history of this game,” McCullough said. “It wasn't lost on me.”

The 92 pitches were the most Pérez has thrown since returning from the injured list June 24. He had been sidelined since late May because of a bizarre leg injury sustained while he was stretching in the dugout.

Pérez was initially expected to miss about two months with a high-grade strain of his right gracilis — a long, thin muscle on the inside of the thigh. He exited a May 27 outing in Toronto after throwing four shutout innings because his right hamstring spasmed while he was doing lateral lunges on the bench to limber up for the fifth. He was in such pain he needed assistance from a teammate to descend the steps into the clubhouse.

The 6-foot-8 Pérez was facing the A’s for the first time since his rookie season of 2023. He induced seven groundouts and six flyouts, one of which made it to the warning track. The right-hander improved to 5-6 with a 3.84 ERA in 15 starts this year.

“Really used his whole arsenal,” McCullough said. “This is a version of Eury we’ve seen trending.”

There have been 24 perfect games in big league history — each authored by a single pitcher. Domingo Germán threw the most recent one, for the New York Yankees against the A’s on July 28, 2023.

The Marlins have not had a perfect game in their 33-year history.

Armed with a 98-99 mph fastball, Pérez was rated one of baseball’s top prospects before making his major league debut at age 20 in May 2023.

He sat out the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery with an internal brace, and returned to Miami’s rotation in June 2025. He entered Sunday with a 16-18 record and 3.85 ERA in 53 major league starts.

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

The Guard members are part of a federal task force in Memphis created by President Donald Trump, who last year sent troops and federal agents to Democrat-run cities that he described as overrun with crime. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, had deployed the Guard to support the effort.

Authorities said the soldiers in Memphis were responding with local police to reports of gunshots around 4 a.m. when they began pursuing an armed man fleeing on foot. The guardsmen opened fire after the man turned toward them with his weapon, according to the city's police department.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the man as Tyrin Johnson, 20, and said it is investigating the circumstances of the shooting. No law enforcement officers were injured, the agency added.

Johnson died at the scene after two National Guard medical specialists attempted first aid, Guard spokesperson Lt. Col Darrin Haas said in a statement.

Johnson’s older cousin, Terracle Nelson, 46, said authorities told family members that he had been shot twice in the chest. Authorities on Sunday did not immediately respond to questions about the number of shots fired and TBI declined to comment on Nelson's account of the shooting.

Evaniel Johnson said his grandson had taken classes at Tennessee State University, was the father of a young child and was preparing to help lead the family construction business. He said his grandson was also passionate about making music.

He said he wanted to review findings from investigators and any video of the shooting before making judgment.

“I believed in him, and I know he still had so much life ahead of him,” Johnson said. “The heartbreaking reality is that he will never have the chance to enjoy what we were building together. That is a pain no grandparent should ever have to endure.”

Mayor Paul Young called the shooting an “unfortunate incident” and said he was waiting to see the results of the TBI investigation before commenting further, according to a statement provided by spokesperson Penelope Huston.

A search of online records in federal and state courts Sunday did not immediately show any cases related to Johnson. In Memphis and in Nashville, local court records showed he had a handful of minor traffic violations.

Federal troops have been patrolling the city since October over the objections of Young, a Democrat. The troops are part of the Memphis Safe Task Force, convened by Trump and comprised of federal and local agencies.

The task force has led to more than 10,000 arrests, the U.S. Marshals Service reported in June.

There have been at least four officer-involved shootings tied to the task force, according to TBI data. Two of those shootings occurred in May and did not involve National Guard members discharging their weapons. The TBI also tied the task force to an October shooting, but did not specify which law enforcement agencies were involved.

The TBI and the National Guard did not respond to questions about whether Sunday's shooting was the first instance troops had fired their weapons since they were deployed to the city.

For years, Memphis, whose population exceeds 600,000, has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. Both Democratic and Republican officials have noted decreases last year in some crime categories, preceding the deployment and paralleling trends across U.S. cities.

In April, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that state and local Democratic officials lacked standing to block the deployment of federal troops in Memphis.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

And he handed it to Bruno Guimarães.

And by the time Neymar — in what he said was his final World Cup appearance — took and made Brazil's second penalty kick, it was too late for the five-time champion.

Guimarães had his penalty shot stopped by Ørjan Nyland in the 14th minute and Brazil couldn't get one past Norway's goalkeeper until deep in stoppage time, losing 2-1 on Sunday in the round of 16 for its earliest World Cup exit since 1990.

“We just have to apologize to the Brazilian people, to everyone that attended this venue and witnessed this match, and I think we have to learn from our mistakes,” Brazil captain Marquinhos said. “For those that come in the new generation, I ask that the people will support them from the beginning.”

The Brazilians will be left with four years of second-guessing, wondering why they chose not to have one of soccer’s elite scorers take the penalty shot after Matheus Cunha was taken down by a sliding tackle in the box.

No foul was called originally, to the Brazilians' protest, but the penalty was awarded after a video review. Vinícius, who came into the game leading Brazil with four goals in four games, had the ball in his hands, and it appeared he would take the kick.

Instead, Guimarães walked to the spot and Vinícius handed him the ball, then went and stood to the left of the box and watched as Guimarães stutter-stepped, then fired the shot that Nyland dived to his left to knock away.

Guimarães ended up the choice through a combination of analytics and injuries.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti explained that the Brazilians had compiled statistics on their best penalty takers for a year, and the best choices were Neymar and forward Raphinha. Guimarães was next.

But Neymar, who has battled injuries and didn't even play in Brazil's first two matches, wasn't in the game yet. Raphinha injured his hamstring last month.

“So, we chose Bruno Guimarães because we felt that he was the best on the field at that point,” Ancelotti said.

It was Brazil's first unsuccessful penalty kick in the World Cup — not counting shootouts — since 1986, and a huge boost to the belief of the Norwegians, who had never won a game in the knockout stage until the previous round.

“Obviously, when you’re able to save a penalty that early, you feel that it’s very hard to beat you, which was a great moment in the game for myself but also for the team to give ourselves some breathing space,” Nyland said.

There would be some more quality chances, but Nyland turned them away each time, many of them right in front of the large section of yellow-shirted fans behind the goal Brazil was shooting at in the first half.

Vinícius was dangerous with some speedy runs along the left side and Ancelotti brought on Neymar in the 68th minute for extra firepower. Their longtime great took and made the shot after another penalty was called late, joining Pelé as the only Brazilian players to score in four World Cups.

His team needed more than that and failed to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since falling to Argentina in the round of 16 in 1990.

The Brazilians returned four years later when the U.S. last hosted the World Cup and won. The Seleção won their fifth title in 2002 but remain empty since.

“I mean, I’ll do the mea culpa here. I’m the captain. I’m one of the older guys,” Marquinhos said. “We have to take on the blame so the next generations can move forward and do their job when it comes to time. This is a cycle that is going to start from now on. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Stoned Climbers festival, which took place last week in the Zhytomyr region, is Ukraine’s biggest outdoors event combining climbing and live music. Like many public events in wartime Ukraine, the festival blended ordinary leisure with reminders that the war is never far away.

Visitors received multiple air raid alert notifications on their phones throughout the weekend. Soldiers on leave quietly blended into the crowd, while organizers directed all profits from this year’s festival to a fundraising initiative supporting Ukraine’s Azov Brigade. Unlike last year, however, no Russian drones or missiles crossed the sky above the campsite on their way toward Kyiv.

The volunteer-run festival was launched in 2023 by about 15 friends who had spent more than a year climbing together after becoming fascinated by Yosemite’s climbing culture.

The U.S. national park has long been regarded as one of the birthplaces of modern rock climbing, where climbers built a counterculture around sleeping in tents, living out of vans and spending months on the granite walls of the valley.

“We realized climbing could be much more than just a sport,” said festival co-founder Dmytro Isaienko, 39. “It’s about a specific way of life — in nature, camping, on the rocks.”

Isaienko and his friends wanted to challenge the perception that climbing was reserved for elite athletes. Their first festival attracted about 150 visitors. This summer, attendance grew to more than 500, most of them beginners or amateur climbers.

Organizing the festival during wartime has given it a broader purpose, Isaienko said. He believes creating places where people can gather, learn new skills and spend time together has become a way of sustaining one’s well-being through a prolonged war.

“You need to get away from the war for a while,” he said. “Leave Kyiv and come spend some time here together, a little longer than usual.”

A climbing community grows even as war grinds on

On the rocks below, instructors help complete beginners fasten their harnesses, chalk their hands and search for the next hold on the granite wall. Whenever someone reaches the top of the 25-meter (82-feet) cliff — often for the first time — spectators, instructors and climbers break into applause.

Among the festival’s newcomers was 21-year-old Liliia Karpach, who traveled from Ukraine’s western Lviv region for her first Stoned Climbers festival.

“I decided to come because it had been a very long time since I’d climbed on real rocks,” she said. “I also wanted to meet the community in person and get to know new people.”

She said climbing is mental as well as physical exercise, and hopes others will give it a try.

“If you’re really nervous about coming on your own, invite some friends,” she said. “Even if neither of you knows how to climb, you’ll have a good time together.”

Helping first-time climbers gain that confidence is one of the most rewarding parts of the festival for instructor Andrii Lamei, 24.

While belaying a young woman during her first climb, he calmly talked her through the most difficult part of the ascent. As she climbed higher, her movements became more confident. After reaching the top, Lamei encouraged her to pause before descending.

“Look around,” he shouted. “Enjoy the moment. You made it.”

“Climbing helps you work with stress,” Lamei said. “It helps you manage stressful situations in everyday life.”

He dreams of climbing outside Ukraine one day but, like most Ukrainian men, he cannot leave the country while wartime travel restrictions remain in place.

“I want to go across the border to visit Yosemite, to visit Norway's mountains, but I can’t,” he said. “But maybe this is how I’m forced to enjoy what I have here.”

For Isaienko, that is precisely why festivals like Stoned Climbers matter.

While many Ukrainians have put parts of their lives on hold during the war, he hopes the community taking shape around the cliffs shows that new traditions can still emerge.

“This is a festival for everyone,” he said. “Including people who have never tried climbing before.”

And each time another first-time climber reaches the top, the applause rising from the rocks below suggests that, little by little, that community is growing.

Yet for Coco Gauff at Wimbledon on Sunday, the All England Club's 11 p.m. curfew made it seem like there was.

And Gauff hit the winning shot at the buzzer.

Two minutes before 11, Gauff converted her first match point with a service winner out wide to reach the quarterfinals at the grass-court Grand Slam for the first time.

After beating Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Gauff tapped her left wrist with the fingers on her right hand to acknowledge the timely ending.

Gauff said it “kind of reminded me of” Kawhi Leonard’s shot for the Toronto Raptors in 2019 that bounced off the rim four times before becoming the first Game 7 buzzer-beater in NBA history.

Because if Gauff hadn’t ended it in that game, the match would have been suspended until Monday.

“I was looking at the clock the last service game,” she said. “I was like, ‘I got to hit some big serves and some big shots.’ And honestly, that match point, I was going for a serve and volley because I was like, 'I need to end the point.'

“That was probably the most dramatic finish. I’ve never had to race against time. Playing tennis we’re used to not having a clock. But honestly, today I felt the pressure. … Glad I didn’t choose basketball.”

Gauff did play basketball as a kid. But, she said, “I did not hit any buzzer-beaters.”

Gauff had reached the fourth round four times in her Wimbledon career – including during her breakthrough run as a 15-year-old in 2019. Now, for the first time, she’s gone one step further.

“I’m definitely hungry for more,” Gauff said. “But it’s a great accomplishment.”

Gauff’s quarterfinal opponent will be fellow American and occasional doubles partner Jessica Pegula, who beat Iva Jovic — another American — 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

“It will be the third flat hitter I’ve played in a row,” Gauff said. “The last two matches I’ve had definitely gave me prep for her.”

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

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies — collectively known as OPEC+ — announced on Sunday that seven countries would expand oil production by a combined total of 188,000 barrels per day in August. It was the fifth consecutive month OPEC+ agreed to raise oil outputs.

The participating countries in Sunday's decision are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

“The countries will continue to monitor and assess market conditions, and in their continuous efforts to support market stability, they reaffirmed the importance of adopting a cautious approach,” the group of oil producers said in a statement.

In the last month, market optimism caused crude oil prices to tumble before and after the U.S. and Iran reached an interim deal to end their fighting. As part of a broader memorandum of understanding, Iran agreed to allow ships to pass unimpeded through the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. agreed to end its blockade of Iran's ports.

More and more commercial vessels have since transited the strait, which before the war was a conduit for roughly a fifth of the world's oil. But ship traffic remains below pre-war levels, and tensions over the waterway continue. Iran’s joint military command warned as recently as Thursday that all oil tankers moving through the strait must use its approved routes or face a “forceful response."

Oil prices have continued to decline while negotiators for Iran and the U.S. try to reach a final peace agreement. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was going for under $72 a barrel when shortly after commodities trading opened Sunday night. That's close to what it cost before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late Feburary — and far below soaring prices that in March climbed to nearly $120 per barrel.

The war created an energy crisis in much of the world. With most shipping blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, the limited production hikes pledged by OPEC+ in previous months could not counteract the impact on global oil supplies.

Early in the war, many major oil producers across the Middle East had to cut production because their crude had no where to go. S&P Global Energy said in a recent estimate that it did not expect Gulf oil production to rebound fully until at least the first quarter of 2027.

Energy experts have repeatedly warned that fuel prices and the cost of consumer good were likely to stay elevated long past the conflict's end.

In a matchup of two of the hardest hitters on tour, that was Naomi Osaka's strategy against top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the most highly awaited matchup of Wimbledon so far this year.

Sabalenka had beaten Osaka in all three of their previous matches this year — including at the same stage of the French Open last month.

“On the clay courts I felt like she was pushing me back a lot. I just tried to do it to her first,” Osaka said.

The tactics worked, and Osaka outslugged Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6 (2) to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the first time on Sunday.

Osaka’s pace and flat groundstrokes overwhelmed Sabalenka.

“Obviously we’re big ball strikers. It’s not like I’m going to start running around the court trying to draw an error from her. I can only focus on my strengths," Osaka said.

"I just tried to serve really well, because it’s grass. I also tried to get the upper hand in the rallies first.”

Osaka's power had an even bigger impact than usual as her balls flew through the air faster on the warmest day of the tournament so far: The temperature during the match reached 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit).

“She overpowered me,” Sabalenka said. “I felt like it was incredible level from her."

Besides Paris, Sabalenka also beat Osaka in Indian Wells, California, and Madrid this year.

“That really sucked,” Osaka said. “So I wanted to turn it (around)."

When it was over, Osaka performed a few fist pumps, let out a brief smile and then placed her racket over her head and spun around in delight to celebrate her first career win on Centre Court.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun on the court," Osaka said. "And to do it here, it really means a lot.”

Mental health and maternity

It was Osaka’s first win over a No. 1 player since beating Ash Barty in Beijing in 2019. That was before Osaka, a former No. 1 herself, took breaks from the tour to manage her mental health in 2021 and for maternity leave that resulted in her missing all of 2023.

Osaka's daughter turned three on Thursday.

After getting routed by Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open in May, Osaka said she “shut everyone out” on her team and "literally just got on a plane back home.

“It wasn’t the most professional thing to do,” she said. “I felt really ashamed about what I did. So then after that I just told myself, ‘Hey, I’m nearing 30, I really got to enjoy the time that I have.’ Also, obviously tennis is very, very important to me, but I have a life outside of that. I have to treasure tennis in the way that I can, which is not putting too much importance on it.”

Sabalenka to ‘forget about tennis’

It’s the second straight Grand Slam in which Sabalenka has failed to reach the latter stages. After a stunning meltdown against Diana Shnaider in the French Open quarterfinals last month, Sabalenka said she “just want to quit tennis.”

This time, Sabalenka said she wanted to “get completely drunk, forget about tennis, and try to get in better shape.”

Sabalenka and Osaka have each won four Grand Slam titles. All their major trophies have come on hard courts — at the Australian Open and U.S. Open.

Osaka is coming off her first grass-court final. She had to retire against Karolina Muchova in Bad Homburg, Germany, last weekend because of a foot injury.

She'll now get a rematch with Muchova, who beat 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

Kimono walk-on fashion

Before the match, Osaka came out in the white kimono she’s been wearing for her walk-ons at Wimbledon — which was inspired by a character in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Unlike at the French Open, when the designer for Osaka's walk-on outfits “was sewing things immediately after I won,” the kimono was designed in Japan, so “it’s not like (the designer) can make a brand-new thing every time.”

Instead, Osaka is using variations on the same outfit. For her past two matches, she's employed “the free-robe vibe” inspired by an anime called Bleach.

Aces and winners

Osaka saved the only two break points she faced and put 87% of her first serves in play — compared to 69% for Sabalenka.

Osaka also led 8-5 in aces and 21-15 in winners in the match, which lasted less than 1 ½ hours.

“What could I do if the person is acing and hitting the lines, just going for her shots without any fear?" Sabalenka said. "She was just going for it.

“Level-wise, today,” Sabalenka added, “I wasn’t world No. 1.”

Coco breaks through

Coco Gauff reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time by overcoming Belinda Bencic 4-6, 3-6, 6-4 just before the 11 p.m. curfew.

Gauff will next meet fellow American Jessica Pegula, who beat Iva Jovic — another American — 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic edges Federer

Earlier on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic beat 132nd-ranked qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for a record 106th match victory at the All England Club.

Djokovic will next play third-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1.

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner beat Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-3 and will next meet Jan-Lennard Struff, who advanced when Hubert Hurkacz retired while trailing 4-2 in the fifth set due to a strained abdominal muscle.

___

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

The pilot of Delta flight 1076 notified air traffic controllers just before landing at Chicago Midway International Airport on Saturday night that a firework hit the commercial airliner during its descent. In an audio recording published online by LiveATC.net, the pilot described feeling “a big bang” on the plane.

According to the recording, the incident occurred when the plane was flying at an altitude of 200 to 250 feet. The pilot said the crew hoped the bang “was just a mortar that went off,” referencing the tube that helps launch aerial fireworks.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and Delta said the plane, which had taken off from Atlanta carrying 52 passengers and six crew members, landed safely just after 8:30 p.m. local time.

The incident didn't result in any onboard injuries, and Atlanta-based Delta said Sunday that mechanics who inspected the Airbus A319 did not find any damage.

The FAA said it would investigate the incident.

It's unclear if fireworks struck other airplanes on Saturday. In the LiveATC.net audio, an air traffic controller was heard saying there had been “multiple reports" of such encounters and that Chicago city officials were aware.

The FAA did not immediately respond to questions about whether it was aware of additional firework-related incidents impacting Saturday flights. The Associated Press also reached out to the city government and the Chicago Police Department for further information.

Crowds of hundreds of thousands chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” as they called for revenge over the Feb. 28 attack that killed the 86-year-old supreme leader and other top officials, triggering the war. Some hard-liners called for the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.

At the height of the war, before an April ceasefire, Israel had targeted top leaders, in at least one case likely using their public appearance to fix their position. It has also threatened to kill the younger Khamenei.

The U.S. is meanwhile pressing ahead with negotiations with Iran aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back its disputed nuclear program and reaching a permanent end to the war. Talks appear to be on hold until after the burial.

Ziba Naderi, a nurse attending the funeral Sunday, said Iran needed to heed Mojtaba Khamenei's commands. “I heard the call for revenge, but our leader should say what we need to do,” she said. “And we must listen to him.”

Top officials appear as the crowd size swells

Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, a 97-year-old Shiite cleric, led the prayers at Tehran's Grand Mosalla for the late Khamenei and his family members killed in the strike.

On hand were Khamenei’s other sons, Masoud, Meysam and Mostafa, who had not been seen since the war. Revolutionary Guard head Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who was photographed for the first time since the war on Thursday, could be seen in the crowd by Associated Press journalists, flanked by plainclothes security forces and wearing a black baseball cap.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — who has led the negotiations with the U.S. — and Esmail Qaani, who leads the elite Quds Force of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also attended.

The crowd had grown from the day before. Mourners dressed in black carried banners and flags honoring Khamenei.

Some mention Trump by name as mourners call for revenge

Posters and graffiti at the Grand Mosalla called for the killing of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Why is the biggest bastard in the world still alive?” Mohammad Rasouli, a poet who emceed the event before the prayers, said to the crowd over loudspeakers, referring to Trump. “The world is no longer a good place” for Trump, he added as the crowd cheered.

“I came here to shout and seek revenge,” said Gholamreza Sabooni, a 29-year-old man who works in a grocery. “They killed our imam. We should kill their leader, Trump.”

The U.S. president was giving a speech at the same time across the world in Washington, D.C., for the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.

“We’ve had tremendous success,” Trump said about the U.S. military. “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military.”

U.S. federal authorities have been tracking Iranian threats against Trump and other administration officials for years. The threats stem from Trump ordering the 2020 killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who had led the Quds Force. Iran repeatedly has denied plotting to kill Trump, though hard-line propaganda footage long has suggested Trump was in Tehran's crosshairs.

Trump meanwhile promised to destroy Iran's civilization during the war, among other threats.

Funeral postpones talks with US

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq, with authorities planning to drive his casket and others through the streets of Tehran on Monday. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei’s place of birth.

Authorities offered no attendance count for the event Saturday and Sunday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

The funeral was in part a show of unity as Iran demands a measure of control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global energy that it shut down during the war. The U.S. has rejected those demands, and the sides are divided on other key issues, including Iran's nuclear program and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The U.S. assisted 70 transits of the Strait of Hormuz over the past 72 hours, including 18 on Saturday, a multinational maritime body overseen by the U.S. Navy said Sunday. It called traffic steady along routes near Oman and Iran but still below prewar levels. The threat level remained “substantial” and mine clearance and surveying work continued.

“Our foreign policy should not be shaped in a way that allows our martyred leader’s blood to be dishonored,” mourner Mohammad Reza Sharifi said. He said he expected a “serious response” from Iran's government.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Cara Anna in Lowville, New York, contributed.

McMorrow’s exit comes after many Democrats increasingly viewed her as a long shot for the nomination. It also creates a fresh dynamic in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races, forcing Democratic voters into a direct choice between Stevens, a mainstream congresswoman backed by much of the party establishment, and El-Sayed, supported by many progressive movement leaders.

The binary choice will be on full display Tuesday, when Stevens and El-Sayed are set to face off in a televised debate. During a May debate, El-Sayed repeatedly went on the offensive against Stevens, who mostly declined to engage directly with him.

McMorrow’s departure could also prompt influential Democrats in the state to announce their support for Stevens because of concerns about El-Sayed’s electability in a general election. Some had stayed on the sidelines because of relationships with McMorrow.

The seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is one that the party must hold if it hopes to reclaim the Senate majority in this fall’s midterm elections. The primary winner is expected to face Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin in 2024.

McMorrow made the announcement in a statement and video posted online Sunday, which came after ballots have already gone out.

“Today, I’m announcing that I am suspending my campaign for United States Senate,” McMorrow wrote.

“And I’m doing it with a deep, deep sense of gratitude," she said. “For our thousands of volunteers, for everyone who donated what you could — building a campaign with zero corporate PAC dollars. For my staff, who built this team up from nothing. I thank you.”

While McMorrow did not elaborate on her decision to exit the race, a person with direct knowledge said the biggest factor was the recent influx of outside spending boosting Stevens. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has poured millions into ads supporting Stevens, leaving both McMorrow and El-Sayed struggling to keep pace. The person, who would only speak on condition of anonymity, said McMorrow has no plans to endorse either remaining candidate at this point.

McMorrow's rivals reacted quickly to her announcement.

El-Sayed appealed to McMorrow supporters to join “our movement” and accused “party insiders” of “bullying anyone who opposes their chosen candidate.” In a post on X, he said, “We cannot allow the establishment to decide our nominee for us.” Stevens described herself as “the strongest Democrat to defeat Mike Rogers this November” and said in a statement that she looked forward to working with McMorrow “to build a stronger Michigan for everyone.”

The race has increasingly split Democrats along ideological lines, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer backing Stevens and El-Sayed drawing the support of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and allies such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, announced on Facebook that she was endorsing Stevens soon after McMorrow dropped out.

___

Peoples reported from New York.

One of the victims, a 21-year-old woman, was in critical condition while the others were described as being stable and expected to survive, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Sunday.

The shooting occurred Saturday night in the courtyard of an apartment building about a block from the famed Coney Island boardwalk and not far from the site of the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest held earlier on the holiday.

The police commissioner said a suspect wearing a black mask fired into the courtyard where a family had gathered for a cookout. The shooter fled but police did recover a gun, Tisch said.

The children shot are ages 6, 7, 12 and 14, Tisch said. There were no reports of any earlier disturbances at the gathering, she said.

Like President Donald Trump, Burgum said he was 100% sure that vandals caused the damage to the century-old Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. Trump has charged that a 350-foot gash was cut into the pool's liner in the midst of recent renovations, while Burgum described it as multiple cuts adding up to that figure. He also said the pool would have to be at least partially drained in the coming week to finish the repairs.

The repairs will not be opened up to new contractors, he said.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum told CNN's “State of the Union." ”Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad. I mean, it could cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair, so then it could fall into a felony ... just like damaging any other government property could. But the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well."

Trump this spring pledged to beautify the Reflecting Pool before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations on July Fourth. Water was drained and the Republican president directed that the bottom be painted a color he called “American flag blue.” But after the site was restored, the water was plagued by an algae bloom for more than a week, and pieces of the new coating have appeared to be peeling off the bottom.

The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, but Burgum said that was due to a safety issue related to the fireworks.

The evolving debate over the Reflecting Pool has inflamed the broader fight over Trump's aggressive push to overhaul Washington landmarks, including the White House, nearly two years into his final term in office.

Authorities have arrested more than a half dozen people in relation to Reflecting Pool damage, including former Olympian David Hearn, who was indicted last week on a felony of property destruction.

The top federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, said Hearn ripped up recently installed sealant on the pool in “a deliberate act” that caused more than $1,000 in damage. She accused him of “forcefully and violently” pulling up the bottom liner “with both hands” and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.

Hearn's lawyers, Democracy Defenders Fund co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said the charges were “outrageous and should be alarming to every American.” Eisen and Dohrmann construed the case as representative of “the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.”

Burgum was asked and did not answer directly whether there was photographic evidence of vandals cutting the pool's liner. He was also asked whether Hearn should face a 10-year prison sentence, which is the maximum legal penalty for his charge.

“Just because you were a former something doesn’t exclude you from the law today,” Burgum told CNN. “The courts will decide.”

Meanwhile, questions loom over the no-bid contracts for the project that were awarded to vendors with prior ties to Trump.

Ohio-based Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool’s concrete floor.

About 10 Democratic senators and House members are investigating the pool project.

“Taxpayers deserve a full explanation of how these failures occurred and who will be held accountable for correcting them,″ said a letter signed last month by six senators.

Burgum also appeared on ABC's “This Week.”

HCSO deputies were called to a life-in-danger situation at the Cortland Wortham Apartments in the 10225 block of Wortham Boulevard, near North Eldridge Parkway and FM 1960.

When deputies arrived, EMS crews were already performing CPR on the child. The child was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The child’s mother and aunt were at the hospital with him, investigators said.

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Investigators said there were roughly 30 people at the pool around the time of the incident. A pool patron noticed the child in distress and alerted others, and people at the pool pulled the child from the water before first responders began treatment. Many people left before investigators arrived, but deputies said they have been identified and will be interviewed.

The child’s death was one of two drowning-related incidents Harris County authorities responded to over the Fourth of July holiday period, including a separate near-drowning in Humble that left another child hospitalized in serious condition, officials said.

• Child hospitalized in serious condition after near-drowning in Humble, HCSO says

Detectives are still working to determine when the child went underwater, how long he may have been submerged, and the circumstances leading up to the drowning. Investigators are also trying to obtain surveillance video from apartment management.

Authorities said the child’s mother and aunt were in another area of the pool and may not have been watching him at the time. Whether charges are appropriate remains under investigation; investigators said the case will be presented to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether any charges are filed.

But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week’s summit in Turkey.

Initially, it was about money. Trump has long railed against NATO allies for spending too small a fraction of their national budgets on defense. But those problems were addressed at their summit last year, when U.S. allies committed to invest as much as America, in gross domestic product terms.

NATO's real problem now is turning that money into military capabilities, particularly as European countries worry about a possible attack from Russia.

Still, Rutte tried to put to bed any lingering concerns at a White House meeting last month, with a new pitch using a chart labeled the “The Trump Trillion” in gold letters — showing $1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017.

But Trump appeared unmoved, saying he was still disappointed at some NATO allies’ refusal to join the Iran war, which he had launched alongside Israel without consulting them.

“We don’t need their money — we don’t need anything,” Trump said. “I just want loyalty.”

Trump suggested he might have skipped the upcoming summit entirely were it not being hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It’s a sign that even Erdogan and Rutte — foreign leaders Trump seems to hold in rare esteem — will have their work cut out for them in keeping the summit on track.

Rutte set a new marker for flattery at the White House

Historically, the prime tasks of NATO’s top civilian official — always a European, never an American — have been to encourage consensus in an organization that makes its decisions unanimously, and to speak on behalf of all 32 member countries.

But during both of Trump’s terms, Rutte and his predecessor at the helm of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, have dedicated a huge amount of energy just to keep the United States inside their alliance.

Trump has threatened to leave NATO, dallied with pulling U.S. troops out of Europe and vowed to take over the island of Greenland — a semiautonomous part of ally Denmark. He has cast doubt over whether he would defend another member not spending enough on their military, eroding trust.

Rutte’s approach has been heavy on flattery. Last month’s carefully choreographed pitch in the Oval Office — with props redolent of an American flag — laid down a new marker, even for a man heavily criticized for likening Trump to a “daddy.”

The charts showed tens of thousands of U.S. jobs were being created and a backlog of $300 billion in European orders for military equipment — all thanks to the “leader of the free world,” Rutte said.

He pushed back, gently, on Trump’s complaints that NATO did not support the U.S. against Iran, noting that up to 5,000 U.S. planes took off from bases in Europe before an April ceasefire.

Trump has threatened to pull forces from Europe at a moment of peril

NATO cannot function without its biggest and most powerful ally. Europe is being pushed to fend for itself even as Russia, the historical reason for the alliance, poses a greater threat.

Last month, the Pentagon surprised its NATO allies by announcing that it was scaling back the number of troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if one of them came under attack. Trump has also sent conflicting messages about whether U.S. troop numbers would be lowered or increased.

The cutbacks and mixed messaging has undermined unity at the alliance, just as Russia has been probing Europe's defenses with drone flights near military bases across multiple countries, according to a study released on Thursday.

Flattery worked last year, but now there are new challenges

Each summit is meant to showcase the commitment to collective security — the all-for-one, one-for-all pledge enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s treaty. It’s only been invoked once, when allies came to America’s aid after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The last NATO summit was held in The Hague, the hometown of Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister. The Dutch royal family hosted dinner, and Trump stayed overnight at the king’s palace.

Rutte got the allies behind a major defense spending pledge, and Trump left a happy man, calling his NATO partners a “nice group of people.”

This year, the summit will be hosted by Erdogan, another key NATO member with an independent streak. His close ties to Trump may keep the American president at the table, but it’s unlikely to mend the rifts.

Rutte has tried to convince Trump that his European partners are spending so much more that America can safely turn its attention to security challenges posed by China while they handle the war in Ukraine.

But Trump wants more now, and his demand for “loyalty” is hard to capture on any chart.

Rutte’s predecessor, Stoltenberg, has written in his memoir about chairing a 2018 summit that Trump nearly upended.

“If an American president says he no longer wishes to defend the other allies and leaves a NATO summit in protest, then the NATO treaty and its security guarantee aren’t worth very much,” Stoltenberg wrote.

Leclerc surged past Antonelli at the start as the Mercedes driver dropped to third but the Italian was chasing Leclerc down in the final laps when he reported a steering problem. Leclerc took a landmark 250th victory for Ferrari under the safety car brought out by a spectacular spin into the gravel from third by Max Verstappen.

“Finally!” Leclerc said over the radio after taking the win. “This one felt particularly good, even if I wished it was a more normal ending.”

Leclerc leaped out of his car and ran to a crowd of Ferrari staff who surged forward to embrace him, toppling a crowd barrier onto their driver. Leclerc’s last F1 victory was at the United States Grand Prix in October 2024.

Antonelli's race falls apart

After Antonelli reported issues with his car, he came into the pits but that didn't help and he started dropping back through the field. Later, Verstappen's spin shook up the race again.

Antonelli's Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell went on to second to deny Ferrari a one-two finish, staying out on old tires when Lewis Hamilton came into the pits under the safety car.

Hamilton had fresh tires but couldn't use them because the race ended up finishing behind that safety car. He was third.

Hamilton held onto third after getting only a reprimand in a post-race investigation into allegedly infringing yellow-flag conditions. He said he was distracted by looking in his mirrors for Verstappen, not realizing he had gone off, and didn't notice the flag.

Antonelli was ninth across the line after ignoring the team’s pleas to retire the car so he could fight for the final points places. He ended up outside the points anyway. The Italian dropped to 16th with a time penalty for going off-track as he wrangled his damaged car around the corners.

Mercedes has dominated the 2026 season so far but reliability is becoming its weak spot.

Antonelli has now missed the points twice in three Grand Prix races after car trouble also derailed him when Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and Russell had a dramatic car failure in Canada in May.

The lack of racing at the finish was a disappointment to fans, especially after a graphic was wrongly displayed indicating the safety car would come in, leaving a one-lap sprint to the finish.

Russell gets title boost despite lack of pace

Second place for Russell revives his title chances even though the British driver had struggled for competitive pace all weekend. Antonelli's lead shrinks from 43 points over Russell to 25, the value of a single race win.

Russell had been fourth in the sprint, fourth in qualifying and was battling Verstappen for fourth in the race before the late drama.

“If I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better,” he said. “I need to be better.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports Germany the team believed Antonelli's car was damaged when he hit a curb on what he called a bittersweet day for the team.

Verstappen crash echoes Austria incident

When he saw a replay of Verstappen's crash post-race, Russell called the crash “weird” and questioned whether there'd been a problem with the rear wing on the four-time champions car.

If so, it would be the second time in just over a week that's happened to Verstappen, who was thrown into a barrier when his wing broke in qualifying in Austria.

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren after his teammate Oscar Piastri's race was ruined by early damage, while Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull.

The Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad were sixth and seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth for Audi. The two Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, ended up ninth and 10th thanks to Antonelli's penalty.

___

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

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said deputies responded to the 15808 block of Crystal Terrace Drive, where the child — believed to be about 8 years old — was rescued and taken for medical care.

The incident was one of two drowning-related calls Harris County authorities handled over the Fourth of July holiday period, including a separate case in northwest Harris County where a 5-year-old child died, officials said.

• 5-year-old dies after being pulled from apartment pool in northwest Harris County, deputies say

“Our hearts are heavy tonight. No words can ease the loss of a child,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez urged families to prioritize water safety, especially during the holiday weekend: “Never leave children unsupervised near pools, bathtubs, lakes, or any body of water — even for a moment. Active supervision and barriers save lives.”

No additional details about what led up to the Atascocita incident have been released.

HPD said officers were called to the 6800 block of Winton Street around 1 a.m. on Sunday.

Investigators said neighbors in the area were setting off fireworks when they were confronted by people from a couple of houses away, leading to a verbal argument that escalated. Police said guns were then pulled and both sides began firing at each other.

• This parasite linked to fresh produce is spreading in Texas. It can cause explosive diarrhea.

An adult woman was found with a gunshot wound to her lower leg; officers said her injuries were not life-threatening. She was taken to a nearby hospital and was reported in stable condition. An adult man suffered a gunshot wound to his foot and took himself to a hospital, where he was also listed in stable condition.

Police said suspects from both groups left the scene before officers arrived. No one has been taken into custody and no charges have been filed. Investigators have not determined whether the two injured people were on the same side or were involved in separate groups.

Officials reported the victims’ injuries were not life-threatening.

Investigators remained at the location to process the scene and collect evidence.

• Gunfire erupts after Fourth of July fireworks dispute in Houston’s South Side; 2 injured

The case is still under investigation.

This is a developing story. Updates will be added as they are made available.

New Jersey officials said Saturday that they began seeing what they believe are heat-related deaths as early as Thursday with most occurring in the central and northern parts of the state.

“Unfortunately, many of these individuals were found in homes without air conditioning,” state Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington told reporters Saturday. "A few were outside their residences, some on the street and some even in parked cars.”

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill called the current weather “the hottest stretch we’ve seen in over 14 years.”

“The heat's hitting all of us, not just seniors, not just with underlying health conditions, people of all ages,” Sherrill said.

On Thursday, LaGuardia Airport in New York set a new record high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), topping the previous record of 101 F (38.3 C) set in 1966, according to Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.

Trenton, New Jersey, reached 101 F, which broke the record of 100 F (37.7 C) set in 1901. Newark’s high Thursday was 105 F (40.5 C).

Atlantic City, New Jersey, hit 103 F (39.4 C) on Thursday, breaking the city’s record of 100 F set in 1966, Jackson said. Atlantic City reached 105 F on Friday and 106 F (41.1 C) on Saturday.

Heat domes can be dangerous and combine very high temperatures with high moisture, Jackson said.

“In a lot of cases they also had direct sunshine,” he said. “It was relentless. It was multiple days. It was not as cool overnight, as well. The low Friday morning in Atlantic City was 80. The body can't recover as well. You just have that multiple day buildup and too much added stress on the body.”

But even as the heat moved to the east, lowering temperatures a bit, severe storms blew in with heavy winds that toppled utility poles and split trees, causing their boles and branches to fall onto power lines.

About 900,000 utility customers in parts of the central, eastern and southern United States were without electricity early Sunday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.com.

More than 223,000 customers in Michigan and close to 170,000 in Pennsylvania had lost power.

PPL Electric reported 121,417 without power Sunday morning, including about 47,000 in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area.

Central Hudson in New York State reported that it had more than 430 reported downed wires on Sunday. The utility said about 50,000 customers were affected by the storm and that about 650 still were without power Sunday.

Amanda Vesper was putting her children to bed Friday evening when the first storm rolled through the Detroit area, knocking out her power.

“It didn't seem that awful. It got quite windy,” said Vesper, 40, of Commerce Township.

As of late Sunday morning, the electricity still was out.

“We've been going back and forth between a hotel and our home because we have dogs there,” she said. “We really can't stay there. I have a small child with autism. Our well runs on an electric pump.”

The outage also ruined the family's July 4 celebration.

“We had planned on having company over at the house, but had to cancel,” Vesper said. “I went grocery shopping. I'm hoping my freezer holds.”

Jackson, with the Weather Prediction Center, said Sunday will see heavy thunderstorms in and around the Cleveland area. Those storms then will shift eastward and move into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York — where chances exist for flash flooding, he added.

The Cy-Fair Fire Department said crews were called late Saturday to a reported house fire on River Garden Drive. When firefighters arrived, they encountered intense flames and thick smoke coming from the back of the home.

Officials said the residents made it out safely, and crews worked to knock down the fire under tough conditions.

• Gunfire erupts after Fourth of July fireworks dispute in Houston’s South Side; 2 injured

Fire officials traced the cause to fireworks that were not properly disposed of after use. The department is reminding families that “dead” fireworks can still hold heat and smolder long after the show ends.

Cy-Fair Fire Department, along with other fire agencies, recommends soaking all used fireworks in water for at least eight hours before placing them in the trash.

Deputies said the incident happened at a home in the 1500 block of Park Drive. Investigators believe the bullet came from celebratory gunfire somewhere in the area, though the person who fired the shot has not been identified.

The child was taken to a hospital with an injury to the arm and was reported to be in fair condition.

• Two hurt, including child, after shooting in northwest Harris County neighborhood

The sheriff’s office is asking anyone with information that could help identify the shooter to call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office at (713) 221-6000 or contact Crime Stoppers at (713) 222-TIPS (8477).

The five-day preliminary hearing that starts Monday will be the first time members of Kirk's family are in the Utah courtroom with defendant Tyler Robinson. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Robinson turned himself in after the shooting. Prosecutors allege that he also sent a text message confession to his partner and left a note saying he had an opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices “and I’m going to take it.”

He has not entered a plea in the case, however.

Robinson, 23, is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk, who was addressing a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. His attorneys have not commented on his guilt or innocence.

Months of legal jostling leading up to the hearing centered largely on media access. Beginning Monday, the focus shifts to whether there is enough evidence for a trial and if the death penalty is warranted, said Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor and former federal judge.

Cassell said evidence made public to date in court filings suggests prosecutors have “an overwhelming case.”

“This seems like the proverbial slam dunk at this stage of the case, where the only issue is whether there is a sound basis for moving forward with a trial on the merits,” he said.

A death sentence is an option in Utah only when a crime has aggravating circumstances. Prosecutors will argue in Robinson's case that Kirk’s shooting endangered others in attendance.

The proceeding will resemble a minitrial, with prosecutors planning to offer DNA evidence linking Robinson to the suspected murder weapon, testimony from investigators, autopsy findings, witness statements and video of Kirk's killing. They are not required to present all their evidence and can use secondhand information, or hearsay.

After the hearing concludes, state District Judge Tony Graf must determine if the case should proceed.

Reporters and the public will be allowed to attend after Graf denied a defense request to restrict access.

Kirk’s killing drew backlash from his Republican allies, including President Donald Trump, who first announced Robinson’s arrest in a Sept. 12 interview on Fox News and said, “I hope he gets the death penalty.”

This week prosecutors need only demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Robinson killed Kirk. The standard is lower than for a trial, where prosecutors have to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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.

Robinson’s parents had confronted him after authorities released a surveillance photo of the suspect and details about the rifle, authorities have said. His parents convinced him to meet with a family friend, who is a retired sheriff’s deputy, who reportedly helped arrange for Robinson to turn himself in.

Prosecutors have said Robinson left a note for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.” They also said he wrote to his roommate in a text message about Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully sought to block prosecutors from using recorded statements from Robinson’s roommate during the hearing. The defense wanted the roommate to testify in person so Robinson could exercise his right challenge the credibility of witnesses against him. Graf said the time for challenging witnesses would come later.

Before his death, Kirk and the organization he co-founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help Trump win a second term.

His widow, Erika Kirk, who took the helm of the organization after his death, pushed to maintain public access to Robinson’s prosecution when defense attorneys sought to exclude cameras from the courtroom. She forgave Robinson during her husband’s memorial service.

She is expected in court throughout the week with her husband's parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

• RELATED: Texas’ historic Tall Ship ELISSA heads to New York for Sail250 celebration

For Texans, it’s a standout moment: Elissa isn’t a themed attraction or a modern rebuild. She’s the Official Tall Ship of Texas, maintained to operate as a real sailing vessel, and her appearance in New York marked the ship’s first visit to the city since 1986.

Why Elissa matters to Texas

Elissa’s story is rooted in Galveston, where the ship is operated by the Galveston Historical Foundation and serves as a working centerpiece of the city’s historic seaport.

Galveston’s history is inseparable from the water — from commerce and shipbuilding to the port’s role in connecting Texas with the rest of the world. Elissa has become one of the most visible reminders of that legacy because she still functions the way a 19th-century sailing ship was meant to function: under wind power, with a trained crew and an enormous web of lines and canvas.

Elissa is expected to continue making port visits as part of a multi-stop voyage before returning home to Texas.

More information on the America250-related events is available at galveston250.com and sail4th.org.

The event will take place at Atkinson Farms Produce, located at 3217 Spring Cypress Road.

Families can pick up one homegrown watermelon per household while supplies last. It’s a simple tradition with a big goal — helping neighbors stay hydrated and get through the hottest stretch of the season.

Organizers say it’s also a chance to meet Constable Mark Herman and his deputies and enjoy a community moment that’s become a summertime favorite. They noted no county funds will be used to make the giveaway happen.

Need-to-know:

• When: Tuesday, July 14, 2026 (starts at 10 a.m.)
• Where: Atkinson Farms Produce, 3217 Spring Cypress Road
• Limit: One watermelon per family, while supplies last

The free event is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, from 8 a.m. to noon, at Evan E. Worthing High School (9215 Scott Street, Houston, TX 77051). Organizers say the goal is straightforward: help students show up on day one equipped, supported, and ready to learn.

In addition to distributing core back-to-school essentials, the event will offer services that families often have to schedule—and pay for—separately. Plans include school supplies, backpacks, and school uniforms, along with haircuts and braided styles. The drive is also expected to provide physicals and eye exams, giving families another way to check off key items before the school year begins.

Donations needed to keep the effort going

Organizers are currently collecting donations to support the drive and expand what can be offered to students. Requested items include:

• Backpacks
• Uniforms (sizes 4T–16)
• Shirts and pants
• Shoes and socks
• Underwear and bras
• General school supplies such as notebooks, paper, pens, and pencils.

Donations can be dropped off at: Rock Boyz Barbershop & Beauty Shop, 1416 W. Orem Dr., Houston, TX 77047.

How to sign up and get more information

Families are encouraged to pre-register online at www.rock-in-hood.org.

Organizers say the community’s support is what allows the event to grow year after year—and what keeps the focus on students who need a boost heading into the new school year.

Hussam Abu Safiya who served as director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, became the face of health workers struggling to treat patients throughout the Israel-Hamas war.

He led the facility through an 85-day siege by the Israeli military, releasing videos in which he pleaded for help before he was arrested in December 2024. He has not been charged.

The Israeli military said Abu Safiya, 53, was being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. Staff and international aid groups that worked with him deny the claims.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Abu Safiya’s lawyer, Nasser Odeh, said Abu Safiya appeared extremely weak and struggled to sit upright during a visit on July 2. Odeh said he had recent head injuries around his eyes, ears and neck and experienced difficulty breathing.

Odeh and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said they have petitioned to have Abu Safiya transferred to another facility.

Abu Safiya faced physical and psychological abuse and was kept in solitary confinement for extended periods, Odeh said following an appearance before Israel’s Supreme Court last month challenging his continued detainment without charge.

Abu Safiya appeared briefly by video during that hearing, looking pale and gaunt and with lash-like marks on both arms.

Israel’s Prison Service called the allegations “false and entirely without factual basis.” The prison service declined to discuss the case directly, citing privacy concerns, but said all prisoners and detainees are held in accordance with the law and receive medical care based on Ministry of Health guidelines.

“The Israel Prison Service rejects allegations of abuse, torture, starvation, or denial of medical treatment,” the prison service said.

Israel has faced severe criticism over its treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees since the start of its war with Hamas in October 2023. Human rights organizations and the United Nations have alleged systematic patterns of abuse.

The number of Palestinians in Israeli detention surged after the start of the war and thousands remain in detention. The Associated Press has previously reported on the dire conditions in prisons.

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, after the Gaza-based militant group led an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage. Since then, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.

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Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Speaking in Washington after storms prompted a roughly two-hour evacuation of the National Mall, Trump honored veterans, including several from World War II and one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat in Vietnam. They appeared before flags that symbolized some of the most significant and challenging moments in American history, from the one that was draped over Abraham Lincoln's casket to the one that flew on the plane piloted by the Wright Brothers.

Yet Trump also leaned into partisan territory unusual for an Independence Day address, which presidents typically use as a moment to unify the country. Instead, he stumped again for the SAVE America Act, an elections bill that's encountering challenges even from Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress. He highlighted his support for the Second Amendment and revived denunciations of communism, which are becoming an increasingly central part of Trump's message ahead of the November midterms.

The speech capped a holiday that Trump has gone to great lengths to shape to his own tastes. He was introduced by two musical performers who often appear at his trademark rallies, including Lee Greenwood, who performed “God Bless the USA.” The event organizers were largely aligned with the White House, supplanting a bipartisan organization that was launched by Congress a decade ago.

“We will always be on top,” Trump said. "We will never let our country fall. We will always be the best.”

Trump didn’t talk about himself as much as he does during his normal rally speeches. Still, he still found time to include a joke about seeking a third presidential term and about World War II’s “greatest generation.”

“They are the greatest generation,” Trump said. “I hate to admit that, but they are.”

Anticipation for the milestone holiday has been building for much of the year, serving as an opportunity for Americans to reflect on their complicated history as onetime colonists of an empire who became a superpower of their own. Organizers of celebrations months in the making had to adjust or cancel activities entirely as much of the East Coast sweltered under heat that approached and in many cases surpassed triple digits.

Heat is defining the big weekend in many places

Severe weather prompted the cancellation of celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut, along with Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Spectators at Boston’s fireworks and concert were told to briefly seek shelter before events later resumed. An evacuation was also ordered in Philadelphia. New York and Pittsburgh moved forward with fireworks but shifted the time to accommodate the shifting weather.

The disruption was particularly acute in Washington, where signs at the Great American State Fair posted an alert shortly after 7 p.m. ET encouraging participants to leave the area. Crowds gathered in museums, subway stations and federal buildings near the Mall. At the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center they waited in chairs and sat on the floor to cool off in the air conditioning.

Crowds were building in the area several hours before the evacuation. Tina Hale, 58, of Cohoes, New York, watched three of her grandchildren children dip their hands into a pool of water near a museum. Hale pointed toward the sky and urged them to look up as three military jets roared above the crowd.

“If that doesn’t make you proud to be an American,” she said.

David Koshko, 42, and his wife, Jennifer Koshko, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, came to Washington for a baseball game but planned to stay for the city’s fireworks show. After baking in the heat for hours during the Pittsburgh Pirates’ win over the Washington Nationals, they took a break in the shade of an overpass near the National Mall to plot their next stop.

“Just to be a part of the 250 years (anniversary) is an amazing thing,” said David Koshko, a commercial driver and veteran of the Marine Corps reserves.

In Philadelphia, fireworks began to crack as early as midday in the birthplace of the nation near the site where the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Hundreds of visitors were gathering at Independence Hall in the sweltering heat to await the celebrations coinciding with the France-Paraguay World Cup knockout game at Philadelphia Stadium, which began with commemorations of the holiday.

“It’s one big party in here,” Carlos Alban, who traveled to Philadelphia from Chicago to watch the match, said as he arrived at the stadium, adding that he spotted a fan in the parking lot dressed as one of the Founding Fathers.

In New York, tall ships, with their masts, rigging and white sails outlined against a blue sky, made a procession around the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River, recalling the fanfare around America’s 200th anniversary in 1976.

The 43 ships were followed by a display of aerial might with a stealth bomber and the Navy's Blue Angels. Patrouille de France, the French Air Force's acrobatic teams, flew over New York Harbor with their red, white and blue trails, evoking images of the American flag.

“We got up early and just rode our bikes about a mile down here to come see the scene,” said Oona Moore, a Jersey City, New Jersey, resident who took in the New York festivities. “We saw the tall ships and we saw the planes, you know, all different manner of military aircraft. I’ve never seen it so close and in the sky at the same time.”

At George Washington's Mount Vernon, people took the Oath of Allegiance to become U.S. citizens. They stood with eyes closed and hands over hearts for the national anthem.

In Phoenix, Steven Dortch, 25, and his brother JayLn Dortch, 23, gathered at Granada Park to try to forge a new July 4 cookout tradition. JayLn Dortch said young people in the U.S. give him hope by thinking for themselves and not taking the words from older people at face value.

He said the country needs to keep in mind the everyday, hardworking people who “keep America going.”

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This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the last name of a holiday visitor to Washington. It is Jennifer Koshko, not Koskho.

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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix, Emily Wang in New York, Luis Andres Henao in Philadelphia, Kristie Rieken in Houston, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Va., Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, S.C., Safiyah Riddle in Los Angeles and Jesse Bedayn, Anna Johnson, Will Weissert and Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.

Two others were injured in the attack on northern Crimea, including one in a serious condition, the Russia-installed regional Gov. Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram. He did not give details of the attack.

In recent weeks Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on key infrastructure targets in Crimea as Kyiv’s military seeks to isolate the vital Russian-held peninsula in the latest stage of the war.

The peninsula was seized by force and illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. Ukraine’s increasing use of long-range strikes has highlighted its ability to inflict painful damage on Russia and put added pressure on the Kremlin while Moscow’s advances recently have ground to a near halt, Western analysts and officials say.

The latest attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Trump on ending the war.

Writing on X, Zelenskyy said he called to congratulate Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and that the two leaders discussed the situation along the front line.

“There is a real prospect of ending this war, and America’s determination will be crucial. We agreed to continue the conversation in person during the NATO summit in Ankara,” he said late Saturday.

The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump discussed the conflict in Ukraine in a “constructive” phone call on Saturday.

Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that Putin congratulated Trump and the American people on the 250th anniversary of America’s independence during the call that lasted nearly an hour and half, their fourth conversation so far this year.

Ushakov said that Trump reaffirmed his “readiness to help achieve a quick cessation of hostilities and search for peaceful solutions to settle the crisis” in Ukraine, while Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will continue mediation efforts and stand ready to visit Moscow.

The Kremlin adviser said Putin once again emphasized Russia’s “preference for a diplomatic settlement of the conflict, provided that Russia’s well-known, fundamental positions are taken into account.”

At the same time, Putin charged that Kyiv and its European allies are “betting on prolonging, and even escalating the conflict,” arguing that “the European ‘party of war’ proceeds from a flawed perception of the overall situation and the state of things along the line of contact,” Ushakov said.

He added that Putin told Trump about the “real situation on the battlefield, where Russian armed forces are confidently advancing, liberating one settlement after another.”

The Russian leader specifically mentioned the capture of the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostyantynivka, describing it as a key step toward the “liberation” of the entire Donetsk region.

Kyiv has denied the Russian claim of capturing Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s General Staff reiterated that the embattled city remains under Ukrainian control in a statement on Telegram on Sunday, a day after Zelenskyy said that Russia's claim to have taken control was “just another Russian lie.”

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

The game at the iconic North Side ballpark was delayed by fog for 15 minutes after the sixth inning. The Cardinals led 2-0 when play was stopped, then went on to win their third straight.

The crowd of 38,872 joined in singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as the delay began. The early 1970s hit song has re-emerged during the World Cup soccer tournament, with U.S. players joining tens of thousands of fans in singing it at the end of matches.

The rare Saturday night game at Wrigley started an hour late due to rain, then fog billowed in from the north starting in the second inning and got denser.

The visibility became so poor that players said they would lose sight of the ball. They struggled and called out tracking fly balls, but there were no misplays.

“Yeah, that was brutal,” Cubs All-Star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. "I've never seen anything like that so, I’ll just leave it at that. It was reminiscent of when like I was kid playing rec ball, soccer and stuff like that. Yes, you could see the ball hitting the bat, then not so much."

Crow-Armstrong, a Gold Glove winner last season, somehow caught Masyn Winn's deep fly for the second out of the sixth. He drifted to the edge of the warning track, then dropped to one knee to do it.

“I don't know how he saw my ball, to be honest with you,” Winn said. “When the ball was getting above the lights, I just thought it disappeared. I was crazy to me.”

Winn, the Cardinals shortstop, said he had a tough time seeing on the field.

“Right when they hit it, you could see kind of the direction of where the ball was going” Winn said. "And you know, as soon as it touched, like light level, it was gone. It was weird.

“At first I was like, ‘Oh this is pretty damn cool.' It felt like this was a sick game to play on July 4. But by the end of it, I was, like, ‘This is crazy.’ Nobody could see anything.”

Winn said Cardinals left fielder Lars Nootbar told him he couldn't see the hitters. Nootbar went on to catch Dansby Swanson's drive against the wall for the final out of the seventh after the fog subsided.

Nootbar said he thought Swanson's ball was headed to the stands for a two-run homer, but the wind that had pushed the fog into the ballpark kept Swanson's fly inside as well.

“I'm glad they didn't put more balls in the air, because we probably would have been in some trouble,” Winn said.

The umpires conferred with St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol and Chicago’s Craig Counsell after the sixth. Then the delay was announced on video boards as the result of “weather in the area.”

Marmol said it was the right call.

“There was a point there where no one on the field could see where the ball in play was,” Marmol said. "Thankfully we got a groundball to short with some punch-outs involved, because it would have been very circus-like otherwise.

“So good job pausing the game, letting (the fog) go through and then continuing, because that was different.”

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

Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri arrived in Los Angeles and “is finally reunited with his family,” Frances Hui of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation wrote on X.

He and 17 other leaders of the underground Zion Church were detained in October in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades, raising worries over an escalation in the government’s curtailing of religious freedom.

A family statement said Jin's release happened very quickly. It thanked Trump and said they know the release could not have happened without Xi’s direct intervention.

“We hope this is a signal of a positive turn for people of faith in China and relations between our two nations,” the statement said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jin’s case gained attention after Trump, on the way home from a state visit to Beijing in May, said he raised with Xi the detentions of both the pastor and that of imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai.

“He said he’s gonna strongly consider the pastor,” Trump told reporters on his flight. But, he said, Xi told him that Lai's case “would be a tough one.”

The 78-year-old Lai, a former clothing magnate and publisher of a Hong Kong tabloid critical of Beijing, received a 20-year sentence in February.

Activists welcomed Jin's release but also remembered other church leaders still being held.

“At least 8 members of Zion Church remain detained in China,” Maya Wang from Human Rights Watch wrote on X. “They should all be freed.”

The Zion Church is among the largest underground or house churches in China that are unregistered with authorities. They defy a requirement that believers worship only in registered congregations.

The ruling Communist Party, which is officially atheist, views organized religion as a potential threat to its hold on power. Under Xi, Chinese authorities have pushed to “Sinicize” religion by demanding loyalty to the party.

“My father started Zion in order to worship freely in a church that put God as the sole head of our church, like many faithful Christians everywhere,” his daughter Grace Jin Drexel, who lives in the United States, told a congressional committee in November.

Jin brought his family to the U.S. after authorities targeted Zion Church in 2018 but decided to go back despite the risks. His daughter said last fall that she hadn't seen her father in six years.

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

The annual event transformed Eleanor Tinsley Park into a showcase of American traditions, complete with patriotic displays, live music, food and fireworks.

FIFA creates more than soccer memories

For Houston resident Michael Bradley, seeing visitors embrace the celebration has been one of the most rewarding parts of the holiday.

“Seeing all the people from around the world... it’s really been an eye opening event... to see people come in with different perspectives and they’re just so thankful for the way that people treated them. It’s just really been a really wholesome wake up call.”

Bradley said FIFA has created an opportunity for Houstonians to share their city and their culture with people from across the globe.

‘It’s historical’

Among those visitors was Aaron Van Leer of Belgium, who traveled to the United States for the World Cup. His first trip to America happened to coincide with the nation’s 250th Independence Day celebration.

Van Leer said the milestone carries a significance that extends beyond U.S. borders.

“It’s historical, I guess, because, you know, for a country that’s only 250 years old, they have so much rich history... some countries, they have like 10,000 years, and they have not accomplished, not even a tenth of what the United States have been able to... so yeah, just historical in itself.”

A stop in Houston for Independence Day

Visitors from Germany also adjusted their travel plans to experience Houston’s Fourth of July festivities.

“We come one day earlier to see the big party to Independence Day... The fireworks... and the people in the stars and stripes here, it is amazing,” said Heiko, who was visiting with her husband.

Houston on the world stage

Bradley said international events like FIFA are creating opportunities for cultural exchange that extend well beyond the matches themselves.

“The soccer games have really brought this energy... everyone’s actually coming together... it’s nice to see everyone repping the red, white and blue... it’s just a good vibe out here.”

For many visitors, the World Cup may have been the reason they came to Houston.

But as America celebrated its 250th birthday, they left with more than memories of soccer. They experienced American traditions firsthand while Houston welcomed the world for one of the nation’s biggest Independence Day celebrations.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout earned his 12th All-Star selection and first since 2023 based on the second round of fan balloting announced Saturday by Major League Baseball. Trout, who grew up near Philadelphia in Millville, New Jersey, was voted by fans to start for the 11th time and hopes to return from a strained right hamstring sustained June 17.

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., among four All-Stars from the American League champion Toronto Blue Jays, said he will skip the July 14 game at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park to rest a bad back that has bothered him for much of the season.

“Those four days will be great,” Guerrero said through a translator, “to come back strong in the second half.”

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, elected to his eighth start, will miss the game because of a broken rib that has sidelined him since May.

Skenes, the NL starter in the last two All-Star Games, is scheduled to pitch for Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Sunday. The 24-year-old right-hander is 0-6 in his last nine starts, dropping to 6-8 with a 3.62 ERA for the season. He was voted in by players, as was Misiorowski.

“To be honest, probably a little surprised,” Skenes said of his selection.

Misiorowski, averaging 100.4 mph with his fastball and leading the major leagues with a 1.47 ERA, was an All-Star last year after just five big league games.

“This year I think I proved that it wasn’t a fluke thing and that I do belong. It’s really cool,” he said before Saturday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

He also is scheduled to start Sunday.

“We’re looking for September, October,” he said Friday. “It sucks — obviously I want to throw in a game like that — but so be it.”

Ohtani, a three-time, two-way All-Star and six-time pick overall, is unlikely to pitch in the game because of a right biceps issue that will push his last prebreak start to next weekend, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Freddie Freeman became a 10-time All-Star when the LA first baseman was announced Sunday with Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy and outfielder Andy Pages as winners in the second phase on fan voting, which ran from June 29 to Thursday. They joined Ohtani, who won the NL designated hitter spot by finishing with the most votes in the initial round of fan selection announced June 25.

In the closest race, Pages edged Atlanta's Michael Harris II by fewer than 5,000 votes for the third NL outfield spot.

Four Dodgers were elected to start for the first time since Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Reggie Smith in 1980. World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto was picked for the NL pitching staff by Major League Baseball with one of its six selections, giving the Dodgers five or more All-Stars for the seventh straight time.

Twenty-six first-time All-Stars were among the 64 players picked including four rookies: Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana, Detroit shortstop Kevin McGonigle, Cleveland left-hander Parker Messick and Cincinnati third baseman Sal Stewart.

McGonigle is the youngest player at 21 and Boston closer Aroldis Chapman at 38 is the oldest.

Atlanta and the host Phillies each have five All-Stars.

Philadelphia outfielder Brandon Marsh was elected to start and will be joined by four fellow Phillies: first baseman Bryce Harper, DH Kyle Schwarber, reliever Jhoan Duran and left-hander Cristopher Sánchez. Harper was a legend pick added by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin and second baseman Ozzie Albies were voted in as starters and will be joined by left-hander Chris Sale, a 10-time All-Star, and closer Raisel Iglesias.

Toronto has four, with Guerrero joined by second baseman Ernie Clement, who led AL players in the first phase of voting from June 3-25, and pitchers Dylan Cease and Louis Varland.

“Our fan support is unlike any other team, obviously, because of the country backing you,” said Toronto's John Schneider, the AL manager. “Not just Canada — I think a lot of baseball people really recognized how those guys play the game.”

Elected AL starters also include Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers; Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.; Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero; Houston designated hitter Yordan Alvarez; and the New York Yankees' Judge and Minnesota's Byron Buxton in the outfield.

Guerrero will be replaced in the starting lineup by the Athletics' Nick Kurtz and Judge by Yankees teammate Cody Bellinger. Replacements are based on player, manager and coach voting.

Bellinger earned his third All-Star selection but first since 2019.

“That’s going to be cool. Last time I had no kids or family or anything," he said.

NL starters also include New York Mets outfielder Juan Soto and Washington shortstop CJ Abrams.

MLB had in previous years announced starters first, then pitchers and reserves several days later.

Other AL pitchers elected by players include Boston's Chapman, Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen, Minnesota's Joe Ryan, Yankees' Cam Schlittler, Cleveland's Cade Smith. Other NL pitchers voted in by players include Cincinnati's Chase Burns and San Diego's Mason Miller.

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AP freelance writers Larry Fleisher and Patrick Stevens contributed to this report.

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

Mexico boasts an incredible record in official matches at Estadio Azteca. Since the venue opened in 1966, the national team has suffered just two defeats there, the latter of which was over a decade ago against Honduras in September 2013.

“The stadium is a monster; that explains the high number of wins and draws, and the few losses — which were just accidents,” said Hugo Sánchez, the striker who played in the 1986 World Cup and now works as an ESPN analyst. “We approach this with optimism because we know it’s England, but if we play the way we did against Ecuador, we can beat them.”

The numbers back up the myth. Across the 1970, 1986, and current World Cups on home soil, Mexico has played 10 matches at Azteca, winning eight and drawing two. In this tournament alone, El Tri has secured three home wins without conceding a goal: 2-0 against South Africa and 3-0 against Czech Republic in the group stage, and 2-0 against Ecuador in the Round of 32. Mexico also defeated South Korea 1-0 in Guadalajara in the group stage.

It's the first time Mexico has started a World Cup by winning four consecutive matches.

“We have played three World Cups in Mexico; it is hard for me to say if it is (the biggest match). In 1970 we played Italy for the semifinals, in '86 we played Germany also for the semifinals,” Mexico coach Javier Aguirre said Saturday. “There have been several important matches in history and tomorrow is certainly one of them.”

Breaking the curse

These results have ignited the hopes of millions of Mexicans, many of whom weren’t even born the last time the nation reached the quarterfinals. After achieving that feat in 1986, Mexico’s World Cup history became a psychological hurdle: It missed the 1990 tournament, followed by seven consecutive, agonizing Round of 16 exits before failing to escape the group stage four years ago in Qatar.

“I’m one of those who couldn’t make it through; it happened to me in South Africa and Korea,” said Aguirre, who coached El Tri during those campaigns. “It’s deeply painful because you play a great group stage, only to be knocked out for a variety of reasons.”

Mexico's eliminations comprise a catalog of heartbreaks, including a penalty shootout loss to Bulgaria in 1994 when Aguirre was an assistant coach under Miguel Mejía Barón and defeats in 1998 and 2014 to Germany and the Netherlands when El Tri squandered late leads in the final minutes.

“We will be facing a top-four team in the world according to FIFA, a world champion in '66 and one country with a great league,” Aguirre said. “In order to beat them, we need to do a nearly perfect match and to be better than what we’ve been so far.”

Now, the script could flip. At Azteca — which sits 7,300 feet (2,200 meters) above sea level — Mexico will rely heavily on the altitude and the backing of a ferocious home crowd, as it did in the group stage.

“England is one of the great national teams in the history of football, with outstanding players. We all agreed that we wanted a match like this,” midfielder Alvaro Fidalgo said Saturday. “We are in great form, the Azteca is an intimidating venue, and ultimately, it’s a World Cup Round of 16 match. That’s never easy for anyone.”

The English challenge

England enters the knockout stage fresh off a 2-1 victory over Congo, powered by a pair of goals from star striker Harry Kane. Kane headlines an elite English squad that reached the quarterfinals at the last World Cup before falling to eventual finalist France.

A victory for the Three Lions would send them to the quarterfinals for the sixth time in their history — and the third consecutive time — keeping alive the dream of a title that has eluded them since 1966.

On paper, England holds the clear advantage in talent, led by Premier League standouts, whereas Mexico’s spearhead is Julián Quiñones, the top scorer in the Saudi League.

“We have very experienced players who play in the toughest leagues and the biggest clubs in the world. We all know these games from Champions League matches where you play up against, against the energy of a stadium and that we are prepared for that,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said Saturday. “We are prepared for strong start of the Mexican team. I guess they will they will try to give us a taste of intensity.”

However, the playing conditions could serve as the ultimate equalizer.

England arrived in the northern part of Mexico City on Friday night, a mere two days before kickoff. Sports scientists and altitude experts generally recommend two options for high-altitude competition: Arrive weeks in advance for full acclimatization or fly in as close as possible to kickoff. By choosing a 48-hour window, England has entered the dead zone experts warn against.

“We feel it. Even if we don’t train, we feel it. I felt a slight headache. And in the hotel room through the day, didn’t sleep as well as the days before, but nothing that you cannot handle,” Tuchel said. “It’s just what it is. We cannot physically adapt. It’s just impossible. But we are here one day before to experience it, at least to not have all the first time experience in the warm-up.”

To compound the strain, passionate Mexican fans are already plotting psychological warfare. Hundreds are expected to converge on England’s hotel to disrupt players' sleep — a tactic deployed against Ecuador, when fans used loudspeakers, drums and revving motorcycles into the early-morning hours.

England is attempting to remain unfazed.

“We had no issues last night. I think FIFA took care of the situation. And we have security around the hotel, so we expect a good night of sleep,” Tuchel said. “I don’t want to talk about problems that don’t exist yet.”

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Mbappé stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, beating Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill in the 70th minute to break a scoreless tie. France's captain was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review.

“I've said from the first day that he had the spirit. He gave all the athletic efforts,” France coach Didier Deschamps said after Les Bleus won 1-0. “He’s a great top-notch player on the pitch. But when he speaks, he speaks for the entire group.”

It was the seventh goal of this tournament for Mbappé, matching Messi in the race for the Golden Boot for the World Cup's top scorer. Mbappé won that award four years ago in Qatar, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups. On Saturday, he endured against perhaps the most physical opponent he's faced in this tournament.

Tempers flared in the first half when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

After Mbappé ignored Gill's attempt at a postgame handshake, the goalkeeper threw a ball at the France star's back.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be. We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it,” Mbappé said in French. “We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready. Even at that kind of game, we were better than them. That’s their style of football. There’s no right or wrong way to play the game. They tried to beat us that way, but we won.”

And the victory cleared the way for Mbappé to continue chasing Messi's career goals mark.

Messi scored his 20th career World Cup goal in Argentina's 3-2 win over Cape Verde on Friday night. The 39-year-old great also has goals in a record eight consecutive World Cup games.

Norway's Erling Haaland and England's Harry Kane are next in the Golden Boot race with five goals each.

If there’s a tie in the Golden Boot standings when the tournament ends, FIFA will use assists as the first tiebreaker and fewest minutes played as the second tiebreaker. Mbappé has a 2-0 lead over Messi in assists.

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After the final whistle, Mbappé kept on walking and left Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill hanging as Gill extended his right hand in a show of sportsmanship.

In response, Gill thew the ball right at the No. 10 on Mbappé's jersey.

Mbappé got the last laugh as he scored his 19th career World Cup goal, and France survived stifling heat to beat Paraguay 1-0 on Saturday, sending Les Bleus into the quarterfinals for the fourth straight time.

“We knew what kind of match it was going to be,” Mbappé said in French. “We can also get our hands dirty, we know how to do it. We know how to play ugly football. Guess they were thinking we were going to show up in tuxedos, but we were ready.”

France advanced to play Morocco on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts. France beat Morocco 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

With an extreme heat warning in effect throughout the match as temperatures hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), Mbappé finally broke through against a physical, defensive-minded Paraguay side when he converted a penalty kick in the 70th minute.

That was enough for Les Bleus, whose red, white and blue-clad fans looked plenty patriotic on July Fourth in the city where the United States was founded exactly 250 years earlier.

Mbappé was awarded the penalty when Diego Gomez was called for tripping after a video review. Then he stutter-stepped on his way to his 19th goal in 19 World Cup appearances, one behind career record holder Lionel Messi of Argentina. Mbappé and Messi each have seven goals in this tournament to top the Golden Boot race.

Mbappé won that award four years ago, but Messi and Argentina beat France in the final.

Mbappé — who frequently trash-talked the Paraguayans in Spanish — is now the only player to score at least three goals in the knockout stage of three World Cups.

Mbappé botched a breakaway attempt in the second half, and Manu Koné had his top-corner shot knocked away by Gill after he was wiped out in the netting by Ousmane Dembélé only moments earlier.

Gill also stopped two strong attempts by Mbappé in second-half stoppage time.

The 26-year-old Gill had bested German great Manuel Neuer in a penalty shootout in the previous round. He then lost his cool after the loss to France when he chucked the ball at Mbappé.

“I tried to shake his hand, but since he didn’t pay me any attention, I lost my temper,” Gill said. “But anyway, that was all I did; I calmed down afterward.”

For the criticism that hydration breaks have watered down the pace of play at the World Cup, they were never more needed for the players than in the midst of a miserable heat wave. Sprinklers showered the Kentucky bluegrass field during the breaks and at halftime.

“Given our style of play, it was harder to give high intensity,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.

More than in any of the five other World Cup games played before 68,000-plus fans at Lincoln Financial Field, spectators fled for the concourse at halftime, seeking shade and refuge from the sun.

Maybe they were looking for some action of any kind.

Les Bleus scored 13 goals in the first five games of the tournament but were stymied in the first half by a Paraguay team trying to turn the match into a rock fight. Tempers flared when Andrés Cubas took down Mbappé and the teams briefly pushed and shoved each other. Matías Galarza also threw his right elbow into Mbappé and sent him crashing to the grass.

Paraguay advanced by beating Germany in a penalty shootout on Monday, the biggest upset of this World Cup. But after a gritty effort by La Albirroja, it's France that's moving on.

After defeating Croatia for the 2018 title, France lost to Argentina on penalty kicks in the 2022 final. Les Bleus are 5-0 in this year’s tournament, outscoring opponents 14-2.

“As I said to the players, we’ve had easy games so far, so it is good to have a tough one,” Deschamps said.

The city soaked in the moment as the 250th anniversary of American independence was celebrated. More fans honored America — draped in flags or wearing Uncle Sam hats as they tailgated in the parking lot — than at any of the other games in Philadelphia, and Idina Menzel, The Roots and DJ Jazzy Jeff all performed.

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Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 win over Canada in the Round of 16 Saturday to make the country the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.

“We are no longer a surprise,” Ouahbi said through an interpreter. “Now when people talk about Morocco we’re a major contender and it’s a great source of pride. I think it’s only the beginning and I hope we continue to have runs like this.”

And despite already making history in this World Cup, Morocco has much higher goals.

“We want to keep going,” Ouahbi said. “We don’t want to stop.”

It’s Morocco’s second straight appearance in the final eight after becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in 2022.

“We are so proud to represent Africa because it’s a continent with a lot of talent and Africa deserves to be in the best level in football,” goalkeeper Yassine Bounou said.

Neither team was able to break through until Ounahi took a free kick from Achraf Hakimi and made a right-footed shot through traffic from outside the box to the bottom right corner to put Morocco on top 1-0 in the 50th minute.

Ounahi made it 2-0 on a right-footed shot from the middle of the box off a pass from Brahim Díaz in the 82nd minute.

Soufiane Rahimi added a goal in the final minute of stoppage time.

Morocco will meet France, which beat Paraguay later Saturday, on Thursday in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The loss ends a historic run for World Cup co-host Canada, which won its first-ever knockout round game, beating South Africa 1-0 to reach Saturday’s match. The country was playing in the World Cup for just the third time and the run enchanted a nation that is normally far more interested in hockey than the pitch.

Canada coach Jesse Marsch shared his postgame message to the team.

“I told them that I was proud of them and I challenged them to understand that we can play like this all the time against the best teams in the world,” he said. “We can be better on the day. And then the challenge is, can we hold that standard for 90 minutes?”

Morocco, No. 7 in the FIFA rankings entering the tournament, dispatched the Netherlands in a penalty shootout to reach the Round of 16 and send the country to its earliest World Cup exit.

Marsch lauded how his team performed against a squad of Morocco's caliber and how Canada controlled the match for much of the day.

“The way we pushed, the way we were in the match, the quality we showed, the overall impact in the match, we were better,” he said. “We were better than the No. 7 team in the world today.”

Ouahbi had a strong response when told of those comments.

“In terms of intensity they were good,” he said. “They were good for 98 minutes. Were they better? It’s hard to say. It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-nil.”

Canada had a couple of chances to score late. Jonathan David had a free kick from outside the box in the 78th minute, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Just after that, Tajon Buchanan’s shot from about 30 yards was stopped with a diving save from Bounou. Bounou, who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents, had three saves.

The victory set off a huge celebration for Morocco's fans back home.

Within minutes, thousands poured into the streets of Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city. Horns echoed as supporters climbed onto car roofs, waving flags and chanting.

Traffic ground to a halt along the Corniche Boulevard, one of the city’s main avenues, where ecstatic Atlas Lions supporters danced, set off fireworks and waved flares. Other major boulevards across Casablanca were also jammed with jubilant fans.

Canada reached the Round of 16 despite missing star Alphonso Davies for the majority of the tournament because of a hamstring injury. The Bayern Munich player logged only 15 minutes as a substitute in the victory over South Africa but wasn't available Saturday.

“His hamstring didn’t feel right,” Marsch said. “We were hoping that by the time he woke up this morning that he would feel better, but he didn’t.”

This game was a rematch from the last World Cup when Morocco beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage. Morocco went on to finish fourth.

It was an extremely physical match with eight yellow cards being issued. Both teams received four.

Hakimi and Canada’s Richie Laryea received yellow cards in the 40th minute. Hakimi shoved Laryea to the ground and then Laryea pushed him and a minor scuffle ensued.

Morocco midfielder Ismael Saibari left with an injury in the 22nd minute.

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Associated Press writer Akram Oubachir in Casablanca, Morocco, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff's deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.

Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff's office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers.

Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff's office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.

A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse.

As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.

That same year he was attacked and severely beaten with a hammer at the couple's San Francisco home.

The sun beat down and the well-dressed crowd was a flutter of paddle fans stamped with American flags. Their families clung to the shade of the trees on either side, where one woman had two American flags stuck through her ponytail.

“Well, good morning, everybody,” said Anne Neal Petri, the regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.

“Good morning!” an excited crowd returned.

“And Happy Birthday, United States of America!” exclaimed Petri.

There were 150 people from 50 globe-spanning countries sitting in front of the small stage as they prepared to be sworn in as U.S. citizens on the July Fourth holiday and America's 250th birthday. Among them was U.S. Marine Sgt. Diakaria Sangare from Guinea, who attended in his pressed Dress Blue uniform with three medals pinned to his left breast.

Sangare had served two deployments, and, like all assembled, had gone through the long citizenship process: The test, interviews, green cards and biometrics. Others in the crowd, it was said, came from countries bathed in violence. Some fled persecution.

After a speech about Washington, the crowd was asked to rise for the national anthem.

They did. Their hats came off and their hands covered their hearts. The paddle fans calmed.

The singer belted the words: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there” — as Sangare held his right hand in a rigid salute, his face sober.

As the song concluded, the soon-to-be citizens clapped and returned to their seats, while another speaker asked them to stand and remain standing when their country was called.

“Albania.”

A woman in the front row with long black hair rose with a broad grin, a small U.S. flag in her hand.

“Bangladesh.”

A man in a black shirt stood. The Albanian woman, looking back, beamed at him.

It went on for 50 countries, through China and El Salvador and Iraq and Mongolia, as people stood, sometimes smiling, sometimes sedate.

At “Morocco,” a man in the back thrusts his fists in the air in support. A young boy looked up at him and then did the same, a little flag in his fist.

Then the crowd, with hands raised, recited an Oath of Allegiance, not so different from the oath Washington signed in 1778.

“Congratulations,” they were told. “You just became U.S. citizens.”

There was applause and laughter, then the Pledge of Allegiance. Sangare, his hand now over his heart, closed his eyes for a moment.

Nearby stood a tulip poplar tree, planted at Washington’s direction 250 years ago, that had lived through America's history.

The next speaker, historian Douglas Bradburn, pointed it out in his speech before the day's special guest.

“All the stories that are part of you, now become American stories,” said Bradburn. “When people ask me what are American people like, I now can talk about you, and your stories.”

“The second side of that is that, now, all America’s stories, and our history, are your stories. The father of your country is George Washington.”

The first president, it turned out, was the next speaker.

As he was introduced, the re-enactor stood by a massive draped American flag, a sword scabbard on his hip. Then he donned the stage, doffed his cap to the audience, and began to speak.

“Today the name of ‘American’ belongs to you every bit as much as it does to me,” he said. He spoke to their arduous journeys to this point and their histories, now merged with America.

“So, my fellow Americans, to you, I say simply: ‘Welcome home’.”

Afterward, Sangare, the U.S. Marine, posed for a portrait, hands clasped in front of him, holding the American flag paddle fan, his Marine cap slightly askew.

“I just became a United States citizen,” he said, his emotions pushing out in an earnest smile.

____ Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.

Instead, she used one that also doubled as a basketball court.

“There would be the basketball hoops, so I couldn’t really step back a lot because then I would hit the basketball hoop,” Eala said.

The 21-year-old Eala found Centre Court at Wimbledon a bit more accommodating Saturday when she beat defending champion Iga Swiatek 7-6 (9), 6-2 in the third round at the grass-court major and made some history in the process.

Eala is the first Filipino player, male or female, to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam singles tournament.

The left-handed Eala dropped to her knees and rolled onto her back after hitting a forehand winner on her third match point.

“It’s incredible to have my countrymen cheering me on and knowing that we’re all in this together,” she said in an on-court interview as she looked around at the Philippines flags.

“This goes out to them, this goes out to my family, this goes out to all the little girls with ruffled socks and chubby cheeks. It means the world,” said the 29th-seeded Eala, who saved two set points in the first-set tiebreaker.

The third-seeded Swiatek earned her first Wimbledon women’s title a year ago when she beat Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

“I felt like Alexandra was more brave in important moments,” Swiatek said Saturday. “In the tiebreak we both had many chances to close the set earlier, and it didn’t go my way.”

Eala, who has trained in Mallorca at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy, gained worldwide support last year on her breakthrough run to the Miami Open semifinals, which included an upset of Swiatek.

She next faces 13th-seeded Jasmine Paolini for a spot in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

2022 champion Rybakina also out

Shortly before Swiatek's exit, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was upset in the third round by Elise Mertens 7-6 (4), 6-1.

At No. 2, Rybakina is the highest seed on the women’s side to be eliminated. Her loss ensures that Aryna Sabalenka — who faces Naomi Osaka in the fourth round on Sunday — will keep her No. 1 ranking after the tournament.

Belgium’s Mertens is the No. 25 seed at Wimbledon, where she’s won two doubles titles. She will next face 21st-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic.

Keys, Fritz shine on 4th of July

In another upset, Madison Keys rallied to oust the sixth-seeded Anisimova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an all-American contest on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

The 26th-seeded Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion, was asked how she'll celebrate the U.S. holiday.

“I have no plans,” she told the Centre Court crowd after her victory. “When you're not in the States, it's just kind of another day.”

Keys will next play ninth-seeded Linda Noskova.

Ashlyn Krueger, another American, has come through qualifying to reach the fourth round. She beat Ukraine's Daria Snigur 6-3, 6-2 and will face another Ukrainian — 12th-seeded Marta Kostyuk — for a spot in the quarterfinals.

The only American man to reach the last 16 is Taylor Fritz, who beat Lorenzo Sonego 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) on No. 2 Court. The sixth-seeded Fritz next faces Alexander Bublik, who beat American Frances Tiafoe in five sets.

Grigor Dimitrov outlasted Matteo Berrettini in another five-setter to set up a fourth-round match against fellow wild card Arthur Fery — the last British player left in either men's or women's singles.

French Open champion Alexander Zverev, the No. 2 seed, got past American Marcos Giron 6-2, 7-6 (4), 6-4 to set up a fourth-round match against 13th-seeded Jiri Lehecka.

Ninth-seeded Flavio Cobolli — the runner-up at Roland Garros — overcame a slow start against Karen Khachanov to win 0-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 and will face No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur in the fourth round.

Cobolli said he felt ill during the first set because he ate “a little bit too close from the match. Just wasn’t fine. I try to vomit in the first set. They give me some pills that helped me a lot.”

Serena and Venus withdraw from doubles

Serena Williams withdrew from her doubles match with sister Venus due to a right knee injury. The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier this week.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion said in an Instagram post that she was “heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles.”

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

While the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with rallies, parties and fireworks, the U.S.-born pope traveled to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to pray at a migrant cemetery and celebrate a solemn Mass for the island's residents and newest arrivals. Later on Saturday, he got into the July 4 spirit with a visit to the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, a rarity for popes who usually don't call on ambassadors. The U.S. Embassy said Burch gave Leo a commemorative baseball, an apple pie and a U.S. World Cup jersey.

Leo confirmed he was rooting for the U.S. team, the Embassy wrote on X, adding that the two discussed “American efforts to pursue peace, religious freedom and the need for moral clarity and courage around the world.”

A treeless strip of rock 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long, Lampedusa is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the main port of entry into Europe for hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed by boat from Libya or Tunisia, often smuggled by human traffickers.

Leo met with some migrants at the port and then walked alone onto the jagged jetty rocks, the wind whipping his cassock and blowing his zucchetto skullcap off as he looked out to the sea. He then blessed a plaque dedicating the dock to Pope Francis, who visited in 2013, before celebrating Mass on land.

“This is a place where gestures speak louder than words,” Leo said. “But for gestures to be human, they need a heart.”

In making the visit on this particular Saturday, Leo was sending a powerfully symbolic message to the United States and Europe of the Christian obligation to uphold the dignity of every human being, migrants and the most vulnerable especially, while reminding the United States that it was founded by immigrants.

In a letter sent to Americans on the July 4 anniversary, Leo insisted that protecting the unborn and all human life also means “welcoming, protecting and assisting immigrants, whose hopes, sacrifices and contribution have formed part of the history of this country from its very beginning.”

“To receive them with compassion and generosity is not only an act of charity, but also a recognition of the dignity that belongs to every human person,” Leo wrote.

A tiny island becomes Ground Zero for European migration

In recent years, Lampedusa has become Ground Zero of Europe’s migration debate as the continent struggles to police its borders while honoring its legal obligations to welcome refugees fleeing conflict, climate change and poverty.

In his homily, Leo thanked the residents of Lampedusa for the “miracle of compassion” they have shown in welcoming migrants and urged Europe to rise to the challenge of the moment and assume its responsibility.

“Indeed, before any intellectual consideration or ideological conviction, the encounter with those who lie before us, stripped of everything, calls us to be close to them,” Leo said, wearing vestments decorated with images of waves.

Preaching from “this far-flung corner of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea,” Leo urged European leaders to address the migration phenomenon in a comprehensive way, integrating immediate relief with a long-term strategies to receive, protect, support and integrate migrants while developing their home countries so no one is forced to migrate.

“Here you have seen not just one, but thousands of human beings fallen into the hands of robbers who have taken everything from them, beat them brutally and walked away, leaving them half-dead,” he said.

Others have died making the voyage, he said, “yet we feel their presence, which challenges us no less than that of those who have landed in need of attention and aid.”

The number of migrants arriving in Italy so far this year is significantly lower than in recent years, with the Interior Ministry reporting 14,464 arrivals as of Friday compared with 30,598 in the same period last year and 26,202 in 2024.

At the same time, the International Organization of Migration has recorded more than 35,000 missing migrants in the Mediterranean since 2014, though the actual number of dead is believed to be far higher given the untold number of “invisible” shipwrecks that are never recorded.

Leo has strongly emphasized the need to uphold the dignity of migrants, especially amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation program in his native Chicago. But he has also directed his message to Europe’s Christian leaders.

Last month, Leo visited another European migration hot spot, in Spain’s Canary Islands, to shame leaders who turn migrants away indifferently while also warning people smugglers they will face God’s wrath for exploiting the desperation of migrants.

Leo honors the dignity of the dead and recalls Francis

After arriving in Lampedusa by plane, Leo paid homage to the dead at the island’s migrant cemetery, laying a wreath of yellow and white flowers on their graves, marked by simple crosses made from the splintered wood of shipwrecked boats.

The gestures send a “strong message” of solidarity, said Tareke Brhane, a migrant from Eritrea and president of the Oct. 3 Committee, a nonprofit founded by relatives of victims of a 2013 shipwreck in Lampedusa that left 368 people dead.

“It is a strong sign for our battle with Italy and with Europe in order to register the deaths, because as of today we still do not have a registry (of those deceased),” he told The Associated Press.

Leo’s visit both honors the dead and “gives a message to the relatives, so many of them still waiting and suffering,” he said.

With his visit, Leo followed in the footsteps of Francis, who made the plight of migrants and refugees a priority of his pontificate. For the Catholic Church, welcoming and accompanying people fleeing hardship is part of the Gospel-mandated call to “welcome the stranger.”

Francis traveled to Lampedusa in July 2013, on his first trip outside Rome after his election. He tossed a wreath into the sea in memory of migrants who had died and denounced the “globalization of indifference” that the world shows migrants.

Salvatore Sortino, the IOM’s head of mission for Italy and Malta, said despite the decrease in arrivals, the number of dead had increased proportionally, “in the sense that the diminishing numbers of arrivals hasn’t resulted in a lower number of deaths at sea.”

“That speaks about the vulnerability that remains,” he said. “So the visit of the pope here, where all this happens, I think is a very important reminder of that element.”

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Winfield reported from Rome.

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

Why this photo?

As we enter the final rounds of the World Cup, The Associated Press has five photographers covering every match. Four are in different spots around the pitch at field level and one in an overhead position, called the “tribune.” That was me for Friday night’s game between Colombia and Ghana. During halftime an announcement was made for fans to scan a QR code shown on the stadium screens to take part in a light show. Since I also cover the Kansas City Chiefs there, and they do that occasionally, I knew what was coming. The stadium lights would flash on and off with music playing, and fans’ smartphones would also turn on and off.

⁠How I made this photo

I’m normally shooting a telephoto lens at either 400mm or 560mm for action, but have a second camera with a wide-angle lens for overall photos. Once they made that announcement, I grabbed the second camera, changed the settings for less light and waited for the right moment. With action I’m always shooting at over 1/1000 second to stop action, but for this I dropped the shutter speed to 1/80 second and braced the camera on the railing in front of me.

⁠Why it works

It’s rare for the lights to be off in a stadium during a night game, so that, paired with the tens of thousands of smartphone lights, created a scene few people ever see. For most of the light show, though, the stadium lights were just changing in brightness. There were only two brief moments the lights were completely off, and I waited for those. In photography, different is good, so I try to keep that in mind with every assignment I do. And this was very different.

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The funeral for Khamenei, who ruled Iran for decades before he was killed at age 86 in a Feb. 28 airstrike in the opening moments of the Iran war, could provide a boost for the country's theocracy and its new supreme leader, his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

That is important as Iran tries to leverage its hold on the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations with the U.S. over a permanent end to the war and as concern lingers that Israel could attack again. The funeral was delayed as the war raged, and talks appear to be on hold until it is over.

During the ceremony, Iran's top negotiator warned France and the U.K. over their comments about potentially launching joint patrols in the waterway, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime.

Mourners wept at the sight of Khamenei's coffin alongside those of his family members also killed in the airstrike, with some chanting: “Our word is one! Revenge! Revenge!” Some carried banners and flags. Billboards across the city bore Khamenei’s image. Crowds of men rhythmically beat their chests in mourning, a common practice at Shiite funerals.

“Imam Khamenei was our heart, our father, our everything,” mourner Masoumeh Mohammadi said. “I still can’t believe they martyred him. We will not rest until we avenge his death.”

Coffins on display at Grand Mosalla

An outdoor stage at the Grand Mosalla resembled the stage where Khamenei once gave his speeches at a husseiniyah, or congregation hall, at his compound in downtown Tehran. There was a chair like the one he once sat in while giving his sermons, complete with a microphone on a stand and a table next to it. Above it hung an image of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989.

Khomeini's funeral saw chaotic scenes as millions thronged his mourning ceremony and trip to the cemetery. Khamenei's death was only the second time Iran has lost a supreme leader since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

On Saturday, volunteers sprayed cooling water on crowds in the summer heat. Men and women congregated separately inside the Grand Mosalla after being checked by metal detectors and body searches. Police with assault rifles stood guard on surrounding streets. Many people stayed outside in the street, lounging under the shade of trees because the city had shut down.

The caskets of his dead family members sat beneath Khamenei's, which had his black turban atop it, identifying him as a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. The dead included the wife of Mojtaba Khamenei, whose possible appearance at the funeral remained unclear. He reportedly was wounded in the attack that killed his father and has not been seen publicly since the war began.

“We attended the funeral to show that we are all committed to defend our country and religion,” said one mourner, Ali Kazemi.

As sunset approached, the streams of people continued. “Authorities advised not to rush to the sites,” said a later visitor, Mohammad Barati. Mourners had also been advised not to stay too long, to allow others to come.

Funeral starts as US marks its 250th anniversary

Iran chose July 4, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the U.S., to begin the funeral. While authorities did not acknowledge the timing, crowds at the ceremony in Tehran chanted: “Death to America!” The refrain has been common in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis. They also cried: “Death to Israel!”

“We knocked the hell out of Iran,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a speech at the same time in South Dakota in front of Mount Rushmore. “They want to settle so badly. We gave them a week off for a funeral.”

The U.S. president was not forgotten in Tehran. In the crowd in Grand Mosalla, several mourners held a large flag that read: “#KillTrump.”

As the ceremony went on, Iran's chief negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi criticized a joint statement overnight from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron which suggested their militaries stood ready to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has suggested it wants to charge vessels passing through the strait, upending decades of it being widely considered an international waterway.

“The security of Hormuz lies with the coastal states — the crisis-makers will be held accountable for the consequences of their adventurism,” Gharibabadi wrote on X. “This is a serious warning.”

Khamenei to be buried in Mashhad

Khamenei’s body will be transported to cities in Iran and neighboring Iraq. Authorities have shut down streets, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which will end Thursday as he is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Khamenei's place of birth.

Authorities offered no immediate attendance count for the event Saturday. Other cities across Iran also held mourning ceremonies.

On Sunday, a prayer for the dead is planned at the Grand Mosalla. On Monday, Khamenei's body and those of his family will be taken through the streets of Tehran, which likely will draw large crowds.

“I am here to say goodbye to my beloved leader Ali Khamenei,” said a weeping Hananeh Mousavi, 27, who attended alongside her mother. “I never expected to see such a day. I wish I had died before this tragedy.”

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“My heart and soul are with them,” he said in an emotional postgame interview.

Egypt won its debut in the elimination round of the World Cup by beating Australia 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw in the round of 32 Friday.

The victory comes in Egypt’s fourth World Cup.

A video of Hassan on social media shows him walking around the pitch holding the flag as people chanted “Free, free Palestine!" The video went viral.

“It was the most significant scene,” Yahia Qalash, former head of Egypt’s Journalists’ Union, said of Hassan’s move. “It was a telling scene in an exceptional moment.”

The fate of more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, largely displaced and living amid ruins, remains uncertain after a war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel’s retaliation has killed a total of 73,066 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The war has sparked pro-Palestinian protests around the world, with some athletes also expressing solidarity.

Earlier this year, Lamine Yamal waved a Palestinian flag during celebrations of the Spanish league title. The act caused backlash from Israel's defense minister, who criticized Barcelona’s teenage star and said his action “incites hate.”

Hassan is not known to be religious or connected to any political group. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was adored by the youth, a street footballer who played in the slums.

He said Friday he was dedicating the game to the “good and noble” Egyptian and Palestinian people.

Asked about the Palestinian flag, FIFA said it is permitted to display it at the World Cup. There was no indication of any action being taken against Hassan.

“Flags representing all 211 FIFA Member Associations are permitted at FIFA tournaments, and supporters are welcome to display them in accordance with stadium regulations and the FIFA Stadium Code of Conduct," the governing body told The Associated Press in a statement.

The Palestine Football Association is one of FIFA's member organizations.

In other contexts, FIFA has previously sought to restrict what it sees as political statements on the pitch.

During the Qatar World Cup in 2022, some European teams were prevented from wearing armbands in support of the “One Love” campaign, an international anti-discrimination initiative.

During Iran's matches in this World Cup, some Iranian Americans in Los Angeles sought to display the country's pre-revolutionary flag and block a FIFA ban on that flag. They lost in court, and the ban was upheld.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

• Houston’s Fourth of July guide: everything you need to know for America’s 250th celebration

The legendary warship helped launch the island’s America250 festivities with ceremonial whistle blasts and gun salutes, followed by a 200-drone show and fireworks that lit up the sky over Pier 21.

For many Texans, Battleship Texas is a rare, tangible link to the state’s role in U.S. military history: the ship was commissioned in 1914, served in both World War I and World War II, and later became the first battleship memorial in the United States after it was decommissioned in 1948.

That history is why organizers say the ship is an ideal centerpiece for America250 programming — a way to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary with something visitors can see up close, not just read about.

• LIST: Fourth of July fireworks, parades, celebrations across Greater Houston

A celebration built around Texas history

Friday’s free community event transformed the waterfront into a festival of local partners and history-focused activations, including the Battleship Texas Foundation, The Bryan Museum, the Galveston Arts Center, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas Surf Museum and Visit Galveston.

• RELATED: Texas’ historic Tall Ship ELISSA heads to New York for Sail250 celebration

The evening also featured live music by the Galveston Symphony Brass and the ceremonial arrival of the ship’s historic silver service.

Battleship Texas is currently undergoing restoration work in Galveston and is expected to return as a permanent museum attraction once the project is complete.

Rennae Stubbs, one of Williams' coaches, pin-pointed a moment about an hour into the 44-year-old's defeat to an opponent less than half her age earlier this week at Wimbledon.

“I noticed in the middle of the second set her take a big sort of deep breath and I actually turned around to Venus and said, ‘Oh I think she just relaxed,’” Stubbs said, referring to Serena's older sister.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Stubbs also revealed that she first started coaching Williams again in March and immediately noticed that the 23-time Grand Slam champion could still play.

Williams was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

While the result on the court was a loss, the reaction in the locker room from other players and coaches was a resounding victory, according to Stubbs.

“They know what it would be like to be in that position of not playing a match for close to four years, going on Centre Court at Wimbledon, knowing there’s how many millions of people around the world watching this match,” Stubbs said. “There’s 15,000 people in Centre Court. They expect good tennis. They expect you to not embarrass yourself. So all the players know, to a small degree, what it must be like.”

The match set ratings records on ESPN and Coco Gauff, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic are among the players who have publicly complimented Williams for her performance.

Williams injured her right knee toward the end of the first set against Joint and withdrew from her doubles match with Venus on Saturday.

An Instagram update from Serena included images of four syringes that she said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

“The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again,” Serena said. “The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles.”

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

Right attitude

Serena became known for her emotional outbursts and run-ins with chair umpires and linesjudges toward the end of her career.

So Stubbs was concerned about her on-court behavior during her comeback.

But Williams maintained her composure from start to finish.

“That was sort of like the one sort of thing that I asked, is that she try and — as hard as it was going to be — to control her emotions and her nerves and all that sort of stuff,” Stubbs said. “I don’t think people even remotely can quantify the amount of pressure that was on her to walk out there and do what she did.”

Negative reactions

Stubbs was disappointed, though, to see negative reactions to Williams’ return on social media. She was also criticized for skipping her post-match duties – since the injury was not announced until a day later.

Stubbs herself was also criticized on social media.

“I just don’t understand why people feel the need to tear somebody down,” Stubbs said. “What she’s doing out there is trying to play a sport she loves. That’s what it’s about. Show the kids, be out there, enjoy it and give the people another look at playing. … What is wrong on with a seven-time Wimbledon champion — a 23-time Grand Slam champion — wanting to play another time at Wimbledon? God let her.”

Williams planned to play more

While Williams played two doubles matches before Wimbledon, she hadn’t played singles since the 2022 U.S. Open.

“Ideally would we have loved to have had warm-up matches? Yes,” Stubbs said. “And for anyone to insinuate that she didn’t want to do that is crazy.”

The problem was that Williams wanted to get the feeling of being back on the court first in two doubles tournaments. But after winning in the first round at Queen’s Club with partner Victoria Mboko, the pair had to withdraw when Mboko was injured playing singles.

Then Williams and partner Karolina Muchova lost in the first round at the Berlin Open.

“I would venture to say that if she’d had four or five more doubles matches, she would have even been better because she would’ve had that experience of feeling the big points and hitting the big returns on break point and hitting the serves big,” Stubbs said.

Closed roof

Because the match started late in the day and there were concerns about darkness, the roof over Centre Court was closed for the match.

“She was hitting the ball so well in practice and moving really well and the conditions were very different indoors,” Stubbs said. “They were heavy. Her ball wasn’t shooting through the court like it was outside.”

Despite being away for so long, Williams still hit serves beyond 120 mph and showed off her heavy groundstrokes that landed within inches of the baseline.

The only real issue was her movement.

“When you’re great, you’re great,” Stubbs said. “When you have great timing, you always have great timing. I saw that from the moment I stepped back on court with her. I was like, ‘Well, you never lost that.’

"And then it’s just getting the movement going and getting the body going and all that sort of stuff again and at a certain age you also have to monitor the workload. So what I saw out there didn’t surprise me at all, because I had been seeing it for months: The capacity to hit the ball as well as she’s always hit the ball.”

Gang back together

Stubbs, an Australian who won six Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles and mixed doubles, also coached Williams in her previous farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Now based in New York, Stubbs first went down to Florida to start coaching Williams again in March.

“She was already hitting before that, but that’s when she was like, ‘OK, I need the eyeballs I trust on me,’” Stubbs said.

Serena also brought back her longtime hitting partner, Jarmere Jenkins, who co-coaches her with Stubbs.

“I’ve known Serena since she was a kid,” Stubbs said. “Jarmere knows her very, very well. Derick (Pierson), her fitness guy, is one of her best friends.”

What’s next

While Williams indicated in her injury post that she would play again, her team is still awaiting details.

“She’s not just going to do a one-off,” Stubbs said. “I think she would like to play more but that is 100% her decision. ... I’m sure she’ll re-evaluate and reassess how she wants go forward and then we’ll be there for her either way.”

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

Saturday marked the 18th time Chestnut, 42, won the so-called Mustard Belt in just 21 appearances at the internationally televised Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. He beat out 13 competitors who came from around the country and world, trekking from the Czech Republic, Australia and South Korea.

“It's a dream, it's electric, there's no place better on Earth,” Chestnut said breathlessly in an interview immediately after the showdown, donning a bulky, bejeweled necklace bearing the name of the sports betting company “Polymarket” around his neck. In a video posted on Instagram before the competition, Chestnut called competitive hot dog eating “the most patriotic sport we've got.”

Chestnut handily defeated the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who ate 50 hot dogs, but fell short of his own 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns — or approximately 7.6 hot dogs per minute.

Defending champion in the women’s division, the 40-year-old Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won the bright pink Mustard Belt for the 12th time, downing 38.75 dogs. In 2024, she ate a record 51 links.

After competing, Sudo joined the crowd to watch her husband — who proposed to her in 2021 immediately after downing 50 boiled eggs in just over 3 minutes to set a world record — compete in the men's event.

Both champions said that the heatwave that scorched New York on Saturday — bringing temperatures in Brooklyn to roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) during the competition — made that much more difficult. On top of that, ESPN announcers said the humidity changed the consistency of the buns.

“I just said I would have to rely on muscle memory, and the crowd really carried me through to another belt today,” Sudo said.

A large crowd braved the heat to watch the event, wearing foam hot dogs on their heads and standing outside the original Nathan’s Famous restaurant that has been in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. The superfans who stood closest to the stage wore ponchos as protection in case a competitor threw up.

There was briefly some concern earlier this year that Chestnut wouldn't be able to participate in the 2026 competition after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a man in an Indiana bar. He was put on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery, but is allowed to travel outside Indiana. Hot dog contest organizer Major League Eating said the criminal case didn’t affect Chestnut’s eligibility for the competition.

Despite his continued reign, Chestnut told an ESPN interviewer after the game that he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to top his previous record.

“Dang, I got so much room left,” said Chestnut, who announcers referred to as the “Michelangelo of Mastication."

HCU Board Chairman Ramiro Peña said Sloan’s death was sudden and happened Saturday morning. In a statement to the university community, Peña credited Sloan with steering HCU through what he called its most consequential years, pointing to growth in enrollment and academic offerings, new construction and campus expansion, and increased national visibility.

“With the heaviest heart, I am saddened to announce the sudden death of HCU President Robert B. Sloan, Jr. on this morning, July 4, 2026,” Peña said. He added that the university’s “heart and prayers” are with Sloan’s wife, Sue Sloan, and their family.

Peña described Sloan’s tenure as deeply tied to HCU’s faith mission, saying his leadership helped spur what he called a renewed spiritual focus on campus. “Today, President Robert Sloan’s faith has become sight,” Peña said.

Sloan took over as president of Houston Baptist University — later renamed Houston Christian University — in September 2006, leading the institution for roughly two decades. The HCU Board of Trustees said it would share additional details in consultation with the university’s executive administration as information becomes available.

Before his years in Houston, Sloan was a prominent figure in Texas higher education. Sloan served as president of Baylor University from 1995 to 2005 and later as chancellor from 2005 to 2006. Baylor also notes Sloan previously served on the university’s religion faculty and was the founding dean of Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary.

Sloan was born in Coleman, Texas, and raised in Abilene. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University in 1970, then completed a Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1973. He later conducted post-graduate research at the University of Bristol and received a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Sloan became president of then-Houston Baptist University in 2006, beginning a long tenure that coincided with major changes at the institution.

In past KPRC 2 reporting, Sloan appeared on Houston Newsmakers in January 2023 as the university was navigating its rebrand from Houston Baptist University to Houston Christian University. The shift was framed by university leaders as a way to broaden awareness of the institution while maintaining its Christian mission.

Almost daily long-range attacks on Russian oil facilities have created a fuel crisis and heaped political pressure on the Kremlin as its all-out invasion of Ukraine stretches into its fifth year.

Gov. Alexander Beglov said the city’s Kirovsky district on the Baltic Sea was hit. He also said that air defenses shot down 72 Ukrainian drones across Russia's second-largest city and the surrounding region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the attack as part of Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russia. He said that Ukrainian forces also hit a military target on the island of Kronstadt, just off the coast of St. Petersburg.

“The Ukrainian defense forces hit the port oil infrastructure, which earns money for the Russian war, and there were also hits on Kronstadt — an important military target,” he said in a post on Telegram.

St. Petersburg’s Kirovsky district was previously hit in June, ahead of Russia’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, has suffered particularly from heavy strikes, causing local authorities to suspend gasoline sales to civilians. A Ukrainian attack on Saturday killed one person and injured two more, including a 10-year-old child, the Moscow-installed Gov. Sergei Aksyonov said.

Ukrainian attacks bring the war home

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shrugged off Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s energy facilities as “not critical,” and insisted the war will continue until his goals are met.

He has described the attacks on Russian energy as an effort by Ukraine to distract attention from its losses on the battlefield, although analysts say the advance of Russian forces has been stymied in recent months.

On Friday, Putin visited the Russian military headquarters directing the war in Ukraine and received a report on the capture of the city of Kostyantynivka, after weeks of intense street battles. He hailed it as a key step toward capturing the nearby cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the key remaining strongholds in the so-called “forest belt” of heavily fortified cities in the Donetsk region that remain in Ukraine’s hands.

The capture of Kostyantynivka, a big transport and industrial hub, is of “major strategic importance,” Putin, clad in military fatigues, said in televised comments.

In a briefing Saturday, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, the first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said that Ukrainian troops had been pushed back several kilometers (miles) and that fighting was taking place on the outskirts of the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka.

“The city is now under our full control. Units of the Southern Army Group are completing the clearance of city blocks, rooting out small groups and individual Ukrainian fighters who may still be hiding in basements and ruins,” he said.

Zelenskyy denied that Russia took control of the city. “It is just another Russian lie, an attempt to generate some kind of a news story,” he wrote on social media Saturday. “If Kostiantynivka were under Russian control, then perhaps Putin would have no problem meeting me there to find a diplomatic way to finally end this war. But the fact is, he won’t cross the front line — reality is very different from Putin’s words.”

But the Kremlin quickly dismissed Zelenskyy's offer, with Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda on Saturday evening that Putin would meet the Ukrainian leader in Moscow once Kyiv was ready to make "important, consequential decisions.”

Putin appears to believe his government can keep the fuel crisis from eroding his authority and support for the war he launched more than four years ago. At the very least, the attacks have brought the war home even more poignantly for millions of Russians, shattering Putin’s narrative of the conflict as something that doesn’t affect the lives of ordinary people in his country.

The border city of Belgorod, which Ukrainian drone strikes have also repeatedly targeted, was left almost completely without power on Saturday due to overnight attacks, local media reported.

Meanwhile, eight people were wounded after a Russian attack struck residential buildings in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, including two children, local authorities said on Saturday.

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

The 44-year-old Serena was injured during her singles return earlier in the week — in a three-set loss.

“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles. Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside (at)venuswilliams once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete,” Serena said in an Instagram post.

The post included images of four syringes that Serena said “shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match.” An accompanying video showed her walking with strapping up and down her right leg and what appeared to be one of her daughters holding a cane for her.

However, with the U.S. Open approaching, Serena indicated she could play again somewhere else soon.

“All I can say,” Serena said, “is stay tuned to a city near you.”

The Williams sisters — Venus is 46 — were scheduled to play Camila Osorio and Solana Sierra. It was the only first-round doubles match that wasn't scheduled earlier in the week, having been pushed back to give Serena more time to recover.

Serena was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 by 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia on Tuesday.

Venus played in the mixed doubles tournament on Friday together with Kevin Krawietz, losing in straight sets to Tereza Mihalikova and Lloyd Glasspool.

The Williams sisters are six-time champions as partners in women's doubles at Wimbledon.

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

• After the Storm: The flood that changed the Hill Country

Outside a blue house, the wind moves through a wooden chime. An American flag flaps nearby. By the front door, a wooden cross stands with “Julian” written across it, surrounded by signatures from people who loved him.

Inside, Julian Ryan Rounsley’s presence is everywhere: a Bible, photographs and a space his family created to keep his memory close.

“He liked eating anything cooked,” Julian’s brother, Joseph Rounsley, said. “He was just outgoing, very outgoing. Meet anybody, you’ll become friends instantly. Light up a room, best smile.”

Joseph said that’s how he wants people to remember Julian — not for the way he died, but for the life he lived: fishing, spending time with family and showing up to sports games.

“Being here, getting to do things, go to immediate places, fishing, hang out at sports because my boys… he liked sports,” Joseph said. “Julian was a very good athlete… He liked to go everywhere with us when we played games… That’s really one thing I really, really miss. You just can’t take it for granted.”

Last July, those everyday memories were shattered when floodwaters rose rapidly around their mother’s mobile home. Joseph could only watch from the other end of a FaceTime call as the situation turned deadly.

“She got into the room, it was already over their head,” Joseph said, describing the moments he said he witnessed. “He punched the window… He turned around like a ghost and said, ‘Mom, I’m dying.’ …For days, it just kept in my mind.”

Today, the family lives farther from the river. Joseph said they never wanted to leave Kerrville, but moving away from the water was necessary for his mother’s peace of mind. He said a foundation helped them buy their current home after the flood destroyed what they had.

“She will never be back by the water,” Joseph said. “We never replace anything, but for something she can call home again. That was really awesome.”

On July 4, family and friends will gather at the house to remember Julian. Joseph said he plans to smoke brisket, share stories and honor a young man he says never met a stranger.

“Just knowing it’ll never be another… Fourth of July will never be the same. Ever,” Joseph said.

A year has passed. The wind sounds the same. For this family, Joseph said, life never will.

Just five miles down the road, Crider’s Rodeo and Dancehall is open again. For 101 years, it’s been a place where generations have come to celebrate, connect, and make memories. As Tracy Moore puts it, “This has been here for so long. You hear so many stories of people that their grandparents brought them here. I guess I’m just really privileged to be a part of it.”

Last July, everything changed. When the water started rising, the family could see how quickly it was turning dangerous. Dakota Moore remembers arriving to find the water already closing in. “It was just coming up to the ground right here, probably about four feet below this concrete, and it wasn’t 15 minutes it was coming into the building. That’s how fast.”

They tried to secure the doors, but the force of the flood was relentless. “It blew the back door open, blew the windows out… both these doors flew open,” he said.

When the water finally receded, the cleanup -- and the reality -- set in. “Our game room… the doors blew in and both pool tables were flipped upside down,” Dakota said. “We had a Pac-Man game… completely destroyed, full of mud.”

The damage wasn’t just heavy, it was violent.

“It probably wasn’t a swimming pool. It was probably more like a washing machine… very violent, the water that came through here.”

And the flood didn’t just leave its mark on the building -- it left this family grieving, too. Tracy says she got a call that morning with news she still struggles to say out loud: “I got a call… saying that Renee was missing and they couldn’t find her… She had been one of the ones that had been washed away.”

Tracy’s niece, Renee, was a little girl who loved spending summers at Crider’s. “She loved Crider’s,” Tracy said. “She was just laughing all the time. She loved life.”

Now, as the doors open again, Renee’s memory has a place here—alongside the community that helped bring Crider’s back. *“We have made it a year,”* Tracy said. *“I hope that there’s some sense of peace that people have after a year.”*

In Hunt, Crider’s reopening is more than a return to business. It’s a symbol of recovery and resilience.

The couple did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen, instead having Swift’s younger brother Austin Swift serve as her man of honor with Kelce’s big brother and podcast co-host Jason Kelce his best man, Swift's publicist Tree Paine said in an email.

The bride and groom’s outfits came from Christian Dior Haute Couture and its designer Jonathan Anderson with shoes custom-made by Christian Louboutin. She wore Cartier jewelry.

An almost-royal wedding

The long anticipated union of sports and song brought hype to new heights at a venue made more for historic NBA games and bucket-list concerts. The Kansas City Chiefs' superstar tight end and the music megastar married as fans and spectators gathered outside in blistering heat, eager to be part of the occasion, even though the event was almost entirely hidden.

Actors Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke; models Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss; comic Chris Rock; director Steven Spielberg; singer Camila Cabello and author Jenny Han were among the guests from the world of arts and entertainment. Kelce's coach Andy Reid and Chiefs teammates including running back Kareem Hunt were among the sports figures in the arena, along with retired NFL superstar Tom Brady, Seattle Seahawks receiver and recent Super Bowl champ Cooper Kupp, New York Giants receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and ESPN personalities Joe Buck and Stephen A. Smith.

In a culture obsessed with famous couplings it may have been the apex celebrity wedding, with perhaps only royal unions getting more attention. Holding such a ceremony in a huge, iconic space that sits at the center of the U.S. media universe while keeping all the details secret made for a surreal scene, but it was a mix of hype and hush that is not out of character for Swift.

A shrouded ceremony headed by Happy Gilmore

An Associated Press camera outside the arena showed a long line of black SUVs dropping off wedding-goers in tuxedos and evening gowns, surrounded by New Yorkers in shorts and Swifties amassing for the occasion. Rain briefly cut the heat shortly after the marriage was announced.

There was a seemingly total lack of social media posts from guests once they had entered the arena, with phones apparently banned.

However, on Saturday, hosts of Good Morning America who had been invited to the wedding, confirmed that Nicks performed and described the space as “intimate.”

“As intimate as it could possibly be given it was Madison Square Garden. Really this garden inside the garden, just so beautiful,” said George Stephanopoulos. “It's hard to imagine a place that big and a wedding with such stars could feel so personal and so intimate.”

Robin Roberts added that both Swift and Kelce wrote their own vows.

Weddings have been a constant subject in Swift’s songs since she was a teenager, and her actually walking the aisle for the first time at age 36 added to the drama. It was also the first marriage for the 36-year-old three-time Super Bowl champ Kelce, who could have been one of the jock characters in Swift's early hits.

Sandler, star of “The Wedding Singer” and many other hit comedies, can’t have been high on anyone’s betting list for who would marry the couple, though he’s become an increasingly warm and paternal cultural figure with age. The email announcing the marriage described him as “a friend” of the couple. Kelce was one of the many athletes who appeared in “Happy Gilmore 2,” Sandler's 2025 sequel to one of his first hits, and Sandler appeared last year on the Kelce brothers' “New Heights” podcast.

Welcome to New York — Taylor's version

The Swift-Kelce relationship has thrilled and fascinated millions around the world — particularly the Swifties, the pop star’s enormous and ardent fan base — ever since the pair first started dating in 2023 after he showed up at her Eras Tour concert at the Chiefs stadium.

Happy fans mixed with frazzled tourists outside the arena.

Lori Powers, who lives an hour north of Manhattan and rode the train in to be near the nuptials, said Swift's “music is the soundtrack behind so many amazing moments in my life. Relationships, friends, like my husband and my kids.”

She stood outside the arena before the marriage was announced with her friend Cecily Hall.

“Just being here and witnessing all the energy and the excitement, it’s so much fun,” Hall said. “The combination of sports and music makes perfect sense as to why they’re at Madison Square Garden today.”

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This story corrects that it was Robin Roberts who said the couple wrote their own vows.

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Dalton reported from Los Angeles. AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno and AP Associated Press video journalist Emily Wang Fujiyama contributed from New York.

• CANCEL CULTURE?: Cypress mother files attorney general complaint against StubHub for canceling World Cup tickets

Paxton’s investigation points to “widespread reports” that customers paid for 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets only to have orders suddenly canceled without warning, leaving the consumers without the tickets and experience they invested in off their site.

View this post on Instagram

The World Cup in the United States is being viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, meaning thousands of ticket purchases then resulted in additional travel plans and accommodations that had to be secured.

In the past week, 2 Helps You shared multiple complaints from fans who said StubHub orders fell apart days before kickoff, including one less than a couple of hours before the game.

In a June 26 report, Díaz told the story of a Toronto teacher, Lisa Coulter, who said her StubHub order was canceled six days before the Houston match she planned out months in advance. After Díaz contacted StubHub about her case, she said the company called her and provided replacement tickets in time to watch her homeland of Cabo Verde.

In a follow-up story on Wednesday, Díaz reported that Cypress resident Marilyn Gonzales said her family’s tickets were canceled shortly before a June 17th match involving Portugal in Houston. Gonzales told 2 Helps You she filed a consumer complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Office after watching Coulter’s experience.

Although, Gonzales family never made the match. StubHub offered a refund days later. The option for replacement tickets was not an option. 2 Helps You has asked StubHub on multiple occasions this week if there was a potential solution in providing tickets to Gonzales for Saturday’s Canada vs. Morocco - since the match is the final one in Houston - however StubHub has failed to respond.

In our same report, Esteban Vidal and his wife Yesenia from Tampa, Florida expressed that an identical experience happened to their tickets for a quarterfinals match in Miami on July 11th.

2 Helps You contacted StubHub last Saturday - a day after we made the retailer aware of the Gonzales case - and StubHub provided replacement tickets to Vidal less than 48 hours later. “I don’t think we could have got your tickets back if it weren’t for you,” said Vidal to Díaz in an interview.

Those reports, along with similar complaints surfacing nationwide and in Canada, set the stage for Friday’s announcement that the state is taking a closer look.

What Texas Attorney General says it’s investigating

Paxton’s office said fans across the country — including in Texas host cities like Houston and Dallas — have complained that StubHub canceled tickets days or even hours before matches.

• StubHub canceled her World Cup tickets days before the match, 2 Helps You Mario Diaz: ‘Cancel Culture, Heck No!’

According to the Attorney General’s Office, StubHub has blamed ticket-transfer problems connected to FIFA’s ticketing platform. But the state said some complaints suggest something more basic: tickets being listed and sold even though the seller may not actually have them.

That scenario is commonly known as “ghost ticketing.” In plain terms, it means buyers think they’ve secured seats, but the order collapses when it’s time to deliver the tickets.

The StubHub investigation comes while Paxton’s office is already investigating FIFA over different ticket-related complaints.

What StubHub is Saying

We are still waiting for StubHub to respond on the Attorney General’s investigation as well as the potential of tickets for Gonzales to attend Saturday’s match in Houston.

On Wednesday, StubHub told KPRC 2 it was “heartbroken” about Gonzales’ experience and said she received a refund plus additional credit. The company also said it tries to find comparable replacement tickets when possible.

2 Helps You also reported StubHub declined to comment specifically about Gonzales’ complaint to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

Additionally, StubHub said many of the problems fans are experiencing are tied to transfer issues — not ticket inventory — and blamed performance problems and changes connected to the event organizer’s ticketing setup.

What to do if your tickets were canceled

Paxton’s office is urging Texans who bought World Cup tickets through StubHub and did not receive them — or who say the tickets they received were significantly worse than what they paid for — to file a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.

If you purchased tickets through a third-party site, KPRC 2 has published a step-by-step guide on how to accept a ticket transfer and make sure your tickets show up in the FIFA app before game day.

• Guide to download 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets from a third-party vendor

UPDATE July 4: Hours after the Texas AG’s office announced their investigation into StubHub, Marilyn Gonzalez contacted Díaz and shared that her family received tickets from StubHub late Friday night. Today, the Gonzalez family is going to the Canada-Morocco World Cup match. 2 Helps You will have more on Gonzalez’s case Monday, July 6.

Galveston deploys 30 lifeguards

On Galveston Island, the Galveston Island Beach Patrol will have 30 lifeguards stationed along the beach. Officials are urging beachgoers to stay away from the rocks while swimming.

Surfside relies on police, rescue standby

Surfside Beach will take a different approach to holiday safety. Police Chief Phillip Hester said the city will have 28 officers patrolling the beach, though no lifeguards will be on duty.

“There will be no lifeguards,” Hester said. “There will be 28 police officers on the beach ensuring public safety.”

• Houston’s Fourth of July guide: everything you need to know for America’s 250th celebration

Earlier this year, Surfside Beach entered a new agreement with TEXSAR — Texas Search and Rescue — adding another layer of protection for beachgoers. This Fourth of July weekend, a TEXSAR boat crew will be stationed approximately 1 mile from the main entrance, ready for an immediate response.

Patrols on surfside beach said they will also have lifejackets, that they will hand out as needed to people. Plus, Hester said to look out for surfboards in sand labeled A-Z. This will help police locate you in case of an emergency.

Here are some tips to stay safe:

• Stay calm: do not panic
• Do not swim against the current
• Swim parallel to shore
• Float or tread water
• Signal for help
• Never leave children unattended near the water or traffic areas

Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane, a spokesperson for ​the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), said in a Facebook post that the town of Anefis was being targeted by the separatists.

Mohamed Cissé, a resident of Gao, told The Associated Press that the army is going door to door searching for attackers who are still in the city.

“For the moment, the calm has returned. But I learned that the attackers are still in a part of the city, so I stay inside the house with the family,” said Ousmane Maiga, another resident.

In a later statement, the Malian army claimed that “the situation is completely under control.” It added that in Sévaré, “20 terrorists on motorcycles and equipped vehicles were neutralized.”

But Rawani Ahmed Bouya, a member of the FLA and head of the National Office of the Azawad diaspora, told the AP that Anefis was under FLA control and that the fighting was almost over. His claim could not independently verified.

In late April, a coordinated attack by the FLA and the regional al-Qaida affiliate JNIM killed the defense minister in his home and took control of several key towns in the north of the country.

Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group think tank, said that while the latest attacks are “nothing comparable” to those in April, reports of attacks across the border in Burkina Faso as well as across Mali could indicate an attempt to divert the attention of the army to secure more limited gains in northern Mali.

Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said the targeting of Anefis was strategic because any Malian attempt to reverse the territorial gains from April would have been staged in Anefis.

Mali has previously faced insurgencies by militants affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, as well as a separatist rebellion in the country’s north. The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali.

Along with Mali, neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso have also been battling al-Qaida and IS affiliates.

Following military coups, the juntas in the three countries turned from Western allies to Russia for help combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened with a record number of militant attacks. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.

—-

Wilson McMakin reported from Dakar, Senegal

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, sought to show unity as it voted to extend the terms of Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, who have headed it for four years as co-leaders and ran unopposed Saturday. Weidel was reelected with 81% of the vote, while Chrupalla earned 70%. German parties elect their leaders every two years.

The demonstrations outside the convention in the eastern city of Erfurt reflected how AfD has divided Germany even while becoming the biggest opposition party nationally and the strongest political force in Germany’s formerly communist east.

Saturday's event was able to start on time despite the protests, which party officials hailed their “fundamental, legally guaranteed right to hold party conventions.”

“There are no peaceful seated blockades. There are no democratic roadblocks. Nor are there any gangs of thugs who deserve the harmless label ‘civil society.’ These troublemakers are the last resort of our political rivals,” Chrupalla said.

The weekend convention drew additional controversy by coinciding with the 100-year anniversary of a Nazi Party meeting held nearby that consolidated Adolf Hitler’s power over the fascist movement. Historians and political opponents say the timing carries powerful symbolism, an accusation the AfD rejects.

AfD fights ‘firewall’ as its support rises

AfD achieved second place in the February 2025 national election with 20.8% of the vote, the best showing by a far-right party since World War II. Since then support has risen to first among the nation's political parties.

Despite the growing support, some want to see the party banned and protesters this weekend are likely to underline those calls. But Germany’s supreme court previously has set a very high bar for banning parties.

Although Weidel said recently that “2026 is a year of destiny for AfD,” mainstream parties say they won’t work with AfD in a stance often referred to as a “firewall” against far-right parties.

Police said some 31,000 people attended Saturday's protest rallies, German news agency dpa reported. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, with protesters holding signs such as "Stop AfD Nazis” and "For Diversity, Against Nazis.”

Lena Raupach, spokesperson for widersetzen, an anti-fascist alliance whose name translates to “resist,” said the group had hoped to block the convention.

“The AfD pursues fascist policies: It wants mass deportations and terror on the streets. At the same time, however, it doesn’t solve a single real problem," she said. “It pursues policies that benefit the rich, not ordinary citizens. And we at widersetzen want a society in which all people have equal opportunities and equal security. We want a society based on solidarity.”

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, announced last year that it had classified AfD as a proven right-wing extremist group, but suspended the designation after a legal challenge. In February, a Cologne court said the agency can’t use the designation while the court evaluates the party’s lawsuit.

AfD vehemently rejects accusations of extremism and argues the agency is being used as a political instrument by mainstream parties.

Upcoming state election could bring a major win

AfD is capitalizing on the unpopularity of a government that is trying to reform the sluggish economy. The party has become adept at harnessing discontent with issues well beyond its signature theme of curbing migration, which powered its rise in the mid-2010s.

AfD hopes to win 40% or more of the vote in a Sept. 6 state election in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt. That could put the party on course for an absolute majority or in a position where it might try to attract defectors from other parties, paving the way for its first state governor.

“We will win. Maybe we’ll be able to govern alone soon,” Chrupalla said. “That would send the right message to the enemies of democracy out there who wanted to prevent our party convention from taking place.”

The party, which has long called for lifting sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine, also has supported the general approach of U.S. President Donald Trump while criticizing the war in Iran launched by the Trump administration and Israel.

Björn Höcke, one of the party’s regional leaders, repeatedly said in his speech Saturday that AfD wants to make Germany great again, a reference to Trump's MAGA platform, and at least one attendee wore a hat with a “Make Germany Great Again” logo.

___

Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Philipp Reissfelder in Berlin contributed to this report.

A large dome of high pressure will dominate much of the country through Independence Day, bringing widespread above-average temperatures from the Plains to the East Coast. Many cities will climb into the upper 90s or above 100 degrees Saturday afternoon, making it one of the hottest holiday weekends of the summer so far.

Triple-digit heat from the Plains to the East Coast:

Forecast highs on Saturday include:

• Dallas: 101°
• Oklahoma City: 101°
• Raleigh: 105°
• Phoenix: 105°
• Las Vegas: 103°
• Washington, D.C.: 99°
• New York City: 95°
• Houston: 96°

While Houston’s high of 96 degrees is certainly hot, it won’t be among the nation’s hottest locations this holiday. Instead, the most intense heat will shift east, where cities unaccustomed to prolonged heat could experience dangerous conditions.

Heat risk reaches dangerous levels:

The National Weather Service’s Heat Risk forecast paints an even more concerning picture. Much of the eastern half of the country is expected to experience Major to Extreme Heat Risk on Saturday.

This forecast doesn’t just consider the afternoon high temperature. It also accounts for humidity, warm overnight lows, and how long the heat has persisted—all factors that increase stress on the human body.

For vulnerable groups, including older adults, young children, outdoor workers, and those without reliable air conditioning, prolonged time outdoors could become dangerous.

Why it’s so hot:

The culprit is a sprawling area of high pressure centered over the Southeast.

High pressure causes air to sink, and sinking air warms and dries as it compresses. That suppresses widespread thunderstorm development while allowing abundant sunshine to heat the ground efficiently throughout the day.

Around the edges of the high, temperatures ease slightly, but much of the central and eastern U.S. will remain locked in summer heat through the holiday weekend.

Houston’s forecast:

Houston will also be hot for Fourth of July celebrations, with afternoon temperatures reaching the mid-90s and heat index values likely climbing into to 109. Harris county is under a heat Advisory from 11 am to 7 pm on the 4th.

Expect a few isolated showers and storms may develop during the afternoon and evening, but many communities will stay dry for fireworks and evening festivities.

If you’re celebrating outdoors—whether in Houston or traveling elsewhere—drink plenty of water, take breaks in the shade or air conditioning, wear lightweight clothing, and never leave children or pets in a parked vehicle. Even a short time inside a hot car can quickly become life-threatening.

The acts of clemency come as Trump has issued a slew of pardons in his second term, particularly for allies, public figures and those seen as politically aligned.

His use of the presidency’s sweeping ability to unilaterally grant pardons and commute sentences is among the ways the Republican’s return to office has featured an expansive use of executive power.

Trump earlier on Friday announced some of the pardons on social media, without identifying any of the recipients by name.

“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,’” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.

“I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!” he said.

In a list provided Friday evening by the White House, Trump pardoned 11 people, including nine who faced charges related to violations of the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on vehicles or selling devices that enabled emissions systems to be bypassed.

The pardons come after Trump on Monday signed a memo telling the Environmental Protection Agency that Americans can fix their own vehicles as they see fit. As he signed the memo, Trump referenced a diesel mechanic he pardoned last year who disabled emissions monitoring systems.

The memo also addressed aftermarket auto parts and would supersede the ability of the California Air Resources Board to evaluate parts that affect vehicle emissions.

The White House, in releasing the list of those pardoned, described Trump having “relieved consumers from these regulatory burdens.”

Beyond the emissions-related pardons, Trump on Friday also issued a pardon for Adam Kidan, a former business partner of Abramoff.

Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy related to the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, and in 2006 he was sentenced to nearly six years in prison.

The case was part of a broader investigation of the early 2000s lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, Capitol Hill, the Interior Department and members of President George W. Bush’s administration.

After leaving prison in 2009, Kidan began working at a staffing agency, went on to found a staffing business, Chartwell Staffing Solutions, and now serves as president of Empire Workforce Solutions, the White House said.

In March, the newspaper Newsday reported that Kidan was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate.

A message sent to Kidan’s business seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday evening.

Trump on Friday also pardoned ranch owner Jack Harvard, citing an “upstanding record” post-conviction and praising him for allowing the U.S. military and NATO troops to train on his land free of charge.

The White House did not immediately release additional details about Harvard, including his conviction.

A day after Rodríguez angrily defended the competence of her government's relief effort at her first news conference since the June 24 disaster, her main rival, exiled Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, issued her own appeal.

Machado on Friday argued that the government's quake response exposed its critical weaknesses and that she should return to Venezuela to help "the transition process, especially after the tragedy.”

"My presence stabilizes the situation; it is part of the organizing forces that the country needs at a time when the total absence of the state has become evident," Machado said, referring to widespread criticism of the government’s earthquake response as slow and disorganized. “The country needs figures it can trust.” She spoke to reporters from Panama.

The quakes have killed 2,645 people and injured over 12,500 others, according tallies released Friday by the government. Machado's opposition movement has set up an online database to locate the missing — a list of 36,000 people as of Friday. The party has mobilized volunteers to collect donations in Venezuela and solicited aid from the country's vast diaspora.

Machado was barred from running in a 2024 presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory. Vote tallies that the opposition collected from voting machines used in the election showed that the candidate Machado endorsed, Edmundo González, beat Maduro by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The US praises Rodríguez, blocks Machado

When the earthquakes hit, Machado saw an opening to return home for the first time after fleeing in December to accept a Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Ever since the United States captured Maduro in a brazen military operation in January, Machado has been seeking a comeback and calling for a democratic transition.

But the Trump administration has thrown its support behind Rodríguez since Maduro's ouster, praising her business-friendly reforms of the country’s lucrative oil sector.

Two senior U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose private diplomatic discussions, told The Associated Press that the Trump administration has grown frustrated with Machado and dissuaded her from returning to Venezuela in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

One official said that Machado had sought assistance from Washington for ferrying her to Venezuela from the Caribbean island of Curaçao and also from Panama.

The second official said the U.S. suspected she wanted to return to lead protests against Rodríguez and push for political change at a time when the focus should be on quake recovery. This official added that the Trump administration could not prevent Machado's return but was not in a position to facilitate it.

Earthquake fallout becomes political

Upon learning of Machado’s plans, Rodríguez shut down commercial air traffic into Caracas, the U.S. official said. Those canceled flights were set to bring hundreds of relief workers to assist with earthquake recovery efforts, the official said.

Seemingly concerned that anger over the earthquake response could jeopardize her leadership, Rodríguez on Thursday blamed any criticism of the government on what she called “narratives manufactured in propaganda laboratories."

She claimed that rescue crews deployed immediately with adequate equipment to disaster zones — contrary to complaints by residents that they were left alone to search for their loved ones without official teams or heavy machinery for the first 48 hours.

“Those propaganda operations, driven by partisan political interests, are despicable,” she said. “We did not wait one day, two days or three days. We activated immediately.”

Rodríguez went on to say that thousands of civil and military rescue workers as well as 11 international field hospitals had been deployed to quake-affected areas, adding that the government had approved the creation of a fund to receive donations for reconstruction.

On Friday, state-run media broadcast her visiting Hernán Alberto Gil Flores, a 43-year-old security guard pried from a collapsed basement after surviving nearly eight days under the rubble, in his hospital bed. His dramatic rescue Thursday served as a rare bright spot in the days since the earthquakes.

Unclear what happens when mandate expires

Under Venezuela’s constitution, temporary absences are to be filled by the vice president — which was Rodríguez’s former role under Maduro — for up to 90 days, after which they can be extended by the national assembly for an additional 90 days.

On Friday, that 180-day interim period expired. There was no immediate comment from authorities on what, if anything, they would do in response to the expiration of Rodríguez’s mandate.

The National Assembly, controlled by Rodríguez’s party, can trigger a snap election if lawmakers declare the post permanently vacant.

A humanitarian crisis brews

International organizations and governments, including the U.S., have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency relief aid to stave off a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela. With infrastructure and sewer systems damaged, aid workers are scrambling to prevent the spread of disease through contaminated water.

But nine days after the quakes, the scale of human suffering is still coming into focus.

“We know that there are still dead bodies under the collapsed buildings, and it's difficult to give a number on this, but several thousands for sure,” said Andreas Spaett, the Venezuela country coordinator for international aid group Doctors Without Borders. “I do believe this is one of the major natural catastrophes in the history of humanity.”

___

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

“We saw a lot of bodies that had not yet been identified,” López said.

The rush is on across La Guaira, the state on Venezuela’s northern coast hardest hit by the powerful back-to-back June 24 earthquakes, to identify loved ones before it’s too late. With at least 2,295 people killed, Venezuela is overwhelmed with bodies that officials are struggling to collect, identify and preserve for loved ones to claim. Thousands are still missing.

José Antonio Toledo, López's 25-year-old son-in-law, was found under the building where he was working as a security guard when the quakes struck. Crews took his body to a local hospital, where staff turned them away because there was no space. The body was sent to another facility and eventually transferred to an open parking lot.

A forensic doctor helped the family find him days later, on Saturday. But once they identified his body, they didn’t know what to do with it because they couldn’t afford the $450 that a funeral home was charging.

At almost midnight on Saturday, López got word that the mayor’s office was offering them a free space at a local cemetery, but they had to move quickly to not lose the spot. An hour later, López and her daughter trudged up a hill leading to the cemetery and buried Toledo.

“He was an exemplary person, a boy who liked helping people,” López said.

They saved him from a mass grave that many fear is coming as they search for the bodies of their loved ones.

The number of bodies found is expected to soar

Forensic technician Joel Mirabal has worked for seven days straight since the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes struck.

The 45-year-old estimates that in 60% to 70% of cases, there’s a relative or neighbor available to identify a body when he comes to pick it up. Even so, it’s a struggle, he said, with many relying on tattoos, scars or familiar clothing.

“They don’t look even 10% like what they were in real life,” he said of the victims.

If a body cannot be identified, it goes to forensic specialists working at La Guaira seaport. Private companies have donated large cooling containers to help preserve the bodies, but the number of dead keeps growing.

“Obviously, mass graves will have to be created,” Mirabal said. “The collapse is massive, and the bodies are buried under many layers of debris.”

Mirabal said he and other forensic technicians anticipate spending up to three months collecting bodies.

They drive around the affected areas every day, led by rescue crews and civilians who have recovered or spotted bodies.

“Many of the rescues are carried out by the people,” he said of the thousands of ordinary Venezuelans who have pitched in for the recovery effort.

A dog trainer by profession who once helped the government locate drugs and missing people, Mirabal finds solace in the 12 dogs waiting for him at home, not counting the puppies. One of his favorites is Mila, a young black Dutch Shepherd who lay by his side on Thursday as he rested.

“It’s not easy at all to witness the suffering and tragedy of your fellow human beings,” he said.

Venezuelans wait in line to try to identify loved ones

Over the weekend, crews took dozens of bodies recovered from flattened buildings to a government-run health care facility in the city of La Guaira. They were left on a sweltering parking lot until families identified them, with funeral home workers estimating that more than 200 bodies were kept there at one point.

On Thursday, those who lost loved ones waited outside La Guaira seaport to identify bodies that authorities continue to pick up across the coastal state. Cars, including trucks and vans from funeral homes, formed a line outside a makeshift morgue.

Among those waiting was Robert Rodríguez. He sat on a concrete block, crestfallen, his legs dangling, waiting for his daughter to identify the body of his son-in-law. Rafael Alvarado died trapped inside a grocery store where he worked at the deli counter.

“He was her best friend,” Rodríguez said, referring to the couple as tears soaked his blue face mask.

Rodríguez said the family found Alvarado in the rubble on Wednesday, his body freed and transported to the port on Thursday.

“I saw his shoes and knew it was him,” Rodríguez said, adding that he warned his daughter. “I told her, ‘Prepare yourself.’”

He said the family plans to cremate Alvarado and scatter his ashes on Isla de Margarita, the Venezuelan island that was his home.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.