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Sergio Garcia apologizes for his Masters tantrum, saying the way he acted 'has no place in our game'

Doug Ferguson, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:16:10 +0000

Sergio Garcia apologized Tuesday for his tantrum during the final round of the Masters when he tore up the turf after a bad drive on the second hole and then broke his driver against a bench.

Geoff Yang, chairman of the Masters competitions committee, issued a code-of-conduct warning to the Garcia on the fourth tee. The conduct policy was new to the Masters this year.

“I want to apologize for my actions Sunday at The Masters tournament,” Garcia said in a social media post. “I respect and value everything that The Masters and Augusta National Golf Club is to golf. I regret the way I acted and it has no place in our game. It doesn't reflect the respect and appreciation I have for The Masters, the patrons, tournament officials and golf fans around the world.”

Garcia, the 2017 champion, began with a bogey and then hit a weak fade on the par-5 second hole that was headed to the bunker. He recoiled his driver onto the tee, and then turned and slammed his club into the turf.

Without repairing the damage, Garcia then smacked his driver against a wooden bench holding a water cooler, and the head of the club was left dangling from the shaft.

Garcia declined to discuss what was said by the official, saying after his round, “I’m not going to tell you.” When asked about it again he replied, ”Next question."

He also did not apologize for his behavior after his closing 75 to finish in 52nd place among the 54 players who made the cut.

“Just obviously not super proud of it, but sometimes it happens,” Garcia said.

Garcia has not finished in the top 10 in the 29 majors he has played since beating Justin Rose in a playoff at Augusta National in 2017. He has missed the cut six times in eight appearances at the Masters since winning.

Asked about his record, Garcia said, “Bad golf.” When a reporter asked him to be more specific, Garcia said, “Bad shots.”

Garcia was disqualified in 2019 at the Saudi International for damaging greens in frustration. His antics over the years include angrily kicking off his shoe when he slipped during a tee shot at the World Match Play in 2001, and the shoe nearly struck an official.

He also spit into a cup during a World Golf Championship at Doral after three-putting.

The PGA Tour has been developing the code-of-conduct policy the last few years, and the Masters was the first tournament to put it into effect. The PGA Championship also be using it next month at Aronimink Golf Club.

After the warning, a second violation during the tournament is a two-shot penalty, while a third violation would mean disqualification.

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

Here’s how much Michiganders lost in crypto fraud in 2025

Dane Kelly — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:54:02 +0000

New statistics from the FBI revealed that Michiganders lost $210,230,468 in cryptocurrency scams last year.

The amount continues to rise every year, after Michigan lost $126,330,606 in 2024 and $79,894,360 lost in 2023.

The agency compiled and analyzed data from all reported cryptocurrency complaints in 2025. There were 181,565 complaints nationally in 2025, up from 149,686 in 2024.

While the amount of cryptocurrency scams reported represented only about 18% of the total number of fraud complaints, cryptocurrency fraud accounted for almost 55% of all losses in 2024.

More than $11 billion was lost nationally due to cryptocurrency scams in 2025, a 22% increase from 2024.

Authorities believe those numbers could actually be higher due to a lack of reporting.

The full report from the FBI can be read at the bottom of the page.

The data showed that Michigan was ranked No. 15 nationally for the number of cryptocurrency complaints, with 3,648, more than 600 more complaints than the state had in 2024.

Michigan is also ranked No. 15 for cryptocurrency losses, with $210,230,468.

Michigan lost $126,330,606 in crypto scams in 2024 and $79,894,360 in 2023.

The top three states for the number of complaints and financial losses were California, Texas and Florida, which reported nearly a collective $4 billion loss in 2025.

Why is cryptocurrency used for scams and fraud?

The report details that criminals like to use cryptocurrency due to its decentralized nature, which eliminates the need for financial intermediaries and allows for secure, rapid and irrevocable transactions. They can happen anywhere with the use of a private key and an internet connection.

While these transactions are permanently recorded on public blockchains, tracking becomes challenging when cryptocurrency moves to exchanges overseas -- especially in jurisdictions with weak anti-money laundering regulations.

The Latest: Israel and Lebanon hold rare talks as US-Iran standoff deepens

Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 06:39:37 +0000

Lebanon and Israel were holding their first direct talks in decades as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants rocks southern Lebanon. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors for Tuesday's discussions in Washington. Hezbollah says it will not abide by any agreement, a high-ranking member of the group's political council told the AP.

The U.S. military claimed Tuesday that it has successfully begun to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports, as the standoff between the U.S. and Iran deepens. Tehran threatened to strike targets across the region, a day after Trump warned on social media that any Iranian warships nearing the blockade would be destroyed in a “quick and brutal” strike.

With Pakistan racing to bring the sides together for more talks, U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round “could be happening over the next two days.” The first round ended without an agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the White House says is a sticking point.

Neither side has indicated what will happen after the ceasefire expires on April 22.

Here is the latest:

UN chief says international law is ‘being trampled’ — especially in the Middle East

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that violations of international law are fueling instability and mistrust. Speaking to reporters at the U.N. headquarters, he urged renewed U.S.-Iran talks and respect for freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The secretary-general said he will travel to The Hague, Netherlands, later this week to mark the 80th anniversary of the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest tribunal, and send “a message that in a world moving toward greater fragmentation and sharper power competition, international law is indispensable.”

US State Department issues $10 million reward for Iraqi militia leader

The bounty was placed on Ahmad al-Hamidawi, secretary general of the Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah. In a post on X, in which it published al-Hamidawi’s photograph, the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program wrote that the group was “responsible for attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq, the kidnapping of U.S. citizens, and the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians.”

Last month, Kataib Hezbollah kidnapped an American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, in Baghdad, but released her several days later on condition that she leave the country. Officials with the group at the time told The Associated Press that in exchange, the Iraqi government would release several members of the militia who had been previously detained.

Kataib Hezbollah is allied with Lebanon’s Hezbollah but they are two entirely different groups with different leaders.

Trump says talks with Iran could resume this week

In a phone call with The New York Post, Trump said a second round of talks with Iran “could be happening over next two days.”

Trump initially told the newspaper they would likely be held somewhere in Europe but later updated that they could be held again in Pakistan’s capital.

An initial round of talks ended without an agreement on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the White House says is a central sticking point.

US military claims blockade success

The U.S. military claims that it has successfully begun to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports, though at least one ship with apparent ties to Tehran has transited the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said that “during the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.”

While some tankers approaching the strait on Monday did turn around shortly after the blockade took effect, the tanker Rich Starry reversed course again and transited the waterway early Tuesday.

Rubio says Israel-Lebanon talks are a process but doesn’t expect an immediate agreement

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that historic Israel-Lebanon peace talks the U.S. is mediating are a “process, not an event,” downplaying expectations for any immediate or significant agreement.

Meeting at the State Department with the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon to the United States, along with the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Rubio said the Trump administration is “very happy” to be facilitating the discussions.

“This is a historic opportunity,” he said. “We understand we’re working against decades of history and complexities” that will not be quickly resolved.

Israeli fire kills 5 Palestinians in Gaza, hospital officials say

Among the killed are a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old in the two separate strikes in northern Gaza and Gaza City on Tuesday, according to a health official at Shifa hospital, where the casualties arrived.

The Israeli military said it was looking into it.

The first strike on a police vehicle in Gaza City killed four, including the 3-year-old who was standing nearby, and another in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed the 15-year-old, the hospital and the families said.

“What was this little kid’s fault? He was walking in the street,” said Samia al-Malahi, the grandmother of the 3-year-old.

The Gaza Strip has seen near-daily Israeli fire and strikes since a fragile ceasefire was reached in October, and more than 750 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Turkey presses with diplomatic push for Iran-US talks

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has held separate telephone calls with his Iranian and Pakistani counterparts on Tuesday to discuss the negotiation process, a Turkish official said.

The conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar centered “on the steps to be taken in the days ahead,” the official said.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity as required by protocol, did not provide further details.

— By Suzan Fraser

Death toll in Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon rises above 2,100

Israeli strikes have killed a total of 2,124 people during the six-week war, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Among them are 254 women, 168 children and 88 health workers. Another 6,921 have been wounded.

Israel has halted its strikes in Beirut since last Wednesday, when a massive barrage on the capital drew international outcry, but strikes and ground fighting have continued in the country’s south.

The war in Lebanon started on March 2, when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired missiles across the border, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran.

UN chief praises Pakistan’s role in US-Iran talks

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar received a call Tuesday from U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who appreciated Pakistan’s “constructive role” in bringing the United States and Iran to the negotiating table to advance regional peace.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to promoting dialogue and diplomacy to ensure peace and stability in the region.

Hezbollah appears to step up its fire on northern Israel as talks in Washington begin

The incoming fire triggered nonstop drone and rocket alert sirens in Israeli communities near the Lebanese border on Tuesday.

Ahead of the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in Washington, the first direct talks between the two countries in decades, the Israeli military issued a warning to northern residents to be prepared for a possible increase of fire from Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which is opposed to the direct talks, claimed 26 attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli ground troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. It said it won’t stop its attacks until Israel halts its strikes on Lebanon.

China’s Xi warns against ‘the law of the jungle’

As the leaders of China and Spain pledged Tuesday to work to safeguard multilateralism at a time of conflicts including the war in Iran, President Xi Jinping reiterated a phrase he used earlier in the day when meeting the crown prince of Abu Dhabi — he said countries should “oppose the world’s retrogression to the law of the jungle.”

Xi said they should “jointly safeguard genuine multilateralism,” strengthen communication and cooperate closely, during a reception for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Great Hall of the People.

Sánchez agreed and said China and Spain “can contribute to finding solutions to the various trade tensions that exist, to the geopolitical difficulties and complexities of today’s world, to the wars, to the environmental and social challenges that afflict the world.”

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Modi and Trump stress the need to keep the Strait of Hormuz open

Indian Prime ‌Minister Narendra Modi and Trump spoke about the need to keep the Strait of Hormuz open during a call, Modi said on the social platform X.

Modi said the two leaders “discussed the situation” in the Middle East and “stressed the importance of keeping the Strait of ⁠Hormuz open and secure.”

The call between Modi and Trump lasted nearly 40 minutes, Indian media reported.

What Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah said ahead of talks in Washington

1. Lebanon: Wants a truce as a prerequisite to negotiations, similar to what Pakistan brokered between the U.S. and Iran. “Israel’s destruction of Lebanese territories is not the solution, nor will it yield any results,” said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun Monday, who came to power vowing to disarm non-state groups including Hezbollah. “Diplomatic solutions have consistently proven to be the most effective means of resolving armed conflicts globally.”

2. Israel: Has ruled out a ceasefire and said the goal is Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar Tuesday denied having disputes with Lebanon, and said “the problem is Hezbollah.”

3. Hezbollah and its supporters: Called the talks a free concession to Israel unless there is first an end to the war and a pullout of Israeli troops from Lebanon. Secretary-General Naim Kassem said Hezbollah wants a return to the 2024 agreement, with indirect talks mediated by the U.S., France and the United Nations peacekeeping mission.

Lebanon and Israel to hold first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington

The first direct diplomatic talks between Lebanon and Israel since 1993 are set to begin in Washington as fierce fighting continues between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take part, along with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad.

Hezbollah is opposed to the direct talks, and will not be represented. Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, told The Associated Press that it will not abide by any agreements made in the talks.

At least 2,089 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, the Health Ministry said, among them 252 women, 166 children and 88 medical workers, while 6,762 others were wounded. More than 1 million people are displaced.

▶ Read more

Treasury secretary says economic pain is ‘worth taking’ to end a nuclear Iran

As the Iran war drives up the cost of energy around the world, Bessent told a group reporters Tuesday that “a small bit of economic pain for a few weeks is worth taking off the incalculable tail risk of either a nuclear Iran or a nuclear Iran that uses that weapon.”

Asked about the impact of soaring gas prices on consumers, Bessent said “there is nothing more transient than what we are seeing now.”

“So the conflict will end, prices will come down, and then headline inflation will come down, and with that, gasoline prices will come down,” Bessent said.

US Treasury secretary says China ‘not going to be able to get their oil’

Scott Bessent was asked about Chinese tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran recently demanded to collect tolls as a precondition for reopening the waterway.

“Those ships aren’t going to be allowed out anymore, ” Bessent told a group of reporters on the sidelines of the IMF World Bank meetings. “So they’re not going to be able to get their oil.”

When asked what his message to those paying the tolls would be: “You’re not going to pass,” Bessent said. And if a country pays the toll, “they are in violation of US sanctions, and that never ends well.”

Israel says 10 soldiers wounded in gunbattle with Hezbollah in the strategic Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil

The Israeli military said a “cell” of three Hezbollah militants fired on the troops, wounding 10, three of them severely. It said the soldiers returned fire, killing two of the militants, and the third was later killed by an airstrike.

Fighting has intensified in recent days between Israeli ground forces and Hezbollah militants in and around Bint Jbeil, with the army saying Monday it had killed over 100 Hezbollah fighters over the past week.

Bint Jbeil’s elevated location overlooking the UN-mandated Blue Line that divides Israel and Lebanon has made it a strategic point for Hezbollah. It was among dozens of villages and towns south of the Litani River that received an evacuation warning from the Israeli army early last month when the war started.

A president and a pope square off over Iran war

Pope Leo XIV, a studious and soft-spoken cleric, and Donald Trump, an unapologetically bellicose and pugilistic politician, have long been on a rhetorical collision course. Now their disagreement over the war in Iran has escalated in spectacular fashion.

On social media, Trump said Leo was “Weak” and captive to the “Radical Left,” even suggesting that Leo somehow owed his position to Trump.

The pope has declared Trump’s threats toward Iran “truly unacceptable” and pointed his flock to biblical text and church doctrine on war and peace, explaining that his purpose is not about Trump at all. “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration,” Leo said Monday on the way to Africa, “or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”

It’s a spectacle involving the world’s two biggest megaphones, both held by Americans for the first time.

Fuel protests have Ireland’s government facing possible no-confidence vote

Ireland ’s government could face a no-confidence vote Tuesday in Parliament over how it has handled a week of fuel protests that blocked access to oil supplies and a major port and caused massive traffic jams.

Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced new tax cuts to try to end the crisis that began after the U.S.-Israel war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But opposition parties blasted the government for failing to respond sooner and criticized the aid it offered, saying soaring fuel costs will drive people out of business.

Sinn Fein, the largest opposition party, called for the no-confidence vote scheduled Tuesday evening. But Martin’s coalition government has scheduled an earlier vote of support that could make the no-confidence motion moot.

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Pakistan’s prime minister briefs president on US-Iran talks, to visit Saudi Arabia and Turkey

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif briefed President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday on recent U.S.-Iran talks and said he will visit Saudi Arabia and Turkey this week to advance peace efforts. The announcement by the president’s office comes amid reports that Pakistan is seeking to host a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran in the coming days.

According to the statement, Zardari urged Sharif and other officials to remain engaged with the United States, Iran and other key regional and global powers to sustain the peace process and promote regional stability.

The statement said Zardari appreciates Pakistan’s role in facilitating rare direct talks between the United States and Iran, saying it had “reaffirmed its position as a responsible and pivotal state in the international community” and demonstrated its peacemaking credentials.

Italy suspends military partnership with Israel

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday that her government has suspended the automatic renewal of a defense agreement with Israel, citing “the current situation.”

Meloni and other Italian government officials have strongly condemned Israel’s air and bombing campaign in Lebanon, which has hit civilians as well as an Italian convoy that is part of a U.N. peacekeeping force. The agreement, ratified in 2005, includes ongoing cooperation between the two countries’ defense ministries and armed forces. It is automatically renewed every five years.

Citing fallout from the Iran war, IMF cuts the outlook for global growth, expects higher inflation

The Iran war has stalled the world’s economic momentum, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday as it downgraded its forecast for global growth to 3.1% in 2026, an expected deceleration from last year’s 3.4% expansion.

U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran — and Tehran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz and retaliatory strikes on oil refineries and other energy infrastructure in neighboring countries — have driven oil and gas prices sharply higher around the world. As a result, the IMF marked up its expectation for global inflation to 4.4% from 4.1% in 2025.

Massive investment in data centers and artificial intelligence, and rising productivity combined to strengthen economic numbers, but “War in the Middle East has halted this momentum,’′ IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas wrote in a blog post accompanying the fund’s latest World Economic Outlook.

The IMF’s forecast assumes the war ends soon and energy prices rise “a moderate 19%″ this year. Things could be much worse.

Israel’s top diplomat denies disputes with Lebanon, says ‘the problem is Hezbollah’

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is floating the idea of cooperation with the Lebanese government to dismantle Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah has also its financial roots, there are a lot of dimensions holding this organization, practically keeping Lebanon under Iranian occupation,” Saar said Tuesday, adding that the Lebanese government itself views the Iran-backed militant group as “unlawful.”

Israel and Lebanon are set to begin their first direct talks in decades Tuesday, with large gaps in what each side wants from the negotiations.

Lebanese officials want a ceasefire, while Israeli officials have said they are not interested in a ceasefire but want the talks to focus on disarming Hezbollah as an essential step toward a potential peace deal between the two countries.

Hezbollah militant group renewed its war with Israel on March 2, when it fired missiles into northern Israel. About 2,088 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since then, according to figures from Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

US forces to join combat drills in Philippines to show commitment to Asia while fighting Iran

More than 17,000 American and Filipino military personnel will participate in one of their largest annual combat exercises in the Philippines, aiming to show the United States’ staunch commitment to Asia despite its preoccupation with the Middle East, a U.S. military official said Tuesday.

“Our message is our dedication and commitment to our alliance and regional security,” Col. Robert Bunn, a spokesperson for U.S. forces, said when asked what message the U.S. military wants to send with its large deployment despite the war in the Middle East.

Bunn did not immediately specify the number of U.S. forces joining the April 20-May 8 maneuvers. Last year, about 9,000 U.S. military personnel joined the Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — exercises.

This year’s drills between the U.S. and Philippines will expand to include Japan, France and Canada, which have signed visiting forces agreements with Manila, the Philippine military said.

Macron urges US-Iran talks to resume

French President Emmanuel Macron urged for the resumption of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran as he had phone calls with President Donald Trump and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“It is essential, in particular, that the ceasefire be strictly respected by all parties and that it include Lebanon,” Macron said in a post on X Tuesday.

He also called for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz “without restrictions or tolls.”

Macron stressed France and the U.K. will also host a conference in Paris this Friday, bringing together by videoconference non-belligerent countries ready to contribute to a mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait when security conditions allow.

US wholesale prices surge as Iran war drives up the cost of energy

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.5% from February and 4% from March 2025. The year-over-year gains was the biggest in more than three years. Energy prices surged 8.5% from February.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core producer prices rose a modest 0.1% from February and 3.8% from a year earlier. The gains in wholesale prices were smaller than economists had forecast.

Wholesale prices can offer an early look at where consumer inflation might be headed. The Labor Department reported last week that soaring gasoline prices pushed consumer prices up 3.3% last month from a year earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase since May 2024. Compared to February, March consumer prices jumped 0.9%, biggest gain in nearly four years.

IEA predicts Iran war will drive down oil demand more sharply than at any time since the pandemic

The war in Iran will lead to an annual decline in oil demand for the first time since the pandemic, when billions of people were trying to live in isolation, according to the International Energy Agency.

The agency, formed after the 1974 oil crisis, said Tuesday that oil demand is expected to decrease by an average of 80,000 barrels a day this year, a sharp revision from the increase of 850,000 barrels a day that it had forecast before the war began.

The drop-off in March was particularly severe because of attacks on energy infrastructure and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the IEA, which expects a decline in demand of 1.5 million barrels in the current quarter.

While the biggest cuts in oil usage have initially come from the Middle East and Asia Pacific region, demand destruction is anticipated to spread as oil prices increase and scarcity continues.

Red Cross delivers first emergency aid shipment to Iran since war began

The Red Cross delivered its first emergency aid shipment to Iran since the war began over a month ago, which is expected to meet the needs of nearly 25,000 people.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement Tuesday that it dispatched assistance to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, or IRCS, including five truckloads delivered Monday.

Supplies included blankets, jerrycans, tarpaulins, hygiene kits and solar lamps. The remaining aid shipment, comprised of nine aid trucks, will be given to IRCS later this week.

‘Rich Starry’ reportedly headed for China

The tanker is listed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as linked to Iranian shipping. It is flagged to Malawi, one of several landlocked countries often cited in so-called “false flag” operations, in which ships are registered under foreign flags with little or no connection to their owners, complicating oversight.

According to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider, the vessel was headed for Sohar, an Omani port outside the strait. Lloyd’s List, citing ship registry and tracking data, reported it is owned by a Chinese shipping company and ultimately bound for China.

Vessel reported exiting Strait of Hormuz

A tanker that aborted an attempt to exit the Strait of Hormuz on Monday turned around and transited the waterway early Tuesday, in one of the first tests of the U.S. blockade.

The Rich Starry, a chemical and oil tanker, had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping data firm Lloyd’s List, which cited data from the energy cargo-tracking firm Vortexa.

The U.S. military said on Monday that the blockade applied only to vessels traveling to or from Iranian ports, and it was not immediately clear whether the Rich Starry had earlier docked in Iran or was carrying Iranian oil. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to questions about the vessel.

Javier Mascherano is out as Inter Miami's coach, only 4 months after leading team to MLS Cup title

Tim Reynolds, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:12:31 +0000

Javier Mascherano is out as Inter Miami’s coach, a stunning move that comes only four months after leading Lionel Messi’s club to the MLS Cup title.

Mascherano, a former teammate of Messi at Barcelona and with Argentina's national team before reuniting with him as coach, is leaving for personal reasons, the team said.

“I would like to thank the club for the trust they placed in me, every employee who is part of the organization for the collective effort, but especially the players, who made it possible for us to experience unforgettable moments,” Mascherano said in remarks released by the team.

The move comes not even two weeks after Inter Miami opened its new stadium near Miami International Airport. The club has tied both of its first two matches in the new facility.

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

Appeals court orders judge to end contempt investigation of Trump administration deportation flights

Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:21:07 +0000

A federal judge must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump administration for failing to comply with an order over flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year, a divided appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

Chief Judge James Boasberg abused his discretion in forging ahead with criminal contempt proceedings stemming from the March 2025 deportation flights, according to the majority opinion by a three-judge panel from U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The ruling is the latest twist in a yearlong legal saga that has became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. The White House has portrayed Boasberg as a biased judge who overstepped his authority.

Trump’s administration has a “clear and indisputable” right to the termination of the contempt proceedings, Circuit Judge Neomi Rao wrote in the court’s majority opinion.

“The legal error at the heart of these criminal contempt proceedings demonstrates why further investigation by the district court is an abuse of discretion,” Rao wrote. “Criminal contempt is available only for the violation of an order that is clear and specific. (Boasberg's March 2025 order) did not clearly and specifically bar the government from transferring plaintiffs into Salvadoran custody.”

Rao was nominated by Trump, a Republican. Boasberg, chief judge of the district court in Washington, D.C., was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

On March 15, 2025, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order barring the administration from transferring a group of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century law. After the order was entered, two planeloads of migrants protected by the order departed from the U.S. on their way to El Salvador, where they were locked up in one of the world's most violent prisons. The administration said then- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was responsible for the transfer decision.

Boasberg has said the Trump administration may have acted in bad faith by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country in defiance of his order. He said he gave the administration “ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions” but concluded that “none of their responses has been satisfactory.”

Last year, the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint accusing Boasberg of making improper public comments about Trump and his administration. Trump has called for impeaching Boasberg. In a rare rebuke, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rejected calls for Boasberg's impeachment.

The case is assigned to Rao and Circuit Judges Justin Walker and J. Michelle Childs. Walker, also a Trump nominee, wrote a separate opinion concurring with Rao's. Childs, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, dissented from the majority.

Childs said the court's majority has trampled on Boasberg's authority “in a way that will affect not only these contempt proceedings but will also echo in future proceedings against all litigants.”

“Now, any litigant can argue, based on their preferred interpretation of a court’s order, that they did not commit contempt before contempt findings are even made,” Childs wrote in her 80-page dissent.

Lawyers for the deported migrants can ask the full circuit court or the U.S. Supreme Court to review the panel's decision.

Plaintiffs' attorney Lee Gelernt of the American Civil Liberties Union said the majority opinion is “a blow to the rule of law.”

"Our system is built on the executive branch, including the president, respecting court orders. In this case there is no longer any question that the Trump administration willfully violated the court’s order,” Gelernt said in a statement.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces it has found a buyer to keep the newspaper open

David Bauder, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:43:19 +0000

Barely two weeks before it was due to shut down, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Tuesday it had found a last-minute buyer — a successful nonprofit journalism operation that has agreed to keep the struggling newspaper open.

The resolution to a months-long worry in western Pennsylvania about the paper's shutdown comes at a difficult moment for the American newspaper industry, which has shed jobs, resources and sometimes entire companies due to the upending of the traditional revenue model by the internet at the beginning of this century.

The Post-Gazette dates its ancestry to 1786, the first newspaper to open west of the Allegheny Mountains, and its closure would have left Pittsburgh as the nation’s largest community without a city-based paper.

"For us to be a vibrant, strong city, as we are, it’s imperative that we have a newspaper that demonstrates that,” said Jay Costa, the top-ranking Democrat in the Pennsylvania state Senate, whose district encompasses about half of Pittsburgh.

Operations to continue in Pittsburgh

The Post-Gazette's owners, Block Communications, said the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, which publishes the digital Baltimore Banner, had agreed to buy its assets. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Post-Gazette said the new owners would continue to print the newspaper on two days, Thursday and Sunday, and would operate a website on the other days.

The newspaper had been due to close on May 3.

“We are committed to working with exceptional journalists, along with civic and business leaders across the region, to build a new future for local journalism in Western Pennsylvania,” said Bob Cohn, CEO of the Venetoulis Institute. “We are clear-eyed about the task ahead. We have learned in Maryland that this work takes time, discipline and investment.”

The institute, which opened the Banner in 2022, said it has appointed David Shribman, who was executive editor of the Post-Gazette from 2003 to 2019, to its board of directors.

The Post-Gazette won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in 2018 under Shribman, but it has been mired in labor strife in recent years.

Block Communications announced in January that it would shut down the newspaper, on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal of a lawsuit regarding health benefits to formerly striking workers.

More hope, but more questions too

The Banner, despite being so young, has also won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting. In a difficult time for the news business, the Banner has grown to have 79,500 paid subscribers.

“I'm more hopeful now for the future of the Post-Gazette than I was yesterday,” said Steve Mellon, a longtime photographer at the newspaper. Employees worried that the newspaper would be sold to a hedge fund known stripping assets of media companies, instead of a nonprofit committed to local journalism.

But he said there are still many questions, such as how many staff members will stay on with new ownership and how much Venetoulis would be willing to invest in a newspaper that has been losing money. Mellon and some other journalists at the newspaper have been exploring starting a co-op news website, and he's not sure what will happen with those plans.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper based in a Pittsburgh suburb, had been planning to add staff in Pittsburgh and begin publishing a weekend city edition the week after the Post-Gazette was set to close. Its CEO, Jennifer Bertetto, said Tuesday that those plans would not change as a result of its rival's sale.

Andrew Conte, a journalism professor at Pittsburgh's Point Park University who's been active in encouraging small news organizations in the community, said the sale offers a challenge to people in the region: To what extent will they support local journalism? “It's really in their hands,” he said.

Sara Innamorato, the executive of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, called the paper a cornerstone of the region’s civic life for generations. Innamorato said in a written statement that the “transition to a nonprofit model represents an opportunity to strengthen independent, community-centered reporting and ensure residents continue to have access to the information they need to stay engaged and informed.”

She said a strong local news source is essential to a healthy democracy, “and that must include supporting the journalists and workers who make this work possible with good-paying, family-sustaining jobs.”

Both Block and Venetoulis described their deal as reflecting “a shared commitment to sustaining local journalism in Pittsburgh.”

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Associated Press journalists Mark Scolforo and Rebecca Boone contributed.

Diplomats try to arrange second round of US-Iran talks during first full day of American blockade

Munir Ahmed And Sam Metz, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:36:20 +0000

Diplomats worked through back channels Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran threatened to strike targets across the war-weary region.

U.S. President Donald Trump said a second round of talks could happen "over the next two days," telling the New York Post the negotiations could be held again in the capital of Pakistan.

An initial round of talks aimed at permanently ending the conflict failed to produce an agreement last weekend. The White House said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were a central sticking point.

Though the ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the regional war's economic fallout.

Meanwhile in Washington, direct talks between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. were set to begin, the first such negotiations in decades.

Pakistan proposes second round of Iran talks

Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round of US-Iran talks. Two U.S. officials said Monday that discussions were still underway about the negotiations.

A diplomat from one of the mediating countries said that Tehran and Washington had agreed to the talks. The U.S. officials and the diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations.

The location, timing and composition of the delegations had not been decided, although Islamabad and Geneva are being considered as host cities, they said.

The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,000 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Tankers turned around after blockade took effect

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash flow that’s been vital to keeping Iran running.

Both the nature of enforcement and the extent to which ships will comply remained unclear during the first full day of the blockade Tuesday. Tankers approaching the strait Monday turned around shortly after it took effect, though one reversed course again and transited the waterway.

The tanker Rich Starry had been waiting off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping data firm Lloyd’s List, which cited data from the energy cargo-tracking firm Vortexa. It was not immediately clear whether the tanker had earlier docked in Iran. Yet it was listed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as linked to Iranian shipping.

Lloyd’s List, citing ship registry and tracking data, reported that the vessel is owned by a Chinese shipping company and ultimately bound for China.

U.S. Central Command said no ships made it past the blockade in the first 24 hours, while six merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Chinese tankers will not be allowed passage through the strait. "So they're not going to be able to get their oil,” he told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of IMF-World Bank meetings.

Since the start of the war, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic, with most commercial vessels avoiding the waterway.

Iran’s effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

Trump said Monday that Iran's control of the strait amounted to blackmail and extortion as the U.S. blockade took effect. He said in a social media post that Iran’s navy had been "completely obliterated,” but it still had “fast attack ships.”

He warned that “if any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED."

Iran threatened to retaliate against Persian Gulf ports if attacked.

“If you fight, we will fight," Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a statement addressed to Trump.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British prime Minister Keir Starmer will co-chair a conference Friday for nations willing to deploy warships to escort oil tankers and container ships through the strait. The deployment will happen “when security conditions allow,” Macron’s office said Tuesday.

Israel and Lebanon scheduled for talks

The talks in Washington between Israel and Lebanon were expected to be preliminary, focused on setting parameters rather than resolving core issues.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is facilitating the talks, downplayed expectations for any immediate agreement. He called the talks a “historic opportunity” but said the process was “working against decades of history and complexities” that will not be quickly resolved.

After more than a year of near-daily strikes in southern Lebanon, Israel escalated its offensive in the early days of the Iran war following Hezbollah launching rockets into Israel. The fighting has carved a path of destruction from agricultural towns near the border to Beirut, killing more than 2,100 people and displacing in excess of 1 million others, according to Lebanese authorities.

After the ceasefire in Iran, Israel pressed ahead with its air and ground campaign, insisting that the truce does not apply to fighting in Lebanon. It has, however, halted strikes in the country’s capital since April 8, after a deadly bombardment that hit several crowded commercial and residential areas in central Beirut and killed more than 350 people in one day.

The deaths sparked an international outcry and threats by Iran that it would end the ceasefire.

Just as negotiations were getting under way in Washington, Hezbollah appeared to step up fire into northern Israel and against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, claiming 26 attacks.

Fighting has intensified in and around the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil. The Israeli military said Tuesday that it killed three Hezbollah militants after they fired on troops, wounding 10.

Lebanese officials have pushed for a ceasefire. Israel has framed the negotiations around Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace deal, without publicly committing to halting hostilities or withdrawing its forces.

Israel wants Lebanon’s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much as was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades and said on Monday that it will not abide by any agreements that may result from the talks.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday floated the idea of cooperation with the Lebanese government to dismantle Hezbollah.

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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, Fatima Hussein, Collin Binkley and Konstantin Toporin in Washington, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo, Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Harvey Weinstein is going on trial again in a New York rape case

Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 04:07:04 +0000

After years of #MeToo infamy, legal peril and prison, Harvey Weinstein is again going on trial on a rape charge in New York City.

Jury selection started Tuesday in the onetime movie mogul's latest retrial, where jurors will weigh — for the third time — whether he raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.

This time, jurors will consider only one charge based on one accuser, rather than the array of allegations that were aired at Weinstein’s previous trials in New York and Los Angeles. The Oscar-winning producer denies all the accusations and declared in court this winter that he had “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.”

Prosecutors might also seek to introduce new evidence. After Weinstein arrived in court Tuesday, but before jury selection began, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Candace White told the judge that prosecutors might seek to include testimony from a court security officer about something Weinstein allegedly said six years ago.

According to White, the officer said he was on hand for Weinstein’s February 2020 sexual assault conviction — which was later overturned — and heard Weinstein say: “If you had seen these girls, you would have done the exact same thing.”

Weinstein’s lawyers urged Judge Curtis Farber to keep any mention of the supposed remark out of his upcoming retrial.

“It’s just too late” to introduce it, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said. The judge didn't immediately rule.

The first pool of 100 potential jurors was brought into the courtroom for an initial screening.

The judge has revisited some rulings about exactly what evidence gets presented about Weinstein’s and Mann’s years of interactions. For example, the judge said there may not be any mention of a claims fund that was set up for women who said Weinstein sexually mistreated them, partly because the defense team doesn’t intend to raise the subject.

Also, the judge indicated Tuesday he may curb discussion of an erectile-dysfunction drug that Mann said Weinstein used.

A new defense team

Agnifilo and his partners took on the case in February, when longtime Weinstein lawyer Arthur Aidala stepped aside from the retrial to focus on the former studio boss’ appeals and civil matters. Both Aidala and Agnifilo are well-known New York defense attorneys, but their litigation styles differ. Aidala is folksy, while Agnifilo is more buttoned-up.

Weinstein wielded significant clout in the entertainment industry, having built his reputation on such critical and popular hits as “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.” He also became a prominent Democratic donor.

Then a series of sexual harassment and sex assault allegations against Weinstein began to emerge in news media in 2017, propelling the #MeToo movement.

He was criminally charged in New York in 2018 and in Los Angeles two years later.

A tangled series of trials

Weinstein went to trial and was convicted of some — but not all — counts in both cases. His initial New York convictions were overturned, spurring a retrial last year.

The retrial verdict was mixed: Weinstein was convicted of forcing oral sex on production assistant and producer Miriam Haley in 2006, but he was acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on model-turned-psychotherapist Kaja Sokola. The jury didn’t decide on the rape charge involving Mann because the foreperson refused to keep deliberating.

Weinstein subsequently considered pleading guilty, according to Aidala. Evidently, Weinstein ultimately rejected the idea.

Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with the then-married Weinstein. But when he cornered her in a Manhattan hotel room where she was staying on a weekend getaway, she protested, “I don’t want to do this,” she told jurors. She said he kept making advances and demands until she “just gave up.”

Weinstein hasn’t testified at any of his trials, but his lawyers have contended that he never had non-consensual sex.

The defense claimed that Mann and his other accusers willingly entertained his sexual overtures because they wanted his help with their show-business aspirations. The women, by contrast, said Weinstein dangled his Hollywood influence to draw them into his orbit and then victimize them.

His sexual assault conviction involving Haley carries the potential for up to 25 years in prison; no sentencing date has been set.

In this case, the rape charge is a lower-level felony punishable by up to four years behind bars. Weinstein, 73, already has served longer than that.

Weinstein has various health problems and uses a wheelchair. He told the judge in January that he’s haunted by the possibility that he might die in New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail.

“My mental state is collapsing. … My spirit is breaking,” he said.

Weinstein’s lawyers have argued that his New York conviction last year was poisoned by bad blood among jurors. Meanwhile, he’s appealing the Los Angeles verdict.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people without their permission if they say they have been sexually assaulted. Haley, Mann and Sokola agreed to be named.

Democrats line up to run in Virginia congressional districts, even before voters approve them

Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:03:26 +0000

Even before Virginia voters decide on a new congressional map, Democrats are piling in to run for districts proposed under a redistricting plan that is designed to give their party a near sweep of the state’s U.S. House seats.

The latest entrant is Olivia Troye, who was an aide to former Republican Vice President Mike Pence and has become a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. She announced Tuesday that she'll run in Virginia's newly created 7th Congressional District, joining an already crowded field.

Voters will decide April 21 whether to adopt a Democratic-drawn congressional map that could help the party win four more U.S. House seats, a rare and enticing prospect for ambitious Democrats.

“I just feel like we need people that are going to stand up and fight,” Troye said. “And I’m not seeing that right now, across the Democratic and Republican parties."

The proposed district where Troye wants to run was designed to be an easy general election win for Democrats, taking in territory that is now part of six different districts.

About a half-dozen Democrats have announced plans to run in the district if voters approve the new boundaries. They include Dorothy McAuliffe, Virginia's former first lady, and former federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney, who served as a deputy to special counsel Jack Smith and was fired by Trump.

The sprawling district would have a population center in the heavily Democratic northern Virginia suburbs of Washington and would stretch deep into rural areas that favor Republicans.

Crowded primaries also are shaping up in some of the other newly formed districts, though the 7th District has an unusually deep stable of prominent candidates.

Virginia is the latest state to push a partisan redistricting plan beforethe 2026 midterms, when Democrats are looking to gain the House majority and the power it would give them to stymie Trump’s agenda.

Virginia's map aims to give Democrats the edge in 10 of the state's 11 U.S. House districts, replacing the current map that elected a congressional delegation with six Democrats and five Republicans.

Trump instigated a redistricting arms race last year when he pressed Texas Republicans to adopt new boundaries aimed at giving Republicans as many as five new House seats there. California voters responded with a plan favoring Democrats. Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have adopted Republican-friendly maps.

Democrats in Maryland this week rejected a plan to adopt a map favoring their party, while Florida Republicans are pressing ahead with their own redistricting plan.

FBI says suspects tried to rob Offset outside a Florida casino when he was shot in the leg

Associated Press — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:58:55 +0000

The rapper Offset was ambushed by a “large group” of people who tried to rob him outside a Florida casino last week when he was shot in the leg, the FBI said Tuesday.

Federal investigators said that they are still searching for the suspects who assaulted Offset last Monday night outside of Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, just north of Miami. Throughout the assault, a single shot was fired into Offset's leg before an unsuccessful attempt to remove the rapper's watch, the statement said. Offset, who rose to fame as part of the influential hip-hop trio Migos, was hospitalized for a couple of days, but swiftly returned to the stage at a performance at a music festival at the University of Arkansas on Saturday.

The suspects fled the scene in two Chevrolet SUVs that went in separate directions: A black Suburban that fled towards Hollywood, Florida, and a Tahoe that fled southbound towards Miami.

Following the shooting, officers detained two people, but law enforcement hasn't shared evidence to directly tying either one to the shooting.

One of the people detained was rapper Lil Tjay, born Tione Jayden Merritt. He was arrested in connection with an altercation that occurred before the shooting, the Seminole Police Department in Florida said. He was charged with disorderly conduct and operating a vehicle without a valid license. His lawyer, Dawn M. Florio, told The Associated Press last week that Lil Tjay did not have a gun and was not charged with any weapons or gun-related crimes. He was swiftly released after posting bond.

Offset, born Kiari Kendrell Cephus, launched his career with Migos, one of the most popular hip-hop groups of all time. The Atlanta trio is celebrated for their rapid-fire triplet flow, an often-imitated delivery that changed the trajectory of trap.

The group had several multiplatinum selling singles, including “Bad and Boujee,” which went No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Stir Fry,” and “Narcos.” Migos released four full-length albums across their career.

More than three years ago, Offset’s cousin Takeoff, another member of Migos, was shot and killed at a Houston bowling alley.

Here’s how much Michiganders lost in crypto fraud in 2025

Dane Kelly — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:34:47 +0000